Garazon's Den » work

Indoor cookout

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:02:29 +0000

Well sort of indoors, it’s on the loading dock in the back of the store I work with the large doors open and a good breeze. Don’t try this at home though!!
It was Associate Appreciation day and management was treating us to a nice lunch. Just trying still to figure out how much we are appreciated when we ended up doing the cooking and cleaning and preparing? :-/ well hey it’s a free lunch and we got paid ;) a few not so good pics following this link –

Lilac – First Emotions of Love

admin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:58:13 +0000

The Lilac – First emotions of love.. I BELIEVE :)
Two years ago this photo was taken. As you can see from the blooms its a purple lilac. April 2006 was the very first time since it was planted that it bloomed. To be honest at the time it was planted I had no idea of what type of bush it even was.
Maybe a bit of background is needed here, maybe not..well here it is anyway, read or skip down a bit ;) Gretchen was very close to her grandparents… they had lived since they were married back in the 1920′s in a small farmhouse that her grandfather built. And as a child Gretchen spent a lot of time with them , especially in the summer months as her grandparents had a working farm and a produce stand that they ran. So from the time the grandkids could contribute a bit, they were put to work picking vegetables or gathering eggs from the hen house. Well needless to say Gretchen spent a lot of time with them. Her Grandfather passed away in the early 1980′s, not long after we were married, so I never really got to know him, and her grandmother passed away in 1999. Gretchen’s dad being the only boy was the one who got the homestead. Well his health was going down and he got to the point he couldn’t do the upkeep on the place, or even take care of the property so he was more or less forced to sell it. Of course Gretchen being the sensitive soul she was took it hard as she had really grown up there. And even my own kids had spent a bit of time there too, its where my daughters first got behind the wheel of a car to practice driving up and down the lane and around the field in front of the house. lots of memories there, even for me. So anyway just before he sold it we went one weekend to get a few of the plants and flowers that were abundantly planted there over the years by her grandmother. I think for two or three days we dug and hauled these things back home. I would ask Gretchen what kind of plant or bush it was we were diggin, and she didnt have a clue! lol All she knew was she wanted some to remind her of her grandmother and have something of her grandmother’s in the yard! Over the next couple of years some of the things made it and some just didn’t survive the transplanting as a lot of them were wild naturalized ones I think, Anyway two of these held on and grew, but they never did bloom at all while she was alive. but I know now she has seen them bloom and also seen something else even greater bloom, Love. Now here is where it all just sort of comes together in a way I cant really explain so well. It was about this time I had just gotten to the point where i was thinking I didnt want to be alone anymore and i knew there was still love in me to give. Now I had been toying with the idea of dating again for the previous half year or so prior to this time and had been on some online sites and just getting used to the idea I think was most of it. Well you all know the story more or less of me being instantly smitten when this one Beautiful Brit asked me one day if i would like to write sometime! From the mosment i read the first words from her I knew we were meant for each other, and that day I fell in love, whetehr I admitted it to myself or not, I felt that thunder like the hand of God had laid on me! :) and I just knew it… well Easter that year was on the 16th of April (no I didnt remember it, I looked it up.. lol) I had met Alsion on April 5th.. and after a couple of weeks of ‘talking’ by mail i wanted to say hi to her, so I made a short video doing just that saying Hi and Happy Easter. I was outside in the yard making the vid and there were several takes from different spots in the yard. Oh you know I am not sure now the exact day that bush first bllomed, of course its a gradual thing to begin with, and I think it may ahve stared getting ready to bllom a couple of weeks before I met Alison so I cant say for sure now the actual day I realized it was going to finally have flowers, well its not imprtant, that bit of which day I realized it, only that I remember feeling happy about it and was wondering if Gretchen had something to do with it, blooming I mean… well the whole idea made me happy and I think it was from the day I did the video that it came to me to look them up online to see if I could identify what bush it was.. well I found out easy enough with it blooming now.. but what I read about the lilac and its flower meaning just blew me away! Oh I cant rememebr the site I was on then I first read it, but they are all similar I think,

from Teleflora.com The story of lilac, according to Greek mythology, begins with a beautiful nymph named Syringa (lilac’s botanical name). Captivated by her beauty, Pan, the god of the forests and fields, chased Syringa through the forest. Frightened by Pan’s affections, Syringa escaped him by turning herself into an aromatic bush – the flower we now refer to as lilac.

The 8th wedding anniversary flower and the state flower of New Hampshire (symbolizing the hardy character of the Granite State’s citizens), lilacs are frequently considered a harbinger of spring, with the time of their bloom signaling whether spring will be early or late. In the language of flowers, purple lilacs symbolize the first emotions of love, while white lilacs represent youthful innocence.

