Things to do When Your Flight is Delayed

  1. Play Words With Friends
  2. Find hidden patterns in the carpet and follow them until you reach a wall
  3. Make up stories about your fellow passengers
  4. Eat
  5. Eavesdrop
  6. Read every sign backwards
  7. Read every sign in pig Latin
  8. Check your email
  9. Eat
  10. Read a book
  11. Count ceiling tiles
  12. Trace the alphabet with your foot
  13. Begin thinking in a British accent
  14. Eat
  15. Decide the man sitting beside you is an escaped convict. Move to another chair.
  16. Count designer handbags
  17. Google “escaped convicts”
  18. Google yourself
  19. Create a Venn diagram of escaped convicts and delayed airline passengers
  20. Eat
  21. Read a book
  22. Start a new game with a random person on Words With Friends
  23. Play “Dumb Ways to Die”
  24. Play repeatedly without improving
  25. Make a stupid list 
    ansfer-tray

Songs About Amarillo

There seem to be a great many songs about Amarillo, Texas. In fact, if one googles songs about Amarillo the question, “why are there so many songs about Amarillo?” pops up.

If I were to take a guess, I’d say it’s probably because the word, “Amarillo” has a musical quality. Spanish for “yellow,” it rolls off the tongue and works well in country songs. And when George Strait sings “Amarillo by Morning” it’s absolutely beautiful.

http://youtu.be/0rdzq60IAVU

Other Amarillo-titled songs:

“Amarillo Sky”

“Amarillo Highway”

“Amarillo”

“I Did My Time in Amarillo”

“Is This the Way to Amarillo”
 

All My Bags are Packed

Truly my bags are packed. I’m off to Texas tomorrow for a Doright family reunion. 

Positives (in no particular order):

  1. Seeing my children and grandchildren. Hugging will happen.
  2. Hanging out with Saint Helen. 🙂
  3. Visiting with the Doright clan, especially Studly’s sisters and his brother.
  4. Saint Helen’s cooking. Yummmmmm!
  5. The Doright Family Auction–always a hoot.
  6. Getting to see my Aunt Nedra and Uncle Richard.
  7. Touching base with old friends.
  8. Eating Tex-Mex food. 

Negatives:

  1. Getting up at 4 a.m. To make my flight. Ugh!
  2. That’s it. No more negatives. Going to bed now.

Peter, Paul, and Mary: Leaving on a Jet Plane. This song always makes me cry.

http://youtu.be/c8jEapecSqc
Peace, people!

New It Again

Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: When was the last time you did something new? How did it feel? Would you do it again?

Arriving in
Antigua in April to
Cobblestoned streets and
Cacophonous markets.
Bargaining for woven
Goods using
Three years’ worth of
High school
Español and a few
Quetzals.
Jouncing along with
Family and
Friends in three-wheeled
Conveyances called
Tuk-Tuks.
Drinking Picosas at a
Roadside stand.
Reveling in the sight of
Volcanoes exhaling into the
Sunset.
Rising early to the melody of
Guatemalan songbirds.
Rejoicing in the marriage of
Two beautiful souls in a
Place called
Hobbitenango.

Would I visit Antigua again?
¡Sí! ¡Sí! ¡Sí!

   
  

     

Motion: Bride A-go-go

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Motion

  
My favorite photo from my time in Antigua, Guatemala, shows my beautiful niece Hanna embracing her official transition from Miss to Mrs. 

Why I Like This Photo

  

I am perhaps the least photogenic person on this planet, so there are very few photos of me worth sharing. And, it’s not that I look particularly great in this photo, but it appears that someone is looking at me in an admiring manner.

Lest anyone think that was the case, let me reassure you that shortly after this was snapped my “admirer” asked politely if he could please cross in front of me to go to the restroom.

Yep, I have that effect on men.

Peace, People!

The Men of Hobbitenango

https://vimeo.com/124156448

Enjoy this video of my nephew, Beto and his business partner, Dan. Then start thinking about a trip to Hobbitenango!

  

Worrywart

Worrywart, worrywart

When will you learn?

Worry does nothing

But lead to heartburn.

Worrywart, worrywart

Will you stop, I wonder?

Perhaps someday when

I’m six feet under.

I spent quite a chunk of the past 48 hours worried that my son and daughter-in-law hadn’t made it safely home from Guatemala. They’d stayed to hike one of the volcanoes, and instead of flying home to the U.S. on Sunday with the rest of the family, they had plans to fly out on Wednesday. 

The last message received was a Facebook post saying they were enjoying a final meal in Antigua on Tuesday night. Then nothing. So last night I began texting. Nothing. This morning I began calling. Nothing.

I have a vivid imagination. Women with vivid imaginations should never be left alone for too long. Here’s one of the many scenarios I imagined:

Following that final Facebook post my son was knocked senseless in trying to thwart a kidnapping attempt on his wife. The kidnappers had my daughter-in-law and had taken my son’s phone, identification, passport, and all of his money. When he awakened he had amnesia and was wandering around Antigua begging for spare change.  

I called the airline and learned that the couple had boarded their flight. Of course then I wondered if perhaps someone had stolen their passports and flown home in their stead. 

There was no rest for me until my daughter-in-law’s sister sent a message saying the couple had returned and were thoroughly buried under piles of makeup work.

Now my imagination is working on ways to torture my son for not getting in contact with me. Let’s see, thumb screws ought to do the trick.

This was the photo I could have shared with the authorities.

 

Daughter-in-law Liz with Fuego in the background.
 
Son Jason holding up thumbs for the torture device.

Peace, People

Hobbitenango Video

https://vimeo.com/116980184

Check out this short video about Hobbitenango. (Gosh, I hope this works–I’m never sure until I publish.)

Peace, people!

Adios Antigua

My time in La Antigua de Guatemala was much too brief, but returning home to Studly and the Estados Unidas de Norte America was sweet.

Just a few images of the people and places that made my visit to Guatemala muy especial:

 

One of the many skilled weavers plying her craft.  

  At Hobbitenango–my new nephew looking very much like a hobbit silhouetted in the doorway of the tavern.

  Next time your children complain about doing chores, show them this.

  

Beto and Hanna.😍

  

Iglesia de Catedral.

Cerrito San Cristobal patio dining with a beautiful view of one of the four volcanoes.

  

Leo, stealer of hearts.

   

Ruins in Antigua.

 

One of these three is my son posing at theCasa Santo Domingo.

  

Sunday brunch with the family at the Casa Santo Domingo. This hotel/conference center is a must-see, having been built to beautifully incorporate the ruins of a monastery.

    

Wedding guests enjoying the view from the upper deck at Hobbitenango.

  

Hobbitenango

     

My son, daughter-in-law, and me awaiting our shuttle to the wedding. 

Antigua is an ancient city. Many of the streets are narrow and teeth jarringly cobble-stoned, yet the entire city has free wi-fi.

Motorcycles and scooters almost outnumbered cars. 

   

There are only two things about travel to Guatemala that I won’t miss. The first is having to use purified water for brushing one’s teeth. Bottled water (agua pura) was readily available, but I accidentally brushed with tap water a couple of times. I haven’t died yet, but the day is still young.

The second thing I won’t miss is the method used to dispose of toilet tissue. In most places one cannot flush the tissue; it must be placed in a trash receptacle beside the toilet. For most of us it is an automatic reflex to simply drop used t.p. in the toilet bowl. I’m going to admit right now that I did not fish out the tissues I accidentally dropped into the bowl.

Those were mere inconveniences, though. I would gladly be inconvenienced again.

Peace, people!