Inanimate Companions

Every family has them. Items that are seemingly insignifigant, that could be replaced, but because of everyday use over time become our friends. An example: I started using a clear plastic measuring cup to rinse my contact lenses. I was 16. It went to college with me, and along on any trip I ever took for lots of years. I don't wear the lenses anymore, and the cup has a crack so it can't hold liquids. It still sits on the shelf with the dishes. I can't throw it away.

Another: There's one fork that I like to eat with that makes everything just taste better. It's history began before my wedding. These were the days you could do your weekly grocery shopping and pick a reward according to how much you spent - like a dish or a piece of silverware. When I got married my Dad gave me a full set of silverware that he had been saving for me. Over the years, bit by bit, pieces got lost. Several disappeared after a Drop Inn Center Pot Luck. One got lost under a bed for a long time. A spoon got run over and flattened by my car. (That happened the afternoon I let SIE eat a bowl of Cheerios while sitting on the hood of the jeep. Later that day as I drove down the road I saw the bowl riding on the hood and wondered how far I could get with it remaining on the hood. My fault! I forgot about the spoon! It fell out at the first stop sign and was as flat as the gravel of the road when I found it) One lonely fork remains. My favorite.

Another companion is "The French Glass". This is a glass our family found under the cushion of our new used car one summer day between 1977 and 1984. You know how most glasses have a life expectancy and break after a couple years? This one has never broken. It is the best glass for Coke or vanilla milkshakes or ice water. When this glass finally breaks it will be a significant omen.

My last example is the reason I'm writing this blog entry. One day long ago, I was walking with a baby in a stroller. I think it was kaliedoscope girl. We used to do a lot of strolling and "window shopping" when she was little in OTR. On this day I saw a tiny sterling silver rosary in a pawn shop window. The next day we went in and asked how much it cost. Ten dollars, a lot for me to spend. A couple days later we went back and bought it and everyday since then I've kept it in my pocket. At night I usually pop it on my next day clothes or on the sink. It's gone through the washer and lost beads. I've repaired the links many times. This week the rosary slipped as I was putting it on the sink and it went down the drain. I was torn - too tired to fish it out of the drain, but fearing this would be the demise of a dear companion.time. I couldn't deal with it. I rattled the drain plug to see if it had gotten hooked. Then thinking it might stay in the drain loop under the sink if I didn't run the water, I went to bed hoping I wouldn't forget. Such drama. The next day the plumbing operation was successful. The rosary has returned to my pocket. Phew!

I want to know - what objects are companions for you?

Of Many Things

Birds
This past two weeks I had several new visitors to the bird feeder. One was a yellow rumped warbler. I don't know how they name these birds. This one has yellow on it's chin and sides, not on it's rump. Same with the red bellied sap sucker - it's head is red, not its bellie. One morning I woke up to find a huge flock of Bushtits ravenously eating everything in sight. I love bushtits. Never saw one until moving to the North West. They are teeny, chirpy, little gray birds. They're about 3 1/2 inches which is just a bit smaller than a chickadee. And they travel in packs. I can just imagine them snuggling together to keep warm during the snow. The Anna's hummingbirds stopped coming by the feeder after the last big ice storm. I'm afraid they all perished.

Pets
Death also came to the menagerie. One day I realized our large, white, mystery snail hadn't moved in a couple days. When I removed it from the tank.....ooo did he ever stink. A couple days later there was a great sea monkey massacre. The latest crop of sea monkeys was unbelievable. So many. One morning I looked at their jar and they were all gone. Except one. One little one. That little one is still swimming around. Very mysterious.

Puzzles
I usually don't buy puzzles from Goodwill because who knows if all the pieces are there. But a few weeks ago I felt compelled to get one. This small puzzle box had openned and sstarted spilling on the shelf. First I started trying to pick up the couple loose pieces to put back in the box. Then I fumbled and had to pick up some that spilled. Then I realized some of the pieces had fallen down to the next shelf and some had gotten stuck in the shelf connectors. Now I had to get them all. After all that I figured I would buy the puzzle to see how many pieces were lost.

This puzzle happened to be a personalized puzzle - someone had ordered a map puzzle with their house at the center of the puzzle. The map extended two miles north and south, and four miles east and west. It ended up being a map of Coos Bay which is over on the Coast. It took a while, but putting it together was fun, as in, mindless activity to do when you're feeling too sick to do anything else, even sleep. There were about 12 pieces missing out of 500. Now I want to order puzzles for all kind of places, like this new house, and the farm, and OTR. Too expensive to order more than one. Where would you want to be the center of your map?

Christmas Week

Started with the great unwrapping where everyone is four years old again and believes all these gifts were left by Santa. It was really fun. Then a great Christmas breakfast and off to see friends and family. (Back home and to bed for sick me - but getting better everyday) The temperature started to rise. 45 degrees on Saturday. Woke up Sunday morning with everything green and wet, just like Portland should be! A new year's coming.

'Tis the Night before Christmas

It's still snowing here and I'm tired from a cold. Might be the bah-humbug-blues. Trying to decide if I should make another pot of coffee or just go curl up in bed. I dug my car out of the snow this afternoon. The ice packed on the cloth roof was hard to sweep off. I drove around the block hoping the last bits would blow off, but they're still there.

The plan is to attend the children's Christmas Mass at 5:30 then to pack up any gifts Santa may have left here and take them over to SIE's tree. Spend the night there. Wake up when SIE does!....but right now I'm so tired I think Santa should wait a week or two before arriving.
But be of good cheer...Here's one of my favorite poems:

On How To Be a Manger

Be empty
Be sturdy
Be soft inside
Be still
Be ready

poem by Barbara Steffanus Germiat
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all from the Beachys and me!

Hamster Dreams

This winter has been rough on Hammy. She's done a lot of sleeping and a couple times I've thought she might have died. If I clean her cage she is as grumpy as Mr. Beachy is on days his arthritis kicks in. A clean cage means she has to scrounge around for material and remake her bed. She also keeps a stash of nuts and seeds in one corner hidden under wood shavings. I can see it would be upsetting to dig all over looking for her stash and then find out I've dumped it. On those days I give her an apple slice and it makes up for her inconvenience.

Have you ever seen a dog sleeping and then start kicking or growling in his sleep? Hamsters do that too. I wonder what she dreams about. Her "growls" are just little chirps. Pretty cute.

This week I was sitting near her cage when all of a sudden there was a thump as she fell out of her nest and crashed on the cage floor. I got up to check and she was on her back with every limb flailing about. I thought she was having a seizure and surely it was the end of poor Hammy. I reached into the cage and grabbed her up and held her close. She was chirping, then gradually calmed down and opened her eyes really wide. We cuddled a while and she loved being held close and caressed. Last night she ran on her wheel for hours. Back to her old self after weeks of semi-hibernation.

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down

Woke up today to a bunch of new snow. It's the kind of snow that Blue and I would have reveled in if we were out on the farm. There is an ice crust on it that is 1 to 2 inches thick. I found out because I went out to change the hummingbird water and sweep off an area to spread bird seed. A line of juncos was waiting for me and I couldn't figure out why they weren't digging in the snow for food. Then I realized the ice crust was so thick there's no way they were heavy enough to dig through it.

If we were on the farm, Blue and I would bundle up and go off hiking in the woods. This snow is the best for walking with sure footing, even if it does crunch as you walk. We would be able to see every movement in the woods and track animals that are heavy enough to make prints. Even little animals would be making swish marks on top of the ice.

