Wordy Wednesday

T Stands For A Very Merry Unbirthday

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Since this is my birthday week, a celebration for T Day. If today is not your birthday, a very happy unbirthday to you. If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday 🎈🎂🎁 to you.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

For the Hitchhikers

Blame it on Divers and Sundry. She started (me on) the 42 meme. For the longest time,I could never find the number, but now it crops up in some unusual places.

Darn, I hope this enlarges. It was a screenshot of how many views on my blog

spotted at Target

Riding in the car on fumes, 42 miles left to travel before the gas tank was empty

Comments on a blog post

How many times I've mentioned essential oils on my blog.

From the time a Facebook friend posted some pictures to the time I saw her posting

While searching old blog posts, a whine about the temperature.

My P.O. Box. I hope it counts.

How does Your Garden Grow?

A beautiful sunset

The milkweeds had fallen over Ink's statue so I staked them up. Is it just the milkweeds in my garden, or do they all fall over?

Garden kites in a row

The new granite lantern post. Waiting for the electrician to come and connect the lights.

Looks like zucchini for supper this week.

The Little Shop of Horrors Zucchini

Tiny tomatoes

Tomatoes, cukes, and peppers. Oh, my!

I was behind Ink's garden taking pictures. This little fellow didn't seem to mind and wasn't afraid.

I asked the dragonfly if I could take his picture, and he posed for me.

A crop of morning glories

Clean water in the birdbath.

Heavy thunderstorms produced lots of rain.

A new, little visitor showed up.

And since today is my birthday, a garden flag to celebrate. Hey, Kid! Will you still need me? Will you still feed me? When I'm 64?

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

Inherit the Wind (1960) Spencer Tracy, Fredric March

If you haven't seen this movie, it's available for rent on YouTube.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Had to run to Best Buy to get an HDMI connector so I could connect my old, still in good working condition monitor to the new computer. Got a pair of inexpensive speakers, too.

2. While having 5 Guys for the Young One's birthday dinner, a hummingbird kept looking into the sun room window.

3. Packed for my Sacred Art retreat to Enders Island

4. The contractor's big job got pushed back because of heavy rains so he was able to come out and install the granite post two weeks ahead of schedule.

5. Went to get a haircut and was nervous to hear the stylist I usually go to left the shop. I was pleased the woman who cut my hair did a really good job.

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday

January/1956, 6 months old

I was disappointed that in Dad's notebooks, he never put into writing how he felt at my appearance the way he did when The Brother was born. Since my birthday is this weekend, I'll tell you my birth story as told to me by Ma.

In April 1952, Dad passed the bar exam, and in May they moved from the duplex in Cambridge to the single family home in Natick. The Brother was 3 years old, and I was just a thought. Ma wanted another child, a girl. She always said she wanted  a family with one of each, a boy and a girl. She called  it a rich man's family.Dad wanted another son. He wanted to name his second son, Reginald which would have been a companion name to The Brother. So they tried and tried but Ma couldn't seem to get in the family way. The Brother turned 4 and then 5.

Ma had a friend from work, at least that's where I think she had met Frank. Possibly the friend was Frank's wife. (Not to be confused with her friends, Frank and Mary, also from work, who would become my Godparents)

 No matter. She must have confided her wish to have a baby, but not having any luck. Frank had an elderly aunt who was a nun. He took Ma to visit the aunt and told her of Ma's wish to have a baby, possibly told her she wanted a baby girl.

The aunt gave Ma a doll. A doll with dark hair and dark eyes. She told Ma to put the doll on her dresser and within the year, Ma would have a baby girl. And the aunt said she would pray for Ma.

Around this time, Grandma (Ma's mother) came for a visit. Grandma loved to visit Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Holliston, Massachusetts The shrine has a large rosary made of boulders and chains and you can say the prayers of the rosary as you walk around. Underneath the crucifix is a grotto with some sort of well or stream and people say a prayer and light candles and throw coins into the water. So Grandma gave the Brother a coin. He was asked if he wanted a little brother or a little sister. He tossed the coin in the well and wished for a little sister.

After all this Ma finds out she's with child, and just about the same time she finds out that Frank's aunt, the nun, passed away. Ma said a life for a life.

Ma's pregnancy progressed nicely. One Saturday, in her sixth month, she asked Dad to watch The Brother while she went in to take a shower. No problem. Dad was reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle. The Brother was playing with an Erector set. a building toy with metal girders and gears that could be motorized so the construction could move.

Everything was fine or so Dad thought. The Brother was  jumping from chair to chair while holding onto one of the metal girders. He fell, cried out, and the metal piece goes in his mouth and cut his palate. The Brother screamed and rushed into the bathroom for Ma. Ma saw all the blood gushing from his mouth and in her haste to get out of the tub, fell.

After the fall, things returned to normal. Everything was fine. In her 7th month, Ma had to leave work to start her confinement. This was 1955. Pregnant women weren't supposed to be seen.

