It's the Real Thing-Spring Break Much Needed Getaway

With all the crazy winter freezing, bone chilling cold weather, you know when it is time for a getaway and I jumped at the chance. The trip was to see my friends who have just recently relocated to Atlanta, Georgia area from Sedalia to which I am still adjusting too, as are they into their new downsized living space.

As I left Kansas City Airport (still a shock to the system to adjust to all the newer security, sad that our society has had to be on our toes on a minute by minute basis) off I went to stop one Milwaukee, WI. Yes to get a cheaper flight you must go to all parts in between to get to your destination. After the layover I was happy to get a row to myself (almost unheard of these days with packed, overbooked flights) I was on my way to Atlanta.

Once at the Atlanta Airport I hopped onto the MARTA train. I have to say of the several I have had a chance to ride (NY Subway, DC, Los Angeles, Atlanta's rail system is clean, quick and easy and the end of the red line led me right too my destination and pick up by my friends).

Our first day out to explore was to the World of Coke Cola Museum.

The approximate two hour tour was well worth the price of admission. Although I rarely drink any coke or soda product as in years past, It was a fun experience trying all the flavors from around the world.  Favorite flavors were from South Africa which had a tropical fruit flavor, England had a ginger ale taste but the absolute worst taste of all was from Italy. If you see a can or bottle of Beverly take a chance but my opinion was that it tasted HORRIBLE!

The museum had a terrific display of memorabilia from the first coke porcelain urn dispenser to the Sochi 2014 Olympic souvenir glasses. Of course I had to take a picture of the figure skating glass.

After the museum we walked through 1996 Olympic Centennial Park. 

Having just recently watched the Sochi Olympics weeks before, this plaque at the bottom of  a statue was something that I think  people, not only athletes should take to heart.

Of course one of the things I truly enjoy about traveling the country is eating at off the beaten path eateries. Friday night Jennifer and Roger took me to a Cajun inspired restaurant in Canton, GA called The Roux. It was well worth the hour plus wait. The place was rather small, but the food was big. The Jambalaya was almost as if you were in New Orleans. Definitely a thumbs up experience.

How fitting that my visit was during the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Saturday morning we decided to take the MARTA to downtown and enjoy the parade. 

After having made several trips on the rail we met a very nice couple from South Africa on the trip. They joined us to watch and they were very interesting to talk too and learn how the weather in Atlanta is not that much different than South Africa. Although they had been living in Atlanta 13 years (they still had the accent). A little bit of MO again popped up in the parade with the Budweiser Clydesdale's being a highlight for the crowd. Also the largest human Irish flag at the end of the parade was a crowd pleaser. After about a two mile walk back downtown down the middle of Peachtree St. we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Food was delicious and the 80's music that played during our meal was fun.

My second to last day Jennifer and I decided to antique hunt and we found a great place. Just down the street from her was Red Baron's Antiques. 

Jennifer you can't take the dealer out of her.

Early switchboard (way before cell phones)

Apparently after talking to one of the proprietors he said this shop had spearheaded the Auction Kings show.  You name it they had it from vintage cars to a $37,000 bedroom set from a Spanish Monastery.  

Another terrific eatery was Le Bistro in Roswell Provisions at Canton, GA. We had the most wonderful cupcakes, quiche and tea. 

 My last day I was also able to visit a transplanted California friend. We have known each other since we were six and it was so much fun having lunch with her and talking about our lives today. Although we are far apart, Facebook has kept us in touch and I hope that we can try and stay in touch even more now that I have brought her and my other friend together. 

Overall it was a great trip, always nice to get away from the daily routine, glad my friends have gotten back to a life that is a little faster paced then what they have had for the last several years and look forward to exploring Atlanta again. The people were friendly, helpful and a breath of fresh southern hospitality. 

Up a Tree With a Whole Different Meaning

 I had my camping out period back when my son was in Scouting. Those weekend trips where my real first experience of the great outdoors. We would pack up on Friday night, drive a few hours, unpack and sleep under the stars and wake up the next morning at the butt crack of dawn.  His Dad and other parents would fix breakfast and we would start our day in nature. I have to say I really did enjoy those times but camping out is not for me at this time in my life.

Cut to present time.  Recently channel surfing I came across a program on Animal Planet called Treehouse Masters. I have to say, I am hooked!. Pete Nelson started this tree house building empire 30 years ago . Born in Brookhaven, NY his love for building and art was partly inspired by artist Michael Ince.  Over the weekend I came upon his special Ultimate Treehouses-The Roots, where he talked about how tree houses are not what they used to be or where they are going.

