Breaking Bad

My new favorite show. Me and Mike spent an inordinate amount of time the past month renting past episodes on NetFlix so we could catch up. You absolutely HAVE to watch the show from the very beginning. It's not one of those that you can just jump into the middle of and figure out what's going on. It's very complicated. And the character development is intricate. I love this show. It's the best thing on TV right now. Oh, and just so you'll know I'm a well rounded individual and don't spend all my free time in front of the tube...I'm reading a book recommended by my mother-in-law "The Shack." It's pretty good. Certainly more entertaining than the medical journals I usually read. Otherwise, nothing exciting to report. I've given up dieting and housekeeping. It was bumming me out. And it was a terrible waste of time since I wasn't losing weight and the house continued to look like wild dogs were living in it.

Catch Up Part 3.5

I just like this picture. I wish the quality was a little better, but I'm not a professional. It's a miracle that I can even pick up a digital camera and take a picture at all, much less upload it to the web. Anyhow, I like the picture because it captures my baby girl in a happy moment. She's such an angel. She turned into a regular adult person...she's 22 now. YIKES! That is so freaky. She is working at a salon in Durham, doing very well, supporting herself and getting ready to go back to college. The boys are also doing okay...moving along a little more slowly, but as long as they have forward momentum, I'm happy. Mike is teaching and playing a lot. He's got gigs just about every weekend. Mom and Dad are hanging in there. I'm looking at the half full glass.

Catch Up Part 3

OK, so I'm browsing through my saved photos and I found a set that I had taken back in January when my brother was visiting. This was one of those rare occasions when everyone went out to eat together. We ate at a meditaranean place in Durham. Excellent felafel.

Catch Up Part 2.5

A couple more pictures of Bill's carved pieces. I find all this absolutely incredible. You have to see it in person to appreciate the work involved. I could wax philosophical on the creative spirit and the drive within each human to make something beautiful with his own hands. But I won't.

Catch Up Part 2

I made a trip to Eastern NC with Dad. He wanted to go see a few of his family. It was a quick trip to little Washington...we left on Friday morning and came back Saturday afternoon. We dropped in on Dad's cousin Bill. Bill is a fascinating character. He probably has less than a 3rd grade education, but he has an incredible artistic gift for wood carving. He wittles tractors, farm equipment, old trucks and such from blocks of wood. And I mean he literally wittles the pieces out and assembles them into realistic, scale models of the things he sees and has worked with all his life. The tractors and trucks have working gears. Now keep in mind, he doesn't measure anything. He simply looks at things and then carves out the pieces purely on a trial and error basis. It's amazing.

Catch Up Part 1

Wow. Time really got away from me. I decided it was time to post a few odds and ends here to catch up on the year so far. Bert has a new boyfriend, a fellow comic book enthusiast...and he has a sweet dog, Daisy. Poor Daisy apparently used to be a "bait" dog. Vets say you can tell because she has very short cut ears and a lot of scars on her head and neck. Somehow she ended up wandering the streets and was rescued. It's hard to imagine such cruelty. People suck. But Daisy is a real trooper. She not only survived, she is just the best natured dog in the world. She loves people. She even loves the cats, although they aren't crazy about her.