Spirited and Lively Older Women Thread

Isabella, we're wishing for a little better summer than last year.  About the nicest thing last year was that at least it came on a weekend.

Well, Spirited & Lively ones -- So many of you go off and do exciting things.  And I've been wanting an adventure, to go somewhere & do something different.  Now I have something to look forward to.  This winter DH & I are going sailing for a week on a tallship in the Bahamas.  I've got the reservation booked, but still have to do the flights & an extra day or so, (and trip insurance) but we're committed!!  DH-the-sailor is over the moon & it's enough for me to see him so excited. 

In a lot of ways, it's the most expensive way to travel third class, but it will be an adventure and that works for me.

Fantastic Lost Creek. Hope it is everything you are anticipating.

i agree, LC sounds like a wonderful adventure..

Isabella, you were right.. i ave "face planted" on the bed, and haven't gotten anything but a drs appt done all week. i feel like im coming down with a bug.. more likely, i still have the old one. i got cultured, it still is there, "just a little" though.. $30.00 more in 2 weeks eek!this has been months of this one!!!

  hope everyone is enjoying their no rain days.. we continue to be rained on almost every aft.. but then, the sun is out again..  

 i do hope the girls work for you, isabella.. with that many, you deserve the help, and then some!!!!3jays

just stopping by to say hi and that I am still spirited, just not too lively at the present. Past bedtime - nighty night.

good to see you all, you too, marle gal.. glad things are doing ok..

  got an answer to why im feeling "punk" and it hasn't a thing to do with your visit, marybe.. got the gyn ck up today.. it was great. things there doing about 15 yrs younger than the rest.. BUT i have a raging UTI!!!i thought the bladder was "falling" from the ms agsain.. got a lecture from this new dr. (who i love ) about not forgetting sex in our life.. the thing that always keeps you youg.. ironic, the only "young" part, im not using these days hahaha...let me know about next week, marybe...3jays

hi Marybe.. I'm so glad the weathers' good for you guys, and that your'e having a good time!

  i hope you get Barb to help you hook up the camera/computer.. im dying to see the pictures, and looking forward to some oics of the resteraunts!!

  Guess the turkish is a Fla way of life, huh? olive oil and hummus sounds yummy!

  it worked out, you guys couldn't make it, cause im resting my patootie with the anti bs.. well, i am today..

  Fischer and Finley ran our legs off last night.. the ususl fun, fun, fun with a 2 yr old. she played nana poo poo in a resteraunt with us.. even with one of us on either end, a young guy had to catch her for us!!!

 she got a "swat" for that one, then on to burgerking, and the "bouce house" i promised them when you were here.. lastly we played "dodge the grownuos" with the cart in walmart.. none of us drives those things that well!!!

  we had a ball; i was too worked p to sleep, so got to bed about 6 am.. everyone else was sleeping by 11:30!!!

  i've become totally ADDICTED to photobucket!!!i use it like facebook, with friends, and all.. just had to "up" my security on the 'puter.. too many viruses, otherwise! I love it!!!

  glad everyone seems to be doing well.  hope your 4th goes well. watching fireworks sitting on the Fla Turnpike.. you can see 3 towns display, if you park on the swale lol!!!     3jays

Hello BarbA,  I don't get over on this thread as often as I would like.  Heard you are hosting Marybe this weekend.  Don't know if she is staying thru' the 4th, but she's always got fireworks going off whever she is.  Have fun and good luck keeping up with her.

You ladies are giving me a lot more credit than I am do as I am pretty much exhausted.  yesterday we went to downtown St. Pete for breakfast and met Barb's friend...then the museums were not open yet so we went to the big pier and walked around and saw all the boats and pelicans.  Then we went for a drive cuz Barb wanted me to see the birds here...went to a nature preserve and a lake.  Then we came back to town and went to the Chihuly museum....beautiful.  They were selling a few of his works, but most of it was just on display....saw one bowl for $30,000, but it was not my color scheme so had to pass it up.   Jeeze, I can only imagine what a chandelier would go for!!  They did not allow you to take pics inside which was a bummer, but I got one of the big pink sculpture out front.  Then we went for a margarita.   We also drove around and looked at some homes for sale so I got to see different neighborhoods.   Then we came back and hung out at the pool for a few hours.....Whew, the afternoon sun is really hot and I actually got into the pool.   Last night we went out to dinner at a local bistro they really like and then we came back and watched a movie.   I keep trying to get sunset pics, but they just dont come out the way they really look.  

Anyway, the party does not come with me, but I will say both 3jays and Barb certainly do a wonderful job of entertaining guests.  Barb is just thrilled to not have to go to work for three more days, but they keep bugging her from work with things they want her to do.   

