Author: boomingbanter

Spring break was coming and Krishna had some United air miles that we needed to use. What better thing to do than take a little trip.

Conditions we set were quite limiting. No more than a three hour flight, direct no stops from Columbus, sea and sun and most importantly somewhere we had not been before.

This narrowed the field and we ended up booking a Houston flight with a short drive to Galveston Island.

We booked an apart hotel on our favorite website Booking.com. They rarely disappoint but this one was an exceptionally good choice. When they say on the beach it was absolutely spot on.

 

We have just been here one day but cannot believe how beautiful Galveston is.

The beach goes on forever and is spotless. The historic district is so well maintained and so colorful, great choice of restaurants and the people are super friendly.

 

Best of all we have a great little apartment with a balcony overlooking the sea, a separate bedroom for Ma and Pa so they got to sleep in till 9:30 and no need to rush for breakfast as we have a cute little kitchen and all we need to make our own!

Blessing # 289 – A Surprisingly Good Choice

Yesterday we went to one of the J.A. Baker tag sales and temptation was great.

The dream of the would be guest house, ironically on Baker Street, was foremost in the mind.

The items on sale had Buy Me I’m Victorian written all over them. With fifty percent off and deals to be done we caved in.

It matters not that we have yet to make an offer on the Victoria Homestead we shopped.

We bagged literally hundreds of plates, glasses, dessert bowls, tea cups and accessories that will set the scene for the dining room. 156 pieces for $100.

Four neat little dining chairs were then snapped up for $22 and finally we cracked up completely and bought four hand carved little velvet covered chairs for $75.

It was a tight squeeze to get everything into the car but we managed. Now all we need is the house!

Blessing # 288 – A Large Garage

 

One advantage of the clocks springing forward is that sunset comes later and the days seem so much longer.

My Dad used to look forward to this so much. He’d sigh a big sigh of contentment and say “ah that’s the long nights in”.

When he came home from work and had his dinner he’d take me out each night as a child. Later when I had other people taking me out he’d sit in the back garden and just watch the world go by.

One thing I love about springing forward though is that, for a while at least, you get to see the sunrise.

Here in Ohio this seems more spectacular than anywhere else in the world. Maybe it’s because of our geographical position or that the air quality is good. Maybe it’s the climate or just because we are relatively flat.

This morning the sunrise was one of the very best. It looked like the heavens were on fire!

If the old saying is true that a red sky in the morning is a shepherds warning then we better look out!

It surely gives you a spring in your step though to see such beauty at the beginning of the day! Even if you didn’t win the lottery!

Blessing # 287 – Life’s Lights

My Dad did the National Lottery every Saturday. His numbers were always the same. Multiples of seven up to 42.

He won now and then but never anything bigger than twenty or thirty pounds. We’d need a statistician to tell us if his odds were any different than a random draw or those of us who use birthdays and anniversaries to pick numbers. My hunch is it wouldn’t make a bit of difference as the chance of winning is so infinitesimally small.

The lottery is something we hardly ever do here in the USA but when we are in the UK we will test our luck now and then.

One memorable win we once had was in London. We were in a line about a mile long waiting to get tickets to see Phantom of The Opéra and right beside the theatre  was a little newsagents with a lottery sign prominently displayed. It was calling out to us for so long we had to buy a ticket.

When the draw was made that night we won seventy pounds. This covered our theater tickets and a few pints to boot! It was some time ago!!!!!!

This week we are going for gold here in the USA too.

The poweball jackpot has gone so high that it is featured in the news headlines. Who know why but when it’s close to the billion mark the jackpot calls out our name!

Chance of a win is lower than all three of us staring on the West End and Broadway simultaneously but we are confident we’ll be singing!

Blessing # 286 – Anticipation

This morning on the news there was a really unusual request from the Memphis Zoo.

They are looking for Bamboo! Their Giant Pandas need to put on a little weight and need a bit of variety to tempt them to eat more.

These BIG BEARS are really special critters. Their digestive system like all Bears is designed for a meat based diet yet they live almost exclusively on Bamboo. Why on earth did they choose this food?

How do they get the vitamins and amino acids they need to sustain growth and maintain their bodies? Now and then they will munch a little mouse or two but that won’t do it.  They don’t have a rumen so they must have evolved some really unique micro flora in their intestines to produce these essential nutrients for them. Maybe worth taking a look at to see if there is anything useful little bug living in there to help manage  metabolic disorders or even malabsorption in the elderly.

Pandas need to eat about 25 kilos (55 lbs) of Bamboo every single day to get the energy they need to survive yet they grow to be quite a size so they must manage.

