Tag: life

BadAss

 Is it OK to curse on blogger?  I don’t know if it’s the New Yorker in me or the water I drank growing up… but I have been known to spew profanity if the occasion calls for it.  I know that’s not very ladylike, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 Last night these guys put down the hammers and hoes (your mind’s in the gutter again, isn’t it?)..and took us girls out for a beautiful night ride through the hills of Durham for hotdogs at Guidas and Ice cream at Dairy Serve.

  above photos courtesy google and whoever took them.

  This is Jeff and his awesome wife, Patti. If you’ve been coming here for a while you will recognize him as This Old House’s restoration expert. 

Life is Good.

 That little thing Jeff is doing there, it’s a game between us all –
I’d tell ya about it, but then I’d have to kill you.
Have a Happy & Safe 4th, all –

Just Breathe

Why do I feel guilty if I take moments like this
to just swing in the hammock under the trees on the hill
and marvel at the work accomplished
..to breathe in the beauty before me
..to just… be.
We only pass through once. 
Don’t forget to breathe easy and enjoy the scenery….

John Travolta Doesn’t Live Here

  To all you locals who read my blog… just letting ya know…

John Travolta did NOT buy our house, and no landing strip for airplanes is going in the fields.  For those of you who don’t  live around here, the John Travolta rumor has been floating around our little town for 20 years or so. Although I  surely wish it were true, it just ain’t so.  It’s hilarious that town folk are now applying that rumor to the sale of our previous house. 

I do love the man, he is my favorite actor and I’ve loved every roll he has taken. 
 I was madly in love with Vinny Barbarino and then Danny in Grease.
I still know every word to every song,
and the Welcome back Cotter theme song brings back
fond memories of a beanpole adolescent with a wicked crush.
His roles ever since have been admirable and diverse.
I love that he is a genuine family man too.

Dear John, ( or John’s People!)
If you ever come across this post,  please dispel the myth
for this tiny New England town…
 leave a comment telling us that you really don’t live here.
Or maybe shine a ray of hope for us all  ðŸ™‚
You have many fans here, apparently!


P.S.  You can build a landing strip in our hay fields any time!

Love, Karen

 The new owner has decided to put up a security gate at the entrance to the driveway… which will fuel the John Travolta rumors even more, I’m sure.  

 Sorry if I’ve burst any bubbles here….   🙂

Unwind

  To say we’ve had a stressful month on a few fronts here at This Old House is a bit of an understatement.  The great news is things are looking up.  The best of the day is… our previous house has finally sold.  Today. Did we take a beating in the purchase price?… H*ll yes.  But it’s no longer our burden.  As in that monstrous second mortgage is now paid off and this one is more “do-able”.  

  Amen and Hallelujah. 

Don’t worry, be happy

 I have issues.
 Worry issues.
 Way too much worry, all the time.
  There are invisible scars from a traumatic incident five years go,
where one of us four almost died. 
The  possibility of survival was in question for weeks
 and it was a long time before we were out of the woods.
I  came out of that experience a stronger person in some ways…
 and a damaged person in others. 
 
No longer do I float along the river of life oblivious to the perils, to our fragile existence. 
  There is a constant undertow of  heightened awareness to danger,
 and that’s a hell of a state to be in all the time.  
 So.. I am trying to quiet the voices, the fears,
 the anxieties that come with the experience of being a mother. 
 It ain’t easy.  
Just ask my kids. 

Making a spectacle of myself

   My grandfather Al used to call my grandmother Elsie “Squint Eyes”, which doesn’t sound like a very affectionate pet name, now does it.  I can tell you this… theirs was a true love story that never petered out. He was writing her love notes on the bedroom and bathroom mirror (with her favorite red lipstick, much to her chagrin)  right into his eighties. 

 Dear Squint Eyes – I do love you so. See you at dinner – xo 

   I, on the other hand, have never been called Squint Eyes. NOoo… I  am Hawkeye! Eagle Eye! Laser Vision Woman!… My husband teases me constantly because he is the competitive type, you know. 

When we’re on the road, he’ll challenge me to 
 “Read that sign up ahead.. let’s see who can read it first!”
… I always win.
   I am the one who sits in the Eye Doctors office
 and proceeds to read the copyright year at the very bottom of the chart,
just to show off. 
Last year the Dr. said…
“Well, you still have perfect vision… but it gets us all sooner or later.
You’ll be in to see me for glasses in the future, it happens to all of us”. 
 I scoffed!   
Silly girl. 
I’ve been catching myself lately…
holding the menu at a distance
trying to read the fine print on a bottle of aspirin
The eyes taking just a bit longer to shift focus from the book to the television.
You know what this means, don’t you?
Now any time we take a road trip,
I’m gonna have to memorize all the signs beforehand.

Caught with a hoe.

  Now get your mind out of the gutter.

  Today is one of those glorious weather days when working on the farm is pure bliss. I’m taking a break from the sun and chores to post these pictures.  These are the days I cherish.  Gratitude is the attitude today and I’m soaking it all up, breathing deep.

 Some of you might remember the neighbors in the new subdivision who didn’t like looking at farm equipment two fields over from them, right?… Well, they’ll be looking at a barn full of farm equipment from now on… hope this makes them happy.  They’ve been seen taking photos of our manure spreading and haying tactics.
Below is the foundation for an equipment barn.

 Walter and son have hayed these fields for many years…
they’ll leave us some bales for the horses this year with each cutting…

 

Foundation for the horse barn – small this time, three stalls and hay/shavings/grain storage room

  Hello, my name is Karen
and I’m a Coca-Cola addict.
It is what it is.

The Tides

I remember as if it were yesterday….
waiting on the front stoop…
listening for the jingle of keys…
hoping for the chance to hop in the car with him to go get gas at the station,
or a gallon of milk and a carton of cigarettes at Buds Deli
on the corner of Maine and Manor,
or epoxy glue and more balsa wood
for his model planes at Reimans Hardware.
And….. I remember, as if it were yesterday..
 the long silences in the middle years…
the distance between us and the anger…. always the anger.
His and mine.
The years roll on
as they always do.
I’ve matured.
He’s aged.
OK  -I’ve aged too, just hush.
 As I mature, I see that sometimes..
it’s just as well to let sleeping dogs lie.
There aren’t always answers to the “whys”…
and we don’t always really need them.
Sometimes there just isn’t an answer.
But there can be a solution
if you ..just..let..it..go.  
It’s enough to just be in the present.
To enjoy the moments of what is..
not what was or could have been.
But I do wonder…
just in what particular moment….
When exactly was it…

 that I started worrying when he
arrived later than he was supposed to…
…When he didn’t answer the phone all day…
…When the road conditions were iffy..
…the footing slippery..
…the refrigerator too empty…
..the pills not remembered…
When did the Tides turn?

Click Class

This is what we’re doing for the next few Fridays at this old house…
Professional Photographer Tim Gannon has agreed to
give us a four session class on how to get more
out of our digital cameras.
(read that as how to actually USE THE SETTINGS on our digital cameras)
Joey and Lynn listening intently…

 F.Stop  – Shutter Speed – Aperture – ISO
TV mode – CA mode – Program Mode 
Manual Focus – Auto Focus – Zoom Lens – Macro Lens
JPEG – GIF – TIFF – RAW
Pixels – megabites – gigabites
Light sensitivity – underexposed – overexposed
Dorothy, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore….