Just for today...I will hold on tight to last night's feelings.
Outside my window...clear, dark, night.
I am thinking...about today's poetry reading and hearing someone read my poems out loud. It was quite nice. :)
I am thankful for...all 3 daughters getting home safely last night.
From the kitchen...the clean smell of soapsuds.
I am wearing...dark blue sweatpant bermudas, yellow/white stripe sleeveless top.
I am creating...some of my dreams for the future (I hope).
I am going...to shower soon (school tomorrow!).
I am reading...another book by Stuart Kaminsky.
I am hoping...to change myself in a positive way.
I am hearing...the night insects singing about how warm it is.
Around the house...silly sounds of the Wii.
One of my favorite things...fresh air coming in open windows.
A few plans for the rest of the week...joining a hiking club!
Here is a picture thought I am sharing...


...two sleeping beauties! :)

Raise your hand if... your husband FINALLY got the official medical okay today to go back to work after having been home for four months, 17 weeks, 119 days, 2,856 hours, 171,360 minutes....but who's counting??!!

If you were here, you'd see that I was breaking out into a chorus of ALLELULIA! AMEN! PRAISE THE LORD! and all that jazz!!

Consort in the 1800’s?!

Soooo, yesterday Bob and I took a much-needed ride, just the two of us, away from the house, out into the “wilds” of the Berkshires.  Only they’re not so wild…only one bird flew in front of us.  I was hoping for something more along the lines of a moose.  Oh well. 

BUT, we did venture into a very old cemetery which we both love to visit.  The oldest stone I saw in this cemetery was 1789; so many of them were quite beautiful. 

I find cemeteries to be quite peaceful and comforting.  The number one reason is the most obvious—they’re quiet.  But also because of the strong emotions attached to them, especially the love that transcends even death.  You can see it everywhere and often, you can feel it.

We meandered around there for awhile and I took some photos.  After reading a few of the stones, though, I realized that there was quite the story playing out in front of me, only this story was written in stone.  Check out these photos….

Here’s Amasa Frissell…DOCTOR Amasa Frissell if you will.  You might not be able to see it, but I think he died in April of 1845 or so at the age of 78.  Ok, nothing unusual here.  Read on…

…here’s Abigail Frissell, the good doctor’s wife, who died November of 1845 at the age of 58.  Ok…

…here lies Zerviah Frissell, the good doctor’s OTHER wife, who died in July of 1834 at the age of 50.  Well, huh.  But what’s this?  Who’s this?

Here lies MRS. SABRA…the “consort” of Amasa Frissell!!  She died in July of 1824 at the age of 50!  Dr. Frissell had a consort??  What is a consort? And why did Amasa Frissell have one?

I looked it up and the oldest definition was “spouse”.  It looks as if Amasa Frissell had three wives over the course of twenty years.  It also looks like he would get himself a new one every ten or eleven years!   They must have all gotten along because all four stones were side by side. 

I came away from the cemetery with a bunch of unanswered questions lingering…who was Amasa Frissell, why did he have so many wives, why did they all die early, what is a consort and why did he have one?  And whatever happened to MR. Sabra??!! 

Raise your hand if... you and your husband are heading out for a "ride in the country" tomorrow, just like you used to so long ago. Except that way back then, not so much water had gone under the bridge and you still remembered how to laugh.

Epiphany

Oh my goodness. You will not believe what I just did. I just decided to join a HIKING CLUB!! Not so crazy you say? Know this....I haven't hiked in over 35 years, unless you count the grocery store, Walmart, or the mall. I barely even walk up our hundred foot driveway to the mailbox unless I'm waiting for something exciting. And most of my time is spent sitting, either on the porch, in the dining room, at school/work, or here at the computer. Might this be the reason I carry an extra fifty pounds?!

