silly stupid saturday... also lazy

forgiving... and karma

ok, at the risk of being serious... i saw this on facebook, and it brought back memories of an experience several years ago.  my perception of the whole thing was that i'd been betrayed by someone i'd thought was a friend, someone with whom i'd spent a lot of time and shared a lot of my life and knowledge.  anyone who knows me well, will know about this.  anyway, for a long time, i kept the pain and my anger front and center.  finally i came around to the knowing that the only real effect it was having on my life was that i hadn't just let go of it.  i later saw a quote that made a lot of sense:  "if you hold a grudge or hold on to anger, you allow someone to live rent-free in your head".
also, i do believe in karma... and she can be a nasty bitch to those who deserve it!  this quote says it takes a person with character to forgive, and i'm not making any lofty claims for myself, just saying that it felt really good when i let it go, and left it all to karma.

chocolate!!!

yesterday i heard a recommendation which i am SO sure has merit, that i will follow it blindly without researching and i KNOW that my waist and midriff fat will diminish significantly and my health will improve greatly... all this will be accomplished by eating a small amount of dark chocolate every single day!  and my main source of dark chocolate will be Trader Joe's because i already know that they have what i love... in more ways than chocolate!!  be still my heart!  daily medicinal doses of chocolate.  mmmmmmm...  and eventually i'll be able to button the waist of my new good will jeans. 

March - my month of relativity

actually, a relative-filled month... lots of lunches out... Maggie in celebration of her birthday month, Jen in celebration of dill pickle soup and her wonderful Jen-ness, yesterday with my dear brother, Curbhead at Maggie's Buns for a lunch of her magnificent goodness, and then today i went to Judy's house after chiro appt.  Jen brought pizza and Jordan and Maisy and Max.. so we had a 3-generational lunch after the kids had their adventure, walking along the creek-bed in the mud!

                    here's Jen with Jordan ------>>

                               and Elsa looking on.......

and Judy with Maxwell

                     and Maisy cozied up in a comfy chair  ---->>





it's been a magnificent month of relativity and i'm so happy to
have them in my life!!

greenhouse salad

we've been having salads with the greens from our greenhouse!
yummy....

spring for a day - tra la

i

so yesterday here in my queendom of joy, we had a day which was quite spring-like and i spent lots of time outside.  here's my sweet watchdog stationed by the garden gate opposite the fierce guard-rooster.  this little guy was a happy find at good will and has been waiting patiently inside for some sign of spring.

on friday after appointments with chiropractor and then MD, it seemed only right to reward myself for good behavior with flowers and dark chocolate during a stop at Trader Joe's.  they had such a great price on flowers... $2.99 for bouquet with 4 gerbera daisies and a bunch of alstroemeria... such a good deal in fact, that i bought 2.  they are my bridge to spring.  and the dark chocolate is,  of course, for medicinal purposes.. of course!!!

and then there's this just because there are days when i feel like i've fallen down the rabbit hole into a place where everyone is quite mad!!  don't worry, it's not serious... just my reaction to the craziness.

i finished the entrelac hat and it will be a birthday gift for someone i love, but i'm not saying who until i give it to her.  will start another one for travel project.  leaving april 11 for easter in Crete and am just about ready to start packing!  i'm so happy that we found Carla at RuffLifePDX to stay here with the dogs while we're gone and am sure the dogs will be delighted that they don't have to go to doggie prison while we go away.  i've always told them that they were going to doggie camp, but doubt they bought that lie!

the chiropractor...  since my back pain/sciatica has been such a literal pain in the butt for so long, i decided to try the chiropractic approach, which is a totally new road for me.  not sure why, but i've always had a fear of this treatment... not any more!  happy happy happy me!!  had 3 visits last week and this morning i got up after a really great night's sleep with NO back pain and NO damn pain down my leg.  have 2 more appts. scheduled and we'll see where it goes from there.  i've been really dreading the effects of 22 hours of travel to get to Crete, but have high hopes now that it will go well.  and just in case, i got some pain relief in tablet form from my medical doc, after she expressed disapproval that i'm seeing a chiropractor.

p.s. - please feel free to leave a comment... really, i'd love to know what you have to say...

not silly stupid saturday...

but i just couldn't help myself!

and there you have it.....

