Stores that carry "FIRE" season clothing

[snuggles]

Linda,I do hope you will return to Vancouver. At present, we are in a great warm front-- sometimes our summers are wetter but this year, we have experienced some very hot days.

 

The suspension bridge is Capilano and it truly can be scary when the bridge sways. Kudos for getting over and then returning to the other side! It is a white knuckle experience for most of us.

 

Alaska's weather can be as wet and dreary as what you had but other years, shorts are in order! Depends on the time of year a lot as we have had sunshine and other times, lots of 'liquid sunshine'.

 

Hope your knees feel better now. Have enjoyed your write up immensely.:)

Thank you for the kind comments! Yes, DH and I fell in love with Vancouver and do want to go back. A trip in the not so near future is in the infancy stage.

It was just our luck the "liquid sunshine" was more prevelant, but that didn't deter us from exploring. We were prepared and come from an area that has pretty much the same weather as you have. Even with the rain we did have some very pretty days of "solid sunshine". The comment we received when we went somewhere was "You brought the sun with you. It's been raining!"

We were so fortunate to be able to see Mt McKinley in sun!

 

Knees? What knees? Who has knees? Yeah, they're still here!:D

[aoknkentucky]

Thanks so much, Linda, for giving us the gift of your Alaska trip. I say that I'm going to post pictures and such, but it seems that my time slips away from me. The next thing you know, it seems silly to post about the trip I took, oh yeah, months ago. Duh. I must get better about this. Can't have you and Pam thinking you are the only faces we see on the thread, now can we? Oh, wait. Kim will be back soon with a trip to Africa! That will be fun.

 

DH and I fully intend to go back to Alaska. We really, really liked it there. I have a thing about waterfalls and Boy Howdy! They do have themselves a few waterfalls, don't they? Isn't it funny how everyone is so different? Both couples that went with us on our Alaska cruise don't care to go back. We did an excursion with one couple one day and with the other couple another day. Neither were terribly impressed while we were enthralled with both excursions! Sometimes I think DH and I just like to go and do. Heck, we don't get out much.

[aoknkentucky]

Since Linda has finished with her Alaska trip, and the EARTH ladies are posting Style Statements on their thread, I thought I’d bare my soul and talk about what I discovered about myself when I worked through the Style Statement book. Since I wasn’t sure if any other FIRE lady bought in to this exercise and anticipating that not everyone has the book to reference explanations, this will be an extra long post because I’m copying the descriptions. Ok. Here goes…. I am Natural Nostalgic.

 

Natural

 

Spirit: Natural is genuine, free from artificiality, affectation, and inhibitions. Natural is known for being spontaneous. Natural hates to be fenced in and riles against conformity and unreasonable rules, though they are rooted in moral certainty and a strong sense of justice. Very much at ease with their essential selves, they love to get down to basics and can be direct communicators. Down to earth, literally and figuratively, natural has a deep reverence and respect for nature, which delights and replenishes them, and an appreciation of supernatural forces.

 

Look and Feel: All things generated by nature: wood, minerals, gems. Natural coloring, textiles, and produce. Rustic, primitive, flowing, native, or common to its surroundings.

 

Being oneself, candid, direct, easy, elemental, folksy, forthright, frank, genuine, green, handcrafted, homey, impulsive, instinctive, laid-back, leather, minerals, native, open, organic, plain, primitive, provincial, pure, raw, real, rustic, simple, simple-hearted, sincere, spontaneous, straightforward, trusting, unassuming, uncontrived, unpolished, unpretentious, up-front, untamed, wilderness, woodsy, wild.

 

Nostalgic

 

Spirit: Nostalgic is an ambassador of sentiment. They collect memories, trinkets, rare and precious things, and memorabilia. Nostalgic loves to pay homage to what has gone before. Enamored by the past—from royalty to rock stars, family heirlooms to classic films—they work it into the present with quirkiness. They are usually hopeful romantics, yearning and working toward creating fulfilling connections. Their social circle is very important to them, as are the basic social graces of politeness and a welcoming heart. Nostalgic likes to look good. They put creative thought into their home and appearance and love trying their treasures and good finds together with contemporary basics. Attracted to the whimsical and the precious, Nostalgic has a great eye and heart for detail and seeks to fill life with the small pleasures that matter most.

 

Look and Feel: Vintage, antique, rarities, collectibles. Romantic.

 

Ancestry, culture, customs, estate, heirloom, history, inheritance, legacy, passionate, picturesque, poetic, remembering ritual, sentimental, tradition, wisdom

 

Two pictures from my internet search of Natural Nostalgic:

 

http://www.naturalnostalgia.co.za/wp-content/gallery/vintage-equipment/post-cards-box.jpg

 

http://www.naturalnostalgia.co.za/wp-content/gallery/vintage-equipment/singer-sewing-machine.jpg

 

The first picture has a quirkiness factor for me. I worked in a mail-related field when my children were younger. Not my dream job by any stretch of the imagination, but it paid the bills. The second picture reminds me of my mother’s old Singer machine in the treadle cabinet. It is still in use today. The outdoor setting and the wildflowers add the quirkiness I need. Just crop out the teacup and fabric in the lower one-third of the picture. They're not necessary for me. In fact, they're a little too frilly-fancy for me.

