Open Doors, Windows, Potholes, Mouseholes, Whatever!

My husband works for Pfizer in St. Louis. On November 9, he was returning from Milwaukee from his uncle's funeral. Not two minutes from the airport, we received a call that Pfizer is shutting down their St. Louis site, as well as other sites. In a market where most big pharmaceutical corporations are laying off American & European scientists and opening sites in Asia to reduce the price of drugs, this is scary because there are tens of thousands of scientists out of work in the States alone. This happened to us in 2003 just as the Pharmaceutical big wigs began to send the jobs overseas.

Having just said that, I have to say, I'm hoping that this situation will allow us to make big changes in our lives. It would seem to call for two big career changes. We never really got used to living here; it's not a friendly place so I think we need to make the best of this and try to make big changes in our lives. I panicked my head off last time this happened because our kids were younger, my daughter has type 1 diabetes so we need great medical insurance, we lost money moving due to loss of value of our house, etc. This time, I WANT to move away and I know that what will happen, will happen. Even though we both need to change our careers at this point, what we choose is up to us. They say when one door shuts, another one opens; it behooves us to check out all our options this time.

I read a book called The Geography of Bliss by an NPR reporter. He found that where you live, as well as your friends and community, DO make all the difference. He was verbalizing what I tried to tell people for the last six years. I heard a lot of zen notions from friends living in very cool places near friends and family that, if I just accepted it here and made the best of it, it would be great. That is a great notion in theory. In practice, my only friends here are transplants and they want out as badly as I do. My daughter is a high school junior and she is happy we are leaving here; even during a critical time in her life just before her last year of high school. The natives aren’t very friendly.

I’m off on a new adventure. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.

The Orangutan & The Hound Dog

This video is wonderful & sweet! We have a LOT to learn from animals.

Mike

My brother died suddenly of a heart blood clot on September 13th. I'm trying to focus on my memories of him and I'm hoping that where we go after this life is so amazing that this one seems paltry by comparison.

Mike and I didn't get along well as kids. However, as we hit our 20’s, we became much closer. I really grew to like, respect, and love Mike. I've realized that both Mike and I are the kind of people who help others but rarely, if ever, asked others to help us. I now need to focus on learning that skill because, in reading my brother's journal entries, I've learned how lonely he felt from being this way. We both have that tendency to be too much of a pillar for others. I've learned over the years that most people want to have their needs met but aren't so good about giving back. I need to learn to reach out. It can only bring me more intimacy in relationships. I know a lot of people will not be good about this; I've learned which people are supportive and are there for me after Mike's death. People can be surprising; it's often not the people you would hope would help who are there for me. It's sometimes acquaintances and strangers.

This one’s bigger than I can deal with alone. I’ve got to reach out. I owe this to Mike and myself. I strongly believe in continuing my education in bettering myself as a person. How I grew up may have shaped me temporarily, but it should never limit me. Our childhoods should be our starting points. I’ve kept what was good about me as a child and I’ve continued to evolve as a human. For me, being a nice person is pretty easy. Accepting my self-worth isn’t my sticking point. It’s asking the people who claim to care for me to step up and be there for me. This one is hard for me but I’m taking notes, I’m open to lessons, and I’m doing this for me and for Mike.

Please, Watch Your Language! This is a Decent Sort of Neighborhood!

Today while pruning shrubs and perennials in my yard, I was violently aggressed by a stick bug. I was raking up all the mess from my pruning and noted a stick that was moving! He didn't say much but his body language made his feelings clear! If body language could translate to verbal language, it was pretty profane. I actually tried to rake around him for a minute or two. He jumped backwards, darted an inch or to toward me, jumped sideways, and waved his body menacingly (actually, a bit like a drunken stick bug might, if I'd ever seen one drunk). In the past, having been nipped by a praying mantis while pruning, I gave him a bit of a berth but was amused by his antics. I kept letting him climb on the rake to move him so I could rake the areas where he was standing his ground. Finally, I picked him up with my gloves and set him on a juniper shrub so I could finish tidying up the area. He continued to berate me from on high. What a paper tiger! I am: She-Ra of the Yard.

Oh My.

I received this today via email and, although I know I should feel bad (I do), I can't stop laughing at the presentation mixed with the story.

Wishes

I don't usually find really negative things funny, but this one slays me. It's pretty dry.

Mortality Toll: Zero

Today was a pretty awful day - on many levels. The adrenaline spent on today was waaaay over the daily allowance; in fact, it was more like 3 months' allowance! The best thing I can pull out of all of this is that I didn't kill anyone. My will power is amazing! I am... Self-Restraint Girl. You'd know that if you could see my cape.

This Made Me Laugh Very Unattractively!

Thank GOD there were no witnesses to my laughing-shame!

Poodle Man

I was driving with my kids the other day and drove past a guy walking his two tiny, groomed-to-the-nth-degree poodles. The thing is, I SO wish I had a photo of this guy with his little dogs! Picture this: he is a 6'+ tall, stocky, tough-looking, bad-ass kind of guy - walking two little, cutely-pruned miniature poodles; on cute leashes, no less! You might think, "Are you making FUN of this guy?" Honestly, I'm not! I was charmed and then some! All I could think was what a bad-ass everyone must think this guy is and then he goes home to Pépé and Raoul and loves them unconditionally. I want this guy as my friend!

The Nosey, Furry, Pollen-laden Visitor

As I've mentioned previously, I adore bees: bumble, mason, honey, etc. Not wasps - just bees. This last Sunday, August 2, I was watering my annuals on the front porch and I noticed a large bumblebee fly-amble its way over to me. I watched, pleased, as he came toward me because usually they just hover and check me out. As my shirt was a bright aqua blue, Mr. Bee decided to light on my shirt. I was initially charmed as he walked around on a brief quest to see if this was the gigantic flower of his dreams. It occurred to me a tad belatedly: What do bees do when they light on a flower? They go deep into the flower to find the nectar. This little guy made a bee-line, literally and figuratively speaking, straight for the v-neck of the t-shirt. My delight turned in one nano-second to amused concern.

I’m always perversely aware of the humor in these kinds of situations even as they are occurring and even when I don’t end up well. I haven’t been stung by a bee since I stepped on one in my front yard as a child. I imagined, rather rapidly, that even a mild-mannered bumblebee might cause something of a panic after climbing into one’s cleavage. I quickly pictured my ensuing idiocy to try to get him out without being stung. The only option I would have would be to tear my shirt off right on my front porch, in full view of many of my neighbors’ homes – on a Sunday – with everyone AND their dogs in their yards. My v-neck is only about 5” below my chin. So, I tried to blow Mr. Bee further south on my shirt, away from my neckline, but he was persistent. I quickly tore a leaf off a perennial and scooped him up and put him on a plant. He gave me a patient bee look that suggested “Geez Louise, you goof ball, give me the benefit of the doubt next time.” Ummm. Love those bees, but not down the front of my shirt.

