Waiting...

I am waiting, for fall, for good news, for things to come...
When I'm anxious I like to bake, it soothes me. So last night I made this dark chocolate pound cake.
The glaze is dark chocolate too and it oozed down the sides of this creation like molten black patent sugar.
I love baking, everything from scratch of course.
This will be my contribution to dinner tonight with my Mom & sister. And I will have to take the remaining cake to the Farm for Dad this weekend, especially because he reads my blog and if he sees that he missed out on this he will be sorely offended!
It has been so hot, a truly unfair and punishing summer here in North Carolina. June came and went with record breaking consecutive days above 90 degrees, turning the pond into a crock pot of hot soupy unpleasantness. July is not making up for it either. We will have to endure the rest of July, all of August and at least half of September in sweltering, blistering, suffocating, debilitating patience.
My reward will be blessed, delightful, wonderful FALL; always worth the wait. Fall renews my spirit and awakens in me such joy, peace and reverence. Much as I try to live in the moment and enjoy each day...I can't help but dream of that first day in September when you can see Fall coming in the sky, smell it in the air, feel it in your bones.
Until then I will wait, and write, and dream, and swim when the weather is tolerable.
And bake cakes and treats and sugary things for anybody who will eat them.
Because I am
biding
my
time...

I told you so!

Remember a few posts ago, me telling you about how hydrangeas are good places to find Junebug empties?
SEE?
I told you so.
We have been experiencing a much needed & deserved plummet in temps here and today was gorgeous! I took my hydrangea cuttings outside to root, and as I added fresh ones I noticed this little hanger on under one of the leaves. A Junebug husk on a hydrangea leaf; that took me back to being a little girl pretty fast. So, you pick this off the plant and stick it to your tee shirt; their crusty little feet parts are like Velcro. Or you leave it there and place the whole arrangement by your bed to bring a little nature into your room.
I'm also gonna say it will be good luck, bringing me nice dreams. Even though I always have weird dreams, the sort I've been having all week have been downright unpleasant. But this little Junebug childhood totem will change that...

And now for somethings completely different.
Someone is doing a "Chuck Taylors" project on Facebook. He asked for people to send in pics of their Chucks, so here is mine. I sent it in today. I don't think they will ever go out of style. Aren't they all so cute? The pink ones on the bottom right are 6 years old and have been errywhere with me. Now they are relegated to yard work footwear. May as well cut the grass in style huh?

I am working on a Paris/Gothic themed necklace in trade for some graphics. Here is a sample platter...
I made this while working on the stuff above. Black & blue are so great together. The pendant is a lower chroma blue than in this shot. It's also a Space Age Polymer, sadly, instead of glass. The package wasn't marked and I couldn't tell what material it was until after I bought it. Whenever something is plastic, I call it a "Space-Age Polymer". That just sounds better. See how I can Gussy plastic right on up?

Holla at this blog!

I wanted to share the awesomeness that is my friend Dana with a link to he blog. Today's post is especially awesome.
Sun worshippers click below!

http://dana-dee.blogspot.com/

Random things about me.

