November 22nd - Life, I love you...

all is groovy.....(thanks to Simon and Garfunkel for that peppy tune).

This is the flag that is going out on my lamppost as soon as it stops raining - and I think it makes a good mantra.  Actually, my mantra is Shit Happens - but it's not likely I'll be able to find that on any garden flags ;)

Life IS good here at Chez Em - sometimes I forget just how good.  For example, I had my long overdue physical on Monday....it included my first ever EKG.  Of course I won't know test results for a bit -but I didn't hear any of those suspicious worried sounded noises - and the diagnosis of my sore leg is "as we get older, it just takes us longer to heal  -  nothing to worry about".  So I'm grateful to be fat but healthy. 

Its been raining all day (started last night) and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.  But the basement that I painted with drylock a couple of weekends ago is still dry - so it looks as if that solved the problem and I can continue working towards finishing that space.

I've got a four day weekend to look forward to with no commitments except to enjoy myself (and probably do some recreational Christmas shopping). 

I've got wonderful friends both near and far, not to mention a wonderful son and dil who have birthed the cutest baby on the planet, a kitchen full of delicious food, a cabinet full of kickass wine, a Roomba busy vacuuming and a yard that will remain pretty much maintenance free till the spring.

What more could a woman want?

Hmmm -maybe a hot tub under the stars? 

Oh, wait - I've got one of those ;).

11/20 - a weekend well spent.....

This is actually last Saturday night's dinner...but it's proof that just because you live alone doesn't mean you can't feed yourself well. The wine that you barely see is Macchia Barbera - Delicious.  Yep - that's the name  -  you might think they are being a bit cocky - but if I had named it - I would have chosen Awesome - its that good.  (And Lisa, its a Lodi).

After a few days of brrrr weather - the temperature warmed up nicely - it made it to 68 on my back porch.  I probably should have taken better advantage of the nice weather with a long walk - but my outdoor adventures were limited to grocery and home improvement store shopping.

That said - I did get my turkey which I'm going to try brining this year.....screws to install the wine glass rack in my new bookcase converted to wine cabinet....and some electrical odds and ends to help with my latest project - improving the horrid lighting in my basement.

Which finally brings me to this point.  Some things you can just do - some things you have to understand first......and electricity falls into the latter catagory.  I generally don't have a problem switching out one light fixture for another - I just pay attention to how the old was hooked up and do the same for the new.  But this time, I chose to boldly put light where there was none before - I added a new fixture next to an existing one.

And it worked.......so on to the next challenge.  I have those stupid pull chain lights all over my basement - in a couple of places, I want a light switch.   This required study - the short version is that power is like water in a hose.  If you want to be able to shut it on and off, you have to put a switch somewhere in the middle....but of course that's probably not where you want the switch so you have to figure out how to run cable etc etc etc.

It took time and and a couple of redos (and much cussing - particularly when I shocked myself).....but it is done.  I now have a light switch controlling the laundry room light.

And as this weekend draws to a close, I remember what my friend Susan said about wringing every second out of every day.  I didn't quite manage all that, but it was a weekend well lived and that makes me happy.

Hope all of you had a great weekend as well.

11/16 - Wednesday Wondering

So, I've been questioning - some vague unanswerable things like how do I deal with the realization that more than half my life is over......and that in getting older the ability to accomplish physical labor isn't what it used to be....and then there's the whole wrinkle/fat thing.

Of course some of this is due to my recent birthday, and some of it is due to the lack of sunlight that comes with winter, and some of it is likely hormonal. 

One song has been running through my head the past few days....
"And I wish I could know if the directions that I take
And all the choices that I make won't end up all for nothing
Show me what it's for
Make me understand it
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Is there something more than what i've been handed"

Hoobastank - Crawling in the Dark

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm confident and comfortable with my personal beliefs.....I'm not worried about the hereafter or lack thereof.  I think I just want the fact that I existed at all to have some sort of meaning - and I'm searching for how to assure myself that will happen (short of donating lots of money and getting something named after myself or committing some horrible crime that makes me infamous).

So that's what's been up with me - EXCEPT that I actually came across a wondering that did have an answer....and I thought I would share it with you in case you've ever had the same wondering.

Ready?

How do they know that the stones at Stonehenge were placed there 4500 years ago?  Carbon dating works measures the decay of organic material after death - but rocks are millions if not billions of years old....so how do they know when they were moved from one place to another?

And thanks to archeologist Julian Richards and the wonder of Google - I now know the answer.

 "The evidence for when Stonehenge was built comes from radio carbon dates which have been obtained largely from fragments of the antler picks used to dig the holes for the stones and the ditch."

Very clever, I think.  I found Stonehenge to be quite a magical place and I'm reminded of how fortunate I am to have friends willing to show me wonderful things.