weekend pics and thoughts

 

 

 

 

It rained quite a bit this weekend. Not too much was accomplished. Spent the night in watching a favorite 80s flick.  We also managed a mucky, muddy hike out in relatively dry weather. My head has been full of things too complicated for my sad brain to articulate. Things like what a "successful" blog is and why we do this, nifty techy products that are really not environmentally sound, being taken for granted, and wondering how to fit into a world full of parents when I am not one. The tiny casa has been cold and when I am cold I am not very productive. It's a good thing I live on the west coast with mostly mild weather. I need to get off my duff and get productive. I also need to get rid of them darn ants that keep partying in the kitchen.

simple things

 At this moment right now, this early morning moment before I head out the door to hang out with kiddos, I am enjoying a cup (thermos, actually) of jasmine green tea. I generally drink green tea in the morning but so rarely do I get to enjoy it. The enjoyment comes from the experience of its scent. When you have a sniffer that plays drama queen you spend more time not tasting anything than enjoying simple levels of flavors and the nuances that scent brings to the table. A hot cup of tea is a hot beverage but a hot cup of tea combined with a sniffer is an experience. There is fragrance and floral and honey notes and green. It is a most lovely experience and I take full advantage of it. I hold the thermos (or cup) up to my face and gently inhale that most lovely loveliness (eyes closed for best effect of course). The blossoms immediately dance into my head, followed by that green, green, green march, ending with a kick of sweet from the honey the mister added for me. And each time I thank my nose, modern medicine and the invention of tea as I sit back to sip, sip, sip away the morning.

I'm also just plowed through two tiny satsumas. The oil from their peels still coats my hands as I type causing small clouds of citrus to puff up around me. The power of scent is not a trivial thing. I hope I can hold onto this super power for a while. The cold that hit me before Christmas seems to finally have decided to move out. I broke down and dosed myself with some powerfully evil medicines. Being able to smell again is a trade off I am willing to gamble with. There is a powerful silence that follows you when you cannot smell anything. I'm not talking stuffy nosed nonsense. I'm talking a true lack of scent. It makes waking up from sleep difficult. It makes the darkness darker and it ruins any enjoyment of simple food. When your nose doesn't work, you lose your ability to truly taste things so you (or me at least) reach for the things that will flavor through. Garlic does not do it, but salt does. A salad with garden fresh herbs won't do but a healthy snowing of cheese on top will. Starchy foods, salty foods all barrel through but they offer no true sustenance or joy. This week, since the sniffer has kicked in I have actually tasted the lemon in my water, the rosemary in my dinner and the jasmine in my tea. Just the awareness of the flavors has me slowing down and slow is a good thing.

Traffic is speeding up on HWY 1 behind the tiny casa. The wind machine at the college is still spinning its ferocious hum and our upstairs neighbor appears to be late for school (man that stompy guy sure can stomp around). I'm almost finished with my tea and the tangerines are done for. It's time for shoes and primping and the looking forward to an afternoon smoothie that I can actually taste!

thoughts on this rainy day

there is not a enough time.

there is simply not enough time to do what i want to do. what i wish to do. even with all this time i have, there is not enough time. for someone else, there may be heaps and bounds and oodles of time but for me and the cacophony that is in my head, there is not enough.

i wish i had a quiet mind. it's loud in here, in the noggin that is mine. there are thoughts and words and songs and colors. there is a rise and fall of sharp points and below level thoughts all spinning and twirling in a single cluster. some kissing cousins but most are singular like snowflakes fluttering about, melting to nothing before i can put them in my pocket. like vivid dreams that lose their color once morning comes. all of this, and that and that, and that keeps me from doing. from DOING. i am so panicked by the idea of losing these thoughts that i sit and breathe deeply all closed eyes and fists. i make lists and lose lists and make new lists that get lost all over again. i stack them neatly, i reread them and sometimes they get tucked away into library books,  forgotten until after the books have been returned. i hope those lists confuse and amuse.


i wish i had an idea. a good idea. just a single idea. i have many, many that may be good or great or brilliant but they are so loud i cannot focus so today i am wishing for one. for one brilliant thought to flutter down for one moment. one quiet.  one brilliant. one moment.

