Three ten year cycles

A few years back an interior designer told me that all interior decoration color schemes last about ten years, and that there are basically only three different color schemes that are used.

The first colors scheme is called Natural/Earth/Neutral tones. The years that those colors are popular find furniture, rugs and paint sticking to pallets that are beige/brown/grey/sand.

The second color scheme is called Jewel/Saturated tones: Think sapphire/emerald/ruby/rich purple,brilliant tangerine/vibrant greens and hot pinks and black accents.

The third color scheme is called Pastel/Muted tones. Think sky or dusty blue, rosy or dusty pinks and purples, sage greens, mint greens, butter yellow, apricot and peach.

The colors tend to switch mid decade, and by the time EVERYONE has those colors in the stores, the new color scheme is already showing up in the high end market. Remember too, color palettes for everything (towels, cars, fabric, dishes..) are determined five years ahead of what is seen in stores.

Also remember that Europe is ahead of the curve.

Now for fun...let's count back.

2005: Earth tones: these have been the years of granite countertops, brown or coffee colored walls and furniture, grey metals, and natural tones. This scheme just caught on a few years ago; I enjoyed watching young married bloggers paint their kitchen cabinets shade of brown and lust after granite counter tops. In other words: Earth/Natural tones.

1995 to 2005: Pastel/Muted: The hot color was sage green and soft dusty golds, soft rusty peach, butter yellow, some soft dusty aqua and soft plum. An "organic" take on Pastel/Muted colors. Many shades of beige were considered quite trendy.

1985-1995 Jewel/Saturated: Ruby red and deep burgundy, with teal greens, or deep navy blue with burgundy. I remember suddenly wanting a cranberry red sofa with big flowers and teal accents, and had to have a couch custom made. Ten years later you could find similar couches everywhere as the heavy floral and crocheted lace antique look exploded on via Victoria Magazine. Some folks went with toile, black and white rooms were quite interesting.

1975-1985: Earth tones: Macrame and baskets. Rusty orange and harvest gold, avocado appliances. Wood stains and wood panelling was cool, especially old barn siding if you were young! At the end of this time the soft blue with pinky ducks or sage green and peach desert motif came into play.

1965-1975: A bit of a mix here...some Jewel tones because of the Pop neon color movement, where hot pink, lime, orange, and purple showed up.

1955-1965: Pastels: Remember yellow, turquoise and pink bathroom fixture? Fluffy cotton candy girl's rooms? Aqua and brown and navy plaids for boys?

1945-1955: Jewels tones: Yellow, red, navy colors.

Anyway, if you want to read more about this, you can click here.
Be sure to click on color tends for 2008 to get an idea of where color is headed next.

As for me....

A trip to IKEA yesterday got my color engines all revved up.

I could so easily enjoy spending time in this yellow room!

Laura liked this room...but then again, she decorated her apartment with exactly these colors, including painting her walls that same shade of red.

Yes, as a matter of fact I would like an area rug just like this one.

I could almost go for this...the blue and neutral is certainly cool and restful.

But I'd rather be in this room right now. Color and more color! Lime and orange, navy and white. Hmmm...how odd that my first bathroom colors when I got married were exactly these same shades!

Ikea fabric is so energizing.

You can buy fabric panels that can be hung on a tension wire, and change out to suit a mood or season. Much faster than repainting, and much much faster than wall papering.

Crazy red poppy....I love it!

( I had to share the joke: the tools and repair bits are all called "Fixa". I think that is quite droll.)

How about a bright pillow on a white duckcloth couch? Hot pink today, maybe rich deep blue tomorrow. Match or cure a mood...

So here we are back home, with my 2001 purchased dusty sage sofa, with matching silk or velvet pillows, and peachy silk accent pillows, that are totally shot, but Tiggie enjoys sitting on them so we keep them.

I am sooooo bored with this.

