I love visiting the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. We went down there today to spend the afternoon, and we brought along one of Martha's pals, Brenda. It was rather cold, especially considering that yesterday it was in the mid-80s, but skies were crystal-clear and beautiful. This photo was taken beside the Kimbell's fountains on the west side of the building.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Paul Harvey, RIP
Paul Harvey, 1918-2009
I will miss you, Mr. Harvey. I hope you & your Angel are enjoying being together again.
Friday, February 27, 2009
I'm a Glock... and I'm not surprised. :)
I'm compact... a little boxy... not terribly attractive, but I get the job done dependably with very little fuss and bother. LOL
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Maybe the weirdest, coolest, most fun meme I've ever seen
Okay, so this one's weird, but I absolutely love it. I saw it over at Chez Elisson and just had to give it a go. You should try it, too.
Create Your Own Album Cover!
It’s simple, especially if you have PhotoShop or some other image-editing software. I always use GIMP, which is a freebie download that does a pretty fair job of much of what Photoshop can do for waaaaaay cheaper. Any-hoo... Here’s all you do:
1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The title of the article is the name of your band.
2. go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last few words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your album.
3. Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days, where the third picture - no matter what it is - will be your album cover.
4. Use PhotoShop (or GIMP or any similar image-tinkering app) to put it all together.
5. Post the result on your blog.
Clever, no?
When I tried it again, this is what came up:
This could be SOOOO addicting.
Create Your Own Album Cover!
It’s simple, especially if you have PhotoShop or some other image-editing software. I always use GIMP, which is a freebie download that does a pretty fair job of much of what Photoshop can do for waaaaaay cheaper. Any-hoo... Here’s all you do:
1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The title of the article is the name of your band.
2. go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last few words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your album.
3. Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days, where the third picture - no matter what it is - will be your album cover.
4. Use PhotoShop (or GIMP or any similar image-tinkering app) to put it all together.
5. Post the result on your blog.
Clever, no?
When I tried it again, this is what came up:This could be SOOOO addicting.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday
Govern all by thy wisdom, O Lord,
so that my soul may always be serving thee
as thou dost will,
and not as I may choose.
Do not punish me, I beseech thee,
by granting that which I wish or ask,
if it offend thy love, which would always live in me.
Let me die to myself, that I may serve thee;
let me live to thee, who in thyself art the true life.
Amen.
--Teresa of Avila
Promise of things to come...
I found this fat bud in one of my iris beds this morning. I can't wait to see the irises; my guess is that they're all just common types, but you never know, now do you? Plus, even the commonplace irises are beautiful.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
[sigh]
The good thing about my eldest having had a cyst removed from her wrist? I have to shower her myself, ensuring that she is (for once in her life) actually CLEAN.
The bad thing? I have to shower her myself.
This is truly unpleasant, peeps. I had to carry a big plastic serving spoon (very flexible and flimsy, mind you) into the bathroom with me just to threaten to smack her (I didn't have to) when she started trying to cuss me out. All this AFTER she ASKED me to help her take a shower. Umm, honey, when you ask me to shower you, expect that I'm actually going to CLEAN you.
Now she's stomping heavily and slamming things around in her room because she can't put a bra on. Which tells me that she didn't bother to change the one she wore yesterday.
It's like living with a petulant three-year-old who's a good bit larger than I am, doesn't bathe, and who speaks as if she were taught by sailors.
The bad thing? I have to shower her myself.
This is truly unpleasant, peeps. I had to carry a big plastic serving spoon (very flexible and flimsy, mind you) into the bathroom with me just to threaten to smack her (I didn't have to) when she started trying to cuss me out. All this AFTER she ASKED me to help her take a shower. Umm, honey, when you ask me to shower you, expect that I'm actually going to CLEAN you.
Now she's stomping heavily and slamming things around in her room because she can't put a bra on. Which tells me that she didn't bother to change the one she wore yesterday.
