the not so secret lives of two very bad birdies

Here we are (Ms. L and Mr. R) having a bit of rice krispies with our mom. Sorry we didn't have a chance to use our napkins and yes, we do always talk with our mouths full. Please pay no attention to the droopy rose in the background. More ... please? The bowl here looks humungous but really it isn't! Really! I don't eat a giant charger full of cereal in the morning. It's all a matter of perspective ... really! Being a slap-happy photographer of sorts, I know about these things.

Could it be any clearer that my life has gone to the birds?

thank you, my friend "P"

i opened up my blogspot today and actually had a comment! Which meant, someone had actually visited and said "hello!" ... thank you so much! (How many times did I just say "actually?") How nice to know I am not writing off into the sunset alone! AND .... how nice to see it was my good friend, Priscilla, who visited! (How many times have I said "How!" And now suddenly I can't seem to get back to the original color of my ink for my blog. I must say I've had nothing but technical problems lately. Couldn't be me. Thank you, Priscilla! Nice to have a visitor and glad you liked the amethyst and turquoise "in the works" piece. I will post a picture of the actual one soon. Oops ... there goes that word again!

i actually (gahhh!) got sidetracked today and DIDN'T work on that one at all, but ended up photographing like a mad woman until I began yelling at the poor pitiful necklaces because they wouldn't lay just right (not their fault, of course)... time for your medication, dear, I said. Which is, in fact, a nice cup of tea and a session with my feet up.

THEN ... I got inspired ... after the tea and the feet bit, and made something really lovely which is still not completed because I've been looking it over all night and wondering what else it needs before it's perfect, and figuring it did indeed need something. Just not sure what.

And while I was hanging it on my knee and admiring it, my little bratty parrot Ms. L decided she wanted to admire it too, and in fact, she wanted to admire it in her beak, which translates to, she should be eating it. She seemed to be saying...all the nice little beads shant go to waste, afterall.

Because Ms. L. is also a sweet little girl-bird-friend, despite her annoying habit of eating everything she sees, I decided to let her play on my knee and put the necklace away. She watched me hide it however and spent the entire evening trying to get it back in her beak, and I kept hiding it in new places. Do you have any idea just how smart parrots are? And did I say persistent?

On to another subject, it is 10:30 p.m. and the man-child is not home yet. I'm trying to loosen the apron strings on the adolescent, really, be less clingy and protective... but these things make me terribly uncomfortable. He did call. Must give him that. To say he was on his way, just had to drop off his two friends. He's been skating at the skate park all evening and .... then to the mall ... and ... well, all the things boys do in the summertime when the evenings are bright and the days are warm. Did I just say that? Mmmmm.... maybe not ALL the things. Please ... not all? Ooo... he JUST walked in the door! All better now.

Good night, ~L

drizzly days

a relaxing, rainy weekend was in order and just what we got... in typical northwest fashion. Often we get sun all week while we're working indoors and then the weekend arrives just to greet us with a deluge! And so it did. But I didn't really mind at all being that this has been a terribly steamy summer and the rain is really, really welcome! Really! Cooled things off a bit, actually, and the grass sprouted an additional three feet in response!

I've been spending much of my time in my studio lately, laying slate tiles this way and that, perching shiny pieces of jewelry in all manner of position and shooting pictures for my portfolio. Guess what? I'm getting better! Practice actually does pay off, in case you thought otherwise. And I think ... remember when we DIDN'T have digital cameras? And we had to DEVELOP our film ... which meant, for the likes of me, taking it to Walgreens or KMart and waiting a few days. Well, they do have 1 hour film, but ... usually most of those photos you imagined would come out wonderful ... were duds! And then you were back at square one ... taking tons of addiitonal photos that would probably be duds in the end. What a WASTE!

