Wordless Wednesday

Time

Time is very amused by me.  It laughs when I try to persist as much as it does.  A concept given human measurement, time always was and always will be.  I foolishly tried to keep up with time, always accounting for every moment, never wasting a one.  I discovered it is best to let time win the race to eternity.  I can't keep up, and I won't.

For now I'm going to sit and watch time trudge on while I sit on my derriere and drink a glass of wine.  Instead of seeing how much I can get done in this many minutes I'm going to see how many minutes I can spend doing nothing.  I'm going to let my mind run, or let it go blank, whatever it so chooses.  I'm not going to be productive today.  I'm going to savor the passage of time instead of account for it.


Photo by appleplusskeleton

I Sense Adventure

Walking With Sticks by TummyMountain

There's something in the air telling me to go forth bravely. To play with abandon. New adventures are in store for all of us every day. Let's all dare to walk with sticks.

Wordless Wednesday

One Track Mind

The Path Before Me by Dragonflybynight

What can a person say when she has a one track mind?  Nothing of too much interest.  Anything she sees, thinks, hears, and says is the same.  The same.  The same.

When the time passes, and it won't be long now, perhaps the track will take a turn.  Or split into two, leaving her to ponder.  Should she stay on the same track?  Or should she follow another?

It doesn't really matter what track she follows, as long as the scenery on either side is never ignored.

The Boys

 

After a superb brunch hosted by Grammy, the boys and their grandpa stretch out their tummies on Father's Day.

The boys aren't boys any more.  They're men.

But they'll always be "the boys" to me.  Even though they aren't my boys. 

And their grandpa will always be my dad.

The Boys and Kahuna.  What a group of characters.

It's Not The Thing You Fling...

Last weekend was a good weekend.  It was a successful weekend.  It was a weekend filled with seeing old friends, meeting new customers, replenishing returning customers, listening to great music, and drinking delicious wine.  My weekend at the Chateau St. Croix Winery Fete Des Fleurs was wonderful and satisfying as ever.

Two days after returning to my normal life I got a heavy case of the blues.  I was disappointed that the feelings created by such a fulfilling weekend couldn't at least last until the next weekend.  As I am wont to do I delved into my psyche in search of the reason why ~ why did I feel so defeated after so much happiness and laugher, not to mention a highly successful business venture? 

The answer came from one of my secret boyfriends, Chris In The Morning.  Chris Stevens is a ex-con, philosopher, artist and disc jockey.  That says nothing for his rugged good looks.  Chris says things that make me think. 

Always searching, Chris finds meaning in the simplest things, and reduces the complex to lessons with which we can all identify.  I wish I could be so insightful and sometimes think it takes living in a small, remote, rustic town (Cicely, Alaska to be precise) to get to the bottom of life's big questions. 

Back to my blues.  I was feeling a little let down after the weekend.  Everything went right, but after I came down from the high it all seemed so anticlimactic.  It wasn't enough.  Or was it too much?  It was better than I'd hoped, but it left me wanting more.  Enter Chris and his afinity for articulating what proved to be the truth I was looking for.  It set me back on my path and allowed me to feel some sense of satisfaction.  It explained what I was missing and reminded me of what's important. 

Please take a few minutes to watch this piece from an episode of Northern Exposure.  Perhaps it will speak to you as it did me.  Perhaps not.  Either way it's a fun bit of TV history.

One Step Closer To That Vampire Fantasy

I gave blood yesterday for the first time in many years.  My excuse for falling away from being a regular doner?  Inconvenience.  Well enough is enough.  I decided doing the right thing isn't always the convenient thing, and donating blood is the right thing to do.

Don't give me all that about hating needles.  No one likes needles stuck into their bodies, but dang it all, that's the only way they can get the blood out of you.  Beats the heck out of leeches. Picture yourself laying in a hospital, dependent on the blood of a person who didn't donate because they were afraid of a needle.  Not so nice on the other side, is it?  Suck it up, baby, and stick out that arm.

I felt really good after donating.  The actual collection took less than nine minutes.  And what's really nice is they give you free cookies and juice afterwards!  Free!  I decided I'm going to become a regular doner again.  It's the right thing to do and you will get lots of positive karma points for doing it.  Plus, you'll save lives.  Knowing that is even better than a free Lorna Doone cookie.

Wordless Wednesday

The Professor

You remember the Professor, don't you?  He was smarter than Gilligan, more handsome than the Skipper, but not as rich as Mr. Howell.  Two out of three ain't bad.  He could make anything out of bamboo and coconuts but couldn't, for the life of him, figure out how to fix a two-foot hole in a boat.  Ginger turned his head, but second only to his love for botany was his love for MaryAnn (this we all knew deep down).

Very similar to the Professor on Gilligan's Island is the other Professor, husband to my frequent commenter MaryAnn.  He's the strong, silent type.  He can make stuff out of nothing.  He's smart.  He's handsome.  He's not at rich as Thurston Howell, III.  He's crazy about MaryAnn and loves her coconut cream pie.  And today, he's fifty years old. 

Happy Birthday, Professor! 

