I know I have tons of amazingly wonderful comments to answer here and tons of your wonderful blog posts to read. And I will. You know I will. But I want to share a little vacation story of sorts first.
(my beach feets)
Despite the cottage and beach and on-going party that was Canada, I’m just a little bit sad about my visit as Dad is a little white haired guy in church now. His hands sometimes belie just a hint of shakiness. He says this may be the last year he makes hay. Says he’s going to get rid of the 3 horses too, (tho both his mares may be pregnant! He left them with Howie’s stud for 6 weeks, so how serious can he be about giving them up? Dad’s had horses since he was 10.)
But those are just fleeting images in time. Not who Dad really is. He’s strong. Vibrant. An amazing 72.
I don’t know. I should be so glad to have happy healthy parents. Many of you have already lost yours. I’m not complaining, just realizing a little deeper that we all aren’t all going to be here forever. Not in this capacity anyway.
(Dad & Mom, 50th wedding anniversary party, last week)
Time is marching on and hasn’t stopped for me. What’s up with that?
Oh well, I guess I’m doing a little pre-grieving at how things will change. How Mom and Dad will pass on. My remaining aunts and uncles too. Jim. My brothers and sister. Kelly. Kelly’s kids. All of us. And I don’t want to be a downer but gee, I want more than ever to move back home and spend as much time as I can with the ones I love. And I don’t want to be a further downer but I really don’t want to die. Ever. I believe in God and a happy heaven but as time goes by, heaven’s getting closer and closer — not that nebulous “someday” of before.
And is it just me or does everybody feel their parents are the last of a dying breed?
So that’s where my head’s at today as I re-enter this Texas life, thousands of miles from all my relatives. As I wonder what the hell I’m doing here so far away from them anyway. I feel like the bad one in the family for letting my wanderlust carry me so far. And for staying away all these years, nineteen years in Texas now.
Thus I leave you for now and probably for several days, until I catch up with your lives.
But please don’t worry ’bout my overall state of mind — I’m sure I’ll be back to bra-flinging and / or other assorted crazy crap here soon enough.
Hey all! Here’s where Jannie’s been hanging out — the Bay Of Chaleur at Mom & Dad’s cottage.
Last year they added on a little porch with 5 windows. Put in solar panels too.
We likes it a LOT.
Love hearing the waves splish and splash.
Great place for young kids…
and bigger kids, like my sister and me.
Mom has it fixed up real cute inside.
Sunsets are not bad here.
Neither are the bon fires at night.
We’ll be back home one week from today! I hope to post again in the meantime. If not, ’cause I’m enjoying my coffee and favorite beach chair and such, I’ll see you back in Austin.! xoxoxoxo
Yep, we’re heading today to the Home & Native Land for Mom & Dad’s Golden Wedding Anniversary. Wait – they can’t be married FIFTY years — that’s for OLD people isn’t it? Ahh, but they’re just babes of 72 and 70.
Speaking of babes, here’s one. (shhhh, he’s only 2 and 1/2 years younger than my mom.)
Regrettably this handsome husbandly type can’t join Kelly and me on this trip. The deal to sell our car biz fell through, so Jim’s staying behind to work, making sure Kelly and I can travel and party in the posh style we’ve grown accustomed to.
Miss him so much already, but that’s the way it goes in the real world sometimes. He’s the sweetest man I know.
And just for fun… as suggested by a very very wonderful blogger, Chris, here’s my Jim in a few retro dos. Oh. Dear. Lord.
1950……………………………..1958
1968……………………………. 1976
1978…………………………… 1980
1984…………………………… 1986
1990……………………………..1996
Sorry, Hon, couldn’t resist. And I’ll be 1000 miles away by the time you see these and the neighbors call 911 at the sound of your screams.
(Friends, If you missed Kelly and my retro hair post the other day, you can check it out here.)
Oh, and we can’t leave Blue Bunny out, now can we?
But wait! Isn’t Blue Bunny a boy? (I can’t quite tell. ) So here…
Well, it’s 4:05 a.m. Gotta get Kelly up, first plane of 3 today lifts off at 5:45.
