Hot Summer Night

It was a hot, sultry evening. Down at the Forks, things were a little quiet just after midnight on this July 1. The signs were up announcing the closure of this bridge by 9:00 a.m. Fireworks take a long time to get set up and the bridge would be off limits for the day.
A small bar, close to the river, was the only excitement happening at this moment and even those patrons seemed hot summer night languid. 

The music was good but a little lazy, kind of like the humid air. It was relaxing to stroll the bridge knowing the Forks would be jammed with party- goers in a few short hours.
A big yawn signaled the end of a leisurely walk and a Thursday evening rolled right into Friday... avoiding the zigzag drivers on the drive home kept Sam alert to the fact that the bars were just closing...

Broken Controllers

... is a website that often has my blog entry titles on it.
What I would like to know is... what does this website do? What is their goal? Do they have a purpose? Do they do things purposefully?
If anybody has any idea what this website is 'up to,' please let me know.

Subject Change...
Well, I just had a conversation with my neighbor whose daughter is being bullied at school. It just so happens that the young lady, who is being bullied, is very good at lots of things and, yes, has been featured on Romance Designer before.
So, she is supposed to perform at school this afternoon but, imagine this,even the teachers are suggesting she may want to 'sit this one out' because the other kids are all in cahoots and they boo and bully her because she tends to win a lot.
Could we maybe do something about the bullies for a change? 
Is the person who is good at something always supposed to hide from the jealous ones?
Maybe, just maybe, the bullies are broken and their only way of dealing with life is by becoming controllers of weaker individuals around them so that, together, they can bully and be a force to reckon with...
So sad that bullying is increasing.
A much better idea is to work hard at building self- esteem in oneself and others so everyone can find their place of contribution and shine in that place.   
 
P.S. Enjoy those fresh peonies from the garden and make your day beautiful!

Love Notes

As we can see the bride- to- be loved the secret message...

and what girl doesn't want her guy to carve their love in a tree?

Love Shack

...les.
So, the love shack has got some paint, fresh flowers in all the brightest colours Simmy could find... and lots of striped fabric to make this little marvel of love construction as picturesque as possible for a party.
A secret message has been strategically carved for the bride- to- be to discover... the groom- to- be is such a lover boy!

Citron Satin

 

 When designing something just makes your heart sing... manufacturing it and putting it together in the most unlikely place is really the whipped cream on the cake, isn't it?

This yellow cushion cover cost less about $2.50 but it looks like a million bucks.

Using the talents the Giver of Gifts has given... is a gift back to the Giver.

Have a sunshiny day... and make all your lemons into lemonade!

Romance Designer

Oh Canada!

Now there's some nice umbrellas! Construction workers and field workers should have the fancy ones... those workers deserve a little protection!
Yes, Boys, we stand on guard for thee!

Asia- Pacific Gateway

...and donut corridor???
We'll call this man 'Mr. Whittaker,' so named after a 'Adventures in Odyssey' character. It was barely nine a.m. and the sound of heavy machinery had been rumbling outside for a couple of hours already. Simmy woke from an odd dream of an Abbott dance dipping her... that was just so weird... must have been too many paint fumes from all the projects they were trying to complete in the house and outside.
Fancy sheds take lots of fancy time to make them look fancy... just so you know.
Anyway, back to Mr. Whittaker... they peeked through the fence and saw a foreman, in his hard hat uniform, delivering donuts to all the construction workers of this little piece of the Asia- Pacific Gateway Corridor.
Simmy ran to get her camera and as she was teetering on a bench, Sam trying to hold it steady, she hollered, "Hey! Hey!"
Just as Mr. Whittaker turned his perfect mustache her way, she snapped a picture and yelled, "You're going to be famous!" 

Well Tended Garden

Sam and Simmy drove out of town to see to the needs of the elderly parents. A few rhubarb pies were baked to give the house a homemade smell again.
As the pies were baking, Simmy went out onto the deck to look at the back yard. The garden was a tiny little patch of dirt with a few tomato plants, a couple of cucumber plants and some carrots and spices.
Simmy recalled the half acre gardens that her Mom had filled with produce when all eight children were growing up.
Life had come almost full circle and her parents were now, again, just the two of them... as they had begun.
As Simmy eyed the garden she noticed little pieces of lumber shimmed around the tomato plants in makeshift housing.
Each plant had been given a little wind protection and this carpenters' garden was well tended and each plant was treated with precious care.
Simmy sighed and said to Sam, "It's not how big it is, it is how well it's tended. Each plant is so tenderly protected."
As they headed back into the city, Aubin Nurseries was open and the Hummer pulled onto the gravel drive, almost of its' own volition.
Well, alright, Simmy had been wanting to visit this gardener for some time now.
There was a 'perfection' to the surroundings and a serene feeling of another love tended garden. In size, it was very large indeed.

Simmy spotted a flash of scarlet bunched together next to an old blue truck. Once espied, it drew her in and she purchased two 'Morden Fireglow' rosebushes. They were just irresistible.

