Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, "Where the heck is the ceiling?!"
Unknown
TIME: 7:07 PM
PLACE: Living room
SUBJECT: Patterns on the freshly plastered ceiling
I turned out the overhead light and turned on a table lamp in preparation to leave the house for HH’s birthday dinner.
(Sushi)
(He’s 59 today!)
HH pointed out the shadows and light on the ceiling.
Isn’t it pretty?
'Yes,' I answered you last night; / 'No,' this morning, sir, I say. / Colours seen by candle-light / Will not look the same by day.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
TIME: 8:12 PM
PLACE: Dining room
SUBJECT: Paint color samples
Now that the ceilings are done, I’m ready for new wall color.
It’s been over 10 years for the dining room and about 9 for the living room.
I went to Sherwin-Williams and purchased some samples.
After slapping the colors on the walls, I’m leaning toward the ones on the right.
Amazing Gray in the living room
Bees Wax in the dining room.
That is…
Unless I don’t like how they look in the morning.
TIME: 11 Oct 1887
PLACE: St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT: Wedding Portrait of Mary Vejvoda & Joseph Dolansky
”Joseph Dolansky, working man of St. Louis, son of Charles Dolansky, musicians of Breskovir in Bohemia”, married “Mary Vejvoda, handmaid of St. Louis, daughter of Martin Vejvoda, miner of Privetice next Radnice in Bohemia” on October 11, 1887 at St. John Nepomuk Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri by Jos. Hessoun, Pastor.
Joseph was Catholic, 29 years old and unmarried.
Mary was Catholic, 23 years old and unmarried.
Witnesses were Mathia Hriticka, plumber of St. Louis and Vitus Reharek, sexton of St. Louis.*
*~*~*
That’s my mom’s handwriting on the back.
It reads,
“Dad’s Mother & Dad Wedding picture. Mary & Joseph Dolansky ne, Vejvoda”
Do you think I can still have a duplicate made at any time?
*~*~*
*Source:
St. John Nepomuk Catholic Church, (St. Louis, Missouri, United States), “Marriages 1854-1890.” 1887 Marriages, #30, October 11; microfilm St. Louis Catholic Archdiocesan Parish Records, roll 29, item 3, St. Louis County Library-Special Collections Dept, St. Louis.
I didn't used to believe in solar energy…
But I'm warming up to the idea
TIME: 4:53 PM
PLACE: Magic Comb
SUBJECT: Solar powered dancers
It was Stella’s turn for a haircut tonight.
Claudia drove her to the Magic Comb.
I stopped by on my way home from work to write the check.
My hairdresser is obsessed with these solar powered dancers from the Dollar Tree.
She buys some, clients give her others.
She must have over 50 of them.
Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn‘t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
-Jack Handy
TIME: 6:51 PM
PLACE: Main Street Brewing Co.
SUBJECT: Micro Brewery
About every two months, the girl cousins/aunts on my mom’s side get together to visit and cackle.
Tonight, we met at this local restaurant and micro brewery.
“My cat is not insane, she's just a really good actress.”
― P.C. Cast, Untamed
TIME: 7:18 PM
PLACE: Pantry
SUBJECT: Tessa
Tessa is still alive and kicking and still crazy.
She will be 11 years old around April.
Because she doesn't like the dog, she usually spends the majority of her time hiding out upstairs.
However, she ventures down when the time is right.
Tonight, I found her warming herself by the heat register in the pantry.
The dog was nowhere in sight.
“Sometimes he curls up on my pillow during the night and I don't know he's there until I yawn and my mouth closes on a whisker.” ~
Astrid Alauda
TIME: 8:49 PM
PLACE: Living room
SUBJECT: Claudia and Jack
A rainy and dreary Sunday.
A perfect day to nap together on the couch.
“Plaster thick, some will stick.”
Proverb quotes
TIME: 1:40 PM
PLACE: Study
SUBJECT: Plaster material and stilts
Our water-damaged ceilings from last summer’s do-it-yourself-you-get-what-you-pay-for-oh-why-did-it-have-to-rain-when-we-weren’t-finished roof installation are finally getting repaired!
"Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable. They might be a bit out of shape and a little worn around the edges, but they fit well."
-Bonnie Wilcox
TIME: 6:36 PM
PLACE: Living room
SUBJECT: Oreo
She is almost 9 years old.
That’s 68 in human years according to this calculator.
She is overweight.
And getting ever grayer..
Still, she will plop over on her back to have her belly rubbed.
How many 68-year-old humans do that?
Marge: Mm, there's that new sushi restaurant on Elm Street...
Bart: Sushi? Hey, maybe this is just one of those things you hear on the playground, but isn't that raw fish?
Lisa: As usual, the playground has the facts right, but missed the point entirely.
The Simpsons, `One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish'', Season 2, Episode 11. Jan 24, 1991
TIME: 7:02 PM
PLACE: Shichi Sushi Bar
SUBJECT: Stella and tea
Much needed hair maintenance (cut and color) was on the agenda tonight.
Stella went with me.
Then, it was off the the sushi bar
She’s been on my case for the last 10 days about going there.
This should keep her quiet for awhile.
“You get a car and you get a car and you get a car…everybody gets a car!”
Oprah Winfrey (American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, b. 1954) 2004
TIME: 12:46 PM
PLACE: Work
SUBJECT: Kindle Fire HD6
I attended our All-Employee quarterly meeting this morning.
Sat through the routine announcements, updates, etc…
At the end, our president thanked us once again for helping the Credit Union reach one billion dollars in total assets during 2014.
He then passed out Kindle Fires to all 200+ employees.
Sweet.
“Why is it that when you wipe up dust its called dusting but when you wipe up a spill its not called spilling? Just something to think about.”
Ellen DeGeneres (American stand-up comedian, actress, and talk show host, b. 1958)
TIME: 7:15 PM
PLACE: Kitchen
SUBJECT: Spilled water glass
No unattended water glass safe in the house with Jack the cat around.
I swear he knocks them over just to spite me.
Luckily this one wasn’t full,
And there were no electronic devices nearby.
“All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They've been used to start revolutions and to stop wars.”
Banksy (English, grafitti, streeet artist)
TIME: 4:15 PM
PLACE: Behind the thrift store
SUBJECT: Face & cat on electrical box
I stumbled upon this street art when parking my car.
A nice surprise.
Henrí: Woody, I have a riddle for you. How long will it take for me to steal your girlfriend?
Woody Boyd: I give up.
Henrí: Then it won't take long at all.
Cheers (TV Series), A Fine French Whine (1991)
TIME: 5:26 PM
PLACE: My sister’s house
SUBJECT: Henrí
Can you believe that this big, fluffy boy was once this little thing way back when on August 28, 2011?
On that date he was still nameless.
Soon after, he was christened “Henri” – In honor of the French character, Henri, who was best known for threatening to steal Kelly Gaines away from Woody Boyd on the sitcom Cheers.
Their other cat is named “Woody”
See what they did there?
“I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”
― William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
TIME: 2:56 PM
PLACE: Backyard
SUBJECT: Dying honeybee
It reached a high of 58 degrees today.
The bees were out in force.
This little gal was laying on the fence post.
She wasn’t moving much.
I did see her antennae twitch a few times.
Soon it stopped.
“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.”
Robert C. Gallagher (American, alumnus of Syracuse University, freelance sportswriter)
TIME: 9:24 AM
PLACE: Work Cafeteria
SUBJECT: Vending machine bill insert & worn corner
The machine kept spitting out my dollar.
I tried smoothing it out on the corner of the wall,
Apparently, many people do that…the paint was worn off by the bill insert.
Even after smoothing, the machine still didn’t accept my dollar.
I took another look at it - it had been taped.
A co-worker took pity on me and traded bills.
I was able to get my Diet Coke.
“At every party there are two kinds of people — those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.”
