Life on the Edge

Anatomy of the Rare and Endangered Day Off

2016-02-19T13:40:00.001-08:00

Last week I did the unthinkable.

I took an extra day off to have fun. Oooooh, it felt good, though!

Life has been hectic at work lately. I had surgery at the beginning of the year, and as soon as I got back from MY time off, some of the other leadership needed time off for medical issues. It's been nonstop, so it was such a treat to take a breather to do things that are important to me.

So what did I do on my day off? Well, the first thing I did was go to work, of course.

It's what you do when you accidentally take the important set of keys home with you the night before.

(Those of you who are reflection-lookers like myself can enjoy a nice peek at my camera and Finley in my sunglasses.And the barn I was looking at.)

On my way home from work, I took an impromptu side-jaunt into the countryside to give Finley a place to explore. I was trying to find the fox house, an abandoned farmhouse I'd explored years before, so named because a fox jumped out the second-story window and over the head of my sister Noni, who was standing directly beneath.

We stopped for a few minutes at one of my favorite old school buildings. It still has old desks in it, and a long blackboard in the one school room. Plus lots and lots and LOTS of bird poop. It's been a popular nesting spot for swallows through the years.

I always get such a magical feeling when I explore one of these old buildings. It's like time travel, and I wish I could linger longer.

Then I realize it's winter and I can't feel my fingers---welp, time to go!

I never did find the fox house, but I ran into my good friend who was out running her mail route and she took me along a back road to the coolest place, one I never would have found on my own. I guess it used to be a family home and they just collected old buildings, having them hauled in as it suited their fancy.

Not everyone can say they're a building hoarder.

Such a neat place to explore, but I had to limit my wanderings because I'd forgotten my cell phone in the car. Round these here parts you just don't explore in the winter without a cell phone.

I did have enough time to discover the world's largest empty tin can collection!

I left with many internal promises to return another day with my cell phone in pocket and and my better camera in hand.

Maybe when it's a tad warmer, too.

Then it was off to my friend's house for the main reason for the day off. I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting on my Little House in the Prairie blog after not failing to post for two years. Two. Years.

I managed to make one post while I was recovering from surgery, but this was to be my next attempt. My friend had kindly volunteered her mountain man husband for the occasion. You can read that post here.

Ah! There's nothing like spending a relaxing afternoon learning to pour lead bullets for your muzzle loader. In case the British attack or something.

Yes, it was a lovely day. And what better way to finish off a lovely day than with a lovely oven full of lovely fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies...

I'm going to have to do this more often.

If only I wasn't so terribly fond of having silly little things like food, gas, and electricity!

Nostalgia is Contagious

2016-01-23T20:30:00.001-08:00

I went to Hawaii when I was 8 years old. My mom took all four of us kids, plus bushels of other relatives came too, for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. I didn't go again until last year, 28 years after my first visit.

Then I went again this year---1 year after my last visit.

Personally, I think this has the makings of a fine yearly tradition. (Don't tell my mom I said that. She still insists that each trip to Hawaii is "the last one"---until two seconds after she gets home)

Since this year we were on yet another "last trip", and since my mom isn't getting any younger (don't tell her I said THAT either!), we put a special emphasis on nostalgia.

Hawaii is the land of my mom's childhood. She grew up here, and it shaped her as no other place has before or since. It's where she played, went to school, learned to drive, and had her first crush. And there were certain places she wanted to see again.

And shoot, it's Hawaii. We ALL wanted to see them, even if it was our first time.

The first stop on our traveling nostalgia tour was the Hanalei Valley lookout. My grandparents took my mom to Kauai in 1960 for summer vacation. They had stopped at this lookout, and my mom had always wanted to return.

So we did.

Bam. 'Cause we're cool like that.

Hanalei Valley, 1960 and 2015

As long as we were on Kauai, of course we had to stop and see Waimea Canyon.

Because Mom wanted to, of course.

Then, jet-setters that we are, we hopped over to the Big Island for some more recent, but I feel still very important, nostalgia.

Fifteen years ago, my mom had taken my grandparents to visit an old friend in Hawi. While they were there, they'd stopped at a wonderful little restaurant that my mom had always wanted to take us to.

Well, since it was important to her....

On the way around the island to the restaurant, we got to see our very first active volcano!

We also stopped at the edge of the Waipio Valley. It's too bad we didn't go down, or we could have gotten our very own case of genuine Hawaiian dengue fever.

Maybe next time

Hawi at last! And yes, I do feel that this moment was a very special and important one...for my mom.

The fact that I licked the plate clean is quite incidental to the whole affair.

They practically had to roll us onto the plane after that, but we made it to Oahu, my mom's old stomping grounds. The very air there is thick with nostalgia.

Sacred Falls, a popular swimming destination from my mom's childhood, is now closed to the public because the trail is so dangerous, so that was a miss. They do still allow swimming at Waimea Falls, another swimming hole from "back in the day." So of course we had to go.

As if the falls aren't beautiful enough, you reach them through a beautifully maintained botanical gardens.

All for you, Mother.

Ah, yes. Camp Erdman. The school where my grandparents taught would rent the YMCA campground for the students' camp experience. Grandpa and Grandma would go as chaperones, and my mom would go as one lucky faculty kid.

This is the shore where my grandpa almost drowned one year in a rip tide. He was trying to swim in and making no headway, so he'd wave at my grandma to show he needed help.

She'd wave right back, and go right back to chatting with the other ladies.

Thankfully, one of the students finally decided Mr. Day was getting a little close to Alaska and headed out in a canoe to pick him up. Nowadays, since they've discovered litigation, kids don't get to swim along this shoreline. The swimming pool is so much less likely to suck you to your doom.

Oh, there were so many spots we visited, I couldn't possibly do them all justice. Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial, Punch Bowl, Hanauma Bay, the library my mom spent so many happy afternoons exploring, Diamond Head, Iolani Palace, Ala Moana, the Pali.

Good memories. Great places.

