2012 Project 365 – Week Twenty-Five

Hot, sultry, sluggish… just a few adjectives to describe our week…

Saturday, June 16^th

My lunch – veggie burger & cantaloupe. Sadly, the tomato was store bought.

Dr. M drove back from Kentucky tonight – and drove by my sheep farm.

Sunday, June 17^th

Look who came back for a visit!

No, the bunny isn’t incarcerated – just in the neighbor’s yard.

The altar flowers from church – in honor of my mother’s birthday (& Dr. M’s mom, since there were two bunches). The container that they’re in (from Tiffany – la de da) was my five year gift from work. When I chose it I thought it was a pencil holder. Ha!

Monday, June 18^th     

My friend Joanne & I decided to get takeout & eat at her house. We watched the Reds game for a while. Rascal watched me eat. GORGEOUS cat! I couldn’t ever get all of him in the frame – maybe next week.

Tuesday, June 19^th   

Our miniature rose bloomed!!!

Daisy Explosion.

Wednesday, June 20^th   

The State of the Bug – a Vermeer model? You can read about this picture here. Sigh.

Thursday, June 21^st       

Dr. M saw some brand new somebody hanging out on a daisy.

Friday, June 22^nd       

Mr. Cardinal checking out his domain.

Lilies. The second one is what we got from Ellen – thanks!

I wasn’t sure you could really grasp the true giganticness of the daisy explosion – so I had Dr. M take this picture.

Last night it was a little cooler, so we enjoyed our fire pit.

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants. Have a great week!

Most of our photos are taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D5000 DSLR, using a 55-200mm zoom lens. This is the camera that Dr. M takes with him most days. He also takes pictures with our old reliable 7 megapixel Canon Powershot A710.  The Bug uses our new Nikon Coolpix S6200 most of the time. If you’re interested in which camera was used for a particular shot, just ask! 

Why Shouldn’t the Miscellaneous Post Happen on Miscellaneous Days?

 ·         I used to have a blog schedule – Monday Miscellany, Thankful Thursday, Project 365 on Saturday, with a poem or two sprinkled through the week. What happened? I think I’ll let it slide this summer, but I tell you come fall things will shape up around here!

·         I had a slight gain this past week (less than a pound), but my goodness, who can blame my body? I’m not going to name all the things I ate, but their initials start with pizza, cookies & candy bars. Sheesh. I mean, I can have pizza, cookies & candy bars, but not in the excessive way I ate them last week. For example – all three in one day? Not really a healthy strategy. This week looks much better so far.

·         Speaking of health strategies, I’ve done pretty well trying to walk each day. I still haven’t ramped up the amount of time I spend doing it, but I’m happy with my somewhat consistency (I “accidentally” took the weekend off). Yesterday I mowed a large portion of our lawn. I don’t know if I’m happy that it only took 22 minutes – longer would give me more activity points so I could eat more food (that really is how it works – imagine!), but I might have collapsed in minute 23. You never know. I guess I could slow down – I probably look like some sort of kamikaze mowing fool out there going full steam ahead.

·         So, I’m on the last Tess Monaghan book. And a couple of months ago I finished up the Barbara Holloway series. I need a new series of books to read and/or listen to in my car. I like series because you get to know the main character really well, and it doesn’t require any thought to pick out the next book. Any recommendations out there? I’ve already read all the Eve Dallas books too. As you can see, I prefer the female sleuth. Although I’m open to a male one.

·         Did you know that when your yarn is “fuzzier” (my technical term for the weight of yarn), the item you make “might” be bigger than the same item made with less fuzzy yarn? And yes, I did count all the rows correctly thankyouverymuch. Lesson learned. Anyone out there have a really large head? And maybe a lot of dreadlocks you’d like to cover up in a jaunty red?

HOUS*     *Hat of Unusual Size

The "normal" one

Later!

Let's Eat!

Today would have been my mother's 70th birthday - a fact which would amaze & confound her. I wanted to write something profound, but my muse is still on its summer hiatus. So I'm reposting a poem I wrote over a year ago - it was a response to a magpie prompt (a picture of garlic). It's one of the poems that makes me remember my mom in a visceral way - and it's about food, which was very important to our relationship - ha!

In My Mind's Eye

In my mind’s eye one final time
I taste the garlic and the lime
I watch the hands prepare the feast
And feel again that kitchen peace

I know again that you are fine
I close my eyes against their shine
Behind my lids I cross the line
The fine thin line with no surcease
In my mind’s eye

I hear you humming and the chime
I feel your heart in synch with mine
I beat back the grasp of the beast
With the intimacy of grease

You haven’t left and so we dine
In my mind’s eye

Sundays In Zambia - African Sky

This post originally appeared in November 2009

This African Sky –

it mocks me.

I dream big

and glare.

It reaches inside

my head and I can

see forever how

very small I am.

I want…

and the sky

laughs.

10/29/87

2012 Project 365 – Week Twenty-Four

This was a slow picture week – mainly because Dr. M has been out of town (he gets back tonight – squee!) and for some reason when he’s gone instead of doing all these things that I think I’ll do, I turn into a hermit. I did take some pictures, but it’s just not the same. Sigh.

