The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

Joanne and I ran in the Halloween Fun Run. Regis took a ton of pictures from Tom's front yard...here are a few. Joanne and I ran this 5K in 39 minutes and 20 seconds. We walk a little run a little walk a little...and don't really care about time. The last time we ran together, we did it more than 45 minutes so our improvement is impressive, no? Tom and Betty host a little gathering on their front yard. Minnow is there to watch Emily, Tom makes a big pot of coffee, and everybody hoots and hollers and bangs on drums when we go past. Joanne...power woman according to her daughter! Cool! There we go! This was a great costume. Not sure how the people in the middle knew where to go. Rasta man, Tom. Dave and Doreen with the little Grimius boys, Weston and Miles. Emily...great shot! Our old friends, Jane and Dick, came for the weekend from Iowa. We did most of the things we do every time they come: we met at Patrick's for drinks and appetizers on Friday. We went d...

What a hoot of a day! More later. It's been a story-worthy week!

I rode my bike to work today. Streamers from my witch hat flying behind me, a purple broom and a fake raven in my bike basket, and my fuschia gloves. I saw several people reaching for cell phones. Maybe they were going to call the cops. The hospital x-ray department called me this afternoon and apologized profusely for their mistake. The radiologist had not read my comparison images until the letter had gone out and the appointments for follow-up had been made. I don't need any further images. I told her not to feel bad. If a guy has to experience a medical mistake, this is the right kind. So, off to get a haircut and meet Peter for dinner.

I made the decision to go to work a little later in the morning which for the most part, has worked out fine except that I continue to wake up at 4 most days, spend a half day before I even go to work, and come home when I'm tired and a little cranky from the long day. Damn. Here I am at 4 a.m. Do I start DOING something like the day is beginning or do I hover between sleep and wake for a while? I woke up thinking about my Halloween costume. In the middle of the night I asked Regis his opinion about which skirt and which tights. Such a dilemma. My friend, Jill, gave me a subscription to Bookmarks as a retirement gift. It comes bi-monthly and has a ton of reviews of all different kinds of books. I had been through it several times and yellow-tagged quite a few I thought I might want to read. Yesterday I checked some more on-line reviews and ordered some books...some kindle versions and some paperback versions. This is one I am most interested in reading. Corvus: A Life with...

This is what I wore to work today as it was River Rock Colors Day. Tomorrow is Witch Day, which I reported as Pirate Day. Ah, well. An old gal must be excused for getting things mixed up, right Mom? My neighbor dogs are barking so much (all day and incessantly) that I am invoking the Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House Billy Collins rule. Holy crap.

We like to squeeze every possible grilling date out of the season. I know lots of people grill all winter with gas but we use charcoal and it gets hard to keep the temperature up enough when the temperature gets down below 50 degrees. So, here we are in the dark, with the charcoal glowing red. It looks like the blaster on a rocket ship. Big steaks were worth standing in the cold and dark. We got a split side of beef from Mike last week so these are delicious and not from some factory farm which gives me the creeps. We get out chickens from Mary and from Mike. If I could only find a local source for tuna. I chase the dark away with lights. Halloween spider lights, hula girls (thanks to Bob and Betty!) and turkeys at Thanksgiving, lots and lots of lights in the month of December. I have been known to wrap myself in lights.  I don't believe I published this photo before but it's from last year. Apparently I felt the need to go incognito in my own home. You never know when y...

Saturday, I got a letter from the clinic about my recent mammogram. It seems there were some irregularities that require more imagine. Hmmm. I didn't really panic about this until yesterday when I called and the receptionist/appointment person told me that the letter (not one I saw) said that I need "spot compression" and possible ultrasound. WTF. She asked if I had an ultrasound anywhere prior to this. I don't think so WTF. This is a nasty process. Of course, in my usual calm fashion, I wig out and spend a horrible day weeping and carrying on and sending emails to friends. (I didn't tell any kids....don't be offended. Who wants to talk about this to their kids?) It was awful. It involved a lot of wine. A lot of wine. Today, I am better. I have heard from many people who have been through the same thing but didn't talk about it. Holy shit, people. I would feel better if I knew that 8 out of 10 friends had been through this before, and lived to tell abo...

