My Sacred Life
Day 28
Ooops, my bad, I'm two days late with answers to the lovely Lisa's Manic Monday. Here's what she has for us this week:
Which personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble? [hahaha HOW appropriate!] Probably my procrastination. Or my lackadaisicalness (my, that's a long word) as pertains to things I don't like doing.
If you had to gain 10 pounds what would you eat to gain the weight? HAHAHA...like THAT will ever happen!!! Anyway...I'd eat lots of pasta and bread. *rolls eyes at Lisa*
How is your private self different from your public self? It's not...I'm pretty much the same privately as publicly inasmuch as what you see is what you get. I mean...I don't walk around braless (much) publicly, and I certainly don't pee in public (much) or engage in wild sex (anymore) in public, but other than that...
---------------------------
Thanks to a suggestion from Michelle, I asked my boss for some Mondays & Fridays off in Decemeber, and she graciously agreed. So I'm off two Mondays, the 3rd & the 10th and three Fridays, 14th 21st and 28th! Woohoo!
Last night, I went to see The Song Remains The Same, an old Led Zeppelin movie, which was playing at a few theaters in the area. It was definitely hokey in some parts, but the concert parts were amazing. My friend said anyone who could watch Page and Plant and not be turned on was dead inside...I totally agree! Those boys were HOT! Watching the intensity on Page's face as he fingers fly over his guitar...*fans self*. WOW!
My Sacred Life
Day 27
Took a day off from work today...I'm still depressed that I have 60 hours...60 HOURS of vacation time left. First time EVER I've not used it all up. Sigh...
So anyway, I got the tree up, lit and tinseled...not sure if I'm going to put on any other decorations other than crystal icicles. Doing good for having said I wasn't going to put it up this year :-)
Woke up at 330 am ... do you all know how QUIET it is between 330 & 430? FREAKY quiet, that's how quiet!
Red berries
My Sacred Life
Day 26
SarcasticMom came up with Weekly Winners, and here's how you play:
Every Sunday, post your favorite photographs on your blog. It doesn't matter what they are of - just whichever ones are your favs from the previous week (Sunday - Saturday).
They must be your original photos, from the past week.
Use whatever format you like, include as many as you want, write as much or as little about them as you please.
[The only photos I absolutely do not want linked to this Meme are pornographic photos or otherwise extremely graphic photos (such as death/violence, etc.). You will get banned for this, and yes, I will be checking. Please, just use your good taste and common sense.]
So here are the rest of my favs from last week (I love this idea!!!)
It looks like the sage is covered in diamonds...I love this picture!
Prepared veggies, waiting to be cooked
Cappuccino, cannoli, anisette & water...delish!
Fresh rosemary, I just love the smell!
Funny Bones, my favorite snack cake. They were in the vending machine at work...I just HAD to ... yes, I know they're VERY bad.
My Sacred Life
Day 25
it's the Charlie Brown arrangement ;-)
What a weekend! I bought a bunch of books, almost finished one, saw a movie, went shopping, took some pictures, met friends...I was social! Hey...it happens every now and then LOL! I almost went shopping today again, but I thought a nice, peaceful walk in the woods was in order. The dogs and I had a great time, and I picked some pine needles to spruce (pun intended) up the place.
Did you have a good weekend?
|
|
|
My Sacred Life
Day 24
This is the 85th Saturday Photo Hunt; the theme is "Hot";
Hot is what I wish it was...22 degrees outside, brrrrr!!! I'm going to bake a cake, just for the heat from the oven. I'd roast a chicken, except for all that leftover turkey and ham. But the pies ARE gone...so cake it is!
My Sacred Life
Day 23
Left the house at 9:30 am and didn't slow down til about 11:30 PM...phew, what a day! Met Michelle at Barnes & Noble, bought four books, had a cup of coffee and a chat, and headed to Megan's to pick her up. Drove to Medford, hopped on the T and headed to Faneuil Hall, where we wandered and took pictures and had lunch at Wagamama.
Then we walked around and took more pictures and headed to the North End where we had cappuccino and drinks and dessert. Sufficiently warmed, we walked over to the Four Seasons, where we ended the evening with a cheese plate, a martini and a nice glass of Sancerre.
Ahhhh...Christmas time in Boston!
My Sacred Life
Day 22
We had a great day today. I cooked and washed, cooked and washed, and I still had a sinkful of dishes after the meal.
Wolf, of course, could barely contain himself with all the delicious smells. I staged this photo when I was done cooking. Isn't he so cute?!
After eating, we vegged out in front of the tv and watched the latest Die Hard flick...lots of spectacular crashes, good plot. I give it a thumbs up.
If you celebrate Thanksgiving, i hope it was filled with good food and excellent company.
Ahhh...another day off tomorrow AND it's a payday! Life is good :-)
My Sacred Life
Day 21
On my walk with Wolf this morning, I noticed little areas of snow left over from yesterday's brushing and thought it looked beautiful! It was almost as if I'd been transported to a place where the plants were covered with glittering diamonds.
Imagine that!
Got almost all the ingredients for tomorrow's big meal...except two of the most important: chestnuts and cranberry sauce!!! So I'll have to brave the stores again today.
For those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving, are you ready?
It's Wednesday and you know what that means...time for What Is It Wednesday! Have you played?
My Sacred Life
Day 20
There's something about the first snow of the season that's magical. It makes me giggle and want to go out and make snow angels! It's pretty with the autumn colors shining through.
Which picture do you like best? It's the same one, with different photoshop techniques applied.
It's snowing!!!
My Sacred Life
Day 19
Since I enjoy this meme so much, I'm making it a part of "My Sacred Life". Yes, I didn't take a picture of it...but rules are made to be broken, no? Anyway, here's Manic Monday, hosted by Lisa and this is what she has for us this week:
What is your least favorite day of the week and why? I'd have to say Monday. After two days off from work, it's always a bit of a sticky wicket to get back into the work frame of mind.
What's the best way to end the day? Downing an ice cold martini? Tempting though that might be, the best way to end each day is to lay in bed and read for a bit. It's soothing and gives me my needed quiet time.
Which animal would you have left out of the ark? Skunks!!! They're beautiful, but OMG the stink!
My Sacred Life
Day 18
And I'm in the mood for a meme...luckily, Claudia tagged me :-)
7 random and/or weird facts about me:
1. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream...but it has to be white, not green.
2. It takes me forever to finish a bottle of diet coke...if I ever come to visit you, you'll find a bottle or three in your fridge (small ones, not a 2 liter).
3. I'll try tasting almost anything food related, which is how I put natto, sea urchin roe & chitlins in my mouth (not at the same time, and my rating is: yuck, yuck & yuck!)
4. It's impossible for me not to personalize my workspace, as anyone who's ever seen my office can attest to (think the Captain Jack Sparrow cardboard standup is overdoing it?).
5. If I love a movie, I can watch it over and over and over. Same thing for music...it takes a really, REALLY long time, if ever, for me to get sick of either of these things.
6. I enjoy the attention my dog, Wolf (seen above), gets when we're out walking, because I HATE/DETEST/CAN NOT STAND to be the center of attention and would much rather any attention be on someone else.
7. I can only learn about things that interest me...ask me about the stock market or how cars work and I'll yawn and fall asleep (believe me, I wish those things DID interest me), but ask me about the different kinds of olive oil, how many races of Elves there are, or what Snape's mother's name is, and I'll rattle it off in a second.
These are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
And as we all know how I feel about rules, seven of you consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play along!
Thanks, Claudia, I was wondering what I'd write about today!
|
|
|
|
My Sacred Life
Day 17
This is the 84th Saturday Photo Hunt; the theme is "I love...";
I love brussels sprouts and pinecones, old recipes and salty chocolate, smiling dogs and traveling, a good cup of coffee, cool shoes, and of course, photography!
And I love my cousin who is celebrating a birthday today out on a cruise ship! Go wish her a happy birthday, if you so desire :-) Happy Birthday, Maribeth!!! Love you!
Today's entry inspired by Mrs. G!
My Sacred Life
Day 16
1. Tomatoes: Freshly picked from the garden, nothing better! These tomatoes are in my garden right now; the lovely Laura says if I pick them and put them in a paper bag, they'll ripen. We shall see!
2. Birthdays! Speaking of Laura, today is her birthday! Go wish her a happy one, please, if you're so inclined.
3. Laughter: This commercial had me laughing so hard! I love to laugh; it seems to me fun is vastly underrated in life.
4. Friends. These particular friends celebrated their 20th year since college graduation last year...and kindly let me tag along :-)
5. Grilled cheese sandwiches: Especially with bacon and tomato...comfort food extraordinaire!
6. Angel Perfume by Thierry Mugler. I know it's supposed to be a sweet, foody scent...but on me it smells like Christmas trees as well :-)
7. The ocean. The scent, the sound, the power...it rejuvenates me!
What are some of your favorite things?
My Sacred Life
Day 15
Stop!!!
Last thing I knew it was Halloween (which snuck up on me) and now...now it's a week before Thanksgiving!!! Granted, Thanksgiving is a week early this year...but still. I didn't realize turkey day was fast approaching until last night either. People doing their Thursday thirteens were talking about being thankful (and I was thinking how much I enjoyed the positive vibes). But it wasn't until I came upon one blog that spelled it out by saying that next Thursday was the day that I realized it. No WONDER my brother, who visited last night, said: "See you on Thanksgiving."
Can I wake up now and join humanity? Sheeeesh!
My Sacred Life
Day 14
I want a new drug
One that does what it should
One that won't make me feel too bad
One that won't make me feel too good
I went to see my new doctor this past Monday...0730, in my world, the @$$ crack of dawn. This is the first time we've met, and oh my...the news is NOT good, people.
I gained 20 pounds in six months. TWENTY. POUNDS. And I was fat before! Holy COW and I do mean COW. So my doctor and I, we talked about this weight gain. I said I know I should eat better and work out, but I can't bring myself to do either. She asked why and I said...um...I don't know? Standard answer for when I really don't want to delve deeper into why. But she picked and prodded, no easy task when it comes to me; a typical Cancerian with a THICK shell and very accustomed to side stepping and burying my head.
Here's the truth: I know I need to lose weight...but I'm embarrassed to go to the gym. Why? Cause I'm fat & ugly and I figure the people at the gym will laugh at me. They will laugh and snicker and think to themselves: "Why does she want to lose weight? She's so ugly it doesn't matter if she's 100 pounds or 300 pounds. Ugly is ugly." Yup. That's what I think.
I'd like to be able to think that people would think to themselves *sounds of crickets chirping*, i.e., they're not thinking of me at all, which is probably the case...and maybe this new medication will help.
Cause you know what? Ugly or not, my weight is not healthy and I'm of an age now where I need to really do something about it. So maybe I can go to the gym with the attitude that I need to lose weight to be healthy...yeah, that's it!
Wish me luck?
Also, don't forget...it's Wednesday and you know what that means...time for What Is It Wednesday! Have you played?
My Sacred Life
Day 13
Coming home last night I was flipping through the radio stations...do you know they're playing Christmas songs already??! I like to start listening the day after Thanksgiving...when I start decorating the house for Christmas. Although...I did listen all the way home!
And speaking of Christmas...I'd really like to do all my Christmas shopping on Etsy this year. Please take a look at Etsy :: Showcase and see if anything catches your eye. Then let me know! You'll have til December 7th. Because I'll pick one random person to send something to. Or maybe two...possibly three, cause I'm a fan of odd numbers. My way of spreading the holiday cheer :-)
Just keep it under $50.00, wouldja? Waaaaaaaaaay under ;-)
That is all.
My Sacred Life
Day 12
Because I had such fun at the beach yesterday, I thought I'd include another picture from it, one that others seemed to like very much, as well.
Since I enjoy this meme so much, I'm making it a part of "My Sacred Life". Yes, I didn't take a picture of it...but rules are made to be broken, no? Anyway, here's Manic Monday, hosted by Lisa and this is what she has for us this week:
What family traditions or customs would you most like to see preserved? Funny you asked this...I was just talking to my cousin last night about our family tradition of having plum pudding for Thanksgiving. It was always on the table, made with love by my aunt (her mom) and it's not quite to everyone's taste, but we LOVE it.
What do you feel is the least sexy part of the body? Nostrils. GAG.
What keeps you awake at night? Why? (This could be worries, recurring thoughts, pain or any other distraction. Read into this any way you wish.) Not much LOL! I usually don't have a difficult time sleeping. Call me well-adjusted if you must. ;-)
My Sacred Life
Day 11
Wolf and I headed up to the beach today; Dad had mentioned he'd heard on the news the waves were really big...wow! They sure WERE! Surfers are pretty much a rarity around here as the waves are never big enough for them. This guy had a hard time getting past the crashing waves to join his three buddies. Wolf did NOT appreciate seeing someone in the water; in fact, ALL the dogs I saw on the beach barked their heads off at him LOL!
Mmmm...the house smells so good, I'm baking orange marmalade spice cake. Co-workers will be happy tomorrow!
Happy Veterans Day to all veterans :-)
My Sacred Life
Day 10
I spent the day shopping for wedding gowns with my friend, Megan. She tried on...oh about 10 or 12 all told...but I think she fell in love with number three. I can't describe it other than to say her face just lit up when she looked in the mirror...she looked like a princess in it! There was one other she liked a lot, too...but the service at the second store, after the SUPERB service we had at the first, might have colored the experience a bit.
Afterwards, we had dinner at a Mexican place, played trivia at the bar, and I stopped for this shot on the way home. Far from perfect, but I like the lights reflected in the river.
Hope you had a great day, too!
My Sacred Life
Day 9
Last night I was restless. Not in the mood to read, or watch tv, or talk, or sleep. I should've hopped in the car and driven to the beach...but it never occurred to me.
I watched a bit of ER...and it brought back such horrid memories of living with my first ex-husband. He was an alcoholic...somewhat controlled as he'd've had to have been in order to function in the military. Prior to him joining the military, though, I can remember nights where he'd call me in a panic to tell me he didn't know where his car was. First time it happened, I thought it was stolen. Then I realized he'd gotten so drunk he didn't remember where he left his car...a good thing given how drunk he'd been at one bar or another.
So this morning, even though I got up late, I decided to take Wolf for a walk, clear my head and whatnot.
I saw this milkpod fluff and thought it looked rather angelic.
