Night on the Town

We made the trek to Lincoln for dinner tonight to celebrate. It's been so long since we were in a "nice" restaurant, we felt like goobers in the big city. But we survived, remembered how to behave in public and had a lovley evening. We went to a brewery/restaurant in the trendy Haymarket district of Lincoln. Talk about feeling one's age. It's right smack in the middle of University of Lincoln land. We had an outstanding meal and discovered a new favorite snack. It was outrageously priced on the menu and we enjoyed every morsel.

This is Lahvosh. It's an Armenian flat bread, sprinkled with mushrooms, bacon, turkey and ham. Everything is then smothered in melted Havarti cheese. The flat bread was crisp, like a cracker. Who needs pizza when you can have Lavosh!

After dinner the car found it's way to the only Barnes & Noble in Lincoln. Both of us need a book store fix and it had been a while.

We were again reminded of the intensley small town life we currently live, when we tried to buy a fancy schmancy coffee drink for dessert. Have you tried ordering from an unfamilar Starbucks menu board, with a perky 20 year old barrista asking if you want tall, grande or venti when you can barely discern the difference between latte or espresso? And then do you want a double shot or energy or cream base????? Talk about goobers on the town. I finally figured it out, got a really decadant Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino Light Blended Coffee with a double shot espresso. Whew... the drama... I mean from the other side of the counter. All the eye rolling, giggling and looks of sympathy from the black aproned coffee queens as we sorted out what I wanted. This, by the way, is a Venti. The only way to go.

What keeps me going

I love my job, but some days I just don't want to be at work. Writing about canine fungal infections and walking dandruff can really wear on the creative sensabilities, you know?

Today is one of those days. It's the Viking and my 35th anniversary. I'd rather be whiling away the day in some romantic setting. What keeps me going, is the little mental retreat I take every time I gaze to the right of my monitor and see love. The background is a poster of my favorite Monet print, my family and today, a new symbol of love. The figurine reads "love, everlasting and true". And so it is. This is what keeps me going.

Spring Storms in Nebraska

Another storm is moving in. I've had it with tornado sirens and magnificantly fierce lightening. I hope this one keeps moving. It gets a little cramped in the closet.

TaDah!!!

First, a couple of blasts from the past, so you know where we started.

Here's where we are today.

I can't even guesstimate the hours this has taken. I do know it's been 3 10 cubic yard dumpsters, 3 big boxes of the largest black garbage bags, 4 large boxes of white kitchen garbage bags and an unknown number of trips hauling it all down to the curb. If it had not been quite so exhausting as it was going on, there might be a few more photos of the mountains of bags and miscellaneous stuff that faced the trash men every Thursday morning for the last 9 weeks.

For me, it's been a major physical challenge, as I work a full time job, commute almost 2 hours a day and then have spent the majority of both weekend days in the house. It's been all I can do to keep the laundry done.Thanks to my own hero, the Viking, we've had meals everynight and the cat boxes cleaned! That's major, btw, when you have 4 cats.

The job also ate up a full 2 weeks time of a visiting granddaughter, 4 full days of other relatives, and a couple of weekend friend helping days. Mind boggling. Some day soon I'll share some interesting finds with you all that seem to be beyond reason. Like.... in a house where only 2 people live, and one has passed on, why are there extra sets of teeth whose owner can't be identified?????

Here's one of the infamous and wonderfully helpful Recliner Man facing the first of the monsters, when we all thought one would do the trick. What fools we mortals be.

Memorial Day

Today is indeed, a memorial day. I have conqured the House Of Many Treasures. It's been a long task, and there is still some clean up to do, but the end is very,very near. There's been many huge undertakings this last month, but the garage has got to have been the worst. Here's where we began.

It's a huge oversized 2 car garage. Almost big enough to be a 3 car but not quite. For years, there's only been one spot to park a car, and if you didn't line up exactly right with the blue garden globe the was on the heap of boxes , you were never going to be able to get the car door open to make your escape. Thanks to my sister and brother in law, the hole was widened after 2 days of slaving, and I could begin to see how huge a job this was going to be.

Stage 2. This is where we left it after another 2 weekends of work. Everything and I do mean everything, covered in mouse droppings, mud wasp nests, dirt and spiders. Pleasant way to spend a weekend, don't you think? Everything had to be opened, inspected and repacked or trashed. Too many treasures, kept in the garage for 12 years ended up being trashed thanks to mouse damage or moisture damage.

Stage 3. It's Memorial Day. My husband and I have spent two 12 hours days and the garage is mostly done. Oh, I know it doesn't look it, but it is. Things with big yellow tags go to a family member for storage. Everything else is destined to go to a salvage place. I hope I can find one to come this week or next weekend. There's still lots of useable things for someone.

Thank goodness this House of Many Tresures is only 12 years old. I'd still be working on July 4th weekend. I wish I had a panoramic camera so you could really see the whole thing!

On a morning in May

You can't tell from this photo, but the wheels on this behemoth are taller than the Saturn I drive. This thing is huge. The first time I encountered this piece of machinery, it's side arms were partially extended and it was coming toward me on a foggy morning just after I'd moved to farm land.

I'd never seen anything like this. It startled me. It was mammothly large and shouldn't have been on the same roadway as my tiny 2 door Saturn. It gave me the sense of what I could only imagine it would feel like to be standing in a field and have a battle tank advancing on you. It made me think of those huge walking fighting machines in one of the Star Wars movies. It creeped me out that early May morning a year ago.

I went into work ranting about this monster I'd seen on the road and my new coworkers giggled patronizing at me as they explained the monster was really a crop sprayer. Silly city girl.

I really wasn't frightened, just horribly out of my element and feeling edgy. A year ago, I didn't know a lot of things I know today. There was a clue that I missed that day, that could have allayed all my uneasiness if I'd only recognized it.

Just as our vehicles prepared to pass head on, the driver gave me the classic Nebraska 1 finger wave that says "Hi, Neighbor. Have a good day!" He continues to do so, every day as we pass each other in varying combinations of Saturn and farm vehicles, both on our way to earn our daily bread.

Lord of the Pounce

I like cats and Celtic music. How could I resist when I heard of a song called "The Lord of the Pounce". It's from Marc Gunn, a very talented bard in Austin Texas. Enjoy.

