WHAATT? A name change for prunes!

I’m a big fan of The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond and recently re-read her Ten Important Things I’ve Learned about Blogging.  Number 5 has a sentence: “I’ve found, over time, that I tend to blog about the same things I’d talk to my sister about.”

While I am not longer able to actually talk to my sister Micki;  we, including our sister-in-law Lee did have quite a talk about prunes and dried plums before Micki passed away last month.  She was taking very strong pain medications, which, if you didn’t know, cause constipation so we were buying prunes in large sized containers/bags.  And they seemed to help her!

I happened to look at the large bag one day and noticed that one of the bags did not say Prunes.

It was labeled (in very small print dried) Plums! PLUMS? Ah, are they trying to change the image of prunes?  Yes, of course!  I even found a website dedicated to dried plums with nary a mention to prunes: http://www.californiadriedplums.org/.  It does have a section which states “California Dried Plums are one of the best natural constipation remedies.”

Well, ok then, dried Plums it is!  (As for me, no matter what they call them I still don’t like ‘em.)

Mom, my sister and I.  Man oh man, do I miss both of them!

I will continue writing about subjects which she and I (and yes, Lee too) would talk about.

Walkie Talkie Thoughts by a friend…

My friend Sal wrote this and I like it so much I got permission from him to share it with you.  I wish I had written it!

WALKIE TALKIE
This is not a story about hand held radios. It is a story of an observation I've made over the past four days. I have been...
working turn two at Laguna Seca for a five day motorcycle event. Each day after lunch I've notice two woman walking briskly around the lake bed area. The entire time they are involved in rapid conversation. At one point in their chosen course they pass close enough to turn two for me to hear them but not really understand what they are saying.
This got me to wondering as I have many times in the past. Where do people find so much to talk about?

These two women were either good old friends with a lot of catching up to do. Or co-workers gossiping about co-workers. Whatever the subject they seemed to enjoy sharing their thoughts with each other.

Note from me:  I don’t think I could EVER talk that long!
It's about a mile around the lake bed area and they do about eight laps. Imagine walking eight miles and talking the whole time.

Note from me:  I particularly can relate to this next paragraph, especially about those with a gift for gab that GET has!
Those of you who know me know I am not much of a talker. This doesn't mean there is nothing going on in my head. On the contrary there is a lot, maybe too much to consolidate into a sentence. When I was a child my family would always ask,"How come you don't talk?" And my father would reply "Oh he's just shy." This was not the case. I was and continue to be an observer of mankind. Also I have learned that if I open my mouth I only create a larger space to insert my foot. So I choose to keep my mouth closed before the sarcasm comes flowing out. Which it usually does. And I have learned that not everyone is a fan of sarcasm. But I envy those who are blessed with the gift of gab. It creates good public relations and can get you far in life.

Note from me:  Sal has this picture of him posted on Facebook.  Sarcastic expression at this age?

So tomorrow when I see those two women walking an talking, I will smile to myself and think, they must be good friends who haven't driven each other crazy. Yet.

Note from me: This has nothing to do with the thoughts Sal shared here but all of us that know him love to see photos of him during his younger years!  A hippie at Disneyland?  Sure appears so!

Note from me:  I guess even very good friends drive each other crazy sometimes but its almost always a temporary crazy!

Pinterest, I love it BUT. . .

I just spent the last hour (or so) browsing, “liking” and Pinning on Pinterest.  I love Pinterest but what is the point? I have a bunch of Boards and lots of items pinned on them.   I “follow” 44 other Pinners and have 29 who follow Me, most of whom I don’t personally know.

Why do I need to collect pictures of “All kinds of critters?”

I know why I started this Board.  GET and I used to follow “love is…” in the newspaper because we related to this little loving couple.

I love to read, love libraries and search out Carnegie Libraries as we travel the country.  Other than really liking the libraries I’ve posted I’m not sure why I spend time collecting and posting them on Pinterest!

I’ve always saved quotes and “words to live by” in a little book.  Now I post my favorites on a board. 

The main board on Pinterest.  All kinds of intriguing pictures and subjects to browse through and “Pin It” to my boards!

I do enjoy it and will continue to Pinterest even though I don’t know why!  Come see me on Travelerlady if you also like to spend time doing something of dubious value!  Who needs a reason!

