The kids have flown the coop - now they wanna drive

Last I posted about my little birdies -

they were all still in the nest.

Or i thought they were.

Remember their charlie's angels pose-

i thought one birdie was hiding.

From here on out we'll call him

Bosley.

He wasn't hiding at all.

Bosley had indeed flown the coop - or the nest as it were.

Monday early evening my husband called to me with an urgent voice.

I ran to his office which is at the front of the house. (Very close to the front door where the nest was built.) His office has large floor to almost ceiling windows. He called me because he saw Bosley - sitting on some bushes in front of the office windows. Here's a picture of Holly looking out the office window at Bosley

(i suspect she was thinking *#@!$%*&^!!! bird!)

here's a view from inside the house - see him there in the center?

so cute

I went outside to see what he looked like closer up. And found out something very interesting.

There were birds in the trees and atop the house looking down
He had a whole family out there

Keeping a watchful eye

so that little Bosley was safe (from us evil people i suspect)

it was a little like Hitchcock's The Birds (well i exaggerate a bit but still)

Upon seeing all these family members - i realized little Bosley was probably safe. The next morning Bosley was still on the bush outside the office. I saw adult birds bring him food. Sometime, mid-Tuesday, I checked the office and Bosley appeared to be gone. Later on my husband was out in the yard and said Bosley was definitely gone from the front of the house. He'd looked around and found a little bird, which looked an awful lot like little Bosley around the side of the house, sitting on an azalea bush. We figured that might be the last we'd see of him. The other 3 birdies were still in the nest but seemed to be making motions as if they'd be leaving too. Wednesday morning I took my daughter to school in the morning - when we left I was thinking about our birds and looked around for Bosley but he didnt seem to be in sight. Little did I know.

I came home and prepared to have some company - some girlfriends were coming over to make cards and chat. As they arrived I showed them our little nest. There seemed to be only 2 birdies visible at that point. By the time my friends left, no birds were in the nest.

I was a little sad. It seemed they'd decided to leave while i wasn't looking. Oh well i thought. I hope i get to see them around the yard.

Wednesday around 4:50 pm I went to my car - in the garage - to drive to my daughters bus stop. I opened the car door and put down my purse. I was about to pick up the mail and bring it with me (to read while i waited for the bus to arrive.) But I stopped dead.

There - on the dashboard of my van - was Bosley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO I'M NOT KIDDING

Let me back up a bit. Tuesday nite - when we'd lost track of Bosley - we had left the garage door open til maybe 10 o'clock. I went and closed it and it didn't open again until we left around 6:15 am. I often leave the car windows open if the car is in the garage. When i drove back into the driveway I was thinking of the birds and swore i heard a squeak in the car but dismissed it - i did have the radio on and I was thinking about the birds.

Apparently Bosley was in the car for the drive to and from the busstop on Wednesday morning and all day until i opened the car door on Wednesday afternoon. The garage door was closed all day so he couldn't have gotten in then - I suspect he got in the car on Tuesday nite.

So there he was sitting on the dashboard.

It was 10 to 5 and i had about 10 minutes to figure out how to get him out of the car.

I talked to him and he talked back!

He also held his mouth open for food! That was hilarious - as if i had come to feed him. He did that over and over.

I didnt want to pick him up fearing it might either scare him to death or make him unwelcome in his little birdie community.

Finally i grabbed a small branch that was in our yard recycling. I thought i might encourage him to jump on it.

He flew closer to the car door.

(at that point i'd opened them all)

I prodded him again and he flew out the door onto the garage floor

One more gentle prod and he'd flown out of the garage and onto the front lawn.

He started calling to his family who were not immediately available.

A few more squeaks and some of his famille showed up.

I checked my watch and realized I had to fly!

We're keeping the garage doors closed from now on.

And we're not giving Bosley the keys to the car anytime soon.

the birthday queen bestows belated wishes

cos she's a little flakey these days.

the birthday queen screwed up. she meant to post yesterday but got caught up in all the birdie happenings. Forgive me Kris.

