Misc.

Puzzle Piece’s

purple puzzle piece

purple puzzle pieceSometimes trying to find my way in the world is exhausting LOL/ I refer not to mobility but the “where do I fit in this puzzle” thoughts. Searching for where we fit in the social structures of society is a normal thing. Teenagers a perfect example of testing out theories. For many years I had my puzzle put together and I was self assured I knew where my piece fit in. Then came multiple sclerosis! Soon my puzzle started coming apart – puzzle  piece s stopped fitting and soon my puzzle totally disassembled.

The Puzzle

If I were to divide my present puzzle up into major components I would start with three. Personal friendships and family, adaptive physical educations class and support group peeps, and Ms bloggers. The first group contains the most puzzle piece s that do not always match.  I thought the second section would contain the most like pieces but . … and the third? Let me know!

Puzzle Pieces – Lost expectations

Gosh I expected that those pieces of my life – my friends and family – would have been the first I could reassemble my puzzle from. Some puzzle piece s grew legs and split as soon as finances became an issue. I never noticed  the image on the puzzle piece was that of dollar bills being spent on dinners out.  The puzzle piece s with single track running though the forest and poker run arrows on the pavement faded and their edges became bent.  Nothing depicts a last minuet road trip than a puzzle piece showcasing the rest stop facilities. Apparently bright blue porta-potties do not blend well with the yellow stripe on the roadway.  I think someone dumped another puzzle into my puzzle box when sorting this one out. After sorting the folks whose pieces still remain form the border of the puzzle. Long gone are the pieces that got lost along the way and a few that are still hiding lost in the fuzz bunnies of my life.

Puzzle Pieces – Comparison’s

Getting pieces to fit in the second section . Each piece has it’s own set of sort rules. In PE the people with MS are down right obvious about their sorting. I listen and observe and it has been amazing. First of I must admit that I have my own sorting process – those who try to exercise and those who do not. This sort of mine includes everyone in the class. The MS people (most attend or support group also) seem to spent a lot of time deciding where everyone fits in their world. I finally overheard enough whispered comments to get a general idea of the main sort. Those who can do many things better than the person sorting and those who are worse off. By their standards of coarse :). If doing better they start discussing it. I am so happy to hear that I must not have MS because I can do _________. It would be funny but ostracism is not fun if your the one left out.

The most interesting part of the sort to me in class is that the non MS folks do not seem to judge as much. They either like someone or they don’t. It does not appear to be based on abilities but personalities. Cool. Wonder why the MS peeps judge so much? It is understandable that everyone is not everyone ‘s cup of tea so to say but, tossing out a puzzle piece based on how it’s disability compares to yours is illogical to me. If I were to toss out all the pieces that were smarter, faster, more tenacious than I, I would end up with a bunch of pieces all of the same shape, size, and pattern – how would my puzzle come together to form a complete picture?

This leaves Blogging, blogs, bloggers . …

Where do you fit in???

Where is your puzzle piece?

One of the songs that I always have thought fun and it’s simple tune gets stuck in my head worse that Flipper, or Mr Ed . … is the Purple Puzzle Tree.

and we have the Beatles also:

I was getting ready to link to it here and sherristakes twittered the Joe Cocker version as I was posting so:

Puzzle pieces from today know as link sharing:

Check out her Zentangles

And do stop by and visit Lisa if you have not done so today!!

Share the links – be piece of my puzzle.

The Little Things

out the car window f/10, 1/1250 sec, at 18mm, 250 ISO, on a NIKON D80

out the car window f/10, 1/1250 sec, at 18mm, 250 ISO, on a NIKON D80

Little Things

It is the little things that matter most sometimes. Things that can annoy, bring enjoyment, wonder, and are just plain gross. The havoc little T and B cells play in our auto immune systems. A small bird hiding in the bush. Little things.

The little things that can annoy. Someone placing the toilet paper holder to far out of reach. Not the best way to start a morning. I mean if you can not lean far enough out to get it you gotta get up and well . .. TMI not needed. A little thing but . …

Sitting for two hours patiently waiting for a bird to take flight and missing it because you had to go Pee. Seriously, I waited and waited – for 1hour and 49 mins. . The restrooms were locked up so KRP talked me into doing the between two open car doors method of hiding. Ok but if that bird even looks like it is gonna move let me know. There I am crouched camera in one hand when I hear a car coming. Is that a car! It is OK KRP says it went the other way. Whew. KRP: %$^# where did the bird go? ME” huh? what do you mean where did the bird go? It is not there it flew away. It’s the little things – a few seconds of not looking.

At the wildlife refuge at the end of one trail there are tule reeds where I always hear the loud noises of some darn tiny little birds. These little things are camouflaged to the max. I have tried to get a picture of one but by the time I find one and get focused the little thing at a lightning flash speed has moved. Today I finally got a photo of one. YEAH! It is the little things that can bring enjoyment and success.

The gross out little things

As soon as we were home I went upstairs and put the SD card in the reader. I hope my little bird came out, maybe the I can figure out what kind of bird was in the tree, or maybe the white bird in flight shot? I am easy it is the little things that get me excited anymore. Well yeah big ones also but I am getting better at enjoying the little things. I even had fun playing shoot and holler $@^% a game some of play while riding in a car. Point the camera out the window and shoot and well … we shall see if any came out. Where was i going here – oh yeah . ..
Before looking at most of the pics it was time to go downstairs and eat dinner. I was sitting on the couch and ran my hand through my hair and felt a clump of mud I assumed. I pulled it out and it freaking had legs – little things – gross it was a tick! YUK!!!!@!@ Now I am all cheeped out – it was a little thing that was gross!!! I will probably wake up thinking I am covered with the  gross little things!

