A day

Truck window drive by photography. A little old shack. I hope to see more.

There's the cutest basset hound puppy next door. His ears drag on the ground.

We made it to our destination at 4:00pm. It's like déjà vu all over again!

When we left the other day I did something I never do. I knew they gave no refunds here but I was so sad about leaving that I worked up the courage to go and ask if they might give me a night free at least. We paid for three nights and stayed for only one. I hoped that if I got anything at all that I could convince my husband to come back. A Christian family runs the campground and the sign out front says God Bless. I didn't expect I'd get anything because I'm one of those people who has a naturally guilty looking face. Ever since I was a kid I've had the kind of face that looks like I did it even if I didn't. Well, I went ahead and asked her and I saw the wheels in her mind a-turning as she sized me up. Then she said, okay. Wow! I was happy! This brand of campground puts it in black and white, No Refunds Ever. Thinking it over, I think it did not hurt that I was dressed modestly. I think the Holy Spirit whispered in her ear, She's being honest, give this sister a break.. Either that or the fear of having to get a possible colonoscopy showed on my face. Haha!

When we returned today she asked me how I was. She was so nice. And she asked if we homeschool and I said yes. I do wonder how people know or guess we homeschool. It happened just the other day too except the last person stated plainly, "You homeschool." The lady here told me she homeschooled her two children. The other lady was very pro-homeschool. The way she stated it I wasn't sure at first. So, do we look like fruits and nuts? Do I look like a granola mom?

There's gonna be church here at the outside pavilion tomorrow. I'm all freshened up and washed my hair tonight. Life. Is good!

Sweet

Our son gave me flowers today. Lil' punkin. I think they're chrysanthemums. Yellow. As he handed them to me his face was as bright as the mums.

I'm making some Pillsbury cinnamon orange rolls for us now. We haven't had any for a long time. Last time I made them was in our old trailer.

Oops. Back in Nashville.

I had to go to the doctor. Again. We drove five hours to come back. Turns out I have one of the most common side effects from using Clindamycin. Clindamycin kills off bacteria both good and bad, so my good bacteria, being wiped out, could not fight the bad bacteria and the bad bacteria took over my colon. It's a powerful antibiotic and should never have been prescribed to me for a bladder infection in April. It's not for bladder infections! No wonder it worked so slowly. I've lost all faith in urgent care. It seems like a good concept but twice I got doctors who were not knowledgeable. The physician I saw today said, "That's urgent care." I hope never to have to go urgent care again.

I have C. diff. It can be downright painful. I could feel a cramp thinking about coming on and it would take its time then wrench my abdomen. In addition, it is definitely gross. The physician gave me a prescription with a refill. He says I may likely need to take it for more than 10 days, so that's why the refill for another 10 days. He was a fantastic doctor. He's a Libertarian and very active in politics. My mom recommended him to me and I can't thank her enough. But since he knows my mom I think he figured I'm like her. My mom is very bright, talkative, curious, smart. Way. Smart. I'm educated too but I'm no mathematician. That gene skipped my generation. My mom is cerebral and has a depth of knowledge that I lack. So anyhoo, he started talking about things that I have no idea what he was saying. Man, I was doing my best to look intelligent. On the inside I was screaming, "Think of something to say! Think of something to say!" But alas, I came up with nothing. My mom is a trip. It makes me appreciate her.

Talked to my cousin on the phone tonight. It was like we never skipped a beat. It was like we haven't stopped talking for three years. It was kinda cool. I'm going to see her tomorrow afternoon.

The plan is to go back to Smoky Mountains on Saturday. Oh how I hope I will be well soon. The doctor said I won't get this C. diff again after I finish the meds and it is fine for me to travel. I was afraid I might get it over and over but he said no. He did say not to take any antibiotics for awhile after this.

We're here. We're somewhere!

Finally. We're in a new place ready for a new experience. It's the Great Smoky Mountains! We'll be driving in tomorrow morning early. It's free too. It's the only national park with no entrance fee. There's a story there but I have to go read it again.

So we got our site today and this evening we drove through Gatlinburg real quick which is right at the entrance of the park. It's an upscale, beautiful, tourist town. It's kind of like a Palm Springs of Tennessee - verrry nice. It has lots of eateries, quite a few pancake houses we noticed, Baskin Robbins, Ripley's Believe It or Not, a wax museum, t-shirt shops. We drove straight through and the road enters the national park and it was evening, not quite dark, but in the forest it was completely dark! So we quickly turned around. The forest is scary at night kind of the same way the ocean is scary at night.

