Happy Halloween

Trick or treat!

"Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." -Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven.

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Mental Disability

“I can learn like you can, but it takes me longer to learn.” -Jon Kruse, in my latest Inside Columbia article. Read it here.
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Good Pain

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Pop

"A judge just came into my office as I popped bubble gum on my face." -text from Tricia (Trish, maybe one day when you're a super-star Supreme Court judge, blowing bubbles will be your signature trait).

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Forced Idleness

Well, it was severely shortened, but it is nonetheless a post on Runner's World: "My quads ached, my hamstrings tightened, my knees buckled, and my blistered feet oozed and bled. A toenail on my left foot turned black and fell off. Walking was tedious; stairs were mountains too steep to contemplate." Read the rest here.
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Contentment

"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books music, love for one's neighbor -- such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps -- what more can the heart of a man desire?" -Tolstoy's "Family Happiness."
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Going Ape

"Where humans are caged and monkeys run wild." -slogan for Monkey Jungle...where we met King the gorilla, May the Orangutan and lots of other little primates, including some who swam and others who had trunk-like tails for grabbing food. Amazing.
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Sunday in Miami

"A traveler. I love his title. A traveler is to be reverenced as such. His profession is the best symbol of our life. Going from -- toward; it is the history of every one of us." -Henry David Thoreau

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GameDay

M-I-Z......Z-O-U!
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Personal Best

“I don’t want to let the other girls get too far ahead of me...I pretty much try and focus really hard on the person in front of me.” - Kim Smith as quoted in a NYT article about elite athletes pushing past the pain during competition.

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Cookie Monster

"There’s no way to stop warm, fuzzy feelings for a warm, fuzzy monster." -my latest on InsideColumbia.net
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Tough Times

"These students have signed up for journalism school knowing that's the climate they're facing, and they're not thinking 'doom and gloom' ... There's something exciting happening in our industry. These folks want to become part of that." -from NPR's recent article "What's the Point of Journalism School, Anyway?"

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Am I Mad?

"You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are." -Alice of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Watched it Sunday night; cute film.
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Never too old

"This is my first time making apple cider." -Matt's 96-year-old aunt Helen helps out on the farm yesterday. Amazingly, she is older than the antique cider press we were using (made in 1921).

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Small-town diner

"At one time, three women named Wanda worked here." -a hostess at the Pancake Hut, where we ate breakfast this morning.
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All in the family

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts." -unknown.
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SW Mo.

"The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaieties, and its announced end, followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it." -F. Scott Fitzgerald. Headed to Carthage for the Dreier family reunion and Maple Leaf Festival.
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Cooking Conundrum

"You can cook anything in a toaster oven." -Bill and Patrick simultaneously quell my skepticism about making cookies in a toaster oven.
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What We Call the News

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

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Knowing Nature

"There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of nature and has his senses still." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden
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Limitless

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Chasing Them Down

"In wildness is the preservation of the earth; so seek the wolf in thyself." -Henry David Thoreau

Tackling the Rock Bridge Revenge 25k today -- first trail run in months!

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Happy Weekend!

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Freelancing

"The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say." -Mark Twain
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How it is

"She cried a great deal, because women take such things hard, but she did not overdo it, because women don't give up easily, either." -A Very Long Engagement.

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ElleShapeRedbookGlamourCosmoEtc.

"This is a somber photograph of a girl followed by her story about how a terrible, awful thing happened to her. Here is another story about a congresswoman who made it in a man’s world! Here is a 28-year-old with a fashion business! Women don’t get paid as much, and third-world women have it harder, because these are our serious pages! (Followed by raunchy sex tales!)." -Number 8 of 17 Things Every Women's Magazines Will Tell You (That You Should Ignore). That's why I don't read women's magazines.
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Hooray!

Six months, starting in December. So excited for this opportunity!

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Snickerdoodle Pie

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon." -Dalai Lama
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It's Only A Day Away

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes in to us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands and hopes we've learnt something from yesterday." -John Wayne
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What Does It Mean?

"The Native Americans believed the occurrence of a white animal was a huge sign of prophecy – a sign from the great spirit that a major shift in their world was to come." -the symbolic meaning of the albino deer I saw during a bike ride on Friday afternoon. Very appropriate...

Apparently, only one in 30,000 deer is albino.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo (I am a proud owner of a not-very-good-camera phone).
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Night Out

"What is the definition of good wine? It should start and end with a smile." -William Sokolin. If that's the case, then I had some great wine at Jazz Series Pub Crawl last night!

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