fare thee well

goodbye for now to these busy little beauties; the monarch is now in central america somewhere and the bee...well, to his hive, i guess, to hibeenate. bad joke. sorry.

i really miss these winged critters in the yard and garden. but luckily we have lots of winged finches, chickadees, cardinals, etc., who will hang around en masse as long as we continue to feed them. the little ones especially like shelled sunflower meats and battle for position at the feeders with a vengeance when they're filled with meats--they must know it's instant energy with no wasted calories used for the work of dehusking the seed. we have so many birds at our new house; even the occasional urban hawk will hang around the many feeders in our yard in the depths of january, just waiting to swoop down on a couple ounces of defenseless chickadee.
we are headed to door county this weekend for our annual anniversary get away---b and b, wineries, apples, sour cherry pancakes (i hope), and walking the shore. it's 30 years on the 5th!!

fall is coming to my river

fall started here on sunday. well, i guess it did for all of us--DUH, ev. anyhow, fall is my favorite season, right behind spring and summer; that makes it my 3rd favorite, doesn't it?
sheesh!! what is wrong with my brain tissue right now?? i better quit while i am ahead. here is the great poet john keats and his thoughts on fall:

SEASON OF MISTS AND MELLOW FRUITFULNESS,

CLOSE BOSOM-FRIEND OF THE MATURING SUN.

is jimmy buffet an episcopalian???

before he blew out his flipflops on a poptop, could jimmy have been a cool episcopalian wearing these??

just look at 'em--i could walk red arrow beach and evangelize without ever having to open my mouth!!! an introvert's dream..... :)

taking a different road. see you "up there"

happy monday, everyone. i am writing today to let you know that i am no longer just another lapsed catholic. being a member of the catholic church has left me empty and uninspired for many years. when i was still actively "going to church" i would spend the entire time daydreaming about everything under the son--whoops, was that just a freudian slip typo??--under the SUN is what i meant. i would leave as empty as when i arrived. i felt closer to the higher power gardening than i did at church.
since last december i have been sporadically attending st. paul's episcopal church here in marinette.
i had done some web research on all different religions, what they do and don't believe, who they welcome into their midst, etc. the episcopal church seemed to be the one to check out, so i've been doing just that. it's been such a good experience. i'm not going to go all jesus-y on you. suffice it to say that when i go to church now, i'm there. and it feels right. this week i am going to go in and officially sign up.
i've had a talk with fr. bill at st. paul's about feeling hypocritical as a catholic--how i disagree with so many of their teachings that i can't be one anymore, but feel that there might be a special door in hell marked "evie" if i leave.
and he said, "well, you know, the episcopal church is a little like the catholic church---it has all of the pageantry, but none of the guilt."
SOLD. a priest with a great sense of humor. count me in!!

ps--the episcopal shield above is the logo (not very reverant, but that's what it is) for the episcopal church in the usa. i know the colors, etc. have meaning but i don't know what they are yet. it's symbolic of the links between the anglican church, the episcopal usa, etc.

i'll keep you posted on my progress being saved. (no, they don't preach that....)

"why can't i find a woman like that?"*

i was telling my daughter emilie this little anecdote today and she insisted i blog it. i always do whatever my kids tell me so here goes:

i love reading bumper stickers. almost as much as i like reading the vanity plates on people's cars.

i was behind a car at a stop lite and the rear bumper was covered with "rick springfield summer tour 2005" and "i luv rick springfield" stickers. i thought the guy had died a long time ago from lack of talent but apparently not--so i checked out his website and he's very much alive and is australian to boot. didn't know that either.

but the best part of this little story is in the vanity plate that graced the back of that car. wanna know what it was? ok.........................hold..........................wait for it.........................i'm not kidding, it was...................

"JESISGRL"

isn't that the best???? i smiled nonstop for several blocks.

this posting is dedicated to SARAH JANE CHRISTNAGEL CONWAY, who used to love rick springfield, if i remember correctly!!!

