Thursday, December 29, 2016

As 2016 Ends


Dining Room in the Country, 1913 by Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)
Yes, I need a little Sunshine
Right this very minute
Colors and a window
Chair with a cat in it


For I've grown a little leaner
Grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder
Grown a little older



And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder
I need a little Sunshine now

(With apologizes to Jerry Herman.)

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Saturday, December 24, 2016

A Visit From St. Nick



T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.


The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.



When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.


The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.


With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!


"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"


As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.


And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.


He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.


His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.


The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!


He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.


He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!


He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

-Clement C. Moore
(Published in The New York Sentinel December 23,1823)

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Light Shadows-32

"Life is but a dream, Sweetheart."

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just the way my mother served jellied cranberry sauce on the right.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Two Day After The Election

I've been reading all sorts of opinions about how Trump won the election. Some say it's the millennials fault for not voting. Some say it's fault of white women who voted for Trump. Some say it's the far-left's fault for voting for candidates who they knew could not win. Some say it's Gary Johnson and Jill Stein's fault for running in the first place. Some say it's the fault of the people who did not vote at all.

Let's put the blame where it squarely belongs, on the 59,427,652 people who voted for Trump and an electoral system that is a failure. A system which lets the candidate who doesn't actually lead in number of votes cast win the election. But the electoral system is a side issue in all of this. The main reason Trump is presidential- elect is that 59,427,652 people, who said the wanted change, voted for a man and party that are part of the system that they say they detest. 

Fasten your seat belts, people, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

I Am Learning To Sew- Project 35

A sugar skulls bag for a little girl my sister knows who loves sugar skulls.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Light Shadows- 31

I'll take Manhattan on a warm Autumn evening.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Last Night's Presidential Debate

I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win
-Donald Trump


I would like to say that I will also totally accept the election results if:

1. There is a Taurids Meteor Shower right before election day.

2. MARS starts making caramel M&Ms.

3.Fox broadcasts a lame live version of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

4. No one has come up with a credible theory for what happened to Amelia Earhart's airplane except for it crashing into the Pacific Ocean after running out of fuel.

5. The Republican Party willing makes a deal with the devil in an attempt to win said election.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Angry Middle Aged White Men

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust
-St. Francis De Sales, An Introduction To the Devout Life


I came up against two angry middle aged white men at the Rec Center this week and all I can ask is, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The first man was in the steam room on Sunday.  Let me tell you about the stream room before I tell you about what happened. The steam room is small and can almost comfortably seat 10 full grown men.  We had a problem at the beginning of the year with people doing their stretching and other exercises  in there but that was finally stopped in March. 

Sunday I walked into the steam room after swimming and found 3 men sitting on the top of the build-in double tiered tile benches straight across from the door and one man sitting at the end of the top of the benches to the right of the door.   In the corner where the benches met was a middle aged white man standing on the bottom bench doing stretching exercises.  He was doing things like holding his arms out at should level and leaning against the back walls and bending forward with his eyes closed and touching his toes- all while standing on the bench.   The only place for me to sit was between this guy and the man sitting to the right of the door.  This put me close enough to the guy standing up for his hand  to comes close to me whenever he reached his arms out.  I looked at him and said, "You are really not supposed to do exercises in here."

His head snapped around and he glared down at me and said he was doing his stretches. I then said that stretches were not allowed in the steam room either. He walked over to me (still standing on the bench) and put his face right in front of mine- close enough that all I could see were his eyes- and said furiously, "I'm a fitness instructor and a PT instructor and I can do what I want!"

I got up and walked out. After getting dressed I found the Rec Center supervisor and told him what had happened. He seemed to know exactly who I was talking about and said he thought the man I was talking about was sitting in the hot tub and asked if I was willing to come with him to see if this was the same man.  I said yes.  It was the same man and the supervisor said he would talk to him.  I went and sat in the lobby and after a few minutes the supervisor came back and apologized for the man's behavior and asked me to report any other problems I may have with the man.  He also said that he understood that sitting in the steam room was supposed to be a relaxing experience and  again apologized for the man's behavior.  I agreeded that the steam room was supposed to be a relaxing experience and  added that for women having some man looming over them in a small place was disconcerting and could even feel threatening.

