Rear Window

There is cabin fever and then there is 

CABIN FEVER!

Hello my lovely friends,

I hope all is well in your world. My world, these past two and half weeks have been a time of testing, a time for resting, and a time for "nesting."

Now before I share my last two and half weeks, I will share a few images I took at an 1800's log cabin that my barber husband and I visited not long ago. He felt I would really love it, since it would be a while before I could be out and about. (More on that in a moment.)

My beloved took me to a very remote cabin on a very cold and windy weekend....weather wasn't an issue, as the cabin had a wood stove. 

There wasn't a bathroom, rather an outhouse (below). No real running water (only water fed to the sink by a well) and no electricity. There were a couple of solar panels, but they were not hooked up at the time, but oil lamps are just the touch to make playing checkers romantic). My handsome barber is making a fire for me above, as I am a fire lover...fires are never long enough or big enough for me. :-)

The privy wasn't bad, actually...got to hear the coyotes up close and personal at night. I felt right at home with the little stove...we made great pancakes (or flapjacks, as my father would say) and brewed up some good ole coffee. Sometimes, I really believe I was born in the wrong century. 

The kettles on the wood stove (below) were full of water for washing dishes and ourselves. I loved the little bit of humidity it gave off in the cabin.

The sink was literally a little copper pipe, bent, and a turn knob to get the water going. More than once we got splashed, as it takes time for it to come down the hill...

While I was outside in the early morning chill, snapping photos, my beloved barber (and his very worn long johns) was getting breakfast. I love this image because you can see how small the cabin is (sleeping quarters was up in the loft). But to be honest, the little cabin had everything we needed and never felt cramped - only cozy.

This view from our porch was so serene.  A little farmhouse below in the valley with a bright red barn...

We drove around to visit the other few cabins (all owned by one person) and got permission to do some target shooting. Most people don't know that I absolutely love to shoot - and I will say that I am a very, very good shot. (I have target sheets to prove it :-)! Below, I am shooting our .22 Ruger long rifle. I was more interested in taking pics of this little red cabin area, but did take a moment to help site in the rifle with my barber/chef/shooter/fire-builder...

And of course, the rifle isn't all that I shot, I brought along some props to shoot! No way am I going to pass up such fab light at a great location. Below is just a sample of my styled shots...

While I could go on and on with my styled shots, I will have to show more of them later. I was just in heaven to have a whole day to just shoot, be outside, and be with my beloved. Couldn't ask for more, really.

But all good things must come to an end, which leads me to the present. 

A "REAR WINDOW" VIEW TO MY CURRENT LIFE:

(For those of you lucky enough to be so young you do not understand the reference to "Rear Window," that is a reference to a famous Alfred Hitchcock movie with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. Jimmy is laid up, and gets to know his neighbors through his rear window, up close and personal...)

Now, you get to know me up close and personal...maybe even more than you ever wanted or hoped for. But hey, this is reality (via iPhone) and as much I would love the "Pinterest" lifestyle, my life really isn't that "Pinteresting" to be frank.

Briefly to recap the last 15 or so months: Back in Nov 2012, I had "simple" knee surgery that went very wrong. I was in constant pain, couldn't even walk at a fast pace, or without a limp. I gained a ton of weight not being able to move for so long, and I never knew what was going to be a "good day" or a "bad day." I didn't write about it very much in my posts, as it was a depressing topic for me, and besides, I really didn't know how the story would end....

Well, on Feb 13th, I got a total knee replacement. Yup, sort of like the bionic woman, but not so bionic...I have been spending these last two and half weeks mainly in our bedroom...with my iPhone. Do you have any idea how crazy I am going without my camera? I decided this would be the best time to get my pro camera professionally cleaned (takes several weeks). When I am not dozing off, or doing physical therapy, then I have my computer and iPhone. However, today is the first day that I am not too tired to actually stay awake longer than 30 minutes....so I give you my "reality" below, all in its vivid glory... :-)

This is where my leg (and the rest of me, come to think of it) are almost 24/7. I must be in this passive movement machine 6-8 hours a day for the first three weeks. And the little controller next to me, allows me to increase the bending. My goal, I am told, is 110. I am happy to report that I did reach that today!

