CreekHiker

Pretty Girl

2012-02-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

I know my opinion is kinda jaded but... I think she's gorgeous!

RIP Bear

2012-02-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Sunset in the creek - 01-12 -12

My heart is heavy as I think of my extended California family who lost a beloved pup last night. Bear was 12 and had spent his entire life with one family including his birth mom Foxy.

Bear was terrified of thunder and literally was scared to death (I always thought of that phrase as an exaggeration until now...) as a violent storm passed their home.

He was such a sweet boy and I loved petting and scritching him when we went to visit! I'm going to miss him so.

This is a video the bestie shot of him on one of our visits last year:

Who's Dead Dog Is This???

2012-02-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

So in my week of Bad Bart tales, it was this particular adventure that pushed me over the edge to the point that I agreed to train him to a shock collar.

It had been an uneventful walk! I had looked deep into Bart's eyes when we began and implored him to take it easy on me that night! We had a lovely evening stroll and ran into our friend Chloe the doberman and her dad down by the river. The three dogs romped and, as usual, Bart disappeared. He's still not certain of his place in the extended pack and if there is too much rough housing, he prefers to go ~~hide~~ do Bart stuff in the tall shrubs.

We all decided to take the long way out together and since we pass by the tall shrubs, I knew we would find Bart. We called; he didn't appear; we kept walking and calling. Finally, I heard him behind us. He ran down the hill past the two leggers and ran up to both girls. He turned to face them and ... SNARLED at them both. Since both girls are way more alpha than Bart, this was like asking for a beat down! He leaped high in the air and over some shrub and started frantically digging. All of us were terribly confused and we all went to see what had Bart in such a tizzy. There was a dead rabbit in the hole he was digging!

Chloe's dad thought Bart killed the rabbit and that was what the whole snarling thing was about... but I saw nothing in his mouth. Either way, I knew I didn't want to deal with dogs fighting over a dead rabbit and that Bart was acting territorial enough that we could have an issue. I pointed Mabel down the trail expecting to get her in the car and hike back in for Barticus.

Around the bend, we met Mark, a most resourceful young man in his twenties. He's exactly the kind of person you want to meet when you have trouble in the wild! I reminded him of Bart and his antics (Mark favors hats...another fear trigger for Bart). As Mark headed down the trail toward Bart, the rest of us kept moving toward the cars.

And then it was Mabel's turn to get all bratified! She took off into the fenced enclosure. Now it was getting dark and I didn't have either dog. I honked the car horn, knowing that would scare the crap out of Mabel. She always wants to go home with Mom! She appeared at the fence next to the car... crying. Even though she knows where the opening in the fence line is... about 40 yards back west of the parking lot, she will not leave me because the car horn has sounded and surely the car is leaving without her! (This is the one area where my dog seems to lack logic!)

So I hike the fence line coaxing the crying girl along to the opening. It was around this time that I realized Mark had been "shooing" Bart in our direction. Bart ran to a large shrub near the parking lot (I took this set of photos with my phone in the exact spot a full week before this incident!) and continued eating his catch. I was debating how to get him in the car without that dead rabbit while I leashed up Mabel.

Working my way back to the car in the near darkness carefully as there is no trail by the fence, I suddenly hear another voice asking the most ominous question, "Who's dead dog is this?"

I realized it was coming from the bush where Bart had been eating his rabbit. My first thought was that Bart had choked! But as we got closer, I saw the man was hiking two gorgeous, friendly, off leash mastiffs! Bart was simply terrified and knew he was outnumbered and outgunned! So he played DEAD!

I about keeled over in laughter! I told the man that I was certain Bart was faking and that he should move away from Bart's bush and the rabbit he was laying on! And sure enough, when the man and mastiffs entered the parking lot, the little faker sat up and started eating more rabbit!

With Mabel in the car, I decided to call the BFF to see is she could figure out how to get Bart away from the half eaten rabbit but realized my phone was dead. Again, Mark came to my rescue and loaned me his. While I was on his phone, Mark decided to try and scare Bart. It worked! Bart ran and got under my car! I opened the door and he jumped in! Whew!

