Hello!
I’ve been in Visalia, CA since May. It’s a pretty cool town.
I work downtown.
Clearly, that’s a big photo dump, but this city deserves it, and then some…
New town, who dis?
Category Archives: Stuff & Things
T-shirt yarn footstool covers
I have 2 foot stools that I use every day.
I found 18 inch latch-hook rug canvases years ago & finally decided to make it happen.
Laced zip-ties through the edges and looped them under the seat.
This is perfect for the living room.
Since there was already foam cushion and fabric on this round seat…
…it’s very cushioned.
I like the extra softness in my bedroom.
Now what will I do with my time?
Heehee!
Blue Luna Belle
Over 2 years ago, my Avon lady saw someone dump a kitten in a city lot, she scooped up the l’il, 3-week- old, tabby scruff, took it home, and cared for it for a month.
She showed me this photo:
And this picture:
…asking if I knew anyone who could care for or foster it (she wasn’t sure of baby’s sex) as my Avon lady is actually, mildly allergic to cats…like she gets a sore throat/stuffy nose…not like my other friend, Natasha, who never got to visit me cuz she would have stopped breathing. 🥺
ANYWAY…Avon lady’s other gig is singer in a band, so she can’t really keep a cat, even though she loved the li’l peanut!
SO…I asked her to bring that baby to me!
I loved having this sweet girl in my little 2nd floor apartment. Emily was NOT sure at first:
But Blue gradually wore her down:
She charmed us both:
And she ABSOLUTELY grew up too quickly. 🥺❤️
She is my perfect, best girl.
My sweet, baby Blue.
December 2024
- Coffee. Freshly roasted, freshly ground, freshly brewed. The smell of Folgers, in the red, metal can…opened with the green, electric can opener, is a CORE memory for me. I started drinking coffee when I quit drinking (1/9/00) and am now a snobby addict.
- Hearing aids. I’ve had mine for a month. I can hear the frogs out front now…
- The green of new grass.
- I am perpetually grateful for food that is made for me by others.
- The distinct purrs of each of 3 cats.
- Everything? Ok…trees.
- I was blessed to have a pretty stellar childhood, at least until the divorce when I was 13. Memories of growing up with My Brohim and my revered parents make me happy.
- C’mon! That’s a ridiculous question for a Librarian!
- The ranch house that I grew up in on a 1/4 acre lot in the middle of Kerman, CA in the 1970s & early 80s.
- Coffee.
- All winter light celebrations.
- Shonda’s homemade chocolate with cinnamon and chile.
- The ability to entertain myself. I don’t know if that’s a Gen X thing, a la “I’ll give you something to do.” or just me, but IMO, when you’re bored, you’re boring.
- Snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains.
- I have always adored autumn. I understand other places with 4 actual seasons, but I love when the rain comes to the San Joaquin valley in the fall, turning the golden grass on the hills to their winter green.
- My legs that take me everywhere.
- That my reinvention of me never ends.
- Dang! Another ridiculous question! This time for an Artist!
- When I pet Emily, then try to move away, she reaches out her white paw and touches me in hopes that I’ll stay.
- My Matt
- These Are Days by 10,000 Maniacs
- The stories of my family & me. Like how they left baby me with my godparents while they went to Disneyland.
- Traditionally, My Brohim and I are in contact with each other on xmas day. Anything more than that is frosting with sprinkles, baby!
- I’m supposed to wax poetic about how challenges make you stronger, but I’m not quite feeling that right now TBH.
- Every moment laughing with Matt.
- Making art with acrylic paint.
- My hearing aids are very small.
- A zoom meet with my Art Folks.
- Emily Doll Starr
- I’m very good at finding things.
- NEW YEARS EVE. I enter 2025 absolutely grateful for my little life.
FOR SALE
I have been painting for years, mostly things I want, or for friends & family…and now I’ve ABSOLUTELY run out of wall space!
I painted/collaged two caffeine themed pieces.
11″x14″ unframed stretched canvas.
