Frogs, Toads, and Pool Covers

I like frogs and toads. I like the sounds they make. I like the way they look when they "talk". I like to find toads in my garden. They are fun surprises  to suddenly spy when they hop out from under a bushy flower clump or when they think they are hiding away well enough out of sight by a damp shady corner of the foundation after the rain. 

Yes, I have even been known to talk to toads who decide to join me and keep me company for a few minutes in my weed pulling tasks, before they grow quite bored of my philosophical conversation topic and hop away. I haven't seen near as many frogs in the neighborhood as there once were, at least since the creek in the woods was diverted to storm water drainage culverts (I like nature and natural, and drainage tiles installed by humans is not the same as a fun creek winding through the shade of the tree canopies and mossy paths of the shadowy woods!)

I admit I like the way frogs and toads feel when I pick them up and gently hold them for a bit and look at them as they look back at me. I guess I never grew up in a lot of aspects when it comes to nature and its creatures since I still get a little giddy and giggly when I touch and hold some of nature's population. It is a sensory thing to interact with fuzzy brown and black caterpillars, ladybugs, earthworms, fireflies, even daddy long leg spiders. Yep, even those. I was a big hit being with my 6 nephews as an aunt and a mom to 3 since I wasn't/am not squeamish!!

Once, a long time ago, there was a huge bullfrog from the woods creek who stopped by after a thunderstorm for a visit, appearing in the driveway, he just wanted to say "Hello!". He let me pick him up and and then I set him back down to leap away, off to adventures and new places to explore, better places than the driveway. He was so big he looked like a misplaced toy sitting in the driveway.

The frogs still make their harmonious songs at night in the pool covers of the neighborhood in the late springtime each year as they tend to their pool cover nursery of tadpoles. I love that sound! Tadpoles are like magic to watch the way they transform so quickly from wiggly little specks... to swift swimming morphing beings of both tails and legs... to land and water dwellers with little strong arms and legs, in short order nearly in the blink of an eye. Thus a new season's batch of nature friends leaves the pool covers before they are drained of the murky water and leaves and removed for the human swimming season to commence.

Then we hope the toads and frogs don't jump in the pools only to find they cant get back out.

I remember specific little things certain teachers in elementary school taught me that are still retained inside my memory. Things like the difference between desert and dessert. "Dessert has more of the letter 's' than desert because everyone wants more sweet treats than hot sand!" ...and "All toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads." 

I liked learning that and let it absorb into my brain for a few minutes when she said it the day we had the overhead projector shining the images of amphibians against the wall of the darkened classroom. (It was so cool to be chosen by the teacher to be the one to pull the cord to either make the long span of heavy window drapes close or open to darken and brighten the classroom. Simple pleasures! Even more of an honor than to be chosen to flip off or flip back on the ceiling lights with all the light switches located between the wall mounted pencil sharpener and the classroom doorway.) No computers in those days. We had the very high tech forerunner of an educational website --the overhead projector, the one that probably blinds you like looking at an eclipsed sun if you look into the light bulb compartment and burns your hand as fast as Grandma's hot clothes iron if you get too close!

I have been having fun listing interesting things I am decluttering to offer to other owners through the Etsy shop. I sometimes will key in a word to the search box in my shop and see what comes up as a theme since not all items of one theme are always found inside of one specific shop section category shown as a table of contents for my shop. This time, tonight, I typed in "frog" and was amazed I had this much variety in the frog theme spanning different categories. I was spurred on to recall memories and to reminisce. Frogs and toads and pool covers (and school rooms, too!)

Etsy link is in the right margin of my blog page.

(Shown: rubber stamps, quilt pattern/instructions, 3-D stickers, cellphone case/tiny wristlet purse sewing pattern, cut/sew/stuff cloth frog toy)

Count down

 I am counting down the days till a birthday. I have found the months leading up to this event have brought many deep thoughts on life, analyzing what things mean the most to me. I mentally inventory things I have done and yet wish to accomplish and enjoy. It is the stuff that I thought I would have had opportunity to do thus far but not yet had the chance or time to that seem to most of all dominate my thoughts. I hope I can still do many of those things.

