The Ugly, the Bad, the Good & the Pretty

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It's been a rough couple of weeks here. This time of year is always hard on me. I tend to get very depressed... at least I did until two summers ago. Now, it's just a really bad mood that happens in late June / early July. So if you just want the happy stuff, skip down a bit.

Oh, the above picture is Mabel..."playing" with her buddies Hank & Sue. But it totally sums up my mood! Note the placement of Sue's paws on Mabel's neck. (This is my best attempt at getting one of their "hugs" on film.) Even when things aren't so good, it's nice to have friends who care!

The Ugly: I'm back on my walker or cane, depending on distance. Not happy at all about this. I went to get a pedicure hoping to look cute for the BF's (that would be best, not boy) bday. There was a line and a sign saying reflexology available. The masseuse was standing around so I decided to get a session. What I didn't know then was that a Thai reflexology session is very different from the kind that I've had many times and even credit with my mobility. Apparently, the Thai massage the feet with sticks! In spite of my showing her my surgery scars and explaining my foot problems, she jammed the stick right into my plantar fascia tendon and I flew up in the air! I kept hoping it was just a bruise, but I'm back with the doc getting the bloody horrible injections and doing my thrice daily routine of icing, anti-inflammitories and stretching. I'm swimming nightly and praying the doc won't tape me.

Ugly #2 is it has been so darn hot, the ac doesn't kick off til 2 or 3 in the morning and I've got an ear infection from the "wind."

The Bad:

My bad mood seems to make everything just irritate the crap out of me! The targets of my ire in recent days:

*The stupid gardeners who blow debris into the street and in front of the gardenee's neighbors house. In LA, it's only a few minutes before the neighbor's gardeners show up and blow it back. Why don't they sweep it up and throw it away instead of just blowing it back and forth?

*Children who ride their ^*%(__)# skateboards into oncoming traffic (me) at dusk. I followed them home and talked to their parents. Brats!

*My old house and pipes. Since I moved here, I've hated my shower. It takes a good 8 minutes to wet my head. I've often wondered how this can be water conservation but chalked it up to the mandatory shower heads we must have. Until I happened to take a shower at Kat's house the other week and it dawned on me that maybe it is my shower head. Two shower heads later, I called the plumber who had to cut an opening in my custom painted bedroom wall (the palest lavender pink with hand stamped silver spirals) to remove the old clogged pipe. Total: $580.00. Ugh!

*My one road town. I live in a tiny valley / hillside that is two miles wide x five long. And while we do have back roads, we are pretty much a one road town. This little village really ticked me off the other day when I decided to make peach ice cream and discovered my ice cream maker had breathed it's last after I had cut everything up and was ready to go. I spent two good hours driving to nine stores in town looking for an ice cream maker. Every store agreed that an ice cream maker is something they should sell but don't.

*Myself - for having so much faith in my one road town that I wasted two hours instead of just driving 10 minutes to the metropolis of Burbank, getting an ice cream maker and returning home. The total time this took after I gave up: 30 minutes door to door but... I was too tired to make ice cream at that point.

The Good: Yes, thank God there is some good in all this.

*The pool is finally warm enough to swim. I curse having a pool(never wanted one but loved the house...it came with) all winter long when I'm freezing and wet having to vacuum or deal with too many leaves. But swimming at night, right before bedtime is exhausting in the best way. I tend to sleep much better in summer and I'm certain it's the pool. There's nothing like floating completely still, staring at the stars and hearing only my heartbeat and breath.

*My summer school classes have started so there is a boost to my income. Best of all, after teaching for years, I've finally started to book my own teaching gigs around classes I want to take. I feel stifled when I'm not learning something new. It's taken some planning and juggling but this past week I finally got to take the silver solder class I've been dying to take for years. And Wednesday, I'm taking bead crochet. This fall, I hope to take glass blowing.

*When I called about the glass blowing class...it's already wait listed...I ended up with a job interview... not even sure for what really but the head of the department was excited to meet me because I teach jewelry fusing at several colleges and a few art studios. We'll see...

And finally....

The Pretty: We've got babies!!!!

There is a small horse farm right across dirty creek. They have one large horse and three minis. The mini mom, Lady was pregnant when they bought her two years ago. She gave birth to Ginger and sometime last summer got pregnant again by their male mini, Magic. And it's a girl. I just love the arrow on her tummy. I'm also amazed at how protective Lady is...she gets really mad if Ginger comes near.



I rode by the "peacock tree" the other night and noticed a baby peacock on the roof. This was the only shot I got before he / she flew to bed.