Imagine my surprise...

...when right before lunch a bouquet of flowers arrives for me with a cryptic note, "Hang in there..."

The Farmer was as surprised as I, so I know it wasn't him.
The kids and I have had such fun trying to figure out who it might have been...and here's the true blessing:
You never really think about how many people love you until you're trying to figure out an anonymous gift.  My list is long and filled with amazing, beautiful friends and family that could have been so thoughtful.  THAT  realization brings tears to my eyes, overwhelming gratitude.

So if you sent the flowers...whoever you are...
Thank you so very, very much; they're gorgeous and I have to go put on my tiara, now...
Thank you so much more for bringing to mind all those who are dear to me.  The blossoms are all the more special because of it!

*I didn't get them arranged very well.  It's not FTD's fault!  I wish this was a scratch-n-sniff image for you...

Day 11: 15 Of My Favourite Things

Just play it.
You won't be able to continue reading the post until you do.
Trust me.
The minute I sat down to write this post, it started running through my head and finally I gave in to the demon and sang it...
Only I sang it like this:

"Milk foam on bum calves and strong brewed black coffee, 
Old cowboy boots and ice cream from Softee(s)
Postcards and Calvin and when my kid sings, 
These are a few of my favorite things.

Books by my bedside and Grandma's sweet roses, 
Running at daylight and puppies' wet noses, 
Trout streams that run through the mountains from springs, 
These are a few of my favorite things.

Old hymns from childhood and notes from my friends, 
Doris Day movies and tough yoga bends, 
Football and baseball and my Dad's spurs that ring, 
These are a few of my favorite things

When my dog dies, when the rum's gone, 
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad."

I know.
That was NINETEEN things.
Whatever...
:)

Day 10: My Best Feature

In the middle of doing dishes this morning, while running through a mental evaluation of my features, I decided to make an unofficial, unsanctioned small print change to the challenge.

We should get one "get-out-of-jail-free" day. 

YES!

Now, I know my fellow blog challenge people are frantically looking through their lists, trying to decide what will be their free day....because when one person implements something like this, everyone else says, "Heck, yeah; I didn't know what I was going to do with that "Timeline of My Day" thing because one can only say "refilled margarita glass" three times after 10 a.m. before it gets embarrassing..." 

Can you believe I chose that for today instead of the day I have to show you the inside of my refrigerator?

Well, here's why:

The grocery store I go to had this crazy (good) sale where they gave you a white paper bag with handles in the produce aisle and said, "All you can fit in the bag for $10. Really."  I figure I got about $70 worth of eggplant, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, oranges, red and green peppers, onions and melon in that bad boy and now the inside of our refrigerator looks lovely!  Especially with Picasa enhancements...

So there you have it.

My best feature is....

Who CARES?!?!

Off to grill eggplant, now.

Day 9: What Are Your Worst Habits?

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!

What gives with this blog challenge????

The contents of my purse AND my bad habits?
And I just noticed there's one about the inside of my refrigerator, too!!!
Jeepers...
No one needs THAT much information about my life.

All my habits are bad.  I can't think of a single good habit that I have.  So, now I have to sort through all the habits and find the very worst to tell you about, then take a photo to go with that horrific post???

No way, Jose'!

Here are a few I'm willing to share, however:

As you may have noticed from the purse post, I'm terribly sentimental and have a habit of keeping little things that remind me of good times with dear people.

I often leave the garden hose on and wander off to dump garbage or something.  Yesterday I Miracle Grow-ed a toad, accidentally, because he was sitting by a pot that the sprayer was leaking on.

I doodle on papers during lectures or sermons.

 This makes my notes look as though I wasn't listening, but I really and truly do.  I always start out trying to have neat, professional looking notes, but end up with a copy of the conference room carpet design in the corners.

Cocktail at 5 p.m. is a habit that I'm desperately trying to break, but without much success.

Another habit I'm working to break is the one I have about walking past the computer and stopping to look at Face Book.  For a while I thought I would only look on weekends, but that ended up being a little too drastic; I underestimated how much my friends and family communicated with me through that form of media.  Weekends are still my FB time, but I also look in the evenings, too.


Okay.
That's all you get.

Day 8: What's In Your Handbag?

Without pre-sorting or elimination, here's what's in my "handbag"...

First, the purse...
It's kind of an oilcloth outside so I can spill ice cream on it, wipe it off like a tablecloth and go.
Shazzam!

