Slice of Life
I guess this is technically meant to be a wish for the new year. I think it’s appropriate that we wish each other these things NOW – during this pandemic, for what is to come, and for what will be the “new normal.”
Stupidity
I was up in the middle of the night – as old people are – and caught my little toe on the corner of the bed on the way back. “This Little Piggy cried, wee, wee wee!” while I said some rather harsh things not suitable for print. I will soak it later, but in the meantime am wearing slippers instead of my regular tennis shoes and hobbling around rather dramatically. My sweet husband is calling me “Chester” from the old ‘Gunsmoke’ TV show we loved years ago.
I feel stupid. I KNOW the bed is there. I KNOW we made the bed from solid wood and that my toe is no match for it. I’ve been getting up in the middle of the night and getting back to bed without problems for many years. Why last night was different is anyone’s guess.
It’s hurting enough that I will remember to give the bed corner a WIDE BERTH for many years to come…
Filed under stupidity
Joy on a Rainy Day
123RF.com
I’ve been having a wonderful time in my art room this afternoon.
I started some new wooden earrings to which I’ll attach posts. I have the fronts finished, but I need to wait for them to dry so I can paint the edges and the backs. Then I’ll bring them downstairs to glue on the posts.
I also started some small hard canvas boards, using Unicorn Spit paints. When they dry, I’ll add some of my favorite quotes.
I truly love the Unicorn paints. Thanks FOREVER to my wonderful sister-in-law, MaryLou, for sending me a starter set – just because she saw them and thought I might have fun with them. The possibilities are truly endless, and a joy for any level of ‘arty-ness.’ If you haven’t tried these, they are such FUN. You can use the paints on almost anything. I’ve painted totes, tee shirts, paper, wood, and these hard canvas boards so far. You can paint with brushes, or use them like fingerpaint. They are non-toxic, water soluble and are not permanent until you spray or paint them with fixatives. Truly wonderful stuff!
Hopefully, I can show you my latest batch of things soon.
Filed under Childlike Fun, playing in my art room
“It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…”
PictureQuotes.com
I love rain, but I would rather be on the inside looking out at it.
We just got back from doing our errands for the day. It’s 40 degrees with a cold rain. We didn’t have many, but we DROWNED doing them. It’s a very good thing we are not water-soluble. I’m having a cup of coffee now, trying to warm up. A wonderful day to be inside. :0)
I’m feeling good because our veggie garden is under good control right now, plus we got the yard mowed and weed-whacked before the rain started. I can enjoy the inside days with a clear conscience – happy to be warm and dry.
I’ll fix our lunch and then I’m looking forward to spend some time in my art room. I’m painting some wooden earrings which will have posts, and I have some ideas (thanks to my good friend, Marsha) for some things I can create with my Unicorn Spit paint and put them in the local shop booth I share with my friend, Carla.
When I saw how cold and rainy it was this morning, I put ingredients for a beef stew in the slow cooker so we can enjoy some hot comfort food tonight. It’s odd – our weather forecast is for cold and rainy today – but WARM and rainy the rest of the week, including thunderstorms and possible severe weather. Mother Nature is being quite active lately.
I hope that you are weathering whatever shutdown restrictions you have without too much discomfort. Gradually, things will reopen and we can adapt to the ‘new normal.’
Take care and stay safe.
Relocation Service
RiverBender.com
We caught a raccoon overnight in our humane trap. We will head out in a second to drive about 5 miles farther out in the country to let him out by a stream we found at the roadside years ago.
We are about 3-1/2 miles from the small town of Greenwood, Arkansas. Our place is wooded enough that each year we have a family of raccoons wandering around in the middle of the night. They find our bird feeders on the deck. If they just ate their share, we could live with them. They clean out ALL the bird feeders – every seed – and many times go on to trash the feeders themselves.
We got a humane trap that we use to catch the critters. We bait them with various things – this time it was part of an apple and a chunk of sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookie.
We will relocate him, hopefully far enough away that he won’t return. We like the idea of giving him another chance at life – just not where WE are.
We will find out if he has a whole family with him in the coming weeks….
Filed under Mother Nature
My Mom
Betty Wheaton
I’m very grateful to have shared many years with my mom. She gave me a wonderful childhood, freedom to grow up trying new things, encouraging me to be the best person I could be. I always loved her, but – as I grew to adulthood – I learned to admire her more and more.
