Yosemite Trip * Day 2

Ahh, sweet morning light when camping.  Birds singing, other campers waking and Quentin!

This child was up at six in the morning screaming and screaming, then laying in the tent next to Sweet while he snores.  Camping at it’s best!

Luckily, I had my notebook and began writing different notes for my book.  I found that it was actually easier to write in my notebook than on the computer because then I don’t self edit.  It was freewriting in all its glory.  Once everyone in our site was moving, Magda and I started breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, bacon and texas toast grilled on a flat pan.  Mmmmmmmm…

So today’s activity was going for a bike ride around the whole park so after breakfast we packed up our ice chest and loaded it on the back of Jeremy’s bike.  We all got on our bikes and were moving by eleven.  Now since I have been with Sweet, he and I both have gained 20 LB’s in two years.  No es bueno ;{ 

So needless to say we weren’t riding our bikes like the fairy nymphs we once were, then after stopping at Happy Isles for a beer and beautiful view, we took off again to ride the park. About an hour or so later, Magda realizes that she doesn’t have her camera and that Jeremy had rested the camera on her platform attached to the back of her bike.  Jeremy has been going to Yosemite since a wee child and he knows the park better than anyone I have ever known, they flew back to Happy Isles to look for it to no avail.  Sweet pretty much kept up with them and I tried until I didn't.  *need to rethink the gym*

I personally would have cried, but she soldiered on.  Her son’s college graduation pictures were still on the memory card and Fourth of July.  Awwww….

So that put a dent in the fun and we went back to camp and had lunch.   The rest of the afternoon was spent out at the Swinging bridge to swim and oh the water was freezing but yet refreshing.  Sweet wouldn’t get in because he forgot his water shoes (oh, I forget them apparently) so his nick name was Sissy Foot while we all had fun.

Back at the campground after we had all cleaned up and hung the suits on the line.  We had Blue Death’s made by Magda, very interesting cocktail.  Sweet then grilled all the steaks and we had three different salads with some wine then the piece de resistance!!!!

Essss mores!  Love them!!  By my sixth smore, tired.  I went to bed.

Yosemite Trip * Day 1

Well always fun the first day of a vacay trip.  It’s Monday, September 5^th and we are going on a camping trip to Yosemite.  Sweet significant said he had wanted to leave by eight AM but I knew that was not to be.  Bless his heart but he has rituals that must be abided by in order to begin a project and packing up the expedition I affectionately call Bruce was a project.  I was up at five AM writing and when he got up at seven, I was rearing to go.  I think the five cups of coffee assisted a little.

I really love when characters wake you up and want to be written.  *hugs to me*

So after Bruce is all packed and we are getting ready to leave, he notices a leak on the driveway.  Oh man.  He has to check the differential now because preparing for the trip the night before, something happened to the seal.  So in order to go, we have to keep an eye on this.  Pain in the ass..   Grrrrr.

So we made it to Yosemite and it is 5:41 and it was amazing to watch the mass exodus out of the park as we were pulling in.  Sweet is the bestest planner, so we get a text from our friends to let us know that we are at upper pines campground.  It’s so beautiful there and we meet up with Magda and Jeremy (not their real names, ever see Bridget Jones?) get camp set up and have a few beers.  We then went up to the cafeteria area and ordered a pizza.  We had pizza out on the deck under the moonlight, it was a great night and very relaxing.  We went back to camp and Jeremy went about setting a fire when Magda reminded him of the time.  The ranger would come and shut it down, but he made the fire anyway. 

Quite a bit of work later and 10 minutes into the fire, the ranger drove by and told us to put it out.  After a few giggles watching the men try to put this fire out that they had worked so hard for, I went to bed. 

 
Good times!

It isn't homework, right?

Since I have started this blog, the one thing that I haven’t been able to master is the freeblog.  I have become confident in my freewriting and have actually had fun with it.  Creative juices are flowing!!   Freeblogging has been quite a different story.  After talking with a good friend about my blog and whining about all my concerns. 

She simply said, “Your blogs are good, but it seems like your putting your homework assignments up for the teacher to grade.”   Ok so she said it with a smile, but ouch.  When I started this, I wanted to be a free and easy blogger.  Just like all the blogs I read before I started.  Alas, after reading them back.  I am not.  I guess it just takes time as with any other relationship, yes?

So I want to say to anyone reading this to have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend with your family and friends.  Please enjoy each and every minute of it!!  Talk with you soon and don’t drink and drive!

A home remembered

I have been going through old stories that I have written for school, myself or just to jot down a memory and came across this little story that I had written to remember the week we buried my grandmother in 1994.  I had completely forgotten that I had written it and it was a nice surprise and still brings the memories flooding back.  It’s funny about memories, they can trigger smells, songs, feelings and emotions often thought gone or filed away in a long forgotten part of the brain.  I want to share this with you and please let me know what you think or share your story with me.  Enjoy and Thanks for stopping by!!

