Went to Candy Mountain and then some

Not sure what happened to the unicorn cookies - puffed up and then my freehand icing smiles didn't help.  I am told they were delish however.  Another crazy cake, this one spoofing the old youtube video of Charlie going to Candy Mountain, just the right snarky humor for the turning 13 set.  The party ended up in happy mayhem as they tend to do - once the kids discovered they could fill up all the old water guns with the melted ice from the cold drinks barrel it was game on.  Thank goodness for our large collection of towels :)

Rabbit Round-up

I have probably posted this prior but I do so love Dr. Alice Roberts ever since I saw her BBC special on Wild Swimming - so here is a fun interview in a car.  Longish but not dull especially all the chat about digging up bones and what have you (unless you shudder at bones stuff, I find it all quite fascinating).

This site where you can view magazine covers from old Holiday magazines is a walk through the past, so interesting and nostalgic.  I love that people put together these kind of sites online.

More memory - Dear Photograph - the book coming soon, cannot wait to ILL it (you know you are a librarian if you know that term) and I love the blog, the idea behind the blog etc.

Oh, and it is dinner.  So much for a big round-up.  End on this which I posted to all my long suffering pals - like the Donald, I would like to be called The Susan after seeing this. 

Nice to have a husband who cooks :)

Sunday Quote

Words for Healing

I am the moon woman

I go up to heaven

I am the woman of the great

expanse of the waters

I am the woman of the expanse

of the divine sea

-Mazatec.  From On the Road of Stars (Native American Night Poems and Sleep Charms).

Before the rain bloomed the garden

and it was a beautiful sight.  A few years back I wondered if left to its own devices, the hydrangea might hit the roof.  Yes, yes, and yes.  Stunning.  Even our house gargoyle approved.  And then came the rain and rain and rain and rain and some more rain and yes, rain.  Blooms in tatters, yard a sog fest, but all of it captured here which is why photography pretty much rocks.

Sunday Quote

If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you.

-  T.S. Elliot

Stars

Such a voice.  Really nice acoustic guitar and solo from Gregg Allman.   

Happy Mother's Day (in lieu of Sunday Quote)

My lovely Mom and a little me way back when.  I have been graced with my own wonderful children and am reminded of how blessed I am every day, not just this day of cards and flowers (although thank you!  Appreciated!) by the sure fact of how they have made my life far more joyful, interesting, challenging, and just "way more funner" than it would ever have been without them.

  But on this day for mothers,  I miss my Mom even more than my everyday normal which is saying a lot. 

 Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Hunter-gatherer vacay style

The hunt for really excellent Key Lime pie took us out of Islamorada and down the road towards the Keys to a little place my husband heard about by the side of the road.  Can I share the name?  Would if I could.  The pie is eaten, the scrap of paper long trashed, our memories are mostly a collage of blue upon blue, a hot sun, some perfect aqua blues of small homes near a trailer park, and a cat that said hello briefly and then left to go about its Florida cat business.
The pie was good.

camera at the ready....

Photo of rental car in a Florida truck's hubcab.   Have to go through the Florida photos and pull up some fun ones.  Cannot believe we have been back going on three weeks.  However, considering I located some items in a box from our trip last year to North Carolina, yet unpacked, I should hardly be surprised.

Sunday Quote

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people.  Let your memory be your travel bag.

- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

For Walter

For a life that turned down the wrong road, for the sorrow of no one being able to help you turn it around.  For a terrible ending far too young.  For the years past where no one knew.  We know now, we hold you in our mind and hearts. Rest in a sweet and gentle peace, old friend.