 

What I understand better about myself now: My kitchen is decorated with my grandmother’s 50’s style chrome and vinyl dinette set. It is flanked by the Hoosier cabinet complete with original flour bin and bread drawer that belonged to my husband’s mother. Both items suit our 1890’s farmhouse and I am grateful to own and daily use these parts of our past. Every room in my home has a piece of family furniture. This makes me smile.

 

At 16, my boyfriend’s relative had a bathroom with vintage newspaper-print wallpaper. I only saw that room once, but always knew I wanted something similar some day. Our bathroom nearest my 50’s-style kitchen sports vintage black and white newsprint wallpaper. It doesn’t matter one iota that wallpaper isn’t in style these days. The “articles” have a quirky play-on-words that I find hilarious. There’s something so decadent about starting my morning early enough to leisurely bathe in a claw-footed bathtub! I love that tiny bathroom. Similar found here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-American-Newspaper-from-the-1900s-Wallpaper-KW7620-/181366783767?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a3a4d7f17

 

My brother gifted me with twin cherry wood bangle bracelets when we were teenagers. They are simple circles with no ornamentation of any kind. I know exactly where they are in my jewelry collection. Enough said.

 

Like someone mentioned on the other thread, this exercise not only helped explain how and why I prefer certain fashions, it’s bled over into understanding nearly everything about me. Why I love zingy little play-on-word lyrics in songs; anything with little quirki-isms.

 

Charles Wysocki puzzles (nostalgic AND quirky)

http:// http://charleswysocki.com/productinfo.aspx?productid=1140&categoryid=98&startpage=3 (the brand of needles? And, there’s that Singer sewing machine again.

 

http://charleswysocki.com/productinfo.aspx?productid=1152&categoryid=98&startpage=3 (the book titles! Oh my, hilarious! And Frederick is a twin to Mitch, our last much-beloved cat friend.)

 

So, although I am a FIRE girl, I now understand why I gravitate to EARTH colors. My love for the autumn season draws me to the earthy colors that appear in nature, and it’s double hard for me to see my colors because so many FIRE colors do not appear in nature. For now, I must train my eye for nature’s colors of spring: deep daffodil yellow and spring green. Maybe the rest will come in time.

 

One of my favorite outfits this season has been a lace sleeveless top with jeans, strappy cognac leather sandals with cork wedge heels. I keep thinking I’d rather wear it with one my broomstick skirts, but am afraid that I would look “costume-y”. Nostalgic me tries to hang on to things WAAAAY too long, especially if I like that style and I really, really like loose and flowing hippie fashion made of natural fabrics of linen, cotton, cashmere, leather and wool in colors of cream to cognac brown. Lace. I’ve liked handkerchief hems on skirts and dresses since I was a teenager. Love the look, feel and smell of leather. Now I understand that it fits both the natural and nostalgic parts of me. My father trained horses my entire childhood and the smell of leather is part of my heritage.

 

It will soon be time to pull out my favorite fall purse. It’s made from material originally intended as car upholstery. It’s that quirkiness factor again mixed in with the natural and nostalgic. http://kimwhitehandbags.com/automotive/redblue_striped_shoulder.html

 

If I hadn’t given an open and honest look into my world before, I’ve surely opened the floodgates now. Has any other FIRE lady worked through the Style Statement book?

[laurspag]

I love, love, love reading about your Style Statement! I have to admit, I kind of felt exposed when I started to post mine; it's like that moment when you blurt out what you are thinking to someone and it's totally inappropriate or something. It's amazing how we hide what we are sometimes, isn't it? There is something very refreshing and liberating though about posting it. I feel okay with who I am.

 

One thing I find incredibly interesting is how my husband and I go together. I find that I rub off a bit on him, and vice versa. We have a home that represents us both. There is enough of what each of us loves to make it work.

 

I am very much enjoying learning about you, Anita, Margaret...it is such an enlightening thing. We've been posting about colors, what is on the outside. Now we get to post about what is on the inside.

 

My husband and I really want to go to Alaska. I wear a hearing aid, so I'm kind of dreading the rain aspect. And cold. But I really want to go there at the same time! I think I tend to associate vacations with cruises, and cruises with warmth. We are looking at a cruise for 2016, late summer in the hopes of slightly warmer weather.

[Anita Latte]

WOW Linda! I just finished rereading all about your trip. Well done! It sounds like you did a lot of research and planning for the trip. And it sounds like you had made up your mind to try to not let your knees and your fear of heights stop you from doing whatever you wanted to do. That you were making the most of the opportunities on your special Alaskan vacation.

 

So, it does read a bit like this vacation was a struggle at times but reading between the lines, it does sound like you still had a wonderful vacation and that a couple of your excursions/plans were absolutely fabulous!

