Cloudcroft - Soothing My Soul With A Memory!

Love, love, love the thunder and rain!  Just doesn't ever last long enough in Texas!  It is much needed here.  Outside is uncharacteristically cloudy, not cool, but not 100 degrees either :)

This weather (minus the heat) reminds me of a quaint little town on the side of a mountain in south New Mexico, Cloudcroft.

(This is not the same cabin, I got this pic off off a Cloudcroft website.)

Years ago, we went to this place for the first time and stayed in a cabin on the side of the mountain just before we reached the little town itself.  We took a little road off the main road, wound up the side of a mountain to the back of the cabin.  The back of the cabin was level with the ground, the front of the cabin was about 25 to 30 feet off the ground on stilts.  It was surrounded by pine trees and a slow drizzly rain speckled around us as we unloaded our stuff to stay a few days.

The cabin had plenty of room, not glamorous but totally good for our stay.  There was a fireplace, which we needed and enjoyed.  There is something so perfect about a mountain cabin fireplace, it fills the room and surrounds you with the sounds of crackling firewood and images of dancing firelight.  Knowing that just outside that door you are surrounded by mountains, pine trees and the familiar crisp chilled air that only the mountain elevation can give you.  It soothes the soul, sigh.

High off the ground was a good size deck where we sat in chairs and enjoyed the view.  The view from the deck looked across the main road at another side of a mountain.  There was no snow at this time, but we could see the skeletal looking ski lift, stationary and looking as if it were resting, just waiting for the snow to fall and the skiers to arrive.

The cabin inside had an upstairs and the first night we had a visitor inside, way up in the rafters, a bat.  There was a battle for occupancy and we won.

Cloudcroft is said to be "On the top of the world" and is in the Lincoln National Forest.  It is over 8000 feet elevation.  Over the mountain and down the other side is Alamogordo, much lower elevation and much hotter in temperature.  We stayed there about 15 minutes and then went back up the mountain.

But let's talk about the town itself.  We drove into this little old fashioned town to see what there was to do.  What we found was quaint but fun experiences.  A putt-putt course on the side of the mountain.  We went well into Fall and there were leaves all over the course and we had to wear jackets to play.  Simple, fun and the scenery was excellent.  As it got dark we found a bowling alley.  The old fashion way was preserved here.  The pins were replaced each time by hand, by kids.  Never saw that before!  There was a huge circular fire place and after dark it was needed, very nice experience.

The rolling thunder, cloudy skies and drizzling rain that occurred here in hot Texas tonight reminded me of that little town.  Only thing missing was the falling leaves, the mountain views and of course the chilly temps.  So I do believe my memory/imagination made a leap, don't you!!!?

I have visited Cloudcroft several times on many trips to New Mexico, but I haven't been in quite awhile.  I wonder if it is the same, I wonder if it would again, leave me with these dreamy memories.  :)  Probably not, but who knows!  But I think I would like to try and see!  Any trip to New Mexico is a good idea.

Be Happy People!  What soothes your soul?  Think about it and you know what, do it again!

Dad, Crazy Kids, A Canal And A Cable

At one point in my childhood we lived in Turlock, CA and we had the best fun in the canals.  This is not something we could do by ourselves, our dad took us there because supervision was required.

Because of the abundant peach orchards in Turlock at the time, the canals were used for irrigation.

As a kid, about 7 or so, they seemed huge and very daunting in my memory.  There were smaller irrigation concrete canals, but there were some that were large, like small rivers.  They had concrete bridges or control systems and as the water went through these, it rushed out the other side into what seemed like a raging river of water headed places unknown at a very fast pace.

We were armed with inner tubes, you know the real ones that you can't just buy at a department store.  The ones that left black smudges on your body after the fun was all done.

Under direction of my father we would stand at the edge of the concrete, gripping the tube we now had around our waist, nervously gazing into what seemed like an impossible precipice and contemplating a seemingly not so intelligent decision to jump.

Dad pushed us as long as I can remember to do things we thought we could not or did not want to do.  I am glad of that now, it bred adventure into us.  A desire to try things we wouldn't normally try, to have the guts to push ourselves and the knowledge to know that when we did, we loved it.

We weren't the only kiddos or persons here at the canal doing this crazy thing, there were lots of people there as I remember.  Dad had not just dreamed this up, he had done it himself and there were times later when he joined us in this feat.  The sight of other kids doing this crazy thing, I knew it wasn't going to kill me.  But the fear was still there to start.  So resolving to not baby out, I took the first jump into the scary rushing water.  It was exhilarating to say the least.  Fun beyond measure but even more than that, I had taken the plunge, I had broken a barrier, I had accomplished something I thought I couldn't.  I overcame fear.

OK, so here is the next seriously scary part.  We are in the rushing water now and we have had the next steps explained to us in great detail.  With a warning that could not be overlooked.  How do we get out of this water that was now carrying us down the river like canal.  Dad had explained with every ounce of you better do what I say or else tone, what we were to do after all the fun of jumping in and floating like crazy fun kids.

He is following us down the side on land, reminding of us now of these details.  Up ahead there was a cable that went across the canal.  (we are going much slower at that point, but scary none the less)  We are to grab that cable as we went under it.  This is how we are going to come out of the canal.  HUH?  I know that my mom was on the sidelines too so I knew I wasn't going to die.  But his warning included things like, "if you miss that cable you will float on down the river and we don't know how you will get out."  Sounds a little mean, but it worked.

He was telling us now from the sidelines, how close we were getting to it.  Giving us the play by play, what to do next, what to expect.  And of course threatening that we had better catch that cable.  Now I know that had one of us missed it, we were not in danger.  He would have jumped in and floated us to safety, but I wasn't thinking that way at the time.  I was now in tunnel vision - the cable!

We got the cable in our sights and I can remember the fear came right back.  It seemed in my mind like a life or death situation.  I was like an athlete in the Olympics, I have one shot at this and I had better ace it!  So we had our eyes riveted on that cable.  Determination abounded.  And I know the first time we did this, we were petrified!

When my hands reached out and grabbed that cable, excitement and relief and pure adulation came over me.  I made it!  We all made it!  We hand walked that cable over to the side, dad pulled us out and immediately we started the run back to the concrete to do it all over again.

