Crazy Storm

Sunday was a crazy storm day! There were times when the rain came down in sheets so thick we couldn't see the trees in our yard. It sounded as if a train was going to burst through the windows at any moment!

There was thunder from far off but still rumbled through the house like a 4.2 earthquake; nothing to be afraid of in an earthquake but not reassuring during a lightening storm.

We sat down to a nice Sunday dinner. About 5 bites in to our meal the sun burst out from under the clouds in the western sky.

Frank looked out the windows behind him and bellowed, "heylskdjfalsdkfjioisnsky!" 

We all stared at him, puzzled that none of the food fell out of his mouth, but we all knew what he meant!

Sun is out, there's going to be rainbows!

We grabbed out rain gear, cameras, put our shoes on, apologized to Rex (the dog) and Brinley (the baby) that they couldn't go; thanked Kate for the nice dinner and ran out the door.

The sky was black in the east, but the sun was popping in and out of thinning clouds in the western sky. We drove west to Millville Plains; we drove to Frank's tree (that's what the photo-people call a magnificent tree that Frank has been photographing for 20 plus years.)

Photo by Toni Tona

We were the first car there, but soon the spot had several other local photographers pulling in their rigs and running out for a good spot to wait for the rainbow.

I brought a book. I wasn't going to get out in that rain and wind and get knocked around...or so I thought. Once you get to the spot and all the other photographers are running around like ants on a mission, you get caught up in it....and I forgot my glasses. No reading, might as well join the crazies!

Then the lightening started, more thunder, more wind....our photography just-in-case umbrella is safe at home in the garage...of course!

Frank caught some incredible photos. Then, drum roll please, the rainbow. Building slow, just a bright spot on the horizon, growing, growing. There it goes, almost half way across the sky. Just that quick a small cloud blew in front and hid all but a tiny section.

Photo by Toni Tona

Several cameras took the shots, jumped in their cars and headed home...probably to finish dinner!

We waited and were rewarded with a double rainbow. Not much of one but still a double. I am embarrassed to show you mine, Frank's put mine to shame.

The sun peaked back behind a low lying cloud in the west. The rest of the photographers bailed.

"Are we going?" I called out to him!

He shook his head and pointed to the west. He could see a tiny sliver of blue sky just above the mountains. "Nope!" he said, "The sun is going to peak under those clouds and light this tree up! I'm going to catch that picture!"

We do a lot of waiting!  Yup, a lot of waiting. Though this is one time that was just glorious. The sky changed by the seconds. Sometimes dark and gloomy and other times the color was orange and other-worldly.

Photo by Toni Tona

 Finally, a little flash of sunlight on the grass, climbing the hill and Kapow! The tree glowed, totally glowed. The drops of water in the leaves and branches reflected thousands of micro-rainbows. (again, his photo is so much better than mine, so here is his).

Photo by Frank Tona Copyright

 But I did get a photo of him gloating!

Yes, he was right! The sun was going to light up his tree!

Not only did we get a brightly lit tree but we were rewarded with an almost-full moon just above the clouds.

Photo by Toni Tona

All in all, it was a nice Sunday evening drive for dessert!

Physics

I must have missed the day that physics class addressed the phenomenon of spring cleaning! I'm not even sure how to set up the equation. Could it be: mass + dust+movement=mass squared.

Yesterday, I called Mom and Dad to see if they needed groceries. Sister was already on the job.
Baby was hanging out with her daddy.
GodParenting Book has me backed into corner; major writer's block.

What to do?

"Hey, clean your room!" Don't you hate when the inner responsible, mature person in your head makes suggestions?

The idea of Spring Cleaning in your head!

Okay, I decide it's a day for action. I have three big bags.
1. Trash
2. Purging Clothing
3. Purging Books ( I know I can, I know I can, I know I can,I know I can...)

Starting in the south east corner. Tossing this or that into that or this bag. I opened drawers and tossed keepers on the bed, folded savers on the side. Books, tossed a couple but found four piles building. One pile for my  syfy son, some good novels for my daughter and her daughters, a pile for a friend who sells books on Amazon and a pile of Serbian books (no, I can't read Serbian but there is a Serbian Orthodox Church in the area, maybe someone there would like them.)

Another pile on the bed of stuff that belongs somewhere else. A quickly building pile on the floor of clothing that probably should go through the wash.

