Leaving on a jet plane!

Today's the day - Mal and I are taking a whirlwind (literally only a few days) trip out to Arizona. We plan to rest, relax and see some old friends. We'll be up in the mountains so it will be about the same temps as here, but the scenery is beautiful and just not having a schedule is always a welcome (and needed) change. I hope to snap lots of pictures (taking the new camera - don't know quite how to use it yet) to share with you when I return. Didn't work out for Tanner to help me with electronics last night, so we'll see how I do on my own. See you in a few days!

Learning again

Here I go...learning new things again, now that I'm 50 (actually passed 50 to be honest)! While I hate to admit that I have been dragging my feet, (you all will remember my hesitancy to submit to the new cell phone and the ensuing situations from that) - I have. My children purchased me a new digital camera and an Ipod Nano for my birthday - not last one either! I'm so bad. I just seem to not have time to learn a new gadget - really I suppose that's an excuse. But no matter, not to worry, tonight I dug and dug and dug in that packed closet (wherein somewhere my tennis shoes have been "eaten" again!) and I pulled out my treasures. I read the "get started" guide for the camera, only to learn that I have to download software and read pdf files to really learn how to use it. However, with the help of my son Tanner, tomorrow evening I am going to not only become an expert user of my new digital camera, he is also going to show me how to download music to my new Ipod. Both magical electonic devices will accompany me on my trip cross country to Arizona on Saturday. I can't wait to use them. I will let you know how it goes - and you can all be sending your good thoughts and wishes to Tanner, whom I know will be dually frustrated by the end of tomorrow evening! P.S. I used to be a relatively intelligent person.

Getaway!

This weekend (Saturday to be exact) my daughter and I are taking a few days off. We are flying to Arizona to stay for a couple days in the resort where she worked when she was in school. I am looking forward to relaxing and trying to get my brain to stop for a few minutes! Typically our phones don't work there, so that eliminates some stress already! It's in the mountains, so it will be cooler than it is here, but can you say "hot tub" - yay! We are looking forward to hooking up with some old friends, having a couple of bridesmaid fittings, eating Apache frybread, and going to our favorite church on the reservation. This will probably be our last mother/daughter getaway before she becomes a married woman in the spring, so I'm sure it will be bittersweet. I'm anticipating taking a ton of pictures, so next week you can re-live my adventure with me!

Windy!

"We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto!" That's how it feels out there today - windyyyyyyyyyy! This morning I opened the sliding glass door (as I do every morning) to let the dog out. Now, I am kinda lazy sometimes and so when the weather's half way decent, I just leave the slider open that few minutes before he comes back in wanting a treat (if he didn't bark to call all his little friends who live around us!). Anyway, this morning, I did that and went into the kitchen to throw a bagel quickly into the toaster as I was running a little later than I had anticipated, (gotta synchronize those clocks in the house!) and when I turned around to check on Pockets, all these fluffy, "sticky looking", tumbleweedie type "things" had blown in my house - not little, either. They're about 6" around - not prickly, very lightweight and now all over my dining room! I assume they're off of someone's tree somewhere (who knows with this wind). So, this afternoon on my lunch break I decided I'd better run by home and put the garbage can in the garage, so as to avoid the inevitable "chase the can down the street" later and again, I let Pockets out and tried to scoot, kick, and finally pick up these new found friends, only to find them blowing in the house faster than I could throw them out. So here they are. I guess when the wind dies down in a couple days, I'll try to gather them up and throw them back out where they can be free - I wonder what they are?

Coincidence?

Sometimes I think too much. Sometimes I analyze things over and over again. Sometimes I micro manage a thought. But always and every time - I enjoy it! Yesterday at the pow wow I ran into an old friend of mine that I had not seen for at least three, maybe four years. So the obsessiveness of thinking that came out of that "coincidental" meeting? A myriad of thoughts posing this question to my brain. What are all the things that had to happen at precisely the correct moment for my friend Tiffany and I to run into each other at the same vendor table on the same floor of the same hotel at the same pow wow an hour and a half from her home town (2 hours from mine) at precisely the same time? If we had left 15 minutes later from home (or 15 minutes earlier) - if we had spent 10 minutes more watching the dancing - if we had spent 20 minutes more eating lunch - if we had stayed downstairs and watched the eagle longer - and on and on and on. Doesn't anyone else ever think this way when something happens precisely at a certain time? It was nice to see her and catch up briefly with her life and meet her husband. But still I have to wonder - was that an "arranged" happening? Or was it just a mere coincidence?

