iSniff

I love the title of this one: "Its all cool until you get to the sauerkraut track."


nataliedee.com

Dream Spam

According to the hubbie, I was talking in my sleep and giving out my email address Sunday morning. I wonder what kind of spam I'll get from the dream world? Maybe something like...

"Please your mate by taking herbal pillow enhancements! Make her snore with pleasure."

"Win money in your sleep at REM Casino!"

"Your SleepPal account has changed! Update now!"

"I am a solicitor from Pillowshameria and am officially contacting you regarding inherited funds."

"The perfect sleeping aid - Sleepytime Audio Books presents 'Bedtime Stories read by Ben Stein.' Pop in the earbuds and with Bens' perfect monotone drone, you'll be snoozing in microseconds. Sleep away as Ben reads the snoozin' classics such as 'Knitting for Dummies', '1980 North Dakota Census Results' and our favorite, 'The Grandfather Clock Maintenance Manual.' See? It even works on Ben himself!"

Brandi Carlile - The Story

I'm going to take a page out of the book of Logo and post the lyrics to this song...

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you

I climbed across the mountain tops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby I broke them all for you
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
Yeah you do and I was made for you

You see the smile that's on my mouth
Is hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
No, they don't know who I really am
And they don't know what I've been through but you do
And I was made for you...

Small Pleasures

I brought the truck into town the other day for a new set of tires. The mechanic said it would take an hour so I decided to while away the time at the library across the street. I often visit our little library to check out audio books but have never taken the time to sit and read in its quietness.

I wandered around the aisles of books and stopped at the poetry section. As I rifled through a few books, I saw some still have the small manilla pockets with signature check-out cards tucked inside. I imagined parents having to explain these to their post bar code era children and maybe even recognizing names of their friends and neighbors on the cards.

I found myself reading one, then two, then three of the poems in one particular book. I checked it out with my bar coded library card on my key chain and went to the periodicals room finding a comfy chair to read away my hour. What a pleasant luxury this was. I decided that wherever I retire, it must have a nice library nearby.

I keep thinking when I retire I will have all this empty time to fill up so I've started constructing a mental list. It includes things like frequent visits to a coffee shop where I actually sit inside and drink the coffee or tea while reading a newspaper, morning swims in the lake during the summer, tending a vegetable garden, and volunteering for some non-profit arts organization. Now I'm adding un-hurried visits to the library.

The book I had found to read was "Nine Horses" by Billy Collins. It is unusual that I enjoy and understand, without great analyzing, every poem in a book. Many of the poems were about those three second thoughts that pop into our heads attempting to distract our focus. He paints his words without rhyme or meter but rather with wit, humor and unique observation. I decided Mr. Collins is now on my list of favorite poets.

The hour in the library went by too quickly and I packed up my book and walked across the street to gather the newly tired pickup. Only twenty more years until retirement. That's a long time to wait. Maybe I need to make time for these small pleasures now.

Note: How short my memory is because I realized that I had already discovered Billy Collins via animated poems discovered in YouTube. In July I posted one called "Budapest" and in May I had posted one titled "Forgetfulness." The later is befitting don't you think?

Saturday Afternoon Road Trip

It was unusually warm on Saturday so a friend and I decided to go for a cruise along the Mississippi in the afternoon. We drove along the river for a ways and then wandered the hills and valleys of western Wisconsin.

The mode of transportation...


The Mississippi River. The "scooped" bluffs are the opening of Lake Pepin - a large lake-like part of the Mississippi. I never quite understood how there can be a lake in a river but with a bit of Googling, it is explained here.


We left the river at the town of Pepin. We followed a garage sale sign and stopped to find some home canned goodies. I bought a pint of corn relish and a quart of raspberry sauce which I think is too pretty to eat. We decided to not go back to the highway. The road kept getting narrower and narrower. It stopped when there was a blue gate at the end of the road. No dead end signs or anything. Discovered later it was a state wildlife area. Here's the road.


When we got back on to the main road, we spotted a unique barn off in the distance. Hard to see from this photo - it's in the hills above my hand.


We were in awe of this place. Talked to a woman mowing the grass. It was originally an Amish homestead. The barn has been in many calendars and magazines. It's a beautiful, secluded location with 400 acres. If I win the lottery...












Hillside south of barn...


The house...


One of the many tarpapered outbuildings...


On the road again...




End of the day...