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May 21, 2007

On Mother's Day, Teapots and Tea

I never posted about Mother's Day, so belatedly...

We weren't supposed to even be in Maryland on Mother's Day. We were
supposed to be in Nantucket, and again to revisit my slight disgust at the
situation, we weren't, due to my van having a ginourmous repair bill.

Ok byatching about that over.

So here I am on Mother's Day: no cards, no gifts * I planned to pick up
some stuff in Nantucket for my mom, Michael's mom Jean and my
sister-in-law Debbie.

Of course I realized this sad state of affairs on Sunday at about 12:30
a.m. **yes I was up that late...night owl here**.

Yargh...what can I make quickly that won't look cheesy, will be
appreciated and not LOOK like I made it quickly.

sidebar: Debbie if you are reading this stop laughing !
Myeh :^p

AH BRAIN BLAST! **a la Jimmy Neutron**
I had picked up fixins for making sterling silver jewelry for
Valentine's Day gifts. A migraine killed my plans to make stuff up for the
three gals mentioned above. This is perfect! AND I could put them together after
church. Time crunches really blow chunks.

Ok I am revealing I attended high school in the 80s with that turn of phrase.

Moving right along.

In my snuffling about Michael's and Joann's ETC. I acquired charm photo frames, hearts, sterling silver chain and
beads, among other do-dads. My plans were to make a bracelet for my MIL, a pin for my SIL, and a
necklace for my mom. Yeah. I can do this.

So I did. But I forgot to take pics because I was in such a hurry to get
the jewelry done in time for supper at my MIL's house. :^p And get a nap in if possible.

I don't think I got the nap if I recall.

My mom gave me her necklace back to use it for sizing for the photos **and to add the photo to her necklace**.
The time I allowed myself *aw hell, its more like there WAS no time!*
meant I didn't have time to finagle the sizing and quality to print out
the pics to insert into the little frames. I did print the pics once
and BOY did they look like crap. Ok...so there is something that I need to
do with the sizing for the tiny size, DPI, resolution...blah blah blah. I
am going to research it today and figure out what I was doing wrong.

Here is a pic of my mom's
necklace. It is the plainest of the three items I made. On Deb's pin I put beads and
hearts along with the little photo frame charm and on Jean's bracelet I did the
same. On my mom's necklace I had just added the hearts and frame charm. Since I have it
back I can add some beads to it and decorate it up. I didn't have time to figure out what to
do on the necklace...but now I have the time so I will see what I can come
up with.

NecklaceSm

No, my family does not include people of color *unless
you include our Native American blood. That is the image that came
in the charm package. I saved it to use for sizing. :^D

So that took care of the other ladies in our family.

Michael and Brenna **as well as many others** know
my fondness for teapots and tea. Generally on holidays and other special
occasions someone will pick up a teapot or something "tea" oriented for
me.

I am starting to run out of places for them.

Don't care. I still like them. :^D

Target has some really cool looking teapots **along with
their other cool home and decor items**. They are quickly matching
Pier One for the YUMMY factor their home stuff has.

MDayTeapotSm

Teapot and four cups from Target. Now I just need a tray
for serving.

So that was Mother's Day in the Jones household.

Now let's talk about tea.

Tea. So MANY kinds. So much yumminess.

I have become a tea snob. Lipton tea bags? Gak. No thank you. Now, Lipton
has Tea some TERRIFIC loose teas but the teabags that seem to be synonymous
with a cup of tea in the US? Gak x2. I cannot stand that taste of the
regular old Lipton tea bags. I love Lipton's loose tea that is called
Lipton's Yellow Label Tea. I get mine from Indian grocery stores, and
occasionally one of the local grocers will carry it.

There are five main kinds of tea: herbal, white, green, oolong, and black.

Starting with herbal "teas"
herbal infusions are technically a tisane, **also spelled ptisan** or infusion, and not "tea" in the strictest sense of the word. Derived from fresh or dried flowers, leaves, seeds or roots,
usually by pouring boiling water over the plant parts and letting
them steep for a few minutes. They are often used in medicinal preparations and as part of whole food diets or natural healing. Herbal tisances make splendid beverages by themselves or
mixed with camellia type teas and are as many and varied as plants
themselves are.

White teas are young leaves (new growth buds)
that have undergone no oxidation; the buds may be shielded from sunlight
to prevent formation of chlorophyll. They have a mild flavor not
unlike green teas *IMO*.

Green teas are leaves in which the oxidation
process is stopped after a minimal amount of oxidation by application of
heat, either with
steam,
or by dry cooking in hot pans, the traditional Chinese method.

In oolong teas oxidation is stopped
somewhere between the standards for green tea and black tea.

With black
teas, the tea leaves are allowed to completely oxidize. The Chinese call
it Red Tea because of the color of the water after steeping tea leaves.
This is my personal favorite. The various flavors of black tea are created
by the blends that are combined or by the addition of essences, oils,
leaves, buds, etc. to help create distinctive scents and flavors.

Black tea is by far the most popular and
widely consumed tea in the United States.

My favorite tea I have ever found is made from Lloyd's of London. I
purchased some from a local store that carried it for a short time, and
now I can't FIND it anywhere. If you have seen tea from Lloyd's of
London PLEASE let me know.

