Full Weekend

Busy busy weekend! The weather here in Tricities was AMAZING this weekend.  Felt like summer!  I had to get outside and enjoy it.

Friday evening Emma and I met up with my friend Tasha and her hubs, her brother and his wife, and their two adorable boys for some Pizza and then the Shrine Circus. I haven’t been to a circus since…..I can’t even remember when it was.  All I know is I was little, it was the Ringling Bros. and Barnam & Bailey Circus, and there were motorcycles that rode in this giant metal sphere thingy SUPER fast without hitting each other.  I’m not sure why that’s my only memory of it though. Seems odd. Anyway, the circus was fun; those people do some amazing stuff.  They were giving Elephant rides to the kids before the circus started, so my little girl climbed up on the GIANT pachyderm and rode like a pro! I was skeptical if she would really do it, after her hesitation at going on the ferris wheel at the Carnival a couple weeks ago (although once she went on it, she didn’t want to stop).

I just remembered I never posted about our time at the Carnival.  I know you are absolutely just DYING to hear about it (haha).

Ok, back to the circus….Here is Emma on the elephant, right up front….

 

Here is Emma and Tasha’s oldest nephew Drake….with his blue cotton candy mouth…

I am NOT a fan of clowns. They creep me out. (Thanks Steven King). Emma is not quite sure what to think of them yet.  They did have some funny skits during the show. The very last one absolutely made Emma laugh…not just a chuckle or giggle, but actually belly laugh.  There is no sweeter sound to me than that. That was the highlight of my evening. 🙂

Saturday was another beautiful day. I absolutely HAD to get outside and enjoy, so Emma and I went to Lowe’s to get flowers to plant on the deck. Emma found a little inch worm on one of the plants as we were walking around, so that became her “pet” for the duration of our shopping. She carried it around, tried to feed it leaves from different flowers, talked to it, etc.  I wanted to get a few herb plants also, so we went to the herb section where Emma tasted almost all of them.  She did not want to taste the chives, because it looks like grass, but after I made her, she kept asking if she could have more. I knew she would love it.  We ended up with Basil, Chives, and Cilantro.  3 herbs that I use the most.  I wanted to get some Mint as well, however, here must be a huge Mint (or perhaps a Mojito) “following” here because they are always sold out!

Here are two of the barrels planted. (That’s one nice thing about living in the heart of wine country, there is never a shortage of wine barrels to use for planters.) Notice the pretty ornamental grass in the middle….that the cat promptly nibbled on that evening, so now half of it is shorter than the other half. Yeah, NOT happy about that.

Saturday evening, I got to spend the evening with some great ladies!  Appetizers, a couple of drinks (Creamsicles – YUM), and great conversation.  Thanks Jenn and Tiffany!! 🙂

Sunday was my get everything else done day.  My goal was to get some things re-arranged in the garage, and do a little re-organizing. It felt soooo good to get so much done. The bonus….I found my Grandpa’s purple heart medal, and dog tag from when he was in the service during WWII. I also came across some another medal of his (I need to research to find out its significance), some old ration booklets, and some other WWII memorabilia that my Grandma had passed down to me before she passed away.

 

 Also got the dog washed and a couple of paintings done.  One of them was with oils…cuz you know, I’m a pro at toxic…er, I mean oil painting now.  Haha! But I didn’t kill myself or anyone else in the proccess, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t violate any hazmat laws either. 😉

 I hope you all had a great weekend!

Butterflies, Science, and Seagulls in Seattle. Oh my!

A cousin of mine that I haven’t seen in probably 15 years, who now lives in Michigan (but originally from the Seattle area, like me), flew out to visit family in the Pacific Northwest for spring break, with her 7yr old daughter Kaitlyn. I HAD to take this opportunity to see Michelle, and wanted Emma to meet her second cousin.

