Surprise boxes or how to survive travel with children

We’ve gone to Wyoming every summer since we’ve been married (and I’ve gone every summer but one since college).  When the girls were small,  Bill didn’t have much vacation time, so we flew but eventually the girls couldn’t travel for free in our laps and paying for four seats didn’t figure into our budget.  But no matter the mode of travel, there are two necessities for travel with children to go well–plenty food and drink (and not at airport prices unless in dire need) and something for them to do.

Getting into hot water…flowering tea

If you’re a tea-lover as I am, I encourage you add to the pleasure of your tea experience by periodically indulging in a flowering tea.  Besides the flavor of the tea, you will also engage your sense of sight with the gradual opening and eventual beauty of the flower.

Dinner and a show

Confession:  it was really lunch and a show, but both were excellent.

H(e)art to H(e)art

“This is my boss, Jonathan Hart.”  If you remember the gravelly voice of Max saying these words, then you’ve enjoyed some episodes of one of the most entertaining shows on television, “Hart to Hart.”  

My blood runs blue

I confess!!  No more torturing me to see if I’ve told the truth.  I love “Blue Bloods” and I love Tom Selleck!  OK.  Are you satisfied now???  (Note to husband: no worries.  You’re still #1 in my life. And you look pretty darn good yourself!)

The joy of a library and of books

“And I love the library better than any other room in the house. I love the smell and feel of it and the throng of happy ghosts who I like to imagine are with me here. It always surprises me that they don’t step visibly from the books they wrote. When I take only one book from the shelves, the whole lot of them seem to me to be tinglingly alive, not only the man who walks beside me as I carry his book to my chair. Craftsmen are deeply united, I think, and rejoice in each other’s artifacts from one generation to another.” The Scent of Water, Elizabeth Goudge

Fun and Spell Check frustration on your computer

If you want some free fun, try misspelling words on purpose and see what spell check offers you as alternatives. In fact, if you just type some unusual (and not-so-unusual) words, you’ll be laughing as well. Foreign words are good, too. Of course, in the way of all things technological and otherwise, this will only occur while writing something, not when you merely want some entertainment. I guess when coming across words with funky, Spell Check alternatives, you could save them in a word humor file and click on them when you need some entertainment (not that I’ve done this, but it could be fun), because when you want a word that offers interesting, funny, and/or bizarre alternatives, you can be sure one won’t present itself!

If you don’t get quite close enough to your desired word, good luck. For instance, I just decided to misspell “khaki” as “kacki”. My choices are kaki (look that up on Wikipedia for diverse choices!), kicky, kick, kaka (not what you’d think), and knack. Since “kaki” is a word, good luck if you try that one first! Evidently, the “h” is vital to the spell check process. And in some sort of computer dictionary revolt, when I typed “khaki”, with a “c” for the second “k”, the computer automatically changed it, no matter what I did. Take that! Another win for the computer is that I can’t look up a word unless I’m online, but the computer can correct my words. I’m still a peon, despite my slowly increasing “mastery” of the internet and all things computer. Sad, but true.