I felt much better when I got home :-)
My Sacred Life
Day 8
It was sooooooooo cold this morning! I almost didn't bring a camera with me on my morning walk with Wolf. My purse, where I usually keep my small HP, wasn't willing to give up its contents (i.e., couldn't find the damn camera). So I grabbed Dad's small Canon and off I went.
I don't really care for the freezing cold...anything below 40 is too cold to me. But I'll put up with it because I really dig the four seasons in New England! I like my summers hot, my winters cold, my autumns chilly and my springs filled with the promise of sunshine and warmth.
Wolf, however, would like it to be snowy and cold 365 days a year. Weirdo!
My Sacred Life
Day 7
I really didn't want to go to work today. Ever have one of those days? I finally dragged myself into the shower, got ready and drove to work. Once there, however, I found I didn't want to get out of the car. So I started reading a book I picked up a couple days ago, The Problem with Murmur Lee by Connie May Fowler. I can tell, just from the first few pages, it's gonna be a good'un. After finishing the first chapter...still not in the mood to go in, so I put my seat all the way back and stared out of the moon roof and then the windows...looking out at the world. This is what I saw. Not so bad...and I heard the birds chirping, the leaves skittering across the parking lot, blown by the wind...and finally felt good enough to go inside.
Oh and don't forget...it's Wednesday! Have you played?
My Sacred Life
Day 6
I love rainy days...as long as they don't equal a month, as it did in Japan. All June, all rain, all the time. After awhile, ANY sound you love would get a bit irksome if you heard it all day and night EVERY day and night.
But...I woke up this morning, early for me (6:40 am MaryEllen!!!) and decided to catch up a bit on my reading. How comfortable to be in a nice warm bed, snuggling with a plush shiba inu, listening to the rain fall just outside your window and reading a good book...ahhhh.
When it rains, it brings back memories of walking a mile to school in a raincoat and rubbers (hey, it's what we called 'em back then), splashing through the puddles. For some reason, it's also a bit of a melancholy memory...not sure why...maybe all that walking?
Do you like rainy days? Do they bring back memories for you? Wanna share?
Need a bit of Halloween scariness to help you get in the mood for tomorrow? Hope this helps!!!
BooOOOOOooooooo!!!
Do you know where your path will lead? Do you know WHERE you want it to lead?
1. Day 18 Customer, 2. Day 20 spider spaghetti, 3. Day 20 pirate drink, 4. Day 21 Devils Den
Do you see it?
Now, if I could just remember what I was going to search for!!!
Mel wasn't feeling well and missed a few days, so here are the shots from the 10th til today. She's feeling better, now, though!
1. Day 12 family, 2. Day 13 waiter and buffett, 3. Day 16 waiter and new family1, 4. Day 17 two tables, 5. Day 17 appetizers, 6. Day 17 kids
Pirates!!!
My cousin, Mel, sent me pictures of the Halloween decorations at a house near hers...I asked her to send me a picture a day, so I could share them with you. This person goes all out in their Halloween decorations, eh?
1. Day One - chef; 2. Day Two - waiter; 3. Day Three - scary waiter; 4. Day Four - maitre de la table; 5. Day Five - maitre de la table and guests, 6. Day Six guests & waiter
Full scene, end of Week One
1. À hauteur de crabe..., 2. Red night, 3. 井上食堂のラーメン, 4. Pumpkin Fair @Tokyo Station, 5. little dog red barn, 6. 江ノ島, 7. Picture 116, 8. 沖縄, 9. Futcha, 10. Yokota Air Base, 11. Palm, 12. sakura @Tama-River, 13. Golden Blue, 14. Water, 15. PAD 2007 - 12 San Francisco Stairway, 16. Happy Clementine, 17. Merperson from Hogwarts Lake?, 18. where I want to be, 19. Sandollar, 20. seiyu from train platform
Julie's been doing this for awhile, then I saw
Zoot's favorites, then Amy did it, too.
After viewing the pictures I have favorited on Flickr, I realized I need to go browse a bit. Most of my favorites are of Japan, but there's tons of shots I like that friends have taken that I haven't favorited. I need to change that! I'll do another post on this, and soon!
I had a great entry for this...and the dreaded blue screen popped up on my lovely Dell laptop. Grrrrrrr!
Anyway, here's a recap: BPAL, Lurid Library, Poppets, vampires, autumn leaves, cider donuts, hooray.
That is all.
Friday, I got my hair taken care of. No, I didn't go silver. Not brave enough yet, I guess. Got a lovely shade of dark honey and platinum-y highlights.
Saturday: Went to Sephora, where they were offering free foundation consultations. I got a mini-facial from a Dr. Perricone rep; fantastic stuff, but so.damn.pricey.!!! Then a Stila rep did my makeup. Got many compliments from friends at the wedding I went to that evening, as they're not used to seeing me wear much makeup at all :-)
Michelle and me, photo taken by Michelle's husband, A
Took 200+ pictures at Krista's wedding; of course, I like only about 5 of them LOL! Since the bride & groom haven't seen any of the shots, I really shouldn't share ... but ... oh, well, here. They go from this:
to this:
and this:
with a little bit of this thrown in:
and this
"I don't know why you people are getting so dressed up, but I hope there's food involved!" - Bonbon the corgi
Sunday, I relaxed, tried to catch up on sleep, reading, cleaning, etc. My brother and I took Dad out to lunch; new-ish Italian place...NOT very good at all. Overcooked pasta, not so tasty sauce, frozen veal & fish; as my brother said, when you're served cold bread that should be served warm, you know that what's to follow won't be so good either. As none of us had come CLOSE to finishing the meal (I think the staff knew better than to ask, "Was everything ok?"), we all went for an ice cream for dessert at a local dairy farm:
(look at it with your head tilted to the right, it won't look so much like the Leaning Tower of Pisa that way!)
Patiently waiting for his or her owners to return with ice cream!
When I got home, I finished working on the wedding photos. Phew!
How was your weekend?
I took Dad to the wedding of his "adopted" granddaughter today. As we were driving down the highway, we noticed the sky was getting dark and saw a couple flashes of lightning. Cool, right?
The wedding was outside.
Outside...by a lake.
And the wind started blowing
And no one cared :-)
Hopefully, they'll live happily ever after :-)
My new tattoo, on the left and my new future tattoo on the right
Yesterday and today were quite the days!
I got a new tattoo last night; Megan came with and got one, too! We had fun talking with John, he's such a great guy and so damn talented! And no, I don't have hepatitis, my foot is just yellow & orange from the ink!
Had dinner at the The Peddler's Daughter on the way home. Nice place, lots of drunks tho ;-)
Today I got lost going to my brother's...turned around and missed the exit I needed, and decided to go the eff home LOL! Saw a great blue heron feeding in a pond, went home, picked up Dad and my camera. Got a couple shots, the bird was too far away, so sad. Took Dad for a ride with me to Nashua, where I was going to pick up a wireless router. I also ended up getting a new phone, which has...best of all...navigational capabilities, which I MOST DEFINITELY need! I love it!
Navigated my @$$ over to Michelle's; we were going to take a bus in town, but decided against that as it was HOT AS HADES here today! We decided instead to see a movie. Went to The Blue Room first for a bite, and we loved it there so much we passed on the movie LOL! The food was fantasic, I had light fluffy little pillows of gnocchi (Michelle said they were too soft, but this non-Italian didn't know any better) that were flavored with a lemon sauce. YUM! Our waitress was incredibly, passionate about her job which was nice, VERY nice!
My phone got me home the shortest possible route, even tho I took a wrong turn, recalculating the route, she told me, I named her Jessamyn :-)
How has your weekend been so far?
Night, all!
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I saw this quote recently, over here, and I want to post it somewhere were I will see it every day.
Life is short...enjoy the ride!
LEO - The Lion:
Great talker. [check]
Attractive and passionate. [check]
Laid back. [sometimes?]
Knows how to have fun. [check!]
Is really good at almost anything. [check]
Great kisser. [she says so!]
Unpredictable. [check]
Outgoing. [check]
Down to earth. [check]
Addictive. [check]
Attractive. [you already said that fer crissakes, but I guess it's worth repeating...check!]
Loud. [can be!]
Loves being in long relationships. [check]
Not one to mess with. [check!!!]
Rare to find. [check!!!]
Good when found. [check]
For your 32nd birthday, I wish you much love and happiness, oh friend o' mine! I value your friendship, and although it's been a rocky road at times, maybe that just makes our friendship all the stronger :-)
What a great long weekend! Drove up to Vermont with Diane & her girls to stay at Mo's. Betsy and her middle daugter, Audrey, joined us Sunday.
- Went to the drive-in to see Ratatouille (and to gaze at the very full moon). When's the last time you went to a drive in? SO much fun!
- Met Mo's bead lady and took a TON of pictures
- Saw a herd of miniature horses (didn't get ONE shot LOL)
- Finished a book that wasn't Harry Potter - Heat, by Bill Buford
- Went to Lake Champlain Chocolates - yum!
- Went to see the Lipizanner Stallions - beautiful animals :-)
- Watched a sunset - sigh
- Played with a puppy - what fun!
- Hung out with friends - the best!
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend:
Monarch in the burdocks
Rumor! Isn't she gorgeous?
Close to my favorite pic of the weekend...shot in color, looks almost black and white
Meri
Can't believe I got this shot LOL!
Love these ... "things" on a rooftop in downtown Burlington, VT.
A gorgeous onion from Betsy's Dad's garden
How was your weekend?
Last Thursday at work, I won 3 tickets to go see the Red Sox on Saturday. I gave two to my brother and father...I WAS going to go with them, but 1) I was reading the last Harry Potter book and 2) I was reading the last Harry Potter book!
I asked around to see if any friends wanted just the one ticket ($165 ticket!) and no one did. I did a mass email at work and gave the ticket to the first person who responded.
"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."
Wolf, helping to reinforce my constant vigilance!
I read a seemingly innocent comment from someone I THOUGHT I could trust, which had a bit of a spoiler, so no more reading of comments until I'm done with the book.
Unless, of course, it's from Michelle, Michele (all of them), Megan, Laura, Lisa, Deb, Krista, Colleen, Carl or Zoot, cause I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt I can trust them! Sorry for doubting you today, K!
Who's up for it!!!
I wish I was there right now!
Isn't he (or she) gorgeous?
***UPDATED***
No this is not an alien; yes this is a moth!
Went to Fuller Gardens (a beautiful place by the sea) today in North Hampton, NH with Megan and her Mom; I took SO many pictures! They had to drag me outa there kicking and screaming. We had lunch at Michael's Harborside...delish! Perfect day!
Remember in the movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban, this type of flower froze when the dementors passed by? They're so pretty! The flowers, not the dementors!
I tried to log in last night to post a picture I took up in Portsmouth NH earlier in the day, and all I got was a big, blank nothing! My hosting company solved the problem, and I'm BACK! Well...I wasn't really gone, but I did have slight withdrawal symptoms :-)
Firstly, here's the pic:
teeheehee
Secondly, Megan's cousin won tickets this morning to the sneak preview of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the local IMAX theater tomorrow night...and she VERY nicely gave me one! WOOHOO! I am JUST a bit excited *understatement*
Thirdly, I had the BEST time up at my cousin's house these last few days! She invited me up for the 4th, and to stay a few days after that, which I happily did! She and her husband graciously let me laze about, rereading OOTP and feeding me from time to time. We hiked one day, had a HOUSEFUL of dackels another and generally just had a wonderful time. Thanks, MB!!! Love ya!
PS! If you're having a hard time commenting, don't give up after one try...we're working the bugs out! If you CAN'T comment at all, please email me at fondofsnape AT gmail DOT com and let me know exactly what happens. Thanks!
I just love this picture!!!
Flower getting a poppet kiss :)
This shot was taken at my cousin, MB's house last Saturday...and I think it's perfect for the 4th of July!
During my recent trip to Vegas, Michelle Colleen's book kept mysteriously cropping up:
On the way to Vegas
Look at the statue on the left...he looks like he's craning his neck to try to read the book!
Have book, will be fanned by statues!
She was trying to COVER, not POINT TO!
EEK! Must be the part where...
Too engrossed to gamble!
Waiting for the plane, it was!
Finally weeded the garden today, wow, were there a lot of weeds!!! Replanted the basil into the garden after I made some room via the weeding and the culling of the mint, which is taking OVER LOL! The poor basil wasn't growing well in the window box, not enough room to spread out roots (I know the feeling!). The tomato plants are flowering, no 'maters yet, tho! The strawberry plants had one lovely flower, but I couldn't get a clear shot of it.
Took the dogs for a nice long walk in the woods, came back and read for a couple hours. I know...a beautiful day and I'm reading...what can I say! It's a GOOD book, Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill, and no it's NOT a romance novel, but a VERY SCARY book, he's Stephen King's son and that apple didn't fall far from the tree!
I wanted to take some shots of some jewelry I'd gotten for my birthday, so set everything up on the picnic table. Noticed a bird fly out of the bush behind the table and thought...oooh, I bet there's a nest, and I was right!
I'll try for a better photo in coming days, but I hope I don't upset her too much! I just tried for a shot from in the house, and I thought I was being quiet, but she flew away!
I had a fantastic day yesterday, thanks to MB, Michelle, MB's hubby and Emily, the girl next door, literally LOL!
On the way to MB's
It's not a meteor ... it's bird poop!
Waiting for the M/S Mt. Washington
We were first in line! (MB on the left, and Michelle)
Lovely sailboat on Lake Winnipesaukee
Michelle being attacked by vicious dackels
MB and I enjoyed the view from the porch with a nice warm cuppa!
Emily, hard at work
Thanks to MB, Hubby, Michelle and Emily for a fantastic end to my birthday month!!!
Squeeeee! I came home today to find some poppets decided to move in with me!
Don't worry, little sad poppet, the next book will be out in just a few weeks!
I'm back! Miss me? Lots to say, no time to say it, dang work! Here's some pics to tide you over til I can tell you about fabu Vegas (one word: HOT!!!).
LOVE was fantastic! I want to go back with my cousin to see it again, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Yellow Submarine had the best special effects!!!
There were tattoos (henna, not permanent!):
MaryEllen sent me some lovely flowers!
Deb & Laura sent me some delicious cookies, specifically tailored to my loves!
And pickles, yummy deli pickles!
I missed you all; more later, I promise!
