Another Neighborhood Christmas Dinner

Another Great Marigold Tradition - Christmas Dinner at my house.   Zac fried two turkeys this year as well as passing on "Larry's Frying Turkey Instructions" to all the males who were interested in acquiring the delicious skill.

2014 Christmas Card & Christmas Letter

I confess - I am taking the easy way out.  I don't know about the rest of you but since I spend so much time typing - my handwriting has gotten really bad and also something I avoid. I only earned a "C" in my 9th grade typing class, but that with the skills I acquired while teaching keyboarding and word processing, have made typing, composing, and spelling (correctly) so effortless. I know both my Mom and Emily Post are both rolling over in their graves and I am truly sorry - but not enough to get out the stamps and envelopes. So - Sheepishly I give you...

Katie & Zac's 2014 Christmas Card !

(and my Christmas Letter - Only if you want to read my 2014 posts)

What a Nice Way to Miss the GA-FL Game Party Crowds

I ran away from home.... It gets so wild on the island due to the huge influx of UGA students and other Bulldog fans that unless you are making money from the crowds it is best to evacuate. A bunch of us girls drove to the Paula's family cabin in the GA mountains and had a nice long quiet weekend. Perfect crisp fall weather with a touch of snow thrown in as a bonus.

In between our wreath and blanket crafting and keeping the fire going, we did a spa trip and an Apple store trip (eating type of apples -not typing).  On one of our day trips we toured the John C. Campbell Folk School. Maybe one of their classes might be in our future if we can coordinate our dates.

Full and Fun Fall

September and October was filled with a lot of personal excitement. I bought a new car (Honda Fit-love it) and Zac and Katrina and her girls visited St Simons.

We did the normal 'island' things - beach, kayak, bike, Jekyll Turtle Center, and ate lots of seafood. They were lucky enough to be here during the DNR Octoberfest weekend. It was my first time going and was very crowded but deservedly so. Terrifically educational and such a fun time! 

Stella and I are both "Potter Heads" so I treated us to a short Universal/Hogwarts field trip. I had a wonderful time shared with a unique and delightful young lady. The Gringotts Bank ride was my favorite and the Butterbeer was really tasty.

My part-time job at the Jekyll Island Convention center provided me with a time traveling adventure when the Magic Mike XXL movie crew turned our center into the SC Hilton Head CC that was hosting the 2015 Stripper Convention. We sadly were not allowed to take photos of the stars but the 'mental photos' of Channing, Joe, Kevin and Jada will be remembered for as long as my age allows.

Embarrassing Achievement

I have finally achieved Level 400 in Candy Crush - and WITHOUT buying any extra lives or prize boosters. I wanted to brag, but this is such an embarrassing achievement I decided to put this on my blog instead of facebook. Why? Because fewer people read this and I have the comment section turned off. No comments about the time wasted, what a 'loser' I am, or what higher levels OTHER people have achieved. I can safely wallow in my own glory. What does this prove? Just that I have a lot of perseverance and a lot of extra time on my hands. (And that King.com Limited have some superior psychologists/programmers that are great at 'hooking' us into playing). I am actually close to quitting this game because they took my free prize wheel away because I refuse to connect with facebook and it is getting harder and harder to advance. What's next in my gaming life? Any ideas?

Ok - here is another embarrassing achievement. Level 600 on Cookie Jam and yes WITHOUT buying or begging for any lives or coins (advantages).

and 2 years later..(June 2017).. I have hit the end of Cookie Jam's road...And I still didn't buy lives or game tools.

ACU Graduation

The impetus for this trip was to attend Penny's Graduation from ACU in Abilene TX and bring her and her stuff back to Georgia. I did research other methods of getting her back to the island but the cheapest was driving - (rental car 'drop off fees' are way over the top). Since I was in the area - (just a 7 hr drive) I figured I would slip in a visit to my sister Barb,  who lives in Corrales NM, before I loaded Penny up.  For some crazy reason Margie actually volunteered to go with me and share expenses and driving.  She turned this chore into a fun ('Thelma-Mar & Katie-Louise') adventure.  (I owe her big time!) As you have probably seen, we added some unusual stops on the way that provided us with lots of laughs, discussions, and tacky memorabilia.

Penny's Honor Program and Graduation were wonderful and we are so proud of her accomplishments and personal growth that she had made during her years here. Now - if she can just find a career here in the next year before she is required to return to China.

Penny Has Her Masters!

