Butterfly Dreams

I was shocked and saddened by the death of Heath Ledger. I had been looking forward to seeing him in another movie. Knight's Tale was one of my favorites, as was Casanova, and 10 Things I Hate About You.

I wish you all a truly beautiful, love-filled and comforting Christmas Season, Happy Holidays for all.

Goosebumps is on tv, we're getting in the Halloween spirit....My house is scary...dustgoblins everywhere, there's something in the sink, and something's growing in the back of the refrigerator...the laundry pile is growing, and growing...I think I saw it move...

REAL reality tv: bridge inspection reports and what percentage of our taxes goes to maintenance & repair, and what percentage of our taxes goes for building new coliseums ...er, I mean sports complexes, and how much of our taxes goes to build and maintain sports complexes we didn't vote for.

Went to the Egyptian exhibit at U of Penn this afternoon. We could've spent more time, but they closed at 5. Only the Egyptian exhibits are open, the museum is closed on summer Sundays. We'd like to go on a weekday, and see more. Have to take a vacation day for that. Parking is tricky, but since it was late when we got there, we only had a block to walk for parking.
Felt adventurous in the kitchen, so we are about to have Zeera Gosht (cumin lamb - Indian food) with brown rice for a later than usual Sunday night dinner. I dusted off my old international recipe book this morning, picked something I had at least half the ingredients for, and bought whatever I didn't already have on the way home. To round out an Eastern themed day, we're watching 'Mummy Returns' on TV! Too bad I didn't think of it til now, I could've put heavy eyeliner on with my makeup today.

Caught up with the mt of laundry yesterday and other cleaning. Hubby put up the screen tent out back, so we can sit at the picnic table more comfortably.
Dog has an ear infection, he was flapping & so I checked his ears. They're inflamed & one had a discharge. Since it was so late in the day (the vet's only open on Sat. til 1pm) I first cleaned it with 50-50 peroxide, then 50-50 white vinegar & water (no, he DIDN'T like that) then gave him the vet-advised dose of buffered aspirin for the pain, with peanut-butter on a bit of cracker, his favorite. I think he forgave me when I did that. He seems better this morning, just flapped once, but I'll take him in on Monday to get checked. I think I'll bathe him today, he could use it. Last weekend we took him to the park, and he tromped in the lake a bit, I wonder if he had gotten it from that. He's prone to them, so I have to watch that.
We're debating whether to go to the U of Penn King Tut exhibit today. Youngun went last week on a field trip and is urging us to go -- she tooks lots of movies with the camera we lent her. Other choice is taking all our bikes to the park again and riding on the path that goes around the lake. That was fun last week. Possibly going to see the Nancy Drew movie. I'd like that, and that's also younguns' choice. I enjoyed reading those books when I was a kid.
I remember reading every Nancy Drew book the library had, and pestering the librarian to get the rest of the series via interlibrary loan. We had a really small all-volunteer library in my hometown, it's closed now for lack of volunteers. But back then, there was this great group of really dedicated working moms and a couple retired ones who kept it running. I knew the schedule by heart, and volunteered my time shelving books from the time I was 12. Thanks Ms. Evrard, Mrs. Gabriel, and everyone else who kept that place open throughout the '70s. I couldn't have survived that town without you!
During the summer, that and hanging out at the basketball /tennis courts by the elementary school was the only thing for kids to do there if their parents couldn't afford to send them to camp. No bowling, no swimming pool, no 'youth center' or other reasonable activities for kids to get involved in unless they could find someone to drive them to the larger communities and spend the money to join the pool. There was a petition to get a swimming pool in the '70s, and then an informal borough meeting about it was voted down. (The elders didn't want their taxes raised for something they might not use themselves. Never mind that it would be a place for kids to go to with a moderate amount of supervision, as opposed to hanging out unsupervised learning to smoke, drink etc for lack of anything else. ) I think eventually the American Legion put in a bowling alley, so that's something. I hear from my family & friends who still live there that trouble & crime has increased in that area. Some believe it's from the influx of people moving to that area from NY/NJ urban areas, who don't seem to have much respect for other people or their property. Car theft is up. Burglary is a problem where it rarely was before. When I stay at my moms, I notice quality of living issues, like really loud car exhaust units being run around town several times at night, after 11 pm. That kind of thing needs to be addressed by the community as a whole, not just ignored. I'm really glad for the Boys n' Girls Club and Y in this area.

You Are Pinot Noir

Sophisticated and worldly, you probably know more about wine than most drinkers. You have great taste, and you approach all aspects of life with a gourmet attitude. You believe that the little things in life should be cherished and enjoyed... and of the best quality possible. And while you may take more time to eat a meal or tour a city, it's always time well spent. Deep down you are: A seductive charmer Your partying style: Refined. And you would never call it "partying" Your company is enjoyed best with: Stinky expensive cheese

Your Career Personality: Organized, Responsible, and Future-Oriented

Your Ideal Careers: Biomedical engineer Business executive College professor District attorney Hedge fund manager Investment banker Judge Military leader Political strategist Surgeon

It's been busy. Got a call from my sister today, My mom is now a great grandmom, my sister is a grandmom, and I'm a great aunt. My oldest nephew is a dad, and baby and mom are doing fine. I had a strange coincidence, I got a couple missed calls on my cell, the area code was my nephews, so I called the number and left a message that I was sorry to miss his call, but that I'd talk to him later and expected that his call was to tell me of the baby's arrival (since it was a week overdue.) I got a call back, the phone numbr turned out to be someone else, who had misdialed his dad's number and got my number instead, who lived in the same area code as my nephew and whose dad lives near me. As if that wasn't enough of a small world coincidence, when my family called to tell me of the baby's arrival and I asked what time the baby arrived, IT WAS DURING THAT ODD PHONE CALL! No lie, I checked my cell phone calls list, and the baby arrived 10 minutes after the call time start.
just got around to loading pix of last weekend's outing at Hopewell Furnace National Park. We stopped there on our way home from camping.

went to Devon Horseshow this morning, here are some pics. The horses & riders were awesome. I wish I could have been there for the begining last week. This is the last weekend. Afterwards we visited the shops and midway. Youngest and I went on the ferris wheel after she insisted, then as soon as it started going up she didn't like it and wanted it to end. I enjoyed it, the view at the top was of the riding ring, it was great!
We had a quiet picnic at Valley Forge park on the way home. There were 3 deer grazing in the shady meadow where we and other people were picnicing, they were so tame, one actually leapt the fence to come closer out of curiosity. Youngest and another viewer were able to watch from as close as 15 feet for about 20 minutes. I was putting up the picnic a few feet away, but kept an eye on the situation since you can never be too sure about wild animals. But these acted relatively tame in comparison to the deer at pop's place.