A Riddle

What's the difference between the alligator who sun bathes in our backyard and my hands?  Lotion, oceans of lotion stored in this bottle on my sink.  When we moved to Georgia the last thing I expected was for it to be dry.  Oh, we have some humidity, but not like the rest of the state and less rain too.  Plants and lawns have to be watered, and I need lotion by the gallon or my hands resemble alligator claws.

Taken in our backyard in May of '09

Makes You Wonder

Mac was getting some new life insurance and we listed our daughter as the secondary beneficiary.  They needed his updated medical records, including, for the first time in his life, an HIV test--and he hates having blood tests.  All the paperwork was done, everything was approved and they sent us our copies and told us to look them over, so Mac did.  He noticed one small error, April Christine is not our son, you'd have thought someone at the insurance company might  have caught that one.  So new paperwork is on its way to us.
Our automobile insurance company has just sent us our new premium and it has gone up.  Because we've had tickets?  No.  Because we've had an accident?  No.  Because we drive a lot in a big city and do drag racing as a hobby?  No.  Because we've filed too many claims?  No.  It's because we're old, we've become a statistic.  Older people are involved in more accidents.  So even though we drive our 2 cars less than 10,000 miles a year, mainly in rural areas,  we now have to pay more for insurance.  Ain't getting old grand.

Sunday

She's not done, but oh she's  getting close.  I've ordered her frame, a coppery gold one.  Mac says he has a few details to finish (the roses in the vase, more shadowing), will let it set for a few days, and then he'll go back and put in any highlights that are needed.
This week's header started as a single painting, The Well, and when we  put it over the fireplace we realized it needed more to complete it so Mac did The Pump and The Watering Can.  He also added the fairies for me, can you spot them all, there are 2 that are easy to see and 8 teeny, tiny ones.

Wodehouse

For the last couple of months we've been on a bit of a Poirot tear, watching a couple of episodes a week.  But ever so often the little grey cells need a break and we look for something a bit lighter.  Mac is a huge fan of P.G.Wodehouse and can quote all sorts of bits and bobs from his books.  He particularly likes his short stories and his golf stories.  We own all of the Jeeves and Wooster cds and watch them often, but sometimes we crave Wodehouse Playhouse  a set of cds that were originally made back in the 70's.  They cover many of the Mulliner stories and are an absolute hoot.  They starred John Alderton and Pauline Collins (Upstairs, Downstairs, Shirley Valentine) and they are wonderful.  John Alderton can play the most timid curate in one episode and in the next story be the most unctuous creature alive, while Pauline Collins steals every scene she's in.  A particular favorite of ours is when she plays a sweet, animal loving poetess who goes to stay at Tudsleigh Towers and being overwhelmed by all the blood sports going on finds herself writing a poem about the joys of potting a gnu.
If you've never seen these you should give them a try, they're a real treat.  We bought our copies years ago and Netflix carries the 3 series.

How Does Your Garden Grow

No very well if you let your plants fall out of your cart and not realize it.  We went shopping last week for seed potatoes, and I was very disappointed that they had only Russet potatoes, no red ones, onion sets and garlic.  We also purchased tubs to plant them in and potting soil.  When Mac went looking for the plants he couldn't find them any where, not in the house, the garage, the greenhouse or the garden.  He finally found the receipt where he'd paid for everything and realized he hadn't paid for the veggies, some how they'd fallen out of his cart (they'd done this once and he'd noticed and put them back in) and never made it home with us.
Neither of us felt like going back and trying to get them again, especially since they didn't have the red potatoes I actually wanted, so I ordered online and hopefully they'll be here before too long.  The potatoes and onions did really well last year and we want to plant a lot more this year.  It feels so good going out in your garden and digging up your own food.


Most people here planted their potatoes this week so we'll be a bit behind, but that's ok, we'll still get them in.

Wine Table

I was doing a bit of cleaning and noticed our wine table (we seldomly SEE the things we see every day) and thought it would make a great picture.  The small paintings are of course by Mac, the tile picture we bought in Spain on our last trip there.  The brass mortar and pestle on the right  were brought by Mac's Grandmother from Spain when she emigrated.   The tall decanter in the back on the left is antique lead glass from Germany.  Also on the left are several vintage cork screws from England, the small glass bottles are also vintage English.  The wooden cask, known as a firken and used to carry cider to the workers in the fields is also an antique from England.  The wines are South African, Italian, and Australian, while the Irish Cream is of course Irish.  A rather cosmopolitan wine table.

