WTF...bye, bye victory gardens...

My little victory garden, last years' crop, may soon be a thing of the past as the FDA is now trying to wipe out the competition, saying it's too hard to monitor where the food comes from, how it's handled and if it contains salmonella bacteria. Say good bye to the farmers' markets, as they will directly be affected.

I don't recall any recalls from the organic food distribution coops, do you. But again the big lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry want organics to go away so they can continue to poison the planet with their toxic chemical concoctions and their pages of side effects...what about the cure...is there one? Hell no, they don't want you cured, they want you sick and withering, afraid of death and the big' C' word, frightened people will do anything for a cure. And you think the Nazi surgeons performed atrocities on the Jews, just what do you think the drug industry is doing to you...once you're in the system, they can force you to swallow anything...and they thought Clinton was a bad thing...ha!

Monsanto is also behind this lobbying...you know the one, the huge toxic giant that was forced to stop selling some of it's deadly toxins in the US, but continues to sell to third world countries...hmmmm...not to worry, they still have plenty of toxins to poison the states...enter ROUNDUP...

Has government gotten too big and stupid, when they take the food right out of your mouth...when you are trying to make changes that will effect everyone worldwide, they fight you on every turn. All we can do is keep protesting and be a part of the change that will come, it just takes time to ferret the weasels out of the hen house, but sooner or later you win, if only in the dark recesses of your basement where green lights grow crops without the health benefits of the sun...I guess it's better than nuttin'...the future of a police state in the United States of America...oh, yes...did I mention the land of the free...

A Bit O the Green...

Ahhh...a bit o the green on this St. Patty's day and with o bit o the luck, we will truly be in the spring mode now, with snow just a thing of the past. The fresh smell of Grass candles lingers in the air, reminding that we will soon be bitching about how fast the grass is growing...right...


Well, I don't know about you, but I've been rearranging furniture like a mad woman...pulling up rugs that keep my floors warmer in the Arctic deep freeze, allowing wood floors to gather in the warmth of the sun, as he trips higher in the sky warming all around. New growth and frost melting, brings a sense of life once again to my dead estate.


I'm sure things have been moving 'round up at Sisters' too, so tomorrow I'll venture that-a-way to see what's happ'nin up there. Barb never fails us, her die-hard attitude and constant quest for 'new stuff' is enough to lure me in. And for those of us that live close enough to frequent her stores...we shop till we drop...right Anita?!

I'm just having the worst conflict in my life...change all my beautiful golden oak pieces to deep, rich aged varnish pieces like the piece below...I'm just drawn to that look these days...is it the Gypsy in me, is it the bordello look that I long for that just suits this lil' pink shack, or is it the way Barb has this piece displayed that makes me drool over such a piece??? All the pieces I have have been with me forever, pieces that I could never afford to replace these days...well, so that stated, I think I'll just accessorize a little more decadently and leave well enough alone.

But I did notice in Magnolia Pearls' book, she has a few pieces in black that are to die for...maybe, just maybe...but black is still selling really well for me...no don't worry, I'm not gonna paint them.

So enjoy Spring ladies...time to open the windows and refresh...ahhhhh..

PS...for some reason they are having trouble with the Playlist, so no music until they get it resolved...bummer, right!

Life is good...a walk in Nature...

Ahhhh...spring...not quite here yet, but the yard work has begun. Owning a pet is so rewarding. Not only do you have a constant companion, but free fertilizer...let the games begin.




I have always owned large dogs, but after years of clearing land mines from my yard and my mower battling great, green mounds placed strategically under each carefully poured pile, I decided it was going to be a small breed for my next companion...enter the Cairn Terrier.

Ah, yes, the designated pee-space...good dog! She is so territorial when it comes to her space, using two areas in the yard, making it most convenient for me to find those treats left behind.

Ahhh, a day in the life of a pet owner...have a great day...

Shadow Shot Sunday...This One Path

drifting

dreaming

fading

a turtle dove beckons

gossamer hopes channel daylight

shimmering delicate flotsam

I awaken

immersing

resonating

dissolving rapture into daylight

a still life of

silent healing waters

flowing into the eye of the night

I take back this new dawn

these seeds of hope

calling a secret encounter

to a white dove

a reformation

a symbol of hope and reclamation

what if these wings of hope were black...

tripping through shadow

a lifetime

without a story

without a dream

I too know of this shadow

this reaper of souls

I am woman

I am white

I hold this ancestral shame

yet I drift not alone

into these crystalline hopes

a gazing ball of rainbow hues

futures diffused

hands and shoulders entwined

in spirit

on this one path...

Last night I watched the new movie 'Australia' and drooled profusely over Hugh Jackman the star...and who wouldn't...but I am saddened how we as a culture have treated our indigenous peoples of color in every culture and all walks of life. Do you think we as a so called moral society will ever grow up??? Our Native Americans have felt this same Crucifixion by this same moral society...what gives you the right to question a faith?

So my poem goes out to people of color all over the planet on this Shadow Shot Sunday, it's Sunday in Australia you know...that wonderland down under of mystery and intrigue. Please check out the other shadow-shooters too.

Am I a dreamer...................PEACE!

A friend...a sista...