 I find I am a young-thinking person, I am younger in my imagination than the mirror shows me (although, many people swear I don't look my age. I thank them for the compliment... or the good talent of being a great liar!).

I was shopping the other day, with my daughter. I love to have one-on-one time with each of my 3 kids. She reminds me a lot of myself in many circumstances. And I swear it was just only yesterday I was her age at her same school. Really! I was on the hunt for new work shoes for me (boring, ugly ones- darn it!).  In one store we found a great dress for her. I like that she enjoys pretty clothes and pretty shoes, in addition to her fun casual wardrobe.

We also included a visit into a rather off-beat store that sells everything from pin-back buttons to novelty t-shirts to dresses to funky jewelry. It was at my request. I love almost every item in there and told her if I were 20 years younger I would buy nearly one of everything!!.... and she said "Wow Mom!, I would never guess you like the stuff in this store!" She did not say it in a way that she was shocked, but rather that she was happy I liked it!

She bought a dress, very unique and perfect for her.  I bought a dress for myself (which I wore already last night for a birthday dinner out) that is basic, pretty, and age appropriate in style for any young-thinking girl. I think dresses are a super wonderful part of a closet collection, especially when they can be worn for varied occasions. I love empire waist, hemline above the knee-styles.

 I ended up finding some (ugly) perfect for work shoes-- non-slip bottoms, comfortable to wear 9 hrs-on your feet, moving constantly --kind of a deal. My new job of about 6 wks' time has been a learning experience and fun too. I am back to full time work after not having that since last June. What an ordeal that was to live through. Finding you are wa-a-a-y older than your co-workers, and even your bosses too, is a sobering revelation. Middle age has its advantages. I have discovered many. What I have decided is this-- having accumulated more life experience helps me more greatly understand responsibility, prioritizing, and understand what is important and what really isn't, whether on the job or in every day life.

The resume/job search world has changed since my first days in the workforce. The days of face to face meetings and firm handshakes and a well appointed paper resume offered in person seem only an event that occurred in past history, now frequently replaced with fill in their online formatted one size fits all resume and see if a computer program decides to let you be worthy of further consideration or be dumped in the "sorry, no go" bin. My opinion is that many programs of weeding out inappropriate candidates only prove to weed out a certain amount of very worthy ones as well. Real life setting problem solving, strategizing, organizing, and budgeting is acquired through years of first hand experiences. That degree comes only with age, and some failure, and learning day by day to be better, and learn from mistakes. Some online resume applications do not lend themselves to showing complete attributes of one's skills and talents.

My blog used to be a place to sort out my thoughts and review my dreams for days and years ahead. I fell away from that for a time, many times over the years, since my blog started. Maybe this week I will (try to) get back to that, as I do my count down.

I found these ads for products I've used and loved at one time or another. I am a scent-driven person, and I can recall in my memory the way these items all fed that sense. The F.O. shampoo/conditioner was one of my all-time favorites and I used it on my long blonde hair until the product could no longer be found on store shelves. Wish it could come back like some of the retro soda pop brands that have made their returns for nostalgia. I would love that, I would buy a case worth!!

checking in

I have had a time of trying to find time for everything (mostly daytime sleep), with working my 3rd shift job (which I love !!!). Time is always a theme with me. Ongoing.
Lately, finding myself daydreaming of years gone by when the kids were young and we used to have blanket picnics in the yard and read books under the shade trees and blow bubbles and eat watermelon slices and watch the clouds move across the blue skies. *sigh*

What's new?
school is done for the summer for 2 of the kids
a 16 year old now with an official driver's license
an almost 20 year old with 2 jobs
an 11 year old with big plans for summer camp.

What I want to do:
* ride my bicycle even more
* rearrange my bedroom
* porch needs attention for the summer
* organize those papers on the computer desk that I don't want to have to look at but still need to retain and corral. Luckily it can be done with a great storage box covered with colored pencil looking bird art images on them that I found for $2 a few days ago. I do love bird art, especially when just $2

What I need to do:
* figure out why all my flowers I just planted are dying already
* repaint the mailbox
* take more clothes that are too big (yep, too big) to the Goodwill

Back....finally!

