Wherein My Pending Demise is Greatly Exaggerated

Last night my friend Cassie called me.
"What is WRONG with you?" she began the conversation.
"Uh. I have a cold. Other than that I'm fine," I replied.

She then told me that prayers had been offered on my behalf in church on Sunday (for some reason Mensa Boy forgot to tell me that), and then she proceeded to enumerate the number of things I have NOT been to in the last week.

It is true that I have been somewhat of a serial church skipper this past year. As I struggle with "this menopause crap," as my friends call it, it's been difficult to have the energy just about every other weekend. Sometimes I just go anyway, but other times I think about how there is basically just a scrolling screen saver across my brain that says "I want to be home. I want to home."

I do feel much better than I did last summer and winter. But I still have low-energy days, and they seem to happen most on weekends. Probably because I run around as much as possible during the week to get work done.

However, I have also been absent from church as I cover the new ones that are opening up here in our community. I am the de facto "church correspondent" for our paper, and so I cover quite a few church events and some of them happen on Sundays. Last Sunday I went to a service for a new church called "The Community Life Church of the Carolinas." The week before I went to the service now offered in our community by St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Fort Mill. In a couple of weeks I'll be going to the Presbyterians.

I've never been much for attending multiple services in a week. And especially not twice in one day.

So I've been gone from church a bit. It's noticed in a little church like ours, because we only have about 90 people in our services. And of course our family sits right in the front row.

Cassie also is breaking my back about Jazzercise. We opened a new location here and I just haven't gotten to it. I've been going, but my schedule as a freelancer is very flexible, so I still end up going to the other location, which has daytime classes, pretty much all the time.

But what really concerned her were the prayers on my behalf. "Do you think they are praying for my soul?" I asked.

"I don't know," Cassie said.

And then all became clear when I asked Mensa Boy about it.

"Oh yeah!" he said. "They think you have breast cancer!"

huh.

I guess someone misunderstood my Komen donation letter...where I mention the testing I had last spring. My point was how cool it is that we have all the modern technology. That even someone like me, who is hard to screen, can be screened for this disease thanks to the work of foundations like this.

So my dear church put together my absences and my Komen letter and came up with me dying of breast cancer.

I'm not. But I do have a pretty bad cold. I feel like death warmed over, but I'm pretty sure I'll recover.

Maybe.

(Many thanks to those of you who have donated to the Komen Race. I'd love to have more. It's not a competition of any kind--well, Mary of "Shoe Dawg Shoe" and I are kind of having a Komen pledge throwdown--but really? It's just a good thing to do. I'd love to have more of you contribute!)

Pants Death

The death of a favorite pair of pants is a tragic thing. I still remember when my favorite pair of light blue denim Eddie Bauer shorts bit the dust. They finally had become hole-y enough so as to seriously compromise my integrity as a mother. I never found a pair of shorts that I liked as much. (Okay. That was exaggerating. I have a pair of "Life is Good" shorts that I love more than just about anything in my closet. I'm really going to hate not wearing them this winter)

Today my buddy Sarah called to tell me that she had to give last rites to her favorite Gap pants. "Those pants always brought me compliments," she said as she poured out her heart to me on the phone. "And I put them on and found a hole."

Not a repairable hole.

She told me how those pants would feel good on bloated days...making her feel and look skinny. They went with so much of her wardrobe and were a joy to wear.

Oh yes, she hit the first stage of grief immediately: denial. But now it's been several hours and she has already worked to acceptance.

We're talking about a memorial now.

Alienation of Affection

Mensa Boy is very paranoid about germs. It's worse when he is about to go out of town. At my first mention of a viral-feeling headache the other day, he immediately took up his "you are a germy person" persona.

He now waves at me.

And so yes...I am snotty today. I'm remembering that I was hideously sick last year the week before the library festival too. But last year I was not sleeping...no good sleeping drugs were in my arsenal. This year I have sleep on my side. And I'm getting stuff done for the paper, so I'm able to take naps in the afternoon.

This morning it's an early-morning trip to the dentist. The appointment is at 8 a.m, which means we pretty much have to leave here in 10 minutes. It's not very far, but the traffic situation is really terrible, so we'll have to leave plenty of time for travel.

I read this article in yesterday's Observer and it resonated so strongly with me that I'm going to paste the entire text here. I've been a fan of Tony Campolo's for years now, but this is the best compilation of what he's about that I've ever seen. It makes me happy to know that we have some evangelicals that make sense to me. I'm particularly pleased about what he says about the death penalty.

THEOLOGY AND POLITICS

Trying to see today through the eyes of Jesus

Left-leaning Baptist author's article asked WWJD about Iraq?

TIM FUNK

tfunk@charlotteobserver.com

"What would Jesus do about Iraq?"

That's the question the Rev. Tony Campolo recently posed -- and answered -- in Tikkun, a left-leaning Jewish magazine.

Campolo is a left-leaning evangelical Baptist who's written 34 books on Christianity and social justice. He was President Bill Clinton's spiritual adviser. And on Sunday, he was in Charlotte to speak at Dilworth United Methodist Church.

In an interview, the Observer asked the Philadelphia-based Campolo what Jesus would do not only about Iraq, but about other issues dividing U.S. Christian churches.

Here are his answers, edited for space and clarity.

Q. What would Jesus do about ...

• Iraq: "I think what Jesus would have us do is repent. I would love to see (President Bush) go to the (United Nations) and say, `I really believed there were weapons of mass destruction when I asked for the invasion five years ago. I was wrong. Thousands and thousands of people have died, thousands and thousands of people are wounded and ruined for life. I ask for forgiveness.'

"I don't think you lose your stature when you ask for forgiveness. I think to be able to confess and to ask for forgiveness is a sign of strength. Jesus would have said, `Power is not the evidence of what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something better than guns and planes and armies. I'm looking for the kind of authority that people look up to.' "

• Gays and lesbians: "He'd love them and accept them. When we sing at my church, `Just As I Am,' I think we need to mean it." We shouldn't be saying to gay and lesbian people, `You have to become what you're not in order to be welcome by Jesus.' "

• Abortion: "I'm sure that the destruction of life in abortion would break his heart. However, I feel like if he were speaking to the church today in America, he would ask not the question, `Are you going to make it illegal and arrest women who have abortions?' I think Jesus would say, `What are you going to do to reduce the number of abortions?'

(A new survey reported that) 70 percent of all abortions are economically driven. You have a poor woman working on minimum wage with no hospitalization. She gets pregnant. She can't afford to have the kid, she can't afford to pay the hospital bills, she can't afford day care after the child is born. So she says, `I'm going to have an abortion.' Can Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives agree on one thing: that it's wrong for women who want to have their babies to have abortions? And that's about 70 percent of them. Then we can start talking about the other 30 percent."

