Even If You Have Nothing to Blog About ...

HOW CAN WE NOT BLOG? (It's like, how can we not breathe?) How can we not have something to say or think? Even if it's meaningless to 95 percent of the people who may see it - or read it - there might be something provocative for someone else to read, see or know.
Yes, I know. I can hear you. We are able to do and say lots of things. That doesn't mean we have to pass them on - out loud or in print.
However, I have some beauties to show you. A co-worker brought some peonies into the office to share and there is no way I cannot share them with you.
My camera captured them for the eternity this blog lasts. And, also for this period of eternity, I've captured a poem by Dorianne Laux. I have wanted to find this poem for quite some time and now I know I can find it on another blog where someone else "steals" poems. This is from Laux's book "Facts About the Moon."

KISSING AGAIN
By Dorianne Laux from "Facts About the Moon"

Kissing again, after a long drought of
not kissing—too many kids, bills, windows

needing repair. Sex, yes, though squeezed in
between the minor depths of anger, despair—

standing up amid the laundry
or fumbling onto the strip of rug between

the coffee table and the couch. Quick, furtive,
like birds. A dance on the wing, but no time

for kissing, the luxuriant tonguing of another
spongy tongue, the deft flicking and feral sucking,

that prolonged lapping that makes a smooth stone
of the brain. To be lost in it, your body tumbled

in sea waves, no up or down, just salt
and the liquid swells set in motion

by the moon, by a tremor in Istanbul, the waft
of a moth wing before it plows into a halo of light.

Praise the deep lustrous kiss that lasts minutes,
blossoms into what feels like days, fields of tulips

glossy with dew, low purple clouds piling in
beneath the distant arch of a bridge. One

after another they storm your lips, each kiss
a caress, autonomous and alive, spilling

into each other, streams into creeks into rivers
that grunt and break upon the gorge. Let the tongue,

in its wisdom, release its stores, let the mouth,
tired of talking, relax into its shapes of give

and receive, its plush swelling, its slick
round reveling, its primal reminiscence

that knows only the one robust world.

Wow! That woman can write a poem about kissing, can't she? The first time I saw/read this poem was at a calligraphy art show. The calligrapher had taken a long, long strip of brown Kraft paper and inscribed this poem onto it. It was a great mixture of images. Imagine being that close, nose to paper, so near these luscious words describing the sensation of kissing.
Only something as sensuous as kissing could be mixed with these slippery, velvety peony petals - femminismo

The Edgier Blogger

EDGIER? Yes, edgier! Fresca (l'astronave) was talking about how "unprivate" do we want our blogs to be. How much do we want to reveal? "How 'naked' do we want to be?"
How honest do we want to be?
What's in it for us, we wonder, to tell more than we feel comfortable with?
In writing, they call it "dangerous" writing. It's exploring who you are and what you really think and what you're really comfortable with.
And you're doing it in public! We shall see where the weeks take us - femminismo
"Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls." from Chapter I, Micah, The Old Testament

So This is 'Almost Summer' Weather?

TUESDAY was an awful weather day. The western sky was gray and foreboding while in the east the sun was shining. Talk about your evil twins!
The weather hit our building at work and you can see the hail bouncing around my car tires outside the building. This is five days before summer? People are going to start believing the gossip that it rains *all the time* in Oregon. AND hails!
Our building has very high ceilings - like 20 feet high - and there are skylights up above. When the hail hit it was so noisy you could hardly hear yourself think. I wonder what the birds thought.
I watched "The Lovely Bones" on Tuesday night. The Mister was spooked by the scene when Susie was crossing the cornfield and left to go take a shower. I have to admit I was spooked too. I loved the book, but I am not sure about the movie - even though I thought the actress who played "Susie" was wonderful. A terrible thing to lose a child in any way, and this particular movie at this particular time reflects a current theme in Oregon: a 7-year-old boy going missing from school. There has still been no word on Kyron Harmon who's been missing since June 4th. Real stories like this just make you feel sick with helplessness.
It's getting late and tomorrow is another day. I see a new dentist tomorrow and hope he is getting a good night's sleep tonight and feeling up to a 3:30 p.m. appointment tomorrow - femminismo
p.s. I'm getting very tempted to try the new "design" element available on Blogger. Don't be surprised if everything on this page changes one of these days.