Marybe & BarbA - so glad you can enjoy this time together. Sounds like a lot of fun - and some great food.  Thanks for the update.  What fun to go to the Chihuly museum in good company. 

3jays hope you get some relief. Isabella, that you get your surg. & your AI sorted out.

AJ nice to see you.

Hope everyone is cool and comfortable.  Some parts of the US are having miserable weather right now - and have my sympathy. 

Help! I went to change my avitar and wound up with nothing.  How do you add one and where in the world do you find the pictures you have used as avitars before?  Still not sure about this new format.  Nothing is easy or logical to find anymore.

edited to add .... not what I wanted but at least it is something.  Off to bed, figure it out tomorrow. 

I have been busy so have not had time to post pics and details of my trip to visit Barb and by now some are fuzzy, just let me say we were busy....and one correction to what she said I did not wear her a$$ out...I think it was the other way around...one night I was so tired, I fell asleep on the couch when we were all watching a movie.

OK, here goes....I arrived on a Friday early afternoon and Barb was right there to meet me at the airport and she pointed out sites on the way back to her house....St.Pete, Tampa, the bridge she gets stuck on when they decided to raise it right before she gets on it.    The lst one to greet me after we got to the condo was Lucy.  Barb showed me my room, my suite actually ( she posted pics when she was working on the room) and gave me time to unpack. All I had to do was look out my back door and the bay with the boats docked was right there. I was hungry since they don't give you much on the plane so we went to  Treasure Island Beach to a place called Caddy's where her husband sometimes plays with his band so I could get a little something to eat and a margarita....I am not big on drinking these days, but do love margaritas and sweet fruity drinks.   We then went back to the condo and got cleaned up since we were going to her friend's condo in downtown St. Pete for a drink before going to dinner.   She has a great view.  Downtown seems to be a jumpin' place with lots of nightlife....we went to a place Barb and Marty like called Z Grille.....Barb and I just had appetizers ( I say just but we had so many we got a box to take home) and her DH had fish. 

On Sat. we hung out at the pool  and I honestly do not remember if we went out for lunch or what that is how good my memory is these days, but I think we ate at home....oh yes, salad from the restaurant and fresh fruit.  We drove around in the afternoon so I could see some different neighborhoods and the birds that just hang out in people's yards.     I took a picture of the house Richard Simmons used to live in.   We then went out to eat at a Thai restaurant and had some delicious Sushi and both had a lot left from our meal so once again left with boxes.  That evening Marty was playing in Tampa and it was a drive, plus he was starting late so Barb and I did not go to listen....just hung out on the balcony and I tried to get some sunset pics.....nothing Lisa would claim, but I did my best.     Sunday we again went downtown and met her friend for brunch.  We were going to the Chihuly museum and it did not open til afternoon so we went to the pier in St. Pete and walked around and I got some pics of pelicans there. We also drove to some lakes looking for birds.  Then we went to the museum.   They would not allow pics inside, but it was really a wonderful display of Dale Chihuly's work.  I like the pic I took out front which shows our reflections in the granite.    After the museum we went to a little outside cafe that was part of the restaurant next door and had a, you guessed it, Margarita.   We then went back home and went out to the pool for some sun before going to dinner at a place they like not far from home called Bistro O....I kept saying I wanted fish, but never can say no to veal so ordered that.....again took home boxes. 

Monday we went to not only the Sunken Gardens, and the Dali museum,went

to a few lakes

 to birdwatch since we did not see a lot on Sunday.   It was time for lunch when we got to the Dahli museum where they again would not allow pics.   We had lunch there before going through the exhibits.  It was a great museum and there was a really nice gift shop where she bought me a pair of earrings that have one of his paintings on them.....quite a change from my little gold hoops that I always wear, but I love them and have been wearing them a lot.  That afternoon we stopped at a winery and did a tasting.  I bought some watermelon mix that you could do frozen drinks with and after stopping at this place, Ted Peter's? I think it was called and getting some of the fish spread they are famous for and going to an organic grocery store where we picked up some hummus and good snacks, we headed home for another afternoon of sunning at the pool.  That night we ate all our leftovers and were stuffed and again watched the sunset. 

Got my last rays at the pool on Tues. morning, then we lunched at home, said goodbye to Lucy  and Marty and Barb took me to the airport.   We stopped by to see another friend on the way to the airport who is renovating a house.    It was a very successful  fun trip and I hope a nice break from work for Barb, even though they were bugging her with calls and texts while I was there.  Sorry, I did not get to see the fireworks from the balcony on the 4th. 

Marybe, thanks so much for posting the pics and commentary!  Thought about y'all during your visit and I know both of you had a ball.

Kathy

Marybe...thanks for the fantastic post...you really brought your trip to life, glad you and Barb had such a good few days together...also glad you missed the stormy weather Florida was having just before you got there. I think we are having some of the storms over here, it's been awful for weeks and weeks now.

