Day 1.Trail 1. Injury 1

Finally getting around to a recap of our Mountain Biking excursion over the Memorial Day weekend.

Being the Mountain Bike novice that I am , Jon let me choose the first trail that we would "conquer". Over a very leisurely breakfast Saturday morning, I started flipping through the pages of our Texas Mountain Biking book. As soon as I found a trail within close proximity and was listed as a level one, I was done. I didn't need to look any further. Let's face it, 98% of my cycling experience has been on some type of smooth, paved surface. And the other 2% was me struggling to get to the nearest smooth, paved surface. The fact that this trail was listed as "family friendly" was an added bonus.

As soon as we finished up our leisurely breakfast, loaded up on water and found our way to the trail it was around noon and about 150 degrees. Glad we got an early start.

I knew I would be struggling to keep up with Jon but I was feeling pretty confident considering this trail was listed as "family friendly". OH MY GOSH. Who's family are they talking about?????? Maybe Mr. Lance Tour de France Armstrong's family - but not this family!!!!!!

I swear, 15 feet from the start of the trail I observed in front of me what can only be described as "The Winding Staircase Of Death." Mother nature has intricately carved several narrow, steep, curving steps out of exposed tree roots and rocks. At 16 feet from the start of the trail - this was my left elbow. Sure it doesn't look that bad in the picture, that's not the point. I was only 20 feet from the start of the trail!!!!!!

Of course Jon gracefully navigated "The Winding Staircase Of Death" with ease so he was oblivious that I was down. Out of pride stubbornness, I tried my hardest to keep it that way. The blood seeping from my elbow pretty much gave it away. It was "just a flesh wound" so we kept on riding.

Luckily, that was the worst part of that particular trail. The rest wasn't easy by any means but wasn't as evil as the first 15 feet... and quite fun I have to admit. Usually when I cycle, my mind is on how many pitiful miles my little odometer is recording. One good thing about mountain biking is that I was so focused on trying to stay alive, I didn't worry about the stupid odometer.

Back Home

We made it back home safely late this afternoon from our mountain biking/sight seeing weekend. "Safely" is a relative term since I am scraped and bruised. We had a great time but I think the trails won. More on that later. I need to leave for the airport in 7 hours for a quick trip to Orange County, CA. and really need to get in a few winks.

Happy Birthday Jon!!!!

Yep, today was Jon's birthday!!! Trouble is I can't say a thing about his age because I will always be 5 years older than him. We are using the long weekend to celebrate his birthday and get out of town. Loaded up the bikes and drove a few hours south for a change of scenery. More to come on our weekend adventures!!

Before Or After?

Since my trip to New Orleans recently, I've gotten questions regarding how the area is doing. It's been 9 months since Katrina. It's also less than a week before the start of another hurricane season. Are things better? The playground at my nephew's school is no longer full of teachers living in tents. I suppose you can put that in the "things are better" column. However, everywhere you look there are images that would make more sense if it was 9 weeks since Katrina hit as opposed to 9 months. These pictures were taken by my brother-in-law just a month ago.

I tell you I admire all the people that drive past these sights every day and still manage to put one foot in front of the other. It would get to anyone.
The drive between the airport and my parent's house takes you past areas that were some of the worst hit. Much of it was under several feet of water for several days. Those areas are still very much a ghost town. It's all hard to take in but there are specific sights that still give me a pit in my stomach.

1. You see blue tarp roofs everywhere. I actually prefer to see the ones that cover most or all of the roof. The small ones tell me that someone had to try and escape or was hopefully rescued from the small hole under that blue tarp.
2. I still can not check luggage when I fly to New Orleans. The scenes of the baggage claim area at the airport being used as a temporary morgue are burned in my memory.
3. I still choke back tears when I see the spray paint on the houses that tell how many people were found dead or alive by rescuers.

On my first visit after Katrina, I noticed that every event was described as "Before Katrina" or "After Katrina". When people talk about events such as this person moved, that person got another job, this person passed away, so and so had a baby, it's all labeled as "Before Katrina" or "After Katrina". Katrina was not just a hurricane but a point in time from which events are measured.

