Two Long Rambling Entries

So it’s been an entire week since I posted - what exactly happened to my week last week...

Monday - I did post on Monday - so apparently I had time for that in the evening - but what did I do... oh I remember now - I had a ME night (a night when I don’t answer the phone and I do stuff for me - that usually means laying on the couch and doing nothing) - that was lovely!

Tuesday - we had a wedding shower for one of the guys at work - that was fun - it was a surprise and he was about an hour late - so we had already had a round of drinks and appetizers by the time he got there!  Then I met up with Brandy for yogurt and conversation - always a good time!

Wednesday - prayer right after work and then Bible Study - after Bible Study - helped a friend move some furniture and then hit the gym.  Craig got a workout that an Olympic runner uses when training - so we tried that - thought it might kill me - was a little sore afterwards - but not too bad.  We are supposed to do a mile run at the end of the workout - we didn’t - which was fine for me - I made it up the next day.

Thursday - workout after work - ran a mile and a half and walked half a mile - and the treadmill just kicked my butt!  Then had Children’s choir - they are so cute and so much fun - I help out with the preK through 3rd graders - most of them are 1st grade though.  Then regular choir - which will be the last one for me for a while - can’t make it to practice so I’m taking a break from the choir in October.

Friday - went to a friends for a BBQ - very yummy!  And I have to talk about her pets.  She has a cat - Keisha (aka Cujo - wouldn’t give a second thought to ripping your arm off when you try to pet her) - well, Bless Her Heart - she’s getting old and she has become a two tone cat.  She is grey - but her back half is now a brown color - it was fascinating to see her!  And then their dog, Lucky, he was in the back yard sitting and he all of a sudden started doing this spinning move - I swear it looked like he was on one of  those sit n spins - do you remember them?  It was hilarious watching him just spin in place!  Had a great evening!

Saturday - started with breakfast with friends - went to see another friend to meet her cats for cat sitting I’ll be doing and then I decided that a nap was very important - so I napped.  Then I got my guitar out and practiced some songs since that evening I had to lead music at an Emmaus Gathering - nothing like procrastinating until the last moment!  The Gathering was really good - we had a Tongan youth group come in and do liturgical dance - they were FABULOUS!

Sunday - thought it would be more of a day of rest - ended up at church most of the day - during the service - Craig gave a sermon about keeping people that come and visit - talked about some not so stellar experiences that some of our visitors have encountered and then went through some areas that we can improve on - he then gave a statistic that of 160 people that visited last year - only 12 stayed - and I heard the woman next to me whisper  - in all sincerity - ‘what are we doing wrong?’  And all I could think was - have you been sleeping for the last 20 minutes?  I really had to keep myself from laughing!  I also helped with dinner for the New Beginnings new member class in the afternoon - which was fun - and it was good to see several of the young families that have been coming to Family Fun Night at the class.  And capped it off with yogurt and good conversation with Terrie.

Then last night we had a fundraiser at Ruby’s - so I got there at 5:30pm for dinner (thanks, ladies - it was a good meal and great conversation!) and then ended up staying until almost 8:30pm chatting and dining with other groups.  Kept thinking when I got home last night that ‘I need to post - I need to post’ - but decided that I needed to pick up the clutter in the house even more - so I did that instead - so I thought I would reward you all with two long rambling entries - enjoy!  And I’ll try to be better this week!  As for tonight - it’s turned out to be a ME night - YIPEEE!

I'll Get Busted As A Peeping Tom

Goodness!  It’s been a week and a day since my last post - shame on me!  Think I’ll start with my story about the cat - she was so gracious this morning to run around like a mad woman and yowl at 6am - my usual time to get up - not realizing that I didn’t plan to get up until 6:30am.  Anyway...

So a couple of weeks ago - I got home and was unloading my car around 9:30pm and shut the front door as much as I could without clicking it shut - so when I was unloading I wouldn’t have to empty my hands and could just push the door open.  Well Little Miss Sadie decided that she wanted to be outside and was able to get the door open and then was on her way down the stairs when I walked up with a load - I dropped everything but she was already down and into the bushes across from the stairs.  An then she was gone.  I’ll save you from ALL of the details - just suffice it to say that I spent the next 1/2 hour calling her and trying to corral her back to where the stairs are so that she would go back up to the house.  At one point - I went back upstairs to see if she had somehow gotten past me and was already in the house - she wasn’t and I just collapsed on my bed - thinking she was gone for good and asked God for help.  Just then I heard her yowl from outside (God is good) - so I at least had an idea of where she had gone. 

