I hadn't planned on writing this post today, but as I was walking from the train station to work, I realized how Good I feel. It may sound strange, but for the past couple of months, I have felt tired, and I do mean tired on every weekday (I usually feel pretty rested on Saturdays).

So why do I feel good?

Perhaps it is because for the first time in a couple of months, the sun has been up and shining when I've gone out to my car in the morning. You know what this means, right? This means it is going to continue getting lighter in the morning! And that fact, in and of itself, is probably a large, ginormous, reason that I feel good.

Perhaps it is because I expected to sleep terribly and be depressed. I had kind of decided this weekend that I wasn't going to write about this next part, but here I am, writing anyway.

How to put this.

hmmm...

Well, basically, HB and I did some real soul-searching with regards to our careers and marriage and agreed that he will take a promotion that is requiring him to be gone from home for a week or two at a time, and then to be home, and work from home, for a week or two. He will continue doing this back-and-forth schedule for about half a year, until we can both work in the same city again. And yesterday afternoon, I took him to the airport so that he can start this new job. So, I was expecting to be even more depressed today than usual. Usual, meaning that I probably have a hint of seasonal affective disorder in that I get really tired and depressed in January, February, and March.

I expected to sleep terribly and be incredibly lonely, and while I am lonely, I am also very busy, so it distracts me from my loneliness. As for the sleeping, I went out and bought an electric blanket, now that I won't have my lil' heater next to me in bed anymore to keep me warm. And I slept remarkably well.

So, here I am, on a Monday morning, no less, feeling pretty chipper.

And I didn't freeze my patootie walkin' in today either, which has probably contributed to my good mood.

You know, I think that another (big) part of my upbeat mood is that I am excited for HB. He has needed more challenge at work for a while now, and he is definitely going to get it with his new job. So, part of my good mood, is I think, knowing that he gets to have this new opportunity.

Kinda nice, isn't it?

8-)

Posted by danielle at 09:43 AM | Comments (2)

I've been home sick today. Those of you who know me, probably know what I'm talking about, think storm-front, pressure changes, leading to a big capital M. But, I feel better now, thanks.

Anyway, until now, I hadn't opened up our blinds... well, I finally did. And lookee what I saw:

As if we didn't have enough snow already?

Here, have some more.

ergh.

Even the path that we'd cleared is getting covered. Can you see it?

Here, I'll help you.

Oh, and be sure to jump over the snow plow glop at the end.

I guess HB will have his shovelling cut out for him when he gets home, 'cause while it is okay for me to sit here and type, I sure can't get up and shovel.

sigh

HB has had a rough day. I'll be sure to pour him some scotch when he gets home; I can certainly do that much.

Oh, did I mention that it is still snowing?

Posted by danielle at 03:52 PM | Comments (2)

Posted by danielle at 08:55 PM | Comments (2)

I have taken a fair number of pictures to document the snowfall of our first (and dare I say only?) Blizzard of 2005.

Blizzard.

You know, on Thursday, the weather forecasters were calling this storm a Nor'easter.... funny how it became a blizzard...

yeah, funny. As in, not-so-funny-ha-ha.

No really, we had it much easier than people on the Cape, or people with homes on the oceanfront.

For those of you who barely bat an eyelash at 2 feet of snow, the following pics will probably look like nothing. But for those of you with the good sense to live somewhere warm (you know who you are), well, you can look at these and be glad you are toasty, or at least out of the snow.

I decided to do a series of pictures taken from approximately the same spot at various times throughout the weekend.

Saturday morning - It is sunny and calm. Oh good, we still have time to get to the grocery and get HB's car moved to the back of the driveway.

Saturday afternoon - It is cloudy, but there is still no snow. yet.
Wonder when the storm will hit...

Saturday afternoon - Ask a silly question...

Saturday afternoon - The sun is going down. I probably won't take anymore pics tonight. I wonder how bad it will look tomorrow?

Sunday morning - Oh, about that bad. (what was that earlier about asking a silly question? hmmm?)

Sunday - It sure is drifting a lot.

Sunday - Ugh. You know, it really looks like a lot to shovel when you eye it from the front door. I almost feel compelled to go out and shovel. Almost, being the key word. Because, you know, the last time we did that, it drifted over by the next day. Nope. Staying in. Shovelling tomorrow.

