For The Person Who Has (Almost) Everything...

We were at the Mesquite (TX) Quilt Show this weekend, browsing the various vendors and all their fantastic quilting-related goods, when we came across this:

I'm not sure what makes a concealed handgun purse different from any other medium- to large-sized purse, but apparently it is different. And if you know a lady who is looking for a pretty quilted bag to carry her concealed handgun, then have I got the perfect gift for her!

We did have a great time at the quilt show. There were so many beautiful quilts on display, in a range of different styles and colors. There were also a ton of vendors with pretty fabrics, cool patterns, and assorted quilting notions and what-nots for sale. I picked up a few new fat quarters for my sampler quilt but nothing too extravagant. And we won a subscription to a quilting magazine in the door-prize drawing! All in all, it was a fun trip to Mesquite, even if I did start wondering how many of the ladies might be packing (concealed) weapons in their purses...

Tortoises For Ellen

My sis-in-law Ellen specifically requested Galapagos tortoise pictures, and so these are for her:

Wild Galapagos tortoise on Santa Cruz Island, having a little breakfast.


Wild Galapagos tortoises, also on Santa Cruz, hanging out at a mud puddle. The mud keeps them cool and helps keep bugs off.

Tortoise in captivity in the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz. All the adult tortoises here (I think all of them, but definitely the one in this picture) had been kept in captivity by private individuals before the Research Station was started, and they were brought here for conservation purposes. This tortoise is probably around 60 or 70 years old, according to our guide.

Baby tortoises at the Darwin Station. All wild tortoise nests in Galapagos are located and the eggs are brought to the Station for incubation. The babies live here until they are about 5 years old, at which point their shells are hard enough that they are safe from predators and can be re-released into the wild.

All the little guys have big yellow numbers painted on their backs so the staff can keep track of them, and it's hard to get a picture without the numbers being visible. These two cooperated for me by hiding under a rock and looking cute, which I really appreciated.

Frog-O-Sphere

I'm a bit of an impulse shopper, which is why my husband prefers to do the grocery shopping without me. Yesterday, I was minding my business at the mall, running some important and productive errands, when I saw this in the display window at Brookstone:




















It's a Frog-O-Sphere, a little mini-ecosystem (according to the box) that contains 2 tiny frogs, a snail, a piece of bamboo, spring water, decorative green gravel and magic living gravel that does something I don't understand to keep the water clean.

And I instantly realized that my husband would love it. I mean, who doesn't like a small plastic box filled with frogs and snails and water?

So I finished my (productive) shopping and headed over to Brookstone to buy the Frog-O-Sphere. Apparently, I was the first person they had sold one to (an impulsive shopper and an early adopter! How 'bout that).

But it was just too cool to pass up. And it was a gift, so that makes it OK, right? Husband was pretty surprised to see the frogs but I think he likes them.

At the moment, Tom & Jerry and the snail are getting settled in on the dining room table while we try to find the best place for them to live -- not too hot, not too sunny, but not too cold, either. I hope they like their new digs.

Under The Sea

Here are a few pictures we took snorkeling in Galapagos. I'm not a huge fan of snorkeling, but some of the best moments from our trip occurred while we were in the water, so I'm glad I didn't miss out.Sea lion. These guys were so playful. They would swim right up to you and then dash off. They also seemed to have a thing for blowing bubbles in our faces, like this little prankster was doing.

Green sea turtle. We saw several of them underwater. They seemed so calm and peaceful, slowly swimming along the rocks.



Galapagos penguin. They look so clumsy and silly on land, but they really are incredibly fast underwater. I had a hard time getting a picture of them because they'd be in and out of the shot before the camera could focus.


Look closely and you will see a flounder in this picture! It's not nearly as charismatic as the other animals, but I was pretty excited to see it. They are so well camouflaged that they can be pretty tough to spot (this one was swimming when I first saw it, so that helped).


We also saw a white-tipped reef shark, about 5 or 6 feet long, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of that one before it disappeared. There is nothing quite like seeing these animals in the wild -- pretty incredible.

Let Me Sum Up

I'm not quite sure what to say when people ask how our trip to Ecuador was. On the one hand, everything went well, we saw some interesting plants and animals, and we had some pretty cool experiences.