Dusting, wiping, organizing....Hey, looking good!

Then I turned around...Oh My God.....where did all this crap come from and what am I going to do with it?

Then I recalled my thoughts at every spring cleaning:

It Always Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

Getting past the delusion!

Green Beer?

Graphic from Green Eggs and Ham

"Not in a house, not with a mouse,
Not with a fox or in a box.
Not here or there, not anywhere!"

Hey, It's Okay!

Tuesday! Already! Amber at Airing My Dirty Laundry took this idea from a magazine, I'm thinking it was Glamour, but it could have been any one of many. I can't remember and that's okay because it is
Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

Time to make a list of all that is okay!

It's Okay....hmm, nothing comes to mind...could it be that everything is okay today and nothing stands out enough to document?

It's Book Club Tuesday and that's okay, that is always okay!  It's even okay that the book was only so-so to me because I know that it was great for a couple of the ladies. Having different tastes if okay.

Poor hubby caught my miserable cold and is equally as miserable as I was, that's not okay but he shares his cough drops with me and that's okay.

Best okay of the week. Yesterday Brinley, our great granddaughter learned a new word. She learned the word "more."  She said it in a sentence, albeit a 21 month old's sentence, "Nana, num-nums mmmmore!"

We were both excited! I asked her if she had just discovered a new word and she enthusiastically nodded her head and repeated, "mmmmoore......mooooorrrrrre......mmmmorrrrrr!"

It's okay that watching a baby (or anyone for that matter) learn something new thrills me.

It's okay that when we laid down for her nap that she practiced saying her new word several times as she drifted off.

It's okay that I smiled as I drifted off, too.

Stop!

I love football. I love board games. I do like to win.

My favorite thing in the world, though, is cooperation, collaboration, team work.  There is nothing better to me than a well-oiled team.

Competition is really not my cup of tea. (Dang, who clicked my cliche button today?)

At the theater yesterday we saw a couple of "Coming Soon" posters and trailers that I found to be very disturbing....yes, more disturbing than a grandmother taking her wise-beyond-her-years teenage granddaughter!

Superman vs Batman
Iron Man vs Captain America

What the hell?

Why are we pitting good guy against good guy; hero against hero?

What is wrong with us?

Superman and I are leaving and we are not coming back until you all get your shit together and start getting along!

But Friday's Should Be.....

Friday morning. Two business calls, answering emails and trying to make contact (again) with could-be key player!

11:05 and I'm ready to blow veins in my head! I just had to commit to 36 pages by March 22. In between calls and emails and watching my granddaughter drive by in the Driver's Training car, I have researching Teen suicides, youth disenfranchisement, Godparenting Roles and Responsibilities.

It's crazy busy but it's also cold, raining cats and dogs, wind gusting....shouldn't I be under a nice quilt, sipping a cup of hot tea and reading a great mystery or thriller? At least, snug in a dark theater watching a good movie while the pitter-patter of the death of a drought dances on the roof.

Are any of you familiar with a Marvel Comic's hero, Dead Pool?  I wasn't until about two weeks ago when one of my teenage granddaughters told me she was going to see Dead Pool at midnight opening with her mom.

The next day she said it was awesome and hilarious.

She spent Wednesday night here with us and yesterday was just like today...rain, dark, cold. We had some great conversation. She is a genius, was in college instead of high school in her freshman year! She has the family sense of humor...which is a dark, techie and a little twisted.

So, after lunch, I asked her if she wanted to go see a movie with me? The night before I saw a trailer for a little animated film about dinosaurs living on when the BIG METEOR missed earth...different dimension?

Silly Nana said, "Want to see a movie. I didn't see anything appealing except for......."

"Dead Pool! Dead Pool! Dead Pool! Dead Pool!" She cheered on!

What I knew about Dead Pool:  Ryan Reynolds (I love Ryan Reynolds)
                                                    Make-up - his took hours to apply
                                                    A neoprene superhero costume.

What the hell! I told her to call her mom and make sure it's okay that I keep her a couple of extra hours....her dad had instructed an early return to get chores and homework done.

He mom (my daughter) said sure, have a good time!

Not, "Let me talk to Nana!" followed by "Mom, do you know what you are getting yourself in for?"

No, none of that! Just, 'sure, have a good time!"

We went. Great seats. Thursday afternoon so only 12 or so people in the theater.