Not Me. . .Happy Pinning!

We go on the road…the good, the bad and the ugly!

We hadn’t been on the road with our fifth wheel for awhile and were happy to be out curing a serious case of “itchy-hitch.” (As in we are itching to get on the road.) As we hooked the Escalade up to the truck I had a flash of foreboding but brushed it aside.

Our trip down the coast was uneventful.  Found a spot at one of our favorites along the coast, Rincon Beach in Ventura County and had a nice evening enjoying the ocean and a glass of wine with my sister.

The next day got a WHOLE lot more interesting.  Our name wasn’t on the list when we pulled up to the guard shack at Coronado Naval Station to check in for Fleet Week Coronado Speed Festival. 

When the young Shore Patrol sailor at the gate directed us toward a small-ish parking lot to wait for clearance GET told her he didn’t think our long rig would make it. “Oh, it’s ok for you to drive over the curb.” she told him.  So, following orders we started to pull into the parking lot only to hear sirens and bells and alarms go off!  At least four security vehicles arrived within seconds and a huge steel gate rose from the ground effectively closing the Base down!

The back of our fifth wheel had “brushed” against the concrete barrier at the guard shack! No damage to the concrete barrier but our home was definitely dinged up! No matter, the Shore Patrol security personnel took both of our driver’s licenses, our insurance, registration, asked where we each were born and asked GET if he had ever been in the military. (yes sir-he proudly served six years in the USAF.)  We were surprised that they didn’t request Dulee’s adoption papers! They didn’t throw us in the Brig and we were finally cleared to enter the Base.

GET thought that this was just a little repair job until we got the estimate from the RV repair shop: $3,000!  Thank goodness for insurance!

After the incident we got settled in our fifth wheel’s designated spot on the Base runway.

View from my window (because of my hip replacement I wasn’t able to be a Course Marshal for the event):  a racetrack, a cruise ship and a Navy helicopter.  Pretty cool, I thought.

GET doesn’t often do Course Marshaling.  Here he is in his whites setting up at Turn 7 on the racetrack.

More from my window: Vintage muscle cars (my favorite) gridded up to race. WAY back I owned a ‘65 Mustang similar to #222.

I liked the design of this helmet.

After good, bad, and ugly at Coronado Fleet Week we continued on to a new location for us: Jalama Beach. A bit more “ugly” at Jalama Beach where we were assigned a site which we could not get our rig into. . .of course the sun set to darkness as we were trying to figure out where to park. . .and, of course the Ranger Station had closed for the night so we winged it and parked in a less-than-desirable vacant spot for the night.  Next day it was all worked out with the Ranger and we were set for the next few days in a site with a perfect view of the Pacific.  Pretty close to paradise!

Jalama Beach Store advertises “world famous Jalama burgers.”  One of our friends noted that GET is checking out other good buns in this photo!!! Nah, couldn’t be, but it sure appears that way!

The burgers were GREAT just as they said.

Fabulous Pacific Ocean sunsets.

Working our way up the coast, our next stop was Morro Bay.  Our home with a view of Morro Rock which is part of a chain of nine extinct volcano peaks called the Nine Sisters.  Morro Bay has been one of our favorite destinations for years.  I always visit The Garden Gallery store and add to my succulents collection.

Found these cute earrings at Poppy.

This guy was obviously on the lookout for fish waste and most likely trash too!  We didn’t give him a chance to get near our Dungeness crabs.

We ended this adventure at Camping World where we had this HD satellite dish installed on our home.

My initial sense of foreboding really hit me just as we were finishing at Camping World and I learned that my sister is terminally ill.  Much too hard right to write about now…maybe never.

Life really does have the “good, the bad and the ugly” doesn’t it?

Would love to be moving like this!

And, as a result of a total hip surgery I am now a bionic woman and will soon will be buzzing around!  I thought I would be writing lots of blogs as I recovered but was in no frame of mind to do any writing!

This card wasn’t designed to be a get well card but Judy said it just seemed so appropriate for someone who has the use of only one leg!  I agree.

For three weeks following surgery this walker contraption and I were (reluctant on my part) best friends. . .

