"Don't Panic!..."

Good morning, all! It's not quite 11:00 a.m. on the west coast and so far this morning I've made/processed the following:

~ 2 quarts of homemade turkey soup
~ 8 phyllo wrapped chicken breasts
~ 10 pounds of sesame chicken strips (can be used for stir-frys, salads, sandwiches)
~ 2 meatloaves

YAHOOOOOOOO!!

I've still yet to make:

~ 6 pounds of peanut chicken
~ 3 pounds of rojo steak strips (can use in soft tacos, burritos, fajitas)
~ 3 pounds of sirloin strips in a wine/teriyaki sauce (can be used in stir-frys or by iteself over rice)
~ 3 pounds of steak dionne

As you can tell, it's 'stock the freezer day'. I am inspired because I bought a new 'Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer!' book this past week. I have the first book, this is a new one -- with GREAT recipes! If you haven't read it/tried it, I highly recommend you do. When I've taken the time to make a few of these dishes and freeze them, I can't tell you how much easier it makes my life. While I enjoy cooking, I don't necessarily enjoy cooking a full on meal when I get home from work. These nice little 'head starts' really help me out and ease the meal-time burden.

Kevin and I used Dream Dinners exactly three times before we decided their prices were so outrageous, we simply could not justify the cost. Plus, so many of the things are just "marinate & freeze". That's okay, but it's not that great of a help at dinner time. That's something I can do on my own. After our three sessions, I decided to search out another alternative. I was thrilled when I found the first 'Don't Panic...' book. Debbie and I got together and did a big cooking session and it worked out well! I've done a few sessions on my own since then and am always amazed at how nice it is to just go to the freezer and pull out something delicious for dinner. Such a time saver! So, of course, when I heard there was a new book, I had to buy that to. I'm so glad I did! Even more wonderful recipes to test out. In addition to the regular beef, chicken, soup recipes, there are also lots of delicious brunch items, appetizers and desserts. I'm planning another session for Spring Break (week after next), and that session will include some brunch items and baked goods.

I feel so accomplished!

Cinnamon Crunch Bagels & Pajama Day

What a perfectly wonderful Friday! Today is pajama day at school and while I don't feel comfortable wearing a pair of PJ's to work, I feel perfectly comfortable wearing a PJ top - because it looks just like a regular T-shirt - and a pair of slippers to work! Ahhhh comfort!

As if that weren't enough to make this Friday a wonderful way to ease into the weekend, my friend Nancy brought in cinnamon crunch bagels and honey walnut cream cheese from Panera. YUM!!

You just have to love a Friday like this!

Baseball Spoken Here

At the last minute yesterday, Kevin was offered 4 tickets and a parking pass for the final game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The game was at Dodger Stadium. He called and asked if I'd like to go. Sure!

I must admit, I would have been more engaged in the game if I'd been familiar with more of the players (the final was Korea vs. Japan), but we still had a good time. Talk about fans! Holy cow, Korea and Japan certainly take their baseball very seriously. The fans began cheering the moment the entered the stadium and didn't quit until it was over. It was fun to watch the crowd.

Thanks, Kevin, for inviting me to be your date! Thanks, too, to Veronica and her husband who gave us the tickets.

Geese in Flight

Sunday morning Kevin and I were sitting in the park when the most unusual thing happened; five geese flew directly overhead! It was amazing! Living in southern California, I've never had that experience before. Kevin said the same thing had happened at work a few days before and he'd been stunned, too.

We were sitting at the picnic tables talking when we heard a loud honking noise in the sky; we looked up and there they were. They were just beautiful! I've no idea where they came from or where they were headed, but I'm definitely glad we had the chance to see them.

Ken Burns

Have you seen this film? If not, you should.

