~~~ Well, it's another one of those late-summer mornings, where Mother of Weather is being fickle again, an' the temp outside is already nearin' 80 degrees..the humidity is climbin' up the ladder gettin' ready to make things melty again, an' I realllly wanted to get some paintin' done out in the sunroom/studio...Once I walked out there an' felt my back startin' to melt slightly, an' the dog layed on the floor panting-panting...well...that idea went out the window an' jus' is NOT comin' back.

The temps. earlier in the week had been jus' so darn wonderful, too == Cool for a change, with a nice gentle breeze softly comin' in the windows..I thot for sure that the heat was goin' away once an' for Evah...well, not exactly Evah, but at least till next spring. Lots of work got accomplished -- Got a rough mock-up for a 3-Dimensional piece I'm contemplating on doin' for a local show next month. The rough piece is there, an' now the pieces to put it all together are layin' on the table waiting for the "right" assembling ~~ Never having done a 3-D piece is the challenge, so I'm takin' it very slow an' careful. I'd like to figure out how to make a person's body bend around a angled box -- as if to be lookin' inside -- but the detail have eluded my lil' ol' brain for the time being. Frustrating, but I know when the time comes it'll literally pop in my head -- things sometimes happen that way ~~ Suppose the Muse is there but on a coffee break till later notice.

Am also experimenting with some paints I've never used before ~~ Actually some coatings that have a soft glowing patina to them once applied to any surface. I experimented with some wood, paper ~~ Got some color that looked promising, so now the trick is to get it blended the shade that's gonna look good with a Sea-Life piece in the works. There has also been some painting done for another piece for a friend who's up to a good party when the moment strikes -- Even found some paper martini glasses an' somewhere I've got those funny lil' paper umbrellas that abolutely HAVE TO be applied to the piece, which is naturally titled, "PARTY!!" ~~ thot of usin' that song from the 80's "Girls Jus' Wanna Have Fun" -- but didn't know where to start lookin' for old party dresses -- big hair -- makes me tired thinkin' about it all....

Now the next project is looming an' I can't decide whether or not to use gel pens an' glitter -- all on one lil' piece of paper....too much sparkle...or not enuf? One Muse is sayin' GO FOR IT -- the other one is sayin', like the lil' ol' Sunday School Teacher...."HMMM!! That's Just Not What We DO Around Here!! That's Something Other People Do!! NOT US!!" ~~ Actually, I'm thinkin' about tellin' the ol' lady to SHUDDUP! ~ an' go for BROKE!!! THERE!! HA!!! Boy, that feels better...More The Merrier it IS!! Wheeeee!!!

Lady of The Tulips -- who's now gonna go turn off the t.v. with the blah-blah of Pre-Game Football Stuff an' blast some Jazz in the house instead....There! HA!! ~~

Lawdy Mamma! -- where has the time ghhhooone?? -- Seems like I jus' sat down to work on some odds & ends, an' the next thing ya know...it's already September ~~ An' the garden is growin' leaps & bounds, the grass all around the yard is is BAD need of a mowing...an' the dog is still sleepin' on the floor. I'm beginnin' to think there isn't much anybody can do with that animal, she's one of the laziest I've ever known..

But the good thing is that the uglieee heat is finally gone somewhere else, an' I'm finally able to meander around the garden an' not feel like I'm gonna pass out..whatta relief!! It was too too much when it was over 95 degrees, an' once I stepped out the back sunroom door, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Well...there have been times when I actually HAVE screamed at the top of my lungs, but that was when ythe dog had dug a GIANT hole in the flower bed an' figured I'd be very understanding of her need for dirt....