The first emotions of Love! Well there it was like another bolt of lightening from the sky hitting me! If ever there was a sign sent to me, that was it! Oh some may say its just coincidence, but to me it was our Angels saying , here is the One for you :) and I have never doubted it and only believe it stronger to this day. Oh I’m not good enough with words to convey the emotion I felt… no.. the emotion I still feel to this day. Well the lilacs are in bloom once more and I am more in love than ever before! I love you baby! XX I DO! <3

Brit by association

admin — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:28:29 +0000

I was noticing the other evening when I was writing a mail to Alison that I now automatically seem to use the UK spelling most all the time now. Well specifically those words that here end in ‘or’ where there it’s ‘our‘ such as humour and colour. Well that in itself isnt that uncommon. But I got thinking about it more and realised I also use phrases and words now that 2 years ago I wouldn’t have ever imagined saying.. simple things really like ‘petrol’ I am often sending my love a text kiss from the petrol pumps, (the romantic man that i am!) :) Well here we say ‘gas‘ of course and even that is showing how lazy we are to shorten it from gasoline. And then not only do we use ‘gas’ for that, we call propane ‘gas’ too! And on top of that we call just about anything in a gaseous state that we use for fuel or burning, such as acetylene and such… yes ‘gas’ again! well in polite circles a fart is called ‘gas’ too but I dont want to go rambling on too much in that direction… lol

I now also ring someone instead of call. I can remember well watching those BBC sitcoms from the 60′s and 70′s and hearing them saying to ring someone and laughing at how absurd it sounded to me at the time. Now I don’t think twice about it, either writing it or saying it~ And car park… there’s another one! I dont know when that slipped in really. Well I still use parking lot often too, but its about 50-50 now. Well I don’t know when but I do know how I got to using it. Ever since Alison and I have been texting we have got into the habit of sending some at very specific times during the day, well in addtion to those off and on just to say hi. Theres the wake up text and kiss… well they all have a kiss in them! and then one when we leave the house for work, well naturally the one after that is the car park text! Well as I said I still say parking lot just as often too. It was just so funny the other day someone at work was asking me if I had an extra box cutter, and I said ‘No, but I’ll go out to the car park and get one from my car’ and it was only after I got a funny look from him that I caught what I said!

Of course over the last two years the both of us have been learning the differences together. And for the most part there hasnt been much that we haven’t understood at first ‘write’ . But we have had a bit if fun with each others language. I admit I was lost on a few of them the first time I read them “that’s when the penny dropped’ , ‘donkey’s years’ (ok I understood that one only from the context of the sentence it was used in, never heard it before though) Oh I am sure there were others but I can’t recall them at the moment. Oh I had to ask what a ‘chocolate teakettle’ was too! ;) I’m dim.. I know it. :) Anyway I was just thinking the other day how natural now all thes words and phrases and spellings are all just as natural to me as if I had used them all my life. Well we write each other several times a day and then chat quite often and speak some too so its bound to be that after a couple of years we seem to have merged our vocabulary into one. There are still some words come up from time to time that are new to the one of us. but we learn fast :)

There’s also the dialects and accents we both have. Now there’s a whole new area still to learn a lot about. Well when we are face to face its a bit different to be able to see the other person speak as well as hear them, but we both have t admit I think of the first few phone conversations we had, every other sentence was “What?!” lol Alison has whats known as a Geordie accent being from the northeast of England, and having been in Cyprus amongst the Greek cypriots has that bit in her too. Oh right there was an example now of something else I picked up.. amongst and whilst! lol definitly a Brit thing there! No american naturally says anything other than among or while!! ;) Well back to the accents. I found one site early on after we met that had a lot of audio files of examples of Geordie accents, but alsion was telling me they were very heavy accents and drawn out and even she was having a time understanding some of them. Well take a listen to some to get an idea. Here. http://www.bobjude.co.uk/bobjude/geordie/geordie.htm :) Well we were both like teenagers the first few times on the phone anyway so we just giggled and laughed more than talked. Well once we were togetrh it was really no problem understanding the other at all, maybe a few words here and there. but nothing of any measure. And here’s a clever site too if you ever have need to translate something INTO Geordie ;) http://www.whoohoo.co.uk/geordie-translator.asp
Ah hin yee Alison Michelle. :) Being as near to the border to Scotland as it is of course it sonds a lot of scottish to it as well as several of the other nearby British accents. I love my Geordie Girl :) Well whats going to happen when she gits here to good ol’ Nawht Caholina?!! poor baby! lol Well I know one thing, I cant wait to start learrning the language up close!

