Assumptions

The first time I saw her walk by, the only thing I noticed about her was the bright red lipstick.



Steve and I were in the 30th St. Station in Philly waiting for the train going back to Lancaster. We were killing time, looking through magazines in the news stand.



She was only about 11 or 12 and very skinny as young girls that age can frequently be before they start to fill out. But her lips were the brilliant red of a young woman twice her age. The red stood out even brighter against the milk-chocolate brown of her skin. My assumption was that her mom and dad weren't paying enough attention, letting her color her lips such a startling and bright red.



Even though I wouldn't have let my own daughters use lipstick like that at her age, to have this reaction caught me by surprise. It seemed so judgmental and narrow. But there it was.



Her dad....I'm positive it was her dad....was following closely behind her, his hand on her shoulder. I only saw him from the back, that first time they passed by, not noticing his face as my attention was captured and focused only on hers.



The second time they walked by, though, I got an entirely different picture. They were walking towards us and this time I noticed her dad's face and could see that he was blind. She was walking slowly enough, and patiently enough, that he could follow easily while he held on to her collar. The two of them seemed so comfortable together, walking slowly and talking quietly as they moved acoss the store.



The last time I saw them, out in the main part of the station, the rest of the family was with them as well. This time, the dad was holding his wife's shoulder as she was leading him. But you'd never know that he was handicapped and that she was leading him unless you were looking closely. It was such an easy and natural connection. One of them had said something funny and the man was laughing....a big, wide, open-mouthed laugh. The woman, the mom, caramel-colored and beautiful, was laughing too, sometimes lightly touching his chest for emphasis. I don't know how you can tell these things, but just from the ease and softness of her touch on him, you could see how much she loved and respected him. It was a beautiful connection to see.



Just the two of them formed a wonderful picture, but to make the picture even more lovely and poignant, three little girls were following behind, the young lady with the bright lips leading the way for her two younger sisters. All of the girls were laughing and skip-hopping along....totally free and happy. There was such a carefree and easy way with which each of them moved. It was the most touching of family scenes even though all they were doing was moving from one place to another.



An interesting thing had happened though. My perspective had completely shifted and this time when I saw them I didn't even see the lipstick on the oldest daughter. All I saw, and felt, was the happiness radiating from this family, moving so easily through the train station.

Snowpeople Caper 2010!

They are SO wonderful! 221 Snowpeople covering the lawn of the Lititz Mutual Insurance Co. building at the Square......

Each with their own personality.....

Carol shows us all how to use the equipment....

Rosetta's ready!

Ellen was the Nose-job Specialists....

Sharon drills a pre-hole for a facial feature...

Maragaret was a "Head Ball" expert.....

Art is getting his equipment ready....

Frances with nieces Sara and Grace.....so good to have multi-generations! Open your eyes, Frances!

Frances with her eyes open.....drilling holes into the gritty snow.....

Kathy slid into place to kiss this guy....

Steve, oh man, did he ever hear a LOT about the Snowpeople....but only gave out encouragement.....

The Group....minus Rosetta, Art and Margaret....sorry we didn't do the group shot before you had to go....

The Snowpeople Caper 2010.....who would've known it'd be so hard to build Snowpeople!

I thought it'd snow and then we'd build, voila!, just like that.

Hohoho, the snow has to be right....not the dry and fluffy stuff we've had...and not too deep. The troops need to be ready. Finally, it just HAD to be done, no matter what.

The coolest things happened. People waved and honked. People stopped to ask about it. People took pictures. People came by and said they'd seen the mini-Snowpeople and wondered. The woman from Stauffers said the employees there had made up stories about the minis, they'd taken on a life of their own.

A woman I know said she'd seen the mini-salt-dough-prophets.....at the gym, at Stauffers, at Doughsie Dough, at the library (where, by the way, there is an auxilliary group of 20 Snowpeople waiting for the library employees when the library opens this morning).

I love these stories. I love hearing about people wondering. I love hearing how the Snowpeople made people smile. I love imagining all the times the little guys have made people experience a little prick of curiosity.

Something a little out of the ordinary, something fun to think about. A little gift to the community.

Good job, everyone, I can't wait til next year! Hahaha!

Perfect Present!

This is it, the Perfect Present!

I just finished wrapping the last present. I wish all the presents I'm giving were perfect but most of them are just pretty good.

But this one is PERFECT. It's that good. I'm about to POP, I want to tell about it so bad. But I won't tell......I'm a grown-up, I can hold it. I think.

I can't wait for the receiver to open this present. They're going to love it.

I've given all sorts of presents, but this year, this is the BEST, the most SUPER present....and it so completely fits the person it's for that I can hardly bear it. My tail is wagging about this present.

Christmas is only 2 days away now.....I'll have to wait to see if they like it as much as I do. I know they will.

Merry Christmas, I hope all your presents are perfect.....or at least pretty good.

Fiveawesomethings

There's a blog that I go to regularly, called 1000awesomethings. It's pretty neat, the guy writes about all the little sparks that make life cool. But 1000! Holy cow! That's a lot!



I've been thinking about it though. I'm going to just do FIVE. There are many more, of course, along with the usual suspects.....family, friends, health.....but these 5 things are the quirky stuff that have made my life spin and groove.




!. Putting on a warm pair of jeans fresh out of the dryer.....ahhhhh.....ahhhhh.....

