Mosaic Mom

As of a half hour ago, there was still a helicopter in the air checking the fire and still a big column of smoke in the sky. I missed watching the news at 6, but will check the status at 11PM. Bottom line...no immediate threat here.

I started another shoe today. It is called "Killer Shoe". No one is going to like it. I am 100% sure of that, but I'm going to compose it anyway.

I also completed the third side of my cremains box. Hope that is not an omen!

This week the fence repair man is supposed to show up. Also the tractor water pump died so that repair guy will show up too, I guess.

The fire burned about 200 acres up the road. The thrill/newsworthiness was that it was headed towards a factory that bottles propane tanks (those white tanks that fire your gas grills. They're made and filled there). They got it out.

The helicopters were called and dumped water on it. The news people swarmed all over the place. It made lead story at 6PM! Woo Hoo! Coverage by ground and by helicopter SkyWitness!

But it's more or less over now. The 30mph winds have died down for the night and there's no huge column of smoke rising over there.

Thank God nothing happened!

A fire storm has broken out less than a mile west of us.

It is on the other side of the road just behind Windy Hill Nursery. It looks like the back of Windy Hill Nursery was burned.

It is headed towards 84 lumber. 84 Lumber has piled inventory onto trucks and trailers and looks like they're preparing for evacuation.

I got up just past the middle school and had to turn around. Zero visibility due to smoke. I didn't want to go to Publix and not be able to get back home. They might have to close 561. Rubberneckers are a hazzard, too.

Update shortly...or not if the wind shifts and we have to leave. Bummer.

I had to run errands today. I was in the car from 12:30 till 3:30...where is all this traffic coming from!?!?!?!It was bumper to bumper everywhere I went. Unbelievable!

I went to Plant Daddy's office. He took me for a ride in the golf cart!

I met up with Little Mind Escape at the Mall. We got a nice pair of shoes to match the Bridesmaid dress. Then we went to supper at Olive Garden and had a very nice waiter. I enjoyed the cappacino for dessert, but I will be up till 3AM.

I have lots to read for Palm Writer's Group. Some really good stuff this month in the prose dept. I had an article on squash sex accepted for publication, but I'm not sure I want to broadcast that. Pollination is a touchy subject. See?

Lots of landscape projects on tap for this weekend. Lots of photo ops!

Monday I go take my stuff out of art on the square. Show'll be over. Wonder if anything sold?

Mosaic flower pots
A lot of my early work with mosaics was crap. But every pot, every item I mosaiced teaches me something. On the first pot, I learned not to put glass bubbles around the rim...the grout won't hold. In the middle, I have a gross color combo. The blue and white one ...white tile won't show up with white grout, therefore looks like a hole.

But all three got sent to the garden to grow herbs this summer. I have a nice collection of parsley, basil and mint. Great for salads.

Before 10AM today

1. Florida Cable showed up and repaired the cable in the Sprint telephone fashion. You will recall that 2 years ago Sprint "fixed" the phone by stringing a wire across the carport and promising that someone would come bury it within 10 days. Now I have a cable TV wire flopping across the driveway.

2, The fence guy came with estimated to repair the front fence behind Asplundh.

3. The pool guy showed up and fixed the filter. He also tried to convince me his son could re-screen our porch. When I asked about his insurance he said that would cost me extra.

4. UPS showed up with Little Mind Escape's Bridesmaid dress.

5. A crew has shown up to trench a cable connection under the driveway. They are creepy, not professional like Asplundh's crew. They have me on edge.

My Ponytail Palm looks like Cousin "IT". Needs its yearly pruning.

My Ponytail Palm is all trimmed up and looking sharp for summer now.

Without TV, last night Plant Daddy and I had a great candellight dinner, lots of good conversation, and got to bed on time for once.

Oh hell, enough of that!

This afternoon we went to the drug store and bought a little 20 dollar battery operated black and white TV so we can at least watch 2 network channels.

Plant Daddy is now enjoying the basketball playoffs! Happy, Happy.

Who'd ever think a TV would cost $20 and gas would be $3.00 a gallon!

Somehow during all the tree pruning and land clearing and fence tearing down and general outdoor chaos, our TV cable got cut. We will be without HGTV till help arrives Monday for repairs.

This picture is foggy. It was early morning at the Discovery Gardens art in the gardens show. I got my same location as last year. This year the ladies had a tent behind me selling garden books. I had lots of great titles to browse.

