In the Summertime

We went from the 'pleasant' summer weather to 'ugh, this is really freakin' hot' summer weather in just a couple of days. The hills (and my yard) already look bleached out, the thought of turning on the stove sounds miserable, and I toss and turn at night.

Perhaps the tossing and turning at night is due in part to the punches and kicks I've been receiving from Kidlet. She has been sleeping with me while the Hubs is on his annual epic bike tour. I'm anxiously awaiting the day he rolls in through the front door, not only because I prefer his sleeping style but I just plain miss him. As Kidlet and I continue the grind of work and school, we try to make it feel like a mini-vacation as best we can. We have had some success: a picnic on the river and a trip to the beach with friends, nights with Grammy and Nonna, slurpees and swimming pools; but all the same, we wish Greg were back (and that we were all going on a real mini-vacation).

Solstice and Such

Happy Jāņi!

I won't be jumping any bonfires, but I'll eat some cheese and drink a beer after work.

Happy summer!

This Morning I Am...

...making sno-cone syrup
...swatching for a sweater
...feeling sneezy (allergies)
...watering the yard
...mentally preparing for a big work day
...trying not to let daydreams of the weekend distract me

And then it began to hail...

I awoke at 5:00 to a little 'ding, ding' and at first thought it to be the doorbell but no, it was hail hitting the air conditioner unit. Then it was all thunder, lightning and rain. A patch of blue and calm. And now it's time for round two...I just saw the hail.

This song is going through my head...

And thus concludes my list experiment...

I just can't keep up! To have a quality list, one must spend time and effort, neither of which I have much of at this moment. Anyway, it's supposed to be summer, a time to relax, right?

Back with the normal blogging fodder (which often includes lists), shortly.

Eight items I find necessary for camping:

1. Fluffy pillow
2. Glass for wine
2a. Wine opener (or screw top wine)
3. Marshmallows and sticks for toasting them to perfection (golden crackly exterior, gooey interior)
4. French press
5. Chips. Salt = good, when camping
6. Books (although it seems I never open them)
6a. Except for the flora/fauna i.d. books, they get a lot of use
7. Warm coat, I always get cold
8. A good attitude (sometimes mine gets misplaced)

A small list of things that make me smile...

1. The sound of Kidlet's laughter
2. Kiko prancing around when I get home from work

3. Fog
4. Listening to music that moves me (latest, can't stop listening!)
5. Engaging in witty repartee with Hubs


6. Watching Kidlet play BBall


7. A cloudy day after a slew of sunny ones (or the reverse)
8. Pie


9. The open road
10. This little video of this otter pup (via The Daily Otter)

Three Things I Thought about upon Awakening this Morning

1. The scary nightmare I had. A psycho killer (qu'est-ce que c'est) had come and taken Kidlet. He kept her for years and didn't hurt her (just took creepy photos that weren't creepy on the surface but were creepy all the same) and then he came back to kill me when Kidlet was about 14.

2. The song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" as performed by Stevie Wonder

3. And the ever present question, "What do I have to get done this morning before we leave the house?"

After I told Hubs about list item 2, he promptly put "Signs" as performed by Tesla into my head where it sticks still. Poor me.

A list of a few things I'd like to be, now that I'm Grown Up

Some of these things are already "in process," but they asked to be mentioned.

1. archivist
2. research assistant
3. artist
4. feminist
5. knitting/textile historian
6. children's librarian
7. positive
8. art historian
9. sno-cone stand owner (I can't let it go, can I?)
10. a more careful driver
11. a grower of food
12. historian of women

A List of Favorite Places in Photos

1. The mountains of Colorado where I spent ages 9 through 14. (Me and my Papa on the tree platform he made for me, July 1980)



2. New Orleans. Living there for 7 years, you'd think I'd have picked up a camera, but no. All the photos I took of the place are mental. Hubs took this one from our balcony on Decatur Street, circa 1995ish).

3. Ruby Mountains, NV. That's me and my best Bunny poking out of the tent (circa 2000?).

4. Pyramid Lake, NV. Very possibly, the most incredible spot on earth.


5. King's Beach, CA. My fave Tahoe beach. It's old timey and family oriented.


6. The beach areas of the Pacific Northwest. That Washington/Oregon trip last year was fantastic. Here's the waterside...


...and the beach side (two different spots, however).

Where are your favorite places?

Three Things I Wish I could Figure Out (a list made when I'm tired and somewhat cranky at the end of the weekend)

1. I wish I could figure out what camera suits me. My current camera and I don't really get along. When I push the 'macro' button, I mean 'macro,' not 'maybe macro.' I want an analog camera that I can relate to as well. I picked up another Polaroid (yes, the sort that takes the extinct 600 film) and some of said extinct film but alas, the film is bad. I'd like to find something that's easy to use that has some personality. The search continues.