I then started to snap pics of my immediate (and daily)surroundings. I wasn't really thinking anything of it, until I downloaded them and started to play with them; I realized that what has become "normal" really isn't all that normal...really...

I realized as I stare at my bedside table, filled with all sorts of things I need throughout the day...I have a large amount of potions, lotions, balms, and creams...my skin has never been so dry, and my leg, when not wrapped up in its ace wrap, looks like a small blizzard, or snow globe, has taken residence since I am not allowed to have any cream near my incision. 

My lovely caretaker/barber has brought me home things he finds at the pharmacy, while waiting for my perception to get filled...I am starting to feel like all these old-time remedies would fit perfectly in that cabin a few weeks ago!

What I find so ironic is that my "corn husker" and "bag balm" right next to my antique tea towel...

For those of you with eagle eyes (or magnification enhancers), I am sure you spotted the honey and surgical tape. That is for my very burnt (but small burn, thank God) that I got last night. My beloved was making me a fab dinner, and as I hobbled into the kitchen on my cane, he held out a spoon for me to taste, while next to the stove. I had no idea that he had just taken the sauce pan out of 400 degree stove. I grabbed the handle to turn it out of the way, and well...let's just say I didn't think about my knee for the first time in over a year, for a few hours.

To my left, on my honey's side of the bed, I have my "desk," Every morning, my beloved puts my large basket filled with stuff, along with the leg machine, ice, and fresh water. Actually, I have no idea if any of this interests anyone at this point, but hey, this has been the most exciting day in a while. Plus, I personally love knowing the details of those I see online or in magazines. Yes, I am one of those that will take out a magnifying glass and scope out the details of a pic of someone's desk, or kitchen...I know I can't be the only one!

My basket has lots of very unrelated things in it: My therapy pages, a book on French kitchens, image files to be downloaded, glasses, scissors, kleenex, chocolate chips, almonds...the usual.

Then back on my right, on the floor next to my side table, I decided to take a quick snap from my phone. It wasn't until I downloaded it, did I realize that my pic may need some explaining...

Is it me, or does it seem a little strange (I prefer the word,  "eccentric")that my side of the bed my Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, is leaning next to my Russian, WWII Mosin-Nagant, bolt-action, rifle. And my Mosin-Nagant, is leaning against my antique, linen, monogrammed table cover?? My rifle is very handy, as the arrow below points it out. I have shot it before, (at a shooting range) and I offer no apologies for it...except to my neighboring shooting buddies in the next stall, who said that my gun sounds like a cannon. (I also have a very beautiful Ruger Red Lable, 20 gauge, O/U - over/under that my barber got me). My goal is to own a very nice (old) Smith and Wesson and an old, (decorative) Winchester rifle...I love both those makers. But I digress...

To be honest, I never really thought of neighboring weapon, Julia, and linen, until I took this pic. And the funny thing is, I use all three. Julia is second to none, my Mosin's site is dead on (no pun intended) and my linen table cover has seen many a tables over the years.

So whether this side of me endears you, or fears you, (and I wouldn't blame you if it was the latter), I am who I am... :-)

And who am I? Well, for now, I will say that I am someone who is very loved by my barber husband. I must boast that he has made me(from scratch) delicious meals of Boeuf Bourguignon (beef stew in red wine, bacon,  onion and mushrooms), Paupiettes Deboeuf (braised stuffed beef rolls), and a very rich Reine Desaba (chocolate and almond cake).  (And why is it again, that I have a gained a ton of weight...?)

Well, it is time to do more PT...which I hate and is very painful. But everything is going pretty well and I see the surgeon again on the 14th. I will be up and around before long.

Until then, I will keep resting, nesting, and testing myself with lots of therapy. 

I appreciate and am so grateful to all those who have sent me beautiful cards, stopped by to visit, or sent me some of the most wonderful hand-made gifts that brought tears to my eyes. (The good kind of tears, which I welcome any day!) To all my readers, know that I am thinking of you and thank you for just stopping by for a visit.

Miss you all.
from my side of the bed to yours...

It was a Crime of Passion

I should have just made another round of cheese. I realize that too late.

Have you ever gotten yourself into a project that just seemed to grow and grow and before you know it, you somehow feel like while it was a good idea, maybe the timing wasn't so good?

