Golden hue

October Sunrise

I have posted this photo before, or a variation of it. I love the golden hue of the sunrise I captured that morning on the way to work. October has always been one of my favorite months. Not sure why. I guess I love the crispness and freshness in the air. I am glad I don't have allergies, as I have heard that is a bad month for the ones afflicted with that ailment.

The daughter was treated very well today by the teacher. Mama Bear did not have to attack. Mama Bear was ready. However, I am glad it did not happen. I want this to be a fun and wonderful experience for my daughter. Not a war zone. Cripes.

Every couple of years I get a stupid streak and purchase vitamins. Why, oh why do I do this to myself? This was the liquid one you put under your tongue. I had been feeling very run down (because of my flu bug) and thought that vitamins would again be the answer. I am so sick with a headache. My Advil won't touch it, nor will my migraine medicine. I tried to nap, but this nagging cough is keeping me awake and causing my head to split open. And, this happens to be the evening that I get phone call after phone call.

And, I keep getting the damn hiccups. I have spent the evening gagging, coughing and sneezing. A regular bear alright. I can't type anymore because of the headache.

The sun also rises

A little northeastern sunshine from last autumn

I felt well enough this week-end to actual start some spring cleaning. There was so much to do. I started in the garage. It was a literal walk down memory lane. I am (my family is) notorious for being pack rats. I come by it legally. I went through about four big boxes for an upcoming yard sale my niece wants to have. My daughter went through two boxes. I came out with two big boxes for the sale and three huge industrial sized garbage bags of trash. YES!

During the cleaning, I stumbled across an old Panasonic CD player that I had purchased for my daughter a couple of years back. Before I got her the Creative Zen mp3 player. I made sure this player would also play mp3's. I wondered if it still worked. I put fresh batteries in and plopped in a new CD and found my old headphones and I was in heaven. I hurried to my computer and quickly shot off the making of a CD with over 100 mp3's. (The mp3 format will fit many, many more songs on a CD than if you create a CD for an ordinary music CD player). I started long ago purchasing all my DVD players and CD players that would also play mp3.

I found it much easier to Spring clean. The player is bulky, but I found a pair of old sweat pants with a pocket big enough to put it in and I can travel all over the house/yard/garage and clean. Totally oblivious to the world around me. Oh, I also made sure this player had the no skip feature. So far I have worked for four hours here, there, and everywhere with NO SKIPPING.

There is yet another plus to this player. My neighbor had brought in a jack hammer connected to a large Bobcat vehicle and is tearing up his driveway. This is 50 feet from my back door. Aaarrgghhh! They have not started yet today, but I imagine it won't be long before they do.

Last evening they started at 5 p.m., right when we were leaving to meet family for dinner. What great timing!

Speaking of family, if you have had a divorce in your family you may be able to relate to this. What do you do about the ex in-laws? In this case it is an ex sister-in-law. She is still the Mother to my niece and nephew. We met her for dinner. We try to reach out and make an effort to see her and make her feel loved. She was part of our family for ten years. It has to be very hard for her.

Okay, the back has recovered somewhat. Back to it.

Muted Morning

My sky this morning

Time change stinks. I did get a kick out of my cats, though. When I opened my bedroom door an hour early they looked at me like "What the...?" I stumbled to the kitchen, fed them, let the dog out and started my coffee. Well, okay. I did start my coffee first.

Driving to work I noticed the pink and periwinkle sky. My camera had been in the car all night and I grabbed it when I parked my car and took one shot from the lot. One shot. Then the camera shut down. The battery was weakened by being left in the car all night long in the cold. Oh, well. That's all I get.

I am on the second floor and there is a door that opens onto the roof. I was going to open it to see if I could get some better shots, but it was not to be. Bummer. I was thinking about getting a new camera this year, but I am still having so much fun with this one. I did get a nice tripod and I can hardly wait for warmer weather when I can set it up outside in a field or a park somewhere.

My co-worker brought in a Butterfinger cake today. I had not tasted one before. Now, I have to make one. It was so-o-o-o delicious. Have mercy. This recipe is close to the one she used. Except she used butterscotch topping instead of caramel. You can use either one. I don't like cake when it is dry, and this one is moist and kept refrigerated so it is cool and delicious. Yum.

We are currently watching The Birdcage with Robin Williams, Nathan Lane and Gene Hackman. It is one of my favorites.

My daughter turns 16 next month. People say to me "Time flies, doesn't it?" I reply "It has been the longest 16 years of my life!" They laugh. You know I love her to pieces. She is my sunshine, my joy.

Easy to be Hard

Sunrise over lake area - Eastern Ohio

Back in the 70's, Three Dog Night had a song out titled "Easy To Be Hard". Since I worked as a short order cook in a bar/restaurant, I was subject to all the songs playing on the jukebox. This was back when the owner purchased 45 rpm discs. We had quarters in the cash register painted with a stroke of red finger nail polish that we could put into the jukebox and when the guy came around to collect the money, he gave those quarters back to the restaurant. This was a way that we could get the music playing and when it stops, maybe a customer would continue the music with their own quarters. I do not recall the days when a dime would play a song.

I just found out that this song is from the popular musical Hair. I had no idea. I have not seen the show.

I was subject to listen to this song over and over again along with many others that were popular during the mid-70's time frame. I liked this one. In fact, I liked a lot of songs by Three Dog Night. Of course their name comes from the saying that it was so cold, you had to sleep with the dogs to stay warm. If it was a 3 dog night, it must be really cold. So came the saying, "three dog night."

I used to think that in my younger days, it was easy for me to be hard nosed. I could be as friendly as the next person, but once in a while I could be very cold and unresponsive. Well, maybe more than once in a while. I do not know what people thought of me in high school, I don't communicate with them. I had friends, a lot of them. We had fun.

When I was 15, I worked in this bar/restaurant every Friday and Saturday night from 4:30 to 1:30 in the morning. Usually 2 a.m. after cleaning up. I also worked every Sunday from 10 to 5 p.m. I felt that I needed to do this because it was what my sister did before me. It gave me money, yes, but when was I going to spend it? I gave some to my Mom and put some in a little glass candy dish in my bedroom. I think I blew it all on a Beeline clothes party one of my other sisters had. Do you remember Beeline?

It was much easier to be hard back then. Today, as I have matured I am more tender to other's feelings. Maybe too much so. I find myself in a situation today where I have to be hard. I have to put into words some rules and restrictions to somebody who is so sweet and pleasant. It has to be done. This is not a family member. This is a close friend of a family member. She is at our house a lot and it has come to my attention that she may need to be told that our stuff is our stuff. It isn't all that easy to be hard.