Her dad didn’t think girls should go to college. She wanted to go to a four-year university, but that wasn’t possible. She earned a full scholarship to Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri, a two-year liberal arts college, where she proceeded to take ALL THE CLASSES for the two year certification, finishing in ONE YEAR everything except a one-hour course for gym that wasn’t offered until the next year. That was the end of her formal education, but nowhere near the end of her learning.
She was a voracious reader. She built a vocabulary that was stunning. She honed it by working the New York Times Crossword Puzzle every Sunday. She shared her private journal of her favorite poetry with me, and we would read them to each other. When I, at the age of 4 or 5, sat in the middle of our living room looking at everyone else in the house doing something with books, newspapers, and comics and said, “I wish to HELL I could read,” she stopped the crossword puzzle, ignored my bad language, and proceeded to teach me.
She could stand up and speak at meetings with no preparation, saying what she thought, making persuasive arguments to support her opinions beautifully. I SO admired her ability to do that. She didn’t shake in her shoes, as I would have, but presented her views logically. If someone responded to her in an ugly fashion on a controversial subject, her words grew longer as she got angry. She told people off in a manner so articulate they didn’t know they had been insulted – in fine fashion – until later. She brought that to an art form.
My dad had his own one-man advertising agency in Tulsa, working from our home, doing radio spots for various clients. When his secretary suddenly quit, my mom stepped in, handling calls, radio spot placements and schedules, and typing a written record of the spots he created. She also did the bookkeeping and tax prep for him. On the more personal side, she used her incredible ability as a seamstress to modify every single shirt he wore, every suit jacket, every sweater for him. (One arm was shorter than the other with an almost useless hand due to a fall off a horse when he was 3.) She did this so quietly that it was years before I realized that not all mothers or wives did this.
I’m lucky to have grown up with love, guided by a role model to try to be the best I can be. I can feel her, from time to time, looking down at me, cheering me on, particularly when I’m doing something outside my comfort zone, trying something new.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I miss you every day.
Battle with the Weeds
ABC Home & Commercial
We bought our land here in Arkansas in 1987. Actually, my husband put a deposit on it and then brought me out here to see it. We stopped on the road in what I thought was an arbitrary spot one really hot summer day. My husband proceeded to guide me up a hill, through heavy woods, thick brush, what I HOPED wasn’t poison ivy, and finally to the top, where I was stunned by a beautiful view of the valley below. We dynamited some parts of the hill, cleared other parts, left most of it wooded, and built our home. Ever since, the land and Mother Nature have conspired to take back the land.
I saw on the weather forecast that ALL of next week – every day with the exception of Thursday – has at least a 50% chance or better of rain. I have devoted this weekend to working outside, trying to get things in reasonable shape before the monsoon starts.
Yesterday I spent all day in our veggie garden – weeding, harvesting, weed whacking, and finally spraying weed killer. My husband got the yard mowed. Today I will spend the day in sessions of weed whacking over the rest of the yard. Since I’m older than dirt, a little bit of weed whacking goes a LONG way, so I do it for awhile until my back starts talking to me, and then come in and rest, drinking a big mug of water, and then going out for another session. This allows me to get a reasonable amount done outside by the end of the afternoon without killing myself. :0)
Murdering weeds doesn’t sound like a very SWEET thing to do on Mother’s Day, but it works for me.
Filed under Gardening
Happy Mother’s Day 2020
Beautiful World
“The phrase “working mother” is redundant.” — Jane Sellman
New Animalbook
“An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.” — Spanish proverb
New Animalbook
“It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.” – Erma Bombeck
R.J. Bennett – LinkedIn
“Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.” Meryl Streep
Journal
“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” ~ Sophia Loren
Soul Alchemy
“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” ~Rajneesh
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
The Art of Graham Colthorpe
Graham Colthorpe-“Golden Evening-Venice”
“Springtime in Paris” – Graham Colthorpe
“Sunshine and Shadows-Paris” – Graham Colthorpe
Filed under paintings I love
Harvest 5-9-2020
These pictures seem like they are the same couple of pictures TWICE. Actually, they are two different batches of lettuce I harvested today. I took two views of each batch so you would get a good idea of how much the head lettuce is producing. This is one view of batch # 1 today.
A second view of the first batch.
