Many Blessings!

I am truly blessed, in so many ways each day!

The friendships that have been formed with my Saddlebag women friends are priceless.  We accept one another, each in our own way, overlooking our differences, while loving the comraderie of being together, and supporting one another.  I have seen lots of women come and go over the years, from our little group, but there is a "core group" of gals that have been my friends since 1985, when I first rode with them on Thursday!  We always welcome new riders to join us (no rules, no dues )on our Thursday rides, and we welcomed three new women to our ride yesterday.  Only time will tell whether they will stick around thru the coming weeks, months, and years.  It's always hard for me to tell when I meet a new gal on our Thursday ride, whether she will mesh with our group of women, and be around a year from now, let alone ten or twenty years from now!  Back in 1985, I actually took off work, to join a couple of my women friends, to go and ride with this group we had heard about called the Saddlebags.  I had no way of knowing I would still be a part of that group in 2012!  However, my life has been enriched in ways I could not have imagined, by the friendships I've formed thru the Saddlebags!

We had a wonderful ride this week around gorgeous pastures and thru wooded trails, hosted by my dear friend Mary Ann (who is also my "walking buddy").  My dear friend, Gill, and I went over to Mary Ann's the night before with our horses and camped out.  The weather was just on the verge of being too warm and sticky for camping, however by morning it was a little cooler and we had a little breeze blowing.

Gill's rig is the big fancy one on the left!

After the ride, while Lanette held onto "Jango" (Gill's horse), Gill convinced "Jango" that batheing is a fun activity!

A few days after Tom and I got home from our Caribbean Cruise, a friend of mine from my A.T. Thru-Hike, "Smiley", came thru Edgewood and stopped for a visit.  It was so good to see him again, and reminisce about hiking on the Appalachain Trail!  "Smiley" is from Hattiesburg, Ms. and is an R.N., who had been working at a pediatric clinic on an Indian Reservation in Arizona, and was on his way back home to Mississippi for awhile, before he goes to the island of St.Thomas for his next job as a traveling nurse.  "Smiley" looks just like I remember him from the A.T. (minus the bandana on his head).

That's "Smiley" in the middle, with the turquoise shorts, red shirt, bandana around his head:  we were all enjoying Trail Majic (sodas and snacks) at the hiker footbridge over I-70 in Maryland, in June 2011.

And here is "Smiley" now, a little thinner, but much the same as I remember him from our hike.

                                           "Smiley" and his "toys"!

                                          Me and Smiley!

We went to the great State Fair of Texas!  Our Texas State Fair holds a special place in my heart, because that is where Tom took me on our very first "date"!  Unbelievable really, that I was born in Texas and had lived in here my whole life (almost), but I had never been to the Texas State Fair until 1997!  The Texas State Fair is one of the largest, if not the largest, State Fair in the country.  We loved the beautiful, flower-filled landscape, sampling the many different "fried things", the exhibit halls,  the 2013 car show. the Chevrolet "test track" (where you can take a new car for a spin). people-watching, and the one of kind, famous Fletcher's Corny Dogs!

Fletcher's Corny Dogs are made fresh while you watch, hand-dipped in the batter and then deep-fried, and wrapped in a tissue and handed to you piping hot.  Simply delicious!  I usually manage to get to the Fletcher's Corny Dog stand at least twice, when we go to the Fair, however this year it was such a beautiful weather day, and it was the day after the ever popular Texas/Oklhoma football rivalry (which is held in the Cottton Bowl, on the Fair grounds), so there were so many people at the Fair the day we were there, that we had to wait in line (a virtual sea of people!) for 25 minutes to get a Fletcher's Corny Dog!  It was worth it, but I don't think I will ever wait that long again!

                                          See, I told you it was a sea of people!

                                                    But, those corny dogs were so good!

Usually when we go to the Texas State Fair, (and we haven't missed but a couple of years since 1997), we stay all afternoon, and then at dusk we watch the nightly Starlight Parade, followed by the fantastic Laser/Fireworks Show at dark.  However, this year as I said earlier, there were so many people at the Fair, it was so crowded anywhere we tried to go, we had enough of being jostled by the crowds by 5:00 p.m., and headed home to peace and quiet.  (Since my hike, I don't handle crowds very well)  We did catch a few minutes of some live music being performed on several outdoor stage venues during the day; missed the Chinese acrobat's performance;  watched the dog show(frisbee-catching,etc.);  we walked a lot and people-watched, and ate "fried things".

Here are some glimpses of our day at the Texas State Fair!

                                          The United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corp were awesome!

