Women Over Fifty

Today our guest blogger is Annie Holmes.  She sent me some pictures of their messabout [a boat potluck/party] and, of course, I asked if I could use one of the pictures.  She said OK.  I really appreciate her sharing her adventures with us and, of course, we all love the sailboat pictures.

Hi Marilynne!  The kids on the boat with me are children of the man who did such a great job on all the construction and carpentry in our house.  I invited him to bring the kids today.  He brought three, and he stayed on the dock with the youngest so I could take the two teenagers out sailing.  I had one of our Scuzbums members [a boating club] along to be my crew, and I must say those two kids did a great job sailing the boat — well, steering anyway.  They were sweet, polite, and I think they had fun.  It was one of our “messabouts” and Dudley [husband] made a big pot of chili for lunch for everyone, which was served on our dock.

Everything went great with the exception of two things:  when I charged the battery a couple of days ago, I reversed the charger clamps and put them on the wrong anodes. (Senior moment.) Alas, when I got down to the boat this morning, the battery was dead as a doornail.  My hero, Dudley, went up to the chandlery and brought me back a brand new one. When everyone was gone, and we were getting ready to go, my big umbrella blew right up and off the dock and we watched it sink JUST out of reach.  Minor detail.  All in all, we had a good time, and we were so glad the kids had fun.  I’m really tired, and am on my way to bed.

xxx, Annie

Today is bunny day.  A day when I can be a little flip about my blog and write about bunnies?  What are they up to today?  Let’s see.

It looks like they’re hoping for mail.  Good luck!  Mostly that mail box is full of advertisements and sweetly put “Give me your money” messages.  However, yesterday we got a letter in that box from our new-Marine grandson.  That really made us happy.

When we lived in a little wheat town in the West I worked hard to be the first one at the mail box once the mail came.  It came three times a week by train.  The train would blow its whistle long and hard when it delivered the mail.  When we heard the whistle, we’d know that our mail would be in our mailbox in about an hour.

Sometimes I’d cheat and stand around and wait for the mail to be sorted.  That way I’d be sure to be first.

Marilynne

Thursday afternoons are for me.  Today that means a Zumba lesson and a haircut.  It is so easy to forget that I’m important too.

I like the Thursdays when I go to the beach, or grab my camera and run around looking for pictures.

I like to go to museums, though they have cooler museums in Los Angeles.  LA is a long trip from my house but I’d like to return to the J. Paul Getty for a day of browsing.  Not a tour bus sort of thing, but a me thing.

Once I had planned a day at the Getty and I had a job interview that morning.  So, I went to the interview and the interviewer said she’d like her boss to talk to me.  She’d call me later for a phone talk.  I told her I was sorry, but I was leaving for lunch and an afternoon at the Getty.  Would she like me to call her at a certain hour?

I figured scratch that job.  While I was at the Getty I bought a few post cards.  I sent one to the interviewer saying thanks for the interview:  I’d had a nice afternoon at the Getty.  I got the job!  Amazing isn’t it?  That seems like a pretty cavalier attitude.  I’m not sure I would have hired me after that.

She probably shouldn’t have hired me.  My lack of concern about being home when the boss called was probably an indicator of independent thinking.  In the long run, this boss wanted someone she could scare into doing whatever she wanted them to do.  I wasn’t one of those people.  I did a good job for her, but I didn’t respond to her scare tactics.

Since the day of that interview the Getty has moved to a new museum where they can show more of their pieces.  The museum I went to that day is now called the Getty Villa.  If you click here , you’ll see some pictures of this unusual building, built along the style of a Roman Villa and situated on a hill above the museum.

The getty photo is from Photo.net in an article by Philip Greenspun.

Marilynne

Today’s task is to show you how to have a good time painting a cat in watercolor.  Note that watercolor can be messy.  You will need:

• Three or four different colors of watercolor paint
• Some watercolor paper.  Mine is 7 X 10 inches Arches, but you can use what you can find
• A 1 or 1 1/2 inch painting brush from your hardware store.  If you aren’t into doing watercolors later, you can use this brush for other projects around the house.  You want a good quality brush that is supple.
• A detail brush for painting eyes and whiskers.  You could also use a marker for this.
• A soft pencil.
• Containers for water (fresh water and used water)
• A palette or a china-like dinner plate.
• Paper towels