When I got downstairs - she was over by a neighbor’s patio - a neighbor that has a big dog that lives on the patio - luckily the dog didn’t spot her and I was able to get her out of that area.  The dogs name is Sadie also - so she would peek over the patio wall every once in a while - probably wondering why I was calling her.  At one point I was searching through the bushes by another neighbors bedroom window and I thought - great - now someone is going to call the cops and I’ll get busted as a Peeping Tom - that would really cap off the evening nicely!  I was able to scare the cat through the bushes and back upstairs - where she immediately went into hiding - that and had to lick - she had been outside where it was dirty, of course!

She spent the next day staying away from the front door - but by that evening had decided she wanted to be outside again - now she sits in front of the door every night and yowls - I clicked this picture two nights after our adventure!  Crazy cat - I told her if she goes out again - she can stay out all night - she’d probably like that!  When I first adopted her - I had leash trained her - so we are working on that again so I can take her outside on a leash - and yes, I’ve heard that it’s crazy to do that - but I’m not letting the cat out front by herself.  God Bless Her.

Your Characters Are Flashing Gang Signs

So a couple of weeks ago I actually made it up to the Disneyland Resort – got a call late in the evening from my friend Chris to go watch the Electrical Parade – of course, I couldn’t say no.  When we got there – we had some time to kill and went on the new ride at DCA – Toy Story Mania – and it is fun – very cute – they did a great job with it.  Luckily Chris knew someone working the ride and we walked on – otherwise we would have been waiting about an hour and a half.  The parade was fun to watch – haven’t seen it in a long time.  After the parade we rushed over to Disneyland for fireworks – and they were good also – always!  As I was trying to take photos of the fireworks – Chris at one point commented that I should put them on postcards (reminded me of a comment about leaving the photography to the professionals when we were on the bus in England).  To see the postcard perfect pictures – click here.

And then this last Saturday I enjoyed the day at Magic Mountain – thanks to Holly and Jan and the Thousand Oaks Youth Group.  And that was fun!  I haven’t been there in many, many years!  And I have now had my fill of super thrilling roller coasters for a while.  Jan and Kris and I wore the England uniform – which was fun – made it easy for the kids to spot us as chaperones.  So the first ride we went on called Tatsu – had an unusual riding position – they strapped you in sitting down and then brought you up so that your back was against the track – almost like you are flying – fascinating!  I was a bit queasy on the first ascent – I’m not usually afraid of heights – but it was a weird feeling hanging there with nothing below you – once we made if over the first hill – I was fine – and it was a lot of fun!

The second ride of the day was Roaring Rapids – and against my better judgment – I went on the ride – at least it was early enough in case I got wet!  And got wet I did!  Jan and I took the hit for the rest of the group – Jan more than me – she got soaked top to bottom – I only had water dumped in my lap – soaking my shorts – and even worse – my panties!  Again – at least it was early in the day!  We went on several roller coasters after that and I felt sorry for the people that had to sit on the seat after me – I know that I left a couple of places wet – including a cement planter I sat on!  I did eventually dry – later in the afternoon!

It was a good trip – the kids for the most part were good.  There was a bit of drama at one point involving the taking of shoes and a hat – and all I could think was – ‘Ah to be young again – Not!’  It was fun to hang out with them – but I’m happy to be old.  One of the best parts of the trip – ice cream!  Mmmm… yummy!  We ended up leaving the park before dinner – so unlike lunch – dinner was better food and much cheaper!  I did notice as we were leaving that there were 5 police cars parked outside the entrance and I mentioned that you wouldn’t see that at Disneyland – not that they don’t have that much police presence – it’s just better hidden!  But I guess you need that kind of police presence when your characters are flashing gang signs!  Yes, I saw Tweety at one point flashing gang signs for a picture with a group of kids!  Nice! 

All in all, though it was a great day – and we did lots of walking, so I got my exercise in!  To see some pictures – click here.

