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Thursday, March 29, 2012

5 Places to See

Well, one of the many (and growing) blogs I read just posted about 5 places. Hers was where she'd rather be (over housework), mine is more.....dreams. Places I would love to visit and are on my bucket list to go to. Sooooo......

1. Egypt
The pyramids, the sphinx, the Nile, ahhhhhhh. One of the top ones, if not the number 1. Hubby, not too sure wants to go, but would probably tag along with me.

2. Australia
Not sure where, just the whole continent would be nice. A swing by Sydney to snap a few pics and the rest is up to whatever tour guide/hubby takes me. One of the items on my bucket list was to see in person (no zoo) a kangaroo. Imagine my surprise when hubby & I went to visit my parents' house September a year ago. We went to a local event called Frontier Days. Long story, but can be a lot of fun. We were meandering around and found 2 very cool things (AND got to cross not one, but TWO things off my bucket list). My mom & I got to ride on an elephant AND they had a Joey there. Yep, I got to hold a Joey inside of his bag. Soooooooo cute!!! *sigh
See? He's waving. Collective: awwwwwwwwwww

3. Pompeii/Herculaneum
This one is actually a possibility in the foreseeable future. Ok...rabbit trail. For those of you who don't know, back hundreds of years ago, when Pompeii was being destroyed on one side, Herculaneum was being destroyed on the other. Most have never heard of the town since Pompeii is the biggie. I, however, took ancient Roman history and both towns were mentioned and discussed. Pompeii is more touristy because there is more of the city unearthed/preserved.
We live in the northern part of Italy at the moment because of my husband's job. While we are still here, these are 2 cities that we both want to spend some time in. They will probably be on our "Rome" trip. Yep, that one's coming up too. :-)

4. Japan
Again, don't really care what part, but want to see most of it. I would love to add Tokyo to my list of visited cities as well. Mainly because that's one of the biggies that we've all heard/read about. I would love to see
the culture, taste the food (to see if it's anything like the "Japanese" restaurants we go to), walk around and see the pagodas, take pictures of the lovely tress only seen in geisha films (there were 2 or 3 that came out not tooooooo long ago that made me want to go even more) or in other people's pictures.

5. Anywhere sightseeing with my hubby
I know, sounds rather awwww or sappy, but it's true. While most of the ladies I know want to visit Such-and-Such with their girlfriends, hubby is truly my best friend. We travel well together: I drive, he navigates. I love seeing new things/sites/experiences with him. There are times that I could've gone somewhere, but unless it's somewhere that I know (or am pretty sure) that he doesn't care about, I won't go. There are 2 places around here and 1 thing that I'll go without him: a glass place, a ceramic place, and a tour based on an author's character. Other than that, I want him along-side me. We can look back together, via memories and/or pictures and re-collect the experiences that we had on that particular adventure.

What about you? Where do you want to go?

Monday, March 5, 2012

Why the Gap?

I was looking through this blog and saw a HUGE gap between last posting and the first time I posted this year. You might be wondering why the gap.... So, here's the skinny.....

I originally started this blog as a take/viewpoint from a Conservative on politics. From looking at the number of posts from 2008, it is rather obvious that that was just a "flash in the pan" thing I did. The positive thing is that I DID start this. I've discovered I even enjoy posting. (Not sure how many/any is reading this, but eh). Once my obsession over politics and the particular election was over (still same views, just not as...not sure....just different), the blog, like many other things in the past went by the wayside.

Me then? Not a lot different than now...other than I lived in a different house and a different country. I now live in Italy because of my military husband. The house of 2008 was in England.

Fast forward to December 2011. I discovered blogs. And not just blogs, but ones that I enjoy reading and follow rather religiously. While there are only about 7 I am subscribed too as opposed to the dozen or more that others follow, I am subscribed to each one and normally wait rather impatiently for. The majority are based on the house and organizing or crafty, although 2 I LOVE!!! reading for the humour of the writer. She is (as the old saying goes) a Hoot! There are times when something has struck me as hilarious and next thing you know, tears are streaming down my face. While reading one of said blog posts, I wanted to have my own say and "link up", so....that's where it all started back. You can thank that lovely writer. Just in case you want to shake your proverbial fist because somehow this post/posts are horrid, I won't mention her name, to keep her safety in mind. ;-)

Saturday, March 3, 2012

An Ant or a Thinker

I was sitting here at my computer desk when my mind wandered. I am supposed to be doing a number of things: working on school work (I'm in college), posting in my on-line classroom, reading my decluttering book, laundry,.....Well, you get the idea.

There I was, just sitting here, when I leaned back in my chair with who-knows-what thoughts bouncing around in my head. When my eyes lit on the little shelf attached to the desk, just to my right. On that shelf is a candle (always, but changes when one burns down) with a topper on top of an ant family. There is the daddy ant, the momma ant, and the little boy ant. They are around a picnic basket, with the dad inside holding binoculars. That reminded me of the story of the ant and the caterpillar.
You know, the ants work their little ant butts off all summer long and most of the autumn while the caterpillar laughs at them while lounging. Well, winter comes and of course the ants are golden: they worked to eat as well as gather food to store for the cold weather (which obviously wasn't here in San Quirino, Italy, but I digress). The caterpillar, of course, is starving because he did nothing to prepare for the upcoming chill and just was lazy. I don't remember the end other than the ant telling the caterpillar, "Told you so."

So, now you know the story (or were reminded). The story rambled through my head as I was looking at this topper. Then, my eyes lit on an object literally right next to it: a marble thinker. Yep, the dude sitting on his fanny with his elbow on his knee and his head propped in his head. A view:
What a complete contrast of opposites. The thinker: one of the laziest people around right next to a family of ants: one of the most productive creatures God created. Which did I want staring at me when I'm on the computer or doing school or whatever? So, the question was: which did I want to be: An Ant or A Thinker? My choice: an ant. The family of ants, while the manufacturer probably didn't go as in depth, shows me a few things. 1). Work my tail off now in order to eat and to store (save up/put aside) when times are chill (lean/golden years/etc.) and 2) Take time to spend with family and to see the sites (or to travel).

So, which one are you? OR Which one do you WANT to be?

~Gen