I hope your birthday was wonderful and filled with all sorts of birthday things - cake comes to mind (it always comes to my mind)

the kids are growing up (and other things)

Daddy's Home and he's brought take-out

Where'd he go?

Okay - let's pose for that lady

(i laughed my head off after i saw this picture - kinda charlies angels-esque - i figure the 4th birdie is hiding - either being Charlie or Bosley.... )

We are having the best time watching these sweet little birdies. I know I could get more today but it gets a little much. I have to drag a chair into the hallway and stand on tippy toes with arms extended upward with camera in hand and start snapping away. Yes I'm using a digital camera with a large screen so i'm able to see what i'm doing. But as much fun as it is to see them closeup through the photos, I think i'm ticking off the Mom & Dad (not to mention the babies). They fly in to feed them over and over during the day. If they see us near the doorway they fly back out to the pear tree, like this:

If you look really closely you'll see who I believe is the Daddy - with the reddish head - hiding out til the coast is clear. Once we saw both the Mom & Dad at the nest feeding the babies at the same time - I ran to get my camera but they were too quick for me. Oh well.

I don't know if those babies are long for that nest - we see them wiggling around, flappin their sweet little wings and we're thinking they are practicing to try out those wings for real. In the meantime i'm gonna enjoy them while they are here.

Other things...

we were sposed to have company for the weekend but someone ended up ill. It's been a fairly quiet weekend. We did have my son home for Saturday - he left Sunday. Saturday night the four of us went to a great Japanese Restaurant in town. The kind of place where they cook in front of you and chef is not just a chef - he's a performer. What a hoot that was - the chef was amazing and the food was just wonderful

Let's see - besides laundry, what have i been doing. I made potato salad. I haven't made that for 2 years i think. So yummy - we're having it again tonite. I really should share that recipe. Another of my mom's and its fabulous. Oh yeah - i've been playing around with a punch, watercolor crayons and a little stamping and embossing. General playing in my sketchbook - i think i may turn the flowers into a card. we'll see

lunchtime

Is it time to eat, ma?




Yes, dear.




bon appetit!

7 things about me

well my friend Linda tagged me so i'm going to give this a go and tell you 7 things about me (maybe you know these, maybe you don't)

1. I love old movies - i love most any movies (even the trashy ones on Lifetime) and have all kinds of movie trivia in my head - just ask me LOL
2. i love to cook - i really love to bake but i try not to do it too much because of i really like to eat!
3. i have been on some kind of diet most of my life
4. i love television. i know some people don't like it but i do. some people even say "oh i never watch tv" and well i've stopped apologizing for myself a long time ago. i watch all kinds of programs - i've got a wide area of interest - from animal planet to the history channel to the food network. all kinds of tv. because i'm interested in just about everything.
5. i have zero knowledge about digital anything - i'm a photoshop idiot. As much as I'd like to understand it, I don't. I am sure if someone sat me down and showed me, I'd be a quick learner but I don't get it. It's strange because usually I'm rather good at figuring most things out - but that stuff - i just don't know why but it thoroughly eludes me.
6. I love to read. I really love to read books but i'll read just about anything including the back and sides of a cereal box. I read the Washington Post everyday. I miss the newspapers I grew up with and read daily: The New York Times, The Daily Post, The Star Ledger and the Daily Record. The books I read are mostly for entertainment meaning although I've read a few of Oprah's Book Club type books - I really don't wanna think that much LOL! I want to be entertained and transported away. Rarely the transport takes me to unhappy places if you catch my drift. So the books i'm reading are generally fun although I like a good crime novel as well.
7. i really hate laundry.

So now who can I pick on, I mean tag, to let us know more about them.... I tag Donna, Barbara, Tina and Michelle.

Oh and speaking of movies - if you can please rent Pan's Labyrinth. We watched it Saturday night. It was amazing. A fabulous movie. Violent in parts - definitely not for children - its Rated R. but it is such a wonderful movie - you must see it. Here's a website to give you some info - just the website alone should make you run to your Blockbuster and get it

www.panslabyrinth.com

a wee birdy smackerel and periwinkle purse

A few weeks back I was walking past my front door and stopped to take a look out. On either side of the door there are windows. And for some reason that day I looked up and saw a wonderful thing.