Monday morning - Hmmm... it looks pretty when the sun hits it. It almost makes up for the fact that we have to go shovel. Well, at least it will be good exercise, right?

Monday morning - Hi-ho Hi-ho, it's off to scoop we go...
This isn't so bad. It is rather light and fluffy.

19 inches here... 23 inches there... shovel, throw. shovel, throw.
patterns in the snow.
so pretty in the sun.

Yay! I reached the street! quick. take a picture!

Man, we still have to do all of that.
exercise. hurmpf. light and fluffy. ha.

tired, very tired.
can barely lift. and. throw.

You know, there is a reason we park so close to the end of our driveway. We know from experience that the plows don't get to the edge of the road. So we park near the end and hope to have less to shovel.

sweating. tired. But the birds are chirping, that is kind of nice.

almost done.

Many moments later....

Done! coffee time.

No wonder I was tired. I could barely throw the snow up and over this pile.

Now, we just have to contend with being tired and achy. hmmmm.... better have some tea.

Everything is better with tea.

Note: I'll post the more artistic-photos another time. ;)

Posted by danielle at 03:09 PM | Comments (4)

My sister in Texas has been making pottery for a few years as a hobby.

Recently, she sent us three new pieces.

I was overwhelmed by how much her talent has developed and the beauty of her creations.

The fine detail of the carving and the glaze colors are so gorgeous in person; I'm afraid that the pictures really don't do the pieces justice. But here I am, posting them anyway, because I am so proud of her.

The New Pieces

The pitcher has two carved stripes where unglazed clay is exposed on the edges with an almost-metallic blue stripe of glaze between.

I call this next piece the beehive. What impressed me most about this piece is the progressive space between the carved stripes. Also, I checked with her and she did tell me that she only gets one chance to carve the piece (i.e. no mistakes allowed).

The final piece has the glaze colors of her eyes, which are inherited from my Dad, and are similar to HB's. So, it reminds me of all of them.

The Older Pieces

Knowing how fond HB and I are of tea, she made us a teapot.

What a seestor. grin

Yes, you can see my reflection in the teapot. How fitting is that?

One of my favorite parts of the teapot is the way the lid feels when I hold it. It has to do with the smooth, almost wet feel of the glazed side, the way the knob fits between my fingers so perfectly, and the weight of the clay. Here is a pic of me holding it a different, less satisfactory way, just to show off the size and shape.

At one point, she was trying out different glazes and made test plates.

I love all of the following pieces too. They have become permanent fixtures in our decorating scheme. Note that she has told me that the clay and glazes are safe for using the bowls for food. But at this point, I just can't bring myself to use them as everyday dinnerware. They are too special. She has told me that if we broke them, she'd make us other pieces... but still. Not yet. Maybe someday.

Three cheers for Texas Sister
Hip-hip, hooray!
Hip-hip, hooray!
Hip-hip, HOORAY!

Final note: All pictures are taken with a Sony Cyber-shot with natural lighting from our living room window. Yes, unfortunately, I haven't yet figured out how to minimize the reflections in the glazes, but at times, the reflections are interesting too.

Posted by danielle at 12:22 PM | Comments (1)

I woke up with this phrase stuck in my head

And I
don't wanna be a flame,
I wanna be a raging fire

It is a line from the song by Ginny Owens, I Wanna Be Moved (2nd track on the Without Condition album).

I am currently infatuated with Ginny Owens, after a friend loaned me a couple of her albums last Sunday.

I am definitely putting these on my birthday wish list. She reminds me most of Dar Williams, but if that name doesn't ring a bell, I guess she has a style that reminds me of Sarah McLachlin and maybe a less angry version of Alanis Morissette. I've seen her compared to Tori Amos, but I don't know Tori Amos's work well enough to comment on that.

I also keep listening to track 7 - I Am Nothing - which has the following line:

If I do not love, I am nothing

And track 8 - Springs of Life

Rain down Your love upon me
Pour out Your mercy on me
Please won't You take me to Your springs of life

Posted by danielle at 11:15 AM

It is now officially story time, ladies and gents! (complete with semi-cheesy photos to recreate the events)

.......

A couple of years ago, one winter night, my hubby (HB) was out of town.

