Being Invited to Dinner (Honorable Mention to Greg)

Clark Cousin's Reunion - August 2010

Don't you just love being invited to dinner?  I do!  I don't believe I have ever once turned down an invitation for dinner at someone else's house.  Anytime someone else is doing the cooking, I am so there.

When we lived in Arizona, it was very common in the winter time to attend several parties & potlucks over the winter months.  I wish I had taken more photos of those potlucks. C'est la vie. 

I'm afraid I haven't done very much entertaining since Gene and I have been together.  I used to do some big get togethers when I lived in Alaska (pre-Gene) but I think I kind of ruined it for myself by always over-doing it and having these great expectations about what my house should look like, and trying to be the "perfect" hostess.  It's hard to quiet those voices.  I realize I've been really stingy with my space and it's such a great place to have people over ~ I need to get over some of that old stuff.

 

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So, we're having company for dinner at our house on Wednesday night. It's a young couple that I have not met yet.  Gene ran into this woman when he was walking Missy and has struck up a friendship with her and I'm really excited about having her & her significant-other and her 8 year old over for dinner.  She knows how to cook Thai food and is bringing a dish and I think Gene is going to make his chicken curry fried rice. I'll make something for dessert.  And, it will be just fine.  I hope it's the start of a really nice, easy friendship. We've got all these games of Sequence sitting here collecting dust and I'll bet their 8 year old will be a great Sequence player.  But if not, it'll just be fun to meet some new people.

We keep intending to invite our neighbors that live right directly next to us over. They are sweet people. They moved here in September from Georgia or Arkansas, I can't quite remember. But I do  remember their names! John & Sherry.  They are vegetarians. And, they have 3 cute dogs.

I need to start a list of people I should invite over.  Greg & Tara come to mind! They have had us to their house so many times I'm embarrassed that I haven't made an effort to have them over to our place. They are wonderful hosts and both could cook professionally if they ever decided to give up their day jobs. There's real pressure when you invite good cooks for dinner, can I get an amen?

Bob & Dorothy would be on that list. I really want to see their photos from their Alaska trip last year. It's okay to have a motive for dinner invitations, yes?  I need to stop fooling around and just make a date and have them over before motorcycle riding picks up. All dinner invitations will be off the table then, pun intended.

Well, looks like I have the start of a nice list of dinners to plan. This might actually get me through the rest of this cold, biting-wind winter we are experiencing. 

By the way, the photo I posted here is from my Clark Cousin's Family Reunion - August 2010.  Now, that's one dinner invite I could never turn down.  When we get together, it's all about homemade food.

My cousins shucking corn.

I'm hungry ......


love, susan

Remembering Names

Sunday road trip to Moses Lake via Othello

Remembering names. I have a gift for it. I can't exactly  explain how I do it but I'll try. A long time ago, when I worked in the banking industry, the bank used to send us for one-day seminars with Career Tracks. They gave excellent  classes on customer service and other business related topics. Somewhere along the line I picked up this trick that when I meet someone for the first time, I try to say their name at least 3 times during a conversation.  Then I try to find some characteristic about them that will help me connect and remember their name.

For example, recently I ran into this guy that I've met before but I couldn't remember his name and it was really bugging me. So I went up and talked to him and told him I was having a hard time remembering his name and he said, "oh, don't worry about it, everyone gets it wrong".  I told him that I pride myself in remembering names and that I really wanted to get it right.  So, he says, "it's just like "Peter" in the bible except the Spanish version.  Pedro".  Okay.  So this is how it works.  I quickly say to myself, okay this guy is Mexican -- Mexicans are Catholics (89% according to Wikipedia), Catholics read the bible, Peter has the same first initial as Pedro.  Pedro!!  His name is Pedro!  Not Jesus or Jose or Diego or Adrian.  It's Pedro. From that day on ... I will not forget his name.   By the way, Pedro remembered my name.  I am impressed by that.

You can use other things like "Blue Eyed Kevin", "Stan the Man", or other tricks like writing the name down and placing it where you can see it. When I worked as a receptionist, sometimes I would have a mental block regarding someone's name. That's when I put a little post-it note on my computer monitor with their name and leave it there until I have it committed to memory. If I still can't remember a name, I close my eyes and go through the alphabet in my mind and 99% of the time if comes back to me. It's a weird gift.

