Miss Ingu and the Itsy Bitsy Spiders

When we were out on the farm SIE and I would walk through the empty green houses and found all kinds of interesting things, moths and bugs and different kind of webs. Before moving we found 3 different egg sacs and put them in a jar with a net on top. One is a praying mantis egg I think. The other two I'm not sure. One looked like a small Japanese lantern and the other like a yellowpuff ball.

Sunday I happened to look up at the jar on the windowsill while I was rinsing some dishes. There was what looked like a little dried thistle in the jar and when I looked closer it turned out to be a ball of bitsy little spiders - new borns! They were gathered in a tight ball and when I picked up the jar, they all scattered and it looked like a cluster of fireworks bursting forth. I had to use a magnifying glass to make sure they had eight legs. Then I realized they must have built their own webs because they were suspended in the air. I couldn't tell which egg sac they came from.

I put the jar into a larger container because I wasn't sure if they would be able to crawl through the net. Sure enough, by the morning they had moved through the net into another tight cluster. They are now residing in the garage. I went to visit them today and they are clustered in a small web nestled in the windowsill. There are lots of them. I hope they are spiders of the friendly variety. I don't want to have a garage full of the wicked biting kind.

In Which Miss Ingu Says, "Whoops!"

So Sorry...I got the cat names wrong! Now I remember that Fluffy was the name of Sweetfairy Bee's cat. Smokey was the little long hair dark gray kitten from SCPA. Right? I got their names mixed up. There was also a black and white kitten we called "Kitty" who just stayed for a day or two. She was a relative of Mournful Kitter-Kat from a family on Main Street. K-girl was just a baby and allergies happened. Plus, there was the little pale calico kitten that lived with us on Broadway and was too young to live without her mother. I thought her name was Rosetree; but did we have 2 Rosetree's? I thought Rosetree and Memphis was the same cat - the tiger-like Abbysinian cat we gave to Anita B.

While I'm remembering our faithful furry companions< I'll also pay tribute to Bobby, Gretel, Hera, and dear Ayla. There was also a tiny white fluffy dog that got dipped in the toilet and only stayed the night. And there was Maud, The Intrepid Attack Bird, an amazing green parakeet. There were lots of fish, including an Oscar named Oscar who ate roaches and a goldfish named Star who grew olmost as big as the tank, and 20 little science experiment goldfish who lived and died with us one school year. A white snail who grew very large tending the fish tanks without any fanfare. A teddybear hamster named Poppy Luigie. Countless mice and rabbits. Does anyone remember their names? A rat who spent a season with us, named Linus. And our baby turtles...one was a box turtle we walked on a leash, and lastly the much beloved "Little Guy" and his young female companion. I don't think she had a name. Can you believe it...red-eared sliders are considered a horrible invasive species here! It's against the law to bring them here! That's the only thing I don't like about Oregon.

In the Memetime

I've been "memed" by a dear friend, otr girl. That's a blogging term that is used sort of like playing tag. Am I "with it" or what? In this meme I've been asked to tell 7 weird things about myself, then to meme some other bloggers. There are rules. I can't follow rules. Maybe that should be my number 1 weird thing. Except I don't think it's exceptionally weird - don't we all spend our lives trying to escape rules? That's what Early Childhood Development studies, Art Degrees, Cancer Research, Recipes and Hippie Communes are all about. I also have a great resistance to passing on chain letters. I've often had the feeling that it's my duty to stop chain e-mail so people's time can be freed up for better use! I don't even know enough bloggers to pass this on to. So I'm skipping the rules, but I'll make a list. Some of these weird things many of you know. Some might surprise you. If you really want weird, my daughters are the ones to ask.....

2. I have a freaky memory for Saints' Feast Days. This carries over to pairing up saints' feasts with birthdays and anniversaries. When the Catholic Church redid its liturgical calendar I never quite caught up...so for the most part I remember the "old" feast days. I was born on the "old" St. Joachim's Feast Day and can't ever remember who took his place.

3. I love tiny things. I am addicted to bonsai trees and the little figures you see on bonsai trees. This love goes way back to when I was tiny myself and loved the tiny glass animals on display in the Sears window next to the bus stop. It was manifest when I made "minature environments" to sell at the Eden Park Summer Art Fair and in the Mouse Houses of today. Yes, I do believe in fairies.

4. I have a couple largish brown spots on my left cheek that I love. They are like big freckles. I usually forget about them. Sometimes people get all worried and think they are skin cancer. But they are inherited age spots. My father had the same spots, but on his right cheek. I used to especially like them because I thought I might be related to pinto ponies.

5. I worry about goofy things. For example, the past few nights I've been worrying that the new fish we got are too cold.

6. The 23rd day of the month is a favorite of mine. I'm not sure why. But you know how New Year's Day is like a fresh, beginnig day for most people? The 23rd of every month is like that for me. If I ever want to start a diet or new plan of action, the 23rd is the day to do it!

7.I love sea monkeys!

House Tour

Think: Bill Clinton gives a tour of the White House Christmas decor as "first man." And here is a brief tour of our new home seven weeks after moving in. We're still unpacking.
It's in an old neighborhood. The engraved street names don't always match the street signs. A room with a view - out the front window I can see across to the church which is surrounded by old flowering trees. Right across the street is a window to the daily mass chapel. The blessed sacrement is right by this window. I think it is closer than if I stood in the way back at St. Boniface and looked at the tabernacle. A living room that inspires art. The view out my bedroom window. A sleek and long kitchen waiting for a kitchen table. Books! Two of the 3 bookcases I've built since moving here. Four Peruvian angels gracing the front room wall.