On this visit, I realized that it's been shortened to just "Before" or "After". The "Katrina" is just understood. I heard two people talking in the airport:
"I've been living in D.C."
"Was that before or after"?

My nephew was telling me about a friend that used to live in his neighborhood. Then he added "but that was before".

No Vacancy

I am sure everyone has been on the edge of their seats and have not slept waiting for another update on the baby birds. They actually left the nest about a week ago. A couple of days before they flew away, they were quite active so I knew it was a matter of time. Here is the last picture that I took of the two of them.

Then one morning, one of them flew away and within an hour the other was gone.

However, we are not suffering from empty nest syndrome. The same day that these cuties flew the nest, another Mama Dove moved right in. Just like last time, Daddy Dove (I assume) helped "build the nest". Of course he got off easy since he chose a pre-built rather than new construction. They did make a few modifications and upgrades which Jon was quite happy about since he questioned the quality of the first nest from the beginning. Within a day the new dove was there to stay. And just like last time, no sign of Daddy Dove since the nest modifications were complete. Couldn't he visit once in a while, bring her a worm, something!!!! As far as I can tell, she has barely moved in almost a week.

I'm going to have to consider catching and tagging these birds. The same day the previous occupants flew the nest, someone else moves in??? How does that happen? Were they out scouting for a place to build a nest and just happened upon a vacancy? Is there a 1 800 reservation number for my back patio nest that I don't know about?

Mojitos with Paul

My younger brother is doing some work a couple of hours from here. He had a little break late yesterday and this morning so he headed this way and spent the night with us last night. Paul is 11 years younger than I am so he was only 7 when I left for college. Since I never moved back home full-time, he was 7 years old to me for quite a while.
Although I just saw him last weekend when I was home for Mother's Day, there was there was so much activity we really didn't get to. As adults, there have been a couple of times that we have spent time together without the rest of "the gang" and despite the age difference and geographical difference, we are close. In 1999, when I lived in Sydney, he visited for a couple of weeks and we had a blast. We went whale watching and I'm pretty sure we were the only two people on the boat that weren't sea sick and hurling over the railing of the boat. We also went hiking and got leeches (yes leeches) on us. Nasty. Then a few years ago, he flew into town and we went to the U2 concert together. This visit was short and did not include leeches or Bono but it was good to share a few hours and a couple of Mojitos with him!!

My Mother's Day

(Been really busy so this post is over a week late.)

Now let’s talk about my Mother’s Day. Yep that’s right, thanks to my very sweet husband (don’t worry Jon, you are also sexy) I received my first Mother’s Day present this year. He gave it to me before I flew to New Orleans to see my Mom.
Not only did he think to get me something but he got me the perfect something. This necklace from Red Envelope. I LOVE it. Here's the description from the website:

These twin pendants celebrate one of the most cherished bonds of all—that of a mother and daughter. The top pendant is mother-of-pearl and hand-carved with the Chinese characters for mother and daughter. Underneath, the English translation is etched in sterling silver
Very, very thoughtful and I have worn it everyday since he gave it to me. I love it. Thanks, Jon

The day after he gave it to me, I went for my eyebrow wax appointment. The woman that waxes my eyebrows is from Korea but she also knows quite a bit of Mandarin. As soon as I positioned myself on the torture device, aka spa table, she said something which I did not even remotely understand.

"Excuse Me?" I replied. (Hopefully I managed an “Excuse me” but it could have easily been "Huh?"....Yeah, those Mandarin Mondays are really paying off for me.)

You’re necklace, she said “Mother and Daughter”. "Oh, yes I said." Then I asked her to repeat it about fifty zillion times so I could get the pronunciation remotely close. She also showed me how to write the characters. She wrote the characters and her pronunciation on a Kleenex. I gently folded the kleenex and put it in the side compartment of my purse. There is no way that she can know how priceless that simple Kleenex is to me.

