Joy In a Cup

Spring has finally sprung for us Mainers. Today it seems the weather will break and we will witness the big golden ball of fire in the sky kindly known to others as the sun. To many Mainers it is this great mystery that occurs once a week amidst great suprise. Jaw agape I stare in awe at the warmth eminating from this big yellow sphere hovering over me. "What is it?" I ask to nobody in particular. I am elbowed in the rib from a passing stranger "It is called the sun."

"The what?!"

"The SUN!"

With that I am startled into reality. The central sun. Heard of it, don't see it much. It doesn't matter, I am happy in Maine no matter what the weather. I pull on my dollar store sunglasses and a SeaDogs ball cap, roll up my long sleeves, dig out my Bass flip flops and a smile. Spring has sprung in Maine.

Last night the joy of the weather report and the delivery of my organic peat pots from the mailman brought squeals of delight to this little girl. I searched out my trays and popsicle sticks and many seed packets and began my annual ritual of planting the seeds. Tears of joy practically pour from me.

I am a seed planting junkie. I typically love antique varieties of flowers and veggies but this year I chose the basics. I am living in a new location where I have no idea what kind of soil I have and beyond that, I'm renting. I can't go dig up the landlords lawn. I will try my hand at container gardening, so I kept it basic. Poppies, pansies, marigolds, balcony tomatoes, Wee-Be-Little pumpkins, peppers, sunflowers (always) , brandywines, and blue lake green beans.. This will be different. No more lemon cucumbers and purple carrots, no fancy stuff this year.

I haven't started my herbs yet, but I will. I have a lot of plotting to do, more planning, more preparation. All of this and the growing season is so short. But ahhhh my heart beats faster just smelling the bag of soil I used. I imagine the seeds pushing up through the darkness reaching to the...reaching for the ... striving to get to see the..(big yellow warm thing in the sky, can't remember it's name)..*sigh*

Young At Heart

Here I am in all my knock-kneed glory. I'm giving you a glimpse of the real me. At 39 1/2 this is the essence of who I am, a 4 1/2 year old blonde haired, blue eyed girl filled with nervous excitement.


Too many people have asked me when I would "just grow up" . You see, to them my laugh out loud wherever I am, challenging my field hockey team to a sprint/race, doodle on the accountants balance sheet, do a cartwheel on my way to the neighbors way of life is startling. "You shouldn't be doing those things at your age", and "Adults don't do that," follow me everywhere.


But what am I to do? I have this deep craving to stay and be young. When I am thinking deeply on this subject this is how I remember me as a child, this picture from my first ever day of Kindergarten.



I was young. Too young for Kindergarten, but my parents were busy and having one more of the three kids under age six out of the house was probably easier, so off I went. The day before school began Memere gifted me with a blue felt school bag with a giraffe on it. Inside held the perfect gift, a fresh, new box of Crayola crayons. How I loved the bag and the crayons, I can still smell both of them. And there I stood on the cement step waiting for the big yellow bus to take me the half mile down the street to the beginning of my school years. I was nervous and excited.



It didn't take long for the teachers to recognize that I was too young for school. I cried daily. I fussed and worried daily. But again, I was young.



It seems I've always been a little too young for whatever my age. Some call it immaturity, some call it innocence, at different times I've been labeled naive, now that I am gaining in age it's young at heart.



Young in spirit with a grown up physical body suits me. I love to wear pig tails, I am comfy in my overalls, and barefoot is always best. Digging my hands in summertime dirt makes me smile, and being the first to jump into the middle of the puddle in the driveway is great fun. Getting on my hands and knees and wrapping my arms around my over-sized pot bellied pig for a big piggy hug warms my heart. You know, I still love to recite Nursery Rhymes and quote Dr. Seuss, Mickey Mouse is my favorite cartoon and why not?


Who says you have to grow up?? I don't want to. I will continue to keep the little girl alive in me always. It is to the worlds benefit that some people keep a child-like enthusiasm about them. I'll be me, you be you and we'll all be fine.




In the summer I drive a 1973 convertible Super Beetle and blast Billy Joel and Elton John while wearing a pink crocheted bowler and a smile. My dear sweet ex-hubby shakes his head and says "Tam, you're a little crazy." And maybe I am.

Getting to Know You...Create a Connection

These kinds of things are great fun so I thought I'd play again.

1. question #255 - If you had to change your first name, what would you choose as your new name? This has long been a quandry for me and how interesting that when I read Tammy Mimms answers she feels the same way about her name. It's not a great name but nothing else fits. I was named for the song "Tammy's In Love", I think Debbie Reynolds sang it. I always say I dare you to find someone born in the mid sixties who wasn't blonde, blue-eyed and named Tammy. Ugh. I really prefer people to call me Tam. When I started telling people that was my preference they actually made fun of me, go figure. So I stopped requesting it for awhile. Now that I've grown into myself I am back at being just Tam and find it remarkably odd when someone very close to me uses Tammy. Its like being pricked with needles.

I always liked Liz. Poppy sounds perky and fun, nice idea Tori. Boy names are good: Jack, Nick, Ron. If I ever figure this one out I'll let you know.

I know someone who named her daughter Sunsearay because that was where the child was concieved, under the SUN, at the SEA, with the RAYs beating on them.

2. question #158 - What is your favorite saying, quote, or expression? I tend to say "Onward & Upward" quite a lot when I am done battling with something. I have quotes & expressions all over the place and would hate to pick just one. A close friend of mine says "Proceed With Vigor" and I like that, but again I collect sayings and don't want to limit this answer. I will say that of late I really find Rumi's words the most thougth provoking.

3. question #49 - If you could buy any rare collection in the world, which would you choose? Why? I would either choose Egyptian artifacts or works by DaVinci.

