Outdoor Show

Here's a shot from the RAL Outdoor Show.  A good crowd this year. Sales were down for me, but did okay. The Peninsula show closed today, and they will have a new opening on Friday. An on it goes.

Stuff

An earthquake and a hurricane in the same week. Interesting. Felt the earthquake, and what a weird feeling that was. Got evacuated for the hurricane, but it turned out that people inland got hit much harder than the coastline, which was the opposite of the prediction. Spent my birthday in Virginia and had a great time.

The weather is cooling down nicely. This is the last day of August, and that really, really makes me sad. I get all melancholy and weepy when summer ends and fall begins. Something about that transition that just gets me. The one good thing is that the end of the stupid striped monstrosities (seen above...in front of my car...a very, very bad place to be) will be going away very soon. The beaches are less crowded (but will be nuts this weekend) and the nights are cool. Windows open...summer sounds, nice breezes. I'm trying to focus on the good stuff, and will be okay, as usual, until after the holidays. Then it's a teeth clenching, deep breathing, heavy-drinking 3 months until spring hits again. LOL. No, but seriously.

Dover DE and disappearing into a sad time warp.

I had to get my car serviced today, and since there are no dealers in the Rehoboth area that service foreign cars, I had to drive to Dover for an 8 a.m. appointment, which meant getting up early for something completely boring.

I thought I'd walk to find some breakfast, rather than sit with the senior citizens in the totally void of natural light, dimly painted and broadcasting Fox News lounge area. So I was pointed in the direction of Nino's, who serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. On Route 13. Sounds great...right next to the tire place.

Here's some ponderings on Nino's Diner.

Diners can be cool, or they can be morbidly depressing. Paper placemats with local advertising all over them, really really bad artwork, and shiny seats that stick to your bare skin. Two old people having breakfast together, and they never spoke a word. But they perked right up when their food came, and the wife thought her husband's omelette looked bigger, so she wanted to switch. Another guy came in, who was Mr. Something or another...everyone knew his name. Dover's Norm. He was extremely bugged because they were out of  "patties"...which I'm assuming means sausage patties? Oh, and the music...MUZAC....god help me. It was enough to make anyone jump out the window, and it was a one-level building. I swore to myself I'd remember the name of one of the songs...which was bad enough in it's normal state, but when turned in muzac, became a whole new kind of hell. The waitress made me the most sad of all. They had her in a pink uniform, like the kind from "Alice" and all I could think of was how much money could she possibly make, working at Nino's for breakfast? I watched her sweep the pile of coins left on the glass-top table from the previous customer. Coins. They went into her apron. I kept picturing her counting them out later at her own kitchen table and it made me really, really sad. Yuck. Did she want to be a waitress or did her life just turn that way? What did she want to be? She was probably 45-50 years old. Kids? Husband? Where did she live? Could she pay her bills? Does everyone go through this kind of questioning in this kind of situation or am I just a freak?

General Apathy and Major Boredom

Play it again Sam.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

Sometimes.

Sometimes you don't know what you're going to feel about a certain situation until you're in it. Then your reaction can surprise you and yet not surprise you at the same time. Like you knew it was a vague possibility, but the thought of having that particular reaction that crossed your mind for a minute was so terrifying that you immediately pushed it out of your mind, out of fear that you might will into happening. Sometimes you have to plan to act a certain way because you need to have that rescue net in place to ensure you won't go into that dark place. So you do, and it's not authentic at all, but at least it's a safe place to be.



website

New images on website - finally!

Do the Dewey

So, I've been running from work into Dewey to do 6/7 mile runs. Very interesting territory, pretty unlike running the trail, or anywhere else for that matter. It's fun to hear the little bits of conversation from people as I run past them, and to just notice the people and what they're doing.

One snippet heard from a girl on a bike, said in that annoying, cloying valley-girl voice - "last time I was here, I got soooooo wasted."

Two guys walking, one carrying a case of beer, the other with an unopened wine bottle in each hand. Just trudging along, heads down, like they were reluctantly headed to another night of heavy partying.

Another guy walking along looking the same way, but carring an opened, half-drunk, 2 litre bottle of coke in his hand, holding it by the neck and looking as if he were still recovering from the night before.