I did this on Facebook and it was fun. Whenever one of my friends writes one of these I always enjoy reading it. It was supposed to be "30 random things about you" but I keep adding stuff.
The idea of getting to know someone through an assortment of little random facts about their life is delightful to me!
Here goes.
1. When I'm putting up clean laundry, I always guess the exact right number of coat hangers for all the shirts, without counting first!
2. I have broken my arms 5 different times.
3. My favorite color is green (if forced to choose just one).
4. My left foot and boob are both bigger than the righties.
5. I have no tattoos.
6. My favorite multiplication is 6x7=42.
7. The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up was a cowgirl.
8. My first car was a '72 beetle...yellow.
9. I never turn on the TV before 4 PM.
10. The longest I ever went without sleep was 36 hours in a row. It doesn't sound like much but I hated it.
11. The first time I broke an arm I went to school and had everyone sign MY name on my cast. I was in kindergarten.
12. I worked on a boyscout ranch in New Mexico for three summers after high school.
13. I wear tank tops all summer even though my arms are too fat and I don't care.
14. I'm a funky skull and I'm a Scorpio.
15. I've never had the dream where you're in public naked (although I will now).
16. I eat an egg every day and never get tired of it.
17. I have given mouth to mouth resuscitation to a squirrel before, and saved it.
18. My parents were the first white people to be married in McGrath Alaska 40 years ago. Their guests were all drunk Eskimos and they got a wolf skin for their wedding present. I still think this is the coolest wedding I've ever heard of.
19. I am good at conjuring things up.
20. Peas and cornbread is the best food ever. Period.
21. I hate the following words: slacks, pocket book, blouse, purchase.
22. I had my first out of body experience at age 4.
23. I can't comprehend my own mortality.
24. I was present at the births of both my nieces. It was the coolest thing ever.
25. I am still best friends with my first best friend.
26. I have never been arrested. Yet.
27. My worst fear is of being lazy.
28. I don't do bumper stickers.
29. I'm a furniture junkie.
30. My teeth rock.
31. My favorite pet was my 'possum Pumpkin who slept in bed with me and got weekly baths with Sweet Pea lotion rubbed into her tail after. When she was a wee baby I kept her in my bra and fed her my sister's breast milk, which she pumped for me. I miss Pumpkin my sweet little lumpkin!
32. When I was little, my big sister and her friend Heather who lived down the street were making prank calls and swore me to secrecy not to tell Mom when she got home. When Mom's Cadillac pulled in the driveway and ran out and announced to her "Mom, Bran & Heather have been calling Frank!"
33. I dreamed of Pumpkin every night for a year after she was gone.
34. When I was in 6th grade I got to watch my horse give birth to her filly, who I promptly named Daisy. It was one of the coolest things I will ever get to see (second only to watching my nieces' birth).
35. I'm still waiting to volunteer for Hospice, which I really look forward to.
36. I can count all the boys I've ever kissed on both hands, with fingers left over.
37. With the exception of Miss PackMan at Godfather's Pizza, I do not play video games, ever.
38. I got in a fight with a girl in the BoJangles at CPCC over her breach of line etiquette. At the top of my lungs I screamed at her "B***h, you are f***ing with the WRONG white girl today!" She apologized to me the next day in the elevator.
39. I have been a size 10 shoe since I was 12.
40. I used to hate my nose but now I like it.
41. I never liked going to the mall when I was a teenager. I still don't.
42. I think Mississippi is a very cool place.
43. I love talking in other accents, and will do it all day long if nobody stops me.
44. I floss my teeth every single day.
45. The first phone number I learned besides mine was Brandon Broadway's, 542-3337. I still remember the song the keys make when you dial it.
46. I don't like garbage disposals or dishwashers.
47. Ten years after graduating high school, I took the SAT and got a 1030.
48. My first job was at a pet store.
49. I have never felt sexually discriminated against.
50. I have never seen the movie Titanic. That's what happens when something gets too much hype, I refuse to see it.
51. My extended family are all from Mississippi and when I was little I helped clean ice chests full of shrimp caught on my Pop's boat, popping off their heads and pulling out that gross vein. I still will not eat shrimp.
52. Of all the things I love doing, writing is probably number one.
53. My official favorite day of the week is Tuesday.
54. I love the smells of both molten lead and gunpowder.
55. The first time I saw a ghost I was 31 years old.
56. I have a terrible weakness for funny people.
57. The material item of which I am most proud is my Dad's ShopSmith which he gave me on my 21st birthday.
58. When I was a teenager, my Dad & I ran out of gas in his Triumph (motorcycle, not car) not once but three times.
59. I crack myself up in my sleep and have woken my self up to the sound of my own laughter.
60. I love licorice and tequila, though not together.
61. I like to eat cereal late at night.
62. In third grade I brought a King Snake and shotgun shells to school for show and tell. I got to take my snake around to every class in school, I think my teacher Mrs. Rowe didn't want it in her classroom.



Now, who wants to make their own list? I'd love to read them!

...

I am so tired, and yet I am gonna slap some gyppy bloggin' on ya right quick.
Today I did lots o' stuff. I made this cute bird cage necklace! It is 40 inches long and has a big birdcage charm at the bottom with a door that opens and a wee little bird swinging on its perch inside.
It's hard to get good pics of long necklaces, where the proportions are more important and you want to show the whole thing. Now I'll have to make that dress form I've been thinking up...

Also I whipped up this home made lemon poundcake. Yum. Mmmm...

