Butt-Scootching happy dance.

As you can see, I have a totally new look and a totally new address! If you already link to my blog, please update your links with my new address or copy the html over there on the right sidebar for a totally awesome button link to display on your site. They're all the rage, I promise. hehe

I'm still working on updating my blogroll, so don't freak if you don't see your blog linked yet.

Darcy from Graphically Designing and Life with My 3 Boybarians designed my site. She's totally awesome.

When I first started blogging I found that all the blogs I was most impressed with, design-wise, were done by her! So, I kept waiting to get on her list...and waiting...and then her queue opened up and I got in it! I was beyond excited. So, now, after being online and blogging for five months, I have my day in the sun, my beautiful new blog!

Now, I admit, I don't have legs that go on forever and I'm not that skinny, but I love my cowgirl up top. And, of course Annie the lab, my attorney hubby who's losing his hair and my two boys.

So, instead of showing you all MY happy dance that I've been doing ALL DAY, I'm going to share with you Annie's happy dance. I've been trying to catch her doing the butt scootch on camera for months and months, and I finally caught her. Just in time for my new blog premiere!! ENJOY!! Watch her funny face over and over.

FAREWELL TO A PRETTY GOOD GUY

No, it’s not a case of damning with faint praise. It’s how Winston Rand, author of nobody asked..., wanted to be remembered: as a Pretty Good Guy.

I was saddened today to hear of Winston’s unexpected passing after his having suffered a brief illness.

Winston was an occasional poet, an engineer, and a sharp-eyed observer of life. I had hoped to meet him on one of my soon-to-be-more-frequent trips to central Tennessee, but that opportunity will now forever be denied me.

A week ago Sunday, in one of those bizarre flashes of Cosmic Irony, Winston had written a post entitled “Fears Of My Demise...” But no, it was not a prescient vision of things to come; it was the story of a blog platform upgrade that (as it happens) proceeded without a hitch...a situation where any fear that might have manifested itself turned out to be unwarranted.

At the end of that post, Winston thanked his readers “...for giving me a reason to do this in the first place.”

It may be a little late, but we readers maybe ought to thank Winston for sharing that little part of himself that compelled him to keep his Online Journal, a journal that now must serve as a legacy. I hope Roomie and Winston’s other loved ones can take comfort in that legacy, along with the knowledge that he was a daily presence in the lives of so many of us.

Ave atque vale, Winston. Godspeed.

Attention!! Important announcement

I have a blog makeover in the works today, so hang in there with me while we work this out.

I'm getting a new address as well. So, you can find me at texaswordtangle.blogspot.com from now on.

Here's a link directly to Texas Word Tangle and my new look.

I'm so excited!!

Darcy from Graphically Designing is my superwonderful blog guru!!

THE LOOMING CLOUD

As we made ready to head off to the airport to pick up Elder Daughter Friday evening, we saw this dramatically-lit thunderhead looming over the northern horizon.

It was impressive, all right, but it was all show and no performance.

Our drive home was lit by sporadic flashes of lightning, but we had nary a drop of rain...until Sunday afternoon, when the deluge came.

Verde Que Te Quiero Verde

Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.

(Green, how I want you green.
Green wind. Green branches.
The boat on the sea
and the horse on the mountain.)

Those are the opening lines of the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca's Romance Sonambulo. I studied Lorca in Spanish classes in college (Emory, Atlanta, Georgia, spring of '61, to be precise) and still remember these lines -- they bubble up from my subconsciousness at this beautiful green time of year, when the foliage forms tapestries all around me.

Green's a blessing, a promise of life and growth and abundance. Nature's neutral, it sets off blues and purples, reds, yellows and oranges to perfection. Green rests the eyes and calms the mind,
quiets the noise and refreshes the soul. Thank goodness for green.

Here's another web album. It's what's happening at the end of June in the garden

Decrapified

I have a new word.

Decrapified.

I think it speaks for itself, no need to define it, right?

I spent pretty much the whole weekend decrapifying my home.

I found all my shoes and put them in the closet. I also found the bag of new shoes I bought a whlie back and forgot to put away.

You wanna see? You may not get as excited about them as I am...

And here they are on my feet. That pedicure is still hangin' in there,

but may need a redo soon, before we go on our family reunion later in July.

And, here are my new boots.

Sigh.

I'm in love.

They are really sooo comfortable. Have you ever worn cowboy boots? They can be the most comfortable thing you've ever put on.

And, they make you feel like stompin'.

Like you can take on the world and handle whatever comes your way.

They help when you have to decrapify your home.

During my decrapifying, I also re-discovered some jewelry I hadn't seen since we moved up here. So, I put it on my display thingy. I think it's called an earring tree...but I use it for everything: earrings, bracelets, necklaces, hairclips, etc.

