ruby crowned kinglette

happy birthday dad

today my father would have been 73 - it is impossible for me to imagine him that old. my dad didn't live beyond his 45th year, passing away in 1978. i remember the anniversary of his death more often than i do his birthday. today i am remembering his birthday.

73 things i remember about my dad - maybe not all are entirely accurate, but they are what i remember.

• he loved to drink tea
• he loved cars - but i never saw him work on one
• he loved to fly
• he did things his own way - always
• he didn't give a damn about rules - see above...
• he gave my sister suzy and me our first jobs - he also fired us
• he taught me to parallel park - i am an excellent parallel parker
• he drove fast
• he never talked about his childhood
• he was proud, and scared, to have three daughters

• he liked to 'sue the bastards'
• he taught us to fish, and clean them too
• his favorite color was brown
• he hated a yellow velour shirt we gave him for christmas one year - he didn't even try it on
• he shopped for his own clothes
• he loved the yellow velour shirt we gave him for christmas one year - once he tried it on
• he had a huge presence for a man only 5'11" - a testament to the strength of personality
• he loved banana cream pie
• he picked up new sports quickly - his enthusiasm was always better than his form
• we had the most beautiful lawn ever the summer he wasn't working - because the bastard's had sued him

• he sent me a postcard from sri lanka once - i still have it
• he had nice handwriting
• he hated driving across town to the 'organ grinder' when we would visit portland, but he did anyway
• he was mad as hell when he found out i got my ears pierced
• he fought in korea
• he didn't think the tv show m*a*s*h* was the least bit entertaining
• he swore like a sailor - when he didn't think we were listening
• he used to threaten to spank suzy and me if we didn't stop talking and go to sleep
• he never, ever spanked us - he left that to mom....
• he whistled when he walked through the front door

• he was only wrong once, but then he remembered... that no, he was wrong about that...or something like that...
• he would buzz the house to let us know to come get him at the airport
• he had a great memory
• he didn't get mad when the three of us and a sitter scraped a week of icy snow off the entire car - but he did suggest that the next time we could just pull it into the garage and let it melt...
• he was a republican
• he had a tattoo
• he brought home a daschund one summer for us girls - we named him max
• he often asked.... 'which way to the beach?"
• he could not sing
• he had a phone in his car in 1976 - it seemed very strange

• he had nice fingernails
• he had excellent eyesight
• he often said that it was 'his way, or the highway...'
• he used a brush and mug to lather up to shave - i loved the way it smelled
• he wore 'logger' suspenders when he would go to work - sometimes anyway....
• he took two of my friends and me in his helicopter to his logging camp on 'take your kids to work day'
• he always had candy bars in the fridge at his airplane hanger
• he had thick salt and pepper hair
• the combinations to the locks on his brief cases and suit cases were always his birth date
• he used toothpicks quite a bit

• he wasn't the kind of man to 'hang out' much
• he had brown eyes
• he always shined his shoes before he went on a trip
• he didn't allow us to ever play in the water filled ditches at camp... he was really really mad when he drove home for dinner one day and saw us playing in the ditch
• he had a casual lean to the right when he drove a car - usually with just one hand on the steering wheel
• when we moved to anchorage the first thing he bought for the house was a COLOR TV!
• he slurped when he ate soup
• he would lay on the couch and sleep with the dog on his chest
• he burned my knuckle serving suzy and me tomato soup the day mom came home from the hospital with wendy... i think he was more nervous about making us lunch than having a third daughter
• he didn't like to go to the dentist

• he liked potato salad and turkey stuffing like his sister made... and he was right about that, they are the best
• he would sing 'fly like a sparrow...' but only the few words he could remember
• he always said he was 'one mad bulgarian', but it turns out he was yugoslavian
• one day when he was pushing his plane away from the dock he had to come home to change clothes because he fell in the water - he was NOT happy
• i never saw him ride a bicycle
• when we lived in wrangell, he would bring home christmas trees that he cut down himself - they were always too big for the living room
• he worked hard
• he insisted that he could make it up the steep driveway when it was covered in snow - it seemed he was always right
• he liked his grapefruit sprinkled with sugar
• he loved pistachio nuts