1. First, on scrap paper draw a cat.  If it helps, you can copy the above photo and print it on your printer.  This is your drawing test, not the paper you will paint on.  Lightly pencil in the eyes, nose, mouth, and whiskers.
2. Then transfer your drawing (or mine) onto the watercolor paper using a light touch with the pencil. Try not to erase.  You can hold the drawing and the watercolor paper up to a window and copy it that way if you choose.
3. NOTE:  You can see that I sized my cats so that I got two on the page.  I didn’t think to take a photo while they were still one with the paper.  Here they are just laying on the paper so you can see their shapes.
4. We’re done with the drawing for a minute.  Now take the big brush and begin to wet the watercolor paper.  Be careful not to erase the pencil lines and leave the paper dry where you’ll paint the eyes.  Your entire paper (except for the eyes) should be shiny, but not drippy wet.  Use a paper towel to get off the excess if you need to.
5. Wait until the shininess is gone from the paper.  If you paint too soon, you probably won’t like the result.
6. Now get out the watercolor paints.  Put a small dab of paint out on your plate.  (Windsor-Newton paints from Michael’s are fine for this task.) You need to put a few drops of water on the the paints to soften them a little more.  Then wet your brush (just wet, not drippy) and make a small puddle of water on your palette.  Then dip your brush into the soften watercolors and color your puddle of water with the paint.  Do this until you have a fairly concentrated puddle of color.  We are going to paint from this puddle, not from the actual dab of watercolor.  Make a puddle for each color you want to use.  Clean your brush in the “dirty” water each time you change colors.
7. As soon as your puddles of paint are ready, clean your big brush in the “dirty” water container and dab off the excess water.  Your brush should be wet, but not drippy.
8. Get a lot of paint on your brush, then paint your paper - everything but the eyes.  I painted all of the paper even though the cats were only on part of it.  That way your strokes are free.  Remember, you are not painting a wall.  You are allowing the watercolors to come into contact with the paper.  Brush gently.  Don’t bother about covering the whole paper with color.  Let one color flow into the other.  If you paint colors together you get new colors.  If you let the colors run into each other without your help, you will get more interesting results.
9. You only get one chance.  Don’t go back and touch up.  You can make spots on your cat by dabbing the nearly dry paper with a soft tissue.  Experiment on the part of the paper where your drawing is not.
10. Let it dry.  Totally.
11. Go back with a fine brush or a marker and paint in the eyes, mouth, and whiskers.  One chance only.  Don’t try to fix it.
12. Let it dry.  Totally.
13. If the paper is wrinkly, wait until it is already, absolutely, dry, then protect the surface and put a heavy book on it for a day.

Remember, this is fun, no grades are given.  If you don’t like your first effort, toss it and try again.  You can decorate your finished cat by giving him a collar of ribbon or gold elastic, flowers, whatever.

If you try this, I’d love to see the results.  If you send me a picture of your cat, I’ll post the results.  Send pictures to maxiegirl68@cox.net

Marilynne

I am so pleased to receive the Let’s Be Friends Award from Roz at Life In Australia .  Roz and I have been blogger friends for a long time.   It’s a pleasure and I encourage you all to be friends as well as bloggers.

It’s my job now to pass the award on to five more bloggers.  Today I am inclined to break the rules and pass the award on to some bloggers who need friends.  I know that they’ll appreciate it as much as the rest of us.

The criteria for the Let’s Be Friends Award are:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to those bloggers who must may choose at least 5 more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award

It’s always tempting to pass these awards on to familiar bloggers, but today I’d like to pass this award to the following neat people:

• Cinders of What I See.  Cinders is a new blogger who has a job that requires traveling, and a husband and two nephews to raise.  Her current blog is funny.  Just check it out and see what Squirt has been up to.
• To the crazylady who writes Walking Like Snoopy .   The fancy words seem to fly out of her fingers.  She’s amusing.
• Gina of Peace, Love, and Happiness , because today she needs an understanding friend.
• To bhamstyle  who’s started his new blog with a very sensitive topic.  Thanks for sticking your neck out and giving us something to think about.
• To Quadmomma who manages to blog as well as take care of her four girls.
• To Stephanie of From Huskies to Husbands because she’s going through a tough time and keeping us all up to date on what’s happening.

Now I have to contact them all and explain what’s going on.

Marilynne

In Australia they celebrate Easter in a big way.  The day after Easter is still a holiday.  Here in Southern California we had only one Easter Day, but it was a great one.  We went to church and it was packed.  There was special music.  They were still serving fritatas and coffee cake after the service.  We greated friends.

Our granddaughter and her FRIEND came earlier than we expected, which is OK.  When my company comes, I quit fussing and relax and enjoy them - at least as much as I could and prepare the meal.  Our granddaughter is always ready to lend a hand.  I thought the ham I  needed to be cooked - not a heat and eat sort of item - but when I took off the store label and saw the one it was packaged with, it said it was pre-cooked.  So, I only had to cook it to 140 degrees F, or about two hours.  It was a huge ham for four people.  I had just chosen it for the good-looking ham I could see.

We had baked sweet potatoes.  I baked them the night before and re-heated them with butter and cinnamon with pineapple slices on top.  Baking sweet potatoes just brings out the good flavors.

Steamed asparagus, potato salad, and apple pie.  Typical holiday gorge-yourself-until-you-can’t-walk meal.  However, after the table was cleared I sent my guests away to walk the dog and I lay down to rest while they were gone.  Great hostess trick!