We had a wonderful weekend. Lots of cooking on the grill, lots of squandering time being lazy, and a busy Sunday getting things done. I had tubs of stuff belonging to Tiffany and Peter in the basement, some of it worth keeping (dolls and action figures and first clothes) but much of it was stuff that could be thrown away. Did I really need to keep that deflated balloon that I got when I was in the hospital when Peter was born? It's been consolidated to one tub per kid to keep, a box to go to the thrift store, and a box of junk. They aren't sentimental at this point in their lives but I hope some day those things will be important to them. Tiffany has a few beautiful dolls, because I loved dolls, but she was kind of uninterested in them. One she thought was creepy and asked for it to be re-boxed and put in the closet. I started going through stuff in what used to be my office. I cleaned out about a dozen binders full of writing stuff (this made me a little sad) and boxed u...

I read Jill's comment. That is exactly why I didn't run. I would hate to qualify for Boston and have to travel out there. Loud groan....

So, yesterday I went to pick up my race packet and the whole experience was so daunting and unpleasant that I decided to forego this experience. I decided that going down the road at 7:30 a.m. with 4,000 other people was not my idea of a good time. Here I sit. Drinking coffee. Contemplating a shopping trip. Thinking about breakfast. Ah, life is good.

I registered for the 10K at the Mankato Marathon. What was I thinking? Last year, I ran, using the term loosely, the Half Marathon which is 13 miles. I bolted out of the gate from excitement then crashed about 3 miles into it and walked the rest of the way, munching a peanut butter sandwich, waving at people and petting dogs. I crossed the finish line after 13 miles about the same time as the marathoners who had run 26 miles. In fact, some of them passed me. Regis dropped me off and picked me up so he simplified the process for me. The whole process was oppressive but exhilarating. It gave me stories for months. So, I guess I signed up again but decided to run the 10k instead. That's only six miles and I figure with my run/walk combo it will not be too hard. What I dread is the getting there. 3500 people are registered so traffic and parking will be a major nightmare. Blah. Next weekend is the Halloween Fun Run in St. Peter. 3 miles in a Halloween costume. That can be fu...

I was walking back into the house after exercising this morning when I spotted this in my garden. It's an impatiens and it's growing in an area that has seen major disruption this summer with a patio expansion, then hosta and perennial planting, let alone the fact that I didn't plant any impatiens this summer. Where did this little thing come from? Quite a survivor, I'd say. What a nice surprise in the late fall garden. I also found this lovely plant that I don't believe has ever bloomed before and used to be in a different place. I think it's a variety of joe pye weed, but I can't be sure. Regis is really into zombies this year. He wrote a story for a writing challenge they had on our favorite morning radio show . This is the show for which we will be the programmers for a day the 2nd of November. Put that on your calendars! I don't really understand a fascination with zombies as I have never read about them and have never seen a movie with a zoomb...

I got home from work on Friday about 4. Regis and I wandered down to the bar about 5 and had a drink and a bite to eat. We were home by 8:00 after visiting with lots of people, hearing the news about the Oktoberfest, and seeing the Govies parade off down the alley. That was the last time we left the house all weekend except for a brief trip by bicycle to the bank on Saturday morning. We're ready for a new week. We got some piddly chores done that we have been putting off for a few weeks and we had a day of complete decadence. It was a good weekend. There are a few things we need to get done before winter. Organize the garage a little bit for one. You couldn't get a snowblower out of there for anything at this point. We tend to just drop things as we go in the door. Never a good policy but it's the way we are. I've been working more hours than I want to work at River Rock. Every week, I think I have a handle on it and turns out, I don't. My exercise has suffere...

Regis and I roasted and froze more than 300 Hungarian hot wax, cayenne, and jalapeno peppers this morning. We have learned to love hot peppers and eat them in almost everything, even our omelets. We got them from Adam and Lupita at Living Land Farm. Here they are in their raw state: And here they are after being roasted in the oven. We froze them in small vacuum sealed bags so we should have a good supply for the long winter. They're so colorful and so rich in flavor. Aren't they beautiful? Regis got a new camera a week or so ago. He sold his old camera on eBay (with a great made-up story) and had some cash from a few projects so it didn't really cost him much. It's an upgrade from the other camera so we're having fun with it. He loves to take pictures and I love to dress up in costumes. We're a great pair. So, here's what we did yesterday. I tried on all configurations of my costumes and Regis took pictures of me. As I looked them over later it occur...