15 February 2008

After three straight days of working ten hours on my feet, I must confess I procrastinated a little bit today, and spent more time sitting down than I ought to have!  I did some computer work, and managed to un-decorate from Valentine’s Day and get that box of stuff all packed up and back into the attic.  I loved on the pups a lot.  Had great visits with my mom on the the phone, and Stephen in person.  Got some organization done in the workshop, but didn’t finish that  job. 

The evening was spent in the company of my girls, Ginger and Kelly.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  We caught up on each other’s lives, and had a yummy steak dinner, and just generally enjoyed all being back in the same state!  The time passed all too quickly, and as I was preparing to leave Ginger’s house, I realized there’d been no photo today.  Since Kelly’s kittens, Hazel and Diva had entertained us throughout the evening, I decided they’d be great subject matter.  But, after nearly a dozen tries to get even one of them to sit still long enough, all I had to show for the effort were a series of blurry photos and pictures of cat butts.  They seemed to be just way too wound up to photograph.  Then Kelly got the bright idea to hold one of them for me so I could take her photo.  After one goofy try at that, Ginger got in the act with the other kitten, and this is the only photo that I could even shoot, between giggles, before the three of us were rolling on the floor, laughing hysterically!  So, this is what happens when your girlfriends try to help with the photo of the day!  Thanks, girls!  I love you!

~MB

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

12 February 2008
Edward Teach, the demon of the seas; the captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge; the scourge of many a sailor; infamously known as Blackbeard; a toy.

This is the only "modern" toy I carry at East Wind Games and I carry it solely for historical value (actually, I also carry Leonardo da Vinci and Anne Bonny). Right.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 14 February 2008)

Listening to:
I Want You by Rock Runt Riket
from Absolute Music 03

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

11 February 2008
My wife loves our little house. If you have ever visited, or ever do visit, it's obvious. But, it's obvious in the little things, like the decorations. Me, I don't have the skill or patience to do what she's done to make this house a home. But, I love just about every aspect of her work. This is a cluster of lights on top of a curio cabinet. They're shaped like grapes and provide beautiful ambience to the dining room:
.
Just in the background there, you can see my blurry wife emerging from the kitchen.

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 14 February 2008)

Listening to:
Joan of Arc by Leonard Cohen
from Songs Of Love And Hate

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

10 February 2008
Ahh, the glory of an Hallmark Holiday, wot? My life with my wife is darn near perfect and I don’t need an artificially-created holiday to prove that, or tell her that, or show her that. I’ll bring her flowers, or chocolates or take her to out on a date any time I want to, not because some greeting card salesman or chocolatier or florist tells me I must. I despise artifical holidays, I really do. But, to appease the mini-challenge for this week, I took my camera into a CVS and took this photo:

Now you understand the above tirade a little better while at the same time getting a small glimpse of the tiny cogs that make my brain whirl. We’d gone to CVS to get some Ester-C at the insistence of our friend, Mary. I took several photos while there and while none of them are great, this is the best. I may or may not use it as my mini-challenge entry. We’ll see what the rest of the week brings.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 11 February 2008)

Listening to:
The Factory Song by Seven Nations
from The Factory

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

14 February 2008

Valentine’s Day

A long, full, rewarding day at The Rose and Thistle.  The phone rang practically non-stop and customers came and went through the front door, from 9 a.m. until well after our posted closing time of 6 p.m.  I think it was about 7:40 when we sold the last prepared dozen red roses to a desperate man who was frustrated that although he had bought his wife a washing machine for Valentine’s Day, tradition still dictated that he go home with roses!  We got a good laugh out of that! 

Throughout the day, fortified with coffee, doughnuts, and lunch from Sonic, we all worked our little butts off!  I worked the front room of the shoppe, dealing with the phone and the walk-in traffic.  Three designers and an assistant worked at the design table, making beautiful arrangements happen as if by magic, and another person processed cards and maps through the computer.  The delivery coordinator was a genius, and had five drivers coming and going like perfectly aligned cogs in a wheel.  The whole operation ran smoothly and although there was some stress over the occasional incorrect address, or super-picky customer, it was a joy-filled day.

We ended the day by gathering at a nearby Italian restaurant with a byob policy.  We had great food, great company, a couple bottles of decent wine, and were able to wind down and glory in what we’d accomplished.  It is a fun group, and a fun event to be a part of—I look forward to it every year!

Kyle even joined us for dinner, after his long day at work.  By the time we got home, we were both pretty darned tired, and these Daily KRuMB entries had to wait until today!

My photo, though, that I snapped after getting home from dinner, is of a rose Denise gave me at the end of the day.  Too blown open to sell, it is a gorgeous deep pink rose–although it looks rather red in my photo.  I laid it on the Valentine “display” I have on our dining room table (candle in hurricane glass, on candle plate, with red and pink beads and hearts laying all around), and took a couple of pictures.  This is the close-up of the rose, where the background stuff is all fuzzy, but you can still see some Valentine’s Day colour!  I really like it.

So, please consider this my Valentine to all our wonderful readers.  Hope your day was lovely!

~MB

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

13 February 2008

The day before Valentine’s Day, the prepared deliveries start to really pile up!  At The Rose and Thistle, the orders that are awaiting their delivery time, are collected in a neighbouring store space where they are arranged by zip code, and drivers can come and go without having to interrupt (or deal with!) the rest of the craziness at the main shoppe.

It’s a beautiful sight—all those flowers in one room! 

After working a ten-hour day, I headed to the airport to pick up Ginger.  She has just spent a wonderful four-week holiday with her mom and other assorted family members in Florida!  The first words she said to me as she came out of the airport terminal, were, “Brrr . . . it’s cold!”  Welcome home, my dear!  We missed you!