So Easily Amused

Wow! I rang my own doorbell yesterday. As usual, when I press and let go quickly, it makes the generic 'ding dong' sound. I found that if, however, I press, hold, and then let go, there's a nice long pause in between the 'ding' and the 'dong'. If I press and release rapidly, I can get (you guessed it) a series of rapid 'ding dong' sounds. So, understandably, if you then press and release in a mixture of all the various ways mentioned above, you get a very musical doorbell effect. Our previous house's doorbell was not capable of this fun behavior. I am very pleased with my new entertaining find. I also smiled and cracked up on and off all day remembering how I must have looked at my own front door, pressing the doorbell repeated, with varying speeds, smiling like a four-year-old who just opened a really big birthday gift. After the fact, I was consciously aware (and extremely amused that I even had to have this conscious thought) that I was grateful for my trellis and Autumn Clematis vine blocking the view from the east. Lord help me.

Some girls need diamonds to keep them happy; not me. I think I smiled over my new find for a good part of the day, acutely aware that anyone I might share this with might make an observation on the state of my mental or intellectual health. The simple things in life slay me.

Doubt

We watched the movie Doubt last night. I had no expectations and had no idea what it was really about. It was a really good movie and made us really think. You have no idea if the character is guilty of what he has been accused of or not. At no point is it made clear definitively whether the character is guilty or not. It is a really clever movie; I really liked it.

I added the photo as an afterthought. I had no idea it had won so many awards. I don't follow the Oscars, etc. It deserves them.

The Toad - AKA: Mr. Sweetheart of a Guy

Two nights ago, I was standing on the driveway talking to Lana and Rich and I saw a tiny silhouette shadow on the street. I walked toward it and stooped down. It was a tiny little amphibian. I brought it into the house to see what kind it was. It was a little toad. After letting it hop around the washroom sink for a minute, we went back outside. I let him/her go in the garden and hoped that no snakes or skinks would find him. He/she is safer in the garden than on the street. Have I mentioned before that I LOVE frogs and toads?

Acute Bronchitis - NOT Pneumonia

At this moment, I now only cough when I get chatty. Mornings and evenings I go through a grandpa-eque lung purging routine that would make all prisses faint with disgust. It's a necessary evil. I've had this delightful disease over the years (thanks loads mom and dad for being smokers during my childhood) and purging the lungs of evils is absolutely necessary! Hey, at least I do it in the bathroom with the door shut and the fan on! You're welcome.

The nurse at my doctor's office diagnosed my ailment as pneumonia on June 26th. I had been all pleasant and optimistic about only having Pneumonia. Yippee, it turns out it was only an early stage of the dreaded bronchitis. We were supposed to leave for Chicago on the 27th, however Erika called and said she was too sick. That worked for me too; I was sicker than a dog by Saturday the 27th. I was so sick I called my dear doctor's emergency number three times over a six hour period starting at 10am and ending at 5:30pm, but the man didn't have the decency or courtesy to call me back in any timely manner. By 10pm, I was in the emergency room at St. Anthony's Hospital. Apparently, Dr. Wessling finally called our house while I was there. After Xrays, blood tests and the lowest dose of morphine known to mankind, I was diagnosed with the above-mentioned bronchitis. The doctor prescribed an Albuterol inhaler and the lowest dose of darvacet to calm my over-active lungs down. Wow, that worked like a charm! I went from not having a break between plague-victim-esque coughs to being able to rest and actually sleep. Wow! I can't believe I got this in the summer. But it is far worse to have this midwinter when the air is dryer than hell. Thank God for the process of the hospital emergency room. Who would've thought I'd get the most thorough care there?!? I used to tough this ailment out but not anymore! Yay drugs! I'm making a lot of those 'hemmm hemmm' noises right now; I hope the locals find it sexy. Hey, it's better than the loud, phlegmy throat clearings favored by the older generations of men. Right?

Chicago - Coolsville

I had a really good time in ChiTown. Our departure was delayed by both Erika and I suffering from our own respective plagues. Hers: some viral sore throat and cough thingie. Mine: Pneumonia, NO! Make that acute bronchitis. By Monday, I felt capable of going to Erika's. Fortunately, she was pretty low-key since she was still hacking too. Thank God; normally we walk for miles while there. I couldn't have withstood that without dying from an exploded lung.

We had mellow meals on restaurant patios, I saw the Barenaked Ladies at the Taste of Chicago, free concert no less! I loves me some Barenaked Ladies. I got a teeny, tiny bit of shopping done. We played Baggo with Sabat on the back pavement outside Erika's condo garages. Two doors down is a BBQ restaurant, Smoky's, and their fenced patio is next to Erika's back drive. We played bean bags while listening to their outdoor stereo which was playing some really awesome music. It was a wonderful time! I could happily live in that part of the city. I need human interaction too much to be down here in cliquesville. I loved it!

Bee Balm

As I felt like crap this morning and couldn't sleep due to my cough and delightful chest pain, I got up at the crack of dawn (it is SO not me to be up this early by choice) and stepped outside into the already disgustingly hot weather. I sat on my front porch which is shaded only at this time of the morning. The humidity felt wonderful on my lungs, so I sweated my system clean because my lungs felt better. I normally hate heat and humidity. I sat silently and watched and listened to the bumblebees visiting all the flowers that surround the porch and on all the flowers in pots all around me. My flower gardens cover an area of about 7'x15' on one side and immediately in front of the porch. I was probably 2' from the bee-laden perennials. Bumblebees hum at different pitches and they sound like tiny, high-pitched Drepung monks. It was absolute wonderful. To say I have an affection for bees would be a huge understatement; it's more like a very girly, wide-eyed, absurd adoration. Not wasps though, just bees. If you have flower gardens, you have bees. And they never sting me, even when I touch them. Did I mention I loves bees?

Dear Deer

This evening, right after dinner, a doe was wandering our backyard and the edge of our woods. She was grazing. She comes nearly every day. I love watching her. She's so wonderful.

