random vacation pix

I can see for miles and miles

A couple of weeks ago I went to Reno for work. I'm an East Coast gal, and ALL of my travel to this point has been up & down that same East Coast, with excursions to New Orleans and the Caribbean.

And while there are so many places I've wanted to visit, Nevada was never on that list. Nor did I think I'd ever get to the other side of the country, since airfare is an absurd cost and well, it's the other side of the country. Miles and miles away.

After a day in the office, and adjusting to the brown, it became pretty hard to resist the appeal of this.

Or this.

My guys are salivating about the slopes.

The windy mountain roads and views took my breath away.

I drove to California!

And really, there's nothing like one stop shopping!

I'm trying to figure out how soon I can get my boss to send me back.

I think I'd like our next family vacation to be a two week driving trek across the country, with as few miles done on major highways as possible.

There are so many incredible sights, small and large, across the country that should be seen. Travel, explore, become adventurers. Discover the world you live in. I can't wait to see more.

water water everywhere

The cruise ship we were on, the Carnival Fascination, has a small waterpark on the upper deck, with one of the big curving water slides and a couple of smaller ones.

Among the slides, there were plenty of other gadgets designed to spill, dump or spray water on you unexpectedly while romping in the area.

I'm still trying to figure out why the water in the slides aws so damn cold given we were in the Caribbean!

  

That water? Was COLD.

As opposed to this water.

We spent a lot of time sitting in these chairs eating ice cream and watching the water go by.

Pretty water. So blue and sparkly under the sun.

pretty in pink

the awakening

The beauty of nature as it unfolds in the spring never fails to amaze me.

filling the void

My bloggy brain seems to be on hiatus. It didn't leave a note as to when it's expected to return from its sojourn, which I find somewhat discourteous actually.

I think it stayed here:

Wouldn't you, given the choice?

The trip with my daughter was most excellent. An experience that brought us closer together and created simple fun loving memories that will always be just ours. A road trip and vacation with your kid, one on one, is something I highly recommend.

And I think that is what I'm struggling to convey in writing. That depth of emotional connection, the simple joy of spending time with my daughter, just us, singing, laughing, talking and sharing pieces of each other, away from everything and everyone we know. Putting those feelings and thoughts into words seems beyond my abilitites.

While I want to share all the laughter and joy in my heart from this trip with her, I also want to keep them close, hold fast to those memories and cherish them for what they gave me, and I hope, gave her as well.

time well wasted

The past couple of weekends I've stolen time for myself. Time I don't normally carve from the endless cycle of running and doing that constantly demands attention. It's just how it is, kids need to be here or there, dishes need doing, laundry needs washing, house needs cleaning. The next minute I look up from the task in front of me and suddenly it's closing in on the next day and another round of schedule humping.

With the arrival of slightly warmer weather last weekend, I gathered the dog and a daypack and headed off to explore an area of my town that I knew about but have never bothered to visit in the almost eighteen years of living within a ten minute drive.

A forestry resource center, with trails, trees and quiet. I used to spend many many hours exploring up in the South Mountain and Watchung reservations in good weather, and bad, because the woods have always been a place that offers me solitude, peace, and the openess to think, or not, should that be the inclination of the moment. But over time, despite having several acceptable parks close at hand, I stopped finding the time for leisurely walks in the woods unless it was on vacation.

I missed it.

Somehow I had forgotten how much my time in the woods nurtured my spirit until I was deep into my walk, sipping some water, the dog at my side and felt myself breathe, just breathe, and absorb the silence of a pine forest trail. It was wonderful.

                             

So I went back Sunday, and my daughter went with me. And the dog, of course, because she has some bizarre radar that zeroes in on a person who might even be thinking of going for a walk and leaving the house for such a venture without the canine companion is just not tolerable to her mind.

This weekend the weather was even more gentle so I headed back to explore further and found hints of spring in wild rhododendren shoots pushing through the fallen leaves.

In tender leaf buds on swaying branches.

And in the murmuring of the river, flush from the recent rains.

