Lovely Lyrics: Rainbow Connection

I love rainbows.

I've got them all over my house and all over my office because colorful rainbows bring me joy.

The idea of the Rainbow Bridge brings me comfort because I can think of no happier thought than the dream that one day I'll be reunited with my beloved dogs.

I've loved this song for as long as I can remember and although I shared this pic in my post yesterday, these ears are a perfect match for these words!

Rainbow Connection

from The Muppet Movie

Why are there so many
songs about rainbows
and what's on the other side?

Rainbows are visions
but only illusions
and rainbows have nothing to hide

So we've been told and some
choose to believe it
but I know they're wrong wait and see

Someday we'll find it,
the Rainbow Connection…
the lovers, the dreamers, and me

Who said that every wish
would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?

Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it
Look what it's done so far

What's so amazing
what keeps us stargazing
and what do we think we might see?

Someday we'll find it,
the Rainbow Connection…
the lovers, the dreamers, and me

All of us under its spell…
we know that it's probably magic

Have you been fast asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name

Is this the sweet sound
that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same

I've heard it too many times to ignore it
It's something that I'm supposed to be

Someday we'll find it,
the Rainbow Connection...
The lovers, the dreamers, and me

Music & Lyrics by

Paul Williams

and

Kenneth Ascher

our new doormat for our deck door!

Happy Tails to you!

Quarantine: Week 8

I have a new "hobby" where I put birdseed and sunflower seeds out on the deck posts and then watch out the window for birds and squirrels. This is absolutely delightful and no matter how many little creatures I see, I still get excited every single time. I'm not sure if that's because I love animals or because I'm a little stir crazy, but the activity out on the deck keeps things interesting!

our rose bushes are blooming!

It was a pretty busy work week, with the end of the semester rapidly approaching, so the week seemed to fly by. I did a little baking, we enjoyed our weekly Steven Page concert, and we watched the most recent season of Better Call Saul. We also finally had new shutters installed after one blew off during a strong storm last year!

just a regular chocolate cake, but I used
a fun sandcastle bundt pan!

yep - more banana bread

before

after

The adorable nonsense of Ginny continued and on Saturday we took her for a walk in Washington, DC. It was a very chilly and windy day, so hardly anyone was there, which was fantastic!

she fell asleep with her face in her water bowl

this is how she ate breakfast one morning

Since it's Mother's Day, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge how fortunate I am to have amazing women to celebrate - my mom, grandma, and second mom! I am so grateful for all of the love, support, and guidance they've given me over the course of my life! I also have endless love and admiration for my sister who is an incredible mom to my niece and nephew, and this also extends to all of my friends who are selfless and work tirelessly to make the world a better place for their children!

All of that being said, if I'm being vulnerable and honest, Mother's Day is a very difficult day for me. I'm reminded all day that I don't have children. And also that seven of my eight four-legged kids aren't here with us anymore. I'm not one to wallow in self-pity. I know how privileged I am and how wonderful my life is in so many ways. But Mother's Day is tough. I'm very fortunate that C and Ginny loved me extra hard today as I wrestled with the complicated emotions this day always conjures up.

I can't wait to read this book!

new Chucks!

Rainbow Connection ears!

Tomorrow will be better!

Happy Tails to you!

SSS: BBBrooke

I have a lot of fun ears, which are usually worn on Disney trips or spirit days at school, although lately, I've been wearing a different pair each day for zoom meetings! If you've read some of my trip posts, you know I also like giving away ears to spread a little magic. Usually these are ears that I used for cute pictures, but don't absolutely love for one reason or another, so I figure someone else can enjoy them! I usually look for kids who don't have ears and ask their parents if the kids would like them. I have really enjoyed these exchanges – I see a smile on a happy face and I've made room in my collection for other ears!

One of my very favorite shops to buy ears from is BBBrooke. I've been buying her ears for several years now, and her shop just celebrated its sixth anniversary. The ears are spectacular – beautiful, comfortable, and so well-made! The best thing about them is that each pair is personalized! Amazing! She also sells other things – pins, band buttons, necklaces, and so on – all of which are also wonderful, but I particularly love her ears!

One thing I've been so blown away by is that she and her husband having been making masks for weeks (they've made and given away over 3,000 masks so far!) and they'll been doing all of this for free. The shop is not making a dime off the masks, but rather giving them to medical personnel and other essential workers who need them! So incredibly generous – time, labor, materials – and when I see all of the ears I've purchased from this small shop, I'm so glad I'm supporting someone who gives back so selflessly to others!

Happy Tails to you!

Our First Girl

I was going to write about our Chelsea for Furry Friday, and I was looking for a particular photo. Since it's Mother's Day this weekend, I wanted to devote this post to my first child!

The photo search resulted in a bit of a stroll down memory lane! In addition to the one I wanted, I came across another of my favorites of her and then also found one that fits in seamlessly with what I wrote about yesterday!

While it's a not a perfect picture, it captured a moment perfectly. It was taken during my first month of being a public school teacher – which was more exhausting than I'd ever anticipated! – and when I fell asleep on the couch after school, Chelsea climbed up on me and slept, too. That tiny little dog was my everything for just shy of 17 years and I miss her very much!

my little best friend!

Happy Tails to you!

Naps

It's Throwback Thursday, and I decided to share a picture of me from when I was young. What it really shows is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I am notorious for falling asleep on the couch! During movies and TV shows, in particular, but really, I am all about taking a nap at any time! One of my favorite things to do after a long day of teaching has always been to have a nap on the couch right after school with our pups while we waited for C to get home from work. Seemed to me that they always liked this little routine; Ginny certainly loves it!

