Madame Butterfly

As I was walking down the street the other day, a butterfly landed on a flower not three feet in front of me. Fortunately, I had my camera with me. As I took it slowly out of my purse, I kept waiting for the butterfly to fly away. Then as I switched my setting to "macro" and moved even closer, I was certain that I might get a single shot in before she fluttered off.



But, she didn't. Instead, she lightly walked around in circles, giving me every opportunity to get a great shot.



And as I snapped away and paused for a second, it seemed like she looked right at me and then flexed her wings, poised for flight. Lucky for me, she remained in this pose for a full 5 seconds before moving on to another flower.



Thank you, Madame butterfly, for giving me incentive to stop and smell the flowers on such a gorgeous fall day.

Ice Cream

I'm not quite sure why, but I don't start craving ice cream until the weather turns chilly. Maybe it's because I so thoroughly enjoy the process of warming back up with hot chocolate and a lit fireplace, but whatever the reason, we took our first ever trip to the local ice cream parlor, Jack The Dipper this past weekend.



Parker and I each enjoyed a cone. He had mint chocolate chip and I had a turtle mix, which had caramel and chocolate chunks.



If you can't tell, the sugar had much more of an effect on Parker's system than on my own. He was such a riot that I decided to sit tight with the camera and to let him do his sugar-high thing. And now, I'm sharing the hilarity with you. I think that "ants in his pants" is an appropriate description. Possessed would be another one that works.









I should tell you that he then proceeded to run around like a maniac inside the house and terrorize the dogs with a large inflated ball. Perhaps ice cream will be an occasional treat, given just prior to someone else watching him for an hour or two. Any takers?

Putting The Dogs To Work

If you've ever watched a dog show, you're familiar with the fact that dogs are placed in a certain group on the basis of their primary function. For example, Yorkies are in the "toy group" because they're generally meant to do nothing except for sitting in their owners laps. And hound dogs are in the "sporting group" because they were bred to assist their owners in hunting and retrieving.

Cardigan Corgis? Well, Cardigans are in the herding group and that means that they are working dogs. They are bred to contribute to their household. Nona knows this. She wants nothing more than to be given a task for every waking second that she has. Chewy? Well, Chewy just wants to be a dumb boy dog and let Nona do all of the work.

Well folks, since we don't have a herd of cattle or sheep for them to push around, I decided that Nona and Chewy were finally going to pull their own weight around here. Literally. You see, when we go on outings, the Irishman and I are loaded down with a diaper bag and my purse and those get pretty heavy after a while. I wondered today, as I was lugging around three bags, why are the dogs playing friskily while I'm loaded down like a pack mule? And thus, inspiration struck. I'd like to introduce exhibit A.



This, my dears, is a doggy backpack and it will soon carry Parker's water bottle, a change of clothes and snacks. It's a brilliant idea. Well, Chewy didn't think so at first, but we're working on it. Of course, Nona came over to investigate.



I detected a small bit of jealousy so I put it on her instead. And you know what? She took to it instantly. There was no awkwardness in her walk (Chewy had acted like someone was physically wrestling with him) and she happily ran around the house carrying the additional weight.

Seriously, I can't wait to put in in action. What I really want to do is load them down with my books and notes for school, take them to campus with me and call them my "service dogs." There are limitless possibilities here...

PS - I'm going to the U2 concert tonight!! Stay tuned for pictures and a recap. I've missed U2 in concert the last 4 times they've come near me, so technically, I've been waiting for this concert for the last 14 years.

Dillsboro

While brother Dean was in town, we decided to take him to Dillsboro, which is only a mile or two up the road. Dillsboro is a quaint artists' colony and has suffered tremendously since the Great Smokey Mountains tourist train eliminated Dillsboro from their scheduled stops. I'm trying to make a concerted effort to support the local economy, so we took Dean over there for shopping and lunch.

One of our first stops was the grand opening of a pottery shop. They had face painting there and Parker was all about getting a pumpkin.