I love Ceylon tea, Irish Breakfast Tea, English Breakfast tea. Each tea
has its own depth, it's own nuances, its own subtle flavors. The best teas
are ones that you can savor and enjoy. I have found some local places that
sell incredible loose teas and I love to get small samplings of various
ones to try. This morning I stopped in

Shamrock's in Bel Air and bought 1/8 lb each of two different
teas to try: Chanticleer and a Ceylon Orange Pekoe. **side
bar: I just made a cup of the Chanticleer. It is REALLY good! Its a black
tea with a floral overtone. Looking on Baltimore Coffee's site, the
original source of the tea, the tea is spiked with sunflower petals. VERY
tasty!**

So you want to try a tea without making a whole pot? Or you just want to
make one cup from loose tea? No problem! There are handy-dandy tea bags to
spoon loose tea
TsacBags into
that work wonderfully! The brand I purchase is called T-sac. I have seen them at various kitchen or culinary stores, and places that sell loose tea or herbs also carry them. I 2 boxes at a time and keep them on hand. No need to tie, iron or otherwise finagle the bags, you simply scoop a spoonful of your tea or herb *also good for cooking with herbs in them, by the by* into the t-sac and let the bag flop over the top of your cup or pot. Best thing I have found in years for making cups of loose tea. I will use several of these with a tea pot. No twigs or leaves in the pot or cup. The bag can simply be lifted out of your fresh brew and placed it in your trash, or better yet, recycle bin. sidebar: tea and coffee leavings are spectacular in the garden! Much better than in the local landfill.

The best "regular" black tea bags I have found, hands down, are
Red Rose
Teabags. They are made from an excellent grade of tea,
not the "bottom of the barrel" tea leaves that comprise many bagged teas.
Seriously...try the regular Red Rose Tea. You will be really surprised at
the taste. If you are a Lipton drinker, you may wind up relegating those
bags to the back of the cabinet to use up for iced tea or for a guest who
requests Lipton Tea bags.

To make the perfect cup of tea, boil your tea to a rapid boil. The best
water to use is, of course, filtered water sans chlorine or bottled water. Fill your
cup or pot up with the boiling water, and let this stand for a moment to warm
the container thoroughly. Discard this water. Place your bagged loose tea or favorite tea bag in the
cup and pour the boiling water over. Set your timer for a minimum of 3
minutes, up to a maximum of 5-6, depending on how strong you like
your tea, and the type of tea you are brewing. Herbal, green or white teas
keep at 3-4 minutes or they will get bitter and unpalatable. Decaffeinated
teas require more tea per cup to get a decent strength. Remove your bag or
loose tea without squeezing. Squeezing draw out the bitter tannins. Drink
as is or add your favorite sweetener and/or creamer.

So jump on the tea bandwagon. Its yummy. Green tea is great for you, as
are many herbal teas. Summer it coming! Try some tasty herbal teas...Celestial
Seasonings has some great ones. Try Raspberry Zinger, Orange
Zinger, Red Zinger, over ice. Add some ginger ale and grape juice to an
herbal tea to make an awesome cooler during the hottest and driest days of
the summer. Remember when making iced teas to make them 2-3 times as
strong as for hot. The tea will considerably weaken when poured over ice.

Let
me know what your favorite tea is. Don't care for tea? Step out and
try something different! You may just surprise yourself and find a new
beverage to satisfy your thirst each day.

~Kathie

May 20, 2007

Sweeeeeettt...

My MIL's birthday is today. Yesterday we bought flowers for her front garden and went and planted them, weeded, rearranged perennials, etc. for her birthday gift. The woman HAS EVERYTH(ING. I never know what to buy her! Michael's brother and his wife are also going to do the same thing. It works! Lots of space...we want her to have a kickin' garden this year. She loves the idea so its all good.

Eric and Deb are having a grill-out over there house for her birthday dinner and Eric asked me to make the desert. Cool! I asked Jean what she would like and she said "something chocolate".

Okie dokie. This is what she is gets:

Chocolate Chip Devil's Food cake with butterscotch filling, topped with a chocolate chip icing and sprinkled with brown sugar.

Oh and if someone wasn't in the mood for chocolate *pshaw...like THAT would happen..snort*, I made these:

LemonBarsSm

Lemon Bars

Mmmm

I am going to cut them at Eric and Deb's and top them with some seedless red raspberry jam.

Burp.

BBL Heading out!

Kathie

~~Night~~ Day at the Museum

So this past week was supposed to be a trip to Nantucket. That got blown out of the water when my van needed more than $800 in repairs. *wincesighsmallwhine* Michael decided to go ahead and take this week off anyway and we used it as a "local" vacation week. Two of the days we went to Chesapeake Beach; one day we watched Night at the Museum and Spider Man 1 and 2; another day we fished all day*upcoming blogs...I am all out of order*.

Friday was the day we planned to go to Hershey Park. Then.. dum dum dummm *insert ominous tones here XXX* along came storm fronts hailing from the midwest. Fifty-ish something degrees, scattered thunder showers, the occasional tornado...uhhh no. Not my idea of a happy-shiny occasion for going to a theme park. Oh and the fact that it is around $45. I don't want to pay $45 to walk around getting wet, cold and dodging electrical storms.

Hershey Park: officially tabled until the weather is more cooperative.

Since we caught up on the Spider Man movies this week we decided to go to a matinee of Spider Man 3 on Friday. Great movie if you liked the first two! After the movie we had lunch at Don Pablo's mmmm Mexican! But that only took up time until 3pm. That isn't much of a vacation day, now is it?

And that is where The Walter's Art Gallery comes in!