Why, I do believe I feel an attack of nostalgia coming on myself. Must be time to go back!

New Year's Day

2016-01-01T19:05:00.002-08:00

I'm joining the probably millions of other bloggers posting their New Year's musings today. Sorry about that! There's just something about new beginnings that inspires imagination and hope in hearts made weary. The excitement and anticipation of the new, the turning away from the old---sometimes with feelings of regret, sometimes with relief. It's a day that brings out the wordiness in already wordy people!

I feel the sparkle and the energy just as much as the next person, but even so, I've never been much for New Year's resolutions. No matter how good my intentions are in January, my resolutions always deteriorate like crumbling autumn leaves as the months pass by. Not this accomplisher's cup of tea, that.

At the same time, being only three years away from official middle age has given me fresh determination that each day, each month, each year be lived to the fullest. I don't want to look back on 2016 with regrets that I merely drifted through my days aimlessly, or even worse, spent them waiting for "something" to happen. A new job, a new hobby, a new plan, a new boyfriend (Who am I kidding? ANY boyfriend!)---they're all nice ideas, but not worth wasting this year waiting for.

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.

Dale Carnegie

I read this today on Facebook, that purveyor of all things philosophical and wise. I want to smell this year's roses, whatever they may be. So, in my effort to live this year intentionally and with purpose---while at the same time avoiding the depressing pit of failed resolutions---I am collecting mottoes and themes that I want to take into my new adventure. Thoughts that I want to inform and guide my decisions and attitudes throughout the year.

So far I have two.

And given my track record with memory, even those are doomed to be forgotten shortly if I don't write them down. Hence this post. Really. It's more for me than for you.

Not my will, but Thine be done.

This is my motto for the year. I don't know what 2016 holds. A few weeks ago I had some tentative plans for the course of my year. But now, a few doctor's visits, some medical bills, and an ongoing medical condition later, some of those plans will need a little revision to say the least.

I don't know if God's future plans for me will be the dramatic---a missionary in a foreign field who gives aid to helpless children and also collects lots of foreign cats, or the mundane---a gracefully? aging retail worker who loves Jesus and also collects lots of cats...and dogs...and cats...and more cats and more dogs.

Maybe 2016 will be the year I meet the future Mr.

Or....let's go with the odds here...maybe not.

No matter what this year holds, whether ordinary or extraordinary, I want my life to be lived for His will, not my own.

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Easily make decisions I do not. I tend to worry over the simplest things, not sure which is "right". I also tend to avoid things I'm not good at because...well, I'm not good at them. Life is too short (especially when you begin to realize you've already spent such a substantial chunk of it!) to let fear dictate direction. This year I want to challenge myself to do the thing I would do if I weren't afraid. Big or small, I'm feeling fierce. Bring it on!

Disclaimer: The actual levels of fierceness contained in the above statement may not be discernible to the naked eye.

2016. A new year. A new adventure. Whatever it holds, whether happiness or grief, a hard path or a joyous one, it will be a good year if God walks through it with me.

To Everything a Season

2015-08-22T19:32:00.002-07:00

I'm actually having a hard time figuring out what to write here. After all, how do I sum up almost a year of life? What do I say? What do I leave out? The short answer is, there's no way to do it, but I'll try to hit the very highest of the highlights.

This past year has obviously been super-busy for me. I haven't posted anything for 10 months---and I would probably STILL be putting it off if I wasn't so determined not to hit the year mark. Those months were largely spent working and studying. If I wasn't at work, I was doing school, and it's pretty hard to spin that into great creative works of literature!

All the effort at school paid off when I graduated in May. It only took me 26 years to earn my AA, but I finally did it! And I am SO glad to be taking a break from school for a while. Well, sort of a break. I'm taking one class this fall and another in the spring. Work has been good---I have never had a shortage of things to keep me busy there, that's for sure.

But all of that only tells you what's been happening on my outside. That's only half the story. This past year has also been the beginning of a journey---a quest to figure out what and WHO I am supposed to be now that I don't have kids at home.

See, I've been busy raising my kids for 19 years. 19 years! They say you build a habit in only 3 weeks, so almost 2 decades cuts a pretty deep pathway in the ol' neural tissue. My identity and purpose for my entire adult life has been very clear and easy to see. I am a parent. A mommy warrior. That's what I'm here for, that's what God has called me to do.

Only now, I'm not raising my kids. Yes, I still play a part in their lives, but it's a supporting role now---I'm not the main act anymore. That's an unfamiliar spot for me.

So I'm learning. Trying to figure out this whole "adult" thing. Figuring out who I am when I'm not on mommy duty. Wondering where the journey will lead and what God's purpose is for me now.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get back to some of the things that I like to do. Yes, life is still crazy busy, but I don't want to be a passive participant---I want to live a life that is intentional, at least some of the time! I can't spend my whole life vegging out on Facebook after work because I'm too tired to move. Which is why, the other day I finally stopped at an old house I've been wanting to photograph since I moved here 5 years ago.

It's a nice old ruin (not unlike what I feel like some of the time as I approach the big 4-0 in just a few more years), an old homesteader's cabin slowly losing the fight to remain upright. This particular day was a beautifully serendipitous meeting of a beautiful sunset at just the time I was driving by. Irresistible!

Finley was happy too, because we don't get to go adventuring as often as we used to

This is the view standing between the two buildings

Standing in the barn, or shed, or whatever it was

For the photographically minded, these two pictures were taken at the same time. On one I exposed for the building, and on the other I exposed for the sky. Two different effects, but both of them very pretty.

Solomon said "To everything, there is a season." Seasons change. Life changes. Things might look different tomorrow than they look today. But wherever life takes me, I can trust Him for the journey.

The Pearl of the Pacific

2014-10-31T12:47:00.001-07:00

Hawaii is a beautiful place, the pearl of the Pacific.

Unless you are a college student in the middle of the semester---then Hawaii turns out to look an awful lot like a text book.

Ah, we are on the way at last...

