My mother absolutely cracks me up. She's a great Mom. She's had six kids and ten grandchildren and she's seventy-five and you would think she would be slowing down, but no, not my mom! She has never been big on exercise stuff, but this past year her friend Delores has talked her into walking two or three times a week down at the senior center. A couple of weeks ago Delores asked Mom if she would walk in the upcoming Mayor's Walk. It's a 5K . . . 3.2 miles! Mom told Delores she would have to check with me. What do I know???

So anyway, today we went down to the Rivertrail (not near as nice as yours, Roscoe) to see how she would do. We hadn't made it to the first quarter mile marker and she was saying she couldn't do it. Mmmmhmmmm. Well, we ignored that and darned if she didn't make it with ease to the 1.5 mile marker, and then back again. No heavy breathing, no dragging. So I guess we'll be walking next Saturday, weather allowing.

Moms. Always with the good examples.

Of All my
Favorite flowers, Wild
roses
LEAD
the
List

Monday Madness! And oh, it's so lovely to have a Monday off!

Have you seen those surveys floating around the internet and in emails? Well, I thought I'd challenge you to answer similar questions (nothing difficult or intrusive!) Here goes!

1. What was the name of the last movie you watched (dvd, vhs, theatre, or tv)? Shrek2
2. What were you doing on the internet before coming here?Visiting porn sites. Okay, I lied. Reading email.
3. What color of pen do you usually write with? Blue
4. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My Mother
5. When is your birthday? (month and day) January 3
6. How organized is your computer desk? What's organized?
7. How many calendars do you have in your house? One
8. Do you clip coupons and use them when doing your grocery shopping? I clip them but seldom use them.
9. Are you a morning person or a night owl?By nature a night owl, by necessity a morning person.
10. Did you enjoy your weekend? oh yes . . . and it's not over!

Take the What Fruit Are You? test by Ellen!
[link via Karen]

We're in the middle of the Memorial Day Holiday weekend here in the United States. I get six paid holidays a year. The Memorial Day holiday marks the unofficial start of "summer". I'm ready!

My brother and his family are down from "up north". Yesterday was a beehive of activity.

• Parade. The Memorial Day Parade is much shorter than the Michigan Day Parade. I believe it lasted about 21 minutes.
  
  
• Tour of Michigan State's Campus. My brother's oldest daughter is looking at colleges, so of course we had to put in our bid for good old MSU. We had a great walk through the Music buildings, past the library and museum, down to the Red Cedar River, then finished at the beautiful Beal Gardens.
  
  
• Shrek2. I never saw Shrek, but that doesn't matter. It's a cute movie, and I love the ending.
  
  
• The Mall. We were down to just three of us by this time (the wimps) but we had fun!
  
  
• Playing a dare game with the Bertie Bott's Jelly Bellies. Sardines was the flavor that caused the most drop-outs.
  
  
• Cranium. The game. A good team game. Especially good as the "old farts" won.!
  

There's a picnic brewing in a couple of hours, so I must go now! Have a great day!

Sunday Morning: It's time for Unconscious Mutterings!

I say ... and you think ... ?

Lover :: dream
Ridiculous :: silly
Oscar :: the grouch
Tennis :: court
Account Balance :: rising
Hickey :: teens
License :: driver's
Breathmints :: altoids
TexMex :: tasty
Stepmother :: hard job

A late evening Saturday BlogMaze!

Infinite Pink is one of the three starters. I picked the following up there:

S	Scary
H	Humorous
I	Ideal
R	Radiant
L	Loving

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

From there I stopped off at Thursday's Muse. Sporadic posts, but a lovely looking bloglist.

Next stop is at BusyMom, where I pick up this:


And I'm getting sleeping sleepy, so I'm going to end up at Plastic Fruits. Looks like a great sight site. And now . . . nightie night!
Edit Sunday Morning: Guess I really was sleepy!

what's your cowboy bebop theme song?
[link via Roscoe]

Ilana at Sugar-n-Spicy has posted a plethora of artistic links. Yum!

And
SOME times I
just feel
like a
big
TURKEY!!

I didn't spot any deer this week at the arboretum, but I had fun trying. The park is blanketed with purple and white wild phlox right now: I felt as if I were walking through an enchanted forest. I made the rounds to the usual deer haunts, ending up at the sugar shack where the deer surprised me last week. I sat for a few minutes, then began to hear a sort of dragging noise behind me. Deer are silent critters, so I knew something else was afoot. Checking it out, I found seven wild turkeys scavenging for food. And one feller was really strutting his stuff.

Somedays I feel unique.
Somedays I just feel odd.

How can I be so behind and it's only 6:12 a.m.? Sheesh! Have to make a jello salad for the picnic today. (I know, I know, why didn't I do it last night?)

TGIF! And happy holiday weekend to those celebrating!

Edit: Salad done, now on to the showers. I see blogrolling isn't loading. Argh. And my browser is playing games with me. **smack** (Had to slap myself to calm down there.)

Watch
Meg at Mandarin
Design
do
wonders
with
Opacity now

Michelle at MandarinDesign is doing pull quotes with opacity now. Let's see if we can get some green going?

Sorry I missed you this morning. Had to get going early . . . today was "Picture Day" at work (for the newsletter and web-site), and as I'm chief photographer and general all-around pain in the neck I had to leave the house before seven.

Susan tells us in the Wednesday comments that Thursday is S*H*I*T day . . . so happy it's Thursday! I like that!

It seems to be the time of year that bloggers are taking stock and making changes or leaving the blogging field. Isabella hadn't been blogging very long, but I had enjoyed reading her stuff . . .she's gone. FARRAGO in South Africa is shutting hers down May 31. (Dang, but I did so like her pictures!) Rune is taking a mini-vacation.

Have you made plans for the Memorial Day Weekend yet? Our local newspaper ran an article about people staying closer to home for the holiday due to the higher gas rates. We have family coming into town, so we had already planned to stay in the area. Picnic at work tomorrow, picnic with family on Sunday. Have I mentioned how much I love picnics?

DREAM

The sun came out and
It dried up the landy landy
The sun came out and
It dried up the landy landy
Everything was fine and dandy, dandy
Children of the Lord.

[links all over the place but I'll pick this one.]

And it's happy hump day here. (A true mid-week day, as I'm one of the poor saps that works Monday through Friday. *smile* I'm not really jealous of those of you who have a Thursday as their end of the week. Really, I'm not. Sure.)

Good Tuesday morning! No sun yesterday . . . but no rain either. It was definitely a Monday. Started the day by stopping at the clinic for a "squishy". That was probably not good planning on my part, as it seemed to set the tone for the whole workday. *sigh*

The evening was better, as two of my nieces were performing in an orchestra concert at the middle school. I think I've mentioned before that their director's last name is "Rosin". What a perfect name!

Kids sure grow up fast, don't they?

Oh cool . . . Lewis & Clark are blogging. Well, not really, but this blog is taking a day-by-day look at the exploration and a look at history elsewhere on the particular date. Great stuff.
[link via Dave]

Waking up to the Monday Madness!

This week it's all about blogs! On to the questions...

1. I started blogging about ___________ ago. three years
2. I try to post a new entry in my blog about every _____ days. day if I'm home.
3. I read about _____ blogs on a regular basis. 30
4. I change my layout about ______ a year. Layout . . . never. Headers . . . seasonally.
5. I used to _________, and now I blog instead. cry
6. I spend more time blogging than I do __________. Oh gosh, let's not put down the first response, that's so pathetic shirl. Um. Yes. Well, I'm sure there are several things that would fit that blank.
7. I tend to blog (and visit blogs) most in the _________. early am or late pm.
8. The thing I enjoy most about blogging is _________. The cyber-friends I have met. They are wonderful.

Big Sky Dave got his wish (see post below) and he has SNOW! Here in mid-Michigan we have the other wet stuff. After a dry April, we're headed for a record damp May. The rivers are rising, basements are flooding, trees are saturated. We went to the cemetery today to do the urns for Memorial Day. Amazingly, we had a break in the wetness while we worked on the project. However, we had to cross three instances of water over the road to get to the cemetery.

