Is my cape fluttering?

Why I'll never go to sea!

Although we had a lovely time touring sailboats at the Tall Ships festival in Victoria, as we went below decks, it became very clear that there was a reason I had never left my family and run away to sea (Although I admit, I considered it once or twice!). The following shots should illustrate my reasoning:

The bunks. This vessel slept 36 I believe. The little nets are not hammocks, it's for stowing your gear. (Do you love all the nautical "speak" I picked up "below decks"?) The bunks were short enough that I do not believe I would have been able to straighten my legs. And I don't think the Brute Squad would have enjoyed the nets all that much!

And you thought Boeing bathrooms were small and devoid of luxury! (note: no shower!)

The Galley: This is a nice one too. Lots of sink space and cupboards. I have become spoiled by the kitchen I currently have. And our final stop on the tour....

The captain's cabin! TOG is standing IN it. Note the bar over his head for the sliding curtain? The rather large bunk behind him? The porthole? No, I could not back up any further for this shot, I was standing in the galley!

Thanks for touring with me! On a personal note, I've got a huge project I'm working on this week, and I'll be squeezing posts in and visiting other blogs as much as I can, but I won't have much breathing room until Friday, so please bear with me!

In keeping with our nautical theme today, The Brute Squad:

 

It's a good thing they love me!

Asthmagirl out!

A mile a minute

This is one of those posts that I really gritted my teeth over before posting... but in the end, I felt like sharing. I took the day off from blogging yesterday. I needed it. This was one of those weekends that I did absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, the gears in the brain are turning a mile a minute. Here's some of what I've been pondering.

I love the blog. I love the way it compels me to consider, my life... relationships... experiences... loves. Without the blog, would I be less observant, less defined? I think to blog is to know yourself better. Sometimes to blog is to admit out loud that which we think and leave it open to the public for examination and comment. Healthy but occasionally uncomfortable... kind of like wearing jeans that are too tight and not wanting to admit it! (and then eating the ice cream someone offers you because you love it so!)

I get embarrassed sometimes about the blog. Sometimes when TOG tells people "oh, she has a blog" it sounds like (to my ears) "oh, this is that cute little thing she does when I'm not around". And sometimes, the response sounds like (again to my ears) "oh, that is adorable... I bet she owns Chihuahuas too"! I actually find humor in this. The words may be more like, "Wow, I could never do that" but they have the little facial things going on that say "And who in their right mind would want to?"  Now, I don't mind being taken lightly as a blogger. I feel comfortable in my writing and my intent. Besides, I'm a blond. I'm used to being taken lightly from time to time! [Asthmagirl deeply regrets any issues that comment may have caused other blonds]

But bear with me here... You read a lot of blogs, right? Me too! I'm following a number of really great journeys written by interesting folks, some with asthma, some with cancer, some with deafness, some that home school, some that cook, some that make me laugh out loud, some that parent, some that tell great stories, some that are trying to get published, some that are just doing their daily stuff with every day joys and concerns over gas prices, and the environment and what they'll cook for dinner that night. Ironically, some of what I've been reading lately kind of confirms that as a community, maybe we've let people take us lightly. When I read about careless comments purposefully posted that cause hundreds of responses and hurt feelings and sides being chosen up, I think that as a community, it reflects poorly on us. And because we are so public, other people reading us may take us at less than our best.

I've read a number of posts in the last year about bloggers wanting to be taken seriously and wanting to be paid decently for the privilege of allowing advertising in our space and wanting to be respected for our word of mouth capabilities. And all that's true, we do reach a lot of people... we're very visible. But if I wanted to be taken seriously and be respected by businesses as an industry that has intrinsic media value and worth, I'd be careful to present myself in a business-like way to all eyes, all the time.

Certainly there's more than one segment to the blogging world and I'm totally speaking for myself here. But I'm assuming that even if we blog for fun, we still want respect for the time and thought we put into making this medium flow, yes? We're the ones that stare at the blank computer screen each morning and bring our thoughts to life! And this little mirror we call a blog that the public gazes into so intently... It should reflect what we want people to believe about us. Perhaps that we have something worthwhile to say.... that we're articulate and entertaining... that we're connected to what's important in our world.

Comments are welcome. Look for a return of goofy pictures and other asthmatic adventures tomorrow!

 Asthmagirl out!

Safe and Sane

We had a great time out at the island yesterday. I took the Brute Squad down to the beach and they found lots of cool stuff to sniff and dig at. Because it's an island in Puget Sound, the beach is rocky instead of sandy as it doesn't get the constant wave action like they do at the coast.

My niece, Linnea, brought her fabulous lemon cake. Unfortunately, it sustained significant injuries on the drive down, and did not survive the trip. There was a brief, heartfelt ceremony and then we attacked!

I took two shots from the kitchen which sits above the living room. There are stairs up either side from the living room to the kitchen. The tide was incoming as we had walked the beach an hour earlier and now the water is in... Side one...

