I rode a camel today!

I had a wonderfully fun day today.  There is a drive through wildlife safari about an hour away from my house that I’ve been meaning to go visit and explore.  I had nothing else to do today, so on the spur of the moment, I went there.  I figured I would manage to get lots of fodder for future camera critters posts, right?  (And I did!)  I had a fabulous time watching all of the animals.  While I was there, I stopped by the garden and visitors area where there’s a cafe, gift shop, and camel rides available.  I’ve ridden horses.  Rode a cow once.  Even ridden an elephant once.  But never a camel.  So, I figured it was time to!  This is a poor scan of the photo the staff there took.  Just for posterity sake, ya know. 

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In the condo where I live, the owner I’m renting from does not allow me to have pets.  This is the first time in a very long time I’ve been without a pet, and I’m missing having a cat… or two… around the house.  But I have a sweet kitty who belongs to a neighbor of mine who comes to visit frequently.  Earlier this week I was sitting out on my back patio in the evening and Bacardi (the friendly neighbor kitty) came to visit me.  He was in a restless mood, though, and didn’t stay very long.  I snapped this shot of him sitting on the railing of the patio just before he jumped down to go explore the lawn some more.  He’s a handsome boy, isn’t he? 

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My Favorite Things

Most of you have probably heard about Oprah’s lists of favorite things, right?  Well, it gave me the inspiration for this post.  This is a list of 5 things I’ve found I absolutely love and would recommend to anyone. 

1.  “Dirty” brand potato chips. 
The lightly salted variety is my favorite, but I’ve tried others and they’re all delicious.  Crunchy, great texture, and great flavor.  http://www.dirtys.com/cgi-bin/dirtys/index.html

2.  Wendy’s Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty
One word… YUMMY!  Smooth, creamy, great flavor… a perfect treat on a hot day.  And hey, it’s just fun to say.  http://wendys.com/food/Family.jsp?family=10

3.  Dash 19″ rolling hardsided carry-on from Brookstone
This piece of carry-on luggage is a must-have for anyone who travels.  Sturdy, perfectly sized, and surprisingly roomy for the size.  I can fit enough clothing, cosmetics, and other grooming tools in this for a full weekend with no problem.  It’s lightweight, and my favorite part is the spinning wheels that turn 360 degrees!  They make it a breeze to manuever down airplane aisles.  http://www.brookstone.com/luggage-and-suitcases_dash-rolling-hardside-carry-on-suitcase.html

4.  Powell’s Books
For any reader, their web site is a must-see.  The selection is fantastic and prices very reasonable.  The physical stores are located in Portland, Oregon, and are a reader’s paradise.  HUGE stores and HUGE selection.  The web site gathers books from each of their locations.  So you can order books from different locations at the same time and when they’re all gathered together they will ship them all together for one price.  And their shipping is very fast.  http://powells.com/

5.  Cascade Action Pacs
These dishwasher pacs are awesome!  I prefer the ones with Dawn grease fighting properties in citrus scent, but there are a variety of choices.  I love the scent, and the dishes always come out so squeaky clean I never have to worry about checking them as I’m unloading the dishwasher.  No streaks on the glasses, ever.  The dishes just feel and look cleaner than with any dishwasher detergent I’ve tried before.  http://www.cascadeclean.com/en_US/cascadewithdawnactionpacs.do

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Besides the deer I see outside my patio, there are also several wild turkeys that roam around.  Earlier in the week I noticed some new additions to their family.  Last night I was able to grab a few shots of the new baby turkeys.  They are darling.  They follow the adults around in a line much like ducks do.  At one point, one of the babies had been straggling behind the group and I saw him (or her?) take off sprinting across the grass to catch up with the others.  That definitely made me smile because it was just so cute. 

To play along and see other camera critters participants, click here… http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

 

Bubbles

No, I’ve not chosen Bubbles for my stripper name.  (It does sound like a stripper name, no?)  It’s actually a nickname given to me by a patient of mine at work a few years ago.  I’d taken care of this woman several times over a few month time period, so got to know her pretty well.  And apparently, she got to  know me,too.  A few weeks after I started caring for her, she began calling me Bubbles.  After a few days of this, she would ask staff on the previous shift if Bubbles was going to be working that night and they would know who she was asking about.  She said she called me that ’cause I’m just so darn bubbly.  Which is funny, because that’s not how I see myself.  And that was the point of this post.  We don’t always see ourselves as others see us.  Sometimes there’s only a slight discrepancy, and sometimes the discrepancy is huge.  In my case, I can see why people see me that way, I just don’t see it myself as much as they do, so I guess the discrepancy is fairly small.  Apparently this patient of mine isn’t the only one who sees me as bubbly, because I had another thing happen years ago that showed me this is how people see me.  I was a nanny for a family far away from my home and family and friends.  I missed my family and friends terribly and was lonely and homesick.  The mother of the children I was caring for had the best of intentions when she placed a personal ad for me.  In it, she described me as effervescent.  I remember asking her what that word meant.  She told me she thought it was ironic that I didn’t know the definition, since my personality virtually defines the word.  (Yes, I do know now what the word means.)  I suppose there are much worse things than bubbly that others could see me as.  So I’m not complaining.

Camera Critters #63

 

Unfortunately I haven’t been out with my camera much this week for a variety of reasons.  So I went back through some older photos and found this shot I took in March on a day trip over to the beach.  My sister says there should not be anymore pictures of seagulls… ever.  They’re loud and messy.  But I think they make fun subjects to shoot, so here it is…   For more info on Camera Critters and to play along click here http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

Camera Critters 62

 Earlier this week I went coastal for a short day trip over to the beach a few hours away.  While I was there I went down to the bayfront to walk through the fun and quaint tourist shops and stop to see the sea lions.  They’re usually very noisy and wide awake.  This particular day, though, I caught them calm and mostly napping.  Here are a few shots I took… Enjoy!  For more information about Camera Critters, visit here http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

 

 

A sweet scene

 

So, on my way home from the beach this evening I spied a really sweet scene.  This teenage couple were ambling along the sidewalk, his arm throw loosely around her shoulder.  Their body language looked very happy and carefree.  He leaned over to pick a wildflower from the patch of grass between the sidewalk and street and handed it to her.  She rewarded him with a big smile.  It was just a sweet, touching scene… We don’t always get to see those often enough.

Laughing at myself

A person who can laugh at themselves will always have a source of amusement, right?  So that’s why I have no problem laughing at myself.  I’ll share this story so you can laugh at me, too.  Last night in the late evening I was chatting away online with a very dear friend of mine and we were having a sort of serious conversation so I was focused.  But just before we’d started chatting, I had started to make some macaroni and cheese for a late night snack.  I’d only had a light dinner earlier and was hungry.  But I got involved in the conversation and forgot about the macaroni and cheese boiling away.  Eventually I thought I smelled some smoke and at the same time I realized it was, the smoke detector started beeping at me.  So I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the pan off the stove, and turned on the fan.  Then I went around the house opening every window to get some fresh air in here.  I’m not usually that scatterbrained, but obviously I have my moments.

Camera Critters Meme

I recently came across this meme and wanted to participate because it involves two of my favorite things… photography and animals!  This particular picture is of a deer visiting me while I was sitting on my back patio.  He looks rather curious, doesn’t he?  Read all about this meme here… http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/