When I became tired, instead of going back to our cold, lonely bed, I turned off the living room light, took off my glasses and laid down to sleep on the couch.

After a while, I started having dreams with strange squeaking noises, but being tired, I just ignored them, rolled over and went into a state of uneasy sleep.

Soon, the strange squeaking noises were accompanied by loud thumps. These were the types of thumps I usually associated with the pouncing of our 20 pound cat when she plays with her toys.

I squinted my eyes open and, sure enough, saw our cat pouncing on the floor and thought to myself, "Oh good, she made herself a squeaky toy." Because, you see, she HAS NO squeaky toys, so she obviously made herself one.

"er? what?" you might be wondering.

Well, yes, that is what I thought too, about 20 seconds later; the fact that she couldn't possibly have constructed a squeaky toy for herself permeated my sleep-befuddled brain, and I awoke with a start.

I open my eyes and stare through the semi-darkness afforded by the lights from our entertainment center. Sure enough she is pouncing with her legs all stiff and her back arched, and when she pounces, there is squeaking.

I grab my glasses.

She freezes, when she realizes I'm awake, and jumps back, probably thinking that she is in trouble. And I see the shadow of a small brown object run across the floor away from her and to the left.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH! A mouse!"

I'm embarrassed to say that my immediate reaction was to jump up on our couch, just like some stupid, stereotypical woman afraid of a mouse.

"Okay. okay. okay," I pant. "Where did it go? Where did it go Girlie-girl?" I ask her.
And Girlie-girl just looks at me like I'm speaking a foreign language.

I flip the light on. (Fortunately, I can reach it without getting down from the couch.)

"Okay. Okay. We can do this. Where did it go? Come on, show me where it went."
And she just continues to stare at me.

After a few more moments of her staring at me like I'm nuts, and me trying to lean down off of the couch to see if I can tell where the mouse went, I decide that I'm going to have to get down off of the couch and look.

CRAP.

With my adrenaline at an all time high and my heart pounding, I get down on my hands and knees to look at the wall, toward which I last saw the mouse running. I realize that our hot water baseboard heater affords a perfect, dark hidey area for mice. yuck! I almost don't want to look, but steel myself to look....

... and don't see it.

Crap.

But she is still staring pretty intently at the heater. So, I ask her "Is the mouse in there? Come on, where's the mouse? Get the mouse."

Then I think "oh crap, what if it is inside the metal somehow. I wonder if I can even open it up to see."

And I go to the end where there is this loose piece of metal and as I'm trying to flip it up the whole dang thing falls off and there is the mouse, perched on this hot water pipe staring up at me.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAP!"

And I jump back up on the couch, and furiously point and tell our cat to GET IT! GET IT!

And again, she stares at me like I'm nuts.

And the mouse stares at me.

CRAP!

"WHY ISN'T HB HERE!?"

What the heck am I going to do? I can't just leave it there!... She clearly isn't going to get it... We don't have any traps in the house and I'm NOT leaving long enough to go out and get one and take the chance that it will get away.

Maybe I can catch it.... It is just kind of sitting there, after all.

Mice bite. I might not be afraid of all small furry animals, but mice, well they have a history of biting. So, If I'm going to catch it I need a long spoon or something and a bucket or something to scoop it into.

So, I run into the kitchen, and grab a big cup and a spoon. I run back, and our girlie-girl is still guarding the mouse (like a good girl.)

Then I steel my nerves, and think "okay, I've got to do it fast, before it realizes what I'm doing. Just like when you want to squish a bug, you do it fast.... OKay, I can do this."

And I reach with the spoon

and flip it into the cup in one shot!

"HA! Take that!"

"I caught the mouse!"

"oh. I caught the mouse."

"Now what the heck do I do with it?"

"You got any ideas?"

"crap. I can't just kill it. I can't even stand to squish bugs that crunch, there is no way I can kill a mouse. I know! I need an open field. Mice hate open fields. I'll just put it in the center of the cul-de-sac and maybe some nice hawk or owl will see it and have a little late-night snack. That's the ticket."

So, I put it in the center of the cul-de-sac and it ran off toward the weeds and trees.

And I never saw that mouse again.

Or at least, I don't think I saw that particular mouse again... but who knows? Maybe that was the same mouse that came back and bothered us later... or maybe a hawk or owl got to have a lil' snack. That's what I like to think happened.