We're looking forward to waking in the morn and seeing the Smokies in the early light. We saw mist! There's lots of mist exactly like I've read about. Wow.

Leaving Nashville

We're leaving Nashville tomorrow morning. Today we went to Opryland and walked around the atriums. It's huge. The convention center is there and the hotel and places to eat. We walked through the Delta Atrium and the Cascades Atrium. The flowers and foliage are impressive. We didn't see anyone working in the gardens but everything was perfect - the dirt was perfect, the flowers were perfect, the windows were clean. I didn't see a single dead plant! It's enclosed and I have no idea how they keep the glass roof so clear. The hallways are positively opulent. Imagine the hotel rooms!

I'm disappointed I missed church yesterday. We could have gone to Cowboy Church which I wanted to experience, or we could have gone to listen to Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Drats.

Remember, our satellite dish quit working. I will post again when we have a connection. I think there is one where we're going, but I'm not sure. We're going to Gatlinburg, TN. Hopefully, we will see the Great Smoky Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains will see us. Ciao!

I feel better

Woohoo! My mom has the same thing I have so that means it's not the clindamycin. It's a bug. A regular old everyday abdominal bug. Boy am I glad. Hopefully I won't have to go to a doctor.

I have new Playtex gloves. Ever since they came out with the pink I've bought nothing but pink. The other day my husband found a purple pair for me! Now I can't wait to get a hole in my pink ones so I can use my new purple ones! Happy is the woman who washes dishes in purple Playtex gloves.

Tonight I made chicken noodle soup and it turned out very well. Homemade chicken soup will cure what ails you. Yep, it do.

It rained much of last night and on and off through the day.

The campers across from us are in gigantic motor homes and they sit in a semi-circle outside their rig watching tv. They smoke and eat and ride an electric golf cart around the campground. Even the young girls in the family are overweight. (One is on her cell phone at the moment.) I think it's so sad. The new rigs all have tv for outside viewing. I woke at 6:00am to the yammering sound of their television and it has been on literally all day long. Well, I guess camping means different things to different people.

Dish went out

Terrible news. Either our modem or router or maybe even something else has gone out. Kaput. We're dependent upon campground Wi-fi now. Plus, now something else is wrong with me. If I'm not better by Tuesday I'll have to find a doc. I think it's from that stupid clindamycin they gave me in San Diego. I'm getting awful painful cramping. Why am I all fragile? How can I do a walking tour through D.C. when I'm like this? I can't. It's all bad.

Dishes and trees

A satellite dish and tree canopy is not a good match. We found a gorgeous state campground in Tennessee on Monday but we had to move. Our satellite dish won't work in the trees and lemme tell ya, they got alotta trees in Tennessee; big, tall, and bright green. There's so much green here I almost had to make this photo black and white.

The weather is lovely. The humidity hasn't set in so it's perfect weather.

The highlight of our week is that our wonderful dentist got us in with a week's notice and once we got here he got us all done in two days. They gave us the appointments that got canceled. They are so kind. This dentist is the best dentist for kids too. His shots don't hurt. He's remarkable. We had a dentist in California who touted himself a specialist in childrens dentistry but our dentist in Nashville puts him to shame. The one in California, we found to be condescending toward the children. I hate condescension toward youngsters. It's so insulting. We wondered if we were the only ones who noticed it.

Our son had three cavities and I had three and my husband had none. My mouth was numb all the way up to my nose and we went to Golden Corral for dinner. Have you heard of the Golden Corral? It's a restaurant with a gigantic buffet. There are all kinds of meats and veggies and desserts. I can't believe what a spread of food they have there. We've gone twice already. It's so good! Tonight was less than satisfying for me though because I thought I could chew okay but found I had to be real careful not to bite myself. I ate so carefully I gave myself a headache afterward. The best part of my meal was two dark chocolate cupcakes for dessert.

On the drive here we saw a lot of armadillos on the side of the road dead. I hear they're slow so they get hit a lot. I saw one whose body looked perfect but I think he was dead. It's really sad. They're so cute and such unique creatures. I don't take pictures of dead things.

We're on our way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morn. My dear cousin decided to go out of town this week-end so I can't see her till Monday I guess.