My youngest sister, The Bug, gave it to me for my birthday!

(ok, I had it on my Amazon wish list, and she got it off there.)

Now, back to my closet.

These are the shoes I've been wearing most of the summer...

because they're so comfortable, they slip on easy, and my feet like em.

This is the nicer pair I've been wearing all summer. They match EVERYTHING.

But, now I'm going to be wearing my new flip flops and my new boots.

SO, after we spent some time decrapifying and before we started with the Rug Doctor,

the boys had a little fun with Annie.

(Notice, the furniture has been moved out for the carpet cleaning,

but the counter has not been decrapified yet.)

As Annie leaps magnificently into the air, see the rug doctor (only $26 a day at Tom Thumb).

Also, Donny has on his UT Longhorn shirt. Go Longhorns!

On the left, you can see some of the boys' artwork matted and framed.

We have one wall devoted to some of their best work.

I'm not sure who wants the dog toy more, Annie (the dog) or Remy (my 6yr old).

That dog can jump!!

(and, I wonder what plans Donny has for the ball behind his back? hmmmm...)

It's Monday, we survived the weekend. My house is clean.

Coming up this week...I finally caught the BUTT SCOOTCH on video!

And, a blog makerover is in the works.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?!

Weekend Update Update

Talk about your ivory tower -- when last night I posted words to the effect that it hadn't rained yet, I was upstairs in my workroom with the floor fan going full tilt and producing a bit of a dull roar -- white noise, very useful for concentration.. When I came downstairs just before midnight and said something to my husband about being disappointed there'd been no rain, he looked at me oddly.

"It rained for hours," he said. "Almost three-quarters of an inch."

So the old clothes-on-the-line sacrifice to the rain gods worked at last! And we awoke this morning to more gentle rain -- glorious!

And Tammy and Pat, here's the recipe for Blueberry Buckle, as inherited from my mother.

VIRGINIA LANE'S BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

BATTER

¼ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 cup flour (sift before measuring)
1 egg
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk

Cream together sugar and butter. Add egg. Beat in well. Sift together dry ingredients and add, alternating with the milk. Pour into greased 8 inch square pan and top with

1 pint blueberries (Mom always used drained canned berries, the little wild ones from Maine, but fresh is good. And Kay Byer's plum-raspberry combo sounds terrific!))

TOPPING

1/3 cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup butter

Mix together the dry ingredients and chop in the butter as when making pie crust. Sprinkle over berries.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Serve warm with scalded unsweetened heavy cream.

This Critter Crashed a Bachelorette Party - Camera Critters

Two years ago, my sister, The Bug, had a bachelorette party that ended up being a little unusual.

We went out to her finance's family's land in the hill country to spend the weekend and have fun.

It was the Bug and I and a handful of her close friends.

We had a blast, drank alcohol, played charades, and then discovered a critter under the porch.

Can you tell what that is?

Oh, yes, joy of all joys, a group of girls discovered a diamond back rattle snake under the house.

We were in the middle of nowhere.

And totally freaked out.

And drinking mimosas.

Helped arrived and pulled out a fire exstinguisher,

which apparently freezes the snake...or in our case, just slows it down a little.

Slowed it down enough for us to behead it.

I wish I could show you the rest of the pictures (which include the bride-to-be, Bug, dancing around in a veil, cowboy boots, and holding a mimosa while also holding a dead snake) but I'd have to get my sister's permission first. Maybe if you guys ask her nicely...

If you want to join Camera Critters on Sunday, grab a camera,

take a picture of any animal and post it online.

You don't have to tell a story, and one picture will do just fine.

I'm just wordy and have to tell a story.

Weekend Update

The clouds are gathering and their dark bases, heavy with moisture, give us hope that there may be rain -- much needed rain. In order to encourage it, I have a clothesline full of laundry, the dog beds are spread outside to air, the car windows are down, and we're planning on eating out on the deck tonight. We're having chicken salad, peach pickle, and potato chips -- a standard Southern summertime meal from my childhood. In the past, this particular menu, when served outside has often brought rain.

The only other rainmaker I've known as effective was my older son. When he was young he had a talent for summoning showers anytime I asked him to go to the garden and pick beans. More often than seems credible, by the time he had his shoes on and started out the door, it would begin to rain. And if you fool with bean plants when they're wet, you run the risk of spreading bean disease. So Ethan would escape the dreaded chore -- at least till things dried off.

News of the peeps: Here's a closeup of what I hope will prove to be an Americana chick. And here's the wren family -- there seem to be three but I can't be sure.

