Arrrrgh!

Deadheading the Candytuft was not as satisfying as it might have been. With all the dead flowers gone, I could see what lay underneath. More Poison Oak! I've got the Poison Oak Blues.

Not a Wierdo

You Are 12% Weirdo

Your thinking is so in line with the mainstream, it's pretty freaky. Have you ever considered running for political office? You're so normal, people can't help but feel comfortable with you!

Are You A Weirdo?

Hot July Morning

Whew! We are supposed to reach 101-degrees F today. DD is sitting for rabbits this week, and is worried about them as they are in cages outside. A neighbor, possibly the one feeding the fish, had draped a sheet over the bunnies' cages for shade, and DD gives each a frozen water bottle to cuddle. They may need two bottles today. Dog next door is being left in our care again this weekend. She's a dear sweet golden retriever, and we enjoy her company. Hope there's no lightning Friday night, as she's scared of it. Weather predicts possibility of it.

Why did this adorable half a Vincent run out of gas? I forgot why. There WAS a reason. HH and OVM club members were riding around on beautiful Columbia River old highway. HH was riding his BSA B31, and doubled back after filling up his tank to let Vincent here siphon some with his curly blue plastic hose. You can see through the hose so you can tell when the gas is coming and don't need to swallow any, though hose is too curly to siphon without suction. HH doesn't bother with fancy methods of siphoning.

That reminds me of my brother. One time he was siphoning, and got some (ew!) gas in his mouth, which he immediately spit out, but then, to get the taste out, he grabbed a handy Coke bottle and took a swig--unfortunately for him, he had earlier drained some engine oil into the Coke bottle. Yikes. He has, I think, learned from this experience to be more discerning.

The Gardener

Photo is by Larry until I take camera and photo MIL's heather, but it's not blooming any more. I just wanted to tell you the funny story she told me about the directions she gives her gardener. She can no longer do these things herself, so she has Rubin come twice a month or as often as she can get him. When he came the other day, she said, "I don't want it flat, and I don't want a ball." Rubin looked at the shrub, looked at MIL, looked at his pruners, looked at MIL and said "You don't want it flat and you don't want a ball." Then he repeated the whole thing. I'm glad they get along.

My Color?

Your Power Color Is Magenta

At Your Highest: You energize yourself and push others to suceed. At Your Lowest: You feel frustrated and totally overwhelmed. In Love: You are suprised by who you attract. You're a love magnet. How You're Attractive: Open and free spirited, people want to explore the world with you. Your Eternal Question: "What is my next source of inspiration?"

What's Your Power Color?

Errrr

This camera business has me flumoxed. No mavens around to help me out when I need them, like I have since my last post. Like HH says, there's been some musical thing going on every night, except when it's a group project homework thing. Everyone trying to get in their final this that and the other for the year, awards, dinners, all needing music. It's either DD or me, so instead of quiet evenings at home talking to each other, we've been breezing through on our way to out and about. Tonight it's an end of school party. The camera is still hooked to the computer, and when I try to unhook it, I get dire warnings. Well, maybe someone has taken care of that, since the camera is now turned off, but I still don't remember what I'm supposed to do. If anyone and I both alight here at the same time, maybe I can get another cameral lesson.

This picture shows more detail of the cool decals on the sidecovers. Well, there's one on each side.

Needs Love

I am inspired by all the photos Avus and Boggywoggy have posted of bicycles, as well as the pictures of Sir Edward Elgar with a Sunbeam posted at Little Corner of the Earth, so here's one of the bikes on our patio, sadly sitting with no wheels, but with a history. It came from the same shop in Massachusetts as the Sunbeam S7, back in 1947. I recognized the photos of Elgar, because we got books as well as bikes when we bought the Sunbeam. The bike pictured here is not a Sunbeam, but a BSA. Poor little thing.

It is the time of year when bands and orchestras play Elgar's music, particularly Opus 39. We're playing No. 1 and No. 4. I feel I should mention that 1 is arranged for band by Paul Sterrett and 4 is transcribed by M. Retford, revised and edited by Alfred Reed. We're doing something else by Reed. Ah, yes. Alleluia! Laudamus Te. Good stuff. All right, quiz time. What is the name of the pieces Opus 39, No. 1 and No. 4 that we are playing?

New Post

It just seemed like time to add a post, and I've been wanting to show off this gorgeous picture HH took while on a ride. We took the tank and side covers up to Oregon City and met at the Oregon City Falls wayside where we can overlook the mills. There we met with a guy who had colorful flame tatoos on both arms and legs. The decals we gave him with the parts to be painted didn't work, so the painted parts were looking rather plain, in a spectacular shiney red way. In other words, plain is not a very good word for anything as glamorous as the painted parts. We got them back by meeting the same flaming man at the same waterfall wayside. HH only recently added these flag decals. The 650 Lightning was made for the American market, thus the American flag. If any of you have advice for this sort of thing, he would welcome it.

