Not Without The Deity, Baby!

That's the Colorado state motto (without the "Baby" of course). I spent the past week in Colorado Springs where I attended a conference about the brain and how boys and girls learn differently and the benefits of single-sex education. Anyway, the mountains were so beautiful and the weather just lovely (warm, but dry and breezy, and cool in the evenings.) I have a ton of photos to post, so let's just get to it.

Here is the view from the conference which was held at the University of Colorado -- Colorado Springs:



This is the campus deer. There were multiple sightings of this guy. He was not afraid of the hustle and bustle of the campus (In addition to our conference, there was a girls' volleyball camp and a boys hockey camp!)



We had at least three meals here! When Ashley (a teacher at my school) and I arrived on Sunday, we were hankering for some chips and salsa (and margaritas!) We drove around until we found Jose Muldoon's and they did NOT disappoint!



On Tuesday night, the conference sponsored an evening outing to the Flying W Ranch for dinner and a Western show. So for $20 a person, they packed us into about a million picnic tables. A folksy cowboy (way up front on stage) proceeded to spend a good 30 minutes describing what we were getting for dinner and how we were to get it.



We basically went through a chow line where they put stuff on our tin plate (just like the cowboys!): BBQ chicken, baked potato, what they claimed to be famous beans which they said the cowboys called "whistle-berries." That one's for you, Gus!), applesauce, biscuits, spice cake, and lemonade. The food was good, but this is low overhead stuff. We sensed a LOT of profit going on! The show after dinner was a western band. It was ok. We left after about 10 minutes.



On Thursday, after the conference was over, we took a short drive to the Garden of The Gods. It is stunning, spectacular and beautiful. It's just unreal. This photo is from the visitors center. Can you spot the "Kissing Camels?"



This ominous sign greeted us on the trail that goes through the park:


















Friday morning was time to take the Cog Railway to the top of Pike's Peak. Pikes Peak is 14,110 feet above sea level. The Cog Railway only allows you to stay at the Peak for 40 minutes because of altitude sickness. On the railway, at one point our climb was so steep that the guide pointed out that if you fell down the central aisle from front to back, it would be the equivalent of a 3-story drop. Yowza!



Here is a Yellow - Bellied Marmot (whistle pig) that wandered up to the side of our train while we waited for a descending train to pass. He and a friend just wandered around the train, unafraid. We suspected that passengers must have dropped food out for them in the past for them not to be wary of us.



This is the Peak! You wouldn't want to overshoot this station stop! Yikes!











After our descent, we went to The Loop in Manitou Springs where we had a delicious meal. I had tacos -- these were yummy! Not like Taco Bell or Ortega! We also had what they claimed to be world famous margaritas with our lunch. Clearly it was too soon after our high altitude experience! After half a glass, I was definitely feeling a buzz (or Rocky Mountain High!) and switched to water!



Our last stop was the Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings. It was kind of strange because it was right off the main highway and you could park right next to them. Not to mention that the redness of them made them look kind of fakey even though they ARE authentic. It was just strange.



I caught my 7 a.m. flight out of Denver the next morning, picked up my Owain, and returned to Baltimore! It was a good trip, but I was ready to get home.

My DREAM Date!

Cathy suggested the new section to the right --->> after I confessed to her that I'd recently had a dream that featured celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey as my boyfriend. I have to say, he was very solicitous and affectionate. We spent some time gossiping about the contestants on his show "Hell's Kitchen."

Here are some previous celebrity dream boyfriends. I don't know what it all means.

Mandy Patinkin. This was during his time on Chicago Hope. Weirdly, I had SEVERAL dreams about him. In one dream he and I went to a party on a yacht, and his wife was there in a wheel chair! (I know, its sad that I still remember. But that was kind of weird!)



Later on it was Jimmy Smits. Yowza! Now THAT makes sense.



Just to be clear, this has nothing to do with my TV boyfriend, Keith Olbermann, who I love in real life! (And have actually never dreamed about.) I will certainly try to keep you up to date on my celebrity "dream" boyfriends!

Too Much Information! and A Great Birthday!

Ok, first the too much information part. Today I went to Walgreens to get a bunch of things for my upcoming trip. My purchase included makeup foundation, travel size shampoos and conditioner, immodium, aspirin, and purel hand sanitizer. So I take my items up to the register where the older male cashier starts ringing things up. As he's doing this he says,

"Immodium is the best thing! Well maybe its not a good thing, but you know. I wish I'd invented it!!"

At this point the thought bubble over my head is saying,

"STOP TALKING ABOUT IMMODIUM!!!"

