Hiking the Pine Mountain Trail

TOM and I went hiking yesterday with our boys and a girlfriend on the Wolfden Loop. We got an early start and saw only 1 group of three hikers on the trail when we started. The trail was in pretty good shape and not too damp in the low areas. The weather was nice and we had a great time.It's been a long time since we did a family activity like this. We stopped for a couple of photo ops along the way. I wish I had brought the tripod so that I could have taken a picture of all of us together.
I was starting to get tired and on the walk back I stepped wrong and turned my ankle. After resting for a while I was ready to go and eat lunch. The round trip took about three hours. We were all quite hungry by the time we got back to the car.
The sandwiches were delicious. The drinks were as cold and refreshing as the water running in the creek. The day was good. We were all pretty quiet on the ride home. I was ready for a nap. But before I did that I iced my ankle and hit the ibruprofen. It definitely paid off. The ankle was stiff this a.m. but it loosened up. No bruising; although there is some swelling. These beautiful flowers remind me that the entire day was worth it.

I found this plan last year and plan to use it as a starting point for our meditation garden. In the area where the bench is located in this illustration will be the back corner of our garden. Other modifications will be made as well.


This is the list of suggested plantings for our part of the country:
A. Eastern redbud (Cercis Canadensis); Alternative: Silverbell (Halesia Carolina) or other small accent tree
B. Hearts-a-bustin (Euonymus americanus); Alternative: Winterberry (hex verticillata) or other specimen plant with winter interest
C. Sugarcane plumegrass (Saccharum giganteum); Alternative: Other tall grass
D. Spoiled horsemint (Monarda punctata); Alternative: Narrowleaf mountain mint (Pycnantheum tenuifolium); non-native options include lavender, sage or rosemary) or other medium-height, scented, woody or herbaceous plant
E. Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia); Alternative: Non-native options include thyme or other groundcover plant
F. Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis); Alternative: Little bluestem (Schyzachirium scoparium) or other small grass

Other Garden Elements:

1. Stone-edged patio (patio surface can be pea gravel, concrete or flagstone)
2. Waterfeature (bowl or fountain)
3. Boulder
4. Bamboo fence, 2’ x 6’ panels
5. Bamboo fence, 2’ x 4’ panels
6. Bamboo fence, 2’ x 2’ panels
7. Candle lantern (or solar light)
8. Stepping stones
9. Entrance
10. Bench

TOM has finsihed the steps up to the garden area. All that's left is to design the compass rose (for the step), fill to level, and plants. Maybe even a fountain. I saw a solar fountain on TV that would be really neat. Maybe a bench of some sort.


Taking the rest of the weekend off. More next time.

Phrases you can be without in Costa Rica

One beer, please Un birra, por favor Where is the bathroom? Donde esta el servicio How much? Cuanto Turn on the [taxi] meter, please Ponga la maria, por favor

Rainy days. . .

Not much going on today. It's 2:00 and I have only been out of my room a couple of times. On one trip out, I saw this very brave squirrel sitting on the back fence (we have two dogs and four cats, two of which are very good hunters). Anyway, he looked so cute I just had to take a photo. So here he is . . .


Maybe tomorrow will be more productive.

The Meditation Garden continues to come together. I have pretty much given my husband carte blanche to do what he wants back there. Pretty suprising because I have very specific ideas about the projects that we work on. He really seems to be enjoying it tho and it's a great way for him to relieve stress.

He got home early and poured the foundation for the compass rose that will be the step up to the 'garden'area.

The compass rose was his idea and will be about 48" in diameter. Now we just have to decide on a design that we both like and is relatively simple to construct. Stencil and paint would be easier and provide more detail than a tile mosaic. Historically, they are blue/green/red on black background.

Here are a couple of examples that I found as a starting point for our design. I especially like this one, but TOM thinks its too busy. This would be very challenging to recreate, but I like it as a starting point for our design.


TOM likes this...as do I. Much simpler design and would be easier to replicate. This example is made of slate which will definitely hold up to the weather.

(I Like to Think) I Saved a Turtle Today!

I go for a walk each day, either during my lunch hour or in the early afternoon to get energized for the rest of the afternoon. Anyway, our campus runs along the river and is a nice place to walk during the spring and fall. In the summer it's a too hot.