[ love this photo I took of my daughter and a surprising gourd from our garden ]

My computer, it seems, is somewhat of a senior citizen in the technology world. I could no longer blog as I once did. I could not install the needed updates that Blogger required to play on my own blog. Sad, really.

I had a lot to say. I wasn't sure what to do. When in doubt, and you are of a certain middle age, what should you do?....Ask the advice of a teenage offspring, that's what!!

Now it is all fixed and well, and now I am back. With a lot to say.

[ my stack of antiques travel cases filled with special keepsakes, I have since this photo ditched the one in the middle with no handle. ]

Things I have Been Up To:

* I lost 50 lbs in 5 months, my first goal, and so far a total of 54lbs

* loving my new job of about 7 months!!

* not getting much of anything done around the house

* learning to say "no" to things and people

* severing the umbilical cords to my children so they can become more independent

* surviving somehow on less than 5 hours of sleep every 24

* enjoying my new car

* trying to enjoy every minute of every day, as life seems to be racing past

* reading an interesting book

* celebrating another birthday

* feeding a bit of shoe lust with some purchases, I was very long overdue for a turn (life of a mom)...usually the kids get all the new shoes!

Things I want To Do:

* work in my gardens

* rearrange the furniture in my bedroom

* paint in watercolors

* draw my favorite birds in colored pencils

* achieve my next weight loss goal by August

* get rid of "material things" around the house with emotional guilt attachments

Things I Need To Do:

* sort through stuff around the house

* redo my filing cabinet

* detail the inside of my cars

* clean out my closet, lots of things are WAY too big to fit anymore!

* take stuff to the Goodwill

* take donations of books and videos to school

thoughts of my day revealed

It is snowing again today in northern-most Ohio. I love it. I am happy when it snows. I love winter. As long as it is cold there might as well be snow. Snow makes everything look bright and clean. I can do without the melting dirty slushy snowy left-over part of winter, though. Give me everlasting white pretty snow!! Please.

My favorite weather spans from any month it starts to snow {which around here can be anytime after late October} until any month it stops snowing {which around here is usually around late March but has been known to happen as late as early May!} I know I am in the minority in my love of cold and snowy days.
I don't ever get cabin fever...although I don't stay inside "the cabin" ever...I go out in the snow! 'Cuz I love snow!
I don't get cold outside. It has to be below 20 degrees for me to wear a coat. People who know me and see me wear a coat say, "It must officially be cold, Amy's finally wearing a coat."
I never wear a coat/hat/gloves unless A) I am going sledding or building a snowman or B) if it is below 20 degrees. Honest. To just go away anywhere in the car or run errands I don't wear a coat, just a sweatshirt or a couple layers of long sleeve shirts.
It would be heaven to me if I lived somewhere that never went above 70 degrees.

Here's my definition of hot weather, at least here in Ohio: 1. humidity, 2. gross soggy clothes, 3. mosquito bites. YUK. YUK. Super YUK!

I was hoping to drive to my favorite recycling scrap art store today. Ran short on time after all my other tasks. To drive there in the snow would have taken longer than the usual 20 minutes or so and they would have been ready to close up shop 10 minutes after my estimated time of arrival. That's no fun! I need to lose all track of time when I am in there digging around, not keep track of time. Hello!, that's the whole point of getting lost in there, thinking up things to make with unusual stuff, while escaping the outside world.
They have more arts/crafts/sewing stuff there than I could ever list. You can fill a plastic bag slightly smaller than a grocery sack for $5. Yipee! I limit the purchase to just 1 bag and I try to stick with a rule that I take at least 1 bag of stuff to donate to help the cause, the "only bring home same/less than you take out" philosophy.
PS- my mom mobile is just slightly newer than these in the above illustration.

When I did finally arrive home, deciding the rest of my running around out on the snow/ice covered streets would wait until another day, I was met with something that I hate when it goes on and on and on. Barking dogs. My barking dogs. I hate barking dogs, especially when they are mine. Barking for a purpose is ok I guess. Barking just to bark is so annoying to my ears I find I want to crawl out of my skin!! UGH! The dogs were put in their kennels. Ahhh. No more barking! I can stay calmly inside my skin. *deep breath*

PS- don't call anyone to report me. They had shelter and water and food. They bark endlessly year round despite the weather and temperature, just to try to "separate me from my skin"...and sanity!