My garden has taken quite a battering, everything has grown extra height with all the rain, and now is leaning, or crashing over, to the west, where our main prevailing wind blows ! Feel quite drunk wandering around, and seeing everything  bashed about, and listing.

Have had a hellish 2 days...just sitting down and taking stock right now, first time I have been able to relax a while. Started Tues afternoon, the little dog who was so ill last October, who was retaining fluid, suddenly became acute, and died Tues night. She was a little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, if I am truthful she was my favourite...I know I shouldn't have favorites, but there it is ! Vet. told me last Oct. she would be lucky if she lasted a fortnight, he was a bit loathe to give me diuretics, but he was only a snotty nosed kiddo, what did he know ?? so I could twist his arm, and talk to him like a mother !!! I got what I asked for, and together with other diuretics I already had, and messing about with the doses, I managed to get rid of all the fluid, she had lost a lot of her coat in Oct, and looked a wreck, but when I managed to stabilise her her coat came back, lovely and long and glossy again. Her figure came back, and she looked normal ( I knew she wasn't, knew it'd happen again, but the Vet. had said she had a very strong heart, I don't think he understood about Cavaliers and their hearts, but as soon as he said her heart was AOK I was willing to try for more time for her. I knew if her heart was in failure it would have been unkind to keep her going ) Anyway got her almost 9 months extra. It has been hard, as she has stuck to me like glue, following me all over the place, coming in the car with me which I don't normally allow.

Tues morning she was suddenly full of fluid, it'd been collecting about 2 weeks, and try as I could I couldn't shift it this time. Tues evening she collapsed, and I just put her to bed, and put her bed under my computer table, and at midnight she just died. It has really hit me, she was the original tiny Cavalier, the one I have kept just about every bitch puppy she produced, so they in turn produced tiny Cavaliers . These are the very pretty little ones that I have people queueing up for....I have people coming from all over UK to buy them, and used to export them about 10 years ago. The end of an era for me ....I still have 6 of her daughters, and about another 8 g/daughters....but just not Kitty anymore. I had to grovel to DH and ask him to come and dig a grave for me. I just can't do it right now, but he came without any hassle and did it.

Then, this morning, got up bright and early...well 8.30am... decided I was going to take myself off for a few hours drive, there was NO RAIN today, so thought 'Ha, I will get off out somewhere' Just shutting everything away, and happened  to look at one of my sausage dogs as she swung by, and she was grinning at me, and she shouldn't have been ! dogs don't grin !! Looked closer and her jaw wouldn't close, she had no option but to grin ! Got my long forceps out, thinking she'd probably got a piece of bone , or something else ( probably 'something else' as she's a scavenger !) stuck at the back of her throat , got a monster bite for my trouble, on my 'bad' side hand, where all my lymph nodes were taken, so had to break proceedings to go clean up the bite. Anyway I couldn't see anything at all, so took her in to the vet, instead of a ride out. Vet...young snotty nosed kiddo again !!...had to give her a full anaesthetic, and he found one of her back teeth had come HALF out, roots and all, and turned sideways, jamming her mouth open. He took out another 5 that were beyond repair, PLUS he broke off a piece of her bottom jaw whilst pulling out a tooth. He said it will be very painful, and has given me a bottle of painkilling liquid to give her. I brought her home very groggy, was told she wouldn't be able to eat normally for a day or so....turned my back for half an hour to go and feed my puppies, came back to find sausage dog stood munching into a sack of cat biscuits, which she had managed to rip open, and make a big hole in the side, all with a painful mouth ! 

I thought she would just go off to sleep for the rest of the evening, so never bothered to shift the cat biscuit sack, thinking she was too groggy to move...but this dog is one great big thief where any food is concerned....bad mouth or not she was going to get her nose in somehow!  Her name is Little Dog, which caused the Vet. nurses to crack out laughing, don't know why she got called that, she really ought to be called Fatso, as she's just so round....never has her nose out of the trough. She's been sat under my computer table all evening, where they all come when they are ill, or just wanting extra attention....she is dribbling a bit of blood, so a good job my carpet is a dark red patterned one , if she misses the old blanket she's supposed to be on. 

I had another sausage dog with exactly the same thing happen last year, tooth half out, and jaw jammed open, but I just could not remember this at all, until DH reminded me...then it was crystal clear...I need a new memory. All the time I was poking about in Little Dogs mouth looking for goodness knows what, and getting bitten into the bargain, I just didn't remember it was a re-run of a trip to the Vet. last year....never thought to look at her teeth !

Right , a quick trip round the sausage dogs' sleeping quarters to look at the invalid, and I'm for bed.

Isabella.