*i tried to look up the lyrics for jessi's girl on AZ Lyrics Universe, but it had no information on rick springfield.

funny guy

i love this guy-demetri martin---watch this 3 minute clip and see what you think.http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=80335

"what are you thinking about, avo?"

i am an introvert. always have been. when i was little i remember hiding sometimes when company came over. (that doesn't bode well for visitors when i am an old, eccentric widow.)

my parents used to ask me what i was thinking about because i was so quiet sometimes. they'd say, "well, avo, you must be thinking big thoughts." once dad even said i should write them down. (maybe he was worried that i was some kind of nut. he was probably being an amateur shrink) but here i am, 50 years later, taking his advice. it's never too late to start, is it?
rest in god's arms, mom and dad. yesterday was mom's 95th birthday. ok, back on track...



i am not ashamed of being an introvert. i wish more people were introverts--the world would be a more peaceful place. i get the feeling that a lot of people think being extroverted is a more "normal" way to be. when my husband refers to my introversion it comes across as a defect of some sort. but that's a subject for a marriage counselor, not a blogspot. ;0)



by now you are thinking about what my personality has to do with the photo of a piece of toast.



i am sharing it as an example of the kinds of 'big stuff" i think about.



at 0630 this morning i was making my daily whole wheat toast and homemade raspberry jam for me and brodie. ( he gets little pieces of crust.)



i was staring at the toaster and started thinking this:

a piece of bread goes into the machine, undergoes a chemical reaction involving heat, and comes out with a new name: a piece of toast.

weird, i thought. is there any other kind of food item that you cook without changing it's shape or mixing with other ingredients and presto! it's got a whole new name?

is there?? i've been thinking and thinking and can't come up with a single one.

can you??

let me know.

or if i have totally scared you off by giving you this peek inside my mind--well, it was nice knowing you.

and, you're probably an extrovert.... :o)

ps--do you see a face in this piece of toast? is it jesus? jk. it's a jack'olantern and he has a huge chiclet tooth on the right.

speaking of cats

my scabby tabby tale reminded me of this--the latest research diagram published re the brain workings of kitties.....it's fascinating stuff and everyone who reads this blog and knows a cat will agree with me, right?

wake me up when the week is over....

what next, i ask you.

since i lost the grocery money on tuesday, here's what's happened to my week:

• i lost a filling in a really annoying place in my mouth. it's not only a prime spot for food entrapment, it's on the inside of a molar, so it's in contact with my tongue constantly. ( you know how when you lose a filling you tend to look for the spot now and then with your tongue? well, imagine being tempted to do it all the time because you are feeling the hole all the time--you don't even have to feel around for it! it should be an internationally approved form of torture for spies and the like)


• i left messages at all the places i stopped at in crivitz on tuesday and no one has called back saying they found my grocery $$$$$. dennis said "no one is going to call" and so far he is right. that makes me even more forlorn. i like to think people are good. but i have lost 5 pounds..... :0)


• yesterday during green bay's "rush hour" traffic, my molly rear-ended the car in front of her. a jaguar no less. both her air bags deployed, and she had her belt on, thank god (some of my motherly yammering paid off). she got a ride on the backboard to the emergency room and the poor kid got a ticket to boot. but the officer was kind, which meant a lot to her. so it was a flying ride to green bay followed by the usual leisurely wait for care as an emergency case. the word paradox comes to mind. is that the right word??maybe not. who cares. no broken bones, scrapes, and of course a lot of soreness to come in the days ahead. and no sleep for this mom last nite at all!


• the car fared worse. i took the day off today, drove back to green bay, found the towing place, thanks to patrick, took pictures of the damage, met the junkyard cat--scabby ears, mangy dandruffy fur, and, of course, extremely friendly to strangers. as i took my pictures of the car i noticed several dried up mouse (mice?) corpses littering the area. at least the cat has an activity. how boring to live at a junk yard. i had to put a bunch of molly's stuff in my car then went in to settle up with the towtruck man. come back out to my car, get ready to pull out, and there is a "meow" from the back seat. black scabby tabby had jumped through my window and was curled up taking a bath and kneading it's undeclawed claws into my leather! damn! and it was only nine-thirty am!!


• i got flipped off in the walmart parking lot, i know not why. just had to get prints made of the big damage, otherwise i avoid all walmarts until after 9pm.


