Mundane Life with Sue


Well, it's been a while since I blogged anything so I suppose I ought to fill in the big blank spot. The reason I haven't been blogging is because nothing especially blogworthy has been happening. Mostly just normal day-to-day stuff.

Rick and I have done a few rides on the Harley for my benefit. We're planning on a 3 day weekend in the middle of June with a ride to a town in central Washington called Toppenish. The ride there is about 165 miles so I have to get myself conditioned for that length ride. So this past Saturday we went about 101 miles (one way) to where the kids were camping, a few miles east of Cle Elum. It was a nice place, but no Lily Lake. The ride was ok, I have to get used to taking curves at highway speed, it's a little nerve-wracking. When we hit the summit it got pretty cool, we were dressed down a little since it was in the 70's when we took off. So on the way back I put the liner back in my jacket and wore my gloves. The next day we headed out to visit a coworker at his vacation home on a lake about 35 - 40 miles away. Again, the weather in town was beautiful so we dressed down a little, but this time I left my jacket liner home - oops! As we headed out we could see rain in the distance and the temp just kept dropping off. I was freezing by the time we got there. And there wasn't much to do on the way back to make me warmer. But I sure learned a lot, mainly, don't take out the liner of the jacket unless it's in the
80's!!

When we got to where the kids were camping it was coolish and almost drizzly. Rick and I wandered around with our cameras getting whatever was there to get pix of. Our main focus ended up on the bumblebees visiting the wildflowers. They would let us get right up to them, about 4 inches away!! We got some neat pictures of bee fuzz. The wildflowers were also screaming for us to get them, so we indulged them. Then, of course, there were 3 grandsons. We stayed for a couple hours and then split just as the drizzle began and avoided all the rain squalls we could see off in the distance. It was gorgeous again when we got home, maybe we should have just done that - stayed home! No, the ride was fun and good practice for me.


A couple weekends ago we had planned to go to an automotive swap meet up north in the fairgrounds. It's a huge annual event and we had been looking forward to going for a month or so. About a month previously though, a relative of Rick's died, she was in her 80's and it wasn't unexpected. Well, they chose that particular Saturday for the memorial. The Monday before, though, a friend from the kingdom hall died unexpectedly. She was Dane's best friend's mom and was only 42. Well, they decided to have her memorial on that very same Saturday. So Rick and I each had a memorial to attend, weird. We'll have to try the swap meet again next year.

Last week I got a little gift from Rick. He's been watching Craigslist for a bike for me so we can ride together (pedal-type, not motor). He found a real nice one for sale for only $50 that was $450 new. I swear it couldn't have 50 miles on it. It's a Diamondback Topanga, a nice all-terrain type bike with 21 speeds and the shifters are upshift and downshift! Cool, the neat stuff they come up with!

Other than work, going to meetings and spending time with the kids, Rick and I do a lot of photography. I have a goal of spending a few hours each weekend doing nothing but photography. We seem to have perfected the macro stuff, the close-up bugs, flowers, etc. Good enough anyway (but it's so much fun!!) Now I'd like to work on landscapes where we use a technique called "bracketing" and then sandwich and stitch the pictures together to get a more detailed landscape. We also need to work on indoor lighting, that's a tough one. But necessary if we want to do portraits.

So that's my mundane life for now. I guess I can't always wait for something exciting to make myself sit down and blog. Mundane will have to do.

Don't forget to go check out our picture site!

Something new!


If you look at the left side of my page you'll see something new. It simply says "my pictures". But for the small mention it is, it's actually much bigger once you go there.

Rick joined this new photo sharing spot and decided to share it with me, since it has unlimited space. What a sweet guy. So please, check in once in a while and you can see some of my best (along with the mundane) shots, past and present and Rick's as well.

Rick was a photo buff long ago and when we started spending time together and my photography was just blossoming his interest was reborn. He ended up buying a camera almost identical to mine and now we always have them with us and find photo ops together. We both seem to be interested in the same type of shots, so far anyway.

So feel free to take a peek and leave comments.

"Thank you for your support."

A Weekend Getaway in . . . .Walla Walla?

Yep, Walla Walla. Known for it's onions and the Ace Novelty Co from Looney Toons days. Well, we came for neither of those (although we ARE still looking for that Novelty Store). Instead, we came for a balloon stampede, car show and fireworks display. After our busy, hectic week at good ole LaCroix we were both so anxious for our weekend getaway that we planned kinda last minute - about 10 days ago. One evening we were talking and I brought up this event and Rick said he had just been looking into it too. So we jumped into action and grabbed one of the few available rooms left in this town. Not the best room in town but prolly not the worst either. Actually the worst thing about it is the bed, sags in the middle. We'll throw it on the floor tonight and see if we sleep better.

We actually set the alarm for 5:30 AM to get up in time to see the balloons take off. There were about 30 balloons I would say, and hundreds of people. We were not restricted from going around the balloons in any way.
We were able to look right inside the balloons, while they were still lying on the ground and when they went up. There were so many camera geeks like us, it was cool. We got some really interesting shots. The event took place across the street from the fairgrounds and there was stuff to look at there too.

When the balloons were all gone we went back to the motel and walked down Main Street to town, just a couple blocks. There were twinkle lights in the trees, lots of statues and blooming things, interesting buildings and stores. A very photographic town. We found a farmer's market on the far side of town too. 2 of the stores that we decided we had to go back and visit when they were open were a unique toy store called the Inland Octopus and a record store (reminded me more of an old "head shop" from the 70's) called "Hot Poop". Rick just had to get a t-shirt from that place.


After a fantastic lunch in a grill and pub we went back to the fairgrounds for the car show. Rick took about 200 shots and I took about 300. There were some very flashy classic cars. Here's a sample of what I got:



As soon as we made it through all the cars we went next door and caught a horse race. I got a few good shots of that too:


We went back to our room for the afternoon to shower and recover from about 100 deep knee bends (taking those car shots). Then we returned one more time to the fairground for the balloon glow and firework show. It was a first time for those kind of shots so it was purely experimental and Rick and I made some of the same mistakes. We got basically no good balloon shots and only a few good firework shots. But it's all a learning experience. The main thing is we're having a great time and enjoying our time together.


One more day with no real plans. We'll see what this leads to . . . . .

About Me

My photo
After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.