Abandoned Route 66 - Wordless Wednesday

Untitled - Cuervo, NM, originally uploaded by ljdesignphoto.

(Cuervo, New Mexico on old Route 66, today a ghost town.
The settlement began around 1901 when the CRI&P Railroad came through.
"Cuervo" is Spanish for crow, and the town seems to be named after the closest peak.)

A historic day of hope.

While we don't know yet how President Obama will be remembered in the historical books, we do know that today is a historic day and for many Americans a day for hope. You can feel it in the air, just as you could the day he was elected into office. It seems like it has been years since so many people are excited, and some nervous, about the inauguration of a President.

I think it is not just that President Obama is the first African American President, though you can't discount that fact, but part of the reason for the excitement is that Obama was both the underdog and a positive voice. It was the Americans that believe in him and did not give up that helped excelled him to the White House. It feels like the positive won out over the all the negative rhetoric of the last 15ish years. I'm not saying that the past few presidents did not have their positives, but there always seemed to be something negative looming over their terms.

Today I reflect on the past and consider about what I hope for in the future. I was glad to vote this past year for someone I truly believed could be a good if not great president. I believe he has positive qualities that will sever him well in this job and give many young Americans a new champion to look up to. I know that the next few years will not be easy, that even positive change can be a difficult road. I have a realistic outlook of the world and where our nation stands, but I still feel that in four years from now the United States will be stronger.

Mother Moment

If your a mother, you know that every day, almost every hour something funny comes out of your child's mouth. I do try to record some of the better ones for my scrapbook, though I'm not really great at writing them down, but my daughter just said something that I had to share.

So, she is three and a half and loves to help me around the house. Tonight when I went to change the laundry she asked if she could help. I said she could for a hug. After the hug as we went into the laundry room I told her I really liked hugs.
She said, "I really like kissies" (tried to spell it as she says it, rather then the correct spelling)
"Really?", I said. "I would love a kiss."
So I bent down and she gave me a sweet kiss on the lips. Then right afterward, as she usually does, she wiped her lips with her sleeve.
I said, "What? Didn't you like the kiss? Why did you wipe it off?"
And she said, "I did it because I think it make the love more true."

Boy, how can you argue with that.

Adventures of a Lifetime

The other night I was looking though some of my old Journals and found where I had written down a list based on a TV show I had watched called 101 Things to Do before you die. It was interesting to see what I wrote down in 2001, and how much of it I would still love to do. Here is the list I wrote down:

*See the Aurora Borealis
Skinny dip- done
*Go to the Burning Man festival
*Ride the Orient Express
Visit Time square @ New Years
Visit the Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*Join and archeological dig.
Visit Keck Lab in Hawaii
*Visit Machu Picchu, "Lost City of the Incas"
*Visit all 16 Smithsonian museums
Visit all the major Museum Cities: Paris, DC., New York, London, Rome -done
Visit Pompeii - done
Visit Area 51 area - done
Soak in the Dead Sea
*Take a journey to the Galapagos Islands
Be James Bond for a day, Visit Flemming's Golden Eye, where the books were written.
Take a screen test
*Visit Iceland's Blue lagoon
Join the circus
Visit Stonehenge
Visit the a rain forest
Visit the wailing wall
Take a trip to see the Titanic ($35,000 in 2001)
*Do the weekend space camp for Adults
And 101 in the program was to Make your own list, set a dead line, and make it happen.

I look at this and think, wow that is ambitious. A few things I have done, like visiting Pompeii, Area 51, New York, Paris, London, and Rome. There are also a few things on the list that I don't think I want to do or just could never manage, like visiting the Titanic, joining a circus, or taking a screen test. But there are a few that I would love to do before I die and I starred those. And lastly, if I was to redo the list today it would include (the stared ones I have already accomplished)

*Become a mother
*Visit Sicily
*Visit the Vatican
*Travel the Western US in an RV
*Learn something new everyday (or at least every week)
Read more of the "classics" (working on it)
Visit the Pyrenees
Visit all 50 States in the US

I just thought I would share this discovery and a view into my past. I do hope to accomplish a lot more before I die. What about you. What is on your list? Have you set a deadline?

Open Road - Wordless Wed.

AZ open road, originally uploaded by ljdesignphoto

(so ready for some wide open spaces and the road, but nothing planned till spring.)