Badfish Who?

I left home the first time riding my tricycle–with a peanut butter sandwich tied to the back of my bike–when I was four years old. My parents found me beside Interstate Route 40, too afraid to cross, and eating my peanut butter sandwich. All I wanted to do for the rest of my life was to follow that road wherever it was going. Or follow that path. Or walk down that alley just to see where it went.

I left home the second time in a ’56 Chevy coupe with a V-8 engine and glass pack mufflers. I was a little-better prepared, but still carrying peanut butter sandwiches in the cooler. I turned west on Route 40 and drove all the way to Santa Monica. And I’ve been ‘moving on’ ever since. I’ve lived in a dozen states (visited all but 4 states), and I gave up counting visas after sixty countries in my passports.

I’ve been collecting sunsets and avoiding dysentery for years now, decades actually. And I’ve been taking photographs of places and people in various locales. I’ve got stacks of notebooks full of thoughts and traumas. I’ve got boxes full of 35mm slides, and external hard drives, and stacks of notebooks filled with notes and stories of my journeys. I always thought I’d end up writing a book and displaying my photographs in it, but I do not seem to possess the discipline it takes to actually sit your butt down long enough to write the thing.

So if you like what you read, or like the photographs you see here at Badfish and Chips Cafe, that will make my life of vagabonding all worthwhile. Things are always just what they are. Sometimes, as they like to say, you have to go with the flow, and be happy with what is.

This is what is today: I’ve been living out of the USA for the past 16 years; I’m currently basing my journeys, and life,  in Abu Dhabi with hair turning gray — still roaming, still gandering down strange paths, still eating peanut butter sandwiches.

297 comments

  4. I’m totally captured by the beauty of your photos … and your bio made me smile.
    The first time I ran away from home I was 5 years old, my belongings in a pillow case being pulled on a toboggan in the dead of winter.
    The wanderlust and sense of adventure never seems to fade 🙂

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      • Thanks Jude – you made me laugh! I rarely get the inspiration to write about my past except as the occasionally comment on someone’s post. It didn’t occur to me that they might be interesting to someone else.
        Maybe your words will give me inspiration!! 🙂

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  5. Joanne, yeah, I never quite got the “moving on” or perhaps, “travel bug” out of my system. I lived in a motorhome for a while, and took my bike along (old habits). And I still like holing up in a place like Bali for months at a time. Or weeks. But I’m not a backpacker anymore. Toboggan…ha!–where were you living?

    I loved your blog. Hey, tell me something: I tried to enter a photo in Cee’s Texture Challenge. Do I just put his url in my post? Or do I have to comment on his post and leave my url there? And do we get to see everyone’s entries in one place or do we have to visit each site? I’m so glad you like my photos. Yours are a riot.

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    • I’ll just butt in here if that’s OK? You can enter Cee’s challenge(s) she has a few, and yes she is a she ( 😉 ) by either putting a link in your post to her post so she gets a pingback, or by putting your link in a comment on her post. Either or even both will do. I have entered many of her challenges. And you will have to blog hop to see the other entries, but that’s the fun of blogging and how we meet new people. Like you. Thanks for commenting on my Ljubljana post or I wouldn’t have found you!
      Jude xx

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    • I’m not sure why I didn’t see this comment before now. Ahhh – the mysteries of WordPress!

      First, I’m from Northern Ontario. My hometown is a small community about 700 km due north of Toronto. Yes – it’s very cold there in the winter!

      Cee is a woman and she hosts multiple photography challenges. She posts weekly summaries of each challenge and also a summary with all the challenges in one post where she features some of the bloggers who have participated.

      I normally just put the URL of the challenge in my post so Cee gets the pingback. Many people chose to post their URL in the comments to her blog. Cee doesn’t do a summary of the entries. You would need to visit their sites.

      I hope that was helpful – or you might have already figured it out by now. Thanks for your kind words – I really appreciate it!!

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  7. Besides travelling we share an affinity for peanut butter sandwiches! I was known for my pb sandwiches when I was a poor university student and when I travelled on a shoestring throughout S.E. Asia. I thnk it’s great you’re sharing your adventures.

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    • Even my pet hermit crab’s favorite food is peanut butter!! Thanks for visiting. I’ve been wanting to do a blog for years now, just never followed through on it. Better late than never. Love your blog…

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  8. Thanks so much for following my blog, Badfish! I love your story. I should have gotten on my trike when I was little too, and kept on going. Glad to have met you and your blog here! Looking forward to your posts.

