The Weekend

My first daffodils have bloomed, and I picked one yesterday to bring in and put on the shelf above the kitchen sink. It's just as well because snow is falling now, and the remaining couple that have bloomed may not be doing so well.

I've had a full weekend, but with some fun mixed in. Saturday I decided to make my rounds of Roy's and the Et Cetera Shop. Roy's was delicious, as always. The Et Cetera shop was doing their twice yearly clearing out and were offering a basket of goodies for $1. I picked up some linens and a set of cool, small snack trays, as well as a velvet clutch purse I thought would be good for jewelry display at art shows - all for $1.

Otherwise, I spent the day working on projects. I've been sorting through tax stuff and trying to make myself get started on that. I really need to talk to an accountant who deals with "intellectual" tax issues, as opposed to "building widgets" tax issues. But, I've asked a couple of accountants how to handle things like freelance writing and they look at me blankly and say they have no idea. So, I do the best I can with it myself. I'm probably costing myself money because I declare every penny of income and take very little in the way of deductions. But, it's probably all a wash I suppose. I've got everything gathered up I think. I just need to get busy actually doing the taxes.

Today I've been wrestling with a way to record skype calls for podcasts. I've read about a few tools, but none of them seem to work for me. Maybe I'll see it with fresh eyes tomorrow night and spot the little thing that's wrong.

This afternoon Jocelyn and I went to see the "Home on the Range" performance at the Fox. It was an official 150th Anniversary of Statehood event and featured the Diamond W Wranglers, as well as others performing music. Martha's company did the video - it was an amazing experience. I was so glad I got to go. It was a wonderful part of the afternoon.

Then it was back home to my various projects. I've spent quite a bit of time this weekend planning for my upcoming retreat, including making various lists. Fortunately, I had everything on hand for the salad I started to want as I started a grocery list for the retreat weekend.



Of course, all weekend the scenes from Japan have kept coming on the television. It's startling to see the damage from the tsunami that came after the earthquake. Incredible.

I was watching a psychologist talk the other night about how people are drawn to watch disasters unfold because we are trying to learn - in case we ever find ourselves in a similar situation. It makes sense, of course. It would be a skill that would have favored those who learned and therefore survived long enough to reproduce. It would make sense that it's part of our makeup since we would be the descendants of those who paid attention.

After I heard that I saw a story of a girl who saved people during an earlier tsunami because she recognized the signs of it - water that was only coming in and not going back out, and frothy. I realized later that I had unconsciously made note of that. The chance I would ever be where a tsunami would be likely is slim, since I'm not really a beach person, but apparently my brain thought that worthy information of hanging onto - at least for the moment.

We humans never cease to amaze.