"She Sells Seashells By The Seashore" 2006 Spring Bay Studio.


>> I Did this piece for a show back in '06, and since I just got off the phone a little while ago with the local fishing center, the 2 goodies seemed to pop into my wee little brain as being a good combination -- GET IT??!! Seashells...Fishing License?? HA!! <<

'K -- so maybe there isn't too much of a connection with the license and this piece, but I DO like how this collage turned out. I entered it into a show up "north" from here..didn't win anything but was very glad it was accepted to be IN the show. I'm not sure if I'll try an' have it in something down here or not. Haven't gotten that far in my little thinking. There are some pieces on my little work table that in THEORY will be a new collage, but right now they are just not going together like I want them to. I've reworked the layout more times than I can think...something about getting the colors to not wash into each other seems to be the sticking point with me. I just need to get a good color choice -- so that there is a distinct opposite to each paper. No visual blending for his new piece, I think a good Opposite Attraction is the key for me. I can't seem to JUST get the decision made. And it's driving me about out the window.

>> The last couple dayz I've been battling a little bit of an ear infection...It's so DUMB how it happened << I was scratching my right ear, right near the opening, and by accident, my fingernail caught just a bit of the interior portion of my ear canal, and WHAM -- it hurt like all He** and get out. Then it Stopped hurting, and I went on with my little life. THEN ~~ 'bout 3 dayz ago it REALLY started bothering me, an' I realized it's also getting swollen...DAYUM..and hurtz too. So -- since it takes everything this side of an Act Of Congress to get up to the city to see my Dr., - - I'm going to Instead, go to the Herbal Grocery Store tomorrow an' try some Herbal Ear Drops, an' see if they get rid of the little Stuff that's happening in my ear. I can hear fine, an' all that..it's just sore and bothers me -- my equilerium (Oh HUSH about that spelling!!) is kinda off, too. Like when a cat gets some of it's whiskers cut or mising, they kinda walk sideways ~~ That's what I feel like. Like I'm walkin' all sideways or something...Blast...

So -- that's it from the Edge of the Sound -- I tried to tell Tom that I wanna get my liecense to FISH..but he was off on some tangent 'bout a song he heard on the Oldies radio show...no wonder my nerves are so shot these days...

For all of you going out & About tonight ~~ Be Careful ~~ Don't wake up feeling all wonky and all THAT from too much FUN on Halloween!! I don' wanna know about any guggy headaches tomorrow!! HA!!

Lady of The Tulips -- wondering when the last time was when she went out for Halloween...wow...longer ago than she really wants to know...

>> Some days it seems that I have far too many things on my work table <<

Then there are other days where it seems that I probably can just squeeze in a couple other storage boxes ~~ maybe one of those little ones that are on sale at a low price department store..one of the many "Dollar" stores, where the IMPULSE to buy, buy BUY gets wayy too overwhelming. But then ~~ I look at what space I do have available, and think that there needs to be a larger TABLE. Not more storage boxes. And so the Debate continues. Do I get a bigger table? Or do I squeeze in another box to keep brushes, pencils, erasers, and all the other "Tools of The Trade" on my little work table??

This morning is absolutely FABULOUS -- we have come thru the wind, rain and cooler temps. I had to go outside early this morning, as Little Miss Muffett had to see what there was to look at, smell completely, and walk around "HER" yard to inspect things. We have a decent wind today -- I haven't looked at the weather map, or listened to the Weather Report for the day, but the wind is probably near 10 m.p.h. ~~ we had much stronger winds last night, with a driving rain that seemed to come up out of Nowhere. I'm sure it was predicted, but after the weekend spent lazily watching dark clouds skirt across the sky, the LAST thing I wanted to do was see even MORE cloudy skies. But it was very unexpected, the storm that sprang up last evening. The rain spit across the windows facing the Sound, and when Tom came home, he said there wasn't weather like what we were experiencing, anywhere else along the highway. "I'm tellin' ya, ma, we just have our seperate weather systems here..." He may be right, as we seem to get squalls and driving rain, when just up the highway there is barely any sprinkles. I write it off to the Sound, with it's massive surface of blue water. Sure. I'll blame bad weather on anything else.

