Well, I'm back at home and things are progressing nicely. Today there were a ton of people here, painters, contractors, installers. All over the place. I'm relegated to the basement with the dogs, where it's cool, so that's OK. The new window in the living room is incredible. I should take some pictures. Maybe later when they're gone.

Oh, it's been a while since I posted anything but I've been having much fun. At least since I left the mess back home. On Wednesday I flew to Minneapolis to go to the ISGB Gathering, the annual convention of beadmakers. It was a ton of fun. I did a whole bunch of glass and tool shopping as well as bead shopping at the Bead Bazaar. It was a perfect weekend, except we didn't get enough sleep.

On Monday, Robert and I both flew to Chicago and spent 2 nights there. We went to the Field Museum of Natural History, the Chicago Art Institute and Second City Comedy Show. We stayed at the Westin on Michigan Ave. It was very nice.

Right now we're in Naperville. My class starts tomorrow. Robert is going to go to the Museum of Science and Industry while I'm in class. Then tomorrow night, we're getting together with our Boston Terrier Friends. I got to meet them in person last year; Robert will be meeting them for the first time. We've been friends for over 7 years on-line. I started visiting the AOL BT Board just after we got Java and that's how we met.

So that's the update. Apparently at home, all the plastering and drywalling is done. The new window in the living room went in today and the new sliding glass door went in yesterday. I can't wait to get home and see it.

OK, I took some pictures. This is the kitchen, looking towards the living room. On the right is the door to the cellar, ahead is the door to the living room and to the left is the door to the porch. We are covering up the brick with wallboard and the fireplace will have a granite surround and a gas insert inside.



This is the kitchen looking the other way. On the left is the door to the dining room. That has been expanded since I took the picture, so it's about twice the width that the picture shows. Ahead is the doorway to the back door and the garage. The wall straight ahead is where my refrigerator and range were.



This is my laundry room and 1/2 bathroom. On the right out of the picture is where the washer and dryer are. The coat closet that we so cleverly turned into a pantry used to be here on the left. Now it's just bare walls.

This is the new master bath we're building. You can see the size of the old bathroom comparatively - it's that square of linoleum on the farthest left side of the floor. Or better yet, look at the window and the surround drywall on the left. That shows the size. Add one of those little single shower stalls and that's the old one. We'll still have a nice-sized bedroom when we're done.

OK, it's day 3 of the renovations. I thought it would be done by now, or at least half-way done. Where is Ty Pennington and the Design Team? I thought I was supposed to get a trip to Disney World. Move that bus! Seriously, though, it is getting old and it's only day 3. Day 3! The floor in the kitchen is gone and we're walking on 1/2 thick plywood. It's kind of squishy if you step when there is no joist. Eek! I guess the work is coming along. I just wish it were done.

My kitchen is gone. The cabinets are gone. The ceiling is gone. The sink is gone. The refrigerator is gone. The closet in the entryway is gone. Gone, gone, gone.

Happy 4th of July! I know I'm a little late, but better late than never. We had a nice little holiday. We dropped the dogs off at the kennel and went to my mom's house on Northwood lake. We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This was the first time we slept over, as usually there isn't enough room - there are only 2 guest bedrooms - but this time I slept with my mom and Robert slept on a blow-up mattress in the living room. So we had a fun time swimming on Wednesday morning, and both nights we watched other peoples' fireworks. I think the neighbors must have spent in the thousands for their show last night. It's amazing the fireworks you can buy at the store these days. I can't believe it's not illegal.

This morning we woke at the crack of dawn and drove home for my dentist appointment. No cavities! Then I picked up the dogs - who were incredibly happy to see me. Then lunch with my friend Amy at Olive Garden. Yum!

Barney's eye is feeling much better. You could tell last week that he was in a great deal of pain because of his eye. He was lethargic and not playful at all. He barely even barked for his meal. Now he's a different dog. He's playing with Java and very interested in chasing squirrels again. Hopefully his pressure will be OK when we have him checked on Saturday.

Today was one of those glorious summer days that you wish every other summer day could be like. The air was fresh and not too hot. Just wonderful. It made me glad to be alive.

And I have to tell you about the coolest thing ever. I bought a new hose and hose reel so I would be able to water the mountain laurel without getting dirty. My old hose was covered in pine pitch or something, but it left me water-logged and filthy by the time I was done. The thing that is so great is the hose reel. It winds itself up using water power. You just flip the switch and the hose winds away. It also washes the hose as it's wound up. I am in hose heaven about this gadget. Come over and I'll give you a demo. Seriously.

Barney has glaucoma. The poor thing was fine one minute (Sunday night) and the next (Monday morning) his right eye was swollen, milky and very painful. The vet said that we caught it early and that it is only in one eye at the moment. I do remember it being a little red last week, but it didn't seem to be a major thing. He still has vision in that eye and we're hoping to keep it that way. We've put him on steroids to reduce the swelling and we've put his left eye on prophylactic glaucoma medicine to try to stave off problems. He went to the opthalmologist today and she couldn't find a cause of the swelling, so it's a treatment of the symptoms kind of thing right now. I'm afraid of him losing his sight. Bostons have such bulbous eyes anyway so they can be prone to eye problems. My poor little man.

