-- You guys! Did you know there's a place right here in the US of A where it's possible to wear shorts and sandals in February? And you won't get frostbite. This magical land is known as 'Florida', and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are more hidden oases just like it. Yes, I've returned from Fort Myers Beach, which is just one big bundle of sunshine and sand.

-- I had what was possibly the Best Ice Cream Cone Ever. It's the one in the background, strawberry cheesecake (my mom's cappuccino chocolate chip is in front). I'm quite particular about... well, everything, really, but when it comes to cheesecake ice cream flavours, this is my rule: don't make the ice cream itself taste like cheesecake, because it will be overwhelming. Instead, go with a nice vanilla base, swirl in the fruit of your choice, and then put in cheesecake chunks. This stuff had whopping big chunks of a cheesecake/crust hybrid -- Best Ever.

-- The strawberries that we got from the regular old supermarket (Publix) were not only local, they were perfectly in season and ripe. No pale shoulders or rubbery texture. Also, local citrus and sugar. But can they grow rutabagas?

-- Speaking of Publix, if you live near one, you should run out and buy a loaf of their 'Breakfast Bread'. It's packed full of nuts and bits of dried fruit, and it was one of the best things I ate in Florida.

-- Most every morning while we were there, my mom would wake up and go out to the beach to search for good shells while the tide was still out. I stayed in bed and then showered, and then we had breakfast when she got back. I did NOT go out looking for shells in the morning, because it couldn't have been more than 60F at that time of day, and why bother going outside on your Floridian vacation if it's not above 70F?

-- I saw two dolphins just a ways out from the beach. Thank goodness I was on our balcony at the time. (I do not like dolphins.)

-- If I could afford it, I would seriously consider renting a little apartment in the Fort Myers Beach area every February, for the entire month. I would pack up my car with the cats and all my houseplants and just pretend that snow doesn't exist for twenty-eight days. I still sometimes can't believe how lucky I've been in certain areas of my life, but I'll know I REALLY have it made when Florida Februaries start happening.

-- Tuesday night, I think it was, I put a couple tablespoons of alfalfa seeds into a glass jar and covered them with water, so they could soak while I slept. 'Tra-la-la,' I said, singing the traditional Haven't Got a Care in the World, Because I'm Going to Have Sprouts Soon song. The next day, I remembered that I'm going out of town on Sunday, so I've been trying to will them to sprout faster. I think they'll be ready either by tomorrow or Sunday itself, but either way, it's going to be a sprout-heavy weekend.

-- Beany has a way of watching a person do things that's slightly unnerving. Not in a creepy way, but because it feels like she must either be trying to figure out WHY you're doing what you're doing or possibly trying to learn to do it herself. This happened twice today, once when I was painting my toenails (I AM going to be in Florida soon), and again when I was on my hands and knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor (again, I AM going to be in Florida soon. Doesn't everybody clean ridiculously well before going out of town?).

-- It's hard to wrap one's brain around the idea that some seeds sprout, and then it's okay to eat the tiny, baby plants, but other seeds sprout, and you have to hope they'll keep growing and turn into big plants. Broccoli sprouts! Oh, darn. I had a few broccoli flowers go to seed, but I didn't save them, since I have perfectly good packets of seeds for the spring. But I could have been eating broccoli sprouts. Bum.

-- In response to Fiona: Yes, you can freeze jam in glass jars. Some pectin is specifically marketed as freezer or refrigerator jam, although I don't know that it matters one way or the other. I just spoon it into the jars before it sets, then let them sit out (covered) over night -- no need to seal them with scary pots of boiling water. Then throw 'em in the freezer. Best thing ever.

-- So, yes, going out of town on Sunday. Which means I have just one more full day to spend cleaning the house, packing, and planning my travel sandwich. There's just no point going anywhere if you don't bring the sandwich.

So, I'm going through all my photos, trying to choose the ones I want to use for my Blurb book. There are a lot. Although, honestly, it's been hard to find ones I feel are good just as photographs. I think it would be an easier task if I were going with a theme -- all food photographs, for example. Then, it would be enough for a photo to just be of food and to be nice. But I'm trying to pull ones that give me that little 'ah ha!' feeling.

I finished (maybe? I guess?) going through my digital folders today, so I moved to the scanned images of my film photography. There's a LOT less of that, luckily, I guess -- it's mainly all from before the D70 came into my life. I'm pretty sure that photo above is from 2003. Wasn't that just, like, yesterday? Where do the years keep running off to?

I've probably mentioned it before, but the screen saver on my iMac is set to cycle through the images in my 'picture book' folder. So every time I edit and save a new batch, I look forward to the screen saver starting up. I'll say it again: there's just something exciting about seeing the same old images displayed on a big screen, viewed halfway across the room.

I'm pretty sure I want to print with Blurb -- they seem to have cornered the market on POD photography-book self-publishing. I trust their quality a bit more, having never seen either their work or Lulu's in person. I wish they would print from PDFs, though. I'd rather not fuss with their software, since I am all trained up in InDesign. (You can import your own page images into their software, I guess, but it seems like the silliest, most round-about thing ever.)

