You have to see the suave and handsome...

Ryan Gosling and George Clooney in...

The Ides of March
I go to (almost) every George Clooney movie expecting good things. Syriana was an amazing commentary on the morass that is US and Good Night, and Good Luck reminded us how much we have lost in journalism since the days of Edward R Murrow. So when we decided to go to The Ides of March on Friday, my expectations were, to say the least, over the moon. The movie opens up with handsome Steve (Ryan Gosling) standing on stage, checking microphones, and testing equipment before his guy (that would be GC!, woohoo!*whistles* ) gets on stage. The stage is then set for a political scenario that is predictable inasmuch as it is honest and timely. I don't want to give the story away so I won't tell you more than that about the specifics. Suffice it to say the new-found belief of Steve in his real-deal politician is put to the test and turns out to be unfounded.

Although this movie didn't meet up to the suspenseful action of Syriana and was certainly not filled with the snappy dialogue or twisty intrigue of All the President's Men, it was nevertheless enjoyable from the films opening moments to it's too early closing. Clooney was great (as usual), taking on the roll of President with the ease of a man who was born to play the role. Gosling filled the shoes of the able-bodied third man on the totem pole well, reining in his frustration with a believable shift in loyalty that suits those who have been seasoned in the world of politics. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, playing Gosling's boss and Clooney's campaign manager, is so well suited to the role that he might be on the short list of candidates to head up the next democratic front runner's bid for office. The film was a bit short (as previously mentioned) and the corruption of the political process is shown in it's most brief and abbreviated form which was good for film but oversimplified the problems in Washington a bit, yet one walks away from the film feeling as though you have gotten a peek into the real world on The Hill. This is a must-see for those with an interest in politics, the idealist who still believes the political process is capable of doing more than maintaining it's own interest or a George Clooney fan! Hope you get a chance to see it before it leaves theaters because this movie is worth the $10.50 box office fee (it is unbelievable how expensive it is to see a movie these days!). You can watch the trailer and read more reviews (if you don't trust mine) at IMDb.

Next to last day...

Tomorrow is the last day of the 31 days of blogging with NaBloWriMo. This is probably as good a time as any to reflect on the challenge that writing on my blog every day for 31 days in a row has presented. I have to admit I haven't gotten much writing done in the past two weeks on my WIP. While this is partly because I have been busy and time and energy have kept me from focusing on it, it is also true that writing on my blog has been more of a distraction than I care to admit. In the past few months I have gotten into a rhythm of posting twice maybe three times a week. Generally I post pictures that I have taken in my daily life and write a bit about the place or thoughts that I have while walking but the posts don't take a lot of writing energy and I don't spend of lot of mental space thinking about what I will write. The past few weeks I have definitely spent more energy writing something worth reading than I might have had I been on my regular schedule. On the other hand, with my schedule being as tight as it's been this month, it's been nice to do a bit of constructive writing in the short space a blog post takes. But the question remains, might I have written a bit more on my project had I not felt so compelled to blog every day? Probably. So perhaps the first lesson of the month is that my schedule of posting two or three times a week is probably all I have energy for.

The second part of my reflection concerns my pleasure in blogging. I have stated before that I began blogging for my own purposes. It was a place to write when I was at work and it was often little more than a sounding board and I enjoyed it. I rarely had commenters and when they commented, I was often surprised. Since I now enjoy so many friends in the blogging community, I find that adds to my enjoyment in the blogging experience. Of course there is always the reality that you hope what you write will compel people to respond and when they don't (and you are used to having some response) then you feel a bit lonely. Having said all that, I still feel that the main reason to keep blogging is because I enjoy it and when I cease to enjoy it, then perhaps it is time to quit. At this point, it is still a pleasure not only to post my pictures on my blog but to connect with other bloggers. I do find that I need to be a bit more balanced in how I do these things. Since I am a full-time working mom, time is a limited commodity. I can't keep on running at full speed and do justice to my writing when I am exhausted (which is why sometimes it is easier to blog and read other's blogs than it is to write) so going back to the previous post schedule with a few other changes regarding how I blog should be a step in the right direction.