A brief overview gave an interesting look back at some of the first tree houses. France's oldest known tree house is build in an old oak tree in Allouville Bellefosse. Struck by lightening in the late 1600's, it still proudly stands today.

The oldest known tree house in the world is located in Great Britian at Stropshire's Pitchford Hall. Once visited by a 13 year old Queen Victoria, this house once a tourist attraction, still strands proud and untouched.

One of the repair projects that Pete Nelson took on stands right in my old back yard in Sherman Oaks, California. Rick Polizzi built a "haunted" tree house in his front yard. Each year he elaborately decorates it for the ghoulish holiday and conducts tours. See pics at hauntedlawn.blogspot.com.

In most of the episodes I have watched of Treehouse Masters, the prices seem to run between $40,000 and $90,000. It all depends on how much your childhood memory turns into an adult reality.

One tree house in the State of Alaska Pete did a repair on was all built with recycled materials and literally put together with just a saw, hammer and nails. After almost 20 years, this tree house can only be accessed by helicopter and has no heat, running water or electricity. This is the true meaning of "back to nature".

As a kid my grandparents had two very large avocado trees in the back yard. I always imagined having a tree house in them, someplace to have personal, quiet adventures. Much like Scouts' brother Jim in "To Kill A Mockingbird" a place to get away and just think, the tree house's of today bring a whole different meaning to up in the trees.

Futuristic tree houses and science fiction, reptilian looking mock ups, many people have a view of what they see in a tree house in the future. Somethings are best left to plain old nature. This kind I don't mind at all.

Sochi Olympics 2014 - We Now Return to Our Regular Scheduled Programming

Well for the last 17 days like many other people I was pretty glued to my television 24/7.  It is not the first Olympics I have watched and probably won't be the last. I usually take time to view both summer and winter games but I am partial to the winter for obvious reasons.

I remember my first  viewing was 1968 when Peggy Fleming won the gold for the U.S. Probably not a surprise to some but that games may have turned out differently if not for the plane crash in 1961 that claimed the team that probably would have competed in 1968. My first introduction to Peggy was one of the first rink shows I went too around this time. Peggy was representing a local figure skating club and was the star draw that year.

Jump to 1976 the year of Dorothy Hamill fever.  Her bright pink dress and her signature haircut (I never could pull off that one) her American Sweetheart looks and rather meek personality still warm people to this day. In a recent Google search of her I found out that each year she has a skater's camp in Arizona. If you have $4,500 you too can spend the week with her and learn the tricks of the trade. What a bucket list item that would be.

In 1984 Scott Hamilton wore the gold medal. Even while he was commentating the evening games this time its love of the sport, spirit and enthusiasm brought a whole different spin to the games. I have to admit his play by play was a breath of fresh air from long time commentating by Dick Button from years past.

Brian Boitano won gold in 1988. It was pretty special to see him skate for the gold. Who would think he is now a television personality on food and design channels.

1992 brought the year of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan drama. Although the skating world is never far away from some sort of drama, Nancy winning bronze that year seemed like a fitting end to a strange year in the skating world. The 20 year revisited piece they did at the closing ceremony coverage was both a little sad and hopefully the end to a still tragic story. Tonya's banning from the skating association was equal to Pete Rose being banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame in my opinion. She was a pioneer in skating, maybe all not for the right reasons but her life struggles are really no different that anyone else. It seems like she is on the right path and although she truly didn't seem as recovered as Nancy who actually took the brunt of the distraction and drama, Nancy still can hit the ice with her head held high.

Tara Lipinski won gold in Nagano in 1998. Pretty much another come out of nowhere from the U.S. did what she needed to do then retired at 15. How many can say that!

One note on the Tara/Johnny duo.  I am pretty sure NBC put them in the mix for a reason. Not just to bring a younger perspective to the commentating and their raw, direct comments on each skater was sometimes a little harsh. The dueling hairpieces and jewelry for me was also a little distracting.  Keeping that on the ice was what I watched for.

The special milestones were also fun. Seeing ice dancers White and Davis get gold was definitely not unexpected. I personally knew from the beginning they were our real only hope for medals this year: honesty. Ice dancing started with easy to intricate patterns on ice to almost having a really difficult time finding the difference unless you really know skating between dance and pair skating. There has definitely become a very small line between the two again in my opinion. But still fun to watch.

