BLIP, BLIP...pulse...the effigia has something to say on this one:

http://www.livescience.com/technology/060518_light_backward.html

I hardly even opened the story when the computer started acting up. I have lost the information I had, or the path to get to this point, I should say...no information is ever really lost...ask Einstein. I was watching TV earlier, the beau flipping channels I should say, and I started writing using the words blip, blip and on the channel at that time, the guy was using a metal detector in the backyard, so I was hearing the blips as I typed my own...

About the backwards thing, "Light Travels Backward and Faster than Light": a scientist says his team has made light go backward, not a simple trick of mirrors. 

Previous work has slowed light to a crawl. But in the new research, a pulse of light is given a negative speed and—as if just to make your head spin—the researcher says the experiment made light appear to exceed its theoretical speed limit.

What's with the pink...who knows, I just happen to notice is all. I am in the stream of things....writing as I go.

At 9:00 the TV comes on, my beau turned it on CHARMED. One of the characters, Phoebe,(Alyssa Milano) was wearing a very bright pink beret. So, I figured it was my connection and to continue.

I looked up the wave petunias online (http://www.wave-rave.com/) and read "Look for Pink! Look for Pink packaging to insure you are purchasing authentic Wave petunias." A real WOW pink...like the ticket, like the beret...just connecting the dots. I think I want another package of those...off I go.

Today's art:

I noticed my daughter's away message this morning, a message that she hoped the toilet paper fairy would be making rounds to her apartment. The things I have taught my children- to believe in toilet paper fairies, gremlins that live under the house and steal things (we call them the little people) and so on....

My beau has had tooth pain for a couple of days, and today we called around and found a dentist office willing to get him in today. So we went this morning. He was somewhat anxious. As I sat in the waiting room I thumbed through a Woman's Day magazine, and occasionally watched the children playing in the room, and at some point noticed the colors in the oriental style carpet. Mostly traditional colors were in the rug with the exception of a very bright pink color in some of the border flowers. I couldn't help but notice, it was that unusual...it matched the WAVE petunias I had just planted the day before.

So I kept myself busy while he was in with the dentist, and after finishing with the magazine I then picked up the children's board book under the chair next to me, titled, You Are Special, by Max Lucado. "Wemmicks scurry about their days doing what they always do: sticking gold stars on the pretty and talented Wemmicks or gray dots on those who make mistakes." So if you are not up to par, you get dots, eh? Dots, of course, just connecting a few, I had to laugh. There was one individual in the story that was dotless and starless. Of course, the main pinocchio-type character wanted to be like that individual, the one without stars or dots. I didn't get to read it all, as I was only about halfway through when my beau was finished. I went around the other side of the reception area, through the door and started collecting his paperwork. One of the items was a very bright pink card that looked like a movie ticket, it says reserved seating, admit one, on it, the return visit card. Bright pink, I guess so one does not lose it, like the WAVE flowers and the unusual pink in the rug. I would notice these things, yes.

Earlier in the morning, before leaving for the dental office, I had just started my collage/montage and I had just pasted part of a cartoon on my montage, money is being handed to a ticket taker. As I was working on the montage after dinner, right before posting this, I was listening to Stargate (SG-1) and Jack was saying, "How do you know this is Norene's house?" at the same time I was pasting the Calvin piece of cartoon with the bubble that says "How do you know?"

How does anyone?

I am in a stream of consciousness:

There is a story today about the Musée de l'Orangerie...yesterday I put a montage on, calling it lorange...it had the guy with the orange crush and clock on it (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/arts/design/16oran.html? and while on the NYTimes site saw another story http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/science/16class.html titled: A, B, C, D, Fang, Beak, Sky ... My Maya Crash Course. When I read that I was finally able to go back to my montage for today and finish it. I pasted the seven little characters from the story into my montage...all seven glyphs mean UHT a word that means to happen. This from the story:

"The first four glyphs fixed time in relation to the mythic Maya past. The fifth glyph was one variation of "And then it happened." The following glyphs established the day and month when a king ascended the throne, in the eighth century A.D., K'inich Akul. A final glyph referred to the ruler's deified ancestor."

There is always more to discover, just when people think they have it down, lol. And speaking of kings...

