Panhandling = seize the moment

My commute to work takes me through (what I consider) the southern border to downtown ATL. Normally I cruise to work - other fly past me - and laugh at everyone headed north. Sitting still, moving at 5 miles per hour. Sometimes there is payback (like my trips home on baseball game days), but rarely in the morning. Today was different...I had to call in to say I would be late (I'm normally around 10 minutes early). From what I could tell someone flipped their car on our ramp onto "the connector" (learning the lingo). Usually I drive this thinking about breakfast. Why? Because every morning I see people waking up from sleeping under the bridges. This is new - they weren't there over the summer. Seriously it's like Labor Day happened and a whole community sprang up. I wonder where they were before. I see them clumped together like neighbors or families or small communitites. I think about bringing bags of breakfast foods or sandwiches.

Today I chuckled as a few of them woke up early...and sat with signs for the traffic that wasn't moving. One man was sitting on a crate and waving and smiling at everyone. Another man just held up a sign. A few were still sleeping and some just beginning to rise for the day. I drove away wondering how many people rolled down their window to share with these guys...and how many will think about them throughout their day.

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Labor of Love (Part 1 of 3)

I love lace. I love the delicacy with which it presents itself to the world. That being said, I dont really use it very much. I do have some family doilies, and my wedding dress has some lace, but I dont go too crazy. I like to be able to clean things, and not have dust mites clinging to every available piece of cloth (they cling to everything else anyway.) So, I decided to try a painting technique. Why not paint the lace on the object? Easy to clean, lovely design, what could be better? We got this child's vanity in an old attic pick. Yes, we went into someone's hot and muggy attic for several hours. Yes, they let us jsut dig through things (can you believe it?!?!) unsupervised. Yes, we had to take our own flashlights. And yes, there was mouse droppings and dead birds up there. It was gross, but worth it. My boy LOVED it! American Pickers is his favorite tv show. So this school bus yellow vanity sat there looking at us. Begging for new life! I knew if we left ...

Blind Man Stood on the Road and he

First, I need to say that every time I think of this song, I think of one man: Don Strunk. He shaped my middle school years and beyond by singing this song....alot :-) On my way to work yesterday I passed by the subway stop. Usually there is a man with a mohawk at this corner passing out free newspapers. I realized as I was crossing the street that it was a different man (also signaling that it was a different free paper). I also noticed the man had a cane, a cane like blind people normally walk with. As I got onto the sidewalk I was going to continue down the avenue (as opposed to into the train like most people would be doing) and the man asked me if I'd like a newspaper. I was pretty amazed that he heard me walking by in tennis shoes while big trucks zoomed past us. I'm lucky if I can hear the conversation that's meant for me to hear it in these situations.

Me and my shadow!

Please feel free to listen (or watch!) this song while reading this post. :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyEf1Lp7Byk I have always thought silhouettes were such lovely and understated works of art. I would be fascinated by the people who did it at Disney World, Kings Island, or Central Park. They could cut your silhouette out in minutes! I decided I thought it would be fun art to hang in our humble bedroom. Our bedroom is a work in progress. These silhouettes are only the second thing I have hung on the wall, so I am taking my time with it. We did get around to painting in over the summer. It went from drab and boring, to vibrant and living. It was amazing to me how the paint actually made the room look much bigger! In a house cursed with small rooms, that is indeed a blessing. I started out with some frames and material. The frames were fine as they were, but several accent things in our bedroom are white, so I opted to paint them. The material...well, I want to use it behin...

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