random – Page 13 – This Old House 2

We have not gotten the snow accumulation this storm was supposed to bring (thankfully) however we are now being pelted with sleet and there’s a coating of ice on anything and everything. The next few days are supposed to be very cold, so all this sleet will contribute to the ice – no school yesterday and today…and I’m going a little stir-crazy, can ya tell? Looking across the nation..and even over in Australia!…the weather has been frighteningly crazy for the past few years- as if the world is telling us something.

I made these cookies for the Man when he comes home from yet another day of storm damage management….

Somehow I think it would have had more effect if I had made the batch up top …

Just sayin.

My Heart Sings…

I read something out there in blogland today, and please forgive me, for I have forgotten where I read it….that it takes but one kind word to warm an entire January.

I took my Bailey dog to the vet today for a check up – her tumor still exists but it has been held at bay with meds. No new growth, and I allow myself to feel a little relief.

I’ve also developed a wicked allergy this year – my eyes look like I went a round or two with Evander Holyfield. And Lord help me, I think it may be the dogs. It’s either that or dust. Both are part of my world for eternity… so… Right now I’m giving Claritin a go because Benadryl just makes me look like a drugged out zombie if there is such a thing. Well yes there is, cause that’s what I am when I’m on it.

When I pulled in the driveway after the vet appointment and a Walgreens stop for drugs, there was a package hanging out of the mailbox. It contained these wonderful treasures from a truly gifted Folk artist in Nova Scotia…. Shelagh of Alice in Paris loves Art and Tea. It was the most wonderful of surprises… a gift for simply wishing her a happy birthday –

Shelagh – you’ve warmed my January, February and lets sail into March.

Now here’s the really incredible thing…. I have been following Shelagh’s blog since before I had one of my own. Every now and then I’ve commented on a painting or photograph I particularly like – her colors and subjects are always vivid and fun. Within this collection of postcards and notecards, a print and a board-mounted photo, they are all included! Each one I commented on!… Shelagh, how could you have possibly remembered? And if you were just winging it, well that’s cosmic.

Chocolate hearts, a pretty heart hand towel and red shoes on black check floor…

We could use a little of this advice…

I Love this sky…

I’ve placed the herd of horses in my beta fish garden on the kitchen island….

I’m already wearing these as we batten down the hatches for yet another snow storm.

Shelagh also shares some fabulous recipes on her blog… I’ve made quite a few, and I’ve got a copy of her cookbook too… wonderful Novia Scotia recipes in her own whimsical style.
http://www.amazon.com/Nova-Scotia-Potluck-Friends-Family/dp/1412028027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296514649&sr=1-1

White… as in Betty

When I’m tossing in bed with middle age insomnia, nothing makes me happier than finding Golden Girls in reruns. I have loved Betty White since I was a young girl watching Mary Tyler Moore in my grandmother’s TV room. Who can forget the evil Sue Ann Nivens –

I loved her as Rose, the lovable ditz on the Golden Girls…

That show had so much appeal – when the girls are discussing the issues of the day and trading hilarious barbs, there’s the feeling that you’re right there in the kitchen with them. They were real, they were humorous without having to be obscene… although there was certainly some raunch, but tastefully done. The show had class, the women had class, they made you want to know them, root for them, laugh and cry with them.

Some fun facts about GG:

– Bea’s two hit shows (Golden Girls & Maude) ended because she decided to leave.

– Estelle Getty (Sophia) is younger than her on screen daughter, Dorothy (Bea Arthur).

– The Golden Girls were nominated for 57 Emmys. (7 of them for “Best Comedy Series”)

– The Golden Girls has two spin-offs: “Empty Nest” and “The Golden Palace”.

– According to the E! TV Tales, TGG shares a special coincidence with All In the Family. Both shows are the only two in television history where the main characters all won an Emmy Award.

– Bea Arthur hates cheesecake. Said dessert was featured in almost 100 episodes in the series.

