Hang in there, those of you caught in Isabel's power.

Reading too fast again.

I thought meg's orange post said "Halloween Cultured Box". Oops.

Check out Todd Barry's receipts.

Just one.

Just: adj. Conformable to law, human and divine; impartial, fair, honest in dealling with others.

Just: adv. exactly

Just: adj. reasonable, proper, fair, upright

Just one.

Mandarin meg had a wild dream the other day and there were several bloggers running through it and so of COURSE I had to follow some of the links. Of Course!

One of the links I followed was to Paul Katcher and his September 13 The 'Falling Man.' He Was Us post was riveting, as were the links within that post. Powerful, somber stuff. Thanks for the pointer, meg.

Survivors Ready????
Yep, Survivor is back on Thursday, September 18, with a new gang. Here on the Other Side we try to guess who will be the "bootee" of the week. My guess is in the comments. Survivornews.net is a good place to get the skinny (and the fat) on the contestants. Jennifer at fortysomething always has a good "after" discussion. So...Survivors ready???

Legs for Charity Day!!

Today is Tuesday, our "Legs for Charity Day" where we vote by $$$ for the best legs where I work. This year we had fifteen entries, eliminate three each week so it has been five fine Tuesdays. *smirk*

Speaking of Tuesdays, Mike Sanders has gone to a once-a-week posting. On Tuesdays. Give him a peek.

Hope your day goes well!

One of the sadnesses of my life is that I do not have children. At this stage of the game it is not something I dwell upon. It is what it is. Richard has a wonderful piece on childless couples here. Thanks.

oh great. I have email from Lisa, regarding my pen1s. That's just duckie!

Just one of those bluesy days.

Sometimes it happens. Sometimes you wake up and just know it's gonna be a bluesy kind of day. And it was.
Sometimes I try to distract myself from these days: go to a movie, read a hot book, find a friend, turn on the orange.
Today I just went down with the day, rolled with it, seeing where it took me. Hopefully tomorrow I'll come out on the other side.

Unconscious Mutterings

Wedding:: Yesterday, Bob and Crystal's
Roach:: Coach
Expense:: Account
Fight:: the good Fight
Air:: Force
Protect:: and defend
Glance:: Second
Boo:: my baby Brother
Steamy:: sex
Caviar:: icky

Places we're checking out:
Creative Class: How does your city rank?

Benchmarks in information services.

C. S. Lewis Conference at Taylor University March 12-14, 2004.

What's in a name? Click here.
Your name of Shirl gives you a very happy-go-lucky, spontaneous nature. You see the humorous side of many situations and can laugh at yourself as well as at others. This name gives you a musical, artistic nature and you would do well in any occupation in the entertainment field. You have many friends because of your generous, happy nature, but if crossed you have a quick temper, although your annoyance does not last too long. You do enjoy an argument and will at times say things just to get others going and then you sit back and enjoy the debate. You lack system and order and find it very difficult to budget and save money. This name creates a nature that can be the life of the party, but many times you can become involved in emotional situations against your better judgment. Your compassionate nature causes you to be too generous and you often give more than you can afford to.

And a very different nature emerges if I check out the name Shirley, which is what I use on the job.

I forgot to say GO GREEN this morning, and drat . . . Michigan State lost in the final minute! Darn!

She gets around.

WittBitts has a piece on Baby Safety spoons! What will they think of next?

At the movies:

Oh yeah! Matchstick Men. With Nic Cage. Directed by Ridley Scott. Well worth the $7.50. (How much are movies going for in your area?)

And picked this one up at Rune's:



You are a muse.

What legend are you?. Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox

So I Howled at the Moon One More Time.

The first and only time I saw Johnny Cash sing in person was at the MichiganFest in 1995. I hadn't been feeling well that summer. Johnny and June and crew sang on a Wednesday night, a balmy August night with the almost full moon rising as they took the stage. (Remember, this is farm country, and you can see those big old moons cross the horizon.)

Johnny talked about the moon, about how it made him feel like howling, and sure enough, within minutes the crowd of 30,000 was howling together at the rising orb.

I felt better after that concert.