 

I would definitely want a balcony for an Alaskan cruise. I imagine sitting and enjoying the view A LOT. May I ask? Were you ever really out of sight of land? You know how there are times on a Caribbean cruise where there is only water all around? Does that ever happen on the path RCI takes? A part of me imagines that you could pretty watch the shore the whole time...if the weather cooperated.

 

Alaska is definitely on our to do list...but DH and I definitely want to get INTO Alaska. We were very big on outdoor activities when we lived in Colorado. We did a lot of backpacking, which I LOVE. I love the freedom of being able to have everything that I need for a few days contained with our two backpacks and being fully immersed in the majesty of nature, far far away from civilization. DH also wants to fish...so does DS. But I wouldn't mind tacking a lovely cruise onto that whole idea...because there is nothing so wonderful as the pampering of civilization after roughing it. This is a big trip though...with a tremendous amount of planing necessary to do what we really want to do. We have a few "training" ideas...like backpacking in Glacier National Park, etc.

 

And I must also add on to what Mom and Debbie wrote...I think you look lovely in your pictures. (There's a couple grumpy ones...LOL) but wow...that tomato red is so fabulous on you! And the beauty of the land that we catch glimpses of in the photos...we are not looking at you with a critical eye. We are very friendly eyes, enjoying a vicarious moment with our friend on her vacation!

 

Debbie...How fun for you to have a wedding in your near future! I also loved reading everything you said sharing about your Style Statement. I know that I got to hear some of that at our Meet, but I admit that I could only remember the nostalgic aspect of your style statement. :o Sometimes, I need to see these things in writing!

 

As for the outfit idea and it looking too costume-y...I think you need to take a picture of yourself in it. It sounds to me like it would be a lovely combination...when I think of a costume for a broomstick skirt...I go western in my mind more than hippy. I think it might have a bohemian vibe, but I don't think costume is what the final look would be. I think that it might be a strong style...and so, it might feel a bit like wearing your heart on your sleeve to be so strongly dressed in your style...maybe a little uncomfortable because this is not necessarily a current style...so again...I say, take a pick and see how great you look...and then rock that outfit!

 

And yay for having a cruise in the future! It says family and friends...do you have a group going?

 

Mom's under 30 days for HER vacay!

[Member123]

Debbie!

 

Spot. On.

 

Wow. You ladies impress me so much. What an amazing group of creative, intelligent, caring, sharing, BEAUTIFUL individuals!

 

Why is doing my Style Statement so rough for me?!? I've started and stopped so many times... off the top of my head...if I had to venture a guess... I'd say my Style Statement is Jealous Procrastinator! That reminds me of a song... wait for it... cause I'm searching, searching memory databases.... oh got it!... Smooth Operator!... don't ask...

 

So... I just can't do a Style Statement exercise right now! I'm in the midst of some intensive searching for French restaurants. It's quite the project. I have located a restaurant booking site (kind of like our Open Table) called theFork. Of course, it's all in French. So, I have to figure out... where is this restaurant located?... what hours is it open?... menu?... translate.... reviews?... translate...

 

Culture and social norms are so fascinating. In Barcelona, the restaurants open at 8pm and close at 1am... for DINNER!... In Paris, the restaurants open at 7pm and close at 11:30pm. For some reason, no restaurants like to be open on Sunday. AND, many, many restaurants are closed the entire month of August! Thankfully, we'll be there in September. So, it's getting closer and I'm getting closer to hitting my panic button... but today I think I'm going bra shopping. LOL.

 

Love reading all your posts, Ladies! Love them! I savor all your posts with either my morning latte or my evening wine. Wow, I guess I let the cat out of the bag on that one... LOVE the cat nestled among all the book titles, Debbie.... I have a bit of that quirky wit inside of me as well. Probably not enough to actually become part of my Style Statement. But I remember a poster that a friend had in her kitchen. Hilarious! It was a duck, standing behind a fence on its tippy-toes and peering over the top... OMG... the caption was.... PEEKING DUCK. I crack myself up!

[Sailor_Sally]

Linda , Your Alaska trip was interesting reading . I visited Alaska three years ago . We went the first week of June and except for a shower in Juneau we had sunny weather the whole trip . I had packed an umbrella and never used it. We spent two nights in Vancouver before the cruise . What a wonderful city .You are gutsy doing that suspension bridge . I am afraid of heights and there is no way I would have done it . Our cruise left from Vancouver and returned to Seattle. The sailing from Vancouver was scenic . We were close to land almost the entire time . We had a balcony & I loved watching the vistas from our private space .On day a group of seven bald eagles were outside our window teaching their young to fly .I loved Alaska and will probably return when my grandchildren are old enough to enjoy it .

[aoknkentucky]

Pam, You've Got Mail!