Negativity

In my quest to focus on what's positive in life these days, I'm noticing that's not at all difficult to find something good about each day. Overall, I am an optimistic person and try not to hold on to negativity. In my life, there is a family member who is totally opposite. I think she actually enjoys misery and if there isn't any will go out of her way to create it. She wants company in her experience, acting like a big vortex trying to pull everyone in.

I try to limit my exposure to people like that. When sometimes it's just not possible, the best I can do is try to stay true to myself and not get sucked in. I try to remember that there is someone I care about underneath the facade. I try to remember that I am a generous, kind person who does not need to identify with the negativity in order to try an understand it. I try to stay in touch with my sense of who I am, and know that in this too, is a lesson for my own growth. I try to remember that I do believe in love. And love does not judge.

Sometimes, I just remember that nothing lasts forever. And that can be something good.

Spring Green

Living in farm country has been interesting for me this year. Every day I pass fields where crops are grown. There are more subtle changes to the land, and the crops than I would ever have imagined. Today was the first day this year that there was green in the fields again! I don't know what's growing, but it is just high enough above the ground to form a green haze. A very welcome sign that the cold, white winter is truly leaving. Oh, there may be more cold and even more white, but it will be fleeting and soon there'll be more lovely shades of spring green surrounding me.

Good Morning Vibes

I didn't forget to notice what was good yesterday - just got sidetracked at the posting part. Yesterday morning I saw a brilliant celestial display that made my whole day better! As I was driving to work in the morning, the pale pearl moon was in my front windshield and suddenly in the rear view window, a firey tangerine sun appeared. It was the best part of a workday Monday.

I'm Worth It

Something happened last night that feels damn good this morning.

A hard drive decided to spew out error after error creating panic in someone's heart. So an hour later we're at electronics mecca, Best Buy. While the Viking is intently studying hard drives, I found myself wandering innocently toward the beckoning glitz and siren song of iPod land. I had no choice but to acknowledge the deeply buried lust in my heart. I had a perfectly good player in my desk at work. I don't need a new one. We bought the new drive and headed to the car.

Like many mothers, I've always put the desires of my family before my own when it came to material things, especially indulgences. I still do most of the time even though it's just the Viking and me at home these days and has been for a long time. I think it is just a mother-thing;pop psychology often says that behavior is connected to a whole slew of feelings that all revolve around self worth and what you do or do not deserve. Maybe it's both.

At the sound of the ignition, I knew I couldn't resist. Back to the store. And right there and then, I decided that it was ok to get something just because I wanted it. Buying it wasn't going to cause financial collapse or the earth to stop spinning. I took a step further and went into really dangerous selfish territory and bought outstanding earbuds to go along with the shiny new toy. Just because I love the nuances of music. For me. Just me. It feels great.

What did I buy? A Sandisk Sansa View, 16GB of wonderment and Bose earbuds. When I heard the difference between the included Sansa earbuds and the Bose, I no longer felt any sense of remorse over that little upgrade. The commercials are right. You should hear what you're missing.

Coffee Art

Have you seen the email going around with really beautiful cups of coffee ,artistically embellished with frothed milk or cream? Real or photoshopped? I don't know,but I thought it would be fun to see how it's done. In in my neck of the woods, coffee is either black or with cream, froth? What's that? Weirdo for even asking.

Here's a Youtube video of someone actually making art in their coffee. How fun would it be to get this in the morning?


And this actually realtes to my good things in life project. Today is Saturday,and all week I look forward to weekends for 3 things: a really long shower,leisurely waking up and being able to take the time to revel in the cozy warmth of bed and the third is making a pot of excellent coffee and being able to savor every flavor and aroma. Sometimes it's on Saturday, sometimes Sunday that I get to have "my morning".

Today was my morning.The coffee was freshly ground dark Kenyan. No cinnamon rolls, but that's ok. It was still a wonderful morning. Do you have any special rituals that make your hectic life better?

57 Cars

I've decided to start posting about the good things in my life. I've been stuck in a rut and it seems like a way to move ahead. So... day one.... a good thing about living in rural Nebraska is the lack of traffic.

I've been counting cars that I see on my way to work for the last week, from door to door,each day. It's 57. Including farm vehicles.

To give you an idea of what this really means, I drive about 30 miles one way to work. People here actually complain about the traffic. Really. Having driven in the Atlanta and DFW metro areas for many years, I just shake my head. This is a live shot of the main section of my drive, at noon today. I see more cows than cars on a daily basis. Definitely a good thing.

My Quirky Word Fixation

This is driving me nutty today. In my local newspaper, there was an article regarding a widow and a widower who married. The article stated that they were " both widowed in 2006". Seems to me the better sentence would have been "both lost their spouses in 2006", but since they went with widowed, it's bugging me.

So I looked up "widow" in my spiffy new dictionary, Merriam Webster Collegiate, 11th edition. Much to my surprise, "widow: to cause to become a widow or widower", so maybe it's not all that big a deal. But it still is bugging the daylights out of me.

What about you?

I found this video, I wanted to share with you. It's Lyle Lovett's version of Flying Shoes, written by Townes Van Zandt. The first time I heard this song, it took root in my heart and refuses to leave.

Memory

It's been a month since my dad passed away. His passing began on Christmas Eve and was completed just after midnight on Christmas night. Most of the hard things about a loved one's passing, fell to me to cope with. Making phone calls and decisions. Supporting my mother through it all. Helping my husband through his own unsettled memories of a death at Christmas long ago, suddenly raw and aching. It's been a somber month and I've just begun to feel like I'm coming out of a blanket of fog and numbness that enveloped me .

What I'll remember is how truly joyful he was about a year ago when I accepted a job and decided to move close by. The summer sunsets we watched together from the porch, the time spent talking about the variety of birds at the feeder. He told a lot of stories in the last months, about times he was a boy and then a younger man in the service. He was loosing touch with small daily things, but remembering clearly things from 70 years ago. He talked about his mother canning food during the war years and how his father's shoe shop smelled. He talked about some choices he'd made in life and things he might have done differently. He reconsidered some of his relationships and wished to make ammends where he could.

He wasn't always the ideal father and there are many things better left alone. But in the last years, he became a better man. And I was so blessed to have the last 10 months to know him.