A bird's nest

Our front door has a copper roof that sits atop two pillars. And under that roof, on top of the inside of the pillar (which are mostly decorative i believe) was the wee little nest.

Opposite the front door is our pear tree. I know I've mentioned this tree in another post

(friday march 16th). It is a gorgeous tree and has really grown since it was planted 10 years ago. Huge and a lovely home to a variety of birds. We regularly see all kinds of birds - my favorite being a cardinal who I am able to spy on occasion if I'm lucky enough.

So it wasn't a surprise when i saw a bird flying from the pear tree to the wee nest under the copper roof for my front door.

Initially the bird flew right out of the nest as soon as anyone approached the front door. Slowly, however, over the past few weeks, we have noticed if we are quiet or don't approach the door too quickly we can see the bird in the nest. It doesnt move - it just looks back at us - as if to say "ok, i know you now. I know you won't harm me or my eggs".

And because the little birdy is now one of the family she allowed me to take her photo this morning.

I am in love with this sweet little creature and I'm so looking forward to seeing if there are any baby birds (it's impossible to tell if there are eggs in there but that bird rarely leaves her spot these days so it makes you wonder).

Ok - onto other things....

Yesterday in the mail I received a long awaited package. If you all recall i made a felted purse for my dear friend. (see march's postings - there are pictures there) I wanted to make one for myself but they've been backordered on the color yarn I wanted. Periwinkle. A gorgeous periwinkle. When i saw the package in the mailbox i could not wait to rip it open - and there it was - just as gorgeous as I'd hoped. Now i took a few photos this morning but i dont think the color in the photo is true - which is MOST annoying. However i'm going to post a few pictures in hopes you'll get the idea that the color is just spectacular

i placed the yarn on top of things i thought would help show off the true color. The photo on the left - the yarn is on top of a magazine article about a local artist who does the most stunning work in pastels - the color is amazing. And oddly enough there was some periwinkle in that particular piece he did. The second photo i took next to an easter card my mother had given me. The iris on it was a lighter more lavendar color however it improved the photo as the camera seemed to be picking up a little too much blue if you ask me. Anyway i really am looking forward to getting started on my purse. A little wild for a purse for me - but hell - i could use it!

Got a minute

grab a can of spray paint and do like this
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1246174515665636969
my daughter sent me that link
most cool
makes you wanna just make something fast -
no editing yourself
just doing it.

"Personally, I think alligators have the right idea....

