Author: Rene

Anyone who’s dedicated their significant interior painting escapades to late night completion, weekend cramming before guests arrive, or the frivolity of painting a new color on a bored wall – that person shall understand the skill involved in proper caulking.

I don’t mind the chore so much, but I am a total mess having done it. I use my clothing as a rag, my fingernails as a tool, and occasionally, a bit of spit for smoothing. (My DNA is hidden in a few rooms.)

It’s spring. I’m itching to find a project while I avoid the obvious one; repainting the guest room. Refer to comic strip Jeremys reaction. I’ll get to it one day.

Here is a bit of the novel I am currently reading.

“By Pallas, thou art beautiful! Beware Apollo mistake thee not for his lost love…Turn not away. A truce! A truce! There is the sun of India in thine eyes; in the corners of thy mouth, Egypt hath set her love-signs. Perpol! Turn not to that slave fair mistress, before proving merciful to this one.”

It seemed as if reading Lew Wallace’s classic, “Ben Hur,” would be a good thing for the Easter week. I began this 1908 tome after dusting the shelves where it has resided since my in-laws bequeathed it to us. I loved the movie, might as well read the book?

Whew! It has taken me quite a bit of time to get into the rhythm of the writing. Since I know the story I can at least figure out the names and places better. It’s really been quite enjoyable, even though I only make about five pages a night.

Just giving the brain cells a work-out.

My goodness! The weather warners are having a heyday with the predictions of snow and/or rain/sleet. All I can say is that they had better be correct this time. I fertilized my trees last night.

Every year I throw dry fertilizer on top of the soil during a rain or while it’s misting before the anticipated drenching. We have a lot of pines, so they get this special treatment while the few deciduous strivers are given whatever is left. They just don’t fair as well regardless, but we still love them.

Currently the sun is shining brightly and the skies are clear. We shall see if things change by 2:00, the Dave Frasier Weather Alert prediction.

My pillow at home is fairly flat with a silk case which I adore. It was greatly missed on my recent travels.

The last bed had four concrete block-shaped “adornments” on it. If you put your head on them you had a serious 90 degree sleeping angle. They were deplorable, though I think they were meant to be “special.” Since we arrived late and exhausted that first evening we made the best of it – in my case, sleeping without a pillow under my head most of the night. I was too tired to swing myself out of bed and grab a hand towel for support, my fall-back plan.

We rectified the situation the next morning with feather pillows. However, I can’t help but think of the waste of laundry these blocks created, trying each one to see which was flattest.

Ah, it’s good to be back on my humble little piece of fluff, slowly working the kink out of my neck. If I have room, I’ll stuff my little gem in the suitcase next time!

Wearing my sleeveless gown, cute sandals showcasing a hot pink pedicure, floppy hat, I’m all decked out for a California wedding on a sunny 80 plus day. It’s lovely here. Apparently I am returning to this:

Problem solved!

Our little band of babes is already being recognized in this bay town. We walked into the local t-shirt shop, looking for Jonathan, whom we’d met three days ago. “Oh, we heard about you.”

Jonathan’s parents were working and pleased to meet us. Apparently we were entertainment for their 35-year oldish son. (This is a very sleepy town.) He was getting his car washed and cleaned in the event we needed him to give us a ride today. Very lovely people in this seaside hamlet.

We’ll see where we end up today. Right now – looking at the waves breaking on the rock is quite pleasant enough.

Returning home from our wine tasting tour we disembarked and cheerily asserted that, “Yes, we have all of our belongings.”

I did not. My wallet was AWOL. There was a five-minute check and recheck and scramble, but alas, it was absent. Thankfully one of us had the phone number for our super-chill driver and we called him. Although not thrilled to return to us in rush hour traffic, he did stop his van, locate my wallet and bring it back. A lovely cash donation made it worth his time and my peace of mind.

The real question is, “Why do my friends allow me to carry the only access we have to our abode, the garage door opener?” (I failed to inform them of the time I left my purse hanging on the back of the bathroom door at a rest stop on the interstate.)

It always works out. We’re all combobulated again.

When I traveled in times of yore, I traipsed through Europe with one pair of shoes for a month. I have no idea what they were, but I know they weren’t tennis shoes because I didn’t own any.

For a few days in sunny SoCal, I have four pair of shoes. Needless necessity as we need beach shoes, wedding shoes, walking shoes, and a frivolous pair. I only packed them because I had room in my suitcase. If this were a serious month-long mission I probably wouldn’t have packed any and just bought a pair if I needed them when I got here.

It’s interesting to look at what we think we need when we’re on the road. In reality, we need nothing but the clothes on our back, a water bottle, and a credit card. I’ll take comfort in that as I repack the mess I threw in my bag, knowing it’s all fluff.

My fluff and I shall be touring the area today.

After another snowy and cold April day, I had to dig up a laugh. Mother Nature does have a sense of humor.

This might have been an earlier notice in my blog, though a fashion one. I recall the high-end designer stores showing mannequins with “large blanket-like stoles” wrapped around them. I wrote about it. However, this morning there was a lovely gaggle walking to the local high school. We are enjoying a warm, slightly blustery spring day or two. Would you wear a jacket or not? No. You would not. You are young and daring. You would eschew the common sense of your forefathers. You would not succumb to a fashion statement, but create your own. You would wrap yourself in a crappy blanket.

This stole was a culling from the pile in the family room of those fleece-tied gems of yore. I’m pretty sure the teen had access to a coat. Probably many of them? But she chose a blanket for her walk to school.

The more I thought about it the more I admired her.