help!!!!!

yesterday i did a practice pack for our trip to instanbul. it did not go well.
i did my research. read 906 articles on how to pack lightly and efficiently for a trip abroad. it's a fairly even split on whether to roll your clothes or to fold them. i roll. then there is the stupid advice about underwear! almost every article told you to bring your oldest skeesiest panties and throw out each pair as you wear them.
underwear takes up almost zero room and the maids will not thank you for this. if i were the maid and someone left me a pair of dirty old panties everyday i would figure out some sort of subtle retaliation like oh i don't know, a carefully placed scorpion at the bottom of your bed or i would plant enough hashish in your luggage to get you in a mess of trouble. then call the local police. turkish prisons are not fun. remember midnight express?
they go on to say that it is perfectly acceptable to wear the same clothes for several days. NO IT'S NOT!!
or you can bring packets of laundry soap and wash your clothes in the bathtub every night. excuse me! i'm on vacation! hmmmmmmmm drink wine at a local cafe and savour the sights and sounds of an exotic land? or hand wash  my clothes in a bathtub?
i have pared down as much as possible. i'm bringing my e-reader so i do not need to take a mess of books with me. i am bringing only 2 pairs of shoes and will be wearing one pair on the plane. what's this you say only two pairs of shoes! there is a method to this madness. i am going with my brother and he will make me Walk hundreds of miles daily, at a very fast pace i might add. so i am wearing my ugly walking shoes and have packed one pair of open toed sandals with just a kitten heel for evenings. no stilettos! remember, my brother will make me walk. so take away the shoe and book factor and i am left just with clothes. because turkey is largely muslim, i have to cover up. no tank tops or shorts unless i want the locals to throw rocks at my head, so long skirts, long sleeved shirts  and pants are the order of the day. way more material so they take up way more room. you see my dilemma.




                                                             this was my fantasy suitcase!

                      i truly believed i could master the physics of packing. i failed miserably!

.                                                                    this is my reality!
i need to find a happy medium. any and all suggestions that do not included gifting the maid with my old dirty underwear would be greatly appreciated!

a girl can dream

   welcome to my fantasy home, take your shoes off and come in!

                               
   this would be my front entrance. cobbled and overgrown with vegetation.

             
   my living room. look at the carving on the bookshelves! and is fuchsia not the perfect colour?

                       
   my solarium. wouldn't this be a lovely place to read the afternoon away?

                       
   my breakfast nook. i don't eat breakfast but if i had this nook i just might.

                                             
  my bedroom! it fulfills all tactile and visual needs.

                                     
  with this kitchen people would actually think that i can cook!

never mind the impracticality of plants in your bath tub. i think i would just stand at the door and sigh everytime i went by it.

i would have to move somewhere where it is warm year round so that i could eat al fresco all the time.

                                                   
  wine underneath the moon and stars!

                                                                         
 my library!

                                             
   the guest room for when you come to visit!

                             
  and because the other bathroom is just for sighing, this one will do nicely.

 and of course, a treehouse for the grandchildren and anyone else who wants to play.

a girl can dream!                                                                                                                                                                                                  

istanbul here we come!

pinch me!!!!!!!! we are going to istanbul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i am so excited i can barely stand it.7 weeks from today we shall be jetting off to the land of sultans and
the most amazing history imaginable.
whilst we are there we will also be visiting the cities of bursa and ephesus and perhaps troy. though rumour has it that troy is a disappointment. i am torn between going and being disappointed and not going and being disappointed because i was so close to seeing it and didn't. will have to ponder that one for a while.
this has been in the works for several months now and i have driven my brother and husband quite mad with my questions and my hurry up and do this and that. are we going? are we not going? do i book my end? do i wait? why is it taking so long? what's up with the turks, why can't they make a decision? etc. etc. etc. i can be a pain but my steamroller tendencies kicked into overdrive with this one.
i have been told that i simply cannot bring my usual 5 or 6 pieces of luggage. i must show restraint and if possible pack everything into a carry-on! this is going to be a challenge! when we went to the island a couple of weeks ago i decided to give it a dry run and see if indeed it was possible for me to travel with less than my entire wardrobe. i din't fail miserably but then we were at the ocean so i didn't need to bring a variety of outfits either. we were gone for 6 days and i managed but just barely. now i have to pack an extra 4 days worth of stuff into the same suitcase, plus i will need at least one dinner dress and some sort of a jacket as well. will carry the jacket on the plane and have decided that i will leave my computer at home and and bring my e-book instead of several paperbacks so that will help. but................ there is always the shoe problem.
and my camera equipment. am trying to decide if i need all my lenses or if i can get away with just one or two. but the photo opportunities! what if i don't have the right lens? worry worry, stress stress!no wonder i'm the pharamaceutical queen!

and just to make it just a little more perfect, we have to change planes in amsterdam so we are going to spend a day and a night there on the way home. the art museums the canals, again the history!
altogether, a whirlwind tour!

there will be no rest for the wicked and that's fine by me.

when the ocean calls my name.....................

