Day Thirty One 2011

Monday sky in shades of gray taken in the Solaris color setting with my cell phone camera. A good day to be inside, doing laundry. Now the rain has come. Can the snow be far behind?

Day Thirty 2011

Peeps at Poet's On The Square this afternoon: niece Sarah, niece Julia, daughter Kelly and grand daughter Shelby. I always enjoy being with my coffeehouse peeps for a couple of hours of chatter and laughter and of course tasty drinks. These ladies rock! Looking forward to the next time.

Day Twenty Nine 2011

Impossible to stay indoors on a gorgeous day like today--cloudless blue sky, tons of sunshine, and temperatures in the 60s. Our two grandpeeps, Shelby and Elijah, could not resist a trip to the playground for some big time fun in the warm sun. You got to grab it while you can get it!

Day Twenty Eight 2011

Grand peeps Shelby and Elijah are spending the night with us tonight while their mom and dad celebrate their anniversary. We enjoyed supper at Ocha, then headed to Ralph's for some tasty doughnuts, and then on the spur of the moment, ended up at the skating rink for some Friday night roller derby. Neil and I abstained from the skating for fear of a broken hip, not to mention being laughed at by about a hundred teenagers. But we enjoyed watching the kids skate and play games like ski ball and vintage Pac Man. Good times! Happy TGIF, y'all!

Day Twenty Seven 2011

I thought I'd share another birds in flight pic with you that I took yesterday--this one in black and white. I caught the bird on the left as his talons were latching onto the feeder. Lucky shot, I must say.

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Wishing my daughter Holly and her husband Jerry a very Happy 10th Anniversary today!! What an awesome twosome you are!! Love you both!!

Day Twenty Six 2011

Birds of all kinds were all over the feeders pretty much the whole day. They're fun to watch and a challenge to capture them in flight in a photograph. This is one of the better photos I managed to snap this morning.

Day Twenty Five 2011

My picture for the day is grandson Elijah in the Solaris color setting on my cell phone camera. He was laying on the couch watching TV this afternoon after school and didn't even flinch when I stuck my camera in his face. I guess he's finally getting used to it (or resigned maybe). There wasn't much light in the room, which made for some interesting shadows. I like the Solaris setting. Wish I had it on my regular camera.

Day Twenty Four 2011

The snow melted (for now) and the kids headed back to school today, including grand daughter Shelby, who is still not quite up to par (still coughing), but I know she's feeling some better because she finished off a bowl of vanilla ice cream w/chocolate syrup this afternoon as she tried to concentrate on math homework (got half of it done before closing the book and turning on iCarly). More snow looms large in the near future forecast with only two 'snow days' left in the school year. And it's not even February.

Day Twenty Three 2011

Wow, the things I have to do just to get one picture for my 365 blog. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. BTW, my DQ Butterfinger Mini Blizzard was oh so tasty and the highlight of my Sunday afternoon.

Day Twenty Two 2011

"To the artist, a glistening jagged jewel.

A must for the waiting canvas.

Sculpted, tapered, then dropped to Earth

By gods from unknown places." ~~ excerpt from 'Icicles' by Linda Cann Pearson

Day Twenty One 2011

Another 'snow day' here today. The Grandpeeps are on the mend from whatever has been ailing them this week and feeling lots better now, so we enjoyed a lunch at Ocha Thai food deli, where the rice and spicy chicken are quite yummy. Here is the lunch bunch: grandson Elijah, hubby Neil, grand daughter Shelby, and daughter Holly. Happy TGIF!

Day Twenty 2011

You know for sure that a child is sick when he/she eats only two bites from a bowl of vanilla ice cream drizzled with Hershey's chocolate syrup and then says, "I'm done." Grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah have been running fevers and suffering with headaches and just plain feeling puny the last couple of days. They didn't go to school today or yesterday and stopped by my house today so their mom could pick up Shelby's homework from school. They asked for ice cream but couldn't eat it. Talk about a major bummer. But the biggest bummer was that as much as I wanted to finish off that bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup, I had to resist because all those little sick germs were floating around in that bowl, just waiting to infect me with whatever illness the grandpeeps have. So their mom ate it. Honestly, some people's children.

Day Nineteen 2011

The red, white and blue on this woodpecker and blue jay made for some patriotic bird feeders this afternoon. The picture doesn't do their vivid colors justice but thought I'd share it anyway.

Day Eighteen 2011

Today was one of those raindrops keep falling on my head kind of days here in the middle of Tennessee. But I kind of like it better than snow at the moment. The Farmer's Almanac suggested that our winter would be warm and wet. They got one half of their prediction correct. Looks like more wet on the way in the form of snow by week's end.

Day Seventeen 2011

As I've said before, I'm a collector, not a hoarder--except when it comes to light bulbs, especially 100 watt light bulbs. Ever since the light bulb police announced they are phasing out incandescent bulbs, I have been buying them every chance I get. I tried those compact fluorescent bulbs once, discovered they are difficult to read by, and promptly got rid of it. Don't tell anybody, but I did not follow the 8 page EPA guideline when I disposed of the bulb. I'm sure it's in the landfill, leaching mercury into the ground water even as we speak. And there lies the inherent trouble with the fluorescent bulbs--they pose a major environmental hazard if they happen to break. I don't like them and I really don't like being told what kind of light bulb I can read by. So I hoard. Let there be light!