Quiet

It is so very quiet and still in the tiny casa. All I can hear is the hum of the computer and the occasional gurgle of our old refrigerator. The clickety-click of the keyboard helps to soothe my wandering mind. There is much to do today. Where do I begin?

I have found lately that the pressures of school and the still dark mornings from the time change leave me a groggy, groggy girl when I awaken. I have the most difficult time stirring from the soft warm covers of the bed. I sleep heavily and deep while crazy dreams and stories unfold in my slumber. Once I drag myself out of bed, after getting dressed, the first thing I do is open the shade in the bedroom. The bright sunshine spills into the room and everything appears to glow. The witch-baby always, always, aways meorrws at this point and jumps from the bed to her quilt on the mister's desk chair. She does that turn, turn, turn thing that cats do as she settles down with her head tucked under her paws and her tail curled around her. She has succumbed to the sunshine and won't come out into the rest of the casa until four o'clock or so, unless she hears a can opening.

I stumble into the living room where I turn the computer on. Next stop is the kitchen where my tiny polka-dotted cup awaits the water spout and I take my morning does of thyroid. I stand at the kitchen window and hunt for birds and butterflies before beginning my morning routine. It used to be my morning "walk" through the internet would end after about an hour or so. At some point I would get breakfast and return to the screen while I surfed blogs, researched recipes, checked out flickr and answered emails. I would then click off the computer and begin my day. Lately my day doesn't actually begin. It's just there and then it ends and I am left wondering what I did. I did something, I am sure of it. Papers have been written, projects have been made, cleaning has been done yet my mind is out of line with my actions. School ends in a few weeks and will begin again soon after. I think I need to return to my list making to checking off items and rejoicing in tasks accomplished. Today I need to make a conscious effort to wake up and move purposefully. I need to get rid of the robot and turn my thinking around.

Today, it is so quiet and still in the tiny casa. Not at all what an Earth Day should sound like. Usually the casa is filled with the sounds of the birds and traffic and the usual city noises. Today it is quiet and still. The mister must have shut the windows last night before I got home from school. Sometimes quiet is good. Today is not for quiet. Today is for the songs of the world around. Today is for the music of our planet. Turn off your computers, your televisions and radios and open your windows. Take a walk today and head out into the world, greet it like you would a close friend. Today is Earth Day after all and there is no better company than the world around us.

I made more gnomes!

and am sooo hoping they will all be adopted! Check out my etsy shop here. Thank you to everyone for all their support! There will be more gnomie gnomes available in other colors at this year's Felt Club Holiday XL so if you're holding out for other colors no worries there will be more or you can message me for a custom order! I'm cool like that.

The fires are still going in full force. I had hoped to get to exercising on a regular basis this week but the air quality is so very bad, even in the tiny casa I am having trouble breathing. My thoughts and heart go out to all the displaced persons here in California. It is a scary, scary thing this fire season here. When I was young, the fires were always a little off my radar or very exciting but now, now I know the damage that can happen and the aftermath when the rains come and how it takes seasons and seasons for the earth to heal.

I hope that everyone who lives in any type of area that is prone to scary elements has an emergency plan. You and your family members should know what objects are most important to rescue and you should have an out of state contact to call to let them know you are safe and where you are so that they can relay the message to your family. You should have an overnight bag packed with clothes, shoes and prescriptions in your car at all times and it would be a good idea to start stashing away cash for emergencies. Don't forget the important documents and if you store all your work on the computer make sure you back it up. Keep favorite photos in an internet account like flickr, or burn to a cd. Transfer important documents to a flash drive on a regular basis just to be safe. And, as always, make sure you have water. I know bottled water isn't the trend when we are all trying to be environmentally sound but if a disaster such as a tornado or earthquake hits, chances are there won't be available drinking water on hand. We make sure to have at least 5 gallons of water in the casa and another 2 liters in the car. Most importantly play it safe and keep cool. People do stupid things when they panic. People are people folks and we need to help each other whenever we can. Stay safe.