Grandma Kathy's Blog

My busy week

2012-01-27T09:42:00.000-05:00

I am the jewelry buyer for the hospital gift shop. I volunteered for this job last spring when the shop got a new manager. It's really fun! I get to look at an incredible amount of pins, necklaces, scarfs, bracelets, rings, earrings and watches. Then I chose items that are affordable and that I think will sell in the shop. We try to keep our prices under $20, although sometimes necklace/earrings sets are priced a bit higher. This week we had two buying opportunities - one at a discount place in Rockville and the other from a company whose rep brings samples to us. The place in Rockville has a much wider selection, but it's a bit more expensive on some items. I bought from both vendors. After selecting jewelry for this spring and summer, I then have to put our price on each piece. Finally, I rearrange the display cases to include some of the new items. I can't do much of that on the days when I'm running the cash register, so I went in several times before the shop opened. The only day I wasn't there this week was Tuesday. It's almost as if I was actually working at a paying job! Next week will be back to normal.

One of the things I did recently was explore whether I could get a lower rate on my mortgage. This was an interesting experience, although not profitable. I applied on-line and subsequently received a letter telling me that I was qualified for a 15-year mortgage and what the interest rate would be. They did not mention other fees, so I was hoping those were wrapped into the amount of loan they mentioned. Unfortunately, that was not the case. When I spoke on the phone with a rep, they quoted me a higher monthly payment, which included various fees. This is the company that already holds my mortgage, so it seemed to me that they did not need to run a title search; pay taxes in advance; and do a couple of other things that are related to a NEW mortgage. However, they say that is not the case and they have to do all the various paperwork and issue me a new mortgage. Too bad. I said 'no thanks'. I have a rather small mortgage, so the interest isn't much of a burden, despite my rate being higher than what is now offered. I think they are not really interested in refinancing a small mortgage. They kept asking me if I didn't want to borrow extra money. Oh well, at least now I know not to bother with refinancing. Lesson learned.

I am taking a Raku pottery class again this winter. It's rather expensive, so I only do this once or twice a year, rather than just continuing to take the class year round. I don't have any photos from that class, as the first firing is still a week away. "Watch this space" as they say. There is more to come.

I also signed up for the 'Bain Senior Chorus'. We start rehearsals next week. I have no idea what kind of music we will be singing. (At Christmas, it was mostly pop music and carols). Our next concerts are in May. Singing with this group is fun. So far the music has not been very difficult, but it's interesting music. A few years ago, I joined a large interdenominational choir that sang religious music. The sound produced by about 100 voices was amazing, but the music was dreadful. It was corny and simplistic - just not my kind of music. I stayed for one concert, but that was all. I sing in my church choir and really enjoy the music there, but it's not really enough, so I'm always looking for other singing groups. Unfortunately, most of them meet at night. I'm really tired at night, so I try not to get involved in evening activities. I currently have two a week, sometimes three. The Bain chorus meets day times, which is great for me.

Today our lunch group, which is very small this week, is trying a new (to me) restaurant in Hyattsville - Busboys and Poets. One of our group has been there and recommended it. She gave me directions, which I hope I can follow. I used to know the area really well, as I worked near there, however I haven't been there much in the last 20 years. Wish me luck finding the place!

more photos from the Christmas Fair in Hyde Park

2012-01-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

This snowman was a 'bouncy castle' inside. It was really huge, although it's hard to tell from the photo.

I'm not quite sure what this photo shows. I think it might be the merry-go-round in the foreground. Well, actually the Coke cup is in the foreground, but I wasn't counting that as an object of interest!

Here's the big slide.

Swan boats, of course!

This should be "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!" However, I didn't see any lions. Maybe they are hiding behind all the other stuff.

Below is the last booth, located just before we exited the fest grounds. I thought the "Singing Chicken Show" would be interesting, but no one else wanted to see it! LOL

More photos from England trip - The Christmas Fair

2012-01-15T15:25:00.001-05:00

Lots of jewelry here. No, I did NOT buy any earrings! At least not here....

Cute kid, - not one of my grandkids - on the carousel. Really interesting beasts for riding.

Didn't see Santa at 'his' pub. In England he's mostly called Father Christmas, anyway. Lots of other folks were enjoying the beverages.

I was surprised that the kids didn't want to go on this one. They love roller coasters.

Don't know what this ride did, but it looked like it was more my speed. I want to stay on the ground and not spin around too fast! When it comes to carnivals, I'm really a 'cheap date'. I don't go on most of the rides.

back in the swing

2012-01-14T09:27:00.000-05:00

It seems as if I jumped right back into all my activities here when I returned from England last week. No rest for the busy, I guess. Actually I enjoy all my activities and like being busy. A few things have changed recently. I gave up volunteering at the church library back in the fall, when I joined a senior choir at the Bain Center. Singing with the group was great and I will continue with them. The choir is on break just now, but will resume sometime in the spring. The other major change in my schedule is that the pottery class I used to teach is not currently being held. The rec center wants to have at least 6 students in the class and they only got 2 for the latest session. So, I'm not teaching on Monday afternoons. I really miss the women who were in that class. Also, the money was nice - it wasn't a huge amount, just 'running around money' but .... I don't want a job that ties me down and in today's economy, I haven't even considered looking. Luckily my retirement is sufficient for my needs. I signed up for a Raku class at Montpelier Arts Center. I try to get in at least one of these sessions a year. Raku firing is so different from regular kiln firing. The pieces are very unique - I love them.

While I was in England, I took many photos - mostly of the trip into London to see the lights. I put a couple of pictures up on Facebook, but will post some here as well. We had a very good day for that excursion - it was warm enough for us to NOT NEED COATS! In addition to the store windows, we chanced upon a Christmas fair, so I have photos of the brightly decorated booths and rides. With sunset coming so early in December (about 4 PM) we were able to wander around to view the street decorations and still catch a train home in time for dinner.

The first photo is self-explanatory - Kate giving Alex a hair cut. His hair was really long (for Alex) when I arrived, but I think he likes it shorter - just like his dad.

These other photos were taken at the Christmas Festival in Hyde Park. The booths were highly decorated, as you can see. We didn't buy anything and the kids didn't beg to go on rides, which surprised me. We did get a bit to eat/drink. Alex had cotton candy, Kate and I mulled wine. I forget what the girls nibbled on. Despite the crowds, it was fun just strolling around the festival. We walked from there back into the shopping district to view Christmas displays. I'll save those photos for another entry.

visit to Kate's

2011-12-19T04:49:00.000-05:00

Arrived safely last week and have been fairly busy ever since. There is always a lot going on here, probably because the kids have so many activities outside of school. There is Scouts (Alex), Guides (Sarah and Olivia), swimming (Olivia and Alex), flute lessons (Olivia) and probably a couple I've forgotten. Also it's almost the last day of school, so there is an assembly today at Green Lane (Alex ) with singing and suchlike. I'll go over there to hear it. Tomorrow is a half day for all the kids, so they will come home having eaten their fill of Christmas goodies.

And, speaking of goodies, we baked yesterday. Kate's family blog has a photo of the goodies - 10 different kinds of cookies! Most of the baking was done by Sarah and Olivia, with Kate supervising. Alex helped a bit, decorating and suchlike. I washed dishes - LOTS OF DISHES! I did make one batch of peanut butter/chocolate squares - a no bake cookie. After the baking, we went to an Christmas party down the street. The hosts were a couple of guy whom Kate and Geoff didn't know very well, but they were really nice and Kate knew many of the other folks who were there. I hadn't realized how many old folks live on this street. At our end, there are mostly younger families (like Kate's), but almost everyone at the party was my age or older. I guess the younger folks were busy with other activities. I chatted with an older guy originally from Australia (he's lived in England for 50 years) and then with a woman who teaches at one of the local schools. (Not the school where Kate is working). It was a nice drop-in sort of party, but that many people talking in a small space is hard on my ears.

Saturday night we had dinner with a family whose daughter went to nursery school with Sarah. Because Kate and Carolyn became friends, the families get together every year at Christmas and sometimes in between, despite the fact that Sarah and Amelia went to different primary schools. Now that they are both in secondary school, they are together again. Anyway, I've also gotten to know Carolyn and Brian, and very much enjoy seeing them when I'm here. Their neighborhood is one of the few that REALLY DECORATE for the Holidays. Even by American standards, that neighborhood is over the top in lights and animated displays. We went out for a walk to see all the decorations which were spectacular as usual. After dinner, we had a bit of music. Kate, Olivia and I brought our flutes and clarinet (Sarah also plays clarinet) and Amelia play piano. Geoff once played piano, so he had a turn plunking away on a couple of carols. Carolyn just sings, so we did some Christmas carols with just instruments and some with various combinations, including voice. Kate has a book of Christmas songs with three parts - for flute and the same parts for clarinet. We've been playing them with two flutes and one clarinet and having a great time at home.

We haven't done much serious shopping, as Kate tries to avoid the malls in the weeks before Christmas. However, I've been checking out all the charity shops (thrift stores) in two nearby communities. Haven't bought much, but I like poking around to see what English people donate. The clothing seems nicer that what one finds in the US thrifts, but I think it's just that the stores here are all small and are more selective about what they put out. We did go to Wimbledon on Saturday because Kate and Alex were packing groceries at one of the stores - an activity to benefit the Boy Scouts. The girls and I wandered around the street and 'Centre Court' (shopping center). The girls had Christmas money to spend, so they enjoyed the shopping. The stores weren't nearly as crowded as I expected, except for one store that had about 20 people in line. Sarah was buying something so she cued up and Olivia and I surveyed and purchased pastries at a kiosk in the mall. Mmmm, good.

The weather here has been cold and a bit drizzly. One morning it snowed (sort of ) on and off. The snow was more like falling slush, coming down in big gobs, not flakes and melting as soon as it hit the ground. It rained several evenings, so there are lots of puddles, making walking not very enjoyable. I suppose there is a chance of snow for Christms, but it's not very likely. Last year they had a lot of snow in December, but that is unusual for this part of England. Alex is keeping track of Christmas - he tells us each day how many days are left. I think he would say it's now FIVE! (Or maybe six, depending on how you count it. Not long, any way you look at it.

concerts

2011-12-13T08:24:00.000-05:00

The Bain senior chorus sang twice recently. First was on Sunday at HCC with one of the choruses at the college. We sang in the Smith Theater, which has wonderful acoustics. We really sounded good, I think. The HCC chorus only sang with us for a couple of numbers, but it was great to have all those young voices joining us. We sang again at Heartlands (assisted living place) yesterday. The audience seemed to enjoy the music, although they would probably have enjoyed Christmas carols more. We did sing one familiar Holiday song, but the others were not directly related to Christmas, except for a spoof song that starts: I'm so baroque at Christmas. It very funny, using tunes from the Messiah with amusing words about being broke at Christmas.

I'll pack this afternoon and be on my way tonight. Can't wait to see the grandkids.

Another busy week

2011-12-06T22:47:00.000-05:00

I've been fairly busy the last week or so. Among others things, I wrote and mailed Christmas letters and cards to about 40 people; tried to sell my pottery at a the senior center; went to a craft show; had a doctor's appointment; and went to the theater; in addition to the usual music rehearsals and volunteer activities.

The pottery sale was a bust. It was very poorly organized - no publicity. The tables weren't set up before the doors opened. Some people with tables were not selling, just showing off their wares. (I think that is just weird for a craft show!) At least one person was selling used jewelry, not handmade stuff. It wasn't supposed to be a yard sale! The only people who came to the sale were the usual seniors who come to the center and they weren't buying. None of us sold much. Frankly, it was a big waste of time. We won't do it again, that's for sure.

I have received my first Christmas card. It's from my step-son and his family and is a collage of photos of him, his wife and the kids. Even a photo of the baby who is due December 24! My cards went into the mail today. I'm glad to have that done.

The craft show I attended on Saturday was a pretty good one, not overwhelmingly large. The place was mobbed! Evidently it's a popular show. There were about 140 crafters. The only thing I didn't like was that there were too many people selling jewelry. This seems to be a problem at craft shows this year. After the first 4 or 5 booths with jewelry, it gets a bit boring. However, it was a pretty good show, all in all. I didn't buy much - a pretty hand-painted ornament and a small ceramic face. There were only two tables with ceramics. Of course, I always look for that.

The doctor's appointment is a rather humorous story. I had called and asked for a prescription for getting the shingles vaccine. However, when I went to pick it up, they said I had to come in to see the doctor because there was something on my records that needed to be followed up on. So, I made an appointment and when I came in for it, the doctor asked me why I was there! I had to laugh. (It's a practice with several doctors and I don't always see the same one.) Luckily, I knew that the reason for the appointment was to discuss one of the findings from a physical exam I had months ago. So we discussed my bone loss problem. For various reasons, the only treatment that I can use involves hormones. And here's the kicker - one of the possible reactions to this is - HOT FLASHES! Isn't that a hoot? I'm 70 years old and I thought all that was in the past. Life can be interesting.

Sunday night I went with two friends to see 'The Sound of Music' at the Olney Theater. It had not gotten good reviews in the Post, but I thought the cast did a good job. The children were especially good, with wonderful voices. Going places with elderly ladies is interesting. Both of these women use canes and walk slowly, which is hard for me, as I always seem to be in a hurry. There was some mix up with the seats, and we stood around and waited for the house manager to straighten it out. Finally I made a bit of a fuss and insisted that we be seated, as one of my friends has trouble standing for any length of time and I was afraid she would collapse. Sometimes you just have to be a bit pushy. We were seated immediately, in better seats than our original ones. The only thing I don't like about going to that theater is driving there in the dark. The roads are full of curves and have no street lights, as it's in a rural area. Still, I was the only one who could have driven there in the dark. Anyway, we got there and back, safely.

Tomorrow the Bain chorus has a rehearsal at Howard Community College for a musical performance we will be doing on Sunday. We will be singing with a small choir from the college. We know the music pretty well, but I understand that the theater we will be in is not good for small groups. We will be rehearsing tomorrow, so at least we'll get an idea of what the acoustics are like. I have no idea if we'll get a large audience or not. That doesn't really matter to me. I just enjoy singing with a group.

We've had unseasonably warm weather recently, but it may be ending tomorrow. I heard a weather report that we will get rain all day, with a chance of snow tomorrow evening. I"m glad I don't have to go anywhere that night. Perhaps winter is coming after all.

Now that Thanksgiving is over......Christmas is coming!

2011-11-29T20:45:00.000-05:00

I shared Thanksgiving dinner with Patty and her mother. It was at my house this year, so I actually had to dust and vacuum last week. I have to clean again soon, as I have been taking down the fall decorations and putting up the Christmas ones, which means my floors are littered with dust, bits of artificial wreaths, flakes of tinsel and an occasional spider that rode up from the basement storage room with the ornaments! We had fun on Thanksgiving, playing silly card games. Of course, we ate too much and had lots of leftovers. This year both Patty and I cooked turkeys, so there were plenty of leftovers. Last year we did a 20 pound turkey and it took all day to cook. Two small ones work better and allow us to have two different stuffings.

I did get some decorations up, outside - colored lights draped over a bush near my front door and lots of artificial poinsettias edging the flower beds. My immediate neighbor has outdone me by far this year. She has three little spiral trees made of white lights as well as candy canes. And Patty, down the other direction, has candy canes and poinsettias around the flower beds, as well as lights around her windows. We really like to decorate for the holidays in our block.

This is a very busy week for me. We have two daytime chorus rehearsals and I worked half a day in the gift shop. Tomorrow is a afternoon lunch party for the volunteers at the hospital. Thursday is a pottery sale at the senior center. I doubt if I'll sell much, but I'm giving it a try. . Church choir rehearsal is Thursday night and Friday I have a doctor's appointment and lunch with friends. The doctor appointment is rather amusing. I called and asked them to write me a prescription for shingles vaccine, since my insurance will pay for the shot. The doctor said that I had 'unfinished business' to take care of and have to make an appointment to come in before they will write the prescription. I know what it's all about. When I had my physical exam, months ago, one of the items was a request for me to come in to talk about my osteopenia (can't spell that work). I never went in because I haven't decided what I want to do about it. I guess now I will have to make up my mind. I went online tonight and read all about the IV treatment that is only once a year or the shot that you get every 3 months. Reading about all the possible side effects does NOT make me want to do either!

I've been falling asleep every evening in my recliner and after napping for a couple of hours, having trouble falling asleep in my bed later. So, I'm trying to develop a different habit. Instead of reading all evening, I'm going on the computer for an hour or two. At least when I"m typing I don't fall asleep, but as I get tired, I make a lot of typos. Hopefully, I have managed to catch and correct them all.

Here are some photos of the indoor decorations.
They are a bit dark, but if you click to enlarge them, they lighten up a bit.

Indian Summer

2011-11-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a real Indian Summer day. (A really warm day that comes after several killing frosts.) It was shirt-sleeve weather - sunny and mild. I did some more clean up work involving the pots on the deck and sweeping dirt and leaves off the deck. In the late afternoon, I stepped out front and saw a gorgeous sunset. What a lovely day all around. As we watched the sun set, I chatted with my neighbor, Patty. We hadn't spent much time chatting lately, so it was nice to get caught up. We usually do Thanksgiving together (and with her mother), so we started planning for that. It will probably be at my house this year. This is good, as it means that I will have an incentive to clean the house! I am a lazy housekeeper and need an extra push to do anything other than straighten things up. Last year we cooked a huge turkey (all of us want leftovers) and had trouble getting it done. This year we will each do a smaller one. This way, we can each do our own version of stuffing and no one will have to start cooking the turkeys at some horrible hour of the morning! We'll decide who brings what in the way of side dishes and desserts. I enjoy having friends to share the Holiday with. My relatives live too far away for a family get-together to be practical.

I will be seeing my brothers and sisters-in-law this coming weekend and also one of my nieces. One couple is driving down to Florida and will stop for a short visit with the other couple. I will drive over to see them. We do this pretty much every year. I really enjoy being with both my brothers at the same time. And this year, my niece Terry's presence is a real bonus.

Today the Tuesday ceramics class had our fall pot-luck luncheon. It was the last day of class this year. As usual there was more food than we could eat. This is a tradition with this class - one I truly enjoy. I've only been in the class for a few years, but some members have been there for perhaps 20 years. Playing with clay is addictive for some of us. I brought home some finished products today. A couple of these had been sitting on a high shelf in the kiln room for so long that I had forgotten about them.

Look carefully at this mug. It has a smiling face on one side and a scowling face on the other. I call it "With Coffee" and "Without Coffee".

a foggy day; a lovely week

2011-11-11T09:24:00.000-05:00

My Japanese maple which has green, red and white leaves has turned a gorgeous red/orange this fall. Here's a photo of it. It was foggy the other day, so I took a photo of the trees out in back too. See it below. That one red tree sure stands out!

Now, what have I been doing this week? Well, Tuesday I packed a lunch and stopped at Lake Elkhorn on my way home from pottery. After lunch, I walked around the lake. I saw 21 turtles sunning themselves on logs in the water! They were all on one side of the lake - the sunny side. Perhaps later in the day, they swim over to the other side. I never walk in the late afternoon, so I don't know where they are then. It was a lovely day for a walk - didn't even need my jacket.

Wednesday, the singers at the Bain Center were taped for a TV airing. We practiced out Christmas music while the camera was running. I won't get to see the video, unless it gets posted on Facebook, because I don't have cable TV. Actually, my TV doesn't work at all, because it has no way to connect to the outside world. That's fine with me, most of the time. Anyway, we had to wear out concert clothes - the good old black and white - for the rehearsal and taping. I like the Christmas music we are doing. It's a bit harder than the songs we sang for the last concert. The conductor told me not to hold out the long notes to their full length. She said that I was doing it correctly, but since no one else in the soprano section was doing it, I stood out too much. It was quite amusing, actually, but I

understood why she said it. The group is mostly people who just like to sing. A few are really good. The group does a good job, although not as good as the church choir I sing with. The music is fun and not too hard. So I just relax and enjoy singing.

Thursday I volunteered at the hospital gift shop, as usual. It was chilly and damp outside, so a good day to stay in. The book sale is going well. (All our books are donations.) I've reduced the prices on about half of our books to 3/$1. We have way too many books, so I'm hoping to reduce our inventory. The sale will run for another week or so. Books that don't sell will probably be donated to a local charity shop. These days, I'm rather heavily involved with the gift shop, being responsible for the books as well as the jewelry. The manager and I went jewelry buying a couple of weeks ago. I'm putting a few things out each week and will get all the new stuff out after Thanksgiving. Our Christmas items go out then as well.

Today I'll be lunching with long-time friends. Tonight, I'm going to a Christmas sale at one of the local churches. They always do an interesting sale. Tomorrow there is another Christmas sale at a different church, plus something going on in Savage, which is just across the river from here. I could walk there if I was energetic. So this weekend will be a 'shopping for Christmas' one. I probably won't buy much, as I already have far too much stuff for decorating the house. Still, it's fun to go and browse.

a golden fall

2011-11-07T08:48:00.000-05:00

Here are two photos of what I see when I look out my back door. The colors are brighter than they appear in these photos. These leaves are mostly golden now. When the sun hits them, its a lovely sight. One tree has already lost its leaves. I think it was the very early red one.

I love this time of year, especially when we have sunshine and cool temperatures. Still need to get the pots on the deck winterized. Many contain plants that died in the recent frosty nights. I have a few bushes and one tree in pots and those I will wrap and move near the house, hoping that will keep them from freezing come winter. That's pretty much all the fall work I have to do. Later, there will be leaves to rake, of course, but not that many, as most of the trees are in the back.

Looking at my calendar for November, I see that I have something going on every Tuesday- Saturday for the next couple of weeks. Fall is a busy time for me this year. Luckily most of these items are fun things. This AM I'm going over to the hospital gift shop to get set up for a paperback book sale. We sell donated books and recently sales have been down and donations up. I am overwhelmed by paperbacks. No place to keep them. So a sale is in the works - 3/$100. I hope that will get rid of many books. If not, I will donate some to a local thrift store.

