Long time no blog,

Has it really been 52 days since I last posted to this blog? So much for keeping up a new hobby. Well, after all, the summer is the busiest time of year when you have kids out of school that are quite busy with their summer activities and are not of driving age. This has been taking up the blog time for me as well as having become a daily user of facebook. Yes, I said facebook. It seems I, like so many innocent individuals who own computers, have found the time consuming ritual of looking at what their friends have posted, entering posts of one's own, accepting friends that found you and searching for new friends thereby requesting them to be virtual friends. I use the analogy of this facebook site as a vast black hole that has an enormous vacuum capability. Once you log on the suction power of the hole is so strong you can not break free of it. Before you know it, a vast amount of valuable time has been lost into the great beyond. You can actually hear the sound of wind and time forever disappearing with nothing to be done except type and read, type and read. Eventually, it loses its power and you are able to regain control, hit the logoff icon and your life continues as if nothing has changed. Oh, but it has. The time is gone, never to be gained back. Ah, but the fun you have among the posts of friends!

GM Declaration of Bankruptcy Day

The media is ablaze with the breaking story that GM has declared bankruptcy today in New York city. As if that is breaking news. I suppose that by breaking news, they mean to say offically legal news. That is all anyone heard said when GM was mentioned in a story. This has been long coming down the path. Except now it is legally official in court. I had to finally turn off the radio because I found myself diving deep into an emotional pool filled with everything great that used to be GM.

I was born in the decade of the 1960's. I lived in a neigborhood where every kid I knew, and there were a gaggle of us, had a parent or relative that directly or indirectly had a job related to the automotive giants that were GM, Ford and Chrysler. Every house on simply the three streets around my house had someone tied very closely to an auto company. In fact, this entire subdivision, I would guess from my current adult perspective, was built to house nothing but families and I would continue to guess they all had a direct or indirect tie to the iconic automobile. If not one of the Big Three, then Detroit Edison, Borden Milk, Hudson's Department Store, Kresges, Lamphere Schools, Circle Drug Pharmacy (family owned by the actual phramacist) , Kowalski meat store (owned by the people slicing the meat and ringing the sales) , Joe's Party Store (this Joe was a middle aged Italian man who seemed to live in the old house that was converted into a predecessor to today's convenience store. He watched us kids like a hawk when we came into the store. We were afraid of lingering at the candy too long for fear he would yell at us and not let us back in to get the coveted 5 cent, foot long Big Daddy bubble gum so we could stick the whole thing in our mouths at once so we would not have to carry or stuff it into our pockets!)

I digress. My whole bucolic childhood is embedded in this ideal world that the automakers helped build. Every summer I had no care in the world except when a thunderstorm passing through threatened to ruin our nightly came of kick the can when the streetlights came on. Even then, a thunderstorm could mean the potential of the sewers not draining quickly enough to allow the streets to flood, turning the street into a river of water up to a kid's knees, with the crazy idea we could swim or float in the warm rain waters with our clothes on or really turn our bikes into boats and splash and frolic for what seemed like hours in kid time even though in adult time it was probably minutes until the drains caught up with the overload of rain.

