Coloring Pages Stories

I've been having fun coloring the pages from the Bodleian Library coloring book. Coloring is very meditative, but I've also been making up stories about the pictures.

Top panel: Man in Green: He was with my wife, first. I demand satisfaction.
                  Man in Red: He was with my wife, first. I demand satisfaction.
                  Man Tied to Horse: Actually, gentleman, I was with the horse first.

Bottom Panel: Man in Red: I'm the leader. We go this way.
                        Man in Blue: I'm the leader. We go that way.
                        Man in Yellow: I need coffee. Look, there's a Dunkies!

What's your story?

Listen

National Kid has us covered when
the electricity goes out.

I wasn't prepared for the storm. Initial forecasts predicted 2 to 4 inches of snow for my area with 4 to 8 inches south and east. We were straddling the line. Still, the storm wasn't going to be a block buster though a nuisance as it would make the morning commute a mess.

We were up at 5 AM, to listen to no school reports. There were no classes at the college where Himself teaches, but the faculty had a professional day schedule. The professional days are part of their contract so attendance is mandatory. At 5:30 AM, we saw Himself's college scroll by. Hooray, a snow day! I went back to bed.

When I woke u a couple of hours later and looked out the window, it was snowing hard.There was already a good 4 inches of snow on the ground and snow was predicted all day. I wondered if I should fill up the water buckets just in case the electricity went out. Himself didn't think the storm would be bad. Yeah, it probably wouldn't be that bad and I ignored my gut feeling.

Shortly after I finished my cup of tea, the electricty went out. I was able to navigate the National Grid site to report the outage though the site was painfully slow as electrical service in other towns began to fail due to the heavy wet snow. Navigating the Internet on the cellphone was excrutiatingly slow, too, as Verizon service dropped from 4G to my grandma can run faster and she's been dead for 35 years.

I sent a text to Red who live in the next town west and south of me. She still had electricity and she was able to check the National Grid Outage Map. Electricity was expected to be back on by 1:30 PM. Not too bad. We don't have an alternate heat source (i.e. no fireplace or wood stove). The temperature in the house wouldn't drop that quickly. Food in the fridge would be ok, too, and if the electricity was out longer, food could be put on the porch. The only issue was going to be no water to flush the toilet.

I phoned Prissy just to make sure she was ok. She was fine though wished she had had a second cup of coffee. I told her we wouldn't have long to wait before the electricity came back on.

Kudos to National Grid for getting the electricity turned on an hour before the expected time. I heard later the outage was due to a tree limb taking power lines down somewhere on my road.

So, the moral of the story? Listen to your gut feeling. (Or don't listen to Himself (-; ). The weather dudes are talking about two more potential storms for Monday into Tuesday.  After the electricity came on, I had a second cup of tea, flushed the toilet, and filled up some water buckets. Just in case.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Made it to Town Hall from an appointment in Wellesley before noon (Town Hall closes at noon on Fridays) to pay the taxes.

2. I "met" my fifth cousin on my father's side of the family through Ancestry.com

3. I'm enjoying the Bodleian Library's coloring book and the #surelysimplelettering fill-in challenge prompts on Instagram.

4. Found a free app, iWatermark, to add a watermark to photographs on the camera roll. Giving it a try before buying the app. So far, so good.

5. Passed the pizza dough recipe to The Eldest, and we made pizza together.

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday

I wore shoes similiar to the picture on a trip to Minnesota for a Western Writers' Convention. Ok, it was for fan fic writers of the 60s television series, The Big Valley. The Young One had come with me because she reminded me as I was making travel plans, I had taken The Eldest to a calligraphy convention when The Eldest was 10 years old. The Young One was 16 years old and had never flown on an airplane. So I took my similar shoes and the Young One to Minnesota.

On the last day of our stay, a riverboat brunch cruise on the Mississippi had been arranged. The Young One and I were waiting to board with our group. A flock of elderly ladies approached us. (They were probably the same age I am now. What a difference in perspective a few years makes.)

This group of women suddenly swarmed around The Young One and me.  They were "oohing" and "aahing" over my shoes. I politely told the ladies what catalog I had found the shoes in when they asked.

Now, I don't have an Inner Child. A combination of  being from New England, a strict upbringing reinforced by parochial school produced my Inner Puritan. I am reserved by nature especially around strangers. I don't like hugs from strangers or other public displays of affection. So when the ladies reached down and began petting and fondling my shoes, my little Inner Puritan  looked liked:

Wordless Wednesday

Pace Matters by Nick Benson

A friend sent me a link to a Tedx talk by Nick Benson, owner of the John Stevens shop in Newport, RI. Mr. Benson is a 3rd generation stone carver. His message not only applicable to artists, but a good message for everyone. Enjoy.

Colouring Book Project.

The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is running a coloring, pardon me, colouring project for the first 5 days of February. Go here to download the free coloring book full of illustrations from their collection.

Print the book and have fun. The Library asks you share your drawings on Twitter from February 1 to February 5. Use the hashtag #ColorOurCollections and @bodleianlibs in your Tweet.

If the coloring book illustrations don't float your boat, the Library suggests you search their collection and print out illustrations that are more appealing to you.

I printed the coloring pages on Diploma Parchment, a lovely paper that takes ink and paint well.  I'm going to use this project as a personal challenge through the entire month.