Postcards Are Fun!

Another fun activity suggested in The Happy Book is postcard swapping. The website www.postcrossing.com is the go-to place to join in the fun. The idea is simple -- you send a postcard to someone, and someone sends a postcard to you. The website supplies the addresses, you supply the postcard, and the post office does the rest.

I signed up for this adventure about 3 weeks ago. Since then, 7 people have received postcards from me, and my postcards have travelled a distance of 10,748 miles. Pretty fun, huh? Well, the flip side is fun, too. I have received postcards from 3 people, and those postcards have travelled a distance of 18,714 miles! That is some serious travel. I'll share my postcards with you.

This is the first postcard I received. It is from Becky in Washington State. The postcard shows the incoming tide at Second Beach at Olympic National Park on the Washington Coast. This is the setting for the Twilight books.

My next postcard was from Brihannah in Adelaide, Australia. Her postcard shows scenes from Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Clockwise: Cape Willoughby Lighthouse, Snug Cove, Seals, Penguins, Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroos, Admirals Arch.

Lastly, I received a postcard from Clothilde in Taiwan. She picked up the postcard while visiting the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It shows a beautiful peony from the museum gardens.

So, don't you agree? Postcards are fun!

Photo Favorites

My spring break Photo Scavenger Hunt (as suggested in The Happy Book) was a success, and those that participated had a fun time. Here are the photo favorites:

The overall "winner" was from the hunt for a Circle. My contest; my photo wins! This really does make me happy! FYI, the belly button belongs to baby Clara!

Now for the other fan favorites ~

Crazy:

Z:

Green:

Spiral:

and last, but not least ~

Dinner:

Maybe we'll bring the cameras out again this summer for another hunt. But I've decided what my next Happy event will be. A Cupcake Crawl! This will be an afternoon of visiting the best cupcake bakeries our metroplex has to offer. Yum!

Wanna come?

A Bunch of Wild Animals

Yesterday was a perfect day for animal watching. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool, and the animals were out in full force. As we drove through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, it was interesting to watch the animals. Most were content to blend into the background or relax in the sunshine. Some would stand in the road waiting for us to drive up and throw food to them. Some would walk up to the car for their snacks. But the giraffes just poked their heads through the windows and ate right out of our hands!

The animals we saw were largely the deer and antelope type, but we also saw zebras, ostriches, emus, giraffes, cheetahs, and rhinoceroses. And since it is Springtime, there were baby animals out running and sunning. There are two baby giraffes right now -- one born in late January and the other born in early February. To celebrate their births, there is a contest to name them! Go to fossilrim.org to check it out.

I loved spending this day with my grandbabies. It's a joy for me to watch them live their lives and have new adventures. They are brave, yet cautious. They see humor, and they are humorous.

I am one lucky Gram.

Retirement

Retirement is great. I love the extra time I have to spend with my husband, my children, my grandbabies. I love that I volunteer my time to work at our local free clinic, and I love working with the volunteers that donate their time and energy to help those that are in need. I love that I can travel. I love the quiet time I have to read, or draw, or just relax.

But I really miss the wonderful people I worked with for 22 years of my life. But once a month that emptiness goes away. And today was one of those days.

The JMR Lunch Group was together today, and all is well with us all. We ate, we talked, and we talked some more. We headed to our cars, but stopped and talked some more. We know each other's joys and pains, concerns and predicaments, sorrows and plans. So for another month, we're good to go.

If something comes up -- well, we all check email.

Baby Blessings

This past Sunday, family and friends gathered to witness the baptism of our granddaughter ~ Clara Jewel. Her parents vowed to nurture her in Christ's holy church and through their teaching and example, guide Clara to accept God's grace, profess her faith openly, and lead a Christian life. Big brother and big sister were proudly in agreement. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

The day held more excitement that afternoon as we celebrated big brother's 5th birthday. It's been a while since I partied with a big group of children (plus the aforementioned family and friends) and I loved every minute of it.