Now if you have read any of my posts of number you know I am an artsy-fartsy kinda chick. And I happen to LOVE museums of any ilk. Living near DC offers a plethora of museums as the Smithsonian has more than 20 buildings that comprise its collective. I have never been to Philadelphia even though we live less than 2 hours from the downtown area (not sure how I made it through elementary school and Girl Scouts without doing so), but we plan to remedy that lack this summer. I know there are several good museums up there. I also have never been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Actually I have never BEEN to New York! I also would like to remedy that in the near future.

Baltimore has two major museums: the Walter's Art Gallery and the Baltimore Museum of Art. I grew up in Baltimore City and my mom took me to the Walter's quite a lot, as well as going with school. Same with the BMA, add to the fact that I took art classes there quite a number of times.

The Walter's is a smorgasbord for those who enjoy ancient art. They have artifacts from many ancient cultures and locales: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Japan, China, India, the Americas. On occasion they have traveling exhibits come through. Two years ago or so we saw the Tutankhamen exhibit. SO COOL to see these artifact from the time of Moses in pristine condition. It really solidifies to me how man has, in general, a totally skewed view of ancient cultures' abilities and accomplishments. The are too "primitive" to have done x, y or z. The were "unsophisticated" and "backwards". Humph. The more we find out about ancient culture, the more we find out that us "modern" humans don't know nearly as much as we think we do about the past.

One of the very cool things about museums is that you can generally, they are ok with your photographing the exhibits unless it is one that is on loan. You know I love that! So I set my Rebel XT up with an 85mm lens at 800 ISO and starting clicking away. All available light *which really isn't great in a museum as they keep it set to do as little damage to the pieces as possible*, all hand held. I am pretty please with how the images came out.

No real significance to the images save the fact that I wanted to play and I love the art in the museum! Here is a sampling of some of my favorite images from yesterday (this is a pix heavy post, be forewarned!):

This is a statue that younger Walters commissioned of his daughter, Jennie. Its gorgeous. I didn't take note of who the artist was though.

This statue is called The Mourner.

I love the emotion that is conveyed in the draping of the cloth, the hand to the head, the stance.

This is a detail of a portrait of Mary receiving the announcement of her pregnancy by the Holy Spirit. The lighting on it was what impressed me. Painted on wood with oils. From the Mediaeval period I believe. It could have been painted last week...the colors were vibrant and beautiful.

This is a recent acquisition by the Walters'. It was owned by a family in New Jersey and kept in their home. From India, it is made of a technique similar to Paper Mache'. A form is covered with layers of cloth, bark or fiber that is soaked in dyes or rosins. As each layer dries a subsequent layer is added. The form is then removed and the finished statue is painted, adorned, etc. This is a close up detail of a close to life sized image. Absolutely gorgeous! I believe it was a bodhisvitta: someone who has reached enlightenment who returns to teach others.

The Archangel Michael, sans wings. A little smaller than life sized it once adorned the front of a sanctuary in a cathedral.

I kept thinking statues and paintings of him were of Joan of Arc.

Oops.

Guess I shouldn't be thinking like that. His hair style and length is exactly like MY Michael's! rofl

Next...

This is a terra cotta statue of Joseph, believed to once have been part of a nativity scene.

The statue is close to life size...and the detail in it, especially considering it is made of terra cotta is really amazing.

I believe this dates from the mediaeval period.

This statue is about 12 inches tall and is an example of this particular artist's skill in creating glass art. From the early 1600 or 1700s the statue glows when light is shone on it. Gorgeous!

This is one of the most beautiful examples of Mediaeval armor that I have ever seen. Made for a ruling Duke in Milan, I believe, the family name begins with M. It is part of he stamp work that is covering the full suit of armor. This photo doesn't do it justice.

I can't begin to imagine how many thousands of hours this took to be forged, stamped, hinged, and joined together.

Look at the lines of this.

A roman statue dating from not long after the time of Christ, this statue is just gorgeous in its execution, rivaling any modern sculptural example.

This is the head of a statue from Egypt, made during the Pharonic period. Even with the missing nose, the statue is elegant and compelling.

At one time there were details in place for the eyes, giving them lifelike color. It is believed this is the image of a priest or palace high official.

This statue is about 25 inches tall and is believed to have once held the mummy of, what else, a baboon!

The baboon was an offering to one of the various gods of the Egyptians.

In this instance, the baboon mummy isn't included.

Wonder what the "gods" thought of their missing offering?

A gold-leafed funerary mask, this would have been placed over the wrappings on the head of the mummy. Then the mummy would be placed in a series of 2 inner coffins and a sarcophagus. These coffins and sarcophaguses were often gold leafed as well.

Man.

I personally will be happy with a plain pine box. My gold is waiting for me elsewhere!

This coffin still contains the mummy that was placed inside. Look how vibrant the colors and details still are after almost 3000 years!

Cats haven't changed much in appearance in 3000 years have they?

This statue is about 8 inches tall or so.

Trivia: did you know that when a cat died in an Egyptian household, the members would shave off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning?

I don't think many living humans still worship them as gods.

Cats believe this is a sad state of affairs indeed.

This is a detail from a life size marble statue.

I love the emotion conveyed in the pose.

This is a detail of a one of a pair of Assyrian or Persian carvings that once adorned either side of a temple entrance. The relief carvings are about 10 feet tall and mirror one another's images.

Called The Genius, I can't help but think of the kings that fought against Israel during the Kingdom period.

These are in absolutely fantastic condition for most of the relief and look like they could have been carved yesterday.

Think it would be a bit excessive of me to ask for one of these bracelets as a gift for my 18th anniversary next year? :^D

I believe this painting is of what would be called a "bawdy house" or "cat house".