P-neumonia

We had sushi with Shannon and Lou last Friday night. Afterward, we went to their house to hang out because they had to pick their kids up from the evening daycare at the Y. Their eldest son, Matt, who had stayed home because he's 13 and had just returned from a week at a Boy Scout camp, seemed to be hacking his head off and I thought, "Ahhh, I'll be fine. My immune system is impervious AND it's summer." So, today I'm on Zithromax and I am thanking God for it. Pneumonia enjoys an exaggerated status as a near-deadly, heinous illness. Bronchitis, pleurisy, strep, intestinal & stomach stuff beat it hands down. It sucks but, thanks to modern-day drugs, it's not the killer it used to be. I'll be better soon. Hey, it’s an excuse to slow down and take it easy, which I can do since my kids are older. Yay, chick flicks tonight!

James Francis

My dad was here last week visiting from Florida. He’s a very Type A guy and tends to be rather brusque. Neither of my parents are parental types. You don’t go to them for help or when you’re sad. Years ago I learned that people are who they are whether you need more from them or not. I had to go through the process in life of ‘housecleaning’ and getting rid of the people in my life who took but never gave: the people who drained me emotionally and psychologically. I didn’t actively ‘fire’ them; I slowly stopped being a doormat and I learned to set boundaries and stand by them. That was enough to rid my life of many, many parasitic people. But what to do with family who did/does this? They weren't liking or accepting my boundaries so, realizing that I was the one everyone called for help & support, I stopped being so available, which isn’t natural to me. I learned who was capable of being there for me and who was not. I slowly and painfully learned to no longer allow emotional abuse of any kind. My parents had always leaned on their children and not vice versa. When my dad would call angry or upset, I started asking if he was just upset at something else or angry at me. He always seemed startled and said that he was upset. I told him that he came across as angry at me. He could get nasty when he was upset. I taught him about venting. I told him semi-jokingly that if women didn’t vent, we’d kill all the men around us. I gently asked him to just let me know that he’s upset and needs to vent. He learned to find a lot more humor in his anger.

I stood up for myself in many, many other ways. When he would call angry at one of my siblings for telling him he had done something unfavorable to them during childhood, I stood up for them, very gently telling dad that what they said was true. I was tired of having to pretend that our childhood was okay. It wasn’t. But I also told him that just because these things were true didn’t mean things couldn’t be different now and that admitting to these unkind words could heal relationships. I pointed out that we have no relationship with our alcoholic mother so we all need each other. Basically, I finally stood up to dad, sometimes firmly but most often in a very kind way. I stated that he was not to talk to me certain ways. I did a lot of this in such a manner that family was not aware of how I was changing our relationships. I was just consistent over time.

My relationship with dad will probably never be what I need from him: a true parental relationship, but that doesn’t seem to be an option … sadly. But at this point, he knows he can call me and we’ll laugh like jackasses and vent and, in general, goof off. It fulfills part of what I need in life.

The last time dad visited was two years ago when he was driving south to Florida after driving to Chicago and putting my severely handicapped sister Elizabeth on a plane to live near him in Florida. He had wanted me to be her guardian and I had spent years standing my ground that I did my time taking care of his child instead of having my own childhood. My mom ended up in a nursing home and the 20-Year-Custody War of Elizabeth ended with my brother accepting guardianship because my mother would not hand it over to my dad. Dad told Mike he would do all the work and only the title would be Mike’s. So Dad's visit on his way back to Florida was actually wonderful and relaxing. We all enjoyed it and nobody was upset after he left.

This visit 6/1-4 was the best in my entire life. Dad is happiest if he’s fixing things which my husband never does, so dad and I fixed a butt-load of stuff around the house: installed a new faucet to replace the leaking one; installed wall-mounted speed switches for the ceiling fans; cleaned out the furnace; installed an ice-maker filter on my fridge, etc. He never lost his temper, he seemed calmer than ever, we acted like cretins and idiots, and we talked and reminisced about grandparents and family members. It was really wonderful. I’m sad that it took so much of my life to fully enjoy being with my dad but I’m really glad it is happening at all; at last.

For the first time in my life, I wish I lived near my dad so I can spend time with him. My children were sad to see him go and Alana also said she now wishes we lived near him. It’s a bittersweet feeling, but I’m very, very happy that I am finally at this place in my relationship with him.

Good Things - From Whenever!

I've been so busy and overwhelmed lately and haven’t had the time or motivation to blog. So I’m going to write about good things whether they happened to me today or not. I mean, the whole point is to focus on these things in life, so I’m going to write about them even if I do it a week or year later! It's critical to pay far more attention to the good in my life than the bad!

Political Quote

I found this online and it slayed me:
"What we need is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous." – Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

The STORM

An amazing storm just passed over us and another is coming our way. I LOVE storms, um, except for that one that blew $980 worth of stuff in our house five years ago including the motherboard on our furnace. It looked like a tornado was coming today but it wasn't one. I laid on my bed and listened to it WAIL on the house. I loves me some rain and thunderstorms!

MIA - Sorry

I've been very busy. I had the two German Exchange students here and I was doing design work. Julia and Lisa are NOT self-sufficient girls! I enjoyed their visit but I'm glad to have more time. I'm just now finding more time to do stuff like... this. That's a good thing.

#%^@ Microsoft - My Next Computer is a Mac!

Wow! I was without a PC for two weeks - count them, TWO WHOLE WEEKS! After my computer repair guy rewrote the corrupt files for the Microsoft Update that pillaged and violated my poor PC, I decided to add more RAM to help it work way faster but, alas, it seemed to shut my system down. The owner of the repair place found out that even though that chip was supposed to work in my Dell, there have been problems with that brand of RAM shutting systems down. So I had to wait for a different brand to come in and that took nearly one week. The day I turned my computer back on, I immediate installed Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware software. I ran them and found that I had the dreaded Conflicker worm in my system. I have no idea when it got in there, but I'M guessing it was about two nano-seconds after I fired the bugger up for the first time in two weeks. It took most of the day to get it all out of my system. Grrrrrrrr. The 'good' part? I'm up and running and my Dell is quite a bit faster! I should have time over the next few days to get back into blogging about cool stuff! Til then.

#$%& Microsoft & Drawing

It's been a long time since I've posted a blog... uh, well, other than the previous blog that I added today. My computer has been misbehaving for a few weeks and I was concerned that it might have the dreaded 'Conflicker' virus that's due to strike April Fool's Day. As it turns out, I have the dreaded Microsoft-Security-Update-Violated-My-Computer bug. Turns out, it's pretty nasty. I dropped my pc off last Thursday and a #$%& update messed up my hard drive. I'll be paying $75 for the privelege of having it corrected. This is not the first time Microsoft updates have had their filthy way with my pc. Bastards. You try to protect your pc from potential fatal pc viruses and you get ravished. Hopefully, I will soon be back up and blogging cool, happy, wonderful stuff as it happens to me.

