This is yet another weekend gone too fast. After the rough week of work last week, it seems as though the weekend should rightfully have been longer but alas, I write this on the eve before another Monday, really wishing that somehow an extra day could simply be added to every weekend for everyone.
Nevertheless, Sunday evening it is and thus, the weekend is waning.
It's been a nice weekend though. I drove back to my parents. As has become an annual tradition, my mum and I went to the Wabash Herb Festival in Wabash, Indiana. Unlike last year, we had a lovely dry day. It was, as usual, a lot of fun. There's something completely relaxing walking around placed like that. It's fun to just look and see, poke a little fun at the Society of Creative Anachronism and just generally enjoy both the day and time with my mother. We both ended up with some small purchases- I got a new serving platter and a wall hanging and mum got a couple of plants and a few other bits to begin working on a miniature garden.
It was just a nice morning. We ended up exploring a little in Wabash too. They have a great pet store there that has pets for sale as well as pet stuff. I was quite charmed by the cute little potbellied pigs. I've always quite fancied having a little pet pig but when I pictured trying to explain to Sookie and Rory that yes, they might enjoy bacon but that doesn't mean little Wilbur is food, I decided against it. Also, I'm quite sure that my parents wouldn't be as willing to pig-sit as they are to dog-sit when I go away. They were very cute though and I enjoyed petting them. The pet store also had the largest pet rabbit I've ever seen. It was apparently only 8 weeks old and it was seriously already bigger than Sookie. Apparently, it can get up to 25 lbs. Pretty fascinating and slightly disturbing.
All in all, it was just a nice day. I love days where we have a rough plan but we can spend time just meandering around and discover new places.
Sunday has been a little less fun simply because I made a discovery that made me feel quite idiotic. My green card is expiring in less than a week. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem unless I travel. And, since I qualified for my free trip to London...I'm going to be traveling. This discovery led to a souring of my mood which I feel a little guilty about since I'm sure I wasn't fun for my parents to be around. Still, I filed online for a renewal and I'm going to call to see how I can go about getting a temporary renewal which I know is possible. It just makes me feel a little stupid since I was very careful to check my passport but, for some reason, I thought my green card expired next year. Silly me. Hopefully everything will work out for the best...It was just a bit of a shock even if it was my own fault.
Still, in spite of that, I had a fun weekend and I was sad to leave my parents to return to the normalcy of my routine. My mother is actually going to the UK on Wednesday so I won't see/talk to her for a while. I'm hoping my dad will come down to visit which will be nice- it's always fun to have one-on-one time with both parents.
So, even though the weekend is coming to a close, it hasn't been wasted. Then again, it's hard to waste a weekend. Although it's back to the grind tomorrow, it's definitely nice to know that in five days, the weekend will be here again. It's the time in between that can be a little tricky but this is the start of a new week full of new hope. Let's hope it's a little better than last week. Even if it's not, I have a good weekend behind me to keep me going.
I like it when life is good.
Happy Monday!
Showing posts with label Herb Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herb Festival. Show all posts
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Odie the Interloper!
It's Monday again tomorrow. I'd complain about the weekend flying by but it wouldn't be anything I haven't blogged already. Time just simply moves faster on the weekends, that's all.
I did have a nice weekend, even if it turned out to be a little different from what I had in mine. I headed to my parents this weekend. It was the weekend for a local Herb Festival. Mum and I went last year and had a lovely time. This year we went and...it rained. It was ok when we got there, mostly just drizzle. Sadly, probably due to the rain, there wasn't as many vendors as usual. We still had fun walking.
And then it really began to rain. We tried not to mind and we continued trying to browse the stalls but, well, there comes a certain point when you're literally dripping and you can't help but be a littler miserable. We ended up giving up in search of lunch and some hot coffee with the hope that the rain would subside. It actually did end up stopping so, frizzy-haired and rumpled, we headed back to the festival. It was fun just not as fun as last year. Still, getting to spend the day with my mother while my dad puppy-sits is a lovely treat.
But he's a big part of the family. He's also surprisingly able for such an elderly beast. Sometimes I joke that He's the Dog that Will Not Die but I don't wish that on him. Odie is part of our dog history. We found him at a flea market in Daytona Beach in my early days of high school. If he were a man, he would be one of those very neat and orderly men that liked fine foods, fine wine, got manicures and listen to show tunes. Odie loves show tunes. When I lived at home, I would caterwaul songs like, "The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow," and "My Favourite Things," and Odie would stare up, blissfully as if truly grateful that someone got him. He's horribly ashamed of his background. My dad used to tease him and call him "Flea Market Dog," and, as if he understood, Odie would growl and 'shout'.
