Clothing optional?

Granted I have been married 5 or 6 times, depending on whether I choose to  count that one guy twice, but that does not make me a woman of the world.  To be real honest with you here, I am just more than a little bit naive.  I tend to take life as it comes at me and I am unaware of the subtleties  that are sometimes quite apparent to other more wizened members of society.  Such was my experience of a couple weeks ago which is now earning me lots of teasing  and sly remarks that I think are entirely uncalled for in my humble opinion.
Now, how this chain of events occured is going to remain a mystery to some of you as I do not want to compromise the actual participants.  It could be just a bit embarrassing to people other than myself, so just deal with this as best you can.
You all know that I am always one to lend a helping hand when it is needed.  Enter an acquaintance who was having car trouble and he needed a ride up the road a ways to keep his appointment at the mineral spa.  In hindsight, I can see where there should have been a warning flag pop up about then, but naive little Lou, did not even batt an eyelash on that.  So off we went in my little car, headed  West.  Very soon we arrived at the spa.  Funny, I always pictured a "spa" as a kind of fancy place as opposed to this which seemed to be a pool inside a privacy fence, but since I had never seen one, it was not my  judgement call.
We entered a sort of rustic looking building and he signed in.  There were chairs kind of off to one side so I assumed that was the waiting area.  So I set myself down and took stock of my situation.  I seemed to be the only person in this area although I could hear voices and it sounded like water splashing.  I decided there definitely was a pool behind the fence.  So that made sense.  I picked up a brochure and started reading about the pool and how warm the water was all year long and how beneficial the minerals were.  And way back in the recesses of my mind, a wee tiny memory started to tug at my subconscious.  What was it?  Something.
Like a lamb to slaughter, I  stood and walked to the front door and gazed across the yard at the pool area.  Of course the waiting area I was in was higher than the fence that screened the people in the pool from view.  Of course they were protected from anyone on ground level, but I was not on ground level. Then the little memory that was tugging gave a big jerk and I glanced at the brochure in my hand.  "Clothing Optional".  Of course it was!  How else would you explain that big naked guy that had just crossed my field of vision?  The one thing I was sure was that it was a man and I certainly hoped it was not the one I had just hauled up there.  But if it was, I would never know it and if it became necessary, I would fix his car myself, so this would not be a repeat trip up here.

I did survive that trip and if I had the common sense God gave a goose, I would not have told anyone about that little experience, but I don't and I did and now it is one of the little slings and arrows I must survive.  "Guess where Lou hangs out now days?"  " I can not believe you did not know that was a nudist thing!"  "Where are going today?"

So here it is in black and white for you all to read.  Now you know and you can snicker all you want.  I do have to go on record with this statement; "Been there, done that, cross that one off my bucket list even before I knew it was there."  I really believe this could be beneficial to some people and I did make a mental note that on Tuesday's everyone has to wear clothes.  If I go, it will be on Tuesday!
And one more thing, if I am going to parade around in my birthday suit, I do beleive I will need to iron it.  Failing in that I will just gain about 10 more pounds and that should pull those extra wrinkles out of the thing!  LOL

I been doing it wrong all this time!

I was tooling down South Road the other day and I came across 4 people on bicycles.  I was luckily in my  little car so I did not embarrass myself.  This is when I discovered just what it is I am doing wrong.

When I ride I just hop on this old balloon tire bike with no gears and away I go.  I wear what ever I happen to have on at the time.  Usually wear tennis shoes, but only cause that is what I wear.

I need to get me one of those skinny tired bikes with a bunch of gears up there and the brakes on the handlebars.  On mine I just pedal backwards and I stop right now!  Not later on down the road, right where I pushed backwards is where I will be when you find me cause the sudden stop sometimes unseats me.

And I need to get me some stretchy clothes.  Little shorts that come about mid thigh or whatever that bone is there between my knee and my bottom.  And a stretchy top.  Oh, yeah and some little gloves and a helmet and some sort of goggles.  Some sturdy shoes that are small.  Now I was going pretty good clip when I shot past  those people, but I think I got it in my mind's eye.  So I am going to go look at bikes this weekend.  It has got to be purple though.

