Today, I was supposed to go to Miss Mollie's in Medina with my Art Gang buddies, after which there will be bead shop exploring and all kinds of fun. However, I'm not even entirely sure I can get out of my driveway. There is the road in front of the house, enticingly clear, and my car is mired in snow. Must get the boy to do some shoveling when he wakes. Jeannene managed to get out this morning, just barely, at 6 to go in to work and her tale of woe about getting out was not encouraging. I am also a little gun-shy of the roads after very nearly wiping out on 71 Thursday. I am not eager to have another experience of 360s across the road and ending up the wrong direction & practically in the median. It might not end up as well this time. So, I will miss the fun and remain content to relax with my kitties and a good book. I am positively plowing through Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor. It's about the mother-daughter relationship, the fear of aging & the angst of not knowing what to do with your life, set among their travels to holy spots in Greece & France, with some time spent at home in Charleston, as well.
It makes me think of my own relationship with my mama, and how very blessed I am to have gotten the mom I did. I have been calling her a lot lately. So very glad they have a phone now. I want to start writing letters to her more often again. We were in the bookstore last night and, while drooling over art magazines that cost way more than I feel I ought to pay for a magazine, I saw an article about collaged correspondence. It appeals tremendously. I used to make so much more time for art when I was in my 20s. I think if I ever get my studio organized, it will help me make art more often. It seems as though we will never decide whether we're going to make Jeff move upstairs or not, so things remain in limbo for now. Having a dedicated space and all my supplies easily accessible would make it effortless...no hauling things down to the dining room & then back up. I would also like to prep a journal for use later. I always write and think I will add art later, but why not pre-decorate the pages so it's a seamless process?
I have had a busy week, with my first UPCaM board meeting, Lenten study, travel to Dayton and all my usual work, as well. It's been a lot of fun, but it does feel good to have a Saturday just to be home and spend time with books and magazines. I got the new Rachael Ray issue last night, as well as the Studios that Lou is in. It's fun to see my friends featured in magazines and Lou is just so cool. Her artwork is wonderful and it gives me a good excuse to pick up the magazine and get ideas for my own art space. I should get my nose out of the computer and printed media so I can have something to eat, but I haven't yet decided what sounds good. Yesterday was an all-round bad food day after my yum bagel at Amy's, so I am hoping things will be better today. I should just have given in to my impulse to treat myself to lunch at The Winds before really hitting the road, but I was worried about snow piling up and the roads being impossible. I very much wanted to get home to see Jeannene, so I opted for a sandwich from KFC. It was not that great and the fries tasted like rubber. Not a rubbery texture, but an actual undertaste of rubber. I threw them away. Then, I tried an appetizer from Arby's, loaded potato bites. They were floppy and overly artificial-tasting. I should have just gotten potato cakes. My caramel macchiato (for staying awake on the road) and Earl Grey tea from Starbucks were fine...the Earl Grey was the most delicious thing I ingested all day. Then, we went to dinner at The Winking Lizard, where Jeannene indulged in her weekly fish meal, very tasty fried haddock, while I tried to choke down a thoroughly dry and flavorless (not to mention overly-chewy) steak and cheese sandwich. I simply couldn't do it. Usually, the food there is good, but this just wasn't. A shame. We had a marvelous time just being together, though.
Crocker Park was a glorious beauty of a snowglobe when we stopped by there to pick up Jeff and his friend from the movies. We hung out at the bookstore while their movie (his fourth trip to see Avatar since they couldn't get into their first choice---it is encouraging that movies are selling out---and he is bored of it) finished up. Jeannene had been up since 5:30 and had to get up at 6 today, so she dozed in an armchair until the kids came while I prowled the store. Neither was wearing a coat (it seems coats are as disdained now as when I was a teenager) and she had a mini-skirt on. I was cold just looking at them! I am so tired of having to bundle up before going out and Disney looms large on the horizon, saying, "Just hang in until Easter and you will be warm!" I do hope their cold winter doesn't mean that Typhoon Lagoon is too chilly for us when we go. It's funny how very excited Amy and I are getting about Disney. I never expected to love it so much. I think a large part of that is exactly what a woman I was talking to the other night said, "When you're there, there are no worries. It's like the outside world doesn't exist." It's nice to have a little mental break from reality every now and again. Amy and I are plotting how to do 2 parks in one day and are also planning to sneak in a Savannah overnight on the way home. Yippee! Seeing my cousins will be wonderful & something about Savannah just feeds my soul.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunshine's the Perfect Cure
A lot of folks I know suffer horribly from the Monday blues. While many of my pastor buddies gleefully welcome Monday as their personal Sabbath time, most of my otherwise-employed friends begin to dread Monday sometime on Sunday morning. Jeannene has been known to begin the vigil Saturday night. However, I think spirits might be a little brighter this morning due to the gorgeous sunlight sparkling on the snow! My heart is singing and I almost thought I saw little glittery fairies dancing on our front walk as I waved Jeannene off to work this morning! The blue sky and bright sun are such an oddity for February in Cleveland. All of us are so used to everything being various muted shades of grey that this is a real treat. Maybe Ma Nature is celebrating the Saints win last night. Hee hee.
