Friday's Mix

My Friday was mixed. A bit of in office work, a bit of out of office work, run a few errands. A quiet day.

Once home I grabbed the bags of groceries
and headed inside to prep a meal Blowfish would enjoy solo. I had plans to attend  the opening party for a juried show at our local Arts Center. I was a bit rushed trying to prep dinner quickly so I could get on with getting me prepped for the evening.

Art openings are interesting. It is pretty typical to find folks there dressed for a gala in conversation with folks dressed in holy jeans and dirty shirts.  There is an undercurrent of competition to these things, both from those with entries in the show and those attending.
It can be daunting to enter a room where you know dozens of people will be appraising you with an artists eye. It also can be very entertaining. If you enter into this activity with a fun loving spirit then a good time is to be expected.  These days I  allow myself extra time to get ready because of the artists eye thing. So the experience will be fun not stress.

While still in the Kitchen, some movement caught my eye out in the Garden Room.  Something was swinging back and forth but I could not tell what it was. Soon as I got the chicken to browning I went to take a closer look. At first I wasn't sure what I was seeing, partly because of the pendulum motion but also because  there was  glare on the window. To my dismay it became clear there was a tiny hummingbird trapped in a spider's string which was anchored at the gutter of the Garden Room Roof.

I turned down the chicken and went outside.

We did have a week of  cooler Fall  weather but then returned to mid 90's heat with lots of humidity, zero rain and daily ozone warnings. Being late afternoon it was an oven with heat radiating outward from the Low-E windows exactly as intended. I told myself to be quick about this because I would be hot and sweaty in minutes and I did not have time to deal with my damn hair before the party. ( See Fish Stories 10-15-09 )

The bird was trussed up in that sticky spider's string like a sacrificial offering. I thought it was dead so I went to get a broom to sweep that sad vision away but at the first swipe I heard a tiny sound and then as the bird swung around on the string an eye opened and stared into mine.  Clearly there was hope so a change of plans was in order. It was off to the garage for a ladder and gloves to facilitate a rescue.  Once I was eye level with the Hummingbird I could see I would need to hold the bird in one hand so it would not fall while I broke the
spider's string. Then I would have to figure out how to get all the trussing sticky off that incredibly tiny  bird  before letting it go. There was no assurance "go" would be a possibility but I never thought to not try.

While making these assessments I slowly became aware of another movement right before the biggest spider I have ever seen jumped for me. Spider was in the mood to defend it's prey, my size was no deterrent.  I did not react quickly enough before the spider sprang forth landing half in my hair and half on my face. I took the express trip off the ladder screaming and flailing.  I won the battle but not without smashing that spider into my hair.

You can imagine the things I said while re-setting the ladder and returning to the rescue.

Have you ever held a Hummingbird in your hand? Wow! However that business about being tiny and fragile made  it a challenge to figure out how to hold it gently enough to do no harm yet firmly enough to be able to remove  the massive amounts of sticky . I think the more the bird moved in it's efforts for freedom the more trussed it became. Mummies could have been less wrapped.  Awful.  But as progress was made in the removal the bird became more animated, more determined to be free and eventually we reached a point where I could just open my hand and see what happened. Miraculously that tiny, tiny  oh-so-beautiful bird  hovered in place for a few seconds before  flying off to the interior of our giant Cecile rose.
Amazing.
I felt blessed to be a participant in good prevailing.

Did I mention the heat index was  in the triple digits?  I was sweaty hot, dirty and was sporting smashed spider as a hair ornament. Naturally the only thing to do was turn the hose on myself.  I  flushed spider from my hair , drank from the hose and filled the bone dry bird bath. Immediately the Hummingbird emerged from the Cecile and went for a swim. Did you know Hummingbirds have a chirp? It's loud too.

Ultimately watching the Hummingbird chirp and groom itself in the birdbath taught me a lot about  resiliency and moving on. A few minutes earlier that bird had been on the death pendulum . Now it was engaged in life, having a good splash and making  a cheery statement. It might look a beautiful, tiny fragile creature but in truth it is a mighty warrior.  Lesson learned.

Made Me Smile

Here lately I have been a bit glum.
Okay, more than a bit.
So this week I organized my life around this concept,
 " What would make me feel good?"

One of the things I did was do some home love. You know that saying about the cobblers children have no shoes? Well this designer's home was showing some designery neglect.. But the weather changed, we stopped the canned air and threw open the windows. On the first morning after the opening I came down the stairs thinking , " this feels different". It certainly did , the  air felt different the house smelled different and suddenly all I wanted to do was love my home again.

Even my beloved bailing wire horse sculpture needed to be de-spidered. Sometimes those arachnids like to nest smack in the horses belly.
They can be hard to spot until one day a web falls into your cup of tea.

