November is made for fire

My love of dancing flames is no secret, as is my love for hot dogs and marshmallows.
Put them together with friends, a chill in the air and whittling sticks and you make Niki joy.

First, however, you do need to get a fire going:

Some sort of starter... kindling...aim-n-flame...

Come on people - FIRE!

How many people does it take to light a fire?

Ahhhhhhhh... here we go.

Add some chunks of wood.
          Careful; leave room for oxygen flow.

That's better.





Thanks to Lynn and Shawn for having Betsy, Ron and me over for a campfire.

Considering how much camping Lynn and I did together as children it felt nostalgic to talk and laugh and catch up with friends that have drifted apart while sharpening sticks, grilling doe-dogs and making s'mores.
I love, love the crackling of the wood and the smell of the smoke (when it isn't attacking my eyes, that is - less of a fan then). And i love them even more when surrounded by fun people.

Helllllloooooo October!

It is well documented that October is my favorite month of the year.
LOVE IT!
The humidity finally breaks.
There is a chill in the air.
Jeans and light sweaters emerge from storage.
Punkins appear by the side of the road.
 Apple cider abounds.
Trees put on their autumnal finery.
Pumpkin spice everything!
Yes, there is much to celebrate in October.
Here in the Nikiverse, October is all about doing craft festivals, gearing up for the holiday season and making, making, making, making beautiful and silly things.

However, there are uncomfortable changes as well.
My beloved pink camera has been retired.
Here is the post with the very first picture i ever took with it, in May 2008.  sniff, sniff, sniffle...
After a conservative guess of 14,000 pictures taken, she finally gave up the ghost two weeks ago and refused to turn on, even with much pleading, begging and cajoling.
    It was time to let her rest on a pedestal in the studio, in all of her pink glory.
Luckily, there is a backup camera that Jason and Kate gave me when they upgraded a few years ago.
Now just to find it...
Camera located!  It is a newer version of the pink camera so i already have batteries and memory cards and cases so now we just have to turn it on...
Nothing.
Panic briefly flared in my tummy at the thought that i might be without a camera.  Yes, i realize that in this day and age with cameras on phones and tablets it is certainly possible to take a picture without a camera, but it isn't the same people.
Okay, take a deep breath; maybe the battery needs to be charged. After all, i haven't used the pink camera in weeks. Okay, now just to charge the battery...
Where is the charger?!?
My apartment has been in a sad, sorry state of construction and disarray for a year. Nothing is where it is supposed to be - GAH!
After a few days of searching, the charger was located, the battery was charged and last night - TADA! - the backup camera is working and has graduated from its backup status.

Hazzah!

It is National Poetry day!

...and yes, Rea, haikus do count.  💖

Hola!

achievment unlocked - rose petal puller

I love new experiences and learning new things.
As such, i have accumulated an odd skill set.
Need a wedding dress properly corseted? I can do that.
Need to keep a nail from falling off after smashing your finger? I can do that.
Need to cook food for 150? I can do that.
Need to properly set a balloon drop? I can do that.
Need to mix glitter to exactly match your wall paint? I can do that.
Need to explain why the sky is blue with ordinary household objects? I can do that.
Need to navigate by the stars? I can do that.
Need to cook cauliflower so that it is delicious? I can not do that. Really, can anyone?

Recently i learned how to pull rose petals from the stem without damaging them.
Yes, there is a specific technique for that.
It involves holding the flower and stem in opposite hands with your fingers curled around the base of the bud just past the first few petal layers and then there is a pushing, pulling, pushing, rocking, pushing, slight twist and pull.

Voila! 
You are holding all of the rose's petals without the rest of the flower; now you just have to gently unroll the petals from each other.

Need petals to throw.

Denude the roses gently.

Ow! That's prickly!

PSA: As you finish 20, 30, 40, 50  roses, it is easy to become distracted.
Stay vigilant or you might forget that there are still thorns.

putting the me in memes

My current status as visualized through Pinterest:

What i really want for my birthday.

I am 46 years old today.
That's 46 trips all the way around the sun.
Today i am starting my 47th.
To mark the occasion i have prepared a haiku about the things that matter to me, the things that i truly and deeply want for my birthday.

May is my second favorite month

Beautiful flowers.
                                              Mother's Day.
                 A multitude of birthdays, including mine.  🎈
                                                                      ➤Mild temperatures.
Yes, May is a great month indeed.

What keeps it from being my favorite?
POLLEN

The scourge of yellow dust everywhere and the reality that right now i am out of Benadryl, Benadryl Sinus, Tylenol Sinus, Claritin and Ny-Quil.
It is such a price to pay for all of the beauty, i'm just saying.

medium level annoyed or mildly angry

My favorite curse word is piddlypot.
I don't know why it is, i don't remember where it came from, but if i am upset enough to call out an expletive it is 8 times out of 10 piddlypot (the other 2 might be too filthy to type here). In fact, i never realized that it was my signature curse until Dash started talking and i confided in JP and Kate that i was worried he would pick up bad language habits from me (i was thinking of that other 20%) and Kate replied, We'll know he is listening closely to you the first time he says piddlypot.
I am also fond of the word crap, normally in conjunction with something else, i.e. crap on a stick, crap on a cracker, crapcakes with a side of tartar sauce.
But i need a curse or expletive that lies somewhere between crap (not good) and piddlypot (really, really not good).  There are two good words that i will say to myself that fit the bill - baldershaft and bagondasheesh - but they come from private jokes and it doesn't feel right using them in public because then i'd have explain all of the backstory and who has time for that when you are already upset about something?
That is where Thesaraus Thursday will come to my rescue!
As i continued to read about words that have fallen out of common use, i came across zooterkins.
Zooterkins!
Yes, it sounds like the name of a fire Pokemon, but in fact zooterkins is a 17th century expletive akin to consarn it, but less 1849 prospector-y. It even feels like a word that would live in the Nikiverse.
Let's try to bring zooterkins back, people. It is a kinder, gentler way to let everyone around you know that something or someone has just stromped on your next to next to (would that be your third to) last nerve and attention needs to be paid to keep the situation from boiling up to piddlypot.
Or that other 20%.

so fun to say

Shuttlecock.
Shuttlecock.
Say it out loud people, shuttlecock.
That is a super fun word to say.
Shuttlecock.
Shuttlecock.

And why do i have badminton on the brain?

And not just any badminton birdie, my friends.
This beauty at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MI is 18 ft tall and FANTASTIC.







Installed in the mid-90's by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, it is one of three shuttlecocks strewn about the grounds making it look like giants were playing a game of badminton with the museum as the net.

BF Suzanne and I visited KC last November and this was the Number One thing on my to-do list.

It did not disappoint. 

You can totally go stand inside of it for pictures.

Totally.

though you might not want to put your foot up on the priceless art, as a nice security guard reminded me 

Giant shuttlecock.

Like a set piece from my dreams.

Thanks, Kansas City!