And let's do a little lesson on common sense and basic courtesy, shall we? Runners typically don't like to run on the sidewalks because of several reasons: the concrete is actually worse for you than the asphalt, there are other people walking or standing on the sidewalk, there are curbs that are dangerous when you're running. HOWEVER, sometimes if there is no shoulder, we may have to get up on the sidewalk. This means....if you are walking two by two or four by four or more, you may want to dig down deep into your selfish little soul and maybe drop back a little to single file? For just a second? Especially if the runner coming toward you is teetering on the edge of the curb, trying to stay out of traffic and trying not to break an ankle by falling off the curb so your fat drunk ass can take up the whole sidewalk? Hmm? It's amazing how often this happens, and people look at the runner like....YOU MOVE!

 Okay, I'm done.

Here's a smile.

Sex without love is merely healthy exercise. ~ Robert A. Heinlein




Save a boyfriend for a rainy day - and another, in case it doesn't rain.~ Mae West

hahaha

New one..

But what to call it. It's a "private" beach path that leads to a nice, secluded private beach that I'm not supposed to use, but do anyway. How about "Hidden from You?"

Parental Advisory. But sometimes it just need to be said.

Calling Gloriaaa

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2011/08/gloria-steinem-on-false-feminism-of.html?spref=fb

The people our founders came here to escape. I particularly like that one.  :)

ooooh...scandalous! and not surprising!

So the world would be a painting, and I'd live inside with you..

Tulips in progress. This is a big one...25 x 36 or something like that. Maybe 24. Anyway, just blocking in right now, but having fun doing something different. Will be done soon, for the outdoor show next weekend.

Power

Many of us have do not understand what personal power means. We have been given the false notion that power is bad,that it is something we use to exert our will upon others. In fact, when our personal power is intact, we are neither overbearing nor meek. We have a clear sense of our strength and the impact we can have on others. This actually enables us to be more sensitive. Personal power is what permits us to work on behalf of our dreams and desires. It allows us to realize that we are worthy and deserve to be heard. In addition, our personal power lets us extend the respect we know that we deserve to the people around us. There is no reason to be afraid or ashamed of fully owning your power.

-from The Daily Om.

A conversation with Haley today went something like.....

Just because a woman doesn't have a whole lot going for her (according so some people) doesn't mean she should latch on to a guy and get married because that's her only aspiration. You have to reach...far..for many things you want in life, and actually reaching those goals make them that much more valuable. The hardest things to reach are usually the things that make the most difference in your life and are what keep your life exciting. Never settle for the easy stuff.

Openings and p.r.'s

Here's a couple of shots from the Dam Mill Race in Millsboro Saturday morning. The bottom shot captures my face just as I'm beginning to smile, realizing I'm going to p.r. Which means I finally broke 23:00. I was a very happy girl. Took my age group, which also made me smile.

The opening went really well. Sold six that night, which isn't too shabby! Don't know if anything else has sold yet, but will pop in over the weekend to check it out. I have a lot of pics, and will post soon.

The renaissance is responsible?

And now I'm officially scared.

Okay, so I'm on a Bachmann kick today. But this article totally put me over the edge in full-out fear and concern for anyone who supports this kind of thinking in a politician. If you want to be this kind of Christian, meaning a fundamental Christian, that's your choice. But that whole separation of church and state thing is kind of important, and religion is far too personal to even have a place in the political arena. Keep it to yo'self and stop scaring me. Really.

I can't help it, I just find it funny.

Unfair?? Puhleeze.

This cover is not surprising to me at all....and it has nothing to do with bashing women.

Couldn't have said it any better.

Extremists....in ANYTHING skew everything and cause chaos. I mean really, can't we all just get along? The water in the middle is FINE, come on in!

tea baggers

ssssip

Offender

You've heard me mention them. No wait, you've heard me go on and on, ad nauseum about them. When I came back from lunch today, there was ONE IN OUR PARKING LOT. Taking up 3 spaces, mind you. Three. Yet another reason to recognize them as probably the most obnoxious part of the summer season. In my opinion. This is the only time I ever fantasize about owning a rocket launcher.