We’re going for three weeks to Scotland and England - my younger daughter is getting married in Scotland to a great British guy. We are going to visit relatives in Devon and do some biking.

egregious!

2 weeks from now,I’ll be on the beach, soaking in the sun in Myrtle SC. Anyone else going to be there?

Woops, and good morning,Egreg!! It’s 23 and very sunny here in Upstate New York. We had a couple of inches of slushy snow yesterday..looking forward to spring.

Make that ‘Myrtle Beach’.

Good morning pups! Any maple bars left?

Slush here, too, Toby. The branches of my white birch tree had bent from the weight of the snow. Drooped way down. Recovered nicely, though.

ask twolf1

Toby –

Best wishes for your daughter! Where is Scotland are they getting married?

1,796 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Hardin Smith:

Sharin’ exotic vacation ideas is great but how about a real vacation get together at FDL…maybe somethin like the Yearly Kos but at the sixth month opposite the Kos and maybe in Las Vegas since that’s about as accessable and central for workin’ FDLer-folks. How about it…have you and Jane and the Pachman given this idea any thought?

As for summer vacations in the North country here, my son and I take 7 days on the Lake of The Woods every June…we re-evaluate, reconsider, reconnect and recharge and eat Walleyed Pike until we start growin gills.

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T EVER FEEL GUILTY ABOUT HAVIN’ FUN!!

Piece of luck,that…whenever I drive down I81 in PA, I see the birches permanently bowed from that sort of thing.

Airth Castle Hotel, which is about half way between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

*buurp* no more maple bars but some bacon and waffles, egy! HIya

This is the end of our Spring Break. It was above 40 almost all week! Robins are back and the snow is almost gone! It was amazing taking the dogs out this morning and hearing birds singing…

Now, it’s time to figure out what I’m doing at work this week and start knocking on doors and all that other fun campaign stuff.

Sunny, cold & muddy here in WV this morning.
In the heat of August, I’ll spend 10 days at a biological station in Maine.

I’d sign on in a minute Norske - but to help everyone out, we’d need to find someplace that a) has good access on the flight end and b) is not too expensive(though perhaps if we got the right place, we could rent some dormitory spaces at a college? Would that work?). But I think it would be a great idea.

Good morning Egregious! Here in Maine we say, “2 months of summah 10 months of wintah“.

I would love to get away. Not sure where I’d go, though. Somewhere near a lake would be nice. The ocean is nice but I’ve never been a big fan of swimming in it, because there are things in there that can eat ya alive. LOL

Oooh that’s a gorgeous castle. Makes the upstate NY winters go by faster to dream of such a great event, yes?

Had 4 years in the finger lakes during college. It was chilly.

Here in Chicago we haven’t had a serious winter like we used to in years. Even this year we only had a handful of days where the temps went below zero…..but the snow on the other hand has been a royal pain in the a@#.
60″ reported overall this winter. Haven’t seen that much snow since maybe 79. Come on spring, I’ve had enough of the old man.

and I only got the shovel out once this year, not that I’m complaining.

i love the idea of dorm rooms - or even a hostel. yearlykos sounds like fun, but awful pricey. i’d like to be able to do something that was doable for the widest possible group of interested folks.

…. and to be fair to christy et al. they’re already doing a ton of work - maybe this is something we could think about taking on ourselves?

p.s. egr - great to see you on the front page again and great post. i’m going to try to go back to lurking for a bit in order to encourage new names to speak up.

Denise, what will you be monitoring or studying? Love Maine, it’s so beautiful in the summer.

1,795 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen TobyWollin:

Now I ain’t a real fan of Las Vegas but in this economic climate Vegas is about the cheapest and most accessible venue especially as relates ta air travel connections and cost. The packages thru some a the larger casinos and the accommodations for groups like the FDL are really about as good as it gets. If we got a bank of rooms and meetin space from a Friday afternoon thru Sunday noon, we could do some serious damage and still get home in time ta make life miserable for folks at work on Monday mornin’…jest an idea that I think is worth explorin’. If we did it this July in Vegas a month before the convention in Devnver we might be able ta attract a couple progressive heavy hitters like Chris Dodd er Feingold ta address the group and maybe participate in panel discussions. Jest an idea anyways.