[MJC]

Linda, I enjoyed your Alaska posts so much. Kudos to you for tackling what can be quite an adventure trip and for pushing yourself to really experience such a beautiful state. Alaska was my first cruise and we enjoyed it so much we've been cruising ever since. I'll add my voice to the others and say I thought you looked wonderful, and your writings and the photos really conveyed your personal experience of an Alaska cruise. Thank you for letting us follow along.

 

Debbie, I enjoyed reading your Style Statement. You articulated it so well. Like Laurie said, it really feels like you're baring your private self, so I appreciate that you shared it with us. Understanding mine has allowed me to embrace and value some of the things about myself that I tended to be judgmental about or see through a negative filter. I think it has given me a better perspective that helps me on my quest for a fulfilling life. It sounds quite grand to say that, maybe, but so what?!?

 

I LOVE Pam's garden club analogy. You captured how I feel about my EARTH friends and I can see that same energy here on this thread. I think you all are beautiful ladies and lovely friends to each other. :)

[aoknkentucky]

Thanks so much for the warm comments, Ladies. Of course, I have a tendency to give a little TMI anyway, but it was definitely scary to bare my soul and put myself out there with my Style Statement. Maybe that's why it's hard for some of us to work through the exercises?

 

I mentioned this at our Meet N Greet, but I normally detest open-ended question workbooks. Especially if it's a read this passage and then answer a question type. I think it's the direct part of me rearing its ugly head. I usually just circle the pertinent info in the reading portion and draw a line to the answer section and move on. Really, you want me to spend my time handwriting on these lines what I just finished reading in print? Sheesh! For some reason, I enjoyed this project because it didn't treat my brain as a non-working muscle and so I powered through it in one huge day of retrospection. It was a lot like a sewing project for me. I wanted so badly to work to the end of it to see the final result that I didn't give myself time to question and ponder. I just wrote the first thing that popped in my head and moved on. Words and phrases kept reoccurring and the questions were easier to answer as I went along. If I repeat the exercise in, say, five years, will it be different? I fully expect it to be changed. We had a newborn in the family and my father was recovering from his first major illnesses EVER (throat cancer, lung cancer and heart attack) at 77 years old. It was a retrospective time for me. The nostalgic description might change to a certain degree, but the natural is definitely the best 70-80% word for me. Strange how I never saw it before. It was a true revolution for me. I was amazed that it was so accurate when I read the descriptions of both words. Especially when put together. I'm still amazed when I realize how natural and nostalgic find their way into my wardrobe, my home and my way of life and they have been for years!

 

P.S. For those who have trouble with disappearing posts, I want to mention what helps me. I do one of two things. Either type your post in a Word Document and copy then paste in the message portion here, OR if you prefer to type in the Message box of the Reply to Thread here, be sure to highlight your entire message, right click and COPY. That way, when you preview your post, you have your message copied and if the page gets screwy, you can just right click when you get the page refreshed and it should paste your post right back. Hope this helps. (AND that I explained what I meant clearly enough to be understood!)

[Joby]

Hi girls,

 

We are back from our trip. We had a stupendous time! We are still out of time sync, they are 7 hours ahead of us, so at 3 pm our time, we're ready for bed:eek:

 

Linda, I've just read some of your trip report, Lordy, did you have some bad juju going???? Earthquakes, etc. ????

 

I'm excited to share our trip and photos with all of you. It will be several more days though, I'm sure.

[Member123]

Hi, Kim,

 

Welcome home! I waited to say that until I thought you were awake! LOL.

 

I know how rough it is to try to reorient yourself to your surroundings when you come back from a fabulous travel experience. No pressure, but I'm really hoping to get a glimpse of your trip before we head out on our upcoming adventure. It's that time of the waiting period where the last days are in countdown mode and the time seems to fly by! I just ended up losing a week... as in... where did that last week go?!?

 

I have so much to do... but that's never stopped me from hanging out here and reading my friends' posts. Anita reminded me that you were going to focus on the eyes of the animals you were photographing this time... hope that you got some amazing shots or, at least, had a lot of fun trying. We are in a BIG debate (well, I guess I should say that I am in a debate with myself) over whether we need to get another camera for our trip. I'm not sure that I want to give up my weight allowance to a camera! AND, I'm also not sure that I want to lug a camera around with me while we're sightseeing. It's been years since I've had a camera that I would call my own. DH is the photographer in the family, BUT he doesn't take the pictures that I would take. i mean... he takes wonderful pictures... but he's focused on the scenery, buildings, monuments... and he takes most pictures from more of a distance perspective. I would take pictures of people, food, closeups of flowers, faces, etc. Just a difference in "seeing" things, I think... probably because I've spent most of my life with the distance in blurry vision! But, I can't tell you the number of times I've looked at pictures and he didn't have a picture of the GUIDE! Or, the couple we toured with!

 

Hmmmm.... big debate.....

 

Want to see some pictures! Might help me make up my mind! Just kidding... not about wanting to see the pictures, but about making up my mind. There's just no help where that's concerned...

 

Anyway, again..... Welcome Home!

