Another week flies past--------------

Whooosh and another one bites the dust. Another week. Another week of a month that went so quickly, tomorrow is February already. The worst of winter is behind us! Just to prove spring is near, here is a bad, bad photo of a good thing....look really close at the little blob in the center of this photo,, it's a robin! A pair of robins were visiting us on January 25th! I took the photo through a dirty window and several screens, from the comfort of my kitchen,, the robins may want to be in the yard in January, but I do not.

I would rather stay inside with the kids and play.

Here is Gael playing with a duckie that Flouride gave to us, He love pulling things around, now that he can walk. He also has a mouth full of puff-corn. He is one active little dude! Saturday night Grandpa and I babysat and I was simply exhausted when he went home.
Here is Em, I am so proud, she got a perfect report card again, straight A's! I am sure she inheretied her academic talents from me. :)

Sunday entertainment

The next time I complain about one of my kids, someone slap me, okay?

Yesterday my daughter and her children took me to the Milwaukee Art Museum...

We had such a wonderful time despite the crummy weather.

I really enjoyed the art, I have never been to ANY art museum, and I was surprised to find such wonderful stuff so close to home.We did get to see a lot, but Gael didn't appreciate the art very much... he liked the open space to run around. This photo is blurry, but it captures him well. He moves fast. Here I am next to a Monet (or was it Manet?) I was so busy looking at it all and the kids, I didn't take any notes. (It's Monet....I looked it up)
Em wanted her Auntie to see her in front of this Warhol work...This glass sculpture seems to be springing from Emili's head

This was my favorite painting, I felt like I could step into this landscape...the colors! Does anyone know whose work this is? I would like to see more......If only I had taken notes along with the photos.

Speaking of color and beauty, how about these roses? They are tiny (tea?) roses that I got from Delores for my birthday.

Today is........

2 parents (still living) and 2 grandchildren and 2 siblings
3 children
5 years in my current business
7 significant pets (for the curious-Shorty, Goober, Bugle, Ferdie, Boomer, Thunder, Nick)

9 age when received my first sewing machine (thanks to my parents)

11 age at which I realized I would never dance like a ballerina

13 really good friends (at least)

17 years since I realized that I was (still am) in love
19 my age at first marriage
23 always a good day in January
29 people who love me
31 age at divorce
37 age at current marriage
41 stopped working as a nurse
43 age when I knew that there was life after raising children
47 first new knee
53 years old today

All prime numbers, and things that have made my life what it is today, absolutely prime!

My Boom

My Boom

" My Boom" is a phrase I came across recently whilst surfing the web. It's a phrase the Japanese use when describing a current fad, or something that one is obsessed with at the moment.

From time to time, my boom is words and word origins, so naturally I had to investigate this phrase. Luckily, I have 5 relatives that speak Japanese, a convenient source of information. I asked one of them, and was quickly told the correct pronunciation.....Say it with me....My Booom-uh... not Boomer, Booom UH.

So, I guess the Japanese borrowed the word boom and made it their own.

I like it.

I use it.

I get blank stares.

What?

Your What?

My Boom is confusing people by using the phrase "My boom"

What is your Boom?

Another----today is

omg, the day is almost over but it is...........

Is it a metaphor or is it a simile?

Photos of the last day, in no particular order..... Walkway across the tunnel to Monona Terrace

That's me having breakfast, that I did not cook or clean up.

Last night at the rodeo

The view of Lake Monona from our room......

We also ate some great food, did a little shopping (books and art stuff) And we saw this show I am still laughing, live radio can be hilarious!

In the middle of this adventure, I am enjoying a few quiet moments. Dave is elsewhere, doing something. I know not where or what....Actually I have a general idea his activities, but I am not concerned.

I am sitting in a lovely hotel room, with my feet up and simply being in the moment. How very Zen of me! :)

I might not ever come home, but my favorite rodeo cowboy might be there when I do! How can I stay away?

Sometimes I think, life is like a rodeo,

the trick is to ride, and make it to the bell

--Rock and Roll Girls, John Fogerty

Some Silly Stuff

Ideas come to me at the most inopportune times. Times when implementing or at least recording the ideas are impossible. Lately, I seem to have flashes of inspiration while swimming laps at the pool... when I get out of the water, whooooosh, the idea is gone.





Before the holidays, I would have great gift ideas come to me while backstroking, the perfect present for my Dad,,,, UHH,,,,,what was that again? It's January and I still have not remembered! (We got him a coffeemaker)





In the summer, my mind is filled with possibilities while I am riding the lawn mower. I get in that zone, and I suddenly become super creative. As soon as the engine is turned off, I forget most of it and what I do retain, now seems dull and/or silly.