It's like living with a petulant three-year-old who's a good bit larger than I am, doesn't bathe, and who speaks as if she were taught by sailors.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Question of the Day
It appears that Wolverine would host the Oscars and do kewl song-and-dance numbers... and still remain the hottest dude in moviedom today.
Don't be hatin'. I'm quite satisfied that he's comfortable enough in his own skin to be able to do it. Sean Penn wishes he had a tenth of Hugh's talent.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Grape hyacinth
I knew that these little guys were due to pop up any day now, because I recognized their foliage. I'm expecting quite a few more, too. This one is the first, so he's a bit small and spare, but he still sports that intense blue color that I love so much.
Henbit
Don't be a hater.
Henbit is a weed, but it has long been a favorite weed of mine just because I like to get up super-close to little weedy flowers and appreciate the beauty in them. I never considered them weeds when I was a little kid, I just loved their funky purple stalky-ness and their little speckled hearts.
Still do.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Miss Ava
I got a brief chance to see my wee niece Ava this afternoon and -- as you can imagine -- I simply HAD to get out THE CAMERA and take some quick pictures of her! How could anyone resist this face?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Today's Fall-Down Funny
David Burge over at Iowahawk always sends me into gales of laughter, and today's Chaucer-esque offering is no exception:
Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte
Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Not again.
Sick again today. My fondest wish is to be WELL. I can't even seem to get anyone at the doctor's office to answer the dang phone. I'm going to try again tomorrow and see if I can get in sometime this year.
I have had enough. Really.
UPDATE (Thursday): Finally got in to see my doc. Sinus infection. I'm taking a course of Zithromax. Y'all keep your fingers crossed. I *neeeeeed* to get well.
Monday, February 16, 2009
NY Fashion Week
It's time for the Fall 2009 collections to get trotted out onto the runways in NYC. This year's horror of horrors?
SHOULDER PADS.
The loathsome 80s stand-bys were to be found all through the Herve Leger collection, above, and the Jonathan Saunders collection:
The Diane von Furstenberg collection looked like a lot of very tall, leggy bag ladies wearing their wadded-up laundry on their heads:
Donna Karan was a bit classier, with some lovely Audrey Hepburn-esque selections like this one:
I absolutely love the fur cowl thing that she put on a lot of her outfits, and many of them even used the elegant black arm-length gloves and black leggings with black boots that just make anyone look very classy. But even DKNY wasn't immune to the horror of the SHOULDER PADS:
Subtle shoulder pads, to be sure, but they're there. Oh, yes, they're there. And is that a JUMPER? Is the "Homeschool Mom" uniform coming into vogue? I love the close-fitting long-sleeved shirt look underneath many of the DKNY collection pieces. Probably because that's how I have to roll these days since I don't have bare arms that can be seen in public.
Nonetheless, I thought I'd sound the warning: Run screaming from the room, y'all. The shoulder pad is coming back.
SHOULDER PADS.The loathsome 80s stand-bys were to be found all through the Herve Leger collection, above, and the Jonathan Saunders collection:
The Diane von Furstenberg collection looked like a lot of very tall, leggy bag ladies wearing their wadded-up laundry on their heads:
Donna Karan was a bit classier, with some lovely Audrey Hepburn-esque selections like this one:
I absolutely love the fur cowl thing that she put on a lot of her outfits, and many of them even used the elegant black arm-length gloves and black leggings with black boots that just make anyone look very classy. But even DKNY wasn't immune to the horror of the SHOULDER PADS:
Subtle shoulder pads, to be sure, but they're there. Oh, yes, they're there. And is that a JUMPER? Is the "Homeschool Mom" uniform coming into vogue? I love the close-fitting long-sleeved shirt look underneath many of the DKNY collection pieces. Probably because that's how I have to roll these days since I don't have bare arms that can be seen in public.Nonetheless, I thought I'd sound the warning: Run screaming from the room, y'all. The shoulder pad is coming back.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday evening ponderings...
