THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK MONDAY OFFERING 3/30/09

FOR TODAY 30 March 2009

Outside My Window...neighbor kids playing basketball across the street

I am thinking...that things are so peaceful.

I am thankful for...friends ;-)

From the kitchen...stir-fry

I am wearing...crocs, black underarmor socks, liz claiborne jeans, lime green camisole, and black long sleeve rugby shirt.

I am creating...scrapbook for my wedding photos (finally after 12 years LOL).

I am going...to philly on tuesday, maybe to stay a few days - need a little quiet time.

I am reading...still savoring cold mountain.

I am hearing...my husband tell a story about when his dad was in portugal in the air force.

Around the house...arrrrgggghhhhh, need to swiffer the dog hair tumbleweeds from under the sofa.

One of my favorite things...driving with the windows down and jimmy buffett cranked up!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: taking it easy ...

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Ehrmann Tapestry - Herb Garden, designed by Margaret Murton

my stepmom, adri, had started this as a seat cover for a bench. the purple-shaded area was completed before she passed away from breast cancer four years ago in january. my goal is to complete the rest of stitchwork for my father's birthday at the end of april. i have already gotten some of it done (but not much, as you can see below the shaded part), so i told him he may get it for Christmas instead, or maybe Christmas after next LOL. she was so talented and just a groovy stepmom - this won't be perfect but i hope she will like it, too...

Just Going Through Some Pictures

cassie despised getting her picture taken. if she saw that the camera was in my hands, she would turn on me her darkened eye, as she was wont to do when one was not worthy of being glared upon with her good eye, then lumber up from her spot, and dramatically exit the vicinity. i believe i have more pictures of her bony tail-end than of her pretty face.

THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK MONDAY OFFERING

FOR TODAY, 23 March 2009

Outside My Window...if it were summertime, it would be that bluesy-time that lasts just a few moments before turning into the night

I am thinking...not a lot, just feeling warm and fuzzy

I am thankful for...my life, my home, my pets

From the kitchen...the sound of my niece and husband putting away groceries, doing dishes, making dinner- and some texting drama going on!!!

I am wearing...my bra still, and i don't know why

I am creating...an online scrapbook of our tenth anniversary stay in a log cabin (ummm, yeah, that was more than two years ago) on snapfish - it takes just as long as real scrapbooking, but NO MESSSSSS TO CLEAN UP AFTERWARDS, just log out and power down - great for my messy marvin self.

I am going...to watch house in 20 minutes

I am reading...cold mountain

I am hoping...i get back my teenage spark having the girls here for a day or two - i am feeling olllllld lately.

I am hearing...laughter ringing all over this house and the tv guide idol wrap show

Around the house...must...move...bedroom...furniture...around...aggggghhhhh!!

One of my favorite things...this little doggie girl - abbey



A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: go to office max; rearrange bedroom and office - take mom to the surgeon and me to the shrink - thank goodness!!


Here is picture thought I am sharing...

ahhhhh, never were there eyes so deep blue!

A CYBER READING OF ALIEN COWS

On the occasion of Madelyn's birthday

With a trashy trashed punk
probably old enough to be my
father
trying to sound like Mick Jagger
who is older than my father
But his lips are not big enough
crooning about some swooning
jailbait chick

The Inspector wouldn't believe it
But the patrolman saw it
He would not say anything
But he saw the old farm truck
Trucking down the dirt lane
just a double wide furrow
between the furrows not visible
now because the crops were so tall
but had to be there
because the crops were there
He had only seen the
top of the farm truck
It began to be dusk
quickly as soon as the
farm truck was almost out of
sight it was dark
The Sun no longer reflected
off the dark cab
and then they disappeared

The patrolman saw more
than just that
But wouldn't say anything
Nothing about their great bodies
hovering over the crops
eating. Or were the crops eating them
Great blobs of white
spectres abandoned the fences
And flew back across
the fields to bring in more
to mow away the hay

And, hey, I am just riding
cruising bottomed out
peeling awaythe black
from this silver night
but it's too black to bother
and an alien cow
descends on the hoodand that trashy punk
keeps on breaking glass
and cutting his best friend
because his best friend
is not really an omen
so he doesn't care
But what is this liquid
neon dripping over my wheels
Big white blobs bobbing in the field
dlb - 4 may 1984

THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK MON(tues)DAY OFFERING -17 MARCH 09

FOR TODAY 17 march 2009..

Outside My Window...
sunny

I am thinking...
about growing tomatoes, dill, and tarragon; about growing lavender, lilacs, and lily of the valley; about growing mint, peonies, and hydrangeas; about putting in small white stones instead of mulch around the shrubs by the front porch.

I am thankful for...
lipton tea

From the kitchen...
cinnamon toast

I am wearing...
black yoga pants, teal tank top, sage green tee shirt, and white, orchid, and purple striped fuzzy socks.

