Mosaic Mom

My Labor Day weekend chores are
1. Plant 3 Lantana bushes
2. Plant Cuban Oregano out
3. Plant out Gaillardias.
4. Fertilize an existing lantana on the hill.
5. Plant 2 Ruellias
6. Plant 2 passion vines.
7. Buy Plant Daddy some new shorts and shirts for work
8. Eat massive amounts of Pineapples.
9. Maybe shop for a new area rug.

Tomorrow being Sept. 1st, it's time to start the fall garden....

If you are local and a new gardener (you know who you are!) I recommend that you take the Fall Vegetable Gardening Course at the Ag Center next week. Call 343-4101 for details. Great Handouts and grower guides!

Anyway you can plant tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplants (buy the already started ones at Home Depot. Also Broccoli, turnips etc.
Do green beans from seeds every 2 weeks from now till Oct 1st.

The National Art Honors Society at Tavares High School aka the art club, met today. They have 8 this year and they all seem very talented and well put together. I took them Sprite and Sugar wafer cookies.
I took Suzy some Plant Daddy M&M's. Happy!

Last night on the Channel 9 News there was a story about Little Mind Escape's old landlord in Deland. He is being praised for cleaning up the Deland slums by restoring the crack houses. Nice.

Going swimming now. One way to beat the heat after 32 days above normal temperatures.

How busy are you?

I'm so busy that I haven't even read the latest issue of Groutline Magazine!

I'm so busy I haven't worked on the panel I want to put in the Christmas show.

I'm so busy I told the continuing education lady I couldn't write a newspaper piece to advertise classes.

I'm so busy I forget to blog!

Thank goodness there's a holiday weekend coming!


Tomorrow I get to go to Tavares High School for the art club meeting. I'll take the kiddies some snacks and we'll pick up the mosaic mural project left from last term!

What excitement!

On Saturday, painting the living room was the easy part. It was nearly divorce court over here when we became …..

Curtain Wranglers.

It took over 2 hours to get the swag cornice down, the drapery off the rod and the rod off the wall. Unbelievable!

The installer hadn’t used screws, he had used tap-cons. At least that’s what I call them; they don’t have a screwdriver fitting. You use a wratchet to loosen them….

IF…you can get the wratchet to hold while you turn it. Because the tap cons are at a tight angle to the hardware, so the wratchet head won’t fit solidly…Grrr…16 times!!!

Make that 32 times. We had to put them back up.

Then one of the curtain pins was lost, so the drape didn’t line up in the holes right. Take it down, rehang it, spend 30 minutes looking for a curtain pin dumped in the toolbox with the screws and nails. Pin it in, reinstall the drape.
Double Grrr.
Triple Grrr.
4 Hours worth of Grrr.

But in the end…done.
And I love my new cottage look.
Feels like I got a new house!

So Little Mind Escape showed up on Sunday and gave blessings to the color choice. Yay! Then it was off to shop at Pier One.
LME got a cute basket and a martini shaker.
I got a “twig” lamp.
Happy!

Now…how to convince Plant Daddy we need a zebra skin rug????

Plant Daddy and I agonized but finally decided to go to Red Lobster to celebrate our 28th year of wedded bliss.

Fried Shrimp is Plant Daddy's idea of manna from Heaven so that's what we had.

Then off to Lowe's for one more quart of paint.

I finished the last wall of the living room this morning at 1:00AM...because I drank iced tea at Red Lobster and couldn't sleep!

I am used to waking up in June and smelling forest fire smoke...but this is August!!!

without a watch...

Every evening,,,Monday through Friday

exactly between 7:35 and 7:50PM

a PERDUE CHICKEN tractor trailer truck rumbles past our house headed west.

That's a lot of chicken and a very regular route.

Hope you are a-strumin' happy songs on your mandolin!

In the beginning Mosaics class, I teach students to use these cutting tools.
Once they know the mechanics, the art is easy!

I am reading a book called Severance.

It is a collection of short stories.
The premise of each story is that if you have your head cut off, you will live 1 1/2 minutes and in that time you will speak 240 words.

I cannot express how much I totally love this book. I love this book. I love this book!

BTW...the guy who wrote it is/was the professor of the woman who taught the writing classes I took last year. She says she doesn't like her fiction so short, but I find this extremely short form exquisite and exotic and like a box of Godiva chocolates.


Palm Writers...much email angst yesterday. Let me know if you did not get the September submissions. All AOL customers were rejected and embarq was stripping attachments. Nargh!

This was in my Inbox this morning!
It looks like a scam to me!!!

