Mini canvas

photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by KrabieK and the Thrashman

A new addition to the office art gallery..a tiny tiny canvas ...

I am sooooo Silly....

sometimes I just can't help myself and I get soooo silly...thanks Vickie for the the 'wife in the kitchen' photo i swiped off your blog :-)

Scooter : You waste time like a Grandfather clock ?

I heard a song on MTV this morning by the Myriads...I just couldn't believe the lyrics, and thougth this is a song that just ain't gonna be a classic or a group that will be remembered...but people like it. Lyrics inspired the above cartoon.

Paint Your Heart Out

So there is is place in Occoquan called "Paint Your Heart Out". the idea is you go in and pick one of the white ceramic pieces, [for which you pay for] and then paint it with the paints they provide. They have wonderful examples all around and tunes to keep you in the mood. You do your creation leave it for them to fire it in the kiln and then come back about a week later and pick it up...

One of the neighbors put together a little painting party and those who wanted to come out and play did so last week. Snacks and beverages were brought along and for 3 hours we played and created.



The results are quite nice and I am quite please with the way these things fire up. Not your run of the mill ceramic jobs, and the items are dishwasher safe. I think I could do this full time...if i didn't need my day job !

You can not see me!

You can not see me!
Originally uploaded by KrabieK and the Thrashman

Thrashman does the most silliest things ...he wasnt' peeking under the couch, he was sleeping !

What I learned ...how lucky I am

So what did I do while I was home with my parents? absolutley nothing. No running around, trying to cram all sorts of events and chores into a few days...we sat in the backyard, with the umbrella up on the table, and moved the chairs around in the grass, staying in the shade, eating crackers and trying to catch the breeze. Also keeping one eye on Mr Thrash, who was doing what terriers do best digging, running around the yard in total wig out, trying to eat bugs and then just plopping down in the grass.

Dad is so frail and thin..a shadow of his former self who now can't muster the stamina to play golf, his passion. He needs oxygen on occasion, and has the set up for night time and a portable tank. I see it every time I go up there, but each time is a shock. Yet his hand grip is still as strong as ever, but yet he can't seem to do the simplest things. This has lead to total frustration and being depressed that he can't do much. And Mom, for all her super type A 'ness, and hyperness, still has the energy she always had...constantly thinking and doing. The stamina isn't there anymore, but she gets it done. She's as protective as ever of Dad - like a Lion of her cubs. It's always been that way, and it always will.

Dad's meds make his moods swing as well....but what I realized I inherited from Dad is his passion of things, the need to hug and hold and show love, my love of sports, ptiching hardball in the back yard and throwing it at each other so hard it was dangerous but ending up in stitches laughing, my hot Italian temper, loyalty, laughing, pranks, and the need to tell those close to me that I love them...and the need to keep telling them, trying to find that tangible piece of love in your soul and give it to thos , holding

Mom gave me the need to organize, the companionship and love for an only child with afters chool cookies and games when homework was done, spoiling me, trying to teach me to sew and letting the idea go after a few years, the need to look at everything and every option to a fault before making a decision, along with Dad let me explore any sport or activity that peaked my interest, walking every where together since she didn't drive, encouraged my art by buying me a Flair majic marker every week till I had all the colors....and proud of me in all that I did and do, but just can't quite say it that much.

Mom and Dad only had one - and that's me. They wanted a little girl. I turned out to be a tomboy. But in a rare peek into her deepest thoughts, my Mom said : " we got the best of both - I got my little girl [ and yes I did those mom and daughter stuff] and Dad got his playmate, a tomboy to share his love of sports with". I guess I thought I would have forever and I have realized over the past few years I don't - but this past weekend I brought some rays of sunshine to Long Island..and yes , that is "Lang Isssslllannnnd"

Treasures from a normal childhood - passing the torch

Ok, go ahead and laugh, but yes this is a tutu and yes it is or rather was...well i guess it is still mine. I don't remember from which time I took ballet lessons that this was from, however, it is unbelievable that i was that small. I mean, look, I couldn't fit into that with boobs, now could I?

And here, we have the original Christening outfit for that Catholic rite of passage that you aren't even cognizant for - Baptism.
Even had a bonnet and little evening jacket...all this trimmed in dainty flowers yet!

I am not sure who I would pass these things on to, and I know that I am desperately trying to downsize. But I think for now, these will stay with me and be cherished. A mothers love for her daughter, shown in one of the ways she knows how to.

The surprise trip to NY this past weekend

So this past weekend, i took friday off and me and Thrash headed to Long Island to give the 'rents a surprise. I know Dad was having a hard time and I needed to get up there and find out what was going on. His health is not the greatest, but he is hanging in. But the during the 4th of July week, he got in a car accident. Not his fault, he was hit by a speeding car, but it really took the wind out of his sails.

So road warrior status --- and away we went. I called them when I got in the drive way, and as me and Thrash waited outside, I told them that there was an anniversary delivery right now. and to go get it....and there I was !


The backyard where I grew up...chipped wiffle golf balls, learned to pitch a hard ball before I ever knew there was such a thing as a softball, swam in an above ground pool, sat in the sun and spent the summer reading one book from the Tolkien trilogy..you get he picture.


the living room where many a Christmas was spent opening presents...and not much else has changed there, perhpas the slipcovers, in 40 or so years.
The den, or family room, also like the rest of the house, frozen in time. But Thrash has already made himself at home.

