Part One!
Wow…this past week has been a whirlwind. Lots of fun but I’m now left feeling extremely tired and a bit on the sick side..it’s more than my boring, isolated, non-spontaneous life is used to!
Sunday- I decided to catch a ride with some friends that were spending the day in Ventura. My best friend lives there, I figured it would be a fun surprise to show up at her house for the day! It was fun, so fun I ended up staying until Wednesday night! With my camera, laptop, toothbrush and a change of clothes and my fun-loving self, I made do. Luckily we can wear each others clothes, and she was gracious enough to share any and everything I was without! We spent the afternoon sitting on a dock over looking the harbor sipping on chips and salsa and sipping Margarita’s. There was a quaint little 2 man band that entertained us with the most fitting of Dave Matthews cover songs. It was one of the most fun and relaxing days I had had in awhile. (that is when the decision was made, I would be staying longer. After a few drinks….getting home wasn’t such a big issue!) Once our new favorite band finished their last song, we finished up our drinks and headed home. I have a tradition when I visit her, I have a Vodka party on the beach at sunset. The party usually consists of just me…which is fine. A blanket, light jacket, camera, shot glass and a small bottle of Vodka. Really, who could ask for more? It was my first night there and the Sunset was spectacular…I was so glad I was staying! Monday- This was a treat, normally my friend, Dee would be at work but ended up having the day off. We had some amazing talks, reminiscing about the past 18 years of our friendship..our relationships, heartbreaks, triumphs, failures, likes, dislikes, goals, dreams. We cried a lot and we laughed like we haven’t laughed in years. We have been through so much together but I don’t think we have ever laughed so hard…ever! We eventually made it down to the beach for a walk and, of course…pictures! Our day ended with a few errands and a nice quiet dinner at Arby’s. I had my nightly Vodka party on the beach, took a long hot shower and climbed in bed. Tuesday- I had woke up on the sad side. I had an offer for a ride home today, (about 100 miles) and after the past few days I really wasn’t ready to leave. I rolled out of bed and headed to the beach. I had thought about having my nightly Vodka beach party that morning, since I wouldn’t be there for sunset but decided it probably wasn’t the best idea. With camera in hand I strolled along the beach with that whoa-is-me attitude, alone, sad, not wanting to leave my paradise. I flipping hadn’t even seen a dolphin or whale yet…as I wiped the crocodile tears from my eyes my phone rang. It was a text message from another friend that said, “I will be in the Ventura area tomorrow and need to kill a few hours, if you can stay another day I will give you a ride home.” It was, well, a divine intervention. I replied, “yes, yes, yes I can stay.” I am now skipping down the beach, I am sure the locals were sure it had something to do with the Vodka thing. Little did they know I just scored another night! I called Dee and notified her she had been blessed with my presence one more night… After she returned from work we made our way to a few stores and picked up dinner. We ate, talked and laughed before I headed down to the beach for my nightly Vodka party. I knew it was the last one for the trip so I made it a really good one! When I got back she was getting ready to take a break from house work and asked if I wanted to go sit on her porch for a drink, uh…yeah! She has a couple Papasan Chairs which are great for relaxing, usually. We finished our drink but decided one more wouldn’t hurt before she finished up what she was doing and I looked through my days pictures. So, I come back out, refilled both our drinks and sat back down in my Papasan Chair. As I sat, the chair flipped completley backwards….yeah right, funny. I now lay there stuck, feet sticking straight up in the air, laughing so hard I fear peeing my pants. Deanna, being the best friend she is left me there as she ran to bathroom, (no sense in both of us being on the verge of wetting ourselves) she realized I was really stuck and at her mercy. “I’m going to vacuum real fast” she informs me. Still laughing, I couldn’t get the words out to argue. “It’s good for your back.” she says “This is what the rich people do to releive stress.” I hear her vacuuming, but it’s drown out by her laughter. “How’s your back Heid?” as she wraps the vacuum cord up and makes her way out towards me. Beleive it or not I was still laughing, wondering what the neighbors thought as they looked out their windows and see a tipped over Papasan with a 45 year old woman stuck in it, feet dangling in the air. She finally came to my rescue, I can happily say I still had dry pants!! Wednesday- I got up with Deanna at 5:45 and visited with her until she left for work at 7:30. Why I didn’t go back to bed after she left I don’t know….oh yes I do, it was my last morning there. My ride would be arriving at around 1:00 and I had to make best of the time I did have left. I took a quick walk down to the beach, it was beautiful. The water was calm yet the waves were ginormous! It looked like the perfect opportunity to get a quick hour of surfing in before I packed up. Walking back to the house, just as fast as that Papasan fell over, it donned on me, I don’t surf…. So breakfast and a shower were in order. I went in to grab that Toaster Strudel Dee had made me before she ran out the door. It was then I realized what she meant, “you snooze, you lose!” as she hugged me good-bye. She had eaten my Toaster Strudel! On to the shower…as I turn the water on there is a fireworks of water. The shower head had blown off the wall and there was water everywhere. I then remembered she had said something about that before she left. (I WOULD have probably understood her had her mouth not been full of MY Toaster Strudel!) I cleaned everything up and opted for a nice hot bath. Again, with camera in hand I headed back to the beach and planted my behind on a log and just watched the water. I snapped a picture here and there making sure I had enough memories to take home. Then I saw them…my trip was complete…dolphins!! Like always I begin shaking so bad I am unable to focus or even hold the camera still. I managed to get a few half-way-decent shots, I at least had proof I had seen them!
Before I knew it, my ride was closer and called for directions. I sat and thought about what a wonderful trip I had had. How an afternoon visit had turned into four days of fun and laughter. I had really “stepped outside my box” doing something so spontaneous, and I was happy I did! I sat and thought about how tired I was from my adventure… just as fast as that Papasan fell over, it donned on me, I have one day to get home and pack before I head to Phoenix! Part two coming