So today, I realize I’ve had a strenuous week and I’m still tired now on Monday. Thinking back on it, I did Curves three times, Zumba (much modified) twice, square dancing three times, and getting ready for a company meal.  No wonder I feel like curling up with a good book today.

I’ll go to Curves, then take it easy for the rest of the day.  When you’re over fifty and your chicks have flown the nest, you get to do that.

Marilynne

Today is bunny day, my weekly rest from blogging day.  I’m blogging early so I can finish getting Easter dinner ready, put on my hat with the flowers tucked into the ribbon, and go to church.  I am feeling very organized today.  I hope it lasts.    Enjoy the picture.

Marilynne

I know how to do this task, it’s just been a long time since I’ve done it.  The task is to prepare Easter dinner.  When the kids were small, it was a problem just getting them to eat something after having gorged on their Easter treats all day.  It didn’t matter what I fixed.  They didn’t want to eat it.  My husband and I were hungry, and being parents, we knew we needed to get some real food into them that day.

Those days are gone and tomorrow we are expected our granddaughter, who lives nearby, and A FRIEND for dinner.  I want to make it a good meal for all of us.

By the time I bought a ham, there were no little pieces in sight - except for ham slices.  Does the butcher do that on purpose?  He knows I’ll buy a 10-pound ham to feed four people because it’s the best looking piece of ham left.  Butchers can be very clever at selling their meats.

Then there’s the potato salad.  I chose that, not only because it goes well with ham, but also because my husband will sometimes take that task over and make it himself.  It can also be made the day before and be better for it.

I’ve been making lists of what needs to be done.  This blog isn’t on it. So, it’s time to quit writing and become grandmotherly and housewifey.

Marilynne

When is it too much advertising?  That’s a big question, isn’t it?  I’ve been watching Today.com growing and adding the ads.  Ads are beginning to be all over our blogs.  We add ads, they add ads.  When is it enough?  When does your blog become one of those places where your eye doesn’t know where to rest.  When you are too impatient to stop and find the blog itself and read it?  I think Today.com is approaching that point.

For a while every time I logged in a huge ugly popup appeared in my face.  I couldn’t wait to get rid of it.  I was annoyed.  Did this happen to you too? I hope no one responded positively to it.  Eventually I came to know that they want to sell us advertising.

If I understand this right, we are not only the lure for people to come to Today.com, but we ourselves are also seen as potential customers.  If I come and buy something from your site, then maybe you’ll come and buy something from my site - is that how it’s supposed to work?  I can’t see it happening.

Of all the hundreds of people who read my site daily, how many of them stop and make a comment?  Only a few, and most of the comments come from family or bloggers whose sites I visit (and leave comments at).

Early in the game I threatened to stop blogging if Today.com didn’t get the ads for Asian women (complete with pictures) off my blog.  They say they have no control over it.  Other people collect the ads for our blogs.  Today.com just allows them to advertise here.   Makes you want to squirm, doesn’t it?

Then they let us choose our own ads.  We can choose our own Product Affiliate Links.  I don’t mind that so much.  I choose one that fits with the topic of the day.  Sometimes, like today, I lard my blog with them, just to break up the words.

So, for free blogging I put up with the ads.  I even put suggestive tags on each post so I can lure certain types of advertisers to my site.

I really dislike the photo ads that are on the blogs sometimes.  The ones that keep catching your eye while you try to read.  I don’t go to a blog so I can read the ads.  I go to read the blog and I don’t like to be distracted.  They usually are mildly offensive to me, such as offering a dating service.  I don’t need a dating service, thank you so get off my blog.

My blog, that’s the kick.  I feel possessive about my blog.  I forget that Today.com has to pay the bills, mine included.

Marilynne

P.S.  I think I overloaded the poor link.  Still, I think you get the point.

My first picture shows my usual self:  play clothes, braids, nothing special as a kid.  I always think this picture looks like the My Gang kids - revised.  From left to right:  Elaine, me, my brother, and Norma.  Elaine and Norma’s father ran the pub/restaurant on the corner.  Since the kids weren’t allowed in the bar and the mother ran the restaurant, Elaine and Norma were at our house a lot.

I once went inside their three-story home - the house was over the bar and restaurant.  It was spotlessly clean.  We walked carefully and quietly through the house to Elaine’s room.  In a large trunk she showed me her dolls:  each perfection in its original box, its clothes without dirt or rips.  I took on out of the box.  Elaine said “Careful, don’t get it dirty.”

The next photos are of me dressed up for Easter.  You can see why Easter was a lot different from every day.  It must have been a tradition to take our pictures on Easter.  My hair is naturally fine and straight.  My Mom would put it up in curlers fashioned from the wire strips that closed coffee bags.  It hurt when she pulled them out.

Marilynne