Tonight, as I was returning home from the mall, I spotted the moon rising in my rearview mirror. As I turned south, I watched it emerge over the trees. I couldn't help it. I howled.

Thanks, Johnny. Thanks, June. Bet you're having a grand old time tonight!

Hmmmm....I almost bought a Tom Clancy at the bookstore tonight. Quiz found at Bryn's.


What fiction genre are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

They didn't want me!

Yesterday was my last day for calling in for jury duty...and they didn't want me.

It was odd. The summons was for district court. The notice said that there were about forty jurors. Can you believe it? Another employee from our company (we have about 40 employees) was also on this week's roster. Odd.

It's impossible not to get caught up in memories today. Catch you all tomorrow!

Harvest Moon Tonight!

I feel eee.

Ummm. Comments are back. Blogrolling is down. Long live the web!

Wednesday Wonder

There were three activities to choose from for this week's wonder. I chose:

Take a stroll through a cemetery. Observe markers. Which ones pique your curiosity? Do the family plots intrigue you, or the lone plot tucked under an ancient shrub? Imagine the stories of the people memorialized and write a page about what that person or family might have been like.

I enjoy strolling in cemeteries and have taken some photos of some of the statue type markers. My favorite is a lifesize woman clad in nightgown, barefoot, and clinging to a cross. I had always figured she was a marker for a young woman who had died a lingering death in the early 1900's and whose faith had sustained her through her time of illness. I realized that I had never actually looked at the individual stones in that plot, so I wandered over and had a look-see. And now I have MORE to wonder about!

There are three markers that go with that plot. One is Mother, with dates from 1842 to 1917. One is Son: 1873. And the third one is Wife: 1865 to 1929.

Wife can't go with Son. Where is Husband? And why are there two necklaces wrapped around the crossbar of the cross, on the side away from the road? Hmmm.

Susan reports that comments appear to be back. So here we go: testing, testing, testing.

Well, this evening will tell the tale on YACCS. Status is posted here.

Jury Duty

I have jury duty this week. The summons is for district court, and the way it is set up is that the juror calls each morning between 9:15 and 9:40. If selected, the juror has until 10:15 to get downtown, park in one of four city ramps, and get to the sixth floor of City Hall. The notice says a juror probably won't have to sit, but to call Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Today is also our Legs for Charity day, where we set out cups with pictures of the installers' legs and vote for the best set by dropping money in the cup. It is a relaxed day with a little bit of eye candy.

Wanna bet I have to go down to City Hall today? That's just how my luck has been going lately.

Hope your day goes well!

Oh yeah! Otto reminds us about Connect8. Check it out, today is the day!

Red Clover, Red Clover,
Send Summer Back Over

Monday Madness
1. Describe the perfect setting for a picnic. A little two-track in the Montana Highwoods, next to a little stream that we've crossed in the jeep. There is a beaver dam about 100 yards east of us, which makes the stream deeper right here.

2. What's in your picnic basket? A loaf of bread, baloney, cheese, a partial bag of chips and bananas.

3. Who is joining you for your picnic? My brother Boo, his wife Ruby, and their three girls.

This was the most perfect picnic. However, I'm a picnic type of gal, and we usually attend several family picnics throughout the summer. I usually bring the fruit salad and the baked beans.

Good questions, otto!

Lynn did a tutorial at Mandarin Design on colorization which was really simple and easy to follow.
She also gives tips in these comments as to how to put a border on a picture. Way Cool!

(Had to edit this because I said cool three times. Eek!

What—or who—is your forbidden fruit?
What is it that you crave but cannot have? Is it a fiendishly delicious but fatty food? Perhaps it’s a delectable but emotionally incompatible lover? Is your forbidden fruit a sinfully satisfying activity that aggravates a physical condition? We all have a forbidden fruit, so juicy and palatable, hanging from a taboo tree. What mouth watering something must you keep at a distance?

Ouch! Men named Ron. There have been two of them, wonderful guys, but both were involved with other women and I ended up on the short end of both relationships.

In an interesting bit of symmetry: both other women were named Sherry, both Rons were born in October (though one is a Libra and one a Scorpio), and one was 14 years older and one 14 years younger.

Maybe if there was a Ron just my age? Hmmm.

