TT #12: Pros and Cons of Bifocals

This post has been moved to: TT #12: Pros and Cons of Bifocals

Shoe Bonding

I don’t get this thing about women bonding while shopping.  I’ve seen it in a variety of Romance novels, and I still don’t get it.  I don’t bond with friends while shopping.  I lose them.

Seriously, I don’t like hitting the department stores and boutiques have a tendency to snob me out.  Unless you’re talking second-hand, and I’m talking Goodwill here, not Retro Fashions, you aren’t going to catch me buying clothing let alone shoes.

Yet I have managed to bond with my mother over shoes.  So has my daughter.  Not from BUYING them with her, from stealing them from her.

I don’t generally have nice shoes around.  I live in my crocs, clogs, running shoes, and hiking boots.  What more could a girl need?  Someone to borrow from on New Years Eve.

Mom gave me a ton of shoes she no longer wears.  I’m thinking I need to give a couple pair back, just so I can steal them next time I visit.

What about you?  Do you bond over shopping?  What is that about, anyway?

Alice

More Jackson

For some reason I have travel on my mind.  So why not throw a few more pictures of my recent travels on my blog?
Looks Like I finally figured out what was wrong with the pictures I tried to post last week.  I can thank Donna for guiding me the right direction, all be it unintentionally.  I was doing exactly the same thing that gave her problems on her blog.

Jackson MT is in a place called the Big Hole.  Around here we say it “the-Bighole.”  Normally this time of year it could be looking a bit dry.  Not this year.  Check it out.

Why do they call it the Big Hole?  Because it’s a big, flat, high plateau with mountains all around.  We’re talking 7,000 feet above sea level at the lower elevations.  Could be up to 11,000 around the peaks.

And this picture?

It wasn’t raining when I went through Jackson Montana.  It was bug-splattering.

Alice

Out To Lunch – Taking a Weekend Off

I have nothing to say, and no desire to come up with something.  Some days are like that, you know.  So I’m giving myself permission to bug out for the weekend.  The only thing I’m going to post between now and Monday is to plant my operation photos somewhere among my old posts.  That should be fun.

Alice

The Water In Wyoming

I went rafting in Jackson Wyoming last weekend.  What a blast!  I went with my kids, mother, and sister.  We went with a tour group; the Jackson Hole Whitewater/Teton Expeditions Scenic Float Trips group on July 1st at noon.

Why give all the details?  Because two photo companies set up shop on the cliff over the scariest rapids.  You can go to www.snakeriverphotos.net or www.floatographs.com and see pictures of me!

I’m the fat lady in the blue top and brown pants on the nose of the raft.  The rafting guide called it “Riding Rodeo.”  I called it “Being the hood ornament.”  Only, as my mother said, when we got to the big stuff, the hood ornament broke off.  Into the boat, luckily.  I have “swam” before, but not on this particular trip.

I have some chatty stuff to day about Jackson Wyoming and the trip too and from, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Alice
 

Guilty Secret – I Read Reader’s Digest.

But only for the jokes.  Honest.  I’m not so much into drama that I read every article.

The jokes, on the other hand, keep me telling my MIL that the subscription is greatly appreciated, which in turn keeps it coming.

In my mind Readers Digest hasn’t changed much.  It looks the same as it did when I was a kid.  That was a LOOOOONG time ago.  However, I’m finding evidence that they are at least aware of the times.  For instance check out this joke:

“The latest term being bandied about our IT office id PICNIC: ‘Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.'”

They still have some old ones too.

“Why were the elephants kicked off the beach?  They were walking around with their trunks down.”

I did notice, however, that the month I went in for surgery they had a cover story about mistakes made by hospitals.  I refuse to look at the back pain cover on this month’s issue.  And we won’t even begin to talk about Reader’s Digest’s version of the weather.

Nope.  Instead I’ll leave you with this tid bit:

Still groggy from an operation, the patient was in an agitated state.  “Nurse,” he moaned, “I heard the surgeon use a four-letter word, and it caused me great distress.”

“What did the surgeon say?” asked the nurse.

“Oops.”
Alice

A Zip Line in Belize

Yes, yes, more Belize.  Honest, I will get it all out of my system someday.  Maybe.  Meanwhile check this out.

We went on a zip line.  A zip line is a cable run through the jungle canopy that you ride with the help of a couple of pulleys, a harness, and some thick gloves.  Oh, and a couple of hunky tour guides. 

 
This one was at a resort close to Banana Bank.  I don’t remember the name of the resort, but they had cave tubing and other fun stuff too which we didn’t get around to.  We might have if I hadn’t been sunburned and/or my mother hobbled by surgery, but this was probably enough adventure for us.

We walked up the path depicted above, then walked some more, and some more.  The entire ride is manual from start to finish.  At least parts of the path were interesting.  Check out the designs in the walkway.

Once at the top the guides attached our pulleys to the cable and away we go!  My dd needed a little encouragement.

You’re weight carries you from platform to platform. 

You use your hands, covered in thick leather gloves, as brakes by grabbing on to the cable.  I was pretty good at it.  I didn’t brake too much and end up in the middle of the cable between platforms, nor did I crash into the tour guide waiting on the next platform except for once.
It’s a fast ride between one platform and the next.  Here’s the only shot I managed to get from mid-cable:

 

This was a dinky little line.  The highest point was only 80 feet up and there were only 6 platforms.  We repelled down to the ground from the last platform.  The whole thing, even considering how slowly my mother and I were moving going up the trail, was only about an hour long.  I hear there’s one over in Bolivia that has 18 platforms.  Hmmm…..

Alice

Electronic Dust

Is it just me, or has the Internet gone wonky?  I’m so tired of getting booted off!  Posts that I write keep getting obliterated, made as insubstantial as electronic dust.

Alice

Banana Bank Lodge, Part 2

Banana Bank Lodge is owned by a Montana rancher and his wife, Carolyn Carr.  Carolyn is an artist specializing in paintings of Belize people and animals.  We were privileged to visit her studio.

This is what it looked like from the outside:

 
You can certainly see the Montana influence on the steps leading from the door to the studio.  Frankly, it makes me think more Texas and New Mexico than Montana.

You can see some of her fabulous paintings along the wall here.  Her work turned up in prints and on T-shirts all over Belize. 

 
I wish I had taken a second shot of this painting so you could see how the part sticking out fit in with the rest.  I had assumed incorrectly the painting would be posted on her web site.

It’s a very warm and inviting space, but I understand Carolyn’s desire from something with more light. 

 

They are working on a new studio for her now.  By the time you get there, it may be done.

Alice
 

Romance In the Air

Am I the only one who sees an awful lot of Romance in the Comics lately?  Check it out:

Alice