Evil Monster Yard

There is a lot of this stuff hiding in my yard. It's poison-oak. I was just trying to yank up a few weeds yesterday, knowing that stuff was in there somewhere, when I pulled one up and my hand drifted back and brushed against some of it. Ack! I put my handful of weeds into the compost bin and went inside to wash wash wash wash wash wash endlessly wash with Tecnu. Ack! Did I touch that with oaky fingers? I don't think anything but the back of my hand was affected, but what if I'm wrong? Worry worry worry. Clean everything off with alcohol. HH and DLD were waiting waiting waiting, because I was waiting for them when I was distracted by the weeds. I should have stood idley by the auto. HH says he'll pour gasoline on the poisonous monsters. Clever Neighbor says "use crossbow" which sounds a lot saner than using gasoline to me. Gotta use something, though, because it can't be pulled or burned. It keeps it's poisonous effects for ages after it's dead...a year or two. I will have to look it up. Clever Neighbor pointed out another big batch of it I hadn't seen yet, because it was in with several other things that had similarly shaped leaves. We have a lot of volunteer oaks, Hawthorns and blackberries. I will have to show DLD the new batch. Ugh! .....worse than Ugh!

Interior Decorating

Here's what I call decorating. I put the red vines in the glass and set the glass on the sideboard. Spiffy. I was inspired by Mrs. Staggs.

I'm pretty pleased that I took a picture and got it into the computer, but now I don't know how to detatch the camera. I'm sure DLD will be able to clue me in when she gets home from school.

Did I Say?

I never saw one of these before. It was just one of the many bikes at the OVM yearly show at Benton County Fairgrounds last Sunday. This bike didn't go on the Saturday ride, but there were over 50 interesting old motorcycles from all over the world that did. They went well over 100 miles, and no one broke down. Yaaaa! Most of the Ducati's and Vincent's took off ahead of the main bunch. Sunday HH was happy to bring home an honorable mention.

Happy Birthday, Loquacious One

As the Girl on the Swing in Ragtime would say, "Wheee!" It's a party. Happy Birthday Darling Girl. I hope you enjoy your day.

Pianos Tuned, Check

Whoopee! The pianos are now both tuned, and I have met the delightful Mr. Stainthorpe. The hammers on the old baby grand are hardened, so it sounds like a honky tonk piano. He played a bit of a rag time ditty on it, which was very entertaining. Such pizzaz! He is a violinist, and played in the Sacramento Symphony, until they put him on viola, which he didn't think was fun. Anyway, he wanted to see Mom's old violin, so I got it out for him, but when he went to play it, he found it was strung as a viola. Oh, right. Loquacious Daughter was practicing viola before she had one by restringing the violin. It all makes sense, but Mr. Stainthorpe and I were dissapointed, because we wanted to hear a violin.

He told me many fine and entertaining stories, but I have already forgotten the details. One was about a guy he gives overflow work to who made a custom organ for Toyota. He had to give up his organ making because the organ making shop where he worked closed because the man who owned it retired. Alas!

My hammers are hard. Did I mention that yet? On the baby grand piano. He says it is very expensive to replace the hammers. He says for a short-lived fix, I could poke holes in them all to let a little air in. That doesn't sound like anything I'm going to do. Hard hammers sound kind of rinky tinky. Anyway, it is sure a lot nicer than it was. Maybe I will add photos later.

Whatever

Played trombone last night. People danced. The guys look so cute in the cummerbunds and bow ties. I get to follow these and mostly other motorcycles around old roads on a club ride next Saturday. I'll be driving the pickup car. Hope I don't have to pick anyone up.

Dr. Not Who drives the Ducati. I've got a story about him, that I've been putting off telling. He's a retired chemist, and he told HH that his wife doesn't listen to him, trust him, or believe him when he says burning candles is carcinogenic. That's my story. I don't like it.

He says Google Earth is free, and now I can find an old photo of my house on the map. HH showed it to me this morning. He said look at this, and the computer screen had a tiny planet earth in the middle. He said push this button (with the mouse) and the earth zoomed closer, and closer until you could see my house.

I went to Garland Nursery yesterday to buy a hanging Begonia basket for MIL for today. Found just the right one. It is fun to go to Garland. I see lots of lovely things I can't afford there. I hope. Then I went to the antique mall to pick up finds for a birthday package. I hope I get it mailed. The mall is fun because there are lots of very pretty things I can afford, and there's a black cat curled up on a pillow, and one of the owners was helping me and cracking wise the whole time. They had a shoe store stool for sale by the front door. Remember those?

Today we're all going to Ragtime. DD will be playing in the pit. They have been having sound system problems, so I hope those are worked out. The sound guy fixes my shoes when he's not doing sound. Maybe I can get the low down on what happened if I get a new pair of shoes for him to fix.

Ragtime

Tonight is opening night for Ragtime. DD is playing for most of the shows, or that's her plan. MIL and I are going Sunday to see her. OK, we may hear her. We're going to see the show. Fluffy Cat is wanting my attention, so I have to go now and give her attention. No one else is home. HH is off getting advice for his map from a guy with GPS on his Ducati. No DD, no HH, just me and Fluff Ball.

The Nighthawk was sold to make room for the Moto Guzzi. I don't know how other people do this. It doesn't work for me. I like these bike pictures, though. I'm coming, Cat.

