Happy Birthday Jerid, soon to be 21...

A Grandmother's worst fear...New Years Eve...knowing that your baby is out roaming the streets, unaccompanied by his guardian angel...Grandma. Getting into all kinds of mischief that you never did...uhum...but the worst of it is...he turns 21 at the stroke of midnight...now is this gonna be one of those nail-biting nights???

It wouldn't be so bad if he lived closer, but he's in Iowa City an hour away, so it's not like I can be the designated driver when I get the phone call to 'come pick me up.' Not only that, it's a college town...no partying going on there...RIGHT!

All I can do is sit, best friend to a bottle of wine... you know, pain relief...I remember what it was like the day my daughter turned 21...hell, I remember mine...I need something stronger than wine, way stronger! Who am I fooling, 2 glasses puts me in ER , maybe my good friend Jack Daniels is around somewhere.

The night will never end...but I'm gonna trust that he'll use common sense and not drive (swallowing hard) and will call his Granny first thing in the morning, er afternoon, when he can open his eyes without pain...just to tell me how much fun he had and how bad it hurts.

Brings back those painful memories aye...bring on the junk food!

But to all my bloggy friends...sorry about the music...I couldn't help myself...but we'll get through it, for tomorrow is a new day...a new beginning...a new hope. Let's all believe just for one second that it can happen, change is in the air, I can feel it, how 'bout you...

Have a wonderful New Year friends...spread the LOVE!

PEACE

Sister's Garden...is it Spring yet???

Small glimpses of Christmas can still be seen at Sisters', but Spring is trying to peak it's pretty head round every corner...like this great work table topped with a really cool birdhouse, oh so Springy.
The first time I saw these lamps, I didn't pay much attention, in fact, I didn't even know they were lamps, very cool and sooooo me, you know my lamp thing...right, very old, with some of the original silk cord still attached.
As I was shooting some shots, Barb brought in these great leaded glass windows, the wood has been stripped all around, but how cool are they...thinking Spring here, right...

This platter is just to die for, in perfect condition too. I think it looks so perfect nestled next to two old 'yoyo' pillows, how very ol'timey is that, sorta comforting to me, sitting on an old velvet sofa with a big ol' SOLD sign on it. It's always good to move a big piece, so you can make the magic happen with new arrangements all around.

What's this...ah, yes...there it is, that little bit of Spring, I knew it was there...soon it will be flowing in every space at this wonderful garden shop.

Don't let the icky weather stop you from buying that perfect piece, the girls are willing to skate across the drive to load up your every whim...be brave say 'NO' to Winter...you can't stop me now!

Spread the Love...

Cynthia from Muse Swings has bestowed a wonderful award on many of her favorite blogs and mine was among the list, but you have simply got to check her out, especially if you need a good laugh for the day, she's a riot. It's just the simple things in life that so many of us can relate to, especially us in our 50-60's...you know, the ones with life experiences...the ones that survived the 50's and 60's and the clothes of the 70's...baby boomers, united we stand...plus she lives in my Florida...ask her about the palmetto bugs...


Then today while I was grunging my kitchen walls, Scratchy went ballistic...heaven forbid the mail carrier would have the nerve to pull into Scratchy's world...but she was delivering a package from a far off land...the beautiful, exotic land of Malaysia. Yes many of you already know Mary Kate of La Vie Est Belle. Many gifts from a land far away, with many meanings and wishes for a new year. Postcards of an exotic paradise and a people who inhabit this colorful world. Articles in red, a Chinese symbol for happiness and celebration. Symbols of another place and another time, a Chinese mystic knot, symbolizing never ending happiness, joy, wealth and good health always. A letter opener from Borneo sporting a colorful image of the largest flower in the world, the Rafflesia, found only in Borneo.

Gifts of love from a friend never met, but one who shares hope and love and friendship from afar. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our little blogs could spread PEACE, LOVE and HOPE all 'round the world with just one little note shared among friends...imagine...

Again, thank you so much M. Kate and Cynthia for gifts from the heart, as we spread the love this New Year.
Peace...can you imagine...