Here's what happened. Last night my youngest and I went to a Fleetwood Mac tribute concert here in town. I was never a big fan, but 2 friends of ours are in the band, so off we went. Well, one line in one song in particular...Landslide...hit me and hit me hard. The line is..."I climbed a mountain and I turned around; when I saw my reflection in a snow covered hill, the landslide brought me down". At that instant, I realized that if I were to see my reflection in a snow-covered hill, it wouldn't be pretty. I also realized that I need to climb a mountain (Annie, I have a feeling you'll understand this.)

I sat on the porch this morning (see, more sitting) and thought about my life, where I am right now, what I'm doing, what I'm NOT doing, where I'm going and how I feel. Then I sat down (AGAIN!) at the computer and got searching. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, the group is headquartered in my town and their next meeting is a week away. You just show up, sign up, pick your level of hiker (uh, pre, pre, pre-beginner please), and off you go.

I do know that if I don't do something soon, I will morph into a chair and disappear completely, thereby losing myself, and I can't let that happen. I just can't.

I'm thinking that to train for this, I should probably start walking up the driveway, ya think?! Or maybe even out to the blueberries waaaaaaaay out back. As Clarice says to Rudolph..."put one foot in front of the other"....(and bring plenty of water, sunscreen, a compass, granola, a camera, your cell phone, first aid gear, sunglasses, a hat, dry socks, raingear!)

Raise your hand if... you just bought a brand new Maytag Super Capacity clothes dryer!!! I did! I'm so excited...I'm beside myself with joy! Now my Maytag washer will have someone to chat with, someone just like her, someone to commiserate with! (Sadly, this is terribly exciting for me.)

Yesterday afternoon, for the first time ever, I did major comparison shopping online since it was such a big purchase for us. I mean, I buy books online, just not big stuff. It was exhilerating and so darn rewarding when I found out that I saved....drum roll...OVER A HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE BUCKS!!! I did indeed. The best part is that by 9:00 a.m. today, our new dryer was installed, hooked up, running and the old one was outta here, all of it for no extra charge!

One more bonus was that my husband, while cleaning out the gobs and gobs of hazardous waste that had accumulated in the bowels of the old dryer, found the beautiful silver Irish knot necklace and chain that our oldest daughter had lost in the laundry three years ago. It needed the chain to be unknotted and polished, which her mama did quite wonderfully I might add, and it looked like new. She was so very happy.

Oh, and a tip for anyone buying a new appliance. Be sure to spend some time going through the innards of your old one. You will quite possibly find treasures galore, as witnessed by the fifteen dollars, jewelry, and previously unaccounted for work ID that my husband found.

Now I feel like a "big girl"...I have a set of Maytag appliances. How grown up am I? (And how lame am I for getting this excited over an appliance?!)

Blueberry Fields Forever

I just came in from picking about a quart of blueberries from our little patch out back and thought I’d share a few photos with you.  I’ll be making another batch of blueberry jam once the heat clears…it’s one of my favorite things to do!  

We had a great crop this year and last year, too.  I started bedding them down with pine needles (from my mom’s yard) each fall and I think it makes a difference.  Blueberries like acidic soil and the proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Berry-laden branches make it so easy to pick.

It’s just like picking a bunch of grapes!

These are the smaller berries.  But my favorites….

…are the ginormous ones.

These guys snuck in years ago; they just happen to be one of my husband’s favorites.

Job well done, if I may say so myself.  :)

Referencing yesterday's post, here is a very cool book I found today while browsing at Barnes and Noble. Now that I've seen more possibilities, I'm wondering if we have any trees around here that would work. :)

I'm curious...what's your dream house? I mean like, your "fantasy-nothing-can-stop-you dream house"? I'm still in the process of mentally designing, building and decorating my lakehouse which is surrounded by wildflower filled fields, evergreens, and mountain views, BUT, besides that one, I think I'd love a treehouse!

How fun would it be to wake up every morning and gaze out of your window to find yourself living amongst the canopy of green? I think it would be so wonderful! Of course my treehouse would have a screened porch so that I could always be wrapped up in that cool, green world. Can you imagine the peaceful, CLOSE, sound of raindrops on the leaves?! What fun!

