Silent Sunday

Here comes the rain...

From The Brown's Zoo Tales

It's raining... Thank you, Lord! It is raining HARD and I am rejoicing in the very depths of my heart over it. All too soon it will pass and the humidity will climb and I will again long for the sound of the drops pinging off the roof of my studio, clambering down the gutters of the house and coursing throughout the bar ditches.

The seat of my bicycle will be soaked, but I don't care. Thunder rolls in the distance and gets closer with the torrential falling of drops. My dog claws at my legs, panicked at the sound of the booming, while I type and smile. The sounds must be so much more vibrant and scary to them with the four legs, he is shaking so.

When I was small, I used to be terribly afraid of thunderstorms. I distinctly remember a late night storm that coursed through our city, blowing up the large trees in the nearby park with lighting strikes. It was terrible to behold and I recall crying long into the night, fearful that the lightning would find me and turn our home to ash. I would count at the flash of lightning, "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three...." as the storm came closer, listening for the boom of thunder not far behind. Someone had told me that was how many miles away the apex of the storm was and I clung to that, desperate for solace in the dark. It was terrifying when I couldn't even get out one 'Mississippi' before the crash of thunder bellowed angrily around me, and then none too soon it all began to move off.

The things that are so terribly scary and loom large over our psyches as a child, can turn to such welcome afternoons spent as an adult admiring the perfection of God. I welcome the rain as our gift for the fields, a day I don't have to water the flowers, a cooling off of my overheated heart. Everything seems renewed after a good scrubbing of raindrops. Life smells better, feels more doable after the rain.

Even now the storm is moving on, the rain coming in fits and spurts. The thunder is rolling away and the dog is panting below my chair, semi-content that I am not worried over the loudness while he still shakes uncontrollably. I love afternoons like this one... Looking forward to the washed, new world.

What I've been up to...

Yup... It's here! And I'm so freaking excited!!! Ahem... There is a huge amount of work to be done before my studio is a living, breathing, usable space. If I am absent from my blogs you have confidence of where I'm located... I'm on a ladder or on my hands and knees making this little space inhabitable.

Check it out...



The day it arrived... Still on the trailer.



Pulling it almost to its final resting spot.



Holding my breath while they off-load



Back wall where the card room will go



Seating area where futon will rest...



My writing desk will go here...



Front door and side lights... It is actually very light and airy. Not dungeon like at all!

I hope to keep the updates coming as I get closer to completion and move-in! Yay!

Far, Far Away

When I was a kid, every afternoon on the public broadcast station there was a show geared to school-aged children called Zoom. It was an innovative program that showcased all the cast as kids my age doing experiments, reading stories, generally learning about all manner of things. At the very end of each episode there was always a call for the pen-pal program that Zoom sponsored. I watched and fretted and wondered what I would say and eventually, I sent in my name and address to be paired up with someone. I must admit, at the ripe age of nine, I was a bit cynical that I would end up with a pen-pal from Kansas, instead of some far off land as I had hoped.

I waited for what seemed like ages and I finally received my packet of information for a little girl in... (Insert drum roll here) Surrey, England! Her name was Mica and she was actually of East Indian decent. We exchanged letters and little gifts and we kept this up right until she headed out to "university". She was going to study medicine and informed me that our letters would probably stop there as she was anticipating crushing hours of study. I was sad, but I got it. Med school was way over my academic head and I could only imagine the hours she would be chained to her desk.

I still remember the incredible surge of excitement I would get when a letter would come in the mail with all those funny postmarks and interesting stamps of Queen 'Liz... I saved them well into my twenties. Come to think of it, they may be in a box underneath the house somewhere.