– Betty White was originally supposed to play Blanche, and Rue McClanahan Rose. However, Betty didn’t want to play another “sexpot” like Sue Ann Nivens. She was caught off-guard when they asked her to read for the part, but it turned out to be wonderful!

– It was Rue McClanahan’s idea to give Blanche a Southern accent.

– The first episode of The Golden Girls attracted more than 25 million viewers and was the #1 show that week, beating out the NBC powerhouse, The Cosby Show.

– Bea actually wanted to leave the series after season 5 but was coaxed to stay for 2 more seasons. (thankfully!)

– None of the Golden Girls have daughters in real life.

– Estelle Getty suffered from stage fright every Friday night for 26 weeks.

– It took 45 minutes in make-up for Estelle to be transformed into Sophia.

SO… when I heard about Hot In Cleveland with Betty White and a great cast including some terrific comedic actresses, I was thrilled!…. and it took me a whole year to find it on a local cable channel. I finally found it way up in the 300 block of channels… and watched my first episode, which aired this week. I don’t know..is it just me? Betty White was terrific in her roll, as always… but… the show fell flat for me and I can’t really put my finger on it…too cliche’ or cheap, kinda throws women under the bus a little….. or something.

I wish these girls the best because they’re all terrific – but this girl didn’t find Cleveland quite so Hot.

Night Rider

What this New Englander does…

…when it’s colder outside than a witches behind after flying over Antarctica on Halloween.

I saw something like that on someone else’s blog and it just cracked me up – forgive the plagiarism 🙂

I love the beauty of snow in winter, the soft muffled silence in the outdoors, the crystal icicles hanging from rooftops (did you know… if you see a lot of icicles hanging from a house, it means there is poor insulation and heat that was paid for with hard earned money is escaping via the roof? You learn something new every day! ) .

I’m happy to report there are no icicles hanging from this old house. The bad news in that little bit of information is… the house was rebuilt so tight, we just discovered that when you attempt to start a fire in a second fire place and the first is already lit, the house fills with smoke and the alarms go off and the fire company and alarm company both call you immediately to ask what’s going on and do you need assistance and you tell them no please don’t come it’s just smoke and everything is OK we’re cracking windows and they ask what is the password please ma’am and you… had better…. remember it.

I didn’t.

I knew it was a pets name so I rattled off every pet I have ever owned in the past 45 years. That’s more than a few and I’m sure there was more than an eye roll on the other side of the phone.

What I don’t love about winter is the freak’n cold. As I get older it seeps deeper into my bones and I find just a little less joy in the season of chill. So right about this time of year I turn to these things for comfort and dream a little dream of Spring.

Fingerless mitts – whoever invented these – I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I used to think they were a little silly –

until I wore a pair and my silly self was much less chilly.

Must have reading material on night stand at all times –

Especially this kind –

I’m planting blueberry bushes this year – might order a half dozen from this catalog

Root beer floats hit the spot and stave off boredom – this is why I shouldn’t make resolutions.

I don’t keep them very well.

And lest we want to tick off the alarm Co. one more time…

I now know the code and I’m seriously considering tattooing it to the inside of my wrist.

Runs with the big dogs

Our little white mutt is the one who has battled cancer this past year. She’s a tough cookie, this one -right now she’s in remission. Bailey weighs 13 lbs. to Bens 185, yet she is the boss, hands down. I have never met a dog with more tenacity, must be the terrier in her.

Notice she’s got him against the fence…

She frequently takes his toys away…

This time she didn’t.

Was I the one who wanted snow? ME??…..

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Glass

I love things made of glass, always have. When I was very young, my grandmothers house was a refuge – she had a lovely little house full of domestic and exotic treasures. One piece that I particularly adored, caressed and held in my hands just to feel the smooth surface and heavy weight of it… was this…

This paperweight was gift to my great grandfather at Christmas time from a client in NYC – Acker & Jablow, a fabric wholesaler in the garment district in the early 1900’s. My grandmother kept this on her desk for many years. The design is what is referred to as Millefiore – “The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words «mille» (thousand) and «fiori» (flowers). A. Pellatt (in his book «Curiosities of Glass Making») was the first to use the term «millefiori», which appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1849. While the use of this technique long precedes the term millefiori, it is now frequently associated with Venetian glassware.”

