Tall Tales from Kansas

chris insisted on attaching a rope around my mid-section

We are unable to see the horizon from our house.  That did not stop me from  attempting to get a stunning photo of the solar eclipse.  I hung out of the second floor windows in my art room Sunday night to get the best possible perspective of the event.  Here is what my camera saw. 

It was pretty and it was certainly bright, but I didn't see what I thought I would see.  I don't think my neighbors directly behind me could believe their eyes either.   Chris insisted on attaching a rope around my mid-section in the event that I might suddenly tumble over the sill.  Happily, for all involved, I kept my footing.  

for this fellow it's not about sport

In Lawrence it is not unusual to see fitness minded, aerodynamically attired, cyclists peddling their way all over town.  

For this fellow it's not about sport.  It's about comfort, and innovation, and wearing your plaid shorts with your early 80's rock band t-shirt and your white shoes with your black socks, if that's what feels right today. 

when you have something to say

On my birthday I received these.

To be used on those occasions when you have something to say but you don't want to talk about it. 

one more day in the sun with Sheila

When I went to get some roasted vegetables for tonight's dinner I walked by the baklava and it said "I think Dottie would like some of me for dessert tonight".   I have a hard time ignoring food that speaks to me so I bought some and headed for the vegetables before the cakes started chattering too. 

 
The nice 60-something year old man in the chefs' whites, with the little speck of kleenex on his freshly shaved face, that waited on me suggested if I had any roasted vegetables left over I "give them a chop and mix them in your scrambled eggs for breakfast".  Then he asked if my mom was still around.  I said yes and inquired after his mom.  He said "I sprinkled her in the ocean last week.  Right off Ponte Vedra where her condo was.  I took 12 of her pals to lunch and afterwards we spread her ashes in the water off the boat.  We didn't get sad, it was one more day in the sun with Sheila". 

If I was a mom, I would want to be the kind of mom who had a son like that.

a good chris story

Last week we cleaned before the houseguests arrived.  We played a game called "whatever gets done in 90 minutes is it".  We divided the duties.  I vacuumed.   He mopped.  He shook out the rugs.  He asked me to run the rugs through the dryer on air to get them extra clean.  I cleaned the bathrooms.  He ran the re-cycling over.  I ran 2 rugs through the dryer and called the other 4 good.  He came home. 

Chris:  "Looks good honey"

Me:  Thanks!

Chris:  "Did you get those rugs done?"

Me:  Yes!  (Meaning yes, I did 2 of them - the other 4 didn't need it but you don't need to know that).

Week goes by.  Guests arrive.  We drink a good bottle of wine.  We start talking and telling stories.  He tells story about how I am so good at putting rugs in dryer when he asks me to.   I let out loud guffaw and bust a gut laughing.   I don't know how he can read my mind, but I love how he knows just the right time to reveal his powers.

 

from wrinkled to smooth in 5-6 minutes per piece

I have reached the milestone 1 year anniversary of the day I decided to give it a whirl and start a blog.  I was pretty sure I would flounder around (a lot) for things to write about.  Not so.  Instead I find myself thinking as I go about the everyday aspects of my very normal life "go get the camera and take a picture of this - you can do a post about it"!  As evidenced by the subject of my one year anniversary post, depicted below.

I did not do a lick of research on this, but I feel fairly safe in saying that I may be the first blogger to celebrate a milestone by showing... gulp... ironing?  

But seriously.  Don't you get some satisfaction from the mindlessness that is ironing?  From wrinkled to smoothed in 5-6 minutes per piece.  And after 15 minutes you have ...

...nice sharp creases and knowing you have pants ready for 3 days of work.  

What have I learned in my first 365 days of blogging?  That there is satisfaction to be found in the everyday ordinariness of my life when I look around for it because I want to tell someone.   And I find it in the most unexpected places. 

a moment of perfection that deserved my undivided attention

Sunset over Lawrence Kansas.  Tuesday, April 10th 2012.  7:47pm.  This was a sunset I pulled over and got out of my car for.   A moment of perfection that deserved my undivided attention.

he's getting back to me on that one

My part time research assistant was entertaining me with factual tid-bits the other night.  Things like winter has exactly 88.994 days, Spring has 92.758 days, Summer has 93.651 days, and Autumn has 89.842 days.  So naturally I asked him if he could find out why it is that the longest season seems like the shortest, and the shortest seemed like the longest, because that is what I would find interesting.  
 He's gonna get back to me on that one.  I told him I would need him to be able to quote his sources. 

in my mind I was the next Joan Baez

Don't you think it's fun to get this in the mail?  I like sitting down and dialing back the years to my different jobs and what I got paid.

My very first "real" job (not counting paper delivery, door-to-door magazine sales, and baby sitting) was as the folk choir director at Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone.   I got paid the whopping salary of $60 a month.   It was 1975.   I was 16 years old.   My hair was long.   I had the grooviest guitar in Central America.   In my mind I was the next Joan Baez.

as soon as I have them all put away we'll have a freak cold snap

It is going to be 80 degrees here tomorrow.  Eighty degrees on March 14th is crazy.  But the trees and shrubs are busting out all over.    Starting in the left upper corner and moving in a clockwise direction we have:  clematis, red sunset maple, weeping cherry, and flowering plum. 

All sure signs that it's warming up.   If that weren't enough to convince you, how about this...

Yes, the sweaters are being washed, laid flat to dry, and about to be put away for another year.    As soon as I have them all dry and folded we'll have a freak cold snap that will last 2 weeks and necessitate me getting them back out again.