Sunday, March 28, 2010

Woo-hoo! Spring Break Is Not Just for College Kids!

For Autumn Leaves - a photo of the linen closet door which was done by the original owners, Connie and George.




It finally feels like spring. Our roses are on the verge of blooming. They all look healthy and have lots of buds. Jim gardened all day yesterday and today. We went to Star Nursery twice this weekend. Fun! There are three climbing roses in the corner. We planted them last spring. We also planted ground cover roses in front of the climbers last spring. Jim planted the pink bougainvillea yesterday. He planted purple, too.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Gratitude Friday

Tammy asked me to contribute a painting for the Paws for Love silent auction. It made me feel really good. Now, I hope that someone actually bids on it...

There is a recreation center near our school. They often have activities for senior citizens. I was pulling into the parking lot around lunchtime on Thursday. There was an elderly lady walking through the parking lot. She was using a cane. She had huge rabbit ears on her head. When we were nose to nose through the driver's side window, I waved at her and she lifted her cane to me. She had lovely white hair and a beautiful face. She looked so happy, that she made me happy. I'm grateful for little glimpses into other people's lives. Moments of happiness...

Mom is coming for a visit. She'll be here on Tuesday. We always have a great time when she's here.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Friday Is My Favorite Day!

Do you know those movies where people dance around alone at home? Well, that's not just something they thought up for the movies. I'm the girl who, a few short hours ago, was dancing around dressed in my drinkin' pants (men's blue plaid pajama bottoms) and a tee-shirt to the cranked up (very loud) music of Jackson Browne. My tune of choice was a slightly obscure song called "I'm the Cat". It's good that I was home alone because I probably played the song twenty times - over and over and over:) Jim may like Jackson, but I think he would have have run screaming from the house. It just felt so good - dancing, singing along, and doing a little housework, too. Rosie and Briscoe are my best audience.

Jim has installed Windows 7 on our computer. I do not know how to do anything with photos now. Our old photo software is gone. I have a half-finished painting to post and I want to show you our patio, but I can't do anything until Jim has time to teach me how to use the new stuff he has installed or is installing.

Diana Strinati Baur (see my blog list - creative structures) has a very nice post on things that previous owners have done to her home. She shares my feelings on the subject and writes so eloquently about it. Our house is old by Las Vegas standards. We bought it in an estate sale. The original owners lived here almost 40 years. My big old love of a dog Teddy and I stumbled upon the house when we were walking one day. I peered in the windows and could see the possibilities. We made an appointment with a real estate agent, didn't even walk all the way through the house and made an offer on the spot.

The couple that had lived here left the house to a nephew. He took everything he thought was of value out of the house and put it up for sale. The house was full of good vibrations even though it was dirty and in a bit of disrepair. We got some of the house's story from the real estate agent and put together other pieces of the story as we cleaned and began moving in. Connie and George (the original owners) hadn't been able to keep up with things in their later years, but they stayed in the home that they loved up until the end. We have preserved some of the imprint they left on the house. For example, the door to the linen closet is at the end of the hall. It has a wallpaper scene of a Middle Eastern alley which has definite funk value. Also, the light fixture at the front door has the colors of the rainbow. I almost got rid of it, but Jim said no. Now I'm glad he did because I love it - more funk value.

In our shed, we found old maps on which Connie and George had marked the routes they took on vacations. There were some huge pots and pans. It turned out that Connie and George had owned an Italian restaurant here for many years. We found cards and a cake decoration for their 50th wedding anniversary. Connie and George had a good life here. Candy and Jim love it here.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Gratitude Friday - Lovely, Lovely Deb Harvey

I'm finally getting back to my blog. Hi, Everybody! Here is a photo of the print I won in Deb Harvey's drawing. My photo doesn't do this beautiful fox justice, so please pop over to Deb's blog to get a good look. Deb's timing was perfect. This really cheered me up!



Our patio cover was completed this week. Although we did the demolition ourselves, we weren't confident of our ability to install it, so we hired a contractor. It is beautiful! Photos to follow.

I have a sketch done for a new watercolor.

I finished reading Tim Russert's book, Big Russ and Me. (I had to use italics - I can't figure out how to underline.) I liked the memoir.