And then, I figured out I had dropped my keys! Mark to the rescue again. He had some powerful magnets in his car and found my keys in under five minutes and then he even took care of the rabbit!

Thank goodness Mark was hiking that night... between all the growling-playing dead-getting lost- missing keys... I was a mess!

How 'bout some Football?

2012-02-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

Since today is all about sport, I thought this blog should interrupt our "Bad Bart" series with a little football...Mabel Lou style.

Our heroine grabs the ball:

And passes it off to...

herself!

The opposing team seems rather distracted...

So our heroine stops for some refreshments!

With the opposition still otherwise preoccupied...

Our heroine tackles the ball with enthusiasm...

and struts her victory dance!

Hope you all have a fun day!!!

'Meating' Out a Punishment

2012-02-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

The other week, when Bart was doing his level best to try my patience, Mabel Lou found it necessary to point out the inequities in my parenting skills and punish me justly.

It had been a trying night... in my mind, it was either the night of the biker or the jogger incident. We had also run into a leash walker (yes, my favorite curse word!). One of the folks that is mortified of meeting off leash dogs so they leash up and hike in the vast open area where all the off leash dogs go! They aren't social and they aren't pleasant.... as opposed to someone with a problem furchild that they can't let off leash but are happy to socialize and are friendly upon approach.

We had finally made it back to the car when I ran into what I thought was the same leash walker from the levee. I grabbed Mabel and secured her in the car and waited for Bart to reappear. (He loves to disappear just before we get to the car so he can dash in and harass the dogs that live near the parking lot... we call them the holocaust prisoners. They are fed but never exercised or even played with except by passersby. They actually LIKE Bart and his antics and whine at me on days I hike without him!)

As I hiked back in to get Bart and make sure there was no issue with Ms. Leashwalker, I found it was actually a different woman with a very nice dog. She had only leashed up when she became aware of US. I petted her dog and started chatting when I saw Bart. Mr. Bigshot was scared of the dog I was petting!

Mabel Lou does love a good tussle. She and Atilla go at it while Chloe and Bart watch.

I went and leashed him and gave the two the chance to meet properly. Bart loved the new dog! We unleashed them and let them play in the parking lot. They were so cute dashing about. Soon Atilla joined us and the three dogs played... all the while Mabel Lou was whining in the back of the car!

I said my goodbyes and drove Bart home giving little thought to the new dog. At home, I fed the girl and headed to the computer to return some customer emails. BUMP..... CRUNCH.

That's strange...

CRUNCH, CRUNCH POP...

I wonder what that is...

Pop pop POP.

What the???

I headed into the living room only to find that my good dog who only dug in the garbage ONCE as a puppy, had opened the cabinet, turned over the trashcan, rummaged a bit until she found a turkey package at the bottom of the can and had eaten the bloody paper bit and was working on the Styrofoam!!! What the heck??

I phoned my hiking buddy to kvetch. She was the one to figure it out... I had to be punished for failing to allow Mabel a/k/a "Queen Bitch of Everything" to meet and play with the new pup! I've learned my lesson. I won't do it again!

The Great Eyeball Fakeout

2012-02-01T14:55:00.000-08:00

I know everyone (save for Bart's mom) thinks their dog is smart. But there is something about "the oooh" a/k/a my Mabel Lou. My hiking buddy tells me she wants to flip Mabel over and check her for a zipper i.e. she thinks Mabel is a human in a dog suit!

Recently, we ran into the hiking buddy and her Rhodesian Ridgies Hank and Sue at a fork on the trail. The HB was very excited... she had a ball for me - an "eye" ball. She picked it up for me because I love to make glass eye beads and she thought I would get a kick out of it.

Mabel Lou spied the exchange and got excited. I distracted her and Bart and pocketed the ball in my cape for closer examination later. Before I walked 10 feet, Mabel had set up camp in front of me, demanding the contents of my left pocket... that's where the ball was. Realizing I wasn't going to walk very far, I tossed it to her.

Suddenly Atilla and my pool man joined us and the pack moved toward the river. All four dogs were very interested in that eye ball in Mabel's mouth. Realizing she was outnumbered, Mabel Lou attempted evasive action. But she's older and not as fast as she once was. So she opted for the next best thing - a fake out!

