5 Things You Didn't Know

I've been tagged.

I didn't even know one could be tagged, but I'm now It. Erin has tagged me and I get to answer the questionnaire. Well, that's a way to get a blogger to blog.

This is tough. I already spill my guts in paper and in person to strangers often enough to consider my life an open book (must keep in mind those half a million column readers!) The trick is to figure out what I can spill that is still spillable and not private. Well, here goes:

5 Things You May Not Know About Stephanie

1. I crave quietness and solitude. Lots of it. I am actually only an extrovert if I get plenty of introvert time. That means about an hour or so spent on prayer and reflection each day, and regular doses of reading or other techniques that let me escape and recharge.
2. My parents were convinced I was going to be born a boy--I'm not sure why! My name would have been Orion Patrick Fosnight. When I came out quite obviously a girl, there was a scramble for the birth certificate. Dad won and I am Stephanie Renee, not Renee Stephanie. My brother, coincidentally, is Peter Orion Fosnight, Peter having knocked Orion out of the top spot by the time he came along 14 months later.
3. Speaking of birth, I spent the first hours of my life being whisked to St. Paul Children's Hospital and the next 9 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Again, I'm not quite sure why I was so sick or even what was wrong with me. They did a spinal tap and I had a fever and a slow heart rate (I think) and one pock. It was either measles or chicken pox but I've never managed to get chicken pox. And I had a virus and they were concerned about hepatitis and I ended up with an infection. Apparently I was near death. But I came out fine. (Oh, my dad's here now reading over my shoulder and he says they just wanted to make sure I was OK. He also said it was so fun for the nurses to see a big Gerber baby in the middle of these preemies and that I got lots of love, even though it wasn't the location they planned).
4. I think Gwen Stefani and Shakira are awesome!!! I love to sing and dance and rock out to their music, no matter how shallow or immoral the lyrics. But they are also both very talented musicians.
5. My dog Auriga (who lives at home in Arizona with my parents, where I am right now) is nearing 13 and has become even more crippled so she hobbles slowly (as opposed to hobbling quickly). She is also going blind in one eye and is temporarily deaf from a double ear infection. And, due to a thyroid condition, all of the hair fell out of her tail. But she is still a wonderful, loving sheltie (photo coming soon) and I adore her! And she takes lots of pleasure in life and the doc says she's in good health, otherwise. So she can't walk, see, hear or be proud of her tail. She can still bark! And eat!
6. Bonus fact: A forebear named Laura Secord ran 20 miles in the snow in southern Ontario to warn the British that the Americans were coming during the War of 1812, leading the British to a British/Canadian victory. I actually just learned that surprising fact this instant, thanks to my still-reading-over-the-shoulder father.

And now I tag Kathy and Shanel! (I tried to put in the links to their sites but am hopeless at html code. They kept going wrong).

A smattering of favorite photos, in no particular order

Mark and Julie, my fearless housegroup leaders and good, good friends. We had a visit from Fun Mark that night, and Fun Mark does things like wear Christmas ribbons on his head! To see more Fun Mark, go here: http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=b15e43fe144715a7a7daadbG06121910  

Here are the lovely ladies of Transform women's group! We completed our four-month study of the book "Captivating," by Stasi Eldredge, by having an unabashedly girly "Princess Night." It was so fun to get dressed up for no reason! And, it was yet another chance for me to wear a bridesmaid dress. From left: Stephanie, Sara, Margaret, Becky, Hillary and Heidi.  

My pies! Luckily everyone loved them and they were gone within a few days. 

I made the pies at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the recipe was wrong and it actually made enough filling for FOUR pies, not two. Fortunately, we then had four delicious squash pies and they were all actually eaten. I'm sure having Hubbard squash and locally grown organic pumpkin definitely helped improve the flavor. Here I am mixing whipped cream. 

How nerdy are you?

Uh oh, I actually scored a lot higher on this test than I thought I would. *gulp*

I am one-third nerd. The problem is this test measures computer/science/math nerdiness. And I'm really more the arts/culture/wordiness nerdy type.

Housegroup Halloween Party: Stephanie as Bridesmaid-For-Rent, "For the bride who has no friends" (services include realistic tears, last-minute-crisis management and charming difficult relatives into respectability); Hillary as Trinity from The Matrix, complete with black leatherlike cat suit; and Becky as "Proshpero" the Magician, a la Mutts comic strips, along with her bag of tricks and even a rabbit under her hat. Let the fun and games begin! 

Southern Comfort--Celebrating Sus' birthday in style at a performance of Lillian Hellmann's "Another Part of the Forest" 

Two Sexy Ladies and their Red Car (sus and stephanie wear their deeply discounted Marshall Field's dresses to a production of "Another Part of the Forest" at the Glencoe Writer's Theatre) 

for Bethany, my faithful lurker!

Bethany cornered me (well, said hello to me ;) in the ladies room at the Vineyard church conference the other day and wanted to know when I was going to post again. This, Bethany, is for you!

