tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3171125852176104612024-03-18T20:16:32.019-07:00The Long and Short Of ItDarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-25465519650816790822009-07-15T20:05:00.000-07:002009-07-15T20:06:03.923-07:00Special Handling-a short short story<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica">SPECIAL HANDLING</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica; min-height: 22.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Several years ago, I was returning to San Francisco from Edmonton, Canada. I was travelling, as usual, with my 1964, 0018 Martin guitar which I had had in my possession for 18 years. I had arranged for what they termed, "Special Handling", confident that that meant I could rest assured that it would show up at the airport when I did. When my Delta flight arrived in SF, I went to the "Special Handling" baggage claim to get my guitar. I waited the better part of an hour, having been assured by the woman at the desk that it took extra time to get "Special Handling" baggage from the planes to this section of the terminal. That made sense and I waited...and waited, eventually being informed that there was no guitar anywhere and they had no record of one expected. I had the "Special Handling" baggage claim clutched in my fist! How could this be! Becoming increasingly anxious, I asked to speak to someone in charge. A new person was brought to the desk, "Well, we'll send someone out to look again." he says. Send someone out? Where? Out where? What the hell!</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I waited for another eternity, anxiety rapidly changing to outright anger. By now it had been close to three hours since my flight had arrived. I started to really lose it. I became apoplectic, shouting, demanding to speak to the Airport Manager NOW! This outburst resulted in some big shot in a suit (not a uniform) showing up. Attempting to placate me, he implied that I would be reimbursed for the guitar, after I filled out a sheaf of forms and mailed them to the Delta Airline headquarters in Dallas. I was freaking. There's no way they could replace my priceless little Martin. I snatched the forms and left the office, realization of my loss beginning to set in.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I figured it was probably time to go home. I went down to the entrance of the terminal where the big doors slide open to rows of taxi cabs and bustling travellers. I sat down in one of those horrid molded plastic chairs, riveted in ugly rows under the nasty bright fluorescents. I was devastated. There seemed only one direction for my head to go and that was to total acceptance. I sat there for no more than 20 minutes, telling myself that after all, it was only a chunk of wood and steel. Was not a person, I could get another guitar, I had to let this go. I actually did. I let it go. I really let it completely go.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I gathered my suitcase and my handbag, stood up to exit the airport and there, about 15 feet directly in front of me, leaning up against the side of the exit doors, was my guitar. All by itself, no one near it, just the doors opening and closing, people coming and going. There it was. I was sure I had lost my mind. Couldn't be. My perception slowed down to absolute slo-mo. In that slow motion dream I went to the guitar and when I clasped my hand around the handle I knew it was actually real. I took it back to my chair and just sat there with my arms wrapped around the case, so stunned in disbelief that I could not move.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I will never know how this came to be. Maybe someone tried to steal it and changed their mind at the last minute and left it by the door. That's the only explanation I've ever been able to come up with.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I never took that guitar on a commercial flight again. Everything else has come and gone, lovers, husbands, children & friends, houses, furniture, cars and pets but that sweet little Martin which always stays in tune, is right here beside me as I write this story, 45 years after I bought it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Special Handling indeed!</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>THE END</p>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-60799494897826379022009-06-06T01:17:00.000-07:002009-06-06T01:37:50.487-07:00god myth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0R9WY2RrlaxtulRZzhlx_m2BPFkmb2CUq51E-zmRFaASoU7UEHlQZeut-QirPRV5X3zff4XG7qmgxhdxIY0kbd0hYF-8zcWOp3IGL1IIjqTSSKG2h7a3n2izMvxowLaKmH3mJF20jnhQv/s1600-h/img207.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0R9WY2RrlaxtulRZzhlx_m2BPFkmb2CUq51E-zmRFaASoU7UEHlQZeut-QirPRV5X3zff4XG7qmgxhdxIY0kbd0hYF-8zcWOp3IGL1IIjqTSSKG2h7a3n2izMvxowLaKmH3mJF20jnhQv/s320/img207.