Sssssssnapshotsssssssss

Yesterday was laundry day. I take my clothes down to the river and pound them on the rocks. Kidding. But I do base laundry day on the weather; sunny & breezy are the best when you hang your laundry out on a clothes line. The BEST, Jerry! I do have the modern appliances, but there's nothing like fresh sheets & stiff, scratchy towels right off the line. *sigh* I don't have too many more days before it gets too cold & I have to use my dryer again. Back to yesterday~ I looked over and saw this:


I ran in to the house to get my camera, and she waited for me. She's about 5 feet-ish & judging by the lumpiness in the middle, it looks like she'd just had lunch. I'm glad to know that I have black snakes around because they keep away the copperheads & rattle snakes. Then as I was walking back to the house with laundry basket in tow, I saw this:

You may be asking yourself, "Self, what am I looking at?" [Or if you're a Grammarian, "Forsooth, at what am I looking?"] A 4-leaf clover, see? So. Yay, me. I'm not picking them anymore, just taking their pictures.

My Best Friend's Girl

This is a silly, vulgar, delicious movie, starring Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, & Dane Cook. How do you get back the girl who dumped you? Give her some perspective with a truly horrible date from Tank, played by Dane Cook. There are lots of funny moments, like when Tank takes a v. religious gal to a pizza place called Cheesus Crust. In the restaurant, there's a variation on da Vinci's Last Supper painting with Jesus holding out 2 pizzas. I think my favourite scene is when Kate Hudson's roommate tells her: You have to listen to that small, inner voice inside you. Lest you think she's going all woo-woo spiritual, she clarifies: It's the voice of your clamburger.

Throughout the movie, The Cars are in the background; Here she comes again.... I'm a sucker for that song because back in my Mary Wash. daze, I used to play keyboards in Attitude Exchange, a new wavy-ish band. And this was one of the songs that we did. So it was a fun movie to watch, definitely worth a rainy afternoon matinee. :-) H.

Day of Rest: Down by the River

Hi Sweetie

We've had quite a bit of rain which means that my internet service is inconsistent. Yesterday, I couldn't get anything posted. Today: so far, so good! This is a shot down by the river. I was on the way to the postbox and here she comes....so sweet. Back tomorrow with a movie review of My Best Friend's Girl.

Yummy Pumpkins

Today's post was inspired by Duchess Dreams. She has a pumpkin cookie recipe on her blog. Last year, my friend Bess told me she had tried a pumpkin recipe and in the end, it just ended up tasting like sweet potato. I love sweet potatoes, so I thought I'd give it a go. Thus began my love affair with pumpkins. They are so versatile--they can go savory or sweet.

Here's what I do:
Cut the pumpkin in chunks and put on a cookie sheet. Cover with aluminum foil to keep it consistent. Bake at 350 for an hour or so.

You can eat it like you'd eat acorn squash: mashed with butter & a dash of salt.
I scoop out the flesh and put it in a big bowl & use a hand blender to smooth it out.

• Add it to pancakes or muffins
• For kids, you can use it in macaroni & cheese for added nutrition & fiber. They'll never know.
• Pumpkin soup--lots of varieties: savory with basil, garlic, etc. Cream of pumpkin soup. You can also make it as a soup base to make veggie soup, chicken soup, etc. My favourite pumpkin soup is adding curry for a spicy Indian theme.
• You can also go sweet: cinnamon, honey, butter
• Serve it chilled, like a custard

Pumpkins are an easy & nutritious addition to your repertoire!

At the pumpkin patch (also with a corn maze!) they had these goats. How cool that they have a house they can climb on.
King of the Castle.

And can I just say?

You may have noticed that I didn't post yesterday. I was on the road back home from my quickie-visit to Brother D's. Here's the b-day card I gave him:

This was actually a card I got by mistake. It must have belonged to the person ahead of me in line, and the cashier gave it to me instead. In any case, it did not go to waste! It got the laugh I was looking for. On the inside I thanked him for letting me & SIL celebrate his b-day with Kathy Griffin.

This is the wrapping for his gift. Hot Wheels paper! I orginally got this from XM Radio Guy & we've passed it back 'n' forth a coupla times. Brother D said, "Oooooh...Hot Wheels!" And the gift inside:

Original 1992 Simpson Halloween masks with all your favourite characters! And now for something completely different:

Can I just say...OMG, she is hysterical! She starts off with Where are my gays? As you know from the previous post, Brother D sent me & SIL with his friend Gay Dan--who was so much fun! [Side note here: I was driving SIL & Gay Dan to their cars after the show & SIL was giving me directions. She said, "Go straight at this light." Gay Dan said, "Never!" He said it right before I was going to say, "Except for Dan." Hahahahaha] OK, so back to Kathy: it started with clips from movies, shows, specials, interviews, etc. She was in Pulp Fiction? Really? And then she came out waving both hands to great applause.

Watching her is like having a conversation with her. Did you see [fill-in-the-blank TV show]? And then she gives her quirky, irreverant observations. She talks about her box-of-wine mother, her experiences at the Emmy's, encounters with celebrities, opinions on current events. It was all v. entertaining. So here's the thing--and an unexpected gift of insight from a night with Kathy. She would do a quickie imitation of Sarah Palin (spot on!), and then she'd say, "I've got lots on Sarah later. Don't worry, I'll get to her." She said that a coupla times. She told this hysterical story of sharing a dressing room with Pamela Anderson and then: that was the end of the show. And SIL said in the car, "She never got to Sarah Palin." And here's the thing: she didn't talk about a lot of things, but she didn't put those things on our radar. She didn't give us the idea that she'd be talking about Celine Dion or American Idol. And then not do it. So even tho it was an AWESOME performance, it felt like there was something missing. If she'd never said more on Sarah Palin later, we'd not have been waiting for it. Something to think about when we make promises or suggestions....

OK, So here's the deal:

That's how Kathy Griffin starts: OK, so here's the deal:

SIL & I discovered that we share a guilty pleasure: My Life on the D-List. So Brother D scored us tickets to go see Kathy tonight! YAY, us! And he's sending us with his friend who happens to be gay. How perfect is that? We have our own gay to take to Kathy's show!

BTW, it's Brother D's birthday today. I asked him what he wanted and he said, "You know what I'd really like? I'd like to stay home and babysit the kids while my wife & friend go out with my sister." Hahahaha

HAPPY B-DAY, ATLASTA!!!

VITALITY

Yesterday I attended the quarterly Spirit School gathering. Christen McCormack, the founder, has been a friend & mentor to me for 20 years. She was one of my original Reiki Masters, and much of the healing work that I do has come from her wise teachings. Also at the gathering was another friend/mentor, Susan Wiesniewski. Yesterday's theme was Vitality:

What gives you energy? What depletes you? What is life-enhancing to one person can be depleting to another. It all depends. It's about tuning in to yourself and paying attention. So this is the exercise we did:

• On one side of the paper, list all the things that enhance your vitality: situations, activities, people. (e.g. laughter, great conversations, learning new things, naps)
  
• On the other side, list all the things that deplete you.
  
• Put a star beside the ones you do everyday.
• Circle the ones you'd like to add to your daily routine on the Vitality side.
• Create an action plan. (e.g. daily exercise, listen to more music, dance)
  

What gives you more vitality, enthusiasm, juice in your life?
DO THAT.