Last night Kevin and I had the great fortune to see Ken Burns speak in Pasadena for the Distinguished Speaker series. All I can say is 'WOW'. If you ever have the opportunity to see Ken Burns either in person, or watch one of his many documentaries, do yourself a favor and make the effort. Why? Aside from being one of the most talented and gifted filmmakers of this, or any, generation, he's an awesome speaker as well. Not so much the way in which he speaks, but the passion he has for the subject matter on which he makes films - well, it's truly inspirational. As are his films. Here is a brief snippet of the speech we heard him deliver last night:

"I am in the business of history. It is the avocation I have chosen to practice my craft of filmmaking. Over the many years of practicing, I have come to the realization that history is a not a fixed thing, a collection of precise dates, facts and events that add up to a quantifiable, certain, confidently known, truth. It is an inscrutable and mysterious and malleable thing. Each generation rediscovers and re-examines that part of its past that gives its present, and most important, its future new meaning and new possibilities.

I am interested in that mysterious power of history, and I am interested in its many varied voices. Not just the voices of the old top-down version of our past, which would try to convince us that American history is only the story of Great Men. And not just those pessimistic voices that have recently entered our studies, voices which seem to suggest that our history is merely a catalogue of white crime. I am interested in listening to the voices of a true, honest, complicated past that is unafraid of controversy and tragedy, but equally drawn to those voices, those stories and moments, that suggest an abiding faith in the human spirit and particularly the unique role this remarkable and sometimes dysfunctional Republic seems to play in the positive progress of mankind. That, quite simply, has been my creed, my mantra, the lens through which I have tried to see our shared past, to understand its stories, for more than 30 years."

Again, WOW. Doesn't even just this little bit of his speech make you want to delve into our history with a passionate vengeance?

The Great Sandwich Escapade of 2009

Normally, our sweet angel, Slippers, is quite well behaved. However, as with most children - furry or otherwise - there are certainly days when this is, to say the least, questionable. Over the years we've had a visit or two from what we've decided to call Slippers' 'Evil Twin, Skippy'.

A bit of background...
We found Slippers nearly 8 years ago at our local Humane Society and instantly fell in love with her. She was just about a year old and came to the shelter as a stray. They felt, and we concur, that she'd been somewhat abused and abandoned by a former owner. When she was brought in, she'd already been spayed and had clearly had a bit of training, but she was somewhat timid and growled at most men. Luckily, she was also playful, gentle and oh-so-sweet! We brought her home and, from the very first day, we knew we'd chosen the perfect dog. The first night she was with us, we went to mom and dad's for dinner. Deb, Bill and the boys were there, too, and the boys were so excited about the new 'puppy'! They wanted to help feed her so we put just a few pieces of kibble in each of their hands and they held it out for Slippers. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but to our delight she ever so gently licked the kibble from their small hands.

And so she is - the gentle 'giant'. She's a border collie mix; weight wise, probably a bit heavier on the mix since she's upwards of 90 pounds. Never are we more reminded of this than when we assemble on the couch in the evenings to watch television or read. Kevin on one end, me on the other, and Slipper stretched out in the middle between us. If, by chance, she feels that she needs a bit more room to stretch out, she'll 'hip check' one or the other of us until she's got enough of the couch to satisfy her. Typically, the hip-checkee will move from the couch altogether and head over to the loveseat. That suits her just fine.

Anyone who knows Slippers knows that she's certainly not shy when it comes to food. If you've got it, she wants it. It doesn't really matter what 'IT' is; with very few exceptions, she'll eat anything. That said, she's never actually 'taken' anything. She always waits for it to be offered, albeit not exactly patiently.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I was sitting on the couch enjoying a sandwich for lunch. I was about halfway finished when there was a knock at the door. Slippers, ever in alert mode, raced to the door barking like mad. I could see it was our neighbor from across the street so I quieted her before opening the door, and off she went. (enter: Evil Twin, Skippy) I spoke with our neighbor for just a moment, but as I turned from closing the door, I found Slippers ... in all her glory ... enjoying the second half of my sandwich! She'd stolen it right off my plate!! Now, though she's a food hog, this is highly unusual behavior for Slippers. Countless times we've left food on the coffee table and she's never so much as sniffed it. I have no idea what got into her, but there she was, turkey hanging out of her mouth, chomping gleefully with nary a care in the world. ...until she heard the sound of my voice: "SLIPPERS!", I exclaimed. "Bad dog!!" She dropped what remained of her feast - a slice of cheese - and looked woefully at me. "Bad dog!!" I said again as I picked up the plate from the coffee table. But I left the cheese on the floor. And, curiously enough, so did she. Having been reprimanded, she wanted nothing to do with that cheese.