Blogging has brought back a lot of those wonderful memories for me. I can connect with people from all over the globe and I can learn about all manner of interesting cultures and traditions. It speaks to the excited kid in me. And just yesterday, I have to tell you, I did a very juvenile little "happy-dance" in my dining room as I brought in the box that was waiting so patiently in my oversized mail box from Saturday. (Yes, I actually left the box all alone in my mail box for TWO days before I retrieved it...Urg!) I have a blog-friend, not to be confused with boy-friend, who lives in Garrods Hill, England (I think that is how I am supposed to read the return post), and she sent me the winnings from her blogiversary contest she held earlier this month! It was the same excitement I felt as a little girl getting to open a package from so far away...

Ok, yes, I am a complete dork! The package contained the following:
Lovely little babushka-doll-paper wrapped around each gift and a willowy whisp of a girl card with a hand-written sentiment from my friend...

And inside the packages, viola!

As I sit here this morning, enjoying my coffee in my new mug, lovely union jack pennants draped invitingly around its perimeter, I wonder where Mica is. I wonder how she fared in the grueling throngs of med-school students and if she ever recalls the awkward over-enthusiastic pen-pal from Colorado that used to ask her all manner of inane questions.

I am so very thankful and awed by the people that I have met here in the blogiverse. You have made me feel welcome, unique, distinctly inept at times with your amazing photog skills and yet, always inspired to be more. It is with this swelling feeling of more that I leave you today. What might you do to make someone's day a little more?

I was wondering...

From The Brown's Zoo Tales

... why do things break or mis-function when Man leaves town? aka - I hate my dishwasher.
... what possible function do allergies serve? Seriously? I have heard of a little plumping up of your lips to beautify yourself, but I doubt seriously if swollen red eyes and raw red nose are attractive!
... do hydrangeas only bloom once? Mine have had blooms on one plant for a long time, the other is flat lazy I think! Hasn't bothered to do anything, like it is waiting on the other to finish to say, "Eh, I could've done better."
...when one yanks off the drawer front to ones kitchen drawer in a fit of rage at ones dishwasher, shouldn't one first find out where the nail gun is to repair it?
... why do I always see hummingbirds when the feeder has blown off the window and I have been too preoccupied to set it back up?
...what God was planning when he made babies so doggoned adorable? I simply love the littlest of them. I'm not a toddler-phile, not a child adore-er, I love babies, the ones that simply sit in your arms, unable to bite, claw at you, beg for things, or tell you how much you suck. Hmmm... my motives are showing.
...when will my lovely package from afar arrive? Probably when I need it most to cheer me up. Most likely when I am not home next week to receive it! Harumph... (Insert self pity party here)
...does anyone else love the feeling of anticipation like I do? I am anticipating the aforementioned package, a wonderful trip with girlies to LV, the completion of one writing/crafting studio and a trip alone with husband to Oklahoma... ok, well maybe I'm not anticipating the trip as much as the alone. (Insert industrial grade deodorant here along with enough water and Gatorade to drown a cow.)
...is there a great, not just marginal but great, website out there that identifies bird that come to my feeder? I have some very interesting fellers that frequent just outside my kitchen window, but no knack for identifying them with any success.
...are hobbies classified as illness when one has so many of them? And when one wants to add more?
... does grass ever miraculously mow itself? Mine has decided to mimic the jungles of Borneo...
...does anyone else fear asking children to weed to find their garden picked clean in a fit of spite?
...why does Google change my pictures into blurry fuzzy crap until I repost them direct from Picasa? very aggravating and foolish. Makes me want to use another service... Hint, hint, Google Gods.

From The Brown's Zoo Tales

Who is she?

