I went back to take some more pictures of the puppies this afternoon, look how they've grown..and soooo full of fun and mischief.
Need a push?
Little Blue Eye
Im thinking here
this is tiring..can't you push yourself?
hmm..are these for real?
All 10 of them have new homes to go to and they leave next week.
More pics here
Friends Kelly and Carter decided to come over from Bakersfield and spoil me a little this weekend. They had tickets for the theater here in Solvang but first we shared a platter of sauerkraut and sausage in a little hole in the wall just across the road, washed it down with some good beer and then headed over for the show.
Its a quaint open air theatre and the sun was washing the sky with the faintest pink as we were seated.
We saw The Spitfire Grill, a musical, the story centers on a young woman named Percy who served prison time for manslaughter and arrives in a small town in Maine with hopes of beginning a new life. She works as a waitress in the Spitfire Grill, owned by Hannah whose gruff exterior conceals a kind heart and precious little tolerance for the grills regular customers, who cast their suspicions on Percy's mysterious past. A rich plot unfolds and it ends up being a bit of tearjerker which took me by surprise. It was a little slow but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Afterwards we decided we needed a dash of frivolous fun and headed down to The Maverick Saloon, a real cowboy bar..with real cowboys!
We played darts
Carter and me...
jeesh its been a while since I played
spent some time pondering the rules
but hadn't lost my touch...
what can I say
There was a truly fabulous band loved the music loved being on the dance floor again, esp enjoyed the line dancing, (Honky Tonk Woman is still reverberating through my head..)
I love the swirly colours at night, and purposefully never lose my flash unless I absolutely have to
It was well into the wee hours of the morning when we got home, we are in the middle of a heatwave and the air was still and very warm. We opened up all the windows and set up fans all over the house before we finally slept.
This morning we woke to another stinking hot day, cooked a fabulous big breakfast and then braved the heat. We walked down into the village to see the annual vintage car show, oh the colours and shine, it was a photographers delight and well worth the effort ..in spite of it being 107 in the shade!
We crunched flavoured shaved ice and wandered through the streets until it was time for Kelly and Carter to leave, a real breath of fresh air they were...
More (much more) Pictures Here
The theme this week on
is
Q U I R K Y
Thunder Mountain
..a sign announces, is a State of Nevada Historic Site Restoration Project, but there are no rangers or tour guides. Just drive down the bumpy road, park your car, and wander around.
I visited this very strange phenomenon a few weeks ago on my way back from Yellowstone. It truly left me speechless, it is a self proclaimed monument to the Indian people while 'making something useful from the white mans trash', I'm thinking it had a lot more to do with the consumption of what was inside all the bottles he used as a building material.
At Thunder Mountain we have quirky...a whole lot of it!!
All the windows were made from old car windshields, it gave the whole place an even more quirky feel to it.
I'm a survivor I know this, no matter how hard things get or how difficult a circumstance I dig deep and find a way to cope, and ive always done it by feeling deeply, mourning the change and if its something which cant be altered or fixed, I put it behind me learn from my mistakes and move on.
I have been deeply hurt recently beyond anything I thought possible, and it kind of brought me back to where I was when my son died, (as hard as that is to believe), yet this is still another life circumstance which will leave me and my life without a person I loved dearly, while I know there is no real comparison between losing a child and a lover (it doesn't come close) there are similarities.
The glaring difference is that this time it has been a lonely healing, not much support not much outpouring of love and nurturing from friends and family. I don't even talk about it much. Divorce or the end of a relationship tends to be that and bearing that pain on ones own can be unbelievably difficult, no matter what our age!
Throughout my school years I was an athlete of note, I was in the first teams for swimming and athletics and played competitive field hockey well into my 40's. When Jonathan died I stopped all that, he was as athletic as I was, we swam and played hockey together, and I haven't lifted a hockey stick or done any real swimming training since his death 14yrs ago.
Recently a friend here (thanks J) wrote a blog on running again and how it made him feel, and for some reason it sparked something in me I had forgotten I had. That same day I bought some running shoes and when the sun went down I took to the road, I only lasted 1/2 a mile before I was wheezing and sweating with the strong feeling that I was having a near death experience. Since then though I have run every evening or morning after work, I have a 3.5 mile circuit mapped out and am now at a 1 mile mark before walking and I cannot believe the changes in me. I love what this has done for my body, I love what its done for my mind and heart even more. I sweat I hurt and I cry at times, and I think of Jonathan a lot. Nic (my younger son) and I have made a pact to do a Midmar Mile together just as we planned all those years ago, and as I run all the hurt of the past few weeks/months.. falls away, one step at a time.