A nice long stroll in the woods reminds me to breathe, to take the time to notice the details in the world around me. During these walks, where pine needles carpet the path, I can put aside the day to day frets and focus on bigger things.

Like which path will lead me to the next discovery.
              

          

bird in the hand

Recently I've gone to the birds. Specifically the the birds that have made our backyard their playground. It started with the Cardinal, which has to be my favorite bird ever and one I consider my animal totem. Whenever I was struggling emotionally after my parents died and I slipped outside into the backyard to breathe or think, or not think, there always seemed to a cardinal sitting on the fence, or flying past me with a quick chirp. That flash of color, the beautiful sight of those cardinals always made me feel a bit lighter of spirit, brighter in my heart.

As with anything like this, I became obsessed, so I read up about cardinals, put cardinal figures in my office, in my car. I tend to over obsess when I'm interested in something. Whenever I saw one through the kitchen window, I would stop and just watch as it surveyed its surroundings and sang away. Seeing the male & female pair flit about the grass looking for food together never failed to make me smile.

My family gave me a bird feeder and a bag of Cardinal food for Christmas and it was one of the best presents ever. To compliment that bird feeder gift, Giggles made a clay Cardinal figurine for me. I keep that in my office, on my desk, where I see it everyday, remembering the pride in her eyes when I opened it, seeing evidence of the love in the crafting of the detail.

With the weather being more hospitable to sitting outside with a morning cup of tea, I've been spending considerable time plopped in a patio chair, with the camera and a pair of binoculars. Bird Watching. Who knew it would be so incredibly fascinating?

The Cardinal has been camera shy, or is just fucking with me, and I suspect that latter, since this morning I got off one shot before he flew away and the minute I went back into the house both the male and female were hanging out at the feeder. I swear they were laughing at me.

I get an unbelievable amount of pleasure from just watching the birds swoop in, nibble on some seed and zip away. It's peaceful and fun. There is an amazing level of social dynamics going on in my little bird neighborhood. Currently there is a territorial scuffle going on among the Morning Doves, as it appears a new single guy is trying to move into the hood. I watched the male of another pair repeatedly chase him off, but the new guys persistent.

The variety of birds I see seems to differ minute by minute, I suspect the chirp about food readily available is being shared from nest to nest and I'll continue to be amazed by the colors and song as new birds make their way to the community. I mean I knew they were there, I just didn't know how many different ones were there. And now they all like to come and hang out, eat some food and make some noise.

The birdsong that filters through windows in the early morning is a great way to begin my day. Happy, uplifting and sweet. I'm starting to identify the cardinal, from the woodpecker, from the nut thatch. I think. But these are the sounds of the morning hours as I make tea, shake the web of dreams from my brain and get ready for the day. All in all not a bad start upon waking.

Thunder has decided she's guarding the feeder against the squirrels. She was very disappointed to learn the feeder is squirrel proof, a fact that really pisses the squirrels off as I see them, sitting on the edge of the deck, trying to figure out a way to get to the seed inside. But the weight of the squirrel on the feeder triggers the outside cage to slide down and block the access holes, preventing squirrel raids. I like to think they've given up, but those squirrels are crafty and determined. I'm expecting a full on assault any day now.

Thunder is convinced  too, so she's keeping a vigilant eye on things, just in case it gets out of hand. 

Me? I'm going to get another cup of tea and hang out and listen to some bird song.

got me some gnome of my own

Meet The Gnome.

He currently resides just under my computer monitor at work. I think he's repelling all the annoying emails asking me to do stuff I don't really want to do.

He makes me smile everytime I look at him.

My daughter made him. You know you want one for your desk, too.

Nature Inspired

he beauty of nature that surrounds us constantly inspires me, be it big bold splashes of color in the sky at sunset, the shape of a leaf, the curl of a flower or the minute finely wrought details of a butterfly wing.

This guy was having a feast of flower nectar on Tom Sawyer Island in Disney back in 2007.

This my GreeblePix entry.