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The last week-week and a half has been mid to upper 80s without a cloud in the sky followed by torrential rain & wind and (normal) rainy drizzle in the 60s. From that basking in 10 hours of sun per day to 48 hours of rain, the garden has exploded. Seriously, I haven’t been out there for 2 days and I thought I walked into someone else’s patch of earth. The tomatoes got blown over by the high winds, but luckily they just bent (no breaking). I hurried down to the local hardware store this morning to purchase cages and got them mostly straightened out. (Note to self: Cage early! Putting tomato cages on when they’re bigger is 20 minutes of bending and weaving and hoping to god that you don’t lop the top half of the plant off by bending too far.)

The peas have baby peas. The peppers have baby peppers. The onions and scallion are looking good. The tomatoes have lots of flowers. The rain barrel is full-to-bursting again! The strawberries are spreading and have lots of white starter-strawberries. Life is abundant!

PS – The yellow roses bloomed as a group this year and look absolutely fabulous! The reds, pinks, and whites are not far behind. Hopefully the transplanted ones have a good growing year so that next year I might enjoy their blooms again.

I don’t get impressed easily by technology; rather, I’m in the habit of expecting “more” flawlessly, seamlessly, and instantaneously. Wolfram|Alpha impresses me and I can’t wait to use it.

Handsome got me this awesome painting of deep orange calla lilies for Christmas – it’s one picture painted continuously over four different sized canvases. The background is brown. I hung it above the TV and it looks just amazing on the wall – the colors in the picture really compliment the wall and the furniture, and it flows well with the vaulted ceiling. It’s perfect and I smile when I look at it.

I am now 26 years old. I can remember thinking about being 21, about being 30, 50, and even 80, but never 26. I wonder what this year will bring.

Friday we held my birthday party – we had 11 strong at the height of the night, and the morning showed several casualties: two half bottles of Whaler’s rum, one half-gallon of Jack Daniels, one half-gallon of vodka, about five bottles of beer, ALL the pop, and an entire Baskin Robbins Almond Jamocha log cake. We played drinking Sorry and drinking Trivial Pursuit. Jen vomited politely in the front yard; Fidiot managed to puke all over his bed and floor and then proceeded to sleep in it. Epic, I know. The party died about 4:30am, but it was awfully entertaining until then.

This morning I opened my gifts: among them I got season one of Life (starring Capt. Winters from Band of Brothers), seasons six, seven, and eight of That 70’s Show, Scrabble, a pirate ship for my aquarium, gift cards and money, travel ping-pong, Wii Fit, and new socks!

Later today we will eat my ice-cream birthday cake that has been patiently sitting out back (it doesn’t fit in our freezer) since Friday night. It is almost buried in snow/ice, but I imagine it has kept nicely. We had planned to go out to eat at the restaurant of my choice, but Fidiot’s car is covered in 1/2 inch of ice with 3-4 inches of snow underneath, so we may wait until the path down to lower Salem is less treacherous.

Thank you everyone (including the weather)!

The snow has been falling all day long here! We have a few inches, and my ice cream birthday cake that didn’t fit in the freezer is almost buried out back – see the photos on flickr! I know it’s too much to hope for a white Christmas, but my heart is holding out anyway.

We have snow! We woke up to dusting and a bit of flurries, and now about 1.5 inches with heavier snowfall. AND, we got our Christmas tree today (during the middle of the day where it was about 40 degrees and most of the morning snow melted)! It’s decorated and beautiful with presents around it in our living room. It smells wonderfully pine-y too. Perhaps a picture to follow soon. We don’t have a tree topper, so my Broncos Santa hat adorns the top of the 8′ tree.

Today is a beautiful fall day in the Pacific Northwest! The last leaves are falling from the trees, the slight breeze is gently refreshing against my face, the sun warms my skin as I soak up the last few rays for the next 6 months. You’re welcome – Handsome and I brought it back from Mexico!

Lately I’ve had a few very good, very honest talks lately. I love these talks. The ones where there are no stupid questions. Where voices stay calm, free of anger, resentment, and misunderstanding. Where complex thought and emotion meld into sincere conversation.

Yay for Obama! I was absolutely, totally, 100% impressed with Obama’s victory speech. He does an excellent job of inspiring hope, unity, and effort with his calm, self-confident, intelligent, and professional yet not dispassionate demeanor. I was particularly moved by his use of “us,” “we,” and “our” and his attitude toward the changes he hopes to spur as well as his realization that we have a long uphill battle ahead of us but that “Yes, we can!”

If you haven’t watched the speech; you simply must. It is one of the greatest speeches I’ve ever heard. I don’t think I’ve ever been so worried about the President’s safety before, either.

Also, I must give props to John McCain; he gave a very gracious concession speech amidst a very negative Republican gathering. I was impressed by his class. And I was glad I didn’t have to listen to Palin blather.

I’m reading one of the most amazing books – it’s called Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The book is about one American (and Montanan!) man’s journey building schools in rural Pakistan.

I would paraphrase the book, but a nice summary is provided at the website. This is one of the most hopeful stories I’ve read in a long time. Hopeful for humanity, for world understanding, for cultural acceptance. It really is a must-read; I recommend it to everyone, especially the government. It is a better war on terrorism than all the bombs we can make.