Labor Day Goodness

MiniWarrior and I went RV camping this weekend with some friends of ours in Warm Springs, Oregon.

So. So. Beautiful!

In the camp store I read a flyer that said, "We get 300 days of sunshine".

To us rain soaked Washingtonians--that's our version of Heaven!!

Saturday our friends rented a pontoon boat and we cruised the lake. All around us were towering layered rock cliffs dotted with dark green pine trees and light green sage brush.

I lay back on the pontoon bench and watched bald eagles swoop from the cliffs and soar above me. It was like being in another world.

At night we sat around the campfire pit telling stories underneath the canopy of stars.

I'm not a real lover of camping--but it was hard not to be seduced into the camping world when immersed in such beauty.

I must admit, it was really nice to come home to space and carpet and hot showers and Lord V who stayed behind to watch the animals.

I missed him and the warm and loving life we have created in our home :)

A Visitor

More pics at http://akatseyeview.blogspot.com



YAY!!!!

Oh, SNAP!

I walked up to the array of work elevators this morning and a man beat me to the UP button.

"Good job!" I said, giving him the thumbs up and a cheeky grin.

"I read your mind!" He said with an answering grin.

"Not hard to do on a Monday morning" I said with a sigh and pointed to my head. "There's not much up there yet!"

"That's not what they say on the bathroom wall!" The man quipped back.

I burst out laughing.

"Damn that Mr Clean and his magic eraser, that was supposed to be gone!"

He belly laughed as I stepped out onto my floor.

I made a pistol with my hand and aimed it at him.

"That was a good one!" I said, firing my finger trigger. "Pow, you got me!"

I could hear him laugh as the doors closed and the elevator whisked him away.

What then is this fleeting thing we call life?

What then is this fleeting thing we call life?
We laugh. We cry. We fight. We sigh. We wish. We dream.
So many tumultuous emotions-so many.
For what?
What is the point of all of this? We are such fragile sacks of skin.
Time moves so swiftly, blurring everything around me.
I try and embrace each precious moment. In quiet times when surrounded by my little family, when I am most content-I close my eyes and breathe in the moment. I freeze the memory of the moment in my mind. A photograph I pull out in emptier times and stroke a finger along and smile a rueful smile for I know. I know time is fleeting.
Nothing lasts forever-or even for a lengthy time. It is here, and then it is not.
What is the point of all of this? Is there anything more? If there is not-then why the struggle? What is the reason for this bastardly struggle we call life?
I am now of the age where people are picked off, one by one. They are here and then they are not.
I miss them. I feel their loss deep inside me like a hollowed out crater.
I understand religion and the deep need to believe there is something more than this short existence and then--? But I cannot find escape in its hallowed walls. It is not the haven of peace for me.
I’m trying to wrap my mind around this fleeting thing called life and am fully, deeply, exhaustively aware that as I struggle to comprehend—time is continually moving forward, running over everything in its path.
I feel …powerless.
And yet, each morning I rise, dress, pack my work bag, close the door to my home tucking my little family away—and drive into the day.
Another checkmark on my timecard. I am here. I am present. I am…
I am wishing I could magically gather all whom I love and have loved and surround myself with them. I want to hold them close and freeze time. To stop the bullet train of time.
I cannot.
Sigh.
I cannot. So I will continue onward against the tide of time and do this thing called life.

Time Keeps on Slippin'...

Time moves so swiftly at times I feel I blink and a month has passed.

It's all so subjective.

When all things are wonderful we wish to freeze time to keep it from moving.

When things are bad, we wish for it to grow wings and fly...fly like the wind.

Nothing we wish for stops the endless time drip.

Nothing.

Embrace what you have now before the next blink.

Daily *Snort* & Other News...

Other News:

Tomorrow is my birthday. Ughiddy Ugh Ugh.

I be old I tells you. Old.

but my life? *sigh* My life be wonderful :)

A Day on the Water

Lord V and I spent the day on our boat.

Gabby~Abby wanted to go and was quite disgruntled when I removed her from the travel cart :)




We zoomed down the Columbia River towards Portland and turned into a quiet area that was lined with quaint house boats.




We dropped anchor and lay on our boat like docked seals sipping chill beer and reading our books in the warm summer sunshine.



A very. Very. Enjoyable day.

Sunshine Goodness!!

I have spent 3 glorious sunny days in my back yard, sprawled on a chaise lounge chair, sipping ice tea and peering over the pages of a trashy romance book at the boats zipping by on the river.