Day Sixteen 2011

The ceiling in our living room is finally undergoing a long overdue renovation. Hubby Neil spent several hours this afternoon pulling down ceiling tiles from the 1970s and exposing bead board (or tongue in groove) from the 1920s. It's not a pretty sight to say the least. We've considered several options such as sanding and painting, Sheetrock and re-tiling. We're tilting toward installing ceiling tiles which will be the easiest and least messy. Stay tuned.

Day Fifteen 2011

"And here is the key
To a house far away
Where I used to live
As a child.
They tore down the building
When I moved away
And left the key unreconciled" ~~ Dan Fogelberg, 'Souvenirs'

I can't help thinking of these lines from Dan Fogelberg's song Souvenirs whenever I come across old keys at the flea market, especially skeleton keys, which I recently started collecting. They once opened the door to some one's home, and now here they sit gathering dust in some old box. The second key from the left used to be our house key when we first bought this old 1920's home back in 1983. We didn't tear down the building but we did change the locks, leaving the key 'unreconciled' as Dan put it. And although I always have notions of putting them to use in some project some day, like most of my collections, these keys will probably stay unreconciled.

Day Fourteen 2011

Can you tell that grand kids Shelby and Elijah enjoyed their ice cream cones this afternoon? I guess they needed the sugar jolt after vegging on the couch all day, watching dozens and dozens of Looney Tunes. That's all, Folks! Happy TGIF!

Day Thirteen 2011

This bird is coming in for a landing on the log feeder we keep filled with peanut butter in the winter. Comfort food on a cold winter day when the clouds finally parted and the sun came shining through long enough to remind us that there will be warmer days ahead.

Day Twelve 2011

Mario? Luigi? No, it's Mario Brothers long lost cousin, Elijah. I think he bears a striking resemblance, don't you?

Day Eleven 2011

My grandpeeps, Elijah and Shelby, got the biggest kick out of watching the birds feeding on this cold and snowy afternoon. Shelby took lots of pictures. There were dozens of birds all over the feeders. They were amazed at how large doves are and how red the 'daddy' cardinal is. It was almost better than watching Spongebob. I had fun just watching them watching the birds, and I'm glad to know that they can marvel at these kinds of things.

Day Ten 2011

"Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer." ~~ Plutarch, Moralia

Day Nine 2011

We always have big fun at Poet's On The Square right here in our town. Left to right: daughter Kelly, sister Jane, niece Julia, grand daughter Shelby, daughter Holly, and niece Sarah convened in the back room of Poet's for a couple of hours of sipping tasty treats--like frozen hot chocolate and mango orange smoothies (the best ever!)--while we generally misbehaved. We had the room to ourselves, so we didn't bother too many other coffee customers, and we left it the way we found it. Sort of. We did steal a few moments of fun. But don't tell anybody because this won't be the last time.

Day Eight 2011

Happiness is sharing a hot, gooey pizza for lunch on a cold winter Saturday with warm, lovable peeps!

Day Seven 2011

This was the 'snow day' that wasn't. Schools were closed here today in anticipation of snow, which never materialized. So the grandpeeps and I hung out together and vegged in front of the TV most of the day. Building a snowman would have been fun....if there had actually been some snow. Happy T*G*I*F!!

Day Six 2011

Can You Say 'Brain Freeze!' ?

It's like maybe 30 degrees outside, so of course hubby Neil, the grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah and I head on over to Cream City for some freezing cold but totally delish ice cream. I suspect this won't be the last time.

Day Five 2011

"January opens

The box of the year

And brings out days

That are bright and clear

And brings out days

That are cold and grey

And shouts, "Come see

What I brought today!" ~~ Leland B. Jacobs, January

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What a difference a day makes! The big fat flakes flew for a while and then disappeared as quickly as they came. Beautiful! But good riddance!

Day Four 2011

Today is the first day we've seen our Grandpeeps since Christmas Day. We had a lot to catch up on--books, movies, TV shows, games and such. Elijah got his own Nintendo DS, so now he's not hogging Shelby's DS. Today, Shelby played her 'Zelda' game and Elijah was racing with Mario. They can send each other text messages on their DS's, and that would be great if only Elijah knew how to read. And spell. Neil and I are always amazed by the technology--being the old geezers that we are. Of course, these kids are growing up with it and think nothing of it--except that it's totally fun. I wonder what they will be amazed by as time goes by.

Day Three 2011

Caught Buddy Cat in a snooze on the deck as he soaked up some rays on this blue sky January day.

Day Two 2011

"Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire." ~~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths

For better or for worse, I am a collector. Not a hoarder. There is a vast difference, I think. I've always liked clocks and clock faces, especially old ones, so I'm drawn to those whenever I see them, usually at the flea market. These are the few I've picked up of late. I only like the ones with Arabic numerals. Roman numerals drive me crazy for some crazy reason. I'm not sure yet how I'll end up using them. That is the sad thing about collections. They sit and wait, in vain mostly. Someday, if I end up with a dozen of them, I might make a cool clock out of them. Stay tuned.

Day One 2011

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." - Edith Sitwell

If you're a southerner, you might serve up a plate of black-eyed peas and hog's jowl for supper on New Year's Day--for luck in the new year, "they" say. Instead, I cooked a pot of spaghetti sauce using my dad's awesome recipe. I'm not counting on it to bring me any luck. But it sure did taste great on a pile of spaghetti noodles.