Tale of a Shooting Star…

Barbecuing is the only type of cooking a real man will do. When a man
declares he will BBQ the following chain of events is put into motion:

1. The woman goes to the store and buys everything.
2. The woman makes the salad, vegetables, and dessert.
3. The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man, who is lounging beside the grill, beer in hand.
4. The man places the meat on the grill.
5. The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
6. The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.
7. The man takes the meat off the grill and hands it to the woman.
8. The woman prepares the plates and brings them to the table.
9. After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
10. Everyone praises man and thanks him for his cooking efforts.
11. The man asks the woman how she enjoyed; her night off. And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing a woman.

As seen in the latest Nordic Needle sales newsletter:

• Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
• Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
• Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
• Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
• If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
• If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
• Never buy a car you can’t push.
• Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.
• Nobody cares if you can’t dance. Just get up and do it.
• Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
• The second mouse gets the cheese.
• When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
• Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
• You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
• Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once
• We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
• A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

While exasperatedly trying to get the dog to go outside last night, I sat down on the step and decided to just take in the scenery. As I did so, I realized that the fireflies were out in full force, so I let my eyes unfocus and tried to see as much of the backyard as much as possible. Wow, there were just little random twinkles all over. All I could think of is faerie lights; that’s what it made me think of. What a simple beauty nature has when you stop to pay attention. 🙂

In the meantime… my kingdom for some doggie valium! Phoebe has really decided to be a pain again. She’s been fussing about her nails for the past couple of months, so we kinda gave up trying to get them under control. She won’t even deal with grinding since Terry accidentally got the grinding wheel caught in her fur the last time. That was it for her. So, I decided that I was going to start clipping her nails again. And for a few days that seemed to be working. I could get anywhere from 1 to 3 toenails clipped in a day. And then, suddenly and for no apparent reason (I didn’t clip the quick or anything), she’s back to not even letting me touch her nails again. *sigh* I swear, all I need is one really good (but safe) dose of doggy valium a month to knock her out for a while so that I can clip all of her nails! They’re starting to get too long now and some are vaguely starting to curl. Taking her to the vet or a groomer to do it is not an option, since she gets frantic about anyone else working on her nails, as well.

So, I know that no one really reads my blog, but if someone reads this and knows of a way to handle this, I would greatly appreciate some advice!

My online friend Marietta just had a lovely article about her published in a newspaper in her home state of Connecticut. Check it out:

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Surround-sound for the out of doors: The pealing of carillon bells inspires a devoted following
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By Katherine Didriksen
Special Correspondent

July 6, 2005

STAMFORD – Perched hundreds of feet in the air, Marietta Douglas moves her hands up and down the two-tiered keyboard and pumps a series of foot pedals in an organized frenzy.

As sweat drips from her brow, twilight overtakes the city.

She coaxes the sound of bells into the air. The ringing of the 56 bells drape downtown Stamford with the rippling strain of Jean Joseph Mouret’s “Fanfare (Rondeau).” Douglas, a Greenwich resident, is one of a select group that will climb to the top of bell towers for the love of a rare instrument: the carillon.

“It was just so intriguing that I took to it immediately,” said Douglas, 45, who has played since her freshman year at Smith College in 1977. Nearly 30 years later, Douglas is the carillonneur for First Presbyterian Church in Stamford and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in New Canaan.

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