However! I have had a small breakthrough on the actual physical exhaustion I have been experiencing. During the past month I had a doctor's appointment and I found out I was anemic. As a result I was probably running completely out of steam with just life. I've been taking some iron tablets for the past two weeks and feel better already and am hopeful that I will continue to do so. With this in mind, I hope the added energy will help me focus on my writing when I do have the time.

But the real focus of course has to be- as we all know- on my writing. So if you enjoy my pictures and wonder at times why I don't post more about writing or on other topics, it's because I am (hopefully) busy typing away on my project and the pictures I post are just a gift that I want to share with my blogging friends.

A moment

On the weeks when my son is with his father I don't spend as much time in the car, but there are moments when I drive home after work when the sun has set in the west, the light is filtered in the sky with such beauty that I am left a bit breathless. Unfortunately some of those moments are often on an onramp to the highway or driving over a hill where there are no turns and I appreciate the beauty in my solitary (albeit distracted) state. Yesterday, I was headed home to champagne (took a different route to pick up a bottle!) and saw to my delight the sun's final curtain call. Light was reflected on a strand of pearled clouds, coloring them with dark rainbowed hues. I wish then reached for my camera, made a quick turn and headed back up the hill to position myself to hold the occasion...  

 When I arrived, I was disappointed to find the light had shifted into a less vibrant blush yet the purpled hues framed by the distant edges of the mountain's magnificence drew me.

     I stood quietly taking my picture, passed by by hurrying homegoers, bumper to bumper in their rush, anxious they might lose a few feet of asphalt.

I stared back at the heavens, glad not to have let the twinkling joy of a sunset pass me by then headed homeward with the true prize, a space of stillness caught between traffic lights- a moment.

Walking on Cobblestones

This is the opening paragraph to a WIP that I am playing around with. I am not sure if it will go anywhere: maybe it will... maybe it won't. The Main Character is an archaeologist who is in search of her holy grail and winds up with less than she hoped for. Unfortunately her hopes make her blind to the facts and the maneuverings that follow leads her on a winding road through political intrigue and religious squabbles.

For starters: What do you think of the title? The character: Love her? hate her? Is she sympathetic sounding? Intriguing?
As always: The characters and events in this post and all connected posts are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. 


Gleaming white against a backdrop of cerulean sky, she ascends amidst the rock and clay, angel of light rising up in an intangible dusk that has followed her halfway around the world. She stretches her arms outward as though to take in the broken and shattered, hands aching palpably. Involuntarily, she rubs the hollowed center of her hand, sensing the inarticulated connection. She stares into the clouds, heart aching for the brokenness she senses crying out in the darkness. She looks up, her mute supplications carried up on the wings of the wind as it whips up and over the rock, lifting her scarf vertically out from unyielding shoulders, a semaphore for change in the days ahead. Oblivious to the gales that assault and batter, she is statuesque, patiently awaiting the days ahead. Gray pillows boil toward her on the desert’s horizon, hungrily swallowing all that is in their path. The laying out of battle plans: gathering of forces, placement of reinforcements, lines being laid for attack are in full operation by the forces that will bombard are all that concerns her. Alliances have been made, the enemies of her enemies moving together, whispering conspiracy that her eavesdropping ears picked up in the halls she once dominated. Impending attacks from distant shores are what she deliberates and prepares for, knowing they will attempt to assail her position so she will be vulnerable to a full on assault with the final aim of making her their inverted Hypatia. Her arms raise involuntarily once more, vulnerability in gesture and frame, yielding to heaven as gracefully as Henry the Eighth’s second wife.

Tongues of gold

If you look at my header, a sliver of gold laps toward the heavens between the evergreen on the mountains in the background. They are the same type of tree as in the foreground... the Aspen. The Aspen is tasked with filling in the woods of Colorado after they have been ravaged with bark beetle (and thus cut down) or fire. They are known for their rapid growth and long lives and of course their beautiful yellow and golden leaves in the fall which is even more pronounced when it is framed by the brilliant green of the Colorado Blue Spruce.

Their silver trunks are stuff of legend for it is only with the stake of an aspen that it was believed you could kill a vampire or a werewolf. A bigger stake could be used to drive into the grave of a condemned person to keep them from rising from the dead.   