Sunday: Had a great time with my brother and Dad for Father's Day. We took Dad up to Brown's for lobsters, steamers and a fisherman's platter. Yum! Dad racked up the presents: a new camera, three shirts and some shower gel so he'll smell good for those chicks at the Senior Center. Go, Dad! My brother also gave me an early birthday present, enough cash to either get a REALLY good massage or hire a gigolo for a couple hours. His instructions on the birthday card were too clear about that, altho they WERE clear on the type of guy I should as for (no, I'm NOT tell you what it said!)
Sunday evening: Not so good...Wolf had a seizure :-( Freaked me right the hell out, as you might imagine. It didn't last more than a minute and afterward he was a bit wobbly, but 10 minutes later he wanted to go for a walk and then eat. So today, he was off to the vet's. Had a complete physical and blood work and I should get the results tomorrow. The vet said that any number of things could cause a seizure and I told her this was the first one I'd ever seen him have. He seems to be feeling well now, so we'll see.
I didn't get to work til 1 or so, and of course, since I'm off Thursday and Friday, I had a TON of stuff to do. Made the day fly by, that's for sure. Met up with Megan after work so she could do some clothes shopping for Vegas and I found the coolest headbands and flip flops (a girl can never have too many flip flops, yanno!).
Megan stared at me appraisingly and said that she loves my new curly hair, and that it is "me". I feel like it is too, and maybe I can become more like myself than I have been these last few years.
More good news: my friend Diane invited me, along with another friend, Mo to dinner and a sleep over at her house Wednesday night, and we're all going to take a limo to the airport at the crack of dawn Thursday. Start the vacation off right, says I!
It's my birthday week, ya'll!
He likes to share, has a wicked sense of humor, eats anything, had the most adorable blond curls as a baby, enjoys his family, likes photography, loves animals and served in WWII...ladies, anyone interested? ;-)
This picture just makes me smile:
Does it make you smile, too?
Just one bite, matey!
Walked right by this guy in the algae pond...he was standing stock still and I thought he was a rock at first; all I saw was his body! His legs were totally underwater and I didn't notice his neck and head. I got quite the crowd around me, everyone shushing their kids so as to not scare the bird away:
More shots on flickr, if you're interested!
I also got the garden into shape, planted the tomatoes and found a new strawberry plant amongst the mint! I had to trim the sage that grew back from last year; here's a shot of its lovely flowers:
I went over to Megan's Friday night, and while waiting for her to come home, I sat out in her backyard, reading, sipping my ice coffee...and of course, taking pictures. This lovely flower is a peony:
Moments before had ants crawling all over it! I think they saw the camera and got really camera shy ;-) Course I had to look up WHY ants were all over these flowers, and here 'tis:
Ants are attracted to sap-like secretions produced by flower buds. While they are common on many cultivars, the presence of ants does not enhance pollination, nor does it harm the plant.
Hmmm...cool!
She and I went to the mall so I could return a belt and get my glasses fixed. Damn, I should've taken a picture of what happened to the lenses in my new glasses; they had stress lines at the top and bottom! Not so much that I could tell while they were on, but still.
Then we had dinner at Lui Lui, an Italian place with so so martinis and great cheap margaritas (2 bucks, y'all). Spur of the moment we decided to go see Ocean's 13; my first of those movies. It was very entertaining!
Today I did some shopping; decided to FINALLY use the Sephora card a friend gave to me for my birthday last year. I got some Bare Escentuals eye liner and some Too Faced Lash Injection mascara. LOVE the eye liner, haven't tried the mascara yet. I'll do a review over at A Girl Must Shop about it soon.
I wanted to get Decleor's Aromessence Neroli Comforting Concentrate (it has petitgrain, neroli, sage, parsley, and sandalwood essential oils in a hazelnut oil base) after reading about it at Sephora.com, but the store didn't have any. They, did, however have samples of it, as well as the Aromessence Angelique Nourishing Concentrate For Dry Skin, which I had wanted to try, too (this one has angelica, chamomile, geranium and rosemary essential oils in an avocado, hazelnut and wheatgerm oil base). I heart Sephora :-) To apply, you put one drop on each of your first three fingertips (hahaha I spelled it fingertits first, too much Laura influence); touch them to the first three fingertips on your other hand, and gently massage it onto your face. Then you moisturize as normal. Can't wait to try it tomorrow morning!
I also stopped by Aveda and got my free birthday gift; a specially blended full size bottle of body lotion. They asked me some questions, found out I'm a fire element and gave me a choice of three scents; one was a patchouli combination, the second was a sandalwood combination, the third was rose & ylang ylang. To my surprise, I liked the rose one best! Hmmm...weird!
Made chicken for dinner, marinated in pineapple juice, mango hot sauce and mustard...yum! Combined it with pineapple/cilantro brown rice and broccoli. Still trying to eat good...not succeeding ALL the time, but more often than not, and that's good.
Hope your weekend has been great so far!
Yesterday I went to Plymouth with Michelle to evaluate some folks that want to adopt a dog. They passed with flying colors! Afterwards we ate a late lunch at Hearth & Kettle, which brought back memories for both of us; you see, we both used to spend alot of time down the Cape in the summers when we were kids and both of us used to eat at Hearth & Kettle with our parents as a treat.
Since we'd brought Wolf with us, even though it was chilly and foggy, we decided to talk a quick walk around Plymouth Harbor. It was too foggy to get a shot of the Mayflower...which brought my ancestors to New England, but I did manage a shot of Plymouth Rock, the (very small) landing spot of the Pilgrims in 1620, as well as some shots of the harbor.
All in all, it was a good day and a fitting ending to a great weekend!
Hope you all had a great weekend, too :-)
Tonight I went to Newburyport with Megan and Jim, in the pouring rain, complete with fierce thunder and lightning! It eased up by the time we got there, tho, which was good as we ended up walking a bit to get to Aquatini. I had a extra dirty martini and some oysters and shared a cheese plate with Megan. Perfect! Afterwards we drove to Plum Island, sat out on the rocks and watched the lightning far off in the distance and talked. Magical!
Here's a flower that's growing in my front yard; enjoy!
ahhhh, the weekend! A glorious, nice long weekend filled with just the right amount of things to do! Truth be told...maybe TOO much, but I'm not complaining!
Friday I went over to Megan's; we headed up to Nashua to do some shopping and have dinner. Got some free POTC temporary tattoos, which made my night!
Saturday, I did some shopping, made dinner for Dad and headed over to Megan's for a cook out. She had the BEST black bean and mango salad; I'll post the recipe soon! She and Jim, her fiance, invited some folks over and we sat around outside, eating and drinking and talking. Fun! They grilled, in addition to other things, some eggplant, which is my new favorite thing to eat!
Mango-y goodness!
Sunday, I took Wolf for a walk in the woods and ran into Megan & her friend, Kristin there; took Dad out for breakfast at the Owl; then Michelle came over and we went back to the woods with Max in tow.
We saw two turtles on our walk, isn't this little guy adorable?
That evening, I took my friend Diane out for dinner (Melting Pot...eh...except for the chocolate fondue, THAT was awesome) and a movie (POTC 3; she had a hard time following it, then gave up and just delighted in the piratey hotness that is Captain Jack Sparrow). She savored getting out without the kids and being surprised; I enjoyed surprising her AND our impromptu stop at the Container Store, which I'd always wanted to go to!
Monday, up early to get ready to go to MB's for the day! Michelle came along with Dad, the dogs and me and we had a relaxing, delicious, puppy filled day that even included a bit of shopping at the oh so awesome annual Memorial Day craft fair.
Puppylove!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
Without some sadness, we'd never know how good happiness is. Without some ugliness...we'd never realize beauty.
Never mind the fact that Spring is counted as the whole months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere that it officially begins on the Vernal Equinox (March 20th or 21st and lasts until the Summer Solstice (June 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere; spring to me is when the lilacs blossom!
I don't know about you, but I could use some brightness in my life right about now! Please enjoy these lovely flowers; one of the girls at work got a bouquet last week and she let me photograph them :-)
Happy May Day everyone!
This is the view I was greeted with when I woke up. Enough, already!
The cherry blossoms hit their peak last week in DC...but I still found a few lingering blossoms to shoot! More about the weekend to come, I just wanted to share this hard earned picture :-)
Hope you all had a great weekend!
I've had this donut bed for awhile...and for some reason he didn't like it. But he kept scratching the braided rug to get comfy last night so I brought it downstairs. He climbed in and boom! He was out like a light!
After work, I met a coworker for a walk around a pond in the next town over from where we work. Lauren had told me about this place, but I never imagined how beautiful, or how BIG it was! We walked for about an hour; we saw ducks and geese and swans, fishermen, bird dogs, and rollerbladers, oh my!
It was quite windy and the water was wicked choppy, but it added to the beauty of the place.
I'll be taking Wolf and Max there this weekend, if the weather holds :-)
This is the reason I wanted to take a photography class. I KNOW this should be crisper and clearer...I should've used manual and not auto focus. I wanted the whole flower in focus, but because the bottom part juts out more than the top, I need to take that into consideration.
There were SO many orchids of every color and type at the show. I was in heaven wandering around taking pictures. Ran into a coworker there and she politely waited til I was done before she said hi.
Also on the work front, I got my own office today! To say I'm happy, well...it's a bit of an understatement. I'm NOT anti-social, but I do love my alone time, my quiet time...and I wasn't getting any of that sharing an office will what will hopefully be my last office mate. She and I are total opposites...I'm sure we'd get along in a social setting, just not sharing a space 8 hours a day.
I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I'm taking a photography class, Digital Photography II. The class description goes like this:
This course will explore the world of digital photography and how it differs from (and is sometimes the same as) film photography. The class will get photo assignments each week. Bring in digital photos which we will view on our projector, and discuss the merits and problems of the work. The class will be much like the film photography classes we have, but the medium here is digital. Since photo enhancing, adjusting, and retouching are part of the kit of tools available to the digital photographer, we will be using Adobe Photoshop and its magical kit of tools to help correct and adjust our photos where needed. However, the primary thrust of the class will be photographic techniques, with mechanical enhancements as an added, but secondary, attraction.
Last Thursday was the second class, and the first where we had homework. Our assignment was to bring in no more than 8 portrait shots and he would critique them.
He had a criticism on only one picture, the one of the woman holding the orange. He said that as she seems to be offering the orange to the viewer, it needed to be in focus, too. I agree!
This Thursday, our homework is "Portraits, non-human" and he wants us to use macro. I went to the flower show in Boston on Saturday...guess what my subject will be?
So there's been alot going on lately and I haven't really had a chance to talk about any of it.
Thursday: Dad was able to come home from the hospital, and we also got a diagnosis; he has Parkinson's disease, in the early stages. His doctor has prescribed a medication and we'll see what happens. I'm, of course, hoping for the best! The diagnosis does explain a lot; his soft speech, his shuffling gate, his shaky hands. I thought it was just aging. Ah, me.
I also started an eight week photography class on Thursday. The guy teaching it seems knowledgeable and talented and I learned a bit just during the first lesson. Our homework is to do a portrait for the next class, not more than eight pictures. I asked him if the subject had to be human; he kind of scoffed at me and said he didn't want to see cutesy pics of people's pets. Now, c'mon...is THIS cutesy?
Friday at work, one of the VPs mentioned to me that I was going to CA for a month for work. I was like...um...huh? What? When? In typical fashion, no one had mentioned it to me. And it has to do with the aspect of my job I resigned from. Of course, the person they hired to do that has an elderly mother she takes care of so she can't do it. Well guess what? Neither can I! Haysus, it's NOT my job anymore and I have an elderly father to take care of! Anyway, after he said something, I went to my boss and she said she knew about it, but had told the higher ups she couldn't do without me for a month. My company being what it is, I'm sure they could care less. But you know what? If they want me to go, they're going to have to arrange for someone to come in and watch Dad, pay for kenneling the dogs cause Dad can't watch them and fly me back and forth to Vegas from CA because of course this coincides with my Vegas trip for my birthday.
Yesterday I made a boiled dinner in honor of St. Patrick's day and mostly sat around watching movies. I have a sinus infection on top of everything else that's going on and the right side of my face is a bit swollen. I also got a blister on my foot from wearing a new pair of shoes. It was healing fine until Wolf accidently stepped on it, and now...ouch! It just hurts like hell and I can't put a shoe on. No walking around in flip flops outside for me, not in the foot of snow we just got! I did slip on a pair of Ugg boots and did a bit of shoveling yesterday. I mean, if I don't do it, it won't get done and if something happens to Dad there has to be a path to the house, you know?
My cousin Maribeth and her hubby sent Dad a beautiful bouquet of flowers yesterday; it arrived before I shoveled, so they left it with the neighbors next door, who were nice enough to deliver it later.
They smell even better than they look!
Last night, Wolf noticed something outside and I saw him out of the corner of my eye staring intently. So I looked and saw what I thought was a cat, at first, just sitting there. Then it started running and I thought...wow, that's a weasel! So I looked it up online and found that weasels are a brownish color and this animal was black. Looked further and discovered what I saw was an American mink! Amazing the things you see in your own back yard!
To all my Irish friends, I hope you had a fantastic day today and that you're not too hung over tomorrow!
Day 54 from Project 365; salty chocolate - man, was it good!
Things have been a bit stressful lately; Dad blacked out or fainted in the bathroom Thursday and came to on the floor...where he stayed for 4 or 5 hours until I came home from work. Apparently, he didn't have the strength to get up. Of course, I ended up working late that night and didn't get home til 7, and even then didn't know he was on the floor til I heard a repeated banging noise.
I helped him up and put him in bed. He slept for a few hours and when he woke up, I gave him something to eat, as he probably hadn't eaten since noon time.
Took off the next day from work to keep an eye on him, all the while trying to talk him into going to the ER just to get checked out.
Saturday, Michelle came over for a bit so I could take a shower; I was afraid to leave him alone. My brother came by, too, and finally convinced Dad to go to the ER. They went around 3; after waiting there three hours, he was finally seen. They did blood tests, urine tests, an EKG and a CAT scan...only thing they found was a UTI, but I think the fact that he blacked out and didn't remember it prompted them to admit him.
Yesterday, they were concerned that he seemed a bit out of it (which is kinda normal for Dad) and so did an MRI. Haven't got the results yet, and he's still in the hospital.
So, yeah...I needed some chocolate.
Yes, it's THAT cold today!
Had dinner at The Burren last night with Pat (shepherd's pie and guinness, YUM!); then we headed over to see the movie, Venus, at the Capitol in Arlington. A fantastic movie, go see it if you have the chance. At first it made me laugh, but by the end, oh how sad. Beautiful, tho!