She dug a hole, sucked that ball deeper into her jowls and "buried" it. Hank and Sue fell for it. But Bart and Tilla weren't so sure... so she repeated the motion further downstream. And both boys fell for it! With all four hiking buddies digging for balls that weren't there, Mabel went off on a ridge where she could play with her ball alone and bury it in secret.

I know she's mine... but I do think she's rather clever!

Bad Bart

2012-01-31T21:21:00.000-08:00

It's been a trying few weeks. I'm always overwhelmed this time of year prepping taxes, sales taxes, commission reports, etc... the chore I despise most of all. Add in my illness and my sister being so sick and the insurance claim on my downed fences, the fact that my neighbors across the way can see right in my once private back door and the niece's wedding and you get one stressed Creekhiker.

And then there's the dogs. I have so many dog adventures from just the last SEVEN DAYS that my head is spinning! WHY can't I ever just have a normal hike... do I beg for trouble??

So much has happened and I'm too pressed for time to deal with many pictures so, I'm going to give you some bit-tids and a few teasers.

Some days I think Bart has gone slap dab crazy. He bowed up and threatened to attack a biker and a jogger during two different hikes this week! The biker was very nice... the jogger? Not so much.
WHY, when someone (such as a biker or a jogger) sees you trying to gather your dogs and get your leash, do they just barrel right on into the pack??? Do they want to get bit??? Or heaven forbid, when you ask them to stop... WHY keep on going??? Are they really that absorbed in their own little world?
And while Bart does need some serious training, the bestie (Bart's owner) is in no shape to do the job and quite frankly, if I wanted a leashed dog, I wouldn't hike where I hike. But if the task has to be done, it's pretty much up to me to do it. Ugh.
So, we've started training him with the electric shock collar. Bart does not obey on leash... he bucks and jumps so much that we've actually considered creating a workout video featuring "Bart moves." They are THAT funny.
After two walks with the collar on, he's already figured out that the buzzer is an audible warning to behave "or else." So... the Barticus hears the warning and ...stops the annoying behavior and non-nonchalantly does... anything else. And after a minute or two, he goes right back to the annoying behavior. I've decided to instead train him so that my voice is his only warning.
It wasn't ONLY the incidents with the jogger / biker that brought us to this decision...but you'll have to wait for that story!
I'm so happy to say, we had an uneventful walk tonight!

{Updated 2/1 - I felt the need to add... we RARELY see joggers and bikers! Maybe twice a month....not enough to punish the pups with leash walks but we do want to control Bart to protect him and the other people.)

Teasers from the last week:

The great eye ball fake out or how to outwit four dogs at once.
Mom put in her place as Mabel "meats" out punishment.
What's freaking Bart out?
Who's Dead Dog Is This? (Don't worry! It's funny! I swear!)

Laundry Day

2012-01-25T14:56:00.000-08:00

After I finally stopped hacking up my lungs, I wanted some clean bedding. I have so many comforter covers to prevent dog hair on the actual pricy part of the bedding and it can take the better part of a day to do all that laundry.

As I was going back and forth from the laundry room to the bedroom with my many loads of wash, I was kinda surprised at ~~what~~ who I tripped over...

It seems Sweet Baby May thought that nice duvet was curled up just so she would have ~~a thirteenth~~ another softie bed for a nap. It was a rather chilly day and she napped there all morning. It took a late breakfast of bacon to make her rise!

Mabel Lou's Opinion

2012-01-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

...on rising early on a cold windy morning....

Sunbaking Beauty

2012-01-13T17:58:00.001-08:00

Old Dog Playful Pup

2012-01-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

Another unexpected benefit to my leaving Miss Mabel Lou for 10 days is that I came home to a most playful pup. For three nights in a row, we had a rousing game of chase the red tennis ball!

Protecting her ball from the evil flashy beast!

Hiding the ball from the flashy beast!

Submissive

2012-01-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

This girl of mine doesn't do submissive. Every pup whose ever owned me has readily offered her belly. Not this one. About the only person who has ever gotten Mabel to go all submissive is The Rocketman (a/k/a the hubby of my Constant Crafter friend, Becky). Randy, my friend from film school, also has a magical way with Mabel. I... do NOT.

