Show and Tell: Camping Cobbler

One of the best parts of camping is the cooking. One of the best parts of being a Scout is learning how to cook camping food, especially desserts, of course.

During a weekend campout with his Pack a year ago, one Saturday activity was to make cobbler with a buddy. Camping cobbler is usually done by dumping in layers of fruit and butter, then sprinkling with a dry cake mix. J as so excited at his concoction, he could not wait to try the cooked version later. I think the whole exercise was a test in the practice of Scouting principles.

That evening, we got stuck in the awards and skit ceremony. It drug on and on.





Then we got stuck at the flag burning ceremony. Old flags must be burned and the guy in charge of this ceremony went above and beyond the call of duty gathering many, many, many flags. I think he's a fire bug.

We waited and sweated.

And waited.


And waited.

The cobblers were the bait to stay to the end. By this time, it was well after 10pm. The flags were burned. Our eyes and lungs stung, as they shouldn't have been burning synthetics. I was miserable, ready to go home, me only having come for the evening this time and not camping.

However, J had his eye on his price. Finally given the chance, J spied his masterpiece.

Dad hovered at the other end of the table, waiting on the prize.

Success at last! Boy reunited with cobbler! He had waited there so politely and patiently, that they fed him first amongst the masses.Anticipation rewarded.

Saturday Scavenger Hunt: Season

Today is a four-in-one post featuring the word, season. It was J's first art commission. A woman on CraigsList wanted a Four Seasons series as done by a child for her child's bedroom. I helped him with some of the details and a little of the composition, but these are largely his doings based on his ideas. They're oil pastels as a resist with watercolor washes over it. He did a great job and she was very happy. I think he got $60. Not bad for an 8yo.

PS - This might be my last hunt for a few weeks. See you when I return!

Friday the 13-ish stuff

The Wally estimate of $456 became $489. The add ons didn't match between the written estimate and the bill, different things on each one. Buying tires is rather irritating with all the variables. I got there a bit after 10:30 and, by the time he could give me an estimate, it was about 11. He said it'd be 1.5h. I gave them 1.75h and they still needed more than 30 minutes. So tires took three hours. Then I was stupid and left my house keys on the counter due to sticker shock, then it took an extra hour to complete all the driving. I fussed at myself about wasting the gas.

I had a frustrating day.

I'd gone to get my haircut with my regular stylist during the tire thing, although this is only the third time to cut it short. After she finished cutting, she said she made the decision to put more layers in it. Huh? I better like it when I do it tomorrow, as I'd asked for it to be extra short instead. I like it layered in a short wedge, not a long bob. I believe she altered the shape, plus she didn't razor cut the ends. Boo!

Lyd is quite excited to be getting on a plane tomorrow. We're joining the singles group for some Blues Saturday night. The birthday girl - I think she turned 37 - from Lyd's last visit is supposed to be coming, along with her 24yo new FWB, who is from the same dating website. If I didn't know better, I'd assume everyone from that site is getting lucky one way or another.

The girl friend has had some significant legal problems, or at least her last boyfriend has. When he came to visit a couple weeks ago, he got his 5th, count 'em 5th, DUI. He is an attorney in danger of losing his livelihood. Two were overturned, but he has two convictions. He never happened to mention this before and apparently he's up for some jail and/or rehab time. He's trying to get her to lie about what happened and she's trying to get him to pay for her car ($7K) and the parked car he hit, because as luck would have it, her check to her insurance had bounced because her ex's child support check had bounced. What a mess. She has an attorney, too, but I'm not sure if she has to be in court and face the loser. Recently, she went and got the FWB as a diversion for some stress relief.

Meanwhile, Lyd and I have had several very meaningful conversations, which has propelled us right along. I am being less uptight about letting myself feel what I'd thought was lost to my past. She is very patient, knowing what I feel without me having to say a thing. Actions speak louder than words. We have a good balance.

