Raige Creations

Do you ever have days where you feel like you're just one puzzle piece short? Just not quite all there, not quite finished, so close, yet so far? And then you just can't FIND that last piece! We had that day two days ago. And are plagued by it. We were coming along nicely on the puzzle . The one we started 2 weeks before, with inspiration from my recent trip . We worked together on it, and were having a great time. As we got closer, the more excited we were to be done. Nearly Done! photo courtesy of Raige Creations And when all that was left was the flowers, we noticed that one pesky hole was left in the upper right. What the heck happened to that last piece? No clue. Did it come missing one? Did one get thrown away with the bag the pieces came in, I really don't think so. Where is that confounded last piece?!?! photo courtesy of Raige Creations We looked under couches, tables, in the laundry basket, pockets of clothes we thought we may have worn and ...

What a whirlwind weekend last weekend was. Full of swirling emotions, travel, old friends, family I hadn't seen since I was a kid! All culminating in Buffalo, or BFLO in these days of acronyms. A lovely gift from my cousin, I have been wearing it every day. I love the little jingle the buffalo's make when I move my arm. I arrived to town for my brother's memorial service . He had suddenly passed away 2 weeks prior, and it was last weekend when the memorial service was scheduled. I arrived to my cousin's place, I will call her Host Cousin, late in the evening, trying to prepare for the potential turmoil of the weekend. But to my surprise and delight, her place was nothing but a haven of peace and tranquility. I was immediately drawn to her dining room table. A puzzle!  A puzzle! I was drawn to it and found it strangely calming. Now, my mother used to do puzzles. Or maybe not 'do' them but, had them out and in progress to mess with in the off c...

My Bro - he never stopped ROCKIN' You can't mention the band Rush without me thinking of my older brother. I would have never heard Rush if it hadn't been for my brother. I didn't listen to that type of music usually. But at home, it was all we heard from behind his closed door. " The musicians band ", as I was told it was, I learned through my brother, and I learned to really enjoy actually. Well that, and Led Zeppelin , Yes , Deep Purple , Boston , Black Sabbath etc. A far cry from the pop music a young tween girl normally listens to.  I think of hearing music blasting from his bedroom when we were younger, door always closed, stereo always very loud. So loud it was like the door wasn't closed at all. It was the 80's, so all played on an old fashioned turn table and massive speakers that nearly took up his entire room. And I certainly didn't appreciate it then, but honestly, I did learn a lot about music from my brother. Even if he ...

If you haven't heard, the south has had a bit of a snow storm . (and if you haven't heard, I would ask what rock you have been under) Now, having grown up in the Buffalo area, then moving BACK to the Buffalo area (after my other life in the Caribbean) before moving here, to the mountains of NC, I am quite familiar with snow. I grew up with snow, and my kids spent 5 'love-slash-hate' years dealing with it. This? THIS is snow. photo: Raige Creations I can drive in it, I can shovel it, snow blow it, and basically deal with it. I have even shoveled it off a roof when we got more than 5 feet of snow in one day. (yes, that happened.) Nothing closed up there unless there was a blizzard or sub zero temperatures AND a blizzard. School was open that day we had 5 feet of snow in a day.  Yes, that is several FEET of snow. and there still was school, and everything stayed open. photo:  Raige Creations So now we are in the mountains of a 'southern' state. (...

Story of my life.  Oh Crap I'm Late Again Clock My mother was always late. Growing up, w e were never super late, always five or ten minutes late. Not too late to miss much, but always late enough to miss the beginning.  I vowed to not be like that of course. But some things are just inevitable.  As I got older and functioned on my own time, I got to be less late. But still late just the same. I usually made it within the first five minutes of something, and even sometimes right on time. I never did manage to say I was actually early for something.  Rum Point, Grand Cayman Then I moved to the Caribbean, where late is the norm. Everything moved slower, perhaps the heat and beauty slowed everyone down. It was perfectly acceptable to be late. In fact, if you were on time or even (gasp) early, you were often all alone and then eyed suspiciously by those who showed up at the assumed proper start time, fifteen to thirty minutes after the stated time. Buffal...