Batch # 2
Batch # 2
I processed and washed 9 gallon plastic bags of lettuce leaves today. I am rich in lettuce! Guess who will be eating LOTS of salads starting at lunch today…
Progress in the Garden 5-9-2020
I spent most of the day in my veggie garden today. I started weeding and harvesting the lettuce, brought that in and rested. Then I went out again and did the same, bringing in another full basket. I then weed whacked under the garden boxes, and finally sprayed weed killer under the boxes and around the inside perimeter.
Our weather forecast for next week is rain every day except Thursday, and we have a 60% to 80% chance each day. That’s a LOT of rain. We may need a boat by the end of the week.
So that meant that we basically had today and tomorrow to try to get the yard and garden under as good control as possible before the rain starts. My husband mowed the yard.
I got the garden under control and will do a lot of weed whacking and clean up tomorrow.
My plants are doing well so far. Everything is looking healthy and happy.
I took this close up to show you that the lettuce, as well as providing lots of leaves for salads, is starting to form heads!
Friendship
Last fall my friend, Laufrain, dug up her elephant ear plants to winter over until the spring. She gave me TWO of them! I put them in our dining area on the floor and held my breath that I could keep them alive until I could give them a home on our front porch in the spring.
Two days ago I moved them to the front porch. I left them in their original pots because I want to be able to bring them in again – assuming they live – when it’s time for them to winter over. We are not planting our usual impatiens this year, unless things change on the pandemic, so I thought the elephant ear would look nice, be at least a little protected from wind and possible hail here, and hopefully be healthy, happy plants.
Filed under Friendship, Gardening
Life of a Slug
Yesterday I emulated a slug. It was a wonderful day.
Life Time Athletic
Arkansas is reopening, so I was able to have my first massage in three months. AHHHHHHHH! Each part of my body let out a big sigh as my therapist, Lynn Moody, found another tight or sore spot and eased our the kinks. I tried to get her to just let me sleep there when she finished, but she calmly, sweetly, told me I had to get up and go home, and gave me an appointment for next month. :0)
When I got home, I fixed lunch. We ate, and I thought I would drink a cup of coffee and watch the news on TV. The next thing I knew, it was an hour later.
I did only what was needed yesterday, taking another nap in the afternoon. The life of a slug is sweet!
Today Lunch Bunch is trying to meet at the Pizza Barn. It rained overnight, and it’s looking like it might rain again. We were planning to eat at one of the picnic tables they have put in their parking lot, but that might not be in the cards. Kay is calling to find out if it would be possible for us to eat inside if it’s raining. The jury is still out on whether we can finally enjoy a meal together or not. I usually hug them – but I’m learning to hold my hands behind my back to remind myself to take care of each of my friends. If not this week, then maybe next week. Till then, we’ll just have to say, “Hi” on the phone.
I’m hoping to get up to my art room this afternoon, since it looks like the work in the yard and the garden might not be possible. I want to start painting a new group of wooden earrings – these with posts – so I can add this option to my Etsy site, Eyecatching Earrings . I’ll show you pics when they are listed.
Today is rainy, windy, and raw. I’ll get together the makings of keto chili in the crock pot for tonight.
I hope you can find some joy today.
Impossible, and Yet…
I consider painting water and snow impossible, and yet some people are so talented they DO it! I’m totally in awe. One of these talented folks is Stephen McGuinness.
Stephen McGuinness
Stephen McGuinness
Stephen McGuinness
Stephen McGuinness
Stephen McGuinness
Stephen McGuinness
Filed under paintings I love
Wednesday in the Garden
Yesterday I spent a lot of time weeding, staking, and tying up tomato plants to make them as secure as possible with all the waves of severe weather we’ve been having. So far, they seem to be doing fine. I have six plants in this planter.
And four more here. I actually have some blossoming on a couple of the plants now!
And in the raised bed garden –
My spinach is doing well. My plants aren’t as pretty as they sometimes are because we have had so much heavy rain that the boxes fill up faster than they drain and the soil alternative settles on the plants. These seem healthy, though.
Red onions and head lettuce.
Head lettuce. You can see that the center leaves are starting to curl up, forming the ‘head.’
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Thoughts on Folding Myself Into a Paper Airplane
Ranker
Yesterday I was really sore from working in the yard, so I settled down to do some yoga in the afternoon.
It had been awhile since I practiced. I’ve admitted before that I’m really lazy and use every excuse in the world to avoid exercise, even though I KNOW I need it.