Handmade Pay It Forward

I have a very creative niece who recently gifted me with a lovely handmade tote bag. It has become the perfect place to keep my current crochet project. She sells her lovely bags and card wallets on her blog, and I'm always checking to see what she's been up to.

Today, she snagged me into an interactive, totally Internet art project called the Handmade Pay It Forward. I firmly believe in totally unencumbered acts of kindness and try to " pay it forward" at any given opportunity. Sometimes I even make up the opportunity! And that is the premise behind this project.

There's lots of other creative people playing in the universe; if you'd like to investigate further, just Google "handmade pay it forward" and I hope you'll want to play along, too.

In a nutshell, it's about sharing love through our collective hearts and hands. So, if someday you'd like to receive a random token of happiness, just agree to the few conditions and keep the faith.

Here's the deal...

• anyone with a blog can join.
• the first three people to leave a comment with a valid email address (I need to be able to contact you!) on this post will receive a handmade gift from me.
• I will send your gift within 365 days. in return, you have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog (whatever you want to make, no rules or limitations.)

I've been known to dabble in many crafty areas, so I have no idea what I might come up with to send you!. I can only promise that it will be executed to the best of ability and hopefully will be something you'll enjoy.

Number 1 Reason To Not Drive After Dark

It was a dark and lonely night. No moon. Just me and then a deer. It ended worse for the deer. Fortunately, I wasn't speeding and I saw the deer in time to move almost all the way into the other lane, but I still hit the poor huge animal.

Guess my first stop in the morning is a body shop.

Update... Lucky for me, the car is driveable. The estimate for total repairs is $5 more than the Blue Book value on the car! Other than the headlight, I think I'll turn a blind eye to cosmetics. It's running pretty rough this morning, so I dropped it off at the shop to have them check it out.

As far as collisions go, this could have been much worse. At least the deer didn't come through the windshield and I was able to drive home.

Ashes of Christmas

The holiday season is officially winding down. Trees are appearing on the sidewalks and 70% off ads are plastered everywhere as we face the drudgery of January. It's always been a long, hard month for me with days of routine nothingness made worse by the excitement of the holiday season. I was always one to decorate the house, even the bathrooms got some festive touch. I collected Santas. In financially good or bad times, there has always been a happy little girl anticipating the Santa season living inside me.

It was different this year. Everything related to the holidays seemed like just one big chore that I was happy to avoid. I didn't bake. Didn't buy gifts. Only sent a few cards to elder relatives out of obligation. Even the music of the season which I usually start playing in late November held no interest for me. There was no real cause, it just didn't feel right.

And then my father unexpectedly died late Christmas night. The drama started unfolding in the wee first hours of Christmas morning and less than 20 hours later, his soul went home. It went too fast, yet it all seemed like slow motion at the time. Time has still not fully adjusted for me.

There had been one occasion this fall when he and I were talking, and I told him about my work in hypnosis. He wanted to experience it, so I lightly hypnotized him. While he was floating in the haze, I spoke to him and encouraged his body to be healthy. I also told him that whenever his soul knew it was time to go home, he should go and find peace. We never spoke again about it.

He overcame a life threatening aorta aneurysm crisis and was in better health than at any time in the last year. And then on Christmas, it was time for him to go home. I wonder if his soul had told mine the time was close.

Snow Day

It's looking a lot like this picture where I live these days. The snow is pretty as it falls on evergreen trees and a twilight purple skies are beautiful against the snow covered corn fields. Christmas lights are especially pretty as they shimmer through the snow. Winter, seen from the inside of a cozy, warm home is lovely.

In reality, it's not so great. The white stuff comes associated with a lot of COLD. Morning temps in the single digits as I leave the house. Ice that takes 10 mins to get off the car windshield. Ruts in the parking lot that are 10" deep of packed ice and snow. Ugly black sludge on the sides of the road. White residue building up on the car. White knucles clutching the steering wheel driving in the dark on ice. Horizontal snow and lip chapping wind. There's more, but you get the picture.

On the up side, the state of Nebraska has some pretty cool real time video of road conditions in many locations, so you can see the winter wonderland you're going to have to drive through. I was told this is an unusually snowy December and it doesn't usually get like this until mid January. This must be a special treat just for me. Lucky me.

Life Rule: Never Give The Drunk The Camera

Here's proof of why one of the Life Rules is "Never give the drunk the camera." Never mind the designated driver; I think we should have had a designated photographer at the Christmas party.

Internet Today

This week, the sister I consider the least web savvy sent me an invitation to Facebook. In itself, this seems like a normal event, but it really surprized me. Why? Because for years I have thought of myself on the cutting edge of most things internet and although I knew of Facebook, I hadn't seen the need to get my face booked. I think my grasp on new and exciting is slipping away....and I don't really care.

When it started, sampling every new toy in the internet toybox was great fun. There were ideas and visions I'd never dreamed, and the first time I wrote code and it became a visual reality was a thrilling moment. I completely embraced the vitual communities, pets and places. I managed a solid business without ever seeing most of my customers, and when I did see them, it was ok if they didn't look as I'd imagined, but when the conversations weren't as scintillating
as the email exchanges, I'd feel a little let down. They probably felt the same about me.

Now, my internet use is vastly different. I use it as an everyday item, like the cup I drink my coffee from. It's always there, does it's job as a coffee cup but if I tried to make it be a champagne flute, it might not do so well. If I want to know anything, Google is my first thought. I get annoyed when the info I want is buried by layers of thoughtless navigation. I am happy when I find my answer in seconds. And although my main contact with most of my family these days is via the internet, I don't turn to it for friendship any longer.

Which brings me back to Facebook. I went and signed up out of curosity. I can't see myself getting too excited about it. Sure it's cool in a hot sort of way, but not in the way that sitting in a bookstore cafe with a friend is. If you're lucky, you might meet that friend on Facebook, but unless you move out of that realm, that's all they are -- faces. And until more people get out from behind their screens and actually come to the MeetUps or other meet and greets , its all they can be.