The End

Final note: in order to do pictures that 'recreate' events, I used the Girlie-girl's toy mouse and took the pics during the day, instead of in the dim lighting of night. And this really did happen as described. I think the mouse was easier to catch, because Girlie-girl had weakened it with her pouncing... that and it wasn't expecting to be caught by a cup and a spoon.

Posted by danielle at 10:14 PM | Comments (7)

So, I'm sitting here on my couch on a holiday, attempting to be 'good' and do some work that I brought home for the weekend.

And everytime I go to get a drink of water or a sip of tea, I see this stack of books.

They taunt me.

"Danielle? Danielle? Just stop working for a little while and come read me. Come on, you can do it. Oooooooonly for a few minutes and then you can put me back down."

"yeah, right." I say. "I know your tricks. Just a few minutes and then I'm sucked in. And then I'll feel guilty at lunchtime when I still haven't gotten my work done. Be quiet."

"Oh, but you know you reeeeeeeeeeally want to read me right now" says the Jennifer Crusie book. "You've already read some of those other ones, in these stacks, but you
just
can't
wait
to reeeeeeeeeeeeead me. I know it!"

"yessssssssssss," I hiss at it. "But I am near the end of Crazy for You and that one comes first. So, jes shadup already."

"But don't I look cute with my blue cover and shoes with cherries on them?"

"Oh, but you don't know what is on the shelf below you, do you? Faking It has a much cooler lime-green cover and it was Hi-LAR-ious, so you have tough standards to live up to."

"Oh, well, in that case, I'll just leave you be."

"Thankyouverymuch"

Posted by danielle at 09:41 AM | Comments (3)

I woke up this morning with Long Time Gone running around my head. So when I got in my car, I put in the Dixie Chicks - Home for my soundtrack to my drive into Boston today. Yup, you heard me right. Alllllllllll the way in today. Not just my little happy drive to the train station.

Anyway, not to get side-tracked by an almost-tangent.

It is such a good album. Long Time Gone is now competing in my head with Travelin' Soldier, A Home, and I Believe in Love.

Cue the Casey Kasem voice:

"And now, a dedication going out to HB. Danielle wants to tell you congratulations on your job promotion, HB. Here's I Believe in Love by the Dixie Chicks."

Love that's real.
Love that's strong.
Love that lifts
on and on.
Yes, I Believe in Love.

We have an exciting year ahead of us.

Posted by danielle at 07:11 AM | Comments (3)

As part of our Christmas activities while family from out-of-town were visiting, we went to Newport, RI to see the Newport Mansions.

This was the second time I have visited the mansions during the Christmas season. Sometime, I hope to go in the spring/early summer when the flower gardens are in bloom. However, regardless of the seaon, I think that there is striking beauty in the architectural and design details.

These pictures are from The Breakers, Marble House, and The Elms. The only photography that is allowed inside the mansions are of the Christmas trees, so all but the last picture were taken outside.

I love the way the lamp design mimics the shape of the trees. There is also a carved vine wrapped around the post.

Has the nose been rubbed for good luck?

The gate to The Breakers.

Notice how Cornelius Vanderbilt II had his initials worked into the design at the top of the gate.

Here, I'll help you see the CV (with red outline).

This view stirs up images of carriages arriving for a fancy ball.

I think all homes should have gargoyles as part of the gutter system. They are much cooler than downspouts.

I love the detail in the stonework at The Breakers.

The sun was beginning to go down as I took this picture, and I love how the under side of the archway is golden from the setting sun.

This is the side of The Breakers that faces the ocean.

Marble House is also quite impressive and beautiful even in winter.

Beautiful stonework.

It was really getting dark by the time we reached The Elms, but doesn't the semi-darkness set off the Christmas lights and lamps?

This is a view of the poinsettia tree at The Breakers.

Posted by danielle at 01:05 PM | Comments (2)

I took a number of pictures over Christmas and I've decided to drop them into roughly 3 categories (pet photos, deocorations and home entertainment, and outings).

