§ A Week at Anni's....

It's been a long week. Hot, hot, and more hot. I can empathize with the Europeans who are also dealing with the sweltering summer!! [Germany, England, France, Poland and more have dealt with 100 degree temps!]

So, nothing much in the way of going out for my daily walks. Why? Read my opening statement again if necessary.

After my housework is done, I sit and read some. I happened to find a first edition of a book I read as a teenager. I loved the book. The story, tho so very sad and I bawled when I first read it, is also heart warming if you ever experienced the love of a pet. Dogs in particular. I bought it, brought it home and cried again...the story all came back to me like I was reading it in Junior High as a required read for literature....just the first chapter. I'm nearly half way through it, but oh...I tellya, it's now gonna find a special place in our library. When it's done, it will go on the shelf of 'don't trade this in'!!!

There is a Native American Legend about the red fern...if you're interested, do a google search.


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And, with the heat, when I was out working in the rock garden, pulling weeds this week, my head was sweating so much, it was dripping off my forehead and chin just minutes after I began. And that did it....after the chore was done, I went in and showered, and drove to my hair stylist, and when I got in the chair, I told her...."Shave it!!" "I want it cut to where I'm nearly bald!" She said, "Too hot for you these days is it?" "YES!"

After she draped me with the cover up, I said: "With the young girls, I've seen so many with the undercut." "Keep it long on top, trim it on top, but use the closest shave underneath and around my ears!"

This is the result. I like it.

Bud likes it, the kids like the punk granny style.  The neighbors like it too.  I've even had people at the grocery store I frequent take notice, and they like the cut. But, my sister said: "All you need now is a tattoo and you'll be just like all of 'em!" lol

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Photos from this week.  The pics are taken on different mornings; sunrise that wasn't all that exciting except for the jet contrail, sunflower, some odd plant I don't know but it reminded me of the 4th of July firework bursting in the night sky [3rd image in this series], a gas lantern at the birding center entrance, wildflower on the river bank and a new mamma [you can tell she is still nursing a fawn], and my favorite 'find' at the nature center....a dollar bill someone dropped into the swamp....no way would I reach down and come back with no hand with the hidden alligators in there!!!!!

Driving along the islands, stopping in Port A, I most always check out the beach and jetty. Well, on this particular day, there were NO ships coming into the channel. One lone cargo ship was way out beyond...as I walked I couldn't help myself snapping the pelican silhouette with the ship in the backdrop....this is with the zoom lens...that ship is NOT as close as it looks....probably two miles out to sea. And I love the colors of the beach umbrellas. That about sums up the past few days for me. Quiet times in Corpus.

§ Once upon a time....

...ever since the presidential campaign back in '08 and seeing the future 1st lady come on stage wearing a beautiful and yet a simple cut dress, I've become obsessed with the color [of the dress]. Yes, I state my favorite colors are were dark forest green and royal purple...well, they still are favorites of mine, but the color of this dress...what I call magenta...it's quickly become a favorite of mine also. The color, when I wear it, brings out the silver in my graying hair. [the subject of gray hair will follow this] Not only that, I think it brings out a glow in ANY complexion. I never, ever, thought a certain color would accentuate any skin tone but this particular color, in my estimation...and I've seen it on many women since the campaign year only 'cause I've been paying attention more to the color...and as I say...the color is GOOD for ALL skin tones. All thanks to our 1st lady, well, at least through my eyes.... The color has been around forever of course. And being a jeans and t-shirt kinda gal that I am, I finally found a magenta T-Shirt. And I'm pleased as punch. Me? Dresses? Nah!! Now, the color...back to the color magenta:

"Magenta is a color of universal harmony and emotional balance. It is spiritual yet practical, encouraging common sense and a balanced outlook on life. The color magenta helps to create harmony and balance in every aspect of life; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. A combination of red and violet, magenta contains the passion, power and energy of red, restrained by the introspection and quiet energy of violet...."
read more on the color HERE

Michelle O photo courtesy of Access Hollywood dot com - no infringement intended.



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Then, returning to my thoughts on graying hair. My color of hair when a lot younger was a strawberry blond. Some days, especially in the summer when out in the sun a lot, it was quite near platinum blond...but with a very dingy yellow tinge to it. The redness returned in the Fall and Winter ...depending on the season. As the years passed and after I had my two children, it became quite dull and more a dish water blond. Darkening with age. Then, the five decades put a whole new scenario with my hair color. It was like it was overnight...but the dingy yellow blond became gray on top with a light ash blond at the nape of the neck. And being the outdoorsy person that I've always been, my face is sun-bleached and rather wrinkled. What am I saying? A WHOLE LOT WRINKLED!! Which is okay, no complaints here...but the hair...I'm not even contemplating coloring it...dying it back to blond ---it would look SO artificial with the skin condition. Now, I used to put a silver rinse in my mother's hair each time I'd fix up her 'do' for her. It was a gray rinse. Turning HER dingy Irish-strawberry-blond-turned-gray hair a vibrant shiny silver. More or less, a lot like what you see Paula Deen's hair color is on the Food Network. And, to be honest, I would like that color if only I were so lucky. The last time I had my hair trimmed off my neck for the season [bobbed short], my regular place I go to get my hair cut, she and I got to talking. I told her that I've looked and looked all over for a gray hair rinse --just a rinse; not dye. She said just get the expensive gray hair shampoos..."it'll work like the rinses of long ago did." I now have Pantene for Silver Hair. It DOES take the dingy yellow tones out. And I thank her for her advice. I would never have guessed that a shampoo could do 'the trick'. I asked Bud if he could see the difference in the gray tone...he said:
"What makes the difference anyhow? I'd love you if you were bald and toothless."

Pfffft....gimme a break. I know he just wants me around to cook his meals and clean up hair balls. The CATS' hairballs that is.

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WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?!!? [answer it now], then click here to see what it tells you about your personality. [being that my color WAS green I feel reading about the color MAGENTA fits me better]. rofl