One IKEA pillow: WHAM! Feel the energy! I'd love similar curtains, and the striped rug....
I guess I decorated originally in Pastel, passed on the Earth tones, and am now really ready for some bright punchy jewel tones.

I look around at the house, and realize...it would be more fun to just sell everything, move and start all over again.

So I went to the garden center and bought a garden full of pink and lime green colors to tide my color cravings over for now.

Have you ever seen a lassi....

Two requests of Laura's Papaya Lassi recipe! Wow!

Well, truth be told, she is just like me, and rarely uses an actual recipe. Lassi is a yogurt based drink from India. It is popular there both as a cooling drink and as a digestive aid, and is made with many variations. Lately we have just been hooked on the Mango version.

Mango Lassi

Ingredients:

3 cup plain yogurt (fat free is a great option, still tastes great!)
1 cup milk (whole, low, non-fat, whatever you've got...)
1 cup water (we prefer to use canned mango juice instead.)
1 cup mango pulp (good and ripe...)
1/4 cup sugar (or more if you want it sweeter, less for more tart.)
Dash salt
1 cup of ice

Whirl all of the above in a blender until smooth. OR if you are without a blender, stir everything except the ice together, then pour the mix over ice. We usually forget the salt...still tastes good.

I like to add a very fine light sprinkle of cardamon to the top for an exotic flavor; Laura likes finely crushed pistachios.

But wait...there's more!

Rosewater Lassi is a really unique flavored version.

2 cups yogurt or buttermilk
2 cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon rose water.

Garnish with a rose petal.

I'm also a big fan of Cucumber Lassi for when I am burned out on sweet flavors:

1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 cup milk
1 medium cucumber, skin and seeds removed
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried mint leaves, or a two teaspoons of fresh fresh mint
2 cubes ice cubes (more or less..)

Whirl in blender until smooth, makes one quart.

Obviously once you get thinking about it, you can come up with your own versions: Avocados with lime, pepper and garlic powder...strawberry.... bananas...cantaloupe...

As an added bonus: Do you remember drinking Orange Julius as a kid when you went to your local mall? French Vanilla coffee creamer added to fresh orange juice and whirled with ice will give you a beverage that is a dead ringer for the original drink. I just start with a tablespoon of creamer to a cup of juice, and regular orange juice works pretty good too. If you liked Strawberry Julius, just use strawberry juice.

I'm being summoned for a Scrabble game...gotta go...

Kicking off a three day weekend...

Recuperation has allowed me time to sit in the garden and consider what work needs to be done. Pruning the trees, an ongoing task, seemed most pressing to me. And we (well...I ) have been nothing but slothful the past few days.

We have been just watching a lot of movies lately; Greenfingers (a great Helen Mirren flick) Charlie Wilson's War (Houston story, eye crossing to know what happened back in the '80 to get us where we are today with Afghanistan) PS: I Love You (nice, but I didn't cry) and Bagger Vance (again..if you love hats, you really, really must see this flick.) I even watched a truly weird Bollywood film based on a Russian novel....hoo boy.

This morning Bernie suggested that we do tree trimming on Monday so the clippings could go out with the trash on Wednesday.

He was thinking right with that, but I was raring to make the trees look like I had envisioned, so I headed out. He and Laura followed, and took charge of the tools that were needed to make the changes needed.

I wanted all the branches that were over their head GONE. With the branches gone, it would be possible to see our neighbors lovely tree that turns yellow in the fall, and the pink flowering and blue flowering trees in their yard as well.

It is called "borrowing" landscaping.

It was so hot and steamy out that the camera kept fogging up.

Naturally Tiggie joined in. He is very fond of playing "sticks" and there sure were a lot being created here.
I accidental stepped on his tail at one point. He yowled, gave me an offended look, then settled right back into the action. Bernie found it quite challenging to drop large branches without hitting the cat.

See? Doesn't that look a lot better? Same view as the first shot....
(Notice the Faithful Orange Cat is still on duty.)