Monday night I was back at the Rec Center for my dance class and  I was waiting outside the studio where the class was being held when another middle aged white man, this one wearing a martial arts uniform, walked up to me and asked if the Tia Chi class was going to be in this classroom.  I said no.   He asked if I knew where the Tia Chi class was.  I said no.  He ask what class was being held.  I said a dance class. This upset him.  He asked if the Tia Chi class was going to be in the room with the dance class.  I said no. This upset him more.  He turned around and walked into the studio as the students from the class before were leaving.  I thought he was going to ask the instructor if she knew where his Tia Chi class was but discovered this was not the case when I walked into the room and saw the man standing at the back of the studio doing Tia Chi movements.

I walked across the room to where he was standing, since that was my spot during the dance class, and stood beside him. I figured once the class started and he saw it wasn't his Tia Chi class he would leave.  He did not.  He stayed though out our warms-ups as loud rock and roll played and did his Tia Chi moves.  I was hesitant to speak to him after what happened in the steam room the day before but I knew in a few minutes he was going to be in my way so I spoke up.

"Sir, we are going to be using all space in the room now."

Not looking at me, he turned, yanked his backpack up off the floor, stormed off, and made his way around the back of the room and then out the door.

Two observations.

First, when the man in the steam room overreacted and  stood looming over me with his face inches from my face I was shocked.  Shocked because this was the kind of thing my father would do.  Then I was surprised to find I felt no fear.  In fact, I was thinking about the best way to hurt him if he dared to touch me.  I felt totally in control and left because I knew breaking off contact and walking away was the best way to handle this. 

Second,  I was more worried about speaking to the second man because of the first man but knew I was done being afraid to speak up for myself when dealing with angry men who think they had the right to vent their anger any time they wanted to without consequences.

I guess what I am saying is that I am through with putting up with bullies.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Letter From Wells Fargo

 
Over the last several weeks, you may have heard about the settlements we've made involving some of our customers receiving products or services that they did not want or request. We are deeply committed to serving you and your financial needs, and in those instances, we did not live up to our commitment. This is inconsistent with our values and with the culture we work hard to maintain. It's not who we are as a company.

It's important for you to know that making things right and restoring the faith you have in us is the very top priority for our entire Wells Fargo leadership team. There is nothing more important than for you to experience the very best from us.

Here's what we're already doing:

 
  • Putting your interests first: We have eliminated product sales goals for our Retail Banking team members who serve customers in our bank branches and call centers.
     
  • Proactively communicating with you: We send a confirmation after you open a new consumer or small business checking, savings, or credit card account so that you know what is happening and can tell us if anything we've confirmed is different than what you expected.
     
  • Full transparency: You can always see your eligible accounts any time when enrolled in Wells Fargo Online®.
     
  • Fixing what went wrong: We have provided full refunds to customers we have already identified and we're broadening our scope of work to find customers we may have missed. If we have any doubt about whether one of your accounts was authorized, and any fees were incurred on that account, we will contact you and refund fees.
     
If you have any concerns about your accounts or any aspect of your relationship with Wells Fargo, please come into a branch and speak with our team in person, or call us on our dedicated hotline 24/7 at 1-877-924-8697. We will continue to update wellsfargo.com/commitment to keep you informed.

The trust you place in us means everything and we will work hard every day to earn your trust back.

 


All I can say in reply is, "Too little, to late."
You will never earn my trust back and here is one reason why. What you did is consistent with your values and with the culture you work so hard to maintain. It also is certainly who you are as a company and putting Timothy J. Sloan in charge only proves it.  I am done with you.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Where I Was Yesterday At 2:30 PM

Sitting on the front porch of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO enjoying the view.

Did you know that one of the TV channels at the Stanley Hotel continuously shows Stanley Kubrick's  The Shining, 24/7?

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.

-October by Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)


Beautiful evening walk with the dogs yesterday.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

I Am Learning To Sew- Project 34

From this...


to this.
All in two months!  This was one of the most difficult projects so far.  I bought all my supplies after reading the supply list on the back of the pattern envelope but did not read the pattern itself.  That was a big mistake for when I started reading the instructions I realized I had no clue as to what they were talking about and found the illustrations to be no help at all.   So for the next couple of weeks I would study the instructions once a day.  Then one morning I woke-up and, Boom!, it all made sense. But...

