another orange day...

text: " we're starved for a life of the senses. when i read, i want to feel things, smell things." journal page entitled "deep orange sensations..." another hot day in the northwest. breaking all kinds of records and the hottest area in the country... whew!!! oh, for a cool ocean breeze in bohemia...

orange is the color...

oh, how i love the color orange! what a hot color!

that said, i have to tell you...i'm feeling pretty orange today. we are having a heat wave and breaking records and i am just not used to the heat!! not THIS heat, this muggy, muggy heat.

so this post is short. and hot.

gratitude fling...

one small perfect rose on the bush the bohemian's daughter gave her...

yummy colored snapdragons at the dog sitting home...

gorgeous clematis also at the dog sitting house...

thunderstorm coming... it was a doozy!! thunder, lightning, and rain... don't you just LOVE the smell of hot, dry earth just being freshly dampened by a rain storm? mmmmm......

our world's a wondrous, magical place...EXPLORE it and list to yourself all the wonders you find. it will rock your world.

joyriding:

for the pleasure of the ride...

the resident artist got a commissioned work of art finished and mailed, giving her great joy and satisfaction. the tree picture was inspired by a Marion Couthhouy Smith poem:

Go, then, and plant a tree,

lovely in sun and shadow,

gracious in every kind---

maple and oak and pine.

Peace of the forest glade,

wealth of the fruitful meadow,

blessings of dew and shade,

hereafter shall be thine.

then... off to town to mail said objects of art, and do a few other errands (the bohemian HATES errands! they are positively NOT on my "joy to-do" list!). when the bohemian's wild gypsy children were young, the son named brandon asked her once Why they always had to do "aarons" (the other son's name), why couldn't they do some "brandons"! oh, the minds of young children...providing endless entertainment!!!

this is part of why our bohemian hates "town errands"... but at least the view was fabulous!

it's not that the bohemian hates her "town". it's a very lovely town! when she had a few spare moments to play, she pretended she was a tourist and went around snapping pictures...

and found the most outrageous used book store, which will take many trips to town to explore fully (yes, she found some treasures to take home with her).

she found her eccentric daughter's favorite shop...

it happened to be closed but look at this oh-my-gosh adorable chandelier that was in the window!!! yes...there are chores and errands to be done, but don't forget to LOOK for the JOY moments. and PLAY!! ALWAYS PLAY! therein lies great JOY...

waiting...

waiting for nap time... waiting for the hazelnuts to ripen...

waiting for the clothes to dry...

(what has Black Cat found?)

waiting for the hubbard squash...

meanwhile, greatly enjoying the squash blossoms and their gorgeous yellow!

waiting for the house fairies to do up the dishes...

oh rats...

guess I'LL have to do it...

waiting to eat the first ripe tomato... (whining: how long? how loooongg?!!)

waiting to be petted...

"to do" list waiting to be done... think I'll do the PLAY one first, then maybe the JUMP FOR JOY one next, after that I'll have to RELAX... then maybe some DISCOVERING, and add some GIGGLE WITH DELIGHT... JOIN ME, WON'T YOU?

bring the beach home...

"Who hath desired the Sea? --- the sight of saltwater unbounded --- The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of comber wind-hounds..." - Rudyard Kipling "Ah! What pleasant visions haunt me As I gaze upon the sea! All the old romantic legends, All my dreams, come back to me. ...my soul is full of longing For the secret of the sea, And the heart of the great ocean Sends a thrilling pulse through me." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the bohemian was not quite sure when her obsession with the ocean and its beaches had begun. but it quite dominated her thoughts and her soul as far back as she could remember. and, as she was no spring chicken, her collection of shells and sand and beach treasures had grown quite a bit... so she had collected it all into what she called her "beach bathroom". One had only to step into her bathroom to be enveloped by weathered oceanside artifacts.

Some of her collection included sea glass, sands from the oregon coast, antique blue bottle holding an orange (her favorite color) flower, and a tin with an ocean-going vessel, making her think of pirates (Johnny Depp) and swashbuckling sailors (Errol Flynn).

and postcards from her visit to Kaui, sands of various colors, her beach collage (made at the Washington coast from flotsam and jetsam and her trusty glue gun), tiny shell and rocks and a quote she wished she had penned herself: "It is perhaps more fortunate to have a taste for collecting shells than to have been born a millionaire." but Robert Louis Stevenson had already written the words of her heart many years before...

collaged on the driftwood block was her favorite "sand verse" from the Bible:

"How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!

How vast are the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake, I am still with You."