And the other side....

And finally, the man with the plan, my dad handling the burger production!

We left a little early in an effort to get home before the major fireworks. The dogs were glad to get home and see TOG (who was as sick as a 'dog' and thus stayed home). Unfortunately, our neighbors were feeling patriotic and kept the holiday spirit (fireworks) going until about 2 in the morning. Good times.

Hope you had a lovely holiday, no matter where you are. If you're enjoying a long weekend (like our Canadian friends last weekend!) what are you planning to do today?

Wishing you a Happy and Safe Fourth!

We're off to the island to visit my dad who I've not seen in 9 months! He does the Arizona thing in the winter...

The good thing is that it's quiet and private out there. The last two days have been filled with some HUGE thunder and lightening storms and the annual illegal fireworks courtesy of our nutty neighbors. We've discovered that both of these things make Maddie a basket case, so I'm hoping she'll get her groove back out on the island!

Hope your holiday is safe and festive! See you tomorrow!

Hey! I said Private not Pirate!

K3 thought he really might be Jack Sparrow!

She has a bit of a "thing" for C'ptn Jack. I think this guy had been practicing!

Letters to Victoria

Taking a break from the zip lining and photos for a minute to tell stories.

As you may know, I'm a bit of a letter writer. I hate to admit this, but often, after a vacation, I send letters to the places we stay or eat at. If the service/food/room was excellent, they'll hear all about it. If they brought my dinner cold and didn't care, or the room smelled of smoke, or there was NO HOT WATER for a shower, they'll hear that too. Poor TOG will be sitting there watching the gears turn in my head and finally whisper loudly "Do not write them a letter, let it go".

Like most people that have worked in customer service, I'm aware that things go wrong occasionally. It's not so much the things that go wrong that determine the quality of the experience, as much as what occurs afterward. As well, sometimes the staff is performing daily miracles in the basement, and management doesn't know it. Many corporations large and small set out the comment cards because they want to know about your experience, but I prefer to do it free form! This last week, I sent two letters via email to folks in Victoria.

The first was to Victoria Acura. After the window mechanism broke, I found their number while on the ferry. The man that answered had to deal with an agitated woman that described her situation as an "Acura Emergency". He was so professional and calm and I really felt that they were going to work something out for me. Their Service Department was also very calm and squeezed me in on a Saturday afternoon with no appointment. TOG was sure they were going to charge me the big bucks, but the repair was ingenious and cheap and they had us underway in about 45 minutes. I sent the letter to the Dealership Manager. Lots of recognition for the three people that helped me, even though I only knew the name of the mechanic because it was sewn on his overalls!

The second letter was to the hotel. We stay there every summer because they're spotlessly maintained and reasonable for being right downtown. This weekend was Tall Ships Festival and the long weekend before Canada Day. They're swamped. We're lucky to get a room (which reservations had found us two days before) and we know it. We went to check in, and they had upgraded us to a Royal Suite. Good thing my lungs were working! The room wasn't going to be ready until three so they took our bags and we went off to the water front. We're back at three and the room's not ready. We leave again and come back at a quarter to four. Still not ready. We're hot (it's 85 out), sweaty and we've been up since 4:30 in the morning. They had housekeeping do our room next and they comped our parking for the entire stay. They did a number of other small, amazing things while we were there and I made sure the property manager knew it.

I always hope that that kind of information makes it back to the front line folks. And while I've written letters about things that weren't well handled, I prefer taking the time to write the compliment as well. I hope those folks feel appreciated. All to often, I've seen them get yelled at by guests for things that were out of their control!

Do you write letters or fill out comment cards? Am I just quirky?!

PS~ The room was amazing!

How Asthmagirl Terrifies Herself

It's an undeniable glitch in my programming that every now and then I creep out of my safe little cocoon and want to try something totally out of character. I tell myself how much fun it will be, that it'll be totally fine and then once I start down that path I'm pondering "what in the world was I thinking"!

Such was the case Sunday in Canada. I had talked to K3 about doing this. Surprisingly, she agreed and so I booked the activity. It wasn't until we got there that she started to feel a little trepidation. I was fine... TOG was fine. They explain the equipment and take you on this little training course, the bunny hill, they call it. Everyone feels confident and then they take you to the top. As we started down, I found myself in the unique position of comforting K3 and urging her on and doing some big time positive affirmations about getting myself through the course in one piece. I told TOG afterward that the only way I got through the first few lines was that I couldn't see another way to get down from the course! 100 feet up in a tree on a two foot platfom with no ladder? The only way off is to slide down a steel cable at 45 miles per hour? Whose idea was this?

What am I talking about? Zip lining! Have you ever zipped? No? It's very high octane, at least for me it was. The two things that bothered me the most were 1) you have to go against every natural instinct when they tell you to step off a platform 150 feet in the air. Self preservation is a distant memory! 2) If you catch a crosswind or shift your weight, you may spin and come in backwards. This give you that dizzy carnival ride feeling in your neck if you're going fast enough. (Oh, you're going fast enough!)

