jury duty

i have only heard one person ever say anything good about serving' jury duty. it was hank hill, star o' one o' my favorites - king of the hill. but since he is a cartoon character i guess he doesn't count so therefore i must say i have never heard anybody say anything good about doin' jury duty.

somehow i have lived as long as i have without bein' able to opinionate on this necessity o' citizenship...until recently. it wasn't that i was intentionally left off the guest list and therefore not sent one o' the official red, white 'n black custom invites to partake. in fact a number o' them had been previously delivered into our mailbox. unfortunately each arrived during' times when i was under a great deal o' stress...enough stress to turn me, normally a very good citizen, into a temporarily careless citizen who had no concern for her civic duty. the invites to attend these mandatory gatherings among strangers were barely acknowledged as they were quickly piled in with all other stamped 'n canceled pockets o' parceled papers and forgotten.

when i finally remembered that i had been summoned for these serious soirees whose times had come 'n gone, i was filled with great guilt. when i later learned that the penalty for not paying' attention could mean a chance o' paying a thousand dollar fine and/or a number o' days in a lil caged room in the big house...and after these punishments, STILL owe the time as a juror, i had to add fear to my guilt. but instead of seekin' to fix my sorry self inflicted situation by seekin' assistance in a solution for stashin' away several summons, i just waited to see what would happen next.

while i worried about the time i might have to spend in jail (i have seen all episodes o' oz) i never mentioned my shame about the stashed summons to mini's daddy. i couldn't bear the shock he would show seein' me as the criminal stashin' the summons had turned me into. after all, mini's daddy is a saintly citizen who would never stave off even the lightest summon to show up as a juror or any other need his state - or country - sanctioned him to serve - even those that might not provide snacks.

i was seriously relieved when a new summons arrived but scared when i saw that it was altogether different in appearance than those that had been stashed. this new summons was in all black - no red ink this time - and all the words were in big bold capital letters. the new summons didn't ask any questions or allow spaces for excuses - it just told me when and where to appear to serve and if i didn't, when and where to appear to explain my lack o' doin' so.

when the day arrived to do my duty, i couldn't help but worry that once i arrived i would be made to provide an acceptable excuse for bein' such a sorry citizen and no excuse would be satisfactory and i'd end up in handcuffs once i handed over my thousand buck fine. my family musta' thought the same as mini 'n jo packed me enough snacks for a lengthy stay 'n mini's daddy insisted on dropping' me off - i guess to keep me from runnin' up a big parking' fee while i paid my penalty in the pen. my anxiety grew when he mentioned on the way that it was odd that i was summoned to serve in the middle o' the week - seems serving' usually started on a monday.

once i arrived at the designated den where the duty was to be done, i noticed that all the other citizens that had been summoned to serve were holding' serious summons lackin' red just like mine... i was surrounded by sorry citizens just like myself....hmmm...i wasn't sure if this was a good sign and wondered if it made sense to summon us all on the same day.... maybe they planned to shove us all into the same cell. while i was ponderin' this prospect i realized that all the other strangers summoned to serve along with me were also women. at first i found this quite strange but then felt a lil better 'bout myself knowin' i wasn't the only woman who had come close to bein' a criminal by bein', if only for a lil while, a bad citizen.

much to my surprise there was no suggestion that none of us had shown up for service after several summons. we were safely herded along, signed some signatures and sent into a very pleasant setting with quite plush seating. there was a big screen tv hung high for all the servers to see and lotso sony screens for those who sought to surf the world wide web. i opened up the sack lovingly filled with snacks and set about sharin' with all the strangers then sat, started up my ipad 'n spent the time shoppin' for shoes 'n such. the only unpleasantness was some sexy siren sittin' behind me whose fingers soared sending' silly text messages the entire time and each time she hit a key a sonic sound signaled. this was quite annoying' but everything else was quite satisfying.

after only several hours of sittin', we were sent home. not only was i surprised to have spent such a short time serving' but had become so relaxed shoe shoppin' i coulda' certainly stayed put.

seems so senseless that i had made myself suffer so - after doin' the stashin' o' those summons. now that i know how satisfying' serving' can be i am certainly looking' forward to bein' invited back soon. i may even see if they ever seek out citizens for volunteer service. i'm not sure that every city has the same set-up but i must say, next time you get summons to serve, you might wanna see it as something' to look forward to rather than something' you feel the need to get out of. i wonder what else hank hill has been right about?

