pretending to see mountains

Today turned out to be lovely. I feel slightly better than yesterday. The sun is OUT. And my thoughts are of mountains. This started with Kerry's gorgeous photos of Mt. Diablo (in CA), taken on a hike with one of my favorite companies, Juniper Ridge. After her photos, I increased my incense-burning; sweetgrass in particular - a vanilla-like scent. And well, I confess - I watched Oprah yesterday. I was already upstairs, watching Grey's Anatomy which I DVR'd. Afterwards, I recalled Kate's post about Oprah. I, too, used to watch O. with the same morbid fascination. She bugs me so much, but I used to study her show wondering, "What IS the appeal?"

Yesterday, Oprah's show opened to the most beautiful vista of snow-capped mountains and aspen trees. Like my husband, I love aspen trees. My heart ached to be right there. The location was TomKat's home in Telluride, Colorado. At first, I honestly watched only to see more of that Colorado scenery and their massive house. It is big, but very simply decorated and rustic. I was impressed with TomKat's taste and the little playhouse nook under the stairs for Suri. After the hour-long interview (yes, I watched the whole thing), I decided:

-Oprah still bugs me.
-Scientology is wacko.
-Tom is a bit nutty, but he does have a likable side when he's calm (he was yesterday).
-I do believe he is Suri's real father.
-Suri is adorable.
-I've always found Katie Holmes to be very charming.
-If TomKat ever move out of that house and Johnny and I come across millions of dollars, we'll buy it. J. and I don't need such vast space, but the sun is bright enough today that if I close my eyes and flip on my imagination, I can see TomKat's mountains outside of our Houston windows. Man.

....Johnny's at a recording session with Donna Stuart, for her upcoming album. Other than pretending to see mountains, the cats and I have kicked back today, up to this and that. For instance, I interrupted Milo's nap on a kitchen windowsill for a photo shoot:









He went back to sleep, I looked around, and thought, "Wow. We've acquired too much clutter in the kitchen. Mental note: clean up soon.":



Part of the clutter is a set of beeswax tapers. I wish you could smell this photo ~ natural beeswax smells amazing, like honey:



I ordered the tapers for these bamboo holders in the dining room:



However, I stupidly ordered the "fat boy"-sized candles. I did so because we have two standard, natural-colored beeswax tapers that are too small for those holders. But now I know - "fat boys" don't fit, either. Johnny thinks he can whittle down the tapers and make 'em fit. I hope so; the blue color sure is pretty.

And now, it's time:
-for a cup of tea & a snack,
-to post on books for calvin,
-to read,
-to make serious plans to whip up Kerry's mouthwatering April 2008 Monthly Meal (minus the sweet rolls). Macadamia nut-encrusted mahi mahi. Steamed asparagus (one of my favorite veggies). I can even tweak that coconut ice cream recipe (no agave nectar for me yet)!
-and lace up my sneakers when Johnny arrives home. We're gonna hit the walking trail and discuss a road trip to Colorado. And take pics of our Easter lilies blooming outside. They're a tad late, but I'll take Ascension lilies, too.