I bought a couple of things there, but I can't tell you what they are since a couple of you are probably getting them for Christmas. We then headed over to a new Greek restaurant that opened called, "Kostas," which coincidentally is how you say "Dean" in Greek. And wouldn't you know it, it was run by real Greeks. Dean and I chatted in Greek with the hostess (who I'm presuming is one of the owners) and we had a nice lunch on the deck.

Then, we resumed our tour of the little town and checked out the local dog bakery. This is where I purchased the doggy backpack as well as a baggie of homemade treats. Parker was particularly fond of the Adirondack chairs.



In fact, he got the other boys to join him in a brief rest.



As we were walking back to the truck, Parker and the Irishman checked out the old refreshment stand that used to service the train passengers.



It's closed now and it was kind of sad because you could easily picture a platform full of people buying drinks and corn dogs and basking in the gorgeous weather. Hopefully, Dillsboro luck will turn around as the economy improves.

Internet Follies

So, for the past week, we've had intermittent Internet connectivity. I was really nervous about telling my brother because he runs his business entirely online and I knew that he couldn't afford to be unplugged for 3 days. Shortly after he got here, I spilled the beans and he replied with, "That's ok, I'll just pull from someone else's service."

I smiled patiently and said, "We already tried that. Our neighbors have secure connections." Of course, he said, "I'll find one that isn't." I internally laughed and right when I was about to say "I told you so" in my snotty, little sister voice, he called over to me from the deck and said, "Here's one." And he was right. And I was wrong.

But who the hell cares about whether I was wrong - we found a second Internet source! The only problem is that you can only get it from the back deck. Which is 45 degrees. And windy.

Not to be deterred, Dean moved the space heater outside and for the next three hours, we fought for a direct heat source while happily working on our respective projects. I just love it when my brother is right and it benefits me anyways.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

First of all, let me say that if I was going to open a bakery, this would be one of my star attractions. I am obsessed with these muffins. They are perfectly moist and have just the right hint of spices without being overwhelming. Here's what you need.

4 ounces cream cheese, softened (I use whipped)
1/2 a stick of butter, softened
1.25 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 can of pumpkin
1.75 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put softened cream cheese, butter, and sugar in your mixer. Cream together well. Add in the eggs one at a time and beat until blended. Next, mix in your can of pumpkin.

In another bowl combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt and all of your spices. It's really important that you spoon your flour into your measuring cup because you want the muffins to be light. So literally, I take a spoon and add in the flour to my measuring cup one spoonful at a time, shaking it lightly to make it level until I've reached my 1 and 3/4 cups. Stir the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Then, pour all at once over the batter.

If you're making muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes. If you decide to make a loaf instead, it will take more like 45-55 minutes. Anyway, just bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Seriously though, these are so delicious and during the holiday season, they would make a great hostess gift or addition to a potluck. I usually make a double batch - one to eat and one to share...and I usually don't get around to sharing. Is that bad?

Uncle Dean

Big brother Dean is on his way from Orlando to visit us this weekend and Parker and the Irishman have been dispatched to Asheville to pick him up from the airport. They're also going to hit up my favorite organic grocery store before they head back into town so that I can cook up a storm over the next few days. My brother is training for another long distance race and has the appetite to match the mileage, so I'll definitely have my work cut out for me in the "feeding" department.

Dean will be our first official visitor and in preparation, I woke up before 5am to get in both a workout and to get some cleaning done. It's been just our little family for a couple of months now and that means that a steady accumulation of toys have made their way out of their bins and into the living room. For that very reason, I actually love having company. It forces me to do a good deep clean of the house.

This weekend will also signal the first time that the second floor is in use. We've always lived in a single story house so I generally forget that we even have a second floor. The master bedroom and master bathroom are actually upstairs, but since my paranoia won't allow me to be on a different floor than Parker at the moment, our guests will get to enjoy their own space. This also means that they won't be woken up at 5am when I get up to workout. I'm sure brother Dean will be pleased by that.

Anyway, tomorrow, I'll be serving pumpkin gingerbread muffins for breakfast at Chez Cyn (along with spinach parmesan omeletes) and I'll (hopefully) have that recipe up tomorrow morning. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one!