From The Brown's Zoo Tales

I am high heels and cowboy boots. I am reality television and English historical novels. I am eyeliner and mascara with very little makeup. I am raucous laughter and solemn stares. I am fierce loyalty and new friendships. I am a Christian, a mother, a friend and a wife. I am red wine with soft cheese. I am an idealist and an analyst. I am rock and roll, country and hip-hop. I am a daughter and a sister. I am unswerving eye contact and long talks. I am a writer, an artist and a crafter. I am surf and turf and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. I am romantic comedies and intellectual thrillers. I am a reader and a romantic. I am a lover of sunshine and a snowman maker. I am Maroon Five, Jason Aldean and The Black Eyed Peas. I am a red head and all that entails. I am impromptu gatherings and intimate dinners. I am spice and sweetness together. I am Chinese food with my kids and sushi with my husband. I am tender and vulnerable. I am spring steel wrapped in softest cotton. I am a survivor. I am strongest when I am broken. I am a team player and a leader. I am hand made and brand name. I am my Mothers child and my Grandmothers "Sugar." I am gardening and computer games. I am cookouts and fine dining. I am polite, but not always kind. I am approachable and I am intimidating. Most of all, I am real, with real feelings, hurts, joys, expectations and desires. I am that woman.

(first experienced at Moments of Perfect Clarity)

Hanging it out there ....

Remember back in the day? Back when we played outside all day until the street lights came on, when video games lived in the confines of an arcade we only got to frequent once in a blue moon, back when being a kid was safe and fun and carefree... Those days when our parents really did "close the door" when they were arguing about something? We were sheltered from adult interractions and we rarely got a glimpse into the big bad world because we simply weren't ready to handle it. There are so many things about my childhood I wish I could reinstate for my kids. But then I look around me and I realize the world has changed.... and I'm not sure it's for the better.

My kids are growing up in a world that has it's life all strung out and blowing in the wind for all to see. There's not a whole lot of restraint out there. Kids get into fights and post it on YouTube, MySpace is full of scantily clad folks making eyes at the camera, Facebook is a venue where arguments are had in a public forum, regardless of the nature of the dispute or the age of the participants. It's all out there with little discretion as if it is somehow a right to be an ass.

When did we suddenly decide that any of that was appropriate? When did we throw decorum and consideration to the four winds and tell ourselves the world needs to know every nasty, gorey little detail about who we are? Where did the poise and gentleness of spirit go when we were children?  Our grandmothers would be appalled.... I am appalled.

Make no mistake, I've done some truly boneheaded ignorant things and I've overshared online. It's just that recently I have taken a look around and decided I want certain things in my life. I want to read things that uplift and inspire me. I want to laugh and smile, marvel at  amazing photos and even cry with my blog-friends. I don't want to listen to nastiness about others, be it political or just juvenile. I get to choose what I put in and I choose not to put in anger. Call me "fake", call me "sappy".... I don't care. I don't want to get angry in my free time, I want to enjoy it. I dont want to squirm in my chair when I take a moment to check in with my friends. I understand and even giggle at the occasional rant, but an entire blog built on biting criticism and pathetic comparisons? No thank you....

Ever been somewhere and the folks you're with start to argue? That uncomfortable squirmy feeling is one I think most of us avoid like the plague. Most of us dont want to watch an argument play out in public or have the ugliness forced upon us in our free time. We don't want to know that much about people and frankly people don't want to know that much about me. I'm choosing to keep my irritation and my grumpiness under wraps, at least here on my blog. Oh, I will rant but I hope I can also rave because most of us are looking for soft place to land when we feel grumpy, irritated and uninspired.

My pictures will never be the beautiful works you find on other blogs, and yes they are out of focus alot of the time. I'm not a photographer... Never pretended to be and I'm not starting now. If that irritates you, my apologies. I don't  think anyone on my teensy reader list came here because of my pics.

My goal is to share my life and its often interesting quirks. I have an unusual existence out here in the boonies... I'm not here to throw anyone under the bus, to laud my over-educated self or to put any one else down for their opinions. Blogging can be an amazing, fun and inspiring experience and it takes a certain amount of bravery to enter this community.  Most of the peeps I've encountered are friendly, open and amazing and it's those that keep me going.

In the days to come I hope to keep my fanny under wraps and not overshare.... so if you don't hear from me, you know what happened! And when u get a chance stop in at these blogs: Inner Rambling of a Mi-life Mama, Chez Spud, Soul Aperture . They are amazing, inspiring, quirky and fun.... and MUCH better photogs than I will ever be!

From