A Few Things

          After all the hullabaloo of last week, this week was rather blah, bland, quiet and calm. Maybe uneventful would be the best descriptor of all. Nonetheless, I've got a few things we can talk about. Was there ever any doubt in your mind?

          We've had this cat toy for many, many years. It's got places in the top for the cat to put her paw through and bat the pink plastic ball around in a circle. Missy, one of our old cats who's gone now, used to play with this thing all the time and she'd get the ball out. I never saw her do it so I don't know how she did it.

          I found it again the other day, brought it in and washed about three inches of dust and grime from it and put it on the floor in the utility room. Anon has adopted it as her own. She plays with it a lot! Mike and I'll be sitting in the other room watching TV and hear her batting the ball around.

          I was in the kitchen one day this week and heard the ball going around on its little track. I looked and was surprised to see Smudge playing with it. I was thinking about going for the camera when all of a sudden Smudge freezes. I look in the direction he's gazing and there's Anon, crouched down by the wall and staring at him. I can almost hear Smudge's, "Oh shit," as he slunk away, looking back once, and I had to laugh. I guess he knows it's hers too.

          Our week started off with one warm day followed by a second not-so-bad day. Mike and I took the opportunity to take the winter plastic sheeting down from the patio. We still have one side to do but the rest of the week was cold and blustery and rainy. We're thinking that next year we won't block off so much area. We don't need to put plastic around the whole patio and the plastic doesn't really hold up all the well to Pennsylvania's winter winds. Maybe we'll just do something around the entryway to keep the wind from blowing straight in.

          There isn't much to say about the construction of the lower bridge. The deck is poured, the parapets are formed and they're waiting on weather to pour those. We haven't been spending much time down there because there isn't any good place to watch from. Besides, we got to see them do the bridge by the Kipps' house and the method is the same for this one. In other words, the novelty has worn off.

          Something we do find interesting is that they're erecting something in the parking lot by the Rainbow Bridge. They originally made this lot and put pumping stations in to pump water up from the Susquehanna into trucks that take it to the well-drilling sites.

          "A water tower?" I hazarded a guess.

          "I don't know," Mike replied. "Maybe."

          Time will tell.

          Look what I saw at my pond! A Green Heron! It's the second time this year I've seen one but they always hear me coming and take off before I get very close.

          In this cause he only went as far as a tree. I tried to get a little closer but he took off again. I bet he eats frogs and tadpoles and maybe even baby turtles if he finds them. There aren't any fish in my pond.

          The blossoms are starting to open on our Bradford Pear trees. We're at least a week behind the ones down in town. They're pretty but don't let all that prettiness fool you. They stink.

          Miss Rosie and I had a discussion about canned pumpkin the other day. I don't even remember how we got on the subject or even the context of the conversation but I remember volunteering a 'fact' I'd heard someplace or another. "Did you know that most canned pumpkin isn't pumpkin at all?" I told her.

          "No. It says pumpkin on the label," she pointed out.

          "I know, right! I heard it was really squash."

          I decided to research it a little.

          "What'd you find out, Peg?" you wanna know.

          Botanists say it's difficult to draw the line between pumpkins and squash because there's no botanical difference. 

          Pumpkins are a type of squash. They're a winter squash.

          What we think of as a pumpkin, a large round orange thing to carve Jack O' Lanterns out of, are not what's in the can labeled pumpkin.

          "What is it then?" you ask.

          Libby's developed a Dickinson. 

           Some call it squash, Libby's calls it pumpkin. It's an uglier cousin to the traditional pumpkin and is what you'll find 90% of the time. But it isn't the only variety of 'pumpkin' you'll find in the cans either. It can be made from one or more types of winter squash like butternut, Hubbard, Boston Marrow, and Golden Delicious. The USDA is actually pretty lenient with its distinction between pumpkin and squash.

          "Why not just use pumpkin?"

          I know, right! That's what I wanted to know too! These other squash have thinner skin, more meat, are less stringy, richer in sweetness and color than our pumpkin patch pumpkins. And if you ever cook up one of your Jack O' Lantern pumpkins you'll find it to be bland and soupy. I know. I made that mistake once. I didn't know that pumpkin pies weren't made from pumpkins.

          And now you know.

          Do you know who Rachel Levine is? I'll never forget the first time I heard her speak. The TV was on in the kitchen and I was getting supper around. I didn't hear the introduction but part way through I glanced at the TV and was surprised to see a woman speaking when I thought I'd been listening to a man.

          "Is that what people heard when they heard my mother speak?" I wondered. Over the phone, to people who didn't know her, she was often mistaken for a man. I never thought she sounded like a man. Not even after she told me about it. I could never hear a man in Momma's voice.

          But in this case, Rachel used to be Ronald. Levine is the highest-ranking transgender official in Pennsylvania and one of a small number of transgender people serving in elected or appointed offices nationwide.

          But you want to know what really drives me crazy? Those sign language translators they have on the screen with them. I thought they mouthed whatever word they were signing. We have this one woman who appears with our governor that makes the most whacky, outlandish, exaggerated  mouth movements while signing and I have to look away. I just can't watch her.

          I worked on my Flower Garden this week. I thought to have little bouquets of the same flower winding its way up my curly q's. So I made more of the same kind of my favorite designs. I tend to be a little OCD and may have over-achieved. I've made enough flowers for a couple of Flower Gardens!

          I thought my flowers might need some greenery so I spent some time making leaves.