Today is a day of rest and reading for me. I have made some spectacular dill-artichoke potato salad and am immersing myself in "The Christian Century" until it's time to go tutor. The weekend was pretty crazy. Jeannene's dad passed away on the 31st and we traveled to his funeral in Pennsylvania with the boys. Boot had come to spend a few days with us and helped Jeannene put together a photo board. I think the time together was healing for them both. We usually only get to see him once a month, with his busy wrestling schedule, so it was nice to have a bit of an extended visit. However, the circumstances were sad. Jeannene's dad was in his 80s and has been ill for quite some time, but it's never easy to say goodbye to someone you love. Travis was a good guy and really loved his family. It was also hard coming so close on the heels of funeral after funeral. Jeannene's mom has only been gone since All Saints' Day 2008, we lost her wonderful, sweet nephew last July, her sister-in-law's sister passed in September and Jeannene's aunt Georgia in December. It's too much. The last time I saw most of the family was at Grant's funeral in July. It was good to see everyone and I'm glad we get to see them in Cincinnati in a couple of weeks for a memorial dinner, but I am planning to have a big party or something so that we can see them under happier circumstances. Maybe for my 40th in July. Such an exciting occasion certainly deserves a big party. It was fun, too, finally to get to meet Jeannene's old school friends, about whom I've heard so many stories.
After we dropped Boot off at his dad's house, we headed home with Pie, who was thrilled to be able to retire to his bedroom and lose himself in video world. He is never happy to be in social situations like that and especially not for a funeral. I could feel his relief as we walked through the door. After a little while on his own, he brought his games up so that Jeannene could see. It was fun to hear them commenting on the play & to see the armor he chose to outfit his character with. After awhile, Jeannene and I headed out to The Cheesecake Factory for a late supper. It was a fitting end to Travis' funeral. He loved to cook for everyone and he was great at it. He loved food, loved hearing about it, talking about it, preparing it, eating it. It's how he showed he cared and his daughter has inherited that trait. We started with some fried artichoke hearts, which were delicious, and then both of us chose chicken dishes. I actually ended up choosing for Jeannene because she just couldn't. So she had some kind of Italian chicken cutlet, with prosciutto wrapped around it, served on basil pasta. It was quite good. I fell back on the crispy chicken costoletta, which is reliably good, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus. There was so much that we're both eating it for lunch today.
Church was great. We were back in the youth room after spending January with the adult class during their sessions on the Bible & homosexuality. We watched "For The Bible Tells Me So" in four sections and had discussion time. It was good yesterday to have some space for the kids to talk about their impressions without the limits imposed by being in the adult class. We also got to talk about some upcoming events. I'll be teaching the next session in our spiritual practices series at the end of the month instead of this coming Sunday because they all want to be present for it, which is encouraging. I am presenting on creativity as prayer and have some collage time planned. I really need several hours for this session, so it will probably spill over into Youth time. I think we'll have a lot of fun & I hope they'll get some useful tools for their own spiritual lives. I haven't decided if I want them to work on illustrated discovery journals or altered books yet, but am leaning toward altered books. I guess we could always do ATCs. Maybe I'll just give them the option to do any of the three.
Worship was good, as well, and I got to sit with some of my favorite people during coffee hour. After we visited a bit, I hurried home so that Jeannene and I could make the library book sale. We had a grand time & came home with 3 big paper sacks of books for $6. Yippee! We hit the grocery, as well, although I stayed in the car because I was feeling ill. Once home, we just hung out together, looking at her old family pictures and snacking on boneless wings. We half-watched the Super Bowl for the first half of the game. Once we got past halftime, I really wanted to settle in and get serious about watching, so I did that while Jeannene made taco fixings. It's so nice to have lots of vegan possibilities for Pie. He has gotten sick of baked tofu, finally and I think the vegan tacos were a welcome change. I was so excited by the Saints' interception and big run for the touchdown that I was hootin' & hollerin' like crazy. Pie was a bit puzzled as to why an otherwise sensible person would be so into the game, especially since I don't normally follow football. But I have always had a soft spot for the Saints since they're from New Orleans and have such a cool name. Ha ha! I pick my teams based on where they're from & the coolness oif their names. I've liked the Saints for years. I also like Tampa Bay and the Titans, who moved to Nashville from Houston while I was living there.