One such family lived on the next street from our in a house positioned exactly in the same layout of the street. In fact, the street address was exactly the same: 28636. Yes, mail is still delivered to my mom's house from the Freda Ct address. Anyway, the family was the Carlson's. They were Wally and Mona with two older daughters named Debbie and Cindy. If I remember correctly, Debbie was a year younger and Cindy was three years younger than Michael my brother. Somewhere along the way, Mike's friend Bill Gersh dated the older one because his sister was friends with Debbie. I do not know, I did not really care about the social aspect of the girls except for when they got to drive their father's gorgeous new GM cars. Now, we were a Chrysler family. My maternal grandfather worked for Chrysler so my dad, being a Rockwell employee and having no specific loyalty to a Big three pledged his loyalty to Chrysler. Which, ironically was puzzling because my paternal grandfather worked for Ford. I never asked why. I never really cared to ask why actually, until now, as I write this. For now, right now, I am thinking it is strange we at least never changed between the two companies. Never. As long as my car memory holds firm, my father always bought Chrysler products. I did ask my mom the reason why. My maternal grandfather worked for Chrysler, so my father wanted to show his loyalty to the company on my grandfather's behalf. Makes sense, even when no employee discounts were given back in the day. You simply bought the product based on loyalty. Simple. You worked diligently, received a decent wage, saved and bought the product you helped create. Now, that concept is not so simple. Venture into a parking lot of one of the various car companies today, right now, and you will indeed see badges of the competitor's adorning the cars. Oh, the people who own them will come to their defense by saying they are contract employees or some other lame excuse. If that is the case, then why are you working there now? Why not just leave and go to some other place. That is not so simple. They will also throw out the excuse the car is built in the U.S. Sorry, this is a thin veil. The most of the money made is still channeled back to the foreign country where the company is headquartered.

The poppies are beginning to bloom.

I acquired and planted these most glorious poppies from Arvo's Tadi Vilma well over 14 years ago. Alas, I do not know the exact year of acquistion. I simply know the year lies between our date of marriage and the birth of Erica. We managed to make quite a few bi-annual visits to her home in West Sand Lake, NY. We would stop to visit with her on our way to Vermont, to see my brother, and Connecticut, to see Arvo's parents. This blog post is to honor her memory and record the feelings aroused whenever I gaze upon these spectacular visions of nature.

Her home was an expansive, well preserved and imaculately maintained farmhouse situated very close to the road. It has an even grander sturdy, towering barn immediately across the road. She tirelessly cared for and primped the imacculate flower gardens that flanked the outside surroundings of the home. These showy poppies graced the garden, creating a bold and glorious view for the eye to see and stand in awe.

At first, when I acquired these flowers to bring home to Michigan, I had no idea what sort of lasting legacy to her I would be creating. I started with a few pips, or small plants from the mature ones. Vilma has long since departed this earth, leaving behind so many intricate whispers to those of us she loved. We no longer make the biannual visits to her home. Yet, these poppies begin blooming the week before Memorial Weekend every year. Just as we prepared and planned our journey to her house, the flowers prepare their journey of their bloom.

These flowers have slowly spread to other parts of our landscape. They have become a symbol of a legacy Vilma has left to those who loved her. These flowers, like her, have endured many years. They, like she, were transplanted to a new land not by their choice. They took root, spread and prospered under many hardships, physical and emotional. They continue through their offspring to prosper and reach for potentials beyond any stretch of the imagination. All of this happened with love, patience and knowledge of believing anything is possible in a new world if you so want it to happen.

You never know what each day will bring to you.

The inspiration for this post was born when I spontaneously was reunited with my eight grade English teacher. This happened in all places but a grocery store. It began as an ordinary Tuesday, which is the day I usually run out of the perishables of the fruit, vegetable and bread variety. My grocery store is embellished with a Starbucks right inside the front door. It makes my time grocery shopping so much more enjoyable. I have been shopping at the same store since Arvo and I were married, 17 1/2 years to be more descriptive. I see many of the same employees from week to week and always manage to see another person of whom I know from some other aspect of my life. I have even met a stranger or two who share a simple common bond of simply shopping on the same day of the week. She is a very friendly Indian woman who one time was in line behind me and asked me advice regarding a pre-baked pound cake she was purchasing for a potluck she was attending that evening. I eventually saw her again a few weeks later and asked how the recipe turned out and we have shared a warm, friendly smile and short conversations ever since. Yes, we did greet each other on this particular Tuesday.

This particular Tuesday was somewhat different than most. This Tuesday I noticed the lady who works in the dairy section was not her normal, happy, positive self. No, I do not know her by name. Her name tag is always turned around and I asked her name once and have since forgot. I am too embarrassed to ask her now after seeing her for many, many weeks. I stopped to ask her if all was right in her world. She said no, her 93 year old mother was in the hospital and had little hope living her life she has enjoyed for 93 years. So, instead of simply smiling and sharing our normal brief conversation of the weather and our blessings in life, I listened to her with the hope of giving her a way of relieving some of her sorrow and fear.

