News Trend Upside Down|Actual

But as I lay in a heap on the couch, just about to doze off with Ranger sleeping peacefully nearby, I made the monumental mistake of opening my eyes to look out the window.

Oh my goodness. The maple tree out front has exploded into its breathtaking golden display and the glorious blue Pacific Northwest sky blazed beyond.

The vision dazzled me, and the deep, aesthetically-minded voice within began its despotic demands. This scene demanded a photo and there was no excuse but to go outside and take one.

Lazily, I rolled over and desperately tried to un-see that tree, and un-hear the sweet song of nature beckoning me to come out and take pictures.

Unflinchingly, my primitive self continued to demand sleep.

Torn, I searched for an answer to my dilemma that would not require standing up.

And miracle of miracles, one was provided.

There, on the nearby table, just a few inches from my outstretched hand, lay a camera. With a bit of rolling, leaning, and one extreme reach, I pulled it to my fingertips and sighed with relief.

Still sprawled across the couch, I turned my lens toward the window and snapped.

Not bad.

Inspired, I noticed my feet, pale in the autumn afternoon sunlight and contrasted by the shadowy corner.

Also not bad.

Suddenly, as I glanced around the room from my slacker's slouch, the whole room transformed. Everything looked new, fresh, and unexpected from my horizontal angle,

So I snapped some more.

^ Yes, I do have a folded paper tiger head on my wall. No regrets.

Also, my fiddle leaf fig is brushing the ceiling and I can no longer deny that it's time for a pruning.

^ My husband's side of the desk, covered in his neatly stacked but ever-present piles of stuff, looks much neater from this angle.

^ When standing right side up, these lights hide behind the shelf trim, but when viewed upside down, all my secrets are revealed.

* * * * *

Here's how the rest of my afternoon played out:

I took way more upside-down photos than anyone could ever possibly need.

I pondered deep and interesting thoughts about how changing one's point of view puts a whole new perspective on life.

And though I never got my nap, my boy Ranger snoozed peacefully till walk time.

News Trend Mount Rushmore National Monument|Actual

During our summer road trip, we saw more interesting sights that I could squeeze into my real-time posts. Now that I'm back home and have fished all 548 photos off my devices, I have a few more road trip stories to share.

To catch up on the rest of the trip, starthere.

* * * * *

I can relate to a person who loves the out-of-doors, especially the grand and majestic landscapes of the American West.

And I totally understand the human desire to leave a mark on the world, so that future generations will remember who they were and what they stood for..

But a man who combines those passions by dynamiting the face off a mountain and then chiseling in the features of his heroes?

Yeah, that pretty much blows my mind.

But that's exactly what Gutzon Borglom did when he brought to life four familiar faces of our country's founding fathers in the granite of the South Dakota skyline.

Mount Rushmore National Monument is the name of this quirky landmark, and though full of funny ups and down and peculiar musings, our stop here was one of the highlights of our road trip.

^ Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mount Rushmore! Step right up to the viewing terrace!  Proceed down the Avenue of the Flags, featuring state banners from every corner of the country displayed with pomp and circumstance.

Undeniably elegant, this elaborate entry experience feels more like a circus than a national park. Usually, the man-made structures are designed to blend into the natural surroundings and draw little attention unto themselves, but here we were all but rolled out a red carpet.

^ Much more pleasing and reflective is this view. Cropping away the fancy details, all eyes turn to the four men whose wisdom, courage and love for country are at the heart of this special place.

George Washington: Revolutionary War general and first president. A humble and visionary leader.

Thomas Jefferson: diplomat, adventurer, scientist, and all-around awesome third president. My hero.

Theodore Roosevelt: our cowboy president who inspired the name, "teddy beardanquot; and loved nature.

Abraham Lincoln: plainspoken country boy who became president and saved the Union in her darkest day.

^ After a quiet hour of gazing at these remarkable men's likenesses and wandering through the interestingly fact-filled visitor center, we stepped back into the circus of souvenir shops and eateries.

Presidential snack food? Check. The ice cream shoppe on location features the vanilla recipe brought back from France by my personal hero and favorite founding father, Thomas Jefferson. You know I ate a cone full of that goodness and relished every drop.

^ Though our late-afternoon and evening visit was satisfyingly complete, we returned the next morning on our way out of town to grab some photos of the east-facing monument in the bright morning light.

Yep, everyone was still present and accounted for, those dynamic and responsive men frozen forever in bedrock. I found myself wondering over and again, how George, TJ, Teddy and Abe would feel about being carved into stone. My guess is that they would be honored, proud and probably a little embarrassed about all the fuss.

^ As we bid our farewell and headed west, always west toward home, I was shocked to find a last fleeting view of the monument, quite different from all the rest. Washington's face in profile, squinting in the morning sun, appeared far more natural and alive at this angle.

Keep an eye on the place, George. Stay strong and steady. We look up to you, and always will.

News Trend Seen While Staining|Actual

I snapped this photo today from my front yard. Had the camera lens been angled just a bit more toward the ground, this is the sight you would have seen:

An open garage and driveway strewn with upwards of fifty pieces of milled lumber in various stages of the staining process.

Drop cloths,

sawhorses,

odd bits of secara acak 2x4s.

Cans of stain,

paint stirrers,

paint brushes,

and half a dozen rags littered this work zone.

A large red dog, who was sure that his walk would be forgotten, was barking at full volume from inside the house.

This, as I'm sure you have gathered, was not a pleasant or relaxing scene. And that's exactly why my camera did not capture the shot.

Instead, I chose to look up, where the late afternoon October sun cast a golden glow across a row of feathery Douglas firs, and streams of white rumpled clouds flowed across the sky in fine geometric style.