Good News

A friend of mine (that I 've known since first grade) and her husband are adopting a little girl from Russia. Their amazing and adorable son was adopted from Russia as an infant and has been asking for a baby sister for quite some time. I ran into her at church when I was home visiting my Mom this past weekend and we were sharing adoption updates. She was thinking it would be several more months before a referral. Well I received an email today and they got THE CALL!!!! I am sooooo excited for them. They will be making the first of two trips to Russia at the beginning of June. YEAH!!!!!

Mother's Day 2006 - Part 2

After making this box with our wedding photos, I decided to make one for Mom also. Her version had pictures of all of us through the years including a picture of Mom holding me as an infant. To represent her future Grandchild, I put a picture of "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" (which she had read numerous times to my niece), a picture of a ladybug, the picture of me crying last Christmas when I saw the dress my Mom made for our daughter and a picture of our paperwork. I can't wait to glue a copy of our referral picture somewhere on that box .

Spending Mother's Day with Mom was great. As I get older I realize more and more what an amazing woman she is. I swear when I was 16 she wasn't as brilliant or cool as she is now. Honestly, there are so many things about both of my parents that I took for granted. It seems like a good time to capture a few things that I appreciate about Mom more and more with each passing day.

1. I love that she can laugh until tears run down her face.
2. She has been with my Dad for over 46 years but understands the importance of girlfriends. She has an amazing group of friends. For as many years as I can remember, if you have lunch at a particular restaurant on a Tuesday, you will see a large table of women. One of them may be laughing so hard that she is crying.
3. I appreciate that she never expected my life to be her life. I moved away immediately after graduating from college. (And talked about it long before that.) She has never for a single second made me feel guilty for moving away. Even when I announced one day that I was packing up and moving to Australia, I am pretty sure her response was something like "Great, we will come and visit." And they did. Sure we have both shed tears while saying goodbye at the airport. However, she taught me that remaining close isn't dependent on physical proximity. Just as living close to someone doesn't guarantee a close relationship. There's more to it than that.
4. I am constantly amazed at her energy. I swear there is a super-secret energy source that she has not shared with the rest of the world. Some people look at kids and wish they could "bottle all of that energy." You could say the same thing about my Mom.
5. Growing up there were four of us kids with 13 years difference between the oldest and youngest. For many years, my Dad traveled for work 50% of the time. So she was dealing with potty training, a rebellious teenager and everything in between all at the same time. Although for two weeks out of most months my Dad was out of town, I honestly don't remember her complaining.
6. She is always willing to try something new. She started Yoga in her fifties long before it became "mainstream". (At least in her small town in south Louisiana.)
   
   While home, I also went ahead and gave Dad his Father's Day present which included a great hat purchased from M3's cafepress shop. (Pictures coming) Of course, even though I told Dad it was his Father's Day present, he is always ready with the last word. As he dropped me off at the airport, he said "See you for Father's Day."

Mother's Day 2006 - Part 1

I decided to fly to New Orleans for Mother’s Day this year. I haven’t spent Mother's Day with Mom for at least 15 years. Sure, I always call her and usually manage to send something. And I do travel “home” for many holidays, Mother’s Day just has not been one of them. I decided over a month ago that this year I wanted to spend Mother’s Day with Mom in person. I also wanted to surprise her. Unfortunately, with her social calendar, the element of surprise became impossible and last week I had to go ahead and tell her I was coming. Still a surprise, just a couple of days early.

I also (half-jokingly) told her that I wanted to spend the day with her because "let’s face it, next Mother’s Day is going to be ALL ABOUT ME. "(She didn't take offense, in fact she laughed. Lucky for me, Mom has a sense of humor and is eager for another Grandchild. She also knows that I will always celebrate her no matter what. ) As I see it, here are the possible scenarios for Mother’s Day 2007:

1. We will be home from China. (Hey, a girl can dream can’t she!)
2. We will be in China
3. We will have our referral and will be waiting to travel
4. I will be curled up in the corner with a bottle of tequila. And a lime because, let’s face it, tequila without the lime….well, that’s just tacky.

So, regardless of how you slice it, I will be needing a little extra attention next year.

It was a great weekend. I got to see my parent's new house for the first time. It was really good to see them not living in their MOTORCOACH anymore. (My Dad corrected me when I referred to it as a trailer in this post.) Apparently there is a big difference.

