Public TV Pick of the Week

This week’s Public TV Pick of the Week is yet another Masterpiece Mystery! Full disclosure – I love just about anything British and mysteries are the best!

One of my favorite series in the past was Inspector Morse, which starred the late John Thaw as Morse and Kevin Whately as his beleaguered subordinate, Sergeant Lewis.

Well, Morse also has died, and Lewis has returned to the force as an Inspector, following the death of his wife. The three-part Inspector Lewis series finds him working to rebuild his life – confronting his past, future and fear of public speaking. He has a younger sidekick -- Detective Superintendent James Hathaway (Laurence Fox, Gosford Park), who bears a few similarities to Morse.

Lewis is also bent on proving himself to his dubious new boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent.

As they rack up professional successes, Lewis and Hathaway find themselves developing a growing respect and personal fondness for one another. Lewis learns that Hathaway, a former seminarian, isn’t quite as straight-laced as he seems, while Hathaway discovers that behind Lewis’s bluster there’s a broken heart trying to heal.

I haven’t been able to preview any of these, but they begin in most markets on Sunday, June 22, at 9 p.m. In the first program, a middle-aged Oxford graduate turns up dead near his run-down houseboat, sending Lewis and Hathaway down a twisting trail rife with literary allusions and unexpected associations. The detectives discover that back in his undergraduate days, the victim was a member of a club with roots in the Greek myth of Dionyssus. But when they look to his former schoolmates for help, no one is talking. Anna Massey (Sense and Sensibility) guest stars.
By the way, Masterpiece Mystery! has a new host – Alan Cumming. The host doesn’t do much, but I thought I’d include it for Cumming fans!

Happy Birthday, Dear Eulah!

This past weekend we enjoyed a grand celebration – the 100th birthday of my friend and neighbor Eulah.

Eulah is a simply dear and amazing woman who was kissed by Roosevelt as a child and met luminaries that included Arthur Godfrey and Henry Ford.

But my experiences of Eulah are those of delicious visits with good conversations; sitting with my cousins on the beach as she, her husband Bill, and our parents went back and forth on their float boat, laughing uproariously; and listening to her delightful stories that she tells in an enchanting and engaging way.

Eulah’s summer house is separated from mine by a wooded lot, on which huckleberries grow. As a child, picking these berries for my mother was a torment (do you know how tiny huckleberries are?) But as an adult, I’ll collect what I can each summer and make what I call “Eulahberry Bread” using the tiny Eulahberries in a delicious blueberry bread recipe.

Eulah loves to dance, and while she was the last to arrive at her own party, she didn’t hesitate to take to the dance floor! (Her partner’s suit was more shiny than it appears in the photo – that’s NOT my camera problem!)

As for me, I was delighted to just give her a hug and wish her the best!
Anyone interested in learning more about this amazing lady can find a lovely article here.

Why Do You Come to the Page?

Why Do You Come to the Page?

Becca, the Ravenous Reader at Bookstack, is hosting a “Write on Wednesday” virtual writer’s roundtable at her Becca’s Byline site that focuses on writing. We write a post on the week’s topic on our own blogs and link it to Becca’s Byline, so writing stories can be shared.

This week’s topic is “Why Do You Come to the Page?”

I have two reasons. The first is simply that it’s what I do for a living.

In my “real” job, I write. I write press releases, feature articles, I edit-edit-edit (my work and others’). Sometimes those are fun things – particularly when I’m able to create a fun little feature or do an interview.

Mostly, it’s pretty cut and dried. But it’s what I do. (Actually, editing is what I do best! I tend to be a bit verbose!)

And I write as I respond to our viewer questions. Not the same, but it still has to be reasonably well phrased, definitely coherent, always pleasant and as helpful as possible!

The second reason is related more to the writing I do off the clock. I do that because I must. Not that anyone is making me. I just need to say something. Write it down.

As a child I was a pretty good early writer. My stories were imaginative, my vocabulary strong. My mother encouraged this, and despite my sad attempts to be an artist, which was my heart’s desire, I found that writing was always a powerfully strong second.

As I grew up, my artistic talents grew with me. I knew I’d never be a fine artist in the way that so many are, but I would be fine enough for me, and to be able to explore new techniques and even come up with things I wasn’t embarrassed to share! And since I view “art” as more than paint and drawing, my canvas was rather wide!

My writing is art, too. We all know that, as we slog thorough books that are less than stellar and soar through ones that make us laugh, cry, or simply feel.

I used to write a lot as part of the journaling thing. I’d write down (dreadfully, I might add) my feelings about whatever was happening to me. Generally, I’d write more during periods of angst. Long, tortured rambles as I tried to sort myself out! (Pleased to say I lost most of those journals in a basement flood! The ones that were saved are by and large painful reading!)