Yikes!

And how's the weather in YOUR neck of the woods???

Great Man-hole covers, Roscoe! Glad to hear you're feeling better too. It was good you waited until things had subsided before venturing out for this particular assignment! *smile*

Passing along meg's
Peace

And it's time for the Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

Finale :: Fireworks
Martial arts :: Chuck Norris
Flirt :: Fun
Energy :: Bar
Flavor :: Strawberry
Guess? :: Who
Accomplishment :: Achievement
Prom :: Dress
Diploma :: Graduate
Bloody :: Mary

Michigan

Because It Is Home

And that concludes Michigan Week!

Blog Maze.

Well lookee here! One of the three starter blogs is otto . . . and it is her birthday! Happy Birthday, kiddo!

From her site we go to What's Up Down South? Great Panda Pictures!

Next one up is Down a Country Road. Becky has a beautiful tribute to her grandmother posted. *sigh*

From Becky's we go to Clear Lake Reflections, which opens with a great shot of a dog yawning.

And then on to Busy Mom. She sure is busy. I don't know how moms do it. I have enough trouble keeping up with my auntdom.

Okay, I think we'll hop to two more places.

Sweet August Dreams has sweet kitty pictures.

And last, but certainly not least, is To Know Me Is To Blog Me.

What a fun exercise, bryn! Thanks for putting me onto it. And it's interesting, because Mike at Keep Trying just had a post on the joys of blogrolling.

Lord of the Rings!


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Swiped from Scott! I wonder if my blog twins bryn and Cindy will be the same movie?

And speaking of movies, it's confession time. Today I saw TROY for the second time. Can you say "eye candy"?

And speaking of bryn, she introduces us to BlogMazes. The site lists three starter sites. You visit one, then choose one from their blogroll, visit then second one, and on and on for as long as you want. We've all done variations of this, I'm sure, but it's neat to have it quantified. So I'm off to make a blogmaze. See you in a few!

DEER ME!
I haven't been visiting the arboretum as much lately. I think I scared myself the time I came out of the woods and I was the lone car in the parking lot. While I feel relatively safe with my cell phone, I don't want to be stupid. (I also hadn't had much luck finding my deer friends, which might be another explanation for cutting back on the visits.)

Thursday night was a muggy, warm night, and when I pulled into the arboretum's parking lot there were many vehicles. Something about the evening said wild things, and I thought I might have a chance at finding deer.

Well, um. They found me. I had just started up the firebell path and there were two of them. They took off, but as usual not very far. I played hide and seek with one for a few minutes. She just kept far enough behind leaves and branches that I couldn't get a good shot of her. Finally she got bored and went further into the woods.

I had a lovely walk (man, there's nothing prettier than Michigan in May, at least nothing I've ever seen). I was on my way back to the nature center when I thought I would try to catch a picture of a mayapple. I squatted down, took a couple of shots, and then as I was straightening . . .

WISH

Naomi sends us here to find out what kind of tree we are:

Fir Tree, The Mysterious
Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything
beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those
close to it, rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious
uncounted lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.

San Francisco may have the Golden Gate Bridge, but Michigan has the Mighty Mac, connecting the upper and lower Peninsulas. The bridge was built in the 1950's. Somewhere we have old home movies showing it in the construction age. (Hush. I was just a tiny tot then. *grin*)

Thursdays are often fun days at work. The pressure of the "must do" (read payroll) stuff is off, and it's closer to the weekend, and . . . well, I just like Thursdays.

But wait! What are we going to do without Survivor?

Your assignment today, should you accept it, is to look at man-hole covers and report back what you see.

Happy Hump Day!

Edit: I went out and snapped a couple pictures with the cellphone.

And of course, I'm pushing Michigan again, because this cover is from East Jordan Ironworks, up on the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix. I was kind of wondering if the manhole covers from EJ would show up anywhere else.

