i have girl scouts!

The call went out on fb: anyone want to buy cookies???

Miyah and Chloe are both Girl Scouts this year!

As their loving mama, my first niece was helping them hawk the baked goods.

Hey, I'll be happy to support the cause!

So, I started looking through the list of sweets offered and noticed several new flavors.

Alrighty then!

I most def needed the Adventurefuls, as 'adventure' has always been a magic word for me.

As an analytical chemist, those new-to-me Exploremores seem to be speaking science, so I took a box of those, too!

What other choices would I like to make?

How about two boxes of Lemon-Ups, two boxes of Samoas, and two boxes of Toffee-tastic?

What a fantastic name on that last one, right?

Okay, that's eight boxes of cookies, so what's the damage?

Just $40... what a deal!

I sure look forward to getting those in two weeks...

plus, as Christina has said she'll deliver, I'll get to see them in Savannah!

Bonus!!!

(smile!)

how do you measure, measure a life?

To borrow a song from "Rent", how do you measure a life of a car?
Well, mileage is certainly a way.
Rides to and from school for classes, office hours, meetings, theatre, music, and art show receptions.
Trips out of town for film premieres, trips to the beach.
Journeys to conclaves and aquariums and Kevin Costner.
Mileage marking the existence of my freedom to go to movies and museums and musicals! To partake of brunches and lunches and dinners with family and friends! To attend birthday parties and baby showers and Bollywood specials!
And let's not forget the improv, whether here or in Daytona Beach.
So many good times had these past twelve months!
As you may recall, I had some extensive work done on the car about this time last year.
At that time, my car had 142,000 miles on it.
Since then, I've added another 18,600 miles to that sum.
It's been a good ride!
I look forward to new adventures this year!

seeing winter in clear water

Today, I felt like I was driving in the corn fields of Iowa again.

Crazy, right?
Especially as I was on a twelve-mile bridge in central Florida at the time.
But, maybe not so crazy after all.
You see, I was in search of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
There were no signs, no billboards, nothing to indicate I was on the right path, nothing to indicate that the place I sought truly existed.
It was as if I were in search of another Field of Dreams.
Perhaps I was, but hadn't known of the name change...
An ocean of corn has waves, too, doesn't it? An ocean of water, an ocean of corn, neither with markers scattered about to give a sense of direction to one's quest...
Such a correlation helped me to formulate a goal.
I hesitate to call it a "bucket list". That seems a little morbid, something old folks do as their lives near an end as physical beings.
Sure, I am getting older, but I would like to think I have at least seven years left.
(smile)
But that term, of murky origin, holds no cachet for me.
I prefer "future adventure list!"
(Yes, the exclamation mark is necessary, not optional.)
So, today's trip to see movie star dolphins can be regarded as Entry Zero (or Pre-One, if you will) to my "future adventure list!" I've already thought of another item, too! I intend to visit North Carolina to visit the movie locales used for one of my favorite movies, "Bull Durham". I know, it's another baseball film starring Kevin Costner, but I think that it's just a coincidence that it popped into my brain.
Maybe.
(smile!)

I am feeling so very relaxed right now.
Honestly, ever since I saw Winter and Hope.

Hope was swimming in lazy laps in the large pool, circling and circling. Sometimes, she would break the surface, to allow for a photo op. Or she might push a float toy for a moment.

But every once in a while, she would breach the shallow wall into the small "room" where Winter was chilling out.
You know, to check in on her friend, see how her energy level was holding up.
Very touching.

Very reassuring to me, a different species of mammal, to see friendship demonstrated by these aquatic mammals.
The first thing I did, upon my return to the Mystic Dunes of Orlando was to contact my favorite magician, my bfe, just to touch base.
(smile)

rock paper scissors lizard spock!

Who would have thought a decision-making game created in the 1990's would have such lasting power?
Well, for starters, consider all the folks who attend Dragon*Con, ComiCon, and all of the other fantasy, science fiction, science, and role-playing gaming conferences all over the world.
I can see the question in your eyes: Even at science conventions?
Yes, indeed.
Even those who are not familiar with the game created by Sam Kass and Karen Bryla close to two decades ago, can enjoy its similarity to grade-school activities. The game has recently gained a new life, a second wind. My many thanks to the writers of The Big Bang Theory for bringing this into my world!
Not only into my world, but into that of my chemistry fraternity brothers! Yesterday, as the 52nd Biennial Conclave was winding down, a talent show was held.
No, I'm not refering to Scott Wilson and his bagpipes, though the man certainly does deserve props for the entertainment he provided at various interludes. Yep, he would whip out his bagpipes and lay down some tunes!!! Da iawn! Dea ceol!
But he did not incorporate "rock paper scissors lizard Spock" into a talent performance. That was done by one of the nine (mostly) collegiate groups. That was fun!!!
So, for those not in the know, here's how it goes.