I went to a craft show on Saturday. Rather disappointing. They had many vendors, but at least a third of them were selling jewelry. Prices varied, but most were very reasonable. However, I would have like to have seem more variety in the crafters. I was hoping for some nice hand-made pottery, but none was there. Yeah, that's right, I make pottery myself. However, I love to see what others make. On Dec. 1, a class I'm in will be selling our pottery at the local senior center. Maybe I'll have better luck selling there than I did down in southern Maryland. However, there are some excellent potters in this class, so the competition will be fierce!

fall around the neighborhood

2011-10-27T08:46:00.000-04:00

I went out the other day for a walk, with camera, and took some snaps of colorful trees, bushes and houses decorated for Halloween. It was sunny and pleasant - a great day to be outside. The rain predicted for today, arrived a bit early, but didn't amount to much. We got more rain last night and today will be chilly, but I'll be inside most of the day anyway. I think I heard a weather report on the radio that said we''d get a frost either tonight or tomorrow. Doesn't seem possible, but who knows?

I really liked these Halloween decorations, although the spider kinda grossed me out!

Sumac leaves are gorgeous in the fall. We don't have a lot of red leaves here in Maryland, so I really appreciate these.

These berries are on a tree next door to me. The tree has a really ugly shape, but the spring blossoms are pink and lovely and the fall berries are great!

Finally finished! - a story about a quilt

2011-10-24T11:00:00.002-04:00

A couple of years ago, when Kate was visiting the US, we went to my favorite fabric shop in Hammondsport, NY and I fell in love with some Japanese fabrics they had. Kate, who is a fiber artist and wonderful quilter, encouraged me to buy fabric to make a quilt. She figured out how much of each fabric to buy and then left it up to me to design and make the quilt. I spent a good deal of time cutting out squares and arranging and re-arranging them several times to get a pattern I liked. I then took the pieces to Kate and she helped me

cut them a little wonky, so that they weren't exactly square. Quilt then went home with me, so that I could buy material for backing, border, binding and batting. (lots of 'b's in that sentence!) I'm not sure about all the traveling that quilt-in-progress did, but eventually it arrived back at Kate's ready to be quilted - or so I thought. The first attempt at this failed as I had bought the wrong kind of batting. It was very puffy and Kate couldn't quilt it on her machine. I took the quilt back home and tried using pompoms on each square in lieu of all-over quilting. Didn't like that effect, so took them off. Kate said to bring it back to England and she would provide the proper backing and quilt it by machine. This I did this past summer. Kate put the binding on and quilted it all together. I brought it back home in August. And it has been sitting in my guest room (aka the craft room) until recently. I finally started the hand sewing necessary to finish the binding. Have I mentioned how much I hate hand sewing? However, I finished the binding yesterday and voila! I have a finished quilt! This is, I'm sure, the only quilt I will ever make, but I'm glad I did it once.

Update on morning glories

2011-10-23T08:21:00.000-04:00

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that my formerly blue morning glories were pink. I still don't understand what's going on with them. By about noon, they were blue again. I can't determine if the pink and the blue flowers are different buds opening and closing, but surely it must be that. Petals on flowers can't change colors back and forth, can they? Anyway, this morning, they are pink again. 'Tis a mystery. Maybe it's the temperature - cooler in the morning? I don't remember them doing this last year. Anyway, it is kinda fun to watch them and speculate.

Yesterday I went to the library to get a book by Laurie King that I had read some time ago. I already had checked out her latest and realized that I could not remember clearly the previous book. These two books are closely connected, so I really needed to read "The Language of Bess" before I started "The God of the Hive". Luckily the local library had a copy, so I started on it yesterday afternoon. I not only finished that one, but also the second one, staying up until midnight to finish! These books are part of a series she has been writing featuring Sherlock Holmes in 'old' age and a young woman he befriends (Mary Russell). These books are very well written and provide a fascinating picture of England (and elsewhere) in the early 20th century as well as very complex mysteries. If you've never read any of them, start with the first one - "The Beekeeper's Apprentice."

Today is supposed to be sunny and mild. Perhaps I'll get some more trimming done out back. I brought in the last of the house plants last night - a fern that has been hanging under the deck all summer. I don't really like this plant - or rather I don't like it in the house. It looks beautiful and full outside, but as soon as I bring it in, the fronds start dropping off. It makes a mess on the floor and looks worse as each week goes by. By June, when it can go back outside, the poor thing looks pitiful.

I'd better get ready for Sunday School. Our class is reading a book by James Carse - "The Religious Case Against Belief". This class reads books by authors who are very far left when it comes to religion. Just my cup of tea! I've read about 70 pages and so far the author has pretty much just defined 'religion' and 'belief' as two very different things. It's interesting, but I"m not sure where he is going with this. Anyway, gotta head out soon.

This and that

2011-10-22T08:22:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I was muttering about my cold and whether I'd be able to go to my friend's 90th birthday party. I went and had a great time. Hopefully I didn't give my cold to anyone who was there. I did have a spot of trouble leaving the development where the party was held. I kept going around in circles, however, I did finally manage to find my way, so all was well. Actually, however, I am not yet well! I'm out and about this week, but still using up a dozen or more tissues every AM. This is ridiculous!

Yesterday I sang with the senior chorus at the 50+Expo in Columbia. We were a bit short on sopranos, but the chorus sounded pretty good. I was the only one brave enough to try the high G in one number. I hit it, but it wasn't pretty!! I like this group. The music is fairly easy and fun to sing. Guess I'll stick with them for a while. Before we sang, I wandered around, looking at the many booths advertising services that seniors are supposedly interested in. Didn't find much that interested me, but that's ok. I did discover that there are a lot of communities for 50+ residents. Didn't see any that I liked, except some that I can't afford. Guess I'll be staying right here for the foreseeable future.

Today is sunny, but COLD! I'm waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit before I go out to water the potted plants. It's too chilly to be playing with the hose. I also need to do a bit more trimming out back. I can get down the stairs from the deck and move into the back yard, but there are some really overgrown bushes back there. Most of my plants survived the summer, while I was away. It did rain a lot, which I"m sure helped. One clematis died. I have no idea why, as the others located just a few feet away are doing fine. Maybe the poor thing just got crowded out by all the other plants. I might try again next spring.

Don't have any plans for this weekend. I was hoping to find some yard sales to poke around in, but the local paper had none that looked interesting. Guess I'll just stay home, except for a stroll over to the library later. I have some hand sewing that I need to do - mostly binding on my quilt. Kate quilted it and put the binding on, but I have to turn the binding and stitch it by hand. I really hate sewing by hand. Actually, I'm not terribly fond of sewing by machine either. My mother was always sewing on something, as I remember. She made many of my school clothes - skirts at least. And Kate is really a fabric artist. Somehow the 'sewing gene' skipped me. I love fabric, but don't really like doing anything with it!

I've added a few more fall decorations to my steps.

These morning glories were blue a couple of days ago. It's weird. I knew that new blossoms open up every day, but what makes the plant change from blue blossoms to pink ones? I'll have to watch and see if they go back to being blue in a few days. Stay tuned.

2011-10-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

I've been a bit under the weather this week, picked up a cold and seem to be keeping it. I'd be glad to send it to anyone who would like it!! Anyway, I think it's on the wane - about time. Because I was tired and had to camp near a tissue box, I stayed home the past 3 days. Not feeling up to doing any of the chores that needed doing, I have done a fair amount of reading instead. I've re-read two of the series about Monk by Anne Perry. I had to re-read these two because I have from the library the next in the series. (I started re-reading all of them at Kate's and only had those two to go when I returned home.) Now I'm looking forward to this latest - Acceptable Loss. I also re-read several other books from my favorite authors - Nora Roberts and Jayne Krentz.

This afternoon I am supposed to go to a birthday party for a friend who is 90! If I'm not sneezing and wheezing too much, I will at least put in an appearance. I'm going stir crazy sitting at home.

Here are some more photos of fall around my neighborhood. The trees out back are coloring up quite a bit now, although they are mostly yellow. Maryland doesn't have many of the wonderful maples that turn bright red in the fall. Fall in western PA and NY is always so colorful. Usually I schedule a trip up that way this time of year, but October is just too busy this year. I'll have to settle for Maryland's trees.

My neighbor's and my flower beds - first photo.

These trees at end of row aren't very colorful this year. Lots of leaves on the ground, but not very pretty.

This tree (photo below) grows along the stream that runs through our development. I see it when I walk to the library.

This is the view from the deck. The color isn't quite right in the photo. The red tree is much brighter than it shows here.

What a lovely weekend!

2011-10-10T10:38:00.000-04:00

This has been a very nice weekend. On Saturday, a friend and I went into Baltimore to visit the Visionary Art Museum. We had been there before and found it easily. This time, however, there was a glitch in the directions and we ended up going back towards home on I-95. We managed to do this not once, but twice, with quite a bit of driving around in the city, unable to find Key Highway. Finally, we plugged in the GPS and followed its directions. We also discovered what was wrong with our original directions - they took us off I95 one exit too soon! Anyway, we did find the museum and had a great time looking at all the very unusual art on display, inside and out. It's such a fun place! I highly recommend it for anyone who has a chance to see it, especially if you have children. Kids love the place! However, do not expect traditional art. Notice the word - visionary' in the name? They mean it. Deb and I create some unusual ceramic stuff ourselves, so we are exactly the right kind of people to enjoy the museum. A friend of Deb's had things on display - really fascinating things made of metal objects and other 'found' stuff.

Later Deb and I walked around the end of the harbor and strolled around on the promenade at Harbor Place. Lots of folks taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Everybody seemed happy and carefree. The only disappointment was that Rita's ran out of everything except Italian Ice. We were all set for custard. So sad.

We left Baltimore without further problems. I can get out of Baltimore, it was just the getting in that was a problem. Anyway, we decided to go to Columbia and eat at the Cheesecake Factory. (Deb and I both LOVE cheesecake.) Unfortunately hundreds of other folks in Columbia on a lovely weekend also wanted cheesecake. The place was a mob scene and the wait was more than half an hour. We then tried P.F.Chang, which is next door. There the wait was over an hour! Uno's was next and there we got lucky. The seated us immediately outside, which is what we wanted. We practically had the little patio to ourselves and it was blessed quiet. I had only eaten lunches at Uno's so did not realize how interesting their dinner menu is. We shared a glass of wine, a couple of appetizers and each had one of their mini desserts. It was a delightful ending to a great day. Only problem, once we got home, was to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime!

Deb left for home Sunday AM and I went to church, as usual. When I got home at noon, I decided to work outside for a few hours. It was just too nice to stay inside. My back yard was a jungle! Really. I wish I had taken a photo of it as it was then. Our very wet summer made everything grow like crazy. The path through the back yard (covered with wood chips) looked like part of the flower beds on either side. The chips have been deteriorating over the years and plants have grown up in the path. It was a mass (or mess?) of violets and unidentified weeds. After I trimmed a few bushes, so that I could actually walk down my steps and into the back yard, I started pulling weeds from the path. I also did just a bit of weeding and trimming in the flower beds. After a couple of hours, I had filled two large yard trash bags and was ready to stop. It does look much better, so I guess it is worth the sore back I have today. I'll post some photos of the back yard now and the monster coleus on the deck. It's just amazing how big some plants get when they have unlimited water.

This is the path and corner of the backyard. There are still green bits on the path, but they are not growing there - just pieces of plants that didn't get picked up.

Here are the monster coleus plants, along with a lovely orange mum. I really love that dark red coleus. The variety is supposed to get big, but this year it is exceptional.

This tree is actually down the street from my house, but it's the first one on the street to show fall color, so I included it anyway. It's a Bradford Pear tree - they are always the first to get fall color. The tree in front of my house is just beginning to turn. Both will be more colorful in a week or so.

Changes

2011-10-01T10:02:00.000-04:00

This week has gone by so quickly! I think it's a result of aging. The older I get, the faster time flies. If one lives to be 100, does each day fly by in 10 minutes? Anyway, I made one positive change in my life this past week. On Wednesday, when I stopped by the Bain Senior Center, I noticed a flyer about a vocal group that meets on Wednesday mornings. On an impulse, I decided to try it. The group is fairly small and mostly women, but the sound is pretty good. Probably a bit better when the men are in attendance. The music was easy (I could sight-read it), but tuneful and a nice mix of popular and sacred. In order to join this group, I had to give up the weekly work day at the church library. That's ok, as I was getting bored with that anyway. I will stay with the group until after Christmas and then make a decision if I really like it or not. The big advantage is that they meet in daytime. I know of several other choruses, but they meet at night and I'm too tired in the evening to enjoy going out, even when it's to do something I love.

Yesterday, I stopped by the music store to get some more flute music. I left the book of duets and a book of music from films, etc. with Olivia when I was in England. She will enjoy them more than I. I found them too easy to play - rather boring. Olivia and I will play some more of the duets, I hope, when I next go to England. Anyway, I purchased a book of classical flute solos. It has a CD which provides the piano part. When I get really good at the solos, I will try that. My only accompanist is my sister-in-law, who lives in Florida and NY State. Obviously, I don't get to play with her very often! I am hoping to find a concert band somewhere in my area that I could join. I'm probably not ready for that step yet, as I've only had my flute for a few months, but I'd really like to play with a group when I get a bit better. It's been about 50 years since I played flute in college, so I am just a bit rusty!!

Also yesterday, there was a 'yard sale' at Mother Nature's (formerly Wild Bird Center). They had great prices on their stuff! Earrings that were originally $20 for just $3! I bought some more yard ornaments - bugs, etc. bobbing on top of a metal stick. A couple of Xmas things - a birdhouse and a tree ornament. I love those yard sales!

And yesterday, I learned that the ceramics class I have been teaching at Beltsville will not be held this fall. There needs to be a minimum of 6 students, although we have been going with only 4. None of the previous members signed up. Maybe that says something about the teacher! I think part of the problem is that we've had a lot of trouble with pieces not surviving the firing. Our kilns are old and don't work too well. I can't blame the folks for being unhappy when they work for weeks on a piece only to have it explode when fired. Also there is a new senior center opening in Laurel which will offer ceramics. Probably some of my former students will go there. I'll miss seeing those folks and also will miss the money, but that's life. It frees up my Mondays, but so far I haven't found anything I want to do on that day. It's possible, but unlikely that the class in Beltsville will start up again in January. I doubt it, but we'll see.

I'm going with Bill and Priscilla to see a play this afternoon. Can't remember the name of the play, but it's supposed to be a comedy. I will probably know some of the actors, although I can't recall now who is in it. During the years I spent singing with the MAD (music and drama) folks I got to know a number of local actors. We have several community theaters around here, which is great because the prices are reasonable and the acting very good. I don't enjoy going by myself, so I was glad Bill and Priscilla asked me to go with them. Tomorrow, I will be going to see another play. This one is at a semi-professional theater. Anything I have seen there is very well done - both acting and staging. I guess this is theater weekend for me!

Today, it's officially fall

2011-09-23T11:12:00.000-04:00

Despite it being the autumnal equinox, the weather outside feels more like summer. It's warm and muggy - actually raining just now. I much prefer the cool weather we had a few days ago. Today is too wet to work outside. I'll have to run the A/C in the house to do anything active inside - or maybe just change into shorts, T-shirt and bare feet!! My house needs cleaning - maybe tomorrow?

I have started counting calories this week. I'm trying to lose 10 pounds before the Christmas holidays. I'll be happy if I manage to lose 5, but I figured I should aim high. All I try to do is keep my daily intake of calories below 1200. I'd like to get it to 1100 or less, but that may be impossible for me. Anyway, I have always lost weight on 1200, so I'm hoping it still holds true. So many things that used to be true of my body and the way it works are no longer true now that I am 70. Bah! Aging is such a nuisance! I blew the diet yesterday because I ate macaroni and cheese in the cafeteria at Laurel Hospital, where I volunteer. Usually, I don't eat their hot food because it seldom appeals to me, but the macaroni was really good. Way too many calories. Guess I'm going to eat salads at lunch on Thursdays from now on.

I was going to take some early fall photos outside today, but with the rain that is not practical. There actually isn't much color in my neighborhood so far, but there is one tree near the library that is already turning red. It is always the first to color up around here. So if we get a non-rainy day soon and I walk to the library with my camera, I will snap a photo. Speaking of the library: I'm trying to use the library more often and buy books less often. Now that Borders is closed and there are no other bookstores in areas where I am frequently found, I find it's easier to resist book-buying. Of course the library doesn't always have my favorite authors, or rather it does, but they are in high demand when a new book comes out. I really am trying to only buy books by my favorite authors and just read all the rest from the library.

And, who are my favorite authors, you ask? In no particular order they are: Mary Jo Putney, Nora Roberts (aka: J D Robb), Mary Balogh, Sandra Brown, Jan Burke, Robin Carr, Catherine Coulter, Justine Davis, Barbara Delinsky, Kathleen Eagle, Jane Feather, Laurie King, Jane Ann Krentz (aka: Amanda Quick) Rachel Lee, Debbie Macomber, Jill Patton Walsh, Dorothy Sayers, Judith Michael, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Karen Robards, Laverle Spencer, Patricia Veryan, Susan Wiggs, Gina Wilkens, Ruth Wind, Sherryl Woods. Most of these authors are still writing, although Dorothy Sayers is dead and Laverle Spencer has stopped writing.

You may notice that most of these authors write romances, with a few mystery writers thrown in. Sadly, I have found that some of my favorite authors wrote better books when they were starting out than they do now. I think it has to do with being pushed (by their publishers?) to write more quickly. The plots become less original and the main characters seem to be modeled on those from previous stories. I still read their books, because I like their writing style and I keep hoping to find a really good one. I am well aware that I mostly read 'junk books' which are entertaining, but have no literary value. When I read, I want to be entertained and I want the books to have 'happy endings'. I have to like the main characters too. If I want tragedy and unpleasant characters, I just read the newspaper! I don't watch TV at all, so I figure my reading uses the time that other people spend watching TV shows.

I'm always open to try new authors and have recently started reading books by Jeffery Deaver. I'm not sure if I like his books or not. I'm happy to have anyone recommend books to me, but I won't promise to read them all the way through, just to try them.

It's fall, really.

2011-09-17T08:18:00.000-04:00

I suppose we will have some further HOT days, but for a couple of days now, it has felt like fall. Of course, fall here in Maryland is nothing like fall in western NY where I grew up. The cool weather came early and by Halloween, it was really cold. I particularly remember having to wear coats over Halloween costumes - that spoiled the fun! I think we had a Halloween parade in which the school band marched. I can't remember details, except that despite our uniforms it was often very cold. It's hard to play an instrument when your fingers are cold. Here, of course, we often have warm weather in October. Some years, my neighbors and I have sat outside to watch the 'trick or treaters' and enjoy an adult treat - a glass of wine.

Anyway, I think fall is here, whether it stays cool or not. Last weekend, I hauled boxes up from the basement storage room and switched my summer decorations (seashells, beach scenes, ceramic fish, etc.) for fall items - dried flowers and (artificial) colored leaves and berries. I haven't put out the Halloween stuff yet - will wait a few weeks for that. Most of that goes outside anyway. I really enjoy changing my decor seasonally. There is a down side, however, which is having to lift and carry boxes up and down the stairs. Inevitably, no matter how carefully I lift, I end up straining my back. This time, it wasn't serious - just a bit sore for a few days - thank goodness. I may have to find smaller boxes, as the big ones are getting too heavy for me to life. Actually, of course, the boxes are the same weight they have always been, it's my age that makes them feel heavier! Getting old is such an annoyance! Here are some photos of my fall decor in the house.

I need to do some outdoor work this weekend, if it doesn't rain. I'm almost afraid to tackle the back yard where all the plants grew profusely during all that rain we had. I actually can't get down from my deck without breaking some branches of the beauty bush, the butterfly bush and the hydrangea. I cut them back every year, but evidently not enough! Still haven't edged the front lawn, either. And now it needs to be cut again. At least there aren't any leaves to rake so far. We have only one small tree close by, but the leaves from other trees somehow find their way into my yard. Still, there never very many leaves to rake. I really don't mind that chore.

I've been home only 9 days, but already have a busy schedule for Sept. and Oct. Weekends are filling up with a visit to a local museum in early Oct. and a craft show at the end of the month. My weekday schedule is about the same as usual, although at the moment, I'm not teaching the ceramics class in Beltsville. We don't have enough students to justify holding the class. We need at least six. I think we have six people who plan to come, but they have not signed up so far and we can't start the class until they do.

Home at last

2011-09-11T07:34:00.000-04:00

I haven't been blogging for the last few weeks because I was in England, visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. The weather was cool and damp for the first two weeks, but turned very nice the last week I was there. We managed to do some outdoor stuff, including two different trips to places where we could climb a hill and enjoy a lovely view. Kate and I had a chance to visit an historic home without the kids and also into London to the Tate Modern, with only Sarah accompanying us. Sarah and I didn't care much for Miro, but we all enjoyed the rest of the museum. Olivia and I toured the Victoria and Albert Museum, looking at glass, jewelry and home furnishings. One day Geoff's brother John met us in London and we all went to Greenwich by boat. Despite the rain, we enjoyed a lovely lunch and toured the Observatory. John is a lot like Geoff and it was such a treat to see the two brothers together. Kate and Alex and I went to Kew on a lovely sunny day. We went up into the treetops walk. I wasn't sure I could manage the height, but it didn't bother me and it was fun being up above the trees.

All in all, it was a good visit. I got home just in time for a week of rain - which I sincerely hope is over as of yesterday!

I will post a few photos of my trip. If you want more, they are on flickr. at www.flickr.com/photos/kathydillard

Olivia is flying the kite on Juniper Top, one of the hills we climbed. The path up is not difficult, even Grandmas like me can get up easily. Geoff spent his time on the top looking for wild orchids, which he found. They aren't much to look at, but still fun to search for and find. I took lots of photos of wildflowers on our various excursions.

Here's another climb we made. This is the view from a hill in an area called the South Downs. We met up with a friend of Geoff's from work and hiked up a rather steep hill. The view was definitely worth it. Lots of wildflowers growing along the trail. As you can see, it was a beautiful day. After the climb, we ate dinner in a local pub. I had a very English meal - drank cider and ate fish and chips.