June Events & Treats

This pretty girl, our granddaughter, Leesha, graduated from high school on Saturday. We are very proud of her for finishing her education despite some of the obstacles in her path.

Saturday was also the first day of sunshine around here in what seemed like a very, very, very long time. Some of the flowers had just given up trying to bloom and the foliage on many flowers and vegetables is very sketchy because of the slugs - who adore the moisture. Time to set out the slug bait.
On Saturday, after graduation, Leesha's parents had a barbecue to celebrate and it was a chance for my son and his dad to hand-crank ice cream. Old fashioned vanilla on top of the chocolate graduation cake. Yum!
The Mister and I attended the party and had a good meal to fortify us for more partying later on at a friend's house, where we danced and then the Mister played guitar. Fun times. The hostess had a beautiful bouquet of peonies with stalks of a mustard plant with variegated foliage. It was quite unusual and gave me a "plant itch" for something similar in our back yard.
This peony portrait is worked over a bit in Photoshop, but it was lovely on its own, too.
Here's the Mister at the barbecue before the party. While he played guitar at the party all I got was shots from behind. It was a "band in the basement" party and the music was quite loud for a while. They played until a little after 10 p.m. because most of the neighbors were at the party!
Here, below, is a picture of slim, tall Zoe, another granddaughter. She is growing so fast it's a wonder her skin can keep up with her.
And I'll finish up with a June rose that is so perfect and fat. Can you smell the peachy goodness of it? - femminismo

Five Hundred First Post . . . !!!

GOOD GRAVY! I almost didn't notice this piece of information when I logged in, but this is my 501st post on Blogger. Propitious moment to give you a picture of my Teeny Tiny Books. I suppose they might be even smaller, to be deserving of the title "Teeny Tiny," but they do fit into a coin envelope. You know: the kind you put loose change into when you make a deposit at the bank?

I have been a lousy blogger recently. Thinking a lot of what I'd like to write about, but never getting it down on paper. Or on the magical glass screen either!

The "Bound for Glory" picture is one I took in Salem from our conference headquarters. Overlooking a busy thoroughfare can be quite interesting!

I've been visiting other blogs the last two days - finally - and seeing these posts energizes me to get busy and do something. Anything to feel creative. So now that I have the April project finally almost done (I need to produce some sort of holder for these booklets) I can start on something new.

Something to do with paint and paper, I think. Now go create, people - femminismo

Testing My Photoshop 'Skills'

As you can see, the real Photoshop geeks have nothing to fear. I used an image another blogger generously distributed and added a few other images. I'm nowhere near to painting faces and adding other elements that these ladies might be holding.

Hmm. Marie Antoinette as a zombie on Day of the Dead? I'm sure she wouldn't be holding a rose, but rather an arm or a leg to feast on - femminismo

First Day of June

JUNE - the month of graduates and newlyweds. And this year, apparently, gully washers of rain showers here in Oregon. A "pineapple express" is scheduled to come through tomorrow or the next day - or maybe tonight! I love pineapple, but I don't think we'll enjoy this one so much. The flowers are already looking pretty worn out from all the rain.
Not this clematis though. Sturdy flowers and such interesting centers I thought I would zoom in on this one.
We were up in the woods, too, on Sunday and I brought back a couple of photographs and a lot of red clay mud on my tennis shoes. Everything was very damp and my little path - Jeanne's Trail - down by the river had really grown over. Some of the deer ferns were as tall as me. Here I had it all cleaned up and spotless and now these little white flowers are carpeting the pathway. The goatsbeard* is in full bloom too, right by the side of the creek.
This is a sword fern, shot from overhead. All the "spears" look so fresh, clean and new! Gorgeous. Must go now. Bedtime and it's off for an annual conference tomorrow about an hour away from home. My suitcase is packed and with all the outfits I was stuffing in the suitcase the Mister was getting a little worried, asking how long I was going to be gone. Just three days, and not even that, really. I'll be back Friday evening - femminismo
* there is a photo of the goatsbeard on another "page" of this blog, if you search for it in the search field at the top

