Doppelganger Strikes Again

I think it takes a certain amount of guts (or insanity?) to take photos of oneself within a minute of getting out of bed and voluntarily post them online. So let me pat myself of my brave back. Either that or I’m a slave to comedy, willing to show the world my least flattering photos, all in the name of a laugh…Might be both.

Anyway, I awoke this morning and glanced in the mirror and suddenly I saw Conan O’Brien staring back at me from the mirror. Was I still dreaming? No. I was awake, noticing that Conan and I are twins!

 

 

(If you’d like to create your own Conan moment at home, put a little mousse in your hair and wear it all day and then go to bed without washing your hair. You may wake up with your very own Conan hairdo! I can’t guarantee that your resemblance to him will be quite as astonishing as mine (she says modestly), because you may not have Conan’s and my freckles. He and I both have Irish heritage and you can’t manufacture that with a little hair product. Of course, the similarities end there. I think he’s seven feet tall or something. I am not. He is a man and I am not. He gets paid a trillion dollars a second to entertain people on tv. I love to make you people laugh—for free! But this morning, for a few minutes, we were twins, and I’ll just savor that for a while…)

Realizing that my hair had a lot of potential for fun this morning, I gave it a bit of a shake and came up with this, my impression of Little Miss Muffet, who was scared by the spider:

illustration by Mark. A Hicks

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

With a little sculpting my hair morphed yet again. I  call it The Smurf:

 
 

And last, but definitely not least, is Conan’s impression of my impression of a smurf…

Enjoy, folks!

Questions? Yes. Answer? Not so much!

The letter Q may be a little underappreciated. Until now.

Earlier today I was scanning  the alphabetical list of all the blog posts I have written in the last (almost) six years. I had no posts whose titles started with K or Q. I remedied the lack of K titles. (V, X and Z were left out as well, but I’m only human and I don’t plan to write five posts today. It is Saturday, after all!) I’m all about the fairness so I am in the process of crafting four new blog posts, odes to four underused letters.

(Before I launch into what surely will be the most mind-blowing thing you will read today, let me pause and marvel at how many words exist that start with Q. I looked at a website that lists words for Scrabble games and there are a lot more words that start with Q than I realized. That having been said, how many do I really need? Some are ridiculously long and confusing and let’s face it—pompous—words that I don’t need to use. Simple is sometimes best. So I’ve pared down the hundreds of words I found to a few that are useful and interesting and in a few cases, amusing. (At least that’s my goal.) Below are some words that start with Q (not in alphabetical order). Feel free to add them to conversation, just for kicks:

Thoughts on the letter Q.

And its sidekick, u.

Don’t even try to write a word in English that starts with Q, unless you invite its best friend U along.

Quagga (the extinct animal I did a report on in 6^th grade. It was related to the zebra. It’s kind of amazing to realize what I remember from nearly 30 years ago. Sadly, I have very little use for this information and I gladly would trade my ability to remember the quagga for the elusive ability to remember what I walked into the other room to get. If any scientists or hypnotists out there can do something to my brain and can swap out quagga for something more useful, please submit a comment and I will get back to you right away about the swap. If I remember.)

Quotidian (daily)—Words that do not get quotidian airplay in my life: quarantine and quicksand. (Although as a child I saw quicksand in cartoons and feared that quicksand might be around every corner. It was dangerous--to be feared and avoided!)

Quinoa (a grain that has enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years). It is healthy and has fiber and protein in it and goes with lots of foods. I find it bland. Very bland. Be sure to season it somehow.  Hubby ate it in great quantities a few years ago, which led to my teasing him about his quotidian obsession with quinoa, of quorse!)

Quiz (a short test, possibly involving less pressure than a full-length test, or its big sister An Exam—and if the quiz is given in Math class, it may involve q words like quotient, quantity, quadrilateral and quadruple. If you did not study you may find yourself in a quagmire (predicament).)

Loquatious (What one of my 7^th grade teachers called me. Fancy word for chatty!) (True, this word does not start with Q but it gets an honorary mention because it is memorable and uses the Q.)

Quiet (something I am not.) See previous word.

Quarrel (old-fashioned-sounding word for fight. Verbal rather than physical. Therefore it lacks the previous word, quiet. Is it just me or are a lot of these Q words related to one another? Hmmm.)