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    • HaHaHa!!! Yes, avoiding dysentery…one of the few worries of travel that actually worries me when traveling. But many countries might not offer peanut butter. Praying helps!!!

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  12. Great to come over to your blog at long last Badfish…you’re doing great things here for just starting out, well done! Thanks again so much for coming over to mine. Looking forward to reading more ~ Sherri 🙂

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  13. Hi, Badfish.
    Thanks for the follow. That it made me visit your blog and decided following you as well as. Love your blog. Especially, because you have posted beautiful things about Bali. 🙂

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    • I thought I already had followed you from my blog (as opposed to by email only). But in my stats page, it lists commenters and followers, and then tells me if I’m following them or not. And since forever, behind your name, it said “follow” in blue, instead of “following” in orange. I knew I was following you. So I just left the “follow.” But then it began to bug me. And so I clicked the blue follow so all the names would have the orange “following.” Do you thinks that’s what people talk about when they talk about someone being anal?

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  15. See? now we’re even. You’ve got something I’d like to have… the get up and go. Which is not to say I haven’t had my share. I’ve lived in NY, TX, WI, IL, and CO. I see it as still having my traveling training wheels on lol. Oh, and I only have one country outside of The States, which didn’t require a passport when I last went to it. Canada.

    Badfish reminds me of a gaming site I frequent: Big Fish. But Badfish has that edge to it. Edges are good. 🙂

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    • This is funny, Fim. Can I call you Fim? Cool name. I have lived in all the states you mentioned, except IL (and who wants to live there, anyway?). And yeah, anything with a “bad” in it, has an edge. I’m trying to figure out how to draw a mustache and goatee on my gravatar, make it really bad.

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      • Yes, of course, Fim is fine. I named my ‘about me’ page over in the about.me widget place, Fim_Noir. I love a play on words!

        LOL @ who wants to live in IL. I actually went out there to work, and moved up to Wisconsin instead of continuing to live in IL.

        Oh, that would be cool. Is the fish your gravatar avatar? I can see a ‘stash and goatee. You’re right, it’s WAY edgy. Going to look to see the pic. When I was fairly new online, and hadn’t gone thru all the weird stages of evolution, I hung out at yahoo games in a place called Graffiti something or other, and it was all about drawing words for people to guess, and got pretty good at crude drawings of faces with beards, mustaches, … and don’t forget a patch. There is NOTHING cooler than a patch. IMO.

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        • Fim Noir…that is absolutely great. That should be the name of your blog. I love it. Fim Noir!!!! I have a friend who lives in MN, and what she tells me about the winters, I don’t think I want to live there. Summers are exquisite, though, and their corn is like…what…edible gold, next best thing to chocolate. A “patch”…where? You mean the little growth below the lip? And what about one of those arm-band tattoos on a fin?

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  16. I know this is just what you have been waiting for. I have just nominated you for a Very Inspiring Blogging Award. My intent in accepting and nominating others is to work to increase blog traffic. I would be delighted if you chose to accept, but if you prefer not to I surely do understand. You can read my nomination post and the rules on my blog if you are interested.

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  17. I’m definitely considering renaming my blog Fim Noir, now. Yes, like Wisconsin, MN has dreadful winters! I haven’t been to Minnesota, though I’m sure when we’re traveling back to Texas, via Chicago, we’ll head up to see those (what is it?) 10,000 lakes (?) the Lakers named their team after. I’m sure the corn is like what I had in WI. I lived in the middle of them. The most incredible thing though was the light show at night. Thousands of fireflies sparkling in the fields!

    LOL when I went back to looked at your avatar, I realized, no patch. Sunglasses do the trick! However, I think I can do the mustache and a wee goatee patch on your av, if you wanted. And, I think an earring would be cool. The tat might be difficult because there’s not a lot of space. What did you have in mind for the tat, anyway? What fun!

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    • Wow, this is cool. I would love it if you could do a mustache and wee goatee (soul?) patch. But I would need to send you the original because the one on my site is incomplete. There’s a little story behind “Badfish.” I actually drew a mustache & patch on a piece of paper to see what it would look like. I was kidding about the tattoo, I don’t think it would really work? I kinda like the idea of an earring, though! Should I send you the original? And I do have to say, Fim Noir is so absolutely original, it ranks in the top ten site names in my book (caveat: being a newbie, my book is pretty small…but I do have a deep appreciation for words and genius).