Arkansas

We're definitely in the Bible belt. Definitely. If you're getting fuel and wanting to get some of God's Word, stop at the Flying J. Or take your pick, there are all kinds of sermons going on on the radio Sunday morning. Knock me over with a feather, this morning my husband said to get one of Pastor Mike's CDs and let's listen to him while we drive. Amen and amen!

I'm terribly sleepy. We have one more day of long driving. Tomorrow we'll hit Nashville. It's about 350 miles from here. We'll see my mom, my cousin, and the dentist. I haven't spoken to my dear cousin in some three years. I invited her to my blog once. She read a little and then I never heard from her. I wrote and asked what she thought about my cool blog and she said it was very entertaining but the Christian content turned her stomach. I was deeply hurt! I've since gotten over it and have wanted to call her many times. Now, I'm going to her house. That's better than a phone call, right? I hope so. If you see any fireworks that'll be me and my favorite cousin dukin' it out on her front porch! She can't stand hopped up conservative Christians of which I am one.

Oklahoma and maybe a life change

Taken through the windshield. Raindrop blur at bottom.

We didn't see a Welcome to Oklahoma sign. My husband said Oklahoma saved up its money for an awesome rest stop. This is the entrance. Purty nice signage!

We drove in some wind and some rain today. We were in rain three times. At least it wasn't all day so that's good. It's very green here.

We're staying at a small RV park next to the old Route 66. The I-40 has been right next to the old 66 for a long ways. The little lady who owns this place was sweet as can be. She doesn't take debit cards so we were collecting the cash between the three of us, $23.00, and for a minute we only had $22.00 and she said that would do. Awful sweet of her. We gave her the $23.00 though.

Tonight my husband said he had something to say. When he says this I stop and listen. I stopped washing dishes, took off my pink Playtex gloves, took my iPod thingies out of my ears, and looked at him. I know him by now. And tonight he said this might be our last year of travel and we might start thinking about getting a house. The king of our family has spoken! So I'm a little excited and a little blue, but he always makes wise decisions for us. He's always changed jobs at the right time, bought and sold the house at the right time, moved our money at the right time. In retrospect, all of his decisions for us have been sound. I wouldn't think to argue. Well, unless I had a good argument, and I don't. He said he thinks the low fuel prices are an anomaly and they won't last. I think he's right. This year we've been able to fuel up twice for the same amount one fill-up cost last year. He said Oklahoma has the lowest fuel prices. I never thought I'd see prices this low again in my lifetime! It sure is nice. I will appreciate this summer knowing it may the the last of its kind.

What I want is a view of the lake. Can we get what I want? Is it in the realm of possibility? What I want is small. My best wish would be 1000 square feet. Most things with views are very big, rather grand; multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, and ginormous garages. But I want to continue a life lived small. Could I have a very small house with a very large window? Is my desire possible? Does it exist? Does it exist?

Lord, does it exist?

Tucumcari, NM

It was a nice drive today. We enjoy the desert scenery. We'll miss it. There was a wild wind here in the late afternoon, luckily after we were off the road. It was a warm wind and there were great, gray clouds, billowy white at the top, in the sky.

At dinner my husband asked us what was our favorite part of the day. Actually first he talked about the meaning of happily ever after. We talked about that for awhile and it led to our favorite part of today. His was how well the truck pulled the trailer. There was a long incline and the truck had no problems with the pull. Our son's favorite part was buying a decorative cedar box with a picture of horses on the lid from one of the truck stops. He had seen one like it at another Flying J store a month or so ago and coveted it ever since. He got money for his birthday and spent $20.00 of it on the box. It's smells so nice. I was surprised he spent so much on it. He really wanted it. My favorite part was when they went into McDonald's to get breakfast, and as I sat in the truck I observed the sparrows making a delicious morning meal of the insects on the front grill of the semi-truck next to us. I thought about sparrows in the Bible. It says God knows every hair on our heads, He forgets not a single sparrow, and He values us above the sparrow so we should not be afraid. I imagined myself a sparrow. I thought about how sparrows don't know about the Bible and how I wouldn't like to eat insects. Blech!

Tomorrow we're going through the panhandle of Texas and into Oklahoma. We're not looking forward to driving through Memphis in a couple days. Eeek.

My husband told me to go to bed. We need an early start tomorrow. Ciao!

Travel day

Tomorrow I'll be getting up at 8:00am. Hopefully we'll be on the road by 9:00am. I think we're driving to the other side of New Mexico - the east side.

Have a great Friday!

I got one done

Finally. One, entirely, complete leaf earring.