In my mail I found that the Cincinnati Observatory is giving some info on Jupiter: "The king of the solar system is back. Jupiter has returned to the evening skies with its fabled red spot and 63 moons." (Jupiter Days Four Evenings to See the Giant of the Solar System At the Cincinnati Observatory Center May 25-28 from 8:30-11:00pm. I won't be able to be there but I have seen Jupiter before.I am going off task...back to the montage...

In the montage are the words from a comic strip, "I developed an alphabet" which I changed to "bet alpha opened veda veil"...Alpha being JC of course. I went to find a definition for veda and veil for those who might read this and came across this site: http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/glossary/glossary_v.htm and this was informational about vedas: http://www.indhistory.com/vedas-upanishads-puranas.html

And for whatever reason, I decided to look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(Hinduism) since MAYA was a keyword for me today Nothing like a little randomized enlightenment...

Got my new gutter rail boxes planted today...some WAVE petunias, geraniums, dusty miller, coleus, impatiens, asparagus fern. Not much of a selection but fine for this year. Maybe by next year I will find out where all the greenhouses are for something different. A friend today said she would give me some of her batchelor's buttons for the yard. How wonderful!

My Collage/Montage:

I did not sleep well, nothing new in that though. Yesterday, I watched a few minutes of decoding the da vinci code or something like that, and saw the words san greal and then again they moved a letter so it read sang real, and it stuck in my head half the night. I rearranged the letters a few times, some of which are in the day's montage: ra angels, as angler, las range, la sangre...to name a few of the anagrams. I even had my own made up word lasagner, which I attributed to the Garfield influence, lol. I had this thing about feathers too, las, being the word which took me there, and I came upon a certain code of sorts which included a feather...it meant keys in hand. Did I ever mention the time I opened a locked van door in the presence of a police officer, and my sister, using a feather a key which did not fit the lock and the belief that the door would open? Anyway, maybe another time. I did manage to open the door because of that feather, lol...and the belief of course.

The word sangre means blood, so I was brought to thinking abouyt the sangre de cristo mountains again. looked up one of the newspapers online and saw it had an enchantment guide, and since I had put a reference to enchanted learning on the montage...I checked it out. I am more interested in the other side of the mountains, the Colorado side. Sometimes I go to the sitefound a while back, just to see what's going on in the area: http://sangre-de-cristo.com/westcliffe/index.htm. My eldest sister has a view of Mt. Horn outside her window; I was fortunate to view that and know where she is building a house for her retirement.

I wish...

Anyway...today it rained more, so not much got done around here. I do now have a new "gutter window box", thanks to the beau, which hangs over the porch rail and though it is shallow it is fine for growing some herbs, maybe pertunias or impatiens...something colorful. He moved some of the doors away from the entrance to the shop, so it looks about 15% better, because that is how much of the yard junk was moved, lol. Progress...baby steps. Tomorrow I will purchase some annuals and see if more work can be done in the yard.

Sometimes I wonder why certain e-mails come into my box days after the date it says they were posted, and other times, I figure it is all in divine order, so not to wonder. I generally clear all mails, leaving none unread when I close the box, so I certainly notice when there is a mail that shows up further down on the list, and appears to be from a date such as today's mail, with the date the 10th on it (Long Range Solar Forecast/05.10.2006)...today being the 15th. A bit of a walk around the block with the e-mail, eh? Obviously, the story was on slowing: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/10may_longrange.htm?list130583 and there is that R A N G E thing...must be a timing thing, lol.

Kids sent me some roses, lilies and statice today. Nice little surprise to brighten my day.

Mouse poo...an experience I have not had in a long time. The last time I cleaned up mouse poop I was living in Cleveland Heights and had a mouse named Booyo. Now, after months of ignoring the problem, and using utensils that I keep in the wire basket by the sink for meals, I cleaned out the drawers. I washed every single utensil, brush, knife, nut pick, corn cob holder...well, you get the idea. Mouse traps now sit in the empty drawers and fortunately, the containers I normally keep these items in, in the drawer, can hold them on the island while I decide if I will ever put them back into a drawer again. Mouse poo, urine and bleach have given me reason not to go back in the kitchen today. Leftovers that I can heat in the microwave tonight, that is as far as I want to go. I have made some attempt at montage in the past few days, but the rain and some other issues leave me uninspired at the moment. Last I left off, there was some mention of the orange shirt.blue pants thing, so I incorporated those into the montage with a few dribs and drabs of comic strip frames.

