Yesterday's Tornado

For everyone who has asked, me and my loved ones are okay. I'm sad that I'm not able to say that about so many others in our state.

I haven't been able to speak with my son in Huntsville, but my ex says he texted with him last night after the storm had passed. I suppose their cells have lost their charge and there are wide-spead power outages and power lines down there according to the news so the landline isn't working.

For the first time in my life, I actually got into the closet under the basement stairs...instead of just going down into the basement. The storm tore a wide swath of destruction all the way from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham and points east of me. It seems like it wasn't on the ground out my way, but did touch down further northeast of me again. They say it was probably 1 to 1 1/2 miles wide.

Please keep Alabama in your prayers.


update....my son just called from Madison.  Can you say RELIEF!  If they can get the gas they will be driving to Birmingham later today to stay with either me or the ex.

What's Your Style?

Anybody here watch the HGTV show named Secrets of a Stylist?  Decorator Emily Henderson is the host. She quizzes her clients and diagnoses their design styles. I love the names she comes up with, like Eclectic Cool, or Mad Men Bohemian for their decorating preferences. I would love to know what name she would assign to my this and that style. Maybe I would be Frustrated Artsy Mod English Country. What do you think she would name your style?

I'm a lover of stuff.  Especially when it is artfully arranged on shelves or hanging on the walls.

The pictures on the wall are actually framed book covers, which I think is a clever idea for a different kind of art.

I love color, so I'm always attracted to rooms with rich hues and shades.

But most of all, I love rooms that are flooded with natural light. There is no substitute for big windows and wide open spaces.

What about you?  What kind of room would you be at home living in?

He Lives!

Slam the Door Please!

I 

 photo courtesy of this blog

In my mind there is a certain romance in the idea of a home with a screened door that looks out into a lush green garden or out onto a wide front porch or even out onto a busy sidewalk.

photo courtesy of this blog

A door like this seems to say, "Welcome. Come on in. I'm happy to see you." 

Imagine standing behind the screen watching children running happily through the sprinkler on a lazy summer afternoon or slipping out into the backyard through the door to check clothes on the line for dryness.

If you have no problem imagining life from behind a wooden screen door, then you will understand why I had to tear this page from my copy of Summer Cottage magazine and pin it to the wall of my cubicle.

Every time I look up and see this photo I mentally step through the door. I hear the creak of the door opening and the sharp slam of it as it swings shut.  I step from the world of work straight into a world where time slows down, where children can be heard laughing and yelling, where wet clothes flap in balmy breezes, where a neighbor stands to ask if I'd like to come over and chat with her on her porch.

 Life happens on the other side of a screened door.

Invitation

Thought you might like seeing how the finished product turned out.

Doodling

I spent a great deal of the day today, thinking about and doodling around with ideas for babyish looking owls. I volunteered to make invitations for an upcoming baby shower, thus the babyish owls...I think I'm ready to settle for a cute owl instead...

Do you have any idea how hard it is to be original with owls as the subject matter. Owls have a basic shape. That doesn't change. Big eyes, pointy ears, wings, claw feet...you get the idea.The one at the bottom looks babyish...but not owlish enough. That's why I decided to be satisfied with cute.

Whooooo will care? I'm just gonna draw an owl and move on with the card making!!!

Written on a Bad Afternoon

Frozen

Bug eyed

Caught a resin of circumstances

Suspended there

Watching days unfold and pass into obscurity

Unable to act

Positive…change will not come

Mind shrouded tight

Paralyzed by the inertia of depression 

***************************************************************

Molecules strung taunt like a tightrope snap imperceptibly.

Eyes that twitch reflexively go barely noticed. 

The day drags. Boredom mounts.

She expects her brain to explode before eight hours are up.  

Fly Away

Cares fly away in the wind

Cobwebs of doubt swept skyward

Floating so high they're forgotten

In a moment of time

When nature brushes the heart

With the lightness of a bird's song

Mystery Solved

 

I think everyone recognized my favorite intrepid girl sleuth, Nancy Drew!  

Nancy first appeared in 1930.  Her creator was Edward Stratemeyer, who was the founded of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He created The Hardy Boys series in 1926. Drew's character was conceived to capitalize on girls interest in the Hardy boys adventures and mystery stories. The books were an immediate success. 

Wikipedia states, "A cultural icon, Nancy Drew has been cited as a formative influence by a number of prominent women, from Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Conner and Sonia Sotomayor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former First Lady Laura Bush."

Did you know that over the years, both men and women have written these mystery stories? Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Adams, Stratemeyer's daughter, are credited as being the primary writers of the series. All the writers who wrote under the pseudonym, Carolyn Keene, have my dying appreciation for instilling in me a life long love of reading.

Super Sleuth Monday

Okay.....today is official talk back to the host day.

Whatdidyadothisweekend?

Go shopping?
Buy anything?:
Visit with friend?
Catch a movie?
See a street fair or art show?
Go to church?
Sleep in?
Discover a cure for cancer?
Kiss a baby?
Write the next great American novel?
Attend a party?
Mow the grass?
Shovel snow?

Your turn. Talk back!

ps Can anyone guess the identity of the girl in the photo?  I took her picture on my weekend ramblings.

Sugar and Spice...Everything Nice

I found a letter in my mailbox from one of my granddaughters this week.

She wrote an adorable letter complete with illustrations. And funny misspellings. That's three things she takes after me....love of snail mail....drawing....not being able to spell.  But she is young yet...there's still hope for her spelling skills.

Thanks sweetie! There will be one in the mail to you soon.