Vennie's Venue

Screwey Business, this Blog!

2009-11-20T13:44:00.002-06:00

Since I last blogged (admittedly a long time ago) I have changed my email address to vennieanderson@gmail.com. Apparently I have to keep using the old email address (which actually doesn't exist as an account any longer) to sign in with. I tried changing the primary email address to my current gmail address, but the system won't let you use a gmail address with Blogger! Is that weird or what? As long as I can find the blog online, which is how I managed to get into it, and post successfully (which remains to be seen), I don't care. I just think it's screwey! But then what about computers isn't?

OK, catching up. I don't have any pictures to post today, but maybe will again soon.

I guess my current health is the big issue. I'm having significant back problems and may need surgery. I'll find out Dec 2 when I see the neurosurgeon. This is not new. Had back surgery in 2000, which was successful. But the same problem--stenosis with buldging--has recurred, so we'll see. Just so something can be done to help the pain. I'm reduce to minimal activity, no real exercise, and getting sick of it.

Elsewise, all is well. My mom is doing well at 95. (I should do so well!) All furry creatures are in good shape.

I got back to the blog because I was looking at Laura's blog--which won't allow me to comment, BTW. No matter what I tried, it wouldn't accept my comment, apparently because I am not a "member". What the H does that mean??????? I was invited, and I signed up to follow it, so what gives? More Blogger screwiness!!

OK, here goes. It will post--or not, but I'm not investing any more time/energy until I see what's what.

Vennie

Second try for Florida post 09

2009-08-20T12:48:00.003-05:00

OK, Blogspot still won't let me move the pictures. If I had thought of it sooner, on this post I'd have posted the later pictures first, so they would have been in order, but it doesn't much matter.

Anyway, Kim and Ron, my daughter and SIL, have a lot of animals--four dogs, two horses, a donkey, a ferret, a kitten, a red eared tortoise, and four parrots. There have been various others over the years but this was the current census. It rained in the mornings and was steaming hot in the afternoons and/or we were gone until dark most days, so I didn't get any pictures of the outside animals.

Penelope, the filly, is now just over a year old and a gorgeous horse. (see blog post from June 08 when she was born).

This is Gizmo, Kim's sugar glider. He's a tiny little marsupial who is nocturnal and leaps from curtain to top of shelf to top of someone's head, etc.

Closeup of Gizmo in his hamster wheel. They say sugar gliders "bark" but all I heard him do was make a sound when we disturbed his daytime sleep--sounded like "weh, weh, weh, weh, weh".

KIm's new kitten, a real sweet little girl, who has the dreadful name of "Fenderburg". My SIL has a warped sense of humor.

Daisy swimming! Nobody stayed in the water very long because it was full of moon jellyfish! The bald guy is Russell, Kim and Ron's friend from Georgia, who drove down for her birthday. Nice guy.

This is my SIL, Ron, "water skiing", except he's on a kite board, pulled by our pontoon boat. He's pretty good at it!

OK, there are more pictures but that's the jist of it.

Anyone else having trouble moving the pictures around or is it just me? Anyone have any suggestions? email me at vanderson@verizon.net

Florida Visit Aug 09

2009-08-20T12:15:00.004-05:00

A pelican perched on a channel marker in Destin Bay.

OK, Blolgspot is giving me fits. It won't let me move the pictures into the proper order, so I'm just going to load them and post what's what under each. Maybe later it will let me move them around.....This is ridiculous and the whole post will make NO SENSE! I'm going to try to edit this one, and if I can't I'll go ahead and put it up and try a second post.

This is Daisy, Kim's Aussie Shepherd, who is a reall Mama's girl. They have four dogs but Daisy is the one who gets to go everywhere with Kim. She has her own life jacket, as you can see.

Aug 7 This is Guisippe's a lovely restaurant on the bay. We docked the boat there, and had lunch overlooking the bay. Gorgeous!

(This was suppposed to be the first picture.) My daughter, Kim, and SIL, Ron, live in Crestview, FL. Her birthday is Aug 7, so every year I drive or fly down (flew this time) to spend it with them. Kim teaches health ed and personal exercise classes at a nearby college. Ron is an electrical engineer with Boeing and works at Eglin Air Force Base. The base has boats for rent, and this is the one we rented on Kim's birthday. We spent the day tooling around Destin Bay.

...and the Beat Goes On...

2009-06-04T10:25:00.006-05:00

... the beat of hammers and crowbars and chain saws and stump grinders...and other miscellaneous noisy tools.

The latest episode in this saga has to do with the repair of the spare bedroom. Day before yesterday, Seth tore out the ceiling, and part of a wall came with it. He called me in to see it. "This is major termite damage. It's old damage and the good news is I don't see any evidence of current termite activity" He pointed it out to me, but it was easy to see.

In case you ever wondered what termites do to wood in a house, this is it. This is the section of wall above the window on the back side of the room. If you scratch the wood with a fingernail, it flakes off like dry cereal.

This is the wall next to the door of the bathroom that adjoins the spare bedroom.

When I bought the house 6 years ago, I had it inspected, of course, and old termite damage was found underneath. It had been repaired and there was no sign of active termites. I've had it inspected for termites every year since and no problems. Of course, when the underneath damage was found, they couldn't see into the walls. Apparently the original termite treatment killed all the little buggers, but the damage was done, hiding behind the wall, just waiting to be exposed--which the storm did.

Seth explained he would check all around the room to see how extensive the damage was. It turns out if affects the back and one inside wall--and the adjoining bathroom walls.

This is the gutted bathroom. Walls and flooring will be replaced. Total additional cost, about $2000, and not covered by insurance--I checked.

The roofers are here today too, ripping off the shingles and tarpaper. With the ceiling down and the outer layers removed, the holes show up really well. If I wanted a skylight, this would be the time to tell someone.

This is the view immediately outside my back door--which is obstructed by shingles and tarpaper. They asssure me this will all be removed today.

But then, the tree guys assured me the logs and other debris would all be removed yesterday--and they didn't show up at all!

At least one of the tree guys has a sense of humor. One of them found Madison's stuffed "Tigger" toy, which although now headless, is still recognizable, and placed it on one of the logs.

I stuck my arm outside the door and took this shot of the yard. (Due to falling debris, I was afraid to try to step out onto the back stoop.) The workers are stumbling over one another. The sawhorse is Seth's stuff, the ladder is the roofer's, and the logs....well, I guess until they're hauled off they are technically still mine. Too bad I don't have a really big wood burning stove! Note the huge pile of sawdust to the far left of the picture. That's where the stump of the pine was. The sawdust will make good mulch and cover for the path Madison beats running to the side gate. If I don't keep it covered with some kind of mulch, it becomes a muddy mess.

Right after the storm, people who do have woodburners were driving around with pickup trucks, picking up free firewood. Now they all have enough to last through the next 10 winters and don't want any more.

I called the chief tree guy at 8 am this morning and he "promised" they would get their act together (his words) and get the stuff chopped up and hauled off today. I figure Madison thinks he's been abandoned at the kennel, and I am sick of looking at all the crap in both front and back yards.

Yesterday evening I went online and found a website selling "fast growing trees". I ordered two dogwoods, a pink and a white, which will arrive in 2-3 weeks ready to put in the ground. They will be small saplings, but fast growers, and I already have a plan where to put them in the back and how to protect them until they are big enough to be safe from Madison's romping around. I felt a lot better after I ordered the trees, since I felt as if I had accomplished something positive.

The other day I went to the Neighborhood Co-op, which has a lot of organic stuff, natural remedies, etc., and I bought a defuser, some essential oil (lavender and chamomille) and tea candles. The defuser came with little crystals to put in the top area. You add a few drops of the oil, a couple of teaspoons of water, and then light a tea candle in the compartment at the bottom. Pretty soon the aroma of lavender and chamomille wafts up from the crystals. It really is a very soothing aroma. However, it's so noisy today, with hammering over my head and stuff falling both inside and outside, that I feel like I need to put the oil directly up my nose!

Ah, well, this too shall pass. I just hope we've reached the end of storm-related troubles, since my nerves have just about reached their limit. Tonight is the Small Group Storm Sharing meeting at church, and I know I can dump some of the stress there. So many people are going through this all over the area. You can practically feel the stress oozing out of everyone's pores.

At least my neighbor hasn't raised any complaints today--yet.

Storm Clean Up Continues

2009-06-01T09:11:00.006-05:00

(All pictures on this entry were taken early this morning.)

This is what's left of the 115 foot pine tree on the south side of my back yard. The tree guys have been working on it for two days to get to this point and today the rest will come down. For a while I was feeling like a "murderer", having the tree cut down, although I knew it had to be done. Then the chief tree guy told me the tree was essentially dead anyway, and would have come down on its own, sooner or later, and probably on my house, my neighbor's house, or both. So I don't feel like a "murderer" any more.

This truck was left overnight smack in the middle of my back yard. They use it to pull around the lift (pictured below), and the weight of the truck and lift is tearing up the yard something fierce. But again, it can't be helped.

This is the lift that the tree guys use to get up into the tree and attach ropes so they can guide the limbs down as they cut them. It's parked in my south next door neighbor's driveway at present. These neighbors have been super cooperative, since they realized their property was threatened by the tree just as much, if not more, than mine. Some of the limbs had to come down in their yard, but they had no problem with that. (Wish that were the case with the neighbor on the other side.) Notice the fencing on the far right side of the picture--part of my backyard fence that had to be removed to get the equipment in.

This is the maple on the north side of my back yard. While not as tall as the pine, it's badly damaged, and probably would also die--but most likely would come down in pieces with the next storm of any strength. Several large limbs are already severed from the truck and just hanging in the tree. At least one of those is poised to come down on my north next door neighbor's house. As soon as the tree guys finish with the pine, they will start on the maple. But...

...my neighbor is not being cooperative. She called me last night around 8 pm and read me the riot act about the tree, the tree guys, etc. Apparently the chief tree guy made the mistake of talking to her yesterday, trying to explain that at least one limb would need to come down on her side of the fence, but that they would remove it immediately and clean up any debris. She threw a fit and threatened to call the police!!! She raged at me on the phone for 10 minutes and I couldn't get her to accept that it was for her protection as much as my own that the tree had to come down--and it needed to come down in the safest, most efficient way possible. No go. She's still threatening to call the police. The chief tree guy says, "Let her call them. I'll deal with it."

I find it interesting that she is reacting this way in view of the fact that her home was only minimally damaged during the storm--a small section of guttering bent, and her back yard swing slightly damaged. Part of a tree belonging to her other next door neighbor came down in her yard, causing no damage, but she gave them fits until they had it removed. They were dealing with some severe damage to their own home, plus they have three small children, but she pitched such a fit that they had someone get the limbs out of her yard. (Legally, if a tree or other debris fall onto your property during a storm, you are the one who is supposed to deal with and pay for the removal--not the person whose property the tree was on to begin with--unless the tree was clearly already dead and had not been dealt with by the owner. She was the same way with me last year when the ice storm took down part of the maple onto both our fences. I paid for the repair of both fences, because she was going on and on about it, and I just wanted her to get off my case.)

(sigh)

This is my lovely temporary blue roof. So far it's working well keeping out the rain. I've got fans running and several dessicant products in the spare bedroom to keep the moisture level down until Seth can begin repairs. He's coming over this afternoon to give me a quote on the interior work. (I just realized I caught myslef in this picture in the reflection from the diningroom window. I have on a white tee shirt and was holding the camera up high to get the roof.)

This is the front yard, and just a small portion of the pine tree limbs. They have already hauled off two large truck loads of limbs. They use a big scoop-like thing to pick up the big limbs--and it takes a bite of yard along with it. Too bad, but another thing that can't be helped. Grass seed is cheap.

I'm hoping the tree work will be wrapped up by tomorrow afternoon and the fence put back in place so I can bring Madison home. I miss him soooooo much! I talked to the lady at the kennel this morning and she said he's doing fine. It's ME who isn't doing fine without him!

I slept poorly last night, mostly because of my neighbor's phone call. It's one thing to tell myself not to let it upset me, and quite another to act on that thought. Hopefully, after all the tree work is done, she'll settle down and things will get back to normal. I'd prefer to get along with her--but at this point that's pretty much up to her.

Well, there's lots of shouting and vehicle movement outside, so I think they're getting ready to pull the top down. I expect it will shake the ground. Even though I will expect it, I imagine I'll still jump. Been pretty jumpy in general lately. PTSD for sure!!

I survived the "Inland Hurricaine" of '09

2009-05-15T09:51:00.005-05:00

I have already emailed and spoken to some of you, but I'm finally together enough to post about last Friday's event.

At around 1:30 pm the tornado siren went off and I grabbed pillows, my emergency kit, and a sweatshirt and headed for my "safe spot" at the end of the hallway. There is a sort of cul de sac where no windows are nearby, if the two bedroom doors are closed off. Madison (my Golden Retriever) and I hunkered down, covering our heads with pillows, and turned on the battery operated storm radio. When I heard the phrase "80 mph winds with gusts to 100" I knew we were in for it. I kept murmuring to Madison, "We'll be OK, we'll be OK", and I figured we would be--until there was a huge crash close by and the house shook. At that point I decided maybe we wouldn't be OK after all, but I just held onto him--it's all I could do. There were several more crashes, and the house shook with each one. I was totally terrified. At one point there was a brief lull in the wind and I stood up, opened the door to the room where I thought the first crash came from, and saw this:

and this....

...which used to be a vertical blind on the window above it.

The wind picked up again and I shut the door and sat back down, gathered the pillows and the dog around me, and just sat there, sort of numb. There were several more crashes and some more shaking, but after a total of 45 minutes it got very quiet.

I threw on the sweatshirt and sturdier shoes, and ventured out my front door. All my neighbors were coming out of their homes as well, and little knots of people formed to discuss what had just happened. One neighbor advised, "Take pictures now if you've got a camera handy", so I did.

This portion of a maple tree landed across the fence and gate, taking out the gate and one section of fence. Fortunately the fence is still functional so Madison can't get out of the yard.

Another piece of the tree that hit the fence, but this one landed smack in the middle of the back yard, missing the house, the shed, the birdbath, lawn furniture, bird feeders, and planters--thank goodness.

This is the back of my house, and the tree that came through the roof. I'm lucky it didn't also take out a couple of windows, but just one screen was damaged.

Closer view of the back of the house. Both pine and maple trees tried to get in--only the pine tree was succesful!

Don't know how well you can see it in this picture, but there was a huge limb of this pine tree just dangling by the bark. Fortunately I was able to have it taken down before the next storm came on Tuesday night.

There were hundreds of downed power and phone lines throughout the area. This one is in front of my house. Directly in the center of this picture you will see a tree downed on a van and house. That house is a home for high level developmentally disabled adults, and I expect they were frightened out of their wits when that thing came down on ths house. No one was hurt. In fact, thoughout our area, there was only one fatality, and only a few relatively minior injuries. The same storm system is blamed for three deaths in Missouri, however. I'm sure the early warning of our tornado siren saved many lives.

The rain held off until Tuesday night, but the temporary roof patches didn't hold. A lot of water came into the spare bedrrom, and I lost the mattress and some other items from that room. Also, a couple of light fixtures , one in the hall and one in the diningroom, shorted out due to the water. Could have been worse.

While this storm was technically a tornado or series of tornadoes, it has been referred to in the media as "an inland hurricaine" because it had many similarities to a hurricaine. The sustained high winds--the peak was logged at 106 mph--the duration of the storm, and the wide area affected are all more characteristic of hurricaines than tornadoes. Whatever you call it, it was a devastating storm, the worst I've experienced in my lifetime of living in Southern Illinois, which is part of the midwest's "tornado alley". Seven counties in Southern Illinois have been declared disaster areas, and the cleanup and repairs are estimated to take as long as 6 months. The power and phones are back up in most of the area, but this was the longest--5 days--I've ever been without power and phones. Yay for cell phones and inverter chargers. I will probably blog some more about this tomorrow, but I want to get this post up now.

A Baby in the House

2009-05-08T10:30:00.005-05:00

Everyone who has had one knows that a new baby in the house can be fun, interesting, and exhausting, not always in that order. It's been nearly 2 weeks since my new baby, Dusty, entered my life, and as often happens, the new arrival has taken over the household.

This is Dusty the day I brought him home from the shelter, called Rightway Rescue. It's a no-kill shelter located near here, but until 2 weeks ago I'd never heard of it. Two Fridays ago I attended a benefit spaghetti supper, auction and sale at my church, put on by a bunch of high school kids who have formed an organization they call MAD for Animals. They are doing all kinds of things to raise money for Rightway, the county Humane Society, and an area wildlife rescue operation. I think it's a grand idea, and wanted to support them. However, I had no intention of adopting another animal that night, and didn't even know there would be animals present who were up for adoption.

There were several cute dogs, but this little guy was the only kitten. I was told it was a female, and I made the (fatal) mistake of asking to hold it. Adorable doesn't begin to describe this (then) 8 week old Himalayan mix with fluffy fur, huge blue eyes, and a playful disposition. After thinking it over, I decided to adopt, and filled out the application on line that night after I got home.

This shot gives him red eyes, but trust me, they are sky blue.

I had to wait until the following Monday to pick him up at the shelter. When we arrived back at the house, I put him in the back bedroom, which was prepared with food, water, his own personal litter pan, an old bath mat, a pillow and a tee shirt of mine on the floor. After playing for a while, snacking on his kitten kibble, and exploring the room, he curled up on the mat and took a nap. So far, so good.

Like babies sometimes do, he often fights to stay awake, afraid he'll miss something. Here he's just about to plop down with his head on the mouse, a common sleep position for him.

A few days after he came home with me, he was checked out by my vet and pronounced healthy and a fine fellow. By this time, of course, I knew "she" was actually a "he". After a bit of ruminating, I decided on "Dusty" for his name, since he reminded me of my lamb's wool duster. I kept him isolated from the other cats for three days, but he finally wore me down wanting to go out of the bedroom. It took him about 10 minutes to make the rounds of all the rooms, find the "big kids' '" water bowl and litter boxes, and decide he approved of everything. He also demonstrated he was perfectly able to go up and down the steps to the garage, thank you very much!

His favorite place has turned out to be my computer desk, probably because I spend a lot of time sitting in front of it. He's a real "Mama's Boy", and wants to be near me--on me, actually, if he can. I don't mind, except he has one annoying habit--he likes to "nurse" my ear lobe! I'm aware he was separated from his mother and littermates at a very young age, and evidently needs the comfort of "nursing", even if no sustenance is forthcoming. So, even though it tickles, I let him nurse" for a few minutes every day. He purrs loudly into my ear, pumps his little front feet up and down on my neck, and slurps away. This has resulted in Dusty having to spend the night in his own bedroom, where I tuck him in when I'm ready to go to bed. Otherwise, he's up in my bed, slurping away on my ear and purring like a tiny buzz saw! Not conducive to sleep for me!

Dusty is a big fan of Hoyles Card Games, and tries to "catch" the cards as they move around the screen. Here he is "watching" a game of "hearts".

Everyone who has met him has fallen for his sweet face, funny antics, and cheerful disposition. The other cats are doing well with him, and Buttercup, who I thought might present a problem with jealousy, has adopted him as her chief playmate.

I mentioned his "little" feet, but actually they are large for a kitten. The vet tells me he's likely to be a large cat, so I keep warning Buttercup she better take it easy, or one day he'll whip her butt! She gets the upper hand in their play now, and occasionally he squeals when she kicks or nips him, but he shakes it off and dives back in for more, so he must enjoy it. I monitored their play carefully for the first few days until I was certain she wouldn't really injure him.

We go back to the vet next Wednesday for the next baby shots. Just like any baby, he has to be vaccinated and get regular health care. In about three more months, it will be time to have him neutered, but he'll keep his claws intact, since I don't have any of my cats declawed.

Right now he's napping on a dining room chair cushion, another favorite spot. Like all babies he sleeps a lot. It's a dreary, rainy day here, so it's a good day for cat naps. I may take one later myself.

Oil Paintings

2009-05-01T11:52:00.012-05:00

Ever since I was a kid I had the notion that since I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler, I would be wasting my time dabbling in any sort of painting as a hobby. In 2002 a friend who is a talented artist was starting a series of lessons in her home, and on a whim I signed up. I found I enjoyed it and actually seemed to have some small talent to put paint on canvas.

For some time I've been meaning to take pictures of the paintings I've done that are hanging in my house. (I've done at least a dozen others and given them away as gifts, donations to charity auctions, etc.) This morning I decided to get the pictures taken, and I thought perhaps they might make an interesting blog entry. So here goes:

Most of the stuff I do are landscapes, painted from snapshots that I've taken various places. However, once in a while I just start painting and see what happens. This is one of those. It's called "Rain At Sea".

The next two are a set, done as sort of an experiment. Remember I said I couldn't draw a straight line? Well, I wanted to see if I could paint a straight line, which is actually rather difficult. Anyway, this pair are called, "Desert Day" and "Desert Night". The idea was to depict the passage of light though the day, beginning at dawn, into the white hot noon and the colors of late afternoon. Then, picking up where "Desert Day" stops, "Desert Night" depicts the colors of the night, passing from twilight, into midnight, dawn and early morning. These are both small paintings, about 9"x12", and hang in my hallway.

I don't think this is one of my better efforts but I keep it for sentimental reasons. It depicts my backyard when I lived in Marion, IL. The yard was landscaped with river rock pebbles and plants around a pool (not in the painting) and I had a platform built for my swing. The yard was finished just before my back surgery in 2000, and I sat in that swing for hours, enjoying the yard and the plants as I recovered from the surgery. Before I moved to Carbondale, I took snapshots of the yard so I could remember it.

This was painted from a snapshot I took in Mexico on a trip touring ancient ruins.

I've also done a few still lifes. This was painted from actual squash and apples posed against a cardboard background on a checkered tablecloth. I was never happy with the tablecloth, but finally said the hell with it.

The picture above and the next two below all are from snapshots I took in Alaska. The above shows the entrance to one of the glacier bays (can't recall which one).

This one is from a snapshot of a glacier cascading into its bay inch by inch. The reflection of the ice in the blue water intrigued me. I tried hard to get it accurately in oil. Several years after I painted this, this glacier began "galloping" into its bay at several feet per minute and eventually disappeared into the water. It doesn't exist anymore!

The picture below is entitled "Tundra and Tiega", and is from a snapshot taken from a window of the train from Denali Park to Fairbanks. Tundra is the flater area at the base of the mountains and tiega refers to the low growth bushes and trees in the foreground.

This was painted from a snapshot taken in 1997, on the Dingle Peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. So much of Ireland is green, so the shapshot with all the blues and grays and lavendars made a nice contrast.

I rarely do a painting from another media of any kind, but this is an exception. My friend had an old calendar with a photograph of this beach scene from northern California on it. There was no attribution, so I don't know who the photographer was. Anyway, the scene intrigued me, and since I'm keeping the painting for personal use and not selling it, no sweat.

The painting below was another "start slapping on the paint and see what happens" effort. It's actually sideways, since I forgot to rotate it, but I suppose it really doesn't matter much! (other than my signature at the bottom is off kilter) I call it "Lawrence Welk on LSD".

The painting above is one of my favorites. It's from a snapshot of a castle in Scotland, and I love the lush flowers with the shadowy castle in the background. (I was walking on the tan path shown in the painting when I snapped the photo.) This painting, along with "Tundra and Tiega" and "Rain at Sea" were the three paintings that were juried when I was accepted into the local Associated Artists Gallery several years ago.

