Wordless Wednesday

{Virtual Coffee}

If we were meeting for coffee today I would want a long, tall, cold one. I would tell you my hot flashes seemed to have stepped up and I would never have believed I could be left panting with virtually no effort on my part. On Sunday we took Riley to Cars 2 and I sat in the ice box of a cinema and swam around in my chair in a pool of sweat.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that last week I went for a massage, the first one in a few years. Normally I don't really like anyone touching me like that and I think I have put up mental blocks other times on the table but I think I found a master healer in Maria. When it was over I felt inches taller and more clear headed than I have ever felt. She took years of stress and tension out of my body and I am so grateful I gave this gift to myself to start off our summer.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you (finally) my repainted bathroom.

I would tell you about this "student" company I hired to do the job and how much of a rip off it turned out to be. Sloppy work, disrespectful painters walking around my house and it will likely have to be redone in a year because of the lack of preparation but I am just going to live with it right now and enjoy the clean look. I had a follow up call this week from the company for feedback on the project and I gave them an earful, so I now feel closure with all this.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you about this ridiculous bag of chips I found, bought and ate.

Each chip was heavily coated - and I don't even particularly like ketchup.

And while we were talking about food I would tell you that Riley had his first Gigi's pizza last week and you would agree that there is nothing better than Gigi's.

If we were meeting for coffee today you would ooooh and aaaah over some treasures I brought home from my mother's recently. With her upcoming marriage and move to another city, she is clearing out some of her baggage. While my sister left with the grandfather clock and her cedar chest, I would say I think I got the better deal when I scored her button box

skeleton keys

and her box of lace bits

Isn't that butterfly smocking amazing?

Then of course there was the metal Craven A box (love the black cat)

My father's wedding ring she bequeathed to Riley

ditto the Limoges plate

I remembered my grandmother wearing this cameo often so I claimed it

and it was a toss up over her two Hummel figures so I let my sister choose hers first. Mine came with the embroidered Linens cloth.

Even though I have no idea what I am going to do with all this stuff, I would tell you that the memories from my childhood are thick in it. And instead of making me feel old, I feel proud to have come from an era where care was taken in manufacturing and the packaging of a product was meant to last almost forever.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you my first pair of El Naturalistas.

which came to me in a whole mad-cap caper kind of way, thanks to The Queen of Arts. I saw these in a local store but the $174 price tag (over $200 with tax) made me choke. Online I scored them for $114 but the catch was the company doesn't deliver to Canada. So The Queen (and her amazing Dave) stepped in to accept them and ferry them all the way to me on their last trip here. Woot!

And before we headed over to Amy's to see what she has cooking today, I would show you our first seasonal buttercup which Riley pointed out to me this morning whilst my own brain was already five miles ahead of where I actually was.

Kids are great for bringing you back to center. Oooh, look Amy at Lucky Number 13 has left her sidewalk chalk outside, let's go and draw something naughty!

Am I The Only One?

Who ...

- wipes the table after a meal (or before)

- ditto the stove and counter tops

- notices the trash pail needs to be cleaned and cleans it

- vacuums

- gets rid of stuff

- picks up and puts away loose clothing and shoes

- changes the sheets

- ditto the toilet paper and paper towel rolls

- buys toilet paper, tissues and paper towels without fanfare

- locks the door at night

- gives a damn

- closes the window when the rain is coming in

- bears the brunt

- puts gas in the tank

- makes sure the homework is done, the bathing suits and soccer shoes fit

- empties the dishwasher

- cries alone in frustration

- hides her favourite desserts (so she can be sure there will be some left when she is finished doing all of the above)?

No, no, I didn't think so.

Friday Haiku

The cleansing power

of rain is misunderstood.

Go outside and dance.

Somewhere...

...over the rainbows....

Today was "that" kind of day. Riley and I saw two rainbows tonight, the first was jaw-dropping but I was driving and as such couldn't document it other than in my heart. The second was during supper when I ran out into a thunderstorm with my point and shoot whilst the sun was shining (talk about wacky weather). And even though I boosted the colour a bit in photoshop here, this second rainbow was the rare, full kind where you could see both ends. Rainbows are magic and transient and make you want to run up and down the street ringing everyone's doorbell so you can share it. I love "that" kind of days.

