Why, yes, we DID get snow!

Ahhh...we've been waiting for "the other shoe to drop" here in Minnesota for YEARS. Every winter we hear that this time it'll snow like crazy, but then the storm waltzes right on by...I mean, who thinks of New York as a snowy state?? We're loosing our bragging rights and the snowmobile dealers have even closed-up shop around here...can you imagine?

BUT---


...we actually got a good FOOT or more yesterday. I woke up this morning because there was NO sound--and I live next to a 4 lane highway. Wha...?
LOL...it wasn't till I went outside for a little shovel-fun that I saw the huge muffler on the roof. Isn't that COOL?

Wanna see how deep it is?



Ok, that doesn't look like much and it's always deepest right there in front of the garage, but it reminded me of this picture circa 1955.

(Yes. You're right. There really was more snow when we were little...lol)


xoxo,
Bird

A tiny puzzle

What happened a YEAR ago this week? Click HERE for a fun way to find out...lol

Gopher

Once in awhile, you write to a friend and think--"Hey, this would make a good blog post, too!".
With apologies to Larry for its additions and double use... ;^)

There's a goofy store in St Cloud that's been there as long as I can remember. It's on the "bad" side of town, where all the sad industrial businesses are--Sally Ann, scrap iron, cut rate and salvage businesses--and this one: "Gopher Bargain Center".

Yesterday, we decided we needed an adventure, and since we found ourselves on the East Side, we had lunch at the Copper Lantern, and then stopped at Gopher.

It used to be all merchandise salvaged from fires or disasters, so lots of it had smoke damage, and the whole rabbit warren of a store always smelled of Pine Sol and smoke. These days, there's a huge wholesale Gopher-equivalent somewhere...and their merchandise is just ordered in (we asked...lol).

There are whole aisles of "brain fart" products that make you shake your head...lol...and hardly any evidence of smoke damage.

It always amazes me how such a peripheral-to-my-life place can call up such vivid memories: as a kid, going there with Dad and knowing that, if he bought something in bulk, it'd better be something for the garage, 'cuz Mom wouldn't use stuff from Gopher if she could help it.

It was always good for "scores" though--especially massive quantities of crafty stuff like pipe cleaners or "good enough" lace, ya know?

I think about the relative handful of "old" merchandise we have at Scenic, but in light of Gopher's REALLY old stock, it doesn't even compare. There's one whole area of Gopher that's from dead hardware stores, and it's gray, dark, and dirty--like nobody's cared since 1942 or so.

These days, the place is being tricked-out to look better, but it's like painting the roller coaster at a derelict theme park...one spiffy ride/aisle makes the ferris wheel/rest of the store look even more scruffy...lol You know it's fake, and won't last.

Why am I telling you about it? Dunno, except it was vivid...it's a place I always resist going to, but it draws me at the same time.

Yes, of course I bought stuff: a new toilet seat, two oven mitts, a big metal spoon, Speed Stick, and a filigree metal basket for the counter in the bathroom...for $18.36 total.

I didn't say I had high standards, only that I'm a bit conflicted about going there...lol No doubt the sibs and my kids have stories of their own to add...right?

Mr. Deity

I found a website yesterday that's hilarious. It's a tongue-in-cheek series of videos about "almightiness, one day at a time"....and watching 'em again is even better.

"Let there be Light" is a hoot (....although the Superbowl one left me scratching my head).

You'll enjoy 'em!

How can you NOT love this?

Awww....click HERE for a blast from the 60's (70's?)...and watch for the kid in the baby blue jacket. I've watched it four times, and he still makes me laugh....
xoxo

Life IS good!!

Babysitting is fun and exhausting...lol Lil' granddaughter is ALL movement--crawling, walking, clapping, chasing a ball, putting it in the big toy, watching it come out the bottom and cheering...lol She loves follow-the-leader, but it's on hands and knees, and she actually giggles as she crawls along behind.
(It occurs to me that "crawl" implies "slow"....so it really doesn't work here. SCOOT might be more descriptive, or TEAR AROUND, or ZOOM...lol)



She's fairly confident about walking as long as she doesn't think about it. See? She's on her way to get that yellow ball, and she did it with little problem--well, except for the pick-it-up-turn-around-and-come-back part. (She's too little to have large-motor skills yet, right? LOL...give her a week.)





TWO really amazing things happened last night:

1. We were at that part of the evening when she's suddenly EXHAUSTED and dissolves in tears...she wasn't happy being held, she wasn't happy being on the floor. Of course I held her, and tried boring her to sleep, but that skill went to another family member (snort!)