Jump ahead to July 27, a Wednesday night. Ma always went to bed early since she had to be up early to leave for work. Dad liked to stay up late, watch the late shows, news, listen to the National Anthem as the television stations signed off the broadcast day at midnight. No round the clock television back in those days.

Ma was  trying to get to sleep. She was  uncomfortable, and the sounds of the television was keeping her awake. She told Dad it was time, and to call Mrs. Stacy, the next door neighbor to come and stay with The Boy. And off Ma and Dad went to the hospital in Waltham, a half an hour or so ride.

Ma knew it was not TIME, but figured the hospital would admit her, send Dad home, as dads were not allowed in the delivery room, and she would get a good night's sleep. Her due date wasn't until August 4. The plan worked just as Ma thought. She was admitted to the maternity ward, and Dad went home and was able to catch the late news.

To be continued next week.

Wordy Wednesday

T Stands for New Way to Brew Loose Tea for One

I love gadgets so when I saw this infuser teacup by Magisso, I had to get one.

The ingenuity of the cup is it doesn't have a flat bottom. Insert the infuser screen, tilt the cup forward to the low end, and add your tea. One for me, and one for the cup.

Pour your hot water over the tea leaves and allow to steep. The is the Portland blend that Alesia gave to me. It suggests letting the tea steep for 3 to 4 minutes. CJ hums the Jeopardy theme. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Do, do do do, dit, do, do, do, do. do. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Dit, do, do, do, do, do, dum.

Tilt the cup to the high end and remove the infuser, You probably can leave the infuser in, but I'm one of those people who don't like to leave the teabag in my cup and drink the tea. So infuser out.

Now the tea is ready to be sweetened. One squirt of liquid Stevia, please. Normally, I would also add a splash of milk, cream, half n half, coconut or almond milk, but this blend has some raspberry in it and I thought the raspberry might curdle the milk. Sip.

While I love the kitty infuser, the Magisso cup is a lot easier to clean. Sometimes it's hard to dig out the sodden tea leaves from the kitty's butt.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to celebrate the 6th anniversary of T Day and to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

What's A Garden Kite?

I was recently asked what in the world is a garden kite? A garden kite is my take on Lloyd Reynold's Weathergrams. Traditional weathergrams have too many rules for me.

Garden kites are meant to be ephemeral and I like to hang them  outside so I can watch them flutter in my Zensical garden. The kites begin life as Kraft paper or brown paper bags. I'll sometimes ask for my groceries to be put into a brown paper bag or I save the brown paper that is sometimes used as packing material. For ephemera, I'm amazed at how long Kraft paper will weather outside.

I cut the Kraft paper to 5 .5 inches square (or 13.97 cm) I like this size, but you can choose a size that appeals to you. Holes are punched for the hang cord and a tail for the kite. I use a reinforcement for a little bit of stability.

I don't use a particular layout except that a design of some sort will go in the middle. When I make a garden kite for myself, I'm not very fussy. You can use whatever materials you like. Sometimes I write with a Sharpie pen. I don't bother to rule up lines, but just write out whatever sentiment I've chosen.

 Here I've written with a 1 mm. Pilot Parallel Pen using Moon Palace Sumi ink. The sumi ink doesn't bleed or feather on the Kraft paper and doesn't run when it gets wet.

Any writing is done first and then some sort of drawing goes in the middle. 

 Himself got a new wallet with a Celtic knot dragon embossed on it. The Young One is fond of dragons so I copied the design. I drew it on tracing paper and transferred it to the brown paper using Saral Transfer paper.. I went over the Saral lines with the Sharpie pen.

Red is her favorite color and I used colored pencils to color in the design.

I don't bother to seal the design. As I said, I'm surprised how long the kites hold up in the weather. For the kite tail I use 6 strand embroidery floss in various colors as that is what I have on hand.. You can use whatever you like to make a kite tail: yarn, ribbon, thread.

I didn't have the right shade of red embroidery floss so used some red cotton crochet thread. A piece of tie for a hang cord, and the kite is ready to be put outside.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Flowers for the window boxes

Wild morning glories, also known as Devil Weed as the vine is invasive and chokes out other plant. It's hard to get rid of, too.

Dedo and his hydrangea blooms. Three more blooms than we got last year. Seems lots of people in town have been having the same problem. Lots of leaves and very few blooms.

Some zucchini

Two varieties of tomatoes

A cucumber that looks more like a pickle.

Some peppers

Like me, the New Guinea Impatiens seems to be enjoying the heat

Either the milkweed blooms are too heavy for the stalks or they keeled over in the heat.

The morning glories seem to have gotten off to a slow start. Looks like something is enjoying nibbling the leaves.

Milkweed pods

What kind of ugly bug is this?

How does your garden grow?

And a very Happy Birthday to the Young One.