Thursday Morning List...

..and beyond. Participating in Thursday 13 this week.

I mentally "jotted down" some happy things as I drove in to work this morning, and have remembered some more good things. In spite of it being yet another typical grey and ugly-looking March day, I was cheered by some things--auditory and visual, mostly. It turned out to be an easy-going day.

Here then, is today's happy list:

*1

two days after finding out she did not get chosen for a town beach job, my daughter is dealing with it okay after all. Already the next morning, she was talking about going to a few other places in town on Saturday morning to apply for summer positions. That's my girl!

*2

discovering that the last sesame bagel in the house was NOT eaten by R or Mr. F before they left the house, so I was able to have that as my breakfast with a second cup of coffee and relaxing a bit before I took off for work.

*3

not having to wear gloves OR a hat on my morning walk with Jewel through the neighborhood. After months of wrapping myself up to face the bitter cold and wind nearly every day it was SO enjoyable to simply throw a jacket on, walk slowly, not mind so much when the dog stopped to sniff and investigate some "pee-mail" left on a tuft of grass or mail box post.

*4

kids playing catch with a baseball and baseball mitts at the bus stop (a sure sign of spring)

*5

turning on the car's radio after starting up the car, and the song playing was "Kick Drum Heart" by The Avett Brothers--a perfect way to get me off and running on a work day!

*6

seeing a swan couple slowly gliding along on the river as I crossed over it on the bridge--an unexpected serene and beautiful moment glimpsed as I sped along.

*7

spotting seven crows in a (still) bare maple tree alongside the road. At any other time, I might have considered their black silhouettes to be ominous, but I liked how they decorated the bare branches, as if they were waiting...for something good.

*8

laughing out loud at and also being further impressed by Chris Rock--I caught an interview with him on the radio this morning(listen here). I always liked him(just hearing his voice gets me wanting to laugh) and now I hold the guy in even higher esteem. Very smart, a seemingly great father and down-to-earth, and off course, wickedly funny. Yeah, his humor can be VERY raunchy and laced with profanities(in the past, Me. F and I have only been able to watch his comedy specials on cable TV when R was OUT of the house), but his humor is the RIGHT kind of raunchy. There are plenty of simply vulgar comedians out there--Rock is NOT vulgar for the sake of being vulgar even at his raunchiest. It was just so great to have him be the last thing I heard as I drove into the parking lot at work.

This is how the interview ended:

Mr. ROCK: I'm the zebra. When I was a kid, I used to love Goofy. Now I am Goofy."
Copyright © 2011 National Public Radio

*9

the good feeling of dealing with a potentially tough customer at work, rising to the challenge, doing excellent design work with her for the art she was framing and eliciting a wonderful compliment from her before she left(and spent over 500.00 !)

*10

A cup of hot jasmine tea as my treat after that customer left.

*11

NO cuts of any kind today while on the job! I often get at least one each day--I am always wearing a Band-Aid on one of my fingers. It comes with the territory--I get cuts from glass and picture wire, but most often from the sides of mats. Like amped up paper cuts. But, I escaped that today for a change.

*12

my sneezing, snorting, smiling dog to greet me when I got in from work. Yes, my dog does this excited routine where she sneezes and snorts while wiggling around , and actually smiles. She only does this for a few people who she REALLY likes. I know what she does, showing her teeth with her mouth upturned is not a true "smile" as humans do it, but it is only done when she is elated and excited and it certainly looks like a smile to me.

*13

its Thursday, so that means it is already Friday tomorrow--the week did manage to fly by after all...!

Monday Morning Video

I have watched this one already more than a few times--a "thriller" of a cat fight that someone was lucky enough to catch on camera(and someone was clever enough to add the cinematic movie music to ). Not only are there cats involved, but there are these 2 birds(yes, birds), which makes this even more creepy/amazing. In fact, this seems almost choreographed--like a scene out of a ninja movie or The Lion King.
Alright, I should stop talking(writing)--I have(as usual) said too much. Just watch it.

Views from the Hood

Even though I didn't go far yesterday because of my banged up car, I was still able to take my dog for her daily walk through the neighborhood. All six of our feet were in fine working condition.
I had my camera in my pocket this time, so recorded a few sights along the route we took.
Closest to our house, I saw these vine-covered trees. There is a small empty lot next door(which we tell ourselves has to be much too small to ever build a house on since we like this buffer zone that creates a real sense of privacy in an otherwise "crowded-with-houses" neighborhood) that is all overgrown and looks like a miniature jungle.
Last year, A tree service did come and cut down some of the brush and choking vines (after the vines caused some smaller trees to actually topple over and crash down onto our wooden fence and crack a portion of it open), and the remains of these once living thick vines can still be seen.