My dear friend Cathie whose blog This Girls Art, recently purchased an old rundown building for her art space and a warehouse to house all of the treasures her and her partner Bill have collected through the years. Isn't it just the cutest thing. She posted a picture yesterday of the backyard of this ramshackle dwelling...lots o work!!!


Cathie and Bill live in a little speck of a town called Lone Tree...isn't that just the cutest name for a Midwestern town sitting right in the middle of the prairie. I can't wait to see this project in action. I drive by Lone Tree every week on my travels to Sisters.


Another relic saved from certain destruction...if it were only true of so many others.

What fate awaits this old relic, will someone share its' dreams...

This old farm house wasn't so lucky...trying times...difficult years ahead for these old relics.

Nerves of steel...tenacity...

...and what does it take to own an antique shop...a dream...a vision..a longing for things of beauty...the urge to nest...all things that keep us going through the hard times and the good...and when they are good...they are really good...and when they are bad...well, we just won't go there.

Got an email from Barb yesterday...as we anxiously await spring to grace our weary winter hearts, Barb wondered why it was so cold in Sisters the other day...well, you guessed it, the furnace went out! Not only that, but it was drowning in a foot of water from all the heavy rains we've had lately...what next you ask...

Ok, we are anxiously awaiting the warm spring breezes, but along with that we have tornadoes and front line winds. Last year winds knocked down trees, two hitting the house and causing major roof damage and hours of labor picking up limbs and wind-driven stuff.

Yet, we struggle along, not alone in our calamities...whole downtown's wiped off the planet, as the floods did last year in Cedar Rapids. How do you start over???

Failing economies, stock markets' downward spirals, job loss...

Yet we persist because we love what we do...it's in our blood...it's what we live for...then someone will ask...what's your best price, wanting you to come down on your already bottomed out dollar. You squelch the urge to pummel them and politely say, the best I can do is 10%, thus lowering your already squeezed bottom dollar...


Then you look beyond...to the dreams you have and somehow things work out, in spite of the weather, in spite of the economy, you just move forward and dream the dream and look forward to the next open house and try to make it the best it can be for the people you know will come and share your dream...if only we lived in a more perfect world...

But then we wouldn't have all these things to look back on and say...I SURVIVED...

Ghosts....

Into the realm of the Misty Maidens

a traveler lost

beckons shadow

and pleads guilt...

I trespass into unknowns

I know not this mortuary

of frosted pagan temples

strewn with skeletal remains

once domain of mere mortals

where is my path

am I lost to the troll of shadow

hidden in cloaks of grey linen mists

oh great sun I approach

pull this mortal to refuge

as beams pave my path

warmth shields my gossamer soul

I shall not lose gilded sight as I

secret past these Gothic ageless beauties

I'll traverse this way again

wait for me...

A tour of a once flourishing past...

Think of the society that built this past, a Victorian era of flourish. A new country, a new found wealth, prosperity everywhere...where has it gone...river cities all over the state have gone to ruin, as well as all over the United States, as greed pushes manufacturing out of the country where child labor and unscrupulous business practices are overlooked by corrupt law officials and city officials...just look away and the poor suffer even further degradation.

As I wander the streets of Burlington Iowa, I see the same thing as in my little burg, attorneys offices, insurance offices, real estate offices...gone are the establishments that serviced the people and made the communities what they were. These are the only business' making money these days... do you see anything wrong with this picture...

What to do on an icky day...

An icky day is just screaming for something to do...OK...retail therapy...that usually works for me...what else...and the urge to restock inventory is always a good excuse for an antique dealer...right?

This is just the most to die for picture, it's big and has a wonderful frame and just goes perfectly with the stand I just got...

See...the colors just blend together to make a marriage of color that any junker would drool over, would be cute in a bathroom to hold towels or whatever...this is going to be a hard one to part with, but when I think of all the glorious pieces I've parted with...sigh...

and old weathered farm tables are always a must grab, who can't use them, great for holding more stuff...OR...to sit a dinner table...who knew...

This funky lamp and frame were just too weird...must haves...I'll rewire today and I have the perfect decadent fancy shade to top it...again the colors of my pallet I selected today all fit, like a prearranged plan, can't help it, it's just my eyes.

I couldn't resist the lines of this lil' stool, the color works, but the plastic top will have to be replaced by old tattered fabric of some sort...

This old Vaseline glass lamp base needs rewiring, but should be wonderful when finished...

and last...finials, don't know what they were a part of, but the imagination can just run with them...

See...a simply icky day can produce magic of all sorts, if you have the right place to go...it just takes rain to stir the imagination...whatever...we all know I would've been out there hunting the honey hole no matter what the weather may be...happy hunting...!

Shadow Shot Sunday...A Gypsy Soul

I have weathered these hollow storms

old remnants tagged and forlorn

suff'ring the remainder of days

adrift in limbo

this bit of Earth

moves season to season

carried 'long side sweet streams of light

afloat in decades of leftovers

returned from wastelands

old bones form anew

that which was spent by time's unforgiven folly

a traveler

I waste not these glorious fleeting moments

reflecting harvests of decades

I shall not drift alone ol' man in the moon

I am the rain

and the dust

and the Gypsy winds...

and you harbor my soul

Shadow Shot Sunday is quickly upon us again, like the spring before us, I worry that she will come and be gone too soon, you can never have enough of a good thing...right Tracy! Join the rest of the shadow shooters, be a part of the fun...