they eat their young."
now isn't that a great line for Mother's Day? no...
well it is one of my favorite lines from a great mother's day movie
Mildred Pierce
starring Joan Crawford (the title character - won her the academy award - self-sacrificing mother who would do anything for her selfish daughter - Vida) ,
Anne Blythe (as the aforementioned daughter - Vida - what a pip - on your worst day, no one deserves a daughter like her),
Eve Arden (plays Mildred's friend - she's got the best lines in the movie - the alligator one as well as this favorite of mine - she says to another male character who is eyeing her up and down, "leave something on so i don't catch cold") and
a whole host of other great actors.
Fortunately this wonderful movie was on earlier this afternoon and I was lucky enough to catch it. I try to watch it every time it's on. It is such a great movie - and it doesn't make you cry. There is a an absolute tear-jerker of a mother movie - if you want a real good cry - rent the movie Stella Dallas starring Barbara Stanwyck. A-mazing movie that at the very end will totally reduce you to tears. What a mother will do for her child. Ugh. i'm getting teary just thinking about it. Not the same realm as Mildred Pierce - as Mildred's daughter is endlessly selfish and Mildred means well but doesn't know when to say no. In Stella - the mother and daughter love each other very much and Stella makes a huge sacrifice for her daughter to ensure her daughters future happiness.
Okay one last movie about mother's Imitation of Life - the version with Lana Turner and Sandra Dee and Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner. Oh the tissues!!! The final scene - I dare you not to cry. It's not possible.
Ok - so i've got you set to rent some faboo old movies. Now how about some newish movies you might like to rent?
Last nite we watched Little Children with Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley. Got oscar nominations for the two of them. Interesting movie. I liked it but it was entirely different than what i'd expected. Rent it - and for those of you with kids - it is not for their viewing.
The Pursuit of Happyness we rented that week before last and while it is ultimately a happy ending - wow - it was a little rough - a little hard to watch if you ask me - very depressing. Great message and all but by the time the payoff at the end came I was happy to see it over. I guess I'd prefer something a little less real.
The Queen last weekend's rental and a definite great movie. Very interesting to see what was going on - or at least what the movie showed happening behind the scenes at the palace in the wake of Princess Diana's death. Get it.
So other than watching a movie today i was just a lazy mom. One child is not home for this mother's day and the other one is busy doing homework and that's fine with me. She's here and that makes me happy. I just had the other child home for a quick visit so that will have to suffice. My mother is coming over and we're going to enjoy some our dinner cooked by my husband who always tries his best to take over all my duties on mother's day - so i can have a day off. I think i'm going to help him out a little with dinner just so we eat tonite. He actually cooks quite well however getting it all to appear on the table at the same time - in my mind at least - takes years of practice. He can do it all, and quite fine but i don't mind helping him so he's not completely stressed out over it. He doesnt complain - it is his idea in fact to do it each year - and i think he actually enjoys doing it all. His own dear mother passed away a few years back and I think it makes him feel good to do it for me and my mom.
And then later - after my mom has gone home - we have a date to watch Survivor - tonite is the finale. I don't know if you watch but we do and this year has been extra good!
I'm rooting very hard for Yao Man - i just love him to bits! here's a link
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor14/survivors/yau_man.shtml
if you watched only one show of this years survivor you'd think - hey this is an old guy. he'll be going home in no time. I had no idea he is as young as he is - only 55. And is he wily. What a smart guy not to mention clever and athletic! well gotta go... talk to you soon

asbestos fingers and charming insanity

so sometimes you find you are just too busy to be bloggin.

that's sorta true lately round here
to be bloggin i find i have to:

1. be in the mood
2. have something i wanna talk about
3. have some time to deal with the method of bloggin (for the most part blogger is most cooperative but every once in a while....)
4. and its nice if i have some kind of photo or something to add

so in keeping with the above list

1. i'm sorta in the mood
2. have nothing really to talk about but we know that never stopped me
3. i just sent my son on back down south (he's working this summer as well as taking some classes) as well as having baked and cooked this morning (more on that in a minute) so i have some lovely free time
4. and i actually have a photo of something i made semi-recently to share

first of all the temperatures are quite annoying here yesterday and today - we're heading in to the 80's again today. i am not a fan of warm weather - at all. I like spring time. i feel i got rooked this year. winter, a few teaser spring days, and some evil hot days already... and now we're pressing right on into summertime temps. yuk. but that is the way it is so....

I decided I'd do the real cooking for our dinner this morning in an effort to keep things a little cooler round here come dinner time. One would think with all the windows we have in this house and its fairly open floor plan the circulation would be good - just open the windows and things would be comfortable - but not so. (when the summer really gets rollin i have to have the AC on prior to noon to have any hope the house will be cool )I think the high ceilings are to blame but i digress.

I cooked up a whole batch of meatballs (we'll have salad, pasta and garlic bread added to that - but no sauce - trust me - its good) and baked some of my chocolate chip brownies (here's the recipe: take a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough made from the tollhouse recipe on the nestles chip bag - dump it in a 9x13 pan, bake for around 25 minutes at 350 and voila - yummy brownies.) i finished all that by 10:30 am. My son's ride showed up and i entertained her while he packed his things in the car and they were off. I finished cleaning up in the kitchen, threw on some more laundry (isn't there always some of that?) and here i am.

I was in a swap recently with some dear friends - a charm swap. I've done a goodly variety of swapping in my day but never a charm swap. Well i must say that there were some pretty gorgeous creations - all very talented women, my fellow swappers. Here's a picture of mine. Note the paper plate - a lovely way to display your fine art pieces.

