Waterways Photobook

Hey Happy Tuesday to ‘ya!  I just finished putting together a photo book I’ve titled “Waterways”.  I did it all on Shutterfly.  I took some of my favorite pics of water . . . lakes and ocean and the like, and included some quotes for inspiration.  Check it out, and if you like the book leave me a comment below! 

Sponsored a Child in Uganda

Hi ‘Ya!

A few weeks ago at church we had an opportunity to sponsor a child in Uganda.  We took up the chance, and I just finished writing a hand written letter to our boy, Raymond, a 7 year old who lives with his aunt and brother in a mud-block house.  We’re excited to get to know Raymond as we correspond with him.  According to the information sheet about him, he hopes to be a pilot one day, enjoys math and music, and likes to read.  He has a huge big smile and is described as active, friendly, intelligent, respectful, and well-behaved.  Can’t wait to learn more about him in the coming years!  Here’s the photo we enclosed in our letter. 

This photo was taken a few months ago, on Thanksgiving, 2012.  Our son Trevor is 22 now, and Jenna will be 20 in a few weeks.

Do you sponsor a child too?  If so, I’d love to hear about your experience.  If you’d like to sponsor a child through Children of the Nations, you can find out more through their website, Children of the Nations.

Coastal Living Ultimate Beach House: First Place!

Hi All!

It’s been awhile!  Hope you’re enjoying the holiday season, and that you and your family are well.

Wanted to give you some fun news.

A couple of months ago, just for kicks, I participated in a contest called ‘My Coastal Living Ultimate Beach House.’  It involved making a Pinterest Board and pinning 12 of my favorite Coastal Living Magazine beach house images.   I picked one shot for each room of my ‘Dream Beach Cottage’ and gave a description.    I didn’t give the contest another thought until a few days ago, when I got an email from Coastal Living’s Associate Features Editor.  She said that out of nearly 3500 entries, I’d been selected as their FIRST PLACE winner!  I’m totally flabbergasted.   They’ll be announcing the winners this week, and will be promoting it through their magazine, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  I won prizes worth $1400 (cash and flatware and stemware).   I’m thrilled about the prizes of course, but even more excited just to have WON!!

So I had to share with you all.   When I was pinning for the contest I dreamed I had one lovely beach house  and was walking from room to room,  thinking about how the rooms made me feel.   Here are three photos from my ‘winning’ board (love saying that!):

Picturing myself reading a novel in this spot. More relaxed just thinking about it!

Ah, to do nothing all day except lie in a hammock and listen to the waves . . .

A claw foot tub, double hung windows, and lots of white. And lavender in a pot of course!

If you’re curious to see the other nine photos, here’s the link to my Pinterest Board:  Coastal Living Ultimate Beach House

If you’re not already on Pinterest, take a moment to sign up!  It’s free and a great place to organize websites.  Pinterest means “Pin Your Interests” and I’ve got 44 boards and have pinned sites on everything from interior design to food to books to writing inspiration.  You can name your boards whatever you’d like.  I called four of mine ‘Inspiring Interiors’, ‘Paint It’, ‘Books!’, and ‘Write!’   You can follow one or all of my boards, and comment on my pins. . . go ahead, do it!  I’d love to see you there.

It’s also interesting to see what other Pinners are posting so you can stay up to date on the latest trends.   I love Coastal Living Magazine, and follow their board for just that reason.   Even the ads are interesting, many of which focus on the newest beach communities where Ron and I might retire some day.   My dream, as you may have guessed,  is to one day have a cottage on the beach– and Coastal Living lets me dream to my heart’s content.  I’m so thrilled and thankful to have won their first Pinterest Ultimate Beach House contest!

