To provide the yin for Mad Typist’s yang, I hereby submit, in no particular order, a skewed-to-me (whom it is all about) list.

1. “American Experience” – (PBS) always interesting, sometimes topical, I always learn something.  Ditto for:
2. “American Masters&rdquo/
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We first spied him when the weather started doing its best roaring furnace impression, perched just outside a large biting black ant mound, waiting for his next meal, his latest victim.  He had been hibernating, buried in the sand, since last fall and was a very hungry/… Read full post »

My apologies to any reality television watchers out there, including myself who hangs her head and admits to "Project Runway" and the occasional "Top Chef."

Yesterday, I vented/lamented the fact that Janet Evanovich turns out third-grade level formulaic-but-amusing empty calorie boo… Read full post »

Yes, ladies and germs, it’s time for Lauren’s semi-monthly wee vent, a time when, if you choose to keep reading, you get to see what’s crawled up her butt this time to get her ranting and raving and carrying on.  At least, she’s not sobbing and moping.

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fiction

She had a primal sense about her, something lustful and yearning yet at the same time vulnerable and innocent.  Men noticed it as did women, an indefinable quality that raised her from average to intriguing.  Though not classically beautiful, she drew unfelt stares upon en/… Read full post »

My life has been a series of near-disasters.  I’ve never been flooded out of my home, flattened by a hurricane, tossed by a tornado, or crushed by an earthquake, yet I have experienced all these things just to the point of destruction.  The waves crest the sandbags/… Read full post »

In my early bartending career, the aforementioned era of my four-year-old self pouring personalized mixed drinks and passing mixed nuts and cheese and crackers during cocktail hour, I had the joyful education of observing a less acerbic version of Dorothy Parker and her Vicious Circle… Read full post »

Here sleeps Apollo, nestled between an ancient wax Janus and poorly dyed fiber, fronting a watercolor from the Phillipines, and stowed atop overloaded bookshelves.  I think there's a story here, perhaps a connection that I am not comprehending. 

Perhaps you can figu… Read full post »

Somewhere between Ouray and Silverton, the woman realized she’d lost her try.  The man, in response to her Colorado longings, had been reciting the same platitudes he always had. 

 You know our situation.

 I can’t do it alone. 

Use your mind and f… Read full post »

A long day to the Denver Airport and back, running around, seeing sights, soaking in Colorado's beauty, only to return "home" (which today is the Holiday Inn in Estes Park) to check my email and read that Tim Russert has died.  I took a sharp intake of breath, the… Read full post »

Although it sounds trite, my father was my hero.  Unlike anyone else in this world, he had the innate ability to make me feel better when I was lower than down, and the gift of inspiring hope and ambition in just about anyone who knew him. 

He was funny… Read full post »

When my father died, too young and too full of dreams unrealized, I was not by his side.  Knowing his time was short, my mother asked me if I wanted to make the long journey from California to Hong Kong but I declined.  Selfish perhaps, but I wanted/… Read full post »

A few more...

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Hi, you have reached Pretend Farmer/Lauren's computer.  The farmer is away from home right now and is unable to snap a live shot from her home in the Sonoran Desert.  This sunrise photo, which I have stored on my very hard drive, was taken in February of 2007.

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The rocks above should inspire a surefire answer. Read full post »

JD and I found these BATZ in an artists' co-op on the Pearl Street Mall.  We saw them and immediately thought of you.  In fact, I feel compelled to go back and purchase a few, NFC.

If you'd like the larger picture, message me with your email address… Read full post »

Growing up in eastern North Carolina, I longed for snow.  The school-aged children of this small town of less than 10,000 longed for snow.  Because the town owned no snow removal equipment, the smallest snowfall or ice storm meant the buses refused to run.  No buses, no school. … Read full post »

Dear Danonymous,

I've traveled so far,

through Durango,

 past waterfalls,  

 through the Mines of Moria, 

 across the Continental Divide,

and finally to Frisco  

where you said you'd be. 

&nbs… Read full post »

My D-Day anniversary, Tianneman Square concurrent first child, light of my life, joy of my declining years (my grandmother always used to say that to me and it always made me giggle), happy birthday Pumpkin Lumpkin.  You've made my life better than it could ever be.

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So I know this ruins my whole graceful exit experience but was I the only one who played "hot potato" with a real hot potato?  Was it the nuns?  Did I dream it?  In his "hot" potato expereince, the California-bred husband says they used a plastic throwy-thing and a… Read full post »

Tomorrow by this time, the teenager and I plan to be just over the border of the great state of Colorado.  Durango is our first fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants destination but our plans are not carved in marble (like David’s junk in the Uffizi).  One of the great things about leisurely/… Read full post »

Besides dog hair, hinged-jawed bubblegum smackers, and the high-fat content of my favorite ice cream, Ben & Jerry's Coffee heath Bar Crunch?

 Hillary-backers who say they'd raather vote for McCain, MCCAIN, than vote for Obama.  Isn't this a case of cutting off one's nose to spite… Read full post »

As a preface, and I hope to not offend anyone, but each year we receive a percentage of Christmas cards we affectionately call “The Tea with the Queen Letters.”  In these epistles, everyone is FABULOUS, everything is WONDERFUL, and every place is GRAND.  These families end eve/… Read full post »

1. Get some wool.  You can dye it straight off the sheep, washed and carded into roving, or after it is spun into yarn.  I prefer the roving myself, tidy but not too predictable.  Montreal steak seasoning and pepper mill are optional.
2. Totally/
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Let me preface this by having a bit of a whinge.  I'm tired, exhausted even.  I've been dyeing wool over a hot stove all day, burning my hands, and most likely poisoning my bloodstream with the chemicals.  My choice, my fault.  I've also been playing laundress to 20,000 Guatemal… Read full post »