Anyway, I was on my way back to work when I spotted a small turtle on the path. Fearing for his life (he was about the size of a 50 cent piece) I picked him up and placed him in the grass on the river side of the path. The rocks in the river are a favorite sunning place for a plethora of turtles. I love to watch them stretch their necks toward the sun as they rest on the rocks.

I pulled this photo from wikipedia until I can post one of my own :)

Update: I took my camera to work today, but the river is up and the rocks used by the turtles sunning are currently submerged. Better luck next time.

Our Bottle Tree:

A bottle tree is a southern garden tradition. The idea is to put bottles on a tree to trap evil spirits. The evil spirits enter the bottle and then they can't find the way out. During the heat of the day, they are destroyed. The bottle tree will be part of the meditation garden that we are building in the back corner of the yard.

We need some fill (about 4 yards, maybe more) and we will need to get creative about how to 'pave' the garden. Do we buy some nice slate, used recycled bricks, or make stepping stones out of concrete? Buying recycled bricks could be almost as expensive as the slate and making stepping stones could be quite labor intensive. I will have to do some more research on our options.

The bottle tree has been moved into position. We plan to cut a door in the back fence to access the area above the retaining wall; as well as hanging lattice panel as a base for some flowering vines ... maybe bouganvilla (sp) or frangipani (sp)...somthing that is pretty and smells good. All this is going on while to plan vacation. I may have to start a new blog for our home improvement projects . . . or maybe not. I have a hard time trying to keep up with this blog.

Later . . .

Check out my Slide Show!

Things to bring:

• Binoculars
• Flashlight
• Camera with extra batteries and SD cards
• Rain gear
• Hiking shoes/boots
• Swim suit
• Light sweatshirt or windbreaker
• Birding list
• Pocket knife
• Insect repellent
• Sunscreen
• Hat
• Day pack
• Plastic bags

We are in the midst of planning the annual vacation. This spring it will be Costa Rica. We are going during the first part of the "Green" read "Rainy" season. Hopefully, it won't be too green as it is still early in the season. We have made our selections as to the parts of the country we want to visit; La Fortuna and Quepos. San Jose (day 1): We plan to spend the first (and last)nite near San Jose. Reservations have been made at the Orquideas Inn. I will let you know about the accomodations upon my return. It looks to be quite a charming hotel and is close to the airport; especially important on departure day. Things to do in the area: The Gold Museum; Cafe Britt Farm (for coffee), La Paz Waterfall Gardens. La Fortuna (days 2 thru 5): Reservations have been made at the Arenal Observatory Lodge. Our room has a view of the volcano. With any luck, we will have the nightly glow of lava from our room. Things to do in the area: Lake Arenal; bird watching; hiking; Cloud Forest; Hanging Bridges; Hot springs. Quepos: (days 6 thru 9): Resversations have been made at the the Mono Azul (the Blue Monkey). I love that name. It is very near Manual Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast. Things to do in the area: the beach; wildlife; horseback riding; canopy tours. No matter what we do, it will be a great time.

June Already

Jeez, I can't believe that it is June. I have not been here in quite a while. Busy with work, etc. Any excuse will do, right? Anyway, I just returned from a week in my home state of Minnesota. It was my parents 50th wedding anniversary and we had a big blowout for them. We were so busy hosting the party that we did not get many pics. Before we left however, I did create a short dvd to give to my parents. It is not long, we played it intermittently at the party.

Living with CRUD!!!

I, like hundreds of thousands of citizens, have been suffering from the CRUD. You know, the stuff that clogs your lungs, sinuses, eustachian tubes (they help you keep your balance by the way), and body aches. Well, I don't really have body aches...just arthritis.

I thought I had managed to dodge the bullet, but I started to get clogged up last week. Anyway, I spent my time and money going to the dr. to have him tell me he wasn't going to give me anything for it...my lungs were not that congested.

I would have to agree, we do tend to take too much medication, especially antibiotics.

Moving on to more interesting topics, I just downloaded some cool music...some new...
1. The Guide; Bourne
2. Starlight; Muse
3. Girl; Beck
4. Fidelity; Regina Spektor

and some not so new:
5. Rocket Man; Elton John
6. Black Hole Sun; Soundgarden
7. Nothing Compares to You; Sinead O'Connor
8. Smells Like Teen Spirit; Nirvana

The ability to download music really is the greatest thing. It used to be that you had to buy the whole damn album or tape or CD and more than 50% of the songs were crap. With downloading, you only buy the music you like. You also have the opportunity to listen to obscure artists that you've never heard of before and discover some real jewels. More bang for your buck!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Linwood Cemetary to take some shots of the monuments. This cemetary has been around since 1828 (or something like that).

