a year, a busy day, a boob squishing

Wednesday, the 13th was a year since my sister’s death. I was awake in the wee hours right about the time her heart stopped. Hard to believe it’s been a year already. Robin brought me these pretty lilies.

I made a key lime pie last weekend. 

Well, just a regular lime pie since I didn’t use key lime juice. I’m going to make a chocolate fudge pecan pie next week. Mary Moon has inspired me so I dug out my Aunt Mimi’s recipe.

As usual I’m out of pocket on Thursdays since I have to leave early to get to Share then take the cardboard to the recycling container and then lunch and walk the dog and feed the outdoor kitties and then get ready for yoga and then go to yoga. No time for reading or writing blogs and Friday was busy too. 

Thursday was a madhouse at SHARE, not just with food orders but clothing, diapers, housewares, blankets, whatever they need that we have to give, and sorting through and putting away the donations that come in. Every year Jan orders turkeys from the food bank to give out the Thursday before Thanksgiving and two of the churches made up and delivered bags with other stuff with which to make a Thanksgiving meal (don’t know exactly what because I had not one minute to look and see what was in them). The turkeys and bags are first come first serve for those that are eligible for the full service food order which people can only get once every three months. When I got there at 9 the little area where people wait to be interviewed was already packed. Last I heard the sign-in list had 45 names. I have no idea how many food orders we filled because I never left my station except to get stuff from the back storeroom if there was no one not busy to get it for me. We started with 32 turkeys and at some point Jan left to buy more though I’m not sure how many, over a dozen certainly, and we still ran out before the last few food orders. Word must have gone out that we were giving away free turkeys because we had a number of people pull up to the back where we load cars asking for the free turkey. Nope, sorry, doesn’t work that way, you have to qualify at the front. Anyway, the ladies up front usually lock the door at 12:30 to give us enough time to be done with everyone by 1 pm when we officially close. And so they did yesterday but there were still enough people waiting that we didn’t fill the last few food orders until 1:30 and Jan and Patti helped with those. And then I flew out of there.

My PC doctor had ordered a mammogram and an ultrasound on my left boob because I’ve had a persistent sore spot there. Isn’t sore every day but when it is it’s always in the same spot. She did a hands on exam. Do you feel anything I asked, maybe she replied. She didn’t seemed all that concerned, relieved my fears of cancer saying cancer doesn’t cause pain (well until it’s so far advanced you’re dying and why it’s called the silent killer) but she ordered the tests to check things out. The imaging center is in Sugar Land about 30 minutes away with clear traffic and still have to find a parking spot and they always want you there early so I had made the appointment for 2:30 Thursday afternoon thinking I would have plenty of time after SHARE closed to get there. I did get there in time and after a half hour or so after I checked in, a tech came out to tell us in the waiting room that their entire computer system had gone down and they didn’t know when it would come back up but they were working on it and there was nothing they could do until it came back up. I waited about 40 minutes and then left, they would call me to reschedule when the system came back online. I hadn’t been home long when they called to reschedule and fortunately they could get me in at 1:30 Friday. I’m happy to say both tests were clean, no evidence of cancer or anything else I should worry about, so yay!, but the doctor who came in to talk to me had no real explanation for the sore spot. Could be hormones even this far after menopause or transferred pain. I have had a lot of tinkering done this year. And I notice it less as time goes on. 

I used the bathroom there in the waiting room before I left and this sign was on the inside of the door.

Who sticks their hand down the toilet in a medical facility?

another day in the life

I took the day off Sunday from the fence. I had planned to anyway but the weather cooperated and it rained lightly off and on all day, thunder rolling in the distance keeping me in while I got an extreme weather alert on the iPad every two hours. I didn't do my yoga routine either. Saturday after I finished the section of fence, about 12 feet worth, and as I was finishing lunch, I could barely hold my arms up to finish my sandwich. And the arthritis in my hands zinged me all night. And the poison ivy itched.

I did kitchen duty all day instead. Made a peach dewberry pie

looks funky, I forgot the edge shields so they burned and I used frozen store bought pie crust that had been in the freezer for too long that I transferred over to my glass pie pan but it tasted great

and made shepherd's pie for dinner (another labor intensive and time consuming dish). We had everything but the mushrooms and peas from the recipe which I'm happy enough to leave out. Especially the peas which I substituted green beans for. Certainly wasn't making a special trip to the grocery store for mushrooms.

And washed the mountain of dishes (no picture but take my word for it).

Another hour on the fence today, another (less than) 10' but by the time I got out there it was already warming up and humid and I was sweating buckets. My cap was so wet it was just about dripping. Gonna have to start getting up earlier to get these last sections done. And I know you are just anxious to see another picture of another cleared section but tough titty kids, I didn't take one.

