Every now and then, after The Daily Show & Colbert Report end, I leave the tv on and watch a little South Park.  Usually I end up turning it off after 2 minutes, but now and then an eposide just reels me in and I find myself laughing out loud at their potty mouth,  irreverent, often crude and off the wall humor.   I love that nothing is sacred on this show…..  they are equal opportunity offenders.

Usually it’s the ones that are “musicals” or which skewer religion that get me. Tonight was one such night….    a take off on “High School Musical“ 

Enjoy this 2 minute clip:

Here’s the full episode: South Park  Elementary School Musical.

Here are links to a few of my other laugh out loud epidoes for your enjoyment.

Chinpokomon: The first episode I ever saw and couldn’t tear myself away. All the kids get obsessed with the Japanese toy Chinpokoman and go to some camp and start talking Japanese and get brainwashed.

All About The Mormons: Stan attends “family home evening” with the new kid in town and hears the Joseph Smith story, South Park style - musical and all. Remarkably close to the truth!

Probably - Satan tries to choose between Chris, who treats him like gold, and Saddam - with whom he has more chemistry.

The Return of the Fellowship of the Rings to the Two Towers - The kids go on a quest….

Super Best Friends Jesus calls on the “Super Best Friends” (Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, Joseph Smith, and Lao Tzu and Aqua Man) to defeat David Blaine and thwart his mass suicide plans.

Are you a fan of South Park? Do you simply hate it? Any episodes to recommend???

I’m still rather distraught about the passage of Prop 8 in California, and what that says about our society.

Please watch this special comment by Keith Olbermann…. it’s not one of his rants, I promise.  His expressions are heartfelt, and his gentle questions to those that would deny others the joy of marriage are questions which I would love to have considered and answered.   If you voted for Prop 8 (or would have if you could), I urge you to watch this brief video. It’s a questions of love for our fellow human beings.

Happy Birthday, Ashley Rae!

26 years ago today, the light of my life was born.   From the very beginning, Ashley had a sunny personality, spreading joy wherever she went - and her quickly earned her nickname “Ashley Rae of Sunshine.”  

She sucked her thumb, which was far more convenient thank a binkie which can get lost in the middle of the night, and stopped on her own.  She slept 7 hours a night even as an infant.  Such an easy child.   She was also bald as a cue ball until almost 2 years old - when her beautiful blonde hair came in thick and full of body.  And no obnoxious waves like her mother has.

(Don’t you think she looks like her daughter Kennedy did at this age?)

She did give me grief a few times as a child. Twice, she got hold of a pair of scissors and cut her bangs off right to her scalp. I’m afraid I didn’t react very well.

Another time, when she was around four, she had been playing in her room and I went in to check on her. She was no where to be found. If you’re a parent who has ever throught their child was missing, you’ll understand how panicked I felt. I was frantic - called to her and searched the whole house - no response.

I ran outside and enlisted the help of some neighbors who helped search the streets.

About an hour later, when I was about to call the police, I went into her room again and decided to search the closet again. I had looked before, but hadn’t taken everything out of the closet. I moved a little pile of stuffed animals and found Ashley sound asleep under a little pile of clothes.  

Read the rest of this entry »

Kristin has finally finished designing/creatng her blog!

It is called Defying Sunshine - visit it now and welcome her to the blogosphere!

Meet the next President of the United States.

CNN just called it for Obama. I’m so happy.  It’s been a long time coming….   

Let the change begin! (Actually, it already has)

Here is his victory speech, in case you missed it - or want to watch it again.

OK, back to the travel log.   I think that this leg of the sisters’ Olympic roadtrip was my favorite. 

As we turned off of Hwy 101 and up the road toward the falls, I said - “I really hope we see rays of light coming through the trees….”

And not 15 minutes later, we rounded the bend and saw this.  

Cool huh?

Of course another abrupt stop, in the middle of the road, was in order.

When we arrived at the trailhead, a group of young scouts was just coming back, leaving the area nearly empty.  I think we only saw 3 - 4 people while on the trail - it was perfect. 

The falls are very beautiful, but the .8 mile (each way) trek to get there was as enjoyable and memorable as the falls themselves.  The path was simply enchanting, and I wish that we’d stopped to take a few photos of the trail itself.  We thought of doing so on the way back, but were both in urgent need of the restroom so couldn’t take the time

Along the trail there were a couple of charming bridges and several babbling brooks. 

One in particular was covered with mossy stones.  Kristin was very patient as I obsessively took photos from a dozen different angles (I hauled my tripod on for just this purpose).   Because we were in the dry season, there wasn’t much flow in the stream - I really want to go back in spring when the water is cascading over the even more brilliantly green mossy rocks, and take a hundred pictures.

This is a hike/walk that most anyone could handle…. this is going to be on my “must see” list whenever I have visitors.  Michelle, Chris - you guys need to make another trip up here!  Kathleen and Ashley, you too.  

To see more photos of Sol Duc trail & Falls, click here

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming (travel photos) to bring you a costume parade! As you peruse these costumes from halloweens yore, keep in mind my mother made all of them (except 2).

1969… Don’t the cat-eye glasses just make the genie outfit?

1976….  

I really don’t know what we are, but after these picture were taken, Michelle, Jeri (her sister) and I went driving around with flour in pantyhose, swinging them out of a car at people trying to cover them with flour powder. It didn’t work, but we laughed a lot nonetheless. Oh, and if you guessed my mom didn’t make this outfit, you’re right.