Now, I do it for fun. I’ll write a little essay that no one but me will ever see. I’ll tell stories about my family history. Now and then, I’ll do a poem, especially those that chart our lives over the course of the year, which I share with Rick on Valentine’s Day.

The Marmelade Gypsy is a combination of journaling for myself and friends and a venue to meet and share things I love with new friends. The thing I am finding is that I enjoy trying to write something for myself once a day, even if it is just a few words of narrative stringing together photos or art.

So, why do I come to the page? It’s what I do, and it’s what I must do.

Show and Tell Sunday: Flea Market Finds!

Favorite Flea Market Find is the Trash to Treasure topic for this week.

It's between my $1.29 Goodwill starfish in glass and my $35 quilt.

The starfish came about this weekend with a stop at Goodwill up north. Nothing fancy, but I love starfish and this was a good "lake thing."

The quilt came from a shop in Michigan years ago. It's not terribly old, judging from the thread, but probably 1960s. Tons of piecing. Machine stitching but very nice and even, unstained (or relatively so) and in good shape!
I collect old quilts. This one is on the cottage guest room bed, waiting for a visitor!

For more flea market finds, visit Heidi's blog and check out the complete list of links!

Show and Tell Monday for Me!

To those visiting for Show and Tell Sunday, I'll be posting flea market finds on Monday night. I'm away on a borrowed 'puter and don't have access to my graphics or photos!

Plus, I'm insanely frustrated that a post I wrote at home to click "publish" today isn't publishing, even though blogger says it is. Argh. Mercury Retrograde.

Maybe I'll skip out and flea a bit today, if I can find anything up here in the north!

A "Special" Day

Today I flew out of the office for a few minutes to catch a special performance.

Rick was playing classical guitar for those attending the Eric RicStar Winter Music Therapy Camp.

Rick did two performances, about 15 minutes each, playing several classical pieces and explaining a bit about them.

The group I visited had about 20 people listening.

The camp is for all ages, but there are many children and teens. It was founded by my friends Judy and Dick Winter, after their son, my little buddy Eric, died several years ago. Eric loved music and had participated in the Music Therapy program at MSU's Community Music School.

Eric, courtesy Judy Winter/Lifetouch

Kids attend camp from several states and Canada. They play instruments, have movement, sing and the therapy dogs are a huge hit.

FYI, my longtime buddy Judy is also the author of Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs, which is an excellent book for any parent (special needs or not) or teacher, caregiver or practioner who works with children with special needs. She addresses many topics in her book, and it's a well-written read. You can visit her website here or anytime on my Sites I Like links. Her blog is listed as "Winter Ramblings" in the blog links.

Thoughts

There are hundreds of thousands of stems

LINKING us to everything in the cosmos.
SUPPORTING us and making it possible
For us to be.

Do you SEE
The link between
You and me?

If you
Are not THERE.
I am not HERE.

Thich Nhat Hanh

This is the quote on the “June” page of my calendar. My friend Richard gave me the calendar for Christmas – it’s filled with wonderful quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh.

This, however, resonated in multiple ways.

I see the hundreds of thousands of stems linking us and supporting us as those wonderful links we make as bloggers. The support we share is inspiring. The things we learn are exciting and expansive. The friendships we make are warm and delightful.

We are there for one another's sorrows -- and we've never met face to face.

As bloggers we share our art, ideas, photos, recipes, family stories, and our creativity.

We let others into our homes to share our treasures and interests...

We offer drawings and prizes.

We enter swaps, contests and online parties.

We travel the world through the images posted from travels.

We learn new skills, share the ones we have, and celebrate others’ joys.

Thank you all!

As we speak of links, please be sure to click on one of those off to the right that you haven't visited before. Maybe it'll be just your thing. Maybe not -- but you never know!

Refuge from the Storm

Who should live in this little house currently hanging in my kitchen?

What about this guy?

My colleague Barb found him alongside the road while walking her dogs after the storm. She sat down and waited for MummyBird to return, to no avail. She's currently feeding him some glop the wild bird people said was good (or better than people food.)

The one of him eating is not pleasing Blogger. I may try to add it later, but here is a fuzzy on of him waiting for dinner!

I know I've shown this one before, from the Birds and Bonnet swap, but it seemed like a good time to post a robin collage!

I hope this little guy makes it. It would be nice to see something good come from the storm.

A Little Glum Today

I'm feeling a little glum today, and I don't quite know why. Maybe just tired, or physical therapied-out.

I received lovely mail late last week from Tina at Garden Goose -- a print that I won in her drawing.

And Friday I'll be headed to the cottage in Northern Michigan. I'm dying to sit on my beach again and just read my book (The Mitfords) and relax.