• he chose the best person in the world to marry and have a family with
• he would not have objected to the playing of Frank Sinatra's 'I did it my way' at his funeral
• he died too young

things i love thurdays

i have two of these teacups, made by jeff hanks of red house pottery on lopez island, washington. i love the way they feel in my hands, the color of the glaze and the smooth feel against my cheeks when i put the warm cup to my face - i am not the only person that does that, right?

these two were also made by jeff hanks - i loved them to death. both have fallen to the floor and broken but in such large single pieces that i could glue them back together. although i can not drink from them i use them, the orange one to hold my cooking brushes, the white to hold a tea light. the glow it produces when the candle is lit is beautiful.

more love here, and here, and here.

ten simple pleasures

i have been tagged by julie.

• listening to the robins begin to sing just before sunrise

• drinking rose wine on a warm summer evening

• haagen-dazs 'vanilla swiss almond' ice cream

• just shaven legs on cool clean sheets

• dogs

• 'american routes' with nick spitzer

• a hot wash cloth on my face

• rocks

• watching a chickadee taking a bath in my garden

• lying in bed listening to 'selected shorts'

and now, i shall tag....daphne, veevee, cate and syko-kajsa.

i am supposed to tag ten people... TEN PEOPLE????? are they crazy?

it's finished, completely finished!!!!!

well, almost completely finished.... i have a few cedar 1 by 3's to buy in order to double side the gates but everything else is done done done.

i am this very second realizing that i am still too tired to think straight. it has taken almost 5 minutes to write these two sentences... so, that means it will be a post with many photos, not so many words.

i had begun this endeavor six years ago, i was hoping it was five, but over the weekend debbie and i decided it was really six. in three days we set three posts, framed and nailed four seven foot sections, built two gates, trimmed fence posts and a railroad tie, blew our noses a million times, didn't drink enough water, made 21 caps for the posts and secured all areas that were not so secure...

first... the before shot.

and.... the after shot - complete with sunshine and blue skies.

and another shot, because i am so damned proud....

the gates have also been an issue. the new ones are perfectly spectacular. they are square, hang beautifully, and swing easily. the former gates - if you could call them that - did none of that...

then..., the horrible gates that are now in the contractors truck across the alley ready to go to the dump... with his permission of course, and... the pavers that were waiting to be re-set...

now, the new and infinitely improved gates, and the re-set pavers. these had been disrupted during the big sewer incident - spring 2004.

and lastly, the post caps... cut 21 of these babies, each 5.5" square all run through the table saw - individually (i had to have an 11º bevel on each side to match the top rail of the fence!) - with every bit of my attention on the blade and my five fingers, which i am pleased to report are all still attached to my body.

we had everything we needed but some 2 x 4's and gate latches. i had 11 extra treated 4 x 4's that i was able to post on craig's list at 9pm on saturday, and they were sold within the hour. ronda came in a nice shiny pick-up and took those away for a cool $125 which more than paid for the new lumber so i came out pretty close to even.

debbie and i worked very well together and accomplished everything we set out to, and more.... it was a great weekend. the weather could not have been better, we had every tool we needed for the job and impressed a couple of neighbors with our skill and dedication.

now, i need to go buy some advil with that extra couple of dollars.

and it begins

this is the start to a long weekend.

the fence will be finished sometime monday, april 24, 2006 (given my track record, i have to be specific) - or at least that is the plan. the fence building project has been on hiatus, about a 5? year hiatus, and this is the weekend it sees completion. i have everything i need but the nails.

i do have help coming - my great friend debbie is coming down from lopez with a van load of tools and encouragement. i, in turn, will be making leek and potato soup, chicken pot pies and beignet's - not because either of us are from new orleans, but because we like them a whole lot.

man o' man, that felt good

this is the rig, that i borrowed from friends, that i drove to the dump - the place that i love.

this is the load, that was stuffed in the rig, that i borrowed from friends, that i drove to the dump - the place that i love.

this is the dump, that accepted the load (ok, for $47.62), that was stuffed in the rig, that i borrowed from friends, that i drove to the dump - the place that i love.

