Sunday, September 30, 2007
glass sphere
Saturday, September 29, 2007
patio table
Years ago, before we got married, he told me I would always be able to have any animal or pet I wanted; he knew I loved animals. Any animal, except one--a cow. Today he changed his mind. He drove past a farm of miniature cows, said they were the cutest things. I reminded him we only have an acre and a half.
I looked online, found photos of these little cows (as pets) in people's house. Cute names like, "Moose", "Ladybug" and "Peanut". Hmm, well maybe!
Friday, September 28, 2007
two leaves
Thursday, September 27, 2007
grandma young
I took a snapshot of the little framed photo, not really paying attention to the background. It was only later I noticed how the books in my mom's room paralleled the books in the background of her mom's photo. What I did notice was that the year it was taken. My grandmother was the same age in the photo, as I am now, 48.
I called grandma last week, she's 92, living life to the fullest and as active and sweet as ever. I told her that I hoped I was able to live a long happy life as she had. I told her she would likely live to 114! Oh no, she told me, she wasn't going to live that long, she was going to live to age 97.
97? I asked, how did she know, and why such an odd number? She told me , "Well, I had a great-grandmother, and we had a lot in common. My great-grandmother was born exactly 100 years before me. She was born in 1815, I was born in 1915. She was married in 1836 on her 21st birthday, I was married in 1936, three days before my 21st birthday. She lived to be 97 years old, so I think that's a good age. She was a very special woman, but I didn't call her great-grandma, I called her Aliza."
I love that! Here's to grandma's and great-grandma's too!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
tea bag dish
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
figs on purple dish
These are the last of my figs, I've eaten everyone of them now, and thoroughly enjoyed each. I was reading the police report in our local paper today. This one made me laugh, (though I suppose I wouldn't be if it were my garden).
"Sept 20, THEFT--Butternut squash and approximately 10lbs of green peppers were reported stolen from a garden plot in the 1400 block of Woodside Rd. The vegetables are valued at approximately $150. The matter was reported Sept 15 at 10:20am."
I'm out of town for a few days, I'm not sure if I'll be able to update on the road, I'll try.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
self at window
Mapquest says 3 hours 31 minutes for her, and 3 hours, 19 minutes for me. Though mine is an extra 34 miles, I suspect she has windy country Vermont roads ahead of her. I'm known as a very light packer, when I travel by plane. I'd rather do without, than carry heavy luggage. Not this time, I'm loading up the car, even bringing my own feather pillows.
Monday, September 17, 2007
basket of figs
red door
It's in the low 60's outside, yet all the leaves are still bright green. I want it one way or the other. Give me hot days where I can shut the doors and crank the airconditioner, or those cold days when I want to bake a pie and make a fire; the leaves turning yellow, orange and purple. These odd days with all the windows open make me feel out of step, like I'm waiting for something...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
red house mural
I love that about Fred, he's always willing to circle the block when I see something neat! He took longer than expected to come around. Said he was stuck behind a horse and carriage moving very slowly, hehe--only in Pennsylvania!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
old bottles
Fred is a sentimental type. He doesn't like to throw away things that might have a memory attached. Ok, it's great he still has his tricycle when he was 4 years old, and we have Rush's tricycle when he was 4. Those are all good things to keep. The trouble comes because there is little discrimination over what goes in the attic--so you can't find the good stuff. Most of the items in the attic, should have been carried to the street one Sunday or Wednesday night for pick up the next morning. We pay for that. Olivia's party favors from a 11 year old party she went to? It's there. Rush's 'Spawn' creatures from the lagoon at a time when he was into that? It's there. Fred's old pay stubs from 1978? Yes, I know right where they are.
Could I find what I really wanted after an hours search with a flashlight, practicing my balance beam techniques so I did't need to get the repairman out to fix the ceiling below again? No.
But I did find these old poison bottles I'd collected years ago. So I fold up the drop-down stairs in the closet, and think about sorting the attic another day, a little worried that if our heirs are sorting years from now, they will just toss it all and maybe miss the treasures most special hidden within.
Friday, September 14, 2007
olivia
Thursday, September 13, 2007
looking out
Springfield, Massachusetts is that town halfway, I'll meet my sister next week.
ghost of a starfish
I said, 'let's start an etsy store for you...we can list some finished jewelry, but first let's offer some of these pearls'. She delightedly agreed. So when I get back home, I start playing with the esty photo style, you know, that shallow depth of field, pretty background, single-prop style. I start collecting backdrops. First I found a wonderful Japanese paper site (http://www.paperstudio.com/), then I start collecting the props for the photos, then I get side tracked and become obsessed with the papers and props alone--and can't stop. 'Your etsy store? oh yeah....I'm on it....'
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
sail away
Somehow summer came and went and we never made it out to the lake this year. Each day led to another and the season whizzed by!
I am savoring this time from work. I haven't sat at the torch in months and I'm offering frit only to a couple stores, primarily Sabrina's site (www.valcoxfrit.com), and I'm really enjoying the change. Glass still keeps me busy, but I'm shipping fewer, yet bigger boxes of frit at a time rather than bunches of little boxes. A bit less for the cashbox, but well worth it in the time I'm spending with the kids, Fred and exploring some fun new areas in glass casting as well as photography.
I can't wait to show some new things I'm doing with glass casting and beads, but I want to get further along, as much of it is experimental and I'm pushing in some new directions, but not sailing too far adrift from my love for glass beads.
Monday, September 10, 2007
nectarine
Instead this natural-light photo spot is in the too-big master bathtub--now covered with a board and backdrops. The spot where a previous owner (sometime in the early 1980's) chose a jacuzzi with a skylight and oversize window for a bathtub. Not my style, so it's now a place to take photos, lovely windows all around. I can't believe Fred (shower person, but lover of all things neat and tidy) hasn't complained about the tripod in the bathrub.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
There's a Thai resturant in Lamberville NJ that Fred and I have gone to for many years. Maybe ten years. Usually on Sunday for lunch. The place is nothing fancy, just 10 tables. The owner is the waiter, his daughter who used to help waitress has long since moved. The baby sister toddler we watched grow, is now serving water and delivering the Thai tea. The tea for which we really drive the 25 miles, and order food to go with it because you can't just order tea.
We were laughing today as we left that most times we are there, there's another couple about our age who is also there, always at the same table, four feet from ours. I know what they will order. They likely know what we will order. We see them nearly everytime. Sometimes we are the only four guests, but we never say a word nor ever acknowledge that we have seen them for before, nor they us.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
painted lady
Friday, September 07, 2007
hornet den
Anyway he sprayed, I had a fit--they are baby hornets afterall. Yes, I know they sting, but they just hatched and this is their home while they are in training. Well it sounded good enough for him, so he left them alone. It's been three weeks, and they don't appear to be going anywhere. There are 30 or 40 all hovering on the corner of this bench. I guess we'll keep them.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
red room
Now that the kids are 'young adults', they've claimed the family room as their own. They do a pretty good job of keeping it clean.
A capture through the viewfinder of my 1950 Kodak Duaflex.