A Weekend For Remembering

THIS three-day weekend has been full of weeding, working, laughing, hoping for sunshine and counting blessings. Oh, and eating strawberries.
Here's a picture and a word or two to keep my hand in this "blogging thingy."
Today we went to the cemetery to say hello to Mom and Dad and my Uncle Frank and Aunt Mildred. Small flags on the veterans' graves. We walked around the old country cemetery to see the hard work others had done cutting the grass and raking up fallen limbs. On every tombstone in the cemetery there were flowers on the graves.
I know some of the people buried there probably don't even have relatives who remember them any longer, but the local church must have some really good people helping out.
Our section of the cemetery was overflowing with flowers. You could really tell my parents and grandparents were well loved!
Today was a good day for gathering flowers - remembering my mother's favorites. This calla lily we got from her garden and brought home to flourish in ours - femminismo
p.s. Check out the pistil, especially at the bottom, and the fluted, rippling petal edge!

Tumbling Strawberries

I SHOULD have been more ambitious, started earlier in the evening, not put off my blogging ... but none of those things happened. We've been busy here. Lots of deadlines to meet at work, art receptions, volunteer meetings and a bridal shower here on Sunday last.
I've been thinking about my blog and wishing everything came together more easily, but here is a photo taken after the art reception. This pitcher, with strawberries and violets, was a centerpiece surrounded by cookies. Then I got to take them home to munch on. I tried one of the violets, but it didn't have much flavor.
I've planted flowers in the front during breaks from the rain. Wettest May on record - or something like that - here in Oregon.
I hope you are all well out there in Bloggerland. I will soon have a photo of all my completed coin packets and tiny books with poems. So many great poems, so many vivid images to save - femminismo

I Miss You xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

I MISS the days I first began this blog and savored the wonder of seeing my photos and words come together. I miss the times I couldn't order food without taking a picture of it once it arrived at my table to share with "you."
The places I went, the people I saw, the books I read - I shared them all with "you."
No, this isn't good-bye. It's just a wish I had more time - more time - more time!
Here at the keyboard I scatter a few words magically on the screen before me and say hello one more. Hopefully I will see something tomorrow to show you.
Maybe the limping raccoon that lives in our neighborhood will visit and I can get his picture, although he isn't very friendly. (thank goodness!)
Maybe I will have a great dream and need to tell you about it. (A couple of nights ago I dreamed my cousin sang a hymn in harmony with herself. Her voice could sing three or four notes at one time. It sounded beautiful.)
Do you hear in your dreams? Do you smell things? Do you dream in color? I do all of these, but I've never tasted anything in them.
Sometimes when I am driving I see wonderful things and I think of "you" and want to remember to tell "you." I love you - femminismo

Of Hummingbirds and Flowers ... and Water.

THIS WEEKEND was one with wonderful weather and work in the garden. Lots and lots and lots of work. Everywhere I looked there was a vacant space in the garden (which the Mister likes and I don't care for) and I envisioned planting some flowers - finally! - that would bloom throughout the summer. Perennials are wonderful, but in our garden there is not too much for July and August. So voila! A trunk full of fresh pickings from New Leaf Greenhouse. Enough to add some color but not pack the place so there would be room for walking into the garden to weed. Ouch! My back!
I chose a ligularia for a shady spot in the garden. When I saw this gigantic plant with its lacy-edged leaves, I thought it could be a powerhouse punch under one of the shade trees. Dahlias will give some color to the edge of the flower beds in the back yard, without overwhelming anything else. and some geraniums, larkspur and campanula - the last two to grow tall and stand out in the front yard flowerbed.
The orange poppies are flowering around the red rhododendron, splashed with two yellow tulips - just like last year. I didn't want to post almost the same exact photo as last year so I played around with the photo editor colors and got this weird shot. Strange garden, huh? I felt a little cruel taking the orange from the poppies and turning the yellow tulips reddish, but, eh! What's a little fun between garden and gardener?
On another note there was a hummingbird trapped in the sunroom. We opened all the doors and windows and I was hoping the draft would lure him/her out. We finally left it alone and went about our business and pretty soon he/she was gone. It was difficult to listen to its little head hitting the glass ceiling!
There was more that happened this weekend. The usual busy round of chores and obligations, but that never seems to end.
A couple more pics of flowers and then I am out of here. Sorry my page isn't getting refreshed as often as it should. I am losing some valuable writing time, putting down my memories - femminismo

Coin Packets With Books

HERE YOU GO! Grab a cold one and view the packets and books - femminismo

It's Beer Weather! I'll Drink To That!