• The death penalty: "(If you support capital punishment), you cannot believe in the Beatitudes -- `Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' You cannot say, `I'm going to overcome evil with good.' You cannot say all those things that Jesus said and believe in the death penalty. When you say there's going to be a death penalty, what you basically say is that there are some people who are beyond redemption. There are many times I feel that way. But I'm sure Jesus never feels that way."

• Muslims: "He would love them. Jesus said some very interesting things. He said, `Other sheep I have who are not of this fold.'

"I know I'll get in trouble for this because I'm an evangelical, but (in deciding who gets into heaven), the questions (Jesus) asks on Judgment Day are not theological. I wish they were because I'm an evangelical.... Here are the questions -- the only descriptions he gives of Judgement Day. `I was hungry: Did you feed me? I was naked: Did you clothe me? I was the alien, the (immigrant) from the other country: Did you make room for me in your country? For if you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.' I think there's a wideness in God's mercy that's greater than mine."

• Young people: "Jesus would say to them, `Youth was made for heroism and not for pleasure. And the church has been entertaining you. What I am here to do is call you to sacrifice all that you are and all that you have for love and justice in the world in my name. I want you to live out your life heroically for my kingdom and not get sucked into the dominant values of the culture.' "

This n That

First, the Komen Race. I'm getting pledges already and have met the $125 goal that they automatically put on my site! Cool! Thank you. I have not listed it, but I think my personal goal should be $700. I raised a little over $600 last year. But this year I sent the notices out a little later, and I haven't done any talking about it around the neighborhood, so I've been reluctant to go on record with the goal.

But thank you, Candy J, Julia, Sheryl B, and Steve P, for your donations! Sheryl is giving in honor of her Mother, who is currently battling cancer...not breast cancer, but mantle cell lymphoma. I've not heard of that before. And also in honor of Elaine Lidke, a mutual friend we have that currently has breast cancer. I didn't know Elaine was going through this. Our prayers are with you, my friend.

So keep the pledges coming, folks! I'll have this little link up here every day for the next three weeks.

The puppy training is going quite well. He's notified us more and more that he wants to go out, so that's a relief. The main thing is that he's so darn quiet. If someone is in the kitchen area, it's noticed right away and all is well. But if not...then we've got trouble. For two nights now he's woken us up with a couple of yips while he's in his kennel. We get up, take him outside, he does double duty and then goes right back to bed. I'm grateful that he's telling us, grateful that he goes right back to bed without saying anything, but not really excited about losing the sleep. The first night, Mensa Boy heard him. That's good because MB falls right back to sleep immediately. Last night it was me. That's bad, because I lost about 90 minutes of sleep after that. Once I wake up in the middle of the night, it's pretty hard for me to get back to sleep. I do learn a lot about the world that way, though. I listen to the BBC.

Julia asked if we are having him go potty in the same spot every time. Not by design, but yeah...pretty much. The bad thing is that it's right there on the edge of the patio. So we could have dead grass right there instead of in a less conspicuous spot.

She also asked if we are using clickers to train him. We are using treats. Mainly because he doesn't eat much. And he really likes treats. If we used clickers then I think we'd have to have several of them around so everyone could use them, and they'd get lost, etc. Treats are easy because the bag is right on the counter and we all can grab handfuls for our pockets. Also? I suspect the clicker would bother the pack leader...ME! Sharp loud noises like clicking tend to wreak havoc on my nerves.

Enough about the dog.

This weekend I had a chance to go hang out with some guys from our community there were competing in a BBQ competition. The competition was to benefit the Anne Springs Close Greenway in Fort Mill. Our guys, who have a team called "Pork O Butts," invited me to tag along, help out, shoot photos and in general just be underfoot while the prepped their butts and ribs Friday night and then took them off the smoker for judging Saturday morning. We had a great time. They are wonderful guys and even promised to share their rub and sauce recipes with me. They've agreed to let me print the rub recipe, but the sauce one...NOT! So I'll devise a sauce of my own to print with the food story I'm writing for the paper.
I haven't found out yet how they did.

Here is the gang getting their pulled pork ready for judging:

And here are some ribs on the grill:

It's Time

It's time for the Susan G. Komen Race in Charlotte. Last year, thanks to your generous contributions, I was able to raise more than $600 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation as a member of the Jazzercise team.

The foundation was formed in 1982 by Nancy G. Brinker, who promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.

We all know of at least one person that has had breast cancer, died from it, been treated and cured of it, or is currently dealing with it. But most of us are not aware that we directly benefit from the efforts of this foundation whenever we have a breast cancer screening, such as breast exams, mammography, ultrasound, and breast MRI. The Komen Foundation is a grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness of this disease, as well as offering grants and fellowships to further research. In 1982, the U.S. Government funded $30M in breast cancer research. Now funding is in the $900M range. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer, when caught early before it spreads beyond the breast, is now 98 percent (compared to 74 percent in 1982).

This past spring I found myself personally grateful for the work of this foundation. I have very severe fibrocystic breast tissue. The situation is so complicated that routine mammograms really cannot adequately screen me for suspicious lumps. Digital mammography was discussed and rejected as being not much better for my situation. I was referred to the Blumenthal Cancer Center. Dr. Richard White, who is a surgeon ("that tries not to do surgery!"), recommended twice-yearly breast exams, once-yearly mammograms, and a breast MRI every other year. He arranged for my insurance company to pay for this costly test. I thought of organizations like the Komen Foundation and how they have not only funded the research that went into the design and implementation of all these preventive screenings, but also how awareness of the importance of this screening is such that my insurance company instantly saw the value and approved the expense.

All is well.

I am participating in the 5k walk this year to honor and remember these breast cancer victims and survivors that I know: In memory of my grandmother, Pearl Edith White, who died in the mid-80s. And in honor of these survivors: Pam Gonnella, Nannette Carnes, Leslie Hoffman, Kathy Paulson, Linda McCorkle, and Marcy Valenty.

I invite you to support me in my walk this year. Click on this link to donate and, if you have a breast cancer survivor or victim that you would like honored or remembered, please send me an email to let me know. Thank you so much for your time and commitment to fighting this disease.

Chauffer

Chauffer
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Nate drives Taylor, our latchkey guy Fred (foreground), and the neighbor boy Jack (other side) to school and back each day. It's been very helpful to me!

However, yesterday he called after school got out to say his car wouldn't start. He'd left the lights on. "They didn't call me up to the office," he said. "They called the guy in the spot next to mine."

