In The Blink Of An Eye

Is it really the end of the summer already? I thought the marketing people were getting ahead of themselves with the back to school ads, but no. It really is that time again. The Halloween candy is out in stores, the summer deals to amusement parks are expiring. It seems really fast.
I suppose it's partly because the summer weather has been just gorgeous this year, with none of the usual heavy heat that comes in August. We've had the best summer of all my fifteen years in The Jungle. Breezy, warm but not hot, sunny but not blazing. I'm a little worried about what might be around the bend it's been so nice.
***Is it sad that I worry about things like that? Shouldn't I just be able to enjoy the moment and not freak out? I think I should but I don't know how to work it. (If you have any thoughts let me know.)***
Also there have been so many things to do - and I know we all have stuff to do - I just haven't had time to notice the summer go by. Last year Tarzan and I were sitting with his grandfather for during the summer and there was stuff to do but it was a slow, constant kind of work, rather than the hurried location shifting kind of summer this has been.
One of these days I really am going to get the back yard patio installed and then I will sit out there and contemplate the passing of time, I swear I am.


This is me and it's been a fast one.

She Remembered

In which I FINALLY bake cookies for my first ever contest winner, Cathie, remember to take pictures of the cooking process AND possibly overdo it. You be the judge.

Cream the butter:

Mix in the sugars:

Eggs and vanilla:

Flour, salt, baking soda AND powder:

Add the oatmeal:

White chocolate and butterscotch chips:

Roll the dough into balls:

Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes and cool on wire racks:

This is me and that wasn't so hard to remember.

Rocks

Tarzan here. A couple weekends ago I had the delightful pleasure to visit the land where rocks come from. Jane and I went out to the Ranch to continue prepping the ground for the orchard. That involves digging more holes in the ground. Most of the holes have been pretty easy. A couple of them however have been the elephant’s graveyard for rocks but in reverse. The last time I tried this, my eagerness got the better of me and I started digging in the heat of the day. Nearly passed out from heat stroke. This time we worked in the morning and in the evening. We still managed to pull a lot of very sizable rocks out of the ground. Where did all of these things come from and why are they all concentrated in only a few scattered locations? Good times.
These babies were pure joy to pull out of the ground:
All these rocks came out of the same hole. Maybe we should have moved the hole! The proud diggers:
The beautiful end result of our labors:

A Manly Man

Tarzan had barbeque envy this season, so he did some research and bought this little puppy two weeks ago. He's been researching recipes and jumping into the manly sport of roasting dead animals over an open flame. I got this picture last night while he was grillin':A close up of the bottle, just in case you were worried:We tried this idea of buttering the corn with some spices and then grilling it. It came out smelling really excellent but the flavor was lacking. I wonder if there was too much butter to begiin with and it melted into the husks which come off before eating:We are not giving up on the idea however and it was a really great meal wherein I did not have to turn on the stove:

This is me and that's good eats.

Butter Me This

Boys and girls, let me demonstrate what happens in the heat of summer to a dish of butter on top of the microwave while cooking dinner in it because you would like to not have to turn the stove on:

Let that be a lesson to you all.

This is me and you're welcome.

Weird Dream #35

This was orginally supposed to be posted on 08/16/10 but I got way too involved looking for something funny called American Pioneer and never put it up. Am I devoted or what?

I was all exited to blog about meeting this music group called American Pioneer (guess what, there isn't one) who were really a reinvention of a group from the 60's. They shook my hand! I was going to take a picture of my hand and post it on the blog I was so excited. I had all of their names and the correct spellings and they wanted to take me out to eat and talk to a fan who had followed them through the name changes and everything.
And that's when I woke up.

This is me and it was weirder when I was in it.

One Percent

NOTE: I know I've been incommunicado for a week or two - refer to my vow of not excusing myself - but I really haven't forgotten to document all the fun. And I have been starting posts...just not finishing them. Witness this episode I almost completed from 08/14/2010

We were lucky for the last few days to have RHM visiting. And though she's one of MY dearest friends from college, Tarzan and ATL have adopted her into the clique of They Who Sit On The Couch With Their Laptops:

She was sweet enough to take us to dinner - such good Tangerine Beef! - and we took her to one of the museums (almost) in town. As a designer, this is one of those "if only" situations where there was an unlimited budget and no restrictions other than 'spend it all.' The donor wanted to get rid of the money - tax evasion maybe? - but the city wanted the revenue from visitors, so the museum is free but parking costs $15. There are probably five people who live close enough to walk to the thing and everyone else has to drive. The experience is needs to be experienced at least once if you live here and I deem it worth the exorbitant parking fee if you go with friends:

There is a lot of travertine:

Also a lot of stairs:

A few elevators, but I get the feeling the architect did not want to include them, was forced to for accessibility reasons so he stuck them in the most out of the way places:

Dude had serious ideas about how people should tranverse this place. Witness the walkways:

I do particularly love these:

Because from far away it looks very organic, rooftop growing, living umbrella kind of thing but when you get next to it you realize they are steel reinforcing bars:

This set of directions amused me. This was the sign at the bottom of the stairs:

We went up the stairs:

And this was the sign at the top of the stairs:

In the end we had to walk back down, around the stairs, out a door and up a RAMP to get to the level they were alluding to. All that rigmarole for this sculpture plaza:

Oy.

