One of Those Weeks

A little bird told me it was time to come up with another post!

I've been juggling things around the house and decided to rearrange the living room furniture. (And what a mess when moving the couch from against the wall. Lizzie has a whole new menagerie of cat toys that were underneath that sofa!) I've also been reading (up to book 24 now!) and painting, too! I need to do a wrap up one of these days!

My good friends Linda and Larry Stone were in town last weekend. Lin used to be my theatre teacher in high school and after graduation we formed a wonderful friendship of peers. Larry just received an award from Michigan State so we're attended the awards with them. (By the way, take a look at this display the caterers did with those IKEA modules. They had different snacks on each but what I liked was the baskets on the end. This would be a great idea for a craft room or art studio.)

On Friday we went to visit MSU's theatre scene shop. When both Larry and I worked on shows, he in the '60s, I in the '70s, we were dealing with a very small, tight construction area, poorly ventilated and lit. There's a new shop now and we really enjoyed seeing what these students can work with. All kinds of equipment...

...and room to paint! Some of the scene painting class projects were in progress and that was extra fun for me to see.

When I was in school, it was anything but state of the art. Now, it is that and more! For me it was extra fun to see some of the scene painting projects students are still working on. Plus, they've really emphasized the safety elements. That's our chair, Kirk Domer with me and Larry. Two of the best guys I know!

The awards, of course, were fun. They were at my old TV station and it was fun to see my colleague Ken Merley's EMMY-winning set for the station's political show, "Off the Record." Larry and all the others gave great speeches.

It was a fun event but even more fun was breakfast with Lin and Larry, their son Bob and his family, Jennifer, Kate and Ben. I love these people!

The weekend included meeting up with another blogger -- but this time it was Rick's blog friend, although I have read and admire the writing of George the Cyclist very much. George has cycled all over the world and wild-camps most of the time, carrying everything on the back of his bike. He was a real inspiration for Rick's bike hikes! He's also a serious film goer (who cycles to Cannes every year, among other festivals) so there was movie talk, too. Rick made his wonderful buccatini pasta recipe and I offered up salad and dessert. Dessert was Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. (Cookie recipe on package made large; big scoop of French vanilla and rolled in nuts!) Super easy and really good! Rick, George, a couple other cycling friends and I saw enjoyed loads of good conversation!

The weekend brought enough rain to float an ark -- and ice too. I call weather like this "basement water watch." (No problems!) But there are signs of spring -- not many but you grab them when you can. Mini-daffodils in the yard...

...bigger ones from the market.

And frozen ones from our ice storm.

Yes, more snow and ice. To my friends in snowy and icy climes, I feel your pain.

So do the birds!

And I have to say, they've been packing away the food lately.

Although, maybe this guy is partly to blame. I heard if you mix cayenne pepper with your bird seed it will keep the squirrels from eating it and not affect the birds. Half of that premise is right -- the birds are fine. The squirrels seem to have genetically mutated to take cayenne with a grain of salt. Or pepper, as the case may be.

By the way, my blog buddy Tristan Robinson Blakeman (Enchanted Revelries) is retiring and closing out his art design business -- and while doing so selling off some fabulous mixed media supplies on his Ebay page HERE. This is a great opportunity to get a good deal on supplies -- many of which are unused and looking for a good home. I'm sorely tempted...!

I leave you with loads of thanks to those of you who went over to Modern Creative Life to check out the link I included in my last post titled Meeting My Old Self in the Photo Albums and leaving heartfelt comments there as well as on the Gypsy post. Many of us had different versions of a shared experience and the comments and some of your follow-up emails really touched me. I'm behind in replying to comments on Gypsy posts (if I have your email address) but they are so very much appreciated. And I replied at Modern Creative Life on the posts there. Thank you.