Weblog 313
February 12, 2012~ 6:00 am
Completely missed my midnight uploading to Blogger. I was ASLEEP. (Snow this weekend. Snowbound and quiet)-- haven't been out since Friday afternoon; every tree and bush is laden with about 5 inches of white stuff.
Temperatures are in the teens and 20's with PLENTY of wind. I mostly slept and read and lazed about....ODD hours for sure... up during the night and asleep most of the day on Friday evening and Saturday. Today of course, I'm seeing my mum this afternoon, so I'll have to dig out, put gas in the car and buy her a newspaper. I didn't do any shopping, but I have provisions enough (and I think mum's even stocked up on her Entenmann's chocolate chip cookies- I usually bring a box on Sundays) so no worries there. Outside.... it's the PERFECT landscape for BIRDS.
Like that fat little stylized painting of a broad-chested robin, berries nearby. The cold and snow doesn't seem to affect our avian friends one bit, and man..... they sure look pretty posed against a backdrop of fluffy white!
Here's a Monet painting of a magpie perched atop a fence after a snowfall.
I love the buttery tints of sunlight in that one. Monet's colors are so subtle and layered... it adds an immediacy to his style that truly lends to the feeling of a caught, real moment. (Yes, I've browsed all manner of artwork this weekend. It's like one long solitary trip through a museum, and very relaxing.)
Tuesday is Valentine's Day. Wayne did show up on Friday after work for a quick meal at Calabria's, which is a stone's throw up the road. We didn't visit the grandkids, didn't shop... it had begun to spit flurries at 5 p.m. so I advised him to drive home BEFORE the roads got slick and nasty. But he brought a lovely, sparkly red Valentine's day bag covered in hearts and filled with chocolate, fudge, a lovely HUGE card, and yes.....
a wee stuffed animal. That round little guy is 'Tumbles' the cat, soft and squishy and adorable. He'll take his place propped on my bed pillows, next to the pink frog of last year. LOL!!! (No matter what you hear, no gal is EVER too old for stuffed animals!)
Wayne's fretting about my ancient furnace also prompted yet another gift..... a bag from Walmart containing two smoke detectors and two carbon monoxide sensors. His terror of my 70-year-old Sears furnace knows no bounds. I WILL install them.... just not during this lazy, snowbound weekend. (Once I find the power drill in that MESS of a pantry closet. I know it's in there, buried beneath a ton of old Christmas lights, vacuum cleaner attachments I'll never use, gardening tools I'll never touch again and all manner of things I keep because I'm too damn lazy to throw away. Of the seven deadly sins.... SLOTH is mine own.)
Oh, and I was so saddened this morning to read that Whitney Houston had passed away. Poor, poor girl. All that talent, all that early fame... then, as happens all too often, a slippery slope into drugs and addiction and a disasterous marriage that kept her there. She had a voice like a claxon, with power and beauty to spare. How tragic... yet how sadly predictable. Rest in peace, girl.
February 12, 2012~ 7:50 pm
Got to see mum today. The roads were clear- all except my back alley, but that's par for the course. The new car negotiated the slippery tracks very nicely indeed, and I had no problems returning- going back UP the alley driving home.
I did stop at the local supermarket to get a few things- not nearly what would be a full weekly shopping trip, but I think I'll be fine with what I have. There's a new lady at table six. Very thin, very hunched and has a smoky, cultured voice. I don't know her age, but I think she's been placed in assisted living due to emotional issues
We all had pleasant conversation during dinner, but when Joan asked me if I had children, I told her two, a boy and a girl. When I told her my son was in Afghanistan for 6 months, there was the strangest, IMMEDIATE reaction. She scrunched up her face, her eyes filled with tears and she began moaning and rubbing her eyes, saying, "Oh no.... oh nooooo. Get out, get out, get out! We need to get them OUT!" Some deep, hideous sorrow had gripped her- and I felt helpless to do anything. There was such pain written on her face. I kept telling her he'll be home soon, four months to go, that I understood-- and how I had been MUCH worse with his year's tour in Iraq, but she continued to shake her head, both fists mashed against her face.
That stunningly dark painting above is by Augustus Schenck, painted in 1878, and it's called "Anguish". Anguish is exactly what I saw in Joan's reaction. I knew there had to be a story behind the pain, but not knowing the details, I didn't know what to say... didn't know how to comfort her. I had become like one of those crows looking on, watching someone suffer. (Of course, the crows in the painting are doubtless waiting for a meal as well) but the impotence of the 'onlooker' is caught quite faithfully.
