Hiked the Grand Canyon

My husband and I journeyed out west for my great nephews wedding. After the wedding we headed to the Grand Canyon so we could hike to Bright Angel Campground.



Here is a photo we took from the South Rim that looks down at some of the Bright Angel Trail.
The trail above the cliff is where the 1.5 mile rest house is -you can see the rest house if you blow up the photo enough.
Through a series of 'switch-backs' we made our way down that cliff to the trail more in the center.

I, being afraid heights, tried to tell myself that it was more scary than it looks.

That didn't work out so well for me!
People also said that I would get used to it -I didn't. But then, maybe if I had looked up more often, maybe I would have, but I was scared I would have trouble moving if I looked.


Here we are on the way day, I have the hat positioned over my head to try to obstruct my peripheral view as much as possible.




I was overwhelmed with not only how far down, but the vastness. Which is why walked all the scary parts in what my husband called 'turtling' seen to the left. I kept my hat over my head pulled forward to block my vision, head down.
When we reached a switch back, my husband would direct me where to go.
It was a long slow walk for him down since I was so scared.
Took us 7 hours 15 minutes down because I moved so slowly. It only took a 1/2 longer to walk up.

In spite of the fear - I loved hiking the canyon. I do so wish I could have went on more hikes and enjoyed the surrounding area.

How does one conquer fear of heights!

Showing fellow Bloggers we carel

This is Firestar


Fellow Blogger Bevie of A Voice in the Wind recently passed away leaving a wife, son and a cat - Firestar. Bevie also started the Legion of Online Super Heroes I started reading Bevie's blogs because of his cute kitty avatar -sucker for cats that I am.
Bevie's family really needs our help. Bevie had been ill for a while and unable to work. They lost their home and moved to an apartment. It has been a big struggle for them.
Fellow bloggers Stacy's Cafe and fairyhedgehog with approval from Bevie's wife, set up a collection and sent the fund's to Bevie's widow.
Thanks to all of those who contributed

Amelia and Scarlet

Just wanted to post some photos of two of my babies.
Amelia is below.

And below is Scarlett, Amelia's litter mate.


Amelia, Scarlett and 2 other kitties (Tara and Bruiser) were all litter mates. They were rescued feral kittens. Crazy litter buggers that they are, I love them.

Trouble Sleeping

Have had trouble staying asleep the last 2 nights. What's annoying is that after staying up for a few hours since I can't fall back to sleep, I do finally fall asleep then have trouble getting up - sigh!
No more espressos at 5 pm!

America is sane after all

Oh thank goodness, Buzz was voted off Dancing with the Stars.
I really do wish that show would STOP putting people on the show that are horribly painful to watch dancing. Although I admire at his age that he was able to dance, he really didn't belong on the show and I felt sorry for the professional stuck with him.

Twittering away with my iPhone SImulator

I've been teaching myself how to write iPhone applications. I'm taking a course that Stanford University recorded and posted on iTunes. I've completed Presence3 assignment.


First I load tweeters. Naturally I picked 2 of my favorite Beta authors!

I can click on them and see their status.

I still am working table view for the status since it is cutting off the tweek comments. So a bit more work to do, but I'm having fun doing it.







If I click the 'Tweet Tweet' button I added a feature where I can enter a username and password so that anyone can update their tweet by entering the username and password. It works too!

Teddie - the Best peanut butter - you have to try it

Their peanut butter is delicious and all the natural.
I'll eat a spoonful as a snack, spread it on my banana bread, and another scrumptious treat, I spread a small amount on a wheat thins. It taste like a Nutter Butter Cookie only better - no kidding.
Please share your delicious treat ideas!

Lounging by the Pool

In my virtual world - that is.
Here I am hanging out by the pool in my YoVille world.

Below is my Virtual world front room - that is Amelia in the photo on the wall. It is really cool that we can upload our own photos into these portrait frames.
Below is my virtual world spare bedroom in my apartment (I have an apartment, a trailer and a mansion)

Below is my virtual world front room in my trailer. Skating friends in the portrait.
Rather tiny but visiters can click on it to get a better look.

Below is my gaming room in my mansion -the little red stereo actually plays real YoMusic - ha, isn't that amusing.