As nice as that would be, the reality is that we would have been "snowed in" for a week now and probably out of food and clean laundry and human contact. In other words, by now we'd be a little crazier than usual! Yes! God is good. My cozy little house is the best place for us right now!

I was able to get out for a bit on Friday. Drove over to Goodwill for a little shopping therapy. I love that Goodwill. It's a big one and always pretty clean and bright. I think this is where they send all the estates, because you can find priceless collections there. The kind someone saves their whole life, then whoever is settling their estate just takes them all to Goodwill. You'll go one day and there will be 100 glass swans, or a zillion salt and pepper shakers. Sometimes it will be sad because some one's hand carved boats or boats will be there. They're never all together. Somehow they get spread all over the store on different shelves. Maybe that's my excuse for having to go up and down every aisle when I go over there.

Anyway, I found a great fake tree there. It was in a box that looked like it had never been opened. (Sometimes Target sends boxes of big things that haven't sold - I thought it might be one of those.) I wasn't able to see what the tree looked like so I just crossed my fingers and hoped it would do. As it turned out, it was a used tree that someone had very tidily packed away in the box. SIE spent the night Friday so we put it together and decorated it on Saturday morning. SIE also shared his cold with me, so today my throat is sore and my nose runny. I still need lights, but we found a pack of gold tinsel in my wrapping paper stash and covered the tree with gold. So far I've only had to clean up one cat throw up containing tinsel and hope Waylon learned his lesson. Waylon is disturbed that I'm not watering the tree. I guess Christmas tree water is a Seasonal delicacy for animals!

The Jesse tree will have to wait for another year. I tried to google "Jesse Tree Ornaments" and got a porno site. Yuck!

For those who have asked, I think the Jesse Tree ornaments are flexible. They are symbols and you can use the traditional symbols or create your own. Some people put up a symbol on each day of Advent and use a sampling of bible stories to make up the ornament. Some just do it the last week of Advent and use the O Antiphons - these are short songs from the bible which give names to the Lord. The "O Come, O Come, Emanuel" song is based on those O Antiphons. There's the easy ones like "Star of David" - the six pointed star, and the "Root of Jesse" - which is usually a tree stump with a new branch growing out of it, or "Lion of Judah" - guess what - a lion. I'll slow down one day and make a list and then make the ones I like. STraditionally, some people replace the Jesse Tree with an evergreen tree on Christmas Eve. That's because the Christmas Tree is a symbol of Christ - being ever green, ever alive, ever present. There's lots of interpretations for all this, so it's fine to be flexible.

I think today is the Winter Solstice. I know there wasn't much daylight yesterday. It was dark until 8 AM, then dark again by 4:15 PM. Today seems brighter. One problem with being snowed in is that the only thing on TV is continual weather reports on every channel. So we don't know what's happening outside of the Portland area highway loop. Global warming or the shift of poles might have occured and we wouldn't know it. It may be they cancelled the Winter Solstice this year!

O Antiphons Start Today

Still snowed in. But I think I'll try to venture out today. What's the use of having four-wheel drive and super tires if I don't at least try. Blue and I walked around the block this AM checking on a neighbor. Blue was off leash slip sliding along. No one else was out. She LOVED it - run, run, then slide. I walked gingerly in my new hiking boots, which are way cool but feel too tight! I hope they aren't really tight - they didn't feel this way when I bought them. And I had heavier socks on when I bought them, too.

The little Anna's Humingbirds have been at the feeder constantly. I love it! Yesterday when I woke up the feeder had frozen. When I pulled back the kitchen curtains this little hummer zoomed up to the window at me as if he had been knocking on it and clammoring, "More! We want more!" Now I have a routine down so that one feeder thaws inside while the other freezes outside. Soesn't it seem like someone would have invented a hummingbirdfeeder warmer? Like, you know the hand warmers that you can crack and put in your gloves - seems like that would work.

One reason I want to go out today is to find a Jesse Tree. I was planning on getting a fake Xmas tree, but haven't found one I like....then I thought about a live tree. This morning, when I realized the O Antiphon prayers start today, I got excited about making a Jesse tree. If I can find a branch I can start it today and have each ornament hung on it's proper day. I'll have to make them, but I have often thought about making a set of them that would be more permanent. I've made a lot of quicky paper ones. This will be fun.

Christmas Craft

I don't think I'm going to be able to finish this gift, but thought I'd pass along the idea so anyone who wants can try it out. It's not my own idea, but I think it's great. I saw it some time ago on Martha Stewart and had fun walking around looking for letters and taking pictures.

The idea is to find the alphabet in nature, or in architecture, or anywhere (found art) and use the photos to spell out someone's name. Once you start looking for letters you'll see them everywhere. The plan is to use a long frame and frame a name, matting each letter seperately. The letters can be in color or black and white. I still have a few letters to find. Can you see the ABCs in these photos?

Feathers in the Snow

We are having a cold, cold, cold front passing through Portland. There's snow and wind and, today, lots of sunshine. I've only ventured out once since Saturday night and it was to go over to Mass this morning. There were only three of us counting the priest - four counting God. The other woman who was there told me she had to hurry home because her hummingbird feeders were freezing and the little hummers were upset. I had planned to fill my feeders this AM, too, but I'd taken down the hummingbird feeders ages ago. So I cooked up some yummy sugar water and within the hour there was a fat little hummer sipping l-o-n-g sips of water. I just assumed they would have frozen to their perches by now. Awesome!

Bits

This week went by really fast, so just a few bits to keep up to date:

The retreat was mellow and probably as good as it gets. I guess I was hoping for a setting that had grounds and trails like on the farm. I did get to lean up against a huge sequoia tree that one of the sisters had planted in 1895. And I walked through the orchards and cemetery. The setting was OK and the lack of woods and wildlife the only glitch. So now my new idea is to buy a piece of wooded property and build a retreat center that will provide the aesthetics of my ideal retreat setting. I think you should see deer when your on a retreat.

SIE had his last gymnastics class for the year and first official performance. It was wonderful. If I can figure out how, I'll post some photos from this. But even the best photos wouldn't do it justice - there was background music and the whole atmosphere was like a mini Cirque de Soleil and SIE was fantastic!

This week I got a new washer and dryer. The ones that came with the house weren't working very well to begin with. The washer wouldn't spin dry well. That meant I had to wring out everything before putting it in the dryer. Then it would take a minimum of 70 minutes in the dryer no matter what or how much I put in. This summer I put up a really nifty clothes line in the back yard. But as winter has crept in, it's gotten harder to do the laundry. I accidentally stumbled on a W/D sale while buying trellis wood at Home Depot. This week I did my entire laundry in washed and dried in less than an hour! Yay!

Slug update: Contrary to popular opinion, I've become quite fond of him. I still haven't figured out exactly where he lives. I was worried about him when the old washer/dryer got moved out, afraid he might be inside one of them or squished on the way out. But I saw him again one night and this time I got to watch him make his journey from the basement door to the cat food. It took two hours one way. I am presuming he takes the same route there and back each time. He crawls 21 and 1/2 ft one way! How far he travels before he gets to this side of the basement door, I'm not sure. And now that the weather has gotten so cold, I hope he has more sense than to venture out. Even Waylon is preferring to eat in the kitchen instead of the mud room.

St. Nicholas Day

I'm writing this blog a day early because I'm headed out of town on retreat at the Peace and Shalom Center of Mt. Angel, OR. Mt. Angel is the most German town I've been in, even topping Cincinnati during Octoberfest. It is a tiny town in the Wilamette Valley, about an hour south of here, that circles around an old German Benedictine Monastery. They have an Octoberfest, also. The monastery is ontop of a winding hill. My retreat will be near the convent property which is down in the town.

