We surprised these birds from their comfy roosts within a rocky outcropping in Ken Caryl Canyon, and managed to snap some action photos with the new camera. Glad they made us look UP. (Is there a bird expert out there who can tell me what kind of birds these are?)
© Huffygirl 2013
We stand in horror, we stand in tears,
But let us not stand alone in fear.
Instead let’s stand united all,
Against the evil that did befall.
Boston we hold your pain and sorrow,
Within our souls and hearts and marrow.
Boston, we stand with you.
© Huffygirl 2013
With all the driving I do in my poor overworked little car, nothing changes faster than this odometer. Fortunately, I caught this palindromic reading as soon as I started the car today. Knowing I would never have this chance again, I decided wherever I was going could wait, and ran back into the house for my camera.
© Huffygirl 2013
© Huffygirl 2013
Worried about that chocolate addiction of yours? And with the Easter Bunny just here, showering you with chocolate bunnies, eggs and the like, aren’t you wishing there was a way you could come clean and rid yourself once and for all of that chocolate addiction? Well, now you can. Now, there’s Chocnix®.
Chocnix® is a prescription medication designed to free the user from chocolate addiction. Chocnix works by blocking the pleasurable and addictive effects of chocolate. After only one week of use, Chocnix® users will find eating chocolate less pleasant. Eventually, chocolate eaters will receive less and less positive reinforcement from the ingestion of chocolate, causing the user to eventually stop eating chocolate. By 12 weeks of Chocnix® use, most users find they are able to completely abstain from chocolate eating. After an additional 12 weeks of use, most patients find they will never desire to eat chocolate again.
Chocnix® is not for everyone. Users may experience rage, anger, chocolate envy and psychosis. Don’t use Chocnix® if you suffer from extreme chocolate addition, evidenced by waking up the day after Easter with your head in an Easter basket, surrounded by foil wrappers. Ask your doctor if Chocnix® is right for you.
© Huffygirl 2013
© Huffygirl 2013
Gabriele died last week after a long illness. I have never met her, but thanks to her daughter, Suzanne at Walking Papers Blog, I feel like I have. For months, Suzanne has shared Gabriele’s journey, her prose interspersed with photos, poems and stories about her mom’s life, and finally, death. Stories about family. Photos of Gabriele and her daughters and grandchildren. In an unflinchingly frank journal, Suzanne shared the gritty details of a beloved family member’s gradual separation from this life and her step into the next.
As I read I sometimes laughed, sometimes cried, but always felt empathy for Suzanne and her family thousands of miles away, yet so close. And through it all, I relived my own mom’s brief illness and death, recalling the good, the bad, and the journey of her life. Others felt the same way, as Suzanne’s journal brought friends and strangers together in a community of followers of the story of Gabriele.
The internet can be a monster – it can sap us of our free time and energy, with cat videos, FB and endless news cycles. But it can be a blessing too, making us part of a community across a nation or across an ocean, bringing us together as we share our stories and making our world a smaller place.
I wish peace to Gabriele who is now at rest, and peace to all who trek through their own journey across this world that is not so big after all.
© Huffygirl 2013
Today’s the day that math nerds and pie lovers look forward to each year: 3.14, otherwise known as Pi Day. It’s the day when the nerdy smart kids in geometry class get to show off how they’ve memorized pi to the nth decimal place, and pie lovers have an excuse to bake and eat pies.
Best husband is the pie man in our house. Sure, I can make pies too, but why should I when I have the foremost living pie expert right here to do it for me?
Crust for a 9-inch double crust pie
3 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, washed and drained (or fresh frozen blueberries)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons quick tapioca or flour
Margarine or butter, about 1 tablespoon, to dot top of filling
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except the crust and the margarine. Set aside. Make your favorite pie crust. Roll out half of the crust and place in a 9 inch pie pan. Add the filling. Dot filling with margarine. Roll out and place the top crust. Trim edges, fold top and bottom crust edges under and together, and make slashes in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape, in the shape of pi of course. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes. Crust should be lightly browned.
Enjoy your pie and have a great Pi Day!
© Huffygirl 3.14.13
I’m a lucky dog; I’m married to the most popular man on earth. And how do I know he is? Because, everyone is after him right now. He gets fistfuls of personal mail daily. Multiple phone calls from strangers. People stopping by the house, leaving notes on the door that say “Sorry I missed you” and “I’ll be back soon.” So “why is everyone after your husband Huffygirl?” you might ask. Unfortunately, not because he is so good-looking, smart, or cool, although he is all of those things (well maybe not so much cool…). No, it’s because he is turning 65 soon.
Yes, hard for both of us to believe, but my husband is about to become eligible for Medicare. And every company that sells any kind of Medicare supplemental insurance wants him. It’s a veritable dog fight to see who will get him first. Right now, he’s as popular as Jack Nicholson on Oscar night.
The mail started trickling in last fall, a good six months before he would be Medicare-eligible. Well-known insurance companies, plus ones we’ve never heard of. Yes, best husband, we want YOU, and here’s why. Then the phone calls started. Night after night. Thanks to that wonderful invention, Caller ID, we can avoid speaking to most of them, but that does not stop the ringing. His phone is ringing like the head cheerleader’s two weeks before prom night. Everyone wants a date with him.
Now, with his birthday looming closer (April 2nd, in case you’d like to send him a card) they’ve stepped up their game. Insurance agents are starting to appear uninvited at our door. They leave perky hang tags on the doorknob with hand-written notes: “Best husband, sooooo sorry I missed you. I’ll talk to you soon about your Medicare options. Can’t wait! XOXOXO” Apparently they think that just because my husband is turning 65 soon, he’s sitting at home during the day with his cane, just waiting for them to drop by.
As April 2 looms closer, I expect they will step up their game. I’m hoping for swag – not coupons for Metamucil, diabetes supplies from Wilford Brimley, or $50 off a Hoveround. No, I’m hoping for serious swag. Restaurant dinners, weekend getaways, wine of the month, vacation trips. Sure, I know there are plenty of 65-year-olds out there to fight over, but hey, mine is special. With all the biking and running we do, Best Husband should be one of the least expensive 65-year-olds out there to insure. Perhaps, they’ll even start paying HIM. After all, he IS the most popular man on earth. At least for now anyway.
Huffygirl with THE most popular man on earth.
© Huffygirl 2013
On a day so sunny that I felt like I needed sunglasses for my sunglasses, Best Husband and I ventured to Saugatuck, Michigan, for a winter’s day adventure. We ate lunch at The Butler, a restaurant located in one of the original town buildings from 1892. We poked around in interesting little shops, ogling expensive kitchen knives in The Butler Pantry kitchen shop, and admiring original artwork in the many art studios. We tasted exotic olive oils at The Olive Mill, and peered into windows of restaurants we had not seen before, hoping to savor them on another visit.
Then, the real adventure began. We left the downtown area and drove to the shore of Lake Michigan at Oval Beach. One never knows what they’ll find on the Lake Michigan shores in the winter. Often the water’s edge are encased in thick ice floes that may change daily with the weather. Other winters we’ve been to the Lake Michigan shores to find no ice at all. This day, we were not disappointed. The shore was blanketed with a massive ice floe, spreading out 50 to 100 yards from the shore. Not wanting to become an icy death statistic or an unexpected guest of the Coast Guard, we wisely kept to the water’s edge as we walked and photographed this amazing gift of nature.
© Huffygirl 2013
