Start spreadin' the news, I’m leaving today …!

If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere. New York.

I was fortunate to be an adult chaperone for Felix’s Drama Club field trip to New York City for the past five days (Mar 29-Apr 2). It was wonderful to be there again. Our tour guide, Zora, kept us moving from 9 am until after 10 pm each day. Tired and exhausted and fulfilled by the sights and sounds and events in this wonderful city, we walked and rode the subway, seeing as many things as we could in a day. Photo journalism is a wonderful thing because sometimes less words is more. Memories, like the smiles we left behind …..

Day One, Thursday, March 29

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures 1-10:

1- Felix and I at the airport

2-Waiting for a table at Bubba Gump Shrimp

3-Herding 11 kids through downtown NY

4-Mosaic at the entrance of the Empire State building

5/6 – Kids up and down the escalator

7- Looking at the very top of the ESB

8 – Looking out into the city at night

9/10 – Self portraits of me and the two of us. It was windy and cold.

To be continued …….

And then there were none

My stovetop is a piece of crap. Has been since day one. Since the day I found the underneath on fire at the wire connection, it has been a source of growling in my life.

One day a few years ago, Top Right Burner started heating only on high. Even if the dial was on number 1, still cooking at searing hot temp. Lovely.

Middle Downtake fan decided after later that it no longer wanted to pull anything away from the cooking surface. Fine, I thought. I don’t need you anyway. I’ve got my paper fan.

Then Top Left Burner came unhooked one day and as I tried to push it back into place, began to spark in my face. Lovelier.

Bottom Left Burner did exactly the same thing but after I tried to push it back into place, would only cook on Medium temp no matter where the dial was. Even better.

So only Dependable Bottom Right Burner worked on all heat settings. I gave it lots of praise and worship and told it how much I appreciated it doing such a great job whilst the others were slackers. Until last week.

I had cooked dinner on the stovetop with no issues and wiped up. In my cleaning, I turned on the fan button. Reading above, one would suspect that that means nothing since it didn’t work.

However, this day it decided to come alive. And it didn’t fool around. It came back to life so badly, that it almost started another fire.

Thomas came home and I was watching The Daily Show, lost in laughter. He went in the kitchen for water and came back and said, “I smell something weird in the kitchen.” I’m a confident woman so I know it had nothing to do with my cooking.

We both went in and sure enough, the fan was overheating and creating that lovely electrical fire smell. The fan had been running non-stop for at least an hour. Ok, so just turn off the fan. Tried. Nope. The fan had become possessed and would not shut off. Finally, we had to turn it off from the box.

So now I have NO stovetop. No Top Right Burner that cooks only on high. No Top Left Burner that tried to shock me. Nothing.

I am now cooking on a double-burner hot plate. Awesome. And don’t ANYONE say “Remodeling the Kitchen” or I will completely go bald in one fail swoop.

Another Opening, another show!

“Tale as old as Time …….”

Felix’s second show, “Beauty and The Beast” rehearsal began the first of the year. 

She auditioned in December and danced her way into the show’s ensemble. Meaning, she would be a villager and a dancing, singing enchanted servant that is now a candle. Or napkin. Or dinner plate. Any of those choices means a crazy costume. She ended up being a knife.

 

In the meantime, I volunteered to decorate the lobby … again. Yeah nuts, eh?  I had in my mind to make a castle facade, complete with stone wall and ivy and cut out stone turrets. The director asked me if I could paint stones on scenery and I was like, “Phtttt. Of course. Doesn’t everyone in Theater?”

In truth, I had never painted stones. I’ve made lots of linen flats, painted walls, etc., but actually painted stones with shading? Never. But I figured I could and I wasn’t going to let him know I hadn’t ever done it. I really wanted to decorate the lobby.

The O Holy Internet allowed me to see what a shaded painted stone looked like and I went from there. Those in charge would ask me how it was going but because I tend to (tend to - HA! try the word “always”) work to a deadline, I really hadn’t even begun to construct ANYTHING until four days before the show. I had done several drawings of what I wanted but actual building and painting was done Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday (I was too pooped from kiddie watching to paint on Monday night) and then we hauled it in Wednesday morning, with the opening being on Friday.