'Nuff said.

I believe the painting speaks for itself, no?

I absolutely LOVE Celtic art and jewelry.
This pin is probably 3000 years old and is absolutely gorgeous.

Some years ago my mother in law bought me a kilt pin that looks very much like this.

This is a detail from a painting. The lighting on these were awesome.

And what's not to love about little chub chub Cherubs?

Ok I think I will stop for now before I bore y'all to death. I took a ton of pix yesterday and these are just a sampling. I can't wait until I start teaching art classes again. Research for doing so is fun and I will get to take lots of pix while doing so.

Til next time.

Katt

May 16, 2007

Its In The Bag

So let me tell you a bit
about my home.

Its a 230+ year old farmhouse
in semi-rural Harford County, Maryland.

It has a stone foundation, a
stone cellar with a concrete floor, a walk up attic with three cool Paladian
windows *arched windows for those who wonder what the heck Paladian windows
are*, 5 bedrooms *one of which is in the center of the upstairs and is used
as a closet because they didn't put closets in old homes*, two stair cases,
and a black rat snake as a long-time resident.

Yes, you did read that correctly. A
Black Rat Snake. In The House. Long time here Hrm.

Old houses with stone cellars are
notorious for attracting snakes and rodents. Rodents come in through the
ubiquitous crevices between the rocks in the foundation and snakes soon follow. Our
resident black snake has been here for at least 4 of the 5 years we have had
the house, and I suspect it may have been here prior to our knowing it was resident. Last year we didn't see the snake at all, so we
assumed that one of the hawks, eagles or foxes had a nice snack of our
slithery friend. I missed his/her rodent dispatching but figured that
no-see-em-means-no-longer-here. We would see the snake in the attic or
cellar once or twice during the warmest part of the year. One time it was in
the laundry room on the main floor. Another time it was in the attic and
Michael captured it and took it out to the apple trees. I informed him that
taking a snake 100 yards out of the house wasn't going to do a bit of good
at discouraging said snake from returning from whence it came. Whence being
The House. Our house. Not the snake's house. But obviously the snake doesn't
understand that fact.

Yes it returned. But I didn't see
it at all last summer. Buh Bye Snakie.

But wait, there's more!

Today Michael went upstairs and
went to walk into the closet from our room. He thought a long belt was lying
on the floor and reached down to pick it up *light was off*. Then the "belt"
moved. OH HOLY CRAP. He comes hoofin' it down the stairs saying "I need a
sack. I need a light. I need SOMETHING. There is what I think is the longest
snake I have ever seen in the closet."

We go back upstairs and the SNAKE
IS GONE! Ok... there are FOUR doors out of this closet/room...and all of
them were open. So did it go into our 16x28 bedroom? Did it go into the
music room full of instruments and curl up in a sound hole of a guitar? Did
it go into Brenna's bathroom and then into her room? Did it go down the old
stairs into the living room, dining room, breakfast room or the other three
rooms downstairs? Did it go through that same door and go into the back
bedroom or up the attic stairs?

At this point I realize there is a serious disadvantage to having a
large home.

Damn reptile.

We searched. We found nothing. Took
two of the dogs up to sniff around and they found nothing.

Me? I am having thoughts of waking
up in our warm water bed with a snake curled up next to me. In the attic or
cellar is fine. In my bedroom? Not so fine. Somewhere downstairs where we spend the bulk of our time BAREFOOT (we don't wear shoes in the house in an effort to keep the carpets un-scungey)? NOT so fine.

See my friends, this is not a small
snake like the lil fingerlings I see in the gardens. No, this is a big, long intimidating looking and heavy Black Rat
Snake about 7 feet long.

That is a lot o' freaking snake.

So we went back downstairs to the
family room and proceeded with finishing watching Night at the Museum. Today
was a rainy, stormy day, so it was designated Sluggin' and Movie Day.

About 1/2 way through the movie the
puppy starts barking this deep growly warning bark. I turned around to see
the snake crawling from the breakfast room into the family room over top of
the homeschooling books.

My first thought:

OH MANNNN please don't crap on my
books! Ewwww.

Second thought:

Dayummmm that is one big freakin'
snake.

Then I said GRAB THE DOGS.
Grab a blanket! Get on leather gloves. I grabbed the phone to call animal
control "why ? I have no idea!". Brenna got all three dogs on leads. Becca
and I ran out to the van to get the stuff sack from the van *it had a
sleeping bag in it that we took to the beach yesterday. Beach blog coming
next!*.

I broke a nail getting the sleeping
bag out of the bag. Dammit. And ouch.

So Michael tackles the snake with
the blanket. The snake strikes him in the leg, but thankfully hits his boot.
He pins the snake to the ground and is almost hyperventilating from the
adrenalin. Going Ew Ew Ew why am I doing this? ROFL

He finally pinned the snake behind
its head and I picked up its body and dropped it into the stuff sack. Then
snakey went on a lil ride.

No I didn't kill it. We drove it up
the road to Rocks State Park.

Snake01sm

Gee... a sack! I wonder what is in the
sack...

Beach05172007078

Oh look! The sack is open *peer*. Oops
don't peer too close...

Snake05sm

Ahhh THAT is what is in the sack!

Snake03sm

And its no longer in the sack.
AND NO LONGER IN OUR HOUSE! We drove him up the road about 7 miles, over
water, to Deer Creek in Rocks State Park.

Enjoy the new locale Snakey. Parting is
such sweet sorrow.

NOT!!!

