My sister-in-law is a talented, clever girl who's always thinking. She notices the small things, ya know, that most people don't. Nothing gets by her. And what a memory that woman has. Yikes. In any case, I must have said something once about yard or lawn art and the plethora of it in the retirement village her parents used live in. And I do remember that I was talking to her about a book idea about an equally clever woman from Louisville who brightens up the desert at a New Mexico field school with plastic pink flamingos along the trail to the outhouse.

From that conversation many years ago, she must have decided that MMMMMM has a thing for plastic pink flamingos as she sent me a cake decoration flamingo once for my birthday. I stuck it among the pebbles in the top of a jar fountain in the backyard, for everyone knows that flamingos are water-loving birds. During one of the huge windstorms of last winter it blew or flew off to hide beneath the broad branches of the adjacent rock rose. I found it in the spring when I was cleaning out the dead leaves and put it back on the fountain. It was discovered by a couple of friends who hadn't noticed it previously and they seemed rather stunned by its appearance in my garden.

I heard from the sissy-in-law today regards a prezzie for an upcoming birthday. And she even sent me a link to the seller's website so that I might have a preview. There appears to be six of them with whirling wings. And pink plastic bodies on long wire legs. Ohmygod. Flamingos. Which makes one wonder . . . where does one lucky brithday girl plant such beauties in the garden of her life?

Mmmmmmmmmmmelinda

Last week the DH and Mmmmmmm took QuickSilver to a new owners' reception at the dealership. They gave us lots of good information about maintaining our car. Perhaps the most interesting was an instructor from the SWERVE Driving School who gave us a too short talk about proper driving techniques and accident avoidance.

The SWERVE instructor said that people get in the cars everyday but fail to show up because they're not paying attention. Instead they're talking on a cell phone, drinking a latte, eating a burger or messing with the CD player/radio. By the time they notice and react to an accident situation, it's too late because they're driving or noticing only about as far as their hood ornament. They get fixated on the fast approaching problem. Your car goes where you're looking. His advice was, "Look away from your problem and identify your escape route."

That's just what self help gurus have been saying forever, isn't it. Turn your attention away from fixating on your problem so that you can see the opportunities, solutions or a needed escape route. Great advice!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmelinda

The hair stylist I go to specializes in wedding hair and makeup for the bride and her attendants. From June through August it's difficult to get an appointment with her as she's booked solid every weekend. She's seen every kind of wedding production from the small and traditional to the huge and extravagant, but she's never seen one like this true fairytale wedding the Kansas Heckler has shared with me . . .

I have to share the sweetest, most adorable wedding of some wonderful folks I know. I'll call them John and Mary.

Mary showed me a photo of John the other day. He was wearing a white double-breasted suit with gold buttons, gold fringed epaulets, and a crown of the sort worn by princes, the gold band with points on top worn slightly above ears and eyebrows. She commented that the photo was from their wedding. They met as fully grown, previously married, trying to make it in life adults. They are just folks working average jobs, but living such a love! And the wedding. . . . it was themed "the Princess and the Frog." Just right for a fairytale romance.

For the wedding John had constructed a very large paper mache frog with movable, puppet-like features which he could run from inside the frog (it was going to be an inside job, know what I mean?) Mary floated down the aisle to the altar, where she stared at the frog and pronounced "I can't marry a frog!" The frog in turn insisted that if she kissed it she could marry a prince. Mary kissed the frog, AND WOW! The frog came apart in two pieces to the accompaniment of strobe lights, sound and smoke, and out stepped her prince John.

It sort of makes me want to cry. A year later they are still surprising each other with small treasures like two tickets to the movies in the middle of the week, love notes hidden in a pocket, etc. The whole thing reminds me that wonderful stuff like that happens to anyone who wants to allow it into their life. Fairytales aren't just for kids.

Reassuring, as we continually hear it's necessary to kiss a bunch of frogs to find a prince, but that actually finding one is an unrealistic fairytale . . .

Mmmmmmmmmmelinda

Six years ago on Mother's Day, a little red SLK roadster rolled into my garage and I named it Red Therapy. Nearly to the day six years later we traded Red Therapy for QuickSilver pictured here. Every time we talk to Mercedes about the car they ooooo and ahhhhh the words, "It's an AMG!" I think that means the engine and transmission are hand built. The service advisor told the DH that the car needs to be "driven" and to keep it under 150 mph during the break in period. Wow. In any case, we put the top down and zip around Puget Sound on the weekends, not at 150 or anywhere near, of course.

Sunday we allowed the Airedale to ride in the back of QuickSilver and we went cruising like the empty nester Boomers we are. The son of MMMMMmmm is soon coming back to the States to take a position in D.C. and has been car shopping online. He called one evening to let us know he'd decided on a Porsche Cayenne, so we went cruising on a mission from gwad to the Porsche dealer in Bellevue. We met a very nice sales guy who snapped the picture above with my phone's camera. The Airedale sat up nice and pretty, looking regal, don't you think. We hooked the guy up on with the son of MMMmmmm's email and in return he invited us to a Porsche/Business Aircraft show in a couple of weeks, which we're really looking forward to. I even called the brother of MMmmm, who's a pilot currently flying lead air attack on a Forest Service contract, and asked if he'd be in our area then. He'll be flying in Oregon but can't break away to fly into the show.

Mmmmmmmmmmelinda

We're back from our France Grail Quest and somewhat rested up. There's been so much to do 'round the house and garden plus review and edit all those photos such as this one I'd taken of the white rock rose edging our back patio. Got that and all the trip photos downloaded to the puter today. The video is a different story. I've got to read and figure out how to edit hours of video, much of it of William Henry's lectures, which were fascinating. When I get that all worked out, then I'll start uploading the edited video to share. I came back from France to a deadline and am pounding away at getting my current project done. This was a bit difficult to shift into as I'd spent ten days in France plotting the next paranormal I'm setting there and excited to get into the writing of it.

I absolutely recommend Dr. Chet Snow and his lovely wife Kallista as tour leaders. They decided on an "extension" or follow-on tour to the France Grail Quest when we were in Paris. We instantly told them that we're going to Scotland August 2008. Lisa, my critique pal, who also Grail quested with us, says she's going as well and maybe even her DH.

More on Grail questing in the next MMMLog with photos. Wheeeeeee!

MMMMMMMMMMMmmmelinda