Yeah, to the deadline. That’s how we roll.

Thomas and I set out for good ol’ Home Depot for our supplies: large Styrofoam boards, paint, wood for framing, etc. He and I worked pretty much all day Saturday getting the big pieces put together and then I based painted everything for the next step: the stones.

Behind every foam piece, is Thomas’ handy work of framing. Had it not been for him, I’m not sure how I would have attached all the pieces. Thanks Hubby!

I discovered the best-est invention EVER (next to already shredded cheese in a bag)  -  The Hot Knife. Yeah baby, it’s HOT. I mean, it’s really hot. It’s a piece of metal, hooked to a high heater that slices through Styrofoam like it was budda. If you’ve ever tried to cut Styrofoam with anything sharp, the crap flies everywhere and the cut is really poor. This amazing little thing melts it away and cuts those pieces which in turn, made them look like stones.

Downside to this knife -  I’m pretty sure I now have Mesothelioma from breathing in the Styrofoam fumes even though I cut it outside. Crap, that was awful. But, it’s all for the Theater and the show must go on --- even if I’m coughing up blood.

 

Archway which will connect the two turrets.

I painted the front of the flat in base color, light grey. First I drew the lines with a thick Sharpie, not too perfect as they are stones. Don’t forget a window.

With “dry brush” (which just means get paint on the brush, brush the wet off on something else, then use the dryer brush for painting), I lightly brushed black on a side and the bottom of the stones. Shading. Also, dabbed lightly over each stone with the dry brush for added stony texture. Painted the window black since it’s  a facade. No need for a real window.

Added a gold embellishment on the two ends of the archway (Thomas’ touch). Also a little ivy crawling up the walls with some flowers.

  Finished product!

Strapped gently in the trailer and ready to go ………… and it starts to freakin’ snow. Really?? Great. So we have to unload in the snow. Luckily it’s very light and the director sends for some of his students to help us.

 

Set up in the lobby. I finished sewing the curtain at midnight on Tuesday. The rug came from the prop room which added just the right touch in the entry way.

My hope was that the cast would take pictures with audience members in front of this facade – which, on opening night – is exactly what they did. I was so happy. I need to get a finished pic of this because there’s two chairs in front and up-lighting from the bottom.

Anyway, I’m very happy with the finished product. And I can finally swallow again (nervous lump in my throat is gone) and watch my Lovely Dancing Knife in peace.

I’m a very proud Drama Mama.

Thank you Daddy.

After the depressing post about my farmer friend going to that big cornfield in the sky, I knew the next post must be on a lighter tone.

And so I’m here to thank my father.

If any words or statements come to my mind when I mention Daddy, it would be “The Iron Rod” (his fav church song) and “All you need is glue and duct tape.”

Daddy fixed everything in our house. Broken whatever. Dryers, cars, brakes, toys, sprinklers, etc. etc. etc. He did it all. I honestly don’t think I ever saw a repairman (yes, in those days, they were all men) come to our house to fix something. Except when he was gone during the war and Mom would call someone for the TV. Those days, TVs were easier to fix.

But everything else, he did.

I thought about that the other day when I found myself trying to fix my Shark Floor Steam cleaner. The tube that transfers the steam to the mop head had fallen off and I was trying to replace it. I worked and worked at this and many times thought I had it beaten. But then on a  test run, it would pop off again. Very frustrating. I was determined to fix it, because I’ve fixed a lot of stuff in the house. Thankfully, Thomas is also a fix-it kind of guy, so with two of us, we even out what gets fixed.

The dryer stopped heating. Heating element went out. I called around, found the part, got on the laptop, searched the O Holy Internet for “replacing heating element,” found a video and step by step, I replaced the heating element. 

Robee has broken several playmobil guys’ legs (due to the fact that he forgets to pick them up before he steps). Out came the Crazy Glue and on went the legs.