KEEP THE FAITH AND HOLD YER FIRE UNTIL YA SEE THE WHITES A MY EYES!!

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all take a vacation together? An Alaskan cruise maybe, or rent out a small island in Hawai’i for a week.

Two questions come to mind:

1) How big a boat does Ed*ard Teller have?
2) How big is CTuttle’s back yard?

where? Rochester? Ithaca? Syracuse?

It’s just as good of an idea as the last time you mentioned it…

I say we do it… …hell, even an “unsanctioned” event, if we got enough firepups to do it, could probably coerce our lovely hosts to stop by!

I love the seasons where I live, both of ‘em!

Warm rain, and Cold rain… …but tonight is has been snowin again!

WTF!!!

“Far above Cayuga’s waters…” [Ithaca]

“there’s an awful smell”

“Some say it’s Cayuga’s waters”

hehehe..and you found THAT chilly? Ithaca is the Riviera of the Finger Lakes in comparison to Rochester!!!! I’m in Binghamton, and we look rather enviously at ithaca’s climate and growing season.

Last summer we moved from CA to MO, and stopped at Rocky Mountain National Park for a day to break up the trip. After two hours in the park, our then-five year old wanted to just unload the moving van and move in right there with the elk and the beavers. The only way to get him back in the truck was to promise we’d come back this summer and spend a WHOLE WEEK there.

He’s looking forward to that, and so are his parents.

Future forest ranger, maybe.

“I say it’s Cornell”

we have a little cottage by the lake about an hour away, up in the gatineau hills. normally at this time of year we’ve been up at least once to check up on the place but not this year. there’s just too much snow, we can’t make it through.
i am planning on spending all my weekends up there as soon as the roads are passable.
i can’t wait for this snow to be gone.

Yes, it’s a beautiful place. I’ll never forget a show a peregrine falcon put on for us there. At one of the pullover sites going up the mountains, the falcon would pass slowly by, a few feet away from the audience at the overlook, and then dive down the mountain at high speed, following the terrain at only a foot or so above it. It did it about four times. That was the most beautifly flying I ever saw.

Luckily, our son and his family live in Eagle, Co., and we can visit and use as a base each summer.

One of several possibilities, to be sure. This is also the kid who loves his legos — around our house, this was “Dad, let’s build the International Space Station out of Legos” week.

“Curiosity” does not begin to describe him.

sounds like a candidate for Space Camp some day.

Check out Google today:

http://www.google.com/

Nice, huh? ;-)

Fungi, specifically the ones associated with wood decay/decomposition.

Hey mwah,

Sounds like the ideal retreat. Hope your snow melts pretty soon so you can get up there.

I lived in Wyoming for a year, and used to go to RMNP on my day off. During the winter, it was like I had the place almost to myself.

Incredible.

Our son really had to twist my arm hard to get us to go back there this summer. “No, don’t make me go back there again . . .” ;)

Oh, Elliott, I caught yer question on the last thread late…

My retirement plan is of the “drop dead mid-shift” variety, party was for a co-worker, but the food was just as good…

Fungi, and not slime molds? I love slime molds!

When I was a kid in the 50’s I had an uncle who lived in Myrtle Beach. We stayed with them for two weeks every August. The next door neighbors owned a garage and raced stock cars on the then dirt track at Darlington. Their name was Petty. MB was a sleepy little beach town, had a mini-carnival (complete with a full-sized ferris wheel) downtown, one theatre, etc. I loved the place. My uncle owned a laundramat just down the street from the Piggly Wiggley. I used to get to keep whatever change I found cleaning out the lint traps each evening. I learned to body surf in MB. I’d report to school in September tanned to the nines. My grandparents moved there in the 60’s and my parents in the late 70’s. My brother and his family settled there. My dad died suddenly there in 1980. All this moving to MB was a homecoming of sorts. My family settled in South Carolina in the early 1750’s from France. My grandfather joined the Bonus Marchers in Washington DC during the Depression and stayed. I was the first of my family born outside of SC in 200 years. Myrtle Beach had one of the finest beaches in the world. Couldn’t keep me out of the Atlantic. Mickey Spillane, the creator of Mike Hammer, had a home in Murrell’s Inlet. We used to go bowling with them. Have a great time, Solai. I always did.

this was “Dad, let’s build the International Space Station out of Legos” week.