Roll post credits. Evil British villain, Moody Teen, Asshats!

Good chuckles.

And then....language, nudity, sexual content, violence, did I say language?

During the "Love" scene, my granddaughter said, "This is where I step out for a couple of minutes, I don't need to see this."

During the more bloody scenes, she advised me "Don't look, Nana!"   Hearing "thunk...splat"....

"Okay, you can look now."  or "Not yet, Nana...(more incredibly telling sound effects)....Okay, now!"

Don't tell anyone, but I loved it! (mostly)

It's Okay

IT'S OKAY TUESDAY!!!!!

It's Okay Tuesday! Yeah!  It's so good to have a day to just nod and whisper, "It's Okay," or even to shout, "It's okay!" The best part is, It's Okay!

Like the Doobie Brothers sing it, "It's awright!"





It's Okay that I went to a business meeting on the GodParenting program we're developing and the IT and Financial guys were speaking a completely foreign language!

It's Okay that the river can be seen from my mom's and dad's living room. It is still rising and will be at 17 feet on Friday. They live on the bank of the Sacramento River but we haven't been able to see the river from inside the house for a couple of years! Friday it will crest and still be 10 feet from flood stage. Could the drought be coming to an end?

It's Okay that Stinkerbelle is in day care two days a week. She loves it, and her mom and dad love the people and place.

It's Okay that I'm blogging at this moment instead of working on writing the workbook....really.....it is!

It's Okay that I'm nervous about not getting the workbook perfect. First thing I saw on Facebook this morning was a meme stating, "The first draft doesn't have to be done perfect, just has to be done!"

It's Soooooo Okay that Mexico and Great Britain have restricted Donald Trump from ever entering their countries......E....V....E....R

It's Okay that I was sicker than a dog all last week because today I am fine!!!

It's Okay that I still do Facebook and haven't moved on to all the "cooler" social media sites!

It's Okay that I do have Instagram, Facetime and Snapchat on my phone and Ipad but rarely use them. 

It's Okay that Dinosaurs makes changes slower than Teens and Millennials!


Most importantly:

It's Okay that I am hungry and willing to ditch juicing for a Dairy Queen Blizzard, after all, it IS It's Okay Tuesday! (Make mine with whipped cream and nuts!)

Question Of The Month

Yay! Time again for Question of the Month from Mike at A Life Examined! Dang, I love his questions but even more, I love surfing around reading all the answers and discovering more about my virtual companions!

This month's question is a goody!

 Mike asks: Have you ever met a hero/ idol/influence/some you really admire?  How did it go?


I did!  It was sweet! Not the sugary, marshmallow-chicks kind of sweet. It was "Hot diggity dog, this is so cool" kind of SWEET! 

It was a hitting-the-Lottery kind of sweet!

A long time ago, in a land far away....at least, that's how long ago it seems to me, I worked on the Orthopedics floor, more commonly known in our hospital as Second East. 

We have a neurologist in town who is the most gifted surgeon. He has saved more lives and repaired more 'impossible' traumatic injuries than one can imagine.  He was also a bit of an anarchist! He didn't follow 'hospital protocol'! He had his own protocol. He made most of his patient visits at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and other non-conformist actions that pushed hospital administrators to the ends of their almighty control issues.

The night nurses would tell us the best stories about his Maverick ways!

I hadn't worked nights for almost a year and when I did it was on the Oncology floor so I had never seen Dr. Numinous Fingers let alone meet him.

The day I did finally meet the myth himself, I had a patient who had been driving a Jeep and swerved to miss a dead squirrel. The vehicle flipped a couple of times and she broke her neck.  Not broke broke, but truly suffered a severe cervical spine injury. (You won't believe how many people end up in 3 months traction because they swerve to miss a squirrel or skunk....over-correcting can hurt you bad! Don't swerve to miss an rodent!)

I was in the room with our (yes, I said it) patient when he walked in. I swear, his energy entered the room about 15 seconds before he did! The patient was flat in bed with a cervical collar on. She had come onto the floor in the middle of the night following emergency surgery.

Dr. Maverick was carrying a halo brace. If you are not familiar with these braces, they look a little bit like an Inquisition torture device.

Illustration Courtesy of Mayfield Clinic

He walks in (and I use the word 'walk' because I truly don't know how to describe him so I guess I'll just use simple, human terms though I would hardly relate the description "simple human" to him). He walks in, introduces himself to both of us. He spoke to the patient about her injuries and the surgery.