Esther Pauline Friedman aka Ann Landers (American, Personal Advice Columnist and Author, 1918-2002)
TIME: Shortly after midnight, 01 Jan 1991
PLACE: B-Street Bar
SUBJECT: HandsomeHusband and Me
Fun Fact : I may or may not be slightly inebriated in this photo.
“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”
Theodore Roethke (American, Poet, 1908-1963)
TIME: 8:26 PM
PLACE: Kitchen
SUBJECT: Hyacinth roots
I stopped by Aldi on the way home from work to pick up something to make for supper this evening.
They had hyacinth bulbs in vases for only $2.99
I should have bought more than just one.
[When asked “Why are numbers beautiful?”]
It’s like asking why is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is.”
― Paul Erdős (Hungarian, mathematician, 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996)
TIME: 7:29 AM
PLACE: Highway 55
SUBJECT: Odometer reading
I had to pull the car over to the shoulder and take a picture.
The trucks rushing by really shook the heck out of the car.
I’m not surprised the only photo turned out blurry.
That’s okay.
The numbers are still beautiful.
“Anyplace worth its salt has a 'parking problem'”
James Castle, public policy consultant
TIME: 4:05 PM
PLACE: Parking lot at work
SUBJECT: Rock salt
Our parking lot was salted in anticipation of the icy mix we were supposed to receive overnight.
It turned out not to be necessary.
"Somebody has been lying in my bed, – and here she is!"
Southery, Robert. The Story of the Three Bears. United Kingdom: Longman, Rees, etc., 1837.
TIME: 10:29 PM
PLACE: My bedroom
SUBJECT: Jack
He takes up a lot of room and has no consideration for others.
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”
Everett Dirksen (Politician, American, 1896-1969)
TIME: 6:45 PM
PLACE: Four Fountains
SUBJECT: Appreciation Dinner M&Ms
My work had its annual Appreciation and Awards Dinner this evening.
There were personalized M&Ms in cute little tins at each place setting.
Some M&Ms had our logo printed on them…
Some had the phrase,“Thanks A Billion” as our institution hit the billion dollar mark in total assets during 2014.
“Red hair is great. It's rare, and therefore superior.”
Augusten Burroughs (American, Author, b1965)
TIME: 8:33 PM
PLACE: Cheddars Restaurant
SUBJECT: Stella’s hair
She’s almost eleven and sometimes?
The light will hit her hair.
And take my breath away.
“The biggest cliché in photography is sunrise and sunset.”
Catherine Opie (Artist, American, b. 1961)
TIME: 7:06 AM
PLACE: Highway 15
SUBJECT: Mirror view of the Sunrise
It was a gorgeous sunrise this morning.
Even if it was only 5 degrees out.
The wind chill had to be several degrees below zero as I was driving down the highway with the window rolled down.
Quickly, I took one blind shot, powered up the window, and threw the camera back into my purse.
The picture actually turned out okay.
“Why Don’t They Call ‘Em Bottle Hats?”
Unknown
TIME: 8:31 PM
PLACE: Kitchen
SUBJECT: Bottlecaps
Remnants of the rewards I gave myself for cleaning out the refrigerator on Sunday.
TIME: 9:19 PM
PLACE: Pantry
SUBJECT: Locker Basket
Fun Fact #077 about me.
The summer I was 15, I had a part-time job working for our local Parks and Recreation Department at our city’s public swimming pool.
I was assigned to the bathhouse where I had the glorious position of sitting behind a tall counter and handing out baskets to folks so they could store their stuff while swimming.
Each basket was numbered and had a pin with the corresponding number stamped on it. This pin was given to the member, who clipped it on their swimsuit or towel. They would hand me their full basket, which I would then shelve in numerical order.
The shelves that held the baskets were metal, stood about 5 baskets high and stretched about half the length of the bathhouse. Maybe 20 or 30 feet? There were 4 or 5 rows of shelves.
The further back you went, the rustier the baskets became. It was kind of creepy back there as well. That didn’t prevent us from chasing our co-workers up and down the rows and trying to scare each other when times were slow.
When people wanted their stuff, they would hand back the pin and I would locate the basket.