[snuggles]

Welcome back Kim! So glad you had a wonderful trip....can't wait for your details and pics. I just know you will have some fabulous animal pics (maybe a few of the two legged kind,also) ;)

I've been watching the news about the ibola breakout and prayed you were nowhere near it!

I also know how hard it is to get back in the groove after a great trip...rest up..we're All patiently waiting!

[Anita Latte]

Welcome back Kim!

 

I'm so excited to hear all about your trip. We all know it can take a while to get back to "normal" and then to think about sorting through the 1000s of photos that I am sure that you took!! Whenever you can though...we wait patiently.

 

So DS is back in school and I should be starting on sewing projects this week!

[Joby]

Oh, Lord, it IS hard getting back into the swing of things. It's also overwhelming.

 

Pam, A quick answer to your camera question--we love our "little" camera--it's an Lumix LX-7. We have a bigger bridge camera but, it's a bit big to just "have" a camera to carry around.

 

I'm working on my trip report in installments. I'll post what I have later today. It will be a little while for the photos as I am using a new photo editor and it has a bit of a learning curve :eek:

 

Anita, soooo excited to get the sewing project going! I got some really cool material on this trip too.

 

Talk soon :)

[Anita Latte]

Kim!! You are such a tease!!

 

pictures...Pictures...PICTURES!!!

 

:D

[aoknkentucky]

Kim, I'm excited to hear all about your trip!

 

Pam, hope your trip and travels are sooo much fun. Be safe.

[Joby]

Hi everyone,

 

Here is the first installment of my trip report. I've cut and pasted a bit--hope it will make sense to you all :)

 

Our trip this time was to fly into Dar es Salaam, catch a small plane from Dar to Ruaha NP, meet James, our guide at Ruaha, and drive back to Dar over 2 weeks’ time for our flight home. So, fly out and drive back private safari with just my husband and me, our guide and cook.

 

 

Our itinerary was:

 

 

July 18-August 4, 2014

 

 

We flew Turkish Air from IND-ORD-IST-DAR

 

 

Overnight Dar-- Peacock Hotel

 

 

Fly Coastal Air-- DAR-Msembe Ruaha

 

 

5 nights Ruaha NP—3 nights tent camping & 2 nights bandas)

 

 

2 nights Iringa-- Neema Guest House

 

 

2 nights Udzungwa Mountains NP-- Udz. Forest Camp (Hondo Hondo)

 

 

1 night Selous GR-- Sable Mountain Lodge

 

 

2 nights Selous GR—tent camping Hippo Camp

 

 

1 night Selous GR—Hippo Camp Tented Hut

 

 

Dayroom use Peacock Hotel

 

 

We flew Turkish Air home—DAR-IST-ORD-IND

 

 

I was a bit nervous about flying Turkish Air as the arrival and departure times were in the middle of the night to/from DAR. Not ideal but, the price was too good to pass up. We were actually pleasantly surprised with the airline.

 

 

 

All Turkish Air flights were on-time, the food was good, the service reasonable and all in all a good choice for us. My husband thought the two aircraft were not quite as comfy as our last trip on KLM but, I didn’t notice that.

 

 

 

The flight legs were 1 hour IND-ORD, 11 hours to/from ORD-IST and 7 hours to/from IST-DAR. We actually enjoyed stopping in Istanbul’s airport for 2 hours. No problems with passport control, getting to our next gate or anything else. We even had time to shop at the “Grand Bazaar” and bought a couple of trinkets. The people watching was quite good and the Turkish Delight candies were yummy. There were lots of free samples and we took advantage of that!

 

 

 

Sunday, July 20--

 

 

Arriving into DAR at 2:35 am, we got in “line” for our visas. I’m not really sure it was a proper line but, we eventually got our visas and then went through passport control, got fingerprinted and out the front door where our driver from the Peacock Hotel was waiting for us with a name sign. I was sure relieved to see him as it was a fear of mine that we would be stranded at DAR in the middle of the night.

 

 

 

Another positive to the Turkish Air arrival/departure times was the lack of traffic in Dar. It only took 20 minutes to get to the Peacock Hotel, not the 2 hours it can take during the day!

 

 

Checking in at the Peacock was nice and easy. The bellman took our carry-on bags and we took our backpacks up to our room. The bellman opened the door to our room and oops, it was occupied! We all put it in reverse and the bellman sheepishly went back down to the front desk to get another room for us. Glad it didn’t happen to us in our room, I would have had a heart attack if I was sleeping and someone just popped into my room in the middle of the night. I don’t think our person woke up; at least there were no sounds that came from the room.

 

 

OK, now we were taken to an empty room on the 7th floor. It was nice & clean, the A/C worked well and the bed was comfortable. We slept until around 9 am the next morning and then went down to breakfast. It was a simple buffet—eggs cooked to order, some breads, some juice, some fruits and LIVER (which we passed on). Back up to our room to sleep a little more. Up at 2 pm and went to the ATM. Dar was a little intimidating to us. We didn’t mess around going the couple of blocks to the ATM and back to the hotel. We looked around off the hotel balcony and saw an interesting market down below selling live chickens and other things. We had dinner at the hotel that evening and went out onto the hotel balcony again to see the city lit up at night. We heard lots of traffic noises, the Muslim “call to prayer”, and chickens from the market down below.

