Paradise

... is Southern Oregon in the springtime.  Not warm, balmy, tropical paradise, but beautiful light, windswept clouds and lush, opening green paradise.  I wish I had some good pictures to share with you, but I never manage to really capture the light correctly, and with the way it's been slipping through the snow/rain clouds (no, that isn't a typo) and hitting the Table Rocks it would be a crime to get a bad picture of it.

We have an addition to the Tower household!  Last weekend was the Master Gardener's Fair and in lieu of outside plants (more news on that later), I purchased a small cactus and a succulent, which I may have to name, The Succubus.  I mean, Ophelia, succubus.... now I just need a pet bat.  Anyway, so, the landowners gussied up the landscaping this weekend as well and it looks really (really, really) nice, and the landlord told me that he is going to build a little planter-type thingy under the shade tree on the way to my abode, and that I get to plant things there!  I'm thinking some impatiens, maybe some lobelia or hostas.... I will get to re-explore the world of shade plants.

Speaking of additions, Florin and Jill have welcomed their daughter, Olivia Rose, into the world!  She was born Thursday the 24th and was 14" long, 8lb 1oz.  Congratulations, Flo and Jill!!

Testing. Testing. One, two, three.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present.... RSS feeds!  I'm testing out the Windows Live Writer feature (which so far I totally dig) and in order for me to be able to post remotely I needed to change the format so I had the RSS feeds.  So now, if anyone wants to remotely monitor my posting, you may.  *gracious hand-wave* 

Oh, I have re-registered to vote!  Somehow my registration got all messed up when I registered to vote abroad during the last presidential election and I never, um, got around to fixing it.  Yes, I am a bad citizen, but at least I'm registered now. 

Anyway, I need to get back to work, but I just wanted to update you guys really quick about the state of The Blog.

Blood! Fire! Narcotics! Rubber Chicken Violence!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was quite the exciting trip to Mexico for our intrepid heroine! Our first day there I cut my finger with a handsaw, ending a three year safety record and potentially getting a new scar (yay!). That evening, on their way to pick up the last two members of our group from the San Diego airport, two of our peeps had to wait for 25 minutes at the border without moving.... resulting in a vehicle fire that reduced our vehicle number to five. Oh yeah, they got stuck for 25 minutes because of a drug bust at the border, which the narcotics officer who was our leader totally got to scope out. We had a bit of rubber chicken violence involving... well, really incited by a rubber chicken. I had an absolutely wonderful time, it was a great group of people and I am sooo ready to go again! The family we built for had about nine people in it, including children. We built a four room, stucco-walled building, concrete slab for the floor. It was actually in a (by Mexico-border standards) decent neighborhood. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about this trip, since I'd been hearing quite a bit about drug-related violence in Tijuana (haven't heard that much about it since... love American "news services") but we were fine. Oh, the umbrella group we went under was Amor Ministries, so you can check them out if you like. Maybe next year.... who wants to come with me?!?! Coming home to 23 degree temperatures is a bit jarring after upper-70s, but I promise you'll acclimate!

Note: Sorry this is so late in comparison to my return. I've been burning with all sorts of other posts and having this one hanging over my head.... well, y'all know how it goes!!

Road Trip!

I am going to Mexico.... again!! This time I'm headed down to the Tijuana area for several days with Dad, Uncle Jim, cousin Katie and boyfriend, and about 35 other people to build a house for a pastor-in-training. I'm thoroughly prepared, having purchased yarn for a new project and lined up several novels as well as plotting how to get movies onto my Zune. It looks like the weather is going to be perfect while we're down there, and I'm really looking forward to it! I'm also looking forward to getting ideas for organizing a mission trip with my church, if at possible, since I think our young people could use a nice shot of reality! Praying people feel free to pray. It's a long trip, drug violence is rampant down there, and this is a great opportunity to touch lives.

