Have you noticed this?

Once in awhile, there's a smell or taste or music that's so evocative, one that reminds me so much of something that I'm lost for a few seconds, shot back to another time in my life...

For me, the smell of broom straw...bean soup cooking...sawdust...a hot attic...fresh gas and cigarette smoke....crayons...marigolds...dry firewood..new doll plastic....fresh tar on the street....take me to 434, the first house I remember living in.

The taste of anise and boiled eggs and dried apricots are primal for me (not to mention the memory of cod liver oil. I can conjure that bitterness in the back of my throat right now...ack.) I haven't eaten Cheerios in years, but that's a childhood flavor, too, with as much sugar as I could sneak into the bowl...lol

Last night, I had a 50's radio station on on the computer. It would have been the music that Mom listened to on WCCO radio when I was a preschooler.
No specific memory came back except for the image of the curtains in the living room at 434...a cross between these two, sorta:



Yup, huge open flowers on burgandy...the music did THAT?? lol

Then, this morning, I was checking my favorite blogs, and I clicked on this link from the Presurfer blog:

"Marla Olmstead is an abstract painter......Marla enjoys reading, cooking and gymnastics but is at her most joyful and expressive before the canvas.

Marla Olmstead is 5 years old".

Now THAT music is a more recent and has much sweeter memories!

xoxo

Question

So, I'm making KittyRocks alot lately . I keep the computer "radio" on for entertainment and Yahoo IM for 'just in case'...but I make myself get outside every day, even for a short time, ya know?

Daud'll be here tomorrow night (this semester it's Tuesday nights) and Wednesday I'll run down to Son's house to see if he can fix my camera. (He thinks it probably needs cleaning. I hope he's right...lol)

(Quick update: It really pays to have a son who's a skilled engineer. He took it apart and now it works just fine. THANK YOU, J! xoxo)

What's the question, then? Well, it's a series of them, actually:

• Do you have Yahoo Instant Messenger installed on your computer?
• Do you like to play Scrabble?
• Would you consider playing the Yahoo version ocassionally with a person with clay on her hands and glitter on her mind?
• (What's a blog for if ya can't ask for something like this, huh?)

(I haven't played Literati since Christmas day, and I'm having withdrawal symptoms....my VERY favorite partner seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, so if you don't mind being second best, let me know, ok? My e-mail address is over there, under my picture.....)

LOL.....Thanks!

(Another quick note: FavPartner IM'd yesterday, and beat me....again ! It's ok....I'll win next time, maybe. lol)

Today's the day!