2. Watching Rosie bound out of the yard like the young pup she used to be.....

3. FINALLY.....FINALLY......making the pig snout holes just the right size for the corks after carving dozens of corks to make them fit right. Eureka!!! Just right

4. Having my elegant pasta dish served with a garnish of red and green Peanut M&Ms....

5. Being able to moonwalk!!!!!!!!!! So cool!!!!!!

Snowmen on the Brain

I am so ready for the Snowman Caper that I'm about to BUST!

These are the cups for the Gluhwein. The hard part is making them so that the Snowman is not too cutsie. I tried to make these snowmen "tipsy", not "cutesy".

The later cups worked better as I got into the stride of it. A little more leaning and a little funkier.

These snowmen are in progress on the windowsill. I make these saltmen.....and women of course....every year. I don't quite know why I like them so much. They still need their scarves.

Haha, the first batch of "snow".....just salt and cornstarch and water.....turned YELLOW! Oh no!, can't have yellow snow! I have no clue what happened there. There were no small snowman-sized dogs around.

A few of last year's batch. They've got attitude don't you think?

If it doesn't snow this winter, I'm pretty sure I'll explode.......maybe we can truck in some snow?

Learning to Moonwalk

Though I'd appreciated what Michael Jackson had done for pop music, I'd never really been a big Michael Jackson fan. But a few weeks ago I went to see "This Is It", the documentary about Michael getting ready for his scheduled tour. I loved the movie and instantly became a Michael Jackson fan. Oh what a shame! It's too late now!


The other day in step class someone mentioned the Moonwalk......yeah.....yeah.....the Moonwalk. That's something everyone should know how to do. I want to do the Moonwalk.....in some kind of BAD way. Everyone THINKS they know how to do it, but can't really produce it when put on the spot.

So I've been looking up videos on Youtube and getting instruction that way. And practicing around the clock. Well, not ALL the time, but say, when I'm in the kitchen waiting for water to boil for tea or for bagels to toast.

It's way harder than it looks and certainly way harder than Michael makes it look. But I'm pretty sure he had extra slippery Moonwalking shoes.


It's sort of like trying to rub your stomache and pat your head at the same time.


I've mostly been practicing in the kitchen, I guess waiting for some food thing to reach it's optimum minute. I always have to remember to watch out for Rosie's water dish.....I've Moonwalked right into that a few times, sending the bowl crashing into the radiator and sloshing water everywhere. But then, at least, the floor gets good and slippery.


Maybe that's the ticket! If I flooded the kitchen floor with water, I could become an expert Moonwalker really fast.


As it is, I'm getting pretty darn good and I'm proud of it. I can do about 5 or 6 steps backward....at least as far as the dog's water bowl.....before I flub it up.


Once I can get to say, 25 feet, of Moonwalking, I'll be ready to say I can actually do it. That's down the hall, into the kitchen and all the way to end where the water bowl is.

I'm gonna go see how far I make it right now.......

Hahahahaha! I think I need slipperier socks......and turning that corner into the kitchen is really a mess-up too. Hahahahaha! And I have to think too much. Oh well, I'll keep practicing and let you know.....

The Leaf

I'm really not sure what to make of it. At first I just thought it was such a cool coincidence, but the more I've thought about it, the more I wonder if there's some larger, more cosmic meaning involved.

About two weeks ago I was standing by the gate to Rosie's yard waiting for Rosie to take her daily morning yard tour. The is a time of day that I particulaarly love....early morning....where I check out the temperature and nature of the day.

For some reason it was later than usual and so it was actually light out. It was beautiful out there, many leaves were still on the trees in their brilliant autumn colors and there were leaves that had already fallen, covering everything, waiting to be raked.

It's usually really still at this early time of day, but enough of a breeze passed by to loosen three leaves from the maple across the way in our neighor's yard. For some reason, just curiosity, I decided to watch one of these falling leaves, following it's path as it danced it's way to earth in it's one and only ballet.

I kept my eye on this leaf as it looped and twirled, catching a little updraft and heading upwards before it spun, tumbled, and twirled towards the ground. And then....and then....the strangest thing happened. That leaf landed right at my feet! Not off to the side next to my right foot, no, it landed right between my toes as if that was the spot it had been aiming for all along.

I still don't know what to make of it. I find it astonishing that on this one particular day, I was out there when it was light enough to watch a leaf twirl to the ground right there outside the gate. I find it astonishing that of the three falling leaves, I picked the one that lands at my feet and becomes my leaf. I find it astonishing that of the millions of places that this leaf could've landed....the neighbor's yard, the driveway, the patio, on the raspberry bushes, 5 feet off to the side....it landed right smack-dab between my toes at my feet. What are the chances!!

Though it's curled up now, and dry, I still have that leaf. The color is still bright.

When I pass by and see it there on the kitchen counter, I wonder if maybe it was my mind controling that leaf....but I wasn't trying to make it come to me. I've thought about some cosmic connection to nature which I definitely feel when I'm out there first thing in the morning.

And I've wondered this......I'm not a particularly religious person.....mostly from a "not knowing" perspective. But I do have to wonder. What I've decided and what I kind of like to think is that this leaf is a little gift, a little "hi, how are ya" from a greater spirit in the universe.

I don't know, really, but do you think this could be it?