I hope all my indulgent pictures of yard flora aren't causing too much honk-shoo yawning and snoring. I just can't get enough of this CAMERA! Aunty Ada, I'd be more than delighted to get togedder witcha and show you how I perform my camera voodoo. Hint: Good Software Covers A Multitude Of Sins. A good lens is even better. I'm using a Nikkor 18-200mm.
I am beginning to feel better! Really! This is the first evening I haven't felt trembly and fevery in at least a couple of weeks. I guess Levaquin really is the good stuff, eh? Remembering how I felt back a few years ago when I had pneumonia, I'd be willing to lay odds that's what I had succumbed to this time around too. No official diagnosis, but the pieces fit the pattern. I remember that day back in Iowa, the day that I had to sing and play the piano at Bernice Blake's funeral (for those of you who remember her -- I always will!)... I could barely sing, but I managed to make it through despite it being the most emotionally gut-wrenching funeral I have EVER been to in my LIFE, and despite feeling like roadkill... and we all piled into someone's vehicle afterwards and they all took me straight to the emergency room at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. Diagnosis: pneumonia.
And now for something completely different.
We had a family meeting tonight... we've had to have several of those in the past few weeks, but I suppose they're beneficial. Anyway, we're doling out jobs that these layabout kids don't seem to have a clue about but that they are about to start doing. Daily. Without complaining.
Stop laughing. We really mean it. [stern facial expression]
How is it that children can suddenly become so (1)pathetic and/or (2)smartassy when asked to complete a task? And how is it that I don't just haul off and smack them? These are the questions I ponder on Sunday evenings...
I am beginning to feel better! Really! This is the first evening I haven't felt trembly and fevery in at least a couple of weeks. I guess Levaquin really is the good stuff, eh? Remembering how I felt back a few years ago when I had pneumonia, I'd be willing to lay odds that's what I had succumbed to this time around too. No official diagnosis, but the pieces fit the pattern. I remember that day back in Iowa, the day that I had to sing and play the piano at Bernice Blake's funeral (for those of you who remember her -- I always will!)... I could barely sing, but I managed to make it through despite it being the most emotionally gut-wrenching funeral I have EVER been to in my LIFE, and despite feeling like roadkill... and we all piled into someone's vehicle afterwards and they all took me straight to the emergency room at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. Diagnosis: pneumonia.
And now for something completely different.
We had a family meeting tonight... we've had to have several of those in the past few weeks, but I suppose they're beneficial. Anyway, we're doling out jobs that these layabout kids don't seem to have a clue about but that they are about to start doing. Daily. Without complaining.
Stop laughing. We really mean it. [stern facial expression]
How is it that children can suddenly become so (1)pathetic and/or (2)smartassy when asked to complete a task? And how is it that I don't just haul off and smack them? These are the questions I ponder on Sunday evenings...
Yellow Crocuses
Saw these teeny-tiny yellow crocuses popping up in a sprig in the yard as I was coming back from church this morning. I can also see lots of different types of bulb foliage that tells me there *may* also be tulips and other interesting inhabitants waiting to make their presence known. We shall see!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Flowering Quince
This pink herald of early Spring has popped into bloom across the street in a neighbor's yard.
Crocuses
Some new little surprises are beginning to spring up in the yard. I look forward to finding the hidden treasures lying dormant in this old-timey yard.
Bijou update: Apparently she re-injured her back and is just very tender. She seems perkier, but is still not back to her full hyperactive self quite yet.
Friday, February 13, 2009
I'm feeling better
I won't be singing this weekend, but that's because they were able to find another soloist and didn't need me. I'll still proctor exams tomorrow though. And while I still feel sick, I think I might be improving. I never could get in to see a doctor; everyone's booked solid. I guess the rest of the world is sick, too.
The daffodils are blooming like crazy out there now. I need Spring, very very badly.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Oh, for the love of Pete on a Pogo stick
I had to come home sick from school again this afternoon. This is getting ridiculous. I tried to get an appointment to see my doctor tomorrow but she is all booked up. I tried another doctor's office, but they weren't even in at 5:30 in the afternoon. Who is not in at 5:30 in the afternoon at a doctor's office? Isn't that prime doctoring time? Meh, I guess I'll just try to muddle through. Mom's coming up here a little later this evening and she's bringing some antibiotics.
