Thursday 13: Link love for a short work week!

Hard to believe today is Thursday, around here. I kept thinking last night that today really must be Monday, right? Having Wednesday off of work/reality is wonderful, but kind of messes with my brain...

So these links that I had been tucking away for an after-weekend "link love" post, well... it's after the weekend, right? Just a long time after...

1. The Supreme Court health care ruling, explained. Now to actually read it. (Can you give me the Cliff Notes on it, Brent? Oh wait, you kind of did...)

2. Raining poems in London? How awesome.

3. I'm a podcast fan, though I've slacked off lately, what with more work and less time in the yard. This post about podcasting and how the new move to a podcast app in iTunes caught my eye, though I've yet to follow through and explore. And then there's some additional perspective on the move, too. (Both links are from Neiman Labs, an email digest I receive daily.)

4. This saga about Instagram reminds me of the hullabaloo re: Pinterest a few months back. When will people learn to respect others' creations? (Short answer: never.)

5. I've felt this way about the whole "I'm SO busy, really, SO busy," thing at times; glad someone put words to it.

6. But of course, maybe we wouldn't be SO busy if we had better ways of managing our time, a la this post. Some good thoughts, no matter where in the employment-retirement cycle you may be.

7. Not necessarily revolutionary, but great reminders that ideas arrive more readily in certain environments, with a targeted encouragement.

8. This piece on Julia Child's marriage made me want to watch Julie & Julia again, just to see Meryl and Stanley (and Jane Lynch too!). I really enjoyed that part of the movie--the Julie part, not as much.

9. Walking On My Hands is one of my favorite blogs, and this recent post struck a chord, especially the last paragraph--but read the whole thing to get to that wisdom, really. It's worth your five minutes.

10. I have been a little Union Jack nutty lately, what with the London Olympics coming up... I found a shop online with bunches of fun items emblazoned with the flag.

11. Which works best for you, incentive-wise, a carrot or a stick? I read this post recently and it resonated with me. I used to think I was way over on the carrot end of the spectrum (and I *do* love me some gold stars), but I have come to realize that I do actually respond better to the threat of failure/defeat.

12. I saw this post on cooking pasta and had to laugh. I've been under-watering my pasta for years, and often wondered what the big deal is about having a BIG pot, with boiling water... I love how detailed and descriptive this explanation is, though! Check it out and prepare to have your previous assumptions (about cooking pasta) blown out of the water.

13. Aaron Sorkin's new show, Newsroom, has been on HBO for just a couple of weeks and I've only made it half-way through the pilot. I've been busy, OK? I have an interest, from a couple of angles--I like (generally) Sorkin's writing style, even as he can be preachy and heavy-handed, and Sports Night was one of my favorite shows, back in the day. (I've come to believe that has more to do with Josh Charles and Peter Krause than Aaron Sorkin, but whatever.) Anyway... Sorkin has taken heat in a number of reviews on the tone of Newsroom relative to women, so now I'll just HAVE to watch it and see if I agree.

All that is to say, check out this clip of various "Sorkinsims," and you'll see the guy recycles a bunch of his phrases and clever sayings. I'm sure all writers do this to some degree, but mashed together like this, it's rather humorous.



Hope your 4th of July was lovely--even those of you who *didn't* get the day off and have fireworks--and that the slide into the weekend goes all easy-like.

For more Thursday 13s, go here.

Ten Word Tuesday

Just in time for holiday fun, weeds grew a foot!

Friday night grateful moment

riday night in Canada, what's not to be grateful for?

It's lovely spending time with Seth, my mom, aunt Bobbi and Grandma. Today we relaxed, and then relaxed some more. Finally dragging ourselves out after a bit of lunch, we went to see Grandma and sat out in the sunshine for a while before going to watch part of an accordian concert in one of the meeting spaces. Such a cute, sweet couple danced through many of the songs. Just the two of them, quite peaceful and unabashed. Everyone else sat around in their chairs and watched. I tried to talk Seth into a polka or two... no luck. :(

Then there was a Scrabble game, and since only four can play, I said I'd sit in the loungy chair and watch and read... and nap, apparently. Oops.

I'm looking forward to watching friends pledge love and fidelity on Sunday. A day of celebration in Canada anyway ('eh?), but doubly so for them. As these events are wont to do, I know I will remember happily back to 2005 when husband and I exchanged vows, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it together--Seth is my date to the wedding and I don't think he'll look very kindly on a blubbery (even if I keep it quiet) mom on his arm! But love is grand, and I'm grateful, ever so grateful, that we found each other.

Tomorrow there's the promise of sleeping in a bit again (Seth, this morning, had a hard time rousing before 10 a.m. Vacation is goooooood.), and then more time with Grandma. And picnic food. What's not to love about potato salad and baked beans in the summer?