Ok, you can both breathe again...yes, I've decided to try
~~~~Glittering a KittyRock~~~~
(Aren't tildes cute?)
Beyond the question of "How much will glitter improve a kittyrock?", I've worried that you might not be able to SEE it glow-in-the-dark under the glitter...but, not to worry, the stuff I'm using is more like a sugar coating--teeny tiny glass balls.
(BTW, the close-up function on my camera doesn't work (damn!) so this will have to do for now. Still, you'll get the idea).

The experimental kitty...the forerunner, the trail blazer, the sacrificial lamb!

Oooooo! I LOVE it! (Are you really surprised? lol)

Still, I think I'll charge ALOT more for a GlitterKitty....no doubt it'll be incredibly popular, right?

(Later: Well, those tiny glass balls pretty much cover the glow in the dark parts (except for the face), and the very reason I have it is BECAUSE it comes off fairly easily...it came from 'sugared grapes' at the shop and what I have is what I swept off my counter there...lol

So: SheddingGlitterKittys?

Possible big seller, or 'um...no?')

Refreshing

Every once in awhile, I change the color of my e-mail page and my Windows...it's like a new paint job, or like I added glitter, ya know?

Try it, you'll like it!

Webpages?

Have you ever wondered HOW to go about setting up a webpage? Right, I hadn't either, before this week.
Then there's the issue of a "domain name"--an address on the worldwide web that ALWAYS brings a surfer to your site...is it necessary? And, is it a matter of "first one who wants it"? or, do you need to buy it, and from whom?
I found out that the name-I-want dot COM is twice the price of the name-I-want dot BIZ for a year...(we're talking $19.95 vs. $7.99...lol)...so is it a worthwhile investment? And why is that company authorized to SELL it?

Anyway, I have a webpage started through a free site (yes I CAN opt for their premium services eventually thank gawd) and once it's ready, YOU'LL be the first to know, promise.

That oughta thrill the pants offa both a' you...

Words found under the pasta machine

Downstairs in my former "craft room", I had my clay stored neatly and well. It was protected from the air with plastic wrap and stowed in a plastic shoebox. No sweat.
My pasta machine, however, was still clamped to the table....right where I'd used it last. (No, it's never been used on FOOD, and never will be used for anything but clay, ok? Umm, it has impossible-to-remove clay-turds inside).
When I unscrewed the clamp and lifted the thing, I discovered a list I'd forgotten about:

"Words that are Written but Seldom Spoken"

Whoo-whee! Exciting, huh? How can I NOT share it with you?

Taut
Copse
Inchoate
Eschew
Accidie
(I know, that last one? It means sloth or torpor. Two more for the list!)
Sloth
Torpor
Oeuvre

Ok, do you have any to add?

I need your opinion, ok?

I have the first new crop of KittyRocks ready to glaze, and I'm debating this in my head:
I've always signed the bottom of each one with my initials, adding a star if it glows in the dark. Then, I've added the year...like 95 or 96. 'Course now they'd say 06...so, does that make the ones I have in the garage "old stock" or just "vintage"? lol...does 95 strike you as a "collectable", or just ancient history?
I NEED feedback here, ok?
Thanks!

Whew

I'm very left-handed, ok?
It's 4:30 AM, and I'm up 'cuz my RIGHT hand woke me by tingling and throbbing...lol I'm here waiting for the aspirin to kick in...

This just in from a friend in Florida:
What's round and red, and whispers?

A hoarse raddish...

Ba-dum-bump!!

Sensory overload

LOL...my hands are stiff and a little swollen this morning. The palms especially feel like they've been spanked, but I know going back to the clay today'll help. That, and aspirin......

When I worked in the silk department, I needed breaks because there was simply so MUCH to choose from in there. When I looked around at the colors and textures and possibilities, I couldn't make a coherent decision about 'what next?' so I needed to get away for a few minutes to sort it out in my head. (Really, the cig was just an excuse...lol)

Now, I have all this clay to play with again, and I don't know where to start. I bought a pound of black, a pound+ of white and seven more regular blocks of colors...so what's the problem? LOL....waaaay too many choices!

And, I'm finding that old canes are too stiff to use as they are...but I have a trick or two to try before I abandon them.

I'll report back later--I know you can't wait to hear, but just remember how MUCH you enjoy delayed gratification, ok?

********************
Later: Sheesh...sometimes what seems like a great idea at the time turns out weird...lol I stacked an old, reduced and flattened cane with white, then cut it lengthwise and re-stacked it with more white on the outside. Should be cool, huh? But I just can't use this one:










Thing is, it has glow-in-the-dark in it, so I'll just re-work it somehow...
BTW, my hands are much better now, thanks
xoxo

Oooooo!

Looking at the pictures below TICKLES me!

New/Old fun!

Whew!
I wondered if six year old polymer clay would be too stiff to 'work'--but I only had to pitch the chunk of white. And, I did have to sand a little rust off my pasta machine. Gawd.