As difficult as it was, I ignored her for an hour. With the exception of catching her eye a time or two, at which point I repeated the 'bad dog' tidbit, I completely and utterly ignored this sensitive cannine who just lives for attention. That whole, l-o-n-g hour, she didn't so much as glance at that slice of cheese on the floor.

After a while, I sat back down on the couch and invited her up. She slowly put her front paws on the couch and gave a little jump. She snuggled close to me with sad, pouty eyes, and we chatted. I stroked her smooth black fur and spoke to her in hushed tones. I could feel her body relax ... she knew that, as mad at her as I'd been, I still loved her and she'd been forgiven.

A few minutes later, she jumped down from the couch and snapped up that cheese, toute suite!

Now I ask you...how can you stay mad at a face like this?

Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice

The grapefruit tree that hangs over the fence from our neighbor's yard is heavy with grapefruit. Every year I forget just how wonderful these grapefruit are - delicious! They're enormous and surprisingly sweet on their own. I picked a small fraction of them today and made a pitcher of juice. What remains in the box are the ones I didn't use. There are at least that many more hanging over into our yard. Freshly squeezed grapefruit juice anyone?

Happy 12th Birthday P&D!!

Twelve years old. WOW! Where on earth did the time go?

Yesterday we celebrated Pat & Drew's birthday. It's hard to believe that twelve years ago yesterday, these two came into this world kicking and screaming. So excited were they to see what the world was about that they arrived two months early. Though early and quite small, they were scrappy survivors. They remained in NICU until nearly their scheduled arrival date, growing stronger and stronger every day.

Looking at them today, would you ever guess they were 3 pounds, 3 ounces and 3 pounds 7 ounces? No? Neither would the rest of us. Maybe the chocolate cake helped. Afterall, it's got eggs and dairy -- good for you stuff. Yeah, that's it ... it's health food! No? Well, you can't blame a girl for trying.

Love these 'blowing-out-the-candles' expressions:

What do you get 12 year old sports fans who just got their own rooms? Paraphernalia from their favorite teams of course!!
That's right - we've got the next Derek Jeter and next great hope for the Washington Huskies on our hands. And hey, who doesn't need cool clocks and trash cans for their room? Besides, it goes well with the blankets they got for Christmas:
("Aunt Ran, did you really make these?" Yes, yes I did!)

Happy 12th birthday, Pat and Drew! We love you!

Boggle and Hot Chocolate

Bored with the choices on television (how many times can one watch "How it's Made" before losing your curiosity?), Kevin and I settled in for a hair-raising evening of Boggle and hot chocolate. Okay, perhaps it was more like eyebrow-raising, but you get the idea. It was fun and, unlike most of the mind-numbing choices available on television, it made us think. The Boggle, not the hot chocolate.

It's that time...

While I dearly love daylight savings time during the spring, summer and early fall of the year, I hate waking up on the first work day after daylight savings time has begun! At o-dark-thirty, Kevin and I were out on our walk with the ever demanding Slippers when we turned and looked at each other and said "What on earth are we doing walking the neighborhood at 4:30 in the morning?!"

Ahhhhh yes, but it's now five thirty. There. I feel much better now.

Repurposed Containers

Yep, it's March and I'm busily planning what fun things I will be creating for Christmas gifts! One of the project I'll be working on this year is containers for homemade goodies. Or rather, I should say, I'll be repurposing containers that already exist.

This is a fun, easy little project that will take more creativity than skill and I can hardly wait to get started. However, first I need to collect containers. With that in mind, if any of you out there have empty Pringles containers, oatmeal containers or one pound coffee cans that you don't need or want, I'd love to have them! Who knows, you just might get them back filled with yummy treats!

