It's a Frappuccino Caramel Light Day and you know what that means?  The sun is shining!

I made it out to St. Louis this morning and listened to Father Ben.  He just completed fire II class with the rest of us.  That church sure underwent a transformational change years ago, not only in structure but also in total feeling.  The old portion, which is now a gathering hall, is where my parents were married and where I was baptized and also received First Communion.  Mom made my First Communion dress of white eyelet fabric over a light blue sheath.  Since I stopped growing in 4th grade, you can only imagine that traditional little, poofy First Communion dresses - well, they weren't made for me.  Veil?  No freakin' way!  Ahead of my time with flowers.

So anyway, St. Louis is styled in a contemporary fashion now as it is in a round with natural wood beams and neutral colors interlaced with free design stained glass.  It has a down to earth, relaxed attitude about it and each time I pick up this unpretentious feeling from its parishioners.  

It's Chicken BBQ day and that means Grandpa bought tickets from Dr. Peura for a gathering at my parents' home.  I'm going to approach Grandpa about another trek through the Forestville woods as we did one last fall.  He's 90.  I want to capture his knowledge of the area again and jot it all down.  I'm not sure if going up the falls will be too much for him.  I'll make sure friends are in town should we get in trouble.  Knowing him, he's the mountain goat and I'll be the one sliding down a ravine.  With that in mind, I'll have to choose my friends wisely that day.  :)

Tomorrow is a large emergency exercise in Marquette that I hesitantly say I'm spearheading.  Core to my being is bringing people together of differing perspectives and this certainly has been a test.  It is tomorrow - tomorrow! - and here I sit with not enough victims.  Everyone could get people - yet, it's now Sunday and I'm trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces and make it work for everyone.  I yip at myself saying keep looking at the good!  There has been a plethora of discoveries along the way and we have already made great progress in changing things that make us more prepared for community emergencies.  It's all about the next patient, not one agency versus another, not existing polices and procedures, not the way it's always been done so that's why - period.

Gathered some agates yesterday with Cash-Man-Du.  He smiled.  I laughed.

Seize the moment.  I'm off...

Years ago when my office was a jail cell (complete with a big Folger keyed door that I would decorate with abstract paper cutouts and bars on a huge window with a view of a gorgeous pin cherry tree), I sat one rainy day and thought of this phrase:

Life is an orchestra.
Play on.

It's another challenging rainy day.

The sun will shine again.

The week was quick and punctuated with a few experiences.

Sault Ste Marie, Menominee, Iron Mountain, Escanaba - amongst real work.  Bring it on!  The more I ride with others, the more I understand that perhaps I am a little bit of a speed demon.  See - you grow up in my family and you'd think I was slow.  Ahhh no.  Is that not just a prime example that you are a product, somewhat, of your environment where your perceptions of reality and opinions are molded?  Major life changing events are fertile ground for recasts, though.  Strong spirits constantly seeking betterment are like foundries with a variety of casts on the shelves and more being created.

I reflect upon my life and see so many traditional steps missing.  I wonder why I have been gifted to not experience the joy and tragedy of them for there is a reason.  I must not be ready to know.

So how 'bout those Wings?  While I don't have a "team" - I do appreciate downright good hockey.  Smooth, pretty passes followed by incredible saves and an occasional goal.  Yes, to me, that is the game.  Since a rather small child, I have been enamored by the person that stands in front of the goal.  It's the collection of traits the person must possess in order to exist there that just strikes me as they are found few and far between...when mixed with passion...a deep seated awareness of what is really important...and there, there you have a person that walks to the edge and lives.

It will be another hectic week...but, I say, only as hectic as I will allow.  Later.

Noticing a trend?  Sunday @ Bucks - Starbucks, not Bucks in Ishpeming....geesh....

After much deliberation and a few slaps upside the head by a couple of friends (to which I admit and sincerely utter thank you), I took the fire exam.  As usual, I headed right to the car after the written and looked up all of the ones I thought I may have marked incorrectly.  The practical - well, I could crawl around on the floor by touch any day.  Mom said I never crawled, so I'm making up for it (the wheeled seat thingee was faster and I'm sure that is making a few of you laugh).  I somehow slammed my knee - the bad one - in the past week, though no one knew or could tell.  Took a few ibuprofens as the day began and those just make my body feel so fabulous that I could still be crawling around to help others.  If I hadn't been running behind on other projects, I would've stayed for the re-dos because I brought a 60 minute bottle and barely breathe unlike those huff and puff, blow the house down guys.

My overage box from the trip arrived the other day and I picked it up at my parents' shop this morning.  UPS never delivers to my home.  Showed Mom my seat belt dress for one of the weddings.  Well, at least that's what I claiming it is.  It's an upscale flapper style that I find quite sassy.   Perfect for moi and that celebration.

