Castle in the Clouds

Marvel is releasing Avengers: Infinity War on April 27, 2018.  I can't tell you how excited I am to see this film, even if my bladder will be begging for mercy before the end credits.  Seriously, these movies just keep getting longer and longer and longer...and they make us wait for more clips!  It's sadistic. And I'm masochistic because I will sit there bargaining with my bladder while I wait to see the deeply buried teasers. In this movie the Avengers, mainly comprised of Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Hawkeye, and Vision, are going to be joined by Dr. Strange, Spiderman, the Black Panther, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Be still my heart. That so many iconic superheroes are required to fight Thanos and his allies speaks to the epic battle about to be engaged.  Each hero(ine) brings a unique skill set to the fight.  Thor has his lightning, superhuman strength, and flight.  Spiderman, his webs.  Dr. Strange employs powerful mag

Ken walking Dexter; Terri walking Creeper; Kenny walking Roxy. It's almost time!  Winter is still holding on, refusing to completely concede defeat by threatening snow and frigid temperatures, but you can feel how close spring is now.  The air smells different.  The sun, when it's out, is warmer and the skies seem a little bit bluer.  Yes, spring is almost here.  With spring comes camping. Plans are already being made.  Our first trip is scheduled for mid-May, but friends of ours are looking to get their rigs on the road as early as April.  We were asked to join them but the ground in front of our pole barn is too soft to risk pulling the camper out of storage that early, so we declined. We have a number of people that we camp with throughout the season.  Our boys.  My dad.  Ken's sister and brother-in-law.  My sister and her kids.  My brother, sister-in-law, their kids, and my sister-in-law's extended family. A number of friends.  The group compositions chang

I've always been a bit of a dreamer.  My heart's not-so-secret desire is to quit the day job and dedicate myself to writing. I have this vision of me remodeling my youngest boy's room into a craft/writing/library space.  The dormer will sport a cute little reading bench.  The walls on that half of the bedroom will be floor to ceiling bookshelves that will allow me to see what I actually own. The opposite wall will sport a crafting workbench and shelves for all my supplies and scrapbooking albums.  In the center of the room, a simple desk for my computer and printer. I imagine myself spending a great deal of time in this room.  While Ken is busy elsewhere - working, golfing, fishing, hunting, or just playing in his pole barn - I can see myself curled up on the reading bench, book and hot tea in hand. I can also see myself scrapbooking with music or an audiobook filling the air.  I can see myself sitting at my writing table, laptop open and my writing notebook near at hand.

I don't remember the year.  It was before we had kids but certainly not the same year we got married and went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas.  I was pregnant most of 1997, which really only leaves 1995 and 1996 as viable options. I don't know why we decided to drive out west for our first vacation. We didn't know anyone in the area and we weren't meeting anyone coming from the opposite direction.  I think it might have had something to do with Ken's dad having served in the Air Force in Colorado Springs.  Ken had heard all about his parents' time there and I think he kind of wanted a visual to go with the stories his mom and dad had passed down to him. Me?  I just love to travel.  When he proposed Colorado, I had no better idea and no reservations.  In fact, I was eager to visit the Rocky Mountains for the first time.  Books and photos can only do so much.  You sometimes just have to experience the world to truly appreciate it. Being newlyweds, we didn'

When I was putting that collage together I was surprised by the fact that I had somehow gotten through five books and one comic book (not pictured!) this month.  Two of these books took forever for me to finish, so I really expected the overall tally to be fewer in number. I had started February with Lincoln in the Bardo , which was such a fast, enjoyable read I borrowed through Overdrive.  I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend because he thought I would enjoy it for it's focus on Abraham Lincoln as well as it's somewhat experimental storytelling style.  He was right.  I did.  I found the juxtaposition of quoted material and pure fancy to be intriguing.  I didn't check the quoted material, though, so I have no way of knowing how much of it was factual.  Those passages are presented in order to situate Willie's tragic passing in a time and place.  They give the reader an idea of how the war was going, what distractions the president was facing while tryi