Remember.....

Baby souls follow.

Young souls lead.

But old souls, Susan, are happy to dance alone.

Not that I'm spying on you,
The Universe

orange swirl

If I can place the blame somewhere it would be 'summer made me do it'.

I went grocery shopping while hungry (always a mistake) and gave in to the temptation. Orange delight: vanilla and orange sherbet ice cream.

Back in the day - age 7, Hatton Street, San Diego - mom would give us kids a dime when we heard the tiney sound of the ice cream truck coming our way. I'd scurry to the curb, peer at the menu board and agonize. The multi-colored missile pop or a creamsicle?



Although the missile pop was bigger, the creamsicle's flavors blended so nicely; a bit of creamy yet tangy on a stick.

It's a flavor I haven't yet outgrown.

Adoption

This video made my nostrils flare and tears leak from my tear ducts. Especially the part where Sarah tells of seeing the picture of her soon-to-be daughter and knowing right then that she was a mom.

My daughter and son-in-law have plans to adopt one day.

I can't wait.

(PS - Choose - or not -to ignore the reference to Mormanism)

The beauty of tension

Summertime is a busy time. Places to go, gardens to sow, weed & harvest, barbecues, overnight guests, camping trips, vacations, days to simply enjoy the season..... I love it all. But, cram all of the above into a 34 hour work week and my edges feel squeezed.

My BFF, Kathleen, listened patiently while I vented recently. 'The worst part is I have no time to create & my brain is overflowing with ideas', I whined.

Her gentle response is wise and noteworthy. 'Remember. It's the tension in our lives that gives rise to creativity.'

Without tension, our landscape would be muted and mundane.

Thank you, Kathleen, for once again freely sharing the wisdom you've learned through the' school of hard knocks'. I will continue filling my little notebooks with inspiration and ideas, biding my time until the rainy days return (all too soon) when I'm stuck indoors and have opportunity to create to my heart's content.

a pictures speaks one thousand words

My week in review - a photo montage:

Eager faces - Daddy's plane has landed!

Hot weather = pool time

Tasty summer harvest

'What are Words'

I'm touched by this young man, his music and his story.

I don't watch American Idol so you if you are a fan, this story will be old news. I've heard the name 'Chris Medina'. I just can't tell you where. Until now. I stumbled across Chris' story somewhere on the web telling about his fame due to his short stint on American Idol earlier this year.

While a contestant on the show, Chris told how his finance, Juliana, suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident a mere two weeks before their wedding leaving her in a wheelchair, struggling to recover. Chris, a Starbucks barista, has spent nearly two years caring for her. Although he was later eliminated from the show, Chris' story caught the attention of songwriter and producer Rodney Jerkins who was touched by Chris' devotion to Juliana . Rodney wrote a song loosely based on Chris' story and asked Chris if he would record it. 'What are Words' soared to No. 24 on the iTunes top 200 charts. Chris' new found popularity found him making appearances on The Tonight Show and Good Morning America.

The Universe works in profound ways. Donors, touched by Juliana's struggles and Chris' devotion, have been generous with their dollars, aiding in Juliana's recovery.

I know a young woman named Sarah who suffered irreversible brain damage when hit by a drunk driver driving the wrong way on an interstate. This accident not only turned Sarah's life upside down but the lives of her family as well. Despair, medical bills, nursing care, therapists, bedside vigils , lawsuits, back strain, infections; heaps of difficulties. Yet love is lavished daily upon this young woman by her family and friends, again and again and again.

Chris Medina is a young 26 with endless possibilities ahead of him, not to mention his talented voice. Yet he's choosing Juliana to be a part of his life.

I admire this man.

OCD or simply organized?

We have three bathrooms in our home. While the kids were still residing at home, my biggest challenge was in keeping the bathrooms adequately supplied with toilet paper.

In my younger years, we did not buy in bulk. Nor did Costco exist back then. (Cover mouth with hand & emit a soft gasp.) When we ran out of something, mom simply added it to her grocery list and, come grocery day, that particular item would be available to use.

One day dear husband Glynn became exasperated when finding a stack of napkins on the bathroom counter. The toilet paper dispenser was empty once again. (doomsday music inserted here.) He declared from that day forward he would be taking over the responsibility of supplying our home with adequate toilet paper. That was over 10 years ago and, I must concede, we have never lacked for toilet paper since that time.

