Marveling at finding racially appropriate “Robert and Neal ornaments” for our tree.
Holiday Joy to You All! (Even on a Monday Moaning Morning.)
Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling?
Tag: Playful
Monday Moaning or Monday Marveling?
It looks like it’s back to Moaning. But artfully.
When she first showed up at Leonardo’s place for the sitting. 8 am Monday morning, December 13, 1503.
My Saturday Evening Post: “Yes or No?”
We’re “shopping” at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta.
Yes or no?
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Yes. Definitely.
“Robert and …” #6
A blog category of pics I’ve taken of Hubby Robert and … well, just about anything.
Robert and a Bunch of Stuff
Robert and a big bowl of nuts, as Benny and Boopers vie for prime real estate on his Santa pants lap and edge toward his gay vodka t-shirt, as he balances his iPad in his right hand and shows off his wedding ring on his left, while leaning away from his mounted guitar. (Whew)
Five Friday Happy Bringers 12/3/21
1. Realizing there’s nothing like the old classics …
2. Robert wearing his Christmas Bear sweater in near-70 degree (!) weather for the Design District Walk.
3. Making our first holiday treat—an ICEBOX FRUITCAKE (you’re yelling “YUM!” right?) using my mother’s time-tested recipe (okay, with a few healthier upgrades).
Robert’s “important” part of the process …
Ready to go into the oven … I mean refrigerator!
The next morning …
(It sorta looks the same as before it got put into the oven refrigerator. Except upside down.)
Here’s me taking a picture of the finished Yum! while Robert takes a picture of me taking a picture of it. Whew.
And here’s me looking frazzled and absolutely exhausted thinking about the possibility that I might actually write and photographically document SO VERY MUCH about a */!§£{¥ FRUITCAKE.
Seriously, it’s just delicious!
4. Helping ex-wife Donna decorate her Christmas tree.
Btw, I’m still waiting on someone smarter than yours truly–i.e., everyone reading this blog–to give me a better word or phrase for “ex-wife”
5. The knowing knowledge that we are alive right now in this very moment. We are alive.
Have a Fabulous Friday and First Weekend in December!
P.S. What brings you a bit of joy this Friday?
Neal’s Post from the Past: “Magic Dream Spray”
A post from the past about … magic and family. Heads-up: our family text groups have gotten MUCH more complicated since this old post. We now have what I named “Just Family” (ex-wife Donna, daughters Amy and Emily, and me. Then there’s “New Family Plus” consisting of all the above plus the spouses.
To throw a bunch of wrenches into the textual road, there’s also now just “Neal and Donna,” “Neal and Emily,” “Neal and Amy,” and every other two- or three- or four-person family configuration you can come up with. I have gotten into trouble too many times to count by getting the text groups confused and texting something I shouldn’t have.
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Magic Dream Spray
Do other folks out there do what my family does? All get iPhones and set up a little Family Group Messaging System? Well, my two daughters Amy and Emily, along with Donna (even though divorced now, we remain the best-est of friends) have done just that. And it’s such an incredibly efficient strategy for staying in touch, bothering each other constantly and having SO MUCH FUN!
The other night, daughter Amy (and mother of grandsons Daniel, 7 and Gabriel, 4) sent us this text:
I LOVE faith-stretching strategies such as that! My response:
A bit more of Amy’s explanation:
Me:
End of discussion until a couple of days later when we received this text from Amy as she, Orte and the boys were driving down to Florida for the weekend:
Family … magical.
Maybe that’s what family is … Magic Dream Spray.
One-Word Wednesday 12/1/21
DragonFLY!
I Wanna Hyber from Cyber!
I’m sure you have NO CLUE, but it’s CYBER MONDAY!
Here’s a quick look at some of my obviously urgent emails from this morning …
Seriously? They’re hawking Mushrooms and Walking Sticks at incredible Cyber Monday “savings” today?!
I don’t know about you, but I’m just about ready to do some hybernating from all this cybernating.
My Saturday Evening Post: “An Artist and Her Pop-Up Work”
Thanksgiving afternoon, after The Big Meal, the lucky thirteen of us in my big ole modern family …
… sort of scattered throughout hostess daughter Amy’s sprawling house, the adults congregating in the den before the obligatory football games, while the children (ages 3-17) did who knows what.
At one point, nine-year-old Madison resurfaced: “I’m bored. Matthew (her twin) and Gabriel (her cousin) won’t stop playing video games.”
“Go outside for a while,” wise Nana suggested.
Checking on her a bit later, I saw a now-spirited Madison and a growing pile of sticks. She loves artsy endeavors—note her self-made turkey hat? … bandana?
And then a bit later (who knows how long, the tryptophan was working on me), Madison asked the adults to “Come see what I made!”
Those adults who were still conscious rambled outside to find … an outdoor pop-up art installation!
“A free-form, aesthetically pleasing amalgamation of found object natural elements representing both land and sea,” I immediately thought upon seeing the piece.
“Huh?!” Madison seemed to think in response, judging from her body posture.
Oops, a few last-minute touches …
As self-proclaimed artistic judge, I found the work dazzlingly daring yet delicate, detailed and deeply thoughtful, while being both dreamlike and dynamic!
“Huh?!” I even asked myself.
The artist was then joined by little sister/helper Isabelle (3) …
The Joy of Grandchildren and … Art!
NealEnJoy 