 

 

Off to bed as we had an early start the next morning with our flight to Ruaha.

 

 

Monday, July 21--

 

 

We asked for a wake-up call at 5:15 am as well as setting our own alarm. The front desk mistakenly called at 4:15 am, so we had an extra early start to the day! I had asked for a box breakfast for our trip to the airport this morning. We picked it up on our way out, 15 minutes to the airport and our Coastal flight was to leave at 8:30 am for Ruaha NP.

 

 

The flight was an hour late leaving DAR but, a half hour early getting in at Msembe as it was direct instead of all the stopovers it was scheduled to have. The plane was a little 8 passenger turbo prop. It was quite comfortable with leather seats facing each other. There were only 7 people plus the pilot. The pilot said we were going to fly at 26,000 feet. It was a very smooth flight with not much to see until we got close to Ruaha.

 

 

It was really pretty flying over the park and seeing the Ruaha River meandering through it. At the beginning of our dirt landing strip there were some Ellies hanging around. They didn’t seem to mind us buzzing over them to land.

 

 

 

Our guide this trip was to be, James. James was right there to meet us at the airstrip. He gave us a nice big hug and we all introduced ourselves.

James was a wonderful guide! Simon had told me that James was a talker. A little bit after we started our drive with James, he asked if we knew what a “chin wagger” was. We both said “no”. He told us it was someone who talked a lot. I immediately thought James and I were going to get along as I’m a “chin wagger” too, my husband not so much! It was the start of a great trip.

 

 

Right after James got everything taken care of at the ranger station, we started off to explore Ruaha. I told James I really wanted to see the Wild Dogs, he cautioned me that they could be hard to see but, we would give it our best shot. We did see our first lions of the trip, Ellies, Baboons, Kudu and some nice birds including Fish Eagle, Collard Lovebirds, Little Bee-Eater, White Bellied Bustard and Black Faced Sand Grouse. No Wild dogs today, but maybe tomorrow?

 

 

We got to our camp and settled into our tent. It was set on a lovely spot next to the river bank with a lovely view! So peaceful with Ellies and Hippos in the river and nice birds such as Shoe Billed Storks and others. Our cook for the trip was, Michael. He made us a nice dinner, we showered and off to bed at 9:30 pm.

 

 

During the night we heard lots of animal sounds, big LOUD hippos fighting, lions in the distance and some other unidentified noises, quite the night time chorus.

 

 

Tuesday, July 22--

 

 

This morning we got up 6 am and started off on our all day game drive at 6:25 am with a boxed breakfast and lunch. To start the morning off with a rush today, I reached my hand down to get my glasses on my backpack. I felt something hard, picked it up and screamed “scorpion” to my husband and threw it down! My husband got some tissues and picked it up and threw it out the tent door. I went and got James to look at it and I told him the story. He looked down at it and said, “It’s only a cricket like bug!” How could it be a cricket when it was about 2 inches long, light brown and hard and bumpy????? It HAD to be something scary, didn’t it? No, just a cricket like bug he said. Well, we all had a good laugh to start the day at my expense.

 

 

As we were driving, James asked us if we heard the hippo that walked right past our tent during the night, “nope” it must have been during the 1 hour that we slept!

 

 

James stopped at a beautiful spot near the Ruaha River for breakfast. Just us and lots of birds near a big Baobab tree. We watched a Fish Eagle with 2 chicks in the nest across the river. That was fun.

 

 

Ruaha NP is HUGE. We rarely passed another vehicle, which didn’t bother us in the least, quite different than the Northern Circuit was. The scenery was quite nice!

 

 

Some of our highlights today were:

 

 

big Crocs, a Monitor Lizard, Giraffes drinking at the river, some Ellies running off a pride of 10 lions, a herd of 400+ Buffalo, and a limping Cheetah. Bird highlights were: Sooty Falcon, Buff Crested Bustard, Black Faced Sand Grouse, Fischer’s Sparrow Lark, Gabor Goshawk, Hadada Ibis, and an Open Billed Stork.

 

 

Right before bed, we saw something moving beside our tent and looked with a flashlight and it was a Civet. It scurried away down the river bank.

 

 

 

Bed at 10 pm.

 

 

More to follow.

[aoknkentucky]

Yessssss! We are touring Tanzania! Sounds like it's shaping up to be a great trip. Wonder what surprises are in store for tomorrow?

 

(I. Abhore. Crickets. Detest the nasty things.). Off to look up what a Civet is.

[Anita Latte]

LOL! I did the same thing...what the heck is a civet? I found it! But I couldn't find out what "Ellies" are? What are they? That's a hard thing to Google btw and I'm unsuccessful in my weak attempt...Kim, please tell us!