Just imagine if that was us eating celery. We’d be spending every waking hour crunching. That might be what it’s all about these critters just love to eat.

They must have very sensitive taste buds too because they can distinguish between different types of Bamboo. So just as variety in our diets tempts us to eat more so too will a variety of Bamboo enhance the intake of these lovelies.

Imagine what would happen if someone hit on a really delicious variety the world might soon be overrun by cuddles.

Blessing #285 – Chewing Things Over

Are you part of a book club? Many people are these days. It’s eye opening getting different peoples perspectives on the same story. Can be quite surprising what someone sees that you have completely ignored.

Our Lily Circle meets every month and each season we read a book of short stories or a novel. We take it in turn to lead the discussion and today it’s my turn.

The current book, unlike any other we have done together, has brought universal agreement on one point. Not one person likes it!

So it was quite a challenge to pull out some positives in the chapters for tonight. The old saying Give a Dog a Bad Name really rings true.

The whole book seems so fake and contrived but is seemingly based on true stories. Everyone is so goody goody. No one swears or shouts or goes ballistic. Who lives like this?

In the end there were a few redeeming features in the chapters for tonight but there is no doubt our conversation is likely to focus not on these but on the sickly sweetness of the stories.

Just strikes home the points that you find diamonds in the rough and you gotta take some rough with the smooth to appreciate them.

Blessing # 284 – Digging for Bold

This morning just as the sun was rising three young bucks where having their breakfast in our back yard.

They were munching away and only for a second lifted their heads to have their photo taken.

That fresh new spring grass must taste heavenly after the dry diet of winter.

These same lads will soon be at the front door chomping down on the sedum. It’s their favorite. They’ll let it grow to a certain height and then gobble it up in a single midnight feast.

Right now the sedum is just popping out of the ground so it’s safe for a while but footsteps show the lads have been round sniffing!

Along with courting geese strutting their stuff, cardinals going crazy and flying inside the porch in search of partners it’s a sign that the day has finally come to officially say winter is over!

Blessing #283 – Spring Has Sprung

Our credit card with CHASE allows us to book travel at a really good redemption rate provided we book well in advance.

Last Saturday we started to think of summer and what we might do. We really want to see our family and friends in the UK but also go places we haven’t been.

So we thought we’d do a tour of the British Isles. Dad and Dibs are staying home so it will be another Mom and Son adventure.

The rates looked really good out of Chicago less than half the points needed compared to going from Columbus. It will mean a six hour drive but we’d need to fly to Chicago anyway to connect to an International flight so in the end with all the hanging around between flights we might even gain some time.

Today, as Aaron is taking some summer classes to prepare for college credits he was checking his schedule at school. When he sent the dates it was a green light to get the tickets.

That’s when some panic set in. Points for the itineraries we had looked at at the weekend had gone up steeply from 32000 to 48000 in just a few days. 

Finally after a good hour jiggling dates and airports the ideal combination was found. In to London and out of Dublin all for 34000 on UNITED so we get our frequent flyer points too.

Now I need wine!

Blessing # 282 – Just in Time

Our fundraiser went off well yesterday. We all had a lot of fun.

My friend Jackie brought her grandchildren to help. They had dressed up in green and looked like real life leprechauns.

The kids took turns manning the reception desk to show guests the way to the event including Jayne the littlest one.

A last minute idea was to give everyone a leprechaun name when they arrived using a simple little code pulled off the net!

The kids loved this and the adults too! It got total strangers talking and comparing names.

We realized many of our first names end in N or Y so we had a whole lot of GREENIES and STUMPIES in the room!

Funny how the tiny things can make the biggest impact!

Blessing # 281 – Little Lambs Love Little Laughs

Saint Patrick was by all accounts a well educated young man from a rich family when he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave.

When he escaped some years later he went back to his home in Britain.

Memories  of Ireland stayed with him though and he returned there voluntarily giving up all he had for the love of people who once held him captive.

What an influence Patrick had on the world. He literally touched the lives of billions.

Indian industrialists have long given back to their country and their people. The philanthropy of the great Tata and the Birla families goes back over one hundred years.

Just this week it was announced that one of India’s  most successful modern entrepreneurs Azim Premji the founder of Wipro IT Group will be giving even more than he has already to fund education. This brings his overall donations to a staggering 21 Billion Dollars!

It’s easy to think that if we had as much as Azim or Ratan or Warren or Bill and Melissa or Mark and Priscilla we’d do the same.

Would we though?

The BIG givers rank right up there in my books with Patrick!

Blessing # 280 – Transformers