Basket Case!

I feel like a freakin' Basket Case lately!  Emotional and crying my eyes out....what's with this?   Just for the record, I rarely cry....especially the BooHoo kind of cry.  I may shed a tear or two watching a show/movie or reading a book, but rarely.  

Yesterday, I was doing some domestic stuff and I kept thinking of my friend, Karen L. who passed away way too young of cancer several years ago.  It's not uncommon to think of people that have been in your life previously, but I just couldn't get her out of my mind.  I could remember her tone of voice and her laughter.  She was a fun person and I miss her. I am a facebook friend of her daughter and I wrote to her to tell her about my thoughts.  She replied back, "She thought very highly of you."  Oh crap, make me cry, will you?  

Last year, I did something that unintentionally hurt several people in my group of friends here.  They felt betrayed and on hindsight, I can definitely understand.  The relationships and times we shared became memories.  I felt bad and felt that I deserved the breaking off of communication.  I learned a lot from what I did and I know I won't do that again.   Last night, I got a facebook friend request from one of them.  I was surprised, yet felt like there may be a chance to renew our relationship.  Grace in action!

The other night, hubby and I saw the movie, War Room.  It's a Christian-based movie about relationships...our relationship with spouses and with God.  It made me realize that my thoughts and doubts can affect my marriage and my relationships with other people.  If we pray, we may pray for our spouse, that he/she may change or be more of this or that....not thinking or understanding that we may need to be praying MORE for ourselves and our own thoughts and actions.  We can't change other people, only ourselves. I have always admitted, somewhat sarcastically, that "I'm selfish."  What a sad situation that I could even brag about that.  Boy, do I need prayer! 

My sister, Robyn, writes a blog every day, often writing about her experiences about her son.  Right now, she's experiencing some "last" things as he's a senior in high school.  Last night, they did some "last" shopping for sporting equipment and then shared an ice cream.....my sister's very favorite food!  Her son says, "I will feel really bad if I have a lactose-intolerant kid someday that can't go get ice cream with his grandma."  I had to laugh and cry at the same time.  I'm sure she did too!  It made me cry thinking of my youngest nephew with kids...and my sister as a "grandma."   I hope she gets that opportunity to be "grandma" and I hope she can look forward to the "firsts" in her life and her son's life.  Sometimes, the fact that I was never a mother grieves me.....missing out on so many experiences.  But, I made the choice to not adopt a child, so I had other experiences instead.

On our recent trip, I re-connected with friends from my life....even a cousin that I had not seen in about 40+ years.  Then in Arizona, we saw three couples from different phases of my life and it was wonderful!  I have been remiss in keeping up and connecting with these friends.  I am so fortunate that they still want to see me and re-connect.  I am so fortunate.  Why am I blind to that fact so often?

Maybe, that's part of my emotional basket case feelings lately...how fortunate I am to have soooo much.....wonderful people in my life (spouse, family, friends), experiences, and good health!   Yes, I'm going to find a basket....a big one....and start writing all these blessings on paper and filling my basket with cases of gratitude!     

Travel Tips

Almost finished unpacking from our six weeks plus on the road July 29 - September 12.  While unpacking and thinking over this trip, I have gathered a few more tips on travelling to share with you.  

One tip I actually learned last year and applied this year:  Eat the "free" breakfast at the hotel, fill up on it...you paid for it.  For lunch, eat granola bars, nuts, raisins, dried or fresh fruit (we usually take a banana or apple with us from the breakfast bar).  For your dinner, figure out ahead of time what kind of food and where you want to eat. TripAdvisor is a good website for seeing what other travelers think is the best place in town.  This saves 30 minutes or so debating about where to go. Worked well this year!  Plus you're not over-eating by stopping for lunch.

Here's my other tips I gathered from this year's travels.

1. Bring one or two pairs of earrings; leave the rest of the jewelry at home you probably won't wear it!   This gives you option to buy some jewelry locally made....my favorite trip souvenir.

