Scenes of the Day

I'm really happy with how my front flower bed looks this year. This is due in large part to Releaf Landscapes. Sharon and her crew cleaned it out for me early in the season and they've weeded for me a couple of times, too. I'm the first to confess that I'm a heat wimp and when it gets hot I retreat to the air conditioning and leave the plants to fend for themselves.

I have a timer in the front and one in the back so they get water every day. But, beyond that, I'm kind of neglectful once it's hot. But, at the moment things are looking nice. I need more blue in the front, and more white spread out. I didn't know what color the cosmos were when I put them in and I happened to get one of the two white ones right near the white rose bush.

Oh well... so it goes...

Many of these are from seeds I started this year. For the first time I think I have enough plants to pick them and bring them inside. I have quite a few growing in the backyard, too. I'll try to get some photos back there soon, too.

I've killed a large part of the grass, and put in garden instead. I've expanded the herb garden, have a few veggies growing and lots of tomatoes. I had my first ripe tomato off the vine today. Yummy! I have put in more than two dozen tomato plants so I should plenty of those as the summer goes on.

I hope I'll be able to foist some off on my new coworkers if I become too over run. We'll see. Maybe I'll have to get a booth at the farmer's market. Okay, lets face it, that's not likely to happen - me up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday with freshly picked produce. Lets just enjoy the fantasy of that for a moment and then let it go to never never land where it shall forever remain.

I have enough flowers that I can take some into the office, too, which really brightens things up.



I worked late today to finish up a project that volunteers are helping with. I needed to finish some things on my end so they can do their work and I didn't want to leave without having that done.

Right before I left, I snapped a photo of my desk with the to-do lists laid out for tomorrow. We have an event tomorrow night (free to the public presentation by Astronaut Joe Engle at 7 p.m.) so I'm working tomorrow and taking Monday off for the holiday.

I'm not generally a very neat person when it comes to such things. My desk at home is piled - and I do mean piled. The difference at work is that I have enough desk/table space to spread things out. We'll see if that maintains as more and more stuff comes into my work world.

I always find it interesting how other people work. I have a friend who hates making lists. I can't imagine getting through my day - work or personal - with a list.



I keep two lists. When it gets messy I rewrite it. Today was the first day for this list. Unfortunately, I didn't cross off enough stuff today that I needed to make a new one. sigh...
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Dreaming with Lavender

My plan for tonight is to drift off with the scent of fresh lavender coming from the bedside table. I picked some from the garden tonight with just that in mind.

It has been a long day. I worked all day, then did qi gong and then went to the other office and worked there until about eight tonight. I still had more things to sort through but I needed to get home and finish the last bit of mowing it got too dark to do the other night.

Friends are coming for the weekend so I need to work on the house a bit. It's just not at all comfy for people to hang out at the moment - too much stuff in too many places. I had hoped to work on it some tonight but there wasn't time once I'd done the other "had to do" things.

This is shaping up to be a very busy summer, and the garden hasn't even started coming in yet. I must make time for fresh tomato basil soup and eggplant parmesan - two of my favorite, right out of the garden things. But the only ingredient I have so far is basil. So it will be a little while on that.

Life is good. Just busy. But good. The days are full, but interesting.

I am eager to settle into a routine that will allow me more time for "life" things. It will happen - this is just the transition time.

Well, time for me to take my lavender and go upstairs. Maybe this will bring even more interesting dreams.

I've been keeping a dream journal since the writing workshop. Nothing earth shattering so far, but I'll keep you posted. Lavender is supposed to be very relaxing. Maybe tonight I'll have a breakthrough dream.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, cooking and more. Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Plurk and other social media sites of your choosing.

All text and photos on this website are copyright Patsy Terrell, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. None are to be used without permission. Thank you.

Fabric Store a Misnomer

I went to Wichita tonight to go to a fabric store. I did this because, not surprisingly, I wanted to buy some fabric for a skirt. And there is no fabric store in Hutchinson anymore. There's not one in Wichita either, in the sense of there being a store where you would go to purchase cloth off of bolts.

Fabric stores no longer sell fabric. As best I can tell they mostly sell scrapbooking supplies, which I have begun to think of as a scourge because they keep taking up shelf space where things I want to buy used to be. Everyone from Wal-mart to unique boutiques have the de rigeur scrapbooking section. Okay, I like the funky scissors. I have them all. I'm over it. Surely practically everyone on the planet who wants them has the funky scissors now. Please, stop. I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of paisley printed origami in waiting.

As I wandered the aisles of the fabric stores - past the garden knick knacks, the plain wooden birdhouses begging for craft paint, and other assorted goods that had nothing to do with fabric, I was struck by the similarities of fabric stores to book stores.

