2014
LGBT cake and a Corona, it’s my life!
Rhonda and Alyssa
2014
South Lake Tahoe, California
Checking in!
Okay, so I made it two months sans the blogging. Not very long, but long enough to separate myself from the daily feeling that I just had to check my email and blogs and Twitter every single day. What a great feeling!
The two months have not gone without my being busy though. I traveled to Nevada/California for my niece’s wedding to her beautiful partner Alyssa. I even took the Amtrak train round-trip from Indy to Reno and got to see some great views along the Colorado River, and the most beautiful sunrise over the mountains at one of my old hometown’s in Nevada. Of course, there was flooding in Nebraska and that spoiled my transportation to GA (train took too long plus rerouting that made me miss my ride) but I wouldn’t have missed the wedding for the world!
Family things happened, some good like above, but some not so good and I had to make a trip to Northeast Ohio for a funeral. But, as life is, that same week I went to an ultrasound for an expected grandbaby in November.
Got to spend a few nights at an Alpaca Farm, really! A Bed & Breakfast with three dogs that adopted us, one at all times and the other two mainly when breakfast arrived each morning. 😉
Spent lots and lots of hours playing in my gardens with flowers literally everywhere and may apples and pawpaws growing. Deer in the yard everyday, squirrels and a full moon spotting of a beautiful red fox in the driveway. Summer has been good.
So now I settle a bit because I have a new part-time job teaching English for the school year. I’m taking graduate courses and of course I’m still volunteering with the Master Gardeners, and I’m working to start a local UU group in my nearest town.
The only way to live is moving forward!
Social Media Sabbatical
I’m jumping into my bucket list full force. The first step is shutting down my online presence, at least for a while, and going off-line and off-grid.
I let go of Facebook a while back. That was a blessing and a wonderful deletion from my life and my sub-conscious. But now I find it’s time to cut out the middle-man (WordPress and Twitter) and remove myself from this out-there-for-the-world kind of life.
I’m sure I’ll be back someday, I say as a smirk engages my face. I’ll miss my ramblings and I’m sure I will truly have a bounty of photography to share when the time comes around to return.
So off to travel and visit my UU friends, off to plan my year in Alaska, and off to my garden …
Miss ya’ll!
Dusty
Call me Ms. Delegate
Just found out that I get to attend Regional Assembly as a delegate! Okay, so it was kind of by default, but I’m still honored! Apparently, MidAmerica Regional Assembly has 11 delegate seats open for the CLF (Church of the Larger Fellowship) and 11 or fewer CLF members attending so I’m a shoe-in.
Seriously though, this will be a wonderful opportunity for me to attend a regional UU business meeting. While I have many years of non-profit management under my belt, I don’t have them in the field of ministry. I’m truly looking forward to the experience.
Don’t think I’ll be so lucky for General Assembly in Providence, but I will be there with my eyes and heart wide open! 😀
Top 5 Bucket List items, for Life!
If you’ve been following me on my blog Dusty’s Musings, you’ve seen that I’ve been working through my top 5 bucket list items over the past couple weeks. It took some serious brain power and a little bit of smoking ears here and there, but my list is complete!
Top 5 Bucket List Items
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Details and plans collude at Dusty’s Musings. Life won’t just happen on it’s own. Okay, at least a life worth living won’t just happen on it’s own!
Thanks again to Lesley Carter at Bucket List Publcations!
30 of My Best Adventures
One of my favorite WordPress blogs is Bucket List Publications by Lesley Carter. She has the right attitude and the get-go to live a full life that she’ll never regret. Recently, Lesley challenged her readers to make their own “Top 5 Bucket List.” Something short and doable in a hectic world.
As someone who’s never actually sat down and put pen to paper on a bucket list, I thought that I should first recall some of the most exciting experiences of my life before I look to the future. So, giving leeway for my memory, here are my top 30 of a lifetime! (Not in any order of importance!)
