saturday-sunday at grandmas

not a whole lot of news to report for the weekend, just some random photos.

 like this one of me as a teenager, up in Canada, where I met this beautiful wolf-dog at the campsite we were staying at.  I remember that trip well. It was a fishing trip, and I remember how amazing it was to drive through all those endless miles of northern wilderness without seeing any trace of humans, barely even any road signs, for miles and miles. 

next random photo... how fun it is to wake up next to this silly goose..

She gets really freaked out by the bugs in this house, so she ended up waking me up twice when a moth was buzzing around a lamp so i told her to just get in and sleep with me.  

next...Samantha is assigned the yearly task of decorating the Easter egg tree.  

(and then along comes Uncle Brad, the photobomber!)

                               next...Sam and Grandma playing Chinese checkers after lunch.
             

                               
                            And below...the two "egg trees".  These are real bird eggs, meticulously blown, painted and decorated by one of my now-deceased great-aunts, which my mom brings out every Easter and hangs on a little fake tree (first one below) or on a lilac branch that my brother sneakily got by tresspassing on a neighbor's yard and snipping it off their lilac bush, the dirty thief!!!

and then there's the bugs.  i don't like them either, but what can you do.

Here's an example of one of the big fat army ants that come out of the freshly chopped firewood that gets thrown into our basement, then the ants go crawling wherever they please.  ick.

                                 This next one is a rather unique insect that had my mom so curious she dug out her antique insect identification book and began paging through it, trying to figure out what he is, exactly.  Sam just went into another fit of the heebie-jeebies.
       
   There were other bugs i did not photograph, such as the many ladybugs we've found, one of which is scaring my daughter out of the kitchen this very minute, and another which so kindly awakened me one morning by crawling across my closed eyelid.  hmmm, what's that?  ew!!
oh and don't forget the big fat beetle in the basement shower, the multitude of some kind of droppings by the basement toilet... (rats? mice?), the totally gross centipede that went scurrying underneath the laundry sink when it saw me, various spiders on the ceiling, and sleepy lazy daddy long-leg spiders that my brother awakened with his broom when he went around cleaning up all their cobwebs.  ugh.

The bugs aren't the only thing that make me look forward to going home in a couple days and returning to my more sane, cleaner environment in NC.  Coming home to this house is fun at first, I can laugh at the idiosynchrasies, (sp?) but then...after a couple days...the memories from the walls start seeping back into me....the feelings i had in my growing up years that made me want to leave these 4 walls as fast as i could.  Not an abusive or hateful situation by any means, just...quietly dysfunctional.  I don't want to get into any more than that, it's more of a feeling than anything i can put into words anyway.  I"ll save it for my shrink in Raleigh.  

 

that's all for now.  just a little blue tonight...

goodnight.

Friday Workday

Today was a day for chores. My mom, as usual, had a long list of chores she wanted to have done around the house, and with one of my brothers driving up from Milwaukee, we set aside this day to get them done.

First on the list for us, picking up pinecones from the yard to use as kindling in their woodstove.

We grabbed some big pickle buckets, or whatever you call them, and started filling them up.

                                                            Then we raked...

                                                           ...and swept...

                                           (and stopped to admire my parents' homemade squirrel-proof suet feeder for the  birds.  The squirrels start scampering across the bottles on a rope, and they start to spin and can't get to the bird feeders!  poor squirrels.)

                                        My brother also did some serious woodcutting, also for their                                                                       woodstove.

Isn't it a bit ridiculous, that my mom and dad, ages 85 and 90, still insist on heating their Wisconsin home primarily with their wood stove, when they can't even physically cut the wood or haul it in anymore?  yes, ridiculous.  but it makes them happy.

                                           We also had a few sweet moments upstairs, digging out of the attic some antique dolls and things my mom had as a little girl, and handing them down to her granddaughter, my daughter.  They were pretty dusty and dirt-stained, but Sam was excited and insisted on us washing them up and made plans to craft some wigs for the dolls' balding heads.

                                                  And then some crazy woman walked in and shoved her head into a pair of red doll tights, had to shoo her away, send her back to the insane asylum...

All that work made us hungry. Time to hit the road with Uncle Brad (my mean older brother who used to put me in a gunny sack, tie it to a tree branch, and swing me around mercilessly as a kid!) and find some good eats.

Fortunately the jolly Budha at the Chinese take-out restaurant was there to hook us up.

                                  Looks like he approved of our order: hot and spicy shrimp and scallops,                                                 garlic chicken, and shrimp with snow peas.

                                       He told us it was good luck to rub his belly, so here we go...

                                                       (felt like he ate a few too many egg rolls!)

                                                  Back home, we enjoyed our feast.
                                                 

                                        All that eating made us soooo sleepy!
                                           Time to do a bit of reading in the living room.
                                            Ooops, look like Grandma fell asleep!

oh, and i don't mean to rub this in, or step on any toes or anything...but...

                                         I am rather proud of my home state basketball team!!!
                                                                               
                                      
                                                             
                                                                    goodnight!!

how to start a fire

hello again. it is time to show you all how to start a fire in a wood stove, the kind you might find in your grandparent's basement because they're too stubborn to adapt to the modern conveniences of gas or electric heat.

step 1: gather kindling, such as pine cones, old newspapers, small sticks.

step 2: open door of wood stove and put said items (above) on top of dying embers.

           

           
step 3: wait for flames to whip up and devour that kindling. if they don't, blow on it.

                                     

step 4:  add a big log.  or two.

                                       

step 5:  if the logs need poking, use a poker.  like this. (not your hand)

(and no i have not just been reincarnated into the tin man from oz with that pipe coming out of my head!!!)

step 6:  sit back and enjoy your hot masterpiece.  

                                   and with that..i wish you a warm and toasty evening!!!

Flight to Wisconsin

Yesterday my daughter Sam and I took to the air

to visit my parents, (her grandparents) in Wisconsin.

First flight was to Chicago. ORD.

 My silly girl.

and me.

                                                                   

I love crossing Lake Michigan, its vastness and waves resembling an ocean, to the shores of good ol Windy City Chicago. Wish we could stay awhile...

                              But we have another plane to catch, and people to see.
                                       And some more beautiful clouds to rise above.

                                       ...and more silly mother-daughter bonding, of course!

                                   ahhh, the second flight was smoother, quieter, less populated, more relaxing.  Enjoyed my cranberry juice and a book about a world traveler, seeking inner peace and meaning in the character's transitional time of life.

               
                                          Feeling back home again, soaring over carefully plotted farms,                                                              seasoned with fresh spring snow.

                                       Finally at Grandma & Grandpa's house, having some fun with their
                                           old-fashioned typewriter.  Goodnight!