We crossed into Wyoming and reached the valley of Jackson Hole at noon, had lunch in Jackson (feel a song coming on?) and spent hours there. Jackson Hole is a valley encompassed by mountains a beautiful twisty road going in..and a lovely drive with the Teton mountain in the distance going out and into the Grand Teton National Park.
The town is often mistakenly called "Jackson Hole," a name that refers to the valley (or ski resort), not the town itself, and is known as the town that never sleeps. Apparently during ski season the lights never go off, the ski slopes are lit up at night and therefore there is and abundance of late night skiing and much partying thereafter. Even in summer the town was abuzz with busy streets, music, great restaurants in a truly beautiful setting.
This antler arch was fascinating, there was one at each corner of the small park and another at each end of the town. Here's a close-up:
It wasn't long before we saw our first sighting of the magnificent Grand Tetons as we entered the park.
Tired and a little overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all, we fell into bed in our little cabin, surrounded by tall cypress trees and a gentle breeze. I dreamed of bears raiding our trash cans that night, and woke somewhere after midnight to an almighty crash and peered sleepily out of my window, all I saw though were two raccoons scurrying off into the brush.
We drove through Nevada and Utah on that first day, and reached Salt Lake City late afternoon, struggled through some evening traffic before finding our hotel. We decided to spend the night in Roy, just north of SLC and quite near an air-force base, we were treated to a spectacular display by some fighter jets as we mosied through the US Air Museum. A quick dinner and an early night.
The next morning we headed out early, through Idaho a truly beautiful drive, gorgeous countryside and realistic gas prices. There was some incredible cloud formations and we saw a couple of small twisters on the horizon and had a few drops of rain.
Once we had crossed the expansive Snake River, the terrain changed, more conifers, pines and cypress trees, we wound our way through mountain passes and soon reached an altitude of 7000ft. We drive through Idaho Falls and found the most amazing little shop filled with strange eclectic artsy fartsy furnishings.
my camera worked overtime
...and I spent more time there than I probably should have
It was a fascinating place, from carved antlers to hat stands made from an array of horse-shoes, leather pillow shams and huge antler chandeliers everywhere! I loved it. Eventually we dragged ourselves away and headed north-east to Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons. We spent that night in the Grand Teton National Park in a small cosy cabin tucked away in the woods. this was my birthday gift to my mother and she needed at least a few nights of comfort before the hard assed camping in Yellowstone began.
I'll leave that part of the story for tomorrow...
Picture Perfect
this weeks theme is
Liquid
and Joanne is the host
oOo
I look down on the liquid
squeezed from the rocks
I watch it roar through an artists pallette
down a canyon
mixing colours churning sand shaping life
as it flows it gloats
and mocks
daring me to edge a little closer
oOo
(the picture is unaltered in any way)
I have a hectic schedule at work for the next few days but I promise my pics will be posted asap!
Here is a little teaser...
screaming rocks at Mammoth
and
one more
lastly
![Image002[1]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/3806919276_4e3253258e_o.jpg)
taken with my cellphone
As I popped down to the grocery store for my favourite blue cheese chicken wrap this evening, I noticed that the smoke from the fire had given the sun even more than its usual glamour.
In light of my BIG trip to Yellowstone National Park next week, I thought it would be good to see if I could remember how to pitch a tent! So Rosi and I camped up at Lake Cachuma for a night, the days were hot and windy and the nights pretty chilly. The sunset was absolutely amazing!!
The actual camping ground is pretty dusty and dry at this time of year, however we did pitch our tents without too much hassle, made a gorgeous dinner and shared a bottle of wine and we were just thinking about calling it a night when Senga smelled a skunk...and the skunk smelled her..and ...sigh..we smelled Senga!! We walked up to the washroom and much to every ones amusement I stuck her in the sink and gave her face a good wash and got most of the smell off pretty quickly. A bath when we got home took care of the rest...
Later as we made our way back to camp we noticed the moon had partial eclipse, just a hint of a shadow at the base, quite beautiful...after a glass or two of wine, nothing bothered us much, least of all the remnants of a skunk attack. We had a good time, talked and laughed and solved the problems of the world.
After an early morning cup of coffee and scrumptious breakfast, we made our way down the mountain and home.
I think I'm all ready for Yellowstone now...
(oh... and we even had music)