First sunset in Hawaii, on the scenic Ala Moana Beach...

At the Dole plantation. You'll note there are no pictures of me eating pineapple whip while studying. My devotion to duty only goes so far, after all....

Snorkeling at Shark's Cove---so hard to see the pages underwater. And my book is looking a little worse for wear...

On our energizing 5+ mile hike to Kaena Point...

Enjoying the sunset off the point...

What to do if it's raining because of an unfortunately timed hurricane? Get in a little culture, of course! The historic Bishop Museum...

In the Hall of Kings at the museum...

Shell hunting. I didn't find that many for some reason...

Doing what we did most of all in Hawaii---getting lost. This is the tunnel during our impromptu trip to Kaneohe (when all we were trying to do was get back to the restaurant and pick my mom up)...

Hiking to the top of Diamond Head the last morning. Note to self---do not go on a hot, sweaty hike right before entering an enclosed airplane filled with noses....

(Disclaimer: Contrary to the claims of this blogger, very little actual studying was harmed in the process of her Hawaiian vacation. Perhaps she would have done better on her test if she had used her book for reading instead of as a photo prop!)

My Hot Date

2014-10-29T21:28:00.001-07:00

I've been promising my boys a car trip all week. Eternal optimists that they are, every day they hope that it has magically turned into "Take Your Doggy to Work" day.

And every day, their hopes are dashed yet again.

So I try to make it up to them on the weekends by going on a doggy date with my three hairy hunks---this may be why I have no social life.Or it's the 50,000 cats. One or the other.

This week we took a drive to Dagmar to---of course---pick up more kittens. But don't worry, they won't be staying long. I am only fostering them for a little while (I know, that's what all the crazy cat ladies say!). And on the way we stopped by my favorite abandoned farmstead for some exploring fun.

This is the main house. It seems to have two rooms, plus a mudroom. And there seems to be some kind of basement. I haven't been brave enough to go out on the highly rotten floor to find out for sure.

This roof bravely kept its family sheltered from many wintery blasts, but splinter by board the elements are winning out in the end.

Ok, so I went on the floor for a little. But just a few feet. And just on the very edge of the room, which is theoretically better supported. Finley did not approve.

There's also a large barn that has mostly collapsed, and a smaller building that I always think of as the horse barn.

Finley did some very martyred modeling in the horse barn. He's just simply too handsome to resist. It's a cross he'll just have to bear.

Speaking of shmexy boys, I managed to get a few pictures of all the dogs---after they'd run themselves ragged and were covered in burrs and pond slime, of course.

On our way out, we passed the warning sign for North Dakota's only curve.

It was a lovely walk in some gorgeous fall weather. The air was crisp, the sun was setting, and we could listen to the cranes calling to each other as they headed south for the winter. I might even consider doing it again sometime---after I pick all the burrs out of my upholstery. Which will take approximately forever.

Don't hold your breath, hairy fiends.

Almost Home!

2014-10-29T21:27:00.001-07:00

One of these days I am going to go to Jackson Hole, WY and just soak in the gorgeous scenery. I am tired of always seeing the butt-side of the Grand Tetons as I drive through Idaho either late at night or early in the morning.

At least I got to see some pretty stuff driving up over the pass and into Montana. I slept a few hours the night before in Idaho just so I could make that part of the trip in the daylight and enjoy the scenery.

That, and the fact that I was becoming totally loopy from lack of sleep. I decided it was time to pull over about the time I drove for half a block down a dark street before I realized I'd never turned my headlights on. "Boy, these street lights are DARK! They should really do something about that before someone gets hurt!"

These pictures were taken while I was singing my "Please Don't Eat Me, Grizzly Bears" song. It must have worked, because I didn't get chewed on. Photographers make the best bear food because we are always poking our noses into odd places and getting totally distracted by the picture-taking moment. A troupe of dancing grizzlies could do the can-can on our head and we wouldn't notice until after we'd gotten our shot.

If only we didn't come with all those hard, crunchy camera pieces that have to be spit out.

Yes, the Highway 191 corridor into Montana is one of the prettiest drives around, and always a treat to see after the dreary deserts of Nevada and Southern Idaho.

And just because I know how to do it now, some egregious editing of my mountain river picture.....

Eastward, Ho-hum!

2014-10-29T21:11:00.004-07:00

I think of the Donner Party every time I cross over the Sierras, snug and comfortable in my climate-controlled vehicle. I make a trip in 2.5 hours, nutritionally-enriched smoothie in my hand and a bucket of snacks at my side, that took weeks of life-and-death struggle to accomplish.

It never fails to fill me with a sense of awe and gratitude....

Which lasts until I hit Nevada and start complaining about how long it's taking and how hot I am, and willthisdesertneverendI'vebeeninitforever.

Personal epiphanies never last long with me. At least not in the desert.

This year I got to realize an ambition I've nourished through many, MANY trips across Nevada---I
finally got to stop at the California Trail Interpretive Center. Every other time, I've hit that area either too late in the day, or on too hurried of a trip and didn't have time to stop.

Not this time.

The center itself is very nice and has high quality displays and exhibits. It takes you along the experiences of the pioneers, from first "seeing the elephant" and deciding to make the trek to the California gold fields through the struggles they encountered on their way.

It is truly amazing that there were thousands upon thousands brave (or foolish) enough to willingly put themselves through such an experience. And to do that knowing they would almost certainly never see their friends or family again, losing forever those connections most dear to them.

Quite a difference from these days of Skype and Facebook!

The museum had this cheerful display to illustrate one of the great tragedies of the journey. To lose your spouse, your child, was bad enough, but then to have to leave them behind forever to be forgotten in a trackless wasteland was truly devastating.

And to do that with the almost-certainty that they were going to get dug up and eaten the minute you left must have broken many a heart.

Yes, full of flaws though they may have been, those nation-building emigrants did not lack for bravery.