Rich brought his laptop home from work today and that is what I'm using to work on my drawing and add these two posts. The really, really cool part? I have a 8GB flash drive that I use when I go to clients' houses to show them their designs or consult with them prior to the design work. Last fall, I had copied all my files I've created on perennials, shrubs and trees onto the flash drive to show to a specific client. These files are many GB of photos and information that I've compiled over the last 14 years. I was wondering if I'd deleted them or not. Hot damn, they are still on the thing! I was able to work 6 hours tonight using my flash drive! Woo hoo!

Drew Liked It All

It can be tough to show love to an older teen boy. I'm generally a hugger and talker but, since that's no longer a favored approach for my son, the labors of love worked really well. I picked Drew up Friday, 3/20 and we talked for the entire three hour drive home. We played music we've both acquired and promised to share it with each other. Music is really a major part of who we are. It makes everything so wonderful! We discussed college and how wonderful it is. We talked about so many beautiful things. That kind of contact is absolutely the BEST as far as I'm concerned.

When he got home, he saw the pillows I made and seemed genuinely pleased. I put up new curtains that block the light better. I framed one of his pencil sketches to go with the others. I ordered two new shelves for the wall so we can get stuff off his floor, neatly stacked though the books are. I didn't put the shelves or picture up until I showed them to him (shelves via the internet photos). I didn't want him to think we are changing things without his permission. It seems like he got that I'd done these things expressly to please him. He's not a particularly materialistic person so finding ways to show love, other than over-the-top motherly affection, can be tough.

I love who he is as a person. He's not gotten empty and tough like so many males. He may not wear his heart or sensitivity on his sleeve but he's one hell of a wonderful person and I'm very proud he's my son.

Labors of Love, aka: Slaving Over Projects to Show Drew How Much I Love Him

I'll be driving to bring Drew home for spring break this Friday, 3/20/09. I bought some basic curtains for his room and I have to do some sewing on them to make them work (light blocking, lengthening, etc). Then, I am using the same material I made his didgeridoo case out of, plus a new one (funky batiks), to make him some pillows for his bed. THEN, I'm buying a few basic white shelves for above his bed to get some of the CRAP off of his floor. He's at the no-hug, no-kiss, I-won't-be-your-little-boy-again-until-I'm-22-or-so stage. I, the physical affection and quality-time monger, am not particularly happy with the aforementioned stage. In fact, I can't WAIT for it to be over. So, I'm spelling my love out with physical efforts. I pray to God that he appreciates it because I do NOT wish to emulate Martha Stewart for any purpose other than to connect with my child! Whether or not he appreciates this, the efforts are still a good thing. I will be repeating this like a mantra, with a slight twitch, if he scorns my efforts.

Upstairs Bathroom is Beautious! Like Your Mom!

So, I painted the upstairs bathroom this weekend. I was sick of looking at white walls. We've been in this house since October 2003. Pathetic. Not so thrilled that the metallic paint doesn't look so metallic but it's still clean and tidy. I am Uber-painter! A friend back in Michigan who paints for a living suggested I do it professionally because it looks so GOOD! Thank you, but no. It's a pain in the arse so I'll keep it local - like in our house only! Now I'm on to other chores AND finishing a design for clients.

Milk

I watched the movie Milk tonight. It was a great movie. I do not understand why people take stands against things that do not affect them. They do it in the name of religion although God is about love & tolerance. I don't understand the hatred toward gay people. The suggestion that my grip on heterosexuality is so tenuous that I could change my sexual predilection is idiotic. Or that my children's heterosexuality could be swayed by proximity to a gay teacher or neighbor. Nutcakes. The movie was important. Stop hating.

Margaret and Alice

Last night I was scanning old family photos to store in my external hard drive. I came across a photo from the turn of the century of my Nana sitting at a piano, her mom Bridget, and another girl. I've seen this photo before. Nana is somewhere around 10 in the photo which would date the photo to about 1905. I always assumed that the other girl was maybe a cousin. It's a shiny old photo that turned out much easier to see copied onto the computer so, while looking at the scanned photo, I realized, slowly, that the girl near Nana looks too much like her to be a cousin. I realized that the girl must be Nana's sister Margaret. I have only one other photo of Margaret: her wedding photo taken when she was probably 19. It has to be her. The girl in the photo is an exact but younger version of Margaret on her wedding day.

Here's the great part: Margaret was my actual great-grandmother. She died when my grandfather, Lawrence, was 13 months old. Margaret's mother Bridget, for many reasons, raised my grandfather after Margaret died. My great-grandfather Harry was Protestant and Margaret's family was Catholic so they felt that between religion and Harry being a man, they were better suited to take care of Lawrence - not exactly fair. When Margaret's younger sister Alice married a few years later, she and her husband Robert Baker raised Lawrence as their son. My mom didn't know that Nana (Alice) was not her actual great-grandmother until one her Aunts, Nana's and Margaret's sister Agnes, told her. Mom told me years later when I was around 10 or 12. It always upset Nana that we knew. I wish it hadn't because it didn't affect my feelings toward Nana one iota; I loved her as much as you can love anyone. So technically she was my great-aunt but it didn't change anything for me; to me she was still my great-grandmother. As far as I was concerned, I now had one more great-grandmother! It really was amazing to find out about this other person you never knew, but who is such an integral part of you. What is doubly amazing is to stare at the photo of two women who were so important to me: one whom I never met and the other who was one of my favorite people in the whole world.

Nana always used to talk about certain things that would need to done after she was 'gone' and, while she was being practical, it upset me. Once when I asked to see her photos (she never showed me all of them - things were much more hush-hush back in her days) I kept asking who people were. I asked why their names weren't written down and Nana said that was because she knew who they were. I remember actually saying to Nana that since she often talked about how things should be done after her death, she should write these peoples' names down or I wouldn't know their names after she was gone. I hated the topic of Nana's death, but in this one instance, I actually saw a purpose to it.

Nana died when I was 18. Maybe 17 years ago, Dad gave me a box from his attic. My sister and I inherited Nana's physical possessions. Nana was a pistol considering the era in which she was born. She wanted to give us all her possessions "so we wouldn't have to marry to have nice things". And that was the norm until closer to my generation. In the box were all of Nana's photos. I opened a photo of a man and woman on their wedding day, around the 1910's. I realized that the man looked like my grandfather and the woman looked somewhat like my Nana. I stared in wonder, thinking, "Is this Margaret and Harry!?" I flipped the photo over and their names were written on the back in Nana's very shaky handwriting from her later years. I was amazed to be holding a photo of my great-grandparents. I have to say, Nana was everything I wanted or needed in a great-grandparent; in fact, she was much more like a parent and grandparent to me. But finding this photo was very emotional because I am very into family. That, and I was so touched by the fact that Nana had listened to me and had, very late in her life, documented the names of all these people. It was amazing.