Unconscious Mutterings

Bookends:: not enough!
Compliment:: thank you!
Gutter::my mind
Obsession:: passion
Heavy:: thinker
Real:: true
Disposable::razors
Breeze:: sea
Work:: sucks
Sweetheart::*grin*

L O N E L Y

Half-time. MSU 31 - Rutgers 21. Go Green!

Retreat

When you type in retreat at Merriam Webster you get:

Main Entry: 1re·treat
Pronunciation: ri-'trEt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English retret, from Middle French retrait, from past participle of retraire to withdraw, from Latin retrahere, from re- + trahere to draw
Date: 14th century
1 a (1) : an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable (2) : the process of receding from a position or state attained b (1) : the usually forced withdrawal of troops from an enemy or from an advanced position (2) : a signal for retreating c (1) : a signal given by bugle at the beginning of a military flag-lowering ceremony (2) : a military flag-lowering ceremony
2 : a place of privacy or safety : REFUGE
3 : a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, and instruction under a director

I have a new definition I'd like to add: re-treat. To treat again. I think I'll go have another cookie.

Okay, posting into the void. Blog*spot will return someday, I think. Susan had this trick and I want to see if it works. It was 39° out this morning. Oh yay, it works! To get the degree symbol press the alt key and then type (on the key pad) 0176. Sweet! And cold.

Wow! Blogger is finally up (it's been down for 7 hours). Now if blogspot can make it back up we might just be in business. Drat! I wish Saturday morning wasn't my big blogging time. This has been frustrating!

We'll be playing with the zonkboard a little this weekend. Let's try it here first.

EDIT: Moved up to the top post again on Saturday.

This is the latest update from YACCS.

Estimated time for fix: September 8, 7PM EST

Update (September 3, 4:35 PM EST): It looks like the old server is still failing intermittently. I can't debug the problem (since the server is located across the country), so the quickest solution is to ship a new server to the colocation facility. I'm going to build a server tomorrow and ship it on Friday. It should arrive Monday, September 8 around 6PM EST and should be online around 7PM.

Again, I apologize for the downtime. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to speed things up; the process of ordering and shipping a server takes time, and yesterday was the first day since the outage that any stores were open.

The good news is that the new server is much better than the old one, so the site should be significantly faster/more responsive once it's running.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Part of me says, "Go get another comment system."

The other part of me says hang tight and wait for YACCS.

I guess I'll sit tight for now and .... there's a zonkboard down in the lower left hand corner. (Should I move it up a bit?) Hope you all are doing well!

Scrapbooking Links
Scrapbooking.com
Creative Scrapbooking
Creative Memories
Creating Keepsakes
dMarie

AND IT IS A RED LETTER DAY FOR ANOTHER REASON.

I picked my vehicle up at the shop about 2:00 p.m. Matt's wife and little girl were there. The little girl is about 18 months old, absolutely adorable with saucer blue eyes. She googooed something and smiled at me.

"She thinks you're her grandma," her mom said.

Now, I'm definitely old enough to be grandma of a child much older...but this was the first time I had been identified as such. I was just talking to MY mother on the phone: she can remember when she had the same experience of being called "grandma" by an unrelated child. She figures it's one of those marker moments.

What a day.

Bryn is back! YAY!

YACCS is not back. *sigh*

Check out Scott's Caption game. Here.

HOW DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE ATTEMPTED TO STEAL YOUR CAR LAST NIGHT?

Clue 1. The seat is not in the position you left it in.
Clue 2. (For the clueless like me.) You put your key into the ignition, but the ignition isn't there. It's been mangled. BIG BIG Clue!

Yep, I got caught last night. Hadn't locked the doors. Normally that's not an issue in this mostly college-aged/multi-national apartment complex. But last night or this morning I must have helped a good boy or girl go bad. At least they didn't succeed.

You know it's probably time to look at a newer car when your mechanic (wonderful awesome MATT) meets you at the garage door and asks "What kind of self-respecting car thief would try to steal that?"

On the other hand, until I have a garage I can call my own, it probably behooves me to stick with older model vehicles.

And how was your day?

(BTW, meg: love this lemonchiffon!)

