A Slow out of the Gate Sunday

I got up chomping the bit yesterday; cleaned house, worked in the garden  weeding and chopping the roses that died in the cold we had this winter. The eight plus foot tall fragrant old florabunda is down to about three tiny sprouts of less than three inches in height.  Same with the others, black and dead.  I sawed, used my geared pruner, and hauled trash can after trash can of debris.  So proud of myself.  At 1am I woke up to every muscle in my body screaming "what did you think you were doing?"

Ugh, I am not a creature of evenly timed habits, I crash and burn, rest up, and go like 60 until I crash and burn again. Kind of making hay while the sun shines. I made myself some herbal tea, took two ibuprophen and went back to sleep, same thing at 5am, then I woke up late, but I feel better, happier.  Nothing like working your angst out on helpless shrubbery that needs to go away anyway.

It sprinkled before I got up and my Sunday paper had not quite made it to the porch and was soggy.  I was going to call my paper girl for another when I remembered how she left my paper on my porch dry and safe all through our nasty freeze and snow so I hung the wet pages up on the chairs in the kitchen to dry insrtead. It read just fine and then I decide to save the papers and do a project with my granddaughters making paper mache' animals like I did with my own kids eons ago.  Some one in the family still has a lime green elephant I made.  So that's why I've saved all that decorative stuff I have, ribbons, trims, beads, button, and wiggly eyes. 

Then I read my blogs, much better than the paper here anyway.  Thanks to all of you who were so encouraging about my shoving myself back into making art.  It's funny how saying my hopes out loud, among my blogging friends makes me think about why I haven't done anything.  Then I noticed this:

All my good brushes, some from college, and best colored pencils are in the kitchen being guarded by ducks and a Chinese checkers game.  My easel is in another room.  My paints are in the closet.  What's wrong with this picture?  I moved them.

Not the space I really wanted but I've stalled long enough to because I don't have the right space. Now easel, canvas, paints (sitting on the printer), brushes, and palette are meeting in the same place.  Hooray!

What Makes You Happy?

"Water-Lilies" Claude Monet 1908, Dallas Museum of Arts

In spite of having an art degree, I had no idea how many waterlily paintings Claude Monet had done until I tried looking up an image to add to my blog.  The series is actually around 250 paintings. I picked this Wikipedia link because of its nice selection of  Monet's Water Lilies.  I've never painted 250 of anything not that I'm comparing myself to Monet. 

Making art (which I am not doing) made me happy, seeing art makes me happy.  I started thinking about this several weeks ago and pondering why I am currently artless, ha, ha, but got derailed by personal events, things that made me unhappy and anxious.  Today on Facebook an organization I joined earlier this year, the Picture Lady Program, posted this link from the UK Guardian . Art Makes You Happy.  Scientists have discovered that looking at art induces the same feelings of pleasure as being in love.  I loved the quote from Grayson Perry - artist "Life without art would be a series of emails."  Bland as I assume he's saying. 

So, I have my easel is up in the spare bedroom, canvas in place.  Pictures I took posted in sight for inspiration and quotes.  Will she, won't she?  Is this little morsel of inspiration due to all the gardening I've been doing, seeing things grow and blossom, or helping my four year old granddaughter paint her own birthday cards?  I don't know. The Picture Lady Program, who brings art to our schools where art and music have been slashed by the economy may have once again gotten my attention.  If viewing art feels like being in love, and I can understand that with my heart, I guess I will get out there and scoop up the endorphins.

Friday Thoughts

I'm glad for these things:

I was slugabed last  Friday when I heard the sound of this balloon running its burner and to gain altitude.  There was no wind and it was suspended over our backyards a long time so I could toss my robe and shoes on and get this picture.

Chocolate.

In half an hour my house will be filled with four grandgirls who are supposed to be doing their homeschool work today.  Although it's like herding cats some days I will be sad when they all stroll off to high school.

My church sings.  We had a prayer service last night for our pastor and we sung our little hearts out for nearly two hours.  My youngest son played his guitar and many with good voices went up by the pulpit and made us sound good.