It's been ages since I went on retreat, unless I count the farm as one. I've felt so busy and have such a long to-do list, that there's a big part of me that's regretting signing up. That's insane! My plan is to leave everything behind, my books, the computer, even crossword puzzles and Blue. I'm hoping it will be an undevided attention time with the Lord. A rendevous of sorts.

So I'm wondering if St. Nick will find my shoes? I hope so....and hope he finds yours, everyone.

Commentary on Clowns

I woke up this morning, like I often do, with a bed-head that looks like clown hair. It's pretty funny. Reflecting on that fact lead me to realize that this is another gap in the generations. I grew up thinking clowns were kind and funny. My childhood experience of clowns is from watching Clarabelle on The Howdy Doody Show. She couldn't talk, only honked her horn, and she was nice. There was "Bozo the Clown" - I had his picture on my bedroom wall and "BOZO" is actually the first word I ever learned to read because his name was on the picture. I loved watching Red Skelton on TV. He was a very funny clown in some of his skits. I loved Emmett Kelley for his sad, sad face. He had a five o'clock shadow just like my dad.

My kids grew up thinking clowns are scary maniac killers. It seems there have been enough horror movies featuring clowns to have made a bad impression. When they were little I found a stuffed clown doll that I thought they would love. Instead we had to keep it hidden out of sight. "Not in the closet! What are you thinking!" I finally caught on and gave the clown away.

The only "contemporary clown" that is sweet that I can think of is the one in Tomi de Paulo's The Clown of God. I love the way he illustrates that folk tale. There's also the clowns in Cirque de Soliel's Corteo, which I've mentioned before. This leads me to believe those Steven King etal. stories/movies are a clear case of media distortion breeding prejudice.

So here's to bed-head mornings and big lipstick! Here's to innocent joy and clumsy tumbles! Here's to laughing at silliness and imperfections! And here's to kind acceptance of all our differences and the challenge to work for change!

Slug Slime

When I lived on the farm there would occasionally be a shiny trail on the bathroom rug in the morning. I would pretend the fairies had come to visit. Of course I knew it was a trail of slug slime. It usually faded in an hour or two and I never saw the slug so it never annoyed me.

Now, for you who have known slugs from the midwest, you probably think of them as those little shell-less snail things that are garden pests. We have those here, too. But, as many other things West of the Rocky Mountains, we have slugs as big as Paul Bunyan's Babe. I first heard of big slugs from kaliedoscope girl who attended the University of California at Santa Cruz. Their school mascot is a smiling banana slug. Since living out here I have seen some biggish slugs although I've never actually seen a bright yellow smiling banana slug. The ones I've seen have been light brown and I only know they are banana slugs because they have a hole for a nose on the side of their heads. The first enormous slug I ever saw was one day walking in the woods near the farm. I came upon a Rufous Garden Slug. I can't describe my horror. It was on a clump of autumn leaves and the contrast between the yellow-orange of the leaves and the big, black, slimy creature made me think for a second of lynchings and castration. It sent the scariest shiver up my back. My nature book says they are 2 inches long, but this guy was at least 2 inches wide and maybe 6 long.

This all brings me round to the "Fairy Trail" I've noticed near Waylon's bowl since we've been here. I put Waylon's food up on a ledge in the mud room. It's a great ledge that is next to the kitchen door and you have to pass it to get to the basement stairs. It's perfect for resting the laundry basket on as you get ready to go downstairs to do the wash. Perfect also for keeping cat food out of the dogs' reach. Waylon likes to spread his food around so I have an old terry cloth towel that I put under the bowls. Shortly after Waylon arrived, I noticed a fairy trail on the towel one morning. It isn't there every morning, but often enough that I decided to investigate and see if I could find those fairies. This proved to be quite a mystery. The trail only glistens on the terry cloth. I could find a few shiny sprinkles on the basement steps and on the rug near the washing machine, but no trail. The cat bowl ledge is in location that I can't imagine a slug being able to reach. But, you know, fairies can be unpredictable and seriously secretive beings.

WELL......one night I was letting Blue out to pee and usually I don't turn on the light, but for some reason I did. The trail maker was there! Right up there nibbling on cat food crumbs. He is a Leopard Slug. Here's how the Nature book describes him:

LEOPARD SLUG Limax maximus Gastropod Class Body cylindrical, leathery, pale gray or brownish; above spotted and striped. Eyes on long stalks. A garden pest imported from Europe. Length: 4 inches Habitat: Gardens and moist woodlands. Range: Chiefly west of the Cascades.

I think he's longer than 4 inches. My first impulse is to squish all slugs. But one this big I cannot squish. My next thought is to scoop him up and take him across the street. But I figure any little critter who can slither up onto this ledge and survive on cat food crumbs (instead of my garden) has earned the right to join the family. I still can't figure out where he lives. There are lots of tiny holes and I've looked up and down the stairs to the basement, but this remains a mystery for now. Stay tuned....his photo is coming.

Our New Bud

Here's a look of our new bud.

One Down!

Yesterday I finished one of my projects that's been in the works for months now. This is a moment to celebrate because I actually believed it would never be finished. Some of you might recall that I bought a couch for $25 soon after I moved in here. It had a vinyl cover and looked like a couch that you'd see in a nursing home, doctor's office, or hotel lobby. I made an attempt to cover it and found a light beige suede feeling fabric, but the couch looked blah. I figured I'd put it out on the curb. That's what you do in Portland if you want to give something away. No matter what it is, it's usually gone by the end of the day.

While waiting to find someone to help carry the couch out to the curb I found a piece of red fabric that I thought would make a cool tablecloth. I spread it on the couch to see where I wanted to position the pattern, and really liked how it looked. So that started the dilemma of whether to continue with making a tablecloth or use the fabric for upholstery. If I used it for the couch I'd need more fabric, but I wasn't sure how much, so I measured and went to the store to get more fabric. They had sold out of that pattern. They reordered it, but I'm very impatient so I tried to use a couple other matching fabrics. That didn't work. It took a few weeks, but the red fabric arrived and I bought another yard. Of course that was 2 - 3 inches short, so I saved every scrap and skillfully pieced it together leaving the beige cloth on the back of the couch.

All this began sometime in March or April. Many days I thought I'd just throw the whole thing out. It's just one of those projects that you have to sit down and do and there never seemed like time. I had planned a small dinner at the beginning of October and invited a family with a two year old. In an effort to child-proof the house I was determined to finish the couch and pinned all the fabric in place. SIE had become an expert at removing the straight pins during these months of upholstering so I figured it would be a class one hazzard if a two year old saw them. I tried to get it all sewn in place before the two year old arrived, but it became a choice of a covered couch or a cooked meal. The night of the dinner I was scrambling to cover up the pinned section with throws and blankets. Lest it sound like I am blaming little kids for my inability to complete a project, let me mention the animals in my house who get onto the couch to groom their claws or nap. You probably know that a proper nap can't be taken unless the area is scraped and roughed up before turning around three times and settling in.

At any rate, my couch is now stitched and beautiful and comfy and if I ignore the cost of fabric and time, I can still pretend it only cost $25.

Thanksgiving's Past, Thanksgivings Past

Thanksgiving is past. It's the morning after Thanksgiving Day and very laid back. I'm taking care of kaleidoscope girl's two dogs while they are at the Coast. The 3 dogs are maniacs when they're together. I made the mistake of giving them each a chew bone thinking that would be a nice treat. They spent most of last night defending their bones and taunting each other with them. The family left after dinner and hopefully didn't get too tired driving in the rain. It was pouring here. This was my 5th Thanksgiving in Portland. Really hard to believe that time has spun so fast. Kaleidoscope girl and Hapapapa have an "extended family" of friends that have shared Thanksgiving Dinner together for years. I've joined in since I've been here and it's really nice to see the group together each year. Usually the host family makes the turkey and everyone brings something. Stories are that for the first few years there was no turkey...I'm glad those days have passed!