Football Roast

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Super bowl hijinks in the meat department :)

Still here! :)

admin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Well looking at the dates of the last posts one would think we had forgot about the site! Well we are still here and doing better than ever! :) We do seem to spend much more time now, since this last holiday together especially, trying every chance we can to get together for a chat, or to speak on Skype, and then there is still the mails we write each day. Oh the mails we have written!! It amazes me sometimes just to realize that every single day since April 5 of 2006 we have had at least one mail every day, and many times as much as a dozen a day! They say its hard work to maintain a long distance realtionship… well maybe… yes it is hard to be that far a apart, but never once have I thought of it as work! I hate work, ask my employer! lol But seriously it has been nothing but love and desire to be ever closer to my soulmate that I have opened every new mail with a smile on my face and in my heart just to tell her I love her. And its even harder now to spend one more day aprt now that we have shared our times together and seen face to face that we are meant for each other just as we knew. That was proably one of the hardest saddest days of my life to get back on that plane in Cyrpus to come back the US, and you know we have both seen some bad days. But still our love endures and it always will! Oh I’m getting a bit sugary here arent I?! lol well you should read our chats then if you think thats sugary! OH maybe not! ;) lol

WellI admit I am totally lost (and found) in love with this Beautiful Brit, and strange as it may sound to some, I alwasy have been. From the very first time we spoke I felt I had known her all my life and she will say the same. You all know our stories, and I will always believe it was a match made in heaven by God and our angels. Some things just dont happen, I dont care what anyone says. The things we have seen and felt.. incredible… I cant reason it, or begin to explain it, but know this, God has a plan for us all! Even if we don’t believe it ourselves. Take it for what it’s worth. :)

I have to laugh sometimes when I think back to the early days after we met and how some people seemed to act so surprised that we met online, and some were even shocked! Well in truth there were more positve response than any negative ones. But it surprised me when people would ask one of us , how do you know they are who they say they are? Ok I can understand it to a degree as there are so many stories you hear of weirdos and worse online, but think about it… Even in a face to face meeting, how can you be sure the other is who they say they are either? you can’t! And God knows all you have to do is turn on the TV and see the crazy folks in the world who are described by friends and family as alwasy seeming nice and being known by them all their life, and then turning out they go on a shooting spree or some other mad horrible thing. You can still get the sense and feel of a person just as much from writing them as you can from meeting them. Maybe even more so as you are focused on their words more and listen to each other.. and it doesnt take long to see who is truthful and who isnt, Well I dont know the point I am getting to, just some things I wanted to say. Well everyone who knows me has seen the happiness in me now and the love too. And they are ALL happy fo me, for us! Most of all I am happy for us! :) ecstatically happy!! And looking forward to a future I know is going to be even more incrdeible that anything I could ever imagine. :) Oh that picture above is from a photo of us here in May that I worked on and tried to create a painting from. It is one of my favourite pictures. I look at it and it just seems to exude love and passion and a love beyond measure in that embrace and kiss. My every waking moment is spent in that sort of dreamy feel of a happiness beyond compare too. Well we all have days that things dont go right, or something happens, but you know what? Nothing can take the smile from my heart that Alison Michelle has put there, it gets me through everything! Love is all you need.. every thing else is just… fluff! I love you baby xxxx I do!

Pepsi break

admin — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:55:00 +0000

Me at work :-)

Day 4 in Cyprus

admin — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:21:00 +0000

We decided on Saturday to take a break from the tourist thing as well and spent most of the morning just around the house taking it easy. I finally met Churchill, the now famous Cyprus tortoise appearing on YouTube (along with a short cameo appearance by Benji and Natalie’s fingers.. I think!) Well he even came out long enough to pose and fill up his tortoise belly on some very good tomatoes, he’s quite an eater! And I remember Alison saying she wasn’t sure if it was a male or a female and with a little online research the gender confusion was all cleared up! :) The weather was still hot and we decided it would be a nice day to have a trip to the beach. There was a short trip or two to the store to pick up some nibbles before we got the car loaded and then we were off to get wet. It would have been nice we said to head down to Curium, but with us traveling so much the first couple of days we settled on something maybe a bit closer and a bit more secluded, Governor’s Beach. Well we didn’t want to scare the masses with the bright white body of mine! lol

the pics for this post are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/garazon/Day4Cyprus

From the website: Governor’s Beach is located midway between Larnaca and Limassol and its sandy beach and shallow crystal water it’s ideal for families with children, but also for romantic couples. (hey, that’s us! )

The name Governor’s Beach comes from the British Colonial days when the Governor used to come for a swim.

Governor’s Beach also offers the spectacular white rocks area for those who like snorkeling, boating, fishing…or have a nice walk in one of the many nature trails on the hills near by, or on the beach watching a beautiful sunrise. There is a great selection of nice restaurants, where you can enjoy your lunch or dinner sitting under the trees… just a few meters away from the crystal water of the Mediterranean Sea.