It took some of Margie's expert arranging to get all the boxes, baggage and shoes manipulated into the car but we did it.  Good thing Penny is so little - she was able to squeeze in between all the stuff. When we arrived at my house and opened the back hatch for the first time it was like "Fibber McGee's Closet" -shoes and boxes came tumbling out.

We stopped at Jason, Brooke and Ayla's house close to Pensacola FL on the way home, but we forgot to take photos. Their house is beautiful and Ayla is so cute! Margie and I were so lucky to have Jason as a 'student assistant' when he was at BHS- many many years ago. Jason is one of those kids that we KNOW we had a positive impact on, which is sort of rare for a teacher to feel. Thank you Jason!

Not Texas Oil - Texas Wind

We saw thousands of these wind machines in Texas - No exaggeration - thousands - 7,772 according to the state of Texas statistics.  The majority of them are located close to Sweetwater TX - which was in the middle of our route to Abilene.

They aren't the prettiest - but the area around it is so boring and flat anyway that they add interest to the scenery. The land is doing double duty because the area around them is being farmed. When compared to other forms of generating electricity - this one wins or winds.

Changing Sunsets

The mountain by Barb's house changes color during sunsets and it is not because we were drinking heavily while watching it - I took photos to prove ...

Albuquerque and Taos

We are crashing in my sister Barb's house with the great sunset views while making a few side trips. We toured old town and had a great lunch in the restaurant High Noon with a little mandatory shopping thrown in.

After a yummy waffle breakfast we left for Taos. It was a two hour drive thru some pretty scenery. Things are extra green here because it is 'monsoon' season in NM. Not sure I would call the little bit of rain they get here a 'monsoon' but it is enough to turn the grounds into many different shades of green.

Barb made overnight reservations at the Historic Taos Inn and their Doc Martens Restaurant. We did the obligatory shopping around the square and then had dinner and played a strange trivia type of game. Margie and I won both times - it probably was because Margie has a Dr. in front of her name. Next day we went to the Taos Pueblo and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

Last Day at my sisters was a slug day with a little packing thrown in. 

Day 3 Funky Rt 66 Stops

We decided to stop in some of the more unusual places that are along Rt 66. I-40 parallels historic Rt 66 from Oklahoma City west till California, so it was no big deal hopping off and on to give us a break from the monotony of the 78 MPH straight driving. First place was the Rt 66 Museum in Clinton OK. It described how the road developed and how important it was for our country. Lots of old memorabilia like 30's license plates, old trucks, 70's flower power VW's as well as the dust bowl stories and photos. Definitely very instructional and worth the hour spent. The neat tacky gift shop got some of our vacation money.

Next unusual stop was the "Devils Snare Museum" in McClean TX, which is really a museum about barbed wire. It showed how barbed wire was made and the many different types and how important barb wire was to the cattle industry and military. I know it sounds really lame but it was very interesting and informative, plus the caretaker told us of a good place to eat in McClean (which turned out to be the only place to eat). It was packed with locals and we were real easy to spot as tourists because we were the only people with flip flops on. 

Last detour off of I-40 was the Cadillac Ranch. The 10 buried Cadillacs are angled nose down and covered with thousands of layers of spray paint. Really wish we had brought a spray can to add our marks to the graffiti. 

Day 2 - Graceland Continued

A couple of teaser photos-- I will add the rest of the pictures when I get some time in between all this adventure fun.
The one below is from the front hallway - just the beginning of all the mirrors, white rugs and other sparkling things.

This is taken of his parents bedroom. They do not let people upstairs into Elvis's bedroom and bathroom. 

Even though the rooms were not decorated in my style - It was nice and fit his style. He really didn't go too over the top in his home ..... but with his cars he did. So many....

Perception Change

Day 2 of our K&M Road Trip. We decided to break up the road monotony with a stop at Graceland Mansion. Neither Margie or I were big fans of Elvis so our main motivation to go to Graceland was to be able to say that we did. We were sort of expecting a tacky 'Velvet Elvis' type home and looked forward to getting a few chuckles from it. That didn't happen. Yes, some of the rooms were over the top - but they were over the top with what was popular in the day. Lots of shag carpeting (even on the ceiling and side walls), mauve tiles in the bathroom, fur sofa in the jungle rooms and lots and lots of mirrored walls. It wasn't tacky at all - it was the late 50's and 60's style. The main house was smaller than you would expect of a huge star, but each room looked lived in and enjoyed.  Our biggest perception change was about Elvis himself. After listening to the biography and seeing Graceland - we came away with the feeling that he was a lot more intelligent and talented than we thought. Some of his actions made him seem very insecure. He always seemed to need his friends around him at all times. He even moved his family and friends to Texas where he did basic training and then to Germany when he was stationed there. A lot of his other actions proved him to be a truly kind, caring, and very polite gentleman. We left impressed and with a new found respect for the 'King of Rock and Roll'.

