Lisa Bentley:  

Life Hi! I know it's been too long since my last note, and I have no excuse. None at all. I'm just plain BAD! Anyway, here's what's been going on. The second week end in September was the Eugene Celebration. The entire downtown area is closed to traffic, and there is FREE music (on 7 different stages around town), a bear garden, food booths, information booths about various businesses and services offered in the area, silly contests, craft booths, and even a parade! The entire affair is "rained" over by the SLUG QUEEN! "She" (Or he...in drag of course) is selected yearly through a farce "beauty" pageant, complete with talent (or lack of) contest, formal wear competition, IQ (definitely lacking!) questions,and ending with a formal coronation! This year was the Slug Queen competition's 25th anniversary, so about 12 former and current queens put on a show...guess where?...at the Eugene Public Library! It was quite a production! There was singing, and dancing, and lots of comedy. Everyone left laughing, so the event was a big sucess! Halloween around here is a big event. Not just in my neighborhood which consists mostly of young families, but in all of Eugene. So, in keeping with the spirit of the season, I wore one of the masks I purchased at the Country Fair to work. The mask is leather, with feathers, and beads, and matching earrings (Oh my!) I also had some fairy wings that matched, but I finally realized that if I wore them, I wouldn't be able to get through the bathroom stall doors to restock and clean, so I had to "clip my wings". Darn! I was not the only one who came to work in costume. The entire second floor staff came dressed as gnomes, with matching red pointy hats! There were witches, and wizards (one with glowing blue eyes!), and dancing girls, and a black cat, a bat, Superman, a clown, a guy in drag, a train engineer, a Doctor with a white coat and stethoscope! And that all was just the staff! The kids and young adults that came in were great too! November 6th I was called to jury duty. Oh joy. (Not!) Not only was I called for jury duty, but they put me on Grand Jury, which runs for a month! I was not pleased. Then on top of that, I was appointed lead juror, which means I'm the one who swears everyone in, and signs the inditements authorizing the D.A's office to go to trial! Hey, no pressure here. We are hearings some really grizzly cases, and I really liked having my head in the sand much better! I don't want to know about all this crime in my home town...heck, IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD! I've been doing a split shift, doing jury duty in the morning, going home to eat and nap mid day, and then working at the library evenings. I have no other life. I was so tired Monday night I slept for 13 hours! We are getting a break for Thanksgiving this week, and I am soooo thankful! And the BIG news is...(drum roll please,)... I turned 50 on November 15th! Ta-da! And how did I celebrate? Why, I had Jury duty, of course! And then to work that evening at the library! But I was not about to let the day go by unacknowledged, so there I sat, in the jury box, very solemnly swearing in witnesses, wearing my black birthday t-shirt that read "Oh crap! I'm 50!". I chickened out and didn't wear my crown while on jury duty, but I did wear it all that evening at the library! Now, some places that would have gotten some reaction, or at least some strange looks. But not in Eugene. Everyone took it in stride, and many wished me a Happy Birthday! God I love this town! So, there you have it. All the exciting news in my life. After being on jury duty, I realize I have a boring life... THANK GOD!!! I am so thankful to be happy, able to laugh, relatively healthy, able to take care of myself, to have good friends to laugh with, good dogs, and to be able to enjoy the little things in life!!!! So here's wishing you and yours the same for this holiday season and long, long after!!!! grinning from ear to ear, Lisa B. Wow! Last holiday season was the last time I wrote in here? Shame on me! Well, I did warn you, I'm BAD! For me, summer is the best time of the year! I have lots of energy, things are happening all over town, The sun shines¿well, most of the time, my raspberries ripen (...Expand for more