Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2011, wednesday, july, may, april, blog, my, paris, ruminations, labels, december, 19, 2012, saturday, 16, friday, june, monday, 30, thursday, 20, archive, followers, about, me, list, terracotta, warrior, studio, goggleworks, center, for, the, arts, letter, soup, total, pageviews, san, diego, wedding, family, vacation, strawberries, weather, worries, highlight, in,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (167), and (98), was (39), that (27), had (21), remember (17), all (16), with (16), this (16), for (14), but (14), have (13), could (12), comments (11), about (11), when (11), ago (10), them (10), were (10), her (10), don (10), years (9), there (9), last (8), sophie (8), paris (8), not (8), tom (8), are (8), piano (8), robert (8), school (7), april (7), 2011 (7), from (7), posted (7), our (7), year (7), strawberries (7), out (7), cake (7), beach (7), writing (7), posts (6), week (6), long (6), been (6), then (6), dina (6), devon (6), jodie (6), life (6), atom (5), day (5), vacation (5), home (5), though (5), first (5), walked (5), will (5), way (5), few (5), see (5), still (5), road (5), which (5), took (5), they (5), she (5), brother (5), family (5), wedding (5), write (4), blog (4), may (4), june (4), july (4), two (4), mind (4), time (4), floor (4), their (4), work (4), seen (4), one (4), full (4), his (4), good (4), how (4), through (4), behind (4), memories (4), bought (4), sweet (4), another (4), house (4), after (4), room (4), mclay (4), married (4), david (4), jess (4), flames (4), jeannie (4), goggleworks (3), december (3), blogging (3), who (3), new (3), food (3), rain (3), light (3), has (3), many (3), old (3), those (3), some (3), photos (3), wednesday (3), going (3), case (3), just (3), too (3), staff (3), remembered (3), into (3), again (3), edge (3), wind (3), would (3), hadn (3), signs (3), front (3), imagination (3), back (3), labels (3), fool (3), only (3), girls (3), job (3), what (3), following (3), half (3), berries (3), done (3), something (3), used (3), every (3), here (3), now (3), thinking (3), can (3), kian (3), haley (3), made (3), being (3), end (3), ten (3), minutes (3), third (3), grades (3), hall (3), open (3), kudray (3), power (3), travel (2), http (2), www (2), studio (2), art (2), wonderful (2), news (2), mickey (2), list (2), february (2), march (2), taken (2), almost (2), 2012 (2), well (2), never (2), delectable (2), clouds (2), city (2), seeing (2), post (2), always (2), later (2), such (2), sounds (2), best (2), walk (2), meet (2), stop (2), three (2), playing (2), dancing (2), joined (2), great (2), thursday (2), person (2), elementary (2), heard (2), retirement (2), celebration (2), dinner (2), kept (2), each (2), other (2), members (2), left (2), corner (2), most (2), parking (2), car (2), noticed (2), cloud (2), sky (2), felt (2), 322 (2), small (2), drove (2), more (2), miles (2), became (2), perhaps (2), where (2), weather (2), lately (2), season (2), arrived (2), began (2), flight (2), become (2), slicing (2), trip (2), forever (2), you (2), vivid (2), quarts (2), delicious (2), take (2), lessons (2), idea (2), mother (2), said (2), real (2), didn (2), want (2), children (2), also (2), off (2), marriage (2), found (2), teaching (2), low (2), benefits (2), get (2), hired (2), dick (2), move (2), angel (2), ice (2), cream (2), moving (2), bowl (2), kathy (2), donna (2), salty (2), because (2), salt (2), sugar (2), daughter (2), morning (2), san (2), diego (2), right (2), fourth (2), pictures (2), look (2), even (2), friday (2), son (2), did (2), know (2), california (2), sharon (2), joe (2), henry (2), photo (2), whole (2), hours (2), yesterday (2), second (2), book (2), class (2), exercises (2), starting (2), smell (2), custodian (2), floors (2), seventh (2), bathrooms (2), basement (2), bathroom (2), four (2), heater (2), running (2), myself (2), scene (2), believe (2), movie (2), scenes (2), visions (2), rest (2), aunt (2), testament (2), ruminations (2), theme, powered, blogger, total, pageviews, letter, soup, org, center, arts, writingworkshopsbydesign, com, terracotta, warrior, soaring, impulse, tribute, aerial, armadillo, surprising, breezes, overhaul, chronicle, homegrown, cookie, stuff, adrienne, trafford, murky, meanderings, brooklyn, botanic, gardens, elizabeth, kann, view, complete, profile, followers, august, september, october, november, 