K & M Road Trip - Day 1

Margie volunteered to help me drive in a large circle around the US. GA to NM via I-95, 1-75, I-24, I-40 -after a 5 day visit with my sister we head south to TX for Penny's graduation then home again by way of I-20, 1-49 and I-10. We had a couple of hickups early in our adventure. First was my early discovery that I didn't have my wallet and finally remembered that I had forgotten to take it out of my bike basket from the night before. Obviously I had to make a quick return and retrieval from my house. Second was when Margie was climbing in my car she knocked over my tea. But, I finally got to test out my lifeproof iPhone case - it worked.

In anticipation of visiting Graceland Mansion on Thursday we listened to a unusual Elvis biography on the way to Atlanta. We decided that we were about 8 years too young to have been real swooning Elvis fans, which meant our Elvis knowledge was sorely lacking.  We did most of our swooning for the Beatles,  the Monkeys and Dr Kildare, so the Elvis biography gave us a little background and some interesting tidbits. We did a quick stop in Locust Grove Outlet Mall for some gas, power-walking and power-shopping. We stopped again in Dalton where we ate lunch with Jim (taught with him and his wife Kris in China) and caught up on news. Gratefully, the rest of our first day's adventure was smooth driving. We stopped for the night in Jackson TN in a slightly questionable Ramada Inn.

Eastern Culture -Western Culture Ponderings

Our long day and a half of plane travel home was much better than expected. Kudos go to some really nice and helpful Delta employees, who made our trip one plane leg shorter and got our luggage found and returned to us.
I got up this morning and appreciated my US hair dryer that had some actual heat and some power behind the blow. The power isn't the same in Bali - so the heat and blowing power aren't and will never be the same. Which gently reminds me AGAIN that Eastern and Western Cultures will never be the same - and not because of the type of electrical power that is available-- It is JUST different and that is what makes traveling so educational and mind expanding.  You have to adjust. (read this article from a fellow expat teacher, Amanda Roberts in China)
Even though McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut seem to be working hard to convert the eastern cultures into 'western consumers' some of those changes are not good for all countries. Bali wasn't (and maybe 'isn't') ready to handle all the non-biodegradable trash that consumers produce. Bali is a breathtakingly beautiful and lush country. The beaches have either black or white sands, the water is clear and the surf is great except for the trash.  Trash is a big problem in Bali - but they don't see it as a problem -yet. They are just a generation or two from throwing their banana leaf plates and coconut bowls on the ground where they came from.   In 1953 we started educating our consumers with "Keep America Beautiful"/"Don't be a Litterbug" and I betcha you remember the Crying Indian Ad in 1971. We are attempting to deal with our Western consumerism.
Remember Bali is a Eastern culture which is DIFFERENT not right or wrong just different. Their community and religion is their way of life, they look out and care for each other which makes driving on their roads possible - you have to see it to believe it (notice I didn't say 'understand' it). They spend their time and energy differently. This link is a concise list comparing our differences and might help the next time you visit a Eastern culture.  When we travel we need to remember to accept and adapt not criticize and attempt to change.
Sometimes I think I like the Eastern values a little more than Western values. Western values seem so 'tiring' to me whereas the Eastern values seem more 'calm' - Maybe it is my age.  Don't get me wrong - I am very appreciative at how easy life is for me in the good old USA. I realize I am so lucky to have been raised and educated here but sort of wish some of the Eastern values had been emphasized more in my life and education. I am pretty sure my wonderful and wacky neighborhood has some of that Eastern calm/caring feel about it. Again, I am so blessed in that I got to visit a beautiful and spiritual place like Bali and I get to live in a beautiful part of the United States.
I still have more photos and more info to put up for Bali - but in my jet lagged brain wouldn't let me get past my 'ponderings'. Visit Bali quick before it gets too Westernized and make sure you stay at the Floating Leaf Eco-Retreat before it gets too popular. It just got mentioned as a 'must do' by Tree Top Yoga International and by USA Today as the "Healthiest Destinations for a Culinary Getaway'.  Awards can be like a two edged knife - like our little island's award for "America's Favorite Beach Town" BUT will it make it more crowded and not so quaint? Let's hope both our island and Floating Leaf survive and prosper in our new popularity.

