Do you really have to be a "beholder" or what?

A little while later, Andy and Marni were consigned to slave labor for the purpose of removing leaves from the lawn of Marni's parents' beautiful country property. Marni kept dangling leaves in front of her face and saying,"Bet you can't see me!" Andy handled the riding mower like a pro. "It's hard not to get cocky out there," he admitted. "Sometimes you just feel so powerful with that rake in your hand and that big riding mower under you. You just sit back for a second and say, 'I'm towing about a half-bushel of cottonwood leaves right now. A lot of kings, rock stars, and rich businessmen would give anything to be doing what I'm doing right now.'" Remember: it takes a steady hand to hold a large rake.

Wow, it's hard to believe it's a new year! Last August Andy and Marni settled in at Marni's parents' house in Columbus, Montana after returning to the States from Croatia. From there, they were able to take a quick trip down to Louisiana to see Andy's family. This is Andy driving his dad's rather fast Corvette. Marni got to drive it too. While it was almost a perfect all-around car, we both were a little disappointed that it didn't perform like the Audi 80 we drove in Croatia. I found myself wanting to drift off to sleep at the wheel of the Corvette since the muffler never threatened to disengage itself from the undercarriage of the car, and there was nary an odd noise indicating an imminent disaster. All in all, I would say the 'Vette handled a touch better than the Audi, and I do have to admit that it was nice to get dirty looks because people were jealous of the car I was driving and not just disgusted to the point of illness because of it.