From status.blogger.com:

Tuesday, September 02, 2003
There is a BlogSpot-wide networking problem currently occurring which started a little over an hour ago. Full resources are being devoted to this problem at this time.

I think the internet is trying to tell me to shut up. *sigh*

*grin*
Leah, I just found your creativity list at Amazon! Cool! I was tracking Julia Cameron. I didn't know that she had been married to Martin Scorsese.

Good Tuesday Morning!
Hope all who celebrated Labor Day yesterday are rested and ready for a short week. Sometimes those can be hectic, but it was nice having the day off, wasn't it? We start the week with Statement Run and Payroll. Oh goodie! At least it is also round two of the "Legs for Charity" contest. Now where did I put my dollar bills?

Big 10 Football - oh yeah!

I'm a spring/summer person. Fall/winter are not my favorite times of year. But an element has been added to autumn the last ten years that has made it much more palatable. And that element is: Big Ten Football! I live in the shadow of Michigan State University. I graduated from the school years ago. Until 1994, I had attended exactly ONE football game. Fortunately that has changed.

The boss has season tickets given to him. He only goes to one or two games. (Of course, the MICHIGAN game is usually high on the list of the games he goes to, but two years ago *grin*). He divies the rest of the tickets up among the staff. The only criteria is...you must go! He hates to give away tickets and then hear that they weren't used.

Back in 1994, my nephew Paul was my companion to the games. He was seven years old, but my sister and her husband somehow let him go. He was so little but so interested in the game. I remember that it was an Indiana game, and we sat way up in the next to the last row of the south side of the stadium. He would ask questions and most of the time I could answer them. We stayed until the very end of the game.

A precedent was started that year. Paul still goes to the games with me, even though now he's a tall 16-year-old and I have to ask him about some of the calls. Now he leads through the crowds, his height and broad shoulders cutting an easy swath through the masses. He's a mighty nice kid.

As a family we started doing a group trip to the stadium in 1995. This year we're set for the October homecoming game. We'll have a fine tailgate, good talk, and hopefully a win for our Spartans.

So be prepared if you stop by the OTHER SIDE during the next few months ... you're in Spartan Country!

Everyone needs a battle cry, don't you think? Swiped from FerroLad.

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Prowling amidst the hotel lobby, carrying a jeweled meat hammer, cometh Shirl! And she gives a spectacular scream: "I'm seriously going to brutalize you until you taste like chicken!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

Monday Madness!
1. If you discovered the brakes on your car weren't working, what would be the first thing you'd do? (Assume that you NEEDED to stop.)
If enough time, I'd downshift to slow the car, then apply emergency brake.
2. Do you consider yourself to be a safe driver; respecting speed limits and all other road rules?
That's a toughie...I try to respect speed limits, but if you've ever come down I-75 on a Sunday afternoon you have to keep up with the flow somehow to be safe...so there's my quandary.
3. If you see someone on the side of the road that appears to be having car problems, would you stop to help them? Why or why not?
As a woman driving alone I probably wouldn't stop unless I could see children involved.

Happy Labor Day

Comments update:
Update (August 31, 12:25 AM EST): The server has been repaired; however, due to the fact that it is Labor Day weekend in the US, I may not be able to reinstall/reconnect the server until Tuesday, September 2 (or possibly September 3). I apologize for the downtime; I will make sure to keep this page updated.

Okay, they're coming back out. I can't believe how much I miss them. I know, I know, I need a zonkboard, Bryn *grin*.

UPDATE: Push just came to shove. A Basic Zonkboard has been installed at the bottom of the left-hand column!

Unconscious Mutterings:

Kiss:: First
Nothing:: void
Reach:: out and touch
Late:: Early
Stump:: Forest
Dreams:: Nightmares
LOL:: Lots of love
Ornament:: Christmas
Neck:: Bite
Guitar:: String

Big Ten Football

I suspect I'm going to be in trouble with LillyAnne and Otto, but:

Go Green!!

The Circulating Journal is now at Onyx's.

Changes Changes Changes Changes

Kathryn has moved to A Mindful Life.

Farrago is now the Flightless Penquin.

There, that wasn't so bad now, was it?