Well, now we just look at the picture we JUST took 1 second ago and if we don't like it we delete it and move on! I have been only the slightest bit techno-challenged over the years, I admit, BUT ... in this case, I LOVE technology! I love my digital camera. I spent close to $300 on it ... not top quality but a good camera nevertheless ... back ... well, probably at the beginning of the year. Now I'm thinking I should've gotten the 8.5 pixel or some amazing zoom for closeups, but truth is, mine is just fine. For now. Maybe .... next year would be a good time to upgrade on the camera.

In the meantime, out of the studio, the man-child ebbs ever closer to 17 ... as in this weekend! Husband gave him the car THIS weekend instead of waiting for who knows what reason, and he says I'm the soft one! So, said teenager is cruising around right now. Or will be just as soon as he gets out of his summer school class. Now, dinner out Saturday night coming ...with too many teenagers I might add, for the birthday celebration ... and well, I'll be glad when this particular "passage" is over. I dread the one to come, however. The big 18. But that's another year away and I think I can relax until then.

Love ~L

much needed rain brings relief to the sweatshop

I was so happy to see the rain this morning! We've been having a heat wave with upper 80 and 90 degree temperatures. Very unWashington if you ask me. I don't ever recall such heat! A day here or there over the years, but not weeks on end! Its very hard to work in the heat as my "studio" has no insulation and is indeed a sweatshop. Above, my feet soak up the moisture ... don't look too closely ... no manicure in, I'm afraid .... waaaay too long. Yes ... those are my pajamas. You did see correctly.

The blue spruce is even bluer in the rain... sort of a surreal blue. Everything glistens and is renewed.

Remember the new dooor?

Just one more coat of paint should do it.

Having tea and reading my email .... looking out from where I sit this morning!

So glad its raining!

It smells divine!

wouldn't you know it? a toothache for the holiday!

Just before the holiday ... "The Fourth" ... I met with the most unfortunate experience of biting into a lump of popcorn that wasn't fully popped... in otherwords, that lump was nothing less than a seed. At the moment of said bite ... I felt a terrible shooting pain in my wisdom tooth ... until recently I had all 4 of them, I might add (that's another story!). The pain went away quickly and I thought nothing of it until the next morning when I sipped my hot tea and crunched my cold cereal ... it swirled in the back of my mouth and the shooting pain became a stabbing pain (a "cereal" killer stabbing pain). I weathered the holiday sipping luke warm liquids, carefully maneuvering food to the good side of my mouth, and holding my left hand over my left jaw. My mood was less than the usual "jovial" reserved for holidays but no one complained, especially after the man-child tried to put out a small fire gathering in the brush (we'll leave out the part about how said fire occured in the first place!) and drove a rusty wire into his big toe. Not good! Finally, a foot soak, 12 dabs of neosporin and umpteen bandages later, after it was deemed the man-child would survive, my other half decided to take it upon himself to call the dentist and get me in as soon as possible ...considering I haven't been to the dentist this year and half a good $2K to spend on something unpreventable as this surely was! This morning I found that I luckily did not require a root canal, whew! But, I had actually broken my tooth ... a crack... some such thing, and air was leaking in and annoying the nerve. A crown was required and hours later I am drinking hot tea and cold lemonade and up to my old tricks. So ... it just goes to show you... well, I'm really not sure what it goes to show anyone but ... isn't it always right before a holiday that everything that could go wrong does go wrong! Teeth have an uncanny ability of going haywire on weekends and holidays. Otherwise, we had a lovely 4th. I hope yours was as lovely, sans the tooth thing!

much ado about gas grills and other sordid tales

Well, friends, since my last post, so much has happened I can't begin to recount the lot of it, therefore I will merely pick up where I left off and that, I believe, was having found my earring and being duly elated. This prompted me to purchase a large bag of very small and insignificant seeming rubber tips to slide on the backs of all LoraKellyDesigns earrings, so that none of my good customers ever have the same harrowing experience of losing a perfectly beloved earring. So.... it seems in the case of the lost and found earring, experience taught a valuable lesson.