We cleared out a tree that was growing almost parallel to the ground. We had stalled on removing it because it always held one of our big bird feeders. We'll replace it with one like the one pictured above, and hang it from a shepherd's crook.

Clearing the branches out should also allow more sunlight to fall on our back lawn area. It has basically died from lack of sunlight. Strangely thought, a volunteer sunflower has bloomed in the most shaded part of the garden.

I'm thinking of scattering more sunflower seeds; the one flower looks so cheery!

I've still got to replant the garden bed. The last few years I've planted coleus; this year I have loads of volunteers. Wouldn't you know it, this year I have a hankering to plant inpatients.

For some reason this year NONE of the local nurseries are carrying inpatients!

I am getting really impatient for impatients!

After four hours of work, we were all sweaty and ready to retreat inside for a nice bison burger cooked on the barbecue (sooo much yummier than beef...) and some mango lassi (yogurt, ice, sugar and mango drink, very refreshing) and we plan to wile the rest of the day away watching a few more flicks.

Are you doing anything exciting this weekend?

Tell me about it.

It has to be more interesting than what we are doing.

I am amazed to think that this time last year I was in Switzerland; what a difference year this is!

Guest Blogger Tiggie

I got my African violets trimmed and watered yesterday. AND I made dinner: Egg salad sandwiches. On white bread.

Being on a low residue diet is so weird: all those crunchy whole grain healthy high fiber items that I have always included in my diet are off limits for now. Angel food cake, white bread, rice and noodles are required instead. Weird. This will likely be changed big time in a week or so, but for now white flour reigns.

Other household members are telling me that poultry is a necessary addition to their diet. Poultry as in the feathered babies that flicker between our tree branches and bird feeders. We are not buying into this at all.

Since I am still in low speed, I'm going to let our orange cat Tiggie, (AKA "Harper Lee", am I the only one who gets this joke?) of Tiggie FOC blog here today. As we all know, he is a cat with a lot to say. So I'm going to just let him say it today and head on back to bed.

I saw Hart loafing on the bench outside yesterday. He looked like someone had let the air out of him.

He is a great hunter, but pretty lax on keeping up with his outside snoopervising duties.

Hart is way too involved in baby bird catching. It just about wears him out racing up and leaping to the bird feeder, then running when Bernie knocks on the window and yells.

Baby birds are too easy; they sit near us and look at us like they don't know what we are. They learn though...

I personally caught a Carolina wren and brought it in to show Bernie. He was ticked off, and took the bird away from me. The dumb wren now sits on the patio chair and smirks at us.

I wasn't going to hurt it or anything; I just wanted to show Bernie that I could catch a bird if I wanted to.

I got going on my rounds..,..everything was just fine. The raccoons had stopped by and left some trash behind, but that isn't my problem.

I am allowed to hunt snakes though. Inside snakes. Ones that are knitted by Grandma, and have 'nip and crinkles and bells inside.

Man can those things fight.

I have to re-kill them every day.

Another Tiggie-Snake trophy shot.

It is a lot of work killing snakes. I always work up a bit of sweat, and my fur gets all tangled up. A nice long bath followed by a good nap makes for the perfect ending to a successful hunt.

Name That Gator

I must be doing better. Even though I am still inclined to afternoon naps from which I awaken convinced I still have an IV in my hand and side rails on my bed, small bits of grey matter are re-awakening. Part of this sleepiness is normal recovery from being sick and sleep deprived. It doesn't help that I have not had a cup of caffeinated anything for a week and half now either.

I dream of Carl Larsson paintings, which is a very pleasant thing, and consider the garden which is heavily shaded, leafed about with bushes and trees that need trimming. The temperature soars in the afternoon and I sit outside until I am warm through and through, then retreat once again to the cool interior to sip fluids and nap again.

This morning I awoke and knew the gator's name. The yet unnamed gator who slid into the oil smeared waters that are rapidly filling the Daisetta sinkhole. I could picture him in his private green swimming hole, and hoped that he was happily still splashing about.