I am not one who can make things look good on the surface while ignoring what lies beneath. So what ensued was furniture hauling, detailed vacuuming of shelves full of memorabilia from our lives, ( think slow and tedious) plenty of scrubbing and polishing. I set up a fairly interesting mix on one of the online radio sites and occasionally took a break to shake my assets and sing off key.

another spider hiding place is in the rush seats

Y'all should  be grateful you could neither hear or witness these spontaneous interludes. I also took this  opportunity to rant aloud my perspective on the issues causing the glums.
It's best y'all couldn't hear that too. I expect it sounded even worse than Moi's rant about the injudicious elimination of Cassanova. ( I agree with her totally).

 I was on such a satisfying rip I carried on until I'd shouted out my wrath about the Mosques and the Quran burnings and the coming home from Iraq speech and National Parks getting signed over to the UN and the BLM land grabs and the horrors of the NJ eminent domain travesties making its way to the Supreme Court.  I  ended up spilling my opinions on the "difficulties" our Constitution poses to the UN  when it comes to "rights" of individual ownerships which interfere with the proposed UN takeover of our grasslands and moving of the "populous" to"designated urban centers".  Lets just say  ' shoot to kill' was heard more than once. I might even have been foaming at the mouth like some rabid beast by the time I got around to the idea it could be legal anywhere, for any reason, to sponsor a public death by stoning.

On Labor Day I went to a  civic festival which started with
5,000 people saying the Lord's Prayer followed by us all reciting the Pledge of Alligence. Standing, with  hands over hearts. I did not hear one voice protest either one of these traditions.  Our amazing county band/orchestra then played an ensemble of the theme songs of each branch of military service  having asked those attendees who had served to please stand for recognition while their branch was honored. Watching some of the elderly rise with pride and struggle to  stand straight during the honor was a clutch moment for me. I so don't want respect , honor, might  and love of  our nation to perish. Integrity and decency should always prevail.

Following the concert there was a wonderful fireworks display. Lots of red, white and BOOM!
I liked it, I went home mostly relaxed and slept for 4 straight hours for the first time in weeks. Ok, months.


Somewhere along the way  the multiple issues with the new high speed wireless modem,  and the new laptop mostly got resolved. The modem was replaced as was the new laptop. The laptop manufacturer, would NOT replace their equipment which was found by their tech to have a defective wireless adapter B as well as a dysfunctional mother board. Would Not. I on the other hand, took the print outs of the findings and the recommendations of their own tech to 'replace'  and the company 'decline to replace' to the point of purchase and asked them to recognize it was not good business. They replaced the laptop.  I will return this exchanged laptop if there is a single issue since I know  " customer support" is actually " corporate protectionism".


Later in the week  I took a senior friend/client on a day trip to one of my favorite mountain retreat towns.
It was spectacular day, really beautiful and  enjoyable.  Except for the  anxious moments when the leisurely stroll became an issue because Constance forgot to use her prescription inhalers before leaving home.  I did ask her what the inhalers were for and was shocked at the response," chronic bronchitits, emphysema, COPD"  She was gasping for air on a deserted hillside while I was trying to get a cell phone signal  when I asked
 " Why on Earth did we take this walk if you having breathing issues?"
 Her answer,

" Because I wanted to see this". We were  on the grounds of a beautiful Inn but there were not others around  this particular hillside. NO signal and no one in shouting distance.  Eventually her breathing returned to normal and we took a half hour to finish a five minute walk to the Dining Room. Other than that scare it was all beautiful and then we went exploring at some of my favorite designer haunts.

I love this place

very bullish

These cattle looked very friendy and very  big

Does this English hare look like $400 to you?

just add flowers

I didn't get these fishys, clay was too gray

these chickie chickies were 50% off

I might have bought these at the Paris fleamarket myself if I had francs to go with the wants.

This little Frenchy did come home with me because one of my earliest childhood memories is permanently etched into my face. Compliments of one of these  little pups who missed the cookie and got me instead. All is forgiven and what fun continetal folk art! Cripes, looks like I need to revise the date setting on the camera.

Maybe I'll have another week of therapy, it seems to be working. I think I smiled today.

Comforts

Seems like most all of us in the Troll Family of Bloggers is in need of a hug.

I think we are all  badgered by the news on every continent.

 Maybe by just too much Summer heat, or the long Gulf worry.

Perhaps extended angst over business or economics is wearing us down.

 Worst of all, maybe we are stressed over loved ones in jeopardy or lost.

The why doesn't matter. There's enough to go around. Plenty.

So here is my hug to you bloggers.
Images of things which comfort :-)