But he continued in a sort of way that I think HE wanted to stop but couldn't,

"Because I know I buy a lot of it! You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and think, 'It's going to be an Immodium sort of day!'"

At this point I started to actually recoil to which he responded,

"I guess its not a great thing to talk about."

Needless to say, I paid as quickly as I could and got the heck out of there. I got out to the car and could not stop laughing about it!

* * *

So enough of that! Now let's talk about something a billionty times more pleasant, Diana and Gus's visit to Baltimore for my birthday!

Here are some photos of their arrival. A certain little Welsh corgi is SOOOOO happy!








They arrived late morning. We chatted for a little and I showed them around my apartment. Gus declared that it was really nice! Then we headed down to the Inner Harbor where we went to the National Aquarium. It was good. They have a special Australian Rainforest exhibit in addition to the regular fishy exhibits. I think our favorite things were the manta rays and the coral reef. I have to say that my favorite fish names (both from Australia, by the way!) were the Sooty Grunter and the Mouth Almighty. That's you!

So after the Aquarium (which Gus declared "an awesome experience!") we headed over to the ESPN Zone for lunch where we had a delicious meal. Here are my birthday guests:



We had a birthday dinner of nachos and had a very pleasant evening.

Tuesday morning we went to Miss Shirley's for breakfast.

Gus had the Gooey Cinnamon Roll, also known as the sugar-coma-inducing tower of cinnamon rolls!




Diana had the Breakfast Banana Split. Because of its healthy nature, she was initially reluctant to get it, but it was delicious!




And I had Blueberry Pancakes -- an old standby that you can't go wrong with! And I didn't! It was yummy!




After breakfast, Diana and Gus hit the road to head home. It was so much fun to see them and celebrate my birthday with two of my most favorite people! I hope they come back soon!

Best. Catnip. EVER!!!

Recently, I ordered the pets' flea meds online. When the stuff arrived they included a little plastic bag of catnip. The other day I tore open the bag and put the whole thing in an old sock and tied the other end. Earl LOVED it!! (ironically, the screen capture that Youtube put on the video is of Vivian. As you'll see, she didn't really get to partake of the catnip.)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, I guess the country goes first. Happy Independence Day!

So anyway, yesterday I got my first birthday greeting! There was a box and inside was:




This is Natty Boh (National Bohemian Beer) gear from my best cousin!! Natty Boh: From the Land of Enchanted Living (that's Baltimore! No, really! It IS!)




Oh, and here are my nutty cats freaking out over the birds eating the berries off the porch roof.

Happy July!

Get ready, my fellow residents of Crazy Town!








In case you thought this might be staged or a fake, read here.

Our own rainbow!

This is what I saw when I took Owain out for a short walk this evening...







What a delightful surprise!

The Little Ship

Yesterday, at Tim Russert's memorial service, Maria Shriver recited the following poem. She said that a friend had given it to her when she was struggling with the death of her cousin, JFK Jr.

The Little Ship

I stood watching as the little ship sailed out to sea. The setting sun tinted his white sails with a golden light, and as he disappeared from sight a voice at my side whispered, "He is gone".

But the sea was a narrow one. On the farther shore a little band of friends had gathered to watch and wait in happy expectation. Suddenly they caught sight of the tiny sail and, at the very moment when my companion had whispered, "He is gone" a glad shout went up in joyous welcome, "Here he comes!"

Of course I totally cried hearing this. It reminded me of when Mom was in hospice and I imagined Grandma, Aunt Nan, Uncle Ted, Rolly, Aunt Margie, Mom's father all waiting together at Mom's bedside for her to rejoin them.

Oh, and the Russert service concluded with the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ukulele version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Within a few minutes of the service's completion, a large double rainbow appeared over Washington DC.




Hm.

How About Calling it America's Bottom Chef?!

Forgive the completely text-based rant (Editor's note: see oh-so-flattering photo added below), but please, oh please, will someone tell me what Lisa is doing still on the show????!!!! Now that CG got me completely sucked in (although I cannot watch the "improv" episode one more time), I'm totally baffled.



I have to confess that each time I changed my picks on Facebook, I was totally wrong. I thought Dale would take it even though he is very unpleasant. Why can't they just get along like Mario and Bobby did in CG's world? Dale was so negative that I didn't even mind blowing my prediction.

But talk about unpleasant - "it would have been nice if you had said congratulations to me!" What??? And my favorite "you seem like you think the wrong person went home." Uh, YES! Why would we want a defensive, grouchy chef who has received consistent cool feedback that her food doesn't have enough taste, instead of someone who the judges twice said "she really cooks from the heart." I'm sorry CG - I know Tom is one of your celebrity boyfriends (nowhere near dreamy Ken, I know), but I just don't get why he seems to really hate Lisa's food but then fight for her to stay on the show.

