Friday Fill Ins #162

1. I know you think you know me but you really don't. 2. Sometimes it seems like right now is the longest month. 3. You can't help but wonder what on earth you were thinking. 4. OK BuddyBazuba, bring it on!! 5. Where have you looked when you thought you lost your mind? 6. My heart is now available. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a nap before I do anything else, tomorrow my plans include leisurely reading the paper in bed, and on Sunday, I want to finish, or at least work on my Grand Canyon album.

The Oasis

I've never seen an oasis. I heard about them in Sinbad the Sailor (OMG, is there anyone still alive who remembers that?)and of course Arabian Nights, but I didn't REALLY think they REALLY existed. Maybe you've seen them. I thought it was so very interesting, kind of like Creator made the desert and then looked at it and thought, Holy S*@&, that's really kind of monochromatic and makes me feel really thirsty and kind of dehydrated and so He made the oases. Is that how you spell it if there is more than one? Must be. If I had made the earth it all would have been covered with bling. But I didn't (and I know many many people are relieved) and so I think the oasis is Creator's version of bling. Yes, that's what it is. Desert bling.

Wordless Wednesday

Soup to Nuts

I have been feeling a HUGE need to make something. Anything will do, as long as I do it with my hands. Where to start, what to make? This week's challenge at Opus Gluei asks us to either finish or start something (keeping in mind that their challenges are always open to liberal interpretation, which is tigerrific, IMO) and so, I went back into my Shuttercal daily photo calendar and caught up. I was 13 days behind, so this was no easy feat. I feel so much better now. This is something I began last November, then stalled after two days of enthusiasm, then got back to it and did a photo a day for all of December. I am committed to doing this, one day at a time, all year, unless of course I drop my camera into another lake. But that won't happen, as I have made the decision to staple it to my left hip whenever I am near any bodies of water. ouch. Here's my project: here

Goodnight Gracie.

I've inflicted enough on you for one night, can you tell I haven't had any access to a computer for five days? I AM going to post more PS pics for the rest of the week, simply because it was an excellent adventure and I won't be doing anything interesting for the rest of this week, just sleeping and trying to do some damage control at work. It's good to be home. ALWAYS good to be home.

Robots

Will you LOOK at these? I saw them on the Celebrity bus tour and after I picked up my rental car the next day, I went back to the neighbourhood where I thought they were and drove around until I found them. The whole yard is FULL of these humungeous creatures, all made out of found materials. I haven't edited the photos yet, but I can tell you the colours were so bright and the figures so large that I could hardly believe my eyes. Note the closeups. Unlike anything I've ever seen. It alone was worth the price of the rental car.

Art Gallery

I REALLY wanted to go to the Art Gallery, mainly to see Linda Conners' photography, which was A-MAZE-ING. What I didn't know was that they one of Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures in the garden. I LOVE his work! We saw it in Washington, DC one year and I could barely tear myself away from it. Click on the photo to get a better look. There was also an "Outrageous Art" exhibit, with this piece made entirely out of comics. Very cool. I got a pic of it just before the guard gave me heck. At the entrance there was a sign that said you could take pictures without flash, but apparently, only of certain pieces. And I didn't know the secret code. At any rate, I loved the sculpture of the couple sitting on the bench. I tried to talk to them but they didn't answer. There was all sorts of awesome work there, I'm so glad I went.

The Movie Colony

Did you know Liberace had a mailbox shaped like a grand piano? Me neither. I took one of those tours to see where the movie stars live (with all the other elderly folks) and it was actually pretty cool The other problem was, I lost my passport that day. I rented a car the next day and re-traced my steps and sure enough, they found it on the bus. I stood there crying when they gave it back to me. ARRRGGGHHH.
Hey, maybe I should get a mailbox shaped like a bottle of Stickles.

Tahquitz Canyon

I hiked 2, count em 2 miles through this amazing canyon on Indian land. (This is the lady who would drive her truck to the bathroom if she could.) I was puffin away and one (much younger) gentleman looked at me and suggested I try the trail on the other side of the canyon as he said it wasn't quite so steep. I would have, if I could have found it. Anyways, it involved some climbing of rocks and such and at the end of the trail in was this lovely waterfall. I DID take the other trail back, but it turns out, he was right, it wasn't quite so steep on the way there, but I was going in THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!!! Damn near killed me. My daughter would have been proud of me. I can still barely walk tho and that was 3 days ago. Wowzers.

