An Experiment

A website I go to does something sort of fun. Mr. Knowitall participates in or created, I’m not sure which, a feature called Flash Fiction Friday…a short story in 55 words, no more, no less. You might want to play, it’s a nice challenge.

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

The sound of the big band music was muffled and humid as it wafted outside toward the setting sun.  A young girl raised her head in wide mouthed laughter that rang out in the twilight.  The young man strutted toward her, pausing akimbo in her direction.  My life passed before their eyes: my future parents.

I coulda been a mullett

Business in the front…….Party on the sides.

This is how sweet daughter referred to my new glasses.  I love that child.

Pictures from the past

It must be a family trait, but I love looking at old photos.  Once her eyesight failed, my Grandma would look at photos by touch.  She would run her crooked fingers over the edges and tell me who was in each one.  It was  amazing.  My mom had countless photo books.  They were countless because I didn’t bother to count them.  Perhaps someone else did? I was a little more slippery with mom when it came to looking at photos.  I wasn’t as fascinated with her photos of somebodies roses or rhody’s.   I guess I could have paid more attention.   I only brought one photo album home from her house when she died this last December.  The above photo is one from that album that speaks to me.  I love this young family, they hold such promise as well as the occasional piss and vinegar.  In the original photo my dads face is in a very dark shadow, but with the magic of photoshop along with Sweet Husbands talent, he was able to get the detail to pop out.  Get it?  It’s my Pop, the daddie-o, my father.  Anyhoo, it’s a very sweet photo.  If you want a longer stroll down memory lane, click on the flickr link in the right hand column, there’s more to see.  I have a bunch more to scan and these will be of the most photographed baby in the history of babies….my little brother Jim.  Gawd, that baby was cute.

An Open Letter to the Month of January

Dear January 2010

How are you?  I am fine.   I’m writing because I’m worried about you.  You don’t seem to be your usual self.  Are you ok?  Are you having  an El Nino year?    I ask because I’m seeing things that I don’t like and I need to bring them to your attention.  Frankly  January, I have to be honest with you.  You have never been my favorite.  You are way too bossy.  The Christmas decorations are hardly put away and you’re hounding me  about what a good idea it would be to finally get back to the gym.  Do you realize that means wearing spandex in public?  Can’t I just take a little break?  January, your long-look forecast is usually grim, dark and…well, cloudy.  Did I mention depressing?  Yes January, you are depressing, that is why so many people want to get away from you.  You. Are. A. Downer.  You take far to long to do anything and when you finally do get any ones attention, you’re out the door without  even a shout of, ‘hey, see ya next year’.  But this year?  You are being downright mean.

January you are a frightful tease with your record high temperatures.  I’m not fallin for it, but my friends in the garden are. You are not very mindful of  ‘old man winter’  with your warm days and snippets of rain.  If you’re serious about a warm-up, we didn’t even have enough time for cabin fever to set in.  What a whimpy winter you’ve been.   Let me tell you what effect you are having on my yard.

The pink rose bush on the east end of the yard is already getting ready for our friend March and putting on some new leaves.  NEW LEAVES!!  That’s just not right.  How’s it going to look to February when I have to prune the rose bush and make way for new growth.  It has new growth already and I can hardly stand it. It’s not going to be pretty, and if I don’t prune, I’ll have roses 14ft in the air by August, and you know August gets about those sort of things.  August can be very temperamental.

Look what you’ve done with  the quince.   Let’s cut the Quince a little slack, because you know how the Quince is.  Quince is a gullible little thing and will fall for any warm trend that passes their way.  Frankly their buds are a welcome sight, since it’s winter look is  like a pile of random sticks anyway.   But the rhubarb?  Rhubarb lives in the ground. It doesn’t have any protection once they peek their little heads out when warm sashays by.  Do you have any idea what you’re doing?  With any luck I won’t have any rhubarb for pie all summer long.

And one more thing.  I LOVE the honeysuckle plant, it is so fragrant and lovely….in JULY!  I’m so afraid you’ve invited all these buds of honey suckle to the party,  way to early and you will dash all of their summer hopes.  Please be kind, the hummingbirds are going to need that nectar. I know it doesn’t look like much right now, but when June makes them even warmer and we see flowers….oh my, it’s so loverly.

Now really, this is just pissing me off.  You couldn’t finish what December started?  January I had way more faith in you.  December brought us enough cold, I mean REALLY cold days that it killed all the icky bugs…but not the chickweed.  I am left with bushels of chickweed and I can’t get rid of it fast enough.  See that?  Look close, it’s even starting to BLOOM.  Do you know what that means?  Yes more chickweed.

So January, you know I already don’t care for you, but cool it.  No I mean it, just cool down a little bit so my garden will play nice.  And while you’re at it, could you talk to Mother Nature about the slugs.  They would be good for something if they would leave everything else alone and  just eat the chickweed. k’thanks.

