Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

[a small bit of] East Texas Blue Hole Because I'm a wimp. It's too cold up north, and Arizona is too dry (really, I've been there and instantly got dehydrated. by about 4 liters). The weather has finally turned for the winter. It probably amounts to the north's 'fall' season, but it's cold enough for me. I go around with fur coat and gloves for the 50-60 degree weather. But it looks really nice. Which I'm trying to show here: Honestly, this is my favorite one. I love when pictures turn out spectacular without any  tweaks to camera specifications, because I don't know how to do that. If we were in Oklahoma, I'd have sung "Oh, what a beautiful mo-or-ning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got a beautiful fe-eel-ing everything's going my way!" Instead, I sung "If I die young, bury me in satin", much to the amusement of our Thanksgiving guests. I thought it was appropriate, since we were walking through a ce...

When I hear the phrase "Be Prepared," I think of two things: Boy Scouts and Lion King. This post is not about either of those, really, but I will say that I've wanted to be a Boy Scout since elementary school, and that I now have the "Be Prepared" song that Scar sings stuck in my head. Really, this post is about skills (great, now I have the line from Napoleon Dynamite banging around my skull). Once upon a time, when I was about 7 or 8, I decided that it would be really useful to learn to write with my left hand in case my right hand stopped working, and to learn to write and open doors with my feet in case my hands stopped working. I admit that I was a strange child, but I think some of the blame can be shifted to my brother Jaron, who at that point in his life was praying that people wouldn't get their limbs chopped off. I have retained all of my limbs so far, but they are still useful skills to have. It is really handy (ahem, bad pun) to be able to ope...

i.e. 11-11-11. my family has been recognizing bonza bottler's day for years, but I only just recently figured out the origin of the term. Apparently it's Australian. That makes it way awesome [Auss-some. sorry. my family also celebrates bad puns.] Yeah, so bonza bottler's day is the day when the month number and the day number match. and when the year matches too, like it did yesterday, then that is extra exciting. So for the extra exciting day, I took pictures of '11' re-staining the door allows this 11 to stand out more and some of my favorite cookies lodgepole pines can come in handy re-flooring  the incredibly versatile fruit K, so I'm not really known for my photography. Be grateful I didn't post 5 other pictures to bring the count to 11. Happy Bonza Bottler's Day!

Friday night vignette: Family movie night. Usually this takes place in my parents' living room on a projector with surround sound, but my dad is reflooring that room right now, and nobody wants to lay on the cement floor with nails around the perimeter. So we are gathered in the back room study, watching "I Am Number Four." All except my brother Jaron, that is, who has a project for Science Olympiad due the next day. The most important fight scene in the movie is playing, and then the lights come on. [enter Jaron]: "Guys! I now have four notes on my kalimba!" [a kalimba is an instrument, apparently, that one can make] [dad pauses the movie] the kalimba --blank stares at a rectangular plywood piece with some metal strips attached-- [Jon]: "Your timing is really bad" [Jaron, ever unquenchable]: "do you guys wanna hear?" --plink. plink. plink-- [dad]: "Jaron, that's great. keep us updated..." [Jaron]: "okay! I...

Here, at the beginning of the celebration for dia de los muertos , aka day of the dead, I find it appropriate to create a running list of things I want to do before I die: -go to Japan with my incredible best friends -learn conversational French -get up on the wakeboard -play a string instrument -develop a taste for vegetables -travel to the countries of my ancestors: England, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, etc. (I'm a mutt) -have a heart-to-heart with my sister -serve a healthcare mission (i.e. pro bono nursing) -become a horsewoman -visit all the National Parks -successfully grow a plant -complete a quilt -paint a canvas -participate in a triathalon -speak a phrase in various languages (right now, I know how to say "Who's your daddy" in about a half dozen languages. I'm sure it will come in handy)