Here's the re-constituted clay I have left, and yes, some of it did need a touch of baby oil to make it workable--do you care? lol
The range of colors are curious, hmm? But I realized that what's left here were my least favorite colors, in inverse proportions--I love bright primary colors, metallics and glow-in-the-dark, blues, greens, oranges, pinks and the contrast of black and white...lol

OK, is there a color I don't like??

Below are the canes I made back then, and they seem to still be 'sliceable'--if not, they'll join that fat ugly colored log (left above--my scrap clay, used for...ahh, that's a secret ...)

Yeah, those are face-canes down in front. Once you've build one , you've invested so MUCH clay in it that you end up with yards of the thing. These are mere shadows of their former selves...lol

Now, I'm off to the craft store to buy some GOOD colors!

Creativity

If you're here, you sorta consider yourself a "creative person", right? Not necessarily a creative floral person, but someone with an interest in making something cool, whatever it is.

I'm curious: are there times when you're bursting with the need to create, and then other times when you couldn't care less?

When I worked in the little flower shop, my daily contact with flowers and silks and paint and dried stuff wasn't enough for me, so I did crafts in the evenings--salt clay, cornhusk dolls, sewing, grapevine wreaths, drying flowers, and eventually polymer clay beads and wall hangings and...cats.

Every one of them sold well at shops and craft sales and music fests, but it was the pleasure of making things that really thrilled me: the idea that I could come up with a better material to use for a body for the dolls, or figure out how to make my own tools for the clay, ya know? And that other people liked what I made even more than I did! It was disgustingly satisfying.

Then, I went to work at the big shop. I had 10 times as much to play with there, and 20 times as many customers to buy it. That was pretty satisfying, too.
But eight hours a day of Creativity stripped my 'evening craft urge' completely away.
My last projects from 6 years ago have been gathering dust downstairs all this time.

But ya know what? The creative urge is BACK!
It's been bubbling up in me for weeks, trying to get my attention

....and I finally (finally!) noticed only yesterday...lol

Why not haul it up here to my office and start again?
AND, why not put together a website to sell what I make?

YES I'll need to make a trip to the northshore as soon as possible this spring....(hooray!)....anybody wanna go with me?

BTW, here's what I'll be making more of:










(No glitter yet, but some DO glow-in-the-dark...lol)

It's 7:12 AM...not even dawn yet. The coffee's brewing so I'll be more lucid soon.....
I feel this obligation to write something so that both of you know I haven't fallen off the planet.

Have you ever had the feeling that all's RIGHT with your world? Yeah, money's tight, but it's ok. I'm getting by, and when I admit that I'm not working and "on unemployment", the most startling people say, "Yeah, that was the best time in my life!" or, "I really enjoyed those months. It was such a gift"....

I'm beginning to understand.

I'm discovering my personal 'default settings': I wake up around 6 every day without an alarm. After watching the sunrise with my toast and coffee, I wait til I'm hungry before I have lunch. Sometimes that's 2PM. There really is a natural 'low' time in the afternoon (and yes, sometimes I NAP then.)

Traffic on the highway this time of day is mostly frantic people heading to work, with a travel mug and business clothes and a name tag. I'm thrilled, for now, not to be one of them.

Now I have a respite from it, and I look back at a 38 year blur of activity every day....scrambling to be out there...be on time...get it done...what about the wedding...do we have the right roses....will I have time...can we make it work....? Argh.

When I'm in a store or other business, I see various people who work there and think: how did she get that job? Does he like what he's doing? Would I be happy doing that? Could I do that, too?
LOL...for now, it's all academic. I'll be back, but not yet...

The Holidays

Ahhh, it's so sweet NOT being in the shop today. And yes, it very much still feels like Christmas to me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Excellent flower photos

A friend sent me this link. If you like stunning close-ups of flowers, click HERE.

How do YOU take orders?

Hi!
I visited another flower shop today. The order pad on the counter made me wonder what method they used to indicate the order was already done--you know, once the order is filled--did they list what was used? Did they initial it? Did they 'slash' it?

Amazingly, we used all three in the shops where I've worked.

A diagonal line through an order meant it was done and ready to go. At the bottom of the slash were the designers' initials and on the back was a quick list of what was used--not necessarily numbers, but I always began the list with whatever I used most of--so it might read "dk r roses, volken, yel alstro/solidago, kermits, myrtle, leather...glass" Any other florist reading that could picture the arrangement!

