Monet and Me

 

are doing a deep clean and organizing of the studio. Funny thing while organizing, one seems to make more of a mess. This is the before.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Sunset

and the falling of tears leaves.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

5 minute wave sounds for sleeping | Relaxing Ocean-like waves to calm & relax

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. A delivery was scheduled between 10 AM and 1 PM. They arrived at 10:15 AM so we didn't have to wait around all day.

2. Looking forward to a lettering class. I wasn't able to make the live Zoom so will watch the videos at a later time.

3. My friend, Nan, texted me. She's home from her trip to Ireland. We plan to Skype next week and make plans to get together.

4. Skyped with the Young One. This is now going to be a weekly event.

5. Last of the warm days so Teague and I had lunch outside at George's they day before they close for the season.

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

  In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Can You Hear Me Now?

Ma had an appointment with the ear doctor. She was to have her ears flushed out and then we would all have to mind our p's and q's.

I thought I'd arrive early, have a bit of a visit, and score some brownie points. I rang the bell several times and waited as bolts and locks were turned.

"What? Still in your pajamas?"

"I knew I didn't have to rush today."

"Where's Dad?"

"He went to the library."

She finished getting dressed and then came into the living room with her shoes. "Put my shoes on for me."

Ma had told me her father used to tease her, called her Donna Fifi, The Lady Fifi. I had an odd feeling as to whether I was lady in waiting or parent. "These aren't your new shoes? Why aren't you wearing your new shoes?"

"I don't like them, they hurt my feet."

"Why didn't you tell the doctor?"

"He got awful angry with me last year when I sent the shoes back because he ordered the wrong size. Put the kettle on for tea."

We sat in the kitchen, sipping tea. I had an odd sense of deja vu as I sat at my place. We were woven into a fabric of tea and gossip. Ma used to invite Himself's mother over for tea and I was always included. Even as a young teen, Ma never excluded me. How sad that most of the people that we talked about were gone. Grandma, Auntie, her daughter, Himself's mother. Still it was a pleasant ritual of chatting bits of nothing, and it was peaceful. A momentary stab of guilt sliced through me as I thought how pleasant it is spending time with only one parent at a time. How different they are when they are not with each other.

I glanced at the clock. "Will Dad be coming to the doctor's with you?"

"I don't know."

I looked at the clock again, still time, but I only knew the location of the office, date and time of the appointment, not which doctor she had to see. "Do you know which doctor you're supposed to see?"

"No, HE knows, but HE doesn't tell me." I'm a little irritated. Dad has a habit of not keeping Ma in the loop, and there are some two hundred doctors at the medical building. I wondered what percentage of them are ENTs. No, matter. I decided I could call the doctor's office that gave her the referral. I went upstairs to Dad's office to hunt for a telephone directory. As luck would have it, on the keyboard of the dusty computer, is a scrap of paper with the ear doctor's name, suite number, phone number, time and date of the appointment. Thank you, Jesus!

We finished tea and moved the gossip session to the living room. Ma had the curtains pulled back and was watching out the window for Dad.

He came into the house and sank into a nearby chair. He was breathing heavily. "I..I...ran...all...the...way...up...the....hill."

"Ya dumbass! What did you do that for?" I should have been more sympathetic, but I was alarmed and the worry came out as a smartass remark.

"I completely forgot she had an appointment today. I didn't remember until I was halfway up the hill."

Ma sat down with me standing behind her. "If you're starting to forget things," she said, "I'm going to put you in the home!"

I chuckled and held up two fingers.

"What?" he asked.

"You go as a two-fer."

"What?"

"A BOGO. By one, get one free," I winked.

"I'm not going to the nursing home with him!" shouted Ma.

Somehow the conversation turned to final wishes.

"And you're not going to bury me in this town! For 63 years, I've been buried up here..." Ma was a city girl born and bred and the town isn't on the subway line. It's been a sore point as long as I could remember. Though according to Dad when they found the house some 56 years ago, this was the dream house, the one Ma had to have.

"Alright, Ma, where do you want to be buried? Do you want to be buried in the cemetery where your parents are?"

"Oh, no! That's too hard to get into. Besides, no one will come to visit. IF I have to be buried in the ground, I want to be buried where your Uncle Chick is buried."

We've had this conversation before. Ma has some sort of problem about being buried in the ground. She wanted to be buried in a vault or mausoleum. I actually think it's more of a case of sibling rivalry as her sister is buried in a vault. I had once related this information to Dad. His answer was "We'll burn her!" I never figured out whether that was to be considered an economical alternative or a funeral for a witch. I also refrained from telling Ma that since Uncle Chick is buried near the NH border, chances are no one would want to make the Memorial Day trip. Like most New Englanders, we barely drive an hour from our home area.