It's great to be a Gram.

Beautiful Sights

What I've been looking at:

It's really pretty here, isn't it? Did you notice the fog rolling in? I'm not a poetry genius, but I do remember this poem from Carl Sandburg.

Fog

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

We'll be moving on tomorrow ourselves. A night in LA.

Pismo Beach

I'm getting a change of scenery for a couple of days. I've traveled with hubby to Pismo Beach, CA. We have a favorite hotel here -- above the cliffs and overlooking the ocean. We love the sounds of the surf and the caw of the seagulls. And the food will be great, too.

Here's a story from yesterday. I had mailed a package at our post office "overnight guaranteed". It didn't make it, so I went to get a refund of my money. The postal worker told me since the refund was over $25 she would have to give me a money order. So she did. Then I told her I'd like to buy some stamps, and she handed them over. When I gave her the money order to pay for them --- she asked to see my driver's license!!! I started laughing. She didn't.

I still think it's funny.

The Happy Book

I was browsing in the local B & N a month or so ago and spotted a book that caught my interest. It was The Happy Book: a journal to celebrate what makes you happy by Rachel Kempster and Meg Leder. I didn't buy it that day, but I didn't forget about it either. The next time I went to the bookstore I bought my copy. It's been great fun remembering old things and discovering new things that make me happy.

I'm celebrating my happiness this week in the form of a photo scavenger hunt. Family and friends have joined in for the fun. We have a list, we have a deadline, and we have a site set up to view our photos. I can't wait to see what we all come up with!

Getting to Know Me, part 2

What's your favorite sport? Football. This is watching, of course. I like college and professional. I'm a Colts fan and a Cowboys fan, but not a Jerry fan. And... go TCU!

Do you like to go for long walks? Yes, when the weather is nice my hubby and I enjoy walking together. It's great to have time to talk with him and just be with him. And one year I participated in the Komen 3-Day walk. Twenty miles a day. Three days in a row. Now that was a long walk!

Have you traveled out of the country? Yes, and I enjoyed every one of the trips. I've been to Europe, Asia, South America, Africa. I still need to add Australia and Antarctica to my places been list. My favorite place? South Africa.

Do you like coffee or tea? Tea. No coffee for me.

What's the scariest movie you ever saw? I'm not much into scary movies, but I did see Cape Fear (the Robert DeNiro version) and that movie gets my vote.

Do you believe in ghosts? Well, I've never seen one.

How do you get along with your family? I'll say good. Wonder what they would say?!!

Have you ever met a famous person? I have John Glenn's autograph.

and last, but not least:

How long have you known your best friend? (This is the girl one, not the hubby one.) I met her in junior high school, so that was about 39 years ago. She's funny, she's smart, and she lights up the room. You just can't help but feel good when you're with her. Now, aren't I the lucky one?!!

Getting to Know Me

So, here it is. The first post. Big occasion. I thought I'd start out by answering some questions about me that you didn't even know you were wondering yet.

Do you like cats or dogs? I like them both, although right now we have neither. I think we'll be the owners of another dog sometime though.

Are you afraid of bugs? Afraid of them, no. Do I like them? Absolutely not.

What's your favorite color? I'm a big fan of blue, but I AM a girl -- so pink is pretty high up the list.

What kind of foods do you like? I'm open to pretty much anything that doesn't come with suction cups.

What's your favorite movie? I'll have to flip a coin over Grease and Dirty Dancing. Shallow, I know.

Do you like snow? Sure. But this Texas girl doesn't get to see a lot of it.

Do you have any brothers or sisters? One sister -- younger -- who lives 1006 miles away.

What kind of music do you listen to? I'm more of a talk radio person, but when I listen to music it is usually from the 70's.

What's your favorite book? The last one I read was Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and the last one I listened to was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I really enjoyed both of them. Right now I'm half-way through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Jury's out on that one.

Who's your favorite author? Can't say that I have one.

Well, surely that's enough for now.