A Post for Wednesday

I find that I don’t know what to do with myself since I finished up the ABC series. Did that series use up all my words? Well, maybe, but that won’t stop me from using some now. Here are some bullet points:

• Last night Dr. M & I looked out the door & saw snow! As my Facebook status said, these were my first flakes of the season (not counting my family from last week). Hardy har. I still get excited when I see snow – this emotion is left over from when I was a kid in North Carolina and snow seemed very rare. As long time readers of this blog know, I don’t actually like cold weather very much, and by February the excitement will have dimmed quite a bit. However, I have a new penguin toboggan that I can’t wait to wear (that’s what we call it where I’m from - do you call a knitted cap a toboggan?)

• Speaking of regional differences, do you say that you are ON line at the grocery store or IN line? I say that I’m in line & I think it sounds really weird to say on line. But as I examine what the words mean I don’t really know that my way is better or worse – it’s just what I’m used to.

• This year when my doctor called to say that they needed to take further pictures because they saw something on my mammogram I decided to not freak out like last year. I didn’t announce it on Facebook or my blog, telling only a handful of folks about it. And I really did seriously feel very calm. I went for the additional mammogram on Monday & they didn’t see anything at all. Apparently when they squinched me the first time it caused some sort of false lump. This time with the extra squinching (ow! ow! ow!) there was nothing there. That was a nice reward for my feeling of serenity.

• I just saw someone walk by with three inch heels on. I looked down at them because she was walking kind of funny so I wanted to see her shoes. You know, it’s not sexy when you have to walk sort of pigeon toed because your shoes are too tall. Of course, I’m a fine one to talk – if I were to try to wear something like that I’d fall over, which I assure you is even more not sexy. Ha!

Well, I’m going to just throw this on out there. You’ll probably see more drivel like this as I feel my way back toward blogging.

P.S. If you look at my sidebar you can see what I’m reading. I’m fairly certain that none of these books will have me sobbing at the end. Fairly certain.

2011 Project 365 – Week Forty-Eight

I’m running late this week – we drove back from NC yesterday & I wasn’t feeling very coherent (which is why I wrote a poem instead – ha!).

Sunday, November 20^th    

I was worried that I had stopped being able to take pictures, but we finally figured out that something is wrong with one of our DSLR lenses – however I think it’s appropriate that my baking efforts are kind of blurry. Ha!

Monday, November 21^st

Dr. M took this spooky picture.

And then he saw this hawk!

Tuesday, November 22^nd  

The State of the Bug. Oh merciful heavens I was quite undone by the end of The Book Thief. It was an excellent book – beautifully written. And the audio book was quite well narrated. But it was kind of sad, as you can see.

On a happier note, Dr. M took a picture of a deer with raised eyebrows – wonder what it was thinking?

I finally used the Shutterfly gift certificate that I won from Sara – I made a calendar for Dr. M’s birthday.

One of Dr. M’s students gave him this lovely wall hanging.

Wednesday, November 23^rd

We drove to NC today. I took this picture of a truck in front of us – makes me smile to see my name on trucks.

Dr. M took this picture of me while I was driving.

Thursday, November 24^th          

We visited Dr. M’s mother’s grave today.

We had lunch with Dr. M’s brother & his family. I think these guys look pretty darn content. If you want to see them from the front, check out this post.

On the way back to my dad’s house we saw one of the local flocks. Some of them are wearing coats!

Friday, November 25^th

Dr. M took a picture of a donkey.

While he was spending time with his dad & brother I went shopping with my sister-in-law. This is her terribly cute little car.

I posted this picture last week, but I wanted to share it again here. Cracks. Me. Up.

Dr. M doing what we spend far too much time doing at my dad’s house – ha!

Saturday, November 26^th

We had lunch with my family today. Here’s Amy laughing at the dessert table.

Dr. M.

My niece trying to get my nephew to throw her into the air. She is quite an accomplished cheerleader. Go check her out here. I’ll be asking you to vote for her on Thursday – stay tuned!

My cousin J and some of the kids playing after lunch – looks like they had a great time.

Here’s the whole crew.

Dr. M took some pictures around Daddy & Amy’s house. We’re wondering what his first plant is – it’s a volunteer that comes back every year & produces a single leaf. Odd.

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants. Have a great week!

Most of our photos are taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D5000 DSLR, using a 55-200mm zoom lens. This is the camera that Dr. M takes with him most days. We also take pictures with our old reliable 7 megapixel Canon Powershot A710. This is the camera that the Bug uses most of the time. If you’re interested in which camera was used for a particular shot, just ask!

The Short Couch

The Short Couch

“This,” my father said,

as he moved it into

my first apartment,

“is not a love seat.

It’s a short couch.”

I, a not very sober

seminary student,

just smiled.

What daddies

don’t know

can’t hurt them.

This is a Magpie Tale. If you’re looking for my Project 365 post it will be up tomorrow night.

The State of My Brain

I went shopping with B today (thanks B!) (at a civilized hour- noonish) and saw this at JC Penney:

I wonder if they would have noticed if had I decided to join them?

Hey Ya'll

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s the first day of the rest of my life…

…without the alphabet getting in my way. Boy, that was … interesting. But I kind of liked it even though I would definitely choose different words the next time.

