If you could take the next month off, what would you do?

No day at the beach for you!  I just did the Goggle Earth virtual walk through part of Skye and a more rugged coastline would be hard to find.  Still, just like you, those wild and lonely stretches call out to me.  You know, I'm in good shape and I'd go with you, if I didn't have to eat mutton or haggis!

Looks wonderful to me.  I am part Scottish and have spent some time reading about my ancestors who were Ulster-Scots.  So, of course my blood says yes!, beach or no beach. 

Hi Laurie, why the Isle of Skye?  What draws you there?  Besides tramping about of course!

Laurie, this sounds right up your alley……

I don't know if you know this or not but on my bucket list is a trip to Findhorn, Scotland.  I don't know if you know of it or have been there, but a great deal of my life's philosophy is derived from the teachings offered at Findhorn.  Before I log on at Gaia every morning, I have already been to Scotland online.  I will go there, I have an Intention.  Small as it is, it is a member of the United Nations with a mission to feed the world through Sustainable Agriculture.

Well, that just tears it!  What it proves is that I need to find a ginko tree and eat it, bark, roots and all,  my memory is on the way out.

Anyone ready for dessert?
Maybe a little Haagan Dazs Haggis.

I just pictured Sandi as a child on the living room floor, spoon in hand, making a sacrificial offering of Extreme Moose Tracks to herself and her surroundings.

Does anyone remember, ”The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show”?
Hey Rocky, watch me pull a scoop out of my hat.
Oops, wrong hat!

What ever you do, don't tell her about Doves Vanilla With a Chocolate Soul. We'll never be able to clean her up!

Gabby, your vision of Sandi reminds me of a day long ago when I awoke to find my three year old daughter mixing ingrediants on the dining room chair to bake a cake.  There was chocolate sauce, flour, sugar, eggs and oil piled about a foot high and overflowing onto the carpet below. 

Without thinking, I said 'no' and swatted her little behind.  The look in her eyes when she turned to face me cut into my heart so deeply that I vowed never to strike my children as a form of punishment ever again. 

On that day, the three year old taught the lesson.

There was chocolate sauce, flour, sugar, eggs and oil piled about a foot high and overflowing onto the carpet below.
 Now that's something I think Gia would have done, the mischievous child that she is. I certainly would have spanked her little bottom. Si?

Bob, I felt that cut as you described it. If I were a child I would love being in your care. Our children come with many lessons, don't they?

Maybe one day we'll see your daughter on ” Iron Chef America.” The deck would be stacked if I were one of the judges.

“Now that's something I think Gia would have done, the mischievous child that she is. I certainly would have spanked her little bottom. Si?”
 
As Gia herself might say… belly laughs!
 
Gabby, one of my favorite sayings is, 'Parents don't turn children into adults.  Children turn parents into adults.”

'Parents don't turn children into adults.  Children turn parents into adults.”
Oh so true, Bob, and sometimes into basket cases.

If I could take the next month off, I would also be in Isle of Skye, chasing Sandi and Gia, making sure they get their fair share of Haagen Dazs Haggis.

Laurie, from the looks of that photo, I'd have to hang on to my kilt!
it's a good thing I have wings.

Awesome picture, great energy,

 many mystical moments

 stored in stone and shore.

No, Sandi sits at the table, eating out of the pint container with a book propped in front of her nose.  Using a Big spoon!

I'm back, apparently the hotel I was staying at had some kind of firewall that only certain sites were able to penetrate.  I couldn't even read my favorite horoscope!

It's good to be back, it was very frustrating to read y'all's comment in my E-mail in-box and not be able to respond.  I felt like a ghost shouting, ” I'm here!  I'm here!” and no one could hear me.  Kinda strange.  We had tremendous rains the morning after I got there and knocked out all communications that were cableized, I'm so glad I brought books, I got the the new Dan Brown book delivered the day before I left and I sat myself down for a good read.  Yes, I did get some photographs that I'll post tomorrow.  I've had a good 7 hr. drive and now I've got to check everything out and give my joints a good stretch.

I can only say that God in his Wisdom, pointed me right when he said,  ” the Sandy White Beaches of Panama city , Fla.” and he didn't have to say it twice.  Believe me, I know my weather and I did some studying of the radars before I committed, it was very iffy, I had thought to go to Savannah but decided it was better to go through the rain and come out the other side than waiting for it on the coast.  Something hit the tipping point when I received a SIGN, an e-mail informing me that off-season rates were now in effect, and I was gone.  After that tremendous storm the first day, it was sunshine, 85 degrees and a 10 mile an hour wind off the Gulf.  And it poured every day in N. Ga. while I was gone, I was amazed when I pulled into my drive, it looks like an abandoned house with grass up to my, well, pretty long.  My neighbors yards all look the same, and it is still raining!  Like I said, God opened a window and I jumped through it.  Glory Be To God.  I don't know that I've ever seen a Cooper's hawk, or if I'd know it if I did.  It must be pretty special if you and Len did the “Kilroy thing”, that must have give the poor thing a start to see your heads appearing over the window sill.
The Ladies were glad to see me, gladder for the bag of biscuits I brought for them.  They are actually a bit surly and disgruntled though because of the rain, have you ever heard, ” madder than a wet hen”?  our Area has been under flood watches for a couple of days and it's just been up-graded to flood warnings.  Evidently there are road closures and I don't know what all.
I'll sort through my photos and see what I've got to post in the morning, it's a whole different ball-game on the beach because of the light and I still don't know how this thing really works yet.  I do know it's best if you turn it off before stowing it away for the night, you can miss really good shots when your batteries are dead.