the Tattoo

Tattoos are very interesting things. When you see someone with one, the mind starts wondering what it is, does it symbolize something or was it just because everyone else had one? …does it say something about the owner, or it is just an arbitrary image picked at random because it fit the space?...does it have a mate on someone else’s body like a name or the other half of a Mizpah coin? …are they just a single item or part of an ever-expanding complex of images?

My two best friends and I had decided we were going to get a tattoo when we turned 50…well, he went ahead and got one to add to his collection; she and I are still debating it, talking stage still, wondering about the cost, when to do this, where to put it, etc….and yes, we are all OVER 50 now, but I figure if my mom could get her’s at 67, I have some time..lol.

A tattoo is a very personal thing, for me at least. It needs to say something about ME, who I am, what I stand for, what my interest(s) are….and by this, nothing run-of-the-mill, ordinary, artsy-fartsy, carbon copy of some-one else’s…..So, where do I begin? Because when all is said and done, the thinking has been ongoing for some time now. I have definite ideas of what I would like to have, just not finalized to any one image – and that is all I plan to have is the one….so, who am I , really? I have bits of all kinds of images dancing in my head, so here is Me trying to make sense of it all…. Simple, clean lines, very straightforward and uncluttered, with gentle curves as opposed to angular/boxy lines. Spiders, simply because I am a spinner. Angels and/or fairies, because I have a fascination for the mystical/mythical beings that inhabit our world. Rocks, representing stability and solidness but sometimes hiding their beauty within like geodes. Celtic knots, the intricate weaving of cords that look at once solid and impenetrable yet easily pulled open and apart, representing the ties that bind us together and how much are lives are intertwined. Trees and/or plants, what symbolize life and growing things. Stick figures of people or hands enclosed in a heart reflecting my love of family and friends. An image of diverging paths/roads, because I have always followed my own path -- as my sister said, walked to the beat of a different drummer – and the family euphemism of my “taking the scenic path’ because I got lost (yes, I took the wrong way to get somewhere, but we eventually despite the 80-mile round trip misstep, got to where we needed/wanted to be)……

See what I mean ? …not such an easy task to define ME in a single image, there are simply too many facets comprising the Me that is ME….So, the thinking and reflecting on these images continues as I try to make some sense of it all, as well as come up with a way to pull them all together in a cohesive unit that truly will say ….. Me.

fairy name !

...found a link on a mail list to discover your Fairy name...all right, I'll bite, might be interesting to see what the generator comes up with based on my name....



Your fairy is called Gossamer Moonfrost
She is the moon goddess's messenger.
She lives in spiderwebbed wonderlands and insect grottos.
She is only seen during the first snow of winter.
She wears tiny black spiders on her dresses. She has beautiful blue butterfly wings.
Get your free fairy name here!


...how very neat is that!...only seen during the first snow of winter, and I was a winter baby too!...and now I spin, so keeping spiders near is a good sign.

If you could see what I see

Seems like it was just yestahdee I walked through my house, though it is very apparent I must have been sleepin’ some-where ‘cause I certainly would not have set up my house this-a-way…oh my stars, who put avocado green and pumpkin orange in my kitchen ?! …where did my nice solid wooden ice chest go to, I wonner….and all those doors on the walls ! …and how is a body supposed to sit on them spindly little chairs? Couldn’t have been very big folk living here….

There are people walking thru my house, one of whom has a pin on his jacket that gives his name and somethin’ that looks like ‘reel-ter’…I’m not knowing what that is, but he is talking up my house somethin’ fierce – “…..hand-turned wooden moldings throughout the house…..” and somethin’ that sounds suspishusly like “..shabby sheeke..”, what-ever that might be, though it do seem to be takin’ the young-folk’s attention. I ‘member when my man made those door-frames, he did like to work with his wood, said it felt alive in his hands. Me, I am thinkin’ he had imbibed a little too heavy that day…..and the man did like his lickor, tho’ he tried to hide it from me. We used ta’ have a shed out back with an outhouse attached to the side. My man hid his wiskey bottles there so I wouldn’t find them, but I knew where they were, and if I was thinkin’ he was imbibin’ a little too much I took steps to fix that…..I tried puttin’ sand in the bottle a coupla’ times, filled ‘em with water, put bugs and werms in one, ‘til I saw the bottle already had a werm…the smell of that one near made my eyes burn…when that didna’ work I took ta’ dumpin’ the bottles so they’d be empty….when I’d had enuff of his drinkin’, I brought the bottle in and smashed it on his head – yup, my man decided it was safer to stay sober after that one. I still chuckle over that one…made my man clean up my floor and scrub the lickor off’en it afterwards….he ne’re took another drop after that.