Following that particular incident, I also co-purchased a very first gas grill and also co-put said-grill together after much cursing and gnashing of teeth (on the part of the "co" part... as you may have imagined) and eventually cooked for the first time on said-grill (as in "I" cooked on said-grill and "co" part watched from window between "innings" ...it being baseball season as you probably know... because, as you will recall, we have no door cut in yet). Are you still with me?

The fact that my only previous grilling experience included a small two burner hibachi that was truly not much of a comparison, considering it required I squat while cooking. Later I had the good sense to move it to a table where at least I was able to stretch my legs (the hibachi, not the grill, in case I've already confused you). The hibachi experience was twenty years ago and my legs were still quite able to bend easily and noislessly into a squat sposition for lengthy periods without getting stuck in place .... so it was no big deal, really.


Let me also note here... the putting together of said-gas grill by the co-part and the me-part required two moderately intelligent people (not so far a stretch) with complete use of all moving parts, limbs, digits, etc... the ability to lift heavy objects without dropping them on feet or through deck floor, a power screwdriver and drill lest arms twist out of sockets within the first 5 minutes, the ability to read abstract instructions that only make sense three pages later (as in ... ohhhh ... that's what that was... oopsie....), good ability to "visualize" ... so a student of the New Age would be well equipt in that sense, and about two and a half hours of spare time. Keep this in mind should you decide you too must have the experience of cooking on a newfangled gas grill. Or ... go to Home Depot where... I've since learned... they will assemble it for you. Thank you very much!

Note: The end result of all that (being the meal) was worth every minute, I think, of blood, sweat and tears. Our grilled 8pm dinner was heavenly. Three glasses of wine and one magnificently balmy evening later, at least, that's how I remember it.

Thanks for listening... lora

on flower pots, an amethyst earring, a cold day and a full bladder

Now that the deck is done, sans a door to get out onto it, soon to come ... I decided to go purchase some gorgeous pots to plant flowers in to set out on said deck.

SO ... I went to the lovely Clear Creek Nursery in Silverdale that has grown so much in the last several years I walked around in a daze, took numerous wrong turns, and finally was retrieved by a very nice person who asked me if I was lost. Yes. Totally. But not in a bad way. Just ... you see....She raised an eyebrow and said, follow me. Problem was, she only knew where the cash register was. What I needed was the parking lot.... fast ... please!

Here's why I ended up not buying one single thing because ...for one... it was too cold. Yes ... freezing in fact ... after the heat wave from the previous week the temperature had plummeted to something like ... 50 degrees! That's Washington, however. Have you ever tried to shop in your shirtsleeves in 50 degrees? Not fun.

So, I'm freezing to death, AND, here's the bigger and more important reason why I didn't buy one single thing, I have a powerful need to relieve my bladder in a bad way ... sorry, I suppose I could've said go to the loo in Irish fashion, but ... you, my friends, might not understand the whole loo thing ... so best I just explain the biological function. AND on top of all that, I was lost in a maze of flowering trees and statuary and pots and row upon row of bedding plants and ... just get me out of here ... I prayed silently... nearest exit, please... I cajoled ... sortie!....and I promise I will never again eat peanut M&M's on the first day of my diet and then just throw in the towel because I've ruined it after all so why even try! That's about when the "angel" showed up and led me to my car, in a round about fashion, after an embarrassing moment at the cash register when I didn't have anything to buy.

Now that I really think about that promise ... dang! Anyway...

I sped home and felt much better in no time, except ...when I looked in the mirror and realized ONE OF MY EARRINGS WAS GONE! My most favorite earrings in the whole world and ONE OF THEM WAS GONE! Somehow, in the midst of getting a Starbucks, shuffling in and out of my seat belt, walking through the parking lot, wandering in a daze among the annuals, driving home like a madwoman etc., etc., ... I LOST MY MOST FAVORITE EARRING IN THE WORLD!

