Make hay while the sun shines

Tagged

I have been tagged by Claudia at http://chestofdrawers.blogspot.com/ to tell 8 random things about myself.

I like that she used 8 things that made her smile this week, so that is what I will do.

1. Today, it was just an amazingly beautiful day.
2. Watching movies shown outside on the side of the house
3. People lined up to watch the outside concert here at the festival, tonight is Lyle Lovett
4. Finishing my Yoga class yesterday and feeling good about it!
5. Pretending I have a southern accent
6. Learning a little bit more in photoshop
7. Watering my garden
8. Being tagged by Claudia

Friday

"Stop trying to be ordinary. There is nothing special or desirable about being ordinary. In fact, it is totally unacceptable. You are an extra-ordinary being who must go into motion, into movement so that you will draw to yourself the equivalent of yourself. You have become an energy field that magnetically draws you to that which you are."

THURSDAY

Holly Golightly: Thursday! It can't be! It's too gruesome!

Friend: What's so gruesome about Thursday?

Holly: Nothing, except I can never remember when it's coming UP!

Why do I love Truman Capote?

The Grass Harp
A Christmas Memory
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Music for Chameleons

I love Truman Capote

Love is a chain of love as nature is a chain of life.

-Truman Capote

New Slack Line

Em and Dave on the new Slack Line....Harder than it looks

More of my Garden

Fairness
"To you the earth yields her fruit and you shall not want if you but know how to fill your hands. It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth that you shall find abundance and be satisfied. Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it will lead some to greed and others to hunger."~Kahlil Gibran

Widen Your Circle

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings assomething separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of hisconsciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle ofcompassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole [of] nature in its beauty."~Albert Einstein

“When people care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul”
Langston Hughes

today

Emily please leave me your adress on my email so i can send your handmade gift, for the exchange.

Firiday and I took the day off, I actually took yesterday off too. Today is my husband's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. So DAve's brother and sister and husbands and wives rented a LIMO to take them to lunch and to the homes that they grew up in. Emmy is beside herself that she gets to ride in a LIMO, She wants to know if it is a little limo or a big limo, how many seats, does it have a TV, can she stick her head out the sun roof????

I will get back to you with the answers.

It is a beautiful day out today, literally stunning!! Can't wait to see what it brings.

YAY FOR ME!!

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.- e.e. cummmings

Today's Horoscope for me (Aries)

July 17, 2007
What Your Body Wants
Aries Daily Horoscope
You could be more aware of your body and the wonders of its energetic nature today which may compel you to focus more closely on nutrition and exercise. Maybe the desire to take better care of your body is due to the understanding that emotional and spiritual health are so much easier to attain when you also have physical health. This would be a good time to reevaluate any exercise or diet routines you have. Rather than thinking about both in terms of what you think you ‘should’ be doing, though, you may want to instead look within today and listen to what your body wants. Try taking a few minutes to ask your body what it really needs to do in terms of exercise and diet, remembering that if you ask yes/no questions, you may get a much clearer directive. Asking your body itself could provide you with a much greater realization about its most basic requirements.

Learning to listen to our bodies allows us to do what is best for our overall wellbeing. Even though we may read that some type of diet or another is good for us, it is really only when we take the time to explore what our bodies really need that we will get the true answer, for our bodies have a wisdom and consciousness that is much more visceral and intuitive than we may realize. By checking in with your physical being today about its needs, you will be further along the path toward vibrant health and happiness for your entire being.

cake

My best friend got married this weekend, I volunteered to make the cake.
So, here in the 100 degee weather I started the cake. I got all the batter poured into the spring form pan and was ready to put in the oven...I picked up the cake and the bottom fell out of the pan. Batter literally everywhere, it was like cleaning up a gallon of spilled glue. Very frustrating, so I finally get it all cleaned up and take a deep breath and start over.

I get the second batch done, pour into the pan and think to myself, I better just check to see if this is tight...I kind of turn the pan and check it, then lift it to put in the oven....and what do you know, the freakin' bottom falls out again. I was freaking out. I was so hot, and had not enough ingredients to start over. I had to take another 1/2 hour and clean up, trying to get the stuff down the drain, make sure it is all off the floors, the counters, the cupboards and everywhere else.

I had to get in the car at 5 o'clock on a Friday and drive to the store during tourist season, which is a nightmare. I could not believe it.

