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Sunday, 08 November 2009

The Will

I think I have lost my will to blog.

That worries me.
I mean, it really really worries me.

I have so much going on and yet the words aren't there to tell you about it.

Maybe I am using them all up on NaNoWriMo? According to my word count, you can't tell it tho

Maybe I have used them up over lunches with old friends and silly fortune cookies:

"In the near future, you will discover how fortunate you are.'

As we go around the table and read them aloud, we are held to the rules of the game to add the words "in bed" to our fortunes. They cause so much laughter, other patrons turn and stare and at least one from our table makes a hasty retreat for the ladies room. Encouraged by our shennigans, our waiter brings us another round of cookies "on the house" and the riot starts all over again.
Patrons from other tables lean in and join the fun and soon there is a run on fortune cookies and half the restaurant is wheezing and redfaced.
Who knew a group of middle aged women could cause such a riot in a small Chinese restaurant?

Yes, maybe I used them all there.

Maybe I think all the good words are used up. Does that happen? Sometimes when I read your blog or your emails, I think you got all the good words and I was too late ...yet again. Is that possible?

Maybe, I think most of all; I am just tired.
There is a novel to write, a baby to be born, a granddog to sit, hospitals to visit and chickens to be fed.

Those thoughts weary me, but I am holding steadfast to my fortune:

"In the near future, you will discover how fortunate you are."

In bed or not.

I believe.

I'll find those words somewhere.

I know I will.

I'll be back.

Monday, 02 November 2009

I Love My Friends

My friends love me

In the past week I have received these as unexpected surprises:

The 'Studs n Spurs' calendar was the first surprise, given to me by my friend Angela. She invited me over for lunch and when I arrived, I noticed a casually dropped Hastings bag on the table. Angela motioned to it and said, "You have a present".
I opened it up and a huge smile lit up my face.
"Oh H*** yeah!"
"I thought you would like that. It just screamed for me to buy it for you."

I'm so glad Angela hears these things

You will also note the Purple Cowboy wine. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm willing to bet the crazy heifer knows her stuff. Bless her heart.

Today, the last surprise came. The cutest little book called Pig Gets Stuck. My favourite Marsha sent that to me along with the cute bookmark. Inside was scribbled a quick note to tell me she saw that right after my last post about getting stuck in the chicken coop door. For some odd reason, it reminded her of me.
Go figure

Thank you all. You brighten my day and make me laugh.

Next time, lunch is on me. Just let me get my calendar and pencil you in.

It may take awhile

Currently
Studs 'N Spurs 2009 Calendar
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Friday, 30 October 2009

Being Holy

*This was originally written for intomylens for her series on Halloween and the Holy Days. You will find it there as well as here today. Just for blue, I have added the prayer in latin coz I know she digs that)

By the time October has reached its dissolution, the cold and the wet will have found its way to this end of Texas.
This is a place where Summer does not flaunt her good-byes, she simply leaves. There is no spectacular display of cross-dressing trees nor have they tossed any bright swirling confetti in the yards or down the street as a requiem.
Things here turn brown.
Die.
Fall.
And the rain and cold slither in.

It is one of my favourite times of year.

We are Irish-the whole lot of us-and the grasp of death and rebirth are sewn into the fiber of our being. We do not need a calendar to know when things end or where they begin.

We know.

Our heritage tells us it's a time souls and spirits come a little closer to earth and the Church that my family has belonged to for generation upon generation, acknowledges that; as best they can, in All Saints Day (Nov 1) and All Souls Day (Nov 2). It is a time of remembering and giving thanks and asking for blessings upon the upcoming year.

Precisely it is a time to honour Saints of the Church, but in our family-and most any other, if we are honest- it is our beloved, deceased family and friends are the ones we think of.

Holy Days of Opportunity.

No matter how noble, illustrious or long-suffering, what Saint of the Church could compare with the memory of a beloved grandmother patiently teaching a curious child the magic of flour, sugar and eggs in a drafty kitchen? The grandfather who conjured a fish from the dancing water with only a pale line and wiggly worm? The elderly neighbor who painstakingly taught tonedeaf and stubborn children piano or let them play on her lawn even though the park was right down the street?

Those are our Saints.

Those are days that Love rises in the cold wet and reaches beyond the dark and the dirt and goes straight to the ear of God. Psalms and blessings are sung, candles are lit and sadness and joy are offered up to beseech our Lord and God.

"Gloria Patri, et Filio et
Spriitui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio,
et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen"

Be a blessing to someone.

These are your Holy Days of Opportunity.

Be remembered.

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Chicago and Saintvi

I love Chicago.

I really do.

Despite being hit so hard with icy wind I fell into a lamp post and got a goose egg.
Despite those &*^$#! revolving doors.
Despite the serious lack of Dr Pepper anywhere ...I love Chicago.

And most of all, I loved it not just because it's a great place to be, but because great things come to those who wait. In my case, not only did Wendybird come, but also our own notorious Saintvi who dragged brought along her friend Carol.

I got a text while they were on the train coming in asking to meet me at the Columbus statue. Squinting out my hotel window, I could make it out and readily agreed. (If you look far to the left of the picture it's over that way:
It was about the same place I crossed the police line just a couple of days before (I not only crossed the police line, but took a picture of it first. No wonder the cop was to ticked off), so I didn't think it would be a big deal.

The big green area is Grant Park and it goes on and on and on for a long, long way. The original idea was to do some geocaching there.

However ...I had been running on caffeine and adrenaline for two and a half days and no little sleep. I was not only seriously dragging, but the wind and the cold coming off the lake was getting to me. I was in no shape to geocache.