I like this quote because I think sleep is pretty much the best thing remedy for most things. When I'm mad, sad, lonely, grumpy, etc., I always feel better if I just go to sleep! You know that "rule" about never going to bed angry? Complete and utter nonsense! Go to bed! You'll undoubtedly feel better and probably have some perspective about what was making you mad! And since I wrote about laughter a few weeks ago, I thought it was the perfect quote for today!

By nature, I am a night owl. I do my best thinking at night, my most productive writing hours happen at night, and I am able to focus on tasks best at night. And by "night" I mean 11 pm to 2 am! Those are my best hours! Of course, that means I rarely get enough sleep before it is time to get up and start a new day, so I counteract that with naps!

My idea of wealth is not a certain amount of money in my bank account or expensive material possessions…it's the freedom to stay up when you want and sleep in as late as you'd like! Not many people have that type of freedom in their lives – I certainly don't! – but I dream of the day I might!

Happy Tails to you!

Live

When I changed my daily themes a bit for the month of May, I knew I wanted one day to be devoted to quotes I like, whether or not had a story or picture to go with them…and here we now are on Wisdom Wednesday.

While upon first glance, this may seem like a depressing thought, it has become one I refer to often.

It reminds me that none of us is making it out of here alive.

Is that a sad thought? No doubt.

Is it a liberating thought? ABSOLUTELY.

This quote has been helping to guide my decisions for several years – within reason, of course, because I can't just abandon all of responsibilities so C and I can live a nomadic lifestyle and just spend our lives traveling the world, even though that sounds pretty darn good to me. I just mean that I'm trying to say yes to things that bring me happiness while limit things that don't add to the quality of my life. This is perhaps Marie Kondo's influence, too…if it will bring me joy, then my answer is yes (as long as it's feasible!).

By no means have I mastered this. I'm still a people pleaser and that is not something I particularly admire about myself. I'm certainly a work in progress, but I've been working hard on setting boundaries and saying no to people who make unreasonable requests of my time.

We only get one life and we better make the best of it. And there is no one "best" to be had – so whatever your definition of "best" is, go for it. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, our time here on earth is finite. We never know how much time we'll have, but we do know it will come to an end.

So live.

Happy Tails to you!

Our Top Ten NHL Arenas

We spent a few hockey seasons traveling to all 30 NHL arenas from October 2008 to December 2010.

We love hockey. Love it. LOVE IT. We watch it all the time, as in, every single day there is a game on and we're home, we watch hockey. While Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, and the like are awesome, having no hockey on has been a bit of a downer for us during this quarantine. Thankfully, the NHL Network has been replaying old games, which is certainly better than no hockey at all (and, admittedly, some of the games are super exciting to watch, even when we already know the outcome!), but we are really missing live hockey broadcasts!

I've already written in the past about several of our trips, and we are currently all caught up on the NHL arenas. Since completing the original 30 arenas, six new ones have been built, and we visited those between 2014 and 2019, with the final one being Edmonton last year. The links to my posts about arenas #31 through #35 can be found HERE, and the Edmonton arena post is HERE.

When we created our Top Ten MLB Stadiums list last week, we already knew we'd be doing a list of NHL arenas for today's Travel Tuesday and it was surprisingly easy to come up with our top ten! Unsurprisingly, there was no difficulty in quickly identifying the very best arena in the NHL, and the worst arenas, too!

As with the baseball stadiums, we took in account the overall fan experience, the architecture, the arena features, the staff, the parking/transportation, and how the arena seemed to be managed and cared for. Also along the same lines as our stadium list, there were times when we were home team fans, visiting team fans, and hockey-but-indifferent-to-the-two-teams fans. This is evident because two of our top ten arenas are home to teams we dislike, and five of our top ten are home to teams we feel fairly neutral about. Those choices speak to how great the overall experience was, even though we don't count ourselves among that team's fans. One of the top ten choices where we dislike the team, I also really dislike the city, so I think that says a lot about the arena!

The top arena is absolutely number one. No other arena even comes close! The other nine are listed in no particular order!

The best arena in the NHL! 

Beautiful!

I wish we lived closer
because I would attend a game
here as often as possible!

L & C's Top Ten NHL Arenas

Little Caesars Arena

home of the Detroit Red Wings

PPG Paints Arena

home the Pittsburgh Penguins

ScotiaBank Arena

home of the Toronto Maple Leafs

SAP Center

home of the San Jose Sharks

T-Mobile Arena

home of the Las Vegas Golden Knights

Nationwide Arena

home of the Columbus Blue Jackets

Bridgestone Arena

home of the Nashville Predators

Bell Centre

home of the Montreal Canadiens

Gila River Arena / Jobing.com Arena

home of the Arizona Coyotes

KeyBank Center

home of the Buffalo Sabres

As for the WORST arena, that dubious honor belongs to the New York Islanders. Actually, the two worst arenas both belong to the Islanders! Their old arena was a complete dump, and the new one offered the most awful and disappointing fan experience ever. More than four years after attending that game, I am still disgusted. You can read about that nonsense HERE.

THE WORST:

Nassau Coliseum

home of the New York Islanders

AND

Barclays Center

home of the New York Islanders

36 arenas visited with #37 on the horizon when the new Seattle NHL team gets going!

Happy Tails to you!