I *think* that I just over-did it this morning. It was a photography day, so I was out of the classroom and doing a lot of running and organizing. I even jogged across campus to my classroom to get something I'd forgotten, and jogged back. See, I was feeling pretty decent this morning. Which leads me to believe that I just went a little beyond where I should've.
Saturday they need me to procter exams at school, and I'm singing at a funeral on Saturday morning as well. I simply MUST recover enough to manage these things. I really really really need the money.
I *think* that I just over-did it this morning. It was a photography day, so I was out of the classroom and doing a lot of running and organizing. I even jogged across campus to my classroom to get something I'd forgotten, and jogged back. See, I was feeling pretty decent this morning. Which leads me to believe that I just went a little beyond where I should've.
Saturday they need me to procter exams at school, and I'm singing at a funeral on Saturday morning as well. I simply MUST recover enough to manage these things. I really really really need the money.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Worried
Bijou is behaving very, very oddly tonight... I can't find any obvious injuries anywhere and she hasn't puked. But she's acting like she's really sick. If she's still doing this tomorrow, I'm taking her to the vet.
So... tired...
The kids are in bed and I told them I'd have to go to the grocery store after they were asleep -- they're okay with this concept and they're all old enough to deal with a trip to the bathroom and a return to bed if need be.
It's not that.
It's just that I am totally blasted-out tired. I could go to bed right this moment and sleep all night long. But we are completely and totally out of milk, which must be had for breakfast and which must come from Braum's because they don't use any hormones on their cows.
I have got to go get in the van and drive to the store.
It's been two weeks since I went anywhere except to school and back. I'm beginning to wonder if it's an attack of agoraphobia and not just tiredness... maybe I just need to gut through this and do it.
Auuggh. I want SLEEP.
UPDATE: I did it. I decided to man up and just do it. I have now been to the grocery store again after having successfully avoided it for two weeks. And now I am going to bed.
It's not that.
It's just that I am totally blasted-out tired. I could go to bed right this moment and sleep all night long. But we are completely and totally out of milk, which must be had for breakfast and which must come from Braum's because they don't use any hormones on their cows.
I have got to go get in the van and drive to the store.
It's been two weeks since I went anywhere except to school and back. I'm beginning to wonder if it's an attack of agoraphobia and not just tiredness... maybe I just need to gut through this and do it.
Auuggh. I want SLEEP.
UPDATE: I did it. I decided to man up and just do it. I have now been to the grocery store again after having successfully avoided it for two weeks. And now I am going to bed.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A possible use for skwerls
FrankJ has a plan! You want to click that link and read it -- it's not long, but it's pithy and perfect.
Monday, February 09, 2009
First Daffodil of 2009
It's arrived! This afternoon when I got home from school I was greeted by this sunny little face peeping up from my flowerbeds! Spring can't be too far away now...
Sunday, February 08, 2009
There are benefits...
I have always tried to cultivate relationships with students of other cultures whenever I could... not at all because of any perceived benefit for myself, but because I just feel as though I would want to have someone treat me kindly and help me if I were in the same position.
I posted a week or so ago about a gift that my Vietnamese students gave to me for Lunar New Year. This past week (before I got so sick and missed school) one of my students returned from a trip to Mexico with her mother to visit family. She actually withdrew from school and then re-enrolled so as to avoid triggering the attendance failure thing. Any-hoo, she brought me back a couple of t-shirts and several bags of Mexican candies (see above photo).
What's special about these candies is that they all contain chiles! Yes, they're most definitely sugary candies, but somewhere in the recipe (either a powdery coating or mixed into the candy itself) is chile powder. It's an unusual sensation, but it's not at all unpleasant. My favorite is the little red one, the Rellerindos -- it's tamarind flavored, which (if you haven't ever tasted tamarind) is remotely raisinish or figgish, but not exactly. Anyway, Rick finds the tamarind flavor revolting. Fine with me -- that means I get all of them for me.