Full size?

Oh,
I’m glad you had fun and ate well
and I hope you retire at a hundred and two.

I always thought Binghamtom was in the South! That’s what they told me up in Syracuse…

It IS - the “Southern Tier” ;)

Amazing! I have worked with myxomycetes (slime molds) for 18 years. There is a class on slime molds at the Humboldt Field Research Institutethis summer

I think that if we want to do something, we first “talk” to Jane, Christy et al and get the blessing. Then we need to decide venue - Las Vegas sounds great (I’d offer Binghamton, but it’s one of those ‘can’t get they-ah from he-ah” places, flight-wise) - and find out who can do the best for us and WHEN and then get the word out. My two cents.

He wishes.

Earlier in the week, we caught part of a Discovery channel show about the Voyager spacecraft missions. He then wanted to build not just the little Voyager craft, but the launch vehicle that took it into space. With a little help from Dad, we built it. (He built Voyager, and I built the launch rocket.) Then he called for mom, and when she came to his room, he made it launch, then dropped off the rockets, opened up the main stage, and out came his “Voyager”, and he took it on a trip around the house.

Thanks!

That gives me PLENTY of time to annoy lots of people on the inter-tubes!

I love Myrtle Beach. It’s where my husband and I hope to retire to. It’s probably never going to happen (waaay too tied to family and friends) but the beach is so beautiful and we just love waking up to that beautiful sunrise on the ocean.

Eg on the FRONT page! Whoot Whoot!

This summer Littleprop and I will be moving to a new house, so our “vacation adventure” will involve paint rollers and shopping for curtains and such. I love decorating and am addicted to “how to” programming and think of myself as handy with a tool box, so I ma very psyched about it.

Littleprop drastically changes her decorating plans for her new room, oh, about every 3rd or 4th day. Fortunately, this means the plan to paint it black and light with a blacklight, has fallen by the wayside. Thank doG.

When I was a kid, my 6 siblings and I went to The Enchanted Forest every year without fail. The place is corny as hell, but now my kids go every year and the place is MAGIC as far as they are concerned.

Heck, they even got some good “grown-up” rides since I was a kid!

Come to think of it, if the weather ever improves, it is about time to plan a trip!

By the way, you should click on that Google link. In fact, maybe we should try to help spread the word.

Google is trying to publicize an effort to raise awareness about energy consumption and what we can do to conserve. They are asking people to turn off all their lights for on hour, form 8-9PM in their local time zones.

If the towns would only turn off hte streetlights too, we could all see the stars…..

My mayor lives not to far from me, maybe I should wolk ove rot his hose and ask him?

Going to spend many a week at our cabin on Lake Michigan. It’s 60 years old, has an oil stove, and you can’t go there in the winter, but May through October is a wonderful time to look at the big lake.

If we go to the top of the dune we can almost see Wisconsin.

Loosehead - I’m in the middle of a major re-do on my house also, which means that I have a huge pile of fabric on one side and a growing pile of curtains on the other.;)

There’s a place up near Lake Placid in NYS called the North Pole. It even has it’s own post office so you can get letters from Santa with a real honst to gosh North Pole post p=mark on ‘em.

When Litleprop was small, her father an I used to go to lake Placid every year for a rugby tournatment run by the Mountaineers RFC–best damn tournament on the continent IMHO. Anyway after dragging her from pitch to pitch in the blazing sun for several days, we would reward her with a trip to the North Pole. She’d go on the rides, see Santa, feed the reindeer and gorge on gingerbread and candy canes–in August.

Canada…. It is only a short (8 hour) drive to PEI a wonderful, peaceful, inexpensive, CLEAN part of the world. We love going to Canada, Montreal, Victoria, Nova Scotia, wherever. Definitely a place we are looking at to retire primarily because of the healthcare situation and also it is not America.