For those of you who are history buffs and know the story of the Donner Party, this is a view looking south to the Humbolt River where the Donner Party rejoined the traditional route to California after their disastrous jaunt on the Hastings Cutoff. The extra time they spent taking that much-longer "short cut" is what caused them to reach the Sierras dangerously late in the season and become trapped by early winter storms.

Now there's an interstate freeway, where wagon trains loaded with exhausted travelers once plodded their determined way.

How much has changed in only 168 years!

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

2014-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

And the Tragic End of an Orange Named Howard....

It's September and school is back in session. Summer is over and it is time to hit the books again. This semester I am taking Speech and a class called Health and Human Function, where I will be learning the basics of anatomy and physiology. This class also comes with a lab, and Friday I set in to perform my first lab assignment.

Enter Howard, the very worried orange.

My job was to learn the various terms for dissection planes---fun words like sagittal, coronal, median, and transverse. And to help me learn them, I had to dissect poor Howard.

My first cut was along the sagittal plane, cleaving Howard right through the middle of his noble proboscis. I was pretty sure Howard was terminal at this point, but he wasn't allowed to rest in peace.

Pieces, yes. But not peace.

After that, I had to cut his left side along the transverse plane, separating his ear top from bottom, and his right side along the coronal plane, separating the front of his ear from the back.

Gruesome stuff.

I had a somewhat horrified audience in the little homeschooling girlies whose house I've been staying at this week. Perhaps one of them will trace their future career in the medical field to this very occasion.

Perhaps not.

Now that I have read a whole two chapters in my anatomy and physiology book, I feel I am qualified to speak on the topic of human health and function. The human body is an amazingly complex organism, dependent on such a wide variety of interconnecting systems, each one requiring the cooperation of the others in order to function.

It boggles my mind that anyone manages to survive without a PhD, let alone thrive! There are so many potential ways to mess things up! We don't think about it, but when we eat, we are actually performing chemistry experiments---adding elements to our body's chemical reactions---and hoping it somehow all ends well.

And it boggles my mind that people devote their life study to learning about the amazing and complicated creatures we call "humans" and still take the premise that it all developed by chance with no input or organization from an outside source.

The human body amazes me.

But people who deny the existence of a Creator amaze me even more!

A Few Random Pictures From a Random Trip

2014-09-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

I am currently enjoying a wonderful vacation in California. So far, it has mostly consisted of sitting on my butt talking or taking naps.

So nice.

I did manage to change out of my pajamas briefly yesterday and go into Public. And as long as I'd gone to all the trouble of dressing, I took a few pictures here and there.

California is in the middle of another Historic Drought (they've been in the middle of one historic drought or another for approx. the last 200 years...) and I stopped by to see how low the local reservoir had fallen. I do have to say, it is impressively low. Hopefully California will get some rain this winter and end the Historic Drought---just in time for the next one to start!

I love the California foothills---this is truly the Golden State.

As long as I was wearing actual clothes, I thought I'd have a little fun with the self-timer. Sometimes it's difficult for a photographer to prove he or she actually existed, since they are never actually IN any pictures.

Beautiful sunset to end a nice, lazy day. I am not convinced I will manage to find my way back home again when my vacation is over. I am sure my mom would love to fall heir to my various furry felines and cavorting canines.

Yeah. Sure.

Fair Time!

2014-08-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's that time of year again. The time when I enter way more than my share of pictures into our county fair because I have no self-control.

This year I was determined to enter at least one art project as well, and though it nearly killed me, I actually got two done.

I had a hard time entering the artwork. My perfectionistic soul rose up in protest, since I felt my pieces was not as good as I am capable of. But my practical side told my perfectionisitic soul to shut up, sit down, and enter them anyway---that it's more important to participate in the things I want to do than sit around not doing anything until I feel I've gotten "good enough".

Personal growth is not always my favorite thing!

Anyway, here is a gallery of my photos----and ART----for your enjoyment.

My giant spool painting got a 1st place ribbon, plus a Special Award. Ever since the fair, It's Royal Specialness has been riding around in the back of my van. Someday I will actually get it out and prop it in my yard somewhere......

These first two photos got the dreaded "Thanks for participating" ribbon.

Category: Snow

Category: Beach

Category: Photo Editing/special effects---Third place.

Category: Storm---Second place.

Category:Western---First place.

Category: Landscape---First place, plus Special Award.

Category: Clouds/Sky---First place.

Category: Baby---First place, plus Best in Show.

Category: Trees---First place.

Category: Historic Architecture---First place, plus Special Award.

Category: Architecture---First place.

Category: Sunrise/Sunset----First place.

Category: Sun---First place.

Category: Animal with Person---First place.

Category: Inspirational---First place.

Category: Portrait---First place, plus Special Award and Sweepstakes Award.

Summer----Shorter Than it Used to Be

2014-07-26T20:44:00.001-07:00

So I've been meaning to make this post since the beginning of June---and that right there should tell you how my summer's been going! Here it is the end of July already and summer is almost over. In the spring, I was looking forward to school getting out so I'd have more time. Now I can hardly wait until school STARTS so I will have more time.

Somehow I doubt it's going to work out the way I think this time around, either.

But I have made sure to take the time for a few fun things, though sometimes at the expense of more mundane activities like washing dishes and tidying houses.

I made a trip to Bozeman for campmeeting---this time only as a helper, so it was way less intense than usual.

I've been swimming---count 'em----THREE times already this summer. That's about an, oh, 75% increase over the typical summer.

And I've been going on a few bike rides. Not as many as the one-per-day I'd originally envisioned for my fitandhealthy summer, but still way more than I usually take the time for.

I've been experimenting a little bit using some of the local farm tracks for my routes. This "experimentation" would work better if there were more than one of them within my seriously limited range. Farm tracks are fun to use because they keep you clear of traffic (and when you have two dopey-doodle dogs as your companions, that's important).

And as an added bonus, they are adventurous. If you are looking for solitude, a farm track in North Dakota will definitely fit the bill.

I'm pretty sure this is the dictionary definition of Robert Frost's "the road less traveled by..."