The Irishman rolled his eyes up to heaven and said, that's not a good sign. Now, just what was THAT supposed to mean? Are you insinuating.... he hands me the phone at that moment, just before I get myself into trouble, grabs the phone book, flips the pages, and all but dials the nursery for me ... they've probably found it. Who'd find that delicate, dear, helpless little earring in the midst of billowing perennials ... and gardener types mucking about in their big ol' mud-logged wellies? Are you kidding? I sobbed... But a rather nice lady answered the phone just then ... Loreli... was her name. Hi Loreli, ummm, my name's Lora, well, I suppose that doesn't really matter... but ... the reason I'm calling is ...I was just there about an hour ago and I lost my... well... my earring and ... you'll probably never find it, this is probably very silly, I know I'm being an idiot, but I just thought in case someone does and ....

It's gorgeous, she says, I'm keeping it! I was stunned into silence ... whaaa? Then Loreli starts to laugh. Just kidding! Hello? Yes. I've got your earring. Someone found it in the parking lot. I'll have it at the desk for you.

Oh ... bless you. And your children. And your unborn grandchildren ... and their descendants for thousands of years to come and beyond. click.....

She's got it! I exclaimed, (one doesn't often get a chance to exclaim, do they) racing out the front door and jumping in the car again, shuffling in the seat belt, driving madly across town, shuffling out of the seat belt, sprinting across the tarmac...one earring swinging from my right ear, leaping through the front doors and up to the desk... where I stood quietly in line for 10 minutes while a very ancient man purchased ten English roses, checked each one thoroughly for bugs and rust spots, carefully wrote out a check, was told they no longer accepted personal checks, voided it, used his credit card, couldn't find his glasses, fiddled in every pocket of his bib overalls for said glasses, asked to fill out a credit account, did they have a pen, wondered if he could call his wife to get his social security number for said credit account, thought better of it, do they accept cash? ... laughed... told story about a time back in 1942 when he couldn't cash a 100 bill because back in those days ... it was more than a month's wages ... found said glasses on the top of his head... I peeked out around him during the 1942 story and waved my hand slightly and smiled brightly as if to say ... ahhh... I just have one teeny, tiny thing to ask?

Loreli looked at my good ear, immediately recognized it, and held out the matching earring. I just love these weighty glass earrings, she said, handing me my beloved. GLASS? ...Did she just say GLASS?

These, my dear, are not mere GLASS .. . they are semi-precious gemstones, mined from the earth, finely cut and polished! Amethyst! Lemon quartz! Need I say more? Honestly? I didn't say any of that. I just grinned from ear to ear, thanked her from the bottom of my heart, and left happy as any pig in mud.

Actually, it was at that point that I was very much ready to buy a blue glazed pot for the deck and in the perfect mood for spending money, having earlier, in my moment of panic when I'd decided my earring was gone forever, both relieved my bladder and donned a sweater. But ... in the rush from there to here ...I'd forgotten my wallet at home.

Wouldn't you know it.

Tomorrow ... being another day.

~lora

the end of another week and the terrible, awful, dreadful heatwave

this week has been unbearably hot and filled with terrible tasks. The kinds of things I don't really like to do. Like fiddle with bank accounts, filing, website stuff and paperwork. Unfortunately, it must be done but I would much rather dump it all in that $2 wicker basket I found at the thrift store and let the gods worry about it. I've found they don't like worrying about such things and so yours truly must bite the bullet and do the dirty work despite the sheer drudgery of it all.... sigh....

But, good news ...we're all going to the mall this evening, doesn't that sound fun? Buying clothes for the man-child who continues to outgrow everything at a terrible rate. I'm wondering if he has that incurable bone disease that causes people to grow and grow and grow and never stop growing until the day they die. I'm hoping that's not the case, because I'm counting on him leaving home in a year and buying his own clothes from that day forward and, should he have that disease, I don't think he'll like that too much. In fact, he probably wouldn't like that at all considering he doesn't like to spend his own money on necessities ... and will probably end up back in his room upstairs asking what's for dinner. It doesn't bare thinking about, does it?

