Update as of March 16, 2020, and 2019 events Relay For Life, Balloon Fiesta,Native Rhythms Festival, and Lighthouse A’Glow

It’s been a while since I updated my website with what I have been doing. Part of this is due to health issues, and the other part is due to living life, cooking my food and reading lots of books. Kindle Unlimited had a great special in December so I signed up for it. It was three months of books for 99 cents. So I read as many books as I could during that time, which has now expired. When they have another special, I will sign up again. It seems that many authors let the readers get the first book in their series for free, most of the time. After that, there is a charge to read the rest of the books in the series. Now, once again, I have a list of series to complete next time at Kindle Unlimited has a good special.

Also, I have been having several health issues and have been going to the doctors and having tests done. I am still waiting for test results. Hopefully, nothing too serious will show up. I am feeling better and my body seems to be getting back to my new normal. It’s been a bit frustrating for me. Prior to 2010, whenever I had surgeries it took a few months and I was back to normal after the surgical healing process. Due to four operations within eight months, two within a week, my body has not recovered well and also since the abdominal tumor decided to invade my body in 2012. It’s been ten years of almost constant pain and complications. Some days, for the past few months, the pain has lessened, thankfully. There are getting to be more days that I don’t wake up in severe pain and wish to not be here any longer. God still has a plan for my life and sometimes experiences happen that show me why I am here and why my life matters and why I am needed. It renews my faith and gives me more reason to know why I am still alive, now seven years past when my doctor told me I would be.

Okay now to the fun things… Rather than writing a separate story for each event I went to, I am going to put a few in the same story and add a photo album with photos. I will put a few pictures in my story, however, most photos will be in an album. I am going to put the 2019 events in one story for November through December, and then create a new post for 2020 from January through March. Here is a link to the photos of this event. One of the original organizers of this Relay is my friend Gordon, he, I, and several others were given the honor to carry the survivor banner for the survivor walk, I am wearing my orange RFL hat. My friend Nona and I joined a group doing Yoga on the beach. Someone arrived on a bicycle and the cutest dog was in the basket!!!

This is the second year since 2011 that I did not go to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. I am hoping to attend and volunteer next year for their 50th anniversary. I did watch it online on their live webcam. It was great watching it and every now and then I saw a pilot or board member that I know and I would take a picture of the screen and text it to them. I took lots of pictures of my tablet screen so I could post them on my website. In some ways I liked being able to watch it on my tablet, I saw photos I would not have seen being there in person. Especially if I was on chase crew. There were also updates and pictures showing the gas balloons, one of which landed in a field somewhere in Canada I think it was. They had to wait until the owner was contacted to let them into the field. Here is a link to the Balloon Fiesta pictures I took on their website.

Next event I went to was the Native Rhythms Festival which I usually attend every year. This wonderful event is Native American Flute music for three days. Many of the vendors and performers are my friends since I have been going for so many years. This year a few of my friends were not there because of family issues, and I missed seeing them. Here is the link to my photos of this event. There were so many exceptional performers, you can read about them on their links on the Native Rhythms Festival website.

Lowery Begay was performing again and he had a booth and displayed some of his original, amazing artwork. If you look carefully, you will see lots of interesting items he inserted and used creating his painting. Cody Boettner was the hoop dancer that performed this year. Cody won first place in the National Championship Hoop Dance competition. He won with a score of over 10 points above the next competitor and he is in his early 20’s. This was the most amazing hoop dancer I have ever seen and I have had the honor of seeing several champions. Here is a link to the story and video of his winning performance.

Shelley Morningsong and Fabian Fontenelle performed again this year. Shelley has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard and the lyrics touch my heart as does her voice. Her husband Fabian tells stories and has a kind and gentle spirit. They have been married a long time and the love they share can be seen and felt strongly.

My friend Ed Winddancer performed and told stories again this year. He tells stories and makes them entertaining and especially gets the children involved. After one of his performances I went up to him to say hello and I didn’t get the warm greeting and hug like I usually do. I thought that was odd, but maybe he was unwinding from performing. Later on I saw his girlfriend Tammy and while we were talking she told me that Ed had a stroke in May and lost the part of his memory that recognizes people. She said he doesn’t even recognize her and every day is a new day.

I went up to Ed later and introduced myself and  then I got the smile and hug. He said it’s okay to write about this issue he has. I suggested that he say something before he performs to let people know so they can be aware to greet him with their name and to give others hope that if they have a stroke that they can still perform or live the life they had with certain modifications.  I asked Ed if I see him again in 30 minutes if he will remember me, he said no. So every time I went up to him I would say hi Ed it’s Carol. Then I got my smile and hug from him. Tammy has to remind him sometimes as well. Ed told me if he and Tammy go to the store and get separated he can’t recognize her to find her. So, at the beginning Ed gave a brief update telling about his stroke. So he had to modify his performance a bit and let Lowery do some of the stories and introductions, which was really a nice change. Lowery told stories about his childhood and how much his grandfather taught him and he shared childhood memories that mean a lot to him. Click on the two pictures of his artwork so you can see all of the detail in the pictures and some of the items that are used as other ones. For example, the rifle is an umbrella. Wouldn’t it be nice if that were the case in real life?

Over the years, every few years it would rain during the festival, but I would sit under an umbrella and still listen to the music. Many other serious people like me would do the same. This year it rained more and harder than in previous years. The difference this year is thankfully the rain did not occur during the performance time. However, due to having so much rain the ground was over saturated and it was very muddy in places and deep puddles in other places. I am so glad that I brought my rain boots so I did not have to be concerned about the deep water.

As always, the performances and music were magical and I got to hear new stories and listen to new songs, along with some favorites. I didn’t take any classes this year. I have not been playing my Native American flutes, but I should because it is so tranquil and healing. I took my camper once again, and thankfully, the refrigerator worked. Last year the RV repair place turned up the flow of propane when my fridge wasn’t workingf so the fridge would now work, however, it does burn a bit more propane. That’s okay, I rather have the fridge working.

In the beginning of December, the city where I live had their tree and menorah lighting ceremony. It’s always a fun event. There were so many new and different bounce houses or inflatable rides for the children. There was a really high one that had polar bears and penguins on the outside of it. I thought that would be fun to go on and I asked the men running it if I could go on it and they said I could. I took off my shoes and climbed on the tiny bars which are what they call steps, while bending over since I was too tall to stand. This was not an easy task and it took longer to climb up then it did to slide down. It was fun and I would have done it again, except the line was really long with all of the children wanting to have this exciting experience. Now I know why these inflatables always have such a long line. Here is a link to the pictures I took during this event.

One of the ladies I go to the gym with lives with her daughter and her family and they love Disney and decorated their house with lots of Disney characters for the holidays. The lights at night were colored icicle type lights which were beautiful. I thought the lumberjack with his axe and pile of wood was adorable.

This entry was posted in 2019 Trip. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *