Flamingo Dancer’s Neighborhood

Even though the pool hasn't been heated up Joe still wanted to go for a dip. I told him that if he wanted to go swimming he can't test to see if the pool's heating system has been installed. If he wanted to go...he had to jump in and find out. Joe didn't last more than a minute in the pool because it was according to Joe it felt like the Atlantic ocean :)

I can honestly say that I DO NOT miss Lubbock, Texas whatsoever. Here is a promo video of Lubbock. Lubbock, Texas is a terrible place to live...no jobs, no culture. It's an ultra conservative city and one that I'm sooooo thankful to be far away from!

Sean and I recently left Oakland, California and my heart aches every day for the wild and wacky Bay area! :(  Here's why:

Can you tell from the smile on my face that I'm enjoying my new Sidekick 3?? I got it today and this newest version of the sk devices is soooo much better. I absolutely love gadgets!!!

Tony

1 comment

Sk3

The boys are buzzing at my kneecaps and soon I join in and go hunting for treasures, creeping through the tall grasses that grow quickly with the Arizona monsoon. These treasures are only seen for what they truly are if one is willing to observe without haste or a jaded attitude:  a dragon's tooth! a monster claw! a magic fire-shooter! When I look into Jas' eyes during play, they have this other-worldly appearance; he has tripped into another dimension where the world takes on it true identity, which is full of adventure and overwhelming magic. I remember this feeling as a child. No, I remember this REALITY as a child.

little eyes

It is during painting that I escape back (or is it step forward?) into this familiar and wonderful place where magic is the reality.

Here are some new things to look at...

"Edifice", watercolor combined with ink and pastel, 140 lb archival paper, 17 1/4" x 25".

"Edifice"

  Small painting for me, "Little dance". It is very little. About 2" x 3". ;-)

"Little dance"

"Creep in", watercolor combined with ink and pastel, 140 lb archival paper, about 8" x 10".

"Creep in"

A few other things...I've been doing a good dose of reading in the evenings and it has felt wonderful to let myself wonder...  French Watercolors of the 20th Century is absolutely fabulous and I recommend it highly, tho it's a hard one to get ahold of. This dated book is an intriguing observation of style, lives, and application in French watercolor painting. I am a new fan of Maurice de Vlaminck's work. He is considered a major artist in the Fauvist movement - these artists were known for their use of extreme, bold colors and styles. I am fascinated with how Vlaminck used watercolor  in an alternating light and heavy application to create density or solidity. On the shelf is another stack of art books that tempts me all day long. I finished up Jim Butcher's Storm Front in two days. It was a fun goth read, tho not terribly deep. Still, I will probably read another in the Dresden series. I'm such a sucker (hee hee) for vampires, wizards, monsters... I wonder how this writer's style will evolve as well as Harry's character. Last night, my hubby and I saw Iron Man. Gosh, I really love Robert Downey Jr.'s acting in pretty much anything. I wouldn't say this plot was super-spectacular, however... Downey Jr. put meat on the bones of his role; his candid voice shines through and you have to like this guy. Anyway, I digress. So, I am off to go biking with the fam. Have a great weekend, friends and family!

I went to see "Up the Yangtze" last night right after work. It was a pretty interesting and powerful look at the human cost of the Three Gorges Dam. While standing in line in the restroom after the movie, a pair of ladies in front of me were not pleased with the movie.

"I think they mislead people about what the movie was going to show. I was just there and they didn't show any of the beautiful landscape. Not one scene."

Okay, I watched the trailer before I went and my understanding of what I was going to see fit what I saw. I was not expecting a Rick Steve's travel journey. I didn't go on a boat tour when I went to China in 2002, but I saw a lot of beauty up against a rush for modernization.

So I spoke up, being as polite as possible. "It was supposed to be a movie about the impact of the dam project on the people who live along the river."

The Complainer's friend smiled at me and said, "Oh yes, it did a good job of showing the human cost of progress."

