The obligatory picture with the Mountaineer
Perusing Woodburn Circle
Hanging out at the ‘Lair
Waiting for the Drunk Bus
Checking out Oglebay
Knock knock!
Everyone loves to hang their head out the car window
Click on any picture to go to my Flickr set with more adventures!
Some late spring cleaning, and a day where I’m too tired to go out and do anything despite how pretty it is outside.
Free to a good home:
Amazon Basics Camera Backpack. It’s perfectly fine for what it is, but what I finally decided I wanted was a backpack that would hold my camera AND laptop AND didn’t look like a camera back that screamed “POSSIBLE EXPENSIVE STUFF HERE! STEAL ME!”
I instead went with something like this (but not this, mine is a drawstring not a zipper) and a regular laptop backpack–one that I can easily lock for travel and leaving in a hotel room–which I absolutely adore. But of course all that was a hell of a lot more expensive than this plain camera backpack.
Also free to a good home, some books:
Bread Machine baking book, which we don’t need because we got rid of the bread machine years ago.
Bright Young Things (hardback); I can’t get into it, but I somehow ALSO have the ebook version, so I really don’t need the hardback.
A Beautiful Blue Death – Grandmom really liked this series. I found it… meh.
Growing at the Speed of Life: A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden
Anyone interested? Friends and family will be given to preference. Because I can.
Oh, if you click on any of those links and then go buy something after, (same as for my book blog) I get pennies from Amazon. Hint. Hint.
Oh yeah! Today’s starter is: metal chicken
Click through to Flickr to see more of Ricky Martin’s adventures!
Janiece may well be the MOST awesome person in the entire world.
I… I have no words…
As we dawdled in getting our hotel room, we didn’t get a room close to Williamsburg. The nice thing about this is we got to drive around the Colonial Parkway, which is gorgeous.
So my cousin Liz graduated from college this past weekend, so we took advantage of the trip and wandered around Williamsburg a bit. Hadn’t been there since I was in 6th grade, so it was pretty much all new.
We didn’t pay $40/person to tour the houses, because we only had part of an afternoon. Despite that, it was fascinating.
I’ve been… reading? I suppose that’s taken up some of my time. Dunno where the rest went. Ah well. This week’s word is: mighty
Yeah, I’ve got a doctor visit today. You’re lucky I’m going with my second choice and not my first. Today’s word is: exposed
I had a huge broom at one point, but when we put in the parking spot, the ground got too wet and it died. So I planted another (slightly smaller) in a different location, and we were actually home this year to see it bloom! (YAY!)
Yeah, this weather is stupid. I have a cold and I’m distracted, yet I’m here for you, remembering IN ADVANCE the game of word association. Today’s word is: dedication
(although in theory, the word could be sarcasm)
An interesting conversation occurred recently on Twitter. I was joking about my bad attitude, and said, “My attitude stems from ‘you’re calling me a bitch like that’s a BAD thing.’”
I was surprised to learn there are still women for whom that word has a sting and a bite.
When I was in college, I read (in Cosmo of all places) an article on the word “bitch,” which pretty much said that men use it as a term to put uppity women in their place. You know, like when we’re being strong, and assertive, and standing up for ourselves.
That was the point when I decided that the word bitch would never bother me, because I wanted to be a strong woman.
Of course, I spent several years confused about the term “strong woman” and precisely what that meant, (Note to my college aged self: You’re doing it completely wrong.) but eventually I came to terms with what it meant to me to be a strong woman, and I’ve been working on it ever since.
A couple years after college I came upon Elizabeth Wurtzel’s book Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women (I’m amazed that the cover on the current version is toned done from the cover on the version I have, which I love. How did a book praising strong women get its cover toned down?), which reinforced that idea.
…I intend to do what I want to do and be whom I want to be and answer only to myself: that is, quite simply, the bitch philosophy…
Here’s the thing, it’s not shocking for a man to believe and act in such a manner, but–even today–we’re still fighting over what feminism is or should be or who should make the sammich. (Every time I see one of the arguments I want to shut all participants in a very small, very dark basement, for a very long time.)
We can have all the debates about gender equality and sexism and male privilege we want, but it seems to me that as long as women are called bitches for saying what they think and for standing up for what they believe, it’s pretty clear what the state of things really is.
Misogyny still exists. Some of us still deal with it Every Single Day. And as long as it does I’ll willingly and proudly take the title of bitch. I will not sit down and shut up and be nice, just because that’s what society expects me to do.
I will laugh loudly. I will be brash and outspoken. I will tell you my opinion and you are free to debate me but you have to use rational arguments and logic. I will stand up tall and make my presence known and not stand in a corner waiting to be acknowledged.
I will continue be a bitch, and I’ll continue to proud to be called one.
Because I am inexplicably drawn to cemeteries, Michael and I walked to the Parker Cemetery.
It was somewhat odd–I’m used to cemeteries around here, and found myself somewhat shocked at how recent the stones of the founders were. Of course, I’m pretty sure at least some of the stones had been replaced.
Plot and stones of the founders of Parker, Co.
Monday we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens. The visit would have been more enjoyable if there hadn’t been grade-schoolers running and screaming and generally being out-of-control maniacs on the paths.
But aside from that, it was a beautiful day, and there were lots of spring flowers.
Our other hike was at Red Rocks, which I am told is a venue where music is sometimes played. I thought it was a lovely hike.
We spent a week in Denver, hanging out the Janiece and Anne and Susan and Stacy (and attendant family members) and not only did we have a wonderful time, I was able to be convincing of the need for hikes.
Our first trip was to Dinosaur Ridge, which is a free park. It was a steep hike in parts, but beautiful, and I was sorry my ankle didn’t like the climbing, because I would have liked to have spent more time there.
(more…)
You know how when you go to the automatic car wash, you often get a “pre-soak” where they drip soapy water on your car and let it soak in for about 20 seconds?
That pre-soak lead me to wonder–would an automatic car wash get your car cleaner if you went when it was raining. If a pre soak does anything at all, then I would think that your car already being wet from the rain would help soak the grime off.
Any argument as to why this would not be so?
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