The reason I grow strawberries

Hal'cy'on: calm, tranquil, peaceful.


The halcyon days of summer are here.

Taciturn Tuesday

You've heard of Wordless Wednesday.
Well.....

Mum is gone.


Vegetable garden is rampant.



Oven is broke.

I hope I'm having this much fun...

....when I'm 90.
This is an impromptu duet at the Mayo Clinic by a couple who have been married for 62 years.
I couldn't resist posting it.
Watch it and see!


So, maybe I'm mistaken, but I could swear that he gives her bottom a little pat on one of those switches.
If you want to see an interview with this sweet couple, go here.

Question of the day

Q: How do bats urinate?
Bet you've never asked that of yourself!
I didn't even think about it until visiting the bat cave at the zoo today.
I mean, when they're hanging upside down, their top is their bottom, so to speak.
Could get messy.
So, I saw a little bat in action.
He hung upright, holding on to the roof with his tiny hand thingies.
And peed all over the broccoli.

Now you know.

It does make me wonder how Mommy bats potty-train baby bats.

Great Nana had to buy treats for the g-grandkids.
Joshua relished his sno-cone for a veeeeery long time.
Note the satisfied little smirk on his face.


Daniel devoured his in record time.
Go Daniel!


McKenzie spilled a fair bit of hers after she found that she could make the ice bounce up and down in the cone.
Then she cleaned up the last part of Joshie's cone.


Natalie was terrified of the elephants.
And the giraffes.
And the hippos.
You get the idea.
She tried to burrow into Bethany.


Jon and Jenny brought gifts back from Peru.
Guess what they are.
Made of lovely soft alpaca and llama wool.


We are going to be stylin' this winter.

A kitchen rethunk

My kitchen has felt disjointed for some time.
Ever since the living room and family room got their facelifts.
Pleasant shades of blue and brown.
The kitchen remained its old peach-tinted self.
And WAS NOT HAPPY.


I finally buckled down and chose some new tile for the countertops.
Which were installed by Handyman Ron.
A new paint job on the walls (even two coats behind the fridge) and my kitchen has a new outlook on life.


I have had a few complaints about retaining the old backsplash behind the oven.
I have to remind people (mostly my daughters) that my decorating style is "things that Sue loves."
And I LOVE my old backsplash.


Now, if I could just teach my kitchen to THINK BIG.
I've got a WEDDING CAKE to bake!

More ballet

We attended Kenzie's dance recital this afternoon.
Holy cow.
It lasted for three hours.
We stayed for two.
She was delicious to watch, with her tongue stuck in her cheek the whole time.
She said, when asked about it,"But Nana, that's what I do when I'm concentrating."
Kenzie is the tall one in the middle.
The one with her tongue stuck in her cheek.


Afterwards, we ate crepes filled with strawberries and raspberries from my garden and a marscapone chocolate-studded cream.
Mmmmmmm!


Later, Bethany's chickens were pecking in the garden.
It's kind of funny how much she loves these chickens.
When they fight, she scolds them like children.


That's all.
My bed is calling to me like a siren to a lost sailor.

The Ballet

When I was a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a ballerina.
I also wanted a horse.
Neither one came to pass.

Mum, Bethany, McKenzie and I went to the ballet last Saturday.
Four generations of mixed surnames.
I have become a fan of the ballet lately.
I attended the ballet in my teens, but was, by then, a little bored by it.
I first took Kenzie to a Balanchine Christmas ballet when she was barely three years old. She was entranced and sat, wide-eyed, through the whole performance.
Whenever I can get cheap tickets, we toddle off to whatever takes my fancy.
Last year's Nutcracker was an adventure. It was at the tail end of the icestorm and we left with chains on the tyres. About eight miles into the trip, I pulled into a McDonald's parking lot to remove them. Wearing a skirt and pantyhose. None of the men in their big old trucks stopped to help. Maybe I just looked capable. Whatever. It was a great performance, again choreographed by George Balanchine.

One good thing about the economic downturn: bargain tickets for me!
This latest programme was called Rush and Robbins. The first was a visually gorgeous number, Rush, that was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.


The last three were choreographed by Jerome Robbins, who collaborated with Balanchine for over 30 years. His ballets seem to be quite radical, with more modern dance influence than I have seen before. The second Robbins number, The Cage, was brilliant, yet very disturbing. It depicted the predatory acts of a group of female insects, who kill a male and engage in various ritual acts. Not at all what you anticipate when you attend the ballet. It was gripping. Kenzie said, "Nana, that was a little scary."

The last dance, The Concert, was hilarious, not an adjective that usually springs to mind when considering the ballet. The audience was totally enthralled. Even Kenzie, whose attention had been wandering slightly. It was an inspired ending to the programme.



So here's what I think.
Try something new.
Maybe you'll like it.
Maybe you won't.
But you'll never know unless you do.