                                                    The 2012 Butter display!
Yes, those figures are really carved out of butter!  I could not get the whole display into one photo.  Those are Girl Scouts selling their Girl Scout cookies, since this is the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, and over in the Hall of State there was displays depicting the last 100 years of the Girl Scouts.

                                                      Big Tex is standing tall!

Big Tex is probably the most recognizable icon of the Texas State Fair.  His mouth moves as his booming voice welcomes visitors to the Fair, describing various activities featured each day.  The day we were there, his mouth was not moving, even though he was talking!  Electricians worked on the wiring inside Big Tex on the same day we were there.  The very next day, Big Tex went up in flames!  His giant-size jeans, shirt, face, and hat, GONE!  All that was left was his metal frame!  WOW!  We watched it play out on the local TV News!  Think those electricians still have their job?!
I'm sure Big Tex will have a new outfit made for him, in time for next year's Fair!  And Tom and I plan to go on a "hopefully" less crowded weekday next year!

Unexpected Tragedy

It has been such a whirlwind of activities in our life for the last month!  The 10-day tour of Ireland with my sister, Norma; followed by the 7-day Caribbean Cruise that Tom and I enjoyed with Tim and Kathy H.; then one of my A.T. hiker friends, "Smiley", came for a short visit; then Tom and I celebrated the 15th anniversary of our first date,(where it all started), at the great State Fair of Texas!  However, I can't even begin to journal about "Smiley" or the "Fair" because of the tragedy that has struck our family.

On Monday evening, Texas Rangers/Sheriff deputies arrived at my sister Sharon's home, to tell her that a decomposed body found in a wooded area just north of Palestine, is believed to be the body of her youngest daughter, Deborah!  What!?

As a single mother, Deborah, 34, had recently moved back to Texas from Oregon, with her 3 children, ages 3yr.,7yr.,13yr., and was staying with her Mom, Sharon; while her 3 children were living with Kerrie, (Deborah's older sister).  Sharon and Kerrie were helping Deborah make "a new start" in her life.

Around noon on Wednesday, Oct.10, Deborah left Sharon's house, walked to a corner store to meet a friend who was picking her up.  Sharon never heard from Deborah again!  Deborah wasn't answering her cell phone or returning any text messages that Sharon was sending her.  (We now know that all activity ceased on her cell phone on Wednesday evening around 5:00p.m.) 

We find our blessings where we can.  We feel very blessed that a landowner (a retired Dallas county sheriff deputy) was walking about his property on Sunday afternoon and discovered what he believed to be human remains in a wooded section, and immediately reported it by calling 911, and knew not to disturb the scene, keeping it pristine for law enforcement officials, thereby helping them look for important clues, to find out what exactly happened to Deborah.  If the landowner had not found her remains when he did, there probably would not have been anything at all left of her body, we would have never known what happened to Deborah, we would never have had closure.

Deborah was brutally murdered!  Thankfully, Sharon was not required to view Deborah's mutilated remains!  Instead, Sharon and Kerrie both provided DNA samples,  and Deborah's partial denture(which she had left at home), and a recent photo of Deborah showing her small "ankle tatoo", all in an effort to establish positive identification of the severely ravaged and decomposed body.  This is just awful!  Absolutely no human being should ever have to die such a trajic and horrific death!

Fortunately, Deborah's killer did not know that her cell phone was still in her front pants pocket!  Hopefully, her recent cell phone activity will lead law enforcement to identify who perpetrated this despicable act upon Deborah.  We pray for the officers as they investigate this crime, to bring these criminal/criminals to justice.  We pray for strength and grace to help each of us cope with this unbelievable tragedy.

We see and hear about tragedies like this on the TV News, and it seems so far removed from our own lives.  However, it is quite different when something like this happens to someone we know and care about!  Veritably earth-shattering!  We are understandably still in shock and disbelief that this could happen in our very own family.  Thanks to God for my large family; loving siblings, loving Mom, loving neices and nephews, loving children and grandchildren, who all come together to love and support one another thru both good and bad times in our lives.  Not to mention, all of our many friends and acquaintances whose love and outpouring of prayers and support mean everything to us.

It is an awful "waiting game"!   An autopsy was performed on Tuesday, however we have not been told any results yet.  The investigating officers are not telling us anything as they search for Deborah's killer.  We are accustomed to seeing murders solved, autopsy results shown, criminals brought to jail, all in a one-two hour episode on TV.  However, that is not at all like it happens in real life!

I would like to honor Deborah and her children in the following photos.

