violetismycolor

photo friday: gray...

push me...

I notice that a little push goes a long way with me, at least in order to move projects up to the front burner.  I got Adam's room done last December with just days to spare before his winter break.  Ditto for Bonnie's room this past month.  I had to hustle to get it ready for her to sleep in...

Now, I have my book group coming to my house on July 7...which means that I have to race to get all my garden beds cleared, do fill-in planting, and trim everything up.  I have SO MANY WEEDS!  I spent about 5 hours out there today and there are many, MANY more hours that will be necessary for it to look the way it should.  Luckily, I have done the front yard and the two side yards, and only have the back left.  Of course, I am OLD and so after 5 hours, I am totally racked out and exhausted.

I was most amused by Cookie taking on the lawn mower in a very aggressive way.  while I was mowing, she was running back and forth, barking away.  After I was done, she barked at it for another 5 minutes, just to let it know who was boss!  It was very funny. 

What was not funny was finding Cookie digging up a number of the plants that I had just put in the ground.  She was banished to the house at that point.

The good news is that my plants over-wintered pretty well and the garden doesn't need a whole bunch of fill-in.  I did find some lovely dahlias today and they grow pretty big/are prolific flowerers, so they are great for said fill-in.  I planted my lantanas and they are gorgeous color spots, also.  I wish they were a perennial here, as they are in California, but they're not.  I am finding lots of orange flowers that I like, which I find really lovely when mixed with blue-violet flowers, like common annual salvia. 

I really do get an artist's joy out of putting together my garden.  So, though the work is tough, it is very rewarding.

National champs?

I am so hoping that Oregon State will kick butt this afternoon and win the College World Series.  That way they would be the team that was the last pick to come into the tournament and then win it without losing any games. 

I am very impressed with head coach Pat Casey, who seems to have instilled a real sense of team cohesion and respect in these guys.  I also think that the players are a wonderful example of how to be thinking of the group as a whole, without individual egos getting in the way.

Shortstop Darwin Barney is a favorite of mine.  He has that chatty, sparkly personality that is so fun to watch.  Interestingly, we share a November 8th birthday.  No wonder I like him...

Go OSU.

UPDATE:  We won!  And it was a really fun game to watch.  Congrats, Beavs...you've done Oregon proud!

colorful heart...

I had my electro-cardiogram today.  I watched them do this ultrasound but I couldn't make out what it meant.  There were parts where the blood flowing between the chambers was done in colors and you could see reds and blues and yellows and greens.  It was very pretty, but still a mystery.  It could have been art.

I should hear the results from my doctor after the weekend, I heard.  I'm not really worried.

Adam and I are going to a Digital Art Exhibit tomorrow at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts.  It was highlighted in the paper today and looks very interesting.   I like to try my hand at digital art, myself, so this is a chance to see what other folks are doing. 

I had one of these!

Does anyone else remember having something like this, as a child? 

I found this over at Allsorts.  Jenny was amused at the name:  Tinkle Toy (which IS funny, you have to admit!).  But it brought back an old memory for me. 

I had something like this.  The printed paper shapes had fronts and backs (like the duck the little girl on the package is holding:  front of the duck and then the back of the duck).  The kit came with yarn to sew around the edges, which were already fitted out with holes.  Then you stuffed them with cotton...I didn't have 'shaped stuffing' like it says on the package.  Don't remember any little bells to sew on them, though.

And voila, you have made yourself a toy to play with.  After making them, my sisters and I make up little plays about them.  Yes, what a fond memory...

good news, bad news...

That little upper-respiratory thing bothered me for more than 2 weeks, so I finally got myself to the doctor.  It is a little disconcerting when you hear your doctor ask, "So...has anyone ever told you that you have a heart murmur?"

Well, no...

He gave me an EKG, which looked okay.  Then, a chest x-ray:  good news, no pneumonia.  And on Friday, I have to have an echocardiogram.  Hopefully, that will be okay, too.  But disconcerting...

playing catch-up...

Out of sheer laziness, I have neglected to write in my blog, read anyone else's blog, spend much time in the blogosphere...

I do have an excuse.  My lovely daughter, Bonnie, is home but just for a week.  She flies away, again, early Sunday morning.  It's not that I am spending all my time with her...no.  In fact, she has been very busy...getting her hair done, going to the dentist and the doctor, and seeing local friends and relatives.  But, I also have Adam here AND we are picking up Ross at OSU today. 

AND then, of course, the OSU baseball team has gone on to win the Super-Regionals (this week, in Corvallis) and I had to pay attention to that...

Sounds like excuses, and maybe they are, but life has been full, full, full this week.

I am so enjoying seeing the kids and catching up on who they are now.  Funny how when you only see them occasionally, they change...hmmm...

So, Adam, Bonnie, and I are going to drive to Corvallis and pack-up and pick-up Ross today.  Then, it's out for dinner with Grandma Calhoun tonight. 

On a side note, Adam is working for a local neuroscientist, Dr. Alex Stevens, up at OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital).   Adam is doing something called 'cleaning up the scans'...

"Using Photoshop?" I ask...

"No, cleaning up the data." 

Computer modeling, or something.  It's hard when your kid does something that is totally over your head. 

Bonnie's bedroom unveiled...