Spanish Stuff

Though I was a Bi-lingual teacher for 13 years and I minored in Spanish in College, I'm a perfect example of if you don't use it you'll lose it, so I have forgotten most of my Spanish.  Normally this wouldn't matter much but we've decided to go to Spain later this year to spend a week in Toledo and I'd like to be able to say something besides "Dos cervezes, por favor."
So I have been trying to relearn some of my Spanish.  You'd think Mac could help, after all his family is from Spain, but wanting to be true Americans his parents taught their kids to speak English, any Spanish they picked up was purely accidental.  He has a beautiful Spanish accent for the words he does know, can really trill those "r's", something I've never been able to do.  I speak Spanish with a flat American accent.
We're really looking forward to this trip, we haven't been to Spain in more than 10 years.  When we lived in Germany we use to go down there twice a year so we could see the sun.  Spent a lot of time on the Costa Brava back in the late 60's and 70's.  When we went again in the 90's we went with Mac's younger brother and his then girlfriend now wife, and we rented a villa near Malaga.
When Mac asked me where I'd like to go this year I said Spain, but not the coast, I wanted to see Toledo a place we first saw more than 30 years ago and still stays in my mind for its beauty.
Staying in Toledo is going to be painting heaven.  I want to paint, draw and take a million pictures.   We're   renting an apartment in the old part of town near the old Jewish Synagogue.  Mac's only requests were for air conditioning and a balcony, both of which I was able to find for us.  It'll probably be noisy as all get out staying in the city, but that's part of the ambiance.
I plan on rereading parts of James Mitchner's Iberia  before we go, it's an older book, but is still one of the best I've ever read about Spain.  I know it has been more than 30 years since we've been to Toledo and that much as probably changed but I hope not too much.
We're also hoping to go out to the town Mac's maternal grandparents came from, a small town named Macotera,  it's in the middle of nowhere, you head east towards Salamanca and take a small road out to it.  We went there years ago, before I had any interest in genealogy, and didn't really look around, this time we want to see the old church and see if we can look through the old records and maybe the graveyard.
Thinking about this trip made me go and do some more genealogical work on Mac's Father's family, they have been pretty much of a dead end for me, but last night pouring over the ship's register from when they emigrated from Spain to Hawaii I found the name of the town they came from, probably their embarcation point.   His Dad had always said he came from somewhere near Seville and that was all he knew--he was 6 when they emigrated.  Well the register says they came from La Roda, and though I found a La Roda on the map it wasn't in Andulucia, and his Dad definitely had an Andulusian accent, so I'm betting his Grandfather told the immigration people Rota and because of his pronunciation, for an Andulusian "d" and "t" are interchangeable, Rota became Roda.    I pretty much knew they'd left from southern Spain and not the north, San Sebastian or the east, Barcelona, so that helped a little, but not enough.  Mac says I'll never track them down because Gitanos, gypsies, leave no trail.

Raccoon Eyes

I have always been very fair skinned with a fairly decent complexion.  Through the years I've used very little make-up often using only a light concealer (I use Cover Girl) to cover any irregularities in skin tone and the dark circles I would get under my eyes when my allergies were acting up. 
Unfortunately last year I was diagnosed with glaucoma having now to use daily drops in my eyes,  and those drops have turned the skin under my eyes and my eyelids very dark.  I look like a demented raccoon with red rimmed eyes.  So I went in a search for a concealer that would cover this level of darkness and would last awhile. The Cover Girl I had been using definitely wasn't up to the task.  After a bit of research  I found Revlon's Age Defying concealer and it's great!  Not too expensive, about $4.95 for a tube that lasts me a couple of months, and I use it every day, twice a day if we're going out in the evening.
So I give it a strong recommendation if you've got raccoon eyes and are looking for a good concealer.

He's Painting It!!!

Mac agreed to paint Sunday for me!  We went Thursday and bought the canvas, it's pretty big  24/36 inches, and he started on it today.  He has a great beginning.  When he finishes it I think I'm going to hang it over my piano.
This week's Header is a painting Mac did as his interpretation of a photo he saw in an English magazine and the one done with seashells is another interpretation.

The beginnings of Sunday

Reasons You Might Want to Rethink Your Next Dental Visit

1.  Clive Barker. the author went into a 5 day coma, suffering Toxic Shock Syndrome,  after a routine dental cleaning.

2.  An Italian  woman caught Legionnaire's Disease from the water  in her dentist's office and died.

3.  A woman in Salt Lake City, Utah lost her home for an unpaid $68 dental bill, they auctioned her house off.

4.  My own dentist, or as I think of him--my former dentist, was arrested for using drugs, on himself, while treating patients.

I'm considering alternative dental options.

Thinking of Spring

It's not spring, it's more than a month away, but oh, it's starting to look like it anyway. With temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's the plants don't know what to think.
 The Crocus and Hyacinths are starting to bloom in the garden and I love it.  I think I'd like to have a garden that had only blues, purples and whites in it.
I cleaned around the plants a bit and then went out to look at the Daffodils and Hyacinths by the driveway, along the way the scent of the Paperwhites that Mac planted in the woods is almost overwhelming.
In the greenhouse Mac needs to start thinning out the tomatoes and repotting them.   It's so funny, one of the tomato plants broke almost in two, Mac duck taped it together and it's doing fine, yet another thing duck tape can do.

Is anyone else having trouble getting onto blogs and leaving comments?  It's driving me crazy!