Just a collection of spring break so far. More to come.....

Texas Hold 'Em!

We got a real warm Texas welcome!

Hospitality with a smile.

But, I caught on ree'al faaasst!

As did Emily.

She looks like a ree'al native now.

Hannah, never one to be too far behind either.


I'm catchin' on to this poker thang...

Never let 'em touch your cards.

Ya. I think I've got the hang of it y'all.

Soon, we all made up.

Good to be with my little sister Mary and little brother Seth!

Oh......

We kissed and made up! Do they come any sweeter?


Next stop....Hangin' Tree Saloon.

Don't worry Lori and Paul, as you can see I'm taking very good care of Hannah and Emily.

Disclaimer...of course no REAL drinking or guns were used in these photos...come on y'all!

Happy Birthday Mom!

The birthday girl! Please don't hate me because I have man hands. But, boy is the cappucino delicious.

Yum!

In the pink! I'm so lucky to have such a beautiful mother!

The New Year Brings Old Friends in and Takes Some Friends Out.

The year of 09 is the year that I say goodbye to old friends, and hello to some old friends made new again.

And saying hello to old friends who've become new friends again.

Me and my friend since my freshman year of high school, Brandy.

My sister Sherri with Brandy.


The three amigas enjoying catching up with one another.

We met at my favorite restaurant in Lake Oswego, Standfords.

"So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Follow after love..."

To follow love it requires the ability to recognize love. Sometimes seduction, control and manipulation can be mistaken for love. In order to love it also requires seeing others clearly. So trust wisely, not blindly. Remember to truly love those in your life it requires maintaining a centered harmonious relationship. This requires valuing integrity, being truthful and taking care of yourself.

To all my family and friends. I love you.

Last days of Winter Break

In the bamboo jungle!

Sparky venturing into the jungle.

The entrance of the bamboo jungle!

Sparky in the creek he nearly drowned in.

Here he goes unaware how deep and swift the current was.

I missed the photo of him swimming for his life. He got in the creek and realized the water was swift and deep. Then he tried to come back to shore, but a floating log trapped him in the creek. It was very scary. But, he prevailed and made it out alive. Thank goodness!

Here Sparky is enjoying his day at the park and happy to be alive.

Watching kids play.

Playing fetch!

You're never too old to play on the playground.

Showing off my masterpiece.

The finished tile that was the big finish to winter break. Oh back to the grindestone!

Deep listening is followed by loving speech. And loving speech is followed by loving cooking!

The next chapter in True Love is titled Learning to Speak with Love Again. It's a fairly brief chapter that basically states that after you've practised deep listening you must also have the ability to hear your loved ones suffering and empathize with it. Then express that empathy with loving kindness in your words. In order to do this the book advocates being able to recognize and embrace your own suffering. Next follow up by visualizing your loved one experiencing a similar form of suffering and in your mind offering them a smile and a loving embrace to ease their suffering. In practising this the author believes you will find freedom, joy and calm from acknowledging your pain along with your loved ones pain and then embracing the suffering itself. I don't feel this chapter does an adequate job of depicting the process. But, you get the general idea, feel your pain, know your loved one feels the same pain and offer them compassion.

Now onto cooking. October's soup was pumpkin soup, November's was both chicken and dumplings and Tx bbq chili. December's soup is taco soup. I've made it 3 times this month and with each batch it's gotten better and better! Thank you to Marianne for sharing a bowl with me last night, and to Nancy for sharing one with me tonight. I photographed the process of making it by using my timer, so my head is chopped off in one or two of them. Don't worry it's a headless soup.




The finished product. Top with a teaspoon of sour cream and cheddar cheese. Yummy!

The pot's a brewing.....or is it stewing??

Okay, I chopped my head off, but I screwed it back on nicely before it landed in the pot.

See all back to normal.

Getting ready to enjoy my soup. All dressed up with no where to go. But at least my head settled back onto my shoulders very nicely.

Marianne fixed my mac & cheese on Christmas Day and said it was a hit! I'm glad you got to enjoy it Marianne. Today I'm replacing it with my taco soup recipe. So, if you want to fix Lisa's Mac & Cheese you'll have to email me a request and I'll send you the recipe.

My recipe for you for the day is deep listening, loving speech and embrace your suffering. Then make a big pot of soup and eat up buttercups!

Deep Listening

Merry Christmas and onto new beginnings with the New Year!

I must be squeezing her too tight, she doesn't seem to be enjoying the hug as much as I am! Sorry Naomi. Perhaps she sees what Erik is up to on the computer. Pretty scary for me too Naomi.

Ahhh!!! Snuggling with Mom. Much more fun!

Not sure Sparky is enjoying my hug any more than Naomi was. I must perfect my amount of pressure. Perhaps I was more tense than I realized. We do look a tad tense, don't we? Hmm......

Oh, now that is more like it!

Not sure anyone is really going to enjoy listening to this! Hm...oh well...I must do what moves me....prepare yourselves!

Ahhhh....Our ears do perk up when Bud and Sherri begin talking about food! Place your orders. Thank you Sherri for the best tasting Chicken Parmesan EVER. And I do mean EVER. It was delectable! Bud, your Pesto smelled divine as well. Can't wait to come back for the taste test.

I'd like to remember what I was listening to here. Or, maybe not....

Oh....the sweetest pair(s) of listening ears ever!

So why the segue into listening. Well, I must be clairvoyant because the next chapter in my book study True Love is titled Deep Listening which is how I wrapped up my previous chapter summary last post. Every day we may say or do something that causes an "internal knot" in the person we love. This knot sort of festers and grows in the person we love without our even being aware of it. Then the knot becomes sort of like a bomb ready to explode at the slightest of tremors. Sensing there is something stirring under the surface, you may want to avoid the rumblings and steer clear of the bomb. This only leads to more internal rumblings because the person you love feels you're intentionally avoiding them and their suffering only increases. When this happens True Love suggests practising the act of deep listening with calm and understanding to ease your loved ones suffering. This type of listening requires letting go of pride as the previous chapter mentioned. This sort of deep listening requires no words, just breathing deeply, keeping your heart open and practising the act of deep listening.

As I mentioned a while back, forgive me if these posts appear overly indulgent or "preachy" telling you things you already know. The purpose isn't to inform you as much as it is helping me process the information I'm learning. So, again...self indulgent I know...but it is my blog. (-:

Okay, just for fun tell me what your favorite things to listen to are. Some of mine, are a crackling campfire, laughter, children asking questions, and Sparky growling under his breath for attention.

More Christmas photos coming soon....