I

Top 100 Movies

The AFI released its Top 100 American films; the teal ones are the ones I’ve seen. What have you seen?
1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On the Waterfront
20. It’s a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like It Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T.
25. To Kill a Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
27. High Noon
28. All About Eve
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. The Godfather Part II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
35. Annie Hall
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde
43. Midnight Cowboy
44. The Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story
52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunter
54. M*A*S*H
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws
57. Rocky
58. The Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan’s Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. The African Queen
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange
71. Saving Private Ryan
72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. The Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Heat of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President’s Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise
83. Titanic
84. Easy Rider
85. A Night at the Opera
86. Platoon
87. 12 Angry Men
88. Bringing Up Baby
89. The Sixth Sense
90. Swing Time
91. Sophie’s Choice
92. Goodfellas
93. The French Connection
94. Pulp Fiction
95. The Last Picture Show
96. Do the Right Thing
97. Blade Runner
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Toy Story
100.Ben-Hur

Got Cats? You Gotta Get This!

I am a cat girl. Always have been. Always will be. Right now, I have 5 living with me. And you know what that means....the little darlings shed everywhere and although I vacuum, it's never enough. Meet the Furminator! A cat lover's secret weapon against the shedding.

All that hair came from 2 small cats in one short grooming session. I used the Furminator on them about a month ago, and this is all the loose hair that's accumulated since. Can you believe it?

The Furminator cuts only the dense undercoat, leaving the top coat smooth and silky feeling. You use it just like shaving your legs and my cats don't mind it a bit. A couple words of caution... Furminate first, then vacuum your room and don't wear clothing you expect to leave the house in shortly after the grooming session!

At first it seemed a bit pricey, but it really is worth twice the price. So, I don't make a dime on it, but you gotta get a Furminator!

Life in a Cubicle Was Just Not Interesting To Me

Last night on 20/20, John Stossel was interviewing some NY socialite named Fabian Basabe whose life seems to consist solely of parties and more parties. He's the son of some wealthy guy and married to some wealthy daughter of a wealthy family. He apparently tried working once and didn't like it. He said(as closely as I remember) , " I saw a cubicle once, and it just didn't seem all that interesting to me". The thought of " sitting in there all day, and eating lunch at the desk" was just not interesting to him. Well, DUH!!!!

As much as anyone may like their job, spending 8 hrs a day in the cube farms of corporate America is generally not going to be all that stimulating. But we do it . Lots and lots of us do it. And wish we had windows. Or doors.

So, I thought I'd share my own little corner of of the farm. I'm lucky at my current job, the color scheme suits me. I've worked in much worse daily conditions. I have a very nice, soothing blue and light gray environment. The walls and desktops are in nice condition and nothing appears to be falling apart. The walls are actually high enough to give everyone some privacy, but we really need to work on the whole door thing. Speaking of which, have you guys seen the CubeDoors site?

So here's my daily view. See the lovely ergo keyboard my employers got me on my first day? And my very nice large monitor? I am well cared for. The little corridor leads to the break room. My cohorts in marketing and web design are all clustered nearby. We spend more time with each other than with our families. I think it's fair to say each of us would prefer it the other way around, but the electric company has NO sense of family values. So it's hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go!

World Most Expensive Free Green Bean Recipe

I got this great recipe card in a teaser mailing this week. Gorgeous recipe cards for all the courses of a wonderful meal. Doesn't this look awesome... it really tastes great too. I happened to have farmer's market fresh green beans the day this came in the mail, so I tried out the recipe. It was almost enough to entice me to sign up for the convenient every 3 week mailing of wonderful recipes. Almost.

There are "more than 1000 recipes" and each mailing will include 12 of them. Yum- o you may be thinking. Each mailing is just under $9 when you include to postage. You do the math....you could buy one hell of a lot of cookbooks of your choosing for around $750! Of course, you won't get the nice little plastic storage box to keep them in that you do get with the cards. You're on your own when it comes to storing that many cook books. I use to collect cookbooks. Now my recipes are in my computer and I've kept only a handful of my very favorite actual cookbooks. I kind of miss them, but space becomes an issue sooner or later. But I have wandered, so back to the recipe cards.

When I was a new bride, I joined one of these clubs and I really learned a lot about cooking, I made almost every recipe. But it seems to me that they were around $3 a pack and there was a finite number that you agreed to at the beginning of the club. Times have changed.

Anyway, here is this really great recipe. Make it before the cold winds blow.

Herbed Green Beans

• 1 lb green beans
• 2 teaspoons butter or olive oil
• 3 large thinly sliced shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
• lemon wedges for garnish

1. Bring 1/2 inch of water to a boil in a large 10 inch nonstick skillet. Add the beans, simmer, covered over medium heat for about 8 minutes. You really should cut off the tips of the beans, they can be unpleasant to eat. Drain in a colander.

2. Heat butter in the skilet unitl melted. Add the shallots and sugar. Cook about 2 minutes or until softened and a pretty golden color. Add salt, pepper and the green beans. Stir gently and cook another 3 minutes to heat through.

3. Remove skillet from heat, add lemon zest and basil. Spoon onto serving plate, Garnish with lemon wedges and serve immediately.

I Am a Lucky Woman

I'm a lucky gal...my husband bakes bread! I asked him to share his recipe. It's a pretty basic recipe, but for whatever reason, whenever I try to make it all I get are hockey puck loaves. In his hands, alchemy happens and something divine is the result.

This is not a recipe for the beginning baker, the instructions are sparse and assume that you already know a little something about baking bread. One trick I have observed, since I got my Zoji bread machine a few years ago, he does let the machine do the kneading for him. Then he forms the loaves and bakes in the oven. Go for it.... may the goddess of the harvest smile on you too.

Classic French Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 cup cold water
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 Tbl salt
1 Tbl sugar
2 Tbl shortening
6 cups about flour

Mix all but flour and let proof for at least 5 min (10 better). Stir in flour a little at a time til dough feels right (sticky but doesn't stick to fingers). Then knead until it's smooth and elacticy. You might use all the flour, you might not. Allow to rise covered in a greased bowl at least 45 min, punch down and rise again for at least 45 min.Make into loves (2). Cover, let rise for at least an hour. Slash the top of the loaves with a knife. Brush on a glaze of 1 egg white and water,beaten together. Set oven 350 deg, place a pan of water in oven in the bottom rack. Bake until golden (about 40 min) and internal temp is about 180 deg.