We then begged all too often for him to take us to do this thing we now loved over and over and over again.  What an amazing thing to do!

This is not the only irrigation adventure in California, what a playground!

The Italian Sauce Nazi!!!!

Well like the soup nazi on Seinfeld, I now have now seen, heard and been the target of the Angry Italian Sauce Nazi!

Wow!  I have never!   Hahahaha and I mean that!  My friend Carra and I went to grab a bite to eat.  We went to a place we have gone to many times before and love their food.  It is call Joe's Italian something, I don't think it is the Joe's chain but maybe it is.  Again, I have been before and it is good.  It is a small place and there may not have been any other customers maybe one table, now I see why!

We ordered what we normally do, I ordered clams and linguine and Carra ordered the shrimp scampi dish.  She does not like the white creamy sauce, so she asked for butter and garlic instead.

When we got our meal, the sauces (not butter and garlic) were something a little greenish yellow and thickish like campbells chicken soup before you add the water.  And worse than that it tasted like a vegetable gravy that was scorched just a tad.  No garlic flavor at all.  It was weird and kind of lumpy creamy.  I have never seen such.  Italian or otherwise.

We tried, we took a few bites and no, wasn't going to happen.  So I do something I can't remember ever doing.  I told Carra "I can't eat it, I am going to send it back ok?"  She agreed.  So we called the server girl over (she has served us many times before) and told her the sauce wasn't good really and we couldn't eat it.  We didn't ask for replacement but she asked if so what did we want.  I didn't really notice at first but she was apprehensive and Carra heard her say something about the person in the back, like she was kind of not looking forward to telling him.

She knew us and she knew we liked eating there.  But what happened next so surprised us, we have been in a state of shock and awe for the past couple of hours.

The cook/owner whatever he was came out front to our table, wanting an explanation and he quickly went from inquiring to griping.  He was focused on Carra and I tried to say something and basically he put his hand up and said, with no kindness at all, for me to stop talking, he was talking to her.  I was a bit surprised, I stopped talking and listened to him start to really tell her what he thought.  He had been there for 3 years and no one has ever complained!!!!  Hahahaha oh my gosh, so weird.

We tried several times calmly to let him know we have been coming longer than 3 years and we like the place, but he wasn't having it.  We were not to speak!  He started yelling at us and it went from chewing on Carra to yelling at her and yelled if we didn't like it to leave and swung his arms towards the door. 

Carra shot up out of her chair and in one split second she was standing in front of the door.  She said something like I am leaving and I will never eat here again.  And she will tell all her friends not to ever come here!

I am still in shock!  But I am up and quickly gathering my stuff!  Wishing I was already at the door too!  By the time I got there, he was yelling that we had given the waitress a hard time and now we were giving him one!!  OK that ticked me off, I proceeded to try to rebut that and adamantly say we had not given the girl a hard time, we like her!  And we didn't have time to give him a hard time... but he was still yelling at Carra, "you will pay for your food first!"  Whoa dude - calm down!  Forget the food and the restaurant, you have serious anger issues!

I am thinking no, no Carra! as she was sprinting to the cashier and the mean guy was practically stomp running to the back!  No Carra don't pay!  I did not go to the cashier.  The two young people, the girl and a guy were practically whispering they were sorry like they were afraid of him.

So we walked out the door in serious disbelief and Carra had not been treated that way since her ex-husband many many years ago.  So we were in shock.  It was like the twilight zone, I got to thinking where are the cameras, maybe we got punked!  I was perplexed and laughing because it was just so bizarre!

There was an IHOP nearby and we stopped and went in and mulled, laughed and continued with our shock and disbelief.  What just happened?  Well what a night!  That guy was nerved out, mean, yelling at customers and seriously needed some prozac!

Some kind of experience we won't soon forget, after a bit we just laughed about our new memory, while still being completely bumfuzzled.

So People!  Keep making memories!  Good, Bad And Bizarre!  Watch out for the Angry Italian Sauce Nazi!

Sweet Sweet Summertime In Lockford

Besides the Texas heat, I have been noticing the signs of summer.  And of course it reminds me of the good ole days!

When I was in the second grade, we lived on 2 different ranches in Lockford, CA right outside of Lodi.  I have spoken of this place before.  I am going to talk about summertime in Lockford.

When you think of summer, one of the first things that comes to mind is swimming!  I remember taking swimming lessons while living in Lockford.  We, my sister Sue and I embarked on a bus daily for at least a week.  Lil' sis was too young to go with.  That was before they gave babies and toddlers swimming lessons.  I know that I already knew how to swim to some degree, but of course with this I got much better!  And we had so much fun, I liked my instructor, but you know what?  Any excuse to play in the water, I would take it! 

Remember the forbidden pond when I was five!  The one with water moccasins!  Wow what risks we took!  Anytime I griped at my kids and told them I was only thinking of their safety, why didn't they mind me?  I must think back in time to the days of boundless curiosity and imagination of my own childhood.  I don't why we did that!  We're just kids!!!!

Moving on, this was a small town with a lot of country surrounding it.  We lived in a house on a ranch by a main road, probably farm to market road.  We lived about a mile from town in this home.  We had friends that lived a bit aways, also in the country on the outskirts of town.  They had a creek behind their home.  Big enough to have a great swimming hole!

Sue and I would actually don our suits grab a towel and walk that road towards the town and then dogleg over to our friends house without actually going into town.  A bunch of us kids met there at the swimming hole creek to swim and play for hours.  Now good grief, yet another example of the difference between then and now.  The parental person was at the nearby house, but not actually life-guarding us at the creek.  It was so much fun!  A bunch of kids swimming, climbing up on the rocks and jumping off.  Laughing, splashing and having a great old time.

Now, we had our time limit and somehow we knew when to start home!  I am sure I am not alone when I say, you better be back home when you are told or wow, you were in big trouble!  And grounded from going back for awhile...  Thus the beginning of my "I would rather be beat than grounded" mentality!  I didn't want to miss one minute of fun with my friends!

