Razor Lake, busy weekend and couch potato

- The lake near my sister's house in the Florida panhandle from last weekend. So lovely with the surrounding Live Oaks and Spanish moss. They do have to deal with the occasional alligator crossing the road, but other than that...

- From niece's husband on facebook: "36 hours, 700 mile motorbike ride from NYC to DC to Skyline Drive and back and even beers with many good friends in DC. Great weekend I say." He is planning a cross country motorcycle ride with friends from the east coast to the west coast, so this sounds like a good trial run.

- This weekend was fairly uneventful for me, but very restful and the DVR is down to 3% Full of recorded shows. :)

Armload of basil, making pesto and shining

- Printing client, friend and neighbor Tori gave me this armload of basil from her garden when I took her proof by her home on Tuesday. I made a little caprese salad with a little of it the next evening. So beautiful and it lasts so nicely if put in water like this and placed in the refrigerator.

- But it was beginning to look a little wilty by Thursday a.m., so I made this pesto using the basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, sea salt and olive oil before leaving for work. I like how it looks in my mother's pretty bowl from the 1950s. It will go in some salad tonight - Ina Garten's Pasta, Pesto and Peas. Yum.

- On a completely unrelated note, but a definite good thing - loving the captions niece Abby applies to family and friend photo "albums" she posts on facebook. The latest: Shining like lighters in the dark in the middle of a rock show.... She shines brightly herself.

As do all of you. I hope you have a bright and shining weekend, my friends.

Back road, good home and order (redux)

It's Random Photo Thursday and this is a post from August 2009 about a peaceful place.

- Taking a seldom used back road, impulsively turning into the driveway of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery. Stepping out of the car - a feeling of peace washes over me.

- As one of the brothers drives out, he patiently waits for the geese to move. He smiles with a twinkle in his eye as he goes by.

- Even the water tower has the mark of the order. They have a working farm, but supplement their income by selling handmade rosaries, fudge and bonsai trees.

Update - I went back by a few months ago to get one of the handmade rosaries. Father Anthony, who makes them, was in the shop and gave it the blessing of St. Benedict. He said the blessing was good for as long as he lives (said as a joke since he is extremely old.) :) The rosary is made with beads called Job's Tears and it is a treasure.

Pop up shower, cooling spray and Rain (poem)

- This late afternoon rain shower that popped up. I like watching rain like this from my living room and how it leaves the air feeling so fresh.

- Another good road race memory from Monday: smiling city workers positioned beside open fire hydrants - open so participants could walk through the cooling spray of water.

- I leave you now with a poem by Shel Silverstein (sounds so Garrison Keillor!) I like his poems because they speak to the child in everyone:

Rain

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Did it, got the shirt and celebration

- This was the view in front of me at the 2011 Peachtree Road Race. The trek down Peachtree Street into Piedmont Park in Atlanta was 6.2 miles on a hot, humid morning. Favorite moments: walking briefly with a 90-year-old man and his daughter (his shirt read: I'm 90 and I just passed you!), a woman walked in the road race for the first time in six years - she is still recovering from a spinal injury and did the race wearing leg braces, and me running across the finish line with coworker Joanne.

- And here's the proof - the shirt, the marked number and a "Howard's Heroes" sweatband (still damp this morning.) Consumer advocate Clark Howard is always at the end of the line and this was a fun reward for being back there with him. :)

- This email message from friend Barbara D, who considers me like one of her own kids: "Been thinking of you all day. We always turn the TV on and watch the race. We didn't see you. Hope you had a wonderful day and didn't get ill. Barbara" No - there was no illness, but I did come home and sleep for two hours before going off to a fun dinner to celebrate the 4th of July. A day I'll always remember.

Happy 4th!, memory and feet don't fail me now!

- A favorite quote: It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have these three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence to practice neither. Mark Twain

- A favorite memory from July 4, 2009: Spending the 4th of July in my home town and sitting on the post office steps at noon to call my sister in Florida. Suddenly the bells of Sacred Heart Catholic Church begin to play God Bless America and My Country 'Tis of Thee to an otherwise deserted downtown, making for appropriate patriotic background music.

- Making a new memory: Sometime between 8:45am (my start time in the "T" heat), and 11am, I'll be mostly walking the Peachtree Road Race. I decided to dedicate each of the six miles to people in my life. I loved that support you gave me when I announced I was running (mostly walking) - I'll let you know how it went! :)

Volunteers, memories and beautiful berries

- That pot on the left is affectionately known to me as my "weedy pot." Every year I just let it be and see what comes up and something always does. This is the second year I've grown a maple tree and a pine seedling. I pulled them out last spring and they just came back again. For someone with no green thumb, I somehow managed to produce two trees. Maybe I'll see if there's some regular ground they can go in somewhere at some point.

- This is how weedy pot looked last January during the week we Atlantans called "Snowpocalypse." :) It's hard to believe six months have already gone by.

- And just curious, this grows in springtime in the woods behind my place. Does anyone know what it is?* http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifThe birds love the berries and I think they are beautiful.

*Update - louvregirl looked it up and it is a plant with the common name: leatherleaf mahonia, and the botanical name: Mahonia bealei

http://dcmga.com/north-texas-gardening/perennials/shade-plants/leatherleaf-mahonia/

Thanks, lg!

It's finally Friday and I'm looking forward to the weekend. I hope you are, too.