WELL, maybe not exactly "beer weather," but it's getting closer and a bit warmer out. I think maybe today was just a "beer day." This is a beverage my sister exposed me to and it is so refreshing I could become quite the lush swilling it down. Those Belgians would think of combining raspberries with beer. I have seen a peach version and another fruit I can't remember at the moment, but this remains my favorite.
Still working on my coin packet books and will have a video to show you before too long. The little "movie maker" on the Flip video camera is working away. A watched pot never boils so I'll go read the newspaper for a while until it's finished ....... well, turns out it's in the wrong format anyway for uploading to Blogger. I'll be working on this - femminismo

Don't You Just Hate It?

WHEN people don't keep their word, don't you just hate it?
But maybe they get busy with the real world and don't mean to forget or put off what they promised to do online.
Here is "Weight of Flowers" by Julie Fillo, which I got in the mail on Friday. So happy to see it on my wall and I love walking by it and admiring all the lovely flowers that will never droop and die. The bird is a special favorite too.
Yes, this woman looks a little sad, and I'm sure Julie has a story behind all of this. Someday I hope she feels inspired to paint smiling women, but myself, I like the introspective ones too.
I have been busy - and part of that time was spent with my granddaughters, one of whom was shopping for a prom dress. Just the right dress. That takes time. While she shopped I got to spend a little time holding Alex, the new grandbaby. I think a good name for him is Smiley Sweetface.
I had good luck today with Dreamweaver. I don't know that it is especially difficult to get it to do things. It's just "putting" them live - online - that has been a problem. I think I have them "checked out" and I don't really know how to upload them. Today, however, they magically did it almost all by themselves. I posted a video which actually operates! So this is a good start off to the week. Things seem to balance out, however, so I'm really not looking to tempt fate. Tomorrow there will turn out to be a horrible proofreading error or something similar. (Just you wait.) Steve and Clowncar (faithful commenteurs';) have taken the short cut - ha,ha, shortcut! - and learned html, etc. But they are boys with Math Brains.
I am slowly reaching my goal on the coin packet books. Here is one book and its packet resting in lilacs. I wish I could perch there and inhale the lovely smell, but alas, I must go to bed. And I keep thinking of Christy and her foil/paper that I want to make. Christy is a Math Brain person too, I will bet, since she is so totally a Web Geek Girl and a lovely artist. I have got to find some more time somewhere!!! - femminismo (feel free to follow these links for so much fun, you will not want to waste time sleeping tonight)

So Tired of Computers ...

YES, tired of computers so I won't stay here long. Just wanted to end the month with the admission that no matter how hard I tried I didn't finish all my decorated coin packets, although I did come awfully close. I will finish them up in May.
Today in the mail I got "The Weight of Flowers" by Julie Fillo. It is hanging on my wall and. I. love. it! The painting will be posted her tomorrow. (Safe and sound, Julie, and I am sooooooo happy with it.) If you scroll down her blog you will see the painting I bought.
Art and flowers ... can there be better, more satisfying, investments?
Well, since I spent most of the day sitting in front of a computer trying to get Dreamweaver to do what I wanted, I am going off to bed now - right after I brush my teeth - femminismo

Will You Still Need Me? Will You Still Feed Me?