Friday, August 29, 2003 12:15 PM EST

Rate Your Music and YACCS are down due to a server failure.

Services are expected to return to normal in 24 - 48 hours.

Thanks,

Hossein Sharifi (sharifi@cc.gatech.edu)

Pulling code now. Hope I can remember where I stick it. *grin*

I surely do miss comments!!

Glory Bear Meets a Mountain Goat

Ms. Glory Bear looks like she might be in a little danger here, but have no fear. She is perched on a fence in front of a goat sculpted by the Blackfoot artist John L. Clarke. A small gallery of his work is maintained in East Glacier, Montana.

Want to up your Google hits? Add the word "cliff notes" somewhere. I can't believe the number of folks trying to find cliff notes for Empire Falls or The Secret Life of Bees. Interesting!

I'm currently reading Annie Proulx' That Old Ace in the Hole. Let's see if we can get some hits for that. *grin*

You will have difficulty finding outlets for your own minor creative abilities. from Bad Fortune Cookie. Link supplied from Susan.

It gets worse:

If you do something right the first time, no one will appreciate how difficult it was.

eep. Looks like blog*spot spots are down. awww.

See, I'm in Good Company.

"I am in love with Montana. For other states, I have admiration, respect, recognition, even affection, but with Montana, it is love." -- John Steinbeck

Charity Tuesday. (How Giving Can Be Fun.) (or...Shirl Exposes Herself as a Dirty Old Lady.)

The last Tuesday of the month is "Charity Tuesday" at the office. There are six of us in the office. On Charity Tuesday two uf us bring in treats for a bake sale and we all wear something unusual according to a theme. (Could be aprons or something related to baseball or slippers or....you get the idea. Yesterday it was keychains. Carla made the cutest necklace out of a keychain.)

Anyway, once a year we also run a "Legs for Charity" Contest. The boss said we could as long as it was unofficial and no one was coerced. It involves pictures of the installers' legs on individual cups. We vote for the "best" legs by donation. Each week we eliminate the three lowest fundraisers.

Of course, someone had to take the pictures. *Smirk smirk* Not a bad job at all!

Now, let's see if I have the courage to leave this exposure up.

Open Range

I like Kevin Costner. I like the west. Nice combination in Open Range, which was filmed in the northern Rockies of Alberta, and reminded me of what the beautiful Rocky Mountains look like on a clear day.

Coming up in the fall: Master and Commander, with Russell Crowe. It tickles me when I hear about something from two different sources, two different perspectives. I interviewed one of our owners in July. He had just finished reading the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin Series of sixteen books about ship-life in the Napoleonic era. And here we are, book 1 already in the can. Cool!

Shhhhh...don't tell Michelle but I stole her grapes and I'm gonna stomp them and make some...grape juice. Shhhhhh.

Speaking of art, I've been remiss. Go visit Leah's new art site! Please!

Monday Madness

1. What is your favorite form of art, and why? Hmmm. I have too many favorites to select just one.
2. What, in your opinion, is your greatest artistic talent? Unfortunately, I have none. *sigh*
3. If you were given a blank canvas and some oil paints, what would you paint? Mountains and streams
4. What is your favorite subject to photograph? Nieces and nephews.
5. Are you musically inclined? Please elaborate! A modicum of musical inclination. Play violin and piano and sing semi-in tune.

I told you that dang Ms. Glory Bear liked to eat!

Seriously, this is the "World Best Huckleberry French Toast", as posted outside the Whistlestop Cafe in East Glacier, Montana. (The sign said World, not World's.) It's a divey little place but that is not hyperbole on their sign...this french toast is perfect.

East Glacier is having trouble with a grizzly that likes to stroll through town in the middle of the night. I bet he/she is looking for some of this french toast.

Connect 8 is the newest photo idea from sh1ft.org. I'm considering it.

Unconscious Mutterings: Now I know I'm back!

Bay:: City
Boarding school::Away
Riddle:: Joke
Hunger:: Thirst
Allergy:: Hay Fever
Sponsored:: Adoption
Spin:: Dizzy
Interest:: Money
Scrabble:: Game
Mold:: Jello

Bobbi let the cat out of the bag. Happy Birthday, John!

