As most people will know that Youtube is the best way to waste absolute hours of ones life. Nevertheless I typed "Osmonds" into the Youtube search engine and set myself onto a trip down memory lane that was absolutely stunning to be honest. What I discovered however is that while everyone gave the Osmonds absolute tripe in the day (when I was fourteen, stupid and in looooooorve with Donny) the new boy bands, you know these new "throw four good looking guys together and get them to release a single" are actually recording Osmond singles, I have been looking at the videos on youtube and so far there is a cover of "Love me for a Reason" and "Let me in" so I guess the Osmonds were not so stupid back in the day. In fact they could be thought of the first "boy band" and they were way before their time. Ahhh I was there, I waited in line for three days outside a theatre in Manchester to see them live in Concert. I am now :)

If it takes more than 20 minutes to go through the drive through it no longer qualifies as "fast food."

Honesty does not pay. When I go grocery shopping on a Sunday my husband asks me to go to the Circle K by the grocery store and get him an Icee (Slurpee). I always get him a large one and I know that it will come to $1.70 so that is the money I take into the store with me, usually the correct change. Two weeks in a row now the clerk's behind the register have charged me the wrong price $1.38, for a medium. The first time I politely said "I'm sorry this is a large not a medium" The girl looked at me, looked at the drink, tutted and changed the price. I shrugged. It happened again last weekend, different clerk, but this time she got really quite snitty about it. So much for being honest. I shall just let them screw themselves in the future.

Hopefully by the end of the day the entire nation will be able to sing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead."

I was cooking dinner on Sunday and had just put a saucepan on the stove to heat up some chicken stock. Lari, my darling Queen cat decided to jump up onto the stove top to see what I was doing. (It is a ceramic stove top). So she sat there watching me chop some potato when all of a sudden I could smell burning hair. Sure enough Lari had draped her tail on the edge of the burner and it was merrily smoke, she of course was oblivious to it. Now I don't know about you but I would be quite grateful if someone pointed out to me that my tail was on fire but Lari however did not take kindly to being removed from the stove top and having the smoldering fur removed from her tail. Talk about ingratitude.

The continuing diary of Ms. Peaches.

This week I decided it would be fun to be a dog so I have been doing "doggy" things. Normally us cats would be awake during the night, checking out stuff with our feline night vision but I retire to bed in the evening now, my bed being a towel that I pull of the towel rail every evening. The female of course always puts it back when I am not looking but I always manage to retrieve it. When the female rises in the morning I trot to the back door with the dogs and go out for my morning walk with them. It has been quite fun being a dog however seeing as dogs don't do some of the best cat things I have been switching back and forth between being a cat and being a dog. For instance dogs don't like chasing birds, well other than Cueball of course, but then Cueball isn't really a dog, he's more like a large polar bear but with much bigger feet, anyway much to my female's disgust I caught a sparrow this week. I supposed she wouldn't have minded quite so much but I decided it would be great fun to put the dead sparrow in the bath tub and play with it. Personally I like it when there are feathers all over the place but female was not pleased. She tried to take the sparrow off me and got even madder when I growled at her, I really shouldn't do that I suppose but it was MY sparrow and she took it. I shall bite her toes when she is not looking to get my revenge.

The week of Christmas is generally when I get to take a vacation as they do not hold any court. Usually we go away for a week, to the mountains or to the beach but this year we decided to spend what we would have spent on the vacation on a canoe (more of that later) and just go on some overnight trips. One of these was to Lake Mattamuskeet via Ocracoke. We drove to Cedar Island to get the ferry and unfortunately missed the 1:30 sailing and had to wait for the 4:30. This really wasn't too bad because it meant that we could get some lunch and then had a little time prior to the ferry arriving to wander down by the beach and watch the shore birds. The weather was perfect. Not too warm but beautifully sunny. The tide had just gone out and there were several still pools which were like mirrors reflecting the Carolina blue sky. In them were several sanderlings looking for food. With the clarity of the reflection they almost looked like push-me-pullyou Sanderlings :)



We boarded the ferry and it quickly became obvious that our timing was actually going to be perfect as the sun was beginning to set behind Cedar Island and it would be very pretty. As it was it turned into a perfect photographic opportunity as the seagulls followed the ferry, silhouetted by the setting sun.



We arrived on Ocracoke and found a motel and dinner and then I sat on the balcony of our motel room reading Harry Potter and enjoying the quiet.

