Photo of the day: Half and Half

Because life is just better when you're relaxing half in and half out of a big blue donut.

Photo of the day: Zen And the Art of Nibbling On Toilet Paper Rolls

The rules are very simple, but the act itself takes great concentration.

Photo of the day: til death do us part

From one of my Colma visits. I think it's both sad and sweet and makes me hope in an afterlife where they can be together again.

Photo of the day: The Weather is Getting Colder

So the remaining kittles are very happy to find a ram lap full of soft towels to curl into. We love it too.

Heroes
The world today is seriously fucked up when it comes to heroes. Generations of kids have grown up idolizing people whose only quality is unlimited wealth. Football players who miraculously graduated from notable colleges but still can't speak English properly. So-called "superstars" with no taste but plenty of cash.

And when it comes to female heroes (I hate the word "heroine") who is there? Angelina Jolie? OK, Oprah's done a lot of good with her money but when it comes down to it she's just a talk show host.

I've been thinking a lot lately about women I admire. Not just my friends (although I do love and admire all of them) but women whose life made a difference for the better. Here are a few women who should be remembered but mostly aren't:

Edith Cavell: A British nurse and all-around good soul who is credited with saving nearly 200 allied soldiers in WWI by hiding them from the Germans. She was tried and executed for her actions. One of her most memorable sayings is "patriotism is not enough."

Vera Brittain: Writer, feminist and pacifist. After losing her only brother, her fiance, and her two best friends she dedicated her life to peace. Her memoir of WWI Testament of Youth chronicles her losses and her experiences as a nurse on the front lines of the Great War.

Violet Szabo and Noor Inayat Khan: Both operatives with the Special Operations Executive during WWII. Each volunteered for duty inside occupied France and each was captured, tortured, and executed by the Nazis. I cannot imagine the courage it would take to voluntarily go into enemy territory to help fight for a cause you believe in.

Alva Belmont: Alva was rich but her heart was definitely in the right place. "I have been crying in the wilderness for wealthy women to give up their leisure and do something to justify their existence." She was a major benefactor of women's rights and campaigned tirelessly for better and safer working conditions for female factoring workers.

Myrlie Evers-Williams: "You can kill a man but you can't kill an idea." After her husband Medgar Evers was murdered, Myrlie dedicated her life to civil rights. She was the first woman to serve as board chair for the NAACP.

I could list a dozen more, but I don't want to bore you. Each of these women inspires me in some way. And I hope one day to do something remarkable enough to make someone else's list.

Photo of the day: Kitten Sittin'

For some reason this little guy kept trying to sit up on his back feet. He'd only manage it for a few seconds before plopping back down. Between you and me, I think his little round belly got in the way.

The Endless Question
I hate to sound all housewife-y, but I'm fed up with cooking dinner.

I have never enjoyed cooking. Baking is different. I love to make cookies -- probably because they taste better than any dinner I can make. But I hate cooking dinner. Sometimes I think it's not the cooking as much as I hate deciding what to cook every day. I don't have a very expansive repertoire (sorry, Husband) and when I do try something new it tends to suck. There have been many nights I've gotten all adventurous only to end up making popcorn when my chicken a la prune tastes like chicken a la prune. To make it worse I have a cupboard full of cookbooks that really do nothing but take up space.

Part of the problem is that when I'm at the grocery store I can never think of what to buy. So I fall back on the fallback; usually chicken. Then of course I get home and have no clue what to do with it. Having no culinary imagination, I'll stand in front of the cupboard looking at random ingredients and trying to guess what chicken will taste like with peanut butter and cereal on it. (Yes I'm kidding.)

When it does occur to me to consult one of my many cookbooks or a recipe website I'll stumble across something that sounds wonderful only to realize that I don't typically keep apple butter and soba noodles in the pantry. Sure I have the staples, but after a while the staples are boring.

And poor Husband comes home after working so hard, gives me the inevitable question of "what do you want to do about dinner?" and i fall into a mindless stupor.

Photo of the day: A Bit of Moss


As we stagger towards full with this freakish weather -- 90 one day-60 the next -- I find myself looking forward to getting out there and shooting some more. I'll miss the nursery when it closes officially but am anticipating being able to put in some good work in the next few months.