Bits and pieces on a rainy day

The week has turned stormy. Yesterday was almost like summer and now the trees are being whipped in the wind and the rain is relentless. Kenzie has gone home after an afternoon of shopping with Bethany and Josh and Natalie. I managed to talk myself out of buying anything, so it was only minimally fun.
I was awake for a while on Saturday night and all of a sudden it hit me. Ack! I forgot to make the last payment on the new piano! Now, how could I possibly just forget to pay $2,000+? So after sending the money off to the piano store, I am being frugal until I know how much we owe on taxes. Because you know, we will owe, we always do.

Wow. That wasn't a very entertaining story, was it?
Here, to make up for the non-entertaining story, is a word from Maxine.

Annie took this photo of me when I was in North Carolina. I don't make a habit of posting gratuitous photos of myself. Usually, when I see a photo of me, I think, Oh, really.....is this how other people see me? But aren't I still 25 and 110lbs?
Apparently not.
But at least I'm having a good time.
And I think that this "me" is the one with which I can live.

Tomorrow, some friends and I are off to the Better Living Fair at the Expo Centre. Lots of good ideas on green living and sustainability. Then on Saturday down to Lebanon for an all-day Basic Firearms Safety course. I shall tote the camera and be back with entertaining stories and maybe even a life-changing notion or two.
Liberal on Friday.
Conservative on Saturday.
It's very conflicting to be me.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Who's the Princess now?

Kenzie is here for a day or two.

Nana, Nana, can we get Princess and the Frog from Redbox?
How about tomorrow Kenz? You can watch one of my new movies tonight.
So she watched The Other Side of Heaven.
Nana, can we get Princess and the Frog now?
Oh, okay.
So we reserved and paid for it online and walked down to the McDonalds Redbox.
A walk isn't really a walk with Kenzie.
Skipping.
I smell barbecue. Daddy likes to barbecue when it's warm, even though he's lazy. We had barbecue so much last summer that we got sick of it.
Really Kenz, Dad's lazy?
Yeah. When he wakes up in the morning, he lies in bed for an hour and doesn't get up!
Well, I guess I'm guilty of that too.
Prancing like a pony.
Nana, when I was watching videos the other day, I realized that I am really obedient for Mommy.
Really Kenz? What does that have to do with watching videos?
Nothing. I just realized it.
Oh. Okay. You are obedient. I like it.
Balancing on the curb.
The moon looks like a smile.
No. A frown.
Skipping backwards.
Nana, I already saw the Princess and the Frog this morning.
You what?
Yeah, I watch it every day.
You watch it every day, and you made me go rent it????????

Grrrr!

Guess who's sitting on the cushy couch, monopolizing the new TV, watching Princess and the Frog while I write this?

Spring Break: Day 1

After my piano students gave an informal piano recital at the local senior care home this afternoon, Jonnie, my friend Karen, and I went to the range. As in "firearms", not "Home on the". I fired my little Ruger LCP for the first time. I was awesome. Karen, somewhat of a veteran, was awesom-er. She just stood there with her piece (note the cool armament lingo) and Bam Bam Bam, got herself a bulls-eye. Jonnie was awesom-est. He squatted, bambambambambam, shot his Glock pistol. BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM, lying on the ground, sniper-style, shot his semi-automatic rifle. He is the guru of all things firearm related. Too bad I forgot my camera, or you could have seen for yourself how awesome we all were.

Tonight, Jeff and I attended the long-awaited Jamie Cullum concert. Jamie Cullum, you may remember, is our favourite rowdy little Englishman. He is multi-talented, playing piano and guitar, body percussion, singing up a storm both rumbunctious and croony, occasionally jumping up and down on the piano. He gives an energetic concert and Jeff likes his charisma. Tonight's concert did not live up to expectations. It was at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland.
Worst.Venue.Ever.
In spite of the bouncy floor.
We walked into the ballroom and realized that there were only a few chairs set up around the edges and they were all full. And we were an hour early. Me, I'm not about to spend the next three hours in agony, so I found somebody important and told them my problem and they set me up with a chair.
Thank you.
The next big problem was the beer garden, which took up half of the floor. Apparently, when you are drunk, you have no interest in the concert that you paid many dollars to see, and just want to yell above the music to your friends all night. So, while the rowdier numbers were enjoyable, the softer numbers were ruined by the hubbub from the other half of the crowd.

And parking set us back seven dollars.
AND there was a very funky smell by my chair.

Ah well, here are two of my favourites for you to try.

This lass from Dublin was the lead act.
Imelda May.
She was much rowdier in person.

We have tickets to see Mark Knopfler in April.
Last time we had tickets to his concert we forgot to go to it.
Two hundred dollars down the toilet.
I am hoping for redemption.

And now, it is already Day 2 of spring break.
Just barely.
So good night.

Up the Irish!!!!!

Just to clarify, that is an Irish cheer, not an insult.

In honour of St. Paddy's Day, and our anticipated trip to the fair isle's shores in the fall, here are some of my favourite Irish toasts and sayings.

When we drink, we get drunk.

When we get drunk, we fall asleep.

When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.

When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.

So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!

Here's to health, peace, and prosperity.

May the flower of love never be nipped by the frost of disappointment,

nor shadow of grief fall among your family and friends.

May your home always be too small to hold your friends.

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door.

Here's to me and here's to you,

And here's to love and laughter.