Then this cute cane on loan from my friend Sandy took over as my (again, reluctant on my part) good friend:

Now, a few months later, this bionic woman is hobbling around on her own power and we’re even doing some traveling!

Glad to be back to the Blogging world!

It’s a dog’s life. . .

Dulee is happy. . .Harvey’s Lake Tahoe has pet-friendly rooms and he feels so special!

In our room he was greeted with a doggy placemat, two nicely decorated bowls for his water and food, a clip-on case of poop bags and gourmet Alaska’s Bakery dog treats! (He doesn’t like the gourmet treats, guess he’s just not a gourmet-type dog.  He prefers his Charlee Bear treats which are “healthy” rather than gourmet.)

He happily sighed and settled quite comfortably on the bed.

Of course, nature calls and Dulee has not only a map for finding his “bathroom”. . .

But the path to the “bathroom” is also marked outside on the sidewalk!

And he hangs his door tag when he is in.

His view from our room on the 14th floor.

He’s come a long way from his days as a stray on the streets of Orange County!

Postscript to A Tale of Shoes

So, the “grand's” received their package in the mail.

Stanley in his “Enjoy the Show” t-shirt and Will in his new shoes.

And Mary in her pink top.

Will looked at the new neon athletic shoes and very seriously said: “I bet these shoes are fast.” put them on and outside he went.  Russ said he ran up and down the block several times and when he finally came back he reported that “yes, these shoes are very fast!”

The “FAST” shoes.

Don’t ya just love the way a child’s mind works?

A tale of shoes. . .

Last Saturday Gary and I went up to the Gilroy Skechers outlet store and bought each of us a pair of Skechers (he needed them, I wanted them.)  We happened to see Jorden’s favorite, a Van’s shoe store, and, since his were looking really sorry Gary went in and bought two pair, one on sale and the second pair at half price!  Such a deal!

Jorden was visiting the Fresno Five (that’s what we call Russ & Denise and their three) and when Russ heard about the shoe purchase he said, Hey, there’s another grandson who really needs shoes!  Jorden said Will’s pinky toe is sticking out of his shoe.

So Papa and I headed over to Famous Footwear to buy some shoes for Will . . .something neon was the request.  Oh my, there were a lot to choose from! Which would he like?  We narrowed it down to three and sent IPhone pictures:

Did Will chose this one OR. . .

This one OR. . .

This one?

He chose the first one.  In his words he loved the first one!  (Interesting ‘cause that’s the one we were going to buy if we couldn’t reach him for a decision!)

Mission accomplished but wait---we can’t send a box to Will and not include Stanley and Mary even if they don’t need shoes!  So, it’s over to Old Navy where we pick a cute pink ruffled top for Mary and a cool T-shirt for Stanley.

Box in the mail yesterday!  Mission now accomplished!

The four best grandchildren fresh out of the pool:

And that is the tale of how the purchase of a pair of shoes turned into the purchase of five pairs of shoes, one ruffled top and one T-shirt!

Life is good!!

To everything there is a season. . .

and a time to every purpose under heaven;

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to get, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time of war, and a time of peace.

I have always liked these eight verses from Ecclesiastes;  have no clue why I relate them to Spring and Easter but I do.  Recently I was reminded of them when the monk Athelstan recited them during a battle scene on History Channel’s The Vikings series.  He seemed to be praying the verses as spears, swords and axes were flying around his head in a very violent conflict. That sure doesn’t relate to Spring and Easter does it?

Some Spring indications around here:

Narcissus from my yard.

Not sure, but these may be orchids!  Vivian plopped this pot in my yard about a year or so ago, no blooms until last week when these beauty’s emerged!

Wild flowers from here at Laguna Seca.  They are very tiny and only bloom for a few weeks in Spring.

 Buttercups. (I only know this because of a newspaper article in our Herald newspaper last week.)

Aren’t these little violet wildflowers cute?

 

 A field of yellow wildflowers with Coast Oaks in the background.

Again, as I reread the “For everything there is a season. . .” verse I still wonder why I associate it with the Spring season but I do, so I guess that’s that!

Happy Spring to you.

NOTE:  The big mower here at Laguna Seca just came by and mowed down all of the pretty wild flowers (and the weeds that were overpowering them!) Good thing I took these pics a few days ago!