"YABBER-LINER" - ALL ABOARD

I posted on a2k about the black widow in my sink, crawling up. Don't get me started. No, I did not save it.

I'm a person with occasional spider phantasms in my dreaming. Luckily, not much, maybe once a year, but it sends me out of my bed and the room... with no spider present. I recognize that now, quickly on wakeup.. Still. Freakorama.

Dang. Should have saved it. Not stuffed, but maybe shellacked?

< kinda embarrassed about my hooplah last night>


Hey Osso - I've only seen one roaming redback before - despite what it can do, I'm more skeered of our house spiders due to the length of legs and speed. They always seem to come right at me waving their legs in the air - ugh.

When I was in Kakadu, we used to fish for barramundi on Yellow Waters - the boat would drift towards the banks and the the whole place was covered in webs - it used to freak me to the point I would rather take on the lurking crocs rather than get near the webs. Of course, my beau at that stage firmly put me in my place with a hefty "sit!" as I more than once nearly tipped us. Of course, S-boy and I had a few upsets too when we stayed in Arkansas a couple years back on Bear Lake. I had a really bad experience in Sydney with one of the massive tree to tree webs which I walked into... ugh - makes me clammy to even think about it now and I'm still on edge and a nasty pool floater in Perth. How I ever made it thru 7 months in Oz I have no idea - ha, the psychs call that "flooding"... well, I feel like I'm being flooded at the moment and the cool weather is only just starting... eeeeeuw.

Can't make myself go in the garage right now to get the spray... pathetic.

Roger, ha, I know Princess was special to you but... 'eh, I never was one much for Princesses other than our Diana <heh, rocks the royalist boat there!>

Anyhoo...

such a shame, it's been raining - and the forecast is pants for tonight - I'm hoping the balloons will still fly but I won't risk taking someone else's camera out in the rain - I'd feel awful if I broke one that I'd been loaned. Prolly go up to my folks house and hang out their balcony in eager anticipation of them flying over - they usually do... so finger's crossed.

Thinking of those dear to my heart...

Catch y'all later

How awful for you, some people just don't care. I thought weeing was bad enough.

I would be lying if I said that I disagree with you, Dutchy.

Ship's log noted!


heh, no wee about it

it was <-----------------------------------------------------------------this big------------------------------------------------------------------->

Soooooo, I had to go into the garage… I effed and blinded loudly (so not becoming) as I talked myself through 'take the washing out, put the washing in the dryer, close, breathe, turn dial, take the washing out the basket, breathe, put the washing in the washer, powder, powder, breathe, conditioner, 30 deg , 1200 spin, press the button, walk calmly, unlatch the door, close'…

Then I nearly threw up and got very angry at myself.

Then realised I had to go back out there as I'd not picked up the spider spray (which is now beside me - doesn't kill, kindly asks the spider to vacate the premises - which is a bit late once it's in!)

So, I then downloaded Paul McKennas audio cure your phobia thing – I’ve been tapping my cheekbone, under my arm and behind my knuckle on the absent ring finger, rolling my eyes 360 deg to the left , 360 deg to the right … deep breath out, keep tapping, and further x 3… and <gasps> breathe… rinse and repeat, tap tap tap.

Well, I then did the hypno bit (who knows if it’s worked but I’ve been in the garage twice since and not broken out into a cold sweat). Too cool the things he tells you to imagine – you have to morph into the person who you know has the most confidence in the world, hear his voice, picture him, see the fear (or lack of) thru his eyes and… hey presto… relaxed as I was, I morphed, I really did and chuckled a little to my inner self – I now apparently have my confidence, see myself and not feel the fear and will retrain my programming that has gone awry with badly learned anxiety over 8 legged things <taps cheekbone, taps knuckles, left side brain, right side brain>

<cough>

Anyhoo – as all that was happening and I was laying down mid Paul talking to my subconscious as I was imagining playing back the greatest ever fear moment at triple the speed in a reversed comical black and white movie whilst sitting in the projection box looking at the back of my head , the doorbell rang and it was wife of said neighbour who wanted to check I was OK. We got talking a bit (I’ve only met her once when they first moved in) – neighbours Mom died 2 weeks ago and dawg is shortly to be put to sleep , so she was a little tearful.

Perspective.

Bless her for popping around.