I'll be true as long as you,

And not one moment after.

May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load.

May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road.

And may all your friends remember all the favours you are owed!

May neighbours respect you,

Trouble neglect you,

The angels protect you,

And heaven accept you.

May those that love us, love us.

And those that don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if he doesn't turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles,

So we'll know them by their limping.

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

Nana the Barber

Jon and Jenny and the boys came over tonight. The boys were decidedly shaggy. They have hair just like Jon's, which resembles a hedgehog when it gets to a certain length.
Thomy was easily talked into a haircut with a bribe of a Three Musketeers. But Jenny said "No." She has had enough of the brutal buzz, so I gave him a real haircut.

Jeff was not so easily bribed and it was dark before the chocolate sounded tempting enough.

The brush tickled!

Handsome boys.

Afterwards, we watched Horton Hears a Who.

What the mouse does

Jeff is gone.
Early this morning, to Wisconsin or some other cold, forsaken place.
Until so late on Thursday that it might as well be Friday.
I am sitting contemplating...
no cooking,
no early morning alarm,
no health-care updates,
no work woe updates,
no lunches to pack,
no snoring on the other side of the bed,
no ever-growing pile of black socks on the bedroom floor.

Just me and the leftovers in the fridge.
Book club on Tuesday night.
Dinner with the girls and Alice in Wonderland at the Cameo on Wednesday night.
Little grandsons over to play tonight.

Ahhhh.

Solitude is a precious thing when it's a choice.
Not so much when it is imposed.
Variety, once again, is the spice of my life.

Then, on Friday, back to...
comforting shoulder rubs,
goodbye kisses on my sleepy face in the mornings,
a hand on my back as I fall asleep,
friendly pats on my bottom as we pass in the hallway.

Was that too much info for my kids?

DC revisited

This post is mostly for me, because my blog is the closest thing I will ever get to a journal. It occurred to me the other day that I never really finished telling the Washington DC story. I found some photos that I wanted to show you. This first one was taken in a tunnel, I think it was between a couple of the buildings in the National Art Gallery. We spent about half a day there, although I could have spent longer, of course. I think we all managed to get in trouble with the guards at one time or another. Edwin, as I recall, was standing too close to a painting. I think he was maybe breathing on it.

"Sir, step away from the painting," was the stern injunction.

I, on the other hand, got chastised several times for having the audacity to actually WEAR my little purse/backpack on my back. In my defense, it was giving me a crick in my back wearing it over one shoulder. Apparently, backpacks are more dangerous when worn on one's back. Who knew? All I can say is, beware the art gallery guards, they are not nice people.

Come to think of it, I don't think Jeff and Annie got in trouble at all, disgustingly law-abiding little citizens that they are.

After that, we walked to the national mall, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and a few other attractions. I'll spare you the standard tourist photos. What I found most fascinating that afternoon was this....

We spied this group of young nuns. They were walking around the mall in small groups and then suddenly we saw that they were playing frisbee on the grass with a group of decidedly un-monkish looking young men. It was perhaps the most bizarre sight we saw on the whole trip. I wish that I had gone up to them and asked for their story, because I am still intrigued by the circumstance.

Annie and Edwin drove home that evening and left Jeff and me to our own devices. We were tired, but decided not to waste our last night so we walked down to the Capitol. The sun set while we were walking around it and I took lots of photos. I've been having fun playing around on Picasa with them.

We saw an anti-abortion vigil on the front lawn of the hill, complete with rock band. We scoped out the United States Botanic Garden and decided to squeeze in a visit the next morning. We were captivated by fireflies dancing on the lawns. As we stood on the steps of the Capitol a small herd of people, on that strange mode of transportation called the Segway, rode (drove?) up. They were on the sunset tour of DC. That's what I'm talkin' about! If we had had one more day, it would have been us the next night. It was a little spendy, but looked to be radical fun. Finally, the mosquitos proved to be more tenacious than we, so we meandered back to the hotel.

As planned, we got an early start the next morning, left our bags at the hotel and hoofed it the mile-and-a-half to the Botanic Garden. We arrived about 30 minutes before it opened so we walked around it, taking in the outside gardens.

I'm a big fan of garden art, tacky or not, and I loved these whimsical sculptures.

As we walked the perimeter of the building, we noticed an increasing law enforcement presence. Eventually, we neared the entrance again and were rudely told by a policeman to walk on the other side of the street. When Jeff asked him what was going on he was not forthcoming with an answer. We came around the side of the building to the entrance and it was guarded fiercely by policemen who told us the gardens would not be open to the public until later that morning. Some visiting dignitary was taking precedence over us, the tax-paying public.

Nice.

We reluctantly rethought our schedule, walked back to the hotel, picked up our bags, and walked the now-familiar route back to the gardens. Hauling our bags around the gardens wasn't really on our list of preferred activities for the day, but it was that or nothing. By the time we returned, rather disgruntled, they were open again. Hooray!

There was much botanic-inspired art in the building, which was divided into a maze-like arrangement of indoor and outdoor gardens. Once again, too much fun with the camera.

The botanicals were spectacular, even when toting around our luggage.

Moan, grizzle, whine.

And that, my friends, is the end of our adventure. We wheeled our luggage to the bus station, perfectly on time, and caught the bus to Dulles Airport.

Until next time.

Because the majority of the Smithsonian is as yet undiscovered by me.