Why, you may ask? Because, book stores no longer sell books. Have you noticed that? They sell DVDs, coffee and keychains.

I don't buy DVDs and I don't buy scrapbooking supplies, but I think it's just wonderful for other people to do so. However, could you clue me in before I drive an hour? If you called it a "scrapbooking store" or a "DVD store" then I'd know it wasn't of interest to me. But when you call it a fabric store or a book store I expect you to vend those products.

I'm silly that way.
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Road of Life

We often talk about life as a journey. It's a time tested metaphor.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. In Kansas we have lots of very straight roads, with a vanishing point on the horizon that seems like a straight shot. But, even those roads are full of bumps. And ruts.

Why is it so easy to get into a rut? The more you sink into it, the less you can move side to side, and the less chance you have of ever getting out of it. There's some comfort in the rut. You know what to expect, and you can judge it safe because it's where many before you have traveled, and where you seem destined to go.

When you do make a break for the high road beside the rut, it's a bumpy ride. There may be some slips and sides back into the rut, and you're messing with it for the other folks who have been your traveling companions there. You may be creating new paths out of the rut but you can also be smashing down the edges in places, making the rut even more restrictive.

It can take awhile to get on solid ground, where things are smooth again. Then, what happens, unless you keep seeking new ground? You make a new rut.

This seems to be one of the cycles of life, metaphor or not. I guess the trick is how to figure out when you're in a rut and when you're just content. They sound very different, don't they? Yet, it seems they would share many similarities.

I hope you didn't expect me to have an answer. I just have questions. Always questions.
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All text and photos on this website are copyright Patsy Terrell, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. None are to be used without permission. Thank you.

Writer's Workshop

I spent the weekend in Emporia at a writer's workshop. Max McCoy, standing, is the organizer. Other faculty this year included Jon Chandler, Johnny Boggs, and Antonia Felix.

I was fortunate enough to get a critique of the first bit of my novel. Last year Max read it, this year Antonia. Both had great suggestions. Both were very positive.

I feel like the novel is in better shape than I had thought before the weekend. I just need some uninterrupted time to work on it. Sometimes justifying the time spent on writing is a bit difficult. One of these days I'll know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing with my life and I'll get about doing it. But I guess that day is not today.

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All text and photos on this website are copyright Patsy Terrell, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. None are to be used without permission. Thank you.

Inspiring Day

I have had an inspiring day, listening to authors and songwriters talk about their process.

There's something magic about being around other creative sorts. I want a writer's group in Hutchinson. But, I've made two attempts to start one, without accomplishing it. Maybe I need to look for one in Wichita, or maybe I need to spend that time writing instead.

My novel is at a place where I need to rewrite a few chapters and then I think I've done about as much as I can do without an editor, who can give me specific advice.

The day was filled with great success stories. Those are wonderful to hear. It makes me so happy for those writers.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset - a perfect ending to an inspiring day.

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Harvest on the Prairie

Harvest time has arrived on the prairie. Fields everywhere are dotted with combines and elevators have long lines of trucks waiting to unload.

One of the differences here on the prairie, as opposed to the farming I was familiar with in the south, is that here the evening meal is carried out to the field. When I was growing up, generally the big meal was at noon and workers came to the house to eat and rest a bit. Here the farm wives, or others, will take food out to the fields so the workers stop only briefly. It's just a different way of doing things.

I have always wanted to participate in this ritual, just because it's different than what I am used to. However, as much as I hate "the toting" when I'm doing any food related event, I doubt I'd want to make a lifestyle of it. Maybe I could just send some baked goods out to the field with someone. That seems a bit more my speed after all.



There is something satisfying about this time of year in Kansas. The seasons and crops seem to cross here, leaving strips of dried prairie grass, bright green, and recently cut golden in the fields. It's like an abstract painting and part of me desperately wants to see what happens when I drag a paint brush from top to bottom, mixing and marbling the colors. What color blue would I get from that green and yellow?

I'm enjoying the new job. It's a fun job when your email can include things like going to a meeting about a new exhibit. I don't seem to mind meetings now.

Of course, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission where man walked on the moon for the first time is July 20. So, today we were looking at some materials they used in an exhibit 10 years ago and deciding what to do for this anniversary. I asked if I could take a photo to share because I think it's just so cool looking to see historic images spread out like that.



It's fun to have such things as part of the work day. Next week I'll be posting more about this on their blog but I didn't have time to work with the photos during the work day today so am just now getting to look at them. Very cool. Very fun.

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Icons Gone

It has been a rough week for icons.

