Epic times

The last few hours have certainly been interesting. Last night I did a bit of stretching and found that I can do the lotus pose, yay! Feeling like a piece of...eh..something limp....I took a nice hot shower and went to bed early, after a prolonged bout of attempting to pin down the rehearsal issues for this afternoon.

Around 4:30 AM I awoke and descended to check FB/email for communications regarding the possibilities of our dance instructor not being able to come to rehearsal. Dealt with another email and went to bed in a hair-tearing mood. Woke at a nice reasonable time [in the daylight, this time] and dealt with the inner New Ager [heheh] by a wee bit if stretching in the sun and breakfasted on herbal tea and plain yogurt.
Made a few calls regarding the infamous Theatre Business.

Off to market, where we bought a nice large winter squash.

On the way home we observe an unmistakeable "Garage Sale Today" sign outside of the palatial mansion where, local legend runs, the inventor of Round-Up resides when not plotting further assaults on the health of hapless weeds.
We never thought we'd get inside the gates, much less be pottering round discussing the merits of various roasting pans. Definitely posh....gilt-edged mirrors etc. But such an ugly, ostentatious house. And the yard [certainly treated with the family specialty] was painfully landscaped.

I am going to spend the rest of the day being glad I do not live there!
We bought the best thing there, a jumbo-sized tea-ball and also a nice metal platter. I couldn't resist posing in front of the perfectly manicured shrubbery, in perfect butler-style: We shall call this "Phipps, my buttonhole please"

A day in the city

Friday night I was lying in bed at 11 pm when I realized that the sky was NOT clouding over as predicted, and a frost was imminent. I hurried outside [well insulated] and encountered my dad on the same mission. We spent 15 minutes or so, working in the bright moonlight, covering tender lil vegetable seedlings with garden fabric.
Then back inside, which was pleasantly toasty and redolent with the smell of bread baking. Feeling a bit peckish, I decided to stay up til the loaves were out of the oven. Midnight snack, woot! Hot bread, smoked mozzarella, avocado.

Next morning 'twas off to market. Chilly but sunny, a perfect fall day. We bought [after much discussion] two lovely winter squash and a watermelon. My dad and I were both holding these big squashy-looking vegetables when we stopped at The Dollar Lettuce Guy for our salad fixings. He, being a jovial chap, commented on our burdens. "You have matching...eh..." "Problems," my dad supplied promptly. On the way to the car I said "Hang on, let me switch my problem to the other arm," eliciting more humor.

Then we left for the big city [ehheh.] First to a miniature show, where you can bust the price of a MacBook on a 6-inch-tall hand-carved wooden desk [from a burled piece of wood, hence the price]. It was even less interesting than I had expected. Spent way too long there. Off to Powell's bookstore where I was a bit overwhelmed and didn't find anything to buy. Things I read, or at least glanced through: Diseases of feedlot cattle, fashion guides, theatre costuming and makeup books, Things white people like, The end of food, guides on raising chickens, etc etc. and all non fiction.

Thus passed the day. The best part came at the end, in Borders Books, where I located the computer section and spent a happy 45 minutes reading about the ins and outs of Macs.

Am planning more good times this week. Rehearsal scheduling [pulls hair out in frustration]. Goat 4-H club meeting. Folk dance tonight.

Hello, my name is EPIC

So it's been a busy [but epic] few days around here.

On Friday we had a cheese-tasting in culinary. Nothing terribly interestin. The Brie was passable but bland.

Saturday morning we were up early and off to the farmers' market. We were in a great hurry owing to need to get to Fall Festival early for parking purposes. Left me mum in the car, Daddy and I hurried off in search of carrots. All went well until.....at one of the booths [the community stand] the owner who knows dad asked him as a special favor [nay, asked is too tame a word.] to man the booth for a minute. It was a plea for help. Before Daddy could open his mouth to say that no, we were in a terrible hurry, she had done an about-face and was halfway across the street. He, confounded, was left to man the booth accordingly while I headed out to do the rest of the shopping. I had time to ask if flax-seeds were available [no], wait for a LONG time at the mushroom stand, select a bouquet for Eva and he was just able to leave when I got back. He also got roped into making a sign, and weighing some grapes which weighed .66 lbs. and came to $76 [emended to 76c].

