Torrey Pines, and a hike up a cliff

Since I'm working backwards, (I always forget that, with these mulitple pic posts)....this is a photo from the top of the cliff, that we just traversed up....don't worry, there were no ropes and caribiners involved, just wonderfully convenient steps and paths perfect for tourists holding camaras. I spied this photo op, but the teen assisted me with the working camara as with these other photos. (lesson learned, plug in camara to charge battery) :)

Up the cliffs we go

Looking south to La Jolla

We were on a short holiday to the San Diego area for a wedding. Wedding said and done, we were off to the beach for some photo ops, sand castle making, and hiking up and around the cliffs of the Torrey Pines area near La Jolla. The buildings in the backround are of La Jolla, but unfortunately it was a bit overcast that day.

George Carlin's View on Aging

This brilliant 'email forward' came to me via Peajay; so, as I've been neglectful here of late, I thought I'd share this quick post (instead of working on my uni. paper!) :)

"Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. 'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. 'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life .. . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 andMAKE it to 60.You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!' May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name isAlzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next state; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them , at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER :Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Perspectives

Just a quick post, as I am still on a borrowed computer, and my new 'old' desktop moves at a snail's pace, thus the main reason for the absence of my activity...

My family was forwarded some email funnies that played fun at the American Southern dialect the other day. My hubby made a comment to our kids about how we base our perspectives on what we know or what we have been exposed to in our lives. This can sometimes create a limited view, unless we are able to think 'outside of the box', so to speak.

For example, traditions are usually thought of as a good thing, something done for time over, something you can depend on, feel comfortable with. But, do you ever wonder what some of them are based on? I like the story of the daughter who taught her daughter who taught her daughter that you always cut the end of the roast off before putting it into the oven. It was a family tradition; something that Grandma had always seen her mother do. One day, they were visiting great-grandma in the nursing home, and the subject of the tradition of cutting the end of the roast off came up for some reason. Great-grandma just shook her head and chuckled, and said she had only cut the end of the roast off because her roasting pan was too small.

This story is just a glimpse of a belief system that someone (the first daughter) came to trust in, only to find out that maybe things or perspectives were skewed. Although this post is just a generalised reflection on things: how we take in, process information and react accordingly, it is something I've been pondering on for a while now. Maybe it was "mid-life" motivating me, but in the last few years, I've gone thru and"redone" some of the thought patterns I learned as a child. As I may have mentioned before, I've also been questioning some of what I considered foundational beliefs bringing them to either crumble away and leave me searching, or in some cases to solidify them even stronger.

Thinking outside the box, questioning perspectives, critical thinking, free thinking...as an exercise of a free society. Hmmmm, I may be back to post some more on this.

What are some of the things that you've come to question? Care to share? I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Oh, and those mighty fine Southern jokes: :D

Alabama

The Sheriff pulled up next to the guy unloading garbage out of his
pick-up into the ditch. The Sheriff asked, 'Why are you dumping
garbage in the ditch? Don't you see that sign right over your head'.
Yep', he replied. 'That's why I'ma dumpin it here, cause it says
'Fine For Dumping Garbage'.

Georgia

A Georgia State trooper pulled over a pickup on I-75.
The trooper asked, 'Got any I. D.?' (pronounced more like, "Ideer" which can also mean "Idea")
The driver replied, 'Bout whut?'


TENNESSEE

A man in Tennessee had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it.

Then he got back in the car to wait. A passerby studied the scene as he drove by and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was.

The man replied, 'I got a flat tare.'

The passerby asked, 'But what's with the flowers?'

The man responded, 'When you break down they tell ya to put flares in the front and flares in the back. Hey, it don't make no sense to me neither.'

Miner Forty-Niner, more images of a Ghost Town

We had more adventures in a ghost town, on our holiday retreat. We were able to introduce the kiddies to Yosemite Valley, and then stopped over to our favorite old haunt, the old mining ghost town of Bodie. It's really hard to even envision how difficult their lives must have been. Trust me, I've lived without electricity, running water, and indoor, ahem, necessities. It was pretty inconvenient to say the least, but I was never in fear of my life being 'shortened' due to my choices or circumstances. These people did have this happen. So, when I see the rising fuel prices, that alarm clock is ringing loudly again, or I'm grumbling due to my computer being (currently) crashed, and having to borrow this one....well, I ain't got it that bad! ;D


I blame the following fragment of thought that suddenly came to me due to the lateness of the hour...Much has been talked about of late on the news; and it's hard to decipher what is news, hype, and/or spin...so, with that said, here's a totally unrelated quote, other than my above mention of fuel prices; but it may have relation to world goings ons, and our up and coming elections, etc...

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”

-Mark Twain