I'm teetering. I'm on the brink of insanity. I'm starting the second one now. Actually, it's a third one because the first one I made I need to tear apart because now it's not good enough to match this excellent one.

When the earring moves in the light, I think the beads glitter!

Uh

I can't get the sewing needle through the dried glue?

Tried glue

I made two more leaves tonight. Since the sewing on the first one looks so sloppy because I couldn't hold the tiny o-ring and two leaves together and see what I was doing at the same time, this time I dabbed a bit of glue between the two leaves and another dab on the o-ring. I'll let it dry overnight and tomorrow I'll sew them all together and the plan is that they won't constantly slip out of my fingers.

My husband says we can stay at Devils Tower in Wyoming for ten days. Hoooweee! I'm joyful. Prairie dog town here I come!

I washed and measured my hair today and it's 42.5. I hadn't updated my hair log for quite sometime. My ends are still straight across and lookin' pretty nice.

Well. It was a slow day.

Dentist

I need three appointments but I was only able to get one so far. We'll have our son go in first because our dentist in Nashville is just the best. Last filling our son got he didn't even feel the shot of Novocaine. That's a good dentist! Hopefully there will be some cancellations so husband and I can get in too. Our son will be getting braces later this year so he needs his teeth in a state of readiness.

My husband. He said my corner where I sit will turn into a rat's nest if I keep my current CDs in a pile here. He's got a nerve! I've gotta import them to my iPod. I'm unaware as to how papers, CDs, manila envelopes, drinking glasses, ear buds, pens and newspapers collect here but they're all things of interest and things I'm doing. I'm very active in this corner you know. If I put it all away I'll never get anything done.

My iPod froze up on me tonight. That was an hour wasted. One full hour of pure unadulterated stress. Finally I figured it out and it wasn't frozen at all. There's a minuscule micro slider button on the bottom. It's a lock that I must have inadvertently touched. All this time I had no idear there was a button there. Do the young, hip, technology people intentionally mess with us older people whose eyes are no longer sharp? I think they're stickin' it to me!

Three more sleeps and we start the traveling year. Good golly Miss Molly! Our plans have firmed up a bit and we're heading to Tennessee on our way to Pennsylvania (Gettysburg). We won't be spending a month in Wyoming. KOA Campground at Devils Tower, one of my absolute favorite places in the USA, has raised their fees. It will now cost us $1,290.00 to stay for one month. What? If I pay that much for a month's stay I better have a porcelain toilet instead of a plastic one and mints on my pillow at night. Needless to say, we may not stop there at all or if we do, only for a few days. I do love Wyoming. :(

I'm sleepy

I'm up too late again. I'm such a late bird.

Got my books from Amazon.com today and it looks like a truck ran over them. Why did Amazon send me my books like this? The covers are dirty, one is missing its placemarker ribbon and the other is crushed and ripped on the inside cover. Why would any human put those in a box and mail them to a customer?

A good day

[Myheart. Ourheart.]

I woke up. I had my favorite breakfast, coffee and toast. Got dressed in my new skirt and blouse, put my hair in a Chinese bun with my purple hairstick from Fox and we went to church. I, fully content with the fact that I got to tithe the amount from the date we left including every Sunday up to today. I had told my husband we didn't have to since we've been hemorrhaging money on account of me going to the doc's four times in six weeks. But I woke and there were the funds on my keyboard. It was the bestest Mother's
day present. I was surprised!

I fixed myself grilled cheese and Campbell's chicken soup for lunch and husband prepared gourmet macaroni and cheese with spinach for dinner. After dinner our son gave me a ginormous chocolate chip cookie and hand made card. During the evening he ate most of my cookie. Hehe! I could only eat a little bit. It was soft and delicious like I like it. Helen is so sweet to have made it with him for me.

The spinach in the microwave caused the A/C compressor to turn off again. Again it was like a hot box in here. Again we went for a drive. This was the most interesting part of the day. We drove to the far campground and found Speedy and Cheryl were there! Speedy is named Speedy because when he was 12 he was the fastest newspaper boy of any of the newspaper boys. He's not fast anymore and he has a bad cough. They pull their fiver with a semi. We visited for half hour then said good-bye. Cheryl talked to Reta just an hour before we got there. Reta's dear Jack died two years ago. No, it was three years ago. Where does the time go? She moved to Oregon and bought a condo but she's not happy. She's got the itchy feet but is hesitant to travel on her own. I wonder what she'll do.