I think his name must be "Slick."

They say I will go home today....

Whew, I never thought I'd be in the hospital for eight days with this. Today I am feeling much better. I actually got an amazing eight hours of sleep last night, uninterrupted by vigilant medical personnel.

The GI doctor said I can safely go home now. We are just waiting for the attending physician (a lung guy...go figure) to drop by and sign my release form. He could show up in the next two minutes or in four hours from now. Who knows. Doctor's rounds have their own mysterious rhythms around here. (Update: I finally got to go home at nine pm Sunday night. Hurrah!)

So we wait, read the Sunday paper, think about how today is much better than last Sunday, and are so thankful for all who prayed for my healing and the people who worked hard to care for me.

There has been no definitive label given to what has been going on with me. A scope of my colon in a few weeks will be needed. Meantime I'll just keep taking antibiotics and protonixs and eating food that is low in sediment. Please pass me the yogurt and buttermilk; aren't I just the luckiest person around... I actually like buttermilk anyway!

They say that laughter is the best medicine. I got a healthy dose yesterday when the local newspaper published the next chapter in the Diasetta Sinkhole story. The news...I laughed so hard I almost fell off the bed.


It seems a seven foot long alligator has been swept into the rapidly filling sinkhole. A "yet unnamed" alligator.

People who were working on dismantling "storage sheds that were teetering on the edge of the crater" (huh? how nuts is that?) saw the gator swimming thirty feet down from the edge of the sinkhole. Water has begun to fill the hole, water both from below the earth and from the surrounding swampy land. An alligator infested swampy land.

Naturally this concerns some people.

The water is highly contaminated with oil. Prepare yourself: the gator may get oil on his skin and eyes. And of course some folk want to see the gator "rescued."

Yeah, right. Ain't gonna happen.

The locals have been willing to admit that they have been sneaking out to the edge of the sinkhole to see the gator swimming in his own private pool. One nineteen year old woman even let the press use her name as she talked about doing such a thing.

Wonder what Bishop will be doing to her? Sure do hope she isn't packing a parasol when he catches up with her.

I can not imagine why the locals are even bothering taking a look-see. One old guy (age 74 according to the article) noted that they had a nine foot gator living right behind an old gas plant in town. Workers used to huck the the gator their left over sandwiches.

Anyway, I figure everyone needs both a laugh and something to think about. Even though there are plenty of unnamed gators around, apparently the sinkhole gator now needs a proper handle. A name to match his fame in these otherwise troubling times.

A few years back it was discovered that an alligator was living in a pond in a park in San Francisco. The local newspaper held a contest to name the critter.

You can guess the name that won, right?

It was a natural; of course he was the GOLDEN Gator.

I'm thinking hard about what they should name the Sinkhole gator. I asked my nurse Eva what name she would give the gator. Without a moment hesitation, she shot back:

"In Louisiana, they'd call him 'Dinner.''

Gal Pal Gail pointed out that since he is already swimming in oil, all they need to do is drop a match and we could have fried gator ready in a jiffy.

It must be all the meds that are slowing down my thought processes. There must be a great name for this beast. Your suggestions are needed. Like I said earlier, laughter is the best medicine. So go ahead...take your best shot at naming this critter.
If you make me laugh your payoff will be knowing you have done your part in helping this sick person feel better.

Mother's Day

Hi all. I haven't posted this week because I got very violently sick on Saturday night and was hospitalized on Sunday. My favorite Mother's Day present was a big push of Dilaudid into my IV. If you are ever in serious pain, try it...you will like it.

If I can hang onto my food for 24 hrs perhaps I can go home tomorrow. My colon is definitely goofed up. The labs results show it isn't food poisoning and two doctors hold two different opinions on what is going on. Nothing can really be confirmed until the colon heals and can be scoped.

