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2fer


Since we returned to work and school, some of us have gotten back into the swing of things more easily than others.



Laguna


Some of us are hiding under  their electric blanket. 

Mr. Pom is having an epidural tomorrow for the continuing back pain.
The Teen is locked up in her room with a big term paper to finish.
Fluffernutter has decided that she missed us so much that she will bark all night and use the kitchen for her private commode.
And my office is on the move again.

While I was away, we left our temporary digs and moved back to our regular offices.

For 5 days.

Now we are moving back to the temporary offices.

And we're never coming back.

Thankfully, I never unpacked.

The odor is back. The building management has spent a lot of money and done expensive renovations. It smelled okay for about a day, and now the odor has returned and people are back to nausea, headaches, swollen eyes, etc.

Wouldn't be so bad, but we can't take any printers or copies to the temp offices because they are not wired for voice and data yet and all our equipment is networked.

So it's the parkway shuffle again as we start the day at one place and end up at the other. The camping aspects of it will wear thin this time around, especially when we will be working off of airport cards and our files open so slowly that you could go to lunch and come back and your case file is still being accessed.

However, The Today show is featuring the cast from Knots Landing. Yesterday they did Murphy Brown.  The Golden Age of TV. Loved KL, and I had a closet full of power suits. Couldn't shut the door for the shoulder pads.

Gotta go. I checked my comments. They are working. Guess it's just me. Sniff, sniff.



Westward Ho!



Castle



Americans may be the only tribe that has no qualms about pulling up stakes and reinventing themselves wherever they land. How many of us haven't visited a far off land and wondered if life wouldn't be sweeter and more exciting on foreign shores?



Bevhtl



The ability to relocate and bloom where we are planted may be our greatest strength - and our greatest foible. Is life ever better on the other side of the street? Or do we just pack up our troubles in our old kit bags and unpack them once we land? Or can we truly reinvent ourselves and find the princess in the pauper?




Princess





Are fantasy lands just a facade? Is there a place that fulfills all our dreams or does place have no place in bringing about destiny? Be careful, my grandmother would have said, or you may seen the backside of your dreams. No one wants to find out that their vision of a new life is just a stage set with doors that lead nowhere.  No sense in pulling up a stool to the diner counter if all the food is plastic.







Luke



Whether you are the type of person who has roots deep into the soil or prefers to scatter your seeds wherever the winds blow, trips have the purpose of allowing ourselves to reimagine our lives.  That strange hotel room, the new slant of sun, those charming cottages by the sea, all work to take us out of ourselves and allow us to live a new life - at least until it is time to turn the car around and face east once again.


Dawning

We expect a lot from vacations. We expect them to be fun, to be exciting, to be serene, to be glamorous, to be adventurous, to be refreshing, and to change our lives.

But sometimes, it's enough if a vacation just allows us to experience the day.

Mornings, for example.

My weekday morning is pretty fixed. Up at 6:30, jump in the shower after Mr. Pom, get up The Teen, fix  lunches, and out the door. Drop off The Teen, get a triple venti skim cap, and get to the office before 8:00. 

You know that awful feeling when you're halfway to your destination and you can't remember how you got there? That's my morning routine more often than not.


Instead of acting like robots, how much better to be start the morning by being reminded of how the shape of the earth is revealed by dawn's first  light.


Earth



In place of a cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup, how much better to drink from a cup and saucer in a blue room meant to capture morning's light as it falls on the green of fronds. 



Morningroom



After the paper has been read, plans made for the day, and journals filled, the allure of the day is too strong to ignore and  it's time to go walk along the beach and feel your footprints connect with Mother Earth and your heart pump as you jump over the waves.



Beach


And then, perhaps, the fresh air leaves us a little peckish and we need something - something healthy, of course, to get us through to lunch. 



Berries


Of course, the berries are so much sweeter when accompanied by thick book, a cup brimming with rich coffee and topped with the foam of the nearby waves.  And so much better if surrounded by like minded people, who understand the need for public companionship and a morning best spent discussing the state of the world.

 




Bonaparte


Because before you know it, it's time to order lunch.










We Love LA!