Sunday Afternoon Picnic

With a refrigerator bursting at the seems with picnic goodies, Kevin and I thought today would be the perfect day for our Sunday picnic. In addition to the fruit and cheese selections, we also opened a jar of olive tapenade and a jar of Harry and David's onion and pepper relish (thanks, mom and dad!). If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it. To be honest, I wasn't sure about it when I first tasted it at an Easter celebration at mom and dad's last year. But trust me, once you try it, you'll find it difficult to stop eating it! We took a jar with us to one of our picnics at the Hollywood Bowl this last summer and there was not one drop left ... and there were only four of us sharing it!
Give it a try - I promise you won't regret it.

Life Simplified

This weekend I've been focusing mostly on homekeeping activities that, in the end, make the rest of my week run smoothly. Things such as menu planning, grocery shopping, laundry, mending, ironing and such.

I know that these things may sound boring to some, but for me, they are lifesavers. It's funny because each of these small tasks on their own are helpful, but when combined, they become a powerhouse that allow me greatly simplify my work-a-day life.


About three years ago or so, I discovered the secret of planning our menu for a two-week period. While initially something of a challenge, once it became a habit, I could see how invaluable this one simple homekeeping tool is in the long run. There are times when things come up and we don't follow the menu to a T, but having it there to follow most of the time saves so much time in the kitchen - and money in the grocery store - that I can't imagine not creating my two-week menu plan. The menus I commit to writing are dinner meals; breakfast and lunch are easy enough and don't require a menu. Breakfasts typically consist of either cold cereal, which we both love, or oatmeal cooked on the weekends and doled out to storage bags in individual servings, or leftovers from larger 'weekend breakfasts'. For instance, this morning I made French toast and there were lots of leftovers. I took the leftovers and sliced them into French toast sticks, divided them up and put them in baggies. In the morning, we need only pour a small amount of syrup into a plastic container and grab a bag of French toast sticks for breakfast on the go. Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and made up a pan of oatmeal and divided the portions into baggies. We also put the 'goodies' (brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans) in a snack sized bag so those are ready to go as well. In the morning, whether we're eating at home or at work, we need only grab one of each bag and breakfast is ready to go. Lunches consist of either sandwiches and fruit, leftovers from the night before, or a Lean Cuisine meal (purchased on sale of course!) paired with a green salad from the cafeteria (our cafeteria manager, bless her, always allows me to help myself - for free!).


Aren't these grocery shopping baskets adorable!? My friend Lee gave me one for Christmas. The pattern is a bit different from this one, but it's adorable, too, and I just love it! It's handy for so many things - not just grocery shopping. It's particularly useful when we venture out to the weekly Farmer's Market.

Grocery shopping is one of those tasks I thoroughly enjoy. I'm not nearly as fond of putting everything away once I get it home, but there you have it - the yin and yang of the grocery shopping experience. I'll admit, it does take me a bit to get prepared for grocery shopping; what with reviewing our menu, going through the store flyers, and pulling coupons -- who wouldn't spend a bit of time on this project? But it's well worth it. On an average grocery store outing, I've gotten everything on my list/menu (from time to time I may miss something, but that's more the exception and not the rule), and with use of the grocery store loyalty card and a great selection of coupons, I've saved anywhere from 47 - 65% on my total bill. That's the part I love the most - watching the $$ fly off the total! I admit it, I'm a coupon junkie.


Like most people, mending is not one of those things I do very often. I guess that's why I find it particularly satisfying when I actually do it! Having recently lost 20 pounds, there were a few things in my closet that required a bit of taking in. I'm the first one to tell you that I'm no professional when it comes to sewing matters, but I can certainly hold my own with small hand sewing projects. Such was the case this weekend. I managed to successfully alter a few blouses to my new (smaller - yay!) size, sufficiently enough so that they may be added to my daily wardrobe. I'm very pleased about this since both of these blouses were new as of the fall - and I loved the color and pattern of both of them!


