Throwback Thursday: Cruisin' to Cozymel

Today, I'm linking up with The Life of Bon for Throwback Thursdays' Favorite Summer Vacation.  All summer, Bon has been inspiring folks to explore memories from their childhood (and adolescence, too!), and this week's topic is about favorite trips from this time of year.

My family didn't really do summer vacations because we didn't have a lot of money, and my parents/my mama couldn't take time off usually.  There were only a handful of family trips before my parents divorced.  We went to area theme parks, Dogpatch, U.S.A. (kind of like Silver Dollar City in Branson, but not quite as good), and Magic Springs in Hot Springs, and we tried to go to SDC one fall.  When we got there, it was a trip a la National Lampoon's Vacation--the park was closed.  Only my dad wasn't Clark Griswold, so he didn't kidnap the security guard and force him to take us on roller coasters.

As I got older, I started going to church camps and journalism camps, and the summer before my senior year, I went on a cruise to Mexico with some of my best friends and my best friend Tasha's family (and friends of her family and their families--there were 18 of us, with 9 adults and 9 kids!).

In New Orleans

Oh, the days of disposable cameras!

(Tasha and me)

It's now a tradition to sing "I Love Rock-N-Roll!" when we are together.  :)

(Tasha, me, Sara, Jenn)

dinner in the formal dining room one night

On the pier in Cozymel--just over 11 years ago!

formal dinner

I got my dress at a consignment shop, and it was a bit big in the bust.  (I was very small-chested.)

The little girl is my best friend Tasha's little sister Savannah, who is now graduated and just had a baby girl of her own!

my lovely blue-plaid one-piece and back pre-scoliosis-surgery ;)

around New Orleans after we landed

While the cruise itself was fun and I loved seeing another country (even though going on a cruise isn't exactly seeing another country) and eating, swimming, and taking pictures--the part I LOVED best was NEW ORLEANS!  I loved, loved, loved the French Quarter.  It felt very European to me with its old cobbled streets and balconies and verandahs, the colored homes lining the street, the gas lit street lamps.  I loved hearing about the history of the city on our ghost tour and seeing houses that were in Interview with the Vampire.  Then I would walk around the corner and feel like I was in a third-world country, which broke my heart for the people of NOLA, long before Hurricane Katrina hit.  We were too young to take advantage of the wilder side (though Tasha and Jenn, I think, went in a x-rated store with some of the adults--Tasha's family are kind of crazy like that! *blushes*), so we were able to see it with some rose-colored glasses on.  For the longest time, I even planned to have a NOLA-themed wedding.

I haven't been back to NOLA since then, but I did go on another cruise with Tasha and her family in 2007 when she was pregnant with her daughter.  Then, we went to Cozymel again but also Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and left out of Galveston.  But New Orleans is one of the places I long to go back to, and it's on mine and Zach's list!

Words: Chaos Walking

So one of Zach's friends got me the Chaos Walking series (well, the first two books) by Patrick Ness, for Christmas, and I have started the second book.

(I actually didn't realize there was a third book until I was looking for an image of Chaos Walking...eeek.)

While this is YA dystopic lit (which I love always), it's not in quite the same vein as what has been flooding the bookshelves and bookstores of late (as in the past five to ten years).  For one thing, it's told from the perspective of young man (named Todd Hewitt) when so many YA books seem to be about young ladies these days.  There's also an element of traditional children's classics for boys--as in Where the Red Fern Grows, Tom Sawyer, and such--because he is on an outdoorsy adventure and the folks he meets are rather plain folks and he just wants to be a boy.

I'm doing a terrible job of explaining this book because I'm sooooo tiiiiired (like it's me that's been on the run or something).

So since I'm jumping from thought to thought, I might as well say it's a bit stream-of-consciousness since the whole foundation of the story is the fact that all of the males' thoughts can be heard, but females' cannot (though they can hear the men's).  That means a lot of times the protagonist, who is speaking from first person, is overwhelmed by the Noise he hears, but he is also put off by the silence of others.  Religion has come to darken how this scientific effect is received in this world (and let's admit it--like religion is wont to do), so there's that, too, not to mention it's philosophical, seeming to examine the idea of cogito ergo sum ("I think; therefore, I am").  What happens when you can hear the thoughts of some but not of others?  Well, we get that dichotomy, more properly a binary opposition, with men being the dominant (their Noise defining their Selves) and women being the other (or Other--especially since they can be so secretive, not spilling their dark, Eveish thoughts).

(Looky at me using those lit theory terms I learned so many moons ago!  Blah blah blah...)

Anyway, THIS is what I wanted to share.  Absolutely beautiful.  Stunning.  My photography, not so much--I hope you can read it.  And now I'm giving away spoilery things, so if you do want to check this out (and YOU DO), don't read this page!

Gratitude Journal: Neighborly Love

I'm thankful for kind landlords/neighbors who blessed us with some of their garden's bounty today.  (They also offered some potatoes, but just yesterday we bought 10 pounds for the first time in forever; and an eggplant, but Zach doesn't like them.  Last year, they kept us supplied in squashes and cukes.  :)  They are DOLLS.)  It only took a few minutes to blanch, package, and freeze twelve ears of corn!  Now we can have some of this vegetable/fruit/grain for a few more weeks.  Thanks, Becky and Tony!

In other news, I found out I'm allergic to cats (Class 1) and dogs (Class 2).  Everyone I told today panicked a bit as if we could ever get rid of our kitties.  Thankful for no major allergies--but my meds may suppress my immune system's response, so they may be higher up AND there may be others that didn't show up.  So I'm gonna start allergy shots in about two weeks.  The allergy nurse is also adding in ragweed, oak pollen, and dust mites to help with those as well.  :)

Are you allergic to anything that makes you sad?  I'm just thankful I'm not allergic to any of the foods I love!