So, to find that this photo I've seen before is actually the second photo I own of my 'other' great-grandma left me in a haze of happy contemplation yesterday and even today. It means an awful lot to me. Nana and Margaret in the same photo. A copy of this one is getting framed so I can see it everyday!

Isabelle, Julian, Raclette & American Idol

Saturday night was a BLAST! Isabelle invited us over for dinner and to meet her husband Julian, whom I'd never met but about whom I've heard wonderful things. Alana had made other plans. I've been to Isabelle's one other time, with Jen and her daughter Aly. Isabelle made us crêpes that visit. Rich had met Isabelle once when she stopped by our house because she and I were driving to a dinner together.

Isabelle has an electric appliance called a Raclette which they bought back in Montreal. You cook the food on it at the table: flank steak strips, shrimp, scallops, onions, green and red peppers, raclette cheese, muchrooms, broccoli & a knock-out garlic mayo sauce Julian created. It was fantastic. We played with their two little ones Léo and Émil. Émil is about 8 months old and Léo is 28 months. Léo is a stitch and, like my kids when they were small, has one hell of a personality and sense of humor. He only speaks French and Rich speaks English but he became Rich's best friend. I was mildly jealous because I am usually the one that becomes buds with the pets and kids. Isabelle said the Julian is the one that rough-houses with Léo, so he digs guys a lot. I was slightly appeased (though I never confessed my slight jealousy).

They brought out some huge wooden game that is like a tiny pool table and was very popular in Canada during the 70's. It was a blast: you thwack wooden rings with your thumb and index finger for the same effect you'd get with pool balls. There are four corner pockets. Isabelle horrified Julian by winning gloriously and dancing a victory dance. He obviously fully expected to win. It was wonderful. After dessert, they suggested Nintendo American Idol. I was horrifed; I would have to sing in public. I learned that you only have to know all the notes & words to win. You don't have to sing well. And... I won. I also chose songs exclusively within my range. It was a blast because nobody was a prima donna and we were all amused by each others' singing.

We are having them over as soon as we have an open Saturday. I love them because they are open, real, passionate, expressive, and very present people. They have zero pretenses and are sweethearts. They could have suggested playing Bingo and we would have had fun just by being with them. I know Alana will love them too!

Sandi & The Impromptu Dinner

Yesterday was catch-up day chore-wise. I've been drawing all week so I ran chores yesterday from 11am until 7pm. I was in an area of town called Afton and thought I'd call my friend Sandi who lives there, whom I met through my women's group. She wasn't doing anything for dinner so, on short-notice, I picked her up and we had dinner and talked until 10pm. I really love being with people and most especially, friends. Working from my home in a town where I know few people doesn't help me in my love of being with people. So, yesterday was wonderful!

Boston Dog Makes My Day

I just got on weather.com to check if we are getting rain tonight. There was a video about a dog that was saved by firefighters from a freezing river in Boston. This is the kind of thing that makes my day: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/dog-struggles-in-icy-water/943476873 or
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/dog-struggles-in-icy-water/943476873/?icid=VIDLRVNAT03
It won't embed.

Emotional Support - Thank you Rich

I was really sad today due to an on-going situation with one family member and issues with another family member. For the last two nights I've had actively crappy dreams. Rich saw that I was directionless and sad so he lured me over to the couch near the fire and let me snivel on him. After I talked for a while, he showed me his old yearbooks that he and Alana have been going over for the past few days. At some point, I noticed that I was laughing and chatting over these books and that he had distracted me wonderfully. We've talked recently about this practice being of real benefit in a relationship. He doesn't usually do this. I was literally in a different place afterward. It's amazing what a sap I am for quality time with loved ones. Just spend sincere time with me and I'm a happy little girl. I don't need pricey gifts, fancy anything. Just quality time and, sometimes when I'm down, stealthy distraction. I'll tell you what, that book I mentioned a while back, The Five Languages of Love by Gary Chapman is simply amazing. So is Rich.

Ellen Greenberg-Maloney

After rousing myself from our Roman Fest dinner (and cleaning up - boo), I called my friend Ellen Greenberg-Maloney whom I met when I lived in Kalamazoo. She now lives in Connecticut for the same reasons we live here: Pfizer, the evil bastards. Ellen is one of those soul-mate relationships I mentioned in an earlier post ('Tina Sybertz: Goddess of Germany"). We have really similar senses of humor, political viewpoints, & family backgrounds. Yet, she's Jewish, I'm not and we share very few interests activity-wise: uh, knitting & gardening. I care for her pretty much unconditionally and it would seem she feels the same for me. My relationship with her is effortless. I've literally never had a judgmental thought about her (I'm no saint; I only have four such relationships: Andrea Nusbaum, Carey Geyer, Tina Sybertz, & Ellen). We spoke for 114 minutes and I sincerely thought maybe 30 minutes had passed. These friendships are what real love and connectedness are about. It's honestly effortless. Compared to most relationships, these really are miracles.

After chatting with Ellen, Alana, Rich and I spent a brief while watching a History channel show together. Lana has school off tomorrow. Yaaaayyy!

Lackadaisical Me

So today: woke up after an odd night of disturbing dreams, cleaned up, tidied up emails, put roast in oven, tidied up kitchen, Rich started a fire, sat with Rich near said fire, checked roast, got rest of dinner together in hurry (roast was small and, thus, cooked quicker than expected). Rich suggested that eating dinner in front of the fire would be fun plus we wouldn’t be wasting a good fire. I laughed and said sure. Our living room has the fireplace at the end of the room with the couch facing it. About 15' behind the couch is the kitchen table and past that is the kitchen. Rich lifted the little table and set it between the fire with the couch. We had wine with dinner. It was w-a-r-m next to that fire. Alana was furthest from it so less sweaty. It was funnier than hell. Immediately after eating, Lana moved about 3' away to the couch and lied down. I got up and lied on the floor. Rich followed suite. Within minutes, I felt myself sleep breathing. I must have been somewhat conscious because I realized what we were doing and snorted a laugh; then we all started laughing at ourselves. Everyone had been lightly asleep. Note: I had one tiny glass of wine, so it was not a contributor to the sleepiness. It was an amazingly slothful experience. We were intrigued at how very differently we behaved in our living room than we do in our dining room. It was either really trashy or really Roman, but it was really nice.