His distribution and supply talent has morphed into other areas of our home as well. I noticed these boxes of dishwasher detergent on our garage shelf last week. I have 2 bottles of liquid detergent awaiting use under the kitchen sink, as well.

Glynn is quite adept at quoting this ditty:

'Prior planning prevents poor progress'.

His organizational skills extend into his bathroom, too. Why stop with one extra bar of soap when one can have 4 or 5?

Thanks to him, we'll have clean hineys, clothes & dishes for months to come.

I love this man who generously shares his bottomless supply of affection as well...

Loving these summer days....

Stephanie, wanting to visit Grandma Ellen in her new 'digs', flew home for a few days. Although her visit was short, we were able to hog her this time. We did share her with Ellen & Steph now has some amusing stories to share about life in the retirement home.... (Steph has a good picture of her & G'ma but it's on her camera so I'll add it here later.)

Dad & mom had a bbq in Steph's honor. Look at little Cooper, stuffing his face!

Before driving Steph back to PDX airport today, we went to Fabric Depot in SE Portland. She is crocheting an afghan for me and I will be making her a queen sized quilt in exchange. She wants a simple square blocked quilt made with bright colors. Many calculations later, we determined we needed 1/3 yard of 25 different prints. It took us about 1.5 hours to choose the variety of colors and, I must say, this will be a fun quilt to make.


With 25 bolts of fabric, we had to use two shopping carts. I had her demonstrate, Duggar style, how one maneuvers multiple shopping carts at once. She was mortified by my weirdness and refused to look at the camera....

Olympia has a new goodie shop downtown called 'Bonjour Cupcakes'. It's next to Jinjor across from Sylvester Park. It's a cute little location with white washed tables & chairs, small chandeliers and a cozy atmosphere. Steph chose chocolate caramel with caramel frosting. My choice was a vanilla cupcake infused with real lavender & lavender frosting. Its was delectable! (It tastes like the smell of grandma's lavender sachets...)

It was nap time for the calves at Lattins Cider Mill.

Take a moment to walk into the lobby of the Security Building on 4th Avenue in Olympia. The beauty of the ceiling tile will take your breath away!

As I write this, Stephanie is likely at the Denver Airport waiting for her flight to Co Springs.
We miss you already, sweetheart!

Art journal

I've managed to squeeze a minute here and there to work in my art journal. Here are a few pages of recent art:

I'm loving this creation... the soft colors are soothing... (my raspberries are beginning to ripen, by the way!)

I have a recliner in the back room of my office (yes, I'm known to take a nap now & then while at work!) and smile when I look across the wall, above the bulletin board to the banner of Cooper in all his pirate poses.

Summer happenings

Summer is in full swing with the days passing a little too quickly. I want to freeze frame our beautiful weather, my flower-ful yard and the long hours of daylight.

Our Sisters, OR trip happened a bit earlier than normal this year and, although the weather was sunny, we woke one morning to frost on the windshield.

Cooper was quite popular with his cousins vying for his attention. They went so far as to assign themselves a specific 'patrol'; diaper, food, sleeping & or eating patrols. That way, no one person was able to hog Cooper!


Sisters is a fun little town full of delightful shops. These window displays caught my fancy.

The 4th of July found me in Auburn at sister Kim's home. (Glynn had to work.) Although I did not stay for fireworks, there was plenty of action & noise as the kids had fun together.


Elda spent a week with us while visiting her mom. Prior to arriving, she had surgery in Idaho on her hand. The stitches needed to come out and rather than spend $150 to have them removed by a bonafide Dr/nurse, I volunteered. (Perhaps you don't know, dear reader, that someday - perhaps in my next life - I'll be a nurse...) After googling 'how to remove a mattress stitch', and while Elda closed her eyes (anything having to do with blood or needles makes her want to swoon), I swabbed the site with alcohol, nabbed the stictch(es) with a tweezers, snipped the knot, tugged gently and success. My first suture removal!

This was taken before the sutures were removed.

Busy-ness

I will post again - one of these days.
'Til then, I'm simply busy with life.....