~Kathie

May 12, 2007

The Friday Night Seduction...

I have no idea why at the beginning of the warm weather
season in Maryland I am suddenly being seduced by wool, fibers, yarn hanks,
crochet and knitting needles.

This is generally the time of year when usually I am digging in, quite
literally, into my gardening. Instead of the yearning to put on my garden
grubbies, knee pads and rubber coated leather gloves, I am being wooed to
look at fibers in Michael's and Joann's, online and in my stash in my
sewing/craft room. I am suddenly digging out crochet needles and patterns
for lacy tops. I wake up in the morning thinking about surfing for
free knitting patterns online and actually starting a knitting project that
I can finish. Socks anyone?

What in the heck? ITS
MAY! This isn't knitting season! You knit when its too cold to open the door
and step outside, not when the days are in the 70s and nights are in the
balmy 60s with the scent of Spring flowers on the breeze.

I suppose it may have
started a couple of weeks ago when my friend Carolynne was in from Michigan.
I wish I could say that she was here for a mini vacation, but she actually
flew in for the funeral of a friend of ours.

Say a prayer for
Greta's family. She would have been 39 today. Far too young to die. Far too
long she suffered with Lupus and I wouldn't wish her back into this world
without physical healing of her body.

Anyway back to
Carolynne being in town. She had an extra day here before she flew back
knit so
we took that say to shop and hang out. Our hanging out took us into Kohl's:
My New Favorite Place To Shop. Now Kohl's isn't the swankiest place on the
planet, but they have cute everyday clothes. We also went to Marshall's and
threw down a bit on some kickin' clearance items, but back to Kohl's. In
Kohl's was THE cutest crocheted top. It came in a variety of colors and I
kept walking by it, going back, finally I picked up a turquoise version in
large *gotta make room for the 36 D frontage, otherwise a medium would have
fit me just fine*. Into the dressing room to try it on, and the love at
first sight was confirmed when I was wrapped lovingly in its arms. This
image is very similar to the top, but mine is straight across on the bottom
and not quite as belled.

Dang but I love that top!
Toss a tank under it and a pair of skinny black jeans, a pair of strappy
sandals and you have one heck of a nice outfit.

Oh and when I was in Florida
I hit the jackpot on a clearance sale where I scored three pair of killer
heals for $18.00 at Charlotte Russe. We don't have that store in my
county, or any place where I tend to travel, so I hadn't been in there
before.

Now I want to find out if
there IS a Charlotte Russe somewhere local to me. There stuff is CUTE.

OK so I am reliving my teens
and twenties. HEY LET ME! I am wearing a 12 and 14 now and aiming for and
8/10 in pants. I don't go nuts and look like I am dressing too
young *least I don't think I do*. I get compliments from friends and others.
What can I say ...the funky arteeeest LIVES.

Umm where was I? Oh
yeah.. knitting...crochet.

So the turquoise top,
the crochet, has sucked me in. Oh and add to it that about 2 months ago I
subscribed to Interweave Press' Knitting Magazine. Now that I have
two issues sitting about the house, with these oh so stinkin cute
summer top patterns in them, I want to try my hand at making one. But I
think I better start out with socks first.

EncOfKnitting

I bebopped into
Joann's tonight and picked up a knitting book, Donna Kooler's
Encyclopedia of Knitting. I can do a basic cast on, knit stitch and perl
stitch. There my knitting expertise, ahem, lies. Now crocheting I am a whiz
at and I am in the middle of crocheting this awesome top from Lion Brand Yarn's
Site
60485a .
Free pattern.. SCORE! I have the bra pieces finished and am
adding some scalloping along the edges to give it a bit more frou frou ness.
I thought then I would sew some beads to the scallops.

Yeah I was born in the 60s
but should have been a hippy chick.

So I have the baby doll top
started...and I sat down with some yummy
Boucle boucle
yarn I bought the other day. I figured I would find a free pattern and start
making some socks to get in the swing of this knitting thing. Such a pretty
yarn!

So I sit down, have my wool
in hand, and ...

DANG IT ALL!!!

Shows how much I know about
knitting. I need either circular needles or double ended needles. A set of
four or five of them. Awwww HELL. I was at Michael's twice today and
once at Joann's. I have a wedding to shoot tomorrow so that kills any chance
of knitting until Sunday, and with it being Mother's Day I probably won't
get to the store to get the needles til Monday, unless I go out tomorrow
before I get to the Yacht Club where the wedding is being held.

*sigh*

So much for being seduced
tonight. What a tease. An empty seduction.

Guess I will go eat some
chocolate. :^D That always satisfies.

Kathie

May 10, 2007

So ...Umm...Yea...I'm a Slacker

...hangs head in shame and scuffs ground with toe of shoe....

I as inconsistent as Maryland weather when it comes to blogging. I am not much of a babbler *ok my writings belie that fact at times...hush* so if I don't think I have anything to say I don't tend to want to write.

...makes a face...

Well the point is is that when I don't feel like I have anything worthy of being read I don't tend to write anything. Since November I've found no muse upon which to call. I was asked today by someone why I hadn't blogged in a while. Hmm... probably mostly laziness with a fair sprinkling of the above reasoning added in. I had actually been thinking off and on the last couple weeks that I need to get my booty in gear and write on here. Or post pics. Do SOMETHING instead of just letting it sit here doing nothing. I decided to renew my Xanga premium for another year, so spending $25 should be a motivation for me to write in here.

I am going to try to post at minimum once a week, even if it is just a photo post. ..makes mental note to do this...