Out of Tune

Yesterday I was listening to DD playing piano, and thinking "How beautiful. I wonder if only a mother would like this? No, it's got great phrasing and shape and OK, it's not perfect, but it sounds wonderful." She went on from one beautiful piece to another and another, and the last one got more and more dramatic at the end to a flashy finish, when the Whirlwind appeared screeming and demanding the paino be tuned immediately. Well, maybe that's pretty good timing, because a life insurance company that my dad had a policy with sent me a check that should cover piano tuning. That was probably connected to the piece of paper my brother stopped by with and had me sign. I wrote down that tuner that used to work for Liberace on a piece of paper, now where is it? I'll just look it up again. I know a trombone player who used to play for Liberace, and another trombone player who used to trick or treat Liberace. Then I could be a trombone player who got her paino tuned by Liberace's piano tuner. If he'll do it.

Wheeeee

We're motoring down I-5 getting close to LA when we see an unbelievable sight---huge roller coasters, high roller coasters, looping roller coasters--every kind of roller coaster I ever saw in pictures, there in the distance beside the road. We weren't the only people to notice, because we soon came to the exit for this roller coaster paradise, and traffic pretty much just stopped while waiting for their turn to go to this amazing place. We eventually noticed that we could keep going if we just got out of the right side lanes. But not before I drug out the camera and got this picture.

Back from LA

Mission accomplished. We are back, and we have the Moto Guzzi. The drive was somewhat harrowing, us being country bumkins in the big city. We saw three young men in fast heavy LA freeway traffic on sport bikes and one of them was doing a wheelie. I don't know what the other two were doing because they were out of sight when I saw the 3rd up on his back tire, no protective clothing, zooming fast with the traffic. Bikes split lanes in LA. I told him (of course he didn't hear me) to stop distracting my driver. HH did all the LA driving. Yikes. We traded off other places. Big sighs of relief when we left the LA area.

The fellow selling the bike was from Ireland, and is going back for a reunion with all his friends and the Isle of Man tt race. He, and his wife who had just gotten back from her own trip to Ireland, were very fun to visit with, and brought out garage furniture so we could have a little party on the driveway while we watched HH assemble the Trailer in a Bag. They regailed us with tales of LA and Ireland, insurance, universal health care, health care costs, education, and motorcycles.

HH is the first non-engineer owner of the bike, and the prior owners kept pictures, records, diaries. If you scroll down a couple entries here you may see a photo of the car, trailer and bike. I changed out the photos.

Do you see the dark spire in the left quarter of this photo? It is a tree. We started seeing them in Sacramento and south, so I assume they require a warm climate, but when growing singley with various other trees and bushes, they are spectacular. I wonder what they are?

Looking for Cali

Alley doesn't understand why she can't find Cali. She is so confused, and no, she doesn't like dogs. HH is off riding the Harley and expects to eat when he gets home, and DD is hungry. She's going to something she calls "Devising". It's a theater thing. Saturday she has a rehearsal for Ragtime. What fun. She's playing piano now, and it's beautiful. Why is she such a good sight reader? Must be smart.

Goodbye, Cali

I miss you.

Need a Tune

Planned on getting pianos tuned. I had just decided we'd caught up enough financially to tune at least one if not both pianos, and was wondering what tuner to use, but there has been a slight setback. The Moto Guzzi (which I hope will work fine) is the setback. Some friend of a friend in Seattle has one, too. Maybe I should ask him if he's heard any lemon talk from that guy. This one's an 89, so maybe some of the bugs were worked out before it was made. It doesn't matter anyway, because we already bought it. HH won the bid. I'm taking old kitty to vet today. Hope all works out OK.

Vita and HH's Next Adventure

Sometimes a deal comes along that is just too good to pass up, and when such things happen, the fun and smart thing to do is go for it, so that is what we did. It is a 1989 Moto Guzzi Le Mans with low miles, meticulous care and lovely paint. We are going for a fun weekend drive to LA to pick it up. Ya Hoo!

Fun In Sun or Taxes

What a beautiful day. We have sun, there are flowers outside ready to plant, the temperature is perfect, an outside sort of day. I need to spend all my spare moments finding all the tax papers I put off filing so I can do my taxes. HH has a cold, DD has allergies. I'd be wonderful if my head wasn't plugged up.

Scramble

That's like eggs, not a motorcycle race. That's what my head is doing this morning. That and the little Morse code thing that's been going on constantly for several days. I'm pretty sure that's because of my head being plugged up.

Do the rest of you have times when you're smart and times when you're not so smart. Sometimes my brain is just right on top of things, and I can clearly think of several things and keep them all straight. Other times it's all just a muddle...... I had to stop for a minute to turn on iTunes to hear the Bassoon Quartet instead of my head ringing, except now it seems my head is playing along.

I so admire the beautiful gracious manners of my friends. I really enjoy watching them socialize with their great skills. One in particular must have learned at her mother's knee. I think she's brilliant and admire her so! I tell myself to be like her, but when I get in a social situation, I'm just so excited to be around people I forget to think before speaking. I'm so lucky to know such fun people.

I hope Roger isn't mad at me--I told some entire band that he'd had a birthday of which he didn't wish to be reminded. He told the band I was delusional. Ha! I was around people and got excited. Sorry, Roger. It just slipped out.

