Just For Fun

From one of CareerBuilder's latest surveys here’s a list of the most unusual excuses employees gave their employers for missing work:

• Employee’s 12-year-old daughter stole his car and he had no other way to work. Employee didn’t want to report it to the police.
• Employee said bats got in her hair.
• Employee said a refrigerator fell on him.
• Employee was in line at a coffee shop when a truck carrying flour backed up and dumped the flour into her convertible.
• Employee said a deer bit him during hunting season.
• Employee ate too much at a party.
• Employee fell out of bed and broke his nose.
• Employee got a cold from a puppy.
• Employee’s child stuck a mint up his nose and had to go to the ER to remove it.
• Employee hurt his back chasing a beaver.
• Employee got his toe caught in a vent cover.
• Employee had a headache after going to too many garage sales.
• Employee’s brother-in-law was kidnapped by a drug cartel while in Mexico.
• Employee drank anti-freeze by mistake and had to go to the hospital.
• Employee was at a bowling alley and a bucket filled with water crashed through the ceiling and hit her on the head.

Fantasy

Last night, I indulged in flights of fantasy....while I cut multiple strips of edging for two paintings.  These paintings are headed for two different shows but both paintings need to be out of the house this weekend. 

So, I waited until practically the last moment to:

• measure and cut the frames
• attach them to the painting
• stain the edging

I'm still learning the best way to put the frames together.  Stain first, then cut.  Cut first, then stain?

How about making them look more professional....by measuring before cutting?  What a novel idea!  What about measuring before drilling pilot holes?  Brilliant!

But I digress. 

I cut the strips of edging with a hacksaw, all eight cuts. 

Meanwhile, I dreamt of this.

And this.  :-)



My Beloved

He's camera shy :-)

Getting Ready for the Fourth Birthday Party

We're going to pin eyes, mouth and a nose on the pumpkin, ala "Pin the Tail on the Donkey."

Ascension

Christa is not the climber in the family.  She waits and checks a situation out before plunging in.  But sometimes, she grows bolder.

As she did upon the fence at the Murphy Orchard this weekend.

Plethora of Pumpkins

Blue Hubbards, Red Warty Things, and too many others to name.  We're seeing so many varieties of pumpkins at the Farmer's Market this fall.  Not to mention, a host of butternut squash, Fiesta Acorn Squash, gourds of all shapes and sizes.  And colors:  yellow, red, pale green and blue, striped ones.  Flat, squishy ones, long ones, huge ones--too large to carry.  But great for sitting upon.

I want to photograph and paint them.  But usually June holds the camera at the Market and she does a good job.

See?

Celtic Prayer for the Week

Peace be:
  Upon each thing my eye takes in
  Upon my body that is of earth
  And upon my soul that comes from on high.
                                                     -- Carmina Gadelica

Weekend Fun

We found little gourds at the Farmer's Market this weekend.  At our house, June found a magazine that was the inspiration for our project.  They couldn't wait for the holes to be carved so they could insert a candle and take them outside into the sunshine.

I'm not sure what the deal is with June and going shirtless.

And we cut the last of the year's roses and phlox.  They are very useful for self-decoration.



Signs of Fall 2

Fall Food Fest

Something got into me this weekend.  Something domestic.  That's not a bad thing and in this case, it was a good thing. 

Evening meals (for some reason I refer to that as dinner; others call it supper) for Ken and I have been catch-as-catch-can for weeks now.  On Monday and Wednesday evenings, I go to my studio.  He spends the time writing for his thesis.  Meetings and other commitments move onto the calendar with regular freqency. 

We need to eat better.  It's that simple.  We buy wonderful produce and meat every weekend at the Farmer's Market, and sometimes it goes to waste because we don't prepare that glorious, wonderful, tasty, healthy food.  That's got to stop.

So what did I do this weekend?  I prepared (but didn't consume):

• a meatloaf (meat from Burton's Farms) with shredded green peppers and carrots from the local Mennonite farmer.
• roasted two butternut squash and one acorn squash
• saved the seeds (cleaned and prepared by Clare) and roasted them
• brocoli, cauliflower and turnip soup, pureed and with a touch of milk
• a big mess of green beans and yukon gold potatoes
• banana bread (yucky bananas be gone!)
• sauteed some shitake mushrooms from a local grower
• homemade crackers
• apple/celery slaw with fresh lemon and some of the toasted squash seeds

We ate some of this during our traditional Sunday meal, surrounded by "the girls" (Matt couldn't join us).  We ate and smiled and ate some more.  Oh, and we sauteed some summer squash for flavor and for color.  I'm getting hungry as I type this. 

The refrigerator is stocked with foods of green, orange, yellow.  Last week's soup sits frozen in the freezer.  Herbs are growing nicely in the window sill garden that June and I put up a few weeks ago. 

And I feel content and blessed.  Lord, as I thank you for this food, make me mindful of those without food and give me the desire and the courage to do something about that.

Amen

Gettin' It Done for Joplin

Six enthusiastic shoppers, one additional fearless leader with SUV, eight packed carts, one intrepid checker, two willing stock clerks and $2200.00 all came together this past Tuesday evening to support the second "No Sale, Garage Sale" hosted by St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Joplin, MO.  

In one hour, we stuffed carts with toasters, vacuum cleaners, crock pots, dishes, kitchen supplies, towels, sheets, blankets, shoes, winter coats, sleepers, mittens, hats and whatever else looked like useful items for the Joplin tornado victims.

Walmart graciously gave us 10% off and we came in under budget!  We purchased 200 items and I think John Biggs looks like a beauty pageant winner in this photo.

Thank God for willing hands and loving hearts. 

From left to right:  Robert Watts, Penny Gordon-Chumbley, Laurie Saunders, Linda Watts, John Biggs, Marilyn Vinson-McAfee, and Marcia Biggs.  





Iron Chef

As in strong-willed chef.  And quite a good one too.

It's Really Not Summer Any More

but tell that to the girls, aka, The Weebles.  We just had to play in the sprinkler this Saturday, when the skies were blue, the soft breezes blew and the grass seeds needed to be watered. 

Thoughts During Quiet Time

In a moment of clarity this morning, it came to me "Focus, Don't Fret."

And as I read this verse from Matt 9:29, "As you have believed, so let it be."  I realized the immense power portrayed in eight short words.  Eight simple words.

So believe and let it be in your life today.

Coming Up?

The Gallery at National Ave hosts two juried shows a year in support of a domestic or international charity.  Thus far, I've been pleased to have been included in these shows.  And I've been working on some pieces in hopes of being included for the November show. 

Here's a preview of what I've submitted. 

I've entitled the works above "Access + Food = Justice."  The utensils are bamboo pieces I found in Denmark this summer.  They biodegrade if placed into soil or compost but should last a long while as painted pieces.  The sit atop handmade papers (made by someone else).



This painting is the composite of several photographs I took in Haiti, in a remote, mountainous village of great poverty.  The grain is millet and not shown in the painting are several rocks, used in conjunction with the small rock (between the bowls) for grinding the grain.  The villagers grow the millet in very poor soil along the mountain side and it provides a basic form of nutrition.  A lot of labor goes into preparing a simple meal.  

I Couldn't Agree More

"I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns." —Winston Churchill