Map of Paris, special fly for a special occasion, map (AND public transit schedule) of Boston, 2012 Red Sox schedule and a locket with photos of me as a baby with my Dad.

Little notebook with random thoughts, three business cards, a Miss Me tag, enough sticky notes to run a portable office, toothpaste, lip gloss, sample of facial cleanser and a little box of flies.

I couldn't remember what was written on the notes!  This one was a list of recommended books about Boston, written down while riding the train with Sue in to see the Museum of Fine Arts.

Close up of the personal hygiene products....pathetically few, for a chick.

Stickers from the emergency room visit in Glasgow this weekend (Maggie sprained her wrist while tubing), a Dilbert cartoon that never fails to make me laugh, recipes clipped from the Billings Gazette, super hero book mark and a grocery list....

Close up of the Dilbert cartoon...

I left my heart in the North End...
Close up of the Boston map.

 I KNOW...
You want me to show you the flies.
Well, I'm not going to.  You only get to see them if you join me in person!  That way I can talk on and on about them...

Almost forgot to show you the zebra print wallet and camera!

That's it!

Now, I'm off to find my wine bottle opener, the MP3 player and the pens I thought were in there.

FINALLY CAUGHT UP ON THE CHALLENGE

HUZZAH!!!

Day 7: Your pet hates

Well...

Our dog, Twilla, hates getting moved off the chair to the floor.  She also hates anything that seems like it might have been a plant at one time, so she very carefully picks through any leftovers we put down for her and leave behind corn kernels, bits of lettuce and an offending black bean.  She might have to suck the yummy stuff off, then spit out the plant byproduct, but it's worth it.  Someday, I'll have to tell her that her dog food has corn and rice in it and who KNOWS what will happen when THAT information reaches HRH??

Our cat, Figaro, hates having his paws wet.  He also hates loud music.

Our OTHER cat, Elizabeth, hates kittens.  She's not fond of Figaro, right now, either.  In fact, she's just really sort of grouchy in the summer.

The kittens hate being awakened from their naps or having to sit nicely when they would really rather be pouncing on moths.

My bum calves hate hail on their little tin shelter and being ignored when I'm watering flowers.

The resident toad (does he count as a pet?) hates losing in the game of hide and seek. He hates wagon rides, as well.  (He's a very well traveled, rather nervous sort of toad...)

What a crazy blog theme, huh??

Day 6: Your Five Senses Right Now

Because the Farmer is haying and won't join us for lunch, Maggie requested gumbo.  SO...as I sit here in the post meal quiet, I hear the kids playing each in their own rooms, a contented, full-belly murmur.  The smell of bacon, shrimp, onions, tomatoes and spices is still hanging in the air.  

I learned today that gumbo is an amazingly flexible, forgiving dish....I didn't have all the ingredients for any particular recipe, so I slammed all the cookbooks shut and just went to cooking.  I had okra but no sausage, cumin but no file, canned crab, frozen shrimp, little rice...it all came together and as long as the Gumbo Police don't stop by, I think we're good.

I like it when flavors unfold in a food, so the first taste is the high notes, often the tomato or meat...then, the onions, peppers and spices roll out, and it ends on a smoky, soft, what-could-that-be?-I'd-better-have-another-bite sense.  For the gumbo, I browned the rice in butter before actually boiling it and that was the intriguing end essence.  Who knew that toasted rice in a spicy stew would be the trick?  

The kitchen looks like the crazy cook from Sesame Street just had a big party, even though I try to clean up as I go.

 But here's the thing...

I had to render the bacon grease for the roux. 

Chop whatever veggies I could think of to soften in that same roux.

Peel shrimp.

Brown the rice, 

Cook the chicken breast in strips.

Open the canned tomatoes and broth.

And that's the abbreviated list!

All that, to produce THIS:

(I guess you realize that if TOASTBA was still around, there would be some comment about how this looks like the already digested version...)

:)

I'm feeling full and ready for a nap...

After dishes, of course.

Day 5: Ten songs you love right now

Well, THAT'S like asking Ben or Jerry which is their favorite ice cream....

This very minute...and it could change by the time I post this...the top ten of a gazillion (in no particular order, mind you) are:

1. Jesus Loves Me  (this I know...)

2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For- U2. (I know.  For an ADD-ish person, this is theme-song material.)

