Green therapy

I spent the last hour of daylight today cutting the grass. I love mowing the lawn. I'd do that any day over ironing, dusting, vacuuming, etc. There's something therapeutic about those straight manicured rows that appear as soon as you walk across:

Renovation station

Brian continues to make our Hoosier shine. Isn't it lovely?

Deep in the heart of Texas

Brian & I took our fourth annual trip to Dallas during the weekend. It's developed into a tradition that we mark on our own or with friends. This year, we ventured south with Tony & Nicole. Golf, shopping and dining out were high on the list.

The boys usually golf on their own, but I played my third round of golf with them at gorgeous and historic Stevens Park. I had a great chip onto the green and a nice putt but otherwise continue to learn the great sport. (You can see more photos in an album I've created on Facebook.)




The golfers -- Tony, Brian & me -- at a historic marker on the course.


I enjoyed the views on the pretty course:



Downtown Dallas in the distance.


Tony snapped this picture of the pretty church adjacent to the golf course.

Nicole was the official photographer of the golf outing and took many of these pictures. In the next couple of days, she & I shopped at The Container Store, Sephora, Sam Moon and Ikea (my first trip to the Swedish superstore -- very fun). We also had pedicures at the Saks Spa. Ahhh ...

Meanwhile, the guys played two and a half more rounds of golf. Brian snapped these portraits of a fine feathered family that made themselves at home during one of the games. Adorable!


In the evenings, the four of us dressed to kill and headed out to Luna de Nocha and Newport's. Delicious. It was a three-day weekend that felt more like a weeklong vacation. Cheers to that!

"Shack" insights

This week, the senior high girls church youth group book club I'm leading wrapped up our discussion on William Paul Young's "The Shack." We all agreed that it made us think about religion, spirituality and our own faith differently. During my haircut Saturday, I told my stylist about it, and she's already added it to her book list. (One of the fun things about our appointments is that we always manage to wind up chatting about the latest books we've read. She recommended that I check out "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow.)

In "Shack," one of my favorite parts was from Chapter 9 when the author makes an analogy of our souls and a lovely disarray of a garden, which the main character Mack is able to see because of a stroke of divine intervention:

"It was chaos in color. His eyes tried unsuccessfully to find some order in this blatant disregard for certainty. Dazzling sprays of flowers were blasted through patches of randomly planted vegetables and and herbs, vegetation the likes of which Mack had never seen. It was confusing, stunning, and incredibly beautiful."

Mack learns that an omnipotent gardener is at work, tending, pruning and perfecting him:

"This mess is you! Together, you and I, we have been working with a purpose in your heart. And it is wild and beautiful and perfectly in progress. To you it seems like a mess, but to me, I see a perfect pattern emerging and growing and alive ... "

All decked out

Brian & I have had a full, fun weekend that included a round of golf at MacDonald Golf Course with the Swinging Duffers church golf group and a Saturday night out on the town. The golf outing was a four-person best ball tournament, and our group came in one above par. Not too shabby for my second 18 holes of golf. I was able to contribute to the score with a couple decent drives and two nice putts for par, including one that was about 12 feet long. Sadly, water hazards were not my friends, and I lost four balls because of it. I was a bit bummed because I didn't lose a single ball last week, but Brian reminded me that it's all part of the fun.

Today, Brian came down with a 101-degree fever. Poor guy. I split my time hanging out with him, spending the morning at the flea market with the girls and celebrating Dad's birthday with him tonight. Fortunately, earlier this week before Brian caught his cold, he finished our backyard deck. It's sure to be a gathering place for us, family and friends this summer.


In this photo, Brian is grinning because he's so proud to have his project completed. I think Dakota's just trying to move in on the beer while B's temporarily distracted.

Peekaboo ...

... Lilly sees you. Goldens aren't allowed in our vegetable garden, where I was when I snapped this picture. I had ventured out to check our lettuce, peas and beans, but Lilly just wanted me to stop being a gardener and come play. Minutes later, I did just that.

Spring fling

Signs of the new season in our own yard:


Brian snapped this gorgeous picture of George the redheaded woodpecker. (He has a thing for redheads ... )


After surviving a spring snowstorm and several thunderstorms in a cardboard box lid that we carried in and outside for the past few weeks, I finally planted these cheerful pansies.


Our silver maple tree is starting to grow leaves.

Kitty basketball

Brian & Meow Meow getting their game on.

Happy Easter!

Brian & I attended a nice service at Aldersgate this morning, had an elaborate and delicious lunch with his family at Grandma's house and then met my parents to see "Duplicity" at the movie theater. (Funny flick.) It's been a rainy, cozy day. I hope everyone feels as blessed and loved on this meaningful holiday.



Meanwhile, signs of spring and new life -- such as this robin's nest in our yard -- are all around us. What a beautiful, magical time of year.

Fore!

I shot my first 18 holes of golf on Saturday at Echo Hills and absolutely loved it. Don't get me wrong: I'm no Juli Inkster. (She's my favorite professional woman golfer. I saw her in action at the 2002 U.S. Women's Open at Hutchinson's Prairie Dunes.) Fortunately, Brian & I played best ball, which helped keep my confidence and my spirits up. But I did clear all water hazards, had several decent drives (all things considered) and never lost a ball. Not too shabby.







Tony & Nicole joined us. (Nicole was the official event photographer and snapped these great photos.)

Pet projects

In the past week, Brian & I have been especially busy working on home projects. I've spent several hours helping Brian strip the antique cabinet that he got for his birthday earlier this year.


The darker wood to the left is what the entire cabinet looked like when we bought it. The lighter wood to the right is what it looks like after we've done three rounds of stripping and then sanding the wood down.


