mariposa reina - queen of the flutterby's

There are thousands, perhaps millions of butterflies, EVERYWHERE today. No joke, no exaggeration - about 60 per minute are currently passing due North outside of the window at work and are basically swarming the air - I have NEVER seen anything like this in my life, and I absolutely love and always notice butterflies. Happy Spring!!

soundtrack

seems like almost every day a random song or snippet of song, will pop into my head and then stick around.

Often, there is a direct correlation such as a song playing in the store that I heard without really hearing, but sometimes...no clue.

Today's song for example, I believe I know from my childhood and I think comes from a Shirley Temple movie I saw once, why it popped in today, and why it stuck with me, I don't know...but here goes:

"I'm laughin'
and i got nothin to laugh about
if I can laugh, sing, dance and shout
sister so can you"

picture a Gone With the Wind style "Mamie" singing in a gloriously big and beautiful voice

ya - i don't know either - but there it is

Creakin' part 2

two things that do not rock about creekin':

1) mosquito bites (yes I will get insect reppellent)
2) poison ivy - itchy, itchy, itchy!!!

Creekin'

Because of a major deadline and a business trip, I have been feeling lucky to get 5 hours sleep a night over the past few weeks and spent unbelievable amounts of time in the car and sitting in meetings. Which has resulted in the most acute desire to be outside and in motion.

I finally bought a pair of knee high rubber boots so that I could start hiking the gorgeous creek that runs through my backyard. We know that Native Americans roamed all over the land we live on, and many people have found artifacts. After a good rain is the best time to find things because the water loosens everything up and brings it downstream.

Just being out, on a semi sunny day was pretty cool all by itself, but I also found several pieces of abalone shell that are soooo beautiful and indicative of an old Chumash campsite. It was so much fun to explore, to imagine the people who lived here before me, to connect for a moment the past and present. Some people believe that Chumash means "Seashell People" and I definatley agree its very possible.

Disgusting!

At some point we are going to have to admit that:
a) there isn't enough oil in the world the way we use it
b) good alternatives exist and have been available

I am just disgusted, and not JUST about the beauty that will be destroyed. The dependence on foreign oil isn't the problem, the problem is the dependence on a limited substance that is no longer even necessary.

Alternatives abound, here are a few links:
Biodiesel
Diesel & Hybrids
Veggie Fuel

Senate OKs Alaska wildlife refuge drilling

By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

In a major victory for President Bush's energy policy, the Senate voted Wednesday to open Alaska's wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

The 51-to-49 Senate vote moves the prospect of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) closer to reality after two decades of debate. It comes as oil and gas prices are approaching new highs.........click here for more

wheel of fortune

er, well, the "mobile wheel" anyway, blew into our area on Saturday looking for contestants and causing quite a crowd. Now, I admit, I did think it sounded like a good time - which is why I went, but I was wholly unprepared for the full force of adoration some folks have for that show.

I mean, it wasn't even Pat & Vanna hosting, it was scary lounge-act Pat & Vanna wanna-be's . At least if it was Pat & Vanna I could justify some of the exuberance I witnessed- although I am not a big fan of either specifically, I can appreciate a celebrity as much as the next gal, and I used to get a kick out of Chuck Woolery. I ran into him in Hawaii once, it was totally surreal to see Chuck Woolery at breakfast.

The poor sucker I talked into going with me, really was a good sport about it all. Especially considering we began the adventure with a sincere explaination of how there was zero intention of going anywhere near the wheel freakfest, but then accompanied me anyway, at the last minute, for reasons I may never know. I probably am now forever indebted, because between the utter lameness of the event generally, the wheel-fevered retired folks, and the odd swarms of flying bugs that just would not go away - it sadly, did suck, beyond all measure.

I am pretty sure that people shouting "WHEEL" "OF" "FORTUNE" with reckless abandon has scarred me for life... :O) I'd like a Z please...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I would like to say the days bizarre events ended there, but...ummmmm...no... I offered to buy said friend a beer for putting up with the wheel of fortune nonsense, which was immediately met with much gratitude. (Most likely because it was a clear indication that we were actually leaving wheel of boring.) So, we decided to go to a downtown bar a few bocks from the wheel deal. It turned out that we knew the bartenders mother, so then enjoyed the opportunity to get to know her as we sat and chatted and did a little people watching.

