Emily Bloss

It’s good to be home… I really missed everybody here. The cats piled on me for the first two days, but now we’re pretty much back to the normal piling system (which is still pretty often!).

I had been meaning to post pictures of the wonderful wall hanging my brother gave me, so here they are! Each panel is a slab of jasper, and the name of the piece is “Seasons”. Here’s the whole thing:

The tint is a little off because I took the picture at night - too many reflections to take a daytime picture. Here’s a shot of each panel:

Spring - This one is especially great because it looks like the frozen Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, which is where our romance officially began.

Summer

Fall

Winter

I treasure this gift. It hangs right above my computer monitor so I can see it all the time.

It’s been a really, really great visit in Tucson!! The wedding was awesome, and it’s been wonderful spending time with my family… we’ve had a lot of fun (well I did, and I hope everybody else did, too). Tonight we went to El Charro for Mexican food, and then to Sunflower Market. Heather bought a coconut so we could try again to open it with the pipe cutter tool Michael has - it turned out a LOT better than the first one we did on Sunday. One side was cut perfectly straight. The other side was mostly straight, and both halves (with a little work) would make satisfactory bowls. Yeah baby!!

Tomorrow morning we’re leaving at 7:45 and will stop by Grande Tortilla Factory to pick up some fresh tortillas for me to take home. Yummy! Then to the airport where my flight leaves at 10:25. I have a two hour layover in Houston (gonna check out Terminal C this time), and then I get to Tampa around 8pm. I can’t wait to get home… I’ve missed everyone a lot. I’m sad to be leaving here, though. I miss my family. So it’ll be a long, mixed day.

Take care, everybody. See you soon my love!!!

Ok, so the hill I climbed this morning wasn’t exactly a mountain, but since I chose to climb directly up the side, it was a pretty good climb. I was breathing really hard by the time I got to the top! This first picture was taken from a little ways away… the second was looking down at the place I took the first one from:

I won’t get to walk tomorrow (Monday) as we’ll be taking Kelly back up to Phoenix to catch her flight. It’s a boring ride but made interesting as always by good conversation. That’s the reason I like to drive places… it’s a good chance to chat, to connect without interruption or distraction.

It’s been a really great trip so far, I’ve had a wonderful time of relaxing and having fun. If Tucson had more water and a cost of living advantage, I’d consider moving back!

Greg & Jeannie’s wedding was awesome!! Everything was just beautiful, the weather was great for the outdoor wedding, and the food & entertainment was excellent. I got lots of great pictures… here’s one of all us kids (click to enlarge):

The ceremony was beautiful - I was very taken with the way they kept looking at each other, it was so wonderful. You can plainly see they love each other very much… I hope they never lose that feeling. I’ll post a few more pictures when I have more time.

Sunday we’re heading over to Greg’s for brunch, and then … ? Not sure what’s on tap for the rest of the day. Perhaps Ethiopian for supper, or back to Mom & Dad’s to eat all the leftovers we’ve created in the last few days. My belly has been full since we got here, good thing I’m walking every morning! Otherwise I’d weigh 150 pounds when I got back.

Trav, hope you enjoyed your dinner out. Did you go up to the place on 19? Talk with you soon, miss you lots and lots… seems like everything I do reminds me of you. |*

Tonight we went to Jeannie’s spa party and it was wonderful!! We left feeling relaxed and refreshed (I’m sure the margaritas helped a bit hehe). When we arrived, Jeannie introduced us to her friends and we immediately felt comfortable and taken right into their little circle, so that was good. We got to try all kinds of face, hand and foot goo… it all smelled and felt good and wasn’t too stinky. Jeannie very thoughtfully bought each of us a little gift bag which has lotion, foot cream and lip gloss. Kelly went for the whole deal, so she’ll be getting a big bunch of stuff in the mail in a few weeks! Plus there was food and lots of laughing and swapping of stories, so a good time was had by all.