This is another favorite. Not painted from another art media exactly, but "copied" nonetheless. I wanted a painting for my bedroom to match the sheets and pillowcases on my bed. I took a pillowcase, folded it in half twice, and used the image on top to paint this rather large canvas, which is indeed hanging in my bedroom. An interesting note is that in China I recently bought silk bed linens--and picked a pattern to match the painting!

The painting below requires some explanation. The church I belong to is part of the Unitarian Universalist Assocation. The UU symbol is a flaming chalice, often shown within two intertwined circles. The flaming chalice represents the spirit of our faith and the intertwining circles represent our heritage of Universalism and Unitarianism. There is a bit of a story behind this painting. In 2003, we were in the process of building a new church building. I got the idea to do a painting of a chalice and donate it to the church for the new building, which I did.

After the new building was completed, I waited to see where the painting would end up. After a year, I found it in a storeroom. This requires some additional explanation. At that time, the church had what was known as the "Arts and Aesthetics Committee", a group of women who basically evaluated items donated or purchased for the decor of the church and decided what would go where. (Can you see what's coming?) When I found the painting in the storeroom, initially I was furious and had my feelings way hurt! I took the painting home in a huff and hung it on my wall. In the coming months several other items donated by members got short shrift from the AAC, and tempers flared. Eventually the AAC was disbanded, and things settled down. There was some discussion about this issue, and the consensus was that the AAC had "new white tennis shoes syndrome". (You know, how when you have a brand new pair of white tennis shoes, you hate to do anything to get them dirty---but eventually they do get soiled and then it's OK if they get dirty and you have to wash them.) With a brand, spanking new church building, the AAC wanted to keep it pristine and dignified! Now this is a church of 200 members, many of them young families with kids, and there's no way a building can be used and stay pristine--and frankly, there is a difference between dignfied and prissy. In good condition and clean, yes, but not pristine--and definitely not prissy!

I'm quite certain I could take the painting back and someone would see that it was hung somewhere in the building. However, it was an early effort and I've decided it's not really that good. But I like keeping it on my wall. It keeps me humble.

So, for now, those are most of the paintings hanging around here. (As I'm typing this I realized I left out three small paintings of flowers. I'll snap them another time.) I'm planning another painting for my bedroom, perhaps from a snapshot taken in China. I'll try to be sure it doesn't clash with the sheets.

Supper Club

2009-04-27T09:01:00.006-05:00

One of the many programs in my church, the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, is Supper Club. To participate in Supper Club, you sign up with the coordinator and agree to host or co-host 1 to 3 dinners a year. Then you go on her list, and eventually receive a list of your own for your designated month to host. The list will give you the names and emails or phone numbers of the 6-8 or more people (depending on how many you have said you can handle) You contact these people to set up a date agreeeable to as many as possible, and coordinate what category dish each will bring (appetizer, salad, dessert, etc.). The host generally provides the main dish and drinks, which can include wine or beer, and the rest of the meal is pot luck. It's surprising how well balanced these meals usually turn out, considering no one knows what will be served except the main dish, which the host decides in advance.

Of course, since you are also on the list to be a guest you will receive calls or emails from at least one host a month to attend as a guest at their Supper Club. Sometimes I attend as many as three dinners a month, but generally at least one, and I host at least twice a year. It's a great way to get to know Fellowship members on a more intimate basis than just seeing each other at church on Sundays.

April was my turn to host, and I set the date for yesterday, the 26th at 5:30 pm. Three days before that I went into a cleaning frenzy, wielding Liquid Gold, Enddust, Windex and Clorox spray cleaner all over the household surfaces. I arranged for my cleaning lady to come Saturday instead of Wednesday, so the bathrooms and floors would be as clean as possible. Also on Saturday I made a big bowl of tabouleh from Laura's recipe and but it in the fridge for the flavors to blend overnight.

Sunday Madison was banished to the back yard. (Don't feel sorry for him--the sun was shining and he was busy all day chasing squirrels.) I played hooky from church to have enough time to get everything ready without being exhausted. (I've noticed it's a pretty common occurance when Supper Clubs happen on Sunday evenings for the hosts--at least the hostesses-- to skip Sunday morning services. Everyone wants to put their best foot forward, so to speak.)

I set the table and covered it with a sheet to keep curious kitties at bay. They already knew something was up, and were sniffing around to see if I would drop any tidbits as I prepared the meal.

The sheet was a very effective protective device, keeping my four-footed "children" off the dishes. Foiled by the sheet, they gave up and took catnaps.

This is Buttercup, who, for a few more hours, is still the baby of the house.

Whitey is the senior citizen cat at age 14. She takes lots of naps.

Jennie in her favorite place, a pile of towels on the end of the kitchen counter by the back door. The towels are there to put on the floor on days when Madison would otherwise be tracking in mud on his paws. Jennie lies on top of the stack and leaves the rest of the counter alone, so I let her stay there.

This is Princess Margaret Ann Mouse, aka Meggie (named after Meg Ryan, actually.) She too was in her favorite place on the shelf in the garage. She rarely comes out of the garage, but seems happy as a clam there. Notice the sign warning plumbers, etc. not to open the crawl space door, which is directly under Meggie's shelf, without letting me know so I can herd any and all cats into the house and shut the door leading into the kitchen. Meggie got under there once and I had a devil of a time getting her out.

There really is a cat in the above picture. Charlie's favorite napping spot is under the bedspread on my bed. If you look closely you'll see a small lump on the left center side--that's him. Every now and then I go by and give him a pat and get a muffled "meow" in response.

Shortly before the guests were to arrive I removed the sheet from the table and poured ice water into the glasses. The little green and white striped boxes on the plates are cloisanne' bells from China, which I used as favors. The end plate doesn't have a box, since that's my seat, nearest the kitchen.

I set up the "wine bar" on the oak buffet in my livingroom. (When I took this picture, the white wine was still chilling in the fridge.) The livingroom/diningroom is all one open area, and my house is really not very large. But that makes for "cozy".

Here are some of my eight guests enjoying wine and the raw veggies and dip appetizer that one guest brought. I normally have seating for eight, including myself, but I ended up with nine this time due to a mixup on the part of the coorinator. Thankfully, I have a card table and plenty of plates, tableware, etc., so the more the merrier.

I realize I should have taken a picture of the table once the food was out, but by then I was so busy I forgot. Later I was having such a good time that I continued to forget. Therefore, you must imagine the menu, which included, along with my tabouleh and baked mustard-crusted wild caught salmon, zuccini with garbonzo beans, a mixed green salad, home baked rye bread, and for dessert, fresh strawberries over angelfood cake topped with lite Cool Whip. It was a feast for both the eyes and the palate. The food got raves, and everyone asked for recipes for the tabouleh and salmon.

The conversation was fascinating, as it always is. One of my guests is a transplant from New Orleans to Carbondale, and was a Katrina refugee. His home was destroyed, so he moved here to be closer to family in our area. His tales of the storm and the aftermath were interesting and scarey. Before the hurricane hit he escaped in his truck with two duffel bags of clothes, his computer and two pieces of valuable artwork. (He had a lot of additional art pieces, many of which were destoyed beyond restoration possibility.) He told us he lost so much that it has given him a new viewpoint on life. "If I drop something and break it, " he said, "I just think, 'oh well, it's only a thing.' The importance of 'things' in my life has been reduced to almost nothing."

We also talked about China. One couple had been there 20 years ago and we compared notes and discussed changes in the country.

By 9 pm all the guests had gone. By 10 pm, the candles were extinguished, everything was put back in its place, the dish washer was running, the tablecloths and napkins were churning in the washing machine, and I retired to my bed to stretch out and contemplate my next Supper Club, which will be in June. It's going to be hard to top the salmon, but I'll think of something!

Pamper Me Day

2009-04-22T13:31:00.002-05:00

Today has been sort of a "pamper me" day so far. I started at the Beauty Shop with a shampoo, cut and blow dry--and yay! She got it to look as good as Rick!!!

Then I went to a place called-I kid you not--California Pro Nails. I got the spa special manicure and pedicare. While you get your pedicare you are seated in this fantastic massage chair. I've been in massage chairs before, but this one is the best ever! If I had one at home, I'd never leave the house! The spa pedicure included all the trimmings--exfoliation, foot and leg massage, hot wrap for my feet, and of course, the polish, which is--what else?--California Raspberry! Then to the nail table and the same--soak, massage, polish to match.

I came home and fixed a healthy lunch--did I forget to mention I had a healthy breakfast?--and now, as I sip my Chinese green tea, I'm pondering how to spend the rest of my afternoon.

It's a gorgeous day and if I hadn't just had my nails done, I'd be inclined to putter in the yard. That would be a recipe for disaster for sure. I've got a really busy four days coming up, cumulating with 8 people coming for dinner Sunday night (mustard-crusted salmon, tabouleh, and whatever the others bring.) Some of the other activities involve eating out, so I will need to be careful. I don't want to sabotage my good efforts so far. I'd like to keep my nails decent at least through Sunday, so I'll think of something to do indoors.

I've been eBaying, and bought some plastic under-bed storage boxes for my "fat clothes". Believe it or not, one bag is already over half full. It's amazing how fast stuff has become loose, especially items that were not snug to start with. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! Funny, I used to hate to weigh and avoided the scales like the plague. Now I can't wait for Friday morning to see what's what.

I will be seeing my doctor tomorrow (routine appt), and I expect he'll be annoyed with me at first, since I suspect I may weigh a little more on their scale than I did the last time I was there. I hope he'll be patient enough to let me explain what has taken place in the meantime, and my current determination to get my healthy life back. Some of you know that I had planned to ask him for a referral to a pain clinic, but guess what? I don't believe that's going to be necessary! Curves has become my "pain clinic"! Even with what I know about exercise and diet, I'm astounded at how much better I feel than I did 3 weeks ago! (Think how I'll feel 3 months from now!!!!!)

There is a stack of CDs on my desk waiting to be uploaded to my iPod. I think that's what I'll do the next hour or so, since I love having my music to take wherever I go. I especially enjoy piling up with my pillows at bedtime with my iPod and a good book--more pampering!

I guess I've finally decided it's OK to be good to me.

Solvang, CA, pre-China visit

2009-04-18T19:04:00.001-05:00

My good friend Carol and I met on a Richard Simmons "Cruise to Lose" a few years ago. (She was Carol Lesher then, but had a new boyfriend, who became her husband the following year--so now she's Carol Lesher Peterson.)

Anyway, Carol and I became great friends. We had a blast on that cruise and have stayed in touch since. We've been on one other cruise together--with hubby Mike along this time!--and I visited them in their home in Solvang a couple of years ago. Carol is the person who told me about the China trip, and invited me to come early to visit with them. So, March 12 I caught several planes which eventually landed me in Santa Barbara, the closest convenient airport to her home on the outskirts of Solvang, CA.

The picture above is the view from Carol's back patio. She owns the houses on the hill, as well as several more acres, including a pasture, barn, etc. Lots of room for the animals. There's a white llama out by the fence. A better picture of him...

...well, his backside at any rate. If you know anything about llamas, you know they can be somewhat stubborn, and I wasn't going to risk getting any closer and get spat upon!

This is adorable Phoebe, Carol's miniature horse. Carol says she has let her into the house, but she stayed outdoors while I was there. I've heard miniature horses are so smart they can be trained to be helper animals for the handicapped. And this one is very friendly as well.

This will give you a better idea of just how tiny Phoebe really is! She was happy when I put grain into her feed dish. (I'm not much of a farm hand, having been a "town kid" all my life, but I braved the corral in order to get these pictures.)

These guys were happy to get some grub too, and I was happy they focused on the grain and not on nipping or butting me! These three goats, along with two sheep, came from nearby "Neverland" when Michael Jackson broke up his animal herd. (Carol called them "The Jackson Five"!) One sheep died, however, so now it's just the Jackson Four. The poor little sheep who was left alone was ostracized by the goats, but he took up with one of the llamas and is doing well now, as you can see from the picture below. Except for Phoebe, I can't recall any of these critters' names. (Sorry, Carol!)

Well, I do remember Billie Bad Ass (yeah, that's actually her name), but I remember her name because she looks so much like my sweet Buttercup. Billie doesn't like to be held by anyone but Mike, but she did condescend to allow me to pet her and take this picture. Wish she hadn't turned her head at the last minute. Carol got Billie as a rescue cat--she had already earned her name by being so surly and hard to handle. But Billie seems to like it in Solvang--and loves Mike!

I had planned to take some pictures in downtown Solvang, since the buildings are so quaint, most of them in old Danish style. However, distracted by all the preparations for our China trip, I never got around to it. (I realize I didn't even get any humans in these pictures! Fortunately, there are plenty of pictures of Carol and Mike on my China trip blog posts.)

Solvang is great, and I hope to visit again. Friendly people, a charming town, great shopping and excellent wineries! I recommend all of them!

China VI, the lake, silk embroidery and Shanghai

2009-04-15T17:56:00.026-05:00

Weds. March 24

Yesterday's cruise on West Lake in Hangzhou was lovely. Old pagodas, romantic stories, a huge lake and park smack in the middle of the city.

I took a lot of pictures on the lake, but a heavy mist resulted in many pictures being too indistinct to show the true beauty of the scenery.
After that we went to the Tea Institute. Saw tea growing, how it is dried and served.

Not only are the plants in the foreground tea bushes, but the plants on the hillside as far as you can see are also tea bushes.

This man is hand drying tea for some of the more expensive types. All tea starts out from the same plant; differences in taste, aroma, etc. result from when the tea is picked and how it is dried and processed.

The Chinese can be very whimsical. This ornamental pond at the Tea Institute has a "teapot" fountain.

We were seated around a large table and given glasses with a pinch of tea. Then a woman came around pouring hot (not boiling) water into the glasses. Our tea guide explained that water for tea should never brought to a boil, as it "kills" the tea. The water is ready when little bubbles appear on the bottom of the heating vessel.

Baskets of various types of tea were passed around and we were invited to smell the differences. There actually is a difference between the higher and lower grade teas.

Peter, you're supposed to sniff it, not dive into the basket!

A glass of tea made from a "magic" tea flower. Perfectly lovely and also very drinkable.

I bought some wonderful tea and some "magic blossoms"--will be fun!

We had an OK lunch and then to Lingyin Park to see the "flying peak" and 72-foot camphor wood Buddha.

The Ligong Pagoda at the entrance to the Lingyin Temple grounds was built in honor of the Indian monk who gave the nearby mountain its name. He thought it was the spitting image of a mountain in his home of India and he asked if the mountain had flown there. Hence the name of the hill, Feilai Feng ( the Peak that Flew Here).

Lingyin Si (temple) is known not only for the large camphor wood Buddha, but also for the 470 Buddhist carvings lining the riverbanks and hillsides, dating from the 10th to 14th centuries.

It would be interesting to know how the artists managed to carve these rocks without falling into the river.

Below is the famous "Laughing Buddha". A few more intrepid tourists, including some from our group, braved the slippery rocks near the river to get a closer look, but not moi.

All the buildings are temples, active houses of worship, and photographs are not permitted inside. However it is acceptable to snap what you can from outside the door. Below is The Hall of the Four Guardians, containing four huge colorful figures, one of which you can see fairly well.

Above is the Great Hall, which houses the 72-ft high camphor wood Buddha. This Buddha was sculpted from 24 blocks of wood in 1956, and is a replicable of a Tang dynasty original.

Again, shooting from outside the door, I was able to get a pretty good picture of the huge Buddha. Many Chinese were buying incense and bowing and praying in all parts of the park area, but especially in front of this building and inside before the Buddha.

Three hour bus ride to Shanghai--then to dinner--nice dinner with ice cream (!) and back to hotel. At least we have 2 nights here and can sort baggage.

After breakfast we went to the Bund, a river walk with great views of the city center, including the tallest building in the world, 101 stories.

Below is a part of the Shanghai skyline, including the quasi-phallic Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the left, and the world's tallest building. The angle of this picture makes the Pearl Tower seem taller, but the 101-story office building is the slim rectangular building just to the right of center, which looks as if it has a slot cut out of the top section--which it does. The locals call it "the can opener", and you can see why. This sector of the city on the east bank of the Huangpu River is called Pudong, and is Shanghai's newest district. While Beijing is China's political capital, Shanghai is it's commercial center, and much business activity takes place in Pudong. Shanghai has the highest average income per household in China, and boasts a growing middle class anxious to enjoy a higher standard of living.

Rainbow, our guide, told us she comes to Shanghai several times a year and the skyline changes with every visit. We saw cranes, steamshovels, and other evidence of construction on every hand. This city of 17 milion--17 million!--people, the largest city in China, is surging into the 21st century with a growth spurt that astounds even the locals. (But you still can't drink the tap water!)
A local woman was selling postcards on the Bund. I bought a clutch of postcards and asked her to pose with me for a picture. She got the last laugh, though, because the postcards were at least several months old and do not feature the 101-story "can opener". By the time they come out with a set of postcards that do feature this unusual structure, other buildings will no doubt have risen to change the skyline once again. As Beijing went into a building frenzy leading up to the 2008 Olympiad, Shanghai is racing to complete shopping malls, hotels, and towering office buildings in preparation for hosting the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

If you turn away from the river and Pudong and look across the Bund, you see the hotels, banks, offices and clubs that flourished during the time Shanghai was colonized by the British, French, and Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The contrast between the staid, older buildings and the gleaming towers across the river is fascinating.

Then we went to a silk carpet and tapestry place. Impressive. We ate lunch there, and guess what? Shopped some more.

This woman at her loom is a skilled artisan. The guide told us it is becoming difficult to recruit young women to learn the art of weaving silk tapestry and rugs. The painstaking process takes years to learn and larger pieces, such as large carpets and tapestries, can take years to make. The term "lost art" comes to mind.

This is a small portion of the hundreds of gorgeous items on display and for sale. Most were far beyond my pocketbook, but I fell in love with a 48x 24 inch tapesty of pandas in a bamboo grove. The black and white animals against the subtle greens, browns, pinks, and soft blues of the background charmed my credit card right out of my purse! I gulped when I signed the charge slip, but now, as I look at it hanging above my desk, I know I made the right decision. I'll treasure it for the rest of my life and it will pass on to my daughter, a true family heirloom.

After lunch we went to "China Town", the mall-like bazaar.

Below are two shots of the Yu Gardens Bazaar. The locals do indeed call it "China Town". It's a bit of a tourist trap, but we had fun wandering among the stalls and shops, bargaining with the vendors over silk scarves, caps, robes, and other souvenir items. It was in the bazaar that we saw the amazing (to us) sight of a Chinese mother holding her toddler over a trash can while he peed through the slit in the bottom of his pants. Who needs diapers when children's clothes are designed this way!! What a practical solution for both mother and child.

Had dinner at a nice restaurant (picture below) and then drove to the Shanghai Circus to see the "Era" show.

Wow! Talk about impressive! Such talent, grace, strength, agility, and beauty! An absolutely stunning show!

The Era show is currently one of Shanghai's premier attractions for locals and tourists alike. An incredible combination of acrobatics, juggling, tumbling, flying, and a finale of seven motorcycles zipping around the inside of a wire cage with lights flashing and engines roaring--sounds weird, but believe me, it was eye-popping and breathtaking!

Now back in hotel room, exhausted and dreading tomorrow morning--packing! How will I get all this stuff into 2 suitcases?

Here ends the China travel journal. I had to do some very creative packing, but I managed with my original two suitcases and carry on, unlike some of my comrades who bought extra suitcases to carry home their loot.

I must add a bit about our trip to the Shanghai airport. Our luggage went by bus, but we went on the Maglev Train. Quoting from Eyewitness Travel's Beijing & Shanghai, "This is, for the moment at least, the fastest you'll ever travel without flying. " German built and smooth as Chinese silk, this magnetically elevated super train travels the 18.6 miles from Shanghai's eastern suburbs to Pudong Airport in under 8 minutes! At one point the train reaches the speed of 267 mph! It is surprisingly quiet and the ride is so even you could sip from a full cup of hot coffee without spilling a drop.

We wait in the station for the Maglev Train to arrive...

...and here she is. Passengers arriving from the airport disembark on one side while those of us enroute to the airport clamour aboard on the other. And we're off!

In each car a digital monitor flashes the time and the speed in kilometers.

We arrived at the Pudong Airport almost before we left Shanghai! What a fantastic way to wind up a fantastic trip.

I hope you've enjoyed my blogging about our trip to China. It was fun to relive it in the writing.

China V: Silk, Gardens, and more

2009-04-15T10:44:00.015-05:00

continued from Monday 3/23

The Silk Factory was really interesting. We saw the life cycle of the silkworm and the processing of cocoons into silk thread and batting for comforters.

Picture above shows containers with, from left to right, eggs, caterpillers, pupae in various stages, and at the far right, the sightless, flightless moth, whose only function is to lay more eggs.

Silkworms, which are actually caterpillars which have been bred over centuries into blind, flightless eating and spinning machines. Silk is made of the clear secretions from the silkworm's saliva glands, which it uses to create its cocoon after it has stuffed itself with mulberry leaves.

There are two types of cocoons, single and double. Single cocoons, containing one pupa, are steamed to kill the worm, washed, soaked, and "dewormed", and placed on machines that draw the strands out into single ply threads, several strands of which are woven together to make silk thread for further weaving into cloth. The rarer double cocoons, which contain two pupae and are larger, are also steamed and washed, but then are stretched by hand in a fascinating process to form the layers of batting for comforters. One double cocoon is stretched by hand to cover an area the size of a bed quilt--I know that's true because I saw it done! The layer is very thin, of course, and it takes dozens of layers to create the batting for one comforter. The multiple layers are what give the comforter its characteristic warmth in winter and coolness in summer, while remaining almost feather light. The comforter I bought is very warm and lightweight, and I haven't used my electric blanket since I put the comforter on my bed!

The white cloth at the bottom of the above picture shows part of a silk comforter. The colorful silk above it a duvet cover.

I splurged and got myself a set of sheets, pillowcases, a pillow, a mattress cover and a comforter. Also pj's, some scarves, and some things for gifts.

The picture above was taken in the lobby of the Silk Factory. We could take pictures there, where the educational materials were laid out, but no photographs were allowed inside the factory where the actual silk work was done. The orange sign actually says, "No photographing, No picturing".

The Chinese guard their silk making and weaving processes carefully. Silk remained a Chinese monopoly from 2640 BC, when breeding of silkworms is said to have begun on a large scale, until 3000 years later, when the secret of the worms was smuggled out of China by various travelers.

After that we went to the Lingering Garden, a famous and huge private garden which was lovely and peaceful. There I bought a silkscreen panda for Kim.

The Lingering Garden is one of the largest gardens in Suzhou. It was built by a Ming dynasty doctor who wanted to give his patients a relaxing place from which to recover from illness.

The Chinese take their gardens very seriously. I can understand why. With the density of their population, they are desperate to preserve places where one can come and find peace and quiet. According to National Geographic's Atlas of China, the population of the world, as of 2008 was
6.7 billion. The population of China at that time was 1.3 + billion, meaning approximately one of every five humans on earth lives in China. Since much of the interior is uninhabitable desert, many people cluster in China's numerous large cities. The Chinese are a loud people--when carrying on a normal conversation they sound as if they are arguing! Add the honking horns and other traffic noise, the squawking ducks and chickens in the markets, and other sundry noises and the din in some places is awful! No wonder they prize their peaceful parks and gardens. Years ago there were a lot more gardens, parks, and Buddhist temples, but the Red Guard destroyed many of them during the late 1960's "Cultural Revolution"--a contradiction in terms if ever there was one. Thank goodness the remaining ones were spared.

Here's another delightful example of "Chinglish", on a sign just inside the Lingering Garden gate. It may not translate well, but you certainly get the idea.