To my credit, I did not tell him that it's his deal to get those lights off, and not the school's responsibility to be sure they are off.

He did get another student to give him a jump, so at least he got the problem solved without parental guidance!

Love Notes

note
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I found this note in my car Monday afternoon after Jazz.

And then this came to my inbox yesterday:

"When did you move to South Carolina, and are you ready to move back yet?

Michelle Maher, Partner
The Cleveland Company, Inc."

Aren't I lucky?

Training

Training a new puppy is not just about training the puppy. Really about 80% of the learning is with the people.

Bear is learning "sit." And he has scratched at the door a few times while we are going out. But the guys in my house are still learning about keeping him in sight, and how to deal with his mouthy-ness. It's coming along. The accidents we have always occur when there is more than one person in charge of the dog. If it's just me and Bear? No issues. But as soon as someone else comes home we have accidents. It's the humans needing training.

It's been a busy week already, with a couple of interviews for stories yesterday and lots of library festival stuff. The big event is September 29 and I'm already planning an escape to the beach for when that is over. I also need to get my email out about the Susan Komen Race Oct. 6. I should do that today. Last year I raised over $600. I'd like to do at least that this year.

More Churching Around

It's another week. There are random murmurings that we could cool down and get some rain for a few days. I sure do hope so. Everything is just so dry and we are all so tired of summer now.

Of course, I'm working on a story about water conservation in the home. If it runs next Wednesday while it's raining, that would be ironic.

I went to visit the new Episcopal service here in our community last night. It was a very nice service. I told the pastor/rector/priest...whatever she is called...that I had never been to an Episcopal service before. I said, "this might be the last Protestant service style I hadn't experienced before." It was a very nice, contemporary service. I shot photos for the paper and will write a story about them in the next couple of weeks. She's going on vacation, so I'm to get together with her next week sometime.

They also are another church that takes communion every service. I'm not a big fan of that. My favorite Lutheran church does too. It's the only thing I don't care about with them, too.

Church stories are starting to pile up. There is a small mission-minded church that's been meeting at a local neighborhood clubhouse and they now have found a more permanent home. I'm to find them and write about them. And the Presbyterians that I wrote about this summer will start services in October.

So I will be quite ecumenical in the coming weeks.

Are They Just Lazy?

Do they think we just won't notice that all their covers look the same? That we won't think "Wow, they probably saved a lot of money sending this photographer to this one beach and having her shoot several covers all at once."

And of course the titles on the cover are all same-y too:
"[whatever] after 40"
"lose # pounds] in [# weeks]"
"Breakthrough [whatever]"

Sheesh! If this magazine weren't packed with such great articles, I'd scrap it. But I even have prepped some of the recipes.

Check out The Daily Bear. This is another blog devoted just to a photo-of-the-day thing for our pound puppy. I would have just added a page to this site, but apparently you can't do that in blogger. So there is a link there on the right you can check. The thumbnail of him will stay the same, but you should see a new photo there every day. Or at least often. I'm trying to shoot him every day to chronicle his changes, but also to work on my photography skills...portrait shooting, speed shooting, etc. There will probably not be a writing every day there, more likely just a shot and title.

Baby's first Boutique Shot

The Rest of the Story

The dog.

It's been crazy around here, and the dog is really only 1/3 of it. But to ease your curiosity, this entry will be just about Bear.

We've been kind of murmuring about a dog for most of the summer. Many of you know that we lost our beloved Soya 3 years ago. At the time, Taylor was about 9 or 10. He said, "I don't ever want to get another dog because then they die."

Just in the last few months he's been mentioning a dog. Mensa Boy has not been a big fan, but said he wouldn't stand in our way. Nate has been supportive, but not really pushing it.

Taylor and Soya were pretty close. She was mostly my dog, but she always spent a lot of time sleeping next to Taylor as he watched TV or played video games. He would talk in her ears.

Nate will be graduating from high school next spring and going off to college and that will leave Taylor here as the only kid. Also, our carpets are in bad shape and need to be replaced.

So it seemed like no time like the present to house train a puppy.

Bear was owned by a family in Chester who tried to surrender him to the Lancaster Animal Shelter. They would not take him because there are so many surrendered, found, or taken every day that they can't also take animals from other counties. The woman sounded like she didn't want to go "all the way" to the Chester pound. So B.J, a volunteer, said she'd foster him.

He's about 13 weeks old, according to the vet. (note to self: have Taylor pick a birthday)

He's very cuddly and for the first two days he was quiet and slept a lot. He was also crawling with fleas, which we had killed before we even let him in the house. We took him the local vet and they gave him a magic pill that killed them all in about 30 minutes. I just gave him another pill today and put on some Topspot. We also had him tested for a skin condition, which he passed, but we have another culture working for ringworm. He's got a spot on his front leg that he's been chewing on.

Buddy Sarah loaned us two Kennel Cabs, one he just fits in now, and another he can grow into. He's very good about it. We let him out, tell him he's going to bed, and he sleeps all night. Hasn't said a word for 2 nights. Each morning he goes straight outside from there. I suspect we are in the honeymoon phase with that.

He's not a great eater. In fact, I suspect all the food he's getting right now is what I put in his little Kong. So I put puppy food in there rather than treats. His foster home fed him scrambled eggs for breakfast. At my house, dogs eat dog food. So he's going to have to get over this pickiness. NO ONE is allowed to be a picky eater.

His personality is starting to come out now, and I suspect we will be referring to him as "the terrorist" soon. Tomorrow I'll have to take Taylor to a bookstore to find a training book. We'll need to keep a firm hand on this one. We do, after all, suspect that he's mostly Jack Russell Terrier.

My circle of buds have been teasing me now, saying they want to get me a pooch purse. A big, flowered, pooch purse. HA. They are soooooo funnnnny!

My assessment of this whole thing is now I've given my adversaries (and believe me, there are adversaries with this library thing) a pretty good response when I tangle with them:

"I'll get you, my pretty! And your little dog too!"

Two New Additions!

A sweet little car:


A sweet little puppy:

Water Restrictions

Our county has finally enacted water restrictions. We've had water "suggestions" since I've been here, but this is the first time I remember being given restrictions with promises of consequences.

I'm fine with that. In fact, I've added some other water-saving measures here at home. And part of that is due to my cyber-friend, Psycho Anita. Here is her post about being cheap...with dental floss and water.

Now, there is no point saving the water that runs from the shower before it gets hot. Our hot water heater is upstairs, right by the bathrooms. We get virtually instant hot water. That is not the case, however, in the kitchen sink.

