my thoughts on new years eve...

Well, those aren't my exact thoughts, but I just had to get in a baby picture of myself!

Hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!

aaaargh! how did that happen?!

If you look for me today, you won't find me...


Read all about it here:

"Auld Lang Syne" Friday Five

It is hard to believe, but 2007 is about to be history, and this is our last Friday Five of the year.

With that in mind, share five memorable moments of 2007. These can be happy or sad, profound or silly, good or bad but things that you will remember.

Bonus points for telling us of a "God sighting"-- a moment when the light came through the darkness, a word was spoken, a song sung, laughter rang out, a sermon spoke to you in a new way--whatever you choose, but a moment in 2007 when you sensed Emmanuel, God with us. Or more particularly, you.

Alrighty, here I go!

1. The high school graduation of Offspring #2 and the gathering of family and friends to help celebrate. Steven Colbert was in attendance on the cake. Offspring #2 had a great 'high school career' and is off to a great start in college now.


2. The performance of Offspring #1 as Viola in Twelfth Night at The Skagit River Shakespeare Festival. She is such a talented actor, and watching Shakespeare under the stars this summer was wonderful!

3. Visiting my cousin and his wife in Tennessee for our summer vacation. A highlight was going to Dollywood with Presbyterian Gal. (OK, I'll admit PG was only with us 'virtually'.)


4. Forming the "Empty Nest Hiking Club" with Hubby. While it has been weird to be "empty nesters", going on scenic hikes in the beautiful Pacific NW has helped take the sting out of it!


Hmmm... trying to think of one more...
5. Driving (with Hubby and Offsprings 1&2) to Portland last night in the driving rain (fairly spur of the moment) to go to Powell's Books, a lovely dinner at Jake's and bop around Pioneer Square. Ah, the full nest -- very good.

Bonus: God-sighting: I'm pretty sure God was on the Crosstown Trail on our recent snowshoe trip to Mt Hood.

the birth of a blog

There is a new voice in the blogosphere! "marie" has been a Commenter Extraordinaire in the past, but now she will be blogging at The Life and Times of Dust Bunny.

"How did this blog get started?", you ask. Well, we were goofing around via instant messenger and I just sort of set up a blog for her when she came up with the brilliant blogger name 'Dust Bunny'. She was a bit reluctant to actually enter the blogging world, but after I rounded up some protesters supportive to the cause, she decided to go with it.


So hop on over to Dust Bunny if you get a chance and welcome/encourage her!

merry christmas!

This was our first "dechurched" Advent, but we ended up attending a Christmas Eve service at the local United Methodist church at the invitation of a friend and her partner who attend there. By "we", I mean my immediate family plus Offspring #2's nice girlfriend and the other family "dechurched" after the debacle that was our last church experience. It was good to connect for a Christmas Eve service, and I do love the fact that this congregation truly embraces diversity.

After the service we went to my mom's for our annual Christmas Eve snackin' feast and present opening. This morning we saw what Santa left in our stockings, and now we are getting ready for Christmas dinner.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. I know Marble is, because he did find the catnip in his stocking:



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photo by Offspring #1

to my blogger friends

addendum to last post

If you're interested, an approximately 2 minute video of our snowshoeing can be found here. I'd highly recommend the smaller screen version when you get to youtube. (I'm not sure how to improve the resolution of these video slideshows, but the smaller screen is definitely better.)

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photo by Offspring #1

snow ho ho!

My family was dreaming of a White Christmas... but since we live in the Pacific Northwest, we had to drive to the "White" part.

The Full Nest -- yep, Offsprings #1 & #2, Hubby, and I -- went to Mt Hood to go snowshoeing today. We had lots o' fun, and it was an incredibly beautiful day, as the mountain was blanketed by freshly fallen snow.

Perhaps it's because my 'work day' is spent in somewhat dimly illuminated exam rooms (ah, the life of an eye doctor), but I have a special appreciation for being in the great outdoors.