I know what you mean. My dining room table is currently buried under my sewing machine and a pile of fabric

Didn’t I read somewhere that if everyone turned everything off at 8 and turned back on at 9 that it would cause problems? A surge or something.

Placid every year for a rugby tournatment run by the Mountaineers RFC–best damn tournament on the continent IMHO.

Jeeze I knew that props were a little off center but the tournament is in Saranac Lake. Damn good tournament played in it for years and refereed for many more years. I’ll bet I caught you off side more than once!!!!

I don’t know. If you go to google they have a link to information about it.

Best two weeks my family ever spent was on Cape Breton Island. I’m not a beach person, so I went to a fiddle workshop while they played with the whales and went hiking. Great stuff. We can’t wait to go back up there.

Didn’t I read somewhere that if everyone turned everything off at 8 and turned back on at 9 that it would cause problems? A surge or something.

It is OK the surge only shows it is working

It’s 32 and sunny here on Boston’s North Shore. Wondering when Christy lived in Boston and where.

Vacation plans? We’re musicians, so we work every weekend. But we’ve set aside a week in July to go to the music camp that Leahy holds each summer in Ontario. Many of you probably know of them, fine purveyors of Celtic and Nova Scotia music that they are.

Sydney goes dark for Earth Hour

You reffed the CanAm? So did ex-Mr.Prop.

We must know each other from the friday night ref’s party. Are you from Met Union?

I’m not a beach person, so I went to a fiddle workshop while they played with the whales and went hiking. Great stuff.

Used to go the Philly folk fest years ago (before they changed locations) and went to many a fiddle workshop. I wish I could remember all of it!!!

Hadn’t heard of that music camp before. Sounds great!

Vacations? How about the people who live from paycheck to paycheck? Or those facing foreclosure and living in the street?

We are facing difficult economic times and chatting about vacations is in very poor taste in my opinion.

We have work to do and people are dying every day in Iraq and 10s of thousands have come home and face a life in bed under full time care.

bad topic in these times.

Played in Boston. Have played with both Pilgrims and Mystics as well as Boston in the tournament. I have been told that I also played in “senior” games but I have no recollection of that.

I know it’s in Saranac But we always stayed at the Mirror Lake Inn and Littleprop thinks of it as a trip to Lake Placid. We used to go twice a year, in summer for the CanAm and in winter to ski.

The only part she really cared about was the swimming pool because it had a neat (fake) waterfall.

Egregious!!

Well, it is Saturday near Beantown with a crisp yet sunny day facing us all here.

Just got back from a long weekend in Montreal — Why did the family Imm chase the Winter? Dunno, but it was great city which I will happily revisit between May and September. I recommend the Insectarium for all the parents with kids who like crawlie things. They had a great scale which measured one in “ants.” I learned that I need to drop about 500,000 antys to be at prime fightin’ weight.

We have relatives living in Saranac Lake so stayed free and partied all bloody night. Great tournament. I have to mention that I was there for the first one… how about you?

egregious!!!

hello from Hong Kong…it’s almost 10 PM Saturday night here in Hong Kong, and my friend and I are about to head out to dinner…am heading back to the US next Wednesday…

This summer, we’ll be hanging out in Montana, Missoula, MT to be specific, for two months (July and August) going on long mountain hikes, camping in th mountains, drinking fine red wine and eating great dinners with friends (a few of whom teach at the U of MT, and another few who are published novelist (Missoula is quite known as a writers habitat)…

Immanentize!!

So good to see you here :)

MSNBC is talking about Walmart suing the brain-damaged woman for $470,000. Isn’t everyone missing the point? Yes, this shows Walmart to be inhumane, but the bigger point is that this should be illegal. This is something that Congress should adress. I don’t want to rely on the humanity of my insurance company. I want this practice to be banned.

Good morning Egregious. Nice to see you here on this cold saturday morning.

Epic winter in Montréal. Record snowfall, and the weather has remained cold, there’s still three feet of snow in my backyard.

