Make A Little Birdhouse in Your Soul

I haven't posted in a long time, and haven't posted with any regularity for even longer.

So many things have happened in the last few years, only some of it immediately positive. I have been content to let events and time pass unmentioned, allowing the bad to wash over with the good.

In the last year or so, in no particular order, my mother died after a stroke. My uncle died. My husband's grandmother died. Our neighbor died. Another neighbor died. Fathers and mothers and grandparents and brothers and sisters of friends died. Dear friends became very ill and came far too close to not being here any more. It was terrible, scary, too sad to put into words.

Friends and acquaintances died, including two who were just starting out in life. We did our best to explain things to our little one that we ourselves don't always understand. How do you explain "faith"? How do you explain "why"?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen ~ Hebrews 11:1

In one 12-month period, ten people we knew or were related to died. We did our best to do what family and friends do. We did our best to grieve and comfort and pray. We mourned. It didn't always make sense, but we muddled through. Not easy, we're never promised easy, even when we come to expect it. 

It seemed that as soon as things started to feel normal, as soon as our sea was calm, a new storm would gather and we'd find ourselves in the middle of another maelstrom. Bad things came so fast and so hard. Most of it made no sense.

We lost our elderly cat because she was old, lost our parrot to an infection brought on by nearby forest fires, lost our not-elderly cat to illness.

Smoke from nearby forest fires

Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots ~ Victor Hugo

Dennis

Small things kept us going. Our dog got sick (cancer), then got better after surgery. Thank goodness. We still have our beloved dog.

We started home schooling our kindergartner, who became our first grader; who went from not reading to reading years ahead of her age/grade levels. We did everything we could to shelter her, to protect her, to explain to her, to reason with her, to teach her, to help her. She's fine. Our older daughters are fine.

We all have each other.

We're grateful and thankful and humble.

Thank God for friends, for family, and most of all, for my husband. He always does his level best to be there. I am so thankful for him.

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort ~ Jane Austen

The storm seems to have receded for now. Calm replaces chaos, and life seems to be returning to a more normal rhythm. It seems right to write again and it seems like a good time to extend myself beyond my little world, to give back and to see what it out there.

Flansy drowsing on freshly killed tissue paper

We got a new kitten, named Flansy. She's named after John Flansburgh (half of They Might Be Giants). We love her, and while she doesn't replace the two we've lost, she makes us laugh and she loves to cuddle. We adore her. Speaking of TMBG, we went to see them recently, out first concert in years. So much fun, and a much needed alone/together night away.

Life goes on, sometimes in different directions than before. 

I've recently volunteered to help with my daughter's youth group. The application asked what I'd been doing for the last several years - 5 or 7 years - something like that. I couldn't think of anything to write. I was sad, and a bit ashamed. I haven't been idle, but I haven't looked elsewhere for things to occupy my time in a very long time. I gave up being out there for being right here. Now its time to be out there again, at least some of the time.

And so, I'm here again, too.

The First Snow of Autumn

We woke up Saturday to cold weather and snow. Clementine was almost impossible to get moving. She complained about the cold and didn't want to get out from under the covers on our bed after I finished putting her hair up.

After ballet, we ran a few errands. Even after the snow stopped down here, we could see a storm up on Pikes Peak. Here are a few photos from around town...

From the parking lot on the way to the tire store. Dan needed new tires and I'd promised myself that we'd carve out time to get them by the end of the week. There is a snow storm on top of the mountain, and the snow is blowing from the top toward the north.

Snow storm with blowing storm at the top of Pikes Peak. It was dry, sunny and cold down here as we watched the storm. After 11 years here, I still find all of this simply fascinating and love to watch it unfold. 

What looks like the top of the mountain in the previous picture is really the top of the storm, as seen here. 

Later in the day, the sun is beginning to set. Taken at the end of Academy Blvd, in the parking lot of the grocery store. I think that we probably have the best view in the world from this grocery store.

Pikes Peak as the sun sets, with Academy Blvd. in view.

America The Beautiful was written after Katherine Bates in 1893. Bates was an English professor at Wellesley College, and was inspired after a trip to the top of Pikes Peak. She was spending the summer locally, teaching at Colorado College. You can certainly see where the line about purple mountain majesties came from, can't you?

