Thankful Thursday: teensy rant about glass ceilings, and knitting report.

What?  You didn't think rants could co-exist with Thankfulness?

I'm grateful, today, for Being Alive and in a country where men, on the whole, seem kinder.  A country where women are respected and treated almost as equals.  This being so even though women don't make the money men make nor do women ever seem to be able to break through the glass ceiling without a bazooka and a whole infantry at their disposal.

In other words, they have to act like men.  I guess we should be glad we don't HAVE to wear pant suits now to work over the level of middle management?

Believe me, with four daughters, I feel these insults keenly.

Let's count this as a TWO Minute Friday post as well as a rant, the key words (plurality of nuisance) are Respect, and true Equality.

I cut out and sewed the new filter for the veggie scrap bin for composting.  Yayme!  I've got the knitting out and will now go and knit a little.  Maybe I'll even cast on a sleeve, having decided to knit them in the round to avoid anymore hand sewing than is absolutely necessary.

Saints preserve us, she's committing to sleeves!

Wordless Wednesday: Two Rhodies from the "North Country" thanks be to DC, and the Newest Buddleia

Is it Tuesday already?

This is no trick question. Time slips past me in a blur.  And this will ramble because, frankly, it's too late for it not to.

 I've been working on many things, nothing medical, thanks to God, but things that are tiresome and also exciting.  They are not noteworthy but count to me as if they were coups.  Most involve moving tiny masses into better hands, and making sure that a project to plant three buddleias (before they die) goes forward even if just by inches a day.

Today we went to ceramics while the mini wolf went to his  amazing and lovable groomer's.  I have to remember to wash his beds this time instead of letting that whole thing fall down the rabbit hole with the rest of my good intentions.

Last week, the big piece, which could be described as a "Santa and his Helpers Tree" was clear glazed and put on the shelf, and this week, while we chatted with our friends, I cleaned another Santa's choir piece and put it into the bisque fire load.  I also got some other pieces ready to bring home to do the Air brushing on-  if I can find that tool and can remember how to use it!

I've fallen off so many wagons these last three years that it's left marks all over my psyche!  I keep worrying about whether it can all be done, and have become ever lazier about actually doing things because of paralysis of Will!

Is this what second childhoods are all about?

Time has passed quickly, and now that Etsy has entered the big time with an  IPO, I've found myself actually wanting to try to make things to sell in my shop.  If I lie down for awhile I'm sure this temporary insanity will pass.

You see, I came across some old business cards with my logo on them. It brought back fond memories of good times with friends.  This is my logo for Strawberry Moon.  I named my business for my two daughters, born in in the month of the Native American's "Strawberry" moon - that being our June.

It still looks so sweet to me

I'll try to do better about posting here so that you will know I'm not dust in the cosmic wind yet.

Speaking of the cosmos, we just watched a documentary about all the new info on super-massive black holes.  It was, well, a total Gas.  Maybe you'll like it to.



Have fun fitting all that into the theory of relativity.  It all fits, by the way, and don't forget about Indra's Net, either.  Or that it fits into, "Let there be Light"!  

Music Monday: Two Versions of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", Bob Dylan ones...

I've never figured out how the guy in Guns N Roses kept from lighting his hair afire.

This isn't the best Dylan, it's just sounds the best to my old ears.......

This one is really amazing too. Not quite as bluesy but still, wonderful.

(Almost)Wordless Wednesday-Happy Earth Day!

Page and Source

Meanwhile, back at Clown Car Headquarters:

Faux News, still at it!

Tuesday Tails. Wolfie may be showing his age, whatever it is. and Oh God, no knitting still????

Knitting:  Well, I have decided to just get it out and hold the needles.  And, I actually like the Velocity needle very much!  In case you were wondering, it's probably as good as the Skacels or how ever you spell it.  Addi's anyway...... sigh...... I mist knit!

He's still a loyal little pack member who loves to go with us.  But he's slowing down.  We've had him now since October of 2009, five months after Jazzie died in my arms.

The pound vets estimated he was five years old, and our vet said that he was more like three years. Wanting to be optimistic, I, of course, chose to believe our vet.  Since Wolfie doesn't have the silvery muzzle yet, nor any other signs of aging usually shown by hair color, it's hard to figure out.  But he's slower to want to do anything but happily lay in his cuddler, or on the bed in the mornings with me, or at night with Mr. Z when I sit here updating the blog.   As all dog owner's know, the highlights of any pet dog are play time, meal times, and treat times.  In these activities, he's still extremely devoted to maintaining protocols and shows amazing devotion to.