Sincerely yours,

Carla

San Francisco

 

I wish I really could play the piano, it looks like so much fun! I’ll be back to my irregular blogging in a day or so.  We’re on our way home from San Francisco, where it’s rained unbelievably hard.  First time in his life Sweet Husband actually purchased an umbrella.  It’s moist here!

Happy Mid January!

Lucy? splain!

whoa there

Perhaps someone could explain this to me.  I snapped this photo on Sunday of this week, the date would have been Jan 10.  It wasn’t Christmas, nor was it Halloween. Could be some sort of warped American-ized Epiphany holiday my friendRubber Slippers in Italy tells? It is called La Befana in Italy…looks cool to me.   As for we Americans, so far I think we are safe from all the of Epiphany-day clearance sales.

2009, the big review

I’ve heard a lot of people say they sure are glad that 2009 is over and we can start over in 2010.  What do they know that I don’t?  Is it like passing go in Monopoly where we all get $200?  Did we land on Chance and get a “free get out of Jail’ card?  I guess I don’t understand that logic that by the mere changing of a calendar date, we get a fresh start.  I thought the calendar was a simple way to track time…huh!   The calendar is also a way to track the dates on photos.  All of the photos posted here today were taken in the month associated with the post…isn’t that clever?

2009 was a good year, as years go.  I was healthy, happy and not generally cranky, for the most part.  I present my pictorial 2009 year in review.

The San Francisco treat

As many January’s in the past, Sweet Husband and I traveled to San Francisco so I could attend a trade show.  The weather was gorgeous, in the low 70’s and it made it hard to come back to Seattle’s gray and ick.  I had a very busy January, which makes the time go very fast.

getting my drink on

Already groggy from all of that work and travel in January, in  February, I’m trying to wake up and smell the coffee.  I don’t know how I manage to be asleep, drink coffee AND take my own photo.  It’s a talent!  February was lean in the posting department.  We did manage to start working out at the YMCA, but got some ‘wrong’ advice from a sales person at Sears.

St Patrick's day nachos in Hawaii

March found us in sunny Hawaii.  After celebrating Sweet Husbands 50th birthday in 08 “Hawaii style”, we decided that we should celebrate mine 2009, on the actual island.  Oh baby that was so nice, huh what, ok I’m back.  I was day-dreamin there for a minute. The photo is odd, I know.  We were at a Mexican restaurant, ocean side, having nachos listening to Irish Jigs as it was St Paddy’s day.     In March of 2009 I also showed my prowess as a liar.  Again, it’s a talent.

Gardening Seattle style

April found us working in the yard, greening up the yard and drinking wine as we water the veggies.  That’s my kind of gardening.  Last April I also told you how NOT to play softball, or more specifically how I shouldn’t play softball….ever!

the lupine wall

We get the most gorgeous flowers in May.  I love the lupine, but they don’t last very long.  It’s a good thing we have a camera.  In May I continued to go on about the weather and all the delights that sunshine bring to my life.  This would be the part that minimizes my crankiness….the weather that is, when it’s nice.

LFP Secret garden tour pic

June saw us attending the Lake Forest Park Secret Garden Tour.  It’s an annual event and I always get some new ideas.  Some times the ideas are even good.   I was off to the East coast in June of 2009 where I attended a trade show in Atlanta.  Again with the weather subject, I was fortunate to not sweat to death or have to dodge any hurricanes.  It was pleasant, saw lots of stuff and was reminded of how the west coast is far superior in it’s geology.  In June my family also had a family reunion in Idaho which resulted in tremendous turnout.  I am so glad we did that reunion thingy, what with Mom’s passing in December.  At this reunion we had a surprise wedding, which is not like a surprise weeding at all. (frankly I would love a surprise weeding to jump start the gardening) My dilemma….the reunion was in June, but the post was in July…aughhhh the anguish.

Primer on the shed

July found us looking for relief from the heat.  It was the first time that Seattle had recorded a temperature in the 100’s.  On the hottest day of the year I found myself in a hotel for work….poor me!  I finally posted about the family reunion and talked about another reunion with Sweet Husband’s family.  We had a good July, we never once ran out of water. In July 2009 we also tackled painting the shed.  What would our life be without projects?

Scrabble hats

August gave us a new friend across the street, more great weather and guests guests and more guests.  August was also gave us another chapter in the saga of MY SIGHT.

The only pic that I could find from Sept, ignore the blurr

Ah, September, probably my favorite month of the whole year.  Why you ask?  Well because all the spring and summer work is done and we can sit back and relax and watch everything evolve.  In September we had chapter 2 in my eye saga.  I was also narcissistic and did a montage of photos of who else….us.

Lake Wenatchee

In October we were invited to a friends cabin on Lake Wenatchee in Eastern Washington,  it was very relaxing and nice.  If you call being forced to stay up until 3am singing karaoke relaxing.  October also was the day of reckoning for my eyeballs.  I really couldn’t be happier with how I see now.