You can add 1 Tbl each in the mix stage of parm cheese, minced garlic and italian seasoning for some awesome garlic herb bread.

Your Lucky Day

Well, this could be your lucky day. A blog my sister told me about is offering a cool prize, just for visiting the site. So go visit, 5 Minutes for Mom and register for a 37" flat screen LCD HDTV, compliments of Best Buy. Viral marketing at it's finest!

Sounds of Summer

We're fortunate to live nearby a national park, Homestead National Monument. Among other cool things they do is have a campfire program on summer evenings. Last night, we enjoyed The Little Brown Jug band. Outstanding bluegrass fiddling mingling with smoke from a small fire ( it was after all, still 90 degrees at 8 pm) and the night sounds of woodlands in summer. They played just over an hour and I wish it had been two. A perfect twilight entertainment.
State parks often have fun evening events too, check out your park system, do something different this summer!

More Birds

The baby Barn Swallows have all flown the coop, so to speak, and not a minute too soon. They had only been gone one day when the apartment manager came to knock down the nests. He'd been by about 2 weeks ago and wanted to do it, but we insisted that at least the babies needed to be out of it before he did so. He thought we were being too soft hearted and went off grumbling. I think he's been watching it as much as we have,but with a whole different interest level.

It was sad watching them try to come back and finding their home gone. The mama made many attempts to feed the kids, big fat juicy bugs dangling from her beak. Eventually they seemed to understand and we discovered that there is definite Barn Swallow language for being po'd.

This photo is a little guy that's been living in a small pine tree near our patio. He was making a lot of noise the other day, so I went investigating. There's a small nest and this cutie was hopping all over the tree. Still haven't seen any adult birds, so not sure just what kind this one is.

Fair Time!

How long has it been since you've been to a real county fair? Not an overtly commercial attempt at a fair, but a real agricultural centered county fair. It'd been ages since we'd gone to one and we made up for it by going two nights in a row. We saw concerts, pigs, cattle, horses, canned produce, a gianormous cabbage and all sorts of other things I'll share in the next day or two.

Tonight, a shot of the midway. We're way past the wild rides, so our big event was the ferris wheel. Rides sure have gotten wilder it seems, and the addition of strobe ligthing makes them seem a lot wilder. I'll stick to the old fart thrills. Nice for photos if not excitemet.

Alligator Wrestling in Nebraska

The highlight of the Gage County fair last night was the opportunity for kids to catch a wild alligator. The owner of the Wild Game show that's presenting this challenge, says the allogator was found locally.They were mobbed. It's a real alligator alright, about 6 ft long and it splashes and squirms so the kids think they're really wrestling a monster. And then, once you get the creature caught, for a measley $5 you can have a Polaroid of the moment. Uh huh. I guess it doesn't matter that the gator's jaws are duct taped shut.

It's a scary world

Apparently human kids are not the only ones that return home after they've flown the coop. All 5 kids were back in the nest this morning! It's a scary world for us all.

The Next Food Network Star

Last night was really disturbing on the Next Food Network Star. One of the contestants, Jag, was revealed to have lied about his culinary background and his military service. He was one of the final 2 contestants and I think he probably would have won. He'd been given a chance to correct the misstatements and did not do so. Then he was confronted by the show and he resigned. I hope it was a forced resignation. It's not that his military record has anything to do with his cooking ability, it has to do with integrity and trust.

This has been one of my favorite shows to watch in the past. This season it has been really lackluster, bordering on boring. The challenge ideas have been interesting, but none of the contestants seem to have any natural leadership ability or strong enough personalities to keep you interested in their show. I think Alton Brown had in right a couple of weeks ago when he suggested sending them all home!

To me, the contestants who were in one to one choice situtations with Jag over who was being eliminated really got the worst of this whole deal. Had Jag not been such slime and continued under false pretenses, one of the others may have had an opportunity to really rise to the occasion and shine. I hope The Food Network does something nice for these double losers. I wish when Jag's lies had come to light, TFN would have restarted the whole comptetition.

I'm a huge TFN fan. It's appointment tv for my household. In the summer doledrums of reruns, we watch our favorites over again and give the boring shows a second chance to grab us. Unfortunately, there are a couple of really boring hosts... I hope the new season brings the sparkle back to TFN and that Alton Brown shaves.


PS... Alton Brown is my favorite host, but the boy really needs to buy a new motorcycle or something for his midlife crisis and get over the beard thing.

Class Photo & Graduations

Here's the class photo of the fledgling Barn Swallows. This is the last shot I got of them all together, on Saturday morning. By Saturday night, one of them had taken off to explore the world. In typical teen age fashion, he or she didn't even leave a note! We'd been gone for the afternoon, so we didn't see the take off, but we were glad to not have found a bunch of feathers in the grass.

Today, there's been some wing flexing activity in the nest. I think the next two that will be taking off next have been hopping from the main nest to the little secondary nest and flapping their wings a lot today. It's like they just discoverd them They raise them up above their shoulders and flap wildly for 20 seconds and then turn around to see if their sibilings noticed before settling into a new spot in the nest.

One little guy tried climbing from nest to nest by scaling the wall inbetween, eventually he tried his wings. I was so excited to get this shot of a Barn Swallow's first flight!

A Week of Swallows

We humans are always saying how we're amazed at how quickly our children grow. I wonder what we would say if we were birds. I read that the parent Barn Swallows fly up to 600 miles daily to feed the babies. They only eat insects, so that's alot of meal prep! Probably explains why we've been able to sit in the twilight and not be bothered by mosquitos. The two parents continue to be constantly in attendance, at night one sleeps in the nest with the kids and the other sleeps in the secondary nest. That's the second bedroom just visible at the right edge of the photo. The parents haven't been too disturbed by us, when they swoop in and we've just gone out, they complain a little bit, do a couple fly by's and then come feed the kids anyway. Now, they do not like flash photography! That tends to tick them off a bit, but duty calls and they keep bringing home the bacon.

What they do mind is a stray cat. One unfortunate cat tried strolling through the patio the other night and suddenly a full squadron of swallows appeared and chased that cat to the far edge of the yard! I swear my indoor cats were laughing themselves silly while they watched that little adventure. We call our sliding glass door Cat TV, and they've been glued to it all week.

