"Tea for Two"

One of the many charitable organizations in Austin is called St. Louise House.  This group sponsors transition houses for homeless women with children.  The group also provides these families with many essentials for setting up a new home, including bedding, linens, cookware, dishes, flatware and other such items, which the families can keep and take with them when they are ready to move into a home or apartment of their own.  Their fund raising has been quite successful; at present there are about 35 residences available as transition housing for homeless mothers and children!

A few weeks ago, the organization held their annual Spring Tea and Silent Auction, which was held at Green Pastures, an historical Victorian residence that was converted to a fine dining establishment many years ago.  The residence was left mostly intact with individual dining rooms in various rooms that once were parlors, sitting rooms,  bedrooms, etc.  It is beautifully appointed and sits among a beautifully landscaped site that is very peaceful and serene.  There are several peacocks roaming the property which lends a rather exotic feel to the property.   It was a lovely setting for the Tea and Auction.  The weather was perfect.  The food was delicious, the speaker not too long-winded, and the auction items were unusual.  In addition, there were some activities outside for the younger children.  All in all, very well done!

Ratchlet  has recently become a supporter of the organization, and as this year's theme was Mothers and Daughters, she invited me to join her along with M-T-G for "Tea for Two!"  (Well actually, in our case it was "Tea for  Three!")  As you might expect, the attendees were dressed in lovely Spring dresses and more than a few of the women wore hats....very elegant and sophisticated!

In a break from my usual routine, I actually brought my camera along!  Not only did I bring the camera, I even remembered to take a few photos!  I'm still not much of a photographer, but I thought you might enjoy seeing me and my girls out for High Tea!

 

Just FYI,
Ratchlet  was wearing heels, I was not!
We are  much closer in height than it looks!

M-t-G was not wearing heels and
she is a bit taller than I....sigh!
How did that happen??

As I mentioned there were several peacocks roaming around or perching in the big old oak trees! (Seeing a peacocks take a flying leap into a tree is unnerving!!) Anyway, as we were leaving, a WHITE peacock was strutting around across the street from the grounds. I don't think I have ever seen a white peacock before. It was quite stunning. Of course, it did not spread his tail as I had hoped. Still, I managed a couple of shots for those of you who have never seen one either! Truly a nice addition to an enjoyable afternoon!

A really beautiful bird....

...but when they open their mouths,
the very loud squawk that comes out
really doesn't fit their elegant look at all!! 

"Bits and Pieces"

Just a few little bits of this and some pieces of that....

*****

I should not write late at night when I am on pain medication!  I said I only had one molar left.   That's not true.  I still have the molars on the upper right and one on the upper left, I just don't have any molars on the lower right or left.  I've been eating nothing but pudding and noodles for the last three days! I don't even like pudding all that much.  I'm hungry for real food! Did you realize that practically everything that is protein needs to be chewed???   And my mouth still hurts!  This hasn't been fun!   I'd better get lots of kudos and praise from my dentist when I go back to see her!  It's the least she can do after I did what she told me to do!!  :)

*****

I don't know what happened, but the day after I wrote about the cat family that had taken over my deck, they disappeared.  We haven't seen either the cat or the kittens since!  Do you think it was something I said?

*****

The weather has been really wonky this Spring.  It gets into the upper 80s then it plummets back into the 40s and 50s.  That is not my idea of Spring at all.  It is May....in Texas....it is supposed to be warm, maybe even HOT!!!  SNOW was predicted for Amarillo last night!  Our HVAC is flip-flopping between AC and Heat.  It's impossible to know how to dress.   I'm glad they changed the terminology to "Climate Change" because this sure doesn't feel one bit like "Global WARMING!"

*****

The Big Guy has been very diligent about doing everything to reduce the effects of the Bell's Palsy.  He is doing Acupuncture, taking vitamins and other natural things like zinc and fish oil,  drinking a specially blended herbal concoction that sort of looks like tea but sure doesn't smell like tea!  And it has ..."things"....floating in it! Nevertheless,  I am thrilled to report that something is working.  The left side of his face pretty much looks back to normal.  This is really good news!  The second go-round has been much less dramatic than the first time!

*****

I am going stir crazy.  I haven't been out of the house since Monday.  Four days straight!!  The pain meds are still making me groggy which has meant I couldn't drive, but I can't stand it one more minute!  I am going somewhere today....anywhere!  (And no, I'm not taking the pain meds today...at least not until I've been outside!)

