It's Been So Long

It has been over a year since I have written on my blog.  I guess I thought that I would get back to it at some point and stay with it.  That didn't happen.

Instead I've been focused on the political world and all that it is and isn't.  I can't stand Donald trump.  Can. Not. Stand. Him.  He will never be my president.  He knows NOTHING about the job.  Can't focus outside of himself and his personal grandeur.  My opinion....

I think this may be more fun now to spend some time posting things. 

I enjoyed spending a full day this weekend, meandering through antique shops in Oklahoma.  I found some REALLY good buys and passed up some things, too.  All in all, a great time.  I needed that.

Trying to Keep All Things Going

It has been so long since I posted on my blog.  I really enjoy writing and reading about writing.  Getting myself into a schedule of writing has been very difficult for me most of my adult life.  I'm convinced that I need to learn more about the whole process of getting things on my pages the way I want them to be; I know it takes time.  Techie, I am not. 

This will regroup and go again.  Learning to use my photos has been the most difficult for me and also (still) allowing myself to make mistakes. 

I will fly one day!~ butterfly wings.

Permission to Fail...if necessary

I asked no one. I did not get opinions. I just began sanding, and peeling, and chipping.

The old Singer sewing machine out in my garage will become a new piece of furniture for my kitchen!  Today I went to Lowe's to survey the color selection in pale aquas.  Woo hoo!  I think I'm falling in love with Sea Lily.

I can recall when I hated the color "turquoise".  That's the only thing I knew to call it in 1957.  It was the color of the tropical paint-by-number, paired wall hangings, in my mother's dining room.  I knew turquoise.  None of that for me, thank you.

Now.  Fifty-six years later, I'm falling in love with this soft, angel aqua.  This Sea Lily. 

 

The old Singer was left in someone's barn here in Oklahoma. It was given to me by a dear friend who didn't want it any longer. It has water damage to the top and is a prime speciman for painting.  I'm leaving the black iron underpinings just as they are.  SINGER. 

 

Thank you to my Great Grandmother Hatfield for her patience in letting me go through her little stacks of hexagon quilt pieces down in the basket.  Thank you to my Grandmother Sayre ("Mammy") for taking me to the Methodist Church basement on Tuesday mornings to sit beside her when she quilted with the Ladies of the W.S.C.S.  Thank you to my mother, most of all, for setting an example of the exact seamstress.  "Oh, I can make that for you!"  She certainly could.  And thank you, Mom, for letting me go through your button box time after time.  I learned to explore and search.

 

My NEW, old Singer is going right below this mirror!  And then I need to add to the wall or rearrange in some way.  Just learning to trust myself.  Wish I had trusted myself years ago.

Again...

Grateful that I can always begin again. Well, at this point in my life, I can. I thought I wanted to keep up with my blog and then other things took priority. Work. Quitting work. Rearranging my life to fit the reality of two retired adults over sixty occupying the same square footage and surrounding grounds each day. Growing grandchildren. New schedules and no schedules. Dying kitty cat. Time wasted and time used. Quiet. Peace. Birds chirping in the yard. Squirrels chasing after the corn from the feeders. Sunny days and morning clouds. Rescued plants. Discard and save. Rearrange. Learn. I'm beginning to love January, too. I'm beginning to love EVERY month! I wish I had always looked at life a bit more like I do now. I know I wouldn't be the WHO and WHERE I am now if I had not had the THEN. Yes. I don't want to be buried. I want to be scattered. Keeping things as they always have been... C ya~

Reassembled

In some ways I could say reorganized, but that would indicate that at some point I WAS organized. Scratch that. I'm just trying to reassemble those things that were in place a month or so ago. The yard. My plants. The flower beds. My back room (crafts, writing, sewing...). My self. I take it as an organizational signal to get my s#@t together when it becomes school time. No exception, 2012. Our front yard is crisp, our backyard spikey with some green and some shredded wheat, and my tolerance of heat and drought in Oklahoma is minimal at best. Also my tolerance of those who do not take global warming seriously is minimal. Yes, I know the historical changes to the climate every 150 years, blah, blah, blah, blah. I just disagree with the notion that what we do as people doesn't matter. Trying to organize. Trying to get a plan in place for the coming months for my time. Trying to lose some weight (down 3 pounds in a week and no sodas). Trying to pack in more reading time with all of the above. Getting it done in little steps. I don't understand how people can just sit and be an observer in life. So much to do. So little time.

Learning

There are so many ways to learn and in educational jargon, many different "learning styles".  I don't remember terms like, "going off the deep end" or "crying and sweating on the treadmill", or "going through old family papers and old journal writing", or "digging in the dirt".  I think those must be my true learning styles.

This has been a learning and remembering week.
 
I've learned that Zumba is not for me.
I've learned that wearing shoes while exercising doesn't work for me.  Maybe my old yoga is where I belong.
I've learned that I must disclose if people are to really know me.  No, I'm not a closeted personality.  I just have some baggage.
I've learned that letting the words fly IS theraputic and okay!
I've learned that I like to sweat and I MUST HAVE some time to myself each day.  I used to stay up to the wee hours when my children were young...just to hear the quiet and think.
I've learned that I have little tolerance for hurtful personalities.  In reality...

I'm glad to breathe deeply.

a little plain

You never know when the very simple will influence the happiness of a given day.  Our backyard fence was over 30 years old, I'm sure (no, we are not the original owners!)...we replaced it last year with the help of neighbors on both sides.  It was a good thing for all of us.  Now I am happy to be getting plants and shrubs in order around my house and it makes for very nice times to sit in the morning with a drink and NPR.  I've discovered the pleasure of this plant (portulaca) for Oklahoma heat and humidity.  It gives beautiful tomato-red flowers every morning and then closes down the performance during the evening hours. 

The barren area to the left in the top picture is a running start with a variegated ground cover.  We are watering the dickens out of it (let's assume it had a great deal of "dickens" in it to begin with!)...and it is progressing...covering more and more each week.  Should be a fun thing to keep the other grass and weeds from setting up camp there, but that one was NOT my call! ~ and guess what?  I don't tend to that garden! :)   ...from the peaceful porch~  Lana

Moments From My Childhood

This is what I'm dreaming of for next summer at this time.  These adorn the picket fence three blocks from my house.  I've had the pleasure of driving by these hollyhocks whenever I get out to that "other world" of economic scramble...Target, Wally World, QuikTrip for gas, etc.  These just take me back to a reality I had as a child...at the back of my next door neighbor's house.  We would turn the hollyhock blooms upside down and pin on a bud (can you see them at the top of the stems?) for the "head" of the doll.  The flourishing petals were the "skirts" and then we could pretend to be at the ball... Ah...southern Missouri in the 1950's.

Go Figure. It's Hot.

It's July in Oklahoma.  That sort of explains things in a few words.  We had this same sort of thing last year, though it was truly over 100 degrees for weeks on end.  My whole "nice system" shut down quickly.  I didn't want to go anywhere; didn't want to see anyone; didn't want to DO anything!  At the time I was working 5 days a week and as soon as I got home (thankfully, a quick 5 minute drive) I would put on my "sloppier" clothes, lie down on the couch, and promptly fall asleep.  One hundred degree weather will promote such activities...
Let's not have a repeat this year. Please.