In other news, I drove up to Seattle last weekend for Simon and Katrina's wedding, which was lovely, and I hope the very best for them, even though they did blow out their unity candle!!! Juan Carlos of previous Guadalajara post fame got married last weekend, too. Any more and I'm going to begin to suspect something in the air.... or something.

Speaking of something in the air, it's springtime!! Today is the official first day of spring, but it's been creeping up for the last couple of weeks: a bloom here, a leaf bud there, weird weather. I love this time of year! I'm a little bummed that I have to miss a week of spring here, but it means that I get to drive through California during the springtime, which is actually very nice! I got to do it a couple of years ago and everything is beautiful and green. Since this time I won't be on the verge of death thanks to mono, I think I'll be better equipped to enjoy the view. Makes for a nice change from the dry, parched, brown, smoggy California I get to see when I visit the rest of the year. So, behave while I'm gone and enjoy the weather and the vernal equinox!

Obsession, let me go

Confession is good for the soul, so I have a confession to make. It's been eating at me, tearing away at me, costing me sleep. I am addicted. I can't free myself from the fiery claws of addiction that eat away at me. I love CSI. I adore CSI. I am such a dork! I'm in love with Warrick and Nick and Greg (such a cutie!) and even Archie the A/V dude. Such a dork. I particularly like watching the "victims" breathing on the coroner's table or at the crime scene, or when their eyelids twitch or heartbeat is visible on their chest.

See, this is why I don't have a television. Can you imagine how much time I would waste if there were commercials involved?? It doesn't bear contemplation. *giggles* I would almost feel guilty about this, but I know that LaDonna has been blogging about American Idol. Guess it's my wild escapism at work! I mean, these are guys who use their brains. And the women are strong characters who also use their brains. Love me some CSI. Love me some Firefly, too, but Schuyler hasn't gotten around to returning mine yet. Oh, and need to finish loving me some Due South. Seriously, how on earth do people survive having television??

Body Count

Three moles.

Two birds.

One garter snake.

I tell ya, I'm going to get fat on meals like this. Unless of course I stay up until all hours watching CSI. My brother loves me and has lent me seasons 2 through 5 or 6. There's nothing quite like sitting up and watching murders being solved with a warm kitty sitting on my foot.... also making it impossible for me to shift and thereby causing my legs to fall asleep. Today was a beautiful day, all sunny and warm, and I slept about two and a half hours of it away. So now, I'm having trouble getting to sleep. A lovely excuse!

Note: Upon closer inspection during my lunch break today, I believe the count is actually two moles, one mouse, two birds and one garter snake.

Note 3/12: Three birds. Apparently she didn't feel that leftover pizza was enough for lunch.

Excuse # 14 For Why I Can't Sleep Before Midnight

Ophelia snores.

And she does it while sleeping on my bed, sometimes even up by my head.

Alright, so it's more of a whistle and it's really cute, but still, can't I use that as a valid excuse for why I cannot manage to get to bed before midnight?

No? Yeah, I didn't figure anyone would go for it. I'm hoping that Ophelia is behaving herself outside right now and that perhaps the weather (I can hear the rain over my stereo) will drive her in before 6am tomorrow. By behaving I mean I hope I don't get another gift of mouse, snake or bird on the stairs in the morning.

Oh, so, completely unrelated but completely disconcerting: I went to a YSSO concert with my friend this evening (ahhhh, memories!!! I miss Youth Symphony so much! My conductor hasn't changed a bit, which was lovely.) and the conductor dedicated Les Preludes by Liszt to a former YSSO violist who had just passed away from cancer, and the girl (woman) who died was someone I had gone to high school with and played in orchestra with for years!!! I had no idea that she was even back in the valley, much less that she had died. And she was 26 or something. I don't want to really wax rhapsodic about it and the frailty of life, etc., because I never seem to manage to convey the wonder of life and how fleeting it really is and how often we take it for granted. *pause* I don't remember life being this ironic when I was a little girl.