Waiting for the Alpha Male

Wolfie's "beard" is Golden colored.

I haven't been knitting at all.   And someday, I'll learn to keep my fingers out of the photos!

The new header is a Rhodie from the garden my friend volunteers at.  He generously offered the use of his photos.  I'll probably never see another Rhododendron in bloom because we go up to San Francisco too late in the year.  I'm grateful for the the photos!

But, I will be able to buy more peace bells to keep me calmed down enough to work on crafts, an activity that has gone beyond "Doctor's Orders" status.   This is the one we bought years ago at the botanical gardens in San Francisco:

It now hangs inside on my bedside lamp.
I can ring it late at night when I'm seriously stressed
and it calms me down enough to sleep.  I used to be a very calm person but now it takes a lot to stay out of my tree, feet flat on the ground.  It has to be global climate change.  I blame it on that.  

*note to self:  Go ring the Peace Bell.*

Keep it beautiful in your little corners of the earth.  And think of all the others who struggle to do the same.  Play with the kids.  Snuggle with the DH and the little cat or dog.  Make their world Peaceful.

Music Monday: Anoushka Shankar. Sitar plus orchestra and singers..

A Concert for George.  Western and Eastern instruments.. Enjoy it.  Great Tabla Player!

Beautiful and Exotic and soothing to ease the Soul....Enjoy... this is gorgeous..... 35.50 minutes.... Only up to intermission...

Sunday Stealing.. I'll have a main course of Non Fiction, please.. Mystery for dessert.

April 18, 2015

Book Preference Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.
Cheers to all of us thieves!!!

Please note:  please excuse my late night errors.  I'm typing in the dark, on a tiny keyboard, and that usually makes for interesting spelling and punctuation errors because I'm blind by this time of night!  Enjoy!

Book Preference Meme

Stolen from: The now-defunct Tense Teacher

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror? 
A. Yes please!
Hardback or Trade paperback or Mass market paperback? 
A. Well, from the look at the pile on the side of the bed, Hardbacks win, three to one.  But,really, I don't care.  Lately, I'm going looking for e book bargains.  There are way too many books for shelves en la casa.  

Amazon or Brick and Mortar? 
A. I buy used books from stores or from Amazon.  Sometimes, when the moon is blue, I buy New.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? 
A.  I've bought from both chains but Adam's Avenue Bookstore is my favorite place.

Bookmark or Dog-ear? 
A. Bookmark.

Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy Science Fiction? 
A. Asimov.  But there are times when I've read Fantasy SiFi like maybe Firefly?

Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or Random? 
A. The Dewey Decimal System is fine for libraries but my book collection is still small enough to keep in my head.  Lots of books here are by subject.

Keep, Throw away or Sell? 
A. I can't part with a book except to the kids or my Sis.  I'll give them books but they return the favor and give me books ,too.

Keep dust-jacket or Toss it? 
A.I keep it to the bitter, tattered end.  

Read with dustjacket or Remove it? 
A  .I read them dust jacketed if they came to me that way.

Short story or Novel? 
A.  Both

Stop reading when tired or at Chapter breaks? 
A. I read myself to sleep because it works the best to keep getting enough sleep.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time?” 
A. I still love sweet stories about heroes, damsels, and Knights in shining armor.  But I LOVE mysteries!

Buy or Borrow? 
A. Lots of times I can't wait to borrow when the wait list is so long that it makes me hyperventilate.  So, I'll buy it on kindle- like The Book Thief, or go to a book store.  But, that doesn't happen that often anymore as I've gotten less and  less (and less) time to read.  

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? 
 A. I listen to friends who are blog writers or just scan for new books by authors I've read before, like Donna Leon.  I read books by authors featured in Documentaries I've watched.

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)? 
A. Lately I've been reading O'Henry and Aldous Huxley and other older authors stories I've missed, Thomas Hardy is one.

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? 
A. Cliff hanging is for  a TV Drama Series.

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading? 
A. All of the above, in bits and pieces all day long when I'm resting and not trying to knit.