I am still subscribed to a bunch of blogs and I get the posts daily, so I do read! I haven't been responding and for that, I apologize. More slacking. Lurking. Yada yada etc. etc. I will try to do better! Really I will.

So... lesee... what has gone on with me? Well, last month I went to Florida to photograph a wedding. My friend LadyBlue's son and his fiancé were married in an outdoor ceremony at the home of friends. The weather, the bride and the Spirit that was there couldn't have been more perfect!

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Easterling276

I have to tell you how cool it was to meet a long-time friend in "real life" after so many years! LadyBlue and her family are exactly as they have been all the time I have known them. Better even. That is a rarity in today's world!

On the way back from Florida I was able to meet another long-time friend face to face, SheabyShea. Again, so cool to hang out with long-time friends in real life, even if it were only for a few hours. Shea is again, just as she has been in the 10 years *or more?* that I have known her online. Its actually odd to me that we hadn't met face-to-face. We have been friends for just that long. Same with LadyBlue. I think there are pics on Shea's blog of when we all went out to lunch and to the mall to hang out for a few hours. I didn't actually even pull out my camera. Bad photog...bad ...bad!

We were supposed to go to Nantucket this weekend. A friend in Texas had 2 weeks of her timeshare they were able to use. Her husband is on call for his job as a captain of a large ship, and she graciously and sweetly offered the time to us! We were all ready to go when my van started running rough. Uh oh. I didn't feel good about it at all.

My friend who is a mechanic just called. The van is ready. Over $700 ( So much for the trip to Nantucket. *sigh* I am disappointed but I know we will have a chance to go on a vacation, though it may not be until next year. Michael is going to take off work anyway and we will do day trips all week. We were thinking of things like Calvert Cliffs, the Smithsonian Museums, fishing, day at one of the Delaware beaches, and maybe driving to Codorus or Catoctin State Park. Stuff that is relatively close with the insane gasoline prices *deep breath in deep breath out.. I don't want to go started on how much that ticks me off* So we will be able to do fun stuff but need to stay fairly close to home.

PinkTulipsSm

ParrotTulipsSm Its Spring again, and you KNOW how

I am about my flowers! Michael has been working hard in the gardens to weed for me. I just can't find my motivation on stuff lately. I feel lazy and unproductive. Not a good thing. Thank heavens he is motivated! Thank heavens for all the perennials I have in the ground. They are already giving us plenty of pretties to look at. I haven't planted any veggies yet, but I hope to get that worked on next week. I want to at least get lettuce, beets and other salad herbs started. I am going to buy tomato plants from the Bel Air Farmer's Market. There are a bunch of vendors there that have nice plants and that way I don't have to worry about starting my own. I enjoy doing the seed starting but it just didn't happen this year!

A couple of weeks before Easter I had a boutique shoot at a local store. Customers of the store that had made qualifying purchase amounts received a free mini-portrait session and a free 5x7 from the session. The portraits came out SO good and the customers loved it! The children were a delight to work with and it was a long but fun day. We will be doing this again in the Fall.

Hmm ok the last bit of news is the newest family addition. His name is Reilly. He is about 10 months old and is a Keeshond. *no I didn't have a baby in the months I haven't been posting ..bleeehhh* I got put on the Harford County Humane Society rescue list as a contact for Keeshonden who come into the shelter and aren't adopted out or ones they need to rehome. I have owned Keeshonden for 17 years now, and have been on a couple breed mailing lists for almost as long. I received a call from the shelter a couple of weeks ago about a 9 month old Keeshond who was a stray. No one claimed him, no one adopted him. I took him with the idea of adopting him out to a gal who had recently lost an elderly Kees and who was looking for a younger dog. By the time I had Reilly, someone had already found her a new buddy. So, I decided to hold onto him a while to see how he interacted with my pair. They get along great...he gets them playing...and he is a really good dog. Foster failure! Reilly has a new home.

Ok I think that catches me up pretty well, no? I will be back soon, I promise!

Kathie

November 30, 2006

Sunshine In My Eyes...

This is winter?!

OK, so technically we haven't had the first official day of winter as of
yet. But still... wow!

I am constantly amazed at the weather here in Maryland. The saying
"Tired of the weather? Wait a minute and it will change for you!" is
especially true this year. Last week rainy and mild. Week before cold *in
the high 30s, low 40s*. This week
has
been beautiful: weird fog in the morning but then sunny, with blue skies
with temps in the high 50s to low 60s. Absolutely wonderful not only for the
chance to enjoy being outside, but its been a blessing in that the heating
bills have been greatly reduced so far. Our illustrious governor
*snort* allowed the utility companies to ramp the electric costs up SEVENTY
PERCENT over the next 2 years or so. Thus brings the tenure of Governor
Robert Ehrlich to a close. Was I a bit surprised by the fact that he lost
the election last month?

Errr...no.

OK back to the weather. Politics *shudder*.

So here we are having absolutely AMAZING weather for the end of November and
I haven't been outside enjoying it nearly enough. It seems that tomorrow
brings the glorious days to an end, at least for a while. Rain is expected
tomorrow evening with the cold to come rolling in soon after. Wah.

Heating
bills: *caching caching caching*.

We have tried to go out at least a bit and enjoy these days while we have
been having them. I took Brenna and Becca out before we had lunch
*compliments of a friend who had won the lunch as part of a program to
listen to a financial presentation*. Our county has three of the large
multi-level cool wood/composite playgrounds that are safe, fun and a great
place to hang out.

Or spin...