Then I explained that I've enjoyed traveling to developing countries and that I've become more concerned with how much tourism erodes local culture. They nodded their heads and we had a nice chat. 

This thought is something I've been grappling with for a little while now. I loved my trip to Cambodia but I saw more being lost than was gained by my being there. Hotels popping up like weeds, no oversight and no limits on how many tourists can climb among the sandstone temples. The water table is dropping there and what stood solid for centuries is becoming increasing unstable.

Peru is starting to get it, and limits how many people are entering Machu Picchu. It looks like Tikal in Guatemala hasn't had the problems yet, but they will be coming and coming fast.

I really want to go to Easter Island. It's a big dream of mine, but I've been reading about the damage being done by a larger influx of tourists. I don't want to be a part of the problem. I'd love to go back to Southeastern Asia but I read disturbing articles about the destruction of authenticity and a way of life due to the crush of Western tourists in Laos. Spain has paved over some of its best beaches with concrete hotel after hotel. Central America is increasingly threatened with "Cancunization": a proliferation of glitzy resorts that keep guests ignorant of their environs.

The film I saw last night didn't help my inner conflict. Gosh, I'm conflicted a lot lately. Anyway, the film followed a girl who went to work on a river cruise boat to help make money for her family. I know that tourism is a major economic help to many people, but I also saw how it keeps so many of us travelers from seeing the reality of the places we visit.

What I can do is be a more thoughtful traveler. Whether that means taking volunteer vacations, seeking out smaller destinations or finding sustainable tour options, then I'll try to balance my wanderlust with my conscience.

I suspect that my alternator is dying.  Either that, or it's the battery.  To be honest, I'm rather hoping that it's the alternator as I have a lifetime warranty on that sucker.  This does require going to PepBoys tomorrow (an experience I enjoy nearly as much as I enjoy going to Firestone), but I saved all my receipts from that wretched day a couple of years ago when my battery, alternator and starter all died at seperate times on the same day.  Heh.

As I was driving this evening, the car started its "the engine nearly cuts out, then goes back to normal, then nearly cuts out, then goes back to normal" routine.  This happened when my alternator died.  My battery warning light also came on on the final drive home, but it went off and came back on again several times. 

I suppose that I could hope that the battery connections are merely loose or something.

Ah, well. Better now then when I'm on the road to South Padre.  Two weeks!  Yay!

I've been tagged--I think that means I'm supposed to answer this questionaire and then tag someone else--like an invitation? So, feel free to accept this invite--if you're reading this--tag, you're it. Here's the questionaire I was tagged with.

3 Joys-
Teaching--when they are absolutely riveted and so am I. Reading a really good book.  A clean house. I'm serious about this one--it has to be about the best feeling in the world to walk in and not cringe away from something that needs doing.

3 Fears-
(Keri, seriously, you're afraid of grasshoppers?) Never really accomplishing anything momentous. Um. Judging from my nightmares--physically losing a child, usually one of my youngest.  And third, having any of my children grow up and realizing I failed to instill in them something essential for their happiness or success.

3 Goals
Finish this house--inside and out! Every phone jack, every faucet, doorknob and floorcovering . . . Get in shape--stop laughing--really good shape (okay, so I'm defining "goals" loosely here, more like wishes) Third. Someday find myself teaching, really teaching on a regular basis, successfully. And not to belittle mothers, but I'm not talking about teaching anyone to button their jeans or fold socks, either.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections-
Yeah, I'm not much of a collector. I think it stems from my childhood--we moved alot, and I regularly have nightmares about trying to pack everything up, trying to sort out what's important to take and what I can leave [shudder]. So I tend to live like I might have to leave on short notice. Don't get real attached to things. Can I say I collect children?  Obsessions--numbers. I think I obsess over numbers, whether it's time or money or whatever it is--how many minutes/days/year will it take me to accomplish this thing? What if I do it this way? I'm constantly running numbers in my head, trying to outsmart the bank account balance, the clock on the wall, or the years of my own life. Third--if you want to go real current, I was obsessing all day over this really weird smell in my house. I think I finally found and irradicated it. I think. Swim towel. (And we're talking lake water swim towel, not chlorinated pool swim towel) 

3 Random/Surprising Facts-
Hmm. Aren't all the above random facts? If not, here are some more. I think it's part of a different questionaire, but Keri, or someone before her, has lumped them all together.