I don't know whether this theater has recently changed hands or what, but the last two movies I've seen there, the sound has sucked bullocks. And last night there were people walking in and out, in and out...very distracting. Think I'll stick to the Somerville Theater from now on.
Today I walked past a coworker's office and noticed all the bright colors in his candy dish. I asked him if he minded if I took a picture, he laughed and said no; his bemused expression showed what he was thinking :-)
It's my 47th picture in the 365 project.
Anyway, that's all I have today...some candy for you :-)
I heart mushrooms! I'm bummed out I burned my favorite wooden spoon, tho!
I've been getting into taking food pictures lately, so you'll probably be seeing more and more ;-)
DebR wrote a very thought provoking post yesterday. The issue she talks about in 1a and 1b is an issue that has plagued me since I was a child. Even now, with her writing fresh in my brain, I'm hesitant to say that I don't know why it's plagued me because I'm sure there are some people that would say, "well, duh, it's obvious why" and I really don't want to hear that, however true or untrue (they're laughing now) that might be.
Here's part of what she said:
Sorry to get wordy and preachy about this, but this is an issue that really bothers me - to hear people "hate, deny, and talk trash" about themselves. If you don't love yourself, how can you expect anyone else to love you? And if someone else does love you, and you put yourself down - your body, your mind, your talents, whatever - then you're essentially telling the people who love you that they have the bad taste and poor judgment to love trash. Is that really what you want to do?? I certainly hope not.
I certainly don't want to tell people that love me any of those things so...
Yesterday, I got my hair cut and as is my custom, I take pictures of it when I get home. The mirror, to me, isn't a friendly thing, but I must use it for the shots. Some of the pictures were blurry, or of the ceiling, or the top of my head, etc., but I got 5 that I really like, and that's saying a lot for me, because I NEVER like being in front of the camera.
Having said all that, I'm going to be brave and show you one of the shots.
Gak...this is hard...*swallows*
Ok, here 'tis.
Continue reading "Self image"
I was supposed to go take pictures of Michelle's dog Marley, swimming in a pool today, but I was overcome with the urge to go to the beach and man, am I glad I did! The tide was the absolute highest I've ever seen it there...barely any beach to walk on and usually, there's LOTS! The waves were so big that two surfers showed up to contemplate surfing, and that's not something I've EVER seen there. Dad came along for the ride, and had a good time watching the waves, dogs and people milling about.
Michelle, next time, I swear! I missed seeing you and the Marleydog!
Swampgrrl is the Photo Thursday guest blogger at Create a Connection. She says: Take a photograph of something in your home that you treasure. Tell us why. Then post a link back here to share your treasure.
I looked around when I got home. I thought of posting a picture of Dad, who I treasure, or Wolf, or Max, but thought that was the obvious route. So I decided to take pictures of some "things" that have great sentimental value, for a variety of reasons.
My ex-husband and I used to collect things...and this was one of them! It's a collection called Wee Forest Folk, by Annette Petersen. I also have a witch, a ghost & a snowman :-)
Here's a very happy piggy bank that I bought when I lived in Japan. Then, all the coins that filled his ample belly were yen; now he's filled with quarters, dimes, nickels and a few pennies. He seemed to tolerate the change in diet well ;-)
This is a china chocolate pot that belonged to my grandmother. My aunt gave it to me a few years ago, when she could be sure I could be trusted with it :-)
That was tasty! Just one more bite!
The boys and I had fun with Michelle up in Salisbury yesterday! It's always fun to have an extra set of hands to hold a leash, steady a dog, free me up to visit with cute puppies or whatnot!
Came home and made a mushroom lasagne, using the sauce I'd had simmering all day. Pictures forthcoming!
Saturday, I did nothing. Seriously.
Friday, it was coooooooooooooold out; Megan and I were supposed to go to McCormick & Schmick's for dinner, but I just didn't have it in me to traipse around Boston in the cold. So we went to Macaroni Grill, ordered a bottle of wine, had some pasta and collapsed at Barnes & Noble til they closed. I read Hannibal Rising...not quite a book, more like an outline. Still, I read about 70 pages LOL!
How was your weekend?
I had two bananas to use up ASAP, so I made this :-)
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (which I forgot to add...ME! Forgetting salt!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 medium-sized, ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
In a small bowl, combine flour, backing powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream together butter & brown sugar. When light and fluffy, beat in egg, followed by mashed banana and vanilla extract. Blend in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn loaf out of pan and let cool completely before slicing.
Store in an airtight container or plastic wrap.
No work today, woohoo! Instead, I laid in bed til 10 am reading the latest Patricia Cornwell novel, Predator. Then I got up, showered, made a shopping list and met Lauren for lunch at Macaroni Grill...yum! Next stop, or would've been if I could've found a parking space, was Barnes & Noble. Gave up after a bit and headed to Border's where they had 10 books on sale for half off, and I bought Michael Crichton's latest, Next. Then I went back in search of the purse I saw at Marshall's on Saturday.
Oh, I didn't tell you about that! I went to see Pan's Labyrinth (awesome movie!) and got to the theater early, so I figured I'd browse Marshall's. Found a purse I really liked, then I noticed the loooooooooong checkout lines and knew I'd never make it to the movie. So I put the purse down and figured if it was there when I came back, I'd buy it. Well...it wasn't. So then I had the great Purse Search of 2007. Today I found it!
Cute, eh?
Now I'm making chicken soup from the roast chicken I made on Saturday:
Then I'm going to hopefully finish Predator, before 24 starts! Wish me luck!
A treat for your eyes...a laugh, a smile, a sigh ;-)
which one do you like better:
This 
or this 
xoxoxo, me!
I was over my friend Diane's house a couple Saturdays ago, playing with her two little girls and making pizza and fondue...and of course, taking pictures. This one was taken by Diane:
It's so freaky she's staring right at it!
Project 365: One photo a day...for a year! I started on 1/17/07...so far so good...which is saying alot for this commitment phobe!
In other news, today started out good...and then I got hit over the head. Not literally, but you know, figuratively hurts just as much.
On the bright side, I get to help plan a shower! That's always fun :-)
And two more bunchs of BPAL Imps were waiting for me when I got home Sunday night!
Continue reading "Project 365 and other stuff"
This is what I went to see Saturday...my friend MaryEllen competed in the 2007 U.S. Eastern Sectional Synchronized Team Skating Championships; this is her team in action! The youngest is in her 30s, the oldest is 70! They're AWESOME! I had the honor of being the team photographer and chaperone this time, which basically meant I got in free LOL!
MaryEllen and I also got to spend part of the weekend with Deb & Laura! Thanks for sharing the teriyaki steak with me, Laura, damn that was good! Oh...and the purse that Deb goes on and on (and on and on) about? Is soooooo pretty. She wouldn't let me photograph her with it, tho, because she was afraid it would outshine her ;-) Muaaaaaaaaaaaah girls!
One last thing...do NOT E.V.E.R. stay in the Mystic CT Best Western...it has uncomfortable beds, lots of drunks roaming the hallways and making lots of noise ... and ghosts...who aren't friendly. And I'm serious. *shudder*
How was your weekend?
Are you KIDDING me???! Heroes is back tonight...but on at the SAME TIME as 24! That's just not fair, man, not fair at all.
Grrrrr...
Michelle, I'll be watching 24, and tivoing Heroes, so feel free to IM me when you get excited!
Who said IT guys aren't observant? I got new glasses yesterday and wore them to a Pampered Chef party at a friend's house. No one mentioned the new glasses...and yes, I'm aware that it might be because they didn't like them...but I don't see them every day like I do the guys in IT...still...we KNOW guys aren't all that observant...
I get to work this morning, one of the IT guys pokes his head in my office to ask about moving my computer to the new office.
Him: new glasses?
me: yup
him: nice, I like 'em. So when do you want your computer moved?LOL!
Boneheaded thing I did this weekend: Well, I did a few, but this one takes the cake. I'm walking around the mall after dropping my car off for a LONG overdue oil change (MB tell Jack to stop laughing). A friend calls on my cell phone...but I can't hear her. So I try to hang up...can't...and end up powering off the phone. Turn it back on, call her back...can't hear her. So I'm freaking out, thinking my phone is broken. I text her and tell her sorry I can't hear her and take my phone to the Verizon store in the mall.
Anyone want to guess what happened? Hmmm...I think I'll LET you guess, and whoever guesses correctly...or with the funniest answer, will win a BPAL Imp when they finally arrive!
Have at it!
What else...Friday I looked at getting a new phone; I BADLY want the Blackberry Pearl. My contract with Verizon is up in September...so I guess I'll wait...if I can manage it.
Saturday Megan & Lauren helped me move into my new office...and move all the rest of the crap I had accumulated over the 10 years here into my storage facility. Thanks, girls! That night my friend Diane & I saw the movie Notes On A Scandal; it made me sad, but it was a damn good movie. Judi Dench & Cate Blanchett (and Bill Nighy, for that matter) were awesome! We saw the movie in Framingham, and it was so crowded we had to park across the street...it was also DAMN cold, and my lungs were frozen and aching when we finally made it inside. Finally gave Diane her Christmas gift!
Sunday I exchanged Christmas gifts with my friend Mo, and we had breakfast at the Owl Diner...yummy! Was wandering around Target later that day and saw some pretty gift cards. I thought...hmmm...those are SO cute, who can I buy one...for...OMG! Zoot had given me the gift of extending my Pro account at Flickr for Christmas. I was going to purchase a frame from Target for her, but we talked about it and I was going to send her a Target gift card instead of mailing the frame...IN December ... for Christmas ... Zoot, expect some mail REAL soon! I am SO sorry, my brain just isn't functioning!!!
I HATE when someone in this office effing crunches lifesavers...STOPIT! Like fingernails on a chalkboard, it is.
Finally...a pic from last Friday morning...
I love looking at pawprints in freshly fallen snow! These were going across my driveway into the neighbor's yard...it's fun to see what's out there, you know?
This is a shot of the sky tonight...big clouds rolled in, there was a short, fierce rain storm and all gone.
The temp today got to 69 point something...I was driving around with my WINDOW down. It's January 6th...in BOSTON, MA...c'mon now!
I chose a perfect day to rent a storage unit and move all the CRAP off the porch. Tomorrow morning, I'll start on upstairs, then it's off to MB's to see the pups.
Hope your weekend is going well!
I arranged them by month, top left is January, etc.
And seasons greetings to those of you that don't celebrate Christmas :-)
2 weeks old today; one of Greta's puppies :-) Greta is owned...or more correctly, Greta owns my cousin!
I took the pic, Michelle added the hat. Max LOVES to run and he is incredibly fast; he's FLYING in this pic...all 4 feet off the ground! Such a happy dog when he's running :-)
Courtesy of and inspired by Zoot:
I'd've done more but I have to get back to work!
Again, Lisa borrowed this from someone, who borrowed it from someone else, and so on and so on. The rules: "Write the first sentence of the first post of every month in 2006." I decided to change it a bit; instead of the first sentence, I did the first three sentences. I also added my three favorite pictures of each month. Here goes!
January: Welcome to 2006!
Happy New Year! Dad and I ushered in the new year with my cousin, Maribeth, her "hubby" and of course, Shubi, Fritz & Greta! MB made a delicious dinner of boiled lobster, carrot casserole & asparagas with apple crisp for dessert; of course, prior to and afterward we noshed on all sorts of yummy things: artichoke dip, clam dip, and lunch when we first arrived (a platter of liverwurst, tilseter cheese, salami, mozzerella & panchetta, with german bread called bauernbrot, fleishsalat, french onion soup & a platter of devilled eggs--yum!).
February: Wednesday's songs
Charles' 9 great songs from 1993:
Big Head Todd & The Monsters "Bittersweet"
Pearl Jam- "Daughter"
March: My vacation
as told in pictures:
Day 1 - 2/28: Beautiful macaw! Just one of the birds we saw at a bird rescue organization we visited on our bike tour of Key West.
April: Your soul was born in the Shadows...
Your soul was born in the shadows of the moon at night. You're all mystery and enigma and your element is the Moon. No one really knows who you are, but they might think they know you.
May: It's May! Why am I still wearing a coat?
Last Friday, I told you about the water heater. Well, it didn't get fixed Saturday...or Sunday...but hopefully it did get done today! I've been showering at the gym, not fun, but the extra added benefit is I actually am working OUT at the gym as well.
June: T13
Thirteen Things I love about June!
(the list is up early for the US, but it's Thursday SOMEWHERE in the world, right?)1. It's my birthday month; I share a birthday with Cyndi Lauper & Todd Rundgrun, Ed Bradley (60 Minutes), Jai Rodriguez (the cute lil guy from Queer Eye), Mary Lynn Rajskub (10 points to those who know who she is), Steven Page from BNL, Dan Brown (he wrote The Da Vinci Code), and Meryl Streep, to name a few.
July: Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt
Not only do you get an automobile picture, you get kilts & bagpipes as well! Anyone know what kind of car this is? Saw it at the Union College "Re-Union" a couple months ago...
August: Opium and smoke and spice...ooooh my!
Rus, who's a new read of mine, was talking about scents in a recent post; he mentioned Lush and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, which I'd never heard of. I clicked on the link and was happily immersed in reading about all the different scents these people put together!
This one, Les Infortunes de la Vertu, sounds like it would smell so good: A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend of leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense.
September: Stuff Portrait Friday
Random and Odd's 3 items:
1. Show your Support (everyone supports something right?)
2. Show me your sacrifice (everyone makes them right?)
(yeah, totally broke the rules, but I just couldn't choose!)October: a rainy day with Azzy & JR
Today I met Azzy and her beau, JR at Henrietta's Table in Harvard Square, where we decided we weren't hungry enough to spend $40 each on brunch. We headed over to Upstairs at the Pudding, which had an a la carte menu that was fantastic! I had an artisan cheese plate and a fruit plate (with a dirty martini which was quite good), Azzy had huevos rancheros and JR had divine rosemary steak & eggs.
November: What Is It Wednesday #30
Here's last Wednesday's picture:
This is what it was cropped from:
DebR got it correct again this week, "Rooster comb?"
December: Stuff Portrait Friday
Random and Odd's latest challenge:
1. Something that makes you go "hmmmm."
Will it fall or won't it? Hmmm....
I love going places during the holiday season! France at Christmas is gorgeous, as is Italy, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, England. However, in reality, I've only been to France & Japan during the holidays, but I HAVE been to Epcot, where you can visit all those places in a single day!