Anyway, we got to festival and walked around for a bit. I bought a Celtic-design t-shirt. I got a similar one from the same vendor last year.....we'll begin a tradition.

I was busy at home until 1:30, when I headed off to the combined dance rehearsal and surprise birthday party for Eva at the Grange. 'Twas epic. Listened to Flogging Molly and Gaelic Storm. Sang Happy Birthday and listened to the Beatles' rendition thereof....which we had last heard two weeks ago, at my party. :)

After that the four of us [Eva, Phillip, Dallan and myself] must have spent half an hour at the least trying to decide what to do next. We were all going to Eva's bowling party that evening but transportation was an issue as always. With much plying of the thumbs on our cell-phones, we finally got everything arranged. Went into town.....rendezvoused at the library where we collected Sophie....to Eva's house for dinner.....off to bowling. Did that all evening.

Here's where it gets really epic. I've only been bowling once in my life before. We played two games and for the first one [about 13 people] I was the overall winner.

!!!!

With a score of 116. To be sure, that was with bumpers, against the boys who were playing without bumpers. On the second game I still did pretty well. Woot.

There was one epic moment when I was sure I had missed a pin, and was turning away after the second play, only to find that it had gone down too.....lots of high-5s all around.

I've never seen so many people high-tenning each other. Awesome.

Saw a lot of peopleses that I hadn't seen in WAY too long. Lots of hugs.

Me dad drove Phillip and Dallan home and we were all squeezed in the back seat and here's some more epicness. They were writing random things on each others' hands with a pen they'd picked up off the floor [this was after a long episode of us three handing the pen back and forth "sketchily", with much averted eyes and mafia-technique. "Oh what a sketchy pen. Looks kind of shifty-eyed, don't you think?" "Oh definitely. Sketchball."] So anyway we were using an iPod screen and my cell-phone screen for light. Weird beyond belief.

Today [after early church service] we pretty much worked all day, what with painting window-trim, and chores around home and all. Went into town to catch a performance at Fall Fest by the celtic punk group erhh...whatever it was called. Andana or something like that. It was more rock than celtic and the bass too loud.

And then this evening I finally convinced my parents to let me have Facebook!!!!!!!! Woot!!!!! I just signed up and have been hunting up all my friends :) including some who I haven't seen in years, and a few I never would have guessed would have fb.

But meh: fb entries have to be short! :( So I'll keep posting on here. But my computer time is only one hour so don't be hurt if I don't comment as often :)

tomatoes! and tags!

First off: Thanks to Cavender James, my awesome 30th follower!!! Woot!

And check out the two new polls in the sidebar. One on what you wanna see more of, here at A Selection of Varied Topics [other than, well, a selection of um....varied topics], and the other is on where all my beloved visitors/followers are from.

Yes folks, we are rolling in [and on?] tomatoes. Yesterday at the farmers' market I bought two whole flats of Romas, and our bushes are producing too. Last evening I had a grand slicing and squeezing and simmering. There were two huge pans [no. Cauldrons. They demand to be called cauldrons] simmering on the stove. I couldn't resist quoting "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble" as I stirred the gurgling contents of the cauldrons [I like saying that word] with a too-short spoon, at great peril to my hands from flying tomato sauce.

A side note here: say the word "dweeb".

Yes of course out loud. Right now, sitting in front of your computer screen.

Now that your parent or sibling has said "Huh?", you have broken into embarrassed laughter, and have become pretty fed up with me, I shall explain. 'Twas at one of the famous get-togethers of The Big Three [Eva, Dallan and guess who], whilst we were trying to think of an insult for the play-script we were writing. It came up that "dweeb", while manifestly inappropriate for a production set in the 30s, is nevertheless a very fun word to say. Try it. [Oh wait, you already did.]

Now that we've got that out of the way, we can move on to more pressing business, such as Tags. I've been tagged a grand total of three times in the last couple of days: Rose gave me the "hopeless romantic" tag which I did a month or so back but I don't mind doing it again :P And Olive Tree and tinydancer both tagged me the same day, hehe, with the "3" tag. Three favorite characters; one pic of each; three things about them; shall we be overeager and tag three people?