- Psalm 139:17 & 18

and to each side of her shelf, little shell pictures she had made at her lakeside artist friend's studio...

and her tacky collection of things found at the beach: mini costa rican wagon, plastic chicken, hula dancing doll, shell covered bottle with said shells sloughing off onto the shelf, colored rocks she kept in water so she could see their "real" colors, and her pile of skipping rocks...

and where the little green army guy disappeared to, she had not a clue....

and her little rubber duck - a souvenir from a luncheon, her purple seashell candle sitting atop her sand candle holder, and a tiny seahorse tile in the background... about that seahorse: her lakeside artist friend (this is a long story so hold on...) had given her a chinese tea set with a book about tea. in the chapter about reading tea leaves, our bohemian had discovered that if you see a seahorse in the tea leaves in the bottom of your cup, it means... indulge yourself immediately! the bohemian and her eccentric daughter had, of course, immediately taken this to heart and expanded it to mean: ANYTIME you see a seahorse, indulge yourself immediately! and so around our bohemian's house are little seahorses... you understand, i'm sure...

one of the bohemian's beach treasure collages...

and another one, perched underneath the shell clock she recieved from a friend who knew her Oh So Well and brought her shells from whence she travelled...

her sand collection included sands from: costa rica, trinidad, tobago, atlantic city, the oregon coast, the washington coast, kaui, south africa, liberia, lake michigan, the sunshine coast in canada; most of it she had collected but some had been brought back to her by loving, enabling friends...

her prince charming teased her because she was always so sad when she had to leave the ocean to come home and one time she actually cried...he thought that was rather silly of her. obviously, he did not understand the depth of her obsession!

well, this has been a long one... i hope i did not bore you too terribly. for those of you who share my obsession, you will, of course, understand..

may there be many sea breezes and tropical trade winds blowing cinnamon blessings, and wishes fulfilled, your way today... and if you happen to see a seahorse...you know what to do!

today's "to do" list...

THINGS FOR BLACK CAT TO DO TODAY: hunt for breakfast... guard the yard from intruders...

take a siesta...

lounge around...

pose for the crazed flash-popping bohemian...

hope your "to do" list is full of things you like to do. if it's not, CHANGE IT! put some FUN things on it and don't forget to check THOSE off FIRST! remember to be a JOY REBEL!!!

random JOY rebel things...

summertime and the livin' is easy...

travelling bric a brac: shelf made from yew wood; haitian creche set; trinidad sunset painting...

giant stuffed animal: polar bear, big enough to flop on...

guard crab in my beach bathroom...

reminder to myself...

a little menopausal humor... (journal page)

text: Three years ago my doctor and i agreed that taking my jaguar out driving was good for me. I've been taking it out ever since, with my doctor's approval. My menopausal symptoms are gone. I feel wonderful. It's not just a car. There may be side effects.

a gypsy travelling adventure

the bohemian awoke early, opening her eyes to a gorgeous summer day in the most northwestern corner of her bohemia. she was still reveling in her gypsy travels to a country far south of her home. one of the things she loved the most about the warm south was the palm trees. palm trees had stirred something in her soul since she was a young girl. she wasn't entirely sure why... but she always felt like she was coming home somehow, at the first sight of the palms. she carried with her as little as she possibly could, but always her zebra pillow, which had traveled the world with her... and a suitcase filled with craft supplies and things to play with.

she smiled at the first sight of her exotic home-away-from home...

the travelling gypsy and one of her traveller friends... they had come to the south to build a little house for a poor family.

old friends and new friends around the campfire... along with a little serenading music...

well... it isn't exactly henna but it IS the color of the house...

the gypsy and her fellow builders along with the family for whom the house was built.

playing with a child at a nearby orphanage...

the young boy at the orphanage took her camera and snapped a cheesy picture of the gypsy herself...

what an awesome adventure: ocean view, palm trees, delicious ethnic food, music, dancing, housebuilding and painting, arts and crafts creating, playing with children, meeting new friends, hanging out with old friends, market shopping, ice cream, airport people watching, laughter - wild unrestrained laughter.... it couldn't have been any better. this bohemian is still smiling, and probably will still be smiling for many days to come...

hope there are new and exciting adventures ahead in your future. don't forget to laugh with wild abandon... and dance every chance you get.

the night the stars burst...

God bless America...land that I love. the bohemian gypsy girl wandered over to her tuscany sister's house for her 4th of july celebration. there were flags flying... and comfy chairs sitting idly by waiting for gypsy behinds to warm them...

everywhere the bohemian saw hints of delights to come...

sparkly lights in the bedroom whispered hints...

the bohemian's favorite starburst clock hinted of other bursts soon to come...

"watch the night sky," whispered the elven queen...

and so the bohemian watched and waited, along with her prince charming and her princess daughter and rest of the royal bohemian family...

and she was NOT disappointed, even though she did not take any pictures of the spectacular fireworks that followed.

hope your 4th of July celebration was fantastical and magic!!!