2010, january, archive, subscribe, older, ask, anything, better, maybe, weeks, learning, visiting, sights, meeting, people, served, flair, walking, cobblestoned, streets, broad, boulevards, sun, fabulous, ninth, visit, original, wall, lower, louvre, outgrew, boundary, beautiful, stonework, stood, centuries, moat, surrounded, saw, pillars, supported, drawbridge, marveled, expertise, early, workers, stone, nameless, testifies, skill, downloaded, edited, charms, yet, jitterbug, fanatic, came, much, fun, enjoy, big, band, thirties, forties, moments, hill, montmartre, sacre, coeur, basilica, abbesses, metro, remaining, deco, entrances, park, near, musicians, set, jazz, put, euros, clarinet, started, young, man, london, holding, baby, applause, finished, helen, maynard, highlight, jackie, troop, library, secretary, laminator, queen, general, summit, valley, quick, sign, attended, shady, maple, friends, days, principal, touch, nostalgia, nirvana, things, supports, pervasive, spirit, camaraderie, retiring, key, nurturing, climate, remarkable, district, glad, worked, gratitude, settled, bones, once, building, parked, farthest, distant, lot, dark, covering, pick, wondered, hurried, quickly, sandals, worn, since, summer, reached, whipping, trees, blowing, bits, detritus, across, stronger, blew, dense, dirt, pebbles, covered, fifty, yards, roadway, brake, wobbled, wildly, sticks, diameter, wrist, arm, scattered, steer, carefully, avoid, paralleled, line, tornado, vengeance, aware, storms, devastated, tuscaloosa, alabama, joplin, missouri, scanned, funnel, worry, wobbling, potential, agents, death, winds, drive, straw, plate, glass, broken, flying, scimitars, concentrated, steering, dodging, trash, breathing, twenty, minute, seemed, thanks, god, accustomed, imagining, worst, scenario, everyday, events, adamant, putting, cargo, seat, instead, hatchback, projectile, accident, understand, sometimes, need, reminded, described, relief, safe, arrival, comment, worries, monday, appeared, local, farm, stand, everything, fresh, ripe, hulling, occasion, serving, nearly, thirty, child, wanted, fall, while, extreme, masked, reason, five, created, awful, racket, pounding, recital, during, forgot, piece, several, attempts, performance, stage, lesson, lived, wyomissing, clothes, furniture, clothing, sad, leave, necessary, search, provided, pay, toe, door, chance, show, turned, salary, scale, late, spring, answered, enlisted, help, law, frank, truck, townhouse, anticipating, gallon, hulled, sliced, sugared, placed, fridge, chill, until, men, moved, place, dining, dishing, desserts, went, wife, handed, sister, dorothy, wrong, these, tasted, eat, single, berry, celebratory, treat, definitely, laden, checked, canister, filled, patty, played, trick, little, discovered, forgotten, plan, remembering, smiled, together, hanging, cooking, eating, form, recreation, depending, upon, location, turks, caicos, majorca, outer, banks, mission, seething, mass, humanity, bay, oceanside, informative, beaches, parks, empty, reality, incredibly, crowded, before, lots, tents, screened, rooms, chairs, playpens, tomorrow, cleaning, doing, laundry, packing, special, event, oldest, testoni, younger, any, designated, officiant, exchanged, vows, proclaimed, authority, vested, state, very, service, witnessed, sons, girlfriend, friend, cousin, boys, traipsed, shoot, feast, prepared, shish, kebab, skewers, shrimp, steak, vegetables, baked, white, potatoes, meal, carrot, pineapple, coconut, buttercream, frosting, ambrosial, dimensions, flowered, decorations, try, regular, computer, cutting, gathered, clan, brothers, shocking, wave, mrs, rings, gorgeous, bouquet, kiss, ring, speak, hold, your, peace, comes, bride, saturday, mostly, newly, trying, shoehorn, aspects, really, pretty, anniversary, agreed, over, finishing, project, taught, partner, getty, tuesday, writers, brilliant, talented, women, critique, others, brings, point, reviving, progress, contain, snippets, like, result, sweeping, compound, picked, mud, dust, added, slightly, oiled, surface, street, sixth, main, weird, boiler, foot, stairs, booths, gas, warm, toast, ourselves, coming, saying, gotten, hurt, hearing, details, visual, image, toasting, herself, panicked, turning, down, blonde, hair, streaming, looking, doorway, music, grabbing, beating, bare, hands, ambulance, taking, hospital, died, lynn, grade, vividly, intellectually, vision, clutch, standing, far, faces, distorted, mouths, horrified, looks, truly, actually, interior, version, watching, recording, hear, noticing, detail, color, sound, clear, must, conjured, assigned, subconscious, written, rewritten, capture, same, wish, arrive, technicolor, bravado, tempting, fate, satisfied, trust, story, summon, mystery, surgery, robins, kill, resurrection, nest, morality, money, memoir, larceny, illness, hawk, happiness, graduation, farming, faith, sabbath, healing, random, collection, thoughts, wonderings,

Text of the page (random words):