A Hummingbird in the House

Last week a hummingbird flew into the house up to the 2nd story ceiling. Remembering a trick I’d read long ago I held up a clear bowl of red water and the bird followed me down the stairs. But just as I neared the patio door my dog Bingo jumped up and snatched the bird in his mouth. I grabbed Bingo and ran outside and tried to pry open his lockjaw– but the dog was stubborn and clenched his jaw closed even tighter. In a last-ditch effort I yelled ‘DROP IT’ and Bingo opened his mouth. The tiny bird fell out, wet and scared, but alive!

I held her in my palm under a warm blanket, and when she was dry I lifted her to the sky. But she was too weak and landed with a silent thud on the patio. Before the dog could pounce again I scooped her up and warmed her a few more minutes. This time, I laid her on the backyard retaining wall. When she flew off I was happy to have given a wild bird a second chance at life. And now, when hummingbirds come to our feeder, it seems they pause mid-flight to look at me a tad more curiously, like they are thanking me for saving their friend.

The Easy Trick to Getting Crisp, Eye-Catching Photos

Well hi there!   Hope your week’s going great!

I have a confession to make:   as the family pest historian I shoot a gazillion photos.  I’ve always wanted to take good photographs, but if anyone mentions the words aperture or shutter speed or ISO my mind goes blank.  Not sure why . . . perhaps because the basic rules seem counter-intuitive?  You know:  if a subject is moving fast you need a fast shutter speed, but to let in light you need a wide aperture, and that involves a slower shutter speed, and large apertures (where lots of light gets through) are given f/stop smaller numbers and smaller apertures (where less light gets through) have larger f-stop numbers. So f/2.8 is in fact a much larger aperture than f/22. . . blah blah blah blah . . .

Huh?  If you’re anything like me (translation:  amateur photographer),  you’re trying to wrap your head around these concepts, because you want crisp, clear, stunning photos and you’ve been told these terms are PARAMOUNT to getting a great shot.  Or (and this would be me)  you’re shaking your head back and forth to wake yourself up.

But I am here to tell you, dear readers:  there IS a trick to getting gorgeous, crisp photos that does NOT involve those nasty A and S words!!

Now as the cliché goes, a picture tells a thousand words.  So before I reveal my easy trick, here are Before and After shots of a bee:

Bee Shot, before the Easy Photo Trick

Bee shot, AFTER the Easy Photo Trick

Big difference, right?  Yes, my After shot could be even better if I were to master the A and S words.  But I know my lazy clueless self and it ain’t gonna happen pals!

So you ready to know the Easy (not so) Secret Photo Trick?  Drum roll please!

 . . . It’s a camera app.  Yep, nearly every photo I post publicly gets the app treatment.   Here’s what you can do to get photos like the Bee After shot, above:

1)  Snap a photo with your smart phone  (I used the iPhone 4Gs, and it has an awesome camera, but most of the latest cell phones have good cameras)

2)  Open your camera application and insert your photo.  (I used Camera+ , which I downloaded for 99 cents from iTunes)

3)  Enhance your photo.

Camera+, like most of the photography applications out there, has a lot of filters and options, but I usually keep things simple:  I give the photo Clarity, Crop the photo, and then add Effects, which is usually a filter.  My favorite filter in Camera+ is HDR, located under “Special.”    That’s it!

It takes me less than a minute to enhance a photo.  If you want to, you can add a border and a caption– I usually select simple borders, but sometimes I’ll pick one of the “Styled” selections.  My favorites are Light Grit (used in the Bee After shot, above) and Dark Grit (same look as Light Grit, but in black).

Once finished, save the enhanced photo to your camera roll.  You’ll have the original and enhanced photos right there, on your phone so you can show all your friends!

Cheating?  Maybe.  But photo apps are fun and easy . . . and who doesn’t LOVE fun and easy!

My Hero, The Black Widow Catcher

My Hero, The Black Widow Catcher.

Just before my mom died in 1967 my father came to my first grade class for Career Day.  His mission?  To talk about being a doctor in the Navy.   Unfortunately, a black widow spider upstaged him.  Read on to find out how Dad handled it.

Mrs. Lonzo, my first grade teacher, was standing in front of our class.