• after i went to see molly--she stayed with her sis and pat last nite--they are wonderful--went to pdq to get my car washed and detailed. in the process of unloading all my crap from the car into a garbage bag, for their convenience, i locked my keys in the trunk. that's when i lost it in a big way because my trunk latch is in the center console, which was locked. i sat in the pdq lot for a while and cried. then i got in the car and was able to pry up the side of the console cover enough to get my pinkie in and push the trunk button. i did not get my car washed. i drove away and came home.

a good day goes missing--just briefly

hi. today started out as a great day. got to take a nice drive to crivitz to make babies and kindergardeners cry at our shot clinic there--not my ideal afternoon but i like to think i make a hard thing easier for kids and parents.

had a great taco salad for lunch at soup to nutz with the girls, felt good about the fact that the shell was baked, not deep-fried. looked around at some cute clothes at a little shop there, and went and did the shot thing.

a coworker who's retiring brought in sweet rolls so i volunteered to make a coffee run for the flavor of the day to the bakery/coffee shop.

well, i think i lost $120 in cash on the floor of the bakery. it was in my pants pocket for safe-keeping (yeah, right.). didn't realize at the time i left the bakery that it wasn't in my pocket.

dennis took me to the spoon for supper on the porch--it was lovely, 80 degrees, watched the water, and realized as we left the restaurant that the money was missing from my pocket! grocery money!!

on the way home i mentally rewound my day, replayed it, and in between mentally ripping myself a new one, realized that i probably left it on the counter or the floor of the bakery.

now granted, we shall not starve because it was the grocery money, but i was pee-o'd at myself in a big way for being menopausal-y and losing the money. dennis was strangely calm and accepting...

after prowling around the house for a while, unloading the dishwasher and throwing in a load of clothes, still bemoaning the loss of so much $$, i sat down at this pc and logged on to the care page that's been started for gina and bruce, my sister and brother in law who are kicking cancer butt.

bruce is freshly diagnosed with prostate cancer and had a bone scan today to look for metastases, as bones are the favored haunt of prostate ca cells when they start to roam the body. next therapy steps depended on the results of the scan.

HIS BONE SCAN IS NEGATIVE FOR CANCER CELLS!!!!

and now i am thinking....grocery money lost...a big deal??? am i going to blow away from lack of food??? how can i feel bad about such a thing when there is such good news from madison today?? and just like that, by reading the short posting about the bone scan results, my little dilemma slips perfectly into its' place in "the big picture". IT'S INVISIBLE.

adding up my attitude

i was vegetating in the hot spray of the shower this am--yes, i was feeling sorry for myself because i had to go to work and it's monday to boot! double-trouble.

then i got to thinking, as one does in the shower, (always deep thoughts) "i wonder how many mondays i've worked, just as a nurse, (not counting from age 16)?"

"let's see...28 years... 52 mondays a year...multiply....then divide by352 days in a year.....

OH, MY GOD, I'VE WORKED ABOUT 4 YEARS OF MONDAYS!!!"

that's a boatload of monday blahs! then i got to worrying-- have i spent 4 years of my life giving in to a negative attitude over what DAY it was??? how wasteful is that! thought a little further, and decided that my monday attitude usually only lasts till i get into work, greet the girls with an appropriate slam on mondays, and get down to business.

so it's really only a couple hours a day that i give in to negativity.

but i'm not going to try and figure out that grand total.

it's monday and i don't feel like it.....

LIVE HAPPY TODAY--IT COULD BE YOUR LAST MONDAY!

whoops

whoops, i see he's here twice, now.....gol dang........better twice than not at all....

"we are having technical difficulties. please stand by....."

having trouble getting harry chapin here. hang on. ev

Harry Chapin sings CIRCLE Live

Harry Chapin sings CIRCLE Live

Harry Chapin sings CIRCLE Live

listen closely to harry's lyrics; the title is 'all my life's a circle'. a favorite of mine.

musings on a shape

i got quite a few comments on the 'strength of the circle' post last week via email, phone and blog.

got me thinking about shapes, especially the circle, because of its' simplicity and inherent symbolism.

and i decided to publish my thoughts on my favorite circles.

so here we go!

