Visitor #8000 Was---Myself!

I got all excited this evening to see that the 8000th visitor had been to this blog....and then I realized when I looked at SiteMeter that it was me, on my iPad!. I have the counting software set to ignore the IP address of this computer, so my visits to read the site or to post something don't count. But apparently the iPad, although it is accessing the web through my home wireless setup, has a different IP address than the computer. Anyway, now I will need to take into account the views of the blog I make remotely when I'm marking viewing milestones. So, #8001, you will be the special one today. (Unless you are the GoogleBot...) Hmmm...I know what the problem is, I'm using a different browser (Safari) on the iPad than the one I use (Firefox) on this computer. I think hiding Safari from this IP can be fixed if I can remember how I managed to get it to ignore Firefox....Technology can get complicated. I think I'll devote most of today (Saturday) to quilting instead--it's Scrap Quilt Club meeting day: 6 hours of sewing with about 20 dear friends. Wheeeee!

I Have Joined the iPad Revolution!

A few days ago, Norm said, let's get that iPad you have been talking about for our anniversary! So this afternoon we went to the Apple store at the Galleria and had quite an experience learning how to use it. Then we went to Cheese-ology in the Loop for Norm's birthday dinner. Now we are home and I am trying to type on this strange little touch pad. At this point I know I can enter text for my blog using a trick that the Apple Genius named Andrew figured out to bypass an issue Blogger seems to have with the iPad version of Safari. Once I upload some photos from my camera to this, I'll see if I can post them as well!

Rembering Will Rogers

The Tulsa World newspaper today has a wonderful package of photos, videos, stories and quotes online in memory of Will Rogers, the entertainer, humorist, world traveler and journalist who died in a plane crash at Point Barrow, Alaska, 75 years ago yesterday. As a native Tulsan, growing up I knew his story well, having visited the Will Rogers Memorial at Claremore and being fortunate enough to attend the high school named for him, Will Rogers High School, which was built as a WPA project in the Great Depression and opened in 1939. The opening page of the coverage can be found by clicking here: Will Rogers Remembered. I was thinking of writing my own tribute but the World has a plethora of material.

One of the thoughts that has kept coming back to me over the past few years is "Where is Will Rogers When We Need Him?" By this I mean that public discourse and disagreement has gotten so nasty that we could use a dose of his humor, his gentle jabbing at all parties, to perhaps cool the rhetoric and help reframe the argument. At least I hope we aren't too far gone as a nation to appreciate quotes like these, all from his writing prior to his untimely death in 1935:

• The truth can hurt you worse in an election than about anything that could happen to you.
• Republicans want a man that can lend dignity to the office. Democrats want a man that will lend some money.
• When a party can't think of anything else they always fall back on lower taxes. It has a magic sound to a voter, just like fairyland is spoken of and dreamed of by children.
• It's a great country, but you can't live in it for nothing.
• Wars will never be a success until you have a referee and until they announce before they start just what it's for.
• When ignorance gets started, it knows no bounds.
• There is nothing that keeps poor people poor as much as paying doctor bills.
• I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat.
• As bad as we sometimes think our country is run, it is the best run I ever saw.

And then there is the all-time favorite Will Rogers quote:

• "I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like."

Visitor #7900 Hello, Tulsa!

Cousins Debi and Mike in Tulsa are visitor #7900. Debi, I know you are busy with the first week of school and I hope you have a great year. You are my closest relatives, and you look at the blog almost every day. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything new this week; thought I would but it turned busier than I had expected after I found out two guys from Florida were coming for dinner tonight. Plus, I think the FB addiction is cutting into my blogging time. More soon, I promise. Love you both!

Thursday's Child Writes Again

Once again I'm trying out some ideas on Thursday's Child, my other blog that gets an occasional post. I'm a little more opinionated over there....so be forewarned. Here's the link:

The Myth of Self-Reliance

A Cool Trip to the Farmers Market

Today was the end of our two-day cool spell. Yesterday and today Norm and I sat on the front porch at mid-day and enjoyed a cool breeze while we drank blueberry-peach smoothies for lunch. Probably will be hugging the AC for the coming week! This morning I went to the Ferguson Farmers Market; above is some of my loot: Calhoun (IL) County peaches from Kamp's Orchard, a humongous cantaloupe from Hahn's organic farm, plus tomatoes, a (hidden) cucumber and interesting summer squash from various other small organic farms. Not pictured: the delicious blonde brownies, dog biscuits (for Ava's visit this week) and cranberry-orange scone from Cosi Dolce, nor the basil/garlic linguine and the sweet potato linguine from Pappardelle's Pasta. We hope to fix the basil/garlic for a company dinner soon. The guy from Kamp's expects to have peaches for at least another month. Looking forward to next Saturday! The freezer will be groaning.

When last week's triple digit temps arrived, the lovely stand of surprise lilies went crispy before I could even take their picture. The native phlox that the previous owner planted, however, appears to like it hot. This grows under our maple tree and the late afternoon sun spotlighted it. Yesterday I trimmed a beloved rubber tree that was almost as tall as I was...very ungainly for a house plant that spends 8 months of the year upstairs in the sewing room, the only room with enough light for it. I repotted it too...I think the jury is still out whether the rubber plant is happy with its new look. While I was at it I neatened the other house plants on the porch and trimmed the geraniums; then I swept up a lot of debris that blew in from earlier storms. The outside front of the house actually looks decent and welcoming now. Until the next round of storms, we can enjoy it.

Norm spent part of the day cleaning our guest room (we might have guests, you never know) while I tackled 4 loads of laundry. Tonight we uncovered an occasional table between our recliners that was buried in 4 months worth of magazines, half-solved sudoku puzzles, and notes. It's amazing what you can find that you thought was lost, like an invitation to a birthday party that happened back in July....oops.

Tomorrow I'm going to present a video from the Quadrennial for our Sunday School class, and I hope it goes over OK. It's hard to believe that happened 6 weeks ago!

Ava in Pink Walking Attire

Ava, the golden doodle next door, has a new harness for walks, and also a new short haircut after a visit to the groomer today. Training Ava not to pull on her leash while being walked around the block has been a challenge, and both Barb and Norm have worked persistently on this. But Barb says that by the second day, Ava had stopped pulling and just prances along now on their daily tour of our block. We'll get to try it out next week when Ava comes to our house for a short visit. Ava posed for this photo and showed off her new accomplishment: sit and stay without her leash....in the safety of our back yard! (Actually that look of concentration is really straining to see if there is going to be a treat involved, I think.)

CONASPEH UPDATE August 5, 2010 from the Bentrotts

Kim and Patrick Bentrott have published the latest update on CONASPEH in Haiti on their blog, Adventures in Life. The update comes from Global Ministries. You can read it here: http://kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/2010/08/conaspeh-update.html

If you scroll down past this post, you'll find two more recent ones from Kim about their relocation to Evergreen, Colorado, and her mixed feelings as she interviews for a job as a physician with a local clinic. The kids are fine and she has great photos of them, too.