no title necessary

angel flying too close to the ground

well quite a while back now, i went to see Willie Nelson, and I took some great pictures, but it was the following week that my camera went swimming and I had lost of the photos. One of my friends and fellow attendee's sent me a few pictures this morning. The first one is me and the adorable child that adopted me that day!

charlottes web

There is a spider that lives inside the sideview mirror of my car. I have never seen it, yet I know it is there because no matter how many times I try to wash it away, a quite large web forms right back over it. I don't know what kind of spider it is, or if it it truly resides there or somewhere else outside the vehicle, at this point I am just praying that it and more of its' kind haven't moved into the interior of the vehicle. I am literally scared to leave my windows open in case they mistakenly view it is an invitation. That is just what I get for living in a rural area I suppose, but it is kind if amusing :O)

quakes

Ok, the experts (geologists) say I am wrong, but I sware that everytime there is a quake in Japan, we have one in California within a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to have an earthquake here - they seriously scare me, but I have noticed this pattern. This morning there was a 7.2 magnitude quake reported in Japan, and it does cause me a little worry...let's hope the experts are right and I am wrong! :O)

spammed

some clever spammer has figured out how to leave huge mass advertising type messages in my blog comments, because of this I am turning off the ability to add comments for a while to discourage them - if you want to comment you will need to use the email link - if you really prefer to remain annonymous than may I suggest that you create a free fake email.

Thanks! :O)

a little NYC

more to come

whoa!

Maybe I don't want to surf after all! ;O)

overheard in ny

okay, I know I am a serious dork sometimes, and those of you who actually know me can agree.

So I occasionally read "overheard in new york" to kill time or get a laugh when needed, and it occured to me as I was sharing a few of the choice things I overheard on my trip to NYC, that I should submit the 2 that were clearly the oddest.

Earlier today, I remembered that I had submitted them upon my return and went to see if either had been selected and had been posted, and to my geeky joy, one of them was. I have posted the submission below, BUT if you decide to visit the site directly: please note that it is definately not a PG website so visit at your own risk.

July 13th under "It Didn't Work Out with Wednesday One-liners"

Man on cell: So what has changed from then to now?...of course! The vibrator! So that's it, huh?

--Central Park

Overheard by: jeannette

Thar she blows

The whale watching has been absolutely incredible the past few weeks from our little beach. They have been consistently moving just offshore and are fairly easily spotted even when not breaching. You can tell when they are around because swarms of birds will flock around a spot of water suddenly and then you can see the tell tale spray of the blowhole and then you can see them breach...so massive yet elegant.

A few years ago, I took my nephew out to Monterey for 2 seperate whale watching trips with my nephew, and both times we did not see whales, nor dolphins, nor anything more exciting than a seal or two and he was so disapppointed. I remember one of the tour guides saying that it was hard to catch them out and about sometrimes. I never thought I would be lucky enough to live somewhere that I could walk just barely a city block and see them just cruising by.

Get out your binoculars and head to a California Beach on a migration path, if youre feeling brave - rent a kayak and go play!

nyc - part 3

I promise part 2 will be up soon, but it requires much concentration and should probably be written and posted outside of the office and since I have been experiencing internet connectivity issues at home for the past 3 weeks and won't be all back together until the weekend. So, it just isn't gonna happen before then, sorry! :O)

So on to Sunday, my whole free day in NYC!

I can hardly believe that I actually did see almost everything I most wanted to, in just a day. I started by walking from my hotel on east 31st street up to broadway. I stopped for an authentic slice of nyc pizza, a true delight and some water before heading to the theatre district/times square and surrounding areas. Wow is times square an eyeful, so many colors, signs, building-size "tv" screens, billboards, and a sea of people (probably mostly tourists like me) everywhere you look, it is almost too much to take in.

I stopped for an ice cream cone from the ice cream man - something I haven't seen in so long, just before entering central park. You could spend a week in central park alone, no joke, to just attempt to see everything.

I decided to try a speed round of the half of the park I was closest to, which coincidentally is the half that had the bulk of things I wanted to see. Aside from the most fabulous people watching ever, it is a simply beautiful place full of beautiful and delightful things:
A bronze statue of Alice in Wonderland
the pond for RC sailboats
the paddle boats and gondolas's for cruising around one of the larger bodies of water in the park the horse drawn carriages and bicycle taxi's
the Shakespeare Garden and castle that is surrounded by the dragonfly preserve
Strawberry, Sheep and various other fields full of people tanning, resting, reading, playing, etc.
"The Ramble" was my favorite, I think. It's just this wild maze-like section of "forrest" that seems straight out of a fairytale.
The baseball diamonds, the carousel, the basketball and volleyball courts
The different landscapes, the bridges and underpasses, the crazy skyscrapers peeking above the treelines
And probably 20 more little things I have already forgotten...

Two words really describe it: lovely and amazing!!

(& remember, this is only half of the friggen park and only what I managed to get to/see!!!)

I then decided to walk back to a restaurant I saw earlier to have dinner. It was on either Broadway or 7th, had an open front with tall tables and was advertising a fresh lobster dinner for a pretty reasonable price. I, of course, ordered the lobster and a nice glass of wine to go with it.

last but not not least, I walked from the restaurant over to the harbor at 42street & 12 to try to catch a ferry. After standing in line for an hour or more only to hear that they had accidentally oversold the tour and therefore I stood in line the whole time for nothing, some divine intervention provided an extra boat at the last minute, so I got to go on the harbor lights tour afterall.

The boat tours the harbor such that you see jersey, the statue of liberty, ellis island, the main bridges and manhatten skyline, lit up for the night. So great, that it was worth standing on my burning feet another 3+ hours.

I took a ton of pictures, which I will post soon.