....the sun, because i am solar-powered....the full moon where i can see my dad's smile....stonehenge....the campfire circle at the river....a warm cup of coffee in my hands....any tree trunk....the belly button on a baby....a peony bud, ants included, because without them, it would never open....roundabouts, especially when i am in a hurry....birds nests--the robin's is the best....the circle of friends at breakfast....a dinner plate, when it's got colorful food on it....soccer balls--it's the only sport i like to watch....cherry tomatoes, grown by me....pearls--they are so pure-looking....celtic spirals, especially the triskele....a honeycrisp apple cut in half....my wedding rings....and my priceless family circle.....what are your favorites???

ninth month, eleventh day

then and now. peace and love to all--- evie--- 09/11/2007

pictured rocks national lakeshore--munising, mi

early saturday morning we were sitting around with coffees and deciding on what to do with the beautiful day. we discussed all the household projects that we could do and then promptly saddled up the truck and the dog and ran away for the day-- north 2 hours to munising, michigan on lake superior. we took a 2 hour cruise along the pictured rocks national lakeshore. it was breathtaking! millions of years of deposition, erosion from wind and wave, and the oozing of minerals to the surface of the cliffs, creating beautiful colors and bands of striping on the stone. there were arches and caves, and on the top, nature holding on for dear life in the form of tenacious pines, birch, and poplar.
it was a fantastic trip, and lake superior is absolutely awesome--the water is a beautiful green in the shallows and navy blue where it plummets to it's maximum depth of 1300+ feet! the largest freshwater lake in the world; and the cleanest. if it was drained to a level of 5 feet, the water would cover the continental united states. it is truly majestic and powerful; in winter the waves can reach 30 feet high.
i recommend this humbling experience of a trip to anyone!

"let them eat fish"

fridays are not only great because they are casual fridays, but because they are fish frydays.

it's fish fry nite!!! yeah! go out to our favorite place, have a miller and a plateful of deep fried perch, potato salad, baked beans, and a slab of rye bread!

only in wisconsin could there exist such a high class tradition!

truth be told, my husband makes a better home fish fry than anyone. he even makes the potato salad, and that's better than anyone else's too!

so enjoy your friday nite, and if someone complains to you about being hungry, say "let them eat fish!"

"but mom, i wanna wear my BLUE t-shirt!"

it's casual friday tomorrow.

i wanna wear this blue t-shirt.

but i can't.

you say tomato, i say did you spray it with anything

tonite i am going to a class on raising organic produce. i hope to learn some new things. i like raising my own stuff because i know exactly what has been put on it--or more importantly, what hasn't.

it's one of the little things in life that i can control.

the strength of the circle

the same sun comes up for all of us every day no matter where we are, and in sharing that commonality we are united daily as families and as friends.

it doesn't matter if we are separated by thousands of miles, we are still connected to each other by this predictable cycle of nature.

no matter what one of us may have to face in the day ahead, we can know that others who love us and share that light are present to help us make it through the day.

they are in the warmth of the sunshine on skin; they gather round in strong rays streaming through a window.

they overcome shadows and illuminate the darkest corners, taking away some of the doubt, and some of the fear.

and we are made stronger as the day goes on; we are being powered by the sweetest fuel.

that priceless fuel is the knowledge that we are dearly loved, and that we dwell in the neverending circles of the sun and of the love that is family.

move over, jacques cousteau

spent several gorgeous hours on the bay and oconto/ocono river today aboard the irishtoon. the captain, skipper mike, is seen here as he retrieved an evinrude 2 hp artifact from the treacherous 2 foot depths. the artifact was located through the use of sophisticated marine sensing devices from california.(linda's feet--"ow, i feel something metall-y feeling down there!")

try as they might, the garrity's could not convince me to bring the find home to be studied and reconstructed by my husband, who was not present on today's excursion. he was busy cleaning kidneys at the hospital...

oh, what a wonderful labor day it was....not a lick of laboring was done. just sun, water, vino, music, bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, ahhh.....

i was going to blog a maxine cartoon today, but i can't find it. anyway, the pontoon ride was fantastic-- makes me remember, once again, how lucky i am to be living in wisconsin, and to have old friends...

friday evening, on the porch

braless wednesdays

i couldn't agree more. and after tuesday, i,too, will be able to go braless for awhile! yeehah! the hidden benefit of having moles removed from strategic places! i will have to do some creative dressing for work, though, and no running in the halls if someone is coming in the opposite direction. wouldn't want to embarrass them...