So I've instituted a policy whereby all water that runs in the kitchen is saved and taken to the plants in the back yard. We put a container over the garbage disposal (and I haven't told the guys yet that I want to them through food scraps instead of using the disposal...you know, I bet we use a gallon a water every time we run that thing.), and I've put the dishpan in the sink. Dishwater is to be poured on the trees and bushes. The water in the small sink where the disposal is located, is usually rinse water, hand washing water, vegetable cleaning water. Pretty clean. So we are using that outside too.

And I've turned off the irrigation system altogether. We were only running it 3 times per week, but our grass in the front is still burning up and going dormant. So we've decided to just let it go for a while.

The only thing I'm not so sure of is that we are supposed to be putting on fertilizer and crab grass preventer again now. Since we can't water it in, we've elected to skip these applications. We'll try to be diligent about pulling lawn weeds.

All of that said, buddy Cassie told me this morning that Gaston County, NC has instituted some interesting water restrictions. Instead of using the even-odd watering rule, they are putting in place a system where folks on the East side of a main highway water on three days each week, and folks on the West side water the other days.

Their thinking is that it's too hard for some folks to figure out whether they live in an odd-numbered house or an even-numbered house.

Do I need to comment here that it's funny that the officials would figure that people who don't know where 1,3,5,7,9 are odd numbers would be able to tell what East and West is?

By the way, I live on the "left side" of my subdivision. Whenever I say "North side?" People don't know what I mean.

Guest. Yet... not.

It's been a surreal day. I will write about it here, but if you find this entry gone in a day or so, you'll know I've removed it because I thought better of it.

I've spent the day as surrogate mom and wife for a friend and her daughter. Husband/Dad is in the hospital overnight for observation after a reaction to medication.

As the little girl (Sammy) and I drove in my friend's car to the grocery store, I was struck by how much everyday stuff I needed to learn about my friend and her family. How to work the DVD player in their car. Overwhelming fear of accidentally locking the keys in the car with 4-yr-old daughter inside, as the temp rose to nearly 90 degrees.

Entering the grocery store, Sammy and I launched into negotiations concerning cookies. We were there to pick up a ham and some celery, but considering the trauma this little girl had undergone earlier in the day, as Dad was seizing in the hospital and she was whisked away, I decided cookies were definitely in order. An everyday conversation I could have had with my own children, but was having with someone else's just as easily. A basic mom-skill, I guess.

Cookies chosen, we drove our cart through the deli. She pointed out the free cookies that were available at the counter there. "She can have one," the deli worker said. "She knows." I explained that I was babysitting that day. (slightly concerned that someone might wonder why I had a child I didn't know much about with me. on a holiday. obviously not a typical daycare day)

As we were standing in line at the register, I realized that the ham was on special and I didn't have customer loyalty card for that particular store. "Hey! I do!" I told Sammy. There it was on my friend's keyring. I had stepped right into her role as the family consumer.

We went out to the parking lot and I told Sammy to get into her seat and buckle up. Immediately I began to worry about leaving her there while I returned the cart. It's been many years since I've had a kid that age. What do you do? Take the kid to the cart return and walk her back to the car? Leave her in the car while you return the cart? Why didn't I park closer to it? What did I do so long ago?

The rest of the afternoon passed fairly uneventfully. Sammy and I made potato salad. She took a nice, long, 2-hour nap. I laid down, but really ended up fielding calls from other friends. We picked up my friend from the hospital and had a nice supper.

They are visiting Dad in the hospital now. To calm Sammy's fears. I took a shower and am hanging around in my pyjamas. In someone else's house. Typing on someone else's computer.

I feel like a visitor, but not really. I'm very comfortable here. It is a little odd to take a shower in your friend's master bath, padding through her bedroom where she and her husband sleep. She insisted I use her bath, as the main one is full of toddler decals and is not as clean as she would like right now. Using the squeegee to get the water off the glass of her shower (they need a wider squeegee. Mensa Boy would never stand for one that small. But then, he will probably never use theirs. Of course, yesterday I would never have dreamed I would!), I thought about how odd it was to be in someone else's personal space, with all their personal products around. Earlier in the day I had to open her husband's medicine chest to get his prescription information for the hospital. It felt perfectly normal.

We were talking over supper today about how we never would have thought, 6 months ago, that one of us would be spending time at the other's home, caring for them and living comfortably there. And we marveled at these relationships we have.

They are home now. We'll put Sammy to bed and polish off this bottle of wine we have. We'll rehash the day, be amazed at how well we handled it, thank God for His hand in it. Life is Good.

We Rode and Rode and then Walked and Walked and then Rode and Rode Some More

It was a fun day. We took the day off from life and went to Caesar's Head State Park in the upper Northeast corner of South Carolina.

Our intent was to see Raven Cliff Falls:

Yeah. Not much of a view, huh? We walked 2 miles out on a wonderful
trail to what we were told in the literature would be a spot BELOW the falls. Well, we took a vote. And a poll of everyone who showed up after us, and we all decided this was ABOVE the falls. We were about a mile
away, too. This was taken with my longest lens, 200mm.

Huh.
But, we had a great time messing around on the trail. Here are my guys and then an attempt at shooting all of us:

Here is Nate doing his "Warrior Pose." And another of him being Dismal Boy at the Dismal Trail:

And here is the photo I took at a huge rock overlook in the park. This is for this week's Nikon D40 Challenge: "Edges"

The Party Had to End Sometime!

One of the revelers in my 3-day birthday celebration. This Sammy, Chris' daughter.

Today we will go out the northwestern part of the state and see if we can hike to some waterfalls. With the drought becoming so severe, I'm a little anxious about what we'll actually see, but the hike will be good and it'll get the guys out and breathing hard.

The weather has finally cooled to a pleasant mid-80s in the afternoons now. I'm very glad of that. I'm not really bothered by the heat, but it does make moving around outside arduous when it's close to 100 everyday. It's exactly like moving around Minnesota in January when it's 15 below zero every day. Really.

We are going to go either to Jones Gap State Park, or Caesar's Head State Park. I'm not sure which at this point. They are just 10 miles apart. Both have hiking and waterfalls. Because the guys don't get as much exercise as I do, I imagine we'll try to go to the one that will get us a waterfall quicker...closer to the trail head. I don't want to wear them out by having them hike 3 miles to a waterfall if they can reach one in 1.5 miles at a different park.

I plan to take my camera and shoot lots of photos. I have to figure out what to take. I can just take my entire bag, but it gets heavy after a while. I know Mensa Boy would be happy to take a turn wearing it, though, so I'll probably do that. (it's a backpack bag)

So, I'm trying to get those guys up so we can leave by 7:30. I imagine we won't get out by then.