Then, after dropping Ginger and her luggage, safely at her house, I picked up Kyle at our house and headed to No Frills Grill, where we were meeting our friend, Steve.  Steve is another of those folks that I’ve known for so long that we can barely remember the beginning.  We went to TCU together in the early eighties!  He pledged the band fraternity our freshman year, when I was dating a senior, and I can remember pledge paddles and silly parties.  Then, I was a part of the band, too, when I danced with the Showgirls, and there were rehearsals and football games and bus trips and basketball games.  We lost touch with each other for quite a while . . . then, suddenly, there he was, working at the warehouse where I had to go every week to pick up comic books for Heroes.  We really got to know each other better during those years, and when I was single for a while, we even dated.  Kyle met him there, too, as Steve was working his way up the corporate ladder, to location manager, and finally, as the industry imploded in the nineties, he relocated with the company to Baltimore.  Since then, we keep in touch via email, and we try to see each other when he comes home to visit his Dad.

So, we sat at NFG and reminisced about TCU and our mutual friends there, and about the comics industry and all the changes there.  We had a great visit, and called it a night around ten-thirty, since the flower shoppe on Valentine’s Day needed me to be at work early the next morning!

This is a busy week!

~MB

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

12 February 2008

For the past few years, I have had the pleasure of working for our dear friends Ken and Denise in their florist shop, The Rose and Thistle, during the Valentine rush.  Today, I decided on a whim, to run by their shop and see if I could get a head start on getting some prices into my head, and refreshing my memory on some of the procedures that are so easy to forget when you only use them two days a year! 

When I got there, they were so glad to see me (making me feel very good, of course!) and they were busy enough, that I just stayed!  I ended up working an eight plus hour day!  Sadly, I didn’t have time to take very many pictures, and this one isn’t all that flattering—but it does show the busy workshop with three designers at the table, and a little bit of the craziness that starts to take over . . .

~MB

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

11 February 2008

Happy Birthday, William Todd!

I suck as a sister . . . I didn’t call.  But, he’s been on my mind all day, and I hope he knows I love him.  Happy birthday, little brother. 

Although it’s no real excuse for not calling your brother on his birthday, I did have a pretty busy day.  I had an early luncheon date with a girlfriend from TCU, that I hadn’t seen in well over twenty years!  Kathy and I reconnected via Linked In, and set up this date for lunch a few weeks ago—before I left for Florida.  We each have photos online, so we knew “who” to watch for when meeting face to face, and sure enough, except for the beautiful silver that now runs through her hair, she has changed very little.  We met at a sweet little Thai restaurant, and had a perfectly delightful time together.  We reminisced about our TCU days, and compared notes on other friends to try to catch up on who was doing what  . . . we looked at old photos and laughed about the silly stuff we used to do . . . and we each shared details of who and where we’ve been since 1984!  

Because my batteries died immediately after taking this one photograph, my photo today is of the bowl of rice that accompanied my Sweet and Sour Chicken order at the Papaya Garden Thai Restaurant today.  The place is absolutely lovely, and the service was delightful.  My food was okay, although next time I’m there, I’ll order something different.  The pineapples were bland, and the sweet and sour sauce was a colour not often found in nature!  But, the Thai Ice Tea was fabulous, the egg rolls were very good, and the other meal at the table was apparently stellar.  And the company was world-class!

What really struck me and caused me to snap this photo, was the amazing “origami” they do to the carrot garnish!  My rice bowl was adorned with this lovely little butterfly, and Kathy’s plate was decorated with a tiny orange bird.  And even within my veggie mix that came with my meal, there were carrots, all cut, as though by cookie cutter-type device, in shapes like stars and hearts and flowers!  It was very special.  Origami probably refers only to paper art; I’m sure there must be a different word to describe the cutting and folding of food, to make figures and shapes and such.  But, I’ll have to research that!

The rest of my day was full of cable repair guy and a customer fitting, and then a bite to eat with Kyle and Jill and Brett at NFG. 

~MB

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

10 February 2008

Congratulations, Janet and Codie!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding!  I wasn’t sure if I’d need to go to this happy event alone, or if Kyle would feel well enough to go with me.  As it turned out, he really didn’t feel well, but he didn’t want to miss it, either!  So, we both went, and stayed for a short while, enjoying the fellowship and celebrating the happiness, and then we excused ourselves and came back home.

The wedding was lovely—-the bride wore a charming blue dress with white ruffles that I’m sure she designed and made for herself.  The groom wore a blue shirt, and the blue theme was repeated in flowers and ribbons and bows scattered throughout the event.  Tasty munchies were available, and the wedding cake, lovingly made by our dear Mary Dane, was a delicious, and beautiful work of art. 

After coming home to rest for a while, Kyle offered later in the afternoon to take me for food, since I’d expressed hunger.  He was obviously reading my signals, ’cause he drove me straight to Mexican Inn! 

The weekend simply evaporated, as relaxing weekends are wont to do.  It is bedtime, and tomorrow is Monday,  all too quickly.

~MB

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »

9 February 2008
One of my wife's accomplishments of which i am most proud is her skill at glass blowing. Thanks to the wonderful tutelage of Shannon Morgan at Faire Maiden Glass, my wife has developed quite a talent. I've showcased some of her pieces in this journal before. Here's another one. This is one of the very first pieces she ever made.
It currently is in the living room and lit from underneath creating a beautiful nightlight.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 10 February 2008)

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Share on Twitter

Leave a Comment »