A night ahead will look almost like this when my dear husband comes home from a long day of working way too hard for his adoring family. He doesn't usually have a suit and dress shoes on to lounge in the chair, though. He is more likely found in a pair of sweats and flannel shirt and socks. Oh, and we only get the Sunday paper. He finds lots of other things to read during the week. He is a sitcom junkie too. He says laughing at silly shows helps him wind down from a day of work.

I, myself, hate sitcoms that have laugh tracks (or canned laughter, as some people call it). Have you ever really listened to a laugh track? It is crazy dumb sounding. Remember when shows like I love Lucy were filmed in front of a LIVE audience? The people in the TV studio inserted the REAL laughter at the right times. After live audiences were a thing of the past they decided they needed to have laugh tracks since the home viewing audience might not be suave enough to know where to insert their own laughter without prompting. UGH! Go ahead and close your eyes while watching a sitcom sometime and see what I mean about it sounding crazy dumb. Almost as bad a barking dogs making you want to climb out of your skin, but not quite as bad. *insert laughter here*

Oh, and the toys scattered on the floor are true to our home scene. Always.

I do enjoy sitting by the fire which burns at our house from about October through April (see above reference to snow-month-spans in northern-most Ohio). I however do not wear a dress and high heels to lounge. My jammies would be more like it. Any chance I get. Usually right after dinner. N. would not be wearing shorts in front of the fire either. But he would be found among a pile of Legos on a regular basis. Have you ever stepped on a small stray Lego with shoeless feet? Go borrow some Legos if you have to and try that one for a treat. *insert sarcasm laugh track here*

PS- don't you love to look at old illustrations and compare your present day life to the life-style that once was?

vignettes

Collections... under a sepia tone world map clock. White ironstone pitchers. Thrifted red books with great old covers that feel better than any modern-ebook-thingy can ever feel.

Pheasant feathers in a vintage small crock. Birch. More vintage red books.

Rustic cottage sign (more about this one later) against brick.

And the tell-tale signs of 3 children living in this house. Need I say more??

Where did the time go?

Do you ever get incredibly bored with my tiresome theme running through this blog? Time...or lack there of, or the swiftness if time. Here we go again! Where has the time gotten to?

Christmas vacation from school for my 3 kids has flown by before our very eyes on the calendar. In a few more days it's back to the old routine and getting everyone up at 5:45 a.m.

{On a side note, we are not allowed to call it Christmas break or Christmas vacation at school anymore. Not politically correct it seems. We have to call it the winter celebration. Don't get me started!!!!}

(Image source: The Feathered Nest blog, free images)

My kids desperately wanted to go sledding. We had snow and plenty of cold. Wind chill ratings of single digits. I was tied up with this and that and thought we could do our sledding this weekend as we don't really plan much for New Year's Eve and the weekend in general. I love to sled right along with the kids. I'm sure they think it is lame to have their mom trying to act like she is young, but heck, I don't much care. I love sledding.

Nope. It is not to be, and I have sad children. We have 50 degrees today and guess what else. Pouring rain and thunder!!!!

In Ohio.

In December!!

clock as an enemy

Lately the clock has been my enemy. It ticks much too quickly each day. I need more tick tocks in an hour and in a day to do everything. Most people say that means things are simply over scheduled.

Simplify.

I like that word.

I have yet to master it.

People say to wait until you have grown kids. Then you have too much time and you wonder what you will do with all your time. Problem is, by the time my kids are all grown I will be too old to care. I thought having kids later instead of sooner was smart. It was smart for when I was younger. When I am older, not so much!

So here are some activities and thoughts that have been occupying my tick tocks of life.

