Dear Hassie,

Ah, you describe things so well
and have now reminded me of another quote of that famous
lady's, something to the effect that what mattered
to her was not the men in her life, but the life
in her men.

I can see you now driving happily along... (sigh).

Hi Foxy, glad to hear you plan on going hiking, I assume that means your health has come good. I don't think you could have contemplated it a while back.

onthebeach, your sports appear to fit your forum name. Do you supply much to the table with that spear fishing. I've tried it a few times, but nothing worth spearing ever appeared.

We used to see quite a few painted lobster snorkeling in the islands, but did not have anything big enough to cook them in, so just looked at them.

Hi (again) ONE UNDER GOD...

My Black canine companion is depression, thank you for asking my friend. Thankfully, it's at bay at the moment.

Hello there FOXY...

It's really good to hear from you again, and I hope you're in marvellous health also.

Hiking in Yosemite National Park sounds spectacular, save for one particularly ill-tempered intruder - Bears ! It's true, I've never encountered one in the wild, and I've never been to Yosemite N.P. either. But I've been to Banff on a number of occasions and trying to describe the vistas there is almost impossible, except by a testimonial to it's sheer beauty, and the allure of it's sensational scenery.

Hiking through the American forests is quite unalike to doing something similar here. Our topography is quite different to that of the United States. They have towering, often snow covered, peaks. Whereas we with our brown rolling hills, often scorched a dusky bronze, by a fierce blistering sun.

Actually the only place we did some hiking on the west coast, was in Muir Wood. Which is just north of Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. The Muir, Redwoods are apparently the oldest and tallest trees in the United States, so as you'd imagine their beauty and stature was utterly profound ?

Many thanks FOXY for your lovely contribution !

Yes HASBEEN...

Driving through the Border Ranges in a car 'prepared and driven by you' sounds absolutely marvellous ! The slip stream tugging away at what precious hair of mine that remains, sounds both exciting and daunting at the same time ! Very very tempting I must say.
Many thanks for your contribution too.

>>My sport of choice would have to be hiking.<<

In Australia we call it bushwalking. But I'm not sure if walking really counts as a sport. Minus five points to Ravenclaw for confusing hiking with bushwalking.

Cheers,

Tony

Foxy, hiking was never my thing, but I always enjoy scenery like Yosemite National Park, which I did visit years ago (sooo excited about Yogi Bear!).

However, I was too scared to go far from the bus because of bears....
I think I saw way too many American wilderness TV shows about bears attacking humans to ever consider going anywhere where I might meet one :).
I admire anyone who takes that chance!

It is my fervent desire that I should become undisputed world champion at the sport of "Bo-taoshi" before my 95th birthday. If I should fail to excel at Bo-tanshi, and I can't imagine why I wouldn't, I will take up that most popular sport of "Ga-ga Ball" something I find most exhilarating, although I'm yet to actually try it, they wont let me on the bloody team. Previously I have found invigoration in the sport of "Buzkashi" having no qualms about the requirement of grabbing the carcass of a headless goat whilst at a full gallop, mounted on my trusty dromedary, a sport which is finding increased popularity in Outer Mongolia. Only last year a team from there defeated Swaziland 3-2 to claim the prestigious "Buck Nut Trophy" for the 4th year running. You may have caught the replay on Fox Sports.
In my student days, I must say without any feeling of superiority, I was the school champion at both "Quidditch" and "Skibdu", I say, nothing like a rousing game of Skibdu to get the adrenaline pumping. Unfortunately as both sports are solitary it was difficult to find an opponent at times. I say without embarrassment, I was a staring member of the schools "Bossaball" team which defeated Collegians 47-nil, when the Collegians failed to turn up for our annual chukka. I'll never forget hearing Mr Diddles the schools Sports Master yelling "What does Dill Brain think he's doing" as I raced down field without the ball, going in the wrong direction, I almost scored for the other side. So stick to your obscure sports like golf, tennis, football, give my a rousing game of "Cheese Rolling" any day.