It's been a fantastic birthday for me this year, and the 3-day celebration is the main reason why I haven't written. Here's brief account:

MB was working late all week. Deadline. My friends all stepped up to the plate a did a lot to make it a wonderful celebration.

Sarah and I went to lunch on Wednesday, Rena and I went to dinner Wednesday night, and the evening ended with a surprise gathering of my buddies that night. Cassie, Chris and Tambri were waiting at the Rec Center, where Chris and T had been signing up kids for T's dance classes. Cassie made a wonderful cheesecake and they showered me with serving pieces I can use to do my food photography. It was a fun hour of eating and laughing.

Thursday Chris and I took her 4 year old to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville. I'd never been there. It was a hoot! We rode a horse-drawn wagon while animals came up and begged for food. I shot a lot of photos, one of which is the ostrich photo I posted here the other day. Here's one of the giraffes taking a leaf from someone on the wagon:

Friday I spent the day on my favorite hobby: cooking. People always say to me, "too bad you have to cook your own birthday meal." But I love it! I smoked a pork butt I had rubbed the night before. I used a rub recipe from Southern Living's "Ultimate Grilling & BBQ Guide" that they put out this summer. I normally don't think much of Southern Living...especially their recipes...they tend to be too high in fat for my cooking and I've had more than one occasion where the recipe has just been plain wrong or unworkable. But I saw this guide at Julia's when we were in Minnesota, so I rushed around looking for before it was taken off the magazine racks in early August. I liked this recipe enough that I will use it again, and I will definitely try others, now the the weather is cooling enough to cook outside again.

That's it! Gotta get those guys up and hit the road! I leave you with this photo of some kind of duck I shot at Lazy 5. I wish I'd checked to see what it was. It's beautiful, isn't it? Maybe Raymond will google it and find out for me.

That's my Boy!

Overheard yesterday afternoon:

Taylor (12): "I said just look at the serving size and get one extra."

Freddy (10): "I thought the serving size was 3"

Taylor: "No. It's 2."

What, No Blog Entries?

I'm werkin' on it!

Mensa Boy & His Hero

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

Did she say, "Osama people out there in our nation that don't have maps?"

The Downy Debacle

My friend Jenny wrote this on her blog.

I'm pretty sure I hadn't told her about my conversation regarding this subject last Friday.

First, I'll tell you the story I sent to my email buds last Friday about my visit to Harris Teeter:

"I stopped at Harris Teeter today to get a couple of quarts of chicken stock for this soup. I had the boxes in my hand and headed toward the checkout.

I aimed for what I thought was an open lane and ended up at one of those freakin' self-checkout things. As I was standing there, contemplating the origins of the universe and why the lane signs seemed to give an optical illusion as to their actual location, the helper chick came up.

"Do you need help?" She asked.

"Well, I intended to be over there, but now I'm over here," I said.

"No problem," she said. "I'll help you."

"Well, I KNOW how to do it, it's just that I'm not feeling like doing it myself," I said by way of apology.

"I do this all day," she assured me. "I'll do it."

And so she took my two boxes from me and proceeded to do all the work, reaching past me to punch the right buttons and I was secretly glad she was because, even though I know how to do it, it all seemed quite confusing and LOUD to me and I just stood there and kept mumbling that I was tired and sorry... tired, lazy and sorry. And she kept smiling and took my $20 bill and gave me change and gingerly handed me my bag."

What I did not tell my email buds was about the conversation I had with a fellow shopper in front of the fabric softener in Target about 20 minutes earlier that day.

"Hmm..." the lady said, to no one in particular.

"Too many choices, isn't it?" I said.

"Well, it's just that I'm looking for this specific stuff and it's getting harder and harder to find," she explained.

Then she proceeded to tell me about some miracle product that is like dryer sheets, but you put them in the wash and when the colors on your clothes run, this sheet traps the color so that it doesn't color all the other clothes.

And so we talked about how cool that was, and then I said,

"Well, I'm looking for what used to be a very popular item, but now I'm starting to worry that it's all gone."

"What?" she asked.

"Free & Sensitive Downy Fabric Softener," I said. "It's been the only brand of scent-free fabric softener that I could find at Target and now I'm not finding it here, either.

"Is this it?" she asked, handing me a bottle clearly marked "FREE & SENSITIVE."

"Yup. What a dope I am!"

She just smiled.

They have changed the labels. Really. It reminds me of when I used to buy Old Dutch Corn Tortilla Cchips and had to stop because I couldn't find it anymore. After a couple of months going chip-less, I found it with an entirely different bag.

Can't they at least WARN US?

Bloomin' Idjut-Part II

Yesterday I again damaged my head in public. I went to the new flooring store to shoot photos at their open house.

And proceeded to hit my head on a carpet display.

Here's how it happened:

I was crouching down next to the display, shooting upward. Stood up after the shot and bonked my temple (the same one as last week) on the edge of a carpet sample.

At least they probably won't forget who I am.

I've decided to take this weekend off--no writing, no work. I chalked up the visit to the flooring store as "playing with my camera."

So I watched two movies yesterday.

The first was Gray Matters. Fairly decent movie. It's about a woman who does not know she is gay until she falls in love with her brother's wife. I think the strongest thing about the movie is it's title, though. The woman's name is Gray. It's a gray area-sexuality-and she matters. I like wordplay like that.

The other movie I watched last night was Peaceful Warrior. Now this was a great movie! I'd never heard of it before and I probably wouldn't have even chosen it if I'd known Nick Nolte was in it. But it was great! A little odd at points. A guy is trying out for the Olympic gymnastic team and he's very competitive and yet unhappy and never satisfied. Nolte plays an old guy at a gas station that teaches him to "empty out the trash." Take out all the garbage in his mind and life and build concentration. Good good movie.

Mensa Boy and the guys are building me a light box for my birthday. Out of PVC pipe and, so far, a sheet. But I think they are going to need a different kind of fabric than a sheet. For those of you who are not aware of what a lightbox is, it's sort of like a portable photo studio where you can put whatever you are shooting and use diffused light to photograph it. Shining the light through the walls of the lightbox (or the bottom, if it's just a table one with no sides), helps you control or eliminate shadows. Here's a photo of an apple I took by way of a test:

You can see the texture of the sheet they used. So I think we'll have to look around for some other kind of fabric.

So. That was yesterday. I don't know what's on tap for today. Probably more of the same! I told Mensa Boy I'm in a sort of in inertia right now. I want to get out and do something, but I don't know what. And it's too ridiculously hot, really. We are all very very tired of summer now.

Dear Hilton, LEAVE US ALONE!!!

We stayed at a wonderful Hampton Inn in Indianapolis, IN recently. We stayed there on August 4 and then again on August 11.Our visit was smooth, the staff was attentive, the coffee was wonderful.
HOWEVER, since our return home, we have received repeated calls Hilton Grand Vacations.

I've informed callers twice that we do not want to be called.PLEASE do not contact us. We are NOT INTERESTED. We will have to stop using your hotels if this continues.

Thank you

No Coffee, No Title

UPDATE: The water came back on just as I was getting the kids up to school. Whew!
____________________________________________________________________

Today could be a bad day.

I woke up at 5:30 and found we have no water to speak of. We had a day a couple of weeks ago when our water pressure was low. Today there is no water at all upstairs and it just trickles out downstairs.

Nate is not going to be happy.

If they have no water at the school then I figure it could be cancelled or postponed. Which would mean being here all day with unhappy people.

I hope this is the worst-case scenario. At least, I can't think of anything worse. But without coffee my imagination is not really running wild, either.

On a lighter note, yesterday was yet another day over 100 degrees. I sat in the car line at school thinking about how I needed to get a few more school supplies and gas for the car and get the bathrooms cleaned and supper started. And I was tired.

Then it popped into my head that I could Nate to put gas in the car and buy the school supplies. Let the boy run around in the heat.

So I gave him some money and the list and told him to call if he had a hard time finding stuff:

Kleenex
Hand sanitizer
5-subject notebook
Clorox wipes or some other surface sanitizer

I told him he didn't need to go all the way to Target to get the stuff. He could just hit the pharmacy on the edge of Ballantyne. (we don't have such things...pharmacies)

He called to say he didn't know where the hand sanitizer was. I gave him some suggestions.

He called to say he couldn't find it. I told him he'd need to ask. [sigh of exasperation from him here]

He called to ask what Clorox wipes were.

When he got home, he had

Kleenex
Hand Sanitizer
5-subject notebook
Bounce dryer sheets

The Man Collects Apples

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/08/08/mac-collector.ap/index.html

"Bloomin' Idjut!"

He was too nice to say that, but I did find out from Dr. Adam Cooper, chiropractor, (signs his emails 'ACDC') that I've completely mis-diagnosed and consequently done every single thing wrong with my shoulder.

The left shoulder has been troubling me a lot in the last two weeks. But it was kind of nagging at me for about a month. I thought I was sleeping incorrectly. That the muscles were getting knotted up from improper sleeping. And so I was stretching it, working it, rubbing it...trying to work out what I perceived to be tightness.

Finally the soreness had morphed into a severe burning sensation across both shoulder blades and I was worried enough to seek medical attention.

Sure. The muscles are tight, but the underlying problem is a strained muscle.

"Feels like it's the muscle that goes across my shoulder blade."

[twist, turn, rotate] "hmm. Is it this way or that way?" he asked.

"YOW! That's it!"

"Strained supraspinalis," he muttered.

"What's that?"

"The muscle that goes across your shoulder blade."

And then I learned that I should be resting it, icing it, not exercising it. No weights.

"So basically, I've been stupidly doing exactly the wrong thing for this."

"Well, I wouldn't put it thaaaatttt way!" he said.

And so I was introduced to this fine product:


It is pure menthol. You only need a tiny bit. Very gelatinous. In fact, if you aren't careful, it will just fall off your finger and plop to the floor. The smell is menthol, but wears off within a couple of minutes. But man! Is it COLD! It's like putting an ice cube directly on your skin. That sensation seems to last about 10 minutes.

I did not tell ACDC about dropping my own camera on my head last Sunday.

YUM! For some...

Sugarfreechocicecream
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I made this sugar-free chocolate ice cream for my friend Mike. He's a diabetic and calls his wife "The Sugar Sheriff."

I like doing this for him because he's so appreciative, but it also gives me a chance to experiment with cooking sugar-free stuff for my food stories. This week I did a story on ice cream, so I played with Splenda.

Personally, I think the ice cream was terrible. But I just can't eat or drink stuff with sugar substitutes. I don't have the taste for it and it just doesn't even want to go down my throat. He said it was wonderful. And I think he'd tell me the truth.

Sugar-Free Chocolate Ice Cream
For 1.5 Quart Freezer

1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup whole milk, divided
Dash salt
1 cup half-n-half
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together Splenda and cocoa powder. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the whole milk until smooth and powders are completely dissolved. Add remaining ingredients.
Turn on the freezer and pour in the mixture while it’s running. Freeze as directed. Allow to rest 20 minutes before serving.

Recipe courtesy “No Food Left Behind” for The Carolina Gateway

Product Review: True Lime, Lemon, & Orange

Waterflavors
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

In a word: EXCELLENT!

I like flavor in my water occasionally, but not sweetness. These have no sweetener whatsoever. They are good, solid, thirst-quenching flavors. They taste just like you squeezed a piece of fruit into your water.

The first time I tried one, I put it in a 20-ounce bottle of water. Way too water-y. But they do well in the smaller bottles that are around 16 ounces.

LightPlay

While visiting Minnesota, the four cousins got to spend some quality time together. When they were all very small, they were together a lot and my sister and I in general raised them together to be like siblings. The kids miss each other now that we are gone.

My sister bought a trampoline for their back yard and my kids took advantage of our "your house, your rules" theory and jumped on it as much as possible. We do not allow them to jump on tramps here.
My brother-in-law gave them light sticks one night and we played with slow shutter speeds.

Of course I could not resist doing some micro-managing. (They are used to this and played along nicely.) Here they are spelling out a word. Hey. It was the only 4-letter word that came to my mind!

State Slogans

Alabama: At Least We're not Mississippi

Alaska: 11,623 Eskimos Can't be Wrong!

Arizona: Dehyd-rific!

Arkansas: Litterasy Ain't Everthang

California: As Seen on TV

Colorado: If You Don't Ski, Don't Bother

Connecticut: Like Massachusetts, Only Dirtier and With Less Character

Delaware: Wow..... you're in Delaware

Florida: Ask Us About Our Grandkids

Georgia: We Put the "Fun" in Fundamentalist Extremism

Hawaii: Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru (Death to Mainland Scum, But Leave Your Money)

Idaho: More Than Just Potatoes... Well Okay, We're Not, But The Potatoes Are Real Good

Illinois: Gateway to Iowa

Indiana: 50 Million Years Tidal Wave Free

Iowa: Land of James T. Kirk

Kansas: First Of The Rectangle States

Kentucky: Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names

Louisiana: We're Not All Drunk Cajun Wackos, But That's Our Tourism Slogan

Maine: Cheap Lobster

Maryland: A Thinking Man's Delaware

Massachusetts: Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden's (For Most Tax Brackets)

Michigan: First Line of Defense From the Canadians

Minnesota: For Sale

Mississippi: Come Feel Better About Your Own State

Missouri: Your Federal Flood Relief Tax Dollars At Work

Montana: Land of the Big Sky, the Unabomer, and Very Little Else

Nebraska: Ask About Our State Motto Contest

Nevada: Whores and Poker!