She Won't Be Able To Find Them Again

Went to visit my mom today and I can just tell that she is deteriorating.  She wasn’t there when I arrived which was good since it gave me time to go through and do some cleaning and find her reading glasses that she told me someone stole – at least she didn’t accuse me this time of stealing them!  I found them in her dresser – with her TV remote that she hides in one of her socks – and then can never find – people steal it all the time too.   Anyway… she showed up just before I was getting ready to leave and had a friend with her and her friend said she was all upset – so I asked her what she was upset about and she said that someone had stolen her glasses – at which point I took the glasses out of her dresser and gave them to her.  She then told me they weren’t the right ones – she only has one pair of glasses.  And even before I left she kept insisting that they weren’t the right glasses – I noticed her putting them in the nightstand drawer as I was leaving – great – she won’t be able to find them again.

 And I tried so hard to be kind and generous with her – but when she gets that bordering nasty tone – it’s hard not to react.  It just rips my heart out every time I go see her – to see this woman who looks like my mom but isn’t the woman I called mom for so long.  Anyway – it was a tough visit – although I do have a fun mom story from a couple of weeks ago…

 I had gone to see her about two weeks ago on a Monday evening after work and right after her dinner time.  When I got to her room – she told me that I should have arrived sooner because one of her dining table mates has a son who comes for Monday at dinner time to have coffee with them and he is kind of cute – I might like him.  Sounds intriguing – although I remember when I first noticed her memory problems  -  her doctor sent us to a specialist and after we saw the specialist, my mom said he was kind of cute – and I joked with her about liking him and she said – not for me – for you.  This guy was old enough to be my father!  Not sure I want to know what this new guy looks like!  God Bless Her!

Like Totally Rad, Dude!

So work this morning was just crappy - I was in a foul mood - I had computer problems and it just was a lousy morning.  So I decided on a little retail therapy at lunch and check out what I bought... aren't they cute!

I just couldn't resist them!  And check it out - they came with green shoe laces - so I decided to put white on one shoe and green on the other.  Justin may be bringing sexy back - but I'm bringing cool back - like totally rad, dude! 

Anyway - off to a meeting tonight - I know - crazy having a meeting on Friday night - and then I'm off to bed because tomorrow I'm off to Magic Mountain for the day.

How Unusual Is That

Goodness!  I wasn't feeling well this morning - so I ended up coming home sick - thought I'd have a chance to catch up on some blogging - nope.  Napped all day!  Have to be well for Magic Mountain on Saturday!  Check out these pictures of what I experienced while napping - it will make more sense when you click on this link!  

I did want to share an oddity about yesterday.  I ended up running yellow lights in 4 different cities!  How unusual is that - and it started with 3 in a row in Santa Ana.

Anyway - just wanted to write a few lines since it's been a couple of days since I posted.  I haven't bought the Vans yet - but it looks like they just might be in my future - now I just need to find the time to get them.  Ok - I'm done for now - think I'll g[;poppppppp   ;    OOPS - that was from the cat - she started to walk across the keyboard - I think she wants me to tell her story - haven't talked about her in a couple of days - will talk about the escape a little later - and I haven't forgotten the mom stories or the Disneyland trip from several weeks ago - geez - so much blogging and so little time.  Ok - going to bed...

Oouu Shrimp!

Did you see the moon again tonight?  Spectacular!

Now on to Brandy and Ebe's Spectrum Adventure!

So we met for dinner tonight at the Spectrum - I like to go there to people watch - and tonight certainly didn't disappoint!  Brandy got there early and ended up in Barnes and Noble (there's a surprise :)! ) - but had to leave the land of the evil children - apparently there were two kids upstairs that were getting ready to rid the world of each other - without any parental supervision.  She did let the mom - who was downstairs - know - although she didn't seem to really care - such quality parenting!  We were originally going to go to Red Robin - but I really had a craving for our usual - Wahoo's.  So we get there and while I'm ordering - I swear, the guy in back of me really wanted to meet me - dude - personal space.  It, of course, caused me to go extra slow to sign the credit card receipt and gather my stuff.  I know - grace and mercy!

