Some things are amazing

I was cleaning up in the kitchen after doing something rather strange - cooking!  Out of nowhere I remembered an impromptu performance of Irish dances last Saturday at Margaret Dyers reception at River Gallery.  A couple from Atlanta with their daughter, here for the day, were drawn into a conversation with several of us.  Don't really recall how Ireland crept in to the conversation but when she said her daughter did Irish dances, and I am planning a trip to Ireland, I asked permission to see if she would dance for us. Although quite young, she dances with a group in competitions so she was very poised.  Even with no  music- she delighted us all with an Irish jig and another clog dance.  I don't have pictures of her dancing but I do have a couple of photos of Margaret's pastels that I want to post.

Musings

IIt occurred to me upon reading the last posting that I never did find out what brought three fire engines to our hill!!

Tis difficult to understand how time can fly so fast some times.  Seems as though it is afternoon one minute and the stars are twinkling before I've had a chance to turn around twice.  I am sure that has to do with the fact that I stay busy for the most part.  Could it be the dawdling in between that tends to eat up so much time?

I have managed to finish an oil painting of Addy, do a watercolor of Paul's grandson, back into my neighbor's car on my way to church last sunday,  read a couple more books by Robyn Carr - like the way she writes - buy a weeping red bud, take a friend to lunch who was heading back today for the hospital in Tampa for stem cell treatment to put her cancer at bay. What else?.  Rake leaves, or was that last week, scrub the deck with a broom loaded with clorox.  The overhanging trees, birds and squirrels really make a mess.

An artist I admire tremendously and from whom I have taken four workshops in pastels was doing a demo at River Gallery yesterday prior to a reception of her show.  I went early so I would have no trouble finding a spot to park and it gave me a chance to scrutinize her work before people got there.  Margaret Dyer does magical things with pastels!  I hung around and as luck would have it we had time to catch up on the changes going on in her life..  She and a friend and I had dinner at Tony's and a quick trip to show her In-Town Gallery - at her request.  She was really quite complimentary of our co-op.ll

I do not know if I could go thru the gruesome cancer treatment Billie has gone thru these past 6 months.  I have a feeling I would say no, I have lived long enough.  Billie is quite a bit younger than I and she has a good chance to get control of it - not a cure - but keep it in remission and go on with her life.

About brain dead - nite.

Flunked journaling 101

Tis nearly two months since i last wrote in my blog so it looks as though journaling is not the sort of thing I can do with any great regularity .  Suddenly I have become rather like a gad fly.  After saying I would never fly again after the disastrous trip home from Coos Bay, Oregon last Fall, I found myself going on a short trip to Florida and most recently a trip to see my daughter.  Both of those trips were short and without incidents.  A slight glitch in communications did have me waiting for someone to pick me up at the airport,  When I said into my cell phone that I was on the ground the recipient of my call thought I had fallen!  When she didn't hear any moans and groans she asked for clarification.  Confirmation of flight schedules to the person meeting you at the airport  is as important as with the airlines!

All of this is to say that I will be sure to confirm  more than once  my arrival time on the return trip from Ireland.  Yes the person who said "never more" after spending a harrowing 4 hour drive in a small, cold bus at 75 miles an hour on a twisty costal road to get to the Portland airport at 2 AM is crazy enough to contemplate a 10 hour flight to Ireland.  Portland has a beautiful airport but at 2 AM the only thing open besides security was a souvenir shop.  The lady manning the shop was tickled to death to have someone to talk with.  Eventually a snack shop opened up and we were able to get something to stave off starvation till we could board a plane for home at 6:30.  That was originally the time we were due to arrive in Atlanta and would have if the commuter plane had ever taken off from Coos Bay!

I have been reading a wonderful book by Robyn Carr, The House on Olive Street.  I had t stop for awhile because I have a tendency to devour a good book.  I hate reading a book piecemeal and when I get hold of a really good book I don't want to do anything else but submerge myself in it.  I did vacuum this morning before  delving into it.  And yesterday I raked leaves till I had a mountain of leaves.  I'm not totally undisciplined. Not totally.

It doesn't pay to name a neighborhood similar names like, so and so drive, loop and circle because the fire engines never know where they need to be if there isn't a large plume of smoke to guide them.  Just now three fire engines went flying up the circle then behind us on the loop then up another street before they evidently wound up at the right place at the top of the hill.  Don't know what the problem is or was but two of the fire engines and another vehicle left.  Guess I'll find out in the morning.  I had planned to start reading another book I found by Robyn Carr tonight but guess I'm too tired so will say good night and head for bed instead.  Sweet dreams, y'all.

Getting the hang of it.

Eventually I suppose I'll get the hang of this and begin to post regularly, not that it really matters.

I need to learn more about cars.  A light came on the dashboard to alert me to something wrong.  When I looked in the owners manual it said that little icon referred to something to do with the electrical exhaust system.  When I got to the dealers and they ran a diagnostic check, you know what it turned out to be?   The cotton pickin gas cap was not screwed on TIGHT!  I was told to tighten it until it clicked several times and wouldn't go any farther!!  I have never ever tightened it down till it clicked and besides,  if I did that I'd never be able to get it open again.  Oh, adding insult to injury, that cute little gal who waited on me was so sweet and she said that little icon indicated the engine!  Check the engine!