Home now

OK, so I'm back home now, safe and sound, albeit not real pleased by the snow. The flight attendant on the plane said "Are you folks SURE you want to leave Palm Springs and go back to Canada????" Groans from all. :-)
Long story short, I did end up leaving the place where I was staying and spent the rest of my vacation in Palm Springs, doing all sorts of fun stuff. I took 693 pictures while I was there. NO, I won't post them all here. Bet you're glad to hear that. I will post some, just to show some of the cool places I saw and things I did in those last 3 days on my own. On Thursday evening, after I got settled in my motel, I walked to Villagefest, the weekly street fair. It was OK, some interesting things to see. The strangest thing I ever did see there tho was this little booth. There was a lineup to talk to this gentleman. Go figure. I couldn't think of anything to ask him myself. Although in retrospect, maybe my soul needed saving after the events of the week. Naah, I'm OK with my soul.

Feeling confused tonight

We had a great day for most of the day. Joshua Tree was fascinating although COLD! I got tons of interesting shots Hopefully I'll be able to get to the mall and make a cd. In the afternoon, I had been looking forward to going out to meet some friends and my hostess was worried I would get lost. So we did a "dry run". I had mapquest directions written all down but she didn't see how they could be right and was getting very upset about it, I finally got so fed up with all the chaos that I turned the car round and came home. I CALMLY suggested that I could go do this in the morning when it was light and she wouldn't have to worry about me getting lost in the dark. Well, I'm not sure what happened next, but she told me I should leave "for both our sakes". Wow, get out of here in other words. So I went out. When I came back she was even angrier that I was gone longer that she thought was appropriate and mad that I didn't call. I didn't realize she has taking over the role of "mother" for me. Thanks, not in the market for this. She went into her room and has not come out. I think I'll be looking at changing my flight to get out of here tomorrow if possible, in the morning. I wouldn't live this way at home, with someone giving me the silent treatment and I sure don't want to endure it here, trapped in this house, This SOOOOOO sucks. I was so excited and happy to be coming to spend time with her. I've been trying not to cry all day, but I guess I'll go to bed now and do exactly that. The bird, by the way, is a road runner, I thought they were only in cartoons(!!) and then there are the famous PS dates at the farmers market. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day.

PS I love you

So, scenes. 1. my friend and gracious host, sunning at the pool (r u jealous yet?) 2. snow AND palm trees, how cool is that? 3. a sculpture in the city park. Today we went to an oasis and up 8515 feet in the airial (sp?) tram. It was snowing and blowing at the top and most people had parkas on but there was me, the little old Canadian broad, standing in the wind with a shirt on, smiling like an idiot. It really was NOT cold IMO. Super duper view, tho, and I loved the ride both up and down. We also visited a real oasis, which was VERY kewl, pretty pretty. Walked through the desert to get there, lots of interesting plants out there. I should have some pics tomorrow. Must go back to Target and the CD-maker again. I figure I may as well make it worth my while and get the pics tomorrow at Joshua Tree as well. The weather has been fine. Even at the top of the mountain! :-)

Palm Springs

Here I am! It's taken me this long to get some pictures that I can download to my friend's computer. It's a Mac & I know nothing about a Mac. I went to Target & took some pictures off my camera, had them put on a CD. I put the CD in and here we are! The pic of the trees is the view from my friend's condo and the other is of the lemon tree at her house. Cool, eh? We went to a street fair, for a walk downtown, did some shopping, went for an hour walk today too. AND we spent today at the pool/hot tub. Perfect. Just kind of taking it easy, which is exactly what I came here for. Tomorrow, if it isn't pouring, we're going to Joshua Tree Park for a picnic. I hope it isn't raining! Anyways, now that I have my act together, I'll check in every day. Happy in the sun!

