Firecrackers Or Gunshots?

All I have on this one is my own piece of the memory.  I am sure I will get some other details by the other participants!

As we have talked about before, the family went camping every Fourth Of July.  This year was a big lake and campsite that was more in the country than the one I talked about before.  Most of the family was there, we had several campers and vehicles.  Two attendees were teens and dating and had left to go to the nearest town for a movie.

I had 3 kiddos.  Youngest was my son, just 2 months old and asleep in one of the campers.  Middle kiddo was a little over 1 and she was with me at the concrete picnic table.  Oldest daughter, 4, was running around playing with the other kiddos. 

It was night, dark and we were most of us, sitting around the table yakking and playing games.  As we were carrying on, we heard from across the way, a few pops.  It was kind of loud, but muffled by the distance.  It resembled the sounds of firecrackers, but yet we all thought, maybe not.  It was fourth of July, so it could have been and probably any one's first impression.  As we talked about it, several agreed it could very well have been small gunshots, like a 22.  Somewhere in all of this, I checked on baby.

So we tentatively continued our activities but all eyes and ears were focused in that direction.  All of a sudden, and I cannot remember what was heard, the men of the group ran around to the other side of the vehicles and campers.  It was out of our sight, but someone soon ran around and told us to stay where we were, rounded up the kiddos and of course let us know what was going on.

A man, came to that side of our campsite and collapsed, he had been shot.  He obviously took off from the other campsite and made it to ours after we had heard what we now knew was gunshots.

Ok, pause for a moment, how did I feel?  I was scared.  I was trying to keep my kids corralled from running around to where the man was laying.  And wondering if the person with the gun was gone, or chasing this man and on his way to our campsite???  It was before everyone had a cell phone, someone left our camp to go and call authorities, I think.  We also could not call the teens to ward them off right now, or later to get the heck back here so we could leave.

Well, it wasn't long until we heard, from the same campsite across the way where the gunshots were, a car or truck, started screeching tires, took off and we could see, winding its way towards our camp.  Ok, stop. 

Was it the good guys or the bad guys?  You cannot help in that situation to seriously consider it was the bad guys.  We nearly yanked our kids arms off, getting them as far away from the front of the campsite and pseudo safely behind trucks and campers.  Pretty much holding our breath and worried about our guys up there with the injured man.

Pretty much we did not know who the injured man was, good guy, one of the bad guys, nothing, really.  The persons screeching up to our camp, claimed to be friends and they loaded up the guy in the vehicle and sped off.  For all we knew it was the people who shot him in the first place and took him to finish him off somewhere!

The authorities came and I totally understand the confusion of witnesses who were there but didn't know what happened exactly and who all the players were!  I believe they were stopped later on the main highway and I do not remember what happened after that to them.  I am sure I will get emails telling me the details.

As for us, we packed up really quick!  Not in the mood to camp anymore.  And wondering, will any of the players come back!?  Then we sat for what seemed like forever, (just enough time for my 1 year old daughter to try to rid herself of her own finger prints by grabbing a lantern glass.)  We were waiting on the teens to lolly gag their way back from the movies.  They were smitten with each other and didn't have a clue what was going on.  They were not in a hurry.  Hahaha, I believe there was some "irritation" voiced towards them on the way home.  Daughter of grandpa and her new boyfriend, yep.  They later married and still are to this day.

I am not sure we went back to that campsite, ever again.  Man, we had fun on our camping trips!!!!  We were then forever suspicious of firecrackers in the distance!

127 Hours...

This one was a bit of a conundrum for me.  It is a true story and it kept to the true story.  I felt myself wanting to see certain things happen, that didn't happen in the true story!

I love, love, love James Franco, although I was disappointed at his Academy performance, the promos were great.  But when he got on stage, he fell flat.  Not daunted though by that tiny let down, I love all else he does.  He can do funny, insane, bad guy and he cleans up real nice.  Easy on the eyes.  And he was good in this movie.  I don't know the real man he portrayed, but when seeing that real guy at the end of the movie, I believed that Franco played his part very well.

I cannot for one minute imagine what he went through and how he handled his situation the way he did.  But I very much enjoyed watching the process.

I have read books and am very interested in that part of the country.  What seem to me like crazy people, don ropes and equipment and take treks down into the sliver like cracks and crevices of the earth.  The beauty of those rock formations and the idea of what happened to mold them into what they are today is amazing to me.  But on many occasions of reading books and seeing documentaries and movies, I hold my breath like I am inside those crevices myself.  I cannot imagine!

One aspect of these such adventurers that is a real threat, a danger that they have to watch out for is the flash floods.  If it rains anywhere near, these crevices are the point of that rain runoff.  It causes mighty rushing of water that fills those crevices.  And if you are caught there, you could surely drown.

This was eluded to in the movie, but it appears as part of a dehydration mental induced vision or rather, delusion.  You know it didn't fully happen because of the outcome, so we are not sure if it really rained or flooded.

See it, not because it is a blockbuster movie, but because it is a harrowing true story.  It is not the big, huge production as some true stories are.  I heard one or two that said it was boring.  But I think it is a slowly told story of one man, one independent, adventure seeking man, in a 127 hour time span of his adventurous life that cost him and changed him forever.  But it did not slow him down. 