After a year, the building permit now sits in the front window, meaning; there is actual intent to build that which the $58 dollar permit states issuance, a 15 by 20 bedroom. It is something. A bonus room comes below it, with the only place to finally put a storage closet of some sort. This house has one small closet in the bathroom, and not being the most organized at this point, one can imagine my consternation at not being able to put things away like I am used to. Some may say, get rid of stuff, but unless I pare down to a week's worth of clothing, bedding and keep nothing extra, the house should have at least one more closet. I know, I know, there were armoires in the 1800's and people had plenty of room. I have one armoire, and yes, I could stand to get rid of a few things, but...I am not going to buy another five armoires unless I win the lottery, which would be nice, and I doubt many more closets will be built. I have done a fair job of dismantling my life from a ten room house, with closets and storage abundanza, to nothing but a bathroom closet and basement storage, but at least I have that. I suppose my mood may be discernable today...flat. I have many things about my life that few would know about or understand, so I rarely actually reveal them outright. I try to be more optimistic; real life can often be somewhat disappointing.

A little disappointment came yesterday, when I learned someone had complained about the yard. I would too if I didn't live here. It can be very frustrating for me at times, knowing where and how I used to live. This is all so difficult at times, but I keep trying to chip away at the yard, with little money, and not as much braun as I used to have. I have planted a lot of perrennials, trees and shrubs, but the yard still has a lot of "stuff" in it, the house falling apart and the huge pile of lumber ( the cut city tree) in the yard. Yeah, the two pick up trucks are gone, as is the six foot satellite dish, a lot of trash and metal waste. A lot remains, and it is not so simple to just remove everything; it is building salvage, which means it might be used someplace, sometime. So, windows sit in the yard, doors, large pieces of wood, etc., etc., and I cannot move it out of the yard. Inasmuch as I hate moving things two or three times, I am tired of looking at it all myself, so as much as I dislike the extra work, may just go ahead and move it all to the other side of a building here, and see if some miracle occurs that allows space for all this stuff in the shop basement someday. Of course, all the stuff that needs to be cleared out of the shop basement still sits there. If people only knew how frustrating it is. I used to have a garage with pegboard, tolls lined up, you know the routine. Neat and orderly. The lawn mower was never put away with gas in it, no oil on the garage floor. I have no garage now, but my lawnmower is not here either, so it really doesn't matter. I will plug away as I can, and try not to let it get me down so much. I can only DO so much. Last year I tried to rid the yard of johnson grass, and this year, it has come back twice what it was. Yeah, agent orange might get rid of it, but in the meantime, I try to apply weed killer here and there and still plant other things.

It has rained all week, so I have not really been able to do much outside, and just as well, I suppose, as I have injured and re-injured my back enough that I know I have worked a bit much out there. I am waiting for the copper gutter/window boxes to be made, so I can maybe grow some herbs in them, but that hasn't happened yet. I hope there will still be a few herbs left at Lowe's (only place I know of at the moment) because I would really like some basil and rosemary,etc., I started some seeds in a strawberry pot, but the seeds have just sproted their true leaves, so it will be awhile. I know, it takes patience to grow a garden, and I am not acting very patient. Not when I see plants six inches tall at the store, and I don't even have the planter ready yet. Such is life, I suppose I should just be quiet for the rest of the day.

Here is the collage.montage that I made since the 11th. Not much, but something strings things together and in a few days I know something better will happen. I did not check spelling today, so if you find a mistake, you were supposed to, and if not...c'est la vie!

I went back to my last journal (h20genius) and read a little...It still amazes me sometimes the things I see...like some electronic behavior picture I found online in some science story http://tk.files.storage.msn.com/x1pc_jqddVOWRnSpMo120BvuECL21Fm7hB5ms09ZgQAg-7o9KjdJSE7UwlJdEy_dJFXO8osATFiMBIf5kaWIBVeW9hHHCJg9GOW3cguxhhHipstqAc9WgThLjXQnca_7Ah-bq6eEaHilac and when I saw the picture I immediately turned it 90 degress and saw two faces close to one another, as though they were lovers, gazing into one another's eyes. The entire entry is http://spaces.msn.com/h20genius/blog/cns!856F7A9C18F7300B!1052.entry I definitely see things differently.

