Mary Louise Eklund

Category: Wildcard Wednesday

  • Monday Marginala – The House Came With Jack

    Jack

    As you know our last kitty died while we were on our cruise in February. I do not do well without a kitty. Plans were to get a kitten when the spring kitten season came. Then the move developed and we decided it wasn’t fair to get a kitten and put them right into a big move like that. So revised plans were to get one once we got into our house in Tennessee.

    Then we came to be shown around the property and how to tend the sprinkler system, hot tub, security system, and what not by the previous owners. The wife commented that where they were going they couldn’t take their cat. He was just over a year old and she was going to place an ad in the paper to give him away. Well, you know what I said. “We’ll take him!” So Jack the cat conveyed with the house to us.

    He was a garage kitty when we got him but he’s now a house cat. He is silly kittenish and flops rather than lies down. For this Mike calls him FIFA Jack because he’s as good at falling to fake a foul as any pro He’s playful and loving. We were told he didn’t like being held but he climbs into my lap and cries to be picked up.

    At first he was scared of Molly, she’s a big dog compared to the little Shiz-tu he knew. However they made friends and now I live with two romping children. They tag one another then play chase around the kitchen, living room, bedroom, bath loop. He likes to get behind a door and jump out at Molly who doggie laughs then chases him to nose tag him and it starts again.

    He’s very into jingle ball and was disappointed to see that it wasn’t an Olympic sport. He’s now made it a mission between eating, napping, and playing to see that feline jingle ball is taken seriously as a 3am sport to be played on hardwood floors near sleeping humans.

    Jack is a very welcome addition to our family. I’ll tell you more as we get to know one another and he matures.

  • Monday Marginalia – Norwegian Dawn

    In February the week of Valentine’s Day Mike and I took a cruise. With the crazy changes that hit fast and furious after mainly related to the move I didn’t get to post about it. Instead of details there will be a series of photo posts on the trip.

    This time we went on a slightly smaller and older ship the Norwegian Dawn.  Our last cruise had been on Norwegian Getaway.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses. We had a inner lower room with no window, last time a balcony.  But given we had some rough seas going out, it was good there were no windows.  It wasn’t terrible and we just slept, watched a movie, and enjoyed the morning after the storm.

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  • Wednesday Wildcard -Cozumel

    In Cozumel Mike chose the Jeep excursion.  It was one where you drove a Jeep about the island in a tour to see ruins, a national park, spent time on the beach, and have lunch.  He was keen on driving but there were four to a jeep.  I cautioned that maybe, just maybe, he couldn’t drive the whole thing.  But we were paired with two lovely ladies, Mary Lou from Michigan and her sister (please forgive men 6 months later I can’t find my notes and the name escapes me), neither had an interest in driving.  So Mike gleefully drove the whole day!  There we enjoyed the sites, had a great lunch, I loved playing in the ocean, and even got me a nice wool blanket. It has the lighthouse of the national park pictured here on the design. The blanket was a must for Wisconsin winters as Mike had taken back the one he’d given me in college.

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  • Wednesday Wildcard – Roatan

    Another stop on our cruise was Roatan, Honduras.  Though there the natives were quick to disassociate themselves from Honduras on the mainland.  They really thought of themselves as different and separate.  Here we did an eco-tree walk in the rain forest canopy.  It was high suspended bridges where we could see both ground and treetops.  The leader of the walk was a local who was very knowledgeable bout flora, not only the botany of it but traditional and medicinal uses too.  It was very interesting, informative, and lovely.

     

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  • Wednesday Wildcard – A Heartbreaking Farewell to Mr. Blue

    Blue

    Mr. Blue was always the care taker of the Kitties.  He was the fearless leader who made sure to divide his time among laps in the room.  He kept his brother’s ruckus nature in line and encouraged Mo to be part of the family.  When I think of the gentleman kitty it shall always be of my Mr. Blue. (more…)

  • Wednesday Wildcard – Costa Maya

    With all that happened in my life, travel posts got shoved to the very back burner then put in the freezer until later.  One was our wonderful week long cruise to Central America.  So here are photos from our visit to Costa Maya.  A small port made to give cruises access to Mayan ruins in Mexico.  There’s nothing much in the town except the port.  Expect tourist prices and nothing else here but we did have a wonderful tour of some ruins with a guide that was a professor of Mayan art.  So enjoy a quick photo essay of that stop.

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  • Wednesday Wildcard – Planner Love

    Planner

    One of my loves is office supplies.  I’m almost as happy looking through an office supply store as I am a book store.  Part of the manifests in my planner love.  However since I left regular office work I’ve been looking for the perfect planner for me. Finally, after a decade or so it dawned on me my needs change so I  need a planner that can adapt as I change. (more…)

  • Wildcard Wednesday – Orlando in October

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    Mike and Mom in front of the big Orange gift shop. Mom got oranges to take to friends and we shopped.

    In October Mike and I took my parents to our condo in Orlando. We flew to Knoxville, rented a van, picked up my folks and hit the road. We made it just about half way the first night then on to Orlando. It was a calm week there seeing the sights. Dad mostly chilled in the apartment. Mom got out to see things. Below are photos of our trip where we ate our way through Orlando.

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  • Wildcard Wednesday – Alice The Corpse Flower

    Oops! That's not Alice the corpse flower but Molly the dog.
    Oops! That’s not Alice the corpse flower but Molly the dog.

    Okay back in the Fall Alice the corpse flower at the Chicago Botanical Gardens bloomed. Mike and I went to see her when we had a weekend free. Sadly I have lost the photos of her. Also sadly when we got there she was going to seed and the stink was gone. I offer pictures I did find of Alice’s neighbors. Do enjoy after the cut –

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  • Wednesday Wildcard – My Collection of Ugly Carpet Pictures

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    It all started when I was bored at a conference and noticed the hotel meeting room had horrid carpet. You’d never pick to go anywhere. I made a photo silently with my phone and e-mailed it to a friend in Britain that has as warped a sense of humor as I do. Well that started what has become a years long tradition of making a photo album of the ugliest carpets I encounter. Most have been convention centers and hotels. This one was a hotel in Georgia’s hallway. Lovely, eh, rushing out to Lowes to get it installed aren’t you.  I won’t shock your senses with more but do know I think with the last decade of collecting I am becoming an ugly public carpet connoisseur.