Deb and Laura SHOULD open a B&B because they were the BEST hostesses ever! They made sure we were happy, fed and having fun every second of every day...even while sleeping, I swear, they filled the house with scents of zepolis and sugarplums!
Here's a sampling of our itinerary:
Saturday: Arrived in Orlando, met Deb & Laura at the airport, and off we went to their lovely timeshare. Dropped off the luggage, got a tour of the place, and then went grocery shopping and had dinner at the clubhouse. Came home, opened presents (they gave us gift certs for massages at the spa!!!), watched a bit of a movie and hit the hay.
Sunday: Breakfast at the Waffle House...grits!...yum! Love that place, none of 'em up here :-( Then off to the Magic Kingdom! We bought a two day pass to the Disney parks and went back and forth between the Magic Kingdom (LOVE saying that) and Epcot. Rode Pirates of the Caribbean (the first animatronic Johnny...er...Captain Jack Sparrow was TOTALLY awesome!), The Haunted Mansion and saw a 3D show featuring Mickey & Donald :-) Then Epcot! And tons of walking and drinking and eating and shopping, capped off by some AWESOME fireworks!
Monday: Used our gift certificates for a wonderful massage, then back to the timeshare for a delicious breakfast cooked by our gracious hostesses! Poor Laura was not feeling well at all, and decided not to go back to the parks with us, and Deb stayed home to take care of her. They were nice enough, though, to drop us off! So back to the Magic Kingdom for another ride on Pirates, and then back to Epcot for more shopping, drinking and eating. Deb & Laura picked us up about 930, and Laura made some zepolis (italian cookie/biscuits thingies, which were delicious).
Tuesday: Total pool day! Had breakfast at the clubhouse, laid out by the pool, took pictures, swam, sunned, read; had lunch at the clubhouse, repeat LOL! Went shopping to a Disney outlet and a regular outlet, then to Macaroni Grill for dinner and Krispy Kreme (Deb & Laura had never had one!) for dessert.
Wednesday: Deb & Laura took us to the airport where we did a bit more shopping (Lush!!!) and wandered off to our gate, only to find our flight was cancelled! Even that worked out well, we caught an earlier, direct flight, and were whisked away home!
And I'm wicked missing it today; it's FREEZING here!
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
Drove to New Haven, CT yesterday to participate in a surprise party for my cousin, Maribeth. It was planned and put together by her sister, Mel, who did an OUTSTANDING job!
Maribeth thought she was going to enjoy a nice turkey dinner with Mel and her family and their parents, and instead, she got a bit of a surprise in the form of her daugther, my Dad and me!
Since lots of us in the family are shutterbugs, tons of pictures were taken! Unfortunately, my camera decided to have a headache, so I'm letting him rest a bit, then I'll try to download the pictures I took (96 LOL). In the meantime, here's one by Mel and one taken with my other camera:
Cousin Mel captured this shot of Dad & her mom, Rosa (they're first cousins), reminiscing over a photo album:
Don't they look happy?
A full moon accompanied us on the long drive home:
Ok, I did absolutely horribly at the RIP Challenge! These were the books I was going to read:
1. Murder Most Scottish, an anthology (I did read a few stories out of it, tho, just not the whole thing!)
2. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (mmmm...Lestat, tho I liked Louis more in the movie)
3. Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories (same as #1, I read a few of the stories)
4. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Frances Hill (this one I couldn't find at the library)
5. Vampires: The Greatest Stories, a compilation of stories. (ditto)I finished only one book on it...and it was a book I'd already read, The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. However, I DID read a fantastic new book called The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which Carl so wonderfully reviewed here. Two books out of five is pretty damn pitiful for someone that ADORES reading.
Carl, can we have a movie challenge next time? ;-)
Don't you wish you could just sail away sometimes?
Because a few of the cool kids are doing it, I signed up for NaBloPoMo, too.
Fussy says: "No matter what you post - pictures, poems, observations, critiques, or bald-faced lies -- the hope is that the act of putting something of yourself out for the world to see every single day will make writing become a more fluid, natural, and integral part of your day.
A personal blog is a mirror, and just for one month you'll be able to capture an image of yourself every day while creating a time capsule of the good, the bad, and that time you pissed off your mom by updating your blob [Fussy said blob hahahah; Freudian slip regarding all the eating going on at Thanksgiving?!] during Thanksgiving dinner.
Plus, think how happy your regular readers will be, knowing they can get a reliable dose of your brilliance thirty days in a row. That means weekends, too, my friend."
So without further ado, here is my first November post:
I put this up on the door to the conference room at work yesterday; the powers that be decided a Halloween Pizza Party and costume contest would be fun; prizes were awarded (gift certs to Starbucks, Borders, etc).
I contemplated dressing up in my vampire wig, goth makeup and all black clothing, but decided to pass on that. My costume: the cool devil horns that I'd purchased in Salem last Sunday.
Unfortunately, not ONE person in any of the other offices in this six floor building dressed up. The Cafe help didn't dress up...the maintenance staff...no one. So it felt a bit odd...not that feeling odd is unknown to me!
The costume winner was a relatively new guy in the office who dressed up as Kip Dynamite (I didn't know who or what he was supposed to be...I just thought he was a sleazy 70s guy...hell, I didn't even recognize him!).
I also have a bit of regret about not going to Salem last night...it's just so cool to see the people that go all out in their costumes, but I did have a great time at Grendel's, so it's all good.
Three of us were evil clowns; one of us had a t-shirt on that said "Can't Sleep, Clowns'll Eat Me". Two of us clowns sat in front of Laurie Cabot's shop in Salem, MA and just stared at passersby...it totally creeped people out!
The Headless Horseman and I wish you all a verrrrrrrrrrry scarrrrrrrrrrry day!
Wolf as a baby...c'mon, you know you want to say awwwwwwww!
I was thinking today how different Max and Wolf are personality-wise, but I guess it gives me the best of both worlds.
Max LOVES to snuggle and cuddle, but he can be grumpy and growly sometimes (not snappish, tho!) and he's almost never needy. There's nothing he loves more than to runrunrun in the woods! He's great off the leash, and I never worry about him running away.
Wolf is perpetually happy, but he can be quite demanding sometimes [Wolfdude, Lost is on, I'm not going to play tug of war with you; here, have a treat and leave me ALONE!]. He's not a snuggly type dog; the one exception is first thing in the morning. When he realizes I'm awake, he waits to be invited onto the bed (usually; if he gets impatient, he'll let out a short, sharp bark, which of course wakes me up), leans his body into mine and gives me lots of kisses (his nickname then is "kissy boy, you're a kissy shiba, yes you are!"). I wish he could be trusted off leash, I'd LOVE to see him run through the fields, but alas...I'm wicked paranoid about him running away. I do use a 20 foot lead on him tho, so he can kind of run :-)
A few more shots from yesterday :-)
Today I'm off to Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH for breakfast; perhaps a walk with the dogs in the woods; and who knows what else.
On a side note, my Tivo is being bad! It's recording what I ask it to, but it won't let me watch the shows, nor can I watch tv! Anyone else have this problem? Grrrrr...and on a long weekend, too! And speaking of technology, does anyone else have two iPods, and if so, how in the HECK do you hook them both up to the computer.
Yeah...I'm technologically challenged!
Today was one of those perfect autumn days...a bit chilly but a beautiful blue sky. Megan, her sister Tara and I went for a ride with no destination in mind, just to see what we could see, and take lots of pictures along the way! I ended up taking about 100, and 62 of them made it to my flickr account. I have three favorites:
Sometimes, the farmer puts the right pumpkin up :-)
I love how the tree looks black...it really makes the leaves stand out all the more
I LOVE the background on this...it looks like a yellow screen!
Thanks for a great day, girls!
and I spent the night with a bunch of chicks giggling about coochy cream and bunnies and The A Lotion LOL! Since none of the pictures I took at the party are in any way un X-rated, I thought I'd post this picture of the moon I took when I got home. Altho...I'm sure Krista will post the picture of Michelle being ridden doggy by a very pregnant woman...just sayin'! HAHAHAH!
I used the 70-200mm f/4 lens on a tripod.
Do you see it? Just there in the black tunnel beneath the old trees? Max did...and he ran his little doggie butt off!
This is what I felt like yesterday and will probably feel like today, tomorrow and so on until [edited for content, i.e., can't talk about you know what here!]
In better news, the batch of Imps I ordered from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab was waiting for me when I got home from work. I tried Laudanum first; it's described as the essence of the most debauched hunger encapsulated into a perfume. Desire beyond love, anguish beyond sanity. Nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy and myrrh. All I know is WOW! I love it! It's smoky and incense-y and it was still going strong at 11 PM last night; I'd put it on about 730 PM.
I also got Les Infortunes de la Vertu (love the descriptions!): A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend - leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense.; two of the Seven Deady Sins, Greed - Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss and Lust - Uncontrollable passion and insatiable sexual desire: red musk, patchouli, ylang ylang and myrrh.
Two of the other ones I'd ordered didn't come in Imps (read the fine print, dummy) and so they sent me Verdandi: Deep herbs and apple with black amber (I can't wait to try this one!) and Calliope: Hers is the scent of creative inspiration, and it is a boon to writers, poets and arbitrators: lavender and bright mint with bergamot, verbena, thyme and a touch of sweet orange and warm almond. I think I should've put some of THAT on before I wrote this post :-) (this one I might give away...any takers? Hmmm...I'm sensing a contest here...any ideas for a contest?)
If I can ever tear myself away from Laudanum, I'll be sure to let you know how those others smell :-)
Laura said: "Sometimes we take our hometowns for granted. For example, right now the leaves are starting to turn up north, and I would LOVE to see that, but I can't get up there. I'd like to see YOUR hometown or neighborhood or other scenic areas at this time of the year."
Here's some pictures for you, Laura! Hope you enjoy :-)
Perfect fall colors!
Not too much color, but love the stormy sky!
Anyone else want to participate, just leave Laura a comment :-)
Oh, man, I have to much to say but it's all work related and we all know I can't talk about work! I'ma exPLODE!
Today I met Azzy and her beau, JR at Henrietta's Table in Harvard Square, where we decided we weren't hungry enough to spend $40 each on brunch. We headed over to Upstairs at the Pudding, which had an a la carte menu that was fantastic! I had an artisan cheese plate and a fruit plate (with a dirty martini which was quite good), Azzy had huevos rancheros and JR had divine rosemary steak & eggs. While eating, we were treated to a few a cappella songs featuring Harvard's best, and suffered through it mostly gracefully;-)
Since it was raining, we didn't walk around afterward, but still and all, we had a great time!
I stopped by Mt. Auburn Cemetary on the way home and took this picture...I'm thinking of featuring a Halloween-type picture each day in October...what say ye?
Today, Monique took me to Lull Farm where we trapised through a beautiful field of sunflowers! Also, an apple orchard and a pumpkin frield! And we saw goats, chickens, cows, sheep & pigs. We had a great time, she even pointed out butterflies for me even though she doesn't much care for them (girl's got a GOOD eye)!
Thanks for a great time, TB :-)
Matt tried to hard to be the one to grab the garter!
Loo helped by drinking his beer...
Then Loo had an idea (you can tell by the light over her head)
Loo said yes!
Confused?
Go here!
Lots and lots of butterflies at the beach, feasting on goldenrod. Glad it's good for something!
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
Here's lookin' at ya!
1. Wolf had his shiba friends over last night, one drink led to another and another and a dozen, and he ended up with the lampshade and a woman's stocking on his head! His friends said they had a good time tho!
2. Wolf got a boo boo on his paw, up inside past the pads of his feet, whether a bug bite, a piece of glass or a sharp rock, who knows. He, like a small child scratches a bug bite, licked and licked and licked until instead of healing, it became red, raw, inflamed & infected. Now he's on a course of antibiotics and a nice gentamicin spray which must go on three times a day, and in typical shiba fashion, he's already learned to run and hide when he sees the bottle.
hmmm...which one is it?
it would've been 25 years ago this evening.
Oh, ME, the war is ON!
Came home from work and Dad says, there's a box for you. I look at the front, see it's from MaryEllen and wonder what could be inside; I can hear it rattle when I shake it. Huh?
It's wrapped in brown paper and taped up pretty good, so I take the scissors to it carefully, which was fortuitous because inside was a picture of Johnny Depp Captain Jack Sparrow! After staring at that piratey goodness for a bit, I pick up the remnants of the brown wrapping paper...and notice the above words, written in tiny hand (click on the picture to see what I mean).
HAHAHA!
Oh, and btw...MaryEllen's Mom lives with her...and I bet her Mom's eyes are better than my Dad's *rubs hands together evilly*
Whenever I see something strange or unusual (like the pictures above and below) I think of Krista. She and I share a very similar sense of humor, or more correctly, a sense of the absurd. I hope you have a fantastic birthday today, and I am so very glad we're friends :-)
Go wish her a happy day, k?
The meal that I mentioned on Friday was just spectacular, and the service...well, let's just say he was divine! Oh, and the dessert, which I hadn't planned for, was far and away the best creme brulee I've ever had:
I'm going to pass on Random and Odd's 3 items this Friday, sorry!
Instead, I'm going to share some pictures I've taken lately, if that's ok with y'all!
First up, a beautiful whale and her calf, courtesy of the artist Robert Wyland. This is painted on a building across from the Ferry Terminal in Portland, ME:
Next, we have a graceful toucan (oxymoron?) balancing a couple pints of Guinness. Smart bird! I'll have one, please!
I took this shot from the hotel room I stayed at up in Portland; what I wouldn't give to be able to curl up in that window, listening to the rain fall and working my way through Carl's challenge! Sigh...
Old and young; coming and going; two cute dogs waiting for the ferry with us:
Maine sunset:
Wedding favor; I thought these were simply beautiful:
The bride & groom, mid-ceremony and smiling:
I am so sorry if I haven't stopped by to see your Friday or Saturday photo challenges, it's been a busy weekend! I do plan on catching up tonight, tho!
I headed up to Portland, Maine Saturday afternoon to meet Mo; she kindly agreed to help me shoot a wedding Sunday afternoon over on Peake's Island.
We hit Portland running, caught our breath while a fierce storm raged outside, then walked down to the piers for dinner, where I had some delicious lobster stew, yum! Afterward, we walked around downtown Portland where we saw a gorgeous transvestite, a cute guitar player and tons o' tourists.
