scratching the bottom of the barrel here...

This is my 'mellow' look... have tea and book... need nap

Running short of things to post (as is everyone I'm sure), so  started going through some old boxes of manuscripts, essays, poems, etc. Came across this I wrote back years ago when we had Gigi...

"Sometimes late at night when the rest of the house-hold is asleep, I sit propped up in my bed with the lamp on, going through the day's events, and planning the next. This is the time that Gigi, our little gray tabby, seems to enjoy the most. Perhaps because she has me all to herself then. If I'm writing or reading, she's right there on top of the paper or book playing with the pencil or biting at the pages. Sometimes she stares so intently at the page that it makes me wonder... 
Other times she tries her hardest to get me to play. One of her favorites is 'flip the tail' - she flips as I attempt to catch it. She's very good. Another favorite is 'pounce'. She'll eye a possible target (usually my foot under the covers), wind up by wiggling her hind end a few times, then leaps straight up into the air and lands on the target, where she then pretends to tear it to shreds with her back claws and teeth. Actually I'm convinced that she greatly exaggerates her leaps for dramatic effect. She knows that these antics make me laugh. 
'Cat-watching' is a great relaxation sport. Sometimes I scribble down a few lines while I watch. Even though they will never make poetic history, they do convey my feelings." 

Here are a few:

Watching You

Watching you clean yourself - so fastidiously

Watching you play - so rambunctiously 

I know I feel a pride akin to motherhood

Having raised you from a kit

You're a happy contented cat.

Flip Your Tail

Flip your tail I know the game

Entice ad tease to no avail

It's late and I have got to sleep

Your game of play will have to keep.

The next pic is Ghost's most likely reaction to my poems:

a mishmash...

You may have seen this. It was on Facebook (I think). When I read this, I couldn't help but laugh. Now he has 2 identical cats.... (ha! that's so great!)

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Also I've been thinking about trying some new recipes. I love to cook, especially love to bake, and have saved a lot of new ideas from the Pinterest site.  However, I may see a picture of something that looks wonderful, then I read the instructions and ingredients and I'm afraid that my reaction is similar to this next poster.

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Do any of you remember these cookies?

rossettes

We used to make these years ago. My kids remember them.

And does anyone remember these glass coffee cups?

Nescafe' coffee cups

Sorry it's not a great picture. I just snapped it inside my cup cupboard. We used these for the longest... and I think we had to send away for them. They are a very thick glass with a world map etched on them.

Going to close now as  DH and I have to leave in a few minutes to go pick up our Central Market curb-side order.  

Ready to venture out...

Hugs,
Rian

Grooming, baking, sewing...

Grooming the Ghost

Ghost being brushed

Ghost loves being brushed. When I stopped (last pic), she turns and looks at me like "Why'd you stop?"

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Neighbor came by a few minutes ago with some rice krispie treats. We talked by the front door (staying physically distant) for a few minutes. She and her husband are home with their 3 college-age kids. We appreciate them checking on their 'elderly' neighbors...

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Beyond that:

Made another peach pecan dump cake!

Sent off another mask to a friend in New Orleans. Her daughter is very sick in a group home down there. Please pray for her.

Got an email notifying me that the yarn I ordered to finish the baby blanket I'm crocheting should be delivered tomorrow. (hurray!)

The sun came out for a little while this afternoon... wanted to walk, but ended up watching "Groundhog Day" on TV and sewing yet another medical mask. 

and so goes another day under house arrest (I mean 'sheltering at home'). Don't get me wrong, I think it's the right and best thing to do under the circumstances. Letting down our guard now would just negate all the good we may have accomplished. 

So please hang in there, stay home, practice social/physical distancing, and pray that people have the good sense to take the necessary precautions. 

Hugs,

Rian

Oh, I couldn't remember if I had ever posted my finished (well, not finished as they still have to be fired) chickens and fox (also pie bird and salt box). I had to send a pic of these to our pottery instructors since our class is now online. So here's the ones I sent her. (If I already posted this, forgive me for the oversight).

searching for hope...

I'm a day late posting this... but yesterday got away from me.

However, I was reading sayings Friday night... looking for something that might lift my spirits. Saw this poster and thought, Yes!! We will not go down without a fight. I will follow the CDC's guidelines and when there's no more I can do, then I'll... 

Then I read this...

and thought...

So, Thank you! Thank all of you for being there. Thank you for reading my rambling thoughts. We are all in this together and together we'll handle it. My old standby for when things were difficult. "It is what it is, and I can handle it" is still good.

Take care, my dear friends, and have a good weekend... you've got this.

Hugs,
Rian

nothing much...

Sonny and Sammie - 2 backyard feral cats

Along with Fluff, the handsome black and white cat that I featured not too long ago, these 2 neighborhood wanderers are who we call Sonny and Sammie. They do romp about the neighborhood, but can be generally found out in our back area.

