Category: To Occupy my Time

I and my camera are one.

I keep a five year diary which is helpful when I start to wonder, “how did I celebrate Memorial Day last year?” but also fun to see what went on in previous years on that very day. My friend was amazed earlier this year because I could tell her that three years and two days ago on that date we had her un–bachlorette party. She broke up with her finance and we celebrated by painting pottery.

April 17 marked one year with my camera. Ideally I would post a one year post with a picture taken by my camera, but we will just have to have a text post. It’s one of those nights.

I love my camera. I’ve always liked photography, but felt self conscious lugging around a camera. My Canon Powershot fits in the palm of my hand and goes everywhere with me. I can take a picture at a moments notice. My pictures aren’t as composed as when I took film pictures, and I still really miss going to get the packet of pictures, but I wouldn’t trade my digital camera for anything.

On that note, my camera is full of pictures you won’t probably see for awhile. I’ve begun taking a class which means that blog time has been cut down. Things are still going on, I’m just having trouble finding time to write about them. Books are being read, movie has been seen, letters are being written (though not tonight). Squeak is even visiting and Matt is making somewhat hopeful sounding comments that begin “But when we get a cat…..” I’ll write about it someday, just not in the near future.

Unless someone wants to pay me to stay home from work and blog? Maybe?

Bruunch!

It started during a teacher team meeting in January. We, the adult leaders of First Unitarian Church’s YRUU, were having all sorts of ideas. “We should have brunch.” someone said.

“No, we should have ‘brUUnch‘” someone else countered. (UU for Unitarian Universalist)

“What would we eat?”

“Well, fruuit. And muustard.”

And we were off. Umlauts were suggested, food was planned and on April 6, the advisors descended on our kitchen to cook our bruunch.

Jimmy made fabulous pancakes and waffles. His secret? A dash of cinnamon.
Deborah (in lovely apron) made fruuit salad and Marcia (in red hoodie) made a lovely spinach egg dish.
I was in charge of bacons: regular, turkey and soy.
Here is why the youth constantly refer to me as “Marcia” and vice versa. This is actually Marcia, not me, removing something from the oven.
Deborah cleans. Ron, the other member of our team, served the important role of heeding the call, “Ron, can you help me with this?” He also took these pictures.
We wave and cook!
The finished spread. Jimmy, me, Marcia, Deborah and Ron pose in front of the food.
And the youth descend.



It was later remarked that we could think of our bruunch as “the first annual bruunch.”

Dorky state quarter holder has been recovered!

I’ll have pictures eventually, but the dorky state quarter holder has come back to me! Minus the quarters, but those are easily replaceable. It’s a bit worse for wear, but I’m glad it is back. Kind souls (Kelly, Matt) have already given me 13 new quarters. I’ll update the sidebar right now.

New sidebar feature.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, my state quarter collection–which was six quarters away from being complete–has now left my possession. I’m sad about this because collecting state quarters since 1999 has been a very happy nerdy sort of thing with me. So, I will collect them again. The trick will be finding the over sized holder to display them in. It was huge, and had a big multicolored map of the United States with a space to display each quarter in its full glory.

After I find that or something similar to it, I can recreate the magic. I’ve posted a list of the state quarters I’m missing and as I recover them, I will remove them from the list.

Resolution 2008 Update. Letters written March 21-31.

I finished another group of LEX letters. I like to send them off in batches of five. Sara also did a good job of keeping my mailbox from being empty, sending me letters and postcards.

(I’m having trouble with formatting, so sorry I can’t do the bullet points this time.)

March 21. None. Exhausting last day of work before Spring Break. Ironically the most exhausting thing was dealing with the Postal Service, who had me on hold for an hour and made me call back two times to get the information I needed.
2 Letters back! Both from Sara.
March 22. LEX Letter. What’s your favorite food to fix for yourself when you’re home alone?
March 23. LEX Letter. Tired of kids and grandkids? Ready to discuss serious subjects? Paint drying. Grass growing.
March 24. LEX Letter. Prefer movies on the big screen? Enjoy the previews as much as the movie? What makes a good movie good?
Letter back! Sara.
March 25. LEX Letter. Favorite cities, travels, rivers, campgrounds?
March 26. No one.
March 27. Sara.
March 28. People who own my favorite undeveloped property in my neighborhood.
March 29. None. Dealing with end of spring break and the fiasco.
Postcard back! Sara.
March 30. Sara
March 31. Art & Sole. Business letter.

Do you want to respond to one of the LEX listings? You can, without becoming a member. Write a comment and I’ll tell you how. If you like to write, you should become a member, it’s easy and not expensive and fun.

A carrot.

I know you are out there reading, some of you. I know that some of you read regularly. I know that not all of you are Sara and my mother. But you never comment. You may not have a blog, so you might not know that comments are kind of like crack. Once you get one, you want so many more. So don’t be shy. Comment away.

Maybe you don’t have anything to say, and that’s totally fine. But I’m guessing when you read a post, you think to yourself, “Interesting,” or “I never knew that.” or “What?” or “She spelled “reclaimed” wrong and wrote “of” when she meant “all” and she incorrectly uses quotes within quotes.” Just take a second and throw that thought into the comment page.

Before I had a blog, I never commented. I was a bit shy and it felt weird putting my thought up there. I was worried I wouldn’t spell something right or didn’t have anything profound to say. Now I just comment as a matter of course, on almost every single post I read, especially if I am personally acquainted with the person who is blogging. You may not want to comment on every post, but once in awhile would be nice. I would love it so much.

I would love it so much that I’m starting an incentive program. The first five people who comment on this post and say something–anything–about any of the previous posts on this blog will get a little something homemade by me in their mailbox. If this is successful in the future I will embed prizes in blog posts. Or, random posts with more than just a Sara comment will get prizes. Don’t be shy. Comment today.

p.s. Matt Johnston is exempt from this program. I know he doesn’t read this blog (which I find a small failing in the boyfriend department) but I have a feeling if I tell him I am doing this he will wander over and comment. Nice try, Matt. You might want to read regularly.

Good advice.

Charles Veley is some rich dot-com guy that travels all the time. He is featured on www.mosttraveledpeople.com. I read an interview with him in the Oregonian and was struck by the genus of the answer to this question.

Q: Do you plan ahead or wing it?

A: Plan as if you need to schedule every waking minute, and then, once you get there, set aside the plan. By doing all the planning as if you had control over all aspects of your trip (which you do not) you’ll have enough knowledge to make good decisions when things start going haywire (which they will.)

I’ve never minutely planned everything, or even very much, for a trip because I didn’t want to turn into the anal, planned-every-minute girl. But because I don’t plan every minute, I often have no idea of what I could be doing while on the trip. This seems a great combination. Go Charles Veley. I guess dot-com millionaires are good for something after all.