Couples

On 2/18, my neighbor's dog couples jumped up on their couch, staggered then jumped back down to the floor and collapsed. She herniated a disk in her spine, which is not uncommon in older Cairn Terriors. She can now move only her front right leg & paw and, even then, not much. She can move her head around. I offered and have been going to their house every weekday since Friday to check in on her while they are at work. The vet didn't tell them how to express her bladder and bowels, so I looked it up. I got her to tinkle but the way to get her to do other stuff will not be detailed here. I've had to bathe her often since she sometimes wets a bit in her bed. I lost my cats years ago to awful, prolonged health issues and I feel for my neighbors. I work from home so I can go over and help Couples out. We're hoping she improves; she seems to have a bit more movement in her back leg since this Wednesday. Why is this in my blog? It makes me happy that I can do something for this little dog. She's an amazing little girl and I wish every neighbor dog I'd ever lived near had been like her (lived next to a beagle for 15 awful years). Having watched my cats go through horrible pain, I want to be available for Couples while Dave & Angel are at work. Hopefully she'll be better in a week or two.

Okee Doke, Eagles

I live about four miles from a major bridge over the Mississippi river. Over the last few years, I've noticed bald eagles sitting in trees alongside the river, near the bridge. A few years ago, I took a photo and then cropped the hell out of it, but it still wasn't great since I don't have the kind of 'uber-lens' that would be necessary to accomplish the perfect photo considering my huge distance from the bird. I'd need a National Geographic Photographer kind of camera and lens. This year, I've been seeing a lot of bald eagles along the road leading up to the river and then, again, alongside the river. While Drew was home over Winter break, we were driving toward the bridge headed west into Missouri and, on our right, we saw DOZENS of bald eagles in trees, on the ground, and swooping over a field just about one block from the river. I was driving, so I sadly wasn't able to give it my full attention but Drew got the full experience. Since that day, Rich has seen the same occurence once. Nearly every single time I drive over that bridge headed east, I see one specific eagle in a tree on a specific branch, on the SE side of the river. It's in the same tree as the one if the photo above. I wonder if it's the same bird? All very wonderful, none-the-less!

Bed-Time, Eagles, & Couples

You'll have to wait until tomorrow for the Eagles and Couples stories. I added those two out of the three words so I don't forget to write about them tomorrow... or, uh, later today. All you get tonight is the Bed-Time part; which is as follows: I'm completely and totally whipped and it's 1:11am so I'm off to bed and I'll add today's cool stuff tomorrow. If you wonder how bed-time and, thus, sleeping fit into the general idea of Good Things, I am part narcoleptic and so I adore bed-time (and my bed for that matter) and sleep. You know how most adults over 30 say, "Oh, I don't need as much sleep as I used to; 6-7 hours are great"? Uh, that's not me. So, bed-time and sleep are really very good and wonderful things. Sweet Dreams.

Lunch with MaryAnn & The Five Languages of Love

I met MaryAnn at Thai House for lunch. She's going through an unwanted divorce because her husband, with whom I went to college, is a philandering dirt-bag. If you think that is an unkind assessment of him, that WAS the kind part and I filtered out all the gross stuff. I was telling her about a very cool book by Gary Chapman called The Five Languages of Love. It discusses what each of us as individuals needs and wants from a relationship and how we must assess our specific (appropriate) needs and communicate them with our loved ones (or the ones we are trying to love). She was telling me about a very cool, elderly priest who is counseling her right now. He's an amazing person with a beautiful soul who inherently understands humans and their behaviors and motives. He is loving and empathic. As we were discussing the basic 5 things all humans need, she told me that I'm the only person to whom she can talk about these things; nobody else gets it. That's not surprising in a small town like this, I guess. I mean, I've had one hell of a time meeting anybody nice here (I knew her before I moved here); I've had to go outside this town to find friends. I love talking at this level with people. To me, the entire world is like a playground in a park and I'm a 4-year-old. I meet people and go, "Hi, wanna play?" and am repeated stunned by the ensuing levels of unfriendliness and/or unkindness. Can't we all just play nice? I adore talks like this. It's part of what makes life wonderful.

Gabi Digs the Blog

So, today is Gabi's fifth birthday. I wished her a happy birthday and she wrote back. She said she likes my blog and why wouldn't she? She made Meg's blog two times. Umm, three times counting right now. Man, chatting with Gabi is one of the best parts of the day. I suspect her human is pretty cool too.

Old Blind Dogs & Bodhrans

I had to go out today for one chore. While I was driving I was listening to my iPod, as per usual. I was in a celtic music mood this morning. I chose Old Blind Dogs and cranked it in the car. Man, their fiddle & bodhran players kick some serious butt. I haven't played my bodhran in a loooong time. I'm really in the mood now to play. I wish I knew people around here who play that kind of music. Either way, good music always makes me wildly happy. I was bellowing along and grateful nobody could hear.

Hmmm... What to Write. Uhhh... Design Work.

So today was a very low-key day. I worked on Lyons' design. I've been researching plants for the proper exposure and situation. I have huge Word documents/books I've created over the years that show every plant, info, and photos. I always create a huge document for the client showing them everything in their design as well as care info. At my suggestion, my clients got the house & property blueprints from the Architect so all I had to do was transpose the drawing onto 1/4" grid paper. It took all of 14 minutes start to finish whereas that part usually takes several hours of measuring and then a few hours of drawing. If I were greedy, I'd do all the measuring myself every time, but instead, I prefer to have the measurements done so I can spend all my time planning and designing. Only a handful of clients have ever been able to get their hand on the architectural plans so I usually do measure everything. The only measurements I had to take were sidewalk, drive, and distance up to windows. So now, since I've chosen a huge list of plants, I get to go straight to the part where I play with what goes where. Rich is out of town, so I'll do that tomorrow... well, later today after I sleep for a long time. Not an outrageously exciting day but, these days, no big news makes for a calm, moderate day.

Sushi & French Kissing... Well, French Canadian Kissing

I'll state the obvious: having sushi and seeing good friends all in the same day is pretty wonderful. I had sushi for lunch and tonight I had dinner with Sandi, Anna, Isabelle & Renee. We went to some bar/Tapas restaurant afterward and drank like old ladies: Sandi and Anna had coffee with Kahlua, Isabelle had a pepsi, and I had sprite. We are W-I-L-D! This summer, after nearly five friendless years in St. Louis, I put a carefully worded ad on Craigslist inviting women to join a friends group. Around 50 women responded within the first several days and we now have a very tight-knit group of about nine of us that do a lot together, and many others that come to some of the outings. Most of the women aren't from here and experienced the same coldness that I did. We are having a blast! Isabelle had moved here from Montreal just two weeks before she saw my ad. She responded that she did not speak much English; I answered in French. We've been buds ever since. She's taught all the girls what the French and French Canadians do when they greet each other or part company: they kiss each other on the cheeks, in France it's twice: once on each. In Montreal, it's three times: left, right, left. I really liked this habit when I lived in France. We laughed ourselves sick tonight, as per usual.

