Watkins Glen
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Posted:Oct 1, 2012 4:53 pm
Last Updated:Oct 8, 2012 6:12 am
3576 Views
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It was closed the day I was there. I have added it to the 'return in a different season' list.
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7
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American Falls
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Posted:Oct 1, 2012 4:49 pm
Last Updated:Oct 8, 2012 6:11 am
3310 Views
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I went there in June. I was captivated by this place. Mere words cannot describe the raw, primal energy of nature at its finest.
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5
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Hello :o)
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Posted:Oct 1, 2012 4:33 pm
Last Updated:Oct 12, 2012 7:39 pm
7246 Views
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Miss me?
I've been very busy!
But I have marvelous things to show you.
I have been considering things again, and I think I am ready to return to blogging here. For the time being.
Winter is knocking at the door, I feel it in my bones.
What better way to spend a bland winter's day, than boring people with photos?
How the hell is everyone doing?
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20
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On the Road Again
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Posted:Jun 14, 2012 3:43 am
Last Updated:Oct 1, 2012 2:21 pm
7603 Views
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Just can't wait to get on the road again...
And I am off, in the next hour. Headed down to the Ozarks for the weekend.
"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."
~Dr. Seuss
You would think after being just a shade under 500 miles away from making a coast to coast run I would be tired of traveling.
I suppose that day will come at some point, but today is not that day.
Love, Peace, and Bacon Grease...BBL.
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15
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Blowing the Dust Off
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Posted:Jun 5, 2012 10:43 pm
Last Updated:Oct 1, 2012 2:19 pm
9840 Views
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So yeah, it has been a minute. But I am not dead, at least not today, who knows what tomorrow might bring to any of us, eh?
I am typing this blog from a very beautiful patio in Las Vegas. I have been on the most incredible journey that started back in May.
In May, I flew to New York and spent a week with my evil twin, Lookinnflirtin, and we went to meet a couple of former bloggers from this site by driving from Flirty's house to Vermont, and then on to New Hampshire. After I arrived Flirty and I spent the night on the shores of Lake Erie in a beautiful beach house, and then woke to the worlds best cup of coffee,(Tim Horton's, it is the SHIT ya'll!)and then lunch as well with the one and only Freeholder! After lunch we headed up to Niagara Falls. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Falls, GO! My crippled ass walked a good 3-5 miles that day with my jaws hanging open and my camera going 100mph. I also visited the four largest lakes of the Finger Lakes, went to Watkins Glen, ate some delicious home cooked meals and went to what has to be the best thrift store I have been to in a while, and in general just had the most wonderful time enjoying the company of my evil twin.
(You should be put on notice, our plans for world domination are shaping up nicely!)
Then there was a drive across New York, then through the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont. Where they are lying about the whole moose on the highway thing. There is only one moose in Vermont, he is standing alongside the highway just past the 75th moose crossing sign you see. We had a very lovely lunch with a very lovely lady and her equally lovely , who has her own plans for world domination, just as soon as she can figure out how to tie her shoes. (Put more faith in her plans, she is much smarter than I am!) And then after lunch we drove across the state line where Flirty and I used one another for immoral purposes. Because, just like road head, driving across state lines for immoral purpose is the law, right? Spent the night in a very comfortable lodge and then visited another lovely lady and her equally lovely and talented daughters and took bets on when the newest member to her family would arrive. I think I lost, no one has contacted me about prize money and the wee one just arrived healthy and as beautiful as his mother.
It was truly one of the best vacations I have ever been on. It worked on my winter weary soul just like a tonic.
So I gets back to Misery and I am setting in my kitchen looking at the fruits of my labor that are blooming away in the backyard and I get a phone call from my bestie, Tawdry. She has jumped ship, took a job with her brother's company in Las Vegas several months back and she wants to bring her car to Vegas and she asked me to ride shotgun.
