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.