Just think, if Michigan had a gubernatorial recall, we could have:
Ted Nugent (he's actually considering a 2006 run)
Jeff Daniels (he's such a honey)
Shirley Muldowney (good name and in a car-dominated state a race driver would fit right in)
Eminem (if he's old enough)
"Magic" Johnson (though he seems to only come home for visits now)
Bob Seger
Madonna (rumor has her having property up in the little finger area)


...run.


Actually, we like Jennifer just fine, thankyouverymuch! It's just fun to think about the umm, errr....possibilities? How would your state/province fare?

Newsletter Survey Question this Month

If we have no new employees to interview for the company newsletter, we ask a blanket question of the employees and print the answers. Question this month: Poof! You've just been turned into an animal. What animal would you be?

My answer: A Montana Rainbow Trout. And I know which canyon of the Missouri I'd like to hang out in. MMMhmmmm.

Which animal would you be poofed into?

Good Saturday Morning!

If you have to come back to work after a long vacation, it's nice to come back the week the boss is on his vacation. Making it even better is that the office's "toxic person" was also on vacation! I have had a nice week.

Somehow I had this recommended reading thingee in my list of bookmarks. I put in my URL and got a list of possible reads. One of them was Mighty Girl. Good read! Now I'm going over to Susan's for the Saturday morning me.

Richard has Myers-Briggs Prayers posted. Here's mine:

INFP: God, help me to finish everything I sta

Richard is an INFP also.

Just played Obsfucation, the Blog game, over at ottos. Cool game!

Montana Weather

Susan asked about the weather on my Montana vacation. The answer: Record-breaking heat! Our first few days the mercury was hitting between 100-107. It was a much drier heat than we have here in Michigan. Our humidity is legendary (must be all those lakes or something). In Montana, they actually have 101 degree days with a heat index of 97. Weird.

The heat and dryness exacerbated (and exasperated firefighters who couldn't tell fresh fires in the dense air) the fire situation. There are three fires burning in Glacier, one huge one in Waterton (the connecting Canadian park), and numerous other ones listed in the paper each day. We had clear blue skies on Sunday (that's the pictures below), but on Sunday afternoon the Glacier fires blew up again. We had left for Great Falls and Helena at the time. When the air currents are right, the smoke hangs in the valleys. It hangs so much so that the Glacier fires were blocking the mountain views in Helena, over 100 miles to the south.

But that's how it is with Montana vacations. Beach vacations are where I relax. Montana vacations are about challenges, about pushing limits, about looking life square in the eye. And each time I come home stronger.

The Century Project.

A beautiful portrait of women baring themselves in all ages and stages. Found through Sugar-n-Spicy, thanks!

The Circulating Journal:

The Circulating Journal has moved on to Onyx. Contact her if you'd like to be next!

Wednesday...Transition day from vacation to reality *grin*

I got home from work today and crashed for a couple of hours. I think I'm finally off the train and back in Michigan!

Susan found this site, which guesses gender according to a writing sample. It guessed that I was a girl. Good guess! But I see it thought Jennifer at fortysomething was a guy. Hmm. Brother Jeeem has six more days before he sets off to China. Good luck, cyber-bro! Mandarin Design's meg is going to help him pull off multi-continental blogging.

Lynn has adoreable pictures of her grandson. Kathryn has a link to this nature site: we didn't see anything like that in Montana! Kathryn also got her first referral from her professional web-site. Congratulations!

Bryn's treasure is home! Whew. It took awhile, but we're glad Jeff is there. Cybertoad has been to Miami. I missed Roscoe at Union Station...but I did look! And amit takes us all to Zion.

Blogrolling to be continued...

Running Eagle Falls



This fall has also been called "Trick Falls" and to see why check here. The Two Medicine area is one of the settings for the book "Fools Crow" by James Welch. Shoot, googling this I just learned that Welch passed away August 7.

YOU ARE CATNIP


What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Swiped this from Joni. Thanks!

Morning! Still sorting out digital pictures and haven't made it to Meijers to get the film pics developed. (Dang work has to go and interfere...plus Mom turned 75 yesterday. Happy Birthday, Mom!)