Wordless Wednesday

What A Difference Six Months Makes

I call this weather progression photography.  Over a span of six months the mercury in this (my) thermometer went from -14 degrees F to 100 degrees F.  Minnesota rocks!

January, 2010

June, 2011

In The Shade Of The New Canopy

About six months ago I decided my mantra for this fiscal year would be you have to play big to win big.  That meant forking out some money to improve not only my product, but my image. 

Three months before that there was a canopy malfunction at one of my outdoor shows.  I bought that canopy second hand from a woman who had done shows for a number of years but had to quit due to physical limitations.  I'm not sure how long she owned it, but was nice to think of me and offer her entire setup for a very reasonable price when I decided to hit the road with my crafty biz.

When the malfunction occurred, six years after I bought the canopy, Husby and I looked at each other and decided we probably couldn't make it work for another year. 

Back to my mantra, I decided to bite the bullet, do the research, and purchase a brand new canopy.  Because of the very long winter and terribly wet and mucky spring we couldn't set it up until this past weekend.  (And seriously, if you buy something like this be sure to set it up ahead of time to make sure all the parts are included and it isn't damaged.  You don't want to find surprises when you're "on.")

How much do I love my new canopy?

The best part about this canopy is it comes in a really nice carrying case.  The entire set-up weighs at least sixty pounds so it's nice to have a caddy with wheels.  The carrying case also has arm straps so you can carry it on your back if necessary.  Yeah, like I could wrangle that on my ever-so-delicate (haha) self.  Of course Husby had to prove his mightiness and show how easy it is to lug this thing around backpack style...

Don't you just love his Sears catalog model pose? 

Well, no matter if Husby carries the new canopy on his back or I wheel it to where it has to go, I'm ready for action this summer.  See me at the Chateau St. Croix Winery for the Fete Des Fleurs event June 11th and 12th.  I'll be the one under the brand new canopy.

Custom Made, Just For You

When you're in the crafty business you get a lot of help.  People of all kinds, friends and strangers alike, have all kinds of suggestions and ideas.  Lots of times they're really good ideas, but I'm only one person and can execute only so many of these ideas in a year. 

Over a year ago a woman saw my bottle cap drink charms and she got an idea.  I created a set of custom charms for her with the characters of one of her favorite movies.  She walked away a happy camper and I was very happy I could accommodate her request.

Recently that same woman contacted me via an Etsy convo.  For those of you unfamiliar with Etsy, the convo is an internal e-mail system where Etsy members can converse with each other.  I received this convo and lo and behold she had another idea.  Another brilliant idea. 

A friend of hers is graduating with a PhD.  What a marvelous and admirable accomplishment.  She thought it would be a fun idea to give as a gift a set of bottle cap drink charms depicting the theorists he used in his dissertation.  While she confessed she thought the idea was "geeky," I thought it was a really fun and unique idea for a graduation gift. 

We went to work together.  She gathered pictures of the theorists and I worked them into the charms.  I must say we make a great team.

So, at the risk of ruining a graduation surprise, may I present to you The Great Names In Christian Ethics...

Kudos to the gift giver who thought of this fantasic idea, and a million thanks to her for trusting me to turn her idea into a tangible gift. 

A couple of years ago another person commissioned me to make charms for a Girl's Weekend involving all of the female members of the family; each "girl" got a charm with her picture on it. All weekend long they had their own personal charms identifying their wine glass.

If you have ideas for custom bottle cap drink charms or magnets, let me know and perhaps we can work together on a project.  Ideas would be wedding favors, save-the-date magnets, family reunions, and class reunions.  Contact me at auntiebswax4u@yahoo.com, or if you're a member at Etsy (buyer or seller) shoot me a convo with your proposition.

Auntie B would love to be at your service!

Cheep Cheep Cheep

A little while ago Husby and I were so happy to see in the Christmas tree stashed in our back yard a perfectly constructed robin's nest.  Within that nest were three perfectly constructed robin eggs.

Husby and I are often very enamored with bitty little animals and love and protect them like we would our own children. Little bird eggs are no exception. No, we're not weirdos who think animals are human and we don't interfere with the natural circle of life or the vicious food chain. We don't handle the tiny new creatures who happen to be born in our back yard, but I root for them and hope with all my might that they survive in their wee states.

I was thrilled to see that all three perfectly created robin eggs had hatched and all three bitty birds were keeping each other warm in the nest once they broke out into the big world.

How tiny and bare these little creations. I was tempted to stroke with a single finger that soft fluff, but resisted.

After the Memorial Day weekend I went out and checked out the inhabitants of our Christmas tree once again. Mrs. Robin flew quickly from the nest as I approached, and as I was positioning myself to click a photo she made a beeline for my head ~ grazing it lightly, but enough to startle me. I took the best picture I could and decided it would be the last time I wander back to take a peek...at least for a week or two until the little birds look more like birds than bugs.

But see, they're looking more like birds every day.

It's so much fun to see these little creatures grow.  Pretty soon they'll be hopping across the lawn with open mouths behind their mama who will pick worms out of the ground and feed her babies with her findings.  And then, at long last the little fluff balls will be full grown robins able to fend for themselves.

Oh, they grow up so quickly.

Wordless Wednesday