Unpleasant Reveal

Took eight moving boxes to the basement to "clear out" the office closet for the March company. Ugh. Found a mess behind.

We will try to get the closet patched and painted instead of retaining the wallboard history of many remodeling jobs during high school.

I could just put the storage boxes back......

The Rooster Returns from the Basement

A sure sign we are having company in three short weeks.

The twenty-five year old, Christmas eucalyptus, wreathe with red ribbons is finally back in the basement with the Christmas decorations after a three year visit to the fire place.

I wouldn't want the guests to think I didn't know Christmas was over.

The Train to Axelsons

In 1954 Papa and Mama took Judi and Jane down to Oakland to visit with Aunt Gladys and Uncle Glen.

I sure don't remember that. Do you Judi?

Short blog because it is Friday night and we are going to watch Fried Green Tomatoes, the newest Netflix arrival.

Birch Bay

Judi, Jane and Janet at the West Coast vacation spot with Papa and Mama. I know we were just the girls on holiday with the grandparents. Maybe it was when Andy was born. I remember the little round, red scalloped concrete steps up to the cabin threshold, and teaching Papa how to put a bandaid on properly without putting your sticky sandy fingers all over the sterile pad.

And the kelp. Eeuu. Slime-y.....

But it sure was fun!

My Favorite Daughter

My babee less than one hour old. Is she beautiful or what?

You should see her today. Now she is gorgeous!

Fast Forward

Here are the cousins in 1981 and look how they all have grown. New entrant is CeeCee an adopted child.

This was taken at Papa's 80th birthday. Andy and Amy still living in St Paul at the time. Our two still from Gaithersburg, but the four San Jose Howard were living in Albany, Oregon at the time.

It was a Memories of the Double Z celebration.

3,000 Miles Away

San Jose Howards drove to our house in a Motor Home. I think we let them sleep inside, but I can't remember.

This was taken outside at dusk just before we all headed in to get ready for bed.

Was this six months after the airport ride with the bovine 3,000 miles away in San Jose?

When Was This?

Back in St Paul - Maybe 1986 or 1987.

Jim and Andy were either taking the picture or in the pool or playing tennis.

How young we all look!

S-2 Breaks Away

Much like the B-15, which caused so much concern among the global warming enthusiasts when it broke away from Anarctica, S-2 is clearly adrift from the curb approaching the Howard driveway.

This did not occur naturally, but after great shoveling effort by the resident, who had become very tired of entering her driveway via a narrow car snow alley.

And she wanted to see the curb again.

Neil commented that the effort was foolish because someone would now park their car there, but the master planner excavated a space much short of car length. It won't happen.

Yeah, Verily

The year this picture was taken with the San Jose Howards, I had sent the kids out for vacation for three weeks. Thank you, Debra!

So it wasn't until they arrived home much later that I learned what fun their vacation was.

It started with arrival at the San Jose Airport from Washington DC and being picked up in the family station wagon with livestock already on board.

The airport greeting was by way of picking up a feeder calf calmly riding in the "way back" of the wagon. Off they went across town to three weeks of adventure.

Spring Jacket

Here is my new spring jacket. Kind of a tweed, gray impression and a little self-belt tab across back. Sleeves are three quarter and rouched.

Goes with lots. Cotton, light-weight and although I have a turtle neck on in this picture, I will be wearing it with my long dress shirts.

Shawl Collar.

A Thousand Faces

Did you ever wonder how I got all the facial expressions I use today?

Mother made me practice when I was young.

Quilting Tonight

At Ruth Ann's in Brookeville. Mimi couldn't go so I looked at my Montgomery County map and couldn't figure out how to get there. I typed the address into maps.google.com and saw it on the map. Selected directions which sent me out Woodfield Road - right by the airpark and all that construction, narrow lanes and too many cars going north. Took a slight detour out Goshen to the East Village Drive to get around it, found 108 and thought I was home free. BUT, you knew that was coming. The directions said left on Briar Rd. Eh Yup. Briar Road was a right only turn and the left would have put me in a field of snow. Went along until I was well in and decided to call for help. Stan got on the line and said I don't know where you are, but if you can find the light again at Olney Mill Road and 108, I can talk you in. So I did three rights to get back to 108. Except they weren't straight lines and not marked and filled with speed bumps and roundabouts. Very frustrating. Also Stan didn't know the names of the streets, just knew how to drive it if he were driving. He kept asking are you going South or West? In the dark with snow piled higher than the car? Can you see the swimming pool? No. Duh. Anyway, I did get there. Took me one hour. And Barbara won the squares this month.