“Today we’re going to have a special guest, class. Cheri’s father is coming to talk to us, about what it’s like to be a doctor.”

My classmates turned their heads and looked at me. I was beaming and jumping in my seat.  My dad was stopping by my classroom before going to the Navy Hospital.   When he arrived, I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his thighs, and he hugged me back.  Dad was wearing his black Navy officer’s uniform, and his crew cut accentuated his symmetrical facial features.    His demeanor was professional and serious, but he had an easy smile for the teacher and reached his arm out to shake her hand.  I was so proud.  My dad was handsome, nice and friendly.  He stood in front of the room and faced us, holding his hat.

There was a long pause as my father shifted his weight and looked at us, twenty expectant six-year olds.  He didn’t know what to say!  He cleared his throat and said, “Well children, what would you like to know about being a Navy doctor?”

Dad doesn’t like this.  He’s nervous!

Then someone in the back of the room yelled, “Look! A spider!”

All heads turned around.  A boy was pointing at the floor.  The black spider was crawling up the wall, and we all squealed with fear.

“It’s okay, children,” Mrs. Lonzo said. “We’ll catch it.”

A heavy-set woman of about fifty, Mrs. Lonzo looked at my Dad with a pleading look.  Obviously she wasn’t a spider fan.

“Can you find me a jar?”  my Dad asked her.

“I think so,” she said.  She hurried out of the room.

A moment later, with glass jar in one hand, a lid in the other, my dad headed toward the back of the room.

“Stay in your seats, children,” Mrs. Lonzo said.

We strained our necks as my Dad coaxed the spider into the jar, then screwed the lid on top.

“It’s a Black Widow,” he announced. “Poisonous.  You can tell it’s a Black Widow because it has a red hour-glass shaped mark on its belly. “

“How come it’s called a Black Widow?” one student asked.

My dad hesitated, not sure if he should answer this.  He looked at Mrs. Lonzo, and she nodded.   Dad took a deep breath, then explained, “Because after the female spider mates to make babies, she eats the male spider.”

The children broke into squeals.  Everyone was smiling and saying “Ewwwww!”  Kids were looking at each other, nodding and making grimacing faces.

Dad turned to Mrs. Lonzo.  “Is it alright if I pass the jar so the children can see it up close?”

“Of course,” she replied.

Dad handed the jar to the first child in the right row.   The boy peered inside the jar.  Several students leaned out of their desks to sneak a peek.

For the next fifteen minutes my Dad walked around the room overseeing the passing of the Black Widow.   Then Mrs. Lonzo said, “Well, it’s a good thing Cheri’s Dad was here to save us from the poisonous spider.   Unfortunately Dr. Gibbs cannot stay any longer to tell us about being a Navy Doctor.   He needs to get back to work.  Say thank you to Dr. Gibbs, children.”

Our entire class said, in a chorus of young voices, “Thank you Dr. Gibbs!”

Benjamin F. Gibbs, Jr.
My Dad.

My father never got a chance to talk about being a doctor, but it was okay.    He came over and gave me a hug and a kiss on my head.

“Bye Dad,”   I said.

“Bye Sweetheart.”  Then he walked toward the classroom door.

Just as he was about to leave, he turned and faced the class one last time, brought his right arm to the bill of his hat with his fingers pressed stiffly together, and saluted.  Then he turned on his heels in an about-face, and walked out of the classroom.

I felt my heart would burst because I was so proud of my father, the Black Widow Catcher.

Grandma Helen. The Early Years

Well hello my friends.  

It’s been a sad couple of days, because Friday afternoon my Grandma Helen passed away.    She died peacefully in her home as she had wished, less than a month before her 99th birthday.  During her long life,  Helen endured many difficult days, but she always maintained a positive outlook and a cheerful attitude.  She inspired many with her engaging personality, keen intelligence, and caring love for family and friends.    She will be greatly missed.   I am so grateful to have had her in my life for fifty-one so many years, and  in her honor I am posting  this three-part story about her life, which may remind you of a story  I posted here a couple of years ago.  I was lucky to spend some time with Grandma in her later years, and wrote this series after several interviews with her. 