A few minutes ago I was reading (another journal entry from h20genius) a few words about treasure, saw the word Atocha (which had many good treasures on it ) and it reminded me of what inscription my ex had the author Mel Fischer, of Key West-Atocha fame, write in the front of the book he had purchased, the inscription basically said something about one's treasure being that which is at home. On TV (as I re-read that particular journal entry) the history channel was on with a story about treasures found when the (Law) steamship was salvaged. I have to admit, it is sometimes difficult to follow the stuff I put in entries, but it all kinda goes together in some bigger picture,and when I point it out others see it. I guess those that will get it will get it. The string of coincidences really does mean something in this dimension. Like the thing earlier today with the orange shirt and blue pants...just coincidence, but something I notice...and I notice things all the time. Yeah a lot of people wear orange shirts and blue jeans, but...

It has rained here most of the day, but we have escaped any bad storms. I got to eat some of the garden's provision this evening, those wonderful hot breakfast radishes and plump round radishes with the mesculen lettuce mix was yummy. I LOVE fresh garden greens. My purple Japanese iris started blooming today, in the front garden. I have always looked forward to those blooming every year. I was fortunate to be able to transplant those (successfully) from my last house. They are very special flowers to me. Peony transplanted well, but the blooms budded and then died back, the foliage looks good though, so I consider that single specimen to be a successful transplant too.The rains bring new plants to sprout and bloom every day, Ain't nature grand!

Weird morning...

Sometime around ten or so, who knows what time for sure, I heard a large crash outside, the sound of exploding glass. I looked outside and could see no one, except a neighbor wheelbarrowing some mulch to his plants. A moment later I saw my beau stick his head out of the shop, and he gestured as in who knows. Then, I saw a man in a bright orange shirt and blue jeans go past the house on the other side of the street, and my immediate thought was he had escaped from someplace and had tried to gain entrance to a neighbor's house, via a broken window. Part of that was correct. I motioned to my beau when I saw the man come back toward the house he had broken the window. We tried to interact with the individual but he was non-responsive for the most part. I could hear him ranting. He started back towards town (Madison) and my beau told me to go call the police. I said, no, I was not going to let the person get away, that I was going after him, so he could call the police.

He did and I followed the guy, yelled for him to stop and followed him through our back yard back towards the house he was intent on getting inside. After a few moments, he escalated in his rantings and I heard noises at the oppsosite side of the house from the initial noise, and my beau stayed out there while I called 911, describing the individual's clothing and telling the dispatcher that he had escalated somewhat. A moment later, the police arrived, and after a few tense moments, the officer was able to subdue the person, without using his taser or other force. I did think it was interesting that in the time it took the officer to get here from the other side of town, that an animal control officer responded and pulled over, to assist when the officer got there.

I came inside about 11:30 to fill out the police reports and saw my daughter had sent me another link for another video....this time it was a man dancing, the title was evolution in dance. She gave me the link as " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg&eurl

[10:45 AM], saying, HE KNOWS ALL THE MOVES!!!!!!!!"

I went to the site to see the guy was wearing, what appeared to be an orange shirt (it said CRUSH on it...as in orange crush) and blue jeans. Strange world? Maybe.

I had already completed my montage...but since the little incident I decided to add the other one too...I actually started today with orange in my collage, having colored in the "computer eye" from a cartoon copy/paste. Interesting.

Yesterday I wrote: "What a weird little world I live in."

"Changing the way one thinks about magic, boxes and plastic men..." my daughter gave me a link (she tried to get hold of me to watch the David Blaine special but apparently I was asleep) so I opened the link this morning, for Lego David Blaine, at http://youtube.com/watch?v=zh3UkbrBtal&search=david%20blaine I watched it a few minutes ago, and with dial up, had to run it through spurts and stops first then let it run again to actually see it, background for the special "in a fish tank". I thought it included interesting coincidence, here and there...

In one picture, there is a house which looks a lot like the one I grew up in...just a coincidence; it is behind the Febreze bottle. I thought the Febreze bottle was interesting in that yesterday I wrote about two deaths that occurred in FEBruary...and those people definitely went into a box. Actually, when I thought about it, I remembered that my grandfather had died in Febrary years ago. Yes, it is a funny little world. My thinking is pretty much out of the box, but I can appreciate coincdences as they occur, in or out of the box. From the few frames captured as I watched the video in spurts, one included the little lego guy standing on playing card instructions and on the section I enlarged with my piddly paint program I saw the words "enough to read...playing card...sometimes...you point to one of...the known card..." so I did just that. I had already placed into the montage/collage all frames I was using and all I needed to do then was POINT to one of...the little alien spaceship that was in the frame above.