But apparently, if I leave her for ten days, she WILL allow me a few moments of "tummy time."

As much as I relish tummy time, the duration away from my baby is hardly worth it.

Here's Looking At You

2012-01-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

Still trying to get back on track from my illness. Hope this photo gives you some idea of the intensity of my little nephew Bailey.

Bailey

2011-12-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

Bailey is my sister's dog, a Welsh Pembroke Corgi. His predecessor was named "Huggy" and we quickly realized that Bailey should have been named "Lovey." He just adores pets and scritches.

Here he is playing with a toy I got him:

Shhh... The baby is sleeping....

That's What I Like about the South

2011-12-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

My trip home was ... filled with doctors and trips to transfusion centers and emergency rooms. And not just for my sister. I came down with the worst sore throat ever and, fearing I would make my sister even sicker, I went to the doc myself.

While I'm still processing so much of this trip mentally - how do you force a good time? How do you make a memory on command? One of the best parts of the trip was the joyful yet melancholy differences between the land that was my home and the one that is. I thought I would share a few.

Iced Tea - you never have to walk into a restaurant in the South and wonder if their tea is good. It's no question at all... it simply is. Here, even Southern fried chicken chain Popeye's has some of the nastiest tea on earth. And Panera Bread - an East coast chain - has the best. But in the South, every mom and pop to national chain has great iced tea.
Warm weather - While Louisiana can have brutal winters, there always seem to be a sprinkling of mild or even warm days. Back here on our big old mountain, I'm warm for about 20 minutes around one o'clock. Being cold seems to make my head cold miserable.
Dogs - This is actually a similarity. Like my mountain community, I could always find a dog to love on. My nephew Bailey is such an intense little dude. He would stand with his heavy paws on my thigh and stare deep into my eyes for minutes on end. I felt like he could see my very soul. He brought much comfort on my trip. There will be a post or two about him in the future.
Ghost Stories - I heard a few amazing ones on my trip home. California may be the land of the nutcases but people don't offer up their ghost stories here like they do back home. Or maybe the air is so thick back there that the setting is just ripe for them.
Excellent Seafood - For excellent seafood here, you need a second mortgage. As always, I partook of some of the best fish and crustacean dishes in the world for no more than I would expect to pay for a regular dinner. Sadly, my favorite seafood restaurant burned down the morning of my arrival and another old favorite went out of business when the owners retired. But I found some new favorites.
My Mom - as much as I know we irritate each other, it's only because we are so much alike. I was pleasantly surprised to open her fridge and find a heart shaped potato. Could she be the reason I collect heart shaped stuff on all my hikes?? Is my inner child really that different from hers?

Reunion

2011-12-08T12:29:00.001-08:00

The last time Bessie the Jeep got a new tranny, she was gone for seven days and Mabel kissed her bumper when she came home. Mabel has been so distraught over Bessie's absence for these last 13 days that I offered to walk her to the "hospital" to visit the car!

Mabel as a big factor in choosing to repair the car... that and I simply couldn't afford the payments on a newer one. One windy afternoon recently when my hiking buddy had taken me for groceries, she asked if she should take Hank and Sue to the creek in such high winds. I advised against it. We started discussing bread...we were at the store too early in the day for the lovely loaves of soft French bread. I commented on how I hated it all hard and crusty. To which my hiking buddy replied... "Mmmmm just the way Hank likes it!"

"Are you buying crusty day old bread for your DOG???"

Defensive, she replied, "Yeah. What of it??"

"You don't have to get defensive with me! I'm repairing a 13 year old vehicle because my dog loves it! Hello Pot! My name is Kettle!"

We had a good chuckle over the things we do for our dogs...

Hope you enjoy the pics of Mabel and her reunion with her beloved ride! Did you notice the blurry tail???

Occupy the Couch!

2011-12-06T10:41:00.001-08:00

Mabel Lou here. I'm here to share with you a horrible atrocity going on in the dog world! I am in shock I tell you and I'm certain you will be too!

