Bursts of Color and Kisses

Another unusually cool day and the winds have calmed,
so my pups and I visited in the garden.


Howie and Justice

They really are good pals

Baby Gardenia

Fragile succulent bloom

Pink Silk Blooms

Love them now, but when they drop and turn to mushy clumps
I will curse the tree.

Hummingbird and Ant Heaven

Favorite Yellow Roses

Firecracker Manzanita

Trumpet Vine

Simple Little Oleander

being Ruby

If you haven't already visited, please go visit now, right HERE.

I have Being Ruby on my blog roll, but you may have missed visiting

this wonderful site. I promise you will be thrilled.

Do not stop only at the recent post, scroll down and go to older posts

to see all the magic Julie creates. No prejudice

involved, yes, we are friends, but I loved her blog before we ever chatted.

I was just going to write that the fifth photo down today is my favorite...

but the man in days end...perhaps he is my favorite?

Then there are the roses and the grasses from prior posts.

Oh, just go visit and select your own favorite, and maybe you will

even win one in Julie's giveaway!

button over there to the right

--------->

Needing Levity

SO, after the seriousness of the last post we need a wee bit of levity, so here it is...

After the age of 50, never EVER ever, buy a small 10x magnifier even if it is only

$2.00 at Big Lots.

I finally left the house after 10 days confined to couch and bed to run some important errands. Had to mail care package to homesick darling daughter. (Earrings and necklaces Mama had made for her, and some fun new spring makeup - darn HSN at 3 am.)

Also had to stop by bank to deposit funds for darling daughter because cleaning crew came through her dorm room, to clean the other empty rooms and ignoring the fact that she obviously still lived there removed everything outside of her room. $50.00 worth of food in fridge, shower curtain and liner, toilet brush, plunger, all the TP, her teakettle. There were signs posted everywhere in and out of fridge that they ignored and took it all anyway....so Hannah has to replace everything since she still lives there through June! Darling daughter and I contacted the proper people and she can fill out forms in triplicate and will receive reimbursement sometime before her graduation in 2013.

But I digress, the 10 x magnifier... So after those errands I popped into Big Lots and while looking for new hairbrush saw this little 5" round magnifier mirror. It had a huge sticker across the middle so you really couldn't see into the mirror. Those pesky little chin hairs that Other people suffer from, I assumed would be easily seen in this mirror, and hey, it was a couple bucks.

Came home, tossed it on the counter and a few hours later removed the sticker from the glass and took it over by the kitchen window and.............OMG! Pores the size of moon craters! Broken capillaries rivaling the Mississippi Delta, a Sherwood Forest of chin hairs. Darn thing did not even break as I dropped it into the sink in dismay. $2.00 worth of angst, teen sunbathing remorse, genetic heritage frustration.

This serves you fair warning or cause for stampede to BL for this 10x mirror. Everything you always, or never wanted to know about the landscape of your face.

They're right by the hairbrushes, they're blue, they're $2.00 - just in case you wanted to know. : }

Suzan

Alice Kae

Today my Mom has been gone 7 years. I've been struggling with what to write about Mom because our relationship was complicated. That is putting it mildly. I can hear my close friends saying "duh".

I loved Mom and she loved me, but that does not guarantee an easy relationship. I tried to write on Mothers Day but the day came and went. This morning I noticed the date and thought, it's time. Time to pay homage but to do it with honesty.

Still blocked, I stepped away from the computer to get some tea and as I walked through the living room, I was shocked to see the rainbow display. I have talked about these in an earlier post, but I have never had a display this time of year and never to the degree that you see here. The enormous rainbows inexplicably covered every wall and surface from ceiling to floor.




It gave me pause. I have been know to wax poetic on occasion, so bear with me here please. Suddenly I felt Ma around. In fact I felt her screaming "listen to me, pay attention. This is for you. Remember me well"....and the tears began to flow. The good tears, the ones the rainbows bring. After the storm, when so much has been lost, appears the rainbow, begging to be followed to a better place.

Suddenly my dilemma was a non issue. I loved Mom, she loved me. Nothing more need ever be explained or hashed out or examined.

Mom, I miss you, I love you. You would be so proud of your grandchildren. Be at peace, I remember you well.

Suzan

Summer White Necklace

With the temperatures beginning to rise, I need white and light necklaces to replace the dark black and gunmetal I normally wear the rest of the year.

I played with this number this afternoon while chatting with friends.
Felt great to work on something after more than a week of resting.

Please enjoy all the White Wednesdays hosted by Kathleen
WW link over there to the right---------->

Thank you for all the well wishes by comment, email and phone.
I have turned the corner finally and today was a good day.
It's all good.

My apologies

So sorry for my lack of communication via blog, phone calls, email and comments. A few hours after my garden party last Saturday I began to feel ill and by mid Sunday I was worse and by Tuesday I had pneumonia.

