Acting Up, Attitudinal Issues, and Other News Fresh From the Farm

Inside: My Maryland acting debut, a little problem with attitude, and my new favorite thing. Check out all the latest fresh from the farm.

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Acting the opening scene from Forrest Gump — Me and Patty, doing the opening scene from *Forrest Gump* at the annual Dreamweavers Writer’s Retreat.

My Maryland Acting Debut

We’re back from our annual pilgrimage to Deep Creek, Maryland, for the Dreamweavers Writer’s Retreat which I help my friend Patty host every year. We always have a lot fun, eat a selection of delicious potluck dishes attendees bring, hold great conversations, and maybe learn a thing or two about writing–all in the vicinity of lovely rolling hills, forests, and an enormous man-made lake.

But there is one tradition we began quite by accident–the retreat opener. It started as a simple writing exercise with different scenarios from locations around the Memory Maker lodge and pool house which attendees then had to work into a story, but it has morphed into something more. Last year we did elevator pitches in a closet Patty decorated to look like an actual elevator.

This year we were stumped, until we came across “the Gump”–Forrest, that is. Patty had the idea to use the movie as a study in the use of symbolism and “the hero’s journey.” Then as we were doing our long distance planning by phone, I said we ought to act out the opening scene. Which might explain the photo. Curious? Here’s a link to our raw, unedited performance and outtakes.

And the Oscar goes to. . .

A Little Problem With Attitude

So I mentioned we had a wonderful time, like we always do, but there are years when the details of our travel seem to fall into place.

And then there are other years. . .

Our rental car wasn’t the smooth ride we’d anticipated. Not in a Jeep Wrangler. And we ran into a little (lot!) road construction in Illinois, two accidents in Indianapolis–one of which rerouted us, taking us miles away from the highway–and more road construction in Ohio and West Virginia.

Can you say delays?

Mike’s plans for riding the C & O Towpath were changed as well. Instead of riding earlier in the week, he had to do the long ride (67 miles) on Saturday, take the train back, and get a good night’s sleep before driving home the following day.

But probably the most annoying part for me was dealing with a sore hip, which was particularly irritating when taking stairs. (The Memory Maker and pool house have you constantly doing stairs. . . Think step, ouch, step.) So I kept a bottle of pain reliever with me to make it through.

I know it sounds immature, but I tend to have this belief that my vacations should go smoothly, with the clouds parting and the faint sound of the Hallelujah Chorus playing in the background. I’ve had vacays like that when things ran like a well-oiled machine. (Not a Jeep Wrangler. . . Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Sometimes, despite the prayer time and preparation that go into such endeavors, we just have to trust that God will get us through the not-so-pleasant details of travel. As a million mothers have already said, you can’t change your circumstances, but you can change your attitude.

Never easy, but I’m working on it.

My New Favorite Thing

Within the last couple of months, the fleas have been showing up more than usual around here. My boys (cats Winston and Clarence) have been scratching, and so I put out my homemade light-shining-on-container-of-water trap and started combing them with a flea comb. Mom had the same problem with her dog Honey, and I told her about the Flea Doctor Comb that I’d seen on TV, which she ended up buying. It’s an electrically-charged flea comb which kills fleas rather than resorting to using chemicals to control the pesky pests.

To make a long story short, I asked her to bring the Flea Doctor Comb to my house so I could try it out on my cats, and to my surprise, neither of my pets protested. The comb makes a beeping sound which speeds up when it comes in contact with fleas, and I thought that would be a deal breaker with my guys. But they don’t mind. In fact, Winston especially seems to like it.

I purchased mine from Walmart, but you can buy them at Amazon, too.