Next to Nothing

ext to nothing that is close to where I am but I am going to change that soon.  I love the green grass, trees and shrubs but I am not a great fan of moss and where I live, we usually don't get moss but on my patio, I found some.  First time ever!

Who would think that lime green and emerald green could co-exist together.
What do you think?

See my Etsy shop for these earrings - they are in antique gold, copper and silver and lime green niobium.

Mopping up all that Rain

op




I don't know about you but I am really really ready for sunshine.  What's with all the rain? We live in a desert and we are green green, too green.  Soon the sun will come out and it will all turn brown - look out fire season.

Lasting Love

asting love - I missed the boat on this one but I do have three beautiful grandchildren and they are the joy of my life. I will miss them dearly when they leave this fall but life is full of bitter sweet.

Why is it that as we age, we lose some of those youthful dreams? Do we lose hope that it can never be or grow in other directions? Do we get so busy and caught up in making a living that dreams slowly fall into oblivion never to return. Do we change our dreams to new ones and forget the old ones?

Perhaps, love is like a tree - if you take care of it, it will last and last but sometimes, a lightening bolt will shear it in half.

Kiss

iss me quick or kiss me soft, just kiss me.  


Kindred spirit: From the adventures of Green Gables   and true friends. 


Kodak: Are they still around.  Film is disappearing because of the digital age. 


Kindness: We all need kindness in our lives to give and to receive.  It would be a more gentle and soft world and perhaps more loving.


And then there was KISS - who can forget them with their painted faces and wild costuming. I was never able to go to one of their concerts but thousands did.

Jubilation

oy.  Men are that they might have joy.  
We need a little bit of joy every day to brighten our lives. 

The artist who drew this intricate J felt joy when it was finished.  I feel joy when I hold my little baby granddaughter while she smiles, and coos and laughs. I  don't even mind changing her diaper because when she is all clean, she smiles and kicks and wiggles to show me that she loves being clean.  She loves the freedom of not having restrictions of clothes. Some day she will have hair that you can see.

I am I Said

am I said, to no one there
And no one heard not even the chair.

Neil Diamond's songs run through my head.  Did you know that he was Jewish - I did but what I didn't know was that he was Russian-Polish.  We could be related, I am half Polish. One of my all time favorite songs was "September Morn". Did you know that he wrote the oldies but goodies "I'm a Believer" , "A little bit me, A little bit You" that were recorded by the Monkees.  I am a romantic at heart so from the one movie that he did, which was close to home for him, about a Jew who loved music and became a popular singer which broke his parent's heart.  Anyway, "Hello Again" was an amazing love song.

G: Goforth and Enjoy the Sunshine

Goforth and be of good cheer.  Someday we will have sunshine again. I love the blue blue sky here.  All these storms are creating havoc and instead of melting the snow in the mountains, we are getting more snow. The skiers are jumping for joy that the ski season is being extended. I used to ski - spring skiing was the very best time to ski.

Looking West from the Rockies

Floods are coming because we have not had enough snow melt on the mountain peeks - they are predicting 80 degrees next week.


 Good grief!  I am philosophizing and I really don't think that I am good at it.  I really want to learn to be more descriptive in my writing instead of the boring and mundane. Perhaps, I should write about green frogs - since I live in the desert the frogs here are more like a tan bumpy skinned variety, not green.


Goldstone: Has always been one of my favorite stones even though it is man-made.  It always sparkles and has a glow about it that just mesmerizes me.
They also make blue stone which is a deep rich purple with stars shining within.

These Earrings are for sale, see my Etsy Shop.

F: Freedom to Worship as We Please

Free to love.
Free to enjoy nature.
Free to help others.
Free to be.
Freedom of choice; that is what life is all about.

Our one day of Sunshine this month

E: Etsy

Etsy is amazing.  I am in contact with people all over the world (India, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Greece, Poland, Sweden, Germany, etc.)  I can't remember them all but it is very exciting to see their products and creativity.  Some of the members from Israel just blow my mind with their gorgeous designs.


It makes me want to travel.

I love fans and these pearls set them off just perfectly!  See my Etsy shop link to the right of this post.

Blue and Gold Earring and Necklace Set

They are lovely enough to keep for myself but I can't keep all of the jewelry that I make.  See them on Etsy.com/shop/diansearrings

D: Darla

Unusual "d" but there it is. It looks more like a zero with a head.


Do any of you remember the original "Little Rascals"?  Well, Darla was one of the main characters and she made a great impression on me so much so that I named my daughter Darla.  Only Darla in the Little Rascals had very dark hair and my daughter had golden blonde hair up until a few years ago when she decided that dark hair would be more attractive so now her hair is a dark brown - almost black.

My hair when I was a kid was white white - and my mom said it was like cotton candy and I looked like I was bald headed until I was two years old.