Saturday we went to the local seafood joint and bought some boiled shrimp and crawfish and picked up some Abita Beer. In south Louisiana, nothing says Mother’s Day like boiled crawfish and Abita Beer. And we ate the shrimp and crawfish the way they are supposed to be eaten. In the backyard, on a picnic table covered with newspaper.




















To be continued....

My Favorite Poet

is my nephew Jackson. He received an award in the Young Author's Contest for their parish (county). He won in the category for second grade poetry. I am soooooo proud of him. He went to the awards ceremony last night and read his poem in front of a large audience. I spoke with him when he was on his way to the award's ceremony. It went something like this.

Me: I am so proud of you, Jackson!!!
Jackson: Yeah
Me: Are you going to read your poem tonight?
Jackson: Yeah, in front of hundreds of people
Me: Wow, that's great
Jackson: And it's going to be in the newspaper and on tv
Me: Well, I want an autographed copy of your poem
Jackson: (slight chuckle)
Jackson: When are you going to China?
Me: In about a year
Jackson: A YEAR?!?!?!?!?!?!
Me: Afraid so
Jackson: Well have you picked out your baby yet?
Me: Lame attempt to explain the process without using four letter words
Jackson: Well, when you go will you get me a picture of a panda?
Me: Absolutely

And We Had To Have A Homestudy......

not to mention clearances from every level of law enforcement, reference letters, etc. Then you read that Britney*$pears is pregnant with number two. I know, I know, the skull fracture on her seven month old was the nanny's fault and she had her infant behind the wheel to "protect" him. Please. And don't get me started on her love them and leave them (when several months pregnant) husband of hers. Going to get more coffee.....

Mandarin Monday - 7

I'm sticking with the baby theme this time. No, I'm not going to learn how to say "baby birds". I'm obsessed with them, but it's not quite that bad.

Some of you may already be aware of this site that does daily podcasts in Mandarin. They have done two great podcasts here specifically for adoptive parents. I recommend listening to the second one on the page first (the one fromMarch 6th). Warning: It made me cry, but I'm a known crier. And then listen to Baby Talk #2. I thought they were pretty cool and very well done.

Whew - They Aren't Squashed!!!!

I was really worried that these little birdies would be flat as a pancake after seeing how Mama Dove sits on them. But I guess she knows what she's doing. Finally, I got the picture. I got home late last night and I was happy to see Mama Dove was still sitting on the nest. Being the bird expert that I am, I don't know how long before these babies leave the nest.

I stumbled downstairs this morning for some coffee and was greeted with this lovely sight. So I got up on my chair and was able to snap this picture.

Baby Bird Update

(Updated with correct link to M3's hideous bird thing. Somehow I managed to totally mess up the original. Thanks M3 for the heads-up. Seriously, if you haven't seen this thing it is worth the click.)

I've been in Atlanta since Sunday night. I was home for a few hours today to say hello to Jon, re-pack the suitcase and get a flight to Kansas City. This is where my "wise beyond her years" niece would say with a slightly sarcastic tone "And......how are you going to have a kid". Unfortunately my sister and I both know exactly where she gets her sarcasm. Her Dad. HA!!
Yes, I know that my job will need to either disappear or drastically change. I'm working on it.

While home, I also made time to check on the babies (don't worry, I know they are birds...I haven't completely lost my mind.) I swear Mama Dove sits right on top of the two babies. I admit I'm not an expert on birds of any kind. In fact, my bird knowledge is limited to what I have witnessed outside of my kitchen window. However, I will never understand how she doesn't smother them. I noticed that she flew away while I was downstairs so I ran to get the camera so I could get a picture of the babies. They are quite a bit bigger than just days ago. I guess you could say they are cute. Let's just hope they grow into those eyes and beaks. They are definitely cuter than this hideous creature. Sorry M3.

Anyway, by the time I got back with the camera, this is what I saw. I am not sure if you can tell in the picture but the layer between Mama Dove and the nest....well that is her two baby birds.

I asked Jon to try and get a better picture of them before I get home Friday night. Yes, I am obsessed with getting a picture of them before they fly away.