Dancing Bee

Isn't life pretty? Bees dance everywhere. Have you danced yet today?

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Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
~~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Truth and Lies

Does anyone remember the Ann Landers column? I grew up reading her column.

I was continuing my packing and found this newspaper clipping I had saved from Tuesday, February 7, 1978. This is the poem I had cut out:

What Became of a Lie
~~M.A. Kidder

First somebody told it,
Then the room wouldn't hold it,
So the busy tongues rolled it
Till they got it outside;
Then the crowd came across it,
And never once lost it,
But tossed it and tossed it,
Till it grew long and wide.
This lie brought forth others,
Evil sisters and brothers,
and fathers and mothers,
A terrible crew,
As headlong they hurried,
The people they flurried
And troubled and worried,
As lies always do
So, evil-boded
This monstrous lie goaded,
Till at last it exploded,
In sin and shame
But from mud and from mire
The pieces flew higher,
Till they hit the sad liar,
And killed his good name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said.
~~Mark Twain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then there's this poem by Emily Dickenson that I just absolutely love. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it, as it is great for that. I could tell you what I think, but have some fun on your own, as it's one of those poems that is simple and short, yet deep, linear, circular, and dazzlingly blindingly openly bold! ~ and a riddle, of course, much like all of Emily's work.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-- 
Success in Circuit lies
Too bring for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lighting to the Children Eased
With explanation kind
 The Truth must dazzle gradually 
Or every man be blind. 

-Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)

Is love where you look?

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
be it ever so humble, There's no place like home."
~ John Howard Payne

Being gone a week can be refreshing. It's the dickens traveling in a car for hours for me, though. The trip straight through would be about 6 1/2 hours, but I just can't quiet make that and not be totally asleep for two days afterwards.

So I break up the trip and stop in and take advantage of the kind hospitality of my relatives. This last trip I stopped to visit my sister both up and back. She and her husband share a home with one of her daughters and her husband and their two children. My sister is younger than I and has 4 grandchildren!! None of my kids are even married yet.

She has custody of one of her grandsons who is in the fourth grade. (So that puts three boys in the house ages 5 to 10).

When I arrived I was greeted with a glass of wine at the back door - long story, but I had gotten "lost" on or near 429, kept losing cell service because I was in the middle of the real nowhere - yes, Virginia, there is a nowhere -- and had everyone a little bit freaked out, but as my husband had always reminded me 'dear, you have a map...' so I managed to save myself while aging my parents and family ...

so anyway, I was comfortable with my feet up and my sister thrusts upon me Nathan's school back pack and began to unload his work in my lap for me to review. And then came this huge pamphlet looking item and my sister was totally freaked out about a science project that was required for the Science Fair at his school. She was distressed because the notice said "the parents and child" were to do this project together. I don't know why exactly, but I thought this was so funny that this excited them so. She was sure they couldn't do this! and sure they wouldn't have the time or ability! And just sure, so sure This Was Impossible!!!

I told her not to worry, reminded her that this was 4th grade we were dealing with, just give me 5 minutes on Goggle, and I was certain to solve her problem.

After a brief search I came up with the idea ~ not a soft burrito ~ but a plan for a science project that would allow my great nephew to do the project at home and the parents not go crazy. Four petri dishes, some cotton swabs, a little saliva and some gelatin, and one notebook, and I think the child will get an 'A' if he practices observation and takes his notes on a daily basis while awaiting the mold to grow. Oh yes, and two cats besides, one male, one female...

I went through the booklet that was sent home, helped them get up-to-date on what was due, which was naming the project, writing the hypothesis, and listing their supplies. After I walked them through it, I think they began to feel that this was doable even though a few hours before my arrival, they were ready for the Prozac farm.

I have got to say, it felt good, it felt really, really good to help them. It felt good to know something. It felt good to solve a problem. It felt good to help my sister simplify something in her life as she works so hard. And it felt good to take the fear out of 4th grade.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. You find yourself somewhere and think sometimes, 'what am I doing here?' ...and really, you are so needed just at that time. You might not know it at the time, but have faith. And then keep it.

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, 
flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. 
Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, 
certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. 
- Robert Louis Stevenson 

"Home again, home again, jiggity jig."

I've been gone a week

I left last Saturday for South Florida and just returned home last night. Today I am just chillin' and feel like I fell into a soft pillow and am enjoying it.

