Door, from Neverwhere

I would really love to organize one of these...:)

What are some things that you want to love or think you could love (in the right company/situation/century), but simply do not?

Mine:
Musicals. I loved them as a child. And then something changed. Not even Sweeny Todd or Tim Burton have been able to sway me back to the suspended disbelief-break-into-song-with-strangers love.

Make-up. It feels so wrong on my face.

Bread/pancakes/waffles. Milk. Cereal. These common American staples do nothing for me.

TV. 9 times out of 10 I can find something better to do than watch TV. When I do indulge I am usually doing something else, anyway.

After months of prepping a garden space and tending to seedlings I am starting to see the fruits of my labor. Sunshine + new soaker hoses = happy plants.

While weeding I discovered three Rhubarb plants. I don't like pie, so I don't even know what rhubarb tastes like. However, a famous person recently blogged about rhubarb custard. I'm down with making custard.

Tonight I made manicotti with arugula, cilantro, oregano, shrimp and three cheeses. My nephew helped me make it. He was kind of fascinated that I went outside and picked stuff, then made a meal with it. He ate arugula salad with radishes and had a brussel sprout. My sister said, "Is he eating salad?!" Well, sure. He made it--from scratch.

We are also discovering that the seed mixture he made up one morning before we all got up is producing an interesting mix of broccoli, spinach and cabbage.

It's a good thing I like radishes, because they are going to be abundant. The strawberries are nearly edible and there will be sunflowers galore. I'd might even venture out for an oil press thingy!!

Even our worms are getting big. This year's compost is awesome.

Yay!! For doin it myself!

If you are married, or have ever been married, what is the story of The Proposal?

Several nights ago I had a fantastic dream that spawned a little short story I am convinced is just a rip off of some other short story.

Dream:
In a densely populated city (I think it was London) The Historian spends his days interviewing as many as he can on the stories that his subjects feel mark their lives. At night he transcribes, prints and binds these stories into beautifully rendered books. He lives amongst decades of these stories, never sleeps and is grateful every day for his purpose.

After I wrote this down in prose I took a walk to the beach, up to the library, over to the retirement home where I drop off the holds for a few of the residents, then back home. The entire walk is about 6.5 miles. All over this little town I thought of The Historian and what a charmed life that would be, to record a snapshot of each person in my town, city, neighborhood.

On the last mile I started listening to my backlogged podcasts of This American Life. Little snapshots of American Lives. Go deeper. Ira Glass starts talking about StoryCorps and I've been charmed ever since.

Go on, record a story. I dare you. Every single life has at least a million recordable moments. Which one is your favorite?

While not a fan of American Idol or Dancing With The Stars, this clip from Britain's Got Talent choked me up.

Susan Boyle

Are there any Mac users that have experience with Bento? I need to move from Access to something less bulky and annoying. Filemaker Pro is an obvious choice, but I'm weighing in on cost as well.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Friday the 13th. Gary and I took the day off. Originally we had planned to go to Vancouver, but the weather forecast included snow and we had had enough of that. So we went to Vashon Island instead. Our goal was to go to one of the artsy fartsy areas around us, to take a ferry and eat really good food. Gary mixed up Bainbridge Island with Vashon Island, so our trip did not include artsy or fartsy.

We ferried! I love the ferries! It was the first time I took a ferry with a car. I love firsts!!

We drove the entire island. While driving we cracked each other up with random anecdotes and mocking of various things we saw. Now I know that I can take an extended road trip with my guy and it will be fun :)

According to RoadsideAmerica.com Vashon Island has an attraction! A bike stuck in a tree!! We looked, we asked the locals, we used our iPhones....but no tree. Ok, we didn't look too hard and were distracted by shiny objects.

We did find a Trike in a Tree!


We finished up with very yummy food at The Hardware Store.

Perfect date, as always.