of smoke and ash and small joyful things

it's not even 9am and already i am hot. the tiny casa is a stifling pile of clutter and it is too hot to even think about rearranging the living room. the windows are to remain closed all day due the the smoke and ash from the fire. my eyes are stinging, my chest is heavy with smoke and i can't help thinking that if i feel this way as far away as i am, how on earth are those who are much closer dealing with it? this darn fire. if only it burned fifteen years ago. we still haven't heard word about the mama a-go-go's house. thankfully everyone has been moved out for a while now but still, the not knowing is a whole new feeling of odd.if i can remain distracted from my discomfort i may be able to get some crafting done. soon it will be too hot to have the computer on so i must get all my blogging, reading and writing out of the way if i want to feel productive. this morning i woke up early to finish one article so that is a check off my list. yay! this is one of those moments when i think how nice it would be to own a laptop. usually i am thinking how nice would it be if i had this jacket or these boots or a press pot or another room in the casa. today i would be happy with air conditioning or a laptop or even a really large iced coffee.the light outside is a very eerie shade of pink and the sunrise this morning was quite stunning. when i went outside to put my laundry in the dryer (no line drying right now) i stopped to take a picture of it and noticed ash blowing all around. they estimate a containment of the fire by the 15th. i can't imagine two more weeks of this. i feel for those who are much closer and whose homes are threatened.with all this heavy air and heavy thinking i am looking for those little joyful moments to carry me through the day. there isn't really much i can do but i can can keep my eyes open for the pretty light of the day, a happy taste of homemade grape juice and the pretty pictures in a new magazine.i hope you all have a good day today. a moment of pretty, a good cup of coffee, a hug from a loved one and a good hearty laugh is what i look forward to every day. happy september!

the week in review: aug 24-30

it's been a hot hot week. it's now wildfire season here in california and there has been a giant fire mightily burning up our angeles national forest. the family a-go-go home may or may not be still standing. thankfully and luckily, the mama and sister a-go-go have been long out of the house and the mr.a-go-go has almost finished cleaning it out. as it stands there are still two pieces of his artwork in the house. it would be a shame to lose them but we're grateful that everyone is out and safe. it hasn't burned there in more than thirty years and is long overdue. i remember the last fire. i didn't know mr. a-go-go then but we sort of grew up in the same neighborhood and that last fire was a doozy, hard to forget. so with the heat and the smoke it had been a quiet week until i received word that my gal lalu was in town so we had to hit up target, in & out & daglas. they don't have these nifty places on maui where she lives. then after all that shopping, (with a pit stop to hollywood blvd for her guy who has never been) we met up with a big chunk of her family to ride the coasters at magic mountain. not the best thing to do with the fires all around us but we seemed to be protected where we were and i didn't feel too ragged after it all. fun times!

yesterday was even hotter, so we a-go-gos hit up our favorite banh mi shop, grabbed 2 sandwiches and hit the sweetly air conditioned yet somewhat bedraggled movie theater for a viewing of ponyo which was great until the end and then it just got kinda cheesy, perfect for kidlets though. after the flick, we hit fosselmans for ice cream (me: chocolate dipped strawberry, he: horchata) and then dragged our hot sticky selves back home to an even hotter icky casa where we fell onto the couch in front of the fan and watched too many netflix dvds back to back.

**also during the week, the witch-baby got her claw stuck in such a way in the door jam that it looked like her leg was broken. she was howling away and i was freaking out. neither mr. a-go-go or i could figure out how to get her unstuck. it looked like we were going to have to call an emergency vet to sedate her to get her loose. after much freaking out, crazy wailing and a bit too much biting, the witch-baby suddenly popped free with not a limp in sight. phew! that was scary!

happy swinging lanterns

a wee bit o joy from yesterday's morning...

joy on a thursday morning

i was on the phone this morning with a good friend who was giving me an update on her mother. my friend is now sort of going through what i went through with grandma but with her mother. it seems her mama is just as cantankerous as my granny was. so really, it isn't surprising that when, during her interview for her care, when asked what things brought her joy, she pulled a witch-baby and snarled that she couldn't possibly answer that question. in retelling it to her daughters is was impressed that there simply was nothing that brought her joy and in that, her daughters and my good friend thought to themselves..."well how sad". on the phone we agreed that it was sad and depressing and then we ran through a list of very simple things that brought us joy. i have to tell you that we thought of many. here are a few:

*reading pictures books out loud for an impromptu storytime
*words that remind us of funny, funny times (awhaluva)
*waking up in time to see the pink sunrise
*greasy greasy dagla's fries
*finally finding a gas station while on a road trip
*drinking soda from bottles and straws
*finishing a really good book

just thinking of things that bring joy to my heart brings a smile to my face and a joyful dance to my thinking. i woke up at 7:30 and already have a small list of joyful things. even through this awful awful head/jaw ache that kept me tossing and turning all night, i can still find joy is simple homespun things. so here i will share, a few things from this morning that made me smile, made me stop and forced a little more joy in my heart...

the orangish light filtering into the bedroom
paper lanterns blowing in the breeze
dishtowels pinned to the kitchen window
glass bottles on the kitchen shelf
not pictured is the doris day song that came up on itunes that never fails to bring a smile to my face, the chiming bells that hang outside the window that only rarely get spun enough so they ring, the peep, peep, peeping of the wee birdies outside, the fierce hum of a bumblebee at it nestles in the hollyhocks just outside my window and finally, the fact that even though i am all full up of prescriptions and i would rather not take anything, the sniffer is working so that i can smell my morning iced coffee, the dish soap in the sink and that old timey oatie smell of my breakfast cereal. yes my friends, it is the simple everyday things that truly bring joy to my heart. have you had your joy this morning?

the week in review: aug 17-23

phew! what a week. a whirlwind of errands and to-dos and daily goings-on. there was an art-adventure, muffin baking, ice cream eating, family visiting, beach picnicking, uke playing, thrifting, patchworking and jumping. i'm still tired thinking about it all. this week is will be spent attempting to get the casa back in a sort of order so that i can get the furniture all switched around and those boxes unpacked. i have oodles of commitments that i am super behind on and the mister just may leave if another pile of fabric falls on his head. let's hope this is a week of doing and not planning...i'll keep my fingers crossed just in case.

finished or not, let the weekend begin

only got to make one kind of sandwich and the corn salad never got made and the blanket still needs oodles of ties but here ya go...

and we're off. happy weekending folks!