Of course I said yes. So last Wednesday, I met up with her at her house in Kansas City, bags in tow and away we go. Our first day on the road was familiar territory, I have driven across Kansas and into Denver, Colorado several times. Our temperate winter and the early spring has brought on an early ripening of the wheat fields. If you have never stood on the edge of a field of ripe wheat and watched the wind moving across it, add that to your bucket list. A veritable ocean of golden wheat stretching as far as the eyes can see moving like the ocean when the wind dances across it is a delight for the eyes. We spent the evening and most of the next morning with an old friend of hers and a new friend of mine, and then after a hearty breakfast at a cute little place in the Havana district of Aurora, we hopped in the car and drove to a cute little motel in Grand Junction Colorado called the El Palomino. The Rockies. What can I say about a spring drive through the Rocky Mountains other than "wow". We woke early the next day and drove from Grand Junction, most of the way across Utah and then down to Jacob's Lake, AZ. Where we stayed at the Jacobs Lake Inn. The accommodations were somewhat spartan, no coffee pot in the room, no television, and a bathroom that would make a claustrophobic have nightmares from the mere sight of it. But this place was only needed for sleep, because the next morning we woke early and drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It truly is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. I have no words that can adequately convey the overwhelming awe this place filled me with. After lunch on the North Rim, we drove to Cape Royal, and walked a two mile path along the rim, with several overlooks that give you a view of the Colorado River, I think, as it winds its way through the Canyon. Never have I felt so small and insignificant in my life. My problems in life seem to melt when I am confronted with the scope and depth of wonder that this world holds. I was sore, sunburned, and so thoroughly at peace with the world as we drove back to the Inn.
We arrived here in Vegas Sunday afternoon, just in time for a lovely dinner served by the lovely woman that is the Tawdry ones mother. I sincerely love this lady. She is 78 years old, a cancer survivor who goes to line dancing class, volunteers at the Senior Center, and still does all her own housework and cooking. It is rare for me to 'look up' to people, but I look up to this woman. She is the woman of an era gone by, yet she possesses the strength, courage, and beauty of a woman of this one. We should all be so fortunate.
I have visited the strip...meh just a bunch of noise and lights and crowds. Entertaining for a minute, but nothing I would want to do every day. I visited Red Rocks Canyon, a place I could spend years exploring. I visited what has to be the coolest garden center and plant nursery I have ever been to in my life. This place is called Plant World, and mixed in with the statuary and plants are a plethora of exotic birds and turtles and lizards and even a cage full of bunnies. I wandered about the place for an hour, and fell in love with a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo named Delila, who was quite the conversationalist.
So tomorrow finds me on a plane, happily headed home. The world is an amazing place, spending time seeing it with beautiful friends is such a blessing that I can't describe it, but be it ever so humble there is no place like home and the family that waits for you there.
I have two more trips coming up over the next couple of months with my family so my blogging here will be severely limited compared to what it once was, but I do intend to start blogging again. Seems I have found my 'tongue' again and my muse has descending for a time.
And, while I won't be sharing a lot of them, and I certainly won't be sharing my best...I just have to share a few photos with you guys. Mine eyes have been dazzled by a many an amazing sight and of course I had my camera with me. 
Rocky Mountain High!
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19
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Happy St. Patricks Day!
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Posted:Mar 16, 2012 6:24 pm
Last Updated:Jun 5, 2012 10:48 pm
8986 Views
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May the happiest leprechaun in all the world leave blessings too many to count at your doorstep!
And now, on a more serious note:
My god! What happened to you?" the bartender asked Kelly as he hobbled in on a crutch, one arm in a cast.
"I got in a tiff with Riley."
...
"Riley? He's just a wee fellow," the barkeep said surprised.
"He must have had something in his hand."
"That he did," Kelly said. "A shovel it was."
"Dear Lord. Didn't you have anything in your hand?"
"Aye, that I did--Mrs. Riley's left breast." Kelly said. "And a beautiful thing it was, but not much use in a fight!"
**Guys, I am around. And I appreciate the kind comments you left on my previous post. I am on a much older computer, and having to comment to reply is like old people fucking, slow and sloppy. Thank you all, and I will be back when I find I have something to share. Right now all that seems to be is my sense of humor.**
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8
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Not dead yet
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Posted:Mar 10, 2012 5:59 pm
Last Updated:Jun 16, 2012 5:27 am
12399 Views
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I am just taking a break. Honestly, I haven't really got a lot to say about anything right now.
So in lieu of my words and photos, I will leave you with a smile.
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14
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What Do You See?
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Posted:Jan 23, 2012 7:56 am
Last Updated:Mar 5, 2012 10:16 pm
10619 Views
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Fort Williams, Scotland
Photographer: Luis del Rio
When you look at this photo, does it arouse your curiosity or does it make you a bit nervous? If you were the small caped figure in the photo, would the idea of wandering deeper into those darkening green woods look inviting? Or would you be leery of entering for fear of what is lurking unseen in the darkness?
I think they look enchanted. I look at this photo, and I see myself standing there so small and frail amidst those towering trees in a world of heady green sights and scents. I also see myself going deeper and deeper to the heart of those woods. It really is like entering a different world to push deep into the forest, past the undergrowth and tangle. The light is muted and filtered through the leaves, giving the scent of decaying wood and growing moss and fungus a visual aspect. It rouses a sense of being in a wholly different world within me. A world where magic is possible. It has since I was a , I suspect it always will.