Gabi the Wunderhund.

Gabi wrote me back today.
First, here's what I wrote her yesterday: "Hey Gabi, thanks so much for adding me! I think it's so wonderful that you have your own facebook page that I wrote about you in my blog today, and I put your photo on there too. You made my day!"
Here's what she wrote: "MEG! You made MY day. Thanks for commenting on my photos, too. It's not easy trying to be cute all the time, and I appreciate your affirmation. I've been putting larger curlers in my ear hair when I sleep and it seems to be working, although it makes sleeping more difficult. Where can I find your blog? You are very cute, too."
The really funny part in all this is: I assumed that Gabi is my high school friend's dog since his Facebook page says that he is in a relationship with her. I now realize that she belongs to someone else, and I have no idea who. That slays me! A response from Gabi made me grin ear-to-ear.

Tearing That Room Up!

Okay, I confess I'm sort of an organizational nerd. I really like to have places for things. The house may look normal and lived-in but, oooohhhhh, I know where each and every thing goes - for when and/or if I DO want it put away. I cleaned the computer room today. What a task! Sadly, I'm the only one around here who organizes (if I ever cared to be mean, I could refuse to tell anyone in this house where things are; they'd never find them. Lucky for everyone, I'm very nice). I reorganized the closet: office supplies, games (I l-o-v-e games: cool, nerdy, game-store games), sleeping bags, school supplies, etc. Now the floor is a mess: stuff for charity, give away, the 'I have no idea whatsoever to do with these things' pile, paper recycling bag, garbage bag, interesting scotch tapes my friend in art supplies sales gave me (cheetah & zebra prints), & an old palm pilot my well-intentioned sister convinced me to buy years ago. Now I must climb over junk to get at my drawing board. I'll finish tomorrow, but for now... my closet is uber tidy!

Bella & Tara

These are wonderful videos about an elephant and dog that are best friends. It doesn't get much sweeter than this.

Great Blogging Minds Think Alike!

I told Alana about my blog the other day, and she mentioned that Drew (her brother, my son) also has a blog about things that make him happy. How wonderful is that? I went to his Facebook page and it's listed right there under 'Information'. I'd seen the websites there but had assumed, apparently incorrectly, that they were password protected. We even used the same layout on blogspot, but chose different fonts and colors. I've decided, for now, to keep mine private and not list it on FB, but perhaps someday soon I'll show it to others. For the moment, I prefer being able to write openly & uncensored. I'm so happy and amazed that Drew found the same outlet for the same positive purpose just a bit ahead of me.

Gabi Jensen - One Wonderful Dog AND My New Friend

I got back in contact with a friend with whom I went to my freshman year of high school. His Facebook profile says he's in a relationship with Gabi Jensen. A few days after adding him, my FB home page showed a photo of Dean with Gabi. Gabi, it turns out, is a beautiful spaniel. I then noticed that Gabi has her own Facebook page. I sat there in a state of happy, slow motion wonder while I clicked on her link. I hesitated for a few seconds then I asked her to add me on FB. Today, Gabi added me. I am so excited and pleased by her having her own page that, every time I think about it, I start smiling and laugh. How wonderful that someone has a such a very playful way of looking at life and loves their dog enough to share her with others. Really, how very cool is it having a dog friend on FB? V-e-r-y cool, and it pleases me no end!

Flight of the Conchords - Yeah baby.

These guys are from New Zealand and are hilarious. You can rent their stuff at video stores. Every time I watch this, it slays me!

2nd Day of Valentine

Slept late, cleaned up, cleaned house a bit, had Thai food with Rich & Lana, organized house a bit more, opened V-Day cards, watched movie with Rich & Lana, ate popcorn with said movie, am at pc at ungodly hour, Lana has no school tomorrow. I feel like I got a lot done today AND had fun. All that AND I got a response from Drew on Facebook wishing me a Happy V-Day. Yaayyy!
P.S. Probably should NOT have had that caffeinated coke at the Thai House, huh?

My Dork Slippers are Most Pleasing To Me

Two days ago I bought a truly dorky pair of slippers. They look like an open-backed version of closed-back pairs that my dad used to wear when we were kids. At a winter clearance price of $7.20, I had to have them. They make me laugh. I'll try to take a photo so I can share the joy.

T-Rex Fights vs. The Headache

I'm sitting here typing but I have a headache and the light from the monitor is making it soooo much worse. All I can think about, however, is the T-Rex fight Lana and I were having on the couch after our movie finished tonight. Put the back of your hands up against the area of your chest between your shoulders and your breasts. Fold all your fingers together except the index and middle fingers: like you're giving the peace sign. Allow the fingers to relax into a slight curl. Those are your dinky little T-Rex claws. Now, without removing your claws from your chest, fight and attack using those fierce weapons. AND you look very cool doing it too (okay, not really. I lied). The memory of the facial expressions alone, from trying to avoid being poked in the eye with a claw, are enough to keep me snorting all night. If you tend toward seriousness, and I hope you don't, please try this with a loved one or trusted friend. There is no way in hell you will maintain composure, although if you do, please let me know. I have other uber goofy ideas to get you to lose composure. You need to - it's good for your soul.

Lana & The Homemade Card

When Lana realized that Rich had headed off to bed, she expressed concern that we hadn't opened her cards. I told her not to worry since tomorrow is the 2nd Day of Valentine. Lana sadly told me that her cards are only homemade. Pssssshhhhhhhhhh! Seriously, like any parent would want a store bought card over a homemade one? Will I ever convince her that what she makes is 100 times better than anything bought? She's such an angel.

V-Day

Slept in, ate cereal, cleaned house a bit, bathed, got prettified, had early dinner at cool soda fountain in Lafayette Square, shopped at a cute little shop across the street that stayed open late for V-Day, returned a shirt at the mall, bought Lana some Bath and Body Works stuff with a coupon I had, came home, watched a cool flick, had an energetic T-Rex fight, blogging, will hit the sack. Only thing missing was Drew but I know he's most probably having a good time at U. of I. Rich was whipped at 11pm and wanted to go to sleep. He said we should open cards later. We like to extend holidays much like the 12 Days of Christmas idea. Tomorrow is the second day of Valentine. We'll open the cards then. I dig my family.