recent guests

to avoid the risk o' sharin' a jail cell with lindsay i am off to do my duty as a prospective juror...but thought before i headed out i'd blog up this shot my cousin jo snapped yesterday.

hope you have a wonderful wednesday!

prunin' pleasure

when we moved into this big ol' house on this big ol' piece a land, i was plunged into an immediate interest in gardenin'. in no time at all i was completely addicted and found myself wishin' i had been introduced to the benefits of runnin' my hands through dirt 'n greenery much earlier in my life.

growin' up in that small town in texas, the closest i ever came to gardenin' was usin' a paper towel to pry some o' the dust off the plastic flowers that had been sittin' on the table in the parlor long enough to be covered with dust. there was also the minor knowledge o' flowers i received by way o' the corsages presented to me for homecomin' (white mums on steroids) and the prom (a white orchid if you were really lucky, otherwise pink carnations). and i had taken a peek or two at the vegetable garden our next door neighbor p.t. patton planted each summer but since he only shared his plentiful crop of okra - which i find hairily horrible - it's existence didn't inspire me toward pursuin' plantin' as a pleasure.

over the years a bounty o' beaus would bear before me baskets full o' blooms but i never stopped to appreciate where they were before they were basketed. the only bit o' gardenin' i did before arrivin' at my current locale was when i lived at the beach and decided to decorate my deck with a dozen or so delightful dahlias. i propose declarin' it actual gardenin' is pushin' it 'cause i purchased the plants pre-potted...altho i did provide each pot plenty o' water before some passerby pilfered the plants from their perch. pity - they were really pretty.

so like i said - when we arrived on this acre 'n a half achin' for some able arms with green thumbs attached, i found myself powerless in a predicament that predicted horticulture becoming my primary pastime....whether i was prepared or not.

my first plantin' attempt was a complete failure. i worked all day with spade in hand, pushin' 'n pullin' piles o' dirt in preparation for ploppin' in platters o' pretty pink petunias. after standin' back with pride to admire my professional looking planting i picked up the protracted hose to project water on the plants propped so proudly in their new places. unfortunately it was apparent i needed more plantin' practice 'cause just the slightest bit o' water projected upon the pink plants picked 'em up 'n propelled 'em plum down the paved path. it was a pitiful performance in plantin' but i refused to be perplexed and was determined to persevere.

so practice i did 'n before long my plants not only stayed put but they began to prominently peak. in fact the peakin' became so prominent that in no time all my plantin' called for perpetual prunin'. my to my surprise i found as much pleasure prunin' as i did plantin'. i had no premonition though that prunin' - even done with pleasure - could be so painful. but painful it was....so painful in fact that one full day o' prunin' resulted in me practically paralyzed for the next full day.

the problem o' performining prunin' only part time perpetuated until our gardener - who is prohibited from so much as pinching' a petal - presented me with the best prunin' tools ever produced. and if you too are a pruner of anything from a piddly plot to a prominent property, i suggest you ponder over the oh so practical fiskar pruners.

if you visit the fiskar website you'll see there's plenty to pick from. but the three pictured in today's blog art are my preferred picks. for a hand tool my favorite is the powergear large bypass pruner which has won awards from the arthritis foundation for ease of use. if you are pained by arthritism, rheumatism or carpal tunnel syndrome, wanna try to prevent all of 'em or just wanna a tool that makes cutting plants as easy as cutting' paper - this tool's for you.

now - if your plantin' propels itself toward the sky you're gonna want one o' their prunin' stiks. for years i have only had the 2 pound regular stik and have not only pruned with pleasure 'n no pain but actually look forward to usin' it. it's so easy - you just grab what you wanna pluck 'n pull the strap or handle down and watch whatever you picked to pluck pummel to the ground. the newer telescopin' stik is pretty much just like the regular one but as it's name says, telescopes so you can reach just about as high as anyone could possibly wanna prune. and it's light enough that it won't make you tip over like all those other telescopin' tools you may have tried previously.