That wasn't as helpful as it would have been if I had actually been making the bed the way the instructions said to but I was going to adjust the pattern so I could use an old couch cushion  I had stored in the furnace room.   Adjusting a pattern is easy if you have actually done it before but, since I had never done it, I was learning as I went along. Then after I started putting the pattern pieces together I found out that I really only half understood the instructions.  There were times I got so frustrated I would stop working on it for a few days and once I stopped for a whole week. But...

As you can see I finally got it done.  It's not great but I must admit it was a hell of a learning experience.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Stay, Illusion!

If thou hast any sound, or use a voice.
Speak to me
.
-William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act one, scene one



The ghost of Richard Nixon reared its head last night during the second presidential debate.
.
I didn’t think I’d say this, but I’m going to say it, and I hate to say it, but if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation."
-Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton

I wonder what Trump's enemy list looks like and I wonder when he is going to say something like, "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal."

Friday, October 07, 2016

Light Shadows-30

Day dreaming and I'm thinking of you.

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Feeling, Whoa, Oh, Oh

Election only a month away and this is how I am feeling. 

Monday, October 03, 2016

Twilight Drops Her Curtain Down

and pins it with a star.
-Lucy Maud Montgomery (Canadian author of Anne of Green Gables)


While out walking the dogs Saturday night my husband and I saw someone we know standing on the sidewalk down a side street and strolled over to say hello. Seems he was waiting for the space station to fly over. Since it is the third brightest object in the sky it is easy to see- if you know where to look. Our friend knew where to look so we got to watch it streak across the night sky. Most of the time you can observe the space station traveling inside the thermosphere (the second-highest layer of Earth's atmosphere) for 1 to 3 minutes but Friday night it was visible for 6 minutes. We were so lucky to be walking by a couple of minutes before it passed overhead. What an astronomical treat.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

First Presidential Candidates Debate 2016



Oh, man, I've got a "drink every time Donald lied" headache this morning.

Friday, September 23, 2016

Ohhh, No, No, No, No, No, No, No!

It was expected of me that I was to bow to the name of Andrew Jackson... even at the expense of my conscience and judgment. Such a thing was new to me, and a total stranger to my principles.
-Davy Crockett



Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”
-Omarosa Manigault.


Omarosa Manigault is, according to Wikipedia, "an American reality game show and reality show personality. She was a contestant on the first season of Donald Trump's The Apprentice. She later returned for the sequel, Celebrity Apprentices, and the All-Star edition of the show." She is now Donald Trump's Director of African-American Outreach and the above quote is from the PBS program FRONTLINE special "The Choice 2016." It airs on Tuesday night (September 27th).


Monday, September 19, 2016

With Liberty And Justice For All

-from The Pledge of Allegiance

(Student Joseph Rakes attacks attorney Ted Landsmark with the American flag, April 5, 1976).
I remember this photo as it was seared into my brain at the time.  It is still shocking and NPR writes about it today.

Friday, September 16, 2016

At Heart I Am A Librarian

-Juliana Hatfield (American musician and singer-songwriter)

University of New Hampshire librarian, Robert Morin

"We are New Hampshire's public research university, providing comprehensive, high-quality undergraduate programs and graduate programs of distinction. Our primary purpose is learning..."
-Beginning of UNH mission statement

Well, that's a lie. After working for the University of New Hampshire in its library for almost 50 years, Robert Morin left the university 4 million dollars in his will. The school is planning to use 1 million of the donation to buy a new video scoreboard for its football stadium.




Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Shannon's Dog

"If I could be half the person my dog is, I’d be twice the human I am."
-Charles Yu






My husband and I were walking the dogs last night when a friend who was driving down the street pulled over to talk to us.  She had her dogs with her and since they are friends with my dogs, all four dogs were very happy to see each other. After chatting a bit our friend drove off and we continued our walk.

