Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Just Looking Around this Place and That, With some Greek Tales

This past Thursday was my day for Remicade treatment. Trust me, those are days in which absolutely nothing else gets accomplished. The infusions take three to four hours and they give me a dose of 50mg Benadryl. I look forward to a nice looong nap on those days. We are provided with nice comfy Lazy Boy lounges and TVs with headphones; other than that, this is about all there is to look at: ...which is why I generally take a magazine to look through. Last week, I brought the Premier edition of Where Women Create. It had been awhile since I read through the pages of this issue, so reading it again between zzzz's was a real treat. A couple days later, we had a refreshing cold wave come through the area. I always look forward to Fall but each year when the leaves start to turn, I remember the Greek mythological story of Persephone. She was the young daughter of Demeter, who some know as "Mother Earth" or Mother Nature and Zeus, King of the Gods. Demeter is responsible for keeping the earth fresh and fertile, with lush crops and flowers. Zeus is responsible for, among other things, law and order, thunder and such. Persephone is a beautiful maiden and of course, everyone loves her. Hades, the King of the Underworld, is no exception and he kidnaps her one day, dragging her to the Underworld with him to make her his bride. Demeter is wrought with grief and can no longer perform her duties as Mother Earth. The world turns cold and Persephone's parents grieve and search for her. The earth is no longer fertile; fruit and trees fall from the trees, the skies are grey and the crops all die. When her parents finally discover who has taken her and where she is, it is too late. She had eaten some of Hades' fruit (pomegranite seeds) and therefore must spend at least part of her life with him. The three (Demeter, Zeus and Hades) finally come to an agreement. Persephone will spend one third of the year with Hades and the other two thirds above ground. There is much more to this rich story, but you get the picture. Fall is the time when Persephone must leave her above ground home and return to Hades. Thus, this is when the leaves begin to dry and the world starts to turn cold. Demeter, during this time misses her daughter so much that the world gradually turns to ice until Persephone comes "home" in the Spring. Photos: Barn is next to our property; the picture was taken from our garden. Rolled hay (last photo) is on another neighbor's property. Olde windows were taken from a turn of the century house and are waiting for me to decide their destination. The Japanese Maple lends its beauty and color to the small flower garden that is immediately adjacent to our back patio and the washtubs and tools hang on our smokehouse. The picture appears to be black and white but was actually taken in color; the colors you see are "natural".

Saturday, November 7, 2009

A Few Random Thoughts to Share

My childhood girlfriend, Joanna, sent this to me in an email. Although I thought the email was fun to read, it was also quite true - but, if my Dad was still alive, I would never confess that to him. Just wanted to share with you:

Random Thoughts for the Day: 1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. 2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. 3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. 4. There is great need for a sarcasm font. 5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? 6.. Was learning cursive really necessary? 7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. 9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. 10. Bad decisions make good stories. 11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. 12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again. 13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to. 14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever. 15.. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away? 16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that? 19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well. 20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Shop Photos, Christmas Ornaments and an After Shot

This is one of those seasons. You know, a season that you feel you've been working either on or toward all year? I bought several small artificial Christmas trees last year when everything was marked down to something like 1/3 of the original price. I finally finished this one and before you look, let me apologize for the fuzzy grain. Yes, I could shoot a better picture but it's getting late and I'm getting tired and am hoping you'll just roll with me on this one. Okay, and yes, it's just the bottom part of tree I decorated with a primitive feel. Told you I'm tired. Here's the upper part: If you look close, you'll see itty-bitty pinecones that I unraveled from old Christmas picks and wired onto the ends of some of the branches. There's also some fake candy that I grubbied up to look old (oh yeah, yum!) a couple little boy and girl gingerbread people, bits of berry garland and, of course, some stained homespun fabric to help it look more old timey. The tag is really cute - an old picture of three sweet infants looking up at the Christmas tree. This will be part of my primitive display that we're putting up in the shop (Corner Nest, Elizabethton, TN) tomorrow. This little trio of primitive houses was actually just a frame of twigs that my DIL gave me several years ago to "fix up" and sell. Yes, you read right. Several years ago. You've seen my sewing/craft studio so you shouldn't be surprised. This will go on the wall and will become part of the primitive hangings for sale. Finally, this is a tiny trio of scented dolly ornies (ornaments) that I placed in a bowl of pinecones. They smell like pumpkin pie and are really cute. I have several bags of these (three each) and will put this picture on the label to give customers an idea of how to use them. They'll look really cute hung on trees, too. My studio is an ongoing work of, well, work. I'm forever trying to get it better organized. Do you remember waaay back when I showed you this old library card file that I was using to hold pens, glue sticks and the like? Well, I'm finished enjoying it and it's now time to take it to the shop. Last but not least, here's the updated photo I promised you. Remember the grungy-looking leaded glass wall cabinet from a couple posts ago? Well, here it is as it looks today. It, too, will have a place in the shop and I don't expect it to last long at all. I uploaded a few new photos of shop pictures (a couple are our booths, most belong to others) on Flickr if you want to click HERE and take a look. ...and that's what I've been up to the last few days. What have you been doing lately?