More Wii Snippets

Behind me is another bizarre exchange between two daughters whilst playing Zelda on Wii. And I quote...

"Make sure you wear the iron boots to do that."
"My wrist hurts!"
"It's shooting!"
"Yeah, there are bad guys or something."
"If you wear your iron boots, you can run through it."
"How does he hold onto his sword and hold his body up while hanging over a cliff?"

(He lifts weights, dear.)

"I wish that you would just go faster!"
"You didn't let the shield attack it, did you?"
"What is it? How do you do it?"
"You know that wolf? The wolf that you sang to, he's a samurai guy."
"Fight him, fight him, you hate him. Jump on him, JUMP ON HIM!"
"Stay, stay...onto the cliff. Oops!"

(That can't be good, falling off a cliff and all.)

"Throw a rock at him. Not TOWARDS him!"
"Oh, in the wall."
"I hate when I fall into a cliff."

(Ditto.)

(Insert strange fighting noises, drug-induced music, and swords clanging here.)

"Whoa, WHOA! Trying to get a heart here, dude!"
"Is this all safe?"
"That guy's not going to be happy."
"Wait til you get to the hot springs...love them."
"Love the crazy Goron King."
"No, no, he's just an elder. The King is possessed right now."

(Yeah, so are both of you!)

"Are my boots on?!"
"I'm not digging the waders."
"He's going to fling you out like nobody's business."
"Are you wearing iron shoes?"
"Back in my day, they called those concrete shoes!" (says Dad!)

Another day in paradise I guess. 'Nite all. :)

All I wanted to do today was paddle the kayak to the middle of the lake and sit there, quietly bobbing up and down, no noise, no people, no thoughts, no worries. There are a number of obstacles preventing me from doing that, however, not the least of which is that I don't live on the lake...it's over two hundred miles away.

I've read that some other bloggers have been "wallowing" lately, and they don't know why. Well, I get it. For me, there are days when I am tearful for no apparent reason. Nothing cheers me up; it's almost as if I'm comfortable in my wallowing. That's where I am today.

I took myself out into my art cottage and finished a sign for a friend in honor of her father, whom she lost a few years ago. I thought about our friend Tommy, whom we lost three weeks ago. I thought about how much has been lost in my own life...loved ones, trust, courage, the security that comes with innocent beliefs, time.

Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up feeling better, and I'll be back to being grateful for all that I DO have...loved ones, friends, endless possibilities, dreams and faith. As my parents always told me..."keep the faith; this, too, shall pass."

As an aside...I had a Reiki session last night and when it was over, the Reiki Master said to me, "your father came through for you and said to tell you 'I've got your back'". I'd like to think he does. :)

Ugh. The three H's....hazy, hot and humid. Three of my least favorite words. Just hearing them makes me start to sweat. And man, have we been sweating around here! Although I'm grateful to have air conditioning, I'm kind of tired of hearing it running day and night, knowing that the electric meter is spinning madly. I can't wait for those cool breezes to blow through. Autumn can't get here soon enough, let me tell you.

Wii Snippets

I'm sitting here reading all my favorite blogs and behind me are two of my daughters playing a new Wii game. Here are actual snippets of conversations I am hearing.


"I got the fish. Look, the animated cat is sitting and watching me."
"Which person wants the cat?"
"You just have to get a second fish and he'll run."
"The slingshot knocks down the beehive."
"So he eats my second fish?"

(By the way, these are college-educated young women.)

"...you call the hawk and make it kill the chicken."
"Look, I'm fishing right off the dock."
"Catch two fish next to the cat, and then go back and get some rubies."
"Come on line, you've got slack".
"Jiggle the nunchuck or the Wii thing."
"I'm looking directly at two fish...come on fishfishfish."
"My original goals for tonight were to get the quest started, reduced to getting the sword."
"I just want to get the slingshot!"

(Expensive colleges, I might add.)