So! Hopeless romantic first. I'll repost some of what I did before. And really, Rose's answers are identical to mine almost all round, and better phrased :), so go check out her post!

What two qualities do you want most in your future husband? Being able to apologize when he's wrong (something I struggle with) and, definitely, being a survivalist. I think that's going to determine a lot of things, in the coming years.

Is there a fictional character you see as a model for your future husband? Hmmm. No. Well, maybe Flagan Sackett, from Louis L'Amour's western novels. [Since I wrote this a few months back, I've figured at Aragorn is pretty awesome...]

Where do you want your wedding? I don't know...garden? Top of Mary's Peak?

What are your views on courtship?Nice idea. Don't know if it's going to happen.

[here's what Rose said, which sums it up perfectly] I think that courtship as opposed to dating is a very good idea. It seems much more family oriented, instead of just couple oriented. I'd like to get to know his family well, and i want him to get to know my family. Of course a couple of "dates" on our own would be fine with me.

What are your views on your first kiss? [Again, here's Rose.] Well, i'm not so sure i like the "wait until my wedding day" idea. I mean, it's a nice idea and if my future spouse wants it that way then i'll probably agree, but i don't really care for that. I'd really like my first kiss to be right after he says "Will you marry me?" and i say "Oh certainly you most wonderful man! I'd go to the ends of the earth and back with you!" Or something like that. Knowing me i'd probably just say "Yes" and burst into tears. So yes, the first kiss when i get engaged, and then wait until the wedding.

Do you have or want a purity ring/locket? Nyet. I'm not married. I'd feel sort of hypocritical wearing a ring on my ring-finger. I hope I can stay pure without a ring!! Mmf.

Do you have or want a hope chest? Why??? A nice collection of seeds, towels, cook books is far more practical! When I'm on that ranch in Montana, I won't be wantin' no fancy carved chest!

Will you wear a veil at your wedding? Natch

What kind of wedding dress do you want? Hm. Medieval?

What flowers do you want in your bouquet?Lavender and roses and wheat.

What do you want to name one of your daughters? Anne--my middle name.

What do you want to name one of your sons? Husband's middle name

Do you believe in the 'knight-in-shining-armor' view of courtship? Erm...sort of. But I'm no princess and I don't want a prince. Let's say more the 'cowboy with one hand on the Bible and the other on his six-shooter' view.

What music do you want to play at your wedding? Theme from Lord of the Rings! And probably country. Yes, definitely. And something hoe-down-ish for the party. Ahem, there is more I could say in this vein.

Are you a hopeless romantic? I wouldn't say so. Hopeless country western romantic, maybe so!

And I tag [um]

Kendra

Olive Tree

Bracie

On to the "thr3e" [sorry, couldn't resist] tag!

I've got too many favorite characters to choose between.

Here's Anne Shirley

1. She accidentally dyes her hair green [trying for a nice raven black, of course]

2. She's terribly poetic

3. In the movies she's played by the lovely Megan Follows who is perfect for the part

The three chickies in "Ballet Shoes"--Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil

I could cheat and just put one thing about each of them.

1. Posy is the wonderful dancer I always wanted to be.

2. Pauline is prob. the most like me, she's a fabulous actress

3. All three girls go to dance and theatre school during WWII

I just found out there's been a movie made, I want to see it so bad!!

Benjamin Martin, memorably played by Mel Gibson in "The Patriot":

1. Law-abiding farmer

+

2. Nasty plundering troops

=

3. Epic warrior

...need I say more?

That tag goes to

Ophelia

Bracie

Equus Delirus

Hmm, sorry Bracie, I just realized that I tagged you twice....I'm not going to change it now though! :)

Other stuff: I got someone to agree play the villain in "Two Tophats and a Spy"!!! Yayz!! Our other actor fell through. Rehearsal Saturday.

Went to the library today. Never, I repeat, never, read the opening chapters of "The Stand" whilst standing in the library. Every person who passes you while coughing [and there were several] will add to your mounting paranoia. GULP!!

I can't believe only two people commented on my last post!! Especially the "reader input requested" bit at the end. I really do want to hear your camping stories!! Post post post!

I think I'll make the "comment on random topic" thing a weekly event. We'll call it Reader Wednesdays. [Sort of stealing Kendra's idea here, hah]

Have you ever...