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344130992586066674" /></a><br />Come on people, wise up. Just because millions of people on this planet choose to believe in a supreme being, a god as it were, doesn't mean it is so.<div>There was a time when the majority believed that the earth was flat. Science eventually disproved that nonsense. The same will eventually be shown regarding the concept of god. It's time to take personal responsibility. There is no great all knowing being who is going to "forgive" your fuck ups. You have to forgive yourself and move on. You have to be moral because that's the intelligent way to live, not because you think some future punishment will befall you. Be good for goodness sake! Get it?</div><div>We are born, we live for a time and then we die. You want to know why? </div><div>You tell me! That's the mystery. Work on it. </div><div><br /></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-61320578755194500532009-03-13T20:22:00.000-07:002009-03-13T21:37:02.592-07:00Madoff/GreedIs it apparent to anyone but me that the people who invested with Madoff were wealthy to begin with and their greed for even more got them into this deep water. I'm not in any way excusing his swindle, but isn't $3,000,000 enough for you to live? Must you make it become more? Why? GREED GREED GREED. Greed has broken our general economy and greed broke these people. Oops. <div><br /></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-90008568272041276232009-03-07T19:16:00.001-08:002009-03-07T19:17:53.269-08:00Quote for the Day<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">"A positive attitude may not solve all of your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."</span><div><br /><div>--Herb Albright (1876-1944)</div></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-11275393161322949512009-03-05T16:24:00.000-08:002009-03-05T21:08:57.885-08:00Quote for the Day<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">"As anyone who has tried to quite smoking knows, dependence is hardest to overcome during difficult or stressful times. That must be why, when the government helps drug abusers quit, they arrest them and take away their job, possessions and children."</span><div><br /></div><div>--Pete Guither--</div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-1257558098875361132009-02-06T18:23:00.000-08:002009-02-06T18:43:53.077-08:00Facebook<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">I can't figure out why people want to connect with dozens of people they barely know when they barely connect with people they already know. I may have stumbled upon a major flaw in modern society. This super highway all access everybody is everybody's friend has become a substitute for deep friendships developed over years requiring real shared experiences.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">By internet standards, I may be considered anti-social. But in my experience being alone is preferable to crowds of babble.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">I dabbled in Facebook for the voyeurist aspect of it. I liked to glance at you and him and her but don't particularly want anyone glancing at me.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">I don't know. Gonna go surfing now. I'll let you know if I find anything relevant to my existence today. I'm sure I will but not on Facebook.</span></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-4159032314581568872008-12-09T22:15:00.000-08:002008-12-09T22:37:37.619-08:00I'm Back<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Well friends, sorry I've been away so long. I've been focusing my concentration on my sweet friend Michelle. She faced the devil and he backed off! <div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Having survived a horrendous surgery, Michelle is home and recovering well. She still has a hard row to hoe. Michelle is going to have to endure radiation AND chemo-therapy. Those are the big obvious things. There are niggling everyday things involved with the recovery from cancer that the rest of us barely consider. Michelle lost her nose; the surgery required to save her life, removed the middle of her face! Think about that!!!</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It is so difficult for me to write about it. Imagine how difficult it is to have it happening to you.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>To be continued...</div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-13512758623661505732008-11-21T21:08:00.000-08:002008-11-21T21:20:15.560-08:00Sweet Michelle vs Evil Cancer<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Well folks, the second surgery went well and they are confidant that they got all of the cancer out. So this is GOOD NEWS. Michelle is finally out from under the knife and that f------ disease has been cut out. She phoned me this evening from the ICU and it was an unmitigated joy to hear her voice, I must say. (To borrow from Ed Grimley). Her spirits are just what you would imagine. She is quite the trooper. (I want her on my side forever.)