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY- I Have a Dream, Memories Past

What shall we do with a years past memory...
shall we steal it away,

lost forever to bad reflections
and shadows of what could have been

or shall we move forward
longing for a recollection

of things that felt right.
A pride in a country,

a family
and a friend,

of old fashioned good will,
a willingness to help a brother, a sister.

If we dream of Utopia
it will come,

if we dream of Peace
it will come.

I move forward t'ward the light...
to the sea of humanity's dreams

and I too have a dream
to recall and believe

that what happened in our past
was a dream and a hope,

a longing for a change and
a better New Year.

You know it can be...

with a DREAM...

Welcome to Shadow Shot Sunday...slip n slide on over to Hey, Harriet and join in the fun with the rest of the crazy shadow shooters, it's Sunday in Australia you know.

A New Dawn...

For some reason, the day after Christmas gives me a huge sense of relief. Having been in retail for so many years, if you didn't earn a stockpile the few weeks before the blessed event, you were doomed for the next few months of Winter, at least in the North where the howling winds, sleeting rains and piles of snow dictate your every whim.

But there's a sense of calm in the air at this time, as we await the New Year, hoping that there will be change in the winds. We want it, we need it, as with each of us, we wish to alter things in ourselves that didn't quite pan out in the previous year...no what I mean?

But we have the chance for a 50 degree weather flip today, before the crap moves back in, so I will meander up to Sisters' to see what this sale is all about. Trusty steed, cleared of ice, belly filled with gas (the truck), I conquer the cabin fever to pave my way to dreamland...Sister's Garden. I'm sure the little house fairies have been hard at play to all of our delight.

But just in case you don't hear from me for a while, I am gingerly awaiting the ice on the North side of my house to come barreling down full force off my metal roof, onto my cable wire, which is directly in it's path. So if I post pictures of Sisters' this afternoon, you'll know all is well at the Pink Chateau...but expect the worse...LOL

Hope y'all had a fabulous Christmas!!! With lots of good cheer!

The Miracles

In the course of a day,
it's the wee things that make us smile.
The antics of a pet and the squeals of a child.
To breathe cool crisp airs
as chimney smokes billow high
above rooftops and skyward...
it's a wonderful life.
To live in a country where freedoms abound,
if only in the heart this freedom is found.
Greed and corruption will always exist,
but we can dream if we want to,
of Utopias where black skin and white skin
love each all the same.
Long hair or short hair,
make mine pink for the day,
what does it matter, it's my hair
and conforming is by no means the way.
Free will, not aggression
to be able to smile at the day,
as each new beginning heralds miracles in play.
My wish is for all in this wonderful world,
to look at the small things
and know that they're good.
Spirit chooses not who is best suited here,
we are all perfect creatures in my eye
and should all be held dear.
To be forced to a religion you might not accept
or to live with your own faith, it's promise you've kept.
To be judged by mere mortals, was not what t'was meant,
tis free will the miracle and it was Heaven sent...


Merry Christmas to all of my new found friends, here's wishing you prosperity and love in the new year to come. Free will and all of the happiness it brings you deserve, for we all serve one purpose in this life we were given, to spread the love and good will to all that exists.

PEACE

Sharon and Scratchy

That's 2 cups of flour...

Let the cooking begin...my daughter is having Christmas dinner at her house this year, but I always bake the pies and the rolls and odds and ends. We've had a funny thing going on through the years, when I bake the pumpkin pies, I always have to bring the can label with, because one year I baked sweet potato pie and she thought it was pumpkin...and was totally grossed out when the truth was told...even after eating 3 pieces...hmmm...

But I'm one of those good ol' cooks, from scratch kinda cookin', whole wheat, fresh eggs all natural products, that fresh right outta the cow kinda stuff...and she just hates it, she is a totally outta the box kinda gal. Now how on earth did that happen when she was not raised that way.

Christmas with my 'X', was always a trial for my daughter, as my husband, you know, the Robert Redford, Jeremiah Johnson type...would always go out the day before and shoot us a turkey. If you've never had a wild turkey before, you have NEVER tasted turkey, nuthin' like it! Eggs fresh from the henhouse, veggies from the summer before's bounty, it was a feast for most modern pilgrims.

