5 ways I LOVE the dog-gone, sometimes annoying, but always *free*, good ol' USA

Aloha,

During the A to Z challenge, (is that a spelling Bee? :) Rebecca Bradley posted a list of five ways to be happy here.

She then happily decided to meme others.

Annalisa Crawford was very sweet to pass it forward last week.

Annalisa, you made me happier than a broke Irishman in a Friday night bar crowd who discovers (at last call) a forgotten $20. (His happiness is tempered as he ponders three things – for he may choose only one.) Another few pints; a taxicab… or a battered sausage, curry chicken pie and a staggeringly long, (but full) walk home.

(I'll wait while the non-Yorkshire readers figure that out :)


Anyhow, here’s how the Happy Meme works:

Offer a shout out to the Happy One who tagged you.
Then, list my five happy ways.
Tag five more.

I'm tagging some of the happiest people I know:

Martin Willoughby

Morgan Shamy

Johanna Garth

Mark Means

Tammy Theriault

 
For *my* five choices, I’m skipping family and Hawaii - I know how blessed I am to have them – and be here.)

However, after a few hours of research and many tears (thanks Annalisa!), here’s five things and a related YouTube clip for each one) that always render me happier than a pig in fresh poop:

1. People watching at an airport arrivals lounge.

Especially when it's a service member returning from deployment who spots and greets their loved ones.

 

2. Driving across the United States.

In the last seventeen years, I’ve done so six times and can’t wait to do it again.
On my journeys I:

·         Rode a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird convertible, my first car, from Key West, Fla., to Orlando, and later moved to Chicago, Ill.

·         Relaxed in a new Mustang GT while I drove from Chicago to Newport Beach, Calif. Stopped for speeding once, I got a $50 ticket from a cop in the Navajo jurisdiction.

(Is it just me, or how cool is it to "earn" a citiation from the Navajo Nation :)

·         Moved with my new bride (a week after our wedding) from San Diego to Central Florida. (We drove two cars and connected via walkie-talkies "in a pre-text world" ;)

·         Man-handled a U-Haul (sure…those slidy bucket seats are comfortable and don’t bounce much) from Long Beach, Calif., to San Antonio, Texas.

·         Solo-chauffeured our two dogs from CA to TX and spent several nights in various, interesting Motel 6’s where I walked first one pound puppy – and then the other – to avoid pet policy penalties.

·         ROAD TRIPPED! from Newport, Rhode Island to San Diego with my Uncle Tom, a retired geologist from Holland. Ugh, I *never* want to see another rock in my life!

 

 

3. Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA.

Toward the end of its morning show, the local AM station plays this song once a week.

 

By the end of the song, I’m always bawling while emptying the dish machine or making fresh pancakes for the boys.

 

(It’s quite embarrassing, really, and I hope the front door bell never rings.)

 

But, I can’t help it.

 

I’m proud that I was “born and reared” in Ireland, but I’m so proud that I chose to become an American.

 

 

4. Thanksgiving.

I landed in the U.S. in 1996, but never “got” this holiday until 2001.

 

I was at a pre-Thanksgiving party with a few runner friends.

 

The guy next to me asks what I’m doing for Thanksgiving?

 

Formerly a restaurant manager, I always worked Thanksgiving so the “locals” could enjoy family time. My current restaurant closed for the holiday. I had no plans.

 

The guy flipped open his phone, talked to someone and handed me the phone.

“Hello. Is this Mark?”

“Yes, ma’am…?”

“Brian tells me you’ve nowhere to go for Thanksgiving..,”

“Well, yes, but that’s OK. I’m planning a quiet d—”

“Mark, dinner’s at three. Brian will give you the address. We’ll see you then.”

“But…”

(Dial tone.)

Of course, I had the most wonderful experience and Thanksgiving is now my favorite holiday.

(And to close that circle, here's this :)

 

5.      Voting.

So many people don’t care, but oh my, it’s so important.

And, if you’ve ever wondered why, watch this.

Go on.

You don't have to.

However, I do double-dog dare you to watch this six-minute video.

It's not going to harm or hurt you.

I ask only because it's my right.

And, my fellow American citizens, it's your right to do as you wish.

How awesome is that. I love this place :)

 

God bless the USA.