"IF" by Rudyard Kipling is one of my favorite poems...and one I need to remember today...


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!


--Rudyard Kipling

The men from Asplundh Tree Whackers were here for a second full day of plant destruction. All day the noise of the chain saws and the industrial chipper machines drives me nuts. All in all they are doing a fantastic job, but they left a lot behind for me and Plant Daddy to rake up.

They have at least one more day of work. We had a lot of trees and remember they are completely clearing their right of way...think big transmission lines...One guy told PD that that's what's coming. the installation of bigger lines. Nargh!

800 people a day move here and want to plug in their vacuum cleaners and toasters.

Anyway hopefully they'll finish tomorrow and we can enjoy a quiet weekend...in the pool...it hit 93 degrees today!

Did you know it was a Zucchini that changed the direction of my life?

In 1972 I was a journalism major at UF. My advisor suggested I diversify my electives to get exposure for more things to write about. I chose Sociology and Vegetable Crops.

I totally disliked Sociology, but I fell in love with Vic Nettle's course in Vegetable Crops. For the lab in that course, we had to grow a 10x10 ft. garden...for a grade. It produced an abundance.

I'll never forget harvesting a Zucchini the size of my arm. For a poor starving student, this was the promised land. This was food for a week at least and enough to create pasta sauce for all my friends to enjoy! I changed my major to Horticulture because of that Squash!

Today I was in the kitchen all day making Zucchini Bread and converting Zucchini into spaghetti sauce for the freezer. I am ahead for the moment in the Zucchini battle. I have used up the giant bagful from the fridge and none are harvestable size on the bushes yet.

Still on the losing end of Cucumbers. Have more than I can eat, have made plenty of relish and have saturated all friends with give aways. Mind Escape is coming home tomorrow...SHE'll just LOVE them...mwahaha!

There are lots of uses for a mosaic work bench. Here Plant Daddy has brought our crop of green beans inside and loaded it onto my turntable for easy pickin'!

Go, Plant Daddy, Go!

This is a quick post to say "Happy Easter" before the stove timer buzzes me back to the kitchen. Three loaves of zucchini bread are baking! Yum!

As soon as they are out, the cornish hen is going in. The fresh picked green and yellow beans are boiling on the stove. I'll add mashed potatoes later.

Michelle and Scot came over and Michelle brought fresh baked brownies and a mountain of jelly beans. We're set for a feast tonight.

I gave the new doll red hair.

art show 4/14/06

Yesterday I did something I had not done since 1990, maybe 1991.

The last time I went to a movie, in a movie theater was to see The Little Mermaid. I took Little...and I do mean little...Mind Escape.

Well, yesterday Suzy invited me to join a group of girls and see Antonio Banderas in some dance movie. It is a good day watching Antonio Banderas dance for 2 hours.

The movie cost $5.50 and a lemonade in a bottle was $3.50. That was totally outrageous. I will smuggle my own food in next time....which should be about the year 2020!

Boy was I busy yesterday!

In the kitchen, I made 3 loaves of Zucchini Bread and turned out a gourmet Pompano dinner!

In the mosaic studio, I made a lot of progress with the doll's (red) hair.

In the garden, I attacked the Osmanthus and got a lot of pruning done. Also got a planter box of geraniums installed. Woo Hoo.

Plus 4 loads of laundry!

That's what eating 2 Vitamin B tablets can do!

So far, it has taken 8 days, or roughly 50 hours to construct this new dolly. Grout took 5 hours! It will take at least the rest of the week for hair and detail.

Then...what should I name her? Send me your ideas.

There were 3 things that struck me today at Rick Tichy’s memorial service.

1. The preacher read this poem “The Dash”. It was very thought provoking.

2. I had never seen a service with a military honor guard. That was a tremendous honor.

3. Mr. Tichy’s cremains were contained in a Navy issue container for burial at sea. It was rather plain. I came home determined to finish my mosaic cremains box before I go. I worked hard; got another side completed/grout ready this afternoon. Yay!


"The Dash"
I read of a reverend who stood to speak
at the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the dates on his tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of his birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that he spent alive on earth,
and now only those who loved him
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard,
are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left.
(You could be at dash mid-range.)

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile,
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be pleased with the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

No Mosaic Art SHow for me tomorrow in Sorrento. Must attend Mr. Tichy's funeral. Sad day ahead.