Having gone down this path before, ( at least five times now I have danced with the big P) I know that it is now a waiting and resting game. Not much to be done, but let the antibiotics and rest do their thing. So pj's, lots of fluids, old movies and good books are my companions. The coughing and occasional fevers make it difficult for me to return or answer every call and I log just enough computer time to check in with the kids.

I will catch up next week and hopefully I will soon leave the house, having missed the last cool days of Spring. Meanwhile I've nearly completed all 38 of the Robert B Parker's Spenser series. What a fortuitous time to have begun that challenge. I polish off at least 2 a day. The second time around is equally sweet and has also helped the time pass.

See you on the other side. You all stay well now!

Just discovered this fabulous post by wonderful Sharon : All about our friend Julie. If you have a blog, please add a link to these gals. They're just wonderful!

Suzan

A Different Kind Of Mothers Day

Erin said it beautifully here.

After you've stuffed yourself at the restaurant, opened your gifts,
and enjoyed your Mothers Day flowers, pause a moment and think of
all the women, who will have a different kind of Mothers Day on Sunday.

Yes, there are tragedies everywhere; they seem to arise one after the other,
and you have financial issues of your own.
But I'm asking you, if you haven't already given this year to
help someone else to have a better life or an easier one,
then please consider sharing of yourself:

Tennessee would be a good place to start.

Mothering: verb [trans.] look after kindly and protectively
There are many ways to mother, and the female of the species not only births the world but mothers the world in turn.

The people of Tennessee have suffered greatly this past week, their tragedy a bit lost amidst all the others. They need our/your help.
Your local Red Cross, or the TN Red Cross would be
happy to receive whatever you can spare.

Happy Mothers Day

Suzan

On Closer Inspection

First of all a special shout out to my friend Erin-art and gardens.
Those in the flooded areas of TN have had a tragic week.
Although Erin has been affected, she tells me that her family is OK,
but many of her friends and neighbors are not as fortunate.
Would you please keep her in your prayers, and maybe stop on by

her link to the right, and wish them well.

Update: Erin has posted photos of the flood on her blog. I don't believe most of

America realizes how wide spread the damage is.

********************

With a garden party coming up this weekend, it was time to tidy up the

screened porch. While polishing and dusting, I took notice of details that go
unappreciated in the daily to and fro from yard to porch and back.

Vintage raised panel door with chipped paint and a patina
impossible to reproduce today.

A smaller cabinet with three shelves that store the overflow
from the pantry. Touches of green and a treasured lock.

Guarding the door, my angel; every detail worth a second glance.

A cat companion for the angel, with wings of his own.

Z's house on closer inspection.

Please visit all the other White Wednesdays hosted by Kathleen by linking
to Faded Charm over there to your right---------->

Don't forget to visit Being Ruby for a chance to win one of her
amazing photography prints in her Giveaway.

Her beautiful button also over there to the right-------->

Suzan

3 am serenade

OK you can tell by the title, that this is one of those occasional rants I can go on right?

If you follow me with any regularity , you are aware that I have sleep issues from time to time. Last night was not so much an issue, but a choice of a much later bed time due to my phone call with a friend (Sarah), emails with blogger friend (Julie) and another scrumptious tome of Robert B Parker. Still reading my way through all of his Spenser series in order, in honor of Mr P's passing.

Back to the serenade. So I type my goodnight- sleep tight to Julie around 1 am and head off to bed with doggies close at my heels. Snuggle in with "Potluck" and within 30 minutes or so, I'm drowsy and off go the lights.

Piercing into my subconscious around 3 am is a wailing of such volume that all the neighborhood canines begin to canter-wall along with...Guitar strumming ensues accompanied by an off key, inebriated serenade of what I assume to be a Spanish love song. Doggies are startled awake: begin to bark and run in circles around the bed and over the bed, getting me and my three layers of bedding twisted into a knot causing me to half fall out of the bed. Visual: top half of Z holding fast to front knob of bedside stand, while "rear" of Z is irretrievably tangled in bed linens.

The serenade continues. Finally extricating my caboose, I go to the window to search out exactly whose back yard contains the crooner. Alas, now that the trees are in full canopy I could not be sure. It appeared however, that the ode to love was occurring in the same house, emanating from the same drunken fool, who occasionally threatens to either leave his significant other, harm himself or burn the house down. These incidents blessedly are rare and dealt with by his closer neighbors and the authorities.

so, now I'm awake. Putting as much distance from me and the serenade as I possibly could, knowing that calling the non emergency #'s would result in 0 response, I settled into the farthest corner and opposite side of home available, which is the computer room or den...where I proceed to ingest hearty Wasa crisps with havarti cheese and rant an email out to Julie, who is still wide awake in another time zone far, far away. I make the mistake of switching on cable and skim through several different programs, watching the beginning of one, end of another and with even more confusion 15 minutes of the middles of two others.

The sun is rising, my twinkle lights respond to their timers and switch off and I stumble back to bed at 5....ahhhhh sleep, glorious sleep.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- the Saturday morning weed whacker parade has begun.

Just shoot me now, and please give me some credit for not swearing a blue streak in this litany of ranter's prose.