WHY?

First off...why can't they get a mosaic artist in California? Why are they looking in Florida for a tombstone in CA?

Second, the misspelling of the word "interested"

Third, the use of the word "gestation"...wierd. Would a grieving parent use a term from animal husbandry?

Anyway the scam would be that I say yes,
then they say...send us your bank account number so we can pay you.

Aha!

But Mom hit the delete key first.

Scam Text Follows...

Hello,
I found your mosaic class offering at witsendmosaic.com,
My apologies if you're receiving this more than once...email problems.
I am interesting in getting a custom mosaic tile piece done.

Our baby girl, Mia, was born at 25 weeks gestation, and passed away last month.
We are in the process of planting a remembrance tree for her in our backyard and
I'd like to have a mosaic piece [maybe a stepping stone or 2ftx1ft plaque of
some sort] made in her name. This would be something fairly simple for a
skilled mosaic artist such as yourself, but would take forever for a novice like
myself! :-)

I have no skill in mosaic work (I wish!), but have always loved it and really
want something special for our little girl.

Please let me know if you're interested in doing a custom piece for us, and if
so, how much it might be.

Many thanks from our family,

Shelley
San Diego, CA

Good Morning Palm Group Members!

I have THREE items for your attention today.

1). Please find THREE (3). Submissions attached for your critique this month.
Bernie, Jackie and John have items for your evaluation this month. Three writers are up for review. (Linda, AOL won't let the attachments through from me to you!)


2). New Start Time for Meetings.
Palm Group will now meet at 6:30 PM. SIX-THIRTY.
Not at six but at 6:30PM from now on.

“When is the meeting supposed to start?”
“Six-THIRTY.”
“O.K.”


3).“Where’s the next meeting going to be held?”
“We don’t know. We’re still workin’ on it.”
“What about the Methodist Church?”
“We don’t know. Linda is workin’ really hard on it.”

“So…where’s the next meeting place?”
“We don’t know, but wherever it is, meet at SIX-THIRTY on September 13th!”

Here was our menu tonight…

Fruit Platter…
Green grapes, plum slices, nectarine slices

Vegetable Platter…
Celery and carrot sticks, green stuffed olives, hard-boiled eggs


Tuna Fish Salad…
including onion, celery, fresh bell pepper, fresh dill, and homemade relish


Okra Hot Vegetable…
Fresh okra, grated carrots and onions in a jaipur sauce mix

Lettuce Bowl

Sliced Italian Bread

Homemade jalapeno pepper pickles

And for dessert…at 10PM…
Fresh sliced Fuji apples simmered with cinnamon and sugar hot over vanilla ice cream.

We have an anniversary coming up later this week and we cannot think of any place where we could get a better, healthier, fresher meal. ‘nuff said.

So how many of you out there remember THAT song?

OLD!

Anyway I got up early and shipped off another Amazon.com book!
I was cleaning out the bookcase in the living room and I found a bunch of books stacked up way on the top out of sight. I listed them and they're hot sellers...religious stuff seems to be the favorite among the Amazon world.

Meanwhile the book I ordered from Powell's Bookstore hasn't arrived yet. Grrrrr. It is a collection of 250 word stories.

I am going for a haircut in an hour. Pleeeeeze, let it be a good one. Nargh!

Then off to Publix for some iceburg lettuce and tuna fish.

Mosaics

Come join this short introductory class for beginning mosaic artists. Students will learn the basics of cutting ceramic tile and composing a simple design on terracotta.


This class will cover ONLY

3-D Terracotta work in ceramic tile.
(Flowerpots)

(A class on wood substrate mosaics using glass and dishware with picasette style composition will be offered in the next session.)


4 Thursdays
Sept. 13 - Oct. 4
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Tavares High School – Art Room
Bldg. 2, Rm 112
603 N. New Hampshire, Tavares 32778


Fee: $42 Tuition
Make checks payable to: Lake County Schools


Note: Material fee of $10.00
per project
to be paid to the instructor at the class.


Student Registration Form

Name:_______________________________________________
Address:_____________________________________________
City & Zip:___________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Home Phone

Work Phone


Driver’s License #


Course Title:

Fee

Mail to:

Career, Adult & Community Education
525 N. Georgia Ave.,
Howey, FL 34737

Students wishing to compose on other substrates (wood, CFB, wire mesh, furniture) with other tesserae (pottery, glass, mirror) should contact the instructor prior to enrolling in this class.



More Questions….
Call Community Education

352-253-6780

I signed my teaching contract today and mailed it in!
Yay! One step closer to Beginning Mosaics.