I also saw these cool things called Jibbitz that you can put in the holes in your Crocs to decorate them! Here's what I did with mine:
Doesn't it make you want to get a pair of Crocs?
That evening, back in the hotel, our room had a wall of windows, so we slept with the floor to ceiling curtains open, better to see the stars :-)
Sunday we got up, went to a local legend, Becky's, for breakfast, and then browsed the stores, where I bought a pair of Reef platform flip flops, which, yes, I did wear to the wedding (my dressy black pants were long enough to mostly hide the fact) and a ME sticker for ME's (MaryEllen) new car :-)
Then we caught the ferry over to Peake's Island and got ready for the wedding.
Here are some shots from the island:
Pier on Peake's Island, Maine
Wedding ceremony
Aren't the table decorations gorgeous?
That was my weekend, how was yours?
It doesn't seem like that long ago and at the same time, it does. I remember where I was when I heard about what happened and I remember who told me; doesn't everyone?
Where were you?
I was at work, and a friend sent me an email; he said, "Did you hear a plane crashed into the World Trade Center?" My first thought was some poor person had a heart attack while flying a small plane and crashed, because who could conceive of someone purposefully flying a plane into a building?
Every time I walk outside and see a bright blue sky, with just the right amount of crisp coolness in the airI think of that day. Remember what a beautiful day it started out to be? I think of that day when I see fire engines, planes, skyscrapers, even large flakes of snow slowly falling from the sky.
Yesterday I was in a hotel in Portland, Maine. Got up, turned the tv on and there was Joel Meyerowitz, talking about his memories of 9/11.
I discovered the beautiful photography of Joel Meyerowitz on my honeymoon in Provincetown in 1981. An amazing artist and the things he does with light! He was in New York immediately prior to 9/11/01, taking photographs, ironically, of the World Trade Center. Here are some links that show his work, and talk about September 11th:
This link talks about coping with 9/11:
Continue reading "5 years ago today"A few people asked to see the tattoos I have...here you go!
1. The first one is no more...it was a home made heart on my right forearm, quite small, I did it when I was 14 or 15.
I was in my very early 20s in this pic
2. Next, I was going to tattoo James Montgomery Band on my left instep. I got the J done and stopped cause it hurt like a mother. Remember that!
3. In my early 20s, I decided I wanted to get a Halloween pumpkin on my instep; old school tattoo dude said no, chicks get roses or butterflies. I said um...ok, a rose. Yeah, I was a moron. Plus, it hurt SO bad, he only ended up doing the outline.
4. In my late 30s, when I was getting ready to leave Japan, I decided I wanted a tattoo to commemmorate my time there.
It's on my back, on the left, high up (it looks like the right in the picture cause I took it in the mirror LOL)
5. I also got the rose on my instep colored in around this time...cause time erases pain, right? HOLY MOG did it hurt even more the third time around!
No.more.tats.on.my.instep!!!
6. When I got back to the states, I decided I wanted to cover the small, home made heart on my arm...something small was my original idea. I ended up with this:
I love it, it's beautiful, the cherry blossoms totally remind me of Japan, but it's really VISIBLE, you know? The kanji in this one means "Spring". Also, Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee in the LOTR trilogy) touched this tattoo and said it was pretty. I met him at a book signing at the Boston Museum of Science. I told Zoot I was going and she was all OMG I'M SO IN LOVE WITH SEAN ASTIN YOU HAVE TO GET ME HIS AUTOGRAPH!!! which I, of course, did ;-) Oooh, sorry if I outed you, Zoot!
So once I got that one, I was like...um...the hell with it, the more the merrier!
7. I really began to think about what I wanted after that; when I went to Scotland, I wanted to get a thistle and when I went to Hawaii, I wanted a sea turtle. I ended up getting the sea turtle done, altho not in Hawaii.
Isn't he cute! His name is Percy.
8. The next one I designed myself; I'm totally not happy with the lettering, and because of it, I switched tattooists. The person who did the cherry blossoms & sea turtle did the lettering & the half moon & star inside, my new guy did the mist & the rest of the stars.
Mischief Managed is a phrase from the 3rd Harry Potter book, The Prisoner of Azkaban. It's what was said to close the secret map of Hogwarts when the user was done looking at it. To open the map, you tapped it with your wand and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." I considered that, but it was too long ;-)
9. Next up is this one:
It's a phoenix, and I'm not sure I'll have it done in this color or in flame colors. It's going to cost about $260, so I'm waiting for a bit...plus it'll be the biggest one I'll have, and it's going to be on my upper left arm. I'll keep you posted :-)
Show me yours?
While walking through a cemetary in Lowell yesterday, I came across this unique monument:
I'd love to have such a monument when I pass...with the book being The Hobbit, and the dogs on the arms Max & Wolf. Just beautiful!
These are some of the things I saw...hope you enjoy!
Row 1: Sunset at Waukewan Lake, train tracks, red & yellow flower, another view of the sunset
Row 2: a ripening peach, Fritz, heart shaped raspberry in champagne flute, muscle
Row 3: sign at library, Zep book, fairy house, a girl and her dog
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
Ghostly view of the Cheasepeake Bay Bridge
According to someone who sounds like he knows what he's talking about, this is the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge, more popularly known as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It is near Annapolis and connects the Baltimore/Washington, DC metro area to Maryland's eastern shore via routes US 50 / US 301. I took the shot from a plane, flying from Manchester, NH to Baltimore, MD, so he's probably right!
Friday: Met up with Megan an hour and 20 minutes after I said I'd meet her, thanks Eileen, hope YOU had fun at the mall while I was being effing yelled at. Oh, well, whatever, such is life. Megan and I hit Wellington Station (where Megan saw a bumper sticker that said Real Men Love Jesus, but when she said it out loud, I thought she said Real Men Love Cheeses ROFLMAO!) to take the T in town...but there was something going on up the tracks, so we waited there quite awhile. Finally got in and ended up near a bunch of sketchy folks (weird loud lady, Capt. Ahab & beyond goth boy); wish I'd had my camera (or not LOL). We got to the North End, finally, and wandered about, it was absolutely gorgeous out! Walked past Assiago, where Meg needed to pick up her sweater she'd forgotten when she'd had dinner there last week, and decided to kill two birds with one stone (pick up the sweater and see if they could seat us for dinner). They had one table left! Dinner was great, and afterward we stopped at Mike's Pastry for a box full of cookies and nother of canolis and had coffee at a typical little Italian cafe. It was 11 by the time we got back on the T and headed home LOL! [sorry no pics, the battery in my camera died!]
Saturday: Got up, puttered around, took pictures, drove to work to get my camera, stopped at Dunkin's, had lunch, watched some tivo'd shows. Met Michelle at Grendel's and had a great time talking, then we strolled the square, bought some books...and took some pictures LOL!
candy and holy water 
Sunday: Woke up from a sound sleep due to a SPLITTING headache. Wolf was disappointed HE wasn't the one to wake me up, as he normally does. Went out to breakfast with Dad, and when we got back I tried to sleep for a bit, but no luck, so decided to go to the movies with Megan, Jim & Tara. We saw Little Miss Sunshine, and it was fantastic! Go see this movie!!! The Air Force general I worked for in Japan was in the movie, for a brief second...that was kinda cool :-) We had pizza for lunch, ME would've loved it, wicked thin crust. After they dropped me off I went shopping and made dinner for Dad, edited more pictures, enjoyed a brief thunder storm and finally went to bed.
friends and pizza 
How was your weekend?
Dear Maribeth,
Today for lunch I had the delicious 
you made on a 
, with some of the equally delicious 
you also made on the side. I had some 
to drink and for dessert, a 
from Mikey's Bakery in the North End, which you didn't make, but I thought I'd taunt you with :-)
Thank you for sending me some of you delicious mustard pickle and moonglow pickles, they are incredible!!!
xoxoxo,
Janet
One of my co-workers, Lisa, noticed an article in a local paper about a photography studio that was voted best in that particular town; it included a picture. She looked at it and thought that some pictures I'd taken recently of my friend's (Betsy) kids which I'd shown her were much better.
She point blank asked me why I don't just start a photography business, why don't I actively search out positions, sell myself, etc., etc.
That's a good question!
Let's examine the pros & cons:
Pros
I'd love my job
There'd be less stress at work
I'd enjoy what I'm doing
I wouldn't have to deal with some unpleasant folks at my present job anymore
Cons
- the expense
-- renting a place, advertising, set up, insurance
- I seriously don't think I'm good enough
-- should take classes (again, the expense)
- need a zoom lens
- I get along great with kids & animals, but adults, not so good sometimes!
- I have a VERY hard time promoting myself
- I'm not very organized
Hmmm...
***UPDATED***
Can you see the lady's face in the water? My cousin, Mel, pointed it out to me!
In addition to my adventure in CT this weekend, I also did some yard work with Dad, we trimmed and cleaned and raked and beautified--it looks so good! It's frustrating to him that he can't do what he used to and he pushes himself. The result, as you can imagine, is he gets overheated or overtired, which isn't a good thing in the elderly. Plus he forgets to eat and so gets the low blood sugar, shaky thing.
Our mower kicked the bucket recently, so my brother brought his over and mowed the lawn for us earlier in the week, which is what inspired us to clean up the rest. Bro did a great job!
Took the dogs for a verrrrrrrrrrrry long walk in the woods yesterday (it's where I took the shot of the pond, above); Wolf was so tired from the walk that when he was done beginng for a bite of Dad's dinner (chicken cacciatore with mushrooms, and caribbean rice) he let me know he wanted to go upstairs and he passed OUT! He didn't even move when I came upstairs, usually he'll come see me (more to see if I have anything to eat with me, I suspect!). And he didn't wake me up at 6 am either. I can see wicked long walks are in his future!
Hi, my name is Greta and I'm a feet-o-holic!
Greta is my cousin's pride and joy, and man is she a trip! She walks just in front of your feet, and then flops down ... while you're still walking! OMG I'm so afraid I'm going to hurt her! And then I yell at her and her little dackel feelings get hurt and I feel bad. But...at least I didn't squish her!
Went to see Leon Russell with Pat Friday night. Don't know who he is? Unless you're my age, you probably haven't heard of him. He was good though, it was a nice night to sit outside and listen to music.
Drove up to Burlington, VT on Saturday...about a 4 hour drive...to see Mo's new house and to see Betsy & the girls, who were visiting Mo as well. What's the first thing I saw when I was pulling into a parking space in downtown Burlington? A shiba inu! Where was the shiba inu from? West Newton, MA LOL (close to where I live, relatively speaking)!
Burlington is gorgeous, I'll be going back soon, and not just to get some McKenzie maple sausages, no matter WHAT Mo thinks :-) God, they're good!!!
Saw signs on Rt. 89 up in VT...Moose crossing...deer crossing...BEAR crossing??! My mind would be boggled if I saw a bear on the highway! Bear? Mo says she's seen a couple crossing her path while driving. Bear? Sheesh!
My favorite picture from the weekend:
How was your weekend?
I neglected to answer commenter Raggedy's question today; I didn't notice til she brought it to my attention...she asked the question here, instead of here. Anywhere her question is: What do you like about writing?
Writing in my blog is relaxing to me, never stressful, nor do I have a hard time coming up with things to talk about or list in the Thursday 13. Life has so many little things going on in it at any given time, I just need to open my eyes and look around! I don't think writing is a strength of mine, though. Photography, maybe :-)
Writing notes, cards, letters, etc., is something I usually love to do, given the correct pen. After my Mom passed away last December, I had a photo of mine made into thank you cards, bought a quill pen and some ink to write the cards with. Despite that, I have yet to sent out most of the cards. I did 10...then kind of just ... let it be. It was hard to write about it over and over, and so...if you haven't received a thank you card, know that you will, and know that it's just hard for me.
Hope that answered your question, Raggedy!
On another topic, yesterday at work I went downstairs to the vending machine and saw Clamato Tortilla Chips in there!
Now, I will try just about anything once! And this combination sounded intriguing to me :-)
They were actually pretty good! But that red coloring...wasn't that banned??? LOL!
Last night I went to see Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders up in Hampton Beach. MAN! She still rocks, and she fulfilled my fondest wishes by playing my two favorite Pretenders songs: "Precious" and "Tattooed Love Boys". Who wouldn't love a song with a name like that! It wasn't even too hot up there, apparently a storm front had passed through and cooled things off considerably, which is good because where they were playing isn't air conditioned LOL!
I ran into someone I hadn't seen since high school at the concert. It's surprising to me I recognized her at all because I wasn't close to her, but if I remember correctly, she dated someone I had dated and maybe that's why I remembered her. We spoke briefly and she recognized me, too. Small world :-)
Finally, this news item amused me no end:
J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving each recently read excerpts from one of their books in two performances at Radio City Music Hall in NYC; the evenings benefitted Doctors Without Borders and The Haven Foundation.
The author Salman Rushdie attended one of the performances and apparently asked JK Rowling something to the effect of whether Snape was good or bad; he asserted that Snape was intrinsically good. Of course, she didn't directly answer the question, but said something like "your opinion is correct." She also supposedly said to him: "I don't feel this is quite fair. You're better at figuring out plots than most."
That probably got a good laugh!
Friday night: Had the good fortune to watch one crazy storm! Pat and I went out after work for dinner and drinks, and as we were leaving the restaurant, the storm started. Niether of us thought it was going to be as bad as it was! We'd driven over to Target, and had to sit in the car for a good 10 minutes, waiting for the torrential rain and fierce thunder & lightning to stop. Poor Pat! She's like my grandmother and my dogs...not liking the storms so much! I, of course, was taking pictures :-) Didn't get a lightning shot, tho, dammit!
(click on the pictures to get a better view)
Saturday: Dad and I went up to Parker's Maple Barn in Mason NH for breakfast, then we drove around the back roads, just enjoying the scenery. We stopped at Pickity Place, also in Mason and I took some pictures:
Pickity Place serves 5-course gourmet luncheons, 3 seatings a day, reservations required and has an herb garden, flower garden and gift shop; it's also where Elizabeth Orton Jones illustrated her retelling of Little Red Riding Hood story.
I had gotten some new sheets (pink & green!) Friday night at Target; Wolf broke them in for me:
Michelle called that night about 8 and spontaneously asked if I wanted to go to the movies with her. I adore spontaneity, and said hell yes! We saw Lady in the Water; once again, critics be damned! I really liked this movie, and funnily enough...I don't care much for the director, M. Night Shyamalan's OTHER movies, Sixth Sense especially. I've heard a rumor he may be tapped to direct the 6th Harry Potter movie, The Half-Blood Prince...hmmm...
