No a/c

This is what happens when your a/c goes on the blink……..

The dogs are hotter than we are, so Kenny took them for a dip in

the pool yesterday afternoon.

Cleopatra is NOT a swimmer, so he lets her out at the edge of the pool.

Lonnie, however, is learning to swim this year.  Not so much learning to swim,

but learning where to get OUT of the pool.

Stay cool!

P.S. Since I wrote this post (I started writing it on Thursday), Kenny has bought me a window unit for

our bedroom….I love that man! Guess that’s why we’ve been married 16 years today.

Happy Anniversary to us!

This is SO EASY!

The last few days when I’ve gotten off work it’s been around 92-95 degrees…….the first thing I want to do when I get home is put on my swimsuit  and the LAST thing I want to do is heat up my house with the oven……..

Here’s a great side dish that goes well with whatever you are cooking on the grill, be it steak, burgers or mushrooms!

When something is simple it can go fancy or casual…..

This is so easy, you’re going to KICK yourself for not trying it sooner!

We’re addicted!

Grilled Hearts of Romaine

All you REALLY need are romaine hearts, olive oil, salt and pepper…..and a grill……or a saute pan.

Never had hearts of romaine?  They look like this…..

Out of the bag, they look like this….

Now that you have them out of the bag, cut them up the middle, lengthwise….

We tend to be big eaters at our house and each person gets 1/2…..that seems to be plenty….

Brush them with olive oil…

Yes, those are hot dog buns in the background…WHITE hotdog buns….some days I cave!

Tonight we are having this with burgers and chicken brats.

Okay, brush them with olive oil….both sides….

Now that you’ve brushed them, plop them on a hot grill….cut side down….

 

Yes, we have a pool

…..yes, we have an ELECTRIC grill….it’s small….there are just two of us…..

three halves of romaine….we have company.

When the halves start to wilt a bit turn them over….

These are not super charred….I like mine wilty on the outside, but a bit crisp on the inside….probably

grill them about 2-3 minutes per side.

When done grilling, put them on your plate, cut side up…

I like to sprinkle mine with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper….then top it off with a little feta cheese and tomato!

Kenny likes his with actual salad dressing and onions as well…..dress it like you like it!

Enjoy!

Coloring outside the lines

This came in my e-mail this morning from the “Good News Network”

“Aelita Andre is a Russian abstract painter who has already been compared to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Jackson Pollack -- and she is just four years old.

Her parents both paint as a hobby and from the start gave her all the canvas and tubes she needed to express to her heart's content. Anyone who watches the little girl paint can tell she loves to fling the colors and tell her own stories.

The surrealist painter had her first show when she was one year old and has another show in New York on June 4.”

 

My question, is this surrealism or accidentalism?  Either way, you can tell she enjoys herself and thank goodness her parents let her “go for it”!

Below is an interview when she was 24 months old!

I spy

 

….a rabbit…….look closely……

The point……

Me trying to keep up with the chase…..

:)

How many of you start off your day like this?

Do you have a favorite blog that is not on my sidebar that you think I need to check out?

If so, let me know!

It’s going to be a glorious day….

…..the sparrows are in rare form today…..chirping,

busy catching bugs to feed to their babies and collecting

grasses to replenish their nests.

Kenny suggested that I change from “Skip To My Ewe” to “Weeping Sparrow”……

” ”Weeping Sparrow” just sounds kind of depressing and sad.” I said.

“no, no”, he replies……” ”Weeping Sparrow”…we have all of these weeping trees

AND sparrows in our garden…”

I’m thinking about it…..

What do you think?

I’ve googled the symbolism of the sparrow and here is

what I’ve found….

I must say I like it!

All too often we take the little Sparrow for granted - small though she may be,

she is certainly powerful. It is her slightness in size that gives her advantages.

She reminds us we do not have to have the big stuff (cars, houses, etc.) to be

important, and we do not have to have the loudest voice in order be heard.

Some keywords/symbolic Sparrow meaning s include:

• Joy
• Inclusion
• Creativity
• Simplicity
• Protection
• Community
• Productivity
• Friendliness

Sparrows derive power and protection from their numbers. Always in a clan,

they move in clusters, eat in clusters, and are always content as such. This

can be quite intimidating to some would-be predators. Safety in numbers

is a lesson the Sparrow has to share with us.

The Sparrow is ever vigilant in her goals. She is always bustling for her food,

foraging for her nests, and gathering for her young. Fastidious and productive,

the Sparrow is a reminder that idle hands (and idle minds) should be avoided in

order to live a full, healthy life.

She is a master of flight, and camouflage, and as such the Sparrow teaches us

to use our creativity to get around in life - think outside the box, and be creative

in solving our problems.

from “What’s your Sign”

The sparrows make their nests in the ivy on the edge of

our sunroom as well as around our back door…..I don’t

know how many  nests there  are, but it is always a bevy

of activity and chirping.

 

Mornings like this are perfect for walking barefoot through

the garden with a cup of coffee in hand.  Sparrows chirping

in the background and dewdrops tickling your toes

.

 

The lilies are strutting their stuff like showgirls in Vegas.