Somethings you just can't say as well as those who have said it before. Especially when you took the red eye.  So with thanks to Randy Newman, we do love LA!


Daffy

Hate New York City
        It's cold and it's damp
        And all the people dressed like monkeys
        Let's leave Chicago to the Eskimos
        That town's a little too rugged
        For you and me, you bad girl



Orca




Santam




Hat


      

Rollin' down the Imperial Highway
        With a big nasty redhead at my side
        Santa Ana winds blowin' hot from the north
        And we was born to ride




Chevy






Sign

      

Roll down the window, put down the top
        Crank up the Beach Boys, baby
        Don't let the music stop
        We're gonna ride it till we just can't ride it no more



Potter






Cups


      

From the South Bay to the Valley
        From the West Side to the East Side
        Everybody's very happy
        'Cause the sun is shining all the time
        Looks like another perfect day


Surf


Board

      

I love L.A. (We love it)
        I love L.A. (We love it)


Trio_2


      

Snow, You Say?

Rumor has it that the east coast was socked in with a major snowstorm. Fortunately, the Pomegranates were able to change their flights and leave a day later, thereby avoiding the airport mess that was reported on CNN.

Southern California is one big beach town, with the surf encircling the coast like a necklace of pearls. We drove the Pacific Coast Highway and ocean boulevards and only had to turn our heads to catch glimpses of sparkling waves and broad stretches of sand - and volleyball nets - between every building from Malibu to Tijuana.

The girls are actively planning their move - both have decided that their true destinies are as long-haired, blonde California girls. The plan is for The Princess to transfer to a California branch of her company and then the Teen will finish high school here, establish residency and go to UCLA.

Oh, how the parents laugh!

The parents, they are amused since The Princess's last trip had her firmly convinced to move to Rome. She's going to Paris and Belgium later in the spring - we expect her resolve to move westward will dissolve under the first pearly grey Parisian sky.

It has been an exciting trip. We've seen it all, done it all, spent it all, and are exhausted. We've experienced Disney, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Laguna, Warner Bros Studios,  and even a computer hihacker! (Long and sorry story about a hotel too stupid to have a SECURE wireless connection. Let's just say that every credit reporting agency in the United States has us on standby alert via cell phone. It still is the wild, wild west out here.)

Once you see your computer being operated by an invisible man, you don't go back online.  I am posting from a lovely little computer room, but only because we had to print our boarding passes.

I could whine about the 50 degree, cloudy, and rainy weather that we had all week, but WE'RE NOT SHOVELING SNOW! so I will not. 

Mr. Sun: please come out on the east coast so the foot of snow will melt before we get there. I can't take off my flip flops just yet. And my coat is buried in the bottom of my suitcase.  Scarf and gloves? Are you kidding?

See you all tomorrow!


Californication

We're here! Do you see us waving from the coast of southern California? We were just looking at the weather on TV and anyone looking in our hotel window would have seen 4 heads turning simultaneously from east coast to west as we oriented ourselves on the weather map to our new geographic location.

Everything went as smoothly as possible in this age of packed jets. Mr. Pom was VERY nervous about the flight and was in a lot of pain. We walked and walked until we found our seats on the plane - the very last row. He had window, I had middle, a man was next to me and across the row were the two girls with someone else.

Things looked grim back-wise. Every seat was filled and they were still trying to get people to give up their tickets in exchange for free round trip tickets with no restrictions.

Suddenly, the Princess leaned over and asked if either of us wanted to move to First Class?

Huh?

Seems her seatmate and his wife were flying standby and the wife scored a first class seat but  he was in the last row of coach with us, and she wanted to sit with him. Is that cute or what? (they were young, probably newlyweds...I'm just saying...) Quicker than you can say, "spinal fusion!", the girls and I ejected Mr. Pom from his seat and propelled him to First Class, the land of wide, leather, reclining seats.

I moved to window, Julia jumped in the middle next to me, the man next to me graciously switched with The Princess, and then he got to move up with his wife a few rows ahead. All was right with the world! And thank Providence, because it was tight back there and by the end, my butt was numb and The Princess had passed out from her bad cold and the Teen was taking photos of me with her laptop and doing weird things to them in Paintbox, and Mr. Pom would have never made it. 

