Best Friends

I think I would simply cease to exist if I didn't have friends.

Today, one of my best girlfriends from California was in the neighborhood so we met for a long lunch. Needing to become 'current' with the events in each others lives, we yakked a mile a minute. Soon we were able to focus on matters of the heart; our passions, our dreams and current realities.

As I drove home, I felt energized, encouraged, loved and heard (as in listened to) in a special way that is unique to women.

Thank you, dear friend, for hearing & understanding the yearnings of my heart & whispers from my soul.

Glynn's birthday weekend

It was a lemon meringue kind of weekend. (Glynn's birthday dessert choice.)

Since it was his birthday I refrained from a stare of disapproval when he ordered a piece of mud pie for dessert. Look at the size of what was delivered to our table on Friday night. How ridiculous is that? It easily could have fed 6 people! Needless to say, we brought it home (it was frozen hard) and it awaits nibbling at a future date.

Chloe and Sophie came for a weekend stay. Our first adventure was The Children's Museum. Spending time there on a Saturday morning is not for the faint of heart. Scores of loud, excited children clamor on and around the play areas, vying for position while shrilling loudly, 'MOM, LOOK AT ME!' During our 2 hours of play, there were only 5 other children in attendance. I assume it's because the Museum's 'Sand in the City' event was going on downtown. It was delightfully fun!



That evening, Glynn smoked a brisket and we invited friends over for dinner. Sophie helped Uncle Glynn open his birthday gifts.


We had our usual tea party. I made sure the girls poised their pinkies properly while sipping their tea.

While looking through my cedar chest for old Barbie clothes, I found this party dress of mine. I think mom bought it for my 6th birthday party! Sophie, who will be six in October, modeled it for me. Sadly, I don't think these frilly organza-type party dresses are made any longer.

Next we headed back downtown to experience the 'Sand in the City' event. Truckloads of sand are trucked in and teams build sand creations. As always, I'm amazed at the patience and attention to detail these creations entail. I only snapped a couple of pictures of parts of a team's creation. The first was labeled 'extreme camping adventures'. The second involves 2 snowmen mourning the loss of a melted snowman.


This evening, having put my house back together, I'm relaxing and watching the clock, waiting for bedtime. Auntie Sue is tired after a busy weekend!

Sometimes, I feel sorry for me.....

Count your blessings, they tell me.

I do. I am love-soaked by an incredible husband, children, family & friends. I'm able to walk upright, using all my limbs and digits. I eat 3 balanced meals a day. Stuff fills my lovely home. My garden overflows with color and delight.

And I'm just one of millions who lives in a 'land of plenty'.

Yet when I see images portraying inhabitants of other countries, even third world countries, I observe something that seems to be missing from snapshots of life in America. I see bright smiles on the faces of happy children; a group of children seen playing outside, creating their own play environments using homemade props or their imagination.
I see adult men and woman, congregating in the village square. The women may have a bundle on their heads and the men appear to be in work clothes. Yet they take the time to stop and chat and laugh with one another.

In America, our 'disposable' income allows us to purchase items that supposedly create comfort, ease and pleasure. Why, then, are we filled with stress and a sense of impending doom? Why is 10% of our population taking anti-depressants? Why are our children being prescribed pharmaceutical drugs to calm them or ease their anxieties? Where are the smiles on the faces of people residing in one of the richest countries in the world?

My good friend, Jonny, and I were talking about 'feeling sorry' for those in other countries who live with less. Perhaps the family shares a tiny two room home. Perhaps the six children must make do by sharing one gnarly looking bicycle. Perhaps chickens run in and out the front door of their home.

Yet, perhaps this little family shares stories and laughter and camaraderie in the evenings instead of sitting slack faced in front of the TV. Perhaps the children are learning invaluable lessons after school while helping out in the family business instead of exercising their thumbs on a video game controller or by cell phone texting.

Perhaps I should be feeling sorry for those of us who have allowed the quest for 'more' to distort our perspectives...

For the love of books

How lucky am I to have a new friend who just happens to work at Barnes & Noble?! This is the second sack of books she has passed on to me (which I, in turn, will pass on to others).

I'm a bit alarmed at the touch of fall in the air. Spider webs are appearing, heavy with dew in the early morning hours. The sun casts a softer light upon its subjects then it did a month ago and it shines from a different angle.

The weather change is perfectly normal for this time of year. I'm a bit mixed up because I'm still waiting for summer to begin.


From this point on, I vow to stop yearning for summer and enjoy what will soon be autumn - a season I love!

Extraordinarily ordinary

Today I fussed.