Oh well, too bad I missed the special wrinkly magic man on TV...but I did enjoy the lego man.

Cartoons...

Hours later I am able to finish my entry, so there will be two collages/montages.

It's not that I have a morbid sense of humor...I just have an unusual way of looking at things, even death notices.

I went through the comic strips today, and noticed in Sheldon he mentioned dune, as in a clock...so I went back to where I had viewed the obits online, the ones I wrote about that occurred in February, and sure enough: http://dunes.cincinnati.com/classifieds/obits/default.aspx was the site where I read the obits I wrote about. The word dune is in the address. Nothing unusual really, just drawing lines from dot to dot, shall we say. I put in Cincinnati.com and the address came up http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CINCII . So I hit the obituaries link and this came up: http://www.cincinnati.com/obits/ and when the calendar came up the DUNES part of the address came back (http://dunes.cincinnati.com/classifieds/obits/default.aspx?d=2/8/2006) Does anyone else notice this stuff?

I drew some other ones too, as I went. The number 42 came up in the cartoons, and another one mentioned something about over my shoulder, and in my mind, GOD is always over MY shoulder, so does 42 = God...maybe...

Also over my shoulder, in the real physical sense here, is a poster, framed and sitting in front of my mirror; on the back are the numbers 1342. The poster was designed by some people I met a few years ago; the poster is of their vision/version of Metatron's Wheel. Metatron is, according to internet findings, God's big angel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatron) the right hand man, so to sperak: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/metatron.html ; Metatron is the one everyone (angels anyway) listens to, second only to God. Could be, but I don't recall reading his name in my Bible. I do believe though that there is a hierarchy in everything, and with so many versions and visions and interpretations, it is hard to say what name someone/something goes by. Of course, every religion has it "right", so my job is just to draw lines.

I can tell you what a small world it is, via the obits. Down the block from me is an old church, and one of the members (an elderly neighbor) told me she used to come to the property on which I now live, to attend the tabernacle services that were held here. Well, the building is still here, and some believe the ground to be sacred. One day, while assisting in some outdoor reparations on the church, I took a few moments to speak with the current minister's wife, and she and I discussed her children. Turns out, one of her children digs gravesites here, and she said that another son worked at a funeral home with which I am very familiar in Cincinnati, T.P. White and Sons. I found it even smaller when I realized my beau had a keychain with the name Croxton on it. That is funeral owner's name. Small world, indeed. Just connecting the dots.

What a weird little world I live in.

I was thinking today about my friend Gary, who had a twin brother, Larry, that died in February. I was also thinking about my ex husband, whose name is Gary Young and it just so happened that today, in reading the OBIT section of the Cincinnati paper for a reason I cannot explain, I ran across my EX husband's name because as stated in the OBITs his "special" sister Tarah had died and between her name and Larry Holt's name http://dunes.cincinnati.com/classifieds/obits/obitdisplay.aspx?d=2/8/2006&st=1&id=551811d=2/8/2006&st=1&id=551811 were two people, so had I read the paper that day I would have seen it. 

Now when the deaths occurred, I had no idea Tarah had died, as she was only 33 years old. I came to Cincinnati about 5 days before Gary's (my friend's) brother died, because he needed me there with him. I suppose it is a good thing I never actually saw the newspaper that day, because I am sure I would have wanted to be cordial to my EX and family, but I suppose it was best that I did not know she had died. I now understand though, why I kept getting the feeling that her son, Zach was needy. I felt a strong compunction at the time I was thinking of Zach, and I cannot say for sure when that was, but I felt a little anxious for not trying to find out what was going on, passing it off as something I could not do anything about, since my ex really has no interest in talking to me about anything. When he left, he closed me off, and his step-sister pretty much believed whatever he told her and the rest of the family about why we parted. They were his lies, not mine. I still don't know but one piece of the reasoning, and that was flawed in how he represented it; I was a pretty darned good wife, never cheated, was faithful in love, with butterflies still after a few years of marriage,I believed it all, so who knows what his mind was thinking. I always said he lost his marbles. My life has never been the same since.