We saw Mr. Pom again in California, where I pretended I was handing off the girls to the ex at the gate. We were  happy he was so rested and felt so well. At least until he told us that he had had french toast for breakfast and a deli platter with wine for lunch. French toast with bacon and strawberries?? Lunch?? Wine??

The last thing we had to eat was at 7:00 a.m. when we had to pay 5 bucks each to buy turkey wraps so loaded with onion that we threw them away. Seems "free food" is not included in the fare of round trip tickets anymore.  So for the return trip, we are going to upgrade Mr. Pom to first class, but only on the condition that each time he is served a meal, he trudges back to The Great Unwashed and gives it to us and we'll slip him an onion wrap.

Today we hope to load The Princess with cold meds, load Mr. Pom with anti-inflammatories, get The Teen a skim board, head down to Laguna and sit in the sun. People of The East Coast listen up! People here have on shorts and bikini tops!


California Dreamin' Is Becoming a Reality

In a little over 12 hours, we'll be on a plane winging westward.  My Ipod is loaded with California songs, my suitcase is loaded with books, my carry-on is loaded with magazines, 2 books (suppose I don't like one or we get delayed??), Moleskinerie watercolor journal, pens, pencils, and my laptop, which I am bringing because I need to upload my photos since I never got around to getting another memory stick.

Phew.

I took the day off, ostensibly to do errands, but mainly because work was horrid on Thursday - no Valentines from my staff! - just a lot of sturm and drang. Good thing I did, because I spent the whole day doing errands anyway. But by now, my clothes are packed, children are doing their laundry, dog is at the kennel, and my hair is newly highlighted. Now if we can just get Mr. Pom's back to calm down, he might actually smile and be excited that we are spending a fortune for a week on the west coast with the girls and not going to a funeral.

But it's okay. It's the usual routine in our house before a major trip. Hoping once he's there, he'll relax and maybe some of the aches and pain will go away. Surely the California sun will warm up his muscles, calm down the nerves, and bring a smile to his face. if not, we'll just get him drunk and stick him in a deck chair with a blanket on the boardwalk.

Not sure if I can check email since my Mac never likes to go online unless it's home, but at the very least, I'll have lots of cool pictures to share when I get home.

So behave yourselves, don't burn the house down, and if you have a wild party, clean up before I get home.


My Funny Valentines

Valday


You are all so sweet and kind and my birthday was immeasurably gladdened by your well wishes. I wish I could send each and every one of you a Valentine but, alas, it is not to be this year. So here are some sweet goodies for you to visually feast on.

May your Valentine's Day be spent with love.




Blessings 101

Today is my birthday. I took the day off. Planned to just "be". Planned to show you a series of still lifes of my day.  I had a marvelous morning - got my Starbucks, then did artwork in my sunny, little studio. Lila - almost got to work on the journal pages!

I had two doctor's appointments and went to Borders in between. Had another capuccino, read a bunch of magazines and was sketching from some photos I'd brought when my cell rang. The Princess was driving back from the city after having her hair cut. We discussed whether she should go east side or west side due to the snow that had just started.

Started gathering up my stuff when the cell went off again. The Princess. Again. She'd had a minor fender bender on the highway. Only her car involved, she didn't get hurt, but she was shook up. She made it to our town and got off the highway where I met her. Car was worse than she thought and basically undriveable. She'd fishtailed in the snow on a ramp and spun out and hit the front and back of the car, miraculously not getting hurt or hitting any other vehicles.

Mr. Pom handled the insurance company and the tow, and got her a rental car and I just sat with her and told her how cute her hair looked.  And it did look cute.

At dinner, we said a special grace before eating and I thanked God for getting me to my age intact and for getting my daughter home to me intact.

Mr. Pom made us t-bone steaks and baked potatoes.

Now she's asleep. Zapped of energy.  Me, I'm under my new favorite toy, the electric blanket. I have a new book to read by Lynne Perella. Everyone's under one roof except MM, who is safe at school but hasn't me called me...yet.

Good night.