I had a good time visiting my family and helping my brother and his wife take care of their youngest son, as his regular baby-sitter was on vacation. He's a peach! I got to visit my sons, as well.

Here are a couple of photographs ...That is my son Sean, doing the 'magic', and my little charge, Jacob, being amazed ...

In Her Shoes

What a sweet little movie.  I cried.  More than once.
Family can be a difficult thing.  Family's aren't perfect.
Because people aren't perfect.  We can struggle hard,
but we will never see perfect here on this earth,
in families or any where else.

I think it's about forgiveness.  And acceptance,
and love conquers all.

That's what I saw in this movie.  The worse things done,
turned out to be the best things done in some ways.  
A hard reality.

The character of  Maggie, played by Cameron Diaz,
couldn't read or do math well at all.  She's been getting
by on her good looks pretty much.  The power of
which runs out quickly when you can't add or read very well.

Was she dyslexic?  Or learning disabled?
They never really tell us.  But her reading greatly improves when
she begins to read poetry to someone who can't see
her pretty face but can recognize a gift of understanding.

Her sister Rose is smart and not as pretty, but loves Maggie
very much and has spent her life protecting her, yet, is so
very annoyed with her, but can't stop loving her.   

So she forgives, and loves,
but in between she doesn't know how to cope until their
long lost grandmother and a bunch of old people come
into their lives.

Add to the top of that an evil stepmother, and a father
who lives in denial, and you have a family story that
made me cry.
I loved it.

Here are the two poems from the movie.  They fit perfectly.

E.E. Cummings - I Carry Your Heart With Me

I carry your heart with me
(i carry it in my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear no fate
(for you are my fate, my sweet)
i want no world
(for beautiful you are my world,
my true) and it's you are
whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun
will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret
nobody knows
(here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky
of the treee called life,
which grows
higher than the soul can hope
or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder
that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart
(carry it in my heart)

