the week in review

Poor, poor me. I actually worked five full days in a row this week! Between the holidays, the time we've been required to furlough, and having every other Friday off as my normal work schedule, I haven't worked a full five day work week in months. But I managed; I am a professional, after all.

Granddaughter k was sick this week, running a fever off and on during the day, but spiking during the night. I talked to her on the phone one afternoon - oh, it was so dramatic! - and offered to pick up her meds and drop them off after work. What kind of a grandma shows up with only yucky medicine? Not Grandma J. I love those dollar bins (and now some 2 for $5 bins) up front at Target. k got some monkey slippers and a blanket; a soft, furry, stuffed monkey just waiting to cuddle; a box of cheese crackers; a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book and a box of crayons. Seemed like the perfect prescription to me. She's all better now.

I returned to work at 9:00 Thursday night to attend the final briefing and retirement celebration for our senior Sergeant. Sam 1, as he's been known around the Department for what seems like an eternity, retired after 36 years, 5 months, and 2 weeks on the job. An unimaginable accomplishment! And I have to say, it was something to see him get emotional and tear up. He has the reputation of an extremely tough guy and hard boss, but when you get right down to it, he's a softie and has feelings too. It's obvious how much his career meant to him.

Today marks one month that I've been vegetarian. I feel good, and it even feels good to say it. :) My next goal is to meditate every (or almost every) morning. I've tried this before and always managed it for a short while, but never for the long haul. This week I made my first attempts to start again. It means giving up reading e-mail in the morning, which actually is the perfect trade. Instead of sitting in front of the computer pouring all those new thoughts into my head, many of them useless, how much nicer is it to sit, instead, and work on emptying out all the unnecessary clutter?

With the goal of daily meditation in mind, I found a pattern for a prayer shawl that I liked and decided to crochet one for myself. There's not much to the pattern, really; it should be relatively easy to make - almost meditative itself really. But the yarn that I had and wanted to use is a little tricky to work with. It might also be a test of my patience.

While on-line a couple nights ago, I ran across the book, "Tranquilista, Mastering the Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play" by Kimberly Wilson. The title hooked me right away, and I was on a quest to find out how I could become a Tranquilista. Kimberly's previous book "Hip Tranquil Chick," sounds like fun, too. There's even a quiz you can take to find out if you are a Hip Tranquil Chick! Her blog is also a delight - Tranquility du Jour. Now I need to update my profile - I can add that I'm a vegetarian AND a Hip Tranquil Chick!

I bought some millet this week and tried a new recipe with it. I have tomatoes in my garden out back, and the cherry tomatoes are ripe already. It was so, so satisfying to walk out to my backyard this morning with a colander and pick a couple handfuls of tomatoes. It rained a little bit yesterday so everything seemed just a little bit fresher. The tomatoes way down on the bottom had little specks of sand all over them from where the rain hit the dirt and splashed back up on them. I'll make this recipe again; it's good!

While I was cooking this morning, I opened up my kitchen window so I could hear the birds singing. They are delighted that the sun is shining after the rain yesterday. Every once in a while the breeze picked up the scent of alyssum that's come up everywhere out back. It's one of my very favorite smells. Which reminds me that the freesia out front are blooming too - another of my favorite smells.

Wishing you a tranquil week,

Baby Steps in . . .

watercolor journaling

I have, for many years, admired travel sketchbooks and journals, especially those done in watercolors.

I am a big fan of watercolors in general. I don't know if it's their softness, or the way they seem to be especially forgiving, as it really seems to me that many appear to be colored "outside the lines." I just like them.

For me, part of the appeal of sketchbooks and travel journals is that they are done quickly and in the moment. I fully admit that patience is not one of my strongpoints. So the idea of completing a sketch or painting in a journal in a matter of minutes or an hour, as opposed to days or weeks, really thrills me.

My grandmother painted. She dabbled in acrylics and I have one of her paintings hanging in my spare bedroom. It's just a vase of flowers, and it's not perfect, but that's not why she painted. She painted because she was a creative type. She gardened, she crocheted, she sewed, she loved to write letters, she loved to cook and have luncheons for her lady friends. I have realized just in the last couple of years how much I am like her. And I miss her.

My favorite of her paintings, though, are a couple of miniature watercolor landscapes that she did for me. She used just the little dime store eight-color paint palette and the paintbrush that came with it. And her "canvas" was the tiny piece of cardboard that used to be in the bottom of the purse-sized packets of tissues. It's about 2 or 3 inches wide by about 4 inches long. I was probably still in grade school when she painted them, and I was in awe. She was an artist!

I have "dabbled" myself several times in the last few years. Other than a few very small Chinese brush paintings that I am fairly pleased with, I never felt that I got the hang of it. I never liked the finished product. I've tried watercolor pencils, a small watercolor palette, and even a few tubes of watercolor paints. I recently signed up for a class next month - just three hours one morning at a botanical garden. But I decided I wanted to practice a little bit ahead of time. I found some instructional videos on the Internet and watched them, and decided to give it another go.

The first sketch I did just in watercolor pencils a couple of months ago. I had not added any water until today. I don't love it, but it's a little better after I played with it today.

The next two I did tonight. I used watercolor pencils again and just looked at some pictures from a magazine and copied thrm.

I rather like the lavender. And the fruit is kind of growing on me. I definitely can't wait to try some more! On to the paint palette next.

Little Boys and Little Girls

I was not one of those little girls who grows up dreaming of getting married and having babies. But when they came along, I loved my children more than anything in the whole world and couldn't imagine my life without them. They have provided me with moments of immeasurable pride and limitless love, and also unbelievable heartbreak. And in those very quiet, deeply soul searching moments when I've been alone with my thoughts and asked myself what I wanted to do with my life, what one thing would make everything worthwhile, and after which I could die and feel completely fulfilled and happy and peaceful, it was always that I would raise my children to be responsible, self-sufficient, loving, happy people.

And, I'm happy to say, I have had those days, days when I've said to myself or to my friends, "If I died tonight, I'd be a happy camper." That's a great feeling.

And now my babies have babies. And everything that I knew as love before, every laugh or smile that I thought was special, every little hug or kiss that I thought was the sweetest, every tear or frown that I thought would break my heart, was nothing compared to the laughs and smiles and tears and frowns and hugs and kisses of my grandbabies. There must be other words for these feelings. There must be some other chamber of the heart that only opens up when one becomes a grandma. There is no other explanation.

J and j, and S and k, I love you so much!

J

S

k

j


XOXOXOXOXOXOXO