Here are some of the more interesting shots:

People spend lots of money immortalizing family members that are gone. Some of these monuments are very elaborate.

This one is especially pretty. She is missing a finger tho.

I was quite entranced by her. I wish I had wings : )








These next two shots tell quite a sad tale. Two families, two lost children, eight years apart.

And no parents beside them.

I wonder where they ended up?























This next monumuent was provided by the "Woodmen of the World". Quite the phallic symbol. A great big dick. I did not see the resemblance until I loaded it to this blog...don't turn me in ;)

Bye for now.

TGIF

I wish I could have few weeks of Fridays. It would be nice to take some time for myself but I don't see that happening. I'm the Mom, I am not supposed to have time to myself. And it is too early in the year to start taking my vacation days.

I am still scanning family photos. And the end is in sight. I have about nine albums left. but the photos of Hawaii don't have to be scanned...they are already on CD!

To make my life easier, TOM bought me an external hard drive to storel all the photos, music, and important documents. 320 gigabites...it will definitely take a while to fill that up. I love it already. I could tell that my hard drive was getting slower. Can't have that.

Anyway, of my recent scans, these are some of my favs...taken 1979 and 1980. Sounds like a long time ago...



Chip and Dale

Sean, about 6 months old

Sean, about 6 months old

Sean, about 6 months old

Post post comment: I no longer wish my days (my life) away. I take each day and appreciate it for what it is.

Long Time, No Write...

I have been having alot of connection issues these days. My router is not working properly and then I started having trouble with my modem.

I am still furiously scanning photos, although I am slowing down quite a bit. I knew it would take along time.

Here are a few of my favorites from recent days:

Barb, Alan, and Sean, Colorado, circa 1982
Barb, Alan, and Jeremy, taken by Sean, Switzerland, circa 1983
Sean and Jeremy, Germany, circa 1983
"Pure Joy", Barb and Sean, Colorado, circa 1982

Back to the Grind

It was back to work today. It was nice actually. After the holiday we had, work is definitely better.

TOM did call Mom today to see how everyone was doing. G-ma will go to AZ on Friday as planned. The shingles are clearing up. I'm glad she is going. She is worried about her 91 year old sister.

Mom is reducing the amount of antibiotic. Apparently, it reached toxic levels, so she is down to one dose a day.

Dad is playing nursemaid and doing a fine job. That's good. I don't feel so guilty about not being there. He should take care of Mom. She has been taking care of him for almost 50 years.

I am still scanning photos. I am currently working in 1984, Paris. My kids were young then...so was I. Maybe I need to go back and take another look.


(Photo by TOM)