I’m heading off to bed now so I can get up and do my walk first thing. I’ve been touring the neighborhood, seeing if I can remember where this and that person lived. It all looks pretty different now, and I only vaguely remember where people lived. It’s been interesting walking around. I carry a big dowel in case I meet up with any stray dogs. Watch out, doggies!!

I’ve been having a great time, though I’m starting to feel just a little bit homesick. Today I tried to do my most pitiful meow to the kitties outside, to see if that would make them come over to me (it didn’t work), and it made me miss our critters. And of course, I miss Trav and Bleys! See you soon, guys. Time to hit the hay. zzzzzzzz

We went to Char’s Thai Restaurant for dinner and I discovered - I like curry!! Apparently there are three kinds of curry - yellow, which is usually used in Indian food, and then there’s red and green, which is the good stuff. I liked Heather’s green curry a little better than Greg’s red curry with duck, but they were both excellent. So Trav… you know that little Thai restaurant in the same plaza as Sioux City? We should definitely try it sometime. I think you would like it, too.

Tomorrow we head up to Phoenix to pick up Kelly, and then we’ll go to Carolina’s for lunch. Real tortillas!!!! Wish I could bring some back to Florida. They would be too old by the time I get back, though. Then after we get Kelly, who knows what will go on between lunch and 7pm when it’s time for spa night with Jeannie. She said there will be food and margaritas and a lovely evening of pampering. Should be fun!

I better get to bed, it’s waaaaaay past my bedtime. Keep thinking warm thoughts!!

I’m in Tucson, visiting for a week. My brother is getting married on Saturday, yay!! It ought to be fun. Trav is home without me, you can read why on his blog.

The plane trip in was uneventful, which is good. I had a giant pile of barbeque in the Houston airport and I have to say, I liked Terminal C much better than Terminal B, which was kind of shabby. When I arrived in Tucson (a few minutes early) Dad picked me up, and on the way out I saw Beverly Harvey who was waiting for her ride to an event she’s attending this week. She’s from Florida, too, so that was pretty cool. Leaving the airport, I noticed the gas prices are about the same as at home ($2.59 per gallon at a place near the airport).

Today, we went down to Green Valley to the the White Elephant thrift store, where I bought 4 cloth napkins like the ones we have except they are butter yellow. At the next thrift store (Animal League), I didn’t buy anything! Then we went to Basha’s Food Store (I got supplies for my breakfast food), and then on to Subway for lunch (tuna sub), and then to WalMart for various and sundry supplies. Tonight we’re going to Char’s Thai Restaurant!! Adventure food!!

 Gotta run, we’re on a strict schedule. :)  Love you, Trav & Bleys!!

I love the writing of Brian Vaszily! Recently I read an article on his Intense Experiences web site which told story of kindness, and it prompted me to replace my little green “life reminder note” with a yellow post-it bearing the message: Respond to anger with kindness.

What a powerful statement. If you read the article you’ll see exactly how it can be so powerful. And it can apply to anger of all kinds… anger with yourself, other people, or a situation. I’m hoping by keeping that sentiment in my view at all times (on my life reminder note which hangs right by my computer screen), I’ll incorporate it into my life and make this world a better place.

I’m happy to report that in the past year, we spent more money on produce than meat. Yeah!! I found this little tidbit as I was doing our tax stuff, looking at the various reports in Quickbooks. Our biggest expense is taxes, followed by food and then mortgage. I could probably spend less on food but I think it’s one of life’s great pleasures and I would rather not skimp too much in that area. Plus we like to eat freshly prepared food instead of packaged stuff, which tends to be cheaper because it’s not real food. For some reason it seems less ingredients = higher price. The other day I was shopping for prunes… the ones with preservatives cost less than the one that was just prunes and nothing else. Go figure!!

The title for this post came via Trav, from Red Foreman on That 70s Show… one of our favorite shows a while back. When Red was faced with eating a salad for dinner, that’s what he said. Heheheh! It’s become a regular joke around here when the subject turns to veggies.

Trav sent me a very cool link tonight - check out this Youtube video!

Helpman awards shadow puppets

Enchanting.