.................... i answer.
we are off to the island tomorrow. a friend of a friend has kindly rented us their beach house. it sits approximately 20 yards from the shore. we shall go to sleep to the rhythm of the waves and wake to the crashing of the surf.
i have always been drawn to the ocean or any body of water for that matter. perhaps i was a mermaid in a past life or maybe it's just the majesty and omnipotence of it all that keeps me going back time and time again.
just taking the husband with me this time. no kids, no grandkids, no animals, just us. time to unwind, reflect, look for seashells and maybe catch sight of a whale or two. we will drink wine by the fire at night and explore the seaside by day.i will have (as always) my sketch book, camera and several novels. he will have his fishing rod. we will be zen.
at least in my fantasies this is how it plays out, reality will probably be a bit different. he is a restless soul and must be doing something, anything, so he will haul me off to the town and marinas and find goat trails to wander and i will be okay with that as long as at least part of each day i am able to gaze upon the sea and just be.
where is your zen place?

whoa moby!!!

so this is my first catch of the season. technically he was a keeper but with the mucking around with the camera, he managed to wiggle off the hook.
just as well, he really wasn't that big and i have a problem with the catch and release program. it's there for a good reason, so that the lakes are not fished out and the babies have a "sporting" chance to make it through the season,but still..................when you think about it it's kinda creepy, like a child molester luring young children. we dangle shiny bright objects and food in front of them, lure them into our trap and then hook em'.  

if they're not big enough we've pierced their lips, deprived them of oxygen and scared the be-jesus out of them, only to throw them back so it can happen again and again. (fish have about a 2 minute memory retention span).maybe i should hang a sign off my hook stating-only BIG fish need apply.

as you can tell by my ever-so-fashionable attire it was freezing up there in the mountains. side note to david suzuki- it is now july and it's still freezing in the mountains, perhaps your global warming scam does not apply to elevations higher than sea level.

you can call me nature girl!

so now that summer is finally here, the husband has begun his weekend jaunts up into the mountains and he usually drags me with him. he has a penchant for gut wrenching goat trail roads where one slip of the wheel and we will be careening down the mountainside to certain death. i white knuckle it up most of the time and refuse to look. thankfully, yesterdays little adventure had quite civilized roads. we even got behind a water truck that was spraying the roads to keep the dust down. (does this make sense? most years we are on water restrictions and can't water our lawns very much but they can water a road?) i'm confused!

we went up to myra canyon provincial park to hike the trestles. okay, hike is the wrong verb (adjective?) we strolled to the trestles. i even had on semi appropriate shoes for once, but i forgot to bring water. we went to the first trestle which is about a kilometer away and i was done. that's my exercise for this week. there was a little kiosk explaining about what kind of wildlife we might observe. cougars, coyotes and of course the very dangerous gophers and marmots. we didn't see any of these exciting creatures.

                                                     crikey!!! we saw a cow!!!
the views were incredible and the devastation from the fires of "03" were still very evident. the burnt out trees looked like a ghost forest. eerily sad and beautiful at the same time.

                                   

                                  standing on the trestle we had the most amazing views

usually my nature girl tales are much more eventful. but summer has just begun. maybe next time we will see
something a little wilder than a cow! tho' i do have to admit that cows do freak me out. they just stand there and stare at you. very creepy. don't you think?

ramblings...

went to the ball game last night. not the major leagues just the hometown team of college boys. but..... here's the ringer. not one of them is from here. in fact, almost the entire lineup was made up of american boys. not that there is anything wrong with american boys, just thought it might be nice to have some local representation. wow! that almost sounded patriotic! must be getting soft in my old age.

of course when your at a ball game you MUST eat at least one hot dog. (lots of ketchup and onions please) the sign said they were ALL beef hot dogs. and we all know what that means. it may be all beef but it's certainly not the sirloin parts. we're talking cow bums and other assorted parts all mashed up into an intestinal casing and presented to you on a steamy white bread bun. just read that last sentence, if that doesn't turn you into a vegetarian then nothing will. but if you close your eyes and silence your good sense then they go down quite nicely. however, as i was eating it i knew there would be a price to pay later as i have a rather delicate digestive system. yep. was in pain all night. so now that i have broken my dietary restriction rules, i'm good for the summer on this one. it's kinda like not touching a burning coal, you know it's going to hurt, but....... you just have to touch it anyways.
my garden is on steroids! everything is of gigantic proportions this year. even the weeds are humongous! haven't had quite enough sun for the flowers to bloom just yet, but they are getting ready and if the pods are any indication, they are going to be larger than normal as well. when i sit down in my garden, i feel positively lilliputian. which is not easy to achieve as i am rather on the tall side myself. entirely a different perspective. imagine how alice felt?