 

Friends

I've met many people in the course of my art journeys. These women, and they are always women but not out of any selectivity, just that women are the attendees at these events, are extraordinarily generous and kind. Art friends tend to be very special people. They understand why you are veering off the road to screech into a fabric store or thrift store. They nod their heads when you show them a purse full of cool brochures you just took from Starbucks because of the graphics. They would never tell you that your studio is a mess because theirs' are just as b ad. And they would never judge you for the hundreds of art books, the baskets overflowing with more yarn than you could ever knit in a lifetime, the cartons piled with paper scraps, jars of buttons, or drawers of rubber stamps. They may try to get you to give some to them, but they would never judge!

And they make you stuff ~ beautiful, tender, and touching art pieces that make you cry:


4

Notice the "Pom" and the little Pom kids printed on fabric? Thank you, Ellen, I have it on my mantel for all to see.

Read more in the coming week about Ellen and Salliane and Art Is!


California Here We Come

Los_angeles_skyline_in_winter





And it really is right back where we started from! 

We haven't been there since 1995 when we moved from Fresno to Memphis. The Teen was only 2 years old when we went to Disneyland and rode The Teacups.

So for February break, The Princess, The Teen, Mr. Pom and I are going to LA for a week.  (Mystery Man has no Feb break and can't miss a week of classes and we will miss him so much!) 

I'm already packed - well, books anyway. 7 days = 1 book per day plus one for the plane = Mr. Pom is going to make me carry my own bag.

Here are my tentative selections:

Sue Gee - Reading in Bed
Kate Atkinson - One Good Turn
Secret Ingredients - The New Yorker Book of Food and Drinks (anthology of the magazine's food writing)(this is a swing book - may be replaced by The Mitfords/Letters Between Six Sisters)
Jan Gardam - The Queen of the Tambourine
Robert Finch - The Iambics of Newfoundland
Richmal Crompton - Family Roundabout
Andrea Barrett - The Air We Breathe

Also going by the knitting store today for some new ribbon yarn to make some spring scarves. I have a new watercolor moleskinerie, a tiny watercolor palette, a box of blank flashcards, and a glue stick at the ready.

The girls are excited about

-shopping
-Laguna Beach
-Sea World
-Warner Bros Tour
-shopping some more

Mr. Pom is excited about

-a week off
-sun!
-The Getty
-Venice Beach
-La Jolla

I am exciting about

-being on a family vacation with the girls (who knows when the two of them will be available at the same time again)
-  sun!
-visiting Fran of Sacred Ordinary
-sketching, reading, drinking cappuccinos al fresco
-watching The Teen skim board at Laguna Beach (I was informed it is THE skimboard capital of the world)
-watching The Princess trying to get me buy her something on Rodeo Drive (do they sell ice cream cones there?)
-seeing palm trees & smelling that indefinable California air

So now I need all you internets to send me suggestions on groovy things to do and especially any groovy ART or Thrift type places to visit. (I lobbied for going to San Francisco just so I could go to Wendy Addison's Studio Theatre of Dreams  , Tail of the Yak , and Castle In The Air,   but I was overruled by a rowdy vocal majority who said we'd been there a cajillion times - like that matters??)


Longer Days


Ny_2


The "environmental issues", i.e. the stink in our offices continues. We camped out on another floor for ten days and  I shared a desk with 2 other attorneys. Some support staff were working in file rooms with no windows or ventilation. It was crazy!

Now we have moved to temporary offices. We had to move everything as if we weren't coming back. Why? Don't ask. A combination of legal issues and who knows what. The new offices are not wired into our corporate data system, so the catastrophe team had to be engaged and everyone in the office now has a laptop, airport card, and cell phone. It's been a huge expenditure of effort, time, and money and we are all wiped out. 

Today was our first day in our temporary digs. We have no printers, no copier, no access to overnight mail, and no postage machines. Our mail still comes to the other office and I spent half the day ferrying people and paperwork from one end of the county to the other.

We were all burned out by the end of the day. One of my staff felt I was  sarcastic to her as I was leaving and unbeknowst to me, she was dealing with an abusive business call.  I called her to apologize on the way home and I was glad I did because she was at the end of her rope and was very upset. Let's hope everyone gets some rest tonight and that Monday's trial calendar is not crazy. I'm hoping they let the staff go home early in recognition of insane working conditions and everyone doing above and beyond.

