In Circles

 I'm not a good mandala person.  They are not calming.  That's probably because my tendency is to grab markers when I color, and they aren't the best for fine spaces.  The way to go is colored pencils.

Plus, I get the satisfaction of stopping occasionally to sharpen the pencils.  So satisfying.

And If You Wanna Make an Omelette...

For reasons I can't really explain, over the past several days, I have been cutting out quilt pieces.  Not specific pattern pieces, just squares and small rectangles.  If they ever get sewn together, it will be haphazard rows.  I say, "if" because most of you here know that I have always loved cutting out pieces.

Eagle-eyed readers (especially those residing in the Pacific Northwest) will see that most of the material came from the generous Twinster.   One particular piece of fabric had its manufacturer's name along one edge "Marcus Brothers."  Fortuitously, my cut landed in a perfect place.

Promise I did not plan that.  Ever since, though, I've thought to myself, "Well, if you wanna make broth, first thing --- ya gotta find a good quality Marcus."

Sunday Gets Weird

 You're sent a string of pony lights.  You unpack them, but see that the lights are held together by the most convoluted twist tie ever.  Someone was either having a bad day that day, or had been chastised for loose twist tie work.

Then you sit down with what is supposed to be connected picture frames.  You have instructions (with pictures), but none --- none --- of the frames in the instructions are the same as the frames I spent over an hour yesterday filling.  I mean, really?

I even tried winging it: putting the frames together on my own.  I got exactly two screwed together.  There are a couple of frames I can hang on their own;  they don't have the holes drilled in them.  What does Charlie Brown say?  Aaaarrrggghhh.

Foodstuffs

Not knowing about honey and cheese, I feel like a significant part of my life has been empty.  I really like both, but pairing them was ever on my radar.

Luckily, there are lots --- lots --- of websites to help me.  There's even a Cheese Professor!  I am going, though, to follow Twinnie to Honeyville.

I realized that my bead tray has the face of one of those "Mahna Mahna" Muppets:

A quiet Saturday at The Chez.  Tap has slept deep.ly. all day. And snored. Maybe I need to get him one of those magnetic nose strips that show up in commercials roughly thirty-eight times a day.

Non-sequitur time:  I continue to stand on my opinion that Publix has the best subs;  sub shops can get in line behind.  Maybe it's the bread?  Today I got a Cuban, which I generally dislike, but it is delicious.  I'm eating it slowly to make it last.

Nature

 Walking out to get the mail, I came across this perfect maple leaf on the sidewalk.  

I took time to look at it, appreciate its beauty, then thought

FALL IS COMING!!!!

I failed to tell you that the store Hannah and I always visit has this

I've been thinking about the cheese honey.  How different is cheese honey from other honeys?  What cheese(s) go with honey?  

Finally got rain today, but just plain rain.  No thunder.  This week has disappointed me all around.

Thursday is Plant Day

 

Most all the plants look good.  A lot show very good growth.   Up above, the plant that looks kind of cactusy is Opus.  (Yes, the penguin.)  In the cat, specifically the cat's back, is Stanford.  I was relieved to find a cat planter that didn't have the plant coming out of the cat's bottom.

Again, air plants don't get names.

The day will come, we all know, that everyone in Equine Alley will be named.  I live a rich life.

Speaking of...

This arrived yesterday.  How do I not find a place for this gorgeous one?  I might have to start an Alley Annex on the opposite wall.

How in the world could this have happened?  I saw

one print of a horse on a sofa.  Who knew there were SO many prints of animals sitting on couches?

For the past three days, we've been warned about thunderstorms breaking out at night.  Nothing.  Look, weatherpeople, don't keep teasing us.

Things I Wonder About

 Why do things always spiral out of control?  Can they slant out of control?  Can they straightline out of control?  Swerve?  

Why, no matter what else is served with them, do you keep going back and back to the french fries?

If you can take a shower in the morning to wake up, AND a shower at night to relax you for sleep, how does the shower know which to do? 

Is there curds powder, too?