One of my most favorite things to do as a was to go play in the woods that were dotted about the farm. Ridge tops are left wooded, as well as the edges of the fields in the place where I grew up, because the trees provide a windbreak that prevents erosion. Dense thickets grow along the edges of spring creeks that soon become dry beds that are left behind when the spring snow thaw has past. This was typically where I could be found when my chores were done, or when I wanted to be left alone by the world at large.
My mother would lecture me of the perilous dangers lurking there every time I was caught playing too deeply within the woods. Horrid nightmarish tales of people I did not know being bitten by copperheads and rattlesnakes, the danger of the occasional black bear encounter, bobcats....you name it. My mother was a bit over protective of me in that regard. (I suppose she figured I had enough to contend with trying to survive within the confines of my home, there was no need to press my luck with Mother Nature.) So many of the things she told me were purposefully over-exaggerated when I was between the ages of 4 and 8, that I never wandered much deeper than the very edges to play. But I was always fighting the urge to wander into the deepest parts, to see what was there, perhaps to encounter a fairy, find the doorway to a secret realm. I had a powerful imagination when I was a , and it was heavily nurtured by reading constantly. Thankfully, Biology became a topic of interest and sent me on a reading frenzy at the library. Armed with the things I learned, I was soon as at home in the woods as I was anywhere else. I knew what actions I should take to survive the unlikely encounters I might have with bears and bobcats, and how to completely avoid all but the most coincidental encounter with a venomous snake. I did see a few snakes, and I heard a passing Bobcat one day. I gave them their space, they allowed me mine. I can only assume that if the tales my mother told me are to be believed, my unfortunate ancestors and kinsmen were either very unlucky or very stupid.
I don't care to be deep within the woods at night, the darkness there is so deep and black that even aided with a flashlight vision is limited. (Plus, snakes like to look for warm places to curl up after feeding. While I am not afraid of snakes, I have no desire to be a heating pad for one.)
It is a gray, windy cold day here, so these woods look particularly inviting right about now.
Last year my Gypsy was singing to me about the ocean, this year she is calling me to visit the trees.
I can't wait to see where she leads me.
Happy Monday.
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17
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Hush
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Posted:Jan 21, 2012 4:48 am
Last Updated:Oct 1, 2012 4:35 pm
10861 Views
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White Hart Stag.
Richmond Park, London.
Photographer: Alex Saberi
You know, when I first began waking up this early in the morning it pissed me off. There is very little one can do this time of the day without waking the house. It is so very quiet, so it was a little unnerving when I first started on this new trend of mine. I was always listening, waiting to hear something that confirmed I was not the last soul living.
Then I began to notice other sounds in the hush. The little sounds that blend in with the cacophony of noise that begins with the rising of the sun stand out in the hush, making their own melody. The hum of the refrigerator, the click of the furnace kicking on, the beep of the coffee pot telling me that my morning "shot in the arm" is ready to be consumed, the sound of the keyboard as I type, the mutts snoring as they sleep. A plethora of noise that I really never paid much attention to. It is really rather peaceful and in a way, comforting. I am beginning to appreciate quiet as I age.
Don't get me wrong. There are times when I crank the stereo, been times when I stood at the edge of a race track and felt the thunder of engines vibrate in my chest, I have stood alongside of a raging river and listened to the deafening roar of water rushing over a fall. And I enjoyed every single note of those sounds. But it seems to me that these little sounds can resonate with as much power as the big sounds. Understated, but still possessing a voice.
It wasn't so long ago that I realized that silence possesses a beauty that is seldom appreciated.
When I was in Idaho, I used to just get out and drive, to no particular place at all. There were so many logging roads and dirt roads back into the mountains to explore.
We had just gotten a foot of snow the night before, and my sister was well on her way to being plowed by 8am on a Sunday, so I got up, grabbed the keys and took off. I drove to Priest Lake and just started taking random turns with no particular destination in mind.
I ended up on a log road about half way up the side of one of the mountains that surround the lake. The road was getting more narrow with each passing foot, so when I came to a wide spot I stopped and turned the Jeep off and got out to shoot some photos of the valley below. I was vaguely on edge as I stood there knee deep in the snow, and I really couldn't put my finger on why. It finally dawned on me that it was utterly silent. No wind blowing, no birds singing, no cars rushing. The heavy wet snow blanketing the trees absorbed all distant sounds. It was so still and the lack of white noise filled me with a sense of isolation.
Then I heard it for the first time in many years, the sound of my own breathing.