My MIL tried to deposit a "check" that was just a voucher saying "we owe you money." I carried this and other checks to the bank for her, never thinking to question, as I am used to her being the mom, and me being the subordinate. I feel like I let her down, though. Should I have looked through the pile? Now she thinks she threw away a check, but I think it's possible that they haven't sent the check, just a notice saying they would be sending one. I have to pick her up at 10:30, so I'd better get going so I can get things done before I leave.

Shopping

We did it. Yesterday DD and I went on an adventure in the world of Teen Fashion. OK, she's used to it, but I lead some sort of sheltered life. The picture above shows a teen fashion when I was young. Now things are a lot different, and I feel lucky that DD has such conservative taste. Do people really wear the stuff they try to sell in stores? I did see some goofy looking things on people, but nothing as awful as what the stores wanted to sell, which was mostly of inferior quality. Actually it was fun, and I like what the clever daughter picked out, and don't think I had any inhibiting effect on her. We came home with packages. Since we didn't buy any motorcycles, HH barely noticed. Today we go to the dentist! I can hardly wait.

Odd You Should Say That

Friday I took MIL to visit a doctor--thank goodness the tests turned out OK and she won't have to have surgery--but when HH and I came back later after picking up her medicine, she pointed out that she was wearing odd socks. Maybe that's why the outcome was so positive. After pointing out the odd socks, which were barely noticable, one being navy blue the other black, she announced that her mother often told her if she put her underwear on backwards, and it had to be accidentally backwards, not to change it, because if she left it as was, she would have good luck all that day. No, I haven't said anything to her about my recent run-ins with underware. But I see now that I should have left it odd, and yes, boggywoggy, it was uncomfortable.

Where is Mind?

Several mornings now, I've had to actually take of my underpants and put them on again right way front. Am very proud of self today, as I remembered to check first, and got them right first time.

Tonight is a trombone clinic by (with?) Henry Henniger, but also DD is coming home from basketball tournament and will need ride from school around time clinic is under way, so will have to see how that pans out.

At masked ball, was off getting picture taken with DD and masks when band started playing and missed one whole tune. This is 1st rehearsal since, so I will see how mad everyone is at me. Now I'm leaving early for trombone clinic. Scanner not working, so am safe in saying you will not see picture.

Red Lights

I heard on the news that Eugene had so many red light runners (people driving cars through red lights) they put up cameras to catch them. Up until then, I hadn't noticed much in the way of red light running here in Corvallis, but it's like hearing that on the news gave Corvallis people the idea, or maybe the Eugene runners drove up to Corvallis to do their red running to get away from the cameras. (We're about three towns away, depending how you travel.) I have lately been seeing a lot of red light runners. Also, a lot of deer wandering the roads, not to mention skunks, so drivers, be cautious.

Our local tuba playing USA presidential candidate is traveling to New York today to meet with other presidential candidates. Good luck, Michael Charles Smith!

Sunny Girl

What was that? Play? Play play play play play. Yes! I love to play.

Accidental Change

Today is a beautifu day for a motorcycle ride, and HH went on one, while I stayed around kicking my heels. He met up with people with Yamahas and Moto Guzzi's, and took this photo.

I thought I'd lost my name, but now I have it back, so I'm happy. This is very confusing.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just wanted to wish everyone, and especially Mrs. Staggs, a Happy Valentine's Day. HH is going to take me to the Darkside to see Pan's Labyrinth. The Darkside is the most romantic theater in town. I can hardly wait.

Hee hee. He had a little excitement with his 1954 BSA Monday. Got stuck and had to call the rescue trailer (me). Thank goodness our very able neighbor was home to push the Gold Wing out of the way of the trailer for me. He also hitched it up for me. HH says it's all part of the excitement of driving old British bikes, and he's also looking forward with glee to rebuilding the magneto.

Into the Sun

Can you see it? There the sun is just behind that tree. This is the sort of weather that makes one appreciate puffy down coats with pockets and fluffy socks.

34 F Outside, 58 F Inside

Can you blame me? I'm waiting for it to warm up in here before I take my shower. I could take it now, but I have to wash my hair, and I don't feel like hanging around with wet hair in a 58˚ cold house. I pushed the thermometer up a little, and got an immediate sigh of appreciation from Old Kitty. Fluffy Kitty doesn't seem to care. Old Kitty was hollering, and I think it was because of the cold. The weather forcast says it's going to warm up to a blistering 45˚ F outside, with a bit of sun peeking through the fog. I'll turn the heat back down in a couple hours, OK? After I've showered. Meanwhile, I have parts lists to type and a quilt to bind, and the band wants me to prepare several new charts. Ugh! I don't even like them. Why can't we get some GOOD new music?

Mask Making is Fun

With the help and suggestions of the creatively brilliant Cabaret Chairwoman, I made two beautiful masks. Now, under no pressure to make more, and with my newly accuired experience, I can just try to aid and supervise other mask-makers at the next go-round. I am looking forward to it. All masks made at the work session are in her care, and the materials were provided by the symphony associationa and by her, with the exception of a very few minor contributions by her volunteers. Time flies when one is making masks with all sorts of beautiful materials at hand to decorate them. Some of the students were absolutely brilliant, creative artists.