Pretty soon, she pointed with her whole arm and said, "baby". Ah! This must be part of a ritual--so we went to look at her baby pictures on the end table.

Nope. She only smiled through her tears...and pretty soon, I was standing there rocking her again.

"Baby!", with the arm pointing downstairs, to the family room. Ah! It's darker down there...probably more soothing, too...so we went there...lol

"BABY!", the arm, leaning toward the big chair...Duh, why hadn't I thought of that?!

So we're sitting down. The chair's leather and has that comforting creak as it rocks...this is nice. We're settled, right?

"Baby.....", said in the most long-suffering, "working-with-you-is-exhausting" tone...the arm points wearily at the fuzzy blanket on the couch....one more mission to get the blanket and wrap ourselves in it.....ahhhhhhh, so sweet. With a HUGE sigh, she snuggled in and (we) slept...lol

~*~*~*~*~

Oh, and #2 is even more delightful:

Becky asked me if I had plans for my birthday...

How many people know what they'll be doing six months from now? How many people get to plan spending their 58th birthday at the hospital while a grandson is being born, huh?

Birthday presents just don't get better than that.

The familys first vice president!

Wow....this little girl is now a vice president of her company in New York City. She's my niece, Laurel, and we're SO proud of her (but then, we were last month, too...lol)--Congrats, Bid!

Now, fill in the blank: When did I have __________?
xoxo
:^)

Worlds' cutest grandaughter!

The munchkin is almost 11 months old already! Her mom sent these today....see those four little teeth?



Beck called the pictures "Sunshine on a snowy day".....and she really is.

But wait, look at THIS one:





She'd be adorable even if she wasn't my granddaughter...lol Can't you just hear her great grandma say, "Those EYES!"
xoxo

How 'bout another picture?

R&D at the FLORIDA AQUARIUM. Cool, huh?

"Rest assured"

Eww! I just heard someone use that phrase on MPR, talking about the water supply in Cottage Grove, Minnesota (if you're interested, read or listen to it HERE)

Literally, it means you can sleep confidently, without worrying. How odd.

And it ALWAYS make me doubt what's being assured. I suppose because it feels like a put-down: don't worry your pretty little head about that, darlin'...in a treacly, John Wayne voice...you're just too dopey to understand all the ramifications here.

For me, it's too Jesse Ventura. When he said we should rest assured, it sounded like he was selling snake oil. What a colossal embarassment he was for Minnesota. We honest-to-gawd elected a wrestler? Eww!

Epcot--it's all about us

IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth is the recipient of Amusement Today's 2006 Golden Ticket Award in recognition of being the top evening show in an American theme park

IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth
Check Show Times
Ratings/Reviews
Photos

Opened Oct. 1, 1999 Show length: 12 minutes, 32 seconds
A nighttime spectacular where thunderous fireworks and lasers fill the skies above World Showcase Lagoon. Video images are displayed across a giant sphere in the middle of the lagoon that tell the Earth's incredible tale. The sphere then blossoms like a flower, exposing a ball of fire and leads to the shows finale.
Fun Facts - 1,105 firework shells are fired during each show.There are 19 torches located around the World Showcase Lagoon. The inferno barge weighs 150,000 pounds with 37 nozzles that shoot propane flames upward.

(From THIS website)

Wow, I can't believe it was only 12 minutes long. The show inspires awe, and a sense that so much of what we humans do is amazing and benevolent.

Why is it that we only hear about the horrible stuff, when the flip-side is so stunning?

Hooray!

Disney IS amazing.

Everyone told me I'd like it because it's so perfect, and I kept thinking that 'perfection' would turn me off. But it's really NOT "perfect"--it's just very well thought-out, and most guest needs are anticipated....which I appreciate.

OK, should we get the obligatory Wally World pic out of the way?




That's R&D--good friends and my excuse to be in Florida in the first place. They insisted I'd love Disney, and they were right (again...lol)

If you ever need "How to be a Wonderful Host" lessons, check with them.

Florida!

I can't believe I can load pictures here!! FINALLY, it's working, but I needed Firefox to do it...gah.

This jolly woman was our server at the Prime Time Restaurant at Disney World last Monday...what a sweetheart! I think she liked me best cuz we're both left-handed...lol The picture was taken after we talked about all the cel phones being used in the place--something to do with E.T. and phoning home. I was just doing as I was told...lol

(The Prime Time is billed as "your Mother's kitchen"--and the staff tries to provide some of the angst of going back there. Who else can make you get your elbows off the table or give you a job to do before dinner? We had to grab a crayon and write down the eight presidents whose last name is one syllable. I still say asking other tables wasn't cheating, really, I was just being resourceful...lol And I DID get a flashing ice cube to take home, now didn't I?)

