For Me This is Heaven

On a Sunday she thought it through.
The haze clears from your eyes, on a Sunday.
Jimmy Eat World

I don't have any reason for blogging about this album other than, this album wants me to blog about it. I was reading the lyrics tonight, and I tried to put them away, but they didn't want to be put away.
That's so Neil Gaiman. Or maybe even Lemony Snickett. You know, when inanimate objects seem to take on a life of their own? Authors like this really encourage my unhealthy sense of superstition...
I find all of Jimmy Eat World's music stimulating, lovely, sweet, heart-wrenching, and all things music should be; but this... THIS... this... just listen.
What other album still has you rocking out in your car, using an empty Coke can that you just finished guzzling as a microphone (I assure you the acoustics are stunning), ten years after you first listened to and fell in love with it? Without the slightest care what other drivers must think of you?
My lungs are so numb from holding back...



I read Twilight in 2005, when it first came out, before anyone really knew about it. Given to me by a very good friend, I thought it looked creepy, but I had to read 50 books for a class that semester. Not very thoughtful of me since it wasn't my copy, I took it into the tub one day.
Three hours later, I sat shivering in the water that had long gone cold and the bubbles had long dissolved. I could not get out of the bath, and I could not shut that book.
I gave the book to various people, most who became immediately immersed in the story. I gave it to my brother Eddie, who enjoyed the Da Vinci Code quite a bit.
Well, he wouldn't read it. Kimmy, his wife, recently went to the doctor and picked up the copy I gave him. She is a self-professed "non-reader." Ha! Now she is on the third book, Eclipse! Another Twilight fan! And she loves it. She is a Jacob fan, and so is really looking forward to New Moon, and has a t-shirt with a big picture of Jacob on it to wear opening night. She already got us all tickets from her friend who actually rented out a movie theater.


Maggie, my niece, wanted to watch this movie together. I thought it would be dumb.
I should have known better. She has excellent taste. The story and the characters, all children, are so very entertaining. And Afalfa & Darla's love story is almost as captivating as Edward and Bella's.



Please keep in sight what makes you care
You have it always
Jimmy Eat World: Clarity

Halloween Kitty

"It will," said Silas, "take a graveyard."
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

Kitty wanna play?

But of course the little chat loves ribbon.

Thinking about it...

Kitty is done playing.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN


One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
~Emily Dickinson

My New Pets

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier




Last week my coworker Lindsey looked at me and said, "You don't look so great." She was right. I was getting really sick.

I went home for the day, picking up things to make chicken noodle soup at the store. I also picked up a parsley plant, because I have been doing some research and it is a superior food.

So my soup was bubbling and I was in the backyard planting parsley, when I heard a rustle in the bushes. I looked up, expecting to see a wild bunny, but instead the figure of something much larger than a bunny loomed in the growth. I shrieked, used a very unladylike phrase, ran in the house, and slammed the door.

As I looked longingly through the window at my parsley that I desperately wanted to continue planting, curiosity got the better of me. I crept around the side of the house. I removed my shoes and scaled the air conditioner up to the top of the wall. All of this with a runny nose, mind you. I scooted along the wall in my work dress. If the neighbors had come out at that time it would have been bad, as an inappropriate amount of my legs was showing. But I had to know what the creature in my back yard was.

Then I saw it. It had come out into the open, and was standing it all its glory before a pile of trimmings. At first I thought it was a coyote, but no, it was much too lovely to be a coyote. It was a fox. A gray haired, red trimmed fox, waiting for a bunny to emerge from the trimmings.

I stared at it for a long time, feeling like Dances with Wolves, because this is not the sort of thing you expect to see in your back yard.

I took a picture of the fox. Isn't it a beauty? Good thing Theo and Pepper were safely indoors. When I crept closer for a better shot, the fox just leaped over the wall. It was a marvel to see. I had no idea there were foxes in Arizona much less my backyard, nor did I know that they leaped over fences. The day was full of discovery.




This morning a little kitty found me. I named her Marzipan, or Marzy for short, which kind of suits her because she's a little "out there". I named her for that song that goes:

She thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars

(name that band)

Because I found her in my back yard. And also I happened to have that song in my head today. And Mars just kind of led to Marzipan. I don't actually know if it is a girl. If I find that kitty is a boy, I will name him Alex.



PS I miss Libby and Koder.

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this."
~ Anonymous

Big Fun... Tam's Wedding

Let's dance
On the night of nights
High School Musical


I grew up across the street from the Gardner family. I was pretty much their 10th child.

Above is Jennifer and her sweet family. Cute story about Jennifer: When she turned five, she said, "Now I'm not Jennifour anymore, I'm Jennafive!"