Despite the chaos of my immediate surroundings, that amazing sky knocked all the wonky edges off my workaday mood and filled me with

a natural high

a simple joy

a outdoorsy peace.

Just might have been the nicest afternoon I've ever spent wearing blue latex gloves.

News Trend Counting Boards|Actual

In the interest of full disclosure, here is the nitty gritty on my aforementioned staining project.

Forty-one pieces of trim needed to be stained by yours truly.

Every single stick must be dry and ready to frame out the new windows due to arrive at the end of this week.

And so most of my weekend was devoted to this tedious and painstaking task.

My fourth-born jumped in to help out, and despite the on-and-off-again rain showers, we completed the whole crazy forty-one-piece stack.

And I should know, because, just to be sure, I counted each and every one.

^ No words are necessary to describe these photos. Instead, for your listening pleasure, I offer you the song that was stuck in my head while I worked.

News Trend Sugar Buzz|Actual

Here are some nice things about celebrating Halloween when your kids are all grown up:

No more month-long emotionally explosive debates over what costume to wear.

No more mandatory trips to over-priced, highly commercialized and always-muddy pumpkin farms.

No more knife-wielding youngsters attempting to carve large, slippery vegetables.

No more frenzied getting-ready sessions in which everyone worries that the others will leave without them.

No more post-trick-or-treating "It's late and I'm insanely tired" crying episodes.

Which means that our family of adults celebrates Halloween by focusing all our efforts on the single most essential element of the day:

Eating a ridiculous amount of candy.

News Trend A Fistful Of Fall Flowers|Actual

Summer is finally over.

Sniff, sniff.

I'll grudgingly concede that truth.

And if another truth must be told, the flowers in my gardens are mostly fading into memory, which makes it all the more important to flood my home with fresh, seasonal blooms. But hold up - mixed bouquets of harvest tones and the ubiquitous pots of chrysanthemums, lovely as they are, are not my jam. Here are three of my favorite alternatives for fall-friendly flowers.

^ These extravagant blossoms were plucked straight from my generous hydrangea bush way back in early September, and here they are in November, still going strong. True, the individual petals have dried out a bit, but the originally pale colors have intensified in a most satisfying fashion, and best of all, I no longer need to bother with keeping water in the vase. Huzzah!

^ Let's be honest. I love keeping the windows open during cold weather. That snappy Pacific Northwest air makes every room feel cleaner and calmer, and I especially appreciate this phenomenon in my bathroom. But given the reality of a husband who does not share my interest in heating the outdoors, I've discovered an alternative. Eucalyptus bouquets offer a bright scent and soothing sight for a mere $4 a pop at the grocery store. Take that, heating bill.

^ What could be sweeter and simpler than a little white pitcher full of pink carnations? Yeah, yeah, I know...I have a well-documented obsession with pink flowers all year round. But this vivid jewel tone packs the same intensity as the scarlet and gold maple leaves and brilliant blue sky in my backyard; the colors all flow together and make seasonal sense.

This precious bundle comes with a tiny price tag - the whole handful cost less than $lima and will last for weeks. I glance over at them dozens of times every day, and love the splash of sass they bring to my darkening days.

* * * * *

So, fine, fall - you win. I'll concede victory to you once again, and do my best to celebrate your season with these fall-friendly flowers. But just the same, I trust you won't mind if I pay one more visit to my rose bushes tomorrow, hoping for a few last, lingering blooms of summer.

News Trend Mighty Mango Juice|Actual

Mmmm.

For my money, there is nothing so nourishing and revitalizing as a glass full of mango juice.

It refreshes my DNA.

I don't even know what that means but I'm sure it is true.

But my mighty mango drink is more than just food for the body. My mind and soul are strengthened too, as I remember one particularly special glass of this fine juice.

* * * * *

The date was Friday, June 27, 2014; the last full day of my second trip to Malaysia.

I'd happily bounced around the country for four weeks, visiting a succession of endlessly generous Malay friends in their homes, and adapting to my ever-changing circumstances. The whole experience was rich and rewarding beyond words, but here's the thing.

If anyone tells you that it's easy to be a white, Christian, married yet brazenly unescorted, American woman traveling in an Islamic nation, well, let me just set the record straight. It's not.

By this fateful last day of my visit,

my emotional reserves stood severely depleted,

my nerves were jangled and raw.

And I felt as vulnerable and exposed as that dream where you show up naked for group in high school.

My primary host's mother-in-law, the venerable Mak, had invited me to lunch. Per her instruction, I sat at the table and listened to her whipping up our meal in the nearby kitchen when all I wanted to do was put my head down and cry hot tears of frustration and shame.

As I struggled to hold myself together, Mak's arm appeared from behind the refrigerator door.

Here.

Drink this.

The fruit is from our tree in Melaka.

In her hand, Mak held out to me a huge tumbler full of fresh-squeezed mango juice. Golden, thick, and chilled to perfection. I took the glass in both hands, raised it to my mouth, and began to drink that sweet nectar in uncontrollable gulps.

The first glass was gone in record time.

I asked for a refill.

Before the meal was over, I think I tossed back three and a half rounds of that goodness. Killed the whole pitcher, as I recall.

Okay, so maybe I went a bit overboard, but the magic of the mango went straight to work on me. Slowly, inexorably, my calm was restored not in waves or even swells but in gentle ripples, and my confidence returned to help me face not only that day but also the emotional round of goodbyes that lay ahead.

* * * * *

Now, every time I take a sip of mango juice, I feel the same surge of goodness and light shoot through me, mind, body and soul. Can't say for sure if this is a medicinal quality of the fruit or perhaps the lingering effect of a friend's kind hospitality, but the power of the mighty mango lives on.