Do you hate ironing? I used to, too. In fact, I pretty much avoided it at all costs. Until ... our old iron broke and we had to buy a new one. This one little episode taught me a very valuable lesson: you may need to spend a bit more on the proper equipment, but having the right tool for the job makes the job both faster and more enjoyable. Okay, so ironing still is not at the top of my 'Fun Things to Do' list, but it certainly isn't at the bottom of the 'Dirty Jobs' list either. In fact, I dare say that on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon, I actually now find ironing quite an enjoyable task. While today isn't a rainy day - in fact, it's beautiful outside! - I know that spending 30 minutes ironing today will save me far more than that during a busy weekday morning when I haven't time to iron.

So there you have it - more or less a full weekend of homekeeping. Honestly, I'm such a home body that I love weekends like this! But, shhhhh! Let's keep that our little secret!

Awaiting Spring

I just love this mosaic! So many dreamy images. It was created by Heather Bullard.

Early Spring Cleaning

Yesterday I was in the mood to do a bit of spring cleaning. I know it's early, but I figured that I may as well get a head start while I was in the mood.

Mostly I concentrated on the garden room. It really wasn't in bad shape at all, just needed a bit of sprucing. A good dusting here, a little rearranging there, and a sort through all of the books. So many books! Honestly the books that are there are pared down from what they were; Kevin and I purged quite a few while we were on winter break. How do I amass SO many books? I've decided just to keep those books that I truly love, use and refer to often. The rest are heading in various directions: some to Deb for her classroom, a good chunk to our school library, and the rest to the Goodwill. I'm sure they'll all find wonderful homes and will be well loved and often read.

Here are a few photos of my favorite bookshelf and some of yesterday's accomplishments. I just love each one of the little shelves - one has gardening books, while another holds decorating books, and yet another stores books on the history of California and Los Angeles. Another shelf ... well, as you can see, it's for the birds!


Another one of my favorite things in the garden room is a beautiful water color. The subject is the gazebo at the Apple Farm where Kevin and I honeymooned. I had a photograph of it that I just loved and a friend of mine used the photo as a model and painted this for us. Isn't it beautiful?!

Next stop on the spring cleaning tour: the clothes closets!

RIP Dear Friend

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death”

Last Tuesday night we went to visit my friend Jann for the last time. We knew it would be the last time we'd see her - she was in the last few hours of her all too short, but well-lived life. When we arrived, there were a few other friends scattered about and her husband and two grown children. Jon spoke with us before we went in and said that she was unresponsive and we were just re-living good memories and letting her know it was okay to let go.

When Kevin and I went in, their son, Erich, was in with Jann and serenading her with his guitar. He stood up when we came in and we hugged. I held her hand for a while and Erich began reminiscing about the time I'd taken he and his friend to a concert years ago when they were just 16 years old. We laughed and he reassured his mom that I'd been a very good driver and had been very careful with her precious cargo.

We stayed for just a short time - about an hour or so - and then, when it was time to go, I leaned over and gave Jann a kiss on the forehead, told her how glad I was that we'd been friends and had been able to share some wonderful times together. I wished her a peaceful journey and told her we'd meet again some day on the other side, and I hoped we'd remember each other. We hugged Jon and Erich and Nora and then took our leave.

At 3:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, Jann lost her 3-year battle with ovarian cancer.

How did it get to be Sunday ... already?!

Wow, this week absolutely flew by! I'm sitting here looking at the calendar wondering how it can possibly be Sunday. Some of that may have to do with the fact that, because of the President's Day holiday, last week was a short week. But I'm guessing that it has more to do with the fact that we had so many plans.

The Pasadena Convention Center hosts an event called Distinguished Speaker Series. I've always wanted to attend, but you have to buy tickets to at least four in the series and tickets are prohibitively (at least for our budget) expensive. However, as luck would have it, I was able to find a FREE source for tickets!! My friend, Terry, is the office manager at the high school and they are given free tickets for students and chaperones. Terry mentioned that Kevin and I were welcome to tickets to any speaker we were interested in seeing. How cool is that! This past Tuesday night we saw Anderson Cooper. What a treat! He is an amazingly intelligent man (with a wicked sense of humor, I might add) who is humbled by the stories he's covered in his life. He believes his job is not that of a reporter, but to bear witness to the struggles and stories of others. If you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak, I highly recommend you do so.

