Hijinks in Fresno

OK--there were no hijinks. I just said that to get your attention. I didn't have a prepared blog ready this time, so I'll just babble about  being in Fresno.

This recent visit to Fresno was a bit different. Did a few new things; did a few familiar things; took some naps. Naps have become VERY important to me! Lia's now in preschool 3 mornings a week, which means getting up a bit earlier to fix breakfast. After Sarah leaves to take Lia to school, I tidy up the kitchen and then lay down for an hour or so. Makes a BIG difference! I still droop in the afternoon, but I can usually lay down in the front room with a movie on and Lia will play around me for a while. Of course, she tells me every so often, "Grandma! You've been sleeping a LONG TIME!"

Lia's been struggling with allergies, so there hasn't been as much outside play as other times. Also, it's still been stinkin' HOT here! But she's been much more into having books read to her, or even "reading" them herself to one of her stuffed animals. With me doing the voice of the stuffed animal...

I got to watch "Ratatouille" in Cantonese...good thing I've seen it several times in English. Lia would tell me what was going on in the movie, as if I'd never seen it before. Very cute. Her comprehension of Chinese is pretty good, I guess. There were a few places in the movie where Lia would say she didn't understand all the words. I told her as she got older, she'd learn more.

I found an easy crochet pattern for granny square slippers, and made a pair for Lia during this visit. She was totally delighted with them. Only problem with granny squares...they have holes in them....little toes have a tendency to peek through. I told her the slippers would work better in winter when she'd have socks on. Sarah requested a pair for herself...

And what would a trip to Fresno be without visiting A Book Barn, the most wonderful used book store on earth? While Lia was in school one day, Chris took me there. Love that place!!

Fresno water gives me..."issues"...so I always use bottled water when I'm here. Even with the filter on the faucet in the kitchen, I still have..."issues". Each morning I empty the ice trays I've filled with bottled water and refill them so I have ice the next day. But I will say this: my hair never looks so good as when I've washed it with Fresno water. I guess whatever is in the water that gives me..."issues"...makes my hair look GREAT!

We did a little shopping last night and will do the same today. Good visit all-in-all. Tomorrow I go home. And even though I'm almost beyond tired, I know when I call to let Sarah know we got home OK, I'll hear Lia in the background and wish I was with her...♥

Moon River Sunset

I have a lot of pleasant memories associated with Andy Williams and his music. We watched his TV show every week. Along with the music, I especially loved the “Cookie Bear” and his antics. And the Christmas shows were always a hit in my family.

I first heard “Moon River” sung by Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, and even thought Audrey was a wonderful actress, she sure couldn’t sing! For some reason, though, I was totally entranced by that little song. It’s been one of my favorites ever since. Of course, it helped that I totally loved the movie too, and had a giant crush on George Peppard! I don’t remember when I heard Andy Williams sing it, but from that point on, he was the ONLY one to sing it for me…

I had the 45 of Andy singing the theme from “The Godfather” and was impressed when he went falsetto at the end of the song to nail the high note. His vocal range was amazing. So many of his songs became favorites of mine, but only if he sang them.

Another favorite song was “May Each Day” that I first heard on a promo record given out by KFC. It had to have been in the 60’s. It was the size of a 45, but was played at 33 and had 3 songs on each side. I would listen to that record a LOT. I had to remember to switch my little record player to the right speed, though. I have no idea where that record is now. At some point, that was his ending song on his TV show, and my grandmother especially liked that one.

So, thanks, Andy. You were a bright light here, and always my Huckleberry Friend. Give the bear a cookie from me. And maybe give Audrey a few singing lessons….

September 2012 Book Report

The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Fascinating case histories of mental patients. I was amazed at just how badly things can go TOTALLY WRONG in one’s brain. For no reason. Kind of spooky.

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Calamity Town by Ellery Queen

I’ve always loved Ellery Queen mysteries. I started reading them probably in junior high. This one takes place in a sleepy little town in New England. Nothing much happens beyond local politics and the quirkiness of the citizens. UNTIL MURDER COMES TO TOWN…..

