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.

My new favourite thing...

....is this!


Our old shower head did not survive my enthusiastic cleaning of its little lime-encrusted holes.
So we embarked on an excursion to Costco and bought this remarkable shower head.
When the water reaches shower temperature, a lever shuts off the flow until you pull the cord.
Absolutely brilliant!
You can sit on the throne, cut your toenails, contemplate your navel, whatever, as long as you want, and not waste water.
I have been unknowingly longing for one of these ever since I married Jeff.
I predict that it will pay for itself (only $28) in no time at all in conserved water and natural gas.
Costco saves the day, yet again.

Comments

Don't get me wrong.
I LOVE comments.
They make me feel validated as a blogger.
As a creative entity.
Blah blah blah.
But a few weeks ago I got a comment that linked back to some semi-nasty photos.
It would not delete.
I got a little distraught at Blogger for not dealing with the problem, because apparently I was not the only one.
I didn't want any of my gentle readers corrupted.
So I took off the comment option.

NOT THAT I GET MANY COMMENTS!

Don't feel guilty, I'm sure I'm not talking to you!
Anyway, the problem is now fixed.
But I have enabled comment moderation.
To forestall further nasties.
So if any of you make a comment (oh, pleasepleaseplease do) it will take a little while for it to be published.
Not that I'm begging or anything.

Stress!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm down to the wire on a few projects, so may not be posting very coherently for about three weeks.

Which coincides with the date of Annie's wedding.

I am also overwhelmed by the demands of my position of continuing education director for our state organization of music therapy. We are being audited by the national board of certification and it is up to me to meet their demands.
Yes, that is just as scary and time-consuming as it sounds.
Deadline: July 1st.
Yippee! I love paperwork and phone calls.
NOT!

Meanwhile, a few photos from the last couple of weeks.
Vine maples in their newly leafed glory.


The mimosa in the early stages of leafing out.
I love it, I hate it.
If you've ever owned a mimosa, you will know why.


Mum with Jonnie's family before they left for Peru.


We had a Joshie day on Friday.
Here he is, relishing some honeydew melon.
Wearing new sunglasses, courtesy of Great Nana.


In honour of Josh, some pointless questions.
Courtesy of Meg, who also has lots of useless facts if you're REALLY bored.

How come wrong numbers are never busy?
Do people in Australia call the rest of the world "up over"?
Does that screwdriver belong to Philip?
Can a stupid person be a smart-ass?
Does killing time damage eternity?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?
Why is it that night falls but day breaks?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Daylight savings time -- why are they saving it and where do they keep it?
Did Noah keep his bees in archives?
Do jellyfish get gas from eating jellybeans?
Do pilots take crash-courses?
Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just whipped out a quarter?
Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
How do you get off a nonstop flight?
If Barbie's so popular, why do you have to buy all her friends?
If blind people wear dark glasses, why don't deaf people wear earmuffs?
If peanut butter cookies are made from peanut butter, then what are Girl Scout cookies made out of?
If space is a vacuum, who changes the bags?
If swimming is good for your shape, then why do the whales look the way they?
If tin whistles are made out of tin, what do they make fog horns out of?
If you can't drink and drive, why do bars have parking lots?
Why do the signs that say "Slow Children" have a picture of a running child?
Why do they call it "chili" if it's hot?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Fed up of.....

...allergies.
...allergy meds that make me sleepy, dizzy, or just don't work.
...caterpillars on my lettuce.
...spittlebugs on my strawberries.


(Thanks, Mum, for pulling them off by hand.
And flushing them down the toilet.
My Mum's hilarious sometimes.)

...daffodil stems that won't go away.
...hot days in early June.
...not being able to open the windows because of ALLERGIES.
...a wasted day because of ALLERGIES.
...people that grow grass seed...that cause my ALLERGIES.

Poor Charlie is languishing in Murrieta.
He got covered in poison sumac on Saturday while out on recon.
He is infinitely more miserable than I am.