Pacific Specifics

  It takes all kinds and I'm the kind who travels. I love to travel. I love to go to new places. I love having something to look forward to. I revel in the countdown. I enjoy packing and guessing what things might be like. This morning I was just starting to wake up and I was already thinking so deeply about Cedar City. Going to Las Vegas and Cedar City will be like deja vu all over again. I heard something outside my window and I had to open my eye to figure out where I was. I wasn't sure if I was still in Costa Rica. My mind has been divided between four worlds. Being here in Samara. Being in all the places we will visit in the next two weeks. Being in Seattle, where I've never been before. And being in my book. I have these real worlds that swirl around in my head, and then the one I'm conjuring up and populating.   I am at the point where I look at my bed and count how many sleeps I have left on it. I have been packed for a while now, because I want to be careful ...

  I am starting my planning to go to South Africa. South Africa! How is this possible. My husband mentioned it once. We were sitting in Skopje, Macedonia talking about we wanted to do next. I have this new way to describe my husband: I say "He's all over the map". I mean it in the truest sense. I contributed to it, I gave him a world map for Christmas. I'll take some of the blame here. He's been talking about places like Vietnam and India for 2 years. For my sake, we ended up in Costa Rica.   For my sake, we went to Denmark and Poland too. Ron is a great husband who supports my wishes to find and go see my unusually international family. In September we are moving to Seattle for a job, and it will put us a ferry ride away from where I grew up. I will be able to go see family on Vancouver Island, including my brother that I haven't seen since 2002. What is that, 15 years now?   I can't believe how much family I can squeeze in for 2017, in so many countri...

  Yesterday I was in the yard and I heard a bird I've never heard before. It's so frustrating, no one else was around. I can't begin to describe the sound of the bird, so it will remain forever a mystery.  It was lovely sound though. It flew in a circle twice over the house, and I couldn't even see it well because the sun was out. I'm just not a huge fan of staring into the sun.   Today I hear the monkeys. When I stand at the sink and do the dishes I can see one, in the tree across the street. There are about a dozen out there. I see 2 little ones jumping on the branches above their Mommas. We went out for a closer look and I kid you not, there was one on it's side laid out across a branch looking at us as we looked at her. For once  I could see perfectly well. A lot of the time it's hard to see them because they are in the shade, or after being in the sun my eyes don't adjust to the shade within the tree, and the howler monkeys have dark fur. Wait, do...