My adventure to Ireland

My trip of a lifetime.

 Have you ever thought about just getting away? Taking and adventure? I have and did.

My adventure was Ireland "The Emerald Isle." I spent 10 days in this amazingly, beautiful country.  I beat all odds and had the 
determination of seeing this country.  

I want to just touch on some of the places we visited. Flew into Dublin and picked up our car and wouldn't you know it, we got in on the wrong side. Getting out of the airport was a bit of trickery due to road work and of course not knowing exactly where we were going but after a few times, we or should I say Rachel mastered it all the way to the hotel. Now,getting into the hotel was another feat, could not find the street to go down and kept missing it, when we did. But finally, made it to the parking garage and gathered our luggage and off to our room we went. 

Dublin was huge and so busy, people walking in the streets, bike riders riding into the streets along with the cars. It was crazy but we When we finally arrived to the hotel, we took a stroll around the area.. I bet we walked more than 20 blocks and could have kept walking. We were in awe of this beautiful place.. But dang was it cold. We stopped in the oldest pub built,"The Brazen Head", and had lunch then out again;looking around. Every street was something new to see and absolutely beautiful. The people were nice.

The next day after breakfast, we made our way to the car and on our way to Enniskerry to PowersCourt Estate to look around the gardens and see the waterfall.. words cannot tell you how beautiful these grounds were. Huge estate, lovely gardens and the ponds and statutes were something out of a movie or picture book, but it was real. I could not get enough, but again, dang it was cold, about that time, i was wishing i had brought my trench coat.. :)  

Another place we visited was Waterford to tour Waterford Crystal... this was a special place. The area right across from the water, lovely. Touring the building where they make the crystal was -- i was just in awe of the whole process. You have to see this;how they make these amazing pieces from start to finish. How long they have to apprentice to be able to work on them and what they do to make them as you see on the shelf.It was an experience I will never forget. 

On to Cork to see Blarney Castle. Oh my lord, just a shell of itself now, but still an awesome site. I could take my imagination back to a time where i could see or imagine how it once was. The dining room, the cooks room, the bedrooms. I went through the dungeon a bit until it became too dark and too small  for me to climb through, i became a bit frightening and crawled back out to catch up to my young friend.  We walked all over that castle and found our way up to the Blarney Stone.." Holy cow, you want me to lay how and reach where to kiss what?"  "You are gonna hold me, right? " I kissed it.. :) Afterwards, we then went around on the grounds to a Poison Garden, yes, you heard me, a poison garden.. It was a site to see. How beautiful this place was, I didn't want to leave but we had more traveling to do and many more places to see. 

We made our way to the Killarney National Park. We walked and became lost(walked off the beaten path,you could say) and walked and walked for hours.. There were 11,000sq miles of that park and I believe we walked every inch of it and more trying to find our way back to where we parked.  Rode on my first jaunt ( believe that is how you spell it) how wonderful that horse was and the driver was a talker, but damn it was so cold and by that time my blasted camera and phone ran out of juice and no pictures other than with Rachel's , she brought , thankfully, she had a better one and let me take some pictures .. thank you , thank you..

The next morning, we drove to The Ring of Kerry, it was oh Jesus, I found my coming to Jesus moments going down that long winding road.  I have to hand it to the bus drivers that make it through those tiny curves. We were in the car and almost kissed a few stone walls along the way. Sheep running down or up the road, how on earth? It was amazing to see. We stopped at Glenbeigh Beach and walked for a while before going to our next destination. 

Our next trip took us to my very first ferry ride to  The Cliffs of Moher, now,  you gotta stop and see this one..It was the most beautiful sight, I have ever seen. The cliffs so high and the water below was so blue. The walk on the trail was long and cold but we didn't mind, it was lovely I felt as if I were on top of the world and as I was standing alone at one point.. I stopped and looked up to the heaven's and said to my mom.. "Mom, I made it. The trip we talked about for so long and wanted to take, I am here and I know you are here with me on this journey. The journey we wanted to take , to walk the same places as our family before us. I wish you were here in the physical sense, but I know you are with me and in my heart, you are with me on this incredible journey". 