That's me standing on the right side of my brother Freddie whom I called Shreddie because I couldn't pronounce F.  We both were towheads - about as white as you can get. Where did towhead come from - in the process of making linen from flax, there is one portion  of flax that looked a lot like children with very white hair so thus towheads (goes back to the 14th century - who would guess?).

C: Croissant

I love Celtic letters

Purple flower with lacy petticoats Earrings

Croissants make my mouth water.  Some people use tiny ones for sandwiches filled with chicken salad made of small pieces of tender (cooked just right) white chicken, mayo, chopped grapes, maybe a little chopped celery and sometimes crunchy small pieces of nuts.

My favorite of all time was at this bakery that I discovered (and may I say that it was not close to my house in any way) which baked these large flakey, light and delicate croissants that were filled with a dark oozing chocolate.  Right away, we became addicted to them!

B is for Baby and Babe

There is nothing in all of the world that brings out tenderness, love, awe and knowing that you are holding the most precious gift that God ever sent to you. This tiny baby boy is a miracle of life. So soft to the touch, so dependent on your care, and so vulnerable.


It was the next morning after Troy was born; I was getting ready to nurse him when the nurse came in and said "there's a problem, he's having trouble breathing and you won't be able to nurse him."  I was engorged with milk.  Does anyone know how painful that is when you can't nurse and you are ready?  I survived it painfully but the next day, God took my son away from me. He was buried in a tiny coffin in the cold dark ground five days after his normal birth. 


Babe is my cat; he fell in my window well 16 years ago and I adopted him since his mother took off and left him.  He has been my companion and I fear, it will not be too many more years and he will go. He is already limping and moving slower and slower; it is sad to see him not be able to jump like he used to but I am also old but I will outlive him.

Babe

A to Z - I'' take the challenge!

Apple is the first word that I think of for A. The apple of my life - twas wonderful for awhile - then something horrid happened.  Fear started creeping in and torment that I loved a person who at one time was wonderful and then the next hour or day, he was mean spirited and tore off my new blouse leaving me confused and hurt. It went on for years until I was so fearful for my life that I left.


The big apple - is an amazing place where people act somewhat rude but are not really.  They are brusk but have really big hearts.  Is this place, like the apple of my life - exhilarating and exciting but also has dark places where crime happens?


A juicy big apple makes my mouth water. I love apples. They are best just the way they are but some people think that they need to be cooked and cut and add a bit of sugar and spice - that's okay but they are still best without doing anything to them but eat them raw with juice running down your chin.

The last apple has a bite out of it and has turned out to be the very best computer that I have ever owned.  

I don't have any earrings that look like an apple but they would be cute. I do have some new ones with the color of azure and gold.

Grandma's Apron

Both of my grandmothers wore aprons over their housedresses.  The apron was to keep their dresses clean.  It was handy to wipe hands on, brush a tear away, dust when unexpected company came, used to bring in vegetables from the garden, or used to bring in wood chips.  The apron always had large pockets to hold a hankie, a thimble, or needle.


The housedress went bye bye with the gas station who had an attendant that washed our windows, checked the oil and checked the tires to make sure that they were not too low; I remember my grandmother in her first leisure suit.  She didn't want to be behind in the times but she never gave up her apron. 

Both my great Aunt Vic and Grandma Stella wore aprons over their house dresses.

I love the colors of these earrings

Will be on Etsy soon.

Favorite Hymn "Because I Have Been Given Much"

Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live
I shall divide my gifts from thee With every brother that I see Who has the need of help from me.


By the time we sing the second verse I am usually in tears and can't sing but it is still my favorite hymn.


Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care
I cannot see another's lack and I not share
My glowing fire my loaf of bread, My roof's safe shelter overhead, That he too may be comforted.


St. Mark 10: 18 - And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one that is God.


I learned that in a wall in Jerusalem that getting a camel to go through the eye of a needle is quite a partaking: The camel must be completely unloaded of everything and then he must kneel to be able to go through the eye of the needle gate.


All of the below are supposed to be the "eye of the needle":

Silver Corvette

I saw one on the freeway yesterday and wanted to blog about it but blogger was down and it looks like the last blog I did was lost. 

It was 1955 when I first saw a Corvette in Waukegan, Illinois.  I was staying in North Chicago visiting my grandma Stella and my dad Dick.  My great Aunt Vic lived in the family home with my grandmother and my father.  My brother Fred and I were there for the summer.  That was when I fell in love with a Corvette - I was pretty young then but it stayed with me.  I wanted to write songs and was all too over impressed with the young men in Naval uniforms.   

I wrote in my mind "Help me please, I'm a stranger in Sailor town. I don't know my way around - just a stranger in Sailor town.