It has been a crazy, but wonderful week! What started out as a afternoon visit with a friend that lives in Ventura beach turned into a four day mini-vaca! Now I’m getting ready to head out to Phoenix for a week-end visit with my son!!! I’ll be back soon with pictures and tell you all about my adventures…this is why I couldn’t leave!

(click on image for larger view)

(click on image for larger view)

(I apologize for the lame formatting of this post. WordPress is not cooperating with me right now!)

I wasn’t surprised. It was all making sense to me now. I have been feeling under the weather for about a week now, I was pretty sure I was close to death…a few times. You see, I had this mysterious, even gigantic bite on my hand. I was sure whatever had bit me was poisonous. I lay dying a slow death. After about the sixth day I was determined to determine my fate one way or another. I stagger out of bed whoa-is-me and begin the search for this deadly monster. I had already determined, through my research this was not just a bug, not just a spider. It was a brown recluse spider. It’s just a matter of time, bless my soul. I walked (staggered) out back to retrace my daily routine. Hammer in one hand. Perfume in the other (I had no bug spray). That’s when I saw it, it was bigger than life and he was staring right at me. Being the photo bug (no pun intended) I am, I decide I should take a picture of this monster, perhaps it would be beneficial for my autopsy. I must hurry and do this before I smash it to smithereens and spray it with my good perfume I just got at Big Lots!!! I put my super duper lens on my camera so there would be no need for me to get too close, one more bite I could be gone within hours…maybe minutes. Be brave Heidi, be brave. Got it!! Yahoo, perhaps if they get me and the monster to the venom E.R. show guy, I would have a chance. I see no other spiders around so I know….I know this was the one.
I decide to take a quick glance at the monster on my big screen (laptop) I guess I needed closure. Well wasn’t I surprised to find, “the monster” was nothing more than a dead spider carcass! To be completely honest with you I was a bit upset. Where did this this mysterious, even gigantic bite on my hand come from and why the slow, agonizing death? Time to reevaluate the situation. Could the bite be from, say….a mosquito or something. It could. Could I just have a tad of the flu and I am not really dying. I could. I guess only time will tell, but I have to tell ya, I am ‘almost’ miraculously feeling better.

So I decide to push my luck a little and go for an evening stroll. (Honey, if I’m gonna die, I’m gonna have camera in hand!) Now I’m a bit confused…again. The skies were just beautiful. Were the Heavens rejoicing my speedy recovery, or was the the light you see at the end? I decide, for the moment, to stop over analyzing the situation and enjoy it.
I mean you can’t really die from a half-way decomposed spider bite, right? Well, you know me…..I’ll be sure to keep you updated!

…and had a fab-o time!
My oldest son, Rocky and I had a wonderful reunion this past week-end with some dear old, young friends, ‘the girls next door!’ Or so they used to be. We met Ollie and Roxy in 1985, when the kids were just 2 1/2 years old! As our families grew, so did our friendship(s). Rocky and Roxy started their first day of school together, learned to ride bikes together, did homework together, toilet papered friends homes together, played matchmaker for each other, etc… Although they now have their own families (Roxy is 7 months preggos!) and live hundred miles apart, they have remained in contact. Because we rarely (very rarely!!) see each other anymore, it was a huge treat to have lunched with them…as well as Ollie’s youngest, Karlee who just turned 13, and whom I only have memories as a toddler! Here is a quick picture I took as we said our goodbyes and swore we would never wait so long for another reunion! I would post pictures of them growing up but they are all in storage….it’s just a matter of time kiddo’s! *wink*

I played around today a little more with my new gadget, my camera….My son has taken up a new hobby, photography. He already speaks depth-of-field-camera language and it’s got me worried, that and the fact his pictures are superb. I have some serious reading/learning to do.

This is my view from my thinking chair, my Papasan chair…so I took a picture while I was thinking of what to take a picture of!

As I posted a month or so back, I got a new camera. So, today I decide to pick up the ‘owners manuel’ and try and learn how to actually use it. That lasted about 5 minutes which is really unusual for me as I generally love learning the ins and out of gadgets and how each and every function works. I suppose I was a bit overwhelmed with all the information I don’t know! Tomorrows a new day and I’ll be darned if I don’t learn something!!! By the end of the week, I do hope to be a pro. So please, I invite you to see a few of my “before” I learned how to use my camera and became a pro…pictures! I took most of them yesterday.

Now I must get to reading…the pressure is on! *wink*