It was purported to be a tree that could ward off evil spirits which is why it was often planted near dwellings. The small heart shape leaves shiver melodically in the wind and it's no wonder that in Eastern Slavic Apocryphal literature that a legend sprung up that it was in an Aspen that Judas Iscariot hung himself and the leaves have trembled with fear ever since.*

Golden and beautiful against the azure blur skies, the Aspen is the perfect tree for the Halloween season!

*Legend: Wikipedia link

Comfort Food...

Last year at this time, I was out walking on a cloudy cool Friday and took these pictures. I was amazed at the brilliant colors that still lingered along the path I took though winter's first nip was in the air. This year, the colors are just as brilliant (as you have seen from my header!) but Indian Summer tarries so long that one would almost wonder if it will ever end.   As much as I might wish the blue skies and brilliant sunshine will never fade into winter's dimness, alas, the forecast tells another story. And I have a few favorite recipes that ease the chill that sets in my bones as the nights grow colder and the days grow brisk. Wednesday the weather is predicted to tank pretty abruptly and we will probably make a vegetable soup for the first time. But what I would really like to be making (if I didn't have to work that day) as the sky grows cloudy and the possibility of the "S" word sneaks into the weather man's script is a family favorite:

Chicken Pot Pie: 

1½ c. cheddar cheese

3c. cooked, diced chicken (you can cook broil or microwave three chicken breasts fairly quickly to make this amount, then quickly chop it up!)

½ c green pepper

½ c. chopped onion

(Sauté both onion and gr. pepper in 3 T. butter)

1 can of Cream of Celery Soup (or chicken)

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

3 oz mushrooms (opt.)

½ c pimento (opt)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Put into unbaked pie shell (recipe below). Cover with pastry, pinch securely. Cut slits into top for steam to escape. Bake 45 min. or until crust is golden brown at 350 degrees.

Crust:

2 ¼ c. flour

1 tsp. salt

2/3 c. Crisco

7-8 T. water

Put flour and salt into bowl. Cut Crisco into flour with fork until it pieces are pea-sized. Add about half of the water and mix until well blended. Continue to add the remaining 3-4 T. until the dough is moistened. Divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough. Roll from center to edges to 12” circle.

 To transfer to pie pan: Fold in half, then into quarter. Lay gently into pie pan and unfold.   

 And as long as I'm making a pie crust, an apple pie sounds good! The crust is the hardest part and all you needs are some apples! This year I have some waiting in the kitchen that were given to us (making me feel sooo guilty) but if I were to buy some for a pie, I would buy several different types of apples for the best ever apple pie! Some tart, some sweet, some crispy, some softer. Yum! Maybe I'll get busy!!! 

Not much of a post tonight...

Too busy catching up on the first episode of season two of...

plus this is my long day and I work until 8 (so.. give me a break, ya'll!)

Pay it Forward

This is the easiest blogfest ever... because it's all about Paying it Forward and it's being hosted by Alex Cavanaugh and Matthew McNish of QQQE. We've all had a blogger who came along and commented, befriended us when we didn't think anyone was paying any attention or pulled us into a blogfest that introduced us to another friend we might not have met otherwise, right? For me, it was Michael (or Conchscooter) of Key West Diary,  Rayna of Coffee Rings Everywhere, Michael of In Time who gave me my first blog award and Talei of Musings of an Aspiring Scribe who gave me a second and became a great friend... which then led me to meet more great friends too numerous to count! Well, today's blogfest is about thanking those people by introducing 3 bloggers to the other participants of the blogfest. It's not an award or a contest, just an introduction. Cool, right? Thanks Matthew and Alex!

So here goes:

I'd like to introduce you to:

Ashley Hunt of Broken Simmy and Willows: A Dark Love Story. While she just began blogging in May of 2011, she's been writing for long enough to know the disappointments of the publishing world already. I hope you'll check out her blog and give her an encouraging word or two! 

I'd also like to introduce you to... Sarah of The Unwrapping. Her blog is special because its purpose is to hold her writing and her style is her own. She is a poet and stylist while also expressing the emotions of a mother, woman and... human. When you visit her blog, go expecting to feel as though you have peaked into her world-- but have also met a friend. 