We reunited in San Francisco for Tamara's wedding. I met Tam when I was four. My mom took me over to meet the neighbors, and Tam was peeking out from behind her mom. Her hair was very long and curly, her green eyes were wide and timid, and I quickly won her over with my whimsical ways. She was the beloved friend of my youth.
Me and Tommy on Fisherman's Wharf. Those are seals and sea lions in the background. They didn't smell great, but they looked so cute sunbathing on the planks.
This is 1 Fort Mason, overlooking the Bay. Rob started singing "Somebody" by Depeche Mode when Tam walked down the aisle. I got a little teary. Then a skunk sauntered out and luckily sauntered back to the bushes.
Tam looked so lovely, and Joe looked so... pleased.
Lucky me, seated between sexy bachelors Rob & Johnny Gardner.
Me and the beautiful bride! the fun thing about San Franciscans, everybody hit the dance floor when the music started. Big fun.
Tam mingling.... and the dress shot!
Moi in my hotel room. Okay, so its kind of freaky to travel alone, but also kind of thrilling! I was close to the Gardners, too, so it was actually not that crazy.
I couldn't resist jumping in the ocean. It was cold. I was trying to figure out how to dip my feet in the ocean and put my shoe back on, considering a barnacle covered rock, when these two sailors rowed up and noticed my dilemma. They showed me a shower to wash my feet off nearby, and took me to lunch. We all had fish and chips and they told me about sailing and I told them about libraries. Their names were Tom and Obey. They invited me to hop on their boat and watch the Air Show, but I declined because I had to get to Golden Gate Park.
Here we are, the Gardner clan and I at Golden Gate Park. It was freezing. I was all too improperly attired. Music, friends, snacks- it was over all too soon. But what a trip!


A wedding! I love weddings. Drinks all around.
Jack Sparrow

Need a Nap

The great question... which I have not been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is "What does a woman want?"
~Sigmund Freud

Oh my flippering frogs! (According to my niece's Princess book, this is an appropriate exclamation.) Everything happens at once! This week I have an interview at work, and my longest friend's wedding in California, pretty much back to back. The irony is (see Lyndsay and the Johnsons for appropriate use of the word irony: Lynn should play Aunt Josephine in the next Lemony Snickett! oh wait... she died) my longest friend has not gotten married for 33 years and my work place has not had any openings for about two years.

So I had my outfit for my interview all planned. But in "Interview Magic", it says red is too confrontational! Except, it mentions, a deep, cool red as opposed to a bright, orangey red. Oh my. Is this too orange?

So my neighbors won't stone me, I did some work on my bushes which are like that plant in "Little Shop of Horrors" and they probably eat humans too, and that is why they grow so fast. This is my "Garbage Bouquet" What do you think?

Sometimes I just want to play in the mud with Libby and Finn. But Finn is far away, and Libby's new owners might think I'm strange if I asked to play with Libby in the mud.
Well, tomorrow I'm off to the West coast. Wish you would put yourself in my...suitcase.
(name that band)

A nap, Dr. Freud. A nap.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

It will come to you, this love of the land. There's no gettin' away from it if you're Irish.
Margaret Mitchell


I think I have some Irish in me. That might explain why I had the sudden impulse to plant things today.

Gardening is a mysterious hobby. There are those who know much about it, but they often guard their knowledge. I have picked up small bits of wisdom, piece by piece. It is really like a quilt, with all its parts sewn together. If I find a man at the nursery sharing some law he goes by with me, I consider myself lucky. I have read on the subject, of course, and learned some things that way too.
The man that helped me at Berridge Nursery says to always plant in odd numbers. This is more aesthetically pleasing, as odd numbers are more balanced in general than even. This applies to pot arranging as well as the number and variety of plants you put in the pots.
Nothing smells better than Jasmine in the evening.
Another gardener taught me that you need to mix in some "well-rotted manure" with your soil. Gross, right? Fortunately, you do not need to have a cow in your back yard. I find a very high quality manure all bagged up neat and tidy at Ace Hardware.

I came upon this shell and thought I killed the snail when I was planting flowers. Its head was all tucked up and its cover looked pretty smashed. I was very sorry and sad until it unfurled its little head and started crawling around. Yeah!



So many worlds, so much to do
So little done, such things to be
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Perfect Crepe

I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.
Amelia Peabody


I thought I invented this, then someone told me they serve these at I Hop. Well then.

They are still better homemade! They are Crepes- paper thin French pancakes- stuffed with Nutella and drizzled with chocolate syrup.

At the library, I opened the book "Julie and Julia" and the first line I read was thus:

The road to hell is paved with leeks and potatoes.

That was sort of my experience finding a proper Crepe recipe. First I tried Nigella's cookbook. She is this fabulous British personality with a flair for the kitchen. Unfortunately, I did not have success with her "Blitzes" as she calls them. She is a bit of a free spirit, and I fear does not always mind proportions as she should (no offense Nigella).

I will say, Julia Child's cookbook is one you can trust. When I tried her Crepes, they turned out so well. I also watched her show "The French Chef" and found it not only informative but amusing as well. She says things like "I am most anxious for you to try this" which makes me feel that she really does care that I eat well.

In a book called "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek", Annie Dillard observes that one of the chief characteristics of God is extravagance. I cannot help but use this same description of Julia's use of butter. It is astounding. But it is all worth it when she says "This may not be low in calories, but its awfully good."

I really think that the memories of good meals stay with us, and build morale. It makes the search for the perfect Crepe worthwhile.



It behooves us to choose eggs carefully and to treat them right.
Julia Child