2. Bring plenty of moisturizer and lotion; leave the makeup at home.

3.  Bring the camera, battery charger and plenty of memory chips (in fact buy a 16 and you'll probably have enough room for all photos); leave the tripod at home.

4.  Bring plenty of kleenex, you always need more than you think.

5.  Bring 10 plus days of underwear; leave nothing at home.  Saves on how often you have to wash clothes.

6.  Bring comfortable and favorite clothes; leave the too-tight or have-to-be-ironed items at home.  You will never wear the stuff you don't like or feel very comfortable wearing, believe me.

7.  Bring two (possibly three) pairs of shoes/sandals; leave the dressy ones at home.  They will take up space in your vehicle that's needed for the wine you bought at the vineyards.  

8.  Bring a good emery board; leave the nail polish at home.  Somehow with traveling and with the differences in humidity, your nails may take a beating (chipped polish and broken nails) and a good emery board can make all things feel normal again.   

9.  Bring a heavy jacket/sweater and raincoat.  You may not need it, but will certainly regret it if you leave it at home.

10.  Buy a plug-in cooler for the car and a case of water bottles.  It saves on money and stops for refreshments.  Water is the best hydration anyway.  Bring 3-4 bottles into the motel room each night to cool in the refrigerator and then the cooler will keep them cool all the next day.

11.  Bring a family-sized package (24 ounces) of Twizzlers!  Somehow, we had one Twizzler left when we got home yesterday.  That's a miracle and/or a sign of good planning.  Ha-Ha!  

Happy Trails to you, until we meet again!

The Grand Room

Revisited Carlsbad Caverns today (toured it about 6 years ago) and enjoyed it again.  The Grand Room is about a quarter mile long, so it's full of formations.  We got there early and we virtually had the whole cave to ourselves.  Eerie and exciting!

 Photography in the low light is not easy, but here's some photos from there.

Tonight, we're back in Texas, heading home.  Driving today, we were discussing some of the sites we would love to return and visit.  They are Oregon coast; Ashland, Oregon; Black Hills & Custer State Park (South Dakota); Crater Lake, Oregon (when it's sunny); and Yellowstone....to name a few.  Yes, it's been a good trip and I have enjoyed sharing some of it with you.  

I will sporadically blog now and then, so check out the site now and then.  Love to have your feedback on my ramblings! 

Like a Bat Out of Hell

Today, we drove to Carlsbad, in the Southeastern corner of New Mexico. I have driven thousands, perhaps a million miles on the roads of the country and I have often seen vehicles pulled over the cops/police/state troopers for something or another.  Today was the first time I saw not one, but 3 different vehicles right in front of us pulled over, in the course of about two hours.  We saw the cops/police/state troopers put on their lights and pull them over. We have not seen that many safety officers in our whole trip before today. Yes, these folks were driving like a bat out of hell.  I am so lucky that I decided to behave myself today and did not have a lead foot....therefore, did not get stopped.  

This evening we went out to Carlsbad Caverns to learn about bats and watch them come out of a cavern there.....a different cavern than the one that people tour in.  They come out swirling like a giant tornado and then fly in the air and take off to happy hunting grounds.  This was a deep, low cavern so it truly was like the bats were flying out of "hell."  FYI, bats do not want to get in your hair and they are not rabid (for the most part) and if they have rabies (rarely) they will lie on floor of cave and not be aggressive, like dogs or raccoons.  Interesting program and watching the bats come out, in silence and with no camera or phones allowed (affects the bat's echo-location) was quite the experience.

Before the program, as we got to the parking lot, Paul got shortly ahead of me as I was looking for something in the car.  He comes back and says, "Come and see the rattlesnake."  I say, "No, way!"  Apparently, this 3 feet snake was on the sidewalk as another couple walked to the sidewalk and then want into the bushes and curled up in there less than 3 feet from the sidewalk.