On our way home two women were waving their arms and crying in the middle of the road. As we approached I hoped they didn't have a gun or anything. They didn't. I worry too much. Their car got stuck in the sand and Crazy Wayne was there. He was wearing a coat and underwear and a gray afro from the '60s and they were scared. A man before us had stopped to help them, but their cell wasn't working. We let them use ours. They asked if we'd drive them to town to get a tow and we said sure. So they jumped in and we drove. It was a mom and about a 15 year old daughter I'd guess. As we drove we saw a tow truck approaching. We all waved at him frantically (well we ladies did) and we both stopped on the road and talked through the windows. Apparently the man who first stopped to assist them contacted a tow company already! They thanked us, hopped out and got in the tow truck. They were pretty scared but they would be okay. They had two strong men to help them and they'd be out of the sand before dark set in. We got home and the inside of the trailie was comfy cool. I didn't have to do dishes because it was Mother's Day.

It was a good Mother's Day. Year: two thousand and nine. How many more will there be?

One good, one not

I found two sterling silver earring tops that look good with my leaves so I sewed the leaves together and sewed the o-rings on too. One earring turned out well and one not well. Give me a big tissue. Waaah. I can't tear it apart without complete ruination of the earring. I'll have to sew two more leaves and try again. I think I might put a dab of glue on them this time before I sew. They're very wiggly to hold, and the stitches are so tiny. I realize now it's gong to be hard to make the two earrings look similar. The two I have now are dissimilar. Can't wear them. This is why 99% of the Russian leaf earrings I've seen are singles. Ahhh yes, now I see the truth!

In other news, I've been meaning to do my toenails for three weeks. I've got to get that done tomorrow.

I'm organized

Last night I spent a couple hours cleaning out and organizing all my beading stuff. Our son helped me a lot. He took apart anklets and eyeglass leashes and earrings, unsuccessful beginnings, so I can keep the beads I don't want to part with. I found beads I forgot I had. I came across some Swarovski bicone beads in the bottom of one bag. I was completely refreshed but too tired to bead anything by the time I finished. Ha!

Saguaro

Catalina State Park, Arizona. May 2009
Nice park. Lots of saguaro. Nice trails. We only walked the one mile birding trail because of the heat but we thoroughly enjoyed it.



"Hey, hey, help! I'm all by myself out here!"

This park is unusual because literally across the street from the entrance there's a Wal-Mart, Petco, a shoe store, and two Walgreen's within three miles. Oh, and housing. Tons of housing everywhere. As we looked for the park we thought, Oh no, are we spending the night in the city in a state park? This is too weird.

But the park was lovely and we didn't hear traffic noise. Arizona is so lucky they staked out the area for a state park. It's eight square miles, north of Tucson (what, one foot from the city boundary?) has archaeological sites, and lots of bird life. The bird songs we heard were great!

The park was especially refreshing after Benson, Arizona, where we spent the night at an RV park. We called it the campground of the dead. It's one of those places that look perfect, not a pebble out of place, but look out. They won't come out and tell you forthright, but they're not child friendly. Example, my son and I went to use the jacuzzi one evening. No one was in the pool or the jacuzzi. No one was in sight anywhere in the whole park in fact. We were in for ten minutes when a man appeared and told us we had to get out. He said children under age 18 aren't allowed in the jacuzzi. I checked afterward and the sign said no children under 14 without parental supervision. He said sorry, but he wasn't sorry. They'd rather the amenities sit unused, than have a child use them. My husband was hot, as in not happy.

Our current plan is to leave here Friday morning and venture towards Gettysburg. My husband has wanted to see Gettysburg for years. There's an excellent historical novels called Killer Angels and if you want to get some history on the Civil War it's the book to read. It was so good!

Guess I'll do some beading now. I have to take a shower too. I better do that first because there are only two and this campground is full. I can't shower in the trailer because we only have water and electric hook-ups here. Have to conserve water. We'll have to button up and make a short trip to the dump station soon. That's a drag.

Well

Driving through southwestern New Mexico last week, side of the road looking out the truck window pic.

**************************************

Went to the doc today, an actual MD, and got a clean bill of health. Technically speaking, or rather, per se, I'm good to go. Nothing's broken the doctor said. Okay, I'll take that. My blood pressure is usually low but it was 132/86. That's the highest I've ever had in my life. I was Mrs. Anxious! I'm glad it's over.