This is one of the interesting glass objects we saw at the V & A. I took many photos, but won't bore you with more. I realize not everyone is crazy about glass and pottery! There are MANY more on my flickr pages.

At the V&A there is a long gallery which one must walk along to access the other galleries. We were in it several times, as we tried to get to where we wanted to be. Olivia is better than I at navigating inside the museum, but we still had some trouble finding our way around. This is one of the sculptures in the long gallery. I really like this face, so gentle and lovely.

This is one of the buildings at Kew. I think they are called conservatories. Basically, huge greenhouses. Some have tropical plants, some desert plants, some have orchids. Whatever won't survive the English climate outside is grown inside. Kew has acres of gardens, some areas just natural, others landscaped with flowers, etc. It's a great place for picnics. We ate lunch under a tree near the playground, but Alex didn't want to play, so we just got our ice cream cones and headed off to climb up into the trees. I don't have photos from the treetops. The trees were in the way!

Long hot slow summer

2011-08-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

I'm not posting much this summer mostly because nothing of interest is happening to me. Also, I tend to put new information up on FaceBook and not on this blog. If you've kept up with me on FaceBook, you may not want to bother to read this entry, because I"m going to write about "Wicked".

Last week, a friend and I went to see 'wicked' at the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center is located in Washington, DC, along the river. It's a beautiful setting and a magnificent building. The problem was that neither my friend nor I had ever actually driven to the center. I used to know DC pretty well, at least the area around the Mall, but I've only driven in DC once since I retired. I thought we could use my GPS and find our way easilly. We also had printed directions, but they were complicated, so we preferred not to use them. We were on NY Avenue entering the city. After that I can't begin to say what streets we were on, except that the GPS thought we were somewhere and where we actually were was different. Also, it was rush hour and we got stuck behind a bus for many blocks. I missed a turn that the GPS wanted me to make and it was all downhill from then on. It kept telling me to make a left turn, which was forbidden during rush hour. We wandered around the city for what felt like hours, although it was only perhaps 20 minutes. Finally, we got close to the Kennedy Center on 25th street - something like that. Unfortunately the GPS insisted we were on New Hampshire, near 1st street! We shut the damn thing off and just drove. Somehow we found a sign to the Center and followed that to the parking garage. Got there in plenty of time to eat a bite and wander around a bit. The snack bar serves the most expensive sandwiches I've ever eaten. $10 for a fairly large cold cut sandwich! Water was $2.50. The cookie that I bought for only $2.50 was the most reasonably priced part of the meal!

After we ate, we went out on the terrace. From there the views of the city are wonderful. I wish I had taken my camera. It was a clear afternoon with a slight breeze, so being outside was pleasant. Eventually we drifted back in and lined up to enter the theater. Our seats were great. We were in the next to the highest tier, right in the middle of the back row. I had brought binoculars which I used once in a while to see what the faces of the actors looked like. Mostly we just enjoyed watching the entire stage. It's a great show! The sets, which moved around a bit, were very modern - looked like metal - very open and airy. The only set piece that looked like one would expect was the huge head of the Wizard of Oz. Sound system was great! The orchestra did not overwhelm the singers, a problem I often encounter at musical shows. That night the principal parts were sung by swing members, rather than the 'stars', but these gals had fabulous voices. Although I would not normally pay $100 to see a show, this was worth it.

Now, having raved about the show, let me say that the Kennedy Center has some problems. Of course it was built some time ago - before the idea of 'potty parity' was heard of. What I mean is that there were two ladies restrooms open to the general public each of which had only 4 or 5 stalls. There were long lines at both. One of the rooms was running out of toilet paper. No one around to tell about the problem. When we got into the theater, there was another restroom, but that one was only available to ticket holders.

The other problem that we noticed was that in the snack bar, there seemed to be no one clearing the tables after people ate. Some folks tried to take their dirty dishes back to the food area. I don't know if they were able to leave the trays there or not. We saw no place to put trays in our dining room. An employee came along and said that due to budget problems, there weren't enough people to clear tables efficiently. She told us to just leave our trays, which we did. However, this meant that people entering with full trays had to sit at tables with the residue of previous eaters! Considering the cost of the tickets, I find it hard to believe that they cannot afford to hire enough employees to clear tables or keep restrooms supplied.

Our trip home was similar to the one going to the Center. The GPS kept telling us to get onto New Hampshire Ave, which actually is near the center, although we never found it. GPS still thought we were near 1st street. We finally turned it off! Luckily my friend has a fairly good sense of direction. (My sense of direction hardly exists!) We managed to get into central DC and stopped to look at a map. We knew where we were, so with my friend navigating, we set off for NY Ave. And, amazingly enough, we found it!! It was smooth sailing from then on.

And that's my big adventure for this summer!

not yet ready for retirement community

2011-08-07T08:51:00.000-04:00

Last week, I met with a rep from a not-yet-built retirement community, planned for just up the road from where I live. It really interesting and I picked up a lot of info. The biggest problem for me would be the floor plans. The only ones I could possibly afford are quite small and have very little storage space. My basement here has one small room entirely devoted to storing my seasonal decorations and pottery. So, storage space is a must for me. The other problem with this community is that they want 10% of the buy-in fee as a down payment. I just don't happen to have $26,000 dollars available for that purpose! It would sit there until I bought in or opted out, in which case I would get the money back, but since I can't spare that kind of money, the whole question is moot. I may check out some other retirement communities, just to see what is available, but I think I probably cannot afford any of them. That is, any of them that I would like! I guess I'll just have to stay in my current house and hope I never reach the point where I cannot manage the stairs. Since I am in good health, I'm not really worried about staying here, I just like to explore my options.

Not much happening in my life at the moment. Today I'm going into Alexandria to spend some time with my niece and her husband. They are in the area for a wedding in his family. They live in Wisconsin, so it's great to have an opportunity to see them without traveling a long distance. I can't imagine how they are dealing with the heat here. I suspect that a 'hot' summer in Wisconsin, isn't nearly as hot and humid as it is in Maryland!

We had a thunderstorm and downpour yesterday afternoon/evening. I'm delighted for the sake of my flowers and bushes, but was not thrilled to find that the drainpipe in back is blocked. The rain was cascading down near the basement wall, which could be a problem. I will have to get the drainpipes cleaned. I was hoping to wait until fall, after the leaves are down. They will need cleaning again then. Oh well, just another 'joy' of home-ownership.

Next week, a friend and I are going to the Kennedy Center to see 'Wicked'. I'm really looking forward to seeing this show, but not looking forward to getting there. My friend doesn't want to be the driver, but also doesn't want to take the Metro. I really don't want to drive either! It will be rush hour getting there and I've never driven there, although I do know the general area from having worked downtown some years ago. I'm hoping I can convince my friend to use Metro.

These photos are of plants in pots on my deck. These are all on the shady side of the deck and the coleus are especially doing well there. Of course it's been too hot most days to sit out there and enjoy the plants! Today is hot and muggy, despite the rain yesterday. Summer in Maryland - what can I say?

a bit of excitement - unwanted!

2011-07-31T08:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my neighbor, Patty, phoned me in a panic asking me to come over at once. She had gotten into a nest of bees/wasps and got stung in several places. When I got to her house, she was inside, battling two wasps that had come in with her. I killed one and chased the other outside. Patty had some welts where she was stung and was in some pain, but did not have an allergic reaction, thank goodness. She had been trimming a bush in her front yard, when the bees flew out by the hundreds. Very scary and unpleasant for her. I saw the swarm buzzing around the bush and around a plastic bag containing trimmings from the bush. We think the bees must have had a nest in the ground under the bush. The bees were very small, so I think they were sweat bees, except that they usually don't sting. Patty was ok later, but not sure what to do about the 'nest' that she had disturbed. I think she will buy some wasp spray (the kind you can use at a distance) and try to kill the bees. She certainly can't go back to working in her flower bed while the bees are in occupation. Now, I have to worry about what I might have among my flowers! Makes gardening much less pleasurable, if one has to worry about bees.

Nothing exciting has been happening in MY life, recently. Not that I'm complaining. Excitement isn't as much fun as it used to be. Today I am suffering from a sore back. Evidently I pulled a muscle while vacuuming yesterday. I don't know exactly what happened, but my back started hurting shortly after I finished the cleaning. The same thing happened the last time I used the vacuum. However, this time is much worse. I can barely get up from a chair. So much for attending church this AM or going anywhere in the car. Hopefully, it will be much better by tomorrow. I'm too busy to be stuck at home for more than one day! I'm considering not using the vacuum again, but I need it to do the rugs. I"m really not much for house cleaning, anyway, but once in a while I have to get the dust up. Oh well, the house is clean for now. I'll just have to be very careful next time I clean.

It's only 8:30 AM and I'm already bored with being 'trapped' at home. Don't know how I'll manage to get through the day just sitting or standing around. It's going to be hot today, so I wouldn't be working outside, but I could have gone out and done something! It's funny how being at home for a day is fine when you can go out, but chose not to. It's being stuck at home that sucks! At least I have my computer to connect me to the world. How did we ever live without the Internet?

A good trip

2011-07-26T16:43:00.000-04:00

I spent most of last week in western NY. The town I grew up in, Bath New York, is located in the Finger Lake region. It's wine country, with rolling hills covered with vineyards and deep valleys, often containing a lake. Keuka is the closest lake to Bath - it's only a few miles away. The town at the southern end of the Lake, Hammondsport, has some nice shops, including a great fabric store and several antique shops. My brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Peggy, live in Bath. I drive up through central Pennsylvania every summer to visit them and get together with some of my high school friends.

It's about a 6 hour drive from Laurel to Bath, but I stop at at least one antique store along the way, so it takes me a bit longer. The drive is beautiful, up and down hills, with small towns and farm fields along the wayside. Harrisburg, PA is the only large city along the route. I've been making this trip for over 40 years, and I still enjoy the scenery. It's even better in the fall when the trees show off their red and gold colors. Fall is also the time of year when the Concord grapes are picked. Concords aren't used to make wine, but they are wonderful for eating. If I'm up in NY in the fall, I always bring some home with me.

I had a good visit with Tom and Peggy, as usual. Tom plays clarinet and he, like me on flute, is trying to regain his skill on the instrument. Peggy is a former music teacher and still plays piano very well. She was kind enough to play accompaniments for us, as we struggled through some classical music. Neither Tom nor I can keep our high notes in tune, so some of the notes were an assault on the ear, but Peggy was kind enough not to fuss about it. Maybe Tom and I will practice more now and be much better the next time we get together.

I actually didn't buy many antiques on this trip. One of my favorite stores has closed, which was a disappointment, but I found a new one to substitute. Truthfully, I have a small house, crowded with antiquities already. I can hardly fit anything else in. So I am trying to limit my buying to small items and not too many of them. I found one great item - an old postage scale. It is painted red, so of course I had to have it to display in the kitchen/dining room. I also brought back with me my old bicycle. Peggy has been using it for many years, but she has recently given up riding it. It's rusty and doesn't shift properly, but I have no intention of riding it. It will go somewhere in the back yard as a piece of 'art'. After all, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. I would love to leave it in the front yard, where it is parked just now, but the Homeowners' Assoc. would not let me do that. I'm thinking of hanging some potted plants on the bike, but may not do that until next year. I also bought an old print of a winter scene. Don't know where I will hang it, come winter, but I'll find a place for it. I love the old colored prints.

Here are photos of the red postage scale and the print, but not of the bike. When I figure out where it best fits into the landscape, I'll photograph it in place.

FYI: I was hoping for cooler weather up in NY State, but one day the temps hit 100 degrees on the screened porch! Needless-to-say, we stayed inside mostly. No hikes or outdoor activities on this visit! Peggy and I did some browsing in Hammondsport, but didn't spend much time outside, between stores! Most stores, but not all, were air-conditioned. Folks up there didn't used to have air-conditioning in their homes or stores, but many of them now do. (Even my brother and sister-in-law.) Blame global warming!

Not much to say

2011-07-16T11:32:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to post once a week, or so. However, lately it seems as if my life has not been very interesting. I mean, it's interesting to me, but 'nothing to write home about.' I wonder who originated that phrase. Maybe a military guy in some faraway place? I probably could Google it and find out the answer. Well, I did that and found out that it became popular during WWI, but originated earlier.

This AM was lovely and cool, but it's fast heating up. I read the newspaper outside and watched the finches devour the sunflower chips in my new squirrel proof feeder. It does seem to be squirrel and large-bird proof, which is good. However, the house finches who are larger and somewhat aggressive are there more than the goldfinches. I still see some goldfinches, but those house finches are big eaters and they are going through the entire feeder in just 2 days. I'm not sure I can afford to keep feeding them!

I just took a couple of pictures of my backyard and of a hibiscus blooming out front. Some photos are posted on Facebook, but I'll post them here as well - just to take up space! I am supposed to be cleaning my floors today. They do need it. Maybe after lunch? I slept in today - until 7:30 - so am behind on today's chores. Luckily, nobody else is around to fuss about housework not done. It's just me and my conscience.

Got my hair cut this week - VERY SHORT! I think it's what is called a pixie cut. Perhaps not as attractive as my usual cut, but it doesn't need gel or a hair dryer after shampooing. I HATE using the dryer in the summer. I'll let it grow out a bit this fall. Sorry, no photo of the haircut. (Maybe just as well!)

This gorgeous dark red flower is on a hibiscus bush growing out front. It's stuck in a very full flower bed, so isn't as large as it could be, but the blooms are spectacular. The hibiscus dies down each winter (actually I cut it down in the fall) and comes back in the spring.

The red blooms are on the crape myrtle in the corner. It's not yet in full bloom. There are some tall plants with pink/purple flowers - cleome. They self-seed - EVERYWHERE! I pulled up hundreds of little plants this spring, but left enough for some color this summer. This year, I need to get rid of most of them BEFORE they release their seeds. Otherwise, I'll be pulling up little plants again next spring. As you can see, the backyard flowers are mostly pink and purple. I enjoy looking down on them from my deck.

The last photo shows the two painted 'poles' that are remainders of the evergreen tree I had out there. It died one winter, and I cut most of the branches off. Couldn't get my saw through these two , so I just painted them as a decoration. There are more purple cleome in this photo as well as some yellow lilies. I think the blue flowers at the bottom are balloon flower aka Chinese bell-flower. Never mind the Latin name. They are flopping all over the place because I didn't get the supports around them early enough. And all the green leaves below the lilies and around the tree stumps are - you guessed it - more cleome! I guess I need to pull up a few more.

this and that

2011-07-12T21:07:00.000-04:00

Today I had to get two new tires for my car. That kind of 'shopping' isn't the fun kind, but it had to be done. I'm hard on tires. I keep running over the edges of curbs when I go around corners. I've owned this car for 10 years and you would think that I would know where the wheels are in relation to curbs. Unfortunately, I don't and I guess I never will. Anyway, the new tires are on and the realignment is done and my bank account is significantly lower than it was this AM!

We are into another spell of extremely HOT weather. Actually, I"m not sure this is a new spell or just a continuation of the one we've been suffering from for over a month. We did get some rain a few days ago and had one cool morning from that. Mostly, it's just too hot to be comfortable outside at any hour, day or night. Most of my potted plants are happy with the weather, as long as I water then every day. The ones planted in the ground seem to be doing fine without additional watering. The butterfly bushes are blooming - one purple and one dark pink - and the pink crape myrtle is starting to bloom as well. I'll try to take a photo tomorrow; it's too dark to take one tonight. The grass is green due to last night's rain. Hopefully, it won't grow enough to need mowing this week! As you might be able to tell, I'm not enthusiastic about grass. I have to have some out front (homeowners' assoc. rules), but I refuse to fertilize it or use weed killer on it. My excuse for that is that those products are harmful to the Chesapeake Bay, which they are. Our water all ends up in the Bay. However, the truth is that I would neglect my grass anyway. I like plants, but if I could, I would have ground cover and flower beds and stone paths with no grass at all. So my 'lawn' consists of a good deal of clover,some crabgrass, a few dandelions (I do dig them up each year), miscellaneous other weeds and at least three kinds of grass, most of which are currently brown from lack of rain. The lawn greens up every time we have a rain and then goes dormant again until more rain or cooler weather.

Lately,I've been having a battle with the squirrels. They have eaten holes in two bird feeders in recent weeks. The feeders are the ones that contained thistle seed for the goldfinches. The squirrels don't actually like the thistle seed, but they cannot seem to resist enlarging the slits in the feeders just to see what is in them. I finally bought a feeder with an outer metal mesh. It also has a weight triggering aspect that closes up the feeder when a squirrel (or a large bird) puts his weight on it. It holds shelled sunflower seeds, which the goldfinches like. So far it seems to be working. I haven't seen a squirrel on it, so I don't know for sure. Squirrels sure are cute, but they are a real nuisance. They also bury food in the pots on the deck and then uproot the plants digging the food back up. I have put small 'river rocks' on the surface of the pots, hoping that will keep the squirrels from digging. I think it's working and the rocks do look nice.

I'm trying to get rid of some of the MANY books I own. I printed off my book list recently. It contains both the books I own and the ones I have read from the library or read and discarded. (so that I won't buy the same books again). It contains 5400 listings! Even if half of those are discards, that means I own about 2700 books! That's really scary. Luckily most of them are paperbacks. Otherwise, there would be no space in my house for furniture! I do not have piles of books on the floor or on tables, but I do have a lot of book cases. I can actually remember a time when I didn't buy books. I just used the library a lot. This was about 20 years ago. I blame my daughter for getting me started buying books. She bought books - really just a few - and somehow that got me going. Of course, she culls her bookshelves every so often and limits herself to just as many as she can fit on a few bookcases. I am much more addicted to buying than she ever was! When I run out of room, I just buy more bookcases!! Now, having no space for more bookcases, I am trying to get my book buying habit under control. It would be easier if Borders didn't send me a coupon every week! I am actually donating more books to charity than I am buying, but I have a LONG way to go. At least I am getting rid of more than I am buying! Since the beginning of June, I have donated 45 books and only bought about 10 new ones. For me that's really a good record.

projects

2011-07-08T09:15:00.000-04:00

Here are a few of the projects I've been working on this summer. I made the mask at one of my ceramics classes. Unfortunately, it did something weird in the firing and pieces of the red glaze flaked off and the rest didn't turn very bright red. Anyway, I pulled off the loose pieces of glaze and painted it bright red with acrylics, then sprayed sealer on it. It'll hang inside, so it doesn't need to be waterproof, but I wanted it shiny. If you look closely, you can see that he has some sort of skin disease. Maybe that's why he is scowling! LOL

The lighthouse bird houses are some I bought unfinished at a craft store. I don't know where I will put them. I'm considering using the tree out front, but it's on common property, not my yard. Not that the bird houses would hurt the tree, but the home owners' assoc. might be upset. I really don't have any more room for birdhouses on my deck or hanging from the soffit out back. (How is that word spelled? I know what it is, but not how it's spelled!)

Our weather has been incredibly HOT for several weeks now. About once a week, it's cool enough in the evening for sitting outside. The rest of the time, I try to stay in the house. I do have to be outside briefly every evening to water my plants. Thunderstorms are predicted every day, but we don't get any rain. At this rate, it's gonna be a hot, dry summer.

I have to get two new tires on my van next week. It's going to be very expensive. I keep telling myself that it's cheaper to keep this car going than to buy a new one, but if I continue to spend hundreds every month, I might as well be spending it on a new car. I'm trying to get one more year out of this one. It's 10 years old, but only has a bit over 100,000 miles on it. I keep wondering what will go next. My mechanic says it's in good shape for its age. Of course, he's making money on servicing it, so his opinion isn't exactly unbiased.

The fire truck is another unfinished birdhouse from Michael's. I wish my grandson could have painted it, but it wasn't worth hauling it to England just for that. Anyway, Alex would probably have wanted to keep it, and I rather imagine his mother thinks he has enough junk like that. So it stays here, if I can just find a place to put it! I have far more junk that all the grandchildren put together!

photos from out front

2011-07-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

I haven't much to say today, but here are some pictures. It's going to be hot all this week with thunderstorms predicted. We had the thunder last night, along with some fireworks, but very little rain. I'll have to water later today, as usual. If we continue to have dry summers, I'll have to think about planting some cactus!

This was an unusually lovely sunset. The sun sets behind trees in the back yard, but this time we got a reflection off clouds visible from the front yard. I love sky pictures and especially if there is a pink sky.

These flowers are some that I had forgotten I purchased last year. They came up and I had no idea if they were flowers or weeds! Luckily I let them grow and got these beautiful blooms. There is a name tag tucked somewhere near the base of the plant, but it's hard to find with all the other stuff growing nearby. Yes, I know that my front flower bed looks like an English garden that has run wild!

These are the phlox that the rabbit has not nibbled on. I had some in a lavender color, but that pesky wabbit ate them! I hate having my flowers destroyed, although the rabbit is very cute. More to the point, he/she is much less destructive than the neighborhood ground hog. My neighbor, Patty feeds the squirrels on the ground (corn) and yesterday evening, we saw the ground hog eating the corn, back behind the fence. I hope he stays out there!

Luckily, the rabbit doesn't like cone flowers. I think the ground hog doesn't like them either. They are a wonderful perennial. They come up every year, don't seem to care where they grow (pots or flower bed) and are not eaten by the critters. Definitely, my kind of flower. They also spread profusely, which is becoming a problem. My space is limited and already full of plants. If only I could tear up the front yard's grass and just have flower beds!

bits and pieces of my life

2011-06-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged much lately because nothing interesting is happening in my life. Today I will pick up the repaired hearing aid (story on Facebook). It'll be good to have both ears hearing at the same level. I found with only one hearing aid, I could hear ok, but had trouble telling what direction noise was coming from.

I've been making phone calls lately to members of my church who have not yet signed up to have their pictures taken for our photo-directory. There are only a couple of folks not yet signed up, so I guess we did a good job. I'm not in charge of this activity - thank heavens - but am helping the chairperson. I really hate making phone calls, but these weren't bad, as the reason was a good one and everybody was very nice. It's not like selling anything or asking for volunteers!