After this encounter, I finally made it to the check out when a lovely person from my long ago past literally walked right by me. The cashier did not know how to respond when I exclaimed "WOW. I think I just saw my eighth grade English teacher from, like 30 years ago!!" Her first response was to ask "what if it is not her?" As if to really ask "Wouldn't you feel foolish if it was not her?" "Who cares!" I said. "At worst I apoligize but as least I tried because what if it IS her?" Fortunately for me, the lady I saw pass me by was wearing a bright, sunny yellow shirt with a denim jumper. I kept a close eye on this person to plan my next move. If she exited through the doors, I knew I would have to move quickly to try and catch her in the parking lot. Luck, or fate, was at my side that day. She moved beyond the doors so I knew I could relax and for a moment enjoy the brief contemplation of hoping the lady was indeed connected to my past. Over the 30 years I often have imagined reuniting with her for a time in order to reveal to her my gratitude for having introduced writing to me. My first memory of her class was being exposed to writing in a journal. To some kids in the class, this was not a welcomed part of the day. To me, it was an opportunity to let words form in your mind and only in your mind and flow through a pen onto paper. This at times took on the form to expell sadness, observe beauty, prevent insanity or add to dilusion. To this day, whenever I see a spiral bound notebook with loose leaf paper in it, I am immediatley taken back to eighth grade English, siiting in a desk in Mrs. Daly's room. I finally reached the lady whom I thought made such a grand impression on a 13 year old girl in 1976. I looked at her while she studied the display of avocadoes. I knew immediately it has to be Mrs. Daly. So, I excused myself as I approached her to gain her attention and asked the obvious question "Are you Mrs. Daly who taught English at Page Junior High?" So poetic, good grief. A warm and welcoming smile appeared on her face assuring me that yes indeed she was Mrs. Daly.

Better today than the last post time....

When I read that last post of April 22, you can tell the tone around our geographical location was bleak. I can say since a few weeks have passed, my outlook, and the outlook in our household in general, is much, much brighter. Just having the warmer weather to inspire and gaze upon lends a positive spirit to so many facets of everyday life. The entire outdoors seems to be in action taking on each nature intended color: daffodils in sunny yellow, grass in lush green, hyacinths in deep blue, pink, and fuschia omitting a fragrant perfume all its own. Colorful birds too have returned to allow us their splendor of yellows, reds, black and great grey (of the Blue Heron variety). The sun graces our souls a bit earlier each day and along with its light brings an orchestra of birdsongs announcing its arrival. "Get up, get going, be thankful for a new day".

Of course, all this is so much more noticed when some fear of job loss has been corralled, for the time being. GM went through job eliminations and demotions last week. I prayed each day that no bad tidings would follow Arvo. Each day I was thankful for "no news is good news". The week ended to allow normal thought. Of course, nothing is guaranteed to last forever. Nothing. For now, we will carry on keeping this perspective continually in mind, while at the same time knowing that in the end, all will be well. Nature seems to know this. After a long, cold winter, spring always manages to present itself to the world to tell us, all will be well.

In my opinion, Simon and Garfunkel summed it up poetically like this:

"April, come she will. May she will stay resting in my arms again.

June she'll change her tune. In restless walks she'll prowl the night.

July, she will fly and give no warning to her flight.

August die she must. The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;

September, I'll remember a love once new has now grown old."

Randomness

I have not written anything in over a month, again. The spring of 2009 is taking forever to enter the realm of Michigan, USA. It appears one day and flees the next. Maybe it senses the dismal state of the local economy, the auto industry and decimation of property values. It is really easy to get taken down into a sad condition. Things could be really bad. I often say and think this and know very well that it could. How anyone ever made it through other periods in history is beyond my comprehension. So many examples could be cited I do not know where to begin. I just read a book that took place in Germany during WWII. How in the world did anyone in Europe endure the bitter cold, food deprived, paralysing fear induced during that period is beyond my realm The paralysing fear would be enough for me to give up and wither the ship. Of course, I can say this amid the luxury of my humble and plentiful life. One never knows exactly how one would react or survive given a certain situation. We have nothing on those souls of the time.