The others are strawberry with chile and watermelon with chile; she also included some mango/chile and pineapple/chile... very very kewl stuff.
I posted a week or so ago about a gift that my Vietnamese students gave to me for Lunar New Year. This past week (before I got so sick and missed school) one of my students returned from a trip to Mexico with her mother to visit family. She actually withdrew from school and then re-enrolled so as to avoid triggering the attendance failure thing. Any-hoo, she brought me back a couple of t-shirts and several bags of Mexican candies (see above photo).
What's special about these candies is that they all contain chiles! Yes, they're most definitely sugary candies, but somewhere in the recipe (either a powdery coating or mixed into the candy itself) is chile powder. It's an unusual sensation, but it's not at all unpleasant. My favorite is the little red one, the Rellerindos -- it's tamarind flavored, which (if you haven't ever tasted tamarind) is remotely raisinish or figgish, but not exactly. Anyway, Rick finds the tamarind flavor revolting. Fine with me -- that means I get all of them for me.
The others are strawberry with chile and watermelon with chile; she also included some mango/chile and pineapple/chile... very very kewl stuff.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Skin color don't mean much
I've been trying to tell people this for years... the color of your skin is such a ridiculous and immaterial way of classifying humankind.Your Family May Once Have Been A Different Color
To begin, please point your elbow to the ceiling.Then imagine yourself naked.
Then look at the patch of skin on the inside of your upper arm, the part of you that almost never sees the sun.
Whatever color you see there is what experts call your basic skin color, according to professor Nina Jablonski, head of the Penn State Department of Anthropology.
And that color, the one you have now, says Jablonski, is very probably not the color your ancient ancestors had — even if you think your family has been the same color for a long, long time.
It's about time we got past the issue, I'm thinking. And yet our country -- nay, our WORLD -- has been caught up in the romance of Our First Black President... it's the dumbest thing ever, really. So last century.
Illin'
I am sick.
Whatever this virus is, it has kicked my saggy butt. Hard.
I missed school Thursday afternoon AND Friday all day. This is not the way I roll. I have to be "really most sincerely dead" to call in sick.
And then I had to postpone a visit from Deb and Betsy, who I was really looking forward to spending time with today.
All the while I kept thinking, surely tomorrow I'll wish I hadn't cancelled because I'll be feeling totally better.
Nope. I've spent most of today comatose (without the aid of drugs, mind you) in bed. My poor dog is horribly confused; she can't allow me to be in bed without her, but she needs to go to the bathroom periodically, and yet she MUST stay with me, and yet she MUST GET UP... if I so much as twitched my foot, she leaped three feet into the air in hopes I would let her outside, but if anyone else tried to get her to go outside, she refused. The most co-dependent animal I ever met, I swear.
I went ahead and made arrangements for someone else to take my place at church tomorrow. At this rate, though, I'm hoping I will feel like going to work on Monday morning. It doesn't look promising.
Do y'all ever have bizarre dreams when you're sick? I had some super-freaky ones today, mostly involving being lost in Des Moines. As if that were even possible.
I quit taking meds yesterday thinking that they might've been what was making me feel so bad. Nah. I still feel like overcooked spaghetti.
Whatever this virus is, it has kicked my saggy butt. Hard.
I missed school Thursday afternoon AND Friday all day. This is not the way I roll. I have to be "really most sincerely dead" to call in sick.
And then I had to postpone a visit from Deb and Betsy, who I was really looking forward to spending time with today.
All the while I kept thinking, surely tomorrow I'll wish I hadn't cancelled because I'll be feeling totally better.