We had some rain last night, maybe enough so that I won't have to water today. Watering all my potted plants is a bit of a chore. I don't mind doing it, but when I go away, it really puts a burden on my neighbor who tries to keep up with my watering as well as her own.

I have get 2 new tires for my car. I checked out an online site that has good prices. Now I just have to check to see if my regular mechanic or NTW has cheaper installation. I don't like dealing with car repairs and suchlike, but I really need my car, so I try to do all the right things to keep it running. I keep think about buying a new car, until I think about car payments!

I can't believe this coming weekend is July 4th weekend. How time flies! I wonder if July will be any cooler than June. This month has been horribly hot and humid. I'll be going up to western NY in July to visit family and have lunch with high school friends. Hopefully, it will be cooler up there, although my brother tells me that their temps have been in the 90s. When I was a kid, it was NEVER that hot there. We got along fine without air-conditioning. Evenings were always cool. Things have changed there, however. Now if winters were just a bit milder, I'd be tempted to move back up there. (Well, not really, as it's deep Republican territory. If I lived there I'd have to register as a Republican in order to have my vote in local elections count for anything!)

Lately, Ive been trying to get rid of some of my many books. It's hard because I have to reread them to decide if I want to keep them or not. I'm trying to just reread one book by each prolific author and decide to keep or donate all of them based on that one. So far, in June, I've discarded 30 books. Of course, I've bought a few new ones, but even so, I have some empty shelf space. If I have 2000 books (a rough estimate) and discard 16 each month, I should have none left in 10 years. Of course, I won't discard all of them, so maybe I'll only dump 1000 books, which gives me a bit more leeway. I'm figuring that in 10 years I might be moving into a retirement community and a much smaller place, so I'd have to have fewer books.

Unfortunately, books aren't the only things I have too many of. One wall in the kitchen is covered with antique utensils and suchlike. I blame my friend, Patty, for them. She introduced me to American antique kitchen stuff. I filled the kitchen and put stuff outside on the fence as well. Then a couple of years ago I got started buying little ceramic animals. They were not expensive and were SO CUTE! I think this was a going back to my childhood, as I had a few china animals as a kid and loved them dearly. As an adult, I went overboard and now have 12 little 'boxes' displaying the 150 (or so) animals. As you may have noticed, I tend to get into things in a big way! I won't even think about the ceramics that fill many boxes in the storage room and decorate my living room walls. At least I'm not a true hoarder. I display my stuff artistically (at least I think it's artistic) and I don't have piles of stuff on the floor and on every table. On the dining table, but not on the floor - and the piles are business letters and such like. Seems as if I just manage to balance the checkbook and verify the charges/sales slips when the next month's bunch come in the mail! Ok, enough already! Maybe next time I blog, I will have some photos and something worth saying!

a day at home - Wednesday

2011-06-23T07:55:00.000-04:00

Took my car in to the shop last night. There are several things to be worked on, so I imagine it will be expensive. Dropping it off was easy. Getting back home was not so pleasant. I waited half an hour in the hot sun for the bus. The bus is usually late, but this was later than usual. When I got home, I dumped all my clothes in the laundry basket and took a cool shower!

So today I am without a car, which means that the only place I might visit would be the library. It's only a few blocks away. Of course, being home all day, SHOULD mean that I will get lots of things accomplished - clean the floors, balance the checkbook, call Verizon about my latest bill. I doubt if those things will get done, except for calling Verizon. I canceled the TV portion of my bill, but somehow they are charging me almost as much as when I had it. The bills are so complicated that it takes a genius to figure them out. I suspect that is done on purpose, so that customers will never understand what they are paying for! I'm seriously thinking about switching my phone and internet provide to Comcast. (Got an ad from them in yesterday's mail). However, I suspect they will be just as bad as Verizon and it's such a hassle to switch. I could get a good cell phone company and cancel the land-line, but I can't do without my Internet connection.

I brought home a couple of pieces from ceramics recently - in addition to the Raku pieces. I am involved in three ceramics classes - one I teach and two where I am a student. The pieces shown on this blog are low-fire. The little lizard will go outside, to hide in a flower bed and surprise anyone looking at the flowers. The bowl will just go into a box downstairs. I will probably try to sell it, if I find a local craft show.

Weird! I just tried to put a couple of photos on this blog and they just wouldn't upload. I'll have to try again later. I started this on Wednesday. Today, Thursday, the photos uploaded just fine.

ceramic photos

2011-06-21T08:20:00.000-04:00

I said on Facebook that these photos were on my blog, so I'd better get them up here. These are Raku pieces. The fish is the best one. I used commercial low-fire glazes on that one. They are more reliable than the Raku glazes we make at the studio.

This mask broke during cooling. You can see the break between the nose and the mouth. I've glued thesections back together and will be using paint to disguise the break line.

I used four different glazes on this one. The interior is black, because it was unglazed. Raku firing always makes unglazed areas black.

This glaze is called "Rick's Turquoise" Obviously, it has changed since Rick (whoever he is) made it. Should be called "rick's yellow turquoise". It's a strange glaze, but I love the effect.

I was going to post a couple of objects from another class, but I think I'll wait for another blog to do that.

Cool at last

2011-06-15T08:35:00.000-04:00

Our hot spell has broken and it's finally cool enough to enjoy being outside. I've taken advantage of that by getting some trimming done out back. I managed to cut off most of the dead branches on a forsythia bush, however I'll need a saw for a couple of them. This bush and a beauty bush are growing almost as one, so it's hard to trim just one of them. Also, the perpetual wild grape vine has come back (actually never completely went away) and was fastened onto branches from both bushes. I damaged a couple of branches in pulling the vine off, but there is not other easy way to get it off. The bushes are taller than I, so I'm working above my head much of the time. I could get the step-stool, I guess. Might have to do that. The grapevine roots are in the ground, between my fence and the neighbors'. I can't pull the darn thing up. Guess it's time for \Roundup, but I hate to use it when other plants are so close. Anyway, I now have a pile of branches that need to be cut into smaller lengths and bundled up for the recycle pickup. I'll try to get that done this afternoon.

This is the hydrangea bush that grows at the foot of the stairs. It's not quite in full bloom, but is looking very pretty already. Every year, I cut it back and every year it grows enough to make getting off the steps and into the back yard a problem.

The other photo is one corner of the deck. It's looking quite colorful now, with the lilies coming into bloom.

Yesterday, after ceramics, I went for a walk around Lake Elkhorn. The lake is filled with green scum. I guess it's algae. Unpleasant to look at. There were no ducks or geese in the water. Maybe they don't like the green stuff? Actually a few ducks were sitting on floating logs. They seem to have displaced the turtles - I only saw one turtle. I did see one family of Canada geese, on land. I think most of them have raised their young and are now foraging elsewhere for food. I also saw a heron, in a rather odd place. At the end of the lake there is a dam with a sloped surface where the water comes down. It's a fairly gentle slope, but I'm sure it is slippery. The heron was at the end of the slope, looking down into the water below the dam. It seemed to be considering stepping off the slope and into the water. Hopefully, it decided not to do that, as the water there is rather deep.

After my walk, I went back to the senior center to help them set up for a book sale. They do this once a year and get tons of donations. I worked for several hours, helping others to sort the books and arrange them on tables. The sale starts this AM, but volunteers were allowed to buy books yesterday, so I won't be going over there this AM to fight my way through the crowds. Actually I only bought six books, and two of them I already have, so I didn't increase my stock of books very much. That's amazing for me! I really am trying to cull my shelves, but I can't just dump books that I don't remember if I still like or not. I have been re-reading one book by an unfamiliar author and then deciding whether to keep or discard all of them. It's a slow process, but perhaps eventually I will have all my books downstairs in the 'library' rather than all over the house!

It was hot!

2011-06-11T08:53:00.000-04:00

I wonder if there is anyone reading my blog who isn't on Facebook. I don't know if I should blog about something that has already been on Facebook or not. So, sorry if I'm repeating myself. I came home Thursday afternoon to find the house temperature at 84, the thermostat set at 80 and no cold air coming through the floor vents. The fan was running, but not the compressor (or whatever it is) outside. It was just sitting there, silent. I was afraid that having just the fan running would damage the system, as I assumed that on the cool setting, the equipment would keep trying to turn on. Turns out I was wrong. Anyway I got on the phone and called all the A/C repair places in the local yellow pages. The soonest any of them could come out was Monday! I was very unhappy at the thought of no cooling until then! Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the basement, which stays nice and cool in the summer. It was very comfortable down there and I was planning to sleep there as well. I actually vacuumed the floor and got rid of the cobwebs that were lurking (with or without spiders) in the corners of the room. Luckily, we got some rain and it cooled off considerably. I was able to open windows upstairs and get my bedroom cool enough for sleeping. Friday AM, one of the A/C companies called me back and said they could come that day! I was delighted. The repairman came. He turned the system on, turned the setting down and went down stairs to look at the equipment. Checked the blower - no problem there. Went outside and presto! the unit came on!! He checked the compressor and said it was ok. What must have happened was that BG&E had turned off the power to the compressor. I get a discount on my electricity by allowing them to do this during times of high power usage. Usually this only lasts half an hour or less, but I think this time it was for a longer period. Of course I wasn't home to know when it was turned off. If I had left the system on, it would have come back on by itself. I had no idea that there was a gadget on the compressor allowing them to do this. Now, I'm rethinking the whole deal. The money I save from allowing this probably doesn't make up for the $110 fee I had to pay to get the repairman to come out. At least now I know to expect this kind of thing when we have such hot weather. It was an expensive lesson.

Not much else is new. I have to work in the hospital gift shop this afternoon, filling in for someone. Usuallly, I don't do this on weekends, but the new manager called me about something else and asked, so I agreed. Hard to turn down a personal request like that. He's a good manager and I like him. It won't be a real hardship to go over there for 4 hours, but I do hope they have the A/C fixed. Thursday (my usual day to work there) It was very hot in the shop. Probably will be that way today. I can't wear much less clothing that I already to when I work there - capri pants and a t-shirt. We have jackets we are supposed to wear, but no one will mind if I'm not wearing mine.

Next week will be a bit busy. I have to get an adjustment on my hearing aids. Now that I have a flute and am practicing, I need to get the aids re-tuned so that they don't produce an echo when I play. I can take them out, but I'd prefer to get them adjusted. Hopefully, she can do this.

The gift shop manager and I are going to Rockville one day to check out a store that sells some of the items we stock in the jewelry cases. He and I had a difficult time find a day and time when we are both free.

Tuesday afternoon, I will be helping set up for the used book fair at the senior center in Columbia. I hope to get there early Wednesday AM to pick through the books. Last year I waited for the sale to begin and discovered that many people had come early and picked through the selection. Maybe I'll do that this year. Not that I need any more books, but still...I was going to say that one can never have too many books, but I'm not sure that is true! I have a lot of books - maybe a thousand or more - but I'm trying to get rid of some. I'm rereading one book from various authors and if I don't like it, I just dump all of them. I will never have the time to reread all of them!

Next weekend (Saturday) is a Raku firing at Montpelier Arts Center. It will be the last one I attend for a while. I'm not signing up for the summer session and am not sure about the fall. I love doing Raku, but I'm getting overloaded on pottery. Guess I'd better find a place to sell some of what I have. If I join one of the local potters' organizations, I can sell when they have a sale. Maybe I'll do better than I did last weekend in southern Maryland.

Here are more fairy houses from Anne Marie Gardens.

More fairy houses

2011-06-08T09:56:00.000-04:00

One of these days, I will get all my recent photos loaded on Flickr, but they are not there yet. So here are a few more photos of fairy houses from Anne Marie Gardens in Lusby. I think none of these was posted on a previous blog.

Today is going to be a very HOT day. It's already hot and not yet 10 AM. I plan to stay inside as much as possible, although I will have to go out this evening and water all my plants. Hopefully, by then it will be bearable outside.

This is a slow week, which is fine with me. The weekend was very busy - lots of fun, but tiring. I need some laid-back days after a few busy ones. Guess that's because I'm getting OLD. Oops - mustn't say the naughty word.

I'm thinking that I should create a fairy house in my garden. Of course, my flower beds are already filled with little ceramic things - frogs, turtles, mushrooms, totem poles - and with various insects on poles, not to mention birdhouses, which are mostly on the deck railings. I'm a sucker for garden stuff, not just plants. Still, I think a fairy house would fit in somewhere.

fairy houses and craft sale at Anne Marie Gardens

2011-06-06T11:06:00.002-04:00

Friday, I drove down to southern Maryland (Lusby area) to visit my friend Deb. As usual she had plans for what we would do. Some of those plans had to be modified a bit, as her daughter-in-law was having a baby! My friend and her husband were keeping their older grandson (age 3) and the dog, while the new parents were at the hospital. The little boy is very cute, but he does have a mind of his own (what 3-year old doesn't?). We still managed to do quite a few grown-up things. Grandpa minded the baby some of the time.

Friday evening, we went out on a converted oyster boat for a little cruise around the harbor. The weather was clear, sunny, but not too hot. After that, we browsed around in the Maritime Museum, looking at an art exhibit there and checking out the gift shop. We ate dinner in Solomons, at a very nice restaurant in, specializing in Italian food and sea food. We sat on the patio, by the water, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. They even had live music - a fellow playing guitar and singing older songs. The music made a great background for conversation. The food was excellent; we tried a white wine that was new to me, and sat around chatting and sipping wine until 8 PM. Before we left to drive home, we crossed the road and watched the sun go down behind the big bridge at Solomons. I just wish I had taken my camera! It was a beautiful sunset.

Saturday, I had a table at the Maker's Market held once a month at Anne Marie Gardens. If you are ever down that way, I recommend stopping at the Gardens. They have a trail through the woods, with interesting statues and carvings along the way. Nice gift shop there too. Saturday, they had 'fairy houses' on display along the trail. Here are photos of a few of them. Local artists made the houses. They do this every year. All the 'houses' were very clever.

The craft sale was not very successful from my point of view. I sold a few pieces, but spent more money buying other folk's crafts than I made selling my own! Not unexpected. Still I had a nice shady spot for my table and it was fun chatting with folks that came by. My friend knew a lot of the buyers as well as many of the sellers, so we had conversation with many folks. Southern Maryland has changed over the years, from the time Kate went to St. Mary's College there. (about 20 years ago!) Many retired people have moved down there and the stores and restaurants reflect that.

Saturday afternoon, we stopped by the hospital to see the new baby and then headed out to find a particular nursery (for plants, not babies) that Deb and I have been to before. We were disappointed to find they were closed. It's run by an Amish family and there was some sort of church thing going on all weekend. We did stop at a couple of places on the way home, including a very nice antique/interior design store. And yes, I bought a few items. Got a decorative birdhouse, dirt cheap. Went out to dinner again that night. Not as good a dinner. We split a steak topped with crab imperial. Unfortunately, the steak was full of gristle. The salads were very good, as were the potatoes and the crab meat, so we didn't starve!

Sunday, we had the three-year-old again, but managed to leave him with Grandpa for a couple of hours while we went to an antique store and ate lunch out. I only bought one little glass bottle (crackle grass). This was probably a new record for me for minimum purchases at antique stores! Actually, that's wrong - I bought another birdhouse, but that wasn't at the antique store, but at a small craft store on the same property.

Before I left, I helped my friend a bit with some gardening. We visited her garden plot. It's new for her this year. I really don't know much about growing vegetables, but I offered what advice I could. She has lots of green tomatoes on her cherry tomato plants. Should get a good crop there. Back at her house, I planted some basil and other plants she had bought. The yard there is almost totally shaded, so it's hard for her to grow flowers. And, the deer come out of the woods across the street, so most flowers don't do well there. Hopefully, some of what we planted will survive. I headed home mid-afternoon. I had watering to do when I got home, as we didn't get any rain to speak of, over the weekend. It was nice to be back in my own bed last night!

An interesting shopping trip

2011-05-31T09:02:00.000-04:00

I went to Micheal's yesterday because I had a coupon and to look for a couple of specific items. I didn't find one of the items, but not surprisingly, I came home with some other stuff. While I was waiting in line to pay, the power went off. I and others in the store waited maybe 5 minutes before deciding to leave. Someone had come in to say that power was off at all stores in the plaza. We put all our potential purchases in basket, put our names on a slip of paper and said we would be back. I drove south on route 1 and discovered that the outage only covered a few blocks. I had some other errands to run, so drove off to do them. When I came back, the stores in the mall looked dark, but I pulled into the parking lot to take a closer look. At that moment, the light came back on! Talk about good timing! Unfortunately, the computers were not yet up, but I wandered around the store and, of course, found a few more items to buy. (The coupon covered all purchases for that day.) Soon the computers were up and running, so I paid and left. Went down to the other end of the plaza to Lowe's and found a real bargain on zinnias - greatly reduced, but still looking in good shape. When I took them inside, I discovered that their computers were not yet up, so we had to pay with cash. This was no problem for me, but the store personnel had to find a certain number on each item so that they could record the sale and give out paper receipts. Mine took a long time to identify, because the clerk had to go outside where the plants were to get the number. Luckily, I was not in any hurry. I did get my plants and came home, being thankful that in our neighborhood power was ON.

This experience brought home to me just how dependent we are upon our 'machines'. Without computers, the stores could not do credit card sales; could not look up prices; and could barely function. There should be backup plans, i.e., information on paper, in books, so that stores can still operate when the computers are out of order. Now, I'm looking around my house, seeing how many things depend upon electricity: A/C, heating system, fans, radio, computer, lights, microwave, stove, refrigerator, some clocks, washer and dryer, hot water heater. I've probably missed a few. I sure would hate to do without all those things, especially the heat/cooling system. Luckily most of my power failures are short-lived. (The lines in our development are underground, but they do connect to above ground lines somewhere). It gives one pause for thought, doesn't it?

These two photos show the monstrous coleus I bought earlier this spring. I thought they were just ordinary plants. They weren't very big. However, they have grown and grown! I realize now that they were the super-sized kind which I first discovered last year. They are bullies that take over a pot and crowd out all the other plants. They sure are beautiful, however, so I'll just give them more room to grow and enjoy the gigantic results.

A holiday weekend

2011-05-30T09:07:00.000-04:00

I've been busy this weekend, hauling summer decorative items up from the basement and taking down the spring decor. There is more summer stuff than spring things. Lots of stones from various beaches here and abroad, seashells collected over many years in Florida, and the blue glass from my art glass collection. At this point, the room is decorated with all the summer things, but the empty boxes are still piled up on the couch. Amazingly, I didn't do any damage to my back. I always try to be careful lifting boxes and evidently this time I was successful. I'll take a few photos of the displays. The displays change somewhat each year, although the items stay the same.

I also did a bit of gardening, clearing out more weeds in the back yard. I need to pull up a few more violets and cut down a nearly dead forsythia bush, but that's about all that's left to do back there. I really enjoy gardening, but the nicest part is sitting outside admiring what I've created! When it's beastly hot outside, as it will be later today (90s), I can sit below my deck, where there is always shade and the temperature is much cooler. If only my neighbors' A/C units weren't so loud! Mine is very quiet, thank goodness.

On Saturday, we had a farewell party for friends who are moving to North Carolina later this summer. I see this couple almost every week, so we haven't said goodbye yet, but the party was for old friends who don't see them regularly. It was a good party, with time for socializing. I managed to get caught up with some folks whom I only see at weddings and funerals these days. It's a sad fact of old age that we get together more at funerals than any other time! I'm sure it only gets worse. Ah, the joys of aging.

Today is a holiday for me, since the rec center where I teach ceramics is closed. I really enjoy teaching that class, but still I enjoy an occasional break from it. I have nothing planned for today, but I'm sure I'll find something that needs doing. Checkbook reconciliation, perhaps? Checking credit card statements? Cleaning floors? The house is full of things that need to be done. Too bad that none of them is fun!

more blooms

2011-05-25T08:10:00.000-04:00

Not much happening here this week. I did get in a walk yesterday, around Lake Elkhorn. Not a turtle in sight, but did spot a swimming animal. I think it was an otter, as it seemed too small for a beaver. Most of the animal was in the water, which made identification pretty tough. I keep forgetting to take my binoculars with me when I do that walk.

Today's photos show some new blooms - the dark red/purple clematis, some yellow yarrow and a bush that has lovely white blossoms and a wonderful scent. I think the bush is Mock Orange. (I knew its name when I bought it!) It's in a pot on the deck and seems happy there. I can smell the lovely scent when the sliding door is open. (Note for fellow gardeners: the big leaves you see near the Mock Orange are from a rhododendron in a nearby pot).

I did a bit more yard work yesterday. Mostly it was pulling out wild violets from flower beds - front and back. They are very difficult to uproot, due to underground tuber-like roots. I really like the violets, but they have taken over the flower beds this year. Must be all that rain we've been getting. Anyway, I'm sure I left plenty to bloom next spring!

This weekend, I plan to take down the spring pictures and knick-knacks and put out my summer display of shells and blue glass. Probably won't get to that until Sunday afternoon or Monday, as Saturday is filled with a farewell luncheon for friends. They are moving to North Carolina. I'm really going to miss them!

Today I woke up at 5:30 and not being sleepy, just got up. I don't usually rise quite that early - thank goodness! However, it does mean I can get quite a bit done this morning before I have to leave. Of course, I should stop messing around on the computer and do some 'work'. Bye.

stuff (which I certainly don't need!)

2011-05-18T09:51:00.002-04:00

I realized this AM that I had not taken photos of some stuff I bought on Saturday while shopping for antiques. Nor had I taken photos of the latest pottery items, from the Raku firing and from the Tuesday class. So here are a bunch of photos.

These first items are from the Raku firing. The monster is supposed to be Nessie. I plan to make a lake for her to sit on. The mask is not quite as dark as the photo shows.

This vase has a beautiful inside and a duller outside. I should have switched the glazes. I like it anyway, but if I put anything in it, the inside won't show. Can't use it for real flowers anyway, as Raku is not water-tight.

These little glass items are from the antique store we visited on Saturday. I just couldn't resist that squirrel!

Finally, here is a little lizard. I had planned to put him outside, but he has a mended leg, so can't 'live' outside. Instead he'll have a home near a potted plant in the house. I have another one in the making and will probably make several more. They are fun to decorate!