Speaking of Silly Stuff......people of my age may remember playing with trolls when we were children... do you remember? You know, short, naked beings with hair that sticks straight up, flat feet......

I was very fond of my trolls. My very first sewing project was a troll robe.. Designed it myself, I did.

I even had a troll house. Recently my sister brought my old toy troll house to the little house where I live now. I am not sure how the toy house came into her possession, I think it was in our parents attic all these years. I have it now, and guess what? My granddaughter Emili is as troll crazy now as I was in the sixties!

She asked for trolls for Christmas. She got trolls. Lots of them.....They have evolved a bit since the last century. No longer naked, there are theme trolls now. Skiers, beach bums, ballerinas, babies, etc., and your standard naked troll. My favorite is her hillbilly troll. It just goes with my troll house so well. Here is a photo of me with some of Em's trolls at Clay's house on Christmas Day. I still love playing with them. Do you think it's genetic?

Today is

Soup to Nuts

Soup is the perfect food for January, in my opinion.
The obvious reason is that it is warm and satisfying and a comfort food. If it is prepared with a little discretion, soup as a meal can help to shed that holiday weight gain.
In addition most soups feel like "everyday" food, after all the rich goodies in December, it is refreshing, almost virtuous.



I made soup today. Clean out the fridge soup. My ingredients included carrots, some slightly rubbery celery, leftover tomato basil egg noodles and stock...I cooked some barley, added that, and voila! It's soup! Yummy. And the fridge is empty of leftover this and that. I did leave one item off the list, an exotic (to me) vegetable lurking under the carrots in the crisper drawer. Any guesses?
If you look closely at the photo, the mystery vegetable can be seen, that is, if you know what you are looking for...
If you happen to be my younger sister, you are forbidden to guess or give away the answer, you probably picked this veggie yourself at the Good Earth Farm.
What does the correct guesser of the mystery veggie win? Satisfaction, I guess, unless you want some soup.











I found a nice book today at the thrift shop., Journeys through Bookland, published in 1922.

Inside cover
The title page reads
"A NEW AND ORIGINAL PLAN FOR READING APPLIED TO THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN"
The book has lovely illustrations, but the content would challenge any of today's children...
Young readers, perhaps, but not for children. Were kids smarter back then? or just more studious?

---------------------------------------------
After the soup, I enjoyed cracking some nuts, filberts are my favorite!

Some thoughts on blogging

Blogging has nor been a priority for me lately, but it's a new year, and I believe it is time to get back to the writing. If only I could come up with an idea worth writing about. Real writers call it being "blocked." Blocked is certainly what I am. Out of ideas. So today I decided to start posting again in hopes that the muse will visit and bring the ideas and the words.


So until then, I will just post some random thoughts and photos, and see where I am led.

Here is a photo of my husband, busily getting ready to go somewhere, from the looks of it, he must have been going to church, those are his "church clothes." He is busy, while my butt is parked on the sofa, probably knitting....


Speaking of knitting, I have started a project..I have made a goal to knit 50 hats. Stash reduction is the idea...Trying to make something useful from all the little balls of hand spun that clutter my studio. Hat number 25 is on the needles right now.. I have been taking snapshots of the hats as I go along, ans intend to post about the project when I complete all 50.


January seems a good time to organize and declutter. This photo shows some of the junk that I found at the bottom of my knitting basket.. See the little bottle of ink? I have been looking for that item for some time now, it was a small gift when it turned up.

More stuff for art journaling, on my table. Art journaling, in case you are unfamiliar with the term, is expressing thoughts, feelings and other stuff using paints, ink, paper, tape, and almost anything else in a journal... Maybe this is why I have not been blogging, some of my creative energy has been focused on this new pursuit. More info on art journals can be found here.

The days are short at this time of the year, althouth we have turned the corner.... I twisted soem twinkle lights around my headboard, I like the soft light they create.

MORE LIGHT !

In 1832 Germany's greatest literary light gave the world his last metaphor, this time unintended. As he sat in his Weimar house holding the hand of his daughter-in-law, Ottilie, Goethe spoke of the walks he would take in the warmer months ahead, made some reference to a girl of his youth, and breathed the name of his equally famous, long-dead friend, Friedrich von Schiller. But wanting another shutter opened to the morning sun, the author of Faust called to a servant for "More light!"

More Info on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe can be found here