At one point, as she was telling us a story, I glanced up at a couple that was sitting further down the bar. The woman was sort of rolling her head forward as if falling asleep in class, but on a barstool. I made eye contact witht the bartender and motioned in their direction. She glanced over and looked at me like, "Oh crap, what do I do?" She is a brand new bartender at a bar that only serves beer and this was her first encounter with someone completely trashed.

Suddenly, the woman stood up, but couldn't find a fixed point she was so out of focus. She lunged forward and stumbled up against the bar. The man she was with (who did not seem really drunk) got up to help her and they bumbled outside. She fell in the street between two parked cars about 5 steps outside the door, at which point I told the bartender she should call 911. We helped the woman back into the bar, got her some water and waited for someone to show up. They did, police, fire department, and ambulance with paramedics - who discovered that the woman has a heart condition and was drinking while on medication and they would be taking her to the hospital, and she would likely be fine after treatment. At which point, we looked at each other and said at the same time, "Let's get back home."

It may only be 25 miles away, but it is its own little world, our home sweet home. Nothing much really happens in our little town, if you blink, you could miss it, but it is unbelievably beautiful, simple and safe. It has become a part of me, I feel a deep unexplainable connection that no other place on earth has ever inspired before. I feel like I am OF here, and at times even leaving just to go 25 miles north to work is actually a bit painful, as though I am tearing myself away, as silly as that may seem.

Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just insane, they better have freakin parachutes or something on that damn ride!



Borrowed from yahoo!

the birthday desk

I finally got the pictures together to post of my birthday present from my co-workers this is what I saw when I got to my desk

the picture I didn't get

At least 3 people asked me this weekend if I had seen the beautiful rainbow over our ocean at sunset on Friday, and then went on to explain in tantilizing but painful details about how beautiful it actually was, and how at one point it became a double rainbow.

I did not witness this seemingly perfect moment, I was either still at work or not close enough to home yet to see it. Every time I think of it, I have that twisting in the wind feeling, like I have lost something forever.

Realistically, it was only another sunset, another rainbow, more special only because they so rarely appear at the same time. But I missed it, like so many things that happen every day around me. I cannot shake the feeling that everything is all wrong, we have created a monstor that has enslaved us and ensures that we rarely enjoy JUST BEING ALIVE. Life moves at an incredible pace and I just keep feeling like I am missing it...

horse meat = horse feathers

my brother left me a message the other day - he was apparently driving near an area we spent a lot of time growing up and called to tell me that he remembers our Dad telling us that Burger King served horsemeat in their hamburgers (it was just one of those dumb things you tease kids about innocently) but it stuck with my brother, and he called to say that some 20 years later he still can't really eat Burger King food, even though he knows that it isn't true.

It is funny the things that stick with kids, that make an impression. It is funny that we will hold on to things from childhood that we now know are completely unfounded.

I will not eat brown eggs. I am a total freak about organics and I cannot bring myself to eat anything other than a plain white egg. Why? Because when I was about 10, I ate a brown egg before going the movies, where I then ate peanut butter cups and half way through the movie I got violently ill. I was convinced it was the brown eggs, and have never knowingly eaten another one. I didn't eat peanut butter cups for a long time either, but those are such tempting little yummies I managed to get over them.

A good quote

"One day at a time - this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone: and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering."

Ida Scott Taylor
1820-1915, Author

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha - kidding right?

"Bush tack on Social Security: Be flexible, patient"

from the Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0304/p03s01-uspo.html

the final frontier

Our universe is quite beautiful



" This photograph released in 2003, taken by NASA (news - web sites)'s Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites)'s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in 1999, captures a small region within M17, a hotbed of star formation. The uncertain fate of the Hubble Space Telescope, whose images have helped unravel some of the universe's deepest mysteries, has sparked debate in the US Congress and the scientific community due to the growing costs of keeping it among the stars." (AFP/NASA/HO/file) & borrowed from Yahoo!