I hope you noticed, I finally took a picture of myself that apparently does me improved justice, but I won't know until my sister has viewed it and given it her stamp of approval, of course. She didn't like the other one because it was just too serious, she said. I sort of liked the eyes up in the air thing because I thought it looked like I was thinking about what I would say next ... which is often the case. But since I just had my hair chopped off yesterday, I suppose it really was time and the new one is more up to date and the little blue glasses are a nice touch ... or are they? I don't really need the glasses to see, unless I'm working, in which case, I can't find the little wholes in the beads and its cause for endless bouts of foul cursing like a fishwife while the dogs cover their eyes and ears respectfully, and Elcifer the cat just winces.

At the bottom of the page you'll see a vintage photograph I found of a Goddess, Earth Mother ... Strange Person? Not really sure... but she is so lovely, and her jewelry and adornments are wonderful! I had to have her and thought she would be a wonderful addition to the family. She reminds me of Isadora Duncan! And she certainly signifies the first rule for all goddesses ... never ever compromise (or skimp) when it comes to accessorising! She looks as though she might go dancing about under the moonlight in her get-up! And who could resist the hair-do!

Well, I mustn't forget I'm very busy... there are forms to be filed out and multitudes of things I don't like to do, but must be done.

later... lora

along the well beaden path

Top of the mornin' to ya! Tea? I drink lots of it, being married to the Irishman. I used to drink coffee only, and sometimes still steal a cup here and there, including Lattes from Starbucks. But mostly I've fallen in love with tea. One tea in particular, Barry's Irish Tea. Nope, you can't buy it over here unless you find it in an Irish imports shop. We get it shipped to us from the family in Sligo. But my nieces, who are now hooked on it too thanks to their meddlesome auntie Lora, just buy it on line. How very clever. A hearty black tea. VERY wholesome and comforting tea and with just a little milk its sort of like something from heaven in the morning. Ohhh, sorry to change the subject, but ... the cat (you know of whom I speak) is staring at her food again... persnickety thing!

So, can you believe it? Here we are in the great northwest and we've got 90 degrees in May! That was yesterday and being a true northwesterner and, yes, something of a wimp when it comes to heat (I admit it!) ...let me tell you, it was just AWFUL. I'm not sure we broke any records, but the news said the last time we were this high was in 1956. Ahhh ... nooooo ... I beg to differ .... I think it was about 1966, mr. newsman! But ... that's another story that others will have to tell. In truth, I was only 7. If you are good with numbers, which as you are already aware, I am absolutely not, you now know how old I am! Frightening, isn't it?

I lived in the kooky town of Reno for several years (yes, people actually LIVE there ... there are grocery stores and libraries and parks, schools and homes, too, really) and ... talk about high temps? Now, I did not like those summers at all. So I do know the difference between a mild summer and a scorcher. I will take the mild ones, thank you very much. Whoever would like the scorchers may keep them, as well, I don't mind at all. So, to me, which is what I was getting at here after the usual double helping of babble, yesterday seemed like a scorcher.

Its sort of sticky here when it gets too hot. Your jeans sort of glom on to your legs. Bras do weird things in the heat, don't they? And hair is absolutely unmanageable. (le chat, Elcifer is looking over at me now, squinting, shoot!) Mine went flat at 9am and by around 4pm, no one recognized me. (Excuse me.... No that's all the food you get! Don't you know there are starving cats in Greece!) Sorry ... Not that I care about being recognized, because most people don't remember me from one day to the next, actually. Sometimes my own family... that's why I love dogs so very much. I've never not been recognized by my dogs. Now, the cat's looked at me askew a time or two...

oh newsflash... the teenager is moaning on the couch right now because he stretched a tendon skateboarding and isn't sure he can stand up and "go to school" ... of course, he was just fine last night. Must have been some battle with his sheet that dislocated his foot. Poor dear. He says I'm unsympathetic. Really?