Thanksgivings Past I was remembering back to past Thanksgivings and there are many that have been really nice, but a couple that cross my mind every year. One was in Chicago. I don't remember a dinner, but I remember a slender nurse on my floor (I was a ward clerk at Billing's Hospital for a season). I probably worked that night and this nurse told stories of her Thanksgiving turkeys and how every year except this one it seemed she was pregnant. She would be in her eighth or nineth month and as big as the turkey itself. Everyone would crack up as she described herself trying to get the turkey in and out of the oven.

Another Thanksgiving that crosses my mind each year is my first one in Over-the-Rhine. I moved there in the spring of 1969 and my official roomate, D.G., had a job split between youth work at Prince of Peace and senior work at the OTR Senior Center which was located on the corner of 13th and Race St. across from Washington Park at the time. I say she was my "official" roomate because there were many people in and out of our apartment that summer. We were the ones who paid the rent. Everyone but me returned to school in the fall, and I was hired by the Senior Center to replace DG. For Thanksgiving, DG decided she wanted to cook dinner for all the little old people who usually came to the center. It would have been closed for the holiday and most all of the people would have been alone.

I had never cooked a turkey or made stuffing or anything like this. DG had taught me how to drive; now she was teaching me how to make the best turkey and stuffing. The turkey was huge. I think we used two or three bags of bread, a pound of butter, and an entire jar of poultry spice making the stuffing. Then it was up every hour through the night to check on it and baste it. The smell of turkey in the morning was wonderful and the dinner was a huge success. And one of the best parts was making the little elderly Italian cook, who was quite a curmudgeon - especially when we helped in the kitchen, sit down and eat without doing a thing! They all loved it.

The Beachys are Back!

Yay! Mr. Beachy, Peaches, and Soon are back from their l-o-n-g trip to China. They arrived last night all grumpy and tired out, but very happy to be home. They visited every relative in the Beachy extended family. Peaches said she didn't get to hold Soon for more than a few minutes the entire trip. Everyone thought she was the perfect baby. How could they not? Mr. Beachy is glad to be back in time to cook Thanksgiving dinner. He tells me everyone cooked for them while they were gone and they never ate so much food in all their lives. But they've been en route for three days and are happy I filled their fridge with their favorite American foods.

Early this morning Mr. Beachy was outside inspecting the yard and scolding, scolding, scolding me in his old familiar way about things I missed caring for in the garden. The weather has been cold and rainy, but that is no excuse. If Soon hadn't started fussing he would have given me an earfull! Peaches was all cheerful this morning, laughing that Soon couldn't let her take a shower without such a fuss. "Want to be with mama all the time! So many people in China; now all alone in big house. New colors, new sounds. Good while gone, now naughty. Baby Soon remember old house and be happy soon."

It's really great to have them back all safe and sound. I confess I was a little worried that they might decide to stay in China. Mr. Beachy knew I'd been thinking that might happen. He scoffed at me and muttered, "No, no. Chinese people all good with gardens. I go where needed most."

Analyze This

I had a dream last night. Not a "biggie", but one that was detailed and long. I don't know where this one came from, so if you can figure it out, let me know!

In the dream I was me, but younger, maybe 30. I had a friend who was supposed to be a bridesmaid in a wedding. For some reason she just couldn't be there. She gave me her dress and, despite much resistance, talked me into taking her place. I didn't know the bride. What I figured I'd do is find the other bridesmaid (the maid of honor) and explain the situation to her and get the dress to them so they could find another of the bride's friends.

I headed to the church which was a little brick church somewhere near Bishop St. in Cincinnati. It's not a church that's really there - just in this dream. There was a long tight driveway around to the back of the church and a lot of trees and bushes in full foilage. And I was driving a semi. It seems that driving a semi was my profession. I had a bit of trouble parking it and finally left it blocking some of the cars because I figured I'd only be there a minute.

Explaining the situation to the bridesmaid was futile. She didn't care. She just wanted me to hurry up and put on the gown so the wedding could begin. I wasn't even sure it would fit but we hurried up a softly lit wooden staircase to a second floor dressing room and put it on. She already was dressed and frantic to get me in my dress. I realized I didn't have a slip so we tried a couple ideas and finally cut a white pillow case to use as a half slip.

There was a delay in the start of the service so I got to hang out with the bride and bridesmaid while we waited. The bride was relaxed and finally her maid of homor calmed down, too. It was getting late and I had to move the semi. That was a little tricky trying to get up into the seat with the fitted skirt. It turned out I just needed to back the truck up a bit and scooch into a spot recently vacated by a couple cars.

It was dark now and the wedding still hadn't started. The bride, bridesmaid, and I decided to go on a walk. The night air was warm and smelled beautiful. It was pretty late and wasn't too long before dawn. We walked along one of the roads near Spring Grove Cemtery. I knew a way to cut into the cemetery. The main gates would be shut for another hour or so. We would have to slip through a small space between a chicken wire fence and some rose bushes. I agreed to climb up to see if the path was clear enough for our dresses to sueeze past without tearing. But I couldn't get up this small incline. I ended up with my hands and feet trying to get some traction. My feet just kept slipping out from under me. They started walking down into the meadow on the other side of the road, so I gave up and caught up with them.

The meadow was lit up by the moon and we noticed some activity around a trailer. The bride decided to ask at the trailor for a ride back to the church. It turns out the people in the trailor were filming a movie and asked us to wait till they finished this shot. We were seated on a long white bench and got to watch the end of the scene. The director had the cameraman take a short film of us sitting on the bench to use in his film. We were leaning up against each other and I was sitting with my legs stretched out on the bench. We felt like: "A-aaa-ah."

So how does a brain manufacture that dream? Maybe I'm just falling asleep with the TV on too much! Any other ideas or dreams out there? Maybe Mr. Beachy will know.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night . . .

The fog enveloped everything in sight. Only the sound of the ocean could be heard beyond the beckoning wind. She walked closer. Soon she would disapear . . . . .

A-hem

Mr. Beachy stopped by today to tell me to get on the schtick and get back to blogging! This has been a busy month and there's lots to write about. Right now I'm sitting in a very warm room in a house that looks like I'm still moving in. There's chaos everywhere, but it's too hot to do anything except sweat.

My three children were in town to visit this past week. The time went so fast! But we did get a chance to spend two nights at the Coast. Kaliedoscope had reserved a great room with a loft and a balcony looking out over the beach in Newport. The weather was in constant flux and a blanket fog kept rolling around with one morning that was clear and sunny. Besides loving the fact that all three of my girls and one little grandson were with me, I loved walking along the beach. Blue loved running. There are so many soft colors. The sand takes on many patterns. Little creatures scurry along the rim of the waves. The sky is huge when the sun was out, and mysterious when the fog covered everything. The wind was chilly but felt good to me. The sand was warm.

And here I'll have to close because I'm too weary to write more. My mind and heart are full to the brim and, yes, Mr. Beachy, I'll try to write all about the visit soon as I can. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Morning Blog

OK, I know it's been a while. I am exerting great discipline in sitting down and writing this morning. Waylon has been sitting in a ray of sunlight for 45 minutes without moving and that just seems so lucious. I'd like to do that, too. It seems I've been caught in some cyberspace trance where all I want to do when the computer is on is follow various news items or catch up with other people's blogs. My friends are returning from Israel and Zambia so that will cut down on time spent reading their blogs.