My little prairie farmhouse in all its June glory...Picture taking is very important on bike rides. Every time I am gasping for breath and feel like I can't peddle another second, lo and behold, I find something I need to stop and photograph. It works great.

My favorite (read: only) route runs north for a time and then turns west. I'm pretty sure the west-running track is in the dictionary as the road even LESS traveled by!

Maybe one of the reasons for the lack of traffic on this leg of the trip is the ridiculous drainage ditch someone cut right through the middle of it. I mean, sure the farmers want to be able to use their fields, but didn't they even stop to think what it would do to the casual cyclist? I somewhat regretted my choice of white tennis shoes when I had to wade through that!

This is the pond on the other side of the ditch...

And here is the view of my prairie farmhouse from the backside. The frequent reader might recognize my famous sunset tree in the cluster of trees to the right of my house. The large, bare hill is where we like to go cross country skiing in winter.

The last hill before I reach my pickup spot!

Here comes the cavalry---otherwise known as my mom and my sweet border collie sister, coming out to rescue me so I won't have to ride all the way home. I hope to be able to do the whole thing myself at some point, but since it would double the length of the route, I will have to work up to it.

If I push myself, I think I might be ready in, oh, another 10 years or so.

A Youngest Child's Guide to Father's Day Gift-giving

2014-06-15T21:18:00.003-07:00

Sometimes picking that perfect Father's Day gift can be a real challenge.

You know the drill. There's only so many bad ties and barbeque-themed aprons that a guy needs. And then it's Father's Day and you're running off to the store and gift wrapping a jar of peanut butter (true story---saw it today).

It's too late for this year, but if you are a youngest child like me (and you know who you are!) here's a handy-dandy gift guide to keep that person from being YOU the next time Father's Day roles around!

********************

If your dad is the Outdoors Type, give the gift of allowing him to take your kids camping for the weekend. Nothing makes ol' Dad happier than getting to spend quality time hauling your kids around in the dirt while you have a spa getaway.

Does he like to eat out? Let him have the pleasure of treating you to a dinner at his favorite restaurant. Because if you weren't there, would he really take the time to go for himself? I didn't think so.

Have a Handy Man for a dad? Well, how often does he get a chance to really use all those tools he's collected from previous Father's Days? Make a fun list of things you'd like fixed around the house---trust me, Dad will be thrilled to feel so needed.

Is your dad the type that has lawn equipment with the words "Turbo" and "Charged" in the title? He's probably in the garage right now running his hands over their smooth finish and wishing he had somewhere---anywhere---to take them for a spin. Don't be selfish!----Call dad up and let him know he can use your yard any time.

Sports fan? Everyone knows that football can get a little boring after a while---spice his routine up a bit with tickets to a spectacular ice dancing competition.

If your dad is an animal lover, imagine his joy when you allow him to pet sit while you jet off to Hawaii on vacation! I mean, there is no better companionship than a Springer Spaniel who's been left home for a week....He'll thank you later, really.

Is Dad a cook? Does he love to barbeque? Is his favorite channel the Food Channel? Give him the opportunity to showcase off his best moves by letting him cater a dinner at your house. For an added bonus, why not make it a party and invite a bunch of your friends over so they can see what an amazing chef your dad is!

What about the Green Thumb Dad? Well, what's the only thing better than one yard to work his magic on? Two, of course! Buy a bunch of plants---don't hold back, go all out (this is for Dad, after all)---and invite Dad over for a planting party. If you send the kids out to help him while you stay out of his way, so much the better. They will make memories they will cherish for years!

****************

These are just a few ideas to get you started. With a little creativity and thought, any youngest child can take Dad's hobbies and come up with a truly...amazing...gift idea.

I know my dad is amazed, anyway.

Love you, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day from your little princess...

Best Mother's Day Present Ever!

2014-06-15T20:32:00.001-07:00

I have a certain, shall we say, fondness for receiving presents. Just about any occasion will do.

And just about any present will do.

But this Mother's Day, my mom really outdid herself in picking the most sweetest, most special-est present for my sister and me. Well, at least for me, anyway. My sister was kind of a dud about it, but that's OK, because it gave me a temporary edge in the favorite daughter competition.

Long ago (exactly how long shall remain undisclosed), my mom made my sister and me matching dresses out of a pretty white fabric with strawberries on it. I LOVED that dress and was very bitter when I outgrew it---that happened with a lot of dresses back then, really, since I tended to forge deep and lasting relationships with my clothes. These days, I'm happy when they pass on because it gives me a reason to go shopping.

Fickleness, thy name is Tina.

But this dress I loved with a passion. I felt cute in it. I WAS cute in it.

And my sweet mother hunted down the same strawberry fabric and bought enough to make my sister and me each a big girl dress out of it.

When I opened the package, my mouth dropped open and I gasped in delight. Instant recognition spanned the intervening years.

When my sister opened the package she went, "You're making us....curtains?"

Tssssssssssst. Score one for the Teenster!

What a Difference a Month Makes...

2014-06-15T20:15:00.003-07:00

In one month----from May to June----we went from this.....

To this....

I love spring! Even if I do spend two months of it afflicted with ferocious allergies.

Spring is worth every sniffly, snarfy, sneezy moment!

Like a Beautiful Bouquet....

2014-04-30T17:09:00.003-07:00

This month I got to do a very special job at Shopko. Inventory was coming up, and the warehouses were well, problematic. So the week before inventory was scheduled, I got to go out into the two outside warehouses and reorganize THE WHOLE THING!

I love organizing. It feeds my little OCD soul big time. Granted, it would have fed my soul a bit more if it had been my own house I'd been organizing, but it was still very nice.

Of course, I know it will never last. Not unless we close Shopko and turn it into a museum. Which I personally think is a good idea, but I don't think Corporate will go for it.

But I try to think of it as being like a bouquet of fragrant flowers. Flowers fade and wilt, but we cherish them for the time they are with us. And I will cherish this beautiful sight for as long as it lasts.

