cheerio love

funny how things line up.

i borrowed a copy of elizabeth gilbert's most recent book, her follow-up to "eat pray love"--"committed". i'm about half-way through. it's about marriage--about getting and staying, about avoiding and considering; it's about the history of marriage, both recent and long ago. fascinated and curious, i am.

we really didn't know a lick of anything when we married (big red and i). it's a statistical miracle we are still married. we didn't have a whole lot going for us. under 30, both took on new jobs just before getting hitched, not much money, red was still going to school and a honeymoon baby. but here we are--still together.

tomorrow is the big wedding in the u.k.--or haven't you heard. ;)
i'm not that interested, but i need to be home a good part of the day tomorrow to finish up a project. so i'll probably catch highlights.

i watched back in 1981 when charles married diana. and like many young girls, i secretly wished to be a princess like that. that amazes me now. why? why? why? probably because i didn't understand a lick about marriage. it was still all fairytales and butterflies, in my thoughts then.


it's alright though, as it appears i am not really royality-friendly.

i am, however taking last minute reservations for the nuptials. in honor of william and kate's upcoming wedding...
your royal wedding guest name - start with either lord or lady. your first name is one of your grandparents’ names. your surname is the name of your first pet, double-barreled with the name of the street you grew up on.


love and light and cheerio
lady dorothy sage of park

blog crushing

i admit it.

i'm easy.

i am so grateful for every single person that takes out a bit of time out of their busy day to read my posts. and am so grateful for those of you that leave me some comment love.

every one of you. (this is where i'd like to put some hearts....like you can do on facebook....except i'd make them rainbow-colored and puffy)

but when a blogging superstar stops by and leaves a comment? made my day. yes, i love you all. love. must i break out the capital letters?

meg from whatever left me some comment candy this very morning.

i am eating it up. i sort of love her. and her kids. and her dog. and her love of color. and her photography. and lots of other reason, that may or may not be weird.

so, i'm easy and grateful.

hi meg. shush, you never know, she may stop by again?


love and light and whatev
deborah

ps. who do you blog crush on?

why we do the things we do

why we do the things we do. intention.

we do them for some kind of pay-off. now the pay-off may be vastly different from person to person, but there is a pay-off--or we would stop.

so why do you blog, if you blog?

what is your pay-off?

i'll tell you. i started blogging for one reason, or what i thought was one reason. and my reasons now have grown and changed and become much more clear.

originally i wanted to have a place for my customers to view my pieces--paintings and jewelry and handbags. yes, since i've started apples in wonderland, i haven't posted one of those things. i will return to that in time, i'm sure.

however, i wrote a little silly note on facebook a couple years ago. it was the bucket list note that sort of went viral and i realized that several of my 20 things i want to do before kicking the bucket could be done through my blog. really.

so here is my list from 2009.
1. travel the world for one year with my family....and then take a vacation
2. see jack johnson in concert in hawaii....and then a luau
3. summer in a cottage on lake michigan with all my favorite people....just relaxing, collecting stones, eating well, drinking wine and having a ball
4. write a book of essays about my grandparents for my boys
5. learn to make pottery
6. dance with big red at his 25th birthday party
7. enjoy my boys as men and see them happy in their lives
8. raise a barn with red....a creative space for art and music and great shin-digs
9. give with a warm hand
10. paint abstract landscapes on canvas too big to fit in my van
Original acrylic on canvas. 30" x40"

11. sleep in a thatched hut in tahiti over the water....enjoy the sunset and a fruity cocktails with red
12. travel italy, spain and greece with people that enjoy good food, any wine and lots of laughs
13. road trip across the US during the summer....in search of the best pie
14. be a paint chip namer, food critic or pajama tester
15. get paid for what i would do anyway....express my opinion on everything
16. design clothes and jewelry for my own label....indigo jones studio
17. do a summer of traveling art fairs
18. interview everyday people about the stuff i REALLY want to know
19. not be allergic to kitties and start with two....they always lead to more
20. my friends and family to know, really KNOW how much i love and treasure them

i'll break it down.

i want to write a book of essays about my grandparents for my boys. i want to get paid for what i would do anyway....express my opinion on everything. i want to interview everyday people about the stuff i REALLY want to know. and i want my friends and family to know, really KNOW how much i love and treasure them.

so this is why i blog. this is why i do what i do. why do you do what you do? i really want to know.:)



intentional love and light
deborah

a little apple love

here's a little valentine for you from me....well, not exactly.

it is past valentine's day. and this isn't my photo. i didn't take it. wouldn't even know how to get the letters onto the picture. yes, i know it's some digital help.

i stumbled upon it a few days ago. it called out to me. how could it not? :)

i knew i wanted to use it in someway.

found it on flickr.com. i asked permission to use the photo here, on my blog.

it was super easy.

asking is easy. being alright with the outcome is easy.

you know what isn't so easy. having your words, photos, art, music....the list goes on.....taken.

i'm sure that it doesn't feel criminal to take a little photo here or there, but it is stealing. so just ask.

you know what? i've never been turned down. on top of that, i have found some wonderful new bloggers and photographers. everybody wins. everyone should be recognized for their work. period.