And while I am there looking I shall check out the stretchy clothes.  I have always wished I had stretchy clothes.  Sure would solve that diet business I keep thinking about.

Now the biggest problem I have is finding friends.  Got plenty of them that want to hang out, go to lunch, stop by for coffee, but very few that I can talk into actually riding a bike or even going for a long walk.  They will come for supper, but leave before the dishes are done.  And if I did have a friend that would ride with me, the talking would have to wait.  I like to just kind of pedal along and look at the sky and the flowers and hope a dog don't chase me.  I do not have stamina enough to ride and talk both.  I usually have my headphones on and will probably get run over some day.  In that case a friend would be handy to call 911 assuming I am dead.

So there you have it.  And my solution is this.  I think I am going to get a new tire and tube for this bike.  Squirt a little more WD40 on the pedal thing and there where the tires turn.  Save my friends for later.  Shorts and tees I have now will get me by another year.  And these green, pink, and grey shoes are just getting broken in good.

Well, I tried to come into this century, I am just too tight!

High Tea at Yumiko's house and it was fantastic!

OK I can see this is going to be tricky since the computer freezes up every time it saves and that slide show takes time to save.  But I shall persevere!  First I want to tell you how this slide show can be viewed best.  Take your cursor to the bottom left of the slide show and click on that little note just this side of the little people form.  That will turn on the captions and you can see what I have written about each picture.  Oh and there is a lot more you can do, but I will let you experiment!
Yesterday I was invited along with several other members of the Weaver's Guild to a High Tea at Yumiko's house.  And I am so happy I went!  To those of you who know Yumiko, you know what a joy she is!  To those of you who do not, I want to share with you that she is one of the most unique individuals I have ever had the pleasure of encountering.  My first glimpse of Yumiko was at a Guild meeting when she did a presentation on recycled weaving.  She explained how she haunts the Goodwill and other places in search of garments that can be unraveled and then knitted, crocheted or woven back together.  I was aghast!  This seemed way beyond recycle mania to me.  Then she explained.
She does not just unravel anything.  It has to meet certain critera, ie. silk, wool, cashmere....Ah now, I get the picture!  For  $2 or $3 she can get stuff I am paying an arm and a leg to buy.  Clever woman! Since she lives in another town, my only encounters with her have been at the guild meetings.  So when this opportunity arose I jumped at it. 
Yumiko is always impeccably dressed and when I comment she points at her sleeve and says "Goodwill", the bodice and says "ARC" and her hat and says "Garage Sale.  Most of her garments have been purchased, unraveled and reworked, but the hats are another story.  I think she buys them, and she always has one on! You have to get up pretty early to get the bargain before she has it snatched up!
Her home is a work of art in itself.  When we pulled up out front the whole yard is a profusion of color.  The Peonies on the right side of the drive were as big as dinner plates and every bud was open.  The Clematis were to die for and the Poppies, well what can I say.  the woman has lavender Poppies!  The yard was just the prelude to a wonderland inside.  First the display case with a million puppies in it and I swear they were all the same color.  Two looms  in that room, sort of a sun room.  Then into her studio where there was another loom and a stash of thread and yarn to rival mine.  Think she has me beat.
Between the sun room and the studio is a short hall and that is where the Kimono or what ever that is hangs.  I tried to give closeups of this stuff, but no camera could ever do justice to this stuff.  All the wood carvings were made by her mother. They are so intricate!  Just every where I looked there was more to see.  My brain almost exploded!
We finished in the living area where we met "Monica".  Monica is a mannequin that is older than I am.  Very stern looking woman.  Yumiko  changes Monica's clothes for the seasons and sometimes just for the fun of it.  And see the 2 pictures of Yumiko and me in front of Monica?  I did that so a certain someone who shall remain nameless can see that this is another person I am taller than.
 And be sure and check out the banquet.  I show only the dessert table.  The Ginger Chicken Salad, some sort of chutney,  and the most wonderful Squash Soup with Coconut Cream I have ever had the distinct pleasure of ingesting in my entire life  was not on the camera.  But I can see it in my mind's eye.  Oh, and the Naam bread. That woman can cook!!
I could go on all day about my afternoon, but I have other obligations.  Suffice it to say, I will be making a run to the mountain community soon, cause I know she has leftovers. That and there is a great Goodwill up there and she is going to teach me the fine art of unraveling.  So stay close and I will share with you.  For now, just enjoy the slide show and leave me a comment or two that I can share with Yumiko.  You can remain anonymous if you like, but I would love to have your name.
So, from this little member of the  Handweavers Guild of Pueblo, remember this.  If you are not naked you can thank a weaver somewhere!