My lucky number posted twice on a telephone pole at the end of our street.

Ever since I got Jewel(about seven years ago) and have been walking the same old streets with her, I have watched the progression of a certain neighbor's garden over the years. It started out small, but she now has a lush, slightly over-grown cottage garden full of blooms seven months out of the year. I really liked these tall sunflower-type blooms she had growing outside of her fence.

There was even a 10K Ironman race in our nieghborhood, I discovered as I walked with Jewel to the southern end. And this flag waving, hula hooping lady was the turn-around point for the runners. There was no way they could miss her!

My camera can't convey another sweet neighborhood happening, though. On Saturday afternoon, while I was cleaning up the kitchen after putting a spice cake into the oven, I heard singing from...somewhere.

Mr. F said, "Do you hear that man singing?"

And I did and thought it must be coming from R's bedroom down the hallway(she often has her iPod plugged into a speaker in there, blasting her favorite tunes).

And then Mr. F told me this wasn't the first time he had heard "that singing kid with the earphones in his ears", singing rather loudly(and with a pretty decent voice, too), while walking down the street. I had never noticed it before, though.

And, when I looked out the front door, there was a youngish man(19? 20 at the most?), striding along and singing a song. We could hear him long after he passed our house and was out of sight.

Mr. F said "more people should sing out loud like that."

And I completely agreed with him.

Ladies Who Shop

As consumerist and crass as it sounds, my daughter and I have some of our best mother-daughter bonding moments when we are out shopping or simply looking around in shops.
She has never once turned down an invitation to go a store with me(heck--she even likes coming to the grocery store with me sometimes) and we both like poking around in the shops in the nearby village of Wickford. The last time we were there, I had told myself that we were not going to buy anything this time, but of course......

Miss R had to find this wallet in The Different Drummer and how could I not lend her the fifteen bucks to get it?!

Yup. A vinyl "candy dot" wallet. Almost looks like the real, edible kind.

Seeing Spots

**** I am a sucker for both stripes and polka dots on clothes. Seems my daughter is, too! Is it genetic, this predilection for dots and stripes?
After her first sewing lesson last spring, she choose a classic navy with small white dot fabric and sewed herself a skirt with it. I was so proud .

And, she just bought herself a classic "oh-so-French" bateau-type top the other day (which I am already planning on "borrowing", because, well..she borrows certain clothing items from my closet all the time).
So, she and I were very happy shoppers the other day in Marshall's.
Me and Miss R decided to look around since we hadn't been in there in some time(say--a week and a half).
We weren't in the store two minutes and R had already honed in on a display of winter(!) scarves and had wrapped herself in a reversible one--one side grey with big navy blue dots, other side navy with big grey spots.
Almost right after she scooped up that scarf for herself, I saw the back end of a woman pass by and she was wearing pants I wished I had! They were slim navy Swiss dotted (small white polka dots all over). I had an urge to go over and ask her where she got them, but that would have been far too embarrassing for my daughter if I did that, so I restrained myself from following her and asking.
Somehow, we eventually ended up at the back of the store where the racks and racks of lingerie are. I decided I needed some new undies(always "bikini" style for me--never any thongs, hipsters and certainly never...briefs. TMI?). Almost right away, we again spotted polka dots! On silky bikini undies!. So, yes, I now have a few pairs of black Swiss dot bikini underwear. All I need now is a pair of matching polka dot trousers to pull on over them.

** I think I'll need to follow up with a "stripes" themed entry soon, as well.

doggie dreaming and other stuff...

Please don't tell my real dog, but I have a new canine crush. This red pajama wearin', cute-as-a-button Iggy (Italian Greyhound). For a while, I had this photo I found on some Italian Greyhound breeding website up on my desktop. Every day when I saw it first thing when I turned the home computer on, I would swoon over this creature. My own dog, of course, looks a little like this(but is black and bigger and would never wear any type of clothing!), but I have to say...every once in a while I say I want another dog and might it be a pure bred Iggy(that I would name Fenway if it were a male or Elizebetta if it were a female)? They are just too adorable.
But, then who am I kidding? With all of Jewel's expensive medications(for the Addison's disease and flea and tick and heartworm medicines, too), we couldn't afford another dog! And then, there is that matter of a (human)child we would like to send to college someday, too.....

Anyway, I am feeling chatty with nothing much to say but on I type.....

I think today might be a good one, even though the first thoughts on my mind when I woke up were the huge (in size) pieces I'll likely have to tackle today at the frame shop(large "lites" of glass to cut--always a little scary to me), and the still leaking oil leak/spill in the Gulf Of Mexico.