So we go to sit down and we have two 'usual' places we sit - both were taken - we didn't quite know what to do - we are both very much OCD when it comes to routine stuff like this.  So we find a different table over by itself - and then this big guy comes up and sits almost right behind Brandy - the evening was just off.

Probably the funniest part though came from me.  I had ordered the shrimp taco combo and while I was eating, two shrimps fell out and I thought - I'll just leave them to the end as a treat.  So I finish the taco's - start eating some of the rice and then get up to get some more soda.  When I come back - I'm eating the rice and they had gotten a black bean in the rice (I don't like beans - probably wouldn't make a very good vegetarian) - well, I flick the bean over to the side of the plate and it lands next to the shrimp (which I had forgotten about - yes - I am my mother's daughter) and I exclaim 'Oouu Shrimp!'  I was so excited about the shrimp - and the minute the phrase comes out of my mouth I realize how Ten Second Tom it sounds!  It makes me laugh just thinking about it now - I just amuse myself sometimes!

After dinner we wandered through the Spectrum - and wondered what happened to the normalcy of people today - of course, that's pretty rich coming from the two of us! :)  There are crazy people out there, though - on an aside - at work today, I walked up to a couple of friends and they told me they were talking about crazy people and they thought of me - nice!  I prefer Freak, thank you!  Anyway...  so we are walking along and we see the sister of Crazy (from the OC Fair - click here for a refresher).  This chick is wearing these 3 or 4 inch spiky turquoise hooker heels with this mini skirt that looks like it's going to fall off - despite her fluffiness and this crop top - and it looked bad enough from the back - but to see her from the front - all hanging out in the middle - do you not look at yourself in the mirror when you leave the house.  On one hand - good for her for not being ashamed of her body - but she looked terrible - there are more tasteful ways you can not be ashamed of your body!  I wish I could have somehow gotten a picture - oh well!  

We finished off our walk around the Spectrum with a trip to See's Candy - and the guy that helped us was just wonderful.  Pleasant and funny and just really looked like he 

enjoyed his job!  Even held the door for us as we left - looked like Michael Phelps also.  As we were walking back to our cars and talking about the evening - we realized that since it was Monday instead of Tuesday - maybe we 

sat in someone's Monday seat at Wahoo's and that is what set off the unusual evening - although even as unusual as it was - I wouldn't have changed a thing - had a great time.  Now if I can just keep myself from going back and buying the really cute Vans shoes!  Check them out - aren't they cute - they remind me of the gold and blue ones I had as a kid!  They are called Era (imagine that) and they are a limited edition - I think I must have them now.

And I Turn Bright Red

Did anyone see the moon tonight - Beautiful!

So I made it to the gym - but the treadmill kicked my butt today!  I've been running at a 12 minute mile pace and today I tried an 11 minute mile pace and it might not seem like a big difference - but it almost did me in today.  

So the day of the three letters is when I started running on the treadmill.  I just wanted to do something different from the elliptical.  So that day I ran a mile and a half and felt great - other than the problem with my shorts.  The next time I went to the gym I got two miles done - but only by walking in the middle of the two and felt miserable.  And then the last time I went I did two miles together and felt great.  And then today I did a mile and felt miserable again - so that means the next time I work out, it should be great!  Does it get any easier?

It's kind of like prayer - there are times that I have great prayer sessions and times that I have frustrating prayer times - but no matter what - God is just happy to spend time me.  Just like no matter how I feel after the treadmill - it's good just to be exercising.  

Maybe my problem today was the fact that I was over closer to the mirrors and could see myself as I was running - ick!  And I turn bright red when I'm running - I don't need to see that - won't be on that end of the treadmills again if I can help it!

I ended with lunges, abs and bench press - which means I'll be sore in a day or two.  The best part of the workout, though, was watching all the teeny boppers checking themselves out in the mirrors - the kid over by the free weights was the best - flexing and lifting up his shirt.  God Bless Him!

I Didn't Want To Get Busted For Fraud

I was looking back at my past entries and realized that it has been two weeks since that fateful day of the three letters!  And I just cannot express enough how good our God is and how thankful I am to Him for His faithfulness and blessings - He is an Amazing God!