He spoke to me across the patient's bed. "Toni," He hands me a screwdriver, "This one is yours."

Yikes!

We practiced turning the screws in diagonal positions until we had the same speed and pressure.

We prepared the patient for the brace. Placed it over her head and shoulders and screwed it in place. The entire time we were securing the halo, the patient told us jokes. It was a jolly little party in spite of the thought of driving screws into someone's head.

When all was done, Dr. Yum and I left the room together. He said some really nice things, we had a great conversation, he recorded his notes of the procedure in her file.

As he left, he shook my hand (shivers) and thanked me for the assist.

He eventually got tired of hospital administration trying to shove him into the protocol box so he built his own hospital...and a damn good one too. It is the cream of the crop!

He is still somewhat of a local hero and whenever his name comes up, I sigh and think to myself, "I once screwed with him!"

Getting A Tattoo

The last post was a fun little bucket list. As I marked each 'X' or deleted an 'X', I thought about the things I've done, the things I haven't done, the things I won't do  (parachuting and bungie jumping....helloooo!)  and the things I would like to do.

I often think about getting a tattoo. Part of me wonders if I am going to be the only old woman in the nursing home in years to come without a tat or two!

When a tatted woman walks by and I see her color, blatant or just peeking, my mind wanders in that direction. What would my shoulder look like with an iridescent teal and purple dragonfly?

Maybe on the inside of my wrist?

Maybe a couple of pretty flowers and leaves to accompany it or, hey, can the artist make it look like it is floating about a small pool of water?

The symbology of those numinous creatures is rich.  Physics says they shouldn't be able to fly yet they flutter about, forwards, backwards, up and down. They do the impossible. I love that!

They also represent poise and maturity....(shoulder shrug) can't win them all.

There is always the Tree of Life. That has incredible meaning for me. Is there anything more beautiful and magical than a tree. Their auras are majestic, they are firmly grounded yet reaching for the stars.

Ancestors, descendants, family, the cycle of life! I can see this on the outside of my thigh...surely there is enough room and some to spare. I can actually visualize the roots winding down my leg.....uh, that's a lot of ink.

I've always, always, always loved Celtic knots. Maybe a little of my grandpa's Irish made it's way into my soul.

What about a Celtic Tree of Life? So many to choose from, all gorgeous and full of meaning. I try to imagine the colors I would choose, the outline - white or black or deep purple.

How big would I want it?  Could the artist shrink it down to fit just below my knee on the outside of a leg?

How many shots of Patron Silver to make that not hurt?

Many of my friends have tats. Some are hidden away, some are blatant, in your face color!  Most are beautiful.  Very, very tempting.

While discussing tattoos with a friend, she suggested that if I am seriously considering getting a tattoo, to find the picture that I want.

She says that I should get it printed the size and colors that I would like, then stick it on the refrigerator for a year! A year!

If after a full year I still like the picture then, and only then, should I get the tattoo!

I love the advice. (Many of my friends are very wise!)

So, I look for the perfect picture! Problem is, I can't find anything I would want to stare at on my fridge for a year.....soooooo....anyway....one can always just imagine and dream!

Maybe the nurses will call me, "the lady in 212 with virgin skin!"

Driving A Stolen Bucket List

Bob stole this from Anne Marie who stole it from Travel Penguin, then I stole it from Bob...and you can steal it too (free for only 19.99 plus shipping OR copy and paste).

The italics are my own comments.

It’s a Bucket List ... Play along...

(X) Shot a gun...and damn good at it!

(X) Gone on a blind date...just one and had a great time!
(X) Skipped school 
(X) Watched someone die
(X) Visited Canada 

(X) Visited Hawaii 
() Visited Cuba 
() Visited Europe 
() Visited South America 
(X) Visited Las Vegas....over-rated! Would prefer Tahoe anytime!
 
() Visited Central America 
(X) Visited Asia....lived in Japan for 18 months
() Visited Africa 
(X) Visited Florida 
(X) Visited Mexico 
 
(X) Seen the Grand Canyon in person 
(X) Flown in a plane 
(X) Served on a jury 
(X) Been lost 
(X)Traveled to the opposite side of the country...many times! Love it!
 