1. Did touch-and-goes in a Blackhawk on a snow-top mountain, Kosovo
2. Admired the Mona Lisa, The Louvre, Paris, France
3. Climbed a rock, only to rappel back down a cliff leading straight into a kayak, L’Al’Legne, Belgium
4. Slept inches from the home of a monster, Loch Ness, Scotland
5. Played on a glacier, Briksdalsbreen, Norway
6. Took an off-road jungle tour, Kualoa Ranch, O’ahu
7. Watched Old Faithful let off some steam, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming
8. Went to the top of a mountain, Gstaad, Switerzerland
9. Ate pirogues in Boleslawiec, pasties in Newquay, enchiladas in Juarez and drank hefeweizen at the Brauhaus and gluhwein in Wiesbaden. Too many are the gastronomical delights!
10. Petted an alligator, Beaumont, Texas
11. Saw the musical Grease performed live, London’s West End, England
12. Cruised a river aflame, Rhein River, Germany
13. Watched the ‘boys ride the bulls, National Finals Rodeo, Las Vegas, Nevada
14. Drove on a dangerous mountain pass, Macedonia to Albania
15. Hydroplaned on the open water, English Channel, Calais to Dover
16. Rode bareback in a desert monsoon storm, San Pedro River Valley, Arizona
17. Glided on a bullet train, Thalys, Brussels to Paris
18. Sailed on a Catamaran, Honolulu, Hawai’i
19. Became a United States Marine, Parris Island, South Carolina
20. Hiked along the North Rim, Grand Canyon NP, Arizona
21. Got my first tattoo, Budingen, Germany
22. Looked down on the Colorado Rockies from the cockpit of a C-130, Chicago to L.A.
23. Rode my horse in a PRCA Grand Entry and Rodeo Parade, El Paso, Texas
24. Collected rocks and minerals 1,000+ feet under the surface of the earth, Meikle Gold Mine, Carlin, Nevada
25. Cruised a BMW on the German Autobahn
26. Bouldered the day away, Coronado National Forest, Oracle, Arizona
27. Lived in an extinct volcano, Aliamanu, O’ahu
28. Rambled the Scottish Highlands
29. Rode the coasters, Roller Coaster Capital of the World, Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio
30. Spent an entire year traveling fulltime in an RV
Wow, that was more difficult than I expected! So many more locations and countries and experiences are bouncing in my head–far too many to list here. My life has truly been an adventure thus far!
And now, to accept Lesley’s challenge …
Co-posted from Dusty’s Musings, Writing my own Bucket List.
One Assembly, Two Assembly
Today was filled with applications, registrations and reservations for both the MidAmerica Regional Assembly-Bloomington, Indiana, to be held on April 12th, and the UUA General Assembly, June 25th-29th, in Providence, Rhode Island.
As some of you may recall, I attended GA last year in Louisville as a volunteer and I’ve applied to volunteer again this year. With registration as costly as a campsite or dorm room, the price to attend can add up too quickly when one is not sponsored by a congregation.
Volunteering is a great way to get access to most of the Assembly (less the 24 hours working spread out over up to 6 days), and as I found out last year, it’s a great way to quickly meet a large number of dedicated UUs with a strong desire to play an active role in the Assembly.
So here’s hoping to see you at GA! Last year’s memories are still here too!
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For more info on GA, visit the GA 2014 page.
Interested in volunteering? Check out these ‘Volunteer Opportunities.’
Find your UUA Region here.
Maple Syrup Festival
Enjoyed a busy day at the Maple Syrup Festival in Southern Indiana! Anyone nearby can still drop by LM Sugarbush next weekend and visit this family run farm to see the syrup making process and an old-fashioned outdoor festival.
What’s in a logo?
Everyone is up in arms over the new UUA logo. Is it better or worse than the last? More representative? There are even those questioning a phallic representation!
I’m undecided. I know that change is good but I also know that I love the history of longstanding logos and rarely like the new better than the old. I’m a little stodgy that way.
Maybe the people to ask are those not already associated with UU. See what outsiders think, how they react, since they are our future growth. Just a thought.
So to give a taste of what’s out there in the UU world of logos, I scoured the Web to find some of my favorites, not so favorites, and unique twists by both UUA groups and local congregations.
*All of the above logos were found at Bing images.
traveling tUUsome 