Sue and I would take out walking back home.  By this time the road, the asphalt was seriously hot!  Ok, we were country kids!  No shoes?  No, we weren't wearing shoes, we were in our bathing suits and carrying a towel.  So feet very hot, we would 1, 2, 3 run!  And every so often we would say "stop!"  Throwing down our towel onto the pavement, we would stand on the towels to cool off our feet for a few minutes!  Not really cool, but off the asphalt!  Then we would 1, 2, 3 it again and take off running.  Now that was exercise!

This is yet again a town of many stories, the amazing fun we had as children in the land of ranches, making toys out of the landscape and buildings and just plain using our imagination to the fullest.

Stories that may come out of this place of our living, some I may have already mentioned:
Pepper seeds are the hottest!  Listen to your mother!
Getting lost in the cornfield and why does the cattle keep surrounding me!
Mommy my ponytail is too tight!
House burned while we were gone.
I thought the kitties needed that!
Frog and the dove in the middle of the night.
If you haven't yet choose my link to "Moody Stories" to read older posts like this one!

There were many fun times at the swimming holes and pools in my childhood in many different places.  I will have to tell you about them sometime.  I really think sometimes that I wish children of this day could experience those lazy days of summer that I knew as a child.  Worry free abandonment, imagination galore, seemingly endless places we made our playground and hours upon hours of laughing, smiling and guilt free fun.

There is something very memorable about "you hear my whistle and you better drop everything and hi-tail it back home - if I have to come find you.....!"

I got to raise my kids like that for the better part of their childhood and they have the same reminiscent feelings about it as I do.

I love it!

Be Happy People - enjoy your Sweet Sweet Summertime!

(I will complain about air conditioning and electric bills later!)

For The Good Times!

Been reminiscing lately with my bestee Conrad about those days and the AMAZING music we had back in the day and the fun we had!  Making the drag along with everybody else in our small town.  And listening to some of the most amazing music ever made.

This story is about one of the nights my amazing friend surprised me with an unlikely gift!

I was always out and about in our small town with many friends and we had a blast!  Conrad (nickname) was my best friend and we always made all situations fun!

I always say back then, I would rather be beat than grounded and have to stay home when my buds were out having fun!  In this story there was a family thing that my mom wouldn't let me miss on a Saturday night!

Oh the pain of it all!  I knew I would miss something fun and hated that I couldn't be with my friends.  But as usual mom won, so I missed Saturday night.

I was mortified and resigned and told Conrad the sad news.  I can't go out tonight, y'all have fun and don't forget about me.  Don't have too much fun while I am missing!

So I did my thing and they did theirs.  I had gotten home early and went to bed.  Sunday morning we always went to church, so mom, my sisters and I got ready and headed out the door.  What I saw first perplexed me, only for a second!  My mom was the same and then she knew.

I immediately went to smiling and laughing and dancing around with excitement.

On top of my car, right in the middle of the roof, sat this huge blinking yellow light.

It was one of those construction blinking yellow lights connected to its own battery box!

Just blinking away at us and with every blink I could see my bestee's smiling face.

I could hear her saying - girl we didn't forget about you!

I kept that light flashing in my room forever!

Wow what good times!  What a great friend!

Conrad says that was the age of innocence and it ended after that.  I believe she is right.

So many good stories from that time!  Maybe I will tell you more later, like when I was in love with her brother who drove a pink thunderbird!  Wow, no chance he was 21 and didn't know I existed!

Life was good, I knew it was good, I just didn't know how great!

Reminisce people!  In the words of Ray Price - For The Good Times!

Camper + Water

Back in the day, we went camping a lot!  We had many various campers throughout the years.  This story is about a camper we bought second hand.

It was a camper we bought from someone who had this one in the back yard for someone in their family.  So we got it and proceeded to refurbish it.  Husband did a great job and we decided to take it for a short trip not far from us on the lake created for the power plant.  It was a beautifully clear lake and we took our camper to the camping facilities.  We hooked it up to the electricity and water got it all settled, then took the kids down to the lake shore and played in the water for a couple of hours.  It was fun!

At this lake, if you went out in a boat, the water was so clear that in some places you could see way down into the deep part to the bottom.  At one place we saw a house that had been left standing when they filled the lake.  Kind of weird, eeery and a little sad.  But you know that the owners had been paid well for their property years ago.

After we had finished playing, we were driving back to the camper and as we approached we were shocked to say the least at what we were seeing!  Getting close to the camper, we saw water pouring out of the camper from all lower orifices!  OMG!  We rushed to the camper, opening the door even more water flooded out of that poor little camper!

So basically what was going to be a weekend camping trip at the lake became just a few hours of playing!  Then water rescue at the camper.  We unhooked everything, secured the camper (let all the water drain) and hooked up to truck and went back home.  Glad it was a short trip from home!

Just a few water pipe adjustments and it became a very useful camper and we enjoyed it for a few years.  Love camping with the right equipment!

Wish I had a pic of it pouring water all over the place but was a bit preoccupied!

Kit And King

Hello everyone, yes I have been almost absent.  Lots of things going on, work mostly.  That does not mean that I have not been Moody!

I haven't owned a dog in a long time and I probably won't for awhile for several reasons.  If I actually got another dog, I cannot decide between a big dog or a little dog.  Little dogs are a lot easier to deal with.  But I love and have had big dogs.  This brings to mind many dog stories.

Kit is our mom and this is one of her stories.

When she was a child, her father dubbed her Kitten, funny, it was because she was afraid of cats.  As she got older, it shortened to Kit and that is what everyone called her.  A long, long time ago, she had a dog called King.  He was a large german shepherd.  She lived in CA at the time.  She was single, and this dog was quite loyal to her.  To others, he was scary as many german shepherds are.

I love this story, because it sounds like a dog I once owned, Lance.

Mom had been at work or somewhere and was on her way home.  It was dark.  She had ridden a bus to the end of her road and proceeded to walk the rest of the way home.  Keep in mind this was back in the 40's and in the country.  So she was walking this long gravel road or lane to her house.  She said she started to hear footsteps on the gravel somewhere behind her that were not her own.  When she quickened her own steps, the footsteps following her also quickened.

She was not a wimp at all, but she said she was getting scared, it was dark and she was not sure what was happening.  She started running.  The footsteps behind also started running.

She knew that King was in the yard on a chain connected to a very large iron stake in the ground.  He was a very large imposing figure of a dog.  He was very loyal to my mom.

