Twitter Soup: A Delicious Blend of Interesting Peeps!

Twitter whets my appetite for information, friendship and sharing. Nevermore than now, during my self-imposed house/dog-sitting exile on top of this snowy mountain.

This week is reminiscent of that time back in March when I broke my ankle i.e. too much time on my hands and not enough to do, therefore I am spending inordinate amounts of time on the computer (especially Twitter and FaceBook but here I will be referencing mainly Twitter). But that is not necessarily all bad! There is a wealth about life you can learn from others! Contrary to belief, the internet is NOT a total waste of time.

In addition to enabling me to connect with family and friends, both old and new, social media can be truly educational, encouraging and enlightening, not to mention entertaining. There are quite a few characters out there whom I have enjoyed getting to know! You wouldn't BELIEVE what I have found on Twitter! I will share it with you someday :-) It's AWESOME! But for now . . .

Here are just a few of the links I have looked at and learned from today. This is a drop in the proverbial bucket as to the volumes of information available to you via, in this case, Twitter and FaceBook. Browse them at your leisure and you just might find something to interest you, too!

Click on the embedded links to enjoy what I did! Take your pick!

Truly hilarious from kissmyaster

Amazing photos from AmazingPics 2009 Nature's Best Photography

Jim Goldstein's take on Embracing the Imperfect Image

Hear about the earthquake FIRST from Interleafer

Gaze on my childhood idol Donny Osmond every so often, he's always nice to look at :-)

Be inspired and learn how digging in the dirt changed lives not just for one family but for families across the nation

Learn about new ways, coming down the pipeline, to garden for your kitchen from Jennifer Bartley

Discover how gardening is different yet the same around the country (begin with my friend Susan's blog and access the other's at the bottom of her recent posting, I found someone in MY new area I can look to for help as a result!)

Do you have ANY idea how important getting in touch with the natural world is? Shawna Coronado can share with you how it basically saved her from a horrible life!

And of course, if you're into garden porn, you can't go wrong with this scintillating, mouth-watering offering of pics from Arcadia1

Speaking of titillating, I learned of a "must-have" plant last night that you MUST take a look at and you will see why it caused quite a stir on Twitter recently. Annie's Annuals has this one! Just call him 'Mr. Happy'!

What interests me, might not speak to your likes but this is intended to show you how simply wonderful these places on the web can be and there are truly amazing people out there just waiting to make your acquaintance.

Give it a go. Look for me: @gettingdirty . See ya on Twitter!

To Spread or Not to Spread: The Musings of Garden Chick

Okay. So I muse. Big deal. Sometimes I muse about vital things like the recession (which I cannot control) and sometimes I like to muse about things less serious

I LIKE to muse.

Take for example, this afternoon.

I was vigorously toweling off from my shower. Always starting with the hair, creating that messy-just-stepped-out-of-the-ocean look, and working down my body, wisking away fine droplets from my moisture drenched tan skin and that's when I noticed IT. A fine blond hair above my belly button , aka navel, but henceforth to be refered to as 'button'. Now, my belly is covered with blond peach fuzz as I would guess most bellies are, (aren't they? please let me know if I've been misinformed) but this piece of peach fuzz obviously had it's own DNA telling it WHAT to do. Because it was not 1/16" long, it was clearly 1/2" inch long. Completely had a mind of it's own! I could not let it stay that way.

Now, you might ask, what is she getting at? Beeeeee patient, I'm getting there, I'm just on the way to my shoes!

So then, back to my musing. I pull out a small pair of manicure scissors and attempt to cut it off to match the rest of it's buddies. And during this artistic act of restoration, I pinch my belly with the finger holes of the scissors. OUCH! What was that? Don't ask me how I did it. Well, when I bent over to see if I'd mortally wounded myself, I saw what appeared the be the round head of Casper the Friendly Ghost!

Huh? You ask? Well, as I bent, my belly button opened up slightly and surprise of all surprises (another blog coming on surprises)! It was white! Gasp! This can't be! (see photo of my normal navel at http://www.pbase.com/gardenchick/image/99927182)

You see, I've been tanning for my upcoming trip to the desert. Noooo, you don't have to be tan to go to the desert! But I want to lay by the pool and not blind my fellow swimmers with my lily-white winter shade of epidermis!

Okay okay. So here is where I start musing: when you are tanning, are you supposed to hold your belly button open?

Now, when I was in college, I had a friend that liked to lay in the sun. Alot. She had it down to a science, a skipping-science-class kind of science, to bask in the sun for long periods of time. Anyway, she was so extraordinarily preoccupied about what would appear white and what would appear brown, that as she reclined on the blanket there in the park, she would spread her fingers and toes so the spaces between would match the rest of her.

Well, now I get it! Because who wants to wear a bikini and have a white navel?!

So, is the answer to spread or not to spread?

Will anyone notice? Will anyone care?! Okay, so maybe no one will probably get close enough to see but I will KNOW! Am I being paranoid? Maybe, but I happen to like my button. In fact, when I had my gall bladder removed (very unglamourous subject), they were going to put an incision above my button. I said NO. That would look positively disastrous! "Go THROUGH the button", I said, which they did :) Well, I suppose this is a nonsensical issue with the other goings on in the world (which worry me too, btw) and one might think it isn't worth musing about.

But . . . I'm going to hold it open anyway, along with my fingers and toes ;) Because unlike the recession, THIS is something I can control.