Thank heaven for little girls, the two on the right are my grands.

I'm grateful for my family, large, diverse, full of characters.  Always there in a pinch or a celebration.

I'm especially glad for the new little family member who showed up 11 weeks early at 2 pounds 9 ounces.  He is strong and doing well.  He is breathing well on his own, gained two ounces, and he's pooping regularly now.  Isn't it funny what makes you happy?

Friends!

I've lost two more pounds and am six pounds away from where I should be.  My pants except for two new pairs of jeans are all too big and fortunately I can replace them.

I am down to just one regular medication to take.  That's for my diabetes. I can still eat dessert occasionally and of course, chocolate.  We have a to-die-for candy store here, Bright's Chocolate, and I run in and buy myself one stupendous dark chocolate truffle when the urge strikes.  I'd buy five but I'd eat them all in the car on the way home.

I'm glad for this blogging community.  I don't write everyday but I sure do read it everyday.

I couldn't think of a title for this post so I will just jump into it; our Pastor Robin Peterson died yesterday.  It's huge loss to his family, his friends, the congregation at College Place Presbyterian Church, and to the community at large.  He fought hard and long to conquer the cancer but finally the Lord called him home.  Bless you Robin.  He got in your life and stayed there.  I really miss you already.  Here's is the link to the post his daughter left yesterday.  Pastor Robin

The Inconstant Gardener

These are the last of my tulips to open.  All the daffodils and earlier tulips are faded or gone.  Some of my neighbors have tons of bright yellow tulips just opening.  I have to look into that and see about extending the time of some early color in my yard too.  This is my first spring season in the yard on my own in many years.  I still haven't adjusted from gardening in the milder, wet climate of Seattle to gardening in this semi-arid spot in SE Washington. 

I'm slowly replacing water hungry annuals and shrubs with drought tolerant perennials.  I shamelessly snoop in the neighbors yards as I walk to see what works and what doesn't.  Tiny violets pop through the grass in the spring.  Most of my neighbors try to get rid of the violets but I think they are charming, I look forward to seeing them.  We have the same joyful dandelions as Seattle but there's also a weed with thorns that comes up everywhere like a tiny ground cover along the streets and vacant lots.  Its thorns will go right through a rubber flip flop and the effect on bare feet is brutal.  Having spent most of my life's summers barefoot this was a painful shock.

I found someone to prune and shape a couple of trees in my yard.  They've become huge over the last 10 years and are eating my roof, or least plugging the gutters and giving the moss a nice place to grow.  An arborist has to be a cheaper solution than a new roof. 

My chosen task for the end of this week is to cut all the dead stuff out of the roses which after last winter are mostly dead stuff.  I've filled two 96 gallon cans so far.  I wore gloves but forgot about my arms which are now dotted and striped with scratches and punctures, the roses fought back like a mad tabby.  The front garden still needs more work and its new little lavender plants haven't arrived yet.  What is arriving is the rain, again, so I am cutting this short and rushing back out get two tomato plants in the wreck of the vegetable garden before they die.  I can clean out enough space to get them going.  I'm finding that in spite of frequent breaks for water and unkinking my back I still like gardening. All this fresh air and sunshine must be healthy, right?

Two Days of Sun and Counting

Blue Mountain Lavender Farm

 

Small Provence Lavender and an unknown rescue lavender

I bought these lavenders last year and because of the cement walk project in front of the house I didn't get them into the front garden bed around my yard light.   You can see the yard light in my blog header.  I stuck them into a bed in the backyard and they survived the winter and have grown quite a bit.  The little Provence from the lavender farm are grow round and tidy much like the field lavenders above.  The other two were leftovers from Shopko, the garden manager gave me a deal, free.  I've had good luck reviving the post season leftover perennenials, lavender, heather, grasses, daylillies, and the occasional azelea.  The daylillies have grown like crazy and need to be thinned out and shared.  All these plants have been cheap or free.  The key to survival here has been water, water, water, and rest in my sheltered dirt by the deck for a few months.  The orphan lavenders are kind of messy and I'm going to plant them in the vegetable garden to attract bees. Last week I got six ice plants from BiMart, three purple and three pink leftover from last year and cheap (I am a plant scrounger).  It's a ground cover and I'm hoping it will drape over the sides of the cement stairs up to the house.