We saw so may wonderful and amazing places, Galway where we saw The Trad on the Prom, Oh man was this great entertainment. We shopped the next day, great shops and then made our way to WestPort, beautiful area. You have got to visit this place. 

When you do travel to Ireland.. you need to stay in Bed and Breakfast. They are so great and the food; you can't beat it. We saw some great places and wonderful people along the way and as I do plan on going back, I know that I can't replace the steps that I made this journey. We got lost several times but found our way and along that way, some of the most beautiful countryside you could ever see.. And the man with the jaunt was right. 50 shades of gray..... Ireland has 50 shades of green... everywhere was green. 

Take a journey, take an adventure. Take time out to find yourself.

Thanks-----

A new door.

I know I have stated this before but it bears repeating. It's true for everyone of us.

When one door closes another one opens.  That/this is true in every case. There is usually a reason for  the people that come into our lives or things that happen .. by chance or by design.. 
Whatever the circumstance of that one door closing trust the reason though it may be unclear at the moment, is/was necessary for growth or some lesson to learn. We always fear the unknown of walking through that next door or chapter in our lives.but once we go through, we often find ourselves in a much better place. 

 It could be a new job, new friend, new house or new love. Each of us, right now, have just closed a door in our lives and most of us already know the next door/chapter to walk to and others of us are still seeking that next door. Don't look back .........backwards was a learning phase and only moving forward can we grow and teach.

All of our journey's we take can lead us to the path of being much happier and wiser and a life of no regrets... that is if we choose it... Embrace that new door and walk through without fear, you might be surprised at what you find.  

Thanks------

The Goat and Haystack..

Chasing goats are fun until one turns on you. I know I have talked about this story at one point before but I felt it needed to be stated again, why, when of course it shows me being me. :)

My uncle has some new goats and we wanted to pet them. Those goats were not having any part of being petted much less being chased. We chased them in the barn-out of the barn- into the fields where the horses and cows were grazing and then back into the barn to try to cut them off. 

Now, in that barn was a low lying 2 x 4. Guess where this is going?  Guess who nailed that beam?  Me- I chased that darn little goat into that barn so fast that I didn't see it coming. (now to my defense, if there is one, inside that barn; it was dimly lit). Before, I could look up, BAM- I kissed that beam and down I went... yes, I kissed a beam and no, I didn't like it. I saw stars the moon, heck the whole dang galaxy was flashing before my eyes. It took a while before I could get my senses together and get off the ground of scattered hay. Getting up was like one of those old cartoons where when they get up holding their head, swaying back and forth and seeing the world go round',yep that was me.   

But here is to add insult to injury. I get up and noticed that my shoe was untied. I bend over to tie my shoe unbeknownst to me, there was a goat with horns standing behind me- like he was waiting in the dark, lurking so to speak to see what my next move would be. Of course, I did not see him. How could I? just knocked myself silly.  Well, I bend over and yes, you guessed it......... across the room I go. He butted me so hard, I flew into the air and right on top of a nicely put together haystack.  At least that was a soft landing, when I woke up. 

Needless to say, those goats were no longer on top of my list to pet. I got out of that barn with bruises and what dignity I had left and found my way to the porch to help out with shelling peas and shucking corn. (no pain involved in this chore). 

When they tell you to not bend over in front of a goat......  Believe me it's true, don't do it.  Unless you want to fly.  

Thank you-----   

Bobbie's Takes: Animals have feelings to.

Bobbie's Takes: Animals have feelings to.: The love an animal to it's human companion is the most wonderful thing to see.  An animal is loyal, love without condition, and playfu...

Animals have feelings to.