Christmas in Minnesota

You can't beat it ... Day 1, December 23: Departure from Atlanta uneventful. Traffic from Columbus was light. Economy parking lot full; at least we won’t have to walk so far to retrieve the car. Airport security moved pretty quickly. We got to our gate in record time. Pickup in MPLS uneventful; we actually arrived early. Timing at the baggage claim, good. I would rather wait a few minutes than have Dad circle the airport for an hour…traffic was crazy. Mom was still in the hospital so we went to see her. We were there for about an hour, got lunch to go, and went to the house to see Grandma. She had lunch cooking : ) We ate. My brother brought his extra car for us to use during our stay. He saved us about $300 in car rentals. For this I am grateful. We will spend a few days with him and his family. Does that sound like gratitude? Take his car, move in, and then kick him out of his bed. Went to visit Mom and discuss our options for Christmas Eve dinner. We had to work around her antibiotic schedule…every 12 hours which gave us plenty of time. Day 2, December 24: Called Mom about 9 a.m. The plan was to get her released for the day so we can go to my brother’s for dinner. We received Dr’s approval so we went and picked her up. We were in charge of the ham, so we could not leave till about 2. She could come home for a few hours. It has been two weeks since she was home. After surgery she went to the nursing home for physical therapy. As always, my bro’s house is immaculate. They repainted the kitchen and redecorated. It looks really nice. We will be spending the next two nights with him and his family. It will be fun. Actually, the most fun we had on the entire trip so far. Of course the nephew’s got a lot of really great gifts: Ipods, notebook computers, and some very expensive ski clothes. Mom, Dad, and Grandma left about 6. Mom was tired and Grandma was not feeling well either. My bro’s bedroom is very small. Day 3, December 25: We drove to St. Cloud to spend the day with TOM’s oldest sister and her daughter. We had a lot of fun that day. We visited for an hour and then we decided to try and find some food. Would you believe that the only place that was open was the casino? Well, it was and that was where we ate Christmas dinner. It was pretty good. Being at the casino we had to play. We gave Sis $20…she took home $60. She can really use the money. TOM won $100…paid for dinner. We did not tell my Dad. He would have felt left out. He likes the casinos. Day 4, December 26: Grandma is not well. She has blisters in her mouth and her face is swollen. We spend the day at the emergency room. By the time she gets checked into the hospital is it 6 p.m. We spent the whole day there. Apparently, she has shingles. Very contagious…just like chicken pox in the initial stages. I hope we (me and TOM) don’t have any problems. What a day. Wasn’t this supposed to be our vacation? Day 5, December 27: Mom got sprung. We brought her home about 12:00. We stopped by to see Grandma before we left. She is looking good. We don’t know when she will get out. Dad got home early from work so TOM and I made our escape to visit the brother in law. Anyway, we got to meet the new granddaughter. Pretty baby. We stayed for a couple of hours and then left for the hospital to visit TOM's sister. Seems to be a theme here… We had to drive thru rush hour traffic. Not good when you are not sure where you are. Anyway, we stayed with her for about an hour. She still looks rough, making progress tho. By the time we made it home my G-ma had been sprung. She looked terrible and was not feeling to good either. Hope she gets better so she can travel to Arizona next week. She has a sister that needs some looking after. Day 6, December 28: We spent the day taking care of sick people. Running to the doctor and the pharmacy, cooking, laundry, grocery shopping. I worked harder this trip than I ever do at home. Only one more day till I can head for home. Bro and his family came over to visit this evening. It is good to see them again before we leave. Day 7, December 29: We fly home today. We can finally get some rest. I do not even care that our flight is delayed. I am on the road, ready to go home. And it did not snow until the morning of our departure.

Today is my Birthday...

TOM had my youngest son buy me some speakers for the IPOD. It is nice not using the earbuds...they are not comfortable at all. And as my hearing is not too good in my right ear so I don't get the full benefit of them. Because it is my b-day, I told TOM that he had to go shopping with me. And he did, with a smile on his face. I have a couple of things to get my youngest. We are going to do a 7 Days of Christmas for him while we are gone so he won't feel so alone. I am going to hide some little gifts around the house. One for him to find each day that we are gone. We are going to have a beer and pretzel day, a sweet tooth day, a smell good day, a movie day, a money day...I still have to think of a couple of themes. But maybe this is enough. It will put a smile on his face. He doesn't do that enough. It is his b-day tomorrow. We will have some cake and ice cream. His brother is coming from Atlanta to see him. He has to work tho, so we won't have much time to do anything else. Maybe go to lunch. In any event, it will be a nice. Today was gorgeous by the way.

I Love Snowmen . . .

I received these cartoons and I thought they were funny. I do not know the origin so I can't give credit. Enjoy. . .

My mother had a total knee replacement yesterday. The surgery went will until the doc realized that he knicked an artery in her leg...They had to call in a vascular surgeon to fix it. Because of the little mishap she had to spend the night in intensive care. I called for an update today to see how see was doing and she is doing well. I did not get to talk to her tho. My bro is an RN so he was there to check up on her. He said she is doing fine and has a nice nurse to take of her. I really feel sorry for my Dad. He is not good at waiting at hospitals and I am sure that yesterday was hell for him. He got thru it tho. I bet he was really happy when the nurses told him to go home.