If you wish to speak to me or see me in person today, fair warning: I will either not pay a wit of attention to you, or I will bite your head off. Ask darling daughter..she mistakenly skyped me about 30 minutes ago. Foolish girl!

Being Ruby Giveaway

Heads Up! My good friend Julie of Being Ruby is having a fab giveaway here, or you can link via her adorable button over there to the right. Three chances to win one of her exquisite photographs.

If this will be your first time to her blog, don't just enter and move on, settle in and scroll through her older posts or you will miss out on some glorious photos and great stories. You will also meet one of the sweetest and talented gals from down under.

Of course I have mixed feelings about linking you at this time. It lessens my chances of winning, but it's worth it if more people meet Ruby.
so get on over there and tell her I sent ya! (maybe I'll get an extra entry :0)

Suzan

Still Hanging in the Garden

I cannot seem to leave the garden these days.

Our days of comfortable weather here are short lived.

They are predicting we'll hit 90 today.

So begins my hibernation.

Most of the pink roses are getting ready for their second round

of blooms, while the whites are returning now with their next showing.

This little lady cannot decide which side of the family she belongs to.

The trees in the yard, mesquite and ash, are now in full canopy,

protecting me from the sun

trying to pierce through and drive me indoors.

Fortunately, this bush is clearly visible indoors

through the dining room window.

Don't forget to visit all the other WW's over at

Faded Charm hosted by Kathleen

---------------------------->

Meanwhile:

Roof Top Drama Ensues

My visitor returned a lone soul

He began to puff and make a racket and when I scanned to the left

A lady and a rival for her affections

They began the courtship dance;

their version of the Macarena I suppose.

The rival began to puff and ignoring the competition

placed all of his attention on the lovely female.

A wise move as she began to lure him in her direction.

He appears to be the victor and with a quick, hop

and a skip the battle has been won.

He seems unable to figure out the error of his ways.

Should he have puffed more, or vocalized louder?

He hung out here for hours calling for companionship.

I hope he found love after I went back inside.

What's in a Name?

The other day I was questioned about the Z in my name for the millionth time.

Suzan with a Z not an s. That line came from my dear friend Macky, whose real name is Maureen by the way, and has stuck ever since.

In the course of the conversation, taking place in front of a t-mobile kiosk, two generations squared off on the topic of names. My family is rich with names like Etta, Nettie, Alice, Della, Mamer, Roberta, and Iva. Instantly conjures up images, yes?

So, apparently the oldest of the group I was explaining that back in 53 (OK WAY BACK!) classrooms were filled with Nancys, and Debbies and Susans, and I mean filled. I never had fewer than 2 Susans and 2 Debbies in my classes until I reached high school. DjR, my Dad wanted me to "shine" on my own but since Susan was the only name other than Scott that my parents could agree on, and they had already bestowed that moniker on my brother exactly 1 year and 1 day prior, I was named Susan with the caveat of a Z.

This has guaranteed that my name be misspelled 99% of the time. But I love it. I own it. To many from my past, I am simply Z and if you call me that it means you are a very old friend or a very dear new friend with the inside track.

Now the younger gals inside the kiosk found many "old fashioned" names hilarious and odd as in Charlotte, Sadie, Beatrice, Dorothy, Hazel, Helen, Margaret, Doris, Victoria, Clara, and Lillian. Granted even I never considered Bertha, Hortense, Gertrude, Mabel, Phyllis and Zelda. Though I adore Mabel on a wee one, thanks to Mad About You..."Mothers Always Bring Extra Love". The young gal whose name was un-pronounceable though she was a darling gal, commented that names such as these,"belong to only old people."

The two eldest in this discussion commented on the frequency of "made up" names in fashion these days. Those, whose names like mine, will never be spelled correctly with any frequency. Nevaeh, heaven spelled backword is rising in popularity. In addition the current generation is populated with their own versions of Debbies and Susans. The Jadas, Kennedys, Caitlins, Morgans, Meghans, Laurens, Hannahs, MacKensies, Ashleys, Brooklyns, Tiffanys, Haileys, Madisons, Briannas, and Kaylees will one day all be joining AARP together.

Does our name define us? Do we morph into the names we are given or do we adapt our personalities due to others expectations of our names? I had only one criteria in naming my children...well, two, their father had to agree. I required that the name be appropriate for an infant, a teenager and a senior. It also had to have the correct rhythm of a name. Hannah Grace, Benjamin David. It wasn't until after I had named darling daughter that I discovered Hannah means grace, so I had inadvertently named her Grace Grace. So, yes I suppose our names do define us, because that child certainly walks in grace. Benjamin has become Ben, and although I persisted for several years on using his proper name he is a Ben, and has the right to be called what he chooses, and the rhythm is better his way. Once again, defining us, because he is much smarter than I ever hope to be.

My Mother was named Alice Kae. She dropped the Alice and was known as Kae, until her marriage when she legally changed it to Kay. Mom felt herself to be a different person than that of an Alice I suppose.

What's in a name, what's in yours?