Another Michigan link: Have you seen Frazz the cartoon? Michigan made.

And have you ever had Jones Soda? Great bottles. . . great taste!

Michigan

Where the Trees Grew and Grow

Chapel of the Pines, Hartwick Pines, Michigan

Welcome back Bryn

Michigan

Great Lake State

Pretty new digs for Cybertoad and her own place too!

Monday Madness.

How about if we try something different this week? Ok, how many different words can you make using the letters in this phrase.....
MONDAY MADNESS ROCKS
Please list them. Have a great week!

oh boy. I think I'll set the timer for five minutes and see how many I find. Go . . . . .

Day,may,nay, dray, cay, crayon, crayons, mad, dad, cad, sad, scads, mock, mocks, rock, sock, socks, dock, docks, mend, mends, rend, rends, send, sends, sand, sandy, randy, candy, dandy, cross, moss, mess, dross, core, score, more, nor, scored, mores, car, mar, dear, near, ken, men, den, dank, rank, crank, drank

bzzzzz.

Thanks for the challenge, otto!

Good Monday Morning!

Running late, just wanted to wish everyone a lovely Monday Monday! Catch ya later!

Michigan Symbols:
State Flower: Apple Blossom
State Bird: Robin
State Soil: Kalkaska
State Stone: Petosky
State Fish: Brook Trout
State Reptile: Painted Turtle
State Tree: White Pine
State Mammal: White-Tailed Deer!

Troy.

Oh yeah. I saw Troy at a matinee yesterday. The audience was probably 60/40 men/women, 60/40 under 30/over 30. There were empty seats, but it was one of three showings on a cold Saturday afternoon.

For some reason I hadn't planned on seeing the movie. I'm not sure why, because I really enjoyed it. Reasons for enjoying it:

1. Brad Pitt, buffer and fitter than we've ever seen him, playing Achilles. (Note: Compare this picture of Achilles with the one that Susan had found of Pitt playing Achilles. No comparison.)

2. It's based on the Iliad. Awesome story arc. Only somehow I had never known about Hector.

3. The movie has Spartans! Not Michigan State Spartans, the real deal.

4. Peter O'Toole has a marvelous role as Priam, and I suspect an Oscar nomination will appear for this effort.

"I have endured what no other mortal on the face of earth has yet endured, to reach forth my hand to the face of him that has slain my sons." [King Priam 1 to Achilles. Homer, Iliad 24.505]

5. The movie examines issues of war and love and honor and greed and . . . well, you get the idea.

6. Did I mention Brad Pitt? As Achilles?

If you've seen the movie, tell me what you think! Thanks!

Time for Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

Playoffs :: Basketball
Morris :: Jenkins
Break up :: Split
Eggs :: Benedict
Parker :: Stevenson, House Rolls
Hardy Boys :: Spin & Marty
Deluxe :: Luxurious
Protection :: Fire
Girl Scout :: Me, Troop, Drill Team
Salsa :: Spicy

Michigan Week, May 15-22.
I mentioned Michigan week earlier this week. Each day I'll bring you a bit of Michigan. I may be a Montana wannabe, but at the core, I'm a true Michigander. (And for those of you from Michigan . . . are you a Michigander or a Michiganian?)

Lansing holds a Michigan themed parade in mid-May each year. The parade normally lasts about two-and-a-half hours, and 50-60,000 people attend.

This year the parade was about two hours long and there were a lot fewer people. It might have been the construction around the Capitol that kept people away . . . or it might have been the chilly weather. (At least it didn't rain.)

Last year the Parade honored the Anniversary of the Corvette. This year it featured the 100th Anniversary of the REO and Diamond REO vehicles, made right here in Lansing. (The HVAC company I work for is right on the site of the old Diamond REO Plant.) (I have a couple of Participation Prizes left over from the quizzie game. Whoever hits the comments first with what REO stands for shall receive one.)(And speaking of PP's, the mail went out today, but I still need Karen's addy?)(And now I'm going to start a new paragraph, because there are way too many parentheses going here.)
Zeke the Wonder Dog was in attendance, doing his frisbee stuff. You'll notice the colors/colours he's sporting: Classic Green and White (say yay, MSU). He performs at home games. (Hey, be nice! We're easily amused up here in Michigan.)