Anyway, this is the other companion on our Montana trip...Ms. Glory Bear. She will have her own scrapbook. She eats and drinks a lot, even when she's surrounded by beautiful scenery. That's Sinopah mountain behind her, in the Glacier Two Medicine area.

Monday Madness.

Adults:
1. When I was a kid, my favorite game was Enny-I-Over.
2. One of my best memories is when my family went camping.
3. As a kid, I always wanted to be a violinist in the NBC orchestra when I grew up, because I loved the Bonanza theme song..

ummm. okay. let's see, how does this blogger thing work again? morning folks. got home about 12:30 this morning, it is now 6:30, and I can't seem to quite stop bouncing with the train. *grin* It was a great trip!

This is it. Shower, dress, get picked up by sis and brother-in-law and long tall Paul, and it is westward-ho.

Some bloggers blog politics, some tech, some art. I have been most fortunate. You have shared your love with me. Thank you.

Think of me. Here.

Yay! Cybertoad did it! She got her 26Things up before I left!

Beautiful job!

The Circulating Journal has reached Michigan, but I can't send it on until I get back from vacation (8/19). I have to see who I come back as first. *grin*

Bryn authored the Wednesday Wonder last week, and it was a lovely one on summer. I worked with this starting point:

Make a list of the things that you personally love to reminisce about from your own summertime memories.

Scents often trigger my summer memories. Some of the triggers are:

Smell of swamp. Weird, I know, but Grandma and Grandpa P had a house near a lake and they were reclaiming some land from the swamp. (Perfectly fitting, as Grandpa was from the Netherlands, that feisty little country.) So when I smell swamp, I think of all the fun times we, the eight cousins, had visiting our grandparents and Aunt N. Our boy cousins, Dave and Charlie, spent more time there, so they would show us all the neat things they had found. It was the place of swimming and fishing (not in the swamp in the lake) and exploring and growing up. It's gone now, but the memories live on.

The tang of pine. There's a certain twist of pine that I catch every now and then and immediately I'm back at church camp on Lake Michigan. The path to the prayer chapel was sweetly pine-laden. (And we had a great time moving all our counselor's belongings ... bed, vanity, and all, there one day.) The camp is still there, but the old dorms, the old prayer chapel...all gone. (Sheesh, I can be such a whiner.)

A humid, slightly fishy smell. Ah. Lake Michigan. The A Destination if you live in Michigan. (Okay otto, I'm waiting for you to get back from California and refute this.) If the fishy smell was TOO strong it meant the alewives were playing hob with the beach. Then we headed inland.

Clean, strong, dry scent of Montana. The smell that has always struck my nostrils as I hop off the train at East Glacier. The smell of home. Yeah, I have a one-track mind!

Great wonder, bryn!

Another 26Things here. This one from Kathryn, who got a new digital camera for her baby geezer birthday and boy is she learning how to use it! Great job!

Can you see my grin through your computer monitor????

15 hours and the adventure begins! For Montana trips I revert to "Pearl" and I call my mom "Lil". Pretty good mountain women names, doncha think?

Choo-choo!

In less than 36 hours I jump on the AMTRAK and begin my vacation, heading west. I've been dancing in my seat all week at work. It's time!

Cybertoad has been bugging folks today! *grin* Okay, now, we're standing by for your 26Things, missie! Speaking of 26Things, check out FARRAGO's alternate 26. Oh my!

Amit has us in Vegas now. Gorgeous pics!

Uhoh...Jann's been having trouble with her air conditioning. Her repairmen sound nothing like ours. Ours are clean, neat respectable and a couple of them are drop-dead gorgeous. But finally she is cold!

It's a small world here in Blogville. Roscoe Ellis and I will both be in Chicago's Union Station on Friday! What are the odds of that? If you saw The Untouchables with Kevin Costner you've seen Union Station: remember the baby buggy coming down the steps? It also was one of the locations for My Best Friend's Wedding, but if that included the womens bathroom scene--I've never seen those bathrooms!

Last week's Wednesday Wonder was brought to us by Bryn...and I'm gonna have it up soon, ma'am!

