This is as close as I can get . . .

. . . to having Johnny Depp in my house. Or, more accurately, Captain Jack Sparrow. I'm sure he's more fun than Johnny anyway. Maybe.


I love, love, love Halloween! It is absolutely my favorite holiday ever. We have only recently relocated to Illinois and we are living in a house built in the 1800s; I was hoping to encounter some friendly spirits here but other than the neighbors, no such luck. We found some VERY friendly spirits last weekend in the Chicago area and held an impromptu pumpkin carving class. It was quite a mixed group of gender and age and it is safe to say a good time was had by all. Worth mentioning -- these are all first-time pumpkin carvers and their results were magnificent!





Thanks to my sister, Joy, for the wonderful treats, great decorations and a fire to take the chill off!

Who doesn't love fall color?

Just a few photos of Illinois fall color from a road trip on a beautiful October Sunday:

A fine day made even better when you can enjoy it with a friend!

We're settling in . . .

. . . to our temporary new home in Illinois. That is if you consider two years to be temporary! Jim is at work building a wonderful new addition to a children's hospital and I am working on setting up yet another studio. Hopefully it won't be long before I have some new items to post in my Etsy shop. Here's a last minute project finished just before I packed up my must-haves from my Florida studio:

I have a peculiar habit that is shared among many jewelry artists I've spoken with -- that of hoarding beads we are especially fond of. This bracelet represents the last of my purple turquoise. I'm sure it will go to a good home.

Here's a sneak peak of our new "crib," our cozy living room.

Where do nutty FL residents go when they're bored?

Why, to the beach, of course! Personally, much as I love to be near the water, I'm not fond of the August heat in Florida or the way the saltwater leaves me feeling all sticky and covered with sand. I avoid the beaches all summer except for those occasions when we have a visitor who would like to go. The hook that dragged me there yesterday was the current gulf hurricane action, Gustav.

I'm aware that those of us who would do such a thing are small in number next to the conservative, eyebrow-raising safety geeks. But what the hell, I figure I've had a good long life anyway. Sure beats falling down the stairs and breaking one's neck. And it helps to have a spouse who is easily suckered into anything that includes hot weather and a beach. So we grabbed a small cooler for the beverages, the dog and a couple of chairs and headed for the Honeymoon Island dog beach.

After paying the $5 admission, this sign greets you as you wind toward the parking lot:

We park the car, grab our stuff and head, unwary, for the beach. The condition of the path leaves much to be desired, covered in places with water or flip-flop sucking mud. Needless to say, the princess had to be carried.

I'd like to say the snake warning sign is a joke, but guess what's waiting for us on the beach?

Yes, that IS what you think it is. I guess you won't be wanting us to take you to the beach again. We find that there are other strange creatures on the beach as well.

What has brought them here? Not sure if it's called wind-surfing or parasailing, but it sure is entertaining.

We figured the wind was sustained at about 30 mph with frequent gusting. Fun to watch these guys catch a blast of wind. And looks like someone else caught some air as well!

The weather deteriorated, started to rain, and the boys packed up and left. It wasn't long after that the rest of the stragglers disappeared and we found ourselves alone.

The three of us stuck it out till the tide pushed us up into the wetlands (jungle). We made the muddy trek once again to the parking lot where we made use of the "dog wash" to clean off the feet. All eight of them. So there you have it. Some people actually enjoy hurricanes.

Optimus Prime is not a mortgage instrument.

Yesterday we had a lovely visit with a young couple, Andrew and Carrie, and their cutie-boy Caden. I can count the number of cutie-boys there have been in my life on one hand and Caden is definitely one of them. This evening I have the luxury of sitting here and letting my mind wander and it naturally wanders back to the first and foremost of my cutie-boys, Tommy. I call this a luxury because I remember those long-ago evenings when falling into bed by this time of night and not being awakened till morning was HEAVEN.