So, from the Canal (where we “stayed” for the weekend), we headed to the Bremerton ferry dock to ride over to Seattle.  We parked on the Bremerton side (for only $5 bucks for all day!), and walked on (more on this parking adventure later in this post).  Here is Emma at the fountain and sculpture park they have by the ferry terminal.

And climbing…

Emma has been on a ferry several times before, but the first few times she was less than a year old, and the rest of the time has been sitting in the car on the car deck below.  This time she got to take FULL advantage of being “topside”.  Personally, I didn’t think she was going to like the wind out on the front deck……WRONG.  She stood out there in it THE ENTIRE WAY.  She would take a huge gulp of air, then turn around and point her nose up into the wind. She looked at me and said “I can breathe in it (the wind), I just can’t talk in it!” Haha.  I snapped a few pictures, then huddled behind the shelter to shiver, then popped out to snap a few more, etc.  Here she is enjoying it……

 

 

We docked in Seattle, and my Cousin Michelle, her Mom Marilyn, Kaitlyn, my Uncle Rick were waiting for us on the other side. Emma and Kaitlyn met and pretty much instantly got along like they already knew each other. 

Arent they cute?….

I was so glad to see that, but of course, Emma being an only child, she CRAVES other kids.  She will walk up to ANY child, and just say “Hi”. So many times we have been sitting in a restaurant and a family will sit down next to us and she will start looking over at the kids, then back at me, then she’ll ask “Mom, can I go meet them?”.  I hate telling her no, but jeeeeez, they are having dinner with their family, and while YOU are not shy, some kids might think your nutso just going up to them like that (not to mention interrupting dinner).  It makes me feel bad sometimes that she is only child.  I had always planned on having more than one, but then I got divorced, and well, that just was not in the cards, I guess.  But hey, maybe someday she will have step brothers or sisters. Ok….sorry, that was a major side track!  Back to our day…..

First we hit the food court at the Seattle Center to get the animals (kids) fed.  I have not been in the Seattle Center since probably middle school.  Michelle and I were both amazed at how much smaller it seemed now.  And not as many cool places to eat, although, cool at 38 and cool at 14 probably differ greatly.  🙂  This may shock you, but Emma and I ended up eating pizza.

Next up, Pacific Science Center. Uncle Rick ended up surprising us by paying for us ALL to get in.  Thanks Uncle Rick!! There were SO many cool things to see there!  If you have kids and haven’t taken them yet, DO IT!  

Parents Warning: those sneaky people placed the gift shop right inside the front doors.  We had to create a quick diversion accompanied by the promise that “we’ll stop at the gift shop on the way OUT”. We spent some time checking out the bodily functions area, bones, balance, etc. I touched a sheep brain….EEWW. It was soft, and strange.  Emma wouldn’t touch it.  She’s such a chicken!  Lol. Then it was off to the planetarium.  Lot’s of cool stuff in there.  A HUGE rubix cube.  That was way more exciting for the adults (a.k.a. children of the 80’s) than it was for Kaitlyn and Emma though, considering they didn’t have a clue what it was.

 

There was also a tide pool for investigating sea creatures. Em actually TOUCHED them. When I took her to the Seattle Aquarium a couple of years ago, she wouldn’t touch anything. They even had a little hermit crab habitat at the tide pool, that contained my worst nightmare…….a NAKED hermit crab, without it’s shell.  Gross. Then it was on to the snakes, reptiles, naked mole rats, which are actually cuter than a naked hermit crab.  No joke. Really. 😉

The next stop was the highlight (for me anyway) of the visit.  The Tropical Butterfly Exhibit.  I had been in it a loooooong time ago, when it was still part of the Woodland Park Zoo, but it has since moved to the Science Center. They import 500 butterflies a week for the exhibit (raised responsibly in sustainable rainforest farms). You walk in and there are literally hundreds of butterflies everywhere you look.  Sometimes they land on people, which is very cool.  Now I know that they like bright colors like orange, pink, and red.  If you go, where a shirt that color and you’ll increase your chances of a landing.  I was wearing dark blue, darn it.  Luckily, part of the Otterbox I have on my iPhone is pink, and a large butterfly landed on it!  Wooohoooo!  I happened to have my digital camera in my other hand (I was a double fisted shooter in there), and despite being totally retarded at doing anything left-handed, I was able to snap this shot….

