Weather Obsession

One common denominator that crosses all economic, cultural, ethnic, religious and social lines?  (Drum roll, please.)  The weather!  All kinds of weather, although the temperature of the moment around here is cold paired with more unpredictable cold.  The forecast is for rain, followed by freezing rain, sleet and ice followed by a changeover to snow and dropping temperatures. 
No matter who you are, your day is [...]

Furnace Love

Bizarre to even have thought of this, but at the moment, I am infatuated with and totally googly-eyed over the new furnace that was installed in this house today. 
Having lived with a noisy, natural gas-guzzling model that was 2 1/2 times bigger than what this house needs, a quiet, 95% efficient model is enough to [...]

Happy Thanksgiving

At this moment, the pies have been baked, the turkey is in the oven and family members are drinking their last cup of coffee before orchestrating their simultaneous arrival.  The hub and the bub of this day has begun. 

 
Alas, this is not a “Magic of Thanksgiving” movie.   The waiters will not come alive en masse to [...]

Blue Skies and Blue Paint

Understanding that everything is relative, the weather here the past few weeks has been nothing short of spectacular.  Here it is mid-August and we are having perfect fall weather.  Mid-to upper 70’s for highs, mid to lower 50’s at night.  An over abundance of spring rain has evolved into a shortfall recently.  The landscape in general needs [...]

Field of Magazine Dreams

I love magazines.  All kinds of magazines.  Magazines dedicated to cooking, magazines dedicated to decorating, style and fashion magazines, business or sports–you pick a genre.  If they print it I will read it.  Cover to cover, usually.  At the very least, each  article is at least quickly scanned to see if there is something that [...]

Sobbing Over My Saab

Miss my Saab.  Convertible weather has arrived.  A few years ago, I gave in to my long submerged urge to own a 1993 or earlier Saab convertible.  It had a tan interior on a black body.  900 Turbo.  Oooh, what fun it was to drive.  I’m not even really a convertible kind of girl, but there is [...]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

A-a-a-h-h.  The wind in your hair.  The roar of the engine.  That exhilerating sense of freedom.  Motorcycle season has arrived in this part of the country.  It’s time to share the ride and share the road.
In the early 1970’s, Robert Persig wrote a philosophy book that actually had very little to do with a state of Zen, [...]

For Cynthia

Balmy breezes and bright blue skies made today’s monthly trek to the furtherest reaches of my territory an adventure in springtime discovery and renewal.  Shades of green are returning to yards–the one down side being that it is growing and will soon need to be cut  
The earliest bloomers were everywhere.  Profusely bursting from hillsides, sideyards and [...]

Living Under a Lucky Star

To this day, the details of this story amaze even me, and I am the one it happened to. 
Memorial Day Weekend had arrived.  I was attending college in PA, my fiance was stationed at an army base in southern Georgia.  Our wedding was 6 weeks away.  Plane ticket in hand, I packed my suitcase in the [...]

Snoring Cat

At the end of a very hectic day in this neck-of-the-woods, a mix of mostly disquieting news from several sources in the family have brought home the need for some major quiet time.  Time to take it all in and re-coup. 
The cat is lying beside me sound asleep, her little nose tucked under the end of her curved tail.  Calm has [...]