Who knew Santa was a skydiver?

This last Saturday, Santa Claus jumped out of a plane and landed in St. Paul, Minnesota.
"Santa" was my best friends' husband, who's been a jumper and diving instructor for many years, besides teaching at the local college.

Last night, they sent me THIS video of his 15 minutes of Holiday fame...cool, huh? (Turn up your sound!)

Which came first?

Finally, the ANSWER to one of life's persistent questions.

This was easier when I didn't have time!

Wow...the end of my second week of being un-employed. How different it is to be jobless, when I've never had that luxury before....I'm contacting companies who make floral products I like using, but I could still end up working for my favorite store or something. The world of work is open..wow!
Ok, I know that's a boring subject, and uncomfortable to read about.

Here's a website you'll LOVE for its use of SNOW....lol

Nemo, found!

Not to worry, ok?

Ha! How odd life is, huh? For 38 years, I thought I'd be a florist forever...and here I am, looking for other work.
Amazing, no?

During the last four months in my "silk solitude', I've had time to realize that I'm tired of being a day-to-day florist. Still, it's what I know best, and many parts of it are things I love: customers, fresh flowers, plants, silks...hm, especially silks.

So, how do I transform those proclivities and that know-how into another job?
Something at the wholesale level, maybe? Perhaps a field-rep for a silk flower company? I don't even know WHAT I'm looking for...

If either of you have ideas, let me know, ok?
I'm home.

BTW, here's something I just found....a world SUNLIGHT map, with my compliments...lol

Like watching paint dry

This has nothing to do with flowers, but might enjoy it for 10 seconds or so. Think of it as a Halloween gift, ok?

Thanks to the Presurfer

Funeral wreath for a music lover

The family ordered "standard" flowers for this funeral...a casket spray, two side pieces with script** , and this 'fun' piece. Evidently, music was a big part of her life and a real connection for the niece who ordered it.










One of the advantages of working in a grocery store floral is the plethora of items available to us. We had the wreath form, the mixed flowers and the colored wire for the staff. Another designer made the treble cleft.....and the notes? The bakery had 'em! I clipped the pick-part off, painted them black and applied glitter....cool, huh?

**BTW, 'script' on sympathy flowers is a personal preference, but MY preference is "NEVER". If visitors don't know that the deceased was "Mom" to someone, then why are they there?
When I kick off, pass around dark chocolate, but SKIP the script, ok?

Ok, I blew it

Ha. I thought I started this blog on October 22, 2004. Did I check?
No. Of course not.
I was going on my phenomenal memory....and remembering stuff accurately is NOT why it's phenomenal, trust me.

So, the actual "start date" was the 20th.
Damn, feels like I missed my birthday or something.

But, hey! I'm still writing, and YOU'RE still here. That's good enough for me...lol

Something for your fridge, probably

From an on-line toy, I made this beautiful Delft tile and now YOU faithful reader can print it, buy a frame for it and hang it in a place of honor in your home:















Yes, I suppose you might have an adage of your own to hang below that, hmm?
Ok, click here

(Thanks to the Presurfer)

The Trail

Here are a few more Upper Midwest Fall Photos of the Lake Woebegone Trail:



(Using the cartoon effect, again...lol)

A GREAT fall day

Wow...today, we took the bikes to a small town NW of here and tried a new (to me) part of the Woebegone Trail. The scenery was amazing, the smells were evocative and the wind was cool...even in the sun. The first picture is a grove of birch trees so yellow that the air glowed. (I used the "cartoon" effect on it...for, um, effect).

If you've ever noticed wild bittersweet, you know that it's usually high in the trees, out of reach. THIS clump was next to the trail about three feet from the ground, and everybody left it there for others to enjoy. I think that's a blessing.

Strangeness:

It looks as though I'm turning into a weekend blogger. I think about EF during the week, but other stuff always takes me in different directions...lol
Hey, I'll try to post, but don't expect it, ok? You can BOTH find something else to do most likely, even if it's only anticipating next Saturday, which BTW, will be my one year blog anniversary.

I KNOW. I'm as surprised as you are.

Have a great week!

Autumn, indoors

My house faces west, ok?
So that means (besides the fact that the trim on that side needs painting alot and it gets HOT during the summer), first thing in the morning, it's fairly dim on that side of the house.
Still with me?
(I'm a bit distracted 'cuz I'm listening to a Polka Mass CD as I write...um, don't ask...)
Just now, I went to the kitchen for another cuppa, and glanced into the living room (9AM!):

Wha....? how come there was so much light in there? Lights left on maybe?

Nope....it's the birch trees on the front lawn! Wow, huh?