Here are a couple others I took….

Oh!  Anddddd, here is one of THE RAREST and MOST beautiful of ALL the butterflies…. 😉

Had it not been for the fact that it was about a zillion degrees in there with 80% humidity, I could have spent all day in there playing with the butterflies.  They are SO beautiful and amazing.

After that, we headed back down to the waterfront, and stopped to have some grub at my favorite fast-seafood restaurant in Seattle, Ivar’s.  Baby Prawns n Chips for me every time I go, and a cup of their famous white chowder.  Ahhhh it’s hard to beat Ivar’s. 

I think Kaitlyn and Emma had more fun on the pier feeding and talking to the seagulls than they did anywhere else that day.  Left up to them, we would have fed the seagulls every morsel of food we bought! 

After feeding every seagull in Elliott Bay, Emma and I hopped back on the ferry back to Bremerton. More freezing to death in the wind. Well, Emma was, I was shivering behind the shelter watching HER freeze to death in the wind. 

This brings me back to the parking topic.  I was excited to see it was only $5 for parking in the garage near the terminal on the Bremerton side.  That’s cheap!! Especially since it’s $25 for parking at the Seattle Center. Upon arrival back in Bremerton, we walked off the ferry, stopped by Starbucks for a coffee and a hot chocolate (for Emma) and walked over to the parking garage. As I was getting closer to my car, I noticed an envelope on my windshield. What could that be I wondered…..I know I paid for parking before I left. I opened it, to see a parking fine…..WHAT? (Grrrrr).  Apparently, I read the tiny sign wrong on the pay box. It was $5.50 (even though there was a LARGE red lettered “Parking $5” sign out on the street in front of the garage). I guess they ment “AROUND” $5…..not actually $5. Guess how much the fine is?  $30!!!  Yes…..I have been assessed a THIRTY DOLLAR fine, for FIFTY CENTS. Really? This sounds like a TRAP to me. The sign outside says $5, and the paybox itself says $5.50! I had steam billowing out of my ears.  I tried calling, and of course no one answers, you have to leave a message, which I did, and big surprise, no one has returned my call. I was so mad I didn’t even think to take photos of the “trap” to plead my case. I take photo’s of everything else under the sun, jeeeeez, how could I not think to do that (again, Grrrrr).

Click here to see more pictures of this trip in the photo gallery….

I’m Blogging Too

Over the past several weeks, after starting my blog, I, of course, have spent more time in the evenings and weekends on my computer. I found a fantastic way to manage this, that’s a win-win for both me AND Emma.  Two words.  McDonald’s Playland. Yep, I took Emma over to McD’s got us a snack and a drink, and headed for the play area. 

I think I have only done that once before.  I’m not usually a huge fan of the place, let alone all of the kids running wild around like little wildebeests (yes, that’s really how it’s spelled. I had to google it). And I am NOT a fan of screaming children either.  Sounds like a recipe for disaster for me, huh?  Well surprisingly, There were only a few other people in the play area, and only a couple of kids. And it was QUIET.  do you believe that? I sat down with my laptop and my HUGE iced tea, and got busy.  

Emma ran off to play, coming back periodically for a nibble of food and a drink.

surprisingly, it was fantastic!  Not at all what I was afraid it would be….a room that smelled like feet, PACKED with screaming kids, and snotty slobbery babies…..

So naturally Emma asks me what I’m doing when I’m on my computer.  I tell her I’m “blogging”.  She asked me what that means.  I explained that I have my own space on the internet (arent I COOL?), that I can post pictures, ideas, crafts, and thoughts, to share them with people. I don’t know if that was a good enough explanation, but it seemed to satisfy her curiosity.

