|
Mike and I bought passes for the entire festival. I missed the first day because Alan had a stomach virus, but the cost of daily tickets was more than the 3-day tickets so I didn't waste any money. Besides, I'm a mom and know where my priorities are.
Anyways, we did the festival on Saturday and Sunday and loved it. Yeah, it was hotter than hell, but there was a breeze here and there. We got to sit under the shade of a tree during a few shows, and we had lots of cold water that we brought in. SBC even gave away little misting fans and bottles of water if you went to their tent. On Saturday afternoon, we took a quick break and cooled off at Barton Springs. Geez was the water cold! The only times I felt horrible was walking back to the car. Mike has a friend that lives nearby, so we parked in her neighborhood. It's a 20 minute walk, but the last part is up a killer hill. Man, I'm so out of shape. But I'm not sunburned and my feet have no blisters. Can't say my feet don't hurt because my right one does due to the heel spur. It hurt like a mf yesterday but I stretched it last night and prayed for the best. Think it will be a repeat performance tonight.
The music was awesome and so varied. I had originally thought Mike and I would be enjoying different artists, but we agreed on the schedule and stayed together the entire time. We saw a children's choir, several gospel acts, Shelby Lynne, Elvis Costello, Rachel Yanagamoto, and many others I can't think of.
I wore my hair up under a hat most of the time. A few times during the day I would take it all down (it was easy, I had it in a log roll and Ficcare), let my head cool off a bit, and reassemble. One time, a guy behind me cried out 'oh my god, look at her hair!' It was said in an amazing tone. I turned to see who it was, and he said he would have never thought I'd have hair that long and all of it was hidden inside my hat. It was kinda funny, but it made me feel good.Current Mood:  exhausted |
|
I like reading historical fiction. It's always interesting to read of a minor character or event and the life spun about it. In The Red Tent, the story is of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter and barely mentioned in the Bible. It's a story about the sorority of women in a time when men dominated and women were nothing. There were a few things in the book that didn't mesh with the Bible, but overall it was a good book. After all, if I wanted to read real history I wouldn't be reading this book.
The Red Tent is a great book for celebrating being a woman. Its stories of birth, coming of age, marriage, and even death make you happy to be among women and know that you are cared for. And to know that the stories are handed down from mother to daughter and granddaughter and that is what keeps families and traditions alive.
The idea of a red tent is very comforting. A place of refuge where no man enters and you are allowed to be a woman among women and share in the joys and pains of life. |
|
It was a good day, being my 44th birthday and all. I'm not for any parties and such, so the kids and I ate breakfast at IHOP with my sister and her boys.
Then we visited the Parade of Homes. Every year the local realtors get together and showcase a few newly built homes. This year it was in the Dominion, neighborhood to David Robinson and George Strait and other monied folk. We're talking million dollar homes, where cottages go for a cool $750,000. Anyways, there were 9 new homes in a new section of Dominion that were built and dolled up for us to visit. These homes had it all - 3 car garages, bathrooms for everyone, showers so huge you felt you were outside, bedrooms light and iry and some dark and luxurious, media rooms for watching movies in stadium seating complete with twinkling stars above. Oh the kitchens! Huge spaces with countertops of marble, stone and other materials I couldn't guess. Space for every pot and pan, wine glass and wine bottle. Tiled backsplashes, industrial size stoves, cappuccino machines built in. They were all beautiful but the part of each home that snatched my heart was the poolside porches. The pools weren't big, but they were gorgeous. All had hot tubs and most had waterfalls dripping down the limestone rocks into the pools below. They all had a huge porch with a complete kitchen area. The ceiling fans kept you cool, the chairs were comfortable, and the landscaping kept you breathless. I could live outside any of these homes and not want to step inside the carpeted inside.
I did notice that all the homes were of the same, or nearly the same, color palette - tan and browns with some green tossed in. Sure, there was the dining room in the italian style home that had yellow venitian plaster walls, but the rest of the room was so dark, it became a tan color. Not that I mind those colors - I do like the natural colors. But couldn't the designers come up with something new? Sure there was the home with the bathrooms in black marble (if there's one place I'd like it lit well it's the bathroom) but that was miserable and dark.
After the nine homes, we all went to Long John Silvers and became human again.Current Mood:  refreshed |
|
Ok, so the first tubing trip was fun, a second one will be even more fun. On the surface - yes, but of course I've got to change it up a bit.
Change 1 - Instead of going with Mike and three other ladies my age, why not go with my kids (ages 10 and 13), my sister and her boys (ages 14 and 12) and Mike?
Change 2 - Instead of doing a 2 1/2 hour float let's do a longer float of 6 hours!