As I grew older, I was finally able to drive a Corvette and I tested it to the limit because I drove it going 120 miles an hour.  Talk about exhilarating.  It was the ultimate.  The problem is insurance costs too much and the car itself is very pricey - I've never been rich enough to buy one.

This looks exactly like the one that I drove.

I gotta say that the above car is ridiculous.

Flooding Year - Not Since 1983

Our rivers are almost to flooding stage and what are we having, April showers in May. The weather forecasters are all saying that we haven't had this much snow in the mountains and wet weather since 1983 and 1984 when there was substantial flooding in Salt Lake City. State Street and 1300 South were both turned into rivers for the spring runoff. There was a neighbor who lived on 1700 South and woke up to a whopping sink hole in their front yard and in fact, they no longer had a front yard!

All of the rivers and runoff water eventually flow into Utah Lake and the Salt Lake.  In the early 1900s my grandparents took a train to Saltair on the shores of the Salt Lake where there was an enormous ballroom, a roller coaster which took you out over the lake and many other type of carnival rides.  Eventually, the salt and weather made took its toll on all of the structures and it fell into shambles so very few pieces of wood are left. The Salt Lake is so densely full of salt that it is more salty than the ocean. 

A new gigantic building called Saltair was built in another area from the original Saltair; this one was close to the highway that runs to Nevada. The owner thought that he could bring back the grandeur of the old Saltair with concerts, dances and events. He even shipped in sand to make a nice beach.  They had a few water rides and were expanding until 1983 hit.

His investment down the toilet or it drowned in the Salty Water. So sad; I even went to a dance there once. Can't control the weather; it controls us. 


The road to Nevada going West is so straight and boring that a guy built a cement tree just to brake up the monotony.   Notice in the photo below how flat it is.  This is part of the salt flats just west of here where they test cars going over 300 miles per hour.

Twin Sisters in the City of Rocks

One twin is twice as old as the other twin.  Go figure! They are both and in fact, the majority of the rocks in the City of Rocks are made of Granite.

One of the first rocks encountered as you enter the City of Rocks from the west side is Treasure Rock.  I don't have a picture of it but I know all about it.  Back in the stagecoach days, there was a robbery and a lot of gold was taken.  The robbers headed into the City of Rocks and hid the gold. They were caught but the gold was never found so some of the locals decided that they would find that gold.  They had heard that this particular rock was the sight where the gold was hid.  They dynamited the rock and only one quarter of it just kind of fell off blocking any digging in that area.  The gold was never found, as far as we know.

I never made it to the top of bath rock but I did climb the south side of the enormous granite rock at least three quarters of the way up; then I came to a portion of the rock where it was very difficult to climb up - I chickened out. Everyone who lives in Elba and Almo and probably some in Burley, Idaho have climbed bath rock.  Why is it called bath rock, because there is a hollowed out section on the top that fills with water.  It kinda looks like a very large bathtub. Even my mother climbed it when she was a youngster.

City of Rocks, near Almo, Idaho

The second time I got lost was at the City of Rocks. I was 10 years old and grandma Eames took my brother Freddie and I on a picnic there. Freddie and I used to chase lizards there - not that we ever caught any (at least I never did catch one) they were fast little buggers.   We also chased lizards on May 30, which is Memorial Day in the United States, at the Almo Cemetery. Grandma took us to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves. There is no grass at this cemetery, just rocks and a few plants here and there. About 75% of the people buried there are related to me.  

Emma Beecroft Eames is buried there and is one of my pioneers - my 3rd great grandmother.  She was born in Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire, England in 1836.  She came to America with her mother in 1852 having survived the cholera epidemic of 1849.  Night and day there were bodies being taken to the grave diggers.  There were over 2,000 people who died within 3 months.  Emma was 18 when she crossed the plains by ox train to Utah with her family.  She met her first husband in Utah. They had seven children.  After her first husband died prematurely, she married a second husband who was a doctor and he died too.  With her third husband, she had two more children.  They moved to Almo, Idaho and it was at this time that her last husband married another wife who was only 14 years old.  He left Emma and took his 14-year-old wife to another part of Idaho. Emma had a hard life but  four of her nine children lived.  She had dozens of grandchildren.


Back to the City of Rocks - I had climbed downward into the very deep canyon in the City of Rocks.  I only went 1/3 of the way down but on my way back up, I found a rock that I could not climb up.  I cried, I screamed but no one heard me.  After feeling utterly despondent, I finally gave it the old heave hoe and was able to just barely get up the rock.  I never wandered off again.

Silver City Ghost Town

Apparently, there are a few people who live in Silver City, Idaho during summer months because a general store is open and some just live there for the summer but everyone moves out during winter unless they are stocked for months and months of winter.

So what happened to all those Chinese people who were there? They might have moved onto Idaho City which became a partial ghost town and there were over 1,000 chinese there.