Feast

Feast or famine? That's the cycle of my life on so many levels. I have had a feast the last week, socially. I have had lunch with many different friends, far and near, and lovely visits with several friends I have not seen in years.

I have the tendency to get lost in my job/life and not pick my head up and look around. I neglect my friends, myself, my personal life. I find myself living in a tight little circle of work-home-sleep-work. It's not healthy. And, it amazes me that my friends still remember me and like me. I am endeavoring to be a better friend this year...truly I am...and it's a gift to myself...but I hope my friends will enjoy it as well. I hope I can stick to that.

On Sunday I went antique browsing and thoroughly enjoyed it. I do not need another thing in my house, but I do love to look. I love writing desks and library tables, hutches and enameled kitchen tables, side chairs, jewelry, books, glass...I have a thing for green and blue glass. I can spend many hours looking.

Monday I spent with my friend Jeannine who lives in Florida. It was so great to spend time with her. She is a very key part to who I am today...she is the person who taught me how to drive and so much more. I promised to scan and send her pictures from the summer of 1973. We took a mega road trip that summer which we reminisced about and laughed about. So yesterday I pulled out my old photo albums and scanned and send them off. I had a great time looking through these old albums. I haven't looked at them for many years. Damn, I looked good in the 70's.

Today I am being very good to myself...I am having a massage. I love and really need massage. I am fortunate that I have found a great masseur. She has great rates, too.

Hey new friends...treat yourself to a massage soon.

Keanu Fred and Ginger Carrie-Anne

Keanu Fred


Ginger Carrie-Anne

Here are my dogs, Keanu Fred and Ginger Carrie-Anne.

Well, I named them Fred and Ginger,

but my son calls them Keanu and Carrie-Anne.

So, we put the names together.

I must apologize to them and to you.

They are very dirty and are in need of some grooming.

They are rescued litter mates and they are mutts. Fred is carefree (read not the sharpest knife in the drawer) but very loving. He would like to be in your lap 24-7.Ginger is more independent and incredibly intelligent. Look at her eyes. I think they are beautiful and say so much.

They miss my mom very much as she was always home during the day with them.

The Gate

I intended to go out and take pictures of old downtown this afternoon, but it rained and rained. We need it; it has been so hot and dry. Anyway, I have uploaded a few old pictures.

I love high contrast...love it. I always push my black and white prints to a very high contrast. That doesn't work with some subjects, but I like it here with the iron gate.

And here is another picture of the oaks, but with the same gate. Love these beauties.

And one more...

That's all I have in me today.

My thanks to all of you wonderful bloggers.

Three's enough, thank you.

"Sometimes I think I must have a Guardian Idiot.

A little invisible spirit just behind my shoulder,

looking out for me...only he's an imbecile."

~Spider Robinson (Off the Wall at Callahan's)

I still have A/C problems...and now a major plumbing issue...and to top it off nicely my roof, my new roof, leaked during the rain yesterday.

Can I please catch a break here?

Three's enough, thank you...my plate is full!

Waiting and rambling...

I was held captive all day waiting for the A/C repairman to come. He came yesterday and was to come back today...he was a no show, no phone call. You know, I consider my time very valuable, even though I don't always get paid for it. I had planned to run errands and such. Well, I'm not one to rant and complain so I rearranged my day.

I did get to finish a book. I got many little projects done...like putting together the new spice rack/swivel-Susie thingy, that I have had for weeks, and put it in, in place of the old one which was scotch-taped together, but leaning dangerously...did some purging in my studio. Yep, lots of puttering and waiting...uncovered surfaces I haven't seen for a while...found the Tai-Chi DVD I have been looking for...wondered many times, why did I kept that?

I remade some earrings...I had a pair of chandeliers that I took apart and made into two nice pair of drop earrings. The chandelier earrings are just too big for me. I also changed a pair from post to hooks. If I find a pair of drop earrings I like that have posts I will buy them and change them to French hooks. Post are not comfortable to me. I do this a lot with my jewelry.

See...see how I am rambling...It's that kind of day...

Slip-sliding away...

It was definitely a two steps back day....

