sing it

 Last Saturday, the Reptile Wrangler and I went to a vintage market. "La Laaa"!  There were plenty of old goods to see and some of those goods were pretty... old. There were a lot of old things re-purposed into new things, which is a trend right now and something that sparks my creative side. You know... reduce, reuse, recycle.  I'm a lover of rusted metal, chippy wood and worn out paper. So, I had plenty to look at. We (I) only bought a few things as I was there mostly to look. While I was browsing in one small booth, the Wrangler spotted something in another booth and managed to make the purchase without me noticing. As we were walking back to the car, he pulled it out of the bag and said "here, I bought something for you."

An old book. That was the first nifty thing about his purchase because I enjoy old books. A red book at that and I do love the color red. The second nifty thing was the fact that my name was on the cover! 

It is the Opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini. Now, my name IS Norma but I never knew there was an opera with that very name, nor have I ever heard of Vincenzo Bellini. But just how nifty is that? 

"Pretty nifty", she sings in a soprano voice. Wait...you're saying "You sing?" 

Only when you can't hear me.

I checked Wikipedia to see who Vincenzo was. (Click his highlighted name if you want to read about him). A pretty good guess was confirmed; an Italian Opera composer. I thought I might have to have my Italian mother-in-law read the words for me to see what this is about.

And, I still might have her translate some of it, but I did further looking and discovered, like most opera's, this one is sad. Not that I'm an opera expert, in fact, it's not my favorite music, but aren't most of them tragic or sad?  So, if you want to read about Norma the Opera , click on it.

And then I went to i Tunes and searched for the opera. Guess what? Lots of selections. Who knew?  I purchased one of the songs for .99 cents, with the hopes of embedding it here for all of you to hear. Well, at least for the two Italian sisters that I know who might enjoy it. But alas, without college girl1 here to help me out, I wasn't able to do it.  I think you might have enjoyed it... or possibly thanked me for not having the skills needed to share. Either way, this opera book is pretty neat and I'm thinking a certain nephew of mine just might have to play it on the piano for me some time. Would that make your special request list? Would that make your day?

Reptile Wrangler made mine when he surprised me with the find of the day!

Now, just imagine my name belted out in a soprano opera singing voice . Go ahead, try it and roll the r just a bit. I dare you to keep it stuck in your head all day.

It's been in mine.

sunflowers on a rainy day

A certain nice guy brought home some AMAZING sunflowers for me! And I do love me some sunflowers. Especially on my table. Well, I really love them the very most when they are growing wild... by the side of the road. Yep, all that gold is lovely, lovely sunflowers.

When I took college girl2 to college, the sunflowers were blooming abundantly in open fields and along the edge of the highway. We were all smiles to see them, as they are a favorite of not just mine.

See what I mean? All smiles.

Today it has been raining. A welcome sight. After all, it is the monsoon season so we should be happy to see some rain. So much better than the dust that is less than delightful during the monsoon season here in Arizona. I've even opened the doors and windows this morning... just to tease me that it is fall. At least for today.

So happy to see sunflowers on my table.
So happy to see the rain.
So happy all three of the college kids are enjoying their fall semesters!

Happy friday!

P.S. Just a shout out to some of my Colorado friends. The cute red 'doily' under the sunflowers on my table was handmade by my friend's Mom. She makes them to be used as kitchen wash cloths, but I tend to love them on my counters under bowls, or on my table under blue pitchers full of sunflowers. I just love them. The doily's and my friends! And the sunflowers. But, I said that already.

phone photo & a painted pig

I was looking through the pictures on my phone and found this. I took it, once again, out the window of the car. (Yes, I was in the passenger seat.) It was taken along the highway between the towns of Telluride and Ridgway, in Colorado this summer.

When I see the quality of the pictures, taken on a phone for crying-out-loud, out the window of a moving car, I wonder how long the point and shoot camera will be in use? They don't call them smart phones for nothin'!  The view isn't half bad either.

I imagine the  mountain colors are starting to change to their fall splendor right about now. Fall is coming to this part of Arizona too, I'll prove it later.

I think the man should put this view on canvas and preserve it in oil forever. Don't you?

Speaking of paint on canvas.

The pig painting on the wall was done by Rachel. She painted it and gave it to the owners, her bosses,  at the BBQ restaurant she worked at for the summer. It was her thank-you gift to them for giving her the opportunity to work there. They loved it and hung it right by the register! The gallery owner next door has already approached Rachel to do some paintings to hang and sell in her gallery. She likes to promote young, new artists in the area. Wow... that made the college girl smile! Since she has been back to school, we have heard that customers have asked about some commissioned paintings. So, in her spare time, after her homework and studying is done, I think she will be painting.

Very nice!