so here's a little valentine from apples in wonderland and jodi from living life photographically. hop on over there and tell her, i sent you.



hugs and kisses, love and light
deborah

love might be where you find it

do you celebrate valentine's day? or do you eye-roll the holiday?

we'll celebrate.

i'll celebrate anything, really.

life is too short to give up the small celebrations in life--valentine's day, a lost tooth, a good grade, a clean bill of health, finding a twenty in your coat pocket.

so, is love a giant-red-foiled-heart-shaped-box-of-chocolates? or is it a dozen red long-stemmed roses? perhaps it's a diamond necklace?

i don't know.

around here, it's getting up at 6:00 am to finish painting a spongebob squarepants valentine's box for a certain 10 year old.

and it's also, cleaning the kitty litter box before leaving for school.

it can be leaving enough milk in the carton for the next breakfast-eater.

and turning on just enough light to see, but not so much that it wakes the whole house at five in the morning.

love is many things. celebrated in little moments, and when the day comes around that celebrates love with you....then a little chocolate won't kill you.right?

and sushi wouldn't hurt, either. :)


hugs and kisses, love and light
deborah

we name the things we love

in case anyone's wondering, my favorite girl names currently are:

genevieve and vivianne.

daphne and phoebe.

lucy and polly.

amelie and claire.

for boys, outside of my own two sons' names:

benjamin and abraham.

oscar and theo.

august and oliver.

gage and roman.

just in case you are wondering. or need help in naming a baby. you are welcome;)
but, i'm not having a baby. and i don't forsee any more kitties in our future for some long time, but i love naming things.

my dear friend, the pretty penny, will be a grandma within days. maybe just hours. she is beyond happy happy happy.

isn't it the best seeing those you love splitting themselves wide open with love and happiness?

i wanted to name this new little person--her daughter's new baby, but stranglely, they want to name the baby themselves. can you imagine? :)

so, i am now lobbying hard to name the shiny new baby's grandma. i'm hoping they all agree to *panana* because we name the things we love.

if you like to share your favorite names right now....i'll totally indulge you. i can talk names all. day. long. :)


best
deborah

apples

i kept the name of this blog for a long time to myself....kept it close to my heart. though in the early days, i wasn't sure what it meant and what i should do with it. i repeated it over and over for months....maybe over a year. i'm not exactly sure when it first came to me. i think i may have dreamt it. or was it whispered in my ear? then i began to turn it over again and again. and i realized it was something.

well, i'm going to break this post into more bite-size pieces.

the apples part is multi-layered.

for me, apples are a symbol. what do you think of?

me?

i think of lots of things, but mostly i think of my grandma. my grandma had the most generous spirit i've ever known. and when i think of the life she had, i have to wonder where that generosity of spirit came from.

i think of the first time i cut myself cooking was with her. making apple pies.
i think of the canned applesauce with cinnamon that she and my gramps would make each fall.

i think of her baked and fried apples.

years ago, the fall after my dear gramps died, my gram was living alone in an assisted living apartment not far from our little place. she had a teeny-tiny kitchen with a one-burner cooktop. most of her meals were in the community dining room--she was an amazing cook (i know *amazing* gets overused....but i'm not sure any other word works here)
the food in the dining room was tolerable. not awful, but not great. she never complained and would always find something to compliment. ::bless her::
i was having a family dinner at our home. big red picked up gram, who had a big tupperware bowl of fried apples in tow. she had helped herself to a few apples at a time from the fruit bowl in the apartment lobby for days. she had plenty of sugar packets (at one time, i think all grandmas had lots of sugar packets). she saved the butter pads at each meal. so, with a little cinnamon from her own tiny cupboard had made sticky caramel-y fried apples to share with us--potluck style.
after dinner, there was a little bit of fried apple left. she carefully slid them into a smaller container and placed them in my fridge.

a couple days later i chatted with her on the phone, i had just returned from getting a christmas photo of our oldest(then only 2 1/2 years). we talked about regular stuff, but she told me her vision had returned.

hold the horses.

my grandma had lost vision in one eye years ago, following the delivery of a stillborn baby boy in 1949. she had surgery in 1980, but that had not been successful.

my parents were at her place when i had called so i kept the conversation short.

early the next morning my mom called from the hospital--i should come right away. but, it was too late. grandma had died--a heart attack.

(this is where i always cry....still. 14 years later)
after coming home from the hospital where they pronounced her dead and where i last stroked her soft soft soft pale grey hair, i opened the fridge. there in the back was the little bowl of apples.
i ate them slowly. crying.



best
deborah

reason #243 why i like my son

watching our oldest son get ready.

get ready for this year's homecoming.

like he is trying on what adulthood might look like.

in his own style.

you need no reason to love someone; should have no reasons why you would love someone. but, to like them? really honestly and truly, like them?

reason #243 why i like this boy; this young man--my son.

he is patient with my need to take his growing up....s l o w l y.

it's not that he isn't ready. it's that i'm not always ready--not prepared for the next step, quite yet.

i am thankful he gets that--that he is patient with his mom.

that he smiles and nods when i say for the hundredth time, "i'll get there....just give me a little more time. i'm doing my best."



still.

he needs guidance from his parents.

and a tie adjustment. and a ride.


best
deborah