Reminiscing... another symptom of old age

me in Fort Collins, Co

I came across this pic the other day of me the summer of my Junior year taking Chemistry classes at Colorado State in Fort Collins. Laura and I had taken an upstairs apartment off campus for the semester. We basically lived on peanut butter (see the jar in my hand) and Tareyton cigarettes. It was the only time in my life that I 'smoked' and didn't do it much as I didn't like it, but it did take away my appetite.  

I remember this summer as the first time I'd ever gone off by myself anywhere. It was a great summer.

The next time I went off on my own was to an Audubon Bird Camp on Hog Island, Maine. At the time I was the editor of the Audubon newsletter for our area and there was a writing contest. The winner would win a week on Hog Island... and I won. It was a fantastic week and I loved it! Fell in love with Damariscotta, Maine and Seawall beach.

Both those excursions are firmly fixed in my memory. 

The first was 1965 at the tender age of 20 and Colorado was somewhere I'd always dreamed of going. Luckily my parents were good enough to indulge me here as I could have taken the same classes at home at LSUBR. 

And the second was in the year 2000 - a strange year that lives forever in my memory for all the things that happened that year. 

First our daughter's wedding was in March and it couldn't have been more beautiful.  Then in June I flew to Maine for the workshop... and it was a great experience! In July both my brother and I were diagnosed with the big C. I flew to New Orleans to help him into a hospital and then back here for my own surgery. Bill died 2 days after my surgery. Later that year both my mother's sisters passed away... 

definitely a year that will live forever in my memory.

I hope this post isn't too sad.  I didn't mean it to be. This one picture brought back memories and it kind of escalated from there. 

Looking back through the years so much has happened between 1945 (my birth year) and today 2024. Things happened that will be forever embedded in all our memories - and we will also always remember where we were when these events occurred (Ex: I was in the ladies room on campus my freshman year when Kennedy was assassinated... and at home watching TV the day the Terrorists took down the Twin Towers.)  And as mind boggling as these events were (and they were!), it is still the personal memories that come back though pictures (or some other source) that I find comforting.

Yes, reminiscing is another symptom of old age (if we're lucky and our memory still works). I read that memories aren't always accurate. They change as time goes by. Maybe this is good?

Do you reminisce much?

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

bear with me...

Yes, I'm still playing around with my new art supplies. I know... boring. But I just need to share. You can choose not to continue. It's fine. 

Here is my attempt to use soft pastels:

I love sky pics... the sky is a wonderful watercolor subject. This is my first attempt to try to do sky scenes with 'soft pastels'. It isn't great, but I think it's a good start. 

It's also a messy medium. Gets all over your hands, table, floor, etc. I have to wash everything down after - as I use our living room table for my art. Reminds me a little of 'finger painting'... as you use your fingers to 'blend'.

Here's another...

still working on this one... 

OK, thanks for putting up with that. Apparently you can also use water on soft pastels (with a brush). Haven't tried that yet.

Now for some of my favorite memes. If I've shown them before... sorry. My memory isn't the greatest.

thank you

And I do thank you for getting this far into my post! This week has been interesting. Got my B-12 injection yesterday and have a little more 'get up and go' today and a little less 'sit down and read' (actually asleep after the first few pages).

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Playing around... on a Sunday

 A friend is decluttering (as I should be doing) and brought over a ton of art supplies for me to play with. Her grown kids have always been into graphic art, but now do all their artwork by computer for their jobs. 

I tend to sketch, do a little watercolor, and have played around with charcoal at one time... (and I do like to work with clay) 

But now I have beaucoup colored markers, chalk pastels, oil pastels, colored charcoal, colored pencils, watercolor pencils and a Calligraphy kit. These are all new mediums for me. 

colored markers

chalk pastels

oil pastels and colored charcoal

So, I'm playing around with each of them. Probably a mistake as it enables the 'Jack of all trades and master of none' approach. But it's kind of fun...?

And since it's Sunday and I try to cook something special on Sunday, I've got a marry me chicken dinner planned with a carrot souffle and baby spinach salad for this evening. I also just put in a batch of mini-muffins and stuffed them with Reese's chocolate PB cups! 

Oh, our daughter just texted and sent this video. They apparently just got some new baby chicks! They're Cuckoo Maran's... and here's the video:

(Remember:click on the square on the right to enlarge video and then escape to get out of it.)

