California or BUST!

Hubby and I leave for San Francisco and points north Saturday morning--a 15th wedding anniversary present! While we're gone, trusty computer's going in for a check-up--it's moving soooooooo slllllloooooooowwwww..... So, I'm signing off until May 1! Catch up with you then!

Getting a Do...

No, these aren't hot fudge sundaes! I went today to get my hair colored. I usually do it myself, but I decided to go a little more dramatic. Lorena talked me into doing my red plus 3 shades, so I decided to try it.
Am I beautiful yet??? Looks like I have a ways to go!
It's more subtle than I thought it would be, but it's pretty. We'll see...

Sunday, April 15, Lagniappe--a Little Something for Susan

One of my best friends loves the word, "lagniappe". I've never heard it before until Susan began using it a couple of years ago, I think. I'm not even sure how to pronounce it, and can never remember what it means, but Jim and I saw this little shop in Bay City driving home yesterday, and I had to pull over and snap this photo for Susan. I love you, my friend!
Susan, my prayer for you today is "lagniappe".

Saturday, April 14 - One more batch...

Ok, so I'm posting way too many, but we just don't get too many chances to visit with this gal this way, so I'm taking advantage--like she said, it was quality time, way overdue. Robin's been working here at the Bourbon Street Candy Co. for 3 years now. She's enjoyed it, and they all seem to think she's pretty grand, too.
Her bosses are very nice people. We enjoyed visiting with them and seeing their "baby", the shop.
Some of Robin's work buddies making the shop's specialty. Robin, we love you, and we had a great time!

Saturday, April 14 - Dinner at Joe's on Corpus Bay

Seems strange when your kids start drinking in front of you. Robin and I talked about it. My mother moved in with Jim and me when I was 53. I told her when she was thinking about coming down, "Mother before you come down, you have to know that Jim and I drink occasionally, and Robin has her belly button pierced and we really don't care." 53! I was always mortified that she would find out that I wasn't the daughter she thought. Now-adays, she really doesn't care and she's pretty cool about a lot of things, but I didn't know then. Anyway, we all had a drink Saturday evening together, and it was nice. We probably don't know it all, but that's ok, too.
Here we are about to eat, having had a wonderful day. Robin's a great tourguide and a very sweet friend.
This was one of the many signs at Joe's--I've adoped it as my mantra! :)

Saturday, April 14 - More Robin/Corpus Pictures

After we saw the botanical gardens, we decided to see the USS Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier docked at Corpus. It was fun watching Robin and her daddy walking through the Carrier reading all the signs, and sitting in all the right seats: gunner seats, captains seats, etc.

I love this picture of Robin--happy and grinning from ear to ear!

Robin and her daddy in another "seat" of some kind...don't remember, but they wanted their picture made!

Saturday, April 14 A Trip to Corpus to Visit Robin!

Meet Robin, Jim's oldest daughter. She's been attending Texas A&M at Corpus and graduates in May. She's had her own apartment for the past year, and she's often invited us to come visit her, but it hasn't worked out, until now. We figured if we were going to get to see her first apartment, we better go now, because there's a good chance come the end of June, she'll be somewhere else. So, the new "marriage saver" GPS in hand, we left early Saturday morning--in fog and cold--and arrived about lunch time, just in time for beautiful clear blue skies, and an awesome warm day--just right for the sightseeing thing. This isn't the best picture of Robin, but it's the only one taken in her little apartment, so it's what you get!
Meet the Trolls...these were the little ditties that Robin loved when I first met her 16 years ago this summer. She was into trolls and Barbies. It's fun seeing her collection displayed in her apartment--I love it that she hasn't grown up too much for trolls!

Friday April 13, the "marriage saver"

Hubby's been traveling a lot lately, and he got home Friday afternoon with this little dittie--he called it a "marriage saver". Don't ask me why??? We are leaving Saturday for a trip to California, and granted, we haven't always traveled well together, but the issue hasn't been getting lost--at least not geographically! Perhaps this more a spiritual picture?? :) We used it this past weekend when we went to Corpus to visit his daughter, Robin. It was very interesting--everytime we made a wrong turn, some female Australian voice came on and said, "Recalculating"...occasionally, when I turned the way I wanted to more often than she liked, she admonished me to "Please drive the highlighted route!" Maybe that's what Jim meant? I suspect most of us could use a little spiritual GPS to help us travel "life" together well...a Guide to help us re-calculate all our wrong moves, and Someone to remind us to "drive the highlighted route". Meanwhile, it was fun playing with this little gizmo, so we'll take it to California and we'll see if it "saves the marriage"...Let you know later! :)

Thursday, April 12, New TV Delivered

Well, we've gone and done it--upgraded to a new big-screen tv. Actually, this one is smaller than our old one--the screen may be bigger, but it fits in a much more compact space--I got some of my living room floor space back! Hadn't bargained for that. Got rid of Jim's big old black stereo speakers, too. I hated those things. So now we look like the Jetson's! :)

Wednesday, April 11th Yellow Roses Blooming

I planted climbing roses next to a trellis by my swing several years ago, and they've never done squat--I think it's too much shade, but low and behold, I have several blooms this year! Who knew! Not nearly like my friend Susan's climbing roses, but more than I've had! I'm grateful!