As she started running and heard the steps behind her start running also, she started screaming King's name.  She heard him start to bark and make lots of noise hitting the end of that chain trying to get to her.

Now I am figuring that just that racket alone would have made the follower rethink the situation, but there was not much time for that.  Still far away, mom said that in his desperation to get to her, King pulled the stake out of the ground and took off toward her with a racket that would have scared anyone out of their wits.

She said that he was ferociously barking and growling while all along the way you could hear the heavy chain and stake beating the ground after him.  Immediately she felt saved.  She said with all her yelling and King's chain banging, she no longer heard the person pursuing her and didn't hear anything from that person afterward.  Go figure!!

And of course, like a scene from a movie, her and King met somewhere in the middle and hugged and both felt like a job well done!

I love that story, I remember times of my own when certain dogs that we had owned were just as protective and it is a very good feeling.

It takes living in the country these days to own a dog like that and most people do not have that luxury.  I call it a luxury and if you have ever lived both, country, lots of land and city, house with a yard, you know what I am talking about.

Thanks for listening!  Have a blessed day!

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!

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.

Buddy, Casey And Me - Get Back On And Ride!

Back in the day, I was in my early 20s, and my daughter Casey was 2.  I had a horse, Buddy, which was a cutting/barrel horse.  I loved my Buddy.  We had a lot of good times with Buddy when he was mine.  I remember one time watching from the house, while my sister, Brenda and my sister in-law, Tonya, had Buddy out in the field with only the bridle on him.  Bareback, they rode him double through the pasture, falling off, getting back on and just having a great time.  They were younger than me and full of imagination, they were kickin' it with Buddy.

I didn't compete on him, but my good friend Becky did, she was good and I always felt guilty when I didn't let him do his thing.  You can tell when a horse loves what they can do.  It would have been sad not to let him compete.  I did ride him almost daily.  He was spirited and would turn on a dime.  He liked to do that on his own, so I had to keep him in line.  But that was part of his talent, turning on a dime.

He was also a little skitsy, if there was an abrupt loud noise, he reared up.  In the country, there weren't many of those and this did not upset me.  I had ridden enough in my life, I knew what to do.  So I never fell off of Buddy, until one day something was different.

I was riding, with Casey in front of me.  I had done this many times, no big deal.  This occasion we were riding outside of the pasture.  We were between our house and my in-laws house, off the road, but beside the road.  Husband was standing in our front yard and one of my brother in-laws was standing in his front yard, both on either side of me on Buddy with Casey on board.

My other brother in-law had gotten into his ride - and proceeded to start up his vehicle.  He was young and that vehicle had a loud motor.  When the motor ripped loud - Buddy started a rear up.  I didn't have but a split second to think.  I had two choices in that milli-second, one, use my hands in the defensive mode I was used to, leaning forward and to the side to miss his powerful head coming back at me.  The problem with this one is that Casey was in front of me, I knew the room between me and Buddy coming up was going to close in on her.  I was afraid that in that quick motion of movement on mine and Buddy's part, I might lose or hurt Casey.

So the second choice is the one I went with, I cupped my body and arm around Casey, holding on to her for dear life, leaving the other hand on the reigns.  I relaxed because I knew I was about to land on the ground with Casey in my arms, breaking her fall and intentionally going off the side opposite of Buddy's hoof direction.  It was a fast quick choreographed fall.  But it felt like slow motion.  As we were leaving the saddle, I bowed my back, lowered my head and in every way covered my little girl. 

One thing that I didn't control, or maybe I was, but I don't know why, was that I did not let go of the reigns with my other hand.  Until we hit the ground, I landed right on my butt, in a sitting position with Casey enclosed and still on my lap, unscathed.  I felt or heard Buddy's hoof hit the ground behind me and immediately let go of the reigns so he could bolt away from us.

As all of this was going on, husband and brother in-law were running towards us from different directions.  Brother in-law caught Buddy going his direction.  Quick as lightening, I checked us out, made sure that Casey was unharmed and jumped up to my feet with her in my arms.  I was mad, I was a little scared and when husband got to me, I pushed Casey into his arms and wheeled around.  Adrenaline took over.

Brother in-law was walking towards us with Buddy in tow.  I took the reigns, immediately got back on Buddy and rode him into exasperating oblivion.  I loved him, but he scared the *(^@! out of me.  So he was not going to get away with it.  Not sure if he got the message, but I was going to send it anyway!

As I have said many times before, back in the day, we were not as afraid as we are now.  Did this stop me from riding with Casey again, no, not at all.  In fact later, she had her own horse and rode like their was no fear.  I miss that life.  Full of adventure and trying things and just plain doing what we loved to do.  And even better, experiencing new things we might come to love too.

I kept Buddy until I became pregnant with my second daughter, Autumn.  I rode for awhile and came to a time of discussing it with my doctor.  The act of riding a horse is not harmful, the possible accident is.  So I didn't ride him for quite awhile.  I began to feel very badly for him, he was a talented horse and needed to be owned by someone that could help him live to his full potential and keep him in competition.  I sold him to someone who did just that.  We got more horses, but riding horses.  Ones I knew were just happy to be owned, ridden and loved by us.

Don't forget the things that make you happy people!  Get out there and do them!  If you fall off, get back on and ride!

Uh, Embankment!

Awwww teenage love!

 

This story comes from my teen-hood, if you will.  I had a boyfriend, we had been dating awhile.  But then we broke up.  Things happen.  It was supposed to be a time out.  I gave him back his senior ring and he hung it on his rear view mirror and said, "it will stay right here until you come back to me."

 

Well sometime later on I saw him at a rodeo.  We stopped to speak for a minute.  I was nervously fidgeting with a small rock in my hands.  While we were speaking, I noticed he had his senior ring on his finger.  I had heard prior to this meeting of the possibility of him seeing an old girlfriend.  So when I saw the ring on his finger instead of his rear view mirror, I reacted by kind of throwing the little rock at his head.  I said something appropriate like, "it will stay right here until you come back to me?"

 

I was mad.  So I walked off and while still in his sight, I walked by a cowboy I knew, said something to him and we walked away together.  We left the rodeo together.  My intent was to "back at ya babe" my time out boyfriend.  I came back later to find my girlfriend that came to the rodeo with me.  She and I left and went to my house.