Once that task is complete, we'll be ready to stain it. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished and in our house.

Apparently, one wood project isn't enough for Brian. So he's also refinishing our backyard deck, with the help of our friend Tony. (Thank you, T!) We had Tony & Nicole over for a Saturday night cookout to celebrate that project, but it was uncomfortably cool out, so we moved it indoors. I guess we'll have to have another cookout when the weather's warmer. Darn.

Reused reading

This weekend, I'm going through my massive collection of books and selecting a pile that I'm willing to part with. My collection is growing a little unwieldy, and I've finally convinced myself that getting rid of a wonderful, excellent book is no sign that it's any less a part of me. I just know that I won't reread every book I own, and I'd rather declutter and get store credit for more great reads. Makes sense, doesn't it? A few great titles that I hope will be on the shelves of a local used bookstore soon:

• "Night" by Elie Wiesel: This 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner is an excellent book. Heavy stuff, though. I made the mistake of reading it poolside during vacation a few years ago. Not quite sure what I was thinking ...

• "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan: The New York Times Bestseller was on my Modern Literature syllabus in college. Good book. A little overrated.
  

• "The Haunting" by Shirley Jackson: Good for an October read, but I'm really not into the horror genre at all. And the book cover illustration scares me.

• "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier: Same as "The Haunting" but without the scary cover.

• "On Law, Morality, and Politics" by St. Thomas Aquinas: Another book leftover from my tenure at KU. Not sure if this one helped me earn my English or journalism degree. Nonetheless, this dude knew what he was talking about, and he made me think of religion and spirituality differently. Thanks, Tommy!

• "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold: Compelling novel. A little too heavy, perhaps, for a second read.

• "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky: A book club selection that I loved until I read -- on a beautifully lazy Saturday morning -- about a man's brutal death. With disgust, I tossed the book aside and vowed never to look at it again. Time to make get something out of this book ... besides a foiled Saturday.

• "Best Friends" by Martha Moody: This novel holds a special place in my heart because I read most of it in one of my favorite places: the porch swing of a little cabin overlooking a gorgeous and peaceful tree-covered valley. The story had promise, but the ending was a shocker. After I read it, I really didn't like it. But after spending more time thinking about the book, I decided that it was a compelling and interesting story, although the author took a little too long to tell it. (Often on vacation, I speed through the book(s) I bring with me and beg Brian to make a stop at a bookstore, which he always willingly does. The small town nearby Petite Jean State Park doesn't have a bookstore that I could find, so I ran into Wal-Mart to get a new paperback. I just found the receipt tucked inside the front cover: 12:12 p.m. Sept. 4, 2007. I also bought a disposable camera to snap pictures of our hikes that week. Ahh. Vacation. According to another receipt tucked in the book, I apparently read it during lunch the following week while eating a bowl of black bean soup at Panera.)

• "The Great Man" by Kate Christensen: Another book club selection, I really couldn't get into this one and didn't like it as much as some of my fellow members. C'est la vie.

• "Revolutionary Roads" by Richard Yates: Yet another book club read. I loved it and still want to see the movie version for comparison purposes. But the soulfully depressing novel is not one I plan to delve into again anything soon.

Ode to Libby

On July 5, 1999, Brian and I helped Mom pick out Liberty Ann Justice from the Kansas Humane Society. A Norwegian Forest Cat, she was a tiny little ball of fluff that took a nap in Brian's baseball cap. I'm sad to share that she made her journey to the big litter box in the sky this week, hopefully to find an endless supply of catnip and thread to play with. I will miss her.

Welcome, April!

OK, OK, OK. I cannot take one more call, e-mail or text from my sweet sister Amanda demanding that I update my blog. And I do so with this reflection: How have I not blogged in more than a month?! That's a first in Life is Golden history. For that, my dear friends, I apologize.

And now I give you the Top 10 Reasons Why Lori Hasn't Been Blogging:

1. I was busy celebrating 30 spins around the sun. Among other things, Brian surprised me with dinner and a night out with family and friends. He even arranged it so our friend and musician extraordinaire learned one of my favorite songs ... for us to sing on stage at The Shadow. Surprise! See for yourself in my friend Jaime's video.


2. I got Wii Fit for my birthday.


3. Brian & I bought Rock Band and have been partying like rock stars. My favorite character is a drummer named RubyRed. She ROCKS!


4. I finally joined Facebook and have been networking with friends new and old, near and far. Go ahead. Friend me. Do it.


5. Brian gave me the amazing gift of a volunteer drive in my honor for my birthday, and I've been spending some extra time volunteering. Projects I've worked on with friends from church include a morning clearing out the basement at GraceMed Health Clinic ...


... and an evening baking dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies for local Ronald McDonald Houses with the youth group.


6. I've stuck with my New Year's tradition of working out at least three times a week. Tonight's installment? A four-mile run followed by strength training and yoga on the Wii. (Please see No. 2.) And if you have a YMCA membership and live in Wichita, let me know if you'd ever like to try TurboKick.

7. I've been enjoying the 75-degree weather, thunderstorms, snowstorm and crazy wind that makes Kansas springs oh-so-exciting.


8. I was overcome with March Madness. (Rock Chalk!)

9. I've been spending some quality time with Mom, who is doing amazingly well. We're working on a quilting project together and have escaped for shopping trips in Newton and at the flea market. The flea market adventure was a meaningful one: It's the first time Mom has been back since before her hospital stay. It's those little milestones that can mean so much to us sometimes.


10. I've been pumping myself up for my next 30 years and many, many more opportunities to see that Life is Golden.