The nostalgia of seeing places from my childhood and happy memories associated with the people and places always makes this trip special. Today, I pointed out to Seth the office where my orthodonist practiced when I was a kid. Every time we're visiting it's something else: This is where I... Oh, look they tore that place down... Oh man, I used to love going there!

Not surprisingly, we have a number of rituals associated with this place and our trips. Seth and I dragged Bobbi and my mom to Scandia for a round of mini-golf in the heat (and mosquitos! Yowsa on the mozzies, they were fierce!), and then he and I did our regular burn through on $ in the arcade. Silly but fun. And it's tradition, after all!

Also on the list is White Spot, an oldie from my childhood with their zucchini sticks and sweet potato fries...

Being here reminds me of what a great childhood I enjoyed, full of many great memories, lovely friends and family, in a beautiful setting. If where you're raised has any impact on being launched into life, this is the place to launch from! I adore the Okanagan Valley, very much (as I've mentioned on previous trips here, here, and here). (One downside: summer traffic. Wow, that was thick today...)

This song is an old favorite for me, and fits my Friday night mood:



Hope you have a lovely weekend ahead of you, and your grateful list is long.

Thursday 13: Road tripping with my boy

Thirteen thoughts while driving up the state of Washington, Seth in the driver's seat:
1. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was the youngster, driving to boarding school on these same roads, my mother beside me?
2. How did he get to be tall enough that he actually looks like he should be driving?
3. I love snacks on the road. Is it time for snacks? I know we just left, but surely it should be snack time...
4. Do I feel safe enough to nap? No, not quite. What if something happens and he needs my experience and wisdom, like, NOW?
5. Seth's profile looks remarkably like it did in the sonogram 16 years ago. Is that weird? That's weird, yet makes perfect sense.
6. In the old game of pause-time or invisible, I used to pick invisible, every time. Now, I think I'd pick pause-time.
7. The beautiful thing about working is that vacations are just that much sweeter. Not complaining about the working, just noting the difference. I like the difference, not having the days all run into each other.
8. I am so glad Seth doesn't like metal, or whatever they're calling that indecipherable loud music these days. He's mostly into electronic music, which I can handle.
9. This state is so beautiful. Not always in a predictably picturesque way, though. I have grown so very fond of the rugged, barren look through the middle desert stretch. Especially in winter, when the light is really thin and bleak.
10. OK, not it really MUST be time for snacks. Egg salad. Blueberries. Chips. Vitamin water.
11. Oh, where should we go out for dinner when we get to Kelowna? White Spot? Or somewhere less chain-y? Seth loves White Spot. (So do I.)
12. I have been driving parts of this road since 1985.
13. Huh. We just passed where I got my very first ticket. Father's Day, 1986. Some things just stay with you. This stretch of Hwy 97 still makes my foot hit the brake.
For more Thursday 13s, visit them at www.thursday-13.com. I hope your Thursday is as lovely as ours, wherever you are.
P.S. I napped, I really did.

Midweek inspiration: Every stone on the road precious to me

The Layers
I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written,
I am not done with my changes.
-Stanley Kunitz

Ten Word Tuesday

Wishing for the coast, where rain in June makes sense!

Friday night grateful moment

t's raining on my summer. Hard. Buckets. With thunder and lightening to boot. What's up with that? Seth and I went out to pick cherries tonight and got a few pounds picked before it started up in earnest, and now it's blowing and cold and I can hear cherries splitting from the raindrops, even as I write...

OK, confession: I love it. But, it is getting in the way of weekend plans, in the sense of sitting by a pool and all, like I had planned, with girlfriends. Ah well.

Regardless of the weather, the thankful list this week is easy...

My men. Seth has been such a help at home these past couple of weeks, and husband has been so supportive at work. It's made my daily juggle go more smoothly, for sure. I am so appreciative of them both!

My health. I haven't mentioned health in awhile, which means I must be taking it for granted. (Tsk tsk.) I am, however, very grateful for good health--when I stop and think about it. I accomplished a great deal of lifting and hauling and shoveling last weekend, and didn't end up any worse for wear! I *did,* however, take a spectacular tumble in Home Depot on Sunday. And by spectacular, I mean, Olympic-medal-level bumbleness. I was more stunned than mortified (that particular emotion kicked in later), but the poor young man that was trying to help me looked a bit traumatized. (He saw me later when I was checking out and couldn't make eye contact, the poor guy.) All that is to say I have had a whopper of a bruise on my knee this week, and am glad it's healing up well. Still waiting to outgrow the awkward phase...

Our setting. From the immediate yard and garden, and our progress there, to our field of peas and beyond to the beautiful fields and pastures, Blue Mountains, etc., I am grateful for the view that surrounds us, every day. A lot of places in the world are beautiful, for sure, but I am glad to have found a home in this particular pretty spot.

