Tall Tales from Kansas

my ongoing love affair with Harvey

A conversation:

Me: Harvey! (in high pitched squealing voice)

Him: Oh, hello (in refined, slightly bored cat voice)

Me: come down here at once and let me pet you!

Him: sorry looking for lizards or other unsuspecting creatures right now.

Me: but you are yawning and look tired, you can sit on my lap.

Him: that's an act, I am on high alert.

Him: come to think of it, I am a little sleepy, you climb up here and pet me. Bring me a treat while you are at it. Make it something good.

My ongoing love affair with Harvey and his brother Alex continues. Unabated, despite the winter break. 

pure playtime joy

The tree thing, started on January 1st, continued on into January 3rd. It moved from watercolor, ink, cut... to cut out trees from old calendar, add newspaper, fire up the sewing machine. 

Then out came the toned gray paper.  Why not? Before you know it there was a small forest. 

Which begged to be set up on the water color pan before going back to the inspiration board.

These Caran D'Ache crayons have not seen the light of day for many moons. They will get more play time this month.  For sure. As will those colored pencils. 

It's hard to say exactly what it was that made these trees so much fun to me, but it was pure playtime joy. I want more of that feeling all year long. 

And while I am at it, more French toast with blueberries and raspberries on top because it was incredible. Bacon on the side. Cause you got to have the salty with the sweet. It's a balance thing.  

warning - you may find yourself unable to stop

On the morning of November 4th, at the University of Kansas hospital in Kansas City, the APRN's on the palliative care team were taught how to make origami book marks by Marilyn.

She brought really pretty 6x6 squares of paper, and proceeded to give us precise instructions. With gentle coaching, we all succeeded. 

The soothing, distracting, benefits of putting your hands and eyes to work on a simple task like this can not be overstated.

In the event that you find yourself in need of inner calmness or composure, I recommend it highly. Google origami bookmark and have at it. Warning: you may find yourself unable to stop. 

the amazing geometric perfection of this sunflower

It was hard to walk by the Dahlias at the market last Saturday, but on my exploratory first pass I knew was going to have to bring these sunflowers home. 

They were trimmed, popped into an old water pitcher, and placed on the table.

They were turned this way and that, admired from every angle.

Then I sat right down with a cup of coffee and started reading the paper, in between staring at the amazing geometric perfection of this sunflower.

for my personal enjoyment alone

Inspired by my inherent love of cutting and pasting, and this wonderful issue of Uppercase magazine and all the glorious ways to use scraps...

... today I hauled out some "stuff" and proceeded to play around with my new planner/calendar.

I always get the "school" version of a new calendar, starting with September because us dreamers typically begin making plans for the the new year now, and want to start writing things in.  This year I got a slightly larger version of the calendar.  By mistake, but I am trying it anyway. 

Here are the last 5... some more embellished than others. Using all the beautiful imagery available in the world gives me great pleasure. It seems wrong not to use it, for my personal enjoyment alone. 

Old photographs, found items, stickers, images cut from magazines. Such fun to put together.

Saved notes from Pam that have been living on my inspiration board will of course be incorporated. And you will notice that Sister's hand drawn labels are always used as well.

I hope you are equally occupied with some creative, simple, diversion today, and that you are following my lead by having a local shrub with club soda as a refreshment on the side. 

oh heaven help us all

It feels like this far into October there should be more photos of orange stuff on this blog. That means today is catch up day.  Pumpkins, gourds, mums.  All jumbled up together, solely for the purpose of celebrating orange-ness.  

Which reminds me I have not made a pumpkin pie yet this year and it's high time to correct that.  And speaking of baking and fall things... did you see this recipe for frosted snickerdoodle bars? Oh heaven help us all. 

where the light makes them sparkle and shine

I am not sure what it is about "collecting" that appeals to us humans. Looking. Finding. Gathering. Joining. Collating. Re-arranging. What I do know, is that very small collections give me the most pleasure. Nothing to weigh me down.

Easily sorted by color.

Arranged with little effort on the small, slightly rusty, metal tray Aunt Critch told me was a family heirloom.

Mixed up and reformed into a circle, 

then back into a square,

and finally into an atypical blooming botanical.

Then back in their tiny containers, in front of the sink, they go. 

With the flowers, where the light makes them sparkle and shine. Just like when they were in the cove on Glass Beach rolling in and out with the tide.  

if you can limit yourself to just once a day

For your entertainment, enjoyment, and delight; while I am away visiting Dottie for a long weekend of "sistering", I present this video. I suggest you watch it nightly.  If you can limit yourself to just once a day. 

Thanks for showing it to me Marilyn!