*deep sigh*

Gawd. I love Summer!

Savannah's Forgiveness

Savannah *my truck* has forgiven me.

Fortunately the cost of her tantrum was not monetary as her broken electronic fuel pump was still covered under warranty! It even covered the tow :)

sa-weet!

So now? Now I'm careful to avert my eyes when a Mini Cooper slides into my view. I talk sweetly to Savannah and curl my lip into a (hopefully) believable sneer so she won't get jealous and leave me stuck on the side of the road in a tizzy.

good truck.*stroke stroke stroke* goooood truck.

No Baby Bunny...

The baby bunny was gone this morning. I'm hoping it went back to hang with its Mom in a cozy little briar den.

So I have news. My truck. My lovely sweet truck which I have named Savannah--you know I had to name it--is in the truck hospital.

On my way home from work yesterday, on the last leg of my homeward bound journey, on the ramp...she just...quit.

I stared at Savannah in disbelief.

But. You are only 4 years old! You are too young to die! I admonished her giving her a frustrated smack on her steering wheel.

I talked sternly to her and then turned the key. She sputtered then quit.

*blink*

key turn. Sputter. Quit.

*sigh*

I called Lord V and he came and rescued me, pushing Savannah up the rest of the way of the ramp and then it was all down hill to our house.

A bit hairy drive as my steering was stiff and my brakes were bricks but I made it by nursing my emergency brake and putting some oomph into the steering wheel.

This afternoon I left work early and called up tow truck driver who came and hoisted Savannah onto the back of his truck.

"You know" I said to the tow truck man, "I know why my truck quit".

"Yeah? Fuel pump issue?"

"Nope" I reached over and patted Savannah, "my truck is mad at me".

He gave me the hunted look of a man facing a crazy woman with no weapon in sight.

"It's um...mad?"

"Yep. You see" I said stroking Savannah's hood, "I've been squealing over the cuteness of Mini Coopers lately, tossing the idea around in my head about getting one when my truck gets old. Made my truck jealous. Hurt her feelings, I did."

I shook my head remorsefully. "I'm sorry, girl" I whispered.

"Well, let's see if she'll start up for me." Tow Truck Driver said, climbing into Savannah's driver seat.

Key turn...sputter. Quit.

"Nope. Trucks still mad at you!" He said with a grin and strapped a pull chain on the front of Savannah and began reeling her in. "I thought maybe 'cuz you apologized and talked nicely to her she might forgive you and start up again!"

We shook our heads in co-misery as we watched Savannah being pulled onto the truck bed.

"Just between you and me" Tow Truck Driver whispered leaning close to me, "You don't wanna Mini Cooper. I tow a lot of them."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah. Stick with your truck." He said with a wink, patting the front wheel of Savannah and climbing into his truck.

*sigh* So, I'm guessing sometime tomorrow I'm going to find out how much Savannah's temper tantrum is gonna cost me.

*tsk* Trucks. They are so temperamental!

Tiny Visitor.MOV

Tiny Evening Visitor

There was a tiny baby bunny outside our front door last night. It sat huddled on the drive, hunched in a tiny ball. There was no sign of its Momma.



I brought it some lettuce leaves and it ran towards me and hid underneath my legs. It was scared and I think because I brought it food it thought of me as its safe haven.



I sat for the longest time filming it with my iphone. It romped around the grass and drive, darting back and forth from the lettuce back to the grass.



I grew tired and climbed back to my feet to go back in the house. It immediately stopped its play and ran after me. It came and stood on my foot--its tiny feet soft and cold on my sandled foot and let me gently stroke it.

I did not want to take it inside as I didn't know if its mother was out hunting for food and would be coming back for her baby. I tried not to think of its mother being dead and the baby being orphaned. I do not know how to care for a tiny bunny. After work today I shall see if it is still in front of our house and then decide what needs to be done after that.

babybunny.MOV

A Baby bunny was outside our front door last night.

Minnesota Adventures

Our Minnesota vacation with my brother and his family was wonderful.

MiniWarrior and I had a terrific time :) only now he wants to move to Minnesota so he can be close to his cousins!

Uh yeah...not gonna happen.

I tried to explain to him how Minnesota is mostly a snow place. He didn't care. I'd take him back at Christmas time...and let him experience the temperatures that are so cold they freeze the hairs in ones lungs...but I don't ever wanna go back to that so he's gonna just have to take Mom's word on it.