It was time to drop the morbid subject and head to the doctor's office. There was a moment of tension in the elevator as Ma yelled at Dad to get out all the insurance cards she would need. He had been fishing in her pocketbook for the wallet and she snatched it out of his hands and it fell to the floor.

"Knock it off!" I roared. "We can take care of this in the doctor's office."

I approached the secretary's cage, handed her  Donna Fifi's insurance cards, and sat down with my book in the waiting room. The doctor was writing notes on a patient's chart on the far side of the secretary's cage.

Ma had thought this was the first time she would be seeing this doctor and then remembered she had seen him once before. "Oh, I don't like this doctor. He's not as good as the one your girlfriend sent me to." I try very hard not to laugh. Ma is as subtle as a rash, and she does not whisper.

The doctor came to call Ma into his office. Dad picked up a magazine and I settled in with my book. We could hear the doctor admonish Ma about the use of Q-tips. The doctor stands before Dad and I.

"Are you with Ma?"

I go back to reading my book.

"When you get home. Take the Q-tips and throw them away! She has impacted the wax against her ear drum. The Q-tips are not necessary and are bad to use." The doctor returned to Ma with a huff.

I leaned over to Dad and whispered, "Good luck." As if Ma will throw away the Q-tips or allow them to be tossed out.

On the ride home, I noticed Ma has her hand against her left ear as if she's an old time radio announcer.

"Are you okay? What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if I can hear out of this ear."

"It would probably help if people were talking. Can you hear me now?"

See Ya, Hubbell

 

Robert Redford

August 18, 1936 - September 16, 2025

See ya, Hubbell 😿💔

T Stands for Queen Elizabeth II and Paddington Have Tea

 

Queen Elizabeth II and Paddington share love of marmalade sandwiches over Jubilee tea | SBS News

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

Monet and Me

and saw this crossword, solitaire game called Q-Less advertised. Twelve cubes with letters. You shake them up, dump them out, and try to use up all the letters making a crossword.

No need to buy a new game. I had a game called Boggle. Boggle has 16 cubes but the idea is the same.

We did pretty good, if I do say so.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Sunset sky after

the rain.

Timex sitting on the railing surveying his domain.

The bunny hopped in for a fill up

Sort of a fairy circle

"Look, Merry. Mushrooms!"

Solar lights and mums

Now begins the Winter of discontent.

The trees seem

to be

turning color earlier this year. I think I say this every year.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Are you a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and you have a lot of time on your hands? (even a little time).

Visit The Tolkien Estate. Explore the world Tolkien created. Hear him read aloud passages from his works. See the maps, paintings, calligraphy he made to help him write his works and later these became illustrations when the books were published. You can watch portions of a documentary, Tolkien at Oxford, and hear from Tolkien himself.

Have fun poking around.

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The tornado, hail, and fierce thunderstorms, went North and South of us.

2. Quill and I took a nice nap together.

3. We had breakfast for supper. I made myself a fried egg over easy. I haven't had one of those in a long time, and I didn't break the yolk

4. I did a little organizing in the studio.

5. I went to  a birthday lunch with childhood friends to celebrate we're 70

How was your week?

TBT: Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

  In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Big Boy

Monday was a planned shopping expedition. Ma had asked me to come early so I arrived at 9am. She wasn't dressed so I puttered with Dad's computer trying to explain to him the need to turn it on for more than a minute every month. The poor machine nearly choked with all the Windows updates. After twenty minutes, Ma shouted impatiently, "I'm ready." We whirled into the usual flurry of looking for the check book, getting her coat, her walker, and the soda bottles for return.

The ride up was pleasant. Ma nodded off, and I left Dad to enjoy the peace and quiet of his own thoughts. Since we were shopping on the fifth of the month, there were quite a few handicap spots available. Social Security checks were deposited on the first and funds available to seniors on the 3rd. I helped Ma across to the sidewalk. Dad came tooling out on a scooter for her. As I was taking the walker back to the car and hoping I could spend time reading my book, Ma shouted, "You come back and help me." Deep sigh.

From the entrance, I could see people jumping out of the way and I knew Ma is in that direction. I passed Dad at the bottle return machines, slowly and carefully feeding the cans and bottles in.

I caught up with Ma and she shouted the orders: Get 2 dozen of the medium eggs. I turned to put them in the scooter basket and she roared down the dairy aisle shouting more items: 2 gallons of milk, a gallon of orange juice, two cartons of cottage cheese - make sure it's the one with the pineapple in it. I ran after her occasionally lobbing an item into the basket. She also grumbled about the prices. Seems things have gone up, and Ma is not happy.

At the deli, she told me she wanted a pound of bologna and some provolone. "You like provolone. I'll buy you some provolone." Now, I don't eat raw cheese. Ever. She's only known this for some 50 years. "I'll get you some roast beef for lunch too even though I'm not supposed to have it."

