'Nick-Marks' Restored

In the mid-fifties, my grandfather commissioned a table from a scottish gentleman. It was round and sturdy, made of (I believe) red cedar and sitting on stout little legs. It had an asian appearance and soon my grandfather had put his own personal stamp on it-painting it red and adorning it with a lovely geisha girl. Over the years, it has been handed down from household to household, family member to family member, suffering pretty badly in the process. I wish I had a before picture (could kick myself!) but those of you who have visited will definitely remember the condition it was in.



I am VERY proud of it now.












My front room in my new home is the room that I am displaying all of papa's paintings. Recently, my mother gave me a beautiful painting that was badly in need of restoration. It had no frame and so after we refurbished the painting the best we could, I had a custom frame made for it that would suit the style and age of painting that it is. I think it's perfect.














I hope papa would be proud.

I choose to be skeptical!

I was just watching Good Night and Good Luck, the very good (but overrated) directorial effort by the very dishy George Clooney and starring the even dishier David Strathairn. The movie concerns the McCarthy hearings and the communist 'witch hunt' of the early fifties. I've always been interested in this odd bit of history and appreciated the film for its great camerawork (more than 90% of the movie is shot in closeup), excellent music, and impeccable acting-particularly by Straithairn. The story was actually very easily followed by simply looking at old news footage and brought little fresh stuff to the table. However, I did appreciate one very valid point . That television has become our (and by 'our' I mean developed society) only window to much of the outside world. It's true that we tend to remain wholesomely skeptical of things we hear on tabloid shows like Entertainment Tonight or the like, but when it comes to 'news' footage, how many of us truly question what we see? Locally, this isnt really an issue but on the worldwide scale-I sometimes wonder. Of course, in the US we only get portions of the worldwide news and where there is little actual footage, it is usually generously supplemented w/ predjudicial subtext. We are not a people generally capable of researching every news item we hear, so we tend to say 'well, it's on the news so it must be true' and let it go at that.

Things that were stated as 'fact' 20 years ago have since been, in many cases, disproved-so why do we except things so blindly now? I have made it my personal vendetta to refuse to take things at their face value unless the facts are clearly presented. And I need to understand the facts and all their terminology.

I want more evidence as to why we know so much about dinosaurs from staring at their bones! How much of this stuff is manufactured? Why haven't we been back to the moon? Why is the rest of the world content w/Americans being the only ones to do it? How can we put so much stock in Carbon Dating when it still so imperfect? How do we KNOW how old the earth is?

I find myself thinking along these lines almost every time I catch the news. It seems so glossy and exaggerated these days. Half the time, I almost think I catch a smirk on the anchorman's face.

So, I will continue to be skeptical about things someone cannot explain sufficiently. Because I think it's natural to be that way. And because it's lots more fun.

The quiz of five thingies-adapted

A fellow blogger had a great entry today consisting of a quiz-to self. I liked it. I'm adapting it. I hope she doesnt mind...heh heh.

Five things I've been called:
naive nelly (it's a little more endearing w/ the 'nelly' attatched)
optimistic
loud
funny
self-absorbed (sigh)

Five things to my name:
Ashley-is overly concerned with how people feel but remains obvlivious to the fact that she is sometimes the one that did the hurting
Ashley-is content but not complacent.
Ashley-hates buffets and all they represent.
Ashley-psychotically loves her children but would prefer never to babysit anyone else's
Ashley-thinks her husband is cocky, a little rude, but always wonderful.

Five places I've been:
Disneyworld
Hawaii
New York
California
Gatlinburg (I'm a local girl)

Five things I've learned in my life:
Boys are more fun than girls
Jehovah knows what you need, even if you don't
Money is a nusiance
Natural Childbirth makes you feel omnipotent
Listen-instead of thinking about what you'll say next

Five things on a short-term 'TO DO' list:
Finish reading my dad's screenplay
Create a 'finished' house
Increase service time
Bump up fitness level
Hand-write a letter

Five things on long term 'TO DO' list:
Prepare my children's book, 'Albert', for husband's art
Teach 6 yr old to swim
Go to Europe or Japan
pioneer
Learn a foreign language

Five words I like saying:
brilliant
purty
kooky
theocratic
loverly

99.9 Jiggawatts of looooove

Meet Marty. He is the newest addition to the household and my oldest son's special pet. We found him on Saturday after field service in the Wal Mart parking lot. The Humane Society of Smith County sets up there every Saturday and we always like to go by and look at the dogs they have scattered throughout the grass. But this time they had kittens and my six year old fell inlove with this little ball of cuteness.

We told the lady present to hold onto him while we went inside the store for some kitty necessities. On the way in, I asked him- 'So, what are you gonna name your kitty?'
He thought a second and said 'Tiger?'

"Tiger?" I said, "that's such a boring name. Lots of people have kitties named Tiger...why don't you name him something unusual?

"well, what can I name him then?"

" I don't know. You got him at Wal Mart. You could name him Wally.'

"Or Marty-yeah, I like Marty."

So, Marty he is. Of course my husband would rather say he was named after Marty Mcfly, being an avid Back to the Future Fan. He just calls him 'Butthead'.