There were alternative sculptures - modern versus the classical - on the adjacent lawn. Here is me not touching one of them:

The maze was cool:

In fact, all the landscaping was lovely:

Maybe I'm just not an art person?

We did have a good time, so that's all that really matters:

This is me and we were culturally edified.

Prophetic

I never realized until now how scarily accurate Schoolhouse Rock is:

This is me and that's eerie.

We Have A Winner

I think I've given you all enough time to think of a decent response to "How Embarrassed WAS I?" and so I now officially declare a winner.
Cathie is the winner!
I started reading Cathie's blog because Rocketgirl told me to. But I kept reading because she's funny, smart, she loves to cook and SHE remembers to take pictures. Also, if you ask, she will come, comment, or anything else you have asked of her. She's awesome and we've never met.
So, Cathie, send me your address and favorite variety of cookie via tempest30ATgmailDOTcom and they are as good as yours.

This is me and when she says the word, the cookies are in the mail.

Rava-Ma-Olis

Why do I never think to take photographs of the food until after it's in our bellies? Not the sort of picture that's easy to achieve or to look at.
We made cheese ravioli tonight. For anyone interested in making your own pasta there are two things you should know.
1. Use semolina flour. You will thank me later.
2. It gets easier every time so don't get discouraged if it looks weird the first three or twenty times you try.
3. Take pictures for your blog.
Okay, three things then.

This is me and one day I might remember.

Baseball

Last night was Mormon Night at the local baseball stadium and we went as we do every year. This season, Tarzan wanted to try the all-you can-eat pavilion out in left field - or right field, I can never tell - one of the fields. I was all excited until I looked up what was included in this all-you-can-eat deal; the stadium hot dogs, sodas, nachos, peanuts and popcorn. Tarzan can eat his weight in hot dogs but after one and a half I'm done. Now if they'd included ice cream, cotton candy and/or the frozen lemonade it would have been a whole different story.
Nevertheless, it was an eventful...uh, event.
As we arrived, so did an ambulance:Apparently a guy on the other side of the field had a heart attack.

Editor's note: we have since learned that the man passed away. Makes me feel bad for making light.
Our seats were really pretty good, on the walkway between sections so we had plenty of leg room and no one standing in our way, even during the wave.

I don't know if it was my hair, a lucky night or the fact that my skills at self photography have improved but these did not suck as much as others I have taken.

ATL and I:

Tarzan and I:

And this was an action shot from all the way across the field. LOVE my 18x optical zoom baby: I didn't realize it at the time - though I should have - that this guy was a regular but he was so funny and it's a great song and he probably has a contract now:

What happens if he doesn't come every night?
Oh, and our team lost.

This is me, at a baseball game.

Oh Crap

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38560562/ns/us_news-life?GT1=43001

This is me and you know it's going all the way to the Supreme Court.

Black On Black

The down side to having black kittens is you need the flash for EVERYthing:

This is me and it's a small price to pay.

Speaking Of Faith

I must confess to a love/hate relationship with Dr. Gregory House. (Yes, I do know he's not real.) Most of the time I find him amusing and straightforward - cutting through all the politicking that goes on in a lot of work environments - but there are times he irritates me SO MUCH I want to turn off the show, which is a HUGE decision for me. I really hate to leave in the middle. Of anything. But tonight was one of those episodes. It was a random rerun - I don't watch it on a regularl basis - about a patient who had recently changed her life drastically and become strictly religious. The doctor's assessment was that she was suffering from guilt, or masochism, or was trying to commit suicide to get away from the life she chose. (He changes his mind about a dozen times as the show goes on.)
He spent a lot of time mocking the faith and rules the woman and her husband were adhering to and as I watched I became very much aware of how glad I am that I know there is a God.
I know there is someone watching out for me, someone who knows more than I about what is, and will be, best for me. I know there a reason why I follow "the rules" so devotedly, I know there is a place to go when this life is over, I have an eternal goal to be working toward.
I know this and though I can't "prove" it to anyone - I can't point to a specific time and say, "There. There is when I knew" - maybe I've always known - I can not deny that I DO know.
And I'll tell you why I keep sharing what I know, despite the jokes, the teasing, the snide comments, the rude insinuations, the mocking, laughing and dismissals.
Because, whether I am right or not, whether it changes anyone's life or not, knowing that there is a God makes my life happier, full of purpose and it gives me confidence to continue on.
This reminds me of a lesson I taught in college to a girl investigating the LDS church about eternal families. I was explaining that being a member of the church is a good thing because we believe in eternal families which means we will be together again after we die. She asked me if she wouldn't see her father - who had passed away - unless she joined our church. Now, I was young and stupid and didn't know how to answer that. Someone else took the discussion thread and I stopped talking. It wasn't until a few years later I realized what I had been trying to tell her was that of course she would see her father again, no matter what. But the knowledge of families being reunited after this life makes living easier, more comforting and there isn't such a pit of despair left behind when someone we love dies. Her life would be happier and she hurt less if she knew what I know.

This is me and I know.