I didn't put these plants into their new home yet because of the continuing rain we've had and hideous hay fever that was followed by a hideous cold.  Apparently I've passed on to my son, an awful way to thank him for a lovely Mother's Day.  Two days into antibiotics I feel human again and it's a beautiful day. I plan to get these all moved into the front garden around the yard light.  The bed still isn't edged out the way I want it but I have plenty of time before the plants get too much bigger.  Hope I don't forget to take the before picture.

My mother and mini-me.

Miss you Mommy.

Happy Mother's Day

Be you mothers, aunts, sisters, single dads, grandparents, or friends and teachers, may all of you who give children love and a sense home have a fine day Sunday.

Dinner and a Movie

Our radiant day of spring sunshine yesterday has been replaced by cool, breezy, and overcast again.  I'm afraid to stick my little tomato plants in the ground unprotected. Tomorrow I will venture out to the local garden emporium and get a couple of those little jacket things to put around them.  Yesterday I dug up a weedy garden bed around my front yard light and planted three pink ice plants.  When the sun comes back I will add more and move my little lavenders out there too.  The local grown asparagus showed up in stores this week and for dinner I made a Swiss cheese, mushroom, and asparagus Quiche.  Made it with fresh eggs from my kids' farm.  Three big duck eggs.  Smelled heavenly and tasted delightful if I do say so myself.

Now for the movie.  Well, more of a short.  This is on U-toob as we like to call it, made by my sister Susan and her daughter.  Click here, Too Much Sugar, a humorous cautionary tale made for grade school kids, she teaches fourth grade.  It was shown it at an assembly at her elementary school. She plays Grannie and the grandson which cracked me up.  I, of course, am quite proud of her acting and her daughter's film work.

Finding Old Friends

The last couple of years I've been trying to find old friends. Even with Google and Facebook our past women friends can be hard to find with the name changes women go through. When I divorced I changed my last name to a family name and not my maiden name, and I have kept it ever since. I saw a suggestion that you look for the parents of your friends and give them a call but at my age most of those parents are gone, but not all.

I did find one dear friend by searching the Internet. I knew she was in Hawaii. Along the way I met a new friend with the same name, also involved in education, now how funny is that? The second woman actually knew of my friend.

We moved a lot and grade school friends were few and very hard to find again. The friend that continues to elude me is Patty from 5 through 8th grades. My constantly moving family actually stayed in one place for 3 1/2 years and she was my best friend. Alas, she and her family seemed to have disappeared. I found another classmate from that time, Mary Ann who lived up the road and walked to school with us.  That was from an article in the Oregonian about Mary Ann's mother who had turned 95 and the party they had for her.

After starting and leaving two high schools, I got to stay in one school for the last two years and graduated with two friends, Cathy and Naomi, who found me after I signed up for the alum association. The alum paper provides news about people by class year and lists those who have passed on. I was shocked to find many of the girls I knew had not made it to retirement age. I also discovered my first love and prom date had died at 60 of a heart attack. Harbinger of things to come I suppose.

Here's the happy ending.  My friend Cathy lives about four hours from me. We finished high school together and started college together. I've visited her in Seattle and we've picked up kind of where we left off after a separation of 30 years. She has a daughter about the age of my youngest sister and the four of us are going to vacation together this summer in Alaska. I am really excited about this happening.  Naomi has moved from Hawaii to Texas and has invited me to visit. I've never seen Texas and I'd love to see her. She was in Seattle for awhile but an illness kept me home and we missed that opportunity. This makes me grateful for the Internet, the easy exchange of pictures and email.  Now if I can just find Patty.

May the all those injured, harmed, and bereaved by Osama Bin Laden take comfort in this day.

Lord protect our country and especially our troops.