Standalone or Series? 
A.  I don't often find a series in the sort of things I read, but there are a few, like #1 Ladies Detective Agency or the Emilia Peabody Series, or Donna Leon's series about Venice.  
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?  
A. Mango Elephants in the Sun

Favorite genre series?
A. Any clever mystery series that is not about Psycho or serial killers.

 Currently Reading?

A. Donna Leon's, Falling in Love , Hung Lou Meng's translation of Dream of the Red Chamber, and The Essential Dickens , and some Amish Romances.  I find them to be sweet, and they also make me think about something other than big city crime rates.  I read the books of Ruth Hartzler even though she needs some better proof readers.  She has an authentic "voice" to her writing, and is a retired upper grade school teacher.

Thank you for this meme, Kwizgiver.  It was very fun to chat about books.

Who is Demi? Saturday9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Thanks to Helena at Quick Sticky Bits for flagging this.

Saturday 9: Neon Lights (2013)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Think of a neon sign you pass by often. What does it say? 
A. Used to be Mose Guitars but they moved off of College Drive into La Mesa and went belly up.  Taylor put an end to them I suppose.  My teensy, sweet, ukulele came from there.

2) In the video for this song, Demi Lovato spends a great deal of time in the water. When is the last time you swam?
A.  The last time was too long ago.  I barely remember it.  We did walk along the cliffs below Sea Bright beach last November and collected sea glass for window sparklers and  jewelry wraps.

3) The song encourages us to "look up at the sky." OK, we will. How does the sky look where you are today?
A.  This evening it's filled with clouds, something we call the "ocean influence" here in San Diego. It's something we love seeing because it means we aren't in Santa Ana conditions.

Terrible Winds, and yes, they hit San Diego, too,
despite everyone's total focus on the Los Angeles Basin.

4) Demi is a contributing editor for Seventeen magazine. When she was in junior high school, Crazy Sam eagerly awaited each new issue of Seventeen. When you were younger, what magazine(s) did you read regularly?
A.  I don't remember reading any magazines at all when I was a teen other than National Geographic, or my mother's Family Circle or Women's Day.  When I wasn't working or baby sitting my kid sister, I was studying.  I was half insane from the Stress of Life at that time, and I wish Seventeen would have been around my house.  Sadly, it wasn't.   

5) Demi is an investor in the company that makes Texas Tea, a bottled beverage available at Whole Foods. Do you have any tea in your kitchen right now?
A. We have tons of different teas in our kitchen;  I  could list at least 14 different kinds.

6) Demi is currently on tour, performing halfway around the world in Australia and New Zealand. Have you ever had a job that required travel?
A. Never.  Actually I could have been a Gypsy, but never had a job that let me be one.  I was about two years ahead of the Love Children so missed out on all that fun stuff.  But I feel blessed to have been part of the counter culture anyway, if not the hippy culture.

7) Demi had a recurring role on the show Glee. That show's series finale aired last month. Is there a show that's no longer on that you miss?
A. No

8) Fast-growing fast food chain Chipotle reports that their top sellers include a burrito bowl with steak or chicken, salad with chili-corn salsa, and a soft taco. Which of these would you order? 

Food Sourcing at Chipotle

A. I love Chipotle, as a company and as a food vendor.  I eat all the Chipotle salads except for the beef, too spicy, but now, since I can't eat a lot, usually just get a couple of tacos, either chicken or pork.  Great Stuff, and a Great Modern forward looking company!

9) What beverage would you like to enjoy with your burrito bowl, taco or salad?
A.  Ah!  a little bit of marketing research.. sniff, sniff sniff... hehehe  Anyway, I usually drink an NAB or drink water.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

friday5- and you said what to the Boss?

Friday 5 for April 17: Interview

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

Sorry I’m up so late this week. It’s been crazy!

1. How well do you think you handle being interviewed for jobs?
A.  Of the five or six jobs that I've had, I've been hired.  

2. In what other contexts have you been interviewed?
A.  Not any others that I remember except once by the press.

3. What are the strangest questions you’ve been asked in interviews?
A. Sorry, I just don't remember any of the questions.  These things were a life time ago practically.  The last being in the 1980's

4. What are your greatest strengths on the job, and what are your greatest shortcomings?
A. I work hard, learn fast, and I love people.  I love working with people and waiting on customers.  My short coming is that when a boss starts playing games, making workers go at each other, I will quit in a heartbeat.  I've been lucky to almost always not be the main breadwinner, so had the option.