Rest in Peace, my dear Grandma Helen. 

Helen Norman,  March 11, 1913 – February 17, 2012. 

“Cheri, we’re wondering if you can come to San Diego in the Fall for a week,” my Uncle Steve said one July afternoon in 2010.  “Susan and I will be out-of-town in October and it would be great if you could be here to check on Grandma.”

I was happy to help.  Grandma was 97, and though her arthritis made it difficult for her to care for herself, she wanted to continue living in her home.  So Uncle Steve and his wife Susan graciously cared for Grandma–   they drove to her house every day to make her meals, help her shower, change her bedding and keep her company– and they had done this for several years now.

“And if you get around to it, there’s a box of old pictures in the spare bedroom closet,” Uncle Steve said.   “You and she could go through it if you like.”

I liked his suggestion.   I loved organizing, and I also wanted to learn more about Grandma’s life.  The pictures might trigger some memories.  She rarely talked about her childhood, but lately Grandma was opening up more.  I tried to ignore my next thought:  I can talk to her before it’s too late.

“That sounds great, Uncle Steve,” I said.  It’ll give us something to do together.”

In October I walked into  Grandma Helen’s family room.  She was lying on the sofa, wearing one of her five navy blue flannel robes.  A blanket covered her legs.

“Hi Grandma,” I said, leaning down to give her a kiss.

The room was dark, so I opened the vertical blinds at the sliding glass door, and pulled on the lever to the one-inch slatted window shutters to let in some light.

“It’s a pretty day.” I said.

Sunshine entered the room and I looked around.

The family room looked just as I remembered from countless visits over the years.  It never changed.   Grandma Helen and Grandpa Clyde had moved into the house in 1960– the same year I was born.  The furnishings were like a time capsule from fifty years ago:  lime-green shag carpet, woven wallpaper, huge table lamps with large cylinder lampshades, and a nubby tweed sofa.

Funny, I thought.  Since Mad Men had revived an interest in all things ‘sixties, the room would have a current vibe if the furnishings weren’t so worn.

“How about some poached eggs?” I asked Grandma.

“That sounds good, honey.”

I made poached eggs with spinach and toast, two for each of us, and placed the plates on the coffee table in front of the sofa next to Grandma.  She called the sofa a “Davenport.”   In the past few years the Davenport had become Grandma’s bed because she liked being in the center of the house with the television and telephone nearby.

“Grandma, we’re going to go through some pictures,” I said after she’d eaten a few bites of the eggs and toast.

“Okay Honey,” she said.

Grandma was particular about a lot of things;   she liked two pillows,  her meals home-cooked, and a splash of brandy in her Ensure.

But for some reason she was easy-going about the pictures.

I retrieved the cardboard box from the back bedroom closet, and carried it to the family room.  I plopped it beside us and pulled out the top picture.

“It’s been so long I don’t think I can remember who’s who,” she said.

“You’ll remember, Grandma,” I assured her.  “I bet the memories will come flooding back.”

The Early Years

The picture was of a young woman holding a child.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“That’s me and my mother,” she replied.  “Her name was Elsie Marie Johnson before she married my dad, Homer Lowry.  That picture was probably taken the day I was baptized in 1913, because it looks like I’m wearing a white baptism outfit.”

“Your mom was pretty, Grandma, and she looks like she was nice.”

“Yes, she was.”

“Do you know why you were given the name Helen?” I asked.

“I have no idea why my parents named me Helen,” she said.  “But Mom named me Isabelle after a good friend of hers.”

Helen and her mother, Elsie Marie Johnson Lowry, in 1913 on Helen’s Baptism Day

“Do you know what your heritage is?” I asked.

