All That Sparkles

Not Gonna Do It

Although I want to...very, very much. I love gossip, especially celebrity gossip. Why? They don't know me, I don't know them, I can talk about them with impunity and no one gets hurt. I guess that's why all those celeb rag mags are so successful (even though I don't buy them). But gossiping about people I know, family, even if their behavior deserves talking about? This time, I'm not going to do it.

Gawd, but I want to.

I will say this, however, and that is, our stay in southwestern Kentucky with my aunt was short, extremely short. Two and 1/4 days to be exact. We leapt from our beds, dressed, packed our bags and hit the road rapidly after some extreme craziness took place. We stopped to say goodbye to my cousin at her place of work, and she invited us to stay with her for a few days. That turned into five days, and we even had a bed to sleep in (her college-bound daughter gave up her room to us). There were doggies, kitties, talks, complaints, and laughter. And then we headed for Louisville (niiiice).

And we will never return to southwestern Kentucky if we can at all help it.

We then drove to Lexington to visit with a favorite friend of mine who went through the editing program at Chico State with me. We saw Bruno (OMG! Disgusting, really. The guys loved it, tho), talked, had dinner, talked some more, and then talked even more in the parking lot until midnight, and they still had a long drive home and work in the morning ahead of them. It was great to see her and to finally meet her elusive boyfriend--a great guy, I must say. I'm very happy for her.

And after we parted, bittersweetly, my husband turned our van to the west, and we headed back toward California and whatever awaits us there. A few more adventures lie in wait for us before we get there, though. Nothing too "interesting" as the Chinese curse says (May you live in interesting times.). Amazing, I hope, though.

Farewell to Dramaville

We have escaped Dramaville, Population: Crazy, and headed north. Tomorrow I'm meeting a well-missed friend from college who moved out here to be with her formerly Army boyfriend who was stationed in California for a while. She must really love him, that's all I can say.  Kentucky has not been my favorite state. No offense to any Kentuckians, but my experience here has not been that great. If Hollywood wanted to do a reality show about my family back here, no sane person would be able to keep up with the plot:  Fiction is never as strange as reality. But... I'm still trying to figure out how much I want to say about that. Here are some positives, however, about Kentucky:

* Very green and pretty
* Extremely friendly people
* Low rent / mortgage costs
* Close to other parts of the country (the further east one goes, the smaller the states become)
* I'm thinking
* Good food. I'd weigh 500 lbs in no time if I were to live in the South. I love fried food. Gah.

So, that's all I've got for now. We did take a long day trip to Nashville, and I enjoyed the hell out of that. I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but I will in a few days.

Stay cool.

Oh wait, I have some BlackBerry-taken photos:  Nashville, off Broadway, the touristy section.

Taken from the roof of Rippy's, where we had some marginal barbecue. The view was better than the food. And the service. :-(  Well, the corn-cakes were good. Very, very good. Like a corn pancake. (Of course I liked the carbs. LOL)

This guy must be famous, because they have statues of him all over town--in different outfits. ;-D

Advertising and Other Arbitrary Things

I've had an ad on the side of my blog for . . . well, I'm not sure, but months, certainly. And how much have I made from this ad? Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing.

Then I see women on Oprah or whathaveyou stating they make $45,000 a month in advertising on their blog. Clearly I didn't get the memo on that.

When I first put the ad up--not knowing what I was doing and still not knowing--I didn't know what to expect. I certainly did not expect....nothing.

Now that it's up there, I don't know how to take it down. Seriously. LOL  I get e-mails from Six Apart Media, of which Typepad is a part, saying I have media buys waiting for me, then they state that I have "0 media buys waiting for me!"  WTF?  Why bother writing me and telling me that I have nothing waiting for me? Daily?

I may have to spend some time on this, perhaps talk to someone over at Six Apart on the phone about this but I. Am. Clueless.

Anyway. We are leaving tomorrow for lands unseen, and I for one am grateful to put this location behind me. I have been nothing but hot and sweaty--and I mean dripping sweat--just standing still. I reorganized the van this afternoon, then we went to a street fair, and I felt as if I had been dipped in slime. Ugh. I'm sure it will be like this for most of the rest of the way home but at least there's A/C in the van (hoping I didn't just jinx that).

So. We drove 2,000 miles to visit a relative who then shat all over us. Super. I had a mother who shat all over me so my shit tolerance is low. I do not tolerate shit-shovelers well. Actually, I do not tolerate them at all. So they can sit in their shit, alone. Look at me, I'm a poet.

I will not be returning to this state, and that is only one of the reasons. The weather is another. There's other things, but I'm not sure how much I want to detail or reveal. Still thinking on that.

Yes, going a little stir-crazy in humidity-land.  Be glad to get back on the road.  And I'm really enjoying the time with my husband.  We've been a couple for over five years, and I still enjoy his company--look for it, actually. I find that amazing.  We're not perfect, we do argue, we each have our moments, but dangit, we do *get* one another. I have to keep this in mind when I'm picking wet bathroom towels up off the floor, have to search for my toothbrush / hairbrush / deodorant / ad nauseum, or remind him not to use my discontinued and favorite perfume as bathroom air-freshener. You know. Those things guys don't think about. (Or is it just *my* guy?)