Anyway, here's how they've changed in just 7 days from the first photo I posted. They still look rather prehistoric here, don't they? These were taken on 07/07/07, just 2 days after the above photo.

In just 2 more days, they were looking a lot like Albert Einstein....
The smoky looking halo in the photo is actually a wild bunch of feather fuzz making its first appearance. This is one of the bigger babies. There seems to be a span of about 3 days from what we can tell from the first 3 appearing, to finally seeing all 5 of the little guys. Don says they remind him of muppets! They've spent alot of time hanging their heads over the edge of the nest, extending their necks while opening and shutting their beaks. It's been really hot this last week, maybe that's a cooling activity. The photo to the right was was taken 07/09/07.

Two days later and what a major difference! I expect to see them start to move out of the nest in the next day or 2. Already the larger ones are trying to balance on the edge. Oh, here's something I'll bet you didn't know about nest housekeeping! Even as teeny 4 day old birds they knew to hang their butts over the edge of the nest to ummmmmm, relieve themselves. No potty training appeared neccessary. Clean up on aisle 3! Photo taken 07/12/07. I hope I'm home to see the fledgling flight attempts.

Barn Swallows

A family of Barn Swallows are making their home on the roof of our patio. We've named the mamma and pappa Chatty and Cathy. The seem to have tried out our location for several nights before starting to build their nest. Cathy would roost on the end of an exposed screw and Chatty would harrass her for hours before settling down to roost close by. This went on for more than a week. It was like they were arguing over site selection. Soon they started to build a nest. It went together quickly out of mud, sticks and grass. Oddly enough, a second shallower nest was built several inches away, like adding an "in law" room to your home. It seems like Dad gets to sleep in the second nest.

Just this week, on July 2, some tiny little beaks poked their way above the edge of the nest. They were literally all translucent beak and neck, just popping out when Mom or Dad swooped in with a meal. Today, 3 days later, they are starting to make tiny little noises and have developed some dark gray down. And we discovered tonight, there are 5 babies!

Random Stuff About Me

So, I was tagged... here it is....
RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME ...
1)Name one person who made you smile today? Don
2)What were you doing at 8:00 this morning? Tuning in to Pandora radio before I started my work projects for the day
3)What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Cleaning up the dinner dishes
4)What is something that happened to you in 1998? I inherited some money unexpectedly
5)What is the last thing you said aloud? Luna! to a cat about to tip over my glass of water
6)How many different things have you drank today? Tea,Vitamin Water, Water, 1 Soda, Coffee
7)What color is your hair brush? Black. But my favorite comb is hot pink!
8)What was the last thing you bought? Cat litter
9)What was the last gift you received? A very cool CD of new Michael McDonald 10)What color is your front door? White.
11)Where do you keep cell phone? In my bag. Terrible at remembering to charge it up.
12)What was the weather like today? Overcast and humid
13)What is the best ice cream flavor? Black Raspberry Chocolate Chunk
14)What are you excited about?
15)Do you talk a lot? No
16)Name a weird food you like?
17)Cold or hot? Cold mostly.
18)What's your favorite thing to do?
19)Do you want to cut your hair? Always, but I rarely have any idea how I want it.
20: Are you over the age of 25? HA! I mean... yes!
21)Are you ticklish? yes
22)Are you typically a jealous person? I don't think it's jealousy, but I am very competitive.
23)Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "L" : Lynn
24)Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "A": Allison
25)Do you chew on your straws? Never
26)Do you have curly hair? Straight as a stick.
27)What is the next concert you're going to? Some fledgling country star that's palying the county fair... I promised my mother I'd take her. I don't care for country music.
28)Who is the crappiest person in your life? We won't go there. I'm trying to not see it that way.
29)What is your favorite color? Turquoise
30)What is something you say a lot?
31)What's your room like? My home office/craft room..too small, needs more shelves
32)What was the last movie you saw? Pirates of the Carribbean.. Edge of the World
33)Do you have work tomorrow? At my paid job, no. At a bunch of other stuff, yes.
34)What's your dream job? Something that overpays me for being creative and lets me keep my own schedule.
35)When was the last time you said "I love you"? An hour ago
36)What should you be doing right now? Exactly what I am doing right now.
37)Do you have a nickname? Not really. My daily use name is a nickname, of my given name, but not something like Cutie Pie
38)Are you a heavy sleeper? Yes
39)When is the last time you did the dishes, honestly? this morning
40)What are your pet peeves? People who let their dogs out to roam the neighborhood letting them poop everywhere. People who don't scoop the poop. Drivers talking on cellphones, People who don't close cabinet doors. When I misjudge the distance something is and drop it....sign of time to get new contacts. People who speak very loudly in communal areas, like the next cubicle over or on their cell phone.People who take young children out to restaurants without having given them a snack first!

Don't Let the Music Die

Do you listen to Internet Radio...like Pandora or any of the independent music stations around the net? There is a bill in front of the Senate that could end it all and it's coming up for a vote in the next few days. If you care about this issues, as I do, let your politicos know how you feel.

This is especailly important for those of us in rural areas or with musical tastes that go beyond Top 40.

Weekly Tarot 06/22/07-06/29/07- The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man, Universal Waite

What's your first reaction to this card? Does it seem a little weird that the guy is clearly trussed up but totally unconcerned? In fact, in this rendition, he actually looks almost meditative to me and he certianly is not at all upset. Or maybe he's been trying to get untied and we catch him here in a moment of catching his breath before he tries once again to wriggle free. What do you think?

Hanged Man always reminds me of the grand illusionsists, starting with Harry Houdini, getting themselves out of the straight jacket. It seems impossibe to us, but they always manage to do it. How? Maybe it's by looking at a situtaion with a different point of view. Maybe it's by calmly evaluating the situtation before taking action. Maybe they see the impossible as merely a challenge to our preconveived notions of what is and isn't do-able.

I've also heard of this card compared to images of Jesus on the cross. Now, that's a little far fetched for my understanding, but if it floats your boat, go for it. I can almost see the connections between willing sacrifice, especially that of one person sacrificing for the greater good, but that's not my real understanding of this card.

Some keywords for this card are contemplation, perspective, patience, resourcefullness, surrender, letting go, trust, giving up, overcome.