 

So here is the good part.  I lived on a road that ended a couple of houses down from mine.  Perpendicular to my road was Cemetery Road.  So when you came to the end of my road, you should either turn right or left or you will run into an embankment bordering the cemetery.

 

After arriving at my home with my friend, we were near the door when we heard screeching of tires and revving of a motor.  It was a car flying down my road.  It was time out boyfriend.  He had his brother in the car with him and he was speeding and spinning tires past my house.  This, I assumed, was the "I saw you leave with him and I am mad" show.

 

We stood and watched as he sped past my house and yeah, you got it, he was less than a hundred yards from the end of my road.  He was looking in my direction.  There was little time for me to think, but somewhere in my brain, the thought flew by - Oh my gosh, he is not slowing down.  In less than a few seconds we heard the screeching of tires, slamming of breaks and then a small, thud kind of boomish, not quite crash sound.  Uh, embankment!

 

(I am so laughing out loud right now.)  Well before we could get out to the road to look down it and see what happened, he had quietly driven away.  So basically, his mind could not contain the anger and the memory of the end of my road at the same time.

 

Sorry, I had to stop writing to laugh some more.  The best re-telling of this story comes from his brother describing his trip around the inside of that car and I believe ending up in the back seat, somehow.  No one wore seat belts back then.

 

Needless to say, my friend and I had much fun into the night with this one.  I knew they were alright, so I played the scenario over and over in my head.  He was soooooo jealous and I liked it!  Timeout lasted longer after this night. 

 

Morals of this story: 

1. Uh, embankment.
2. Don't go out with old yucky girlfriend during time out.
3. Anger really does blind you!
4. If you say it is going to stay on the rear view mirror, leave it on the rear view mirror!

 

Summertime... And the living is easy! (just prepping for the sun!)

OK spring comes first!

Pic of one of my amazing g-kids!  She's the pitcher!  Am I blessed or what, had my g-son in last blog holding Trooper Dooper.

Warming up some here in Texas, finally got out of those winter temps for now!  Sunshine is good!  Love Texas weather, we oooh and awwww at our brief winter drop, maybe some snow days, maybe some ice days, but we all start crying for the sun really, really fast!  We need to get out and enjoy the outside, lawn chairs, grills, sunglasses, soccer, baseball games, and yes even shorts!  We know it will hit again, but we are like horses at the gates ready for sunshine!

Right now we have the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo going on.  It is a yearly event that last for weeks.  I remember going every year way back when I was in high school.  Amazing memories!  This by itself brings in huge crowds from all over the USA.  But add onto that the Superbowl!  My town is going to be busting at the seams.  What excitement!

My work is interfering with my personal life Big Time!  :)

Been working early, been working late.  Creative juices are blocked!  So a brief update...
I was sick now I am not, Whoo hoo!  Thought I was going to be sick forever!
New project at work, burning the midnight and weekend oil.

Gotta a big friend get together this weekend, so running away from all worries and cares!
Girls coming in from all over to converge on one home, it is our January Christmas weekend!
Trooper got a few more days with his family, good thing, they are hospicing him at home for now.
Kids and grandkids are amazing!

Have a beautiful day people!  Put on those sunglasses and pretend it is Summertime!

We Love You Trooper!

Sad, sad day.  My Godpuppy, my sister's little long hair dachshund has had a stroke and is in heart failure.  He is not expected to make it.

This little puppy has been in the family a long time and there never was a sweeter little dog!  My heart is crying.  For Troop and for my sister and her family.

Just wanted you to know.

Whole New OMG level!

Oh My Gosh!  My grandson is on facebook!  Wow talk about making you feel old!  He is a teenager now so don't know why I am surprised!

Brings about all kinds of thought processes going on in my head!  RE-Calcuate! 

Fight And Flight!

We have all heard about that involuntary fight or flight thing going on in our brain, well this story is about a time when it was a mixture of both for me. Fight and Flight.

Fourth of July, a yearly family reunion if you will. It didn't start out that way, it just kept happening the same time every year.

Over the years and many 4th of July's and plenty of great stories later, we were at a campground called Rock-a-way Park on Inks Lake. This was our favorite and we went there many times before and after this story's year.

It was a cool little park with campsites and docks lining the lake shore. The little park had a game room, air hockey was the big draw for me. It also had its own little store and of course public restrooms and showers.

Our campsites were settled on the shore just a little over a stone's throw from under the lake bridge, the old kind that has the arches going over it. This was very memorable because when cars went over it, they made a melodious bu-bump, bu-bump, bu-bump sound in the distance as they traveled all the way across. It was a main highway so this was pretty constant and at night it would lull you to sleep, or drive you crazy depending on your personality. This family gathering had many distinct personalities, but mostly hilarity was the theme. There was a lot of card playing, 42, swimming, laying out, skiing and eating.

Kids of all ages we had and my youngest was a toddler. I want to say 2 years old. My kids all learned how to swim early, he was on his way but not quite there yet. So he was still in his learner life jacket when in the lake. There were always adults in with them when they swam and played. There was a cement wall at the edge, so they had a good area of shallow water to play in. The lake and dock were just about 6 feet from the actual campsite and it was quite the perfect spot.

The kids swam a lot, but at the time of my story, they had been ordered out of the water for non-swim time, they were now out of their swimwear and life vests. I was on the dock which was about 6x6, tidying up a bit. Picking up the towels, soda cans and sorting flip flops. The kiddos (about 6 of them) had come to the edge of the lake right beside the dock and begged me to let them go in again. But I was adamant, not right now, later and I shoo'd them all away from the lake edge. The adults were just about 6 feet away mingled at the covered area, talking, eating, etc.

I turned back to my dock duties and what seemed like only a few minutes later, I looked up and out at the water (I believe the Lord directed me to do so) and I saw a child out in the water. Immediately I could tell it was my son. He was about 10 feet from the shore and about 6 feet out from the far corner of the dock. Not to scare too badly, he was not laying in the water, he was upright, floating, head barely above the water, looking straight at me. No life jacket.

Stop the tape. I have no idea what occurred in his little life to get out that far without going under. How did he get in the water and that far out that fast without a sound? I was right there. Only God knows.

