Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary?

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells...

And cockle shells...

And pretty maids... 

all in a row.

"The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul"

It meant that the silently waged conflict between himself and his cleaning lady had escalated to a new and more frightening level.  It was now, Dirk reckoned, fully three months since this fridge door had been opened, and each of them was grimly determined not to be the one to open it first.  The fridge no longer merely stood there in the corner of the kitchen, it actually lurked.  Dirk could quite clearly remember the day on which the thing had started lurking.  It was about a week ago, when Dirk had tried a simply subterfuge to trick Elena - the old bat's name was Elena, pronounced to rhyme with "cleaner," which was an irony that Dirk now no longer relished - into opening the fridge door.  The subterfuge had been deftly deflected and had nearly rebounded horribly on Dirk.

 I puffy <3 this book. It is ridiculous nonsense in the Douglas Adams fashion. And I wrote a(n admittedly not good) paper using it for a Myths & Legends class I took. Now, one year later, I find myself re-reading it. And I love that lurking passage. Because, you see, my piano lurked once upon a time. I was working at Kent House full-time and working on all my pieces for my recital. Yes, I gave a piano recital. And it was pretty kicking (except for skipping over half of the sonata... but it was ok because I was still fully in control of the piece). But yeah, I practiced so much I had callouses on my fingertips. Such a fabulous experience!

But not to long after that it kinda crashed for me... I had gone so far with it, the only other place to go was to such an intense level that I just didn't have the time or the will-power to accomplish.  And so with many tears I gave up my amazing (often 2-3 hour) lessons with Mrs. Crump.

And then. It lurked. Just like Dirk's fridge. And it took me a long time to be ok with it again. It just... sat there. Used for teaching piano lessons to my darling students, but still not loved by me.

And then, we became ok, and I would fiddle on it some, but not just a whole lot.

That's when construction entered into my life. And trust me, that's a novel that you don't want to read. But my piano was moved to the garage to wait it out. Short term, you understand.

Two years ago.

And I miss it. So much. I want to be playing it tonight.

But I'm not sure it will ever speak to me again. My poor piano. Sure, it's not in great tune on the best of days, I'm sure, and yes, one of the legs is actually duct taped together after it was rolled over brick at Kent House (for a tea party. It was a good idea at the time - honest! Don't regret it one bit!), but it is my beautiful piano. We've been a lot of places together.

I hope it will still speak to me. For I long to speak to it.

(and I wholeheartedly recommend the book.)

A Few of My Favorite Things

• Sprouting seeds (squash, zucchini, lettuce, radishes, spinach)
• Sunshiney Spring Days
• Sewing (zombies and pirates and ninjas and girls and boys and skirts and curtains and... stuff.)
• Pina Coladas with Lauren
• Margariras and Mexican with the gals
• Weekends outside
• Long bike rides
• Sleeping in in freezing cold hotel rooms all buried in those ginormous beds

How I Can Get Out of Working on the 24th:

As presented by my sister-in-law, Kati:

Just call in dead. Look, if you're dead and you're calling in, obviously you're a re-animated corpse. And what is a re-animated corpse? A ZOMBIE. And who wants a zombie working for them?? Nobody, that's who. The liability when people start losing their brains to your employee would be immense. Just point this out, and it will work for sure. Probably.

 Excellent idea, yes?

Lately...

The daffodils have bloomed...

... as have the tulip trees...

quality studio time (with 1950's & 1960's scifi B movies)

The dog loves the movies too!

(Ok, not really. Mostly he's just excited to be inside.)

Birthday Cake!

Carousels in Central Park...

More daffodils!

Homemade tortillas...

and Warm Chocolate Melting Cake.

Mood Fabrics!

How can you choose?

The rubber chicken meets Lady Liberty.

A Friday Filled With Sunshine!

All week long the only thing I have wanted to do is to lay outside in the grass underneath the warm sun. But I've pushed through with life, barely making it through the days (no, I'm not being melodramatic. It's been that kind of week.) But today. Oh, glorious today!!

It is beyond beautiful outside right now. The sun is gloriously warm, the sky unbelievably blue. So Alexz and I ordered salads from a wonderful place and took them outside to the mini-park. Emphasis on mini - we're talking a minimum of greenage here. But enough for a lovely lunch. Walking to lunch may be just about the best thing ever! AND FINALLY! Laying in the grass!!!! Yes, people stared. And I'm sure they pointed. But they were really just jealous that they couldn't be themselves long enough to endulge in simple pleasures. Oh, and of course our shoes were off. One cannot lay in the grass with ones feet trapped in shoes!


As we were relaxing we met a new friend. Homeless Old Man in a Plaid Flannel Shirt (think he watches Twilight, Jo? *wink). He came up to us right about the time we both decided it was a good idea to roll up our pants legs. He did a double-take, then walked over.

"I thought ya'll were wounded at first," said the Homeless Old Man in a Plaid Flannel Shirt (HOMPFS).

"No, just relaxing," said I.

"In the middle of town?!" he exlaimed incredulously. "Don't the police have anything to say about it?"

"Not yet," we replied, trying not to laugh.

"Maybe I should try it..." our new friend murmured.  As he turned to leave he left us with one important piece of wisdom - "Be sure and drink a lot of whiskey to stay hydrated."

And that, my friends, is why Fridays are amazing. They're right up there with Lostday and Saturday.

In Honor of Lostday

A Lost Hotties List:
Specially designed to enhance your Lostday viewing...

Charlie Pace

"You all everybody..."

Oh, Charlie. I really need you to not be dead.
I miss your accent.




Desmond Hume


"See ya in another life, brutha."

But at least I still have Desmond. He better come back to the Island soon.



Sayid Jarrah

(I don't really say much. Mostly I just shoot people. But that's ok, because I look pretty amazing doing it.)

Hmmm... he has a nice accent, too. I'm seeing a pattern here...




James "Sawyer" Ford

I don't like wearing shirts.

Ok, definitely no accent here. But a significant level of hotness.




Daniel Faraday

A most amazing scientist.

How can you resist his boyish charm?
Answer: You can't!





And, last but not least...


The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Look! He's on a horse!