i love these three tools so much i keep 'em hidden so that no one else will poach 'em from me - not just cause i don't want 'em damaged but i don't want anyone else to get to the prunin' and leave none for me. only my cousin jo knows where i place 'em and that's cause she uses the smaller prunin' stik to grab things off the top o' the trailer the morning' after one o' her less than polite parties.

i only have two warnins' about these terrific tools....besides the tendency for makin' you wanna prune when maybe you should be doin' other things...first - don't try usin' the bypass pruners in the dark. i did just that pryin' hydrangea blooms loose to push into pretty pots for a plush party the next day and pruned right into my pinky. second warning is - even as light as the telescopin' stik is, if you try prunin' your rose vines away from the neighbors side by standin' on the top step o' your ladder with it telescoped all the way out, you might be overdoin' it all and just fall off the ladder like i did. luckily when this happened to me mini's daddy - who had insisted i didn't need both the stik AND the ladder - had predicted the predicament to come and was prepared to catch me mid-tumble, preventin' me from permanent damage.

all three o' these powerful performers can be located via the fiskar's website or amazon if you can't procure them at your local hardware store. if you place an order soon i suspect any one o' these tools would be just the ticket for a terrific father's day present.

my neighbor james mitchell

when i was makin' mini i had to spend alotta time in bed and often entertained myself watchin' the comins' 'n goins' o' the neighbor residin' directly across the street, a handsome guy named rob lowe. this was before he was a husband, daddy and employer o' big mouth nannies 'n cooks and apparently prior to havin' any knowledge of window coverings.

rob's house was pretty much a fishbowl...from my prone pregnant position i had visual access to almost every room plus the pool 'n the garage....just about everything but the afternoon hot spot for rob's pack - a full sized basketball court in the backyard. and while i couldn't see the action that took place on the court, i did look forward to seeing who would arrive to walk the concrete carpet and was often kept awake by voices familiar via the screen - both large 'n small - and a thumpin' ball long after midnight.

rob was kind enough to stay put until i gave birth to mini but shortly after fell in love and moved away. while i would miss rob and the entertainment he provided, i couldn't wait to see who my next neighbor would be.

as soon as i saw boxes began to arrive i headed over and knocked on the door to introduce myself. i was shocked when i saw who opened the door.

my new neighbor was someone i already knew. he was a mean man...a vindictive man...a man who had been married at lest seven times and spent his life gleefully plottin' 'n plannin' 'n pittin' people against each other. this man, my new neighbor, had already been entertainin' me for decades as i peered into his life every monday through friday. how could i possibly live across the street from this man....this villain...and what did he need rob lowe's discarded house for anyway? he had a perfectly good home some place else...it was located at 25 white oaks drive in pine valley and it even had a name...it was called cortlandt manor.

as my new neighbor introduced himself and his partner to me, his gentle handshake shook me back to reality. the handsome man replacin' the handsome rob was actually james mitchell - who just pretended to be the villain palmer cortlandt each weekday on the long runnin' soap opera "all my children".

in real life james mitchell was nothin' like palmer cortlandt - in fact it was difficult to believe that such a wonderful person could be so convincin' while pretendin' to be so creepy.

since james and his partner, albert wolsky, had the knowledge o' window coverings that rob had lacked, they didn't provide as much visual entertainment and unfortunately, they weren't around that much. james lived in new york during the week and albert, bein' an academy award winning costume designer, was away much of the time. but when they were home they were wonderful neighbors.

as i got to know james i discovered he had spent time as an actor and dancer on broadway and in touring companies and had been in many films. in one he had even danced with cyd charisse. he had taught at drake and yale and had even been awarded an honorary doctorate. durin' his time on "all my children" he was nominated for seven Daytime Emmy Awards.

james died a couple of months ago at cedars-sinai here in los angleles at the age of 89. i'm sorry that he is gone and know that he will be missed by albert and everyone who knew him personally.... and of course by those who only knew him only as the mean ol' self-made millionaire via the television but loved him any way.

a mother's day digital doo dad greeting...

i do so hope you had the happiest o' mother's days! i picked these flowers for you but since they can't exactly be enjoyed the way they should be i made all the doo dad doins' surroundin' the photo into a digital download for you....it might be a nice place to plop your mom's photo or even your own. just click here.
xoxoxoxoxmini's mom