This is what millefiore canes look like before they are used to create art –

Some History on paperweights –

Nineteenth century revival of the glass industry -In early nineteenth-century Europe, a new creative potential developed in the decorative arts. An increasingly urban population and an expanding market of goods created by the Industrial Revolution stimulated the manufacture of many new decorative novelties. In the mid-1840s, glass paperweights appeared. They were a wholly modern, functional glass form that drew upon the ancient glassmaking techniques of millefiori and lampwork and the late-eighteenth century technique of cameo incrustation.

The sudden emergence and popularity of paperweights can be attributed not only to their decorative appeal but also to a growing Victorian leisure-time interest in letter writing. This fashionable upper and middle class pastime assured their profitable manufacture along with many other glass accessories related to letter writing, all of which were purchased inexpensively at stationery and novelty shops.

My collection over the years has grown, most pieces kept in a small curio cabinet in the keeping room. This is a jellyfish by Richard Satava – the photo doesn’t do it justice – very luminescent in the right lighting, as are jellyfish in nature.

One of my favorite artists is Peter Raos…

His reef life paperweights are so vibrant…

This one by Daniel Salazar..

Some of my “sea” collection…

Some reds…

Other glass – bottle stoppers my mother found on Cedar Grove Beach in SI

– Marbles, a glass heart – don’t break it!

My seaglass from all over –

..and mercury glass.

*love*

At the end of the day

Have you ever known someone who uses a certain phrase, constantly, whenever he or she can fit it in? Even when it is completely uneccessary or totally redundant? Mike’s favorite line (besides “what did you buy now“) is “The reality is…” and I mean, he puts that three words in a place where no one was even searching for the truth.

“The reality is, we’re not leaving until you pick your stuff up and put it away.”

And just where was the facade in this scenario?

Then we’ve got a soccer/baseball parent who starts every major sentence with “At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done“…. as in… “At the end of the day,when it’s all said and done, we’re not gonna win this thing until we start playing as a team”.

That only happens at the end of the day? And what happens if you didn’t say everything?

Oh, I’m not exempt. I say “OK then”… when I find there’s really not much more to say or I’m flabbergasted enough to be stumped. Atleast it’s compliant, right? An expression of acceptance… like “It is what it Is”….which I’m also guilty of. Again…harmonious in it’s acceptance of things as they are, no? It fits just about anywhere if you think about it.

Anyway… the real reason for this post wasn’t that, but this…

At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, the reality is, the light filters down toward This Old House as the sun sets gently over the hill, casting a warm amber glow over her rooms. I like to take this time to sit with a cup of tea, put the worries of the day aside and accept that it IS what it IS.

Ok then.

I’ve been unfaithful

We’ve been together for a long time, not really sure when it began to go sour. So many good times – picnics at the park, family gatherings, The Vineyard, St. John, long walks with the dogs, romantic sunsets on the beach. I thought it would never end, the pure joy when we were together.

But …relationships change, needs change… and I began to want more. I grew, but the rebel didn’t. What we had was a comfortable existence, but it wasn’t enough. And so… when tall, dark, handsome and extremely well equipped showed up on my doorstep, I let go of the past and grabbed hold of the future with reckless abandon.

While the attraction was instant, the relationship is still very new. I’m treading lightly here. There are fits and starts as we get to know each other, not sure if I’m pushing all the right buttons – but already there is music and I am in love. I can no longer deny my feelings… and … we’ve been photographed together so the Jig is Up.

I guess this is it… good bye, my rebel friend.

And HELLO CANON EOS 7D.

(God help me. Or atleast give me a dummys encyclopedia on HOW TO…. in english)