putting this on my wish list!

Dang! Doesn't that just make you get your groove on?!?

Nature

Mr Handsome and I went for a walk in the woods yesterday. It was a perfect day for it and the nature preserve was not crowded at all. We started out and it felt like we were the only ones around! The light was so soft and green and the trees still have all their leaves. It was just beautiful.

We found lots of mushrooms, all different colors. There were some that were so white they looked lit from within. There were some purple ones that looked satiny, all dressed up for a ball. The hot-orange ones really stood out. And there were some magenta ones, too, like the purple ones poor cousins. Here's a red-topped one.

We both used to be really into the outdoors, knew all our trees and birds, went wilderness camping, stargazing, lots of fun stuff. Now we stay inside, eyes glued to the computers. Not good. Mr Handsome couldn't decide if this was a white pine or not. I think it is, he doesn't think so. We'll never know for sure....

The nature preserve has all kinds of different ecosystems in it, from dunes to swamps. It's wonderful! There are former farm fields that are being reclaimed, meadows, mixed deciduous stands..., it's a beautiful, peaceful place to be and there're always things to look at. There's even a boardwalk to get across the swampy area.

And that's where I found an owl pellet! Look carefully; you can see a little, tiny bone in there! COOL!

I really started to get tired and sore about 30 minutes into the walk. And we were kind of lost at that point. It's not a huge preserve, but it's got different trails that loop around and the trail markers are pretty discreet.

Anyway, we got a little turned around, a little farther out than we'd planned on

After another 20 minutes, I was starting to think the path would never end.

But, finally,

light at the end of the tunnel!

It was fun and felt great, though, to get outside, to be together, to feel the sun.

gloom and doom then better through reading!

This week has been strange, and not just for me. It's like a miasma is hanging over lots of people, an invisible net of gloom that the gorgeous and nourishing sunshine can't burn away. And it seems like it's a poison-cloud that's specific to each person. I don't mean to spread it via the intertubes (though I've found it there, too; look at this really beautifully-written essay ); it is just so strange that so many people I've talked to lately have volunteered how blue they feel.

To break out of it, I think I'll drink more coffee. Coffee is a wonder drug!

Seriously, though, It's another beautiful day and I think I will go to a park and just sit in the sunshine with a drink and one of the many books I'm reading right now. I hope Mr. Handsome will join me, but he might want to work on the house (lots of projects going on).

I'm reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, Julie & Julia, Hush, Hush, and I just finished Rendezvous-South Atlantic. I'm about to start The Anthologist and I just bought Wishful Drinking.

There are many, many other books I want to start, too! Golly, I wish I could just read read read all day long, escape into other worlds, not have to go grocery shopping (which, actually, Mr Handsome has done the last couple of times, YAY Mr H!).

Ok, while I was looking for links for Rendezvous (a great read, by the way!), I made another cup o' joe. I'm gonna get started reading, out in the backyard, on the beautiful new deck Mr Handsome built (pictures to come)! I hope everyone out there has a good Labor Day and doesn't let the fog descend!

movies

This is adorable!

Here's the original, from one of my TOP FIVE favorite movies of all time, The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Briefly

It's back to work today and it's ALSO the day I've decided everything is going to change (see yesterday's post). It's also a good morning to post some pics of things I find AWESOME.

Debra Paget, in a costume I would LOVE to wear to the Michigan Renaissance Festival.

I guess I do have a similar costume, after all! This is from several years ago, at Halloween. Mr Handsome is The Dread Pirate Roberts. HAWT!

I love, love, love to knit and I love, love, love Cary Grant! A GREAT combo!

I'm still a fan. Always will be. Original Trilogy is BEST!!!

I always liked Luke best.

ALL day

Yeah, I have no questions about my internet addiction. I am. No question. I've been meandering around ALL day long. On only ONE cup of coffee. Tomorrow, I go back to work and all will return to normal. Better than normal, even! I'm going to go out and DO things that I can then put on this blog, instead of putting in links to what other people (total strangers, at that) are doing!

And I'll be walking to work to work off some chub! Yay, me!

update: Aug 27, 8:30 a.m.

I won't be walking to work after all. Mr Handsome's car needs to go to the shop, so I'll be driving along so he can get back home. Universe! Do you not WANT me to walk to work?!?

night

I am just feeling so anxious lately. Is it 'cause I'm going back to work after having some time off? Is it 'cause I didn't get as much done as I thought I would during my time off? Could be worries about the future, feeling overwhelmed about stuff that I should be doing (where to START?!?), cats' health, our health, family-members' health....

sigh

I'm going to go read now.

And think about this pretty picture.

after canoeing, with THAT squirrel

Golly, this guy gets everywhere. He could show up in your pics, too!

...the world smiles with you....

We're putting the dining room and the little bathroom back together again, now that the wall paint is on. Hopefully, someday soon, I'll paint the trim, too. Anyway, it'll be nice to have the rooms looking how WE want them to look, rather than how people who lived here over a decade ago wanted them to look. Next up: Spare Bedroom!

This chipper tone of mine goes along with this blog entry I read today. It's always easier to go downhill, to be sucked into the vortex, to drown in the whirlpool, than to climb to the top, fly to safety, or swim harder. But it's much more satisfying to see the view, glide along, or float on the waves than to just be carried away or swept along. I got carried away there, in a big way, with the analogies, eh? Anyhoo. It's easier to find the negative in everything, but what does that get ya? Depressed. Focusing on the positive, CHOOSING to be hopeful and happy: it's harder than it looks. But it's soooooo worth it.

see more dog and puppy pictures

more painting

Well, it's been very rainy, hot and humid, so Mr Handsome can't play work in the garden on the deck, and my paint is taking forEVER to dry, but here is the first coat of paint (go here for before pics)!

Unfortunately, the boring-ass cream color I THOUGHT I chose turned out to be a lemony-cream color, heavy on the lemon.

It's YELLOW! sheesh.

Also, I started ANOTHER project. When we moved in (over 12 years ago, ahem), the FIRST thing Mr. Handsome did was take down the ridiculously over-sized ceiling fan in the living room. But we never did anything about the mess of wires oozing out of the hole. Well, eventually, he kinda capped them off, but we never repaired the hole or replaced it with a different fixture. There it sat, ugly and raw, an open wound, for over a decade.

I'm gonna tackle this baby! Maybe it'll just be a b@nd @id I put on it, but anything's gotta be better than that!

Updated Aug 18, 11:45 p.m.

Second coat is finished in both rooms. For the ceiling hole, I painted a plastic food-container lid and hot-glued it to the ceiling. It only stayed up for a day. :(