More examples of the large stones from Tai Lake, which appear in nearly every large Chinese garden.

Below is a shot of an interior at the Lingering Garden. One of these pieces of furniture is an opium couch.

I always associated bonzai with Japan, but apparently it is another Chinese art borrowed by the Japanese. We saw a lot of beautiful bonzai arrangements in this garden.

We had lunch at another nice buffet near the Silk Factory and then headed to the Silk Embroidery Institute. This was an astounding place. We watched the process and then saw thousands of pieces, many museum quality. This is truly an art! I had no idea of the beauty of these products. I bought 2 small "student pieces", and one larger one in a hanging frame. It's a white cat with green eyes playing with a grasshopper and I think it's charming, as well as exquisite. I plan to put it on the piano. No pictures allowed in this place either!

We then set out for the two and a half hour drive to Hangzhou. By this time it was raining and traffic was bad. The highway was somewhat bumpy and the shocks in the bus leave something to be desired. My back was hurting, so Carol's brother Bob gave me a vicodan, bless his heart. He's a doctor, who recently had knee surgery and had brought along the medicine in case he needed it. That helped a lot, and the rest of the trip was more comfortable. We went to our hotel and then to dinner. After dinner I had a lovely dessert and jasmine tea in the bar, and then came up to bed. Tomorrow is the lake cruise and I'm looking forward to that.

Here's a preview of the lake cruise, but I'm stopping here. The next China blog will be the last for this trip, and hopefully will be up tomorrow.

China IV: from Beijing to Shanghai and more

2009-04-13T13:55:00.016-05:00

Monday, March 23, 09 Yesterday we arrrived in Shanghai and drove immediately to Suzhou, about a 30-minute drive. Lots of new buildings, construction, etc. in what used to be all farmland district.

Went to Tiger Hill, very lovely large pagoda with history.

Quoting from Lonely Planet's China: "The Hill itself is artificial and is the final resting place of He Lu, founding father of Suzhou. He Lu died in the 6th century BC and myths have coalesced around him--he is said to have been buried with a collection of 3000 swords and to be guarded by a white tiger."

The Cloud Pagoda, built in the 10th century, stands atop Tiger Hill. It is an octagonal, 7-story pagoda, which began tilting over 400 years ago, and currently is about 7 feet displaced from perpendicular at its highest point.

The park grounds are large and very beautiful with extensive gardens and some of the many canals that thread throughout Suzhou, which is known as "the Venice of the East".

The largest Canal in China, the Grand Canal, lies just outside Suzchou, and is linked to the city's canals. The Grand Canal, begun in 486 BC, originally was meant to link the Yangzi and Yellow Rivers and the (then) southern and northern capital cities. It remains the world's largest man-made waterway, although the altered course of the Yellow River has reduced the Grand Canal's use for major transport. Its 1,112 miles do, however, link Beijing with the south all the way to Shaghai and Hangzhou.

The photo of the Cloud Pagoda above doesn't show it well, but there are over 300 steps leading to the base, for which Rainbow set off with some of the group. Several of us opted not to climb them, and Carol, Mike and I and Harry, a co-traveler from Bus 2, decided to take the horse and carriage ride that goes halfway around the park and back. We saw some lovely scenery along the way.

Took a horse and carriage ride with Carole and Mike rather than climb 330-plus steps! Blisters hurt like hell!

When we finished the carriage ride, Carol, who loves horses, had to have her picture taken with the horse. Some Chinese tourists had already boarded the carriage for the next ride. The horse remained calm while Carol was standing there, but as soon as she walked away, he began to buck and prance around, I'm sure giving the passengers a fright. I'm also sure the carriage driver, who took a while to get his horse back under control, was not happy with the "foreign devil" who spooked his horse!

I included the pictures below for several reasons. I like the red lanterns that lined the walkway, and also I have no idea where we were going when I took this picture--or the one below it. Possibly on the way to lunch???? The trouble with a trip like this is you go so many places so quickly and some resemble each other. You take a lot of pictures, thinking, "I'll remember this when I get home"--and you don't! I've got several more pictures like these, very nice, but no clue as to the subject matter! Next time I'm going to keep a picture notebook as well as a journal

The picture below is definitely a Suzhou canal. Many families live and work on the canals. Tourist boats ply the larger canals, and we were headed for one later in the day.

After Tiger Hill we went to a marketplace--crowded, noisy, colorful, disturbing.

We took a walk through a local marketplace, essentially a long street lined on both sides with vendors selling everything from clothes, fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, and foods "fresh on the hoof", so to speak. One of those was these eels below.

I took a couple of other pictures in the market but they were very blurry because I kept getting jostled. It was crowded and I didn't want to lose sight of the SB3 sign! Some of the sights in the market were disturbing to many of us. Live caged animals for sale is one thing. Geese flopping about on the pavement because their feet are wired together is something else. I had to keep reminding myself that I was the foreigner here and their ways are not our ways.

Here we are ready to board the boat for the canal ride. You can tell it's become dark, and you can also tell poor Rainbow is just about beat! Rainbow called this canal "The Baby Canal" to distinguish it from the Grand Canal.

It was pretty dark for a picture but you can tell how beautiful the canal is.

Then to dinner at a very nice restaurant and back to the hotel exhausted. Only here 1 night, so very little unpacking. Breakfast at 7 and on the bus at 8:15 headed today to Silk Factory and Hangzhou.

I'm going to stop again here, since it's taking about 3 hours per post. Will continue tomorrow.

ChinaIII Pearls and More

2009-04-11T11:10:00.020-05:00

We woke up well ahead of the wakeup call (Sat. March 21st). I took a shower and washed my hair and organized my purchases in my luggage. In a few minutes we'll head out for the Pearl Factory (Shoot me now!) and on the way we'll see the "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium. This afternoon a rickshaw ride to a large privately owned home in the Hutong District for dinner. should be interesting. (Hutong is the Chinese word for alleyway.)

We did a drive by of the olympic stadium, (the "Bird's Nest"--and yes, it does somewhat resemble a bird's nest)) but the picture isn't very good, even after enhancing. It's set well back from the road, the picture was taken through the bus window, and there was quite a bit of haze in the early morning air. Beijing is noted for its serious air pollution problems, but most days it wasn't too bad. I had brought along a filtered mask just in case, but didn't need it.

Early Sunday March 22. The Pearl Factory was very nice, and yes, I bought pearls!

This lovely young Chinese woman showed us how the pearls are harvested from the fresh water oysters grown at the plant. She was typical of the local guides at the places we visited in that she spoke a precise English with a similar accent (were they all educated at the same school?) and was attractive and sophisticated. I expect these are plum jobs for young women in China.

While ocean oysters produce only a single pearl, fresh water oysters produce multiple pearls of various sizes and colors within the same oyster. The guide explained that the young oysters are injected with what she called "meat" (a protein based irritant) to promote development of the pearls. There were 36 pearls in this particular oyster. I think the guide's black nail polish contrasts nicely with the pearls.

We went to the Summer Palace, which is on a lake and very beautiful, and since it was Sat., also very crowded with local and Western tourists.

Quoting from "Eyewitness Travel, Beijing & Shanghai": " The sprawling grounds of the Summer Palace served the Qing dynasty as an imperial retreat from the stifling summer confines of the Forbidden City." The book goes on to describe how the grounds were remodeled several times through the centuries, most notably by the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), who is remembered as one of China's most powerful women.

One could easily spend an entire day roaming the huge area, but we saw only a small part. We did see the Long Corridor, a 2,288 foot covered walkway decorated with over 14,000 scenic paintings.

The Long Corridor. Note the Chinese guide in the left background with his own group of (Chinese) tourists.

Our guide took the group walking down a portion of the Long Corridor, but since by this time I had developed two painful blisters on my right foot, I chose to sit on a ledge at the site where they entered the corridor. She explained they would exit further down and then return on the adjacent sidewalk. Staying on the ledge turned out to be a serendipitous choice!

As I was sitting on the ledge I noticed sitting near me, also on the ledge but facing inside the corridor, a young family with a little boy. I grinned at him and said "Ni hao" (hello, in Chinese). His eyes got big and he turned to his father, who said, (in English) "Say 'hello' to grandmother." The little boy said hello and grinned back at me. Then the father said, pointing to the name tag dangling from my neck, "Is this your name?" I replied, "Yes, it is." He said, "Is it 'Vennie'?" I answered, "Yes, Vennie". He smiled broadly and pointed to the little boy, "That is also his name--Vennie!" ( I don't know how he would have spelled it in Pinyan, the Western alphabet phonetic spelling of Chinese characters, but he definitely pronounced it the same as my name.) I was astounded! "Oh my goodness!" I said. Then to the little boy, "May I take your picture?" The father said something to him in Chinese, and the little boy nodded. Here is his picture.

Note the Nike cap and Osh Kosh jacket! What a cutie! I wanted to give him a dollar, but I refrained. He was playing with a small toy, and Chinese custom dictates if someone gives you a gift, you must give one in return. I feared he might feel he had to give me his toy, and I didn't want that. I thanked him and his father profusely, and just about then, the rest of my group arrived, straggling up the sidewalk. First time in my life I was ever happy to have blisters!!!

Anna, our Beijing guide, is wonderful and keeps track of all of us, especially those of us who have some difficulty walking or climbing in rough areas.

This is our Beijing tour guide, Anna, another lovely young Chinese girl, age 26. Because of the angle she's holding it, it's hard to see the "SB 3" sign. "SB" stands for "Santa Barbara", which was our designated group name for the trip. The entire group from California was divided into 3 buses, and ours, bus 3, was the smallest group at 21. Each bus had its own tour guides in both Beijing and Shanghai. These folks are very knowledgable about their areas and their English is excellent, if occasionally a little quirky.

We returned to the Pearl Factory for lunch at the restaurant next door. This lunch was buffet style and adequate but not lavish like our hotel's breakfast buffets.

After lunch we went to the Chinese Medicine Institute. A lady spoke for a few minutes about Chinese medicine...

...and then in came a veritable hoard of Chinese doctors and interpreters. They took our pulses, had us stick out our tongues, and attempted to sell each of us several hudnred dollars of Chinese herbal medicines! No one in our group took the bait. I had a coughing spell and asked if they could give me something for my cough--nope, only several hundred dollars worth of herbs etc. for my liver and kidneys. I'd give a lot for a bottle of Robitussin! I took the last of my cough medicine today, but I still have cough drops. The cipro I brought along and starting taking is helping but I'm still hoarse and occasionally have a bad coughing bout. I feel fine (other than the blisters on my toes!) so it's more an annoyance than anything.

This was the only part of the trip I did not enjoy. It became pretty clear on the first day that we were in for one long shopping trip, but no one seemed to mind. The places we visited were interesting and the things available for purchase were reasonable--and no one put any kind of pressure on us to buy. I enjoyed the lecture about Chinese medicine, but the "hard sell" for the Chinese herbal medicine was irritating to say the least.

After leaving the medical institute, we went to a place where we were met by several rickshaws--one for each two of us. Along the route to meet the rickshaws we passed a lot of sidewalk vendors.

Here is a shot of some of the sidewalk vendors from the back of the stalls. Most of these were food vendors, and as it was near suppertime, many people were buying and eating on the go.

Peter and Bill, two younger men with our group who were more adventureous than most of us, bought some odd foods on a stick. This is Peter eating deep fried scorpion. I kid you not! And he did actually eat some of it.

Barbara and I in our rickshaw. It was surprisingly comfortable. We were told to recall the number of the rickshaw and get the same one on the return trip.

Barbara and I hopped into ours, which was #137, and enjoyed the ride tremendously! The rickshaws are bicycle powered now rather than pulled by a runner, but the rider must be very strong. We drove into the Hutong District to an old but luxiourious (by Chinese standards) home...

At a point we had to abandon the rickshaws and walk the rest of the way to the house. As you can see, the streets are narrow, as the Hutong District is in a very old part of the ceenter of the city. The Chinese faces you see in this picture are "mosquitoes", the Chinese term for the roaming sidewalk souvenir sellers.

A note about the Chinese street vendors. I had read and we were warned again by Anna, but boy, are they aggressive! They surround you wanting to sell choposticks, scarves, wallets, knock-off Guggi and Rolex watches, etc.

The shot below was actually taken in Shanghai later, but you can see how aggressive the vendors are. These two women were both selling scarves and I thought they were going to come to blows because someone in our group bought scarves from one instead of the other.

The girl in the background in the blue jacket holding the stick with the sign that says "SB 3" is Rainbow, our Shanghai guide. Anna carried a similar sign throughout Beijing. In a crowded street, sidewalk or square, believe me, you did not want to lose sight of that sign. We all checked on each other to be sure everyone in our individual parties were always in sight. Since there were six of us who knew each other--Carol and Mike, Barbara and I, and Bob and John--we looked out for one another. At 6'2'', Mike was pretty easy to keep in sight!

I kept saying "Bushi yao!" which means "I don't want it! in Chinese, but they barely backed off. After dark it was a little scarey just because they jostled us while we were trying to negotiate uneven streets and sidewalks. But we all survived intact!

Back to dinner in the Hutong District...

They divided our group of 21 into 2 rooms, each with a large oblong table and tiny stools to sit on.

A relative of our hostess brought in dish after dish and served us beer or sida. It was a delighful meal!

The other half of our group joined us after dinner and the lady of the house gave a little speech of welcome and information about her home, interpreted by Anna.

Our hostess in the Hutong District. She seemed happy to have us.

Although single story the house actually crosses a street and sprawls out into many small rooms; 19 family members live there. The room we were in was her son's room, and had a small refrigerator, a rather large new flat screen TV, a computer, a stereo system, nice (if unmatched) furniture pieces and a bed. The room was cluttered with odds and ends of knickkacks and the walls were covered with soccer posters.

Our hostess told us a bit about the house and also showed us a medal her husband had been awarded. It was for being an "outstanding worker" and she was obviously very proud of it. Anna told us this house is worth "over $6 million"! The house itself is nothing much special and parts of it, like window sills and doorways are actually shabby. But the property it occupies in the heart of Beijing is no doubt what makes it so valuable.

After returning (again by rickshaw) to our bus, we went back to the hotel at 7:30. Some of us, including Barbara and me, had arranged for massages again! Ahhhhh! How relaxing. 90 minutes of bliss for $30. After that we went right to sleep as our wake up call was for 4 am! (I'm writing this on the flight to Shanghai, so it's a bit bumpy.) Our plane left Beijing at 7:30 am and now almost an hour and a half later we are starting to descend.

I can't buy much more in Shanghai or I'll need another suitcase! Only small, lightweight stuff!

(Yeah, right!)

From the Shanghai airport we will go to Suzhou and then what? Not sure.

Here ends part 3 of the China trip. Part 4 will probably be posted on Monday, since tomorrow is Easter and I'll be spending it with my Mom.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

China II Beijing continued

2009-04-10T14:48:00.022-05:00

Journal Continued:

Saturday, March 21st- Yesterday was wonderful! We started out by going to the Jade Factory. Very interesting and awesome amounts of beautiful objects, including jewelry. I shopped! Bought a bangle and a ring and earrings and earrings for Mom, got Kim a horse, got myself a dragon, bought some additional gifts, and got a free "family ball", an intricately carved series of balls inside balls carved from a single piece--got that for being a "big spender"--ha!

This ferocious jade cat carving graces the lobby of the jade factory.

This woman is carving a jade piece. The size of items ranged from tiny ornaments to huge sculptures. Jade is a semi-precious gemstone, revered in China for centuries. Originally used for tools in Neolithic times because of its hardness and strength, later jade appeared on ornaments and in funerary treasures. Pure white jade is the highest prized, but the stones vary in translucency and color, including many shades of green, brown, and black.

So many beautiful things! It was a shopper's paradise. Prices were surprisingly reasonable. (My daughter tells me that's because the stuff is "made in China". LOL!)

Then we went to the cloisonne' factory. My gosh, who knew how intricate this process is! We toured the factory, had lunch there, and of course, SHOPPED!

This sculpture was in the lobby of the restaurant adjacent to the cloisonne' factory. Not a Buddha, but another revered Chinese figure whose name, sadly, I did not write down.

This worker is soldering individual metal cloisons to enamelware. The lines of cloisons form separate designs which eventually will be inlaid with various colored enamels.

This woman was our local guide in the cloisonne' factory. Here she's pointing out the details of a partially painted vase. The items are fired after each application of enamel, painted, fired, painted, fired, etc. then finally polished to a high gloss. Large items can take months from start to finish. Cloisonne' is one of several traditional Chinese arts.

Such beautiful items! So many choices! Picked up gifts and a small vase for myself--all carefully wrapped and boxed and ready for my suitcase.

Pictures just don't do it justice. The shopping area was huge and filled with these dazzling works of art. The largest piece I saw was a vase that must have been 6 feet tall!

This sign in "Chinglish" attempts to explain something about Cloisonne' to English-speaking visitors. It is typical of signs we saw in other localities illustrating that literal translations are often just not possible.

In the afternoon we went to the Great Wall. What an awesome sight! Something I've seen in pictures and heard about, but actually standing here is a special experience.

Group picture! This is one of several that were taken during our China trip. Most of the travelers were from Solvang, CA or nearby, but I was there from Illinois, Barbara from San Diego, and Bob and Mike from Malibu. I'm in the center in the red jacket. Carol is on my right and her brother Bob is on my left.

Carol and I have been planning for months to "dance on The Great Wall". And here we are, along with Barbara! Notice who is out of step.

I climbed the first set of steps, took lots of pictures, and came back down. The stairs are treacherous and I figured better safe than sorry.

A few sections of the thousands of miles of the Wall have been restored and are open to the public; however most of its length is in various stages of crumbling ruin and is too dangerous for visitors to climb. Originally a series of unconnected earthen ramparts built by local chieftains to protect their own states, the Great Wall was created only after the unification of China in the 3rd century BC. Watch towers were spaced two arrow shots apart to leave no part of the wall unprotected. The towers also served as signal towers, forts, living quarters, and storerooms for provisions. Many parts of the wall were reconstructed during the Ming dynasty (1468-1644). Those Mings were busy guys.

The section we visited, I believe, was called Juyong Guan, a quieter section than the more frequently visited Badaling section. Apparently in the summer, all the public sections of the Wall are overrun with tourists.

Impressive as The Great Wall is, the myth that it is the only man-made structure that can be seen from "outer space" is just that, a myth.
As it snakes and twists, crawls and climbs over the mountains, deserts and plains it is not distinct enough from the surrounding terrain to be seen from space stations. The Wall can be seen from a low earth orbit, but so can many other man-made structures, including wide freeways.

Despite its impressive battlements, The Great Wall was ultimately breached several times, most notably by the Mongols in the 13th century and the Manchu in the 17th century.

Of course, there was the ubiquitous series of gift shops near the Wall. I got a cup of coffee, a sweatshirt that says "I climbed the Great Wall of China", and some gifts for friends.

It was in one of these gift shops that a Chinese lady nearly had a meltdown because I paid another clerk for my purchase with a $50 bill (USD) that had some kind of small mark on it. She fussed and followed me out of the store hollering about "No good money!" The place didn't take credit cards, and at this point in the day, I didn't have enough cash with me to exchange the bill. I offered to give back the sweatshirt and other items, but she changed her mind and decided to keep the $50 bill. Since it came from the bank in Carbondale, I knew it was OK, but it was funny to see how the Chinese hate "dirty money"!

This is as good a time as any to tell you about Chinese toilets. This one was cleaner than many I saw, but is typical of most of the women's toilets in public restrooms. More enlightened businesses and restaurants are gradually adding conventional sit-down toilet stools, and many places there would be 1 or 2 "sitters" along with a half dozen or more "squatters". The women in our group quickly divided into two camps: those who could and did mange the "squatters" and those who held it until they could access a "sitter". Fortunately most of the time I was able to manage the "squatters", so I seldom had to stand in line very long to use the facilities.

Another interesting point about Chinese bathrooms is the toilet paper, or lack thereof. Most public restrooms simply had no paper. You brought your own or did without. Occasionally there would be a tp dispenser on the wall just outside the bathroom so you could get some before you went in--which is fine, as long as you know how much you're going to need for that visit! Forewarned, I had prepared several small plastic ziplock bags of pre-torn and folded strips of tp, complete with a light spray of perfume applied to each. (This suggestion came from a friend who lived in China for several years and knew that many public restrooms were less than pleasant regarding odors. She suggested holding the perfumed paper under your nose until you were ready to apply it to the other end. It works.) If you note the wastebasket in the picture, it explains why some of the toilets were malodorous. In many areas Chinese plumbing simply cannot handle paper along with the other "stuff", so if you see a wastebasket, you're meant to put your used paper in it to avoid plugging up the works when you flush.

Happily, all our hotel rooms had "regular" and in some cases spacious and well appointed bathrooms, so the more discerning women only had to deal with the "sitter" problem when we were out and about.

After leaving the Great Wall we set out for an unusual but interesting experience combining relaxation, a meal, and entertainment.

We went to a facility that is part Chinese medical treatment complex and part restaurant and entertainment center.

We got neck, back, and foot massages while enjoying Chinese beer--about 15 of us all in a big room with recliners, foot basins, and foot stools. A "legion" of Chinese practitioners swarmed in and we all got delicious massages at the same time--for an hour! I could get used to this!

I don't know where the rest of the group went who chose not to get massages--and I didn't much care!!

Two beers and a massage...I may never go home again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After that we went to dinner, which was a buffet and dinner theater--Chinese acrobats--very good and entertaining. At 8:30 we returned to our hotel and collasped into bed exhausted.

It was a little difficult to eat and watch the performers at the same time, stopping often to applaud, but we managed.

Here ends Part II of the China trip, to be resumed on tomorrow's blog.

China and other thoughts

2009-04-09T16:04:00.020-05:00

Whew! It's been a while. Water under the bridge.

I guess the biggest recent news is my trip to China, sandwiched in between 2 trips to California. (When I travel, I don't mess around!)

I kept a daily journal on the China trip, and I've got my photos on my computer, but I had some trouble with Kodak EasyShare, so I hope I'll be able to post them....(sound of teeth gnashing). Aha! I figured it out! So here we go with the journal entries in italics and my additional comments in regular script.

MARCH 17 TRAVEL DAY! Carol and I are busy doing last minute laundry and packing.

Carol Lesher Peterson is my friend from Solvang, CA who told me about the China trip. I'd been staying with her and her hubby Mike for 5 days.

My big suitcase weighs 27 lbs so I know the smaller one is OK, too. The weight limit is 40 lbs per bag. I expect most souvenirs I buy will be small and lightweight (Was I WRONG!) and I'll use up some items as we go, such as shampoo, soap, etc. We meet the bus to LAX at 5 pm and the plane is scheduled to leave at 1:40 am 3/18--a very long day. I hope I can sleep on the plane.

Thursday, March 19 7:30 am Beijing standard time. After a long wait at LAX and a 14-hour flight (during which I slept over half the time!) we have arrived at our hotel in Beijing at 8 am. The hotel is new and extremely nice. Barbara (my roommate, who is from San Diego--we met through Carol) is taking a shower while I fiddled with the wide screen TV and got CNN in English. Our room is very luxurious with all kinds of amenities. Time for a shower and a short nap and off to lunch.

This fella was in the lobby of the restaurant where we had lunch.

Lovely restaurant on the 7th floor in a ballroom-like setting. BTW, Wednesday got lost in the flight. (But the following week we got "2 Thursdays", so it works out.)

This was our lunch the first day, and is typical of most of the lunches and dinners on this trip. Breakfasts were all buffets, with many choices of Western or Asian food.