One Hundred

Hey! That's not a motorcycle? No, it's the engine of a big yellow piece of mysterious equipment. Maybe it's road equipment. We have snow. We have school, too, at least so far. Maybe the big yellow thing is a snow plow, but I don't think so.

Oh, boy. A masked ball. The Corvallis Youth Symphony is putting on a masked ball. I get to make masks. But I don't get to wear my green velvet gown because the band is playing, so I have to wear my black dress. I like my black dress, but maybe not as much as my green velvet. Maybe I could wear both. You know, change before we play. Don't know enough yet to know if that will work.

Ninety Nine

Mrs. Staggs wanted to know if I was in highly organized mode, and I just wanted to say, "Ha ha ha." I wandered into the back room with the intention of swapping some of the furniture around, and measured. The desk I want to put in is 4 inches wider than the desk I want to take out. Then I just backed out of the room and put the tape measure back in my tool kit before I lost it. Maybe tomorrow I'll make some moves on that front.

I have to make a cold weather TO DO list, because the forecast is for well below freezing. I think I have a hose hooked up, and unless HH is doing it now, MIL needs some faucets covered and vents plugged. Also, the tree is still looking spiffy, so obviously taking it all apart and away is on THE LIST, and putting furniture back in place also LISTED. The living room doesn't look like the photo because the large coffee table is gone--a brother has it--replaced by a pine chest my father made. The chair at the desk is now at the piano.

Undecided

Happy New Year. We had a great time bringing it in over at the Carnivorous Hippy House with the the Really Interesting husband of M Hippy, not to mention the Really Interesting daughter and mother-in-law. Really Interesting son wasn't in attendance. But HH & DD were there, and we were playing Auld Lang Syne on the front porch with other Really Interesting people at midnight. This is a great town, and I am so lucky to know such great people. Oh, sorry. I'm getting all maudlin. Stop it, you.

HH doesn't quite know what he's going to do with this thing. It's a little more awful than he first thought it was, and maybe he made a mistake buying it. It's been sitting in the corner of the shop hiding under a tarp for some unknown lenghth of time. I know what I want to do, though, and I'm going to go do it now.

I'd tried some new food on the cats, and they weren't having any, so old blind cat wandered out here to me and it took me a while to figure out what she wanted. Clever of her to make her wishes known, don't you think? She's such a sweetie. OK, I was going to go get things done, wasn't I? Byeeee.

Oh-oh. Chestnut brass are on the radio, and they are really distracting. I'm going. Going. Go...

What do You Say?

This is HH's bike in Mill Valley taken during his fall trip to San Fransisco.

How do you refer to ex-presidents of the USA? What title do you use? Please tell me. (Of course, if you don't talk about them, tell me what you think you might use IF you talked about them.) I want to know.

Hug Day in Spirit of Season

This is not to be confused with Free Hugs. This was yesterday, and everywhere I went, I saw people I knew, and they all gave me hugs. Heidi, the little minature Dachsund, gave me as much hugging as she could, and MIL gave multiple hugs and said to be careful and not let her fall down. First, I got several hugs from my piano teacher, one from her quilt-making grandaughter, one from her friend D, one from her friend JM, lots of them from people at the gym, where I took MIL, and she took cake and Heidi, then we met MJ and she gave us hugs, as did the waitress. Then when I took MIL back home, more hugs from her and Heidi, and I go home soon to be met by HH and hugs. Next, hugs from DD after she returned home after playing with her string quartet at a wedding, and we three sat on the sofa under a blanket and the cats, watching a Best of the Muppet Show tape. Manamana. Doot doo de do-do. Yaaaaa. Very nice day. (MIL even gets hugs from checkers at grocery stores, so I get more hugs just from hanging around with her.)

Am I Still Here?

Yikes! Well, I'd just better say something and be on my way. Hello. I'm better, and farther behind, but haven't written my To Do list, so not getting anything done. HH and DD are having similar production problems. Maybe it's somthing in the air? In case you wonder, "What's that?" It's a cute little teeny tiny bike that HH is working on for someone else. I think he told me it's called a Shortster. Tee Hee. A pun. Get it? I'm going to write down To Do's (in my To Do notebook, not here, as that would just get me into more trouble.)

Almost Still Here

I'm still here, except I hardly know which way is up. So I'm sort of not here.

Snow in Corvallis

School is on a two hour delay here in snowy white frosty icey Corvallis. Outside is sparkling at least two inches deep.

One thing I wanted to mention to Dear Mrs. Staggs in Merryville is that not all motorcycles pictured here are still here, and some were only here for a visit and never lived here. This one did live here, and isn't it festive? It was a favorite. It has moved to a new home, because we have limited room and HH keeps getting eyes for other bikes.

I have goofed off enough for now. If you can find Merryville, go visit Mrs. Staggs, who has posted pictures of dear Mrs. Frost, who is worth seeing. Do I have a link down at the bottom of this blog? Yes. Look for 'A Happy Miscellany'.

Autumn Leaves

Cowering inside, The Watcher sees sun dancing on wildly waving branches.
Devistated garden, filled with flowers dead and dying, awaits The Watcher.

Meanwhile leaves are running helter skelter from their windblown trees.
Jostling and bumping in their haste to get away.

Unaware--their fate lurking below.
The Watcher grabs a rake.