This doesn't mean we will make minimum enrollment for the class to run, but all the paperwork has to be in order.

I will be getting the schedule shortly and can post times, places and course descriptions!

I still have not seen the fall schedule from Community Education, so I do not know the costs of the classes yet.

However, Suzy e-mailed to say yesterday that she signed off for permission to use her classroom at Tavares High School. So we have a room!

Palm Group still does not have a room. We were hoping to hear from Linda as to whether or not the Methodist Church would take us in after the Tavares Library kicked us out.

I hope the librarians see the irony of that when they attend the "Celebration of Writers Event".

"Oh yes, we support writers. We kicked ours out! That gives them more angst for their novels" Nargh!

Tracker reports a lot of hits recently about mosaic shoes.
Here's 3 pieces of advice:

1. After you spend hours and hours making the piece, some lady will mash the toe to feel the hardness. If you have not prepared the surface for this thumb mashing, your grout will crack.

2. Use your focal point to help prevent the lady from doing the thumb mashing as above. and...

3. Display your finished piece under cover to prevent 1 and 2. and to prevent theft!

1.Yesterday’s heat at 98* broke a record.
Today’s temp at 96* tied one.

All I can say is, Thank God for “Ice Road Truckers”.

For those of you who haven’t been watching, it is a week to week reality style drama about men driving freight over frozen lakes in 58* degrees BELOW ZERO weather.

Once a week, Mom is reminded that there is a cold paradise somewhere.

A middle-aged, hot-flashing woman,in Florida, on a 98 degree day in August must believe that cold exists. Thanks, History Channel!



2. Channel 9 WFTV has a new weather guy.
Rod Lopicola or something like that.

I call him the “Big Galoot” Weather man.

I did not want to like him when I first saw him.
That Yankee accent!
That ill fitting suit!
That odd sentence structure.

Yet…

It was the first time in decades I WATCHED a weatherman, instead of zoning out till the 5 day forecast was posted. I STARE at him all the way through the report. I LISTEN to him. He is amazing.

Can’t wait to see how he reports his first hurricane with that accent!.

(I hope they ditch “Terrified Tommy” in favor of the “Big Galoot”.



3. Plant Daddy and I watch regularly “ the 4400”.

The 4400 doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Don’t even try to describe this show or explain the plot.
It’s very entertaining if you don’t try to think about it.

Just go with it …because Ice Road Truckers comes on next!

Baby, You Know it's HOT outside when Plant Daddy is indoors helping Mom with the painting on a Saturday afternoon!

I submitted my 100 word Beatle story to Palm Group for review. Last night Linda gave me her 100 word reply! Here it is:

Yesterday, I read Barb's Beatle song challenge and Because I love a challenge any time at all, I've got a feeling this is Something I could do. I thought All I've got to do is Get Back to my old albums. Another Girl might need Help. Tell me why I didn't. I should just Let It Be!

I looked Here There and Everywhere and after a hard day's night I found them all and I want to tell you I feel fine!

It's just a day in the life on the Long and winding road for an aspiring Paperback Writer.





Adorable! I love it! Thanks!

Well, it isn't raining weather wise, but work wise, I'm suddenly swamped!

All I have time to write at the moment is see ya at Palm Group tonight at Books A Million at 6:00PM!

(I'll buy a HUGE coffee there and write all night! Deadlines looming!!!)

I have pineapples at several stages. Some are almost ready to eat...if I can beat the racoon to it! Grrr! ...while others are flowering now and will provide a Thanksgiving feast! Yum!

It was 96 in the studio yesterday. I am staying inside and continuing to paint my living room. Ah!

When the summer garden harvests come in, we are sometimes searching for creative ways to use common vegetables. I search all my cook books hoping for inspiration.

I was looking in the Italian cookbook for an eggplant recipe when I came across this one for black eyed peas.

I had never thought of black eyed peas as an Italian dish. I was compelled to try it.

Man O Man did this turn out good.

From La Cucina by Rose L. Sorce

Black-Eyed Peas With Sausage
(Piselli con Salsiccia)

1 lb. (2 cups) black-eyed peas. Dried
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp bacon fat
¼ tsp Basil
1 lb. Italian Sausage, sliced
1 large onion, minced
1 can (No. 2) tomatoes
1 tsp black pepper

Soak peas overnight in sufficient water to cover. Do not drain after soaking, but add salt and more water to cover well; simmer 1 ½ hours . Brown sausage and onion in the hot bacon fat; add peas, tomatoes, pepper, basil and salt to taste; simmer about 20 minutes to blend flavors well. Serve in soup plates or individual casseroles. Serves 4.