When we reached our friend's house instead of passing it by Dusty turn into the front walkway to go and visit her dogs. At first I laughed because we had already seen the dogs in our friend's car and I thought Dusty was being a goof but then I realized that wasn't true. Actually, he was a genius who understood both quantum mechanics and the thought experiment, Schrödinger's cat.  In Dusty's interpretation of the Schrödinger’s Cat experiment his doggie friends could be either in the car or in the house but he wouldn't know which until the front door of the house opened.   And that, my friends, is how a genius thinks.


Monday, September 12, 2016

Sewing Books



I pick up this set of  Better Homes and Gardens Creative Sewing Library books (1966) at ARC last week. I don't know where these were sold but they remind me a lot of the Golden Book Encyclopedia  volumes sold in Safeway supermarkets when I was a kid.  They were "prepared  under the guidance of Miss Lucille Rivers, one of America's eminent sewing experts."   The name of the illustrator is not given in the books. Another interesting point is that the illustrations on the covers are not done by the same illustrator as the one inside the book. The inside the book illustrator has a lighter touch.

Friday, September 09, 2016

Anno Dracula




What if "The Prince of Darkness" won at the end of Bram Stoker's Dracula? What if he goes on to marry Queen Victoria and becomes prince consort? What if a segment of the citizens of London choose to become vampires? What if Kim Newman sprinkles his book with characters from other vampire books, movies and TV shows? You get a fun, and because Newman is a great storyteller, creepy ride. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thursday, September 08, 2016

Humans of New York



“I was taking a law school admissions test in a big classroom at Harvard. My friend and I were some of the only women in the room. I was feeling nervous. I was a senior in college. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do. And while we’re waiting for the exam to start, a group of men began to yell things like: ‘You don’t need to be here.’ And ‘There’s plenty else you can do.’ It turned into a real ‘pile on.’ One of them even said: ‘If you take my spot, I’ll get drafted, and I’ll go to Vietnam, and I'll die.’ And they weren’t kidding around. It was intense. It got very personal. But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t afford to get distracted because I didn’t want to mess up the test. So I just kept looking down, hoping that the proctor would walk in the room. I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’ And sometimes I think I come across more in the ‘walled off’ arena. And if I create that perception, then I take responsibility. I don’t view myself as cold or unemotional. And neither do my friends. And neither does my family. But if that sometimes is the perception I create, then I can’t blame people for thinking that.”

(Humans of New York website.)

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Phyllis Schlafly (1924 - 2016)

"Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature."
-Phyllis Schlafy

She is now standing in front of God and confused by the fact that she (God) is not pleased with her.

New York Times obit here.


Monday, September 05, 2016

Happy Labor Day

"The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers... It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish."
-Samuel Gompers (American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history.)


We seemed to have forgotten what Labor Day is all about. Some think it it's a celebration for people who work with their hands. It is not. It is a celebration of the men and women who fought for their fellow workers. Who demanded and won for all workers basic rights such as the forty hour work week, safe work conditions and the right to negotiate pay. So when you are grilling your hamburgers and hot dog today, stop a moment to lift up your tongs in salute to those brave men and women.

Saturday, September 03, 2016

No Time To Post


I've been binge watching Fringe  before Netflix stops showing it on September eleventh.  I will be watching episodes from the final season today.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Monday, August 29, 2016

Grow Old With Me, The Best Is Yet To Come

"Perhaps middle-age is, or should be, a period of shedding shells; the shell of ambition, the shell of material accumulation and possessions, the shell of the ego."
-Anne Marrow Lindbergh, age 49

 "We are brainwashed about what age you're supposed to marry, what age you're supposed to have a kid, what age you're supposed to do this or that. Oh my God! Who died and left those people in charge?"
-Cyndi Lauper, age 63

"Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
-Dorothy L. Sayers, age 63

 "Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.It's a different stage of life, and if you are going to pretend it's youth, you are going to miss it. You are going to miss the surprises, the possibilities and the evolution that we are just beginning to know about because there are no role models and there are no guide posts and there are no signs."
-Betty Friedan, age 72

" ...old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you're aboard, there's nothing you can do. You can't stop the plane, you can't stop the storm, you can't stop time. So one might as well accept it calmly, wisely."
-Golda Meir, age 74

"Mark my words, the time goes fast. And those are the only things that matter. The things that you really had fun with."
-Lily Tomlin, age 76


Wednesday, August 24, 2016

And The Answer Is!