Friday, March 20. 2nd day in Beijing. Yesterday after lunch we went to the Forbidden Cioty and Tian'an Men Square. Impressive.

This is near the entrance to the Forbidden City, the former residence of Chinese emperors and their extensive families and court attendants. Completed in 1420 this huge palace complex was the ruling site for 24 emperors for over 500 years. Open to the public since 1949, it consists of a series of peripheral structures consisting of guard towers, living quarters, offices, storehouses, and gates all of which surround multiple other structures, including temples, bridges, and ornamental "halls" including the largest structure, The Hall of Supreme Harmony, which you can see rising on the hill over the crowd in the center.

Scattered throughout the interior of the Forbidden City are huge bronze cauldrons, which were filled with water in case of fire. The mostly wooden structures were extremely vulnerable to fire.

Considering that most of the structures are wooden, the Forbidden City is amazingly well preserved. This historical site is a national treasure and a source of pride at the heart of Beijing.

These unusual rock formations, found in most large Chinese ornamental gardens, come from the same lake, Tai Hu. These are inside the Forbidden City. We saw many others in other gardens we visited.

Typical of the many structures inside the Forbidden City, this illustrates classical Chinese architecture of platform, post-and-beam timber frames, and non-load-bearing walls. Often mistakenly referred to as "pagodas" these buildings often feature the upward curved "flying wings", which frequently are tipped in carved figures called "water dogs" (spirits to protect against fire).

Thresholds are elevated 4 to 8 inches to keep out evil spirits, who were apparently thought to travel close to the ground. I found it interesting that outside the parks and shrines and historical sites, we saw fewer of these archtypical Chinese structures than I expected. Beijing has been transformed into a modern city in many ways.

This is the Tian'an Men Gate, entrance to famed Tien'an Men Square, a huge open concrete space, familiar to most Westerners as the site of the bloody student protests in 1989. Chairman Mao's Mausoleum is a focal point within the square, and his portrait, also familiar to many Westerners, looms over the street opposite the gate.

Today's Chinese continue to respect Chairman Mao. However, political repression appears to be waning. One of our guides told us, "When I was young, my parents tell me no one can speak bad about the government. Now, today, no one much cares what we say." This is truly a revolution!!

The Great Hall of the People in Tian' an Men Square, the seat of the Chinese legislature, the National People's Congress.

Mao's Mausoleum is the low building at left center. Our tour passed through the middle of the square from one end to the other, so we were not closer than this to the tomb. Visitors are permitted, but we didn't have enough time.

My back hurt, so I stayed on the bus (after we left Tien'an Men Square) rather than do the final 50 minutes at the Temple of Heaven. (Carol's brother Bob told me, "You didn't miss much.")

Carving the Peking Duck. Yummy but very greasy!

Last night we ate at a lovely restaurant (on the 3rd floor--no elevators, thank you) and had Peking Duck, among many other delicious things. So far I have enjoyed all the foods I've tried.

Me with the "Peking Duck" who stands outside the restaurant where we ate some of his family.

After returning to the hotel at 7 pm we had a quick shower and then 2 massuses came to our room and Barbara and I each had a 90-minute massage for $30! OMG! It was wonderfl! Afterward we went right off to sleep. I got up to the bathroom at 4 am. Barbara got up, turned on the lights, etc. She'd thought she'd heard my alarm go off! We laughed and went back to sleep. Lovely buffet breakfast this morning with some of the best coffee I've ever tasted. In a half hour we'll be off to see the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall!

I'm stopping for now. To be continued on tomorrow's blog.

Life in LA LA land, my pictoral version of the trip

2008-11-24T14:33:00.018-06:00

I arrived in LA in the early afternoon of Nov. 15 after flying in from St. Louis via Phoenix. Tired but happy and thrilled to see my friend Laura, I agreed to a little sight seeing before heading to her condo in Tarzana.

Venice Beach is a place I've heard of for years but never seen before. Wow!
All I can say is it exceeded my expectations! Below is a typical view of the street scene.

We happened onto an acrobatic troop getting ready to do their thing. We watched the program and it was worth taking the time. These guys are good! (Not to mention all the rippling muscles and washboard abs!)

The movie "Big" has long been one of my favorites, so I couldn't resist posing with a genuine "Zoltar" fortune telling machine!

We had a late lunch at a restaurant in Venice Beach, and then headed for home. And yes, I was as tired as I looked next to Zoltar.

The next morning we headed off to Laura's favorite Farmer's Market. Let me tell you, if I had access to this sort of place year around, I think I'd end up becoming a vegetarian! The fruits and veggies all looked so great I wanted to buy some of everything!

But I settled for some fresh raspberries and a bouquet of flowers, while Laura shopped for the rest of our fruits and veggies for the next few days.

Although the smoke and soot from the fires in the hills was a little aggrevating outdoors, we headed out for the Reagan Presidential Library in the Simi Valley. When they say watch out for rattlesnakes, they mean business!

The Simi Valley was a place beloved by President Reagan, and I can see why. The rolling hills, even in the brown shades of fall, are beautiful, if treacherous during fire season. This view looks out over the valley, and you can see not only a plume of smoke from a distant fire in the hills beyond, but a white cross on a nearer hill. The mountaintop crosses are a fairly common sight in Southern California.

This statue of the President is in front of the main entrance to the library. He is depicted in ranch dress, complete with cowboy hat in his hand, a natural look for this president, who was truly at home on his ranch and on a horse.

Another highlight at the library is Air Force One, the plane President Reagan used while in office. After the plane was retired from government service several years ago, it was brought to the library and retrofitted to appear inside as it did when President Reagan was in office, complete with multiple jars of Jelly Bellys. It was interesting to walk around inside the plane. A photographer was on hand to take the classic shots of everyone waving from the top of the airplane steps. Laura and I posed, and looked forward to adding that photo to our blogs. The photo was on a DVD with some other pictures and Air Force One info, and cost $22. I bought it, but when we got back to the condo we were very disappointed to find that the entire disk was locked and we were not able to download our photo to put it on the blog. So, future visitors to the Reagan Library, beware if you plan to get your doorway photo of Air Force One on the DVD--it will be viewed on the DVD and the DVD only! (We could have paid for a photo on paper as well, but we didn't realize we couldn't download the photo from the disk.) Caveat Emptor!

The pictures below are from the Getty Villa, which contains one of the two J. Paul Getty Museums in the Los Angeles Area. On my last trip to LA, Laura took us to the Getty Center Museum in Los Angeles. On this day our target was The Getty Villa in Malibu, home to an extensive collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. Mr. Getty had the museum built as a recreation of a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri. The original Villa dei Papiri was located in Herculaneum and was buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Much of that villa remains unexcavated; therefore, the Getty Villa incorporates additional elements drawn from other ancient Roman houses.

The Getty Villa's sixty-four acre site opened to the public in 1974, and underwent a major renovation in 1997. We encountered several groups of students of all ages, many with sketch pads and clipboards for note taking. The Getty Villa is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.

As we wandered through the display rooms, I saw many items that evoked memories of things I learned in high school Latin class and a class in ancient mythology I had in college. I've had the good fortune to visit Rome, and hope to visit Greece in the future to see more of these beautiful antiquities.

Another tourist asked us to take a photo of his companion and him, and he reciprocated with both our cameras. This is my dear friend Laura and me with the beautiful Getty Villa grounds in the background.

I made a pit stop just before we left and when I came back out front, there was my friend Laura looking pretty wiped out. We were both ready to call it a day and head back to Topenga Canyon for shopping (we're NEVER too tired to shop!) and then to the valley for dinner.

That was the last picture on my camera. You can see many more pictures of our California Adventure on Laura's blog. (She's a much better cameraperson than I!) Just go to

www.LauraRSilverman.com and find the blog section. While you're on her site, check out the beautiful jewelry, handbags, and other items, and if you are so inclined, read about her fantastic weight loss story. She is my idol!!! (No, really, Laura, you are!)

Halloween and Fall Colors

2008-11-01T17:56:00.010-05:00

This is what the trick or treaters saw when they rang my doorbell last night! Pretty scarey, huh?

My little next door neighbor boy, age 6, did a classic double take that was hilarious! I could tell he knew it was me but he wasn't believing his eyes.

Madison approved of the costume and of the trick or treaters . He wanted to go out and kiss all of them. Most were somewhat apprehensive, since he weighs 85 pounds, which is more than a lot of them weighed!

This picture was taken by my neighbor Kathryn at her house, where after the treat or treaters were done, she and I shared a veggie pizza and some wine and watched an old video called, "Quackster Fortune Has A Cousin In Brooklyn". I'd never seen it, but since it starred Gene Wilder, I figured it would be good and it was. Kathryn described it as "charming", and indeed, that is an excellent description.

Kathryn has a French bulldog, "The Empress Josephine" (Josie for short) who adores Madison and follows him around like a little sister. He tolerates her jumping all over him, and loves to go walking with her. and have her visit him or go visit her at her home across the street.

This is my big boy. He and I both need to eat less and exercise more.

This is her ladyship, The Empress Josephine, aka "Josie".

What a little cutie pie!

And this is Madison and Josie, aka Mr. Mutt and Miss Jeff, playing in my backyard earlier this fall. He's so gentle with her it's amazing. To hear them carry on, you'd think there was a major dogfight in progress, but it's all play, gumming and slobbering all over each other until both of them have wet faces and ears.

Today my friend L in southern California reminded me that not every place in the country enjoys the fall colors we have in the midwest. If it's a good year and we have plenty of rain in the spring and summer and then a cold snap in October, our trees turn gorgeous colors. I grew up with this, so I don't think of it as any big deal. I know people pay money to go to New England to see "the fall colors", but I have them right in my yard! This year we had a rainy spring and summer and a cool snap early in October, and this is the result:

This is the view out my front door. Most of these are maple trees, which turn various shades of yellow, red, gold and chartreuse. I read somewhere that trees don't really "change their colors" in the fall. The colors we see here are the true colors of the leaves. In spring and summer they are filled with cholorphyll for photosynthesis, giving them the characteristic green we generally associate with the leaves of most trees. In the fall when the chlorophyll goes wherever it goes (What am I, a plant biologist?), the leaves are left with their "true colors" showing. Hmmmmm. Reminds me of a song on one of Richard's videos.....

Anyway, here's another picture, this time facing north from my front doorway. These are maples too in the foreground with several types of evergreens in the background. There are lots of evergreen trees on my street, so even when the other trees have shed all their leaves, we continue to see a lot of green. Wonder why the evergreens don't lose their chlorophyll? If I get the energy, I'll look it up.

This is the view looking south from my front door. The small dark red tree is my little Japanese maple, which seems to be prospering. I have been feeding it plant food spikes in the spring and mulching it well in the fall, as you can see from the leaves raked up around the base of the tree.

The house next door to me with the pumpkins and the flag is where Hollis, my six year old neighbor lives. Hollis is the little boy who did the double take at my Halloween get up. His mother is home schooling him, his four year old brother, and later, I guess will include his 18 month old sister. The kids and their parents are good people and good neighbors.

You can see a couple of azalea bushes near the Japanese maple, and they also get a lot of mulch in the fall. Next to the foundation the leaves are protecting from frost ivy and violets and some kind of pretty purple spring/summer flower that I don't know the name of. There are also hosta further back toward the porch, and next spring I'm going to put in quite a few more hosta and some coleus. They both do well in shade, and my entire front yard and most of the back is in shade nearly all day in spring and summer. There's just a little spot of sunshine in the middle of the backyard where I put the tomato plants. BTW, I pulled the tomato plants out last week. There were only three or four green tomatos left on the vines, so I brought those in and put them in a paper bag in a cool dry place. They will ripen in a few weeks. If Buttercup was looking forward to the hanging tomato plants this fall, she will be disappointed--but she hasn't said one way or another.

Last but not least, the view to the north. You can see my garage, which is far too full of other things, primarily having to do with cats, to permit my car--my wonderful silver baby Prius--to live inside. (My Prius gets between 42-44 mpg in town and between 55-60 mpg on the highway--and I have just about sprained my arm this summer patting myself on the back for buying it two years ago.)

But as my friend L says, I digress.

My neighbor E to the north has a beautful dark red tree, but I have no idea what it is. It's not a Japanese maple, or any other tree I'm familiar with. If she were home, I'd ask her, but she's out galavanting around. She's on the go a lot. She and I belong to the same Red Hat group. Another friend invited me, and E and I were surprised to see one another at the meeting when I showed up for the first time. (One of these days I'll take my camera to a Red Hat function and prove to you that us older gals know how to have a good time!)

The street in front of my house is asphalt, and there are sidewalks on both sides all up and down the street. It's only four blocks long, and I'm smack in the middle, two blocks from one of our one way"main drags" in one direction and two blocks from an L "almost" dead end in the other. The L turns onto another asphalt residential street that eventually comes out onto another major street. Since we are nearly a cul de sac, our traffic is light, it's quiet, and we pretty much know our neighbors. It's a very eclectic street, as my friend Kathryn pointed out to me one day recently. On this little four-block street we have a Hispanic widow, two black families, a deaf man, a Chinese man, a home for the developmentally disabled, a church, and multiple families with small children as well as many retirees. I love this neighborhood and thank the day I decided to buy this house.

A Trip Back in Time

2008-10-12T14:29:00.010-05:00

In my church there is a group of (mostly) women who play recorders. We play all kinds of music, and we love to play for church services and concerts in the community. We've played for Madrigal dinners at Christmastime and we play several concerts a year in local nursing homes and assisted living centers in the area.

The recorder is an ancient instrument, predating the modern flute. Much of the music written for recorders dates from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the Renaissance period. Several years ago the members of the group decided we would acquire period outfits to go with the Renaissance music. Yesterday we played (by invitation) at the Renaissance Fair sponsored by the Episcopal Church in Paducah, KY. Paducah is about 80 miles from Carbondale, so we left early in the morning to arrive just before 10 am.

Weather permitting, the Fair is held on the grounds of this beautiful old church. Inside the church, which is a lovely, ornate and traditional sanctuary with marvelous stained glass windows, tapes of Renaissance music played in the background. A short prayer service was held every hour on the hour for anyone who wished to attend.

This year the weather cooperated beautifully! The skies were mostly clear with just a few white wisps of clouds high overhead. The temperature started out in the 60's and by midafternoon, was in the low 80's. An occasional breeze whirled leaves around and had the bright banners and flags fluttering and snapping.

The shadowy looking fellow in the foreground was dressed as as medieval "inquisitor" type. He roamed around looking for people to "put under arrest" and eventually had one fellow in "the stocks". (I didn't even see the stocks until we were packed and ready to leave, so I didn't unpack my camera to get a shot of that, more's the pity.) When I shot this picture I didn't realize he had walked into the foreground, which is basically what he did all morning, slinking around in that creepy looking garb.

On the grounds booths and tables were set up with displays of ancient crafts, including basket making and some sort of threadwork (which my friend L would recognize immediately, but the name of which I can't recall). A magician performed for the children, and he seemed to be a big hit with the young ones. A lot of items were for sale, including home made soaps and sachets, homemade bread and cookies, jewelry, and the aforementioned baskets.

The portly gentleman making the baskets pointed out to me that they were all made of leather! I've seen many lovely wicker baskets at craft fairs, but I'd never seen any like these. I was quite taken with them and bought one for my daughter for Christmas. (Kim, if you are reading this, you still have to act surprised at Christmas.)

I didn't buy any cookies from this lady, but one of my friends did and she said they were delicious!

A lot of people were in costume, and visitors as well as performers were constantly snapping pictures.

The blue striped tent in the background was set up with games for kids. Quite a few youngsters were running about the grounds, some in costume, some not. All of them seemed to be having a terrific time.

A bagpipe player wandered through the crowd. He stopped to chat with us and told us he could only play for a few minutes at a time, since the instrument takes so much wind to play. Our group decided to alternate with him to keep the music flowing. We would play a half dozen songs or so, and then the piper would play for a few minutes. Sometimes he switched to a stringed instrument that looked a lot like a mandolin, but had a different name, one I hadn't heard before (and can't recall, of course.)

Many people stopped by to listen, take our pictures, and tell us how much they were enjoying the music. (Of course, we hate hearing stuff like that--NOT.)

There are usually 8 or 9 in our group, but only 5 of us could make it to the Fair this weekend. Below is a snap taken of our group by the huband of one of our members just as we began to play.

I am on the far right playing the soprano recorder. If you think by the time it hit 80 degrees I was roasting in that burgundy satin dress and hat, you would be right! Thank goodness for the slight breeze. And thank goodness I had braided my hair and tucked it up under the hat. When it's down it feels like a "shawl" on my neck and shoulders. I'd really have been uncomfortable with "flowing tresses."

Tables were set up near the food booth so patrons could purchase their wares and sit in the shade to eat while enjoying the music and the ambiance.

The sign above the food booth says, "Ye Olde Sausage Shoppe". They were selling bratwurst sandwiches with toppings of either kraut and apples or caramelized onions. Yum! There were two kinds of soups, butternut squash and creamed leek, and also hot or cold cider as well as coffee or soda. After playing for an hour and a half we broke for lunch and enjoyed some of the delicious food. We resumed playing after lunch and played until nearly 2 pm. It was getting pretty warm by then, and all of us were tired and ready to head back home.

The Fair is still small, but is growing every year. This was our second year to be invited to play, and we had such a great time, we're already looking forward to next year.

Florida visit, second half--finally!

2008-10-02T07:25:00.023-05:00

Let me think...where did I leave off? We've looked at animals and the yard and grounds--did I get to the geese? I think not, so that's where I'll pick it up.

Since they've lived in Florida with a pond on the property Kim and Ron have had a number of geese and ducks, as well as the chickens. Currently, they are down to one duck, but several geese glide around on the pond looking picturesque.

There is one goose who is extremely friendly, and is aptly named, "Friendly Goose". He likes to be petted, and especially likes having his long neck stroked.

This is "Friendly Goose", coming up to me for a little "necking".

By contrast, one of his companions is somewhat aggressive and loves to nip and peck at people--hence that one is "Naughty Goose". It's interesting that "Friendly" will get between a human and "Naughty" to "protect" the human.

"Naughty" would cheerfully have pecked my ankles and knees, but "Friendly' got between us and fended him off. What a guy, er goose!

One of the fun things we did while I was in Florida was to go to the "Butterfly House", which I think is in Destin, but don't quote me on that. (My daughter can't understand why I get all the little towns down there mixed up and can't remember what is where. I tell her, wait until you're in your 60's--you'll figure it out.) Anyway, the Butterfly House is small, but very beautiful and worth a stop. This is one of my favorite pictures from there. Many of the insects are so well camouflaged that it's difficult to get a decent picture, but this one shows up well.

Here's another one, but it doesn't show up quite as well. Luckily if you stood still they would often light nearby so you could see them.

There were several children at the butterfly House when we were there, and they were entranced with the colorful insects. It was fun to watch the kids watching the butterflies!

One evening we went to a restaurant in a rural area, sort of out in the boonies. It's called "Gator's", and justifiably so. Much of the seating in the restaurant overlooks a large pond which is swarming with "gators". The food was so-so, sort of heavy and home style, not my favorite type, but filling. The ambiance, however, was fascinating. You could see the scaly critters cruising around in the pond. I expect they are well fed, but after dinner when we went outside to take a closer look, I decided to respect the sign!

I didn't use a zoom on this, so you can see I was pretty close to the gator. There is nothing but the yellow rope to keep stupid tourists from getting closer. I don't know if they've ever had anyone dumb enough to try it, but I was very happy to stay well behind the rope. I've watched enough "Animal Planet" to know these critters can move fast when they want to. Besides, I kept thinking, that gator could easily go under the rope if he took a notion. So I snapped this shot and returned swiftly to the car, happy to have all my toes intact.

No trip to Florida is complete without at least one trip to the beach, and we made several. This beach is at Destin, on the Gulf. This area is known as "The Emerald Coast", due to the color of the water in the shallows. In the distance beyond the surf line you can see some "dots" that are my daughter, SIL and a friend of theirs getting ready to SCUBA dive near the old pier. Lots of critters live around the pilings, including octopus and colorful fish. Occasionally larger fish will come in to feed, so you never know what you'll see. Although I am a certified diver, I didn't dive on this trip. My back was bothering me some, and it was better not to push it.

Another beach pasttime that the kids have taken up recently is kite surfing. This is way beyond flying the kites I knew as a kid. These babies go for hundreds of dollars, and additional equipment, such as as multiple lines, a harness and specialized board are needed. It's kind of a cross between water skiing and flying a kite and takes a great deal of skill to learn to control the kites with their multiple lines. Then one has to learn to get on the board while flying the kite and attempt to stay up, allowing the kite to pull you along the water. Sounds like fun, but it's also a lot of work!

This is Kim and Ron's friend, Russell, who is still learning to control his kite. In the distance you can see Kim and Ron's kite (in the middle) and another kite even more distant. Ron and Kim were flying so far out I couldn't get a decent picture of them. However, I could see pretty well, and Ron was able to get up on the board and stay up for several seconds. Kim can control the kite really well, but is still struggling to get up on the board while flying the kite.

At one point the kite pulled Ron way down the beach and Kim was irritated that she had to jog nearly a mile to help him put up the kite when it was time to leave. The trouble is, so far Ron has only learned to go in one direction. Getting the kite to pull you back and forth takes a lot of practice. There were some other kiters getting lessons from an expert, and it was cool to watch that guy do summersaults and other tricks on the kiteboard. He had total control of his kite and could make it take him any direction he wished.

Some of you may have read about the guy who was kite surfing during one of the recent hurricaines and got smacked into the side of the building. Doofus. All he had to do was let go of the kite bar and hit the release on the harness. I expect he was trying to avoid losing his expensive kite. As I said, doofus.

Kim and Ron met in college when both were members of the "Marching Salukis" band. Both play trombone, and have continued to play since college. Shortly after they moved to Florida, they joined a community swing band. The band is surprisingly good and also has a wonderful vocalist, who is married to one of the trumpet players. The band had a paying gig one evening during my visit. We hurried to change clothes after a day at the beach in Destin and drove into town to the concert location. After the band got set up, I snapped some pics. My son in law is the guy with the mustache, peeking out from behind the railing on the right. Kim is on his right, essentially invisible behind the railing and a music stand.

The venue was a pretty large grassy area in the middle of an upscale shopping center. My guess is around 200 people were seated in the white chairs, or milling around the edge of the lawn, drinking wine and eating canapes. Each member of the band got a ticket for a free drink. Gina, the singer, gave hers to me, since she is enciente and can't drink alcohol.

Attractive young people dressed in "zoot suits" and "flapper dresses" circulated, giving away beads, chocolate cigars, light sticks, and feather boas. Their attire was inconsistent with the

band's music from the 40's and 50's, but who cared?

A portable dance floor was set up in front of the band, and many in the audience, including several kids, had a great time dancing . The program lasted for over two hours and all of us were really tired by the time we started the drive back to Crestview.

One day we rented a pontoon boat and spent the day tootling around in Destin Bay. We anchored off the beach and Kim and Ron spent some time messing with the kite again. The weather was great, the sun was hot, the water was salty and warm, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly--except when Kim and I got stuck in the shallows and had to be pulled out by a passerby. (Ron was way down the beach with the kite and didn't see what had happened.) Kim at the wheel of the pontoon boat. Next time remind me not to say, "Smile!"

Daisy Dog went with us on the pontoon, of course. This Mama's girl goes nearly everywhere with Kim. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach, but she behaved very well and stayed on the pontoon with her water bowl and occasional trips to the nearby scrub brush to use the "doggie ladies'."

Ron, managing to get it up. Um, perhaps I should rephrase that. Ron flying the kite. Better?

