the first of my four days off in a row. Ahhhh. My brother came through his surgery very well yesterday and is already up and in the shower. Fabulous news! And Durwood is packing to go to a local motel for an overnight escape. He'll walk the mall, buy a new pair of shoes or two, troll Sam's for samples, and eat all the wrong things at a buffet tonight. We do this every few months since he's been retired and home all the time; neither of us is used to that yet and this gives us a little "togetherness" breather. I'll say it again: ahhhhhh.
March 3--Taha'a, Tahiti. The crossed palms grow right at the edge where the warm, clear sea laps at the sugar white sand. Ruby loves this place, the spot where all the elements she loves converge into one, where the line between land and sea, between air and water blurs. In this one place on the island she feels the shiver of being part of two worlds. All her life, Ruby has sought a place like this, somewhere where everything is a part of everything else, where worlds overlap and time slips aside and she can just be. Here is where she sings her songs and tells her stories to the wind, where the cold blue stars dance across the sky making peace with the night.
Poetic, and I like it. It feels good. Enjoy your Thursday!
--Barbara
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
It's A-Coming!
Spring! Look what I found nestled in a south-facing corner right by the front door. This is why I planted bulbs a few years back. This right here.
It's daffodils (blue-green) and hyacinths (yellow-green) poking their brave little green noses up into the late winter chill to see what's happening. Yay!
Mid-Week
And my last working day this week. I've got the next 4 days off and I am filled with ideas of how to occupy myself. I bought a gallon (a gallon!!) of aloe juice at Walmart yesterday so I can make some more lotion and I need to make lip balm because I'm flat out. Flat out! There isn't one tube lurking anywhere and so I need to get down there and get melting. I wonder what flavors I'll make...
March 2--Jardin do Mar, Madiera. The white houses with their red tile roofs were notched together down the sloping town to the sea like an old jigsaw puzzle. The clear light from the blue Mediterranean sky cast strong cool shadows of deep black between buildings. Lucy didn't remember why she had chosen to take her first vacation in years in a place so far off the beaten track, at least for Americans, but she was glad she had. Every day she walked down into the center of the town to eat her small lunch of fresh cheese with crusty bread, a handful of olives, with a ripe fig for dessert, all washed down by a glass of the local red wine. Alma, the cafe owner, was the only person she spoke with many days and Alma understood very little English and spoke less. It didn't really matter since Lucy spoke only a few words of Portuguese. Lucy decided that was perfect; she could bare her soul to the older woman with the kind eyes as she worked behind the counter and could imagine the advice Alma would give. Oddly enough Lucy always heard what she wanted to hear.
Well, that started with a lot of promise and then got slightly awkward and confused. I might fix it one day or I'll let it sink into the sea and dissolve. Time to go to work.
--Barbara
March 2--Jardin do Mar, Madiera. The white houses with their red tile roofs were notched together down the sloping town to the sea like an old jigsaw puzzle. The clear light from the blue Mediterranean sky cast strong cool shadows of deep black between buildings. Lucy didn't remember why she had chosen to take her first vacation in years in a place so far off the beaten track, at least for Americans, but she was glad she had. Every day she walked down into the center of the town to eat her small lunch of fresh cheese with crusty bread, a handful of olives, with a ripe fig for dessert, all washed down by a glass of the local red wine. Alma, the cafe owner, was the only person she spoke with many days and Alma understood very little English and spoke less. It didn't really matter since Lucy spoke only a few words of Portuguese. Lucy decided that was perfect; she could bare her soul to the older woman with the kind eyes as she worked behind the counter and could imagine the advice Alma would give. Oddly enough Lucy always heard what she wanted to hear.
Well, that started with a lot of promise and then got slightly awkward and confused. I might fix it one day or I'll let it sink into the sea and dissolve. Time to go to work.
--Barbara
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
What Grandma's Up To
For the third year in a row the orchid that Holly gave Mom for Mother's Day is going to bloom. I told her that she can't move because obviously the place she has it in is exactly right and makes it very happy.
She was playing bridge a while back in a chilly hotel dining room, one of the women had a little capelet to put around her shoulders. Mom thought it was a good idea, so I found a pattern for her on the Lion Brand website, she picked out some y
arn and needles, and she's been working away at it. I tried to put my order in for one and she just frowned at me.
Shh...It's Still Sunny
Don't say it too loud in case we scare the sun away and it goes back to being dreary. Shhhh.
Mrs. Boss came back from Colorado skiing and she's working today and Thursday so I only have to work 2 days this week. Yay! I know, I know my paycheck next week will be nearly nonexistent especially compared to the last few, but I need the time off. Need. It. I've salted away enough extra money to pay for most of my year's escapes so I can have this time to recharge and get back to a slower paced life.
March 1--Ko Hong, Thailand. Like it had been cleaved millennia ago, the cliffs rose vertically from the beach. The clumps of stunted trees at the base of the cliffs served to preserve the modesty of the place where rock met sand. The almost-pubic looking greenery made it hard for the geologists to gather samples but gave the artists something interesting to paint. It was a challenge for Captain Marcel Durot to steer a course to please the greatest number of his passengers, a shifting mix of amateur scientists and artists. His route was dictated by the winds since his ship, the Flying Cloud, was most of all a sailing ship at the mercy of the whims of the winds. But many passengers failed to understand, wanted him to drive against the wind and the seas so that they could photograph a bird or an island, so they could put another exotic locale on their life list of destinations. The present group of mostly Americans would have had him skating all over the Indian Ocean like a demented water strider if he listened to half their directions.
