Saying Good-Bye

We said good-bye this month to our faithful companion Jazzy.

Jaz came to us nearly 12 years ago. Recently she had developed an auto-immune disorder and arthritis. Medication was no longer controlling her pain.

Border Crossings

Once over and back. A friend and I took the 4-hour, $5 economy foot tour of Tijuana. It was an entertaining and enjoyable trip. We hopped the bus/trolley and headed south. Here are the sights as we saw them:

The pedestrian bridge with Tijuana in the distance.

Traffic (not) flowing north, into California.

The cityscape.

I love people who control the English language. :)
I want to meet the gentle "men."
What exactly is a travesty show and just how bad is it?

This little burro looks so colorful - and gloomy.

Our last stop was for lunch.

I really need to visit again, with the entire family for a more involved tour of the city. The food was fantastic and the children selling things in the street were adorable, difficult to turn down. Many vendors had authentic and quality items, glassware, native pottery, Spanish pottery, leather items and about a million different tourist t-shirts. Sadly, we had little time in such a big city. As we were leaving, a Mariachi band was preparing to play.

Crazy Tarot Stuff

Ran across this little bit of entertainment in the blogosphere:

What Tarot Card are You?

Take the Test to Find Out.

Apparently I am "The Devil." The short definition is: successful, misunderstood, somehow goat-like (stubborn, smelly?), and, of course, very hard to resist. Hmmm...I'll have to ponder all of that. Isn't the dragon devil card attractive!

Long definition: Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession
The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.
Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

I tried the test one more time to make sure I really was the devil and guess what? You can't cheat your way out of being what you are! :) I came up with horns, tats, piercing eyes and attractive red fat rolls.

BIG OL' SMOOCHIE

This is Big Mama, one of Tatum's latest acquisitions for the herd. Big Mama ain't afeared o'no-one and she ain't afeared a sharin' her love. Actually she is very friendly and likes to nibble your hands, arms, pantlegs, anything she thinks may prove to be tasty.

white belt

a Ready stance.
a Right fighting stance.
a Sweep kick.
a Block.

Of course there is more to it than those four items, but it would have "totally embarrassed" Rikard if his mom had sat around and watched during the skills test. Rikard successfully completed the checklist of required skills to earn his white belt in Kali JuKune Do this week.

Rikard was so excited to finally have a belt to wear with his gi. The white belt signifies that he is an "aspirant" or a beginner.

Don't expect him to be super excited if you ask him about his belt. He is actually a bit dismayed that he didn't get the green one. Green is his favorite color. Maybe a GREEN BELT is in his future if he works toward that goal.

Since some may ask, here's the definition: Kali JuKune Do can best be explained by breaking it down into the components it represents. In the first word Kali - the Ka stands for Karate, the A represents Aikido and the full word Kali stands for Kali, the art of Filipino Stick & Knife fighting. In the Second word JuKune - Ju stands for Judo and Jujitsu; the K for Kickboxing; Kun stands for Chinese and Vietnamese Kung Fu; and the letter E for Eskrima. The last word - Do means School, Academy or Institute.

Maybe someday, with the combination of his dashing good looks, character and martial arts skills he can be in the movies.

30-something

Rick celebrated yet another fabulous year, turning somewhere between 30 and 40 years old in February. He won't tell anyone exactly how old he is and his children are almost ready to pay big bucks for the information.

Linda and Grandma Bert showed up to throw an an early birthday suprise party for Rick. Their party package was complete with baloons for twisting into hats and animals, baloons and an ice cream cake.

As soon as the candles were out, there were cries for cake, cake, CAKE and even more C-A-K-E! At the table, there was a Profound Presence of Purple. Aren't they all beautiful?