ruminations ruminations being a random collection of my thoughts wonderings and memories labels writing family wedding beach healing april fool sabbath faith family life farming graduation happiness hawk illness larceny life marriage memoir memories money morality moving nest photos rest resurrection retirement road kill robins school strawberries surgery teaching vacation wednesday december 19 2012 i ve taken a vacation from blogging for almost a year and a half mostly this was about being newly married and trying to shoehorn all aspects of my old life into this new life with tom which really did not work too well because after all there are still only 24 hours in a day blogging even writing have been pretty low on the to do list yesterday was our second anniversary and we agreed that we d do it all over again this married life is sweet lately i ve been playing with the idea of finishing my book aunt testament so i can move on to another project to that end i ve joined a writing class taught by my studio partner at the goggleworks mickey getty we meet every tuesday for two and a half hours the writers are brilliant talented women we critique each others work and do writing exercises which brings me to the point of reviving the blog it s going to be more about the writing life and my progress on my book also though it will contain snippets of the writing exercises we do like yesterday s write for ten minutes starting with i remember then write ten minutes starting i don t remember then write for ten minutes i am thinking of the following is the result i remember the smell of the sweeping compound the custodian used on the floors of our elementary school it picked up all the mud and dust and added a slightly oiled look to the surface of the floors i remember being in seventh street school from third through sixth grades i remember that the third and fourth grades were on the main floor so were the first and second grades but the bathrooms were in the basement how weird to have the bathrooms in the basement i remember the boiler room right at the foot of the stairs the girls bathroom was at the end of a long hall and had about four booths there was a gas heater with open flames that kept the room warm i remember that we used to toast ourselves in front of this heater i remember jeannie kudray i don t remember how i heard about this i don t remember my brother coming home and saying that jeannie kudray had gotten hurt at school i don t remember hearing the details but i have a visual image in my mind i don t remember her toasting herself at the open flames i don t remember her running panicked out of the bathroom turning the corner and running down the hall in flames i don t remember her long blonde hair streaming out behind her and myself looking out the doorway of the music room i don t remember the custodian grabbing her and beating out the flames with his bare hands i don t remember the ambulance taking her to the hospital but i do remember that jeannie kudray died she was in my brother s class lynn was four years behind me in school so when he was in third grade i was in seventh there is no way i could have seen this i am thinking of the power of imagination how my mind made up the whole scene so vividly that i can see it still intellectually i know that i could not have seen this but i believe in the power of that vision that movie in my mind with a clutch of girls standing at the far end of the hall their faces distorted by open mouths horrified looks following jeannie i believe in that scene as truly as if i d actually seen it my interior movie version of aunt testament is just as real some of the scenes are that vivid as if i am watching them and recording what i see and hear noticing every detail of color and sound and smell other scenes though are not as clear they must be conjured up assigned to my subconscious and written and rewritten to capture the same power as the visions i could wish for all my writing to arrive in such technicolor bravado but that would be tempting fate i will myself to be satisfied with the visions i have and trust that the rest of the story will be there when i summon it it is all mystery posted by sophie at 11 18 am no comments saturday july 16 2011 san diego wedding here comes the bride speak now or forever hold your peace with this ring the kiss gorgeous bouquet the rings mr and mrs robert mclay dina robert jodie and haley shocking a wave kian dina robert and devon mclay dina and the brothers jodie robert and david devon and jess sharon david devon haley jess joe henry robert dina jodie tom donna and kian the gathered clan wedding cake cutting the cake delicious posted by sophie at 10 55 am no comments labels wedding friday july 8 2011 family vacation it s the mclay family vacation time again every year they get together for a week hanging out cooking and eating and some form of recreation depending upon the location they ve been to turks and caicos majorca the outer banks and here this year we are in san diego right in mission