Martha told me that I don't blog anymore. I just haven't had anything to say. We had a really nice time this weekend with my mother. We were able to make her birthday very special and she was able to talk about my father in a happy way, which was really nice to see. Father's day for me was horrible. I couldn't stop crying all day. Robert didn't know what to do with me. I'm not the kind of person who enjoys being comforted while I'm crying. In fact, I hate it. I don't know why. If I had my way, I would never cry in front of anyone ever. Maybe it's a weakness thing. So I'm bawling and he can't come over and soothe me because he'll get yelled at. LOL.

Soon I'm going to have to empty out my kitchen and bedroom so that the remodeling can begin. It hasn't even started yet and already I'm itching for it to be over. I'm not looking forward to the disruption at all. So the beadmaking is going to be sporadic at best this summer, because of the remodeling. I can't imagine trying to control my dogs around the workmen, etc. They'd be trying to kiss the men and jumping all over them. Plus, once I get back to beadmaking after the remodel, I'll be making all my drawer pulls and cabinet knobs. I'm very excited for that. Most of the kitchen is neutral, except for the pendant lights and the knobs. It's going to look awesome.

Father's day will mark the 4-month anniversary of my Dad's death. Now the ads for Father's day sales, gifts, restaurants, etc. are all over the place and just serve to remind me that this is the first Father's day when I don't have my father with me. Not that we made a huge deal out of this hallmark holiday or anything. I would make a point of seeing him and bring a card, sometimes a gift. Usually we'd gather at my parents' house and it would just be a nice day of being together. My mom's birthday is in the middle of June, so the two days frequently were close. My father would say "where's my gift?" as if he were really expecting us to get him something. He was a hard person to buy things for. If there were something he wanted for himself, he would buy it. Chances are we couldn't have afforded it anyway. I can remember a couple of Father's day presents I gave him in the last few years. One was a key chain with a bead on it that was supposed to look like a golf ball. He said he liked it. The other was a wine bottle stopper with a glass top that I made. He liked that one.

On a happier note, my mom's 70th birthday is this weekend, so we are taking her out to dinner to a favorite restaurant. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, and Amy tagged me, so I will have to figure out who to tag next and what to write. Soon. Soon.

This morning I dreamt about my father. In my dream I knew he was dead, so when I saw him, I ran over to him and gave him a great big hug. He was wearing a peach-colored golf shirt. I hugged him and told him how happy I was to see him. But he didn't really respond to me, except to say that the coffee smelled good. All my family was there and they could see him, too, but he didn't see us. I think this is only the first or maybe second time I've dreamt about him since he died. So immediately on waking, I burst into tears. I still cry when I think about it. And I had been doing so well recently. It's like all the pain has come back. Usually those kinds of dreams for me are comforting -- almost like you've had a visit with your loved one -- but I think in this case the emotions are too new and raw so it was upsetting rather than comforting.

I don't know what happened to summer, because we're back to the Fall weather that makes me long for warmer climes. It's pouring down rain and is only 55 degrees. I had an OK weekend. We stopped by my mother-in-law's house on Saturday and she showed me some of the flowering trees she has that do well in shade. It was nice. She also showed me the cluster of lady slippers that she has in the woods. I've never seen anything like it. Wow.

Anyway, we decided on a Mountain Laurel. They are beautiful and grow nicely in shade. We had a ton of them outside the kitchen window at 226 where I grew up. So it's a good tree for a memorial to my father, I think. Yesterday we went and bought one and hopefully someone is going to come plant it for us. I would do it myself as it's not that big, but the place where I want it to go has a juniper bush that needs to be removed. I don't think I'm up to doing that. Messy. Ick. Here's a picture of what they look like:

I really love my yard, especially at this time of the year. Today I took my camera outside and took some pictures so I thought I'd post them here. It is a glorious day. It's 72 degrees; the sun is shining; the sky is blue; and there's a refreshing breeze.


I love the tangle of branches of these pine trees.



This is what we see from the house, looking towards the road.


I found a lady slipper in the woods!


Here's the ground. I have no grass, just this mossy stuff, some lichen and some low flowers.


This is my meditation bench. I try to decorate it seasonally, but haven't bought any spring flowers yet. I call it the Henge.


I found this momma bird while I was taking pictures. She looks like she's trying to hold still so I don't see her. This is right outside the front door. It doesn't get used much.


Another lady slipper!



Soon I will have a beautiful peony. This is right under the bird's nest.



This is where I want to put the tree honoring my Dad. You can see it's sunny when I took the picture, but it won't be for long. I guess it only gets 2-3 hours of sun per day, because of all the trees that shade my whole yard.

It was a gorgeous weekend weather-wise. And the bonus is that there's one more day. I had a fair to middling bead day yesterday; today was better. We went to the garden center up the road to see about a flowering tree. I'm not sure a tree is our best option as where we want to put it gets only a little sun each day. Our yard is so shady and the ornamental trees need sun 6-8 hours per day. So I need to rethink my plan. We put out the hummingbird feeder but so far none have found it. Everything is so green because of the rain we've had. My lilies of the valley are in bloom and when you step out onto the porch, it's all you can smell. It's heavenly.