Satellite Gallery Exhibit

I took several paintings to the Dow Beutel Building this morning and Rick, here, helped me hang them. The Art League has several "satellite" galleries, and the Beutel Building is one of them. So, I'm officially on the circuit.

Rick was a great helper--I hadn't expected Dow to provide help hanging paintings, but they did. And they let me pull my car right up to the front door to unload, so it was a very pleasurable experience. My paintings will be on exhibit there until June.

Slow day...

You can tell it's a slow day when I take pictures of the tv screen! Satellite went out yesterday, and that's always a big deal. Not only do I hate to miss Dancing with the Stars, but Mother has to miss Jeopardy and the news...Major thing!

Just got a heads up that our neighbor Ronnie is back from Iraq! He surprised us all with a visit--I just got back from across the street, but it was raining and I didn't feel like dragging the camera! Jim's going to hate that he's not home for this!

Happy Easter!

Father Karl joined us from Houston today to help out with the overflow Mass. On Easter Sunday, we have one 8:00 Mass, 2 9:30 Masses and 2 11:00 Masses--usually quite a large crowd. I like Fr. Karl. He's a sweetie, and he always gives a good homily. I laughed at him this morning before Mass--he commented to one of the servers that it was so cold he was afraid he would accidentally celebrate the Christmas Mass instead of the Easter Mass.
I've never attended Mass in the Hall before, but I was assigned to serve there, so there I went. It was nice--the lilies smelled so good. Frankly, lilies, hydrangeas and azaleas were the only sign of Spring. Everyone was dressed in winter attire. There's always next Sunday.

Hope you've had a blessed day, and I hope the sun was shining where you are, and that it was warm.

Happy 50th Birthday Neighbor Carl!

Left to right: Jim's daughter, Rebecca, hubby Jim, birthday boy Carl, Carl's brother Paul, and Devin, stirring the pot. Yesterday we celebrated Carl's 50th birthday with our first crawfish boil of the season--and boy, was it COLD! Looks like Easter will be frigid this year. The weather's crazy, but that's ok--company was good, and the food was great...
Wasn't he a cute kid! Notice the "over the hill" note...most of the rest of us know that 50 is only cresting the hill, not going over it, but that's ok. We'll let the young folks find out for themselves!
YUMMMMM! Hot crawfish being poured into the chest--really good eatin', with corn on the cob and new potatoes. The only thing that might have been a little better might have been some warmer weather, but if you can't have everything, yesterday was perfect!

A Wonderful Day

Back row, left to right: Helen, Sheila, Jeanette, Linda, Ginger, Nancy, Sharlyn, Adalia
Front row, left to right: Lil' Anna, Annie, Barbara, and Tina. We're minus another Nancy and Sherry--we missed YOU!

Meet a delicious group of women--this is our Artist Way Circle, a group of committed women (minus 2) who have met every week for 8 weeks so far. We are tapping into our creative side and becoming even more creative in our coming together to do it. Yesterday we took a "play date" and went to Houston to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the masterpieces of French painting on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art--the Impressionist period and more. I must confess that I've never studied the old Masters, much less seen more than photographs of their work, so I was like a kid in a candy store--actually, the feeling was much deeper, but I can't describe it. It was way more than I expected.

One of the first paintings to strike me was Marie Denise Villos painting of A Young Woman Drawing. The light was incredible, and her eyes caught mine as she looked into my soul. I was stunned, and could have spent more time just sitting and looking at her. It was as if she knew me--or she knew something about me that perhaps I don't even know about myself.

And I really enjoyed te nudes painted by Jean Disire-Gustov Corbet. He was a "bab boy" whose work was sometimes condemned for being "crude", all because he included the hair under their arms or because his paintings were more realistic. Several of us mentioned the fact that someone suggested he paint angels in one of his more sensual paintings--to help it be more acceptable, and he said he would, if they could show him an angel. I especially loved his nudes in and around water, and the one I saw of the lady with the parrot. Beautiful! And yes, sensual!

But my breath was taken away as I entered the room that contained Monet's paintings. I remember back when I was in high school--he's the only artist that I remember talking about, and I knew I liked his work. I imagined myself being an impressionist artist because of him. But you know, that was a long time ago, and sometimes I think I made it all up--but when I stepped into the room, I cried. It was like coming home in a strange sort of way. O my gosh, I loved his paintings. I loved the energy, the color, the brush strokes--and I remembered, "Yes, my memories were real, and he really was my inspiration."

I could go on and on, but I won't--instead I'll move us to the next part of the day. Annie booked us reservations at this lovely restaurant, and o my! We felt so elegant and so fabulously treated as we walked into this little restaurant on Alabama street.