We saw some previews for three other movies that look awesome: The Pursuit of Happiness, featuring Will Smith; Children of Men directed by Alfonso Cuarón (he also directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and starring Julianne Moore & Clive Owen; and World Trade Center, featuring Nicolas Cage.
Sunday: Met Michelle at the Boston Museum of Science today to see Body Worlds 2. It's an exhibit of human bodies and organs that have been preserved by a process called Plastination. Fascinating exhibition, but a bit disturbing at the same time. We also saw a movie at the Omni Theater called The Human Body. Finally, I checked out the Butterfly Garden and got a couple nice shots:
(the one on the left was HUGE!, the size of a sparrow!)
How was YOUR weekend?
You'd think I only have one dog, a shiba inu named Wolf. Everyone complains that I never talk about Max...so here he is!
Isn't he adorable?
Here's some shots of his cute feet:
someone needs a nail clipping!
When I went to Q, my hairdresser last Friday, I told her I wanted exactly what she did last time, which was a blondish color, close to my real shade.
The shot doesn't do it justice...it's more maroon with blond streaks, actually! Not a color that naturally occurs, I'm thinking!
"Hi, my name is Kristaloofly and I would like Krista to come flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy with meeeeeeeeeee" (say it in a high, screechy bug voice, you KNOW you want to!)
Saw this turkey vulture in Billerica; he was enjoying some road kill when I first noticed him. Minutes before, on a side road, I'd driven past mama & daddy turkey out for a stroll with their 9 children, and thought it was a turkey with a dead chick...but no.
In all my years living here, I've NEVER seen a vulture. Anyone else seen one in the wild?
TONS of thunder, big huge BOOMS, hail, rain, it comes & goes and comes & goes. WICKED storm!
Let me take you one a tour:
1. The elf cherry tomatoes; 2. flowers on a plum tomato plant
3. flowers on a jalapeno; 4. a jalapeno
5. plum tomato; 6. mint
7. strawberry; 8. the herb garden
I love impromptu things! Today I was supposed to go see the movie "A Scanner Darkly"; instead, I ended up in Newburyport with Krista and my camera.
Here's a bit of what we did/saw:
1. spicy calimari with a sweet mustard sauce, to DIE for!; 2. extra dirty martini
3. reve du chocolat; 4. Krista enjoying reve du chocolat
5. sparkly things in a window design; 6. sign inside a cedar chest (it says moth insurance policy)
7. a ring Krista tried on in an estate shop; 8. a sea turtle kite
One of the best chocolate things ever!!! It's a dessert at a restaurant called The Black Cow in Newburyport, MA. While I'm not that much of a sweets lover (I prefer savory things), this is melt in your mouth goodness!
I blogged a bit about Sunday already, so on to today!
Spent the day at my cousin's house, and had a ball! Yummy food, delicious drink, great conversation. Just about the perfect 4th of July :-)
How was yours?
TNChick is having a contest, #4, altho it's the first one I've entered. She says:
Take pictures of the items listed below:
* Your National Flag - (where ever you are or are from)
* Fire Engine(s) - Must be a real engine, not a toy
* Something red, white AND blue in ONE photo.
* Fireworks (firework store, in air, sparklers, anything fireworks)
OR
* BBQing (food on the grill)
Upload the photos on your blog with a post titled "July Contest Entry" and link the post in her comments. Easy!
1. My National Flag:
Our old next door neighbor hung this flag from his tree after 9/11/01. I love the way it seems to glow.
2. Fire engine:
Taken in Norfolk, VA at the hotel I stayed in...someone burnt a piece of toast or something at 730 AM LOL! The engine is from VA Beach.
3. Something red, white AND blue:
Taken on a weekend trip to NYC last October. I like to call this photo "Doom" LOL!
4. Fireworks:
Fireworks at this year's Norfolk, VA Harborfest
More birthday goodness in the mail yesterday! The above is from my friend MaryEllen (the photo on the bottom is the card she sent LOL)...hmmm...who to use the Office Voodoo Kit on? Hmmm...
She made the bag herself, out of silky ribbon yarn by Lionbrand!
There was also a package from Lush, which contained Flying Fox shower gel, Flying Fox balm and two slivers of 17 Cherry Lane soap...but no note as to who it was from! After asking around, I found out it was from Heather! Thank you so much, and boy, do I smell GOOD today, all jasmine-y and honey, sweet!
Michelle knew I was feeling down, and sent this beautiful bouquet of gerbera daisies to me at work to cheer me up! She's a good friend who goes out of her way to make me smile. Thanks Smooch!
There were some beautiful clouds in the sky yesterday...took this one out the window at work:
Another comparision:
Lens: EFS 17-85mm f/4-5.6
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 53 mm
ISO Speed: 160
Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Which one do you prefer and why?
I have to use a shedding blade on him, a regular brush just won't work! Poor guy is so itchy and hot with all that hair, he LOVES when it all comes off!
taken with the EFS 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 400
taken with the 50mm f1.8 lens
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 320
Which do you like better, and why?
On the way back from picking Pat & family up at the airport, I saw this little girl (recent mom?) grabbing some breakfast:
She wasn't bothered by me in the least, I think she was really hungry!
I don't have a window in my office, by a coworker/friend buzzed me on the intercom and said, "I think the end of the world is approaching." This picture doesn't show it well, but oooh boy did it get dark, and it was only about 4:30 pm.
Every year, I anticipate the first birthday card, the first Christmas card, etc., I'm just weird like that. This year, the first birthday card AND present were from transvestite bait Monique: The card was sassy, like it's giver, and the present, a magnet, made me drool:
The icing on the cake...from yesterday at work. We celebrated three birthdays in the month of June; the president of the company, the controller and me. I call it the holy trinity ;-)
Took a ride up to Hampton Beach last night to photograph the sand sculptures there. Found it was fenced off, so I couldn't get close enough to get a good shot. Oh, well, I'll just have to go back :-)
And I have to share with you screen caps from the ecard Deb & Laura sent me:
Cracked me up, it did!
A few folks saw fit to mention me on their blogs today:
Looking forward to dinner (and a martini, perhaps) tonight, and who know what else! Life is good :)
I'm pet sitting for my friend Pat, while she's off sunning herself in the Bahamas or Bermuda or somewhere tropical. These are the pets:
Clarabelle, who loves any type of footwear
NotSkinny
Skinny
LC, who is a bit shy
BC, who struts around in all her glory!
Bunny, who misses Pat the most, I think. I petted Bunny for awhile yesterday and he/she closed her/his eyes and was all blissed out :-)
Here are some things that caught my eye in the back yard:
I love this chair!
Don't know what they are, but they're pretty!
old Jack Daniels barrel
Big old mushroom attached to a tree stump
You know how I hate spiders? This type doesn't bother me, and I'm not sure why. I read somewhere they're the most poisonous of all spiders but that their fangs are too small to pierce human skin. Lucky us!
When I jokingly said that there were lobsters in the lake attacking the dogs, I figured y'all would know I was kidding. Northeast humor at it's best. Staged photographs. That sort of thing.
Northeast lobsters aren't red until they're cooked. They don't live in fresh water, but in salt water, i.e., the ocean. Click on this link to see what a live lobster looks like.
This red one, in my hand, held far over Wolf's head...is dead...and half eaten ;-)
That is all!
It was hot, no lie!
There was a cool wind off the lake, so that helped alot. This was taken on Sunday, 6/18/06, at 5:30 PM.
Max & Wolf kept cool by wading around in the lake; Wolf would then come out and roll roll roll in the sand, dig a hole then stick his face in it. He was COVERED in sand; I couldn't even take a picture I was laughing so hard! He did this at least 5 times.
Then they were attacked by a lobster in the lake!
then they chased a butterfly:
and finally, they took a nap:
Dad and Max
Today we're heading to my brother's house; I'm going to read my book on the beach while Dad and Bro watch a movie on the new big screen.
Happy Father's Day to everyone who's a Dad in any way, shape or form :-)
Took Dad & Max to Castle Island today and while I was there, of course I took a bunch of pictures! This one is my favorite :-)
I just loved the colors in this one (also from the Norfolk Harborfest).
I felt overwhelmingly sad today and I apologize to the one that had to hear most of it...you know wholoo you are. I'm not one to complain usually, guess it was just one of those days. Still not feeling much better, either. If I hadn't just got back from a vacation, I'd think it's a vacation I need, but that's not it. If I stopped and thought about it and whatnot, I'd say I'm feeling a sense of aloneness (is that a word?), essentially self imposed. Usually I like being alone, in fact, I crave it...but this is a different kind of alone...it's a separation, a standing apart.
I read blogs about people and their families and their significant others ... and I want that for me, altho I know it'll not happen. Had my chance, more than once and passed it on by. Or...maybe it didn't work out cause I'm basically unloveable, I'm not pretty enough for someone to love. Who knows?
Please don't think I'm looking for attention by writing this post...if you knew me at all, you'd know that's not the case. I'm just talking about how I feel because I thought maybe by talking about it, I'd get it out of my system.
Maybe a nice vodka tonic would help. It'd sure go a long ways toward forgetting about the spider I found on me tonight while I was walking Wolf. EEK!
My favorite picture from last weekend:
Speaking of enjoying life, I was running a bit late for work today (sssshhhh, don't tell anyone) and decided I'd better call in. Called the main line, it rang and rang and I was like...dang, answer the phone! No one did (first clue: voice mail didn't pick up, but I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet, so I was oblivious). I hung up and dialed the accountant's line, same thing. So I figured we had an early morning fire drill and thought...cool, no one will know I'm late! I called a friend at work on her cell, just to see what was going on and she said the building had lost electricity...something about the new transformer blowing a fuse or something and that it should be back on in an hour or so. Oh joy, I thought, now, even though I'm like 1/2 late, I can stop at Dunkin Donuts and get an iced coffee.
Well, to make a long story short, after we (the employees) sat around chit chatting for a couple hours in the reception area, the building maintenance owners told us they were shutting the building down for the day. The VP of our company said he'd make a case to the President to allow us to put our hours on overhead this time, vs taking a personal day for something that was beyond our control, as was the case the last time the building lost electricity (via a blown transformer).
So I headed to Barnes and Noble and picked up a couple new books; one by Christopher Moore, called A Dirty Job, which is basically a story about death and about how the protagonist must "gather up souls before the Forces of Darkness get to them". The other book is by Bill Buford, and it's called Heat : An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany. It's basically about how this guy, Buford, becomes a slave, etc., to two chefs, Mario Batali (you probably recognize the name from FoodTV) and Marco Pierre White.
Then I grabbed some lunch and a green tea latte, came home, got Max & took him for a walk, which was cut a bit short due to a line of thunderstorms that rolled in. While on the walk, I stopped to take some pictures of Max frolicking in a swollen stream. I felt something on my leg, looked down and saw, to my horror, a GAZILLION mosquitos feeding on me. YUCK! I brushed and swatted, and continued walking. As long as I was moving, I was fine...but if I dared to stop, it was feeding frenzy. Note to self: remember insect repellent next time.
This is a shot I took at the Norfolk Harborfest, I love the color of it!
From the plane:
Ghostly view of Cheasepeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
from VA Beach:
smoking butts ;-)
big conch
fallen angel
King Neptune
I had a little too much sun...
ME's new boyfriend; note the loving gaze
Harpoon Larry's - hated it! (at least ME did...I was cozily content with a Yuengling & some spiced steamed shrimp)
From Norfolk:
Norfolk Harborfest fireworks
Took this shot on 6/5/06, just before it got full dark...was going for a shot of an unopened one, a really pretty bud...but this is what I got:
Know why? Damn bee scared me!
Forecast for MA:
Forecast for VA:
I'm crossing my fingers that I get to see a good storm in VA...preferably out over the ocean. I'm beginning to look forward, just a little, to walking along the boardwalk. After all, the last time I walked the boardwalk, every wish I made came true. Maybe it's time to make some new memories, you know?
-------------------
For those of you Thursday Thirteeners using blogspot, I'm not ignoring you! Blogspot is just not letting me either view your blog, or if I CAN view it, I can't fricking comment! I'll try again later :-)
I backed out of my driveway this morning, no easy task some mornings, and headed to work. Just down the street and around a slight corner, I saw a car in the middle of the road, stopped. I was about to swear and honk when I noticed three turkeys (bird, not human) crossing the road.
(Not one of the actual turkeys I saw this morning, but still, a turkey I saw wandering down a side street)
These wild turkeys roam our neighborhood, and maybe it's good if they cause traffic to slow down. People love to speed up and down this road; awhile back a car actually flipped over just across the street.
I noticed this sign today at the top of my road when I was out walking Wolf:
I'd seen these other signs before:
and while Home Depot might bring more revenue to my town, it'll also take away business from the local hardware store and generate tons more traffic.
No thanks!
Got an email today from my friend, Sky; she lives in Deerfield, NH and sent me a couple pictures of her recent visitor:
I don't think I'll be hanging around her backyard anytime soon! Sorry Sky!
Sky adds: "We just got home from dinner and checked around the yard with a flashlight, and he must have come back because all of the bird feeders are GONE now! EEK!"
Think he has enough toys? I didn't arrange this, either LOL!
Speaking of pictures, I took this screen cap of some spam in my email:
If you can't read what it says, click on the picture :-)
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
When I was driving Friday afternoon, I saw these clouds in the distance (pictures were taken with my camera phone):
Drove a couple more miles down the highway and the sky looked like this:
and a couple more miles and it looked like this:
very weird weather!
Wolf does NOT like the camera!
I had Wolf outside on the line last night, and went to check on him. I saw him staring intently at something on the ground and reaching toward it with his paw; when I got closer I saw this:
(click on the picture to see the rest of the set over in flickr)
Wolf is fascinated with bumblebees--he must've snuck up on this one and caught it somehow without it stinging him...cause if it had stung him, all y'all would've probably heard the dreaded shiba scream!
I took Wolf for a walk when I got home Sunday; it had stopped raining and the sky was blue. Not 5 minutes after I got home, I happened to look out the window...and this was what the sky looked like over the house across the street.
Good timing, eh?