It's a Rupp

Isn't it cute? May be just the thing for taking on an R.U.P.P.?

Chocolate Raisin Tea Bread

1/4 c butter
2/3 c sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c flour
1/3 c cocoa
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 c buttermilk
3/4 c chopped walnuts
3/4 c raisins

Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Beat egg and combine with buttermilk. Add dry mixture to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat on low speed until blended. Stir in nuts and raisins. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool before eating.

Planning My Day

If I'm not careful, I won't get done all I want to do today.
1)Practice Trombone
2)While doing laundry
3)Practice piano; also while doing laundry (lots of laundry)
4)Order Grapefruit from MIL and Teachers
5)Oh, no! I didn't get it all written down fast enough, and now I've forgotten.
6)Work on Quilt binding
7)Vacuum
8)File pile of filing on top of file box
9)Make vegetable stew and chocolate tea bread
10)Go to band practice

B 31 Second Try

I hope this works. I just wrote a rambling reply regarding Mrs. Staggs, Avus and hhnb and got an error message, so suppose that was all lost. Hmph. If it's gone forever, I'm sure it was all brilliant reparte, but if it shows up, it was complete drivel.

This is one of my favorite views of the B31 BSA. When it's up on the hoist, this view is at eye level. Photo was taken while bike was still in New Zealand, but it doesn't look any different now, even though HH has received many packages from England that contained things that he's put on her, plus a nice little owner's manual, which I find all over the house. I keep trying to keep it away from food consumption areas, so it won't get blobs on it.

Well, I must away.

Happy Halloween

My big brother just wrote to say he smashed his thumb putting in fenceposts and had to have stitches. Now he's disguised as Frankenthumb. Bwa ha ha. I borrowed that wicked laugh from Dark Mind, the evil genius of blogging.

Maybe you are wondering why the picture of this normal looking bike, instead of something gorgeous. To me, this bike is a wonder. Someone did a nice job of making a seat cover for it, but other than that it was pretty well broken by the time HH bought it. There was a great whopping hole through one of the cylinder walls and the piston was poking out. For a few years, it was just a pile of rubble on the floor up against the wall. Everything was dismantled. It really looked like rubbish. I got a thrill buying parts for it, under instruction from HH, on E-bay. This is it all put back together again. Isn't it nice?

New Old Furniture

The picture is the young ornery kitty sitting half on the floor of the drum room, and half on the drum rug. Whew! I don't miss that ugly indoor-outdoor carpet scrap! Maybe it's one reason this room looks so much nicer with the beautiful (I didn't know it would look so beautiful) poor old beat up baby grand piano. I like our garage, which we can only use for the 1957 pickup that doesn't lock, and my car has to sit outside, because it has the old old old pump organ that was my mom's first keyboard after she married my dad. I used to practice on it in the morning, because it doesn't make much noise. My big brother is taking it home when he can borrow his son-in-law's pickup truck to haul it in. Or, maybe HH will work out something where we drive it up in our old pickup, but bbrother will have to come down and load it, since it makes HH nervous. Besides the old pump organ, which is pretty, are the two items of furniture I haven't made room for, 3 broken chairs that I'm supposed to have repaired, and a bunch of other furniture that's on it's way out, either to bbrother's or charity shops.

This morning I was a useless dweeb, just ran around looking for things I couldn't find and trying to remember why I went into the room, whichever that was. That makes me mad. OH! Bye!!!

About Time

If this photo works, isn't it great. Collections of a friend of a friend. An amazing fellow, I think.

I've taken an old drawer from a dresser that fell apart and the rest of it went to the dump, but I put a pet blanket from the pet store, sworn to kill bacteria and be machine washable, in the bottom, and the poor old blind kitty curls up in it and sleeps and feels fairly safe from the ornery young whipper-snapper kitty, who likes to bite her ears just because she can. Cats! Hmph!

The piano is in! The room looks great, and we have friends vieing over who will get to store the drums at their house, since they really are quite big and it doesn't look like they'll fit in the closet, unless we give up wearing clothes. I've made room for the two dressers. The small cupboard my Grandfather made fits nicely into the tiny dining area, but his small table hasn't found a place yet, and neither has my old desk. Well, that's not true. It's just that I have to extracate the drafting table from it's spot before I can replace it with my old desk, which my parents used as their first kitchen table in their first house. I also have their second kitchen table, and it fits beautifully into my tiny dining area. It's the table I grew up with, and my little brother and I did homework on it. It's so nice to have! HH and DD seem to like it, too.

A New Week

Ah, here it is, Monday morning. A new week. A new chance for perfection. The photo was taken yesterday on Mary's Peak by HH. He said he was taking his bike around the block. That's a euphamism. Since this bike is from 1942, I consider it less reliable than the 1984 Honda Nighthawk, so send him off with the cell phone when I can. He said the WLC handled as well as anything he's ridden down Mary's Peak. Hmmm. I wish you could see the carburator of the Nighthawk right now. It is all dismantled, its parts laying in orderly fashion on a red shop towel on the custom work bench of rolled steel HH had made for his shop. It looks like one of those exploded drawings in a shop manual, with little lines pointing like the typewriter on my last post, except there are no lines, and it's not a drawing.