I am creating...
working on finishing the tapestry adri started for the bench in their bedroom, to give to dad for his birthday in a month.

I am going...
to take a nap while tim is out fishing at lake como.

I am reading...
the face of deceit by ramona richards (love inspired romance/suspense series).

I am hoping...
i don't forget the sweet things my baby used to do - like lying in the yard on her side in the sun, eating grass out of the side of her mouth, too lazy and snoozy to actually sit up to munch on it - happiness really is a warm puppy!

I am hearing...
something beeping???

Around the house...
moving my well-loved collection of Victoria magazines from one bookshelf to another

One of my favorite things...
said well-loved collection of Victoria magazines that i started in 1989 and have appr 12 yrs' worth plus some scattered issues here and there, along with the year that just passsed in which they resurrected the magazine after it foundered in the early 2000s; it still founders. it started as a magazine like no other for grace and romance, but became just like any other. so each month i take out the old copies for that month and re-read them (saves a ton on buying new magazines!).

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
must do some personal business that i have put off to the absolute last minute and cannot continue any farther with another project without finishing; rearranging my now-defunct office into a study/atelier.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
print and color just for fun today!

Cassiopaeia Narcissa - BORN A DOG - DIED A LADY

Born in August 1995
RIP on 8 March 2009

i know that some of you knew, or knew of, our old dog, cassie (i certainly bragged enough on her!). she passed away sunday morning at 8 a.m. at the matthew j. ryan veterinary hospital at the university of pennsylvania in philly. she was 13-1/2 years old, and we had gotten her as a 3-week-old, 2-pound runt, who needed to be fed with a syringe, poor little thing.

lately, for almost 2 weeks, she was becoming so debilitated by her megaesophagus and could keep no food or medication down and was wasting away. we had already made plans to donate her body to the university for research and training, but we did not know we would be losing her so soon. she had such a horrible night saturday into sunday that we could not bear to see her go through another day, even though she had settled down by the morning. it was one of the
hardest things we have had to do to put her in the car and drive that long highway up to philly. the consolation was that the staff there was extremely sweet and kind with cassie, and with us. even cutting the abnormally long "toe-hawk" from in between the pads of her back feet for
us to keep as a memento when i asked for it - i am sure that was a new one for them...! we feel at peace knowing she is at peace, but our hearts ache in the emptiness left behind.

if any of you have pets, please keep in mind that veterinary schools need little furbaby bodies to train their students in the various procedures such as placing IVs and ports, trachs, etc. and, in cassie's case, they can take a look at her odd and amazing innards to help further research and perhaps extend the lives of other megaesophagus babies. Colleen Ward is the contact person for the university in the memorial donation program. they accept animals who have died, have
who have been euthanized at other facilities, or, as with cassie, have been euthanized at their hospital. Colleen is a wonderful and tender lady who helped us very much in making our plans.

THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK MONDAY OFFERING

FOR TODAY ... 2 March 2009

Outside My Window...snow in the darkness

I am thinking...about a few friends who now live far away

I am thankful for...memories

From the kitchen...little fur just carried in a poop-sicle when she came through the back door - good and good for you!

I am wearing...huge old sweats and what used to be my favorite top ever to wear in public but is now so old it gets worn to bed - burgundy, longsleeved tee with hooks and eyes all the way up the front instead of buttons

I am creating...I am going...to bed here in a few...

I am reading...nearly to the end of alias grace - you know how you slow down reading when you get towards the end of an incredibly moving book, so that you can pretend that it will never end and that you won't have to come back from where it has taken you?

I am hoping...for nothing - i now understand what my grandfather was trying to teach me when he would quote Paul's words to me "for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content".

I am hearing...a snow plow

Around the house...did my favorite thing today - moved furniture around. i am weird - moving furniture is my passion - it drives my husband absolutely insane (but that is not the reason i do it ). it is genetic; i got it from my grandmother.

One of my favorite things...velvet curtains in doorways and archways - so very edgar allenpoe-ish.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: working on "just breathing"

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

My First Love

frederic. chopin. frail. consumptive. pale. nervous. disheveled.

i must have been almost ten years old when my mother brought home the record album with his painted portrait on the jacket, and i knew that i would love no other as truly. that i could love no other as truly...my heart was gone from me, had taken flight across time and space. i could hear his voice, as clearly as i heard his music - i heard his voice through his music. i hear his voice, still, when i dim the lights, light the candles, cue up the recordings, and he plays on through the flesh and blood of the living, across time and space.

(please enjoy a few selections from chopin and his romantic contemporaries that i have added to accompany my written offerings. the player is at the very bottom of the page, should you like to browse, decrease/increase the volume, or, indeed, turn it off, if you are in need of silence in this world).