I had them change the oil while I was there.  The dealer sticker indicated the oil hadn't been changed in 17,000 miles but I know that was wrong.  Finch was a stickler for oil changes and I doubt if I have even put 1,000 miles on it in the last year so somewhere there is a sticker saying when the last change occurred!

I payed the bill thankful there was nothing wrong with my car and thankful as well they only charged me half the normal fee for that diagnostic.  They really shouldn't have even  charged that because the not really tight enuf gas cap showed up right away!!!!

I need to  learn more about cars!

Birthdays are mileposts

Now that I have supposedly learned how to inset images I would like to reflect on this day - January 7, 1950 when my first born arrived in this world - two weeks late - nevertheless healthy - weighing 8 lbs. 4 1/2 oz by caesarean section.  He was long and skinny with tissue paper thin ears that were a marvel to behold and perfect little hands and feet.  Within 6 weeks he had 3 chins and was fat as a butterball. He has been a wonderful human being as a child and as an adult.  I was going to mention some of the crazy things he did growing up but instead will try to add a few old photos to this instead.

This photo is of distant ancestors

This was last summer as you watched sea life swirl around your feet.
These weren't exactly the photos I wanted to include but after two hours of trying I finally had to send out a cry for help.  The new Iphoto just would not co-operate with me and I was worn out.  Not unlike the day I gave birth!

Great catch Eddie and Grant

Granddaughter Addy

                HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SON GRANT

TC siamese

TC just appeared one day.

In learning how to download pictures to my post-as it is called- I pulled this photo from my desk top.  Have to figure out how to retrieve them from Iphoto!

TC did just appear one day when he seemed to be about 3 months old.  Somehow he knew  that he would be taken in without question.  What a love he was - and the only kitten I ever knew whose tail touched his head when he walked.  Alas it wasn't my house he came to but Susan and Eddie's!  I do believe there is something invisible to us that leads cats to certain houses particularly where Susan and Eddie live.  He wasn't the first by any means and not the last .   The next cat arrived a year or so later, fully pregnant, and ready to give birth which she proceeded to do the very next morning after Susan left for school.  She teaches morning classes and Eddie teaches in the afternoon at Johnson & Wales Culinary University.  This left Eddie and Isabelle, their dog, to be midwives to the birth of 6 kittens.  I'm not kidding.  They performed admirably with Isabelle helping the mother , later named Jinxy, clean up the kittens.  The runt had to be eye dropper and bottle fed to survive and was named Peanut who turned out to be a munchkin.  You know, short legs, staying small.  The other kittens were eventually adopted by adoring families with Peanut and her mother joining Sprout who was a former doorstep adoptee and the last of the brood of 7.  So if you are a cat in need of a home just appear at Susan and Eddies.!!

Bulletin just in!  The monster feline, Ralphie, next door got into a terrible fight early this morning with TC and tore into him pretty badly, Susan said.

Responsibilities

I didn't take the time to post something yesterday because I felt the need to finish a letter - what I consider a real letter - on paper - to a friend I had neglected since my trip to Oregon. Billie has been undergoing chemo and radiation and surgery for multiple myeloma in Florida which i can only imagine is hell on earth!  Not knowing when  she would feel up to talking I emailed her sister with whom she is staying while undergoing the treatments at the cancer center in Tampa. She filled me in with the progress Billie has made and said today would be a good time to call!

I also had to finish a thank you letter to my children and grandchildren for making this Christmas the most wonderful one ever.  They did something Finch had wanted done instead of gifts for him for years only they did it in spades.  When you get older and you really don't need anything  - doing something for someone else in need becomes much more important. My family went together and adopted a whole family with a special needs child and made their Christmas. It still brings tears to my eyes and I get choked up thinking about it.  I still had some presents to unwrap but the note as to what they had done in my name and Finch's memory meant the world to me so I felt that a real letter to each of them was important as well.

I had been thinking back to all the letters my sisters and I would write to keep up with each other after we married and ended up scattered so far away.   So often our letters would be written in stages chronicling our busy lives with our offspring, sometimes weeks going by before it got mailed.   Not all of those letters were saved but seldom do email letters ended up being saved.  I have copies of letters my grandmother and grandfather wrote before they were married!  This electronic age is fast and expedient but lacks the personal touch of a hand written letter, wouldn't you agree?

I am writing this instead of being out in the cold doing my morning walk!  Several months have gone by and it looks like my walking buddy and I have come to the end of our daily 7:30 AM walks which started in the spring of  1974.  Bad weather has kept her from continuing because the cold is not good for her body these days.  She will be 90 this Spring.  She has been the catalyst for my jumping out of a warm bed and dashing out into the cold when my body would rather be still snuggled under the covers.  I really need to develop some willpower and get back to walking.  The biggest problem is walking back up my hill.  I tried it the other day and I huffed and puffed twice as bad as in the past.  The early morning walk was good to get me jump started in the mornings and we both felt that our good health was attributed to those early morning walks!   Perhaps I can pick a little later time and get back in the routine!  Perhaps I can make it to 90 if I do so!