1. We all survived a 12 week stretch of high school football season, which at our house means marching band season for my 14 year old daughter. Before that, we all lived to tell about 4 weeks of marching band camp. I have to say it went by super quick overall, and I actually had lots of fun. Wish I could have been at 2 places at once so I could have gotten all the other things done while also sitting in the bleachers being very proud and giving support. I somehow found the tick tock time to sew a fleece backed school colors patchwork quilt to use at the games. It will be an investment in the 3 more years of bleacher sitting that are in my future. I'll hint of frustration and let you stew about the stories of camera batteries that went dead at just the worst times or when the battery was charged all day long----- but left at home!! Maybe I can master the battery thing now that we are on to Symphonic Band for the rest of the year.

2. My oldest daughter E. (18) who has OCD and Asperger's at the high functioning end of the Autism spectrum is now a paid employee at 2 (yep, two!) places. It all happened in a short 3 week time period, after months and months of filling out piles of applications. I was so worried that she would not find a niche in the working world of people who actually get a paycheck (she has infinite volunteer hours under her belt). Let me be more specific--I knew she could but I was worried the world would not think so. Besides bursting with a universe size feeling of pride, I also now have added responsibility. *tick tock* Essentially it is like I am the one with 2 paying jobs (on top of my own paying job which can flex anywhere from 25-50 hours a week, and on call 24/7 assisting an elderly relative with Parkinson's and dementia). I am the transportation for my daughter. There's that need for cloning myself, again. Oh, and my wonderful reliable almost 15 year old car is still chugging along and has stopped counting how many trillions of times it has gone in and out of the driveway!

3. I am trying to pack away the Halloween decor and look forward to dragging out the Thanksgiving decor and on to Christmas. Here is how it goes at my house. The kids want it out. They dig and randomly succeed in making a mess of the decor by pulling favorites from the storage tubs. The rest just sits until mom takes over to do the rest. Thus, this is the year I am paring down and saving ONLY the favorites to be packed away for future seasons. The rest just takes up space -- and time! Here's a secret revealed=We have not had a Christmas tree in the house for about 4 years now. I was just on strike and didn't want to repeat the many years before when the kids wanted it ALL dragged out. They dug through stuff making a jumble of red, green and metallic but nothing really got accomplished as far as decorating the tree...and don't even get me started on the way everyone disappears when it comes time to take it all down and pack it away!! Soooo...I just didn't do a tree. It was guilt ridden tick tock time for a while but liberating too. The other day I announced casually that I want to have a Christmas tree. My daughter said, "Who are you and where is MY mother?" Stay tuned for the tick tock result of that promise on my part. Maybe my clone can do it for me. Oh, that's right, I don't have one. I need to sign up for a text alert to know when that is available....only I don't text. *Geeez*

4. I am threatening to pack away all the glass dishes, plates, bowls and cups and buy the cheapest paper products I can get my hands on. Maybe we'll get at least a month's worth supply of tick tock time saving on washing dishes. Sorry I won't be very "green" about saving trees and all, but it could be looked at it like this= I would be saving my septic tank/leach field from all the dish soap that is usually going into it in the "gray water" and I could put the used paper products on my compost pile to rot and be tilled into feeding my Victory Garden next summer. That's green. Now if I could just get my clone to do the weeding while I spend my tick tock time transporting a daughter who may, by then, be earning more than me because I am not at my job because I am using my tick tock time taking her or picking her up from her jobs in a, by then, full 15 years old car.

But...I may end up with even more pride in my pay employed daughter, some great photo memories of my musical daughter, less holiday storage tubs overall, free of dishes to be washed, a healthy organically grown garden, and maybe some extra tick tock minutes added to this old mother's days.

I hope my clone has a nice personality.

playing

We have some upcoming fun planned in the good ol' summer heat. Plenty of things to do to make memories that can be called upon, in those school days to come, when there is enough homework to occupy the brain for hours and hours. Memories of laughs and care free days are just the thing to tuck away in a school brain to be taken out for a little mental escape now and then.
Hope you are making summer memories too!

meany mom, silly dreamer mom...

I am all for kids being kids on Summer vacation. Swinging up to the clouds, reading under a shade tree, spitting watermelon seeds, covering the driveway with chalk art...
But when it means I get stuck doing all the chores I get a little cranky. Call me crazy. There needs to be a balance between free time and slave time, er, I mean chore time.
Let me tell you about my mommy fit or as I like to call it, tough love tactic.