Well, good morning world and watch out the day is coming!

Well, I hit the floor a bit late this morning and it is probably a good thing I did or I would be in the ER by now.  I nonchalantly wandered out here to my office, glancing out the window as I did so.  What do you suppose was cavorting on the lawn right in my line of vision?  A Red Fox!  Not just any Red Fox but a very small Red Fox.  I am sure he has me and my ducks to thank for his survival to young adulthood.  In my haste to grab the camera I walked into the filing cabinet.  You know the one with the sharp corners?  By the time I got the bleeding stopped, El Foxo was long gone.

But it was replaced by a huge sun that I could look directly into with out batting an eye!  This phenomena is caused by the smoke from all the fires South of here.  Since it was still below the tree line and I wanted a clear shot, I wandered out to the North side of the house, sans footwear. Another bad move on my part.  Needless to say it was a futile move on my part since the filter on my camera would not let the sun show through.  Must be something about the same reason it will not let red eyes show.  So two events already and no pictures.  Want me to take pictures of my wounds?

So with a bit of time on my hands I remembered my dream of last night.  I dreamed my oldest daughter, Debbie and her Hammer moved to Arizona to a cave.  Now this cave was in the side of a mountain that was made of brittle coral.  So I broke off a small piece.  Some snot nosed kid saw me do it and told the forest ranger.  Now I needed the forest ranger because there were thousands of mice in her house.  They had chipmunk fur, but they were mice.  They were running from the thousands of other things that were on the floor.  These things were a cross between a centipede, a night crawler earth worm,  and a Red Racer snake.  The only way I could manipulate across the room was to stand on a chair and make it hop.  Now trust me on this, the only direction I wanted to go was out of there!  I had no idea where Debbie was so I just woke up!

Ok. it is almost 7 AM here and it looks like my day is started.  Later today I am going to post a blog about the migrant bags.  I learned a lot yesterday, but I need to get my stuff together and try to keep my facts straight.  Can't be lying to you people here cause one of you will catch me.

Oh, yeah and bright and early this morning I received a very fascinating bunch of pictures of the U.S.A. in the way back years.  It is quite a large file but I want to try to figure out how to get it on here to share with you. 

For now I am going to go lick my

wounds and then go do the chore thing.  Hang in there!  Bedtime is coming.

Now since I posted this I went and downloaded the pictures and maybe you  can see.  May have gotten more than I thought I did.  Any way..............

I have an itchy friend and I sure do feel for him.

I had a brief email from a friend back east on Wednesday.  Seems he done got to close to the Poison Ivy and now he is not a happy camper.  I do feel for the boy!  I did not realize it was that time of the year already, but it would stand to reason that all the pollen is flying so Poison Ivy would be no different.  I am very well educated on this little aspect of life.  Many years ago when I had tiny children and lived in Garden City, Kansas, I got my first taste of that little plant.  The husband went fishing.  When he came home and showered, the devoted little wife tossed the fishing clothes in the washer.  First bout of Poison Ivy.
Usually in the Spring I drift off to Hutchinson and work in my sisters yard.  Well, we finally decided that the Southeast corner of her yard was full of that stuff.  First year was not so bad.  Second year took me to the emergency room for a round of antibotics and steroids.   But the last year was total hell.  Last time left scars. Lots of drugs on the last one.  And since it seemed to be every where on my upper torso and I could not bear to have anything touch it, all my tee shirts were releived of the neck band and sleeves and shortened.  The best part is that I never even seen the stuff.  Would have been nice to face the enemy head to head.
I have learned that Poison Ivy is one of the critters that every time you get in it, your reaction is more pronounced!  And it is much easier to get than it was the first time.  I am to the point now that I can just pick it up from a nice gentle breeze if I stand down wind from the stuff.  Kansas and Missouri is riddled with that stuff and that is where I usually travel, so I am staying home this year.  I am pretty sure my sister is rid of her little patch, so that is cool.
That being said, just let me play you a little song and then get busy on chores and such.  To my friend I would like to say....Sorry about that buddy!  And  remember that time changes everything!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dbev-k2wos

Memorial Day was just that!