~~and I loved this next one ~~


One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something everyday. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour spent badly.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster;
places, and names and where you meant to travel.
None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones...And vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent,
I miss them. But it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (a joking voice of gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not to hard to master
though it may look like (Write it) a disaster.

~~~~~~~~
For finding the poems, for feeling those feelings,
I'm glad I found the movie.

Under the sink

And Chapter Two.

Step One:
Continue thinking about it - the loveliness of Spring Cleaning. Think about how lovely it would be if your entire house was clean, clean, clean. Think about all that dust on the baseboards where you can't reach, and your vacuum doesn't because the attachments need your assistance to do so, and oh how boring is that? Think about your blinds, and all the turning back and forth and how many times have you wiped them down, or up, as the case may be, or not, which is the case in most cases.
Then
Think about ... under the kitchen sink.

Step Two: (For the brave and not faint at heart)
Now go there. Make sure your children are supervised at this time as danger could lurk on yonder quest.
Open the cabinet's doors and look.
Close them.
Are you still conscious? What did you smell? What did you see? Was it pretty?
Now picture loveliness under your sink. Picture a tiled floor, and attractive, or at least sterile buckets, to hold the various things you have under your sink. And while we are there, ask yourself this question ... "Do I really need everything that's under there?" Answer that question with the truth.
If you, in fact and most likely, don't need all that you see ~ throw that stuff out.

Matter of fact.

Step Three:
Do that now. Go back to your sink with a bag that will hold garbage. Collect all the things that are gross, disgusting and/or unidentifiable and put them in the bag. Do not hesitate on this step! Now, go throw that bag away.
Jump up and down, or do a little dance, or a cheer, you have accomplished a very great deal! Then wash your hands.

Step Four:
Make a cup of tea, put your feet up and read another chapter of your favorite book. Then return to the sink. Which now is stripped down to only what you need. If during this next step of four, you run across something you do not need or recognize - Throw it Out! The motto ~ When in Doubt, Throw it Out!

Now, for this step you will need some time alone most likely depending on the age of your charges because you need to bring everything out of that deserted, lonely area and place It on the floor in front of your very own eyes. If you so decide to accept this mission, consider this a project and make sure that you gather all your necessary tools. HOWEVER. Before you go on to this step, I want you to think about something, (subliminal message -planning- planning- planning) and that is, the bottom floor of your under-the-sink area. What does it look like? Can it be wiped up easily? Nooooo? Well then, let's address that - and no, I don't mean, like 'hello, how are you?" I mean, style and class.

Why not?

Here's are some suggestions for that floor area:

1. Contact paper. I've done this. It works okay. And you can buy a color or print that's sweet or funky and suits your personality.

2. Pieces of stick-on vinyl flooring. I have this as a matter of fact. Madam B installed it (one of those Tom Sawyer moments) and it's lovely, and easy to do. Now we lucked out because my sister gave me a box of it years ago, and so I used that. But you can buy this at Home Depot, or the like, if there are no friends who have just put down vinyl flooring and have a few left over.

Whatever you use, the idea is to create an area that is clean looking and can be wiped up quickly to maintain this level of loveliness you are creating.
Trust me. You will be so happy you spent the time doing this. It is such a good feeling to reach under the sink and see clean and orderly looking back at you.

Step Four:
Hopefully, you did step three and got the flooring selected and in, and now you have to put things back! And hopefully, while you were out picking up the flooring choice you thought about what you might like to put your assorted under-the-sink items in after your have finished with your project. You didn't? Drat! ~ Well, it'll be okay. You can just place them neatly on New and Improved Attractive Chosen Flooring! Aren't we just so cool!

For safety, I am sure if your children are of a young age, you have reinstalled your child safety lock, and if they are old enough, you have the genius and foresight to have them help you complete this task.

And now you must all rejoice together in the newfound piece of orderliness in your home!

I am finding that as I complete each of these tasks and leave behind an area that is clean and organized it is just a most wonderful feeling. Seriously. You will smile more.

Next time, I will be addressing the food pantries and cabinets! Think about painting!! I do all the time. Anyone who knows me well can vouch for the bold truth in that statement.

End of Chapter Two
Reference Chapter One

Tu tranquilo,

Miss Roxie

Preen and Idem

Go ahead. Use them in a sentence. I challenged Madam B today in scrabble, as I did not know these two words! The stinker! Triple word score on 'idem'. Oh well...I got 'whale' on a double word score. Shows you where my mind is.