The love an animal to it's human companion is the most wonderful thing to see. 
An animal is loyal, love without condition, and playful and they can feel sadness and pain and are used for many things as seeing eye dog, drug sniffing and helps in law enforcement among many other things. An animal knows when you are sick or sad. I remember when I was sick with the flu when my Siamese, Louise Simone was a bit younger(now 13), I was in bed and she made sure that I was lying down and had closed my eyes and I could feel creeping up beside me, right next to me on my pillow. Sweetest thing ever, her little paw touching my cheek.  She never moved until I got up and then she came to me for a loving kiss.  How touching it is to know that of God's smallest, they-the animals- seem to know when we aren't all together well. 
We really don't realize how much animals feel. They also mourn and cry. We are fostering two dogs and one was pregnant. We had an appointment through the animal shelter (we are fostering for) to have them spayed. We picked them up and for over a week, the mother, Julia, laid and cried. At first, we could not figure out what was happening and about to take her to the doctor to see if anything could have gone wrong and then as her daughter, Emma, left the room where she was, she started to howl. Then it hit us.. She was crying actual tears in her eyes and mourning the the loss of her babies we had to abort. How sad is that, we cried right along with her. 
Animals can be vain. Oh, yes, I have one that loves clothes, doesn't like to share, has her nails painted and loves her treats. She is our DIVA.. 
I have one rescue pup that has issues of abandonment. I leave and come home and I have things thrown all over the floor and forget about my sandals.. she finds them they are gone, I only have the left shoe of about 3 pair of sandals.  Trying to break her from this.. letting her know she now has a home and a family that loves her... She's a sweet girl, but doesn't like anyone coming near momma when she's near me.  
All animals whether big or small, 4 or 2 legged have feelings. They protect with their own lives if necessary and those they protect, the human companion; is most of the time the ones that do the most horrendous atrocities toward them. 
Animals need protecting just as humans do, only some of us care nothing. Abuse of an animal whether they walk, crawl, fly or hop is a crime and for those that do the worst to the least of God's creations, should have the same done in return to them.. They are cowards and it's been known that a person that abuses/kills an animal it's one of the fist steps to killing a human.  
Animals need us as much as we need them.. They only want what we all strive for ..........  love and companionship and for someone to show kindness. 

Thanks-------

What does your Conscious tell you?

I find as I get older, I do quite a bit of soul searching and look back over the things I have done in my past that might have hurt a few.....    

No, I was never a horrible person, yes, maybe played games where men were concerned (from time to time) my defense I was YDS-Young,Dumb,Stupid.... not that is an excuse, one should never play games when someone else may care...

I will tell you a story of one which I- over the years - have haunted me.. I met this guy when we were 18 and then again around 20.. I will not say his name, he knows who he is.... he was quite smitten with me and I wouldn't give him the time of day... We danced together all the time at TBirds and he called me constantly... I was flattered but not really interested in dating anyone, just having fun.. No and not that kind of fun, just hanging out with friends.. 

This guy was great to be around loved Sly Stallone and a great dancer too.. He made me laugh, always protective and never tried anything out of the way with me, up and up great guy. 

We were together a lot, dancing and talking and hanging out. Great times. He began to continually ask me out to which I would ignore..  Until one day, after I found that I was expecting a child and my baby's father left me because of some other factor.. this guy stepped up wanted to be a father and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.... wouldn't take no for an answer and I said yes to get him up off the cold snow/ice... Comes next weekend, I was to meet up with him to make plans... I never showed.. stood this poor guy up.. He called me crying in his beer said he had given the ring to a waitress and that he was hurt beyond hurt.. He loved me so much but was so tired of me hurting him... "whatever" was my thing back then...   sad but true.

Forward 20 something years.. I have thought and agonized over this, because I did care about him, just realized too late how much...  And with me coming to grip with my eating disorder and making amends, I felt that I had to find this one guy... I started looking him up online with the phone directory.. found him and his wife, still in the same place... I picked up the phone many times and hung up thinking what would I say, what could I say, or would he even talk to me....    One evening, I picked up, dialed and did not hang up.... scared out of my wits, I heard a "hello".. and I stumbled with the hello back and said to her "is >>>> home?"  she said "yes, he is in the next room" and I told her, "I know this is a strange request, but I was a friend of his a long time ago and just wanted to say hello"..
She says "sure, what is the name".. I said "Bobbie"..    "hold on", she says and I could hear her in the next room telling him telephone and it's Bobbie... 