She's also in the process of building a catio (cat patio) for their 2 cats. Here's a pic:

Their property has their log house, a barn, and a sort of bunkhouse. The bunkhouse has 2 bedrooms, a small kitchen/living area, and a bathroom/laundry room.  This catio is being built on the side of the bunkhouse (I think).

And here's a pic of my marry me chicken:

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend!  

Take care my friends,

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

a really good movie... and a gift?

 

This is an old movie, but one we love...  and this speech given was great.  There are so many movies out there that are so-so, but this is one of the greats (IMO anyway).

You've probably seen it, most people have, but it's one that we've watched more than once when we can't find anything else. 

And I mentioned 'the gift' in this post's title. Well, we believe it was a gift from one of our feral cats (probably Miracle since she spends a lot of time hanging out by the front door and this was found by our front door this morning).

a dead baby snake

Cats have been known to bring home 'kills' and leave them for their people. The ferals have brought home many things over the years, usually toys (kids or pets)... and occasionally a squirrel tail. We tend to find them in the yard out back. But seldom do they leave them right at the front door. This is why we suspect Miracle. Perhaps she is thanking us for getting her through her difficult time this past winter...

Miracle

That's it for this Tuesday post. Hope you are all enjoying the week so far.  I tried a new recipe Sunday called 'whiskey glazed carrots'. Served it with potatoes and garlic/brown sugar glazed pork chops. It turned out to be a keeper!

Hugs (virtual), 

Rian

Eclipse 2024 !

 

We sat on the front lawn here in Dallas and watched the eclipse. It was awesome! There were a few clouds that came and went, but all in all, we got to see the total eclipse. It got really dark and our streetlights came on. Also the solar hummingbird mobile hanging in the tree suddenly lit up! We took off our eclipse glasses and looked around in the dark saying, Wow, this is really strange... 

I have to admit that I wasn't that hyped up about the event. We've seen other partial ones before. But DH's brother and his wife wanted to come up here from Houston since Dallas was on 'the path'. (People kept saying that this was a historical event, and I'd think... so was the pandemic and that was enough historical for me). But it would give us a chance to get together, so we were all for it. I will say now that we were pretty impressed with what we saw and it is something that I will always remember. The 2 pictures were taken by DH's nephew.

Oh, and here are 2 'funny eclipse' pics that people posted on Facebook:

and

Our company left today to go back home, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to post. We went out to eat several times while they were here,  and I took a few pictures of our meals (which were wonderful).

These hamburgers were both different and both had a fried egg inside (delicious). The fried chicken house salad was wonderful. And the Poblano cheese grits were to die for! (of course I love grits!)

and one more pic of one of our ferals hiding in the high grass in our back (which they love, and DH lets grow for them at Easter, but will cut soon).

Hope you all are having a good week!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

just a FYI...

This post will be short... as we're busy cleaning and cooking for family coming in to visit and see the eclipse Monday. Just wanted to let everyone know that if I don't post or comment for the next few days, you will know why.

We have seen partial eclipse before... but this total one should be something to see (if it's not cloudy). Apparently Texas is right in line for it. 

We did have a nice Easter dinner at our youngest son's house last Sunday.  I made Chicken Tetrazinni (with a little wine) and DIL made a salad, Brussel sprouts, and a veggie stuffing. For dessert we had little Easter bunny cakes and cheesecake with our coffee. Forgive me if I already said this on my Easter post - but since it disappeared, I can't check.

But I will share with you this.  Our youngest granddaughter loves bugs! (not all bugs - for some reason she doesn't care for crickets or June bugs). But she loves doodle bugs (pill bugs? rollypollies?). When she was over here the Monday after Easter, she and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Well, lo and behold, she thought she found Rolly Polly Heaven... as they were all over the place. And of course she needed to pick up as many as she could. Besides her dog and cat, she also has aquariums full of fish, snails, and of course Rolly Pollies! (Yes, she loves snails too).

Here's a video of what she collected.

(I always forget to say that you can view videos on full screen by clicking on  the little square. Then, to get out of it, you click escape! You may already know this, but I didn't for a long time.)

That's it for today's exciting post! Will be back sometime next week!

You don't have to bother to comment... I mean, ...really.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian 

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit! ... and April Fool!

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!
... and April Fool!!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

(...and April Fool got me as when I posted this for some reason I lost my Easter post with all its comments and replies???)