The following day we rose early and headed toward the Hatteras Ferry. Once at Hatteras we found breakfast and set off for the long trip to the mainland via Manteo. We got to Lake Mattamuskeet and drove to the lodge. The trip there was exciting enough as the sides of the road were covered with Nutria, merrily nibbling on the grass with their huge orange teeth. I had never seen one in the flesh before and it was quite exciting to be able to get the opportunity to photograph them. We toured the various trails and I stalked a fair number of Great Blue Herons and Egrets, and then we set off for the road crossing the lake and the various viewing areas on there. As we were driving my husband reminded me that I had promised him Eagles. We pulled into a viewing station and as I walked down the small pier I spotted this:



Two eagles dancing in the sky. I beckoned for my husband to join me and using the telescope on the viewing station he confirmed that they were two juvenile bald eagles, just getting in their adult plumage. Soon the larger of the two landed on a tree in the distance and the plumage was easier to see.



We were both delighted that we had seen them in the wild. Another moment for the bag of diamonds. Later as we drove back down the same road we saw one of the eagles fishing. And after having successfully caught a fish he very kindly landed in a snag close by. The light was quickly fading and he was almost in shadow but I could not resist at least attempting the shot.



I think he thought that I was going to steal his fish, so rather than risk it he flew off to eat it elsewhere. It was a wonderful trip, and so wonderful in fact that we are going back this weekend to the Alligator River National Wildlife Reserve to see if I can find that otter I spotted while we were driving by. Believe me if I do I will be posting photographs. If you are ever in North Carolina check out Lake Mattamuskeet, especially this time of year when there are hundreds of thousands of overwintering birds there, the sight of thousands of tundra swans, snow geese and canada geese sheltering in its calm waters is absolutely beautiful and should not be missed.

I am a political junkie, I will admit that most readily. The race for president therefore is of extreme interest to me. I have followed the candidates, checked out their positions, and my heart, my absolute soul has been stolen by Barak Obama. I am a republicrat, I agree with Republican view on some matters (fiscal responsibility, smaller government, tax cuts, etc.) whereas I and purely democratic on other issues (pro choice, anti-gun, etc.) But this morning when I woke the sun rose on another world for me, as the silky rays of the sun arose over the horizon we woke to a new day, a new era, a new morning where a state which is 97% white chose a black man to be president. The air smelled cleaner this morning, the sun was brighter, the birds sang more, and the whole world sang "there is hope", there is hope for a new world, a new America! I listened to Barak's speech, it was, not to put too fine a point on it, inspiring, it brought shivers down the spine and tears to the eyes. As I listened to him, as I listened to him speak of unity and of setting aside partisan differences I cried, such was the power of his speech. This is the moment people, this is the defining moment in the history of America where they can put aside the pains of their history and can say once and for all "we are a new country." I watched history unfold last night, I watched history unfold this morning, and my heart soared with joy that perhaps now, perhaps now we can follow the vision of hope, of change, of putting a man in the oval office who will do his best for the people of this nation and who will put aside petty partisan bickering and lead. Oh the sun was so much brighter this morning, the air so much cleaner, the birds sang so much clearer, and the world looked on and said "America you got it right". And through all this my mind goes back to the days upon the Lancaster Canal, with my sister, my beloved sister, (who is black) and a whole new generation of people who were raised to be colour blind, a whole new generation who see only a man, and his brilliant wife, and his charming children and for not one second look at his colour. This is a great day. I am not sure that I will ever be able to surpass it.

It is not often that I post blogs about my work, simply because it sometimes involves client confidentiality and opinions of people who really do not want to read my opinion of them. This is different however. Three years ago, July 10, 2004 to be exact my bosses fiance was killed in a car accident. I use the term accident loosely seeing as it was cold blooded murder as far as I am concerned, the 17 year old kid behind the wheel of an SUV was just as dangerous as a 17 year old kid with a loaded weapon to be honest. In any event, he killed Kathleen, the most incredible woman you will ever have hoped to have met to be honest, really, her story is one of legend, her story is one that we would all hope to aspire to. In any event, the wrongful death case that we filed came up for trial this week before Judge John Nobles. I cannot say enough about the Judge. John Nobles has such an innate sense of fairness that it permeates his entire courtroom. He is a gentleman of the first degree. We have put many cases before him and win or lose we are always aware that he is possibly the most fair and thoughtful judge in our district. No other judge in our district has such a sense of fairness, of justice, and of pure simple "this is what is right" than John Nobles. I have an incredible respect for him. He is truly what a Judge should be, and has made the transition from Lawyer to Judge in such a seamless fashion. When he gave his judgment in Kathleen's case he began by saying what an incredible woman Kathleen was, not many Judges would have done that, they would have just given their judgment and be done with it. John Nobles took the time, and the thought, to pay homage to this most incredible of women to acknowlege to her family that she was, indeed unique. I do not know how long I will be in this business, the boss is retiring, but as long as I am in this business I hope our cases come before Judge Nobles. A true gentleman.