...tried to put a HUGE head of lettuce in a tiny plastic bag? [Note: it doesn't work well.]

That was at the farmers' market yesterday. Last night for dinner I dispensed with the niceties and ripped the bag open with one effortless, bridge-burning flourish.
Later on I decided that that was not the best idea ever thought of by yours truly. I can think of many ideas that were more clearly stamped with Bethany's own particular brand of genius---for instance the time I left the goats' gate open whilst I was inside the pen, or perhaps one of the happy episodes involving my leaving a pan of eggs cooking, lonely and unloved, on the stove whilst I was busy at the computer. Tee-hee.
Yes indeedy. Anyway, there was still the greater part [much greater] of a head of lettuce needing to be dealt with after dinner. I made the best of matters and shrouded it in the sad remains of the bag.

Other doings and goings-on included getting some very interesting news from a dear friend, which elicited a whole bunch of exclamation-points on my part; trotting off to rehearsal/audition at the Grange which did not have many attendees; cooking potatoes; picking up branches from the cut trees at my grandmother's place; cooking garlic bread and heroically refusing to eat any of it [after all, I have a social-life tonight];
today I weeded the garden, went hazelnut-hunting, and cleared out the extremely congested My Documents which is the catch-all in our poor abused computer. Several very large movie-files [from my own movie-making escapades] were simply hogging all the hard-drive space.

Tonight I'm off to a dance at the Grange. I plan to wear one of me new shirts. And blue jeans. And I need to hunt up some hard-soled shoes. Lots of boot-scootin' fun. :)

summer dreams of winter

I'm feeling sort of dreamy this morning...I've been reading Lenore's lovely blog and that is influencing it... :)


I woke up at 8:45 this morning and was too comfortable to get out of bed for a while, smelling smoke--it was nice at first but got unpleasantly strong when I got up.

Off to farmers' market; the sun popped out at last and made our weak Oregonian eyes hurt! hehe, usually don't have to make that joke til winter.



And the title of this post----well, it's been quite chilly lately and I got out my red wool plaid skirt again, and last night actually considered wearing a jersey or whatever those thin sweaters are called, to the play: which was very good, again. I think last night was a bit better; I could tell all the actors were less nervous tonight, though. There was one bit where Phillip (onstage) had a terribly funny expression on his face when he was looking at one of the actresses (as he was supposed to), and she cracked up, and one of the other girls in the scene was trying hard, and the entire front row of the audience (including me), who all know the cast very well, were laughing.....whew! Fun stuff. But they were able to continue without much trouble, fortunately, and it was supposed to be a comical part of the scene.

Oh right, title: I guess I've just been thinking about winter recently. But I do not want summer to end!! Pretty soon we start seeing those loathsome "Back-to-school!!! REJOICE!!!" ads in the stores. They make my dad (a teacher) particularly unhappy.



There is yet time! And melons!!

The figs are pretty good, too.

At market we bought a bag of lovely soft green ones, and did not even get done with our next errand in town ( going to the Asian market for chocolate-hazlenut spread) before they were nearly gone. Back to market!



At last we are nearly done working at my grandmother's! Woot! The entire summer has been taken up with painting and cleaning and nail-pulling (not really. but it feels like that.).

Tis really rather lonesome in town this week, except for the theatre goings-on; one of my four dear friends is out of state, and is going to college in Michigan this year, and another is busy with relatives/camp all week, and my other two have grandparents staying through the weekend, and I just left a message to see if we can get together next week before we head off to the coast, but they don't get phone messages very quickly. Alas.



And I really must take some time to make a new header for ole bloggie! The generic green swirly thing at the top of this one is less than original!



I have decided to persevere and read A Tale of Two Cities. My mom was reading it out loud to me earlier in the year, but we never got very far. I can read very fast, and one does need to re-read Dickens' complex sentences to discover exactly what the subject was verbing adverbally to the object! So far it is going pretty well; I've heard it is so very good, that I really must read it.



I updated my "favorite things" list, in the sidebar! There's a poll about halfway down, as to where you'd rather go on holiday in Middle-earth.
Aha! the mail just came--I must venture forth and see if it includes Countryside magazine--then out down the street to pick wild plums--