This is my first try and I am sooo excited to see if I have what it takes to write a blog that anyone would want to read.

I am a 65 year old Caucasian, married woman. It seems that everyday is so much fun for me. Not sure whether that is because I have retired and have no schedule and no boss (even if I am married) or whether after turning 60 I have a whole new attitude about life and what's important. So Far, this is pretty easy.

Today for example, I went to the best damn hairdresser in the world.Kevin is huge. He is the same age as my son, 36 and he must be 6'2 and probably weighs 215. When Kevin laughs it is from the belly and he means it. He shaves his head and dresses like he reads GQ (who knows). He pays no attention to what color hair I want this month or style. He calls me gorgeous and then I could care less what color/style I have. I'm convinced, I'm easy, he knows it. So today I'm sorta platnium/gray, when I awoke this morning I was a blonde -- amazing what 4 hrs can do.

I have two great kids, a boy and a girl. Both are married. Daughter lives in Hollywood and son lives in Virginia, about 12 miles away. We have a good relationship and when we are together we have lots of fun and laughs. As a matter of fact, even when they were growing up we laughed a lot. You know you read stories about parents can't be friend with their kids -- well, you can. You have be a parent first.

Now that the kids are grown they tell me they were latchkey kids as well as abused children. I worked so they could have things they needed as well as wanted and I beat the shit out of them when they needed it (I think that covers the abuse part of our relationship). Didn't hurt them a bit and they are probably much better for it. They didn't fight in the car either. They got one warning and then I would hit the brakes and slide in the gravels into a ditch and they would start begging. I bluffed allot. Sometimes I would go to bed and laugh til I cried at how they never knew if I was kidding or not.. kept on the edge.

When the kids were maybe 8 and 10 I would take them down to some property we owned and teach them how to drive one of our old Volkswagens. They were so proud and felt so grownup. What kid gets to drive at that age, behind the wheel, mother in the other seat -- think about it --- not many. On 20 some acres we had a couple of very steep hills. My God, we would end up sideways and I knew we were gonna turn over, but we never did and we would laugh and have the best time. Now, there was some screaming, by all 3 of us, at different times -- but it all worked out. Everyone knew how to drive by the time they were 13 yrs old. I can remember one winter looking out the living room window and their dad had tied two ropes to the VW and was pulling them up and down fields across from our home on inner tubes off of tractors.

One more VW story. God, they were all P.O.S. One really warm summer day they both wanted a slurpee. So off we go into town. Coming home I heard my daughter scream watch out, you will fall through the floor! WHAAAAAAAAT I screamed? Well half of he rear floorboard had rusted away (pretty typical for VW's back then) and you could see the road. The seat belt, which was never used back then, was dragging the road and sparks were flying. Wonder who thought those were "THE GOOD OLD DAYS". NOT ME, THAT'S FOR DAMN SURE.

Anyway, kids are grown and happy and since retirement my best friend, Judy, has been my traveling companion. My husband prefers to sit in his chair and watch TV. Judy and I have traveled from Virginia to California 3 times. After the 2nd time I decided I needed to be sending newsletters back home. Of course, I was working then and had plenty of people to entertain. Many times there was a need for embellishment too. I'm not above it either. Those newsletters were shared with many people, even people we don't know. We now meet people and they say "oh, we've read your travel letters and loved them". Now we have a reputation to live up to, I guess.

Judy and I remember meeting in 7th grade. We later found out that we were 2nd cousins -- who knew. We have been best friends ever since. We truly can finish each other's sentences and it's the kind of friendship that we look at each other and laugh.

I might one day figure out how to insert some of those newsletters in this blog -- doubtful tho. I will probably have to re-type them. We have attended cattle auctions where I purchased a whip and the King's Ranch in Texas, mainly for my search of the vanishing cowboy on a horse. We've been on a boat in Maine looking for whales, had a picnic, unbeknownst to us, in the middle of a big yellow jacket nest, in Kentucky and used the restroom in a jail on the backroads of Louisiana. Our travels have been wonderful. If I think this blog will work, I will do more later.

Happy Trails.