In my less politically correct moments, I would shout names of Taco Bell items at Odie. This was during the days of the Taco Bell Chihuahua. Odie would get rather upset with me, again as if he understood.
Odie is a force to be reckoned with, even now. We no longer tease him because he's an old man and deserves respect. Yet he still manages to hold his ground with the young pups. He's the only one of my parents' three dogs that the puppies cower from and won't bully a little. It's interesting.
Now Odie is here to stay for two weeks. So far, he's done very little but be nosy and look around the house. He's also had his dinner because Odie is a creature that Needs to Be Fed. If you don't feed Odie on schedule, he has this rather infuriating woofing thing he does and he just goes on and on and on and on and on until you cave and feed him. Sometimes, this is at four o'clock in the afternoon. He really is an old man.
Still, he's here to make life interesting. It means the puppies routine is going to be a bit different for a while. It's hard because we have a Circle of Trust in our house and we aren't used to Interlopers. Odie is an Interloper. I'm hoping the puppies adjust. Actually, I'm hoping I adjust. So far, things haven't been too bad. I just have to keep an eye on the old dog just because he's quite sneaky. Last year when my parents went to England, my sister Odie-sat for them. Odie managed to find his way out of her fenced in yard and even with his hobbled legs, he managed to sprint off down the street and my sister had to run to catch him. He's known as "an escape artist". For an old man, when he wants to, he can certainly move.
For now, however, he's curled up by my feet, safe from the curious sniffs of Rory and Sookie. I think it's going to make life interesting for two weeks. I'll keep you posted.
Happy Monday!
I did have a nice weekend, even if it turned out to be a little different from what I had in mine. I headed to my parents this weekend. It was the weekend for a local Herb Festival. Mum and I went last year and had a lovely time. This year we went and...it rained. It was ok when we got there, mostly just drizzle. Sadly, probably due to the rain, there wasn't as many vendors as usual. We still had fun walking.
And then it really began to rain. We tried not to mind and we continued trying to browse the stalls but, well, there comes a certain point when you're literally dripping and you can't help but be a littler miserable. We ended up giving up in search of lunch and some hot coffee with the hope that the rain would subside. It actually did end up stopping so, frizzy-haired and rumpled, we headed back to the festival. It was fun just not as fun as last year. Still, getting to spend the day with my mother while my dad puppy-sits is a lovely treat.
As for the rest of the weekend, much of it was spent in preparation for Sookie, Rory and my new house 'guest'. My parents are off to England on Tuesday so I'm dog-sitting for their elderly chihuahua, Odie.
Odie is over fourteen years old. He's very...old. He's had a couple of strokes and can't really move well. He's half-death and has no teeth. He's quite mean and horribly bad tempered.
Odie is over fourteen years old. He's very...old. He's had a couple of strokes and can't really move well. He's half-death and has no teeth. He's quite mean and horribly bad tempered.
But he's a big part of the family. He's also surprisingly able for such an elderly beast. Sometimes I joke that He's the Dog that Will Not Die but I don't wish that on him. Odie is part of our dog history. We found him at a flea market in Daytona Beach in my early days of high school. If he were a man, he would be one of those very neat and orderly men that liked fine foods, fine wine, got manicures and listen to show tunes. Odie loves show tunes. When I lived at home, I would caterwaul songs like, "The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow," and "My Favourite Things," and Odie would stare up, blissfully as if truly grateful that someone got him. He's horribly ashamed of his background. My dad used to tease him and call him "Flea Market Dog," and, as if he understood, Odie would growl and 'shout'.
In my less politically correct moments, I would shout names of Taco Bell items at Odie. This was during the days of the Taco Bell Chihuahua. Odie would get rather upset with me, again as if he understood.
Odie is a force to be reckoned with, even now. We no longer tease him because he's an old man and deserves respect. Yet he still manages to hold his ground with the young pups. He's the only one of my parents' three dogs that the puppies cower from and won't bully a little. It's interesting.
Now Odie is here to stay for two weeks. So far, he's done very little but be nosy and look around the house. He's also had his dinner because Odie is a creature that Needs to Be Fed. If you don't feed Odie on schedule, he has this rather infuriating woofing thing he does and he just goes on and on and on and on and on until you cave and feed him. Sometimes, this is at four o'clock in the afternoon. He really is an old man.
Still, he's here to make life interesting. It means the puppies routine is going to be a bit different for a while. It's hard because we have a Circle of Trust in our house and we aren't used to Interlopers. Odie is an Interloper. I'm hoping the puppies adjust. Actually, I'm hoping I adjust. So far, things haven't been too bad. I just have to keep an eye on the old dog just because he's quite sneaky. Last year when my parents went to England, my sister Odie-sat for them. Odie managed to find his way out of her fenced in yard and even with his hobbled legs, he managed to sprint off down the street and my sister had to run to catch him. He's known as "an escape artist". For an old man, when he wants to, he can certainly move.