Mr. Pip has had his comfy couch taken away and moved to the basement! He's requesting all his K9 friends "occupy the couch" in protest until he gets his beloved couch back!

So here I am, doing my part. But you know me... I just HAVE to take it to the next level. I'm urging everyone not to simply occupy the couch. No, you have to take control of the remote! My own mom is so upset over this, she's going to let Mr. Pip's pawrents know how important it is for him to get a couch immediately.

Now, THAT'S the power of the paw!

Don't Bother Me

2011-12-05T13:24:00.001-08:00

I'm sunbaking!

If It's Not One Thing

2011-12-01T00:57:00.001-08:00

...it's 87 others! I'm wide awake at one a.m. - not that I don't want to sleep. We're having one of those infamous California wind storms.

I'm cowering in my house listening to my inner fence (the tall one that makes me feel so safe) come apart banging against the outer fence and wondering if I will have a roof (house?) coming daylight.

These winds are so violent. At 85 m.p.h, they are reminiscent of a Louisiana hurricane without the rain. I miss the rain...it drowns out the other sounds of a wind storm! I can hear dirt and debris sand blasting my windows. The limbs of my date palm are crashing to the ground with great thuds. What looks like a bed sheet is caught in the power lines up on the corner and snapping. My padlocked garage door lifts up an inch or so and thunks back. Mabel, stress breathing in the hallway, is happy to have an extra set of walls between her and the storm. Every plastic bucket in my yard is blowing...somewhere. And the ever present wood on concrete banging of my fences.

I wonder how on earth I will feel secure leaving my pup at home alone with much shorter fences in a mere two weeks?

Right now, it just feels like the problems keep banging up against my head like the wind in my fences. It's been a really stressful five days.

::A fun trip the bestie and I planned the day after Thanksgiving went to you-know-where in a hand-basket when someone need to hang at her house until they could arrange a ride. My bestie, being the kind, generous soul she is, changed our long planned trip. I took the casserole I had made for the trip over to stash in her extra fridge... and barely made the 3/4 mile trip home!

::My beloved jeep - 13 years old would not shift out of first gear all the way up the hill home. I just kept going, running stop signs, further up the mountain to my mechanic. As suspected, the transmission is out.

::Since I had prayed and put out into the universe all year that both the bestie and I needed newer cars, (and the bestie just got one!), maybe it was time... I spent days on the phone, wheeling and dealing. I'm not a car person. My needs are simple: electric windows (in case Mabel sees a cat), air conditioning (middle aged femalehood is bear on fire!), and a plug for my ipod (I hate commercials!). And it should run... that's it! After days of negotiating, even consulting a professional broker, I just couldn't deal with the added debt. I'm dumbstruck that I could buy a new car (with very little interest) for about the same price as an used one! That's just wrong!

::I'm still in shock that a new tranny is coming just as Los Angeles' exorbitant property taxes are due. I just love how these damn things are due in early December, pretty much guaranteeing I never have a good Christmas. At least I can put the car on a credit card and deal with it in a few months... guaranteeing I won't have a good birthday either!

::There goes another palm limb! I heard a woman was actually hit by a falling tree walking to get groceries tonight!

::Who WALKS to get groceries in an 80 mph wind storm? Housebound carless people, that's who! It's so hard to live in LA without a car! I'm amazed at the things I normally have plenty of that have run out this week!

I'm down to 7 rolls of toilet paper. I usually have a case. The logical side of me knows that's 3 1/2 weeks. The not so logical side is freaked!
Every fire alarm in my house started beeping and I only had one 9 volt battery in the house!
I managed to run out of my favorite acid reducer during the most stressful week in ages.
OJ, bread...
And the creek... I've managed to swing a ride here and there but Mabel has seemed grateful for neighborhood walkies.

::The last time Bessie the Jeep got a new tranny, she was away from home for seven days! It will be more this time thanks to the days lost trying to get a new Bessie. When I brought her home last time - 51,000 miles ago, Mabel raced into the drive way and kissed the bumper repeatedly! Since Mabel has spent the last several days wandering into the drive and loudly crying her displeasure, I wonder if Bessie will get a similar greeting???

