THE GREAT HOUDINI

You'll never believe what I saw this week! This is the fence we installed around our Cantina Garden, so I'd have a fighting chance with all the critters hereabouts.

It's a good six feet tall, and there's eight inches or less between the posts. Just to be on the safe side, John ran some strong fishing line back and forth between the posts, down towards the bottom, to discourage some of the shorter, smaller critters.

So, a couple of days ago, in the middle of the day, I come down the stairs and round the corner just in time to catch a full grown deer in the garden. What does he do? He stares at me for a sec, then turns around and walks out. No clattering of hoofs. No running leaps. He walks. Between two posts. I didn't believe my eyes at first. Perhaps I blinked, and he somehow jumped the fence in the nanosecond that my lids were down. There's just no way a full grown deer could fit through an eight-inch space. Is there? Besides, what about the fishing line? I walked over to take a closer look.

Woah! The line had been cut where I thought I saw the deer exit. Not only that, it was cut in the one and only spot around the entire perimeter, where one could actually walk straight out onto level ground, without any kind of drop-off or impediment in one's way. It's as if it was cut there intentionally.

Perhaps these deer are a lot smarter than we give them credit for...and a whole lot more malleable!

My temporary fix, until we figure out what else to do. May have to resort to ugly black netting everywhere.

TEACHING THE WORLD TO SING

Ya know how my hubby and I both came away from seeing Hair feeling a wee bit sad and depressed? How it had us both asking "what the heck went wrong?" How it had us wondering, whatever happened to teaching the world to sing "in perfect harmony"?

Image from music.ign.com

Well, it got me to thinkin' -- about that ever-recurring topic of balance. About how the pendulum always seems to swing from one extreme to the other, with nary a pause in between. Seems like we went from having a world populated by little automatons with no minds of their own, willing to obey any "authority figure" without question -- whether it be the government, the church, a doctor, a teacher or even an elder, always doing whatever we were told to do, like good little children -- to having one filled with individualists, raised to believe they are the centers of the universe,  to believe "it's all about me", what I want, what I deserve, what I'm entitled to. Give me more, more, MORE!


Why can't we settle somewhere in the middle? Why can't there be a world where we are allowed to speak our minds, and to question the status quo, but where we are also cognizant of having a duty to work for the greater good -- where we are always aware of the big picture, not merely focusing on the me picture?

Just wonderin'.

Image from world.gif

PLEASANT LITTLE SURPRISES

I don't know about you but, for years, whenever I thought of vegan, or even vegetarian, I thought "Blech! Wheat grass drinks and kale smoothies!" I guess it took my joining the Bountiful Sprout, having access to wonderful fresh produce, and connecting with great foodie friends who know what to do with these veggies, for me to finally appreciate just how delicious they can be. Still, no one was more surprised than me when I found myself clicking that button to sign up for an e-course entitled 30 Day Vegan! As I mentioned earlier, I am not turning vegan. I just wanted access to some of Heather's recipes, because everything she cooks and shares on her blog, Beauty That Moves, looks so dang yummy! Well, except maybe those green smoothies. Even if she does serve them in cute little mason jars, they're still green.

Heather's classes are never just about recipes, or cooking with whole foods, though. They're more about nourishing the whole self. So, week one included quite a few "lifestyle" and self-care suggestions to help us do just that. My favorite was reorganizing my pantry and refrigerator, to make room for a few new ingredients I haven't cooked with before, and to make sure everything was properly stored in glass, not plastic. She even gave us a download to make precious little labels for our jars!

Despite having to add a few new ingredients to my repertoire, Heather's recipes are anything but "blech!" Best of all? They're downright easy! Take yesterday, for instance. I had a rough afternoon. Spent the afternoon in the dentist's chair, then had to go to the grocery store, pick up my Bountiful Sprout basket, get some plants at King Feed (which is TBS's new pick up site) and then come home and put all the groceries away and deal with all that produce. By the time I was done, it was already dinner time, and I hadn't even started cooking. I was just about to tell my hubby that I deserved to eat out after all that, but then I remembered one of Heather's recipes that had sounded very quick and yummy. All I had to do was grab an avocado, mash it up with some lime juice, canned white beans, a pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground pepper. Then I heated a couple of the organic whole wheat tortillas I'd just brought home in my TBS basket, spooned in some of the avocado mixture, topped that with salsa, green onion and cilantro, et voila! Easy-Peasy, and good! The tough part now is deciding what to fix tonight. Pad Thai?  Curried Chickpeas? Black Bean Chili? Pasta? So many choices!