----------------------
Answers:
1. Pierce
2. Hayes
3. Ford
4. Grant
5. Bush
6. Bush
7. Polk
8. Taft

For your Friday listening pleasure

Tutti Frutti_1203141712.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

LOL!

Moving a greenhouse

I spent Monday and Tuesday dismantling the annual house, piece by piece--60 six foot rails, 48 side pieces to hold the 48 sliding plexiglass panels (each panel required removing 6 wing-nuts), and endless chunks of re-usable serpentine wire that holds the plastic on to the frame....but DAMN, a structure like that is a marvel of engineering! You can tell every piece was thought out and improved over and over to make it work just right. There's hope for humanity after all...lol

And, YES, I did it by myself because the guys were preparing the space it was going, out front...a small matter of taking a tree down, removing old mulch and landscaping fabric, leveling and hauling in loads of class II and tamping it flat and solid...and THEN laying fresh landscaping fabric for the floor of the greenhouse. We moved three of the struts last night, and assembled the WHOLE rest of it today. Amazing what three people can do.

Here's something really cool:

Yesterday, I was at the point of loosening the last of the plastic covering. I had 99% free and was working on the far end, standing on a ladder...and thinking that I'd have to get one of the guys to help me pull the roof off (we're talking 1600 square feet of heavy-duty poly)--when a gust of wind came along and--slow-mo--lifted it into the air and nicely curled it off to the side! It was sooo beautiful to watch from above... a flurry of snow and ice chips popped off the plastic with the wind, so it seemed even more like a miracle...lol...and it sparkled in the sun, just like GLITTER!

See? The poly's gone--and it's ready to be moved strut by strut....

...to the front of the store. All that's left now is to put new poly on top, stake it down, landscape around it....and it's ready for spring!

Catching up here...

So, I just read somewhere that 18% of blog posts start with the word "So"...(they probably counted one or two of those posts right here on EF, hmm?)

What's been happening in my little Assistant Managers' life lately, you ask?

Lots! We "put away" the trees and plants for the winter last week--which involves taking all the perennials and covering them with straw and plastic:

LOL...what looks like a HUGE pile isn't really...compare it to the size of those cement blocks. It took us all day, and it was a fascinating process. Besides, it'll be like Christmas when we open it again in the spring.

Now that the grounds' more or less frozen, we're officially into our "off" season. Does this mean we'll spend our days in the Studio planning and thinking? Not so far...we have a greenhouse to move first.

Starting tomorrow.

It's the house with all the pots and fountains in it right now...(we'll start by moving 'em all to the perennial house for the rest of the winter)...but the IDEA of changing whole buildings around tickles me no end! The sibs will remember my joy in switching the furniture around at home when we were kids--somehow, it all seems new again--and moving the greenhouse will change the traffic pattern in the store and present WILD new opportunities for merchandising. I can hardly wait!

(But I have to say: Thank Gawd for flannel lined work pants!)

Oh, I suppose you want an update on the grandaughter, too, huh?

Her mom and dad had a party on the 2nd of December, and KQ was the centerpiece as far as I was concerned...lol She spent time gazing at all the people and glitter from the safety of J or B's arms, and sometimes my lap. Those huge brown eyes and tiny fingers seemed to prefer the sparkly button on my dress...lol

(HOORAY!! SHE LOVES GLITTER!!!)

Eventually, B asked me to take her to her room so she could safely crawl around for awhile (and frankly, I needed the quiet, too, by then...) Before long, Mog and E joined us, and KQ began to empty her sock drawer and the bookcase. Of COURSE we let her!

"Here, Sweetie, how 'bout these tights? They'll be FUN to throw!"

Can you believe she's 9 months old already? She's working on walking, and if she's anything like her dad, she'll find that walking's WAY too slow when she could be running...lol

We adults exchanged names for Christmas, but I have a feeling there'll be a small mountain of stuff for KQ to open....especially if it comes in boxes that look like drawers...

If you like jigsaw puzzles...

This is cool: try to finish a puzzle with who ever else happens to be on the site right now...click JIGSAW and join the game!

I wish I could write like this:

I found this piece by "Stumbling Upon" it...hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Think of it as a Thanksgiving gift, ok?

