As Tears Go By

It invariably rocks the worlds of those that fancy themselves as having slightly artistic bents when boldly confronted by the blazing artistry of someone who truly oozes talent in every waking moment of their existence.


Most people grow to become better people as they travel the course of their lives. That seems to be the purpose of life. I like to think I have done the same. However, some traits about a person never change. Again, I am like others in this way. I have always been feast or famine, sunlight or darkness, black or white, introvert or extrovert. My family members always told me that my extremes of personality create strife in my relationships because those that know me never know which ‘side’ of me they will encounter. One side is neither more pleasant than the other but “the sides” create confusion. If you were accustomed to seeing my light side, suddenly encountering my dark side, you would be confused too. You would wonder what happened. The answer would be nothing. I am fickle like that. Just like a secret door, one side suddenly turns to reveal another totally different side. It happens quickly without warning. This is me. This is my nature. All of that is to say that today, I was introspective.

Today, I really appreciated the lyrics of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for something that I had never appreciated in this way before. I was in a meeting and something the speaker said made me think of the song “As Tears Go By”. (Insert scenes of earthquake here. That is to say my world rocked.) Jagger and Richards were only 21 years old when they wrote this hauntingly beautiful song.

“My riches can’t buy everything,

I want to hear the children sing.

All I hear is the sound,

Of rain falling on the ground.

I sit and watch

As tears go by.

It is the evening of the day.

I sit and watch the children play.

Doing things I used to do,

They think are new.

I sit and watch

As tears go by.”

Tell me. How does someone know at age 21 what it feels like to know that more life is behind you than in front of you? You want to hear the children sing but you never will again because you are so far from being a child that it is all but forgotten. All you will hear is the sound of tears falling on the ground, tears for your youth. How did they know how the evening of the day would feel at the tender age of 21? That is true genius. It puts me in awe.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Shelly and I embarked on what we thought was going to be a small reupholstery project. In the beginning, I had pie in the sky aspirations. After about six hours of struggling, I decided to come down from the sky and get dirty in the trenches. We changed the plan.

See, here is what happened...see this filthy dining chair seat? I think we all agree it is time to be reupholstered, correct? This chair seat has two rows of welting and I was firm in my conviction that the new seats would need two rows of welting as well to make it appear 'professional'. You must be thinking we are really sloppy eaters around here. No, this dining room also doubles as a 'cat' hang out or dorm room you might say.  Anyone who has experience with cats know they are prone to get hair balls. 'Nuff said.

Okay after three broken needles, much angst, coffee, rethinking, replanning, reorganizing, we ditched the welting plan and went for a clean contemporary look. It looks better anyway. Even this part proved difficult getting these stripes to line up.

I stayed up late last night sewing and ironing these babies.

You do agree that they do look better though, right? What was going to be a few hours project will turn into a week long project. The end result will be worth it though.

Nigel Exploits My Weaknesses

Have you ever noticed that the very thing you love about a person/thing is often the very thing that causes strife? One of the reasons I love my kittys so much is because they are very smart. They intensely yet casually observe me searching for my weak spots planning to self-servingly exploit those same weak spots later.

Nigel has learned that I have 'a thing' for books. He knows that it gets my attention if he pilfers with a book and many books come through here. He particularly learned this one night when I had borrowed a book from a friend and he started pilfering with it. Every time he would start rattling the pages, I would tell him to stop. After all, I did wish to give it back to her in the same condition she loaned it. Later when I was asleep, he would wake me rattling the pages so I had to get up and put the book somewhere he could not reach. He put 2 + 2 together to establish the fact that if he messed with a book that I would get up. If I got up, I might feed him. He was wrong about that fact but it has not deterred him. He knows I definitely will not feed him if I am asleep and there is still 'hope' that I might when awake.

Pilfering has turned into destruction. I try to keep everything I really value in a safe location away from little teeth. Still, he is resourceful. I was keeping this church bulletin from when I was confirmed. I leave it out now because he has fairly torn it to shreds. I do not wish to give him new fodder to tear to shreds. Go for it Nigel! What he does not know is I have another one. Then, there are the magazines. Usually, those are not extremely important to me except magazines are pricey these days. I would still like for them to be readable when I need them.

See what I mean about the very attribute you love becoming a thorn? It is not a great thorn just a little annoying 'sticker'. I cannot complain too much about it though since I ask for it none the less.

It Is a Red One!

I have explained here before that I am very fortunate to have made some special friends at my mother's retirement home. Most of the ladies there know that I work fairly late into the evenings. They often ask my mother if she knows if I have made it home safely or not. They are so sweet to be interested that way. Last night, I was visiting and one lady asked me what kind of car I had. I knew the only reason she was interested was because she was attempting to determine if it was a reliable one or not. Just as I was about to answer her, mom piped up and said "It is a red one!" Okaaaay. That settles that then. The only thing is that there is a slight variance between red cars if you have noticed or not.



This kind of red one?



OR

That kind of red one?

He jumps, he dives, he jumps!

Just in case anyone is wondering, I still love baby.

You came from Heaven shining


Breath of God still fresh on you

The beating heart inside me

Crumbled at this one so new

No matter where, how far you wander


For a thousand years or longer

I will always be there for you

Right here with you

~From "Amazing" by Chris Janz

The Preacher Lady Preaches

See that lady in the picture? Yeah, that is me. She even has the prayer book out. She is probably studying it so she can preach it at someone. Recently, the editor of my writing told me that I have a tendency to be 'a little bit preachy, rather than a story teller'. Whatever he tells me, I am never insulted. He is always right. I knew he was right this time too. I told him about once a long time ago, I took an aptitude test that indicated the two professions that I had the best suited skills were 1. writer 2. preacher. So the preachiness rears its ugly head in my writing.