GOIN' DOWN TO ROLLIN'

My friend Fiber Woman lives in a very cool neighborhood called Rolling Oaks -- "Rollin'" to the locals. This neighborhood is just brimming with artsy, musical types, so when they needed a way to raise money for the upkeep of their pool and clubhouse, they figured, what better than an annual music festival?

Fiber Woman's hubby, RCD, is primarily an artist, but he dabbles in a whole lotta other stuff on the side, including GIT-tar pickin', mouth-harp playin', and even a bit of blue grass song- and book-writing too. He and two of his buddies were the opening act this year. I believe they called themselves something like The Lonesome Lovesick Cowboys From Outer Space.

Fiber Woman couldn't be there, since it happened to fall on the same weekend as "Land Rush." You see, every year she sets up a booth at the Kerrville Folk Festival, and in order to get a primo spot for your booth, you have to show up on Friday, the weekend before it opens, just to get in line. They stay there all weekend long, then on Sunday they finally open the gates, and everyone rushes in to try and grab their favorite spot. She managed to nab a good, shady spot this time, but missed RCD's musical debut.

The Muses and their hubbies, however, turned out in full support!

BLISS

If I have one gift it is probably that, for the most part, I wake up excited every day -- especially now that I don't have anywhere I have to be each day! Even when I was still working, however, I was lucky in that I almost always had jobs where I was able to do creative things and learn lots of new stuff -- which is pretty much all it takes to get my engines revved. Imagine, then, how these online classes are affecting me.

Even those first few lessons, where all we did was sketch radishes, had me all a-twitter. I go back to admire my handiwork at least twenty times a day, and wake up each morning thinking "Wow! I wonder what we get to do today?" And, if it happens to be a day when some new art supplies or books are winging their way to me in the mail? Well, on those days, I can barely control myself! To tell you the truth, I'm pretty sure that's why my hubby married me. He has trouble getting excited about stuff, so I think he loves it when a little of my delirium rubs off on him.

I have never experienced that surge of endorphins some people get while exercising -- that thing they call a "runner's high", nor do I get that nice fuzzy-headedness from alcohol that so many people talk about. And, though I have never used tobacco or recreational drugs of any kind, I did have to take Vicodin for a few weeks when I boogered up my neck so badly, so I'm guessing that the feelings people get from these substances is akin to what I get from color and creativity -- that blissful feeling of euphoria and a powerful surge of energy flowing through every part of one's body.

I wrote here once before, about my fortunate knack for summoning a sense of euphoria almost at will, and being able to send happy shivers up my very own neck, but I didn't realize its connection to creative energy until I started taking these classes. My feet have barely touched the ground since! My eyes were opened when I happened to hit a lull this weekend. I had finally come to one class project that I just wasn't into, and was dragging my feet about starting, plus I had a busy weekend ahead, with guests coming and a music festival to attend, so I put my art supplies away for a while and "snap!", my euphoria evaporated and my feet went kerplop on the the ground. I was also seriously worried because I was already more than halfway through the lessons in this particular class, and hadn't yet found another I wanted to take. What if I never found any as good as this one? Would I ever feel this blissful again? The more I fretted about it, and the longer I went without painting or sketching, the glummer I became.

Sunday night I finally had a chance to get back on the computer. I finished watching the lesson video for the project I wasn't excited about, took a few notes on different techniques that were used, then gave myself permission to move on to the next lesson -- one I couldn't wait to get started on. Then I did a little blog-hopping, and one of the very first things I stumbled upon was this. Yabba-dabba-do, I've found my next class! And just like that -- snap! -- I'm high as a kite again, with delicious little tingles coursing up and down my spine. As if that weren't enough, there's another little package (containing a few stencils, one stamp, and some canvasses I need for upcoming class projects) on its way to my house, and my daughter and I have begun a cooking course being taught by Heather over at Beauty That Moves, which should result in some yummy meatless meals at both our houses (though none of us are turning vegan, I promise). I see a blissful week ahead!

COLOR MAD MONDAY

 Absolutely loving all the colors in this clump of grass...

 especially when there is sunlight coming through the leaves.

 I love how the colors change, according to the time of day...

 or the direction from which you are viewing them.

 My camera captured but a vew of them.

If only I was better with a paint brush!

CAN YOU SPOT THE SPOTS?

I caught sight of momma and her brand new baby foraging behind our rain tank earlier this week, and ran to grab my camera. With the help of my zoom feature, I managed to nab a couple of quick shots from the balcony, but those babies, they come with great camouflage! Click on the photos to enlarge, and see if you can "spot the spots!"