Who knows what horrors we each keep under wraps inside.... and who knows what triggers allow our nightmares to rise up and begin to dance. We're all such mysterious Chinese boxes, with one box fitted inside another, inside another, and sometimes the one with the pain nestled inside is accidently jostled into opening.
I feel bad that I unknowingly triggered Joan's to snap open. I hope she's calmed herself now.
People are such fragile creatures. It's always amazing to me to witness just how very fragile we are, and what little protection we have when something suddenly springs the locks.
February 15, 2012~ 7:00 pm
Where have I been?? What happened to Valentine's Day? LOL!! Well, believe it or not, it passed very quietly.... a workday week night..... but I did discover what ELSE was in the bag behind little Tumbles -(besides the fudge and solid chocolate hearts, that is.)
Tucked down in there was a fancier red box I thought was more fudge, but oh no... it contained CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES! -16 of 'em, and I ate 6 at my first sitting. Wow! -they are fabulous! (I also got another card from Wayne in the mail on Monday and it's soooooo pretty! It's like lace.
Completely, cleanly and intricately cut with lasers to render its delicate openwork. Here it is folded out from its tri-fold state- a foil heart and a loving message written inside by my honey... I feel like the Queen of Hearts!)
I also did my yearly chore of online INCOME TAX filing. (Don't believe it when H&R Block tells you your browser won't work without a serious upgrade. Just click right on through as long as you have 128-bit encryption installed, and it'll work not only well, but BETTER. Yep. All the extra junk loaded in Chrome or Firefox- in whatever version it's up to now, or IE- in whatever version it's up to now, does nothing more than load their dumb flash ads and pop ups with 'suggestions' to use their investment services or tax specialist service, etc.) Hell... I have Internet Explorer 6.0 as my base OS, then browse through Firefox 1.507 with Netscape 7 loaded and I did very well indeed. :)
You know, if I built a tiny 'treehouse'..... I think I could manage this
made of a broccoli spear and toothpicks. I could see me doing that- without much of a stretch of imagination.
But never THIS. It's a collection of magical BONSAI TREE HOUSES, and they are something a fairy princess might live in. Stunning! Whimsical and sooooooo much fun to look at.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
Completely missed my midnight uploading to Blogger. I was ASLEEP. (Snow this weekend. Snowbound and quiet)-- haven't been out since Friday afternoon; every tree and bush is laden with about 5 inches of white stuff.
Temperatures are in the teens and 20's with PLENTY of wind. I mostly slept and read and lazed about....ODD hours for sure... up during the night and asleep most of the day on Friday evening and Saturday. Today of course, I'm seeing my mum this afternoon, so I'll have to dig out, put gas in the car and buy her a newspaper. I didn't do any shopping, but I have provisions enough (and I think mum's even stocked up on her Entenmann's chocolate chip cookies- I usually bring a box on Sundays) so no worries there. Outside.... it's the PERFECT landscape for BIRDS.
Like that fat little stylized painting of a broad-chested robin, berries nearby. The cold and snow doesn't seem to affect our avian friends one bit, and man..... they sure look pretty posed against a backdrop of fluffy white!
Here's a Monet painting of a magpie perched atop a fence after a snowfall.
I love the buttery tints of sunlight in that one. Monet's colors are so subtle and layered... it adds an immediacy to his style that truly lends to the feeling of a caught, real moment. (Yes, I've browsed all manner of artwork this weekend. It's like one long solitary trip through a museum, and very relaxing.)
Tuesday is Valentine's Day. Wayne did show up on Friday after work for a quick meal at Calabria's, which is a stone's throw up the road. We didn't visit the grandkids, didn't shop... it had begun to spit flurries at 5 p.m. so I advised him to drive home BEFORE the roads got slick and nasty. But he brought a lovely, sparkly red Valentine's day bag covered in hearts and filled with chocolate, fudge, a lovely HUGE card, and yes.....
a wee stuffed animal. That round little guy is 'Tumbles' the cat, soft and squishy and adorable. He'll take his place propped on my bed pillows, next to the pink frog of last year. LOL!!! (No matter what you hear, no gal is EVER too old for stuffed animals!)