From the Urban Dictionary...Definition of coolbeans 1. Ultimate synomym of cool 2. When something is uber cool 3. WWII era slang for cool 4. When you don't want to say warmbeans

Christmas is fast approaching. Three weeks but I have finished my shopping. I still have to purchase a leather jacket for my son, but at least I know what I am looking for. It's not like I have to find it. I mailed the box of gifts to my Mom's house yesterday. I did ensure the package, but I sent it the cheapest way possible. One option would have been almost 50.00. That is more than I spent for any one gift in the box. We are traveling to MN on the 23rd...leaving from Atlanta...Do I need to say more? I can only hope that the weather is good at both ends, so at least that won't be a reason for delay. I will also be bringing my notebook and some dvd's so if I do get caught in the airport, I will have something to do. My boys are not traveling with us as they both have to work before and after Christmas. I did purchase a small fiber optic tree so that it would feel a bit more like the holiday. We will celebrate here on the 19th or 20th. It will be strange, but it is the best I can do, I promised my Mom I would be home for the holiday. Well, I better get to scanning. I still have a lot of photos to go. Of course I can always read a book, but when I get tired of doing that.

Love in Black and White TOM and I went Christmas shopping yesterday and we were able to get most of it finished. At least everything that needs to go to MN. We are traveling for the holiday along with millions of other Americans. I can only hope that we survive the trip. I do have one son that I still have to shop for. He is 23 years old and whenever we ask him what he wants he has no answer. I can always buy him clothes, but he never seems to wear them. I can’t figure out his style. He did admit that he would like a nice leather jacket...if he can pick it out. At least that is something. I am also working on a trapeze photo collage. I am using b/w photos of my parents, grandparents, and in-laws, as well as my brother and me and TOM. I am including them here for your viewing pleasure…if I can keep the wireless connection open long enough to get the photos uploaded…. Wish me luck ! This is a photo of TOM and me on our happy day. My dad doesn't look to happy. Neither do I for that matter, but that was 30 ago and we are still togther. TOM's mother tried to talk him into leaving the morning of the wedding...she told him he had plenty of time to leave...now that's a mother-in-law for you : ) This is a photo of my Mom on her wedding day. For the ife of me, I cannot find the photo of her and Dad together. I am sure that thru the process of scanning and archiving all of the family photos I will find it. I can then put it in it's rightful place in the collage. This is my Mom's parents. I love this photo. They divorced when I was a child, but it is nice to see them at a time when they were happy together. My grandmother is still alive and kicking...and pretty active too. My grandfather died when I was 12. This is a photo of my Dad's parents on their 45th wedding anniversary. My Grandma had cancer, and they didn't think she would make to the 50th anniversary, so they had the party early. By the way, she did make to her 50th wedding anniversary and we had another big blow out for them...: ) This is a photo of my brother and his wife. They have been together for about 15 years now and have two great boys. We plan to spend a lot of time with them this holilday season. And last, but not least, this is my in-laws. As you can see, they had a simple, civil ceremony. They are both gone now and greatly missed. Although, I never forgave her for trying to talk TOM into leaving on our wedding day : )

It's Beginning to Feel alot Like Christmas... I haven’t been here for a few days. I have been busy scanning photographs. I am sure that my husband thinks that I am crazy. Trying to decide what to do for Christmas gifts this year, I don’t want to spend too much money. I will probably give money to the boys…make it easy on myself. I did talk TOM into going shopping tomorrow. It should be an interesting day . . . There was an article about snowflakes in the one of my magazines. I didn’t realize that you could photograph snowflakes (with the right equipment of course). Check it out if you have time, the flakes are really quite beautiful, www.snowcrystals.com. These are a few of my favorites.

I Love My IPOD... I finally ordered an IPOD a week ago. I decided to get the Nano...I hope 2 gigs is enough. Anyway, I ordered it online for the same price as wally world, but my name is engraved on it and I did not have to pay shipping. I know I should have waited till my bday. TOM would have purchased it for me, but I did not feel like waiting. Anyway, it arrived within 2 days and every day a load one of my cds to the computer to add to the library. I am still trying to figure out how to keep some tracks from loading to the POD, because they are not my favorites. I don't necessarily want the entire album. I will figure it out. Only 2 days til Thanksgiving. We are going to have the requisite turkey and mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, mincemeat and pumpkin pies, and watergate salad (only with french vanilla pudding mix). Wally world was out of pistacio pudding mix. I will just add some green food color...the boys will never know the difference : ) I hope not anyway...later.

"The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd "Something struck me then: I'd never done any of those things my mother had done. Never danced on a beach. Never made a bonfire. Never waded into the ocean at night with laughing women and tied my life to theirs."

