October Snowstorm...

The freak October snowstorm....It was bad but we were VERY lucky and did not lose power!





It all started out so innocently....



A few hours later...




Kayaking anyone?



Headed down the mountain....

Never a good sign....I was on snowshoes at this point.

Urban Archaeology...Part 2....

So....how do we get a grant for this???

View From The Woods...

I see you!!

Urban Archaeology....

It was a chance discovery….several piles from the days of “Just toss it in the woods” ...

Not every bottle could come and live inside, so some mini outcroppings appeared in the yard….

Three Holidays...

On Friday:

I heard Christmas music at Bath & Body Works.

Earned for a Thanksgiving turkey at Shoprite.

Had a few Trick or Treaters since Halloween was rescheduled in my town.

Three holidays in the space of two hours....

Nature Visions 2...

My Nature Services

Junior Tracker

Calling “chickadee-dee-dee” at every bird

Bear Scarer

Frog Flusher Outer

Chipmunk Translator

Flower Seeder

Acorn Chucker

Scat Speculator


There's more....

Nature Visions

Pour Some...

Snappits...

I was in Baltimore, MD last Friday – an uber quick trip – back and forth within 24 hours. Of course my new camera made the trip too….

One Day vs. 100 Years…

A few months ago, I had quite a wild experience – went from taking care of the almost 100 year old to holding a newborn in the space of a few hours.

As in “Welcome to your First Full Day on the Planet” newborn.

Quite a trip given how similar both were in the matter of being helpless and just wanting to be given comfort.

One with almost a century of baggage and the other with none.

Cradle to the Grave…

Literally…

Epic Meal Time…

Creating insane food combinations…and then eating them!

Chicken Burger Merger Burger…




Crazy Alcohol Rainbow Pig…

9-11...a bit late...

It's a bit late - I know....

The 10 years anniversary passed and I was too busy dealing with funeral stuff and icing two sides of an ankle to write a decent blog entry.

The day before I helped TGP photograph a wedding - while walking across a lawn, the only branch on the property got caught in the straps of my “rockstar” heels and I went down….not gracefully either…just WHAM! on the ground. The branch got me good too – made a “V” shaped cut and proceeded to bleed like crazy….it filled up my shoe and left blood puddles…. Oddly enough, I did not need stitches, but the straps on these awesome shoes twisted my ankle and bruised my foot something firece.

Not much that I can add to all the posts out there except for this – life is too short.

I came across a website that compiled all the comics from that day – I’ll let them do the talking for me instead.

http://cartoonistsremember911.com/

Yar!

Silly Toe Shoes!

The price was right...

I had to get a more girly pair....

New Vibram Five Fingers!!

Ironfest!

Scenes from Ironfest this past weekend....

The tattoo that stopped all conversations...

Team Awesome...

We do decoration and table setups. (with bigger knives than the boys)
We do take downs of the same stuff.
We serve drinks.
We put out fires…literally…
We make vainags and chair decorations on the fly.
We make the champagne toast happen.
We kidnap the groom.
We serve cake.
We empty the trash.
We pick up cigarette butts.
We capture yellow jackets and make them into a carnival attraction.
We do a whole lot more….

All this to make sure that one of my oldest friends had the wedding day that she deserved….it was all worth it!!

Sweet Call…

My friend’s daughter frantically called me on the Saturday morning before the hurricane.

They live in Florida so she is a pro at the hurricane thing….apparently she had her doubts about my ability to survive.

She insisted that I needed coaching since I am not used to this sort of thing and I needed her tips on how to make it through the hurricane.

The main tip was to make sure that I called everyone to let them know that I was ok - texting could be done by anyone so this would be proof that my phone had not been stolen.

Gotta love the kid logic!

Pants (aka A Poem)...

This was sent to me by a close friend....very touching poem about the end of life...

I do not have the best translation for it and Google Translate was very inaccurate - the point of the poem is that once all the living of life is over, you will be joined by your loved ones once again.

Kad būs asras izraudātas,
Kad būs izpriecājies prieks,
Mīlestība izmīlēta
Mani apņems nāves miegs.

Tad uz kapiem neej, mīļā,
Neej manis modināt;
Asras, prieki, mīlestība
Nedrīkst manis valdzināt.

Lai uz kapa zied tik rozes,
Lai ap mani daba klus;
Lai tie, kas man bij tik mīļi,
Visi man pie sāniem dus.

Apple...

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.

As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

- Steve Jobs

Solace...

Understatement of the day - It has been a stressful month….

I have been told that I have been a “trooper” through this entire experience….

Being the “trooper” has had a huge side effects in how I was operating…The second I could relax, I would fall asleep…I was getting really clumsy – sustaining injuries that were above and beyond my normal bruising….my personality was changing…

I think that I have an ability to “suck it up and deal” while forgetting what I need….

I was all around stressed – leaning on my support systems really hard and not being a good friend or girlfriend in return.… I just did not have it in me….

But, I would get vicious when something threatened to take time away from the one person that was holding me in semi-balance. This was my solace…the one that gave me peace without even knowing that they were….The one who made sure that I slowed down and took a moment to breathe….to look at something interesting along the trail or shoreline….even if it was a really creepy looking spider…The one who laughed with me at the most random of things …

This past month was supposed to be getting back to the fun stuff…taking the scales back in the other direction to make up for the fact that they have been out of balance due to She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Blogged-About obligations for so long.

Instead it ended up being a whirlwind of things that needed to be done….some were happy things but I did not realize how much of a toll they were taking on me….I was just plowing forward as always….

Right now it doesn’t matter who else offers me solace….it is just not the same…

When You Find You...

Just heard this song for the first time today...weird timing given the other stuff that is going on...


You say you gotta go and find yourself
You say that you're becoming someone else
Don't recognize the face in the mirror looking back at you

You say you're leaving as you look away
I know there's really nothing left to say
Just know I'm here whenever you need me I'll wait for you

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

Take your time, I won't go anywhere
Picture you with the wind in your hair
I'll keep your things right where you left them
I'll be here for you

Oh and I'll let you go, I'll set your free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

I can't get close if you're not there
I can't get inside if there's no soul there
I can't face you, I can't save you
It's something you'll have to do

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me
Come back to me

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

You find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me

Stars & Stripes Forever

Stars & Stripes Forever - Muppet Style!!

Hurricane Irene 2...

This is our local hospital….take a minute and look at where the road should be – parking lots are just beyond that…

The mall that has a moat is very close to where I work….



For even more pix - go here - http://photos.nj.com/njcom_photo_essays/2011/08/images_of_the_aftermath_of_hur.html

Hurricane Irene…

As we started the prep for the hurricane, I was a bit pissed….ok, a lot pissed that the hurricane was ruining my weekend plans…

We sandbagged the garage closed (it goes in under the house), we tied the BBQ to the deck railing, we braved Shoprite and bought water and wine, we retrieved She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Blogged-About after securing her house, we pulled out all the candles and flashlights…..

And then we waited…..

We were lucky – the hurricane was not that bad for us…. She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Blogged-About was not happy about being out of her environment so that was pretty bad but there was nothing that could be done and we all suffered through it….

Then we saw the pictures of what had happened to our neighboring towns due to the flooding….




This is Route 287 - anyone that has visited me from the North has been on this stretch of road.