PS. My black eyed peas were fresh not dried. I started at the sausage and bacon fat part then simmered it about 45 minutes to an hour.

PPS. Served it with garlic bread, but Plant Daddy did not like the Basil-Herb Feta Cheese garnish.

I love the new paint color. It is Valspar "Green Tea" ...

But there are 2 problems.

First, I have tendonitis in my left elbow from the taping, painting, etc.

and

Second, with the new bright walls, my old furniture and curtains look shabby. I had thought I could save the curtains, but they may have to get replaced...and I've only had them 20 years....Grrr....

Maybe Blogger lets High School Interns run their site. Problems happen mostly in the summer.

First it was rainy this week. We got 3 inches and really needed it! We had just planted some Laurelpetalums and that kept us from a lot of hose dragging.

But today it's going to be 95 degrees. And the humidity will be unbearable. I'll be staying inside painting. Or maybe out by the pool.

Definitely not gardening. Last night while picking blackeyed peas, something stung the holy beergeebers out of me.

The middle finger of my right hand is hugely swollen. Ow.

Here's my effort to update the livingroom. Time to get out of the 80"s!!!

Song to Grits

When my mind's unsettled,
When I don't feel spruce,
When my nerves get frazzled,
When my flesh get loose,
What knits
Me back together's grits.

Grits with gravy,
Grits with cheese,
Grits with bacon,
Grits with peas,
Grits with minimun
Of two over-medium
eggs mixed in 'em: um!

Grits, grits, it's Grits, I sing—
Grits fits In with anything.

Rich and poor,
black and white,
Lutheran and Campbellite,
Jews and Southern Jesuits
All acknowledge buttered grits.

Give me two hands,
give me my wits,
Give me forty pounds of grits.

Grits at taps, grits at reveille, I am into grits real heavily.

True grits,
More grits,
Fish, grits and collards.

Life is good where grits are swallered.
Grits Sits Right.

~Roy Blount, Jr. One Fell Soup.

Here you are at 24!
Hope you have a whole lot more!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Mom heard from Community Education yesterday.
The brochure with the class listings is still not published.
I will let you know as soon as I know.

What's up with Blogger today? Grrrrr!

Long Time Leaving is the book I'm blogging about today, but that title also applies to the Palm Group.

I am heartsick over what the Tavares Public Library did to us.

I am heartsick that there seems to be no alternative meeting place.

I have had a headache and nausea for 2 days over this.

However, this morning I deleted the Palm Writers Blog, notified mambers and I am moving on.



Back to Mosaic Mom....


I am reading “Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From The South” by Roy Blount, Jr.

I do not like it so far.

I think I might wrap it up and mail it back to the man with a note that reads, “I did not like this book. You can have it back.”

When I was in my early adolescence, I would sneak into Dad’s “secret” closet and “borrow” issues of Playboy magazines. George Sims and Phil Williams had a “No Girls Allowed” Clubhouse/Treehouse, but when I brought magazines, I was allowed entrance.

George and Phil would oogle the pictures. I was not interested in the pictures; I was reading the articles and fiction and interviews. That’s where I first stumbled across Roy Blount, Jr. He wrote a poem about grits. It appeared in the middle of an article in Playboy.

I thought this poem about grits was so good, I tore the page out of the Playboy and kept the poem so I could memorize it.

These magazines had to be returned to the closet and apparently Dad noticed that this issue had been damaged. Recognizing that teenaged prowlers were about, he put a lock on the door of the lending library. George and Phil were sad. I was kicked out of the clubhouse, but I had my poem.

I have this poem “Grits” memorized and if anybody wants to hear it, you have only to ask. When I get drunk, you don’t even have to ask, I just burp it out.

Over the years I have chuckled at Blount’s titles “Three Bricks Shy of a Load” for instance. Now, that’s a great book title. But I have to confess, I never read it because I never had time or money.

So last week, I see this title “Long Time Leaving” and I understand it instantly. The man speaks Southern fluently. I have time and money, so I buy the book.

It’s OK, but totally not what I expected.

It’s like when you go see a Robin Williams movie cause you think it’s going to be funny. But Robin Williams screws you every time. Like when Mrs. Doubtfire loses the kids. Or the woman doctor in Happy Adams gets murdered and stuffed in a closet.

That’s sort of how this Roy Blount, Jr. book is. Like he USED to think like a Southerner, but he’s been north too long. Sad.