I see a wren coming and going constantly with insects and caterpillars to fill these gaping maws. I sincerely hope both parents are on the job -- feeding a baby bird is no joke. One summer we watched a family of towhees where the father seemed to be doing all the feeding while the mother just looked in from time to time, evidently feeling that her responsibilities were over now that the eggs had hatched.

By summer's end, the poor male towhee was a pale, frazzled shadow of his former self, still followed about by his two children, both now bigger than he and fully capable of feeding themselves but still fluffing up and gaping their mouths at him while Mama, fat and sleek and rested, hung out in the rosebushes, gossiping with friends.

Queen of Random Drivel; Blogging without a Purpose

I have a very special award to give out today. It's for a blogger who surpasses all others in her inability to craft, her tendancy to poke fun at herself, her enjoyment of smutty books, and her lack of fear in blogging about it, and who manages hilarious posts without purpose.

Without further ado, I award this special award to a one-of-a-kind friend, KAT, from Sunshine and Lemonade.

She doesn't get offended by a certain Texas gal's dirty comments about Johnny Depp. She isn't afraid to say what she thinks. Most of the time she has great music rocking on her site. She has great advice and isn't afraid to use the word tostitutes. Watch out world, she's comin' for YOU!

Arte y Pico & an embarrassing moment

Angie at Angie's Spot has awarded me a wonderfully gorgeous award called Arte y Pico.




This is Arte y Pico award originated in Uruguay from a fabulous blogger who can test your Spanish comprehension skills if you pay her a visit. Here are the rules that accompany this esteemed award.


1. Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community.


2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog.


3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.


4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.


5. Show these rules.

So, I'm going to pass this along, but I like to break rules, so I may not give it to five bloggers. I'll give it to:

Sarah at Brit' Gal in the USA

Tressa at American in Norway

Tranny Head at Law School Sucks...and so do Lawyers

Jennifer at The Cotton Wife

And, just so this post isn't all about awards or leaving anyone out...let me share my embarrassing story of the week.

My house is a mess. Seriously. The kids have gotten every toy out and left it lying around. The dishes got a little backed up. Things were just horrible. So, I was finally sick of it, pulled out a trash bag, got the kids to listen and said, "It's time. Today we're cleaning." And, as I opened the trash bag to start pickin up trash...the door bell rang. OMG, who was it?!!

It was my employer. She had stopped by with her 4yr old to give me a gift certificate to a restaurant, to thank me for my hard work. Beyond sweet. However, the 4yr old Princess Dorothy, took off into my house and mom had to go in after her. INTO MY HOUSE. INTO THE MESS. I was mortified.

Needless to say, this house is getting cleaned up fast now. Just in case others stop by...so I can sleep easy at night. OMG, how embarrassing!!!!

Please tell me this has happened to you. I'm not the only one?!

A NEW ADULT BEVERAGE

We picked up Elder Daughter last night at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport With The Name That Goes On and On and On.

She was still pretty worn out, having returned from her ten-day trip to Uganda Wednesday afternoon...and then putting in a full day of work on Thursday. That’d be “work” in quotation marks, accomplishing whatever could be accomplished in a jet-laggy haze. But once she arrived here, she seemed to get a second wind, probably due to the energizing presence of her kid sister, the Mistress of Sarcasm.

I love seeing my girls together.

As we sat around the kitchen table, Elder Daughter and I nibbled on some gravlax and crackers as we all looked at photos from her trip. But the ice-cold akvavit I was enjoying as an accompaniment to the fish was not to Elder Daughter’s liking. So she invented - on the spot! - her own Adult Beverage.

Inspired by the Ba-Tampte garlic dill she was munching on, she had the bright idea of a Dirty Martini made with vodka...and pickle juice instead of olive juice. A Pickle-Tini!



Pickle-Tini.

I used the garlic dill pickle juice I had handy. [Personally, I would have preferred the juice of the Half-Sour, but that is an experiment I'll reserve for a future time.] A teaspoon or two, and a couple of shots of vodka, shaken with ice and strained into a Martini glass. The garnish? A chunk of pickle, of course.

Skål!

I have plans.

I need to have plans. I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed with the kids home for summer. I love our free time together, but more often than not, I'm hearing, "I'm bored."

They haven't been interested in any of the summer camps I've mentioned.

We try to do something active each day, whether it's swimming, roller skating, laser tag or riding bikes.

But, I'm feeling the pressure to be a good mom and expose them to new things and to do exciting adventures. Does anyone else feel this pressure?!

Here are my plans for the next few days. Today we're going to a natatorium in a nearby town. I've never been, although the kids have. My goal is to get their energy out and take pictures.