WHEN I'M sixty-four? It's happened! The whirling of the earth, the continual falling but never reaching the surface - not yet, anyway - and I'm still here!
Yes, 64. Tell me, if you can, how that happened in the blink of an eye, in the wink of a star. Yet I'm really truly here and my knees still work (mostly) and I'm running on nearly all of my original parts. (Knock, knock, knock on wood.)
In six months, my sister tells me, it will be time to apply for Medicare. They need all the warning they can get, apparently. Today I got lots of good wishes - more than ever before thanks to Facebook! I received flowers from my oldest son and lunch out with him. His treat! The day got better and better. My daughter and her family came by to give me more flowers - pink rosebuds, lilacs, tiny pink carnations and stock, with its lovely aroma. A great card and lots of hugs rounded that all out.
When I got home there was shiny bag hanging on the front door knob filled with treats and sumptuous indulgences. (There was an empty book to write in. Could the giver be hinting something?)
The Mister had a wonderful card for me. The kind you read and get tears in your eyes, because you know he read through a lot of them until he found the one that said what he wanted to say himself, but couldn't find the words. My brother and sister-in-law dropped by with a card too and scratch-it lottery tickets. I won $3! And I got hugs, too.
It's been a great day. I'm so glad I was born in April. There are so many flowers and the leaves are brand new and glistening and there is a feeling in the air that nothing can hold back nature and healing, and someday soon we will be on top of our game again - femminismo
p.s. Packet books are above. I've still got many to make before April ends. Best get to it!!

Using Technology

I'm enjoying using the technology of Blackberry to sit on the couch and "talk" to you. Wish I could find the magic button to put a picture of the labyrinth I walked. Next time - femminismo

I See The Train ... It's Coming

THERE'S a train coming down the tracks and I believe I can almost see it. I still don't know what day it will arrive, but for some reason I am getting more and more comfortable -- but not too much so -- with the idea that one of these days it's going to stop for me. And pick me up. And take me somewhere peaceful.
Maybe it was watching my granddaughter swinging her baby back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, in his car seat. She was trying to soothe him and get him to sleep because he had been crying. And I had *been* there. I had *done* that. My arms were once strong enough to go on and on with the swinging for half an hour. Not anymore, however. After two minutes they would have been "noodle arms."
Then on April 19, a former colleague died. She had been ill for over two years, I think, and her disease was never correctly diagnosed. She must have suffered cruelly and yet she continued to work to support her family and get her daughter through college. She went in to the hospital for a biopsy and they admitted her because she was so ill and a couple days after that she died.
Gone. No more walking uptown to cover her beat for the newspaper. No more driving the new little car she got and was so proud of. No more planning for flowers in the greenhouse to transplant this spring. The vines growing over her arbor will have to be taken care of by someone else ... or not.
But back to that train. If we are so fortunate as to live to 100 years, without disease making us miserable (picture that old lady who only has a mild twinge of arthritis on damp winter nights; that's who I want to be) that means I am in the last quarter of my life. The. Last. Quarter.
As in -- if life were a basketball game -- the last 10 minutes of play. "Make those free throws!"
Not to worry though. I will wait for the train patiently but play hard and have lots of fun before it arrives (whatever time that might be).
The other night on the way home there was a huge cloud formation that looked exactly like a humongous Dairy Queen vanilla ice cream cone with the twirl on top. I love clouds now. I used to be afraid of them.
Last night our piece of Oregon sky was the same color as the Kansas sky just before Dorothy's house flew up overhead. But the light was such that it lit up everything with an eerie glow and brought every color of every blossom and flower out even more vividly than at midday in full sunlight. It was windy and the flowers bent in the breeze. The poufs of pink blossoms hanging from trees looked sweet and sticky -- you could eat them like cotton candy. And the trees now have just enough leaves to still allow you to see their shapely branches and the trees in back of *them.* There are layers and layers of loveliness and I could eat it all up.
I think from the time it's taking to load the pictures that they may be eating up things too. Things like space and time to download, if your computer is not up to a big picture. Oh, well. Not going to fiddle with shrinking them at this point. Too late. Enjoy the closeup viewing.
And I told you I was taking a Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain class. Right? Here is my left hand. And I am not a good "drawer" - not a realistic one anyway - femminismo
Editor's note: There are 12 minutes in an NBA quarter. Yay! I have 2 additional minutes! - thanks for the comments oh lovely people!