Leaving my laptop here (yes, a wild move, I know) and will have limited Internet access in Canada, but I plan to post at least a few times from my brother Harry‘s over the next 2 weeks — so be sure to check back here for some kick-ass pictorials and vacation antics, okay? Okay!
Promise I’ll get around to your blogs as soon as I can.
AND DON’T YOU ALL FORGET ABOUT ME , OKAY!?!? OKAY!!!
Kelly and I have been contemplating hairstyle make-overs for a while now. Well, thanks to Morgan Howard at her Creatively Logical Blog, we discovered a cool site, Yearbook Yourself, to upload our mugshots to and voila! Previews of ourselves in these seriously interesting dos.
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
I’m leaning towards the 1982 for me and she likes the 2000 for her. Or do you think we should stay with our current looks below, in the photos we uploaded for this extravaganza?
Is just me or is Kelly a dead ringer for Mia Farrow in the 1974?
And why do we look like Uncle Sylvester from Winnipeg in the 1972?
1967: Me, Brother Joe, Brother Harry & Tom the cat (See # 36 below.)
During the course of my extremely long blogging career — almost eleven whole months now, I’ve learned a thing or 46 I’d like to share …
1. Blogging can take up a LOT of time.
2. Blogging can be addictive.
3. Bloggers need just as much sleep as non-bloggers. Sleep — right up there with oxygen for humans.
4. I will not die if I run out of time to read every single word of every single post of every single one my blogging buddies, it only feels that way. (I hate getting behind.)
5. It’s okay to post on my own schedule.
6. Since I can’t do justice to ALL 137 social media sites, I’ve picked a couple favorites to learn inside-out — Stumble Upon and Twitter. Facebook I use more for long-lost cousins, whom I’ve found 296 of so far! (Long Canadian winters and no tv for my grandparents made for lots of bouncing Funster babies.)
7. The wild beast of Efficient Twittering can and hopefully will be tamed by me. (I’m up to page 177 of “Twitter For Dummies” at this writing.)
8. Bloggers are a super nice bunch of peeps.
9. Bloggers are a supportive bunch of peeps.
10. I can go from laughing on one friend’s blog to crying on another’s to laughing again on another’s in the space of minutes.
11. Blogging connects souls.
12. I care as deeply for some bloggers as I do for real life friends I’ve known for years.
13. My blogging buds often, if not usually, know more than I do on topics I post about. I never cease to be amazed.
14. I am surprised there are still psychotherapists around with all this blogging love and wisdom to be had for free.
15. It’s great to share helpful things on blogs. Why hog the good stuff?
16. Being controversial for the sake of pageviews is not something I’d ever feel comfortable doing.
17. I must be kind, I never know how my words will affect someone.
18. I must be sincere, I never know how my words will affect someone.
33. Using stats can be very helpful to draw traffic, maybe even loyal traffic. By poking around in my Google Analytics a lot has been revealed to me. (Google stats are free.)
34. I still don’t know how to write a proper About page. And I keep hearing About pages are important.
35. Getting away from the computer into the wilds of Real Life is a wonderful thing.
36. People love photos in blog posts, especially ones from my personal life.
37. I love photos in posts, especially ones from bloggers’ personal lives.
38. Commenting on an A-List blogger’s post can bring in traffic, but there is a way to overdo it.
39. Some blog communities are not so much communities as cliques.
40. I never want this blog to become a clique and will continue to be aware of that.
41. As to content, the mind’s the limit. One can never get TOO creative in blogging.
42. Once in a while I’m a little fearful before I publish something weird or potentially that people might not approve of, like what may or may not be a funny photo session,) but as Bold Tess says in her Inspirational Book, your successes are usually preceded by fear.
43. I CAN be bold — do reviews, guest posts, put ads on my site, switch to a crazy background color, etc.
44. I wonder if I’ll ever reach a satisfied place as I strive for bigger and better blogging things?
45. The more I realize just how deeply I can get into blogging and the promotion thereof, the more I realize just how deeply I can get into blogging and the promotion thereof — which leads right back to point #1 … TIME.
46. I’ve got a whole heck of a lot more to learn about blogging.
Any observations on my observations or ones of your own to add?