Yesterday I traveled to St. Paul, Oregon and found more roses than my yard can hold! That cuts down the internet search for roses. It's not really rose buying time in Portland. Most of the nurseries have only the left over tattered roses no one wanted. But I am ready to plant roses and wanted to find a couple that I'd cared for at St. Boniface. In my stack of old rose catalogs I found a long forgotten one from "Heirloom Roses" and discovered it is located just 40 minutes from here! Since this is the Pauline Year for Catholics, I decided a trip to St. Paul, Oregon would be an appropriate adventure. The Heirloom Rose Garden rivals any rose garden I've seen so far....and that is saying a lot for someone from The City of Roses. Even the map of their garden layout is 25 pages long! (No pictures - just mapping out where each rose is located) They have a greenhouse full of rose starts and I picked out 9 to take home. Ballerina and Sally Holmes and Play Girl were three of the starts I'd been looking for. The others are variations on old single roses that I hadn't seen before. One is Kew Rambler and another is called Summer Wine. I picked out one called Mavourneen just because of the name and can't find that rose's description anywhere. But you know it's got to be good with a name like that. They gave me a "mystery rose", too, so I'll have a couple surprises next summer.

Blue and I drove up to Ridgefield one day. I was feeling sick but too restless to stay home in bed. We were the only ones at the Refuge. Got to see the American Bittern I saw on my very first trip there. Maybe it was the same. They are such a funny looking bird. I'll try to post a picture if I can find one. Also got to watch a bald eagle fishing. He was great. Usually I see immature eagles which still have brown plumage and don't look so regal. This one had his whites and definitely ruled.

Then we saw our coyote! He was almost invisible. Crouched down in the middle of a recently mowed field, he looked just like one of the clumps of hay. We stopped the car and watched him for an hour or more. At first I thought he must be a young coyote waiting for his mom to come back from a hunting trip. Every minute or so he'd pick up his head from the ground and look around. He got up once and stretched, then turned a circle and lay down again just like any old dog. Finally I spotted another coyote moving along the fence line. Our coyote jumped up and chased that one off so far and fast it was amazing. Then he proudly sauntered back to his watch spot, so satisfied - an accomplished guadian of his territory.

My next blog will be entitled "Ghost Stories". SIE and I have been playing camping. Lately it's involved scary stories around the campfire. Stay tuned!

Bits and Pieces

Today was the kind of melt-in-your-chair type day that made me feel slower mentally than a slug. It's the kind of day that you just want to hop in and out of the shower all day long. Our only outside activity was walking across the street in the early AM to look at a rummage sale, then to move our car to the shady side of the street, then to water the plants in the evening. A friend stopped over with her two dogs, so I guess we were outside then for a few minutes.

Yesterday was also hot and I took a really long nap, then drove over to Reed College so Blue could have an off-leash run. Reed College is the beautiful kind of college that makes college life seem romantic and idyllic. The buildings are brick and would probably be ivy covered if ivy wasn't an invasive species here. We are a no tolerance state in that regard. There are rolling green lawns and old, old trees with concrete benches under them. Dr. Egeria was here a few weeks ago for a conference - that's how I came to visit this place for the first time. She stayed in one of the dorms and they even had a firplace in her room. That's like High Church but in educational terms.

Blue and I went over there armed with a campus map. We found the "canyon trail" and went around the long 1/2 of the lake. It was a nicely kept trail, but I kept getting spider webs in my face so it might not be well traveled. There were ducks and ducklings and so many crows that it could have been a scene out of The Birds. I have never watched crows play in water before. They were quite comical dive bombing into the water or landing on fallen logs then diving in, crowing with wild abandon. I guess even crows like to cool off on these super hot days. Blue almost caught a couple squirels. There was a father and his two little daughters on the path across the lake so we weren't totally alone. But it was an eerie place to walk - seemed like the kind of place to dump a body. I also kept hoping not to see a coyote. From a car I love to watch them; on foot I really don't want to get close. This part of campus definitely was wild enough to have coyotes and more critters that aren't exactly urbanites. There was a bench with a college couple sleeping on it and at one turn someone had set up a folding table with a lamp and long extension cord leading back to a dorm window. If you have enough bug repellent, I guess this would be a wonderful study spot.

Bits and Pieces was an early 60s song by The Dave Clark Five,I think - an English pop group rival to the Beatles.

And now, my friendlies, I'm melting! I'm melting. m e l t..i n g g g................

Stand Back Steven Speilberg

It took a lot longer to download this video than it did to take it. It might take all of 30 seconds to view it. Make sure your audio is on. Miss Ingu is striking out into new realms of art. I hope it works!

Lucky Is Home

Just an update to let everyone know that the dog we found last week is home and happy. It was a Saturday all-consumed with finding the dog's owner. Kaliedoscope Girl and I had posted a few notices about a lost dog on-line. People would call and tell me their dog's name and I would try to call her but she never responded. It seemed like she like being called Lucky - at least that name got her attention.

So Saturday morning..... I cleaned the carpet in the little room and reassured all involved that he fireworks were over for another year. Then I folded up the back seat of the Jeep and loaded in Blue and the stray dog. Blue took her usual front seat. Captain Bogg aka Lucky needed a collar and a boost up to get into the back of the Jeep. She must be a well traveled dog because she got herself comfortable and because she is big, could watch out the window with ease.

First stop was Dove-Lewis Animal Clinic in the NW where they said they would do a free micro-chip scan. They were so very nice that I would recommend them to anyone looking for emergency pet care or for a donation destination. There was no chip to be found, but one of the clerks called several places checking to see if this dog was theirs.

Then we drove to the Washington County Animal Shelter. Portland is made up of 3 different counties. I never heard of that before moving here. I thought cities made up counties. We had to find the shelter closest to where we found the dog, hoping that that was the shelter her family would check first. And it was a l o n g drive out to the Hillsboro/Beaverton area. It reminded me of driving out Rt 125 in Cincinnati with all the businesses and car dealerships lining the road. Oh! But wait! There is a Goodwill. Must remember to stop there on the way home.

We arrived at the shelter and I took the dog in....leaving Blue with a deserted look on her face....as if CB and I were going to Graeters without her. I was filling out papers when one of the clerks came up and asked me if I was the one who had posted the lost dog photos on Craig's List. I was. Her owners had just been there and flipped through their file of lost dog notices and they were 100% sure that this was their dog. They were so excited that they took my phone number but didn't leave any info about themselves! OH NO. The shelter thought I should leave the dog there and then when these people called just tell them where she was. The only problem was that the shelter was closing until Monday in just a couple hours and who knew if I could get home in time to receive and return a phone message and if the people were close enough to pick her up in time.

It all worked out. I arrived home to two messages from the grateful owners and called them back in time. And here is what they told me. The dog is 11 years old and lives in a little country town about 10 miles from the shelter. She was frightened during the lightening storm on Wednesday night and had run "over the hill". When she didn't come back they started looking and calling and posting signs. Several people called to say they had seen her running. It turns out that a lot of the neighbors in that town had helped raise this dog and her sister. The summer she was born, the mother dog got into some elk meat left out by a neighbor and was poisoned. She left 9 puppies that had to be hand fed and even tube fed until they were strong enough to suck. The vet showed them how and because the couple worked, neighbors took turns feeding the pups every couple hours. The vet helped them find homes for 7 of the puppies and they kept the 2 sisters. The people told me that the sister dog had been beside herself without this dog. So our over-night guest was reunited and called by her real given name - "Sissy". There's more - Guess what the sister dog's name is....."Lucky".