I have had other things to occupy my time.

I can not believe it has been a month since I last posted. There are many reasons: nothing to post, no time to post when an idea struck, wanting to change the look of the main page and started to educate myself using google searches, finding SO MANY great blogs of very creative people that are way better at blogging than me. Needless to say, I have spent time visiting these VERY talented people's sites and and I am thoroughly in awe of them and their creations.

I have been busy creating things myself. I beaded a few pretty bracelets and earrings to match for a color I wanted to wear that I had no self-made jewelry for. I read my books. I secretly want to be an author one day. I guess it is only a secret now if no one reads this blog. That is not a problem, no one reads it outside the family, even then it is sketchy. I created my Easter cards, a few Thinking of You cards, and designed and created a great lined tote bag that turned out so useful that it is now designated as my official gym bag tote. LOVE IT. I used still more of the Ralph sheet. It is overkill, but there is so much leftover, I can't waste it. Besides, I like the print. It makes me happy and calm. The blues will do that to a lot of people. I have proof that blue is my aura color too. Facebook told me so. I took one of their online quiz and it said I was, so it must be true! If I get the tech ambition going full throttle, I will take pictures of the creations and upload them here. Yes, I probably will once this posts and there is nothing next to these words. Hey, at least I am getting back to adding to it.

When green and frugality meet a Ralph Lauren sheet, part two

Additional visual perspectives:

When green and frugality meet a Ralph Lauren sheet.

This full size sheet was at one point, along with its identical twin, in their existence, a duvet cover for Erica's down comforter.  She changed the decor of her room and these sheets sat folded and alone in a darkened closet.  They were recently discovered, separated by a human with a seam ripper and one's existence was repurposed into three useful and decorative new human items:  an ironing board cover,a culinary apron, and a re-useable bag for STUFF.  Yes, its true.  It all started with the ugly ironing board cover previously owned by the household.   All the ones for purchase in the store just did not appeal to me.  Boring really.  Let's face it, if you must iron, at least let the idea of opening up the board should  be a joyful event instead of just thinking of  it for was it is, ironing.  Yes, some people do enjoy the event.  I admit, there is instant gratification of seeing the wrinkles disappear before your eyes.  However, to begin the entire process of ironing can be all the more unenjoyable if you are first greeted with something  pleasing to your eye.  There was a lot of extra threads left from the Ralph print that I could not waste it.  So, next was  to create a pretty apron to nicely compliment my love to create great foods to share and eat.  My current Williams-Sonoma model is a nice shade of my favorite color blue, but let me admit, it is not pretty. The new model has a nice kangaroo pocket embellished with a very chic ruffle to hold a dish cloth for wiping my hands.   This is a great convenience.  Still, too many threads left to waste after this item.  Then I remember in the September '08 issue of Body and Soul magazine, there were directions for turning a pillow case into a re-useable bag.  You can see how this connection was made: sheet, pillowcase. Of course, I had to make a pillowcase out of the leftover threads, only to cut it and shape it into its new repurposed state.  If nothing else, the meeting of green, frugality and Ralph gave me SOMETHING to blog about.  This keeps the creativity, typing, computer and writing skills up.  Plus, it is FUN,  as stated as my original intention for keeping a blog in the first place!