I took this picture at night - obviously - by balancing my camera on the wall and hoping that it was still enough to capture the image. I think I did OK. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.
This is a clown taking a break and smoking a cigarette. I find him odd - kind of like a tough-guy clown who's had a hard life.
This is me and Robert in front of a very cool painting at the Pompidou.
And of course, the Eiffel Tower from the Bateau Mouche.

When I am Old...

When I am old, I will wear soft gray sweatshirts
and a bandana over my silver hair
and I will spend my social security checks on wine and my dogs.

I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair
and listen to my dogs' breathing.
I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night
and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow...

When people come to call, I will smile
and nod as I show them my dogs and talk of them and about them
the ones so beloved of the past
and the ones so beloved of today
I will still work hard cleaning after them,
mopping and feeding them and whispering their names
in a soft loving way.

I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat,
like a jewel and I will be an embarrassment to all
especially my family who have not yet found
the peace in being free to have dogs as your best friends

These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall
and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep,
to greet you as if you are a God.
With warm eyes
full of adoring love and hope that you will always stay,
I'll hug their big strong necks
I'll kiss their dear sweet heads
and whisper in their very special company.

I look in the Mirror and see I am getting old
this is the kind of person I am and have always been.
Loving dogs is easy, they are part of me.
Please accept me for who I am.
My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives
they love my presence in their lives
When I am old this will be important to me
you will understand when you are old if you have dogs to love too.
~ Author Unknown ~

It's good to be home, but this weather sure is icky. I'm itching to make some beads and I think tomorrow is the day. Going to France was a good thing for me. It kind of allowed me to step away from my sorrow for a while. Somehow my Dad's being gone wasn't as in my face as it usually is when I'm home. It was kind of nice, but still every once in a while it would come rushing back and I'd just think to myself "I can't believe my Dad's dead". But those times were fewer inbetween there than they are here.

We're home. We fell asleep last night around 9:00 pm and woke up around 5:00 am, all because of the time change. We went out to breakfast and I picked up the dogs and Gary, who are all very happy to be home. So today I'm just doing things like laundry, unpacking and all the non-fun part of coming home after traveling.

I found out that while I was gone, my mother was admitted to the hospital with a heartrate of 30. I hate the fact that people try to hide things like this from me while I'm gone. They did it to me when I was on my QM2 trip last year about Barney having a seizure. It really ticks me off that they don't tell me these things. I was completely accessible by email, so getting in touch was not a problem. I thought after the Barney incident, I had made my feelings known, but somehow they were overlooked. In any event, my mother is OK; she took the wrong pill or some such thing. She's out and is going to be fine.

Well, here it is, our last night in Paris. This morning we woke up a little on the late side, but that's OK. It's our vacation. We went to Hermes and did a little shopping there. Their scarves are so pretty. And the salespeople were extra-nice, I don't care what Oprah says. If she had been there on time, they would have let her in. It had nothing to do with her color. Anyway, after shopping, we went to Delizie d'Uggiano for lunch. We ate at that restaurant twice last time we were in Paris, so we had to go back for the tortellini aux truffes. Yum! I just love truffles. After lunch we came back to the hotel for a nap. We slept for a long time, during which time it rained. So that made us not want to wake up even more. After our nap, Robert went out to get some money and a macaron. He found "La Maison du Chocolat" and he brought back some goodies from there. He got a little lost coming back, but eventually found his way back to the hotel. About 8:15, we left the hotel to go find some dinner and wound up at "Royal Madeleine" a place that Sarah, Bob and I had eaten at last time in Paris, too. It's not unusual for parisians to return to the same restaurant(s) over and over, so we're just doing as the parisians do. We had wine, and foie gras and creme brulee and life is good.

Tomorrow our plane leaves at 1:30, so this is my last blog entry from France for now. I am so thankful and happy that I made the decision to come along with Robert on his trip. It has been wonderful and hasn't done anything to dissuade my opinion of France and her people. A bientot! Vive la France!

It's midnight and we just got back to the hotel, so this is going to be short. This morning we went to breakfast to Angelina's on Caroline's recommendation. It was yummy, and we couldn't even finish. The hot chocolate was like drinking a liquid candy bar it was so rich. After breakfast, we headed to the Centre Pompidou to meet Laurel - a lampworker living in Paris who I know from online and meeting once at a bead show - and her French husband Cedric. We met up with them just as an enormous rainstorm blew up. The wind was whipping the rain sideways. It came up so quickly, too. Luckily we were right at the museum so we scooted inside. So we saw the modern art which was great. Then we went to a brasserie for a limonade and a diet coke. After that, we went on le Bateau Mouche - a cruise on the river Seine. Then we went to the St. Michel section of Paris for dinner. I had a yummy potato, ham and cheese casserole. Then we walked over L'ile de la cite and saw Notre Dame all lit up and took the Metro home. When we got out at La Concorde, the Tour Eiffel was all lit up and sparkling, which it does for 15 minutes every hour. It was so magical. I'm ready for bed. My dogs are barking.

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother in law, my sister and all the other moms out there!