And finally last, but hardly least: is Lissa of A Chance of Sunshine. She's an artist, a writer, a photographer,  and a fellow NaBloWriMo  participant.   

So that's it for my introductions! I hope you enjoy meeting my two new friends and my older but cherished one. 

Thanks to all my blog friends who light up my life every day!!! 

Obligatory cuteness...

I've been hanging on to this picture for over a year-- wanting to post it but not really wanting to just sandwich it between other pictures. So, since I need a post for today in order to make my Thursday posting, here it is: 

A baby Flamingo! 

This guy is over a year old, born on Aug 20, 2010. I'm pretty sure he's probably full grown now but he was the first one the zoo had since 2003 so he was pretty special. The chick looks white in my picture but he's actually gray and will turn pink later which comes from their diet of animal and plant plankton which has carotenoid proteins in it and that's what gives them their color! (Don't you feel a little smarter today?!?!?!) 

Too bad I can't have one as a pet! 

The Road Goes Ever On

Our day in the mountains gifted me with a camera full of gold and green and memories to cherish. The sun was golden warm and the path was quiet. We headed out listening to the call of hawk and the song of sparrow. The laughter of a little boy filtered down the road behind us and we turned to see a father and son pell melling it down the path, the tot almost head-over-heeling as he came near us. The father slowed the boy down, warning him not to interfere with picture taking, but of course we weren't bothered. They galloped off and I watched them head off into the hills, the song of Frodo and Bilbo taking hold in my head. 

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on

Out from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn,

My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
~J.R.R. Tolkien

Save the words

I'd like to take this moment to recognize the loss of an organization that has been out there on the edge, fighting the good fight as extinction of so many of their beloved drew ever nearer. Their website was developed in an attempt to connect those who wished to help save a single word from dying out from amidst all those more common words that are used each day. The adoptees then commit to keep it and use it so that it is no longer in danger of extinction. Unfortunately they were unable to keep on with the struggle and when I went to their site tonight to direct you to their website I found their website down! SAVETHEWORDS.ORG is no more... and the loss of the word continues on.

Fortunately we still have the The Phrontistery for obscure words.

I like this one...

amarulence	n	1731 -1755
bitterness; spite
After losing her job to a less qualified man, she was full of amarulence.

It's not quite the same as adopting one like on the Savethewords.org, but it will work. 

still here

My migraine sort of lingers. I don't have any head pain at the moment but that's because I took a Maxalt earlier (and I guess technically they aren't pain pills. What they do are much more frightening, at least to me. Migraine meds contract the vessels that are expanding which is exactly what causes the pain. Before I knew what I was really dealing with, I always said that it felt as though the my heart was pulsing on one side of my head. The danger of the pills -in my case- is that I become used to certain meds and have to use more and more of them. At their worst, I took 4 pills before they switched medication) but I am tired from the medication and from working all day.

I am also concerned about my son's damn tropical gecko, Archimedes II... He's breathing rather hard and doesn't seem to be eating. I hate the thought that it might not be doing very well. I can't stand the thought that it might be dying but I can't afford a tropical veterinarian either. If anyone has any ideas... (I don't think he looks very good even in the picture... kinda thin)

So I think it's a nice night for a quick post: a favorite picture I took last year sometime around mid-October (another lovely lengthy Autumn!). This is a Cooper's Hawk that lives (or lived) near the river I walk by occasionally. I spotted him eyeing his breakfast as I was walking back to my car. I got several amazing shots as he flew around the yard but this one was my header last fall:

He was an amazing looking bird. Hope you have a lovely Saturday. 

An old friend

You came by with a little nudge on the back of her shoulder this afternoon. She shrugged you off hoping you would go away in the usual way. It's been over a year since the two of you had a real knock-down-drag-out and she thought she had had the last word when she took that doctor's advice and showed you the door. Take these pills and come back to see me if you need some more help, he'd said with a smile. I think we've got it all under control though. She looked at him in disbelief, after all, the two of you had been together for a long time... the purchase of a house, the birth of her youngest son and the flailing years of an already bad marriage. Almost twenty years. Hard to believe that she was going to get rid of you now. You don't believe me? Confidence of a man who has spent too many years in school being told that he can do anything with his education and the right prescription. We'll see. Lack of confidence of a woman who has been left throwing up into a box in the backseat of her car, eyes and head spinning. Then she tries to head to refuge and bed only giving in after having barely driven a mile, she pulls over to cry, throw up some more, rest and drive a bit further. Rinse and repeat.  Disbelief of a woman who takes pain pills 2 or 3 times a week to be able to function. Sometimes not functioning. Because of you. Because you have been around for nearly as long as she can remember.