It's been a couple of days since I picked dewberries and the rain yesterday just plumped them right up and I got a full bowl just from the patch on the corner of the shop, big fat juicy sweet ones from the rain yesterday, didn't even check the fence or ditch. I'm thinking this is the best harvest we've ever had.

I scared up a little snake yesterday when I was pulling evening primrose and mistflower out of an area right next to the small pond that I put the parrot feather in having given up on water lilies. It couldn't have been more than about 16” long, black with very narrow vertical yellow stripes about an inch apart. I think it might have been a baby eastern kingsnake. Didn't have my phone on me though so no picture. But here's a picture of the area where I saw it.

The evening primrose are about done so I'll be trimming the big backyard soon. The pansies are stubbornly refusing to stop blooming even though I quit deadheading them and picked all the good blooms.

The easter lilies are blooming and their fragrance fills the house in the evenings.

that sweet little carved stone bird is another of my birthday presents to myself from UK artist Jennifer Tetlow (I love her aesthetic) 

The indigofera and lizard tail are blooming.

And now it's time for my evening cocktail.

another week in review

Another week of accomplishing nothing but living. Picked my sister up from the airport Tuesday, brought her back here to fetch her car and her kittens which basically took up the whole day because I lazily didn't do anything before it was time to leave to get her but I did see as I passed the Peach Creek Market on the highway that they finally had some Fredericksburg peaches and so Wednesday I headed there for a big bag which we've been eating all week. I also got the hanger glued onto the piece my friend purchased and got that boxed up and mailed out to her. 

Thursday and Friday were estate sale days, the one on Thursday we got there late since it opened at 8 AM and was not local and I'm not an early riser especially for something like that though my sister said it looked like a lot was gone by the time we got there around 11 AM from the pictures that had been posted but I find it hard to believe (though I hadn't looked at the pictures myself) because the prices they had on the stuff that remained were outrageous. Like $8 for a collapsible vegetable steamer which is about what a brand new one costs and $10 for an old (and not as in 'antique' old) plastic 4 cup measuring cup with a pouring spout. My sister bought a good quality glass one for a lot less than that at a previous sale. They did have a nice set of aluminum clad bottom stainless steel cookware for $6 a piece but omg, those pots were so heavy empty that you would need to be a bodybuilder just to cook with them. The sale on Friday was basically a bust as well as the house across the highway from the pom pom factory had been empty for a couple of years someone said and it was empty and smelled like mildew, just a few pieces of furniture with everything to be had on tables outside the garage. Mostly what they had was boxes and boxes of pom poms and plastic mugs in all colors and some odds and ends. But it did have a pine spindle double bed frame with wood side rails that I picked up for $20 so I can replace the futon couch frame in the back bedroom with an actual bed frame though what I'll do with the futon frame I have no idea since I'll still be using the mattress that goes with it until I buy a new one, just needs a good cleaning.

Also Friday was the day the last grandchild graduated from high school. The plan was to leave here and head into the city by 4:30 with a stop at the liquor warehouse on the way in to stock up and pick up our son and then meet the daughter and son-in-law and the other in-laws in front about 6:30 with the ceremony starting at 7 PM. We didn't actually get off til 4:40 and drove into blinding rain before we even got out of Wharton County, 

hit slow traffic after the rain stopped, hit stopped traffic because of rain and construction, tried to get around that and hit more slow to stopped traffic (and this is just one of many reasons I'm glad I no longer live in the city and avoid going there as much as possible) and finally pulled up to our son's apartment around 6:30, managed to hook up with the daughter at the NRG Arena and we all got seated in the nosebleed section near the far end, and by nosebleed section I mean the absolute highest row. The place was packed for this graduating class of 500+ students 

and so we sat through 2 hours of speeches and hooting and hollering as each student's name was called out. But she did it, our Robin graduated from high school.

And what did I do yesterday? Hmmm, nothing, sat on the couch and read most the day but I did make a peach dewberry pie and it was/is good.

And I picked the first of the tomatoes (they looked riper in the shade hidden at the bottom of the plants).

Now it's Sunday, it's already well after noon, too hot and humid to be outside for long even though I have a few tasks to take care of out there. I declared several days ago that I was going to get back in the studio and start some new work on Monday though I've said that more than once in the last several months, so I guess we'll see, but right now, after I post this catch-up, I'm headed to the couch with my book. This is a new thing for me, being able to waste a day or several in a row sitting around doing nothing in particular. I've always been a doer, always doing something, never been able to sit easily or for long. But here at 69 years on this planet and especially since we retired from doing the etched glass I find myself doing nothing more often but I've made at least one promise to the gallery that I must make good on so perhaps I'll get my butt in gear.

feathers, flowers, leaves, and pie

I think I've decided how I got so much poison ivy on my face. The day I was over at the shop pulling out the dead cosmos, Minnie was doing her dog thing poking around among the heavy growth along the back fence of the shop property where poison ivy grows vigorously. She's a very sweet and affectionate little dog and will put her paws on my shoulders and rub her face against mine and my neck. I'm thinking she had a face full of urushiol (the oil in the sap that causes the allergic reaction) and she generously shared it with me (even though she pokes in there a lot and has never in the past transferred any to me). While I'm still getting small outbreaks on my hands, the places on my face are beginning to dry up and heal. And I discovered the the NP cardiologist that I wanted to go to is not in my network boo hiss and so I am giving the guy they referred me to a try. Still have to make the appointment.

