T-Boned in a Parking Lot and Twilight Zone.

It's was a good day yesterday. I had my ducks in a row. I went to Staples to get some organizational items and then stopped over at Target (same mall) to get some lunch and a few other items.  All necessary items were purchased and the children and I piled back into the car to drive to the office.

I've  never been a wild driver. And ever since I ran a stop sign 5 years ago and then got rear-ended last year while at a red light I've become even more cautious. I am not a timid driver (except at night, I stink at night time driving) but I am a defensive driver. Decisive, targeted but not a risk taker. I am a speeding ticket virgin for goodness sakes! So, as I left Target I drove in the designated driving lanes between the parking slots rather than cutting across.  I noticed a very large black SUV cutting across the parking spots and slowed down until I saw that the driver noticed my car. I carried on but a few feet later my daughter screamed 'Moooooooooommmm' and before she was done screaming I felt the impact of a car slamming into my car and my car tilting almost onto two wheels while being turned 120 degrees by the impact.  I'll add the pictures to this posting tomorrow. My car's right side is smashed. The kids and I are sore but alright. What bothered me is that my airbags did not deploy. Not even the side impact bags. I did call Toyota about that and they are investigating. I drive a Toyota Highlander 2008. Even the woman who hit me, medics and the cop commented on that. The  impact car was driven by a woman who was cutting across the parking lot to save a second. It wasn't the car I had previously observed. It was another one which I didn't see at that time. She came from behind a restaurant and a dumpster which is why I never saw her. Anyway, long story short, my car is wrecked and the seat belt has has totally bruised my chest. But we are safe and no one is hurt beyond bruises and sore muscles.

Now, here is the Twilight zone moment. I am not very superstitious but this is bizarre. Last year in August I was  rear ended while stopped at a red light, shortly after that my mother-in-law passed away unexpectedly and then there was this customer from hell and then my husband went out of the country.  Right now my husband is out of the country, I had a car accident, the same day I saw that the very same customer wants to come back to us. I told Missy yesterday I was afraid for someone's life. This evening one of my employees called me to let me know she may have to leave for a few days, her grandmother the woman who raised her, had another stroke and was expected not to make it.  How can this be? This is like the Matrix. Deja Vous?  What do you think????

Sorry this is so poorly written but I am tired and need to go to bed now.  I'll post the pictures tomorrow.

My Nerves are Shot! S-H-O-T = SHOT.

So, as I take a neat and tidy turn around a residential area (small streets so slow driving)  on my way home from an errand I see a kid on a bicycle coming at me. He had already crossed the midline and was headed bulls-eye for my car. He was coming fast and by the time I realized he was looking at something in his hand instead of where he was going he was maybe 5-6 feet from my front bumper. The boy was busy looking down at something in his hand and just didn't see me. I honked the horn and the kid dropped what he was holding and swerved away. He missed my by then stationary car by mere inches. Damned punk-ass kid! Sorry, I told you my nerves are shot. He comes around, not a word to me and proceeds to pick up what he dropped. I had presumed it was a can of soda or something. Nope, this what appeared to be a 13 year old,  picked up his cell-phone.  He had been busy typing in his cell phone when he almost ran into my car. Did I mention he came down a hill !!!!!!!????????? Slam dunk case, huh? Not my fault you say. Except, at that time I had dialed a friend (address book one button thing)  shortly before I made that turn. So I am sure this would have all been pinned on me. Never mind that I was on my side of the road.  Never mind, that there was a witness outside the house right by that corner who was watching the whole thing while.... you guessed it, talking on his cell phone.  The fact is, had it not been for my wonderful car horn, the kid would without a doubt have left smear marks all over my already bug splattered windshield. And guess what, my hubby is going out of the country tomorrow morning.

Yeah, nerve assassination attempt #1. Now comes part deux.  Hubby has fish tanks. Lots of fish tanks. I mean a lot!!!! And of course he tries to clean as many as possible today. So his right arm has been giving him problems and he proceeds to carry a cleaned canister filter down the basement stairs.  I suggested he might want to fill the canister filter downstairs since it'll be too heavy to carry. His reply, and I quote: 'What would be the fun in that...' end quote.  So, he picks it up and heads downstairs and  I keep washing fish rocks when I heard an awful loud crashing noise from the stairs. Well, as you can imagine I was h-o-r-r-i-f-i-e-d and screamed and ran. There he was sitting on the bottom of the stairs by the shattered remains of the canister filter and all it's freshly washed contents.  He was OK, though, thank goodness. The canister filter a complete loss. The carpet a mess. But my man was alright, if not a bit rattled.

So, what do a lucky, punk-ass, texting kid and a lucky punk-ass hubby have in common today? They shattered my nerves and live to tell about it....

I am going now to drink a cup of tea and calm my nerves.

A moment of panic!!!

I couldn't sign into my blogger account. Talk about panic!  I even changed the password via their help and it still didn't work for a while. Just now I was finally able to get it.  Phew . As silly as it is in a narcissistic sort of way, I am getting quite fond of my blog.

Molly the Owl Mama is raising her second clutch!

My darling husband, who knows I adore Molly, told me that Molly and Carlos (owner of the box) were on the NBC nightly news this evening. She is raising her second clutch for the year and Carlos (bless his heart) placed several more cameras. So here is the link again. One baby hatched on the 8th and there are 3 more eggs (I think).

http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Owl_Nest_Box_Cam.html

Uh, I guess I should mention that Molly is a Barn Owl.