Now, there are pictures. Just remember that when you're in a zip harness, gravity takes hold, all your weight shifts downward in sheer terror and your butt looks bigger.  It's all smoke and mirrors. Trust me, my butt is much smaller. And the camera adds pounds too. Just so we're clear!

This is one of the shorter zips. But at the platform behind me in the trees, you step off over a rather steep gully. Don't look down! I became a pro at looking at the tree tops!

  

This one's a blur, because a) K3 was shaking from her ride and b) I was moving fast and hadn't hit the brake yet (the red block on the line in front of me, which keeps you from coming in for a landing at 40 miles per hour).

This was early on, and I'm still trying to show K3 how fun it is. Note the lack of commitment on her face!

This is right after the longest line (which you see behind us. It also has the longest landing pad (because you go so fast). Just remember, I am much thinner than it looks. Very thin. And note that K3 finally has her confidence! She actually didn't build enough speed and rolled backwards on the longest line. The guide went out to get her. Because she survived it, she's now worry free! (TOG said you should have seen her eyes when she started to roll back out!)

For the live movie of what it's like to zip, you can log on here! Then come back and tell me how excited you are to try this!

Yours in zip-line safety,

Asthmagirl

PS~ As we were leaving for the top, I held up the party while I grabbed my inhaler. Turns out, it was a really good idea. It was in the 90s and muggy. Still the lungs cooperated so I can't complain! I think they may have cooperated out of sheer terror. "Look, we're fine... just get us out of here!"

Back in the US

Yes, we rolled into town last night. What a trip! We were going to take the Coho to Port Angeles and drive around, but we thought the Canadian Ferry might be faster. Let's see, Catch the 12 noon, Hour and a half to cross, an hour to get to the border AND cross through customs...Home by 4:30, 5:00 tops. Ha! The 12:00 ferry didn't leave until almost one because it arrived late from Vancouver. We didn't know why until we were on it and we learned there were "mechanical difficulties" on the mainland. What did that mean? When we got to Vancouver (Tsawwassen), we discovered that it meant the gate wouldn't work properly. We ended up sitting on the ferry for a while, waiting for them to sort it out. The border was insane... construction, confusion... actually an hour and a half almost. We ended up getting home around 7.

However the trip there was worse. TOG hit the switch to roll my window up and the window mechanism broke with the window down. I was just going nuts. Now I've got security issues (my car is wide open), exhaust issues (fumes from other cars doesn't mix with the asthma well), hair issues (self explanatory)... Fortunately the Acura dealer in Canada was able to to clamp the window mechanism in the "up" position and the vacation continued, but it was a rocky start!

I downloaded pictures last night, but haven't edited... here's a few!

Mt Baker as we left....

Mt Baker as we got close to landing.

Mainland Canada!

Gotta get to work... More later.

Asthmagirl out!

The path you follow

I took this picture a week ago on the 5 out of 5 trail. I love the natural stone steps (which were quite wet) and the verdant green moss on the log. It reminds me that sometime the most difficult path is a study in unappreciated beauty.

Although I know I will have enjoyed a lovely time in my neighboring country, I'm glad that my path will lead me home today. I'm missing my little dogs! And I'm appreciating my bloggy friends because I know as I write this Friday night that there will be many times this weekend that I think "I can't wait to blog about that"!

Yours in rechargable camera batteries,

Asthmagirl

Sunday

I took this shot of Mt. Rainier while sitting in my car Friday morning.

It was such a clear day and the mountain was so large and beautiful in my windshield in that moment, it almost didn't seem real. I was oddly thrilled when the light turned red and I could scramble for my camera! I'm sure the people behind me thought I was some kind of a nut!

Enjoy your day! I'll be home tomorrow!

Saturday

A very quick food porn post for your eyes only!

This is the California Burger. But I had them substitute the beef patty for their yummy turkey patty! Because that's so much healthier underneath all the swiss cheese and bacon! And fellow potato ho's.... those are the very tasty herbed french fries!

Surprise! This morning at 4:30, we left for Canada. We're taking the Washington State Ferry directly to Vancouver Island.

I won't be posting while we're gone... a) I likely won't have time and b) I'm morally outraged at the thought of paying $10 a day for high speed internet access because I know what it costs to provide it!

I don't know what we'll be doing today for sure. Likely enjoying the beautiful weather. It's supposed to be in the 80's on the island today! Tonight we're taking K3 to her favorite pub for dinner.

I hope to take some better pictures this trip, especially with the beautiful weather.

Hopefully I've had time to write a post for tomorrow as well! Be sure to check back!

Asthmagirl Out!

Update: I totally wrote a few posts that are "set to go off" while I'm gone! Enjoy!