No plans yet for this summer, might drive to the north shore, maybe visit Manic 5 and Sept-Iles to eat snow crab.

one thing i’m planning to do, is to get back on my road and pedal a smile into my face. I was on my bike, summer of 02, when a raging driver decided I was going to pay for all the cyclists who are on HIS road. Doctors told me walking, cycling, running were pretty much over. With the nerve damage, pain was pretty much going to be a constant companion. Well, they were wrong, I walked and walked through the pain and, lo and behold, the pain is receding as the years go by. Still have some emotional issues about getting back on my bike, I’ll work through that, and build myself a butt of steel.

Weighing things in “ants” — I prefer the scales that are in British stones. Such a lovely low number.

Good Morning Egregious and Firedogs -

wildflowers and spring birds are peeking out here in Central Tex - headed out to the Hill Country for a little of both in a week :D

Hey immanenitize !!! good to see you

The voting in Zimbabwe sounds just like voting over here. !

Yes, but dropping a few pounds sounds safer than dropping a stone or two.

Well I try not to stand under falling rocks, if that’s what you mean.

cbl, looseheadprop, egregious. Hmmm, nice to see such a pleasant sitting room filled with fine old friends. (By the way, what’s with the “2″ cbl?)

Wow…you’ve got real determination. We’re rooting for you!

(((Quebecois)))

But it is Saturday morning!

You certainly are not wrong, but the chaos and ugliness in the world is even more reason to disconnect, get away, and re-charge.

Even if not with a real vacation, it is good for the soul to imagine…

I prefer scones myself, but that tends to defeat the purpose of the scale.

*sigh*

damn

you go!

Good Morning,
You should maybe think of taking your little explorer to the Mall of America Lego Land. What a place for the little PUPS. My Grandson really liked it when he visited me when I lived in the Twin Cities.

Before leaving CA, we went to LegoLand outside San Diego. Amazing. The things you can do with little blocks of plastic . . .

imm - the ‘2′ is due to regist reqmts - no likey

Fine, but why not leave that to other sites and keep this one on point?

I don’t think we can’t all benefit from R&R and recharging our batts. I’ve had a sailboat which I lived and and still do as much as possible in the summer and will die on it I suppose.

Right now vacations are not something I feel the need for. I take “vacations” by listening to opera or attending a performance when I can afford it.

I live smaller now than I did in the past and I prefer it.

Wal-Mart doesn’t care. Their entire health insurance plan is a scam. I would suggest that if one read the entire policy they would find that Wal-Mart is going to make money every time the employee (other than management, that is) uses his/her insurance policy. Wal-Mart counts on the fact that few people ever read their policy so they can put whatever they like into it. Did this unfortunate woman’s family know that Wal-Mart would come after them? Probably not. The lawsuit was probably the first time they knew of the provision.

For SanderO: even those of us who live paycheck to paycheck, and I’m one of them, have dreams. Maybe in the grand scheme of things I don’t have a pot to piss in but I have dreams. Dreams and education - two things no one can ever take away.

haha. I will always think of you without the 2.

Good mornin’ from the tall timber! Thanks for the post topic, Egr! Vacations are wonderful to talk about. Just thinking of some of the great ones we’ve taken is a way of renewing the well now that disability limits our family travel.

Like the childhood fishing trip with family on Lake of the Woods…Norske my face is turning a lovely chartreuse again just remembering what a stormy seasick ride that was. Better to remember the fun times.

And Sander, sorry, can’t agree. If I don’t give myself breathing space and renewal from time to time, I can’t keep on keeping on. Too beautiful a morning to be crabby…. give it a try.

I have nothing against dreams or goals. That seems to be the main motivator, doesn’t it?

I suppose when you’ve had vacations they become less important, or when you are working so hard the need for them becomes paramount.

I am not working very much and I have done lots of vacations. Life is different now. I don’t have the dream motivation as must as the justice for all one.

Fine, but why not leave that to other sites and keep this one on point?

Funny, I though “the point” of the site is set by Christy and Jane — and egregious is filling in for Christy’s usual “sit back, pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and relax for a bit” Saturday morning post.

If that bothers you so much, you don’t have to comment or read it. You could even get your own blog.

Thanks Egregious.