But where was I …? Ah, yes, visitin’ my house…strange that I can go thru the kitchen wall and be in the pantry…a bit dusty it is, and cobwebs, and …yuck, mouse droppin’s beneat’ the shelf…some-body hasna’ been here in a good bit if the critters have taken residence. The top shelf still has my ole butter churn and my most favoritest skillet made of black iron that my man gifted me with one year…that pan was some hevvee but it cooked so good…..as I go back thru the wall my kitchen, my good stove is gone. When my man and me first lived there we have a big wood stove that had a well in the side of it for heating water…the boys knew they hadta’ scrub their faces and hands ‘afore they came to dinner and lack of hot water was not an exkusse ! So, the folks are still walkin’ thru my house and talkin’ with the reel-ter about the size of the rooms and age of the strukcher, and how much land came with it, and how much could they talk the owner to come down on price….Land sakes alive…who’d a’ thunk my house would genn-ah-rate such talk? They seem nice folk, a bit long in the tooth perhaps as I dinna’ think there are chillun’ livin’ with ‘em….The man is talkin’ ‘bout settin’ up a work-shop – seems he does things with wood like my man useta’, and the woman is sayin’ somethin’ ‘bout the big room in front up-stairs that has a big winder in it now, somethin’ to the effect of “..good light for my quiltin’…” so perhaps wont be too bad. I followed the folks down the hallway. What useta’ be the babee’s room now has what the reel-ter called an “..n-clozed tub an’ show’r…..porcelin’ base…original claw-foot…” – well, at least the ones who put it there knew qualitee. The lady is sayin’ that it smelled like babee powder…’course it did, I was very liberal with that wit’ my babee’s, and I blew some off the winder when they came in the room….

{..fast-forward several months…}

I hadta’ walk thru my house again…time to say good-bye to it I am supposin’…the man and woman who I had seen wit’ the reel-ter are in the house now. They still have lots of boxes to open it seems, but the room up-stairs with the big winder with all the light is in use all ready….there are new shelves with fabrics – yes many fabrics of so many colors…and the woman is hummin’ as she cuts and stitches and cuts some more…..there is a big wicker rocker in the room now too…with a quilt hangin’ over the back…and an orange tabby-cat in the chair lookin’ at me. His eyes are bright and clear and he sees me. He knows I am here and mean ‘im no harm…it is a good room, a happy place – the woman has seen to that…. I can be happy knowin’ my house is in good hands now…..time for me to be movin’ on I am supposin’….

Independence Day

We went to a local private inn that was hosting fireworks. Always a sight to see from the top of the hill where the Inn sits over the lake...and there was a bit of breeze at the end that blew the smoke back over us.

We get to celebrate our independence because of boys and girls in uniform, and you often see the phrase "Freedom isn't free", and it's not, it is bought at the cost of a life sometimes.....Thank a Veteran, or a current Military member for their service, and yes, this is something near-and-dear to my heart: My father served in the Navy; my brother was in the Marines; my husband was on board a Navy vessel during the Gulf War; my eldest son is the National Guard; and my younger son is in the Army having already served in Iraq once and deploying there again this year...This proud Maman is thankful for what they have done, are doing, and will do to allow us the freedom to continue to celebrate our independence......

Awesome!

Found something in my reading earlier today, and it is "awesome" ..... just saying the word sounds like it is a B-I-G something, and in truth the concept of awesomeness, is pretty grand in and of itself... The author's name is Neil Pasricha, and his blog is <1000awesomethings.com> ...it's a pretty kewl place, a different entry for every day, that one awesome thing he finds every day to talk about, be it so very tiny and humble to something magnificent, just that one thing that makes you stop and re-examine what you thought you knew. He now has a book out as well, which I will be looking into obtaining for my summer reading forays.....

Imagine, if you will, where your mind will go when you stop for a moment to examine how awesome something is: the sun shining through ice-covered tree branches, the sound of a babbling brook that is hidden behind a wall of trees, the gas guage that reads "E" but still seems to have enough gas to get you home, the doe and fawn on the side of the highway as you drive on by.......