I used a die (of a slide mount) to cut out some shrink plastic that i had already inked with blue. then i separated the pieces and stamped on them using a lovely floral background stamp from Stampinup and a face stamp by renaissance art stamps. Then i put the pieces in the oven to bake and shrink. Well whenever i get these bright ideas i never quite realize until i am in the midst of it how insane it will really get. One would think that the pieces would fit back together but people i am here to tell you that shrink plastic is an imperfect art. And you can fit a rectangle into a square if you work it right. and have asbestos fingers.

i added some sugar dust all around and a flower bead at the top (and my version of a jump ring out of wire - not shown in pic above - cos no jump ring known to man - or any store in the greater leesburg area- will fit thru that damn bead.... i am wire impaired - we'll just leave it at that).

so you can see why i haven't blogged in a bit - my burned fingers and relative insanity after finishing those charms.
off to change a load of laundry - see you sooner than later

various and sundry

things
thats what i've been doing
stuff.
rest assured i'm still here
i did make a card for my sister for her sage advice last week
frankie the cat was about to be renamed
"mr. sneeze-a-lot"
i was beginning to worry as he didn't seem quite himself (on a regular day his alias is "krazy kitty" cos he's zooming around here making a regular silly pest of himself)
so i called my sister (you would if your sister was a vet, right?)
and after discussing mr. sneeze-a-lot's symptoms she reassured me he'd be fine
so i sent her this silly little card from frankie
I used alphas from www.purpleoniondesigns.com as well as dot stamp from Hero Arts and this cute Cuttlebug die (I ran it through my zipemate.. with a little effort it worked!)
Over the weekend we rented the movie "Notes on a Scandal"
now that was a pretty amazing movie. Dark - yes. Not cheery subject matter but the story was tightly written and no filler - i hate it when there seems to be superfluous stuff in a movie - you know that added fluff that just makes it longer? well none of that here. REally wonderful performances in that movie - we were riveted from the very moment it started to the last second of the movie.

Not a great week

here in Virginia

I won't belabor the topic

Suffice it to say i am grateful my son decided against transferring to Virginia Tech for this year.

God works in mysterious ways.

If you lived here in Virginia you would notice the great pride we take in our schools. Everyone has a bumper sticker or license plate holder for the school their child attends or they themselves have attended.

Particularly in the fall, I notice alot of UVA and Tech decals - flags for the schools when a big game is being played. Now I'm noticing those Tech banners and flags going up around the neighborhood but its for a much different reason.

It is heartbreaking and makes you want to hug your children or call them (like I did on Monday) so they know just how much you love them.

Anyway today I worked on a scrapbook page - see the Suzy link to your right.

And then I decided I'd go pick up a few

Frosty's from Wendy's and head over to my Mom's

When I was a kid we didn't have any McDonald's - seriously - there were none in the NY/NJ area until much later.

We did however, have Wetson's - a small chain of burger places and they had shakes. (They went out of business I believe in the late 60's)

Nowadays people do fast food without much thought - but back then - with a family of four kids - we didn't do fast food often. It was a big deal to go out to eat in the first place.

When we'd go we'd pick up the burgers and we'd go home and my Mom would make her own shakes - of course we'd want the ones from the Wetson's thinking they'd be so delicious, right? Well I remember we got the shakes once and they were pretty awful. My Mom's concoction, however, was dee-lish. (My mom is the best cook on the planet - just so you know. Everyone says it, so it's not just me.)

My Mom would make her shakes here and there over the years. I never found anything that tasted remotely like it until one day my husband and I decided to get a Wendy's Frosty.

Yum. Now they have a vanilla version but the original chocolate Frosty is what I'm talkin about. I think somehow Wendy's musta found out how my Mom made her shakes because they taste so much like hers its amazing. She used a lot of ice cream and chocolate syrup and milk and a blender. Totally, sinfully delicious.

So today I thought she and I could both use a Frosty.

Five years ago today my brother passed away.

He also loved her shakes and her cooking.