The most memorable thing for me about Cyprus and the Mediterranean , besides Alison Michelle of course! ;), is the water! I was awestruck from my first sight of the colour and how clear it is too! I literally could stare for hours at it as the blue seems so intense and its just beyond description. Well we got there and got ourselves a bed and umbrella and laid back a while to soak up some sun and just enjoy the warmth and the sounds of the sea. This was actually where I saw the most grass I had seen in one spot in Cyprus since arriving! just above the beach is a grassy area where you can get a bed and umbrella if you don’t care to be right on the sandy beach itself. The sand is quite a bit finer than what we have here and its much darker too! I think a lot of the darker sand is caused by some many islands in the bed being formed by volcanoes so naturally its going to be different than our light coloured sand. well it doesn’t feel like our sand either, its softer in a way. We finally decided to test the water and see if it was warm enough for a swim, which as it turned out was lovely really. a little cool at first, but it didn’t take long to get used to it and the hot sun above made it feel nice. Well its shallow for a good ways out and we had to walk a bit to get shoulder deep. and that is when I had the most amazing site. Being up to my neck in the sea I could look down and see my feet through the water! Stunning! I was really amazed and had to laugh out loud! Well you would have to see the water in the sounds here in NC to appreciate it, you can’t put your hand but a few inches below the surface here and it disappears from sight! very murky looking, even more so once you have been in the clear water of the Med. It makes you wonder how a place where civilization has existed for centuries more than it has here can be so clean and clear still! Well I guess ours isn’t really dirty, just has more shallow quiet parts and a lot of vegetation and trees around which drop the leaves into the water and add more particles, sort of like a strong brewed tea if you will! Instead of tea leaves its pine and poplar and oak and maple leaf tea! Anyway we had a very nice swim and I really would be tanned by now if I lived there in Cyprus as I would live at this beach if I could! Marvelous! We went back and laid in the sun for quite a while longer before heading back home, were we laid down again and tried to take a nap! Its hard work laying in the sun don’t you know!

Well being in a lazy mood we didn’t feel to fix supper so it was out to eat. We went to a place called Pizza Express… well we have a place named that here in the States but its nothing even close to the same as it is there! Here it conjures up an image of a cheap pizza shop that has maybe a dozen different combos of pizza and beer or soft drinks, maybe a salad bar.. ;) well this place was looking like one of our fancier restaurants. It was a two story type place, the center being open and you can look down and see the crowd and tables below and they have a live band or some type of entertainment playing in the evenings. The night we were there it was trio singing a lot of various style songs, from rock ballads to reggae to soul and jazz… they were quite good and we had a very good view. The food was pretty good, but for the price I think it could have been better! Alison ordered a chef’s salad I think it was, well it was supposed to have some chicken or meat of some kind, but I think she only had two or three little bites in the whole thing! and it wasnt that big a salad either! Well they have all sorts of things on the menu, from pasta to meats to pizza.. well me not being up on the fancy names of things I just got a pizza. I can’t remember the kind of pizza I ordered as they had dozens listed, and not of the toppings we think of here! So I just ordered the one I thought would be the least surprising once it arrived! it was pretty good I guess but then we were both hungry too and would have eaten anything! lol Anyway we had a nice time and enjoyed to sit with each other and listen to the music, and of course exchange a kiss or two.. or three or four… and to be sitting so happy with each others company. well that was the best part of the evening! We really didnt stay out so late and headed on home. I think that was the night we sat to watch some dvds we hired from a local shop… guess he specializes in bootlegs as none of the three worked at all! Well one did fairly well but hung up a bit! Well that was day 4 spent… maybe it was a quiet day, but one of the most wonderful of my life as I was with my Cyprus angel again all day long! My heaven! I love you Alison Michelle! I do! :) XXXX

A Very Special Thanks~

admin — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:29:00 +0000

To Maureen and Jack for the wonderful engagement present! Alison’s mam and dad gave us a nice holiday within a holiday! We spent Monday through Wednesday in the Alexander the Great Hotel in Paphos. It was such a wonderful time and we both appreciate it so very much! Can’t wait to thank you in person, it’s a memory that wil last a lifetime! :)

Thanks also to Agneta and George for a wonderful lunch in Vouni, to Allyson & Marios and Thereza & Andros for making me feel welcome, to Dee and Philip for their hospitality, to Frosso for a lovely evening of chat and company, to Julie and the people at Mom’s bar on the base I met and had chance to speak to, to all of Alison’s coworkers at 3D for the welcome I received and a special thanks to JM for making me feel welcome and for getting the grill going!! lol :), can’t forget Benji either! What a wonderful time I had there and can;t wait to go back! Love and best wishes to all