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Blockade Billy/Morality by Stephen King

I’m not a big fan of King’s books. This one was in the bargain bin at Walmart, and after reading the blurb on the back, it sounded like there wasn’t a lot of weird gore or mayhem in either of the novellas, so I got it.

OK, I’ll admit it: it was just the right size for an altered book. But I did read it first!   

The first one was a good little story about the early days of baseball. I enjoyed it. The end was bloody, but I expected that to a certain extent. At least it was “normal” bloody, not supernatural. Like that excuses what happened….

The second one, Morality, was downright disturbing. I would rather not have read that and have what happened in the story in my mind now. Very unpleasant.

I will enjoy turning this book into a piece of art. Give it a nicer role….

Treasure Isle

I loved the game shows of the 60’s. There were a ton of them and they ran in the middle of the day. Summer vacation always meant planting myself in front of the TV and watching game shows. 

One of my favorites was Treasure Isle with John Bartholomew Tucker. I loved how that name just rolled off the tongue of the announcer! The show took place outdoors in sunny Florida. I don’t remember all the aspects of the game, but it involved two couples (in those days they were married) competing for a fabulous prize. Like luggage or a freezer. There was a time element, so everything was done frantically and quickly. The couples would be in little boats and have to paddle a type of obstacle course to get puzzle pieces. They would end up on a little island with a board to put the puzzle pieces on and then figure out what the puzzle was. There was digging in the sand for treasure chests. Maybe the chest they dug up told what prize they got. 

The biggest thing I cared about was the puzzle. I could usually get the answer to the puzzle long before the couple would. I thought it would be a fun show to be on if all I had to do was the puzzle. At that time of my life, I didn’t envision ever getting married, let alone appear on TV in a swim suit! As for being out on the water in a little boat...unless that body of water was only 3 feet deep, fuhgeddaboudit! 

I did think it would be super neat to have a matched set of luggage, though…

My Blog, My Rules

After last week’s whiney blog, I got some good advice about making this blog whatever *I* want it to be. So that’s what I’m doing. I will still pretend that I have a vast army of readers just waiting each week for Friday to roll around, but will mainly write whatever I darn well please.

I enjoy reading other blogs about a variety of subjects. There are so many really good writers out there in cyberland. You can just about pick any subject you like and find several blogs to choose from. I have a tendency to poke around a bit, bookmark the site for later reference and MAYBE get back to it. I might Google something, find a specific entry from a blog about it and then go to the home page and get interested in the whole blog. (That’s how I got interested in YOUR blog, Kristi!)

Something else I like to do is hit the “next blog” button and see where it takes me. I liken it to a frog jumping from one lily pad to another. Sometimes I will find a really interesting blog only to find that it’s dead. No updates. Bummer! Sometimes the blog will be in a different language and I’ll hit the “translate” button, if there is one. That is usually a real hoot. The translate function makes the blogger sound like he/she can barely navigate the written language. I had a German friend who had a very entertaining blog, but when it was translated into English, it made her sound like a moron. She was fluent in English, so she could see how badly her blog was translated.

I decided to write about one particular blog I read on occasion and the next couple of blogs that I was lead to by the “next blog” button. I may (or may not) do this as a recurring theme.

http://scrappycat.blogspot.com/

I found Scrappy Cat by goggling mandalas. I was trying to find some simple patterns that I could print out for Lia to color. Plus, I’ve always loved mandalas. I’m not very good at drawing them, but I enjoy the symmetry. Which is weird, considering how much I REALLY love abstract art. Anyway, Scrappy Cat had a nice little mandala she had painted. Not really what I was looking for, but I went to the home page and found a delightful little blog. I especially enjoy the “form” of it. That’s not quite the word I’m going for, but it will do. And unlike me, she truly can draw. And she writes well. She does book reports too! Nice little blog.