See, the thing is I have seen how it makes people feel when I remember their name. It gives me a thrill to see a warm smile wash over a new friend's face when they realize that I have remembered their name.  I know how I feel when someone remembers my name.  Does that happen to you?

I love people.  Since February is the love month ~ just thought you should know I love you, whatever your name is!  I know today is the last day of January but it's February somewhere, right?

love, susan

P.S.  I don't have the same gift for remembering places I've been. That's Gene's gift. That guy can remember every highway he's ever traveled.  How does he do that?

 

Morning Guilt

She looks hungry, don't you think?

I am up with the chickens every morning, even on weekends. I don't have any chickens but if I did, we'd be sharing sunrises together.  I realize I've already written about mornings in a previous post, Who's To Blame.  The thing is just the other night, I had every intention of trying  to switch my writing to evenings but I'm finding it very difficult. I wake up with stuff on my mind and it has to go somewhere. 

Most mornings I get up and turn on the coffee pot.  I let Missy out and fill her food dish and change her water. Sometimes she'll eat her food so fast that the next time I look at her dish, I start to question whether or not I have already fed her. She always has this look on her face like, "you forgot to feed me". I have major guilt issues about that. My dog is too fat and I worry I haven't fed her enough. I seriously need therapy.

Sometimes I toodle around until the coffee pot finishes, grab a cup and head to the computer or sometimes the light box. Lately, it's been the computer more times than not.  Now, I have a treadmill that I'm incorporating into my morning schedule, which is where I need to be right this moment. 

Here's my To-Do list for today:

Treadmill

Grocery Store

Cut Gene's hair

Go for a drive

Shoot some photos

Make something fabulous for a late lunch(maybe something for later too, see Green Jello)

Attend Kristina's birthday party tonight!

Gotta go! It's going to be a beautiful day!

love, susan

Love

I'm really glad January is almost over.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't like cold, gray days and we've had a lot of them this winter. Did you know there are actually people who like gray, rainy weather? I don't understand those people. 

 

Enough about January. I'm over it in 2 days.  This post is about February ~ the "love" month.  

I love Valentine's Day. I love hearts and chocolate. And, I love love.  So, I've been thinking about it for a couple of days while I'm walking away the miles on my treadmill, that I should write down some of the things I love and write about them in February.  This post is designed to just get me started thinking about those things. I jotted down a few ideas and we'll see where it goes from there. I took a creative writing class one time ... a very long time ago ... and was taught to place a circle in the middle of the page and write one word and then draw a line from that circle and just jot down everything that comes to mind from that one word. The instructor said do not judge it, just write it. That's an exercise that has helped me tremendously over the years when I journal.  Try it sometime!  I'd love to hear what you come up with!

So, with the word "love" in the middle of my circle, here's what I came up with, in no particular order.  Don't be surprised if you read about these things I love in February. I count 33 items. Good food for thoughts.

Gene, Missy, Sunshine, heart earrings, being invited for dinner, remember peoples' names, iRoomba, buttermilk & potato chips, Oregon coast, weekend drives, the things our grandkids say, blue sky, good friends, AC/DC, coffee, Gene's curry fried rice, sunshine (yeah, I wrote that twice), thrift stores, a good recipe, cast iron skillets, when green shoots come up in spring, unplanned road trips, when my friend Kathy from Juneau sends me books she has already read, receiving hand-written letters, writing letters, a good medium point blue pen, dogs, hearing my dad laugh, watcing Nancy cook, camping, good movies, surprise calls from Justin, and the beach.

 love, susan

The Challenger -- I Cried

The Challenger.


Wow. I can't believe it's been 25 years since this tragedy. There are a lot of things I have forgotten over the last 25 years but when this image came up on my screen this morning, I can remember exactly where I was and the awful feeling of watching the Challenger explode on TV.

I cried.

