Cyber Friends

Through my five year blogging history I have made a few of what I call my "bloggy friends".  In the land of blog it's like a small community of bloggers you connect with. Even though I have never met them personally, there are a select few that I feel like I know and connect with just from reading their blogs.

I know one loves frogs, sewing and gardening, the other loves nature, cats and spirituality, one enjoys the more scientific and analytic side of life...etc.

Ultimately, we all have at least one thing in common., we publish our most personal thoughts and emotions on our online diary for the whole world to read. For some people blogging is considered an intimidating, questionable and frightening thing.

Today I received a gift in the mail from one of my bloggy friends who lives on a totally different continent than I do. I am always grateful for the kindness my friends bestow on me and I was equally grateful for the kindness of someone who only knows me via my blog.

A heartfelt card and some owl print table placemats were waiting in my mailbox this afternoon all the way from Australia....

On another note, not much else been going on here lately. We did come upon by accident a nice garden center in Elgin called Bloomers while out and about today. I was impressed and came home with a Texas Red Lantana, some tomato, bell pepper, and jalapeno plants.

I spent the afternoon digging around in the dirt underneath the warmth of the sun. Perfect meditation.

Yesterday I got in the mood to sew and I'm in need of replenishing my quilting fabrics so I opted for a small project and whipped up this little bag just for fun...

Not much planned for the weekend, but maybe doing some much needed spring cleaning. Fun.

Dragon Dance

I'm posting this immediately after I have just viewed my brother's beautiful pics on FB from his Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration in Saigon. Although I'm sure the Chinese New Year celebration we witnessed at Austin's Chinatown Center can't be compared, we still had a good time. You have to take what you can get.

When we first got there it was really crowded and people were already gathered around the dragon dance area. I was a bit annoyed because the dragon dance is the only reason I attend the celebration and I certainly didn't want to miss it.

We watched what we could see for awhile and eventually moved on......

Summer had spotted some dragon looking marionettes that some other children had - I know they probably have a specific name but I have no idea what it may be - and wanted to search them out.

We found the area where the marionette thingies were and purchased a couple of them...one for Toby and one for Summer.

Luck was on our side and by the time we made our purchase the dragon dance people were headed in our direction to do more blessings. We got a first row view of the dances and firecrackers this time....

After we watched the second dance and blessing Toby said he he had seen a couple items in the store that he wanted to purchase before we left.

By the time we left the celebration we had spent approximately $250 on trinkets. Apparently their blessings work. I told Toby he could have bought that stuff in Vietnam for a fraction of the price he paid for them there and he replied...."Am I going to be in Vietnam anytime soon?"....Guess he had a point there.

Laughter Crescendo

Today was awesome! I had absolutely the best hike I have had in a while at Southeast Metropolitan Park.

I thought I was taking us somewhere we had never been before but once I arrived I immediately recognized it as a place Robin had taken me to hike a couple of years ago.

Toby and I could hike for miles and when Summer was as young as 4 years old she would hike miles right along with us without even a peep or complaint. Now that she is older we have to be careful to choose hiking destinations where there are things along the way that are intriguing for an older child. We are always safe with our choice as long as there is access to water.

Luckily the trail head map designated a couple of pond areas that splintered off the of larger main loop trail. Although Toby and I were lusting after the large main loop trail we knew that Summer had the potential of being a burden to us if we took the large loop, so we stuck with the splinters that lead to the ponds...

.

A nice lookout to stop and rest....

As I said, we weren't planning on taking the long loop but in the end decided that it looked too alluring not to. The trails were some of the best I have ever hiked for a good workout with a mixture of fairly steep up and down hills along the way to give us some physical challenge. There were also some bridges throughout  the loop that broke up the hike a bit...

Getting a running start up the hill

Digging for rocks...as usual

Downtown Austin....wayyyy in the distance

We finally made it around to where the second pond was. Bo and Summer sure were glad. Bo immediately jumped in for a cool off and a drink of water and Summer for some play and a rest....

Almost there.......

One last rest

Although we all can easily manage a 3 mile loop, this one felt like it was 10 miles because of the hilly terrain. Secretly I was glad to see the end of the trail. That said, it felt good and I had a blast therefore I'm considering this to be one of my Top 10 hikes in Austin.

Underwater

I confess, aside from the short morning run I took Bo on, I spent most of my day laid up on my sofa underneath a blanket with my Ipad., watching T.V., and crocheting. Do I feel guilty? No, I don't.

It started to rain about noon and we actually had a few rumbles of thunder along with it. Thunder is such a rarity here that when it rumbled Bo jumped up and started barking at the unidentified noise coming from the sky.

I found it rather comforting even though it didn't last long. It reminded me of my young adult days in Mobile when I would awaken to rain, thunder and lightening and call in sick to work only to stay home curled up in my bed all day reading my latest Harlequin Romance. None of my personal romances have ever been as heated as the ones I read about in Harlequin. Maybe it's just me...

I wasn't all that useless today. I did manage to make a new menu and grocery list for my next grocery store trip and  spent some time in the kitchen making peanut butter cookies and and quinoa fritters.

As slack as I was, it felt good to laze around. I'm still not feeling up to par so resting my body felt good. I'll be good to go for whatever the rest of the week has to offer me after a good days rest.

One last thing. I had an odd dream about my mother last night...or I believe it must have been early this morning.

I was standing at the foot of the steps of the house we used to live in on Gill Road when I was a child. I looked up at the top of the stairs and there stood my mother in a black outfit. There was a female child standing next to her that I didn't recognize at the moment in a bright yellow dress.