oh yes! looking at this picture reminded me that i have this huge rose bush that i DID NOT plant!. it just appeared. the husband did not plant it and to my knowledge, rose bushes do not self seed. so i don't think some bird dropped it off. a mystery! hmmmmmmmmm. it is of the particularly thorny breed. it may have to go if it doesn't quit reaching out and stabbing me.
we have our first dragon boat festival of the season this weekend. this will be the daughters first in which she is actually participating instead if just cheering me on. should be lots of fun. and i like that we can share this activity together. bonding and all that stuff.
just finished re-watching the lord of the rings trilogy for the 900th time. amazing how it never gets old and each time i watch it i find something new. does that mean i have the retention span of a two year old or that the complexity of the movies demands that they be watched several times in order to be fully appreciated. i'm voting for the latter but suspect that the first may be a contributing factor as well. oh look! shiny things!!

you can take houston........

i love this chair! i covet this chair! if anyone should have this chair it should be me. however it was not for sale nor would it fit in my suitcase. sigh!

so we are back from texas. and yes, everything IS bigger in texas. especially the food portions. oh my god! if i lived there i would be the size of a house! i was not able to finish anything that i ordered. and everything is artery clogging, fried and battered. i was tempted to try the twinkies but common sense prevailed.
i wasn't overly impressed with the city of houston. i like cities but it just didn't have a city vibe to it. although the art gallery was impressive.
loved galvaston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! would like to go back and spend more time there. the architecture was historic and beautiful. full of tacky tourist shops, restaurants and interesting boutiques.
we were walking along the shore and i noticed something odd on the pier. it looked to me to be an abandoned wheel chair. as we got closer i noticed that a man was lying beside it. i thought the worst and headed over. when we got there i realized that he was just drunk and sleeping it off. sad. got to wondering if he was a war vet. he looked to be of an age for the vietnam war.

                                                   how sad is this?

                                                  and how glorious is this!

yee hah!

heading to texas! asked the daughter what she wanted me to bring her back. she asked for a cowboy
with nice abs and arms. think this guy will do?
never been to texas except for a stopover in the dallas airport. i don't think that counts. i have high expectations.
so many stereotypes to be on the lookout for. women with bigger than life hair, cowboys of course, 10,000 oil wells and of course armadillos!

wouldn't you just love to cuddle up with one of these little guys? so cute! however! there was a news report
not long ago that said that scientists have found armadillos to be carrying a certain strain of LEPROSY!!!!!!!!
so......... i don't think there will be any cuddling going on.
i have been advised that at this time of year houston is rather on the hot and humid side.
googled the weather and sure enough i'm going to look like a texan in no time. with this kind of heat and humidity my hair will puff out to gigantic proportions!

gonna being wearing alot of hats and scarves!
see ya when i get back.

and so.....................

people are always asking me what i do with myself since i've retired. hmmmmmmmmmmm!
wish i could say that i've started volunteering at the local soup kitchen or that i've joined the gym and
work out on a regular basis etc. sorry my life has not changed all that much. the exception being, is that i no longer go to the office. instead, i concentrate on what makes me happy. selfish? yea! do i care? no! (i'm selfish remember).
i have been spending alot of time in my garden. this makes me happy. a garden is like a painting or a sculpture. mixing your colours and your shapes and textures to create something that is pleasing to the eye. i long for a secret garden. (do you remember the book?) a place where you can go and be alone where no-one knows where you are, where flowers and shrubs and trees are allowed to run wild. i am working on such a garden but it will take me years to pull it off.    this makes me happy.
it's dragon boating season again so i'm on the water a couple of times a week and i love it! my team mates are  a great group of women and several have become good friends. this year, the daughter has joined up! she is at the moment dividing herself between the teen team and sparing for my team. paddling together is just one more thing that we can share.    this makes me happy.
i have more time to spend with my grandchildren. they are at an age that they grow so fast and every week there is a change so i am lucky to be able to see this happen right before my eyes. they make me laugh. i see my son become an amazing father.    this makes me happy.
i am able to spend more time with son #3. he is becoming a most interesting man.  this makes me happy.
i am traveling more. next week we are going to houston to visit my twin brother and his wife. we will celebrate our birthday together. a rare occurrence now as we have not lived in the same city or even the same part of the country for at least 25 or 30 years.   this makes me happy.
in august, the husband and i have rented a beach house on the island. a week of serenity waits for us there. the ocean has always called my name and i answer whenever i can.   this makes me happy.
some friends and i are going to the other side of the island in september. a girls weekend. to the place where i believe god lives. we will wander in the rainforests and walk the beaches, eat too much, drink too much and laugh alot. (you can't laugh too much)     this makes me happy.
i "do" lunch with my girlfriends.spending an hour catching each other up on our lives,spilling secrets and sharing bits and pieces of our lives. girlfriend time is important. i sit on front porches and drink coffee or wine depending on the time of day.   this makes me happy.
and so........... i am enjoying a selfish productive retirement and this makes me happy.