Cirque du Soleil

Kaliedoscope girl took me to see Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo".

I wasn't too keen on going. I'd seen little tv clips about the cirque over the years and wasn't that charmed. But she's seen them perform before and loves them. I guess they come to Portland every few years. She was really wanting to take me to see them.

This performance, called "Corteo" (French for "cortege" - a funeral prossesion), was about a clown who dreamed he died and all his circus friends came to say good bye. His angels come through the air to take him, but he asks to stay a few moments longer. Then scenes of his life go before him - from his memories of his grandmother's bed, which turns into an amazing tumbling and acrobatic act performed on two huge beds...to being introduced to the circus, with juggling and trapeze and tightrope walkers, giants and little people...to falling in love and growing old clowning...to behind the scene fights and jealousies...and ending when the angels come to take him home. His fellow performers wave goodbye as he rides a bycicle across the sky.

From the moment it started, I knew it would be wonderful! I don't even know how to tell you what it was like. It was all just so amazing. The audience was on both sides of the stage and the stage curtain was a huge wispy fabric with ethereal paintings on it. We had 2nd row seats, and from the time we sat down, memories of going to the circus with my father flooded back to me. It was like being a wide-eyed child again.

The clown was my ideal of a clown, and all the performers connected with the audience so you felt like part of them. There were many acts, but all tied together, and often someone would zip across the stage - like one person that just summersaulted so fast across the stage from left to right that you never even saw their face sort of like dream sequences.

My favorite part: During one act, seemingly unrelated to the act, a clown crosses the stage high above on a tightwire - he's dressed in a white frilly clown suit and white face, holding an umbrella, and taking one step at a time, slowly across the stage - upside down! It seems so bizzare and natural at the same time. Kaleidoscope girl said her favorite act was a clown that brought out a ladder to center stage and tries to climb it. The ladder isn't leaning on anything so it keeps tipping and flipping. But he does it! He climbs up and over and down really fast, keeping his balance and being so delightful.

One more favorite part: The clown is playing with a little clown girl who is suspended from six huge blue balloons. He can hold her in his hands. It looks like she is probably suspened from the ceiling by wires until he tosses her out into the audience, where she lites on peoples' hands like a butterfly until they toss her back to the clown.

In Which Waylon Comes to Stay

About nine years ago Kaliedoscope girl brought two kittens to live with her in Portland. They were brothers. She named them Merle and Waylon, after Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. Merle was gray with white markings and had long hair. Waylon was white with gray markings and had short hair. About 6 years ago, Merle met his demise. We think it was an eagle attack. All that was ever found was a tuft of gray hair in the driveway.Waylon lived on and took command of the street. You would often see him making his rounds from yard to yard, sometimes sunning on car roofs, often pooping in other people's flowerbeds. Of late he had become a pest. Very vocal and nagging a sweet, hard-working nurse on her return home after a 12 hour shift. Very demanding about the kind of food he's fed. And peeing on Hapapapa's laundry one-too-many times.

So the noble cat has come to live at grandma's house. At this moment he is asleep behind my head on the back of the couch. Blue is curled up asleep beside me. I think each cat embodies the spirit of all cats. So I feel the presence of all the felines I've ever known - Blackie, Tiger and Tammy, Mournful Kitter-Kat, Phoebe, Rosetree, Memphis, Brenda, Smokey, Sparrow, Sparrow's four kittens, Misty, and "my little husband" Perdinkle. It's very calm and all is well.

One Camelia, Two Camelia, Three Camelia, Four

In Which the Mona Lisa Makes Peaches Smile

Well you may be wondering how the Beachys are doing. It seems the last few days have been very difficult for them. Soon has been awake and crying all night long. They think she has colic. They told me they walk her and pat her and sing to her all night and she doesn't stop until her cheeks are red and her voice is gone. They are terribly afraid she's disturbing Blue and me. But we haven't heard her at all. Peachy is beside herself and if she doesn't get some better sleep, Mr. Beachy and I are sure she will get the post-partum blues.

It turns out Peachy knows the exact broth to make that will soothe the colic as well as strengthen a mama against the blues. The only problem is that one ingredient is a mushroom that is not available at the market. Luckily Mr. Beachy knows where it grows up on the farm in Washington. I could not believe it, but yesterday Mr. Beachy walked all the way up I-205 to Woodland, then over to the farm, found a few teeny mushrooms, and then walked all the way back here! He could have asked for a ride...but you know those Beachys. They're just so proud.

Peaches was able to prepare a big pot of the broth and fed Soon a teaspoon. She said it helped a lot. Tonight she will give her two teaspoons and tomorrow three teaspoons of the magic broth and that should put the colic to rest.

But poor Mr. Beachy. Today his little feet were so swollen that he couldn't even put on his socks, never mind his shoes. We made him prop his feet up on a cushion and wrapped them in cool cloths. It was a beautiful day for working outside, too. But there was no way we would allow him to put his feet on the floor. He complained and complained, which, I'm sure you can imagine, is not at all typical of Mr. Beachy's temperment. I suggested Peaches give him some of the broth...they both stared at me with unbelief that I could be so ridiculous. The scowls on their faces cracked me up! They didn't think that was funny at all. "Only for Baby. Only for Baby."

So I promised to think up something that would make them laugh, too. This evening I found a video on the internet and it made the Beachys laugh so much. I wasn't able to get it to post to the blog. But maybe this will take you there: It's called "Gallery Animates Old Masters" Good Luck. I hope it makes you laugh, too. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23941372#23913975