I bought two bottles of wine while I was at the store just two make sure I could get through the next batch!!! But the third cake turned out alright, I made sure the bottom was secured, ( I had the pan upside down the first two times)-Hey, i was hot and trying to get things done for the wedding.

It took quite a while to make the roses and the little fondant balls, but it turned out fine and even made the trek to Hope where the wedding was taking place.

PS You can still sign up for the craft exchange......

My Garaden

Here is a little bit of my garden!!
Happy Friday!!


They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
- Ernest Dowson, 1867 - 1900

Pay it Forward Swap

There is a Pay it Forward Craft exchange going on. I have joined it here and here

I send a crafted gift to the first three people who comment on this post saying that they want to play. Each of them then posts the message below on their blogs and invites another three.

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week… LOL… but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.
So here you go, sign up....

Heat

It is 5 million degrees here, so my house is HOT, I am now outside in the yard where it is finally cooling down. Thank God Emmy got this laptop, or Iwould be in the bedroom with the other computer dying of heat stroke.

Cars our driving by, I can hear birds singing, kids laughing and dogs barking, the sounds of summer. My plan was to come home and do something really creative, instead I got my hair colored and cut, went to the neighbors to water their garden while they are gone, watched a new episode of BIG LOVE, which I am addicted to, then watered my gardens.

I started my new book today, Foolsgold, by Susan Woolodridge, it really is good, and I know you would all love itrst read about it at http://www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com/. So far it is great. It has some really good quotes, which I think IKaren beth at http://zazazu.wordpress.com/ would really enjoy.

( I know there is a right way to add the links, but I don't have my cheat sheet out here, so this is what you get)

I am not doing so well on my fat book pages for Portland art and soul, they are do in August. I do have maybe 10-12 but only the front side. I bought some spray paint and stencil stuff to use but I keep wanting to make some painted tank tops.

I think the heat is slowing me down, or my job!! Ha.

I would like to thank Karen Beth and her sister for sending me a box of books for the book drive emmy is having. THANK YOU!!!! i received the box today and I have another box from my mom along with some crayons, pencils and other supplies. i hope to mail them off by the end of May, in time for the new school year.

I think I just ruined my black tank top, I got up to spray paint and stencil it, while writing this ( no i can not focus) I didn't tape anything off, too much work, so paint kind of got everywhere. I guess it still looks ok, not exaclty what I was going for.

So, now i will peruse some blog sites andhope it gets cooler in the house.

A quote from Foolsgold

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

-harold thurman Whitman

Power of Words

"For all of you who want to walk a spiritual path, I suggest you stop and take a look at all the things you think and all the assumptions that you make... before you speak. Try some discipline and see if you can, for a whole week, just watch your thoughts."~Hinono

Sunday

Sunday, AHHH, a restful day in the garden.

I think the plan is to go kayaking oit to the petroglyphs. It is supposed to be another hot day, so being on the lake will feel good. We haven't used the kayaks yet this summer, so this should be fun.

The meeting with the neighborhood went well. 20 people showed up and they were all against this type of development going in to this area.

I just think that it does not fit into the landscape here. There is a nice creek and lots of old growth trees that would have to be damaged with such a dense tract of homes.

There are plenty of sites in the city limits that could handle or that are made for such density.

We will be going to the city council meeting on the 17th, so that is our chance to voice our concerns. I think that if we can be reasonable and not emotional that we may be able to make some change. It can not be that we have to do what ever the city governments suggests. That doesn't seem very democratic to me.

So, anyway off to the lake for fun and relaxation, I am going to try to keep my mind off this big mess!!

“May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door”

Irish blesssing

We received a notice in the mail the other day telling us that there is a proposed sub-division coming to our neighborhood. We live on the outskits of town and all the neighbors have acreage. Everyone has from 5 to 50 acre lots. There are two sheep farms, a tree farm a horse ranch, and cows.
The subdivision is going in one lot over from us, it is on 32 acres and they want to build 210 units. This would be single family homes and then some “affordable housing” which would consist of duplexes, triplexes and sixplexes. The city will incorporate this lot into the city limits. The neighborhood is up in arms. No one wants that many homes, cars, people, dogs, etc next to this rural landscape.
We have all been talking about how to stop or at least decrease the density of this subdivision.
No one is against “affordable” housing or even developing this lot, we would just like the lots to be divided into maybe 5 acre lots so that it fits into the landscape. There is a creek running through this land that they would turn into a “natural” pond.
The whole thing is based on greed not on building affordable housing.
What happened here is that we are now a “destination” town or a resort town, a place for retirement and vacation homes, the property values have increased substantially and everyone is trying to make a buck without regard to consequences.