Madam B has started Henry V. At first she was not that excited about it because it is not a comedy. She never starts her next Shakespeare reading right after finishing one, as she seems to need time to 'let go' of the last one. Does that make sense? It's like we have to talk about and talk about, and see if there's a movie, and kind of court it awhile before we can say good-by and move on. I say 'we' but I don't read along with her so much anymore, as I just can't keep up. And I haven't read Henry V, but I told her that I would read it with her, and she said, 'nah, that's okay,' because I know she wants to just enjoy it at her leisure. But I will be looking forward to the movie!

"Men of few words are the best men." King Henry V (Act 111 Scene 2)

Did you know that "what the dickens" was a quote coined by Shakespeare years before Charles Dickens was born?

From "The Merry Wives of Windsor" ... Mrs. Page says, "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of." (that is a very weird line.)

It sounds strange, but 'what the dickens' was a euphemism for calling on the Devil.

Spring Cleaning ~ A lovely necessity

It's true. It's nice to get the house all cleaned. We all know that it's true (anyone remember the Moody Blues?)

Welcomed to Miss Roxie’s True Tales of Spring Cleaning

CHAPTER ONE

One good place to start ~The Oven.

Hopefully you have a self-cleaning oven and have been turning the little dial-ie set switch on for cleaning all during the year. Good for you! (Or, like me, you could have a self-cleaning oven and broken your dail-ie set switches long ago.)

Or, you have cleaned it and didn't put down one of those flat slide things that go on the bottom of ovens that you can throw away when they are soiled with the toil of your cooking and baking and slaving with love for your family at mealtimes and holidays and science experiments.

So, to start out on the job of cleaning a long overdue disgustingly, dirty, well-used oven we relax, make tea, and read the next chapter of our favorite book before we get to:

Step one: Open the oven door. Look inside. Close the door. Walk away.
Return 2 days later. Sigh again. Open the door. Drop your shoulders; look up at the sky, chin aggressively pointed upward, and ADMIT IT! It's your fault!!

Let out a huge big sigh and a whine. It's okay. It's stress relieving. Then forgive yourself. You have been busy. You have baked many a good treat here and made many a good meal! God loves you! Now. Deal with it. You are woman! Make the roar!!
Okay. So you have a situation and you must face it. Square in it’s ugly grimy, gunky face.

Step two: Decide your method of attack. Bombing the oven out of the kitchen is probably against the law and it's potentially dangerous. Okay. Well, it would be dangerous. Skip that.

How about trying the ammonia in the oven over night trick? And good luck with that! Hahahaha. Sorry didn't mean to laugh. The rumor is - put this product in a cold oven, over night, and then the next day - Like Magic! The gunk will just come off! Apparently, these researchers must have just baked one cake on one day a few years ago during a famine.

And, not to mention, ammonia left alone sitting somewhere emits Vapors and Fumes which when inhaled - and if it's in the air, guess what! You inhale it -- can cause lung damage!! I don't recommend the ammonia. But that's just me.

Then there's the old Vinegar trick. Yes, just saturate that oven with vinegar. Oh, right. Vinegar doesn't 'stick' to anything, really, so, umm, maybe just let it sit on the bottom and loosen the gunk for you? An idea. Yeah, it will - after a while –like in a gazillion years. Nothing personal against vinegar, I like vinegar. I use it all the time for cleaning and laundry brightening ...but dirty ovens? Oh my dear sweet innocents ~ it works Only If You catch the gunk on it's Way Down five seconds after you took the brownies out! It can take days to work while you and I “s-c-r-u-b” the gunk. But pay attention to that word “scrub”, it becomes key in the plan. Vinegar – good, yes, but Magic? No.

Oh, of course, you can buy some harsh product like Easy-Off (not). Yes, absolutely, you can buy some chemical products and spray them on and leave them for the allotted amount of time. But - Get Out Of The House With The Children!! And wear the gloves on gloves and gas mask while you are cleaning it out! Put newspaper on the floor in front of the oven to make sure your floor isn’t eaten away, oh, and make sure your phone has 911 plugged in - just in case ...Did I mention these cleaners _can_ put you in the hospital if you breathe while you're cleaning? Just make a mental note ...

Step Three: There is no getting around it. If you have a dirty oven, you must…Prepare to do battle. Get on your scrubs, ladies, because you are going to need them. I used baking soda (and that is so laughable) and vinegar (this was even more hysterical) and plenty of hot water (what a joke), got _some_ of it out, after four hours, and then I left the house. Really, I just couldn't take it any more. I went to Walmart and wandered up and down the aisle of harsh chemical cleaners, but just could not find it in myself to admit defeat and release some toxin in the air. I felt I had to muscle it out.

So I went back home.

Step Four: My luck just changed, my fortune cookie just cashed in because here is the best part, I came home and found my husband with his head in the oven and using his sander; he produced a clean and shiny oven!! LOL. I never appreciated electricity as much as I did that day!

Step Five: Do not allow anyone to use that oven until you buy that aluminum foil thingy for the bottom of the oven!! And they come in packs of two, and trust me my friends of the homemaking underworld, that is a good thing!

Then bake that husband a batch of cookies in your shiny clean oven and make a promise that you will NEVER, ever again, be neglect in wiping up the spills right away! You have just changed your life for the better! Remember that!

