Busy

Life is definitely NOT on hold these days! I have been hitting music venues with and without Jessica in tow, went to Scotland, planning more music venues, working and playing as much as I can.

Scotland was an incredibly wonderful country to visit. Edinburgh is old and with many hidden gems in and under the city. We had so little time but we did get a taste and I, for one, would not mind returning again....maybe a 2-3 week trip between Ireland and Scotland in a slightly warmer month like April or May!

It is a small country so we were able to run up to the Highlands. To say that this is beautiful country is just not adequate. The ruggedness is breathtaking. The mountain sides are carved by water and ice through the ages, rivers crossover the entire country, lakes are deep and mysterious. Inverness is a quaint little city with a castle that we did not get to see due to our tour times. Food was excellent with many choices of cuisine, better than when we were in London.

We were also able to take a side trip to Glasgow where modern is overtaking old, but some old will always remain. Music and eateries are abundant in Glasgow. It would definitely be considered a party town, plenty of hens about in the downtown area. Train service is excellent through Scotland. If we had not been catching the plane in Edinburgh in the morning I would have definitely stayed overnight in Glasgow.

Coachella is next, plus Florence and the Machine, another shot at Mogwai and any other live acts that come our way. Florence is playing at The Greek in LA and I am so excited to go to this legendary venue.

Life is short take a damned big bite!!

Infrequent poster

Last post in May.....
I think a large part of it is I no longer have the daily aingst of living with my mom 24/7. Now I can just run down weekly and visit her at the RCFE where she is well cared for (but still complaining every visit!).
I am fully engaged in pursuing musical pleasures which often includes traveling to venues. It is a wonderful thing that my daughter and I share many musical preferences so sometime she comes with me or I with her. My dancing days may be behind me but my toes still tap quite nicely. I regularly run up to LA for shows. We went together to SF this summer to see one of my favorites and one of hers happen to be playing at the same time. Both venues were fun but SF is WAY busier than I remembered. We did the pier, Alcatraz and all that touristy stuff. Denver was in April for a literary conference with Jessica. We had a side trip to Manitou Springs which was just lovely, it even snowed. Garden of he Gods was magnificent.
As much fun as we have had in the states this year I am now waiting (not so patiently) for our trip to Scotland! Started as a wistful email to have a month to bounce around the UK seeing bands. Jessica emails back that tickets to Scotland were $800 ($860 all inclusive). I decided that I can keep these ratty counter tops and we are off for Scotland in 2011!!! I am beyond excited for this. I know I was super excited when I went to Italy in 2006 for my 50th but I swear I am even more excited for this one! I think that the fact that I am deep into a Highlands historical romance set in 1700's colonies and Scotland is contributing to the excitement. Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, Loch Ness, Inverness and Glasgow will all be trampled on in the 8 days we are there. Pubs are open till 3a, we are on a busline and well there just isn't anything else more perfect. Things I will not be doing in Scotland is eating Haggis, Black Pudding; I will, however, try some Cock of the North ;)

Chase Rewards

I do not use much for credit cards. My wallet had consisted of a Capitol One Card and a debit card for my bank account and one for my mother's account. I rarely use Mom's but used the Cap1 on a routine basis and pay off monthly.
Recently I used Cap1 to purchase medical supplies for my mother on line, I also used mom's card at this same business (Durable Medical Express). For my mom's card it is the only other company other than her pharmacy that the card has been used for.
Within a couple weeks Cap1 called me for fraudulent charges...the iPad I had just bought and music, these are common charges for me. They failed to note the Asian Dating Service and Flowers to China....idiots!!! They did credit them immediately and closed that card. Chase on the other hand called within minutes of mom's card being used to purchase tickets from British Airways, at least someone has my back.
It gets worse, in all this I had scheduled a payment but because they sent out a new card the scheduled payment did not show and i thought I had to re-submit it. Now Cap1 has $1200 of my money that they wont give back for two billing cycles. When I just wanted the money back it was going to be 15 days which also upset me and why I decided to close the card.
So I found NO REWARDS WITH CAPITOL ONE!!!!