Well, that certainly took a different tack than I anticipated. Go out and absorb a bit of vitamin D today if you can.
--Barbara
Mrs. Boss came back from Colorado skiing and she's working today and Thursday so I only have to work 2 days this week. Yay! I know, I know my paycheck next week will be nearly nonexistent especially compared to the last few, but I need the time off. Need. It. I've salted away enough extra money to pay for most of my year's escapes so I can have this time to recharge and get back to a slower paced life.
March 1--Ko Hong, Thailand. Like it had been cleaved millennia ago, the cliffs rose vertically from the beach. The clumps of stunted trees at the base of the cliffs served to preserve the modesty of the place where rock met sand. The almost-pubic looking greenery made it hard for the geologists to gather samples but gave the artists something interesting to paint. It was a challenge for Captain Marcel Durot to steer a course to please the greatest number of his passengers, a shifting mix of amateur scientists and artists. His route was dictated by the winds since his ship, the Flying Cloud, was most of all a sailing ship at the mercy of the whims of the winds. But many passengers failed to understand, wanted him to drive against the wind and the seas so that they could photograph a bird or an island, so they could put another exotic locale on their life list of destinations. The present group of mostly Americans would have had him skating all over the Indian Ocean like a demented water strider if he listened to half their directions.
Well, that certainly took a different tack than I anticipated. Go out and absorb a bit of vitamin D today if you can.
--Barbara
Monday, March 1, 2010
Done *edited to add*
I thought it wasn't busy at work today but it must have been because I only had time to knit six rows and finish Izzy's mitts. I like the way the colors blended; I just hope Izzy likes them.
And I have just begun yet another Ugly Bunny. I can't leave them alone.
*Izzy's dad said she was thrilled with them, saying, "thankyouthankyouthankyou, they're just like Barbara's!" I'm so glad.
I Might Just Survive
Is anyone else surprised that February is over so quickly? Today it looks like Spring might actually happen and it's so sunny with a hint of warmth in the air that I think I might just make it through Winter once more. It was a hard weekend on the writing front. Cabin fever/Spring fever had me firmly in its grip and I was trapped there like a bug under a microscope, my arms and legs waving and not much progress being made. Now that Mrs. Boss is back from her last vacation for a while, my work schedule will go back to normal and I'll have my days off so I might actually have more than two brain cells kicking over and make some actual headway on my novel rewrite and get some new stories off the starting blocks.
Did everyone watch the Olympics like you had a kid in them? I did. I want to Google the curling rules so I can understand a bit about "houses" and "skips" and "stones", and I want to be young and know how to ski so I can try my hand at Ski Cross which looks to me like roller derby on snow. Riveting. I'd like to ride screaming down the bobsled run too, but not as the "brake" person. Their only view was the ass of the "pilot," what fun is that? I want to see where I'm going. Love the cowbells the spectators rang too. A nice cheerful sound.
February 28--Canary Islands. It wasn't something I expected to see on our drive around the island with Antonio. It was a line of camels pacing along the side of the road. The first in line bore a rider as did the last one, the rest of them, maybe a doze were riderless but wearing aluminum frames hanging on either side of their humps. At first I couldn't figure out what they were for, then with a jolt I realized that they were seats for riders. These beasts were meant to give tourists rides. No matter how I tried, I couldn't imagine sitting perched up there on one side of a camel, feet dangling, jerking along the rocky path. Just watching them as they swayed along the roadside made me queasy. I couldn't see myself taking a ride like that without losing my lunch.
Eh. At least it's writing. Anyone else doing daily prompts? Anyone got anything first-drafy I can read?
--Barbara
Did everyone watch the Olympics like you had a kid in them? I did. I want to Google the curling rules so I can understand a bit about "houses" and "skips" and "stones", and I want to be young and know how to ski so I can try my hand at Ski Cross which looks to me like roller derby on snow. Riveting. I'd like to ride screaming down the bobsled run too, but not as the "brake" person. Their only view was the ass of the "pilot," what fun is that? I want to see where I'm going. Love the cowbells the spectators rang too. A nice cheerful sound.
February 28--Canary Islands. It wasn't something I expected to see on our drive around the island with Antonio. It was a line of camels pacing along the side of the road. The first in line bore a rider as did the last one, the rest of them, maybe a doze were riderless but wearing aluminum frames hanging on either side of their humps. At first I couldn't figure out what they were for, then with a jolt I realized that they were seats for riders. These beasts were meant to give tourists rides. No matter how I tried, I couldn't imagine sitting perched up there on one side of a camel, feet dangling, jerking along the rocky path. Just watching them as they swayed along the roadside made me queasy. I couldn't see myself taking a ride like that without losing my lunch.
Eh. At least it's writing. Anyone else doing daily prompts? Anyone got anything first-drafy I can read?
--Barbara
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