This trip has been very enlightening in so many ways--ways I had hoped it to be enlightening and some new and unanticipated ways.

On the road again, tomorrow. Yay.

St. Louis, Missouri

My husband is an aficionado of military bases, particularly older ones WWII and older. We've visited more than a few on this road trip and other road trips in the past.  There is an old base near St. Louis called Jefferson Barracks. It goes back to the Civil War, which, for the US is old.

Unfortunately, there were a zillion people there--cars, people walking, people sitting in chairs just about everywhere--evidently there was going to be some sort of early (July 2) fireworks going on over the Missouri River. There was nowhere to park, traffic jams, etc., so we just took some pictures from the car and got the heck out of there.  These brick buildings in the photos were Civil War Barracks. I'm not sure what they're being used for today, but the sense of history was thick around them in my mind.  There is also a military cemetery at Jefferson Barracks.

We got out of that tangled traffic mess and headed for St. Louis. Unfortunately, the same situation was going on there. Masses of people and cars. Snarly traffic. Pedestrians every which way. So we decided that we should just get out of town and into Illinois and into the night. Here are some pictures from the area.

 

We were driving toward the famous Gateway Arch to the West, but, because of all the traffic, I had to get pictures of the Gateway Arch on the fly. They aren't the best but, well, you can still see it.

Coming up, Kentucky and family.

Columbia, Missouri

In Columbia, Missouri, home of the University of Missouri, affectionately called Mizzou, resides a very old friend of R.'s.  He had gotten in touch with her before we left California and she said to "come on!" So when we got to Missouri, we be-lined for their house.

The woman, T., was warm and friendly and welcomed us into her home like we were family. R. had worked with her in SoCal on political issues and had told me how smart she was--he was right, and may have underestimated her intelligence a little bit, even. She was beyond intelligent:  She was/is brilliant. She was a joy to be with and I could sit and listen to her talk all day. She regaled us with the often-heard story of ex-pat Californians of how much she sold her California house for, how much she paid for her new out-of-state house, and how much money she had left over.  And a bigger house, a bigger yard, and a nicer neighborhood.  She had other house guests, so we said we would just sleep in the van, as we had been doing, but would like to use their shower in the morning.  Well, she and her husband gave up their bedroom and slept on couches.  I told her it was not necessary, blah di blah, but she insisted. I mean, she put the hosp in hospitality. I wish we could have stayed longer, but my aunt was expecting us by the fourth so we had to skedaddle.  But I had an awesome time with her and her family. I would love to go back and spend more time with her and them.

We drove around Columbia before we left, got me a big giant coffee at a shop downtown, and took some pics.

Here's downtown Columbia.

Some U of M buildings.

A Frat House.

Brad Pitt's frat house. He did attend Mizzou and did belong to this frat--I do not know if he graduated or not, but my husband pointed this out to me. I found it moderately interesting.

And then we beat feet for eastern Missouri and St. Louis.

Not Making it Coast-to-Coast

We've had to cancel the DC portion of the trip. We are leaving my relative's house in a day or so and heading north toward Chicago in a few days. Why?  Things cost more than we expected and there just isn't enough money to go the whole way.  Am I disappointed? Very much, particularly in the way some things have gone over the last day or so. And yes, I'll write about it as soon as I figure out how to process it in my head.

First the New York City portion was canceled, now the DC portion. If I had known some of the events that have happened here were going to happen, I would have skipped this state completely and gone straight to DC. Hindsight and all that.

Having said that, however, I still realize that I am very lucky to be on this trip, and I should make the most of it and enjoy the parts that I am going to see.  Too soon, the real world will be smacking me in the face.

I'm hoping for work in August--to be called in for the second operation for the government--no word yet on when or even if it is even going to happen. None of my colleagues or superiors know anything. It is, after all, the government. As Lily Tomlin used to say on Laugh In, to paraphrase, "we don't care, we don't have to." Hopefully I'll have more than 24-hours notice if the operation is on. *fingers crossed* R. has to return to put in some more interning hours for his credential. Probably unpaid.

The little house we had thought to rent on our return is being problematic--at least the owner is. She is reluctant to rent to 'strangers,' i.e., people she doesn't already know. She's going to think about it. Then my GF who lives there now tells me the neighbors have been having parties every weekend, with live bands. I think we'll pass.

I'll keep posting and putting up pictures, though, until we're back at the Pacific Ocean, reunited with our kitties.

Some Random Photos

Just some pics I want to put up but without too much commentary--my brain is turning to mush not writing every day and it's hard for me to write down what I'm feeling/thinking/doing or where I'm f/t/d IT if I don't do it at least in the day after the experience.

I'm also not getting any reading done. That is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because instead of reading, I'm experiencing. I'm living life in full. Being present. Or whatever Oprah-ish catchphrase is popular right now. It's bad because, well, because I miss it. And because it helps my brain work better and then I write better.