New Hampshire: Go Away and Leave Us Alone

New Jersey: You Want a F$%&in' Motto? I Got Yer F$%&in' Motto Right Here!

New Mexico: Lizards Make Excellent Pets

New York: You Have the Right to Remain Silent, You Have the Right to an Attorney

North Carolina: Tobacco is a Vegetable

North Dakota: Um... We've got... Um... Dinosaur Bones? Yeah, Dinosaur Bones!!

Ohio: Don't Judge Us by Cleveland

Oklahoma: Like the Play, Only No Singing

Oregon: Spotted Owl, It's What's For Dinner

Pennsylvania: Cook With Coal

Rhode Island: We're Not REALLY An Island

South Carolina: Remember the Civil War? We Didn't Actually Surrender

South Dakota: Closer Than North Dakota

Tennessee: The Educashun State

Texas: A Great, Big Flat State

Utah: Our Jesus Is Better Than Your Jesus

Vermont: Yep

Virginia: Who Says Government Stiffs and Slackjaw Yokels Don't Mix?

Washington: Help! We're Overrun By Nerds and Slackers!

Washington, D.C.: Wanna Be Mayor?

West Virginia: One Big Happy Family -- Really!

Wisconsin: Come Cut Our Cheese

Wyoming: Wynot?

Thanks to: http://monster-island.org/tinashumor/humor/stateslogans.htm

Strangers. And yet...not

MplsBridge7
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Last week my husband and I went to the the Old Mill City district in our hometown of Minnepolis to see the collapsed 35W bridge. We walked across the Stone Arch Bridge, where we could see St. Anthony Falls on one side, and the 3rd street bridge on the other. There were many people on the bridge that day, one week after the catastrophe.
There were a few memorials, but not many. Really, only about five mementos that I can recall. A couple of signs and some small flower bouquets.
I told my friend Julie that I thought it was fitting that this bridge is NOT just heaped high with flowers and posters...that it is not surprising that the outpouring of grief and concern is muted. This is a region full of folks of Scandinavian heritage. A reserved demeanor is common here.
I took this photo of these people looking at a memorial poster. I like the range of emotions we see here.

Product Review: R.W. Garcia Spicy Soy & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips

These? Were not bad. At first I thought they seemed a little bland. Not spicy enough, not salty enough. But kept eating them over the course of a week (I don't eat many chips in one sitting...I CAN eat just one Lay's potato chip...),they kind of grew on me. I still don't think I'd call them spicy.

The flaxseeds do get lodged in your teeth, though.

Tree of Thorns

I have no idea what this tree is. It's on the property of a commercial bakery in Indianapolis. I ran across it when I went over there to sit at a picnic table to talk on the phone. The thorns are very very sharp.

I picked off an interesting bit of the thorns that was just resting there...it had broken off, but not fallen to the ground. I have it hanging from my rearview mirror right now, but need to get it off there. I'll have it sitting on my desk.

When we got home Sunday night, we unloaded the car and got everything put away in just a few minutes. I sat down to go through the mail and when I glanced out into the family room, Mensa Boy and Taylor were watching "Who Wants to Be a Superhero."
When the show was over, they both sighed in satisfaction.

"It's good to be watching quality TV," Mensa Boy said.

Out The Outhouse Window

Out The Outhouse Window
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

HERE!

HERE!
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Well, we are here. Back from "Up Nort." Glad to be home. Maybe. It's stinkin' hot here. And our lawn is burned up. But the jalapenos I hung up to dry in the kitchen and the garage didn't mold, and the house is cooling down nicely after being left at 90 degrees. I've reconnected with a couple of my friends and all is right with the world.

Tomorrow? Massage and then some serious writing.

And the blog entries will come between the paying work. In the meantime, here is my photo of the day, unedited. Brother Lis testing to see how fast I can do the manual focus lens on my camera. Obviously? Not that fast. You can't even see the little reed she is holding up. But she looks pretty darn clear, doesn't she? Of course, my camera naturally navigates toward her anyway.

Can't Talk "Family" without saying "and Food"

Dad's ham
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Family, Food, Fun. That's basically what trips back here entail. I'm certain it's that way for everyone.

Here's my dad, pronouncing his ham a success. I'm sure I've mentioned before that my boys call bone-in picnic hams "Farmington ham." Taylor and my nephew Jake requested Farmington ham as a counterweight to my moussaka Sunday night. Fortunately for me, moussaka is only popular with 50% of the family. This leaves more for me!

We had corn on the cob and yellow tomatoes with the moussaka, which made our meal rather...yellow on the plate. (Fortunately I had not drawn the yellow fiesta plate, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see what I was eating!)

Mom made this fantastic salad with baby beets, onions, and cherry tomatoes. Balsamic vinegar was the dressing. Excellent!

Monday we found Old Dutch potato chips. Easy to do here. Not easy in South Carolina. Here is Nate modeling a box.

They aren't necessarily better than some of the ones we get at home, but it's a nostalgia thing.

And here is brother-in-law Bill making burgers for the grill Saturday night. He has a technique. Pretty much meatloaf, shaped into giant balls. Portioned out fairly, then smashed into patties. Delicious!

We also had a nice bottle of Riesling...a Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling I picked up. Can't remember the winery.

Today hopefully it's Jazzercise. Then lunch with The Cleveland Company, and tonight we go out for dinner with my siblings and their spouses. Kids? Tombstone Pizza.

Still Fits!

Still Fits!
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Huh. Isn't that something?

Running out to have breakfast with Lis. I'll write more later. Great dinner and conversation with the family last night. I have photos of my food and some of the family.

Prison? Theatre? Antique Mall?

Shelbyville
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I saw this in Shelbville, Indiana yesterday. I couldn't resist shooting it. Obviously you can see from the sign that it's an antique mall. But before I saw the sign I saw the top and thought, "Looks like that used to be a prison."

I can just imagine prison guards in uniform with guns patroling inmates behind. But of course there is no courtyard behind. It's just a big brick building.

As I was standing on the street shooting, I asked an older gentleman about the building. He said it used to be a theatre. For decades it was a theatre.