Still awaiting two other boxes.  I schlepped my Quadrifoglio earrings to the Portland Tiffany store and they had to be sent to New York.  Doesn't it just figure that a couple of days into knee rehab a while back, I broke the earrings that mean four-leaf clover in Italian.  Luck meets fate. The other shipment will be eyeglasses.  They're being handcrafted so who knows when they'll arrive, but oh so worth the wait.  Imagine a company that finally understands that eyeglasses are an accessory!  Leave it to the Swiss.  I chose a modified cat eye with amethyst bridge and connectors, as a start, and then bought hunter green and another patterned frost set of temples.  They can even have multiple different shape lenses.  

There's a new Indian restaurant in town and an Irish pub opening soon.  Curry or Guinness - oh make my heart flutter.

The sun is strong today but there is a winterly spring chill in the air.  Living here allows one to experience diversity - weather diversity - daily.

Mission for this week, should you dare to attempt, is savor a moment.  Write you next Sunday with I'm sure some tidbits to share.

I'm post-Oregon rally stewarding and vacay and I already need to leave again. I must figure out how to make some extra moolah so I can go on a couple of long weekends again.

I sherpa'd the good camera out there and WOW! was that a good choice. Imagine seeing one mountain out of your windshield and the reflection of another in your rear view mirror. Thank you rally family for the opportunities you have given me. This marks 20 years of rally (I started young). They are a family. It is amazing how months pass and it seems like it was just yesterday that I was with them.

Marshmallow clouds hung over the Columbia River and

the rivers on the scenic byway with their waterfalls were totally mist-ifying. The rally provided a room in Hood River with a balcony overlooking the Columbia literally feet away. A quick run to the local brewery resulted in a relaxing evening preparing a presentation on the laptop for EMS Week while enjoying the sun and breeze off the water. A salad medley of locally grown hazelnuts and pears mixed with spinach, goat cheese, and lightly smoked chicken was scrumptious with the local brew. A non-hockey town, I was able to get text messages and updates from home on the Wings (thanks guys!). Now that's living, eh!

A quick trip to Bonneville Dam made me reminisce about Grandpa and the hydros.

I took pics of the gushing water and beautiful grounds, plus I walked over bridges. Grandpa would've been proud of me as he used to have to carry me over them when I was little.

Absolutely gorgeous days during the rally produced a Rudolph nose...and that was a good thing. The sun really brings lightness to a soul.

The Jacksons are doing very well and their hospitality extended to me is cherished. I met Gunner, a mostly black lab into a Golden family. He has his work cut out for him. The little buggers had dug and ate through their underground fence so they could flee with the wind. Fixed them and the fence, that is. Their new home and its kitchen with ooo-la-la maple cabinets....I could do a bit of cooking there! I made baked brie the night before I left and I do believe they think I'm a crazy foodie. Krista turned 12! I still have the pics of Austin and her with Monza as a puppy before he was flighted to me. Time - it goes so fast...

Elk. Austin called in an elk and she was oh so close. The night before there were elk on one side of us and black tails on the other. Sweet. That's a memory.

Carol helped me find dresses to wear to weddings I have to attend this summer. She also convinced me of a jacket and Swiss eyeglasses with changeable temples. Carol, you are such an enabler!

Traveling alone always poses a challenge or two. One was how to get all of my luggage and a case of wine on the plane. I mailed home 13 pounds of clothing and decided to take a chance and hope for curbside luggage check-in at the airport. YES! PDX has it and so my wine arrived on the beltway along with my perfectly weighted bag. Then the question for Mom, why is there so much smoke in the air? Arrived at home to hear my radio going ballistic. Off to a forest fire...I am...back home.

Life is absolutely flying by...

I have started creating actual paper sticky note lists.  That's unheard of for me as I tend to just thrive on those mental sticky notes instead.

No, I am not going to talk about the flu.  I have heard beyond enough about the flu.  It is amazing to me how much people can plan and either forget to use it or find out they didn't actually think through the minute detail of their plan to see if it actually covers everything.

To some, there is a world of difference between words on paper and physically enacting.

Somehow, some way I will read my fire textbook.  The class started months ago and the test is at the end of the month.  I figure it's about time to get with the program.  Perhaps I'll forgo packing my mobile ham radio in the luggage for a textbook.  Yes, I'm going to Oregon!  Say - it's about time, Lyn!  Ahhh - the days of going west four times a year....seeing friends, flying low through the mountains, breathing the crispness, sipping incredible pinot noir, oh - I cannot wait!

Off to rescue training.  The sky is turning very dark and it looks like it's starting to pour.  While I love destroying things, we best not be cutting cars in a deluge.

No internet at home...  It is amazing how much I miss it.  I would watch television programs, keep connected to friends, and just be aware of what's going on in the world via the web.  So when the mysterious way I was able to connect disappeared recently, it was like becoming a hermit.

I seem to be working all of the time for no more on the bottom line.   I recently figured out how to open a sole proprietorship and am now able to get paid for things once I figure out who will pay me and for what?  So, skimming back on spending makes getting an internet connection at home a real toss-up.  Although, I finally got around last evening to canceling the dial-up service I never used.

So I find myself at Starbucks.  Slowly sipping a skinny decaf sugar-free vanilla latte and working on my computer.  

Where there is a will...