I mean, look at that! Those are some attractive detergent rows there! (If you're wondering why they are all facing the wrong way, it's so the bar code can be scanned easily to inventory and locate them)

I'll never let go, Warehouse....I'll never let go!

Where the Deer and Antelope Play...

2014-04-18T17:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I took this picture on my way home from work.

Yesterday I nearly got rear-ended on my way home from work.

Those two events may have been connected.

I might have been driving down the road while pointing my camera out the window so I could get a good picture and I might have failed to see that a truck had come up over the hill behind me. And I might have stopped in the middle of the road right in front of them.

And yes, it is just possible that they think I am the stupidest driver in Montana.

But I got a picture of a pronghorn antelope. So there.

Little Popsicles on the Prairie

2014-04-16T21:30:00.001-07:00

Sabbath afternoon, Tiggy and I piled the two dogs in the car and went forth to explore. The wind was biting and cold, even though the temperature itself was a nice, mild mid-30's. It has been weeks since I've taken the dogs for their weekly jaunt and I was determined to go, even though it wasn't exactly---comfortable---outside.

But even I couldn't make myself walk around in the cold to see the same old places for the thousandth time. All the interesting stuff was too far away as cold as it was, so we decided to drive to a little prairie cabin we'd never explored, but that wasn't too far from the road.

Or so we thought.

We dressed warmly---almost too warmly.

Or so we thought.

Ten feet from the car, we'd already discovered that there was no such thing as "too" warm. But we pressed on, while the dogs cavorted obliviously across the field. Stupid dogs, don't have enough sense to freeze when it's freezing.

And the house, which had seemed so close from the warmth and security of the car, began to recede ever further under our shivering gaze.

We were sure we'd never make and they'd find our frozen bodies in the spring (oh, wait, it IS spring). But at last, we reached the house, though we walked sideways part of the way in order to keep our backs to the wind.

I'm sure we would have looked strange to passerbys had there been any. Thankfully, the house is on a pretty low-traffic road (as in, in the hour and a half that we were on the road, I saw one car go by).

And there the house sat, wide open to the insistent prairie wind. Once it had been a shelter to some hardy pioneer---perhaps a family had huddled together for warmth in its one little room. Now only weathered boards are left precariously standing as a testament to their struggles

The house was swaying back and forth in a fascinating---yet somehow alarming---way. Every gust would move the house visibly to the side. I took my life in my hands and got close enough for an indoor shot.

Then looked in the camera and saw that my lonely farmhouse had been photobombed.

Thanks, Tiggy. If the house had fallen on me, at least it would have been worth it to get this picture!

Best friend selfies to remember the day we froze to death---together!

Maybe the wind died down. Maybe we were just going numb, but it didn't feel as cold after a while. We took a few minutes to explore the relics around the house. Out here, people didn't much haul their garbage away. Instead, it was laid out in state in neat, orderly rows behind their houses. There's always some fascinating bits of rusty history to find.

Then we had to walk back to the car. No problem. It wasn't that far.

Or so we thought.

So sad, and at such a young age, too....

(That tiny blue dot at the top of the page is the car. Nope, not far at all.)

I made one more stop before we headed home. I wanted to photograph the icy lake across the road. The patterns and textures of the ice were quite interesting and demanded a closer look.

Or so I thought.

I took one quick picture so I'd have something to show for my foolish detour from warmth and comfort, but then I strolled back to the car. In the same way that the Olympic 100-meter dash is a stroll.

This was the sight that greeted me upon my return.

I think I'll need to wash my windows soon!

It was nice to step back in time for a few minutes, to listen to whispers of the past. A reminder that everything passes away---nothing lasts forever

Except for Jesus and His love for us. That will never change, never rust, never fade.

Grateful

2014-04-16T20:10:00.004-07:00

I spent the weekend in Billings last week. It was a nice change to get away for a while, and definitely a blessing be able to see Caleb for the first time since February. See, he decided to learn some of life's lessons the hard way and has become a guest of the state of Montana as a result. And just like that, the last my three littles was gone.

It's been hard, jumping into the empty nest years so suddenly. I was expecting another year together before I had to worry about working through any of that. I mean, I've spent the last 18 years taking care of kids. It's kind of hard to break the habit cold turkey!

But I'm grateful for all the time we got to spend together in the last year----my intention was for it to be the lead-up for our great final year before Caleb turned 18, but that didn't exactly turn out the way I planned, now did it....

I didn't know that what I thought was the lead-up to the main event would turn out to BE the main event, because in all likelihood Caleb will already be 18 before he's an independent agent again. But God knew all about it, and He is good. He put it in my heart to make the most of our time together and we did. So I'm sorry for what we'll miss, but ever so thankful for all that we didn't.

And last week was the first time since he left that I've been able to make the seven-hour drive down to see him.

I drove down Friday and spent Friday and Saturday nights sleeping at the Adventist church there. They've recently built a new fellowship hall and did something I think is just the coolest thing with the old one.

The church built two bedrooms and a bathroom out into the room and made an apartment out of it. They call it a prophet's room, after the Old Testament story of the couple that built a special room onto their home so that any of God's people that passed by would have a place to stay.

Now this "prophet's room" is available to those who have need of it, free of charge.

It was such a welcoming space, and it was quite cool to be kicking back inside a church.

There was a door leading directly from the apartment into the hallway of the church. Friday evening all was still and quiet, but it was pretty trippy to step through the door right into an active church on Sabbath morning! Felt very rabbit hole-ish.

I sat with a great family at potluck---they were so warm and friendly. They even invited me to the college choir concert their kids were in that evening. I had nothing planned because my visit with Caleb was already going to be over by then, so I braved the one-way streets of the downtown area and attended.

The sun was just setting as I arrived and casting a beautiful glow on the brick buildings. I love architecture, and always get excited to have the chance to take some "city" pictures for a change.

Not that I'd give up my wide-open, empty prairie for the confines of a city, but it's nice to visit.