Badass Clint

My neighbors across the street invited us over to watch Gran Torino tonight. They borrowed a pirated copy from a friend (tsk tsk). Clint is SUCH a foul-mouthed curmudgeon in this flick. His character is SO abrasive and politically incorrect. I really like hanging out and watching flicks with friends. Chuh, we even had popcorn.

Oh yeah, it's clean baby.

I had a mile long to-do list today. Maybe even a mile and a half. After my 11am appointment, instead of working on that list, or working on my current client's design, I took advantage of the 50-some-odd degree weather and... vacuumed and cleaned the carpet in my van. I worked from 12:30pm until 5pm. That puppy is spankin clean! Then, just when I thought my hands were going to fall off at the wrists, I came in and hosed down the carpeted mats in the shower. I let them drain then I sucked all the water out with the carpet steamer on those too. I finished at 7:15pm. I'm sore, tired, raw, and very pleased with myself. Ohhhhh yeah, who details cars better than any man? Meg does. You want to ride in MY car? You TAKE those shoes off!

Rain & Thunder

I reopened my blog to add one more thing: it's raining, lightening, and thundering... on February 10th! I am ready to get in bed and listen to pouring rain and soft thunder. How cool is that?

Tina Sybertz - goddess of Germany

Recently, I found a friend on facebook with whom I'd not corresponded in at least 8 years. I was best friends with her when we both lived in France. She's German and lives in southern Germany. When I moved in '03, she never got my change of address because she'd moved as well. She finally joined facebook in December and I found her. Tonight I sent her a 9 paragraph email. She's one of those few people that are real soulmates. I am fortunate to have several such relationships: people that you may see rarely, but each contact is wonderful, peaceful, happy, loving, fulfilling. You may actually have very little in common with each other, but you just love each other at every level and without judgement. Those relationships are simply beautiful, amazing, and humbling.

In the Garden

Today was 69 degrees. After working on a design, I escaped to the yard, pulled weeds, clipped old perennials, pruned boxwoods & Iteas, & cleaned putrid smelling leaves out of my tiny pond. I had brought out a ladybug that was on the window sill near my drawing board. I think she dug being in my garden - way cooler than watching me research & work on my clients' plant list. It felt amazing to be out in such wonderful February weather. I actually got too warm clipping old growth out of my Iteas. This was one of several things that made my day wonderful.

Sushi - How I do love thee!

Today I ate sushi. I love and adore sushi. It's the only food on earth that I crave most days of the week. Whoever thought up raw fish on rice with wasabi in soy, you made my day... and too many days to mention. Thank you! Oh, and the people that work at Tokyo Sushi are so sweet; they are used to most Americans not being friendly and talkative. One guy there, 'Roger' (I'm sure his real name shares none of the same letters as his English name), talks with me and Alana about ancient Dynasty china and formal Chinese caligraphy. I get off on being around sincere, present, real people and I can tell it makes their day too.

I Love Carey!

I typed blogspot into my address bar this morning and the pull-down menu on Mozilla showed my friend Carey's blog. I hit it and read a couple of her posts and then decided, 'Ah, what the hell. I'll just call her!' I love Carey. We lived near each other for some years while our children were small but I rarely saw her. We spoke on the phone for the most part. She moved across the state some years after we met. She's one of those people that you may not speak to regularly, but when you do, it's like it was yesterday. She's amazing. Our lives always parallel in a scary way. I LOVE talking to her. Carey, you are one of best things in my day! Deal with the fact that you are a beautiful, wonderful, loving, interesting person who is AMAZINGLY valuable! Got it?

Michigan

I got back from Michigan late last night. I had a very good time there. I stayed with my friend Marie and it was great to be with her again. I drove around town, ate some good food, bought a cake at one of two favorite bakeries and saw some other good friends at breakfast Sunday. All in all, a bittersweet but wonderful trip.

Going to Michigan & Seeing Drew

In about 7 hours from now, after I actually go to sleep and then get up, we are headed back to Michigan for the first time in four years. We lived there for 18 years. I'm going to see a good friend and eat food at places that I've missed. On the way north, we are stopping at U. of I. to pick up my son Drew. He's going with us; I haven't seen him since we dropped him off at school after Christmas break (mid January). So I get to do two wonderful things in one day. Yaaaaayyyy!

Friends on Facebook

On Facebook today, I found a group for a school I went to as a freshman. I joined and was contacted the same day by three people I was friends with and with whom I'd lost touch. We posted on each others' walls for quite a while tonight. FB is AMAZING for contacts and old friendships. I love relationships so when people criticize FB as being so sterile, I disagree. How else would you find old friends; there aren't many other ways. It's wonderful! And it's made me smile all day!

Canada Geese & Bill Bryson

I love geese; especially Canada Geese (I think we should still call them Canadian geese. I mean really, we don't call the people up there 'Canadas'!). I just heard the loudest flock of Canada geese fly over my house. I looked out the window and literally hundreds of geese flew over in dozens of 'V' formations. Amazing and beautiful. I felt so happy; I adore CANADIAN geese after living in Michigan for 19 years. People complained about them but I think they're wonderful. *insert Bronx Cheer/raspberries here*

Secondly, I just reread A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I've read it at least five times over 11 years. It is one of the funniest I've have ever read in my life. He could write about ear wax and make it 'laugh til you can't breath', funny! Back in '98 a friend had just died, my brother had cancer and a few other huge things were going on. I walked into Barnes & Noble and asked for a really funny book that wasn't weird, dysfunctional or sad. The guy suggested this book. I thought, "Travel book? Uh, that's not me." I went over to check it out and, in just one page, was laughing my butt off while standing in the aisle. I bought it right then. Love this book!

Yay, iTunes!

I've had more bad news regarding some family members today. I decided to feed my soul with music so I'm downloading some recently purchased CDs onto iTunes. This puts me in the right place every time!

Music and The Walk of Love

Last night I stayed up too late listening to my iPod in bed. Music is one of the happiest things in the world. After waking up today, my cat Ronan led me on the Walk of Love: I follow him talking and weaving into the living room (his noises & movements, not mine). I pick him up and we both lie down on the couch. He lays right beside my face, on my shoulder and purrs while I pet him. We started this habit around five years ago. Within about one minute, I had three cats on me and I was fighting to stay awake so I could get cleaned up and ready for the day. Physical affection is magic. Cats are the original little zen masters.