SILLY

Okay, so I was just thinking that maybe it wasn't the greatest idea to point out where I live on blogger. I'm a loser and for the record, I'm flat broke, so it's futile to plan to rob me and don't think that I don't have a shotgun. Plus, I'm a cagefighter and I carry mace.

View thy Mitten

Me Mitten

Ye old Mitten. See the Upper Pennisula, eh? Almost Canadian, but not quite. We sit on the west side of the state (left to you) about half way up (in the mitten part) and about 2 counties inland in a county that's kind of 'L' shaped or like an upside down boot. See it? It's pink. I'm waving to you. Hello Wile, Hello Casey, Hello Laurent, Hello Sara. You're a lonely bunch, aren't you? You poor things, stuck reading my silly blog......well, thanks. :)

Autumnal Cycles

Wow, it's Wednesday already...and would you look at the date? August 30th. Sheesh. Summer just went ahead and slipped away like it always does, didn't it? I was looking out the front window yesterday thinking "man, look at those yellow leaves! Ugh." Yes, they're pretty alright, but they sure don't last long.

Actually I love the fall, it's a nice time of year...I get to a point at the end of summer where I'm ready for my jeans and sweatshirts and bonfires and all of that. But the thought of what comes next - gutting out the 4 or 5 months of bone aching cold and slush and muddy roads and slow traffic of winter makes my feet cold. Winter has it's advantages...I love it for a little while. It's fun getting snowed in and watching movies and throwing snowballs, but after Christmas and New Years when the festivities have fizzled and there's not much going on and February has set in...you just think "Arrgghh, will this ever end?"

Okay, so I'm really not trying to bitch about winter...not my point at all, but sometimes I get off on tangents.

I'm excited because I have a three day weekend for Labor Day and Wile and I are going to the Upper Penninsula (still in Michigan, you know.) to backpack at Pictured Rocks. (Check out http://www.exploringthenorth.com/pictrocks/pr.html for cool pictures of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.) I'm from Michigan and I'm ashamed that I've never been there before! Just check out the pictures on the aforementioned website and you will see the beauty! We've been planning for a long time to spend the traditional last-hurrah-of-summer-weekend up there backpacking before the cold sets in. I think it's a 5 or 6 hour drive up there, but I'm told it's well worth it. It's good to explore the home country...there's beauty everywhere, but sometimes you just have to look for it.

Well, anyway, fall has cycled around again. I remember last year, sitting out on the steps at our newly rented cottage on Baldwin lake, looking at the setting sun wondering what the future would hold. Feeling the slight chill to the air, watching the Canadian Geese fly by, noticing the earlier decent of the sun... We were starting a new life...falling in love, making brushetta (sp?) in the kitchen, taking midnight walks and sticking together. I remember driving to Grand Rapids to have a beer at the Cottage Bar and getting pulled over on Fulton because we were talking so much that I wasn't paying attention to my speed. Then we got new Allstar High Tops...his in blue, mine in green. Awe, cute. It's all still there...even more now. I love our memories and I'll always love the fall.

Isn't amazing how I can turn any blog into a gushy one? I guess we must be doing something right. :)

Well, it's almost 5 and I'm home alone tonight. I think I'll take Wile's advice and do something that I want to do tonight instead of something that I feel like I need to do (I have compulsive cleaning problems), so I'm going to be a wino and read, I think - and it sounds fabulous.

Cheers.

LINKS OF INTEREST

HEY!

I've added a couple of new links! KC Coffee Company & Chris & Trina's Webpage.

KC Coffee Company is my cousin Carter's business. Take a look at his stuff - he's doing really well and his coffee is primo!

Chris and Trina's webpage has some great pictures from area festivals and also a listing of upcoming events.

Alright...peace out!!!

SIDE NOTE

As an addendum to my Be Good Tanyas post -
Our love affair started with a post card that I sent him...
Best thing I ever did...

"None of my love
Floating wild come back to me
So I write you a letter, I'll write you a letter
With this here pen"

And here we are....and so it shall be.

The Be Good Tanyas

If you've never heard of The Be Good Tanyas, I recommend that you check them out. The band consists of 3 women from Vancouver, B.C. They've been described as a band for those that are "thirsty for real backwoods hooch." (lol) We've had "Chinatown" since last winter and I've spent a lot of time letting that disc spin over and over in my car.

When we drove up Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast on an unusually warm day in February, we popped Chinatown in as the sun warmed our faces driving through Napa Valley. You can imagine the wonderful association that I have with that day, that music and the love present.

On my recent trip to Virginia, we lazed around the campfire and again let the songs play while we talked and drank wine. My favorite song "Ship out on the sea" gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.

"I'm a ship, I'm a ship, I'm a ship
Out on the sea
None of my love
Floating wild come back to me
So I write you a letter, I'll write you a letter
With this here pen
Don't make me wait, don't make me wait
Cos I'm your friend...

Plant me in the garden
Don't you let me roam
Cuz love is a feeling like a warm dark stone
Plant me in the garden
Don't you let me roam"
(lyrics from Ship out on the sea.)

They also do a couple of covers on this album including "Waiting around to Die" by Townes Van Zandt. Sometimes Frazey's soulful singing stirs - how to explain? - Um, Billy Holiday feelings within me...

I just love them. I hope they come out with more albums as their last release was in 2003! Check them out!

environmentally irritated

ARRRGGGHHH!

It's Saturday and I'm at work writing out tags for clearance mattresses!

Wow, what a dream come true!!!!!!!!!! lol.

My boss, Lee, is on the phone now, so I took this opportunity to take my shoes off for a minute.

I can't wait to go home and continue my irritation in a different environment.

So I'm a big fricken child....hahaha

Finally a price we can live with

PERSPECTIVE

I'm not sure why, but I consider myself
a "thinking" person.

I'm able to see both sides of a story.
I can form my own opinions about things.
I'm able to understand why people think the way they do.
I am also able to decide for myself what
I think about what other people think.

For instance, I'm a democrat.
But...I can understand how people can go the other way too.
I may not always agree with you, but I understand.

If I have couple friends that are fighting,
I can understand why both of them feel the way they do
rather than taking sides.

I'm not religeous,
but I have spirit.
I don't like church,
but I won't deny you
your center.

I'm smart enough to know that there are always
two sides to every story.
I wish everyone was like that.
But, this isn't a perfect world is it?
Not that I'm saying that I'm perfect.
FAR FROM IT!

I'm emotional.
I have a bad temper.
I can be wishy washy.
I probably drink too much.

I'm also kind of a hippie.
I like blue grass music.
If I had my way, I'd probably be
driving a Subaru and eating nuts and berries
in the nude. Who knows?

But.....I also hold down a full time job
and wear heels to work.
Not cut and dry.
Not black and white.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that passing judgement
on anyone really sucks, but most of us do it from time to time.

It has been brought to my attention that I was
the subject of small town gossip fodder around a campfire.

Gossip like this from someone ignorant shouldn't bother me,
But it does because all of it was one sided and, well, IGNORANT.

Ugh, it isn't even worth the effort that I put into this blog!
It's just boggles the mind.
But, putting it down,
helps me with perspective and
PERSPECTIVE IS A WONDERFUL THING!