One of the moments I wanted to capture was from my church's Christmas Eve candlelight service. However, some of it simply cannot be captured in a picture. It is the experience of going to church so late at night, the coldness in the air and the feeling of anticipation walking from the parking lot to the church. It is the greeting of friends, and the joy of creating music. It is the beauty of the dimly lit church, and the hush of the service as the candlelight is passed during Silent Night.

Traditionally, my family looks for Christmas lights while driving to and from the Christmas Eve service. This year, I tried taking pictures of a few memorable homes. Some came out, but some didn't. Here are a few of the highlights.
The first is of our town square. I love when tree trunks are wrapped in Christmas lights. The year that we coverged on Texas for Christmas (Hi, Texas Sister!), I saw lots of trees with wrapped trunks (I think they were live oaks). It is less common to see wrapped trees in New England. But our town has caught onto the idea.

The other interesting thing, I think, about New England is this view that colored lights are tacky. One of the first years that we lived here, I remember reading an article in the newspaper about this view. Here is what I like to think of as classical, tasteful, New England Christmas decor.

The funny thing is that white lights can be a bit gaudy too, if you use enough of them.

Now, I'm not saying that this home is gaudy. I actually like the balls in the trees. I'm just saying that it is possible to go a bit overboard with the white lights too.

Then there is the Crazy Christmas House. Unfortunately, all of their lights and wooden lawn decorations were not lit up that night. So, a photo op was lost. :-(
However, the 2nd Crazy Christmas House was lit up. Yes, indeedy! Now, remember, we are talking about crazy for around here. Not crazy for the country's standards as a whole.

One thing I noticed about this picture is how the whole house looks like a face. If the star is a nose, then the lights on the eaves are the upper row of the mouth, and the lights under the window are the lower part of the mouth with the shutters as the sides of the mouth. Do ya see it? Except what then is the tree on the left? a big wart? hmmmm... I wonder if they meant for it to look like a face, or if it happened accidentally?
The second thing, and the thing that makes this place particularly funny, is that it is a two family home. I've put an arrow pointing to the 2nd doorway.

I know, it is hard to see the part of the house on the right, because they have no decorations. I always wonder if the family on the right thinks that there are enough on the other half, that they don't need any. Or are they secretly unhappy about the exuberant decorations by their neighbors? Or do they not celebrate Christmas? I don't think it is that they don't celebrate at all, though, because a couple of days later, I saw that they put a few lighted snowflakes in their window.

Our own home, was lacking in our usual lighted garland (white lights, of course) and bows. I just never seemed to get around to putting it up this year. Ah well, I like how our home during the early part of the snowstorm on the day after Christmas.

Did I mention home entertainment in my title? Well, I didn't know how else to classify my dipping of pretzels in white chocolate. Again, it is a bit of a family tradition to have certain foods at Christmas time. I tried to do most of them.

1. White chocolate dipped pretzels - check.

2. Chocolate marshmallow fudge - check. Made with ghirardelli double chocolate chips, of course.
3. Swedish spritz cookies - erm. not this year.
4. Pfeffernuesse cookies - erm. Sorry, no baking. But I made dirt pudding, does that count? no? oh, well, I'll try again next year.
5. Peanut butter blossoms - no. can I give up yet?
6. Decorated sugar cookies - no. but that one is really grandma and aunt M's thing. so, I can get away with not doing those, right?
7. Nuts and bolts - erm.... guess I'm not doing as well on our traditional foods this year, eh?
8. Blue cheese ball - YES! I did that one! and man, we are still eating it.
9. Cranberry-pineapple jello - YES! See, I can do traditional foods. This also proves that I have my roots in the midwest.
10. Ham - YES! and boy was it good. Kentucky smoked even. (HB made it, but I can still put it on my food list, right?)

I think I'll stop there. If I hadn't just eaten lunch, I think I'd be hungry again.
I hope you had some goodies too.

Is it wrong that my home entertainment consists of food? Well, people who know me, know how much enjoyment I get out of food. And those of you who didn't know that about me before, know it now, eh? Guess it is the German heritage showing again.

Posted by danielle at 01:50 PM

This morning, I woke up with Pour Some Sugar On Me running through my head. And I thought, "That's odd. I don't remember hearing it lately." You see, usually the stuck songs are ones I've heard recently.

So, I get in my car and my CD from last night comes on. (I was bad and left my stereo on when I turned my car off, don't scold me if you read this, Dad). And the end of a Jimmy Buffet song is playing... Margaritaville. Seems fitting for a friday!!! hmmm?