Change 3 - Instead of the section of the river that includes the Chute and the easy Stairstep rapids, let's do the section that includes 4 different and more advanced rapids: Hueco Springs, Slumber Falls, Clutter & Rock Garden Rapids, and Gruene Rapids?
And the last change.... let's go on a holiday weekend!
Jeepers, just kill me now. Only it's too late and we did it.
It was terribly crowded. I think it was more the fact that we went on the more popular section of the river than being a holiday weekend, although I'm sure the Labor Day weekend increased the population of tubers some.
This crowd was younger and drunker and the girls kept losing their tops only to be rewarded with jello shots. sheesh. Oh yeah, the guys weren't so smart either. We witnessed three brave fellows climb a thirty to forty foot limestone cliff, climb a tree, scale an iron fence and maneuver across four rows of barbed wire and perch atop the cliff until the masses below screamed loud enough and he received a sufficient amount of bosom flashing to entice the guys to jump to the river below. One never made it - he tried twice and always seemed to select the crumbliest areas and wound up scraping the cliffside on the way down. And then there was the guy complaining of getting cut on a beer can and falling off his raft while doing so.
The float was way too long despite the great rapid adventures. Our group and cooler did very well managing the rapids - with the exception of my sister. She made the first rapids okay, but the second one flipped her over and she lost her tube. Without a tube it's nearly impossible to make it without tumbling and falling several times. Forget about finding a way to the edge of safety. We were close together when we approached the falls, but I didn't see her lose the tube. It's a time when it's every man for himself and wait at the end to count the missing. At one point I was going down the rapids backwards and saw Frances standing up between some of the trees. I didn't have enough time to do a complete check and notice she didn't have her tube though. Also, we were too far apart to manage a scream of help; besides the other screams would have drowned it all out. So, I made it through okay. I immediately turned to do an inventory of my kids. I saw my nephew ahead who said Mike was further down river with the rest of the kids and the cooler. Great, now where is Fran? It's hard to determine whether you are in the lead or at the end of your group - going down a rapid isn't a first-in first-out sort of thing. I wasn't sure, and since I knew the kids were okay and with Mike, I decided to wait for Frances and told Russell to float on ahead and let Mike know. I waited and waited. Finally I saw her clinging onto some cute guy's tube and his cooler tube. Then I saw ahead of my nephew a lone tube. I yelled at him to grab the tube and we matched Fran to her tube once again. Whew! She really had some scrapes on both shins and down her back. I knew she was hurting. But the good thing is the water is so cold it's numbing and soothes you.
In between the rapids are some very slow spots - very slow. It's odd how the river is rushing water at one point and slower than molasses at others. During the slow times, we paddled/swam to go around the drunken partiers and to just get through the float a little faster. How can people tube AND smoke too? I wound up with raw skin on the underside of my upper arms where they rubbed against my tube when I paddled. The rawness continues all the way down to the creases of my elbows.
Frances tenderly made it through the rest of the rapids attached to her tube as did the rest of us. On the last rapids, Mike's tube popped and left him with a limp tube (insert snicker here) It wasn't a big deal because immediately after that rapid it was the end of our float and we all got out and caught the bus back to our car.
Wasn't that fun?
It's a good thing Frances and I carpooled together, because my elbows were too raw to bend. A quick stop at the grocery store for a topical spray and I was pacified. I didn't sleep well that night, needless to say. There were only two comfortable ways to sleep - flat on my back with my arms outstretched and not touching any of the bedsheets (and no ceiling fan either, even the air draft hurt) - or on the recliner in the living room with arms on the armrests. Neither worked for a very long time, but I managed to get about 7 naps inbetween reconfiguring my body and spraying that antiseptic stuff on me.
Fran had several bruises and sore muscles the next day and her scrapes were just fine. Between her adventure and my raw arms, I'm nto sure who turned out worse.
Today, I'm okay. I slept better the second night. Scabs are appearing all over my arms. One elbow is still raw and won't set a scab and so it's weepy all the time. I tried bandaging it but the rest of the arm is too raw to accept a bandage edge. I'll just keep washing it with betadine and keeping it clean to avoid an infection.
Good thing I gave blood last week. Imagine the horror of the lab tech when I show him my arms so he can look for track marks!
P.S. Here's a link for river outfitters and a map too: http://www.texhillcntry.com/river-road.htmlCurrent Mood: healing I'm listening to: Dave Ramsey on talk radio |
|
- Aesop's Fables
- Grimm's Fairytales
- Charlotte's Web
- The Cat in the Hat
- Horton Hatches the Egg
- Winnie the Pooh
- Black Beauty
- The Diary of Anne Frank
- Uncle Remes and Brer Rabbit - This was a series of small books that we had. Each had a moral to them. Plus they were light weight and easy to move with.