I made another leaf tonight. Stopped at Hobby Lobby, it's Christian owned you know, and bought two earring tops but got them home and neither looks good with the leaves. Boo. I won't be able to wear them right away. Bummer.

The other night I expressed a desire to hear our pastor's sermons when I'm on the road and a friend from church brought me about 15 CDs today. Woohoo! It was sure nice of her. A bunch of them are about the book of Revelation which I know zip about so it oughta be superb listening.

My sister didn't write me tonight. She wrote today though. She didn't have a particularly good day I don't think. She's was happy about getting her nails done though. She gets tired from her job by the end of the week.

It was over 100 degrees today! Our A/C went off for a few minutes and we got hot. Had to go for a drive to cool down a bit. I wore a new blouse and a maxi denim skirt to my appointment today and they're really cute. Everyone is nice to me when I wear them. I wish I could wear them every day.

Progress

She did it! It was no small feat. A Russian leaf with veins. The veins are done with size 15 beads and I only have three colors of those so I lucked out that the silver actually complements the green and brown.

I plan to place the little one on top of the larger one, sew them together, sew an o-ring to the back, and add an earring top. Hope I can find a pretty one at Hobby Lobby tomorrow. None of the ones I have have the connector going the right way for me to connect to the o-ring.

I think the green leaf alone would look nice but the two together gives it an extra "ahhh." Now to start beading a match.

Evidently obsessed

I can't stop with the Russian leaves. I'm still unable to make one with veins. The one I finished (brown one) I am no longer satisfied with. The top didn't turn out nice enough. I simply cannot hang that from my ear and feel good about it. Back to the drawing board. It's pretty but too narrow to add veins in the center. The other one is the pitiful specimen I created in class. What I want to do, like the one I saw at the bead shop, is make two leaves and put one behind the other and sew them together to make one earring. The brown one is a nice shape for the back but I gotta learn enough peyote to get the veins added.

Ordered our curriculum for next school year. They do a sale once a year so I buy in May and it'll be online for me in September and they'll send us the books and consumables in September. I can't believe I'll be teaching 7th grade! Oh my gosh. I sure like teaching. I'd be a teacher if I could have a class of motivated students. In my dreams, I'd like to be an art teacher. Next year I'll be teaching Life Science (we're doing Earth Science this year), English (his favorite subject next to history), and the first of two years of World History (we're doing Civil War up to the modern era this year). Oh and math, but I don't teach math. When I had to start asking my husband for help in about second grade he said he thought he ought to take over. Heh. Good thing.

Our youngest son will be 12 this month and our eldest will be 31 this month.

Youngest made a friend exactly his age when we were in San Diego. He and his family moved to San Diego from Alaska. Said they got tired of not seeing the sun. I can believe that. They were from Eagle River not far from Anchorage. At first he told us he was from Anchorage and I said, man, that's the city all right. Then he said Eagle River and we said oh we've been through there. I'm sure it's just easier to say Anchorage because most people wouldn't know where Eagle River is. Our son and he were texting today. It's nice for him to have a new friend that he has so much in common with. I've ended two sentences with the word with. Am I okay tonight? It's not illegal to end a sentence with a preposition but you should find another way to express your idea because ending with a preposition is generally frowned upon.

Today we visited Tombstone, Arizona. It's so commercial. They want money for everything.

Tomorrow we're driving to New Mexico. I have to get up at 8:00am.

Guess what. I think I'm all well! I have no discomfort. As of tonight I feel safe to say it's all cleared up. I'm doing a happy dance! God is good. He's a little slow, but I guess to Him he's right on time. I prayed through it even when I wanted to lie there like a lump of misery. That's a change because in the olden days I'd just isolate myself. Shouldn't do that. You need to be part of the body, the body of Christ, and accept prayers and ask for them. And be thankful for them. I am. :)

Egret

The stately great egret (from San Diego). He's not a snowy egret because snowy egrets have yellow feet and are smaller birds. The great egret has black feet.

And he did some preening and had an itch to scratch.


I finished one Russian leaf today! It's pretty and it has potential.

I sense success

First a few photos from last week.

A beautiful pelican. It must be a male because he's so colorful.


An angelic face. As we left the beach area there was this one last seal lying on the rocks. She really responded to my sister. More people came over and took photos as the seal responded to my sister's voice.


And a baby.


I got a little over half of one Russian leaf done tonight. I'm excited. Perseverance!