I asked her if she'd be interested in going to the nudist camp and she about swallowed her tongue with surprise. For me, the big deal would be taking my clothes off. She went more broadly, wondering if there's recreational drug use and just how far secluded in the woods we'd be, a la banjo music. I surmised that the couple we know is pretty straight up and that's why I trust the scenario. Also, the place is a member of the nudist camps of America-ish organization. I thought going would be a positive adventure/stressor on us, doing something together that stretches us both. Maybe next time. I mostly thought of her going, because I didn't want to go alone when the couple has invited me in the past.

Instead, we're going to the harbor and maybe an art museum. She's been wanting to visit this city, so I know she'll enjoy the sites. She is even up for the train museum. Yippee! More fodder for Saturday Scavenger Hunts. Funny, that's how I look at trips now - blog entries! Speaking of which, it may be sparse for the next few weeks, but I will catch up on the flip side.

Lesson for the day:

Life happens.

A number of days ago, the tire symbol came up on my car. I fiddled with trying to check and fix the air pressure, but knew I was doing more harm than good, so yesterday I made an appointment for today at the dealership - thank goodness it was under warranty. Turns out, there was a nail in a tire. It was small enough that they could patch it, but I didn't feel good with a tire like that going on our trip next week. All the tires were 3-4/32 tread remaining, so it was time for new tires anyway. I knew it was coming, just not this soon.

The dealership gave a quote of over $650, but lovely Lyd called around on my behalf to Cos.tco and Wally's, finding the same for under $450. Tomorrow, I plan to drop the car off at Wally's (they had five of the proper tires at 1:30 today and I hope they have four left at 10am tomorrow), then walk over to my 11am haircutting appointment.

While at the dealership, I made the appt for my 25K check up, which is $200 and will be in 10 days. They asked a number of different times if I'd rather do it today while they had the car up, but I declined. Last time, I was 20600 and I am only at 24100, so I still have a few miles to go in their 5000 mile cycles. I'll do probably 700 in the next 10 days and I'll feel like I got my money's worth. Then I can take J and Norma's son to their violin camp throughout July without having a car maintenance conflict.

I feel like I am hemorrhaging money these days. That check up, plus tires, is the same cost as tickets to fly to CA in August. I cannot decide if I can just do it all. At least once in CA, lodging and transportation will be covered by Lyd, so it'd be a relatively cheap trip overall. I asked her today about doing some white water rafting and she's game. The place nearest her allows kids of J's age to go, too, but he's the stumbling block, the big chicken who will only ride rides that are for kids younger than he at the theme park. Anyway, that'll cost over $100 each, but it is such a thrilling thing to try. None of the three of us has done it before.

Say CA and my son has googly stars in his eyes. The main thing he wants to see is Hollywood. Go figure. I blame the Dis.ney Channel.

In the mean time, we may see Pearl Jam coming up, with J in tow and I'm not sure that's a good idea - plus it adds up to about a plane ticket. If not that, then we'll see Melissa Ethe.ridge, us two. I would definitely consider myself eligible for my Les.bian Card then. Either way, I'm letting Lyd decide.

She's talking about limiting her travel once here in order to save some for J and I to come to CA in August. I'm trying to not let her do that, but she is such a generous thing.

I need a fairy godmother to support this habit.

Alone or in a crowd

I stumbled upon the following book, one described as charming.......

and I must wonder how much your cat or dog or fish or bird or kid sees you naked.

Around here, it's a lot. I live clothing optional at home. Believe it or not, I compute naked, so I guess you all are often with me naked. For shame!

When I go into chat online, sometimes I have to put on a shirt for appearances, because of the cam.

One couple at the website, who I have met twice, has offered me the opportunity to attend their nudist colony on the weekends. There was a special BBQ last weekend they emailed about specifically. I turned them down because of J, but I don't know how I would have handled it without an excuse.

Back in my youth and relative slenderness, I spent a summer on Mallorca going topless on the beach. It was very liberating and natural; I became much more European about the body, something that has faded, I fear. I'm sure it would be the same naturalness at their nudist club, but it sure would take nerve arriving at that action.

What are your thoughts on nudity? Public nudity?

