Why I am scared of fishing

Watch out!

You never know what's happening behind you.  

PaperClay, HO railroad figures and a vivid imagination

A weekend tale with unrelated pics...in a way

I've had a cold all week, and therefore decided that I couldn't go away this weekend as planned - too sneezy, snuffly and probably infectious.   But DH went anyway and it was the perfect opportunity for me to complete a task that has been bugging me to complete for weeks.  

I organized and cleaned.

I know that I've posted that I've done that before but this was Serious Work.   Let me describe it. 

My clothes closet was COMPLETELY emptied out, vacuumed and scrubbed out, ALL winter clothes got sorted to give away or put into those space bags for next year. Same with the spare room closet.  And the back hall closet, the front hall closet and the three attic spaces in the "bonus" room.  I found shoes that I had put in the attic for "safekeeping" - at least 5 years ago.  

I was ruthless with what I kept and what I gave away. Ruthless!  My closets now have some space between the hangers, and everything is organized.  In the pile of junque in the attic - I found that I had 8 carry on suitcases, some nice, some miserable looking.  Three are going to Goodwill, and the remaining ones are waiting for DH to come back to we can figure out which ones to keep.   I sorted yarn, and knitting patterns, and what to keep, and what to let go.  I am letting a lot go. I sorted out the holiday attic space, which is also where I keep our photo albums, and multitude of loose photos.

 Clearly I am looking to find something in all this struggling /cleaning - it's not just control and organization, but more of a needing to know exactly what is up in those nooks and crannies, and to eliminate as much excess as I can.  I want to think about starting afresh, and need to know exactly what I have and what I don't need.   I don't feel that I can think about starting a new chapter in my life unless I have the old one under "control" (hahaha - who is ever really in control?) 

I'm sore after 3 days of this, every joint aches, and my feet hurt.  But I also feel good about completing this task, I've been meaning to do it for years.  I still have a cold, and I'm glad that I didn't take a trip - although I did go to a cookout at a friends farm on Sunday.  We sat under giant maple trees with a gentle breeze keeping us cool - it was amazingly relaxing. 

I did find a few funny things - photo's that I had redeveloped  (must be 20 years ago that I found the negatives and had them reprinted)  of me at camp in upstate New York.  It was parents weekend, where your mom and dad came up for a visit and brought you goodies and then watched you do stuff.    I think I am about 8 years old - and it was 8 weeks away from home with only one visit from the family.  

Look at those knee socks. 

That's my mom in the background, with her white pants and white handbag.  I have no idea what is tied around my neck or waist - maybe a hat?

City girl goes country.  Oy. 

I also found a postcard that my folks had saved, which I must have written to them before they came up. It started out "Dear Mom and Dad - bring candy...."  

That was my weekend.  I feel a bit smug and every so satisfied that I have it done.  Now I feel that I can move onto another project - something that a dear friend is going to help me with - my family history cooking book.  

And more comics! 

I hope that you all had a good, satisfying, relaxing, remembering weekend. 

Rome and Animal Wednesday

 I love visiting Rome - who wouldn't?  But having my sister and brother-in-law live there makes it even more special to me.  I'm not living in a hotel, but staying in a city apartment in an area where people do their daily shopping, lean out the windows, drink coffee at the local cafe.  Every morning we'd go out for cappuccino, and cornetto (An Italian word for Croissant), and sit outside in the thin morning sunshine sipping coffee and waking up.

This is the view I have from my bedroom window - look at those perfect colors.

When we did decide to eat at home, we sat outside on their little terrace and basked in the sunshine at the table, with flowers all around us, green vines, geraniums and some lemon scented herb scenting the air. 

This is the view from their terrace, a beautiful nursery, with gorgeous large Terra Cotta pots.   To the left of this nursery is a Monastery that looks just huge and beautiful - and Rich. 

I didn't actually see these parrots but did hear some squawking - and Stef and Abdul have seen parrots many times on the trees outside their apartment and across the street from their house. 

We did some touring around - first to the tomb of the unknown soldier at Piazza Venezia - the building is also known as the Wedding Cake.   

When you wander around Rome you see these little shrines to Mary - this one was tucked in between two buildings, a tiny alcove.