2. I wish I could figure out how to not be such a fearful and negative mother. Yeah.

3. I wish I could figure out how to get back to my deliciously deep nights of sleep. The past several nights have been less than stellar.

My Day...a visual list

1. Awoke at 5:20 this morning. I think I took this about 5:40 and grumbled about my macro function only sporadically working on my camera.



2. Breakfast! Backstube! Happy time! (And Kidlet is super into comics and Tom and Jerry lately...)



3. Weekly provisioning. Went to first farmer's market of the season and Kidlet tried to talk me into bringing home a sweet pup (the S.P.C.A. has a booth). Those are marionberries and ollalieberries(!). Hit the grocery store too.



4. Quiet time. Iced tea, spacing out, thinking about camping gear, reading a book about being a locavore on the cheap ("eh" sort of read, thus far).



5. Birthday party. First real hot day of the year and it made me feel a bit flattened by the end of the party. Met some nice folks (and one nice dog).



6. Home. Quesadillas. Top Hat. And very, very soon, I'll be in bed, under the ceiling fan with The Westing Game in my hand. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to be reading this book. I haven't read it since I was 9ish and wow. I must have read this a zillion times because it is all familiar, but I still don't know what happens next. Ellen Raskin was a definite fave. Good night, all!

A List of Sno-Cone Flavors I Wanted to Try but Never Did

an old, blurry snap of a small sno-cone aficionado

1. Dragon's Blood (the syrup sites now seem to call it "Tiger's Blood" and it's a "blend of berry and melon flavors")

2. Wedding Cake

3. Anything with sweetened condensed milk

4. And this one I never heard of before, Silver Fox ("an almond vanilla taste")

I don't know why, but I always ordered 'raspberry,' 'lemon,' or 'lime.' Booooorrrring. When I get back to New Orleans some day, I'll have a sno-cone every day until I've tried them all. Why can't there be a stand around here? Perhaps I need to fulfill a dream...

Day Three: List of Items Considered on the Way to Work

1. Wearing Converse with a skirt. Am I too old for this? Do I care?

2. The sky is amazing. Dark clouds, white fluffy streaks, blue skies.

3. Wondering what the veggie box holds for today (it had parsley, spinach, eggs, radishes, green onions).

4. Enjoying shuffle on the ipod: Traffic, Ghana Special, Ahmad Jamal, Elliott Smith, Tom Waits.

5. Mentally taking photos.

Crayo-list

The color names have changed to a certain degree and new colors have been introduced (Jazzberry Jam, anyone?), but I heart Crayolas. I also thought they tasted nice (but only when I was small).

Favorites of childhood:

1. Mahogany. Yes, Mahogany. I don't know if it was the unusual name or the image of deep reddy-brown, shiny wood it conjured up for me, but it was my favorite.

2. Yellow-Orange. I love(d) that bright sunny color. It's not as anemic as plain Yellow, but bold and full of good cheer.

3. Purple. Purple was my most favorite color, but not my most favorite crayon (see nos. 1 and 2).

Favorites now:

1. Midnight Blue. This may be more because my Mama always told me that it was her favorite when I was little. I could never figure it out because I knew her favorite color was red. Maybe it was the romantic name...

2. Plum. I still got a thing for purple.

3. Thistle. Love the name, the flower, and the pretty color.

And other oddities:

1. Cadet Blue. I always liked the name, but really disliked the color.

2. Sky Blue. I felt like it was "sky with smog blue," it's not a clear, bright blue at all.

3. Brick Red and Maroon. They always made me feel bilious. Ok, not that extreme but I hated using them. Still not wild for them in Crayola form, but in real life, they are just fine. Maybe if they had called them "Claret" and "Cabernet"...

June! Lists!

And hence began my month of list-o-mania...
I will be posting a new list every day for the month of June. I'll go easy on myself for day one.

Four books on my nightstand:

1--The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I haven't read this since I was a child and...whoa. I certainly did not understand this book when I read it at the age of eight. All I cared about then was that the children found an amazing place, hidden from the world. I'm in the last chapter (I fell asleep last night, book in hand) and that last chapter is definitely worth the price of admission.

2. The Groucho Letters by Groucho Marx. I had wanted to read this for ages (I had first heard about it here), long before the current household obsession with all things Marx. As Kidlet says, I wish the Marx brothers were alive and part of our family. He was a damned clever and funny fellow.

3. Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. In my quest to start reading more children's/YA literature for my (fingers crossed) possible future post as a school librarian, I picked this up at the book store. I haven't started but it's about a family that flees Mexico, becoming California farm workers during the Depression. It's won a slew of awards and looks quite interesting.

4. Playa Works by Bill Fox. Bill Fox was a guest lecturer last semester in my 20th Century Art History class. He spoke of art as a means to find elegant solutions to environmental problems and as a reaction to these problems. Our mini library at work had this book available so I picked it up. I'll be interested to learn more about our environment here, the high desert.