My little guy, Justin, was only 18 months old and we lived in a tiny apartment in Fairbanks, Alaska.  I drove a blue, 2-door, Cutlass Calais Oldsmobile and worked at the community mental health center.  I owned a  hot pink dress that I looked really hot in that wouldn't even go over my head now, if it still existed.   And, I cried.

Seeing this picture this morning is really weird and I'm totally fascinated with how memories are stored in our brains. How and why can I remember such details from so long ago connected to one picture, one event?  And, how is it my brain remembers the "feeling" of deep sadness when viewing this event on national television?

How can 25 years have gone already? I'm going to try not to cry .....

love, susan

Too Tired For Words

My good friend, Linda, who always encourages me!

Just got home from the community education photography class.  Learned some new tricks. And, I'm dog tired.


Can hardly wait for the weekend to get here so I can get out and shoot. 

Learned a really cool trick using a little post it note above the flash.

Ken Breshears ~ really great instructor and professional photographer.

Racked With Guilt & Endorphins

Poor "Missy". She looks at the treadmill and I'm certain all she sees is missed opportunities for long walks. There is not a dog alive that loves going for a walk more than she does. 

We got this new treadmill on January 7. I've been on it almost every day but today. I woke up with a screaming bad headache but feeling better late this afternoon so going to try getting some time on it before the day is over.

I signed on verbally for a challenge with a friend who lives in Oregon to "walk 1,000 miles in 2011". I got the calculator out and figured that's an average of 2.73 miles per day.  I can do that. But I've got some miles to make up for since I got a late start with this challenge. 

I'm an early riser (4:00 a.m.) but I must have a cup of java in me before I can even think about walking. Then there's this blogging habit I've gotten into which takes some time.  It takes 45 minutes for me to walk 3 miles so I'm going to have to juggle my schedule a bit since I also need some time in front of the light box if I'm going to hang on to my sanity.  So I was thinking the other night as I laid my head down, perhaps I should start blogging at night.  Let this post be the start of that!

Back to Missy.  Since we got this treadmill, I've noticed when I get on it and just get my stride going where the endorphins are kicking in, AC/DC is screaming their live version of "Thunderstruck" on my iPod, she'll stand at the top of the stairs at the door to be let out.  I am on to her.  She doesn't like the treadmill. She's such a high maintenance dog. It irritates me so much, I have taken to putting her in her kennel while I'm on the treadmill. It must be sheer torture for her as the kennel is in the basement not far from the treadmill.  I don't know what else to do and the guilt just racks me. Guilt that she's not getting walked during the cold winter mornings and guilt that she has to be in the kennel while I'm getting my walk in. 

Gene has assured me that Missy sleeps all day and he does take her for walks, weather permitting.  I was home pretty much sleeping all day today and she does sleep all day.  Still ... I feel guilty.  I promise her every day when I'm walking on that treadmill that the weather will get better soon and we'll all be going outdoors to walk. I don't think she cares about my empty promises.   

Walk More

Walk more. Today.
Eat better.
Drink water.

 

Nostalgia

Wow, another whirlwind weekend. You'd think I would have learned by now that I can make plans but not plan the results but I'm not quite there yet. I'm a work in progress.

I have this great bread recipe hanging up on my fridge that I'm dying to try but I never got 3 hours in a row at home to try it. Oh well.  Maybe next weekend. 

The only thing I really had planned for the weekend was the photo walk on Saturday morning and maybe the plunge. The weekend was all that and a bag of chips, for sure!

Every Monday morning, I go to work and the boss says, "hey, Susan, how was your weekend?".  I usually say the same old thing, "oh, it was fabulous".  I don't ever really go into what I did because I'm not really sure anybody cares that much but in my mind I try to think about my weekend and I can honestly say that we pack so much stuff (ususally fun stuff) into our weekends that I can't even remember it all.  So I try to just pick one thing that's my favorite and mention it.  This weekend I would be hard pressed to find only one favorite thing. Finding the bald eagle on Saturday was a huge deal for me. The motorcycle ride in the middle of winter in Tri-Cities was a first for me and it was totally refreshing. The car ride out to the park yesterday charted new territory for both of us.  We ended up at the top of a mountain (or mole hill, whichever you prefer) and got a grand view of the Boise Cascade paper mill at Wallula pictured here.