We'll celebrate my next door neighbor's 100th birthday. That's a HUGE big deal! I've never known anyone who made it to 100 before!

I might be a little glum about the tree, although it did provide some fascinating photo ops. Take a look at these photos of the split. It's almost like abstract art.

Sorry -- there's nothing worse than a mopey blogger!

So, here's a recipe to make us feel better! Shelley said she misplaced this one, so I'll share it here!

Quickie Margaritas

In large pitcher combine:

2 cans frozen limeade concentrate
1 ½- 1 ¾ c. tequila
Seven up or Sprite (to top of pitcher)

Sir to mix.

It may lack the subtlety of a really terrific margarita, but for a big group, it's quick, easy and not quite so pricey! Ole!

The Tree Needed Trimming Anyway

So, I was thinking, "Monday I will post my fabulous garage sale find..."
OK, I paid a little too much for it, and I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it, but I loved it.

And I was going to show you these pretty napkin rings my friend Mary Jane gave to me. She had them left from her sale, and will look nice with my pink dishes... a lovely set of eight.

And then I took some photos of my quilts to post -- but I think I'll hold on those.

I went to high school open houses, sat in the basement during tornado warnings, pitched Britcoms during pledge. It was a nice weekend.

Until I was chatting with my friend Suzanne in Canada this morning, making plans for Shaw Festival when I happened to look out the window.

This is what I saw.
I'm not sure when it happened. It must have fallen overnight, though the storms were earlier. I don't know how I missed seeing it walking back and forth through the living room all morning. It hadn't fallen last night while Rick and I were watching the Celtics/Lakers game.

The big branch had been weighing down on the apple tree for a season. I'd deferred dealing with it, because it was split very high and was going to be difficult to remove. I had been planning on trimming out the lower branches to take some of the weight off.

Well, at least I don't have to do that right now.

As best as I can tell, the big branch took out the apple tree by the roots.

It's on a line -- I think the cable line, but I'm not about to touch it and find out. I still have cable.
Of course, I was already concerned about trees, because Rick called last night after he left and went back to his place. He owns and rents out the duplex next door to his, and this is what happened there.
More storms are due tonight. I hope they lay off the tornadoes and the wind this time.

Fortunatelly, we don't think there is major damage on Rick's house and my tree missed my roof -- it could have been far worse.

And the tree needed trimming anyway -- although I'll miss my pretty pink crabapple with its branches just made for holding birdfeeders and hanging baskets.

We're hoping to get a group rate on tree removal.

I'm amazed I'm not more upset by this -- despite missing the crabapple. It's just a tree. (Well, two trees, but the other is still there.) It could have been the tornado -- we had several around here they think.

I spent much of the tornado warning getting dressed in the basement, having been wrapped in a towel from the shower when it started. I grabbed some clothes, my glasses, a book and the phone and went downstairs. Fortunately, my friend from France called during the warning, so we had a nice chat.

(I tried to grab Gypsy, but he made it deep under the bed before I could snatch him. It somewhat comforted me that he would be more likely to land on his feet if we started swirling off to Oz than I would.)

Wherever you are, I hope you have sunny skies!

Show and Tell Sunday: Trash to Treasure

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have far more trash than treasure -- or at least, trash that I've turned into treasure! (I rather like most of my treasures!)

I suspect as I visit other blogs today, I will discover tons of ideas to keep me occupied this summer (not the least of which will be wildly decorating furniture while I'm at the lake!) (Check out the list at Sugar Sugar!)

These two pieces are actually very nice pieces with a great personal provenance for me, but they were pretty ugly.

This little table was my grandparents, and one of the few things I have from their home. It sits in my hallway with (mostly) old books, including a rather old History of England set.

It had originally been a very dark wood. Then during my "Yellow Period" it was about the color of the brightest, sunniest yellow you could find! It was in the bedroom of my first apartment (also sunny yellow, from the headboard to the yellow gingham spread!).

In the 1990s, my friend Richard -- who had redone more than a few pieces -- helped me with my first refinishing job. And I love it.

(This medallion on the side was less than fun, but isn't it pretty?)

This piece came from our family cottage, which was purchased in 1919 and is now where my cousins come and down the road from mine. I think of it as a special gift from my uncle Martin, who died almost two years ago. I'd asked him if I could have it, and he said yes -- I'm so very grateful, for whenever I see it, I think of him and the rest of my family -- and that's every day!

When stripped, it revealed a few colors -- a Kelly green, a pale gray. It holds my microwave in the kitchen.

I love the door detail!

And the lock is the original.

Well, again, visit Sugar Sugar (Analise) for a list of others with much trash gloriously transformed into lovely pieces!)