Today is a day of rest and reading for me. I have made some spectacular dill-artichoke potato salad and am immersing myself in "The Christian Century" until it's time to go tutor. The weekend was pretty crazy. Jeannene's dad passed away on the 31st and we traveled to his funeral in Pennsylvania with the boys. Boot had come to spend a few days with us and helped Jeannene put together a photo board. I think the time together was healing for them both. We usually only get to see him once a month, with his busy wrestling schedule, so it was nice to have a bit of an extended visit. However, the circumstances were sad. Jeannene's dad was in his 80s and has been ill for quite some time, but it's never easy to say goodbye to someone you love. Travis was a good guy and really loved his family. It was also hard coming so close on the heels of funeral after funeral. Jeannene's mom has only been gone since All Saints' Day 2008, we lost her wonderful, sweet nephew last July, her sister-in-law's sister passed in September and Jeannene's aunt Georgia in December. It's too much. The last time I saw most of the family was at Grant's funeral in July. It was good to see everyone and I'm glad we get to see them in Cincinnati in a couple of weeks for a memorial dinner, but I am planning to have a big party or something so that we can see them under happier circumstances. Maybe for my 40th in July. Such an exciting occasion certainly deserves a big party. It was fun, too, finally to get to meet Jeannene's old school friends, about whom I've heard so many stories.
After we dropped Boot off at his dad's house, we headed home with Pie, who was thrilled to be able to retire to his bedroom and lose himself in video world. He is never happy to be in social situations like that and especially not for a funeral. I could feel his relief as we walked through the door. After a little while on his own, he brought his games up so that Jeannene could see. It was fun to hear them commenting on the play & to see the armor he chose to outfit his character with. After awhile, Jeannene and I headed out to The Cheesecake Factory for a late supper. It was a fitting end to Travis' funeral. He loved to cook for everyone and he was great at it. He loved food, loved hearing about it, talking about it, preparing it, eating it. It's how he showed he cared and his daughter has inherited that trait. We started with some fried artichoke hearts, which were delicious, and then both of us chose chicken dishes. I actually ended up choosing for Jeannene because she just couldn't. So she had some kind of Italian chicken cutlet, with prosciutto wrapped around it, served on basil pasta. It was quite good. I fell back on the crispy chicken costoletta, which is reliably good, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus. There was so much that we're both eating it for lunch today.
Church was great. We were back in the youth room after spending January with the adult class during their sessions on the Bible & homosexuality. We watched "For The Bible Tells Me So" in four sections and had discussion time. It was good yesterday to have some space for the kids to talk about their impressions without the limits imposed by being in the adult class. We also got to talk about some upcoming events. I'll be teaching the next session in our spiritual practices series at the end of the month instead of this coming Sunday because they all want to be present for it, which is encouraging. I am presenting on creativity as prayer and have some collage time planned. I really need several hours for this session, so it will probably spill over into Youth time. I think we'll have a lot of fun & I hope they'll get some useful tools for their own spiritual lives. I haven't decided if I want them to work on illustrated discovery journals or altered books yet, but am leaning toward altered books. I guess we could always do ATCs. Maybe I'll just give them the option to do any of the three.
Worship was good, as well, and I got to sit with some of my favorite people during coffee hour. After we visited a bit, I hurried home so that Jeannene and I could make the library book sale. We had a grand time & came home with 3 big paper sacks of books for $6. Yippee! We hit the grocery, as well, although I stayed in the car because I was feeling ill. Once home, we just hung out together, looking at her old family pictures and snacking on boneless wings. We half-watched the Super Bowl for the first half of the game. Once we got past halftime, I really wanted to settle in and get serious about watching, so I did that while Jeannene made taco fixings. It's so nice to have lots of vegan possibilities for Pie. He has gotten sick of baked tofu, finally and I think the vegan tacos were a welcome change. I was so excited by the Saints' interception and big run for the touchdown that I was hootin' & hollerin' like crazy. Pie was a bit puzzled as to why an otherwise sensible person would be so into the game, especially since I don't normally follow football. But I have always had a soft spot for the Saints since they're from New Orleans and have such a cool name. Ha ha! I pick my teams based on where they're from & the coolness oif their names. I've liked the Saints for years. I also like Tampa Bay and the Titans, who moved to Nashville from Houston while I was living there.
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