More Randomness from My Life

Continuing on with the randomness that is my life, I’ve decided to share some photos that are near and dear to my heart. Here is my beach:

Well, it’s technically not “my” beach…but I like to think of it that way…just as I like to think of myself as King of the Mountain. Heh. Isn’t it loverly? I enjoy it immensely. And cannot (I repeat, cannot) wait until I can walk along this beach hand and hand with the one I love. *sigh* (wait, are those lyrics from a song? If not, they should be…gag)

These are my faves. I took them for my dearest, darling Dead Charming…

And some more shots of the beach and the lighthouse (yes! a lighthouse) As a matter of fact, this lighthouse is the very first public building in the United States to be illuminated with natural gas (how about that, a little history lesson thrown in there for you). First, the harbor:

And the lighthouse:

The clouds were magnificent on this day so I had to include a few pictures:

The dogs got to do their favorite thing today (well, Gus’s favorite thing, Ridley’s not too sure about it):

Look at how happy that Gus boy is. He’s smiling! Ridley looks traumatized and just wants to get the hell out. Unfortunately, I missed getting the shot of Ridley panicking and trying to climb up the side of the dock. We had to yank him out of the water, poor thing. I think he just has too much fur and it weighs him down when he’s wet. But, he has webbed feet…he should like to swim, dammit. I also didn’t manage to get a shot of him trying to climb on his brother’s back while swimming. Poor Gus probably feels like one of those kids at the community pool who everyone clings to because they’re a better swimmer. I was sure I was going to have to do some doggie resuscitation, but everyone made it out okay. Phew.

SPLASH!

That’s it for today, kids. I’ll be back with more in a bit.

Sharing the Love

Mercedes over at Mercede’s World passed this award on to me and in keeping with my “Love” theme for this month I’d like to share this with each and every one of you on my blogroll…I love you all. You make me laugh, cry, think, spit coffee at my computer screen, you inspire me, and sometimes even make me puke in my mouth a little bit. I’m not going to have a chance to tag everyone personally with this but if you stop by just pick up the award…and share the love!

This award was created by Memoirs of a Mommy. It’s a very special award that she created in Honor Of The Donor That Saved (her son) Noah’s Life. Noah received a heart transplant, and she hopes that by passing this award around the blogosphere everyone can help raise awareness of the need for Organ Donation.

The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog.

**All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipients to do the same**

Feisty Friday

Up, Up and Away

While over at Lingerie and Dishpan Hands I was reading her post about the things she wanted to do before she died. Her post reminded me of a certain incident - a hot air balloon ride - that I had taken. Yeah, one of those things you want to do before you die - or in my case, almost get killed whilst doing it.

Once upon a time, actually about twelve years ago, my sister and I befriended a couple of men. One of these men was in the “ballooning” business. The hot air balloon business was a very lucrative business at the time as rides were going for $200 per person. My sis and I had always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon but didn’t have the cash at the time to afford such a lavish adventure. So, we chatted up our friends at dinner one evening and somehow managed to talk them into taking us up in the balloon - for a free ride. Woo hoo!

It was a lovely July evening. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky. My sister and I made our way over to a spot near the lake where the balloon was waiting. They wanted to take us over the lake and then up towards the hills. Great. We were excited…and a bit trepidatious. I wasn’t exactly keen on the fact that the only thing between our bodies and a 500 foot drop to earth was a mere wicker basket. But, I was young and adventurous and off we went!

We arrived as the men were preparing the balloon for take off. They were very professional, explaining all the steps as they prepared the balloon and gondola, and answering any questions the two of us had. And of course, my only question was, “Have you ever crashed?” The pilot assured me that he, indeed, had never crashed but had had some ‘rough’ landings. That set our minds at ease and we climbed aboard adn were off. Believe it or not, I was able to round up some photos of the event:

My sis and the guys readying the balloon…while I stand back, watch and take photos.

My sis and the back of my scraggly head (hey, it was windy up there, what’s a girl to do? Ick, and what’s with the nasty washed-out blond color? Why didn’t anyone tell me it looked heinous?) as we approach the lake. Hmmm…the pilot is obviously taking this photo…oh no, who’s flying the thing?