Stacey Q (A singer I really liked when I was 13 in 1987. I’m sure you’ve noticed that things make a big impression on you when you are 13. You don’t like things--you LOVE them. That’s why I remember this all these years later.) *Stacey Q starts with S, not Q, but she gets an honorable mention because how many people have Q as their initial, even if it is a stage name? This is a fun pop culture reference. Maybe you’ll use this information about Stacey Q while playing Trivial Pursuit one day. If it helps you win, remember me. If you feel compelled to send a thank you in the form of food, please remember that I like milk, not dark, chocolate.)

Quimby, Ramona (fearless heroine of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, which I LOVED as a child. Ramona put ears and whiskers on her Q so that it would look like a retreating cat. She always did things her own way, which I dig. Like the Q itself, she was unusual.)

If you don’t like quiche, you may feel queasy if pressured to eat it, and you may want to quell the queasiness with a quick quest for the pharmacy. Make a query about the availability of an anti-queasiness medicine. If they are sold out, play some Stacey Q music (see above reference) in a quiet room.

Quintessentializing—really? Now someone’s just showing off. This was in the Scrabble words list online. Has there ever been a Scrabble board with this 16-letter word formed upon it? I doubt it. Let’s keep to the words that we actually might use in conversation.

Queen, quote, quail, quaint, quartz, quad (six useful words beginning with Q. See dictionary if you need definitions. I’m getting tired of typing definitions. Quite tired!)

Quill (feather used with ink for writing before one of the best inventions ever was created: the Sharpie). Quills were sometimes used to write quatrains (a stanzas of four lines).

Quack (useful word with two definitions. In its verb form it is the noise a duck makes. In its noun form it means idiot pretender giving medical advice without any experience).

The Quintessential Dinah Washington (Quintessential meaning the best example.) This was an album my roommate played a lot nearly twenty years ago, which I grew to love.) She was a blues and jazz singer with a voice full of soul. One of my favorites of her songs is “Baby, You’ve Got What it Takes,” a duet with Brook Benton (1960), which reached the Billboard Hot 100. If you haven’t heard it, please finish this post then immediately go to YouTube and listen.

Now, I realize that not everyone on the planet cares to read blog posts that may come off as lists of words. Am I quixotic (too idealistic) in thinking you might find all this informative and amusing, too? (Obviously, I am not among those who dislike lists of words. Remember, I named myself Freckle Faced Word Woman when I started this blog. I LOVE words! We are so lucky that we have so many to use, to describe all the nuances in life.)

Well, I don’t know about you but all these tongue-twisting Q words have tired me out. I’m signing off to go have a quick rest. I wish you a quality day!

 

Kindness to K Day

And now for a Random Stuff moment: I have no blog titles that start with the letter “K.” I have been blogging for nearly six years. This post is #322. And never have I entitled a post with a word that starts with K? This madness must stop. Yep, today’s the day to celebrate “K.” (Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. I’ll go with that.)

There are lots of good words that start with K.

I could recite them for you all of today.

Without K what would I call my knees?

And my piano would have no keys.

With no K there would be no Kewpie,

Kermit the frog or Kabuki.

There would be no kittens, kilts or kites,

We would have no knitting or kisses goodnight.

We’d miss out on the word “kerplunk,”

We’d have no ketchup in which fries could dunk.

No kind kangaroos could sing karaoke,

No boards in Karate would be broken.

With no K I couldn’t keep kebabs in my kitchen

And Kansas and Kentucky would go missing…

Radio stations west of the Mississippi would start with a blank

And what would you put in your kerosene tank?

With the keyboard I’d have no knack,

And nothing to put in my knapsack.

No kimonos, kachinas, kale, keys or knolls,

no kettles and kilowatts, and no Kaiser rolls.

We would have no koi and have no Kaftans.

K would be kaput all through the land.

This cannot be.

So I offer this plea:

Let’s celebrate our friend K

Starting today.

It took six years to start a blog with a K

But elegant, graceful K, today is your day.

Today is the day we honor the K!

 

 

 

Happiness is...