I'm interested in using Skype or something for making calls on the internet and using the web cam. It's my sister's idea. My husband got a new laptop that has a web cam built in. It's quite fun and we're not even connected to anyone but ourselves yet. Haha! I need to make sure that video calls don't use too much bandwidth though since I only get so much per day.

The worst thing happened last week with my sister. We were talking to this girl, I'd guess a college student, Asian, who said she saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in person in La Jolla. As I walked up to my sister who's four years younger than I, the girl said, "Oh is this your mom?" Can I say how this has destroyed my ego? I already had a little ego (ego is different from vanity) and now I have no ego. Pffft. Gone, disappeared, annihilated. I was horrified. I covered my mouth and couldn't move a muscle from pure anguish. And the girl was horrified too. Then she tried to clean up and say she was going to say sister, but the damage was all done. My sister never even smiled and you'd think as a competitive sister she would have. But she didn't. And the girl couldn't apologize enough. I felt bad for her for half a second, but I've felt worse for me ever since. Sigh. In my defense, I didn't feel great, had been in bed the week before, I had my hair in a tight bun, and I have lots of grey hair and my sister has none. She keeps saying that if my hair was down the girl would never have said it. I don't care if my hair was up or down. I felt really bad.

My husband had a dream about me last night. He said men dressed in riot gear, holding both my arms, were escorting me out of a building. I hope it's not prophetic. I'm going on 50 and if I look like 70 someone's going to need riot gear before July 8th.

Beading

I took a class to learn how to make Russian leaves and I still can't make a Russian leaf. The one I made in class was pitiful. I got a little farther tonight but still get an F for fail. I'm going to try again tomorrow. They are so doggone pretty. I've just got to figure it out.

This is a baby squirrel getting the most nutritious meal a baby squirrel can get. Mother's milk develops the myelin that covers the nerves in the brain so this will be a healthy, smart squirrel. I know they're rodents but I like squirrels. And look at his little ear! It's a baby squirrel ear.

Leaving San Diego

This is La Jolla where the extremely wealthy folks live. We had a wonderful day here. The salt air smelled so good and the sound of the ocean waves and wind was music to my soul. When I was 23 I lived a few blocks from the beach and I used to jog three miles of coast, or sometimes I'd just sit in the sand and watch the waves in the evenings after work. Good memories.

See the little cove in the distance. That's were I wanted to go. Those are harbor seals lying about in the sand. When I was young it was a children's beach but sometime back the seals took it over and the people let them have it. I think that's nice. It's a treat to watch them although they don't do much but loll about in the sand and sleep.


See what I mean?


We'll be on the road at 9:00am tomorrow morn. We're off to see the saguaro cacti in Arizona on our way to New Mexico. I've wanted to stop and spend the night with the saguaro for a few years as we always pass them on the drive from New Mexico to California, but the campground has no sewer hook-up and we do like having full hook-ups generally. This year we're going to stop there and spend the night anyways. So spoiled are we. I did see the temp is supposed to be 94 degrees tomorrow so we may not stay a few days if it stays that hot. Saguaro cactus and joshua trees are fascinating. They look like a myriad of figures dotting the landscape, telling their stories. I imagine what each one has to say or what they say to each other.

In 15 minutes it's the first day of May! Happy May! May should be a good month.

Tonight I had one last fling with my sis. We went to Mimi's Cafe and had a dessert. My treat. I left the waitress a $10.00 tip because she was so good and so sweet. My sister can talk and talk she did. We must have been there two and a half hours. She didn't want to leave, I could tell. Finally I said, "Colleen, we can't stay here all night ya know." So we left. She said she admires how I exit and don't do messy good-byes. Hate the messy good-byes, eh? But I admit I teared up as she turned right and I turned left on the road home. I had to shake it off with the radio turned up loud.

She thinks I'll instantaneously be all well when we leave. We shall see.

I feel compelled to say sorry for not posting. If you clicked in all month, I'm sorry about that. Guess I fell off the horse. I don't usually, but hey, even monkeys fall out of trees. Perhaps some things are better left unblogged? I've had a case of the uglies and I hope that'll go away too for goodness sakes.

Oh I have to add - my husband went with me to see my dear old dad today. It was the best visit of all. Husband is my better half you know. Everything is better with him present. Even our son said, "Mamma, you were relaxed." What? Me, relax? Haha! With God all things are possible. My husband hadn't spoken to my pop for over five years.

Sweet, sweet May. Take me away. . . .