Start the tape. He was looking straight at me. His little cheeks were puffed out holding his breath. The water was at his nose level, then at his eyes then back to his nose. But he never blinked, he just stared straight at me. I saw that and I was past freaked out inside, but literally without a thought or split second delay I took off running towards the end of the dock. I had to get my hands on that child, this was a lake not a clear pool. If he went under I wouldn't be able to see him. I ran out of my shoes. I knew somewhere in my head that I needed someone to know what was happening so as I got to the edge of the dock in a full run and jumped through the air, I yelled for help or at least I think I yelled, I may have screamed or whispered, I couldn't hear myself. I never took my eyes off his eyes.

I landed right in front of him, I knew I was going to go under feet first and as I did, I grabbed him and pushed him up as I went under. I never touched the bottom. When I came up, I had him held as high out of the water as I could. I immediately started kick swimming towards the camp. (no hands, I could not let go of my son, I kept him as high as I could.) He was still staring at me and still holding his breath, he would not let the air out of those little puffed cheeks.

My feet finally touched bottom and I was able to start walking and working on him while I was still in chest high water. I blew air into his face, I turned him over and well, for lack of a better way to say it, I hit him on the upper back with my flat hand, trying to force him to breath, turned him back over and he finally let all his air out and breathed back in. All this while I'm trying to make it back to shore with him. After he finally breathed, somebody from the camp took him from me. He was breathing and alive. At this point I am not sure what I was.

It amazes me to this day, he never took water into his lungs, he never let go of that last breath he took before he started floating out. It broke my heart to think of what he went through getting out there and begging me in his little mind to look up at him. To me it was no less than a pure miracle.

When I was out of the water, I was pushing shock. I walked over to him, now wrapped in Granny's arms, tightly in a blanket getting all warmed up and comforted, looked him over and kissed him. I don't remember everything but I think that Grandpa touched me or looked at me, assured me somehow that he's ok, he's going to be just fine. He may have said it, he may have just looked at me and I knew it. Everybody was around, but I don't remember much. I think I smiled a weak smile, but probably not and walked to my camper.

I mindlessly got some dry clothes and walked to the camp restroom. I got inside, set my clothes on the counter and then proceeded to break down by myself. I cried so hard, I thought someone was going to run in to find out what was going on in there. Did Deb come to me, I think so, maybe or Kathy? I can't remember, I obviously put on the dry clothes and returned to the campsite. My son was fine. That night I was a mixture of nervous wreck and zombie.

The next day we swam and played again. Life goes on. But I have never stopped thanking God for saving my son and my heart that day. Now he is a grown man and reading this, I love you son.

No harm done, he is an adventurer, he bungees, jumps out of airplanes, climbs and hikes and camps on the ocean beaches. He has a motorcycle and is saving for a sailboat. No harm done.

(do I have to say it Shelby, movie line alert)

Wipeout!

Now generally, I am not a total Klutz!  But I do have my moments.

Once upon a time I got a new job, the company I work for now. 

I had my interview and got the job and reported for my first day at work.  It was the day where you sit through all of the new person stuff with the other new employees that were just hired.

During this time we had a break.  Everyone dispersed out and I decided to take a walk around the building to see the sites.  I was walking on one of those huge sidewalks made of embedded rocks and gravel, made all pretty for the eye.  It was right up against the building so I was safe enough.

As I was walking, there was approaching, a small drop down in this sidewalk.  I was not knowledgeable of this drop down, I was looking elsewhere.  Now mind you it was not a step down that would have been more noticeable, but rather a 2 inch slope down.  Completely invisible.

You would think I am just walking, so any stumble would not result in a major accident, but NOOOO.  I wiped out completely!

Imagine tumbling down a steep embankment at about 20 miles an hour.  That was me.  When I finally came to a stop, in the most compromising position, I was at the least, perplexed at what had attacked me.

Let us stop for a moment and set the picture.  I was dressed up.  Dress (not long enough to help with modesty of any kind), black hose, high heals, nice handbag and looking all new for my new company.

Ok, so I finally came to a stop, immediately without thinking I turned myself over to a sitting position, all I could muster at the moment.  I was reeling with pain and wondering what the heck happened and how I was going to get up gracefully.  I looked around.  No persons in my sight.  But.... and this is a big but.... behind me was the building and this building was nothing but glass, the mirrored kind that you cannot see in, but everyone can see out!  Great!  I had no idea what kind of audience had just enjoyed this moment of whatever!

So, as I looked around, my purse was about 6 feet away.  My pretty black hose were torn to shreds and I am not kidding, shreds.  The largest area of impact was obviously one of my knees.  It was bleeding profusely, hose above the knee, hose below the knee, but no hose around the knee.  Torn to shreds.  Surprisingly, the injury was much worse than I would have expected.

I checked myself out, still sitting on the sidewalk, I had no broken bones that I could tell but very many abrasions, hands, arms, etc and of course a gaping gash in my knee.  So I proceeded to try to gracefully get up.  Not successful in the gracefully part, but finally got to my feet.  Blood running down my leg from my injured knee.  I carefully walked over to pick up my purse.  The bending over of this action, made me feel a little loopy.

I carefully limped back around the building and in the front were two girls that had started to work with me today.  I walked up, they were deep in conversation, and just stood there.  One of the girls looked at me and had this weird look on her face, she said, oh my gosh you are white as a sheet!!!  I was beginning to fade away, they immediately took over and walked me into the building lobby and sat me in a chair.  By the way, still bleeding.

In a nutshell, I had to be driven to the emergency room by an HR person.  I had gravel embedded in my knee and had to have stitches.  The HR person then had to take me to my home, I couldn't drive and had to leave my car at the new work.  I could not walk the next day, so I could not attend my second day at work!!!!  First day at work and I was on medical leave!!!!

What a first impression that was!!!  I totally ROCK!!!

Down Into The Cavern

One of my favorite places is New Mexico.  I have driven through New Mexico many, many times.  And all around it a few times.

More than one of my many trips there was Carlsbad Caverns.  It is a wonder to behold that is for sure.  The first time I visited there, and we were driving towards the caverns, we weren't seeing anything.  We were following the signs, but it looked barren.  Like much of New Mexico, just a lot of land.  Mostly flat or rolling through brushy areas of nothing in between the places I love to go.