I started George Orwell's 1984 before we left. I had been thinking about the books I hadn't read, even as an English major, and the gaps in my education (inspired by a post over at Punctum), and as we were packing to move, I found my husband's copy in the garage and immediately appropriated it for myself. Serendipitious? Syncronicity? Damn blind luck? Regardless, it came into my possession. And I'm nearly done, but it's a difficult book. Not in terms of the writing, but in the terms of the disturbing nature of the book. SPOILER: If you haven't read it, stop now. Essentially, the last half of the book is the protangonist, Winston Smith, being tortured at the hands of Big Brother's minions. It's hard to read. But I feel a responsibility to read it. And when it's done, at last, I will post a mini-review as I have been doing with every book I read on the side bar. Hopefully soon. But I miss leisurely evening or bed reading. . .  Anyway. Here are some random photos. Enjoy!

KANSAS

At a Sinclair Gas Station. I love dinosaur statues.

Did I already put the below pic up? I love the building because of its age and architecture. Not too much looks like this in tear-it-down, pave-it-over California.

Guess where this is? Like Texarkana and Mexicali, it's near the Kansas / Colorado border. I found it funny.

Kansas City. Not sure what the round-shaped building is, but I liked it. Anyone know?

Self-evident...

COLORADO

I don't know if you can see it, but tucked in at the base of that big rock, on the left, is a big house. A mansion, really. This is in Ken Karyl.

Great sunset while waiting for a light to change.

A park near my uncles where we went walking and I saw a red-winged blackbird. My first since my childhood in Denver. I followed him around the pond trying to get a picture, but he wasn't cooperative.

Church of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. I thought it was beautiful.

Roses in my uncle's yard in Denver.

 

Independence, Missouri

Hometown of Harry S. Truman, our 33rd president. We cruised around the town and then headed over to the Truman home.

This is not his childhood home, but the home he moved into after he married his wife, Bess. He then lived there after he left the presidency.

The Truman Library is just a short ways away from the Truman home. Truman's childhood home, a farm, is located much farther away in Grand View, Missouri. We drove over to look at that, also.

Truman farmed this land, 600 acres at that time, with his family before he was called up to serve in WW I. A terrible war, that. Not talked about as much as WWII, but a terrible war, nonetheless.

I sat on a rock at the edge of a field, what's left of the farm, and listened to the sound of the wind in the grass, of birds twittering and calling, and smelled the fragrance of hay and meadow, and imagined a world nearly 100 years ago, and a peaceful field where hardworking Americans toiled, and my heart was at rest for a moment.

I'm not sure what these posts were intended for, although my guess is something to do with horses. They caught my attention and my imagination so I took a photo. These were all taken with my BlackBerry because the camera battery died--my fault, I didn't plug it in.

But what a beautiful and peaceful place this piece of history is.

Kansas City, Baby

What a fantastic place. And I mean Kansas City, Missouri.  Kansas City is famous for jazz and barbecue, so I got online and did a search looking for "famous Kansas City Barbecue restaurants." What came up was . . .

Arthur Bryant's. A Kansas City landmark for nearly 100 years. And there's a reason that it has lasted all this time. The food is outstanding. Some of the best, if not the best, barbecue I've ever had. I had the sliced beef sandwich with baked beans; my husband had the barbecued chicken sandwich with coleslaw. On the table are four different barbecue sauces. My favorite was spicy sweet. It was food heaven, no doubt. The beans were delicious and the coleslaw was also very yummy--tangy with just the right amount of sweet. We would have lingered, but by the time we had ordered our food and gotten a table, the line went from six people to out the door and down the sidewalk. We ate, regarded the photos on the wall--Jimmy Carter, John Lithgow, Sarah Palin and John McCain, among others--and got up and out so someone else could have our spot.

 

There is lot's to see and do in Kansas City, and we drove around and looked at a lot of it. There's the Missouri River:

This is an old factory right next to the Missouri River.

There's the Kansas City Star newspaper (support your local newspaper, please):

Downtown KC through some trees.

This museum of jazz is just down the street from Arthur Bryant's on 18th street. I wish we could have gone in.

We had spent the night camped outside of town at a small forested rest stop with facilities--I was so exhausted that I slept after R. woke up and drove around. I didn't really wake up all the way until we got some of that barbecue ;-)

There's other cool things in and around Kansas City. One of them is the town of Independence, Missouri. Do you know whose hometown that is?

Lawrence, KS

Home of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. It was nighttime when we got there and we didn't get too many pictures. We essentially drove around looking for a Starbucks--still--to feed my java chip frappucino jones, with no success. We found a grocery store that had a Starbucks inside and it, of course, had just closed twenty minutes earlier. *sigh*

Guess what? Starbucks makes a java chip frappucino icea cream. Uh-huhm.  And it's pretty damn good. We ate it driving around Lawrence and I dripped it all over my shirt, my pants, and anything else that got in the way. I fed it to R. with a plastic fork (couldn't find any spoons) as he drove. I didn't get any on him. Funny.

We headed on into the night to Kansas City and sleep.