Mocha:
Raised jewel details and leather steam:
Latte:
These were really fun to make.
Ingredients: acrylic paint & mediums, artist pens, colored card stock, scrapbook and found papers, craft jewels, leather & suede, UV protective sealer, PCH*.
They are for sale for $100 each, or both for $180 plus shipping from Central California.
Email for more information or if you have any questions:
Emilyswhiskers@yahoo.com
Oh! Also, I’m almost finished with a Coffee/Cappuccino pair.
And…I am open to collaborating with you on your ideas and/or colors for something I can paint for you.
Stay tuned!
✌️❤️🤘
*Probably Cat Hair.
Garden 2024
We moved the potted succulents back out by the fence after the risk of frost passed:
Before I started repotting almost everything:
And then I started weeding the dog run:
Along this side is where I found all of this and then some:
After the dog run, I weeded the front spot so’s I could fill it with wildflowers:
After the space received its feline blessing from Blue (my garden assistant):
…the sprouts popped up and have been growing since:
Look how tall they are now!
I did weed the big rectangle too:
We had no idea that the aloe would be so happy, it would bloom…um…fluorescently?
The other good thing I kept is this little rose bush:
She looks pretty good now:
After the great repot-the-succulents session, everything has more room and they’re showing me how happy they are now:
I love our back yard.
We’ll have a night fire in the chiminea soon. Prolly will be s’mores there too…😋
Dang.
I realize that it’s been over a year since I’ve written, but I’ve been weirdly occupied.
A week after my last entry, I was sent home from work on Paid Administrative Leave for 7 months, then released from employment on September 5th.
I moved to Woodbridge (Lodi) with Matt. I brought my (now our) 3 cats:
* I’ll tell Blue & Joey’s stories soon.
I applied for CA state unemployment in September, was denied on November 1st, and have been waiting for my appeal date since then.
I finally received notice of my appointment (4/25/24) 1.5 weeks ago.
Groovy, yeah?
Today I received this notice:
So…I’m on 6 months and counting with no income. (That tax return was helpful tho…).
We are safe and happy, here together.
I’ll tell about my gardening efforts soon, too.
✌️❤️🤘
Edit: I received notice that my appeal is now scheduled for May 7th at 10am. 🤞
Holocaust Memorial Day
My Father, Rob Roy Wirt, served in WW2. I’ve told the story many times, how he was too thin to enlist until he went home and ate bananas & cream for 2 weeks to make weight.
This was right after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, when Dad was 19.
He told me stories while he prepared and broiled a steak (peppered heavily), sautéed mushrooms in butter, and made a green salad with cucumbers, green onions, radish slices, and blue cheese AND French dressing.
Only once, he told me about how he nearly got into a fight with 2 fellow recruits during basic training.
He happened upon the 2 while they were picking on a rather small-framed, Jewish, fellow soldier, calling him a “Christ killer,” and shoving him around.
My Father was angry hearing this and he called them out for the bullies that they were being, challenging them to, “Pick on someone your own size. I don’t believe in ANY of your gods!”
Although he was thin, Rob Roy was 6 feet tall and he’s the one who gave me these broad shoulders…I’d bet cash that he could appear as “intimidating” as folks call me.
While I imagine that he stood up for the guy because he was being picked on, because religion was of very low importance to my Dad, there were likely multiple reasons for him to intervene.
I have always been inspired by this story, to step in if necessary, and to stick up for others.
For always, and for many reasons, I will never forget.
So Random
Fallon had a “I used to think…” Twitter post, and while I rarely tweet, I was thinking about the phrase.
I remember riding in the back of the car on the way to Fresno, at age 5 or 6, when I heard a radio newsman report a story about someone who was, “shot and killed.”
I asked Mom if that wasn’t a redundant statement, as I thought that if a person was shot with a gun, they died.
I didn’t know a person could be wounded by a gunshot, but I knew what a “redundant statement” was.
The life of a hyper-literate child.
Horatio and Emily 