<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts and...well...vibes.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Now comes the follow up..she should be home in 5 days. She finally gets to be back in her own bed with her little doggie Kukla for company. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Then comes six weeks of healing before the radiation begins.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I will pass along your greetings.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br /></div><div><br /></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-74240556957065803492008-11-15T20:52:00.000-08:002008-11-15T21:18:46.418-08:00Evil Cancer<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>My excellent friend Michelle was diagnosed with cancer last month. She was told that she had 6 months to live or submit to a possibly radical facial surgery. Being the courageous trooper that she is, she of course opted for the surgery. "I want to BE here!" she said to me.<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Yesterday our Mizshely underwent a horrendous surgery that removed her nose, her maxillary and ethmoid sinuses, part of her upper lip and a minute part of her hard palate. Unbelievably awful. While they were operating they discovered more cancer just at the edge of her skull, behind her eyebrows.<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Now there is more to come as they will have to also take skin and blood vessels from another part of her body to aid in reconstruction of this brow area. The reconstuction of the entire middle of her face is a whole other ball game.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>If there is actually anyone out there in cyberspace who reads my blog, PLEASE think of Michelle now and then and send her all your best thoughts. I believe that energy sent en masse actually can affect outcomes. If you call it prayer, then pray just once today for all you're worth, for my Michelle. She has spent her lifetime doing for others. Now it's our turn to do for her. Peace and Thank You a thousand times.</div><div><br /></div></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-79969494554232887332008-10-08T17:54:00.000-07:002008-10-08T17:58:44.942-07:00Not All About MeSomething else rotten happened last month but I didn't want to lump it into my little diatribe of what really amounts to just an unusual concentration of life's little foibles.<div>My good friend Michelle was diagnosed with cancer and is having to face the consequences of that. Sometimes, life just sucks.</div><div><br /></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-19109354334927881182008-10-08T17:32:00.000-07:002008-10-08T17:54:03.234-07:00Bad LuckNever believed in bad luck per se...still don't really but what would you call it if...<div>All in the space of a month, though not in this particular order, my blood pressure monitor broke, my microwave oven went kaput, my dial up modem went belly up and my car radiator had to be replaced. The car I had to borrow while mine was in the shop also had a radiator leak causing me to have to add coolant every morning and several times a day while running errands. Oh by the way, the borrowed car is a freakin' 1992 Chevy Suburban with oh...I'm guessing about 15 miles to the gallon. Meanwhile, six months of dental work and $5000 (already paid!) was supposed to culminate in a shining new mouth of teeth, caps, crowns and implants and for the first time ever in a long history of dental experience, the lab screwed up and the crowns for my new implant were made wrong making me have to wait another three weeks!! More...I work as a housekeeper. During the past three days, TWO vacuum cleaners went on the fritz. One actually had it's motor blow up and the other one is screwed up although I believe it's repairable. Today, the very day my employer is coming home after being gone for a month, the toilet in one of her bathrooms sprung a water leak and completely soaked the carpet outside the bathroom. I think there was something else also, but it escapes me at the moment.</div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-68545452822407566292008-08-29T20:34:00.000-07:002008-08-29T20:49:44.265-07:00Abortion<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The absolutely heinous ritual of aborting helpless little barely formed human beings could be largely eliminated by raising the consciousness of the right wing religious nut jobs who refuse to acknowledge the reality of sexual desire. In other words, when young humans feel that sexual urge, they are going to respond to it. Period.