Congratulations to the New Couple and my Condolences to the Groom

Or maybe should I tell Mr. Mezvinsky 'May the force be with you'. Oy gevalt, while most of us find our mothers-in-law intimidating, imagine having Hillary Rodham Clinton as a  MIL.    I would love to witness that Thanksgiving Dinner. Picture Hillary taking a very deliberate yet ladylike bite of some turkey, white meat of course, and... oh, wait, no... imagine her deftly disemboweling a snail (escargot anybody) and ever so casually ask her nervous son-in law when exactly his father was released from jail. Picture it? You got it? Makes your Thanksgiving dinner seem almost relaxed now, huh?

Don't get me wrong, we all have skeletons in our closets. But only one lucky man can call himself  son-in-law to Hillary Rodham Clinton. I am convinced she took private lessons from Margaret Thatcher.  It takes a courageous man, and a man truly in love to deal with this new family.

I wish them, as I would really any newlywed couple, all the very best, I am sure the gifts were great, the food fabulous and may the weather co-operate on their honeymoon. And, most of all may you be one of the statistically few whose marriage lasts a life time.  Take the good and the bad. Accept your imperfection so that you may also accept your partner's. Make sure you have some good friends you can call when your partner drives you crazy and you want someone to talk you out of murder by frying pan, ice-pick, snowshovel or any other violent means. And what's more, in their case, may you be wise enough to know who you can trust not to run to the tabloids with it.

Famous Birthdays - Beatrix Potter

Chances are, when you were little, someone read to you the Tales of Peter Rabbit amongst other Beatrix Potter books. But how much do you know about the author?


Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866 in South Kensington England. She was the only daughter of heirs to a cotton fortune and lived a quiet and solitary childhood. As was customary among monied society back then she was primarily cared for by a nurse or nanny. Little Beatrix would kiss her parents goodnight and see them perhaps in the morning. But the majority of the time was spent attended by the hired help. When Beatrix turned 6 her mother had another child. Beatrix's little brother was called Bertram. They were homeschooled and raised together by nannies and governesses. When Bertram was old enough he left for boarding school as was customary then while Beatrix remained behind to continue her education with a succession of various governesses. The children would go on long summer vacations, usually to Scotland where she discovered her deep love for nature. Beatrix and Bertram Potter loved to sketch and draw what they observed. Beatrix never lost her love for nature and loved making up stories about the animals she observed. When she was 27 she sent one such illustrated stories to the sick child of one of her former governesses. The story was about four little bunnies. Can you guess the names? They were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and of course the unforgettable Peter. That illustrated story was such a great success that she decided to have it privately published. It was published as The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1900. Two years later is was published commercially by the Frederick Warne & Company followed by 22 additional books over the next 20 years. The books were small, designed to be held by little hands and featured an easy to understand prose.

Beatrix became engaged to Norman Warne (the son of one of her publishers) in 1905 despite parental opposition. After his sudden death a few months later, Beatrix found herself spending much of her time alone at Hill Top, a small farm in an English Village. She married William Heelis in 1913 and spent the last 30 years of her life breeding Herdwick Sheep and illustrating and writing her books. Upon her death on December 22, 1943 she bequeathed the farm to the National Trust. The farm is still as it was when she lived in it.

Sources: Wikipedia and

http://www.peterrabbit.com/potters-world.asp (a lovely site)

Playing with Google Maps and feeling a pang of longing. / Sehnsucht nach Deutschland

Missy and I love maps. We love playing with them and exploring. And therefore we love, no, adore Google maps. Especially the feature that lets you see satellite images, photos and explore. Would you like to visit Venice? Or maybe Paris. How about a trip through Athens. Or maybe something off the beaten path. Oh, no money, honey? Well, go to the library, grab some travelogues and sit by your computer and pull up the streetviews of these cities. We did just that and more. I visited the town I grew up in. It's called Wahlwies. Well, we moved a lot and that was a town where I lived for almost 8½ years.

Anyway, I found a number of pictures that brought back so many memories but the two I wanted to post and share are these. The first one is the view as I used to see it from my bedroom window. Or Kinderzimmer Fenster. Of course the trees have grown a lot but this was it. It was beautiful no matter what time of the year. The second picture is of an area at the local stream similar to one where my friend Cordula (still lives there) and I spent hours playing. The creek is called 'Die Aach' which isn't saying much because there are countless streams in Germany called 'Aach'.

Of course this all brought back my postcard memories of Germany. I call them the postcard memories because they deal with the beauty and happiness of childhood and carefree living rather than the reality of being an adult with responsibilities. But one thing is for sure, Germany, like much of Europe enjoys a slower life quite unlike the American production and achievement driven lifestyle. So when I see pictures of this town and other surrounding towns I enjoy memories of riding my bicycle with my friends to Güttingen to swim in the ponds. Or to Orsingen to enjoy the chlorinated pleasures of the municipal swimming pool.  It brings back memories of my school (Pestalozzi Waldorf Schule Wahlwies) and the yearly Bazaar which we all so enjoyed and loved. It brings back memories of carefree days hiking with my friends or alone in the woods behind our house.

What brings back your picture postcard memories and to where do they belong?

In response to Eva's question as to the clear images I am posting part of a a screenshot of  google maps.