He DID sleep on the couch in a sort of "bent up" position, I'll give him that, because living in an old house as we do, not too well insulated either, the upstairs is likened to a sweltering furnace after a hot day and he was afraid to go into his own room for fear of being roasted alive. Smart thinking. I slept up on top of my quilt myself, with a huge fan on a chair next to the bed and pointed right at me. Also smart thinking.

When I woke up, the fan was blowing on one cat and one dog (and only because the other dog can't jump up on the bed anymore due to her elderly condition (she just likes to shed clumps of hair), the parrots sleep in their cage and the rooster has an outdoor coop, thank heavens) ... I, on the other hand, was sweating profusely from the two little beloved one's body heat while they soaked in the pleasure of cool winds off the fan! Smart thinking on their part. Holy moly.

My sister visited my blog yesterday to see what dastardly things I was up to and was displeased with my brooding picture. I suppose it looks a little brooding. I thought it looked sort of thoughtful, actually, like I was thinking... hmmm ... yes, let's talk about that exciting event... or how about this one ... anyway, she thinks I should change my picture so now I'm burdened with the daunting task of finding a photograph that does me justice and makes me look like the happy go lucky girl I really am. I hate photographs. I used to like being photographed when I was ... ahemmm... younger... and cute. Yes, cuteness was actually in my past, somewhere ... waaaaay back. But then I got older and unpleasant looking. Well, sometimes I can look pleasantly thoughtful.

All in all, I'm hoping today will be a cooler day, that's it really, not much to ask. I did find a fan in the basement, by the way, so didn't have to buy one, thank heavens, there with the vases and extra pairs of shoes that might come back in style some day. Did I mention ALL the rails are up on the stairs? ... tonight the railing goes up on the platform. I can hardly wait! We'll chat later....

~lora

the very cool find I can't forget... and its not beads

got the teenager to school and the car didn't die and its a good thing, as Martha would say. I'm still in the pink PJ's... but my mind is somewhere else altogether. I happened to visit a thrift store yesterday ... a very murky sort of place called ... what the heck is it called? Well .... Just know its a little dark and smelly and filled with peoples' toss offs and I am sometimes known to ... partake ... So there was nothing there this time, or nothing I personally wanted. Other people seemed to be having a really nice time picking up old salvaged bits and stuffing them in their carts, smelly and all. BUT then I saw her... it ... we shall call her Millicent ... A DRESS FORM! a really old and muckish sort of thing, she'd certainly need some ... work ... as they say ... but ... dare I? I went home without her because I always think, well, if she's gone when I get back it wasn't really meant for me. But ... maybe it was meant for me and I'm just delaying the inevitable? It's not that I sew, mind you, although I do have an absolutely gorgeous brand new sewing machine I just had to have three Christmas's ago and made three pillows and then stored in the basement with the vases. But ... the book's somewhere upstairs in one of my drawers. I used to make things in highschool. I made some pants once and put the zipper in backwards ... but ... no worries...

I was thinking (always dangerous) I could cover her in some nice linen or muslin ... she has a very nice chest ... nice and shapely, and my thought is to use her for really getting a good idea of how a necklace will hang. It's very hard to really get a good idea using myself ... I like to face my work! Mirrors put everything backwards and cattywompus anyway. Don't they? I can't even button my shirt in the mirror!

The problem with working at home is you're always thinking, before I go to work, I'd best clean up the house a bit, then before you know it it's 3pm and you're still scrubbing the bathroom and your hair's a wreck and then the teenager and his entourage walk in and the man gets home and THEN if you even mention disappearing to the shop, they sort of look at you ... you're leaving us? Now? we just got here.... faces all bleary and turned down. one thing I realize too is that ... I don't get anything more done, and in fact, I think I get less done! And of course, there's that night work that no one knows about! They're all sleeping and snoring while I'm pricing and measuring and cutting and doing inventory. But of course I love every minute of it ... but the trick is not to let them know just how much you love it ... mustn't be too happy about working ...disappearing to your shop, fiddly diddling all day with a bunch of stones. Really.

must run, lora

be still my beading heart...