Hopefully we can go out again tomorrow while we have one more nice day. Who
knows if this weather will return before spring?

Oh yeah...well if I wait around a minute it will change. :0D

Til
Next Time...

Kathie

November 26, 2006

Two Days In a Row? HOT DANG!

OK ...I am blogging
two days in a row. WOO HOO! lol

How the HECK did that
happen? I must be eating my Wheaties or something. ;op~~

So I did get some
things done today. I umm.. ok.. cleaned and vac'd the living room. Cleaned
out the pellet stove in there. Vac'd the kitchen, cleaned the counter tops
and stove *ya know...the scrubby kind of cleaning of all the things that
swipes don't handle*. I still need to scrub the floor but I will do that
tomorrow night.

I firmly believe
that whomever thought white floors in a kitchen a good idea should spend
time in hell SCRUBBING THOSE SAME FLOORS for eternity. Ahem.

Ok I am better
now.

I have done 3
loads of laundry. I need to put it away though. I hate that part. lol

I vac'd the
breakfast room. That is all finished save cleaning the shelves off with the
teapots. They need to all be wiped down as its been about 6 months since
that was done. Its time to take it all down and wipe both the shelves and
chotskies off. I dust them off every week but this ole house is dusty and
after a while it just requires a good old fashioned wipe and wash.

The dishes are all caught up, the new dish drainer in place, and the bread
maker put away. Last night I made 5 loaves of bread. I shared a loaf with my
MIL and planed to share with my bro and sis in law but they weren't around.
I will share with them from what I make later this week. I really like the
bread I made. Its a multigrain bread made from
Bob's Red Mill 8 Grain Cereal.

Not
only is the cereal a killer-good hot cereal, but when you make bread and add
the softened cereal to it, you have a heart-healthy multi-grain bread that
toasts up killer good. It is also great for peanut butter sandwiches or
grilled cheese. Michael & band
had a gig in Waldorf last night, and Brenna was still feeling punk, so I
just made grilled cheese and tomato soup for supper. Yumma!

Someone was
reallllyy hoping he would get some of that fresh baked bread.

"Any bread for a poor starving fur-child, mom???"

Tonight's supper
was home made split pea soup, home made bread and a fresh salad. IF it has
been summer time the salad would have been home-grown. ;0) Someday I will
have my cold frames in place to hopefully grown some sort of green year
round.

One of the
gazoodles of projects in line. I got a million of em I tell ya.

If you are a thrifter : i.e. someone who shops in thrift stores, the last
Friday of the month is half-price for clothing at local Goodwill stores.
Well, at least here in Maryland it works that way.

I am still dropping sizes *YEAH* and shrinking out of clothes *YEAH and oooo
nooo* so thrift stores have become necessary. I was down to ONE pair of
jeans that fit without sagging, bagging or falling down my still-ample-but-notibly-less-so-arse.
My goal in stopping in today was to get pants. So I grabbed anything that
looked like a possibility and took it into the changing room. Unfortunately
most of what I took IN came back OUT without plans for it to come home with
me.

Fortunately, someone else had been in the dressing room prior to my going in
and had left what they tried on and rejected. Double fortunately they were
ALL my size! There was a pile of 7 or 8 pair of pants of various colors all
in size 12 and 14. I wound up scoring probably a good number of pants: 2
black jeans, 2 blue jeans, 2 khaki, 1 army green, 1 dark grey, annndd I
think another pair. I picked up a pair of Mudd jeans and a pair of
Aeropostale and three shirts for Brenna. All of this for $42 baby! WOOT~!

I now have enough pants for church, play, dinner, and etc. for a good while.
Hopefully I can shrink out of them. My goal is to get solid into 10-12s in
pants.

Oh I forgot! I also picked up a dress that is *just a smidge* too small for
me. It fits great up top but across the hips and tummy it is a couple inches
too small. It is a tailored dress in a dark green and it is GORGEOUS. It
only cost me $3 so I bought it and decided to make it a "goal" dress. I mean
HECK its a size 10 and it almost fits me. Where it fits it is as if it is
tailored to me. Where it doesn't is across my stomach where I desperately
need a tummy tuck. So if nothing else it can be a dress I wear when I reach
my goal size or after/when/if I can get a tummy tuck. I don't even want to
worry about the tummy tuck until I lose some more weight. No more than 30
lbs, and that is all fat. I would rather firm up and I am not worried about
the weight as much as I am what size I wear/how I look and feel, if that
makes sense.

Let me tell you... putting on size 12s and HAVING THEM FIT. Multiple pairs?!
I haven't worn a size 12 .. since.. since.. probably SINCE I WAS 12. And no
I am not kidding. What a kick!

Tomorrow I have to put plastic and curtains on a bunch of windows in the
house. Once that is done the house will stay quite a bit warmer *I pray!*.
The heating bills in this big old house are terrible. I am hoping to lessen
that a fair amount this year. In the future new windows and doors are in
order, but that won't happen til I get my photography business pulling some
consistent monies in.

I will try to report in on my progress in curtain hanging and such tomorrow.
Not only will doing the curtains help winterize the house but it will ready
it for holiday decorating! We have to get the a/c units out of the windows
tomorrow too.

This is the third Sunday at the new church plant we are part of. The first
week we had 70 people. Last week it was 90. I suspect it will be even MORE
this week. We already have to look for a new location to meet because it
looks like we are quickly outgrowing our location. How exciting is that!

And this is just is just too funny because I was trying to take a "good"
picture of the two of the fur-kids sitting together. They NEVER sit together
like this, so while they were I thought I would get a pic.