(By the way, IF the world really, really NEEDS a polka mass, then why doesn't somebody write an actual polka mass instead of this cramming-words-into-songs the band already knows???? Still, it makes you listen hard for tortured phrasing and unfortunate song-use....lol).

A real mystery

Ok, I need some answers here.
Last January 4th, I posted a picture of an amaranthus plant. It was a picture I 'googled' to illustrate the beginning of what I planned as "Flowers starting with A" month.
(Obviously, it didn't last, or we'd be doing purple flowers this month or something, right?)

Ok, so here's the mystery:
In the past two weeks or so, I've had maybe 30-40 hits, from all over the world, referencing that picture.
How come it's something people are suddenly interested in?
Was it mentioned on a popular blog...or a TV show?
Is amaranthus part of a new book or something?
Or, a new song called "Love Lies Bleeding"? (Ewww!)

In this whole year, I've had maybe four other hits on that page, but lately, it's 3-5 a DAY....so why???

Hell, I'll even accept theories!

Mmmm, apple crisp!

I went to a local apple orchard today, expecting to park in the yard as usual and leisurely chat with the woman behind the counter, as usual.


HA! It was their opening day, and parking was across the road. They had music, pumpkins, and pumpkin painting (?), a wool spinner and a petting zoo.

I know. You simply can't buy apples without petting a pot-bellied pig, right?

YUM!

(And don't tell me your oven mitt is any cleaner than mine....lol)

It's IMPORTANT to lie on these tests, right?!

I am 64% Hippie.

"You are not a child of the 60’s but your heart is true to the cause, man. You realize that being a hippie is not just bell bottoms and tie-dye. It is also about the drugs and smelling bad, too!"

Take theHippie Test@ FualiDotCom

Wedding lily

Here's another lily from the bulbs E&S sent home with me after their wedding.

I cut it and brought it inside because it gets pretty cold at night lately, and because it was lovely...lol.


As I mowed yesterday, I saw that one of the white lily bulbs also set buds...five of them....but they look weak and probably won't open this fall. Still, this means I have all three colors from the wedding and they'll bloom beautifully next spring. Hooray!!

OK, is this a FLORIST blog, or not?

Both of you might be wondering why I'm not writing about flowers and the shop much these days. Sure, it's a lovely area around here, but that's probably not why you have me bookmarked, right?
(Or, maybe it IS! lol)

This week, I pretty much finished my job of 24/7 silks at Central. I shipped 37 boxes of Christmas to our stores on Wednesday, in addition to the Fall stuff I'd sent earlier.

On Thursday and Friday, would I "help with five weddings at the shop, please?"
(One of them, a Friday wedding, was Daud's exact bouquet. It really tickled me to do it, too).








We were so efficient that I took Friday off!

For the time being, I'll be doing some floral related projects for the corporation. I have three lined up right now, and soon, a job interview for another position with the company......so, we'll see what happens, huh?
LOL...I might need to re-name the blog Ephemeral Swing-Person, but that has NO pa-zazz at all!

October in (Central) Minnesota

It's beautiful here folks! Apple weather....baking weather....sweater weather.
We had the first frost this week, with what seems like selective damage: the marigolds are shot, but the peony bush next to them is fine.
And, yes, I do need to mow today, but it isn't as bad when the high'll be 56...lol

Here's the Woebegone Trail yesterday, for your visual gratification:
























Nope, the Trail has no massive footbridge (it has plenty of other cool stuff).
This is on a road that the trail crosses, maybe a quarter mile away. We just wanted to get some better fall-color pics, for YOU!

More Trail pics

View from the bridge....ahhhhh!









This is the road under that bridge...I-94

A delightful dinner with Daud

You know how an idea can just grow legs?

Last Thursday, E stopped at the store before she went to class (a new phase in her life--she's going back to school at the college she graduated from 7 years ago--six blocks from my job!) and I asked what she'd like for dinner.

We talked of this and that, until I said I had pork ribs and sauerkraut at home. The joke has always been about how colorless that combination is...lol
Eventually, laughing all the way, the menu became:
boiled pork
sauerkraut
boiled potatoes
cottage cheese
milk
and tapioca pudding
Wanna see?

























It was delicious!

Do you keep a portfolio?

There was a time when someone asked me for a portfolio of my work as a florist.
Wha...? Me? A portfolio?
Sheesh, I'd already missed SO MANY possible pictures I should have taken...
Still, just lately I've realized that this blog is a form of portfolio, and one that's much easier to show around. No schlepping an album, no framed photographs--all you need is a computer and a mouse!

But...there ARE some arrangements that make a person shake her head...yes, it's nice, but weird







lol..."sugared" fruit in strange colors. Somebody might buy it, but WHY??