In The Early Morning Rain

What could be better? I'm sitting on the porch on a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee and a small piece of left-over pineapple bundt cake. There is a misty rain left over from last night. Much cooler than last week at this time. A-h-h-h!

This past week Kaliedoscope, SIE, and Miss Ingu ventured to the Pacific Coast for a couple days. We had a little room near Cannon Beach (that is the beach Fireling and Bikerboy visited last year). That is also the beach you may have read about in the journey of Lewis and Clark. They were camping for the winter about 3 miles north and decided to investigate a report of a beached whale. They weren't going to take Sacagawea with them. After all her help along the trip, she threw a fit and swore not to help them anymore if they didn't take her. I love to think we were standing where she did.

The 1st evening there, we flew a kite that SIE and I had made several weeks ago. He was able to get it up right away. So exciting because I've never really been able to fly a kite more than 4 or 5 feet in the air. Later we measured the string and we had let it out 154 feet!

We walked over toward Haystack Rock. That's a huge rock sticking up out of the ocean. It is covered in birds nesting - mostly sea gulls. But I got to see my 1st puffin! This was a Puffin Watch Week and they had counted 53 puffins.

When the tide goes out the area around Haystack Rock is called a Marine Garden. There are tide pools full of seaweed and all kinds of sea life and the rocks that are usually underwater are coverred in barnacles, shell fish, and anemones. It happened that Thursday morning was the lowest tide in a really long time. Someone said it was the lowest since 1907, but I don't really know if that's true. It was at -2.0. SIE and I got up early and we were able to walk out on the ocean sand almost 1/2 way around the main rock. Plus we saw lots of really tall rocks that had been hidden underwater. We saw hundred of large purple and orange starfish clinging to the walls. They were big - I guess about a foot across and they have a pattern of small white bumps on them that look like a spiderweb has been carefully spread over each one. We also saw some bright green tentacled things that looked like rubber bath toys. I'll have to look them up to see what they were.

One day we drove up through Ecola Park ("E-cula" is the native word for "whale"). We got to see 3 elk grazing really close to the road. They were big. They were a soft chocolate brown with black-brown head and neck; one of them had velvety antlers growing.

The place we were staying had an indoor pool. One morning SIE and his mom went swimming for 3 straight hours. I don't think he would have left the pool except that we promised him breakfast at a place called "Pig and Pancakes". K-girl had packed a book titled "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" so it seemed like a perfect place to eat.

As we returned home the highway takes us over the Coast Range through stands of tall fir trees and then along orchards and farmland on rolling hills toward Portland. About 30 miles from home a large border collie was weaving in and out of traffic. K-girl pulled over to the curb and openned the door. The dog jumped in without any coaxing. Poor thing must have been running and searching for his her people. She was covered in dirt and had thorny twigs matted in her long fur. Right away SIE named her "Captain Bogg" and we started calling her "Lucky". She is staying with me for a couple nights while we try to find her owners. Last night the fireworks went on for hours here and the animals were shaking they were so scared. Blue and Waylon spent the night on my bed and the stray dog slept on the floor next to us with her head under the bed as far as she could get it. I woke up this morning to find out that Lucky had properly christened the carpet in the little front room. Yuck and gag! There goes a little more purgatory off my karma.

All in all a beautiful week and lovely cool morning.

Cry Out With Joy To The Lord, All The Earth

That's the first line of psalm 100. It crosses my mind every morning and it really makes me happy to think of all of creation praising the Lord in its own way. Even when it's hot, like it has been here for the last couple days. HOT! So hot that I can only do a little bit of stuff before I want to lie down and take a nap. Blue and Waylon apparently feel the same way. Right now Blue is asleep under my desk and Waylon is outside sleeping under a bush.

It's been so hot that poor Hammy collapsed on the floor of her cage and I thought she'd breathed her last...but she's OK today. I don't know what I'd do if she died; she's such a sweet little hamster.

SIE is on vacation this week so his mom, Kaliedoscope Girl, and I are heading off to see the coast tomorrow. She just had her birthday - on a day in Portland that was as hot as the day she was born in Chicago. Half the guests were under age 5 and spent the party in the backyard seeing how wet they could get - water balloons, squirt guns, and wading pool provided - plus one crazy Hapapapa who kept egging them on. "Wet" = the only way to keep cool. SIE and I made her a lamb cake and the whipped cream gently rolled down the lamb melting into sliced strawberries. Someone called it a camel cake, I think because a naked lamb looks sort of like a camel, but maybe because only a camel could make it through the heat to a party.

I've been working on one of my projects and I'm not sure if I've already told you all about it. I had a kitchen table made to fit the spot in my kitchen that looks like a dining spot. It's made from reclaimed wood and looks like a "Little House in the Prairie" table. Hapapapa said it looks like a table Jesus would make. I've been wanting to stain it and gotten several opinions from people about how to and how not to go about it. Every idea seemed like a little more expense and too much troulbe driving around to look for supplies. So I finally decided to use my old artist's ingenuity. I had some burnt sienna oil paint, a jar of linseed oil, and a hunk of bees wax already in my art supplies. So last week I mixed the oils together and stained the table soaking in the aroma which reminds me of growing up. My mom used to oil paint and she'd put the brushes in her mouth to make the hairs form a point - artists do that. I always thought of her kisses as a combination of lipstick, coffee, and oil paint. It took a couple days for the table to dry - yes, even in this heat! Then I melted the bees wax (my only expense - a $2.00 enamel stove-top pan from the thrift shop) and started painting it onto the table. The 1st area go too thick, so I got out my hair dryer and was able to smooth the extra wax over to a bare spot. Then with an old cloth and the hair dryer, I was able to finish the table top. I love that the wax was made by bees and not petroleum. For some reason I can't figure out, it is very soothing to me to work the wax into the wood. H-mmm?

Next is to finish recovering the sofa and making curtains and my little house will look good! And before long the chilly, wet days of Portland winter will be upon us.

Baby Soon

I've been hoping to paint a picture of the Beachys for my living room. I have the spot ready and the materials...just not the time. I know it will get done before long. I was thinking it would be a nice surprise for Mr. Beachy and Peaches. They've been such fun to have around. And Mr. Beachy has been great working in the garden. Peaches has been busy caring for the baby. But today she surprised me! She brought me a photo of Soon! It's the first "official" baby portrait of dear baby Soon and I think it's so cute. Almost as cute as Soon herself! Don't you just want to hug her? SIE loves her pointy ears. Thank you, dear Peaches!

So How Do They Do That?

I know dogs can be taught a lot of things - like hunting and drug sniffing and fetch. And I know there are training classes for dogs. And I suppose some dogs just have a propensity toward something or other - like Huskies pulling sleds through snow, or bloodhounds tracking lost kids. But something happened the other day that puzzles me and I would love it if someone knows just how they do this.

SIE was over one afternoon this week. He brought his new bike (see www.jodessa.com/blog/ for pictures) and we decided to ride down to the playground near my house. His two dogs were here so we left the back door open so they and Blue could hang out in the back yard. There's a fence around the yard and I am pretty sure that Blue could jump it, but she hasn't figured that out yet. When I first got her I would put two baby gates on top of each other to try to keep her out of the room where I took care of the babies. She would jump it no matter how high and how little running room she had. But so far at our new house, she hasn't jumped the fence, or dug out, or learned to unlatch the gate.