I live with the illusion that I’m still young most days, doing what I need or want to do, paying the price for that later – when my body laughs at me, and then turns the screws by going on strike for a time, adding insult to injury by making me walk around like a really old lady, creaking when I get up or sit down.
Yesterday was the first day in quite awhile that I got down on the mat. I could immediately tell that my body was in ‘snarky mode,’ when I started to creak just getting down to start. Suffice to say that the stretching positions did not come easily and that I have lost ground on flexibility since I last practiced.
I resent the fact that doing yoga and doing my elliptical trainer in the garage seem to use different muscles than I use in everything else I do. I kill myself working in the yard, for example, but THAT exercise doesn’t translate to keeping me flexible or allowing me to walk longer distances without feeling it in my hips.
My practice lasted a lot longer than usual, and my stretches weren’t near as good as I HAD been doing when I was practicing every day. I DID feel better when I finished, though, and I slept better last night.
When Wood Comes Alive 2
Filed under When Wood Comes Alive
Thoughts on a Tuesday – May 5, 2020
Simply-Beautiful
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Some really good friends of ours celebrate an anniversary today. I wish them many, many more happy years together.
Last night my husband and I cooked out on the grill for dinner. Severe weather was forecast, but we decided we would go ahead with it, hoping we could finish before the rain started. We have an LED rope light that we strung around the deck top, and I plugged those in while we sat and talked, enjoying the cool down and the breeze while the meat cooked. The lights instantly make us feel festive! We got our dinner cooked, and I stored the grill cover on the back porch as we went inside, having lost one before in the same situation.
As we sat down in the living room with our dinner, the rains started. They came in waves, sometimes quite hard. It was loud, too, with lots of lightning and wind. I closed the garage door, finally shutting the front and back door due to the blowing rain. It was quite something.
This morning the sun is shining and all is quite beautiful. It amazes me that it can be so fierce during the night and so lovely the next day. There are leaves and small branches all over the front yard again. (I just cleaned up a big bunch from the last storm.) I have not found any damage yet. Our tomato plants are still looking good. I’ll give them closer attention this morning, as well as check on our garden veggies to see if all is good out there, too. I’ll try to get some pictures to share with you.
I had a wonderful thing happen this past week. I received an order for a set of glassware on my painted glass website.
I was slow acknowledging the order due to our severe weather causing Internet problems. I wrote the customer, apologizing for the delay. He was very nice, saying they had the same problem where he was. He received the glassware yesterday. I wrote to see if they arrived safely and if he was pleased. He said, “Hi. I just opened them and they are wonderful! Thank you so much. I will be using them a lot.” Needless to say, I’ve been walking about 3 inches off the ground, grinning like a nut…
My friend Kay from Lunch Bunch called me yesterday, asking if my husband and I wanted to meet this Friday, having our lunch served outside at the picnic table our restaurant has set up. This will depend on the weather cooperating, of course, but I said an enthusiastic “YES!” Fingers crossed Mother Nature will be in a good mood.
I hope that you are having a good day today.
Hope is in the air!
Filed under Friendship, Mother Nature, Thoughts on a ________
Punny
BBC
Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
“I have a split personality,” said Tom, being frank.
When life gives you melons, you’re dyslexic.
I Renamed my iPod The Titanic, so when I plug it in, it says “The Titanic is syncing.”
*Thanks to Bored Panda
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, punny
“It’s All For Love”
“It’s All For Love” – via Penny Yaffe Krakow
Filed under Favorite Pictures, paintings I love
Squirrelly
via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
New Animalbook
“Squirrel Meets Butterfly” – Steve Chastain – via Penny Yaffe Krakow
Filed under Awe-Inspiring Photography
Gratitude
A.A.Milne
Today I am grateful that Arkansas is starting to reopen its economy, allowing more local businesses to carefully supply their services. This is so important to the many small business people who fall through the cracks of Federal help in times like this, too many not qualifying for loans or unemployment.
This week my husband will get a haircut and I will get a massage. AHHHHH! We have tried to do what we were able to support many of the important people in our personal lives, but going back to work will heal the wounds more quickly than anything else. I hope that this reopening is coming soon enough to get people back on their feet again with as little damage as possible.
As this reopening happens, at whatever time and pace where you live, remember that it is OUR responsibility to judge each thing we are doing, judging whether it is safe for us to do, or if we should defer it for later.
Take care. Be grateful. Be safe. Be well.
Filed under Attitude, Health Alert
creativeartworksblog 