::In the end, some part of me fears I will never make real money again...that it will always be a hard row to hoe. But, I am somewhat happy about keeping my old beast. It's Mabel's car. She loves that Jeep! They don't make them where the back seat flips up and creates a Mabel Lou seat any more. So many of the vehicles I have looked at have hard plastic and are slanted... my girl would slide all over and not be happy at all. Mabel and the Jeep were made for each other. I just get to visit in their world. It's much nicer there!

Duckpdate - Party for the Birds

2011-11-24T20:17:00.001-08:00

This Duckpdate is brought to you because Sarge is hosting a Give Us the Bird posting contest this week.

The ducklings first swim in their new home.

One summer evening, the dogs dashed into Dirty Creek and startled the ducks.. HUNDREDS OF DUCKS! Wha??? I started to count as they took flight and suddenly realized my efforts were futile.

As I got closer to the water and could see beyond the concrete barricades... My ducks were home! I counted...yes, they were all there. It appears, they were just having a party. And while some wayward dogs could easily startle newcomers, our little team stayed put. After all, it was getting dark...time for the party to end anyway!

Now that winter is here, the team in Dirty Creek has doubled...boy for girl! It seems they are pairing off, getting ready for spring. I just hope they forgot the way to my pool!

If you would like to join Sarge's contest, be sure to check out his blog!

Duckpdate - The Hunters!

2011-11-23T10:25:00.001-08:00

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I took a nasty fall in my own backyard coming home from Costco Monday night. I'm really banged up. Mabel did come over and kiss me and curl up next to me while I was writing in pain!

This Duckpdate is brought to you because Sarge is hosting a Give Us the Bird posting contest this week.

A few months back, I was hiking in the Tujunga River... one of those quiet, lazy, summer evenings. I heard a strange noise and the ducks nearby startled and moved up stream just a bit. I looked up on the levee and noticed two brats with pellet guns aiming at the ducks... but Bart and Mabel right behind them!

And even though those probably weren't MY ducks...Once you are a duck mom... they are ALL MY DUCKS! (Not sure I will ever be able to eat a Turducken again!) I promptly told those little criminals that they shouldn't be shooting at hand raised ducks and certainly not firing so close to dogs and a human. That didn't work! So I called the cops and the little creeps ran...

Just one more battle that the ducks have to face...

If you would like to join Sarge's contest, be sure to check out his blog!

Duckpdate - Fall Habitat

2011-11-21T09:26:00.001-08:00

I haven't really been posting on the ducks because... the ducks are doing what they are supposed to do...growing up and moving on. But Sarge is hosting a Give Us the Bird posting contest this week and when Mabel Lou heard there may be foodables involved... well, she egged me on!

So, I thought I would post some duckling pics and tell you a few stories of the goings on at Dirty Creek this week. The biggest adjustment the not-so-little team had to make was the annual fall raping of their habitat. They are living in a flood control basin which is improperly controlled. As you can see in the photo below, all the tall reeds the ducks were living in are on the right are now trimmed to the ground!

Yet right across the water, where most of the flood waters actually go, the city did not cut or trim. Nor did they cut the tree that fell this year. It's all a bureaucratic mess! The Dept of Public Works blames Fish and Game who claim rare species in those waters. Yeah? Well if that's the case, why did you allow a five foot deep pond to fill up with sediment to maybe one foot deep???

The government agencies also blame the golf course, who - per their contract with said governing bodies - are supposed to maintain the trails and creeks. They've done such a crappy job that this week, another government agency is taking over. Grrrr. Don't get me started... back to my ducks...

Mallory Mallard enjoying her bath in my pool's waterfall while watching her ducklings.

I check on the ducks most evenings and I was there the very day the trimming was done. The ducks looked somewhat confused and mildly panic stricken. But this little team is tough. The next day, they seemed much calmer. In some ways, it's good the city no longer trims the area north of the pond...that's where predators must approach from! And I'm certain they make quite a ruckus going through the thick growth.

So the team made it through another hurdle.

If you would like to join Sarge's contest, be sure to check out his blog!

It's Just Not Magic Anymore

2011-11-19T18:53:00.001-08:00

What is it about the holiday season that makes it seem as if the days are barreling down a mountain chasing me as fast as my little legs can run? And why does it start sooner and travel faster every single year?