Wordless Wednesday

{Virtual Coffee}

Oh my, it feels like so long since we've sat down for coffee. I've been just going through things, living life, trying to find a way to better manage my time but I think this is just a cycle where I am learning more about myself and that I will find some balance when and as it moves forward. If we were meeting for coffee today I would first tell you about my coffee meeting last Tuesday with The Queen of Arts a.k.a. The Rock Fairy.

We sat outside and had a little friend come and share our crumbs.

The Queen and I are connected in ways that defy words so it is always a healing time when we see each other in person and just talk. She talked me through my perfect day and it was an interesting experience getting all the details down. I am learning it is important to have the details when you are building a dream.

The details in these iced coffees, which is how we ended our time together, include a bit of vanilla soft ice cream and mocha syrup.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you I have been feeling bouts of complete hopelessness. Where my stomach sinks low and my head expands in grief about how hard this life can be. I would tell you how scary this is and how necessary it is to talk about it because I think a lot of people feel that way from time to time and just acknowledging it makes me aware of how transitional the feelings are. I might put it down to aging which is a subject that has also been hitting me hard lately. I am learning lessons about loving my body the way it is without trying to fix its brokenness. And about the awareness behind what I choose to put in it. (I might leave out how, by 9:20 a.m. I have already put in two chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.) I would also confess that I feel like I'm evolving into a proper eccentric old crone.

I might tell you that I darkened the doorway of a Wal-Mart recently, something I haven't done in well over a year. I would tell you I was looking for an inexpensive bowl - something I needed for a pot-luck and something I wouldn't mind leaving behind if I had to. And to my surprise I found this beautiful red plastic bowl for under two dollars.

But the best part was that it was made in the USA and NOT in China. Thumbs up for Wal-Mart this week.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you Eyesore #2 which appeared in my backyard one afternoon.

I have already written about Eyesore #1 which, at the time, was simply named The Eyesore. I never imagined I would have to start numbering these things. I would ask you how you could live with someone and have such opposite ideas of what is tasteful. And you would agree that since my backyard is small, it really is no place for such a monstrosity. Is it too much to ask to be consulted when choices are made about shared living space?

If we were meeting for coffee today at least one of us would be sneezing a lot as pollen is thick in the air and coating just about everything with orange. I would tell you about a dead bumble bee Riley and I saw and the absolute saddle bags of pollen on his legs

and speculate that this was probably the reason behind his crash landing.

And speaking of crash landings, it would be the perfect segue into telling you how I was called upon to learn how to gift wrap a hula hoop this week.

After not being able to find a gift bag big enough, I tried googling "how do I gift wrap a hula hoop". I don't know if I was more astonished to see there were actually postings about it or that many people (obviously) thought it was worthy of putting out there. And I even delivered it on my bike which completes the circle on the subject of crash landings.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you I reconnected with an old friend this weekend while out on another mission. We used to laugh about how we would likely end up giving each other blue rinses and we drank a lot of tea back in the days.

And I would say that I think we still look like a pair of hot chicklets.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would share that I have dipped deep into animal totems and am finding it such a rich, rich world. I would tell you that some whale medicine has called up multiple bear lessons that I need to heed.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that school lets out in three days and I am going to relish every second of this time of year. I am going to breath and feel and dance and squint up into the sun and then go and sit in the shade with my hot flashes.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you this video

my friend, Cheryl, shared with me before heading over to Amy's at Lucky Number 13 to see if she has the kettle on.

I Ask You...

...OK, it is mid-June here in the northern hemisphere so why, why, I beg, are the maple leaves turning this colour NOW????

Do they know something I don't know?

{Virtual Coffee}

... has been pre-empted by LIFE. It will be back next week.

Virtual Vermut

It's Friday, gosh darn it. Oh my goodness but what a week! And another one ahead of me as I speak. But first I have to mention I am not having a vermut, I am Hpnotiq-ed!

Isn't this just the most delicious shade of blue? I have eyed this in the store for so long and I finally bought a (small) bottle because it is obscenely expensive. And it's a good thing because it's as delicious on the taste buds as it is on the eyes. (vodka, cognac and exotic fruit juices and not at all sweet)

If we were meeting for a vermut tonight I would say that our local pool is now open and Riley got a taste of it after school one day. I was not so brave as it was just filled with a garden hose so you can imagine how cold it is.

But it didn't deter him.