"Ma, don't worry about the roast beef, bologna is fine. And remember I don't eat cheese so if you want provolone for yourselves get it." I take a deli ticket, number 52 and the deli is now serving 48.

"Let your father stand in line." With that she careened toward the meat case.

I headed back to the front of the store in search for Dad. He had just finished feeding a few cans into the return machine and is standing in line at the courtesy desk to get cash for his chit. Somewhere in the back of my head an alarm bell began ringing, but I ignored it. "Ma wants you to stand in line at the deli for bologna and provolone."

He looked at the deli ticket. "What number are they on?"

"48."

"I'll never make it."

"Then get another ticket." I sprinted toward the meat cases and nearly lost my lunch as I rounded the corner by the fish case. I smelled rotten fish. Even though I don't do the shopping, I know fish is not supposed to smell rotten. As an aside, I hate this store. It's not very clean. Packages are always dented and I question the freshness of the meat and produce.

Ma had stopped at the meat counter and was in deep contemplation. She pointed to a package and as the acolyte I handed her the first package to have the blessing. We continued down the miles of the meat case. Lift the meat, bless it and put it back.

There was a sale case with Stella D'Oro goodies. Ma put a package of anisette toasts in the cart. One of my favorites. A treat for me to go with lunch. Not a bad reward.

Dad finally caught up with us. "I have to go find the men's room." Vanished. We have been in the store close to an hour and have only progressed to meat. Produce, frozen foods and the aisle territory still needed to be explored. The alarm bell clanged.

In produce, Ma is delighted to have found Big Boy tomatoes at a good price. She prodded, poked and thumped looking for the best candidates. Another sign for plum tomatoes caught her eye. I heard a plop and there between my shoes was a Big Boy, murdered at the height of freshness with tomato guts oozing from its split skin. Ma was no where to be seen and I'm suddenly on the receiving end of disapproving stares from other shoppers. I slinked away, branded a tomato murderer.

Dad made another cameo, announced they needed salt, and vanished. The dawn broke. The three or four hour shopping expeditions aren't necessarily blamed on Ma, not with Houdini looking for items.

While inspecting celery Ma found another weeble lady to lament the rising cost of store items. The weeble lady tried to include me in the conversation. Since I don't grocery shop, I wouldn't know the cost between a carrot or a yam. I shrugged and smiled politely.

Dad caught up with us by the ice cream case. Another debate about flavors and Dad critiquing Ma's scooter maneuver ability. Ma had gotten the scooter wheel wedged under the kick space of the freezers. We had to offload Ma and pull the scooter out.

"Do we have everything we need?

"We don't need to do the big shopping," she informed me. "You come back in two weeks to take us shopping again."

Oh, joy.

"Where's the list?"

"In my pocket."

A fine place for the list to reside. Ma decided the last item needed was paper towels, but another store had the item for a dollar less so she decided we had to go to this store. I wasn't happy but bit my tongue. She was happy because they were saving a dollar. In the mean time, I had to burn another gallon of gas to get to the other store. We have now been on this expedition for 3 hours. We have come close to the time I must leave in order to pick the Young One up at school.

We drove to the second store. "You have 10 minutes," I said to Dad.

We got back to their house at 10 minutes before 1pm. Dad and I unloaded the car. Ma was frantically looking for the lunch items.

"You're staying for lunch." More of a command than a statement

"I can't. I have to leave."

"You never stay to visit."

Oh, cheeze! "I could if you didn't use up all my time. I was here at 9am, but you're dancing around and we don't leave for another 20 minutes. You take 3 hours at the grocery store and then we have to go get one item at another store. That was my visiting time."

I left. No lunch and no anisette toast.

Doodling for Stress Release

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. I missed a week of class because, I was away and then there was no class on the Labor Day holiday.

The assignment was to draw a border, add some wonky 3 petal flowers, stems, and little circles.  I colored the little circles Ultramarine with a Tombow marker. This was a relaxing and fun exercise.dra

T Stands for Anniversary Dinner

For our 40th wedding anniversary last month, we decided to celebrate at our favorite, special occasion, restaurant the UxLocale.

After some wicked hot and humid days, the evening we chose to go out was a Goldilocks kind of night. We went early in the hopes of being able to sit out on the patio. Our wish came true and we had a lovely table outside. 

While waiting for our drinks and appetizer, we remarked how there were no mosquito or no-see-um bugs with giant teeth on the patio. Himself was looking at the herbs and plants that Elaine, the owner, has planted. I wonder what this thing is? Plant.net told us it was Citronella. Well, that's why no bugs

For our beverages, I had a glass of Prosecco and Himself had a Coke. Our appetizer was a burrata pesto tomato jam crostini. 