<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>When your daughters begin menstruation, start them on the pill. Period. Don't babble your religious babble, just PREVENT PREGNANCY. </div><div>How horrid that you would rather take the chance of someone killing a teeny little being rather than accept the undeniable sexual aspect of the human animal. That is untenable to me. I'm sick to death of hearing about "The Abortion Issue". You all accept a pill to give men a freakin' erection..at the same time denying your daughters a pill to prevent murder!!!</div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-49663199661672261842008-08-17T21:55:00.000-07:002008-08-19T18:04:06.441-07:00Protection<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0D-498FVhNzJauYp6wmF_dbLKyk7wXMDmuEsa5B0OpV0fjGQMN4RQJHlvSYc2RiVu7GVX2OJt2q04YxvWLpkw2XWEnN8KM6eq0atvyBSspxYoI8kDfvSM9PoY8Tnnlgc8UtbyfwEveoZj/s1600-h/1989.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0D-498FVhNzJauYp6wmF_dbLKyk7wXMDmuEsa5B0OpV0fjGQMN4RQJHlvSYc2RiVu7GVX2OJt2q04YxvWLpkw2XWEnN8KM6eq0atvyBSspxYoI8kDfvSM9PoY8Tnnlgc8UtbyfwEveoZj/s200/1989.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235717397827755026" /></a>When you wear really stupid hats, you also have to wear a hockey mask to protect your goofy face from the things people are certain to throw at you. I wish I had that mask today!!!Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-8434277262121864512008-08-17T21:22:00.000-07:002008-08-17T21:27:19.109-07:00Whatever happened to......Eddy Washington. He worked for Hal Kant for awhile in Reno. I visited him there in 1991 on my way to Montana. I think he was working on becoming a lawyer. He was living in my home town, Edmonton, Alberta when I was there in 1989 taking care of my very ill parents and was a good friend and huge support at the time. Can't find him on Google...anyone know where he might be?Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-87702613983678065532008-08-13T21:23:00.000-07:002008-08-13T21:31:04.205-07:00ProcrastinationI'm supposed to be writing. I mean, I imagined myself writing a book. What arrogance. Now I'm realizing that if I could produce even one coherent sentence a day I'd be thrilled. I get online and just tool around the internet wasting time. Now I'm here blogging for gosh sakes. I guess I actually have produced 7 coherent sentences. Wow what a writer! Oh my there's 9!!!Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-76097615929190235692008-08-09T22:31:00.000-07:002008-08-09T22:41:11.801-07:00The World's Ugliest Candle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRKfw3IfVurIExBz0rYl7DcZ69AwRa6mJhPfGBeDpQb4mE9WV0py2FOJg-IrFc5wHIeus-dwSLXor0YbFpqvQF-jbp9Iqat0BGDNqMbtw82hnYFf2znl6VV95CF7SKq2KzcCh2mj1fqo57/s1600-h/Ugliest+Candle.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRKfw3IfVurIExBz0rYl7DcZ69AwRa6mJhPfGBeDpQb4mE9WV0py2FOJg-IrFc5wHIeus-dwSLXor0YbFpqvQF-jbp9Iqat0BGDNqMbtw82hnYFf2znl6VV95CF7SKq2KzcCh2mj1fqo57/s320/Ugliest+Candle.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232759533921714450" /></a>I own it! And I have another just like it!!!Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-41459803188885492852008-08-01T22:03:00.000-07:002008-08-01T22:07:58.389-07:00Quote of the Day<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">"Be careful of your tongue; it's kept in a wet place and could easily slip."</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">-Unknown-</span></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-20318478713392754892008-07-26T00:07:00.000-07:002008-07-26T00:12:14.240-07:00Quote of the Day"I signed up with a temp agency and much to my dismay they actually found me a job. It had been a couple of years since I'd worked in an office, so I thought I should prepare for it. I went to the YMCA with a friend and had him tie me up in a burlap sack and sink me to the bottom of the pool. Just as I was about to suffocate, he yanked me up and gave me a lunch break."<div>Martha Kelly<br /><div><br /></div></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-46236568489790721232008-07-25T22:24:00.000-07:002008-07-25T22:47:06.743-07:00Past Flash<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilZFp2hd216XCGnUuCYJDQCyGRAID3hN-mlhChzg1TVROH9jKFLm5Os90iBQbVUNG9hNNoip5XWny4Wlh0_09uT3VA3-WcI9KK6yqfdGuPCZMr6DDBf9cpt-gHBWpT59n3P-jqVJ3TN0nO/s1600-h/img035.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilZFp2hd216XCGnUuCYJDQCyGRAID3hN-mlhChzg1TVROH9jKFLm5Os90iBQbVUNG9hNNoip5XWny4Wlh0_09uT3VA3-WcI9KK6yqfdGuPCZMr6DDBf9cpt-gHBWpT59n3P-jqVJ3TN0nO/s320/img035.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227192201215892722" /></a>Thought I'd get the jump on Mizshely before she posts this. I lost a lot of memorabilia from "Ramrod". I have a few photos and I just found this old thing. Bay Area Legend indeed!!! Firstly the song is titled "Hello Mary Lou", secondly, if my memory serves me, we did not perform that song...anyway I guess those details are really not important in the light of time. Ah memories!<div>You know what to do if you want to read the article, just click on the thing.