I'm in the process of working out a canvas that seems to have me stumped, right when I think I've got something goin' on. I think I've sketched at least 4 little streamers, going across a sheet of watercolor paper, trying to match the size of each streamer with the border of a piece of fabric. My ability to make somewhat even lines is no doubt hampered by the fact that I have never, EVAH been able to draw a good straight line. And THESE aren't even STRAIGHT!! They have a sweeping angle to them...but for some reason I can't get the ends of each line to match the opposite end, as they curl around the fabric. My mother used to say, "It's just 'cause you're left handed..." I never could decide if that was a compliment or not... SO ~ In the meanwhile I'm thinking that I'll just haul off and SKETCH SOMETHING near the blasted piece of fabric, an' let it go AT THAT!! THERE!! HA!!! Show's who's boss around here!

Must go and get a couple pieces of firewood in the woodstove. I put some in about an hour & a half ago, so it's time to get some more burning. The wind is making little sounds around the cabin, and the pine trees are swaying away, like their all practicing for the Nutcracker Ballet ~~

Lady of The Tulips ~~ wondering why it is that Sara likes to be warm, but won't lay by the woodstove too terribly long...maybe 'cause she get's too hot??

At The Edge of the Yeopim River and the Albemarle Sound ~ ~

Here is what we have for today..clouds, some wind, and hopefully no Flooding! We had rain overnight, but it seems that most of that has either soaked in and enhanced the shrubs and trees, or has gone on down the little creeks and streams out to the Sound. We are supossed to be "Warm" today -- actually the weather people are calling for temps in the 70's, but with the wind, that may be a tad optimistic as far as high temps go! The clouds seem to be floating past with a real urgency, as if there is somewhere they must be as quickly as possible. Maybe there is something coming up that we humans just don't know about.

Yesterday while I took a break from working on one of my current projects, I happened to sit out in the front room, and just for a moment layed down on the couch. While I just glanced out the picture window, there VERY suddenly came swooping thru the yard, one of the most beautiful small hawks I've ever seen!! I was so startled by it coming across the yard SO fast, that I barely had time to take a good look at it. The wings were a beautiful deep rust red, and the body had a grey-ish color to it. The very tip of it's tail was the same color as it's wings, and the shape of the body was somewhat tapered. It flew up to one of the telephone poles down the dirt road, and then, after getting it's bearings, it then came BACK across our side yard, flying low over the grass, then suddenly flying straight up into one of the pine trees near the side of the cabin. WHOA!! I was so suprised!! So, I ran toward the back of the cabin, tried to look out my bedroom window up into the trees, but whereever the bird had landed, it was up too high for me to see. I don't know what it was after, or if it possibly caught something while swooping across our yard, but it was such a surreal moment. I've not seen something like that for some years, not since we had land down in South Carolina, and usually I saw birds like this while the hawks and other large northern birds were traveling South for the winter. My guess is that this bird was one of the ones traveling South, and stopped along the way to grab something to eat. Sounds like most of us during a bizzy workday!! HA! sorry 'bout that bad pun...

Today I've been laying out pieces of paper, trying to figure out a new collage. I re-discovered some little papers I had tucked into some storage bags, so I'm trying to put them to good use. Tom & Noah are out and about for the day. Noah has somebody to buy some display cases he had for use at Baseball Card Shows. He only used the cases once or twice. He felt that somebody else who could use them should be able to pick them up, so he listed them on Craig's List, and within less than 3 hours he had a buyer!! SWEET!! And, he also found somebody giving away some storage items, so he decided to get 2 things accomplished at once today ~ get the display cases to the new owner, and pick up the storage stuff at the same time, just down the Interstate. That boy is clever, I'm tellin' ya!! Tom was going to do something at the same time, too, but he sorta-kinda-mumbled too much for me to really catch what he was saying...bum..

Lady of The Tulips ~~ listening to a great old recording of a jazz tune from WAYYY back in the 30's...Sweet!