So back two weeks - it was Labor Day weekend - I'd been having a wonderful weekend and then I opened the mail to find out that my mom's Medi-Cal benefits had been cancelled - to put it in perspective - her benefits save her (really me) around $200 - $300 a month - they pay for ALL of her medical expenses - God Bless the state of California!  So Tuesday morning - I immediately got on the phone to the social worker and left a message - didn't hear anything that day.  Blogged that night - was feeling a little more calm about things.  

On Wednesday, the social worker called me back and spent about 1/2 an hour with me explaining everything to me - and I was right - it was a $637 per month deductible that they wanted her to pay before any benefits would kick in.  After that kind of deductible - she would be left with about $650 to live on - crazy - the social worker agreed!  The social worker was so helpful - she explained to me how they calculate everything and told me that she makes $200 more than she should to qualify!  So she gave me a phone number for an agency that would work with me to find the best solution in terms of benefits for her - she also explained how we could work around the system to try to get full benefits - and then at the end of the conversation - she noticed that my mom's residence address was different from her mailing address and asked if she was living in an Assisted Living facility?  Of course my first thought is - what should I say - would it be better if she was living in Assisted Living or better if she lived on her own?  I was concerned that she might not qualify at all if she was in Assisted Living - but I figured I didn't want to get busted for fraud so I told her - yes - she was in AL.  As it turns out - that worked to our benefit.  All she needed was a letter or receipt showing that my mom was a resident of Assisted Living and there would be deductions that should qualify her for her benefits - so I let her know I would find the info and fax it to her the next day.

Went home that night - found the receipt - faxed it back the next morning - and within an hour she called me back and told my that my mom was back "on the sunny side" of the benefits - full benefits - everything paid for.  I was so overwhelmed and thankful - I had to cry - gee, what a surprise!  I went out to get lunch that day and I was just so overwhelmed with thankfulness to God that I just couldn't express it enough - I am still awed - I know I probably shouldn't be - He is the God that makes all things possible - but it is such a blessing to see it so specifically worked out in your own life.  Anywho... I know that I've started to ramble - so am going to go expend some of my energy and go running at the gym - stayed tuned for another entry tonight - I have a couple of gym and treadmill stories - as well as an analogy to prayer.

Aaarghhghhachkkk!

I'm experiencing some computer technical difficulties with my internet - don't know if it is the modem, the router or heaven forbid - the Mac!  So bear with me until I can get it fixed...

Don't Need That Old Pile Anymore

Couldn't resist posting twice today (since I got distracted earlier)...  I know you all are probably tired of hearing about my cat - but too bad - she is the family that I live with!  And I just so enjoy getting pictures of her with the laundry - don’t know why I’m so fascinated with it at the moment - but I find it amusing to watch her when I get the stuff out of the dryer.  Today was no different... I don’t know exactly how she senses it - but no sooner did I get the laundry out than she was on the bed - all the way from the top of her cat tree!  Of course she wants to lay on it while I am still laying it on the bed - and then she wants to kneed in it - like this...

Today I had to do two loads - and I took the second load out of the dryer while she was still laying on the first - and when I plopped it on the bed - her eyes got all big - and I could tell that she had started to purr - and there she was - scoping it all out to lay on - here she is thinking - mmm... fresh laundry - don’t need that old pile anymore!

And finally - I was working on the computer and she had jumped up on the table (I know I shouldn’t encourage this habit) and she was laying there and I was able to snap this photo - in five and a half years - the best one I’ve ever taken of the two of us (Kris and Lynne - I think this is the picture of our lifetime - I'll have to check it again in another year!).

Followers

I was getting ready to sit down and blog away a bunch of stories from the last week when I stopped and took some time to catch up on some of my favorite blogs to read.  Well, there was a new look and some new postings to one of my favorites...  and one of the things I noticed was a gadget (as blogger calls them) for Followers - and I thought - Followers of what...  and what happens when I become a Follower?  And is this just a nice way of saying... Stalkers?  Anyway...  so it says "Followers (0)" and then it says below...  "(0) Followers View All".  And now I'm thinking - view all of what?  It looks like there isn't anything to view - so I, of course have to click on it and am met with this message...