5. When has a mistake at work resulted in something positive for you?
A.  Do you mean one I made or one made by the company?  My jobs were so menial that they were almost mistake proof.  My bosses, all but one of them where great bosses.  I've been lucky, oh so lucky.

Thanks for participating, and have a wonderful weekend!

Thankful Thursday - Cleaning up and knitting a bit.. funny, true deja vu story...

Grace is healing my clutsy thumb and left arm, and it has been mending my outlook on life.    This is wonderful!

I'm going to tell you a true but  Funny Story....  I was sitting at the computer one night, grabbing all the orchids possible in a game we play and going to many shards.  I suddenly had a tremendously big BIG (!) pain in the side of my neck right below my ear, that felt like a hot needle being shoved in it - You know the kind.  It's the sort that villians in the form of Insane Doctors threaten victims with in horror movies.  It hurt like heck!

A few days later, while watching an episode of "Big Bang Theory" Amy leaned in close to her strange boyfriend and said, "I can stick a very long needle in your brain stem and you would be happy all the time."

I have taken this as a Sign From God, that I am supposed to be trying at least to be happy, and stay out troubled waters.  I'm still a fighter even though I can no more carry a protest sign weighing more than a few ounces, nor can I march from downtown to Balboa Park to protest a war, but I sure as the devil can write letters!  Which I'll continue to do.

For that, and many other things I am grateful.

Here are some nice photos now, to Ogle, for Happiness and a little Beauty all Around You.

This years Sun Flare Roses

Hearts happen where you least expect them

During the clean up in the sewing room shelves I came across a whole shoe box full of tiny cross stitch projects.  Just the right size for "old" hands.  I was truly delighted by this.  I've tossed about three hundred old sewing magazines in to the re-cycle, since they were from the 1980-1990 era, and so a LOT of shelf space has been cleared for things that cannot be re-cycled.  All of the Heirloom sewing- Australian mags and also Martha Pullen's,  will go to the Co-op in Santa Cruz and there's a big box of those.   but these tiny things, I'm going to finish.

Busy Hands, Happy Heart.

Have a great weekend!  I'll be around for the three -or is it four - memes.. I have CRS a lot lately.  I blame the web!

April 11, 2015
Sizzle Says

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.
Cheers to all of us thieves!!!

The Sizzle Says Meme

Stolen from: Ms. Sizzle

1. If money were no object, what would you be doing with your life? 
A. I would stop animal cruelty.  It would take an Army of people, and this can't be done cheaply, but it can be done.

2. Money is just that - an object, so why aren’t you doing it? 
A. It will take money, and lots of it.  That's exactly why it hasn't been stopped, because people all over the world want it to be stopped.

3. What’s better: horses or cows? 
A.  I like both animals but they are different.  Horses I love for their beauty, intelligence, grace and personalities.  Cows, for their fun little ways.  Especially,  I like the little cows, or what used to be the little cows.  Have you seen what's happened to them over the last 60 years?

4. What do you think the secret to happiness is? 
A. Having excellent parents from the get go has to be the beginning of happiness.  But people are happy who haven't had that. They've had to build it from scratch, so to speak.

So, it has to be a gift, I suppose, or at least a talent that people can develop, and it seems to me the happiest people are those who can boldly get out of bed each day, determined to be kind, and loving and forgiving, even though their past is always threatening to rise up to bite them, or they have tough challenges from their physical or mental lives to face.   For me, the secret of happiness is forgiving, forgetting, and looking for beauty in life.  Because, Life really is beautiful, if looked at in the right way.

5. When was the last time you had a dream that you either remember well or did not want to awake from? Can you share a bit? 
A. Sure.  It was a long time ago, and all those things you mentioned.  I was walking down a long, curving staircase, running my hand along the the banister, and thinking how beautiful, and big, the house was that we just had bought.  I thought about having all that room for our big family.  I think I know that house. Aha! It  was really Tara!

Ooops! Having never read the book nor seen the film, I'm shocked to learn that Tara never really existed.

6. When you were a little kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 
A. I knew I wanted to be an painter-artist.  I also wanted to sing for an Opera house.

