Pictorial Roundup

I'd be the first to admit that I'm not much of a housekeeper. Sure, our home is generally neat, but clean, that's another story. Yesterday I finally got around to cleaning the floor, which if we weren't having dinner guests, would have been put off even longer!

I do like it when things are clean, I just don't enjoy the process. Bruce, upon his return from work last evening remarked that the house looked wonderful. Nice.

The nicer weather, aside from the stormy days, has me much in the mood for picture taking. Let's see what I've been shooting, shall we?

I can't get enough of this orchid I bought before Christmas. The color is really special. Funny how the oil painting I did above the lamp kinda matches. Confetti.

I don't know about you, but I seem to have a habit of losing things that I've put away recently. What I'm looking for lately is my old green wallet. After winning a new wallet at Amanda's shower, I moved some things over, however, I didn't move my Social Security card, which I've been carrying around since first receiving it in the eighth grade. I've looked everywhere to no avail. I can find things I've no interest in locating, but not the things I want. This prompted me to clean out my "junk" drawer which I'm very pleased to show off:

We'll see how long I can keep it looking so organized.

Regina has the most beautiful shade of amaryllis blooming in her front yard:

Seriously gorgeous!

Speaking of orchids, just after Christmas I showed you the marvelous orchid Ruth's parents brought. When last you saw it, there were thirteen buds ready to burst open any day. Most of them have opened, although there are a few left. Orchids do make such great gifts because they last for so long.

Because I like the box so well, I've used my birthday gift from Matt and Tom just once. So clean and elegant don't you think?

To go along with the excessive acorn drop, we have a bit of a stacked mushroom infestation in our beds; this is only one of the stacks.

Of course, if I can't find something natural to photograph, I make something up:

 

While we're on the subject of making, after all these years, I finally learned how to use the decorative stitch on my sewing machine. You saw this dress earlier in the week hanging on my chair which I got around to finishing on Thursday afternoon--gotta get my spring wardrobe made!

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be fantastic, and with that in mind, I've got a bunch more prints to sign, including these two which I'm showing up close so you can see the new look:

 

More often than not, when I photograph something out and about, I have someone in mind while doing so. Years ago, Matt introduced me to Olivia, the pig character in the snow globe on the left. I have a suspicion there is someone in my viewing audience who just loves Olivia. Or, should I say, let's hope so? We'll find out tomorrow.

Moving On

After yesterday's self-pitying post we are moving on. We're not going to let some silly undiagnosed illness stop us now are we?

I saw this cute Olivia music box at Ross the other day. If you've not heard of the wonderful Olivia books you should check them out. She's got an indomitable spirit-- just what we all need. Matt introduced me to the Olivia series a few years back and we love her--thank you Matthew. I'm trying to remember what museum we saw some of the original drawings in. Whenever we visit Matt he always takes us to the top museums in the current city of his residence. As well, he always has other great activities planned, not like me, just falling into stuff.

If you can imagine I left home without my camera last night!! I almost had Bruce turn around but I suffered through the withdrawal. We had dinner with Michael, and Jane which was super fun. Fifi's has half-price bottles of wine for the month of June, and we started with champagne. I was feeling puny when we arrived, but the fun company distracted me. They regaled us with tales of their first cruise. Please don't take offense if you are either a bowler, or are covered with tattoos when I tell you how Michael described his fellow cruisers. He said it looked like they emptied out many bowling alleys, putting the tattooed regulars on the same ship. My objection to a cruise has always been the cattle call thing. I know that airplane travel is somewhat like that, but the idea of thousands of people all boarding together has always been a huge turnoff to me. Maybe you have to be young when you first go on a cruise because Jonathan and Alissa loved it.

Here's some news--I got my Florida sales tax number today in the mail. I applied on line only about four days ago; maybe with the recent property tax cuts they are anxious for sales tax to make up the difference, thus the speed with which I received it.

I've had my Itunes playing for most of the day; I had gotten out of the habit of listening during the semester. I had to do my math homework on the computer, therefore I needed no distractions. At any rate, my music library currently has 5,052 songs, many of which I've never heard. Every time Jonathan is home he downloads more, and more, music. Some standouts from today's listen--Neko Case, Winterkids, and Peter Bjorn & John. Good stuff.