beach it was a seething mass of humanity for the fourth i walked from the beach house to the bay and then to the oceanside not a long walk but informative i took pictures the beaches and parks look empty but the reality was it felt incredibly crowded even though it was before 8 am the parking lots were full of tents and screened rooms beach chairs and playpens now it s friday morning and we are thinking about our flight home tomorrow about cleaning the beach house doing laundry and packing this year we had a special event tom s oldest son robert married dina testoni his younger brother david married them did you know that in california any person can be the designated officiant robert and dina exchanged their vows and then david proclaimed by the authority vested in me by the state of california i now it was a very sweet service witnessed by all the family members who are here tom and i robert s sons kian and devon and devon s girlfriend jess tom s son jodie jodie s daughter haley and her friend sharon and joe henry cousin of the mclay boys then we traipsed off to the beach to take pictures after the photo shoot we walked back to the beach house for a feast jodie had prepared a shish kebab dinner skewers full of shrimp steak vegetables baked sweet and white potatoes the whole meal was delectable last of all was the wedding cake which jess and devon and i had made carrot cake with pineapple and coconut in it and buttercream frosting of ambrosial dimensions we had made flowered decorations too i ll try to post a photo of the cake when i m back at my regular computer posted by sophie at 7 14 pm no comments wednesday june 1 2011 strawberries the first strawberries of the season have appeared at our local farm stand and i bought three quarts they are everything good that i remembered about fresh strawberries from last year sweet ripe delicious as i was hulling and slicing them i remembered another occasion when i was serving strawberries nearly thirty years ago as a child i had always wanted to take piano lessons not a good idea my mother said a piano would fall through the floor while that sounds extreme it masked the real reason my mother didn t want to have a piano in the house all those children there were five of us could have created an awful racket pounding on it also she had memories of her one and only piano recital during which she forgot her piece after several attempts at the performance she walked off the stage and never took another lesson when we lived in wyomissing we bought a piano and the girls and i took lessons when i left the marriage i took only my clothes and the children s furniture and clothing i was sad to leave the piano behind but it was necessary after a long job search i found work teaching the job provided low pay and few benefits but it was a job it was a toe in the door a chance to show what i could do and perhaps to get hired turned out i was hired the following year on the salary scale and with full benefits late that spring i answered an ad and bought a piano i enlisted the help of my brother dick and brother in law frank who had a truck to move it to our townhouse anticipating a celebration i bought an angel food cake a half gallon of ice cream and two quarts of the first strawberries of june i hulled and sliced the berries sugared them then placed them in the fridge to chill until the moving was done the men moved the piano into place in the dining room and i began dishing up desserts the first bowl went to dick s wife kathy i handed another bowl to my sister dorothy just as kathy said donna there s something wrong with these berries they re salty what i tasted them something i hadn t done because i didn t want to eat a single berry of the celebratory treat definitely laden with salt i checked the sugar canister it had been filled with salt i found out later that my daughter patty had played an april fool s day trick on me and we used so little sugar that i hadn t discovered it and she had forgotten about it plan b angel food cake and ice cream this morning remembering the salty berries i smiled something i had not done that day so long ago posted by sophie at 8 44 pm no comments labels april fool memories strawberries monday may 30 2011 weather worries jackie troop had been the library secretary laminator queen and general go to person on the staff at summit valley elementary school so when i heard about her retirement celebration i was quick to sign up on thursday i attended the dinner at shady maple it was great to see so many old friends from my days as principal there i have kept in touch with a few of them but this was nostalgia nirvana one of the best things was seeing the way the staff still supports each other there was a pervasive spirit of camaraderie and good will and the two retiring staff members