(more posting coming...I'm multi-tasking between packing, laundry, and visiting blogs)

Think back through your life and recall any library experiences you remember, then write about whatever comes up. These may be memories of storytimes, finding illicit information as a teenager (we had to learn somehow), how a librarian assisted us as we desperately searched for references for a term paper, cramming for exams in college, or of getting lost in a book for hours.

This was part of the Wednesday Wonder two weeks ago, and it set off thinking about the libraries in my life. Here's my start.

B E

That should say BE above, but it isn't showing right now. Hmmm.

Voting Day.

On the ballot: mayor, city council, and a library millage proposal. Kathryn's Wednesday Wonder was about libraries and I've been thinking about all the friends and great experiences I've had due to libraries throughout the years. How can I not vote for this millage? Wouldn't want anyone to miss out on their chance. So our libraries thank you, Kathryn! (And I'm still working on my "library list".)

Ummm yeah, right! Swiped from Richard.


You are Beauty.

You are beautiful, whether it be on the inside, the
outside, or both. People are drawn to you as
strongly as you are drawn to the beauty in the
world around you.


What Emotion Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Glacier Park Fire.

The Glacier Park Fires are being contained. The fires are on the West side of Glacier Park and our plans are for the east side, but we have been monitoring the situation and it is good to see progress being made.

Monday Madness:

1. What's a situation in your life that you felt totally unsure in, or lacking in confidence in? Ah, there are a lot of them. But we soldier on.

2. What aspect of your life do you feel that you have the most confidence in dealing with? Taking tests. Drat, I haven't taken one lately. Maybe that's why the quizzes are so much fun, eh?

3. Is there any one outfit you own that when you wear it, you feel totally confident or able to take on the world? Yep. And it's RED!

More 26Things are up!

Farrago's are here. (South Africa)

Otto's are here. (Michigan)

So many neat photos and interpretations. This was fun!

Edit at 11:00 p.m. EDT

Hey there, here's another one I've been waiting for, Jennifer at fortysomething. Sweet!

Unconscious Mutterings:

I say … and you think … ?

Hook:: Captain
Greg:: Van Stratt
Sixty:: Stan
Breakfast:: of Champions
Dollar:: Doughnut
Unpredictable:: Wiffle-Waffle
O:: Come All Ye Faithful
Bathing suit:: One piece
Inconsiderate:: Rude
Marx:: Groucho

Oh yeah, it's Saturday!

I always like to stop over at Susan's on Saturday morning for her "Saturday Morning Me's". They're fun to read. (And I usually go back later in the day to see what Kane is wearing. *smirk*) Susan has a second site for more personal writing here. (Is it okay if I say that, Susan?)

Kathryn's Wednesday Wonder last week set off a long thought process. It was multi-faceted, and one of the facets was: Think back through your life and recall any library experiences you remember, then write about whatever comes up. A lot of stuff came up, and I'm off this afternoon to grab a few pics of some of the libraries in question. (I do love books and have spent a considerable amount of time in libraries through the years, now that I think about it.) Thanks, Kathryn!

Eek! I missed my cyber-brother Jeeem's birthday. Drat! Jeeem is off to China in September to teach. He has great postings about his plans!

Yay! Bryn has links to the Fly-Lady! I had read an article about her a few months back, but the url wasn't working when I tried it, so thanks bryn!

Lynn has her 26things up and they're great! Otto, I'm keeping my eye open for yours *grin*. Anyone else?

Roscoe is going to jump on the AMTRAK and visit family in Indiana. Next Friday Mom and I jump on the AMTRAK and head to...Montana. mmmmhmmm. Yep. It appears that all systems are go.

Speaking of vacations, amit is taking us on a tour of his. Check out those super pics! ahhh.

Time goes too fast on the internet, have you noticed? I have to go finish laundry. Catch y'all later!

Friday Five:

1. What time do you wake up on weekday mornings? 5:45 a.m.

2. Do you sleep in on the weekends? How late? Yes. 7:45 a.m.

3. Aside from waking up, what is the first thing you do in the morning? Turn off the alarm, boot up the internet

4. How long does it take to get ready for your day? Well, because I stop on the internet first....hour and a half. Basical readiness: 45 minutes

5. When possible, what is your favorite place to go for breakfast?
Country Corners. Yum.