“May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been,
The foresight to know where you are going,
And the insight to know when you have gone too far."
— Irish Toast

update on entrelac hat

the Mary Scott Huff entrelac hat is almost finished!!  probably 1 more tier... maybe 2.  i love knitting this and plan on making more of them, well at least 1 more.  it will make good traveling knitting (coming up in less than a month!!)

i finally found a break between rain events and got a photo of Fred the guard rooster at his post by the garden gate.  doesn't he look fierce?  wish i could count on him to keep the deer from eating up my flowers.

                                             


                                                  sweet violets!

had lunch with my niece, Jen, yesterday... and that was by far the best part of the day.  we ate at Otto and Anita's in Multnomah Village.  my anticipation for the dill pickle soup was high!!  never would i have thought dill pickle soup could be so delicious... but it is.  it took me several visits there before i could bring myself to try it and now i wish i hadn't waited so long.  it being German cuisine, i also had one of their specials... a weinerschnitzel sandwich.  also very good.  best of all was having time with Jen and doing a catch-up on her life.

salad for dinner came from our greenhouse... arugula, spinach, lettuce and then from the garden came a few sprigs of bronze fennel which is coming up from last year's garden.


the only downside to the day was the cold drenching rain and having to slog thru it to go to costco.  ugh!  oh, but another good thing is that i bought a new camera because my old one is almost used up and old and not taking as good pictures any more.  the new one was the highest rated by consumer report in its category... a Canon Elph and costco had an excellent price, so how could i possibly resist?  i didn't.

explaining gay to children

totally a non-issue
(from MoveOn.org)

another week scoots on by

.

another week in my queendom filled up with variety and fun...

did more on the latest quilt and now i have all the blocks finished!  bravo!  and no 2 are alike, far as i can tell.  now to do sashings and borders and putting all together and quilting. i think the reason i've enjoyed this one is that each 8X8 block is its own little adventure in piecing.  and i'm totally in love with the ombre fabric that goes from deep purple to brilliant yellow.  i need more of that.

on wednesday i took my beautiful niece, Maggie, to lunch at Hands On Cafe to celebrate her month of birthday.  she decided long ago that March, her birthday month, was to be celebrated every day!  brilliant!

on thursday we had tickets to a play at Portland Center Stage... the matinee.  when we got there we found that it had been cancelled due to someone's illness.  from there we went out to Kaiser Sunnyside hospital to see Pam who had unexpectedly had surgery and is now without her rotten old gallbladder.  she's not thrilled about it at the moment.... but will be very happy in a few weeks!

somewhere in the past week we had a couple of sunny days and i got a bunch of plants and bushes pruned, admired the blooming violets, primroses and helebore and spent a few minutes up close with the moss on the pear tree.  had never taken the time to notice how soft moss is and what a lovely and delicate growing pattern it has.  try it sometime....

and Fred the giant recycled metal rooster is in his place now, guarding the gate to the garden.

moss on pear tree

silly stupid saturday

 following are grabs from facebook... proving that time spent there is not always a complete waste of time.  anything that brings a smile, a giggle, a moment of  "aha!  there's some truth there." can't be all bad!

this is often my reaction when i watch most anything coming from the tv machine these days... meaning all that expounding on things political!

although PBS is exempt from that because they have good stuff!

see above

 


and then we have some truthiness  --->>

entrelac and sweet potato

 so - how about that!?  nothing all week, then 2 in the same day.

here's the progress on the entrelac hat ... the Mary Scott Huff pattern kit from Madrona.  i'm loving knitting this!  seems a long time since i've done any entrelac.  had a bit of a struggle on the first few rounds cause there was so much going on with so few stitches, but now i'm sailing along.  and i WILL NOT start another project until this is done!! ok, i said it.....

and this is the humble beginning of a window sill sweet potato vine. (looks like the tater has a bad case of acne, but maybe it's just the beginning of more sprouts.)  the one i grew last year grew so abundantly that the vine wrapped all around the kitchen window.  i think maybe i'm just itching to get something growing.  bring on the spring, please.

current quilt project

 here's some photos of the quilt blocks.  i still have 9 more to make so it will be single bed size.  so far, every block is different and it seems my favorites are the ones with the brilliant yellow to orange ombre.
i need to see if i can find more of that fabric without going all the way back to Lk. Oswego where i originally bought it.  it's getting used up quickly.  am thinking that the sashing will be black and the first border also.  prob. about 1 1/2 inches.

have made 2 blocks that are 8" by 12" instead of 8" by 8" like the others.  will make a couple more of those...  just for variety, doncha know.  i'm loving the brightitude which is helping with my attitude!