Down the road…

I’m revisiting this post from one of my tour stops last month.  It was one of my favorites, since it brought up some great memories.

I’m not a big traveler.  I mean, I’d like to be, I’d like to be toodling around in a giant Winnebago or flying off to exotic locales like ones I read about.  But my very blue collar world doesn’t include scenarios like that.  I’ve only really been on a few big trips in my life.

A big vacation when I was in the fourth grade brought me to the Grand Canyon and all up the West Coast.  I’ve been scuba diving in Grand Cayman and Cozumel and Honduras.  I’ve been to London.  I’ve been skiing in Taos, NM.  All of those things were in my twenties.  And I went to Vegas for my honeymoon.  That about sums up my travelling portfolio.

But one trip that wasn’t a vacation, stands out in my head as life altering.

When my daughter was five, her dad and I called it quits.  We were living in Colorado at the time, a beautiful, majestic place.  Also rivaling California for expensive living.  I couldn’t afford to live there on my own, and I didn’t want to.  It was time to move back home.  To Texas.  To family.

The small town I was going back to would be very different from what I was leaving behind.  I knew that.  I knew I was making the conscious choice to raise my daughter in an entirely different lifestyle.  She would be a blue-collar Texas girl, like I was.  So my dad and my brother rented a uHaul truck and drove the 2-day stretch to come help me pack up everything I owned, and we left.

I remember looking in the rearview mirror with tears in my eyes as I watched the big rock formation in Castle Rock, Colorado disappear around a bend.

I knew I’d never be back.  I felt the loss as I drove through mountain passes and little picturesque towns.  I looked at my daughter, coloring in a Barbie coloring book, who really wasn’t old enough to register what she was leaving behind, and both celebrated that fact and regretted it.

I got to spend precious moments with my dad, that I didn’t really realize was precious at the time.  We stopped and ate at little mom and pop diners along the way, and stayed at the tiniest roach motel I’ve ever seen…lol…  I remember pulling up finally, at the end of the second day, into my mother’s driveway.  Thinking:  “I’m finally home” and “Oh my God, what have I done” at the very same time.  I had no house, no job, no security for my daughter other than a support system of family.  I got us there two weeks before Kindergarten started, so she’d start in one place and not have to move in the middle.

One month later, I found a rent house and a job in the very same day.  And five years later my dad died…with my mom to follow eight months after that.  My choice gave my daughter a chance to know them, hang out with them almost daily.  She has deep rooted memories that I wish could have lasted longer but at least they are there.  She’s 17 now, and remembers certain activities with them vividly.

I still miss Colorado sometimes, but I’ve been here for twelve years now, have remarried into a wonderful family and have fully reinstated my Texas drawl and attitude.  It’s home again.

Do you have a trip that changed your life in some way?  Share!

The Wonder of Wildlife

This weekend the kids and I went to Jupiter Beach, Florida.  It’s turtle season which means the females head for shore to lay their eggs.  Instinct drives them to wade up the sandy beach, dig a hole, deposit their eggs, bury them safe and secure and then head back out to sea, never to see the babes again.  It’s an incredible sight to see, one my husband and I stumbled upon years ago.  We happened to be walking the beach late at night during a full moon and spotted the gal doing her business.  Careful not to disturb her, we enjoyed watching, witnessing a miracle of nature in process.

Now intentionally waiting for turtles to arrive on is a whole different story.  You park yourself on the beach and sit.  And wait, with no guarantee you’ll see the first turtle. 

Granted it’s not as bad as watching paint dry.  I mean, at least you have the waves lapping at your feet, the moon spilling its light onto the ocean’s surface, but after a while, the kids get a bit antsy.

“When are the turtles coming?”

“Why aren’t they here yet?”

It’s kind of distracts from the ambiance, the gorgeous setting.  We’re not the only ones there.  Others are here for the same purpose.  But at some point, it becomes intolerable.  It becomes:  too late to wait.

When is that point?  An hour?  Two?  When more people around you are beginning to immerse themselves in one another as opposed to the turtle watch?  The questions then become, “Mom, what are those people doing?”

Enjoying the scenery, dear.  But I don’t dare voice the same.  My son is at the age he’ll ask the obvious outright while my daughter would rather wince at the mere thought of what they “might” be doing.  We held our patience for about an hour and 20 minutes.  Pretty good, considering it was 10:30 at night after a long day at the beach.  We were sad to go and hoped to find evidence of their arrival the next day.

