Nyquil Blues

It will be a week Friday since I began coughing.   The cough then turned into a bull-blown cold. I finally broke down and took some Nyquil two nights ago, which brings to mind this old Alvin Crow song.  Here he is playing at the Broken Spoke in Austin, Texas, a pretty famous honkytonk (in certain circles).  Reminds me of some good times listening to Alvin at the White Elephant Saloon in the historic stockyards area of Fort Worth.  Warning, if you go to the site, make sure your sound is down.  I tried to look at the history part, but was bombarded with a telling of the story.  This used to be a locally owned joint, but I’m not so sure if it is now.  Seems way too commercialized now.

I know I keep saying this, but, really, tomorrow has to be a weaving day, right?

Okay, I give up…plus aboriginal art, and other stuff

I am totally giving up. The cold has won!

Contemporary Aboriginal Art

Collection of John and Barbara Wilkerson

The Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article about aboriginal art in Australia this month. I don’t quite know why, but I am always inspired by art from any indigenous group. The picture on the right especially appeals to me, perhaps related to that spiral thing again. There are many more pictures of the collection in the online article and in the magazine.

I am going to try and embed a video here and hope that it works. If not, there will be a huge blank spot, but you can go to the web page and see it here instead, if you’re interested. It’s about installation work made from found and natural materials. You might want to be somewhat close to Dallas if you want to apply. I saw some work similar to this idea when I went to Omaha last May. Good idea, lots of possibilities.

Now, back to my napping, and all the other activities that go with having a cold.

Monday is the new Sunday

Today I have been laid flat by a cough and maybe a cold… or maybe I’m just really tired from getting practically no sleep for the last two weeks.  Whatever the reason, today was a “water haul” as we say here in Texas to describe a non-productive day.  My accomplishments were three: a trip to the Container Store, changing the sheets, and starting the dishwasher.  Tomorrow I plan to begin the day weaving, then move on to other more mundane things.  The focus issue is still with me, perhaps related to all the emotional turmoil of the last month, but that has to change also.  I wish I had some interesting pictures to post, but, well, there’s nothing interesting at all right now….or maybe there is something interesting.  I received the Kindle for Christmas.  As a lover of all things tech and books, I have really debated whether this would be a worthwhile investment. So, off and on for the last couple of days, I have played around with this device to see what it can do.  One thing I do know, it’s way too easy to get books fast and spend lots of money.  You can get samples of books to see if it’s something you want to read, and, since we’re planning a trip to Belize, I wondered about getting a travel book on the Kindle.  It would be lighter and the search makes it easy to find a particular section or site.  I got a sample of a travel book, but decided to check it out at Borders when we went for coffee.  There’s just something about holding a real book… but the Kindle version would be so much easier to pack.  I also tried the local newspaper, but rejected it after realizing that many of the columns I enjoy are missing in the Kindle version, as are the Letters to the Editor and the Obituaries.  It sounded like a good deal—no more early, cold mornings going out to get the paper!  So the verdict is still out on whether I’m going to warm up to this Kindle.

It’s very quiet in my house…

White Christmas in Texas?  Yep, it happened.  After our stockings and presents here, we drove to my mother’s for the big family celebration.  The 25-mile drive presented us with the vision of many cars along side the highway.  Most had been draped with the ubiquitous yellow police tape, I think to indicate that a particular car had already been investigated.  It was a very careful drive, as it was hard to discern frozen areas very far in advance.

Christmas and all other family gatherings are quite noisy in my family.  There’s usually about 25 of us in attendance.  Beck and Zane see all these relatives once a year, and every year I am amazed at how well they do.  This year they were happily entertained by playing chess with the various cousins.  Chess clubs in schools are wonderful!

After returning home, we had an early supper, packed up, and set the alarm for 3:45 AM in order to get everyone off for the 6:27 flight.  As much as I disliked the inconvenient time of their departure, turns out that it was probably for the best.  They had a connecting flight in Chicago, where I understand there were problems because of weather.  Luckily, they boarded the plane and only took off about an hour late.  It is very quiet in my house now.  No more little voices calling, “Grandma…”  No more play talk as the little boys reenact Star Wars adventures and make up new ones.  No more noisy dice as we play Yahtzee.  No more arguing about who goes first when beginning to play Blokus. 

The boys love to sleep in the big chair in the living room, all wrapped up in their blankets or sleeping bags.  They read quietly under the reading lamp and then turn out the light with not a peep out of them until I fix them hot chocolate the next morning. 

So, we took down the tree tonight and plan to have a “normal” day tomorrow.  Except, of course, for the mountain of laundry that must be done.  Normal for me means that I will weave a bit, do laundry in between breaks, and get a little vacuuming done.  I also like to sit down and plan my week on Sunday evening. Another picture of the snowman must be taken in order to document the sad demise of the snowman. This is all part of a “scientific” experiment that I promised to do for Beck.

I did find a surprise this afternoon.  Beck left me a sticky-note message in my office.  Very nicely expressed and much appreciated. 

We still have snow on the ground here, and it’s not looking like it will be warming up any time soon.  Wood to bring in, weaving to be done…

Photo Albums

Yesterday I got photos from the zoo ready and took them to be printed, a real decision process for me because I would have liked the boys to pick out their own.  After several tries at paper cutting for the right size, I finally got everything ready for the boys to paste in their pics today.  They’re really cute, and I hope their parents will be pleased…how could they not with such wonderful pictures!  I’m still in love with the looks on their faces with the birds.  Below are the photo albums in all their glory.  Bit of a zoo theme, except for the picture on the front, which is of them in front of the Christmas tree after they’d gaudied—er, hmm—decorated it.

It is such fun to have them here.  We’re making cookies this afternoon.  Tomorrow it will be cinnamon rolls for Santa Claus, even though they keep telling me there is no Santa.  I choose to disagree.