Fruit Cake

Nothing says Christmas, friendship and love like a fresh made fruit cake. My dear friend Julie made me a full out fruit cake just because I was willing to sample the fruit cake she made for her mother and father in law. I had such an easy time of it... just show up and sample the cake. A month later boom.... I got cake too. It is wonderful! Kudoos and thanks go out to Julie - good friend extraordinare!

Also, a new year has begun and I am plotting and planning. I promised a report on mine and Phil's cruise. And that is forth coming.

Forth coming is an update on my move from the big space to the small space. I have plans there too.

And of course, I am ready to do new things on this blog, like links and flicker photos and anything else that might be cool to do. My goal is to be blogging twice a week....we'll see.

Good new year to all who follow this blog and thanks for your support.

Sleigh Ride!

Hello and we're back. I have plenty to tell about our 2 week trip but let me tell you first about the drive to work this morning. It was snowing. I dropped my husband's chain saw blade off to be sharpened and a guy was outside the shop calling for a tow truck because at 8:30 AM he had already slid off the road and crashed his pull behind trailer into his NEW pickup truck. He lived to cell about it so I gave my condolence and travelled on to Anderson to my shop.
I was driving along highway 9 and I put a holiday tape in the tape player of my car. It's all instrumental music. So as I floated along amidst snowflakes and slick roads, a song came on the tape that sounded like music with horses clip clopping in the background. Just as I heard the clip clop, a cloud of snow blew off a car in front of me and I swear for a minute I pictured myself in a horse driven sleigh travelling into Anderson. I had to laugh. Snow flying everywhere and me bundled up in blankets behind the reins.
I thought of Florida too; nice weather almost everyday (except for the horrendous storms that blow through) and how a lot of folks go there to get away from cold weather. Imagine never seeing another snowstorm, no more tingling cold skin and deep cold breaths, icicles, frost (OMG! FROST! - God's icing!)

Yes We Can

In case you missed it, America elected her first African-American president...Barack Obama! As I watched his speech on election night, I noticed his use of the expression "Yes we can!" OK, I know that was his campaign slogan, but as I watched him standing there, the camera so close in on his face, I began to think about that phrase, "Yes we can." And as I thought of that phrase, I thought of the numerous times in my own life that I have stepped to my own self made doors marked "You can't" and I haven't. And what does it take for this guy to get that "yes I can" philosophy inside his head? Because he has had to get that inside his head. And what will it take for me to get it inside my head? Of course the "You can't" doors have to go.
And what if a nation, from coast to coast, started to get rid of the "you can't" doors?

My husband and I are leaving tomorrow for a two week vacation. During that time, I want to do some mental house keeping or maybe even remodelling. I'm taking out the "you can't" doors and installing some arches... that's a little better entry into the land of possibilities. Is this a great country or what?

In Loving Tribute

On October 14, 2008 my aunt Margaret Stevens passed away
from a massive stroke at the age of 84. She was my mother's twin sister. They were not identical in appearance or in nature. Yet, since my mother's death on August 14, 1989 I could not help but see Mama in my aunt Margaret's face.
I didn't go to the funeral since my family is almost 600 miles from here. I tried to talk to friends and family members about my feelings toward Margaret. It didn't help very much.
I had my children come over for dinner on Sunday in honor of our aunt. I told them that it felt wrong to have someone so significant depart my life and the week just go on as usual. I felt that we should be together as a family at a time like this. I wanted to just close my eyes right then and let all that was in me flow out about this sweet lady. However, my husband decided that this was a point where we should review for him just who was who in my family. (By the way, we've been married for 34 years.) So I stopped to bring him up to speed on the fact that Margaret lived with Valorie (her sister - my mother's sister - my other aunt). The mood was broken.
Laying in bed on Sunday night, thinking about the week and my frustration with being unable to put to words just what was going on inside my head, it occured to me that perhaps writing about this sweet lady might help me the most.
My aunt Margaret was quiet and most would think she was meek. Though my Mom told the story of how young, meek Margaret, walking home from school was teased by a fellow classmate. I cannot remember if the bully was teasing Margaret or my Mom but out of the blue, Margaret had had enough and suddenly flew into a flogging fit on the bully. According to Mom, it was amazing!
I never saw this part of aunt Margaret. What I did see was a kind and sweet soul. She always made mention of my hair or what I was wearing as if it were wonderful. Couldn't have a better hair cut or my choice of clothing was the best. Aunt Margaret made me feel like a rock star! I was cool in her eyes.
We lived within walking distance of my grandparents house. Whenever one of us kids (there were 9 of us) got sick, aunt Margaret or my grandmother would take a bread pan, place 4 or 5 teacups inside the pan, fill each cup with a couple of tablespoons of food from their dinner. Then they'd wrap a biscuit or chunk of cornbread in a piece of tinfoil and place that inside the pan too. Finally, they'd cover the entire sampler with a dish towel to keep things warm and bring it over to the sick child. You always felt like you were gonna live when you saw that sampler. It was hope in a bread pan!
Aunt Margaret never married and lived with my grandparents until they passed away. She was a maiden aunt. Anyway, she and my grandmother always had a wonderful Christmas Eve party at their house every year until I was in my late 20's. And they would have a gift under the tree for everyone in attendance. We're talking 5 generations of greats and grands!
My aunt Margaret collected tiny, glass shoes for a number of years. Several years ago she gave me one of the few remaining shoes stating that she wanted me to have a memento of her collection.
Aunt Margaret loved to decorate her house and would change things out constantly. She and my Mom worked in tandum to keeps furniture, lamps, pictures, what-nots, etc. moving from one house to the other. You never knew where the chair you were sitting on today would be next week.
Sometimes, Aunt Margaret dabbled in art. I remember sitting in her living room with two of my sisters and getting the giggles over a plaque that Margaret had made that...well...let's just say she could have been a star in the outsider art movement.
My aunt Margaret worked hard to help her family. In some ways, losing her was like losing Mom all over again. I'll miss her. Ultimately, there are really no words to speak or write that adequately reveal the loss I feel.