There must be a way to fight something like this, 210 units in the midst of a rural and agricultural center…or are we just supposed to accept that this is progress and let it happen?

My daughter got a new lap top and so now we have fast wireless internet. Finally. We only had dial up in our neighborhood. So, of course we have all been on the computer non stop. I was just thinking how fun this was to be able to check out everyone's blog now at home. I may even be able to write posts that take a little more time then one minute.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in the garden, we had a huge wind storm here on Friday night, 65 mph winds. So, my garden had a little damage. There were tree branches and trees down everywhere. My sister still doesn't have power.

Anyway, the plan was to make some jewelry and more fat book pages, but, of course that didn't happen. Maybe sometime this week.

Summer

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

AZ

SNAKES

So, now I have my own snake story…I was helping Dave with a yard yesterday and I was using the push mower and when I looked down I saw a black snake come out from under the mower. I had run over it, but not hurt it and it just came slithering out, I screamed. Dave heard me and came over on the rider mower and laughed and tried to run over it again, I wouldn’t let him, that would have been to gross and it wasn’t poisonous. Anyway, that is my snake story.

Some Pics of Az.

I AM BACK

I am back from the desert, and I mean desert…It was 116 in Scottsdale and 90 at the Grand Canyon.
The Canyon was very beautiful and the boaters were well. Dave’s dad, who is 75 was on the raft that came into the canyon as well as his sister. They both hiked out from the bottom of the canyon to the top in 120 degree heat. It took them all about 5 hours to hike out. After 2 days with the family, Grandpa and Tom hiked back down to the river to start the 2nd half of the river trip. Kathy (dave’s sister) was done with her portion. She said that there were times that the water was so big that at night when she went to sleep she had night mares. She also said that this 2nd part of the trip had even bigger water. I was and am worried about Dave’s dad, but He is pretty tough.
So, the trip will end when they cross Lake Mead.
All in all it was a fun vacation…I loved Sedona and Jerome. Phoenix and Scottsdale were too ‘deserty’ for me, It really made me appreciate home, the lake, the mountains, the green green green everywhere…I am happy to be home.

I will show some pictures tomorrow after I get organized.

VACATION

I will be gone for the next week catching up with family as my brother in law begins the 2nd leg of his 2 month kayak trip down the Colorado River.
http://thegrandtime.com/
See you all in a week.

Present for my Yoga Teacher.

For Idea girl

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

-Langston Hughes

this weekend I made...

One Page Down

I finished one fat book page...YAY only 54 more to go!! It doesn't look that great as a picture with the black shadow at the top (oops). But you can kind of get the idea.

Friday

"The practice of art isn't to make a living. It's to make your soul grow." - Kurt Vonnegut

The present

"Always say 'yes' to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is? What could be more insane that to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?~Eckhart Tolle

FRIENDS

False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports.

Richard Burton

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth.

-Buddha

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.

-Buddha

Stuff

I sent out 3 boxes of books to the school in Florida. E got a letter from the teacher and she was so thankful. School is already out so she is going to hold the books until school begins this fall.

Thank you to those who did send books.

My friend who had surgery looks great and she said she is feeling fine. In fact she has already been out doing a little work on her garden. Thanks for all the good thoughts. I know that they helped.

This weekend will be more work in the garden, YAY!! And hopefully I will get everything planted.
I just need to get all the sun flowers in. Last year I had a huge field of them right next to my garden they looked beautiful.
So, I want to do that again.

School is out in two weeks so there are a lot of things going on right now to keep us busy on the weekends.

I have book club at my house next week and I haven’t read the book yet, I have to plan dinner and clean up the patio so we can sit out side. I guess I really have a lot to do this weekend.

Then we are getting ready to go to The Grand Canyon for my brother in law’s 50th birthday party.
Please go and check out his web site. He is doing a 2 month kayak trip from the headwaters of the Colorado River to Las Vegas, He will be the first person to do this alone when he finishes. We will get to see him for 2 days while he stops there for Father’s day. Then he will continue on and we will go sight seeing.

The website is http://thegrandtime.com/
It is really fun to read his blog. Please check it out.