On the other hand, there's a small cafe and I had fresh coffee in the middle of the afternoon. Best of all,   I got home in ten minutes! I love the new location and I hope the removal of all the foam insulation from the old offices does nothing to cut the smell because then we can stay here until we find new permanent offices. The new location is right off the parkway and is only ten minutes from Whole Foods, the quilt store, and knitting store. 


In the HeArt of Art

It's either feast or famine around here when it comes to time for art, and this weekend we were feasting as though it was Thanksgiving. After a full day of merriment at Tinsel Trading on Saturday, Ellen, Sallianne, and our friend, Kathi, fueled up with Starbucks and took to the open road.

We were headed to Warwick, NY to attend The heArt of Winter  show put on by Jen Connelly of Earth Angel Toys.  The day was sunny and unseasonably warm and you couldn't get a word in edgewise as we all gabbed the whole way up there, giddy with caffeine and the prospect of an entire day of art and friends.




Heart1



Warwick is a small, sweet town that has an old fashioned and intact Main Street. It wasn't hard to figure out where the show was. Isn't this a cool truck?



Truck





We were into it for the sign and the hot chocolate. These guys were into the truck itself. Bet their wives dumped them there while they were upstairs gazing at the treasures.

We had to wait awhile for the show to open at 11:00. Craning our necks, we could glimpse a little bit of art and see a flutter of Jen in her adorable magenta flats.


Heart3



 

Finally, they opened the show and we surged upstairs, climbing into a sunlit, vast room with warm wood floors and walls filled with artwork of all kinds.



Heart4



Where to start? Where to look? How to take it all in??


Tt4



I was in a dither as I saw gorgeous paintings by Jennifer Lane, beautiful necklaces made of vintage photos, colorful ceramics, hooked rugs, mixed media pieces, shadowboxes, bears, and more.




And then, someone approached me. A curvaceous woman in a slinky black dress. Could it be? Yes! Rhoda! Uh, I mean, the delightful Laurie Meseroll.




Laurie







She was as funny and warm as I imagined her to be and what an artist! Can I tell you that the web does no justice to her paintings?? They are vibrant, whimsical, soulful - and glittery. So were her eyelashes. The weirdest part is when we discovered that we'd both gone to the same, funky, small college - albeit she was there about 10 years after me. I knew she was a kindred soul!

It was too much to take in all at once. I must have circled the room about 20 times. I think I was making some of the artists and workers nervous. Thought I was casing the joint!  Finally, we went to lunch so we could eat and discuss it all, which is usually the best part. Then we went back. Hovered and stared some more. Wanted to buy something but absolutely could not decide. I left empty-handed, but I know I'll be at Jen's site and ordering something there. Truly an overload of sensory stimulation and I could not begin to decide.

I'll bring you more photos of some of the individual artists and their work later in the week. It was a fabulous experience and I can't wait for their next show!


A Little Ribbonerie/A Lot of Laughs!

Tt1Even though the groundhog saw its shadow and we have have another 6 weeks of winter, spring was in bloom at Tinsel Trading this weekend.

Surrounded by spools of vibrant ribbons, we tucked and pleated and tacked and sewed and made corsages to welcome spring into our hearts.

In the midst of it all, were a fabulous group of light-hearted women who got on like a house afire, to the point that the TEACHER had to rap on the table a few times to get everyone back on task! 

But seriously, it was a free-flowing gabfest with ribbons flying, artwork being showed round the table, names and emails exchanged, and promises to meet again very soon.

Here's a selection of photos of a fabulous day!

Tt3

Ellen and Sallianne goofing around.


Tt4


Faith displaying her travel-themed nosegay.



Tt5

Faith and I catching up on two years' worth of happenings.


Tt6


A very glamorous Terri about to select her ribbons.



Ttnew


Our lovely Greek friend, Metaxia, displaying her gorgeous creation.


Tt9


The famous Stair Shot. Notice how some of us are choosing to hide our double chins....


Thanks, ladies, for coming and I hope you all had as much fun as I did!