Mon., Sept. 10th 3:30 p.m.-Wed.Sept.12th

I had retrieved my suitcases a week ago and packed most everything I thought I would need for my trip to Ireland.  However, after the cool front came thru over the weekend, and I experienced what 55 degrees felt like, I decided that maybe I should take more warm layers of clothing to Ireland.  So today, I exploded my previously packed suitcases and repacked them, switching out a few things as I went along.  Instead of the large suitcase and small suitcase and my day pack, I now have everything in one large suitcase (39 lbs.) and my day pack plus my small "book bag".

Our tour company, Holiday Vacations, will cover the transfer/tips of one bag per guest at each of our Hotels, from the Motorcoach to our room each night. (Pleasant surprise at the airports-no charge for our checked bag w/American Airlines!)

Carol Karsten, our Holiday Vacations Tour Director, called me today to say "Welcome" and to inquire if I have any questions or concerns.  She said there will be 31 guests on this Tour, 25 of us from East Texas area;   two guys from Fargo, N.Dakota and three gals from Souix Falls, S.Dakota and one gal from O'Fallon, Missouri will meet us in Chicago at O'Hare International Airport.  We will exchange our dollars for Euros at the Dublin Airport.  Our Holiday Vacations Tour Director, Carol K. has hosted two previous Tours to Ireland, but it has been several years ago.

I am so excited!  One more day to work: 8:30-5:30 tomorrow, and then Tom and I will get up early Wednesday morning and head to Tyler to pick up Norma and go to our rendezvoux point at the Holiday Inn on So. Broadway in Tyler, to meet our Central West of Texas motorcoach/driver for the transfer to DFW Airport.  Our flight is at 2:15 p.m. to Chicago; we will then have a 2 1/2 hour layover, before we depart @ 6:50 p.m. (Chicago time) to arrive in Dublin, Ireland @ 8:00 a.m. (Dublin time).{That is 2:00 a.m. Edgewood time!}

BooBoo is so excited about her upcoming adventure in the Emerald Isle!

Me, Carol Karsten (Holiday Vacations Tour Director), Norma about to board the motorcoach!

 

We are on our way!

Painting Finished/Now Ireland!

I finally finished painting our house!  Yippee!!  I was determined to get it done before I left for my trip to Ireland, however I barely made it!  Next to Thru-Hiking the A.T., painting our house was probably the most challenging task I have ever attempted.  I learned a lot as I went along about scraping old paint, caulking and filling in cracks and holes, priming and painting!  I am enjoying being semi-retired and having the extra time at home to tackle such tasks!  Here are a few of the before pictures:

I took these photos on April 11th, the day the Construction Crew arrived to begin our carport addition.  You can really tell it is early Spring in Texas!

This morning, I went out and took the following  photos of how our house looks today!

We will have to ignore the "date stamp" on these photos!  Today is really 09/10/2012!  I was using our litlle Sanyo camera, since I have already packed our Canon camera, and I didn't know the date would even show on a photo!  We are planning on what kind of "pad" we want to put down under our carport.  Probably some kind of Pavestone.

Yesterday, Tom and I made the 7-hour (roundtrip) road trip to Rosevine Cemetery to honor my daughter Candace, on the second anniversary of her death, by placing new flowers on her grave.  The weather was absolutely perfect for a road trip!  The morning began at 56 degrees, for our two-mile walk, then we attended our Sunday School/Bible Study class, and then headed for Rosevine around 10:45 a.m. with gorgeous sunshine and mild temperatures. 

I had retrieved my luggage a week ago, and packed for Ireland, however when the cool front came thru over the weedend and I was reminded what 56 degrees felt like, I "exploded"  my packed suitcase today, and reevaluated my clothing for Ireland!  Switched out a few items, and now I think I am ready for my trip!  I am so excited!  I've never been "across the pond", so I'm looking forward to this adventure with my sister, Norma!  There are 31 people on this Tour, 25 of whom are from the East Texas area.  Only 36 hours from now we will be on our way to DFW Airport to begin the first leg of our journey to the Emerald Isle!  I will be journaling each day and plan to update this blog upon my return.