It is interesting to watch what this guy went through and what he ended up doing to survive.  The actual act of what he did in the end is walked through in several stages and, well, it is just interesting and unbelievable what a person will do to live instead of die.

What I wanted to see more of was Amber Tamblyn, I like this actress, but as the true story is... her role was but a small piece of the story.  One of the scenes with her in it, shows an activity of this type of adventure that makes me nervous and I cannot believe people actually do that.  I would love the adventure if I could get over the tiny spaces!

Factoid:  Franco and Tamblyn were both characters on General Hospital.  Franco still has a recurring role as "Franco".  His role is deliciously, madly insane and I love him in that role.  He plays it very well.

He has new movies out and coming out and I will watch them.

Coming soon:  My excitement over Barry Pepper playing Bobby Kennedy!

I Want A Balcony, Please.

Or a patio on the upper floor, if you will.  There have been many times in my life where sitting on the balcony has given me a sense of peace, thoughtfulness or just plain joy.  Sounds weird maybe, let me give you some examples.

For years, we traveled to Colorado every year.  The years we didn't camp on our land, I preferred the little, not so new hotel because it had a balcony.  In the down time, I would fix myself a cup of hot chocolate at night or coffee in the early am and grab a blankie.  I would wrap myself up in the blankie because the pre-dawn or dusk of the evening was chilly.  I would cup my hands around the warm drink and sit and look out at the mountains.  Silently reveling in the place that I was blessed to be.  I could sit there for hours, and have. 

When I was unfortunate enough to be considering my divorce, back in Texas amid the chaos, I couldn't think, couldn't sort things out in my mind.  I needed to get away.  I had to go to Colorado, to my run down little hotel, with its balcony.  My mom went with me, with full instructions and assured compliance of no unsolicited opinions or encouraging one way or another.  She was great, she knew what I needed, solitude when I wanted it, and camaraderie in between.  She and I made many trips there after my divorce.

It is hard to describe that feeling on paper, I have tried before.  Awe is one word.  I admit, I am easily awed, but it is a flaw/asset that I am very, very thankful for.  And peace, just sit still, close my eyes, breathe in and then exhale.  Feel the crisp and coolness of the air.  I believe that mountainous country, anything above 7000 ft. is God's country.  The air is different up there.  Looking out at the mountains is a miracle in itself.  They truly are majestic.

Now let's go to the beach, once on a vacation, it wasn't a balcony but rather a large porch.  Right on the shore, when we arrived it was dark and even though the water was right there we couldn't see it.  But standing on that porch balcony, I closed my eyes.  I could hear the water crashing onto the shore, smell the salty ocean air, feel the breeze coming off the ocean and it was pure magic.  One of my friends commented about how much time I spent sitting on that porch, I can't explain, I want to live on one of those porches or balconies.

In my travels to many cities, I always ask for an upper floor, if there is no balcony, I open the windows, looking out over a city is calming to me too.  Seeing the sites, from afar.  Skyscrapers, like man made mountains towering over human activity.  Being able to notice things like the wooden water tanks on top of modern city structures.  In the daytime, the angles of sunlight dancing on the glass structures as the sun moves across the sky.  And the lights cover the city like jewels in the darkness of night.  A balcony is all the better here also, because along with those sights, are the sounds and the smells.  The breeze, although not crisp as in the mountains, or moist as on the ocean, has its own delightfulness.  If only to remind you where you are and what kind of life goes on in this city you are looking over.

In San Diego, it was a hotel balcony, looking over the bay to the naval island.  Again I sat and this time watched the ships, freighters and many sailboats go by.

Not a balcony, but for sight, I cannot leave out the upper floor hotel room I had at Niagara Falls.  No balcony, but the whole front of the room, floor to ceiling, end to end was glass.  It was on the 22nd floor and overlooked the Canadian side of the falls.  Words cannot express what that was like at night.  It renders me speechless and sends me to that place of awe again.  Not a great photo here but gives you an idea.

In a house I once lived in there was a porch, raised from the level of the yard.  I sat out there many hours when I lived there and miss it very much.  It was my personal space, my mini tranquility.

In many apartments I lived in, the patio balcony positioning was very important, what did it overlook?  Once, in the midst of the city, my apartment patio overlooked a lot of land, with grass and trees.  I put outdoor carpet on that patio, set it up with furniture and spent a lot of time there also.  In Texas, you have to make sure your patio is not on the west side, it becomes too hot to enjoy during the summer.

I have just plumb made myself even more excited and ready to vacation again, with a balcony.  Back to the seashore this year!

So there you go - I want a balcony, please.

Thank you for sharing my peaceful place of awe.

God Fearing People, We Don't Kill Achans Anymore...

Being judgemental is not an asset, it is a wall that separates you from persons in need.

My disclaimer:  I am not speaking of wars here, defending a country or the lives of 1000s of innocent people.  The justice system, breaking of laws and serving sentences.  I am talking about our every day life, people we supposedly love, our family, our friends, co-workers, people we meet and come into contact with.  And as usual, I am also talking to myself here.