If you are real smart and excessively wise, you’ll make sure you pass this along to the next generation and instill the training of such while they are living under your roof.

End of Chapter One

Tu tranquilo,

Miss Roxie

On Line Safety

The following is an email message from one of our
local high schools
joined by Secure Florida, in conjunction with the
Florida Department of Law
Enforcement  ~
I applaud the community for getting involved:

"Kids go missing all too regularly,
and some of them meet their predators
online.  Combine them with the number of kids
that are exposed to
inappropriate sexual or violent material online,
and cyberspace can be a
hazardous place for young people.

Do you know the Web sites your child visits? 
Do you know who their
online friends are?  Are you sure?

A survey of youths 10 to17 years of age
revealed that although one in
five were approached or solicited sexually
on the Internet, half of them told
no one.

Social networking sites like
MySpace, FaceBook and Xanga, while popular
with kids, have become a prime hangout for
pedophiles and predators.
Parents and children need to know the
dangers surrounding relationships
formed online and how they can keep
from becoming a victim.

Interested media are invited to join the session."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

C D B?

I tried really hard to get a bee in action, and lo and behold, I did.

Spring around here

It's lovely out. The windows are open. So today I started, officially, spring cleaning. Well, it's more like just a continuation of getting the house ready to sell, but spring cleaning is fun.
First, I wanted to share a couple of photos with you ~~ This the view out a light from my dining room ~~ from three days ago, and then today ...

If the photos should decide they will come up in order, the first one will be a couple of days ago, and a recent one of today. You can see the intensity the dogwood has been putting forth by today.

Had a great time watering my shrubs. I have my own little spring cleaning watering system. I bake cookies and each time I put a batch in, I go out and move the hose, which is gently watering it's assigned charge.

Crazy little red bird sees himself

Here is that crazy little red bird looking at himself in Mr. B's side view mirror. Such a silly little bird!

The Mystery of Michelangelo

" I live to sin, to kill myself I love: no longer is my life my own, but sin's; my good is given to me by heaven, my evil by myself, by my free will, of which I am deprived". - Michelangelo






'But if, when near, the infinite beauty that dazzles my eyes does not allow my heart to bear up, and from afar seems not to reassure me or give me confidence, what will become of me? What guide or escort can there be who in regard of you will ever give help or strength, if you, when near, burn me, and, by parting, kill me?' - Poem by Michelangelo



"Up till this point, not one woman was to be seen in the entourage of Michelangelo other than the Madonnas whom he sculpted. Most of the female bodies in his work were sketched from male models or reworked classical statues". - Pierre Layris

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first picture is of a woman (the Madonna?) painted next to the Christ in Michelangelo's The Last Judgement.

As Madam B was reading her book on Michelangelo by Gilles Neret, she came across the second painting, which is a 'supposed' painting of Vittoria Colonna. Then she noticed something....They seem to resemble. What do you think?

The 'insinuation is' that Vittoria Colonna was the only woman that Michelanglo ever loved.

From what Madam B is reading about Michelangelo, (in this book) his personal life is somewhat a mystery, but he seemed to have lived and died a tortured soul, who was a snob who thought everything aside from sculpting was "for nothing."

In a letter to Benedetto Varchi in 1547 Michelangelo wrote, "the more painting resembles sculpture the better I like it. The more sculpture resembles painting the worse I like it. Sculpture is the torch by which painting is illustrated, and the difference between them is the difference between sun and moon. "

He added, in a most treacherous aside --that seemed to have been aimed at his rival Leonardo Da Vinci:-- “If he who wrote that painting was more noble than sculpture shows the same understanding in other things as in that remark, my servant girl could do better.” Meaning, if he who did the painting thinks his gift is higher than sculpting, well, he’s wrong, according to the thoughts of Michelangelo.

One reason he gave for his despising painting so, was that it “prized the attractions of color over those of the ideas.” (Interesting thought.)

Here’s what he said about Oil Painting, “it is only suitable for women.”

Here’s what Michelangelo said about landscape painting it, “should be forbidden, being nothing but a vague and deceitful sketch, a game for children and undedicated men.” Plato’s view on this seemed to agree

About Portraits, it is nothing but the” flattery of ideal curiosity and of the imperfect illusions of the senses.”

So. There is Madam B’s narration.

Just Wednesday

"Enough is as good as a feast." John Heywood

I am tired today. I think I've had a feast of it this week!

What does one do on a tired day? Sigh. I ended doing several loads of laundry. As Athena and I have discussed, the laundry and the dishes fight for our attention. But yet, I feel a great sense of accomplishment to have washed and wiped them all clean and clear away! I know it is a temporary victory. I know the laundry and dishes plot together at night, in their duplicitous ways to draw attention to themselves with their repeated sense of repetitiveness, but it bears repeating, I feel a Zen in doing laundry.