It all started out so innocently, and so excitedly too, darn it.

And it has nothing to do with cheese.

Yes, I really did make a round of cheese by scratch! In fact, I made two rounds, and that will be a future post. So, this cheese photo is a preview, that that project went well.

Just two days ago I was working on some pics for a friend and my computer was acting up, and so I decided to do a non-computer project that I won't tell you what it is, because at the moment, I am not sure how it will turn out. But I decided to close up my computer and start this "exciting project" late one afternoon, and thought to myself, "Wow, this is just what I need!" And boy did I ever get started!

I show the above picture only to show that I took this only days before my insane self took over and now our home looks as though someone broke in, and tried to find something, anything worth taking and decided to just leave it all behind instead!

I share my project mess with you out of the hopes that someone (and I know you are out there) will share that you too, have gotten yourself up to your eyeballs in a mess, I mean project, but somehow had to keep convincing your loved ones with whom you share your living quarters with, "I am almost done!" and yet, you have no clue what you are doing...you think you do, you really do, but as each hour passes, and the sun goes down, and the sofa is calling out to you to in its sofa's soporific voice: "Come...come...lie down a spell and we'll work this out together..." And before you know it, it is 5AM...and you (I really mean, me) stumble into bed, without even taking note of the "project" around me and off to a real snooze. 

And so, my barber husband, who cuts hair early Saturday morning, leans over and kisses my cheek good-bye at 6AM and asks if I got a lot done as he felt me come into bed only an hour ago, and I mumble, "Yes..." and he leaves the bedroom only to be greeted by the crime scene that follows:

Unsuspecting Barber husband enters from the hallway into the scene of the crime...project, I mean.

He looks to his right and sees an array of lights and pillows and wonders if this is some new-fangle sofa trend that his beloved is trying out....he's not sure if he will go along with bulbs and pillows. 

Beat up old grains sacks around the house was pretty daring for him already...

But then he turns to the left and finds cabinet doors wide open and even empty! The CD's! Gone! But then he remembers that most were Elizabeth's "unique" collection of Enya,  Medieval, Boy's Christmas Choir, and he even found Yanni one time! Not grieving this loss he decides...

But now he sees "powder" everywhere, as if someone was dusting for fingerprints...getting a little concern here...but he can't tell if we were ransacked or just sacked...

He notices a little pathway was left open towards the door, and decides that there was no robbery, because he is pretty sure that if he were robbing our place (and would leave empty-handed, he is sure), once in the door, he would have turned right around and gone next door to rob. 

As my barber husband leaves, he takes comfort in seeing a banana peel left on the table from the night before. He is glad that I got a little nourishment for all of my....what would you call it? Work? Fun? Re-doing? No, he is glad I got a little nourishment for my passionate adventure! That is all it is at the moment because adventures lead you somewhere, but you don't know where till you get there.

Now for a little game: can you guess how many pairs of eye glasses that can be found in the above photos? I couldn't believe how many I used last night and how many I have on hand...take a guess and then scroll down for fun....

(No, I do not sleep/snuggle with a grain sack! It is just tossed over the edge of the sofa...geesh! I love them, but not that much! :-)

  

Did you get all of them? As I went through the "crime scene" (and believe me, it is a crime that this stuff isn't put away yet....!) I couldn't believe how many glasses I have around in JUST this room! Have to laugh about it.

Well, after I finish this "adventure" and clean the "powder" off the furniture, (man, dust really shows up in sepia photos, doesn't it?), put the peels in the trash, and the lighting sources back in their places, I will share the pretty after photos. I think after this lot, anything I come up with will be an improvement. Hey... that could be a new gig, just show some really crappy, unfinished-what-in-the-hell-did-I-get-myself-into project photos first, then whatever you come up with will always be better and impressive than the first images! LOL. 

Okay, back to work. Actually, I am having fun rediscovering some lost and forgotten treasures that I am very happy to have found again. Just want to find a good place for them so I don't forget about them so I can use them!

Hope you enjoyed the visit and being a partner in my crime of passion.