As you can tell, I'm scrambling for something to post today. Today is day 30 of our 'sheltering at home'... and although I spent the morning making a few masks for my cousin in New Orleans, I'm finding today a bit tedious. 

Walked around the house looking for something to photograph. Came up with these few things...                                                         
                                                                  


 

The first 2 pics were my mother-in-law's treasures and I inherited them when she passed .

The third pic is a miniature harp that I picked up when we had season tickets to the Dallas Symphony (before retirement).  We used to go on Sunday afternoons.





I did Skype with my cousin in New Orleans yesterday. She had never tried Skype and since I've done it all of twice, I was showing her how it worked. She's 2 years older than me... and I'm 3 years older than our younger female cousin (also in New Orleans). Our moms were 3 sisters who spent most of their time together... so us three girls spent a lot of time together growing up. I do miss them, but we keep in touch (by text and Facebook). And I try to spend some time each summer there... (not this summer though).

New Orleans is having a hard time with this Pandemic. Not that other places aren't... but per capita it's hit them hard. Mardi Gras probably didn't help. From what I read this past week, Texas has had about 14,000 cases with about 300 deaths... whereas Louisiana has had about 22,000 cases and more than 1000 deaths.

Well, I didn't plan to bring all that up. 

Tux and Julie by the fire

Can we just go back to early December... when we still had Tux and Julie... and were clueless about this Pandemic?

Sorry this wasn't much of a post. But I'm trying to post every 2 days so that if we run out of things to do at home, we can at least read blogs. 

Take care, stay home, and be safe!

Hugs,
Rian

strange things...

Happy Easter 2020!

Yesterday I was looking for an Easter Bunny to add to my post... and came across this one that was sitting in the cabinet with an old ceramic chess set I'd made years ago. If you can't tell, the king is the dog, the cat is the queen, rats, bunnies, and snakes take the place of the other pieces. Birds are the pawns. It's unusual, but I enjoyed making it. It was one of our projects a few years back.

Hope you all had a fairly - if not happy... but healthy safe quiet Easter. So strange... no kids, no candy, no church services, etc! But we did text, talk, or Skype with everyone. Youngest grand daughter showed me her Easter basket and goodies on the screen... and son said there were probably still Easter eggs hidden around the house. 

DH and I had a rather strange thing happen. We both became very dizzy Sunday afternoon. It was right after I had taken out a pork roast from the oven and he was slicing it up for dinner later. We both tasted it, and deemed it good. Then later (maybe 30 mins or so later) I had one of my ocular migraines (affects only my eyes for about 10-15 minutes), then dizzy (the dizziness was new). DH told me later that he was dizzy too???  

We couldn't figure out why we would both be dizzy - checked our CO2 gadget, it was OK. Decided the only thing we both had in common was tasting the roast... seemed a bit bazaar, but ditched it anyway. I was dizzy all night. Better today. 

Listened to news at 11am today. And daughter in law that works in the Infectious Disease Area at the local hospital sent us this:

Texas numbers update

and I will close with  a 2020 Easter basket (what we could find around the house) and Ghost... enjoying her quiet Easter on DH's chair :

And to all of you out there - please stay home and stay safe!

Hugs,
Rian

and it continues...

Easter decoration on our front porch

Serviceman came with new transmission and fixed our washing machine Thursday morning. Thank goodness. It's been a week without washing and although we don't need good clothes, bath and kitchen towels and washcloths are about out. Yes, we could wash them by hand... but don't want to do that unless totally unavoidable.

It cost almost double what the 2nd hand Maytag cost us years ago. But since we weren't going out to shop for a new one... fixing it was the practical choice. Besides, I think the new ones would have been a lot more (and no, I'm not going to check... what's done is done).

Oh, and our excursion to curb side pickup at Central Market turned out to be an especially easy experience. We pulled into the side of the store where they had parking all set up with signs saying to text this number when you arrive. Then they come out and view a sign you hold up with your name on it (don't even have to open the car window), go back in and retrieve your order, put it in the back and wave! Really easy. The only difficult thing is getting a 'time slot' for pickup. 

Grocery items

Working on under-glazing cheeky chicken flock... 2 injuries reported... both to wing area.

see tape with red cross on 2 wings?

Wings can become unattached very easily while still in the greenware stage... as the clay dries, careful handling is necessary. Apparently I wasn't careful enough. But with a little slip and patience, they should be alright to get through the first firing.

Now I have a blogging question:

Some comments to my blog come through in foreign languages. When they show up in the 'comments awaiting  moderation' section, I don't know what they are saying so I just don't post them. I know that Blogger has a translation app for the posts themselves, but can it be used on the 'awaiting moderation'  section? I don't see any way to do it, but then I'm not particularly technically inclined. So if you know the answer, I would appreciate if you would let me know how to do this. 

Hope you are all staying home, staying well, and staying safe! 

Hugs,
Rian