Carolina Kostner and Mao Asada had the best programs of the ladies. Kostner's fine lines both on ice and in her costumes were from skating of old. Both skaters put their hearts, souls and sweat into skating. It is especially not often that someone can come back from a 16th place short program and end up in 6th place.  My feeling was that the Russian and Korean skaters were their more for their government then for themselves. Where Yuna Kim skated with very little emotion Adelina Sotinkova skated like the energizer bunny and not a lot of grace. One is set to retire and the other well who really knows if you we  will see her in another Olympic Games with little Yulia Lipnitskaya on her heels. I hope Yulia is someone who we will see in the future.

Skating has and always will be a subjective sport. The scoring is still flawed and more will come out I am sure about it in the coming weeks. Back in the good old days when the score keepers had boxes around their necks with numbers from 0-6 in them and someone would yell "marks" and they would pull out a card in each hand are long gone, but what they have even skaters are having a hard time understanding much less the non-skater. Just when I really got the old scoring down they changed it to something I wouldn't even waste time on. But in a nutshell, Russian won the gold because she started out with more content (jumps, tricks) and her artistic and extras put her over the top and also it helped that she was in Russia.

Overall everything I watched was fun, the back stories in every sport brought tears to my eyes. Disappointed that we didn't get medals in long track speed skating but I am sure they will also go back to the drawing board like all the other sports that competed and see what can be done better. With that we will now return to our regular scheduled programming and our routine lives.

An extra back story to the Olympics experience of 2014 was my three year old granddaughter enjoyed watching and skating around on the carpet that with much pushing from her and my granddaughter got me back on the ice after a 5 year hiatus. It wasn't for very long, and it was on a very tiny rink, I didn't do any "tricks" but the smell of refrigerant put a thought that maybe I might try and get to a rink more often. This old elephant hasn't forgotten how to skate.

You Say Goodbye and I'll Say Hello

It seems to me the last several weeks for me has been a full schedule of this. Some good and some sad.  With a not so welcome hello our bitter cold weather seems to continue forever and added too it snow came hand in hand with it. I think the older most people get the less tolerant some get with it not only joint wise but also some of us do not do well in hibernation mode. But, unfortunately Mother Nature has her own mixed up plan and the ground hog extended winter by at least six weeks for most around the country. For my west coaster's the rain dancing must have paid of finally.

It hardly seems possible that the Beatles celebrated their 50th Anniversary together this week. Although, only two are left, their music will live on forever for many people. I was too young to really remember anything from the British invasion but I do have one Beatles album tucked away in my eclectic collection. Thanks grandpa for that one. Over the years I have enjoyed several of their top songs but probably my favorite is "Yesterday". The words to it probably are more prolific for me personally now more than ever.

For those who watch late night television an icon bid farewell. Jay Leno said nighty night for the second time. This time what seemed to be on his own terms. I never watched Johnny Carson growing up and really didn't start watching Jay Leno until about 17 years ago. Living on the west coast his show didn't start until 11:30 PST. and I was always fast asleep by then. Until a sudden jolt back in 1994 (Northridge Earthquake) did Jay become my nightly buddy. After the quake I had to have the television on and Jay and I were together for one year faithfully. After we moved I pretty much watched his show almost every night. I guess I felt he was my west coast connection. Also I will admit I did see him frequently when I would skate at the Burbank ice rink. The studio was right down the street and sometimes I could see him driving around in some of his crazy, unique vehicles. I remember once he was stalled at an intersection in his vintage fire truck. People were honking and waving.

 I have watched Jimmy Fallon and he seems to be a good fit for the changing times. Although I do see some similarities. Time will tell.

 Warsaw Dam 2009

My last physical goodbye isn't truly a goodbye forever though. This past week I said see you later, to a good friend.  We have been friends for 6 1/2 years, and although we won't be just down the street anymore social media and the traditional phone call will be our way of keeping the lines of communication and our friendship alive.

Follow the Leader

When I was in school when it was time to go out and play in the school yard or go to eat in the cafeteria, the usual drill was boys line up in one line and girls in another. Usually in size order I was pretty close to the front of the line. At that point I doubt if I thought of myself as a leader except that for size order that's where I ended up.

Throughout my life I have been put into situations where I have been in charge of various things. Some by choices, other's not so much. We all have those opportunities to put forth our ideas or beliefs that we hope others willingly will follow.

I can remember my parents saying their are two types of people: leaders and followers. Their constant definition was that leaders gather information, present it to others and hopefully the rest of the people involved will go along with it, without too much question. The followers didn't always care what the information was they just followed everyone else either because they didn't care to provide input or to be a part of the decision makers group they just wanted to fit in. How many times did we here, "If John jumps of the roof are you going to do it?"