For now, however, he's curled up by my feet, safe from the curious sniffs of Rory and Sookie. I think it's going to make life interesting for two weeks. I'll keep you posted.
Happy Monday!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday Musings
Weekends go by way too quickly. Somehow, I left my office on Friday and passed through a time warp because here I am again on Monday morning, feeling as though I didn't have a weekend even though I did and it was good.
Still, I shouldn't complain too much. This morning, on the way out of my neighbourhood, I saw a line of sleepy, grumpy looking kids waiting for the school bus. I might not be happy about coming to work after a nice weekend but at least I'm not coming back after three months away like those kids. I always hated the first weeks back. For some reason, I thought that because we were back in school, summer was over. However, the nasty, sticky, humidity of August/September betrayed my beliefs. School, to me, was supposed to be beginning of Autumn and I'd wait for the leaves to start changing, a crispness to slowly emerge in the night air. It never happened that way and at the end of the school day, we'd emerge from the chilly over-airconditioned building and be hit with that wall of stickiness that told me that it really was still summer.
I don't know how those kids that I saw this morning feeling but I can tell you that I didn't see any of them doing a dance of joy or for that matter, even looking slightly happy. They looked weary, tired, apprehensive and just plain annoyed.
Me, I was just sleepy this morning as I left for work. My weekend was great but it was tiring. I went to a Herb Festival in Wabash, Indiana this weekend. I love things like that. When I moved back to the Midwest, I promised myself that I'd try to do more things like that, local activities that salute the charm of the area.
The Herb Festival was a lot of fun. Having just planted my herb garden and being a big fan of herbs in general, it seemed like a perfect time to go. I went with my mother and we had a lovely time walking around, exploring all the booths, talking each other into making purchases and just enjoying the fact that it was a beautiful, not too hot day. I left with a new pot of sage, a little 'pesto garden' and some assorted spices for cooking.
After that, I got to do a more nervewracking thing...show my mother my house for the first time since I moved in. She came to stay with me on Saturday and I was a little nervous. I'm a firm believer that no matter how old we get, we're still going to feel like we need our parent's approval in everything we do, even subconsciously. So, I was a little nervous to show her my furnished and decorated abode.
Fortunately, she seemed to like it. I like it too. Those frustrating cranberry walls actually look pretty good with my furniture and the paintings I've hung. My grass was fairly recently mowed so the back yard looked pretty decent. Of course, my mother being an avid and talented gardener, zeroed in on my lovely weed collection but she did grant me forbearance because I have, after all, just moved in and do have other things to do.
My sister, niece and brother-in-law came down on Sunday to see my new house and visit Jungle Jim's. My niece is three. She is just the greatest little kid and I enjoy getting to spend time with her. She has a lot of energy though and by the time she left, I had to admire my sister and brother-in-law for being able to deal with her every day. She has a very good imagination and at the moment, she's carrying an imaginary...creature...in the palm of her hand called "Baby Wendy." Unfortunately, as she's the only one who can see Baby Wendy, it leads to all sorts of problems. Her mother apparently isn't very nice to Baby Wendy because she accidentally shut her in the pantry the other night. I believe she's also stepped on Baby Wendy a few times.
Baby Wendy aside, it's fun to spend time with my family like that. It was so nice to be able to show them my new house and go to Jungle Jim's with them. When they left, my house was quiet and slightly lonely.
Now the weekend is over, it's time to look ahead to the week. It's actually a short week for me; my plans to go to Las Vegas finally came together and I'll be flying out Thursday night. It should be a fun trip, if a little brief. Then again, while I enjoy the glitz and tackiness of Vegas, two days is probably enough. I haven't checked the weather yet but given that Vegas is in the middle of the desert, this time of year, it's pretty much an inferno of heat only differentiated by the reading on the thermometer. Once it gets that hot, the thermometer reading doesn't really matter- it's more a question of whether it's tolerable to be outside or if you should plan your down the strip by winding your way through the casinos, venturing outside only to cross to the next casino.
Thus, it's going to be a busy week. It seems to be that life is busier lately for me than it's been for a while. When I get back from this trip, I'm putting a moratorium on traveling for a while. I need to get more settled in my house, I need to take charge of being a homeowner instead of coasting off the novelty of being able to dabble around with a little of this and a little of that. I need to figure out what I want to do to the house, to the garden. I need to finish unpacking.
However, for now, the week lies ahead, the berth between now and the next weekend the widest it will be all week. On the plus side, at least I'm not going back to school like those kids I passed this morning. It might be a Monday but for us non-school goers, it's just another Monday. For those kids, it's as though the reins of freedom have been taken away and a clamp of obligation clamped on their leg instead. They're probably already counting down to Labour Day, their first long weekend.