And I think he'd love it that we were just sitting around, talkin about the world, eating Frosty's.

We didn't even need to talk about him - it was an unsaid, given thing.

Kwim?

Now i've heard it all

I got a call from my daughter about an hour ago

She called me from school -

I knew it was something important because they're not allowed to used cell phones on school property - except if its an emergency kinda thang

They just cancelled school

No - we didn't have snow

We have

W-I-N-D

I think it's official

I've heard it all

Now i appreciate they are trying to be cautious

There are a few schools in the counties surrounding the Washington DC area that have cancelled school today because they lost power

My daughter said they haven't lost power

They're just worried about the severe winds

And they are severe

The wind is absolutely howling outside and it might get up to 60 miles per hour today

We aren't expecting any tornadoes or anything

I guess i just don't get it

They must be really worried however

My daughter was supposed to go on a field trip to the National Gallery today - they had 10 busloads of high school kids going on that trip. The Gallery is about an hour from here - maybe a half hour from the school (not sure on that)

My daughter was a little bummed about not going downtown - she was really looking forward to hitting the gallery today

But she was more bummed about missing the after school stuff - working on sets for the musical at school.

Me - it actually works out fine for me. I needed to take her to pick up her eyeglasses - and the kid has such a full schedule that doesn't coincide with the doctors office we didn't know when we'd get there - so bonus for me.

Anyway - this weekend we were sposed to be doing a yard sale - i did a lot of prep work for that sale but for reasons that are too lengthy i won't bother to post it all. Suffice it to say i have sectioned off a space in my house to put the yard sale stuff and we'll do it another weekend.

We did have time to rent a wonderful movie this weekend.

If you have a chance, rent "Bobby".

I loved this movie

Maybe because of my age - I actually remember his running for President and his being assassinated. But it is just a wonderful movie. Tons of history woven into a fictional account of that last day before he arrived at the hotel. Great acting, great story. Just amazing movie. Go get it.

I also had a chance to make some Thank You notes. I needed to send one to my brother-in-law and his wife for a lovely Easter dinner. Daughter needed to send a few for gifts she received for her birthday. I pulled out a quickutz Goosebumpz die for the Thank You and added some Chatterbox paper and ribbon. These were quick to make and did the job nicely.

Hope you all are having a non-windy day wherever you are.

"Don't know if I ever told you bout Old Reliable"

Do you remember Trusty in "Lady and the Tramp"? He was the bloodhound with the southern accent and he always said "don't know if i told you bout Old Reliable"

Well here is my "Old Reliable".

It's a coffee pot.

My parents used this coffee pot for years.

My Dad did not cook but he made some great coffee in this here pot.

And I took it when they put it up for grabs.

I love this old pot - for the memories it holds for me and the great coffee it can still make.

And thank goodness I have it.

We drink a lot of coffee around here. It seems like all the automatic coffee makers made these days don't last very long. I think i get a little over a year out of the ones I've bought. I don't ever buy the de-luxe models. I did that once and I'll never do it again. They wear out as quickly as the $20.00 Proctor Silex or Black & Decker ones that last a year. Last time we had a coffee pot conk out on us I decided to try the Mr. Coffee version. Well that Mr. Coffee lasted the longest of all. I was just thinking the other day how that coffeemaker must be 2 years old. Quite remarkable really. And I also thought - it's gonna conk out on me soon.

Well today was soon. I got up as usual at 5:30. Went downstairs. Got the coffeemaker all set up and turned it on and set about getting the kitties their food. I was about to leave the kitchen (to take care of the litter) and I realized the coffee hadn't started brewing. Darn!

Out comes "Old Reliable".

You see I need my coffee.

Old Reliable doesnt need to get plugged in. You do need to boil some water. Old Reliable has a permanent filter you just fill up with coffee grounds. You put Old Reliable together, pour the water in and it begins to drip drip drip. It makes wonderfully delicious, reliable, coffee.

So of course on todays list of things to do is make a trip out to purchase a new coffeemaker.

I got a Mr. Coffee again, natch. See how pretty?