Stephen Bannon, who is Donald Trump’s campaign CEO, is a leader in the alt (alternative)- right movement. Hiring Bannon is Trump's answer to the question he has been asking African American and Hispanic voters for almost two week now, "What do you have to lose?"

Perhaps the most potent element of alt-right activism is the effort to build a sense of a specific white identity, and to claim that this identity is under attack.

“Anti-white animus in society at large is palpable,” says [alt-right leader Richard] Spencer. Demands for diversity in the workplace mean “less white males in particular”. More openly extreme alt-right accounts on Twitter talk about immigration in terms of “white genocide”.

This sense of injured white identity is what defines the alt-right, according to Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson University political scientist and the author of a new book on Fox News and American politics. “The founding myth of the alt-right is that the disadvantaged groups in American politics are actually running things through a combination of fraud and intimidation. By doing this, they’re actually oppressing white men.”

- THEGUARDIAN.COM

Read complete article here.

Monday, August 22, 2016

I Am Learning To Sew- Project 33

I bought an old curtain which used to hang either in a boy's bedroom or in a man's den at a garage sale last week. I wasn't sure how I would use it but then I noticed these TV pillows in the family room and thought they could use a make over.


Throw pillows before.



Throw pillows after.


I think they turned out great and will not bore you with how frustrating making them turned out to be. I will tell you that zippers can be difficult.

Friday, August 19, 2016

You Will Find The Americans Much Like The Greeks Found The Romans

great, big, vulgar, bustling people more vigorous than we are and also more idle,
with more unspoiled virtues but also more corrupt.
-Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of Britain (1957 to 1963)



Ryan Lochte is everything the world hates about Americans article here.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Welcome To htraE

(Also known as Bizarro World.)


WEST BEND, Wisconsin—Donald Trump asked African-Americans to vote for him in a room filled with about a thousand white people on Tuesday night.

"I’m asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today, who want a different and much better future,” the GOP presidential candidate said at a rally in Washington County, one of the whitest counties in the state.*
-Justin Glawe in his The Daily Beast article.

*Nearly 90 percent of Wisconsin's African American population lives in the following six counties, all of which are located in Southeastern or Southern Wisconsin:  Milwaukee, Dane, Racine, Kenosha, Rock, and Waukesha.
-Wisconsin Department of Health and Services.


I'm Sew Very Happy



My copy of More Fabric Savvy arrived a few days ago and I spend an hour this afternoon perusing it.  Each fabric discussed takes up two facing pages and gives you information about the fabric, what to make with it, sewing tips, which thread, needle, and presser foot to use, cutting layout directions, and other useful information.

Did you know silk and linens are washable but  many care labels on store bought garments say "Dry Clean Only?  Why?  Because neither the linen, the silk or the interfacing  used were prewashed before being made into the garment.

Did you know that  clothes made from Rayon should be machine-washed in cold water on gentle cycle because too much agitation distorts the fabric?

Did you know Rayon is made from wood pulp?

Did you know matte rayon jersey garments should be stored flat instead of on hangers because matte rayon jersey garments stretch when hung?

Did you know you shouldn't over-pack Linen in a washing machine because it absorbs twice its weight in water?

Did you know you should use liquid fabric softeners and not dryer sheets on garments made from microfibers?  Dryer sheets leave oil spots.

Did you know wool jersey wasn't used for women's wear until Coco Chanel started using it.  Before her wool jersey was only used to make men's underwear.

I did not know any of this before reading the book but I do now.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Book Room

If you want to call Deadwood a Western, you might as well call The House of Mirth chick lit.
-Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections


  I agree,  Deadwood is brutal, profane, violent and beautifully written.


Monday, August 15, 2016

The Neon Lights Were Bright


There is a facebook page called Save the Signs which posts old photos of neon signs in the United States.  Since it started out as Save The Signs On Colfax, a great number of the photos are about Denver.  The above photo was taken in 1974 and shows the signage for Hertz Rent A Car, the YMCA, and the old Centre Theater in downtown Denver.  The Hertz and the Centre Theater are now gone but the YMCA is still there.  When I first saw this photo it took my breath away because I found I wasn't just looking at the photo, I was in it.  I had walked down that street (East 16th Avenue.) in the winter of 1974 and could feel the freezing cold air on my face, hear the sound of snow and ice crunching under my feet, and smell of snow and automobile exhaust in my nose.  A flash to the past.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Lesson Unlearned

"If you look at the women’s national team, what do you want [people] to see? What do you want them to hear? And that’s where we do have a choice, as players, coaches, staff, the way we respond to certain things.”
-Former US Women's Soccer Team Head Coach Pia Sundhage to Hope Solo in 2012


“We played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I strongly, firmly believe that.”