For lunch we docked at a local wharf and disembarked to the restaurant just above the wharf. Yum, fresh seafood! The boat above was moored nearby and I like the way it looked against the background. I plan to paint it. I took a snapshot and did a painting of another boat, a much older derilect fishing vessel, moored at about the same place when I was down visiting several years ago. That boat, however, along with part of the restaurant, disappeared in Katrina. The restaurant survived and has reopened. Who knows where the old boat ended up? But it's immortalized in an oil painting that I plan to give to Kim for Christmas.

It was a wonderful trip, full of a lot of fun activities, but also with lots of time to spend with my daughter, something I don't get to do near enough of. I'm glad it was a great trip and I got to relax, because the day after I got back, my mother went into the hospital. The next 6 weeks were difficult, but I was well rested with a fully charged "battery", and both Mom and I came through it just fine.

September already? OMG!

2008-09-21T16:33:00.020-05:00

It's past the middle of September! When I realized how long it's been since my last blog entry, I was a little stunned. But then, a lot has been happening. My original intent was to blog right after I got back from Florida on Aug 14, but you know what they say about the best laid plans, etc.

As I say, I returned from a wonderful visit in Florida with my daugher and SIL, and was all set to unpack on Friday and get with it, loading the pictures, blogging and catching up on email. Instead, this is what happened: Friday morning Aug 15 my 94 year old Mom called me at 8 am and said "I need you to come over as soon as you can. Something is wrong." I threw on my clothes, grabbed a cup of tea to take along and took off for her apartment at the Assisted Living center where she lives, about 5 miles from me. When I got there I saw the problem was with her left knee, which was swollen, warm and very painful. I tried to make her more comfortable and called her doctor's office (the ortho who had done the knee replacement on this leg 12 yrs ago.) They said they couldn't get her in until Monday, but if it got worse, to take her to the ER. It got worse, and around 4 pm I called 911, since by then she couldn't even stand up to get into a wheelchair.

What happened next I'm going to gloss over. After 8 days in the hospital and still no definitive diagnosis (Drs. couldn't decide between septic joint and pseudogout), she was discharged to a skilled nursing facility for rehab. The knee had improved quite a bit, but she was very weak after 8 days flat on her back. She stayed at the nursing home for almost 3 weeks, and during that time I nearly tore my hair out. Without going into details, let's just say her care, particularly in the evening and at night, was less than safe and adequate. Her physical and occupational therapists were terrific and had her on her feet and getting stronger all the time, when I finally decided I couldn't take it any more and had her discharged to my home. She stayed with me for a week, continuing home health PT and nursing visits. This past Thursday I took her back to her apartment, and I don't know who was happier, me, her or her two cats. I guess it's a case of all's well that ends well. PT and nursing are still following her and will for several weeks. It was a scarey time, and even though it was only a little over five weeks, I was totally exhausted by the time I got back from taking her home and getting her unpacked, etc. Anyone who cares for an elderly, infirm person in their home for an extended time must have stars in their crowns, so to speak. I don't know how much longer I could have kept on. But for now, it's good.

Back to Florida! I got to the airport in Fort Walton Beach the afternoon of Aug 5 and my SIL picked me up there. This turned out to be one of the best visits down there I've ever had. We did so much and I took lots of pictures, so here goes:

This is the view down Kim and Ron's driveway from the side of the house looking toward the road, or in other words, their "front yard". From left to right are Dusty (Mama), Baby Penelope (who is nearly hidden behind Dusty), nameless horse, and Wishbone. Also various chickens managed to get into the frame.

The part of Florida where they live, the central Panhandle, is very lush but not sub-tropical--no native palm trees.

The nameless horse isn't really nameless. I just can't recall her name. Kim was pasturing her temporarily for a friend, who came and got her a day or so after I got there.

This is Mama Dusty and Baby Penelope. If I were any kind of grandparent, I'd know exactly how old she was when I took this, but I don't. She was born in early June and this was taken in early August, so can't be more than a couple of months. They grow fast, these little guys.

This is Wishbone, a gelding Kim has had for a little over two years. When I was down in FL 2 years ago, he was a colt just a little older than Penelope and extremely frisky. I was actually afraid of him! I was worried he'd push me and knock me down, because he was so exuberant. This visit, I found him to be a big cuddle bunny! He loved to nuzzle my neck, and have me scratch behind his ears, stroke his mane, and talk to him. Kim says he's very gentle to ride, as is Dusty, so both of them are good role models for Penelope.

Kim on Wishbone. I'm glad to know she always wears her helmet when she rides, be it horse or motorscooter or bike.

This is Scotty, Kim's Sheltie pup, who is about 9 months old. He's about as big as he's going to get, but still all big feet and clumsy playfulness. He's very sweet.

This is Valentine, a Great Pyrennes, about a year old. She will get bigger! Yikes! There's not much to compare to her size in the picture except perhaps the door behind her, which is a standard door width. She's extremely gentle and being a guard dog by nature, she will not leave the property. She knows where the boundaries are and stays inside them. She thinks she's a lap dog, and to get attention will place her extremely large paw on your lap. It's nearly impossible to ignore her! But she justs wants lovin'.

This is Daisy, Kim's beloved Aussie Shepherd. Daisy is a "Mommie's girl" and whines if Kim is out of her sight. Kim takes Daisy nearly everywhere with her, and the dog is quite an athlete. She has run races with Kim and won prizes for dress up contests. She even has her own life jacket (see below.

Girls just wanna have fun!

This is Daisy on the pontoon boat we rented to cruise around in the bay. What fun!

This is Kim's Buttercup (as opposed to my Buttercup, who is a cat!). I have to admit this one had the name first, but when a cat tells you what her name is, how can you argue with that?

Buttercup is a mixed breed, and the vet says she has a lot of greyhound in her. It's easier to see when she's standing up, since she has the high haunches, and lean belly. This Buttercup is very skittish around most people other than Kim. She finally has allowed me to pet her, after many years of my visiting down there. She particularly doesn't like men, and won't even let Ron pet her. We figure she was abused as a young dog, and she went through three or four adoptions before Kim took her. People kept adopting her and then bringing her back because all she would do is cower in a corner. Now she seems reasonably well adjusted, and claims this spot in the corner of the livingroom

This is Pixie, the Pembrooke Corgi Kim and Ron have had for quite a while. It's not so obvious in this picture, but Pixie has, ahem, a weight problem, as in her belly nearly drags the floor! She is on diet dog food, but is adept at sneaking from the others' bowls. She's a sweetheart, and is one of the two, the other being Daisy, who visit me every Christmas. Madison loves his "cousins".

Last but certainly not least is Snoopy, their Siamese cat. Snoopy is about 17 years old as near as we can recall. He's still active and very vocal and loves his Grandma! He sleeps with me whenever I visit.

With Kim and Ron having 5 dogs and one cat, and my having 5 cats and one dogs, we have 6 of each between us! Some kind of symmetry there, I suppose!

This post is getting long so I'm going to finish another day, hopefully tomorrow, when I will talk about kite surfing, Kim and Ron's swing band, and other fun things.

Look at this face! What a doll baby! But she's a sassy little girl, and tries to get away with biting if she can. Kim is teaching her not to bite and to be led on a halter. She basically walks around dragging the halter for now and will learn to be led soon. She won't be able to be ridden until she's two years old, but if Kim keeps working with her as she is now, Penelope will be a star by then!

Thoughts on a Sunday

2008-08-03T17:35:00.003-05:00

A week ago today in Knoxville, Tennessee, a mentally disturbed man walked into a Unitarian Universalist Sunday morning service carrying a guitar case. No one who saw him gave it a thought. Lot of UUs like music and carry musical instruments. As the children of the congregation were putting on a program, the man opened the case, removed a sawed-off shotgun and opened fire.

Just before the gunfire erupted, a nearby member of the congregation saw the gunman and immediately realized he was shooting toward the stage where the children were singing and dancing. He threw himself between the gunman and his target, absorbing the first fatal blast. The gunman got off another shot from the double-barreled weapon, killing a woman and wounding seven other members of the congreation before being wrestled to the ground by three brave men who stopped him from reloading and continuing the massacre. The amount of ammunition he carried indicated he had evidently intended to kill many more people.

The gunman, who was obviously mentally unbalanced, had left a bitter note blaming "liberals" for his troubles and vowing revenge on the "liberals" who voted the "liberal" politicians into power. In his warped mind, he equated liberalism with Unitarian Universalists, and thus chose his target.

As a member of my local Unitarian Universalist Fellowship I have been thinking about this horrendous event all week. It had never before occurred to me that I could be taking my life in my hands just walking through the doors of my church--and yes, it is a church, and Unitarian Univeralism is a religion, not a sect or a cult, as some ignorant people have accused. Formed from the union of two older religions, Unitarianism and Universalism, UUs have principles upon which they covenant to agree, rather than a creed of specific dogma which members are required to believe.

Briefly these principles are:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person
Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Some of these phrases may ring familiar, as similar phrases are found in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the signers of which included several Unitarians , notably John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine.

Realizing that in today's world the world liberal has become a buzzword which many people use as a perjorative associated with excess taxation, a soft stand on crime and criminals, and other evils, I looked it up in a Webster's dictionary:

Liberal: 1. favorable to progress or reform 2. designating or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform 3. pertaining to, based on, or having views or policies, advocating individual freedom of action and expression 4. of or pertaining to representative forms of government rather than aristocracies or monarchies 5. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant 6. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.; openminded 7. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts 8. given freely or abundantly; generous 9. not strict or rigorous; free, not literal 10. of pertaining to or based on the liberal arts 11. a person of liberal principles or views 12. a member of a liberal political party

I agree that based on the above definitions, in particular the first 7, most UUs probably consider themselves as liberals. If I had to use a word other than liberal to describe UU's, it would be generous, not only with monetary contributions to social causes but with time, energy, and personal commitment.

So why did a man who was down on his luck, unable to find a job or keep his family together, and obviously crazed with his pain and frustration attack a church full of people who probably would have offered him help if they had known of his needs?

There really are no logical explanations for events such as this. The rambling note he left behind only hints at the deep-seated roots of hate and ignorance that must have been flooding his tortured mind. The really frightening issue for me is that this person is not alone in his superficial knowledge and hatred of Unitarian Universalists. It's frequently true that people seem reflexively to hate that which they do not know or understand. I've never experienced a direct threat, but I have become aware that casual acquaintances who know I am a UU have made caustic remarks about UUs, among other things, that we are "tools of the devil".

Often those who are most critical of UUism are members of other religious groups, usually ones that feel they have a corner on salvation and believe the rest of us are condemned to whatever unpleasantness their particular religion feels comes after death. I don't agree with them. But I'm not about to encroach upon their rights to their beliefs!! (Refer back to definition number 5 that mentions tolerance.)

Of course it's not our tolerance of others' religious faiths or political viewpoints that has many narrow minded people riled up about UUs. Most currently it is our tolerance of homosexuality and our belief that GLBT individuals have the same inalienable right to pursue happiness and exercise their religious faiths as the rest of us. Back in the 60's and 70's, it was our similar tolerance of Afician Americans' rights to vote, speak freely, get a good education, and live and work where they wished that made us target for hate mongers. Same tune, different words.

Last Thursday evening our church had a service called a "Circle of Sorrow and Support" for the Knoxville congregation. Anyone who wished was invited to come and share feelings about the murders and the impact of the terrible events of the previous Sunday. We publicized the meeting in the local paper. During the meeting someone mentioned feeling slight concern about whether some "copy cat" might barge into the building to vent his or her own sick frustrations against "us liberals". It was a sobering thought, and several of us agreed that we did feel some uneasiness. However, every person there verbalized a determination not to allow bitterness and fear to obscure our reasons for being UUs in the first place. This is where we meet to share our thoughts and opinions and support one another; this is where we learn about pressing social issues of our community and our world and where we can take positive action to contribute to solutions; this is where we raise our children to be tolerant, caring, concerned citizens of the world.

The night I heard about the shootings in Knoxville, I was upset beyond words. I called several UU friends and we ventilated our sorrow and cried together. Late that night I still felt restless and needed to do something more. I decided to write down my feelings. This is the result.

Knoxville

I didn't know any of them,
Yet I know all of them.
Children in a play,
Proud parents, friends, neighbors,
Grandmas and grandpas,
Here to see the children sing and dance.

Singing and dancing children,
Then a man with a gun.
Another man who knew he had to act
To save the children.
He took the blast to save the children.

Shots and screams and blood,
But others quickly grabbed the man
Before more shots could tear the air,
Thrown to the floor and tied with belts,
Before police were there.

A man on edge, in so much pain,
Tormented soul who sought to blame,
"It's all their fault my life is bad,
And so they have to die," he said,
As children sang and danced
He ripped their world to shreds.

"Such a shame", the mayor says,
"But don't judge us by just one man,
Our city tolerates the gays,
Who flaunt God's laws on every hand,
We decent folks give them their place,
If they don't rub it in our face."

A place of love and light and song
Became a maelstrom of pain,
But these are people who are strong,
And they will rise above the stain,
The chalice flame will burn on bright,
To guide the way to what is right.

Their children will grow strong and sure,
Their fears will dim, they'll sing once more,
The scars will fade, the wounds will cure,
Our of ashes love will soar.

But for now we weep hot tears,
For sisters, brothers, friends, and peers,
For ourselves and for our fears,
For a world that shifted gears,

When a sad man, bad man, sick man
Lost his mind and lost his way
And charged a price, a vengence fee
That innocents were forced to pay.

Time will pass and in its wake,
We'll care and share for justice' sake,
And our young will dance and sing again,
Our young will dance and sing again.

This was a lengthy post and I thank you for your patience.
Vennie

A Dubious Honor

2008-08-02T07:57:00.004-05:00

Today I received an email from eBay announcing I was a Red Star Winner. ( Note here I tried to upload the certificate to show you but the format won't let me upload it as a picture and my computer expertise is somewhat limited. Therefore, try to picture a cheesy looking "certificate" with a big red star on it, certifying that I've reached the goal of 1000 transactions on eBay.)

Now if I were an eBay seller, that would be a real nifty achievement, since it would denote I had successfully sold 1000 items on eBay. I am not an eBay seller. I have never sold anything on eBay and have no plans to do so. Sooooooo, that leaves one other possibility for "1000 transactions", right? You got it. I've purchased over 1000 items on eBay. Now, if I had paid even one dollar per item that would represent a chunk of change. But anyone who knows eBay, knows you don't get too much for one dollar, considering postage and handling, etc.

Sigh. I confess. I'm an eBay shopaholic. It's a little odd, since I really don't much enjoy shopping in "real life". I go when I have to to get groceries or some specific item I need, but I rarely just go browsing (unless, of course, I'm with friends in LA, browsing heaven!)

But sitting at the computer, especially late at night in the dark, the bright screen beckons with all sorts of tempting items. My daughter turned me on to eBay about six years ago, and now she says she created a monster! That's not to say I buy a lot of things I don't need or use--probably no moreso than the average "regular store" shopper. We've all had the experience of seeing something in a store that looked just right, and then getting it home and putting it on a shelf or in a closet and having it never see the light of day again.

However, nowadays, when I decide I want to purchase something, my first thought is, how cheap can I get it on eBay? I've bought so many different kinds of items I can't even begin to list them all: clothes, shoes (I'm a lucky average size and out of at least a dozen pair have only had one that I couldn't wear--still about average for regular shopping), a video camera, film, calendars, books, videos, small furniture items (shelves), an ice bucket, art supplies, dog and cat toys, and much more.

My most recent eBay finds have been coupons. I stumbled onto coupons when seeking a good bulk deal on dog treats. Coupons for $1 off on Madison's favorite treats were listed. I bid and got 20 coupons for around $2.50, including postage. That represents a savings of over $17 on something I would buy anyway at the local stores. It set me to thinking maybe there would be coupons for other things, so I typed "coupons" into the eBay search engine and let it search "all categories". It came up with over 21,000 hits! Good heavens! There were coupons for everything from diapers to dog food, vacations to restaurant meals, and all kinds of grocery and other items. The starting bids were generally low, say $0.99 for 20 coupons for $1.00 off on an item. Now obviously there aren't a lot of items I would generally need to buy 20 of at a time, but I got to thinking: If I pay $2.50 for some coupons and I use even 6 or 7 of them, I've got my "goodie" out of the deal, and I can share the rest with others.

So I jumped into the bidding. Pretty soon I had coupons coming in the mail like crazy. My mailman prefers coupons in envelopes to some of the more bulky packages I have received. He kids me and says, "I can always tell when you've been on eBay again." EBay makes it easy by linking with Pay Pal, on online paying system, which can directly debit either your bank account or a credit card. (I use my bank account, so I'm not tempted to completely lose control!) In all these transactions, I've only been "stiffed" once by a seller, ie. paid for an item and didn't receive it. Paying through Pay Pal gives up to $1000 per purchase insurance, so I will eventually get the money back.

Anyway, I emptied out a hall closet which had a lot of stuff crammed into it that really needed to go elsewhere (or into a yard sale), and cleared three shelves for items bought in bulk, including cereal, pickles, rice, ziploc bags, aluminum foil, deodorant, applesauce, tomato sauce, and several other similar items which won't spoil and that I will definitely need and use. I cleared a space in the garage to stack bags of kitty litter ($1.00 off per bag of the brand I use), and cat and dog food, and cleaning supplies, such as Chlorox, Tide, Lysol spray, and Swiffer refills. Again, these are all items which won't spoil and which I would buy over time anyway. Also, my freezer is choked full of Lean Cuisine, Bertolli's meals, cheese and a few other items I had single coupons for.

Along with bidding for multiple coupons of the same item, you can bid on grab bags of coupons , as for example, "150 grocery coupons, no babies or pets", starting bid $.99 plus $.99 postage and handling. Most of those go for around 2 or 3 dollars. I've won several and so far each batch has had enough coupons I could use so that it more than paid for the lot. I've been sharing coupons with my friends and neighbors, taking them to church, and giving them to my mom and nephew. I have an envelope full of coupons for my daughter, who will be thrilled to see lots of coupons for the energy bars she and her hubby buy and also the soda he likes.

My favorite coupon buy was one for Silk Soy Milk, $2.00 off any size, no expiration date. I bought two half gallons of Vanilla Silk soy milk (which I love!) at Wal-Mart last week. The price was $2.98 a half gallon, so with the coupons, I got 2 half gallons for $1.96!!! And I still have 18 coupons left!

I have to admit it takes some time to sort and file the coupons, since for most of them you have to keep track of expiration dates. I got a couple of small file folders, one for storage and one to use when I shop, to keep track. If it sounds like a lot of bother, consider this: in July I save $220 on merchandise using coupons.

My recent flurry of coupon bidding was what put me over the top to reach the dubious honor of being a Red Star Winner!

How, you may ask, can anyone make any money selling coupons on eBay? I thought about it, and after reading some of the info on seller's pages, I realized most of the sellers seem to be stay at home Moms, who are clipping coupons to bring in extra income for the family. Figure a seller gets all her family, friends and neighbors to give her their Sunday supplements, magazines, and other sources of coupons, plus what she can print out on the internet . She clips and batches coupons and sells in volume, say 10 batches a week making a "profit" of $1.50-$2.00 on each batch. That's around $60-90 a month income with relatively little effort, doing something that can be done at the kitchen table or in front of the TV while watching the kids. Some of the more desirable coupons, like the soy milk, can bring in bids of up to $7 or $8, so the profit is higher for the seller.

So, I guess it comes down to what I'd rather be known as: The Crazy Old Lady with All the Cats, or The Crazy Old Lady with All the Coupons. Either one is OK by me.

Growing things

2008-07-13T13:44:00.010-05:00

A couple of years ago I was in San Diego visiting my dear friend Becky (love ya, Becky!). Her husband, Brett, is very proud of his yard plants, including a variety of cactus and succulents. Being from the midwest I found many of his plants exotic, and I admired them. Brett offered to send me home with some "starters" for my own plants. I said, OK, and he later presented me with 16 cuttings, none of which were more than a couple of inches high. We put them in a box, no soil, just the dry little cuttings, which I feared would never make it back to Illinois alive. I carefully packed them in my carry on luggage, to avoid the temperature extremes of the baggage hold on the plane, and off we went back to Southern Illinois.

When I returned home I bought some special potting soil for cactus and succulents and 16 little pots. I also invested in some grow lights, since I knew these plants would never survive outdoors in Illinois, and my sunny windowsill space is very limited. It took nearly an entire afternoon to set up my little "garden" on the north corner of my kitchen counter. I wish I had taken some "before" pictures then, but that was way before my blog existed, and who knew!!!! Keep in mind none of the cuttings was more than about 2 inches high.

These tall ones are succulents. I'm sure if they were outdoors they wouldn't be as "leggy" and would fill out more, but all things considered, they're doing fine.

We're now down from 16 plants to 6 of the originals from San Diego. The rest fell prey to curious cat paws (some cuttings were replanted several times before giving up the ghost), overwatering (my mistake), or whatever other maladies plants can succumb to. But the "San Diego Six", as I refer to them, are doing well! The original small pots are long gone, and truth be told, several of them need repotting now, but if I get bigger pots, they won't fit under the grow lights.

The plants that survived my cats and my clumsy efforts are now threatening to take over the entire north end of my kitchen! I keep thinking if I leave them in the current pots, they'll eventually stop getting taller, but so far they keep climbing.

I'm afraid I'm not totally impartial to all my plant "children". I have favorites. My very favorite is the little skinny cactus that started out about 2" high and is now having to be propped up against the light cord to avoid bending over. (He's the one in the blue pot.) The cats liked him too, and I had to rescue him from the floor and repot him at least three times before I finally persuaded the felines (with the aid of a squirt bottle) to leave the plants alone. He managed to survive all that and just kept growing. What a little trooper!

The plant in the red pot on the right is not one of the original California plants, but is growing from a leaf that got knocked off another plant of mine. I stuck the leaf in water and it rooted and here we are.

From inside plants we go to outside plants. The last week in May I finally felt well enough to drag myself to the local Rural King store to buy some tomato plants and potting soil. I hauled out the large pots from the shed and filled them with the potting soil, which has "Miracle Gro" fertilizer built in. I transplanted the tomatoes into the pots and took this picture about a week later, in the first week or so of June.

I took these pictures this afternoon, approximately 6 weeks later.

Gotta love that "Miracle Gro"!

As you can see, I have some nice size green tomatoes coming along. I can't wait until they're ready to pick, probably in another week or two.

This one is already starting to pinken up. Two of the plants are cherry tomatoes and the other is a mid-size variety, which will be just right for sandwiches.

When I was a kid my dad always planted a large garden. For many years there was a two-lot vacant lot next door to us and he got permission from the owner to put in all in a huge garden. No tiller or cultivator, just a spading fork, a hoe, and a lot of sweat. I loved to help him with the garden and he taught me how to recognize and pull weeds (instead of the tiny seedlings that were sprouting). I got a nickel a row for weeding and all summer I could make a dollar a week. (Hey, in the 50's that was big money to a 10 year old!) He grew all kinds of stuff, mostly for us to eat: lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, potatoes (Idaho and sweet), beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, rhubarb--boy, my mom could make a fantastic rhubarb pie!--strawberries, cantalope, squash, cucumbers, peppers, and watermelon. Each year he'd plant one row of something unusual, and in early fall I'd haul it off to school for show and tell. The ones I remember are peanuts and cotton. I guess my "green thumb" comes from Dad. He'd be proud of my tomatoes.

Blessed event

2008-07-11T15:24:00.006-05:00

Early in June my daughter, who lives in northern Florida and has all kinds of animals, called me all excited.

