Family Day 2013 (Postponed)

"Happiness is only real when shared."

~Jon Krakauer, Into The Wild

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you might know that October 23rd is celebrated in our house as Family Day! It's a made up holiday that Alan and I have been celebrating since our honeymoon in 1990. It came about by way of a chance encounter with a Bay Area sports hero at the time, Joe Montana. You see, Alan and I decided to visit the home of all things pumpkin, in the Bay Area, Half Moon Bay. It was there, at Pastorino's Pumpkin Patch, that we met Joe Montana and his family, as they enjoyed a "family day" out among the pumpkins! Alan and I decided on that day, that October 23rd would from then on be referred to as our Family Day. Well, we never had children, but we did keep the tradition. Family Day... our own holiday. A day to walk among pumpkins, and remember family we love.

This year Family Day is being postponed, you see, because we both have colds! I blame the evil elf of vacations! But, I am afraid, it might actually have been the twilight cruise on the bay we took last week. Cripes. I would rather blame that naughty elf, than that awesome cruise. Either way... we are both sick. So, we will postpone the fun until another day, sometime between now and November 7th!. It will come around, and it will be fun! And who knows, maybe that day will be brighter, or spookier, or stormy, or perhaps we will have a chance encounter with a new celebrity! No Kardashians though! I draw the line at Kardashians. We'll see. Sometimes with us Plan B works out better than Plan A ever could!

Always Keep Your Mind Open To The Possibilities!

Mood: Kachoo

~Me :)

Plan "B" From Outer Space... And Other Observations!

"Plans get you into things, but you have to work your way out."

-Will Rogers

It's a plan "B" life, a plan "B" life... for me! Yes, I can sing about it. LOL. I am learning not to sweat the petty stuff, but to rather pet the sweaty stuff... and so on and so forth. LOL. Yesterday, Friday, was supposed to be Elvis's big day... I will get to the reason as to why we will be celebrating it today, instead, in a little bit... just read on. :) See... I am smiling, and yes I am aware of my over use of the under appreciated punctuation... ellipsis. See, I used it just then, to indicate a brief pause, which you will understand as you read on...

The Girl From The Wrong Side Of The Street...

It all started when I called AT and T/Yahoo, to order my new service of DSL, which they had assured me by snail mail, that I was more than qualified for. Tee Hee. Okay, so I called the nice representative, her name was Marge I think, and she took all my information, and explained every plan available to mankind even some plans that AT and T doesn't offer. :) Smirk. Anyway, the very last bit of information that Marge needed, was my existing phone number. "Ooooops," said Marge, "Ms. Gordon, it seems that we cannot provide you with the exceptional service of AT and T, together with Yahoo DSL at this time." "What?" Asked the shocked consumer. "Why not?" "Because, unfortunately, at this time, it is not available to customers in your area."

"Ummmm... yes it is," I said. "I have seen my good neighbor Midge, enjoying your excellent service, Marge." "Where does she live, Ms. Gordon?" UT-OH! Had I just got my good neighbor Midge in trouble for stealing DSL? Panic! "She lives across the street, and down the way. Why?" "That's the sticky-wicket Ms. Gordon, she is on the right side of the street." "No, I think she is on the left side of the street if you are coming up the hill." I informed her. "ROFLHAO, actually ma'am I meant, we only offer DSL on the side of the street that Midge lives on." "HUH?!" It was all so surreal. Madge was telling me, I couldn't order DSL, because the line doesn't cross the street. I repeat... "HUH!?" "I am sorry Ms. Gordon, how else may I provide you with excellent service?" Long pause on my end of the call...

"Ms. Gordon... ma'am? Hello? "Yes Madge, I am still here... you have a nice day!" CLICK! I know, it wasn't Madge's fault, but really now... I was living on the wrong side of the street? How earthy of me. ;) With my nerves completely fried, I took a nice long nap, and decided to check other ISP companies later in the day. As of this morning, I am a proud Earthlink customer, with DSL coming in about 8-10 days. Yeah, I know, although it comes with everything I need to install the gadgets all by myself, I am already preparing for the inevitable plan "B" that is sure to follow. :)

And Then The Next Day...

Thursday, Alan woke me a little before 9:00 AM, so I could tune-in to see Regis Philbin return to his show, after having been gone for 6 weeks, while he recovered from a Triple-Bypass. I like that show. It touches on topics, but it isn't all stressful about things. You know? Just a little talk show. Nice. It's a pleasant show to eat your breakfast to, although lately I have really gotten into downloading the Rocky & Bullwinkle show from AOL Video. Tee Hee.

I love the thought of a squirrel and moose making friends, solving crimes, and otherwise assisting humanity. :) It's deep. LOL. But on occasion I do also watch Live with Regis and Kelly. So it was good to see him back up and running. Afterwards, Alan and I watched The View, debated a little, and then he talked me into keeping my word about going on our date to the Marina Green, to fly our kite. My Fibromyalgia was telling me to, "go back to bed," but it was a warm day, really clear, and a good bit of wind, so the conditions were just right. So, I got up, it took me a couple hours to get dressed, man I was tired, but my spirits were high, so off we went, across the bay to San Francisco.

We decided to head to Golden Gate Park first. It would be nice and windy there, and I could drop by the gardens and look for life. I found lots of life, see above. The California poppies were in lovely full bloom, and dancing about them, were some enormous bumble bees. Happy bees. I had a blast stalking them. It was kind of fun to realize my fear of them is completely gone. :) I was hurting really bad, so I had to sit down a couple times to work through the pain, but I got back up, and waited patiently, until I got the picture I had in my mind, a bumble bee in flight. :) I did pretty good I think. :) With the photo achieved, it was time to go down to the beach to fly the kite, there's always wind at the beach!

Okay, well, we realized that it was a little too windy to be able to photograph the kite flying. I didn't want to get sand in my digital camera... I like my camera, so the beach was out. What to do? Where to go? "I know... Crissy Field would do!" Silly me, I had forgotten that there is a large wind break at Crissy Field, in the form of rather tall eucalyptus trees. Sigh."Well, shall we try the Marina Green?" Said Alan. "Yes, why didn't we just go there to begin with?" I asked him. "Well, when you said "lets try the beach," I thought you had moved on to a Plan "B." LOL.

Poor Alan, he has gotten so used to life throwing us curves, he just rolls along, and loves me while we go. :) As it turned out, it was a fabulous day to fly a kite, and he did all the work getting it into the air. We laughed, and we made others laugh. He had no idea what kind of kite I had purchased last winter. I let it be a surprise. (Insert evil laugh here). Tune into my blog next Wednesday, to see our kite. Alan is currently looking for a kite of his own, he say the one I chose is just too, "out there!" LOL.

There Are Other Things On My Mind, But...

I had some other topics I wanted to talk a little about, but this entry went a little longer than I had planned, so I decided to just let it flow. :) I am glad I did, it was a little bit of levity, and I needed that because we had to postpone Elvis's 10th birthday party, from yesterday, until later today, and it made me a little sad.We had a bit of drama last evening, when we went to put his balloons and streamers into place. Alan noticed that sitting up under the table umbrella, was a rather large wasp nest! YIKES! It took a while to deal with that.

Sigh. We had everything wrapped, and the balloons ready, and we even got a Lemon Supreme pie, then had to cancel everything. It is the first time since 2001, that we haven't celebrated his birthday on time. In 2001, we were just moving in to our current little place, and everything was just crazy... including me. :( It will be a special party tomorrow, we will make it special. Cross your fingers that the balloons survive overnight. Plan "B" has been activated yet again! If nothing else, this week has given me a chance to pause here and there, choose and unplanned path. There must be a message in there somewhere. :) Why even this entry is a plan "B." It seems Blogger doesn't recognize the very important, yet under appreciated punctuation character that is known as the **Ampersand**. LOL. I had to take two stabs at saving this entry. :) The adventure continues! Check back tomorrow, Sunday, to see Elvis's birthday party photos! :)

-OndineMonet
"Happy Bumble"
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, California
April 26th, 2007
Afternoon