08.13.2006
permalink
An Offering Up
So, bumming around on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to pull out my old Magic Circle… Any Camp Fire girls or boys out there who remember what a Magic Circle is?Ah, Camp Fire. Now there was a truly great organization (still is as far as I know). No separation of the sexes. No para-military drills. No 'troupes.' Nope. We had clans and councils instead. Interesting what a difference in mentality those words reflect. The clans were small groups who got together to do crafts and learn about living with nature. Some stuff we learned was pretty useful: how to make a fire, survive in the woods, recognize poisonous species, make strawberry jam, present a flag, pitch a tent. Some stuff was utterly useless: why would you ever want to know how to carve soap bars with a rusty pocketknife? And of course, nothing compares to the life education gotten via the social humiliation of trying to sell over-priced candy to strangers while dressed in homespun and moccasins. It's funny though, how all these things served to draw the group closer together, and how, no matter what cliques came and went at school, no matter how much you started out despising some of the other members, you always ended up appreciating each person for who they were and what they could contribute.Anyway, one of my favorite, and certainly longest enduring, Camp Fire traditions was the Magic Circle. I don't know where this got its name, or if all groups participated in it, but our leader encouraged us all to keep a collection of songs, poetry, stories, quotes, jokes, etc… whatever spoke to us, just put it all in a book or a box. This would be brought along to camp-outs and Council Fires. Then, late in the evening, when camp was made, colors retired, dinner eaten, and everyone sleepy, we would all sit around the fire to share. One by one, each person would sing a song, tell a story, or read a poem. As we went around the circle, others might join in if they knew the song, but it was each person's responsibility to be able to at least begin themselves. It was actually seldom that anyone consulted something written down. The first round went fast, with everyone eager to share. There was lots of laughter and grumbling when someone 'stole' someone else's intended offering, forcing them to have to wrack their brains for something else to offer. Gradually, it got harder and harder to remember or think up something new. It got quieter and more serious, with fewer knock-knock jokes, more reflection, greater attention. We knew that if someone failed, if just one person forgot or couldn't come up with an offering, the circle would be broken, and it would be bedtime for us all. Like all kids, we didn't want that to happen! But as the mood of the evening, the sense of the importance of this gathering, settled over us all, it became more than a parlor game. Sometimes, the youngest were allowed to fall asleep on someone's lap, or drift off to their tents, but normally the circle was reserved for older kids, an honor, and no one wanted to leave. It was especially reverent if some older adults were there, who would always come up with wondrous stories or songs none of us had ever heard. It was unspeakably beautiful. Thread by thread, the contents of our memories, our own Magic Circles, were woven into the tapestry of the larger community circle. And in those breath-held moments when we wondered how long we could keep this up, it wasn't too much of a stretch to picture our small circle of firelight, in its turn, weaving into the larger circle of the cosmos. The stars wheeled above, right overhead, and I remember leaning back often to look up, breathing in the magic of the night, steeping myself in the words being spoken, the silences between in which we honored each person's struggle to bring forth an offering. Or I'd stare intently into the heart of the fire, trying to summon forth a contribution from my own memory. I watched others do the same, as we settled more and more deeply into the rhythms of giving and receiving the gifts of song, word, knowledge, memory… Occasionally, I would catch the eyes of someone flashing across the fire and, stranger or friend, I could feel the tightening of the bonds that held us all. Within those intertwined circles of fire, before us and above us, meshing like the gears of a clock, time itself seemed another pattern we were integrating. Because for every song and story told, some passed down for generations, some newly created, there were unmistakably others present too: all but forgotten, quiet echoes waiting just at the edge of the firelight, just at the edge of memory, waiting to be re-remembered. You could tell when this happened: the prickle at the back of your neck as a ghost was resurrected, the sigh that went around the circle in recognition.Eventually, of course, the circle would close. Depending on the 'stakes' or rules, either one person would fail to remember, or a majority would, or a consensus would arise that it was time to turn in. The next day would come soon enough, bringing with it the struggle to recognize the person whose words the night before had touched your soul, so you could corral them into, please, singing that song once more, or writing down the words to this or that. Friends and strangers might approach you with the same requests, which is where the written collections came in. Barges, I would like to sail with you, I would like to sail the ocean blue. Barges, have you treasures in your hold, Do you fight with pirates brave and bold?That piece is still in my memory, all these years later. I don't think I have it written down anywhere. I do however still have two collections of what I think of as my Magic Circle, and it was these I was flipping through on a lazy Sunday afternoon. One, a binder, the other a sketchpad, both full of songs, stories, poems, quotations, photographs, collages, lists, artwork, articles, etc. The 'et cetera,' being also known as 'ephemera' (a word I love), includes: a poem written by my uncle at sea, more than forty years ago; an old map of Powell's Books in Portland, covered with quotations; a small pamphlet from the 1960s, put out by the UN, listing the word 'peace' in dozens of languages; a purple finger-painting of my two hands at age six. It got me to thinking, though, about the role that words and stories have played in my life. So many of them are so deeply burned into my psyche that there's no need for a physical reminder. I still remember the first poem I ever sat down to memorize, Jabberworky, by Lewis Carroll, from an ancient dusty poetry anthology found at the house of a family friend. The nonsensical nature of it delighted me, and I just had to commit it to memory. Since then, I haven't tried too hard to memorize things, but pieces here and there still tend to flit around my head like so many far-off echoes, sounding and resounding. More though, it got me reflecting on the nature of community. It's been a couple years now since I've sat around a campfire. There's always a powerful sense of community there, even when the talk is light or non-existent. Sometimes especially then. But really, how often do we get a chance to tell our stories? To sing our songs? How often do we really take an opportunity to share something as powerful as what ideas are near and dear to our hearts? How many people are prepared to listen?It seems like in America, with our emphasis on personal growth, and personal development, that we also focus more on personal relationships, rather than communal ones. And that can be a wonderful, rich blessing, the closeness of friendship and love. But I think that it is also important to share with strangers, with those we might not know so well. For as we age into our own personal nights, as the fires burn low, our memories seem to flicker, too. And our loved ones have heard all we have to share. We've listened to their stories many times. I think it is important to reach out, and to listen, to members of our outer circle as well: our community. I don't know how to do that. Is blogging a way? Perhaps. I just know I miss that feeling of closeness with other people, with humanity, that comes when you hazard yourself a bit, when you open up to share the good bits you've collected from life. I miss lifting up my voice in song to weave around the voices of many others. As an adult, the only times I've done that in this country were in Kundalini yoga classes: what a powerful resonance THAT creates! Some people get that experience in church. But what about all the humble, goofy songs of our youth? What about the stories of what we have learned or are experiencing? What about listening intently to our elders… not our priests, not our bosses, or our spouses, or our contemporaries, but our elders: sitting there on equal footing, sharing their wisdom and experience… what of that connection? What of listening to the stories of children, other than perhaps, if they and we are lucky, our own?That's the sort of connection I want, the sort of community I yearn for. Those are the stories I want to hear: elders' and children's and everything in between. Every age and race and creed. One at a time. Well into the night.