*****

Sorry to be so grumpy, but this just hasn't been a great week!

"There's Something Missing"

I may have mentioned before that I have the worst teeth in the world. Well, maybe not the worst, but they're probably in the top 100!  (Or should I say the bottom 100??) Well, at least I used to. But today "There's Something Missing!"   They're not so bad today because yesterday, the worst of then were unceremoniously removed from my mouth!  I am embarrassed to report that the oral surgeon removed....(gulp)....FOUR (!!) of them yesterday.  Yes, four....sigh.  One wisdom tooth and three molars.  I have only one molar left and it is an upper molar, not much good for chewing!  All the other molars and wisdom teeth are gone.

Now some will be replaced with a partial, but until that happens there is nothing left to chew with!  Goodbye steak and other meats!.  So long crunchy things!  Only soft, mushy, and liquids will be allowed.  I think I will be hungry!

It's all because I have very soft teeth.  It doesn't  take much for another cavity to appear.  And as some of the fillings have been around for a long time, they are vulnerable as well and most have been replaced until there is more filling than tooth.  Let me tell you it sucks swamp water!

Just so you know, I have been fairly diligent about taking care of my teeth. Really!  Nevertheless, I haven't always been consistently diligent.  So there are times when I get really tired of flossing and brushing and rinsing and cleanings and fillings and crowns and all the rest.  After more than 60 years of on-going concerns,  now I pay the price! As I just got them out yesterday, I am still suffering the effects of the anesthesia and the painkillers, so yesterday I was really groggy and sleepy and although I wasn't in agony, I did have significant discomfort.  So I spent most of the day and night sleeping!

Today I'm still kind of bleary-eyed and it hurts and I'm hungry so I get to have some more ramen noodles which seem to go down easily without much chewing.  And still no driving because I'm so groggy.  A second day wasted.  Great.....right!?

Coincidentally, my niece is just about to graduate from dental school, so we'll have our very own dentist in the family!  We're very proud of her, but  uhhhh....shhhh!  Don't anybody tell her that her aunt has the worst teeth in the world, OK???  It's embarrassing!

:When a House Is Not a Home"

I think I have made it abundantly clear to the Universe, anyone who knows me, and to anyone who reads this blog that I am a dog-lover.  I wasn't always a dog-lover, in fact, they used to terrify me!  Once I got past the fear that I was about to be torn limb from limb by any teacup poodle or sleepy beagle or big-as-a-horse Great Dane that got within 100 yards of me, I became a convert to dog fan-dom!  We've owned five dogs over the years as a matter of fact, and I loved each of them to pieces.

What I am NOT however, is a cat-lover.  Nope, I don't like them and they don't like me.  Cats and I are mutually antagonistic.  They make me nervous and I guess I make them aggressive.  Generally we stay a respectable distance from one another.

I know that this makes me somewhat suspect to many people.  There are a LOT of cat lovers out there.  I mean, how can I not like those fluffy little kittycats?  They're sooo cute!  Well, sorry, I just don'e.  I think it's genetic.  My mom wasn't crazy about them either.

A few weeks ago I was sitting quietly at my computer one night minding my own business when suddenly the most God-awful screeching and yowling erupted from outside.  It sounded as if it was right under the window I was sitting next to.  Let me tell you, it scared me out of three year's growth!  After my heart rate returned to normal, I realized that there were a couple of cats fighting in front of our house.  I guess cats get into fights fairly often.

I've always thought that cat owners who let their cats out at night are really taking a risk.  I mean, who knows where they go or what they get into?  And then they come back inside bringing whatever back in with them.  They don't even wipe their feet!  Its dangerous too,  cats not only fight with each other, they also have been known to take on racoons, possums, and skunks!    I  was thinking that I would write a post about the about the dangers of letting your cats out.  Then I decided however, that I really didn't want to take on the whole cat community (including my poor, misguided, cat-loving Little Sis!)  So I actually showed a little restraint for a change and didn't write a word.  I just sat and grumbled.