Memorial Day was the same as last year.  Cook out at Penny and Cathy's.  But the memorial part was coming home and a guy named Daniel and his wife came to get the pickup that I sold on eBay.  Cash in hand they arrived right on time.  And they were a delight to meet!

I had told him it needed a new battery and to deduct that from the price so he came with not only a new battery, but tools to install it!  Guy thought of everything.  The truck had not been started in a couple months so I was hopeful it would not disappoint me and it didn't!  New battery, turn the key and life under the hood!  We discussed why I had bought it in the first place and I explained that it was for my 16 year old son and the driving force behind a 1969 Chevy pickup was insurance costs.  See, there is no way to hurt one of them, but they can do a lot of damage.  So that was a lost cause.

We discussed how safe his son would be surrounded with all that steel.  I remarked that the kid would never know the agony of his first dent or scratch.  Mother concurred!

I watched it drive down the driveway and was a little remorseful that I had not gotten myself busy and restored it myself, but if I have one more thing to do, my head is going to explode!  Today I am taking a little break from eBay and I know that tomorrow I will regret it, but such is life.  I am going to get the thing that makes a photograph into a digital image and do a little introduction to my middle daughter, like I said I would do how long ago? 

OK, that is my short little report for the day and I am now off to do stuff that needs done.  Wish me well, but that recliner is looking mighty tempting about now!

Lost: one zest for life.

My oldest daughter called the other day and talk turned to my blog.  She commented that she keeps getting on, but apparently I do not.  And she is right!  I have given serious thought to this and I have come to several conclusions.  I was all gungho and had a fire in my belly when I started this thing.  I wanted to write and I wanted to tell you things as I saw them and as I remembered the good old days, but some where I got off track.  Other things crept in and the blog became secondary.  I have lots of emails to answer every morning and I guess that is good.  Ebay is taking a lot of my time and PFLAG seems to be more than I remembered.  See, I have a lot of excuses, but that is all they are.  What it actually boils down to is that I have lost my zest for life.

 Along with the zest went the naivete that I used to have.  I used to wander off with camera in hand and snap pictures and then come home and introduce you to a new friend, or moving scenery that I saw, or a place I found or an astounding bit of history that I discovered.  Not any more.  Now when I snap a picture, I am concerned with the light, the background, where this story will lead, how it will affect you, my  reader, and a myriad of other things.  Writing is now a job to do and not a pleasure.  Too much of it is scripted.  Do you know how long it has been since I have been up to Beulah to see Jan or John?  How long has it been since I just let go and said what I wanted to say?  I will tell you; too damn long!

So now I need a solution to the whole thing.  I could just shut the blog down, but I do not want to do that.  I still have things to say that I want to share with you, as my friends, so that is not really an option.  There are not enough hours in my day, but there does not seem to be any way out of that one.  God did it his way and I need to figure out how to live with that.   I seem to recall a wise man some where saying something about "Life is what happens while you are making plans."  That seems to be the crux of my problem.  Life is happening!  So maybe I should just do the living thing and kind of report on it as it happens!  Seems like that is what I used to do and it worked out pretty well.

So no more morality lessons.  No more crying in my beer.  I have a barbeque to attend this after noon and I am going to take my camera.  There will be kiddies there and a dog with three legs.  And Tim has a new phone and it has the Periodic Table which he will show me.  Maybe I can get my little sad sack (Tyler)  to take a picture of me all enthralled with Tim's presentation.  Or not.  and then I am going to come home and dazzle you with my new lease on life!  I am getting excited.  Right now I have to go hoe around the cukes and peppers.  Then I have to take a ton of pictures for ebay and get ready to head over to the cook out. 

So you all have a good one and I will be reporting in to you tomorrow!  Watch for me......