simplesue

I went up to the bank machine at 5th & S. Craig in a rush as usual. (How can my so called easy life always be in a rush?)

There at the corner was Karen "the flower lady", who sells pathetic American bouquets of flowers- so unlike Amsterdam's Bloemenmarkt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloemenmarkt. I usually buy a bouquet from her but since we are moving there is no place for beauty in my little Winthrop house that I am sad to leave, after 28 years here.


Karen knows everything about everyone- in some general way. I wonder what she knows about me? Karen had given up her folding chair to an "antique-woman". A "fine antique-woman", dressed all in black coat and fancy hat, shoes, nylon hose and cane. A beautiful & elegant antique-woman. The beauty of her youth radiated through her patina of wrinkles. She was "somebody special", and a walking anachronism.

I quickly used the bank machine and when I turned back she was walking to cross 5th Avenue. I asked Karen as my bank card and receipt was slowly popping out, "who is that?!"
And her answer was- "She used to be a Madame, and lives up the way".

My frigg'n slow-ass bank card pops out and I look towards 5th Ave. and she is laying in the street. She had almost made it to the curb, and 3 young people were helping her up, and walked her out of sight behind a bus.
I wanted to run over and help, but it was already done and the light had changed.

Oh how I'd love to know her story. She is one of several "antique- women" I will always think of as I become an old woman myself.

Scio, Ohio…fading away, beautiful ghosts of the past.

Ha, "Your eCards" do some clever stuff! http://pinterest.com/pascalassaleh/your-ecards/


The new internet "crack" is Pinterest. I can't stop, and I don't want to. It's helped me un-clutter my paper files of old magazine clippings and ideas I've saved for years. I just scanned them, pinned them and then tossed them out. It helps me keep track of blogs I forget to visit. All the inspiring images I used to store on my computer are now organized on Pinterest- Now I can actually find them and see them at a glance. Yup, I'm hooked on Pinterest. But I'm thinking maybe Pinterest is more like therapy than internet "crack".

I just learned what a "Lover's Eye" was when I found one described on Pinterest (I love Pinterest, check out my page at http://pinterest.com/simplesue/ ) and then googled and found more in these articles.



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Kids do not make good pets, but pets make good children, and you may quote me on that!






I don't know who created this photo but I love it!

"Sometimes the lights all shine'n on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it's been" to quote the Grateful Dead

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."- Saint Augustine



We took a very spontaneous road trip to Savannah, Georgia, St. Augustine Florida, and Key West. The day we left Pittsburgh it was 22 degrees and snowing.



Listening to Sara June http://www.myspace.com/sarahjunesound as we left Pittsburgh and drove south through the foggy mountains of West Virginia.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=A4J_JB8_88w




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I've added 6 African Dwarf Frogs to my little water gardens in jars.







I "rescued" them from Learning Express, a toy store for kids. This new home is not that big but total luxury compared to their old home- with hot pink gravel, a chunk of glass rock and a stub of lucky bamboo in a so called eco-cube 4 inches square. At least they had two to a cube so they would not be lonely. These delicate creatures are not toys for children.
I must say a nice sales girl named Shannon, at the Learning Express at Bakery Square, Pittsburgh, took excellent care of them.







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Antique stores, thrift shops, art, and found objects...all beckoning me to collect even more beautiful clutter.

Nothing beckoning me to organize, display or dust it all.

I spent this summer-like day in a dark basement. Seems like the universe just wants me to work, and work and lift lots of heavy stuff even though I don't have to go to a job anymore.







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