My life started to get somewhat interesting about six weeks ago when I started chatting with someone I'd not known well before. Then my life picked up speed about a month ago, when the aforementioned someone and I started hanging out together, first in groups and then just the two of us. About two weeks ago, my life got much, much crazier and pretty much all free time was cut out as the boy and I (sorry, interruption while I returned an email from the boy) started to do lots and lots and lots more together.

Here are some of the things that he and I have been doing together in the last month, some by ourselves and some with others:

playing tennis; hiking at Starved Rock Illinois State Park; climbing rocks, hiking and sitting on fallen trees at Devil's Lake Wisconsin State Park; eating lots of good food; drinking lots of good wine; cheering on Sus at the marathon; watching movies; going to restaurant openings; writing emails; visiting the historic Lincoln sites in downstate Springfield; reading books; listening to music; watching sports; taking fall walks; playing with dogs ... yeah, it's been rather a busy time. But a very welcome and quite wonderful busy time!

And that, my friends, is all I'm going to say for now. We shall see what we shall see ...

Homemade applesauce!

Tonight I made the fall's first batch of applesauce. I also roasted a sweet potato. And I stuffed other apples with grilled pork, slivered almonds and dates and baked those topped with Lithuanian cheese. Thanks to Mom and Dad for filling my fruit bowl with farmer's market bounty during their marvelous visit last week.

I miss Mom and Dad but I love the apples and leftover grilled pork, chicken and vegetables! (Not to mention the crack corn they brought me from Basha's in AZ).

I love fall food so much that I wrote about it in Tidbits, the food column I write every month that appears in 200,000 newspaper. They say half a million people read the food section. It's a little daunting to think that many people know about my personal life--of course, I'm the one who chooses to share!

Here's a link to the apples column:
Tidbits 9/21/06

Boundary Waters Photos Part III--The Burn Zone

It's still fun to tip over canoes, even in a burn zone. 

Fire damage. 

This is what we saw for two days--the remnants of the Cavity Lake Fire that sparked with lightning on July 14. It burned 38 square miles. (Scroll down to my 9/12 article for more on the fire). 

Entering Mordor. 

Joel and Brian give each other courage before jumping off a 15-foot rock. 

Boundary Waters Photos Part II (Scroll down to 9/12 posts for more photos and an article)

The Fearless Explorers: (from left) Joel, Brian, Paul, Andy, Sus and Stephanie 

I believe Brian took this photo. The campfire ban was lifted the very day we trekked into the wilderness, which made cooking simpler as we didn't have to mess with our stove. However, we did find flecks of ashes and cinders in our food! Sus did a great job planning the food. We feasted on steaks and mashed potatoes and toasted sausage egg muffins and tuna sandwiches and all sorts of other yummy food that was about 100 times better than standard dehydrated camp fare. 

Andy the Englishman insisted on bringing along an American flag and hanging it at all camp sites. This may have been because Canada was across the lake. Andy was not allowed to visit Canada. So he showed good old American patriotism instead. 

Such a blue, blue lake! There's no better place to view it than from a canoe. 

OK, it's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure that this is the young bald eagle we saw when we first started out. (Joel took this picture). Seeing as how we didn't really see any other wildlife on the trip--thanks to the fire--this must be the bald eagle! (We did see dozens of loons). 

There's no place like the Boundary Waters! (Even though you can see the burned area on the far shore). This camp site on Red Rock Lake was still somewhat green, and the island in the middle of the lake was completely untouched by fire. It was bizarre to have miles of devastation with these little pockets of lush green life. 

Tomorrow May Not Be

Tonight I watched my first real Bollywood flick (unless you count "Bride and Prejudice. I don't).

I saw "Kal Ho Naa Ho" or "Tomorrow May Not Be." It's about an uptight gal named Naina who has family problems. Then a new guy called Amman moves in next door and teaches Naina to love life. Meanwhile, she's got a best friend (a guy) called Rohit who certainly complicates matters. The relationships become the ultimate love triangle.

This is an unbelievably melodramatic film where the characters often break into song and dance with passersby on the street. Several of the plot devices are unrealistic, but since when has Bollywood been about realism?

Yet I liked it. There was much beauty, comedy and pathos to this over-the-top production, despite all of the obvious cliches. I wish I had someone else here to talk it over with. Anybody else seen this film?

Link to IMDB site:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347304/

Boundary Waters photo blitz! (Scroll down for text)

When preparing to go on a canoe trip, it's very important to practice lifting heavy objects ahead of time--like the giant fiberglass cows one finds throughout Wisconsin. 

Andy and Sus confer. 

Sus the Photographer, Joel, Brian and Stephanie take it easy as Andy and Paul (not shown) do all the work. 

The burned areas were desolate, but the water was still sparkling and crystal clear. And great for swimming! 

We had great fun jumping off of very large rocks. Here Brian shows off his canonball form. (Brian was the only adventurer who managed to do a real dive off a tall rock--although he went for a simple jump here). 

Joel, Stephanie, Paul, Andy and Brian blink blearily for Sus the Camerawoman after staring up at the amazing display of stars AND at the Northern Lights. 

Sunrise over a northern lake is a lovely sight, even in a burn zone.