It usually goes like this....

"Can you kids pick up after yourselves? I spent hours picking up your stuff and putting it away and never had time to even think about starting any of the 100 things I had/wanted to do!"

Then it turns into...

"Pick this stuff up or I am throwing it out the front door."


I'll bet you think I am all threat and no action, right?


Once when N. was watching DVD after DVD, video after video but never put any of them away where they belong and they sat for a few days in random places (like just about every flat surface and the floor too) all over the room, he found out that I back up my promise.

Out the front door they all went in a pile. And it was going to rain!

He went out on the front porch and gathered them all up and put them where they belonged.

Wouldn't it have been much simpler to cut out the stage of bringing them back into the house and just put them away in the first place when they were already in the house BEFORE mom has griped about it??????? Hhhmmm????

I think my voice is completely tuned out to their ears.


I had been asking and then telling and then ordering the kids to take their turns at washing dishes. I do the dishes about 70% of the time but with 10 hands in the family capable of washing it seems fair to have all 10 hands help. Are you with me on this one?
So this is how it went...

If you do not wash these dishes before you go to bed I will take them and throw them out and empty the cupboards too. Guess what? They didn't wash. So out on the back porch went all the dirty dishes in a laundry basket and I emptied the clean ones out of the cupboards--cups, plates and bowls and silverware drawer too. EMPTY. I loaded them in laundry baskets and hid them.

Next morning the dishes that were dirty got washed. Not by me!


Now I am doing phase 2 of the dishes plan=each person will have 1 cup, 1 plate, 1 bowl, fork, knife and spoon. Each person responsible for their own, clean or dirty!
Maybe after a probation period the dishes can all come out of hiding and return to the cupboards.


My hope is a total boot camp type rewiring of their habits and I will have some willing dish washers. What do you think my chances are? Stop laughing. Please!


Don't get the wrong impression. I have good kids who usually help...
Maybe it is the lure of the blue sky and fluffy clouds or the breeze under the big tree or that water melon tastes best for only a few short weeks or the calling to be another artist like Bert from Mary Poppins.
I'm just saying...
The Dixie Cup dispenser is looking even more attractive.

will that be paper or glass?

Maybe I should be like this retro Dixie Cup mom in this ad, instead...

I do drink out of fancy glass glasses and eat off fancy glass plates all from thrifty buys so they can be broken (which they inevitably are! ) without any big financial loss. That way I can say, with hoity toity attitude, to the family as I wield the broom and dustpan, "I can't have anything nice with you kids around here!"

They just reply, "Mom needs to go hunt down more cheap pretty glassware!"

Do you think they have caught on to the fact that I actually enjoy the opportunity to hunt and gather pretty things on the cheap????

It is funny when my kids take a shine to one certain cup or bowl in the thrifty mix and claim it as their own. When that piece gets broken it is a whole different story.

A few more days

It won't be long until I hear, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do!" My kids have a few more days of school until freedom. A summer of endless hours to be kids.

Looking back, I realize I loved that feeling. It was as though the whole summer was stretched out ahead of me with endless possibilities, hours of doing fun things, lazy things, memory making things. No homework, a relaxed bedtime curfew, and every day is like a weekend. Remember that feeling?

(image from "Runaway Ginger" 1949)

I keep telling my 3 to enjoy the kid-ness (a made up word) of the time they have. Time. It is a gift that goes away with adulthood. Do they listen? Probably not. I am certain my mother told me the same thing just as generations of mothers before her sprinkled these pearls of wisdom. It's only when you are (supposedly) grown up that anything your parents say means much.

I admit freely that I really hate when one of my kids says, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do!" I mean, really? Biking, running, sleeping in, swimming, fishing, daydreaming, friends, reading, Popsicles, watermelon, road trips, games, fireworks, sparklers, cook-outs, music, the porch swing, the hammock, slumber parties, camping, etc, etc.....

I could stand a little bit of that kind of boredom, how 'bout you? How do you plan to be bored this summer vacation?

Time

I am a wife, a mother, an advocate, a helper, a speaker, a friend, a volunteer, a caregiver, and other titles which do not come with a full benefit package, and all mean I spend a lot of my days and time doing for others.