Father's Day Foibles

They located the chalk and Simmy wrote 'Happy Father's Day' on the plant stand that became the ketchup and mustard stand.
When lovely daughter- in- law K arrived, she seemed bored so Simmy said, "Go ahead, doodle away! Make it look better. I just scribbled the words and put on a smiley face so Sam knows he is to be cheerful today."
Pretty soon the smiley face got some stubble, both on the head and on the face... effects of aging! To the blue chalk, some green was added and the artistic doodling was enhanced.
As lovely J tossed the caesar salad, more artwork was being produced on the other side of the chalkboard.

Aren't we a cute family? We're so happening..., so cool..., so now! Didn't K do a good job of? Who could look prettier or more cool?
The gazebo was filled with fun as games were played and everyone behaved... mostly... and food and drink was enjoyed...
a good day.

Garage Sale Screech

Simmy was busy getting ready to have a garage sale. The kitchen window was open and there was a incessant screeching of some kind of bird.
Sam went outside to see what kind of bird was in such distress.
The back screen door slammed and Sam came back in to drag her outside.
"You have to see this little bird. It's just calling and calling for its' parent to feed it."
Around the side of the house Simmy found this little one just frightened and screeching in perfectly timed intervals.

He was so unsteady on his feet that he looked quite comical as he wobbled on the roll of stucco wire. Simmy snapped a few pictures and then they made sure the cat was on his leash. There was no sense trying to get too close, the little bird was just too frightened.
Within half an hour it had managed to get back into a tree and the screeching stopped.

ICI, UPS, and Victoria's Secret

At 8:20 a.m. the doorbell rang. Simmy opened her eyes in horror.
"I'm not answering the door in my night gown. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!"
She carefully crept to the front window to catch a peek of whoever might be rudely ringing the doorbell at this hour.
When she saw the UPS truck parked in front of her driveway, she raced to the door, opened it and called, "Hello?"..., obviously forgetting all about decor...um.
The door of the truck was open but she couldn't see the delivery driver anywhere.
She opened the door wider.
"Hello???" She called, peeking over at the neighbors' house to see if he was over there.
Just as she was ducking back into the house, wondering how fast she could toss on some other clothes, the UPS driver came marching around the side of the house.
She popped her head back out the door to say something, and he jumped a couple of feet in the air and said, 'Oh sh_t!'
At roughly the same time, Simmy said the same thing, as she remembered she wasn't in her professional clothes.
Ahem!
"I put your package at the back door," said the driver.
"Thank you!" Simmy was laughing so hard and swiftly closing the front door that she wasn't even sure he heard her...
but he was scurrying back to his truck so she figured he likely didn't care if she was being polite.
She leaned against the door, laughing and laughing.
As she looked down at her very worn, still very pink 'Victoria's Secret' night gown, she laughed some more.
"Good thing that advertising logo is barely visible. I would give that young man a whole new vision of what kind of women buy 'Victoria's Secret.'"
She went to the back door and got her package of paint swatches for her client.
"Must have worked too hard on setting up this garage sale yesterday." Simmy grumbled.

Believe Impossible Things

Lewis Carroll- Alice in Wonderland
"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe in impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.
"When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why,
sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
As Simmy sat down to write her 'love note,' she ran through all the events of the previous day. It had been a day of running errands and buying gifts for brides and then getting some of her 'Rapunzel' hair cut.
Her hairdresser, a native to the island discovered by Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, was having a difficult time trying to meet the needs of a growing family that didn't live in this province.
Simmy listened to her story with a sincere heart.
When their hair was lovely and coiffed, she reached to give this beautiful woman a hug.
The hairdresser spoke in muffled tones, "I tell you these stories because I know you can help me."
"I'll pray about this," Simmy promised.
As she remembered the story, Simmy picked up her coffee cup, and with a little whisper, she said, "Believe impossible things."

Parsing Parsley

Monday...
Simmy thought, I love Mondays.
The family cat must have been antsy in the early morning because his yowling was what woke Simmy from the first half- decent sleep she'd had in a week.
Sleep tousled, she shoved her feet into a pair of sandals and went outside to let Grumpy out of the gazebo. He swiftly exited, like the caged animal that he, quite literally, was... and then had the audacity to stop and nibble some fresh grass.
"Oh no! You woke me up, now you go in the house until I've made the coffee. Go!"
After a shot of java, Simmy went outside to assess the plants and see which one needed water... she picked up a blade to scrape the paint off the French door lights that she had painted on Saturday... put down the blade when the plants seemed to be wanting to be in the sun... too many things to do all at the same time.
Sam had placed them hither and thither when he'd cut the grass.
As she went to water some tomato plants and some giant zinnias, she stopped short...
the parsley, shed seeds from the year before, was growing into a heart- shape.
Simmy smiled at the very unique way that she was being loved by her Maker.
"Very cool! You're cool," she said as she smiled into the blue cosmos.
The soup spice was heart- shaped. She had carried a lot of soup out of her house to people who were needing a little love. And now, in this moment, she was getting a tangible, visible hug from a metaphysical Source.
A spicy hug! The center was a perfect heart.