I know I'm early...but looking back on some photos from Iona, Scotland, has caused me to pause.  It was a series of photos on one of the little islands in the inlet where I worked.  You could walk over when the tide is low, (which I did) and wade when the tide came up (which I did for these as well).  This evening a wicked storm was rolling in.  And roll it did.  It was beautiful when I walked out- but then this pillar cloud came right up the inlet- and the weather spun.  These were of the simple cross that stands atop that hill.  Some of the non-Christians that were my (beloved) workmates found the cross to be offensive. 

And so, I suppose, it is.

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My beautiful friend jax sent me this in response to "John's foraging at Pete's"...
From one spoiled wife to another...

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We had a great time at the Cusack homestead a few nights ago!  It was a real treat to hear John play the accordion -not on a recording!  We had Eldon and his wife, Herald and Mary-Ann, Jon and Chris, and my sweet-babboo.
Me?  I knit in the corner.  (And tapped my toes)  Oh, and I did have some killer games of connect-4 with the young'ns Sam and Ben.

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He made friends with the sausage man at Pete's and they had a great bonding conversation over the lack of good sausages in the Superstore. So, in classic John, he ordered four of every type.

He tried to justify this by saying they will keep in the freezer for up to a month.

Still, that's 9 sausages a week for a month.

Honestly.

I just love my man.

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I got here by a very round about way - which is the best way on Youtube.

But I found myself (after a detour on old Judy Garland videos) on Oscar acceptance speeches.  And the nominees for best acceptance speech are:

Julia Roberts winning an Oscar®

Roberto Benigni goes wild at the Oscars®

Tom Hanks winning an Oscar® for "Philadelphia"

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A Healthy Person is diversified. 

That's my new motto.  (What's a motto? Nutten, what's a motto with you?)

Of course I can't really abandon my old motto, which is "People are crazy."  There's something so comforting about saying it, daily.  Perhaps that phrase that has carried me through so many frustrating situations will graduated to the level of life slogan.

Moving on.

Why the new motto?  I've decided one important factor in establishing good mental hygiene is to maintain a diversified portfolio upstairs.

I've decided to exercise part of my cranium by learning about my camera and Photoshop.  I may or may not balance this out with taking up that Palates class tomorrow night.

Here's my photoshop research and tinkering for the night:

Finzi in the 70's

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I bought my hubby a "Modern Indian Cooking"  Cookbook for Christmas. It was one of those classic selfish gifts so that I get the benefit of more yummy suppers.  We've tried a few...wait.  He's tried a few...but I did one yesterday that was very good.  *Although not helpful to my new Wii Fit healthy routine!  But if you're going to indulge, here's a spicy way to do it!

Spiced Hot Chocolate:
2 cups water
1/4 cups brown sugar
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cocoa powder
1 cinnamon stick
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 hot red chili pepper, halved and seeded

-Boil the water and sugar
-Add the rest and whisk it up.  Simmer 1 minute
-Take off heat and wait 10 minutes
-Remove cinnamon stick and peppers (important)
-Whip with blender (extra extra good)

You can drink it right away or keep extra in the fridge.  I used Thai chili peppers (Rated 8 on a scale of spicy) and it was gooooood.  Just enough spice to make your insides tingle.

But be careful with the oil on your hands.  I washed mine twice and still got my eyes irritated when I rubbed them later that night.

The cookbook's authors sites: Hari and  Vika

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I'm very slowly finding my way off the automatic setting of my new camera.
I've really been enjoying Ree Drummond's blog Pioneer Woman which has some great stories, receipies and best of all amazing photography with great tips for non techies like me.
Here's part of her photography site called What the Heck?

This was my response to her basic lesson on depth of field.

With a aperture that's a small number:

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And one that's bigger.  (No I don't remember or record exactly what they were.  That's for weirdos that care about numbers.)

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And just for fun....and in honour of Finn being "bed ridden" for the week with a busted split paw...

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Thanks to a tip off from neighbor Rob, I've downloaded a 30 day trial of Adobe's Lightroom.  I've just opened the program and started pressing buttons with no idea really of how to use it.

However, here's a little tinkering with exposure...

Brie before:

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And after:

Brie looking up

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