My mother and the girl started to walk down the steps toward me and once she got the bottom she said to me.."I was told to come and get you." I hugged her and was sobbing into her shoulder telling her how much I missed her and when I stood back to wipe my tears I noticed the girl in the bright yellow dress standing next to her. I focused on the girl and realized the girl that had been with her was me - myself when I was about Summer's age.  I also recognized the dress to be one I remembered to wear as a child.  Once I realized the girl with my mother was me, I immediately awoke with the tears still rolling down my face.

I had to kind of  "shake my head" once I awoke to figure out where I was in reality...still dreaming or awake. When I awoke it was early dawn so I lay awake thinking about the dream about my mother and the smells of the day before. Were they all related? Was my mind just making scenarios? Why was my mother told to "Come Get Me" in my dream??

I had to pinch myself to make sure that I was still "alive" and that I wasn't in some other reality that I just haven't realized yet. I don't feel like I am going to die anytime soon, but then again nobody actually really knows
         when  
                  they are  
                                passing on....

Free Fallin'

This morning I felt like crap. As the day wore on I have morphed into feeling like shit. Really, I'm just being a little dramatic. I don't feel up to par, but I'm certainly nowhere near my deathbed. I'm assuming it's seasonal allergies stemming from my outdoor activities the past couple of days. That's what I'm betting on anyway.

I was glad that I had gotten the brunt of my weekend chores done yesterday so that I had time to finish up a couple of quilts that are acceptable enough to try and sell, but before I do anything I think I may have to break down and buy me a decent camera. The underwater camera I use for my day to day photos does no justice when it comes to giving something an accurate representation.

Last night I had an odd experience. I woke up a couple of times during the night and each time I awoke there was an overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke. Not like someone was smoking, but like a person smells when they have been smoking in an enclosed area or in a club filled with smoke.

The second time I awoke and still smelled it I thought maybe Toby had gave a smoking co-worker a ride home in his truck and they smoked a cigarette, or that maybe he had went out with some co-workers after work as he sometimes does and got in the path of some smoke. I rolled over closer to him and took in a whiff of his body but couldn't smell anything but, well....Toby.

This morning I asked him if he had been around any smokers the night before or if he had went out anywhere that would make him reek of cigarette smoke and he said "no".

Later on today as I was thinking about the mystery of the cigarette smoke I remembered that last night while I was preparing dinner I was enveloped in an overwhelming smell of  familiar strong perfume. I didn't think anything about it at first and just assumed that maybe Summer had sprayed some perfume upstairs where she was.

The smell left as soon as it entered my nostrils, then about 5 minutes later it was back so I hollered upstairs to Summer and asked her if she was spraying perfume and she replied.."No, I'm on the computer!".  As I was trying to figure out where the smell was coming from I realized it was the smell of Wind Song perfume my mom used to wear. She used to wear it to church or if she was going somewhere special and every time I smelled it on her I would tell her how bad I thought it stunk...lol.

Anyway, it made me think about this disease I heard about not long ago, where people would smell weird stuff that nobody else could smell. I can't remember where I saw it or what the name of the disease was but I  did take a little time out to google the syndrome and this is what I came up with.

The rest of my evening will be spent attempting to remember how to crochet properly. Such and exciting life.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Yesterday morning I went and helped Robin plant some veggies in her garden. She's always more than generous with sharing her yield so I don't mind helping out in the least when she needs it. It also gives a chance to get caught up on all the gossip...she usually has way more interesting stuff to tell than I do.

I also don't have an aversion to the outdoors so I guess you could say everybody wins when it comes to the garden.

We cleaned the weeds out of the garden  then planted some broccoli, spinach, beets, and kale...and maybe some other stuff I just can't remember off the top of my head....

Robin is pretty calm when it comes to the critters trampling through the garden. If it were me and Bo was trampling around on my freshly planted veggies, I would be cursing and chasing him with the hoe...lol. ..

We also collected some chicken eggs which Robin graciously sent home with me.....

More critters....

It was a nice morning enjoying friendship,sunshine, and fresh foods.

Like Diamonds In The Sky

Today's weather was predicted to be perfect...sunny and 83 degrees!! I am determined that I'm not going to let the gorgeous weather go to waste this year so our destination for the day was Northeast Metropolitan Park.

First we did a little hiking along the trail.....



Bo cooling off and getting a drink in the creek

Summer (and Toby) utilizing the skate park....

Checking out the water park area.....



"Cujo" the "pit bull"

After a long day of playing in the park in the heat of the sun everybody was ready to get back to the car so we took the shortcut back to the car. At that point, Summer was tired of riding her scooter, so I offered to ride it back for her. Secretly I just wanted to ride her scooter!!

I rode it ahead of them all the way back to the car. Boy, that thing is a thigh workout!!! I was having a blast!

Once I got to the car I drove around to pick them up. Summer has been begging to drive the car for the past couple of months so I figured since we were in an open, desolate area I would give her her wish. 

I have to admit I was a little nervous about giving her the wheel but she did a great job...no sudden stops or slamming on the brakes. I think it was the highlight of her day because that's all she talked about the rest of the day.

After a day outdoors with plenty of activity I was still energized into the evening. I suggested Toby take me for an evening ride on his motorcycle. So much fun!!!

I forget sometimes what its like to be carefree and to live in the moment. This was definitely a carefree and living in the moment kind of day. These are the kind of days I intend to strive for everyday for the rest of my days in this realm of existence.

As simple as this day was, I felt ALIVE.