Then again, I'm also counting down to Labour Day. So maybe there's not quite so much difference after all.
Happy Monday.
Still, I shouldn't complain too much. This morning, on the way out of my neighbourhood, I saw a line of sleepy, grumpy looking kids waiting for the school bus. I might not be happy about coming to work after a nice weekend but at least I'm not coming back after three months away like those kids. I always hated the first weeks back. For some reason, I thought that because we were back in school, summer was over. However, the nasty, sticky, humidity of August/September betrayed my beliefs. School, to me, was supposed to be beginning of Autumn and I'd wait for the leaves to start changing, a crispness to slowly emerge in the night air. It never happened that way and at the end of the school day, we'd emerge from the chilly over-airconditioned building and be hit with that wall of stickiness that told me that it really was still summer.
I don't know how those kids that I saw this morning feeling but I can tell you that I didn't see any of them doing a dance of joy or for that matter, even looking slightly happy. They looked weary, tired, apprehensive and just plain annoyed.
Me, I was just sleepy this morning as I left for work. My weekend was great but it was tiring. I went to a Herb Festival in Wabash, Indiana this weekend. I love things like that. When I moved back to the Midwest, I promised myself that I'd try to do more things like that, local activities that salute the charm of the area.
The Herb Festival was a lot of fun. Having just planted my herb garden and being a big fan of herbs in general, it seemed like a perfect time to go. I went with my mother and we had a lovely time walking around, exploring all the booths, talking each other into making purchases and just enjoying the fact that it was a beautiful, not too hot day. I left with a new pot of sage, a little 'pesto garden' and some assorted spices for cooking.
After that, I got to do a more nervewracking thing...show my mother my house for the first time since I moved in. She came to stay with me on Saturday and I was a little nervous. I'm a firm believer that no matter how old we get, we're still going to feel like we need our parent's approval in everything we do, even subconsciously. So, I was a little nervous to show her my furnished and decorated abode.
Fortunately, she seemed to like it. I like it too. Those frustrating cranberry walls actually look pretty good with my furniture and the paintings I've hung. My grass was fairly recently mowed so the back yard looked pretty decent. Of course, my mother being an avid and talented gardener, zeroed in on my lovely weed collection but she did grant me forbearance because I have, after all, just moved in and do have other things to do.
My sister, niece and brother-in-law came down on Sunday to see my new house and visit Jungle Jim's. My niece is three. She is just the greatest little kid and I enjoy getting to spend time with her. She has a lot of energy though and by the time she left, I had to admire my sister and brother-in-law for being able to deal with her every day. She has a very good imagination and at the moment, she's carrying an imaginary...creature...in the palm of her hand called "Baby Wendy." Unfortunately, as she's the only one who can see Baby Wendy, it leads to all sorts of problems. Her mother apparently isn't very nice to Baby Wendy because she accidentally shut her in the pantry the other night. I believe she's also stepped on Baby Wendy a few times.
Baby Wendy aside, it's fun to spend time with my family like that. It was so nice to be able to show them my new house and go to Jungle Jim's with them. When they left, my house was quiet and slightly lonely.
Now the weekend is over, it's time to look ahead to the week. It's actually a short week for me; my plans to go to Las Vegas finally came together and I'll be flying out Thursday night. It should be a fun trip, if a little brief. Then again, while I enjoy the glitz and tackiness of Vegas, two days is probably enough. I haven't checked the weather yet but given that Vegas is in the middle of the desert, this time of year, it's pretty much an inferno of heat only differentiated by the reading on the thermometer. Once it gets that hot, the thermometer reading doesn't really matter- it's more a question of whether it's tolerable to be outside or if you should plan your down the strip by winding your way through the casinos, venturing outside only to cross to the next casino.
Thus, it's going to be a busy week. It seems to be that life is busier lately for me than it's been for a while. When I get back from this trip, I'm putting a moratorium on traveling for a while. I need to get more settled in my house, I need to take charge of being a homeowner instead of coasting off the novelty of being able to dabble around with a little of this and a little of that. I need to figure out what I want to do to the house, to the garden. I need to finish unpacking.
However, for now, the week lies ahead, the berth between now and the next weekend the widest it will be all week. On the plus side, at least I'm not going back to school like those kids I passed this morning. It might be a Monday but for us non-school goers, it's just another Monday. For those kids, it's as though the reins of freedom have been taken away and a clamp of obligation clamped on their leg instead. They're probably already counting down to Labour Day, their first long weekend.
Then again, I'm also counting down to Labour Day. So maybe there's not quite so much difference after all.
Happy Monday.
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