Does it matter if they go together?

I realized while at the clinic this week for x-rays on my hip that the "pajama bottom" scrubs actually coordinated with my outfit. Well, the part of the outfit that I didn't have to change. 

I'm not sure if that says more about the scrubs buyers at the clinic or the drab neutral nature of my wardrobe. Where I see "flexible" could be interpreted as non-committal. 

Not my first X-ray. First X-ray on this hip. X-ray techs are not supposed to say anything about the images because they are not considered qualified to evaluate them. Perfectly personable fellow; says "I hope everything goes well for you" to me on my way out. WTF is that supposed to mean?!? He didn't know he was X-raying a professional researcher (seriously) with a background in biomedical research (yes, still seriously), who's now going to go research whatever there is to know about what you can diagnose from an X-ray. 

"Have a nice day" would have been better. 

Saving grace: I only had to wait about 2 hours for results. That's almost magic. Then again, quick results can sometimes mean there's something wrong. Really wrong. So. 

It's official I have osteoarthritis in my hip. I'm no spring chicken, but a little young for this. Not the end of my world, and what I suspected. Ready for the challenge. I'll have to change out the coordinating scrubs for my big-girl panties and make some serious commitments to fitness. And I could weigh less. And I will hope this isn't a sign that arthritis will be my shroud of aging. 

Aging is not for sissies. 

Winter Robins

Robins are by far my favorite bird. They were my Grandma Gladys' favorite too, but as I child I found them plain. I had no appreciation for the subtlety of their charm. As an adult who regular plays in garden dirt, my perspective is entirely different. They sing well, eat lots of bugs, and usually signal the return of Spring. Usually. I say that because for the second winter in a row, we have a flock of resident robins. Today in the rain they are hunting bugs and worms venturing out in the mild weather. Last winter they gorged themselves on every last fruit left on our cherry tree.

According to Jim Bucholz's Wild Wisconsin Web, about 2% of robins don't bother to migrate south. Another site mentions that winter robins are usually males hoping to get a jump on grabbing prime nesting territory in the spring. In fact robin migration is far more complex. 

I don't much mind what their reasons are, they are a welcome and cheerful sight. 


Image courtesy of HD WallpapersCool. Although the birds in our cherry tree looked pretty much like that. 

Magnet Monday: GOTV

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, November 3, 2014
"Women's Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, New York", suffrage banner, circa 2014

It's Election Day in most parts of the country tomorrow, and I have a simple message: 

GO VOTE!!! 

It drives me angry annoyed when people complain about the state of affairs but won't participate in the process. GOTV means Get Out The Vote if you were curious.

A colleague visiting family in upstate New York stopped in at the Women's Rights National Historical Park and picked this up for me. According to the website:

Women’s Rights National Historical Park tells the story of the first Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, NY on July 19-20,1848. 

In 1878, a Woman Suffrage Amendment was introduced in Congress, but it took until 1920 for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

The suffrage banner was created to celebrate American women having the right to vote.The 3 colors used in the banner are purple for justice, white for purity of intent, and gold for courage.

So I will repeat myself: 

GO VOTE!!! 

Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but maybe a lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

BBB Success

We've been building a garden aimed at attracting butterflies, birds, and bees (although I'm happy to welcome all pollinators). We noticed an increase in bees the first year, and more hummers. Finally the butterflies are showing up. 

Love love love to watch the Monarch Butterflies float in to eat! 

Must. Plant. MORE!!

How Close Is Too Triclosan?!

I had a major and distressing WTF moment yesterday: I discovered triclosan is lurking in my favorite toothpaste. 

Family Ride

When we bought our house several years ago, a selling point for us was its proximity to the Oak Leaf Trail. We love to get our bicycles out on the trail whenever we can. This section is one of our favorites. 

Milwaukee with a view. Magnifique - n'est-ce pas?!

A Flock of Blue-cans on My Table

We inherited many strange and wondrous objects when my parents downsized their home last year. I recognized most. The arcane chemistry pieces: my maternal grandfather. The lacy aprons: my maternal grandmother. The wooden policeman whirligig: no idea. The original vibrating hand massager: I don't even want to think about it. 

I remember canning a lot of tomatoes when I was a kid, 40 years ago now. Late summer in my grandmother's kitchen, the one my mom & aunt grew up in, I would watch them can quarts and quarts of stewed tomatoes. I wasn't actually a fan, but it was family girl bonding. And afterward there would be ice cream. 