Later on during the same weekend, we went to the Mall to get a second pair of these super cool shoes I got at Lady Footlocker.  (They were so comfy I wanted to have one pair to wear strictly to the gym, and another pair I can abuse the rest of the time.) Emma is a member of the “kids club” at the Mall, so that entitles her to a FREE balloon, ANYTIME we go to there.  WOW. That’s darn near priceless considering the meltdowns over getting and not getting a balloon that we have had in Fred Meyer and other stores that SELL balloons, and well worth the $5 annual fee for the membership.  🙂  So we stopped at the information booth to get her balloon. 

We walked by Myfroyo (If you don’t know, it’s a frozen yogurt shop) and of course she reallllllyyyyyyyy wanted to go get some.  I said no, we haven’t even eaten dinner yet.  That was followed by more pleassssse and some mildly irritating whining…..”but it’s healthy“! I said “No, it’s not healthy, it’s just a little better for you than ice cream”. (I left off “until you put all the crap on top that they call “toppings”, cuz I didn’t want to completely burst her bubble). With that, I kicked it into high gear to get us into the store and back out of the Mall, STAT.  I was loosing my patience rapidly.  (I know, not ME, right?)

Phew, mission accomplished.

When we got back into the car, Emma asked for a pen. Which I handed her. (Don’t freak out, she likes to write and draw in the back seat, and is not one of those kids that does either of those things ON SEATS.)  I hear her start sounding out words while writing on her balloon.  Words like Daisy (our cat), Riley (our dog)….pretty soon she asked me how to spell Myfroyo, and then frozen yogurt.  She finished up, and handed me back the pen. I asked what she was doing….

Her reply was “I’m blogging….on my balloon. But I didn’t tell them I have a hermit crab and I spelled out frozen yogurt so kids, like two, or three years old won’t argue with their parents about it (Myfroyo) being ice cream.”

Well that was awfully nice of her to think of the poor parents, after the ringer she put ME through not 15 minutes earlier.

I’m wondering where exactly she thought we were going to “post” this informatin on her “balloon blog”.  The kid cracks me up sometimes.  🙂 

Why stop at the hermit crab?

After the “adoption” of Lily Lime the hermit crab, my daughter started to realize how persuasive she could be on paper, apparently.  Over the next week, I received two more of her heartfelt letters pleading with me for just one more pet. I was on to her and her trap (the letters) now though! 😉  

I think she secretly wants to be a Zoo Keeper.  Which is not unlike I was as a kid. I must resist the unbridled cuteness of the letter, resist my urge to sometimes live vicariously through her with things that I didn’t get when I was a her age, and say “no”.

This time, I saved the letters to share them.  Here was the first one…..

Really?  A turtle?

Here is the second one……

Now a lizard?

I like how she drew her own “lines” to write on also.  Haha. So tell me, would YOU be able to resist this?  I’m sure you can see how we ended up with the hermit crab after the first one. Right??

Lily Lime

My daughter has loved sea creatures practically since she was born.  Of course, I did the sea life and fish theme with all of her baby stuff, so that could have started things off, then add repeated exposure to all sorts of cool (and some icky) sea creatures every summer at Hood Canal, and you have the makings of a sea creature lover, or perhaps a future Mrs. Jacques Cousteau. 🙂

She has had a Beta fish pretty much all her life. Well, technically, more than one…..we have had a couple of casualties throughout the years.  Luckily, she seems to grasp the whole “circle of life” and “nothing lasts forever” concept (at least with fish). I guess you could call having a fish, a “staple” for her.  She’s getting a little older now, and thinks she needs more creatures. She FINALLY convinced me that she needed a hermit crab.  She gave me the cutest full page note asking me if I could please get her one.  It has lots of “please moms” and things like “I will take care of it myself”…..“I am old anuff”….. (Spelled like it sounds LOL).  It was so darn cute I couldn’t refuse.  She finds TINY ones on the beach at the canal all summer, and always wants to please please pleeeeeeeeease bring one home. Besides, I had one when I was little also, so it seemed fair.  We decided to go shopping for a hermit crab. 

