Sweltering July Challeges

YES, IT IS HOT.  As they report in Florida, BSI, Body Sweat Index.  (I haven't looked it up yet in Google to see what it really means)  It is northern Ohio here, but temperature will be in the 90's and humid again today.

                                     My Morning Visitor, Mr. Grey Huron 

Summer is in full swing, Backyard Parties,

 Laying in Sun with my Girlfriend, Boat Parades,

 Fishing and having fun with the Grandkids. 

My July Challenge is to

 KEEP COOL.   

Hate/Love

Two Human Emotions. 

 Pick the one you want your life to live through. 

 Choose!  

   

How do you do this? 

 Sometimes it is very hard,

 You see someone do something that you don't like?,

 An event happens that makes you want to fight back, 

 A person hurts you to your very core and you want to hurt back, 

 You feel worthless, you want to hurt back.  

Your life has no meaning, you want it to mean something.  

Life hits you with a bad episode of life? You feel helpless? 

HOW DO YOU STOP THE HURT/HATE FEELING?

Some say, "Don't sweat the small stuff and it is all small stuff"

Some say, "Pray and God will change your heart"

Some say, "Fast, Get down on your knees and look to Allah" 

Some say, "Give your heart to Jesus, He paid the price for our sins"

Some say, "Make your self happy anyway you want"

Some say "Go out and buy a gun and kill"

Some say " Calm yourself and meditate, Center you mind"

Some say" Hey he hurt me, my family or doesn't something I don't like,  I will get them back"

Some say, "My life don't matter, so what"

Some say, " They did that to me, I will love them no matter what?  It may not change them but it will change my heart and Love conquers all." That's what I say!

What do you say?

Weird Stuff, or should I say weird feelings.

I cried alot last night.  The tears would not stop coming. I think I went thru at least 10 Kleenex.  My eyes were almost swollen shut when I woke up in the morning. I used eyes drops several times today, cold compresses and rested my eyes with little naps.  They still hurt tonight.

What is the cause of my eye drips?  Children, yes, children,  they grow too fast, you do the best you can as a parent, you and them survive ICU's, Graduations, teacher's meetings, arguments, worrying and then they fly the coop.  As a parent you still pray, suggest, help financial, and pray some more.  They find love,  get a job, buy a car, a house, have a kid in any kind of order these days and you hope you did your best.  Then years later you find out things they they didn't tell you.  I asked myself, where was I when all this happened and I didn't have a clue.  And then it HIT ME!  I really don't know you after all these years, 30 to be exact.  I guess I have better listen more, apologize more, learn more and forgive more.    My tears have stopped, my eyes will feel alot better tomorrow.  I will continue to pray, let God lead them and teach them better than I ever could.  And most of all still love them.  

Time Shares, Hate or Love

I find that you either hate or love time shares, their concept, their restrictions, their price and their sometime complicated booking process.
Well, we love our Blue Green Time Share.  We brought in a small package at 8,000 point every other year.  But what they didn't really tell us, and we didn't think to ask was that this was really not enough for what we thought we could do.  It gave us about 4 days away a year.  Of course that depends on if it doing the week or weekend, during red time, or high red time.  We were just starting our retirement and we wanted at least 4 weeks in Florida during Feb and March.

We looked into rental, looking into buying, looked in more points at Bluegreen and spoke with lots of people about what they do.  We didn't want property to worry about if we were only going to stay for 3-4 months in a warmer state.  We didn't want to limit ourselves to one spot at one particular time.
So we focused on what did we want.  We wanted to go whenever we wanted to, where ever we wanted to and  stay in places that had a kitchen so we could cook if we wanted to and had laundry facilities on location.  So with our little 8,000 points, we stayed at The Fountains in Orlando, FL for 3 days free,

Tradewinds on St. Petersburg Beach FL for 8 days, 4 of those days were bonus days,

5 days in Harbor Lights, Myrtle Beach, SC and 3 days at Shenandoah Valley, VA.  This was in a two year time span and we would of never done it if we hadn't purchased into BlueGreen,  We eventually purchased 10,000 more points every year.  And this year we have gone to Aruba

and Marathon Keys, Florida.  We are very please with our Timeshare.

We love the sun, beach and water.  Well and Pina Colata  too! 

Many faces of the Lake and Sky

The reflections of the skies on the rippling water or frozen ice is mesmerizing in all seasons.  

Nature's Colors in all it's glory.

Sunset in Autumn

Sunset in Early Winter

Grey Winter Ice Over 

Pink and Purple Skies

Warm Orange Glow

Good Night.

My Dream was to live near water and I found Hidden Harbour and moved there.  It is a  private man made lake, sand pit really, with 67 acres.  Only electric pontoon boats, kayaks, wind boards, stand up boards or paddle boats allowed. Dreams do come true.  Make your dream come true and share it with me!