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It was the spring of nineteen ninety-four and in the alcove of my home of two months; I made my way to the front door.  A difficult task while carrying the bat bags of Little League, Bobby Sox and T-Ball in one arm while cradling Stretch Armstrong and holding onto a couple of McDonalds bags with the other. The vibration of the pager against my hip made me jump as I tried to grab the keys to open the door.  All that I was holding came crashing to the floor and I stood there just staring at the result giggling with my beautiful eight year old daughter as she looked up at me. “Who paged you mommy?”  She said with more curiosity about the pager than who was behind the page.

“I haven’t looked yet, but it better be good because it scared the bajeezus out of me!”  She giggled a little more then bent down to help me pick things up and at the same time yelled for her brothers to come help as I opened the front door. 

With everyone finally settled at the table and lunch in front of them, I dialed the number to call my Mother who had been the page from earlier.  “Hello Mother, what’s up?”  I said distracted, as I looked up movie times in the local paper.  “Grandma died.”  She said plainly.  I froze.  The only thing I could think of at the time was which one?  I had actually voted in my head as to which Grandmother it might be.  Crazy.

The funeral for my paternal Grandmother was the following Thursday and we were all expected to make arrangements and be at the Big House on Monday.  The drive from my home to hers became more familiar and yet just as unrecognizable as I got closer to her town and neighborhood. I realized that I hadn’t been to see her in years nor had I really seen anyone.  I felt justified for my reasons while a knot began to form in my stomach and I could feel the migraine begin.  I became melancholy of what I had missed and at the same time afraid of what I was about to see again.  I felt the need to turn and run as I had always done.  I could mourn her on my own, right?

I pulled up in front of the house with mixed emotions and I sat in the car just staring at the house that had been so much of my childhood.  My babies were already out of the car running to my Mother and Sister with kisses and hugs and I looked up from the chin lean that had started on the steering wheel after hearing my name.  Cousins, aunts and uncles had begun to come out with smiles and arms wide open to welcome me.  It was then that all the years of pent up anger began to melt away and I wondered if maybe all this time I had been wrong about my memory of what the childhood had been.  Had I stayed away for reasons that didn’t exist?  Still not sure. 

I began to hear Vincente Fernandez singing in the air that I breathed; I smelled the familiar spices of cumin and burnt chipotle peppers wafting through the air.  I smelled the grass as I moved and mothballs as I walked through the front door, then smiled with tears forming in my eyes.  That week, preparing to bury my grandmother, we hugged, laughed, danced and reminisced.  We remembered family and I was home.

A valued amount of time

“Sometimes action takes a valued amount of time” is the advice I recently gave a young lady complaining about her man.  She said she didn’t want to hear what he could or would do.  A real woman values action and desires a man of action.   Pfffff… youth.

This provoked a thought or two in me, you see her man has been working on a new venture and has only been at it for a while.  Although not successful yet, he is doing well and moving forward, albeit slowly, nonetheless moving forward with heart and determination.  Now we all know that no one really knows what goes on in a relationship except the two in it and sometimes they don’t even know so I have no judgment.  I think all actions taken and time valued support during a lifetime results in a great life and when you look back, you smile or tear up.  Yes?

Bringing it back to me, I started my venture with less enthusiasm from friends and family then her man.  Support stories are everywhere.  From friends, in movies, within books and even through a beautiful song they can be found.  In my experience it doesn’t happen that way.  So I surge forward with this dream of mine and if I am lucky enough to do well then I will probably throw out a dimpled smile, pop a bottle of the bubbly and buy them all presents.   *sigh*

Where are you going with this Miss Ramble?  Awww…  Thanks for asking *smile*

I can’t say my Sweet significant was excited that my work contract ended and while searching for a job in this economy, I decide to begin a writing career from ground zero.  Nope. With very little enthusiasm he said “good luck with it Honey”.  Now it wasn’t the smile, hug, pat on the back with music playing in the background that I had imagined but it was what he could give me at the time. 

One day while we were at Costco buying his Droid (my current nemesis, will explain another time), I sauntered off to look at the laptops  (word is Santa’s bringing me one for Christmas).  What began as a quote to determine if I was comfortable with the keys and WordPad, a story erupted with each keystroke. Yep!  Right there in the store. By the time he found me thirty or so minutes later, the story had evolved.  When I saw Sweet coming, I killed off my main guy because I thought he was going to say let’s go and cried for the guy.  Sweet couldn’t believe it when I told him what I had done, then asked if he could read it to which my smiled reply was “of course”.  He loved it! He hugged me and told me how proud he was. Needless to say, I had to leave the story there on the demo laptop.  So he took pictures of each page with his new phone and I left it there.  I cried again.

So I am going to post it for all to read.  It is over a thousand words and is unedited so keep that in mind.  Please note the line when I saw Sweet coming to find me.  I abruptly killed the guy right after the paramedic was about to save him…. 

awwww  *tear*

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When time stands still….

When time stands still it can feel like a lifetime.  That is what happened when Ronnie skid sideways on his Harley until the bike finally released him into a world of pain, agony and disbelief.  The bike continued to skid and then toppled over the embankment and down the gully until it came to a stop and folded around the redwood tree a quarter the way down.  Ronnie’s friends all came running after stopping and getting off their bikes to see if he was ok.