And now the “frog jumps” from there:

http://mbourbaki.blogspot.com/

Miami Bourbaki. The original Bourbaki had to do with mathmatics. I guess this blogger is a math guy from Miami. At any rate, he’s WAY smarter than I am. Reading him makes my brain hurt. Also, I am not ashamed to say that YES, I AM A MEAT EATER!! But I won’t eat it in front of you if it offends you…just don’t try to make me feel guilty about eating meat!!!  (BTW, I did NOT bookmark this one)

The next blog was actually a dead one about logic. (gag) It had a new site, but it was no longer a blog. From there, it was just another series of blogs about math, philosophy and/or logic. (double and triple gag)

I’ve noticed that sometimes the frog jumps were linked by subject, which makes it strange that the original blog of Scrappy Cat led to them. Go figure. 

Next week:  WHO KNOWS WHAT I WILL COME UP WITH!!

Blah blah blah part one

I am really hitting the wall again. I have been seriously contemplating ditching the whole blog thing. When it starts to feel like homework, that’s when I think it’s time to pack it in. I know there are one or two people who read my weekly drivel (Gladys, you ROCK! I know you are always there) but for the most part, I feel like my words are going into a black hole. My own kids and husband don’t even bother. But I will struggle on for another week at least…

Amongst my MANY vices is a love of books. I need them around me. Once I learned to read, I was never without some kind of reading material. Growing up, I had lots of books. Lots of comics. I had a subscription to Jack and Jill magazine, too. There wasn’t the vast variety of kid shows on TV that there is now, so I would read. I think I was in the 4^th grade when I found out there was a LIBRARY in my school where I could get BOOKS ALL THE TIME. I don’t remember when I discovered that there was a town library as well. The world REALLY opened up for me then. Once in a while I would buy a couple of books at Salvation Army. And slowly, over the years, my collection of books grew. I always checked out the sale tables at book stores. Then I discovered USED book stores. I love pre-read books. They have more soul. Especially if they’ve been written in. Now I have online places to get my books from too.

The picture I’ve posted here shows my idea of a special little haven. I would love to be able to construct one of these in a corner somewhere. I like how the spines are on the inside of the little cave. Gives it more visual interest. I’d need a good light, a comfortable chair and a small table that I could have my cup of coffee or glass of wine on. I’d make it a bit more enclosed so you wouldn’t be able to see much of me from the sides. And I’d have the opening toward a wall. No distractions. Cozy. Maybe a pillow on the floor for one of the cats. Cats and books go well together, don’t you think?

FLAT-OUT BLESSED!!

Since school is starting up all over the place, I had it in mind to do today’s blog as a kind of tongue-in-cheek “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” kind of thing, but I realized that pretty much what has taken place in the last few months has been nothing short than a series of blessings.

It’s been quite a while since I did a “thankfulness” blog reflecting on all the blessings the Lord has bestowed on me. So here’s the list in no particular order starting with late June or so.

1. Being able to spend a week at a time with Lia (and family) is always a blessing from beginning to end. No elaboration needed on that. But this last visit was for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. It was like Christmas for me! And not only was this an extra-long visit with Lia, my niece Ellen was with us. That was great for two reasons: I got the chance to get to know Ellen as an adult, and she could spell me with Lia! I think 2 weeks just me alone would have done me in. I just don’t have the stamina. But with Ellen there, I could take a time-out and put my feet up when I started flagging and Ellen could take over. The whole visit was very low-key and easy on the brain. LOTS of crafts! I did more crafts and coloring than I can ever remember! We took lots of little shopping trips to the Dollar Store, Good Will, things like that. Nothing very expensive. Except when we went to the used book stores….OMG OMG OMG. Both Ellen and I were in bibliophile heaven. And even then, what we paid for the books was a fraction of what they would cost new.

2. The Holy Spirit is really moving in our church and it’s a joy to see and experience what is taking place. I feel a freedom in my heart that hasn’t been there for a long time.

3. My beloved mother-in-law is continuing to be an inspiration to me. She is truly someone who LIVES her faith.

4. I am continually blessed by our close friends. Our Bible study group feeds my spirit with wisdom. Our dinner/game night group feeds my soul with love and laughter. Our church family is a blessing without measure.

There are many, many more that I could list; everyday stuff that a lot of people don’t pay attention to. If you really look, there are blessings all over the place. Open your eyes. I need to remind myself to do that as well.