Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

In the beginning of May my church went from meeting the first and third Saturday of the month in another church building, to meeting every Sunday morning in a movie theater.


It is a little scary waking up so early on a Sunday morning!

But with a will of iron, I am up for the challenge.


Even if I'd prefer that no one see what I look like that early in the morning.

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon...

I live in a town made up of middle to upper class Americans and their 2.5 children and dogs. A town where nothing much happens.

That all changed yesterday.

I was on my way home in the evening. There is a stretch of road where the sun is in my eyes and yesterday I did not have my sunglasses. I'm about a block away from a red light and while I'm slowing down in the right lane, I notice a passenger-side door swing open from a car in the left lane. I thought to myself, "That's odd. This is an extremely busy intersection. Did that person drop something or close their seat belt in the door?"

Then a young man steps out of the car. I think, "He must be about to do a Chinese Fire Drill. Kids these days. They are so wacky!" But this young man just stands by the car door and begins to do a sort of wiggling dance. I found that odd. And then my eyes fully adjusted to the sunlight.

He was doing a dance alright. A dance with his pants down.

April 29, 2010 - The day I was first mooned by a stranger. I can now scratch that off of my "I have never" list. Thanks young sir!

Tale as old as time...

For Easter this year, Marissa and JP were kind enough to invite me to their house for dinner. We ate and ate and ate. And then we busted out the Popcorn Easter Eggs for a tale of epic proportions. You can view it here. You won't be disappointed.

(A sampling of the awesomeness to come.)

Color has its harmony...

Friday was Johnso's birthday. I surprised her with a purple meal on Tuesday when she came over to watch Lost this tuesday. Purple is her favorite color. And I mean FAVORITE! Most people say, "Oooh ___ is my favorite color" but I doubt many of them are as committed to that color as Johnso is to purple. The majority of her wardrobe is purple, her bedroom is mostly purple, she wears purple eye shadow. It's refreshing to see a woman wearing mostly purple. I see a lot of women who are devoted to two colors in their wardrobe - black and khaki. Snore.

Anyway, you may be asking, "What did you have for dinner that was purple?" The answer to that is simple.
Beets. Bears. Battle Star Galatica.

Main Course
Beets = Beets

I have to admit that I don't think I've ever had beets before in my life. I certainly have never bought them. I stood for a good 5 minutes in the canned food aisle figuring perplexed by all of the different canned beet options. Pickled. Halved. Whole. Low Sodium. Spicy. Sweet. Juliene. For Beet Lovers. For Beet Haters. For Beet Haters Who Want to Be Beet Lovers. It was overwhelming.

Finally I grabbed a can that said nothing but "Whole." Johnso assured me later that I saved us from total disaster by not grabbing the pickled beets.

Purple Presto Pesto Pasta

16 oz. canned beets
1 tsp. dried basil
2 Tbsp. fresh grated Parmesan cheese (I doubled, possibly tripled this quantity)
1 tsp. olive oil
1 large clove garlic, sliced (I added 5)
1/4 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1/2 box Angel Hair pasta (or pasta of choice)
1 1/2 cup chicken, cubed
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

Cook beets only until boiling. Add the next 5 ingredients
and blend in blender. Add in lemon peel, do not blend. This is your "pesto; " set it aside.

Cook pasta according to manufacturer's directions.

In 1 teaspoon olive oil, saute chicken and green peppers and
add to pesto. Drain pasta and place on a pie plate and pour
pesto over. Presto! A quick high-fiber, low-fat entree!

Side Dish
Bears = Red Cabbage & Red Onion

Bears have an excellent sense of smell. Onions and cabbage are smelly. Most bears eat mostly plants. Cabbages and onions are plants. Bears are bulky and robust in frame. Ditto cabbages and red onions (in fact I dare you to find a small red onion and red cabbage like this recipe calls for). Also, all three of these items can make you cry.

Sauteed Purple Cabbage

1 small purple cabbage (ha!)
1 small purple onion (ha ha!)
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. butter or olive oil

Shred cabbage and onion and mix together thoroughly. Heat
butter or olive oil in a large skillet or saute pan and
then add cabbage and onion mixture. Stir often and saute
until tender. Season to taste.

Dessert
Battlestar Galatica = Plums

... uh, I got nothing.