</div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-29474639658036189632008-07-04T21:55:00.000-07:002008-07-04T22:10:23.757-07:00My Peonies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsoYMqaJJDBL-F7dq4HFu9v6zTWXAuyuPSc12J3FGN_V9bXklmDea0bd6jZubd1x_vUsI18cX7RmXBFGVSowJUN_aa2OYvIIQ_iJFhqoNo0TNU49kTnrmPCa4lVm3GnPz6KpmHcTu-D7bj/s1600-h/000_0007.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsoYMqaJJDBL-F7dq4HFu9v6zTWXAuyuPSc12J3FGN_V9bXklmDea0bd6jZubd1x_vUsI18cX7RmXBFGVSowJUN_aa2OYvIIQ_iJFhqoNo0TNU49kTnrmPCa4lVm3GnPz6KpmHcTu-D7bj/s320/000_0007.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5219391424156996690" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>My giant exquisite perfumed Peonies!!<div>Takes four years after transplanting peonies for them to bloom again. This year I finally have my beauties back!!!<br /></div><div><div>Happy Fourth everyone!!!</div></div></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-30806351086122083402008-07-04T21:17:00.000-07:002008-07-04T21:23:21.163-07:00Do Anything Just Do Something!This is a great way to do something for someone else and yourself at the same time. Check out this website:<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.freerice.com/index.php">http://www.freerice.com/index.php</a>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-32632244585130385692008-06-27T19:12:00.000-07:002008-06-29T13:07:06.836-07:00Life in Eden<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0);">This evening, for the first time in my life, I deliberately killed a living creature. It was laying there bold as life in the middle of my neighbor's driveway. The only weapon I had, and a handy one it was indeed, was my car. I had to drive over it 10 times before I was finally satisfied that it was dead. I felt GREAT satisfaction. That is one MF rattlesnake that will not crawl into my yard this summer!!!</span>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-34904317920859345262008-06-22T18:20:00.000-07:002008-06-22T18:55:35.273-07:00Connections<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Re-connected with an old friend this week. I just LOVE when that happens. It makes you re-examine yourself. Her name is Sandy and she lives in a wonderful little town in Oregon...she's got the mountains AND the ocean. While trying to tell her in less than an hour why I came to Montana, I got bogged down in the details of HOW I came to be here. I neglected to mention the most important reason. I was born a country girl in Alberta. Of course I was drawn to the city. Couldn't wait to leave the damn prairies. Youth always requires what it doesn't have. I spent 35 years in urbania, living an exciting life meeting incredible people, traveling to exotic places, making music with some of the best, but there was always that pull back to the country. I'm really Ferdinand in the flowers. THAT's really why I'm here. I am intensely delighted when that doe in the pasture behind my house finally lets me get a glimpse of her new fawn. The lilacs around my house perfume the evenings and when they're gone, I wait impatiently for my peonies to bloom. They're opening as we speak! The mountain snows melting have turned the normal lazy turns of the Bitterroot River into a rushing swishing singing torrent. That's what excites me now.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">"Love to throw yourself on the earth and kiss it. Kiss the earth and love it with an unceasing, consuming love."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Feodor Dostoyevsky</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);">I wish I could learn to love myself the way I love the earth that spawned me.</span><br /></span></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"><br /></span></div></div></div></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-21738770299643227392008-06-20T22:38:00.000-07:002008-06-20T22:47:13.955-07:00Comfort ZonesSo...Catherine tells me I should move out of my comfort zone. Makes me think of just what a comfort zone is. Must be a comfortable place eh?...and so it is. So, why, after I have developed such a peaceful place, should I leave it?<div>Think I'll stay here.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 0);">Quote for the day:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 0);">"To be enlightened is to lighten up."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 0);">Mike Meyers</span></div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317112585217610461.post-67861869595359414682008-06-11T19:24:00.000-07:002008-06-11T19:25:28.320-07:00Quote for the Day2<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">"Be careful what you dream</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Soon your dreams will be dreamin' you"</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Willie Nelson</div>Darhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16053976052149278662noreply@blogger.com0