*** Maybe today will be the day that my internet connection will work ***

I'm going to make this short, as I am totally unsure of what will happen once I try to post this ~~ Yesterday I tried 3 times to get something posted...even tried to download a couple canvases, but nothing happened. I am probably the last person who is computer savvy, so it is absolutely one of the most hideous things for me to try and understand. WHY doesn't my connection WORK??!! I know the canvases aren't everybody's cup of tea, but at least I'd like to TRY and get them posted on my blog so at least SOMEBODY can see them. But when I even went to get my last post yesterday, it literally DISAPPEARED into that great cyberworld SOMEWHERE..An' I don't even know where to start to yell at somebody about it.

The skies are cloudy -- we are supossed to have rain and wind today. Then it turns Cold -- well for here it's supossed to be cold. Highs in the 40's in a couple days, so we have the woodstove ready. And the Yard is somewhat cleaned up so we don't have to go out in the rain an' cold to mess with anything. YA!!

Lady of The Tulips -- crossing her fingers an' hoping this post WILL post...

>>> Here it is, another day where the sun is shinning, the birds are flitting, and I'm sitting in my little studio, wondering just what went WRONG!! <<<

Not too terribly long ago, Tom & I went to our most wonderful department store, Big Lots, and bought a spiffy bright yellow and altogether good looking vacuum cleaner. Price was right in our range of Not-Too-Cheap, but Not-So-Expensive-That-We'd-Cry-And-Walk-Out-The-Door. We happily brought it home, plugged it in, and went all up and down the hallway, skimming along, watching the very sleek and modern charcoal grey dirt cannister fill up with all sorts of odds and ends that had been lurking in our carpet. Very interesting to see, but kinda creepy too..those odd things lurking under the fibers. BUT ANYWAY -- we kept using it off and on, well, 'bout every week.

But THEN ~~

It started to Act Badly. Stopping While In The Middle of Work. Beginning to Smell Horrid and Overheat.

So we did what any smart person does. NO!! ~~ We did Not bang on the side of the machine. We cleaned out the filter..washed out the Sleek Grey Dirt Cannister.

And the machine continued to Overheat. Then the START button got stuck in the ON position, giving Lady Tulip a very NEARLY HORRIBLE heart attack every time she plugged in the vacuum cleaner. Tha's because she'd plug in the sucker, and it'd IMMEDIATELY start up and make All Sorts of Terrible Noises.

So ~~ Fast Forward to This Morning ~~ Lady Tulip had washed out the filter..cleaned out the Sleek and Altogether Modern Looking Dirt Cannister. Checked out the filter brushes. Did what every good and noble person does before attacking Odd Things Lurking in the Carpet.

The ON button actually worked correctly..and with a START push...the Vacuum Cleaner absolutely and Terrbily went into OVERDRIVE...Running nearly 1,239 times faster than it's supossed to run...the little motor started smelling like burnt wires, bad metal that's seen better dayz, and Smelled Up the Front Room. And it wouldn't turn off..Leaving Lady Tulip no other choice but to yell assorted and varied Bad Words -- run over to the electric outlet and UNPLUG the vacuum cleaner. While the motor came to a slow and smelly HALT...Lady Tulip became immediately AWARE that perhaps the Great Purchase of the YEAR was not such a good idea after all...and it was also On Sale. Which should have given Lady Tulip some WARNING about the Working Order of said vacuum cleaner.

All which means, that the DAYUM THING hauled off and killed itself. And smelled up the house at the same time. DAYYYUUUMMM...

So now there are STILL little bits of those hideous Odds and Ends covering the carpet..and Who Knows What Else lurking under all those fibers..Plus all the bits of old wallpaper backing that didn't get swept up in Lady Tulips bedroom..Needless to say, Lady Tulip is Feeling Out Of Sorts now..mainly because she has to haul off and look for another stuiped vacuum cleaner. did I say DAYYUUMMM at all today??

Lady of The Tulips -- listening to Noah up on the roof cleaning off 34,605 pine needles that flung themselves on the roof during last weekends Nor'easter...an' the weather persons say we may have another one this coming weekend..