Saturday, June 9^th

I went to get a haircut (just a trim – three inches!), and she finished so quickly I decided to check out a nature preserve not far from the shop. Of course, I forgot to take my camera on the trail, but I took these shots after I got back to the car. You probably can’t tell, but that’s quite a steep hill down to the trail. There’s a little creek where I stole some rocks (you’ll see why later in the post). It is definitely a place I want to explore more thoroughly later – WITH my camera.

Sunday, June 10^th

Another church member and I were supposed to take communion to one of our shut-ins this morning. I love how the communion kits look like shaving kits – ha! However, our shut-in was either not home or not answering the door :(  But Rick & I enjoyed our conversation on our way out there & back.

Here is what we’re doing with the rocks. Dr. M & I decided to build a small cairn in our back yard, to commemorate our mothers and other important events in our lives. We’ll add rocks as we get them. We also put the sea shells we gathered at the beach last month.

Monday, June 11^th     

Monday’s “lunch.” Well, actually there are snacks in there too. Ha! (I forgot to label the little container of goldfish. To answer DFTP's question - NO, those are not actually fish. They're crackers. And they're not fish flavored crackers either. They're like cheese nips. In the shape of fish. I don't know why. :)

The State of the Bug – dilated.

I wrote about these pictures here.

Tuesday, June 12^th   

Dr. M took lots of pictures today. Flowers from our yard.

The weekly squirrel.

Our tomato & corn plants. That monstrosity in the front is my bolted volunteer cilantro plant – I love how out of control it is.

Wednesday, June 13^th   

The Tax Time Pig. Is that supposed to be a blue lobster? Weird crab? Some sort of hybrid creature of the sea?

Thursday, June 14^th       

Look! Our volunteer tomato plant is making tomatoes! Imagine that!

Friday, June 15^th       

A coworker & I have been walking almost every day for two weeks now. I keep a pair of tennis shoes under my desk (which reminds me – I finally took my socks home to wash (ew!) – better remember to take a fresh pair back on Monday!)

On this day we walked to the mailbox down the road to mail these Father’s Day cards (Happy Father's Day Daddy!) that I’ve had since SUNDAY. What’s the likelihood they will arrive on time? Slim and none, that’s what. Sigh.

This is on my weekend agenda. Although I downloaded a new book on the Kindle Friday night so the crocheting might have to wait.

When I got home from work I took a few pictures out back – I know Dr. M took a picture of Tuesday’s daylily, but this is Friday’s daylily – an entirely different flower. Really!

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants. Have a great week!

Most of our photos are taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D5000 DSLR, using a 55-200mm zoom lens. This is the camera that Dr. M takes with him most days. He also takes pictures with our old reliable 7 megapixel Canon Powershot A710.  The Bug uses our new Nikon Coolpix S6200 most of the time. If you’re interested in which camera was used for a particular shot, just ask! 

Monday's Post on Tuesday Because Frankly I Didn't Want to Mess with Writing on Monday

I went to the eye doctor yesterday & had my eyes dilated for the first time in years. The doctor assured me that I’d be able to drive home just fine – just to be sure to wear my sunglasses. Um, no. Well, it wasn’t treacherous, but it was like driving with a foggy windshield. Forty miles of driving through fog. When you combine that with my usual Internal Fog, it adds up to an Extra Alert Bug. It was exhausting. Whew!

Dilated eyes – two hours later

[Please note: I am obviously unacquainted with the miracle of photoshop]

This was the food I packed to take to work yesterday. I was highly amused at my many containers so I had to take a picture.

The left stack of containers (from the bottom): Salad, chopped apples, leftover green beans & kidney beans with grilled chicken, rice. The right stack of containers: Cantaloupe, yogurt, almonds, Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain Goldfish (in the back), banana. Yes, my lunch bag is really a small cooler.

I weighed in yesterday morning - I was down 1.8 pounds for the week, for a total of 5.2. I was still using the technique I talk about in this post, but this week it's failing me a little bit. Frankly, I have a hankering for cookie dough & I need to figure out how to subdue that sucker. Well, I think I just did - I imagined recording that in my food diary for the day & decided that it would be pretty disappointing. I'll keep you posted as developments arise.

P.S. I’m adding a new Drama Queen label to my posts. And when I have time I believe I’ll go back & add that label to all my previous dramatic whining. Just imagine how big the words will be in my label cloud to the left there!

Sundays in Zambia - Love Ministry

This post originally appeared in November 2009.

My original journeyman housemate, Rebecca, was a musician. She was part of a singing group, Love Ministry, and asked me if I wanted to participate. I love music & sang a lot at church so I thought it would be a lot of fun. It was fun, but I have no rhythm. As in they were swaying left & I was swaying right. I stood out like a sore thumb. And I couldn’t really sing at the level of these folks. So I only did it for a short while.

On this particular day I was invited along for their annual picnic. I can’t remember where we went, but there was obviously a body of water there. It was a day trip so it was close to Lusaka. We had a lot of fun. We ate food, I assume, although I don’t remember what & I don’t have any pictures us eating (which is VERY strange because I tend to remember food before I remember faces). We played a string game where we worked in pairs trying to extricate ourselves from each other. That was hilarious. We went on a boat ride. I got a really bad sunburn (you can see in the picture to the left where they made me put my chitengi on my head to protect my face & arms). And (this is where you can tell this outing happened in Africa & not NC) I got infested with putzi flies. I tell that story here. We don’t really want to go into all that again right now, do we?