Happy Birthday, G'ma

My grandmother died a year ago on May 31. Today, she would have been 88. While I'm glad she is spared from her dementia, I sure do miss her Greek pastries, even though she wasn't the Greek one.

I'm also glad my son looks just like her, but that we all got the looks from her mother.

I guess I miss who she was.

For Val

Show and Tell: Pile o'

Hey! A new weekend feature! I will show a photo and tell a story about it on Sundays. Pretty simple concept, per the ever creatively prodding Mel at Stirrup Queens. It's a new item for her and she's inviting everyone to join in.

I love a pile o'. And I love babygoooooats. I took this picture at a local public farm a few weeks ago when showing Lyd around. Tickled is the best word to describe me finding a pile o' goats happy to be photographed. I wrote about piles o' before and have collected many more from online that I haven't posted yet.

Although my cats get along beautifully, I doubt we'll have a pile o' all them anytime soon. This is the closest I've gotten with three of four - Be.au, Spenc.er, and Sylv.ie.

I have an online friend who is on cam in chat. She knows how I love piles o' and she will train her cam to her bed, which often features a couple dobies, a min pin, and a kid all wallowing together... a live action pile o'! I just giggle at the wonder of it. She even has two week old kittens now, but they're not ripe for anything but piles o' bitties right now.

Saturday Scavenger Hunt: Shine

This week is geared toward the word shine.

Playing violin helps him to shine.



Braces shine, but gunky teeth do not.

Do not ask about this shine.

The elements of shine in this boxcar made it my favorite for the day.

This is Shine, as in the movie.

This toy has great shine.

The sunshine wanes.

The shine of the light determines where I'll sit in a still life class.

Shut up phone

I've had trouble sleeping, so I constructed last evening to maximize things because this morning I needed to get to a school assembly and present some awards for my Old and Esteemed Women's Organization. What is it about the best laid plans?

The phone rang at 11:30. In fact the home phone rang and I must not have heard it for a while, then the cell phone rang immediately after. Remember I am drugged when I am asleep! And I am not a phone person!

I answered it to find Sal, a non-Ara.bic Leb.anese guy I dated 4.5 years ago, who was quite surprised I was in bed 'so early.' (As I remember, he was a 9pm guy.) I began dating P the day after I'd had enough of him. There were many, many reasons to stop dating him, but him rejecting aspects of me made it justifiable, although he didn't think that should influence the whole picture. Him liking the rest of me wasn't quite enough for me. He can be quite entertaining in his self-centered company. He took me to some nice places and went to some fun places at my insistance. He is wealthy and comes from an even wealthier family, all extremely highly educated. If he weren't so 'woe is me' and 'let me tell you how you could improve,' he could be a good catch.

Sal and I have loosely kept in touch. He worked in this area, then took a position with his government job to work in Iraq for two years (he called and emailed from there), then got to pick his next position and he went to a place where he'd wanted to live for a very long time: TX. I don't think he stayed there for a year before he came back here last summer and he began calling me again right before he left TX. That didn't satisfy, so he wanted another world tour. His SA and French opportunities didn't pan out, so now he's in our other war zone. He's a civil servant who has become a wanderlust. Prior to these moves, he'd been in this area for twenty years.

Sal is always looking for something to make himself happy, but he brings his dreariness along and makes it impossible. He likes the way I make him feel, as I listen to him and remember things. He considered me to be parallel to his best friend quite quickly. A real feat. If he had not rejected me, I could see still caring.

I have told him how he hurt me. Then last summer, I reminded him how he had hurt me. Twice when he called while in the area (once coming back from Iraq, once last summer), I have told him that I would not go out with him. When he called last night, I was drugged, not wanting to get angry/assertive and wake up all the way, not that I'd ever spoken to him in anger before. I was really conscious of just being able to return to sleep when it was over. It didn't seem to register to him that I'd spent the night before awake with a puking son. As always, it was self-centered. As always, he asked me out for next time he came to town. (I am assuming now that he is coming home on leave some time and has something specific in mind.) Not wanting to rock the boat and wake up, I replied that perhaps he should ask me closer to it, as I could not say now.