3. Carry On-Pat Green

4. Come Monday-Jimmy Buffett

5. Back It Up-Caro Emerald

6. I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor

7. All Summer Long-Kid Rock

8. Hey, Soul Sister-Train

9. If Today Was Your Last Day-Nickelback

10. Stay, Stay, Stay-Taylor Swift

Heavily influenced by the summer season, this is a rough, off-the-top-of-my-head list!

And the photo has absolutely nothing to do with the list, just like the list has absolutely no rhyme or reason, so the word of the day is "Eclectic"  I guess...

Day 4: What Are You Afraid Of?

I drove to Miles City by myself yesterday to get groceries and supplies for the big Independence Day Camp-a-palooza and gave this topic some serious thought.  I'm not fearful by nature...I'm a pretty good worrier, but I'm not afraid of much.

There's startling things like snakes, creepy things in the dark (do we ever outgrow that?), loneliness, heights, depths, spiders, cellulite, tornados...all these things are VERY worrisome, but not terrifying to me anymore.  

Can I open my heart, here, and tell you something deep and dark?

(And they move closer to their computers, holding their breath, cupping their cold coffee cups in anticipation...)

:)

I was married before, when I was 19, and it wasn't pretty.  

When I was thinking of this topic, I thought, "I'm afraid of my ex-husband!"  How'm I going to write about THAT in the Chronicles???

But that's not necessarily true.

I'm not afraid of that person.  I keep my distance, that's for dang sure, but I think I could hold my own if push came to shove.

  

I think what I'm REALLY afraid of is being the person I was when I was at that point in my life.  See, I can deal with the other stuff....the creepies, the weather, the aging....but I never, never, NEVER want to go back to being the person I was then.  

I'm afraid of being so unsure of myself that I'll do anything to keep from being disapproved.  

I'm afraid of being mired in helplessness.

I'm afraid of losing hold of the tiny bit of sanity I managed to maintain.  

I'm afraid of being afraid.  

Fear is a horrible force that can make one do things they never thought they'd do, say things they'd never say, compromise, crumble, cower, crawl.  (I know...alliteration...it takes over sometimes. :)

Do you know...when people react in anger, it's usually motivated by fear?  

Over-protection is an obvious reaction to fear, running away is also pretty easy to tag.  

Fear incites arrogance.

It buries joy; raising self consciousness to a debilitating level.

I'm so afraid of being afraid, again.

The hope I have, now, is that 

take a minute, here....

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"  1 John 4:18

I've got to hang on to the love, you know?  God's love, not man's.  

It's the only perfect love.

Except for the love my dog, Molly, has for me.  I'm pretty sure she's the personification of God's love for me on four feet, but she's not going to be around forever.  In fact, I don't know if she's going to make it through the summer, and that's sort of the other thing I'm afraid of.  Maybe a little.  

*I came back to post this, as it obviously didn't auto-post over the weekend...
We had to put Molly down over the weekend.  I had to face one of my greatest fears and I wake up this morning still facing it...no little dog beside me.  

Day 3: Favourite Quote

Click on the picture for a full image.

(Crummy template settings, anyway!!!)

Toastless

Where is TOASTBA?

(The Original And Still The Best Anonymous)

This question has come up several times in the last few months from other faithful readers and commenters of the Chronicles. Well, how in the world should I know?  That's the whole fun of the anonymous comment!  

I DO have theories, however.

Theory #1

     TOASTBA was apprehended and taken into custody for impersonating a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. (This actually happened, if you can imagine!  One of the guys who read The Farmer's blog is serving time for this exact crime.  He doesn't leave comments any more, either.)

Theory #2

     TOASTBA won the BIG lottery and is now living on a yacht in the South Pacific, where there are much more entertaining things to do rather than read the Cohagen Chronicles.  Things like diving, fishing, drinking fruity rum drinks at 2 p.m....

Theory #3

     TOASTBA smarted off to the wrong WWF wrestler on the way through an airport and is still in a full body cast, unable to type, eating pureed meals through a straw.  (WWF is World Wrestling Federation, not Weight Watchers Flunkie, although they might be interchangeable sometimes.  Just thought I should clear that little acronym question up.)

Theory #4

     TOASTBA was abducted by aliens, an example cementing their long standing theory that there's no intelligent life on the planet Earth. 

Or...
And this is a thought...
TOASTBA grew bored with the Chronicles and moved on to Kim Kardashian's blog.
*sniffle*

What do YOU think?