Balloon flight has been cancelled as the weather is pants and they’ve cancelled the burn off to music as there’s too much wind in the valley to tether the balloons such a huge shame, this is a massive event for the big town. Mind you, wouldn’t have gone down to the field for that tho – too many folk there that I know <OK, mebbe not so much confidence, but ‘eh, working on it – taps cheekbone, taps finger>.

Time for a cuppa methinks! I'm tapped ooooot.

<waves to jw>

cool.

now you needa add some theme music, and you're halfway there...

Michael Buble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQJg5fP0U8

My naked toes squirm under my desk as I make my post. Every so often, me thinks I will need to peek under the desk to make sure there are no spiders hiding there. Eeebie-jeebies.

My trip: All I can say is it was the best vacation ever! Prior to the trip, we all booked a day to swim with the dolphins. It was sort of expensive, but I would have paid twice for that. OM-gosh. I can't put that into words. They give you one-on-one time with the dolphin. You get to kiss em', hug em', swim with them by holding onto their dorsal. The dolphins were so amazingly gentle. The whole experience left you with an unbelievable feeling of inner "softness" that you sometimes feel like you lose when life has seemingly beaten you with a stick. I don't know if that makes sense, but it is something that will live with me always. I have no pics of that as we were all in the water at the same time with the dolphins. They only allowed so many in the water at the same time. I think it was something like 10 or so. You could buy a set of pics and a video from them, but I didn't feel like I needed to do that as the memory is deeply embedded in me, and I will never forget one second of it. Also, they wanted 1 arm and 1 leg for them. This whole trip was sooooooo expensive -- but would do it every year if I could. I will go back.

I met some really cool people and made new friends. The nightlife there is incredible. They have a whole strip that is nothing but clubs. We had a lot of fun at the Coco Bongo. We saw a lot of shows, also. There are a lot of really strange people there. I mean, you just had to be careful. Especially around the club strip. Luckily we had guys on our trip, so they sort of looked out for us. Still -- it was just one constant hustle most nights. That got old really fast.

Some of our group went parasailing. I have done that before, and as much as I loved it, I did not go with them since I had already done it before. I had other things to spend my money on. Not to mention, I had made friends with a couple there that offered to let me go out on their little boat with them that day. So them, me, and their daughter hung out for the afternoon. Twas cool.

There were lots of days spent on the beach. They have some of nastiest seagulls in Cancun that I have ever ran across. They had lots of other neat birds that were much more docile and seemed to be content just to pose for pictures. The seagulls were loud and annoying most days. They made a habit of trying to steal your food if you were eating outdoors. If they didn't get your food, they seemed to deliberately try and poop on your head. I may be making this sound worse than it really was, but I don't think so. It's not like they didn't hang out at the edge of the beach and leave ya alone lots of times too. Still, they were obnoxious buggers. I had a bucket of ice and some snacks and was lying on the beach with some of the other girls one day, and this danged ole' mean seagull swooped down and grabbed a granola bar that I had beside me and took off with it. I said, "Yo! Bird! Come back and at least let me open it for ya if you need it that bad." Stupid bird ignored me. I reckon he enjoyed it more than I would have. Haha! Yeah, I got pooped on a couple of times.

Cancun just rocks. What more can I say. We did lot of things, too numerous to mention here. Just had fun. We were a little worried about the timing of that one hurricane as it had a chance of hitting Florida around the time we were due to go there. Then it turned north and all things looked good for us. The waves were kicked up pretty good along the Florida beaches on just the one day, but that just made for some pretty awesome "kick back in your chair" time along the beach.

Otay, that's sort of a brief outline of the trip. Pictures next. I have to transfer from camera to computer, then will post a few. Not gonna swamp you with them -- maybe a dozen. I will get that done shortly.

Gosh, I can't believe it's almost time to head back to campus. September already? Where did the summer go?!? It's still plenty hot though. In the 90's today with nasty humidity. I am ready for fall, really. It's been one incredibly hot summer.

xo

The beautiful beaches of Cancun.

View from the hotel.













Ummmm, Dutchy and Wandel -- a bikini is a bikini is a bikini. They all look alike after awhile. Sooooooo no biggie to show normal Cancun atire. Although, I must say, tops were optional on these beaches. No one seemed to care there. I kept mine on.











Found this little guy trying to hide in the sand.



Ever so often you would run into one of these fellas.



Twas dinner on the beach -- a normal thing there.



My friend, M., who was one of the group thought it funny to wake me from my power nap. That is likely why I look so damn grouchy. She caught me as soon as I opened my eyes after she woke me. Mean girl she is.