The concert took place in the St. Patrick's Catholic church and I do have to say, the acoustics were absolutely beautiful inside. I can't wait to hear what the heavenly choir sounds like if our earthly choirs can make such wonderful music.

It was a lovely, restful weekend, with one more fun treat in store on the way home. I took the ol' car for the first car wash of spring. By that, I mean water has not touched its virginal state since last fall.

I was pretty embarrassed to be driving it---city folk just don't understand how it is when you live on a gravel road.

I came back with a very grateful heart.

Grateful for God's blessings.

Grateful for His mercy.

Grateful for the time we've all been given to love each other.

And praying that I will never take that time for granted because, even on the best of days with no tragedies or unforeseen events, it goes by faster than we ever dream possible.

A New Creature

2014-04-11T17:38:00.001-07:00

Meet Wally.

He is a beautiful studmuffin with one little secret.

He's balding.

As in a lot....

See, Wally ALWAYS sports a magnificent coat, but this winter's was particularly spectacular. Maybe it was the extreme cold, but Wally was a mini-wooly mammoth. The downside to all that cozy warmth was that he developed some pretty matted fur.

Oh, everything seemed fine from the outside, but if you looked deeply enough, Wally was an itchy, uncomfortable mess.

There was no nice, comfortable, easy way to fix it. The hair was felted much too thickly to comb through. The only way to make Wally beautiful was to take all the old messed-up, worn-out parts away and let him start over.

It's not the prettiest process (in fact, it is downright unattractive!), but in the end, Wally will be like new again.

* * * * *

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Corinthians 5:17

When Good Editing Goes Bad

2014-03-21T10:40:00.002-07:00

Just for fun, I thought I'd give you a behind-the-scenes look at some of the wonders of photo editing. I was inspired by the recent blog post of one of my favorite photographers who had the confidence to post one of her pictures "in the nude" so to speak.

Don't worry, she's fully clothed. Just the image is nude.

As a photographer, I find it very encouraging when I see other people's work in its natural state. For the longest time, I wondered why I could never get the results I wanted---then I started to realize how much magic happens post-production. So I love it when I get the chance to see a good "before" and "after" shot. You can see the blog here.

I've decided to do my own version, a sort of illustration of the power of editing used wisely---and not so wisely.

This is my original, untouched shot.

As you can see, it is not very flattering. Renaissance dresses as a whole were a terribly unflattering business. They seemed to have been designed solely to be a fancy, frilly frame for the bosoms. I guess that was all that mattered back in those days.

Here I have brightened and warmed up the original.

But I still look like I'm wearing a brocade nightgown. Time to do a little weight-loss surgery!

Ok, so I look a little distorted. And yes, my head and hands look unnaturally big. But the rest of me is so skinny!

While I'm at it, why not add Rapunzel hair down to the ground?

It's been a long winter. Better try on some spray tan.

Yes, photo editing can be lots of fun. But use extreme caution. One minute you're making simple color adjustments and talking about maintaining photographic integrity and the next....

Spring Fever

2014-03-20T10:38:00.002-07:00

We've been freezing all winter here by the Canadian border (Canada: where winter goes to spend the summer). And I'm sure that's no surprise to the rest of you, judging by all the news reports about freakishly low temperatures across the lower United States.

But we've finally had a reprieve. And what a reprieve!

It's been in the 40's and 50's for days and days of deliciousness now. To some of you that may seem like a cold snap, but if you've been living in the minuses, 40 feels glorious. We're talking shorts weather, Baby! (Not quite, but almost.)

It's also the perfect time for a little photography outbreak. It's so much easier to get the best performance out of your models when they're not in danger of freezing to death. Divas! However, since I was planning to be one of the models this time, I have to say that in this instance warmth was a good idea.

I've had a really cool place I wanted to shoot at for a while now. I first saw it this winter while I was driving home during a baby blizzard. An abandoned old farmstead, it was hidden and softened by the falling snowflakes, but I saw enough to know it was pretty amazing. Unlike most wooden structures up here, the owners had built their farm out of stone work. There was a house, a stable, the foundation of a large barn and what looked like a chicken coop. I made a mental note to come back some day in better weather and check it out.

Well, the site more than lived up to my expectations and Tiggy and I began making plans to meet after school for some beauty shots of both of us. Pretty ambitious plan, to try to be both the photographer and the model in the same afternoon. Usually I spend a good portion of any given photo shoot on the ground searching for the best angles---not something I was eager to do in a fancy dress! Not to mention the constraints of a dress that was NOT made for vigorous activity.

Still, I hoped with a little planning I could make it work. I brought along a quilt to lie on in case that became necessary.

And I wore puddle stomper boots on my feet. Not very delicate, but a good call....

Especially when I looked down at one point and found myself ankle deep in an ancient, yet somehow fresh and juicy, cow pie.

Someone else I know wore only slipper boots. Someone else was sorry. Very sorry.

Yes, I had it all covered. Except for the part about full-charged batteries. THAT part I left out! And so it was that after only a few pictures of Tiggy, my first battery died.

So. Not. Fair.

I changed batteries, but I knew the second one never lasted long and I only had a few minutes before it went dead, too.

Naturally, those few minutes were spent taking pictures of me. Hey, I only get fixed up every couple of years----this was an event!

Tiggy was playing mood music on her Iphone so we could be "just like real models", but once she started holding the camera, she had nowhere to put her phone. The ground was the consistency of thick soup, so we didn't dare set it down anywhere. I ended up with it stuck inside my sleeve. Interesting trying to be a romantic renaissance maiden while your arm plays Taylor Swift....

And then---the last battery died. After the heart-rending cries of dismay were over, I decided to make the best of it and use Tiggy's Iphone to take some more pictures----might as well as long as we were there. I'd never done much with smart phone photography before, but it was kind of fun and the picture quality was decent.

Until the Iphone battery died.

After that we went back to the house and charged up her phone for a few minutes so we could take some more pictures out in the yard. Not the most romantic place in the world, but better than nothing.