Anyway, I was sorry to see she had died leaving behind a few children, and a husband. I was however, glad I was with my friend Gary, to comfort him and his sister in their time of grief and family transitioning. I guess now I have a few more reasons why certain thoughts came to me about Zach and Tarah a couple of months ago, and since then. My Mosaic of Minor Miracles archives tell of that time briefly. Starting from February 1st http://spaces.msn.com/h20genius/blog/cns!856F7A9C18F7300B!903.entry

when I was aware I would be on a deathwatch, until I went back home, there were many unusual things that occurred, and yes, I even mentioned my ex husband at least once in my writing. http://spaces.msn.com/h20genius/blog/cns!856F7A9C18F7300B!917.entry

I always like to think of my ex on Mother's Day, too, because he chose that day to leave me and it was also the day we spread my mother's ashes on her grave, so he was a great memory maker that day, lol. It IS a good thing I have so many GOOD memories to allow certain ones to be remembered without so much pain. That's what happens when you can still love someone who has caused you so much, lol. God IS good to me.

A friend sent me a care package...on it she wrote M E D I A. Inside a fine collection of magazines, some on gardening, some on food, a few homeowner types, and a civilian re-enacting magazine. I love magazines; it works for my A.D.D. brain; I like the pictures, glossy, beautiful flowers, etc. One of the magazines, called Garden Design, says "color your world" on the cover; and I borrow part of a quote from the article, "The key thing to remember is that color is a gift to revel in...".

My last journal was called My Mosaic of Minor Miracles, and it was kinda fun when I read the title of the collection of small space gardens article called Minor Miracles. In one of the gardens, I saw pea gravel used in the paths which made me think part of our garden could include pea gravel, as I was impressed with how it looked in a small area. The people who owned one particular featured garden also own their own "garden design/build" business, called Mosaic (they are inEugene,OR) and since their internet address was given, I pass it along: http://www.mosaic-gardens.com/. The center of their garden included a stock tank...something I have wanted since I was a kid. Maybe someday I willhave my stock tank...Also in this Garden Design magazine (April 2006) was an article on trilliums, one of my favorite wildflowers, second to Jack in the Pulpit. I miss my old shade garden filled with them, so for now, I have a good start with a shovelful that a friend dug for me.

Cool watering cans in the magazine remind me that my beau makes a beautiful copper one, and I keep waiting for him to make one for me . Of course, copper prices just doubled, so it may be awhile...meanwhile, here is a photo of one he made and sold: http://www.cunninghamtinner.com/images/wateringcan1.jpg

This morning, my beau brought me the single, plump, ripe strawberry from our garden. Yesterday, it was a bowlful of breakfast radishes. Maybe next year we will have more yield by this time, but for now these little things in life bring me joy: a cup of coffee on a crisp spring morning, a handful of magazines, a single, red, ripe strawberry and ideas for gardens in an area that just two years ago was covered in weeds, garbage, dead pick up trucks,and no one to care.

My beau just brought the wicker settee to the porch, and I have to say, that glossy, black paint sure looks nice on my old wicker. It has been painted a number of colors inthe past,but never black. Classy look, I think, and it will protect the twisted paper material (that it is made of) so I can enjoy it a little longer. Later this afternoon I'll put the old cushions on it, when sure the paint is dry. I bought this set from a friend in Cleveland (Shaker Heights) when I was all of 22. At the time, I paid what I thought was a lot of money for it. Funny life's little circles. Here I am, about 30 years later, painting it to use on the only part of our covered porch that does not leak. The house has a curved covered porch in great need of repair, but hey, I can only sit on part of it at a time anyway, right? Gotta have attitude, I guess, since I don't have money again. Good thing I have always been creative. For that I thank my momma, for giving me the eyes to see potential and promise in things common, and the creative ability to make things look nice even without much money.

Up early and made a montage, but as I went to do my entry the computer froze up...we have an ongoing debate here about why this happens whenever I go to my spaces.msn.com sites. Any hoots, here is today's special, so to speak:

The mail came. I got my new House and Garden magazine; it has "Worth the Wait!" as the lead cover story. I couldn't help but notice the ads. If you recall, yesterday's word was "eohippus"...so an anagram had to be something so simple...eohippus=use hippo. I also saw (in anagramming) Hope is UP! And of course, HOUSE PIP...must be as in BLIP! So what do I see in the new magazine?