Family. Beyond the three of us, I'm thankful for the support we have from our family. Near, far... (I almost launched into "wherever you are." Aren't you glad I didn't?) it is always good to know we've got a net of love surrounding us. Maybe a bit hokey on the mental image there, but the sentiment is heartfelt. When I see people more obviously struggling with daily life, whether because of mental illness or life choices, etc., it reminds me that life doesn't always deal the same hand to us all, and to appreciate the support that has been so readily accessible to me, my whole life.

Flavor. I am cooking up some salad and sandwich and appetizer and dessert goodies to take with me to visit the aforementioned girlfriends, and was reminded of all the familiar and lovely ingredient combinations that make me happy. Whether it's what cheese to put in the sandwich (you knew I'd have to go there) to whether the cherries should be in a trifle or a cobbler, and should I make three salads or four... I love cooking, still.

Memories. I had a memory this week that I recounted to a co-worker, of an experience when I was actually younger than Seth and I acted in a wildly irresponsible fashion... I was left alone for the first time EVER overnight, and took the opportunity to drive in to town (20 miles) and pick up a girlfriend to come spend the night with me. We told both sets of parents that she would be taking the bus to my house. (Never mind that the bus didn't actually come to our house... I suppose we must have said I'd meet her at the closest bus stopp--a half mile away--and we'd walk the rest.) I am absolutely floored by that memory now, that I actually undertook this level of deception and, more to the point, that I accomplished it, safely, and didn't get stopped by the RCMP (or my parents, who I think I informed when I was safely living in another country, at 20+ years of age). Crazy. And grateful. It does make for a good memory, though... (Good thing I know Seth doesn't read my blog. I would not have shared that story if I thought he would get wind of it.) I don't often trip down memory lane, but when I do, I like to think of the ones that bring a smile.

Friendship. I'm always grateful for my friend time, whether is a coffee or a spontaneous fro-yo moment, a FB note or a text. I saw this on Pinterest recently, and it encapsulated some of my thoughts on the kind of friends I have, and the kind of friend I want to be:

friendship

And speaking of Pinterest (which is never far off in any conversation, am I right?), here are a few more of my recent-favorite wordish pins to take you into the weekend...

journey

awake

humble

tribute

text

On that note, I shall say good night, have a lovely weekend, and peace all around!

Thursday 13: Summer musings

UMMER! It's here, it's finally here! Not just in date, but in warmth and presence and joy. Summer joys, indeed. OK, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away. But seeing sunshine and cherries right out my office window, I can't help but get a little giddy (though it could be the second shot of espresso kicking in...)

To celebrate the giddiness, my musings might be a little random, but with a summer thread. I promise.

1. Seth is proving to be a helpful helper around the house. I typed the word "finally" in that first sentence, but that felt a little unfair. He's 15. Not 35 and living in the basement and thank goodness he FINALLY learned to put the toilet seat down. Not at all. He's just being entrusted with more responsibility this summer, with both his age and need to raise a little $$, and my work schedule. My kitchen? Clean. Laundry? Done, folded and put away. Windows? Washed (and then the power washers for the paint crew kind of undid that task...). Lawn mowed? Indeed. I'm enjoying this, while I have it!

2. I ate a strawberry, basil and brie wrap yesterday for lunch, and had one hand in a bowl of blueberries while doing so. Last night I stopped for my customary snack by the cherry tree. THAT'S how I know it's summer. Fruit abounds, and I love every pound of it--as I eat pounds of fruit, and as pounds seem to stay with me. I will happily have a little summer "fruit weight," as I call it. (More accurately, it should be called fruit-ice cream weight...)

3. Husband and I have been waking far too early lately, with the sunrise. Sometimes between 4-4:30 a.m. How insane is that? I was very tired around 8 p.m. last night, but then got my second wind. I need to obey the call to bed a bit earlier... but those long summer evenings...

4. Still enjoying my breakfast smoothie, and preaching the gospel of kale wherever I go!

5. We have a broken sprinkler pipe from the juniper-ripping-out adventures, and fixing it is proving to be more time-consuming than one (me) would like. Long story, but it involves mud, digging, more mud, and more digging. Riveting, I know.

6. The garden is overflowing. With weeds, yes, but also with our first summer squash and zucchini, with kale by the bagful, potatoes, cabbage and there are even wee green tomatoes. Bonus. There will be garden work this weekend, for sure.

7. My Pinterest time is mostly repinning right now, not a lot of internet-wandering-to-pin time. But here's my favorite pinned image, this week. (I know, you're shocked about both the content AND the color. Ha.)

source

8. A group of girls from high school are gathering this weekend nearby, and I'm going to go spend a day with them. I'm looking forward to catching up; there's something significant about that time we all spent together years ago, that still threads us all together. Funny how that is. Oh, and I'm going to make a bit of food for the group, AND I have a surprise I've been wanting to fiddle with for a bit. If it works, I will definitely be back to report.