Good food. You could also find just about anything fast-food wise that we have around here such as McDonalds, Burger King, etc.



Lazy times too. Especially if you could stake out a place in the shade that was quiet. Nap-nap-nap -- everyone needs one.



Can't forget them Florida birds. This guy was on a mission. He knew exactly where he was trucking off to and was in a hurry.





This last pic was not off my camera so I had to try and lay it on my little printer and copy it. This was snorkeling, and the pic was purchased off of them. I can't get it to come out clear, but this was so much fun. I have done this before, so not my first time at it.



It's good to be home, but I am missing it there too.

<sighs>

xo

Hi JustBrooke.
Thank you so much for telling us about your incredible holiday in Cancun. It was so well deserved after your eventful year. No doubt you re-charged your batteries and are ready for another year of study. The beautiful pictures back up your words, incredible beaches, interesting wild life, wonderful night-life and a beautiful suntanned young woman! (((JustBrooke))).

Wow! Even a duck would get seasick trying to swim laps in that thing.

Ok, Roger, you got me laughing...

Brooke, this reminds me of a hotel my ex and I stayed at once in La Paz. I called an ad in the LA Times (what you did back then) for 4 days in Mexico for $119.00. I think that included the flight, but that seems impossible now and memory fails. So, we get there and the hotel has barely opened. The Presidente, it was. The president of Mexico, Lopez Portillo, was staying there. There were guys with rifles on some of the balconies. We had fun but it was unlike any other place I've stayed in Mexico (usually way more simpatico to me, more often 0.25 star).

Wonderful photos, glad you had all that fun.

Beautiful photos, Brooke! I am glad you had a great time. You are correct, Dutchy and I make far too big a deal about bikinis. Right, Dutchy?

You're absolutely right special agent wandel, it's not the bikini I look at but the stunning personalty behind it, JustBrooke is the kind of daughter every father would adore.

Babbling - I simply can't tell you how happy it makes me to read your post and to see you... your PaPa would be so proud of you for "living" again and to know you are smiling from your heart - I'm so glad that the darkness and cold is lifting.

Gosh, you did have the best time - your pics are wonderful and you look even more fabulous than ever; I can see the Babbling I saw a few years ago - Live Laugh Love girlie - I listen to your voice and song more than you can imagine - i love you so very much Brooklyn, and of course, you do babble beside my house every day

Would love to see more of your pics if you can - but no pressure to post. It's just so lovely to share part of your world.

Love to you and yours, hope all is going well with Kimmie.

Somewhere over the.... I can hear you. You are special Babbling. xox

Morning Izzie, nice to see your smiling face, have a nice Sunday.

Afternoon Lovelies - so good to see so many on the deck Love it!

Well, it's a beautiful day here and the sun is shining. The balloons apparently went up at 6.30am and all went well - I wish I could have seen them - but nem'mind, will need to wait 'til next year.

Just had a tesco delivery <shakes head> I have more washing powder and conditioner than the launderette in town - I could wash for NATO How many packets of cashews can one person eat (little fella doesn't eat nuts) JPB - what am I gonna do!!!!!!!!!!

So, S-boy's back to school tomorrow - I surely don't know where the summer hols have gone. Life is too quick - even when I'm not going anywhere, the days fly be so fast.

Okeydokey - off out into the garden now and maybe have a play with the chaps camera. Catchy'all later peeps.

BEAgle - what've you been up to today a? Hope it's warming up Down Under and you've had a great weekend with M. x

Missy - thinking of you girlie - hope you will get a nap thisavo xxxxx

lovin' the crew

((((ZyP, RH, Rat, Osso, jw, AlexChap))))

((((Blue smooches))))xox and yours x

Hello BEAgle - ha, we cross posted as we usually do.

It's so gorgeous here today - and warm. Can't believe it's the last day of the summer hols. I'm not back in to work until Tues but have a megabunch of stuff to do tomorrow. Gotta go out and enjoy the sun for a bit - my weeds are becoming triffids

love you (((D)))x

Father's day downunder today Izzie and the Bosun was spoilt from all sides. M. dropped back in from Sydney and we watched the football together. Lovely spring day of 27 degrees. Tonight the rest of the clan phoned me from PL. Had Chinese for dinner tonight, Chicken satay's in peanut sauce with fried rice. All in all a wonderful day.

ps. Cross posted again.