Oh, the treasures to be found when you slow down long enough to 'smell the roses' .....

a time for deep thoughts

Corri sat beside her bedroom window pensively staring out. The late afternoon sun fell upon her face as it bounced and slid over the gently moving surface of the lake. Here and there she could see tips of white as the breeze pushed up the water, disrupting the smooth glassy surface that reflected the brilliant blue sky dotted with white puffs. It was nice to just sit and let her mind wander…the past few weeks had been unbelievably busy to the point where she had absolutely no time to herself. Dad had just been moved to a care facility – his Alzheimer’s had gotten so bad that Mum could no longer keep up with or keep track of him. Everyone in the family had pitched in when they could, but it fell to Mum and Corri as the youngest who still lived at home, to do the bigger share…Sometimes he knew who they were though most times did not, and Corri knew how difficult that was for Mum who had been his everything for so long to suddenly become his nothing. It was done now, he was in capable hands at the Home, and Corri had taken her Mum here to the campground so that she too could start the healing process….Mum hadn’t wanted to go, how could she leave him in an unfamiliar place with strangers ?? It had been surprisingly easy to leave her Dad there, he seemed not to know who they were, only new people to talk to (Dad had always been the social butterfly) and stories to share – he went off with his new friends without a backwards glance at all. Mum had been crushed, but she agreed to leave him for a bit and come back later to see how he was getting on….Corri drove her back around supper time, and other than a simple ‘Hallo, how are you?’, Dad was off with his new-found friends, though Mum could be heard muttering “…you’d think he had spent his entire life with them the way he is carrying on…”

Corri drove her Mum over to the Home several times over the next few days, and yes, even managed to persuade Mum to pack up some things so that they could leave on a vacation, “yes, Mum it’s all arranged, the cabin is ours for the whole month”…..and “it will do you good to have some time to relax”…..and finally, it was done, they were on the road with a brief stop at the Home to see Dad , and then off they went to the lakeside cabin.

And now, here she sat pensively studying the lake, the tensions of the past slowly ebbing away, much like the current was doing on the lake below. She had needed this respite, as did her Mum. This vacation was needed to build up their mental reserves and strength so that when they returned home, they could finish picking up the pieces of their shattered lives. Corri’s siblings were to check in on Dad every few days, and so far from what they had said in phone calls, nothing had changed. He still did not know who they were, nor did he seem to miss Mum, at least none of the nursing staff had said so anyway…..Mum had a difficult road ahead of her, for too long she had needed to be needed, and now would have to find a different way to use her time. Not that there weren’t plenty of opportunities available to her, she had simply chosen to not look at any of them previously because of Dad….

So, ‘one step at a time’ as Dad had always said…..Corri sighed, time would tell where they would go from here…..

..how wild is this life?

….well, got a bit of a chuckle the other morning. Was on my way down the road, on my way to go meet my sister, when I caught a flash of pink. Yes, P-I-N-K…..quite a few (?maybe 20 or so) of those familiar lawn ornaments…the ubiquitous Pink Flamingo, lined up beside the driveway and scattered across the front lawn (they were no longer there later that afternoon when I returned homeward) – had to be someone’s idea of a joke …amusing way to start the day, nonetheless.

Less than a half-mile from that, I pass a corn field that had recently been planted. In a low spot was several dozen Canada geese, most with their heads tucked under their wings…guess they thought that was a good place as any to bed down for the night as the previous evening had been heavy torrential rain and gusty winds. Don’t usually get to see so many at once this early in the year, so was rather nice.

So ok, I am now thinking it is going to be a good day as I continue on my merry way….going through a small town the little car in front of my truck suddenly puts the brakes on and swerves narrowly missing the youngish moose that ran out of the woods on our right, across the road, and into some woods behind the local Town office on the left side…..yeah, I hit the brakes too, and no-body (and nothing) got hurt ……phew!

This week’s wildlife sightings involved the neighbors who called to let us know there had been a fox seen in the previous few days acting oddly, running down the road and up their driveway to the deck (and this is with people and dog right there), and someone also said they had seen it running down another road stopping every few yards to shake its head before continuing on….yup, sounds like rabies, and local Animal Control and Sheriff’s Department both had said we were free to shoot it if it came at us. Well, the other afternoon the sheriff himself is the one who took it out, and where our house sits we pretty much had a ringside seat. The rifle blast sent one of my dogs racing to my basement office to hide under the desk – picture this if you will: big ~70-lb Lab/Pointer shaking like a wind-blown leaf, teeth chattering like he was cold, and big white bug-eyes trying to come out of his head, and all the while he is trying to hide …..Can someone please explain how a dog who growls so menacingly at anything that crosses our lawn (in such a way so as to strike terror in us if we didn’t know him to be such a marsh-mellow) with the hackles raised to stiff peaks, could be such a wuss at the sound of a gunshot?..Sheesh….good thing Hunting Season does not start for another 4-5 months….