                                                    Deborah - August 19, 2012

                                         13 yr.old Stasi w/her greatgrandmother (my Mom)

                                         7 yr.old Justice w/her Aunt Kerrie in background

                                          3 yr.old Jacob (my neice, Carla in pink top &
                                          Justice across the table)

May God bless and keep these children in his loving care for the rest of their lives.  We, as a family, will surely do our part.

Here is a picture of my Mom with most of her great-grandkids on August 19,2012! 

What a great family I have!  I am truly blessed!
                                          

Cruisin' the Caribbean!

On Saturday, Sept.29th, Tom got off work a little early and we headed east toward Louisiana.  That much needed rain that we've been needing arrived while Tom was driving east; at times it rained so hard, we could barely see the roadway!  We switched drivers at the Tex./La. state line, and thankfully the rain began to let up a little after I began driving south on I-49 toward Baton Rouge, La. where we had hotel reservations and were to meet Tim and Kathy, Tom's brother and his wife.

What a sleepless night we all had at the Holiday Inn South/Baton Rouge!  We were in a ground floor room, and around 2:00 a.m. we heard loud voices outside our room, that did not go away!  Where is the hotel's security personnel??  Just before 4:00 a.m., there was a gal standing just outside our door talking loudly on her cell phone!  Tom opened our door and told her we were trying to sleep and to go away!  Well, we were all awake and just a little giddy about leaving on our cruise on Sunday morning, so Tom and I got up, and each showered and dressed.  Tom and Tim went to the hotel's gym to work out, and I went to the front desk to get more coffee packets for our room, and to report the late-night activity that awakened us.  There was a  female security person there who told me we should have called the front desk at 2:00a.m. when it all started.  I told her she should have been patrolling around the hotel and not allowed this kind of disturbance in the middle of the night!  We will never stay there again!  For $150 per night, I expect a litlle more!

By 6:00 a.m., we were at Cracker Barrel having a wonderful breakfast, excitedly looking forward to getting on the ship and sailing!  The weather was warm and muggy, with some sunshine in between the intermittent rain showers.  However nothing could dampen our spirits, and by afternoon we were all feeling a little "punchy" from the long drive the day before, lack of sleep the night before, and  just happy to be on vacation!

As we sailed out of the Port of New Orleans, going down to the mouth of the Mississippi River where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which by the way, took an amazing 6 hours to reach, Tom took many photos, and reminisced about the neighborhood of Algiers, where he grew up, and which sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River across from New Orleans.  The Mississippi River is bustling with sea traffic, with many cargo ships and barges plying its waters throughout the day and night.

                            Tim & Kathy on board our ship w/the Mississippi River bridge behind.

                                          Sailing away from the city of New Orleans!

   The suburb of Algiers, which Tom says looks much different from the 1970's, when he lived there!

One of the many ships we went by on our way down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

As you can see, we enjoyed a lazy day at sea on Monday, with lots of sunshine streaming through the windows, playing cards, reading a book, joining in the different trivia contests offered throughout the day on the ship.  There is always something to do, or we could do nothing and nap!  We enjoyed two days at sea before we reached our first port of call,  Roatan's Mahogany Bay, Honduras.

We did not get any photos of Maya Key, where Tom and I went to on our excursion.  We had been getting up every morning, going up to the walking/jogging track on top of the ship, doing our 3-mile walk,  and watching the awesome sunrises.  Since we would be docking at Roatan this morning, we took our camera with us to the walking track so we could get some nice shots of the Island of Roatan, which lies a few miles off the coast of Honduras.  However, it began to rain shortly after we began to walk, but neither Tom nor I even thought to open the camera case and slip the camera into its ziploc bag!  Needless to say, it got very wet, as we continued to walk in the rain for an hour!  Nothing to do but open it up, remove the SD Card and camera batteries and leave it on the window sill in our cabin for the day, and hope for the sun to come out and stream thru our window and dry it out!

We were taken to Maya Key by boat, probably 100 guests on board, where we were dropped off to spend a few hours.  Tom snorkeled at a reef just off the end of the pier, while I relaxed on the beach with my book and enjoyed a short swim.  Lunch was served to us and there was also a nice big swimming pool there; also a replica of a Mayan temple which housed a Mayan museum.  Maya Key is also a sancuary for an assortment of wild animals, including a mangrove covered island which is home to several monkeys that the guides will bring out to allow guests to pet, or hold them for photo ops.  We declined!