          All the same or different? I wondered. Different for each color of flower? All the same? Does it even matter?

          I can't make up my mind. But I did start making leaves.

          I came up with this design that I liked. I thought I'd put three large leaves along the bottom edge, evenly spaced — more or less. I added white on top of the green and wasn't happy with the starkness of it. Then I got an idea.
           I've got some polyurethane that is yellow with age.

           On some of my colors it doesn't matter but it turns the color white slightly yellow. Mike bought me some new polyurethane and told me to throw the old stuff away. Did I listen! NO! I don't like to waste and now I'm glad I didn't throw it out. I dipped my leaves in the old stuff. I think it'll be okay. What do you think?

          I made some smaller leaves but left them plain green and didn't fancy 'em up. In my mind, I justified it by thinking the little leaves can be all green and the white develops as the leaves get bigger.

          Hey! No judgment here. It's my world and that's how it's going to work! Unless I change my mind, of course.

          Switching gears I thought to work on my butterfly. I was down to the wire and had to make a decision. I can't start weaving my flowers and leaves on until I decided what I was going to do with the butterfly.

          I really love the glassiness of these flowers. They are some of my extra flowers I don't think I'm going to use on this piece. What if I make my butterfly wings glassy?

          The technique I used to make them was to first dip them in Mod Podge then in printer ink. The ink won't dry but when I rinse it, it'll stain the Podge. The details are painted on then, when dry, dipped in polyurethane.

          I'm tellin' ya! Ya gotta wanna do this stuff!

          The gaps in the butterfly wings are a lot larger than in the flowers and it's hard to get the Podge bubbles to form and not burst over such a large space. I thought I'd lay down a layer of tissue first. Once dry, I added the ink but I hated it and took it apart and started again.

          No choice, I thought. If I want them to look glassy I'd have to try the Podge.

          I played around and did get the bubbles to form and stay. I was pretty proud of myself. When I added the ink, all kinds of problems arose. I got a hole in one wing. The Podge sagged and wrinkled. I hated it and tore it apart again. Now I'm back to a blank slate and thinking, maybe beads? But the weekend is here so I'll just shove it to the back of my mind and let it ruminate while I work on my letter blog. I get to start all over again on Monday.
           It was a quiet week, a really quiet week, then Saturday happened.
          We were running low on oranges. Oranges, and vitamin C specifically, is touted as being beneficial in fighting COVID19. I think that getting your daily recommended allowance of Vitamin C is good thing anyway but especially during this time Mike and I are making an extra effort to have a fresh orange every day.

          My phone buzzed. I got a message from that beautiful neighbor of mine. Stephanie Robinson. "I'm going to town. Do you need anything?" she asked. She's such a good neighbor.

          We did need a couple of things. Oranges being one of them. Bananas being another. Mike only likes them green — ack, ack! I prefer them ripe and sweet.

          Oh my gosh! You know what that reminds me of?

          "Jack Sprat?" you guess.

          Yes! Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean; And so betwixt them both, They lick'd the platter clean. They made a good team and so do we!

          I let Mike know that Steph was offering to pick up something if we needed it. "Tell her we need oranges," he said.

          "And bananas?" I asked.

          "Yeah. Bananas too."

          "Okay. How are we going to pay her for them?" I asked. That's one of the drawbacks of never having any cash.

          Mike thought about it for a minute. "Never mind."

           A couple of hours later Mike suggested,"Let's run to Dushore."

           I didn't fuss and say no right away like I always do. I'd made good progress on my blog and because I had an ulterior motive. "Okay," I agreed and left the letter blog on my desktop.

          "Let's take Ambrosius Road," Mike said.

          I was surprised. He hates the alternate routes into Dushore, preferring instead to take the wider, better paved, Wyalusing New Albany Road. "Why?"

          "No hills that way. Better gas mileage."

          "I wanna go the Wyalusing New Albany Road," I said. "We can come back Ambrosius if you want to."

          It was his turn to ask, "Why?"

          "Something's going on. They're looking for a girl that was last seen on that road. I think there was some kind of accident last night and she wandered away. Joanie said they had a helicopter circling over her place for a couple of hours."

          So we went the way I wanted to go. "There they are!" I exclaimed like Mike couldn't see it for himself.

           We went slow and they waved us around the search party. "They've brought out a dog!"

          As it turns out, someone — who might be me — jumped to a conclusion not supported by evidence. The evidence being, it was stated she was at risk for harm or injury and my mind jumped to car accident. This gal lives here, is 22 years old, is special needs, and has wandered away before.

         

          I spotted a hawk! I know it's not a great picture but I'm always glad to spot one and get a half-way decent shot.

          We did our shopping and headed home. Going past Ambrosius salvage yard I got this shot.

          Then cars started flashing their lights at us as they passed.

          "Must be something going on," Mike said and slowed.

          Flares on the road before a bend, then we see it.

          "Heck of a way to park your car," Mike jokes.

          Of course it's not funny and I don't know if anyone was hurt, but what're ya gonna do! Done is done and can't be undone.

            And with that let's....

          "Wait! Wait, wait! Peg, you didn't tell us how Mike is doing," you say.

          I know, right! When things are going good, I do tend to forget. Mike is doing well except he's experiencing a lot of back pain. He's been taken off his prescription pain medication and is using OTC Tylenol. He's trying to walk more by getting out of his recliner and doing things for himself. That's hard for me because doing things for him is the way I show him that I love him. Now I know, that because I do love him, I have to let him do things for himself.

          And let's call this one done!