Then I came home and washed and dried out Old Reliable. I put it back up on top of the refrigerator where it will sit, waiting patiently for its next opportunity to be my Old Reliable.

Peep Show

i promised the update on the Peeps Diorama Contest run by the Washington Post.
The winner and finalists are all shown here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/070402/GAL-07Apr02-69859/index.html
the related story is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/05/AR2007040501976.html
my personal favorites :
Dream Peeps - so simple and just so perfect
and
Soylent Green is Peeps
how great is that! (obviously the winner is amazing but Soylent Green is just too perfect isn't it? i mean did you see how the peeps went in and then they are coming out green - toooooo funny. If you've never seen the movie -which is horrid btw- you're just not gonna get it... )
I am going to have to consider entering next year - you should too!

i love your face

well actually i love this face
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601986.html
it's an article about the birthday (anniversary?) of Helvetica
i love Helvetica
When i was in school, as a graphic arts student, one of the classes i took was typography.
We'd do all kinds of projects using type
And, inevitably, i'd choose Helvetica
I couldn't seem to help myself
I know my professor got a little frustrated with me
I was totally infatuated
My friend Boo seemed to love anything with serifs
I thought she was crazy - serifs were a stinker to draw
(remember back in the day - and these were the days - we didn't use computers for any of this graphic art shtuff - there were typesetting machines - but not in college thats for sure)
Ah - but Helvetica is sans serif
and although I could do the serifs, none of my designs lent themselves to serifs
no - i was definitely a sans serif kinda girl
After reading the article, I felt vindicated
After all these years, it's nice to know I am not the only one who loves Helvetica
I dearly wish i could get to the MoMA and take a look at that original set of lead

Easter Images for you

Just like she did for St. Patrick's Day - Lisa Vollrath is sharing some wonderful images on her site - check them out here:

http://www.tentwostudios.com/countdown/

i love the other sites she has now too - how about that one called
Go Make Something http://www.gomakesomething.com/
- one of my favorite phrases :-)
tons of cool stuff there.

we're expecting snow here in Virginia.
Is that not ridiculous or what?
Have a wonderful Easter everyone

Birthday Tourii

About 16 years ago today i was feeling pretty lousy - i'd been sent home from my obgyn's office. He didnt think i'd deliver for a few days - it was a Thursday and the dr said why don't we see you on Monday - thinking if i made it through til then well then we'd induce. By April 4th, 1991 i was already 4 days past due.

Like i said i was feelin pretty crummy and the feeling didnt go away. By the time we decided to go to the hospital (a 45 minute drive) and had the person who was watching our son in place - well we barely made it in time. This kid was trying to be born on the drive to the hospital and she barely waited for the doctor to arrive. After all these years i still find it amazing the doctor took so long getting to the hospital. He lived around the corner - but I guess he didnt think i was really ready. Everyone was telling me to hold on - wait for the doctor - but my Lizziebelle. She didn't want any part of that. She appeared at about 11:40 pm. Thee most gorgeous little pink bundle there ever was. I'm getting all misty just thinking about it. Lizziebelle and i were talking just yesterday about her birth - and how the experience of bringing her and her brother into the world was unmatched. Nothing will ever surpass it - for her Dad and me.

OK... I'll stop now :-)

So today we are on spring break and seeing the birthday girl's week is pretty much spoken for (between eye dr. and orthodontist appointments and friend commitments) today was the day we decided we'd go into Washington, DC and take in the Cherry Blossoms and possibly a few of the memorials we wanted to see.

Yes - we are a wild family.

What can i say - we like this stuff.

Unfortunately Mother Nature had plans of her own.

Yesterday it was 81 degrees and glorious

Today was maybe 50 - cold and overcast and it had rained bigtime in DC overnite.

But we are troopers.

We made plans and we were stickin' to'em

We hit the Washington monument (didn't go in - just walked around it to get to the stuff on our list )

The World War II memorial. This is very impressive. When it was being planned and built we kept reading about it in the Washington Post. And it was better than I imagined. Just a beautiful, very meaningful memorial.