[Insert aside here: Go Spurs! That's for Roscoe! I know their loss last week was just devastating.]
I couldn't help thinking of mz at WittBitts when I heard there were going to be SEVEN units of RedHatters in the Parade. They all looked so lively and happy and bright in their regalia. If you want to check out details of a Red Hat Society, be sure to visit mz.

Well, I walked about four miles today, which is about two more miles than I am accustomed to walking. I'm a little pooped. I think I'll save my comments on the movie Troy for tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

A Couple of Reasons It's a Good Thing to Read Other People's Blogs:

1. You might find Brad Pitt through Susan at Easybakecoven.

2. You might find this article on curvy women via Cybertoad (who has a Prince of a husband).

W A N T

There are some great comments going on . . . we're going to try various colors/colours for WANT.

I normally get my stats from TulipStats, and they've been on the fritz for the last couple of days. I just added a bravenet counter, which is much much different, and we'll see what transpires. What tool do you use for site stats?

Need a "Better Living through Blogging" Mug? Go play in David's contest here.

TGIF!

I am very happy about the winner of the $1 Million "America's Survivor" award. Yay! And now, all you non-reality fans have a break: the new Survivor doesn't air until September! *smile*

I Have Prizes!

And we have winners of the "How Much Do You Know about Shirl" quiz.

[Insert drumroll]

Grand prize winners are:
meg, for most creative test taking or best programmed learning, and
Susan, for best single result.

[Insert wild applause]

We also have Participation Prizes, because it takes time and effort to take these quizzies and y'all made me smile. PP's go to: rune, Roscoe, bryn, susan, naomi, otto, and Karen.

[Insert more wild applause]

Thank you all for playing! The prizes are purchased, and I plan on hitting the post office Saturday. So, if I don't have your snail mail addy, please email it to me at dreamwest@hotmail.com. Thanks again!

. . . pssst, meg. Susan put it here.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 10:00 and rather than go into work and take the appointment time as an early lunch and get all stressed I decided to take the morning off. I'm pretending I'm a youngster again and I'm trying to stay up past midnight. Getting close, but I don't know if I'll make it. Letterman is on. Have any of you been to New York City? That's still on my lifetime list of things to do.

Insular Majuscule- You are spiritual and well
rounded. People look to you for advice, but
sometimes find you difficult to understand.


What Calligraphy Hand Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
[link via Rune]

Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz.

unhhuh, sure! Thanks, Roscoe!

Isn't it something how much you can miss a blogger when they aren't posting regularly? Be well, Kane.

I'm Kermit the Frog! I was sure I'd end up Miss Piggy.

Thanks, susan, for the muppet quiz!

...playing with the pullquotes again to see if we can make somegreen...

Good Tuesday Morning!

Isabella has some interesting questions over at TV Tuesday. I'll have to think about those . . . time is running out this morning.

Got a new muffler yesterday. I've only been going to get it fixed for about a year now. Sheesh.

Playing with meg's pullquotes again, trying to make some green. I really really really like these pullquotes, meg!

My quiz is about to fall off the page. (See the bottom post.) You still have time to take it and perhaps find some Michigan goodies in your snail mail!

Celebrating a friend's 50th birthday tonight. They're coming over to the "Other Side" in droves now.

Have a great morning!

post in progress . . . well, then I fell asleep, so that was that!

Monday Madness:

Today's questions come from Aile....Thanks, Aile!!

1. If you had a farm, what would you name the following animals: Pig, Cow, Goose, Chicken and Horse (assume these are show animals and not food.)

Peggy Pig, Moomy Cow, Duck duck Goose, Quack the chicken, and Nay the horse.

2. What are the top ten spices you use in cooking and what is cooked with them as the main spice (ie. Oregano: Spaghetti)

Oregano, bay leaf, basil, curry, dry mustard, cinnamon, garlic, onions, nutmeg, pepper.