Two Things In One

EDNA st. vincent millay - Her poem is what is in my little "two in one" book.
I had all this colorful paper and had folded it into pages, but I wanted to mix these colors up a little bit more. After sewing them together I found the poem I wanted to write down - Moritorus, by Edna St. Vincent Millay - and trusting there would be enough pages I began transferring the lines to my tiny, sawed-in-half book.
One line of the verse on the top left, the next on the top right, the third on the bottom left and the fourth line on the bottom right. While I was doing this a thought occurred to me that when I got done I was going to be able to mix 'n match. Scramble up the poem as it were. I created whole new lines that either made me laugh or really appealed to me.
The lines fit perfectly within the book ... until I. turned. the. poetry. book. page. Wow! Another whole page! Those lines will have to be in another book! I am too tired right now to even contemplate doing it and must finish dinner (Cheerios) and get to bed. I've been working hard (at work) and coming home drained and unable to take on the chores I should be doing. Well, better to have too much to do than not enough, that's my motto.
These little packets are fun and they are going together totally at random. There is no rhyme or reason, but most of the poems so far seem to have either spring or love in them - femminismo

April Daze ...

TODAY IS windy and the skies are mostly blue. It's a great day, full of springly things - like hyacinths and late daffodils. Tulips are fluttering in the breeze and lawnmowers are humming. Hope your day is going well and you get to do some art - femminismo

Help Us To Play The Man

THE Day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to play the man, help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonored, and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. - amen

-- R.L. STEVENSON

My prayer for you today is you find a way to be kind - femminismo

Photo is from Life magazine archives hosted by Google.

Upon Closer Inspection . . .

I FIND I have a project (coin packet book) but no overall great plan on how to accomplish it. But I'm thinking that since April is National Poetry Month it might be relevant (and enjoyable) to make small poetry books.
I am only two days behind on this project. It's the little finishing touches that kill me and my schedule. These words seemed to pop right off the page at me: "Lucky" and "Love never fails."
I have so many of these saved tea packets, and haven't been able to throw them away because they are such natural "envelopes" for all sorts of precious things.
I got me a date stamp like the big girls (Judy Wise and others) use in their journals.
We had a great Easter egg hunt on Saturday with all the family shoehorned into my brother and sister-in-law's house. It is a good thing we all get along!
I liked the way this shiny paper that lined a paintbrush packet reflected the lady's face onto the other side. An unintended benefit.
One more picture and then I am off to bed. Another busy day tomorrow and finding perfect poems to reflect spring and "green" and other vernal subjects like that. Love, too, of course - femminismo
p.s. I'm going to buy Gulf Sprite's video lesson on making foil paper - without foil. It sounds and looks like great stuff.

Dinner at the Led Robster

HERE we are again, viewing these unusual blinders. It only took a small suggestion from Dawn, and I zipped up to the attic to do a self-portrait before putting them back in the box.
The blinders are used during fraternal initiations, when "candidates" who want to join the fraternity (not a college fraternity; the Masons) put them on for just a while to participate in the ceremony they go through.
I have no clue what else the ceremony entails, but I do know it is nothing unholy and involves no animal sacrifices. It is quite inspirational, I guess, and solemn.
It was quite dark inside the blinders before I opened them up by holding the little knobs and tipping them up. There is quite a strong spring on one side, which yields when the knobs are flipped and stretches to allow the blinders to open up.
It was a frantically busy day today with two projects actually finished and one halfway done. Then we went out to the Red Lobster for dinner with my son and daughter-in-law and my granddaughter and her fiancé. Restaurant food always - usually - *sounds* like a good idea, but nothing beats a home-cooked meal. Imagine the amount of food you could buy for $130. (The Reisling was very good, however.) Now I am sitting here typing with a stomach that feels as if it contains an entire watermelon. And I am getting so sleepy . . . femminismo

Steam Punk or Fraternal?

LOOK what I found today! An interesting part of a fraternal requirement for initiation.
I think these are something that might inspire steam punk inventors to make elaborate eyewear. I feature a sort of Mad Max character wearing these blinders, but with lenses put into them, or darkened glass that would be lifted up when the wearer desired to speak eyeball to eyeball with someone.
These are not mine. I will put them back in the storage attic tomorrow, but I thought I would share this antique apparatus with you. They remind me of something Urbandon (Don P.) would make.
The inside of them is lined with a sort of red or purple velvet-type material and an ordinary cotton string ties them on the wearer. I like the little "knobs" that helps you lift the eye coverings. A little kinky, maybe? Or maybe not.
They were definitely made by someone who was into his craft - femminismo