All the rest of these were taken with the Iphone. But don't feel bad if you've never gotten results like this---they were all edited to death on my computer in post-production.

This gentle "stream" is actually a mud puddle in my front yard. It's amazing what a little creative cropping will do! And it came with a bonus drowned rodent floating in it. Yech!

The flowing "stream" in real life...

And with a little photo-shop magic...

Yes, digital editing is a wonderful thing. At last, we can always look skinny, never have flaws, and remain radiant and ageless...as long as we never actually leave the house so people see us in person!

Life

2014-02-21T16:05:00.003-08:00

I used to have one.

A life, that is.

But that was then, this is now.

I started my new job at the end of December. I began my two college classes, Introduction to Computers and Incomprehensible Algebra in mid-January. Neither life-change by itself would be that challenging, but the two of them together have managed to suck up whatever spare time I used to have.

So I get up in the morning, head off to work, come home to let the dogs out, then drive back into town to wrestle with algebra for an hour or so. Once in a while, I am so excited to have an evening to myself-----and get to indulge in activities like washing dishes, putting away laundry, or clearing away clutter. Last night I even mopped my floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And on a very good day, I even snatch a few minutes to run outside with a camera. It's helped with the motivation that the weather has been a wee bit warmer this past week. Stuff has to be pretty doggone beautiful to tempt me out when the temperatures are below zero.

We even got a 4-inch snowfall one of the days. It was beautiful, fluffy snow, the kind we don't get very often. The typical prairie snow is more like grit out of a sandblaster, but this stuff settled like a delicate cloak over everything, beautifying and freshening our winter-worn landscape.

Then one of the mornings we even had a little bit of fog. Back in California, you don't get excited about fog. January and February are National Fog Months there, and you don't see the sun unless you head up a mountain and get above the clouds. But here fog is a little more rare and can certainly add to the beauty of a winter morning.

No, there's nothing like the magical loveliness of winter.

I can't WAIT until spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting My Vitamin D

2014-01-20T07:22:00.002-08:00

After all the cold weather in December and early January, people were beginning to expect a very cold winter. And don't get me wrong, it's not too late for that, by any means! But lately, we've been enjoying almost spring-like temperatures in the 30's and even 40's. Our snow is almost melted, which could actually be a very bad thing if the temperature suddenly plummets again. A thick layer of snow is what protects all the plants from tragic and early demises each winter.

Besides, snow is kind of critical for skiing and sledding.

But if you can't have sledding and skiing, at least there's some great hiking around here. Saturday was a beautiful day with temperatures warm in the 20's and 30's. There was a bit of a wind so I had to bundle up, but otherwise I could almost have gone without my jacket.

I took both dogs with me for the company---and to protect me from any rabid pheasants I might run across. Cooper is loving all the wide open spaces.

I only walked about 4 miles, but I think the dogs ran about 5 times that. They would plop down in the snow and take snow baths when they got too hot.

It was so pretty and peaceful. It's actually kind of hard not to be peaceful when there's not another soul for miles.

I hiked through several different types of fields on my walk. First there was a whole field of bare dirt, plowed under by the farmers in the fall in preparation for spring planting. Then there was the wild, uncultivated parts that farmers are subsidized to leave undeveloped. That might be great for the wildlife, but they are considerably less fun for humans to traipse through. The nice, smooth-shorn slopes of the alfalfa fields were a delight and I heartily recommend them. Wheat stubble looks easy to walk through, but by the end of a 3 hour hike those little trenches filled with snow are a lot more challenging than they appear!

It was such a treat to get outside again. Winter can get to feeling a little claustrophobic at times...I'm grateful for good health and a functional body that allows me to get outside and enjoy myself. Even if I do have to come home and take a nap afterward!

Punting It Down the Field

2014-01-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

When I was little, I was often told how much I looked---and acted---like my mother. I was little. I was cute. I was funny. She enjoyed the comparison

As I'm getting older, more and more often I am hearing from my mom, "You are just like your father." Usually this happens when I am displaying characteristics such as determination (stubbornness), confidence (close-mindedness), and focus (obtuseness).

Evidently my genes didn't splash only in her side of the pool.

But there is one key way I am totally unlike my father, much to his everlasting regret. And that attribute was on full display yesterday.

My dad would make a Boy Scout look bad. His motto is "Be prepared----for anything and everything up to AND including world destruction." The back-up systems of his back-up systems have back-up systems.

He's tried to instill the same ethic into me, especially now that I live out in the country by myself. And to a certain extent, it's worked. I like having lots of back-up systems. That way, I have lots of things that can quit working before I ever actually have to do anything about it!

This same mentality carries over to my cars. As long as they are still running, I can deal with minor annoyances like most of my lights not working, or a door that's stuck on with duct tape. But eventually I reach that certain point where something must be done. The last headlight flickers out, or the last working door stops opening. And that is when I put my Extreme Back-up Plan into action---the CFD.

Call For Daddy!

Last spring, I bought a new-to-me car. Well, I started making payments on it, and this month I made the final one. It is all mine now, so naturally it is time for things to start breaking. When I bought it, it already had the funny little quirk that the gas tank door wouldn't open unless you used the manual release in the trunk.

No problem. I could handle that.

Then, when the cold weather hit, I started having trouble with the trunk. It wouldn't latch properly.

No problem. I could jiggle the latch around until it caught.

Everything in my system was going ever so smoothly until the day came when the trunk wouldn't open and the gas tank door was latched shut. At least I still had a full tank of gas, right? No need to worry about it yet...

But yesterday, a whole 6 months worth of chickens came home to roost when I couldn't open my trunk, couldn't open my gas tank, and was out of gas. Time to implement the Extreme Back-up Plan!

Is it just me, or is the Extreme Back-up Plan getting noisier? Seems to have a constant low-level grumbling noise emanating from the motor and something like the sound of teeth grinding in the gears. I should probably have that looked at----but no need to rush.

Why do today what I can put off til tomorrow?