3/4 Cup canned white albacore tuna mixed with a bit of chopped onion and miracle whip dressing, on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce and surrounded by home grown cherry tomatoes gifted by a friend … simple, refreshing, and nutritious, albeit a bit boring.
Category: Photography
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2016 – Home for a Bit and then Off Again!
Before we left Arizona in mid February of 2016, I learned that through a MLM company I had joined just prior to my retirement from nursing, I had earned an all expenses paid trip for two to The Hard Rock Resort, Mayan Riviera, Mexico. The trip was to take place in mid March.
Absolutely everything was paid for from flights, to airport transportation, to the all-inclusive resort, and to side tours from there. The only time we had to use our wallets was to tip someone.
Hubs and I had time to unpack, do laundry, and repack for the next trip.
It was a whirlwind defined, and we loved every single second.
My feature photo is of our hotel lobby.
Mid March at the Mayan Riviera was hot and so humid that my camera lens kept fogging up, but that was truly the only issue. Everything else was perfect.
Rugged but beautiful beach 
Family Area Pool 
Adult Area Pool 
We were there over St. Patrick’s Day and the staff made the day fun and special 
Our last day was extended because we didn’t fly out until 9pm – we had zero complaints about that -
Taos Plaza and Pueblo
In 2023, en route home from our winter in Texas, we explored New Mexico from bottom to top and side to side.
My feature photo is of a mural at the Taos Plaza in downtown Taos – an extremely artsy and cultural area.
Our main reason for visiting Taos, NM was to tour the Taos Pueblo. Both the town and the Pueblo were among our favourite New Mexico stops.
We did a leisurely self-guided tour -
Easy Eggs
This simple, two-egg cheese omelette is filling and almost (1.5 grams carbs per tablespoon of chunky slasa) carb free.
One nice thing about switching to low carb for a while, is that large portions aren’t necessary to keep hunger at bay.
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2016 – A Scenic Detour
After touring my cousin around the Las Vegas area for a week, we took her to the plane and then made our way home via a different route than usual.
My feature photo is of a portion of Arches National Park near Moab, UT. We didn’t take any side roads to see the actual arches, but even without that, the scenery “on the way by” was spectacular.
We’d hoped to drive from there to Denver, Co.
At Grand Junction, Co, where we spent the night, we were advised the next morning by the hotel clerk, that there had been a rockslide ahead, so the road we planned to take was closed. We were also informed that roads out of Denver (from our direction) were closed for the winter.
Enter Plan B:
We drove on as far as Aspen, Co, toured the place and watched some skiing. Neither of us had been there before, so it was a fun little “been there done that” trip.
One of the many Aspen ski runs After Aspen, we turned around and headed back to Grand Junction.
From there, we headed north to and through Wyoming and more incredible scenery.
Hoodoos in South Wyoming After Wyoming, it was South Dakota and then North Dakota (which I’ll cover in a future post) and then home.
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They’re Everywhere!
In 2013, hubs and I spent 10 days exploring the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
On a walkabout around the capital city of Willemstad, we came across a courtyard adorned with two giant murals that depicted both every day life and some of the history of the city.
Here’s a closer shot of one of the sections of my feature photo:
Here’s the historical one:
This one needs lots of post processing. I’ll edit out a few of the distracting elements in the photo, and try to improve the clarity. This is a complicated one so I’ll wait until I’m further along in my photo editing course.
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A Good Trade Off
A burger without the bun.
Take on fork: a cherry tomato half, a bit of lettuce, a piece of air-fried burger. Dip it all into ketchup and then mustard and it’s a burger minus the carb-loaded bun (28-38 grams of carbs per bun).
This makes room for a filling lite beer (3.2 grams of carbs per can)
In my world, that’s a good trade-off.
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It’s ALL Grand
Whether man made or Mother Nature made, there are more marvels in this world than one could hope to see in a lifetime.
After a few days on the Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, we took my cousin, Carrie out of town to Laughlin, NV.
On the way, we showed Carrie the spectacular and historical Hoover Dam (hubs and I had been there several times before). On our second day at Laughlin, we took in the West Rim of The Grand Canyon (first time for all of us).
There’s nothing that beats the feeling of sharing these incredible sights and experiences with family.
Beyond imagination for the time it was built 
Hubs, me, and Carrie ready to explore 
Carrie and Me (close cousins since Carrie was a little girl) 
Carrie was impressed 
These water diversion tunnels can cause anxiety just looking down into them 
We walked from NV to AZ 
Love this story! 
So much to learn here! 
We weren’t near the edge 
This is as close as hubs could get to the edge 
You have to see it to believe it! 
Carrie is a community theatre actor in our home town. She knows how to pose for a shot 
Joshua Tree Forest between Laughlin and the West Rim 
Now this is dining ambience! 
The skywalk is on the Hualupai Reservation 
Another great pose 
Memories are made of this 
She and the Joshua Tree 
Hubs and me lapping up the scenery 
Carrie and Hubs taking one last look 
Our hilight was the skywalk over the Grand Canyon. Hubs, who suffers severe acrophobia, chose to be the photographer from afar. -
Decorated Dugouts
I recently walked over to one of our many parks because I learned that this past spring, murals had been painted on the backs of some of the baseball dugouts.
The one in my cover photo spells out our city (Weyburn) in symbols.
These works have brought art, colour, and fun to the site.
There are a few more dugouts in this park, slated for completion next year.
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Can You Guess?
To get back to my most comfortable weight, I intend to lose 10 lbs in the next two months.
I’ve made up a new eating program, which consists of three methods combined: 16/8 intermittent fasting, low carb, and reduced calorie.
Can you guess what bits from this plate ended up on hubs’ plate?
Radically Retired 