Yesterday we visited Heidi and MIL. Heidi has gotten wilder and more energetic, biting and licking with manic energy and ferver. She is still very pretty, but less inclined to tire. She loves toys that squeek, and is a good fetcher. We make the toy squeek, then throw it, she chases and brings it back, where she shakes it silly in front of us so we can admire her tecnique, and when she's ready she backs off for the designated tosser to take charge. MIL says she knows the words "tug of war," their favorite game.

Celebration

Here's my cute manual typewriter. I got the ribbons for it. I had to order them from New Jersey, because that's where the typewriter collectors are. It looks like one of the things my dad collected was typewriters. My brother found them all over the house, and brought them all to one place. It looked like a museum display. I've had mine for ages, but I found the receipt for it at Dad's and discovered that my brother bought it. I asked him, and he said I could keep it, so I ordered the ribbons. I typed a letter to my cousin on it. I was surprised that I could still do it.

Yesterday HH found a buyer for his Kawasaki W650, so he's happy. We will be able to pay down the loan for the expensive 1942 Harley Davidson. He was talking about selling his Nighthawk, too, but I think I talked him out of it. It has a shaft drive and doesn't have spoke wheels, so is relatively unadventruresome, which is good for having fun and getting there and getting back and still having fun. He says he almost fell over in the early morning soggy fog in San Francisco when he drove over one of the huge white arrows painted on the road. He says you have to be in total focus mode driving in San Francisco. He also said he would have been so embarrassed if he had, because all the other bikes there were Ducati's or other flash exotica, and he felt such a hick with all his camping gear strapped onto the back, and it would have scattered all over the road.

Yesterday afternoon we went to The Darkside theater and saw the French movie, The Science of Sleep, which surpised us both. It didn't sound that great in the previews, but it was. See it if you get a chance. I don't want to say anything in case
you do. It's fun to go in with no expectations.

Stuff

Can't stay long here. Must put self in HIGH GEAR to make GREAT STRIDES toward destuffing and making room for baby grand piano. Are we going to have a garage sale? The talk on this issue fluctuates and I don't know what I'm doing. If we do have the garage sale, then I'd better not haul any more stuff off to charity shops. If only we lived close to HH's brother, who runs his own charity shop through his church....though I guess they have no shortage of donations to deal with. I haven't heard from my brother regarding when piano may arrive. He wrote and said he has major tooth things happening to him.

HH is talking about selling his drums. Might as well, I guess, as he's too beat up to play anymore, and he only likes to mess with motorcycles. Dang. I wonder, though, if I got rid of enough stuff in the closet and his drums would fit in there, would he be willing to keep them until the eventuality of him not being a mechanic and beating himself up at work too much to play. I got things away from the door enough to open it. I still need vent holes in door. There are mystery-things in that closet.

Zhoen's Challenge

WHAT I'LL NEVER DO, AND THAT'S OK.

Be perfect.
Sight read piano.
Keep the Dust Bunnies out.


WHAT I'VE DONE, AND WOULD LIKE TO DO AGAIN.

Take motorbike trips.
Hike up Matterhorn.
Play second trombone in symphony.
Play second trombone with big band. (I do this now.)
Play in trombone quartet.

WHAT I'VE DONE, AND WILL HAVE TO DO AGAIN.

Cook.
Work out at the gym.
Clean.
Organize.
Carpool.

WHAT I WON'T DO AGAIN.

Be young.
Move my left ankle.
Drink Long Island Iced Tea.
Eat cake.
Run.

WHAT I MAY STILL GET TO DO.

Create beautiful rooms in home.
Have vision for garden, then make it so.
Learn new trombone playing tricks.
Keep a car until the ENGINE breaks.


If you are middle-aged ( whatever that may be) and read this blog, consider yourself tagged. Please let Zhoen know.
(To do that, you'll have to link off to Secret Hill and follow her link to Zhoen, as I'm inept.)

Another Trip

I'm just back from another trip down to my Dad's house. The car is full of family heirlooms, the mirror my great aunt gave my grandparents when they were married, stuff like that. I'm going to hang the mirror where I now have a print my brother had made of another great aunts drawing of The Family Tree.

My brother says I should go through all the recent snap shots (there are hundreds or maybe thousands) to see what should be kept, copied, shared. My car was full the last trip, so I will need to make more trips. He's made many many more than I. He discovered a leak in the chimmney and was reparing it when I left yesterday. Clever fellow.

Fight Fight Fight

Here it is, Thursday morning, and I'm still battling the huge stashes of Stuff. Some of the Stuff is Stuff I just brought back this summer from Dad's. I think I have made inroads in the Stuff, but could anyone else tell by looking? Maybe some, like BRS or Mrs. Staggs, who are familiar with Stuff Fighting. I mentioned Craig's List to HH, who thinks just Garage Sale and EBay are better for getting rid of Stuff that's too valuable for the charity shop or the garbage. I keep seeing the directions to put things in 1) Trash 2) Give Away and 3) Keep containers, with labels on. Maybe I should try it--the labels, I mean.