I will continue to do all those things. It is what I am made of.

Lately however, I find I am feeling somewhat resentful of time slipping away and the feeling that I am not able to do the things I want to do and the things I need to do for me. Sometimes I even want to have a block of time to do nothing. I never get that.

I have tried going on strike but I am a cog in a lot of wheels- some that come to a complete halt in my absence.

I do not mean this is a vain way only that there are people in need who need me. I find my brain does not shut off and as a result I do not rest even if I do sleep.

Do you ever feel starved for time to yourself? Some days I am not able to breathe a sigh of being "done" until 19 hours have passed by.


I know, I know...I just blogged about a vacation not long ago. But you mothers will agree that sometimes a vacation can be tougher than staying home and you need a vacation from vacation. I always say that I wish I could just get in a car with that "and away we go" attitude. There is so much little detail stuff, endless in fact, that needs to go into packing 5 people into a small car to travel almost 30 hours and be away for a week. Then there is the getting caught back up when you return. Whoa! That is even worse. I am still trying to get caught up.
I think I am just TIRED!!

ups and downs

Well, I've done it again. Tucked away all the posts about my daughter that tell of her challenges in life. I sometimes feel like I need to put them away and keep them- and her-safe.

Safe.

Safe from the world.

Safe from judgement.

She is a good girl. She tries hard everyday to be her best.

It's been a journey of life handing her ups and downs, since the day she was born.

My blog is a place where I wanted to feel free to journal my life and journey with my daughter and share with family and friends who "get" things, and understand. You know what I mean? I also have always felt that sharing her struggles and triumphs would serve to help someone else. That was always my goal.

I count as one of the best days in her lifetime the day that she told me that she would do anything medically to help herself and in turn help someone else. I was so proud and that same feeling of pride rushes over me each and every time I recall her saying that.

More and more I hear about how personal sites are used to seek out info to harm someone. I feel protective of what the "world" may judge.

As she tries to transition to adulthood and what that may or may not mean for her future, I would not want my journaling to hold her back from an opportunity.

A mother's blog is not a daughter's resume. When did it begin to be so?

A trip to the museum- Chapter 5, sculpture and spiral stairway

Magical, mysterious spiralling stairways and breathtaking sculpture ...Yet another chapter of our trip to the Detroit Institutes of Art (DIA). I have broken the story down into chapter chunks to feature things and not make it all seem so long and overwhelming...and something you would look at and say, "That's wayyyy too much to read today, I'll just skip it." I want you to really see things. That's the way a museum should be seen. I think so, anyway.

There are many sculptures of every shape, size and type throughout the massive museum in Detroit.

We (my 3 kids, E.'s friend and me) even had conversation about how so many old and ancient statues and sculptures loose their heads and hands. We were tempted to keep a tally of how many heads were missing and which hand was most frequently absent, left or right. But back to this sculpture, which I think is my favorite of them all.

Please, PLEASE! click on the pictures to see more detail.

I was memorized by this one, such exquisite attention to details to the point that you wished you could touch it to see if it really felt like the texture your brain was conveying to you.

(Don't touch though, this is a museum, remember!)

How could something so hard, and so hard to carve really make you "think" tendrils of hair, creases of skin, folds of draped fabric, supple fur and wood of a chair? I stood (probably much too long) pondering this beautiful art . Do you ever see a piece of art and it just speaks to you yet you can't put into words why?

I am blessed that my kids think it is FUN going to museums. I began taking them as new babies so it was just always a part of their lives. At our own museum, closer to home, I have been taking my kids throughout their whole lives to see their favorite painting/art item that "speaks" to them. They are respectful of giving each other time to simply stand and ponder the wonder of their own favorite piece. Each of my 3 kids has their own absolute favorites.

I think I may have to find this sculpture again when ever we return to Detroit.

So now on to another area. This is the top of a spiral stairway. I like the iron work of the railing worn by many years of hands gliding along the surface. (You may remember another post from one of our many frequent trips to Ann Arbor, and the photos of another majestic railing stairway which holds fascination for me.)