Shelbyville is kind of a picturesque little town. It's right outside Indianapolis to the east. They have a central town square that is a parking lot and a traffic circle goes around it. The circle is lined with pretty buildings. Old ones.

I spent most of the day yesterday (when I wasn't taking my turn driving) listening to podcasts from a website I found, Nikonians. Wonderful conversation about photography and equipment. Digital and film. It's a great resource that I'm glad I found. I also started working through a Nikon D40 manual that was written by a guy named Ken Rockwell. So I played with my camera and remote a bit.

I also watched the movie "Big Chill." I'd forgotten what a good movie that was. I really like the scene where they show everyone unpacking their stuff. The different items they all had with them.

That's it for the day. Hitting the road here soon. Moussaka tonight at Mom's house! Hoo HOO!

In the Driver's Seat

I can't believe it's been so many days since my last posting. It's been pretty hectic here, although you'd think it would be a little calmer since NATE GOT HIS DRIVER'S LICENSE!

Yup. Wednesday morning. I took him to Lancaster and he passed the test! After some errands, we arrived home and I announced to him that I planned to stay home the rest of the day to work and he could very well take his own self to his dentist appointment.

Now, that might not seem like much, but really...our dentist is on the other side of Ballantyne. It takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to shoot the gauntlet that is 521 at Ballantyne. But he made it, had a reasonably good appointment (already in wisdom teeth discussion), and got back home just fine.

Nate's driving is very good, if not a little cautious. Like nervous. But I suspect he'll calm a bit. Although his buddy Ryan didn't really settle down for several months.

He wore Mensa Boy's car Wednesday and Thursday and then we traded back so we'd have Big Green for another doctor's appointment. Another $189 on that car. But if you count that and the starter motor from last month, you still are looking at fewer repairs than a car payment, so I guess that's not all bad. This time it was a window motor. Driver's side. I debated not even fixing it, but somehow it felt like a safety hazard.

You don't realize how much you use that driver's window until it doesn't go down. Here are the encounters I had in the last two weeks:

1. Paying for parking at Discovery Place
2. Drive-Up ATM
3. Sweet Tea at Bojangles--a necessity for any self-respecting southerner
4. Security gate at Sun City

These were all just annoyances, and easy to work around, but there was just a nagging thought that I might NEED that window to go down.

So. It's fixed. And now we are ready to hit the road for Minnesota this morning. I'm the only one up so far, but I'll soon remedy that.

It's two long days driving to get back. We'll stop in Indy tonight. Since Nate can help with driving now, I've brought a particularly comprehensive batch of stuff to do in the car. 3 DVDs from Blockbuster online: "Big Chill," "Gray Matters," and "Rumor Has It." I also have several hours of podcasts from a website I found the other day, Nikonians, as well as a few archived episodes of NPR's "Splendid Table." I never get to hear that in real time.

And I have a user manual for my camera with me. I plan to go through it page by page. I've been experiencing a crisis of confidence with my photography, so I plan to spend a LOT of time on it this week (WATCH OUT FAMILY!).

I also have a new music and an ebook on my mp3 player. Can't remember which book. And the first three Harry Potter books. I stopped reading them around book 4, so now that the series is complete, I plan to work my way through them all from beginning to end.

That's it! It'll be a good trip!

Oh...Mensa Boy sent Nate a Driver's license Haiku when he heard about the test results. So I sent around an email soliciting more. Here they are:

The best advice is
Keep it between the ditches
So Mom will stay sane
-Jenny Hartley


Remember coffee
As you drive to Winthrop U.
Mom must ride with you.

You must understand that I am a Math/Science person. As I write this poem, I remember why I am math/science.
-Kathy Richardson

But does Nate know that
He should wear the car rather
Than just to drive it?

(Can it be all one sentence??)

-Sarah Heins


Hey! Beware! Take care!
Nate's in the driver's seat now
Hey! Beware! Take care!

Jane Alford


Bob: Don't be scared stiff.
Our Devon is driving too.
He is scarier!


Godspeed to Nate (and you all)!

Mary McClane


The last haiku I remembering writing was in the 7th grade but here goes:
Nate and the blue Echo
Poor Bob without his wheels
Lucky Karen home alone

I think my last sentence has too many syllables.
-Cassie

Yellow stripes and white
Flashing by on roads of gray
Mark a bigger world

-Lis Trouten

Gas is on the right side
Brake pedal is on the left
Don't get them confused

Jenny Overman


A boy and a car
Drivers on the road beware!
What were you thinking?

-Julia

Extraordinary
Nate has found his new freedom
Good Luck on the Road!

-Rena Livengood

Yay, for Nate Paulson!
He is now a driving man.
Mom can stay at home.
(Can haikus have punctuation? It seemed the first line really needed it. =-)Congrats, Nate!----Amanda Knoke

Drivers: Stay Alert
Your car may be in danger
Nate is on the road
(hmm...alert is one syllable or two?)
-Jenny Overman

That is so funny
I wish I could write like this
I would be so smart

-MOM

Authorization
DMV to NEP:
You have passed the test

-DAD

Camo

Yesterday my friend Chris and I were talking about how some stores are hard to get out of. Take me to Earth Fare (a local grocery store full of organic products), and I can spend hours in there, looking at everything and reading labels. It's like a library to me.

Chris said it's hard to take her husband Kevin to Dick's Sporting Goods.

"If he gets into the camouflage, I'll never find him!"

PG-Porn

Book Description
Prepare to enter a fantasy world. A world where clothes get folded just so, delicious dinners await, and flatulence is just not that funny. Give the fairer sex what they really want beautiful PG photos of hunky men cooking, listening, asking for directions, accompanied by steamy captions: "I love a clean house!" or "As long as I have two legs to walk on, you'll never take out the trash." Now this is porn that will leave women begging for more!

About the Author
The Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative asked women, young, old, rich, and poor, "What really, really gets you hot?" Armed with their findings, they worked day and night to create Porn for Women. Susan Anderson is a Los Angeles-based photographer who believes the future of porn shouldn't be in the hands of men alone.

I got a kick of this. I received a round-robin email with snapshots from the book, so I googled the name on one of the photos.

Photos of Photographers

I read about this blog on one of the photo boards I surf. The blog is called "Damn Cool Pics". I haven't spent any time out there yet, but I did scroll through a pretty fun entry called "Photography and Photographers." Many of the photos have been altered to the nth degree in post production, but some of them are things I've seen happen around me.

Look at it here.

And here's my one photo of a photographer. My friend Jenny. Who always insists that I'm a better photographer than she is (bless her sucking-up heart).