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Showing posts from April, 2011

Random Life Lesson

I was watching Conan O’Brien a few nights ago. The nice thing about Mountain Standard time is his show is on at a decent hour for a “school night”! During his monologue, a joke fell flat. Instead of cringing at the dead air, he reveled in it, making his “failure” into a laugh-fest.   He is not the only host to have a joke fizzle out.  Johnny Carson of the Tonight Show would have dead spots in his monologue. You actually looked forward to the failed jokes to see Johnny’s reaction to the audience’s groans. The “bomb” takes a life of its own, and we the audience quickly forget the bad joke and laugh at the new one.   Both of these great late night talk show hosts made me realize something—when something doesn’t go right, you can bounce back. It depends on your reaction to it.   In the example of a failed joke, they never brood over it—they accept it, turn it around and move on. What a wonderful life lesson! The next time I find myself in a disappointing situation, I will remind myself to

Artist Appreciation

I have noticed the more I write, the more I appreciate all artists. It’s a giant leap from my brain to the page.   Since it is internalized so much, it can be scary to put words onto paper and putting it out there for others to read. Nevertheless, it’s what I really enjoy to do. I believe all artists feel this way--all we’re trying to do is share our talents with others.   When I appreciate an artist, I may not particularly like their actual work. For me, an example would be Yoko Ono.   From what I knew of her work was off key singing and strange conceptual art.   I remembered Joan Rivers saying “Yoko OH-NO!”   in her comedy routine.   However, I happened to read Ms Ono’s book recommendations in Oprah’s Magazine March 2011 and was intrigued. A couple of the books she mentioned I am putting on hold at the library— The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge MD and 50 Secrets of the World’s Longest Living People by Sally Beare. This was nothing I expected from her. Unfortunately I sa

Lavender Memories

Isn’t it amazing how certain scents spark memories? Today, I was washing my ha nds with liquid lavender soap, and the lovely scent reminded me of a lavender farm here in Idaho called Lavender Acres.     I stumbled upon it last year at the start of spring. I was driving home from church and saw a sign pointing the way to fresh lavender.     I was intrigued and followed the signs to a quaint, little farm.   After I parked, I was greeted by Donna, the very friendly grower. She offered me a complementary glass of lavender lemonade. I must admit, I was skeptical and my face must have shown it, because Donna assured me that it wouldn’t taste the way I thought it would. I took a tentative sip and was pleasantly surprised—it didn’t taste like a flower or a plant. The lavender added a mellow sweetness to the lemon’s tartness.   I let her know I wanted to cut my own bunch of lavender, but had no clue how to do it. I’m a city girl through and through! She was very patient, and showed me the corre

Where old cars go to die

This weekend we were out looking for a second vehicle. Since we're on a budget, we were looking at used car lots. We came across one lot that had a couple of rows of older vehicles. However, when we entered the parking lot, we noticed that the two rows began to get narrower. There was no exit in front, only more cars.Soon, we were in danger of being wedged in. I figured this was not a used car sales lot, but rather an auto graveyard. I was envisioning people driving into this parking lot, and not getting out. So, they abandon their car and left it there to die. Before I wondered if we should have brought flowers and pay our respects, my husband was able to maneuver our car out of there. Unless we know of a vehicle on its last tires, we won't be going there again any time soon!