When I draw Hanged Man for a weekly overview, I see it as a time to look for a new perspective on something in your life. It's a Major Arcana card, so it is of importance and deserves thoughtful consideration. What's going on in your life that isn't working quite the way you hoped it would? That's the place to become the Hanged Man and look for a different solution. Maybe you'd benefit from physically changing yourself in response to the issue. How? It can be a simple as just taking the discussion to a coffee shop instead of your kitchen table. It could be an impromptu trip to a new destination... anything that gives you some new input. Maybe it's just a random word said by a chat room pal... be aware and you'll understand the Hanged Man's powerful impact.

Quilting Memories

The town I live in, Beatrice, Nebraska is celebrating it's 150th year as a town this entire year. This past weekend, I went with my mother to a quilt display that spanned the entire 150 years. There was one quilt from each decade. Most of them seem to have come from one family, lucky them, to have that heritage. It was a sweet, unpretentious display... no glass cases, no one demanding that you not breath on the quilts. There was a small, very small sign, asking that you not touch the quilts, easily overlooked. In a larger city, I have a feeling there would have been a white gloved museum archivist, actively guarding the past. I have to admit, I touched.

I'm a texture person, couldn't help myself. There was a crazy quilt from the Civil War era that captured my heart. Slivers of fine velvets, satins mixed in with common cottons told the story, but it was the elegant, flowing embroidery that really spoke to me. It was almost as though the quilt maker was saying, "they can take my stuff, but they can't take my soul." I think most people had dramatic life changes during that time period, no matter what side they championed. Goods were scarce, families separated, nothing was stable. But the quiltmaker perservered. Her finery may have been reduced to rags, but she could turn them into something beautiful to serve another purpose. The stitching was as fine as any lady of leisure could have done, although I suspect there was not alot of leisure time for ladies of that era.

So, I wonder, did she do those feathery stitches while wondering what became of a lover or son? Did she loose herself in stitching as she mused about her life back east, before the chaos? What memories did the velvet hold for her?

As I turn to my crochet work to ease the stress in my daily life, I connect with the unknown quiltmaker, and I understand.

7 Of Wands Voyager Tarot

7 of Wands

The images of this card, from the Voyager Tarot is filled with warriors, masks and lights. This is a troublesome card for many people, it causes us to have to look our inner selves right in the eye and not blink. When we draw the 7 of Wands, it's time to stop kidding ourselves and get real. You'll know in your inner heart of hearts, what is it that you're avoiding or masking simply because it is easier to do so than to actually face the truth.

Your inner turmoil for this cycle may be related to something small, but it's far more likely that the turmoil goes right to the core of who you are. It's woven in the fabric of your self image, whether you realize it on a conscious level or not. If you work with the 7 of Wands this week with meditation, freestyle writing or visioning , you'll find yourself on the path to great growth.

Sometimes growth of our souls happens slowly, but it does happen when we allow the light to shine through the dark. Often, what we see in the light is not what we expected or wanted to see, but it is truth nonetheless. Be brave and allow yourself to look inward this week. To allow the clarity and warmth of the light into our lives is the first step to finding home.

Cow Chip Bingo

Life in rural America has it's joys, stresses and oddities. It's the oddities that are on my mind this morning. Festival season in Nebraska appears to start the first weekend in June. We had our choice of a nationally sponsored bbq cook off, a Rail & Trail themed event celebrating the area's railroad and pioneering history, a German festival and a tribute festival to a small town's founder. The weather was wonderful, breezy, dry and sunny. How to choose? Easy....how can you not choose the one that highlights cow chip bingo! I ....... you not. You fill in the blank.


Picture this; a large field with about 5 cows milling around, doing their cow thing. Silly humans actually spend money to buy a numbered flag. The flag is assigned a position on the bingo board and is placed in a corresponding position in the field. And then you wait. What are you waiting for? Well, the big plop of course! Really. And when it finally happens, the flag nearest the plop is the winner of a prize. How long you wait is of course totally up to the cows, who are known to be exceptionally contrary on occasion and the event can run as long as an hour. Chicken .... Bingo has been known to take up to 2 hours! In this case, it was a quick game with winners declared in under 10 minutes.


Now, I've been to a lot of festivals in my former life as a craft show vendor. I've been to CottonPickin' Days, Muleskinner Day's, Peanut Festivals,Peach Festivals,Old Mill Days, you name it, I've probably been to something like it. I thought I'd seen just about every kind of event a committee of well meaning yet deranged minds could dream up. Now, I think I really have. I wonder what's on deck for next weekend?

And Yet Another Address

Once again, I've tied on my flying shoes and taken a leap of faith step with my life. It was a giant step, all the way from Texas to Nebraska. Now, that doesn't really look like much on a map, but trust me, it is a huge leap!

For the last year, I've been struggling with an all too common situation for people my age; long distance aging parents who need someone nearby to help them out. I didn't want to be the one to pack up my life and go. Especially since the destination was a very rural location in Nebraska, where there are miles and miles of corn and snow... most of all snow.

Mentally I played out many scenarios. I tried to discuss alternative plans with my siblings. Nothing was jelling and it was becoming increasingly clear that going was the only choice. Even my dreams were clearly telling me the right thing to do. So, with the full understanding and participation of my husband, we decided that we would go to Nebraska. He's remarkable. This makes 9 major moves in our 33 years. We'll talk about moving at a later date.

And here we are....we traded one small town in Texas for an even smaller town in Nebraska. We've traded a 3 bedroom house for a 2 bedroom apartment. We've traded working from home in our jammies to driving 80 miles a day to jobs...each. We've traded our predictible, self centered lives for the challenges of the unknown. And it feels right.

In the Moment

I've been making an effort to really keep myself focused on living in the moment for the last couple of months. I am overall an optimistic soul but for the last several months I've found myself worrying alot and having some real issues with anxiety. I know better than to allow my mind to spin these huge worry webs. I am no novice to the ideas becomming so popular with the Secret. I know where I have my focus, I have my result. I teach these metaphysical life laws and I help other people create their best possible life. So why am I so wrapped up in these sticky worry theads?