A = ADVOCATE FOR: Honesty, for Pete's sake! Is it really that hard to just TELL THE TRUTH?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

B = BEST FEATURE: I'm going to really stretch the definition of feature here.  . . .One you can watch without someone answering their phone, laughing loudly at unfunny moments, or asking you for a drink/pottybreak/kleenex.

C = COULDN'T DO WITHOUT: Hope

D = DREAMS AND DESIRES:  See 3 goals, above.

E = ESSENTIAL ITEM: Clorox.

F= FAVORITE PAST TIME: I'll have to agree with Keri here: Sleeping. Or maybe reading an entire novel while everyone else is sleeping. No matter how much I'll regret staying up all night, you just have to do it sometimes.

G = GOOD AT: Teaching

H = HAVE NEVER TRIED: Lobsters/oysters/anything else in that class

I = IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: I'd probably only get to keep like $400K after Uncle Sam got his hands in it, but that might still be enough to survive on without working the equivalent of three fulltime jobs at once.  

J = JUNKIE FOR: Salty snacks and a good story--in either book or movie form.

K = KINDRED SPIRIT: You know, I looked this up in the good old Wikipedia database, just to be sure it means what I think it means, and all I came up with was a chinese soap opera. Because I don't have any kindred spirits in the Anne of Green Gables sense of kindred spirits--bosom buddies of the same sex that never argue except maybe occasionally over Gilbert Blythe. But in spite of all my moanings a few posts back about the genetic disparity between men and women I'd have to say I married someone pretty close to what I'm like, as close as an XY and an XX can get, anyway. We agree on some pretty major issues, and I guess that's why we're still together 15 years later, inspite of all the differences--we're the same at the core.

L = LITTLE KNOWN FACT: A surprising majority of children ages 2-14 actually eat their own boogers. Which is better than eating someone else's, I guess.  I didn't believe it myself, but I have seen it with my own eyes. 

M = MEMORABLE MOMENT: giving birth

N = NEVER AGAIN WILL I: give birth. Which is sad, but not, too.

O = OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: Mmmm. Sleeping in.

Q = QUOTE: "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind."

R = REASON TO SMILE: My new dining table/chairs.

S = SORRY ABOUT: Every time I was ever grouchy/short/snappish to my kids.

T = TAG SOME FRIENDS: If you're reading this, you're IT.

U = UNINTERESTED IN: Anything that comes with a contoller and rhymes with ideo games.

V = VERY SCARED OF: You know, I can't think of anything. Besides maybe giving birth, but what's with that obsession today?

W = WORST HABIT: Reading/Blogging when I should be sleeping.

X = X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: Really? Like you could put an ideal vacation spot on a map of this earth? Kidding, kidding, I'm not that cynical. Not really. But I don't know. Somewhere nobody knows me or my number?

Y = YESTERYEAR DECADE OF CHOICE: Pretty much anything but the 80's

Z = ZODIAC SIGN: Not as far as I know.  But they might name one after me yet. . . 

Apologies in advance, but we have to ask... How do you REALLY feel about the New Kids on the Block reunion? 

I love you

The new song is just like what all the 17 and under crooners are singing now a days. They not only came back as 40 year olds but 40 year olds who sing the same music as when they were 20! It's pretty funny talking to my friends about them. I, of course, was a devoted fan. I had all the albums and even own a CD of their "greatest hits" I got for $5.99 at Wal-Mart about 5 years ago or so just for kicks. It's something I play when my husband has his friends over and I want to get a rise out of the crowd.

They're a complete joke and I'm sure this is the last we will hear from NKOTB.

I love you not

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