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

I walked in my neighborhood this morning, instead of the Ridge. It was good, bad, and ugly. The good thing was that there was a great breeze out today, which as very nice in the heat. The bad and the ugly was that it is garbage day in the neighborhood, which smelled bad and looked ugly. Why do people produce so much Trash?

Now I must admit that I have three cans out for trash pickup, but the two big cans are full of yard waste-weeds, sticks, pruning, and trash I pick up from the street. The small can has one kitchen sized bag in it.

First of all, most people here do not recycle. The city tried to have curbside pick up but so many people complained about it that it was stopped. It's embarrassing to me that my city is so lazy and selfish. I recycled before this venture and I still recycle. I just have to load up the car and drive it to the recycling plant myself.

Unfortunately, my local recycling business has stopped taking glass. They could not find a buyer close enough to break even. That is very sad.

Working in the summer heat

I have put in many hours of work in my front yard as most of the flowers there have finished for the season. All the daisies needed to be cut and the seed heads clipped and spread for next year. I let them go through that dead, drying, seeding phase that I'm sure my neighbors don't understand at all. The daylily stalks needed pulling as they bloomed very early this year...they knew the drought and high heat were coming. It is high summer now, so not much is happening in the garden because of the intense heat.

The pictures were taken awhile back.

Good Morning

Good morning to all of you. I am off to mow the lawn. Have a great day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0j3-tmQLjg&feature=related

Girl Talk

I have been getting together with different friends these last two days. I had lunch out with the Tri-Ya Girls on Tuesday and the Crones Club on Wednesday.

And yes, I have names for the different groups of women. We all live in different local towns now, but we try to meet up at regular intervals to stay connected.

I tell ya, spending time with friends is such good medicine.

Photo by Peaches

pure and endless light

A great ring of pure and endless light

Dazzles the darkness in my heart

And breaks apart the dusky clouds of night.

The end of all is hinted in the start.

When we are born we bear the seeds of blight;

Around us life and death are torn apart,

Yet a great ring of pure and endless light

Dazzles the darkness in my heart.

It lights the world to my delight.

Infinity is present in each part.

A loving smile contains all art.

The motes of starlight spark and dart.

A grain of sand holds power and might.

Infinity is present in each part,

And a great ring of pure and endless light

Dazzles the darkness in my heart.

-M. L'Engle

holding pattern

I need to clean out mom's room. I have not touched a thing. It has been over four months. I need to do it now while I have time. Once the school year starts I really don't have much extra time. But I can't seen to get started. It's so personal. I don't want anyone to touch it. I want to do it; I don't want to do it.

I feel like I'm in a holding pattern. If I was burning it up in some other activity, getting something done, I'd feel better, but I'm not. I'm not getting very much of anything accomplished, and I always have a list of things waiting to be done, especially in the summer.. I'm doing the minimal daily activities, very minimal. Still the day is gone in a blink of an eye and then...it's one more day I coasted through.

And I understand the logic of the situation. I recognize all the little sabotages. I know that the lethargy will lift. But, I am standing still.

Photo by Peaches

Our values are shifting

"...The great problem of our time

is that we don't understand

what is happening to the world.

We are confronted

with the darkness of our soul,

the unconscious.

It sends up its dark

and unrecognizable urges.

It hollows out and hacks up

the shapes of our culture

and its historical dominants.

We have no dominants anymore,

they are in the future.

Our values are shifting,

everything loses its certainty,

even sanctissima cusalitas

has descended from the throne

of the axioma and has become

a mere field of probability.

Who is the awe-inspiring guest

who knocks at our door portentously?

Fear precedes him,

showing that ultimate values

already flow towards him.

Our hitherto believed values decay accordingly

and our only certainty is that the new world

will be something different from what we were used to.”

-letter from Dr. C. G. Jung to Sir Herbert Read, 2 September. 1960

Photo by Peaches

The art of laughter

"Suffering....confers no privileges.

It all depends on what one makes of that suffering.
It is possible to suffer and despair an entire lifetime
and still not give up the art of laughter.”

Elie Wiesel
photo by Peaches