() Visited Washington, DC 
(X) Swam in the Ocean...two of them, Atlantic and Pacific. Can't wait to swim in the Adriatic Sea or the Mediterranean!
(X) Cried yourself to sleep...warning, remove your mascara before crying yourself to sleep!
(X) Played cops and robbers....was a tom-boy from day one.
(X) Played cowboys and Indians...and climbed trees, played King of the Mountain (and won) played football, basketball, softball, volleyball and field hockey.
 
(X) Recently colored with crayons 
(X) Sang karaoke 
() Sang a solo or duet in church....(laughing at this one! Have you heard me sing?)
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only 
(X) Made prank phone calls 
 
(X) Laughed until some beverage came out your nose..okay with wine but soda burns!
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Had children....the Grammar Nazi in me wonders if this means "given birth" or the children are gone. I have children, they are just out of the nest!
(X) Had a pet 
(X) Been skinny-dipping...is there a better way to swim?
 
(X) Been fishing...mostly used to cast my line in and sit back and play guitar until time to go home! But caught a fair share of bass and trout.
(X) Been boating 
(X) Been downhill skiing 
(X) Been water skiing 
(X) Been camping in a trailer/RV 
 
(X) Been camping in a tent 
(X) Driven a motorcycle...had my own and rebuilt the engine myself!
() Been bungee-jumping (ripcord jumping) ....do I look crazy?
() Been sky diving....out of a perfectly good airplane? Hell, no!
(X) Gone to a drive-in movie...and sometimes even watched the movie!
 
(X) Done something that could have killed you
(X) Done something that you will regret for the rest of your life 
() Rode an elephant...does 'in my dreams' count?
() Rode a camel 
(X) Eaten just cookies or cake or ice cream for dinner
 
(X) Been on TV 
(X) Stolen any traffic signs ....shhhh!
(X) Been in a car accident 
(X) Been in the hospital in the past 24 months...with parents, not in a bed!
(X) Donated blood 
 
() Gotten a speeding or any other type of ticket in the past 12 months 
(X) Gotten a piercing 
() Gotten a Tattoo 
(X) Driven a four door vehicle 
(X) Ever owned your dream car 
 
(X) Been Married 
(X) Been divorced 
(X) Fell in love 
(X) Fell out of love 
(X) Paid for a stranger's meal 
 
(X) Driven over 100 mph...owned a Plymouth Satellite that could fly!
(X) Been scuba diving...only in fresh water lake, but have snorkeling in the ocean.
(X) Written a published book/story (poem) (song) 
() Eaten snails 
(X) Broke a bone...playing basketball, not jumping out of airplanes or off of a bridge with rubber bands wrapped around my waist! 

p.s.  Can I just add that a lot of these things were not on my bucket list, they just happened and some of these things happened when I really didn't know better...except for the skinny dipping, that is a hobby!

Dancing In The Rain

Before the skies closed up! Looking east from highway 162.

We loaded up the cameras yesterday and headed to Highway 20 West to photograph spring flowers. The clouds had broken up during the night but the new storm was coming in, promising big puffy cumulus and dark, ominous nimbus stratus highlighted by the sun here and there.

 Spring in northern California is incredibly beautiful. Every tone of green is evident, trees are filled with pastel blossoms and wildflowers abound.

Have you ever tried to photograph delicate poppy in hurricane winds?  I know, it's an exaggeration, but the further south we drove, the higher the winds grew. When we spotted a landscape begging to have it's picture taken, the car doors were ripped from out of our hands. Gusts would try to knock us over.

The clouds got thicker, darker, more threatening with each mile we traveled.

Forget getting to Highway 20; we made an impromptu turn in Willows and headed west.  We were early and saw only the very first, impatient wildflowers but it would have been impossible to snap a shot of any of them except as a block of color.  Individual flowers were rocking out in the breeze!

Clouds were moving five times faster than the sheep...or are they cows? I was focused on not being blown away.

Now and then, just as one of us would get a good foothold to hold our balance from the force of the wind, then focus, a gust would spray the lens with a couple of rain drops.  We did a lot of laughing and swearing yesterday. Frank got some awesome photos and I can't wait to see them downloaded, of course, he IS the professional so he got the really good lens and he remembered his tripod. His photos are in focus. Mine, well, mine are different, yeah, that's it, they're different!

We have been considering leaving California but...and this is a big but, we fell in love with the country in those back roads. Going to check Zillow as soon as I post a couple of photos for a little house in the rolling hills. We fell in love with the area. It is calling us to come back soon.