May your passions always take you on adventures...

oh...btw....I do have way cool CD's...my Barber husband just gets a kick out of naming those few "unique" ones he found in my stash...that's okay...I have hair.

from my house to your house,

Heads Up, Memories in the Making

My last few posts were all photos, and this one is story time. If you feel like a story, then grab a coffee, or a lemonade and join me  - or just wait till next time to see more pretty photos. I won't be offended. I know there are readers and then there are lookers. I am just glad if you stop on by once in a while...

It is pretty much right smack in the middle of the summer and I am feeling very nostalgic lately. I was driving in my neighborhood the other evening and I saw my neighbor and his cute little boy playing in the sprinkler. 
















I haven't seen that in some time. His little boy is six, and was wearing goggles and a snorkel and their dog was also joining in the fun. I idled my car and rolled down the window and felt the blast of heat hit my face as I leaned out and called out to them, "Now that looks like a good time!" And Mackenzi (the little boy) smiles big behind his mask and motions me to come over and play with him, and yells, "Why don't you come on in?"

Photo by she is Dallas

Yes...why don't I? I tell Mackenzi I will jump in next time I stop by.

Then only a day or two later, I am on the sofa, typing away on my laptop and I hear that familiar "thump" that only a kid's head hitting a sidewalk can make, and I pop up and look out the window, and it is Jacob, the little three year old across the street, and his overturned tricycle on the sidewalk. He has his head down, crying, and his arms up in the air, as he walks slowly down the sidewalk towards his father. He can't see where he is going at all. Head down low, his arms high in the air waiting to get picked up as he makes his way down the hot sidewalk. His father, smiling, slowly reaches down to pick him up as the "thump" was not life-threatening. And as I stood there watching for a moment, I smiled too.  Oh, how I miss those days when my world fell apart and all I had to do was lift my arms and not even know where I was going, but felt very secure in knowing that I would be picked up and all would be well again. I can still do that with my heavenly Father, but many times, I just don't.

And sure enough, before I left the window, Jacob was scrambling to get down out of his father's arms so he could master his tricycle once again. 

Summertime, in the heat of the heat, really makes me think of my youth. Having grown up in Texas, I didn't grow up with air conditioning - nope. Nada. Not once did we have a summer as a kid, where I could sit in a cool house. But as a kid growing up in the 1960's and 70's, I really didn't know much differently. But we did have fans. You know, those minty green, oscillating fans that would clank ever so slightly if the blade was off. They weighed a friggin ton.

Photo by W5RAN

I was recently talking to a friend of mine, and she and I were talking about how much even the simplest of things have changed in our short lifetime. I know my readers all know this, but it isn't until we stop a moment and really think about it, it is sort of amazing, how something as simple as a car trip can change the family's dynamics.

Our family vacations never, ever, included plane tickets or fancy hotels or fancy restaurants. There were five kids, but since one was much older, usually "only" four of us kids went on vacation, while Mark, the oldest, was in Vietnam. Our vacations usually entailed a 15-hour car ride from Texas to Nebraska to visit relatives or when older, a 9-hour car ride to Padre Island for a beach vacation. Either way, it was a very hot and long drive. 

Mom would pack up the station wagon the night before (many things packed on the roof rack) and then wake us kids up at 3AM to get "an early start." We all would be excited in the car for about 5 minutes and soon would be zonked out and asleep in the back, stretched out on blankets and pillows for the next four hours.  

No seat belts - just stretched out in the back of the wagon, still in our pajamas. We would change into our shorts and tops at the first rest stop, or sometimes, right there in the car. Yes, while moving.

We didn't have water bottles back then either. We had a big, red, round thermos with a large handle. It also had a screw-off spout cap that was held on with a metal chain. I was about five, my brother Bill, four, my sister Louisa was seven and my brother Andrew was nine. We would pass this large thermos around that mom filled with ice and I remember hearing it slosh around.  My brother Andrew had to help hold it as we sipped from it and we had to time it that we would sip it on a road without potholes so our teeth wouldn't get knocked. 

This is very close, not quite like the one we had, but pretty darn close. Found on Ebay!

My friend pointed out that back in those days, sharing thermoses and cups helped build our immune system and there was no such thing as sanitizing gels. Just a wet napkin that mom first licked and then used to wipe our faces. That's about as clean as it got until we got to a rest stop on the side of the highway where we could really get "sanitized."