Pure elegance, inside and outside. Annie had gotten reservations for us out on the patio. The sky was blue, the air was dry (for a change) and cool and clear. There was a magnificent fountain and lots of lush plants all around. The service was impeccible, and the food was absolute sheer delight.
I got a beautiful grilled salmon steak, served with a salad, wine, sorbet for dessert...and absolutely some of the best company anywhere. There was laughter and enthusiasm delight as we shared a long leisurely lunch with each other. We're already thinking about it--we really must take a trip together!

Thank you ladies for being a scrumptious part of my life! I love all of you a whole bunch!

Remember the ducks????

Ok, one more! Actually this was supposed to have been yesterday's post...remember my post from a couple of days ago? The pair of mallard ducks had gotten "lost"? Well, they seem to have adapted to our place rather nicely (could it be the bread I fed them???), and they've settled in. They are so pretty, and are quite tame. I wonder if there are eggs somewhere?

On With Life...

Today was errand day for Mother and me--I took her for visit with one of her doctors, and I sat outside by their reflection pool and waited for her. After my breakthrough this morning, it was delicious. I saw turtles, and snapped all kinds of pictures of flowers, reflections, knot holes in the bridge, mold on the concrete--all of it. When we can find the energy flow of love and trust, everything takes on new meaning and all of it's beautiful...
Then off we went to get our nails done! Now, that's awesome! I love this little place--they have the nicest people, and it makes me happy to go there.

Clarity Comes with the Dawn

The fog has lifted! I've been in a funk--let's call it what it is, depression--for about 11 days now, and I've tried and tried to figure out what was wrong so that I could fix it. I've felt as if I was being sucked under or had fallen into a pit with no way out, and I have complained for days about everything and everybody. But Love came this morning--synchronicity! When Love comes disguised as coincidence! I reached and picked up this book this morning. I started it right after the first of the year, but I never got very far, and only Love knows why I chose to pick it up this morning, but I started reading right where I left off in January, in the chapter called Intimacy. Zukov begins: Intimacy is the measure of the energy that leaves your energy system in love and trust...The experience of intimacy is not related to how others act or do not act, or how they speak or do not speak. It depends upon how energy leaves your energy system. When energy leaves your processing system in love and trust, the result is the experience of intimacy... and on he wrote, and everything began to click for me.
And these pages pointed out exactly what I had done: focused on the circumstance and the "who done it to me", instead of the experience of the feelings I had inside. You know, I know this on an intellectual level, but I keep forgetting. It doesn't matter if my circumstances change--if I am living in fear and doubt, NOTHING will be right, EVER. And if I'm living in love and trust, the circumstances, no matter what they are, or if they ever change, simply don't matter. Zukov reminded me to focus on what's happening inside of me, not what's outside of me. It's about ME changing, not everyone else changing to suit me. DARN IT ALL!! Zukov got me when he wrote: Your teacher is very patient. If you do not learn what your circumstances see to teach you, more circumstances arrive to help you learn the same lesson. This continues as long as necessary--in my case, it seems over and over again. No matter, for THIS MOMENT, for today, for right now, I'm open to love and trust again, and my insides and my outsides are "home".

April 2, What's a fork without a spoon??? Especially when you've ordered soup?

April 1, A Fool's Day...

Saturday was a perfectly yucky day at my house, and I had enough, so Sunday when I left to go to church, I told Jim I wasn't coming home to sit in my junk all day long again, so after church I ran some errands then I faced a challenge I received years ago in my first divorce recovery class--to go to a real restaurant and a movie by myself. I've never done that before. Where I come from, "decent ladies" never go to a restaurant by themselves, and certainly not a movie. Back in 1990 when I went through my second divorce and actally spent two rounds in a divorce recovery class, we were told to do just that. So I didn't do a "drive-thru" and get junk food, nor did I go inside a junk food establishment, I went to a real restaurant, got a table for one, and enjoyed lunch by myself. In the old days, that was considered "improper"--women who did that were only looking for one thing, whatever that was we weren't told. And I think men told us that. Actually, I think it was my mother, who got it from her mother, but somewhere along the way, I think men told women that--another one of our little pieces of baggage that says sexual misconduct--or misconduct of any kind--is always the fault of the woman.

After I finished lunch, I kept hearing the "you should go home now" voice, but I didn't want to go home. I really like Sandra Bullock, and had wanted to see Phenomenon, so I did just that--another "disgraceful" thing. I went to a Sunday matinee all by myself. I must confess, it felt strange, and I felt like the people there were whispering, "Poor thing...", but just before the movie started, another single-for-the-day woman sat at the other end of the row from me. She looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back. Solidarity. I snapped several pictures in the theater, but nothing really took. I almost deleted all of them until I saw this one again. I don't think the movie I went to was rated R? Who cares! But "Restricted" is what I've felt for the last couple of weeks. Boxed in, agitated, pacing like a caged lion, and actually pretty angry. I wish the feeling would lift...
As a review, I really liked the movie Phenomenon. And intense, on the edge of your seat, but terribly romantic movie. All the things I like best--intrigue, passion, intensity, romance, tears...all in all, my date with myself proved to be a very good afternoon. But then, one always has to go back to real life. At least the sun was shining when I walked out of the movie theater. That's a gift.