I gimped like a bat out of hell back to the car to get my camera.  Always wanted to get a photo of a wild rattlesnake and now I can take that off my Bucket List.....ha-ha it was never on my list.  I truly didn't know if I really wanted to see one or not.  I was surprised how I close I got and bend down to get this shot.  I'm nuts, I know!  Also, this was a 300 mm lens.

To top it off, as we left the Carlsbad Caverns property, we waited for a car so that we could get out on highway.  We had just made a left hand turn and a car appeared heading towards us and turned on its lights, red, white, and blue.  Go figure....another vehicle going like a bad out of hell caught right in front of us.  This is getting freaky...and it's not even Friday!

Music to my Ears .....and Eyes!

Today, we toured the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix.  Wow!  I was not expecting to like it or be blown away by how impressive it was.  Paul said same thing!  I have always liked music; however only played a Piano Accordion as a child.  I now know the difference between a Piano Accordion and Button Accordion.  

This museum showed instruments from almost every country in the world.  Here's an old instrument from Africa.

These are gourds hanging down to create sounds.

This display was from South Africa. So many ways to make "music."

Noticed that many instruments seemed to have faces on them.  

Instruments made of recycled junk in a Paraguayan slum.

Even tortoise shells were used for instruments.

Fiddle made in Sweden from a clog shoe, always used the right shoe.  

Appalachian home made instruments.

My dad played the spoons, but he didn't have a handle for them.

Intricate carving on some of the instruments.

There was a "hands on" exhibition and Paul looks like a pro playing this.

Here I am, trying my hand at the Thumb Piano.

If you get to Phoenix, I highly recommend you visit this museum, even if you think you're not musically inclined.

Don't Take IT For Granted

For the past few days, we have been staying in Goodyear, AZ (outside of Phoenix) with my long-time friends, Lynn and Kathy.  We met in 1973 in River Falls at the factory, Smeads.  I got a job to finish paying for college and my partying habits, working 3-11 pm M-F.  Many nights some of we workers would head down the street to Emma's, our favorite bar.  

Over the years, I have lived in several places and they did too as Lynn re-joined the Army and made a career of it.  We all turned out pretty good in spite of our college "habits."  

Sometimes our communication has been Christmas letters and birthday cards (from her) and some infrequent visits, and we are finally all retired and we took up Kathy on her frequent invitation, "Come and visit us." 

Sometimes, folks will say, "Rayna, you have friends all over the country."  Well, I do.  But, many more that I have lost track of....see, I am not the best communicator.  I seldom write (unless it's Christmas letters) and more seldom, do I call.  I take my friends for granted.  Yes, "friends" are one of the IT's in my blog title.   It's so sad to take friends and family for granted.  We often get comfortable in the fact that we will be able to connect with them after long periods of time "as if we had just seen each other last week."  

What if that opportunity is taken away suddenly? Will we regret not having sent them a note or called, even texted them once in a while?  I think we would.  Why do we choose to live with possible regrets?  Because we assume that these folks will be there for us when we get the chance to call or visit.  But, they are not always going to be there.

My mother lost her last surviving sister this weekend.  Now my Mom is the sole survivor of that family.  The two sisters had coffee and coffee cake in her sister's yard on Friday.  What a wonderful memory that this death leaves with my mother.  She didn't ignore her sister or take for granted that she would live forever.  She was there for her.  I wonder if I could have the same peace of mind of being there for my siblings as my Mom feels?  I think not.  Yes, I take for granted my siblings will be there the next time I decide to call or visit.  I hope so.

Another less serious IT that we often take for granted is our home and it's utilities, namely air conditioning.  Air conditioning in Arizona is needed at this time of the year and our host's A/C decided to die on Saturday night.  Thank goodness for super-duper fans and we survived just fine.  We'll have some memories to laugh about in the coming years.

Since it's Labor Day, we can reflect on our jobs, careers, and vocations that we have or had.  A job is not a guarantee, regretfully.  If you have one, be thankful.  Don't take it for granted.

