Musings
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Spring Gardening
Winter has finally returned. While most of you lovely people were suffering mightily with huge snowfall and bitter cold weather, we were enjoying temperatures closing in on 80 degrees. One should not complain of such things, 80 degrees in January, but still, here in California, land of the drought, there is always a bit of worry that accompanies such weather. Drought. We had a very wet December, so our snow pack (our source of water) is pretty high, so we’re not too worried. But still, we’re somewhat worried at such a dry and warm January. Enter February, and thankfully, things have cooled off a bit, and we’re having some rain…
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Caveat Emptor
A few weeks ago, several of my Facebook friends mentioned a great LivingSocial deal, where you could get a $20 Amazon gift card, for only $10. These friends weren’t the type to get suckered into fake deals, so even though I wasn’t familiar with LivingSocial, I decided to give it a try. Everything worked out perfectly, I got my $20 gift card, and spent it on a cookbook I had been eying. Which I haven’t used yet, but am looking forward to checking out. A few days later, after receiving and redeeming my Amazon card, LivingSocial had a deal that sounded pretty darned good…a home tooth whitening kit, valued at…
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Brunette…
So here I am with my new hair color…pretty brunette, isn’t it? It’s about halfway down on the blonde spectrum, believe it or not, but gosh, that’s a dark blonde. I’m one of those blonde’s who had white blonde hair as a young child, dirty blonde hair in high school, and started coloring it for fun not long after. Fast forward 20+ years, and I don’t even know what my real hair color might be anymore. I mean, you can look at your roots, but the sun and the environment sure seem to affect that. At least a bit. So I’ve been coloring my hair for these last many many…
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Thank You, 2010
I know that 2010 was a very difficult year for some of you. Some of my friends had a horrible year, full of divorce or death or almost death or loss of jobs, or several of these things all at once. I do not in any way want to discount their pain. Some years truly suck. But some of my friends had a joyous years of birth and babies and marriage and engagements and health. I want to recognize that as well. That while some people are suffering mightily, others are celebrating and living a life of happiness and joy. And when you’re in the midst of despair, it somehow…
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Life After Yes
There is something about mothers. Whether your own or someone else’s, whether Northern or Southern, liberal or conservative, they spill bits of wisdom as they walk. They just know better. Depending on the day, this can be infuriating or enlightening. Quinn is a 26 year old Manhattan lawyer who has just become engaged to Sage, a banker from down south. They’re living in Manhattan, and the time has come to plan their wedding. Which seems like it should be a happy time, but this is early 2002, in New York, and Quinn’s father was killed in the attack on September 11. Sage is a caring man, and gives Quinn a…
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The Whirl of Gaiety
This last week has been one of fun and frivolity…at least such as a couple of middle aged folks with a teen daughter living in the suburbs could expect. And actually, that means a very nice week indeed. Saturday, of course, was Christmas. We slept in a bit, which befits the teen daughter thing. Those of you with young children have this to look forward to…the day when you have more trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve than your child(ren) do(es). We woke her up at 9ish. We had a nice morning here, with gifts and omelets and phone calls with family. Then we took showers and got dressed and went…
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Christmas thoughts…
For years, Maya wanted to make a gingerbread house. She would ask, and I would think about the mess, the candy, my lack of crafty skills, the mess, and the what-does-one-do-with-it-after aspect, and say, hmmm….maybe. But never get around to it. A local supermarket has gingerbread house parties, where you can come and pay to make one there, which seemed a perfect solution to me, but I could never seem to get there and sign her up in time. By the time I found out about the party, it was either fully booked or fully over. So I would think, maybe next year, and feel a twinge guilty for not…
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What’s new, pussycat?
(famous black cat image, which I found here) I’m sorry, little blog, for neglecting you so. It’s not that I don’t care about you, it’s just that I don’t care about you as much as I used to. Harsh? Indeed. And I’ve noticed that many of my friends’ blogs are similarly neglected. Not sure what to do about it, but one option might be to, perhaps, come visit once in awhile, write here, and make more of an effort to go visit my blog friends. Sigh. So, aside from pancakes I made weeks ago, what’s new around here? Let’s see… Today is St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas was known for…
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Potpourri
I think my friend Cherry put it best when she saw this Baskin Robbins Thanksgiving themed ice cream cake. “I don’t know if I want it, or if I want to throw up on it.” Nicely said. Which segues so very well into politics these days, and a reminder of Will Rogers’ famous quote, “I’m not a member of any organized political party…I’m a democrat!” Gah. It sure feels like that some days. Pelosi has been an amazingly effective Speaker, what with health care and so on, and yet people blow her off and say the election is her fault. Obama has accomplished quite a bit in his first two…
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Nemesis
In this day and age when parents can look in the face of disease and laugh, can feel safe deciding not to vaccinate their children against the many diseases that are now considered completely preventable, can decide that in all actuality, many vaccines are suspect and may indeed be deadly or at least dangerous, it seems interesting to look back at a time before there were vaccines for many of childhood’s diseases. Personally, I distrust the idea that a disease that can do the damage to whole communities such as diphtheria, measles, rubella, small pox, and polio is anything to be taken lightly. But I also understand the concerns with…
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Meals on Wheels
Back when my mom had her own consulting business in the mid-80s, my Grandma was her book keeper and admin assistant. My grandpa was 20 years older than my Grandma, and so he was home. For awhile, he took advantage of the local Meals on Wheels organization, of their kind volunteers, of the money donated by different organizations and the city government, though I know he paid for the meals as well. A few years later, I met my father, who it turns out was (and still is) a volunteer for Meals on Wheels. They are an amazing organization, enabling seniors to stay in their homes when they might otherwise…
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Grammar Question…
(photo found here) What’s with the quotes? Really, don’t we mean, DO NOT EAT, as in the imperative, not as in a quote from a play or something? Ted brought me home some Secretariat movie swag (knowing my horsie love), and the binoculars came with some desiccant that included this message. I was confused. Should I eat it, or was the quote really a warning? Like, “Beware the ides of March” No. Probably more than that.
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What’s Wrong with this Picture?
(found here)
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Walking with the ghosts of my ancestors…
Last week I went to Massachusetts on a business trip. It was my first time there. While I was there, attending meetings, listening to the CEO talk, working to plan the future of my company, there was a part of my brain that was wandering around outside, looking for old houses and gravestones. See, my great-grandmother’s side of the family comes from that part of the country. She was born in New Hampshire, near the Massachusetts border, and she and her family left for California in 1902. Several years ago, I dug into the world of genealogy, which is more obsessed and time consuming than blogging was 4 years ago…
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What’s Wrong with this Picture?
I’ll tell you what’s wrong. It’s a Porsche. A Porsche Cayenne. Since when did Porsche get into the dorky car market? I thought Porsche was supposed to be sexy and fast and a fantasy car. This is SO not sexy or fantasy. Not sure if it’s fast. I saw one while I was out on my walk the other day, and I confess, I died a little bit inside. Porsche is driving fast at night under the full moon, top down. It’s tight corners and Risky Business and sex and loud music and fun. It’s hanging out at the ocean and smelling the salt air and hearing the waves. It’s…