Great!

This grate is on the side of the wall of a building in town. I am fascinated with the brick designs and the additions on the brick walls, such as the grate.

What is the grate for? How was it used? Not just design.

This is a very strong metal. I would like this grate on my wall or on top of and end table. The circles and extensions and all interconnected remind me of people in a community. Strong and connected.

Mr and Mrs

Male and female cardinals on a Sunday afternoon.

Photos taken through double window panes and screen.

Tracks We Leave Behind

These are tractor tracks in a field near where I live. Farmers and tractors are an everyday sight here.

On a walk I felt led to take a photo of the tracks. I related my life to the tracks. These tracks will be gone soon. Planted over, crops reaped, land rotated and so it goes.

As I plowed through life, have I left any permanent tracks? Have you?

Perspective

I'm not much of a fan of the admonition "Keep It In Perspective".

For one thing, we are each on a different levels of learning, and have lived different lives, thus we have various perspectives.

Like the short dog in the photo, I know that some things I do may look like they would be simple. But I also know that the best way for me to get through something is to have no expectations. Not of myself and not of others. I can't do anything about others who have expectations of me, and I don't alter my plans or my honest values to accommodate their expectations of me. Not my problem. And if they are disappointed in me, also not my problem. I give myself the freedom to take care of me. That is enough of a job.  The only perspective for that is from within.

The Needlers

Every Friday morning I walk or ride my bike to the senior center in the morning to join others like me. We are the Needlers. Some of us crochet, some embroider, some needle point, some knit, and some say they will bring their mending!

The best part about the Friday morning Needlers group is the companionship. We show each other what we are working on, the ones with more experience help the beginners, each of us is encouraged and praised for our efforts. Since I started going to the Needlers group, I have crocheted four hats, two neck scarves, some snowflakes for next year's Christmas tree, am currently working on a vest, and I crocheted a toy ball for my sweet cat.

Some women stop by to visit with us while we work on our projects.

Occasionally the local nursing home transports a couple elderly women to sit with us in their wheel chairs and enjoy the conversation and then stay for the lunch. The conversations run from the colors of the work itself to books we are reading to the weather. That last one is so much more fun for me now that I live in a part of the country that has weather changes.

Here is a sampling of the crochet projects I completed:

Small Town Life

One day an 87 year old woman stopped by my place and knocked on the door. She and I had gone to dinner together a couple months ago not long after her husband passed away. She had picked me up a couple times but had not been in my little hippie house.

She walked into my place and her face lit up. She clapped her hands together and she said "This is like a doll house". We walked into each room and she looked at all the "CiCi touches" here and there and she said she would never be able to decorate like this, that she doesn't even know where to hang a picture. The smile never left her face while she was here, sitting and visiting easily. I have some pictures of my kids and grandkids around the place and she exclaimed how beautiful my family is. Can you tell I was eating this up?

A couple hours after my friend left, the woman who lives across from me called and said she and her husband had saved some mulch for me and would it be okay if she brought it over to put around the day lilies I had transplanted last year. Well duh, would I say no to that offer? She wheeled over two extra-large wheelbarrow loads of amazing mulch and scattered it around the plants that were peeping up in a row along the driveway, letting me know they are going to thrive this year in their new location. Wow.

Two days after that, another friend called me to ask if I wanted the old lawn mower she had and she brought it to me in the back of her truck. I mentioned the lawn mower to the director of the senior center and she said her uncle would probably like to take a look at it and get it running.

When I paid my car registration online I got two new license plates in the mail. I took the license plates into the senior center and held them up and one of the older gentlemen said he would put them on for me. He was able to remove the old license plate and replace it with the new one on the front, but could not remove the rusted screw holding the back license plate. I found out later that several of the men took turns with various tools trying to get that screw out. Then one day one of the men came by my house and knocked on the door to tell me he would be at my garage with some tools to work on getting out the rusted screw for me. One of my friends came by while he was out there working and she and I watched him and visited with him while he was able to remove the screw and install my license plate. 

The gal who shared her garden veggies with me last year called to ask if I was still planning on growing my own garden this year. I told her that my big garden plans were built around the fact that there were two of us last year and I have decided that it is too much for me to do this year. She said she wants me to know I will have more than enough from her garden this year and not to regret giving up the garden idea. She and I had talked a lot about gardening and she knew I was excited to have a small garden here. Nice of her to think of me.

Then the friend who got me started going to the Bingo games in the small town 15 miles away told me that she and her husband want to ask me if I want to help them with weeding their garden and I would share in all the produce this year. Gads.

On the flip side, when my lady friend's husband passed away she told me how difficult it was for her to put stamps and address labels on the thank you cards she wanted to mail out to all the well wishers and sympathy cards she received. I went to her house and did the stamps and address labels for her and helped with a few things. When my crochet friend told me their TV died I told her to have her husband come get the one that was here, I didn't use it any longer for DVD's and was only using my computer, so they took the TV.

Sharing and caring is a way of life in this town. I have many more stories about this, but you get the picture.

I Won The Shower Fight

Step into the tub, turn on shower, scream.

That was the sequence of events recently.

A large spider crawled out from under the pop down drain stopper in the tub, made its way toward me.

I turned the water stream on high, adjusted the shower head to power stream, turned water temperature to hot, and blasted the spider full force.

The spider tumbled around a little but managed to hang on to the rubber bath tub mat. I maintained my warrior stance and pounded the spider with hot water until he disappeared down the drain.

Thinking that was the end of that, I proceeded to shampoo my hair.

Still a bit nervous, I hazarded a quick glance at the drain and that spider was pulling himself out and glaring at me.

Then the fight began. The shampoo started running down my face into my eyes, my eyes were burning but I was trying to find the wash cloth, began slapping around the bottom of the tub where I thought the spider was, because by now I could not see at all. I kept dropping the shower head and metal hose. Getting my face under the shower water, I was able to clear my eyes enough to see the spider and I smacked him with the wash cloth and then squished him.

I was so rattled by then I had no idea if I had finished with the shower, I just wanted out of there. I stood outside the shower and sprayed bleach water into the drain. I wonder if the bleach turned the remains of the spider white. Ha.

Note: For the spider lovers out there, whoever the heck you are, this is a true story and an innocent spider was killed in this incident.

Perfectly Adorable House

This would be a great house. Cute as a kitten and free exercise going up and down stairs all the time. See, Perfect.

Easter

Yo! How ya doin'?

You still believe the Easter Bunny lays eggs?

Pshaw. He doesn't lay eggs, he borrows them.

From the laying hens. He is actually an artist at heart.

He likes to decorate eggs, and then he hops around yards leaving his creations in the grass, in crevices, in hollow trunks.

Well, now you know.

Enjoy your artsy bunny eggs.

Reading The Signs

Anything Can Be Fixed

I like all three of these. I wouldn't be able to get through the morning without my coffee, so this idea may be a last resort, but heck, I would do this just to have coffee. I never would have thought of the clothesline trick on the windshield wipers, great idea though in an emergency.Note to self: Put some heavy string or clothesline in the trunk of the car for emergencies. And I may use some of the clips I have like these for the cables at my work space. 

Photos on ThereIfixedit.com

April 1st

Dear fellow foolish people,


On this one day each year, we all have one thing in common: We have all been fools at one time or another this past year. So each year we get together and celebrate that we are such a large club. There are many of us. In fact, every living human being on this earth is in the club. Mother Teresa is no longer on this earth so we don't have to single her out anymore.  Being foolish and laughing at ourselves is sometimes a good thing. So party down, in whatever is your favorite way to celebrate. Here's to us!


I don't eat bananas, so I will celebrate with my banana of choice.