Lets skip January this year.

It is January 15, 2008. We are only halfway through the first month of the year and already I have reached my breaking point. Yes, I have had it with all the media bombardments stating “start off the new year by becoming a healthier (or prettier) you.” It is impossible to switch on the TV or open a magazine, newspaper or even junk mail without some reference to all the things I should be doing to improve my beauty, health or fitness.

I do not need any more reminders that I look like the Buddha in the pagoda at the Chinese Gardens restaurant. I do not need reminding that my knees only go down while stairs also go up. If one more person tells me that my skin will be less wrinkled if I slather it with sheep entrails or that my nails will grow stronger if I coat them with snake venom I think I will just have to go bang my head against the wall in frustration.

I also fear for the safety of the next person that asks me if I have made or already broken my New Year’s Resolutions. Whose business is it anyway? I do not think I should have to admit that I must make a resolution to stop chewing the inside of my cheek or clean the gunk out of the bathtub more often. Just because I am trying to give up soda does not mean that the choice had to be connected with some old New Year’s superstition.

If I have to walk down one more shopping aisle full of plastic totes shouting at me “its time to get organized”; or worst yet, one that is yelling Easter is just around the corner I think I will surely lose it.

Well, now that I have gotten that off my chest, lets go shopping I need a new swimsuit.

I have a Confession

I have a confession. I have an addiction that has possessed me since I was about fourteen. I am addicted to the collection of photographs of doors. Yes, doors.

What a strange thing to be drawn to, you might say: while others question whether it is more fascination than addiction. Regardless of what you call it, I am hooked on doors. When I see an interesting door my mind immediately goes into overdrive with imaginings of all the secrets that have gone on behind it. I envision the people, parties and other activities that once took place behind those doors.

I used to cut pictures of fascinating, boring or just plain ugly doors from magazines and kept them stashed away for decades. Since I became more computer savvy I resorted to downloading them from the internet. I have quite a file of doors. Red doors, blue doors, church doors, doors off their hinges leaning against buildings buried deep in weeds. You name it and I probably have a snapshot of it.

Today I came across this wonderful slideshow of a collection of doors posted by by one of my favorite websites and I just had to share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy it.




DOORWAYS of the WORLD

Peacefull Skies

For about eight hours now, I have been feeling as if I am confined in a haunted house. As I walk through my home I see a silver glow coming through every crack in the draperies and golden crown shaped shadows bounce across the ceilings. The floors are squeaking and the walls are shaking. The cat is running from one floor to the other and back again as if being chased by a mouse twice her size. Noises from the yard make it seem as if the house is sitting in the middle of a field at Gettysburg with endless cannon fire rattling the china. Some ghostly hand is messing with both the satellite dish and the DSL. They work then don’t work, then work again only to repeat the cycle a dozen times more over the night. The lights keep going from light to dim and back again as well. If I did not know better I would say that someone is skipping from room to room playing jokes with my mind.

What is going on here you might ask? Well nothing more than one of the worst thunderstorms to come our way in a long while. Lots of wind and rain with lightening and thunder, plus some hail mixed in for good measure; all combining with the spooky shadows made by the crystal cut shade of the living room lamp, mixed with the still unfamiliar sounds of our new home.

The heavens have sure been giving us all they have to give tonight. I would not be surprised to learn that very few of my neighbors managed to get any sleep with the ruckus that this storm has been putting out. I’m also grateful for being a regular night owl because I’m sure that I would never have slept a wink tonight myself. I hate to admit this but, I do not like storms. Thunder always has me wanting to hide under the bed and lightening flashes give me the heebee jeebees.

At one point tonight my dear Frank was telling me that when he was a child his Mother would tell him that thunder was caused by an old man hauling an overloaded wagon of potatoes across the streets of the world beyond the skies and the noise was caused by the sound of the potatoes falling out of the wagon. My Mother liked to tell us that the thunder was caused by the angels having a bowling party in heaven. One of my friends used to say that thunder was caused by chariots racing on the cobblestone streets of heaven. Boy, parents sure have fertile minds when it comes to explaining nature to their young children, don’t they.

Regardless, I still hate storms. Now that the light is starting to peek over the horizon and the tornado warnings are about to expire I think I will take my overtaxed nervous system to bed. I’ll see if I can ignore what remains of the rain as it dances against the window panes.

Something tells me that tomorrow (well today now) the insurance agents will be overworked by new claims for hail damaged cars and missing roofing shingles combined with flooded basements, I just hope that I awake to find that we are not among them.

I will have to save this post until I awake and the DSL is back up but I wish you all a good night. May you sleep under peaceful skies.