 

This is awesome! So excited to be reading all the details...

 

I can't imagine a cricket that big...OMG. What he said...reminds me of Disney's Aristocats..."it's just a lil'o' cricket bug." Too funny.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Anita Latte

[aoknkentucky]

Elephants, right?

[Anita Latte]

Well, DUH!!

[Joby]

I love you guys, you are too funny! An Ellie= an Elephant. Just my silly nicknaming :)

 

Here's chapter 2

 

Wednesday, July 23—

 

 

Last night in the middle of the night we heard gun shots! Found out this morning from James that the rangers in the next camp (where the bandas are) were shooting to scare away an Ellie that was in that camp. We thought we had heard some shots the night before too.

 

 

 

This morning we went to what I called the “ranger’s neighborhood”. It’s where all of the rangers and their families live. It had a school, a garage, housing, a little store, and an airplane in a hangar…just like a neighborhood might. James was getting a tire fixed and had to pick it up there.

 

 

We explored a different part of Ruaha today. It was just beautiful! It’s very dry here but still so scenic. We really love this park. Most of the time we are alone at animal sightings, once in a while we come across another vehicle but not often. So nice!

 

 

 

The highlight of the day without doubt was watching 8 Ellies dig for water in a sand river.

 

 

There was a little one who just constantly got into trouble with the whole herd! He was hilarious. First of all his trunk was too short to drink out of the hole his mom dug to drink from so he had to lay down flat on the ground and stretch his trunk down into the hole to drink. It was so cute!

Next he got up and went over to join some other Ellies and got in trouble from them and they booted him out with their trunks. After that he went up to a female to nurse and evidently it wasn’t his mom, so he got in trouble with her and she pushed him away.

 

 

Not to be denied, he went up to another female to nurse and bingo, it was the right one. He nursed for a little bit and then went to see what other trouble he could get into. He went over and lay down again to drink form a hole, got his fill and then walked over toward the nearby bank and just fell over and laid there. He was exhausted from getting into so much trouble! This went on for probably 30 minutes or so. He got booted from most every place he went. It didn’t seem to deter him though, he persisted! It was so comical. I did get some video of all of this.

 

 

It was really interesting to watch the Ellies drink. Firstly, they dig holes in the sand with their feet until they hit water, then they snort up the top level of water as it isn’t clear enough to drink, and then spray the dirty water to the side, and lastly, they get to clean water with their trunks and drink it. Really fascinating! We watched all this for probably an hour. I have never seen anything as cute as the little Ellie that got into so much trouble with everyone though!

 

 

 

Further on down the river we spied a troop of Baboons drinking. They were fun to watch too. We saw fighting, mating, grooming, resting, drinking and playing. So much like humans, aren’t they?

 

 

During the day, James told us the he calls Impala “Lion McDonald’s”. We asked why and he said to look at the Impala’s behind, they have an “M” on it and it looks like the golden arches of McDonald’s and Lions eat the Impala. So, “Lion McDonald’s”.

 

 

I never looked at Impala again without going right to the ‘M”. He also said he calls zebra “pajama donkeys”. James is really a good talker and can talk about so many different subjects. He is really funny too. What a great guide and very knowledgeable too!

 

 

Tonight when we got back to camp, Michael, our cook told us two Ellies had been strolling through camp while he was in the kitchen that afternoon. He didn’t want to come out.

 

 

 

Not long after we returned to camp, the Ellie came back and was eating at the back of the bathroom area. Not long after we saw the Ellie, there were 3 Hyena and a Black Backed Jackal having a faceoff right behind the camp. A Baboon strolled through also. Michael ran him off and he hid for a few minutes and then snuck back out. He crossed over by us and went up the tree above our tent to sleep for the night. Camp was quite busy with wildlife tonight!

 

 

Thursday, July 24—

 

 

An early start today (6:15 am) as we had a walk with a ranger scheduled. How exciting to be out walking in such a wild park. Ruaha during the day reminds me of a night drive—it’s exciting and you never know what’s around the next corner at any time. It’s definably quality over quantity in Ruaha!

 

 

We picked up our ranger, Umbrosso, and guard, Michael, at the “ranger neighborhood”. We drove to a spot and James dropped us all off and was told to go to the bridge where we would meet him in about 3 hours. We were so excited to be out walking! Both Umbrosso and Michael were armed and gave us instructions on what to do or not do during the walk.

 

 

Off we go walking along the Ruaha River and ridge. I found out on this walk that I am a poopophile—poop is fascinating! We studied Impala poop, Giraffe poop, Ellie poop, Hyena poop, Jackal poop, Lion poop, and last but not least, Hippo poop. Did you know that you could tell the difference between a male and female giraffe by its poop???? How to tell if an Ellie is male or female by their poop and urine placement??? That Hyena poop is white???? We even saw a hairball in the Lion poop. Now how cool is that!