We each got a house salad with a red wine balsamic dressing

Himself ordered salmon and risotto for his entree. I ordered the Get Figgy With It pizza. I know, I know. I have said more than once fruit, especially pineapple, on pizza is a mortal sin. I'll gladly sell my soul for this outstanding combination. A white base pizza, fig preserves, sliced tart apple, prosciutto, arugula with a balsamic glaze.

It was also nice when Elaine came out to take care of some business with the band setting up. She saw us and came over to chat. Elaine used to work at the museum where I teach calligraphy. It's always nice to see her and to catch up.

We were tempted to order dessert, but had no room.

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

Monet and Me

hate spaghetti. No, not the pasta, but the tangle of electrical and charging cords. Every device (usually) comes with its own charging cord. Many of the devices use the same type cord: USB-A, USB - B, USB-C, Mini-USB, Micro-USB,  Lightning cord. The chances that all of your devices need to be charged at the same time is pretty slim.

Monet and I detangled the mess and kept two of each kind. We went from the picture above to

all the cords fitting into the ark, two by two. Along with a dual  USB-A plug and a light that attaches over the camera of the laptop so you look pretty on a Zoom meeting.

The extra cords will be donated.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Eggplants

Big tomatoes

Little tomatoes

The death bed. Stuff in here isn't looking too good.

Mum's

the

word

Fading Queen of Hearts Petunias

More mums

Himself was weed whacking along the side of the house, but didn't have the heart to whack the hollyhock. In memory of Mitty.

Mutant Broccoli

Eh, wadamalone! In a makeshift greenhouse to keep out the critters

May the odds be ever in your favor. 

You may or may not remember last week, I took a picture of the first watermelon. Himself had read on the Internet (so it must be true!) that you pick your watermelon by Labor Day. He picked it, and it was too early for picking. It tasted sweet but the color of the flesh was pale pink and the seeds looked more like beans. Something wasn't right. So far, he is leaving the other two alone.

Sedum

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

DIY | NO Sew T-Shirt Bag (SO Easy!!)

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Calli and Quill followed me around after giving me the cold shoulder for being away.

2. As I was going to bed, I realized because of the Labor Day holiday, I didn't have to get up early to put the trash out

3. Himself made mashed potatoes so I could make the topping to a Shepherd's pie (made with lamb otherwise if it's made with beef it's a cottage pie)

4. A friend sent me a link to Bring Magic to Your Art & Life with A Free Taster Event!

5. A beautiful day. I had the sunroom all to myself so watched The Beautiful Game while I had lunch.

How was your week?

TBT: Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

 In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

The Day the Checks Stood Still

I had a nice chat with the postal inspector, and though he couldn't help, he was sympathetic. He's been chasing after the scammer that sent Ma the $250 check. According to him, "the guy is a big player." He chuckled when I told him I hoped Ma got burned. Some people just need to learn lessons the hard way. He also told me if I wanted to tell her a story, to frighten her into stopping the lottery nonsense, he would back me up. Anything I told her. Even if I told her she was on the postal inspector wanted list for passing bad checks. As I said, there wasn't much he could do, but I felt better after talking to him.

I had a dream that Ma finally got the message about the checks. My dream was like watching a movie. The Day the Checks Stood Still. Michael Rennie reprieved his role as Klaatu, galactic ambassador along with his robot side-kick, Gort.

With Ma in front of him, Klaatu gave her a stern warning. "It doesn't mean you have to give up any freedoms, except the freedom to act irresponsibly. It is no concern of ours how you run your own finances, but if you threaten to extend your nonsense by trying to cash illegal scam checks, we will have no choice but to reduce your house to a burned out cinder."

Ma had several checks in her hand, and asked Klaatu to give Dad a ride to the bank so the old man could deposit the checks.

Klaatu looked at Gort. "Gort, barringe."

The visor on Gort's helmet slowly raised, his laser flickered and began to burn to full power.

I didn't get to see the end of the movie as I woke up.

Another Face

 

See the face? Edvard Munch! 🤣

T Stands for the Water Fountain.

 

The Eldest purchased a water fountain for the kitties. After an initial wariness, Quill took to it. He likes to drink out of the spigot.

Calli took a lot longer to warm up to the idea of drinking from the fountain.

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

Monet and Me

are admiring some happy mail. I didn't even have to look at the return address to know it was from friend and guild member, The Postman (he worked for the US Postal Service).

He mixed fun styles for the lettering and placed the stamp in the lower, righthand corner! A no-no! It doesn't look like there were any problems with the placement of the stamp. The stamp is one of the new Baby Wild Animal stamps that was issued in May. Very cute.

The card had a calligraphy cartoon on it.

Thanks, D, for brightening up my mailbox.