Tomorrow morning we're going to go to our small town farmer's market. I've been wanting to go since we moved here and have yet to, so tomorrow's the DAY to do it. Gosh darnit.

I want to start geocaching. If you don't know what this is, look it up or click on my link, because it looks like treasure hunting and nature hiking all in one. My kids will LOVE it. We're going to start that tomorrow or Sunday.

I have books to start teaching them Latin and Spanish. I've started but then forgot about it for a few weeks. Sad. I want them to know foreign languages...their minds are like sponges right now and they can soak up new vocabulary.

I also have summer workbooks for kids going from kindergarten to 1st grade and 5th grade to 5th grade. Those are full of exercises to keep the kids' minds sharp.

These are my plans....I'm determined to stick to them. If I don't, I might loose my mind... I'm sick of their bickering and fighting and boredness.

The house has gone to hell right now because the kids have tornadoed through it. Hurricaned through it. It's a danger zone.

I'm spending night and day with these little buggers...and parts of it are very enjoyable. Other times I'm too busy worrying about what I should be doing or what I could be doing or what would be best for them. How do I turn this worrying off?!

What are you guys doing with your kids right now?!!

And Still More Peeping

Every year we have wrens nesting on our porches, in our basement, under our eaves -- anywhere they can find a protected location. Dried grasses, mosses, ferns all go into the construction of these little nests -- and lots of hair -- from the dogs and from my own hairbrush. One little Jenny Wren has taken over a miniature zinc bucket, originally a country-style citronella candle, that hangs on our front porch, just beneath an outdoor speaker. And this morning I heard peeping.

Mama flies away whenever we walk out on the porch. So I lifted up my camera and shot blindly into the nest. The picture above isn't great but it does show an egg and a rather naked-looking hatchling or two.

I cane back about an hour later and got these: the babies have dried off and look a little less awful ---- and they're ready to be fed!

It's a precarious business, raising a brood on the front porch. We'll try to keep an eye on the cats when the babies are ready to fly and we'll hope that the resident blacknakes don't discover the nest. If they live, they'll be tough little birds, brought up on NPR and Bluegrass music, and used to paparazzi from their earliest hour.

FRIDAY RANDOM TEN - MISTRESS OF SARCASM EDITION

The Mistress of Sarcasm.

What with the Mistress of Sarcasm’s birthday coming up Monday, She Who Must Be Obeyed had the bright idea of posting this week’s Friday Random Ten using the music from the Mistress’s iPod.

Why not, I thought. My Esteemed Readers are probably sick to death of seeing the same stuff here, week after week. Frank Zappa. Ben Folds. The Beatles. Hookalakah Meshobbab. This way, they’ll finally be exposed to some quality music.

Thus, here followeth a Scattershot Selection from the Mistress’s very own Little White Choon Box. Let’s see what’s playing today:

1. Lover, You Should Have Come Over - Jeff Buckley
   
   
2. King Kong - Daniel Johnston
   
   Daniel Johnston is living proof that insanity and talent can coexist in the same individual. His music has an offbeat charm...and he’s pretty much a complete whacko. Check out the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston for more about this exceptional musician.
   
   
3. Alone Down There - Modest Mouse
   
   
4. He Keeps Me Alive - Sally Shapiro
   
   
5. Lucky Ball and Chain - They Might Be Giants
   
   
6. Shampoo Suicide - Broken Social Scene
   
   
7. Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth - The Brian Jonestown Massacre
   
   
8. Picture Book - The Kinks
   
   
9. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances - Daniel Johnston
   
   
10. Gnossienne #1 - Erik Satie
    
    

It’s Friday. What are you listening to?

FUZZY FRIDAY

If you like animals, then sooner or later
You should make the acquaintance of the Modulator.
He pilots the Ark on its weekly voyage
A Floating Zoo for all girlage and boyage.

The Friday Ark has set sail on its 197th trip across the Bloggy Sea, ably captained (as usual) by Steve, the Modulator.

If that’s not enough Fuzzy Fun for you, remember to stop by Sunday evening to visit the Carnival of the Cats, hosted by Victor Tabbycat.

Now, what are you waiting for? Go! Look at alla them cats and dogs!

Update: CotC #224 is up and running.

IMAGES OF DESTIN

A few photos I took during our week at the beach.



Umbrellas at Sandestin. I like the way the bright yellow contrasts with the deep blue of the sky; the red pennant adds a nice accent.



The texture of this bamboo cutting board fascinated me. But unlike a colander, you cannot wear a cutting board on your head.



Crape myrtles. This is a tonemapped high dynamic range image created by compositing three different exposures.



The Missus shows off her red-painted toenails. Much more attractive than my Monkey Shit Feet.