"Comfort" Spring Bay Studio 2008

This is one of the pieces that I worked on while painting the bedroom the other week. I had some of these papers and fabric pieces for what seems an eon, so they just HAD to be placed together. I think in so many ways that the Ocean is much more comforting to us than we really think about. There are places where the Ocean is sole provider for villages, cities, countries. We need to constantly be aware of what role the Ocean plays in our lives, even if we happen to live many, many miles away from it. The food, the rain, the evolving days of our existence, depend so much on the Oceans of the world. And ultimately the Comfort that it enhances our lives with. I am constantly reminded of what it's role is for our neighbors, on a daily basis. I listen early in the morning to the sound of the local fishermen, slowly going out into the Sound, the engines of their boats a dull, rumbling as they travel down the Yeopim river, heading into another day of fishing. The skies may be cloudy, the skies may be brightly shinning, but whatever the weather, the fishermen tend to their jobs, and in turn, we all benefit from the catch they return home with every evening. Area stores, distribution centers for fresh fish, crab, shrimp, and all of those involved with trucking the fresh catch to areas far and near...we all benefit. And in turn, dwell in the "Comfort" of the Ocean.

The skies today are cloudy ~~ we are about to have our first cold snap of the season. Yesterday we nearly hit a high temp record for October. I know those of you living in more northern Climes don't REALLY want to know, but here we did have a high of over 83 degrees. WHOA!! I kept thinking, while painting the trim and baseboards in my bedroom, "Boy, Why am I feelin' this hot and yucky? ~ can't be hot flashes..just took my vitamin therapy..what is GOiN' ON??! HA! ~~ then I finally sat down an' watched 'bout 15 minutes of the evening news...OH SNAP!!..the heat WAS REAL ~ ~ not me being all funky and weird-ing out. BUT ~ ~ today is an entirely different story. Cloudy, windy and some sprinkles scattered around. Most of the "rain" is barely hitting the ground, it's just blowing around in the leaves of the hardwoods. We barely have color in the hardwoods around the cabin...some of the Oaks are barely showing Fall Color...our Dogwood is getting into a little more of it's Fall Showing. The Gu Tree beside the kitchen window is slowly turning into a pale, pale yellow~green, as if it can't make it's mind up on Fall. I am NOT READY!! for the cooler temperatures. Tom was not looking thrilled when he walked out to the car this morningat 3:45.."It's COLD out here, ma!" I feel sad, and want to have Summer surrounding me for EVAH!! ~ and want to keep the sun beaming on my bedroom floor for MORE DAYZ!!! Guess that's not goin' to happen..

Noah is getting the lawn mowed today, before the rain gets harder outside. He STILL hasn't heard from one of the temp agencies that told him he'd be lined up for a job by next week. BLAH. So he's trying to make himself useful around the yard. He'd much rather be making some money, but with some of the temp agencies, they just don't communicate with the companies who are using them to hire employees. Sometimes job choices go smoothly. Other times it's this side of a Nightmare to get things organized and ready for a potential employee. And this particular job Noah's looking at, has been ANYTHING but going smoothly. SOO -- instead of working outside of the "house" this week, he's been cleaning up the side yard, clearing away years of overgrowth around some of the pine trees, and now, mowing the lawn, before the rains come. The yard is really beginning to take shape..there were so many long stringy vines, lots of small trees, fighting for daylight under the pines. It's been an ugly battle to get them all dug out, but Noah's made great progress on it. If it's sunny tomorrow, I'll get a shot of the work he's done.

The Mail truck just was here, so I need to go see what we have waiting in the box. As long as there are NO BILLS...like that's gonna happen. HA!

Lady of The Tulips -- listening to somebody cutting trees? ~ no ~ Shrubs?? Lawdy..whatever is getting cut, it doesn't stand a chance with whoever is using that chainsaw...

Here are a couple shots of what my bedroom is starting to look like. The closet doors have a nice crisp ultra white on them now..and the mellow blue that backs the little "wood" stove by the bathroom, just feel so much better than the old wallpaper. I've got to finish the trim, baseboards and toms double-closet doors, THEN I can sit and bask in the "new" room!!