Having fun in Chicago

We are in Chicago. The weather is crisp, sunny and beautiful. We went to the Chicago Historical Museum today. We were going to venture to the Shedd Aquarium, but the best inhabitants were "On Vacation". Another good thing about the internet is checking the latest news and info on most attractions in the city. We looked this morning and found that the Dolphins and Belugas were on vacation in Mystic, CT while their homes were being renovated!! So we moved onto Plan B. We (Adam was the exception. He really did enjoy it but won't let on that he is) were pleasantly surprised to get in FREE today, President's Day. A few dead presidents were there to help celebrate: Lincoln and his significant other Mary, George and Martha, Teddy and Thomas the J man. Very entertaining and they were all in character Very fun day. We came back to hotel to eat leftover Giordano's deep dish pizza. Yum. Then off to the pool for the clan while I go out and shop a little. It is best to shop when you know you have enough stuff and do not need anything. The evening is wide open. Looks like we may go to the top of the Sears Tower. It is a grand, clear day and sunset is at 5:23 today. It would be great to catch a glimpse of it at that time......

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Today is Valentine's Day.  This is one of  a few cards I made to give this year.  The picture does not show the embossed hearts nor the cut out glossy embossed little heart with the gemstone.  I guess this is where a HD camera would work better in place of its older cousin.  Anyway, this also marks the first attempt to post a card I made like so many other people out there in the blogishere.  Or is it blogoshpere? I guess the word has not made it into the dictionaries as of yet.  Maybe by the end of the year it will be entered into Old Oxford's or Webster's great books.  Anyway,  here's to another Valentine's  Day.  Oh, by the way, we here in Troy were given about an inch of newly fallen snow.  Wow, Happy Valentine's Day.

Baking for Valentine's Day

I made cut out butter cookies for Valentine's Day tomorrow.  This is a great recipe to make.  The cookies consistently turn out the same every time I make them.  16 years to be exact.  I found the recipe in my first year of subscribing to "Martha Stewart Living" magazine.  

2 cups butter

2 cups sugar

2 TBS vanilla

4 eggs

6 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients, incorporate well.  Divide dough into thirds and wrap in plastic wrap.  Chill for 3 hours or overnight.  Roll out one portion at a time and cut with desired shapes.  Bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes at 350*.

Cool and decorate as desired.  Store in airtight container.

Going to Chicago.....

We are going to Chicago this Sunday for a few days.  Hoping to have a few days away to relax while the kids are on winter break from school.  It is always nice to go to that city.  So much to do: museums, aquarium, planetarium, shopping and relaxing.

The cookies and the snowman with Oreo eyes.

The Oreoes give the S Man a good look.  However, that can't be said of the others in the family shot.  I tried to hold the camera up to take a group photo but it was difficult to do:  too much space around the S Man and I could not see what the camera saw.  I tried.

The cookies turned out great.  S Man loved being on his own private lake!  Alas, he is gone now.  He is somewhere with his buddy Frosty and his remains have been sent to the fish that never came to visit.

Not a black hole in the earth....

Not a black hole in the earth but a hole in the ice on the pond.  Arvo and Adam were ice fishing for the big bass that likes to tease them during the summer months.  The two of them packed a lunch of pizza and a ham sandwich with some chips and cookies and they picnicked just like in the summer.  The great part about fishing on a winter day instead of a summer day is mosquitoes are not part of the scene.  Unfortunately they did not get a single bite that day.  The day was not a loss because it was absolutely a gorgeous day to be outside.  The sun was out, the sky was blue and it smelled like warmth.  Adam lost patience for the fish and went about building a snowman.  Perfect packable conditions; the best we had since the flakes began to fall.Where were Erica and I?  We were baking cookies of course.  Great tasting oatmeal, chocolate chip raisin.  Then we came outside to see if they fell in the water.  Not a chance.  The ice was 18 inches thick.  No wonder a fish did not surface.  With that much ice surface radiating cold, even if it tried, it would slow it down and freeze it.  Erica and I went for a glorious walk and left the two of them to further try their patience.   

January thaw in February.

Spring seems to be on everyone's mind this weekend.  Adam rode his bike yesterday, Arvo tired to cross country ski at Stoney but it was slow and difficult, and Erica and I took a long walk and actually got very hot.  It smelled like spring,  This photo was taken at the Plymouth Ice Festival on January 17th.  The ice carver must have had notions of spring in mind when he/she set out to create this.  There is no doubt by now this ice formation is in its original liquid form.

