To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. ~Emily Dickinson

Hello, Darlings!

I've been a piss poor blogger lately. My head is empty. I feel like I've said a lot of what I've Had To Say, and pretty much everything is redundant. I miss the little niche I'd carved out for myself in previous incarnations of this publications, the small community of readers. My writing was dependent on that exchange, and a lot of my old pals are doing other things, too. My blogging addiction has abated, and now I spend a lot more time DOING. Maybe I've just come to the age where contemplating my navel is passe. Have I outgrown this passion, or am I just in a dormant phase? Not sure.

Things are most excellent, though. The doing has been delicious. I have been organizing a salad club at work. This is part of our social responsibility and sustainability project. Once a week, everyone brings in a veg, we store it in the work fridge, and then we have communal salads available for the taking any ol' time. 13 people signed up. Today was the first day, and I enjoyed my salad very much, thank you!

I also wrote a silly little team newsletter at my boss' urging, and then he passed it up the chain to corporate. I was a little embarrassed because it was mainly a goof, but they LOVED it. They think it is wonderful, this positive "corporate culture" we are building, so my ego was very inflated.

I'm proud of myself because I took the most deplorable job, stuck with it, and found some things that I could contribute to the group. I've almost been there a year, and I don't find that fact to be something to cry about right now. I feel appreciated and useful, and I'm so grateful for the change. I know that hanging out there will not get me to the places I want to go in life, at this rate of pay, but still I have found plenty to be grateful for. I read a heartening statistic about millionaires. The median age that they found their calling was 45, and the median age that they became millionaires is 54. Not that being a millionaire is my focus. That is only the way Money magazine measures success. The point I took away is that I still have time to grow. I'm not done yet.

Weekends are a marathon of trying to squeeze as much as possible into two days. It is a race to be active, to be social, to expose the kids to culture and positive life lessons, to take care of the house, and also, don't forget, be awesome. This weekend I worked on my faux patio. Our door opens right up to the sidewalk. We have no yard, no patio, no deck, not even a stoop. Still, we set a table and chairs right on the sidewalk, and there many a beer has been drunk, romantic candle-lit dinners have been consumed, guests from overseas have been entertained, even movie nights have been hosted on the laptop.

This weekend I bought some super bright blue plastic Adirondack chairs. I wanted the wood, but they had to be "finished" and I have no place to stain chairs. I found an amazing lion fountain in the garbage, and I set that up and put flowers in it. My neighbor saw me mucking around with my chrysanthemums from last year, and she brought be pots and pots of flowers. They were donated to hospice, but I guess not enough people were dying, so we got them! Win-win!

The girls gave me a topsy turvy tomato growing thing. I don't like tomatoes, so I am trying my hand at cucumbers. I put that all together, and hung it up by the front door. Now I've got my topsy turvy, potted plants, Adirondack chairs, a table, and a fountain-thingy! I can sit there and watch the pizza patrons come and go. I can pat dogs as they walk by. I can watch the girls skip rope or do chalk drawings. I can inhale my husband's second hand smoke.

Here's more on the Topsy Turvy, my new toy. I took some pics, but I'm not happy with them, so I'll get back to that later.

This weekend I also stumbled on The Mother of Community Garage Sales. I was planning to go hiking, but I ended up just walking the neighborhood up and down as if it was a tree-dotted shopping mall.

Things Obtained Whilst Garage Sailing

• Books

-How to Raise An Emotionally Intelligent Boy(or something like that)
-Travelling With Children Workbook Thingy
- Vroom, Vroom, making trucks, 'dozers and cars with stuff you have at home (or something like that)

(all for my nephew, age 4)

-_The Family Under The Bridge (for the girls, although I absolutely fell in love with it!!!)

• A Wooden Lazy Susan with four glass carafes, for salad dressings, very elegant (my husband makes SUPERB dressings lately)

• A purple blouse for work

• Toys

-An electronic circuitry set (unopened)

-A chemistry set (unopened)

-A science gross-out card game (unopened)

-A Maisey Mouse board game (again, for my nephew)

• Four green place mats

• Some of those green bags that keep veggies fresh

• I like making bullets. They are fun!

My younger daughter was with me, and we figured that by the time we were done we had walked at least 3 miles, smiled and chatted with many neighbors, and had a fabulous shopping spree.

My teacher always said I was bad at closing paragraphs. In closing, I'm still here. Life is good. I'm grateful. My husband gave me a coconut Popsicle while I was in the bathtub and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Love and light,
your friend,
Mountain