It definitely wasn’t rocket science.
However, I did learn to dislike the public at an early age.
Our city had to close the pool due to its age and budgeting concerns a few years ago. Apparently, they had an auction and sold much of the inventory of items at the pool including all of the wire baskets – I was not aware of this and wished I had known because I would have bid on them.
In 2013, I was at our monthly flea market and came upon a vendor who was selling some of the very same swimming pool baskets.
She had one left.
I didn’t even haggle.
I bought it.
I bet that I handed this basket out to someone at one time.
TIME: 5:00 PM
PLACE: Down the street
SUBJECT: Sunset
Enjoying this while trying not to think about the freezing air that is supposed to be arriving in the next few days.
TIME: 7:07 PM
PLACE: Girl Scout Meeting : School cafeteria
SUBJECT: Cookie Caravan poster
Fair warning…beginning this Friday evening and continuing throughout this weekend, you *will* be accosted by Girl Scouts hawking cookies at practically every grocery store, Wal-Mart, convenience store, video store and many other locations.
Good luck, we’re all counting on your support.
TIME: 9:15 PM
PLACE: Living Room
SUBJECT: Corner
It is always amazing to me how the whole feeling of the living room changes after I take down the Christmas tree..
Calmer.
Cleaner.
For a little while at least.
TIME: 6:57 PM to 8:43 PM
PLACE: Chester, Illinois
SUBJECT: Sign
The husband and I moseyed on down to Chester VFW for the annual gun club Christmas-Dinner-in-January soirée.
I amused myself by seeing what kind of photos I could take from where I was sitting.
Hangers. Hangers are fun.
Playing with the fish-eye function (taken by the husband).
Gotta love that Stag beer.
The floor was cool.
I’m seated closest to the door on the right in this centerpiece reflection.
You know that detail from my Coach boots from the 1st?
Here’s a full view of them.
Nice, huh?
On the way home we passed St. John’s Lutheran School.
…and the Chester Mental Health Center.
I also made HH stop at McDonalds in Red Bud so I could get an iced tea.
I didn’t take a picture there.
TIME: February 8, 1858
PLACE: Břeskovich, (now Vřeskovice) in the Plzeň region oof the Czech Republic
SUBJECT: Josef Dolanksy birth record
From: Porta fontium
After almost 9 years of doing genealogy, I was finally able to go “across the pond” and found my maternal, great-grandfather’s birth information!
This is what I knew: he was from Břeskovich Czechoslovakia; his father’s name was Charles; he had a birth date of February 8, 1858 and he immigrated to the US with the Jansky family..
I found a link to the Porta fontium site from Wesley Johnston’s “Researhing Czech Church Records on the Internet.
After blindly searching, I finally figured out how the things were organized (thank you Google translate) and performed a search with Břeskovich as the place and checked “Matrika narozených” (birth registers). I clicked on the result with the correct time frame and started looking page by page for the name “Dolansky”
It turned out to be easier than I thought.
Even though the registers are all in Czech, and the handwriting made it quite challenging to decipher some words, I actually found him quite quickly.
Now, I know the names of his father and mother :
Karel [Czech form of Charles] Dolanksy and Katerina Jansky
The names of his grandparents :
Paternal-Vavrince [Slovak form of Laurence] and Anna Dolansky nee Jicovy
Maternal-Vaclav & Katerina Jansky nee Hrebec
Where they are from and what they did for a living:
Father-a peasant cottager [an agricultural laborer who lived in a cottage on the landowners land] in Břeskovich (house #53);
Paternal grandfather-a owner of a farm in Chlumčany (house #4); Maternal grandfather-a peasant cottager in Jina (house #12)
This makes me so happy.
I love the Internets.
TIME: 10:12 PM
PLACE: Home
SUBJECT: Zipper pull
I wore these Coach booties tonight while meeting up with Dana and Mike.
They were an early Christmas gift to myself.
I found them at Marshall’s on Black Friday.
On clearance for under $100.
Combined with my $50 VISA gift card that I had been holding onto since January?
SOLD