What Spoon?

At three, Jim always wanted his own spoon, "by myself", but when it came to eating chocolate pudding after he cleaned his plate at dinner, the spoon was too slow. You can see he is holding the useless utensil on the lower left.

He preferred to lick the pudding straight from the dish. Hence, he is holding the spoon and has this puddin' boy face.

Yeah, Chocolate Pudding !

Spring Quilted

I finished this quilt, which I call Spring, more than a year ago and it has been with the artist and machine quilter, Helen Oelschlaeger.

I picked it up today and she has done a very creative interpretation adding in quilting elements from some of the designs we saw at Grenada.

Fabulous. I will enter it in the annual quilt show the Friendship Star puts on at the Fairgrounds.

I'll keep you posted on how it does.

Packages?

I have a package coming via UPS, but with the partial sun and mid-30 degree weather, the snow is melting from the roof onto the driveway.

The sunny end of our driveway is dry and black.

The driveway in the shade in front of the garage doors has random ice where the melting snow has frozen.

Not wanting the driver to slip as he delivers my package, I have a yard sign to help him understand he can leave the package on the dry spot in the driveway and not hazard walking on the ice to get it closer to the house.

Curtain Call at the Double Z

Rarely did all the siblings and grandchildren get to the Double Z at the same time, but it did happen.

Here is such an occasion and all those bright minds and endless Ranch time provided the best of free play.

Learning to drive, sprinklers/sandboxes and swim suits, the creek or nearby drainage ditch for biology lessons, walking "miles" between the houses, drinking sodas on hot summer days, getting a lotto ticket at Kyle's Corner, etc.

All eight are here at the end of the day, signaling the end of a skit they had created and performed for the adults. From the left, Martta's hand is all you see between Laurie's and Raleigh's, then Lisa, Andy, Jim, Amy and Eric. Then Nana sent some old pictures to scan and in the right-side picture, you get Martta viewing the second camera. All there.

No movies for literal memories so each cousin will have to remember his or her parts to recreate the moment.

Why I Didn't Fly

Can you read the 30" on the yardstick?

This is the sugar path to the neighbor's house. Shoveled down to the sidewalk on Tuesday, I have the pictures to prove it.

Then we had ten more inches of snow yesterday, but with winds putting us into the blizzard category. Sideways snow.

Because nature abhors a vacuum, my sugar path got trounced. I had to dig out 30" of snow and now I am officially tired of shoveling.

My flight was canceled so I rebooked to Mom's birthday weekend.

Are These Boys Related?

Are these boys related? Jim, 9 days old in Kasba Street house and Jack at two months. You decide.

No Assignment Too Tough

Martta, one word that means so much.

_____Her distinct personality comes out

And takes you by surprise.

Right away you can see

That she is friendly and playful, at

Times even a little weird, but all in

All, you can count on her.

Framed poem by Martta - leading capital letters multiple colors spelling Martta vertically.

Captured here in a clandestine raisin climb in April 1979. I used to put the raisins (like candy) on the shelf above my head in the pantry. She was on the way down when I caught her in the act.

That explained where the raisins went - Martta's breakfast.

Gravity and Icicles

Now it is Monday. The Federal Government is closed so we are not at work. The above ground stations for MetroRail are not open yet. Giant is open. Safeway is not.

Photos compliments of and enhanced by NMH.

Back to gravity when the sun comes out on the South side of the House: Aren't melting drips of water supposed to come off the roof and head straight down to the porch per Newton's laws?

Are these icicles responding to some music we can not hear, perhaps announcing spring is coming?

I don't think that is what they are hearing. The weatherman is calling for 3-12" of more snow starting tomorrow at noon. We are under another winter storm warning. I think these icicles are bracing for the worst.

And woe are the Kousa Dogwood branches that are too near the house because the icicles are launching the drips out to the tree clearly creating art as the roof snow melts. Click on picture to enlarge.

No quilting today. Just not safe.