May 22, 2006 / HAMPTON FALLS, N.H. --Two men from Maine were driving north on Interstate 95 around 7 p.m. Sunday when they saw what appeared to be a funnel cloud coming toward them. The men stopped their vehicle and got out to watch. They told police that when the cloud moved closer, they got back in their vehicle, but a strong gust overturned it and threw it about 50 feet.
Weird, weird weather...we don't normally get tornados here...
Here's last Wednesday's solution:
I mercifully spared you a large picture...but everyone who guessed pig or snout or pig nose was correct! Pat yourselves on the back, now, k?
Here's today's:
What is it?
There were quite a few people there taking pictures, one nice guy told me about the trapped fish across the street:
On my way to check out another place for pictures, I saw this guy:
Purty, ain't he!
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
This is my friend, smoochdog. We were celebrating friendship, laughter, and finding the perfect dessert martini (a Karmel Sutra)!
Found at Random And Odd and it sounds like fun!
The challenge this week is to post pictures of 1) something you have 2 of; 2) something you wish you had 2 more of; and 3) “Two”.
Here goes:
Something you have two of:
Wolf and Max
Something you wish you had 2 more of:
Two more ham & cheese crepes from my favorite creperie in Paris would be nice!
"Two":
In honor of Mother's Day: mother and child.
I noticed these when I was leaving work yesterday; they're planted inside the building. I always thought calla lillies were white, so they really caught my eye!
The highlights
- ice cold Yuengling!
- Seeing Betsy, Griff & the kids and Kim (see where they rank? right after the beer!!!)
- Walking around Highland Park with Betsy, enjoying the scent of the lilacs (the park looked remarkably like our Arnold Arboretum; and in fact was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who technically only advised Charles Sargent Sprague with the Arboretum's design, but still, you could see similarities)
- the bus ride to Toronto (the Tour Director asked if there was anyone on the bus who knew the LOTR story well enough to explain it...HAHAHA! Betsy and I ended up going up front and giving a synopsis and took a few questions. No, I didn't show off the ring and hopefully, none of them noticed us getting into my car after we got back...the GOLLUM license plate would've been a bit embarrassing!)
- yummy chopped liver sandwich with chopped eggs & onions at a deli in Toronto!
- playing with the girls
- watching late night tv with Kim (she has the BEST laugh!) and enjoying a couple ice cold Yuenglings with hothot wasabi peas
- Popeye's chicken!
- Getting a case of Yuengling from Betsy in return for taking pictures of her girls
The lowlights
- Mo forgetting about the plans and having to cancel cause she was dog sitting :-(
- giving Kim the "read between the lines" gesture in front of the assistant pastor on the bus (the bus trip to see the play was arranged by the church Betsy attends...or used to attend LOL! Betsy thinks the assistant pastor didn't understand the gesture, one can only hope! I don't need any more black marks, thank you very much)
- having to listen to Honky Tonk Badonk (or some such weird title) on Kim's iPod...my ears are still bleeding!
- the price of gas! It was $3.07 at one place, the most I've ever paid for gas in my life (not counting Japan)
- Kim: "Snape? You think SNAPE is HOT??? You're joking, right?" No, Kim, I'm DEADLY serious ;-) (Betsy: "Who's Snape?" I see I'm going to have to expose her to all things HP, just as I did with all things LOTR. I see another addiction in the making.)
The weekend was built around about going to see the play, The Lord of the Rings, at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto on Saturday.
What a production! The stage design was spectacular; unfortunately no pictures were allowed and I didn't want to attempt it, lest my camera get confiscated. There were branches extending out from the stage all the way to the top balcony and before the play began, various "hobbits" were trying to catch "fireflies" that flitted here and there among the branches. The hobbits came down into the audience, climbing over vacant seats and the like...it ws funny! The costumes were fantastic, too, except for the orcs...not going into THAT!
Bearing in mind the length of the trilogy, and the fact that there were 3 movies made, at about 4 hours each (the extended version), creating a 3 hour play was not an easy thing. All in all, they did a great job. Eomer was cut, as was Faramir & Grima Wormtongue. All the hobbits were there, and Gollum (who got a standing ovation and most definitely deserved it), Gandalf (didn't care for the actor's portrayal at all, much too soft spoken and he spoke too fast, so he was very hard to understand), Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli (the lone American actor; had a great Scottish accent!), Elrond, Arwyn, Eowyn, Theoden, Sauruman, Sauron, the orcs, the Ents (including Treebeard and to hear him speak Entish was hysterical!) and the nazgul (on horseback!).
The songs weren't nearly as good as the score composed for the movies by Howard Shore, but again, they did a decently job with what they had.
For a dedicated LOTR fan, it was well worth the trip! Combined with the chance to take some photographs at Highland Park, seeing Betsy & Kim, playing with the girls and Yuengling!, it was a fantastic weekend.
little pink tree
pansy butterfly
one of these is not like the other!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
The weekend was great, even all the driving! The play was incredible and I'll talk more about it tomorrow; right now I'm going to play with Wolfie!
Here's some pictures to tide you over:
view from the bus on the way to Toronto
You know you're in Canada, or close to it, when you see Tim Horton's!
the tickets!!!
The sign outside the theater
More tomorrow!
("He" is a she; her name is Annabelle and she was reunited with her owner!)
This huge guy came running up to me this morning, or more accurately, came running up to Wolf while I was walking him. He was in the middle of the road when I saw him, and trailing a 20 ft leather lead. What could I do? I grabbed the lead, brought him to my house and tied him to a tree in the backyard. He had no license, so I called the dog officer and left a message there. Hopefully someone will claim him! He's a wicked sweet dog, knows sit and down. He's very skinny tho, and VERY big!
Canon 50mm 1.8 EF
Wolf, trying to sleep
Max, doing the same
Holy jeez! What do you think? Wolf's a little dark, granted, but the sharpness! Look at his whiskers LOL! I LIKE it!
Until recently, the top five most popular photos on my flickr account were:
1. shiba toes, 141 views (Wolf's feet)
2. je11, 111 views (Jules & her baby)
3. Awwww!, 103 views (a shiba puppy)
4. je15, 98 views (Jules & her baby, another view)
5. weeds, 95 views (a blurry picture of weeds that I was going to delete and which everyone else seems to really like)
That was until the Zombie March!
Here are the new top five:
Don't you wish you lived in a castle by the ocean
and had a car like this in your driveway?
MaryEllen: Riddle me this...what looks like Max, but with long hair and a va-gina?
me: Ummm...er...did you say va-gina?
MaryEllen: Yes, get over it! Do you want to guess or should I just tell you?
me: Um...I have NO idea, so you'd better tell me!
MaryEllen: I got a new dog! She's 9 months old and her name is Chloe!
Isn't she adorable!!!
Krista and I headed to Davis Square in Somerville tonight to watch the Zombie March:
zombie pirate
hitchhiking zombie
A zombie family! Aren't they adorable?
Lots more pictures over on Flickr :-)
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
Here is this week's photo...
What is it? (click on the picture to see a bigger, better view)
|
|
|
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
I took this photo for my friend Smoochdog; here is what she said when she saw it:
"OH Wolf I never knew you had an Italian Grandmother! I love the shawl!"
He loves his ice cream!
Last week was the inauguration of What is it Wednesday. Here is this week's photo...
What is it?
Friday: Met Michelle after work, she had a pitcher of sangria waiting for me at the bar, and NotNed was nice enough to pour me a glass when I walked in. Had Greek pasta (which Erin and I had talked about recently, perhaps it was even Friday) for dinner, yum! We walked over to the Coop, so I could look at photography and photoshop books, but was distracted and overjoyed to find a new book by Julia Child, called My Life in France, which was co-written with her grandnephew. He sat with her, listening to her recollections and stories, reading family letters and going through many photos. This book is the culmination of that, and it is spectacular! If you liked Julia in the least, are interested in France, cooking, photography or love, this book can't be beat. I want to savor it slowly, rather than dash through it, to make it last. One last visit with Julia...sigh...
We then went to see Transamerica, which I liked very much.
Saturday: Got up at the @#$-crack of dawn to meet Pat, her husband & mom and head to Foxwoods...which turned into a trip to Mohegan Sun! I'd never been to Foxwoods, but had been to Moghegan Sun last June to NOT see Robert Plant, altho the discovery of an excellent XXX dirty martini at Tuscany helped to dull the pain.
Anyway, with the coaching of MaryEllen, I quickly won back, at 21, all the money I'd lost at slots plus $40. Yippee! I'm sure I looked like an idiot, not doing things right, not cashing out correctly, but it was fun nonetheless. I bought Pat & Jim a drink with my winnings to thank them for taking me down there, went and pried her Mom off the slots and headed home. It was much fun!
Sunday: Colored eggs, made a coconut cake, and cooked dinner (pork roast, baked potato, green beans) for my Dad and brother. My brother and I walked, with Wolf, down to the cemetary to see where we wanted to put Mom's headstone and agreed on a place.
Took these pictures today, too:
click on each one to see the larger view...it looks much better!
How was your weekend?
Washi eggs made with beautiful Japanese paper and some paste...it's a traditional craft for the Spring. Here are some washi eggs that were made for me by my the wife of the AF General I worked for when I lived at Yokota AB:
I always include these in my Easter decorations, they're so pretty!
Here's the answer to Wednesday's What Is It? I totally thought it was a bluejay, but after seeing these photos, I realized it was a mourning dove...which makes more sense, as I often see a pair in my yard, and I don't ever remember seeing a bluejay!
I mentioned recently I'd bring the Harry Potter Cockroach Clusters to work and "...get one of the girls who always amuses me by trying the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans to eat one..." and that I'd try to photograph it. Well, here you go!
Click to see better, if you want...and be thankful I didn't take a picture of her spitting the stuff out! She said it was way gross, crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Then she had a couple Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans to take the taste out of her mouth ;-)
lizabetty put the idea in my head, so thanks to her, I'll feature a picture each Wednesday, and you'll guess..What is it (or more accurately for this week, what was I seeing when I took the photo?)
What is it?
Be specific ;-)
to take the memory of the bug picture out of your brain and to commemorate the fact it's actually kind of WARM here today, I give you red flowers
Here I am, posing on a tree...but this other dog kept following me...
See! Here it is again...and still ahead of me...grrrr
Phew! Gave it the slip! Pesky thing!
Daffodils and tulips and forsythia, oh my!
And those things are finally starting to bloom around here, too!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
What do you see when you look at this?
lovely, no?
NO!!!
Sorry for the crappy quality...the pictures are from my cell phone.
There's something so sad about seeing such an old home destroyed by fire...
When these little flowers begin to show up in the yard, I know the forsythia isn't far behind!
God, I'm so gonna have a hangover tomorrow:
technically this is pre-Ned feeding us drinks:
and the following are all post drinsk:
Some drunk guy
And that's all I got to say about that!
I sold my very first picture today:
8x10, white mat, black frame
Recently, I donated these two in a double frame to a charity auction in NC and it went for $60:
or maybe it was this one:
Yesterday, I donated three pictures to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Jimmy Fund fundraiser a friend from work is involved in:
This one in a 4x6 white mat, black frame
This one in a 5x7 white mat, black frame
This one in an 8x10 white mat, black frame
And I'm thinking that someone saw this one:
at the coffee shop where I have some pictures hanging, because I got an email today from a representative of a company that offers resource guides to pregnant women. She asked me if I had an interest in advertising my company in their guide which will be available in high end OB/GYN offices in and around Boston and the surrounding suburbs and will also be placed in prenatal kits.
Breathe deeply...
MaryEllen sent these cocktail napkins to me the other day...in an envelope addressed as follows:
Janet H. Christ-Mylastname, M.D.
I can only imagine what the post person thinks!!!
Dead leaves just hanging around
I saw lots of maple trees with buckets attached...and got to watch a bit of how the sap becomes maple syrup!
the boys :-)
Course I want a carrot!!!
Crunch, crunch, crunch
[Oh, and see that card in the background? And the bit of the framed picture behind it?]
The inside of the card; Dad made it for me and gave it to me when I got back from the cruise. Maybe getting back was my monumental achievement; maybe COMING back was!
drawn by a roving artist in Montmartre while I was sitting at an outdoor cafe
I bought this angel to go next to my Mom's picture, urn and bouquet at her memorial service; it's made by Willow Tree and she's called Angel of Remembrance.
as told in pictures:
Day 1 - 2/28: Beautiful macaw! Just one of the birds we saw at a bird rescue organization we visited on our bike tour of Key West.
Day 2, 3/1: We did a bike/snorkle tour on Cozumel, which was interesting. And... we were lucky enough to see a stingray, a BIG one, while snorkeling! Our guide was the most adorable dude :-)
Day 3, 3/2: Leaving the ship, heading to Belize City for our Jungle Buggy Tour.
Day 4, 3/3: At sea, shot from the balcony off our room.
Day 5, 3/4: Last night on the ship
Day 6, 3/5: On the way home :-(
I'll be gone til for a few days, enjoying some fresh air and sunshine. See you all when I get back!
I'm not thrilled with either of these pictures (there's another one over in flickr if you click on this one) but I'm still learning! Had to take these on the fly, too, stopped at a red light and I was nervous about blocking traffic LOL! (me, nervous, it happens!)
and went to get a memory card today...here's the first picture, taken with a flash at work:
Far from perfect, but I haven't even read the directions yet...
and
and
yesterday / today:
last night / today:
And a couple of Wolf pictures for you :-)
(he's not deformed, he's at the tail end of a shiba shake!)
Just messing around with the camera...
One of these isn't like the others :-)
brrr...I'm stayin' inside!
I came home to find 3 guys with chain saws (blocking the driveway, I might add) cutting up the tree into manageable chunks. When I asked him how much he was taking, he said Dad had agreed he could have half of it.
Seriously, what a dick. You know he's selling it...taking money away from an 82 year old. Nice.
Hmmm...if the tree was on HIS property, how come WE had to rake all the leaves???
Oh well...
The old Ash
The old Chestnut next door
Ash smile, inside
All it needed was a bit of prosciutto!
Originally uploaded by fondofelves.
Took this shot Saturday after the big storm; ended up getting 14 inches (haven't said that since 1986; wink wink nudge nudge say no more!!!).
Today, it's flurrying...little flakes drifting, drifting down...not in a hurry to go anywhere, looking pretty, the kind that (now I'm going to jinx myself) doesn't amount to much. That's the kind of snow I like!
Originally uploaded by fondofelves.
I guess we're making up for NOT getting the snow the weather people forecast last Tuesday...and it's STILL coming down!