Scissors cut Paper.
Paper covers Rock.
Rock crushes Lizard.
Lizard poisons Spock.
Spock smashes Scissors.
Scissors decapitate Lizard.
Lizard eats Paper.
Paper disproves Spock.
Spock vaporizes Rock.
And, as always, Rock crushes Scissors.

I am so glad to not be alone in my adoration of this game... and also of my boys of physics, science nerds that they are.
Wa Hoo Wa!!!

thursday, thursday, thursday in the afternoon

What a grand time I've had today!
I knew the families were just hanging at the Orange Lake pools today, no theme-parking. However, I also knew that my skin needed a break from the sun-drubbing it had taken on Tuesday. Today, I would finally go to Downtown Disney and ride the balloon!!!
Nope.
Didn't happen.

I had looked at a map
- uh oh -
and decided I knew
where I was going
more than Nuvi did.

Well, as it turns out,
I had an adventure instead!

No, I was not lost.

I was on 27-North and 50-East.

Orange groves, lakes, greenery!
Hardly any signs of buildings,
very little traffic.

Quite lovely and relaxing!
I ended up in Winter Garden.
As I was driving along, thinking about food, I saw a lovely area called "The Grove", which looked like the downtown part of the city. Perhaps? If nothing else, it was certainly time to get out and stretch my legs.
So I circled back and parked.
Lo! There's a directory on that corner! Okay, let's see what is available in the category of "food."
Hmmm. Chain seafood restaurant, chain yogurt shop, chain burger joint... Hey! That sound like a local joint!
The ex would be so pleased.
So, why not do as we would have done while married? After all, this family reunion is on his side.
As it turned out, Mimi's Cafe actually is part of a national chain. That's okay - it was new to me!

A 1994 penny caught my eye, shimmering right below my table. That cinched my choice - I was meant to be here.
I selected from the French side of the menu.

Roasted Chicken Crêpes
House-made crêpes with slow-roasted chicken, sautéed spinach & mushrooms, and sliced cherry tomatoes, topped with Dijon Chardonnay sauce. With a Mimi’s House Salad tossed in red wine shallot vinaigrette.

Oh, my -

is that my favorite dessert?!?!

So that was added to the order.

Brioche Bread Pudding
with Bourbon-butter sauce.


Very nice! I had them both together, of course!
As well as five glasses of unsweetened iced tea - refreshing!
I ate every last bite, too. Scrumptious, delicate crepes, perfect mustard counterpoint in the sauce, beautiful textures to all!
Yum!!!
Then I had a little stroll in the area and headed back toward Kissimmee.

pineapple upside-down ...cornbread?

Yep, that's what I said: pineapple upside-down cornbread.
A while back, I had combined a can of crushed pineaple with a box of bran muffin mix - adding no other ingredients - and baked them to make quite a nice breakfast for several days.
Successful experiment.
Thursday, I had pulled a can of crushed pineapple out of the pantry and a box of "Jiffy" corn muffin mix. Hey, everyone always says that "Jiffy's" cornbread is like cake, so maybe I could combine the two and have something good. Right?
Evidently, I needed to think about it overnight.
Yesterday, I looked again at the two ingredients on my kitchen counter.
And the thought popped into my mind, with an image tagging along: crushed pineapple on the bottom of the loaf pan, prepared muffin mix on top.
And so it came to pass.
I drained the pineapple, mostly. Then the loaf pan was lightly oiled and the muffin mix combined with 1/2 cup of water and allowed to stand for a moment (as if I was making corn muffins). The mix was gently spooned on top of the pineapple, smoothing the top for appearance. Then, into the oven it was popped for 22 minutes.
Golden-brown crust? Yep!
Turned loose from the edges of the pan? Yep!
Okay, let's invert it onto a plate and see what we get...
Success! Woohoo!
I served it alongside the stove-pot casserole for the night: diced Spam (low-fat, low-sodium version, thank you), some fresh onion, a small apple, the leftover pineapple, and brown rice.
Very nice combination!!!
I just may have that for breakfast tomorrow.

see, i do listen to you

A dancing crab! That's just one of the many gifts the bfe showered upon me tonight during dinner at one of our favorite spots. He said, "The wind-up waving crab makes me smile. You need an entity to put your hopes and dreams into - let Col. Crab help you out!"
The little crab was not the first gift brought out of the blue, though. (Bag, that is. You'll get it soon.) There was a theme linking the presents and I needed to figure it out, he said as he began pulling out presents. First, for my creative side, came a kit to build my very own crazy foam frog. But, as he said, the frog "needs a friend" so he also gave me a foam kit for a lovely crab with pipe cleaner legs and googly eyes. Very sweet! After all, don't we all need friends to share life's adventures?
Next, a package of shark tattoos, for my "bad-ass" side. Yo! Or maybe that should be yo-ho-ho? Hahaha!