Webster needs to add another definition to the word 'fuss'. Yes, babies fuss and people fuss at one another....

But my form of fussing doesn't annoy anyone and it gives me great pleasure.

My fussing amounts to taking care of details. Perhaps it's rearranging books on a book case or deadheading flowers or mucking out a closet. It usually involves restoring order to chaos. (Freud would likely have a diagnosis here....)

At any rate, my ordinary day felt quite extraordinary after I finished fussing.

While fussing in my garden, I discovered a HUGE zucchini. I know I planted pumpkins and squash but I don't remember planting zucchini! We had sliced, breaded zucchini along with fresh scallops for dinner.

While fussing, I took a picture of these lovely double hollyhocks in my garden. All my hollyhocks grew over 10' tall this summer. Perhaps our cooler than normal spring and summer contributed to this feat?
I love the contrasting colors in this Swiss chard. Alas. I wished it tasted as pretty as it looks. So far, the only way I can eat it is to blend it with other greens in my blender for a healthy smoothie.

And then there is Otis. He joined me on the deck (appropriating one of the deck chairs as his) while I read.


This is a space marker at the privately owned campground adjacent to our home that Otis and I stroll through daily. This one marker always stands out with its furry head.

My good friend reminds me often that what I deem as ordinary days are really quite extraordinary.

Indeed, I am blessed to have an extraordinarily ordinary life.

Sweet pleasure

When I listen to a haunting violin concerto, my heart hurts. Not to worry - it's a good hurt, if there is such a thing.

When I stumbled across this picture on the web (artist unknown), I felt the same sensation, coupled with a tiny cartwheel in my gut.

I'm thinking this young girl is experiencing the same response as she reads words that touch her very essence - her soul.

I count myself as one of the lucky ones because I feel things strongly. Not everyone does. (Or, perhaps distractions deaden their awareness.) Music, nature, quietness, epiphanies, colors, cause me to emote. Lightheartedness, tears, melancholy, and/or laughter result.

And, it's all good.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Warning!

If you do not want to converse about cross dressing, read no further.

Recently we rented to a Jane Doe (name changed to protect identity). She is thin, petite and wears flowery, flamboyant attire. Her outfits include leggings or tights in bright colors, short skirts, crazy hats & plenty of jewelry. Although I haven't seen cleavage, she appears to have boobs.

Trouble is, she is actually a he - per his driver's license. The face & voice & legs simply do not jive with the attempt at female impersonation.

Said tenant is very courteous and nice. Although I'm much too polite to address the obvious, I would love the opportunity to talk to Jane about her gender. I'm curious if he is in the process of becoming a she. Assuming she wants to look like a she, has she felt trapped/hidden in a male body all her life?

Due to chromosomal abnormalities some babies are deemed hermaphrodites because they lack sufficient sexual organs to determine gender. Our society has long mocked those, especially males, who are confused about their gender.

I vote for replacing judgment with compassion and understanding.

I applaud Jane for her courage in not hiding her identity. I contend that her heart, regardless of gender, loves & yearns & hurts & swells & bleeds just the same as mine....

Summertime fun - Part II

Our day started with a trip to the Olympia Farmer's Market - always a fun treat. I bought some farm fresh carrots and a jar of raspberry pepper jam. It has just enough pepper to give it a little 'bite'. It's wonderful atop of a dollup of cream cheese on a cracker.

Then we headed to Burfoot park for a picnic lunch. Stephanie & Nick and Matt & his sister spent many a summer day there, floating on an inflatable crocodile or an occasional log. Good times.


Not only was this Cooper's first picnic lunch, it was his first beach visit, too. Apparently he wasn't impressed as he slept through the majority of it.


This is Glynn, being a good sport while desperately seeking a breeze & shade on the hot beach.


After a dinner at Pepper's Mexican restaurant downtown, we built a fire in the pit, toasted marshmallows and had s'mores. Nick's high school friend, Doug, Matt's dad, Glen and Craig and Kathleen who happened to be passing through town all joined us for an evening of fun and laughs.


This morning, Susan's taxi service ferried them back to the airport for their return trip home. Good byes are sad.... Hopefully Steph and Matt will be home again for Christmas. (Arrgghh - Christmas is only 4 months away. How is that possible?)

Summertime fun

Here are a few pictures from our annual trip to Sisters, Or. This year was extra fun because cousin Erik from Austin, TX joined in the fun.

Here is sister Kim, cousin Erik, brother Chris (I love to say, 'my brother lives in Sisters'), me, and sister Debbie.

Finn's birthday is in July so mom always throws a little party for him. Apparently mom's party was his 4th b-day party of the summer. I'd say he scored this year!




