Sophie's Story

     We finished watching the last movie in the Lord of the Ring series. This could possibly be the worst movie I've ever seen.    Part of this is because the movie was long, over three hours. I'm at the point where I simply cannot sit for that long. I have to get up and move around a little or I'll get stiff and sore. There were too many long battle scenes and too may things that were drawn out that could have moved along a little quicker. It felt long and clunky. I covered my eyes for much of the movie because I couldn't watch anymore fighting and killing.    There were a few good parts. I like the part where Eowyn, a shieldmaiden, carried a sword in her saddle and rode with the men to battle. She and Merry Brandybuck killed the Witch-King. I liked the fact that Galadriel, a female elf, was a powerful character.    I enjoyed watching Aragorn, one of the Fellowship of the Ring, discover he was the heir to an ancient kingdom and wielder of a ...

     C and I finished reading "The Hobbit" a few weeks ago. Since it was a long book we got an audiobook as opposed to reading it to each other as we had originally planned. I enjoyed the book. C said that the movie was even better. I was looking forward to watching the movie.    The plan had been to read all the Ring series books before watching the movies. C got a little impatient so we decided to watch the movies before we finished reading all the books. We started with the first movie 'An Unexpected Journey'. It followed the book mostly and was entertaining. The aggravating part was that it ended on a cliffhanger and meant that we'd have to watch another movie to see what happens next. Fortunately for us it meant just renting the next movies as opposed to having to wait for it to come out.     The next movie was 'The Desolation of Smaug'. This is where it didn't follow the book well, something that irritates me which is why I don't watch movie...

     I think it will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this that I am a cat person. I like cats. My favourite cartoon is the Pink Panther.     I actually like all animals and sometimes fantasize about having a dog especially on good weather days when walking a dog looks like fun. It's fun going out to parks like Minnehaha and watching people walking all kinds of dogs. Then I remember that there is a lot of responsibility in caring for a dog. They need to be taken out to do their business, they need to be walked and they need a certain amount of space to roam. The kind of lifestyle I have would not be good for a dog. For much of my life I worked a lot and lived in houses with small yards. Thankfully, I like cats.    One of my reasons for buying my first house is because I wanted to have cats. I was single and working a lot. I wanted to have something in my life beside my job. I also wanted companionship and cats were just right for me. Workin...

        The books I reserved a few days ago are at the library. I'm very excited to read them. Two of them were referenced on a podcast I like to listen to. I reserved one of them because I was curious. Then fourth book I reserved because I watched the movie version of the book, but never read the book. Since most of the time the book is better than the movie, I thought I should read it.      The first two book are "Rage Becomes Her" by Soraya Chemaly and "Atlas of the Heart" by Brene Brown. These books were quoted in a podcast episode on anger and how angry woman is usually used as an insult. I had something happen recently that has made me angry, reading the first book seems like a good idea.  Brene Brown is quoted on the podcast a lot. I'll be honest, I wasn't really interested in anything she wrote because I didn't think it was applicable. However it seems she is very popular and a few women I respect are big fans. I thought it would be intere...

     When I was a kid, my parents had geraniums around the house. The classic red ones that you see if you Google it. I was never very fond of them, I didn't think they were pretty and they smelled bad. I think I learned in chemistry class that the compound responsible for the scent of geranium and the compound responsible for the scent of skunk were very close. As a joke when I came home from college, Dad put a dried geranium in my room telling me it was my favourite flower. I agreed. The only good geranium is a dead one.    When I bought plants for my parents' deck this year, my dad asked for a geranium. He was wintering my uncle's big geranium plant and wanted one of his own. I learned for the first time that there are two kinds of geraniums, seed and zonal. The seed ones are obviously grown from seed which zonal comes from cuttings from a plant. The zonal ones are larger with larger flowers. Dad was specific, no seed geraniums.    I thought it was ...

        Last week I took my parents to a store to buy some plants for their deck. We got a tomato plant, basil, a geranium, a lavender plant and six petunias. Once we got back to their apartment, I potted the plants. They looked good. When I visited yesterday, the tomato plant had a flower and the lavender plant looked like it had a flower bud as well.    I bought a couple plants for myself which I put in our garden. I haven't had time to plant the carrot and bachelor button seeds that I bought. I have got this serious urge to get our garden started. I'm hoping to get some tomato, pepper, snapdragon and marigold plants today so I can plant them tomorrow. I'd do it today, but it's raining.    Willow turned one on Tuesday.  I had to work, but she got extra treats and her favorite toy plastic springs. She's a small cat with long legs. She likes to run, jump and watch the animals in the front yard from her cat tree. She likes to play hide and go ...

     Last week C and I decided that it was time to get the bikes out. The wheel passes for the Cannon Valley Trail had come in the mail. The weather was nice and it was time to ride.    We got a later start than we had planned. We had some discussion over riding the CVT or  a trail nearer to home. We eventually decided to ride the CVT starting at the Welch midpoint and riding toward Cannon Falls. The trail has a slight incline going that direction and we thought it would be easier. Having made that decision, C loaded up our bikes while I dressed and got our water bottles ready.    After the bikes were secured, we took off. It was a pleasant drive. We were both eager to get riding.    We pulled into the parking lot and found a space. There were not many people riding late yesterday morning. It's one of the reasons why we like to go on the weekdays. The trail is less crowded. Our plan was to bike to Cannon Falls and eat lunch at a coffeesh...