So, we have a lovely take-off, cruise all over the country side, fly over the lake, and scare the crap out of handfuls of cattle, horses, deer…and some dogs on our little adventure. The pilot has a radio so he is in constant contact with ‘the chaser’ - the person on the ground driving around waiting for us to land. The ride is going smoothly as we head toward the hills. And then, suddenly, a gust of wind comes from nowhere. We are soaring slightly lower than we should be, the pilot shouts, “Everyone grab onto something, hold on tight and DON’T let go!” Oh crap. As those words come out of his mouth the wind jags the balloon and sends us careening toward the ground. The basket of the balloon hits the side of a hill and we start to spill on top of each other as the basket tips sideways. We bounce, drag, tip, bounce a bit more. As the basket bounces off the ground once more the pilot hits the blast valve and gets us back into the air quickly. We start to right ourselves and climb off of one another. We all inspect ourselves for injuries. Everyone is unscathed…except me. I’m not terribly injured but as we crashed I managed to slam my leg into the fire extinguisher. A huge gash on my leg is bleeding pretty badly. Luckily we have a first aid kit so we grab a handful of bandaids adn patch me up. Good as new.

As we are climbing into the air the pilot suddenly realizes that he has lost the radio in the crash. We have to back track to the field above the hill, land the balloon and all climb out and search for the radio in a field the size of two football fields…in the dusk. Talk about a needle in a haystack! Fortunately, the chaser has spotted us so she starts to squak on the radio and I eventually am able to pinpoint the location and grab the radio. Yay! The sun has almost set so we reluctantly climb back into the basket and are off into the skies again…this time, hopefully, without any mishaps. We do make it back to base safely, but are a bit shaken from the experience. I vow to never ride in an air balloon again as we head to the bar for drinks to calm our nerves!

The last photo taken as we head past the lake and toward the hills to our fateful crash landing.

Honestly, it wasn’t a dreadful experience, I can look back now and laugh about it. At the time we were a bit traumatized but I do think I could manage to take another balloon ride. It was probably my big mouth asking “Have you ever crashed?” that set the stage for this ride.

La Meme

Yep, you got it, another meme…because my brain is too shot from all the fireworks and noise yesterday to write anything profound. Ready, set, go…

1. Last movie you saw in a theater? Mim‘s Island, and yes, I cried.

2. What book are you reading? “The History of Love” – Nicole Krauss; “How to Practice the Way to a Meaningful Life” - Dalai Lama; and several others that I started, put down, and haven’t picked up in a while because I’m too busy blogging…shame on me!

3. Favorite board game? Scrabble, but I haven’t actually played board scrabble in a long while…I play it on satellite now, ‘cause I’m all technical and stuff.

4. Favorite magazine(s)? Country Living…because I’m a country gal; Bon Appetite…because I can never have TOO many recipes/ideas.

5. Favorite smells? Lavender, lavender, lavender…oh, and crayons, and lilacs, and Yankee Candle balsam & cedar.

6. Favorite sounds? Waves at the beach, pouring rain. (Get that water theme?)

7. Worst feeling in the world? Out of control anger/rage

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up? Oh, that’s easy, the one who has my heart… my Charming Prince…*blushes*

9. Favorite fast food place? Don’t really eat fast food, but if I had to choose I’d say McD’s – for their Asian Chicken Salad and their fries. But I’m partial to Burger King’s Whoppers – which I haven’t had in about 8 months…mmmm, now I’m hungry.

10. Future child’s name? If there is another…Charlotte or Alexander or Hannah or Maxwell (pretty decisive, aren’t I? Heh)

11. Finish this statement. “If I had a lot of money I’d….? remodel my kitchen, or better yet, buy a brand new house with a huge kitchen (and a library *wink*), buy myself a brand spankin’ new Honda CRV, take a fab vacation to Europe with my love.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Not anymore. *blushes* I gave up teddy a few years ago. But I do like to have my arms around something…so it’s either one of the dogs or DC…

13. Storms - cool or scary? Cool

14. Favorite juice? Cranberry

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the spare time I would….”? Clean my house. Ha!

16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli? Of course!

17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice? Um…I’ve got three colors in there now…and have tried many throughout the years – blond, dark brown, red. I think I’d stick with reddish/brown.

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in? Only two…quite boring, really

19. Favorite sports to watch? Don’t really watch sports…but live baseball is my fave

20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you? Ha…no one sent it…I stole it… from Red, I think…so I’ll use her – she awesomely honest and she’s got spunk, how could you NOT love her?

21. What’s under your bed? Lots o’ dust bunnies, and boxes full of linens.

22. Would you like to be born as yourself again? Yes, if I could come back knowing what I know now.

23. Morning person, or night owl? Definitely a night owl. Me + morning = grrrrrrrr.

24. Over easy or sunny side up? Over easy, baby.

25. Favorite place to relax? The beach or my deck.

26. Favorite pie? Red raspberry…or blueberry.

27. Favorite ice cream flavor? Mint chocolate chip.

28. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first? No tagging going on here…as always, take it if you like!