Awesome August Rain!

I should be painting today, but we received 2 1/2 inches of rain during the night last night and there is a good chance of more rain today.  The thunder and lightning was so loud it woke me up during the night, and the wind was howling also!  It reminded me of some of the times it stormed just like that last year while I was on my hike and I was in my tent, praying that I would not get blown of the top of the mountains!  Last night I was so thankful to be indoors!

Yesterday, a year ago, I met these two happy guys up in New Hampshire!

This is Jerryatric and Peppermint!  Jerryatric lives in Ft.Worth, Tx. and Peppermint lives in Nashville, Tn. and they are both college professors.  Jerryatric began his thru-hike six years ago and has been back each year since then to do another section in his attempt to complete it.  He made it to Katahdin last year and summited  the day after I did!  Peppermint fell, just before the Kennebec River in Maine, and broke his ankle and had to be rescued and had surgery, so he still lacks a little finishing his hike.  I could not keep up with these two guys, however I would catch up with them sometimes at shelters or in towns.  Tom and I have met up with Jerryatric and his wife , Jane, for dinner a couple of times since our hike.

 I think I have eaten my weight in watermelon this summer!  They have been so sweet and juicy and delicious!  On a hot day, there is not a better snack that a big slice of  ice cold watermelon!  My horse, Tex, loves the watermelon rinds, once we've eaten all we want out of it!

Mary Ann and I are still meeting twice a week for a 7+mile walk, and yes, BooBoo is enjoying walking again!

Had lunch with my Saddlebag women friends on Thursday.  There were 13 of us at lunch!  Do you think maybe because we were all talking at one time, it got a little loud??!!

Evie and Mary W. apparently think so!!   What great fun and fellowship it is with these gals!

Wow! Only 24 more days to get ready for Ireland!

"Dog Days" of Summer!

We are experiencing the "Dog Days" of Summer in Texas!  When I first wake up in the morning, it is so nice to open the doors and enjoy the remnants of the cooler night air, but by late morning, when the sun gets higher in the sky, and the muggy heat begins to creep into the house, I close the doors and turn on the A/C.  Such is life in Texas, following the wonderful, wet Spring we had this year!

My friend Mary Ann and I are still meeting twice a week to walk seven (or more) miles together, and Tom and I are trying to go for shorter walks on the days in between .  It is very warm, and we sweat a lot, but I suppose that is part of getting fit and staying in shape.  I tell myself when I sweat profusely, I am sweating out the impurities in my system!  Ha!  

My house painting project is nearing completion!  Yippee!! After applying lots of caulk and a coat of Kilz Primer, the back of the house is ready for the layer of color.  After that, I just have a lot of little "touch-up" areas, doors and screendoors, a few more plces to caulk and and then repaint, and call it finished.  I had no idea when I began this project in late April, that it would take me this long, or that it would be so labor intensive!  Also, my fear of heights, while working on the three "peak areas", slowed me down more than I thought it would.

I am beginning to get excited about my trip to Ireland in September!  Only five more weeks, and my sister, Norma, and I will be on our way to the Emerald Isle!  I look forward to vacationing with Norma and also going "across the pond" for the first time in my life!  What a great opportunity this is for me!

Tom has a week of vacation coming up in October, and since it has been five years since we went on a Cruise together, we decided to book a Cruise!  I emailed Tom's brother, Tim, and asked if he and his wife, Kathy, would like to go also.  What a wonderful surprise, they said "SURE"!  So, the four of us will set sail from New Orleans, La. for a 7-day Carnival Cruise, with Ports-of-Call in Isla Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel.  I am so excited that they are going with us on this vacation!  Several years ago, the four of us met in San Juan, Puerto Rico and went on a Royal Carribean Cruise to Aruba, Curacao, St.Marteen, and St.Thomas, and that was so much fun having Tim & Kathy vacation with us!

I enjoyed Sue's pool again last week when several of my Saddlebag women friends and I met there for a shared covered dish lunch and a swim.  Mary Ann brought her two daughters, Jill & Ellie; Pam brought her four granddaughters, Metchie, Crystal, Lexie, & Ginny; and of course Sue's son, Alex, was there.  It was so much fun watching all the teens & preteens have so much fun in the pool!  Poor Alex was so outnumbered by those six pretty girls, I'm sure it was overwheming for him!