What is Zen after all? A state of being true to yourself and one with the universe?...so, when I do laundry, I am so totally relaxed, it must be a Zen thing.
I don't have to dress for laundry. I can sip cups of tea in between laundry and it's never offended.
The laundry cares not about my mood or how my hair turned out. I doubt the laundry cares much about anything about me! So I can be totally me. I don't even have to brush my teeth for laundry!
I can pray while I do laundry, I can dance while I do laundry,
I can talk on the phone while I do laundry,
I can think about my best friend and miss her,
I can call my mother and leave a funny message on her answering machine,
eat out of the refrigerator, pile pencils on a desk, count pennies from the change jar, watch a bit of Vanity Fair, read to Madam B, even drive away while the laundry is laundering if I wish!!
Laundry is the Zen of all activities.
Have YOU done laundry today?

Madam B and I did some more reading from the Scarlet Letter. As the whole world knows by now, we are draggg-ging through this book! It's awful. This is not a book to drag through! But we will finish it together, and we are almost there.

However, we are not impressed with the Rev Dimmensdale at all today. His new revelation in the fact that he is forgiven by Hester Prynne, and possibly be free from his terrible burden, has made him act like a looney-tune, and we are wondering _what did_ she see in him in the first place!?! The book has never told us.

Forgiveness is such a necessary thing. Maybe the Reverend will settle down ~ but we have left him in the town putting his cloak in front of his face as he walked by a young girl wishing to speak with him. And she, such an innocent of life, is feeling now so despondent, as she feels it is she who has done something terrible to cause him to shun her. (She hasn't figured out yet, that he is a nut!)

Else today ~ I made some potato soup. It's so good, and good for you with onions and garlic, celery, carrots and the potatoes. The starch of the potato is supposed to be very healing, and it's gluten free.

The trees are starting to show spring. I want to get a few photos of the changes. We'll see if I remember to do that. My brain cells don't always cooporate with my thought process.

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"
~William A. Ward

Links, Paint Tips, and Pastry Bags

1. Fun links:

a. I found this link on the Jacksons Cafe message board.
When you click on the link, you can find out what was the number one song the day you were born (or married or whatever.)

http://home.comcast.net/~josh.hosler/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

b. Had a strange dream? Go to freakydreams.com and type in your dream. See if you agree with the interpretation.

c. Want to use a Latin quote and can't find it? Here is a place you might try:

http://www.yuni.com/library/latin.html


2. Some random tips about painting:

a. Awareness is key in any activity. Know where you are and your brush is, at all times, in relation to where things are, that should not be painted. Screens may not look visible at a side glance, but they do show up that white streak you painted on them while you were turning around with the paintbrush facing backwards.

b. Respect the laws of the universe. Do not put too many things on a ladder, and then move the ladder, expecting the things to stay on the ladder. Gravity does not change it's rule for stupidity.

c. Wear a hat. Paint in your hair looks like gray hair sometimes, but most of the time people know you have paint in your hair, and that is all you will hear from everyone you meet, "Hey, is that paint in your hair?". Or, "Have you been painting? That looks like paint in your hair."

d. If paint had a personality, it would be sneaky and playful. Paint goes places it's not suppose to go even when you think it does not. It will. And I think secretly, it is laughing at you. Somewhere in the universe, trust me, paint is laughing.

e. Paint Deep. Apply enough paint to your brush and keep it moving. This is a serious tip. Many people don't put enough paint on their brush. Painters call this 'dry brushing', and it's not a good look. Cover that surface with some paint! That's what you bought it for.

f. People do not believe that paint is wet. Ever. Even if you tell people, 'Hey, be careful! I just painted there,"... they will lean on that place you just painted. Even twice. Husbands do this in their best shirts. It's a universal rule.

3. The Pastry Bag and too many calories:

Madam Blueberry has been experimenting with substitutions in recipes. She has used the applesauce for oil in cupcakes, banana bread, and assorted muffins, and tried to use a lower fat butter type product (Smart Beat) in some Tea Cookies. She has also changed the flour from all white to white and wholewheat combination, and some all whole wheat.

So far, we have not been *too* displeased with the results, with the exception of the Tea Cookies - nope, never again on that one. However, I'm thinking, should we be bringing something for a gift, sometimes the original recipes are best. Less fat isn't always the Name of the Day. Sometimes you just need Really, Really Good.

The latest thing now with Madam B, is practicing with her pastry bag. A good friend gave her a gift certificate for a local kitchen finery store. It was a wonderful trip! She came home with many things, and still didn't use the complete amount of her gift certificate. She's happy we will be able to go there again soon.

She also met a real Chef there! Which was a definite highlight for her. She was asking the clerk some questions about her pastry bag, and the clerk motioned to a man at the counter and said, "This is the gentlemen who could answer your questions." They had a delightful conversation.