Relaxing, you're doing it right!

November brought us a couple of teeny projects.  It was my idea to move the furniture, get rid of the tv in the front room AND paint.  My very Sweet Husband is so so patient with me.  I don’t mean his patience with me is so-so, his patience with me is amazing.  At least he knows how to relax after these marathon endeavors.  November also showed us the big cheese is and what a naked turkey looks like.

The ultimate smackdown, Scrabble with the sibs

December 2009 I hardly remember and it’s the closest month in the past.  With the death of Mom, December seems years in the past and whatever we did is all a haze.  But I know this, I had an awesome time with my brothers and sisters.  When have you ever heard of a family this large NOT fighting over anything when a parent dies?  I love the fact that we are all agreeable, loving and able to be silly in the oddest of times.  December introduced me to skype .  Skype is how I got to see Sweet Husband and Daughter on Christmas day.  Sweet Daughter has a camera on her Mac so I could see them but they couldn’t see me, but little did I know that Santa brought me a webcam.  YAY!   Now I can skype with my friend in Finland….I love technology.

All in all and in spite of some obvious pitfalls, 2009 was a good year for us.  I think Rudy’s right when he spoke at mom’s funeral about attitude.  He told us that 95% of a situation is how we react to it.  So with that said,  let’s make 2010 the year of a good attitude, I know I will.

Well that was fun!

Here we are in our team garb, bespeckled Bronco fans for the big game.  We made nachos, drank beer and we cheered, a lot.  I even called for the team to bring on  the ’sparkle plays’.  Those  are the plays that the New York times refers to as ‘trickery’.  And that’s all I’m going to say about football.  Oh wait one more thing, I didn’t even go to school there, but then again neither did a lot of BSU fans.  Welcome to the team!

10:10 am 1/1/10

I am so surprised that we managed to stay up until 1:30am to watch New Years come limping into view.  In fact the only reason we celebrated at all was because one of our guests got a text from a friend saying, “Happy New Year”….our clocks were slow by about 5 minutes.  So we hurried up and poured the champagne, did a few kiss kisses and yelled toward the neighbors house, “HAPPY NEW YEAR”  It was a simple and well executed plan.

Our guests then continued to stick around for another hour, they are a bunch of die-hards.  Huh, last year we were all trying to stay awake to see 10pm roll in.  This year we had a few minor things like exhaustion and pain to contend with.  Sweet Husband ended his 2009 with a root canal re-do…the joy of it all. Mustn’t mix those pain killers with wine.  Our girlfriends who work outside a lot had been chilled to the bone since shortly before Thanksgiving so a little bit of peppermint schnapps worked wonders for them.  They also hadn’t had a day off since Thanksgiving so they were the ones fighting exhaustion.  I’m starting 2010 with a wimpy annoying cold, so my energy level is low.  Sweet neighbors across the street are just goofy and have designated today, Jan 1st as “stay home and stay naked day”…we won’t be going over to visit. However, I can see that their blinds are open…hmmm.  Another neighbor has invited us over for New Years brunch so I think I can muster the energy to dress and wander down the road to eat someone elses food, I’m not stupid!

Anyway, 2010 is starting much like any other year.  The sun will rise, and the sun will set, about 365 more times, and then we reset at 0.  But know this, there will be joy, death, laughter, tears, pain, healing, epiphanies and disagreements.  There will also be love in 2010 and if I have it my way, my string of ‘no regrets in the adventure of life’ will continue up to and through 2010.  So my friends, be well.  Ask the questions you wanted answered and answer the questions you’ve been asked.

I lost track of time

I can tell you first hand that this past December the 25th was not the vision of Christmas that was dancing like sugar plums in my head way back in November.  In my head there were parties and holiday lights, Christmas movies and music,  thumprint cookies, Christmas Eve at Sweet Mother in laws house with everyone and a slow lazy Christmas day at home, just the three of us. Instead it was airline tickets, rental cars, funeral chapels, siblings, dogs, cold crisp weather and, not being at home.  However in the spirit of Berglund, we made the most of a not so good situation.

Another Christmas, back in 1965 was disrupted not by a death but by a birth.  It was the birthday of my brother, the only sibling that I have that is younger than me.  Here he is a few short months later…isn’t he a cutie?  I’m sure Sweet Little Brother hasn’t had very many if any Birthday parties in his 44 years.

So because we were in Idaho for a funeral and Christmas, how else could we lighten the mood?  Well, I say let’s have a surprise party for little brother, so we did.  The oldest brothers made up some random story to get him out of the house and the rest of us went to work making hats, picking out music, decorating a cake and getting more beer and wine.  It’s a short little video, but please, stay for the end….it’s a doozy! OK the video will follow, it’s having a ‘time’ uploading. In the mean time here’s a link to vimeo for the video.