Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

lazing at the lake, whining and smiling...



last week...
at the last minute...
sam and i decided to load up milo 
and go camping.
we were both a little stressed out...
and thought if we took a drive to lake lochloosa...
only 45 minutes away...
did some fishing, camping, relaxing...
it would clear our heads.
it did. (for a little while).

so we headed to Lochloosa Harbor Fish Camp.
sometimes we go there just for the day...
and sometimes to camp overnight.
(we needed to forget that i don't have enough clients anymore...
and sam is not working...)

(UH-OH! i just noticed when i put the Lochloosa link in there...
'convenience' is spelled wrong on their website!)

(what is it with me and spelling?! can't i ever NOT notice misspellings or typos...)

anyway...maybe they'll see this...and fix it.

Lochloosa Harbor...it's the coolest...most rustic...
nature filled...local get-a-way.
so, hang out for a few minutes...and wander with me...
(great blue heron)

(bald eagle)
(all the bird pic's i took from the boat)

(seagull)


All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.   
~Friedrich Nietzsche

 
(ibis)

 
(snowy egret)

(pair of bald eagles)

(sam's mudfish. not a keeper. they've got a mouthful of teeth.
they put up a good fight when you hook one. this one twisted himself up...
round and round he goes...took a while for sam to get him untangled and back in the water!)

(no. don't even think that!   these cobwebs are NOT in the camper!)

(wood stork)

this lake used to be loaded with alligators! i didn't get one picture this time.
we only saw...maybe two...but they were too far away...
and only there heads were on top of the water.
(bald eagle)

(pair of eagles landing)
here's a great link if you want to know about Florida birds!

(it's a bird...it's a plane...it's...yeah, a plane. 
flying back and forth over the lake.  at least it wasn't a crop duster!)

(great egret)

(nearing sunset...on the lake.
 i think that beer coolie is glued to sam's hand.)
(sorry. just kidding.)


(sunset. takes your breath away. time to get off the water.)

(just getting our little 'ghenoe' up to the ramp...
time to go listen to music...and play cards or scrabble or something...)

(full moon (facing east) at night)

(full moon (facing west) over the lake in the morning!)

(our catch. keepers. catfish. bass. crappie. shell cracker.)

so, here i am. just about a week later. it's wednesday...
which is usually a slow day for me. 
sometimes the only appointment i have on wednesday is my weekly 4pm.   
since my body clock gets me up by 5am...
by the time 4:00 rolls around...i'm ready for a nap!

oOo

yesterday i ordered a couple of car magnets...to promote my massage business.
i'm always a little leery about doing that (advertising),
 because all i do  is in-home visits. 
and i've learned that the best way to get clients is word of mouth.
that way, at least you know that your new client is someone 
who knows someone else...

BUT i need to do more...i need to earn more. i need to stay busy.
(yeah, i also sell a little of my art stuff...but not enough...)

when you advertise...
ANYONE can call! 
and since i go into their home...i'm at their mercy...their terms...their turf!
over the years though, i've learned to judge people pretty quickly over the phone.
if they sound weird...even just a little...if i get that vibe...i send them on down the road.

i've only gotten into a few uncomfortable situations over the past 14 years.
nothing 'life-threatening'...just made my adrenaline pump a little harder...
almost kicking in that 'fight or flight'...but not quite.

so, like i said...here i am. almost a week later. nothing's changed.
sam's still looking for work.  i'm not as busy as i'd like. 
well, what i'd REALLY like is to quit work. retire. 
i've been working since i was 15. over 40 years. 
i'd like to make $$ selling my art. i'd like to spend my time being creative...
going on adventures every day...collecting bones...

i'm whining.

sam walked out of his job around christmas. 
he got pissed at his fellow employees...
for standing around & not working!
which is understandable...which wasn't anything new.
the guys he worked with 'milked' money from the boss any chance they got.
the boss was just too nice a guy. or too stupid to see...or care...
it had been building up and festering in sam...twisting in his gut...over the past few years.
so he walked out.
but with nothing else in the works. no replacement job. 
with the economy the way it is...I GOT A TWISTING IN MY GUT!

