Ram Power!


In case you haven’t guessed it from photos, I’ve been spending time at a nearby antique mall. I’m not buying all the stuff I’m sharing on here. In fact, I didn’t buy this guy. But I do appreciate the way he seems to have an audience of admirers. Rams like to be admired but rarely like being flattered.

Related: Hi, Geri!

100 Happy Days: 73

This is going to be meta, I guess, but what made me happy today was getting up to date on several different projects of one type or another. They included updating my Tumblr account. I’d begun putting these #100happydays posts there with that hashtag, but I was, oh, about 43 behind. All caught up now!

This is always a touchy subject with me, because Aries are known as idea people and great starters but poor finishers. I’ve been disproving that theory for a couple of decades, but it’s still a criticism that stings because it contains a stupid grain of truth.

For example, tonight I talked to Marika on the phone and told her an idea I’ve been kicking around for a novel.

“WRITE IT!” she demanded.

“Oh…I had the idea…why don’t you write it?” I suggested.

Aries are also great delegators.

Marika declined.

Drink up

If I grab fast food for lunch when I’m on the go, I usually ask for a bottle of water instead of a soft drink. Because that bottle of water cancels out French fry calories or whatever chemicals are in nuggets, right? Then I keep refilling the bottle through the day, and often I add a packet of peach tea to it, giving my water a nice amber color.

The other day, I had another liquid of an amber color on my desk (we were considering putting some on Margot’s feet to make her stop incessantly licking them), and I can’t tell you how many times I picked it up and almost unscrewed the top thinking it was peach tea. Though people do drink apple cider vinegar, I think taking a big ol’ slug of it when you’re expecting something else is one way to coat a computer monitor in apple cider vinegar. I finally had to move it back to its pantry location.


The root beer is just in this photo so I could include the two rams checking out my Koozie. They approve.

A few images

My brain needs a break from numbers and words, so I was scrolling through photos and thought I’d share a few. First, though I don’t know where all of them came from, I do want to thank everyone for sending me bottle caps. They are being saved, trust me, and will be in paintings one day. In fact, I received a big stack of new canvases on my birthday (thanks, Brides!), so I have everything I need but more hours in the day.

I know this one came from one of the jaunts Marika and Lisa took when they were out and about in the Ozarks last fall. I always love a ram bottle cap.

The ram caps are from Shiner Bock beer.


I don’t know where these came from, but I’m thinking Tim and Tom. Or I might have grabbed a couple of them off the bar at my nephew’s rehearsal dinner.


This is a group from Geri and David. There are several here that I’ve never seen and didn’t have!


When Lynne was in St. Louis, she toured the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, and if you squint, you can see the logo on the shot glass she brought me from there. (I think a Clydesdale wouldn’t fit in her luggage.) I recently learned something new about shot glasses. This is a Basic Shot. The smaller ones are called Short Shots, and the thinner, taller ones are, you guessed it, Tall Shots. There are also Fluted Shots and Cheater Shots. The bottle caps aren’t from the brewery but are from her.

Speaking of Lynne, even though she moved from Green Acres long ago, I haven’t yet given her new home a name. But I’m crazy about the Fairy Garden she’s put behind her house.

Here’s a closer shot.

Enchanting, yes? Almost makes me want to get outside in my yard and–nah, probably not. The mosquitos would make it a miserable experience.

Finally, here are a couple of siblings who recently traveled to Colorado. They had to go on different transports because one had the sniffles and was held back a couple of weeks. All the dogs have to be checked and approved by a vet before they can travel. By now, both may be in forever homes! I hope so. They sure are sweet.

This is Crumpet.
This is Croissant.

There’ll be magic, there’ll be fun…

Miss Lila turned six at the end of March and had a party then, but on Saturday, she had another big party at G (her grandmother Lynne)’s house. The theme was Frozen and fortunately, Lila has the DVD of the movie so I finally was able to watch and enjoy it. (Of course, now I’ll again have that song on my mind for the next week or so until I let it go, let it go…)

Lynne really knows how to put a party together. Everyone had a great time. Along with the opportunity for all the kids to create their own Frozen art work (using salt crystals)…

There was an inflatable castle bounce house.

For part of her party, Lila wore her Frozen princess dress that G made her.

Then there was the Frozen cake G made (delicious, as always), with Princesses Elsa and Anna joining Lila’s celebration.

Age six is off to a great start!