Mind Flush

Flip book

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:23:00 +0000

The crazy comes out...

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:50:00 +0000

...any time the temp goes above freezing. Yes, it's january and my kid is running around the frond yard in a tshirt and polarfleece-blanket-cape.

Avoidance

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:31:00 +0000

Recently I was reading through a book on stress reduction, and it mentioned that overusing the internet is a new numbing mechanism for people who are trying to avoid hard situations or thoughts.

Well, that puts a whole new spin on my mindless 2am Facebook Mah Jong marathons.

Mission accomplished!

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:44:00 +0000

Liza's resolution for 2011 was to finally lose a tooth, and she managed it just in the nick of time!

Best Christmas Vignette ever

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Yes, that's the Wright Brothers airplane attacking a beribboned dinosaur that's eating a miniature Yosemite Sam. On my Christmas tree. This is why I can't leave the room when Liza and Jason are near the tree ...

Christmas shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:07:00 +0000

"These would be perfect for Grandma!"

Like icing on the neighborhood

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Friday we had enough snow to make everything look pretty, which conveniently melted off by 10 am. My kind of snow!

Rocky River Reservation

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:46:00 +0000

It looks like any river ...

Until you take a look around and realize that it took tens of thousands of years to erode down this far ...

The wet spring (and summer ... and fall) have rearranged the topography (and trees):

The maple trees were looking pretty good in the brief dry spell we had today.

There were lots of nice new rocks (and tumbled glass, and pottery shards) to skip across the water (and bring home in pockets):

Is it any wonder I'm landscaping my backyard to look like this park? All I need now is a sycamore tree ... because I love sycamores:

Don't you?

You know you have too many fossils when ...

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:11:00 +0000

The highway department uses these to make the steps down to a fishing spot next to the highway:

Ah, Brookville Lake - you're just filthy with fossils.

It's comin' right at me!

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:59:00 +0000

In Metamora, IN, long after the last train of the day.

Teamwork

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:51:00 +0000

I'll steer, you drive.

Around here, if you want to be a ninja for Halloween, you'd better step up to the sewing machine and help out.

Our little patient

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:47:00 +0000

I can't believe how well-behaved she is during her subcutaneous fluid treatments, which involve being stuck with a large needle between her shoulder blades and having a baseball-sized pocket of cold fluid pumped into her body over the course of 5-10 minutes. She hasn't once hidden and tried to avoid the trip to the vet, or attempted to get away during treatment, or done anything other than try to snuggle continuously with me for the rest of the day after the treatment is done. She squawks a bit when the fluid starts to flow, then just sits there and takes it without any restraint or coercion. She really is a best-case scenario for the temperament of a cat I'm going to have to treat at home from now on.

Wish me luck with doing this on my own tomorrow morning!

A list

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:16:00 +0000

Fun and exciting things I was supposed to be doing tomorrow instead of taking my cat Bella to the vet to start treating her chronic renal failure:

Calling contractors to get bids to waterproof my basement
Installing another dozen bags of topsoil to improve the drainage away from our foundation
Fighting with the postal service web site to print postage for some eBay sales
Sweeping up cat litter and mopping up cat pee in our basement
Scheduling a carpet cleaning for the whole house (which we've needed since, um, 2008)

Oh, fuck the list. My favorite cat is sick. I feel bad because I put off taking her to the vet so long that he described her as "a few days away from 'emaciated,'" (and even I admit that four and a half pounds is a bit of a scary weight for a whole cat) and I'm scared that the treatment for her condition either won't work or will be such a pain to keep up that we'll prove our selfishness and get rid of her because she's become massively inconvenient.

Let's just look at pics of how awesome she is, and try not to think about how much subcutaneous hydration and phosphorus binders and special diets are going to cost.

Look! It's the World's Most Patient Cat!

She lets loud strangers stack things on her!

She wears baby headbands with dignity!

She can sleep anywhere!

But she prefers to do so on my chest if I'm anywhere near horizontal for more than 1.3 seconds!

Get better, Bella-chan. We love you, and we don't want you to be such a Teeny Zucchini anymore.

Incoming!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Harvest day!

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Below you'll see the last of the carrots we grew in a deep flower pot on our front sidewalk, some of the tomatoes I'm growing next to the black-eyed Susans and daylilies in our front yard, and the first of our potato crop.