I've got some work to do on the windows facing the woods -- they have sliding vinyl shades on them..there's a name for the things, but it escapes me for the moment. The previous owners must have spent quite a bit on the window coverings, 'cause while I was in the hardware store last week, I priced new coverings, and they were anything but cheap. For a small dimension covering, the cost was over $25.00 -- and considering my windows are over 36 x 54 or some such thing, I didn't even get close to that size covering. Yup -- that clucking sound you hear is me, being an absolute chicken, at looking at higher prices for my room. Call me a cheapskate, that's fine. It's either that, or just blow open the checking account, an' then wonder how to pay for food for the rest of the week. Minor details, that buying food thing is, anyway...

SO -- what ELSE there is -- IS - the canvas is DRY on my little piece that is calling for me to download it. That will have to wait 'till tomorrow. I had to set it on my son's old dresser, that I use for some storage in the studio. The dresser has had much, MUCH better days >> In fact, it was given to me while I was in high school, so that tells you how long I've kept it. And then, my middle son Gabriel had the habit of writing ALL OVAH the darn thing while he was little. I asked him just a couple years ago, why did he always write his name EVERYWHERE??!! "I just wanted to make sure I spelled it right.." Ohh my nerves...But the dresser is good and sturdy, so the next big project is to clean it out, throw out old bits and pieces of "ART SUPPLIES" that I thot I'd absolutely-positively-have-to-use. Well -- those things may be kept, but since most of them were this side of garbage when I bought 'em, I'm doubtful they'll ever see a canvas. Maybe they will. But they have to REALLY become NEEDED before I slap them onto the canvas. Or be able to sing "America The Beautiful", or something like that..

Lady of The Tulips -- who keeps hearing the sound of a vehicle outside, an' even tho it sounds like the mail truck, it's something else...hmmm...

>> Here's the wall where my closet is << As you can seem the primer is doing a wonderful job of covering the prior paint, that the previous owners ~ for some weird reason ~ hauled off and covered up with that horrid wallpaper. And the painters tape, trying to jump off the ceiling line?? I'd started working with that roll, thinking it seemed kinda flimsy, but tried it out anyway. As you can see, what we found On Sale for $1.99 a roll, does nothing but attempt to slam itself on the floor, leaving the Painter-Person with nothing to do, but return to the Hardware Store, and buy more Painters Tape..Less than an hour it took, for that tape to peel itself off...

~~ But on a MUCH brighter note!! ~~ I DO have the final coat, or rather noah got the final coat of wonderful Blue done on the walls, and it just looks so fabu!! He suprised me by painting it while Tom & I went to the Peanut Festival up in Va. last weekend...by the time we got home, and I walked in the bedroom, the walls were a wonderful pale blue. I WILL post the pictures tomorrow of how good the color is. Today I got the closet doors done, the door to the bedroom just about finished, and also got some work done out in the front of the house. Figured that getting the yard stuff done while the paint dried would get the classic, TWO things done at the same time. Shwoo - now I feel good and tired, but a Good kinda tired, like Things-Got-Done that Needed to bE!!

I hope to download a picture of another little canvas I've gotten done while messin' with my bedroom walls -- it's kinda a funny little canvas, and Tom looked at it and said he liked it. I didn't know what to say, so I just shook my head at him in like I was appreciative of his comment. Actually I felt really suprised, 'cause he isn't all that overly positive on my work. So -- maybe it is a nifty canvas. I still am working out another one that I think to date, I've changed 23.406 times, but it could be more than that. I keep picking that %^"&$*} thing up, think I've got a good layout of it, then haul off and start pulling paper and STUFF off of that poor defenseless canvas like there's no tomorrow. I'm beginning to think a Lawyer is gonna show up and demand me to get to the county courthouse with a Good and Proper Explaination of why I've shown Harsh and Cruel Punishment toward my canvas. But maybe it's just 'cause I saw on the tv schedule that there are still re-runs of Matlock on tv...

