Carcucopia

You know when you're running around like a crazy, trying to find your keys/shoes/coffee mug/everything,everything,everything because you are the most disorganized person on the planet, on your way to what will inevitably by a grueling Monday of trying to make the local news fit on the pages of the paper without looking like a kindergarten collage and it's rainy and you stayed up too late finishing assignments because it was the first episode of the amazing race and, let's face it, you were just so damn lazy last week and you finally sprint out the door, only to find that your car has been....



...visited by the local produce fairies?

And then you laugh out loud and your day doesn't seem quite so bad after all.

One more for the road

I'm off to my bustling metropolis (formerly known as teeny-tiny hamlet) of a hometown for the weekend.

I thought I'd leave you with one more scarecrow photo. Your guess is as good as mine concerning the one on the left....(edit) and by left, I mean right.

I'm not the only one

Whether by nature, or nurture, I am overwhelmingly an optimist. Despite the constant barrage of news headlines to the contrary, I believe that most people are basically good.

Unfortunately, this week, my generally sunny outlook has diminished as I got a look at a disturbingly dark side of this quintessentially small-town, town.

Suffice it to say that I've been made aware of the details of a horrific crime that took place over the weekend and the atrociously damaging way in which it was handled by the people who were in a position to help after the fact. As a result, the perpetrators are free to roam around town looking for their next victim, secure in the knowledge that no one will bother to come after them.

Just knowing about it has left me feeling sickened, outraged, fearful and frustratingly powerless. I can only imagine what the victim must be feeling.

Maybe by next week, I'll be thinking of proactive ways to address the issue of a system that could let someone down so unimaginably, but today I'm just not feeling very optimistic.

A very scare(crow)y weekend

This weekend I was lucky enough to cover -what else?- a scarecrow competition. It took me a second, but this Home Improvement-inspired display made me laugh (it had been a long day).

Not sure if these guys were effective at scaring crows away from church, but they definitely made me walk a little faster.

Tiny wings

During a weekend assignment at the local racetrack, I was absentmindedly staring into space when a monarch butterfly floated down to settle on the dust of the track in front of me.

As I cringed to think of the fate that might befall the little bug -yes, I worry about the fate of bugs. I also insisted my boyfriend return a toad he wanted to bring down the street to live under my porch in case we were separating it from its friends and family- I assumed that I was probably the only one who noticed the butterfly potentially about to be mangled by stampeding horses.

However, the avid gambler senior citizen sitting on his walker next to me at the rail suddenly patted me on the arm urgently.

"Look at that, that's a monarch. They're supposed to be headed to Mexico by now, aren't they?"

"I think you're right," I smiled.

Just then, the horses sped past, somehow leaving the butterfly undamaged. As we watched it float back up into the sky. My new friend said. "That's a long way to go on a tiny set of wings."

Before I left, he gave me a pin to remember him by.

It was unnecessary.

Oh, CUPCAKES make the heart grow fonder!

Last night we ate the last of the adorable cupcakes I made soon after my boyfriend arrived for a visit. Today he is packing to make the 6 or so hour trip back home. Coincidence? I think not.

I found Paris Hilton's dog

...or a rummage sale-loving alien?

200 square feet of cute!

So I may have to ditch this reporter gig to take up carpentry. Won't dad be proud! It's not that I don't enjoy small-town journalism. For example, today I photographed this adorable man who couldn't stop giggling after making some joke about fixing his hair. I also got to watch several seniors try out the Nintendo wii bowling game. One woman kept shouting, "Who is that person in my lane? They're in my way!" referring to the on-screen character representing herself. I honestly can't think of too many more enjoyable ways to spend my morning at work.

HOWEVER, I just discovered www.tumbleweedhouses.com, the website of this guy who builds the cutest gosh-darn teensy little houses you ever did see and all the adorable local news I get to run around covering just went right out the window. My new dream is to build Tinkerbell-sized, environmentally friendly, homes. Or at least to live in one.
I think I like the Weebee best.



Actually, conveniently enough, my parents built a very cute little bunkie in their backyard recently which should be easy enough to fit with solar panels and add a bathroom and tiny kitchen. Now all I have to build is a second one to hold all my dresses and shoes.

People wear the darndest things