And it just made me laugh - I don't know exactly why - but I'm thinking - how sad - there aren't any followers!  Everyone should have at least one follower - so I just had to become one.  So I sign myself up to be a follower - even added a picture to my profile - classic Elizabeth - lost much?  I go back to the webpage to see myself as a follower (because truly - it's all about me) and I saw this message...

What?  Stop following?  But I just signed up and it is now telling me to stop following - what's up with that?!  And I laughed again - hard!  I just amuse myself sometimes!

And the coolest thing happened when I logged into my own blog - I already had a follower!  How cool is that?!  Check out the cool people that stalk me - over there to the right!  And a shout out to Jan and her blog for providing me with this afternoon levity!  God Bless You!

Praise Be To God!

It's late - and I need to go to bed - got a great weekend planned at Women of Faith!  But I just had to share how overwhelmed I was today with the faithfulness of God!  Brought me to tears - which, I know - isn't really saying much.  But even amidst all the frustration and heartache that this week has brought - there have been blessings - and I was so overwhelmingly blessed today that I just had to sing His praises (which I did literally tonight since we had our first choir practice).  Anyway - I will bore you with the whole long story later - because tonight - it's late - and I need to go to bed.  Just suffice it to say that my mom has her benefits back - all of them - without any kind of crazy deductible.  Praise be to God!  And thanks for all the prayers!  God Bless Us Everyone!

Staring At Me Isn't As Much Fun

Did anyone see the sunset tonight?  It sure was pretty - I noticed it after leaving the Spectrum tonight, just before getting on the freeway.  It was a nice ending to a wonderful dinner (thanks, B - and the fish tacos were ok - will have to try the shrimp next time).  The colors were so pretty and there was just a sliver of the moon showing.  When I got off the freeway and was driving up La Paz - there was the moon again - with a palm tree silhouetted against the evening sky - again - just beautiful.

And it’s such a nice evening out!  Greetings from my balcony.  One of my goals this last weekend was to get my balcony back into shape for enjoying - I used to sit out here a lot and then I had to move everything for them to do the floor - and then the paint and then there was rain and wind and it just became a mess!  So I finally put my lights back up and cleaned the chairs - and it is all good to go (more or less).  Unfortunately, the network cord doesn’t reach out here - actually - if I removed the screen from my bedroom and strung it outside onto the balcony it probably would - but don’t really want to try that!  So I’m just typing in Pages and will cut and paste later.  I’ve been known to do this on occasion at work on our cutting edge 256MB computers - hee, hee, hee - but shhhh... don’t tell anyone!  B - I don’t think I told you about the computer raffle at work - remind me later!

So I called Social Services this morning - left a message - haven’t heard anything - there’s a surprise.  Will call tomorrow and leave at least 2 messages and then may just sit in their office on Thursday until someone will talk to me.  And I’m trying to stop whining about it all - there are people with much worse problems than this.  I figure it’s like being a single parent - unfortunately, I can’t claim her as a dependent on my taxes - how terrible does that sound.  Shame on me - or maybe God needs to Bless Me!

So other than the whole 3 in 1 letter I got on Sunday - it was a pretty good weekend.  Didn’t do too much on Saturday - that’s actually when I cleaned my balcony - and then Saturday evening we had an England reunion party - that was fun!  Saturday night I had a house guest - Jan it was fun to have you over - and the cat misses you - staring at me isn’t as much fun for her since I’m always around - although she’s staring at me right now from inside on her cat tree.  

Sunday morning Kris and I went up to Disneyland to cheer Jan across the finish line of a 1/2 marathon - very cool and a lot of fun - here are some pictures...  After the race we made it to church and then lunch afterwards. Then when I got home - I made the mistake of checking the mail - and we all know what happened then.  What you all don’t know is that after spending a lot of the afternoon crying and being frustrated - it got me to go to the gym - and I had been inspired in the morning to get on the treadmill and do some running.  So I walked and ran through my workout. Walked a mile and half at a 15 min/mile pace and then ran a mile and a half at a 12 min/mile pace - and if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was wearing the wrong shorts and there was a bit of chaffing going on - I probably would have run a bit more (I know - TMI)!  It was all good though and I didn't fall off the treadmill - although found myself close to the back a couple of times!  At least the music was better than last week - when Craig I were there last time it sounded like a gay disco!  So I’m now thinking that a 5K run after the first of the year might be in order...  Kris, you want to join me?