It’s not determination, though. It’s more a quest for pleasure. Either you’re in your basement in pain, or you go out to Oka Park and walk in the woods for the pleasure of being in nature…

did these yesterday, the market gives me immense pleasure:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pi.....o46f6plGYQ

bom dia, pups

well mr wobbs and I live part time in Brasil, so that is where we will be come summer. He is originally from England but gravitates to any beach area so the plan is to spend some time up in Fortaleza and beaches in the state of Alagoas.

Hey Prairie!

Yeah the idea of a day of rest is pretty ancient.

For those arguing that we can never rest, what if that leads to burnout? I’ll be a lot more productive in the world if I can step back, reflect, and re-create periodically. Whatever I’m doing next, be it in politics here or international medical programs, it will be better if I’m well rested.

Even race car drivers have to stop for refueling sometimes.

I wasn’t aware there was one in CA. It’s just great. I wish we would have had something like that when my boys were growing up. Let them all stay at the store instead of under my feet LOL. I still have some here at my house for my Grandkids. My Grandson, is like your boy, he loves making things with them and has stuff all over his room. Mom goes GRHHHH. LOL

I remember carrides everywhere as a kid to see family when i was little.Chicago, Florida and Minnesota and all the places in between. Yes i’ve got a BIG widespread family. I swear that’s what kindled my wanderlust as an adult.

Now i head to Chicago every may for Anime Central, a huge japanese cultured convention for geeks everywhere. 14,000 geeks that invade the Hyatt O’Hare for a weekend. It makes my entire paid vacation worth it. I see old friends, make some new ones and generally have a great time. Share new shows among the group that meets annually there. Iowa, Minnesota and of course my own Michigan. *grin* It’s the highlight of my year. Sunshine, good friends and a big city to play in when we aren’t geeking out inside.

But now that this clause has been exposed, why is no one speaking up to say that this should not be legal? I don’t mind a bit that Walmart is being trashed but I’d be happier to know that Congress is addressing this issue. This is the first case (that I’m aware of) but now it will be S.O.P for all insurance companies. Screw the people, enhance the corps.

The CA LegoLand isn’t a store — it’s a huge outdoor theme park with enormous and elaborate lego constructions. Yes, they also sell legos there, but this is more of a Disneyland, Six Flags, Worlds of Fun kind of place.

On resting and taking breaks and vacations:. from wiki:

The Sabbath (or Sabbat) is a weekly day of rest and/or worship that is observed in the Judeo-Christian faiths. The term derives from the Hebrew shabbat (שבת), “(to) cease”. The term was first used in the biblical account of the last day of creation. It was repeated, as a commandment, as the fourth of the Ten Commandments (according to the Jewish, Anglican, Reformed, other Christian and Orthodox traditions, while it is the third commandment as enumerated in Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions). A number of other religions have a similar practice, and the term has also been imported into secular usage.

Sabbath is also the etymon of the Sabbatical that tenured academics take–about ayear or so–to regroup and do research and write books…whatever…

Good mawnin, all.

I’ve got a camping trip planned for July, just about thirty miles away from here. I’m combining the trip with a weekend get together with a group I hang out with.

That’s all I can afford this year. But, I already live in beautiful mountain country (north CA), so I don’t feel a great need to travel or vacation away from here.

Y’all can come visit me sometime, though, if you want. I’ll find you a place to stay, but it’ll probably be on the cheap. Lots of nice bed-n-brefasses around here too, if you’ve got the coin.

Ah, coffee’s ready. See ya!

Solai - putting “humanity” and “insurance companies” in the same sentence is sort of like kosher bacon.

HI, I figured that just used the wrong phrase. The site at Mall of America is in doors (winter you know) and it takes up one end of the entrance into the Mall where they have rides and such. It’s an indoor amusement park. Quite fun for the cold winter days in Minnesota and what to do with kids to keep them entertained when they get restless during the iwnter months. They have huge Lego displays that go up three stories. Quite impressive.

Are you going to attend the Hong Kong Sevens tournament while you are there. I think the finals are on Sunday (your time)

True.

I am guilty of assuming the political agenda of this blog.

Sorry

but SanderO, not everyone is in the same place as you are right now. dreaming of being at rest with nature or immersing ourselves in a different culture or just seeing some of the world are ways to remind ourselves of the wonder of it all… none of that precludes fighting for justice, and indeed is a foun