So it was kind of weird, you are near a place of wonder to behold and yet you see nothing.  It is all UNDERGROUND!  The first time I went, we used the entrance where we walked down and down and down, this is one way in, walking all the way, 79 stories, which was an amazing sight to see.  I seriously had no idea what to expect and it was thrilling.

They had it all  set up to where you, the non-spelunker, could walk down and around.  I was amazed at what I seeing.  It was beautiful, they had lights set up to illuminate the things you would normally miss because of the darkness.  At one point in the tour they turn out the lights to show you the absolute darkness.  Weird, this is a point where you really realize what the discoverers of this awe filled place had felt.

Special places and amazing huge structures with special names.  The bodies of water that were seriously deep, but such clear water that you couldn't tell how deep just by gazing into it.  And God made structures everywhere built by dripping water and sediment.  Products of more time and earth happenings than we can even imagine.  The facts of it all, of course, amazed me.

The really awe inspiring thoughts to me, came from a description of these caverns that they were a result of very traumatic things happening below the surface long, long ago in this now serene and beautiful place.  Water rushing violently to places unknown.  Rocks and gigantic pieces of earth falling, shifting and crevicing into depths still unknown to this day.  What an activity you could not witness with your own eyes and live through.

And the history we were told of how it was discovered, just, well, amazed me.  I kept trying to imagine, coming way down into the ground without all the paths and lights and safety nets.  Squeezing through openings almost too small for a person and then without warning dropping off into depths they could not see.  That part was more than I could imagine, scary.

It is definitely something to behold that is for sure.  Everyone should see it and definitely every one's children need to see it.  After a certain age, in my opinion.  There are over 300 known caverns under the New Mexico state, only 100 + are in the Carlsbad National Park.  You know that is a lot of holes underground, you wonder how stable it all is???

Just so you know, when you get to the bottom, you will be in an 8+ acre great room, a huge room that is so beautiful.  Its ceiling in some places is 20 stories high.  It is definitely awe inspiring.  At this level you will also be near the elevator which is how you go back up.  This is where it really got to me, I am more than 700 feet under the surface of the ground.  Wait, wait, let's say it differently, there is more than 700 feet of land (and holes) between me and the surface!  Gulp, realizing that and waiting to get on that elevator made me more nervous than walking down into the caverns.  And then!  Ouch, so many people got on it with me... I .... can't .... breath..... Good thing it was fast going up!!!  Seeing the sky again was a good thing.

bi's Book Blip:  OK, A good book to mention here is Nevada Barr's "Blind Descent".  Fiction. This author writes about murder mysteries in many of the different national park's in the US.  She used to be a park ranger in real life.  This book is about a cavern in the Carlsbad National Park that is not been fully spelunked yet or ready for the public.  It is a real existing cavern that is thought to be over 300 miles long.  This book, good grief, just thinking about it makes me shiver.  This book is an excellent description of the cavern explorers that go down into caves before they are all made safe and lit up for visitors.  The discovery of all the caverns, rooms and passages (in the dark) and mapping it.  Squeezing into crevices, making their way across or around huge chasms, not knowing what to expect or where they are going.  It is definitely a nail biter in itself and on top of all that, there is a murderer down there.  This is a book you won't forget. (there was another book published by a different author, I believe this past year of the same name, I haven't read it - yet.)



Grab A Cream Puff And Run Aimlessly!

 

One of those ranches that we lived on when I was a child, was in Clovis, CA.  This is the same place where across the road from our home was a peach orchard and a grape vineyard.  The same place where run-away Shaver took me for a ride!

 

On this ranch, was the owner's beautiful huge house facing one road.  And way behind that house and past all the out buildings, swimming pool, arena and  over a couple of fences was our house facing another road.

 

The owner had 5 daughters and one of them was my age, Kelly.  We were about 7 years old and became fast friends.  This was in the day when kids could leave the house in the morning, run around and play all over the grounds and not report in for hours.  And not be worried about.  We had many acres to play on here. 

 

One day we were around Kelly's house somewhere and we saw the bakery truck coming.  Good grief, does anyone remember when a bakery truck went around stopping at houses to see if you needed some baked goods to buy????  Well we had one. 

 

Back to the story, the bakery truck stopped at Kelly's house, her mom went out to pick out various items as usual.  We began to seriously beg for cream puffs, like pleading - begging.... she gave in and the bakery man handed us each a cream puff.

 

We immediately snatched them up and took off running, her mom had not even finished picking out her stuff.  We were in full throttle run, all the while stuffing the cream puffs in our mouths, powdered sugar flying everywhere.  We were hurdling objects, bypassing the pool and playhouses and climbing fences, all on our way to my house.

 

We had barely finished swallowing and wiping sugar off our faces, checking each others face to see if clear.  Then we halted our running and casually (yeah, right) walked up to my mom, who was now awaiting the bakery truck which was now pulling into our drive.  Giggling to each other and trying not to act guilty, we waited with her.

 

The bakery man got out of his truck, half hidden smirky smile on his face looking at us and talking to mom about baked items.  We could barely contain ourselves and immediately started begging for cream puffs.  Mom was busy trying to make her own decisions and after a half hearted attempt to see if we had already had one, which we lied, she gave in.

 

We snatched up those cream puffs and took off for the pasture, laughing and eating cream puffs, with powdered sugar flying everywhere again.  We ran aimlessly in our own hilarity at ourselves.  As if we had gotten away with something.  I am totally sure my mom knew!  Life was a hoot and we rocked it!

 

Don't be so serious!  Grab a cream puff and run aimlessly!  LOL!  Watch where you are going!