He came on and we said how long it's been and caught up to children and marriage and my divorce and what we were doing over the years.. and he was so happy to hear from me.. he told me that he had thought about me often and wandered how I was doing.. I replied .. this is partly the reason, I am calling.. "you know all those years ago and how you/we were and how awful I treated you..".. he said "yes" and I said to him.. "you were the one guy that had my back of all of them, you had my back, never asked questions, always by my side and you were always there".. "I just wanted to say, how sorry I am for treating you the way I did".. You of all didn't deserve what I did"..    not that it helps now, but I wanted to let you know... "How special you truly were to me"..   He said that he didn't need an apology that it was what it was back then and I was special to him as well..    The tears stream down and he said to me "you have been thinking about what you did all those years ago and it was hurting you?"  "That I would never hang over you, you were a good person and a good mom and I just wish things had been different..".. 

We talked for a long long time and he said to me , We need to get together again with the gang... My boys/guys, I used to call them and catch up... I told him thank you but no, and to calling him again no...  I would not want to upset his wife for anything, they have a great life and an old flame coming in with long ago memories would make her feel uncomfortable...    He understood and we left it as Thank you....   and you will always hold something special in my heart..    

Now, this is a story (embarrassing as it is) of me growing up and finding someone very special in a time of confusion and how I /we all can go in another direction because of our needs/wants  and just plain selfishness..  Me, calling """""  and talking to him helped immensely.. now, does this make me a better person??  I don't know..........  but it shows that if you truly want to make amends for something wrong you had done, one can make it right if they have a  conscious...  Our Conscious can keep us in check, be our truth seeker and be our gauge...    At times, one thinks of if some people have a conscious-at all... We do, just some choose to ignore and I could no longer ignore how my actions hurt someone so dear to me.

Thanks------

What would you do??

What would one do if they knew someone's secret.. I mean a secret that would turn the other person's world in a spiral?

I am saying as I have been told..........this person would definitely deserve what comes to them..... 

Pretends to be a friend when at the given moment, stabs in the back and turns it around on you that you deserved it.....    Not a friend, right?   


Is suppose to be a God fearing Christian but then again, goes out to clubs and parties down with the rest of them .. oh, but don't let them know you are out around on the town.......  YOU should be ashamed... 


They always try to be better than or think they are better than anyone else.. going into hock for a car or house or things they really cannot afford to show "the supposedly in crowd", they are apart of this crowd. 


Always scheming for the next thing......   and when it doesn't go their way.....pitch a fit and all hell breaks loose till they get their way......   again, more money out the door to pamper the mouth... 


The person has not talked to the other in many years because of jealously and then came to  help again and then with one thing that was said didn't go their way......   will not speak, to me that is a good thing, let them go....   but then likes to trash this person to anyone that knows them.....  How unkind and petty this seems, right??  right??   

Slept with a friends so-called boy friend and then told the boyfriend lies and then only then does this bring me to the secret this one person has on the other......    This person not truthful to anyone....   on a subject matter that would turn someone's world downward... 

What would you do?  This may help the person in turmoil.. 

With all this not to get back at this person(not worth the breath) but to make some justice to a wrong.....would you tell the secret??   

Thanks-----

My battle with Anorexia and Bulimia

When you tell a story or a true story as I am about to do.. You must be as honest as you can be..

This is my story of being border-line Anorexia and Bulimic; having one is hard enough to treat but both, very difficult.. where one is not eating the other is eating and throwing up.

As a young child, I began thinking of being a model, Twiggy and Cheryl Tiegs with a few others were gracing the covers of many magazines. I wanted to see myself on a magazine, so I started learning everything I could with Modeling and fashion, looking through every magazine I could get my hands on.  I started dieting and this is where I met my addiction.......  not only did I diet and exercise, I took so many diet pills and water pills that could sink a ship..  (6-8 at a time;each and maybe 2-3 times a day).. Follow me?