 

 

Umbrosso was quite knowledgeable and very patient to answer questions. He also taught us about lemon grass, elephant grass, wild basil, and toothbrush plants. He told us about the white pepper trees with their seed pods that we had been seeing along our game drives (mdada, I think he called it). He also showed us a scorpion hole (D shaped) and the ant lion and its hole. He knew his birds too.

 

 

When we saw Impala, I asked Umbrosso if he knew that they are nicknamed “Lion McDonald’s”. He said, no. I then told him about the M on their behind and that Lions ate them. He thought that was pretty funny. We also asked him if he knew what “check tire” meant. He said no. I explained that it was what we said when we had to go to the bathroom behind the Land Rover in the bush. He laughed again. I told him that he taught us something and we taught him something. We had quite a few laughs on this walk as well as some real learning! Just delightful! We hiked about 8 kms.

 

 

We went back to camp for brunch. Michael takes good care of our food needs. He’s very quiet, much like my husband. James and I do enough talking for several people I suspect.

 

 

Back out on a game drive after brunch. We’re still looking for the elusive dogs. Most everyone that we or James has talked to said the dogs hadn’t been seen in almost a year. Only one person told us they had been seen once in the last month. We have our hopes set high.

 

 

During our drive we saw both Lesser and Greater Kudu, both are beautiful, especially the males. More Lions were seen as well as a really nice distinctive Lion print that I got a photo of. James is really good about photography. He stops when we want, turns off the vehicle, positions us and thinks about lighting and composure. He’s way smarter about photography than I am!

 

 

Saw a Brown Snake Eagle too today. They are so pretty and have a nice profile. Speaking of snakes, eagle eyed James spotted one in a bushy tree as we were driving along. We stopped and watched it slither around in the branches never seeing its head to absolutely identify it. But James thought it was possibly a Boomslang. It had a creamy white belly with a black lacy like top.

 

 

 

Eek, the 3rd snake of the trip so far but the only one that I had seen. The other 2, everyone EXCEPT me saw—a Sand Snake, a Cobra of some sort crossing the road and now this unidentified snake in a bushy tree. That’s ok with me; I’m not a snake fan! James said he thought I might have seen the Cobra crossing the road but, he looked back at my eyes and saw they were normal sized. Thus, he was sure I hadn’t seen it.

 

 

Tonight we are moving to the bandas. We will miss the lovely setting of the tent beside the river and the wildlife surrounding the camp, and the pretty sunsets and sunrises. The setting is so peaceful. But real beds and an attached bathroom are calling us!

 

 

 

When we got back to camp we packed up and drove the short distance to the bandas. We had the luxury one—it had real beds, electricity, an attached bathroom with a shower and flushing toilet. Sweet! Hopefully we will sleep well tonight with no Ellies in camp. The last 3 nights we have heard gunshots from the rangers from over here at the bandas.

[Member123]

Part of me doesn't want to interrupt this fascinating description, but the other part of me just says "what the heck" and I have to report that...

 

.... I saw a lizard! No. I did not do that.

 

Wow. I am so enchanted with this story, Kim. I can NOT WAIT for pictures! Your descriptions are simply amazing.

 

OK. In honor of the poopologist, I found the following information about civets. Which by the way, look really, really cute but I wonder if all that cuteness is masking a temper? Sometimes, cute animals are not all that cuddly. ANYWAY, here is what I found.... did anyone else find this?....

 

They use CIVET URINE in perfume! No?!? This cannot be true! Yes! They use it in Coco Chanel. And, I can honestly say that I will never smell Coco Chanel with quite the same level of enthusiasm. Here's the description:

 

Coco by Chanel is a Oriental Spicy fragrance for women. Coco was launched in 1984. The nose behind this fragrance is Jacques Polge. Top notes are coriander, pomegranate blossom, mandarin orange, peach, jasmine and bulgarian rose; middle notes are mimosa, cloves, orange blossom, clover and rose; base notes are labdanum, amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, opoponax, civet and vanilla.

 

I read that: diluted, after some time, the odor of civet secretion, which normally is strong and repulsive, becomes pleasant with animalistic-musk nuance. Well..... just. EWWW. Seriously.

 

O.K.

 

Kim, really I just wanted to give a quick interlude and let you know that I'm reading right along. And, all I can say is.... wow. What an adventure.

[Member123]

Hi, everybody,

 

Since Kim is taking a little break between Chapters, I thought I'd post my experience with a new product... well, new to me.

 

If anyone is looking for a sunscreen that is effective without giving the whitish cast that looks so terrible in pictures, I can highly recommend this product that I tested. It is La Roche-Posay, Anthelios 50 Mineral, Tinted Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid. The SPF rating is 50, as the name implies. The tinting (yes, it's a tan color) says that it's a universal tint. I've never heard of this, but I'm not as cosmetic savvy as maybe I could be. I tried this product because of a recommendation from Lisa Eldridge's videos. So..... it really worked as far as melting into my skin and not forming any type of "mask face" look. It really is a matte finish.

 

So, just an FYI.