In the magazine, there is a blue hippopotamus-shaped desk on page 34, and the ad on the next page is interesting too; a nice black and white ad with a designer, Vera Wang, standing next to a dress, presumably her design: "by Serta" (the mattress people of course.) I hear a horn blow on the river...oh, and on page 57, a necklace with three acorns on it. Acorns? Hmmm, a coincidence, maybe,  that yesterday's montage began with acorns and on page 154...Stellar Casts...Hmmm, stellar, eh? Old joke; last journal.(<http://spaces.msn.com/h20genius/blog/cns!856F7A9C18F7300B!1317.entry>) One of a few stellar entries, lol.

Since it is a beautiful day outside, I spent most of it painting. I put a second coat on the window sashes and put coat number one on the settee, part of an old wicker set I have had for years, I always wanted to paint it black, and since that is the color being used on the sashes, black it is. Tomorrow I will do a second coat and try to get the chair done.

My daughter and I had a nice IM conversation a minute ago. We miss each other a lot. The older of the two wrote earlier, "Mom's weekend up here and it has really opened my eyes to something. I am truly thankful to have a mom like you. All the roomies are putting on their best dressed and cleaning the apartment, but then they are hiding things in their rooms and watching what they say, hiding certain stories. And all i can say, is that i don't have to do ANY of that. THANK GOD!!!! I am glad I can be myself with you. That I can be honest and I can be myself. I am glad you have let me become me and I am happy and proud to show you who I really am. I love our relationship and I love you! and who I have become because of you. Thanks!" Wow! that was nice. I miss my kids a lot. This will be the first mother's day coming up that I can't just walk in the other room and hug them. Some changes are way too hard.

Any hoots, here is today's montage, plus I took a photo of the just received House and Garden mag, showing the hippo really does exist.

I started my day like any other, with not much sleep. The beau was up half the night, and by 5:30 we were both up, coffee cup in hand, he in the shop and me ready to copy and paste my way though the first cup of coffee. The two cats ran through the house and I said aloud, "sounds like eohippus!"

Well, that was all I needed was the day's word, so there it is E O H I P P U S. It did not necessarily mean much to me other than it being a small extinct horse, one called eohippus meaning "dawn horse". So, I put the word on my blank paint screen on the desktop and built the montage as I went through cartoons. Funny, they all have a way of going together into a vignette of possibilities. I checked out a couple of sites:

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Park/7841/horse_evol/eohippus.html and one being http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c016.html which gave a more Christian perspective. I had to laugh at the fact that the cats got me started on this stuff this morning. As a matter of fact, the one the vet called BORSE is the one whose little feet I heard.. BORSE as in Boris the horse.

Next cartoon, I used the rocking horse at http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/servlet/com.featureserv.util.Download?file=20060505csbgg-a-p.jpg&code=csbgg. What a flow, lol....

Hours later...I got three window sashes painted today, and part of a frame stripped. No yard work today. Back is out. I am finishing up my cartoons, and the TV is on, TNT, I hear the detective on Law & Order say, "Why don't we just get it from the horse's mouth?" I had figured today's montage was pretty much completed, and then I opened Fusco Brothers I saw the perfect illustration to complete it...nuts.

"We always like to categorize things and put hem into a box," Ryder said of supernovae. "And it's the things that jump from one box to another that are potentially the most interesting because they tell you maybe we don't understand these things as well as we though we did." (from Hidden Star Explains Supernova Oddity ) It was 1:00 AM when the story was posted, I guess, which may account for the words I highlighted red being spelled incorrectly.

"It's very weird to see that kind periodic behavior and that's what gave us the main clue..."

The Easter lilies received from a friend have taken hold well in the yard, some still blooming. I should take more time to smell them before the blooms are completely gone this year. The cats were almost gone today. When I talked to a delivery man for a minute, the one who just came back from the vet walked into the street as though part of his yard; later he ran across the street after the female did so. Needless to say, after my beau captured them, they were under house arrest the rest of the day.

Need to rest, relax and zone out a while.

The quake struck Tonga at Date: Wed, 03 May 2006 22:26:35 (Wednesday, May 03, 2006 at 11:26:35 AM (EDT) - Eastern Daylight) It was good to hear (Tsunami Warning Lifted After Tonga Quake </s/ap/20060503/ap_on_re_au_an/tonga_earthquake_18;_ylt=Aqn6QiYDy8sexK98B95.JRRNYhAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--> AP, 28 minutes ago ) that tsunami warnings were lifted.

BLIP...it stuck in my mind; I thought back to what I put in my entry...jacks, part of a cartoon...it was in the montage...so I went back to search: BLIP