Cheetah Love

Nathan's picture of a cheetah for his second 4th grade animal report. All done using pencil shading. I think the cubs are so cute!

Italian Love

The Italian Market in Philly, just two blocks from the B&B we were staying in. We had one of the front cellar suites, which I think is an interesting term. :-) I hadn't been to a market in years, so I really enjoyed this. I purchased fresh mozarella, vine tomatoes, some Italian balsamic vinegar & a selection of herbs to plant back home, including some basil. I love that on a fresh, warm slice of bread. Yummy!

I planted the herbs in our porch herb pot. This past weekend I also planted some tomatoes out in the backyard. The plants are still teeny, but I was thinking about the lovely Insalata Caprese I will be able to enjoy this summer along with BBQ when my love will hopefully visit again (so he can get away from winter).

Mouse Love

The "love" series continued...

This is one of my favorite memories from when Brent visited.

One evening we were all playing a board game together. Nathan went to the kitchen to get a drink, turned on the light, there was a noise, then he exclaimed, "I just saw a rodent run by." The noise persisted, so I decided to get a mousetrap the next day which Brent & the boys set-up. Then nothing.

A day or so later my love asked me to take him & the boys to the pet store to get a treat for our bunny. (He had previously [jokingly] suggested we should feast on the pet bunny as an Easter roast, so this was a nice gesture of kindness towards the bunny in my opinion...) I took them to the pet store. I myself had to run an errand next door. The bunny got a wonderful bowl of bunny treats. So far, so good.

That evening - as I was snuggling up in bed with Brent - all of a sudden I heard a mousetrappish kind of noise. The boys went to check it out, then screamed that the mouse had gotten trapped & came running into the bedroom with the trap (& mouse inside the trap), dropping it into the bed.

I screamed a girly scream of horror.

All three of them laughed. It was a toy mouse! The bunny treat had been their "decoy" to get a ride to the pet store.

Brent said it was "male bonding." - What weirdos! :-)

P.S. The real mouse has yet to be caught. I was sure there were mouse/rat droppings in the kitchen today, but it turned out to be two pieces of coffee beans.

Bird Love

Yeap. It's all about love here at the moment. ;-) ~ Nate did this painting at school. His teacher asked him to make the birds bigger, thus they ended up "kissing" each other. Nothing that excites a 10-years-old boy, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm loving it! :-)

Frog Love

I can't stop going "Awwww." - Aren't these so adorable? Brought to me by the awesome Lizz at ZooLooNaturals. I think I'm going to want some tadpoles & eggs to go with the froggie family. ;-)

Websie Dating (Gasp)

I'm not going to go into details.

But I'm going to say that it is possible to meet a great guy online.

A guy who will travel 24+ hours & 8000 miles to see you.

A guy who won't mind that you get lost in the middle of the night on the way home from the airport while driving on the wrong (for him) side of the road.

A guy who will hold you in his arms all night & whose kisses taste so good.

A guy who goes shopping with you and cooks with you & does the dishes with (or for) you.

A guy who loves the oresome :-) water pressure in your shower.

A guy who the children like & vice versa.

A guy who rubs your feet and sings oldies while you knit.

A guy who likes how a single Long Island Iced Tea makes you all giggly.

A guy who doesn't mind that you ordered artichokes on the pizza when he was looking forward to anchovies, because you told him they were going to be anchovies, but somehow you must have ordered artichokes. (So much similarity in those two toppings!)

A guy who makes you feel loved & safe.

A guy who makes you laugh. And a guy who'd like your sense of humor, too - if it wasn't for the fact that laughing hurts 'cause he has a broken rib.

A guy who thinks you're the hottest chick in the bar... and then you both realize you ended up in a gay/lesbian bar.

And so much more...

I'm telling you. It's possible. The possibility has become my reality.

It started as a joke. Last year during spring break I was e-mailing back and forth with my friend Jeannine in Alaska one day. I was having a hard time coming to terms with some heartache. I had recently decided that I would travel to New Zealand over Christmas. I felt that I needed a vacation to a dream destination, some "me" time. I jokingly said something like, "Maybe I'll meet a New Zealand sheep farmer. :-)" (Please forgive the stereotype.) A few minutes later my friend Jeannine (jokingly, too, I'm sure) forwarded me some links. They were links to sheep farmers looking for love online. I had a good laugh. Because it was a free site I decided to post a witty profile of my own. I thought it would be a good way to get the "inside" scoop on traveling places in NZ. That was spring. I got a lot of responses & good traveling tips. In the early summer I got an e-mail from my love. I found his profile appealing because there were no spelling mistakes, he listed himself as a Buddhist & it was apparent that he, too, was a water-sign. I have to say that I didn't take him all that serious at first, though. Two weeks or so later he asked for my number so he can give me a phone call, which he did. I loved the kiwi accent, but even more so the interesting, 2-hours-or-so-long conversation we had. Daily e-mails... chatting... phone calls... sending each other lil' prezzies... thereafter. Then came a big bummer when I had to cancel my travel plans on short notice just before Christmas 2008.

So, he said he would make arrangements to come see me & he did & he combined it with some work-related stuff... And it was a wonderful 11 days & some hours kinda time together.

And no, he's not a sheep farmer...

I'm in love & being loved. It's awesome.

Of course saying good-bye was hard. Sigh. Still adjusting again...

Art & Love

I went to Philly with my love. While he had to be in a brainy kinda meeting, I got a morning of walking the city & slurping mocha. I discovered these awesome mosaics by artist Isaiah Zagar.

First a few on walls.

Then I ran into the mosaic garden on South Street. Yes, a toilet-mosaic. Kiwi-blokes would call it a crapper. ;-)

Awesome way to recycle bottles, eh?!

I loved looking at the details. So many little things to be discovered.

And eventually I got lots of yummy kisses in the magnolia garden. It was a great trip! :-)

As You Like It

was Noah's (Shakespeare) class play - along with the 8th grade. He was the melancholic Jacques and delivered the famous monologue just wonderfully. I thought the play was great. It's amazing what they put together in two weeks ranging from memorizing the lines to creating the backdrops to sewing the costumes to creating the program...

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school.

And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth.

And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

— Jaques (Act II, Scene VII)