Tag / roses

by clumpaday

Paper Tigers and Hearts

Clump #111: Clear out more of pantry floor.

Sometimes (certainly not always), a dreaded task turns out to be not nearly as bad as expected.  This box was a paper tiger, filled with, I’m embarrassed to admit, receipts from last year’s Christmas gifts.  I know exactly how long they’ve been stuffed in there.

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And underneath were just plastic bags … piece of cake!  Just a small paper shredding job.

And then there were two boxes of valentine craft goodies which belong in the basement, to be ready for the holiday in February.  My mom started our tradition of hand-made cards.

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For years I’ve held a Valentine’s Tea the Sunday before February 14th. Below is a photo taken at last year’s party.  It was the first one I held as an empty-nester, without the help of my younger daughter, the baking-phenom.  I was feeling very blue getting our traditional chocolate dipped strawberries ready.  I hadn’t done a very good job of inviting guests; it’s usually just an impromptu handful of neighbors, and friends of our kids. Up until the doorbell rang, there was a real possibility that no one would come.  I had to laugh, thinking it would be a great stanza to the Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby …  hosted her Valentine’s Tea, but it wasn’t the same / Nobody came …  “All the lonely people …”  Ah, just finding the link for that song reminded me that yesterday was the anniversary of the murder of John Lennon, 33 years ago.  Now I’m feeling old and sad!

Happily, a few die-hard friends did arrive for tea, strawberries, sweets, and valentine-making.  One guest wore a fancy red coat and white gloves!

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So, not too much more clearing to go … chipping away the dread, along with the ubiquitous onion skins.

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I just hate to end with an ugly photo … here’s one more from last year’s party.  What Valentine’s remembrance would be complete with out roses?

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by clumpaday

Worst and Best Things

Clump #69: Unclog bathroom shower drain.

Short and the opposite of sweet: first thing this morning, I finally unclogged the shower drain. Yucko.  I won’t go into disgusting detail or show graphically gross photo documentation of the contents of the bag, below.  You’re welcome.

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Mind-cleansing images … please!   A fine drizzle was coming down most of the day today, same as it was the day I picked up my younger daughter for her fall break over a week ago.  She wasn’t quite ready to go when I arrived, so I told her I would take some pictures of the yellow roses against the dark grey slate of her dormitory.

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With my rain coat hood up and creeping around a college dormitory, I was very aware of looking like a suspicious character … but was counting on my middle-aged, mom-type aura to redeem me.   As I took the pictures, I was hearing Julie Andrews singing “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens …” from the song My Favorite Things, and the movie, The Sound of Music.

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I’d like to add another line to the song:  “Blue light through bottles and speckles on pumpkins …”

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I hope you are surrounded by a few of your favorite things today.

by clumpaday

Mortalitea

Clump #58:  Take random items to post office and send to older daughter.

The weather here has made fall achingly beautiful so far.  On the phone with my older daughter today, I mentioned that I recently told my mom, “I wish it would go on forever,” to which my mom wisely replied, “Then we wouldn’t appreciate it.”

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This reminded my daughter of a quote from the series Battlestar Galactica, which I looked up:  (Spoken by the leader of the rebel Cylons) “In our civil war, we’ve seen death.  We’ve watched people die.  Gone forever.  As terrible as it was beyond the reach of the Resurrection ships, something began to change.  We could feel a sense of time, as if each moment held its own significance.  We began to realize that for our existence to hold any value, it must end.  To live meaningful lives, we must die and not return.  The one human flaw that you spend your life distressing over … Mortality is the one thing … Well, it’s the one thing that makes you whole.”   I haven’t watched Battlestar, but that quote really spoke to my mood and preoccupation.

I sent this same daughter a package with a few thing I’ve been meaning to get to her for way too long.  I included my dad’s old — vintage — warm-up suit to give to a good friend of hers.  This is truly the last of the parent-clothes to release.  A weight is lifted.

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I gave a Reiki treatment to a good friend and was richly rewarded with tea in her beautiful garden.

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I couldn’t resist taking pictures of the roses by a stone shed.  Don’t we appreciate late September roses more because we know their season is almost over?

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