Yoville is one of my favorite games. You actually interact with other players, meeting people from all around the world! I met someone yesterday from Palestine - it was most disturbing listening (ok reading) first hand what it is like for him.

How do you unwind?

Avatar !!

WOW - this is a must see fantastic movie to watch.
I loved it. It was well done, well acted, engaging.

Now on to YoVille -oh dear!

I foolishly started with YoVille, I kept telling myself, stop, don't go further, told myself I would check out other peoples places. Well, I got sucked in. Didn't realize at first that it is actually interactive!
I naturally took the name: Lady Lisa (not sure I would have picked that if I realized that everyone would see it, but I've kept it)
Here I am in my front with my pet kitty -I named him Precious

This is my kitchen, that cappucino machine actually provides energy to my character -which is needed to keep her going.


My bathroom

My bedroom.
Some people have really fantastic places!
If you're on YoVille - look me up (available on myspace too from what I hear) if you're not, you might NOT want to give it a try else you'll be hooked.
The really sucky thing is many of the best items require the 'yocash' and there is NO way to earn the cash. The cat was one of those items. I just HAD to have a cat, once I did that . . .
I've a bunch of buddies -fun chatting with others.

Update! Farming Fun!

My farm haa grown -here is the latest.


What fun! Have you played FarmVille before - It's a nice 'no stress' sort of game.
Easy way to unwind.
Here is what my farm looks like now: Click on it for a larger view.


What do you do to unwind?

Here is a photo before I harvest a few items:

I've found my calling - woo hoo

Like true writers who love it so much, they write regardless, well I've found my calling.
Writing iPhone apps, oh I am having SUCH fun learning!
To the right is my 'Hello World' sort of app (Hello World is a sort of computer term meaning when I piece of hardware/code first comes online."
The app to the write is actually the second one I wrote, the first was me following along with the first class demo of how to write an app that had a slider in it.
This exercise here, (the first class assignments was way more fun.)

The snapshot here was taken as it was running on the iPhone Simulator. I haven't learned yet how to install them on my phone and I decided not to go ahead and figure that out because before I would load this on my phone, I would need to change the app icon to be something more cool than an ugly white generic one!

Oh happy days . . .
I also bought a new MacBook Pro to learn my iPhone App progamming. It has a built in camera and a mouse pad that has some of the same touch features as the iPhone. I'm in tech heaven.
Now I just need to be employed to pay for all of it!

Have you found your passion - that thing you love to do, and will do regardless whether or not you can earn money from it?

Oh the thrills of civilization

My husband and I visited his sister who lives about 20 miles west of London a few weekends back.
We went along to watch one of her boys play in a high school (private) rugby match. Afterwards the school supplied tea & coffee along with finger sandwiches and baked goods.
Here I am enjoying my treats on the lawn. I was quite happy.

When I asked if there would be snacks, my husband's sister looked at me and replied that there would be tea and that implied that there would be treats. How wonderful.

Somewhere along the way Americans dropped some of the best practices when we broke away from British rule!

Destructo!

Nothing in my house is safe from my destructo kitties. To them, everything has the potential for being a toy. From the salt shakers and pens on the tables to the silk flower arrangement that USED to sit on my coffee and dining room tables.
I had moved all the silk flower arrangements to the sun room (closed off room most of the time) leaving this one arrangement on the dining room table. I had a vibration alarm on the table, still, Bruiser managed to circumvent it and pull out flowers. I turned up the sensitivity and he STILL managed to pull out flowers. (I would put them back as he would bring them to us so we could throw them and he could play fetch)
So one day I decide to allow him to have a flower or two - think that would end his obsession with the flowers.

Noo . . . he kept going back for more.
I didn't take a photo of the near complete destruction of the arrangement but there were only a few flowers around the parameter left.


This arrangement is now sitting on top of the china hutch.

Today they knocked one of the potted plants - fortunately it didn't break.
It's on a plant shelf, but an easy jump for most of my kitties (Scarlett wouldn't jump that high, she's a little round)

It's party time.

Party time in Ohio for my sister's 50th Birthday. Here is my husband and myself showing off our dance moves - ok, the only moves we could remember out of all those dance lessons that we had!