And here you are again...
nagging, pinching, pulsing,

Sounds, colors, dimensions rotating, echo and slide off one another into a kaleidoscopic reality that defies attempts to focus 
Lights and angling surfaces lose focus, an agonizing back-drop to the little universe of frayed nerves
 rolling, reeling space
disconnect between

Thought                              &

hand
should lie down
only worse!
not throwing up...! thank god
yet
Medicine now!
 to get rid of...
my "friend" of 20 (or more??) years.


(Once again. I am indebted to my doctor, Dr. Moon of the Denver Neurological Clinic that my migraines have gotten so much better! While I am not completely cured as he had hoped, they are so much better that I am no longer taking migraine pain medication 2 or 3 times a week which also means that I don't have to worry that my insurance cover it and force me to pay $200 for the medicine -which only lasted a week- or leave me begging & crying for help from the pharmacist. Which I did one day. Completely humiliating.)

What would I say to me when I was 15?

Life is...
Beautiful
MAGICAL
fun 
full of adventure 
There are...
Hills to climb Oceans to cross Rivers to ford   

and thinking great thoughts 
Those are the first things 
I would tell a fifteen-year-old me
that I was..
funny-likable-caring-talented-intelligent
full of love
give in to passion, to love
Passion is a tyrant of the heart 
but don't be afraid
You might make mistakes...
IT'S OKAY!
That's how you learn
Unless you refuse to learn what life has to teach you
There will be difficult times ahead
You might lose your way
But you can reclaim yourself by knowing 
WHO YOU ARE
holding tight to who you are and not believing 
THE LIES
that the outside wants to tell you about yourself
that you need to be
goldenblonde-modelthin-cheerleadyhappy-PERFECT
if you can hold on to the child, 
the child who loves sunshine 
singing 
dancing in the rain 
and laughing 
and reading all night 
and writing... 
if you can keep that joy,
 that love of life... 
then you will meet what comes 
with everything 
that you will need to have a good life, my darling. 

Ch-ch-ch-changes and why DO I blog????

So we went to the mountains yesterday and my new banner (do you like???) is just a taste of what we saw (I'll be posting them in the next day or so).  I am still not ready for fall but I am ready to accept that we are heading toward winter and I fully appreciated the beauty of the day. I was also deeply grateful for the long warm fall we having again but... 

Folks, if the significant changes in the weather patterns don't convince you that there is something deeply wrong then nothing will. Here in Colorado, I think we have been fortunate that we have experienced mostly good weather. Where it was really dry before, we have had extra rain, our warm weather has lengthened and the cold weather is not nearly as cold before (I am not sure the ski resorts would be as excited as I am about this!) but that's good news to a warm weather baby like me. I dread the cold! (though I love Christmas as you shall see and be tortured with!!!) But not everyone has been so lucky! In the last year alone the US has had $35 billion in damages from the extreme weather conditions and the government is now in the process of making sure we won't have the money to help communities who have been flooded or destroyed by tornadoes. Could be rough times ahead! 

 

At any rate, I thought I would take a stab at the prompt for yesterday... briefly. 

I began blogging because of NaBloWriMo. Amy Kalinchu of Craft-E Revolution suggested I start a blog and join NaBlo. Why would I want to do that? Because you're a writer and it's a good way to get good writing habits started of writing every day. It seemed logical so I did. That's how this blog started. I wasn't writing for anyone but myself and I didn't really comment on anyone else's blog. I didn't know the proper etiquette and was a little taken aback when I got comments. I ranted a bit and did some real writing on my fiction work here.  It was a real work in progress. I started making some connections though and saw the benefits of blogging. The blogging community is a fine one! 

Last year after NaBlo, I did a Blogfest and connected with more writers and I quickly made a whole bunch of friends. The community has been a warm one! I enjoy all my friends immensely.