“My mother was Swedish, and my father was Irish,” she said.  “My grandfather, Frank Lowry, came from Ireland in the 1800’s to start a farm.”

“Do you know why he left Ireland?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but it had to do with the potato famine,” she said.  “There were lots of problems in Ireland, so my grandfather had to leave the country.  But he had no money, so he came to the United States in the boat’s steerage section.”

No Family or Friends

“Tell me about your family,” I said.

“I don’t remember any extended family members living nearby, as our home was quite isolated,” she said.  “The nearest neighbor was five miles away.  I didn’t have any childhood friends, so I looked forward to the two weeks out of the year when my mother’s relatives came to visit.  I loved my mother’s family,”  she said.  “It was always so much fun to play with my cousins, too.”

Sisters Pauline and Margaret

“What were your sisters like?”  I asked.

“I spent all my free time with my sisters Margaret  and Pauline.  Margaret was four years younger, and Pauline was six years younger.     We lived on a 150 acre farm in Byesville, Ohio.  Woods surrounded the farm, which we loved to explore.  We climbed trees all day long and nobody ever worried where we were.  It was so different from today, with parents hovering over their children all the time.”

Grandma lowered her voice to a whisper, like she was telling me a secret.    “Growing up it wasn’t much fun playing with Margaret,” Grandma said.  “Margaret was a heavy child, and she couldn’t run very fast or climb trees.  The only way she could climb a tree was if I pushed her up,” she sighed. “Her heaviness was a big problem, because climbing trees was all we did.”

Grandma looked at me.  “But things changed,” she continued.  “For the rest of our lives,  I got heavier and Margaret got thinner.”

We laughed.  “Payback’s a bitch, huh Grandma?”  I patted my thick thigh and winked.

Grandma’s head bobbed up and down and her piercing blue eyes crinkled.  Hearing her laugh made me laugh more.   This was fun!

Helen, Pauline, and Margaret with their dad, Homer

The House

“What was your house like?” I asked.

“There were no bathrooms in the house, and we had to go outside to use the privy,” she said.  “We used the Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs as toilet paper in the outhouse.  The catalog paper felt slick.  I hated to go in the middle of the night.  If you didn’t want to go outside to the privy you had to keep a pot in your room.”

“Did you have electricity?” I asked.

“No.  There were no telephones or electricity, only oil lamps.   We had an organ, though.  My mother knew how to play well, and my little sister Margaret could play too.    And  the sitting room  had a pot-bellied stove in it.”

“What else did you do to pass the time?”  I asked.

“We would sit with our grandfather on the big porch surrounding the house and look at the clouds.    My grandfather was nice,” she said.    “He had an understanding of kids, and he would tell us stories of his childhood.”

She continued her musings about those evenings on the porch.  “And we would catch lightning bugs.  I’d put mine in a jar so they’d light up my room.”

“Hmm,” I murmured, thinking how I loved catching lightning bugs as a kid too, when we lived in Virginia.

“The lightning bugs were my electricity,” she said.  “That was my entertainment.”

Getting into Mischief

“What kind of mischief did you get into, Grandma?” I asked.

“Cheri!” Grandma gave me a long look.  “I don’t know if I should tell you about that.  Plus, do you know how long ago that was?”

I smiled my most charming smile.  Grandma gave me a defeated look.   I waited, and soon she began to talk again.

“My sisters and I used to tease a bull.   We would wave something red in front of him to make him charge us,”  she laughed.  “He would run toward us and I remember running away as fast as I could to jump over the fence and save ourselves from getting killed.”

“My God, Grandma!  I’m glad I was not your mother!”

“My mother had no idea what we were up to, Cheri,” she said.

“Did you ever get punished?” I asked.

“Always, but it was my father who punished me.   I got a lot of switchings.”

“Really?”  I found this interesting, because Grandma didn’t seem like the trouble-maker type.  “Tell me about that.”

“My father would yell, ‘Go pick the finest little branch you can find, and come back in here!’  So I would go outside and find a branch, and go back inside to get my switching.”