Does half Hell ever break loose?  Is it always all?

Do the Four Winds ever blow at the same time?  Wouldn't they cancel one another out?

How do people keep their glasses on their foreheads?  Not their heads, their foreheads.  I can't do it.

Why do men use Grecian Formula?  I have yet to meet a woman who doesn't like (really like) a man with salt and pepper hair.

More on hair: why are they called "beachy waves," or "mermaid waves?"

Is it possible to sleep wrong on your shoulder?  Like you sometimes do on your neck?  Asking for a friend in pain.

Bad Stuff, Good Stuff, Stuff in the Middle

Today, I couldn't find my glasses for about 10 minutes, which was bad because I couldn't find my phone.  As in I couldn't see my phone in front of me.

Twinnie sent a chest-puffing message to Tap about dealing with the roadwork.  With his little DayGlo vest, hardhat (he's all about safety) and whistle, he could bark with real authority.  The Loud Machines are not out there today, so he must have skeered them, Aunt Kim.

The leggings I'm wearing today

have a print from mid-thigh down.   I've lost count of how many times I've brushed my legs today, thinking something was there.

Check this out:

Far left there?  Looks SO much like Hannah.  She'd accessorize it out just like that, too.  Second from the left is me, before I got my hair cut.  Yep, I got a new look.  Two weeks ago.

A pixie.  I'll try to get a better picture for you.  No one else seems to like it, but I do.  What styling there is that can be done I haven't grasped yet.  Somehow, my hair looks a bit less white.  Go figure.

Sleep and Not

Since I'm doing the plant thing now, I'm looking at/for info on diseases and treatments.  Today, I was told that the leaves on my peacock plant showed clear signs of "droopiness."

Words hurt, you know.  I spoke to the [still unnamed] plant and deeply apologized.  I'll be leaf-monitoring for the foreseeable future.

Here in Athens Clarke County (we're united, you know):

And it is a hellish mess.  Everywhere.   The last three nights, they've been "improving" the road beside my house.  BRIGHT LIGHTS!  Lots of beeping when backing up!  Big engines in big equipment being big loud!

Truth be told, I don't mind it that much.  My bedroom is on the other side of the house, so noises are slightly minimized.  But there is Tap.  Tap, who will holler if I drop an empty paper towel tube in the kitchen.  He has barked and barked and carried on...  If I get up and look outside with him/for him, he settles.  It already looks like they'll be busy tonight, so we'll see what shakes out.

Plants and Prizes

 Nicely done, Google.  If any of you are interested, search Google for "Spain," "Spanish team," etc., and watch what happens.

I had the match on all afternoon, though I didn't have eyes on it constantly.  Right now, the NASCAR race is on.

Some of my day was spent taking baby air plants from their parents.  Can plants have doulas?  Midwives?

On top, the parent plant with twins!  Two pups from two different sources in the hand at the bottom. They look enough alike, though, that I put them together.

Now, these two might be preemies.  They got to go into the special XXS jars.  Even at that, I had to put them in very carefully or they'd fall right in.

Then there are these 3 guys.  Each of them was on its own, and I decided to move them all in together.  They've been christened "The Hudson Brothers."  IYKYK.

Plans Were Laid...

Going to bed last night, nothing in the world sounded better to me to eat than waffles.  I put out the pancake mix, the syrup, and my waffle iron.  Ready to go.

Then, today, nothing sounded better to me to eat than a Gyro Plate from Mediterranean Grill.  It's this great little place with an interior that reminds me of the Five Guys where Hannah once worked.  So, all the waffle makin's are still on the counter, and my take-out tray is on the stove, making it easy to grab bites as I go by.

It's still bloody flippin' hot.  The restaurant had air conditioning, though, and there were no other stops for me to make, so I didn't have to get back out in the heat.  

The tape measures and fairy lights jar project is done.

Can you spot the issue, though?  Each light strand needs its own battery pack, and what are you supposed to do with all of those?  Not the smooth, quasi-magical look I'd like.  Still kind of fun, though, I suppose.