Furry Treasure

I've always been partial to odd numbers...like 79,

and I've always been partial to my dad.

Put the two together and you have . . . well, let's see . . one partial plus one partial . . . that must equal...yes!...one whole chunk of love;-)

My dad may think it's unfortunate that the only picture I can put my hands on is of him modeling a vintage fur, but I like it.

Quirkiness is a Tufts family trait.

(As is tardiness

and

large proboscises...er...proboscii...er...

schnoz...

...es.

Oh, and total disdain of sad, melodramatic movies.)

Genes clearly carry more than just physical traits, and I'm proud to have inherited some of those quirky and wonderful Tufts genes.

And I've passed some on to my daughter (no Old Yeller or Bambi for her!)

and not others (she has a simply adorable button nose),

and one day she'll pass some on to her child, and in my mind's eye I can see that child all grown up and modeling a vintage fur (from way back in 2012, I imagine).

Happy birthday, Dear Daddy-O (and thanks for the genes..and the memories!)

Orange You Glad?

I had an especially happy day last week and needed to do something creative.

So I painted!

Big Band makes good painting music.

 

After dumping the mixed paint colors, and hanging the paintings, I realized that the wall really needs a third. Rats. Maybe on the next especially happy day...

 

I'm on an orange kick. Love orange. Love "tomato red." Love wearing it, love decorating with it, love painting with it. It's the new blue!

Oatmeal, Schmoatmeal

Both times we were in Florida last month, we stayed at a fantastic hotel (Homewood Suites). It was just a hop and a skip from my in-laws' home (a turtle-paced hop-and-skip through wall-to-wall white-haired-Chrysler-Sebring-drivers up until 8pm!) and it was such a pleasant place to call home for those couple of weeks. They not only served a full breakfast, they also, on weeknights, served SUPPER.

Every morning, we'd toddle downstairs and help ourselves and plop down at a table (an outside table by the pool when it was crowded inside) and listen to the wonderful assortment of foreign languages spoken around us. Evidently, Europe considers southwest Florida a must-see tourist destination!

Mike and I mainly enjoyed the oatmeal. Every morning there was a big cauldron of hot oatmeal, and a row of additions to choose from: brown sugar, cran-raisins and granola. I enjoyed that combination so much that I promptly began looking for canisters to use at home, since Mike has oatmeal nearly every day, and I try to for my heart's sake (I do try, I really do, but, ugh, it's so boring to eat the same thing every day).

I made the mistake of looking in Pier1 first, and found some awesome canisters for... $19.99 each. And I needed four (Mike likes a sprinkle of white sugar on his sometimes). No way. Not even for my heart! I checked out Walmart, but...blah. Finally, I thought of Garden Ridge, et voilà!, at $3.99 each, just-the-right-size glass canisters with brushed metal lids. (They look a little smaller in the picture than they really are. They're perfect.)

And my heart thanks me very much. Eating oatmeal is just a little more fun.

(It'd be a lot more fun if I filled the canisters with mini M&M's, Lucky Charms, colored sprinkles and Junior Mints...now that'd be some oatmeal. I bet Buddy the Elf'd like that. We're kindred spirits.)

Simple Pleasures

Wouldn't you agree that it's the little things that give life its spice?

And there are so many wonderful little things!

Talk about spice - this chocolate bar (pronounced "Cha-WOW!")

is a cinnamon-y, hot-peppery party in my mouth.

I'm on a turquoise kick lately.
And my favorite turquoise item is a dandy little scarf

I found at Charming Charlie's after Christmas.

Wearing it makes me feel extra happy:)

I grew up on croquet. It's my kind of sport -
a genteel game that doesn't make me break a sweat,

and then there are all those pretty colors!

Just before Christmas a friend of mine from junior high school lost her mother.

On our way to South Carolina we stopped in to spend an hour or so with her,

and our families played a game of croquet.  

I can't think of anything I'd rather have done with our hour together

and I hope she feels the same.

 Yes, I now have a MILKMAN!

A half-gallon of delicious milk in a glass bottle gets delivered to my porch every week. I drink so much milk that it's so worthwhile to get it straight from a small farm, without artificial hormones, without that ultra-high heat pasteurization that kills so much of the good stuff...AND I spend only about $3 a week, which is way less than a certain husband spends at the Starbucks drive-thru.
Just sayin'.

It was so nice of God to give us asparagus. Oh, you don't feel that way?

Then you are a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.

Major-7th chords are wonderful. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just take my word for it.

Oh, and minor chords, too. They're lovely.

(Reminds me of a joke:

What do you get when you throw a piano down a mineshaft?

A flat miner!)

 

Cute socks are a perfect way to add a little pleasure to your day.

They don't even have to show.

Just knowing I have rainbow-striped Care-Bear socks on my feet

inside my ratty Skechers makes me smile.

 And skip now and then.

Little-known fact: I enjoy grapefruit nearly every day.

And no, no sugar on it - that'd be sacrilegious.  (Just ask my father.)

I find great pleasure in Ian Falconer's little drawings of Olivia the Pig.

A few pen strokes, a little shading and, oh, the expression!

This reminds me of Sunday morning.

Five minutes before I was to open the service with a solo, I swallowed my gum.

And you know how that feels.

Just one more of life's little pleasures.

NOT. 

Terra Firma Is the Place for Me

Behold the view that I despise:

Ewwww...I didn't realize just how dirty that airplane seat was.

Beautiful views, but aaaaaaaccccccchhhhhh...we're a kazillion miles
up in the sky in a big metal box!!
(I get a little anxious.)
(Mike would take exception to the word 'little.')

Flutterbug, however, enjoys flying.   Freak.

Against all odds, though, we made it Florida in one piece.

I found this plant stand at the funeral home...disturbing.

Mike and his dad.

Mike and Flutterbug.

Mike's dad and brother.

The wrong box was at our funeral; those weren't my mother-in-law's ashes...**awkward chuckle**

After the funeral, we climbed onto a pontoon boat.

Look at all the nesting pelicans!

Mike's brother set the box adrift and then we dropped the flowers in.

Dottie would have loved it! She was a peculiar treasure indeed
...but that's a story for another time, hehe...