this is the result as i was leaving the dump, that accepted the load, that was stuffed in the rig, that i borrowed from friends, that i drove to the dump - the place that i love.

this is the lunch, that was a reward, because of the result as i was leaving the dump, that accepted the load, that was stuffed in the rig, that i borrowed from friends, that i drove to the dump - the place that i love.

this is the garage, that is pretty much clean, that is a work space again, now that i've eaten my lunch, that was a reward, because of the the result as i was leaving the dump, that accepted the load, that was stuffed in the rig, that i borrowed from friends, that i drove to the dump - the place that i love.

the end.

today i am going to the dump

and when i say the dump - i mean THE DUMP.... not just a trip to the garage...

it is all this horrid crap in the garage that will be leaving shortly for the dump, one of my favorite places in seattle. it is great because it means that i am making headway, cleaning up, finally making room to get at the wood to finish the fence.

tune in later to see my progress, and if you are lucky... the play by play of the actual trip itself...

truly, i am so excited i can hardly catch my breath.

migration

the vultures have arrived and they are dressed for easter!

whip-up is having a series of contests, over the next several weeks, called whiplash -

the theme this week, 'everyday creativity'. maintaining my self-imposed challenge to use what i have during the month of april, i decided to use a little of the great origami items sent to me earlier in the month from Ginevra at red swirl.

very fun.

ritual

mav at port2port has been considering habits and ritual this week. i don't think of myself as having many particular habits or rituals - but tea, tea is both for me. green tea especially. lightly steeped. this morning... jasmine pearl.

frustration

yesterday - myra at my little mochi - posed an experiment; draw 7 things, tell her what they were and she would get back to us as to what that experiment was about...

so, i drew...

before i reveal what i drew, i have to say that i thought about drawing seven stars, but to me that is more like writing seven stars and drawing is more like passing a kidney stone. but i did it, i looked around at the desk and out the window and picked seven things to draw. i was so unsure of my abilities that i made certain to do if fast so i wouldn't have to look at the paper too long...

yep.... that is it. in my defense, at least you can tell what i was drawing - pretty much.

i know that drawing is like any other skill, to get better you have to practice. i am not good at that. the things i do well have come easily to me, the things i don't - i don't pursue. drawing has always come easily to my sister suzy, writing to my sister wendy - i dont think i am particularly good at either but that is where this blog comes into play. it is my way of holding me accountable; to do things that are difficult - like writing. to do things that make me frustrated - like drawing. to do things that i usually leave half finished - like my crafts.

i have taken a drawing class or two in my life - and the first thing they say is be confident about your lines.... or at least that is what i remember them saying. you know, don't chicken scratch something into existence, draw a confident line... i am not capable of drawing a confident line - i try, and before i can stop myself i chicken scratch over it.

enter betty - betty is betty edwards of 'drawing on the right side of the brain' fame. see here it is, and the supplies necessary to become picasso - or at least somewhat skilled with a drawing pencil.

if you look closely you can see the linen holder i made to keep my drawing pencils, colored pencils, pens, erasers and sharpeners safe.

so, in september of 2002 i sat down, took out one of the pencils and started to draw. i liked the exercises that had you draw something from a picture that was upside down - the idea being you were drawing what you were seeing not what you were thinking you were seeing... i did well - even i was proud...

then the right-side up test was instituted...

and that is where i stopped - the last one was a rocking chair - with curves and shadows and more spindles than i cared to draw...

crap.

i am pretty sure i have the ability to draw in me - but i am a little bit nervous that maybe i don't and if i don't pursue it then i won't have to find out if that is the case... and that is a personality trait that i am aware pops up for me, and not just in this arena...

so, finally i wonder...

how did those who draw well come to draw so well? practice? how often? do they pull the pictures out of their heads or are they referencing something? how many test runs do they take to get something right? did they formerly employ the chicken scratch method? when did they become sure enough to draw a single, confident line? and how long did it take to shut off the part of the brain that wants to draw what you think you see, rather than what you are actually seeing???

oh, and myra's experiment? check out the post to see what she was up to...