                                          Betty, Mary Ann, Pam, Gillian, & Sue, enjoying the shade!

                                          "The Girls" and Alex doing a group "jump"!

                                          A neat gate I saw on my way home from the pool!

I left BooBoo "home alone", and this is how I found her when I returned!  Silly monkey!

BOAT, POOL, PLUMERIA & BUGS

It is Summertime in Texas!  Our garden is all but done for this year.  We are still picking a few "veggie stragglers", but it is drying up pretty fast now, although we did have a surprise rain shower a few days ago!

One nice way to cool off on a hot day is to go to a lake for the day.  Lucky for us, my friend Mary Ann's boyfriend has a pontoon boat and they invited Tom & I out to Joe Pool Lake last weekend!  Even though the temperature got to 107 that day, there was a nice cool breeze blowing across the water and kept it quite comfortable.  Getting in the water was also a great way to keep cool!  Mary Ann packed us a lunch of delicious sandwiches to enjoy while out on the Lake, and Tom & I brought  assorted cold fruit, and of course we had plenty of bottled water and sodas.  We really enjoyed our day on Joe Pool Lake on Dusty's nice pontoon boat, which had a canopy over the back half of the boat providing us with nice shade. Mary Ann's daughters, Jill & Ellie really liked being pulled behind the boat on an inflatable raft!

Jill & Ellie

I have also enjoyed going over to my friend, Sue's, and cooling off in her beautiful swimming pool! 

What a refreshing way to spend a hot afternoon!  Beautiful pool and great friends!

Our plumeria plant is blooming!  These are the kind of flowers that are used in Hawaii to make leis.  Of course, I'm sure they grow much better in Hawaii than our one plant does here in Texas!

While I was outside this morning, scraping off the old paint off the back of our house, getting ready to prime, caulk, and paint the final section of our house, (Yea!!) , this giant, moth-looking bug flew around me and then landed right where I had just finished scraping!  This was following the episode of the wasps crawling in and out of the main electrical power line fixture that is mounted high up on the back of the house.  I had to get down off my ladder to get the can of wasp/hornet spray to eliminate this "wasp party" activity where I was working! 

I have no idea what this giant, moth-like bug is!

Well, like I've said before, life is truly an ongoing adventure!

Walking Again

When I returned home from my hike last October, I felt like I was probably in the best shape physically of my entire life!  However, it sure was easy to slow down and become more sedentary and I soon put on 25 lbs.!  By April of this year, I knew I had to do something!  Or get bigger clothes!

My friend, Mary Ann, who lives in Grand Saline, about 16 miles from me , motivated me to get back to walking!  I guess we motivate each other, because we began to meet, twice a week, to go for a seven mile walk, down little black-top country backroads near her house or mine.  We take turns meeting at each others place.  It is so invigorating to begin my day, at least twice a week, with a brisk two-hour walk!

Tom and I are also walking the trails on our place, checking for deadfall, following last year's drought.  There so many dead trees, EVERYWHERE!  When one falls across our trail, we sometimes have to just clear a new path around it.  Clearing trail is very hard work, and I am so thankful that Tom embraces the idea of keeping our trails cleared each year. 

Since a creek flows thru the middle of this land, just below our house,  the bottom land on both sides  of the creek is like a "jungle", with many vines, poison ivy, and all other sorts of undergrowth!  What a challenge!

It is a good feeling to know that I have enough hay for my horse, "Tex", to get him thru this coming winter.  Tom helped me go pick up 32 bales of some good coastal hay that Fran, ( a Saddlebag friend), had stored in her barn since last fall.  So hopefully, that will be enough for the winter, since we are getting adequate rainfall this year to keep "Tex's" pasture thick and green for good grazing thru the Fall, I hope.