This is how it goes folks when you are a closet preacher. I do not overtly preach. I preach in my mind and in my writing. I will give you an example. I know I have mentioned here on this blog before that words can ruin a song for me regardless of how beautiful the tune is. If the words stink, I just cannot go there. There is a new song out by Adele that causes me to go off on a mental preaching tangent when it comes on the radio. It is called "Someone Like You". Often while I am driving in my car, I am preaching up a storm in my mind at poor, Adele. That girl!! Will someone get over to her house and slap her??

This song says:

I heard that you're settled down

That you found a girl and you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you.



Okay so poor old Adele's boyfriend dumped her for someone else and she is beating herself up for it. Stop it, Adele!!! What are you a masochist? Okay, the preaching is really about to begin on the next few lines.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited

But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over


Gee Adele! Grow a spine, girlfriend! Don't let him see you sweat. Get the heck out of there and go find someone new and NOT 'someone like you'. I mean he did dump you afterall, right? See how my preachiness goes? I get riled up about words. Seriously now, I have been fairly joking to this point but I really do believe that the words you listen to are the words you come to believe and live. Those are no good words and I will not listen to that kind of drivel. That comes on the radio, I switch it. Besides, Adele's voice gets on my nerves. ;) So it is along about here that I push in the Beatles cd. "She loves you. yeah. yeah. yeah". Yep, those are my kind of words!

Multitasking

I like to wear my hair up because I have a natural body temperature of 180 degrees. Do you believe that about my body temp? Okay, maybe I am exaggerating but it feels like 180 degrees. The best part is that when I take my hair down, I have a new curly hairdo. It is a great multitasker, the updo thing. Anyway, I did not get a pix of my entire head because I would have had to include my face and trust me on this one, you do not want to see my face when I first wake up, okay? It is a scary, scary thing. Cats have been known to head for the hills from the sight of it never to be seen by anyone ever again.

Meet Iron Man!

Do you like Robert Downey Jr? I love him. I am so happy that he seems to have conquered his demons. I mention R.D. Jr. because we have a new cat in the house, Iron Man.

Jacob Blackandwhite, meet Iron Man. Iron Man, meet Jacob Blackandwhite.



Nigel's first response to Iron Man. He knows that cat is a bad #ss! Made out of solid cast iron! Maybe if he puffs himself up really big, it will frighten Iron Man.

Red, White and Blue

Today was my day to setup up the alter. We are going to have a red, white and blue alter tomorrow.

Remember When?

Remember when my Little Jacob was trying to insinuate himself inside my house? He was so sweet then.

Okay, now he has completely insinuated himself. He no longer has to try at anything. He is the chief cook and bottle washer. This is his little bucket that used to fit him perfectly. He still tries to cram himself into it while I am getting ready for work. The purring he does while he is in this bucket is hysterically funny. He can no longer fit his legs in with him but he does not mind.

He is so sweet now.

Little Miss No Name Part Deux

Unbelievable! This is a real doll and James was right. Her name is Little Miss No Name. I thought he was kidding! I am really glad I never had one of my own.

Apparently, she had a removable tear. Read more here if you are interested:
http://www.dollinfo.com/LMissNo.htm

Little Miss No Name

My friend, James sets up estate sales. It is a lot of work. He has to go through mountains of belongings, price them, arrange them, you get the idea. Recently during an estate sale, he uncovered this doll.



I do not know what kind of effect she has on you but she scares the bejeepers out of me. I can hardly stand to look at her. He has her locked inside a cabinet. Hope she stays there!

Yes, It's A Beautiful Day To Live On the Edge

My little blog here is slowly dying. It may have reached the end of its normal life span. At any rate, I used to try to save stuff for separate days but now I will just clump stuff together for a post  when I can. Today, is a beautiful day. It is the first day in eons that it is not hotter than a frying pan. I love it! Segue into next section here...

Remember way back when I would post my cats theme songs? We (my household) all have them. I honestly did not have to rack my brain for Jacob's theme. From the first moment I ever saw him, I knew what it was. I have been doing housework to this song for almost 20 years now because it just gets me moving. Jacob moves all of the time and he loves to live on the edge (apparently, close enough to the edge that he falls and breaks a toe.) I had this song on last night while I was vacuuming and sure enough Jake loved it. He was running around like a banshee jumping, climbing, rolling, diving. Plus, the part where it says "Something wrong with our eyes" fits him, except I substitute the words "Something is wrong with his eye" when it gets to that part. Do you like to do your housework to music? I love it. It makes housework fun. Music makes most everything fun.

Jacob's Broken Toe

Have you ever seen a cat with a broken toe? What does a broken cat toe look like you might be wondering? It looks just like that.

Have I mentioned that Jake is accident prone? Well, he is. I do not know how he broke his toe. I probably do not WANT to know. He did it while I was at work. A couple of weeks ago there was an incident with the cuckoo clock. He was playing with the chains and connected them to an electrical plug. Fire blew out about 10 feet and the plugs and lights on one wall blew out. Fortunately, baby was unharmed. I was terrified because I thought he was probably dead. I have tried to kitty proof everything but obviously I cannot protect him from everything. Needless to say, the cuckoo clock is up in a closet now. I can only do my best but sometimes that is just not enough.