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    • No, I don’t. It’s a kind of a sad story, and I was going to name my blog something else, having to do with travel (nomad or gypsy something or other). Then the day before I created my blog while sitting in a rice paddy in Bali…well, that’s where the story begins. So I named it Badfish…for the reason I suppose I will write about some day.

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  19. I’m sorry to hear it is a sadness for you. It is moments which bring us to such depths which also allow us to get thru stuff. I think you’re brave to carry the memory with you, like tending a sacred garden. I will hope to read it when you do tell the story.

    I think Nomad and Gypsy are very cool. I have a gypsy in my username life.

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  22. That made me laugh! I remembering running away from home with a girlfriend when I was about 7. I made it about 7 blocks and we stopped to rest, discussing what we were going to do come nightfall. We thought we’d just stop at someones house and ask if we could spend the night, they’d give us breakfast and we’d move on from there. I realized then that I was going to miss sleeping in my own bed and returned home. I ended up leaving right before i turned 18. I was going to college, I thought, but i didn’t last long there. It was freedom I wanted. My life is full of what I call, “Sharp Turns to the left” The title of the book i tried writing about myself, but realized I couldn’t be totally honest or it would freak people out hearing the risks I took. Now I’m 60. There may be a couple more sharp turns to left in me but I’m a bit more sensible about them now.

    I was looking to contact you because you read the post I put up about something people might be interested in, but I didn’t at that time tell you what it was. Would you like to know?

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    • Ha! Yeah, I’ve had a few sharp left turns. Good name for a book. Why not freak a few people out, Steven King does it all the time. So yes, tell me what I might be interested in…unless it involves me taking some really sharp turn I may regret!

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      • Now I would never do that! I’m into making good karma, not bad. Now this is totally on the level. It’s how I make my money. Go to: http://energygoldrush.com. The largest of wealth in history taking place right now. If you aren’t interested, maybe you know someone who is.

        As for my book, it wouldn’t be that kind of freaking out. A person can only get so honest. Lol

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  24. I never made it out of the kitchen when I decided to run away…drug my little suitcase into the kitchen and made many loud trips back and forth packing my possessions till my mother captured my interest with something better (can’t even remember what it was now). But wow, you’ve really been all over the place…..most intrigued and signing on to follow your future adventures and see more awesome photos!

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  25. Hello from Türkiye… just wanted to say “thank you”, I appreciate your recent ‘follow’, knowing how many interesting and entertaining blogs there are out there.

    Blogging since June 2013, my little corner of the world tries to offer an eclectic smattering of posts, from basic amateur photography, to sharing my travel adventures over the decades, as well as day-to-day happenings here on our fruit farm in southern Turkey. I also throw in a few of my observations on life and lighter-hearted stuff for good measure.

    You are more than welcome to have a look around, stay a while and have a trawl through my collection. There are plenty of categories within the drop-down menus to help in said digging process.

    Hope you have a great day…

    SPIKE
    uncle.spikes.adventures1@gmail.com

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    • Welcome, and I’ll be joining you on your journeys. Is your blog theme Premium? I like the way things move on it, and you’ve made a nice layout.

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  27. Didn’t know where else to post this, since you’re not getting email.

    ok, go into your reader and look for ‘blogs I follow’ and click on Delivery Settings, in the middle section which lists your who you’re following. That is just below the top text box, on the right side. See it? Next page should have your avatar and your name on the lift side, and below that you’ll account settings, trophy case, and so on. Account Settings should be highlighted. On the right side, you’ll see NOTIFICATION EMAILS and below that will be comment likes, and under that Mentions. Below THAT it says Subscriptions Delivery. Default Email Delivery is the first option, and it has a cascade box next to it. Mine is set on Instant Email Delivery. The other options are No email delivery, daily email delivery, and weekly email delivery. I’m thinking one of those will possibly help sort out some of your stuff.

    Now, this isn’t exactly the page I was talking about, but it is a start. I’ll keep looking for actual page, and see if I can’t get you to the place where all of the people you signed up to follow (not just clicked on follow – but signed up to follow. Did you sign up to follow me, or just click follow? Let me know). There’s a difference.