Boy, did that tree grow!

2011-05-16T08:41:00.002-04:00

Here's the story. Last week, I went to Benke's (local garden shop) and bought a Japanese maple. It's a lovely tree, although very small. The leaves are red when they are new, then green and red and then green with white veins. When I got it planted, it looked even smaller and just didn't look right in the front yard. It only grows a few inches a year. I figured I'd be dead and gone before it got to be 6 foot tall. Because it is so small, with leaves near the ground, I was afraid our resident ground hog would eat it. I put a decorative 'fence' around it, hoping that would keep critter out.

Fast forward to Saturday. Patty and I had a fun day - went to a yard sale, an antique store, and on the way home, stopped at a garden center. They had lovely Japanese maples - really tall ones - for very reasonable prices. I just couldn't resist. I bought one that is almost feet tall! Patty helped me plant it. It looks so much better in the yard than the first one did. The leaves are green with pink and white edges. And that first tree is now in a pot on the deck. Since it only grows a few inches a year, it should be fine in the pot for many years to come. I'm really happy with the larger tree out front, but am probably confusing my neighbors as to just what I planted!

This was a busy weekend for me. Yesterday, we had another book sale at church. We usually don't have them close together, but we were culling out old books from the library and voted to try to sell them, rather than just donate them to a thrift shop. I had to leave before the sale was over, so don't know how many sold. I doubt if we did as well as we usually do, but every dollar we make goes toward buying new books.

I left the book sale right after church because we were doing a Raku firing at Montpelier Arts Center. I got there about 1 PM and did manage to get three of my pieces fired. (I'll post photos in tomorrow's blog.) I had one more to fire, but I was meeting my friend Deb for dinner, so had to head home around 5:30 PM.

Deb and I went to a fondue restaurant in Columbia. I think it's called The Melting Pot. I'd never eaten there and didn't realize that it was a bit on the fancy/expensive side. However, we didn't spend all that much. We ate traditional cheese fondue, salad and chocolate fondue for dessert. All the food was very good! We even had a glass of wine each. I just hope Deb didn't fall asleep on the way home! She lives in southern Maryland, so had a somewhat long drive.

It was a productive weekend and a lot of fun, but I was very tired by the time I got home from dinner. And here we are, beginning another week. Most of my plants are in pots or in the ground now, but there are a few still waiting. It's supposed to rain for the next 6 days! Lucky us!

where have all the turtles gone?

2011-05-11T09:03:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I walked around Lake Eklhorn. There was not a single turtle sitting on a log! Not one!! I don't understand it. The day was warm and sunny, just the kind of day they are usually out sunning themselves. Very odd. However, there were other wildlife to see. The Canada Geese have their goslings out and about. I saw three family groups. Goslings are covered with soft gray down. None of them were in the water. I think they are perhaps too young for swimming lessons. Maybe next week they will be swimming. The parents are very protective, so I stayed away from them. Anyway, I was busy looking at where my feet were and thus avoiding stepping on the gobs of shit the geese leave on the sidewalks. They are incredibly messy birds!

I bought a few more plants yesterday. Didn't intend to. I went to Home Depot to get mulch and top soil. Unfortunately, those items are in the garden center, which is filled with plants. They had a better selection than last week. I only picked up a few new ones. The strangest thing I did was to buy a hanging basket filled with wax begonias. Wax begonias don't belong in hanging baskets - they don't hang over the edges; they just sit upright. Furthermore, I never buy hanging baskets that are already filled. However, I needed just one more basket to put out front. I already have the plants to go in it. HD had no empty hanging baskets. So, I bought the one with the begonias (it was pretty cheap) and will empty it, planting the begonias somewhere and using it for my hanging plants! As my grandmother used to say, "There's more than one way to skin a cat". Actually, I can't imagine anyone skinning a cat. That's a very strange saying, isn't it?

Today, I plan to walk again after lunch. I'll try a different lake for my stroll.

a walk in the woods

2011-05-10T08:13:00.000-04:00

I finally remembered to take my camera with me yesterday when I went to Beltsville. The trail through the woods has been very scenic these last few weeks. Many wild flowers blooming. Of course, I missed the weeks when the woods was covered with tiny pink blossoms. There is a photo of a few remaining. Also missed getting a photo of the 'woods lily' -but I have two of those at home and have posted a photo recently. Yesterday, a whole new batch of flowers were in bloom. The lovely little white flower in the first photo might surprise you. It's poison ivy!! The woods are full of it. I carefully stay on the trail and away from the trees. Poison ivy climbs right up the trees. I don't know the names of most of these plants and don't have a wildflower book in which to look them up. The names aren't really important, except for the poison ivy! The yellow ones are what I know as buttercups.

another gardening day

2011-05-08T09:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday AM I went on a buying spree at my favorite nursery. They were having a Mothers' Day sale. The gardens weren't crowded, but the check-out lines were rather long. Still I don't suppose I waited more than 10 minutes. I bought mostly annuals to finish filling the pots on the deck. They all look a little empty still because all the plants are small, but I know from experience that in a month or so, they will be overflowing. Gardening in pots isn't very strenuous, except for lifting bags of potting soil and moving the large (and heavy) pots around to get them where I want them. Basically, this year, I have orange, red and yellow flowers on one side of the deck and pink and purple on the other - mostly. I noticed that I have only two blue flowers. I just didn't find any blue ones that I wanted.

I think today I will return to the garden shop and buy a tree! I need to replace the flowering plum tree that came down last year due to wind and rain. I saw some very nice Japanese maples yesterday, for reasonable prices. A Japanese maple won't provide much shade, unlike the plum, as they are slow growers, but it isn't likely to blow over in a wind storm either! Of course, it's crazy to go on Mothers' Day, but I don't suppose it will be worse than yesterday and I know what I want, so I won't be there long. If I didn't have to go to church, I would go now and beat the rush. Maybe it will rain this afternoon, which should discourage some buyers and make the lines shorter!

Here is a photo of the purple clematis that is finally blooming. The white one always blooms first, but the purple one seems to be catching up. I have a third one, further along the fence, but I don't remember what color it is. It was new last year, but has some buds. I think it might be dark red. Guess I'll have to wait and see. I'm also posting more iris photos. (These are also on FaceBook)
The yellow and lavender iris is one of my favorites.

Yesterday, I dug up a few clumps of iris to give away to neighbors. Those plants grow very close together and have roots connecting one plant to the next. It's very hard to get into the bed and cut some out. I have far too many of one color. They seem to multiply faster than any of the other more desirable ones! The ones I really like don't seem to multiply at all, of course.

Yard work is play for me

2011-05-04T18:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was such a beautiful day for being outside. I got the front yard edged. Of course the grass is growing like weeds (maybe because there are a lot of them in among the grass), so it will need to be mowed soon and then I'll have to do the edging again! Sometimes I pray for a dry summer, so the grass will stop growing.

Anyway, after lunch I went shopping for flowers. I tried several of the local discount stores, hoping to find some bargains. Walmart was a real disappointment. Their plants were not in good shape, although I got some marigolds and petunias. Home Depot wasn't much better. I find that if I get to those stores on the day a new shipment of plants arrives, there is a reasonably good selection. The rest of the time, not so good. Anyway, I had quite a few plants purchased last week from a local fruit, vegetable and plant stand, so I had plenty to do. I still have a few pots to fill and need some more annuals for the back yard flower bed. Maybe I'll go to Benke's on Friday. They are the local nursery with the best selection, but they are also the most expensive. I always find more than I intend to buy when I go there. Here are some photos of the pots on the deck. And I have another iris blooming out front - a pink one. Spring is such fun with new flowers opening up every few days.

Today I went out again to see if I could find a few more plants - specifically sweet potato vines and some spiky plants. This time I tried the Home Depot in Columbia. They are usually much better supplied than the store in Laurel. They did have more plants, but not as good a selection as I remember from last year. I think it's a bit early. They will get more later this month. I found most of the items I wanted, so I'm in pretty good shape. It was cool and wet today, so I didn't get these plants into pots. I'll wait for another warm day when it's comfortable to work outside.

More spring flowers

2011-05-03T10:10:00.000-04:00

Another iris is in full bloom. Also aquilegia aka. Columbine. The clematis is on the fence in the back yard. There is supposed to be a purple one out there too. Hopefully, it's just a late bloomer. At this point it looks as if the white one has take over the space.

I'll be working outside today, since the weather is so lovely. First thing is to get the edging done out front. This is the first house where I have sidewalks to edge. What a nuisance! I'll get out back a bit later and plant some annuals in the new (as of last year) flower bed out there. I just hope it doesn't rain before I finish. Maybe I'll even get out to Lowe's or Home Depot and check out their annuals.

Here is a closeup of the clematis blooming on the fence. And a shot of the 'woods lily' (not sure of its name). I've seen these in the woods when I'm walking the trail at the rec center where I teach ceramics.

Raku firing

2011-05-02T08:49:00.000-04:00

Saturday, I spent all day at the Montpelier Arts and Crafts center. It was their annual tea and herb festival. The ceramics department demonstrated Raku firing all day. I managed to get three of my pieces fired. I'm sure I've explained Raku firing previously. Pieces are fired in a small kiln with a removable lid. Using tongs, we transfer our pieces into garbage cans partly filled with straw, dry grass, leaves, etc. The red hot piece ignites the straw and we put the lid on. The straw uses up all the oxygen in the can, creating reduction firing. We get really interesting effects with this process. The fun part for me is that we can't predict exactly what the finished piece will look like. I'm happy with two of my pieces, but the large mask doesn't thrill me. I like the guy's beard and hair, but his skin color isn't what I wanted. It's too dark and dull looking. Maybe I'll refire the piece next time. I really like the fanged rabbit - the orange color was a surprise, but a nice one. And the little pinch pot (bowl) has lovely swirls of color on the outside, which can't be seen in the photo. The black loops on it are where there was no glaze. In Raku, all unglazed surfaces turn black.

Yesterday was a busy day for me at church. I had to set up the coffee hour stuff mostly by myself, as the other person on the committee was away. It was complicated by the fact that we were not in the usual room, but in a smaller space. Luckily I had a couple of the kids to help me. These girls are very efficient, so we got everything done in time, thank goodness. We wouldn't have made it, except that our service ran late. It was our annual 'Holy Humor' Sunday. We dress in silly clothes and hats, some of which rivaled the recent Royal Wedding display. The minister and congregation tell funny stories. It's a fun way to celebrate the Sunday after Easter.

iris in bloom

2011-04-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, these iris were just buds. I never expected to see them fully open this AM. What a lovely surprise!
Photos are below.

Tom and Peggy (brother and sister-in-law) came in yesterday afternoon, on their way north from Florida. They rode the auto train up to Lorton, VA and drove over to spend the night with me. I was happy to see them. We had some good conversation and then went out to dinner. I now have enough leftovers from the dinner to create three meals for me! One thing I really like about today's restaurants is that they are happy to give us boxes to take food home in. I remember, in the dim dark ages of my childhood, when 'doggie bags' actually held food for the dog.

This week has just flown by. I did clean the house some before my company arrived. Having company gives me just enough incentive to actually get out the vacuum cleaner. Now I have a clean house for a day or so. I have to trim the grass tomorrow and will no doubt track in enough grass to make the 'clean house' a thing of the past.

Saturday we will be doing a Raku firing at the Montpelier Arts and Crafts center. They are having their annual herb and tea festival, which has music, craft vendors, performers and more. Something for everyone. I entered a mask in the 'student' display at the center. Haven't heard whether my piece will be in the show or not. Not many people make masks, so I have a fairly good chance of getting in. I'll know on Saturday.

'the flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la'

2011-04-15T10:04:00.000-04:00

For those who are not operetta fans, the title is from a song in Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. The photos in this blog are some of my blooming flowers.

This first photo is a trillium - a woods plant, growing in my back yard. I transplanted it from my sister-in-law's garden in New York State. I have seen a few trillium growing in the woods here in Maryland, but I imagine the summers are a bit too hot for them to thrive. This one seems to do ok.

The other photos are African violets, growing in pots inside my house. The frilly white and pink one is a new plant - from the Weis supermarket for only $2.99. A friend asked me how I got my African violets to bloom in the winter. My secret, of course, is that I buy new plants, which are already in bloom! LOL Actually the other plants are not new. They tend to bloom whenever they feel like it. I just try to keep them alive.

Yesterday, I was complaining about it being a gorgeous day and my having to work inside. As it turned out, I got home in time to spend several hours sitting out on the deck, enjoying the warm sunshine. It was lovely. Of course, I am paying for it today, as all the pollen made my allergies worse. Oh well, it was worth it.

My neighbor cut my lawn yesterday when he did his own. We have an arrangement: he mows my lawn and I do the edging on both yards with my cord trimmer. My lawn looks much better than when I use the trimmer to do the whole thing and I spend less time doing the edging of both yards than if I had to do just my own lawn and edging. So it's a good bargain for both of us. Today, if it doesn't rain, I will get the edging done.

Last night, I went to a ceramics class at the Montpelier Art Center. This is where we do Raku firing. I love the results of Raku, although they are rather unpredictable. Actually, that's part of why I love it. One often gets a surprise in the finished piece. Eventually, I will have some more items to show. We are doing a demonstration firing on April 30, which is a 'tea festival' at Montpelier Arts Center. I'll have at least a couple of pieces to be fired at that time.

So I am now involved in ceramics three days in a row! I teach on Mondays, take a class on Tuesdays and then the Raku class on Wednesday nights. Lots of playing with clay. Montpelier is having a show for students soon. We have to submit one piece by the end of next week. Not every piece will be selected. I think I have a good shot at getting a piece into the show, as not many students are doing masks.

And the Tuesday class at the senior center is also having a show - in May, I think. I don't know how many pieces we can each submit. No details available so far. Neither of these shows will have pottery for sale. However, I am hoping to go to a sale in southern Maryland later this spring. It would be nice to actually sell some of my stuff. I need the space in the basement!

I've not been blogging very often this spring, mostly because nothing very interesting has been happening in my life. The weeks fly by without anything to generate a blog.

As I look out into the woods behind my house, I see pale green leaves adorning most of the trees. I can still see the houses across the river and through the woods, but in another month, all I will see will be trees. It's nice not to see the other houses, but the foliage also hides the stream, which I do enjoy viewing. Can't have it both ways.

here's what's blooming in my neighborhood

2011-04-07T16:49:00.000-04:00

I just took some snaps of various ornamental trees around my neighborhood. I think they are all cherry trees, both white and pink. Pear trees bloom white too, but they have a different shape and the blossoms look as if someone had tied cotton balls onto the branches. Anyway, whatever they are, I love seeing them every spring. I still haven't decided on what to plant to replace the flowering plum tree that fell over last year. The choices are between dogwood (white or pink), flowering cherry (perhaps weeping cherry), and Japanese red maple. I have to decide if I want spring flowers or year around color. Decisions, decisions!

This is, I think, a white cherry. There is a group of 5 of them on the corner, just a few houses down from mine. They aren't very exciting the rest of the year, but in the spring they are wonderful!

This is the weeping cherry. Isn't it gorgeous? I really love these trees when they get to be this size. However, when they are small, they look rather insignificant and they are rather slow growers, I think. I don't know if I have the patience to wait ten years to get a tree this size.

This is a pink flowering cherry, not the weeping kind. It is a bit past its peak, so the color isn't as bright as it was last week. It would look a lot like the flowering plum that I lost. However, the cherry, like the plum, does not seem to have a good root system. One of the homes down the street lost theirs in a storm a few years ago. I'm very hesitant about buying another tree that will give in to wind and rain.

I don't have any photos of dogwoods in bloom because they aren't blooming this early. I think it will be nearly a month before they bloom. We have both pink and white ones in our block. Both are very lovely.

Japanese maples don't have a showy bloom. Their leaves are their glory. I've seen some that have leaves that are green, white and red variegated. I'll have to do some serious looking soon in order to decide on what I want. I need to get the tree into the ground before the hot summer weather.

Tuesday, I walked around Lake Elkhorn again. It was a bit windy, but the sun was shining and it was a pleasant walk. I counted turtles again and saw a total of 17. Nine of them were on one log! Not much else of interest in the lake. The white heron has not appeared so far this spring. Perhaps it's too early for him. In fact there were very few birds on the water. One pair of ducks and a pair of swans. The others were not hanging around the paths looking for handouts either. They must have found better pickings somewhere else. There are signs prohibiting feeding of the water fowl, but I suspect some people do it anyway. It's a lot of fun to throw bread to the birds, but not good for them to have too much. And if they don't eat it all, it messes up the water. Of course, the Canada geese mess up the paths, with green goo. (it's really sh-t, but we mustn't say the naughty word)

I'm trying to walk every day, but so far am only succeeding on Mondays and Tuesdays that are sunny. I won't walk in the rain. (I guess I'm more a cat than a duck!) As the week progresses, I seem to lose my ambition for taking a walk. Also, on Thursdays and Fridays, I would have to drive somewhere to find an interesting walk. Somehow, that seems to defeat the purpose of walking. Anyway, I will keep on trying. Even twice a week is better than not at all.

the weekend

2011-03-28T09:46:00.000-04:00

I had a fairly busy weekend and most of it was enjoyable. Saturday was the day I had designated for doing my income tax returns. For some reason, the IRS did not send me the booklet and forms this year. It's not
because I filed electronically last year, because I didn't. Anyway, my first thing to do was find the instruction booklet and forms. Lucky for me, the local library had them. The next step, of course, was gathering all the data needed. This involves my checkbook, mortgage statement about loan interest and property taxes, various bits of paper from the bank, and proofs of contributions to charities. The actual computation and filling out the forms took a couple of hours. Somehow it seemed easier this year, so of course, I'm wondering what I have forgotten! I did the first draft of both the federal and the state forms and the results seemed about what I expected. I will be redoing the process tomorrow because often when I do them a second time I find a mistake. Then I'll send them off. A few years ago, I found a major mistake that I had made on several years of taxes. I had actually overpaid! Luckily, I was able to file amended forms, but what a bother that was! I've tried to be very careful since then.

Saturday evening I met friends for dinner and attending a community theater play - "Reefer Madness" . This is a musical based on a rather corny movie from some time ago. I've never seen the movie, which I believe became something of a cult show, but I've heard that it was very poorly acted. Anyway, this musical version was crazy - all about what happens when people smoke pot. It was funny, loud, and somewhat suggestive (the dancing mostly). A couple of the female dancers did things with their boobs that I didn't know were possible! My boobs have never been big enough to twirl! I would have enjoyed the show more if we had been closer to the stage. We were late arriving and ended up toward the back with the row in front of us on the same riser as we were. I spent the evening trying to see between a tall guy and his girlfriend who sat in front of me. It was ok, as long as they didn't get chummy. Whenever he leaned toward her, my view was completely blocked. I thought that the 'orchestra' was too loud and overpowered the singers much of the time. I've found this to be true even in much more professional theaters. Anyway, it was an interesting way to spend an evening and an outing with friends is always fun.

Yesterday evening, I attended a book club meeting. This is a group from my former church. I don't attend regularly, but try to get there once in a while, depending upon what they are reading. This book was one I happened to see at my church library and figured it would be a quick read. It was by Philip Yancey and I think the title is 'The Bible Jesus Knew'. I'm not too keen on Yancey - he's a good writer, but I don't agree with his philosophy of religion. However, he made some interesting points in the book. It's been a very long time since I studied the Old Testament (since college) and I had forgotten a good deal about it. At the meeting, I saw some 'old' friends and managed not to offend too many of them with my views on Christianity. This group is much more traditional than I am when it comes to religion. Anyway, it was good to see them and catch up on what they've been doing.

So that was my weekend. I didn't mention going to church, singing in the choir, and helping with the coffee hour, since those are things I do almost every Sunday. I also phone my daughter on Sunday evenings. Last night's call was a short one, as I had to get to the book club meeting by 6 PM.

Here we are - Monday morning. Another week starting. We never did get the snow they were predicting, although some places not far from me got flurries. I'm just as glad it missed us. I'm ready for spring - the warm sunny kind!

nice day for a walk

2011-03-23T08:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I walked around Lake Elkhorn, after eating a bag lunch on the water's edge. It was sunny and cool - perfect weather for walking. As I usually do there, I counted the turtles I saw sunning themselves on logs in the lake. I think it was a new record - 16! One very little guy had trouble staying on his small stick. He climbed up, the stick turned and back into the water he went. However, he persevered and finally got up there to stay. It's odd that all the turtles are only on one side of the lake. I don't know if it's because at noon, that side has more sun or some other reason. I've never seen any as I walk around the other side.

No 'signs of spring' photos to post today. I need to remember to take my camera with me everywhere I go, so I can get some. However, I do have a photo of four masks that were completed recently. I have run out of places to hang them, so I guess they'll go into a box, downstairs. I hope to sell some of them this year. Gotta do that or stop making them!

yard work

2011-03-19T11:18:00.000-04:00

I did some yard work this week. Trimmed all the dead stalks of perennials, so the new growth can start. Of course, that's assuming they didn't die over the winter. Can't tell yet about most of them. I have two big bags of trimmings to go out next month when they start picking up yard trash again. There is still more cleaning up to do out back, under the deck. I should get out there today and do it. Maybe I will - after lunch.

This morning, I went to a mammoth yard sale held in a school. They used several rooms, hallways and the library! There was a lot of clothes and toys for sale, which I'm not in the market for. Didn't find much in the way of knick-knacks, but did buy some CDs and paperback books. Like I really need those!! LOL. I will donate most of the books after I read them. I'm trying hard to get rid of 2 books for every one I buy. By the time I'm 90, I might have a reasonable number of books left!

Today is another lovely day. It's sunny, with a bit of wind, but very pleasant outside. I do love spring here in Maryland. All I have in bloom so far are daffodils and the Mahonia (grape holly) bush by the front door. (Photo on left) The bees love that bush. And next month, when the berries mature (they do look like little grapes) the birds will love it. Last year I had robins and catbirds fighting over those berries. I need to put in my request for permission to buy a new tree to replace the one that fell last year. I really hate the fact that living here, I have to ask the Homeowners' Board for permission to plant trees or bushes. I'm pretty sure they will say yes, but it's an irritation to have to put in a written request. I'm still trying to decide what tree to buy. I think maybe a dogwood. We have two already here in the neighborhood, but they do look pretty in the spring and have red berries in the fall.