Lady of The Tulips -- who had to call 4 places this morning to find out who she could go to for new glasses. Good Thing Lady Tulip called around..if I'd chosen the 1st. place, I would've paid close to $300 more than I should. Makes up for the hour on the phone.

>>> There are some days where I just want to run over to the street behind my little cabin, jump up on the dock that sits quietly on the river, and then JUMP IN THE WATER <<<

Now -- I KNOW that just sounds too weird, but for the life of me, I am having the most trouble with my dumb little camera. I've tried just about everything I can DO with it, to take a good clear picture of some of the new canvases I've worked out. But NOOO -- The Little Camera from Hell DOES NOT WANT TO BEHAVE!! -- a picture I take will look good in the view screen on the camera, an' then when I download the picture, it looks like something made the picture just sneeze badly, an' blur, distort and altogether make the shot look HORRID. BUT -- I also did not buy a very high price camera..and it WAS on sale a couple years ago...and it WAS the last of that particular design for that camera manufacturer. In other words it's jus' not all it's cracked up to be. BLAST...and DOubLE BLAST!!


So anyway -- How Are You??!! -- I am happy to say that I've gotten some more painting done on the walls in my bedroom -- IF the camera GODZ are good tomorrow, I'll take some more pictures of the BEFORE and AFTER of what the room looks like. It really is quite amazing just what a coat of paint can do to a room. I was telling my sister, that I've sorta slid a question past Tom, in the form of a request/question on whether or not to buy some ART for the walls. Naturally I did the questioning while Tom was good and distracted, so I knew that the odds were in my favor. NO -- it's not being dishonest..just sorta/kinda sneaky. Otherwise I'd never get anything done around here. SOO -- while Tom was watchin' baseball or one thing or another -- I casually said that there is some ART I need to get an' blah-blah-blah .. an' made it seem like RIGHT NOW -- it must be HERE!! -- HA!! Worked like a charm!! He said "Sure, go ahead an' get somethin'" - so, being The Good and Dutiful Wife that I am -- I will INDEED get the art we NEED for the bedroom walls.

I've found some mellow beach scenes...a couple floral prints..things to make it feel serene, along with the nice blue that covers the walls. WHHEEE -- it will be NICE when I get it all done...!!!

I've gotta run an' see what Tom's up to -- he's gonna take part of tomorrow off, so he can go pick up the used/new car for us -- the dealership isn't open on Sundays, so tom has to get to them when he can...but he WILL be back at the terminal for the afternoon...All these THINGZ!! -- yeee gads ---

~~ Lady of The Tulips ~~ Listening to somebody walkin' down the dirt road, havin' some kind of conversation that doesn't sound too good..."Is this an arguement?" ~~~

"Closest Confidant" 2008 Spring Bay Studio

This is one of the pieces that I've worked out, while painting the primer on my bedroom walls. The pieces that I assorted for this are some that I've had for over a year, maybe more. Why they've just sat in their little folder is beyond me, but that's how it goes.

I've got some other pieces that are sitting in a folder near-by...I can't decide if I'm going to tear them apart and start over, or if I'll just leave them be. There are some days where it seems like the thing to do, is just pull everything apart and start over. But sometimes, tht creates such a huge problem. Layout becomes confusing, and introducing new papers and objects doesn't always fit the theme that I want to expand on. Plus there are also the problems of what to choose for extra paint and how to combine some colors that you wouldn't wanna see on some "lady" in a bar at 2 a.m. on a bad night..in a bad neighborhood. These are the weird things that come up when I least expect 'em to, and sometimes the paint, papers and objects all flow together just like there was never a question..other times, I start to contemplate working at the local Fishing Center, and abondon all thots of being an Artist.