Yes, I could go on and on about IT's that we should not take for granted.  I'm sure my readers have their own lists.  Let us vow to thank God for IT's in our lives and pray for guidance in NOT taking them for granted.  

Remember When?

This afternoon, we went to visit another long-time friend in the Phoenix area, Mary Ann and her husband, Richard.

Mary Ann and I met during the summer of 1972 when we had summer jobs at the same school in Frederic, WI.  It was a wild and crazy summer and we barely got out of the car today and she's saying, "Remember when.....?"  I had to laugh because last night I had been thinking of some of the memories we had together!  Some are R-rated, so I won't bother you with them.  lol

We spent a nice afternoon and evening seeing photos of their new granddaughter, having a wonderful meal and the a very pleasant boat ride around their community....and of course, sharing memories.  That's what friends are for, right?  

Friends

There's a saying, "Old friends are the best friends."  I don't necessarily agree, but I will agree that it's always good to see and visit long-time ("old") friends again.  This is Doug and Grace and they are special to both Paul and I as we all worked for the same small urgent care company in New Orleans and Los Angeles.  Doug was Paul's boss in New Orleans  and Grace was my co-worker in Los Angeles.  They met through the company and got married almost 30 years ago.  As you know Paul & I did the same thing, getting married.  We have visited them and they have visited us over the years and a trip to Phoenix would not be complete without seeing them.  So happy they are still doing well.....with a few aches and pains....but nothing major.  They are both still working part-time at ages in late seventies and at age eighty.  More power to them!

Tonight, we went out to a unique restaurant, BBQ place with an aquarium in the dining room....Dillon's with a zoo on the property too.   Had some Texas brisket....hmmm?  Maybe getting ready to go home.  

Santa Barbara

Years ago, when I lived in Los Angeles, would sometimes drive up the coast to Santa Barbara.  It has the feeling of a small town nestled between green mountains and blue ocean. Always a pleasant place to visit.  Today, we took a trolley tour around town and needless to say, taking photos from a moving trolley is not any easier than taking them from a moving car.

One of the largest trees in the country, and only 150 years old.

Old Mission church

A rainbow of colors painted inside the church, I thought very enlightening, yet unusual.

During the tour, I saw a carousel not far away from the beach.  Just had to have ride and I had the whole carousel to myself.  You're never too old to have some fun!

Tonight we visited and had dinner with Paul's daughter Colleen and family.  Here's Daniela (Paul's granddaughter), Paul, Matteo (Paul's grandson) and Colleen (Paul's daughter).  A perfect ending to a beautiful day!

Luxury and Leisure

Just a block away from our motel last night was the Morro Rock, so we drove by one last time.  Rewarded with one of my favorite compositions.....reflections on the water.

Then we headed up the coast to the Hearst Castle.  I had toured this place thirty years ago and was eager to show hubby this over-the-top place.  He used the word, "impressive" several times.  That's a thumbs-up in my book.

Hearst had a love for architecture and art from Europe having spent one and half years there with his mother when he was 10 years old.  So, at age 59 when he had made his millions, he started this mansion.  Every public room is full of sculptures, carvings, and tapestries.  The outside is not void of carvings either with two very tall towers that contribute to the castle look.

This is the gathering room that his guest (politicians & movie stars) would gather for "happy hour" before dinner.

The dining room was huge and it had wood carvings on each panel of the ceiling.  All imported from Europe.

The morning room.

Some more scenes from the gardens outside.

Here's a photo of my favorite room....30 years ago and now!  The indoor pool!

These gold designs are 22 carat gold.  Lots of it in this pool and room!

AFter this tour, we went to the coast and saw a baby humpback that was in the bay, but he was shy and didn't show much of his body for a photo.  Enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a patio overlooking this coast.  Nice, eh?

Watched some surfers and caught them in action

Strolled around Solvang, the Danish town.  It was a beautiful day, again!