Clouds closing in fast but still enough light for capturing an itsy-bitsy bit of color.

Never had to flap her wings; she just twisted and turned in a sky ballet!

Getting Darker but it was only about 2:00 in the afternoon.

I want our house at the end of this driveway, nestled in the trees!

Waiting List?

Crap! It looks like I'm not going to be able to just get in my little Chevy and move to Canada!

Google reported today that "moving to Canada" searches increased by 1000% after the results of yesterday's voting came in.

There goes that cabin in Manitoba I was dreaming off!

BookClub Extrodinaire

Open Confession:  I didn't finish the book we were supposed to read for book club meeting last night.

Group Consciousness: Non of the other women finished the book either.  We all basically stopped at the end-ish of the third chapter. It was a non-fiction. We thrive on non-fiction and typically only read one novel every quarter but we just couldn't wrap our brains around this one book.

BUT....the book inspired one of the best get-togethers ever! The conversation last night was absolutely the deepest, diversified, reflective, authentic....not enough adjectives to describe it.

We laughed, we cried! Our voices got loud and excited and, at times, we almost whispered.

There was, at times, a sense of reverence in the room, enfolding us in an ambiance of the Divine participating, or at least observing!

More moments that I would like to admit, I am hoping the Divine went out for a walk! Women can take conversation to so many levels....oh, men, if you only knew!!!

At the end of the evening, someone mentioned auras. Two of us had experience seeing auras, two had not. We decided to look at auras. First try, J, who had never seen an aura, saw the aura around her hand; a glowing blue and yellow around all the fingers and a soft pink down the side of her pinkie finger, wrist and headed up her arm.

We showed them how our auras will connect and stretch out, much like silly putty (OMG, did I just age myself?)

The aura around my hand and between my fingers was a soft blue turning to purple, the shade gradually getting deeper.

Have you ever tried seeing or feeling your aura? Have you seen other people's auras?

p.s.  we were sober! 

It's Okay Tuesday!

Can I just say...I am so happy it is It's Okay Tuesday!

Remember Airing My Laundry? She hosts and promotes a wonderful day of Tuesday Okays.  I didn't think it would get here fast enough this week but now, at 2:19 a.m., I can't remember my list of  Okays that I was in such dire need of airing! (which possibly means they are, truly, okay!)

Wait....I feel the items wrestling out of the deep recesses of my mind and slowly revealing themselves. Is it possible these little events and thoughts hide out until they are given the nod to come out in the light of day?

IT'S OKAY that I skipped juicing last night and ate chicken enchiladas...my grandson makes the best and just the smell of them beat out the thought of one more cup of beet, spinach, carrots, bell pepper and kale juice.

IT'S OKAY that the UPS guy places the boxes on the welcome mat, rings the door bell and runs for his truck in fear of the ferocious sound of vicious dog behind the red door.

IT'S OKAY that Rex pretends to be a ferocious dog when the UPS guy comes to the door. He's fair about it, he pretends to be ferocious to all other strangers...no biases on his part. He loves to scare everyone!

IT'S OKAY that Rex has been chasing the big fat squirrel in our back yard. That squirrel has confiscated 80% of the bird seed...and despite it being Tuesday, squirrels consuming food meant for the birds is not okay!

IT'S OKAY that I didn't get my book read in time for tonight's book club meeting. (Sidenote: Wed. A.M.  Bookclub was Tuesday night and none of us finished it...but it inspired one of the best meetings EVER!)

IT'S OKAY it is now 2:35 and I have an 8 a.m. business meeting across town...there is enough coffee  to keep me awake once I get to the meeting.

IT'S OKAY that I didn't blog for three days. (p.s. I don't really believe that. I'm just trying to convince myself).

IT'S OKAY that I just love all of the friends I've made in blog-land. You are all the best. You make me want to live a a small village in England and Wales and Ireland. You make me want to journal more, cook more and create more art. You make me want to create my own little world and photograph the citizens doing their thing!  You make me want to slap Trump, Rubio and Cruz, well, I kind of wanted to do that on my own, but you all give me the courage to imagine the sting on the palm of my hand and wish I had made a fist instead!

Oh year, IT'S OKAY that I want to punch Trump, Rubio and Cruz...."To the moon, Donald!"