I then took above lb.cake to the farm to meet with Conni's clan and her daughter Julie and d.i.l. Wendy. Oh, also Julie's husband and his son. Big group!

Kids was errywhere, shooting the bow, chasing each other around, eating ice cream with brownies & lemon poundcake and playing with good ol' sparklers.

They tolerated lots of group picture taking, you know, the kind that cramps your style after about age 9? They were great.

They all got turns at the bow, and they really all did quite well too. Look at the form on this one!

Okay, I had a great Friday and have to get to bed to get up an face the rest of my awesome, fun filled weekend!
More to follow...

Law it's hot!

Gibson's in Laurel it's hot here! In Laurel Mississippi there was a store named "Gibson's", their TV commercials were the usual local fare; over the top regional redneckery. Kind of like the commercial for Samson's used cars here in Charlotte where the guy walks around his used car lot and stops by the car with his dog on the hood and hollers "Come on down and see Spot & I, we're dealin'!" He raised his right hand up in the air and kind of made a circle with his index finger when he said "we're dealin'!"
The Gibson's commercial had a guy who hollered "WOO, Gibson's in Laurel!" to impress upon you the importance of their bargains. My parents who are from Laurel often say "Gibson's in Laurel it's HOT!" on days like these.
Today has been a Gibson's in Laurel day on the official heat index; too damn hot. I went to my sister's for a bit but came home early because I was just too "G.I.L." hot. I have found myself busy in front of the fan with the window unit a/c going full blast, sorting through pictures on my computer.
Here is a sneak peek at something I started yesterday. I can't wait to finish her!!!

On my way home I stopped by Mom's house, which was blissfully cool, to take some cuttings from her hydrangeas, another thing that reminds me of Mississippi. My Granny Jefcoats was every bit the green thumb a granny should be, and more. She was forever rooting plants, tending to her flowers and her garden, saving Dairy Queen cups to start seedlings in.

The classic light blue hydrangea blossom always conjures up memories of playing in the yard in summertime. We had one of Granny's hydrangeas at the back corner of our house and I remember playing in it when it towered over me. Just be-boppin' around, finding June Bug empties and attaching them to my shirt; the hydrangea was always a good place to find these, and Daddy Long Legs too.
I love having fresh flowers in my house, especially in my bedroom, especially real ones as in not bought at the store. Stick in a few Kimberly Queen fronds and viola! Or should I say "Hocus Pocus Chevrolet Nocus!" Another Mississippi treasure, my Popaw says that. He is quite the wordsmith, I am hoping my Dad will write a book about him, I'm not good enough a writer yet to tackle the legend that is Red Caldwell.

My other great grandmother,Popaw's mother "B-Mama" was one Hell of a Mississippi figure too. On hot days like these (but worse) she would tell a young Red Caldwell "I can't wait for the first frost. I will plop my fat ass right up here on this tin roof and cool off!"
Come to think of it, that would feel good.
So Hocus Pocus Chevrolet Nocus, WOO, Gibson's in Laurel try to stay cool any way you can. It's a long way off 'til the next frost.

Summer Solstice

Today was the 2010 Summer Solstice, an important celestial event and a time to be fruitful and enjoy the longest day of the whole year.

I spent the day with my sister & her kids, we went black berry pickin' near her house. I love blackberries, they're so summery!

This little jewel was nestled in some leaves...he doesn't know he is perfect 'possum food. Opossums eat these and other insects like M&Ms.

It was hot & humid, could have been worse but it was muggier than early on in the day. I have naturally curly hair which coils up in the humidity somethin' awful. The best is when I can feel beads of sweat fall off the ends of my curls onto my shoulders.

My eyes are green, but not in this picture.

I love the light at the end of the day, everything is sideways. The kids all bebop around Bran with various commentaries and complaints. But they will surely have fond memories of observing the solstice with their Mom & aunt out amongst nature; as it should be.

Cassie & Danny are game for anything! Cassie took off her pants & flip flops and left them by the creek early on and then complained about not having them to Bran! We just laughed about how when we were little we would never have confessed to such a lapse in responsibility for your gear much less complained to a parent about it. My how times have changed! She picked them up on the way back and all was well.

Bran proudly displays the fruits of her labor. "Had she purchased them elsewhere they would have been costly!"
Danny took to the foraging with much appreciated gusto.

The sun sets and the moon rises on this,

the longest day of the year!