What a surprise and a huge relief when we returned to the ship in the afternoon, to find the sun had come out and shined brightly through our cabin's window and dried out our camera!  Tom put the batteries and SD Card back in it, turned it on, and Voila!, it worked!  Yippee!!  This is our older Canon camera which I took on my A.T.Hike, and miraculously kept it dry thru many wet days on the Trail (poor thing lived in its ziploc bag most days on the Trail!), and if you'll remember I lost this same camera momentarily in Ireland when I left it in the restroom of a cafe, on the very first day in Dublin, and luckily for me, it was found and turned in!  We think we are "camera challenged"!

As we sailed away from Roatan, we were able to get some photos (with our now-dry camera) of a nice Carnival-owned, private beach area, which is free to all Carnival Cruise Ship passengers, and can be accessed from the ship's pier, via a nature path and footbridge, or a chairlift which runs continually back and forth while the ship is in port.

The following day, we were in Belize.  Due to the world's second largest reef, which lies just off the coast of Belize, our ship anchored about five miles off the coast, and we were boarded onto "tenders", which took us to the mainland for our Cavetubing excursion.  The tender we were on was a doubledecker one which probably held 250 passengers; it was a 25 minute ride to the pier at Belize City, where we boarded an older model tour bus for the 1 1/2 hour ride into the countryside to the caves and underground river.  Belize is pretty much like a third world country where poverty abounds!  We actually had a police van escort to the Caves!  In Belize City, we observed banks with guards armed with AK47's!  Some schools looked like abandoned buildings rather than classrooms!  Wow! How blessed we are to live in America!

 

This is pretty typical of housing in Belize City.

 

"New construction" next door to pawn shop?

 

Notice the wall studs are small tree limbs, not 2by4's!!

 

We passed this orange grove just before the caves.

 

Here we are with our guide, Vida, just as we exited the first cave which was about a mile and a half long, and just before we entered the second part of our cavetubing adventure, floating on the underground river thru the second cave which was about 3/4 mile long!  What an incredible experience!  Vida, our guide for the day, is of predominantly Mayan ancestry and was very knowledgeable about the medicinal qualities of all the plants and trees that lined our jungle path, along our 25-minute walk, carrying our tubes, to the mouth of the first cave we floated thru.  We placed our feet under the arms of the person in front, thereby creating an 8-person "float train", with each of us wearing life vests, and helmets w/headlamps, that we could turn on if we wished while in side the caves.  Most of us left our headlamps off, since only one or two lit it enough to see, plus, Vida pointed his very bright spotlight periodcally to show and tell us about different features inside the caves.  Once, he had us all to turn off our headlamps to experience some total darkness within the cave.  Eeire!!  Our guide, Vida, really made this excursion memorable for us!  After floating on the underground river in the caves, we were served lunch at an ourdoor pavilion right there in the jungle!  My personal favorite (yesterday and today) was the coconut black bean rice!  (Yesterday's lunch on Maya Key also had fried sea bass and fried banana chips which were excellent!)

 

The older model tour bus which brought us to the caves, would not fit on the primitive, narrow, dirt/rock track, for the final quarter-mile up and over a very steep hill (with rock walls jutting straight up each side), so we were herded off of it and onto a smaller, very old school bus, with a lot of our group standing in the aisle, for the final quarter mile up and over that very steep hill!  The school bus almost raked against the rock walls on the side, the road was so narrow!  I'm telling you, the ride to and from the caves was quite the adventure!  I would not recommend anyone I know to venture out on your own in Belize!  We would probably never hear from you again!!  However, I am so glad we had this oppportunity, and today of all days, since today is the one year anniversary of climbing Mt. Katahdin in Maine and completing my thru-hike!  Tom, Tim, and I really enjoyed being able to have this adventure together, one year after the three of us climbed Katahdin!  Kathy treated herself to a spa-day on the ship today while we were out Cavetubing.

 

Nice bus, huh!

 

This was one of the nicest places we saw in Belize, and you'll notice the wall protecting it, which was pretty typical.  Lots of walls, lots of iron bars on windows.

 

Ahh, there's our ship!  A welcome sight!

 

The next day, we were in Cozumel, such a beautiful sight, following Belize!  All four of us took a powered catamaran to Passion Island, which is located on the northern peninsula of Cozumel, for a relaxing day on a gorgeous beach! 

 

 

I love going on Cruises!  I love being spoiled a little, having someone clean my room, not just once daily, but twice!  Once in the morning while we are out and about, then again in the evening while we are at dinner, always leaving us chocolate candy, and a different "towel animal" each night.  BooBoo loved the towel animals!!  I loved walking each morning, watching the awesome sunrises; and I absolutely loved the food!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brotherly love!

 

Monkeys everywhere!