"I just found out my horse is pregnant!"

She got her horse, an Appaloosa named Dusty, in November of last year. Horse gestation periods are 11 months, so the person she bought the horse from didn't realize Dusty was expecting either.

"I could see she was getting fatter," Kim told me, "but this morning when I went out and looked at her I could see all the 'fat' was in her belly and I could swear I saw a hoof poking up!"

As it happened the ferrier was due later in the day to trim Dusty's hooves and he confirmed she she was indeed a mother-to-be. "Not only that, it's going to be any day now," he told Kim.

The very next day she called me. "We've got a baby!!!!"

Baby's name is Penelope and she and her Mom are both doing well, I'm told. I'll be going down in August to see them, so I'll get to know the newest member of my family soon.

Isn't she adorable?????

A Dog's Life

2008-06-06T19:36:00.006-05:00

Is this the picture of relaxed or what?

This is my main man, my four-footed squeeze, Madison, reclining next to his stuffed duck, which he played with until he flopped over into this exhausted heap.

The other day I discovered a doggy friend of mine, L's Cozie, has the very same duck. L and I recently entertained one another squeaking our respective dogs' ducks over the phone. Actually, rather than squeaking, this toy makes a noise that I presume is supposed to be a duck call. It sounds more like a large dog fart. But anyway, Madison loves his duck, and Cozie loves his.

Same dog, different angle. Isn't he pretty? He needs a bath and a trim, but I haven't had the energy to get him to the groomer yet. Soon, baby, soon. Meantime, I've been brushing him with a gadget that looks like a looped curry comb. The fur flies-- into the air, into my mouth, into his water dish, onto whatever I'm wearing--why is it I always seem to take a notion to brush the dog while I'm wearing dark pants?

Madison has been worried about me the past several weeks. He managed to get his 90 pounds up onto my bed various times to check on me and has started sleeping on the floor at the foot of my bed or in the hall just outside my bedroom door instead of his regular bed on the couch. I realize he sensed that I wasn't feeling well. But now that I'm better he's still keeping close tabs on me. You never know what your human is going to get up to!

This is Madison looking forlorn because I wasn't throwing a toy for him to fetch. I was busy with the hose, washing and refilling his bowl, watering my rose bush, and filling the bird bath. He thinks when I'm in the yard I should spend 100% of my time throwing something for him to chase. When I'm not around he chases squirrels and chipmunks. So far he's never caught one. They're onto him and know just when to run when I let him out. The squirrels in particular like to tease him, running partway up a tree, then scolding him loudly. He barks his head off, of course, and I swear I can hear the squirrels laughing.

Yep, it's a dog's life.

Vennie

The Lost Weekend..and then some

2008-06-06T18:08:00.002-05:00

Well, well, I can't believe it's been over 2 months! Most of my readers already know, but I was ill and just not up to posting, but I'm much better. Still not quite back to "normal", whatever that is, but getting there. So I figured it's time to get blogging!

While I was ill, I spent some time thinking about time. I frequently felt I was "losing" whole days and weeks of time. My markers, my daily schedule of what to do and where to go, all disappeared, except for Dr. and hospital visits. I slept odd hours, sometimes sleeping 12 hours at a stretch, sometimes staying up until nearly dawn and then napping later in the day. Once I began to feel as if I was getting better, I felt like I was surfacing through time like I would have surfaced from being under water. Two months had gone by. While it was happening I had no concept of the amount of time passing, so it didn't seem that long. How odd it felt to have "lost" a sixth of a year.

Time is a strange concept. When you're really bored, or when you're looking forward to something special it can drag out, especially if you're a kid. Remember how it seemed after Halloween that Christmas would NEVER get here? Remember when school let out for the summer how it seemed like you had an eternity of softball, swimming, and just plain fun ahead of you?

If you're dreading something, or enjoying yourself doing something really special, time can seem to collapse, with the hours and minutes rushing by. How about that last few days before school starts in the fall, when time flashes by. Or that special vacation, or honeymoon, or visit from a loved one that you want to last forever but just flies right by.

Of course, although our perceptions of time passing may vary, time itself is unchanged, right? Time is linear and only moves in one direction--it marches on. Or does it?

Several months agao I saw a TV program about time. It was fascinating, but the part I remember most vividly is an experiment that was done to show that time really CAN be slightly speeded up or slowed, and not just because you perceive it to be. Recent physics discoveries also have shed some light on the nature of time, which is apparently affected by gravitational fields. Within the intense gravitational field of a black hole, for example, most likely there is no "time", as we know it. Moreover, it is now thought that on the subatomic level, i.e. quantum physics-wise, time actually runs backwards for some subatomic particles. (Please don't ask me to explain this. I'm taking it on faith, since I can't get my brain around it either.)

So what about traveling in time, like Marty Fly in "Back to the Future"? Is it totally science fiction dreaming to consider the possibility of time travel? Serious cosmic scientists used to scoff at the very idea of "time travel". However, the scoffers are no longer scoffing, at least in theory. While it's not likely that a "time machine", like a souped-up Delorean, would enable one to travel though time, it is postulated that if one can move fast enough and far enough, it could be possible theoretically to travel in time. Fast enough and far enough is the rub, of course, since we're talking really fast (near the speed of light) and really far (to stars that are light years away), which is not doable with our present technology. But one can't help but think along the line that a hundred years ago getting from New York to Los Angeles in a few hours was not "doable" with the technology of 1908. Hmmmmm.

Well, it's all very interesting, and I guess as good as any topic to restart my blog. There's an excellent and beautifully illustrated book, "The Mystery of Time" by John Langome, which delves into the way we humans have evolved in our concepts of timekeeping, mechanizing time, fine-tuning time and theorizing about the nature of time, including time travel. I bought it after watching that TV program. I end up with more books that way....

Vennie

The Toilet Paper Revolution?????

2008-03-11T16:37:00.007-05:00

A few days ago my friend L sent me an email that described a product which one could easily have guessed to be a fake, a joke, an email spoof. The product is "ShitBegone" Toilet Paper--and I'm here to tell you it's no joke and no spoof. It's the real deal.

I was so intrigued by the idea that I went to the website and ordered a case. It just arrived via UPS, and while the name of the product was not on the box, it was definitely identified as toilet tissue--96 rolls. (I think the UPS man wasn't sure whether to be amused or offer me sympathy for requiring this huge case of tp.) (I ordered the full case, because with a full case I get a free "ShitBegone" mug. How could I resist that?)

Anyhow, I immediately opened the box and took out a roll. Naturally, I grabbed my camera to memorialize the moment.

Jed, the creator and owner of the small business enterprise that markets this unusual product, claims that ShitBegone is "the future of toilet paper." Says so right on the label.

I gather I am also now a member of the "ShitBegone family" with all privileges and responsibilites attached therewith. One of those responsibilities is to "fold" my toilet paper, not "wad it up". That way you use less and get better, ah, coverage. I confess I have been a life-long wadder but am trying hard to reform.

Of course, I had to put it to the test as quickly as possible. Since at the moment I had no need of the paper for its intended use, I decided to do a couple of other comparison tests.

From my master bathroom's paper holder I tore off a five sheet length of a major tp brand--the kind that Mr. Whipple used to admonish the ladies for squeezing (surely you remember that!) I tore off a similar length of ShitBegone, and folded each piece over once and then again. I placed one "pad" of paper against each cheek (the ones under my eyes) and considered. Hmmmmm. Yes, actually the "major brand" does feel a little scratchier, even though it has all these poofy, quilty designs in it that are supposed to make it soft. Hmmmm again.

Next test: I took the pads to the bathroom sink. I unfolded them and turned the faucet on to a fast drip. One at a time I held each sheet by the ends letting the water drip into the center. The first one was ShitBegone. As the water wicked up the paper, the paper began to break apart in my fingers. It's pretty, um, delicate, and dissolves rapidly in water. (I would expect that would make for efficient flushing.) Next came the Char...opps... the major brand. Holding the ends, I let the water drip on it, wicking up until the entire length of paper was wet.
ShitBegone on left.....major brand on right

Nothing happened. I pulled on the ends and it did pull apart in the middle, but this stuff is not meant to come apart readily in water, that's pretty clear. Hmmmm.

Final test (at least for the time being): I took both wet pads of paper and wadded them up as tightly as I could. Keep in mind they were almost the same length when they started out, with the ShitBegone slightly longer. The ShitBegone ball of wet paper was about half the size of the other one. (It should be note here that both brands are 2 ply.) Either there was more paper in the major brand wad or it was coarser and less compressible--or both.

The ultimate and final test is yet to come. (Sorry I just don't have to right now.) But I will be sure to give you the results when the verdict is in.

Meantime, you can check it out at ShitBegone . Better yet, google shitbegone and take a look at how many much buzz has been generated about this product.

I promised sample rolls to a few friends, but the rest of you are going to have to check it out for yourselves. Think of it as "the paper chase", or "following the paper trail", or "getting your papers in order'' or any other euphemism you care to add.

A Walk in the Snow

2008-03-08T09:17:00.016-06:00

We had several inches of snow yesterday and I had resigned myself to staying inside my snug little house. However, my friend Lawrence called and suggested we take a hike in a nearby park. After a few seconds to get my mind around hiking in the snow (after all I did just get back from Antarctica!), I said, "OK!" We arranged to meet in the park which is very near his home.

I grabbed a quick shower and put on several layers of clothes--about the same as I wore in Antarctica-- and added sunscreen and sunglasses. After brushing the snow off my car I proceeded cautiously through town. The streets weren't bad, but there can always be a slick patch that the plows missed. The highway was clear so there was no problem until I turned off onto a county road to reach the park. That road had been partially cleared by local traffic, but the further I went, the more ice and snow I encountered. Eventually I was creeping along at 20 mph on a winding, hilly road, wondering if this was such a good idea after all!

Giant City State Park is a beautiful area, created during the last ice age as glaciers pushed up huge boulders and gouged out caves and other interesting rock formations. It's a favorite spot for lots of outdoor activities, including camping, hiking, picnics, and horseback riding. At one time or another in the past I've actually done all of these--but never in the snow!

I took this shot several years ago when another friend and I spent an early spring afternoon in the park

Lawrence and I were headed for a hiking trail called "the trillium trail", but when we arrived we found that the severe ice storm which struck our area 2 weeks ago apparently had damaged the trail to the extent it was not considered safe to hike. The park administration had closed it off.

Note the red tape across the sign. The a small yellow sheet taped on the left side explains the ice damaged area is unsafe.

Here's a view of part of the trillium trailhead that we could see from the parking pullout. I imagine in springtime trillium is abundant in the area, as well as many other wildflowers. Since I haven't learned yet how to upload pictures from other net sites--but I will eventually-- click to see pictures of this delicate wildflower. Trillum

Good little citizens that we are, we decided not to defy the park administrators. Lawrence suggested we walk up the asphalt road for a bit to see if any other trails looked promising. Since the road was deserted, we made our way to the next trailhead.

Before we left the trillium trail area I took one more shot of where we couldn't go. The trail follows a gradual gradient up to the ridge, over and back down and is a little over a mile. Normally it's not a difficult hike, but even if the trail hadn't been closed, it would have been a challenge in the snow.

The wet snow had pretty much melted off the dark road surface but there were some slick spots, so we stuck to the side in the snow, which offered better footing. I turned around to take this shot, and you can see our footprints. It looks one set but that's because I was trying to walk in Lawrence's footprints, and not having much luck, since he's a 6 footer and I'm 5'3".

I've driven in this area when there has been snow on the ground, but I'd never walked through it. The woods take on an entirely different dimension in the snow. It was very quiet, but after a few minutes we could hear a snow plow in the distance.

By the time we ambled up to this lot the plow had cleaned it up and was scraping against the asphalt. When I took this picture, the driver decided to leave. Maybe he thought I was a spy for the park rangers, checking up on him!

The trail behind this parking area was not closed, so we decided to give it a try.

In my haste to get ready for the hike I had forgot to bring my walking stick. Lawrence found some deadfall branches and broke off two pieces for us to use as temporary walking sticks--and they worked just fine!

It would have been illegal to break off a branch from a tree, but due to several recent ice and storm storms there was plenty of deadfall to choose from.

Here's Lawrence as he started off to find some suitable small limbs already on the ground. When we came back down from our hike we left our "walking sticks" near the trailhead in case some other intrepid hiker might want to use them.

The trailhead begins just beyond the picnic shelter on the left.

As we hiked I stopped several places to snap pictures.

Things that usually look very ordinary take on an entirely different aspect in the snow. Nature's "ornaments" on this evergreen are more beautiful than those on any "Christmas tree".

Eventually we reached an area where the trail became steep and the rocks looked really slippery. We both paused, considered, and pretty much simultaneously agreed it would not be wise to carry on any higher. We could probably get up, but coming down could be an entirely different deal! Personally I don't do down nearly so well as up, so I was considerably relieved that my friend also didn't want to pursue the trail further.

We weren't really ready to head back, however, so we brushed the snow from some flat rocks and sat down. Happily, before leaving home I had decided to don my waterproof pants, so I was quite comfortable on the rock. This shot was taken looking back down the trail from our rocky perch.

I made use of Lawrence's arm as we made our way back down to the trailhead, since I figured he'd rather have me lean gently on his arm than pick me up if I lost my footing and went down.

We walked back up the road to the trillium trailhead where both our vehicles were parked and stood talking for a while. After a few minutes we were somewhat surprised to see an enormous Peterbilt truck slogging up the road toward us. The truck stopped in the middle of the road, and since it seemed highly unlikely someone would be expecting a delivery in the park, Lawrence walked over to talk with the driver. Turned out the guy's actual destination was another mile or so up the county highway and he'd been given the wrong info about where he was supposed to turn off. As a result here he was in the park with his big-assed truck and no place to turn around.

Lawrence has had some experience driving big rigs like this one and told me he doubted the truck would be able to turn around, even up at the next trailhead parking area, although it was considerably larger than the pullout where we were parked. However, the trucker decided to give it a try and started on up the road.

My friend shook his head and said he didn't think the truck would be able to turn around. We waited, and sure enough, after a while the truck reappeared, slowly backing up the winding asphalt road. After another conference with the truck driver, Lawrence and I pulled out of the parking area and headed slowly back toward the highway with our hazard lights on and the truck following carefully--backing up! That trucker knew how to handle his rig, I'll say that. We pulled out onto the highway and Lawrence got out to help guide the trucker back onto the road. Once his rig was headed in the right direction, he gave us a big high five and went on his way.

We continued the additional half mile or so into the quaint little town of Makanda and found a little ice cream/coffee shop open. We enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate (mine was raspberry flavored-ummmm) and then headed back to the highway. Lawrence showed me a different route to get back to Carbondale, and that road was totally clear, which was a relief. (BTW, I strongly suggest you check out the link to Makanda, as it is an interesting little "hippy haven" town, nestled in the hills. It was also the home of the late Senator Paul Simon, who loved Southern Illinois with a passion.)

Working Out at the Rec

2008-03-07T11:36:00.011-06:00

"The Rec" is the affectionate abbreviation for the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Student Recreation Center, located on the SIU-C campus about a five minute drive from my home (unless I hit the eternal stoplight, which isn't really eternal, only 90 seconds. It just seems like an eternity.)

I started going to the Rec about a year and a half ago, after a friend of mine felt my newly skinnier arms and told me my triceps were flabby. Well! Trying not to be insulted, I had to admit she was right. I was slimmer overall, but despite having worked out with hands weights for a while, I wasn't very well toned and could sure benefit from some formal weight training.

Being an alumna of SIU I'm eligible to join the Rec Center, which is primarly for students. However, a lot of faculty and alums go there to swim, workout and fight off the ravages of growing older. I often see friends there, including quite a few people from my church.

This is Amanda, my personal trainer. Although by this time I know how to use all the equipment, I know myself well enough to realize that unless someone is there waiting for me to show up at the appointed time, I can--and will-- easily talk myself out of going to work out. So I pay the bucks and have a trainer work with me. Amanda is my third trainer, not because they dump me--honest--but because of the university's changing schedule. My first trainer was Lynn, who is the manager of the Rec's Lifestyle Enhancement Center. Eventually Lynn's admin duties began to overwhelm her and she had to pass on her clients to other trainers. Then came Michelle, with whom I worked for over 6 months. Michelle is working on her master's degree and last fall her class schedule didn't permit her to have a client at my regular workout time. Since I was accustomed to the days and times I wanted to stick with my schedule, so Michelle turned me over to Amanda.

Amanda is currently waiting to hear if she has been accepted at Temple University to get her PhD. I hope she is accepted, but that will mean she will be leaving in August--and I'll be getting another trainer. (sigh) I wish I could depend on myself to stay with it without a trainer, but when I'm snug at home, inertia takes over unless I have a specific appointment.

Before working out with weights, it's important your muscles be adequately warmed up and stretched to avoid injury. Sometimes I warm up at home, doing low impact aerobics to music; then I stretch, grab a quick shower and jump in my car to head for the Rec.

Other days I go in early to warm up on one of the high tech treadmills available. These babies do everything but fix you a cup of coffee!

This is the weight machine I usually start each session on. It's my favorite since I get to lie down. It's a seated leg press and primarily works the quadriceps, the largest muscles in our bodies. As you push against the weight plate with your feet, you raise the weights on the left side. I'm up to pressing 230 pounds, which I feel pretty good about. (I think I started with 100.)

This is another leg machine, the front leg curl. Amanda took this shot. Note the mirror behind me. Both side walls are mirrors so you can check your form. I try not to look.

This is a hamstring exercise, and is the complement, or opposite, of the leg press. Judging by these "thunder thighs", I need to do more of them!

After 45 minutes of sweating and straining on the weight machines comes the very best part! I lie down on this mat and Amanda does passive stretching of my legs and hips and shoulders and then gives me a brief neck and shoulder massage. The massage is to keep my right shoulder from seizing up, which it has a tendency to do because I have an impingement problem. The massage feels great, and afterward what I'd really like to do is curl up on the mat and take a nap!

But no, it's back to the women's locker room, hoping I remember the combination to my locker so I can retrieve my coat and purse and lock up my weight gloves and towel until next time. I go twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings,and I try not to let anything interfere with these appointments. The weather has not been cooperative lately, however, and I've only been able to get in one session a week since I got back from my trip to Antarctica. I can tell when I miss a session because the next one is more difficult. When I was gone for two weeks on the trip, I lost some ground, even though I was doing a lot of climbing, walking, etc. It's not the same as training specific muscle groups. Like the old saying, "What you don't use, you lose."

Since I began weight training at the Rec I am notably stronger. I can heft my mom's wheelchair in and out of my hatchback much more easily and I scoop up 25 pound bags of dog and cat food as if they were nothing. Even 50 pound sacks of birdseed are more easily maneuvered into my cart, providing they are up high enough on the pile for me to pull them off and slide them into the cart.

Weight training works for anyone at any age. You just need to proceed carefully, prepare your muscles with a warmup and take your time. Patience pays off big dividends in this arena.

The Birthday Bash

2008-03-06T14:42:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, March 5, was my mother's 94th birthday. The years are gradually taking their toll, but all things considered, Mom does really well. She has an apartment in an assisted living center about 5 miles from where I live, so I can get there in 10 minutes if I need to.

When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said, "A cookbook! The kind that has all the basic stuff in it." I found a like-new Betty Crocker "Introduction to Cooking" at a local used book store, and Mom said it was exactly what she had in mind. Although meals are provided at the facility in a common dining room, Mom does most of her own cooking, including making dinner every Tuesday night for my bachelor nephew, who lives in the same town. The kitchen in her apartment is tiny, but she's always been a good cook and manages quite well.

Last night we went to her favorite restaurant, Applebee's. Two friends of ours met us there, and we had a wonderful meal.

I have no idea why it is when I tell Mom to smile she almost always ends up looking like she just ate a sour apple. She's wearing a silk blouse I brought her a few years ago when I went to Bangkok.

A cooperative waiter took this one of all of us. Wow, she almost smiled!

I waited until we were almost ready to leave to do the pictures and tell the waiter what the special occasion was, because I didn't want him to summon the birthday singers. Mom would have died of embarrassment!

After dinner I took Mom back to her apartment, where we were greeted by her two cats, Peaches and Pumpkin. Too late, I realize I should have taken their pictures too. Another time, perhaps.

I feel very fortunate to still have my Mom around and in relatively good shape and in good spirits. She keeps busy reading and watching TV, especially St. Louis Cardinal baseball and NASCAR. She's a rabid Jeff Gordon fan and has pictures, posters and other "No. 24" memorabilia all over the apartment. Just outside the apartment livingroom window she has three bird feeders which my nephew fills for her. She loves watching the various birds that come to the feeders, especially the hummingbirds. I think Peaches and Pumpkin like watching the birds as well.

Aren't I lucky to still be someone's "little girl"?

Beware of falling ice????

2008-03-05T10:06:00.007-06:00

Good morning, Everyone!

I woke up this morning to an odd sound. At first I thought a troop of squirrels was running around on my roof, but knowing the roof was icy, that didn't seem to make sense. Bright sun was streaming through my bedroom window, and when I peeked out, I thought, how odd that it's hailing while the sun is shining! Then I realized it wasn't hailing at all. The sight and sounds were made by chunks of ice falling from trees, wires, roofs, etc. The ice was melting so quickly in the sun that it didn't have time to liquify completely. Therefore, small icy chunks were raining down like little shards of glass. If you look carefully at the picture above you can see the ice chunks sparkling on the ground and in the street in front of my house. The chunks continued to "rain" down as I shot this picture, but I'm not sure if you can see them as they fall.

Front yard from a slightly different angle. If you enlarge the picture, perhaps you can see the ice falling against the dark background of the tree trunk.

As I type an hour after taking the pictures, it's still "raining ice", but now it's coming in fits and spurts--and driving my poor dog and cats nuts. They know "something" is on the roof, but can't figure it out. (My dog friend Cosmos would be totally freaking out!)

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time watching a very unusual bird feeding in my backyard. He looked sort of like a pigeon, but hopped instead of walking as pigeons do. Mostly black and white with a front that was either tan or dirty--hard to tell which-- he was rather aggressive, bluffing away the cardinals as they tried to alight nearby. I wanted to take his picture but was worried if I opened the back door, he'd fly off, which in fact he did. So I settled for trying for a shot of him through the glass half of the back door.

I apologize for the poor quality of this shot, but I think you can see "mystery bird" in the center. A female cardinal is perched on the feeder to the left, so you can get an idea of the relative size of Mr. Mystery Bird. Every time he moved he showed a different color pattern, mostly of black and white. His beak was fairly large and orange, but I couldn't get a good look at his feet to check color or shape. I went carefully through my bird book ("Birds of the Northern Hemisphere") but couldn't find anything that matched what I was seeing. The closest I found was a couple of species of gulls or terns. Since there are a lot of lakes in our area, we do have gulls, so maybe that's what he was. (The lakes were still frozen over yesterday, so I supposed the fishing wasn't too great.) We're located on the Mississippi Flyway, and get a lot of migrating birds, passing through on their way to and from their summer and winter habitats. Perhaps he was some exotic bird not native to the northern hemisphere, which would explain my not being able to ID him from my book . Mr. Mystery Bird hung around the entire day, stoking up on sunflower seeds. I also saw him pulling a worm out of the mushy ground around the base of the feeder, so he isn't a picky eater.

This morning one brave squirrel is at the feeder, but most of the birds are hanging back, apparently not wishing to get conked on their little heads by chunks of ice that continue to fall. (Some of the chunks are several inches long, and I wouldn't want to get conked either!) In any case Mr. Mystery Bird is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he's on his way north with a full belly and a clear day for flying. Bon voyage, Mystery Bird!