At the edge of it is water leading to the big reflecting pool

You know the Reflecting Pool

The big body of water in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Ok ... did you see Forest Gump?

Oh THAT body of water...

Okay so you can walk all along the reflecting pool up to the Lincoln Memorial which was our next stop. Here we are - Birthday Tourii at the Lincoln Memorial.

See the long distance between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln.

Think - sore tootsies.

No

Sore calves.

Before we did the Lincoln we walked over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This one always gets me pulling out my tissues. I wore a POW bracelet for years. Some years back we finally went to see this memorial for the first time. They have books set up so you can look up a name you want to find. It lists the location of the name on the wall as well as the birth date and date of death. For all the years i'd worn this man's bracelet i'd always assumed he'd returned home - but i never could find his name listed in the newspaper as troops returned home. Well i was devastated to find his name asterisked as MIA. So today i went looking for him and took a photo of his name on the wall. and i had a little cry. If you could just be there - see all the flowers and photos (laminated with a little write up by some loving family or friend) sitting up against it - well you couldn't help but cry. It is very moving. This photo is from a distance.

We moved on to the Korean War memorial which is also quite impressive - all these statues of soldiers walking. It is something to see. They are life sized. Just past the scope of this photo off to the right is a marble wall with etchings of photos from the time - all faces of people - soldiers, nurses - it is haunting.

Last but not least are the Cherry Blossoms. Quite a big deal here dontchaknow. Warnings on every newscast (presumably for tourii visiting the area? also for ma-roons who live here I suspect) that the National Park service begs you not to climb on them (duh - but people actually put their children in the trees to take photos! i kid you not) and certainly do not pick the blossoms off - You will be fined. (big fines - $500) We were walking along and i heard some woman say to her small boy - don't do that (i didnt see what he was doing) - the Park Ranger is gonna get you. I thought to myself don't give the Park Rangers a bad name. Be a parent. Tell them not to do it because they shouldn't for heavenssake! (Can you tell i have some Park Rangers in my family?)
So it was an exhausting day. We walked for probably 4 hours. I need a nap before cake and ice cream with my birthday girl.

some fun listening

so i was reading the post yesterday (i read the washington post everyday - as if you didn't figure that out already) and there was a review of a concert The Nellie McKay Show
here's the link to the review
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802217.html
they made it sound like so much fun. It was being recorded by NPR so i thought why not hop on over to NPR and see if i could listen.
If you don't mind some bad words :-) and like some clever song writing and a little bit of crazy thrown in you might just enjoy the show. I found it extremely entertaining (and it was great accompaniment whilst i was working on some pages). Here's a link to the NPR site
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9044009
You can listen in Real Audio or Windows Media. I tried the download but it didn't seem to work.
Enjoy!

Sanjaya - cut, fold, crumple and squash

I enjoy American Idol. I love Melinda - she's my favorite although I wonder if she can win - a discussion for another day. But Sanjaya. This strangeness needs to leave the show. Of course if he leaves then there is little to make fun of - but i digress.
Yesterday, the Washington Post had a hilarious article in their Style section. I meant to post this yesterday and forgot. So for your amusement please visit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/daily/graphics/sanjaya_032707/sanjaya.html
At the end of the article you'll see a link to print and fold your own Sanjaya paper doll. This is what they had in the paper - i plan to crumple and squash mine tonite as i watch him survive yet another elimination. When i watched last night i wondered which worthy contestant (who won't win but should have had a few more weeks in them) will be sacrificed in his place. The last 2 weeks i felt bad for Brandon and Stephanie. Apparently when you are in the top 10 you get to go on the road for the American Idol tour - those 2 won't have their chance at a years worth of work because this kid made it into the top 10. Whether its that votefortheworst.com or Howard Stern urging his listeners to vote for Sanjaya - it still is a shame.

DANG - the stamp

My friend Annie needed a stamp.

Well need is a strong word

She thought she had a stamp that said dang

But it said bang

So she was dang-less

I felt it my responsibility to fill that dang need

so I carved her a dang stamp

here's a dang sample

of her dang stamp