Nope. I've spent most of today comatose (without the aid of drugs, mind you) in bed. My poor dog is horribly confused; she can't allow me to be in bed without her, but she needs to go to the bathroom periodically, and yet she MUST stay with me, and yet she MUST GET UP... if I so much as twitched my foot, she leaped three feet into the air in hopes I would let her outside, but if anyone else tried to get her to go outside, she refused. The most co-dependent animal I ever met, I swear.
I went ahead and made arrangements for someone else to take my place at church tomorrow. At this rate, though, I'm hoping I will feel like going to work on Monday morning. It doesn't look promising.
Do y'all ever have bizarre dreams when you're sick? I had some super-freaky ones today, mostly involving being lost in Des Moines. As if that were even possible.
I quit taking meds yesterday thinking that they might've been what was making me feel so bad. Nah. I still feel like overcooked spaghetti.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Miss Alice
I can't NOT take pictures with this amazing, wonderful camera... even when I'm addled with germs and drugs. Isn't she sweet? And if you've never met her, you just can't believe a child could really be as sweet and compliant as this one. But she is... she really is. She's an angel, pure and simple.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Hacking. Again.
I am so tired of coughing.
Wikipedia: The cough reflex consists of three phases: an inhalation, a forced exhalation against a closed glottis (the complex of the vocal folds), and a violent release of air from the lungs following opening of the glottis, usually accompanied by a distinctive sound.
That distinctive sound? For me, it's this wheezing bark that sounds like tuberculosis.
And nowadays it also triggers a monster headache every single time I do it.
It also means that it's going to be a while before I finally get to see my mom and dad again, since they're both immuno-compromised individuals.
Do you KNOW how tired I am of this winter? I think I've been sick the entire time.
Grrr.
3AM UPDATE: I knew there was a good reason I was hoarding the Vicodin from my surgery and my weird non-root-canal incident... it totally made me quit coughing and get some sleep. Of course, I also woke up the moment it wore off, but I can take another one and go back to sleep here in a minute when it kicks in. If you're concerned, I don't seem to have a problem becoming addicted to it. In fact, I rarely take all of it when it's prescribed to me (obviously, or I wouldn't be hoarding it). And it comes in handy occasionally when I need it, like tonight.
I'm glad I got up, actually. I had forgotten to make a new pitcher of green tea last night because I was pretty absorbed in watching Fringe. I heart Fringe.
Wikipedia: The cough reflex consists of three phases: an inhalation, a forced exhalation against a closed glottis (the complex of the vocal folds), and a violent release of air from the lungs following opening of the glottis, usually accompanied by a distinctive sound.
That distinctive sound? For me, it's this wheezing bark that sounds like tuberculosis.
And nowadays it also triggers a monster headache every single time I do it.
It also means that it's going to be a while before I finally get to see my mom and dad again, since they're both immuno-compromised individuals.
Do you KNOW how tired I am of this winter? I think I've been sick the entire time.
Grrr.
3AM UPDATE: I knew there was a good reason I was hoarding the Vicodin from my surgery and my weird non-root-canal incident... it totally made me quit coughing and get some sleep. Of course, I also woke up the moment it wore off, but I can take another one and go back to sleep here in a minute when it kicks in. If you're concerned, I don't seem to have a problem becoming addicted to it. In fact, I rarely take all of it when it's prescribed to me (obviously, or I wouldn't be hoarding it). And it comes in handy occasionally when I need it, like tonight.
I'm glad I got up, actually. I had forgotten to make a new pitcher of green tea last night because I was pretty absorbed in watching Fringe. I heart Fringe.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Emerging Daffodils
Since I haven't lived in this house long enough to have experienced a Spring, I have no idea what delights await me in the garden... but it looks like maybe some daffodils might be waking up out there. These are just a couple of inches tall right now.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
The Ballyhoo House
Our big ol' barn of a house... it's drafty and cold... it lists a little to the north... the paint is peeling and the doors don't close sometimes... but it's home and I will confess to some rootlets of affection developing in my heart for our BallyHoo House.
Now if I could just win a gazillion dollars in the lottery so we could afford to fix it up nice again.
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