Yesterday afternoon, while the sun boiled beyond these walls ... for me anything above 70 is boiling... I went to my rickity shop for inspiration ... remind me to purchase a cheap but adequate fan. So ... anyway... I'd found a wonderful peach colored porcelain bead awhile ago, it was very simple but looked delicate and it was the only one @ the shop where I got it ... so I bought it ... just a little crackled and dimpled on the surface like fine china. Some thoughful handiwork. So it inspired me yesterday ... I made it into a pendant with a tassle of blue lace agate, quartz crystal, peach freshwater pearls and a couple of Czech glass crystals for the "glitzy factor" which is often a necessary embellishment (sort of like the crunch factor in dog food) ... three strands of pearls and a very funky S clasp later ... it's so cute...don't you think?

Then ... being so inspired and seeing beads bobbing around in a billowing cloud above my head crying "me! me! me! pick me next!" I moved on ... oh .... the sweet little carnelian butterflies! .... and faceted smokey quartz and silver dragonflies! what to do next... I attached them, among other things ...to 26 inches of silver chain like a swath of charms and finished it off with the neatest heart clasp I found at Shipwreck ... it's like this intertwining heart thingy. I held the finished product up in the air and admired it ... silver reflecting like a mirror and ... I couldn't take it anymore ... I ran for the tea kettle and a chunk of liver of sulpher ... and unceremoniously plunked the whole thing into the greenish-yellowy brown gruel and pulled out a perfectly black chain. The Irishman winced when he saw it (he always shows up at the most appropriate time to comment). Do people really like that stuff? Oh shut up. I like it. If I like it... someone else out there likes it ... go away now, I told him. I'm busy. When did you become the expert anyway! You're supposed to be building the deck.

That's why I like working with animals. They think every thing I do is just dandy and never EVER question me! Men!

The poor man, speaking of decks, shhhhhh ... he doesn't know I'm speaking of it ....he spent the whole evening putting on the spindles ... whatever the heck they are called ... the slats between the rails? And had to take them down again because one was 3 inches instead of 4 ... perfectionism is a curse. Poor devil was so disheartened. Nevermind, I said. Who needs slats or spindles, or whatever they're called. He slowly moved his eyes in my direction and the c orner of his lip curled just slightly. Okay ... ummm ... we'll start all over tomorrow night I said backing away slowly, and ... not to worry. Tea?

I sat out on the platform last night until a mosquito scout found me and called her entourage to join her and partake in the human flesh feast ... did you know only the females drink blood ... I learned that on Discovery I think. But WHO THE HELL CARES! Do you think I care that she drinks blood to feed her brood of wrigglers birthing in some soilent, stale waterhole? I have pretty much come to believe that there is nothing on the earth that shouldn't be here ... but then I try to justify mosquitos and I really can't for the life of me come up with a reason for their existence. If you can, please ... please tell me.

ooh ... time to run the wee lad to school. He's only 6 feet and wears a size 12 shoe! Later .... ~ lora

there goes the neighborhood

I just drove my son to school, wearing my pajamas and dark glasses lest someone recognize me, for his sake ... I mean, I'm wearing pajamas and dark glasses, not my son! I'm wearing them because I hate to change clothes to run him to school, and wearing the dark glasses because I look ghastly otherwise. I haven't had a chance to put on my face. Who would recognize me? His friends? Who cares. My neighbors, maybe. Certainly no one else. But I wear them just the same because I like feeling incognito.