The playground is two blocks from my house and around the back of a school. Blue and SIE and I have gone on walks through the neighborhood in every direction, but only twice to the playground together. On this day, we were down at the playground for about 20 minutes when here comes Blue with a big smile on her face. She had an expression that looked like this was just a normal occurance. I paniced because I wasn't sure how she got out or where the other dogs might be. We went home right away and there was Hapapapapa and the two dogs starting down the street to find us. He had dropped by and perhaps hadn't fastened the gate tight enough when he walked over to the store. When he returned, his two dogs were resting in the grass next to his truck. Smart Dogs!

So, all turned out well and I have just been pondering ever since. How did Blue know where we were? She's a wonder dog, but this I never suspected. Could she smell our tracks? Could she hear our voices from that far away? Could she understand when we were talking about where we were going? If anyone has an idea, let me know.

Ode to Brother Bear & Sweet Sis

Last Sunday was my brother's 40th wedding anniversary. For some reason that seems like a miracle to me. Not the fact that the same wife stayed with him forty years...just that anyone can be married that long. I was only married 13 years, and my parents (D/T my mom's death) were only married 35 years.

I grew up adoring Brother Bear. He's 4 years my senior, so always that much more experience to look up to. He carried around a b-b gun when we lived on my grandma's farm. When the neighbor's Brahma bulls looked toward us, he'd encourage me to be brave: "Hold your breath, don't show fear, and when I say so - RUN!" I remember him cracking his very own bull's whip. Later, when I fell in love with Davy Crockett and Zorro, they didn't seem all that amazing. I felt like Brother Bear had had all these adventures before TV was even invented. I was sure he'd killed a b'ar or two while he was only three.

Brother Bear was allowed to ride his bike on fishing trips Down in the Valley. I was only allowed to go two driveways on each side away from home. I was never so thrilled as when he got a new bike and I inherrited his old reddish-purple one. I rode that one till I went away to college and passed it down to the next sibling.

He went with me to pick out my first prom dress and helped me decide to buy elbow length white gloves instead of wrist length. He taught me to slow dance and practiced with me so I wouldn't be too awkward.

He studied a lot and had a bedroom in the basement through college. We all had to be really quiet so he could work on calculus. If I was very stuck on a homework problem, I could go down and he'd help me on it. And sometimes while making himself a snack late at night, he would make me a "dagwood sandwhich" too. I loved those nights not so much for the snack as for the company.

I don't think I'd met Sweet Sis until the day of Bro Bear's college graduation. I had heard about an office girl where he worked during college - a girl he liked to flirt with. How I heard about her I have no idea. I'm sure he never would have told me about her! She turned out to be wonderful. She was sweet and smiled and didn't treat me like an obnoxious little sister. She probably thought I was a snob - Bro Bear had duly warned me before meeting her to keep my mouth shut and be polite.

They got married on 6-8-68. I was looking forward to having a sister and it had been a rough year for me away at school. Sweet Sis had asked me to be one of her six bridesmaids. Yes, she did! And, yes, I wore a dress. It was pink and long and I think it had an empire waist. I'm not sure but I think my shoes were pink, too. It was a Polish wedding and I was excited to see what it would be like. It was the first time I'd been in the Polish neighborhood and it seemed old-fashioned and sweet with buildings and shops clustered around the church. I remember looking at the outside of the church. It was built of grey stone and had Polish writing on the outside. Inside, in the undercroft, a couple men were already drinking! Yikes! After the Mass there was a formal sit-down breakfast for the families and wedding party complete with Polish meatballs. My then boyfriend had come with me and I think we sat together instead of at the main table. He was a small town boy and totally freaked out at the whole scene. When everyone started klanking their spoons against the glasses for someone to make a toast or to get the couple to kiss, he was horrified. I think this was the first wedding I'd ever been to, but I knew about the spoon klanking and thought it was so much fun. The tradition is for the bride and groom to go to each families' home and have a little welcoming drink and pastry or snadwiches. My boyfriend hid out in our backyard and I felt like I had to take care of him so I felt torn......But the bride was beautiful and even my brother looked pretty handsome. Later was the reception and I was looking forward to the traditional dances and the part where they take away the bride's veil and give her a broom. A pouting boyfriend and a tight girdle convinced me to leave before the dancing began.

Forty years. No boyfriend. No girdles. But still a wonderful sweet sister married to an adored brother.

In Which Miss Ingu Ponders the Day

I'm sitting in my white chair as I write this. The day has just begun. I fell asleep with the blog in my lap last night before I could write anything! I promise - I'm trying to write!

Yesterday was a beautiful day with those grey Irish clouds that make all the greens look like dancing emeralds. Everyone's yard seemed bursting with blossoms that take on such a cool combination of colors when the sky is overcast. To day is the same, but the wind is blustery like a storms a-coming. The trees are blowing wildly and the sound of the trains has a strange muffle to it. And it's chilly. The heat is still on! Who ever heard of a June when the heat still came on.

My day began with Waylon licking my hand, then my cheek. I have heard that having a cat lick you is a special blessing. The licks start out tiny and tender then progress to a rough sand paper cleansing. My eyes are still closed; I'm ignoring him. I think about people who are allergic to cat saliva and wonder why Waylon licks me. Does my skin taste good? Or salty? Or does it stink to him, so he's cleaning me up? Or is he just doing it to annoy me? I try not to move. Maybe he'll go away.

Then Blue comes to the side of the bed. She breathes her dog breath into my face and takes her head and starts bumping the mattress, sort of like a baby goat. With every bump there's a tiny growl. If I hold still long enough will she go away? Nope. The bed bumping and growling increase with eash attempt to rouse me until the whole bed is slamming against the wall and each growl is accompanied by a sharp bark.

I think it's sibling rivalry. A cat and a dog trying to compete at who can make me get out of bed to open the back door and put food in their plates. After all is accomplished, they ignore me.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane. It's a Four Year Old Gymnast! Yesterday morning I went with Kaleidoscope Girl and SIE to his last gymnastics class. His teacher is moving to Corvalis. I had heard about gym class and wanted to see it for myself. The gym was a huge room the size of a basketball court. I'd pictured it smaller. It was sparsely filled with equipment, but had a lot of large, padded floor coverings of different shapes and colors. SIE ran, tumbled, bounced, colided with cushioned walls, and walked the high beam. He would start across the beam, then turn to wave and make sure we were watching. He was wearing his pajamas - more comfy for free movement even though the britches kept slipping down because they're a little too big for his tiny butt. He doesn't care about the slippage. He's mastered a slight-of-hand "pull up action" for such occassions!

After class we sent to check out the award winning roses at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink, stopping first at the bookstore where Sie mannaged to find several books we had to read right there on the spot. I guess that's better - otherwise you'd have to buy them. Then down to the ice rink. Where does all that ice go? We walked around the rink, but it wasn't open for viewing yet...so I still haven't seen Dr. Pottinger's rose in bloom. Then we found a pirate store. When I was little it was Peter Pan and Davy Crockett we loved. Today it's pirates, complete with bildge rats, sabres, and cool bandanas covering dread locks.

Next stop was the Sushi Train. Have I told you about that before? It's a little sushi bar where the sushi is put on a conveyer belt and you grab what you want as they dish passes by. The dishes are different prices according to the color of the plate, so the waiters can just add up your plates when you're finished. SIE is an expert sushi catcher. Miso soup and crab rolls are his favorites. Yesterday he ate 9 crab rolls and a bowl of jello.

Back home by way of the pet store to pick up some dog food. They have a parrot named Claude who talks and can say "Harper" and "Grandma". We stop to see him, as well as the baby guinea pigs and fish, a couple small snakes, and a lizard that hid under the sand.