If we were meeting for vermut tonight I would tell you that with the hot weather we've been having I unearthed one of my summer work blouses.

I adore this blouse for many reasons. The colours, of course but the care, oh baby! When you wash it, while it's still wet, you have to roll it up and tie it to the clothes line in order to get that special wrinkly quality back in it. Imagine! A shirt that is supposed to be wrinkled!

If we were meeting for vermut tonight I would dare to show you the blister I got last Sunday planting the veterans flags. I would point out how it is on my middle finger and right at the knuckle. I would tell you how sore it has been and how, because of the placement, I have trouble bending my finger at all which translates into that one finger sticking up in the oddest of circumstances.

I have been (unintentionally) flipping the bird since last Sunday and have gotten quite a few nasty looks in return. Would you fault me if I just laughed?

If we were meeting for vermut tonight I would show you some of the damage from Wednesday night's thunder storm.

I would tell you that I feel like we just zig-zagged through the path of terrible destruction. Like many other locales, we had a series of storms rip through that shook us. I find it odd how after the last few years we have come to accept this freaky weather as normal. Wednesday evening we were on the soccer field and just minutes before the first tear through the coaches cancelled the game, gratefully. We made it home before the worst hit but looking up I could clearly see tornado skies. I realized you no longer have to go to Kansas to experience this and that it has become wrongfully common here. How mother earth is talking back to us. I would ask you if you think, on the whole, we are listening. I would confess that I was sitting on the floor when the most weird thunder clapped and it was more like an earthquake because I would swear that the ground beneath my butt rolled in successive waves and it was unlike any other thunder I have ever experienced before. I would tell you that shortly after it all passed I could hear chain saws whirring long into the night, neighbors helping one another clean up and call up the community that isn't often recognizable on an ordinary day. To think this camaraderie is simmering beneath the surface is truly encouraging.

If we were meeting for a vermut tonight I would say I have been reading about other bloggers' summer reading lists and am thinking about my own. I would tell you I feel like a bit of a grinch making Riley do exercises in preparation for grade 3 and I'm still kind of on the fence about that. But my summer reading list has two B-I-G items on it and I'm hoping others will join in with me to read and occasionally discuss. Here goes: Clarissa Pinkola Estes' "Women Who Run With The Wolves" and Ted Andrews', "Animal Speak". Is anyone up for this?

P.S. I neglected to mention that Virtual Vermut is hosted by Kate over at The Catalan Way, do go and say hello and let her know you enjoyed this vermut!

Wordless Wednesday

{Virtual Coffee}

Hidey Ho Neighbor. If we were meeting chez moi for coffee today I would tell you to bring your own dust mask because I have some painters here doing some plastering (pre-paint prep) and they have made an absolute dust storm in my house.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that the battle is on between Starbucks' Mocha and Second Cup's Mocha Red Eye. I had a mocha red eye yesterday and it made me boogie like I haven't boogied in decades. But I think my alliegance is still to my VentiLowFatMochaHalfSweetEasyWhip and I dare anyone to say that with a straight face. When I order mine I can't keep from laughing it out and I'm sure my barista thinks I'm either nuts or trying to chat him up.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that aging definitely is not for the faint of heart. Lately I feel like I'm falling apart from head to toe. Working my way down, here is a list of my complaints: my hair is limp from hormones or lack thereof, my pinkeye came roaring back this weekend, a couple of my molars have chipped, I have a stiff neck that stretches all the way down through my shoulder and comes out my index finger, I am bloated, constipated, sciatica twitches on my right side and I am having hot flashes AND PMS which really is just all wrong. The mood swings have me swearing so hard that even I am finding myself offensive.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that these make me swoon

and I would show you the newly dug grave in our backyard.

Riley's poor Snaily came to a sorry end on Sunday and did the tears flow. It was his second try at making a garden snail a pet and well, I will just say that I am so glad that it wasn't me who stepped on the thing because I'm not sure I could live with that guilt. Then I would tell you that life picks itself up though and we had another visitor in our garden. I think he is living under our deck where there are plenty of bugs to eat and dank spots to hang out.

And while we were out in the garden I would show you Larry and Curly who are keeping an eye on my tomato plant.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would ask you if you think it's the testosterone factor that makes little sock balls

and drops them all over the house.

And then we would head over to Amy's Lucky Number 13 and see what books she has checked out of the library.