Yes, I said "potato crop."

We tried out the "potato condo" approach with a couple eyes cut from a grocery store potato, and I can't wait until Liza gets home from school so we can find out how many more potatoes are hiding in the little container we used.

On the first day of school, my daughter gave to me ...

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:59:00 +0000

... time to take a long shower, vacuum all the carpets, wash the kitchen floor, finish canning barbecue sauce, clean up the kitchen, clean up the house, harvest a bunch of vegetables, and go out to fancy lunch with a friend.

But enough about me - the first day of school is about the kid, right?

Liza was sort of nervous about going in to school today, despite the fact that she's in the same school building, has met her teacher multiple times and thinks he's really cool, had a chance to set up her desk, and met (and held) Murray the classroom pet lizard. Heck, on open house day we even found out her desk is right NEXT to Murray - and the unnamed hermit crabs - which is the coolest thing ever if you're in first grade (and aren't squicked out by lizards), according to Liza.

And yet still with the anxiety and the not sleeping and the waking me up five times last night and the not wanting to get out of bed this morning. Hooray for acting like a normal kid on the night before a big event! No tears, and she walked down to the bus stop and got on the bus like a trooper.

She'll be home in about an hour, and I can't wait to hear how it went. She might not get around to talking about it until 8pm, but it'll come out eventually :)

It's a good day when you can quote Zoolander

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 05:29:00 +0000

Billy Zane: Hey, Derek, back on top, man.
Derek Zoolander: Thanks, Billy. You rock.
Billy Zane: No, you rock. When you gonna drop Magnum on us, buddy?
Derek Zoolander: Not yet. You gotta tame the beast before you let it out of its cage.

Liza took care of Magnum on our trip to Cedar Point last week.

It's one of the two roller coasters she was tall enough to ride but was scared to try. Can't imagine why ...

We did Millennium Force, too, thus completing all the coasters she's tall enough to ride.

Having completed Magnum and Millennium, we decided to work on our own version of Blue Steel.

I think we pulled if off pretty well, don't you?

(yes, we both got our hair cut short, yes, we picked matching purple shirts on purpose, and no, she's not really that tall, she's standing on a stool so we could get the shot without me being all hunched over and weirder looking than normal)

Why you should go to Mackinac Island on vacation, even if you don't stay in the Grand Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:17:00 +0000

The hotel may have geraniums, but the rest of the island has hollyhocks (and lilacs in the spring) and gorgeous gardens planted in front yards and tucked away next to stables.

They've got a giant rock with a hole in it.

They've got lots of rocks, as a matter of fact. So many that tourists have taken to leaving behind cairns just about everywhere, on land and off shore.

Bring some water shoes (the shore's mostly smooth stones, but they still hurt to walk on barefoot) so you can wade around in the absurdly clear water. You probably don't want to swim, though - the lake never gets that warm.

You don't have to fight your way through crowds to get to the water, either, like you do in traditional beach towns.

They don't allow motorized vehicles on the island, so even the delivery trucks are pretty quiet.

Two butterfly houses. 'Nuff said.

Hiking up to the fort is good exercise, and they stuck a nice restaurant up there to give the non-history-fans something to look forward to.

There's another fort that hardly anybody visits that doesn't have a restaurant, but it's cool anyway.

It's almost always windy somewhere on the island, so it's always Kite Time.

Did I mention the cairns?

No cars = lots of bikes available to rent, even tandem ones set up for a little stoker.

The clouds make it all scenic and stuff.

Did I mention it's a bit windy?

It's an island and there's no bridge, so you have to take a ferry (or a small private plane) to get to there.

Well, there is a bridge, but it doesn't go to the island, it goes to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. But it's all scenic and stuff, too.

So basically, you go to Mackinac Island to enjoy a slower pace of life with scenic vistas, cool breezy weather, and places of historic interest. And rocks. And fudge. And letterboxing, but that's a post in itself.

I am now one step closer to dying happy

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:15:00 +0000

So here it is: the hotel I've been waiting to stay in since 1970-something.

This is the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI.

It's all old and fancy and stuff, with eccentricities and a dress code.

It's so fancy, even your luggage gets to ride in a carriage from the dock to the hotel.