7. Complete this statement: Love is… 
A. Magical.

8. Can you tell a good story? 
A. I think so.  But only the people hearing it can know for certain.

9. Can you remember your last daydream? What was it about? 
A.  I don't think I day dream.  If it was a daydream, it was about being able to see the girls a lit more times a year.

10. If you were to thank someone today, who would you thank? 
A.  My,my.  Just one?  I'll tell you what, it wouldn't be just one person it would be three or four.  So, with each being as important as the other, I'm not able to answer.

11. If you could be anyone's mojo, whose would you want to be, and why? (For those you do not know what mojo is, it's personal magnetism; charm.) 
A. Mojo is a miss-used word, but here goes.  Someone who could charm the birds out of the trees, is it?  Thinking...... My youngest Sister in Law.  Loving Kind and patient to a fault.  She's amazing.

Saturday Komeekz!

heehee  those mind reading classes must have really work well.  Actually, she just enhanced her natural abilities as a female of the species.

I'm of the opinion that Swamis,Gurus and Buddhist Monks have nothing on women.  No contest! 

saturday9: What time is it in Chicago?

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (1970)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song asks, "Does anybody really care about time?" How about you? Do you pride yourself on being punctual? Or don't you really care?  Surrounded by clocks, I keep watch on the time, generally to the minute, even though I'll forget to eat sometimes.
  
2) The lyrics refer to a stranger asking the time. When is the last time you conversed with someone you didn't really know? What did you two talk about?  I love to talk to anyone, random strangers also, but hardly meet one anymore.  The last time was at the health clinic.  We talked about how retirement was not as un-stressful as we'd thought it would be.  The main lesson is that it was something you just got on with living as it came. lol

3) According to the Top 40 tracker Tunecaster, this song knocked Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Knock Three Times" out of the #1 spot on the charts in January 1971. Are you familiar with "Knock Three Times?"  Yes, I know it well, but since Chicago is one of my favorite groups, I didn't see Tony and Dawn take a tumble.  I only saw an amazing band take off for the moon!

4) Chicago is not only the name of the group but also of the midwest's largest city. Chicago is the proud hometown of such luminaries as Bill Murray, Michelle Obama and Derrick Rose. Does your town have any favorite sons or daughters?  When we moved here, San Diego was one described as the Flea Capitol of the world.  But.....there is one actress whom we did know as a teenager, who made it big.  Kathy Najimy   She was just as fun loving as a kid as when she grew up.  Nice Gal.  We're so glad she made her dreams come true.

5) The group Chicago was originally known as The Chicago Transit Authority, after the city's public transportation system. When is the last time you were on a bus or a train?  I haven't been on a bus since the mid eighties and they were very inconvenient and uncomfortable at the time.  Trains are really inconvenient.  Wish it weren't so, but there you are.

6) Four of the original seven bandmembers are still with the group … after 48 years! What's the longest you stayed at the same job?  Let's see...If raising kids, housekeepng, building garden beds for growing food, doing timely house repairs, as well as being a seamstress, working at the schools, being chief cook and bottle washer, as well as myriad other titles actually counts as a job, I'd say it was 55 years.  I think I'd rather have been a singer, to be honest, except for the raising of the kids.  More money!

7) Lead singer Rob Lamm confessed that, at times, being in a band has been hard for him because he is by nature a loner. How about you? Are you more introverted or extroverted?  Can you believe in an extroverted loner?  Being alone is "quiet" and "thinking" time.  It's quite possible to be "alone" in a gathering.  Americans don't know what they are missing.

8) This summer, Chicago will be touring with Earth, Wind and Fire. Have you seen/will you attend any concerts in 2015?  We will be going to local concerts.

9) Random question: What's the last mess you cleaned up?  Outdated sewing magazines.. re-cycled. Gone!!  Shelf space reclaimed so a sewing machine can be set up on the table.  Yippie!

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Friday5 for April 10th, Opposition.

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

THE Link Back

What’s a current political or social issue on which you stand opposed?
I stand opposed to frakking, If world renowned scientists, meaning Geologists and those of other interrelated disciplines have had the balls to stick out their necks on this, with the science to back them up, it's time (actually past time) to stop frakking dead in it's tracks.  When it comes to the Earth, Geologic science should stand unopposed by corporations and their hacks who have sold themselves to the devil on this thing.  what I mean by devil is money with a capital M.