I mentioned the cardinals, and I always have lots of them, since sunflower seeds are one of their favorite repasts. I should have posted this picture last week, since I took it when the snow was falling, but between having camera problems and being anxious to post the retreat pictures, I omitted it, so I'm putting it up now. There were only a few birds cooperative enough to hang around while I shot this picture, but earlier I had counted at least 12 bright red male cardinals clinging to the bending, snow-laden bamboo. I don't much like winter, but sights such as this help relieve the tedium and inconvenience of ice and snow.

Today is my mother's 94th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Molly!) Since the ice is rapidly melting and the rest of today is predicted to be sunny and relatively mild, we have plans for an evening out to celebrate. More nasty weather is forecast for tomorrow, so we must party while we can! I promise pictures.

From winter to spring with a weekend between

2008-03-03T12:46:00.019-06:00

Hi, Everyone!

My new camera works! And it's compatible with the software already on my computer, so I was able to upload successfully the pictures I took with the old camera and quite a few taken this weekend with the new one. So here goes with catching up:

Here's the snow we had the last week in Feb. From the snow on my compost bin I think you can get an idea what it was like. There are still a few yucky looking piles of dirty snow lying around in parking lot corners, but with another couple of days of warmer weather they will disappear. I hope that's the last of the snow and ice for the year, but around here, you never know. Some of our heaviest snows have been in March, so I will keep fingers and toes crossed!

This weekend was our annual Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship Women's Retreat, held at a camp site on Little Grassy Lake about 10 miles from my house. There are a lot of lakes in our area, and this is just one of many camp sites available for outings like ours. This particular campsite is operated by the Methodist Church, but they aren't picky and rent to us Unitarians just like anyone else. The term "camp site" is somewhat misleading, since there are buildings with dorm rooms, meeting rooms, a cafeteria, etc.--all very nice and not really "roughing it". This is our third year at the Methodist campsite.

On Friday afternoon another gal and I stopped by our church to pick up lounging pillows from the Jr. High classroom and plastic glasses from the kitchen. (We try to avoid using paper or disposable plastic as much as we can.) Back home I packed up my car with the rest of the stuff I was taking--books, clothes, snacks for Fri night, yoga mats, a box of marking pens and pencils, 2 boxes of ceramic mugs, clean rags, hand soap and one roll of paper towels for the "designated restroom"--which I will explain later--and, of course, the timer and other materials for the famous Women's Retreat Saturday Night Charades, which has become a retreat tradition.

I was first to arrive at the campsite around 4 pm Friday, so I unloaded my car and claimed the semi private room closest to the big meeting room where most activities would take place. That meant my bathroom would also be the "designated restroom", since the other bathrooms are downstairs (who designed this building?????)

I set up the "relaxation area", with the pillows and my books. Others would also be bringing books and other items from home for all to share during free moments. I set up my boom box with a "Chieftains" CD--nothing like great Irish music to raise your spirits and get your blood pumping!

The others in the Fri night group began to trickle in around five. There were 12 or so at one point on Fri night, but I think only 8 slept over. This is just the second year for our having the Fri night sleep over option for the retreat. I love it, since we can set everything up in the afternoon and relax in the evening before the main group arrives on Sat morning.

Here's a shot of some of the Fri night group, hanging out, snacking, and decompressing from kids, jobs and whatever else rocks their regular worlds.

Some are working moms, several are retired, more "mature" ladies, like myself. Most are members of the Fellowship, but a few are not. Everyone is welcome at our retreats as long as they are female!

This is the "snack table". Yum. There was also stuff on other tables, including guacamole, bean dip, lots of crackers,chips, and cheeses, and--of all things--a jar of caviar! Do we know how to retreat or what!

Sat morning one of the gals led a yoga class at 7 and by the time we were done, the Sat group had begun to arrive, register, and unpack. We started with an ice breaker activity, since there are always new Fellowship members and first time retreaters in the group. This activity involved choosing a place from among signs scattered around the room as a place you would want to go.

Here's Tammy, one of this year's co-chairs, explaining how the activity works.

The signs included Ocean, Forest, Desert, Fire, Cave, Antarctica, and Mountain. We were to group around the signs and tell each other why we wanted to go there. Naturally I went immediately to the sign that said "Antarctica", since I'd go back there in a New York minute! Only one other person stood with me. She had been to the area on a large cruise ship a year or so ago. Interesting that of all the places we could have chosen, we both wanted to go back there.

After a while we were asked to switch and go stand under a sign for a place we would definitely NOT want to go. I went straight to the "Cave" sign, since I do NOT like caves. I had plenty of company there. As you might expect, several people were clustered under the "Antarctica" sign, and I beelined it over there to ask them why not??? Main answer, "Because I don't like to be cold." I explained I was not really cold while there, since the temperature was in the 30's and I was properly dressed--and reminded them when I returned and got off the plane in St. Louis it was 16 degrees!!! They were surprised to learn it's that warm during Antarctica's summer. Many people have misconceptions about this little known part of our world.

Another short break and we went to the craft tables. We'd been told to bring a white tee shirt or other garment to decorate. On two tables were lots of beads, feathers, fringe, and other interesting baubles for gluing, sewing or tying on--plus markers, glue guns, pins and scissors.

Here's a retreater contemplating what next to put on her shirt. These were to be our costumes for "Celebrating the Body Beautiful"--which turned out to be Belly Dancing!

Let's see...feathers, beads, fringe,

glitter, colored markers, tinsel...so much to choose from.

How can I decide what to do?

I forgot to bring a shirt, but someone had brought extra garments, so I chose to decorate a purple bra.....

...and here it is!

And yes, I actually did wear it later in the day.

And no, I'm not going to post a picture.

After another short break we gathered for Pat to lead us in a "music and healing" activity which involving using tones to do something called "aligning our chakras". Hmmmmm. I don't know if I got mine aligned, but it was fun to do.

I especially liked the "singing bowls". One of our group has been to Napal and brought those along for the program.

After a yummy lunch prepared by the camp staff we sang songs, table by table, according to the song lyrics put on our tables in advance.

One of the tables had "Hava Nagila" as their assigned song. After singing it once, they formed a conga line and all of us sang while they trouped through the room!

After lunch we gathered for the Maori Art Circle activity. First we were asked to draw a large circle on a piece of paper. Then we were instructed to draw within the circle one of each of the following symbols: bird, flower, mountain, snake, path, shelter, butterfly, and tree. That took several minutes; then the leader explained how to interpret what we had drawn. The circle is divided into four quadrants, representing physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental aspects of an individual. Each of the eight symbols represents a facet of life. Where you place each symbol, as well as its size and position related to the other symbols, determines it's relative significance in your life. It sounds kinky but was surprisingly accurate for many of us. Fun to do anyway.

Here's a shot of someone else's circle. (Mine was done in pastels and wouldn't have shown up as well as this one.)

After another break we divided into small groups to discuss our spiritual journeys--how we came to be where we are. It's always interesting to hear the stories of the paths others have taken in seeking spiritual fulfillment and peace. There are often similarities in our stories, but also a lot of intriguing differences. It's another wonderful way we come to learn and care about each other during the retreats.

Another short break--to get gussied up--and then came Belly Dancing! A couple of the women in our group have actually had lessons and they showed us how it's done. The music was great, and there was no one else to watch, so we all had a great time shimmying and shaking our booties! Some women chose not to participate, but at the retreat there is no pressure to do anything, so that's OK.

We have a saying that "What happens at the retreat, stays at the retreat", so I chose this picture because the shadows pretty much make everyone anonymous. The blonde lady in the center has had lessons. I'm telling you, she has those moves down pat--and she's about 3 years older than I am! Sheesh!

The next activity was a smorgasbord of "pampering", including the low impact aerobic class I led, a massage therapist who donated her time for tips, a nail station, and just a lot of general relaxing and schmoozing.

Here's Jan doing her nails.

Dinner was excellent, and afterwards Pat led us in an African chant, which some of us had learned the year before and always enjoy singing. Then it was time for charades!

I didn't get any pictures during charades, because I was too busy to grab my camera. For the past several years I've been writing charades for others to act out and I've been the timer as well--so, I never got to play before. This year someone wrote up additional charades so I could draw from that batch and play along--great fun! It may sound hokey, but I guarantee when a bunch of women let their hair down and have to pantomine various words, it can get hysterically funny--and it did. We laughed until we hurt. That's such a great and healthy thing to be able to do. Laughter, I've heard it said, is "internal jogging". Well, we jogged up a storm Sat night! We played charades until nearly 10. Some of us trundled off to bed, but a few diehards stayed up until midnight, enjoying the snacks and each other's company.

Our Sunday morning started off with another yoga class. After breakfast we had our morning worship service. Each year one or two people are assigned to develop the service, and it's always different and very special. This time it was about Ayervedic Yoga, and began with a wonderful cleansing chant done with a CD. Again this might sound kind of "new agey", but it was enjoyable and felt powerful to do as a group. The speaker taught us about three types of meditation and we practiced each for a short time. Very relaxing. And something I ought to do more often.

After the service, everyone pitched in to clean up, return furniture to the assigned places, and pack to return to our respective homes. I should add that the weather was wonderfully cooperative for us all three days, and it was actually in the 70's by the time I got back home!

As I unpacked the car I noticed my crocuses were up again and really blooming big time! Here's a shot of early Spring in Southern Illinois.

It may get cold again for a day or two, but when you see these bright little guys, you know Spring is definitely on the way! And after the Winter we've had, we are ready!

LATE BREAKING FLASH! My personal weather forecaster person, aka my Mother, just called to ask me if I had "plenty of provisions on hand". Apparently another nasty winter storm is headed our way tonight with snow, sleeet, freezing rain and ice. It's already raining and the temperature has dropped from the 60's to 40. I just took out the trash, and I swear it dropped another 5 degrees while I was doing that. (I just checked my outside thermometer again, and by golly it did drop 3 degrees--so it's definitely cooling off quickly.) Oh, yuck. Here we go again.

Camera blues

2008-02-25T17:40:00.006-06:00

I was all set to post about the snowfall we had late Sat night/Sunday morning. I took pictures again and was going to show you what 2 inches of real snow looks like as opposed to 2 inches of ice!

However, when I just now started to upload the pictures to my computer I find my camera isn't working. It's not a dead battery. My darling Buttercup knocked the camera from the desk to the floor last night, but at the time it didn't seem damaged. Now I see that the on/off switch won't lock into place. It's not an expensive camera. In fact, it came bundled with my computer, printer, etc. when I replaced my system about four years ago. It's done very well for a cheapie little digital, so I can't complain. It took all the pics you've seen posted here to date. I'm just sad that I can't load the snowy pictures now.

The snow was the "wet" kind, which melted fairly quickly after it quit falling. It didn't interfere with the play and the second and final performance went off yesterday afternoon as scheduled. The walk ways were clear by show time, and we had a good audience. The play was well received, and it's always fun to be involved with the Stage Co.

Tomorrow it will be off to Wal-Mart to buy a new camera. I hope I can find one that uses the same kind of batteries as the old one, since I bought a bunch of batteries before the trip and still have several left.

So since I can't post any new pictures I'm going to post some old ones. Here's Buttercup, the camera-destroyer, with her "big brother", Madison. She adores him and cuddles up at every opportunity.

If these four ladies look as if they're having a good time, it's because they were. This was taken at last year's CUF (Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship) annual Women's Retreat. I'm posting this picture because this year's retreat is this coming weekend, and I'll be there with bells on! I promise I will take pictures with my new camera, which I desperately hope will be compatible with my computer--or the next purchase could be a new computer! Oy! I understand there is to be belly dancing at this year's retreat. Double Oy!

The bread machine just beeped. I've made a loaf of poppyseed white bread and the house smells divine! When I take the loaf out of the machine and turn it out onto the rack to cool, the smell will be even better. I'd take a picture of it...if I had a camera!

Mother Nature's Wrath-- The Sequel

2008-02-22T16:20:00.007-06:00

That's what today's newspaper called it. I call in a royal pain in the patoot.

Starting late Weds night and continuing all day yesterday we had another ice storm. This time I didn't lose power, although I was ready with flashlights and extra batteries and a supply of food and water.

Last night's dress rehearsal had already been cancelled, so I didn't have to go out at all Thursday. Early this morning I took some more pictures of the ice.

This is the Anderson Skating Rink, otherwise known as my back yard, about 6:30 this morning. The bamboo is bending, as it does so well.

Although the white stuff looks like snow, it's not. It's pure ice. I was guesstimating about 3/4 of an inch of it but I was underestimating.

Notice the heater cord coming from the bird bath. Yesterday I managed to get out and put fresh water in it and put out bird seed, corn, and a fresh seed cake in the holder that hangs from what looks like a four foot tall pole you can see on the left side. It's actually the trunk of a dogwood tree that died. When I had the tree cut down I had them leave the trunk that way. I nailed a board across the top and it makes a great feeding platform. There are some nails here and there to hold a seed basket and a seed cake holder. My birds love me.

This was taken right at the foot of my back steps. You can see Madison's water bowl just to the right, and you can barely see the door mat, which is brown plastic fiber, right in the lower middle of the picture. Shortly after taking the picture I scattered some salt in this area so I could walk to the right to get more bird seed. I managed to get to the seed, but just stood and threw it out into the yard. No way I was going to try to skate out to the feeder.

This is my little baby silver Prius, all covered with ice. Late this afternoon I finally got out and started getting the ice off. Thank heaven for the hybrid drive, so I could run the engine with the front and back deicers on without using any gasoline--car runs on the battery as long as it's standing still. Because the side windows are in shadow the ice doesn't show up on them, but take my word for it, it was there. On the front and back windshield, I measured an inch and a half of solid ice. (I did this by sticking a small pair of scissors straight down through the ice, marking with my finger where the scissors stopped and then measuring the distance from that point to the to the scissors' tip.) While the car was running, I scattered salt around on the driveway so I could walk all the way around the car when it was time to scrape. I also scattered a path down the left side of the driveway almost to the street, since one of the actors in the play is going to come get me for tonight's dress rehearsal. He has a 4 wheel drive truck. Thank goodness I won't have to try to negotiate the icy roads tonight.

Don't you have a garage, you might ask? Yes, I do. But there's no room in it for the car. It's attached to the house and is both heated and cooled, so I couldn't even pull the car part way in. The garage has the washer and dryer, five cat boxes, a table with cat food and water, and a variety of other miscellaneous objects, including trash cans, tools, ice salt, etc. There are shelves built in on the sides (put in before I bought the house) that reduce the space available. If I took everything else out, I might be able to get the car inside, but I'm not sure I could open the door!

This is my front yard and front patio. You can see some of the branches from last week's storm still piled in front. The rest are still in the back, since Jerry hasn't had time to load them up and get them to the dump.

When the power went off last week, the timer on the lights on my front path got messed up, so now they come on at dawn and go off at dusk. I see a few of them need new bulbs, but that will have to wait for the thaw.

The ice along the outer edge of the patio was very slick, but because I had scattered salt last week on the part behind that, it melted off and was just slushy. This afternoon I was able to push most of the ice off the patio with my snow shovel. Wish the car had been that easy to deal with. It took almost an hour to get all the ice off the front and back windshields and side windows. So now the car is clean and I can see, providing I can get out of the driveway. That remains to be seen tomorrow. So far, no more ice is forecast for the immediate future. Whew!

The Play's the Thing

2008-02-21T09:54:00.009-06:00

For the past several years I've been an active member of The Jackson County Stage Company, a community theater group that puts on about four plays a year. Until 2 years ago our digs were in a building owned by a local bank, who let us use it rent free for over 20 years. The building was old and in disrepair, and finally, after it literally began to come down over our heads, the bank was forced to "evict" us and have the building torn down.

Since then the Stage Co has been a wandering troupe, staging our plays in venues all over town, including a restaurant, a church, and a couple of schools. The play we're currently producing, Neil Simon's Chapter Two, is being staged at the Carbondale Community High School.

This is a shot of the stage setting for "Chapter Two". In the "audience" is director Craig Hinde, also a talented actor who has appeared in many other Stage Co productions. In addition Craig is the organization's current treasurer. In this group many of us wear several different hats. It's all a labor of love.

Because of having to move from place to place with limited time in each location for setting up the stage and doing on-site rehearsals, our plays the past 2 years have been carefully chosen by the Play Selection Committee for small casts and simplicity of sets and staging. That doesn't always translate into simplicity of props, however, which is what I'm working on for this production.

Chapter Two is Simon's semi-autobiographical play about his second marriage (to actress Marsha Mason), and all the action takes place on a set divided into two New York City apartments, "George's' and Jennie's". ("George" represents the Simon character, and "Jennie" is Marsha Mason's alter ego.) The other two characters are "Leo", George's brother, and "Faye", Jennie's friend. The play is a comedy and full of Simon's typically witty repartee. It's a two-act play, each act having a number of mostly short scenes. That often means not a lot of time to get props ready between scenes.

The theater has a language all its own. It's crucial for everyone in the cast and crew to understand clearly where everything is supposed to be at all times, including people, so directions are described from the point of view of an actor on center stage facing the audience. The part of the stage to the actor's right, is "stage right", and the offstage area on that side is "off right". To the actor's left, logically, is "stage left", and "off left". Stage locations are further designated by "downstage" (toward the audience) and "upstage" (toward the rear of the stage. )

(AUDIENCE)

DOWNSTAGE

OFF LEFT STAGE LEFT STAGE RIGHT OFF RIGHT

UPSTAGE

BACKSTAGE

(The props used for Chapter Two are divided on prop tables "off right", for the items used in Jennie's apartment, and "off left", for the items used in George's apartment. Sometimes an item goes back and forth between apartments, which makes things interesting. Fortunately for this play there are two of us working props, one for each side. My bailiwick is "off left", or the props for George's apartment.

This is a partial view of George's apartment, facing downstage left . Upstage left has a bookshelf, the "front" door, a small table and a coat tree. The white swinging doors go offstage left into George's "kitchen".

Jennies' apartment is back-to-back with George's. The green sofa and round white lamp shade are in her apartment.

This is George's desk. (You can barely see the corner of it in the upper left of the picture above.) Quite a bit of prop changing has to do with the desk: add clutter, clean up clutter, put things in drawers where they can be found by the actor, put a note under the phone, etc. Even the position of the desk chair is crucial for one scene in particular.

At the end of each scene, the lights fade and the stage "blacks out" so the prop people (that's me) can come out like little elves and do our stuff. It's difficult to work in total darknees so the person handling the lights will try to give us a "dim glow" to work by. Sometimes he gets it right. Sometimes not. When I walk out onto the stage I never know if I'm going to be able to see what I'm doing or floundering around in the dark, trying to remove some props and add others. Factor in that some props are glasses and bottles of liquid and things get dicey.

This is the main off left prop table. Another smaller table is out of sight behind a flat (a piece of plywood used to make "walls" etc.) and holds specific items meant to be brought on stage from the apartment "kitchen". There are three on stage "doors" in George's apartment: one directly across from this table, one further downstage (that supposedly goes to the kitchen), and the far upstage "front door", which opens onto the backstage area. Quite a few props have to be placed backstage near the front door, so that the actors can carry them in as they "arrive" at the apartment.

On and under this table and the one in the "kitchen" are the props which must be placed onstage and removed at the proper times so the actors can depend on the props being where they expect them to be. It's the responsibility of the prop people to be sure this happens smoothly. In our theater group, the prop people, along with the actors, director and others actually provide all the items for the set, including furniture, rugs, props, and any item needed for the production. The little green stickers you see on the glasses indicate these glasses are clean and the actors can drink from them. (I take the stickers off before putting them in place, of course.) When I remove the glasses from the stage after a scene I quickly put on a red sticker (dirty) until I can wipe the glasses off and return them to my prop box. Every night after rehearsal I pack up the four dirty glasses (which are "low ball " glasses from my own china cabinet) and take them home to wash and bring back the next evening. I also provide clean water and tea (for club soda , vodka and scotch) which the actors drink and use for other onstage "business", which is the term describing facial expressions and small actions by the actors as they say their lines or react to the lines of others. (Thank goodness there's no actual food in this play. I've done props for plays with food and it's a nightmare!!!)

My prop table is my sacrosanct place while the play is being produced. Woe be unto the stage hand who leaves a roll of duct tape or a pair of wire cutters or his McDonald's soda cup on my tables! I know exactly where each item is set and have a typed list of what goes on stage where when. I don't have a complete script, just the tag lines at the end of each scene to alert me to get ready to do my thing. The stage manager, who is kind of an on-stage assistant director, provided me with a basic list of props and scene changes and I retyped it and adapted it so I could follow it better. I used a script to add in the end-of-scene lines so I'd know when it was time to leap into action.

This play has been in rehearsal all month, but I was out of town for the first part of the month. (see earlier posts) My first rehearsal was Monday night and I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. I work with five different coats at one time or another, and I was having fits trying to figure out which coat went where when. Tuesday night was better. Last night even better, as far as the props went. (They were still having some glitches with the lighting, ringing phone cues, etc.) Tonight was supposed to be dress rehearsal, but guess what? Another ice storm is upon us! It started sleeting during the night and has continued off and on. It's now early afternoon, and the roads and sidewalks are sheets of ice with ice still falling. We knew this was coming, so Craig told us last night might be our final rehearsal before Friday night's opening performance.

Theater lore has it that a lousy dress rehearsal portends a fabulously successful opening night. Our first public performance tomorrow ought to be terrific! I just hope the ice stops coming down and the roads get cleared or we may be playing to only a paltry few intrepid souls willing to brave icy conditions to see the play. However, "the show must go on" and it will. This time I won't be taking any bows because all my work will have been backstage or only dimly witnessed onstage as I scurry around in my black clothes during a twilit scene change. That's OK. I've been in front of the lights before and it's fun, and it's great to get applause from the audience. But those of us who work backstage will know we've done our part and the actors and director appreciate our efforts.

Warmer in Antarctica than in Illinois ?????

2008-02-18T10:44:00.005-06:00

My dear friend Laura, who has a fascinating blog, has persuaded me that it's not only OK but desirable to create blog posts about everyday life. Since my "normal" life contains little material that is nearly as interesting as that in the past few posts--obviously one does not skip off to places as exotic as Antarctica that often--I am somewhat skeptical. Nevertheless, I will soldier on and see how it goes. If nothing else I will be creating a sort of journal of what's going on around here.

When I returned to Southern Illinois from Antarctica on Weds, Feb 13 I left an area where the coldest temperatures I encountered were in the 30's, albeit with some pretty fierce wind chill factors at times. However, when I got off the plane in St. Louis, the local temperature was 16 degrees F!!! Yikes. There was snow and ice all over the place, and, Louie, the van driver who picked me up at the airport, told me the area had been hard hit by a nasty ice storm on Monday and Tuesday. As we drove further south toward Carbondale, the amount of snow and ice noticeably increased, and I noted tree limbs down on the roadside.

I arrived home shortly after 1 pm, and as Louie was helping me drag my luggage up the slippery driveway, my neighbor Jeff from across the street walked over. He told me there was a large limb down in my yard that had pretty well trashed the fence. I immediately thought of my dog, Madison, who will grab any opportunity to flee the yard. However, when I unlocked the door, Madison greeted me as only a dog who loves you can greet you, wagging his entire large body, and grinning and panting and slobbering his welcome. My housesitter had come by on her lunch hour to let him out to do his business and put him back in the house, knowing I was expected in the early afternoon. Thanks, Bridget!