I think this was also around the time that Jeri had me make prank phone calls to some guy asking him to bring a 3 bean salad to a dance (or something). Maybe Michelle remembers it better….

Jumping ahead…. to the 80s…. aren’t Brandon & Ashley cute?

Brandon is Daffy Duck - and I wish I could locate the picture of him from the side so you could see his tail poke out. It was really cute. And poor Ashley is stuck in my pathetic attempt to create a genie costume for her. She doesn’t seem to mind, but it’s an embarrassment after the professional costumes my mom whips up.

And saving the best for last….

1982. I am a VERY pollinated flower, here with the bee that pollinated me. Ashley was born about 3 weeks later.

I burst out laughing every time I look at this photo. Mostly because I remember Mark wore it to work at Zions bank…. and he rode the bus to get there, with briefcase in hand. For months afterward, customers referred to him as “Mr. Bee.”

After spending a couple of hours in Hoh Forest, Kristin and I decided to head to the beaches for the late afternoon, and hoped to catch a colorful sunset.  First up was Ruby Beach, about 25 minutes south of Forks. 

We were relieved (no pun intended) to find a rest room in the upper parking area….  until we got within about 10 feet of it.  Man, it was stinky But we used it anyway. 

We could hear the roar of the ocean as soon as we got out of the car.  I love that sound. There is a quarter mile trail to get down to the beach, and the first switchback gave a breathtaking view.   

And as we walked further down the path I spotted a bald eagle just before it landed in a VERY tall pine.   Even with my telephoto lens, this is as close as I could get, and not very crisp.  He sat there looking cool and posing for my camera for a good 10 minutes. 

The haystacks (big, off-shore rocks) were amazing - close to shore and very interesting.  I decided to shoot them in a way that got as many of them in as possible…..  took a bunch from this angle below.

It wasn’t til I was sorting through them back at the hotel that I noticed the rather unfortunate placement and prominence of the one the right.   It just looks very erect if you know what I mean.  It’s just a bit embarrassing.

We decided to see if we could make it back to First Beach in La Push before sunset. After a reluctant 2nd visit to the restroom/outhouse in the parking lot we sped north, wishing we had Edward Cullen to drive us at break-neck speed.

We arrived a little before dusk and had the beach to ourselves. Kristin scoured the beach for colorful rocks while I took pictures of big foam blobs the waves had left on the sand. The sky was pretty grey, but we were rewarded with some pink before it got dark.

For more pictures of the beaches, click here

After the sunset, we returned to Forks and stopped at the Forks Outfitters - combination Grocery and outdoor store.  They had a big display of Twilight books and a bunch of clever Twilight t-shirts and sweatshirts on sale.  Several businesses in town had signs like “Welcome Twilight Fans” and a clever motel’s sign said “Edward Cullen never slept here.”  Kristin got a picture of that one : ) She was reading book 3 at this point I believe…..

Next up - Sol Duc Trail & Falls….

    By the way - my hummingbird was back again today. 
    It’s getting COLD here!  He needs to fly south!

Day 2 of the sisters’ roadtrip took us first to:

Hoh Rain Forest

In the first “oooooh!” moment of the day, the sun turned dew drops on gossamer moss into sparkling diamonds.  It looked magical to me. I have a bit of a fascination with moss.  In fact, Kristin probably lost track of how many times did I said, “I love moss” as we were walking through the forest.    I think we also confirmed that I love living in the northwest.  It’s just so beautiful here.

It’s a good thing Kristin loves taking pictures too, because I think most people would have wanted to slap me upside the head for all the abrupt stops I made along the side of the road to capture a picture. I think she may have wanted to as well

One advantage to being there in the off season in the middle of the week (besides the ridiculously low motel rates) is very little traffic on the road to the forests. Which was good since I developed a habit of stopping in the middle of the road, as there was no pull off.  

There were also very few people walking the trails, so we had the place nearly to ourselves.  It was a beautiful, sunny day which really lit up the yellow maple trees. 

One of the highlights was coming upon an extremely hyperactive little squirrel in a tree.  He scrambled down a branch and pulled off a leaf, then scrambled up to a more solid branch and gobbled it up VERY FAST.  Then back down again.  Squirrel on speed.  But he was very cute.  With a very orange underbelly.

To view photos from the Hoh segment of our journey, CLICK HERE.

Next post, Ruby & First Beach.

During my August trip to the Olympic Peninsula with Brandon & family I decided I was going to have to make another sojourn to see more sights as well as spend more time in others.  

I invited Kristin to join me, and she was available this week - so we made some last minute plans and headed off on Monday afternoon.

We only turned into Port Gamble because we were chasing a rainbow, but discovered an absolutely charming town.  It is a 120-acre National Historic Landmark complete with picturesque, turn-of-the-century buildings filled with antiques, breathtaking views, expansive grounds and charming New England style houses on maple and elm tree-lined streets. Unfortunately, we were there after shops were closed for the day, so I think another trip may be in order.

As we continued on towards Sequim, Port Angeles and ultimately our little motel near Lake Crescent (which had a minor bookkeeping error and forgot we were arriving late, and didn’t leave our room key… so we ended up driving all the way to Forks for the night) Kristin spotted these really unusual and interesting mammary clouds.  She thinks they have a rather embarrassing (and strange) name, but they are very cool.  Worth sneaking onto private property in order to get a clear shot.

Next up….  Hoh Rain Forest,  Ruby Beach and First Beach.