My Life Today I slept good last night. I ate fajitas and refried beans for lunch today with the data migration team. They are more fun than the A&C team. I ate oriental grilled chicken and fried rice for dinner by myself. I bought a Seacret From the Dead Sea hand care kit at the mall. I bought a box of artificial snow for TOM. He will really get a kick out of this. My son broke up with his girlfriend of five years. Work is good. I drove to the mall by myself. The first time in three days I have been alone. Except for when I am in my room. I did not overeat today. I have been eating too much the last couple of days. My sister in law is tired. I got a new toothbrush. I watched Dog the Bounty Hunter. I called TOM three times today :-) I called my son to let him know I am there for him.

I'm a Traveling (Wo)Man Back in B'ham again. We went to 'Brio Tuscan Grille' for dinner. The food was pretty good. I had italian salad and balsalmic marinated chicken with vegetables. I also ordered dessert...to go. The Apple Crisp, although they don't give ice cream on the to go orders. Melted ice cream would have better than no ice cream...see previous post if you don't know what I mean. I have a feeling that it would have been better with ice cream, even if it was melted. TOM did a small project for me today. He added a sliding pull out shelf to the computer cabinet. It turned out pretty good. It will make it much easier when scanning the multitude of family photos that I am archiving. TOM did a previous upgrade to the cabinet. He dropped down the front of the drawer to make a handy dandy desk top. This was a cabinet that came from my grandmother. It was not very attractive and I hadn't used it in a long time. It has been in the garage. Anyway, after the remodel last year we have room in the house for it and I needed something to store all of my electronic gadgets. A computer desk that looks like furniture. It needs a paint job now, but I will have to do that myself, TOM doesn't want to paint it. This is a photo of my grandparents, Beatrice and Thomas Barth, on their 50th wedding anniversary. I choose not to tell you how many years ago this photo was taken, except that I was still single. And that's all I going to say about that. Anyway, here I am in my hotel room. I have made the requisite phone call to TOM to let him know that I arrived safely. He was in bed, preparing to go to sleep. He's an early to bed kind of guy. And of course, because I was otherwise engaged, I missed the first half of the Amazing Race. It's usually pushed back because of a football game or some other sporting event on the tube, but today it starts on time. Figures. Anyway, I got to watch the second half.

I Scream, You Scream... We all scream for ICE CREAM! Every day is a good day if you have ice cream. My favorite ice cream flavors are: White Chocolate Raspberry (Brewsters) White Turtle (Brewsters) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Blue Bell) Vanilla Bean (Blue Bell) Tin Roof (Blue Bell) more to come.

Photo Archiving I have begun the long and arduous task of scanning all of my assorted family photos and documents. I am going to try to scan for an hour each day, then name the photo, and place in the right folder. Then the photo can be placed in the appropriate storage box. It is going to take quite a long time. But if I do it in bits and pieces so I don't get burned out I will get it done. Once all the photos are scanned, I am going to buy an external hard drive for storage. That way, if there is ever a fire, all I have to grab is the drive. Having all the photos scanned will also make it easier to create the photo cd's for my boys. I have so many projects these days, the TOM will soon begin to believe that he is single again. I have tried to get him involved in the scanning, but he is really not interested. Well, that's it for today. I have to watch "Dancing with the Stars".

America... ...the band not the country. On Friday nite, TOM and I went to the show. I must admit that it was pretty good. I bought the tickets for TOM because he really likes this type of music…the type that I usually have little time for. Anyway, I tried to take some photos, but of course it was too dark in the theatre and we were too far back for the flash to do any good. We had good seats, but not good enough. Of course, that did not stop other attendees from flashing the band thru the entire show. Don’t these people realize that the flash on your pocket digital camera is not worth a damn if you are farther then 15 feet (or less) from you subject. Anyway, there was so much flashing going on that I am surprised that the rest of us didn’t have a seizure. The show was good, I wish I had the set list. They played two or three songs from the new album as well as their old favorites: Sister Golden Hair, Horse with No Name, Lonely People, and Ventura Highway just to name a few.

