Ode to Appliances (Household Haiku)

Oh washing machine

Today you must be hungry

You’ve eaten my socks

Mighty microwave!

Nuke that burger! Zap those beans!

Feed me! Feed me NOW!

Voracious vacuum

Roaring, keening, consuming

Scares the cats to bits

My darling Keurig

Mornings start with you, my love

Hot, rich, sweet, life’s blood

Alphabet Soup Du Jour GHIJ

G – Griffin

I’ve always loved Greek mythology, and aside from the Pegasus, the Griffin was one of my favorite creatures. The back half is a lion, the front half is an eagle. Pretty fierce critter all around. Wouldn’t want to tussle with one of these…

H – Hadrian’s Wall

Being a total Anglophile, anything Brit is my cup of tea, and you can’t get more Brit than Hadrian’s Wall. I don’t remember when I first learned of this amazing work of stone, but it’s always fascinated me. I’d love to walk along part of this piece of history. Or at least stand by it, since my walking days are pretty much over. I love looking at pictures of it on Wikipedia and other tourist sites.

I – Iris

My grandmother LOVED irises. She experimented with cross-breeding different colors together. Got some pretty weird looking ones, but she enjoyed it. She lived with us, and our back yard was ringed with irises and roses. We always had a vase of them in the house.

J – Jacaranda

We’ve never had a jacaranda tree, but I like the name and the pictures are just lovely.

Book Report March 2014

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

This was touted as being similar to Miss Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Since I totally loved THAT book, I thought this one would be a good bet. As far as the creep factor went, it was top notch! Loved it! The use of the pictures were OK, but didn’t really have the same genuine feel at the Peregrin book did. This is supposed to be the first book in a series, but I haven’t been able to find any info at all about subsequent books. I would be interested in reading some of this author’s other books.

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Theft and Thanksgiving by Emily Thomas

This is another in the Blue Hill Library series of Christian books. This time Anne prepares for Thanksgiving while trying to discover who is stealing identities from some of the town’s senior citizens.

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Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

When the movie came out based on this book, it looked very intriguing, bet we never got around to seeing it. I got the book at a sale, and was immediately sucked into the story. I knew a little about what went on in the movie, so didn’t really expect to be surprised. But, wow! This book is so well written that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Now I REALLY want to see the movie! Teddy Daniels looks for his wife’s killer at an asylum for the criminally insane. What’s real and what isn’t? Can he trust anyone there?

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Belle Out Of Order by Belle Livingstone

This was an old book that belonged to my uncle. I’d had it for years and just never got around to reading it. It’s an autobiography of Belle Livingstone who was a self-made woman at the turn of the last century. Beautiful, witty, looking for all the good stuff in life. She ran a very successful speakeasy during Prohibition, was married multiple times, and even spent some time in prison when her speakeasy was raided. The book was well written, and I enjoyed the look into a past time in our country’s history. But I was also dismayed at the total hedonism in this woman’s life. Pleasure was her only goal. Having a good time was all she wanted of this world. It left me wondering what was really in her heart at the end of her life. There’s very little about her you can find on the Internet. It appears she was estranged from both her children when they were adults. It all felt a bit sad.

Jan P.A.D. fifth

26. Fun stuff! – The time before last in Fresno, I decided that I was really tired of using Lia’s crappy crayons and would get my own to have there. Lia is pretty rough on her art supplies…Some time back I had gotten the markers at Costco, so all I had to do was buy some new crayons and I was set! I’ve been having a lot of fun with these in the guided journal I’ve been writing in.

27. Something I bought – I was shopping at Costco in December of 2012 and saw this Keurig on sale. It was close enough to my birthday that I said “Happy Birthday to ME!” and bought it. And I have LOVED this ever since. I didn’t know that Marv had already planned on getting me one. Good thing he hadn’t bought it yet. This one was better than the one he had his eye on…

28. Dinner – It was getting a little close to the end of the pay period and I was trying to use up what we already had in the pantry. Mac ‘n’ cheese is always a good stand-by in a pinch and being able to add a can of chicken to it made a pretty good meal.

29. Window – An artsy one for you. This is standing in Sarah’s living room, looking through the cut-out into the guest room where I stay, and seeing the window above my bed. So it’s a window-into-a-window picture.

30. Best invention ever – My clothes washer. LOVE IT!! Marv thought it should’ve been the microwave, but I told him if I had to chose between that and the washer, I would chose the washer. Yes, the microwave is really convenient, but it’s not that hard to cook without it. But I’ve gone through times when the washer was broken and that is a MAJOR PAIN.