Long story short, Chris owns the 1964 VW bug we grew up with. It was my dad's beloved, commuter car and one that each one of us kids learned to drive on, grinding the gears in the process. Kim and I took it for a drive around the neighborhood, amazed we still remembered how to work the gear sift! If cars could talk....

Here's the clan....

From Sisters, Glynn and I drove to Portland International Airport to pick up Stephanie & Matt who would be visiting the PNW for a week.



Stephanie meets nephew, Cooper, for the first time. Just give him a soft shoulder to sleep on & he's all yours!


Wanting to be tourists in Seattle, we drove to Tukwila, hoping to board the Link into downtown Seattle. I've ridden the Link twice and it's a wonderful, relaxing way of taking a day trip into downtown. I haven't ridden it on a weekday, however and alas, there was no parking available. Arrggh - how frustrating! (I have since heard that a parking garage is being built near the Tukwila station.) We ended up driving in and parking near Macy's. Matt's mom, Shirley tagged along and we had a fun day along with what felt like 98,536 other tourists.


Along Pike St. is a little shop called the Confectional. 'Chocolate forgive me for I have sinned. I have not yet had my daily confection' reads the sign above the shop. They make individually sized cheesecakes - probably the best I've ever tasted. Here are white chocolate raspberry and quadruple chocolate cheesecakes.


This is the old Starbuck's logo hanging outside the original Starbucks coffee shop on Pike St. Apparently, there was so much controversy over the bared breasts that Starbucks made the mermaid cover her bosom with her locks of long hair.

I continue our 'summertime fun' in a new post.....

Pensively pensive

I looked up the definition of 'pensive' and find it fits my mood.

adj.

1. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful.
2. Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness.

So, here are a few thoughts I've been pensively mulling over in my mind:

'Be open to things outside the frame of your reference'.

'Remember, everything is as it should be. Seize the uncertainty.'

'There will always be women more beautiful, smarter, successful, than you, always. So, you must focus on what you are, not what you aren't.'

'What would you be doing today if you were not afraid?

'Rarely do we hear the word 'enough'. Rather we hear begging and cries for more. More money, more power, more time, more pounds to lose. Allow 'enough' to be the bookmark of our day.

With these thoughts in mind, I pensively bid you good night.

"I'm freezing. I can't feel my hands!"

This 4 minute video touched my heart (thanks, Rebecca).

http://wimp.com/watchingthis

I've bookmarked this video to watch when my perspective needs tweaking.

Wouldn't it be fun?

Isn't this red travel trailer the cutest? It's a 1957, 13' model.

My wheels are 'a-spinning... Wouldn't it be fun to find an old trailer like this, fix it up and park it in the backyard? I would plant flower beds around it, perhaps add an arched sitting area by the front door complete with a climbing rose bush. It could be for overflow company!

Oh.... I want.... I want..... I want!

"Oh Glyyyynnnnnnn?...... Sweetheart?........"

The 'Barn House' sale

On Saturday, my grand husband took me to Battle Ground, WA for the much anticipated Barn House sale. Not only were 'the boys' selling their wares but they invited two dozen vendors to set up shop as well.

This was much more than an impromptu flea market. All the vendors involved worked hard to create ambiance in their displays. It wasn't merely antiques or junk for sale, it was art!

When I first arrived, I wanted to walk through the whole venue before making any purchases. WRONG thing to do! When I returned to buy a couple of treasures I had spied, there were gone. I did find an old wire basket for the handlebars of my garden bicycle. Also, a darling birdcage which I will find a spot for somewhere in my home. I spotted many more treasures but I'm learning to temper my crazy desire to have-it-all with the realization that I need room to display such treasures.

The venue was a bit crowded but no one seemed perturbed with bumps from one another. We were all too engrossed in stepping into such a junk-art heaven!

From there, we went into the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland for, you guessed it, more antiques and junk stores. I found the headboard of a small, white iron bed frame (rusty and chipped - just the way I like it) which I will use somewhere in my garden.


I also visited the store 'Coco and Toulouse go shopping' and found it delightfully full of all things girlish.

Not wanting to spend the $80 to $100 on a motel room, Glynn did his due diligence and found a small mom and pop motor inn in Milwaukie (near Sellwood) which we stayed at for $52/night. It was old but clean and charming in a vintage sort of way. Not only do we save money by patronizing these small motels but we contribute money to the local economy in the process.

Leaving town, even for an overnight stay, always helps Glynn and I 'blow the stink off' (Glynn's words, not mine) and realign our perspectives about life in general. We both decided we need to get-out-of-town more often.....