I use them in spaghetti sauce, baked beans, and cookies. I'll let you figure out which is which. *grin*

3. Name your favorite flower and describe yourself using the letters.

L aughing I nquisitive L earning A ccepting C razy

Survivor

Be sure to vote for yRoUuPr fEaRvToRiUtPe sEuRrTvivor at CBS.com.

Monday Monday!

Yikes, I'm behind schedule. Will have to do the Monday Madness tonight. Have a great Monday if possible . . .

Mother's Day Report.

It's been a busy one. I'm not a Mom, but I have one and my sister is one and my brothers are married to Moms. As with most families, we have created some traditions that help meld generations and families.

I usually cook the meal at my mother's house. The menu seldom varies (except for the time I wasn't feeling good and ended up buying KFC). The meal is the one that my Grandma Bea invariably served when we went to Sunday dinners at her house. Roast beef, potatoes, peas, Michigan brand small curd cottage cheese, cole slaw (vinegar and sugar based). We change the dessert. Grandma Bea almost always had cookies. My mother is an ice cream fan, so we had butter pecan ice cream and dulce deleche ice cream.

Boo's girls and my sister's son tall Paul help put it all together. The girls set the table. They picked bouquets from the gardens: tulips and lilacs and forget-me-nots and mayflowers and appleblossoms. My mom went around the yard with them, okaying their choices and it looked like something out of a Hallmark Card *smile*. Hann made the gravy. Tall Paul arrived just in time to help us take up the 'taters, (I think I thought I was cooking for thrashers: I peeled ten pounds of Yukon Golds. Sheesh. Recreating the past is one thing, but I need to get the numbers right!) He also made sure the rolls didn't burn. They did a lot of the clean-up. Those kids are so great.

The year before my Grandma Bea passed away she did something she had never done on Mother's Day: she gave my mother a gift, a flat of pansies. Mom has incorporated this into the family traditions. They looked so pretty.

My greatest regret in life is not having children. I count myself so very lucky that my extended family lets me share in these benchmark moments.

I hope you had a lovely day also.

Well . . . Survivor is down to the final Two.

And how about the new blogger dashboard?

Unconscious Mutterings: (with an edit this time)

I say ... and you think ... ?

Racism :: Evil
Mother's Day :: Today
Fire alarm :: False
Elvis :: has left the building
Pregnant :: Tummy
Vacation :: Montana
Waffles :: Wavers
Perpendicular :: Angle
Hospital :: Uncle

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

swiping directly from Cindy Loo. (hey oh one who calls herself the thief . . . I see what the thrill is!!!) this stealing stuff is fun!!)

PEACE

PEACE

Call to Michiganders (or Michiganians, if that's your pleasure)

May 15-21 is Michigan Week. Let's show the blogworld why they should come visit us in Michigan. Ok?

What Color is Your Brain?
brought to you by Quizilla

[link via bealog]

Well, good grief. I thought National Scrapbooking Day was today. It was last Saturday. And I was out chasing birds instead of scrapping. Ah well, I'll do a couple pages tonight anyway.

Slate guide to Gurus. [link via Keep Trying.]

Survivors Ready?

It's time to pick the final four boot order . . .

Good Saturday morning!

Thanks to all who have taken the quiz to see how much you know about me . . . you know me better than I know myself! Contest is still on. The quiz contains ten questions about me. (I wrote them late at night, so they're a little dufusy, but hey . . . ) The test can be found here:

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

Oh great, Blogger is doing an update Sunday at 3:00 p.m. PDT. You know what that means! (I know, I know . . . we really need to find an alternative to blogger, but . . . . )

Jennifer has moved. No, not her blog. She has changed 3-D residences. Happy unpacking, Jennifer!

Oh yeah. They're closing in on the Big Drift on the Going-to-the-Sun Road at Glacier National Park.

...Now we'll float to the left
with lovely blue tones. How about greennext...

Mandarin meg has us floating to the left now. In blue. Maybe we can get her to give us the green formula next?