Now, about this weather...hee, hee.

Howard's Hidey Hole!

Ok, there is so much to love about this:

1. Rabbit on a leash!
2. Inspirational music!
3. Dog that just doesn't care.
4. Dirt hitting camera!
5. Howard! Digging! The! Best! Hole! EVER!!!!!



Thank you Disapproving Rabbits!
http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/

I'd watch a whole movie about this man with the giant umbrella!

It's so charming! (Too bad Travelers Insurance was too expensive for my car. Boo.)

Preakness 2008 in Mount Washington!

Well, Preakness lived up to all my expectations. Beth arrived on Friday evening with Cardiff - yippee!! By 7 a.m. Saturday morning, Preakness revelers were already parking on the street. But the fun really began when the building management company started parking cars on our property ($20 for a blocked space, $40 for an unblocked space). Beth and I took the boys down to the front porch where we joined my neighbors Paul and Lucy to watch the gentle beginning of the day.


Here are Beth and Cardiff!



Its morning, everyone is still sober, good times all around! The gates over at Pimlico open at 8 a.m. The race is at 6:15 p.m.!


More cars! Owain kept a close eye on things!



We returned down to the front porch for our very Marylandy lunch of crabcake sandwiches. Beth had a Natty Boh, which is the nickname of Baltimore's National Bohemian Beer. Beth loved their slogan -- "From the land of pleasant living!" (You can see that they parked cars right up next to the house.)




Here are the boys that returned to their minivan midafternoon to find their car completely blocked in. Of course they paid for a blocked space, so it shouldn't have been so much of a surprise. They spent a LOT of time debating with each other about whether or not they could squeeze out between the other cars. (They couldn't)



They were really convinced they could do it. Here they are with their car wedged between two others. We overheard one of the guys say, "Dude, you're hitting BOTH cars right now! You're hitting both cars right now!" Nice.



But maybe, if we rock and move this car, we'll have enough room to get out. (So $40 gets you an unblocked space AND messed up brakes/transmission!) Hm, still not enough room....



Maybe if we move THIS car too...



They formed a little bit of a small mob with some other trapped revelers and moved some cars closer to the house too. Eventually they did manage to squeeze out. It was unfortunate and obnoxious, but there wasn't much we could do. We called the police twice, but they only drove by THREE times without stopping. By the third time, the mob had freed themselves and left.

Aside from the slight car "wilding" that hit around 3, the rest of the day was interesting and fun! We did view 11 public urinations ("You're number NINE!!!" we'd shout happily!) on the property. There was a lot of trash everywhere, but by 8:30ish just about everyone had cleared out. and we were none the worse for wear.

Here's a bit of the trashy lawn.



So Beth and I went to Miss Shirley's this morning and had a FABULOUS breakfast! It's officially a tradition now! Here are Owain and Cardiff together before Beth and Cardy hit the road. Owain sounds GREAT on video!! Check out Cardiff's paw action! "I must touch your face, Owain!! I must!!"



I hope Beth and Cardiff come back for Preakness next year -- it was so much fun!

It's Mother's Day. We love you and miss you!

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile

One day I was coming home from work in a very bad frame of mind. It had been a very rough day, and it came during a particularly grueling travel schedule. I pulled up to my little home, and in the mailbox was a small package. "Oh great!" I thought. "Now I've started winning things on e-bay and don't even remember bidding!" So I plodded from my car to my door and pulled out the package. I looked at the address, and it said it was from England. I got so excited! I didn't know what I had won, but it just made my day to see something had come so far to land at my door. I could hardly wait to get inside to open it. To my delight, it was a package from an old friend from whom I hadn't heard in ages. TOOTHWOMAN!

It's hard to see, but the beautiful British post mark is there.

Toothwoman is an international woman of mystery and poor dental hygiene, who was born of the "Tossing" days of CoreStates. It was oh, so lovely to hear from her.


So as we mark time between May Day and Cinco De Mayo Celebrations, let us all join in and sing a tribute to Toothwoman. C'mon everyone (to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus)!!!

Here comsh Toothwoman,

Here comsh Toothwoman,

Right down Dyentishtry Lane......

Clickin' an' clackin, and lotsh o' lip schmackin'

She'sh almosht inshane..........

Thanks so much for joining in, even if you didn't know what the heck was going on....

Happy Toothwoman Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! click, clack