Purple Plum Pie

3 cups fresh purple plums
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. butter
Pastry for double crust pie

Wash, halve or quarter, and pit the plums. Combine sugar,
flour and spice and sprinkle over fruit. Place in pastry
lined pie plate. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with
butter. Adjust top crust. Seal edges and vent top. (I brushed the top crust with a little extra lemon juice). Bake at 425 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Up to the highest height...

Two Sundays ago, Micah and I set out on a grand adventure - to look at used cars for me. I had done some online research and found a few cars in the area that I wanted to test drive.

So we piled into her yellow Mini Cooper and drove to the first dealership. Closed on Sundays. So we headed to the next dealership. Closed on Sundays. So we headed to Target. Open on Sundays. Then we headed to a park by my house. Open on Sundays. And we proceeded to have varying levels of success flying our newly purchased kites.

Micah's dragon kite broke right away.

Then we tried to fly my owl which didn't really rise with the wind.

Then Micah jerry-rigged her kite to fly. After spiraling like mad it did eventually take off and rise into the air.

I figured out how to fly my kite too. It was all a matter of finding the perfect length of string.

You ride around in a coach and four...

Celia is in town for some librarian conferences, so this Saturday I jumped on the train and headed into the city for the day.

I am not as comfortable navigating public transportation if I am alone and without Rick Steves in my bag. (I really need to just right a whole post dedicated to Rick and why I love him.)

Anyway I decided just to take cabs around the city. The cab ride to the zoo was fine, but the cab ride back to the train station in the evening did not go as planned. First of all, I discovered that there are two Metra stations a few blocks apart. Since I only come in and out one station I was blissfully unaware of the second station until I was dropped off there.

And then as I was wandering around in a panic, a man comes up and asks where I'm headed. Not in a creepy way, but in a way that said, "I'll direct you, but then I expect a tip." I didn't care because there was no way I was calm enough to find my station in the dark, so he starts leading across a few blocks. While we are walking, I'm digging around in my purse for $2 to give him. He leads me to the station and I hand him a tip. It isn't until later I realize I handed him an $11 tip instead of a $2. Awesome.

And then on the train ride home, I sit facing a man who is listening to his iPod. Every once in awhile he would look at me and sing out loud and his lyrics went something like this:

"I have to go to church in the morning,
I need to go home and wash my hair
Girl you so sexy"

I was very grateful that I had a good book to read.

Are we dancing, say we really are...

Last Sunday, this is what I was doing - English Country Dancing. No one was in costume (unfortunately). However, I was one of the few women who wore pants. I'm a rebel that way.

It all started with Johnso, as most random things in my life do. Someone at her church plays the recorder in a band that happens to play for English Country Dancing at the FermiLab in Illinois. What is the FermiLab you may ask? Well, according to their website, "Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory advances the understanding of the fundamental nature of matter and energy by providing leadership and resources for qualified researchers to conduct basic research at the frontiers of high energy physics and related disciplines. " Particle Physics for short. They have the 2nd largest particle collider on site. And a barn for folk dancing. Science is odd like that.

So Johnso asks if I'd like to go to the dance with her. Now, how can you turn down an offer like that? Antiquated dancing with complete strangers on a base that looks like it came right out of the Dharma Initiative? Sign me up!

"Hello, I am Dr. Mark Wickmund and this is the orientation film for Station 10 of The DHARMA Initiative. Station 10 or "the Disco Ball" is a monitoring station where the participants in DHARMA Initiative projects can cut loose."

English Country Dancing, I learned, is a slower type of folk dancing, most notably portrayed at the Netherfield Ball in any Pride and Prejudice movie. You typically dance in a set of four.

And now a sampling of my partners:

Jim - He was the first person I danced with. He was very helpful in telling me about some of the more common steps. He has been coming with his wife for a few years. He was telling me that people really get into dressing in period clothing, especially at the balls that are held around the state. When I asked if he dressed up at all he exclaimed, "Never! It's my one hold-out. I refuse to wear those frilly shirts."

Roger - He had to be in his early 70's. The poor man had a pin in his ankle, so he tottered around the dance floor. There were a couple of times where we had to spin together and I was terrified that I would somehow trip him or cause him to fall.

Various Ladies - As in Pride and Prejudice "gentlemen were scarce," however this didn't stop us ladies from dancing. A few times I danced as the man and I know I got the hand holding stuff wrong, since I'm so used to having my hand be held in dances, not initiating the hold, if that makes sense. And there were some complicated arm twisting/hand holding that I could not pick up which just let to awkward moments where I unintentionally rammed my hands into other ladies chests. Pure dignity and grace!