Becasue I am an ordinary soul living a human life with lots of challenges. Just like everyone else. Knowing the universal laws and principles is one thing; living them daily is quite another. The most difficult aspect of having some awareness of the magnificence that is possible, to me, is staying focused on the awareness. It's my biggest challenge to truly let go and allow the bounty to flow over and through me. It remains that way even though I have first hand experience and KNOW that the laws work. I forget. I lose focus. I'm human.

So, I am making a concentrated effort to live in the moment. Just for today, as I teach my students. To be aware of how the the worn keys on my keyboard feel smooth and cool on my finger tips. To be aware that I am sitting slouched over and my back will protest in a moment. To be aware that I hear the wind blowing outside and that in this moment of writing, I am completely at ease with myself and my place in the world. Oops.. a distracting thought just popped in...my mind is in hyperanxiety mode right now, dams being built against its currents... I can let it go. Noticed and released. Back to the moment. I'll let you know how the rest of the day goes.

Sinful Peanut Brittle

Everyone once in a long,long while, my husband gets an enormous case of candy cravings and I head to the kitchen. I love making candy, but with only the two of us to eat it, candymaking usually waits for the holidays. Or when the Great Norwegian Gimme Candy Monster appears. Peanut brittle has been the focus of this fall's appearance and I've got it down to a no brainer recipe at last.

I even thought I had a million dollar idea when I decided to add cinnamon and cayenne into the syrup. Until the very next week on Good Eats, Alton Brown did exactly the same thing and now every Food Network host has also used the same combination in some way. I guess it was a cosmically brilliant idea floating around and we all grabbed it at once. Make it. This is totally addictive stuff. Join the rest of us addicts who will put ourselves at risk of losing fillings before we'll stop eating this sinfully sweet and spicy peanut brittle.

Ps...if you cook it right, I doubt you'd loose a filling. It's hard and has a great snappy crack to it!


Sinful Peanut Brittle

3 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Water
1 1/2 Cups Light Karo Syrup
3 Cups Raw Peanuts
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Teaspoons Butter

Put the sugar, water and Karo syrup into a deep 2 quart pan. Stir to mix, then stop stirring. Bring to a boil and allow to boil until the hot syrup reaches 300 degrees F, or a hard crack stage. Carefully remove the thermometer and add salt, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and peanuts. Stir to mix. The temperature will immediately drop. Continue cooking until it again reaches 300 degrees. Remove from heat. Carefully stir in the butter until it is completely melted. Next stir in the baking soda and blend well.

Immediately pour onto 2 buttered cookie sheets and allow to cool. When completely cooled, smack the cookie sheet on the counter to break into serving size pieces.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS!
1. When you pour out the hot candy, it will immediately set up. If you like thin peanut brittle, give yourself some working time to spread it out by keeping your cookie sheets in a 200 degree oven while the syrup boils. Remove just before you need them and apply butter or spray with cooking spray. Warm cookie sheets will let you spread the mixture out as thin as you like.

2. If you like things on the spicy side, adjust the cinnamon and cayenne carefully. I am a medium bite person. I use a rounded teaspoon of cinnamon and a level one of cayenne. Keep in mind that you have to complete a batch before you actually know what it tastes like, no taste testing of the hot syrup!

3. Be sure to let the syrup really cook to 300 degrees.Cooking to 305 degrees is ok too. I know every website and most cookbooks tell you that you can recook candy that is just too soft, but don't believe them. How I know? Well, lets just say that it took a trip to see Super Son-In-Law and his trusty Dremel tool to have the rock hard burnt sugar wire brushed off of my favorite pan. My favorite pan that is no longer in the candymaking arsenal.

Spirit Photo

Here's something eerie in honor of Halloween. This is an aura photo that was taken in Atlanta, GA on 02/14/97. I have circled an area in the left of the photo that has something unusual in it. It's harder to see on the screen than in person, but maybe you'll see it. Just over his shoulder is what appears to be some very long fingers reaching through the aura cloud.

My husband and I were at a shop when this was taken. We entered a darkened closet with a solid back wall. Once I saw the photo, I examined the room immediately. There were no openings in the wall at all, no one could have gotten behind us and reached into the photo. We were alone in the very small space, and we are large people; no one could have slid in behind us inside the booth without us knowing.

I have always had a comfortable belief in the spirit world this photo did not alarm me at all, but I wonder who was trying to reach out. I have always wondered if it may be the spirit of my husband's mother, who passed when he was a young boy...that's the romantic in me on Valentine's Day.

I'd like to know if you see anything in the photo and what your feelings may be.


Halloween, Spirit Photo, Aura

Good Bye Summer

The heat wave in Texas has broken or is at the very least, taking its misery further south. Over the weekend it was 106 and by Monday, it only reached 90. If you don't live in such a place, this may not seem like that big a thing to you, but let me assure you there is a huge difference in those 16 degrees. Like being able to wear one bra all day instead of changing your sweat drenched underclothing three times before dinner. Like being able to totally dry off after your shower and getting dressed before you're all sweaty again. Like contemplating cooking an oven meal instead of another microwaved delight. Like being able to work at your keyboard all day without having to stop and dry off the keys. And this is all living and working in an air conditioned house and rarely venturing outside. Best of all, it means that night time temps will actually start to go below 80 again and we can open the house to the night breeze.

For four whole days in a row, I have not been glistening without the aid of bodyglow gels. My hair has not been a hank of lifeless fiber plastered to my neck. I have been able to get out of a chair without leaving a moist back imprint. I have only used two washcloths a day instead of 6 and there are actually a few clothes to wash this week. When it's so very hot, there's usually not a lot of laundry other than undies and washcloths to do.

We may not be done with the heat for the year. This has been a rough summer. My area usually has about 18 days of 100 plus days. This year, we are at 45 and in all likelihood there will be a few more. I know there are places where it's hotter, my sister lives in one of them. By the grace of all that's good, I never will. This cool week is just what I needed to step back from the brink of heat induced start raving madness. I can feel the heat induced sluggishness leaving my brain and body, inspiring me to do something creative today for first time in many months.

So I am happy on my day off today. I had my breakfast outside at the picnic table...only 85 at 10 this morning! I read my mail. I played with the cat. I heard the summer noises of buzzing coming from the morning glories, several different bird calls,a woodpecker at work, grasshoppers in the grass and the melodies of my favorite chimes. Say good bye summer.