"To call them cowards for playing a tactically smart game is ridiculous and classless, and it really doesn’t represent the house that we built with the U.S. team.”
-Former Gold Medal  US Women's Soccer Team member Julie Foudy

And the US fans calling for a boycott of IKEA are just as childish as Hope Solo.


Washington Post article.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Everything Old Is New Again

A whole bunch of these were inside a shipping box instead of Styrofoam peanuts.  There is hope for the world.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

You're A Three Decker Saurkraut And Toadstool Sandwich With Arsenic Sauce, Mister Trump




"Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know. But I tell you what, that will be a horrible day, if Hillary gets to put her judges in, right now we're tied."
-Donald Trump

 (Cartoon by David Horsey of the Los Angeles  Times.)

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Granddad's Hands

I was getting out of the car this afternoon when I noticed this box on a bottom shelf of my husband's garage work bench and thought I would take a photo of it and do a blog post about it.




 The box was made by my husband's grandfather sometime in the 1920s. It is about 18 inches long, 5 1/2 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches tall. A half inch of the lid is made of some other darker wood and the bottom of the box seems to be made of the same material that is used for pegboards. Although the box shows age, the only damage to it is the gouge you can see on the right side of the lid. The box had been varnished and the varnish is now so old the box has a slightly rough surface. The label was handmade by my husband's grandfather and has the words WOOD CHISELS ASSORTED SIZES printed on it in pencil.  The printing also done by my husband's grandfather.


What does Bob use the box for now?


The same thing his grandfather did, as a box for chisels.

Monday, August 08, 2016

Is This The 2016 Or The 1952 Olympics?

If you read certain newspapers or listen to certain sports announcers, this year is the 1952 Olympics.

1. Chicago Tribune

2. NBC Sports

3. NBC, again

Friday, August 05, 2016

How Sunflowers Follow The Sun





"In a study published in the journal Science this week, researchers say they've found an answer: Sunflowers, like animals, have a circadian rhythm — an internal clock that can be set to the external world. During the day, this system sends messages to the eastern sides of their stems, telling those cells to grow slightly longer, which causes the sunflower to lean westward. At night, the message reverses, and the sunflowers tilt back toward the east."
-The Washington Post

Which is pretty cool if you, and by that I mean me, have ever wondered about it.

Thursday, August 04, 2016

House Project

A while ago my husband and I found this bench in a thrift store and bought it. My belief that it had been made out of an old bed headboard and footboard was confirmed by a neighbor who is also a furniture maker. He believes the back of the bench was made from the headboard and the sides were made from the bed footboard. He also said he thought the bench seat was made from another piece of wood.



We bought the bench to replace the old bench we had in the entryway to our house. That one was functional but only allowed one and a half people sit on it at the same time  and was not really big enough to hold everything we needed it to hold.




So we bought some new hardware and came up with this.



A whole lot nicer and more usable.

Tuesday, August 02, 2016

Books To The Ceiling

Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

-Arnold Lobel (Children's book author and illustrator.)



My reading pile right now.

Monday, August 01, 2016

Artistic Licence

I entered an art show this weekend. The theme was Frida Kahlo inspired art. Creating my work took more work than I thought and this I found out when I downloaded 53 photos from my camera. I could feel I had it right when I took the fifty-third image.

Frida Kahlo, "Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair"



Colleen Shannon,  "Selfie with Green Hair"


Friday, July 29, 2016

All Flowers Keep The Light

Other wildflowers we saw up in the mountains a few weeks ago


Wild Roses


Blue Lupine



Scarlet Gilia


I don't know what these are called but I see them all the time.




Arnica



Another unknown; planted on the grounds of the Grand Lake Lodge.