i'm still whining.

i bring home probably slightly more than he makes on unemployment.
i shouldn't complain. some people aren't even getting that. 
some people have lost everything.

i guess maybe i'm a little pissed. a little envious...
HEY...i'm five years older than he...
have been working longer than he...
i'm the one who should be standing in the front door...in my robe...
waving goodbye in the morning...not he.
who walks out of a job nowadays?!

why does it bother me? 
if you love someone, shouldn't you be supportive all the time
no matter what...
but lately i've been distant...frustrated...more uncaring...inpatient...

(oh, laura...quit it!  STOP whining!  
it's not like you have a regular 9 to 5 job anyway.
you shouldn't be complaining. you should be thankful.)
ho-hum.

"You have your way. I have my way. 
As for the right way, 
the correct way, 
and the only way, 
it does not exist." 

~Friedrich Nietzsche


anyway...time to change the subject.  something that makes me smile...
makes me shake my head...and smile in disbelief...
A MISSPELLED WORD on a SIGN!
(not that i'm the Master Speller. i'm NOT. but if you're painting a sign.
putting out a sign that advertises your business...
USE the dictionary...or spell check!)

don't you think they meant EXHAUST?
maybe it's a play on words...i could be way off here.
maybe EXHOST is a brand name for mufflers?

oOo

remember all the skulls we found in the field...a few weeks ago.
here's a picture of all the deer jawbones from that pile o' bones.
i've cleaned and sanitized them...now i let them sit in the sun...dry...bake...
then i'll start decorating them.


well...if you've made it this far...to the end...
thanks for listening. 
sometimes i just have to get it out. 
whether the feelings are justified or not...
it makes me feel better just putting it down...into words.
even if nobody hears me.
the writing is therapy...

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.  
~JRR Tolkien

take it easy.  stay cool.
thanks for wandering...

:] laura






Sunday, February 20, 2011

all that...and more...



so much has been going on since i was here last.
yikes! that was only FOUR days ago! seems like two weeks ago!
(...i feel like i've been running around like crazy...
trying to get a million things done...yet accomplishing zilch!
nada. zero. zip. am i being clear?!)
=
it's been a slow one for me...as far as work.
appointments cancelled...rescheduled...
one elderly client passed away...and another is in the hospital.

so, with sam and i both free one day, we hiked the
the prairie basin is home to wild spanish horses and bison. 
we've been there so many times 
and have only seen evidence of these animals...by their piles of POOP!

this time we got lucky!
no bison sightings yet. maybe next time.

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."   
~Friedrich Nietzsche
= = =

earlier last week...as i was heading to a client...
i spotted another misspelled sign - on a church's front lawn.
doesn't anyone in their congregation know how to spell?
maybe they just don't care? maybe they're just too lazy to correct it?
(separation)

"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way." 
-- Mark Twain

then...on another day...another misspelled sign...
obviously...
they now have a working KITCHEN - oh! i mean...KITSHEN! 
= = =

one day i was lucky enough  to get a picture of an eastern bluebird.
lucky enough, because they don't sit still. 
jumping from branch to branch...i had to anticipate where he'd land next.
think like the bluebird...
i've never seen these bluebirds in our yard before.
guess i was also lucky enough to have been out back at the same time he was...
= = =
in my previous posted a picture of the little daffodils blooming right now!
i wanted to mention that the purple lantana has been blooming all winter long!

and here's another plant that has a flower right now...
not sure what it is...but i have them growing all over the place. 
this is the only one with flowers right now.

"Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; 
they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul."  
~Luther Burbank
= = =

the University of Florida has agriculture fields 
scattered all over town and the surrounding area.
while driving past one of their cattle fields last week...
i saw there were hundreds of Sandhill Cranes hanging out...
making a stop over...to where ever they were headed...
= = =
i also found another owl pellet last week...
(see the tiny bones sticking out of it??!!)

and i  have 2 skulls - a deer and that cat skull we found in the field...
along with a partial deer lower jawbone - 
sun drying after being cleaned & sanitized.
next step...decorating!
= = =
a gift from sam to me...this past week...
yep...a little dead frog! 
rotting away. 
skeletonizing. 
(guess that's not a word...sounds good though)
sam found it in the shed...and thought of me!
and it wasn't even my birthday...or valentine's day! :))

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see." 
~David Thoreau
= = =
...the warmer weather...
is starting to bring some of the critters out from hiding...
like this (nocturnal) orb weaver on the front porch!
(sorry...i'm just not good at night pic's...i have to practice...)
= = =

then...finally...with hump day behind us...
we decided to take off and go camping thursday & friday night.

all this NOT working ...having such a slow work week was stressing me out.
so we quickly packed up...grabbed milo...
and headed to lake lochloosa. only 45 min away. 
de-stress.  fish.  relax.  unwind. 

i took some really cool pictures of sunsets, full moon, bald eagles,
herons, seagulls, wood storks...
next time.
=
stay cool. take it easy. be safe.

:] laura

We are what we believe we are.   
~C.S. Lewis



Wednesday, January 12, 2011

a spelling freak...


"I think that I shall never see, a billboard lovely as a tree. 
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, 
I'll never see a tree at all." 
Ogden Nash

o~o~o~o~o~o

one thing that's always been a 'pet peeve' for me...
are spelling mistakes.

i guess it stems from my dad's constant obsession 
with sounding out words and
spelling them correctly. 

while growing up...every night...at the dinner table...
it was 'spelling bee' time!  
to this day...i can recite...off the top of my head...
antidisestablishmentarianism!!
got that? i knew how to spell it...
before i even knew what it meant!
scary.
so his obsession...rubbed off on me.

not that i know how to spell every word correctly...but if i'm not sure...
i know how to use a dictionary.
it's always amazed me how a business can actually put up a sign...
with a word misspelled!

i've seen this countless times!
(i hate to say it...but i've seen it more in FL than anywhere else i've lived)
a few miles up the road...across from the (locally) famous  waldo flea market...

'dinning'...
are they trying to be funny? making up their own word? intentional?
some kind of play on words?
i don't get it. i tried to give them the benefit of the doubt...
but what else can it be?
they misspelled DINING!!
what's really scary is that more than one person had to see this sign...
before it was constructed!

between the people who own the restaurant...
the people who decided what the sign should say...
the people who did the lettering & painted it...
and the people who put it up there...
on the main road...for all to see...

NONE of them noticed that DINNING should be DINING!
damn!!
((ok, so DIN is a word...to make a loud noise...
but i don't think the Pea Patch meant 
"come eat here...in our very noisy dining room!" 
uh, make that dinning room!))

nowadays with computers...and spell check...
people don't have to learn to spell. BUT even spell check isn't fool proof. 
spell check doesn't necessarily know the difference between their, they're and there.
or bear and bare. hare and hair. to, too and two. your and you're.
angle instead of angel.
and so on. 
even i...master speller that i am...HA!...
have to sometimes repeat the phrase
i before e except after c
or when sounded like a
as in neighbor and weigh...

gee, thanks dad!
i'm a spelling freak. obsessed! 
noticing big unbelievable blunders...to minute typos.

blah blah blah.
i'm getting carried away...just a dumb pet peeve that was instilled in me in youth!
finally...got it off my chest...or back...or outa my head! ha! 
(outa...short for out of.  :)  )

o~o~o~o~o~o
quickly now...before i go...
been feeling a little stressed lately.
one of those days...yeah...day after day.

The walls we build around us 
to keep out the sadness 
also keep out the joy.  
~Jim Rohn
   
when i get down...down in the dumps...i tend to withdraw!
withdraw...and write. 
if i could sing (and i sure as hell can't) i'd be singin' the blues right about now...

anyway...by the weekend i hope to have clawed my way out of this hole...
and post a few pic's from last weekend when sam and i went exploring through the dead
thorny brush...out back!

'til then...stay cool...wander safely!

laura  :]