As I stood there listening I began to hear the sound of my own heart beat keeping time with the steady flow of my breath. I was shocked to realize that in all the years of my life that was the first time I had ever actually listened to these sounds that were always a part of me. It was something of a revelation, and it made me wonder just how many other sounds and sights I have taken for granted throughout my life. There hasn't been a day since that one that I haven't stopped to appreciate the little things in life if only for a moment.
I have learned a lot from doing so.
I hope that where ever you find yourself today you will find a moment of 'hush' to enjoy.
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19
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An Ode to Things That Don't Work
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Posted:Jan 18, 2012 4:14 am
Last Updated:Mar 17, 2012 11:42 am
11271 Views
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This toolbar. The one at the bottom, it won't turn off anymore.
My mail alert, the one at the top, it won't reset.
My bling...I still see it on my profile, but it will not post.
Now when I access the site from a different computer, my toolbar does turn off. I haven't screwed with the other stuff. It is probably my computer. I should empty my cache and it will be like a magic wand that fixes everything.
You know, in this mad, mad world with it's constant changing and evolving...it is almost reassuring to see that some things will never change. Rock on you crazy monkeys, have another shot and push the shiny buttons.
Good Morning everyone!
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21
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A World Within a World
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Posted:Jan 17, 2012 9:27 am
Last Updated:Jan 20, 2012 10:02 am
10145 Views
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Male Leafy Sea Dragon
Tumby Bay, South Australia
Photographer: Jamie Coote
I love looking at underwater photography. It is amazing to see photos of such fantastic creatures with their vivid color and their many adaptations to life.
I found my owl! Photos are up at the other place for those of you who follow me there.
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19
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I'm Searching
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Posted:Jan 15, 2012 5:38 am
Last Updated:Mar 4, 2012 12:46 pm
12034 Views
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Snowy Owl. Colorado. Photographer: Barbara Fleming
For this guy today. There have been 30 or so of them spotted less than twenty miles from the house. Reports are that these are youngsters, much smaller than the adults of the north. Crossing all my fingers and toes!
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21
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Times Like These
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Posted:Jan 14, 2012 4:33 am
Last Updated:Oct 4, 2012 12:23 pm
13491 Views
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New Orleans, French Quarter. Photographer: Mary Fitzgerald
I was just saying over at that other place that I can recall a time when I would just now be rolling home.
Instead of being wide awake at this early hour. 
In an odd way, I miss those days, really. All there is to do at this time of the morning is to read the news, sip my coffee, and occasionally play concierge for the mutts.
Sipping coffee: Good
Opening the door for the dogs: Cold, but necessary.
Reading the news: It depends, I either want to tear my hair out or just throw up my hands and move to the middle of Siberia.
This morning, I have been treated to the following news snippets:
>More on the Marines pissing contest. In my mind, who the hell am I to judge these young men for celebrating victory over men who tried to kill them after months and months of being killed and watching their friends die. If it were me I would probably have lit a match and watched them burn. Sure what they did was tactless and tasteless. But then so is beheading an innocent and chopping their body into ten pieces. And I have witnessed far worse behavior out of drunks in a bar.
BooYAH! Do your victory dance boys.
>Irradiated Kleenex boxes being recalled by Pier 1. Glow-in-the-dark boogers anyone? I must be the only person on the planet who has enough conspiracy theorist in them to think that China has been waging a quiet war with us for years, by slowly poisoning us to death via Walmart and the Dollar Store.
>Standard and Poor downgrades the Euro in nine countries. The only people who have money now are the crooks.
>Iranian ships approached U.S. vessels in Gulf. Yay, more War! Just what we need.
And then there is the shit they throw out there to keep the masses entertained, such as Beyonce and JayZ becoming parents. Really? This is news? People been having babies since there were people on the planet. Heather Locklear was released from the hospital. Depression and Anxiety. What about the other million or so people who suffer from this, when can we expect to hear their story?
And the outrage of Loma Linda residents because a McDonalds restaurant was coming to town. This one slays me on so many levels. Seriously? With all that is happening in the world, with all the problems and issues we are faced with, the thing that will unite a group of people and drive them to speak out is a fucking restaurant?
WHAT. A. CROCK. OF. SHIT.
What the hell is wrong with us? When did we become so emasculated as a nation that we will gladly allow our own government to fuck us in the ass without any lube, but we will fight to the death to keep a fast food joint out of a community because we are scared to death of gaining weight?
Priorities, we don't seem to know what the term even means anymore.
I used to think that I was a little nuts, eccentric even. But the more I read these news reports, the more I think that it is the opposite. Maybe I am the sane one, and the rest of the world has a screw loose.
I have GOT to get a new hobby for these mornings that I can't sleep. Any suggestions?
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(Page:)
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To link to this blog (wildnwanton) use [blog wildnwanton] in your messages.
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