 It started out as being a little girls wanting(dreaming), if you will, to a disease that grabbed hold and took control of my world.  With every pill and lack of food was weighing heavy on my body---my soul; but I didn't see it. All I could see looking in the mirror was an over weight little girl(which I was not, never have been) but this is what this disease does......... plays with your mind, a terrible sickness, a silent killer... When I started my Senior year in high school, I weighed 90 lbs and throughout my days in college..

 And during my pregnancy, had to be hospitalized trying to save my baby and this is where I started the second half of my disease...... Bulimia----- crazy right??  True, this was my world. Not wanting to get big but not wanting to go back into the hospital, I began eating all I could and then after a while -throw it back up- This continued from then on. After the birth of my first, age of 23, I weighed only 73 lbs and that is where my employer, McRae's Department Store, intervened with me getting help. Oh, wholeheartedly  I fought with everything I could saying, "I am fine, just tired with being a single mom and working all the time".  OH HELLO GIRL... not true. I just didn't want to know the truth of how sick I was becoming. I did accept the help and even had someone from work to go with me to make sure I went to the appointments. Thank God for McRae's and the people there that cared.

In the mean time, I still studied up on my modeling and finding any photographer that would take photos of me and talking to every agency I could find to help give me pointers. And everyone would say...... you are short but you have talent, You will never be Cheryl Tiegs or Christie Brinkley but you can be your own. That gave me the confidence I needed to keep going....... but, of all that, I still had my "secret". This secret killing me inside and I was ignoring it; still- for years..

Forward, to age 28, my weight was 89 lbs and back into therapy I go. This time, it was to be inpatient treatment, I was told, but thankfully I had 1% body fat and that kept me out to continue doing outpatient treatment.  See, this disease doesn't care if you have a family or career, it takes control and puts you on a destructive path. I had to start, again, wearing clothes bigger than my size and stop looking in the mirror and by all means no weighing..

Forward again to age 43-45, I weighed 98-99lbs.........   still throwing up, still dieting and not eating. Until, one day.........   I stopped.........   NO not cured but RECOVERY. I will always be recovering. It's like being a recovering alcoholic or drug addiction, just mine was with food/lack of food.. I can still throw up but never have I shoved my fingers down my throat(make me sick thinking about doing that) ........ I have conditioned my esophagus and diaphragm. Strange, but true...

I am still 5'2" but now to the grand old weight of 105... fighting the urges but better because of me, finally, taking control and realizing what this disease(silent) can do....  It can do so much damage to your body, not only in weight but your heart can stop, you can bleed internally, excess hair growth, loss of teeth (because of acid eroding enamel from inside). This can leave your families without you and that is a price I am not willing to pay...............    

I want to add a little note that Modeling was not the culprit of it all; it was me. My mind and it's image of me and my lack of self esteem or regard of myself.....   I still fight, that's what recovery is-------but I fight the right way and take responsibility.... I still have my issues(with my body) but, I face them head on and bring them out in an open and honest way. I no longer try to please others on my look, I know how and do.  I am one of the lucky ones that has seen and come through the other side of this deadly sickness.

Will I ever become that Famous Model?    All I can say is I became one..........   (not gracing the magazines, yet, still working on it) Now that I am older/wiser...

Thank you------------




    

Celebrate July 4th..

Happy 4th.

We celebrate,today,our Independence. We come together whether in large groups or small,we come with our grills, ice cream and frills and fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. We have fun in the water with family and friends, watching water festivities of boating and skiing. 

We celebrate, for some, it's just a day to take off work and go swimming and eat and drink with the show of fireworks blasting the skies at night.. For others, we know and celebrate our Flag and Nation to what others before us sacrificed for us to become a Country. Note that we do have the fireworks and grills and frills as well.. :)  Come on... after all, is this not America??   We love to celebrate, love those fire crackers and cherry bombs and who doesn't love the sky rockets.  

So, today, We have a party for our Country and for us. Today, doesn't matter what side you stand on, or shouldn't or your color or religion.. Raise your glass or your paper cup and gather round for some good ole eats and party down, America.. Today is your day.  

Thanks------