It's easy to be critical of people, to decide in your own mind that they are not worthy of your attention.  That something you feel is bad about them, reason for you to separate yourself from the bad activity is one thing.  To judge them as not as deserving of love as you is quite another.

I feel, that once Jesus walked upon this earth, we are no longer expected to shun the Achans, to kill the Achans.  Jesus came to save us right along with the Achans, to love all mankind and embrace all.  Unconditional love means something to me, it is what I am given and is what I should give.
We are not loved more because we handle ourselves or our lives better than other people.

Jesus simply said, if someone steals your cloak, give him your coat also.
We say, you are a thief and you are bad, I will no longer have anything to do with you.

We become missionaries for hungry, lost people far away, but we shun the prostitute down the street as not deserving.  We help the prostitute down the street, but we cannot forgive a friend who did us wrong.  70 x 7, Peter. 

 ²¹Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
 ²²Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

I cannot save people, but I can love them and pray for them.  It is my God given job.  I cannot house a drug addict, I am a single woman, but I can love and pray and give and not judge.  I hate what drugs do to people, but it is only by the grace of God that my life didn't go in that direction.  If I made good choices, fine, but I have made bad choices too.  I am not immune.

Bad things happen to good people and what some consider bad people.  When it happens to people you might think deserve it, then it is said that they should live their life better.  Take the time to hear their story.
All it takes is one person to make a difference in someones life.

I heard part of this on TV this morning, along with a story about one life that was altered by life events out of his control.  Many were critical of him, one person took the time to find out his story and then became part of his healing.  He was without any love in his life and that one person who took time to find out his story, showed him love.  Tears came to my eyes.  His life could have become a very sad life, but it didn't because one person didn't turn their back on the bad boy.

Love anyway.
Someones life may depend on it.

Alice, Depp And Burton...

Yep I liked it!

It wasn't a movie I was dying to see, but finally saw it.

Very Tim Burton-esque!

Burton and Depp, well, what a duo.

Not for little kiddos, but middle kiddos, yes.

Kept my attention and always love the wit.  Depp never ceases with the wit. I love the cast, perfect!

I like that they eluded to her coming there since she was a child and that she used to call it Wonderland.  It wasn't the old story but it built from the old story and I liked how they did it. 

And you can not do better than Johnny Depp as the Hatter.  Insanely great job!  I felt so for him as you felt he wanted Alice to stay with him.  The consistent comments about her size all along the way was just right.  He gave great humor and just the right nuances of real world quips as always the case.

As usual - outstanding job!

Mia Wasikowska was a good Alice too, very believable acting in the midst of an unbelievable story.  Plain and pretty at the same time.  Just the right temperament for her role.

I did not research before I watched it and I was constantly and pleasantly surprised with discovering the cast, even the voices of the animated members.

Blue Caterpillar - my favorite villain from Robin Hood and Die Hard - Alan Rickman

I was very happy to see Crispin Glover from Back To The Future!

Love him.  He was a bit reminiscent of Depp in Edward Scissorhands.

I had to look it up but Bayard was Timothy Spall, I knew I recognized the voice but couldn't place it.

I always love Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter!  Helena was a hoot.

Cheshire - Stephen Fry from Bones.

Entertaining and very well done.

Even though Alice In Wonderland is a crazy story, they didn't go off the deep end with too much chaos.

Be Happy people, watch a fun fairy tale movie every once in awhile, just to level out the reality.

I saw 127 Hours too, will talk about that later...

Watching Our Universe Doing Its Thing...

The moon is going to be closer to us tonight.  It is, in its elliptical orbit and at its full moon status, going to be closer to the earth than it has been in a generation.  Which is the timing of this occurrence, once a generation.  So this won't happen again until the late 2030's.

Also if you have the ability to see the western sunset horizon, another amazing sight you will see.  Just above the sun setting, you can see our largest planet, Jupiter, looking like a large star.  And just above that a small star like object is our smallest planet Mercury.  If possible, see it.  It is science, it is our universe, it is part of our big life!  But it feels mystical looking at the activity of our sky doing its thing!

Be happy people, wonder at the universe which is ours!

God simply never stops amazing me!

It's Been A Hard Several Weeks Work!

I have been working way tooooo much!
Long hours, into the night and just plain way too much!
So I am tired, I look tired, bleary eyed and foggy brained...
I finally got a couple of good nights sleep and went to dinner with a friend!
So now brain refreshed, I got a new attitude!
And I will keep it until the next project rush - all in a month's work!

Couple of points of interest...

I love Off The Map...
I think American Idol, this year has some very talented people.  I think about 3 or 4 that could already be recording.  I love Paul!
I am on a fast track to my vacation in May!  Trying very hard to keep my brain from leaving before I do!  A week in Galveston and I cannot wait!  Oh yeah and K Derby is that weekend, yeah!
I love the weather right now in Texas and the rainy season is about to begin.  Hope for no more frost or freeze this year!
Dale Jr. is improving.  Tired of hearing about Johnson, old news.
Can't wait for football again.
That is about it for now :)

Be Happy People!  Don't work too hard!