Spiral stairways just "do it" for me in general. It is something about the mystery of what lies beyond the visual scope. The anticipation. See the bottle glass window barely discernible at the right of this photo (below)? There were several on the way twirling downward. Look at the one in the next photo after this one....

The bottle glass window is like magic with the warm light glowing through it. The one above the archway doesn't hope to have the same effect on your senses. Am I right?

Now you will have to wait 'till the next chapter and I will show you what is beyond the archway at the bottom of this spiral stairway!

Magnificent.

A Trip To The Museum- chapter 1

I recently took the kids on a road trip, about an hour North, to Detroit. It had been quite a few years since we had been to the DIA, Detroit Institute of Arts.
E. was 8, N. was a new baby, and A. was about 4 and now she is less than a week from age 14! So you get the idea.
We love going on day trips when we can and this was our only one planned during the kids' Christmas break. It was enjoyed by all.


The DIA had closed for about a year several years ago to redo many areas. I was anxious to see the changes amid the beautiful things they have within the stone walls of this very large museum.

So here is my first installment of the museum trip and our adventures there. This post is mostly about the architecture that caught my eye and interest, with a few other items shown too. I am attracted to architecture for some odd reason, always have been. Maybe I was some famous architect in a former life. Ha!

We were happy to see this beautiful painting in the museum because a copy of it is painted in our own church from floor to ceiling. Our reproduction painting was done by a member of our church back in the 1940's and the models for the cherubs faces were children in the church at the time.
I love doorways and gates and arches. This view intrigued me as it showed the hint of other beautiful things to come as we wound around through rooms like a maze, afraid we would make a wrong turn and miss something wonderful.

A ceiling reconstructed . The modern lighting amid the chandelier is somewhat a distraction, but was needed to illuminate the detail in the complex wooden construction and intricate gargoyles which peeked out from immense brackets. I could imagine being in a grand place long, long ago and drinking some kind of grog at a 50 foot long table beneath this ceiling.

Many ancient carved wood artifacts were displayed in this room. Can you imagine the stories these could tell of the years they have survived and things they have seen?

I was really fascinated by this gate and archway! Such grand detail. I find I am always drawn to anything that has swirly, scrolly movement in it's design. Some of my favorite fabrics in my sewing room have background designs that have such swirls and curves. Are you a straight line or curved line kind of person? Think about it.

N. bumped me while I took a photo of this gate, so it's all blurry. I thought I had snapped an additional photo of it too, but when I got home and reviewed my memory card I was disappointed to see that I didn't have a nice clear shot . That's why I didn't hit that ol' delete button on this one. Oh well, an excuse to go back!! Right?

My boy N. is at that age were he sheepishly wants to look at the nudes in the museum but doesn't want to be found out. Age nine! Whenever we often went to our own museum closer to home, in years past, he never seemed to even notice the nudes. How funny!

I made a comment that he would probably go back to school and write in his journal that he had seen LOTS of boobies on Christmas break and I would get a call from his teacher!

His oldest sister E. -age 17- said to N.,

"It's not naked people. It's ART, N.!! You dork!!"

You gotta love siblings and the life lessons they toss your way, right?!

I reassured N. that yes, it was ok to look at "the art".

I couldn't even guess how high the ceiling is in this area but I loved the perspective of this arched window and the staircase beyond. The photo above is in my Studio blog.

Above and below is a grand sized painting showing some great architecture. You really can't get a true idea of the size of this from my photo. I could study paintings like this for hours!

The museum itself is art to be appreciated. Photo above is featured in my Studio blog.

More architecture in painting, above. This painting took up a whole wall and this was just one tiny portion of it. That's a monkey on the steps.

Sparkle and glow! So many different kinds of crystal chandeliers. Some were incredibly massive in size and still seemed small due to the ceiling height. This photo above is featured in my Studio blog.

I could not keep a count of how many gorgeous stained glass windows were displayed. Each one more breathtaking than the last. Have you ever noticed that things like paintings and tapestries and stained glass windows are very different when viewed both close up and far away? I enjoy viewing the different perspectives and experiencing the seemingly optical illusion some provide.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the tour as seen through my camera.

Stay tuned for more lovely items and rooms to come.