were key to this nurturing climate i remembered how remarkable the district was and was glad i had worked there gratitude settled into my bones once again it was still light when i left the building i d parked in the farthest corner of the most distant parking lot and as i walked to the car i noticed a dark cloud covering most of the sky i could see the edge of it i felt the wind pick up and wondered if it would rain i hurried as quickly as i could in the sandals i hadn t worn since last summer by the time i reached the light at rt 322 wind was whipping the trees and blowing small bits of detritus across the road i drove for a few more miles the wind became stronger it blew a dense cloud of dirt and pebbles which covered perhaps fifty yards of roadway and i had to brake so i could see where i was going road signs wobbled wildly sticks the diameter of my wrist and arm were scattered on the road and i had to steer carefully to avoid them i noticed that the edge of the front paralleled my line of travel weather has been in the news lately and not in a good way tornado season arrived with a vengeance this year i was aware of storms that had devastated tuscaloosa alabama and joplin missouri i scanned the sky for funnel clouds i began to worry as i drove the last miles on 322 my imagination took flight those wobbling signs became potential agents of death if the winds could drive a straw through plate glass broken signs could become flying scimitars slicing through the car and me i concentrated on steering dodging road trash and breathing the twenty minute trip seemed to last forever at last i arrived home home still no rain and the edge of the front was behind me thanks be to god tom is accustomed to imagining the worst case scenario in everyday events he is adamant about putting small cargo on the floor of the back seat instead of in the hatchback where it could become a projectile in case of an accident i understand that though sometimes i need to be reminded of it when i described the trip and my relief at my safe arrival his comment was you have a vivid imagination don t we all posted by sophie at 12 12 pm no comments thursday may 5 2011 paris highlight photos by helen maynard one of the best moments was our last full day in paris we were going to walk up the hill in montmartre on our way to sacre coeur basilica we were to meet at the abbesses metro stop one of the few remaining art deco entrances in the park near the stop three musicians had set up and were playing wonderful jazz tom put a few euros in the clarinet case and we started dancing a young man from london holding his baby joined us and we had a great time just dancing applause when we finished too tom was always a jitterbug fanatic but i came to it much later it s such a fun way to enjoy the big band sounds of the thirties and forties paris has many charms we have not seen all of them yet posted by sophie at 9 59 pm no comments wednesday april 20 2011 april in paris a week in paris who could ask for anything better well maybe two weeks in paris but never mind a week of learning and visiting new sights and meeting new people a week of delectable food served with flair a week of walking on cobblestoned streets and broad boulevards of sun and clouds but no rain a fabulous week though this was my ninth visit to the city of light it was my first time seeing the original city wall in the lower floor of the louvre paris long ago outgrew this boundary but the beautiful stonework has stood for many centuries we walked in the moat that surrounded old paris and saw the pillars that had supported the drawbridge i marveled at the expertise of those early workers in stone nameless their work testifies to their skill i will post some photos when i have downloaded and edited them posted by sophie at 5 06 pm no comments older posts home subscribe to posts atom blog archive 2012 1 december 1 i ve taken a vacation from blogging for almost a y 2011 13 july 2 june 1 may 2 april 2 march 3 february 1 january 2 2010 39 december 1 november 3 october 2 september 1 august 4 july 4 june 4 may 3 april 2 march 4 february 11 followers about me sophie view my complete profile my blog list elizabeth kann the brooklyn botanic gardens 8 years ago mickey s murky meanderings wonderful news 10 years ago adrienne trafford art blog 10 years ago all the write stuff 11 years ago chronicle of a homegrown cookie overhaul 13 years ago surprising breezes last day of school o 14 years ago an aerial armadillo a tribute 15 years ago the soaring impulse posts atom posts all comments atom all comments terracotta warrior my studio http www writingworkshopsbydesign com goggleworks center for the arts http www goggleworks org letter soup posts atom posts all comments atom all comments total pageviews travel theme powered by blogger