Happy Birthday To ME!

Exactly 26 years ago, at the moment this blog was posted, I was born! I am 26 :) Any birthday is a huge celebration for a CFer. I also send birthday wishes to my grandma. Even though she is not doing well, and this will quite possibly be her last birthday, she's my special, birthday sharing Grandma.

Time to go play on the beach!

Summer

I love summer in Oregon. Sure, we're known for our rain. The dreary days stretch out endlessly, but that is only in the winter. When summer comes around, the clouds run away, the sky turns blue, and the days warm. Sunny day after sunny day stretch out, lasting the entirety of July and August. Over two full months with only a trace of rain here and there. And while it may get warm, it hardly ever gets hot like so many other places in the country. Triple digits are rare, maybe a few times a year, and the humidity almost always stays blissfully low. A "muggy" day here would be laughable by the standards set by the rest of the country.
I never realized my favorite part about summer here though until I spent summer days in Maine, South Carolina, and Florida... my favorite part, is that every night brings relief from the warmth of the day. The crystal clear skies bring in cool air. Houses are thrown open, welcoming the coolness. It's almost average to have a low in the 50's, even in the heat of August. Air conditioners are rare in homes here, because of our cool nights. If you open up the house at night, and close it up in the morning, it will stay livable most days.
The landscape also stays fairly green, even though it doesn't really rain. Our months of rain before it creates a high water table, that is fed all summer by the melting snow from the mountains.

Glorious...

Maybe They'll Still Know

First, I've added a couple more links on the right sidebar. Please visit them and show the great support to other blogs like you show me!

I've lately noticed a little habit of mine that I'm not sure how it started, and while it may have the greatest of intentions, probably looks a little funny.

There is a an interesection of two highways in town where it can be very difficult to get on the westbound highway, especially at rush hour. It's a difficult place to get on at, merging into traffic, hoping someone will let me in. You have to usually hope that people will give you a gap, and slip your car into it. Being a friendly person, I always wave once I've merged in, in a sign of my apprecation. That's normal, friendly thing to do. However, I've noticed that whenever I'm in my car alone, I mouth thank you while I wave. No one hears me, but I swear, they won't be happy with me if I don't say thank you! Yes I know the can't see my mouth, but I feel really guilty if I don't mouth it!

Maybe the universe tells them for me!

This quirk brought to you by the fabulously quirky me!

Things You May or May Not Know About Talana

* Corn on the cob makes me violently sick, really fast, but I can eat any corn byproduct such as corn tortillas or chips, with popcorn being one of my favorite foods.


*I've never lived more than 5 miles away from the Willamette River, even though I have lived in multiple towns. The only time away from the river was when I spent my summers in Maine and California. In Maine I was told that I was pronouncing the name of the river wrong, even though she had never been there. It's Will-am-it people, not Will-a-met-tee or Will-a-met!

*I can bend my extra long fingers backwards 90 degrees, cross my pinkie toe over my 4th toe without touching it, as well as my big toe over my second toe. I often find myself picking up things off the floor with my toes.

*Every time I get a comment on this site, it makes me very happy, and sometimes I squeal like a little school girl.

Posts Coming

I know I've been quiet and missed Question Wednesday... two long, exhaustive days here... not bad just LONG. Hopefully will post up tomorrow. Right now I doubt I could write much of a coherent sentence!

Book Meme

From time to time I like to do these... they may not be about CF, but if everything were then I wouldn't be very healthy mentally or emotionally, now would I?

My Dear Sarah for this and since no one ever tags me here I go!

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people. (I did this in my Live Journal).


The helpfulness that I felt all spring did not go away, but at least I had begun to combat it. My 8:00 A.M. English class met four times a week and remained the only class with which I could keep pace. Other classes depended too much on the work of the past ten weeks; I had to drop photography and Russian history.

From "The Stones Applaud" by Teresa Anne Mullin - a book about CF. Honestly not my favorite. She often seems bitter in it about many situations, rather it be things that were unknown at the time like mist tents and putting CFers in the same room is a bad thing, or injustices that she faced at school because of CF. While she does provide a view of CF in the 80's... I often felt like I was reading her bitterness, not the triumphs that she had.

So not my favorite book... but I usually try to read all that I can about CF, even the sad heartbreaking stuff, so I read it. I own it since I like buying books. May read it again, may not, which is huge statement from me because I usually will read a book repeatedly... I'd say 90% of the books on my shelf I've read at least 4 times.

Also, I would love book recommendations. After so many years of my life focused on becoming a teacher, I've fallen out of touch with good adult books. I have recently read P.S. I Love You which I really enjoyed and now I need something new :)

Extraordinary

You may be wondering why I have a post titled Extraordinary and a picture of my car keys.

It goes like this...

We rush around this world, but sometimes pausing, finding something unexpected in the soup of chaos and randomness... well that is the word extraordinary and my keys.

Think about it, on a basic level, extraordinary is a compound word composed of extra and ordinary. Extra means more... and ordinary means the same, normal. So if one were to logically think about them put together, wouldn't it mean more of the same? But it doesn't. When thrown together they have a magical interaction and go beyond their means to create something else. Something very special. Two simple words, boring on their own, together create synergy.

And my keys? I placed them down on the coffee table as I brought the mail in today, then went about my business. It was only when I looked at them later, that I noticed that in that moment rules of physics, normalcy, and tedium paused and made something that I probably could not do if I sat down and tried.

It makes me wonder where extraordinary things come from. A line up of small boring things that all come together at the right moments and make something that probably shouldn't happen. Something that should not happen. So take a moment and stop, and look at a little piece of something unexpected.

Question Wednesday #2

No questions....

So.....

I'll make one up!

Hey Talana. I notice that you use Daydee a lot as an Internet name. What is your reason behind that?

I use Daydee because that is the name of my imaginary friend from growing up. I don't know where I got the name from, nor could my mother ever get me to tell her because I would respond, "That's what she told me her name is". It's something that is unique, I've ran into one other user that uses Daydee. I hear it is her real name, named after her father's imaginary friend. I think Daydee may have cheated on me! She didn't let me know there were others before me! Daydee lived in a VW bus and liked bright colors. My Eugene area raising may have a little to do with that!

See how simple that was!