And you can hold the ghost stories.

(edited 2006.08.14; reinsertion of truncations)
Tagged with: camping, community, memory, stories, camp fire, magic circle
Access: Public Type: Blog 4 Comments
posted by Tsuya
08.07.2006

(Here's the link to her blog: http://tsuya.zaadz.com/blog)

Jus' gotta blog!

Well, here we are again...with another exciting update of Ephemeral Florist. How 'bout I post some of the pictures that I intended to post way back when...?

We both want mopeds for Christmas because riding 'em was so much FUN that day. Hey, I could ride to work pretty easily! And no, it wouldn't have to be blue....

I think I mentioned that Bayfield pretends it's a tropical seaport, with flamingoes almost everywhere...this one's just off the main drag. That's my kind of humor!

Ha! There were still leaves on the trees when we were there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remember this picture from last February? Just look how much she's GROWN:






xoxo

A bread-bakin' kinda day

It's 30º here right now. It was 14º when I got up this morning, and it's a Saturday in November....what more do you need to know?

The Persistent Sister­­® seems to want to know what's been going on in my life lately. Evidently her phone dial is broken, and perhaps her fingers, too, since the only communication from her is semi-snarky remarks here on EF...


Ok! Today, I have time...

Things at work are going well...we're all but closed for the winter and we're planning for next season. All the cool displays outside are gone or moved indoors for the winter, but here's what I'm making these days:



(When you see "Spruce Tips" advertised, that's what they mean--pine arranged in a plastic pot to drop into your urn. Gazing ball, birdhouse and cobalt pot not included!)

Still, by Thanksgiving we'll be done outside altogether, and then the serious planning and ordering starts. The funny part is that THREE couples at Scenic are expecting babies this fall--one was born on Thursday, another's due soon, and the other at Christmas. This could seriously mess with our winter schedule...lol

~*~*~*~*~

The grandaughter is growing like a weed--I was there last night, and she's crawling as far and as fast as she can...lol Her adults have to be super-vigilant or she'll tip a plant over on herself. It's almost like she's been planning what to see at floor level all her life! What a dolly!

~*~*~*~*~

Well, gang, APHC is on the radio from Hawaii, and I have birds-nests to make!
xoxo