Day 2: 20 Facts About Me

1.  My REAL middle name is Margaret.
2. I was named after both of my grandmothers: Inda MARY and MARGARET Francis.
3. My real name earned me the nickname "Sister Mary Margaret" in college.
4. I am not Catholic.
5. One of my favorite songs when I was 12 years old was Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young" about a Catholic girl.
6. I graduated in 1989 from Garfield County High School.
7. Because Garfield County is HU-MON-GOUS (4,848 square miles; 4 Rhode Islands could fit in that) and there was no bus route toward our house, I lived in a dormitory for all four years of high school.
8. I once shoveled beer cans with Cody Witt for Wayne Hunter to make some money one day after school.
9. I went to my first prom with Victor Ady, who told the English teacher Mr. White that he was going to prom with a girl named Dary Mutton who Mr. White thought was a girl from Circle, MT.
10. My first prom dress was yellow and I rented it.
11. The Murray boys taught some of us girls how to jitterbug in the basement of the dorm to George Strait's song "Unwound".
12. My major was Elementary/Special Education at Eastern Montana College.
13. I did my sophomore practicum with Sharon Reynolds (who had been a classmate of Torey Hayden, my literary and teaching hero at the time) at Beartooth Elementary in a classroom of severely handicapped students.
14. I took History of Rock and Roll to fulfill one of my art credits.  Yes, it's a glowing A on my transcript!
15. I was a Girl Scout and can still recite "I will do my best to serve God, my country, mankind and to live by the Girl Scout law."
16. I am addicted to coffee.
17. I bake without a timer...just go by smell, which is why I can't bake when I have a cold, no matter how desperately I need those medicinal gingersnaps!
18. I am still an alto and sing harmony always, which REALLY sounds horrible when I have my headphones on.
19. My shoe size is 8....and I ADORE shoes/boots/flip flops.
20. I don't have any tattoos. (This is sort of a big, un-cool confession from a child of the 80's!)

Couldn't find the Freshman prom yellow dress picture, so you get....

SHOES!!!

(If ONLY they grew on trees...*sigh*)

Introducing, Blog Challenge July 2013!

Weirdly, last year's blog challenge was held in July, too.  Thank goodness!  Can you imagine how boring a January blog challenge would be, the world through my lens at THAT point of the year??

*shudder*


Here's the official list:

Today is "Introduction and recent photo".

I was sort of fretting about this, since I seem to have contracted a butt kicking cold from those precious little Vacation Bible School/swimming lesson kids of the last two weeks.  

I can guarantee, no one wants to see a photo of me today.

My family is averting their gaze, for goodness sake, as they walk past to get their cup of dry breakfast cereal.

But then, I realized...it just says "recent photo".

NOTHING says it has to be a photo of ME.  

And "recent" is a rah-ther vague time frame, don't you think?

So, here you go....

A recent photo!

(I'm certain if you wanted to macro-magnify the photo, you could find my image in the wine glass.  Please don't waste your time.)

I'm doing this challenge with my friends Kim and Patricia, along with 10-12 other people Patricia has gathered up.  I know the Chronicles have been less than exciting, lately, so hopefully this will inject some energy into my writing and photography.  I've been feeling guilty about writing, thinking, always, that there's something more productive I could be doing with my time.  But here's the thing, my friends...

It's my journal and it's therapy.

(My readers like it because they figure out that they're actually quite sane and normal in comparison, so it's kind of "group therapy" although we don't really get together.)

I'll be gone for a few days on an Independence Day adventure with my family and friends, so I'm going to try to do some of those timed posts, where Blogger hangs on to the drafts until EXACTLY noon on each day, then publishes. We'll see if it works.  Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. 

If any of my blogger friends want to join us in this challenge, let me know and we'll tag you somehow in the group! (Honestly, I don't know who all is doing this....just that I need to.)

Stay tuned, folks...

Tomorrow is "20 Facts About You"

Me, not you. 

(The cold medicine helps me breathe, but does nothing for my cognitive functions that were diminished ANYWAY.)

Maggie

Last night at the wedding dance, my daughter made friends with a Chinese lady who speaks very little English, but shares the common language of smiles and hugs.

I watched her visit with the band, one by one, before the music started...and watched her tell them each goodbye and thank you before we left.  Do you know how hard it is to get to a drummer to give him a hug?