...Meeting my baby nephew on Saturday. I'd thought of him every day for eight months, thinking positive thoughts for him, dreaming of the day we would meet the newest family member. We didn't know his gender until he was born. My sister and brother-in-law wanted the surprise, and so we took to methods other than the ultrasound machine to predict his gender. I used the tried and true method of gazing at my sister's adorable bump. She was carrying high, I decided, and with complete certainty I jotted a note, predicting the baby's gender. I sealed and kept the note in my wallet for more than three months, so that upon meeting the baby, I could produce my prediction with a flourish, and graciously accept people's compliments about my genius gender-prediction techniques. Well, I was wrong. The baby was not a girl but instead, a darling little boy with a dash of brown hair. It seems my gender-predicting career may need to be rethought. I'm 0 for 1. But it's all good. I knew that we would fall madly in love with the baby and that gender would have no bearing on our love. Mom predicted the baby would be a boy because he moved so much in utero. That method of analysis did not sway me, because when my mom was pregnant with my sister, my sister behaved like a break-dancing, Rockette-aspiring, head-spinning contortionist, and she was a girl.

When I got the message that a baby boy had been born overnight I did feel surprised because I was so certain that he was a girl. But within a second my surprise turned to absolute joy and I cried with happiness on the Friday morning he was born. It was one of the happiest days I've ever had, the day I learned that I have a baby nephew, perfectly healthy and strong and full of life and hope. Despite the tough time my poor sister had while growing their baby, the little guy is a champ. He's so tiny but he already has a huge place in my heart. His clothes look like doll clothes. His face is perfectly-formed. His tiny feet are the size of my thumb. He's amazing.

My sister and brother-in-law are such a good team. They are sharing the care of this tiny wonder, and they are exhausted, but they are hopelessly in love with this little guy.

I think I need another date with my sewing machine. After meeting my adorable nephew I need to get out some fabric and make a red cape because my new calling is to be Super Aunt to this beautiful, tiny but mighty, wonderful, super boy...   

 

San Diego gets a Dash of Paris

A couple of months ago an exciting idea popped into my mind: an image of me prancing around inside an Eiffel Tower costume. It’s one of the most iconic landmarks on earth and I thought it would be a fun project to try to make. This costume presented its challenges, but I can say I gave it my best try and I hope it makes people smile or laugh today.

 

 

This is the fifth year in a row that I have made my own costume. I love doing it! But there have been trade offs. I traded fun for comfort. I couldn’t sit in most of my Halloween costumes. Some included a wire structure that scratched me. Certain costumes made walking hard. Some made me sweaty. I could not use the bathroom while in costume. But all these inconveniences did not deter me from creating another fun but uncomfortable costume the following year. I either don’t learn from past experiences or I forge on anyway, motivated more by the love of creating than the love of comfort.

This costume is more comfortable than most of the others have been. The tower only weighs two pounds because I made it out of plastic PVC pipe, wooden dowels, tape, ribbon and hot glue. There is something to be said for a lightweight costume!

Well, I’m going to sign off now because there’s trick-or-treating to be done, costumes to primp, jack-o-lanterns to light and fun to be had. To all the Halloween enthusiasts out there: Happy Halloween and au revoir!

Bed Time!

…And speaking of garden beds…

(Well, we were speaking of them this spring. Okay, if we must split hairs, I was the one speaking writing about them and you were patiently listening/reading/ whatever—why again are we splitting hairs? I don’t know why you insist on such accuracy. But since I’m in such a nice mood, I’ll give ya one more chance. So please stop interrupting and let’s get back to what we were saying about garden beds…)

This spring I was obsessed about my community garden. I decided to have mercy on you and I stopped yapping about it for a while but I think it’s high time we revisited the topic. Two weeks ago I found another community garden in town. I stumbled upon it quite by accident and as you may know, that is my favorite way to discover gardens and so many other things.

This one is the Linda Vista Community Garden. It’s a bit of a secret, which is fun. It’s not on a main road. It actually butts up against a canyon, which is fantastic because then the garden plants can look through the chain link fence and see the plants in the canyon and they’ll be inspired to grow as big as the canyon plants.

This community garden has a charming feel, as many gardens do. It’s not a huge garden but so what? The fact that someone dreamed it up and made it happen is terrific. It has a hand-painted sign (yay), a small green house, repurposed materials and a funky vibe with a meandering path. It was such a treat to come across it.

For me, the crowning jewel was this real garden bed…

It's a Pumpkin Thing...

It’s Halloween season, y’all.

 

I’ve embraced it. As usual.

A few days ago I picked up fallen Jacaranda seed pods, took them home and began to paint them.

 

Their shape reminded me of pumpkins and I knew there was an art project waiting to be discovered. I like how the pods are slightly different in shape and some are not completely symmetrical. It makes the effect more charming and gives the mini jack-o-lantern faces more personality.

Enjoy the season, everybody!