 

Unlikely Hero: Charles Ramsey Helped Free 3 Cleveland women

Aloha,

To all the writers out there who think TV reporting is an easy or boring gig, I present to you an unlikely hero, Mr. Charles Ramsey.

(He's the man who called the police and helped the first of the three women escape from the Cleveland house this past Monday.)

The women had been imprisoned in the house for a decade or more, according to the news reports.

Mr. Ramsey is being asked about his experience after he heard a noise coming from his neighbor's house... and considering all three women are alive and - at least - home with family, his answers are honest, upfront and *awesome.*

******************


Also, I posted this a few months ago, but once again, here's Irish reporter, Ursula McCarthy, with an update on a recent Dublin court case.



 

 

 

 

(It isn't for real, but it it really funny :)

 

I don't know about you, but if I ever worked as a reporter again, I'd stick with print journalism.

 

Happy Thursday everyone :)

 

 

                                                        #30

 

 

 



 

 



Fun Times at Bellows Beach, Hawaii.

Aloha,

I'm slowly easing back into a blogging schedule, but with nothing mind-shattering to share today, I thought I'd share some beach pictures - for anyone still suffering from a late winter :)



Here we have a "Sand Pie with a Triple Frisbee Crust"

 

 

 

 

 

 




How much fun must it be to be a kid in Hawaii?




 




I mean, seriously :)

 

 

 

 

 



 I am here to protect my brothers.There Vil be no Vun.

 

 

 

 

 

Even My Left Foot wanted to have fun.

 

 

 

 

 



Mission Accomplished.


 





Oh oh...Papa, where's the clothes we're supposed to change into?




 

Co-hosting IWSG: My "Issue"? New Beginnings & Bad Baseball :)

Aloha,

 

 

Before I begin… an official, zeal-filled SHOUT OUT to all the wonderful (and I’m sure happy-that-it’s-over) A-Zers who completed the Challenge…and then realized late last night that IWSG was today!

(It’s not my fault… Blame it on Murphy’s Law or Cavanaugh’s Calendar :)

Speaking of Alex, I have the pleasure of helping with this month’s IWSG alongside Lynda R. Young and Rachna Chhabria.

Personally, I look forward to catching up with the many Bloggers who’ve generously commented on my blog these last few weeks while I took a needed editing hiatus.

My writing Insecurity this month stems from the beautiful ballyhoohaa that is Baseball (although if you are, like me, a *rabid* fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, there is little to be happy this week, month or year!)

Take Monday night – (please, I don’t want it back!!)

I watched and/or listened to six-and-a-half hours of ball until the Angels lost the game in the bottom of the 19^th inning.

(However, I spent a couple of you-can’t-buy-this-for-money hours with my five-year-old son as we watched innings #9-16. So, it wasn’t all bad. I take away some great family memories that I will treasure forever... once I stop crying like a gurl.)

Which made me think.

Here I am, about to begin WIP #2 (starting July 1, I officially remove the cellophane from my seven remaining brain cells.)

Which is all well and good, but what am I going to write about?

Am I nuts for even trying?

Where do I begin?

Seriously.

I have hundreds of scraps of paper running around my ideas folder, (which reminds me of a red-bricked, soot-covered ye Olde English orphanage, only I call it The Wordage.)

The Wordage is a place of security for all scraps, such as multi-colored Post-its, beverage squares, McDonalds’s napkins, small yellow pads, folded-in-half printer paper, legal size yellow pads, and even a printed copy of a Smart phone picture depicting a note scribbled on a fuzzy palm (mine, not a tree.)

All the scraps belong to several dozen ideas that float around The Wordage.

Some are older than others, and a few are hardier than the rest, but nothing stands out more than this one, cheeky little idea that keeps coming back for more.

Using a random filing system, I’ve codenamed the idea “Oliver.”

(Quite unique, I’m sure you’ll agreeJ)

 But…

·         Will the Angels ever win again? (They lost again Tuesday, sob...)

·         Will the Oliver idea bear fruit – or will there be a twist?

·         Should my ideas be even allowed to roam the streets alone?

Who knows?

It is, however, going to be so much fun to find out.

Finally, on behalf of Linda, Rachna, Alex Cavanaugh and Art Bell, thanks for joining us for another edition of Coast-to-Coast AM, er, sorry, I mean Insecure Writers Support Group (where you are never wrong as long as you write.)

This is not Alex J. Cavanaugh