Photo is of Crooked River off Highway 20, from HH's run last weekend with antique motorcycles. He says part of the adventure is the possibility of a breakdown. He keeps getting little boxes of parts from UK, and had been expecting some for days, and was all atwitter earlier this week when box came. Now he's got his B31, the BSA from New Zealand, up and running. Funny thing about that bike. The previous owner has the same first and second name as HH, and his last initial is also the same. Isn't that interesting? He (HH) told me he had to strain his little gray cells a bit and go back into what he called "The Vault" while pointing to his head, probably from electronics 101 in 1969 or so to get new old generator rotating in opposite direction, to make bike happy. Now bike and man are both happy.

Baby Day

I visited two babies today. First was a sweet little trumpet player's baby, who woke up and wandered all around the coffee shop while I held both her hands, because she can't really walk yet. Ha ha. She was so funny. She picked up her knees like she was a drum major leading the marching band, and sometimes she planted her feet, and sometimes she didn't. She'll probably be walking in a couple more months. Oh, my! And how she smiled. Just beaming at anyone who spoke to her.

Second was MIL's baby long haired dachsund, Heidi. So sweet, and like trumpet baby, ecstatic to be visited. Just full of joy. Unlike trumpet baby, Heidi is very agile, and flies around, leaping over her new doggy bed, after her new squeeky toy, or having a go at her tail. So funny! MIL talking about not being long for this world. I reminded her she has to be strong so she can take care of Heidi. Also, I'm not ready to loose another elder, but I didn't mention that bit.

I thought, But

Picture this: Lots of piles of books and boxes, very messily arranged and stewn about. There. That's your photo, whatever you have in your mind's eye. DD is thrilled because she started back to school today. No, that's not it, she's thrilled because her new viola case came in the mail. Since my band is playing in the park tonight, we can't pick up the viola that was my mum's until tomorrow. The old viola's original case has the wool lining, which encourages the carpet beetles, which eat the horse hair strings of the bow, so we couldn't use it, never mind that it is a great looking case. The shop owner suggested if we want to not toss it, to kill the bugs, then strip out the insides. She thought we should put little shelves in it and use it as a wall hanging, but my favorite parts of it are the latches and handle. HH wants it tossed. I think it is Art.

What Fun

Instead of battling all the poison oak yesterday, I went to the Saturday Market and bought lovely tomatoes, and when I returned, I found that HH had mowed the little strip of lawn around the roses between the two driveways. The little baby rose, is no higher than the dandilions blooming in the lawn, and its blossoms are a pale yellowy orange, so it got mowed in an accident that was bound to happen, but it only affected it's top most bits, which I then trimmed off, and no harm done. I wonder if I should plant the new azalea, which is still in it's florist shop pot, in the row with the roses? Would it look out of place? Only if I never get around to planting daisies and vinca and phlox, too.

I don't remember how, but suddenly it was two o'clock, and we planned to see the movie The Heart of the Game at 3 at the Darkside Cinema. We were the Only People in the Theater! A private viewing. We were very entertained. It is a documentary about girl's high school basketball in Seattle, Washington.

After the movie, we picked up the daughter and went to see MIL and Katie-who-is-now-Heidi. Even DD, who tries to claim she is not a dog person because she is a cat person, could not resist the charms of Heidi. MIL tried to call her Katie, but just naturally kept calling her Heidi to the point where she said "Ah, heck, I'll just call her "Heidi", so Heidi it is. DD kept muttering to herself that Alley (her cat) (when she's not my cat) is cuter, like she was trying to convince herself.

Beware the Poison Oak

The shiny chrome and red BSA is HH's. When I got back from Klamath Falls, the first thing HH did was ask me if I could go to Fred's Honda to buy a motorcycle he'd picked out, which is a non-fancy, non-expensive 650 Honda Night Hawk. He's thinking now of keeping it for his daily runabout, and selling the W650. DD is Devistated, because she says the Kawasaki is her favorite of her dad's bikes. We all like the W650, but he has already had it longer than he used to keep a bike. I liked it because it's a 2000 and he had a bike he could take trips on, and I wouldn't worry about him breaking down and not being able to get parts, which I worry about with his old Brit bikes. He says he has the BSA Lightning running really great.

Anyway, down in Klamath Falls, my oldest brother and I the middlest, got to join our youngest brother (French horn) in a rehearsal and concert with the Klamath Symphony. What fun. We all got to sit in a row, French horn (one of 2), bassoon, trombone (one of two), and there was a shortage of trombone parts, so now and then I'd play 2nd bassoon, and once both us trombones played along with the cello, except there were 3 cellos instead of the one that came to rehearsal, and the director told us there were trombone parts, and it was a shame we didn't have them, because it was a good part, but people are pretty casual down there about getting their parts turned back in. I think it was the 1st time we'd all three played together.

Now I'm in a panic to make room for my mom's baby grand piano here in my tiny house that is chock-a-block crammed full. I got rid of two boxes of books and it didn't even make a dent! You'd think that would make a dent. OK, I'd think that. I'd already planned to get rid of books (sometimes it's a wrench) to make room for the piles of music on the Bagley Cannery Box shelves, but now I'll probably have to get rid of the boxes all together? I don't know. That's the sort of furniture I have in my bedroom, too, with more books. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Oh, I nearly forgot. We're planning to go out and do battle with the yard today, with all it's vile noxious weeds.