My brother-in-law surprised my sister with a band that played 'island music' which was the theme of her party.

That is, Vicki didn't really want to advertise it was her birthday, but we had to make sure her day was properly noticed! Without her knowing, we told everyone it was her birthday and, rather requested guest bring food for a food pantry. I was pleased at the number of people who complied!

I live in a different state from my family, so I really enjoy my visits.
Do you live near your family? Do you find yourself terribly homesick?
Happy 50th to my sister!

Fun on Skates in Boston

SKATEBOSTON - 2009

SkateBoston 2009 - I only attended the Sunday skate and I've been kicking myself for not getting my butt out earlier - sigh - maybe I'll remember next year and be more motivated.

It was a gorgeous day as a skate leader - Jun - led us through the streets of Boston/Cambridge. After the skate we had lunch in the park.

The stranger below took the shot above and shots from at least 7 other cameras - How cool is that!! Wish I asked his name, but at least I took a photo of this kind man! THANK YOU - to him.



SkateBoston is a weekend skating event hosted by the Inline Club of Boston. Skaters from all over the country attend. Gracious sponsor offer items for the goody bags, or for raffle! Rollerblade has ALWAYS been a strong supporter of skating events! They make the best inline skates! Other supports: Zephyr Adventures (fun vacations on skates, bikes, or in the water), Road ID (way cool - id's to attach to laces - I have an ID on my skates, Centre Ski and Bike (they sell skates too!), The Great EsSkate - charity skate weekend in Miami!, Boston Derby Dames, and finally The Skate Farm.

The best thing that can happen to a writer! WOO HOOO

Super Exciting news for fellow blogger and the author of Grim Light! Kristophrenia has signed with an agent, the reputable Stringer Literary Agency.
This is most exciting and much deserved news for Kris!
I commented on my beta read of Grim Light back in March - I loved it!
Grim Light is original, fun and grabs the senses.
A HUGE WOO HOOO -clap clap clap - to Kris.

Writing - a new love - with straight forward rules.

I've been reading a good book about writing - one where the rules don't change for special conditions and follow a logical pattern.
Ahhh . . . the world of reason - I've been teaching myself Java.

How lovely it is to feed my brain. I feel like I'm waking up!

What do you find dazzles you and makes you want to charge ahead for me?

A storm is coming

While on holiday in North Myrtle Beach we had a lovely view of an approaching storm from our 10th floor room over looking the ocean.
It was just lovely.

Although it rained every now and then, it was always while we were resting inside having wine and snacks.

We stayed at the Seaside Inn and we found this fantastic place to walk to (along the beach) for dinner every night: Molly Darcy's. Fortunately they had an outdoor deck and we were able to enjoy the ocean view without the smoke as S. Carolina doesn't have the modern no smoking laws like Massachusetts!

Check out the sand hotdog - the artist colored it. It looked so real.

The day we left it was pushing over 90 degrees with unbearable humidity!

Catching up while keeping it real

Been getting behind blogging and I expect I'll continue on that trend between my obsession with the Warrior series by Erin Hunter - I'm currently reading Firestar's Quest, I've already read all six of the original series, and all six of The New Prophecies, along with: Secrets of the Clans, and Cats of the Clan (my 'Warrior Bibles'). I have waiting all six of the next Warrior set: Power of Three.

I've been making my rounds on my blogs, saw that Tia is working on new novels (well new for me). Kristophrenia is working on a query for Grim Light. I hope that goes well. I feel badly that I didn't share her same enthusiasm for her query, but I'm doing no favors if I don't voice my concerns. Read Wolverines latest at Legion of Online Super Heroes . Bevie has been doing an excellent job maintaining the blog. Checked what Firestar (so named after thee warrior in Warriors) has been up to. He's been helping out the family. Love the kitten of the month posted on that blog! Most impressed with the amount of traffic that Fantasy Debut gets!

I jogged 4.5 miles today - woo hoo. I only averaged about 4 mph hour but I'm happy I kept myself moving (although I think I might have been able to walk it faster than I jogged it)

Now I need to invest some time on a web software tool that I want to write!