I'm getting eager to start buying spring plants, but of course, it's much too early. Frost free date here is around May 1. I'll have to wait until after Easter, at least. I enjoy the break from gardening during the winter, but with the arrival of warm weather, I'm ready to start in again.

spring, beautiful, wonderful spring!

2011-03-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

The sun is shining. It's warm outside (sweater weather). I have flowers in bloom. I'm feeling full of energy and read for this week.

I was very tired last week and pretty much slept all afternoon, evening, and night on Thursday. Stayed home Friday and just rested. I'm pretty much over the cold now and completely over the jet lag. I've taken down my winter decorations around the house, and put up spring ones. So it's spring both inside and out!

I"m hoping to get to pottery class early today so that I can walk the trail through the woods. It's about a mile, round trip, and completely level, so an easy walk. I need to walk every day here at home if I'm going to keep from regaining those 5 pounds I lost in England. My neighborhood is somewhat hilly, which makes walking more strenuous. The biggest problem is that it's boring to walk around here. I like having a destination or at least having a scenic trail to walk on. I could walk to the grocery store, but that's almost 3 miles round trip and not really interesting. Also, I have to use the wheeled grocery cart which is a nuisance. But, I may try to do it once a week. The library is too close - doesn't give me much exercise, but I guess I could do it once a week. I think I should go back to walking around Lake Elkhorn on Tuesdays or Wednesdays when I'm in Columbia. I KNOW I need the exercise. So far today, all the exercise I've gotten is going down to the basement with the laundry, up two flights of stairs to put the dry clothes away, and repeat for the next load. Too bad I can't hang the clothes out - today would be a good day for that. However, my backyard is too small, too crowded with plants and too shady for a clothesline. Guess I'll have to stick to using the dryer.

Here are some photos of spring flowers - real and artificial.

adventures by bus

2011-03-09T09:04:00.000-05:00

It really wasn't too bad, yesterday, using the local bus system. It was cold waiting for the bus and I'm always nervous about missing it, so I go out about 10 minutes before the bus is due. Since it seems to be often late, that means I may wait up to 20 minutes on the corner. That's not fun, this time of year! Anyway, I was able to get to Columbia Mall, but the bus I wanted wasn't there. Rather than wait, I decided to try another line and walk from one of the stops. This worked fine and I got some exercise. I arrived at the senior center in plenty of time for my class. Getting back after class took a bit longer. The bus stops at the senior center twice along the route. I caught the first one, which then went all around Robin Hood's Barn (old expression from childhood) before it finally reached the mall. No problem getting the bus to return to my neighborhood.

However, later in the afternoon, I had to use the local bus to get from my house to the garage to pick up the car. The place closes at 6 PM, but I figured catching the 5:20 bus from my corner would get me there in plenty of time. It's only about 15 minutes away by bus, but too far to walk. All would have been fine if the bus had not been 20 minutes late!! I was very cold by the time I got on that bus. Furthermore, when I reached the garage, my car was sitting in the lot, but the garage had a closed sign on the door. I did not have my spare keys with me, either. I banged on the door and window and, thank goodness, the owner was still there. He said he knew I was coming for the car and stayed a bit late for me. So, the brakes are in good shape now, but my bank account is not feeling so good. And, there are more repairs necessary. I'll get those done in a week or two, I guess. They aren't urgent.

What I've learned: the bus system works fine, if you have plenty of time. Not so good if you have a deadline to meet. Next time, I'll allow an extra hour and just carry a book to read when I arrive way early.

back to normal

2011-03-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what normal is, but having to put my car in the shop seems to be normal these days. The car is 10 years old and it's showing its age. I'm 70 years old and I frequently show my age too! This time it's the brakes on the car. They are making a thumping noise when applied. I think that indicates worn brake pads or something like that. Anyway, I'll be trying to local bus system to get to my ceramics class in Columbia. It should be easy: I catch the bus on the corner and ride to Columbia Mall. There I get a bus that takes me to the Senior Center where the class is held. After class, I'll reverse the process and head home. The only problem may be that I will have to use the bus to go pick up my car this afternoon/evening. If it's raining, as predicted, it won't be pleasant waiting for the bus. Also, crossing a busy highway at rush hour, to get from the bus stop to the garage is never much fun. But that's life - into which a little rain must fall! LOL

I think spring is here in Maryland. (Of course, by saying this, I'm probably jinxing it and we'll get snow next week!) I have crocus and mini-daffodils in bloom. I guess I need to remove the leaves from the flower bed, so that I can actually see the blooms! What is really had to believe is that we go to daylight savings time this coming weekend! Surely it's a bit early for that? Oh well, it will be nice to have more daylight in the evenings. That is what happens with daylight savings time, isn't it? I always have to stop and figure out how this affects us.

The ceramics class I teach started up again yesterday. I have two new students, which is wonderful! One of them has never done anything with clay. The other has worked with molded ceramics. Both of them took to 'playing with clay' with great enthusiasm and talent. I just hope their first pieces come out ok. There are so many opportunities for things to go wrong between creation and finish of ceramics. And one of them wanted to try a somewhat difficult piece. She says she likes a challenge. It's fun to be able to teach, rather than just being there as a resource person. My other three students are long-time students and rarely need my assistance.

I'd better get ready to catch the bus.

Home again

2011-03-06T08:20:00.000-05:00

Had an uneventful trip home. The plane was crowded, which surprised me, but of course it was a Saturday. I find the trip back to the US feels very long and boring, so this time I decided to watch some of the films that are available. The main problem with these films (other than my having to figure out just how to get the one I wanted) is that the screens are very small and it's hard to see what is going on in night scenes. I had trouble that way with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Luckily I've read the book, although I was several years ago, so I was able to follow the action. The other film I watched was "Unstoppable' (I think that is the right name) It's about a runaway train and is a real action flick. I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I was watching the speeding trains, the airplane ran into some turbulence, which fit perfectly into the scenes on the screen! There isn't much to the plot, but there are lots of trains (for railroad buffs) and emergency equipment with sirens blaring. A couple of car chasing train scenes. The perfect action film!

I got home around 5 and managed to get unpacked and stuff put away before I collapsed into my recliner. I managed to stay up, more or less, until 10 PM. However, I think I was asleep in the chair for the last hour. Of course, this AM I woke up early - VERY EARLY - 3:30 AM. I tried to get back to sleep, but finally at 5 I gave up and got up. I will be very tired tonight. It was odd coming back to warm weather here in Maryland. When I left England, the spring flowers and trees were in bloom, but it was COLD. Here, it is warm, but the the daffodils aren't in bloom, nor are the flowering trees. I think I have a couple of photos of flowers and trees on Kate's street. If I can find them, I'll post them here.

next-to-last day in England

2011-03-04T05:18:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I will be flying home to Maryland. This has been a good visit, except for my catching a cold a few days ago. Actually, I think I caught the cold from airplane travel, but it only developed this week. I still managed to get in some sight-seeing and shopping. As you know, if you read this blog, I love poking around in thrift stores (called charity shops over here). Worcester Park (pronounced woster park) has a wonderful selection of charity shops. I've also visited those in New Malden and Wimbledon. I've picked up a few books, some jewelry, a couple of silly ceramic animals and those sweaters I mentioned in a previous blog.

Yesterday I found a wonderful book called 'A Good Old Laugh'. Here's what Dave Barry says about one of the problems of growing old:. 'I've gained a few pounds around the middle. The only lower-body garments I own that still fit me comfortably are towels.' I don't think I'm quite that bad with flab around the middle. I'm hoping that all the walking I've done over here will have kept me from gaining any weight, despite having eaten more food and drunk more wine that I would have done during three weeks at home.

My grandchildren are becoming so grown-up! Sarah is taller than I and looks very mature. Olivia will catch up to her in height within the next year, I think. Alex seems much older than he did last summer when they visited me. This morning, both Alex and Olivia got out books of poetry and were sharing their favorite poems with me. Alex's choice was the William Wordsworth poem about daffodils. It seemed an unusual choice for an 8 year old boy. I cannot remember being interested in poetry when I was 8, except for A. A. Milne.

Here's another quote from the book - this one appropriate because I've turned 70 today. 'Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake'. (Jo Brand) Taking this advice, I'm going out soon with Kate's friend Lana (my friend too) and having tea and cake.

a walk in a park

2011-02-28T04:06:00.000-05:00

Gorse in bloom at London Wetlands Centre.

These old trees, now with bare branches, have such fascinating shapes. I wanted this photo to prove that we do get blue skies and sunshine here in England. Have to admit that by the time we ate lunch, it was cloudy and rather chilly. It rained just a sprinkle or two later in the afternoon, but we were already home by then.

There were ducks of various kinds and geese, mostly Canada enjoying a swim and eating whatever scraps from lunches that were thrown their way.

Daffodils in bloom - all over the park. Spring comes very early to southern England.

Olivia and Sarah contemplating the water.

Alex feeding ducks and pretending to fall into the lake, just to worry his father.

Camellias were also in bloom. Very lovely. Seemed to have white and red blooms on the same tree, but perhaps two trees were growing together.

update on quilt

2011-02-27T10:33:00.000-05:00

Kate and I have decided that I will do the quilting on my quilt - when I get home. She was going to quilt it for me and she did a bit of free-motion quilting on it today, but had great difficulty because of the polyester batting that I am using. She tells me that I should have bought cotton! Too late now. It is too thick and Kate couldn't easily move the quilt around, also the thread kept breaking. So, it will be up to me. I will either do a simple wavy line up and down the quilt and possibly across as well, using the sewing machine or I will hand quilt it, using something to tie it (perhaps embroidery floss). I'm going to practice a bit before I decide on machine or hand quilting. Since I tend to put off sewing, it may be a long while before it is done. In a way, I'm glad I will be doing it myself. It won't look as nice as if Kate did it, but I can say it's my work, almost completely. I have to admit that she helped me in a few places.

Today started out sunny and lovely, so we went to a park and wandered around, then ate a picnic lunch. I took some photos, but haven't got them uploaded yet. The clouds rolled in after lunch and we were glad to be on our way home. It was actually starting to rain, so our timing was impeccable. We're all tired, but glad we got out for a bit of exercise. The daffodils were in full bloom in the park - lovely!

Last night we celebrated Kate and Geoff's 18th wedding anniversary (and my birthday which is next Friday) by eating in a very nice Chinese Restaurant in Wimbledon Park. Very upscale place - great service. They put the napkins in your lap and kept refilling the water glasses. The food wa delicious and we all splurged on desserts. Actually, Geoff didn't order one, but he got a bite of everyone else's.

Tomorrow Kate and the kids are back at school, so I'm on my own all day. I plan to go into London and visit Covent Gardens, if the weather is reasonable. I love the markets there - and on Mondays they have mostly antiques. I have made a list of places I want to visit in London, but doubt if I'll do them all before it's time to head home.

Kate and Geoff got a new car yesterday. It's a VW Sharan - a mini-van. It's a very nice car and they love it. Seats 7 people! Seems very comfortable. Automatic transmission, which Geoff has never driven. He'll have to get used to not having a clutch. The car is much wider and longer than their previous cars, but Kate has driven my van, so she had no trouble adjusting to that. After a month without a car, they are really happy to have one again, even though they had to spend all day at one of those huge used car places in order to get it. I'd love to have one like it, but my next car will be a smaller car of some sort. I really don't need one the size I have now. Hardly ever buying anything big and bulky and almost never have it full of people. Anyway, I hope to keep my current Mazda MPV going for a couple more years.

visit to Kate in England

2011-02-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

I arrived in England Wednesday AM. The trip over wasn't bad, except for the woman sitting near me who had a 6 week old baby and a 2 year old! The baby cried much of the time and when he was quiet, the other child was talking loudly. Those of us sitting near them got very little sleep, but then I hardly ever sleep on planes anyway. The flight was half empty, so we had plenty of space to spread out. I should have just moved to another seat, but it seemed like too much trouble. I was able to use the Underground (subway) to get from the airport to Wimbledon, where a friend of Kate's met me. I was lucky to encounter an English gentleman who carried my heavy bag up the escalator and then up the stairs when I had to change lines. There was supposed to be a lift (elevator), but I never found it. I did find the one at Wimbledon, but then I have used it before.

Wednesday, I pretty much relaxed around the house, but Thursday I walked Kate and 2 kids over to the primary school, where Kate works. I then went on to Worcester Park and spent the morning in the many charity shops (thrift stores) on the main street. I had a very successful shopping expedition, finding two pullover sweaters (known here as jumpers), a nice glass fish, a silly bird, and a little watering can to add to my collection that go on the trellis outside in the summer. The sweaters will be particularly useful here as I brought very little in the way of clothes this visit. My suitcase was filled with the quilt I'm making (with Kate's help) and all the American snack food requested by Kate and kids.

My granddaughters are getting so grown-up! Sarah is taller than I now (of course I have shrunk a couple of inches in height from what I once was) and Olivia isn't far behind. Olivia is going to be taller than Sarah, we're sure. Sarah is very busy with the new friends she has made in secondary school and seldom comes home after school. Her best friend lives just down the street, so at least we know where she is. Olivia has her own busy social life as well. The girls seem to be getting along better now that they spend less time together. Alex still talks non-stop and very loudly. He gets the volume from his father, who also has a loud voice. Very often there are at least 3 people talking at once in this household. I can't follow the conversations at all when that happens and am tempted to take my hearing aids OUT to decrease the noise!

Next week is the school holiday and we will be going shopping for Christmas presents with money from Grandpa Andy and me. That will be fun, although Olivia is very particular about what she buys. She knows exactly what she likes and will keep on looking until she finds it. It can make for a very long day of shopping. Sarah and Alex seem to make decisions faster or maybe they are just not as particular.

We will also be meeting some of Kate's friends and their children at the London Wetlands Centre. I haven't seem these gals in almost a year, so it will be nice to get a chance to chat with them and see how much their kids have grown. The Wetlands Centre is a good place to look at water birds, as you might expect. The kids prefer the electronic games found in the pavilion, but we'll drag them around on the trails and into some of the viewing huts as well. Hopefully, we will get a decent day (i.e. no rain) for that expedition.

This wooden dish was decoupaged for me by Olivia. This view shows the inside. The bottom of the dish is done in black and white. Olivia is very artistic and loves doing crafty things. She's careful and precise and creates very interesting things. It will be interesting to see where her talents take her.

new creations

2011-02-15T08:48:00.000-05:00

I have a few new ceramic pieces that I haven't shown yet. I try to remember to take photos when I bring the pieces home, but often I forget. Anyway, here are 3 masks made recently. I don't much like the blond guy. Faces that look somewhat realistic and pleasant don't really interest me. I think he's rather blah.

The green insect I like a lot. It was inspired by watching another ceramicist who was putting very realistic insects on the side of her vases. She was actually copying them from a guide to insects book. I used her insects as inspiration, but didn't create an actual insect. Mine is part preying mantis and part imagination.

The cat mask is a not quite successful attempt to do a cat face. I haven't yet been satisfied with any animal faces, but I'll keep trying. Imaginary faces - human, animal, insect or alien - are much easier for me than real ones.

fun on a Saturday afternoon

2011-02-06T14:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday AM, the floor guys came and fixed the ripples in my vinyl flooring. After I put back all the stuff I have removed from the hutch (so that they could move it), I needed to get out of the house. The glue they used to hold the flooring was unpleasantly smelly. So, I called my friend Patty and suggested we go out and visit some antique stores. We hadn't gone antiquing together in ages. She was delighted to go, so off we went to Ellicott City, just a few miles up the road. We started at the bottom of the hill (the shopping district is on a fairly steep hill) in an antique store that was new to me. I found the red bowl shown below in that store. All the stores in Ellicott City are in very old buildings and as a result have many levels, some just a few steps up or down from the adjacent level. Believe me, we got lots of exercise going up and down those stairs, as well as walking up and down the hill! Of course, we found some treasures. We nearly always do. I walked into one store and spotted the orange and gold bowl first thing. Had to have it! We shopped in three antique stores in Ellicott City and then headed over to Gambrills to one of our favorite stores. It's a small store, but always has beautiful displays. By that time I was pretty much "antiqued out" and only found one small glass cruet, clear glass with a green handle. As you can see, all I bought was glassware. The orange/gold piece is a real find - I have nothing else like it. The small red glass bowl isn't as unusual, but is very lovely. The little pitchers are just interesting additions to my collection of small glass things.

After nearly 3 hours, we left antique stores behind, and drove to a nearby shopping center to visit a 'bird' store where we bought some seed for our birds. (With all the snow, the birds are eating a lot of food and so are the squirrels!) Then we walked down the street to Applebee's for dinner. Luckily we got there early. We were seated at once, but the place was filling up and it was only about 5:30. By the time we left, there were no empty tables. It's a popular place, especially on Saturdays. We indulged and each ordered one of their small desserts, called shooters. They come in a juice glass size and are just the right amount of sweet something to have after a full dinner. A lovely way to end the day.

another not so exciting week

2011-02-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

I really can't think of anything to blog about. The snow is melting, but not yet all gone. Don't think we are due for more in the next few days. Thank goodness! Enough is enough! I'm back into my usual routine of classes and volunteer activities. Tomorrow AM, the guys are coming to 'iron out' the other two wrinkles in my flooring. This will involve moving the hutch, the dining room table and a baker's rack with plants on it. So I will be busy early clearing out the hutch, moving plants and suchlike. I don't know where they can put the hutch and the table, but I suppose they will fit them into the living room somehow. I'm just glad I don't have to move the pieces!

Yesterday, I did some baking. I was responsible for bringing snacks to choir this month. We celebrate birthdays at the beginning of each month and have a little part after rehearsal. I baked brownies and miniature cinnamon muffins. Everyone said they were good, but unfortunately, there were quite a few left over. I will give the muffins to a friend, as I should not eat them. (Cinnamon gives me heartburn.) I shouldn't eat the brownies either, but there were only 4 left over, and if I eat only one at lunch each day, I should get away with them. (Chocolate is also on the 'no-no' list, but I can have it in small quantities). The only problem is that it's really hard to eat just one brownie!

I've been doing some 'retail therapy' this past week. Bought some clothes on clearance sale - 75 % off! I do love sales! And got in some exercise at the same time, as I walked all over Columbia Mall several times (2 different trips). They open the mall early for walkers, but I haven't tried that yet. I'm a bit worried about being there that early, before the stores open. I wonder if walkers have problems with being robbed. I don't want to leave my purse in the car (no trunk in my van), but don't want to wear it either. I'll have to give this more thought. But at least, I did get some exercise this week. I can feel it in my legs too!

I'm going to stop now and go to the car wash. Salt from the roads is now on my car and needs to be power-washed off! I never used to bother, but my mechanic tells me that the salt corrodes my brake drums (or whatever they are) and that I need to get it off. Gotta keep this car in running order for a few more years!

snow in January

2011-01-27T09:49:00.001-05:00

We got just about what was predicted for last night's snow. Amazing when that happens. Seems like far more often the weather predictions are way off. So around 8 AM I went out to shovel my sidewalk. The snow (maybe 8 inches) had a crust on it and was rather heavy. I had to scoop off the top crust and dump it and then get the bottom layer. The hard part, of course, was throwing the snow back into the yard. I sure hope I didn't mess up my back doing it. I won't know until tomorrow. Anyway, the trees and bushes look lovely covered with snow. The sun is shining brightly, so we'll get some melting today. Unfortunately, it will probably freeze up overnight, which may mean that the roads will be worse tomorrow than today. Our development's streets have not been plowed so far. We have a contract for that and they are supposed to plow within 12 hours. I have not tried to get my car out. My boss at the hospital gift shop told me not to come in, so I can just leave the car until later today. I will try to clear it out before the temperature drops tonight.

I thought my neighbor's red car and the bits of the poinsettias under the snow looked nice together. The tree covered with snow is two yards up from my yard. The big trees with snow-covered branches are along the stream behind my yard.

This morning, I threw some bird seed out on the deck, on top of the crusted snow. Had squirrels and birds competing for the food. The cardinals were very pretty, but the squirrels chased them away. Speaking of squirrels, one is on the bird feeder now, trying to figure out why he can't get at the seed while he sits on the perch. His weight closes the feeder up, but he doesn't understand that. He finally gave up and let the birds have their food.

If I were ambitious, I would get my outside stuff on and go out with the camera to take some snow photos. Maybe I will do that in a bit. With the sunshine, the snow will soon melt from trees and bushes. Or maybe I'll just stay inside where it is warm!

Love/hate relationships

2011-01-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

I should say that I really like the stuff sold in IKEA. I've purchased quite a few things there over the years. So I went there yesterday to look at lamps. They are remodeling the College Park store, so it is even more difficult to get around inside than usual. I went around in a big circle at least once, trying to get to the lighting section. Finally had to ask an employee who said to follow the signs. Of course, I thought that was what I had been doing, but evidently I had missed one or something. I did get there and found two lamps that were pretty much what I wanted. Now, I have this really cute, skinny, little red goose-neck desk lamp with a flexible stem that is adjusted so that it shines on my keyboard, but not on the screen and not in my eyes. Problem solved! (I needed this lamp because I have a black keyboard, which is great for not showing dirt, but makes it hard to see the keys. I don't have to look for typing letters, but need to see the other keys, as they are located differently than on my old keyboard.) The other lamp is a floor lamp, tall and thin to go in the living room. I picked a shade that I liked - white with flowers - and it looks fine in the room. LOVE my new lamps.