What forces have worked against your efforts this week?
That would be Time, and an injury. I don't have enough time and an arm that won't heal so that the work can be done.

Would you rather have to climb a steep hill in order to get into your house, or climb a steep hill in order to get out?
I would rather climb up a hill to get into my house.

In what way have you recently made things difficult for someone else?
I haven't.  This is the last of my life and I basically feel it's time to live life for others and not expect them to cater to me.  Mr Z does a lot for me but we have a lot of fun and laughs along the way now.

In what way has the “opposites attract” cliche been true in your life?
Mr. Z and I are mentally so different even without the difference in sex.  He's calm and steady, like imperturbable; I'm like a Latina without actually being one, per se.  I have some French and Spanish blood, and I can get hot tempered sometimes.  I guess the Irish can too!  Anyway, he and I do share Irish and English ancestry, back in the blood lines of the few and brave who came to the states in the mid 1800's.

Thanks for participating, and may you have a terrible weekend!

Thankful Thursday.. To sleep, perchance to dream! And something's following me and I don't like it.

I'm grateful to wake up in the morning, having gotten five hours of solid sleep!  Many times I can be awake almost all night but sometimes, hours go by before the brain pops open with that, "Where am I!" start to the day.  

Less than Grateful whining ensues:

Let's do a little catching up.  Yesterday was a visiting day, so Mr. Z went to see his mother, and then we went to see my sister.  I ate entirely too much chocolate ( I blame this on the nervousness that now inflicts my days).  But, and it's a big butt, this over-indulgence has starting to turn into what is known in the sewing trades as,  "The Pear-shaped Derriere".

 The only cure is a lot of low level cussing, sweat and tears, and walking your fandango off.

Of Course, this load widening must stop, though it's the first time in my life I've had a nice bump following me around.  My auntie D used to say that all of the women in the family suffered from a disease called, Noassatall.  Well, happily or not, now I've got one.   Now to get rid of it!

I'm glad of the superabundance of fair traded chocolate laying around here and there, but I'm grateful it doesn't grow on trees as an edible fruit.   Otherwise, I might try to actually LIVE on it.

For reading so far, you deserve a treat!

Isn't this beautiful?

I wish I'd done a lot more of this when I was younger.

So, if you are young, and reading this blog, don't put off any sort of craft that you would like to do, especially any of the arts.  Life is Beautiful.  But really, don't put things off.  Just sayin'.... May you walk with Beauty, may it surround you at all times.  Oh, the little blue eyed grass bloomed at the rec center.. Make it big....  The flowers on this mini grass are less than 3/8th of an inch wide.

Have a great weekend, if I forget to come back tomorrow to do a prompt word, and friday5.

Wordless Wednesday.. A friend's walk in the Rhododendron Gardens in Oregon.

Tuesday Tails... so you like the tortoises...

There are certain rules for having them.  No poisonous plants, lest they eat them and die.  You must let them dig big holes in your garden, Even deep and gigantic ones, as well as to let them eat all the flowers they come across, and all this without resorting to turning them upside down in revenge....

Remember these?  Well, Lucky certainly did.....

This year, he and his mother and father ate them down to a nubbin.

And these?

Gone gone gone!

Rule number one, is Dig up Tortoise nests as soon as possible.  It's kinder.

Sure, most of the babies don't hatch, and they hatch only to be carried off by Crows, Ravens, Skunks, Possums and Raccoons.

But not all of them suffer this fate.  Some of them grow up and dig holes, eat all your flowers and fight it out while knocking tools over that clank into the side of the wall (or the windows) sounding like there is a wildcat caught in a trash can in the side yard.  But they are cute.

They do go to sleep for five months of the year.  And if you don't really like day lilies and other pretty flowers, they, the torts, will eat them, the flowers, until they cannot recover, or they, the torts, will dig large and deep holes under our beloved bulb plants, and live there as the plant dies, overhead.

Be careful if you think you want a cute little baby from the internet.  If you have a paved over or cement backyard,  and make them a little house to live in, give it a try.  One of the owners of several tortoises let them dig big areas out from under his garage floor.  He can't park the cars in there anymore for fear the cars will fall through.  They sure are cute though.