Friday night was girls night out. My friend Holly hosted one of our now famous WOFA events. What, you may be asking yourselves, is a WOFA? Why it's Women of First Avenue, of course! A few years ago our tightly knit (and some may argue, tightly wound) group of women at school started a summer group we called WOFA. The basis of the group is that we have so much fun together, when summer comes around, we're all kinda bummed that we won't see each other every day. Hence, WOFA was born. Okay, so it's not summer yet - but we all felt the need for a WOFA event, so why not? The men had their 'Man Party' (watching football, of course), so we figured we'd counter with a WOFA. Anyone can suggest an activity. We've done anything from mani/pedi's to movie night to afternoon tea to yoga classes to wine tastings. Holly decided on something completely different: Bingo, baby! That's right, my friends, bingo is not just for the older, blue-haired set. It's for anyone who has a hankering to shout loudly at small gatherings and have a great time. We kind of used it as an excuse to talk, laugh, eat and drink, but in all fairness we played bingo, too. And had a great time! To add a little more fun to the mix, each guest was to bring a wrapped $20.00 gift. Before the bingo action commenced, we drew numbers and chose a gift in the order drawn. We were to open the gifts to see what everyone had then, if you won a round of bingo, you could steal the gift you wanted. Some people ended up with several gifts, some with nothing at all. However, no one went away disappointed because we all had so much fun! I came home with the gift my friend Amy brought. It was a particularly 'good pick' because it was something her husband - my friend Michael, with whom I discuss all things wine - put together. It contained a wonderful bottle of chardonnay, smoked gouda, a very piquant cheddar with herbs, olive tapenade and whole grain crackers. Something tells me I see a Sunday afternoon picnic in our very near future!

Saturday we continued to help the LaLa's with their move. Last week, packing. This week, the actual move. What a job! I daresay Kevin and I probably preferred the packing over the moving, but hey ... it all has to be done, so we jumped in with gusto. I probably don't need to say this because you've already guessed it but, we were all completely exhausted. Though not something we'd consider particularly 'fun', their move did remind Kevin and I of something very important for our own search for a home: avoid stairs at all costs! There is still much to be done, but the final outcome is that Deb, Bill and the boys have a wonderful new home that they can, and will, enjoy for many years to come. We love you guys and are so happy for you! And, oh yeah, please plan on being in town when we move so that you can return the favor!!

Though both Kevin and I were dog tired when we got home late Saturday afternoon, I'd promised to attend a housewarming party for the daughter of a friend of mine. She was so excited about the party, I couldn't disappoint her by not attending. However, I told Kevin he could beg off if he wished. At first he said he'd take me up on the offer and stay home to nap. But after he thought about it, he decided that we should both attend. As he put it, 'we there support each other - even if we're tired'. Awwww - isn't he just the sweetest! I promised we'd make it a short visit. Tired or not, we did end up having a good time. Mike and Deanna were very proud to show off their new home. They loved the gift we brought and we had fun visiting with everyone. We stayed for about an hour and then headed home for some well deserved rest!

Whew! No wonder the week felt like it flew by - it did! It's funny - the other day I was having a lively conversation with my friend Ray. He said that a good friend of his had been going through a rough time recently having suffered a job loss and foreclosure on his home. His simple advise to Ray was to 'enjoy every day'. Excellent advise I'd say. Advise certainly well worth taking. I hope you find enjoyment in each of your days as well.

Do You Fondue?

Valentine's Day.

If you're living right, Valentine's day is no different than any other day of the year. That is to say, we should live every day as if it were Valentine's day. Show your loved ones you love them daily by doing little things: whispering sweet nothings in their ear; sharing a well-timed wink; indulging in sweet kisses; a warm nuzzle on the neck; relaying a silly joke or story. By this definition, Kevin and I celebrate Valentine's day every single day we're together.