 

 

 

New York City - My First Time

I noticed today, when I threw on my socks and shoes (because it is cold here today) that I had grabbed my socks that say "NYPD" on them.  They bring back a great memory!  I love New York City. I have had the privilege of traveling to different places with my job.  And I am very thankful for some of the places I have gotten to see for myself. In December of 2000, we were working in Delaware.  Our stay was extended a couple of weeks.  My friend and mentor, Nadine and I decided to take the weekend and go to New York City.  I had never been there, she had.  I was so excited, I was beside myself! I talked her into driving into the city instead of taking the train because I wanted the full effect!!!  So against her best wishes, we drove in. The temperature was dropping fast and on one of our pitstops, I realized that I needed some warmer socks and I bought these socks with NYPD on them. I am not sure the length of the drive but before you knew it, I was starting to see the signs!!! First, was the skyline of course, in the distance, excitement was mounting! I was the little kid that was driving the adult driver concerned about traffic, plumb crazy! Then we arrived at the entrance of the Holland Tunnel, severely cool, almost there!  We drove under the river!  We had arrived - NYC traffic!  I wasn't driving of course, I loved every minute of it.  New York City traffic is such a sight and sound to behold!  It is like choreographed chaos!  And the honking and sounds were a crazy wonderful symphony.  I loved it! I was hanging out the window like a puppy dog, pointing "look at that, there is the...."  I know Nadine was a mixture of "shut up, I'm trying to drive" and completely amused by this girl's amazement! This is going to be a multi-parter I can tell.  There is no way to tell it all in one post.  We stayed at an older hotel called the Ambassador or something like that.  It was just a block off Broadway.  We parked the car in a garage for the weekend and checked into the hotel.  My room was so small, the bed took up the whole room.  My suitcase was on the floor in front of the door or the bathroom door, I had to keep moving it back and forth.  I looked outside my upper floor room window and saw the much seen multi level roof tops with the wooden water towers all over the place.  The first thing we did after that was take out on foot to see the city!  A couple of blocks away (it was now dark) was the amazing Times Square!   My favorite part, like a kid in a candy store, I could barely take it all in, so big, so bright and so wonderful.  I loved, loved, loved Times Square at night.  It was amazing.  Not just the marquees, the lights, the plays and the people.  It was the life, the excitement!   It truly is the city that never sleeps. Now to add to ALL the excitement and things to see, let us add the fact that it was CHRISTMAS!!!!!  So all the lights and decorations were everywhere multiplying my excitement! I have to stop here and say, the temperature was dropping dramatically.  I love the street vendors, I stopped and bought another muffler, heavier gloves and a couple of those head bands that cover your ears!!!  It was more than cold, it was freezing!  But we kept walking. Down a little to Radio City Music Hall and then around the corner to the Rockefeller Center.  The huge Christmas tree was beautiful, a very large Grinch was walking around and of course I had my picture made with him in front of the tree.  We saw the ice rink and walked around for the view through the lit trees down the center to the gold statue of Prometheus.  We were then on 5th Ave.  Stopping to look at the decorated holiday windows and to get a Starbucks warming cup of coffee, we kept walking all the way down to the Empire State Building.  My feet were now numb from walking and the cold.  Talk about a freezing activity, we were on the top of the Empire State Building until it closed at 11:30pm.  The view of course was not as good as during the day, but all the city lights were amazing from up there. By the time we arrived back at the hotel after midnight, we were blocks of ice.  I estimated that we had walked over 45 blocks that night in teen digit temperatures. This post only spoke of the first night I had arrived.  We did 100 things that weekend, seems like.  It was not my only trip and I intend that I have not had my last trip there.  I will tell more of this and other trips to NYC later, but one of the great things about this special trip was that we were in Grand Central just at the right time when they started the laser show on the ceiling!  I love the Grand Central Market too!  Another great thing was that I was able to do Christmas shopping at NY Macy's, FANTABULOUS!  NYC rocks!

Bag "O" Heads

I moved into my house not knowing the prior tenants.  All is good, but because of a house we called haunted years ago, I always wonder what is in the attic!

I had a telephone line issue a few months ago and had to call the telephone man.  T-man came and ultimately had to go into the attic.  Not having my ladder, he brought his own.  When he went into the attic, I asked him to look around while he was up there and tell me what he saw.  He agreed.

So me standing at the foot of his ladder, he started reporting down to me.  Just a couple of things up there out of the ordinary.  First a very large aquarium, like 3x6.  It was empty of course, thank goodness.  We discussed it must have been used for a reptile of some kind.

Then to my surprise, he started to describe the second item.  There is a big black trash bag, tied closed.  I said something like really?  Not trash I hope.  He said I am not going to open it but it feels like a bag of heads.  (I am so laughing right now.)  I am like, "not real ones of course, right?"  He said I doubt it, but I feel eyes, noses, lips, etc.  My curiosity is more than peaked, so I go up ladder and take a look.  I see a trash bag closed up and it does have like rounded like bumps around it.  We discussed it and believed they were not skulls!  Too rounded.

T-man is now in the back of the attic doing his job.  I decided to wait on the pursuit of finding out what kind of heads.  I am thinking he is not interested in helping me and I am not going to open a bag of heads when I am alone.  Even though I am thinking something like styrofoam or maybe he is mistaken. 

It was very hot up there and T-man was melting, so he came down closed up the attic and went on his way.  My thought was I will have my son come with his ladder and we will investigate.  And no I am not afraid of living with a strange bag of heads in my attic, what is wrong with me!

Time passed and most of the time, I forget about the heads in the attic.  Most of the time.  But with my friends and family it pops up often in a conversation and is quite the fun and strange topic.  All of those without a ladder want me to hurry up and find out what it is.

A good while later, Trish, my bud was at my house when the AC man came to fix the air conditioner.  So, we could not help ourselves, we asked the AC man to hand down the bag of heads.  He was perplexed but did it anyway.

It wasn't heavy, I carried the bag outside to the porch.  Didn't want to open curious, strange, don't know what is inside, bag in the house!  As I was tearing the bag, I immediately saw and felt hair, ewwww.  Then I started seeing heads.  Deep breath.  I very quickly saw fake faces, like mannequins, but softer.  Even though I knew what they were, as I was digging down to see more and how many, as I saw the top of a new head I had this strange feeling inside.  Like what if one of them turns up real!

There were about 10 heads in the bag, each one different and complete down to the neck.  With different hair styles.  We believe they were used in a hair salon and if I am not mistaken they had real hair on them.  What a trip!  We had a photo op!  The one on the ledge was taken by a cel phone and it is kind of blurry but you get the drift!  (Trish now sees that pic every time I call her)

 I do not know what I am going to do with the bag "O" heads, but thinking of re gifting or Halloween, the possibilities are endless!