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(picture of Offspring #2 and me taken by Offspring #1)

'tis the season

You know Christmas is right around the corner when Marble starts sporting his jaunty Christmas scarf.
(Yes, Marble, there will be catnip in your stocking...)

zzzzzz

Wonder if it means anything that my two favorite ornaments both involve snoozin'...

uncle maynard...

After many years of farming in South Dakota, my uncle and aunt retired to the Black Hills. My uncle is not one to sit around, so it didn't take long for him to discover the local food pantry and start volunteering there. He's been a fixture at the food pantry for a number of years already. After having grown the food (especially wheat and corn) for so long, I'm sure it seemed a natural fit to start distributing it.

My aunt recently sent a newspaper clipping from their local paper featuring a story on the food pantry and picture of my uncle. (That's the picture from the paper on the left.) The story was about the cupboards getting bare. In all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, people were forgetting about the food pantry. But just since the story ran, donations have been pouring in.

I love that my uncle is still going strong at age 81, and proud of the work he's doing.

'toon of the day

Hmm... perhaps I won't invite people I know to read my blog...





cartoon from here

Schussing!

Because I love to mess with Presbyterian Gal's head:

Oh Christmas Three, Oh Christmas Three

I'm baaaaack! Since my last post I've made a trip up to Bellingham (via Amtrak) to pick up our van which had been stranded there getting a new transmission. Due to work schedules, etc. Hubby joined me the following day, and we were able to attend Offspring #2's jazz concert on Friday night. (Offspring #2 plays a smooooooth trumpet and he did great!) Luckily, I-5 opened up just in time for our return trip (it had been closed due to flooding). We were saved from what would have been a very lengthy detour. Yesss!

About a week ago, Diane tagged me to do the "Christmas Three Meme" which involves answering three questions about Christmas. So at long last, here are my answers.

What are your three favorite Christmas songs and who sings them?
This is a difficult one because there are lots and lots of Christmas songs I like, but I'll go with:
1. Do You Hear What I Hear? with good ol' Perry Como. This one is all tied up with nice childhood memories.
2. Let It Snow because it is catchy and I love snow. I don't have one particular artist in mind, but I will say Diana Krall does a wonderfully jazzy cover of this song.
3. In the Bleak Midwinter by James Taylor. JT does this song beautifully on his James Taylor at Christmas album.

What are your three favorite Christmas foods?
Christmas foods remind me of my grandmother, and I loved the way she made:
1. Christmas Ribbon Jello (which included red and green jello and cream cheese)
2. "Pfeffernuesse" (peppernut) cookies which had lots of powdered sugar to get on one's nose, all around the mouth, etc. :)
3. Date filled cookies. These were especially good warm.

What are three Christmas Secrets?
I'm not really a 'secret' type person so I have no clue how to answer this question. So. I am going to take a blogger liberty and change the last question to... What are your three favorite Christmas movies?
1. The Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven. Classic! And Cary Grant as an angel--not a stretch!
2. White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney... although they should have done a little more editing because it did drag in the middle.
And, I'm saving my favorite for last...
3. The Snowman, a 1982 film based on Raymond Briggs' picture book of the same name. If you haven't seen it before, rent it! (You can read one review here.) The picture above is from the film.

If you want to play, consider yourself tagged! (How about it, Jiff?Purpletologically Speaking? Presby Gal? Are you in?)

It's been like this...

...but thankfully we are starting to dry out!


(art from here)

salute to Marcie/Marcy

Woo Hoo! We just learned today that Offspring #1 was cast as "Marcy" in "Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead". The play (which will be in April) is a dark comedy set about 10 years after the events in the famous Peanuts comic strip. It deals with Charlie Brown and friends as they tackle teenage angst. I'll bet Offspring #1 will have fun with this role. (And I'll bet Offspring #2 will enjoy the play since he is a big Peanuts fan.)

I recently stumbled across the quiz, "Which Peanuts Character Are You?" and decided to take it today. Turns out I'm Marcie. What are the odds?!