She danced with a guy with Down's Syndrome and complimented him on his style.  On the way home in the car, when we were trying to explain how his body got older but his mind really wouldn't, she said, "That's so cool."  and meant it.  It really WOULD be cool, when you think about it...to always enjoy life as a third grader might.  

When her dad was finally convinced to dance, she came over and patted him on the arm and said, "See, Dad!  You DO have rhythm!  It's just deep, deep, deep...deep inside."  

She found a little girl who was not from around here and who was feeling rather out of place, practiced swirly dance moves and they had a great time on the dance floor, just celebrating the music.  

This is the baby who almost wasn't...

the one who was a 20% chance of viability if both parents were young and healthy, which I wasn't...

the one whose heartbeat the doctor couldn't find at 12 weeks...but he didn't give up, because this one was a miracle that so many in that office were supporting and holding their breath over...

the one who had more ultra-sounds than the average bear, who I gave pints of blood tests for over the course of the pregnancy because the doctor didn't want to take chances; this one was special....

we had no idea.

She woke up just now and came wandering out, looking like a frazzled little daisy...

Needs chai tea and perhaps some cinnamon toast.

Maybe a big snuggle.

Every day is a gift with this child, 

every day an adventure in wonder, 

every day a lesson in outrageous love and hope.

Here's what's shaking in my garden in the middle of June...

Not EVERYTHING, just the stuff I find charming and lovely.

The Jodi rose, which looks very Photoshopped in pictures but really and truly IS that vibrant and brassy!  She doesn't have a great rose-y scent, but she is such a show off that I have to love her...almost like a junior high girl wearing too much makeup.  You know she's trying, but doesn't know when enough is enough.  There's tasteful and there's tart-y, but the poor dear hasn't made the distinction, yet. 

In June, even the dandelion heads are delightful in all their starriness.  Who knows the wishes blown from this sweet weed? (Did you know starriness isn't a word? Pshhh!)

T

And speaking of stars, my very favorite flower in all the world is columbine (aquilegia for the botanically correct).

My grandma's yellow roses, dripping in dew and rain...

I don't know who's reading this, but for my closest friends and family...please plant these yellow roses on my grave.  I think Heaven will be filled with them, so don't bother with the plastic flowers...tend the sentimental old yellows, instead, and look forward to eternity.

 This is NOT Forellenschluss!  It's some sort of red lettuce and I believe I'll make a salad this week with it.  Why make a regular old Romaine toss when one can have purple leaves with oranges and almonds?!

THIS is Forellenschluss, of course, Fontie!  And now we should go fishing, because spotted trout lettuce demands we do so in honor of the gorgeousness.

Peas with raindrops.
Can you SMELL the freshness?

And then we have baby onions! They're all spindly at this stage...again, junior high boys of the garden. 

Look in the background...do you see...?

BABY CARROTS! Fluttery, feathery baby carrots who are so lovely that one forgets the orange (or purple or red) goodness under the dirt!

I'm all entranced by the water on the clothes line with the Angus cow in the distance.  When I painted the poles and propane tank this shocking green, I know my in laws had kittens, but in the spring and summer, the hardscapes all but disappear in the green of the surrounding grass! The other astonishing thing is how the purple on the raised beds and benches has mellowed into more of a blue-y color and is completely subtle.  I don't know what possesses me to try these things, but some of them work and (accidentally) look brilliantly planned.  It's just serendipity, really.

I also know that the sun on the propane tank was a little unorthodox, but there are some things in my yard that I can't hide, so I may as well make them happy to look at.  You see our cat, Figaro, who is NOT IMPRESSED by the moisture.  It musses his fur and muddies his precious paws and causes him to mold around the whiskers.  Very annoying.

Maggie and Angus made me hanging planters at school for Mother's Day.  This is Maggie's and I love the peace signs and dianthus!  It's hanging on an old picket fence behind the herb bed.

Do you know what this is?

Honestly, until I grew it, I had no idea that spinach was beautiful.

And YUMMY.

(See the purple of the raised bed ledge underneath?)

Sara H. C.!!! 

I have a tomato!

After all the hail, one hardy plant survived and managed a fruit!!!

I'm going to get another couple plants from the greenhouse this week because today Maggie discovered the thrill of home made salsa, and we're going to have to kick it in high gear on tomato production.

Thank goodness we have mountains of cilantro...

And Flo, my flamingo garden angel from my friend J.

I think every garden should have a Flo, but most especially those who plant near a single wide trailer house.

Don't you?