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      • The follow at top, just means you’re following them, and you can see everyone you follow in your reader. But there are some people who have a special ‘follow thru email’ button on their actual site (I used to have one, but when I switched theme it got erased, so I have to put it back in). In the settings, if you were to put ‘no email’ then it might stop all of them from coming in. But then you can go an specifically click to follow individual ones. I think. I’ll try to put my follow by email back in my blog, and then if you click the ‘no email’ op, only those specially filled out form follows may show up. I’m confused, but it’s fun trying to figure it out. 😀

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        • I followed your first instructions, but emails kept coming! I just found some settings in “Settings” and one of them was when to receive emails, so I unclicked them all. Wait and see now, again. I do have a follow by email button, but I assume most people with blogs will just hit “follow” no?

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      • I GOT the answer to our riddle!!! From the BUAlumCommons:

        You can control the email notifications. Go to the reader and select the settings cog next to Blogs I Follow (it’s a cog). This is where you control what emails you do, or do not receive. Select Edit for each blog and set the Post and Comment setting you want. You can also click Delivery Settings to identify more settings.

        BUT – drum roll please – not everything works the way it should or how we expect it to at times.

        I hope this helps and of cause, please accept my apologies if I’m preaching to the converted.

        Clare

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        • Man, Fim Noir, you da man! I discovered how to stop the ALL. And now I’m not receiving notices for any followers. And get this–I miss the messages. If what you are saying is that I can control EACH follower, then that is what I want to do. Because that Reader thing needs revamping…can’t I just have a list somewhere, like email, but not my email? “Converted…huh???” What’s a BUAlumCommons?

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          • I’m da man! Cool. Yes, you see right in your reader, when you click BLOGS I FOLLOW, a little cog right next to that. Click on the cog, and it brings up your whole list of who you’re following. Each blog has an edit op next to it. just click and select how you want to receive messages from each one. It’s time consuming, I’m sure. BUT you have that op now. Yeah, it’s a shock when you go into your mail and suddenly, nada, zippo, zilch… makes you feel like you’re the only person left standing, and not necessarily in a good way. SCARY. You’ll get it all figured out, tho. I have confidence in you.

            Can you elaborate about that ‘can’t I just have a list somewhere, like email, but not my email?’ and… converted into ? what? That list in the blogs I follow in the reader is sorta like that. You see the list, you find the name, you click on them, and they open up a little window like thing. You can click on ‘go to original’ and it’ll take you to the blog. You MIGHT be able to sort your list (don’t know for sure) in a specific way, like the people who designate you absolutely want to receive in mail, and those you’ll read in the reader… maybe. Check it out and see what it has.

            I do know, that if I want to receive someone’s blog in my email, specifically, I look for their ‘follow me thru email’ options. Now everyone has that widget. I used to, but it got wiped out in the hurricane (that was my changing my theme). I have to put it back in.

            BU = Blogging University, Alum is the alumni from Blogging 101. Some folks there set up a special commons for us so we could still hang out together, and so we could keep learning, and getting feedback. I asked you sometime back if you were a member, and if you weren’t did you want to be. You never said. If you would like to, I can ask them to add you to the group… Otherwise, just use me as your connection (sounds nefarious lol) and I’ll get answers like I did with this. The Commons is what they call the ‘forum’ where we get to post, ask questions just like Blogging 101 commons.

            see ya later, alligator…

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          • I clicked through that whole list! I would like to separate them into categories to make searching them easy, but I can do it alphbetically if not separate? This morning I had one email…from Michelle at Photo 101…I’m stoked! And alone. I clicked some to come instantly, like you, others to come weekly (wonder if they’ll all come in a barrage at once. And others…just off, and I’ll check them through the reader (or that list). I would like to be added to the list if it’s OK? But I still may ask you because you are da man, man

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    • NOIR,
      Ok, done that. What now? I requested access. I get a sign that says, someone is being notified. Please tell me I don’t have to turn on my email to get a reply!!

      AND, I have gotten only two emails in the last two days, both from WP Photo 101 course. I’m so dang lonely. I didn’t get one from you?? Are you finished posting your 25…or do I have to go back and make a switch on my dashboard settings? Rhetorical question…I can check it out. Just ranting again…with scant panache.