This Chef is the private chef for one family!! Can you imagine?! (I would love that job). He said it was an offer to good to pass up. That day he was making a birthday cake and needed a pound of white chocolate. Oh yummmm...

Anyway, Madam B came home and began baking like the Mad Hatter (without her chef hat that she got for her birthday! Shame on her!) just to use her pastry bag!! We had so many muffins and sweet cakes around that Mr. B suggested that perhaps she just practice with a pound of icing on a cookie sheet, and then just scoop it back and start again. I think that is a marvelous suggestion! (and my thighs gave a hearty 'here, here!' to that)



Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Crazy little red bird

This is a crazy little red bird.
He loves to spend his time pecking at my side mirror.
He looks like a little bandit, but he is a vain little birdie who loves looking at himself.

Shakespeare thoughts

From Twelfth Night ~

Olivia is depressed at the loss of her brother. Feste finds the words to make her smile again:

From Act 1 Scene 5

Feste: Good madonna, why mournest thou?

Olivia: Good fool, for my brother's death.

Feste: I think his soul is in hell, madonna.

Olivia: I know his soul is in heaven, fool.

Feste: The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sonnett 116

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds” ~~William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error, and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

.

To Missey Gray

It was only in the world of cyberspace that I knew Missey Gray.

As per my usual blogging ritual, I popped over to Tim's Mom's place and read the Sad News there that she had passed away. My heart sunk. I had read Missey's posts many times on the Ambleside - AmbleRamble homeschooling list. My heart still feels such a clenching to think of her being gone ...

Crossing the Bar ~
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea.

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam.
When that which drew from the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell
When I embark.

For, though from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

~May you rest in peace, Missey Gray.

March Hares and Mad Hatters

"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad." "But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be, said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
~~Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)

March First ~

The first thing that came to my mind when I realized the date was the Mad Hatter. I thought to myself, "I must be mad!" And I thought, why would I think of that? Ha! It's because in the book, Alice and Wonderland! ... the Mad Hatter is in the same sentence as the March Hare! So, I'm not completely mad. Just Somewhat. It's actually the thing that keeps me sane.

But from what I have read, Hatters, (people who made hats), truly did go mad! There were chemicals used in the hat-making process that included mercurous nitrate, which was used for curing the felt. If one should be exposed to this chemical for long periods of time, one would contact mercury poisoning.

The poisoning caused tremors that were quite severe. Often times the victims would shake uncontrollably. This came to be called "Hatter's Shakes." This shaking was accompanied by vision problems and confused speech, which made the victim, appear to be even 'madder'. Those with advanced cases of the poisoning developed hallucinations and psychotic symptoms. So, there we come away with the phrase, "Mad as a Hatter."

Lewis Carroll did not originally coin the phrase. "Mad Hatter Syndrome" was around awhile before Mr. Carroll mentioned it in Alice. But his Alice is whom I think, and I'll bet most people think, about in March along with the Mad Hatter. Or at least once in a blue moon.

I should think about St. Patrick's Day since I'm married to an Irishman! Here's an Irish Quiz , which I scored badly on! I just sent it over to my relatives. They should score 100%. I had no idea that Ireland was so small!

On the home front ~

we have been working on the front of our home! The new windows are almost completed, and they do look great. I love them. The house is much quieter. I am amazed at the difference. And I think they look so nice and are so positively functional.

It's fun to have done some of the work... well, the painting and helping to hold a window might not be considered much, but to me it was; it was Mr. B who's done the actual installing. He didn't think he could do it until he worked with someone and realized that it's not really that difficult. The guy keep telling him, 'you can do this, you know.' And he was right.

Madam B had a most interesting day, I thought. Aside from her regular academics, she painted the side of the house, made Tea Cookies, and changed the oil in the car. Her dad was on the assist with the oil change, but I have to say, I was impressed. She doesn't think it's really a big deal. I asked her if she put that in her daily school journal, and she looked at me like I was a Mad Hatter! "Duh, I just changed the oil, what's the big deal?" was her response. I think it was a big deal!

I have been doing a lot of painting. I really don't mind painting, I don't like the cleaning up ~ at all. I would prefer to just throw everything away.

Which is what I almost did with my soup today. I guess my arms were shaking and weak or something, and I went to sit down in a chair while balancing my soup, and misjudged the earth's gravity.

A man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
~Paul Valéry, Mauvaises pensées et autres, 1942