After a thumb through my Field Guide the bird in the tree has been verified as an immature Cormorant.

The Occidental Road Trip

road flooded sign

road flooded sign

Road Trip

Pilot and navigator headed out of Sac ~10:15 a.m. with high expectations. The Occidental road trip soon earned the name of the accidental road trip. That is how we finally did end up in the small town of Occidental – by accident.

Pilot, navigator, google road map

Nervous about driving so far by myself I enlisted the help of my friend Mikey. She is a good companion on trips. Not the best map reader but can go with the flow – hey you can not have it all LOL. I do not think the two of us have ever taken a trip and not had something go wonky. This trip was no exception. The rain just kept coming down hard more often than not until we reached Fairfield where it let up a bit. We were prepared – or so we thought. We had our google directions, or little google map, and a general idea of how to get to Occidental. What is that saying – the best laid plans . …

Chatting and occasionally video recording our merrily way along Hwy 12 we came to our turn off onto 121. Very proud of myself that I indeed did not miss the turn we motored happily, although cautiously along. Then the dreaded sign – road closed ahead due to flooding. OK. We decided to go on and hoped that the closure was after our next turn off. Not to be. There was a nice orange detour sign and we like good little pilot and navigator followed it’s instructions. Now paint me green but usually the detour signs (yes signs not sign) lead you back using alternate routes to where you were headed in the first place. Umm – another not to be.

Eventually it dawned upon our silly willy minds that something was amiss we were not being directed back toward the direction we should be headed. Before you even dare to think that perhaps it was our error I will inform you that we were not the only vehicle lost. I spotted a couple cars pulled along side the roadway and stopped to ask the occupants if perhaps they might know which direction we should go. Nope they were lost also. I then decided (and my navigator having given up the title of navigator offered no resistance) to take turns that looked like they might get us somewhere. And it did work. I found a nice couple who actually drew me a map that would place us on the route past the closure. Well, worked darn good until the next soaked roadway. I stopped again and I honestly would love to telll you where but I have not a clue and got some more directions that would bypass what they knew to be flooded road. Seeing a theme here?

Somewhere in all this I made a point of crumpling up the google directions and tossing them into the backseat. The Napa and surrounding area map I had in my glovebox did not cover the area we needed. My California map is – well who the h e double toothpicks knows where – and so it went. It actually was for no particular reason funny.

Occidental Road

All in all it was a fun adventure and we did eventually find our way to the outskirts of Sebastopol and found Occidental Road. A fast discussion and we turned onto it headed toward the ocean. Seems the best choice we had. I was so burned out on asking folks for directions – not something I usually do – that we went for it. The road was winding and narrow and had many patches of water flowing over it but it did eventually end up in Occidental. We came in on the back road I guess just made sense that if going to Occidental that Occidental Road was a good choice. We accidentally found the Bohemian Hwy that we were planning on taking into town in the original plans. So we found Occidental accidentally and just in the nick of time as my bladder . …

Here is a video of bits and pieces of our trip.  The navigator stopped filming when we came upon or first road closure. I did try and get here to record a mud slide cause it was cool looking but we were well past it once the camera came back out. Watching the road was a tad bit more on our minds – along with a lot of  not so G rated language 🙂

My parents had a good time, we had my brother draw a simple direct route for us back to 101 and to Hwy 80 and headed merrily east toward Sacramento. We did temp the flood Gods once more a took a short trip around the hills between Fairfield and Vacaville just because – well we could. We arrived home well after dark and made the mad rush to the facilities.

Well that is the story how we got lost in the wine country and a suggestion to the detour sign folks – not everyone knows where the heck the are or alternate road to use. One sign to the right does not get it ok!

Driving to Dinner

map sacramento to occidental

Driving to Negrit's ItalianPsyching myself up for a trip tomorrow. I need to drive to Occidental. It is about 103 miles and can take from 2.24 hrs. to forever depending on the traffic and road conditions. Right now the minor and sometimes major street flooding is of concern. Hope the rain tonight is not to bad.
I used to love to drive anywhere anytime – let’s go attitude. But anymore I tend to avoid it like the plague. Driving wears me out. Sitting that long turns my feet into burning balls of fire (well if feels that way) and the constant having to pay attention while the world zooms by is a major brain drain. Yep driving long distances kind of sucks anymore.

Driving in bad weather

The weather has been crazy here lately. Lots of rain, snow in the mountains and foothills, tornado’s, thunderstorms, you name it have been going on. Driving on a nice clear day is not so bad as long as I am in familiar territory. Driving in foul weather not so nice. My friend Mikey is going along for the ride – thank goodness! Hopefully having a navigator will stop me from getting lost LOL. Good to have such a good friend.

I plan on taking my camera along and hope to get some good pics along the way when we stop for a stretch. Hope I do not get the shot of a lifetime while floating away weeee ….

OK over dramatic but honestly driving anywhere right now is kind of dumb if you can avoid it. So but of course my little white truckie, Mikey, and I will be out there in the weather! Why you might be asking yourself? Well it is a dinner for my parents 60th anniversary. Do not get me wrong, I want to attend their dinner but golly did it have to be darn near to Bodega Bay? My brother lives in Santa Rosa, his kids live somewhere a bit up north from there. So rather than meat half way . … story of family life. Yeah the one and only brother that responded to me telling him I had MS by uninviting me to Thanksgiving.

I guess if my 83 year old parents can make the drive so can I. Dinner is going to be at an Italian Restaurant that is noted for being old school – hope the food is good.

Map of where we are driving.

map sacramento to occidental

from google

sac to occidental

google earth

Well here is to hoping that driving to Occidental and driving back turns out to be no big deal and the weather is not too bad.

If I get any pics I will post when I get back.