Yes, we actually not only stopped at rest stops, but used them to wash up back then.  We would all pile out, use the bathroom, which actually had paper towels, not hand dryers, and mom would take the paper towels and "dab" herself under her neck and put on lipstick and tie her headscarf on neatly. The kids would run around and then go read the giant map that was framed behind glass. We would go inside the information building, because back then, most rest stops actually had real buildings you could go in and get real maps and get real information from a real person. Some still exist, I know, but they are the exception, not the norm. 

Postcard found on Ebay

Mom and dad always had fun noticing how many different license plates were at the rest stop and wanting to see which one was the furtherest state away. "Wow...all the way from Georgia! Wouldn't want to pay their fuel bill..." my dad would say, referring to gas prices. Back then, there were quite a few different state plates parked and people actually would sit on the benches and picnic tables and eat homemade food from their own coolers, not fast food. Mom usually made cold fried chicken and had saltine crackers and some cookies for us. And we would see other families eating their lunches as well. 

The last leg of the drive was the hardest because it was the hottest and everyone is getting tired. The inevitable, "Are we there yet" begins, and that is how I became an excellent navigator. Now, I can't find my way out of a box, but give me a map, and I can get you from here to Tibet and never make a wrong turn. At a very young age, mom would hand back the map over the bench seat and let us figure out how far we were to getting to our destination every time she heard, "Are we there yet?"

Photo by View Liner LTD

We also didn't have any videos or personal DVD's to occupy or time on our drive. No, we had good old fashion talking or games. Crayons, Etch-A-Sketch, barbies.... and I always got out the hairbrush and braided my sister's hair. And at some point, I would stand on the seat (yes, stand) and lean on the seat in front of me, and start "styling" my mother's hair. Mom would put a towel down on the seat for us to sit on because the vinyl would become hot and sticky on our bare legs; like I said, no A/C in the car either. Just roll down the windows for nature's air conditioning (no button to push, we had to roll). 

Photo by Ads by Dee

My friend reminded me that on road trips, as a kid, she remembered having to drink her bottle of Yoo-Hoo really quickly because she would have to put the bottle back in the rack - I had forgotten about that! But in  my case, it was orange crush. We would also play eye-spy and car tag games. Mom would carry a fly swatter to reach behind her and start swatting like crazy when we four would all start acting up and going nuts in the back seat. She was really fast with that thing. I learned to duck pretty quick.

We all learned that we had to "simmer down now" when dad was in traffic in "a big city" and he "must concentrate." But these things taught us to respect driving, our dad, and to pay attention to things we would surely have missed had we been texting, or plugged into our own DVD movie, or blasting a song with our own earbuds. Sharing the thermos and having our big brother "hold  it still" while we sipped it, meant we had to hold onto his arm to brace it, while trusting someone else to look over the bench seat, at the road up front, and yell "NOW!" because it appeared pothole-free and safe to take a drink.  Mom would laugh and dad just sat there, putting up with a kid who had no idea that he/she was yelling in his ear.

Photo by DOWDEL Folk Art 

It was an era of blissful stupidity too. No seat belts meant freedom to roam and climb and play, but also sudden death. It was a time where mom was always smoking and would smash her butt and toss it out the window, along with gum wrapper, with no thought at all, along with the rest of the population. We wouldn't want to dirty up the car, now would we? It was a time when we didn't lock our car doors when we went into the grocery store before we went to our relative's house - or ever really - mom just tucked her purse under the seat....that will trick'em. 

It was a time where a billboard advertising "The Reptile House only 3 Exits Away..." would illicit excitement from the back seat and then grant a tired dad many hugs around his sweaty neck when he agreed we would all stop to see snakes and lizards and apparently the largest alligator this side of the Colorado River. It was a time when billboards might have advertised smoking, but I don't ever remember once seeing "Gentlemen's Clubs" or "XXX" billboards strewn across the interstate highways like I now do between Rolla, Missouri and OK City. 