The goats hay bin had fallen to the ground. While Daddy was here in November, he helped me lift the bin off the ground (with the help of a jack since I still couldn’t lift) and screw it to the fence and then install braces on the ground for more support. He was in heaven helping me do this. It was all I could do to keep him from digging up a pipe that was cracked by the pond to repair it as well. I didn’t want him having a heart attack.

I would have to say, however, my mantra would be “All you need is Crazy Glue, Electrical Tape, and Gorilla Tape.” Boy, do I love Gorilla Tape. That stuff will stick to anything and will remain stuck until …. whenever.

I often wonder why he always fixed everything. I’m sure I like to fix things because I’m a product of my environment (and being an adoptee, not a product of genetics since bio mom won’t talk about my genetics) and I watched him all my life putter around the yard and house.

I also think it was partly due to the fact that he is a Depression baby and people who lived through the Depression had to learn to make do with what they had. Food, clothes, tools, furniture, everything. You took care of your stuff to make sure it lasted a long time. We’ve become such a throw-away mentality that it’s a shame. We buy a chair or tool or clothes and don’t take care of them because we know we can buy another in a year.

So if I’m a product of my environment and Daddy is a product of his environment, then hopefully my kids will be a product of us. They see us  fixing things and that’s great. I want them to learn that just because you can throw things away doesn’t mean you should.

So thank you Daddy. Life lesson learned.

Goodbye Farmer Strotz

When we first moved here, we found ourselves drawn to a side road off Hwy 530, guided by a sign that read “Strotz Country Feed.” We turned down the bumpy, pot-holed road and found ourselves right in the middle of a old time dairy farm, complete with a giant red barn, chickens, ducks and a bunch of humongous pigs.

The dairy farm was no longer but replaced with a feed store that carried everything from grain to bridles to dog chews. Sitting behind the counter was a kind, friendly guy with a baseball cap on his head and offered the kids a bag of popcorn.

And a friendship was born.

Once we learned how to pronounce his name (said like struts), Roy Strotz became our go-to guy for all things animals. True, his chicken coops were a little scary and there was the time I saw the pigs tossing a dead, furry creature into the air before I heard them crunching on it. THAT was weird. But all in all, this was a great place for kids to go to on a Sunday afternoon. He always had Johnny Cash playing overhead and free suckers and popcorn for the kids. He even made sure that there were blue suckers for me when he found out they were my favorite flavor.

Roy and his golf cart.

Roy was the head of the Silvana Fair, a fair that was only for the 4-H kids and was officially the start of the fair season in our area. He ran the whole thing it seemed, and you could always count on seeing him spinning around in his golf cart, checking on everybody.

I went to him for advice about my chickens, my goats, my pigeons. We adopted our cat, Sam, from his store after seeing him there in a little cage when someone had dropped him off. I bought all my food and grass from him for the animals. He even let me borrow his doves for Robee’s magic show.

When someone dies so suddenly as Farmer Roy did, it always takes my breath away and I find myself wishing I had talked to him more about what life was like for him, growing up in Arlington, growing up on a dairy farm. Those days are so gone and those people that lived them are going away too. It still makes me a little sad when I drive by the farm and I see it sitting out there in the field, knowing that I’m not going to be talking to him about corn growing or the weather or why my chickens aren’t laying this month. For a moment in time, I felt like I had a little bit of roots when I talked to him. He never made me feel like an outsider (as some locals do) or dumb when I didn’t know something. He was always patient and kind.

Roy Strotz, who has been running the Silvana Community Fair for more than 20 years, works at a recent auction to raise money for the annual event at Viking Hall in Silvana

Since I want to remember him again and again, I’m putting this in my journal so we can always remember this wonderful guy.

Roy D. Strotz, 73, passed away suddenly on February 8, 2012, in the very same house he was born in, on February 3, 1939.
Memorial service will be held, Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. at the Snohomish County Fire District 19, Station 94, 2720 212th St. NW., Stanwood.

Goodbye Farmer Strotz. The fair will be very lonely without you this year.