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      • I think a regular email will arrive. It’s only the emails connected with follows that you’ll not receive unless you marked to receive some instantly. Like, mine, you can edit the email option to allow it through.
        Let me try sending a regular email, again, because I did send you a holler since I didn’t hear from you about the reading. You told me you might not find it in all your fan mail! 🙂

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        • Yeah, but no. I mean, I am getting regular emails. I’m just not receiving no notifications from blogs I follow…I did click some as “instantly” receive (like Photo 101). I got your email (haven’t opened it, just checked to see if it was there). I had clicked a button in settings that said “block” email. Maybe I need to unblock them since I’ve set all others to arrive at some given time (but they aren’t). I wonder if the ones I selected to receive “weekly” will all arrive in a batch of thousands…

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          • Unblock…Next thing on the To Do list. But get this. This morning, I had one email stating that someone had liked something. One! And not on my “instant” list. So apparently, there are cracks in the system?

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  32. Hello Badfish- Thank you for following my photography blog, Jane’s Lens. I hope you are inspired. I love your positive spirit and love for travel. I can picture you sitting on your tricycle planning your life. Hope it still includes peanut butter sandwiches. 🙂

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    • Jane, happily, yes, peanut butter sandwiches are still a staple. And my hermit crab (15 years old) also loves his Skippy. Thanks for visiting. I fell in love with your “eye” in your photos. Great compositions, great light.

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  35. Hey Badfish, this is Squatch, and I thank you for the follow. I used to be a free spirit, and nearly 25 years ago I found an anchor, and have been moored ever since. I loved thumbing across the country etc. I am on my way out of Reno, even as I type, and will be incommunicado for a week or so, but hope to get back to the blog, and finding out all about you and your life. Hope to meet up with you soon!

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  38. Hi Badfish!
    Thanks for visiting, and following my blog 🙂
    I’m quickly making myself a peanut butter sandwich and coming back to read up on some more of your journeys… and I look forward to reading many more of them as I follow you!

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  39. I love your intro and your writings – and the photos of course…I never ran away from home and I do not like peanut butter sandwiches…I’m a traveller since I turned 16, but need a home to return to. I doooo like your way with words…..I’ll follow you to see where it leads…

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    • Thanks so much for joining and Welcome aboard. I’ll be checking out your site, too. And there is a time when you need to go home for a while, maybe. I love your blog, your PHOTOS!

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  40. Hey, thanks for checking out my photo blog. I’m loving your site. I think you’d probably like my main blog with travel stories better than the very basic photo blog; it’s at lexklein.wordpress.com if you’re so inclined. OK, going back to check out more of yours now!

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  41. Love your bio and that picture of Badfish! 😀 Thank you for following my blog. I admire how much you love travel; I wish you many, many more years of dysentry-free adventures and beautiful sunsets! 🙂

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  42. 1. i love Sublime
    2. my daughter loves the Nemo movie (Crush and the Offspring are my favorite)
    3. on the first post of yours that i read, i see you’ve already been to most places i want to visit
    smiles from Mexico!

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    • Hey wisemonkeys…so glad to have discovered your blog and you. Glad you check out my blog, and looking forward to reading yours in the future!

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  48. Hi.
    Just hopped over to say thank you for followings. I LOVE the title of your blog. I’m a little rushed today, but in a day or two, when I have more time to visit, I’ll be back to delve into your writing and photos. My family and I have traveled a lot through the eastern U.S., but I’ve never been farther west than Oklahoma and Texas, and the only other country I’ve visited is Canada. That’s why I so enjoy my blogging friends from different countries. I envy you your vagabond life (and you can’t get any better than peanut butter sandwiches), so I can’t wait to run around your site more.

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    • Sandra…welcome aboard. Glad you enjoyed it here. And I know exactly what you mean about “time.” I am totally out of time, these days…tooo busy to blog, too busy to comment. Too busy. And I also like what you can get from blogging friends…a taste of something different from what we have. cheers…

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  49. Hello! Thanks for the “follow.” But really, thanks for introducing us to your fascinating and entertaining blog. We have a couple of things in common: that I-4o thing, for starters ( I was looking down it from the handlebars of my trike to the west, from North Carolina. You?). And writing. We look forward to reading more of your posts!! Jean (and Alex, of course, but he’s cooking dinner at the moment, yay). 🙂

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    • Jean, Well, cool, and welcome aboard. Glad you like what you see here. You’re very lucky you have someone to cook you dinner! See you ’round campus…

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  50. Hi Mr. Fish enjoyed your tail of wough, I also enjoyed peanut bs But I hid them in the clocks and such, I enjoyed home way to much to leave. They had to ask. Thank you so much for the look, Have a great day

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