Saturday, January 29, 2011

I Had The Climb of My Life!




Bridge Climb

There is a monumental bridge in Sydney, Australia, that spans the harbor.  While cruising under it one day we noticed these little “ant people” crawling over the upper girders.  This looked like something we should investigate!  We discovered that for a price we could climb up there also.

Being members of the lunatic fringe, my sister and brother-in-law, (Barbie and John), and I took a taxi to the bridge. 

Rancher Richie, not being a member of the lunatic fringe, decided he’d rather take a nap.

Oh, I am starting to get nervous just writing these words.  We entered the office and signed waivers that said we promised not to sue them if we should happen to fall off and manage, somehow, to live through it.  While waiting to don the ugly gray jumpsuits, I looked at the wall of celebrities who have participated in this activity and lived.  Bruce Springsteen and the Olsen twins were pictured, but I didn’t get to notice others because I had to go put everything on my person into a locker as even something as small as a quarter could kill someone underneath, should one happen to escape out of one’s pocket.  If any of us needed to wear glasses. They had to be strapped on. Then we had to hook this belt contraption around our waists that was attached to a little ball.  Next we had to practice using it on a raised platform.
“There’s your boyfriend.” My ever-alert sister whispered in my ear.
He was a doozey!  He had three teeth and didn’t look too “with it” if you know what I mean.  His ugly gray jump suit was twisted around him so he looked like a two year old who had dressed himself for the first time.  I decided he should be my new best friend.

I couldn’t leave Barbie without a boyfriend, so I found her one.  He had a carpet of hair growing out of his ears.  I would have found John a girlfriend, but Barb and I were the only girls in the group of eleven.

Then we took off to climb the bridge for the next three hours.

Our intuitive guide Jason, positioned Barbie and I, along with my boyfriend, in front of the line.  We got the feeling he always keeps the Goonies close to him so he could watch out for them.  We were the Goonies.

We began our adventure.  When we were still on step one, I looked down.  We were already so high up that the people below looked like dollhouse people.  I felt as if I might barf, and I wondered if the little people under me would appreciate that.
Let me say here, that I am not afraid of heights.  I am just afraid of falling off of high places, and I constantly picture of myself plummeting from them.  With that said you will understand why I spent the first one hundred steps with my eyes closed while humming a light little dirge.  Since I couldn’t see, I had to feel my way with each step, which took a little longer but I felt it was worth it. 

As I became a bit braver, I opened my eyes but I kept them looking upward, sort of like Bernadette Peters did when Steve Martin told her not to look at her plate because there were snails on it, in the movie, “The Jerk.”

I still had to feel my way with my feet, and test for solid iron works before adding my weight.  We were about a zillion feet high.

Our patient guide kept asking me if     I was all right, as if I were a 58 year old pregnant woman.  I began to get slightly more embarrassed than scared, so I decided to “watch where I was going” like my mother always said just after I stepped on a baby’s fingers or ran into an unsuspecting old lady.

Just as I was starting to get used to walking a mile up in the air on erector set walkways we came to several flights of, well, ladders, actually.  They were arranged like a staircase in a building except that when we went from one staircase (or ladder-case?) there was nothing beneath us.  Nothing. But.  Air. (And quite a bit if it.)
So, when we got to the top of one ladder, we had to hover out over Nothing and turn to get to the bottom of the next ladder.
Did I mention there was Nothing beneath us?
I was completely traumatized by this part, and just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, a commuter train rumbled across the bridge causing the ladders to shake like a seven point oh earthquake.  I could see post-traumatic stress syndrome in my future.
I remember poking my head up through a trap door in the floor of the bridge and seeing cars and trucks whizzing by, but that’s about all I recall until we were standing at the apex, looking down on the majestic Sydney Opera House.  The view was spectacular, and I was happily congratulating myself for finishing the adventure.

   Then I realized we had to get back down to the ground. 

And those ladders were still there.








Sunday, January 23, 2011

When You Are My Age, Food Is What It's All About

 Cafe Luna in Placerville, CA

Go there if you dare.  I moaned audibly all through my meal.  It could have been embarrassing if everyone else in the cozy little restaurant hadn't been doing the same.
 My sister, Pegi and my niece, Whitney
 Saffron Risotto for the sister with the braces on her teeth. (Delicious) I tasted everyone's!
 What the rest of us had.  Steaks, Pork Chops, and fish.
 All absolutely so good it turned us into simpering fools.
 The veggies cooked separately, in different spices and then piled up together, still crunchy!
           Oh.  My.  God.
The wine was perfection.
I haven't had such good food since I was on that gourmet boat cruising down the Shannon River in Ireland!  
No, wait a minute!  I believe this was better!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Yorick Is a Cross-Dresser?

 Turns out Poor Yorick likes to get all gussied up and sing ABBA songs with his friends!
I kept hearing "Dancing Queen."  Went looking.  There he was!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Dear God

All I am asking for is a big fat bank account and a skinny body.  Please don't mix them up like you did last year.

Friday, January 14, 2011

My Years As a Bra Burner

Yeah, No.
I actually never burned my bra or any other article of clothing.
I was a Feminist, however.  It was the times. you understand.  I am one of the first subscribers to
"MS. Magazine."  I wish I had kept the copies of that first year.  They were exquisitely representative of the changing times.
This Doonesbury comic was published in the early seventies.  I was attending Cal State at the time.  I was taking a class called "Women in Literature" from a guy with a superbly raised consciousness.  He was married to a woman who kept her maiden name!  Un. Be. Lieve. Able.

The comic was clipped and stayed on my fridge for years!

This little conversation in a sand box was, and still is, my favorite Doonesbury comic.
My son gave the 100 pound book to me for Christmas.  I found the sand box kids immediately.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Lexie Is Two!

We are experiencing the "Terrible Twos."
I have to say we have been doing so since I brought her home.
Don't care.
Love her to pieces!

Friday, January 7, 2011

How To Make An Old Teacher Happy

Just send her a sweet email like this one I got yesterday!

Are you the same Lynn Guinn that taught at Willmore Elementary in Westminster, CA in the 80’s?  If you are, I was one of your students – I was in your fourth grade class and had you for 5th and 6th grade English.  I still have great memories of “Where the Red Fern Grows”, “A Wrinkle in Time” and all things Shakespeare.  I was student body Treasurer, Secretary and President while there.  I believe you also had my younger sister, Lisa in your classes.  Maybe you’ll remember that we had a bet once and you said that if you were wrong you would “eat your hat”.  Turned out you were wrong and you baked a cake in the shape of a hat for the class.  After peaking in elementary school, I went on to Stacy Intermediate, Garden Grove HS and UCLA (BA in English and JD).

If you are the same Lynn, just wanted to tell you that you were a wonderful teacher and still my favorite.  If you’re not the right person, sorry for the inconvenience and now you know about a great teacher.  Take care.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A Four-Way Kiss For 2011

 My sister and bro-in-love were at our house to welcome in the New Year.
We did our welcoming a little early for our time zone but we can do that if we want to.
We watched Bette Midler's Vegas Special and then went to bed.
The next morning Richie fixed Eggs Benedict for the four of us.
THEN, and here's the good part, we graded my sisters science Ocean Reports.
I enjoyed it because middle school children write some funny stuff!   I got fodder for a newspaper column!