Now it's only fair to mention my cutie-girl, Denise, since she was the firstborn and is still my Sunshine. We used to call her "Buddy" and she was all that. On the motorcycle, on the boat, in the Corvette, Denise was the largest part of our extended childhood. Bicycles, bumps and bruises. And yet she survived.

Back in the day some of us didn't give much thought to having a child. It kind of just happened to us pretty much without a plan. I realize now that I gave more thought to getting our dog last year than I did to having babies back then. It was just the thing you did when you graduated; only the rarest women went on to be professionals and make lives for themselves. The rest of us coveted marriage and children, a life like the Cleaver's.

It is amazing the miracle that is a child and I'm happy to see young mothers who are way more in touch with that fact than I and my peers were. Nowdays these women actually study ahead of time instead of running to the Dr. Spock book when something out of the ordinary happens. It's great that they're informed, I guess, but then I remember the "two sides of the coin" theory. In the stone age we never heard of ADHD, autism or acid reflux. Baby aspirin for a fever, penicillin for strep throat, Desitin for diaper rash -- that's as complicated as it ever got for most of us. We did so much seemingly wrong, although generally with the best of intentions, and yet the children, mine included, survived.

Holding little Caden last night, laughing with him and getting his big wet "kisses" was wonderful and yet somewhat bittersweet. Raising a child involves so much more these days and seems a more frightening venture than I could participate in at this time (big thanks to the universe for menopause!). More diseases, more dangers and life is moving at the speed of light. So much more for the little ones to learn so much earlier. Homework in first grade -- the pressure! Yet at the same time it is all so simple: a young couple on the brink of life creating yet another life, putting all their hopes and dreams on the line, trying very hard to do the right things. I am in awe of so many of them and very greatful that they share their beautiful babies with us.

Oh, no, I'm an empty nester . . .

. . . once again! How fast these little guys grew up! I can't believe they're already out of the nest and less than two weeks old! I'm going to miss the little guys. Maybe some day they'll return to the nest and have families of their own.

But just like us humans Dad keeps a watchful eye on them.

Yes, by golly, I do believe . . .

. . . in reincarnation. Life after life (good book, BTW). That the essence of our being, some call it soul, our energy, goes on and on. Isn't it the "Law of Entropy" that says energy can neither be created or destroyed? Most of us are pretty sure we have some energy in us somewhere, so where does it go when we die? Does it join the throngs of disposed energy as smog? Personally, I don't think so.

We just returned from the morning walk on the local bike path. During the walk I was listening to Enya and thinking about the vehicular huge turtle homicide I witnessed two days ago. My niece and I have been trying to comfort me with thoughts of "a better place" and "a new life." I got to pondering what I understand is the Buddhist belief that our energy continues to be recycled into new life for better or worse depending on our behavior in the most recent lifetime. In other words, we keep on comin' back until we learn the lessons.

To take my understanding one step deeper, I think the rule is that we come back as a lesser or greater life form depending on how well we learned the lessons last time. This brings me a logical (for me) question: Just what constitutes "lesser" or "greater?" Whoa, this is way too massive to answer here. For simplicity's sake, lets assume one is of the opinion that those particular adjectives roughly coincide with one's position on the food chain. For example, you do bad things in this life as a human and maybe next time you're a snail. Now before anyone goes ballistic, the reason for this post isn't to get into whether humans are better than snails. I think I already established that.

So back to the turtle. I'm hoping he or she was a good little turtle and learned all his or her little turtle lessons well. But, I'm thinking, the poor thing will undoubtedly have to go through possibly HUNDREDS of evolutions to arrive on earth as one of us smart humans. As soon as this thought leaves some portal in my brain and leaps into my consciousness, my very next thought is of a recent event held in Tampa that once again proves just how intelligent human life is. It's called "Flugtag." Check it out:

http://www.redbullflugtagusa.com/

I'm sorry to say that I think some of us are going to have to come back as turtles until we can learn to properly cross the road.