I now have my blog as more of a display for my pictures, as you will see. I do comment on the world around me occasionally and I do sometimes insert some of my writing, but since writing is a passion that takes time which I hope to be paid for some day I don't want to offer it up for someone to steal. And since putting hot topics up for the public to view could wind up in the hands of my bosses at work, I try not to be too intense publicly. I save that for twitter actually! lol. So on this blog, you will generally find the expression of my eye, perhaps if I had had the passion of an artist with the paint brush. So I hope you enjoy and stop by now and then to comment! 

A final look back at spring!

 

Day ONE of NABLOWRIMO annnnnd....

Happy Blogiversary to me! 

Happy Blogiversary to me! 

Happy Blogiversary to meeee! 

Happy Blogiversary to me! 

(Oh yeah it's a video of fireworks! Nothing but the best!!!)
So... it's my blogiversary and I have been racking my brains on what I should do to celebrate. You might tell me it's too late but... not so! I have the entire month to celebrate my blogiversary! Why is that? Because I began blogging on October 1, 2008 (Three years! OMG!!!) for National Blog Writer's Month (NABLOWRIMO!) and since it's an entire month of blogging I think I can easily say, I can celebrate my Blogiversary for the entire month! So, there. And since I am a mere 2 followers away from having 200 followers there is plenty to celebrate!!! SO WOOHOOO!!! Lots of exciting things happenin' round here. (now I just need to come up with prizes and... fun things! um, I'll keep thinking.

Shew! Where is my champagne! Oh, yeah, right here. Take a glass! It's a celebration)  And here we are kicking off NaBloWriMo and guess what? I am cheating and prepping this post on the night before because I am somewhere in the Rocky Mountains (you know pictures will follow!), enjoying Colorado blue skies, the red & golden tints of fall and fresh mountain air. (Ahhhh!!! Come on, breathe in! Can you smell the fresh pine???)

At any rate, I'll be checking in with you later but obviously I wanted to kick off the day right with an early post to this big event started.

A final shot of some of what you are missing because you are there and
I am here...

See you soon!

NabloWriMo

I am not going to post much today, just a reminder that Saturday is the start of NaBloWriMo!!! That is National Blog Writer's Month in case you weren't aware of this national celebratory event. Sometimes all it entails is: "Hi lovelies! I'm not going to be able to blog much today, hope your all having a lovely day!!!" but the point is to participate, have fun and meet new bloggers. Some are writers, some crafters, mommies, in fact there's a range of people that sign up for this bloggy event. So click on the link and email the hostess that you want to sign up and then plan on posting each day (and if you don't, nobody is going to hunt you down!!!)-- it's just that easy!!!  
Have a lovely day!!!

NaBloWriMo

All right kids the leaves in the backyard are changing and you know what that means! Danette is going to curl up into a corner (not what I mean to say) Fall is right around the corner, pretty leaves, crisp air, but bigger and better is NaBloWriMo. What's that? What's that you ask??? (because you've been living under a rock for the past four years or so!!!) Why it's National Blog Writer's Month, OF COURSE! Hosted by Not Hannah of I'm Not Hannah blogsomeness but originally created by Amy of Crafte-Revolution as a way to encourage bloggers to write every day. "What do you do to participate in said NaBloWriMo???" you ask. Just drop in on the blog and sign up (you'll see the instructions on the September 7th entry.) 

Participation is easy- easier than the A-Z challenge and can be incorporated into the Writer's Campaign so don't be worried that you're already committed to too much: All it is daily blogging for the month of October and if you don't make it all the way through nobody is going to carve a pumpkin face into you! It's an opportunity to meet more bloggers and win some prizes (Miz Amy of aforementioned Crafte-Revolution is giving away ebooks for bloggers and there will be more!) so sign up, meet new friends and just Have Fun!  

Oh and the pumpkin is cute but isn't the button. We'll be seeing that soon. This is from last year. For a bit of continuity I thought I'd post it so you'd see it when you went to the official NaBloWriMo blog. But Let's make it a real National-- scratch that INTERNATIONAL event, bloggers! 
Sign up today!!! (even if all you write that day is "Don't have much to blog on today, need to get some writing done. See you all tomorrow! *waves*)