I've lived all over the United States, and the sunsets out west, and particularly over the Rockies, stand out for their beauty and breathtaking color.

The last few moments of daylight... time for us to go home, have dinner, and happily snuggle together against the cold autumn night.

Namasté 

deena

Let's all sing like the birdies sing...

We've been talking about taking Clementine to Disneyland at some point. I  would love for her to be able to go. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law just got back from Disney World with their kids, and it sounds like they had an wonderful time. I grew up near Disneyland and have been too many times to count. My dad always took me, and aside from being one of my favorite places, I was one of my favorite places to go with him.

Sleeping Beauty Castle at night, Disneyland

from here, used with permission^

When my dad was still alive, he and I took my older daughters to Disney World. Looking back, I know the girls will always remember the time they spent there, especially time with their grandfather. We had a blast.

My dad is gone now, and one of the few regrets in my life is that he never got to meet our youngest, Clementine. I became pregnant with her a year after he died. I know he would have loved her, and she would have simply adored him. There are so many things I'd like her to know about him. I hardly know where to start, but share everything I can think of.

I was looking around on YouTube tonight, and came across a video of the original Enchanted Tiki Room show at Disneyland and watched it a few times. The video included the talking statues of the Oceanic (island) Gods and Goddesses that are outside situated around the waiting area. I could still recite almost all of their rhymes, which surprised even me.

Toward the end of the show, the Tiki Gods came alive and sang an ever quicker song and beat drums. When I was little, they scared me to death, and I always grabbed onto my dad.

I can't be sure, but I think that the God Tangaroa was voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft. He voiced Fritz the parrot inside the attraction, and did numerous other voices throughout the park. You might know him because he sang the song You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch in the cartoon How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Most people think it was Boris Karloff, but while Boris Karloff narrated it, he didn't sing the song. Mr. Ravenscroft may be best known to most people as the voice of Tony The Tiger. They're Grrrrrreat! He did many other voices for Disney, too. Some of the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean, ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, and probably too many others to count.

Thurl Ravenscroft as Tony

When we took my older girls, Caroline, our middle daughter, then around 5 or so, spent most of her time in the park dragging my poor dad between Tropical Serenade (which is what a show similar to the Enchanted Tiki Room is called at Disney World) and It's A Small World, while my older daughter and I went off to ride the "big kid rides" (Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, etc). My dad was always a very good sport.

Attraction poster from here, 

used in the same manner as described^

The original is perfect, still there at Disneyland, and it holds so many good memories for me. Memories with my dad, and memories with my two older daughters. All good. All happy. How many things can most people say that about anything?

All happy. 

All good.

Perfect.

And someday, I'd very much like to opportunity to make new memories with Clementine and Dan. 

Here is that video of the original Enchanted Tiki Room Show at Disneyland. It's 17:00 long, but well-spent.

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room 

at Disneyland

Trivia: This was Walt Disney's first and original audio-animatronic project. There are about 150 different audio-animatronic characters in this show alone and the success of this show paved the way for Pirates of the Caribbean, the Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress (my other favorite with my dad), and so on.

Since all of the characters were controlled by big computers, and computers back then ran very hot, they had to air condition the building to keep the computers in working order. Thus, this was the first air conditioned attraction in the park. So, when I was little, this was where you went when it was super hot outside in the park. It was sooooo cold. Brrrrrrrr.

And yes, I probably do know a pretty ridiculously huge amount of Disney-related trivia. If one could make a living playing trivia games, I'd have it made.

(but you can't). 

A (mostly) good weekend

We've had a (mostly) good weekend.

Friday, I showed Clementine a blooming lilac bush, and asked her to smell it. Lilac is one of my favorite scents and the flowers are simply beautiful. Clementine bent down and buried her nose in the petals for a moment. Then she turned to me and said, "It smells so purple!" She's right. Lilacs do smell like purple looks. Why didn't I ever notice before?

From here^

Then Friday night, I found the shower curtain of my dreams, insofar as I might dream about shower curtains. I haven't yet, but it could happen, I guess. Anyway.