This past Sunday the pastors' sermon was entitled: "Follow the Leader". It was very fitting that the message was such due to the last several weeks being bombarded with the choices of leadership issues in my life.

As children growing up our "leaders" are our parents or caregivers.  We are taught in the bible to honor our mother and father. At what point does that sometimes change? When they are unable too? When what they do may not be in their best interest? It's a slippery slope and the elephant in the room that most either don't want to face or feel it is not their place too.

In politics we are constantly told to pick a party. In the last several elections it has become very difficult to pick any specific party. It's a grocery list of items that all make up how my beliefs are and I seriously don't feel all they provide is in my personal best interest.

I often mention while driving around where I live and I see a pasture full of cows, when one starts walking do you notice the other cows often  follow? I have been told that cows are not very intelligent.

Now with social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and all the others we "follow" each other. A little strange? Maybe. Times are definitely different. I don't want someone to just "follow" me I want them to engage in conversation, comment and not just "Like". Especially when I am aware not everyone agrees.

If by following something or someone goes against how you morally feel, my advice is you better really question why? Don't do it because it is the easy way out or because you think other people will think better of you. It usually works against you and it becomes really difficult to clean up the mess that is created in the end and believe me as the leader all the negatives will fall on your shoulders because the followers will go on to someone or something else.

Lead with the right foot or in my case my left foot.  

Phone Calls from Above

How often  have you picked up the phone and no one answers? That happens often now with robo calling, more than we care to waste our time with I'm sure. Recently, author Mitch Albom who wrote "5 People you Meet in Heaven" and" For One More Day" has written a new book dealing with the heavens. "The First Phone Call from Heaven" is about a small town in Michigan and their residents who suddenly get phone calls from loved one's who have passed away.

They say you write about what you know, but since Mitch Albom is definitely alive I wonder how he comes up with all these heavenly related stories.

I have heard of people who have crossed over and then came back but you can really either only believe or take their word what heaven is really like.

During his interview about his new book, Mr. Albom was asked who would be one of the first one's you would want to hear from? His was "Tuesday's with Morrie" professor Morrie Schwartz from his alma mater Brandeis University. He said his first question would be, "Well how do you think I've done?".

I really pondered this myself. Although I haven't read his new book yet it made me really think about all the people who have passed on that either I didn't get to have that one last conversation with. Not that I would now expect any answers to any of my burning questions but many of the people at the top of the list have been gone for many years.

My grandpa died when I was still a teen so he would definitely be one of the top on the list. Probably the first thing I would say would be "Now I really understand". The wisdom of the years that have passed since his death puts so much of my life growing up into a little clearer perspective on things he did or didn't share.

Another person would be my biological mother. We had so few actually conversations before her death, Whether or not she would actually answer the questions I would pose, well I'll never know.  One of my co-workers in one of my first positions was a second mom during my period of "awakening". We lost touch toward the end of her life and I always regretted not talking as often as we should have.

I guess until I actually read the book and come to my own conclusions on the story outcome my one piece of advice I have even before reading it is this...True friends no matter how many quotes you may read elsewhere you stay in touch with. Face to face conversation is so much more than a text or e-mail. Even a quick hand written note means more than nothing at all. It's one thing if there are miles between you but believe me the effort that is made means so much. Time is precious but so are friendships.

Don't sit by the phone and wait for that call from above, make the resolution to reach out and touch your friends--they will love you for it. 

In N Out--Not Always the Hamburger Place

If someone said this to me my first thought would be the best hamburgers in the world in my mind. If you get the chance to try one most definitely a must also the home cut fries are the best I have ever had.  But seriously folks The In N Out logo is a yellow right arrow. Just a basic concept but when I thought of every In N Out that I have been to they are all on the right side of the street. I am sure there is probably a marketing reason for this.

A little like 2013 was for me. You can do everything in your power the right way but something wrong sometimes happens.  What can be right for me and those around me may not always be what is right for someone else. Some people seem to take the wrong path in life and must hit rock bottom to land on the right road that will send them on a positive road.

 Our business is partially based on what road we take, sometimes we have to go around and around in circles but eventually we get to our final destination.  (UPS drivers are instructed to make more frequent right turns than left).

As a parent or grandparent you try and teach them all right from wrong and that consequences are a part of growing up.

2014 may prove to be the year of making things right, going the right way and righting the wrongs in our life.

If you are in the area of In N Out Burger. Stay to the right of the road, make the right turn and order a double-double with cheese and home cut fries. You will be glad you did.