Even the retired ashtrays are fancy.

There's plenty to do - you can kick back on the world's longest porch.

Or splash around in a pool that was once used by Esther Williams.

You can engage in civilized sports, like croquet and bocce.

If you have lots of time, you can try to count how many geraniums are planted at the hotel.

You can play "spot-the-geraniums" everywhere you go, since they're on everything - posters, napkins, hand soap, even the furniture.

Not pictured: Eating a ridiculously expensive breakfast while practicing our best manners and being called "Princess" and "Milady." Being carded - seriously - to prove we're guests and don't have to pay $10 to enter the hotel. Listening to the harpist in the lobby while playing Oven Break on the iPod. Taking the stairs rather than the elevator because we though it looked more elegant. Trying to refrain from taking ALL of the geranium-scented bath products in our room to send to my mother. Watching the hotel photographer taking shots each night on the porch, and being glad we raised our own photographer and brought her with us.

Jason was stuck in a conference room all day, but ironically he probably enjoyed more of the hotel amenities (especially breakfast and lunch) than Liza and I did. We girls spent most of our time out and about, not learning about "lean innovation" and networking over lunch at the Jockey Club. But everything we did do at the hotel more than lived up to my hopes and expectations. It was fancy, and sorta stuffy, and hilarious, and awesome. I'd go back again in a heartbeat ... especially if Jason has another conference there someday!

A brief interruption

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:16:00 +0000

Because this is the coolest machine ever:

http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/automaton/automaton.php?cts=instrumentation

Mackinaw-some! (groan)

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:02:00 +0000

When Jason learned he had an opportunity to take a seminar held at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, he realized it was a great chance to learn some stuff while giving me a special treat. Staying at The Grand, you see, has been a pipe dream of mine since my parents brought me to Mackinac Island as a wee thing. At something like $400 a night, it was going to stay that way ... until the wonder of corporate training dropped a boon on our doorstep.

Liza wasn't sure how much of a boon it was during the car ride up there, though.

We were doubly lucky to have access to a cabin in Mackinaw City that belong's to Jason's sister's husband's family (that makes them, what? my in-laws-squared?). While we waited for the family to return to the cabin, we killed some time at the ferry dock checking things out in advance of our voyage. Meanwhile, Jason made a cool discovery ... you don't see to many DeLoreans sitting in parking lots, even in Cleveland.

That afternoon we met with the Hathaways, and Liza especially enjoyed playing on their Lake Huron beach with the youngest of the grandchildren visiting this week.

One branch of the family brought their pet lizard with them - guess it's hard to find a lizard-sitter for weeks at a time - and it was really friendly to everyone but me. Apparently I'm evil, as far as lizards are concerned.

After dinner we went out to the cabin the Hathaways loaned us, just in time for the sunset.

Liza wasn't about to let a little thing like fading light keep her from checking out the beach.

Meanwhile I was taking advantage of the view from the living room.

The next morning we did some serious shell-hunting (better selection that at our beach on Lake Erie).

We braved the chilly - but very shallow - and super-clear waters of Lake Michigan.

Liza added onto the existing complex of sand castles and giant beach holes with her walled, moated, humpbacked island of awesomeness.

I supervised.

This is my kind of beach - empty, shallow, and cold enough to wear a sweatshirt over my swimsuit. Perfect!

By lunchtime we were ready to pack up and head for the island, which I'll have to post about tomorrow, as it's getting to be bedtime now. In the meantime, thanks again to the Hathaways for their stupendous hospitality to virtual strangers. You guys rock!

"DC" stands for "Da Capitol"

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:55:00 +0000

It was about 900,000F and sunny with a chance of thunderstorms - perfect day to go to Washington, DC with Liza for the first time!

It was nice of the President to hop in his helicopter to fly by and wave to us.

Strangely enough, while the (air conditioned) museums were busy, the outside attractions weren't packed at all.

They check your camera and won't let you leave the park until you take this shot.

Look, Liza! There's the Lincoln Memorial, and the reflecting ... er, mud pit.

Best landscaping choice ever: the Department of Agriculture beds are planted with edibles, including okra and purple kale.

Look, Mom! It's a big version of the one they made on Mythbusters!

Not the best self-portrait ever (how could it be, when I'm not in a bathroom?), but not bad for taking it via the skin of SkyLab.