On the other hand, it was a pretty exhausting trip, and there were definitely some unpleasant moments. I wouldn't exactly say that it was a fun vacation.

On the plus side:

• Amazing scenery, both in mainland Ecuador and in Galapagos
• Fantastic animals -- birds, reptiles, frogs, marine animals, you name it!
• Pretty good food (Ecuador has some amazing soup!)
• Interesting people -- we met one lady as we were walking past her house and she came over to chat and ended up offering us a piece of fresh sugar cane from her yard. Everyone we met was friendly, even though I don't understand Spanish very well and had to have a translator to follow the converation if the person didn't speak English (although a lot of people do).
• Swimming with sea lions, sea turtles, penguins, and sharks -- incredible!

And on the minus side:

• Weather that ranged from super cold and windy, to warm but damp/raining, to blazing hot with no shade from the equatorial sun
• The previously mentioned unreliable plumbing
• The altitude -- we started in Quito at 9,000 feet, did some fairly strenuous hiking at 10,000 and then crashed, completely exhausted. We did move to a lower elevation after that, but the hiking was still pretty intense. Seems like no matter where we went, it was uphill. Both ways. Which is how you get the amazing scenery, but it was also pretty challenging, especially considering that we live in a place with very low altitude that is extremely flat. I spent the better part of a week gasping for air. Which is not what I personally consider to be relaxing.
• Food served with the head still on -- One night, we were served whole fish, which wasn't that bad, although I typically prefer my dinners not to look at me. The kicker was the night I was served 3 whole, huge shrimp. They were nearly big enough to be lobsters and their eyes were enourmous. Eew.

Now that we have been home a week, though, the minuses are starting to fade a bit, and I have really enjoyed looking over the pictures and remembering the good parts of the trip. Overall, I would say it was an interesting vacation -- and we got some great pictures.

Packing Update

I succeeded in packing all my camera equipment (I did take all 3 lenses, plus the underwater camera, 9 memory cards, 3 batteries, and 2 battery chargers), as well as all my clothes, toiletries, travel-size hand sanitizer and travel-size toilet paper (the last two items definitely came in handy).

What I failed to bring were binoculars.

Birds tend to be smalll (I have yet to see a wild ostrich, but I have seen plenty of tiny little songbirds) and they tend not to come real close to you, and, most importantly, they tend to look a lot alike from a distance. So birding is almost impossible without a pair of binoculars. You just can't tell the birds apart with the naked eye unless you are holding them in your hands.

Normally, hubby packs my binoculars when we travel, since I'm always carrying a ridiculous amount of camera equipment. But when we went to Belize, luggage space was tight and we each packed our own binoculars. We were supposed to do the same thing for Ecuador, except it never even occurred to me to pack them. Or even to ask hubby if he was packing them (had I asked, he would have said no, and I would have packed them myself. But alas, I didn't ask).

I didn't even think about binoculars until our plane was halfway from Miami to Quito and my husband reached into his carry-on to get something, and I caught of glimpse of his binoculars. And realized that mine were back home in Texas.

I was able to borrow a pair from our guide the first week in Ecuador, and while they were very old and exceptionally heavy, they worked out pretty well. But it sure would have been great if I had brought my own!

In Praise of Plumbing

We are finally home from Ecuador! I was hoping to be able to post while we were traveling but I had even less phone/Internet access than I expected, so that didn't quite work out. I'll be posting pictures from the trip as I get them downloaded onto the computer. For now, I want to take a moment to appreciate the plumbing in my house.

Seriously. I don't think I had a single hot shower in the entire 17 days we were gone, and I can't tell you how nice it was to take a shower this morning.

Plus, most toilets in Ecuador (meaning, every single toilet I encountered except for those in one nice hotel) require you to dispose of toilet paper in a trash can rather than in the toilet. You get used to it, but I sure was glad to get home and carelessly toss the paper in the toilet without having to worry about backing up the plumbing.

And, finally, it is a wondrous thing to be able to brush your teeth with tap water instead of bottled water. I can't explain why the bottled water is 5 times more inconvenient than the tap water, but it is. I am really loving the water coming out of the tap in my house, despite the fact that it tastes a little funky and will stain the sink a rusty pink color if you leave the water sitting around too long.

It's good to be home!