Wild horses and wild women

I tried to visit Melinda last summer when we were RVing in the west. It didn't work out due to Covid, fires, and smoke. The last time I was at her house was back in 2013 (I could figure that out by using google photos map view to see all the photos taken at her location, the most recent were from 2013.)

She's done a lot of remodeling to the house since then as well as added a lot of people and animals. So much to catch up on. The stars aligned last week when I had free time, she had free time and a free bedroom, and I could get a 'free' flight using American Airlines points. Off I went to visit my cosmic sister.

She picked me up at Reno airport. It was about 7pm so we went straight to a bar/restaurant.

Celebrating over 40 years of friendship

This is the view out her window. Notice the horses in the distance. Those are wild horses in the Washoe Valley. Melinda has always had a thing for horses. With these wild ones, she has learned how to mingle with them. How to be passive and unthreatening so that they will get close to her. She feels a bond. 

This is not something that has ever been a part of my life, but I'm always up for something different. So, when she suggested we take a walk out amongst the wild ones, I jumped at the chance.

They are so beautiful

Melinda sits down on the ground, hoping to entice the horses to come closer

It worked. Especially with the youngest horse. He came up and nibbled on her hat!

The next day I met Fran and Barb who also live on the property and help Melinda with her EquusInsight herd:

1 cat: milkshake

2 dogs: Boo and Stella

1 pony: Douglas

3 horses: Buttercup,  Sweet Pea, Dancer

4 goats: Shirley,  mama, summer, little shit

1 Llama: Joey

4 chickens: Frances, glitch, crystal

1 rooster: Bruce

1 donkey: Gus

1 pig: Millie

I was especially delighted to get to meet her grandkids. They came over the next day and we all had some fun in the paddock.

Melinda's granddaughters riding Buttercup

The Llama, Joey, is such a character! He comes right over and sniffs my hair. I wonder if he remembers me from 9 years ago?

This is Boo Radley - an Anatolian Shephard. A gentle giant.

I spent most of my time chatting with Melinda. If conversation flowed like water, we were flooding every place we went! I wish I could remember everything we talked about. From where is the best place to live, to the responsibility of animals, to how much we like traveling in our Roadtreks (she actually got one before I did!) to parties we both attended 40 years ago, I'd remember some pieces, she'd remember others. I denied some of her memories of my activities. We figured that, between the 2 of us, we had half a brain! I helped her with some issues on her website, and her Google Photos - too many accounts! And, she showed me a great time.

On the last day we went up the mountain to Lake Tahoe. This is where she and I lived together back in 1980. We drove by the old house, then went to the lakeshore. 

OMG what a beautiful place. As gorgeous as it is however, I was not tempted to live there. It was COLD and DRY. I'll take Florida as my place to live - but I sure enjoyed the visit.

View of Lake Tahoe, up high, and Washoe Lake on this side. So cool to see it from the air.

Trip to Arcadia or trip to Sanibel?

Sometimes your plans aren't about what you think. We planned to visit Riverside RV Resort, where we've gone for many years to teach our tech seminars and Smartphone photography workshops to the snowbird RVers who live there. We did that. And Jim posted this photo in Facebook. 

I posted this photo of our Smartphone photography class. 

A friend on Facebook, Prudence G noticed this posts and mentioned that she now lived in Sanibel Island and we should stop by and see her. 

Hey, we love Sanibel island,  and haven't been there in years. We met Pru while we were all diving in Fiji way back in 2006, then we visited her at home in the Chesapeake Bay area later that same year. She's the kind of person with whom we immediately felt an affinity, but we hadn't seen her since that visit back in 2006.

Hey,  Sanibel is right on our route home - let's go.  We pulled into her driveway and she greets us at the door.  Conversation flowed as if no time at all had passed.  She told us how her husband Reid had been instrumental in the creation of Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. How cool! Ding Darling is a very special place - we haven't been there in years. We were sorry to hear that Reid died a few months ago. 

I really want to go to Ding Darling and Pru graciously agreed to take us.  What a gorgeous evening.  

Then we went to dinner at a wonderful Mexican place (400 Rabbits)and continued our conversation discussing our favorite dive destinations all around the world. 

We driveway camped for the night and went to breakfast the next morning at Rosy's.

It was a wonderful visit - Thanks Pru! - and now that we know where she is we'll go back! 

As we were driving home, Jim said, "Y'know - I think the purpose of this trip was to meet up with Pru!" Serendipity!

Valentine's Day

 Jim and I mark the beginning of our relationship from our first kiss which was on Valentine's Day in 1993. I counted on my fingers and toes and decided that means we've shared 30 Valentine's Days together. We'd better celebrate right?

Well, we did a good job, even if it was by accident. You see, Jim bought tickets for a Rod Stewart concert. He bought them a couple months ago and it didn't register that the date was Valentine's day. He also neglected to put it on the calendar. Therefore, when I got a notice from Pelican Harbor that, as a regular donor, they were inviting us on a sunset cruise on Valentine's day. That's what I really wanted to do, so we were prepared to forfeit the concert tickets in order to go on the sunset cruise.

But wait, what time are these happening? The cruise, in Miami, is 5-7 and the concert starts at 8. Hmmm, we may be old, but we decided we could do that. If Rod Stewart, at 77, could get up on the stage and perform, we could make the drive and and watch him.

It was a great night with both events.

All's Right with the World

Jim and Jimmy always get together in Jan/Feb and go diving, but there was a disturbance in the force last year called Covid and he didn't make it down.

We're so glad he was able to make it this year. And, I'm glad that there's some lobster in the freezer!

Then a well-deserved soak in the hot tub! I had to get this picture for Jimmy to send to friends shoveling snow back in New Jersey!

Morikami Gardens and Mary Helen

 Google Photos has a habit of posting photos from years past to remind me of my memories. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of photos from when Mary Helen and I spent an afternoon at Morikami Gardens in January 2018. So when she called and said, "let's do something" I said yes! Morikami Gardens.

It was a perfect day.