Skating on the pond while the snowshoes walked.

Snowshoe prints in the snow

Arvo, Adam and Erica were skating on the pond while I ventured off onto the golf course on very COLD day.  It was again very sunny, but boy it was chilly.  It is very surreal to be on a golf course in the middle of winter with no other living thing around.   It brings on a feeling of peace and tranquility, especially when you know it is temporary and you will soon be inside your warm and loving house!

Beautiful sunset on a winter's day.

This was a gorgeous end to a sunny winter afternoon.  I have the honor of witnessing this from our kitchen widow every winter day that gives us sun.  Sometimes the colors contain a radiant hue of pink mixed with the golds! This day it happened to be very cold: 17* for the high.  This is a little fuzzy because the glass was spotted from the outside.  The spring cleaning will have to wait  a while longer.....

Snowshoeing outing

Arvo and I are here for a photo while we were snowshoeing in the woods at the end of our street.  There was 1 1/2 feet of snow.  We saw little signs of life out there,  Poor squirrels, I kept wondering what they do for food.  We eventually saw a hawk soaring above, probably thinking he could use us for a food source.  Good thing he thought we were too large to conquer.  Or maybe he thought we were deranged for being out in the deep snow.  Later on the path we did hear a very large woodpecker.  Or so we thought it was large.  Arvo finally found it among all the trees way at the top of, we gathered by the sound, a dead species.  The vibration it made as it hit the trunk would create envy in a regae band!  Awesome sound.  Great snowshoe jaunt.

They bloomed,,,,

The narcissus bulbs bloomed.  They were quite beautiful to look at, especially with the dramatic contrast of having the foot and a half snow looming out the window.  Oh, I see I still have a Santa sitting in our living room.  Funny, he is a part of the room when you are in it, yet in the small lens of the camera, he looms large and very red!  He must be put away.

No time to blog

See, it is happening already.  I am already not posting everyday.  Maybe it is a good thing I am not posting everyday.  That way, it won't become a chore and it will remain fun.  We will see.  Tomorrow will bring a new day and maybe something interesting to post.

A sign of spring in the winter

Flower bulbs are a glorious being.  They allow us to force them to grow indoors in the winter in "soil" that is not a normal, natural environment for them.  As you can see, these Narcissus flowers bulbs are growing in decorative glass pebbles, not dirt.  This allows us humans the chance to see their roots growing into the pebbles and their flower to form towards the light.  It gives a perspective on every plant, tree, grass blade,  and yes, weed in existence.  Kind of like a mole's eye view  of his neighborhood, if he could see...

I have forced these many times but, this blog is allowing me to chronicle life as it happens around here.  The hope is to chronicle events, even as simple as forcing bulbs in winter.

The other photo is what is looks like right now, outside our window.  It is not the snow of 5"-7" the forecasters predicted.  No kidding.  It is the "Dick the Bruiser" prediction:  Take the professional meteorologists number and divide by 2.  So, let's test it.  5/2=2.5 and 7/2=3.5.  Wow, even Dick the Bruiser would have been wrong, we only got 1.5"-1.75".  Oh well, Erica had less to shovel.

Blackie with a nice scarf

This is my cat, Blackie, with a nice scarf on. I made this for her.

Nope.  I did not post this either.  My dear husband and child number two posted it.  It was nice of them because they got me to change this entry (since it is supposed to be mine).  I guess like everything else, what mine is theirs.  Except when Blackie makes her daily gift to me....  

Blackie

This is my cat.  This is day one to learn how to navigate in the blogishpere.  My kids chose this topic to begin with.  No, I do not worship this cat, she just happens to be our pet.  Yes, I like her, but sometimes, like when she throws up on a daily basis, I do not care for her during the clean up process.  However, by having her lead off this blog does say something for the position she has in our house.  Out of all the Blackie pics we captured, this seems to be the best?  That is the problem, there were TOO many pics of her.  

This is actually pretty fun.  Writing about nothing that can be viewed as something........Yes, this is fun.