Wayne's fretting about my ancient furnace also prompted yet another gift..... a bag from Walmart containing two smoke detectors and two carbon monoxide sensors. His terror of my 70-year-old Sears furnace knows no bounds. I WILL install them.... just not during this lazy, snowbound weekend. (Once I find the power drill in that MESS of a pantry closet. I know it's in there, buried beneath a ton of old Christmas lights, vacuum cleaner attachments I'll never use, gardening tools I'll never touch again and all manner of things I keep because I'm too damn lazy to throw away. Of the seven deadly sins.... SLOTH is mine own.)
Oh, and I was so saddened this morning to read that Whitney Houston had passed away. Poor, poor girl. All that talent, all that early fame... then, as happens all too often, a slippery slope into drugs and addiction and a disasterous marriage that kept her there. She had a voice like a claxon, with power and beauty to spare. How tragic... yet how sadly predictable. Rest in peace, girl.
February 12, 2012~ 7:50 pm
Got to see mum today. The roads were clear- all except my back alley, but that's par for the course. The new car negotiated the slippery tracks very nicely indeed, and I had no problems returning- going back UP the alley driving home.
I did stop at the local supermarket to get a few things- not nearly what would be a full weekly shopping trip, but I think I'll be fine with what I have. There's a new lady at table six. Very thin, very hunched and has a smoky, cultured voice. I don't know her age, but I think she's been placed in assisted living due to emotional issues
We all had pleasant conversation during dinner, but when Joan asked me if I had children, I told her two, a boy and a girl. When I told her my son was in Afghanistan for 6 months, there was the strangest, IMMEDIATE reaction. She scrunched up her face, her eyes filled with tears and she began moaning and rubbing her eyes, saying, "Oh no.... oh nooooo. Get out, get out, get out! We need to get them OUT!" Some deep, hideous sorrow had gripped her- and I felt helpless to do anything. There was such pain written on her face. I kept telling her he'll be home soon, four months to go, that I understood-- and how I had been MUCH worse with his year's tour in Iraq, but she continued to shake her head, both fists mashed against her face.
That stunningly dark painting above is by Augustus Schenck, painted in 1878, and it's called "Anguish". Anguish is exactly what I saw in Joan's reaction. I knew there had to be a story behind the pain, but not knowing the details, I didn't know what to say... didn't know how to comfort her. I had become like one of those crows looking on, watching someone suffer. (Of course, the crows in the painting are doubtless waiting for a meal as well) but the impotence of the 'onlooker' is caught quite faithfully.
Who knows what horrors we each keep under wraps inside.... and who knows what triggers allow our nightmares to rise up and begin to dance. We're all such mysterious Chinese boxes, with one box fitted inside another, inside another, and sometimes the one with the pain nestled inside is accidently jostled into opening.
I feel bad that I unknowingly triggered Joan's to snap open. I hope she's calmed herself now.
People are such fragile creatures. It's always amazing to me to witness just how very fragile we are, and what little protection we have when something suddenly springs the locks.
February 15, 2012~ 7:00 pm
Where have I been?? What happened to Valentine's Day? LOL!! Well, believe it or not, it passed very quietly.... a workday week night..... but I did discover what ELSE was in the bag behind little Tumbles -(besides the fudge and solid chocolate hearts, that is.)
Tucked down in there was a fancier red box I thought was more fudge, but oh no... it contained CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES! -16 of 'em, and I ate 6 at my first sitting. Wow! -they are fabulous! (I also got another card from Wayne in the mail on Monday and it's soooooo pretty! It's like lace.
Completely, cleanly and intricately cut with lasers to render its delicate openwork. Here it is folded out from its tri-fold state- a foil heart and a loving message written inside by my honey... I feel like the Queen of Hearts!)
I also did my yearly chore of online INCOME TAX filing. (Don't believe it when H&R Block tells you your browser won't work without a serious upgrade. Just click right on through as long as you have 128-bit encryption installed, and it'll work not only well, but BETTER. Yep. All the extra junk loaded in Chrome or Firefox- in whatever version it's up to now, or IE- in whatever version it's up to now, does nothing more than load their dumb flash ads and pop ups with 'suggestions' to use their investment services or tax specialist service, etc.) Hell... I have Internet Explorer 6.0 as my base OS, then browse through Firefox 1.507 with Netscape 7 loaded and I did very well indeed. :)
You know, if I built a tiny 'treehouse'..... I think I could manage this
made of a broccoli spear and toothpicks. I could see me doing that- without much of a stretch of imagination.
But never THIS. It's a collection of magical BONSAI TREE HOUSES, and they are something a fairy princess might live in. Stunning! Whimsical and sooooooo much fun to look at.
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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