I've been looking for several weeks, and it matched all of my requirements. Not too feminine, not too masculine, not too bright, fabric, no plastic. PEVA plastics are being used as a safer alternative to PVCs, but ridding our lives of plastic (as much as possible) is still one of my long-term goals, so no plastic. Here it is:

From here^

I found it Walmart, Better Homes & Garden collection, and really like it. It's well made, matches our colors (earth tones and mossy greens and blues, to match river stone and tile), isn't too feminine, isn't too masculine, and is made from a nice heavy fabric. It has neatly sewn buttonholes at the top. The color band at the top is actually a second layer, and the medium green horizontal stripes are ribbon. The picture is from the website, because when I put it up it was late, the camera was downstairs, but the bathroom wasn't Also, I ended up getting two, because we have one of those shower rods which bows out toward the room. A regular sized curtain fit, but just barely, so we use two. They split in the middle. One neat thing about them is that since we started using two, neither the liners or curtains split at the top anymore where the holes are.

So, here's the "mostly" as in We had a (mostly) good weekend: A friend who is also a neighbor moved away on Friday; she and her husband have separated. The details aren't important. What is important is that (at least for now) their family is torn apart and we are both very sad for them and hope things work out in a way that they are all happy.

from here^

Saturday morning, Dan left early to register Clementine for summer sports, pick up the tickets to her ballet recital, and to run a couple of other errands. When he got home, we all went to run an additional few errands, stopped by the thrift store, and made it home in time to sit outside in the sun, play with the neighbor's puppy, and talk to our neighbors. The trees are finally turning green and leafy, and the grass is no longer brown. Spring has finally made it to Colorado.

from here^

Today, we went to lunch with our friend Ben, who was visiting from NYC. We took him to Conway's Redtop, a local restaurant and something of a institution around here. They serve hamburgers almost as big as a dinner plate. I had hog dogs (sans bun), and Dan joined me in solidarity, since I can't eat wheat. Clementine ate part of a hamburger, then played and goofed with a little girl whose family was also having lunch. It was good to see Ben and be able to spend a little time talking to him. I wish we lived closer. 

And that was our weekend, except for this:

Speaking of the thrift store (see above), this is what Dan gave me Friday afternoon.

Bliss!

It's an Ozz Franca!^ I have a soft spot in my heart (some would say head) for horrid things of a certain vintage, and this litho of a big-eyed boy fits right in, next to my terrible bellboy monkey with creepy lenticular eyes, and the piggy bank with the creepy human face (pics available on request). 

I love it. 

Ilovehim (with or without paintings of big-eyed emo kids). 

I'm lucky to be married to someone who indulges my love of vintage kitsch even though he may not like a lot of it, and I know it. 

Thank you, sweetheart, for putting up with me and even encouraging my nuttiness sometimes.

The very last day of April

We went outside this morning to find a glorious spring morning waiting for us.

The sun was shining brightly, the bright blue sky was cloudless, and there were crab apple blossoms floating down from the tree.

It was a welcome surprise after our mostly-dreary week. We've had every flavor of strange weather this week; cold rains, whipping winds, thundersnow^, sleet, and graupel^, just for starters.

Clementine spent last night with her grandparents and cousins. Dan and I had a quick breakfast together this morning. It was nice to talk and just sit together.

The two of us ran a few errands after breakfast. Then I went home and Dan went to get Clementine. He took her to her friend K's birthday party, where she got to swim and play and eat chicken and cupcakes baked in ice cream cones, each with their own candle. K's mom and dad made each child a mug with their name, K's name, and colorful balloons. Clementine was so proud of it when she brought it home. K's parents are very talented, creative people.

I stayed home, took these photos, and worked on a project (pictures when it's done). 

After they got home, we had a short nap, then dinner together. Clementine excitedly told me about her day, ate everything on her plate, and fell asleep before she made it to bed, a very rare occurrence indeed.

Now it's just the two of us again, sitting together on the sofa. When we last looked outside a bit ago, spring seems to have gone back into hiding. Snow was falling again, with more forecast for tomorrow.

Namaste