I remember sitting up way too late when I was in grade school, watching Johnny Carson. Hearing "Here's Johnny," signaled the beginning of my evening when I could enjoy some alone time and late night TV. Even then I wasn't a good sleeper. My mom eventually gave up trying to make me sleep and let me go - as long as I got up the next morning. Johnny Carson was a staple of my childhood. And there by his side, always, was Ed. It was the ultimate friendship played out before our eyes every night. Ed went on to other gigs, but he will always remain the best friend.

When Farrah Fawcett came on the scene as one of Charlie's Angels, she was a phenomenon. Anyone my age - male or female - remembers the famous poster and the famous hair. Many of us had "feathered" hair and there was one reason - Farrah. Of course, while most of us could get some semblance of the hair, the flawless face and body didn't come with it. Pity. After leaving the show, she shut up the critics by demonstrating she was more than a body and showed off her acting talent.

Michael Jackson was an innovator in the music business. Thriller remains one of the most successful videos ever made. People said it was ridiculous, that it wouldn't get played because it was too long. I tuned in to watch the world premiere of it and so did millions of others. And every time I catch it, I stop and watch it because it's good. And dozens of other songs and videos are good too. Michael has had more than his share of troubles - I don't know what did or didn't happen - but he always seemed like a man who wanted to have a childhood a few decades too late. It's a shame he didn't get to have one as a child.

Anyone who's a child of the 70s and says they don't remember these three is lying.  We've all heard "Here's Johnny," we've all seen the poster, we can all hum a Michael Jackson tune. They all influenced our times - good or bad.

Loss of a public figure reminds us all of our own mortality. Sometimes we just don't care to be reminded of that, thank you very much. But, nonetheless, there it is. People are moaning why we're not spending time on twitter and facebook and elsewhere talking about North Korea and Iran and the wars. It's because those are nebulous threats to our existence. Getting cancer or dying unexpectedly with no warning are much more real. People feel a need to process. Good grief, let them process.

And, please, just for a change of pace, have a little respect. Regardless of what you thought of any of these people, let those who loved them from near and far have some time to grieve.

Ed - thanks for the laughs, Farrah - thanks for the style, Michael - thanks for the music.
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All text and photos on this website are copyright Patsy Terrell, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. None are to be used without permission. Thank you.

Settling in

The air conditioning in my office was working well, today. Thank goodness. The Cosmosphere was hit during storms recently and the AC has been up and down in various parts of the building since then. Last week the offices were cool in our section, but it was warm elsewhere. Saturday everything seemed to be functioning.

We had an event Saturday and when I left about noon I turned my office AC so it wouldn't come on too much since I was going to be working for the MHA on Monday. Unfortunately, Monday afternoon about 4 the AC went down. So, when I arrived Tuesday morning it was toasty in my office. Very toasty. We had an appointment in Wichita so we left about 9 and when we got back about 2:30 it was better in there. I certainly wasn't cold, but I was pretty comfy. Early in the day Greg brought me a fan, which was a big help.

I'm settling into things at the Cosmosphere. The problem with starting any new job is that you're already behind when you start because there has been a gap between people where things have piled up. Also, you're just learning how to do everything. Even the simplest of things have to be explained because every place has its own culture and when you're the new person you're trying to figure all that out.

At the Cosmosphere there are tons of different things going on, and each one has its own materials, timeframe, etc., so I'm definitely in learning mode. Fortunately, Marisa and Michele have been very patient with me as I ask a million and one questions every day.

At home I've been working on all my side jobs and the garden. I put some pumpkin vines in this year and I'm starting to fear them. They grow - visibly - every day. So, I go out every day and move the vines to try and get them to grow in a certain direction. On Saturday, I moved them that morning and by that evening they had grown back across the walkway.

This weekend I'm attending a writer's workshop, but after that I hope to get a bit of a handle on my life at home. It is a bit out of control. I worked on things all weekend but didn't get done by a long shot. Why does it seem something is always out of control? I do not know how some people seem to always have everything under control.

I get a tremendous amount of things done in the average day, but there's always something that's undone. I guess maybe I need to do fewer things. But, I like to clean all my cabinets out once a year and wash all the dishes, and I like to have a garden, and I like to write a cookbook column every month, and I like to play in the art studio, and I like to do qi gong (today was the first day I could in awhile!), and I like to teach people social networking, and I like to fill-in-the-blank. There just don't seem to be quite enough hours in every day/night cycle to get it all done.
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Subscribe for free to Patsy's Ponderings in email or your choice of a reader.

Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, cooking and more. Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Plurk and other social media sites of your choosing.

All text and photos on this website are copyright Patsy Terrell, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. None are to be used without permission. Thank you.