The Last Post

not as in the trumpet melody, as in b'fore I head to the sunshine. Today we had hoarfrost to end all hoarfrost and I HAVE to put a couple of pics of it up-it was like a winter wonderland! I hope the branch shows up how thick it was, imagine the whole world covered with this icycle-y jewels! You know how popular flocking is these days? Well, look closely at the photo of the hill with the arrow. The trees all looked like they were covered with fluffy white flocking and lo and behold, look at what I found! ( I was supposed to be working, in between a meeting and the office, I just couldn't NOT stop) Anyhoo, if I am able, I will post pics from Palm Springs. I'm not taking a laptop, so I don't know if I'll be able to, but hey, back in a week, if you don't hear from me before then. And yes, Virginia, it IS warmer there. TTFN

One More Sleep

Apparently the low here is higher than the high in Palm Springs right now. what the heck???? That's just wrong, there is no other word for it. I mean, it's lovely to hang around outside in our balmy-ooo,-isn't-this-wonderful! summerland, but I'm going to California to WARM UP! Global warming? I DON'T THINK SO. Take that, Al Gore. You can kiss my chubby white warm Canadian tush, if I freeze in Palm Springs next week.
And while I'm on this particular soapbox, why is it I have to be at the airport for my flight 3, count em, 3 hours before my plane leaves, when I'm in the air way less than that? Has the world gone crazy? I think so. OK, I'm done now.

Wordless Wednesday

I Heart my Art

Opus Challenge #38. I love ATC's. They're so much more do-able than full LO's. Inchies are even more fun, but how can you have an inchie exchange? You'd get your inchie in the mail and open the envelope and whoosh, the inchie would fly out onto the carpet and the cat would get it stuck to it's paw and run off with it, with you chasing after yelling "Give that back you stupid cat!". Oh my, I"m exhausted after that sentence! I really should be packing, two more sleeps and I'm off to California. I'm gonna have a date shake. AND, I'm going to the CHA show! I am beside myself with excitement! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Wow. Back to the point of this post, the Opus Challenge. I did my ATC's with a quote which pretty much sums it all up for me: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life". Picasso said that. And he knew. He only had one ear. He knew, trust me. I can come home from the worst day on earth, make something, anything and it's OK. It makes it all better. Picasso knew that and so do I. Peace.

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

So I have this friend. I offered to drive her to the airport. It meant I would have to get up at 3:30 AM, but what are friends for? So I did. I got up at 3:30 AM and was at her door at 5AM as promised. It took a while for her to come to the door and she was in her PJ's. She said to me, "Oh! It's NEXT Monday."
I cannot tell you what I said to her, suffice it to say it wasn't "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."
I'm going to bed now.

Kind Over Matter

This is my ATC for my first ATC exchange. It's through the Kind Over Matter blog here I love this blog, it's simple, full of lovely photos and uplifting. It makes me smile. So I took the leap and signed up to trade an ATC and then guess what happened???? the Opus Poobahs have put forth an ATC swap challenge as well! Isn't that always the way it is? I was asked to join a monthly swap here in town and I declined, because frankly I don't think anyone would want one of my ATC's, but I've gotten some confidence since then and well, the rest is history. I'm smiling tonight. Tomorrow I'll post my Opus ATC's 'cus I actually got them done today, as soon as I saw what the challenge was. OK, OK, I'm a tad OCD. But I'm smiling.

Prayers for Haiti

It's so hard to watch, all the suffering. I can't imagine. I got an email from the friend I'm going to visit next week in California and her eldest son is in Haiti with 17 students. She finally heard that they are safe in a compound outside of the capital but of course she's worried. The news tonight said the government is going to airlift them out tomorrow, thank goodness. But the people who are left behind......
I live such a blessed life. I was in the Twin Towers, long before they fell. I was in New Orleans, again, long before Katrina. I was in the Dominican Replublic, the poverty is unlike anything we have here. Each time these disasters have happened, I remember what it was like before the devastation. I work with immigrants and refugees. The conditions in so much of the world are totally unlike our privileged safety. I came upon a client, one I had come to love, at my last job. She was crying. Her brother was dead in Iraq-an American bomb. What can you say?
We just have to love them with our feet. Action, not words.