However, putting these items together was another story. Ikea uses drawings with no words to show how to assemble their products. I'm terrible at following pictorial directions. Give me words, please. (I'm bad with the diagrams on credit card machines, too. Always have to try several times to put the card in the right way.) I'm really good with bookcases, having assembled many of those, but lamps are a new thing. It took some time before I figured out what the diagrams were telling me to do with the little red lamp. It was really pretty simple, mostly just screwing the base onto the stem, after one unscrewed the screws and washers from where they were attached for shipping. The floor lamp was actually easier, as it was mostly just screwing the three sections of the pole together. However, there was this odd plastic piece that one picture showed being removed. Luckily I did not throw it away! When I put a bulb in the lamp, the shade tilted and was obviously too loose. Finally I figured out that the plastic piece needed to go back on the lamp to hold the shade in place. HATE Idea's pictorial directions!

This was my week for dealing with problems around the house. I had a very positive phone conversation with Verizon yesterday, which really surprised me. The background story is that last month I noticed a couple of games had been added to my bill. This started in October, so it could not have been my grandchildren's doing, as they left in August. So last month, I called Verizon and spent nearly an hour on the phone with a tech person while she tried to remove these two items. She failed! Finally, she did tell me that she would keep on trying and would call me back. She never called and I forgot about it until I got this month's bill and there those charges were again. I was pretty pissed and was ready to really blow up at Verizon. So, yesterday I called Verizon again. Didn't have a long wait for a tech person and this amazing woman proceeded to remove the offending items within about 5 minutes. Furthermore she said she would refund me all three months charges, since I had not ordered these items. Just like that! I guess she must have done it because I have since received 7 emails from Verizon, basically telling me (several times) that they had done this and I would receive a credit on the next bill. Frankly, I was ready to quit Verizon altogether and look for another wireless provider as well as cancel the TV. I didn't have to threaten to do this, because this time the tech person was not only personable, but also quick and competent. LOVE good customer service!

This morning three guys from FloorMax came to fix my vinyl flooring. It just recently developed several bulges. These fellows pulled out the stove, the fridge and moved a hutch. They pushed and pulled to no avail. Finally they said that they didn't have time to fix it today and would reschedule the appointment. That's ok, as the little wavy places in the floor aren't very noticeable and don't interfere with walking. The guys said that it was the heat being on that caused the vinyl to stretch. I had figured it was that. What I want to know is: when I"m using the A/C next summer, will the flooring shrink? Hopefully, that won't happen because the flooring is anchored under the molding at the edges of the room. Time will tell. LOVE/HATE? I'll decide when the floor is fixed.

I don't know what got into me!

2011-01-15T08:52:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to rearrange the living room. It started when I decided to move a woven wall hanging that Kate made some years ago from the basement stairwell to the living room. I really like this wall hanging and no one sees it when it's hanging in the stairwell. I tried to several different places and finally decided where it would look best. However this was going to involve moving the couch across the room and bringing the two chairs over to where the couch had been. Also some shuffling of end tables and of course, redoing the knick-knacks that decorate the tables. In order to move the couch, I had to roll up the area rug. Where the rug was and where the couch had been, the floors were dusty, so that meant getting out the vacuum. You can see where all this is leading. About an hour later, I finally had clean floors and things moved around to my liking. I actually love rearranging furniture and other stuff, thus getting a new look to a room. Karl, my first husband, used to say that he never knew what the house would look like when he came home from work! However, the older I get, the more difficult this process is. I don't know what I will do when I get too old and decrepit to push furniture around!

Here are a couple of photos of the changes. The blue cloth is covering an old foot locker that I use as a side table. It gets different covers throughout the year. It had a green cover when it was next to the couch, but needed a blue one in its current position. I didn't take a photo of the couch, as it looks pretty much the same no matter which side of the room it's on. Only the throw pillows on it change with the seasons.

a lovely snow

2011-01-12T10:22:00.000-05:00

We got a few inches last night, just enough to look pretty and light enough to be really easy to clear with a broom! One of my neighbors cleared my sidewalk before I got out there this AM. Thank you, whoever you are. I will go out pretty soon and sweep the snow off the car and perhaps shovel a bit from behind it, just to ensure that I can get in and out of my parking place. Shouldn't be a problem.

I've been trying to get some photos of the snow on the deck and the birds that have gathered out there, where I sprinkled seed. However, the settings on my camera have gone all weird and I can't seem to get the flash to come on. A few weeks ago, it was coming on all the time. I don't recall changing anything, but I guess I did. I should never have bought this particular digital camera. I have never been able to figure out how to change the various settings. It's very frustrating. Sometimes it works fine, like when I was taking all those photos of the Christmas lights at night at Brookside Gardens. Now, almost every picture I take is too dark because it won't flash! As you can perhaps tell, I am not comfortable with any of the various electronic gadgets that have come into use in the past 10 years. I paid too much money for this darn camera to just junk it, but I am sorely tempted!

Since I last blogged, I have suffered through a really unpleasant cold - three days of constant nose blowing and generally feeling lousy. I used tissues at the rate of 3 every 5 minutes! That is pretty much over now and I'm almost back to normal (whatever that is!). I was at the doctor's yesterday as I had an appointment for a complete physical. The results are that I am healthy and have no problems, except the acid reflux thing, which I already knew about. Also, I am not getting enough exercise, which I also already knew. Guess I'll have to start walking again, even if I don't have a walking partner. Walking alone is boring, but I think it will be the easiest and the cheapest form of exercise I can do. However, I don't plan to start until my cold is entirely gone. Hopefully, I'll have some energy back by the weekend.

I did manage to get one decent photo of the snow. This is the grape holly by the front door. It's an interesting plant with little yellow blooms on it during the winter and then purple berries in the spring. You can see that we only got a couple of inches of snow. The snow is really pretty out back on the deck, but it's in the shade and with the flash not functioning, I can't get a decent shot out there.

Not a good way to start a new year

2011-01-07T09:18:00.000-05:00

I seem to be coming down with a cold - for the last three days! Sore throat and feeling rotten, but no other symptoms. It's weird and very frustrating. (It isn't flu, as I got a shot for that in the fall.) I've been going to my volunteer activities (in the mornings) because I'm not sick enough to justify staying home, but am wondering if I have thus spread my germs to all the people I was near! Afternoons, I am too tired to do anything but rest or nap. I want to be well or really sick, not this halfway state! Today I have an appointment for a haircut, which I will probably go to. Haven't decided about lunch with friends. I'm not sneezing or coughing, so maybe I could go and not give my friends all my germs. Our lunch bunch didn't meet over the Holidays, so it's been several weeks since I saw most of them.

Last night, I was tired of reading, so decided to watch the evening news on TV. FYI: I got FIOS from Verizon last spring in anticipation of my grandchildrens' visit over the summer. They loved the many channels available and watched TV quite a bit. They had no trouble, of course, using the remote, which to me looks like something that would control a 747! Anyway, I did manage to use the menu function and find a news station at 6 PM. Local news went on and on about three exploding packages mailed to Maryland government offices. They could have summed up the whole broadcast in about 5 minutes, but instead they took at least 20 to go over and over the same thing. BORING! Finally, the national news came on. Obviously a slow day. Showed some folks in the House reading the Constitution. One would think our representatives have something better to do. However, at least they did no harm. Then national news repeated the info about the letter 'bombs' in Maryland. Had a weather report and the wrap-up was a human interest story, which was very sweet, but not really 'news'. I wish I had counted the commercials. I'm estimating that there were about 20 during the hour I watched. I sure love that MUTE button, but I still had to watch in order to put the sound back on when the newscaster came back. All in all, this was not an experience I want to repeat any time soon. I'm going back to getting my news from the Washington Post paper every morning.

I finally found a small rug to put by the back door in the dining room. The rug I had there did not look good with my new floor, so I've been looking for a new one. I found one at WalMart that has the same colors as the floor. What luck!

Here are some photos of my winter decorations. Every year, after the Christmas decorations are put away, I hang various snow scenes and limit my knick-knacks to black, white and red. It's a relief to tone down the decorations, after the overkill of Christmas stuff. The large painting of trees and snow is one by my niece Terry. It's an old one of hers and was hanging in her garage. She doesn't think it's a particularly good painting, but I like it. The two photographs I bought in Wisconsin some years ago. If you click to enlarge, you can see, in the larger one, a canoe with a person in it. The person is Terry. The wildlife photographer is a friend of hers.

New Year's Eve

2011-01-02T08:34:00.000-05:00

My friend Patty and her mother and I went to Brookside Gardens to see the light show. It was very impressive! Trees and bushes were covered with lights, but there were also many free standing objects made of lights - animals, flowers, arbors and so forth. Some animals had sounds to go with them - think frog croaking or wolf howling. A few scenes were animated, with squirrels running up and down a tree or lightning and rain. We walked all over the grounds, including a stop for hot beverages. It was cold, but not bitter cold and no wind. A great way to spend part of the evening. We went early, which was a good thing, as when we left, there were cars waiting to get parking spaces. I'll post a few photos here. The rest will be on flickr, but not yet. I'll post the url when I get them up there.

The first photo is Nessie or at least some sea monster. This one had a baby swimming along side.

These flowers are hyacinths. They had a whole row of them.

The frog actually croaked. Very clever.

I was actually awake at midnight, but only because I fell asleep in my chair and woke up at 11:50! I heard some fireworks in the neighborhood, as I went to bed. Yesterday, I took down the Christmas decorations. Did the outside ones first. It was fairly warm, which was nice. I spent the afternoon putting all the MANY little decorations away in boxes. They never seem to go back into the boxes as easily as they came out! I have a bit more to do today: box up the tree, take down the lights in the kitchen, and get the boxes back onto shelves in the basement. Again, the problem is that they don't fit back into the spaces the way I think they should. Or maybe the problem is just that I have way TOO MUCH STUFF! Anyway, the house is almost back to normal. I will have to vacuum, as there are bits of silver tinsel all over.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T08:46:00.000-05:00

I won't be up at midnight, I hope, so I'm sending everybody a seasonal greeting a bit early. I have a busy day planned. I'm meeting my friend Lynne for lunch at the Ram's Head Tavern at Savage Mill. Neither Lynne nor I have been to Savage Mill for some time. They used to have wonderful antique stores, but only one is left. However, they have many craft shops as well as a few studios for artists. We'll eat a wonderful lunch and then browse for a few hours. Tonight, I'm going with Patty and her mother to the light display at Brookside Gardens. It's a walking display, so we'll be able to go at our own pace and take photos without holding up a line of traffic. I imagine that by the time I get home from that, I'll be exhausted and will fall into bed.

Tomorrow I'll start taking down the Christmas decorations. Will do the outside ones first, as it's supposed to be fairly warm. I'm ready to put all the wonderful Christmas stuff away for a year. A month of them is enough for me! It will mean a lot of trudging up and down the basement stairs, which is good, as I need more exercise.

My only New Year's resolution is to get more exercise. I'll try walking by myself around the neighborhood or at a shopping mall. I really hate indoor walking, but it's awfully cold in the winter to walk outside. If walking isn't enough, I guess I'll sign up for the aerobic class at the senior center. One way or another, I've got to get myself into better physical shape. Wish me luck!

after Christmas blahs

2010-12-26T08:55:00.000-05:00

I really hate the week after Christmas, especially when I am at home rather than visiting Kate and family in England. So far the seasonal blues haven't set in, but I expect them anytime now. We may have a snow storm today or tonight. That would be a lovely distraction, as long as it isn't so bad that it closes roads and really messes up driving anywhere. I love to sit inside and admire snow falling, as long as I don't have to go anywhere. Andy (my ex) called last night. They have snow down there in Hampton, VA. That's surprising, as when I lived in that area, we almost never got snow, certainly not in December. But then, that's true here in Maryland too. December snows have been rare. Funny how 'global warming' seems to be producing colder, snowier winters!

Last night I went out to dinner with my friend, Lynne. We ate at Friday's because it was open, whereas most places are closed on Christmas. We even saved room for dessert. I had cheesecake, one of my favorites. It was nice to eat American food on Christmas for a change. Usually we end up at Chinese or Indian restaurants because they are among the few open. I splurged on steak and salmon and now have leftover steak to eat today. I brought the french fries home too, but am not convinced that they will be fit to eat when reheated. No great loss either way.

This ornament is my Christmas present from Lynne. The design is created using reverse glass painting, done through a small hole in one end of the decoration. I can't imagine how anyone could paint so beautifully using that technique. Of course, I'm not a painter - far from it! My hands work very well with clay, but put a paintbrush in them and the results are pretty bad!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T09:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday a friend and I had lunch at Applebee's. The place was nearly deserted, so we didn't feel guilty because we sat and talked after eating. We had steak and carefully left room for dessert. Sometimes it's nice just to meet a friend one on one, rather than in a group.

Last night the choir sang at our Christmas Eve service. We (choir and congregation) sang about 8Christmas carols. The choir did a processional (we only do this once a year); sang three anthems and then walked to the back of the sanctuary while singing a really neat song which uses Silent Night as a counterpoint melody. Cookies and cider and socializing afterward. On the way home, I watched the moon with clouds drifting across the face. It was a beautiful sight. Wish I had been able to take a photo. By the time I got home, the clouds were covering it completely. All in all, it was a lovely evening.

This morning I have spotted a half dozen snowflakes. We may get a white Christmas after all. I filled all the bird feeders this morning. The way the birds eat, most of the seeds will be gone by tonight. Anyone who talks about someone 'eating like a bird' hasn't watched birds eat. They spend most of their time eating, except when they are chasing other birds away from the food!

Today I will be listening to various Christmas music presentation on the radio. I can get two stations that play classical music, so have lots of wonderful seasonal music to enjoy. Later I'll call some of my family and then go out to dinner with another friend. Should be a good Christmas, despite being without visiting family. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas filled with joy and love.

Christmas is coming

2010-12-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, our choir sang a Christmas Cantata during the church service. It replaced the sermon, which I think is a nice change. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the sermons, but I LOVE music and singing. We'll be singing again Friday night at the Christmas Eve Service, but not providing the sermon.

After church, a friend invited me to have lunch with her at Vantage House, the continuous care building where she now lives. The apartments there are really nice and amazingly large. She has a grand piano in her living room! Kitchens are very small, but since meals are provided, who needs a kitchen? The place has several lounging areas and a nice collection of books in their library on the first floor and outside the dining room as well. The dining room has small tables and very comfortable chairs, and a waitress took our orders and brought our food. The menu started with soup and salad and included dessert. It was interesting that the portions were small. That suited me just fine, but I wonder if some of the men who live there would want more to eat. The men I know would certainly have wanted larger servings. I doubt if I'll ever move to a continuous care community, but in some ways it would be wonderful - no cooking, lots of books, no home repairs, transportation to local mall, etc. However, I have a LOT of stuff and don't think I could ever part with most of it.

I'm wishing I had gone to England this year for Christmas. They got more snow a day or so ago, and are probably going to get more this week. Amazing! Southern England never gets this kind of weather in December. I know my grandkids are delighted, especially the youngest one. Kate is not as thrilled, I imagine, but I think she has done all the pre-Christmas errands and can just stay home and enjoy the thrill of a white Christmas. I don't think we'll get one here this year, although there is a chance of snow on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day. Keeping my fingers crossed.

changed background

2010-12-17T10:24:00.001-05:00

I've been playing around with different backgrounds for this blog. I thought the book one was very appropriate. It actually looks a lot like my basement rec room, which is lined with bookcases. I'm not sure I will keep this background, however, as it seems a bit too busy. What do you think?

This is the second posting for today. If you want to see photos of our snow, go back to the previous blog.

snow scenes

2010-12-17T09:44:00.000-05:00

We had a few inches of snow last night. The roads were a bit nasty, but the drivers were worse! I got stuck behind a woman who refused to go more than 15 MPH for a couple of miles. There was a long line of frustrated drivers behind her when the road finally opened up and we could get around. Of course, there was at least one example of the other kind of 'snow driver' - the one who zips around the line by using the turning lane and goes too fast for road conditions. Maybe if we get a lot of snow this winter, Maryland drivers will learn how to drive in it. Or maybe not!

This morning, the sunrise was lovely. The snow on bushes looks so pretty. I'd be happy if we this snow just stayed around for a few days. Unfortunately, there may be another snowfall Saturday night/Sunday AM. We'll see how it goes. Weather predictions are often wrong.

more pottery

2010-12-15T17:04:00.000-05:00

Here are some pieces from my other pottery classes.

Brrrrrr

2010-12-14T07:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon a strong wind came through and the temperature went down, down, down. Brrrr. However, it seems a bit warmer this AM - less wind. We got a bit of snow, just a dusting. Makes it look like winter outside.

Here are more photos of my latest pottery stuff. I'll have to find a space to hang the mask up in the living room. I like having the masks where I can see them, rather than packed away. The design on the vase was made by pressing some carved blocks into the slab of clay, before I made it into a round container. The little guy in the barrel is a whimsical piece made when I was just fooling around. The guy was naked, but he was embarrassed at being caught in his bath, so I added a towel around his waist. I have no idea what I will do with him, but he was fun to make!

recent ceramics

2010-12-13T08:10:00.001-05:00

We did a Raku firing Saturday. I really like some of my pieces. The masks came out very well. The little footed bowl is a lovely color. There are more photos, but I'll save those for another time.

We got a bit of snow this AM. It melted on the sidewalk, but has left a nice dusting of the white stuff on my deck. I sprinkled out a pit of food on the deck itself, for the Juncos and other ground-feeding birds. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the squirrels came by first and pretty much vacuumed up all the seed.

I don't envy the folks in the Midwest where they really got hit with a storm. A white Christmas is something to be enjoyed. A storm with wind, icy roads and piles of snow is NOT what any of us want. Well, actually the kids probably want something like that. I remember how we used to hope for school closings.

It's so nice being retired and able to just sit inside and enjoy snow, without having to go anywhere! I do have a class to teach this afternoon, but the roads are fine.

I have to get my Christmas cards out this week. I'm really behind this year. At least I have the cards and the Xmas letters. All that I need to do is put on addresses and stamps.

Guess I'd better get busy!

more Christmas decorations

2010-12-04T10:56:00.000-05:00

I showed my Christmas tree on Facebook, but forgot to put it up here. You can see how skinny it is. It's really loaded with decorations because the previous tree was much fatter. I like this one, but it is a bit unstable. I put it in a corner because I was afraid I'd bump it and knock it over if it was located out in the open. I think next year I will secure the stand to a board to prevent tipping and allow me to put the tree where I can decorate all sides of it. That way, I won't have to crowd the ornaments on the branches or (horrors!) get rid of some ornaments!

The other photo shows some old time Christmas postcards that I found in an antique store a couple of years ago. I think they are charming and sentimental. The photo isn't very good - there is a reflection from the sun shining in the window above the door.

I was supposed to be in southern Maryland this weekend, but I'm just too tired to travel. My cold, which has mostly gone away, has left me exhausted. My friend Deb and I were going to sell pottery at a craft show down there. I was really looking forward to that, but just couldn't find the energy to go. Yesterday, I stayed home, napped in my recliner and read some 'not at all demanding' fiction. Today, I plan to get the Xmas letter done and reproduced and buy Xmas cards, if I need more. I always have leftovers from previous years. I'd like to get the cards out next week.

At least I don't have to buy many Xmas presents. With the grandchildren overseas, it's not practical to send presents. I'll take them shopping when I go over in February. It's too hard to know what to get them now that they are growing up, so money for shopping is best. I've got presents for Kate and Geoff, which I will take with me. That leaves just Steve and Christine to buy for. I'll shop for them next week. I used to love Christmas shopping, with the stores all decorated and carols playing. I'm not sure I enjoy it anymore. Maybe I'm getting too old! Hopefully, when I actually go shopping I will get into the Christmas spirit. It won't be long now - just three weeks!

A busy weekend

2010-11-28T08:33:00.001-05:00

I started this weekend taking down and putting away all the fall decorations inside my house. I think there were 4 boxes and two garbage bags full of stuff when I finished. This included the orange and yellow glass items that were on the bakers' racks in the front window. The next step was to get out the Christmas decorations. I put red glass items on the racks in the window. The morning sun shines through them and really sets them off. Yesterday, I brought up 5 or maybe it was 6, boxes marked Xmas from the basement. Managed to empty a couple of them, but two are still on the floor because they held tree ornaments as well as shelf and wall items. Can't decide if I should take them back downstairs or just leave them in the living room until the tree is ready for decorations. I have an artificial tree with branches that have to be put into it one at a time. (It's a pain to set up and taking it down is even worse.) I'm not sure I have a place for the tree this year, as the living room has been rearranged and a shelf unit added where the tree usually is. I may try it between the bakers' racks in the bay window, but I'm afraid it is too fat for the space. I'm thinking about buying one of those trees with lights and branches all attached. Sure would be easier to put up and take down, but I'm not sure I can find one skinny enough.

So, at this point, I have the living room, minus the tree, decorated. Still have the kitchen/dining room to do. I don't decorate upstairs, thank goodness! And I haven't done anything outside yet. The fall scarecrow and gourds are still out there. This week, if we get a warm day, I'll get the outside done. I've been playing my Christmas CDs while I decorated, trying to get into the holiday spirit. I enjoy hearing the carols this time of year, but I know that by Christmas, I'll have had more than enough of them.

Yesterday, our church choir sang at a funeral for one of the members. He was well-known and had a large family and many friends. The church was packed. The service went on and on. It was 2 hours before we sang and there was still more to come. By that time, a couple of us had to use the facilities, so we slipped out after we sang and just went on home from there.

Today, after church, the choir is going to sing at a nursing home where a former member now lives. It will be a bit of a drive, but a fun thing to do. At my former church, a group always went caroling at local nursing homes. We did it at St John United (my current church) once some years back, but not recently. I love to sing Christmas carols. The only problem with singing at nursing homes is that it's always very hot. I guess that's because the older folks like it that way. As an older person, I admit that I had my heat turned up from when I had a cold, but turned it back to 68 today. As long as I'm dressed warmly and keep moving around, I'm plenty warm. When I sit down, I use a lap quilt to keep warm. Maybe I'll start wearing gloves when I use the computer! My hands are cold now.

some fall scenes

2010-11-23T15:40:00.002-05:00

This is a wreath I made from artificial flowers on sale at Michael's. I had a different door decoration up this fall,but it was old and kept dropping bits onto the floor. This one should last a few years.