Birthday celebration!

Head male dancer leading the snake dance.

Dancers in the snake dance.

Marilea and Karen (two of the birthday girls).

Tracey and Judy (Tracey's birthday is also this week).

Marilea (her birthday is actually today).

Today was my friend Marilea's birthday. Some of us travelled up to Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Lodge Resort for their first ever indoor intertribal pow wow. It was fun. We watched the dancing, did a little shopping, ate some Indian tacos (made with frybread, of course), and ate some ice cream before heading back to Bloomington to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate three of our group having birthdays this week - Marilea, Tracey, and Karen will all turn one year older this week, Marilea's birthday actually being today. We all agreed that the most necessary part of our getting together is the laughter - everyone needs some good old "belly laughing" in their lives. If you don't have an opportunity for that - seek it out. Find a friend that shares laughter with you. It really is a great stress reliever and a healthy boost to your system. Happy birthday girls, and thanks for the laughs!

Not much happening...yet everything's happening!

That's how I feel these days - not much out of the ordinary happening, yet I've no extra time for anything! Wedding planning and busywork are going on, holiday gift certificate plans for work are happening, decoration ideas are swarming in my head, notification of work information plans are surfacing.....on and on - yet none of that seems "blog worthy". Sorry I'm so boring! Patrick's birthday was last week and I tried out my new pan that allows you to bake your cake in letters - Mal and I made him a "P" cake - pretty fun - and just what I needed - a whole cake hanging around my house - no matter what shape it is - ha! I did make a new necklace last weekend that I just adore. It's very nice flatter round beads of fluorite (one of my favorite stones). It's hard to tell in this picture but it's several colors of fluorite and the heart I wrapped and attached is mainly purple fluorite with some other colors just at the top. I did go to the Field Shopping Center in Morton Saturday for a little vendor sale of people who were displaying the jewelry they'd made, then went over to a beading store I'd not been to before and a store that benefits other countries from the sale of their items. Kinda scattered info - sorry! Tomorrow I'll do better, I promise!

Falling

And now for a "philosophical" twist - something to ponder. Without the assistance of wind, birds, or squirrels, what makes a leaf fall from a tree? As I stood outside Saturday morning, I heard a slight rustling in my tree out front and watched as a leaf fell to the ground. No birds, no wind, no squirrels - nothing else happening, just this leaf falling. That's what made me wonder - what makes the leaf fall. Does it simply "lose it's grip" or does it know instinctively it's "time to let go"? Hmmm. I looked on the internet but only found answers to why leaves change color (something about length of night and chlorophyll and some other big words). Then as we drove along a big "bang" noise occurred and we decided (since we were driving in a neighborhood with trees overhanging the street) that a walnut must have fallen at precisely that moment and landed on the roof of the car. Hmmm again. Why that moment? I could turn now to a big symbolic discussion about similarities to this leaf and nut and passing time and events in our lives - about hanging on too tightly and too long or abandoning ourselves to change, etc. - but I think I'll let you do that in your mind - now that I got you thinking in that direction! Enjoy the beauty of this season all around you today and let it speak to you in whatever way it can!

Life Begins at 50!