In all honesty, I planned to write this post in AUGUST.... when I took the blurry cell phone pictures to accompany this post... of CHRISTMAS TREES! My bestie - the shiny happy one - pointed out that these pictures were taken in a store that sells decorations to other retailers so, to her shiny happy point of view, the store I took these in was right on time marketing-wise.

Halloween trees

To my stop-the-world-from-turning-cause-I'm-dizzy point of view...it wasn't the first store I had seen Christmas trees in... It was the THIRD! In AUGUST!

I was fascinated from a decoration point of view but I don't even understand that... I haven't decorated in more than a decade. There never seems to be enough time. It seems pointless to drag all that crap out of the attic to put it up for.. me... and put it back up again. Plus, I'm always going somewhere else... the lot of someone who doesn't have a family of her own.

Maybe it stems back to childhood - my mother always hated Christmas. My sister was equally determined to make it special. In the end, it always seemed to be a tug of war of wills and emotions. Once my sister's nieces and nephews grew up to have their own families and there were no kids around at all, it all got worse.

I do love peacocks....

I've also come to resent the commercial factors of the season. It's hard work buying and wrapping all that CRAP. And really, most of it is stuff no one wants or needs. I'm trying so hard to clean out my house of all the superfluous junk I've collected that - while I appreciate the sentiment - I really don't need the soap / candles / sweatshirts that I seem to receive in abundance year after year.

Have I just grown old and turned into a hermit crab? I'm just so sick of this family member not getting along with that one and the arguments over...nothing that really matters. I'm tired of giving and receiving gifts that have no real meaning. I'm tired of pleasing...

I need a little magic. But I'm not sure it exists anymore. I sure haven't felt it in a long time. To me, the most magical thing is feeling connected to someone I love. And yet, year after year, we gift some purchased token to one another and plan to have dinner "when things settle down." Then the very next year, we find ourselves making the same hollow promises.

Shortly after I took these pictures, I found this photo circulating on Facebook. It was actually taken in 2009... But I like to think the classy Nordstrom's department store is still doing this. If not, I'm glad they had the guts to do it once.

Do you remember going into the store the day after Thanksgiving (NOT Thanksgiving Day. NOT midnight the morning after!)? It was magic how the store had transformed! I wonder if kids today even notice... Or do they just expect trees in August?

Upside down trees - more room for all the gifts... yay that's great

I know a lot of parents struggle with kids who get too much. My best friend from childhood comes from a Catholic background. She always told her kids, "Three gifts were enough for Jesus, it's enough for you!" Her list usually involved "something you need, something you want and something just because." And it worked. Her now grown children grew up valuing the things they received and being very generous and thoughtful themselves.

This year, I want the gift of time. Time to check in with friends. Time to really enjoy a moment with someone I love. Time to laugh, time to cry, time to just BE. That would be magic!

Need Some Help from the Bakers

2011-11-18T10:02:00.001-08:00

I found these at our magical thrift store... the one I've composed a half dozen posts about in my head but never actually posted here...sigh.

They are baking pans of some sort... I thought they would make pretty little tea cakes for the niece's wedding showers. I brought them home and washed them and started searching for recipes for.... what? It would help if i knew what the pans were actually called! I've googled "recipes for vertical cake pans" and different variations... but NO answer.

They come in a variety of shapes: stars, trees, playing cards (spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts):

And they come with lids for each end. If anyone knows what they are and where I can find recipes, I would be SO grateful!

Meet Baconhead!

2011-11-16T16:00:00.001-08:00

No I don't have a new pet... As IF Mabel Lou would let me consider such a thing! I'm just having a little fun with the girl I have.

I tossed her a piece of bacon off my bacon cheeseburger from my favorite local Mom and Pop and it seems that burger was so juicy delish that the bacon stuck to her head... Excuse me while I try to stop laughing...

She looked and looked for it but couldn't figure out where it was! When she followed me to the shop with the bacon still on her head... well, I HAD to have some fun!

I did finally show her where that yummy bacon smell was coming from... I'm such a mean mommy!