Music Monday- Africa - Habib Koite "Wassiye" "Live" performance

I was gifted the album this song is on,  from Putumayo.  I so love this CD!




Try this one too.. Latin Jazz... Wonderful!

Batik Easter Eggs. So much fun.

Tomorrow, Music Monday, but it will be a little late.....  Noonish...

Things are getting there, more or less....Sunday Stealing

April 4, 2015
The More Or Less Meme

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's meme in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from this new meme or recently asked questions from a previously featured meme.
Cheers to all of us thieves!!!

The More Or Less Meme

Stolen from: The Archives

3 (or more, or less!) things... 

1. ...you cannot live without.  
I can't live without food, breathable air, clean fresh water, and my family, all of whom I adore.

2. ...you CAN live without, but cannot seem to part with. 

I CAN live without fabric scraps and every button that has ever rolled my way, but can't seem to part with any of them.  It's Mad I tell you!  This is the only collection that does mine any justice. 

 In researching these mad collectors, I've found some quite cute things to make WITH buttons.  

But then I'd have to give some of them away.
*Bites Nails!*

3. ...you wish to accomplish this COMING week. 
finish reading The Book Thief , finish clearing the shelves of magazines no longer valuable (if they ever were!), finish weeding the front cacti bed (which gifted me with many little spines in the hands), and planning the water saving.

4. ...you have accomplished this PAST week. 
I read half the ebook mentioned above, and did over half of the magazines, and started saving water.  We have about eight well sealed rain barrels that I can save gray water to, some of which already have harvested rain water in them.

5. ...on your holiday (or non-holiday) 'wish list.'  
I wish we had that 6,000 gallon cistern for collecting rain water that I wanted after the last drought.  We have the perfect little hill for it to use a gravity feed.

These look perfect!
But then the neighbors might complain.
*sigh*

 

6. ...you would like to change about yourself. 
I would like to have more of a happy go lucky, little kid, way of looking at things again.  You know, the second childhood thing?

7. ...you like about yourself. 
I'm passionate about animal rights (and the human's rights for that matter) being observed and not being violated.

Don't you DARE lay a finger on my wildlife! 

8. ...you should be doing right now instead of what you ARE doing. 
I should be tossing out magazines (recycling them),reading that darn book, and knitting that Pink Cardi!!

I think this is Smellyanne's someecard, right?

9. ...in your life that could use a little more organization.
My clothes closets, I have two because one is shared and they are both way too small.  I need to get rid of at least a few things in there that I actually hate as clothing but that have such good materials in them for crafting.  It's CRAZY to keep them but still, I do.  

Candies and Bunnies and Beans, Oh my! Saturday9

Easter Parade

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Easter Parade ("In Your Easter Bonnet") (1933)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is about a special Easter hat to be worn with your "Sunday best." Will you be getting dressed up this weekend?  No.  We are not.  This week has been way too busy so we are going to relax and water the Rooted Beings, as the Native Americans call them.  I remember going to church with my Mom when I was five and wearing a beautiful little yellow with white pin dot dress she made me.  There's the memory lane thing.  Do you ask about that later?  

2) Sam is not crazy about hats because she cannot stand "hat hair." Do you have a lot of hats or caps?  I love hats and and have a lot of them.  Because I am with Sam and don't like hat hair, I usually keep my hair long. 

3) This song was inspired by New York City's Easter Parade. Does your community host a similar event?  I don't think so but there used to be something at Balboa Park but not Parades.

4) On April 6, President Obama and Michelle will host lucky children for the 137th White House Easter Egg Roll. Which are your favorite eggs: colored hard-boiled eggs, chocolate marshmallow eggs, or plastic eggs with coins inside?  I like hard boiled and dyed eggs - the fancier the better.

5) How about Peeps? Would you rather have yellow chicks or pink bunnies?  INHO, the only thing that peeps are any good for is re-enactments of Shakespeare Plays, particularly "Romeo and Juliet", and Duels in the Micro wave.  Touche!

6) The biggest chocolate Easter egg was made in Italy,  measured 34 feet tall and weighed a staggering 15,000 lbs. Do you thinks it's possible to have too much chocolate?  Only if it rolls over you and smashes you into the Easter grass.  And btw, I'd like to see that thing.

