Earth Hour Proper

There are not too many things I’m keen on

jumping on the bandwagon about,

but Earth Hour was one of them.

In fact, I was so keen that I did it last month too….

sort of on purpose, by accident.

I was so eager to participate in Earth Hour

that I convinced someone dear to me

to turn off our lights in honor of the event.

We somehow timed cooking our dinner so perfectly

that just as we sat down at the table it was time to turn off the lights.

It was a bit tricky to see what we were eating,

but thankfully all we needed was the steam of our

homemade chicken pot pies to show our forks the way.

That was a month ago.

(Seems being early runs in the family

…ahem, “I’ll see you at 6:30……It’s 6:20, I’m outside…”)

Better early than never?

Well, I did it again, properly, last night.

Better twice than never? I’d say so.

Kind of surprising how much light you can get from a candle.

Maybe in addition to sleeping 11 hours one night each week,

I’ll start flipping the switch a bit more often.

(Yes, I slept 11 hours this past Wednesday night.

Beyond exhausted, I put myself in bed at 6:00pm and

didn’t roll over until my alarm the next morning at 5:00am.)

Back to Earth Hour....

One of my roommates came home at 8:45 and

I heard her rummaging around downstairs through all the darkness I’d created.

So I brought a lit candle down for her to see if she was interested.

She was.

Seems the neighbors across the street weren’t aware of Earth Hour

or surely they’d have been lights out, too.

Word must have spread behind us though cause there wasn’t a light to be seen.

Wonder if we confused any wildlife?

out with ye lights!

out with the candles, off with the lights -
Earth Hour is here
get on the band wagon tonight

Frisky

she's always been a gardener.
digging around in the dirt
and over she'll pounce like she's never
seen anything more exciting in her life -

and it's a
serious,
immediate,
bounding across the yard,
crashing through the grass
ARRIVAL.
as if she were ecstatic to join the endeavor -
as if she were a little, well, insane.



last year she oversaw the meticulous staking off of the square foot plot...

and this year
she's taken to making sure
the hardening off of the new sprouts goes as planned....

but sometimes she just lazes about...

and sometimes she gets plain crazy and goes a swingin'...

so while I'm temporarily away from the growing garden,
it's nice to know somebody is looking our for things.
thanks, frisky.

skipping 'round the block

So I wasn't going to post anything today seeing as how
I've taken 18 pages of type written notes during lectures between yesterday and today.
(We have to consolidate each weeks notes into essays and proper presentation outlines for submission each Monday...and I'm DETERMINED to finalize each day's notes THAT VERY NIGHT so that I don't spend every hour of the weekend slouched over my little computer.)


But then I went downstairs to make some tea and what did I see......?

SNOW!
Big ole white fluffy flakes just whirring all around!

I'll give you one guess as to what I did.

I chatted with the neighbor who was already on the ball and
shoveling her driveway as fast as the little snowflakes could fall (not jealous of that)
Then I went for a walk around the block.
Which very quickly evolved into a skip.

Here is what I saw:

There are Nancy's all over the place.
Seems Mr. Schwartz grew up around here.
Anybody for some yard art souvenirs?


And here are my feet, all snowy and warm.

And now I'm back to work!

a very long drive

Yes. 14 hours makes for a very long drive.

But it was actually quite nice.
(It was much nicer this go round seeing as how gas was not $4/gallon.)
Click and Clack started my drive off right
with enough silly comments to make me laugh out loud.
I listened to so many hours of tunes on my ipod
that it got alarmingly warm.
(Don't fret - my magnet was in place.)
I rocked out, yesI did. So sorry you guys couldn't have heard me.

When I couldn't handle any more music,
I brushed up on my Italian.
Yes, I have an entire series of Pimsleur Italian Lessons on my ipod.
You never know when you're going to be
in the mood to brush up - 'non adesso, ma puy tarde', you might be saying.

After 9 hours, I spent the night at what has become my regular stopping point.
Nice and safe, big comfy pillows, an a gigantic bed.
This time, I wised up and joined their rewards program before I checked in!
And it's conveniently located just a spit away from Steak N' Shake.
(Mama Jean, I was thinking of you!!)

~~~~~

What was the view like for 900 miles?
Well, why don't you just have a look for yourself:

I saw silos.

I saw flat land covered with snow.

I saw neat farm equipment.

I saw more farmland....and more silos...

...and my first (of many, I believe) frozen lake!

And then, I saw THIS.

Which one of you told them I was coming?
I felt very welcomed - thank you.


And finally, I arrived at my home for the next 10 weeks.

It couldn't have been better than to return to a familiar place
and get settled in immediately.
In fact, by 3pm I'd already
been to the gym,
unloaded my car,
unpacked my bags,
hung everything up and got things all tidy
and was on my way to the grocery store!

So here's a glimpse at my digs for the next 2 months -
Margi repainted the walls, refinished the floors and did all
sorts of home improvements while I was away -
and she said my return served as GREAT inspiration
to get all her little projects squared away and finished.

And now I'm off for some tea!