Upon leaving the boat, I realized there was just no way I could walk back to my hotel, and there wasn't a cab in sight, only limo's and they were not cheap. I found a sweet bike cab driver and asked him for a fair deal and he agreed. I was just so so tired by then, that I probably didn't enjoy that nearly as much as I would have liked to, but I did have a few moments of "how cool is this?!" as the wind whipped thru my hair and people stared and waved as we rode by. It was quite exciting and movielike to be moving through the NYC street out in the open.

I snuck out to by bagels at a corner shop before I went to sleep that night to share with the work family, and packed all of my things so I would be ready when the alarm went off at 4am.

I made it up and to the airport on time, and that my friends, concludes my first trip to NYC!

T-I-GG-E-R

I have been quite remiss in not mentioning the passing of my beloved Tigger, although I am sure the character will live on in Disneyland, Tigger without Paul Winchell is just not Tigger to me. Paul's voice was a HUGE part of my childhood, and Tigger has been a constant companion despite my attempts to outgrow him. Paul clearly spent his life entertaining and delighting children worldwide, he will be greatly missed.

"The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things. Thier tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. they're bouncy, flouncy, pouncy - fun, fun, fun, fun, fun - but the most wonderful thing about Tiggers, is I 'm the only one!"

USA Today Article - This article has a lot of interesting info, I didn't realize he was also a patented inventor!

Paul Winchell aka Tigger - Dec. 21, 1922-June 26, 2006

nyc - part one

Although I was supposed to land at 9:30, I did not arrive until well after midnight, due to weather delays. So many little things have already happened that feel significant.

I met so many nice people on the way here, even though it was a long freakin trip it really wasn't that bad. The shuttle ride from the airport to the hotel was probably the most heinous part of it all. I was so scared, the guy was tilting around corners like you can't believe!

This whole trip has brought up a lot of thougts, all the business travel I used to do, the places I have been, the places I still want to go. I am not scared anymore to travel by myself, although its certainly always nicer when you are sharing the experience in real time.

I decided to go down to the hotel bar once I got settled in at the hotel, upon arriving last night, because I was all weirdly hyper from travelling and it seemed a shame to be in NYC and just go straight to bed - a nightcap seemed pretty appropriate.

Of course, I started talking to the bartender, "Bay" and she introduced me to the other people in there, who happened to be her friends. I met like 10 people including some fellow Californians that stopped in while I was there. Everyone was just so nice, and the people watching has been FAB-U-LOUS!

Basically what it has brought up is that I need to travel, I love going new places, seeing new things, meeting new people, soaking up native culture - I forgot just how important it is to me, how much it inspires and excites me.

At one time, it was the life I was building, both before and during my previous engagement, but I lost my way when we split up and it has taken over 10 years to rediscover this part of my path. I am not lamenting it, because I wouldn't be who and where I am now. I wouldn't have the knowledge, the career and expereinces it brought, nor the 6 years I spent with the man I fell in love with later, and even though none of those things has turned out the way I thought, and I had to let go of that love as well, I can see that each thing leads to another, and it is all important. And that in many ways, we are all rebuilding our life, all the time.

Interestingly, I had an experience tonight that illustrated what my life would have been like if I would have married and stayed that course, and it was very reassuring to realize it may have quite a bit less than stellar after all.

Part two - coming soon!

sailing

I went sailing on a 42 foot sailboat last sunday, a last minute invite. It was really quite something, and the detailed work that goes into the whole thing is a little daunting. I enjoyed it because I do love to be on the water, but somehow it left me with the feeling that it is not only not much "fun" to own a sailboat but also quite a bit of work and a very significant expense.

Part of this is that I go into what I call a "water coma" whenever I get on or near large bodies of water - I just get really quiet (yes, there are times I am quiet) and super relaxed, so the idea that I need to stay super vigilant and complete multiple tasks just doesn't jibe (excuse the pun). Another part is that the owner of the boat was a pretty serious fellow and I tend to think of being on the water as a recreatinal activity. It is cool that you could pretty much go anywhere, and that fuel is rarely necessary and it is its own little community. The jury is still out until I have more experiences, I think.

I learned a fair amount about how to sail, got to steer the boat for a while and met some really nice people. It was a really lovely sunny day, and I am grateful I got to spend it bobbing around.

that really chaps my hide

i just found out today that am going to new york city on the 4th of july weekend for work, but i get a whole day to explore and I will be back home in time for the fireworks and rowdiest festivities. even though i have done lots of business travel, and a little bit of vacation travel (not as much as i would like!) i have never been to new york before and i am pretty excited. i will be staying at what looks like online, to be a very nice hotel in manhattan. wow, it probably shouldn't be a big deal but writing that i will be in manhattan just seems a little surreal.

i don't know how much time things will take but i am hoping to cram in a lot in a day, ideally i would like to see ellis island, the statue of liberty, the empire state building, central park and walk as much of the city as i can.

i am thinking this could justify my purchase of a new (replacement) camera so that i can take a boatload of photos while there, man, i am already taking them in my minds eye. sweet!

time and transition

I have lived in my little beach town for just over a year now and in the general area for just over two. I love my little house, my little community and my little town. Change is challenging, even when you bring about the changes yourself. Building a whole new life, from scratch, has certainly been full of experiences and I am hardly "done." I am grateful for so much and there is much more to create.

Much of it has turned out very differently than I planned, something I should be quite used to by now. Overall though, as I reflect, I think that I am happier and healthier in this environment than I was before. I miss people and places of my life before very much, I am more restricted than I thought I would be and I wish I was not still struggling with some of the things I find myself battling, but I have always felt a deep connection to this area, even att he worst moments, it brings me peace just to look around and as the anniversary has just passed I just had to say: it sure is good to be home.