“Good thing he had his vest on!” screamed Toni as she came sliding to his side on her knees.  “Look at his arms! She cried.

Ronnie lay there on the asphalt along the Avenue of the Giants and his head was telling him he was in pain but his body felt nothing.  He looked around to the chaotic scene and voices hovering over him.  Jackson was screaming into the phone for an ambulance.  Calm, cool, collected Jackson screaming at the top of his lungs, cursing at the recipient on the other end of the call.  He hadn’t taken his helmet off yet.  Weird.  He always removes his helmet as he is swinging his leg off the bike. It is his “manly” disembarking ritual.  Can’t wait to give him shit about this he thought.  Is he on his knees?  Something is wrong.

Oh there’s Toni. Beautiful Toni, why is she crying?  She is such a tough bitch, that’s why I fell in love with her.  What are you saying honey?  I can’t understand you, it’s all so fuzzy.  Did you say bleeding?  Something is wrong. Wow, look at all of you standing here.  Where are the bikes?  Did we stop for a beer?  What are we waiting for??  Let’s get that beer and then ride!!

“What did they say Jackson?”  Clyde asked as he finished giving everyone else in the club orders.  Clyde was the self imposed leader of the RoadRiders, when tragedy occurred he was the guy in charge.  Boxx and Kelly were directing traffic around the accident area.  Butch and Greg were down further telling the other bikers and vehicle traffic to slow down.  Bruce, Guy and Scott were moving all the bikes out of the middle of the road to make way for the emergency vehicles when they get here.

“They said five minutes, how is he?”

“He’s ok, aren’t you buddy”  Clyde looked over at Ronnie.  “Toni’s with him.  What the hell happened?  Who was behind him?”

“I think Bruce was behind him but you know Ronnie, he was probably showing off the new Softail.  What an ass, good thing Toni was on Marley’s bike.  Did someone get a look at it?”  Jackson was on the edge of tears but he wouldn’t cry.  The most emotion he was going to show was the lump forming in his throat.

‘Ya, I got a real good look at it.  It’s about a quarter of a mile down the gully wrapped around a redwood tree.”  Clyde started shaking his head.  “Damn kid!  What was he thinking?”

Bruce came back up to Clyde and updated him on all the bikes as Marley walked up and told him she was going to sit with Toni.

“It doesn’t look good does it?”  She asked.  Marley was a tough old bird and had been with Clyde for decades.  He had asked her to marry him time and time again, but she always replied been there done that, why change what we have?  Clyde loved her so and was worried about them getting up in age.  How could either of them be without the other?

“No my love it ain’t looking good Atal” he replied with his thick Texan accent.  ‘I hear them sirens a comin’ so get everyone back.  Hey Boxx ‘n Kel, tell them sum a bitches to slow down!”  the ‘mergency crew is comin!”

The paramedics jumped out of their truck and one ran to Ronnie lying there on the ground while the other opened up the back of the truck and grabbed the equipment then came running to his partner’s side.

Ronnie could now see two strange faces leaning over him and they were speaking but he couldn’t hear them.  What are they saying?  Hey there’s Marley trying to help Toni up.  What’s wrong with her, why can’t she stand.  Marley.  She had always been like a mom to him.  Thank you for introducing Toni to me.  I love her so much.  Sorry I argued with you about the ride today.  Thanks for making Toni ride with you, oh man you know me so well.

The paramedics began working on him right away, they were pulling injectibles out of their cases, ripping gauze packs with their teeth.  They were so intense and calling for back up on their shoulder mics.  Hey dude, get off my chest.  You’re too heavy?  Take your hands off my chest man!   Wait, I can’t feel anything.  He looks like he is pushing on me pretty hard but I can’t feel anything.  Something is wrong.

“Everyone is going to need to move back!” Paramedic one was screaming.  “The ambulance going to need to get in here.  This is a two lane road and we have no room to work on your friend.”  Just then the mini screen within the equipment case began to beep and the line went flat.

Ronnie was now looking down at the whole scene and the reality was now sinking in.  Is that me?  He could see them all around the body working and working, then one stood up and shook his head.  Did I die?  Am I dead?

“Noooooooo!!” Toni cried as she tried to fight Marley from holding her.  “Ronnie don’t leave me.  I love you, I love you!  Oh my god, pleeeeeese”  She broke free and ran to his side and grabbed Ronnie’s hand while on her knees rocking back and forth.  “Whyyyyy??!  I told you to be careful.  Don’t leave me honey, I need you!!!”

Ronnie was right next to her and his body.

“I am so sorry baby, I should have listened.  But your going to be ok, I can feel it and I’ll watch for you.  I promise, Ok Babe?”  Ronnie was standing over her talking to her.  “Please don’t cry, I’m not in any pain.  I actually feel better than I have in years.  Please be happy for me.  I wish you could feel what I am feeling right now.  Love, Peace and the most beautiful…  I can’t describe it to you.  I have to go now my love.

I love you….