MY DAILY TRAVELS

I am such a creature of habit. Every morning when I get to work, the first thing I do when I log onto my computer is get my IM up in case someone needs to talk to me immediately. Sometimes I also need to share something I saw on my ride in (all of 2 miles) with Papa before I forget or sometimes I'm supposed to remind him of something else. We go around telling each other to "remind me" of this or that and who knows how many times we have forgotten to do the reminding!

Anyway, after my IM goes up, I record in my work hours for the day--in advance lest I forget and not do it in the evening when I'm brain dead and, therefore, not get paid for the full day.

I then open my personal email and see if anything happened overnight that needs my attention. A lot of the time I have a note from Gulliver that needs to be returned.

Then I start my travels. First I go to Canada and visit Louise, then I head to Oklahoma and check in with Ree, and then I go to the island of Roatan and see what Jeanette and Don are doing. You know, of course, I don't really go to these places, they are actually blogs I have become addicted to and these people (all of whom are strangers except for Don in Roatan) seem to have become friends via the internet.

Louise Penny writes wonderful mystery books based in Canada and I swear, her blog is like reading an additional book. She leads such an interesting life and explains the writing/editing/all the processes of making a book. Plus she has interesting travels all her own with her husband, Michael. Shoot, she had me in stitches when she drove to Vermont to get gas and got in trouble with Customs going back home on one trip. And the best part, if you comment on her blog, she writes back to you right away so you get that added benefit of that personal touch. Always good for a continuing friendship.

Ree lives on a cattle ranch in northern Oklahoma. I've figured out which town she lives in (I'm from OK also) but she goes to extremes to protect her privacy, so I won't tell you either. She is married to a 4th generation cattle rancher and they also take in several hundred/thousand wild mustangs from the Government's Federal Wild Horse/Burro program. She is quite the photographer and her web site (http://www.pioneerwoman.com/ this doesn't show up on the profile you see, I guess it's my private profile that keeps track of her site) but it is chock full of pictures of her life on the ranch and her 4 kids she calls "the punks" and all the cowboys that work on the ranch and horses, my goodness, all the pictures of those beautys. Another very interesting life to view from the outside. She is also a good cook, posts receipes; and is writing a book "Black Heels and Tractor Wheels" or something like that about meeting her husband, Marlboro Man. Her's is the blog that tends to overwhelm me at times just because of her creativity and she's hiding away in Oklahoma....

Don (a former co-worker of mine) and his wife, Jeanette moved to the island of Roatan less than a year ago, after he retired. I had never even heard of this island (off the coast of Honduras) but I'm learning more and more about it every day. When Don first told me of this place, I asked how in the world did you find it. His response started with "Well, I met a guy in a bar in Belize one night.....!!!) Jeanette is another marvelous photographer and has a way with the words as well. (Blog is the The View from La Puetra Trasera....in my list) So while I am enduring snow and ice here in the Midwest, I can live vicariously through them in the sunshine on a tropical island!!

So these are my new internet friends (I've used all their real names because they do) and if you are interested in meeting them, they are found on my profile in the "Blogs I Follow" section. I really think you'll like them as much as I do once you get to know them.

Oh and before I forget....then I go to work on what they pay me to do!!!! (my poor boss)

Signing off....Traveling Grammy