• Thoughts

    2010 in Review

    In January: I learned how to use the reverse lens technique for taking macro photos—my newest obsession! I finished Ashleigh’s blanket a mere few days before she arrived. And then the little bit was born at 1lb 1oz on January 21st. Photo from my brother and SIL. It seems like so long ago but yesterday, too. We took our final trip to Dinner Island WMA with Kathy and Randy. In February: We took our last trip to Fakahatchee Strand to see the Cranichis mucosa orchid way out in the boonies of the park. We went to see the ghost orchids for the last time in Little Slough. We left Florida…

  • Creative,  Reading,  Thoughts

    Book Review and a Cold

    Patrice had sent me the Barefoot Sisters Southbound and the companion book Barefoot Sisters Walking Home. They were pretty easy reads once I got going and despite her recommendation to read the northbound first, I decided to go southbound since it was their first book and because that part of the trail was still fresh in my mind. Lucy and Susan Letcher, Isis and jackrabbit respectively on the Trail, are sisters who set off southbound in Maine on summer solstice in 2000. From the start you could tell that this was going to be a drama filled adventure and they were definitely hiking their own hike. Sometimes I wanted to…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Trail Tales 18: Maine Part II, Stratton to Millinocket

    Relevant posts: Almost There The Greatest Mountain After leaving Merf behind at Stratton we mosied on our way for the Bigelow Range. We stopped for lunch at the Cranberry Stream campground for lunch and privy before heading up. A parking lot is located pretty near the campsite and some day hikers had come by. One of them ended up talking on the phone and was hiking pretty close to us. It is one thing to use a phone in relative privacy away from a campsite, but to be hiking and talking on the phone??? Really? Chris turned around after awhile and told the guy off and eventually the guy fell…

  • Family

    Snippets of Christmas

    Chris and I had four Christmas meals, his mom and step-dad, his dad and step-mom, my parents, and my SIL’s mom and dad’s house. *phew* that was a lot of food! I think I managed not to overeat, though and I did steer clear from some heavy desserts. We did pretty good on presents, too; I think the best ones were ones that I wasn’t supposed to get. Chris and I had a no-present clause this year but somehow I ended up with Chanel No. 5 and some diamond stud earrings! The other good things were a Kitchenaide mixer and a Sonicare toothbrush! Here are some snippets…and I’m bummed about…

  • Thoughts

    Misti’s Christmas Top 10

    Top 10 Christmas Movies: A Christmas Story: my all time favorite Christmas movie…24 hours of it on TNT is perfect! It’s a Wonderful Life: preferably in black and white Bridget Jones’ Diary: a turkey-curry buffet…need I say more? “The gravy needs sieving!” “Oh, just stir it, Una!” Love Actually: so much love in this movie and so much hope…the multiple love stories are awesome. Miracle on 34th Street: the black and white version of course! National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: just too funny and full of hilarity! The Christmas Child: it has my favorite Anne of Green Gables actress, Megan Follows, which says the most of why it is on this…

  • Family

    A Retro Christmas

    Since I am at home this year I went back and picked out some fun past-Christmas photos from growing up. Here’s what I found: A very young mom with a little kid! Santa Claus, aka: Uncle Gary! I knew it was him! Barbie Ferrari! SWEET! I loved this thing. I wonder if it is in the attic still? I noticed that a lot of our photos involved us holding up the things we got. This actually could be Thanksgiving one year, but it was with Christmas photos. My grandad and uncle with mom, curt and me. Rollerskates! Once I got rollerblades, though, I never went back. I always fell on…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Trail Tales 17: NH/Maine Border to Stratton

    Relevant posts: The Song of the Loon Coming into Maine was an awesome feeling. We didn’t let the fact that it is the second longest state on the trail daunt us, we’d heard so many good things about Maine. Maine is beautiful but tough and You’ll love Maine, it’s a real treat!. Except that the first miles into Maine really, really sucked. Errrrr….they were just really freakin’ hard. Some places just involved going too incredibly slow up and down jumbles of rocks I thought we would never get anywhere. At this point everyone kept asking us when we might be done but I honestly couldn’t tell them anything. I felt…

  • Texas,  Thoughts

    Of Sycamores and Endings

    Yesterday Chris found a gigantic leaf in the woods that turned out to be an American Sycamore. It is almost 18″ in width and the little Chris has found on the internet it seems that the largest so far is only 15.5″. Perhaps this is a record? If anyone out there can find more information, please let me know! Our time in Sabine National Forest is up. I think I’ve walked over almost every inch of this forest from Patroon to Shelbyville. It has been an awesome experience, walking this forest. When we first arrived it was warm and fall was just beginning. The leaves were turning red and yellow…

  • Friends,  Texas,  Travel & Places

    Galveston

    Karen at Chookooloonks is posting some photos of her recent trip down to Galveston and it reminded me that I never got around to posting photos from when we went in early October. We drove down to go to the TAMUG All Class Reunion and to visit some friends while we were there. Living in Galveston was very fun while in college. I lived there from 1998 until 2002 when I graduated and we moved to Florida. There were many instances where ditching class occurred in favor of the beach. I remember thinking I’d go and study on the beach—hahahahahaha! Yeah, right! Anyway, it was nice to see some old…

  • Appalachian Trail 2010

    Trail Tales 16: New Hampshire

    Relevant posts: The Whites: A Definition After crossing into New Hampshire we followed the trail along the road that leads to Dartmouth College and it opened up into what I’d imagined an Ivy League university to look like. It was sprawling, had many old buildings and a large, open field was situated in the middle of it all. College kids, clean college kids, were riding their bikes, walking by and smelling so clean! We found the DOC headquarters and sat down to use the computers. After getting our share of the internet we emerged back outside and while Merf and Little Brown had gone to a few other places, we…