So, now that I’m free to talk about whatever I want, what shall I say? We’re well down the runway of the “holiday” season and just about ready for liftoff. But I’m not ready! I ignored all the Christmas stuff in the stores – put there before Halloween for heaven’s sake. I tried to turn my ears off in a store two weeks ago when I heard Christmas carols over the loudspeaker. I have resisted every thought of purchasing gifts. Can we just go back & sit in the airport lounge for a while?

I have a plan. This week is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. I’m going to stuff myself silly. In fact, I’m well on my way – our Vestry & stewardship committee served us Thanksgiving dinner at church last Sunday. And then we’ll be with Dr. M’s family on Thursday & my family on Saturday. That is a LOT of turkey. And pie. At least I hope it’s a lot of pie.

Back to my plan. After I recover from my T-Day torpor I am going to spend some time each day thinking and reading about Advent. Just to remind myself of the reason for the season. And to slow things down a bit. And everyone is getting gift cards (or donations in their name to Episcopal Relief & Development – they have matching gifts through the end of November!). It’s Dr. M’s turn to write the annual Christmas poem so all I have to do is address the envelopes.

That all sounds manageable. We’ll see how it goes.  

Zenith

The end.

[Are you as grateful as I am that this series is over? Ha!]

Yellow

Mixed Metaphors

I’m a brunette.

No yellow hair here –

not even on my belly.

So it should be no surprise

that I didn’t turn tail,

that I decided to stick –

that I turned into

your arms

instead of

away.

This is a Magpie Tale and part of my ABC's of Gratitude series.

Xanadu

My choices for X were kind of limited. I thought about using Xmas & giving my speech about how the X is NOT crossing Christ out of Christmas, but that’s a rant for another day.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of Xanadu this is what immediately springs to mind:

Oh 1980, did you know at the time that we were going to mock you so? I think you did.

In 1980 I was in high school, and I was one of those unkissed boy crazy girls who goes to the prom with a girlfriend. I was making plans for my life based on my expected spinsterhood, and tormenting my mother with my superior knowledge of language. I was churchy and bookish and a mostly A student who didn’t really apply herself very much. And while I thought Sandy was cute and all, I secretly wanted to be Rizzo. On the other hand I was appalled that Sandy had to change herself to get the guy. Wait, why am I talking about Grease?

Is it 10th Grade Bug? Or Mattie from (the original) True Grit? You make the call!

Anyway, I was your typical conflicted teenage nerd in 1980 with no idea what my life would look like in the future. I probably thought the idea of Xanadu was magical, sort of a forbidden heathen heaven. A nice place to escape. And what teenager doesn’t want to escape a little bit?


Why does Xanadu make me thankful? I look back at that girl and, while I’m grateful for her, I’m so thankful to not be her anymore! She envisioned a different life than the one I have now. Her idea of heaven wasn’t the same as mine. I wonder what she would have thought if she had looked down that long road and seen me at the end of it? She might have been horrified, but I know Xanadu when I see it.

2011 Project 365 – Week Forty-Seven

Happy birthday to my sweetie! We had a pretty low-key celebration, as you will see.

Sunday, November 13^th    

Dr. M’s birthday! He doesn’t really go for cake, so he had a birthday pumpkin spice muffin from Tim Hortons for breakfast.

Look – it’s a celebratory squirrel! He thought that he should have “cake” for Dr. M’s birthday!

Late in the evening – the State of the Bug. Tess from Willow Manor had been talking about bringing back the head scarf so I thought I’d give it a go.

Monday, November 14^th

Dr. M took some great pictures today. I’m only sharing a few here including this teaser:

Go to his blog to get the rest. Really – you don’t want to miss all the sheep pictures. Click here!

Tuesday, November 15^th  

Dr. M called to say he was on his way home. We discussed the fact that neither of us had taken any pictures today – so he took these on his way home. Ha!

Wednesday, November 16^th

It’s the Tax Time Pig! Don’t ask me what he’s wearing – I’m just the photographer.

I participated in an annual ritual today. Can you tell what it was?

Does this help? They always mark my moles so they don’t look suspicious on the scans.

Thursday, November 17^th          

I wore fuzzy socks to work today. No, they do not match my outfit. But they were warm. And fuzzy.

Dr. M took a picture of the Mad River Air Strip  - if you miss the strip you hit the river!

Friday, November 18^th

I was being goofy at work (I know, hard to imagine). I had George the Rock as my computer wallpaper (remember that Dr. M made George last year at school).

I decided to switch it to one of the sheep pictures Dr. M took on Monday. Makes me crack up every time I see it.

Dr. M took a picture of the half moon.

Alis-Chalmers tractor

One of the ponds he passes.

A flotilla.

Saturday, November 19^th

Dr. M fixing the mower so he can get one last use out of it this year. We really need a new one, but we wanted to wait until next season.

Looks like he was successful!

Look what we got the other week! I almost can’t wait for really cold weather to wear it. Almost. I was laughing because we keep that rack-o-winter stuff in the closet until winter. Dr. M got it out yesterday to look for my gloves (thanks Sweetie!) & left it there. I did not notice the thing until in the wee hours of the night when I got up to go to the bathroom. I am a most unobservant person. Heh.

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants. Have a great week!

Most of our photos are taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D5000 DSLR, using a 55-200mm zoom lens. This is the camera that Dr. M takes with him most days. We also take pictures with our old reliable 7 megapixel Canon Powershot A710. This is the camera that the Bug uses most of the time. If you’re interested in which camera was used for a particular shot, just ask!