I don’t know the name of this flower, but it does not want to be

restricted to the flower bed…..

Lonnie loves to lie beneath the tiger’s eye sumac…if he’s

not in the house, this is where you will find him.

The hostas are bigger than ever this year!

The Dutchman’s pipe vine is out of control this year as well

It has ventured past it’s arched trellis and is growing up into

the trees!

Hope your day is glorious!

Nothing like a good read

I can’t remember how I stumbled onto this book…..perhaps I read about it in a magazine, or someone else blogged about it….I truly can’t remember. 

I do remember that I requested it from our library and it took several weeks before it became available.

This is the story of Hadley Richardson, a girl (well, not a girl….she is 28 year old spinster when she meets Hemingway) from St. Louis, who was Ernest Hemmingway’s first wife.  Although the cover of the book shows an elegant lady dressed as if she’s from “Mad Men” in the late 50’s, this is set in the roaring 20’s and Hadley is described as being more thick and athletic.

She was the calm to Hemingway’s storm, but alas she is a starter wife who feeds Hemingway’s ego and sacrifices for his art.

The book starts in Chicago and then takes you places with the Hemingway’s such as Paris and Spain…a fictional book based on a true story.

I’ve been devouring it over the 3 day weekend.

Book Description from Amazon:

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
Though deeply in love, the Hemingway’s are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.
A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

Edit

It’s not always what goes INTO something that makes it great,

as what you do to edit it, so that the greatness shines.

Yesterday, Kenny spent a good part of his day after work editing his garden.

These are pictures of the piles of things that are leaving the garden….I’ll

try to post soon and show you the additions.

 

We are both collectors….Kenny collects plants, cookie jars (he has not added any in a

very long time), pottery, vintage Christmas tree stands.

I collect salt and pepper shakers (I have not added any in a very

long time), wool, Elsie the cow (I have not added any in a very long time).

We both have an affinity for coats….(our coat closet is packed) and lamps….luckily we live in a home that

has very little overhead lighting.

This year we have started editing our collections….standing back and looking at things and asking ourselves

if we really love these things as much as we did when we first got them. Many items have stayed,

but many have gone.

It makes me wonder, what is it inside of us that gives us that yearning to collect?

Is it the thrill of the hunt?

Is it part of our genetic make-up….the whole hunter/gatherer thing?

Can’t pass up a “good deal”?

Do you collect?

Do you edit?

Little progress

I’ve hooked in a bit more background on the Redbud Runner, but really need to get with it……so much more to hook!

When I was uploading these pictures to my computer, I came across some pictures of my trip to

Maine and Canada a few years ago……loving this picture with all of the moss…….I love green!

What I wouldn’t give

to move like J Lo! If you don’t want to watch the entire video….just forward to about the two minute point!  Amazing!  From American Idol, last night……

Joplin

For all of you who have e-mailed me to see if I am okay, yes, I am.

The tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri is about 70 miles from where I live in Springfield, Missouri.  When we heard about the tornado, we readied our bathroom so that we would be ready to take cover if we needed to. Our house is a single story ranch, so during a tornado you try to go to the center of your house and away from windows….for us, this is the little bathroom.  If you have a basement, you go to the basement.

Kenny put a dog bed on the floor and one against the wall and then put a quilt over the glass shower doors.  Luckily, we didn’t have to take cover.

I was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri and tornado warnings are just a fact of life.  Sad to say, we have them so often, that a lot of times we kind of blow them off and think, “oh it will just go on by us….it rarely hits close to home”. 

Growing up, when we had tornado warnings we headed over to our Grandma Schulze’s house and got in the basement with a lot of our aunts and uncles and cousins…sometimes even a pet or two.  It didn’t matter if it was in the middle of the day or the middle of the night.

At work, we have tornado drills and when we have actual tornado warnings we herd all of our patients downstairs.  I work in an outpatient facility, so most of the patients we work with are fairly mobile.

I have never seen the amount of devastation like the tornado that hit Joplin.  I spent my freshman year in college living in Joplin and attending Missouri Southern State University and I still have a few friends from college who live and work there.  My husband’s cousin lives in Joplin and it blew the roof off of their house, but they are okay.

I’ve heard that we have 90 patients from Joplin at the hospital that I work at (the building I work in is connected to the hospital).  When I walked over to the hospital the other day they had grief counseling rooms set up and you could hear people sobbing……it was so sad.

I’ve seen pictures of the tsunami in Japan and the earthquake in Haiti, but somehow this is more personal to me, because these are my  neighbors.  These people could be me.

I found some before and after pictures of the tornado.

This one is an after photo…..I’m guessing that you know what a Home Depot store normally looks like…..

stltoday.com

 

This is the hospital before

and after

I think of how hard it is to get our outpatients downstairs,  but getting patients who are in ICU and have oxygen and multiple IV’s into interior hallways with about 5-10 minutes warning is incredible. 

So much devastation…..

I try to be positive on my blog, but this just makes me so sad……so many people have lost their lives, lost their homes, everything.  So what happens when a tornado hits and destroys your home and say it destroys the place where you work as well?  What happens?