What Happened??

I think that my life has less overall stress in it so I don't think I feel such a strong need to vent here anymore. Things are going on still....Jessica is renewing her life, mom is still kicking and I am shamelessly enjoying my minimal demands life.

Because Mom is in the B&C I am obligated to the weekly visits with treats....no longer tied to having people in the house to help her, making meals when I don't feel like it, waking up in time to get her paper. As long as the curtains are closed I can walk to the living room without getting dressed and use all of my 900sf of living space.

As much as I loved my furry friend Sammie I enjoy having less cleaning to do, I don't have to walk and pick up poop, worry about her being alone too much when I do a double. If I need doggie time I can go see my daughter's dog, Madeline or go to the mall and walk one of the store puppies.

What I do have is time to go on trips, Hollywood for music, Denver with Jessica for her conference, San Francisco for my music and her's....we make good traveling companions even though I am slower and need more rest than she does. She is a good daughter and we enjoy our time together.

So life is rolling along and I don't know where it will go or how long I will be here but I want to do the best to enjoy every day!!

"Occupied"

It could be easy like the restroom or it could be a life no longer on hold, something in stasis or so much in motion that keeping up is a lost cause.
Mom continues to do well in the Board and Care. I won good daughter points for purchasing a small fridge and a jar of bread and butter pickles! Go figure.......
My beloved Sammie died here at home 2 days before Christmas. She had a lovely trip to Tucson in November with her "sister" Madeline to help my daughter and, then son-in-law Greg to pack out their house there. Jessica moved in with a work friend and Greg with me.
Unfortunately the separation brought out some weak points in the relationship and they are currently getting a divorce. They are both having major adjustment issues. Greg is dating, Jessica is trying to find challenging activities. They are both a bit lost, hurt. Madeline is with Jessica but Greg dog-sits when Jessica and I go off on trips.
I took a new position at work which gave me more stuff to do but is well compensated for so I guess it is all good. I have a new belief in looking for talented musical artists and then planning trips in order to see them perform. Lucy Woodward was a day trip to LA, Hollywood exactly. Incredible show, well worth the trip. Looking forward to seeing Lara Price in San Fransisco in July. We also hit the Adams Ave Root Festival and The Gator by the Bay for blues/zydeco. I truly enjoy the smaller venues and undiscovered local acts. They are often as talented as the bigger names but with out the visibility. We had an "ex-Arc" get together which was fun. As usual I got an extra pair of sunglasses, a hair thingy, a notepad and a spoon from Iowa. Hopefully they will make their way back to their owners....but I don't know. Jessica and I did go to Colorado in April which was fun. All in all life has been on going which is not a bad thing.

My favorite saying is that there will be plenty of time to sleep when your dead!

3:51am

That was when I first woke-up....now it is 6:15am. Oh well, too much time is wasted in bed right?? I am not a frequent insomniac but it does occur. I wake for some minor reason and then my mind starts to run and I cannot get back to sleep. Well as soon as it is light I will walk the dog and go hit the stores early for "Mabel" shopping.

It would appear that I will have no choice but to import each and every one of my CDs to the new computer. I could not sync the Sansa that I purchased and this morning it went off and did not come back on so heaven knows what is going on there. It had issues when I started with it and then it worked ok and now this. We will see. I guess I had best start saving for my big ass iPod next. I will not make the same mistakes again with going for small memory, I have learned my lesson.

Passing...

Time has passed, the season has passed and so did my old computer.

The Toshiba PC went down last Friday. I purchased it before the kids went to Italy because I wanted a good computer for pics and all. That was over 4 years ago....time does pass constantly.

So now I am the proud owner of my first Mac. I still need to set up the printer and learn how to use certain apps but I am trainable and inquisitive so I am not afraid to investigate and learn on the fly.

Retrieving passwords and user names has been one of the harder things as I did not recall what emails I had when I set up accounts and had the passwords for some accounts were stored on the computer. Nothing could be retrieved from the memory. I have managed to get back into most of my accounts and am learning the quirks of Mac.