Why can't I just tell the guy to go away again? I did last summer, said I was uncomfortable with his calling. I was drugged and desperate to not get upset and not be able to sleep. He's gotten himself into another pickle of a job and is longing for something else. I can't be there for him. He had a Yahoo email. I have no idea if he has access to it, but I guess I should go that route. I wish I could more completely convey how he hurt me.

Then the phone rang at 7:30 this morning and I was only up because of the school awards gig. It was someone from the singles club. We'd gotten together once a year ago for the butterfly exhibit: her, her henpecked new husband, and his 9 yo son. I had met this couple once or twice and had already characterized her as a rather controlling bitch, but I am always out to prove my impressions wrong. The day at the butterflies, she and her husband went very slowly through the exhibits. The kids went very quickly. The way the couple acted, I was the third wheel with them, so I became the much needed babysitter, then of course she didn't like that I'd gotten out laser tag to entertain them. I couldn't win. It was just a strange and uncomfortable day and I never thought I could have a rotten day with the butterflies.

She then began with the idea of getting together again, as they live on a river over an hour away. I'd just put her off and she in her control freak ways never got the message. So she called at friggin 7:30am to tell me that she was throwing her stepson a camp over birthday party Saturday and he was dying for J to come. Huh? She had to call at an odd hour the day before to tell me how important this was? Sheesh. She said she knew it was late notice and would be a lot of driving. The last part was the nail in the coffin. I would have to go over and back twice, during a bridge opening even, for at least 5 hours on the road in 95 degree heat. Nope. I told her we had other plans and the control freak dared to act put out. I plan to sit on my ass and save gas money.

Both of these conversations point to how polite I am and how me saying 'no' doesn't seem to stick. I am too gracious on the outside and fume too much on the inside. With Sal, I don't really care if he feels rejected. With the control freak, I care, because she has quite a mouth and pull with the social group and I don't feel like being bad mouthed.

Okay, nobody read this far and I will be returning to my cave. With the phones off.

Oh What a Night

That song makes me think of my cute (second) cousin, Tony. He was about a year younger than me and about a year older than my sister. I think we both had crushes on him. It was very good to catch up with him at my grandfather's funeral 18 months ago, joking around amongst the graves like teenagers.

But this title is about last night. I have struggled with the sleeping med and waking up daily at 4am with me slicing off a tiny chunk of a 50mg. I was doing that because I'd become so groggy in the mornings if I took whole. Last night, weary of the short sleep, I decided to take all 50mg at 10pm. I was probably asleep at 11. I was wide awake at 1:15.

Thank goodness J started puking at 3 and I had something to do. He got everything on his bed, but shifted well to the toilet, where he spewed for about two hours. So much for the special t-shirt he tie dyed last week at school for Dress Up Like Twins Day today.

So far this morning, he's doing fine, but he kinda wants to go to school. Him staying at home means I have to share the puter with him, so I kinda wish he would go. (Bad Mom.)

Visitor a coming

Lyd made reservations today. She'll be here in about 10 days. She'll stay at a mutual friend's for a few days, too - the friend who was the birthday girl a few weeks ago. Lyd has family and friends a few hours from here and will rent a car for a swing through a couple states.

Because they decided to let school out two days early due to extra snow days, I have a couple extra days to entertain J. I decided to go to a few historic towns, roots of our country: Williams.burg, James.town, and York.town. We descend from the first ship of Africans who arrived in James.town in 1617 and I hope they highlight that at the museum, as they were considered to have saved the colony. We'll also go to a big water park near there and the next day go over to Mont.icello. J is very excited by that, as he descends from TJ's grandfather.

We are such history geeks, but I am thrilled my son likes to share things with me.

So, I'd told Lyd about our trip and she asked if she could come along. I needed to think about it, as I've been wanting a trip with just J and I. In the end, I knew she would enjoy it, too, and they would enjoy each other, so we're going to have a platonic trip around the countryside.