Near to the Wedding Cake building we did a tour of a fairly new archaeological site - a villa that fell down in an earthquake in the year 187 AD.  Of course we had to go down about 50 feet to see the ruins, and then you walk on top of them - on a glass floor so that you can see everything.  It was absolutely wonderful, but I kept thinking a few things.  First - I'm walking on GLASS and it's nerve wracking. Second...if they had an earthquake now what would happen and Thirdly - archaeologists are brilliant to be able to clear all the earth and debris away and figure out what is going on down there.  

This is the building that was above the ruins, a government building that looks nothing like the government buildings that we have here.  

 And my earthquake fears? Well, I'm glad I wasn't in that subterranean dig on Sunday morning - let me tell you!!

As we were strolling thru the city we stopped in a tiny little leather store that appealed to both of us.  We didn't realize that the craftsman was world known for his bags and holsters.   I've saving my pennies for one of his bags - he is a true artist.

Last but not least, we went to an exhibition on Italian Immigrants to the New World.  It was a very interesting exhibit - and the most interesting thing that we saw....under glass...in an actual exhibit...was a 1912 copy of "Il Progresso" an Italian New York newspaper.  And there was an ad for Dr. Giuseppe Stella, Eye Doctor and my grandfather.  Stef and I were stunned...and my dad would have been so proud.   It was a wonderful thing to see, and we wondered how it came to be that that page was shown.

Darn Blogger won't let me add any more pictures - I'll have to save them for another time.

Happy Animal Wednesday

Travelin'

I am off to Germany on a Business trip.  Never been there before so don't know what to expect, but I expect I'll figure it out.

On the way back, I stop off at my sister's in Rome, for two days of socializing and good food.   I'm thinking of splurging on an Italian Leather something.....but we'll see.

Have a lovely week!

Animal Wednesday - Red Fox

What a time to NOT have my camera on me.  I was working in the garden early Saturday AM, and out of the corner of my eye saw some movement.  Thought it might be a cat, but I stayed still and peered sideways and saw a lovely healthy looking Red Fox trotting thru my yard.  These pics are from a web site but "my" fox had a more cheerful happy expression on his face - probably cause he just ate some of the neighbors chickens but oh well.  He stayed still for a few minutes, but so did I and finally he trotted off. 

 I'm hoping that he can take care of whatever is making this mondo hole under my shed - and most probably coming out to eat all my plants at night.  

This is the area where he was trotting thru - despite the open look, he blended so well.

As a bonus to the sighting - when I went out with my camera I found Fox Scat in my pansies.  I won't give you a close up - just take my word for it OK?

Happy Animal Wednesday!

PS - I have discovered that the hold under my shed is most probably a Fox Den now.  This means I just might be able to plant vegetables this year...wow!

The Romance Novel

From last night's comic class - where I was watching the instructor giving his lesson while on mute and listening to a conference call with Japan.  Crazy! 

Someone suggested that Miss Em should have beads of sweat flying off her face in the second panel - I laughed so hard that I couldn't even do it at that moment, but I will. The words behind her will be romantic looking and steamy reading.  And oh yes, a few shadows to anchor the table, and some yellow shoes.

Early morning garden pics - wet day (six word saturday)

Garden Pictures on a Wet Day

Trillium and two colors of bleeding heart

This will all be filled in with Solomon Seal and Day lilies when the real blooming starts. 

I'm setting up a little seating area near the shed and veggie garden - starting with the chairs and will be adding a few things as I go along.  Mostly salvage stuff - which I love to work with.

My potatoes are coming up - I have my fingers crossed that the Woodchuck doesn't like potato tops.

I do know that he doesn't like Rhubarb - cause this stuff comes up like crazy every year. 

Near the new seating area is a new little birdhouse, I hope a nesting pair move in soon.  

 Wet leaves, so beautiful

Near the back deck we have this handsome cement bulldog (altho I like to think of it as a Pug) - he guards our deck from marauding woodchucks, deer and other animals.

House chaos

We have carpets upstairs cause we couldn't afford all wood floors when we built the house.  They are warm in the winter but have to be cleaned occasionally.  For some reason I got ambitious and signed up the carpet guys to come and do EVERY ROOM. What was I thinking?  

I forgot the chaos that comes along with getting EVERYTHING off the floor.  This is my guest bedroom.  and all the junk on the bed was on the floor or a side table. Might be time to thin out a few things. 

And this is my nice clean hallway.  Now I can't do anything on it for 24 hours, like maybe I can tiptoe across but that's about it.

Don't know how we are going to hopscotch into bed, but we'll figure it out.

What a way to spend an afternoon off.  My mind works in mysterious ways.