I don't recall them ever using any of these jars. Stored in the root cellar at my parents' house, now in mine. I'm totally hooked by the different shades of blue. My husband found dating schemes for the Ball jars online (some apparently dating back 100+ years), a few older Kerrs. 

Some other brands I'd never heard of: 

Can you see the bubbles in the glass of these Atlas jars? I am completely geeked out by that. 

 Schram 

 Drey

Another style of Atlas, possibly not as old as the blue ones, and a Presto. 

Jumbo Peanut Butter. Not a canning jar, and not as old, but still fun. My mom's family are the thrifty type, saving anything that could possibly be used (did you see the set of jelly jar drinking glasses on the right side in first photo?). 

I don't really know that much about them other than they are old, I like them, they are old, I want to continue using them in some way, and they are old. I don't trust any of them to withstand the heat of a water canner. Too pretty to risk. Possibly for decoration or lighting, or fridge pickles, or dry goods, or... ideas?

I am part of the first great cause.

Last post: Thanksgiving. And now: Spring.

Although you might think it's November and not April. Snow is falling heavily outside; looks lake effect. Big, fluffy, walnut-sized globs of snow. At least it's not sticking. Much.

Some weeks ago, geekMan and I picked up a scrapbook at an antique mall. It's an old, paper-covered ledger book filled with newspaper clippings dating to the 1920s, '30s, and early '40s. Mostly OpEd pieces, words of wisdom, points of advice; some interesting essays about the lack of US involvement in European conflict prior to WWII. And a lot of poems, a good portion of which are in German. I've decided that the collector of these scraps is a woman. Clippings of "Meditations of a Married Woman" by Helen Rowland give that much away. It surprises me how modern the ideas are, and I'm not sure if that's reflective of the collector or the times she lived in; or maybe where she lived, here in Wisconsin.

I find kindred interest in many pieces. Most don't have author's bylines. One I liked does: Ella Wheeler Wilcox. She was prolific, and best known for the lines: "Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone" (Solitude). Turns out she's a Wisconsin poet. Maybe kindred after all.

I Am  by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I know not whence I came,
   I know not whither I go,
But the fact stands clear
That I am here
   In this world of pleasure and woe,
And out of the mist and murk
   Another truth shines plain-
It is in my power
Each day and hour
  To add to its joy or its pain.

I know that the earth exists,
   It is none of my business why.
I cannot find out
What it's all about-
   I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
   I am here for a little space,
And while I stay
I would like, if I may,
   To brighten and better the place.

The trouble, I think, with us all
   Is the lack of a high conceit:
If each man thought
He was sent to the spot
   To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world,
   How easily right all wrong,
If nobody shirked
And each one worked
   To help his fellows along.

Cease wondering why you came;
   Stop looking for faults and flaws;
Rise up today
In your pride and say
   "I am part of the first great cause.
However full the world
   There is room for an earnest man;
It had need of me
Or I would not be-
   I am here to strengthen the plan."

poem a.k.a. Why and Wherefore
copyright 1896

Tall ships in Milwaukee harbor

Yesterday driving home past the lake, I was excited to see several tall ships in the Discovery World harbor. Usually the only one you see is the S/V Denis Sullivan, a modern sailing vessel that's "the world’s only re-creation of a 19th century three-masted Great Lakes schooner." 

S/V Denis Sullivan; photo credit www.cleveland.com

The ships are still in port this morning (along with a ginormous cargo ship), and the harbor was wrapped in fog to great effect. I really wished I had my camera with me and the time to use it... fortunately, Tom Lynn one of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel photags captured the moment for everyone to enjoy. 

S/V Denis Sullivan in harbor; photo by Tom Lynn, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Not a bad way to start the day.

Life was in color then too

Something caught my eye today, and I'm not sure why. I read several blogs regularly, one of them being the undeniably geeky Gizmodo. Today they posted a video from Kodak showing some of the earliest color movies ever made. 1922. A good 17 years before the double-decker blockbuster year of 1939 when Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz came out. They weren't even the first in-color films to be released, just the ones everyone thinks of.

This movie compilation from Kodak is strangely moving, seeing images in color that I've always associated with black & white. It also strikes me that modeling hasn't changed much; perhaps that's more a statement on human nature than anything else. Enjoy :-)