And lo' and behold! the very next song on my mix CD is Pour Some Sugar On Me. HA! I guess my brain was ready for the next song when I got up, even if I haven't heard that CD since sometime before Christmas.

mind like a sieve I tell you! oH wait, steel trap.

yeah... that's it.

;)

But now, I've got Information Society - Pure Energy running around.

I wanna know, what you're thinkin'.
There are some things you can't hide.
I wanna know, what you're feelin'.
Tell me what's on your mind.

Pure Energy.

The irony of that particular set of lyrics, does not escape me. Believe me. There are many levels to this one.
blogging... comments... HB and me...

I think I prefer Pure Energy to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Although PSSOM reminds me of my friend from my growing-up years. Another D. Hi D, if you are out there! She is the one who introduced me to Def Leppard.

Posted by danielle at 07:12 AM | Comments (2)

Over the next few posts, I'll be sharing a sampling of the pictures I've taken during the Christmas season.

My favorite hat this season was this Dr. Seuss-looking Santa hat.

When I wore it to a friend's Christmas party, the 'lil girl doggie at their home, who is quite friendly and happy-go-lucky felt the need to protect us from it. So, the hat sat in the corner for a while until she got adjusted to it. After a while, she investigated it.

However, all of the party activity really tuckered her out.

(isn't she adorable?) I get my doggie-fix by visiting her.

Then, there is our very own girlie at home.

I like this pic, in particular, because you can see her reflection a little bit in the window.

I felt guilty when I realized that we hadn't bought her a Christmas present this year. Each year I usually get her something.... but well, this year it kind of slipped my mind. When I mentioned this to HB, he said "Well, she can have all of the wrapping paper and boxes." This from the man who insists on picking up all of the paper as we unwrap. Well, I knew he wouldn't be able to stand leaving the paper out long enough for her to play with it, so I wondered if she'd really have anything all her own.

hmmmm.... On Christmas day, we had this great shirt box. And we set it on the floor. And I kid you not, I turned on the camera to take some pictures of my cool new socks (and pajama pants)

and what does she do, but run over and come lay in the box.

People ask me how I can get pictures of her... I think she secretly loves having her picture taken. Although in this instance, she probably really just wanted to lay in the box in peace and not have 2 separate people trying to take her picture.

She certainly knows what that little start-up sound means. Such a smart girlie. And so pretty too.

But of course, I'm kinda partial.

Posted by danielle at 09:08 PM | Comments (3)

I ran out of Tazo Tea - Awake - right before Christmas and have been drinking other teas in the meantime (more on that later, they deserve their own post).

Well, this morning, I was a bit less rushed than usual; I decided that when my train got into Boston, I'd stop and pick some up at Starrrrrbucks.

While there, I succumbed to the temptation that is a mocha.... oh..... mochaaaaaaaaah. Or as you'd say in starbucks-speak "GrandeNon-fatNo-whipMocha, please."

So, I sit here eating cheerios, from a freshly opened box no less, and drinking my mocha while typing happily away.... with the anticipation of drinking some Tazo Awake later.

Life is Good.

tangent
This menu seems suspiciously like the breakfast that I had while in elementary school... cheerios, hot chocolate.
hmmmm...
end tangent

Posted by danielle at 09:10 AM | Comments (1)

Because of a certain picture and comment thread I was reading before I went to bed last night, I awoke with this high pitched female voice singing "Everybody dance now!"
in my head.
Which sequed into "Jump totherhythm jumpjump totherhythm JUMP" and "Gonna make you sweat til yo bleed"

erg.

So, I invited Shakira on over to shimmy those dancin' 80's fools out of my head.

whew!

close call on that.

and here is a special line from "Whenever, Wherever" for a friend who introduced me to the joy of Shakira (you know who you are, D)
Lucky that my lips not only mumble, they spill kisses like a fountain.
Lucky that my breasts are small and humble, so you don't confuse them
with mountains.

grin

Posted by danielle at 08:57 AM

I'm feeling chatty today now that I took a nap and am done being depressed. I probably won't feel this chatty once the work-week is underway, so I'm taking advantage of my energy now.