My Granny one year before she passed, taught me her minced meat pie recipe, though we altered it with deer meat...of course some of Jeremiah's booty...anyone that tasted it could not tell it was deer. We processed our own deer (should you doubt) so the taste was totally game-taint free, it totally tasted like beef. But Granny's pies were the best, never used lard, always Crisco, for that light, flaky, buttery taste and I have to brag a bit, my pies taste exactly like Grams'.

So as the snows come down in this wintery season of holiday, my oven is warming the house, the smells would draw in any man out of the field and the silence of the new fallen snow spreads a magic all around...it's CHRISTMAS...

We've come a long way, baby...

I was prompted today after reading some of my comments from yesterdays post, to bring up the issue of women's equality. It's not just an issue of women's rights, but of human rights. What gives man the right in all societies to put stigmas onto certain factors. It has been happening since the dawn of time...why?

Why is the woman wearing a veil to cover her beauty, why does she walk behind, why is her pay scale less, why must she wear a bonnet, why can't she speak in your presence, why did we have to wear skirts to school, which had to be below the knee or cover the ankle or corsets or dresses PERIOD...how crazy was that, why a woman in the frontier days had to wear a dress at all, while trying to eek out a living in the wild frontiers...PALEASE!!! I'm afraid I would have been the rebel Annie Oakley, wearing the jeans and six-shooter of a man in that wild and woolly era, "you want me to wear what, Pilgrim"...I froze my butt off walking to school back in the 50-60's in those stupid skirts...who made those rules anyway...hmmm...I'm not your damned play thing, I am a Goddess unto MYSELF...so back off Jack...

I thank the Universe for WOMEN'S LIBERATION!!! I am so glad I got to live this blessed event in my lifetime. I am prompted to the movie 'The DaVinci Code', the issue of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute, this movie was profound to me, bringing up major issues in religion, but we won't get into that HUGE issue, but I have a problem with the whole issue of prostitution and why the guilt is laid totally in the laps of the woman. If there wasn't such a need by, you know who, it probably wouldn't exist, again, who made these rules...and who cares, all of the rules were made by religion, not the laws of natural, free selection or Heaven forbid, here comes that word again...EQUALITY.

This thing called WOMAN, is a strong presence in the structure of life...she raises the children almost completely by herself, she cooks and feeds and nurtures and loves to the depths of her very being and faith, yet is forced to live with stigma after stigma, rule after rule, execution and retribution, all through history, yet she is strong and assured...a rock in her very existence and feared by many a noble man, sending shivers up his timbers...ha!

I know this will not change in my lifetime, but I have hopes that somewhere in the future, we will live in a world where all men AND women are equal, not judged by the church or the corporations or the governments. This is a stretch I know, but I can dream, right and I know my dreams are shared by many...we all breath the same air (cough, cough) we all have five fingers and we all procreate...so why can't we all just get along...equally...

Cure for cabin fever...

First you slather on a thin mix of water and brown paint over newly painted pale yellow walls...

Then you let it dry and wipe down with a wet rag, leaving just enough to give the appearance of dirt and mildew...ahhh...the finish t'resistance...(a steer I drew for my daughter, who once collected cows).

First of all, you have to live in what some (my daughter) would say...a shack...my lil' pink chateau. With 100 years to her credit, she's the perfect palette for a single, artistic woman to set her fancies free. With the trends today in decorating styles, you can literally do anything, the sky's the limit. So now my project is to paint my kitchen walls with an antiqued finish to give them the decrepit look of sorely-in need of paint-kinda look. It gives the room a warm glow and really sets off the vintage wallpaper that was uncovered when the cheesy paneling was removed.

Not everyone can get away with this style of decorating...but that is one advantage to being single and free...did I say FREE, as a bird in flight...I ask no man for permission...I think that shall be my new mantra for the new year. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of wonderful husbands out there...but having been in the retail business all my life there is one phrase that just grates against my grain...I HAVE TO ASK MY HUSBAND FIRST...now how many husbands are out there asking that very same question...

More shots later of my floor-stripping project...ha...ask Sister Theresa of Time-worn Interiors about my crazy style...

My excavated 1920's wallpaper...