I was so exhausted that I could barely stand up, but after dragging in all the bags I opened the back door to survey the damage. All I can say is Jeff is a master of understatement. There were at least 3 huge limbs down, 2 from a large maple near the north side of the house and one from an enormous white pine on the other side of my yard to the south. I say "limb", but one of the parts of the maple that was broken off was about 10 inches in diameter at the broken stub. That limb had taken out two sections of cyclone fence, bending the top railing of one section nearly to the ground. The top of that limb was lying against my neighbor's house, and I was relieved to see that it didn't appear to have broken the window against which the upper branches rested. Thank goodness! The second maple limb was on my roof! It was smaller than the one lying across the fence, but plenty big enough to have done some damage to my new roof, just put up last summer. I couldn't see any obvious damage, and there was no way I could remove the limb, so I turned my attention to the pine tree. The upper part of that limb was also on the roof, but the base, approximately 6 inches in diameter, lay in the yard directly in front of the heat pump, which it apparently missed by inches. Again, thank goodness!

It was risky to try to assess the damage, since the entire yard was a glazed sheet of ice. During the storm there was rain, followed by sleet, which accumulated to a three inch layer, and then about 2 inches of snow on top of that, all of which was still frozen solid, since it was currently about 20 degrees F. Oh well, no sense crying over spilt milk, or split trees. There was virtually nothing I could do about it, so I gingerly picked my way back to the house to begin unpacking.

About an hour later Brenda, the lady who cleans my house every Wednesday arrived, all bundled up against the cold and accompanied by her husband, Jerry, who does handyman chores for me. He immediately checked out the back yard and announced he would drive to True Value and rent a chain saw to get the biggest limb off the fence and sawed up. He assessed the limb on the roof and decided he would have to wait for the temperature to warm up since the limb was frozen solid to the ice on the roof.

Jerry sawed up the huge limb and propped up the fence so Madison couldn't get out. He assured me he would come back the next day to fix the fence and deal with the rest of the limbs. After he left Brenda was cleaning and I was lying down, too worked up to sleep but too tired to do much else. All at once there was a noise that sounded like a train was coming through the house. Brenda yelped and I came charging out of the bedroom! The limb on the roof had decided it was time to come down rather than wait around for Jerry to pry it loose. The weight of the limb was enough it had dragged loose from the top layer of ice and came sliding off the roof and crashing down into the back yard directly in front of the back door. How it managed to miss the bird feeder, bird bath, and heat pump I'll never know, but it did. As I stood looking at it, Madison shoved past my legs and jumped onto the back stoop. When he saw the limb with all its attached branches in his path, he screeched to a halt, backed up, and whined! Apparently he needed to go to the back of the yard where the doggy loo is located, but he couldn't figure out how to deal with the obstacle. He looked back at me, as if to say, "Make it go away, Mama!", but I just shrugged and told him if he had to go he was going to have to deal with it. Eventually he figured out how to wend his way through the branches and leap over the main trunk of the limb.

When Jerry came back to pick up Brenda, we showed him the limb. "I'll be back tomorrow to cut it up," he promised, and he was as good as his word. Since I hadn't unpacked my cameras yet, it didn't occur to me to take any pictures of this situation. However, after speaking with Laura the following day, I put a new memory card into my little Kodak and snapped a few pictures.

It had warmed up considerably by Friday, when I took this picture, but you can still see quite a bit of ice. The green plastic fencing holds the leaves and small branches raked up last fall, so I can compost them. To the right you can see bamboo, which sustained no damage that I could see from the ice. There's a lot to be said for being able to bend.

This shows some of the logs from the middle section of the largest limb, the one that took out the fence. Again, you can see the bamboo is upright and undamaged. I love that it stays green all winter. Peeking out at the far right of the picture is a leg of one of my patio chairs, which were stacked at the end of the patio. Somehow the limbs missed them too, or I'd be out buying new patio chairs this spring.

Where the ice and snow have melted it's very slushy, muddy and still treacherous to walk on. I did manage to get to the feeders and put out

sunflower seeds. Within minutes the yard was full of cardinals, sparrows, finches, and later some greedy grackles.

This is the other side of the yard. See what I mean about the heat pump, and also my compost bin and storage shed, which also had a narrow escape. Jerry had already dragged some of the branches around to the front, but said he'd have to wait to load up the rest, since he couldn't get his truck into the dump site because the road was still bad.

The sound of whining chain saws fills the neighborhood today, since I'm not the only one with downed limbs. At least my power was only off for a few hours on Tuesday. There are some folks in the rural areas around here who still are without power. I expect I'm going to have to hire a professional tree trimmer to clean up the fractured stubs and take down a few other large limbs that could come down in the next ice or wind storm. I might not be so lucky next time. As near as I can tell, the roof appears undamaged. The thick layer of ice that was already on it when the limb came down probably saved my new shingles!

About an hour ago my next door neighbor rang my bell to tell me Madison was out of the yard. I checked and found that the limb that broke the fence had jostled the end post attached to the gate, moving it so that the gate latch barely catches. Appparently while barking and lunging at a passing dog or the mailman, Madison pushed the gate open and took advantage of the opportunity for a little walkabout. I scolded him and he was suitably chagrined. He knows he's not supposed to leave the yard unless I'm with him and he's on a leash. I found some wire and implemented a temporary fix on the gate, but there's another job for Jerry.

When I went out front to bring Madison in, I noticed several bright yellow crocuses blooming like crazy near my front patio. It's in the 40's today, and the smell of spring is in the air. That's the way it is in Southern Illinois. We can go from extremely nasty weather to the promise of spring in a couple of days. Chances are, however, winter is not quite done with us. According to the newspaper, local farmers and orchard growers are nervous, worried about premature budding followed by another cold snap. That happened last spring and we lost nearly the entire apple, peach, and blueberry crops, plus some of the early vegetables we look forward to when the Farmer's Market opens on the first Saturday in April.

So that's how it is here in Southern Illinois on February 18.

"Shopping" in Antarctica!...and more

2008-02-17T11:28:00.036-06:00

(Green=dates, black=comments with pictures, blue=diary entries with additional comments in parentheses)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8th, 2008

We woke as the ship pulled into Port Lockroy on Wienckne Island at the lower edge of the Gerlache Strait. Off for breakfast and then to a short lecture by one of the scientists from the Port Lockroy British station.

"Rick", the Brit guy from the Port Lockroy station. Funny and friendly. Guess he has to have a sense of humor since he's stuck there with two women for four months at a time.

Then half of us will go ashore to Port Lockroy and the other half to a nearly site, as the number of people who can be at Port Lockroy is limited to 60 at a time. Then we will switch sites.

Went first to Jougla Point--penguins, skuas (rather nasty brown birds who disturb the penguins and eat the eggs and young babies if they can get them), and a lot of extremely treacherous, slippery rocks. I was very careful!

Jougla Point. This is representative of the kind of weather we had nearly the entire trip--some clouds but a lot of sunshine. Our tour staff informed us we were being extremely lucky with the weather and visibility, as sometimes there is heavy fog, preventing many Zodiac landings and making others shorter and with limited visibility. Guess we were livin' right!

Not the best picture in the world, but I wanted to show you that the babies really are as cute as in the movies. The parents are very attentive, but it's funny to watch the little ones chase after them wanting grub. Sometimes they chase their own parents and apparently occasionally they'll take off after any promising looking adult who wanders by.

Then Zodiaced to Port Lockroy and toured the museum and gift shop--last chance for souvenirs! The shop proceeds support the museum, so I bought bookmarks (and other) souvenirs for

friends and joined the "Friends of Antarctica" organization, which supports protection of the environment and wildlife. Also got a free tote bag and a booklet about the station. Took video inside the station, but lighting was dim. (Didn't take any pics with my still camera--very dark inside. The museum is set up like a typical station in the 50's, with all the gear, including canned foods, etc. still set up. Evidently the station's earlier staff wintered over, doing research and monitoring temperature, winds, etc. Now the station is only maintained as the museum and gift shop, but it was very interesting to see how this relatively tiny space was set up and stocked to accomodate several people through the Antarctic year. The staff is due to leave on March 8, which one of the young women in the shop cheerfully informed us is "one week from today!". They will batten down the station for the winter and go out on a cruise ship similar to ours, perhaps even on the Orlova's last tourist cruise. )

Back to the ship and ready for lunch. At 1:30 we entered the Lemaire Channel, a narrow passage between the continent and a series of islands. We saw a leopard seal sunning on an ice floe (unfortunately too far away for a decent picture). Stunning scenery, bright sunshine, rather windy outside on deck 7, chilly--in the 30's-and the wind really bites.

Taken from the bow end of deck 7

as the ship approached the Lemaire Channel, the narrowing opening ahead. The channel is about one mile wide, but with the currents, it's still a very tricky navigation maneuver to get through safely. We were told we wouldn't even know whether or not we'd be able to do it until we approached the area and checked out the wind and swell. Luckily, as you can see, the sea was calm and the captain guided us through very nicely.

Too bad there are so many pictures with bits of my fellow travelers' heads, arms, etc., but it seemed there was always a crowd trying to get "the money shot". That's what I get for being short.

Me again with one side of the Lemaire Channel in the background, and yes it was COLD out there. Under that shocking pink parka was a fleece head covering, a fleece vest, a long sleeved turtleneck knit top, and a long john top, along with the normal "undies"; also two layers of pants. Didn't need the waterproofs since we were not preparing yet for a landing. I also had on two pairs of socks and my feet were still cold. But it was worth it. Don't I look happy?

A little about preparing for landings. First come the under layers: underwear, top and bottom long johns, kneewarmers, a turtleneck, a fleece vest, and fleece pants. Then three pairs of socks, then the waterproof pants, followed by the waterproof boots. Then comes the fleece ear/head wrap, and the parka, which is also waterproof. Then I put on my

life vest, and put on my waterproof backpack with cameras, etc. Finally, I add waterproof gloves and a polar fleece scarf to pull up over my face against the wind, and pull up the hood of the parka. Hopefully after all this I don't have to wait too long to get off the ship, since I heat up pretty fast in all this gear. In addition I had chemical handwarmers, one in each parka pocket, and one in each camera case, both the video and still camera, to keep the batteries warm. I felt like a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Michelin Tire Man--but I stayed warm most of the time.

Now we're anchoring at Peterman Island and preparing to go ashore. This time we're hoping to see Adelie penguins (named by French explorer Dumont D'Urville after his wife Adelie. I hope she was suitably flattered.)

Saw the Adelies. Had to hike up slippery rocks and then a snowy slope to get to them, but I did it. Got good pictures and video, especially of gentoos belly sliding in the snow. (Gentoos are everywhere on the peninsula, it seems, and live side by side with the other penguin species in relative harmony. )

(This landfall at Peterman Island marked our furthest point south- 65 degrees 14 minutes S. After this we will be cruising northward. In the polar regions each degree of latitude represents 69.4 statute miles. The geographic South Pole is, of course, at 90 degrees S, therefore, we were about 1800 miles north of the South Pole. Since we were also considerably west of the Pole, we were a good little distance away from it. Antarctica is BIG. )

I was almost back to the staging area (where we put on our life vests prior to getting back into the Zodiacs) and lost my footing on the slippery rocks, which actually had algae on them. (It's too cold for algae in most places, but these rocks were wet with fresh water ice melt and the algae took advantage of the short summer to bloom on them.) Down I went in slo-mo, knees, hands, forearms, chest. I was so well padded that nothing was hurt but my dignity! But I decided to return to the ship rather than hike any more.

You may have to enlarge this photo to see the distinguishing mark of the Adelie penguin, the white ring around it's eyes. There were a lot of them, but they were perched high up on the rocks and even zooming in didn't help much.

These rocks are similar to the ones I fell on, except the latter were wet and covered with algae. All things considered I'm glad I didn't get hurt.

Several people were injured during the trip. One woman had five stitches across the bridge of her nose, and another woman had a light concussion. There were a lot of falls like mine, where only a few bruises resulted.

Nice dinner of baked sole, veggies, salad, and chocolate souffle'. Early to bed --9:30 pm.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9th

Our last day ashore. After breakfast my Zodiac group--"Scott"--and one other headed for share for Almirante Brown Station at Paradise Bay. (A note about the Zodiac groups: They divided us into four groups named after Antarctic explorers: Scott, Shackleton, Larsen and Mawson. We left the ship in shifts according to our groups to avoid crowding at the debarkation area. Each time we left the ship and returned we had to sign out and sign in. No way anyone was going to be left ashore on this expedition!)

We woke up the Argentinians at the station (who should have been up anyway since it was nearly 9:30 am! Well, actually, for all I know they could have been up late the night before doing important research. Yeah.) Short hike, since the snow is slippery and my left knee is a little stiff from yesterday's fall.

This is the Argentinian station at Almirante Brown. I guess they're used to having visitors since there were signs here and there that said "Tourists This Way". You can see the first part of the "path" we could take to get further into the island.

There is an interesting story about this station. Part of the original portions were destroyed by fire in 1984, a fire set by a disgrunted Argentinian physician who had been told that because a replacement could not be found, he was going to have to stay another year instead of return home as planned with all the other members of his group. This made him extremely unhappy.

To prevent him from leaving the island, he was locked into the main station builiding, which he promptly set ablaze. Of course he was rescued and sent packing back home to be put in prison, which he apparently preferred rather than spend another winter in Antarctica!

If you look closely in the center you can see some of my fellow travelers, who had far more spunk and audacity than I to climb way up there above the station. I heard the view was magnificent. Good for them. I also heard to get down they slid on their butts most of the way. Again, good for them. I really don't begrudge anyone who can accomplish more than I can. I'm just so proud and happy to be here at all that I'm tickled at whatever I can see and do.

The shot below was taken at Almirante Brown, just above the Zodiac landing site. I say "landing site" advisedly, since there really was no "land" to climb out onto. The Zodiacs pulled up as close as they could to the shore, which consisted of a rocky ledge under about 12 inches of water. Then one at a time we scooted to the front of the raft and lifted our legs over the side to perch on the rocky ledge in the water. Then we had to scramble up some more rocks which were in a VERY rough semblance to steps to get to the level of the station buildings. My knees were complaining about the steep lifts I was asking them to do, but I told them to shut up and just do it. It was nice there was nearly always a helping hand available for a boost or pull up, sometimes from the staff, sometimes from fellow travelers. When I could, I offered my share of assistance to others as well. It was that kind of group, very pleasant to travel with.

You're looking at the "tallest" land

plant life that grows this far south. It is one of a couple of species of moss. The other plant life consists of a few species of algae, one of which caused my "downfall" the day before.

Back to the ship for a quick cup of tea and then re-geared for Zodiac cruise to the face of a glacier.

This is Kara Weller, our Zodiac driver for this trip, who also happened to be the leader of the entire expedition. What a bright, capable young woman she is. She has a B.S. and M.S in wildlife biology and her research experiences range from studying whales in the Bering Sea to mouflon sheep in Eastern Europe. She told us this was her 30th (I think I am remembering that right) trip to Antarctica. It was pretty obvious she had knowledge and competence to spare. And she was really nice in the bargain!

This is the Petzval glacier. There's nothing in this picture to give you an idea of the scale, but the face of the glacier was about 50 meters high in Kara's estimate (as I recall. Anyone who reads these posts and has more accurate information is welcome to add it via the comments. I couldn't find any references to the specific height of the glacier in my books.)

Colorful deposits on the cliffs near the
Petzval glacier in Paradise Harbor. The blue-green is from copper deposits. The emerald green is moss and the orange, lichens. Most of the rock in the entire area is basalt.

Lots of nesting blue-eyed shags seen along the way. We also had seen a minke whale while coming back to the ship from the Argentinian station, which by the way, is also on the continent, our second footfall on the continent's peninsula. Also noted all who went ashore on the continent got a certificate verifying that we have set foot on mainland Antarctica. (Apparently some tourists complain that if they only visit the islands off the peninsula they haven't really been to Antarctica. That's sort of like saying you went to Hawaii or the Florida keys and weren't really in the United States. A matter of opinion. Anyway, I have now been there and done that and have a certificate to prove it.)

The birds on one of the few rocky beaches are blue-eyed shags, who nest in the cliffs of Paradise Bay .The pink coloration is snow algae, which is very abundant in this area.

Back to the Petzval glacier. Astounding and beautiful. Many interesting ice shapes.
No calving seen today, since this one is presently pretty stable except for an ice tongue that sticks out into the bay.

Beautiful ice formations on the "tongue" of the Petzval glacier that juts into the bay. When it does calve, it will likely be some of these tall sections that fall into the sea. It would be dangerous for a Zodiac to be close

when that happens, as it will generate a large wave which could easily swamp the raft.

Lovely icebergs in Paradise Bay. Don't they look as if they are made from styrofoam or dipped up from the local Dairy Queen? Remember, 85% of these chunks of ice are underwater, so chances are our Zodiac was over the submerged ice where we were.

One of the Zodiacs sighted a leopard seal on a floe and we tried to get there but the brash ice slowed us down, so we had to return to the ship, since two more groups are waiting to cruise now. Lunch in 45 minutes and then we'll sail northward to the Melchior Islands, where we hope to have what will be our last Zodiac cruise.

Incredible last Zodiac cruise! Terrific length--at least 10 to 15 minutes--interaction with a leopard seal who "performed" for us and "played" with us. There were 3 rafts. He acted as if he knew we were watching him, enthralled!

This guy was obviously having a good time diving under our rafts, which were bobbing in a U-shaped pattern, coming up on the other sides, then coming up in the middle to "grin" at us. Leopard seals have a bad rep, partially due to the "Happy Feet" movie, but in reality at least half their diet is krill. Plus, Akos, our ornithologist, told us if the leopard seals didn't eat some penguins (as well as the skuas and petrels making some inroads on the penguin populations), the gentoos would take over the world! I can believe that!

We also saw many cormorants, chinstraps, fur seals, and interesting bergs.

These are fur seals, who were hunted in the 19th and early 20th centuries almost to extinction. Since becoming a protected species, however, their numbers have rebounded to very healthy populations. They are the "cutest" of the seals, with cat-like faces, large eyes, and long whiskers. While most seal species are very clumsy and slow on land, fur seals can use their fused back flippers to "walk" on land, and can actually get up a head of speed if they are startled or irritated. They have been known

to chase humans, and if they catch one, can provide the hapless victim with a nasty bite.

These chinstraps are perched on the rocks above Paradise Bay. Note the rusty old chain embedded in the rock. We were told it is a remnant from whaling days, where ships would use it as a second anchor along with their sea anchors to avoid the wind blowing them around against the rocks.

One more amazingly stunning iceberg for you to enjoy. Paradise Bay.

A friend took this picture out on the deck as we were cruising around between Dallman Bay and the Melchior Islands. It was a beautiful day, not really chilly, as you can see by the fact that I'm almost bareheaded! We were whale watching and did see quite a few humpbacks in groups of two, three, and four. They were too far away for pictures but wonderful to watch. Note the sunglasses, because of the glare from the ice and snow. We were advised to wear them all the time when out on

deck and on shore. We also wore sunscreen, which seems odd, but the sun relecting off the ice and water can give a nasty burn.

Supper tonight was "Russian Night" with the dining room girls dressed in pretty costumes and serving chilled vodka, but no caviar! We had borscht, beef stroganoff, salad , and for dessert something called "Pavlova", a wonderful fruit dessert. Early to bed since I'm exhausted.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10 th

So far this morning we seem to have the "Drake Lake"! Yay! I took a dramamine just in case. After breakfast a wonderful lecture by Victoria (the historian) on Amundsen's and Scott's race to the pole. Coffee break and now a lecture by geologist Roger on "Is Antarctica Getting Warmer?" (answer: Yes. But in the eastern part it's so much colder that it won't make any difference, since very little will melt. Where we are is a different story. In the Weddell Sea, huge sections of ice shelf have broken off due to a rise in temperature of only a few degrees F, and krill, the foundation for nearly all animal life in the Antarctic, may not be able to survive much warmer ocean temperatures.)

Lunch--good soup and salad but the other choices weren't to my liking. Had "banana split"--sort of--for dessert.

This afternoon lecture by Akos on albatross endangerment due to long-line fishing. Wonderful talk, and he also has published a book of Antarctic pictures, proceeds from of which go to the "Save the Albatross" organization. (I ordered a copy which will be mailed to me.) Colin, our shipboard artist, is also having a silent auction tonight of several watercolors he has done this trip--and proceeds go to the same fund. I'm bidding on several of them.

I missed a lecture to take a shower and wash my hair, probably the last chance to do so, unless I grab a quick shower tomorrow night. I'm nearly all packed and I think everything will fit just fine, especially since I gave away to one of the staff a brand new pair of waterproof pants that were way too long for me. Also sent my second and last email this afternoon, since shipboard accounts close after 9 pm tonight.

Movie tonight is "March of the Penguins". I've seen it but would enjoy it again from a different perspective, providing I can stay awake.

Supper tonight, mushroom raviolli, salad, pumpkin soup, and for dessert a thing called "nut-something" that had no nuts in it, but was a small dumpling with fruit and carmel sance and was very good.

I have managed to stay awake for the movie and enjoyed it--again--very much. Back to cabin and to bed at 10:30. First time Ellie has beat me to bed.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11

Woke up at 7:30 to Kara's PA greeting. Much more ship motion now but I'm fine with it. To breakfast and then off for a lecture on "Hot Subtropical Antarctica". I can't imagine what that will be. I had to swap tops after breakfast, as the heavy sweater I had on was too warm. Luckily I have some clean clothes and am now wearing the polo shirt I bought at Port Lockroy.

I should add I was successful in bidding on 3 of Colin's watercolors last night. I will enjoy having them framed and hung at home. They'll make a nice arrangement.

The lecture turned out to be about geology and the formation of Antarctica. Very interesting. Lunch was good, as usual. Skipped a lecture on the Antarctic Treaty System to finish packing and relax a bit. Got our recap info this afternoon and our debarkation info. It's sad, but I'm anxious to get home. Supper tonight very nice--red snapper, salad, wine, oxtail soup, and "baked Antarctica", complete with sparklers and a march around the dining room! Very yummy.

We're packed and ready for bed.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 th

Up at 6 am. Suitcases outside the door and off to breakfast. Disembarked to Ushuaia about 8:15 am. Transported by bus with our luggage to Restaurante Nautica, where our bags will be stored until we are ready to go to the airport.

Walked around Ushuaia, ate lunch, and did some more shopping. Got a rhodocrocite (pink

stone mined in Argentina) ring and two little penguins for me and an armadillo for Kim, plus a tee shirt so I can change clothes tomorrow morning if I want to.

At the Ushuaia airport utter chaos--which we now recognize as typical of Aerolineas Argentinas. All outbound flights are delayed. Mine was supposed to leave at 2:04 pm and is now scheduled to leave at 2:30 pm???? We'll see..Flight did leave around 2:30.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13th

Managed to sleep for almost 6 hours on this flight (from Buenos Aires to Chicago). No one in the seat next to me, so I could lift the arm rest and stretch out to some extent. In the Buenos

Aires airport, trying to use up my left over pesos, I bought a neck rest pillow, which proved to be an excellent investment. (I managed to spend down my pesos until I have left 3 pesos and a few small coins totaling about US $1.10. Not bad, and make good, cheap souvenirs.)

It's now 6 am Buenos Aires time, and we're 8 and a half hours into a 10 and a half hour flight, so at this point we're probably flying over the southern USA. At least home is underfoot somewhere. We're due into chicago at 6 am local time, so about 2 more hours or so. I'm awake now, so I guess I'll read a while.

Here ends my travel diary of the trip to Antarctica. I hope you have enjoyed these blog posts. If you have questions, email me or ask in the comments.