And I’ll tell you - God is good.  After my workout and a little prayer time in the prayer room at church - I was feeling much better.  I know that God will work it all out - sometimes it’s just hard to see that in the heat of the moment.  God is good - all the time!

Then Monday was nice.  I went to bed early on Sunday night and then slept in on Monday morning - lovely!  Sat on the couch and watched Hairspray and then Kris and Marlene invited me to see Mamma Mia!  It was fun to get out and go the the movies - even when this woman with awful perfume had to sit right next to me in a practically empty theater - people just fascinate me!  After the movie - I got an invite to the Brown’s for swimming and a BBQ - which was much better than the boxed meal I would have pulled out of the freezer.  And the movie and BBQ were just the ticket to take my mind off other things going on in my life!

So here I sit with more stories to tell - but they will have to wait for another day so I don’t bore you too much for now.  But I’ll soon have to write about Disneyland from a week or so ago - and I have some mom stories!  For now, though - must go to bed!

England Pilgrimage Day Five

As promised...  England. Day 5.  Where did I leave off?  Ah... that’s right - another mishap with our morning alarm.  This was our last morning in London before we set off across the countryside and since we needed to be ready to catch the coach in the morning, we asked for a wake up call - which didn’t happen!  So here we were - rushing again!  I think it was after this that I figured out that for the alarm that I brought to go off in the morning - you have to set it to AM - not PM!  We didn’t have any other wake up problems after this!

So we board the coach for our first stop at the Avebury Stone Circles.  The cool people, of course, filling up the back of the bus!  It was neat to be out of the city and seeing some of the countryside - which we would be seeing a lot of for the rest of the trip.  I kept trying to take pictures out of the bus while it was moving that inspired the phrase, ‘Maybe you should leave that to the professionals!’  So the Avebury Stone Circles were fascinating - to see all of these stones so methodically placed in a circle - my favorite, though, were the SHEEP!  Our first sheep siting - and the location of my best sheep picture of the entire trip.

After Avebury, it was off to Stonehenge - and it still fascinates me that I saw this - I don’t know why I have such a fascination with Stonehenge - maybe because it’s so famous and I keep thinking - I was there - whenever I see the pictures.  Anyway - it was cool.

After Stonehenge, we headed off to the Salisbury Cathedral - only to get there and end up driving back to Stonehenge to look for a lost camera - which was eventually found.  This left very little time for lunch - but enough time to walk down and get pasties - mmmm... yummy!  

The Salisbury Cathedral was beautiful!  We got a tour and I was glad that I had done my homework and read up about British history - it really paid off, listening to the stories the docent was telling.  After Salisbury, it was on to Glastonbury - but not before we lost one of the pilgrims and had to spend some extra time looking for him.  Delayed seemed to be the name of the game for this day!  We did finally find him and were on our way to see the Abbey at Glastonbury.

At the Abbey - we only had about 1/2 hour before it closed, but one of the docents (dressed in his monk outfit) was nice enough to give us a quick tour of the ruins.  Again, another place that I was glad that I knew the history.  And, a place that, looking back, I didn’t appreciate as much when I was actually there and would love to go back to see and spend more time there.

It was then on to our hotel - the George and Pilgrim Hotel (built in the early 15th century).  Great little hotel that we filled up completely with our group.  Check in was a bit of a nightmare and Kris and I ended up switching rooms - but as Craig said - blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken!  The hotel had some of the best food of the trip and the nicest managers and I would stay there again in a heartbeat!

That night we wandered down to the grocery store - only to find out that it was closed - got some cool pictures of signs on the way, though.  Kris and I did a little more searching for a food store - which we didn’t find - but did find the United Methodist church in the city.  As we were walking back to the hotel, we also found Jim and Gay sitting on a bench just enjoying the night - next to some crazy woman, who had to announce to the guys across the street that we were from America!  I got the impression  that she was one of the local odd balls!  After that we enjoyed a half pint with Jim and Gay at the hotel and then headed off to bed to get some sleep for another full day of touring and the search for a Fluff and Fold.

More on that later - but for now - enjoy the pictures from Day Five.