We're going over to a neighbor's house for a get together and dinner tonight with our little social group on the street and I'm making a key lime pie to take as soon as Marc gets through juicing the limes for me. He volunteered to do that part because he knows the arthritis in my thumb joints would be screaming at me if I did it.

So the last bunch is out of the kiln. The third heron feather came out great and I'm really happy with it and will use it with the heron box. 

The hibiscus flower and leaf fired well also and that red is in-your-face red (in hindsight I should have used a 50/50 blend of red and white) though it shrank more than I expected. 

The three experiments with the transparent glass got weird. Well, two of them did. The star which was all transparent powder fired just like opaque glass (see above) which means that I can expand my color palette without having to buy more colors in the opaque powder. The two with transparent glass that had fine frit, the leaf all fine frit and the flower shape half fine frit and half powder got weird. The all frit leaf is heavily textured not having melted completely together at the low temperature and the color changed to more of a teal than the green it is supposed to be and the yellow flower shape turned a ghastly sort of murky green for which I have no explanation.

I still don't know where I'm going with this stuff. The next things I try will be a little more complex, more than one color, maybe pansies.

OK, pie is made...with blueberries!

rain chains and yard work

I bought my sister and myself decorative rain chains for the valleys in our roof lines and then discovered that rain chains are an alternative to downspouts for gutters. Well, shucky darn. I got rid of my gutters and the one I had replaced already has downspouts. An internet search showed a way to use them nevertheless by first hanging a bucket with a hole in the bottom to catch the stream of water that pours off the valley and then hanging the chain under the bucket. 

Not very aesthetically pleasing but functional. My first foray out to find a galvanized (or copper) bucket on Friday wasn't all that successful, too big or too small. I bought an empty (not galvanized) paint can instead which was about the right size but even less aesthetically pleasing. I'll use it until I can find something I like better. Or not. I'm thinking not.

Saturday was another day of beautiful spring weather and another day spent out in the yard. I pulled up hand fulls of certain of the weeds and did my hand full of clover for the day amongst the bluebonnets growing out front and did more weeding in the front flower bed. My neighbor Gary made the mistake of saying he wouldn't mind his whole back yard being flowers so I dug up some of the woodland painted petal that spreads easily and some of the orange cosmos seedlings that also spread readily that are coming up plus the baby maple tree, a flowering senna, and a confederate rose, volunteers that I had potted up last year, in addition to the poppy and love-in-a-mist seedlings and oxblood lily bulbs I had already taken him.

the aforementioned magenta petunias he gave me some of

Yesterday, even though it was a beautiful blue sky day, was colder and windy so I satisfied myself with pulling up some of the weeds out of the yard and clover from amongst the bluebonnets and while I told myself I should get out there and dig up more of the mexican petunias, I decided to sit on the couch and read the rest of the day, well, after I took the dog for her walk where I often see hawks perched on the wires scanning the field for dinner. They're hard to get a picture of. I tried to be sly with this one but it wasn't fooled.

Our current pecan pie. This one made with honey instead of corn syrup. The previous pie used canned pumpkin in place of some of the corn syrup. That was weird. The first night you could really taste the pumpkin but it was better the second night.

It's turned cold again and though it is mostly sunny, I think I'll work on art today...inside.

a day for counting blessings

I'll be heading into the kitchen soon to get my cooking done. Yesterday I did all my prep work...cubing the bread, frying the bacon, chopping the onions and celery, making the cranberry sauce...

   

while Marc made a pecan pie from the pecans I've gathered and shelled. 

Now all I need do is throw all the ingredients together and get the dressing in the oven. Our target time for departure is 1:30 PM.

Earlier this week I got the finish work done on the Bee with Wild Ranunculus but still have to glue the two pieces together and then next week I'll be working on my display for the open house making all those decisions about pricing and placement.

But today is for being grateful for all the good in your life even if the country is being led down a dark road by a small group of dark hearted people that think it's fine to give a pass to a despot that tortured and killed an American resident because money and have given the army on the border the order to use lethal force on a group of unarmed, exhausted, and hungry people.