From time to time Plant Daddy endorses a check and gives it to me to deposit in my checking account. From my checking account, I buy groceries, run the household, etc. This had worked well for almost 30 years.

I think now my bank has been taken over by Mooslims. I think they want me to wear a chadoor or something. For the last few times, the GIRLS at the teller slot have complained that I cannot deposit checks endorsed by Plant Daddy. They think I am robbing him. I am stealing his money.

I have an ENDORSED check for God's sake, deposit it.

This time, Plant Daddy and I received a little money back on the taxes. It is designated to pay the driveway resurface people. I called the bank and asked if they needed a certified letter of permission from my husband of 30 years to deposit an ENDORSED tax refund check.

They said "It would be best if he comes with you personally, shows I.D. and gives his permission"

Mosaic Mom tends to get very angry when she hears things like that. Fortunately all I told the bank was that I would deposit the check elsewhere and it would be their loss. (And they're fools if they think I'll ever do any loan or investment business with them)

Next time I deposit anything there, I think I'll take Plant Daddy along, walk 3 paces behind him, wear a robe-thing aka Mooslim women, and bow to the floor. If this bank ever phones to talk to me, I am going to have to tell them that they will have to address PD because obviously, they do not think I am honest or have a brain.

I phoned the accountant this morning. The delinquent tax form is now lost in the mail en route from his office to mine. Nargh! My new rule of life is NEVER EVER put any thing related to taxes into the mail with out certifying it!

Bridgette has also had a stressful week, so we are ditching going to the trade show. Next year maybe we'll go to "Surfaces" out in Vegas!

Today, depending on the mail carrier, I will pick up invitations for the art show opening next week. Will find out if they have a link, too and post it here.

Yesterday, I set up the table for the Sorrento show for Saturday. Still haven't decided what to take yet.

Today I took 4 mosaics to the Art in the Square Gallery Downtown.

I thought I was ready…then my CD burner wouldn’t work and I couldn’t turn in my bio and resume and photos. Nargh!

I worked around it by e-mailing the data to the coordinator, but with my slow dial up service, it took 5 minutes for each photo to load…4 times 5…you do the math on that e-mail!

That got me so worked up, all I could eat for lunch was applesauce.

The mosaics were in a wobbly cardboard box, but I made it inside and got the paperwork done. Yay!

Then I drove over to the high school to help Suzy. She was having problems with her mat cutter yesterday.

She had all but 2 paintings ready to go and we finished those, tossed them in the car and got her to the gallery on time. Yay!

As we were leaving an artist lady and her husband were unpacking some georgeous botanical photos. It’s going to be a good show.

Plant Daddy and I ate his catch of yesterday for supper. My tummy had settled down and I was hungry. We had a nice walk after supper and saw a huge red rat snake out behind the Z shop.

Too much excitement for one day!

Here’s the Bunny Slipper. One of the pieces in the show. Show opens April 14th. Details to follow. Yay!

We are sad today to say good bye to Mr. Tichy, who passed away yesterday after a long illness.He was a great friend to us for over 10 years. Especially he was Plant Daddy's Primo Fishing Buddy.

Mr. Tichy didn't care much for mosaic art. When he'd drop by, I'd show him my latest work and he'd always find something polite to say...then join Plant Daddy for a discussion about Pompano and Heineken as soon as possible.

But Mr. Tichy did like THIS piece, the mosaic bird bath. He loved the fixtures within the fixture. He asked to see it every time he visited.

Now we are very glad that every time we look at this bird bath we will remember our friend.

Mom thought she had it all under control.
On Tuesday I would do set up for the Art on the Square show. On Thursday attend Coverings trade show. On Saturday, do the East Lake County Festival.

So I said, "Sure, Mind Escape, let's go shopping on Sunday." And we had a ball. She got a shirt and I got a pair of jeans. We got Plant Daddy a Rice Krispy Treat Bar at Barnies.

On the way home I stopped by the Post Office box. Oh NO! A tax form I thought had made it to the accountant, didn't! Apparently the little meter sticker fell off and the packet was returned.

So now I have to run to Apopka and beg for tax relief...on the busiest week of the year over there. Then I gotta go see Suzy about tomorrow's installation schedule!

Busy. It's all or nothing with my schedule sometimes.

Livin' in the country is really neat.

But you better pay attention and watch your feet!