Melinda quickly sized up the situation and suggested the aquarium. Yessssssssss! Warm tropical breezes and pretty fishes completely appealed to me and I quickly agreed. By the time we got there I was huddled against Melinda and whimpering. To make matters worse, the aquarium was closed.

For the next two days.

WTH? Did someone not tell these people I was in town?? I mean really ...how could I miss going in a place that has this statue out in front?

To be fair, it also had this:

But it was closed, so who cares?

Melinda, quickly sensing a meltdown was about to occur, went to plan C-the planetarium. But where the heck was it?
Whipping out her trusty GPS (which I have decided I really need), we quickly plotted a path and made a beeline for the planetarium (which I might mention is also off the &^%^%# lake). It had this in front just in case you needed the time.

There is a little plaque at the bottom telling you how to figure it all out, but I just checked my cell phone. I'm a simple girl, what can I say?

Inside (blessedly inside where it was warm and toasty), we picked out our shows. It was not as easy as it sounded and we were struggling with decisions when the guide mentioned one was narrated by Robert Redford. That did it for us and the three of us chimed in together "That one!".

Yes, we are that shallow-Carl Sagan we ain't.
At that point, I didn't even mind forking out $$ for it. It was worth it to be in the warmth and out of the wind.

Oh yeah, and sitting in nifty chairs that have these:

and getting to look like this:

You will notice I have discreetly edited Melinda out. Trust me, she looks just as nerdy as I do and for the right amount of chocolate and cash, you too can see the whole picture.
I can be bought.
Just so you know.

After that I wanted to see the Navy Pier. Everyone had recommended it and it seemed the next logical thing to do. Not only that, but it involved a cab ride and I didn't have to fool with bus schedules.
Did I mention I was tired?

The Navy Pier was awesome. Even out of season and with little to go on, it was still incredible.
I quickly spotted the atrium. Where there is an atrium, there is warmth.

Make it so Number One.

Melinda and Carol thought all the tropical plants were wonderful-and they were, but I see them all the time so I have to admit, I wasn't as impressed.
Being warm, I was impressed with.

See the little shooting streams of water? Those were really pretty cool, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not reach them.
And I did try.

Most of the Pier's activities are scheduled and located outside around the marina and were closed. We did venture outside and take a few pics, but that didn't last long. I had already spotted the Bubba Gump sign and decided we were going in!

Bless their hearts, they were the only place in town that carries Dr Pepper!

Melinda and Carol had other ideas tho.

Uh huh. That ain't no Dr. Pepper.
And there are twinkly lights in the bottom of that glass too.
And I don't know if there was tequila in it or not, but I got to eat the worm

After our huge plate of appetizers, we decided to share a dessert. A big chocolate chip cookie with tons of ice cream and caramel and chocolate syrup and whipped cream and ...well you get the idea.
Anyway, we decided to share till it actually came to the table.
Then something possessed me:

I took complete advantage of Melinda's drunken state slow reflexes and got piggy.
Ok, I really did share.

But not much.

On the way back to the hotel, we wandered thru Grant Park into what youandwhosarmy described as 'walking crotches'. I turned around just in time to see Melinda taking a picture of one of the crotches

WTH??

Turns out that in her inebriated keen state of mind, she had zeroed in on a cocoon or cobwebs of some sort in the crotch and decided a picture was in order.

For the record, this is HER picture and yes, she was standing about that close.

Sadly, all good things come to an end and it was time for them to go much too soon.
I hope next time, we do get to see the aquarium and play on Navy Pier and geocache.

And there WILL be a next time

Currently
Forrest Gump
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009

The Windy City

I am in Chicago

Yes, the country mouse is in the big (windy) city and loving every minute of it.
Wendybird came over on the train yesterday and met me. I looked up and she was practically bouncing all the way across the crosswalk, grinning from ear to ear when she saw me. I would of met her half way, but I had already been in trouble once by the traffic cop and I could of sworn his eyes narrowed when he realized wendybird was coming to meet me. He could just envision what the rest of his day was going to look like.

So we set off!
No plans, just flying by the seat of our pants (as my friend Debra says, that's the best way when you leave your broomstick at home).
We caught the tail end of the Columbus Day parade, got whistled at by a traffic cop (not in a good way), crossed a police line (might of had something to do with it) and then ended up at the Field Museum.
Here there be pirates!

and they weren't kidding-they were everywhere!

One could even ride the ptyerdactyl!

And remember Night at the Museum? We got to meet Sue!

We wandered Grant Park:

Can you see Wendybird? She was trying to sneak a shot of me while I was trying to do the same

I had my first train ride (you will notice everyone around me is pretending not to notice me-check out the girl behind me-lol!):

For dinner, we went to Giordanos-it was AMAZING!

Now, see that revovling door? There are a lot of those in this town.
The problem is, I'm not used to them.

So, in one of my finer and more touristy moments ...I got stuck in it.

This little place is in the middle of a plaza with tall, tall building all around. I admit, I was looking up and gawking and not really paying attention. I was just sort of following Wendybird out of the corner of my eye.
I followed her into the door.
She didn't realize we were in the same panel and shoved the door to go in. This caused the back panel to whack me soundly on the back and squish me in between the door and frame.
It caused Wendybird to stop so abruptly it squished her face on the glass causing momentary confusion, discomfort and turning around to see just what the heck I was doing.
We got me unwedged and both of us literally tumbled out of the door on the inside, laughing.
The girl at the desk was trying to keep a straight face and said, "Table for two?" (I caught her rolling her eyes as she turned around)
Needless to say, she led us to the very back of the restuarant and seated us there.

At that point we decided we'd better text hatsie and make sure he really did have the bail money.
I got this text back:

Basically it says he not only has the bail money but the name of a good lawyer...just in case.
The last words are: "Party on girls!"

I can't wait to see what Day 2 brings!