Hmmm..ever heard that saying - life begins at 50? To be perfectly honest, having turned 50, and now having also turned 51, I have to say, I've had my doubts. However, it is true that I have experienced some things that I had not, in my previous 49 years experienced. Some are not fun - i.e., dry skin, forgetfulness, being more tired, etc., etc. - things that go with the aging process. But a couple things I have experienced probably have been experienced by alot of you previous to your 50's (if you're as old as me). Remember last fall when we re-modeled Studio 4:13 (where my shop is located)? I told you then that I painted for the first time in my life - didn't do too bad, if I do say so myself. It wasn't difficult, but I had just never been afforded the opportunity. Well, this fall (as in yesterday) I experienced Spoon River Drive for the first time. Previously, all I had heard was traffic, people, rain, cold, on and on the complaints continued, so I never indulged in such activity. But this time, my cousin Karen called me and enticed me with different words - kettlecorn, stones, crafts, jewelry, etc. So off we went on a road trip. Karen drove since she knew more what she was doing - we went down to Lewistown to check things out since she hadn't been there before, came up through Avon - over to London Mills for kettlecorn for Mal (Karen says London Mills has the best) then over to the shed for a brief stop at 2 rock vendors before meeting up with our other friends in Farmington. Ribeye sandwiches were wonderful, kettlecorn was fresh and delicious, and no way could anyone ever (even in the 4 day event) see everything there was to see. We did have to sit in traffic a couple times, but we just visited and chatted and had a wonderful time. I'm thinking it might just be ok to do a few things I had not experienced before - maybe I should make a list of "Things to do in my 50's". But for now, I confer, the cliche' stands - "life begins at 50".

Moments of Peace

Although peace is a concept that takes on many meanings for many people, for this discussion we are not talking about the peace that should always rule our hearts and minds no matter what our circumstances, nor are we talking about world peace. I am referring to those moments of peace where all seems to be in the right place - children are all happy and fed, everyone has jobs they go to and seem to like, bills are paid for now, groceries in the frig, food on the table - I could go on and on. Those "moments of peace" seem to come very rarely - little pieces of peace, if you will, when things all seem to line up and fall into place. They pop up here and there - something goes right unexpectedly - something happens to pleasantly surprise you - a chore goes easier or an expense turns out to be cheaper than expected. Hang on to those. Cherish them. Don't just rush on past them - be thankful for them. Because if your life is like mine - those moments of peace pass in a flash and it may be awhile until another one comes along. Have a thankful weekend and watch for some moments of peace to pop up in your life!

Amazing Creatures!

We are, by design, such amazing creatures. I marvel when I think of all the intricacies of the connections of our muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, etc. - just what it takes to keep the physical part of ourselves functioning. But I'm also intrigued and amazed with the other parts of ourselves - the soul, the spirit, our emotions, our minds - it is truly amazing. I, for one, lead a very busy (sometimes chaotic) life - so much so that I tend to function on "autopilot" sometimes - often missing some of the things in my life that should be paid closer attention to. Until, that is, something comes along that demands my attention. In my physical self that would be an ache or a pain, being tired or something like that. In my "emotional" self (for lack of a better term right now) it can also be an ache or a pain - a disappointment, loss of someone I care about, etc. Recently something happened to me that made me come face to face with the realization that a person whom I previously thought was my friend, really isn't my friend. We were only "casual" friends and hadn't seen each other for awhile, but when something big happened in this person's life, they didn't include me - it hurt my feelings for awhile, and so I had to stop and think about it. I realized then, that there are alot of emotions and feelings, reactions to things, happening inside me everyday that I never take the time to evaluate or give affirmation to - unless they "scream" at me by being painful. As I tell my massage patients, pain is your body's way of trying to communicate to you that something is amiss - don't ignore that message until it's so painful and then, consequently, harder to heal. I'm kinda trying to take my own advice, only as it pertains to my emotional/intellectual life - maybe if I tune into my feelings instead of rushing past them on the way to my busy life, I'll be more on top of who I am and how I feel about things. Hmmm...something to ponder.

Apples!

I know it's really "snippet" day, but I have much more fun stuff to show today! What a beautiful fall morning it was earlier when my mom, my two aunts, and I headed out to Elmwood to the Christ Orchard to see what "apple adventures" we could get into. The people there are very helpful and very nice. We bought apple butter, apricot preserves, a paring knife, and lots of apples - I think about 6 or 7 bushel between us all (I didn't really keep track). We stopped to admire some of the beauty around then headed into Farmington briefly to The Hog Trof restaurant where we enjoyed good conversation, good coffee, and great breakfast. We then headed back home, each of us presumably to our respective apple endeavors. I wish I could show you my apple efforts, but I haven't gotten started yet. There was a few dishes to do, a few groceries from last night to put away, clothes to change so I didn't get apples all over me, a little bowl of potato soup for a bite of late lunch - well, you get the picture. But I'm hoping soon to be posting pictures of pies, fried apples, apple crisps, apple bread, apple pancakes and more! Here's a few pictures of our fun.