After the scary sharks came the silly dancing crab. Then, something he had bought for the ensemble, but was unfamiliar with. The sailboat consisted of two metal die-cuts with a magnet in the middle. Termed a "screen saver", the purpose is to keep birds from crashing into plate glass windows and doors. Still, it tied in with the theme, even if he termed it "??!?".
Knowing my fondness for animated films for kids, he had searched out "Saving Nemo," not realizing he had the name wrong. When he (understandably) couldn't find it, he bought the next film with a title he knew I would like: "The Reef". Wonder of wonders, I haven't seen this one before! Yea! He added a trio of plastic sea creatures to play with before, during, or after the movie. Nice!

When he saw this metal fish, he said it spoke to him and was "the inspiration for all this." He knew glass would not do, as I am a klutz and break fragile objects. He is also very familiar with my collection of colorful wooden fish, some rather whimsical, others more true to nature. So, he had seen this unbreakable piece of ocean-inspired art and thought of me.
See, he does listen to me. What a very nice way to show it, too!
Maybe I can help him with his biology lessons so he doesn't mistake frogs for aquatic life. (smile)

Later, he even treated me to the improv comedy show at Muse Arts Warehouse and we enjoyed the show together, writing lines on dialogue slips, yelling out words to be worked into story lines, cheering and applauding! Fun, fun, fun!!!

rollin' rollin' rollin' RAWHIDE!

Hoorah! Another supercool odometer reading!
I was returning from my bff's house, where I'd had the definite honor of watching her talented daughter dance SIX TIMES in Saturday's recital. Woohoo!!! I loved every minute of it!
I also was treated to an early birthday celebration (maybe more on that another time) and what was surely the best Mother's Day that I've had since 2000.
Seriously.
Back to the story at hand!
When I realized that my odometer was about to hit a triple repeat of today's date, I acted quickly to make it memorable! To be cruising down a major highway, or veer off onto a side road and follow where it led? Well, lemme tell ya, ol' Robert Frost would be quite proud of me for choosing the path less traveled. Sure he would have!

I even had lunch at a restaurant that was brand new to me, satisfying my 2013 Resolution yet again. Sah-weet! The little place was called Pepper Jack's Deli and Grill, a homey-looking place in Portal, and the chicken tenders were quite tasty and moist! The location was good, too - right across from the high school and even sporting the school's colors and mascot. Nice!
The only down side was the detour added about three hours to my trip. Yikes! How so? Well, at some point, I must have wandered to the north, because I ended up near Statesboro before I caught the error in my internal compass. Ah, well, the weather was great, I had no time table to keep, and the car still had plenty of gas. No worries!

history lesson

This evening, the bfe and I did something completely different! The Georgia Historical Society had a famous author in town to give discourse on one of Georgia's famous bastard sons. No, really. Actually, I'm not quite sure they were aware that was how the biography would be presented, especially as the talk was held in one of the old churches downtown. Then again, maybe that was deliberate, too.
The author, who had made Forrest Gump as well-known as Huckleberry Finn once was, had taken on a real Southern character for his latest tome. The book concerned the taming of the American West in the mid 1840's and featured the exploits of John C. Fremont amidst its pages. Fremont, the "Pathfinder", was in his mid-30's when he and Kit Carson led expeditions toward the Pacific Ocean, charting safe passage through snow-laden mountains and arid plains.
Today, a famous tourist attraction in Las Vegas bears his name. The first paved road in Las Vegas, and home of the Golden Nugget, Fremont Street now hosts a moving light show in the ceiling over the paved road and has concerts to get feet tapping while eyes are heavenward. I wonder what old man Fremont would think of that? Would he think it a becoming legacy?
No way to know those answers, so maybe I'll make up my own tale to tell.
Answers or not, the lecture in the old church was a nice way to close out an evening that included a trip to the vet for one of the bfe's dear cats and a fairly quiet dinner at one of my favorite Mexican joints.
A definitely nice Tuesday for me.
And it wasn't even raining.