My good omen for the day? The sky was threatening rain any moment, but I had to take the dog for her usual morning walk. There were only small drops during the walk, and just as we got to the gate, back at the house, it started to pour! So, very good timing!

Yes, it's the little things that make me happy.

Like seeing the two hula hooping little girls on their front lawn this morning. Lunch boxes and backpacks cast aside while they took a hula hoop break on their way to the school bus stop.

Like the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that I smell as I walk by this one particular house at the end of our street... every single morning! I don't know why the brewed coffee smell is so strong and wafts out from and around the house like that(with the windows and doors shut, too), and if they have a coffee shop in their home, but it never fails to cheer me as we walk by.

Like my hair looking spectacular(if I may say so myself) from the moment I first looked in the mirror this morning. Every once in a great while, that'll happen--I'll do absolutely nothing to my showered head of wet hair, go to bed and the next morning-voila! Perfect hair.

Happy Birthday, Will

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt,

finds tongues in trees,

books in the running brooks,

sermons in stones,

and good in everything."

~William Shakespeare

It's Shakespeare's birthday tomorrow and the quote by him seems a perfect one for today--the 40th celebration of Earth Day.

For some Shakespearean fun, go to the Shakespeare "insult generator". (and here is yet another one)

I tried the first generator and got insulted with: "Thou venomed scurvy-valiant giglet!"

And this is what I was insulted with at the second(U.K.) site: "Thou obscene weather-bitten dewberry!"

Stand Up Performance

Most likely, many have already seen this newest Internet cat video sensation (like Nora the piano-playing cat), but I had to share this here anyway. I want to see a folded newspaper tucked under one kitty arm and and an umbrella in the other paw.

Can't help wondering, though, what kind of person has both this adorable, seemingly well-cared for cat as a pet and a (framed?) poster of Grand Theft Auto on the wall?

Early Spring Wickford Stroll - Redux

Before the latest deluge, I spent a sunny, crisp and cold Saturday morning (last weekend) walking the streets of Wickford, after meeting my sister for breakfast(we ended up eating at some crazy redneck diner that was attached to a liquor store!! I swear I thought I saw someone drinking a beer with their breakfast at a table when we first walked in, too..) What's interesting to me is that almost a year ago, I spent a Saturday doing the same thing and blogged about it here, with photos. So, these photos turned out somewhat the same, since it's before Easter as in the April 4th blog from last year.

Even though it was cold, many of the shops had their doors open wide to let the fresh spring air in, and flowers, books and gifts for sale, set up outside on the sidewalk.

Walking down Brown Street towards Main.

A view from inside the shop, Different Drummer--a place I seem to think has been in business since I was in high school. At one time(eons ago), this shop used to sell these handpainted brooches I used to make.

This wooden mermaid is offering a "pearl" of a ball of yarn on the steps of a yarn shop called The Mermaid's Purl.

The window box in front of Village Reflections--another shop that has been in business forever--same nice owner (she told me she's been there for 26 years), with always affordable cotton clothing and gorgeous(and affordable, as well) jewelery.

Easter, right around the corner......

Curly

Okay, I lied.
I am not entirely sick of the Olympics, yet.
I got sucked into it again by watching the men's curling event yesterday. Both me and Mr. F enjoy watching curling, although he says he prefers to watch the Ladies curling. Hmmmm...
And why do they insist on calling it Ladies events and not Women's in the Olympics?
As for me, I like the men. Especially this man:


That's Andreas Lang from the German curling team. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see more of Andy, since the German team didn't make it to compete for the gold. *sigh*
That was up to Norway(who will always be remembered for those fantastic trousers) and Canada. The Canadian men's curlers were so good and deserved the gold medal. It was a great game! Of course, the response in the stands from the crowd was entertaining, too. Lots of spontaneous eruptions and singing from the Canadian fans. I felt a little bad for the Norwegians since there weren't many of their supporters there for them.

On tap for today:
**IHOP (soon, I hope...Mr. F still isn't up out of bed!)
**watching the rest of Slumdog Millionare (we started watching yesterday afternoon, but then had to put it on hold because of the curling, of course!)
**probably the supermarket (sometimes I feel like this is the only place I go)
**trying to like my new hair color and look. Not sure about it yet.
**getting the dog out for a good walk(it's finally sunny out there) and I think now is the time to do it.
I'm off with the dog, then.

A Bohemian Rhapsody....

...Muppet Style!
If you can spare just under five minutes of your time, I think you'll agree that this is a masterpiece.