I am close to being back to where I was before the trust issue. She has been very mindful and considerate. Lyd is an incredibly thoughtful person and it mortifies her to alter someone's autonomy. I told her yesterday that she is a coconut like me, hard on the outside, but mush on the inside. I think I like her mush. Gosh, she is attentive, but balanced and considerate about it. My ad says something about being wooed mostly because I was tired of doing all the work and of moving to the hang out friends mode too quickly. Lyd, however, takes it to heart, as she is a caretaker through and through. It's nice to feel taken care of for once.

I will readily admit that I am holding back myself about her (and many things); I would like to take the governor off.

Knife work

Yesterday, I talked about 20 stroke paintings. The oil painters in the workshop did one 20 stroke painting with a large brush and one or two with a palette knife like one of these. Because pastels are no mix, I did three small and two larger paintings in the same time period.

Working with a palette knife is very different than a brush. First off, it takes a lot of paint. Many painters are thrifty with their paint. I've heard the expression, "Paint like you're a millionaire," and that abundance will show in your work. Secondly, to get that quantity of paint, you have to mix, mix, mix a lot of paint in advance. Third, one must be very creative about the angle of the knife, so that all the strokes don't look alike. Fourth, one mustn't get frustrated with the knife; this can be hard as the knife is almost parallel with the canvas, needing more peripheral space versus a brush being almost perpendicular to the canvas..

In fact, as we sat around and did a critique of our little 20 stroke painting, the other ladies said I should use my foot or my left hand for my next one in pastel, that I had not suffered enough. I laughed and said I had suffered, oh I had suffered, just listening to them whine about using the knife! Knife work is hard and it brings out your worst as you're also bringing out your best.

I decided to try oils for the first time outside on Sunday; when you go to a workshop, you're supposed to be proficient in your medium and I figured I was ballsy enough to wing it. The instructor carried over some of the skills from Saturday, skills like knife work that I'd never done before. Heck, all I'd done in oils previously was about three classroom still lifes and one copy in my class last fall. I am not experienced, but there's only one way to get experienced.

I've gotten to where I can give myself latitude in trying new things artistically. I leave the perfectionist at home, as that bitch really gets in the way of creativity and production. So I let things flow, do not judge, and feel strongly that I get more out of it as a result. Not every painting is a masterpiece and it is no crime if they're not. Each is on the journey to the masterpiece, so each is important.

This is my French easel with supplies. It was only the first time I used the umbrella, although I had attempted to use it many times in the past. Umbrellas are a pain to position correctly; it is best to paint with your canvas and palette in the shade. I decided to use cable tie wraps to attach it to the upright and it worked relatively well, except for the time a wind gust sent it all tumbling. Nice. The umbrella now looks used with paint splatters all over the inside.

Our first assignment of the day was to create a small painting using just the knife. I chose this scene because the red tree was nestled in a way that spoke comfort to me. I liked the hue (not visible in the picture) and the mood.

The plein air artist fights many things, one of them being the sun. See how the shadows, colors, and clouds have shifted.

Here's my attempt as using just a palette knife. It's on 6x8 cotton canvas board. Using the knife on a small surface, one must simplify considerably. This is quite bumpy and full of paint. You can see bugs caught on the surface.We then had to use a very large brush and attempt to use it like a palette knife, so heap on paint with minimal fussing over it. We could go back with a palette knife as well. The trick with it was to bring back in some detail, but also figure out what is best to be left out. That takes a lot of experience and it is a challange for me.


I don't love them, but that's not the purpose. I also wish this one didn't slide off the Gessoboard, but for my first oils outside, these will do. One thing I really like is how my style translates from pastel to oil. I can tell I did them both.

Here are some of the other works from workshop mates.


For some, the spontaneity of the palette knife piece worked best, for others it was the larger piece which drew on the experience of painting the first. Either way, we all know that we'll make better use of the palette knife in the future.

Made me howl!

Am in an outdoor painting workshop this weekend and feel like a pig in mud ... or a sloth moving slothly. Hope to take some pictures and share. Did pastels yesterday and am being brave trying oils outside for the first time today. EEEK! So many details to think of ahead of time.