Gene used to work in paper mills so he's a little nostalgic about them and he always wants me to get pictures of any that we pass by.  I probably have enough of this particular paper mill but I know it won't be the last time I shoot it, if he's in the car. 

He also made a special stop to shoot the photo of the car at the beginning of this commentary.  I think it might be an old Packard.   Driving out in Finley really took me back to my folk's place in North Pole.  My dad was a collector of old cars.  There's a real charm to Finley that I think a lot of people miss.  Living out in the country has its freedoms and one of them is to use your land the way you want to.  I saw some roosters tied up in someone's yard with little houses for them to go into.  We suspect they might be fighting cocks but who knows? It's a little weird to have chickens tied up but who am I to judge?  I would have loved to have snapped a photo but I'm afraid we may have been shot at if we stopped.  People out in the country might not take kindly to strangers stopping and taking photos of their .... chickens.  When I lived in Alaska, I saw plenty of sled dogs tied up in the same fashion and thought nothing of it. 

So, another weekend has come and gone and I'm working towards the next one. This week will be fun because I signed up for a 2-night photography course through community schools and 3 of my friends will be there on Tuesday & Thursday night. I love having something to look forward to. One of my friends just got a new camera so I'm hoping this is the beginning of some future get togethers with our cameras in hand.

Time to switch gears and go be a secretary today. 

love, susan

Don't Get Your Feathers Ruffled

I know what it means to get your feathers ruffled but I've never actually seen real ruffled feathers until today. This goose stuck out like a sore thumb. He/she was friendly. Luckily, I had a few leftover peanuts in the shell in my pocket from yesterday so Gene had something to feed the geese and ducks today. 

We went for a ride out to Finley, Washington, to a park called Two Rivers.  There was only one other car there and they were there to play frisbee golf.  We stepped in a lot of goose crap as we walked across the park but it was really quiet and different than yesterday's experience.  

I love the color of these ducks, mallards I suppose.

They were very pushy and when the peanuts ran out, they didn't have the time of day for us.

I've never really looked at a ducks foot but Gene encouraged me to do a close up. Very leathery looking.  Kinda icky.

Another beautiful day in the 'hood!!

 

Scavenger Hunt - January 22, 2011

I don't know these people. They showed up today for the scavenger hunt. They love taking photos so much they put on their winter gear and dragged their equipment out to the park just like me.  This guy had the hugest lens I've ever seen. I didn't get a chance to ask his name but I'll bet he's got some freakin' nice photos from the walk today.  Here he is showing another club member how to change some settings.  That's the beauty of belonging to this club. There are about 350 members and lots of them are willing to share their love & knowledge of photography.

 This is what they use for the game "Frisbee Golf".  I had never heard of it until Justin was in college in Flagstaff.  The object is to throw the frisbee towards this contraption and have it land in it.  There were people playing today but by the time we got to the course, they were gone.

 I don't know these people either. I just thought it was cool they were out feeding the birds.  I swear, this town came alive today!  It was just awesome to see everyone outside enjoying the sunshine.   Even the geese look happy.

 Gene said, "Susan point your camera up to the sky ... GEESE flying", and I got one!!!  Ah, freedom!!!

What an awesome day.......

This was my favorite find today.  A young, bald eagle.  He was the first thing I saw as we left on our scavenger hunt. Of all the things on my list to find, this was something I was sure we'd never see today. And, there he was. I couldn't believe my eyes.  My little point & shoot did pretty well as this guy was way at the top of a very tall tree.  I am happy the picture turned out at all. 

I had the most fabulous day today.  After the scavenger hunt, we drove over to see the "Polar Plunge". It was too crowded and we had "Missy" with us so we didnt' stay long. I did snap a couple of pics of crazy people who were getting ready for the plunge.  This was my favorite character today. 

Just as we were heading home from the Polar Plunge, our friends Bob & Dorothy called and asked us to join them for a scoot over to Prosser by way of the backroads and Horse Heaven Hills. I rode with Gene & snapped this pic! Nearly froze my hands off but it was worth it. Wonder what tomorrow will be like?

love, susan