Works in progress...a continuing effort

you can't really see it in this photo aboe but making a frame around the gecko dragon's with cut dried sticks the press board.

If not you who....

you are my shining star :-)

a new App - comlic Life deluxe

Here is what happens when you have a silly idea, some new software, and not a clue....

My 401k

Well , it's not my ticket but might as well be. Bought one the other day, and all we got was the power ball number. Tim sent me the email telling me the 'good news' this morning..LOL...a net of $2, when i left today as i walked past the garbage cans out for the cleaning teams, I saw this ticket in the trash. I said to myself, "self, that is prob where tim put your ticket." and as i thought that i whipped out the camera and took a pix of the sad, discarded, NO WINNER ticket.

next time...and remember - you can't win if you don't buy a ticket !

Yesterday's medical adventrue

So yesterday I went and had a bone scan done on my ankle and knee, which now hurts worse than the ankle. They inject you with some radioactive stuff, scan your soft tissue in the affected areas, then send you away for a few hours to drink copious amounts of liquid. Of course your not near your home so you either get some juice and go back to the building to camp out by their bathroom or you go cop a squat in McDonalds, drink liquids, and hope you make it back in time.

And of course this time, all the scans take at least 10 minuetes apiece, so you either try to fidget and not move, watch the scans as they progress, or go to sleep. I opted for the later two.

Of course when I was done, I swore I was glowing in the dark :-)

Ghost of Christmas Past

Sitting in my jeep trying to park it so it didn't get totally underwater since I didn't put the side curtains in the top, leaving the back exposed covered only by the soft top. I had just finished Mickie D's delectible morning meal, killing time while the radioactive stuff i had been injected with seeped into the bones.
I wasn't paying attention , just that i was back on Gallows road, once again in old UUNET country. I turned around to see what was behind me and saw the remnants of yet another ghost of Christmas Past, the Sir Walter Raleigh Inn - the scene of a few fond lunches while in UUNET.

It was sad to see it like that, with the parking lot overgrown and the building abandoned. I guess it is an omen of trying to hold on to the past too tight, only to find that it has changed and moved forward. Which in and of itself is not a bad thing, for "dear Elsa, we'll always have Paris."

Thanks to y'all...

I missed a few phone calls tonite from folks who were trying to call me to wish me a happy birthday....I got your vox mails and am saving for a few days, just so i can re live my birhtday!

the other folks who sent me birth day greetings, much thanks and i saved those too

much love to ya all.

Full House at the Lake

With nine of us at the lake this past weekend, I dare say it was fun and always hopping. Tom Buonforte , Marie his wife and almost all the kids plus a French exchange student in tow, descended on LKG with enough food to feed an army and fun on their minds.

I gotta thank the whole clan from the head man on down, coz if it weren't for their kindness, food and 'what can i do to help, Mrs Sielski?' I think my damn leg would have hurt so much from trying to keep up that I would have cut it off.....



and yes, we were able to pull two tubes so we had twice the spills and chills. In fact, after Chris, the little guy on the right got out, the 'teens up'd the stakes with demolition tube pull. There were some sore folks the next day for sure.
" Hola...my name...senor Catfish. But you can call me Jose Jimenez" "Burp"

camera phone in the attack

I think I am either turning my office into an art gallery or just having an ADD attack. Another piece of art from repurposed material that found it's way on my wall at work.

Doggie buddies- Thrash and Bella

and of course they only stopped coz ...." food was involved"

How things change in life

Monday I had to go to Gallows Road from my work place in Chantilly. Not having been that way for quite a while, I missed the turn off for Gallows from 50, all the while rubbernecking at the buildings that used to house UUNET. A vet clinic, other offices, all that kind of stuff moved into the disparate spaces around Gallows and route 50. Some great memories floated back to me of those places and spaces, the bad ones faded to a non discript grey.
I flipped around to get back towards Gallows , got off onto the ramp to turn left (now) on Gallows I was stopped at the light (some of you remember that crazy intersection) , looked up and saw some of the buildings that housed the UUNET NOC and many of the offices. But now it carried a name I had no idea of who they were, of people who occupied spaces that were once filled with passion and idealism.

" ahhhh, memories. We will enjoy them "

inside joke....bcsc-t & paawns

angst from the soul

getting better but the
hands still suck.. I think i am going to cast mine in plaster and make molds to have something to draw from....ever try to draw your right hand, when you are right handed ?

Thoughts on a plane

As I flew to Huntsville, Alabama this past Wednesday, I sat and drew in one of the many sketch books I seem to always drag with me, ready to capture any creative thought or idea that comes to mind. A lot of time what i try to express in my drawings or art, coming from inside, comes across a bit convoluted. But this time it was the way to deal with my feelings, in drawing the above (and coloring in Photoshop}. As i drew, I started to cry, and I guess that was a good thing.

Celebrate life each and every day....and celebrate those you love as well.

Mommie and Thrashman -

4th of July...pix says most all of it....

4th of July 2008 -

Mr Matt and bella....


Angela, soon to be Mrs Matt -
Thrash's cousins ready for the water

the three Amigo's...The puppy Bella is on the right, Owen in the middle. Bella and Thrash had a few 'dates' during the week, and now i think they both have long distance boy/girl friend!

Just wanted to post a few pix, I'll get the rest up on the flickr account when I get back home from travel.