Normally, getting though the pet store is a chore by itself with my daughter.  She wants to see ev-er-y-thi-ng. This time, we had a purpose.  She had her eye on the prize, so the side tracking was minimal, thankfully.

She LOVED that Petco has shopping carts made just for kids! She could shop like a grown up. 😉

Look at this itty bitty teeny weeny snake the size of Emma’s finger.  So cute.

It’s been close to 30 years since I have even looked at hermit crabs.  I was a little surprised to find an entire section with all kinds of “specialty” hermit crab “stuff”. 

And now, it’s apparently the “thing” to have a painted shell.  News to me.  We first looked at the tank with the non-painted ones….Emma said “Hmh, camo (camouflaged) ones.  Cool…” and then quickly turned to the painted ones and said “Mom LOOK at THESE!”.  There were shells painted like monsters, flowers, striped ones…just about anything.  I guess it did add color.  Anyway, so after inspecting just about every crab in the tank, she finally picked a green one.  She named it Lily Lime.  She’s always been creative with names.  She has a GIGANTIC stuffed shark that I got at Ikea, named “Nothing”.  Not like, it doesn’t have a name at all, it’s the word “Nothing”.  That’s the explanation that always follows the revealing of its name when people ask. 

Along with the purchase of the crab, you have to have a home.  Well….it just so happens that they sell hermit crab kits. Yep. Kits. They make it easy for us parents now.  The store clerk went on and on about how it’s sooooo much cheaper to buy the kit.  If you piece everything out separately, you would end up spending $60+ bucks.  I had to grab my shopping cart for stability.  WHAT?  Are you KIDDING me?  For a CRAB?  Well, shoot, give me that kit (it was $24).  We got the kit, some food, a dish for food, a little hiding spot log, and a $4 bottle of salt water, because ya know, they need both salt and fresh water, apparently.  When we got to the check-out, my total was about $62.  Um….hmmmm…something is wrong here.  I guess I can’t complain, I mean, the “kit” came complete with a palm tree, a starfish sponge, and a climby thing (that looks more like something for a hamster cage, but whatever). I guess crabs like to climb too, and sit under palm trees.  I suppose if it dies, replacing just the crab for $7 is not that bad.  And heck, if we don’t get another, I think I’ll take my next vacation in the crab habitat.  Looks like a place I could spend a week, easily!  😉

For some reason, even though, like I said, Emma finds hermit crabs at the Canal all the time, this one seems to creep me out.  I guess cuz it’s so BIG compared to the little ones that barely poke out of their shell.  This girl is OUT there when she comes out….legs and antennae waving all around…..ew.  Haha.

How many hands??

Just something funny I have to share…… I was dropping Emma off at the B&GC befor school.  She had a stuffed animal with her, and dropped it as she was getting out of the car.  She looks down at it, and says “THAT’S because I don’t have ten bazillion HANDS”. 

Funny, I find myself saying those EXACT words every time we get out of the car with all of her “stuff” in tow.  Then she said, “I wonder why we only have TWO hands?”.  I’ve wondered that very same thing most of my life.  🙂

Mermaids and Painting

I’ve mentioned before how Emma has such a great imagination and creative ability.  She absolutely loves to draw, color, glue, paint, glitter, tape, whatever!  Some of the things she comes up with are amazing, and other are….well…..let’s just say, they give me a good chuckle. Emma and I recently did a little painting.  Here she is getting down to the business of art  🙂 

All I did was put a base coat of acrylic paint on two canvas pieces that I have a “vision” for creating.  I’m not going to tell you yet what it will be, because I’m not exactly certain at this point myself…but I have an idea in my head.  And I’m gonna go with it.  We’ll see how it translates onto the canvas….. 

