Are we having fun yet?

There are times when I ask myself “are we having fun yet”? I’m usually asking myself that when I’m in a situation where I’m supposed to be having fun . . . key word there, supposed. So, next week is the big family vay-cay in South Carolina. We’re off for some golf and beach time in warmer climates after a long cold snowy winter. Le Husband and I will be joining the parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece and niece’s boyfriend, and long time family friends.

So, time to put up the ski gear and break out the sticks. Le Husband has been taking me to the driving range so that I can blow the dust off the golf swing. Now golf is a sport I have developed a strong love/hate relationship with. Let’s face it, it’s a sport where you have this little white ball (or pink if you prefer) in your hot little hand. You set the ball down and take a club and whack the ball as far away from you as you can . . . then you go chase it and repeat the process . . . all with the goal of hitting it into a tiny hole in the ground. You do that 18 times and call it a day. I think to truly enjoy golf, you have to put logic and common sense aside.

So, back to the driving range with Le Husband. This is year four in my golf odyssey and every time I start again it feels like year one. I must say I started out not too bad, however things rapidly went downhill. Hit the ground, hit right, hit left . . . watch the frustration build. Le Husband steps in to help/coach. “Move closer to the ball, change your grip, stand up taller, slower back swing,” . . . “what are you doing???!!!” “Take a break.” “Get back here and hit the ball!” So I ask myself, now say it with me, are we having fun yet?

I’m sure your asking yourself after reading that, why would anyone bother. Well I have to admit that once out there on the golf course with Le Husband and usually family and friends, the sun is shining on the beautiful green golf course and you finally hit that perfect shot that goes long and straight; the answer to the question is a resounding “yes, yep, you betcha, we are definitely having fun!”

So I plan to be having lots of fun next week and playing plenty of golf. And if that golf swing just won’t work . . . well then I’ll be forced to sit on the beach with a beverage and a book. Life is good!

Fuzzy Kids

We have fuzzy kids. That’s right ours are fuzzy with whiskers and the amazing ability to talk back or ignor us . . . probably just like your regular kids. The plan was to be that typical two kid family, however this is life on Plan C and there’s that surprise, I mean of course we planned on three, addition to the family.

We have had two since the spring of 2002. There is Tarquin, the queen B (you can guess what that B stands for!). Then there is our sweet, gentle, lover boy Clancy, aka Clancyman. This September while on a trip to NC, a friend helped me rescue our feisty, then 5-week old, Miss Keely. As you can imagine, bringing the youngster into the house created turmoil. Tarquin said “You can’t possibly be serious bringing THAT into my house!” Clancy simply took one look and ran the other way.

The other day Keely had to have surgery and so she was gone from the house for two days. I swear that I heard Tarquin humming “ding dong the witch is dead” and Clancy spent the two days reclaiming all of his favorite places to sleep. So, you can imagine their disappointment when Keely returned home from successful surgery. Tarquin, who glared at me, hissed at Le Husband, and growled at Keely said “I thought you had gotten rid of that thing, what’s it doing back here?!”

Keely, on the other hand, has not stopped expressing how happy she is to be home. So while we readjust to life with the third fuzzy kid, that unconditional love feels so great. Prrrrrrrrrrr back at you kid!

Pears

OK what is it about pears? I guess it’s time to confess, that I have some weird obsession with them. I love the shape of them. Any time I see one, they just attract me like magnets. I can be flipping through a magazine and see a pear in the background and that’s what draws my attention. We had friends in for dinner the other night and my friend made a comment that she didn’t realize how much I liked pears. At the time, she was taking candy out of a pear candy dish and on a nearby table was a glass pear. She probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t recently showed her a series of photos I had taken of pears.

So I guess my secret obsession is now public . . . yes I love pears. There is just something about that shape. Can’t be that subconsciously I’ve got a pear shape (no such luck) I’m more of a mango! And as for actually eating them, I do like them, but can’t say that I eat them all that often. I have a glass pear, a pear necklace, an enameled pear that sits on my nightstand, a pear candy dish and two sets of pear salt and pepper shakers.

Recently I was in the mood to try some creativity with the camera and different photo treatments on the computer . . . the subject I chose . . . that’s right a pair of pears! The first time I sat down to paint with my artist mom what did I paint, that’s right a pear!!

So what is this obsession with pears trying to tell me? Hmm, maybe I just need to eat more fruit!

Attack of the Ski Bug

Years ago I spent my free time in the winter skiing. So early on in my relationship with the man who was to become Le Husband, I took him skiing. I wanted him to love it like I did and thought it would be great fun spending time together on the slopes. Le Husband was a beach boy, so that white cold stuff was foreign to him. So off we went to a small local hill, strapped on the boards and watched the magic happen. Or not! After working hard on his snow plow and falling downing the hill a few times . . . a valiant effort on his part . . . skiing was quickly voted off the list of fun things to do.

Through the years lots of other stuff, like getting through college and building a career, interfered with any more attempts to get Le Husband interested in attempting skiing again. Being the beach boy that he is, when winter snows roll in, his reaction is less than enthusiastic. I get the same question every winter, “Tell me again why you like this weather?!” And my comments of “maybe if we found something fun to do in winter, you’d like it better” were usually ignored or met with some mumbled comment about beaches or surfing.

So recently when good friends invited us on a weekend ski trip, I thought Le Husband was being such a good sport by agreeing to hit the slopes for an entire weekend. So we headed out early so that he’d have an opportunity to take a lesson before our friends arrived. The ski gods were smiling upon us this weekend, because we had beautiful blue skies, warm sunshine and perfect snow conditions. The ski lesson went wonderfully, the friends arrived and we all hit the slopes!

Something very strange began to happen to Le Husband. It started out small, just a twinkle in his eyes and a turn up at the corner of his mouth. However, by the end of the weekend Le Husband had definitely been bitten by a serious case of the Ski Bug!! How serious you say? Well it’s now been two weeks since that ski weekend (yes only two weeks!) and he is equipped from head to toe in new ski apparel and equipment. Along with that, is the shiny new 2011 season pass that was purchased before we even left the slopes on that fateful weekend!

On our last ride up the chair lift at the end of a perfect weekend of skiing, Le Husband looked at me and said “Why haven’t you insisted that we ski every winter?” Go figure!!

Updates

Life is sure funny and ironic some times. In a recent post ‘Lost and Found’ I mentioned that we had recently found some friends of ours who live in Santiago, Chili. Anyone on the planet who owns a TV has seen the recent story about the earthquake in Chili and the devastation is caused. When we woke up to this news last Saturday, we immediately thought of our friends and wondered/hoped that they were safe. I am so happy to say that they are all safe and healthy. To paraphrase her words, while the damage they personally suffered was minor, they are truly saddened for their country and the many people affected by this. We are just extremely happy that our friends and their family are doing well.

Another update to a previous post is about Mr. Smalls adventure with Mr. Squeaky. It seems that it took a surgical extraction to remove Mr. Squeaky. Mr. Smalls, after an allergic reaction to surgical staples, is now recovering nicely. Mr. Squeaky, on the other hand, unfortunately did not survive the procedure.

It’s great that we’ve had two happy and positive outcomes!