totally blonde roots

So, yesterday, I picked up my bfe and off we set for Jacksonville. This is his birth month, so I've been trying to find some extra-special events for this fall month.
One such event concerned girls on skates. He had not been to the local rollergirl games, ever, and, somehow, we had missed all the home games this fall. But all was not lost! The girls would be winging their way down to Florida for a double-header! And, it was in November! And, it was on a Saturday that was open for both of us! Yes, folks, we had ourselves a winner!!
So, off we set, even getting a morning start for a change. The weather was good, the traffic was light on this non-holiday weekend, and we should arrive in time for a late lunch, then some walking on the waterfront before the games. Nice!
Well, that was the plan. And the plan was nice. And it was a pretty loose plan, built to allow quite a bit of flexibility. You know, in case we found an interesting museum or toy shop or an open bench to watch boats and folks.
So, there we are, traveling along, making good time. Not paying any attention to the view outside the car windows. Well, no, that's not quite true. We were both admiring the fall colors of the kudzu and the trees, the golds and oranges and reds, set against the ever-green of the pines and the blue, blue sky. All so very nice! Enjoying each other's company, catching up on chatting.
You see where this is leading, right?
We were talking, admiring the view, not paying any attention at all to road signs...
And all of a sudden, SMACK!!! We were on the outskirts of MACON!!!
Say what?!?
Exactly.
In my soon-to-be-patented, trademark style, I had become lost.
No. That's NOT it. I was not lost. I knew EXACTLY where I was, once I saw the exits and road work surrounding Macon. Oh, yes.
The problem was, we had driven better than two hours IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, neither of us noticing the signs for Statesboro or Dublin or any of the other towns along the way. Neither of us having noticed that we had not seen signs for Midway or Darien or Brunswick.
Amazing.
So, now the trick would be to make it to Jacksonville in time for the games. Because, now, we weren't just two and a half hours away. Oh, no. We were about five hours away.
Good thing our plan was so loose!
And we DID manage to make it there in time for the games. We even had about twenty minutes of free time. Woohoo!
And, amazingly, he was fine with that. Absolutely fine. No temper tantrum, no guilt trip laid on me, no animosity of any type.
Amazing, right?
And I was treated to a day in his company and he to a day in mine, even though much of the time was sitting in a car, rolling along highways.
And THAT was the whole point of the trip, right? To spend the day together and see some girls on skates?
So the trip was a rousing success, after all.
Amazing!

luna pier

A new beach for me! This little town of less than 2000 inhabitants was incorporated in 1963 and is a beachside destination for folks in Detroit and Toledo. Me? I saw the name of the town as I was traveling south and decided to visit.
How could I resist? The name lured me in, tempting my imagination, snagging my interest. Caught by my curiosity, I allowed myself to be reeled in, offering no resistance at all. And I landed on a shore arching contrapposto to its crescent of pier, linked only by a red beacon pointing skyward.
The upcoming full moon is part of the reason I ventured there. All summer, full moons have encouraged me to walk toward craziness. There's a quote somewhere about actions not taken being those regretted most and the moon reminds me that I missed an opportunity for a kiss not taken.
Perhaps, indeed, no kiss was intimated that evening three months ago. Perhaps I was besot with the moonlight and jellyfish lightning and merely imagined the taste of kisses in the air.
Perhaps.
I do know the thought of missed kisses has brought many a bout of insomnia and cast a restlessness on my spirit. And every month, as the moon waxes full again, I lose myself to crazed longings.
How ridiculous.
No more!
Besides, I've already pledged big kisses and not yet delivered.
And I am a woman of my word.

adventure

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." Such reads the unattributed quote on one of my friend's facebook page. Oh, yes... Adventure! That has always been a magic word for me. Everyone has some magic word that'll motivate them toward one choice over another. Mine is "adventure."

When I was 17, that one word led me to choose the Navy over the Air Force. Why? The U.S. Navy's slogan at the time was :"It's not just a job, it's an adventure." How could I resist? Even though the initial contract was for six years (Advanced Electronics Field), I saw this choice as my opportunity to see the world, to travel, to meet new people... to have adventures! And I most assuredly did, including many that I did NOT share with Mama in my chatty letters home. Hey, some things need to stay where they happened, ya know, especially when in your early 20's. Especially when a SAILOR in your early 20's. Good times, very... good... times.

I had some incredible adventures during that time. Hanging out in Taipei with the owner of the tea shop behind the hotel... and going one evening to a movie ("The Gods Must Be Crazy", of all things!) and some beautiful gardens with her nephew. Eating orange beef at the Stoned Crow, an Australian restaurant, in Hong Kong, then wandering the streets, stopping at the temples along the way, the city lit up like a Christmas tree. Riding a local passenger ship, at night, back from Taiwan to Okinawa and seeing the jewels cast up in the black velvet sky. Driving from Pensacola, Florida, to my first duty station in the Panama Canal Zone, taking the Pan-American highway down Central America with the trucks and the cyclists and the mule-drawn wagons. Having the best tan ever at Playa del Diablo, just past Fort Gulick on the Atlantic side of Panama. Cruisin' up and down the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco, passing La Jolla and San Juan Capistrano and open desert.

Those were so very long ago, it seems, another lifetime ago. But I've had other adventures since then, just as memorable, some more so, some in my own back yard. I live for adventures, for trying new things, new places. I'll be off for a new adventure the first weekend in February: off to Charleston to hear Elliott and the Untouchables do their fabulous blues! I can hardly wait!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r6Z7noLcl0&feature=related