We've also come thru the first tropical storm of the season ~~ Ernesto wasn't that big on the wind factor..tho I suppose it did irritate the trees, angered the flowers, an' knocked down the sunflower plant that jus' started to get some decent blooms goin' ~~ What we did get was a MESS of rain...rain...rain...ya get the idea. Our little courtyard end of the road outside was flooded before 10:00 in the morning, an' byt early afternoon the neighborhood kids were out in their lil' rowboat thingie, paddlin' around in all the water...the other neighbors drug out their canoe an' not wanting to be shown up by the kids, started paddling aroun' in their canoe, too. Was almost like some kinda competition or somethin' ~~ made for great entertainment, since the road was so flooded I COULDN'T GET OUTTA MY DRIVEWAY!!! #$$}*+)@ ~~ that's what I kept sayin' ~~ An' it was made even more sweet, with all the neighbors trash floating down the street...it jus' so happened to be trash pick-up day, an' since all the trashcans were floppin' over from the rain & wind, they proceded to slop all the trash outta them an' distribute it all up an' down the street...a very enjoyable scene of dead trash floating past....slowly coming to the end of the road...YACK!!! ~~~ An' these kids were PLAYIN' IN IT!!! Wha' kinda parents, I'm askin' ~~ would let their kids out with TRASH in murky water??!!!

Calm .... I shall remain calm..... So ~~ To make up for all fridays fun, one of my dear friends called me ~~ well, actually I called her first, but The Husband hadn't charged his cell-phone battery, so midway in a conversation the BATTERIES WENT DEAD ~~ makin' it SOMEWHAT difficult to have a discussion. So ~~ she quick called back an' got the home ph. no. instead ~~ An' we proceded to talk for over 2 hours ~~ HEY LOOK!! ~~ we've always had these Loooonnngggg talks, an' las' night jus' happened to be one of them ~~ K!!!????

We discused various family members that should be arrested for breathing...be put into a hospital an' forgotten about...an' sorted other things...But then she started to tell me about the Bar-B-Q she made one Saturday morning not too long ago.....She's actually quite good at this, makes a mean slab of beef or pork...so when she said she started in fairly early in the morning, I knew she was goin' for broke. She said she got the fire goin' pretty good, only had to put out a small brush fire once when the wind blew some sparks over in the side yard towards the woods...but all in all things were goin' along pretty nice.

She then said she spotted her neighbor standin' over across the way ~~ watchin' what she was doin' ~~ kinda like he was ready for whatever was gonna happen next....So, as she said it ~~ "Well, I see him standin' there watchin' me, so I jus' sorta looked over, and said "Hi Neighbor! -- How ya doin?" An he sez to me, "Well!, I'm doin' Fine! ~~ You?" An' I tell him, "Well!, I"m fine! Ya wanna Beer?" He looked back at mean' sez, "Well now missy, it's only 10:00 in the mornin'! " So, me bein' me, I said to him, "Well, Fine! Ya wanna scotch?"

I've known this woman for a long time, an' there never has been a moment when I know jus' exactly she's gonna say to anybody...an' here's this poor guy, jus' retired from the local school district, an' not all that spry, as they say ~~ an' here she is tryin' to give the poor guy a heart attack. I told her she really shouldn't do things like that, but she said, "Well, I was only jus' gettin' goin, by GAWD! An' 'course it only got better as the day went along..." She did tell me that they were fortunate to only burn a lil' bit more of the grass on the far side of their property, but nothing was bothered by it...'cept some 'possums who came aroun' later in the evening hopin' for some bar-b-q ~~ dolts ~~ as if they'd get some decent food ~~

There is jus' a lite rain startin' to fall now...an' hopefully it's not gonna amount to much..the garden is recuperating from the 10 plus inches we got outta Ernesto...an' I'm glad that $}&+@) is gone....too much rain for my tastes...now it'll be interestin' to see what all the tomato plants have up their sleeve -- all the teeny lil' blossoms are forming 'maters...the youngest came back in the house after lookin' at them...he looked kinda scared & mumbled somethin' 'bout gettin' a new freezer....Wha' can possibly happen? We run outta room again in the freezer?? What The $}% ~~ there's hardly any food in there anyway...sigh....

Lady of The Tulips ~~ who's considerin' havin' a beer an' makin' some Bar-B-Q , now that she thinks of it...