Sophie's Story

  Yesterday someone asked me what my favourite or most memorable birthday present was. I was stumped. I honestly couldn't remember any. I know I got some, but I just couldn't think of one. I can remember the nutcracker that I got for Christmas one year. (We did the Nutcracker Suite in orchestra that year.) I remember the blender that an ex-boyfriend gave me for Valentine's Day. (I still have it.) I remember some of the things that we got as wedding presents. I just couldn't think of any birthday presents aside of the ones I was given last year. (A lovely collection of scented soaps and a book on how to crochet along with a brand-new crochet hook.)   I thought about it the rest of the day. Then I remembered another custom from my days as a single woman. Since I spent most of my birthdays alone, I would buy myself a birthday present. Now it was starting to come back to me.   At that time in my life I liked jewelry.(I still do.) I'm fond of semiprecious stones in

   I couldn't decide what I was going to write about today. I decided that I would ask Scamp what he thought, He's got good taste and he's been hanging around me for the past several hours hoping that I will give him a treat.   I thought I might write about the recent release of hacked information from a website for people who want to arrange extramarital affairs. I was thinking of musing (or ranting) about how no one seems to care about the amount of damage that something like that can do. If a public figure can be caught and unveiled as a hypocrite everyone is happy. No one cares about the spouse, children and family of the person who has just been exposed.   My other option was to write about how I started hosting the Annual Birthday Lunch which will take place later this week. Scamp told me that I had done quite a bit of ranting the past few weeks and that readers would probably prefer something more positive. Colby chimed in to let me know that he agreed with Scamp

   This Friday C and I will celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. I tend to read articles on marriage about this time of year just for fun. Today I'd like to share a few thoughts I have.   On Sunday one of the speakers at church mentioned that she and her husband had nearly forgotten their wedding anniversary. She received a happy anniversary message from someone that reminded her.   I must admit I was a little shocked. I can't wrap my head around the concept of forgetting such an important date. How is this possible? To be fair, she and her husband have been married longer than C and I have. They also have children and I can imagine that their busy family life could result in losing track of time and forgetting an anniversary.   I sometimes wonder if anniversaries become less important when you are certain that there will be many of them. When young couples marry there is a sense of great optimism. They will be together and in love for many, many years.   C and I met a

   Once a month or so I teach at the Relief Society Sunday morning meeting. There is a lesson manual that I use. The manuals are teachings of past presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year we are studying the teachings of President Ezra Taft Benson.   The lesson that I've been assigned to teach is on the elderly. There couldn't be a more perfect lesson for me. I like hanging around older people. I always have. When I was younger I always preferred to spend time with the parents of the people my age. I was raised Lutheran and looked forward to being confirmed because then it meant that I could attend the adult Bible Study class instead of hanging out with the other high school kids.   Caring for older family members runs in my family. Both of my parents had grandparents living with them when they were younger. Both of my great-grandfathers on my mother's side of the family were alive when I was young. I remember both of them although my me

   Yesterday C and I were out for our usual morning run. I've run the same route for about four years and we've been running the same route all this summer. Part of the route require us to run in the street because there is no sidewalk. We were running single file as usual due to traffic on the street. We were about 4 inches from the curb, not even close to being in the driving lane.   We were moving along at a pretty good clip when a newer model white car came toward us and swerved into us. There was no one else on the road. There were no animals attempting to cross the street. Fortunately C saw the swerve starting and moved onto the grass. I followed after him. The car swerved back into the driving lane and continued on.   I knew why this had happened. It had happened to me a couple times before over the years that I've been out running. There is always someone who thinks it is "fun" to scare runners or bikers by driving into them so they have to run off the

   Several months ago C read something that said cow's milk is an unhealthy beverage. It turns out that that the milk board and dairy farmers have been lying to us all these years. All those celebrities with the milk mustaches were selling us a bill of goods. What kind of world have we come to when you can't trust Princess Kay of the Milky Way?    This meant that we needed to find a replacement beverage. There are just some times where only a cold glass of milk will do. Fortunately we have many choices. I'd like to take you through my journey to find a replacement.   The first thing we tried was almond milk. It was touted as being the healthiest with lots of omega 3 fatty acids and other good things. C tried it and loved it. I didn't. I don't like almonds, to me they are unbearably bitter. Unless they are smoked, smothered in honey or ground up and put in Bit O Honey candy, I can't eat them. I imagine that if I were ever poisoned  the poison would taste just

   We have taken a road trip the Chicago. Most people go to Chicago for the music festivals or to experince big city life. We come here so we can visit the Chicago Botanic Garden.   The garden is a lovely place located  north of Chicago. This is the best time of year to be here. Everything is beautiful, lush and green.   One of the things that I like to do when I come here is touch plants. I know it's safe because all the plants are marked. I like to touch plants when we are at the Arboretum in Minnesota too.   I started this habit in the herb garden. You rub the leaves between you fingers and it releases the oils in the plant that create it's scent. I love to smell the plants especially thyme  and anything with a lemon scent. Then I branched out to leaves that have interesting textures. Lamb's ear is my favourite. Depending on how dry the weather has been the leaves can vary in softness.   Then I starting touching flowers that had interesting textures. Stattice and s