Right now the antibiotics makes all food taste horrible, and with each bite I take I wonder if it will stay in me. I simply do not want to eat; I think I have discovered a miracle cure for appetite.

It's been a rough five days. Today is the first time I have felt well enough for B. to bring me my laptop. He has been by my side each day, and Laura has been "on call" literally as she is training out of the area. Her professional knowledge is priceless to me as it is difficult to know when to head to the Emergency room or when to ask for something different during care. (My favorite tip from her: ask for baby wipes..the hospital has them, and regular hospital tissues are really rough...)

I am praying that the colon heals super fast, and that my mouth and stomach also return to normal. I just want to be well...and go home.

Friday Afternoon Date with the Criminal Element

Yup, that's me in Daisetta Texas, home of the giant sink hole posing next to the yellow DO NOT CROSS POLICE LINE tape.

Daisetta Texas, where it was as hot as heck and where I had hoped to get a glimpse of the giant sink hole that has been so much seen on the news lately.

Lovely town....

Bernie and I headed out to Daisetta around 3:30 pm on Friday. It was a pleasant hour long drive through the country. Having a GPS guide us through the various highways and biways was most helpful.

When we pulled into Diasetta city limits, we realized that this was a really, really small town.

Population 1023 if I remember right.

The main street, named Main Street, was closed to through traffic, so we parked beside several other vehicles in an unpaved parking lot and wandered across the road to where all the television trucks were already parked.

Every sort of official vehicle was parked at various angles on the street.

Police, fire, rescue, Texas railroad commission...

That last one really made me curious.

(Bernie's ahead of me in that last shot, in the white shirt, walking along with his hands stuffed in his short's pockets.)

A quasi command station had been set up in the middle of the road.

I'm not sure what coded messages were being posted there, but everyone seemed rather laid back and calm. Right behind that booth was another tented area with stacks of water bottles, table, and several barbecue smokers.

Hmmm....a nice barbecue dinner sounded like a lovely option for sink hole viewing apres activities.

In front of the white board command center a small crowd had gathered; a group of about 20 people. They began to walk down the road in a tight group, lead by an official looking person in a uniform. Bernie and I picked up the pace and caught up with them, assuming that they were headed to the crater.

The officer stopped on the grass about a block down the road. We crowded around him expecting some kind of address. You can see the tape blocked road leading to the crater in the picture above.

I thought maybe I could get a better picture by walking down to the opening of the dirt road.

I walked a few feet that way. The officer spoke up and told me I wasn't to stand there.

Okay.

I walked back to the crowd.

I really couldn't see much. A tanker truck came driving up the dirt road and stopped. Bernie commented that the tanker must weigh a lot more than all of us, and why couldn't we step up on the curb to see better.

A guy in the crowd turned to Bernie and said "You aren't from around here are you?"

Bernie allowed that no, we were not.

The local informed Bernie that the town's officer needed very little to arrest anyone and lock them up for 48 hours, no questions asked.

Now there's Southern hospitality for ya.

The officer didn't speak again except to warn everyone to stay back.

EVERYONE was standing in the road; the yellow police tape was at least ten feet away.

I really wanted a good view of the sink hole. I walked back up the road to a place where I could see between the trees. The edge of the crater was just barely visible. I took a shot.

Notice where the police tape is.

I decided to continue walking back to the command center, and the view was a tad better from there. I stepped up onto the lawn, noting that there was a couple of people standing in the trees looking out over the sink hole. I was about three feet from the curb, which gave me an extra 8 inch or so of altitude.

I've zoomed in on this shot and cropped out the police tape.

See the two guys in the trees? The blur in the sky is the news helicopter that had been continuously circling the sink hole since we first arrived in the area.

It was at that point I heard the officer say "Lady, I'm going to ask that you be escorted out of the area."

Huh?

I looked around to see who he was talking to.

Um...that apparently would be me.