I thought for sure that SIE would fall asleep on the drive home. But he was still awake and I decided to take him with me on a couple errands. We had to stop at the airport post office to pick up some 1 cent stamps (they're for all those Christmas cards that never got sent). They have a display case with model airplanes that he loves to look at while I'm in line.

Then we stopped at the craft store. I had a purpose in mind and they didn't have what I needed. But SIE found plenty. I could be more disciplined about getting things for him if I didn't like to play myself. I found a bag of blue marbles for Nimblethread's project. SIE explained why he would like a bag of blue marbles for himself - "Grandma, I've lost most of my marbles." We had a controversy over some sequins that were on sale. He claimed he wanted them for himself because "they are so really pretty to look at." I bought them, but took them home. I hope it didn't cause a fuss when he remembered them. We also found a model hot rod that he "really, really needed...please, grandma". I explained that I couldn't help him put it together, but he was quite confident his mom would know how. The clerk gave us a 50% off coupon, so that sealed the deal. And I last saw him sitting with his mom on their living room floor taking a million little pieces out of the box. It didn't look as easy as I thought. I thought I better get away fast! My apologies to Kaleidoscope Girl.

Saint Joan of Arc

Today is St. Joan of Arc's feast day. She holds a special place in some hearts like mine. Maybe it's because my baptismal certificate says my middle name is Joan. (Birth certificate says it's Joanne) Maybe it's the image of a strong girl. Not far from here is a round-about with a life size statue of Joan on her horse errected after WWI by veterans. She is gilded in bright gold. She's beautiful.

The internet has some crazy web sites and depictions of her. I searched and these are my favorites. Some I have seen via Fireling who visited Rouen, the town where she was burned at the stake. I especially love the image of St. Theresa, the little flower, dressed as Joan in a convent play.

Live With Courage!

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Picked my first boquet of roses from my "own" yard today. It's too wet to mow the lawn and the roses were drooping. Oops! The photo is sideways. I think the water will spill all over this blog! Sorry I don't know the rose's names....one is a yellow climber, one is an old fashioned pink, and one is a cherry red. I'm going to name them "Sunny", "Aunt Harriet", and "Spot". They all need some attention. They seem to have been neglected. I can't wait to get organized enough to read up and see what they need.

And today is the openning of Portland's Rose Fesitval. Portland is the "Rose City" in case you didn't know. There are a bunch of neighborhood rose gardens, besides the huge official Rose Test Garden. Even the man-hole covers and other metal caps along the sidewalks have a rose embossed on them. The number one Rose for the Festival this year is one called "Dream Come True". It was hybridized by an "ameteur" individual, which hasn't happened in ages and only the third rose bred by an ameteur to win the AARS (All-American Rose Selection). And to top it off, "Dream Come True" was bred by Dr. Pottinger from Delhi (not Delhi, India ... the Delhi, Ohio next to Cincinnati, Ohio). Delhi was my first home away from home where I went to college. All this I learned when Lady M was here. She knows everything! Blue and I went over to the East Rose Garden in Ladd's Addition, where "Dream Come True" grows. There are lots of roses in bloom, but not this one. I guess it was the last to be planted so might be the last to bloom. Anyway, when it blooms, I'll try to put its photo on here.

What else have I been up to? Finding things that are blue! BLUE like green minus yellow equals BLUE. Right now it's my life quest. I love having a mission. This particular mission came from an idea Nimblethreads and The Conquistador had. So far I have two boxes full of little blue things for them! And that's not counting several blue things SIE decided he really needed for himself....like a blue Teradactyl and a big blue tow truck (named Lofty for those of you in the know) . I've hit every thrift shop I can find, and some of them more than once. It's fun to have a focus when you want to take a break and wander through a thrift shop.

Besides buying blue, I finally found a soft chair for the living room...and....it ... is ... white! I love it. But you know how long a white chair would stay white for me? I have animals! And visits from short people who might need to climb up with smudgy shoes on or whipe their noses on the chair arms. But I got it anyway. It is so comfy to sit in and it has rockers so it's like a padded rocking chair. It definitely will get a cover pronto.

The only other thing to report is a l o n g walk Blue and I took last Sunday. There's an "urban wilderness" area near here called Oaks Bottoms. We really needed a dose of the country, but with gas prices so high I didn't want to drive up to the Farm. I thought we'd just take a quick walk and started off along the bike trail. There was a path that cut off from the bike trail and into the woods, so we thought we'd take a peak. It seemed from the map that the path would circle back to the bike trail quickly. So into the quiet woods we went, crossing over a couple little streams and admiring the well-kept wooden bridges. There was a sign that said, "This trail has been maintained by such and such junior high school". Then a split in the path - we turned right. Turning left would have taken us on that quick route back to the bike path. But we didn't know that until we walked for miles and hours. We walked so far that all my joint lubrication dried up and my joints started clicking. Yuck, I hate that! Blue was pulling at the leash for most of the walk, which really was a good thing because I would have given up and sat down and been there still. The water was really high and our path looked like we were deep in the bayous. We could hear geese and saw a lot of ducks nesting in the reeds. I kept hearing a splash that sounded like someone in a canoe. I was really glad we don't have alligators - it turned out to be Nutria sliding into the water out of our way. Blue really wanted to catch one. At one point I stopped just to look out over the water and saw two very tiny hummingbirds cavorting around, tumbling through the air, and landing gracefully on water grasses. The path finally opened to a meadow, then under a train tressle, then at least a mile along the "Springwater Corridor Bike Trail", past two eagle nests, then back to the origional bike path and up a hill to the parking lot. Whew! Good exersize!

One funny thing about this path is that nearby is an amusement park. Through the wooded wetlands you would hear the screams from the roller coaster. What a strange combination of senses.

Chiggers Are My Nemesis

Superman had kriptonite, Darth Vader had Luke, I have chiggers! Sunday a week ago as I walked off the trail trying to find a garter snake, it crossed my mind that chiggers might be out. Some people don't even believe in them. And I try not to so I did everthing wrong. When I got home I was too tired to take a shower. I just curled up in bed and slept awhile giving the little critters time to wander around and jump on the bed. When I did put my clothes in the laundry, I used cold water instead of hot. Within hours of the walk, I was again a believer.This week has been super hot here. The kind of hot that fries my mind and makes my body feel like it's breathing its last. Of the very little bit I did get accomplished was looking up "chiggers" on line. In an attempt to feel a comraderie with all of creation I decided I better find out what I could. It turns out that chiggers are the larvae of those teensy weensy red spiders. Now, I've alsways liked those little guys and am having a hard time believing they spend part of their lives as chiggers. Once they are spiders they won't bite you. But when they are new born larvae, they climb to the top of grass blades and hang on waiting for something to sip. They don't actually bite, they spit something into you that hardens a spot and turns the center of the spot to a yummy sludge. I'm thinking something like a Slurpy. The hardened skin itches and some people itch more than others. And the itch lasts 7 days....maybe more. They say on line that painting them with fingernail polish doesn't work, but I do think that shortens the itching somewhat. My back had a bunch of bites that I couldn't reach to apply the nail polish. That gave me a chance to compare the ones I was able to paint and those I wasn't. So 7 days was yesterday. The spots I couldn't reach are still itching a little, but this itch may be from the little chiggers who decided to take a nap when I did and didn't get hungry till the next evening. I've been reduced to carrying around a large serving spoon this week so I can reach those itchy spots. I'm praising the Lord for spoons and hot showers and little chiggers who remind us we all have a place in His creation.