Amanda Roberts' article

Cultural Differences link

Bali Holiday Decorations

We have been told that there are a lot of holidays in Bali and so many village sacred obligations that the retreat likes to hire workers from a various  villages so that when they have to be absent for  village activities they will still have enough staff.  Another noticeable thing is how they "dress" their temples. EVERY home and business have them. Many of the private temples are the size of a house. Streams have a temple, rice paddies have them, even large road intersections have them.

There are two small ones here - one for the family and one for the business. They generally have a checkered cloth wrapping around them - meaning balanced. The wrapping has just been changed for today's holiday - it is a pretty solid gold color. Today's is the beginning of Galungan which celebrates the victory of good over evil and the return of the ancestors. They decorate the temples so that the gods will return and reside in them.

Day 9 Bali

Lots of healthy eating for breakfast and lunch - lots of green and other things I don't recognize - so it must be healthy, right? Most of it really did taste good. Amazing! Quiet morning with meditation, swimming and a facial. After lunch we all piled into the van for a two hour ride to Tanulot. Tanulot is a famous temple on the beach. After walking around and taking the requisit number of photos we had an ok dinner (nothing like our healthy and extremely yummy Floating Leaf fare) and watched the sunset.

Day 8 Bali

We had a quick stop at the local batik factory then back in the vans for a 3 hr ride. It really wasn't that far in distance, it is just narrow roads and lots of traffic. Another water temple was on our schedule for today but it was farther away and  located  in the center of Bali. It was a much higher  elevation with great views of the terraced rice fields. Temple was built in the 20's but destroyed by the volcano- obviously rebuilt later.

Next stop was the botanical gardens - both the rose garden and orchid garden were out of season. It is hard to believe they the flowers can't bloom all year round because it is so warm here. In the orchid house there were more tags identifying the orchids than the actual flowers. 

Cat poop coffee- yep it is real. Long story short- Dutch forbid the Balinese from drinking coffee so they" found " the undigested coffee bean in the poop of the Luwak ( sort of a cat/fox like animal), clean them up and roasted them. They found that it actually tasted better than regular undigested coffee. Supposedly it goes for 50 dollars a cup - 1000 dollars a pound in the states.

Day 7 Bali

We had a day trip to the Water Palace and Puta's great- great grandfathers house. Driver was really informative and told us about the current  government system (democracy 5 yr term total 10) and the educational system (required till end of middle school). Bali was a monarchy for a long period of history. Later they became a Dutch Colony for a while then the Japanese occupied Bali during WWII. They became a democracy in the late 40's.

Water palace was built and rebuilt many times due to volcanos, earthquakes and the Japanese taking any metal to make weapons with. The various pools were fed by a cold spring which is considered holy. Most of us donned our bathing suits and took a "polar plunge" which felt really refreshing in the hot weather. Yummy box lunch then back onto the bus.

Puta's ancestral family summer home was also built and rebuilt many times. It was originally built at that location because it was equal distance from the volcano and the ocean and was considered a holy spot. The original "king" was a renaissance man in that he seemed to be talented in a variety of areas. He even kept wild animals on the grounds such as elephants, tigers and giraffes - (now there are  only deer, swans, goats and chickens) 

We stopped at the beach that Darrel has been surfing in the mornings. We found lots of coral and enjoyed a few drinks. 

Bali Day 6

Really yummy breakfast- a cross between hash browns and au gratin potatoes but better. This eating healthy might not be so bad. But Willie's is still whispering to me in my dreams.

We all piled in the vans and went to the Bali Bird Park - very hot but interesting. Next was the wood carvers. Most villages seem to have a theme. One village works with glass another works with stone - this one centered around wood and wood carvers. Afterwards we had a late lunch at their beautiful outdoor restaurant. 

Another van ride to a temple at a "holy" spring where we went thru their water purification ceremony. The Balinese seem to be truly spiritual people where they incorporate their beliefs into every day for the good of their soul and not just for luck or show. We all stripped down to just a sarong, went into the spring and followed the steps they preform to make our offerings (the flowers we created the other day) and prayers. Trying to exit the park, we were not given a choice and were forced to travel thru the "Souvenier Gauntlet". Home again for banana daiquiris and watching the full moon rise.

Side note- roads are very narrow which usually does nt matter because the large majority of traffic are motorbikes, bicycles, and feet. It gets interesting when cars and trucks are added to the seemingly unorganized system.  We went through a town overlooking some spectacular rice terraces (yes even prettier  than the famous ones I saw in China). It was obviously a tourist attraction which made passing by some of the tourist buses quite a challenge. Inches to spare with side mirrors pulled in. 

Sorry dead camera battery so not many photos today.