I stepped back and a police woman came right up beside me. "Escort her out of the area" the office said again. I was gently herded over to this vehicle:

Now picture this: Here I am, dressed in a nice sky blue knee length skirt, white tank top, white belt, a scarf around my neck and I am carrying my open parasol.

The police woman barely comes up to my shoulders.

"Ah, Bernie?" I called out.

"Yeah?"

"Hon, they want to escort me out of here."

Bernie loped over.

"Can I go with her?"

The police woman made eye contact with the officer.

"No."

"Can we just walk out of here by ourselves?"

A moment hesitation, then a hesitant "OK" was heard.

Whew!

My little drama seemed to put an end to the tour opportunity. Everyone began to drift back down the street, grumbling about the ultra controlling officials.

Various news cameras had tagged along, and I watched as the more "folksy" and colorful characters got singled out for an interview.

Don't you think they missed a great opportunity to interview little ol' me and the police harassment that I had suffered?

I spun my parasol lazily as I walked, careful not to walk too fast or too slow.

Just real casual like.

We walked pass this scene with a deep hole at the base of a pole? Another sink hole?
No, a local informed me. It was Liberty counties (censored) idea of a drainage ditch.

Oh. Apparently most of the folks were not overly fond of the local government.

I paused to watch the ABC news guy practice his report, barely audible over the roar of the helicopter overhead. I did catch that the town was asking the governor of Texas to declare the town a disaster area.

Not to be unkind...there's not a lot to the town to begin with. Lots of boarded up buildings and such...

The news truck parked on a lot on

Main Street.

Our car...and another Main Street building.

Maybe the sink hole would be like the old joke about Alabama hurricane damage:

It did a half million dollars worth of improvements to the area.

I never thought of myself as a rabble rouser, or as person that would ever be needed to be run out of a town via police escort.

Secretly I almost hoped I could have gotten the ride. I've never have had a ride in a police car before. And as Laura always says: If you are ever in a police car or an ambulance, ask that they turn on the siren. Get the whole experience, get all the bells and whistles!

Now I will always wonder what could have happened it I had gotten in the car and asked for the siren to wail.

Maybe me and my parasol would have made national news!

Bernie and I headed out of town after that.

I tried to think who I could of called to make bail for us if we had been locked up.

That is the problem with not having very many face-to-face friends.

Gail said she would have wired me bail money.

She is a really good friend. In fact she said she would of wished that she could have been there in there with me!

Now here's be the best two parts:

A video with the law enforcement officer (Hu8gh B8ishop) who booted me out of the area.

And better....

This video of the man talking to MSNBC.

Oh my!

When it all caves in.....

If you have been following the news lately you are probably aware of the record breaking sink hole that is forming not far from where I live. Not to worry...it is about an hour's drive away, our property is not at risk, and yes I do intend to drive on over for a look-see later today.

If you are behind on the story of the ever growing depression, you can catch it here.

What you won't find is the report on the formation of my own recent personal depression.

I haven't had much interest in posting the last few days. One thing after another piled on and frankly I was wiped out.

Bernie had left last Friday for a business, a trip that would take him from home for five days.
Saturday Laura was fighting a cold, so I headed to the Houston Hat Net party on my own.

It was an hour and half drive to get there; but worth it to see my fellow hat enthusiasts. We all live at different corners of Houston; long drives to get together is the price I pay anytime I want to see these friends.

At the party behatted ladies chatted and caught televised glimpses of Kentucky derby hats.

When it came time to mount the riders for the big race, I watched the names come up on screen, and I whimsically declared that Eight Belles would be my horse. I was astonished to see her come in second in the race, and sickened moments later to learn she had broken both her legs right after the race and had to be destroyed on the track.

How could the death of a creature that I had only known about for a few minute affect me so deeply?

Normally I think I would have managed having Bernie gone so long, and the horse tragedy. But these two events came about as Laura's time with us was coming to a close. She had taken an assignment here in Houston so we could spend time together; she arrived in January, and it was time for her to move on to her next assignment. The little over four months time together went oh so fast.