Fall Holding Pattern

I'm in a funk. There is no better word to describe it. I don't know if it's the unknown of the election season, the unknown of the economy or just the unknown in general. I'm watching more news than I usually do, even to the point of checking and rechecking the news on the internet. And for those who know me, this isn't me. There's a lot to be said for ignorant bliss.... my usual state.
I was talking to a friend the other day about entrophy... "a measure of the randomness, disorder, or chaos in a system." It's always with us. It's in every system that you can think of be it your heart, your car, the universe or the eye of a needle. Just when you think you have everything perfected entrophy shows up with a rust spot, a blood clot or a mass of dead, fake lady bugs accumulating in the corners of the window screen.
Entrophy is what makes being in a funk so scary. I can sit here and ponder the world in general but that won't stop the bucket of tomatoes sitting in my kitchen from rotting. And I can take action on the tomatoes and something else loses ground.
I believe that being in a funk is necessary sometimes. It gives us humans some rebooting time. A little time to regain our position and get started on new projects or new paths. I'm even contemplating taking a physics class. I feel like my brain needs a stretching. Of course entrophy will be at work on that too. It's such a vicious cycle.

Money talks.

One morning last week I woke up to find that a thick fog was covering my world like a foamy blanket. I decided to take a walk down to the creek to see if I could get some pictures of the herrons that often hang out there. I was right, the herrons were there but they were too fast for me. All the pictures that I took were blurry. So I started back to the house. As I made my way along the road, I happened to glance over at the sunrise and then I looked again. Yeah, a double take! The sun was burning through the mist and the soybean field was golden and glowing and eerie and my mind just sizzled. I took a picture figuring that the glare would be too much but it turned out to be just enough. Man, life on Earth is just a moment to moment mind boggler.
As for "Money talks".... About 8 or 10 years ago, I worked as a bank teller for First of America Bank. I liked the job Ok but didn't care for the head teller who seemed to think the bank was her own personal bank and everyone else working there (including the bank manager) were her bitches. Yet, that job helped me learn something very important. I learned that "FOCUS" or paying attention to details is super important when you are dealing with money. When you walk through the door in the morning, you need to leave all the drama in your personal life behind. Why, because as you are counting out money, those little personal demons will mess with your mind and you will give out too much cash. Bankers don't like that in a teller. Slowing down and paying attention to details is vital in banking.
I don't claim to be any kind of money expert but it made me sad and angry to hear about well known and respected institutions of money in this country getting into such lousy shape because someone, somewhere got in a hurry and let those little greed and pressure demons take charge of their good sense. They lost their respect for money. Details were no longer important. Focus was out the window. Money can be a great tool to make a difference in this mind boggling world. Let's hope this ice water in the face moment in our nation's history will clear some heads and set things on a better path.

A Moving Experience - part 2

Here it is, an empty space ready for it's next occupant. I am amazed at what I have accomplished over a month's time. I had a lot of small things that had to be put into boxes, bags, jars, or anything that could hold extra stuff and take it across the hall. There wasn't time to put anything away because the clock was ticking....September 1st. Thankfully I was able to get finished last Friday. I wanted to post this picture and give a shout out to a wonderful space. I loved this room! It's big and has this fabulous skylight. The skylight was so nice to let in natural light and when it rained outside, I could hear the raindrops pitter against the skylight. It felt like a little tap dance just for me. And it always made this large space seem so cozy.

I also wanted to post a picture of my night blooming cereus - a cactus that is starting to take over the building. I placed it on top of a built in office in this building. I think it likes my choice of placement as just in a week's time, it's leaves are starting to sprout babies.

And I just have to show you the 2 supply closets that will become my new studio. As I have already told you, I just set things down in there and kept moving. Now that the moving phase is over, I can take a little time and go through this stuff. Hopefully, I will be able to let go of some things that I would have to live two life times to get around to making things with them.