Noah went all OVAH the place yesterday -- he rode with tom up to the city and then had to take his bike and ride to an employment center to apply for a job that is about 20 miles from where tom works. That was the easy part. In order for noah to get to tom's terminal, he had to take his bike and ride on one of the area's scariest highways for 8 miles, then up and over one of the highest bridges there is in the south-east part of the state..then down another highway to get to yet ANOTHER highway to get to tom's terminal. All this just to get in an application for a job. AND THEN --- it ends up that the job only had openings for 3rd shift..something the people at the employment center failed to tell noah before he got off the phone with them on tuesday. Cute. When tom said that noah "Is gonna haf-ta ride his bike up over the gilmerton bridge" I didn't THINK about which one it is -- it's the one bridge that all the major truck companies use to get from interstate 64 and follow another highway to hit interstate 95...not too slick. Well -- for truckers it's a piece of cake..for some poor guy riding a bike up and over that bridge, it's absolute hell on earth, and rarely do you see anyone trying it...except somebody REALLY trying to find work, and doing everything they can to Get From Point A to Point B >>>I finally stopped worrying once they both walked in the door last night...

Speaking of work -- my middle son finally got the job he'd applied for something like a month ago -- he's now working in the mail room of one of the nations large railroad companies. I don't think I am supossed to say who they are -- security reasons or some crap like that. But gabriel had waited 'till he was ready to jump off the pier over on the Oceanfront, waiting for some word on whether or not he got the job. That's the thing that always FLIPS ME OUT -- why is it that companies SAY they'll Tell you within 10 days if you've got the job you've applied for -- or else send you a letter saying something stuiped like, "We've enjoyed you discovering the wonders of our Corporation, however we think you suck, so go away.." or something like that...The waiting game is not for most people who look at the rent "Past Due" notice, or the "Shut - Off Notice!! " from the Electric company -- all the while waiting for some Executive to say whether or not their going to hire YOU!! Ueerrr -- I got too many of those letters over the years..at one point while looking for work, I applied at 14 (!!!)different places within 2 WEEKS!!! -- and to this day I still have nothing to show for it. It was one of the lowest times EVAH for me. Not to mention all the miles I added up on The Very Fine Automobile...jeesh..


So now that THAT rant is done, I've got to go outside and check on my greens -- we've got collards comin' along really good in a couple pots..some broccoli too. They have really taken off with the little bit of cooler temps we've had the last couple days. So now this morning it's warmed up, and the poor little dears don' know what to do with themselves.

>> Lady Tulip << listening to somebody mowing their lawn RRREEEAAALLLYYY slowly...soundz like by the time their done, the lawn's gonna be growin' back about 5 inches...

>>> There is a wonderful thing called a camera -- it takes pictures that people can look at, ooh and ahh over, and generally make for a Great Time Looking at Things <<<

However -- the particular camera that Lady Tulip happens to own, has decided that it Will Not Work Correctly, even after Lady Tulip worked, and worked, and WORKED WITH THE DAYUM THING for over an hour and a half. Not ONLY did Lady Tulip WASTE ALL THAT TIME she literally has nothing to show for it. Well -- except for a raging headache, that will go away with something from the medicine cabinet.

At least these pictures aren't the Only ones, say, from somebody's third-cousin's wedding...or something like that..

What Lady Tulip is Trying to show, is the primer she slapped on her walls, and while that was drying, she made a couple spiffy collages, all nice with Fish, People, and other assorted THANGS -- however, you can't SEE THEM -- cause the $#%$^& camera that is sitting just to my left (Or is it your left? >> Right?? << OH ANYWAY -- I will carefully set the camera away from me so it doesn't end up in little bits and pieces, that I'll step on and proceed to bleed all over. Then that creates an altogether other problem...

Meanwhile -- the day is Glorious -- bright sunshine (trust me, it really is) and blue sky -- the kind of day that makes one want to go outside and walk thru the woods. I would, but I have to figure out where my shoes went. Sara may have a say in where the shoes are, but she doesn't always tell me where things disappear --

I have to contact the local transportation company, so I can make another trip to lowes -- my color choice for the trim is Finally decided, so I need to pick up a quart of that, plus another can of primer -- noah tells me the cost is Right In Our Price Range - $10.00 a gallon for the primer, versus $19.00 for the "Other" brand name. I won't name names, but the other brand is not as easy to use anyway...an' since it costs more, why bother, huh?!!

So that's the news from the edge of the Albemarle Sound. I so want to show some pictures of all the things here...but -- well -- hopefully tomorrow!!