“How awful, Grandma.”

“Yes, and it hurt.   Those tiny branches would leave little welts,” she said.

“What did you do to deserve such punishment?”

“Most of the time it was because I tore my bloomers.”

“Really?” This shocked me.  “What a trivial thing to get punished for.  What did the bloomers look like?”

“They were big, black, billowy things—just horrid!”

Toys and Things

I moved the subject away from Grandma Helen’s father, because she didn’t seem to want to talk about him anymore.

“Did you have any toys or things growing up?” I asked.

“I didn’t have many material things.  I never had a sled or a bicycle, but I didn’t mind,”  she said.  “There was no place to ride them anyway.”

But she did remember one toy.

“One year for Christmas I got a doll that my mother made,”  she smiled at me.  “I loved that doll.”

I smiled at her.  “Was that the only gift you got at Christmas?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.  “And I was happy.  And the next Christmas, my mother sewed clothes for that doll.”

“Your only gift?” I asked.

“Of course!” Grandma replied, shocked I asked.  “My mom was a really good seamstress.”

“Tell me more about your mom,” I said.

“She had the tiniest waist, and my sisters and I would try on her clothes in the trunk in her bedroom,”  Grandma said.  “And we loved to brush her hair, which was long and wavy.”

She paused, thinking about something.  She was frowning.

“Go on, Grandma,” I said softly.

“Sometimes my father would say, ‘why don’t you brush my hair?’”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“We refused,” she said.  “Nobody ever wanted to brush his hair.”

And that was the end of that subject.

The Animals

I took a drink of the diet coke I had found in Grandma’s garage refrigerator, then lifted up the glass of cranberry juice I had placed on the table and put it near Grandma’s chin.  She pulled the straw into her mouth and took a long drink.  The years of golfing in the sun had taken its toll;  age spots covered her face and hands and a yellow cast colored her fingernails.   But her mind was sharp and she showed no signs of wanting to stop talking, so I asked another question.

“Did you have any pets?”

“No.  But we had nameless dogs and cats that roamed the farm.   There were gobs of cats.   And there were little kittens everywhere.  There were so many cats they became a problem, and we had to get rid of them,”  her eyes filled with tears.

“What’s the matter, Grandma?” I asked.

“To this day I resent my dad because he would drown the cats,”  she said.  “But in some way,  I understood it.   Nobody wanted the kittens.  And it was over pretty fast when my father put them inside the rain barrel.”

Chores

I pictured Grandma’s father drowning helpless little kittens, and felt sick.

I tried to change the subject.  “Did you do any chores?”

“Of course.  My primary chore was to tend the chickens.  I had to feed them and take care of them.”

She paused and turned to me.

“The funny thing is,  my dad would bring the chicks into the house, so they wouldn’t get cold and die.”

I thought about that.  “That’s interesting,” I said.  “Why did he save the chicks but not the kittens?”

“Because they were part of the food chain.”

“Hmm,” I nodded, in understanding.  “So what other chores did you do?”

“My dad would send me to get the mail, usually at dusk.  The mailbox was a mile away, and I would run through the woods, which was terribly frightening.    My family said they could hear me screaming the entire time I was gone. The woods were scary at night.  There were all these noises!”

“Oh Grandma, how awful!”

“Yes, and to this day, I have a fear of the dark, perhaps because of those scary runs to the post box.”

Allowance, Church, School and Birthdays

Gosh, I thought.  Grandma had some pretty awful memories about her father, but she never talked about any of this when we were kids.   Why was she talking so openly now?   I knew the answer, but pushed it back, choosing instead to think of more questions to ask her.  I needed to keep Grandma talking.

“Did you receive an allowance?” I asked.

“Never.” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done with money anyway; we were miles away from everything.”

“How about  church?” I said.

“Occasionally, on Sundays, we would dress up and go to the Presbyterian Church, ten miles away.  But we didn’t go often because it was a big chore hitching up the horse and buggy.”