I also can't decide between the 7" square format of the 8"x10" (and landscape or portrait?). My plan at the moment it to just get a copy for myself and think about making it available to the public later on (really, it seems like too much of a 'thing' to say, 'Tada! Buy my book!' I just want a hard copy of some of my favourite digi photos in a nice format.). The 7" books are quite a bit cheaper than the larger size, but then I think, well, what's the point of doing this if it isn't to get something that has a sort of 'wow' factor? I mean, the screen-saver-watching effect, and all.

Blah, blah, blah. Just: I've taken a lot of photos. And why can't I remember to convert to CMYK more than 50% of the time?

-- I took the last jar of mulberry jam out of the freezer last night. It tastes so lovely, and there are whole berries in it too. You'd better believe I'll be making twice as much this summer!

-- I took a nap with the cats today. The only problem with using a cat as a pillow is that after you've drooled on them, the protest to being flipped over.

-- I went for a long walk today. Halfway to my destination, my next-door neighbour called me to ask about the ins and outs of submitting manuscripts to publishers. I still surprise myself sometimes by how 'professional' I can sounds when talking about 'business'. I was also surprised that I didn't slip on any ice while walking and talking.

-- I've been working on getting rid of my 'winter feet', since I'll have to wear sandals in half a week. It's going well so far, but it's sort of startling to have smooth feet. To be honest, I only ever have 'winter feet' or 'summer feet' -- in the winter, they're horrible and dry; in the summer, they're like little hooves from running around in sandals/barefoot. These smooth feet are a lie!

-- I made Valentine's gingerbread cookies, since my friend Jim was visiting, and he likes them (and wasn't here for Christmas). I think I'm going to have one of those in a moment.

-- I planted some dwarf curly parsley seeds in my little Petersilie plant pot that I got at a charity shop in Mainz. I took off the plastic wrap today, because they've sprouted! I've been worried that I haven't been quite as enthusiastic about gardening as I was at this point last year, but I was pretty excited about the little green shoots. So maybe it's not so much that I'm 'less enthusiastic' as I am 'more realistic'. It's still only February, after all.

-- I went to the vegetarian Indian buffet for lunch today. I hadn't been in a long time, and it was very, very good.

-- I bought a copy of Jamie Oliver's new magazine (called 'Jamie'), and it was worth the steep import price just for the photography. Even things I would never eat (the poor animals) look appetizing.

-- I've been watching NewsRadio on Hulu. I hardly ever watched it when it originally aired, and despite many of my friends making negative noises when I mentioned it the other day, I think it's pretty fantastic. So there.

-- A week from now, I'll be in Florida. I'm going to go away now and imagine how nice that will be.

-- I did Sunday's sudoku puzzle over lunch today. Tempeh gyros are clearly brain food, because this seemed pretty easy for five stars. I've just checked my biorhythm for today, and my intellectual curve is almost at its peak. Hey, and physical is almost at its lowest, and I've got a cold for the first time in ages. Obviously biorhythms are totally real and not at all made up.

-- There's no 'tidyness' biorhythm, but I suspect mine must be pretty high right now. I actually dusted today, AND I cleaned my laptop. Who knew my wrists were so dirty, eh?

-- You people are nuts. Fill in the chipped nail polish with another bright colour? First of all, I don't have any other nail polish. Secondly, that's just silly. I suspect you're trying to trick me, just because I don't know the ways of the painted fingernail. I'm never going to ask any of you to teach me key phrases in another language.

-- I haven't even sent out my Valentine's Day cards yet (I guess they're just called 'valentines', huh?), but I bought some Easter stickers today, for when I send out Easter cards. This just in: apparently there is such a thing as an Easter card, and apparently I will be sending them out to my friends. Both my homemade Christmas and Valentine's cards had photos of my cats on them. Where can I get cat-sized rabbit-ear headbands?

-- Speaking of holidays, I still haven't been able to throw out my gingerbread house. But it's red and white, so I think maybe I can slap a heart on it and call it a Valentine's Day House. It'll look nice next to my St Patrick's Tree (just kidding, I put away the Christmas tree in December).

I don't really have anything to say, but my immediate Life Options at the moment are A) doing the dishes B) watching another episode of News Radio on Hulu or C) posting here. I'm not so hot on the first one, and the second one requires me to move across the room, so option three it is!

On a whim, I painted my fingernails dark blue the other day. (Granted, it was a whim that saw me add an item to my shopping list, go to the store, make a purchase, and then engage in whim-related activity -- I was right on the border between being 'on a whim' and 'having a notion', I think.) I can't even remember when I last painted my fingernails, but it seems much easier than it was when I was, say, eleven. Nail polish technology has advanced, clearly.

it felt very odd for the first day or so -- like having somebody else's hands at the ends of my arms. But I got used to it and started to really like it, especially when I was at Cheapo, perusing the punk rock section (for The Jam). Nobody has to know that I'm a homebody, because my fingernails look awesome.

But now they're starting to chip, and I realize I'm not sure what you're supposed to do at this point. Touch it up? Take it all off? I can't see letting it continue to chip away and going out in public like that (see? I'm not really punk rock at all!). I just don't know. Man, it's hard being a 'lady'.