Lady of The Tulips - wondering where her other pictures have gone that she put away for safe keeping. She did so blasted good, she can't remember where she put them...

Well -- just a couple days ago, Lady Tulip was sitting in her bedroom, staring out the window, trying very HARD to delay cleaning her house. While she was sitting on her bed, looking around her bedroom walls, it suddenly dawned on Lady Tulip, that the wallpaper covering said walls, was something that HAD TO GO as soon as possible. It was Grating on Lady Tulip, that the wallpaper covering her bedroom walls, looked like something that belonged in a home that people much much older than her would be thrilled to have. Say somebody 103 or somewhere close.

So Lady Tulip began the Oddesey (oh shut up about that spelling...) of Tearing Off All The Old Smoke Stained And Smelling Wallpaper, and cleaning up the little bits and pieces of backing paper that is the Bane of Those Who Remove Wallpaper. Lady Tulip pulled, tore, shredded, and altogether Beat Up Her Bedroom Walls to get all the OLD OUT -- no, not the 103 year old person, (they happen to live somewhere nearby, I supposse, but that's another story..) the OLD wallpaper going into a trash bag, and down the road to the local landfill-place. It took Lady Tulip 2 days to shred, tear, pull and stab at the pieces staring at her upon her walls, laughing all the while..."HA!! Lady Tulip, those pieces of paper said, "You Aint Gonna Get Us Off-a Here Easy!!"

This only inflamed Lady Tulip all the more -- She looked at the walls, with their little bits of stuck-'till-the-cows-come-home-backing-paper and said,
"YOU ARE COMING OFF OF THESE WALLS, IF ITs THE LAST THING I DO!!"

The walls only laughed, along with their irritating little bits of paper, stuck like GLUE and staring at Lady Tulip.

>>>>> OK >>>>> Suffice to say, that the taking down of that stuiped paper was more of a job than I bargained for, but it did only take 2 days. The primer is ON now -- well almost of the primer is on now...I didn't calculate the amount right, that was already in the can that Noah used, so even tho the majority of the walls are painted, the top of said walls are still in need of primer. But the good thing is that the smell of stale cigarettes is ALLGONE once and for EVAH -- I won't go into details of the nahhsty stuff that came off the paper when I hit it with the spray bottle of water. Le's jus' say that I'm glad I stopped smoking WAY back in the day...


Tomorrow I'll post a couple shots of the primer (d) walls >> they look much better. Even TOM said it looked better, so that's sayin' somethin'!! <<

Lady Tulip -- listening to something outside, but it doesn't seem like it's Altogether Horrid and Scary -- but I could be wrong..

Where Snug Harbor Iz...

I had hoped that the photo of where our little place is on the map, wouldn't look so dark when I took the shot last week...but IF you can see where on the left-hand side of the map..there is alittle pennisula (yeah, yeah, that'z spelled altogether horrid..) where Snug Harbor is located. And to the right of that, is the Albemarle Sound. Whileat my Eye Dr. appt., yesterday, I was telling someone, that if I was to swim (and that'z a BIG IF..) across the Sound, an' keep going (to the right of the map) then I'd end up on the Outer Banks. Me an' my Rotten Math...I THOUGHT it was something like 10 miles across the Sound...FAT CHANCE -- it's more like over 25...so even the IDEA of swimming across ALL THAT WATER...Gad Zooks...I jus' got tired thinkin' about it...

Anyway -- I've got a gazillion THANGZ to tell ALL about...but Noah has made dinner early, an' I am SLAP wore out after tearin' wallpaper to SHREDZ...I'll show some of the shotz of the master bedroom re-doo tomorrow...right now I absolutely HAVE to go wash off all this old glue...get rid of the stale old cig. smoke stained GOO that dripped all over me all day (ohh it jus' makes me wanna cry...it'z jus' too too NAHHSTIEE) an of course, the 30+ year old wallpaper bitz that I'm discovering in my hair...ICK!!..

Lady of The Tulips -- who has realized that if she hauls off an' jus' blasts thru all her work tomorrow afternoon, then she'll have a bedroom that looks purdy darn good..