As long as I can remember, I've had music running through my head. In all moments when I'm not actively talking/listening/learning I hear songs in my head. Even now, while I'm writing I have snippets of a song in my head. When I've mentioned this phenomenon to people in choir, everyone tells me it is what happens to them too. And I have always assumed that most people have music running through their heads, because of the phrase "I've had that song stuck in my head all day!"

But since it isn't exactly the sort of thing people talk about much, I don't really know.
Do you hear music all of the time?

But a funny and semi-scary thing happened in December when I began planning my weblog;
the
music
went
away.

poof!

Phrases and paragraphs took the place of the music. Ideas for pictures. The phrases that could accompany the pictures. Stories that may or may not be funny. or interesting. or on and on and on. words. words. words. I had to really concentrate if I wanted to hear music in my head and not words. But it wasn't the same, because the minute I stopped concentrating, the words would come back.

tangent alert
I read a book once where the main character was a writer, and the character talked about how she always had stories running through her head. When I read it, I wondered if that is what happens for most writers... that stories and phrases run through their heads instead of music.
end of tangent

I wondered if once I got my blog up and running that the music would come back.

All of yesterday I was waiting... waiting... nope. still words and phrases.

This morning though, voila! The music came back! And with a vengeance, lemme tell you. Usually, I have one song in my head when I wake up... then I hear some other song on my drive to the train station and that song becomes the one on endless repeat in my head... then sometimes I hear something else that is strong enough to bump it out... etc. and etc.
You get the idea.

Well, this morning I had 4 albums of Corrs songs running through my head. It was like they couldn't get themselves out fast enough!
Queen Of Hollywood ... Runaway ... Love to Love You ... Summer Sunshine ... Angel ... the instrumental pieces... and more and more and more...

Now, some of this was induced by the fact that I received 2 of their older albums as Christmas presents. And I've been trying to infuse them into my bloodstream lately by listening to them loudly and continuously every chance I get. But I haven't even listened to their 2 most recent albums lately, and pieces of those were popping in and out of my head too.

So, I'm thrilled that the music is back. And it is fitting that it is the Corrs. I love their music.

From left to right:
Forgiven, Not Forgotten
Talk On Corners
In Blue
Borrowed Heaven

Note: You are most likely to recognize Breathless from In Blue (track 1).

Posted by danielle at 04:33 PM | Comments (2)

I happened to think that for anyone stopping by the site who doesn't know a bit of background, there might be a point of confusion.

You may be wondering how I can have an Introduction on Dec 31st but also have a handful of posts about cycling that are dated Sept-November.

Well, back in September when HB (aka Honey-bunny or Hubby) and I started our cycling adventures, I began sending long emails with many large picture attachments to a handful of family and friends. This continued through October and into November.

When December came around, I started tentatively planning a weblog (many thanks to the host/technical person who made all of this happen and to Sheryl/Sherly for encouragement). When some of the technical details got worked out, I decided to go ahead and transform my email stories into posts and put the original dates on them.

Then I did the official introduction.

Clear now?

"sure, Danielle, clear as mud"

okeydokee, that's good enough for me.

grin

Posted by danielle at 04:09 PM

At first, I thought that I wouldn't bring up the topic of the tsunami on my blog. You see, I had visions of my blog as a place of fun and cheerfulness. But I also have visions of my blog as a place where I am honest with myself and true to my feelings.

Once the church service started today, I let myself really begin to dwell on the magnitude of this disaster... and I began to envision what it would be like to lose my husband, or my parents, or friends... or what it would be like to not even know if they were okay or not... and I teared up. And I am getting teary and choked up currently as I write this and think about it more.

Part of the reason I ended up dwelling about this at church so much, is because our senior pastor was supposed to get the day off and our associate pastor was scheduled to lead the service and give the sermon. Well, you know the saying about the best laid plans, right? Our associate pastor ended up coming down with a 24 hour flu, so she couldn't give the sermon, as expected. That left our senior pastor with a few hours to select scripture readings and a sermon. He told us that since the tsunami had been on his mind so much this week, he decided to focus his sermon on it and share some of his reflections and thoughts.

One of the scripture readings really struck me.

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

The Lord Almighty is with us

(from Psalm 46, verses 1-3 and part of verse 7)

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Posted by danielle at 01:25 PM