I haven’t “painted” since I was a TA (teacher’s assistant) in my middle school art class, which I LOVED.   And no, I’m not counting the interior and exterior house painting I have done.  That’s not fun painting….it’s just work, mostly.  Ick.  Anyway, my basic idea stemmed from a project tutorial that Ashley from Lil blue boo has on her blog, but then I started thinking……that I want to take it in a different direction….so we’ll see how that turns out.  And hopefully I don’t strain any strange hidden muscles during my painting sessions.  I know what you’re thinking….strain muscles? PAINTING? But yeah, it IS possible.  (Haha).  I’ll keep you posted on the project as it progresses. 

I also want to share a conversation Emma and I had earlier the same evening. I picked her up from the Boy’s & Girls Club after work.  She hopped in the car, got buckled in, and then asked me…

Emma: “Mom, what do mermaids eat?” 

I got ALL excited!!  OH OH OH!  I KNOW this one!! I confidently replied “Fish….clams…oysters…”.

I figured that answer would be sufficient because I’m positive that’s correct.  (I’ll have to verify next time I bump into a mermaid). However, it wasn’t. In typical Emma fashion…we must know more…..details, details…give her details!

Emma: “Do they cook it?”

Me: “No”.

Emma: “Ew, gross. Can’t they cook it in the sun?”

At this point, I’m not willing to dive any deeper into this conversation on mermaid cuisine, so I am now starting  to throw out “I don’t know’s” and “Sure, I guess” replies……

Me: “I don’t know honey.  I guess they could if it was a sunny day”….

Her reply was perfectly simple….

Emma: “It’s always a sunny day, except for when it rains”. 

🙂 

It takes talent

 We have a pretty amazing pet in our house.  Her name is Daisy.  She’s a bilingual cat that does tricks.  It’s true. You don’t believe me?  Let me give you the facts behind this.  Emma (a.k.a. The Cat Whisperer) “works” with Daisy on a daily basis.  I’ve been summoned to her room on many occasions to see these things being performed. You see, Emma has been teaching Daisy sign language. Not only that, but some of the “signs” are commands to perform tricks! I know…double whammy right?  Emma came and said, “Mom, I’m teaching daisy sign language, come and see”….. In the first picture below you can see Emma’s arm….she is “signing” Daisy’s command to “sit in the hoop”, and VIOLA! She’s doing it.  The next picture is of Daisy “lying down in the hoop”.  She’s REALLY good at this stuff.  😉   

Daisy, is the kind of cat that if you put your hand down at her level within several inches of her face…she will come and “dive” into your hand to be petted. So Emma, the Cat Whisperer, has “trained” Daisy, that if she puts her fingers all together, at her fingertips (like you would if you were making a hand alligator), that means to come to be petted. 

 In addition to sign language, she of course speaks “cat”.  We think she speaks some “dog” also, given the amount of time she spends rubbing on, hanging out with, and sleeping with Riley (our Mini-Doxie).  The last language she speaks, Emma thinks is….Spanish.  One morning, I was trying to get Emma up and dressed and out the door so I could drop her at the Boys & Girls Club before I went to work.  Emma is quite the “lolly-gagger”…so mostly, this task every morning is like trying to push rope.  Have you ever laid a piece of rope down, and then tried to push it, to move it?  Yeah, it’s doesn’t work so well. Anyway, I was waiting on her to do something…and I turned to the cat and said “Emma needs to HURRY UP doesn’t she Daisy?”….knowing that Emma was within earshot.  Emma turns to us and says, “I think she speaks Spanish, because she doesn’t usually answer”.  Well, that clears that mystery up.  Our cat never verbally responds because simply, we are speaking the wrong language to her.  Good to know.  🙂

Visit to the Promise Land (a.k.a. Cabela’s)