This week is a rather busy one, although when I remember how frantic Thanksgiving week was when I was still gainfully employed, life today is very leisurely. I decided to clean my oven today. My oven was very dirty, as I didn't clean it all summer. The process creates a lot of heat and is stinky, but isn't much work for me. Luckily today is warm, so I've got the house open and a fan blowing the oven-cleaning smell out. If I were cooking a turkey, I would wait until after T-day, but since the dinner is at Patty's house this year, it's her oven that will get the most use. I'll be baking a pumpkin pie or two and roasting some vegetables, but that's about all the cooking. It's really nice to have three households sharing Thanksgiving. No one has to do too much. I shopped today, and tomorrow I will bake the pies and make cranberry sauce.

I took a few photos of the mums that are still in bloom in pots on the front steps. The one on the deck is still just budded. I think the flowers will be yellow. If it blooms before a killing frost, I'll get a photo of that one too.

There was an interesting moon this AM. I can't take photos of the moon at night, need a tripod for that, but I managed a pretty good shot of the morning moon. Looks like a full moon to me, which usually means a cold night. We'll see.

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes and all the other special items that your family traditionally has. When I was a kid, my mom always

fixed creamed onions. I hated them! (I hated most vegetables as a kid.) Luckily, since it was Thanksgiving, I didn't have to eat any. We usually had some of the neighbors over to share dinner. One family always brought a very sour lemon sherbet to start the meal. I wish I had the recipe. It was wonderful!

The newspaper today had an article on how we should eat carefully and not eat too much on Thanksgiving. What a downer! Who wants to skip dessert and just eat fruit on Thanksgiving? Not me!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

another great day

2010-11-20T16:25:00.000-05:00

Such lovely weather we are having. I love "Indian Summer", which is what we always called a warm spell after a frost. I worked outside for a bit today, in shirt sleeves! I've drained the hoses from the back yard; moved some empty pots off the deck and took down all the bird houses and summer decorations from the trellis and the pots. I have a bunch of those little critters that you stick in your pots - rabbits, birds, squirrels, turtles. Too bad they don't keep the actual critters, mostly squirrels, from digging in the pots. Before winter sets in, I will move almost all the pots down to beneath the deck, but I only do a few at a time. About half of them are still blooming - and not just the mums. Some other flowers haven't been frosted. The funniest one is a plant that I bought this summer up in Bath, NY. It is a mum and didn't even set on buds this summer. Today, when I read the tag, it said that it would bloom in late fall and that in places with a short summer, probably wouldn't bloom at all. We certainly have long enough summers, but this is cutting it pretty close. It has buds, but I figure it needs a couple more weeks before it blooms. I can't imagine anyone in western NY could ever have it bloom, as they've already had a killing frost up there. I also noticed that my re-blooming iris have buds. They too will have to hurry if they want to be fully open before cold weather sets in.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Seems too soon. Although, I noticed that all the stores have their Christmas things on display and have had for several weeks. I'm really not quite ready for Christmas decorations, but I will start putting mine up next weekend. I get them down right after New Year's, so they really aren't up all that long.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'll be sharing food with my friend Patty and her mother. This year it's at Patty's house, which is very convenient, as it's almost next door. We buy a huge turkey so that we each have left-overs to pig out on for the next week!

a slow week, I hope!

2010-11-17T09:31:00.000-05:00

Last week was full of excitement as my new floors were installed. I love them! (Yeah, I did say that before.) Hopefully, by the weekend, I will have some area rugs (currently at the cleaners) so that I won't be stepping out of bed onto a cold floor. Meanwhile, my bedroom slippers live close by the bed.

My brother and sister-in-law arrived Sunday afternoon and left Monday AM - a whirlwind visit. They went down to Lorton, VA to catch the auto-train to Florida where they spend the winter. It was fun seeing them, even if very briefly, but I think I overdid it on the weekend, trying to get the house ready for their visit. I'm back to being exhausted by late afternoon. Just can't seem to shake off this cold. Back in the day, when I was young, (even when I was middle-aged) my colds lasted less than a week. These days, I never seem to get rid of them in less than 2 weeks! Maturity (i.e., old age) is wonderful, isn't it?

We've been having Indian Summer for the past week or so. It's cold at night, but warms up into the 60s during the day. Lots of sunshine, except for yesterday when it rained all day. Today is mild, but breezy. I look out the front door and see leaves blowing all over. I've raked twice this fall, but expect to have to do it again soon. No trees in my yard, but the wind brings me plenty of leaves from elsewhere! I'd be delighted to get these leaves if I had room in my yard for a compost pile. However, my yard is quite small, so the leaves are bagged up and put out for pickup. Most of my flowers are still healthy, although the wax begonias and impatiens got nipped by the frosts. Mostly what is blooming now are mums. They can withstand a pretty good frost. Most of them will finish blooming before the cold weather kills them. I need to start moving pots off the deck down into the lower yard, under the deck. I can keep perennials alive through the winter if I put them up against the house or under a glass door that makes a protected shelter for them. There are a lot of pots to haul down the steps, as I put the empty pots down below as well. Only a few evergreens stay on the deck for the winter and one or two really big pots that I cannot lift and carry down the steps. Maybe this week, I'll start moving pots down. If I'm careful and carry only a few each day, hopefully I won't mess up my back!

I'm rather bummed out just now about something that has happened to my Facebook page. The 'owners' of Facebook have pulled the page and won't let me onto Facebook until I re-register, including providing them with a photo ID. The implication is that a false name has been used to enter data on my page. At least that's what I think they are saying. Of course, there is no way to actually reach Facebook and ask them what happened. I resent their implying that I did something wrong. I'm guessing that someone hacked my page, but I really don't know. It's most annoying, especially having to provide a photo ID. I haven't done it yet, but I guess I will have to unless I want to just give up the page. I don't get much real information about friends on Facebook,but I've gotten kind of addicted to it, so I suppose I'll have to get the mess straightened out.

Wow! Just had an interesting experience. I heard two thumps on my sliding door onto the deck. I looked out to see what stupid bird hit the door twice and saw one of our neighborhood red-shouldered hawks on the deck just outside the door. He flew off when he saw me, so I didn't get a chance to see if he had caught a bird or not. He can eat house sparrows anytime, but I hope he didn't get a chickadee or titmouse. I'm glad the hawk flew off, because I really hate it when he eats his dinner in my yard and leaves me a pile of feathers and bones to clean up!

floors are done, finally

2010-11-13T08:35:00.000-05:00

Three days of having workmen, speaking mostly Spanish, tromping up and down my stairs, in and out the door; dragging old flooring out and carrying new stuff in. I never realized how much pounding there would be, mostly because they had to remove and then replace all the floor molding. But, it's done now. Hurray! It looks beautiful - hurray again! My part in all this, in addition to paying, was to pack away all the photos and little knick-knacks, and glassware from the hutch, so the guys could move the furniture. I took down curtains and cleared out the floors of the closets as well. And, of course, when each room was finished, I had to put everything back! To add to the mix, I developed a nasty sore throat and drippy-nose cold the night before the 'party' started. I spent a lot of time just sitting in a chair, sniffling and sneezing and trying to ignore all the commotion. It was worth it, no doubt, but I'm very glad that I'll never need to do it again.

First photo is the guest/sewing room. Second is the floor in my bedroom. I have two area rugs, currently at the cleaners, which will go in the bedrooms near the beds. I have discovered that the laminate floor is very COLD this time of year when one has bare feet! My slippers live on the floor near my bed at night. Last photo is self-explanatory - stairs. They are very soft and nice to walk on barefoot. Third photo is self-explanatory - stairs. The new carpet is very soft and feels good under bare feet.

Tom and Peggy (brother and sister-in-law) are arriving for a very brief visit tomorrow afternoon. They will leave Monday AM to drive to Lorton, VA and board the AutoTrain to Florida. It'll be nice to see them, albeit briefly. However, the timing of the visit with the flooring and my cold is not exactly optimal. Not that I could have done anything to keep from catching a cold. And I'm glad they get to see the new floors. (They very seldom come down to see me. Mostly they go to our other brother's place or I go up to NY State). Today and tomorrow I will be doing a bit more cleaning, now that the workmen are no longer tracking leaves and dust into the house. The upstairs is clean, so it's just the living room that needs attention.

Random thoughts: I didn't realize how dirty the sides of my stove were until it was pulled out from the cabinets. Yeuch! It was embarrassingly dirty. It's clean now. I didn't realize how easy it is to remove the top part of the hutch in the dining room. Two little screws are all that hold the top and bottom together. Beds slide around more on smooth floors. I did know this, but hadn't figured out what to do about it. I guess I'll invest in some rubber thingies that go under legs. I have them in the living room for the chairs and couch. Just need a few more for the beds.

There is something making a whistling noise in my house. I think it's in the basement, but I don't know what it is. Perhaps the smoke alarm makes a whistle when the battery is low? It isn't beeping or chirping, which is what the ones in my last house did. These are hard wired into the electrical system, but they also have a back-up battery. Guess I'd better go downstairs and check on the one in the basement. That's where the sound is the loudest. Ah, the joys of home ownership!

more pottery

2010-11-05T07:53:00.000-04:00

I've already posted photos of these pieces on Face Book, but I'll put them up here for those who read this but aren't on Face Book. I'm not sure if there is anyone in that category, but I"m pleased with these pieces, so am glad to show them off again! As you may know, I am involved in three pottery classes a week. One of these I teach, but I still sometimes have time to fool around with clay myself. The others are where I am a student. I love being with other potters and being inspired by what they are doing. We all learn a lot from each other. The teachers pretty much let us 'old timers' work on our own, but they are there to answer questions and help if we need it. These two pots were built using coils. It's a rather slow process, compared to throwing on a wheel, but I enjoy it. I"m still learning how to get the sides smooth, rather than having the coils show. I like pots either way. These two were made with high fire clay and fired in a gas kiln. I've not used these glazes before, so I was pretty much guessing how they would turn out. We do have test tiles for each glaze, but they aren't always accurate. This blue and brown one really surprised me. I thought it would be just one color. Instead I got this really great effect. The other glaze had a celadon base, so I expected something in green. I knew the glaze would run and it certainly did! I really like what it did and will probably try it again.

Ok, enough about pottery. I know it's boring when someone gets on her hobby horse. There hasn't been a lot happening lately in my life lately. Next week will be the bad/good one. For three days the floor team will be tearing up my floors and putting down new ones. Kitchen/dining room; bedrooms; master bath; stairs and hall will all get new floor coverings. The house will be in disarray from Tuesday night when I start moving small stuff out of the dining room until Friday night when they finish. (Actually until Saturday when I get all the stuff back in place.) The floor people will move the furniture, but I have a whole lot of small, breakable stuff that I will have to move. Can't say I am looking forward to that. Especially NOT looking forward to putting it all back. Kate would say that this is a wonderful opportunity to cull the items and get rid of some. She also would know me well enough to realize that I'm not likely to do that! I love my stuff and don't want to get rid of most of it. So, I have to deal with it.

We had a very rainy day yesterday. I was inside all day - at the gift shop and then just staying home. I've been feeling very tired lately, so it was nice to spend the afternoon and evening just relaxing and reading at home. (I even skipped choir!) This morning, when I went downstairs to do laundry, I noticed a stain on the floor of my studio (concrete unfinished floor) that looked as if some water had spilled. I could not find the source. The floor was dry, so it had not just happened. I"m not down there every day, but I'm guessing that the rain had something to do with it. Except. I could not find any evidence of water coming in from anywhere. There is a drain pipe that comes up from the floor, put in when the house was built so that the room could be made into a bathroom. The drain appears to be covered, but I wonder if water did come through there. I'll have to check on that the next time it rains. Anyhow, no damage was done, but I would like to know what happened.

more ceramics

2010-11-02T08:42:00.000-04:00

Here are the rest of the ceramic items that were Raku fired on Sunday. I really like this pot. I pressed and carved designs in rows around the outside. When I glazed, I used three different glazes on the rows. Raku glaze doesn't run during firing, as do many other glazes, so it's possible to put two different glazes side by side and have them stay that way. This pot was made using coils.

The little bowls are all pinch pots. This is the simplest way to work with clay. You take a ball of clay that fits into the palm of your hand and pinch and pull up the sides as you turn the bowl around. I like to keep the bottom round and add legs, but you can flatten it easily, instead. I added some clay decorations to some of theses little bowls. I hope to sell them at a makers' market in southern Maryland in December.

I took the Halloween decorations down last evening and put them back into storage in the basement. I won't have to do anything more with decor, inside or out until after Thanksgiving when the Christmas decorations go up. That will be a big chore, as there are LOTS and LOTS of Christmas items. I seem unable to resist buying more each year. Help - I'm addicted to home decor stuff! This year I'm staying home, rather than going to England, so I will even put up a tree, although I'm not sure where I'll put it. My living room is a bit full. I'm sure I'll find room for all the things, including the tree. I'm really glad I have almost a month before I have to do all that.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T08:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we did a Raku firing at the Montpelier Arts Center, where I take a ceramics class. Some of my pieces are definitely Halloweenish, as you can see. The colors aren't quite true in the photos, but you can get the idea. I think of this pair as female and male wolves. The moose has a rather odd finish, but I kinda like him. Then there is 'Oh Deer'. I was aiming for a deer, but got something that might be a kangaroo or a coyote. There are also some pots, which I will show the next blog.

I got home too late for trick or treaters, which was fine by me. I was exhausted. There was some lifting of a kiln lid - VERY HEAVY - which made my neck and back ache. I came home, took a hot bath and went to bed!

Gourds and quilt

2010-10-28T08:34:00.000-04:00

I found these interesting gourds at a vegetable stand in New Jersey. To me, they look like a gaggle of geese. The bowl is also a gourd. I got that one on sale at our local birding store a few weeks ago.

The other photo is the beginning of a quilt that I am trying to produce. I picked out the fabric this summer at my favorite fabric shop in Hammondsport, NY. Kate was with me and helped figure out how much to buy. This week, when I was stuck at home with no car, I finally finished cutting the pieces. Now I'll be arranging and re-arranging them until I find a pleasing pattern. I do not like the one pictured - too much emphasis on the green. Since I am a novice quilter, the quilt will probably not be finished until I go to visit Kate in February. I might get the pieces stitched together, but will want Kate to advise me and remind me of the steps as I go along. Meanwhile, I'll have fun playing with the pieces.

I finally got my car yesterday AM. The problem was a strange one. It seems that there is a heater in the back of the mini-van. I never turned it on, as no one ever sat there. However, it may have been on from this summer. The kids sat back there and fooled around with all the heat and A/C controls and I never thought to check on that. Anyway the pipes for the heat back there had rusted or corroded and the heat was, I think, getting into the engine. Anyway, it caused the heat gauge to register very hot. It would have cost $600 for the part, plus labor to fix this. So, I just asked the mechanic to remove the whole thing. Since no one rides back there, I don't need a heater in the back. The cost was significantly less to just remove it. It's good to have transportation again. I was going a little stir crazy. I can walk to the post office and grocery store, but that's about all. Bus comes once an hour to either Columbia Mall or Laurel Mall. So, it's not as if I'm really trapped at home. However, it's good to have wheels again.

In November, I am getting new floors. Vinyl in the kitchen and master bathroom. Laminate in bedrooms. New carpet for the stairs and upstairs hall. I shudder to think about having to box up all the stuff that is on shelves and dressers. I'll take photos of the work in progress. The installers will be here for 3 days, week after next.

trip to New Jersey

2010-10-25T10:03:00.001-04:00

I drove up to north western N J to visit a college friend. She lives in a very small town - they have a post office, but nothing else except about a dozen homes. Her house was built in the 1940s, I think, but has an open floor plan, which surely was unusual for the times. The area is very rural - the view out the back is of a dairy farm. The countryside is so beautiful, especially with the fall leaves. We ate out twice and spent Saturday browsing around in antique/junk shops in a nearby town. I had a great time and, amazingly, managed not to buy anything! It must have been my friend's influence, as on the way home, I stopped at another store and did buy two cheap items - some old buttons and a child's rake.

The drive up was not too bad, as I could enjoy the fall colors while I sat in stop and go traffic on the Baltimore beltway Friday AM. The drive home had no bad traffic and was fine until just south of Harrisburg, PA when I noticed that the temperature gauge was reading above the HOT mark! I pulled off at the next exit and added some coolant, as there appeared to be none in the overflow box. I waited a bit and went back on the road. Almost immediately, the gauge went back up, all the way. So, I pulled off again and considered my options. I called my brother Tom for his advice. He said it might be the thermostat, and advised me to call AAA and get a tow. I did that and rode all the way to Laurel in the cab of a tow truck. I never realized how high up those cabs are! You can see way over the traffic, but the ride was very rough. My car is at the garage now and I'm waiting for the owner to call me and tell me how much this repair will cost! At least the tow was free! Thank goodness for AAA.

View from the car along one of the back roads.

Looking across the valley.

This lake is just a short walk down the road.

This is an old, abandoned mill at the end of the lake.

dinner and a show

2010-10-15T10:47:00.002-04:00

This wreath is hanging on my front door. The scarecrow is in the front yard. The birdcage with the little owls in it, is in the living room. I bought the birdcage at a yard sale last weekend. Saw these owls at Michael's and couldn't resist them.

Today the weather is beautiful. I'm hoping to get outside for a walk sometime later. The leaves are beginning to turn red and gold. Trees behind my house don't get very colorful, but others in the neighborhood do. Maybe I'll get some pix when I go walking.

Last night, a friend and I went to see "Rent" at Toby's Dinner Theatre. ( We had free tickets compliments of my granddaughter, Olivia. She won them while she was visiting this summer, but didn't have a chance to use them, so I got them.) When I called to make the reservations, the ticket seller asked me if I knew what the show was about. I guess I seemed uncertain, because she proceeded to tell me that it included scenes about AIDS, homosexuality, dying, profanity, sexually suggestive dancing and more. I had to chuckle, as I told her that although I am an old lady, I am not offended by those things!

It was an interesting show. Unfortunately, as usual at Toby's, the background music was so loud, that I missed some of the lyrics. Most, although not all, of the show was sung. The female lead, who was the waitress at our table, had an amazing voice - a huge range and very expressive. Interestingly, her spoken voice was nothing like her singing voice. I really liked the music, despite it being loud. Luckily I had left my hearing aids at home. The dancing was incredible - lots of running and jumping on and off props. And those dancers could do things to their bodies that made me shudder. How can they jump and stretch and contort themselves while they are singing? Of course most of them were young, but I couldn't have done that when I was young!

a great day for yard sales

2010-10-09T13:46:00.001-04:00

I went visiting local yard sales today. The sun was shining, although it was chilly when I started out. An hour later, I had taken the jacket off; when I got home at noon, I changed into shorts! Anyway, I got a lot of stuff and it was all very cheap. Sometimes people at yard sales price things too high, but all these folks had stuff priced to SELL! And I bought! I got some Halloween and some Christmas decorations - mostly outdoor ones for Halloween. One sale was at a church and they also had FOOD. Delicious brownies and I think from the wonderful odors, really good soup, too. Unfortunately it was still morning when I was there, and I didn't get back there for lunch. Need I say that I ate the brownies before I got home?

Among the items I came home with is a stack of plastic interlocking shelf things - each one 8x11. I now have 4 blue shelves and 3 red ones - perfect in my kitchen. I'm hoping that I can get myself better organized and eliminate some of the mess on my kitchen counter and buffet. Wish me luck - I'm going to start on reorganizing as soon as I finish this blog. And speaking of my kitchen, I'm getting an estimate today on replacing the old vinyl flooring. The one I have picked is a fairly dark gray, made to resemble stone. When the floor is installed, I'll take a photo.

The first photo is, Halloween and fall stuff. I also have some outdoor stuff that I didn't photo. I'll do that later when the yard decorations are all up. The gourd is really big - over a foot long. I have no idea what to do with it, but I just couldn't resist. The wood bird cage is another one of those irresistible things. I already have a place in mind to hang it and a paper mache bird to put in it. The Xmas stuff is packed away until December. And yes, I know that I don't need any more mugs - even Christmas ones. But, it was only 50 cents!

Raku firing

2010-10-07T08:47:00.001-04:00

Last night we did a Raku firing at my ceramics class. I LOVE Raku. The results are always somewhat of a surprise. The process has some moments of worry - imagine using tongs (and asbestos gloves) to life a red hot object from the kiln to a barrel filled with straw. The lion mask was the tricky one. I needed two tongs (one in each hand) to lift it, but I didn't drop it, so all was well. The firing ran late, as it always does, and it was 10:30 when I got home. Then I had to shower because my clothes and my hair smelled like smoke, from the straw in the barrels which ignites when the hot piece is put in. Anyway, it was midnight by the time I was wound down enough to go to bed. Of course, this morning, when I wanted to sleep in, I woke up at 5:30 and finally got up at 6. I'll be ready for bed tonight, that's for sure.

Note: there is only one vase, but I am showing two sides, as each is different. I used 5 glazes on it. The unglazed parts are the gray sections. I really like this vase. It's different from my usual decorating. I often carve designs in my vases. This time, I added the decorative pieces after construction.

Yesterday's loot.

2010-10-02T08:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, a local church had a bazaar. I went in the AM, when it opened. What a lot of great stuff! I would have bought more, but I ran out of money. Perhaps that is just as well. Here's what I found. I really feel lucky on the picture frame. It was only $1.00 and it is the perfect size for a photo of Kate and the kids that she sent me a while back. It's not exactly a standard size, but it fit just right in this frame. (The picture wasn't in the frame when I took the above photo, as you can tell.)

It turned out to be a beautiful day yesterday. The rain clouds disappeared and we had blue sky and sunshine. Better enjoy it while we can, as the prediction is for more rain by mid-week. I brought my house plants inside last night. It's a good thing I did, as the temps reached a low in the 40s last night. Had to do a major rearrangement of plants on baker's racks, but I did manage to fit all of them in. I would like to have fewer houseplants, but cannot stand to just throw away the ones I have, as long as they are healthy. House plants anyone?

This morning was chilly! I put the heat on for about an hour. The house temperature was 69, which is about what I keep my house at during the heating season. However, I was wearing fall, not winter, clothes and I was cold. By noon, I may want to put summer clothes back on.