Melissa said this morning at 11am, the plow had just arrived to clear their street for the first time since the Friday storm started. We were talking on the cell phone because the first calamity was his taking out the neighborhood cable tower and while they have power, they have no tv, computer or phone service.

The Snow of 2010

The weatherman was right, so I am counting on his accuracy to be correct for this coming Thursday. I fly to the West Coast and right now it predicts snow for Tuesday/Wednesday, cloudy Thursday. 6 am out of BWI. Chose earliest to have more options if I have to rearrange.

The power went out at 6:38am Saturday and the house got down to 50. Not much to do in an electronic house without electricity. Shovel driveway. Read. Shovel. We went to bed at 6:30pm when it started to get dark. For some reason, we were tired.

I was standing straight up and I am about 5' 6" so you can see we had a heap of driveway snow piled up. I will dig the sidewalk to the neighbor's house out today.

The Big One

I wasn't going to have another picture of snow.

This storm started yesterday about 10:30am and didn't seem like that much, although we probably took 8-10 inches off the driveway last night.

But look at this.

Snow halfway up the railing in back and I don't remember seeing the rail stack so high before.

We have twelve hours left!

Like Scarlet O'hara, I can't think about shoveling now. I just woke up. I need the Via and then a Five Star Sudoku before I can gird myself for clearing the snow so we can get back to normal.

I am guessing we will not have work on Monday, and I wonder if the quilters will get to my house Monday night. Two have already mentioned Cabin Fever, so I dare not cancel.

Sponge Bob Arrives in Snow

With our new taller guest bathroom sink cabinets, I worried the little Howards wouldn't be able to reach the sink to brush their teeth when they visit in March.

Thank you, Target! The Sponge Bob foot stool arrived with only one inch of snow on the ground. The newest forecast is for 19-30" by Saturday at 6pm.

Apparently, we are in the bulls eye for accumulation.

Victoria

Some of you will recognize this distinction gold and pink striped tissue paper and know about Victoria.

Others will know it is the days of the five for twenty-five - "are you stopping at three? You know if you get two more, it is about the same price."

And yes, I went for sparkley in the two top pairs, sequins top most if you can see them.

The wonders of unders to lift pre-snow blues.

Like Father, Like Son

This is my grandson Jack, more intent on sleeping than being burped. I have been looking through all the closets to find a very similar picture of his father, taken at 2am one morning, with the same intent - burp that babee and put him back to sleep.

I have looked in shoeboxes of pictures, multiple photo albums and still can't find the shot I am seeking.

Perhaps it is in his Father's Baby Book photo album. I'll wait to see if a picture of that picture is emailed me so you can see the two side by side. Just a memory now.

Snow Grilling on Groundhog Day

Snow was falling when we cooked our gift steaks for dinner tonight. The sound was like water spattering in a cast iron frying pan all greased up and hot for pancake making. Sizzling.

The steaks turned out just fine, delicious in fact. Most satisfactory. And in fact, we do grill year around, even if it means holding an umbrella and pulling the grill near the patio door, as if it were a guest awaiting entry.

Positioned much like it is seen here in the snow tonight as we face yet another storm warning - this time 3-6" after the initial forecasting of just a dusting. We are all asking what the weather teaser means by "snow this weekend, perhaps significant."

See picture three hours later and this snow is a good snowball snow - packing and clinging. I can't seem to control where these photos go. You might have to look below and right to find the "a few hours later" picture.

Jury Duty Circuit Court

Got my notice a month ago that I had to call in on Sunday night because I might be asked to show up for jury duty today. I checked to see if they were having Circuit Court and they were calling 1 through 325. My number was 145.

We got through the security screening and then a twenty-minute orientation meeting. The first jury only went to 92, so I went back to reading.

But in the next sweep I was caught.

We were on the 9th floor outside Courtroom 3 for another long time, but finally were called in and the questions began - we had to come up with "truthful answers" (voir dire).

I was impressed because my niece is a judge and I could imagine her sitting there governing our court. It was a five day, criminal case, but I was dismissed in the afternoon.

I returned to the jury pool, as they instructed as I might be called again throughout the day, but was told, "Nope. That's it for you. Many thanks."

One good improvement since I served last: you can donate the $15/day of expenses to a fund to help children caught in the county justice system. Sounded like that would be helpful, so I did.