- We had this big old book of classic fairytales - Snow White, Cinderella, Mother Goose poems. That book is my all time favorite book.
I didn't include Little Women, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy, or the Little House Series because I read those when I was in high school so I don't really consider them books from my childhood but more books from my youth. |
|
more catching up
- Surfing
- SkyDiving
- Skateboarding
- Golf
- Bowling
- Rugby
- Polo
- Sumo
- Raquetball and handball
- Water skiing
|
|
Yeah, I know it's not Tuesday, but I'm catching up.
- US Men's hockey beating the Soviets
- Greg Louganis hitting his head on a platform dive
- Nadia Comaneci getting a perfect 10 - actually 7 of them
- Mary Lou Retton winning a gold for her bright cheery attitude, er performance
- Mark Spitz winning a whole lotta gold
- Bruce Jenner winning the decathlon
- Florence Griffith Joyner "Flo Jo" and those awesome nails of hers
- Any of the opening ceremonies
- ditto for the closing ceremonies - I just love seeing all the athletes getting together and having fun
-
|
|
eh, so I missed a few weeks....
 I say ... and you think ... ?
- GAME BOY:: new charger (son lost his and we just bought a new one)
- Biopsy:: breast
- Attack:: a b-movie
- Convention:: republican
- Jewels:: balls
- Genetics:: genome
- Impostor:: fake
- Doug:: a man's name
- Arbitrary:: courtroom
- Oscillate:: water sprinkler
|
|
I'm not a big television fan. Never have been really. I did cross stitching, read books, gardening, movies, and played outside instead. I've got a television (actually two, just got the second one in my bedroom a few months ago) and it's got DirectTV but we had just the basic stuff plus the Starz movie channels. No HBO. Had it years ago, but dropped it when it seemed all they had on was boxing.
So this Sex and the City thing (and the Sopranos too) was something I've heard about and never experienced. I've heard that it's explicit and nasty, it's interesting and not to be missed. Everyone has an opinion about it whether they've seen it or not. And now it's over, cause it's not on anylonger. Except TBS picked it up, cleaned it up and shows it again in the stripped version (excuse the pun.) I watched the first few episodes and they intrigued me. So much so that I rented them from the video store. I'm into season 4 now.
Yeah it's raunchy and there's a lotta breasts flashing about (mostly Kim Cattrall's) it is also funny and interesting. Some of the storylines are so personal for me. I guess the questions raised in dating and relationships are universal. How do you know when he's the one, when is it over, can women have sex without love like a guy? I've seen bits of me in every one of the four women. It's almost scary, because I usually don't identify with most fictional characters. Ok ok, there is an uncanny thing about the roadrunner and me, but that's another topic.
Maybe it's just that I'm single and older and this is a show about older women dating. I'm not alone and there are other women having the same questions and problems. I don't feel like a freak out in the married world.
It's strange, because I'm part of a girlfriend group of four too. But we are in no way similar to the Sex/City gang. And yes we do talk about sex and relationships but not in the detail and depth done on the show. And it's usually me doing the talking about the sex - I guess I'm Samantha in that respect. Can't help it, I like sex - a lot. *shrug* But we do have fun together. Too bad we live in three different states a thousand miles apart. I miss our dinners, buncos, and drinks together.
|
|
Been a while, eh? Took a self imposed break. Work, kids, life, depression all bunched up on me and I needed to sort it all out. Anyways, it was a good summer never the less. Kids are back in school (it started two weeks ago) and loving it. Grace made the basketball team and Alan is happy to be a 5th grade top dog.
Today I went tubing down the Guadalupe with Mike and some friends of his. I barely knew two of the ladies, but I thought it would be nice to have some fun for a few hours. If you've never been tubing it's both relaxing and exciting. The Guadalupe is well known for the tubing. Picture a slow moving river alongside huge cypress trees with swing ropes dipping into the water. Cliffs harboring green ferns and a few beautiful homes standing on water's edge. It's very nice. The easy going water is a cool 68° that carries you and your tube along the slow spots and into the rapids formed by rock formations. Drink a beer, tie the tubes together and chat.
After we dried off and changed clothes, Mike and I left for dinner. The others had rented a room nearby and were planning on shopping in Gruene. We talked about his new house that he's about to close on, and the concerts we want to see in the near future. It was a good dinner. For some reason, it was relaxing and very comfortable. I don't why either - was it because we are both comfortable with our friendship now or was the tranquilizing effect of the river ride still calming me?Current Mood:  relaxed |
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
ecbell's journal