31. Polka dot – I had no clue WHAT I was going to do for this one. Then I remembered the artsy postcards I had gotten to use for Postcrossing. I had a couple of these left, so here it is!!

So there’s January 2014 for you in 31 pictures. Hope you liked it…

Jan P.A.D. fourth

19. Breakfast – This is my preferred breakfast every single day. 8 ounces of fat-free milk, 1 scoop of Chocolate Royale Slim Fast, ½ cup of water, 4 heaping teaspoons of International Cafe Orange instant coffee. Swirl it in the blender and heat it up in the microwave. Pour it into my Bubba cup and I’m a very happy gal.

20. To do list – Of course it HAD to be this very list!! No brainer there!

21. Blue – This is one of the ribbon roses I got for my hats. A couple years ago Sarah took us to a place where there were several little booths with “stuff” and one of them had a display of these. They could be worn as a hair clip, pony tail wrap or a pin. I got several different colors for use on my summer straw hat.

22. Nice! – It’s a bit hard to see, but this grass has rain drops all over! We have been desperate for rain here.

23. Bedtime – We still have the flannel sheets on the bed. Nice and cozy. Just pulls you in, doesn’t it? I had considered this for #18-happy place, but decided it fit better here.

24. My space – This was another one in contention for #18, but I decided my craft room should go here. No one else uses this room. It’s my VERY OWN PLACE.

25. A taste of summer/winter – I guess if I was in Australia, this would definitely be a “summer” entry. But when I took this picture, it was toward the beginning of January and you can see what the temp was in the back yard. So I decided this should be titled “a taste of summer IN winter”…clever, huh?

Jan P.A.D. third

13. Makes me smile – A very dear friend gave these singing kitties to me for my birthday several years ago. I set them up each Christmas, and they never fail to gladden my heart. Thanks, Candy!!

14. Three things – I went for total randomness here. We have my lip balm, a flash drive and a solar flower that a friend gave to Sarah. And just FYI, the products from The Naked Bee are the best!!! That lip balm feels SO good and the lotions are to die for!

15. Black & white – I found this great website where you can take your pics and do a whole bunch of fun stuff with. Make ‘em black + white, make them look like they’d been through a fire, do random highlights on, whatever. I took this pic on one of the walks that Lia and I would go on through the neighborhood. The mirrors are set so when you’re driving down one of the streets you can see approaching cars from the other direction. I was pretty chuffed with this shot. And then I turned it B&W.

16. Sun – I really struggled with this one. I really wanted to do something involving shadows, but things just never gelled right. Finally in desperation I used this painted metal sun I got from the Dollar Tree. Somewhere along the line, this sun will grace the cover of an altered book.

17. Tiny – This is another one I struggled with. Anything really small just did not photograph the way I wanted it to. I tried several things before deciding on this flash drive. Compared to the amount of data you can put on one of these things, the actual “body” is tiny.

18. Happy place – I went back and forth on this one. There were a couple other pictures that could fit here, but I finally decided on the bookcase. I’m at my happiest when I’m in the middle of a good book.

Jan P.A.D. second

6. Happens every day – I have 2 cats that I love dearly. I do NOT love their litter box, but it’s gotta be done…and I have to admit: when it’s bad weather outside, it’s so nice knowing that my kitties can do their “business” in comfort…

7. Upside down – I had originally planned to have Lia do something for this one, but it just never happened. I did this one after I got home, long after the 7^th. Again, I decided to be clever. I think I succeeded.

8. Lucky number – I don’t have a lucky number and I’m not superstitious. But if I HAD to pick a number, I decided I would chose PI. It’s more than 3, but less than 4. I like it.

9. Natural – Sweet Alyssums are among my favorite tiny flowers. I can remember loving these when I was very little. These are growing by the sidewalk in the gated community where Lia lives.

10. Man made – My piano. Actually, it’s my brother’s piano. When I left home after getting married, I took my mom’s piano with me. That’s the one I learned to play on. My brother was still living at home, and he would play the piano sometimes, so my parents got this one for him. When it came time to clear out my parent’s house, I gave my old piano to a friend and brought this one here.

11. Looking down – This is from the loft at Sarah’s looking down at my little Lia.

12. Colorful – Another blurry one of my purse. I love this purse. I got it at DD’s in Fresno some time back. The purple thing on the left is my angry minion that I got from a box of Cheerios. I wish I’d thought to position it so you could see it better.