Perry
just like any other 5 year old decided to stick his tongue out when Mom
gets out the camera.

Shia of course is, as always, the perfect
little princess.

Til
Next Time...

Kathie

November 24, 2006

To Blog or Not To Blog...Oh Boy I Am Lazy

I don't know
why I run so hot and cold on blogging.

The problem
is, I have ALWAYS been like this. I would start a journal, run with it for
oh, perhaps a month and then fffft. I wouldn't even open the blinkin'
journal for probably a quarter of a year. Its an odd thing but there you
have it. Thirty or so years of the same tendencies are hard to get away
from.

For those who sub
to my page, and to those whom I am subbed to, I DO read your blogs. They are
delivered to my in-box every day and I actually read them. I haven't been
posting any comments because I have been, well, no excuses. I have been too
lazy to do so! lol There you have it. I will do my best to be better and
more consistent. My apologies!

So yesterday was
Thanksgiving. Marking the first "day of the holiday season". I appreciate it
for what it is and no more: a chance to get together with family and friends
for the day and indulge in some good food. How much do we all really take
extra time to be thankful for the things we have on this day? Usually I do,
but I will admit that yesterday was pretty much just anther day *save the
big spread of food at my SIL's*. I have had a week of dealing with the
migraine dance *fighting migraines due to storms coming up this week* and
almost didn't go to dinner. My daughter picked up something from her best
friend *yuck* and we left early to bring her home so she could be miserable
here at home. Not a big illness but sore throat and head...I guess a bit of
upper respiratory thing going on. Colloidal Silver *natural
antibiotic/antiviral*, Astragalus *immune system booster* and vitamin C with
an occasional dose of Motrin is the order of the day. Also, I just informed
her that she has used up her allowance of whine points for the morning.

Is there anyone
else who looks at the amount of tasks/chores/to-do-list items and gets
totally overwhelmed, almost paralyzed? Anymore I can't seem to pick a task
or tasks but I see the WHOLE dealie that needs doing and can't seem to get
ANYTHING done. Its as if one task leads my brain to another task to yet
another and it makes me almost feel panicky and its hard to get even one
thing done. I am trying to flip that switch and think instead "OK.. I am
going to do this and this, and not worry about anything else until I get
that and that done."

Ugh. Help.

Ok so I will post
it here and see if that helps. See if I can post and follow through and NOT
WORRY about the other things.

This weekend I
want to:

~get the air conditioners
from the windows...3 total.

~hang up the sheers in
the dining room *new purple ones from Ikea...$5 per window YES!*

~before the sheers can be
hung the hardware for both sets of rods *sheers and drapes* has to be hung

~finish altering the
drapes for the dining room.

~rehang the hardware in
the living room for the drapes, and finish lining the last of four drapes
and HANG them. We have partially textured the walls but really need drapes
up in order to keep the heat IN the house. Old house, 23 windows. Ugh. Lot
of heat loss.

OK I think that is
enough for a solid goal. There are quite a few other things to do also. Hang
the mirror in the dining room. Hang the tea-candle holders in the dining
room. Clean off all the china shelves and china. Dust and clean the room
well. Water the plants. Clean up the plants and repot two that desperately
need it. Then THAT room will be just about complete. :0)

If I dared list
all the other stuff I have to do I would start twitchin' and droolin'. Not
pretty I tell ya. :0p~~ heh

Well to end this
rather odd blog on a nicer note, I will post a couple of pics. Cuz you know
I am ALL about pics, and if you haven't realized that by now, you are either
new here or haven't been paying attention. Good thing there wasn't a test,
eh?

My sister
and brother in law set a lovely table yesterday. They have been working like
mad to redo their living room and it looks great! Texture painting on one
wall is done, the trim is being redone, the pellet stove is installed on the
tile pad they laid, a new fan in place *one that Michael and I considered
for our family room in fact, so you know we like that guy!, lots of stripped
window trim that now looks the spiffiest, along with all the other goodies
they have done*. These flowers were on the food table and I love the way the
tablecloth complimented the color of the roses.

This is my brother
and sister in law's Alaskan Malamute girl, Grimia *or is it Grimea? I keep
forgetting the correct spelling*.

She was WAY more
interested in scoping out the food on the table *sooo hopeful! heh* than
sitting about waiting for Auntie Kathie to stick a camera in her face.

This is our Keeshond
girl, Shia.

I was testing out my new
expensive and horribly complicated flash. The thing has more bells and
whistles on it than a circus train.

As you can see, she was
not enjoying the flash popping. I was bouncing it off the wall so it wasn't
blinding her by firing face on. I think the camera flash is too reminiscent
of lightening for her comfort level. She is not a fan of lightening and
thunder storms, to put it mildly.

In mid October we
took a trip to Southern Virginia to visit family. I took these of Brenna and
Michael on the side of the mountain where Michael's uncle and aunt live.
Buffalo Mountain in Floyd County Virginia. The leaves were lovely, the
nights cool, and the black bears were raiding the trash cans at night.

Which I remembered as I
was sitting outside looking at the stars.

Til next
time...

Kathie

October 4, 2006

Around and About the Town and Beyond...

I have been out an around taking advantage of both the beautiful Fall weather, and of course, my new camera equipment. In the past week and a half we have gone to the Maryland Renaissance Faire and visited the DC Zoo, the local waterfalls, stopped by a church that was built in 1800 and walked along trails at one of the local mills. We also picked apples this past Sunday. I was able to get some nice shots at each of the places we have been to...