“What was school like?”  I asked.  We were on a roll.

“We really did have to walk five miles to school and back,” she said.  “It was a little country school, eight grades in the same room.  I  learned a lot from the upper classes– when I was in the lower grades I listened as the teacher taught the upper grades.    I did  well in school.   Reading was my favorite subject.

I looked around at the stacks of magazines and books and newspapers in neat piles around the room.  “That makes sense, Grandma, because you are the most well informed person I know.”

Grandma waited for me to ask another question.  She was enjoying this.

“So, how did you celebrate birthdays?” I asked.

“I don’t remember ever celebrating a birthday when I was a kid.  Our family usually ate dinner together at a big oblong table.   When I was nine, my mother was just starting to teach me how to cook a few things.”

I was curious to hear more about my Great Grandmother, but I had been there several hours and Grandma needed some rest.

“Wow Grandma, you did a good job remembering so much,”  I said.  “Let’s see.  All this happened in the early 1920s.  You’re memories are ninety years old!”

“I guess my mind is still okay.”

“Yes, Grandma, it is.  And you also did good eating your eggs.”

I helped her to the bathroom, and while she was up I changed the sheet on the Davenport.  I walked  her back to the family room, got her settled, and gave her a kiss.

“I’ll have more questions for you tomorrow, Grandma.”

“Okay honey,”  she said.  “Sweetheart, before you go, can you turn on the patio light?”

I looked out the patio door and saw it was dark outside now.  I had almost forgotten;  Grandma always liked the back light on because she was afraid of the dark.  I flipped on the switch, put the wood pole in the sliding glass door track, gave her another kiss, and drove back to Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan’s house, where I was staying for the week.

Coming Up Next:  The Tragedy that Changed Helen’s Life

Back in the Saddle.

“I’m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly jimson weed
I’m back in the saddle again.

Hey how ya’ doing my friends?  You may have wondered what happened to me . . . just fell off the grid for a while!  But I’ve missed you all, and this blog, so here you go.  I’m back in the saddle, back on board, back to square one, back from the brink– whatever cliché you choose, I’m BACCCCKKKKKK!

So stay tuned for more posts about Life, Home, Mothering, Travel, the Empty Nest . . and Three Dogs and a Cat.

My View Everyday at Lunch

Ireland.

Last week Ron and Jenna and I were in Ireland. Our friend (and Ron’s longtime employee) Ursula married an Irishman, Johnny, so we were lucky enough to go to the wedding and see the beautiful country of Ireland as well.

It took 33 hours to get there because of a delay due to the Iceland Volcano Ash, but once in Ireland, we had a grand time. We started the week with the Irish wedding, which was a blast. Ursula looked gorgeous, and Johnny looked quite cool with his braided mohawk.

Boy, do the Irish know how to have a good time! The wedding started at 2:30 pm, and was going strong when we snuck out at midnight, exhausted. Johnny told us the wedding would go until 5 am! I secretly pointed the camera through Ron’s arm to get this shot of all the empty beer glasses.

After a fun wedding and a good night’s sleep, we took off in our rented car to see the countryside. We used one guidebook the entire trip,

Volcano Ash Cancels all Flights to Ireland– Stranded in London

It’s a busy travel month for our family– went to New York in early April, enjoyed San Diego last week, and now we’re on our way to a wedding in Ireland. Boy, do I feel spoiled! Even if we’re stranded in London.

Yes, stranded!

The Iceland Volcano has erupted again, and all flights to Ireland and Scotland were cancelled today. Before we left Los Angeles we called British Airways, as we were afraid this might happen. They assured us not to worry so we went ahead with the trip. Made it to London no problem. And get this: I flew Coach, but Ron and Jenna went Business Class. You see, I happen to think Business Class is a big fat waste of money. What’s the big deal about a bit more leg room? So I stubbornly REFUSED to go Business Class.

Well, I didn’t know that