9. We have flocks of birds that hang out around our property. I am usually a bird lover--the ones around our feeders, etc.--but these are annoying (noisy) and WAY too plentiful (starlings, I think?). To describe it as a scene from The Birds is not that far off. Our cherries take a hit, and sometimes I stand outside and yell, "CAW," at the top of my lungs and watch them scatter. (Good thing we live on acreage.) Once I yelled and then came inside to find Seth talking with a school friend over Skype, and they were both a little taken aback by my caw-ing. Ha.

10. Going to take Seth to visit my Grandma in Canada next week. I look forward to this trip, always, but this time it will be extra-special as Canadian friends are getting married that weekend too. Bonus. Oh and my mom is going to meet us there. Double-bonus.

11. Been plotting with oldest BFF (I always feel like I should clarify: oldest, as in longest, not OLDest) Corinne to see each other this fall. It's been a couple of years since one or the other of us has made the trek to see each other; this time we'll BOTH be trekking and meet up. Excited but don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much (what is with that blip of superstition? Weird.). I'll keep you posted if/how it comes to fruition, of course!

12. I love our pond and our goldfish very much. Our odd fascination with fish-watching has made both husband and I wonder about expanding our pond feature into two ponds or some sort of connecting pond structure... we'll see if there's energy for that later this summer, after our other projects are more completed... September sounds like a good time for digging another pond, don't you think (says the girl who will call a guy with a backhoe this time, not dive in with a shovel)?

13. Work is going. Most days it is going well. Things always take longer, have more hiccups, challenges, etc., than some people would like and/or anticipate (me), but I am enjoying the interactions, the input, and yes, even the challenges. I am struck, almost every day, by how much I love to learn. What is that? Like a second wind on acquiring new skills and information. Savoring that part of it too.

There you have it, my 13 tidbits, somewhat summer-related. Hope your summer is off to a great start! Any special plans you want to share? I'd love to hear about it!

For more Thursday 13s, go here.

Link love

hat's up in my online wanderings? A little of this, a little of that... the usual. I've been really scattered with my tuckings-away lately, but I managed to pull together the bits and pieces that have stood out the past week or so...

This concept is SO COOL. I cannot wait to play around a little bit with making a page, or a quiz thingy. I don't have an immediate use, but it just seems like a piece of technology I will find eminently useful. At some point. Do check it out.

I've shared this link with a couple of people who care about this sort of thing, but wanted to share it even wider, in case you care too! Food photography. I know, these days with all my Instagramming, it would seem I don't much put a lot of time and energy into my food shots, and, well, you're right. It's unclear whether I will step up the quality any time in the near future, but you'll be the first to know! Meanwhile, that post makes for good reading.

I learned a little (OK, a lot) about Vizio in this article, and the video is interesting, too. I like a Little Company That Could! (Well, if you don't count the WalMart association...)

Husband and I had a fun chat about National Parks this last weekend, and a pipedream (or is it?) that maybe we make a list and see how many we could visit in the next 25 years or so... We both downloaded the National Parks app to our iPads, so that's a good start, right? How many have you been to? I'm a slacker compared to husband, I think... He's in the high teens, for sure. I'm hovering in the single digits. (I had no idea there are 58 "protected areas," though, did you? My excuse is having been raised in Canada. What's yours?)

I cannot help but post about yet another kale salad! I am wild for the kale! And this salad has lentils, too. Yum. (I must say, our kale is the black Tuscan variety, not the curly as pictured in the recipe. I think Tuscan is primo.)

Just in case you are wondering what to read this summer, there's a flow chart to help you out! (According to this chart's particular genius, I should be reading Swimming to Antarctica [nonfiction] or Feed [fiction]. And, I think I might just check them out. See, it works!

Think men are the early adopters on all new technology? Think again. Interesting for those of us who use technology, and a must-read for those (ahem) who are building technology for the masses.

I saw this recipe and was immediately interested. I haven't moved from interested into the action mode yet, but I will. Raspberries aren't ON around here the way that strawberries are, and I think the chia idea would work with that berry too... but I have yet to sacrifice a single berry to anything other than my bowls of strawberries and ice cream, or my breakfast smoothie... In concept, this is one worth trying, I think. I'll report back when it comes to fruition. (Get it?) (Sorry, long day.)

I hope your week is off to a fabulous start!

Friday night grateful moment

Please watch this short video; it is my grateful list for this week. The sentiments presented so beautifully serve as a lovely reminder of the value of living each day filled with gratitude.

TEDxSF Louie Schwartzberg