That said, for Valentine's day this year, we planned to stay in and create our own fondue dinner, ala The Melting Pot restaurant. Which we did! ... just not on Valentine's day. We had helped the LaLa's with their pending move by spending Saturday packing boxes and delivering them from their current house to their new house. Though we left around 2:00 p.m., by the time we got home, we were completely exhausted and decided that we were too tired to enjoy our planned fondue dinner. No matter, we thought - we have a nice long weekend ahead of us so why not create our celebration a bit later? Doing so would allow us to really enjoy the whole process such as working side by side in the kitchen to prepare the ingredients, setting the table - the whole experience.

I'm happy to report that we did, in fact, enjoy our special Valentine's day fondue dinner. And it was perfectly delightful! If you've not tried something like this with your honey, I highly recommend it. It's both fun and romantic -- even if you're not dressed to the nines (Kevin: "May I admire the lovely sweatshirt you're wearing?" Randa: "Right back atcha, handsome!")

The LOCALS

Kevin had his first gig last night with a new band: The LOCALS. They were sensational! The crowd thought so, too. They danced and cheered and clapped with wild abandon. When the guys announced 'this will be our last song', the crowd heartily cheered 'One more! One more! One more!' Talk about an ego rush - they delighted in every uproarious moment.

I was particularly fond of the cute drummer. I couldn't help myself - I flirted with him all night long... See how cute he is?! You would have flirted with him, too!

"We Gather Together"

I have a friend who is dying. She's been battling cancer for the past three years; the cancer is winning.

The word has gotten around to her family and friends that her time is short and now is the time to gather around her with love and prayers. Kevin and I went up to visit with she and her husband the other night. We weren't quite sure what to expect - how is she feeling? Is she up to visitors? How is Jon handling all of this? What stage of grief is he dealing with at the moment?

We brought with us decadence in a bag. All of those goodies that you believe you shouldn't indulge in when you think you have your whole life ahead of you and you need to 'be good'. Milk and florentines (milk and cookies). Brie with apricot preserves and crackers and delicious red wine (adult milk and cookies). Fleur de sel caramels; roasted almonds and cashews; dried apricots dipped in rich dark chocolate. And orange asiatic lillies. We figured that, even if she couldn't eat all of those things, it's symbolic: Live it up! Enjoy yourself! Life is short, indulge!

Upon our arrival, Jon was visibly tense. As you might imagine, he's not dealing well with the impending loss of his wife of more than 30 years. Jann was, while happy to see us, incredibly weak and looked exhausted. Susan and Donna were there, too. The four of us worked together years ago and this was the first time we'd all been together since that time. I've seen Jann off and on, and Donna more in recent years because I work with her husband, but none of us have seen Susan, so it was it was an interesting reunion.

It took a few minutes to get the ball rolling, but soon, we were all sharing stories and rememberences of times past and filling each other in on current happenings in our lives. We ate and drank and laughed until we almost had tears streaming down our faces (let's just say that carrying on a conversation while enjoying a fleur de sel caramel is not for the faint of heart! However, if you want a good laugh, give it a try). Jon loosened up and Jann relaxed and took comfort in the conviviality of our gathering. After about 90 minutes Jann was too tired to continue, so we hugged her and kissed her before Jon whisked her off to put her into bed. Donna, Susan, Kevin and I busied ourselves by cleaning up the kitchen and dining room, chatting comfortably as we went along. Jon came out and thanked everyone for being there. He said this is truly the most comfortable he's seen Jann since August. He said that, though she was tired, she was very happy - and relaxed. And they were both so happy that we could all be together that night. After a while we bid each other good night and all went our separate ways.

I don't know if we'll see Jann again. I hope so. My plan is to go up there this weekend, even if it's just to stop and say hello. But who knows what will happen between now and then. I do know, however, that our gathering earlier this week will be something I remember for a long, long time. I'm thankful that we could all be there for Jann -- and for Jon. It was a such a small thing - yet at the same time a huge reminder of what really matters in this life. Family. Friends. Love. Sharing. Caring. With these things, life is rich and full - no matter how long or short it may be. Who could ask for more?