We didn’t.  This stake was from April.  Volunteers scout the beach at night and mark the new nests with a stake, labeled with the date eggs were deposited.  My girlfriend lives in Jupiter and has better luck with turtles.  She sent us this picture of a mammoth leatherback that landed across the street from her condo building.  This turtle was quite the attraction during the early morning hours–one we’re sorry we missed.

If you ever have a chance to visit Jupiter during turtle season, take it.  And if you’re not up for the midnight turtle watch, do stop by the Loggerhead Visitors Center. Located just down the street in Juno Beach, they have real life turtles on hand and plenty of education regarding the same.  In fact, this trip I learned that female turtles make this trek to the beach several times a season, then come back a few years later for another round.  On average, their eggs take two months to hatch and then the little babies flee their burial ground for the sea.

One year the kids and I were fortunate enough to witness this “baby dash.”  Unfortunately for my children, they were too young to remember and I unprepared to snap away the photos leaving it an event we seek to repeat.  Needless to say, it was memorable.

What’s your most memorable wildlife experience?

What Is It About Flowers?

They don’t produce foodstuff like my vegetables.  Generally speaking.  There are those out there among us who eat flowers, but not this “us.”  Unless it’s the bloom from my basil and then yes, I’m all about eating flowers.

Some blooms don’t even produce fragrance.  Take my geraniums, for instance.  I think it’s the leaves that carry the familiar smell from my grandmother’s garden, the distinct scent that can transport a girl back to her youth, back to a Sunday drive along Lakeshore Drive in Michigan where geraniums line front porches in Traverse City, sweep the grounds of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island…

Flowers are very potent.  Memorable.  Not only can they fill your senses with their bouquet of color, but they’ll bring a smile to your face.  My mother was known for her gardenia.  Once a year she’d clip the white beauties and carry them indoors, their heavy perfume infusing the house with their presence.  We kids could always count on finding her in a good mood when she was clipping her gardenia.

And if your friend is in the hospital?  What better gift than a gargantuan sunflower?

How about some of my favorite gerber daisies?

One can’t help but feel better when surrounded by flowers.  And I think that might be their purpose.  Flowers are on this earth to fill our hearts with charity, bring smiles to our faces, share love with those near and dear and of course, make our world a brighter, more beautiful space. 

But don’t discount their practical functionality altogether!  As a gardener I can tell you:  plant marigolds around your vegetables and flowers and you’ll not have to worry about underground marauders.  These gorgeous blooms of sunshine make the best companions because they repel critters like nematodes and whiteflies.  Have you heard better news today?

“Not I!” said the rose to the fly.

Your worst date…ever… LOL!!

We’ve all had them.  We may be all settled in and comfy now…

but once upon a time we weren’t.  And there are many many ways for a date to go terrrrrrribly wrong.  Sometimes it’s the situation–the location-

…the ambiance.

 

Sometimes it’s the guy.

 

Sometimes it may all LOOK good,

but it’s that creep factor that worms under your skin telling you that maybe you need to accidentally get that phone call.

 

LOL — mine was when I was 17.  I’ll tell you mine when you tell me yours…

 

 

Coming Down from Vacation

Went to Colorado for spring break with the family and I’ll tell you, vacation really unplugs me.  So far out of my routine, my mind disconnects and I lose track of the flow for everyday life.  A good thing, I know (unless you have 100 things going on that need attention!).

But we can all use a break and what better place than the Colorado Rockies?  Especially this time of year.  Blue skies, warm temps, not much snow (but who noticed?).  There was plenty enough on the ski runs!

I have a girlfriend who invites the family and I out every year to stay with her for a week and while we don’t always make it, we do enjoy the years we can.  After all, this is the woman responsible for introducing me to my husband.  Back in our younger day, we were on spring break, took a ski trip and spotted the handsome devil in a bar in Vail (not the advisable place to meet one’s future spouse, but suffice it say, 16 years and 2 kids later we’re doing just fine).

So we have somewhat of a soft spot for this location.  And now that the kids love it (and my girlfriend, her dog, her sense of fun and spirit of adventure…), we all enjoy the trip!  But alas, reality hits and the vacation ends and it’s time to return to the daily business of living.  And now it’s time for me to move back into the “zone” and prepare for spring. I have vegetables to plant (and harvest — my sweet onions are nearly ready!), a WIP to finalize and prepare for May release, a blog hop to launch—and then of course there’s summer break to look forward.  Hello beach, here I come!

Life is good.  How about you?  What do you do to unwind? Do you find it difficult to plug back in?