Unmitigated

Good Night, Alice

Alice Rosenau Knight Furman, March 1911 - March 2011

Click Through! Click Through!

I have raved before about the beautiful graphic artwork that Tera does, and shares on her blog, Olive Hue Designs. As a matter of fact, when I won a piece on her blog, I selected this beauty...

...and had her send it to Captain Dumbass and Supreme Leader as a baby gift for little Mickey Finn. Don't let the title of the post scare you away.

And when challenged with the task of making cute zombies?

Let's just say she has the skills of a ninja.

There's a little motel near Oscoda, Michigan, called the Mai Tiki. It's in the middle of a long line of kitschy-cool motels that are on the Lake Huron shore, in the middle of vacationland. I took a photo from our car as we drove home from visiting friends a little north of there, and it looks like this...

...at least, that's what it looks like after it becomes a banner. I love the colors, I love the backdrop, and the little peek of Lake Huron beach. Tera likes it, too!

How beautiful is that! I've asked her to make me a nice print on good paper so I can frame it. I might need to get a couple of them, as I think I know one or two people who might be jealous of mine. Maybe I should have a matte made that I could put both versions in. What do you think?

Random Tuesday Thoughts: Sailors' Delight

Keely is the unmom...at least she is on Tuesdays.

This is an actual, unedited or retouched photo from my back porch on Monday evening, around 8 p.m. eastern time:

I don't think I've ever seen that color sky before. Magenta? It was amazing.

I worked from home on Monday, scoring applications for a teacher workshop we have in the summer. We have 80 open spots, and 176 applications. Today, I made it through the first 55, alphabetically. That took from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Only 121 more to go...

Our tax refund arrived on Friday last week, enabling me to pay off several bills, and still help finance Ms. Partly Cloudy's upcoming nuptials (still 8 months away). I do not forget how fortunate we are = quite a lot really.

Our departure for Florida is eleven days away. My pedicure is still seven days away. Any chance I'll lose ten pounds in the next eleven days? Probably not. Actually, I'm okay with that. Not the pedicure thing, though. That needs to happen.

I have been enjoying the occasional Tigers' spring training game on the radio. They are typically interspersed with days that feature Red WIngs' games, which means I am in broadcast heaven. Except yesterday. There was a Tigers' game, but no radio or TV for it, and the Wings are off until Wednesday.

I love my Wings like they are my own offspring, but I'd be a poor mother not to recognize that they wouldn't stand a chance against this year's Vancouver Canucks. I feel certain the Cap'n will agree with me, unless he still can't figure out that he last signed in here as Supreme Leader, AKA, SUpreme Crusher of Dreams.

He usually participates in this Random Tuesday Thoughts thing as well. Go check out the links at Keely's place. You won't believe the treasures you can find there...

Beautiful Pictures and Awful Things

This is the little road that leads to Great Grandma's house, on the day after her 100th birthday party. We stopped for a little quiet visit on the way home. As much as I hate snow, I love the pictures I got in the sunshine.

21-year-old-almost-married-Partly-Cloudy-Girl had boots on, so she ventured behind the house to take pictures of the beautiful creek just 20 feet from the door of the house. While I fretted about her dropping my camera in the snow.

Did you know you can request birthday greetings for milestone birthdays? Great Grandma heard from President and Mrs. Obama, and Debbie Stabenow, who sent a hand-written note. Ms. Stabenow is one of Michigan's U.S. Senators, is from a town near where Great Grandma lives, and is also a lifelong Methodist, just like Great Grandma.

This tree, next to Great Grandma's house looks like it should be in the center of Whoville with a circle of singing Who's around it. "Ba-hoo borais, da-hoo dorais, welcome Christmas, bring your light..."

Except that it's March, and Christmas is long past. Feeling a little Grinch-y about the snow, I am.

I don't recall what time we got back on the road, but I do recall that I wanted to take more pictures of the snow, which is awful and beautiful all at the same time. Also, there was a specific shot I wanted...

There's a round barn there, near the center of this shot, taken about a mile or so from Great Grandma's house. Great Grandma's second husband, Gardner, told us a round barn is supported by a central pole called an auger, and always liked to call himself The Big Auger. I think he's been gone around 20 years now, but everytime I see that round barn, I think of Gard.

On Saturday afternoon, I got a call from Buddy's mom, telling us that Great Grandma had fallen and broken her hip. They opted to do surgery on a hundred-year-old woman, which was done yesterday, and she came through it with flying colors. It's too bad, really. I think she's been ready to leave this earth for a few years now. She outlived one child, who died very young in a car accident, and if she's not careful, she'll outlive another one, who's heart is giving him a difficult time right now.

Beautiful and awful, all at the same time.

Really, Golf Digest?

My son has a subscription to Golf Digest. I think he likes to read about the clubs he can't afford and the courses he'll never play. The new issue arrived today...

For some reason...this looks so familiar to me...oh, wait! I know!

Apparently it's okay for Tiger to smile in public again.