Vacation is Coming UP

I HAVE to take vacation. I have two weeks that need to be used by July 17 or I will lose them.
Any suggestions on where to go? It needs to be where people speak English. With an American accent. (This is a must for the Mister.)
Perhaps a road trip down California way? Or maybe visiting loved ones in Washington?
Seattle and Pike Street Market? Montana?
What will it be I wonder. The lure of the open road is calling ... but then, again, the hallway that needs painting, the art "studio" that needs shoveling, the flowers that need planting.
Good to have this to look forward to since we're been facing many, many, many deadlines at work! Maybe Atlanta??? New York City? Wow, the possibilities - femminismo

Lovely, lovely peonies

If there was one flower from my youth that as distasteful to my nose as broccoli was to my palate, it was the peony. Tuberous peonies stank! They grew in one variety - dark blood red - in my grandmother's garden and I didn't appreciate them at all.

Now, however, after living through nearly 15 years of lush tree peony growth in my own back yard, I have come to adore everything about this flower.
Even the bitter smell of the petals.

These flowers lured me outside in the midst of a rainstorm on Sunday and I didn't regret getting wet. Not when you look at these lovelies swaying back and forth in the breeze, their petals heavy with silver drops of water. The heavy blue ball in the lower right-hand side is a nice part of our garden. Why don't we have more of these? Good question.

Other flowers that are more lovable from the start are the wiegila (not spelled right) and columbine. Enjoy these while I dash off to a meeting - femminismo

p.s. (edited later) Was bad and didn't go to the meeting. Went to a book reading at Powells to hear Steve Earle read from his new book, "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." He looked exactly as he does on "Treme" and I wished he would have sung one of his songs.

What Is ... Isn't

This used to be a sunset. On a gray beach. Now it sort of looks like a black hole sucking in the purple sky above the water, which it's reflecting.
Sometimes things aren't what they seem to be. When you play around with hues, saturation, "noise," and other stuff, you get something that looks pretty unnatural.
I have been thinking quite a bit about an iPhone lately. Mostly because of the cool pictures people take with them.
When there are so many photo applications, and Photoshop and what have you, would I really, really need one of these phones?
I would hate to give up my BlackBerry, especially since I found this little wall-smasher, cannon shooting gun thingy that practically makes me press my thumbs all the way through the little tiny smart phone. I think this phone is way smart enough for me - femminismo
p.s. Can you tell I'm really tired? I'm not even making sense.

Enhanced Oregon Just For You - and me

WARNING: These pictures have been enhanced. Not the scenes. They are real and they exist (for the moment) here in Oregon with me. It just seems that the camera doesn't do justice to the colors and so I played with them a bit in my free version of Photoshop Elements. That simple program has come in very handy over the years.
Last weekend the Mister and I met with another guy - Phil - up on the property (we need to find a name for this "place"). Phil and his dog, Sydney, had been mowing the grass before we got there. The grass along the roadside and in the road. And some in the woods.
I took off for a while with my camera to document all the new growth: skunk cabbage leaves, goats beard, trilliums, ferns, Johnny jump-ups, currant tree blossoms. I walked down Far Road to the western civilized (cleared) end of the property with a bucket and came back with the prettiest maidenhair fern. (It's now planted in our backyard in the wettest area we could find.)
The Mister and Phil winched up some trees and started up the chainsaw, which Sydney did NOT like. I ended up grooming ferns - cutting away the old growth to give the new fronds full advantage - and of course went crazy, sitting on the bank above our little trailer and worked away so I would have a pretty view from the window if I ever get the chance to just be there and sit and do nothing.
Phil has some interesting theories about life in general and he entertained me with those thoughts while I chopped away. His dog is named Sydney either because she actually came from Australia or they knew each other in another life in Sydney. I'm not sure, but I sometimes enjoy listening to other people's views of the world as long as they're not trying to convert me. And, Phil, if you're reading, thanks for all your help in the woods.
On the way to a family gathering following our time in the woods - where I had to sit on a towel thanks to my dirty pants - the Mister took a route home that went past the mustard field we had seen on the way in. Don't damage your eyes staring at all that yellow - femminismo
p.s. I love you and I think I'm back.

Dinner With a Friend

TONIGHT I had dinner with a friend - a woman I went to high school with. We toured a college together once in 1963. We talked about rooming together once. We gossiped, we dreamed, we wondered what the future might hold.
We've walked two different paths and ended up together tonight - for a while - talking over dinner about the present, past and future. Italian food, beer for her and Italian red wine for me, a plate of three delicious types of bruschetta and a romaine salad with beets. Yum!
We looked through art shops and walked a bit on a labyrinth - until we got dizzy.
It is so good to touch base with an old friend and remember times gone by that seem at the same time to be long ago and just yesterday.
I was hoping we could travel together, but that won't be for a while. Maybe in a couple of years.
For me, I'm thinking of going to Italy in November. Harvesting olives. Taking a cooking class. Never coming back. (Wait! Did I say never come back? I can't do that!)
It's always fun to dream. Tomorrow night I will try to post some photos. I've been taking them, but not having as much time or energy ... or mojo? ... as usual. Bad blogger! Bad! - femminismo