Now for the past few years, we occasionally are visited by a cat from the neighborhood.  From time to time we see her sunning herself on our deck.  We have no idea how long she sticks around exactly.  It seems like she's out there for a while. She doesn't hurt anything, doesn't drag anything into the yard with her or anything.  She just sits or lies down.  She looks healthy enough and naturally, we do not feed her or try to make friends.   She runs away if we make any noise or open the back door and that's just fine with us.  An uninvited visitor but an innocuous one.  We won't see her for weeks and then suddenly there she is again.  I don't know if she is owned by one of our neighbors or if she is a feral cat and I haven't been interested in finding out.

Until today, that is.

Today she was not alone.  She brought someone with her.  In fact, she brought FIVE someones with her.

I couldn't get outside to take the pictures.
Sorry they're so poor!!

Kittens!  She had kittens!  The last time I saw her she didn't look particularly.....uhhh....rotund.  Four of the kittens looked just like her, the fifth is all-black.  They appeared to be perfectly comfortable on our deck!  So I think they have been there before.  Though they are small, they aren't teeny, tiny, so they are beyond the newborn stage and able to get around.  They do, however, instantly disappear under the deck when they hear the slightest noise or see the slightest movement, but when mom gives the all clear (or whatever cats do) they are back on the deck exploring, romping around, sleeping, or tapping mom for a meal.  They are cute.  Babies are pretty much always cute, no matter what species!

But cute or not, I do NOT want SIX cats living in my backyard!!  They need to learn that "....a House Is Not a Home!!"  At least, not THIS house!  At least, not for THEM!

Our yard is fully fenced, but there's not a cat in the world who is stopped by something as insignificant as a fence!  Any suggestions as to getting them to relocate??  There's got to be some nice cat lady with 34 cats living somewhere nearby.  Right?

She probably wouldn't even notice five or six new cats!

A Cappella

Well, this has been a heck of a week. Boston, Waco, Congress, Politics, the ongoing debate (or lack thereof) on gun control, abortion, the economy....all in turmoil.   Actually, it has seemed as it the whole country has been in turmoils since the elections back in November and then the shootings in Sandy Hook  in December.  It is possible that life in America (and perhaps the world)  has always been in turmoil, humans being the creatures they are, but in this day and age, it is nearly impossible for anything of any import to occur without the whole world knowing about it instantly.  We practically see things as they are happening and in fact, the bombings at the Boston Marathon were, I believe, actually broadcast as they occurred due to the proximity of the bombings to the finish line and, thus, the media and cameras that were located there.

Not only do we have continuous broadcast coverage on TV, Facebook (and Twitter and texting too, I suppose) has become a "man in the street" of sorts giving everyone who is part of Facebook a soapbox to throw in their information, opinions, rumors, gossip, reactions, and over-reactions instantly.

I don't know about you, but all this information floating around gets to the point where I find it overwhelming.  It becomes difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, the true from the untrue, the fact from fiction. As you can clearly see by reading some of the comments related to any even vaguely controversial subject or opinion, Facebook provides a medium for the trolls to spill their vitriol and stupidity about anything.

All that adds up to more overwhelming and upsetting view of almost any topic that shows up.  It keeps us all on edge.

For years and years, I purposely did not read a newspaper or even watch TV news with any regularity.  I found it depressing and upsetting. I just didn't want to hear nothing but bad news.   I figured that if anything truly important happened, I would hear about it sooner or later.  I wasn't terribly well-informed, but I sure was less stressed by the state of the world.  The Internet has pretty much taken  away our ability to filter our intake of and exposure to the news of the day.  You hear about everything and you hear everyone else's opinion about everything and you realize that the probability of more than two people having exactly the same opinion on any subject matter is slim to none.  And everybody wants to say exactly why their own opinion is better than every one else's ....Ad nauseum!

Through Facebook, you also realize that there are a huge number of people out there  who are either purposely outrageous, vicious, and frightening or there are a huge number of very seriously disturbed people in our world!   You can say anything at all, you can lie, you can libel anyone (or slander, I can never remember which is which), you can exaggerate, you can insult, you can be cruel and awful, you can say the most horrible things....and no one can stop you!  You can write whatever you want with complete impunity!  No newspaper, magazine, television, or radio news program could get away with such tactics; but individuals can and do, on a daily basis.  This outrageousness stirs the pot and makes it really difficult to know what to believe about anything.

It should be freedom of speech at its finest, but it isn't!  In fact, way too often, it isn't even close!

To tell you the truth, it's beginning to scare the hell out of me!