I am grateful for many things, my family at the top of the list. I am grateful for who they are and that I have family to spend today with and share a meal with when so many others don't.

the one and only granny camp this year

The boy is 21, working full time, and living his adult life; the twins, 20, are in college in different cities, both took classes during the summer, and are now starting their second year of college.

So, a week ago today I arrived home from the class in Austin about 8 PM and found I had a message from my youngest grandgirl asking if she could come for her visit the next day and could she bring a friend and so of course, yes, the last possible week before school starts. Robin, now 17 and starting her senior year in high school, spent the earlier part of the summer traveling with a group of Jewish teens to Poland and Israel and then had to wait til the bathroom/house was finished.

Her friend Bethany wanted to learn how to sew so off we went on Sunday to get a pattern and fabric and since the Walmart had a limited selection yes, I know, I shopped at the heinous Walmart but the alternative was an hour's driving time to go into Rosenberg and back and shop at the heinous Hobby Lobby and we were short on time she settled on shorts and spent the rest of the day laying out the pattern and cutting the fabric while Robin worked on pinning a new hem on a cut off t-shirt.

The girls wanted to make a pie and since peaches are now gone they settled on apple. I've never made an apple pie in my life. I peeled and cored the apples and Robin sliced them up while Bethany finished cutting out the fabric for the second pair of shorts and then the two girls did the rest.

Bethany is a jigsaw puzzle fan and so they spent the rest of the day engrossed in a 1,000 piece puzzle.

Tuesday, since my sewing machine has gone from balky to not working at all, we went over to my sister's house and used her machine. I walked Bethany through the first pair of shorts reading the instructions and explaining things and demonstrating and doing a few of the tricky parts while she did most the sewing on the first pair of shorts and Robin read and visited with her great aunt.

The girls finished the first puzzle sometime Tuesday night and then started a second 1,000 piece puzzle Wednesday morning. 

Then we did the shops around the square 

and after lunch Robin got her first driving lesson, driving back and forth behind the Walmart and then around the circumference of the entire parking lot over and over and then I took over til we got to the long county road where we switched again and she drove us back to the house.

I tried to teach her how to drive last year but she wasn't interested.

Thursday it was back to my sister's house to stitch up the second pair of shorts which Bethany did by herself. I sat in the room with her to answer questions but she didn't need much help. 

Robin drove us there and back both times (we came home for lunch) on real roads with real traffic (such as it is in this little town) and stop signs and stop lights, creeping along Robin, try going a little faster but she did real well.

They worked on the second puzzle until my daughter came early evening to pick them up and then it was dumped back in the box.

rain, yay! rain, boo!

I dropped my friend Helen off at the close airport, the one that's only an hour away, yesterday. It was a great visit though we didn't do much besides just hang out for a few days; 

nosed around a couple of the shops, bought the paint for the little bathroom, rented a movie, played with the dog, made a pie.

We are finally getting some rain! In fact it rained lightly off and on the whole time she was here. It's hurricane season once again and I still haven't got all the repairs done from last year. There's a storm system in the Gulf which was supposed to bring us 4 to 5 inches of rain over as many days which didn't happen so now they are saying 8 to 10 inches over the next several days and yesterday the general area between Houston and us just got pounded off and on. Drove through some of that heavy rain on the way to the airport, you know, the kind where even the fast speed on the wipers are useless and you can barely see the car in front of you and just forget about the lane markers. Fortunately it was only about 10 minutes or so. Well, at least until the drive home. Didn't hit any hard rain coming back and stopped at Costco for a few things and gas and they had a great recliner for the back bedroom for just $200 but I'm not buying any furniture for there until all the work is done and then between there and home through Fort Bend county which is under heavy construction with those barriers on both sides that give you zero wiggle room and 18 wheelers hauling ass beside you it was mostly through that heavy blinding rain. But I made it home safely and Marc came out to the car with the umbrella to get me. Hopefully we are getting all this rain at the right time to ensure a good pecan crop this fall since the last three years have been pretty pitiful.

So now I'm sitting here wondering where the hell Rocky is. He was going to work Saturday and Sunday and this week too if I didn't mind while my guest was here (I didn't). He did work on Saturday but was gone by the time I got back from the airport with Helen. He had finished everything he could do til I got back and I haven't seen him since. Well, it was Father's Day on Sunday so I guess he gets a pass for that but I'm ready to be done and I think it would only take a dedicated week. OK, so I talked to Rocky and there's not much he can do with this high humidity since grout or thin-set or texture won't dry properly and everything that can be done involves one of those three so as soon as we have a dryer day he'll be here.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get my studio room straightened up, things hung like this sweet little watercolor Helen did and gave me 

and birdhouses repaired (they all need perches) and hung, 

but it's one of those days that makes me just want to sit around and read. Not currently raining but totally overcast and heavily humid and wet outside and the couch looks comfy and I have two books on my side table.