Over the weekend Laura struggled with twists and turns concerning her upcoming nursing assignment-details that had us both wondering what she ought to do next. No answer seemed ideal or clear cut. She was still tired from fighting her cold, her vacation and knowing she was facing changes ahead.

She had just gotten back from a week in Sweden; it was hard enough on me having her gone one week; now I was facing her being gone away and back to her own life away from us for good.

Having had my friend Gail come and go the week before underscored to me how precious it was to have a friend to visit face to face. Phone calls and emails are nice; but no replacement of a smiling face and shared hugs. I know I won't be able see Gail again for a very long time.

On Sunday Laura and I took a last walk through the woods together. The wild iris were blooming in the sunlight, and I saw the first little girl spiders who will soon grow up to be the big yellow spiders of summer. Another summer has come...it seemed to happen so fast.

Last Monday, as Laura and I ate Swedish pancakes, I was already struggling with missing Gail, and knowing the next day Laura would be packed up and gone. I knew when she left Bernie would still be gone out of town.

That realization hit me hard; it was then that I started to crumble. Sometimes I really hate being alone.

That night a local buddy told me that she and her husband will be leaving the area soon as well. Another sad blow. I am really, really sick of saying good bye to friends and family. And I am super tired of trying to make new friends here. My buddy and I both agreed: it is difficult to meet people who have time for fun and friendship.

Tuesday morning after a night with lots of tears and little sleep, I went for dental work: prep for two crowns. Ouch.

Laura and I agreed she would drive off while I was gone. She left me loving note, and the cats had dragged several of their favorite toys into the empty guest room, apparently in a last ditch attempt to make her stay. We stayed in touch via cell phone as she drove alone half way across America. Tuesday was tough. Bernie cut his trip short to fly home.

Today Laura is back in our home town of San Diego. She will be with my mom and Bernie's mom on Mother's Day.

Bernie is busily doing business from his office; I can hear the conference call he is leading even as I type. It helps to have him home and that the twists and turns of Laura's assignment have apparently been resolved.

More or less...

I'm doing better today. There are things to do and places to go: A sink hole to visit and there's an Art Car block party happening tonight. A hat on a different kind of block is in my hat room right now just waiting to be finished.

Some days, and weeks are better than other. It is like when I walk through the forest, there are always shadowy patches and sunlight spaces. If I keep walking, I eventually pass through both.

I'm going to keep walking. The next bright patch (or hippo car) may be just around the bend.

PS: The hippo art car belongs to Hat Netter Sue, whose new red hippo car is the sister to Sue's purple hippo car. 'Cuz really, can a girl ever have too many hippo cars?

Cinco de Mayo Swedish style

Fast on the heels of Kentucky Derby Day (the previous two posts have lots of hats...and have been updated....)

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I figured that since the Mexicans waved Mexican flags on St.Patrick's day, we would have Swedish pancakes to eat on Cinco de Mayo.

Makes sense, right?

Laura made them using the recipe in the Swedish cookbook she got over in Sweden.
Yes, they were absolutely delicious!

Before she left for Sweden she asked me if I wanted her to get me anything in particular while she was there.

I told her I would love place mats with pictures by the Swedish artist Carl Larsson .
I was thinking inexpensive plastic....she got me the corked back board mats instead.
You can see how big they are; one is under Laura's plate in the top picture.

I just love them. For years B. and I used to have Friday morning dates at a Scandinavian restaurant, and they always used Larsson place mats. Larson is famous for his gentle paintings that captured everyday family life in Sweden, back in the 1800's.

Larsson's home is still available for public tours; it is arguably the most famous artist home due to his many painting that captured daily life within it.

My personal favorite: The girl's hat, and the cute baby chasing a crawfish: Just so cute.

It is raining like crazy here today; flash flood warnings are up and the lighting and thunder has been pretty steady for the last six hours.

I like rain.

Let it pour!