Road Trip Continued. Come along. Nashville and Paducah

Thomas Green Ryman.  Nashville, TN  http://ryman.com/   Many pictures did not upload during our trip.  Even though we had wireless at every motel, pictures didn't upload in many areas.  This is the only on that uploaded from Nashville.  This is in front of the Ryman museum where there are wonderful country concerts and many country stars are preforming there over the years.  It was original a church.
We also enjoyed many other places in Nashville.  I will go there again in a heartbeat.  It is only about 5/6 hours away for us.  We heard many up and coming stars in the many bars on  Bourbon Street, many drunk ladies singing and dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly. (I did not get up there). http://www.coyoteuglysaloon.com/  We loved Johnny Cash museum http://www.johnnycashmuseum.com/ and stood on the stage at Grand Ole Opry http://www.opry.com/ right where Johnny Cash stood.  Joe was so excited. I think he got a little of Johnny Cash's sexiness.  And of course, just walking down Bourbon Street, Broadway and others filled with bars, stores, restaurants, one right after another with music, aromas and drinking.  It was fun day and night.  I felt safe there, Police, cameras, fire department was all around making sure nobody got out of hand.  I want to buy cowgirl boots and a hat, but alas, $500 boots just don't make "cents". There is a little Blues there also, BB King has a place.  https://www.facebook.com/bbkingsnashville .
Also there are apps in most large cities now that you upload on your phone and they tell you what to see, how much it costs, times open, etc.
Next Stop- Paducah, Ky. Quilt Show.

 The Quilt Museum  http://www.quiltmuseum.org/

I took classes at the quilt show and this is what I made.

 Ricky Tims, is a male quilt maker, piano and flute player.  Joe and I enjoyed his show very much.  He is so entertaining with his stories. (I think Joe wants to make quilts now)

As you can tell I am drawn to the Fiber art type of quilting. (non traditional) 

 The highlight of my trip is meeting Alex Anderson of "The Quilt Show" http://www.thequiltshow.com/  She is so genuinely nice.

Road Trip Toledo, Ohio to ? Follow along!

My husband retired.  He was a truck driver so when he came home he never wanted to go anywhere.  Well, after giving him 2 weeks to recoup at home, I declared.  "Road Trip"  I wanted to go to the Paducah Ky Quilt Show.  I didn't really think he would want to come but he said he did.  Well, that one idea turned into a "Hey" we are retired now.  We can do anything.
So off we went this morning, Follow along with our adventure and please leave comments.  We love them.  I will also have him blogging too.  He loves food and history; I love music, quilts and nature. We took 75 South to Cincinnati. The trees are all in flower, the grass is green and most leaves are out on the trees.  The sky so blue, the traffic not so bad.  We decided to go to Nashville first, the Paducah, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando and Tampa and every place in between.
A flowering crab.  So pretty.

.

We didn't eat here.  I wasn't sure what a Colon Buffet meant even if it was only $6.75. I passed on this buffet.

 My dear retired truck driving hubby was in his truck driving mood,  Get on the road, drive to your destination, no side trips, stop for gas only.  Well,  I had to remind him, we can do anything we want, we HAVE no time schedule,  Yes, we have reservations in Nashville, but it was only 8 hours to get there, so I Made Him stop to see the House of Quilts.  Donna Sharp's outlet was here.  It was ok, but not worth the stop. There wasn't much good deals, and quilts looked dull and dated.  It was so disappointing.  www.houseofquilts.com 

Well, now back on the road and south we went on 65.  Well I had to do something for him and guess what I found.  Jim Beam Distillery http://www.americanstillhouse.com/  and Marker's Mark Distillery is down the interstate. https://www.makersmark.com/sections/18-tours 

V-twin Jim Beam motorcycle.  I took the picture for my boys. It says do not touch. 

 Red Bud Trees all along the interstate.  It was so pretty.

Time to eat.  Where is the Bar b q?  Well, he said, check the GPS.  Ahh! next Bar b Q is just at the next exit 1.8 miles.  Yummy. I couldn't wait.  So Smokey Pig it was.  https://www.facebook.com/smokeypig 

We had the family special.  Pull pork with vinegar coleslaw and baked beans with tea-unsweetened. The southern waiter just shook his head at the unsweetened part.  Don't want to rot my teeth out!

 Smokey Pig is guess where? Bowling Green, Ky which is the headquarters of Fruit of Loom and Corvettes.  We stopped for gas and right next to premium was Racing Fuel at $7.99 a gallon. It also had a lock on it. You had to go inside to get the guy to open it. It is only for off road use.

 Finally, we found our hotel after I had to look into it.  Joe had the wrong address and street name, so we were a little confused for a while and had to turn the car around.  (How did he find his way in his truck without me?) Inquiring minds want to know?

Being as old as we are, we are resting in the hotel with a couple of beers.  Tours can wait till tomorrow. Johnny Cash Museum, Coyote Ugly, Country Music Hall of Fame,  the Grand ole Opry, Bluebird Cafe and shopping for some new fancy cowboy boots.   Maybe Joe will get a cowboy hat and learn to line dance, I love a man in a hat.  See ya tomorrow.  If you have been to Nashville and know of something we shouldn't miss,  let me know!