A couple weeks ago, Emma and I were headed for Hood Canal to spend some time with my friend Lauren and her son Hunter who have a cabin right next door to our cabin.  It was such a nice weekend, despite the non-stop rain.  I will post some fun pics I took that weekend later.  For now, I want to share some from the stop we made along the way.  I have shopped at Cabela’s on line for many years, but have NEVER actually BEEN IN one.  Not too long ago (or maybe it was because time does seems to slip by faster and faster these days, and I KNOW it has NOTHING to do with age so stop thinking that!), they built one in Olympia (actually Lacy, but same diff. really).  If you have never been in one…..let me tell you, it’s like DISNEYLAND!!  I could not believe all the stuff in there!  There’s a TON of animals (kind of like the zoo, except….well….they are dead, and stuffed), a live aquarium, tons of awesome “stuff” to buy of course, a cafe, glass elevators, some fun shooting games for kids AND adults….it was pretty much AMAZING. Emma and I would have been happy just spending the whole DAY in there. 🙂 

No catch and release here. We took one home!

You can view the rest of the photos from our stop at Cabela’s here.

One of my “Muses”

My daughter Emma is a constant source of entertainment for me.  You could even call her my Muse.  She’s not my only one, I have a couple of them (more on them later).  The definition of “muse” as a noun in the dictionary is “a state of deep thought or dreamy abstraction”. I have a slightly different definition.  To me, a Muse is someone that brings out the best in you just by being who they are.  They don’t TRY bring out anything in you…..it just HAPPENS.  Not really someone you say “Hey, THAT is a totally cool person, I want to be just like them”….. No….It’s someone that inspires and encourages “something” that already exists in you, and simply by being around that person, and interacting with them, this “goodness” or “fun”, or “creativeness”, whatever your “something” is, comes spilling out of you.

Back to Emma……I marvel constantly at her comprehension of life and “things”.  Sometimes I think that she is 6yrs old going on 50. I guess you could say she’s kind of an old soul.  Rather than just bounding into things feet first…she absorbs and contemplates first. She craves knowledge. Now, I don’t consider myself “dumb”, but good grief I sure feel like an idiot when she (6yrs old), sits in the back seat of our SUV, asking me (38yrs old) questions about life and creation and how things work….and I realize, I have no clue what the answer is!  Let me give you an example.  (Those of you that I am Facebook friends with will have heard this example already).  The other day, we were just driving merrily down the highway, and after several minutes of silence, Emma asks “Mom, who put the very first dinosaur eggs on the Earth?”  My first thought is oh great; here we go……more questions I have NO clue how to answer. My second thought is to just say “God did”. Sounds good, right?  Then she asks “Then who took care of them?” The only answer I could muster up was that “they were ready to hatch when he put them here”. I was pretty sure that little Q&A session was going to get me stricken-down by lightening, but I’m still here typing this, so I think I got a “gimme” on that one.  I should know this stuff, right?  We have also had some very interesting and short (thanks to my well-developed ability to change the subject) about the creation of Earth, what happened to the dinosaurs, how come they could not outrun the meteorite…and so on.  She’s really into playing with and reading about dinosaurs right now, so at least I know that’s where the questions are coming from, and not (thank goodness) an undying need to know about evolution and religion. 

My Muse looking out on Hood Canal

In addition to her analytical side, she also has a fantastic imagination. She told me once that a “Bubble-a-saurus is a GOOD dinosaur that carries dirt around to flowers that don’t have any”. She also told me that “Gardner snakes won’t hurt you, they protect your garden and make your flowers grow, and lick them”.  (I’m assuming that those are the flowers that did get dirt and didn’t need the Bubble-a-saurus to deliver dirt to them.)

As much as her inquisitiveness drives me nuts sometimes, I really wouldn’t rather it be any other way.  Like I’ve said, she amazes me, and she cracks me up sometimes.  She is definitely a Muse for me. 

 Have a great day!  Oh yeah…and “Choose Joy” today!!  I’m gonna try to!