"Is this the singing grass?"
"Pick up the rock and you get a rupees."
"Jiggle one, jiggle the nun, jiggle the nun!"
"There's a cat door?!"
"Maybe you get the slingshot for free."
"You only have to do this 29 more times!"
"Scoop. Scoop."
"Obviously the yellow's worth more."

(Obviously.)

"I went all the way up here for fifteen rupees?"
"Look at his hips!"
"There's some grass right there. The house I want is over there."
"That's why you need a chicken."
"I have to go back to see the kids."
"Oooh, Pocky!"

(WHA...?! HUH?!)

And they think their parents are weird? Yeah, no. I don't think so.

Quiet Sunday

Hi friends. Today's been a gray, drizzly, quiet day around our little acre, but in a good way...not many phone calls, not too much TV, not much noise. Our weather stick says "not-so-great weather", but I beg to differ.

It was a good day to spend time in my art cottage painting another sign, which I did. It was also a good day to have family close by. My husband spent hours and hours a little while playing a fishing game on the new Wii; so far, he's used it more than the kids have.

Our four kids have all gone out to eat together, which is a rarity. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter are away for a week, so my son is here more than usual. His sisters cajoled their brother into going with them....this should be funny! He has no idea what he's in for...those three girls together are a force to be reckoned with! I can't wait to hear their tales of the trip!

I just got off the phone with my mom...she's 88 and lives about ten miles away. She was sitting on her porch reading, wearing a sweatshirt, with a blanket wrapped around her legs! Oh, how I love New England weather. Like they say, "if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute"...there's nothing like it!

I think I'll put on a sweatshirt and head on out to the porch, too. It's quiet out there, with only the sounds of the "night animals" to be heard. Granted, I can hear cars in the distance, but if I concentrate, I can make that noise disappear. G'nite everyone.

Raise your hand if... your daughter won a Nintendo Wii today through a local radio station, and your house is loud as heck right now! Me too!

Yup, middle daughter got a call today that she'd won a Wii after entering a contest at a radio station. She was thrilled!! We've never owned one of these game systems, too much money thankyouverymuch, so this is a real treat.



Right now, even though it's almost eleven p.m., the kids are frolicing and romping and cheering like crazy! And by "kids", I also mean my husband--he's already wondering if they make a fishing game. He stood up to bowl and the poor dog looked up at him as if to say..."What the hell is going on here? This is about the time we hit the hay, old man."

(PS. Yes, that is a tongue ring and no, I don't like it.)

To say we are easily amused is an understatement...they will probably be up for hours now. Sheesh...this mama needs her beauty rest! 'Nite all. :)

Pennies from Heaven

Hi there. Well, today didn't go quite the way I planned, but lots of paperwork got done which makes a huge difference.

I had plans to start three painting projects, but only managed to get one finished. It's okay, though; it's a small but important project. It's a small box for my six-year old granddaughter, Mackenzie. When our friend Tommy died almost two weeks ago, it not only hit the grown-ups, it hit the little ones. And my granddaughter loved him so much...she called him Uncle Tommy.



Kenzie's Meme told her about pennies from heaven and how whenever she finds one, it just might be from Tommy. Well, she searched for pennies for days and when she finally found one, she put it under her pillow. I painted this little box for her to put her "pennies from heaven" in to keep them close and safe. Whatever it takes to help soften the loss. It isn't fancy, but it'll be hers.

I lined the cover and the bottom of the box with sparkly cardstock, then drilled two holes in a wooden star, painted her initial, coated it with glitter (of course), and threaded wire through it to secure it to the cover. Like I said, it wasn't a big project, but an important one.

Well, late as it is, it's time for supper. One of the things I love about summer is the lack of a set schedule. And the other thing I love about summer is that I treated myself to Ben & Jerry's ice cream this week. I don't usually crave ice cream, except for now. Off I go to indulge. G'night.

Raise your hand if… you and your husband thought today--with 71% humidity--would be a good day to do yard work.  Anyone? No one? I don't blame you...it was definitely a stay-in-the-air-conditioned-house day. Unless, of course, you were us.