7) Jelly beans are also popular this time of year. A 2013 poll tells us that red is by far the favorite jelly bean color, with yellow a distant second. Do you have a preference?  Everybody's got a favorite.  And forget the beans, unless they are black ones.  I like Cinnamon jelly bellies.  Yum!

8) We've been talking a lot about sweets this morning.

The only holiday that generates more candy sales is Halloween. When do you eat more candy: Easter or Halloween?  Neither.  Christmas is the candy overload at our house.

9) Easter is considered the season of rebirth. What makes you feel refreshed or rejuvenated?  Well, I usually plant things and get all full of Spring Madness.  I was looking forward to buying and planting three more Buddleia bushes but we just got bad news from Governor Brown from on top of the Sierras.  We'll just stay with the two we have.  I'd say a Gin Fizz or two would probably be what it takes now.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

We're in it California......Mandatory Water restrictions time table... It's long overdue.

It makes me wonder why, too.

I don't see how three ten minute periods of sprinkling a week will keep a tree alive.  That said, I'm going to do my very best.  We got rid of a lawn years ago.

I'm going to try to water my three biggest plants with with harvested shower and bath water on the days off, with a drip system that is made by poking one small hole in both the lid and the bottom of jugs and sitting them a little ways out from the trunks.  Hot needles - discarded sewing machine needles - do this job perfectly.  This is not so pretty but it's effective.

I learned this trick working at the Audubon booth at the County Fair one year before the 1985-91 drought hit.

Fellow Californians, I feel your pain.  Now I think I'll just go knit a little on the sweater.

friday5-- Extinction

Friday5 for April 3rd: Extinction

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5!

Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

UPDATE...  I re-linked the title in this post, but can do nothing about where the friday5 blog sends me when I try to comment there.  I will be doing this MeMe for as long as is possible, and will visit everyone else's blog who actually can get a comment to STICK on the blog.  I thought this problem was solved when what I posted started pointing to the Wordpress blog but that just created more problems.  See you in the funny papers!  gah!

1. What’s the coolest of the extinct animal species?   I'm going for the ones that became extinct last century.  Dino's are still with us, they all just now appear to be birds.  

If I must name one species that has gone extinct that was the coolest, I would say it's the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.  The problem is that no one knows, for certain, if they are extinct.  They are/were heartrendingly cool and awesome.

This is a bird stamp, and the source is commercial.

2. What classification (however you want to define that) of human being seems to be an endangered species?  The Ainu, of Japan.  They are the original inhabitants of those Islands. All that is left of them is mixed, sometimes forcibly, into the dominant race.  Such an old story.  I learned of them years ago, in anthropology classes,  and hold these people close in my heart.  
 

Source

3. How do you feel about the disappearance of the neighborhood video rental store?  I didn't like when that happened.   We watched each one struggle to the end, and we kept renting as long as they were there.  Small businesses like that disappear all the time in the rush of the new things, or bigger conglomerates, whatever...

4. What’s an older technology that you consider better than a newer technology that’s replaced it?  I'd have to say that technology would be old Carpentry, in the form of handmade furniture, and hand built houses.  Craftsman-style Houses, and furnishings are my hands-down-favorite Architecture.

SOURCE

5. What no-longer-available snack item do you miss most?  Sorry, the ones that I would kill for love are -as far as I know- both still here.   I just can't eat them anymore.


Crunchy Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and Flamin' Hot Fritos Corn Chips!!

Source

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Thanks for participating, and have a wonderful weekend!

Endangered Earth: Idaho Governor Caught in the Act

I'm thankful for a day when just about anything goes, in print and at surprise UN-birthday parties.

Endangered Earth: Idaho Governor Caught in the Act

These are fun and sort of pointed barbs at the same time. heehee  Zing, Ouch!!

Wordless Wednesday? Hahahaha!

Last year I  had the most amazing texting contest for April Fool's Day with my daughters. It was so much fun!

Also, I was in the hospital that day, and my adorable Night Charge Nurse - who came in to check vitals and meds - found out what I was doing.  She then let me in on the April Fool's trick she was planning, using texting, about her "secret" wedding.  She and I were whispering and laughing as she told me the plot.  She pulled it off, too!

Hope you have a fun day reading all the elaborate hoaxes cooked up around the web!