Anyway, he finally consented to cutting his long, ringletty, Howard Stern style locks... even donated them to Locks of Love. Be still my heart! He's growing up. I just realized I should clarify something; (I meant Howard Stern the controversial radio fellow, not Anna Nicole's lawyer, boyfriend ... whatever.) My son looks nothing like Howard Stern, thankfully. And now, he looks more jockish than rockish. Not sure what he was going for. Maybe just to see the road, or his guitar neck, or his feet when he skateboards, very possibly the page of a book so he'll be a better student.... nahhhhhh. But he can't seem to stop looking in the mirror so either he can't believe he has eyebrows or is wondering what those two things on the side of his head are ... ears? So, today no one will know him at school and although he didn't say, I'm sure he was a bit nervous, being shy at heart. But ... so I took him to school. The car didn't break down so no one had to see me hiking up the hill in my pink, poodle dog PJs, and I'm sure my teenager was deeply relieved.

On the way home, I swing around the corner at the end of my road where they are building these new houses. They are selling for a mild $350K . No yards to speak of. And windows that look in on each other since the backyards consist of nothing but a 3x5 patch of dirt. The front of the house is so close to the road you can see inside the cars that pass. And I'm thinking... people will buy these little boxes and become slaves to the bank for the next 30 years because we all want the American Dream.

But who really wins here ... the banks! Wait a minute, let me hike up my skirt and get up on my soap box ... ahemmmm....now then, I realized, housing costs have gone up some 200% and yet salaries remain the same. As a corporate recruiter for 17 years I usually offered pretty good salaries. But working for a staffing agency more recently, I had the wonderful & ever satisfying job of offering heads of households jobs that paid a measly $10 an hour! Now I ask you, How in the heck can anyone other than a teenager with no expenses survive on $10 an hour! I know what you're thinking ... obviously she hasn't lived with a teenager lately. I know, that was off the cuff. No teenager could survive on that. But, as I was saying ....It's rediculous! Oops ...Was I screaming?

What if ... I had this idea you see ... what if all the people got together and decided they would not buy a house for a whole year. Who really NEEDS to buy a house anyway, there are plenty of living options... camping is always nice. Apartments. Mobile homes. Your car. I knew a guy who lived in his car and he did quite nicely. His father was a doctor and he wasn't even embarrassed to admit it. He had a much better car than me AND he ate out quite often... he smelled nice, too. And he recycled ... don't you think they would be forced to lower the cost of housing so my friend (and everyone else) could move out of his car? What do you think? Yeah ... not a bad one.

I bought my house back in 1986 for $40,000! Can you imagine! It's an old timer from 1928 ... I call her Girty. When there's a big storm and the trees start swaying (lovely 100 foot cedars out back!) she gets a little nervous. Now Girty, I say, don't get your knickers in a twist! They were here longer than you. She's persnickity. Very northwestern shaped ... pointy 12-pitch roof, 3 floors, daylight basement, coved ceilings, arched entries, fir floors, steeeeeeeeeeep stairs, one bathroom .... Okay, so she's not perfect nor did I mean to imply she was (shhhhh , she thinks she is), but she sure has character and did I mention acreage. Ahhhh ... the A word in real estate lingo. Thankfully, I've been able to garden my heart out over the years and not be too much of a pain to my husband because of it. Whoever buys the houses down the road will get about 3 weeks of gardening room. Now that's just ... disheartening! So ... in 20 years ... housing has gone up, let's see ... $360 divided by 40 ... mmmm .... where's that calculator? You see what I mean? I think.... oh ... for heaven's sake ... the tea kettle is singing. We will have to have this discussion later, dear friends ... join me in a cup of tea?.... lora

ps. I meant to tell you... the shop was closed so I didn't get the beads. And I'm still drooling. Think I'll go climb up on the deck and drink my tea. Oh ... one more thing ... tum da da dum... the stairs are done! Now we just need a door! Oh, and some railing. Bye. Gotta catch the sun.