Orville and Wilbur kind of creeped her out.

"Mom, the planes aren't shiny enough." "That's because we're looking at military planes, and sparkly planes would get shot at." "Now THIS is a proper plane."

"Look, honey! That's where they make laws for our country that don't actually fix the problems we have!"

The Hope Diamond has a new (temporary) setting that's just stunning.

Personally, I preferred this heart-shaped cut ... check out the refracted light hearts on the display base.

Psychedelic salt structure.

Coolest. Crystal. Ever.

The METRO is hot, smelly, and not all that cheap ... but at least it looks all cool and futuristic and stuff.

Life's a beach

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:24:00 +0000

Last week Jason was out of town, so Liza and I high-tailed it to the East Coast to visit family. One of the highlights was a trip to Ocean City, Maryland, with my in-laws and two of Liza's cousins. We hit one of the amusement ride places on the boardwalk, which Liza remembered from her visit last year.

Unfortunately, Liza and Chloe were too tall to ride most of the attractions that were open when we first arrived, so we had some time to kill on the (hot, sweaty) boardwalk before the "big kid" rides opened.

After obligatory stops at the baby rollercoaster, the girls decided to go on the "Freak Out," which is sort of a spinning pendulum thingee. Liza has been dying to go on a similar ride at Cedar Point, but she's not tall enough, so she was thrilled to be big enough for this version.

Not sure if she'd be so thrilled once the ride was in progress ...

Looks like she survived with her spirit intact.

So intact, in fact, that the girls went on it four more times in a row.

Another favorite was the funhouse, which the girls ran through at top speed while the grownups sat in the shade.

I bought a few tickets so I could go on some of the better rides, but got suckered into using some of them to go through my first mirror maze. Um, yay?

Liza liked the looping, corkscrewing, then-let's-do-it-again-backwards coaster so much that she rode it a second time (without me, in the front seat). Can you tell she's just barely tall enough for the ride?

Later in the afternoon we stopped for pizza and sodas with curly straws, which were roundly enjoyed by all.

We made it back to my mother-in-law's house before dark, which was excellent for the photographer in the family. The mosquitoes even gave me a few minutes' peace before they attacked with a vengeance ...

Meanwhile, the cousins and their matching pajamas found the supply of fancy hats and started making up an elaborate story involving maids and artists and a cartoon monkey.

The next day we headed for the beach, stopping along with every other tourist in the state to see the wild ponies on Chincoteague Island.

Despite really high surf and rip tide warnings (stupid hurricane), the girls managed to get in some "surfing."

Best part of the day? Taking over the deluxe giant hole that some boys had dug in the beach earlier in the day. It was the size of a hot tub, complete with seats built into the walls.

All in all, a good time was had by all, and we can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time we can get the cousins to visit us at our beach and go to our amusement park ...

The photographer doesn't fall far from the tree

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:21:00 +0000

I let Liza use my camera during our last trip to the zoo. Don't tell Jason, but I was kind of hoping she'd drop it so I can get a DSLR to play with ... no luck there, but we have proved that she's able to take decent pictures now that she's paying attention to what's in the viewfinder.

"Okay, now you go over there, Mom, and you'll have to crouch down because you're too tall and I don't want to cut anything off." (You hear that, Grandma?)

"Smile! No, I said 'Smile!' No, smile pretty!"

"I'm taking your portrait, Penny!"

"Okay, I'll take a picture of you while you take a picture of me. Look, mom! We're so meta!"

"Those stupid meercats won't stand still for me, so I'll just take a picture of this."

Of course, they can't all be gems ...

Guess where we went last week

noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:44:00 +0000

We went to the crystal clear, gently lapping waters of ... Lake Erie.

Laugh all you want, beach snobs. It was warm, perfect for wading and paddling about, you could see what you were stepping on, and there was hardly any trash on the beach that day. Take that, Jamaica, with your vast quantities of plastic spoons washing up on shore every day.

You know, if you go when it's 97F outside, you pretty much have the place to yourself.

Like the chess masters, Liza takes her castling very seriously.

Home base, or, as I call it, "The only reason I was willing to set foot on a beach when it's that hot outside." Shade of a giant tree 30 feet from the shoreline? Brilliant idea, nature!