So how about Survivor? Do we think the curse of the vehicle winner will continue?

I haven't watched friends since Jennifer Anniston married Brad Pitt. For those of you who are fans . . . did the ending match the hype?

And it's Friday! Any exciting (or dull, we don't care) plans for the weekend!

Title Added 6:15 a.m. Friday. How Well do you Know Me?

Okay, I saw this at naomi's. She's offering one of her creations to the person who scores the highest. And dang, I wish I knew her better, because I love her stuff. I've picked up several pieces on ebay.

I don't have any artwork to offer, but I'll send a package of Michigan goodies to the person who scores the highest. The deadline for playing will be when the quiz scrolls off this front page.

Hoping I'll see some quizzes on YOUR site!

Edit: Oops! The quiz is how well do you know me? I am such a dork! (Well, I'm sure you all knew that!)

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

Chocolate Chicken??? Interesting recipe, Rowena!

Question for the Day:

How far do you live from the place you were born?

...Survivors ready? it's time to choose the next person toboot...

Yes, Mandarin meg is pushing pullquote styling. She makes it so easy, with cut and paste stuff that works! Thanks, meg!

Survivor fans . . . it will all be over this week. Right now, choose your bootee for Thursday night's show. Then come back on Friday or Saturday to pick your final boot order.

Anne at Fishbucket always has a wealth of links (and bad jokes that make me smile). This morning I'm looking at the My Tiny Garden link she had posted. Thanks, Anne!

And a happy hump day to one and all!

That's Montana's Capitol in Helena over there to the left. Gates of the Mountains has a neat post with pictures about the Helena Vigilante Parade the high school has put on for eighty years.

Susan reminds us that Kent State was thirty-four years ago.

And on a personal marker note: I went to the 45th Anniversary Concert of the Lansing Junior Symphony tonight. It was my niece Hann's first time playing with the Symphony. The last family member who played in the Symphony was me, and the last Concert I played in was: the 10th Anniversary Concert. Where does the time go?

Birding. The First Time.

I stop at the local Arboretum several times a week on my way home from work. One night it was drizzling, so I stayed near the center taking pictures of birds at the feeders. (well, trying to take pictures of birds.) I noticed a sign for "Bird Walk" at 8:00 a.m. Saturday. I figured it would be the naturalist pointing out birds to novices like me.

Ha!

For those of you who are serious birders, my eyes were opened to a whole new world Saturday! There were about 14 people on the walk, all who knew their stuff. The bird walks are in May because, duh Shirley, this is migration time! These folks could hear calls and know what bird was in the area. I was duly impressed!

Of course, I had to go to the Wild Bird store to buy a birding book. As I paid for it, I mentioned I had been on my first "bird walk". The lady became excited, asked what we had seen, who had led the walk, and told me what she had seen at the park on Thursday.

A whole new world.

I think it's a woodchuck.

Let's start the morning with a little madness: Monday Madness, that is.

1. Do you collect anything? Lighthouses, open lace glassware, books, angels (Christmas that branched out into other angels) and I used to collect: beanie babies.
2. How many items do you have in your collection? Lighthouses and glassware . . . about 25 pieces each. Angels . . .over 100. Books . . . way too many. And we won't touch the beanie baby question. argh.
3. What is the most unusual piece in your collection? Nothing very unusual . . . well, in books I have several that are in the 100 year range (gleaned from grandparents.
and one more for good measure...
4. Is there anything you don't collect that you would like to collect? ummm. . . . I'll get back to you on that!

Pandora starts a new meme . . .

Let's play a game...
1. Go into your blog's archives.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions

Lilacs make me think of my brother Jeff.

Sunday's Unconscious Mutterings.

I say ... and you think ... ?

Sexy :: Hands
Clique :: High School
Pledge :: Dust
Carbs :: Diet
Dream Job :: Forest Ranger
Sweeps :: Television
Soundtrack :: CD
Hero :: Valor
Shave :: and a haircut
Christina :: Rosetti

The web-cam at Many Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Great punctuation game here. Thanks, naomi!