4. question #1 - If you could fly in a hot-air balloon over any city in the world, what city would you choose? Why that city? Have you visited there before?
First let's just say I will not be flying anywhere in a balloon. BUT, this is hypothetical so I think I'd say I'd go to the Mediterranian area. Not sure why, I've never been there but the idea of seeing their coastal area intrigues me. Okay, not a city, but an area, right?

5. question #221 - What is an item you own that has a minimal monetary value but has such sentimental value that you would not sell it for $5,000? Typical mother, If I lost my kids handmade clay vessels from elementary school I would break down. They are hideously ugly and i love them so much. I have four of them, lopsided, thick in all the wrong areas, too thin in other areas, grotesque colors all melded together for beautiful pieces that I have carefully placed within daily eyeshot. And oh, a beatiful aphghan my great grandmother crocheted before I was even born.

The Cat's Serenade

I can't remembe where I read recently that it's okay to make bad art. Here is an example. ;} I was feeling frustrated with collage because it didn't have enough of me in it. I really love to draw and I have learned to love my loose doodles so I thought I'd try incorporating some doodles into a piece & here is the result.

The prose is from a huge old book of Nursery rhymes that I found while renovating a building. It dates back to the forties. There are hundreds of nursery rhymes in that foolish book. I picked one, cut it out, found my inspiration and began. I drew the tree onto some more music paper using a sharpie. The windy swirlies are chalk and then they are glittered. I chalked the background of the prose, drew in the moon & stars, doodled a cat playing banjo, a little gel medium and VOILA. Art?! I don't love this piece but the more it lays around the house the more I think it isn't as bad as I originally thought. I will keep trying this thing with the rhymes for awhile to see where it goes.

My favorite nursery rhyme in the whole world is Owll & the Pussycat. Some day I will do a mural of that one!

Roast Beast & Number 7

A few commented on the numbers showing up in their lives so I thought I'd offer some more info. The number seven was mentioned so here it is ladies:

7: You're on the right path, keep up the good work.
17: You have good reason to be optimistic about your plans and path, this number is also representative of the holy trinity and the pyramids.

Numbers are powerful! ...the language of the angels. The more you pay attention to them, the more they'll appear. My ones and elevens and one-elevens keep popping up, more today, some yesterday. Never ending. I am manifesting some big stuff, ones confirm it.

I'm keeping my numbers book by the computer in case any of you need to know... ;)

...And the roast beast. YUM. I can't say this word without thinking of the Dr. Seuss story How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I liked the original cartoon, but I LOVE the Jim Carey version. I smile when the story ends with everyone gathered together eating the roast beast. This morning before I left for work I laid a beauty of a cut of meat into a casserole, smothered it with seasonings, water, & mushroom soup, covered it and left. I returned to a warm, mouthwatering, melt in your mouth din-din that I can't wait to serve.

A homemade dinner made with love and good intentions warms the heart as well as filling the stomach. I enjoy cooking and do best with comfort foods. (Me and the fancy-schmancy don't get along.) My dear mom-in-law shares with me her French-Canadian recipes and I do my best to perfect them as she does. Cooking is an art, I've always believed that. My mom-in-law is Renoir reincarnated; I just KNOW IT! I am a fledgling DaVinci on my way to greatness.

...Tis in ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.

Please pass the roast beast.

If Only I Had a Camera!

Straight out of my wallet...

Meet some of the players in the dream I call my life. The beauty on the left commonly known as Miss Muffet is 17 1/2 years old. She is creative & independent & funny as all get out. Due to the fact that she is extremely accident prone she is often seen in a cast or surgical wraps. Last year at prom time her wrist had been operated on for what will be a life long injury. She looks remarkably like me without crows feet.

The handsome fella on the right is Danimal. At least that's what his friends call him. He is 19 years young and full of it (you fill in what IT means to you). He is linear, not so independent & funny as all get out. Dan is currently searching for his place in life and realizing it is a rough road to independence. We celebrate the small steps together, last night it was that he stayed home. He looks remarkably like me without crows feet.

These two I love. I love, I love, I love them. They are nice and they are naughty. They are mean and they are sweet. Dirty socks, lost permission slips, "borrowing" my vehicle and partying too much. They are painfully perfect. We've been to hell & back and I'd go again if they needed me to. These two I love.

*scuse me while I go look at baby pictures*

...art to share later in the week, just thought it was time to introduce the players. More players to come in future weeks.

Frog Dreams

Not the best scan ever, even after playing with the contrast. Oh well! This sketch was done in February. I dreamed I was looking at this frog "hanging" in the water looking back at me. It was so clear and vivid in the morning when I woke. It stayed with me for a few days and I eventually sketched him out.

I dream A LOT! I know there are messages to be had. Sometimes I get it right away, other times I have to look it up in my dream encyclopedia. Always, always, it resonates. I enjoy dream interpretation. This frog was a good omen, or I should say an omen of good things coming my way. Yee ha. Who couldn't use a bit more of that?

Beyond the dreams the numbers are speaking to me, too. One, eleven, and one elven have been constantly showing themselves to me either in my car clock, waking me at the middle of the night, on the computer screen, house location numbers, etc. When I looked it up it seems it's all about watching my thoughts. I am creating my life, keep my thoughts clean, clear and good. Then, last week, the threes started. Now it's three, thirty three and three-three-three everywhere I turn. This morning, 3:00 am on the nose I woke up with a scream. Literally-screaming. Jumped me out of my bed to find Reggie, the puggle, poking his nose in my armpit.

When I inquired with my little book about threes, sure enough, Master teachers surround me, it's a good time to be asking questions. This information is according to the Doreen Virtue numbers book I keep on hand. Beautiful info. What numbers show up for you? And what do they mean?