Last Thursday, I gave a presentation about my 2011 A.T. Hike to the Van Kiwanis Club.  That was my third time to do this sort of thing.  I was so nervous the first time!!  That first time, the Wednesday Study Club, a women's group in Canton, I managed to flounder my way thru a short talk and had some of my hike photos scrolling on a large screen at the same time.  The photos were certainly the highlight that day, so in May, when the Canton Lion's Club invited me to speak to their group, I relied more on putting together a slideshow of some photos that would help me to tell about my daily experience on the Trail.  Again, the photos were very descriptive themselves, and I'm discovering that even though I wondered at times if I was taking too many pictures while hiking the A.T., I know now that the 2,800++ photos I took were probably not nearly enough!  Even though before I began my Hike, I vowed to take a lot of "people/hiker photos", and I did take a lot, I still wish I had taken even more!

This is Dwayne Wheeler, who heads up the Van Kiwanis Club.  He is the one who contacted me, and he told me that he has read a lot about the Appalachian Trail, and he has always dreamed of hiking it himself!  I encouraged him to go for it, do not put it off too long and regret that he did not fulfil his dream.

I carry my camera along everywhere I go, snapping "gate pictures" as I go, for my "Gates of Texas" book that my friend "Thimbleberry",  suggested that I put together.  It is quite surprising how many Texans have gates on their property!  Some are fancy, some are plain, some are closed, some seem to stay open, and some are heavily padlocked and have all sorts of warning signs posted!

Thank you, "Thimbleberry", for suggesting this book!!  I am definitely having fun with it!

My house painting project is nearing completion.  What a huge undertaking this has been for me.  Challenging but Rewarding!  I had originally set a goal of being through by the first day of Summer, however when that didn't happen, I set my sights on finishing by the 4th of July!  Still didn't happen!  Now my goal is to be thru by the time I leave on my trip to Ireland with my sister,    September 12th!   I feel confident this is doable!  The problem is that sometimes I only get to work on this project about one day a week.  Plus now that it is so warm, that amounts to only one morning per week!  I am beginning to wonder how I ever had time to work a full-time job!

I remind myself daily that "Life Is An Ongoing Adventure"!

Great Get-Away / No Place Like Home

Since July 4th holiday fell on Wednesday, Tom's regular day off, he had today, July 9th off instead.  So, when he got off work on Saturday afternoon, we drove north to Broken Bow, Okla.

Yesterday morning, we went kayaking on the Mountain Fork river.  The outfitters dropped us off  just below the Dam of Broken Bow Lake, for the 4-mile float trip, thru "rock gardens", rapids, some cold, calm water, and over Presbyterian Falls, a fun little 3-foot drop-off in the river!  Fun on a hot day!

In the afternoon, we drove another hour north of Broken Bow, thru the rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma until we reached Hwy. 1, Talimena Scenic Drive.  We followed this road west for 25 miles, over some quite beautiful mountain ridges, with many places to pull over and admire the grand beauty of distant mountains and lush valleys.

This drive reminded me of all the scenic views I enjoyed last year while hiking the A.T.  It was awesome yesterday to be enjoying these views together with Tom!  On our way back to Broken Bow, as we were coming down out of those beautiful mountains, we drove thru some very severe thunderstorms and some torrential rain!  I could not see more than a few feet in front of our car!  Being on unfamiliar, winding, mountain roads, with no place to pull off and take cover, all I could do was keep going forward, at a very slow pace!  So glad there was no cars behind me, only a Tyson's tractor-trailer in front of me!  Very tense driving, I was so glad when it finally let up a little! 

We really enjoyed our little 2-day "get-away", however how sweet it was to get back home!

That's right!  There's no place like Texas!!

We came though Paris, Texas and saw the Paris, Tx. Eiffel Tower!

Last Thursday, I hosted the Saddlebag Trail Ride here at our house.  I always enjoy having the gals come here to ride on our trails.  There were seven of us who braved the hot weather to ride for a couple of hours.  We came back here to the house to have our lunch on our shady back patio, where three other Saddlebag women came and joined us.  Great friends!  Great ride!

The gals getting ready to ride!

Our garden is about done for this year, and we are ready to be done with it.  Our freezer is full!  We have shared  many, many veggies with friends and family!  One of my favorite things about gardening is making and eating good, fresh pica de gallo!  Yum, yum!!