Photo by Cardigan Empire

It was a time when we kids would whine, "I'm hungry," and parents would actually say, "No. You will spoil your supper, and stop whining," instead of just reaching into the purse and handing out candy to shut them up, or pulling over to the next fast food joint at the first sign of revolt. And the kids actually would stop whining and just waited as told. It was a time when gas stations were service stations. We would pull up and an employee actually came out in uniform and would check the air in the tire, the oil, and pump the gas all while dad always felt like he had to get out of the car and stand there and watch for some reason. It was a time when kids would pump their fists at the truck driver - a common signal - and he oblige with a loud toot of his horn and we would all cheer and laugh. And then the driver would give a little two finger salute to mom and dad as he drove off. It was a time when you weren't afraid to look at the driver next to you; and when you did, you actually waved or smiled, and they actually waved back at you. 


Why? 


Tinted windows were not introduced yet. 


If we ended up spending a night in one of the roadside motels due to bad weather or traffic, oh what a treat! There would be a tiny, tiny swimming pool, but to us, it was the Ritz. The flashing neon light was Las Vegas to us, and air conditioning! Many of those motels did not have TVs back then, and certainly in those days, the Internet was not yet born. But we somehow managed. No TV, no cell phone, no Internet, no movies....sigh. 

Photo from Viewliner LTD

And yet, we were happy when mom came back to our tiny room with a bucket of ice and our little paper cups were filled and we shared a bottle of soda. A real treat after a swim in the pool. Dad wasn't much of a swimmer, so he headed out and brought back a bucket of chicken from the old reliable colonel. I didn't care so much about eating, I wanted to be in my fancy pool. No slide, no music, no special waterfall, just a cement hole filled with water in a parking lot. I was in pure bliss.

But that was 1968.

A very different time. 

It was a regular station wagon (not a huge van or SUV) with six people in it and lots of luggage and don't forget the pillows. But somehow it seemed roomy to me. No A/C, no electronics of any kind. I think we all thought we were "advanced" because dad had cruise control. We had a thermos, a cooler with snacks, a map (no GPS), and if lost, we just found our way. If we got a flat tire in the middle of no where, we (rather Dad) changed the tire. No cell phone or auto service GPS to find us. If serious car trouble? Then dad had to walk to get help while we all stayed behind and just had to wait. 

Photo from Spare Parts and Pics

Just had to wait.

That is something the current generation, I think, got cheated out of.

There is something about learning to wait that develops your character. 

All those road trips and there was a lot of waiting....

waiting to take our turn for a sip...

waiting to take our turn to look at the map....

waiting for supper instead of getting a snack...

waiting for the next rest stop to use the bathroom....

waiting for dad to come back with a can of oil...
waiting in line at the toll booth...

waiting for my turn to sit by the window and not be stuck in the middle...

waiting for my turn to play with the one Etch-A-Sketch...

It's good to wait when you are young. After all, that is when you have the time. 

While it is easy to forget all the rotten things about that time period and just reflect on the good, maybe that is the fun part about growing older. But I can't help when on the rare occasion I see a young neighbor and his father simply running through the sprinkler, and just like that, memories of my simple childhood pop up. 


It amazes me how something as simple as a road trip can change so drastically in as little as 40 years. Something as small as tinted windows, water bottles, GPS systems, and earbuds have drastically changed how we relate to our environment, to our family and to our society. We no longer even think to acknowledge the other driver, because we can't see them, nor want to. We no longer would even think of sharing a thermos with six people, we have our own bottles. That does nothing for sharing, conserving, or thinking of others. We have a mechanical voice telling us where to go and no longer even share our adventure with our family, as the mechanical voice tells us where to turn. But that doesn't really matter because the ear buds block out her voice in the first place. And because we are so rushed, and on a tight schedule, we rarely make our own food, and with the growth of fast food, we simply pull up to a window, order food and eat out of a paper bag while keeping our ear buds in place while letting the mechanical lady tell us where to turn next.

Driving down the road this time of year - summertime - I see so many huge SUV's with windows up, A/C blasting, young heads down, and a bright, florescent light reflecting on their little faces, from their electronics no doubt, and earbuds in their ears. When it was probably only just a handful of years ago those young heads were down, but their arms were up, crying for their parent's to carry them.  

And now? Little heads are still down and they are being carried....but do they really have any idea what they are missing on this ride?

And when I say they, I am not referring to the kids...

May you know that all rides are carried by The Father who loves us even when we don't have the best rides or memories. But we can start making the kinds of memories we wish we had for those around us who are too young to know what they might be missing.

from my house to your house,

,