*Z snaps*

(not so mini) Warrior got to drive my brothers boat:




and MiniWarrior caught his first fish! See?



Fish investigating my underwater camera before being snagged by MiniWarriors hook:



The hotel idea was a good one--although MiniWarrior didn't seem to need any de-stress time. We kidnapped my niece who is 3 months younger than MiniWarrior and dragged her back to stay with us in our hotel. Actually--I think she kidnapped us as she and MiniWarrior were inseparable during the entire week!

I really enjoyed my time with family and my one on one time with MiniWarrior. He is growing up so quickly and all too soon will be a man with a family of his own.

*sigh*

Summer Vacation Has Begun!

MiniWarrior has completed 6th grade--with honors!

We attended an award ceremony for select kids and we were beaming proud when MiniWarrior was called up for an award in Language/Literature :)

This is a huge triumph for him as, if you understand Autism, one of the major deficits Autistics have is in language interpretation.

Did I mention how proud I am of him? :)

Tuesday, he and I are flying to Minnesota to visit my brother and his family. MiniWarrior is very excited to be flying again and to see his favorite cousins. This too is a triumph. Up until this past year it was not possible to take him on an extended vacation (away from his home comforts) without a great deal of stress.

I am still taking precautions in that I am renting a car and staying in a hotel with him so that if he should become overwhelmed and need complete defrag-from-people time we can leave immediately and head back to the quiet of the hotel room.

*sigh* Our MiniWarrior is growing up, Peeps. And as he is now officially an inch taller than me now--not so "mini" anymore.




MiniWarrior and his favorite cat, Harry.

UGH!

Will this rain EVER end?!!

We have had 2 sunny days in an entire month, Peeps.

2.

I fear not even my Northwest webbed feet will save me from drowning!

Gabby Abby

cuz I know you've missed her ;)

FROGNABIT!

Before this Saturday, we have had rain 19 days in a row.

Saturday the Sun (finally) came out!

My little family and I spent as much time as we possibly could outside, drinking in the liquid sunshine.

I spent most of the day cleaning the fountain in our backyard terrace--which involved scooping a Winters worth of leaves and 3 billion tadpoles out of the green water.

I used a pool net to scoop the crud out of the water and emptied the net into a wheelbarrow.

MiniWarrior spied the billions of tadpoles in the wheelbarrow and rushed over to fill it with water so the tadpoles would not die.

Mommmmm you are suffocating them!

...

So yeah. Now? Now I have a clean fountain and a wheelbarrow full of a billion tadpoles resting by the side of the house...

The plague of Egypt will someday soon rain upon our heads...

Girls Night Out: Two Claws UP!

I met up with my favorite girlfriends Friday night for a girls night out.

We ate at California Pizza (I had a black bean, grilled chicken, spring roll appetizer for dinner...mm!!)

Then went and saw the new "Sex and the City 2" movie. From all I had read about the movie I wasn't expecting it to be good. Actually, I went into the movie expecting it to be horrible and was just looking forward to being with my girls.

Surprise, I loved it!

It is a total chick movie. I don't believe any man would "get" it. It was way over the top with ridiculous outfits and scenes...but the underbelly was real and raw and 100% who we are as women.

When a woman loves, she throws herself fully into that love. Be it the love of one's children, career, self, a man...a woman. We envelop ourselves in that love, living and breathing it as it brings us such joy.

But, in that envelopment sometimes we get lost. The very essence of who we are as an individual gets shoved into the broom closet of our lives. Most times we don't miss it. We are so busy we don't stop to know we miss it. But every once in awhile, in the naked space of a moment we feel the loss. A curious empty space that makes us pause and puzzle as to what it is we are missing.

This, the internal struggle of a woman, is what the "Sex and the City 2" movie captured so well. And I'll tell you. Sitting in the dark theater, squished in the middle of my girlfriends, belly laughing with them...I felt a vital piece of myself that I had forgotten come back.

I love my life. My family. My home. I am surrounded by love. But you know, sometimes? Sometimes it is that moment when you are laughing with your chicks and just being a "girl" that is... indescribably wonderful. Nothing compares to it.

Rose Festival Pics...

I headed to my hotel after work yesterday, dropped off my bag, strapped Chanda in her backpack along with extra lenses and headed back out to the Rose Festival.

I've put up some of the images I captured on my AKatseyeview site.

Grab a drink and come on over!