Bob and I decided that since our son is overwhelmed with landscaping accounts, we'd do our own yard work so that he wouldn't see it and think..."my parents are sloths".  Off we went.

I used the push-mower to do the smaller area around my cottage, plus some nooks and crannies where the rider won't fit.  Bob used the rider for the front yard, and since much of the rest of the acre is swampy from the rain, only part of it got mowed.

Bob put away the mowers and foolishly thought that we were done...silly man.  I said to him, "as long as we're out here, let's just...weedhere, sweephere, putawaythesebarrels, checkontheblueberries, cleanoffthebackporch, rakethepatio, addwatertothefountain, weedthelavenderbed,  cutbackthetrumpetvine, checkonthebeehive...." You get the picture.  And so did he. :)

The copious amounts of sweat were worth it when my oldest daughter and I drove down the driveway and she told me how nice it all looked.  "It looks like you two have been busy around here."  Yes, yes we have kiddo, and as Eeyore would say, thanks for noticin'.   And now, it’s  off to The Porch.

Just for today...I am focusing on moving forward with my book.
Outside my window...dark night wraps itself around us.
I am thinking...of a shower, a book and bed.
I am thankful for...my family, as always.
From the kitchen...Bob and the dog "chatting".
I am wearing...summer nightgown and summer robe.
I am creating...(in my mind) projects to paint.
I am going...to have a taste of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
I am reading...a murder mystery.
I am hoping...to keep creatively motivated.
I am hearing...the endless hum of the air conditioner.
Around the house...family.
One of my favorite things...crawling into bed at the end of the day.
A few plans for the rest of the week...painting and more painting.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing...





...sweet little Lucy who calms us all and bring us such joy.

I have a major sugar-induced headache tonight. Perhaps it's from when I ate the two pieces of creamy-as-hell carrot cake plus 4 s'more bars tofu cookies. Yeah, right. Is there such a thing?

Tomorrow is Monday....yuck. Even though it's summer and I don't have to go back to work for 26 more days (but who's counting?), the weekends are still a little more laid back than the weekdays. Can you say "it's all in your head"?

'Night to everyone and happy Sunday evening.

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!

Raise your hand if... you finished painting a sign for your own living room, even though you have two others to do as gifts for friends! Cool, me too!!

I was finally able to get out into my cottage and spend some quality time with myself. I crave quiet, always have, but having four kids and a husband who talks incessantly (even if no one's listening), allows for a very taxed, overloaded brain for this mama. If I don't get my quiet time, I tend to just shut down. Hence...my afternoon alone.

I've been wanting to change the decor (fancy shmancy word for "stuff on the walls") in our living room to make it more minimalistic (hahahahahaha). Really, I have, I kid you not. Well anyway, I finally decided to paint a sign with the name of our favorite lake on it, so I did. I distressed it, varnished it and voila...fini.


This is the sign PRE distressing...








...and this is it POST distressing. I like them better when they aren't too clean-edged.



I wasn't sure what was going on the wall above the sign, but that's been settled, too. My son and I collect old windows just for the halibut (get it? halibut/hell of it...little fish joke) and I have a really cool white one that's about four feet wide, one foot high, with five panes in it. As of right now, that little gem is painted black and I will distress it tomorrow. I may twist a grapevine or a berry garland around it. We shall see. I'll share photos once it's done. Let's hope we can find some wall studs that will support the window; otherwise, I need a new house. It's that simple.

Just an odd footnote to share. This week, a total of four good-sized tree limbs have fallen into different places throughout the yard: one in the front yard moments after my husband had driven away on the mower, one on the garage roof, one directly where the truck would have been parked, and the fourth way out back.

Then, strangest of all, today a bunch of helium balloons landed way out back! Someone must have let go of them and they found their way here. Not odd by itself, but with things falling out of the sky all this week, we're all spending time looking up!

PS--Made some very gooey and delicious S'mores Bars tonight. When all else fails, we bake. And, when we're trying to keep ourselves distracted, we bake. Works every time. 'Nite.