A Fading Gesture...Peace--Shadow Shot Sunday

A fading gesture
in a winter's light
brings faith
and harmony
and peace...into sight.


Always near at hand
this prayer is unfurled
through bowed heads and hearts
of human-kind here
and in all of our world.


Our eyes are wide opened
to what we could be,
to share in a moment
not stealing a breath,
but just to be free.


What is this word HOPE,
do we know what it means...
to be alive in the moment
to be all we can be,
to share with a fellow and follow our dreams...

of Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Things...




It's that time of the week to follow your shadows over to Hey Harriet, please join our group of shadow-chasers.

I have chosen three shadows this week, as they convey a spirit of faith and hope to all and to bring new light into the shadows that we harbor in our own lives in hopes that we may grow and prosper, each one of us, into a new world and new season of growth for all living things...
and to bring PEACE to a world in distress...and in memory of our fallen troops worldwide.

PEACE...

Ice...Ice...Baby...

My cellophaned world

glistens in sweet repose

as iced fingers

tickle my season of frost.

A humor that is short lived,

as glistening confections

awaken my eye

to a fantasy dessert...

an Arctic wand,

slathers on my calm,

white, fluffy peaks

tower, as icing

dribbles in free form...

my cake's out in the rain...

Here we are again in the grips of the Arctic airs, as all around me is still, no traffic on the highways, no school and no commerce...ouch. We know it comes every year, but the cold, hard facts are hard to process for merchants, especially in these financially hard times.

But faith unfaltering at Sister's Garden we are there in full force with offerings to fill your void...I drool...again...many new plates and platters for a Christmas fair. I love the old world charm of these transferware dishes, just something comforting in them. With the vintage wallpaper attached to the pealing cupboard back splash, it's appealing hominess brings me thoughts of a grandmother and her weathered past.

All awaits at Sister's Garden, as we await the magical hour...but you know what...right after Christmas...it's SPRING!!! Well in our eyes anyway, as we busy ourselves finding all the gardeny things you love so much, the statues, the rusty iron, the tables and chairs, all set to put you there even as the snows fly for the next 3 months...we are spring at heart...so now we have the time to plan this coming spring events. Putting out bits and pieces of the story to entice you to our world of never-ending fantasy and the wonderful world of home-making...your style.

See you soon at Sisters' and just know that Barb and staff will be cooking up new treats t'resistance...for your eyes only...better hurry in, the new stuff doesn't last long...

My Life...

Free spirit and gypsy soul...

Rick, my Daughter's new love, my crazy 21(Jan.1) year old grandson, my Pops, Piper my daughter and Michael my Brother...

My beautiful Mother and ever-tolerant Step-pops, Bill...and MY Florida...Soul Sisters, Theresa and of course my dear friend of 15 years Barb...heart of Sister's Garden...My country...(and beyond)...
The Pink Chateau...my palace...my paradise on Earth...

My Iowa...

My Heathen...

What's in a life...family, home, creatures...all the things that makes us the beings we are. The things we love, my daughter and her new love, my only Grandson, my crazy, wonderful Father and my brother...my beautiful Mother and Stepfather...my Florida. All things that make me tick as an individual, the things that have sculpted my life into the paradise that I AM.

My Iowa and my Florida, all places dear to my wistful, gypsy soul. This is the stuff that makes me whole. Good friends and a trusty companion...though at times I wonder why, as my little Scratchy exhibits her terrier lineage and tests my good nature.

But my small world encompasses all the beauty one can fit into a hopelessly romantic soul. Landscapes and past memories fill my heart with a sense of LIFE...a grand gesture of Nature to fulfill a small void in the universe...it's my void. Blessed in many ways, it is the little things that make me whole...a bee, a hillside, tracks in the snow...my lil' pink chateau. My Sisters of the soul, Barb and Theresa and Gemma and Cathie...funny how you just know that certain souls have a stronger connection in your psyche, they allow you to be you under any circumstance, never questioning...

All in the circle of life and I'll gladly trip into the unknown with my lil' furry heathen and all the wonderful souls I have encountered in this magic world called BLOG. My thanks to the Universe for all the paths I have driven... for me...and you....and of course, Scratchy.