Sunday, 19 Feb 2012 - SPI

Gold-fronted Woodpecker--he was big and beautiful

Osprey

I have no idea beyond yesterday what we've done...it's just like being at home...after a while one day just blends into another. That's not a bad thing.

When we woke up yesterday the fog was thick and the forecast not great so we decided we'd check out another mall in Brownsville. There was a gym handy so Wayne dropped me off and we arranged to meet a couple of hours later. Everybody is happy!

For all the mall cruising I do, I really don't buy much. For me, it's all about the looking and horror beyond horror...I'm at the stage now that I more often pick something up and say, "I'll never wear that" and put it back. As indicated previously, the major exception to that is shoes...you gotta wear shoes every day. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I wandered from store to store and didn't see much that threatened to bring my wallet out UNTIL.........hold on Carmel.....

I hit Charming Charlie (www.charmingcharlie.com). It's about the size of an average Winner's store at home but it's all jewellery and accessories!!! Seriously, I stood in the doorway for however long until I realized the store's 'greeter' was getting ready to call 911...I'd gone into some kind of trance. First of all, it was esthetically beautiful. Think of a colour...any colour...and you're eye would see it. Secondly, each huge counter or partial wall was dedicated to jewellery and accessories in that colour. I stumbled around trying to let my eye focus on a single item and then figured I'd better come up with some kind of a plan. I started at point 'A' by the door and did the grid (I'd be a great CSI)...so much fun.

It's a fact that most of the new styles and trends come North from the States (New York & LA) so hold your hats ladies because the trend heading north is...feathers. Yep, feather extensions in your hair, hanging off earrings, necklaces, scarves, attached to purses, shoes, and anything else that accommodates a glue gun...and in every colour imaginable. Great style if you are 17...not so good at 65. However, the bulk of my time was spent in the '5 items for $5' discount section and I came home with an assortment of headbands that have big silk flowers, rhinestones, and yes, feathers on them...in every colour. These will all go in Honey's Tickle Trunk for the girls to wear at our tea parties.  I ended up buying myself a necklace and that was the extent of my shopping expense. I'm dying to bring Gail here though...she'll love it.

The sun had come out and when we got home our neighbours, who have friends visiting from Hamilton, were sitting outside having margueritas and invited us for a drink. A few pitchers later, combined with some wine resulted in us having a group dinner (just like at the cottage..."I'll make salad, I'll bring burgers, etc) and we had a great dinner together. We played a game afterwards..I can't remember the name of it...but you had three items and had to figure out the common theme. Six innebriated people did amazingly well but by 10 pm I'd had enough fun and we headed home.

This morning was nice and I decided I'd head across the bay to the Atacosa WR. Saw some new things and got a little closer to others. I had a bit of a hissy fit as I just assume that if a person is going to wander through a fairly closed bird sanctuary, hoping to see birds/animals they would not normally have a chance to see, they WOULD LEAVE THEIR BELOVED DOG AT HOME!! One dog sees another, barking ensues and voila...not an f'n bird to be seen! It's too hot here to leave animals in the car for sure, but there are definitely places where a pooch doesn't belong. I was not a happy camper.

All that to say, I had a great day. Wayne took the day off so he was stayed at home and skipped the gym today.