Procrastination...Or Is It Exhaustion? I have been neglecting my blog responsibilities lately. But I have been so busy at work that the last thing I want to do when I get home is work on the computer. I am actively pursuing new job opportunities at work. I have identifed a number of positions in which interest me and have been working on my resume. I would like to continue in the temporary position that I am in right now, but there are no positions available. So I will be applying for a training, project analyst, and business analyst position. I want to continue to travel, so the training positon might be the best opportunity for that. We have finalized our plans for the Xmas holidays. We will be flying north on the morning of Dec 23 and return home on Dec 29. It is only a week, but I think that is enough. As it is, I may have to stay at my bro's house, because my grandma (bumble bee below) has moved in with my parents for the winter. I hate to be away from my boy's for Xmas, but we will celebrate early. They will be working anyway on Xmas Eve. I told them that they can spend the day together on Christmas. Anyway, the airline reservations are made and the car is confirmed. Now I just have to get shopping. Alot of small, easy to carry gifts...or maybe we will have to head right to the Mall of America to do our shopping before we head to the house. Sounds like a good idea, but in reality it is probably not. Can you imagine the number of people shopping??? We would probably have to park in Wisconsin.

Traveling Can be Expensive...

... and not just for the company. We finished our session early today so I had some time to burn. I went back to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge to see if I could get some more shots.

I walked a short trail to get some exercise after sitting all day. I got a few good shots. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet.

The trail was covered with the fern-like leaves of the cypress trees . . .


After that I headed for the mall. They actually have a pretty nice mall here. Prices were pretty good too. That's what I meant about travel being expensive. See, last week I was overdressed for the group. This week I was under dressed for the group so I thought I could find something to wear that was more appropriate.

I found a great skirt for like $12 and a pair of gauchos for $10. I found a couple of great shirts at another store. So I got some more exercise and so did my wallet. At least I will feel more comfortable in the meeting tomorrow.

My cold is almost gone. Still coughing some, but not too bad. I will be glad to get home. I just want to crawl into my bed and stay there. At least Saturday and Sunday. Read, sleep, and watch movies. Tom will be hunting, so I will have the whole house to myself.

Buzzzzzzz! We just returned from Minnesota yesterday. My husband's sister is sick and her husband was worried that she might not make it. She has been hospitalized before, but she did not want him to call anyone in the family, so he didn't. Of course, he had to go and see her. In a selfish moment, it allowed me the opportunity to go and see my mother, who was recently released from a convelesant center after breaking her arm and leg. Mom is doing well and my sister-in-law is stable. I guess that is all we can ask for. Speaking of my parents, they will use any excuse to go the the casinos on the Indian Reservation in Mille Lacs. My grandmother got sick and ended up the hospital in Aitken, MN, so of course we had to go see her. She is 87 after all. This is a photo of her 2 years ago... Anyway, we drive right by the casino on the way to and from Grandma's. I guess it is a good place to forget your troubles for a while. It was good for Tom, he tends to get melancholy in situations like this. We are home now. Well, Tom is. I am in Decatur for work. Speaking of work, I better make some preparations for tomorrow. I am supposed to lead the sessions tomorrow. Have never done it before...this should be really interesting. Stay tuned...

TGIF It's been a while since I've been here. I've been so busy at work that the last thing I wanted to do in the evening is sit in front of a pc and type. (I'm a technical writer.) However, I felt the urge to scribe this evening. I spent some time editing some of my photos...trying to decide which one to print and donate to a silent auction at work. The money we raise is donated to a scholarship fund for the children of our employees. I think this is the photo that I am going to submit. The "A" Train What do you think? I think it looks pretty cool. See the pedestrian on the right side? I didn't realize he was there until I blew it up and changed it to black and white. Now I don't consider myself a good photographer, but every once in a while I get it right. Framing will be very important. It has to be right. If it looks really good, I may have print a version for myself. This was taken on my recent trip to NY. I have always enjoyed photography. And I have had any number of cameras. I think my first was a kodak pocket instamatic. Boy, I loved that camera. I still have the photos that I took with that thing. But I don't have the camera. I think my boys got hold of it. I also have a nice canon ae1 program 35mm with several lenses, but I rarely use that anymore. We purchased in like 1978 or 79. It is a good camera and I just had it refurbished. Gosh, I guess it was three years ago, because I bought a digital for my trip to Hawaii last year. I have to admit I really like digital photography and I want to get a nikon f70 so that I can have interchangable lenses. I have a good camera now, but that is the one limitation...only one lense, no filters... I also need to get a good tripod.