This morning I left our bathroom to begin my day, going down to put my waffles in the toaster oven. (Lifestream Pomegran Plus waffles, I might add, which I top with natural peanut butter and dried cherries)
So back to my anecdote: I found my little vitamin tube on the counter. Each morning I fill a little metal tube with my daily vitamins and I carry it around with me until such time as I have enough food in my stomach to keep the fish oil from coming back on me...usually after lunch. The tube was still empty from yesterday, so I scooped it up and went back upstairs to fill it.
As I entered the bathroom, I noticed that Mensa Boy, in the 2.5 minutes I was gone, had spread all his stuff all the way across the bathroom counter, some of it right on the edge of my sink.
"Oh. I see how it is," I said.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"If I die prematurely you are just going to take over completely. You'll spread all the way across the bed the first night, too," I accused.
"No. I'll take all my stuff, put it over there, and leave it out!" he said.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
School's Starting
Did I post this photo somewhere already? Maybe it was on my old blog. (Which reminds me that I need to continue moving those old entries over to this one. Maybe in my spare time...ha! Well, actually I do have spare time, I just like to spend it sleeping.)
School will start on Thursday. Apparently right in time for a big ole tropical storm to come through and dump feet and feet of water on us. Funny. We keep hearing dire warnings of flooding, scattered through with happy sounds about our drought ending, but when you go to the 5-day forcast on Google, it just says 40% chance of rain. Go figure.
Well, as you can imagine, things are quite hot at school these days. I don't mean temperature-wise. Our air conditioning works extremely (probably too) well, thank you. What I'm saying is that our schools are hotbeds of activity as we get our usual influx of new students, along with the crowds of kids wanting to change their schedules. Some of the schedule-changers will outright admit they want to change so they can be in some other teacher's class, or be with their friends. But many will dance around the issue, inventing all sorts of reasons why they need to change. We are getting quite adept at sniffing out the imposters and sending them packing.
And speaking of packing...the manchild here has done none of it so far. Neither has he read the required reading ("Peace Like a River" by Lief Enger) or done the required 3-hour online alcohol class. Last weekend I was prepared to go head-to-head with him about the packing issue when my good friend and Principal told me to just let it go and let him deal with it. "Just say 'I hate it for you,' when he whines about having to do it all the night before," she wisely said. And so I let go and we had a nice weekend.
Friday night Mensa Boy, Nate and I sat around in the living room playing with our webcams, setting up Skype so we can all call each other. And then of course we had to test everything several times while Taylor cooked us supper. Feedback noises are kind of cool on computers.
Saturday night Nate and I went shopping at Target. I bought him 3 more pair of shorts and a few incidentals. And I had a chance to talk to him about what was stressing him. And I was surprised to learn that he's totally stressed about stuff I hadn't thought of, and not at all concerned about stuff I'm concerned about. So there. My "mom bubble" was expanded a bit.
Sunday buddy Tambri and I did our toes and watched a movie. This is the second time we've spent Sunday afternoon doing our toes and visiting. It's very relaxing and we might keep it up even after sandal season is over. Maybe we'll move to funkier colors then.
And now it's 9:35 and I need to go to bed. As a T likes to say, "Last night I slept as well as bacon cooking in a frypan...flip...flip...flip."
School will start on Thursday. Apparently right in time for a big ole tropical storm to come through and dump feet and feet of water on us. Funny. We keep hearing dire warnings of flooding, scattered through with happy sounds about our drought ending, but when you go to the 5-day forcast on Google, it just says 40% chance of rain. Go figure.
Well, as you can imagine, things are quite hot at school these days. I don't mean temperature-wise. Our air conditioning works extremely (probably too) well, thank you. What I'm saying is that our schools are hotbeds of activity as we get our usual influx of new students, along with the crowds of kids wanting to change their schedules. Some of the schedule-changers will outright admit they want to change so they can be in some other teacher's class, or be with their friends. But many will dance around the issue, inventing all sorts of reasons why they need to change. We are getting quite adept at sniffing out the imposters and sending them packing.
And speaking of packing...the manchild here has done none of it so far. Neither has he read the required reading ("Peace Like a River" by Lief Enger) or done the required 3-hour online alcohol class. Last weekend I was prepared to go head-to-head with him about the packing issue when my good friend and Principal told me to just let it go and let him deal with it. "Just say 'I hate it for you,' when he whines about having to do it all the night before," she wisely said. And so I let go and we had a nice weekend.
Friday night Mensa Boy, Nate and I sat around in the living room playing with our webcams, setting up Skype so we can all call each other. And then of course we had to test everything several times while Taylor cooked us supper. Feedback noises are kind of cool on computers.
Saturday night Nate and I went shopping at Target. I bought him 3 more pair of shorts and a few incidentals. And I had a chance to talk to him about what was stressing him. And I was surprised to learn that he's totally stressed about stuff I hadn't thought of, and not at all concerned about stuff I'm concerned about. So there. My "mom bubble" was expanded a bit.
Sunday buddy Tambri and I did our toes and watched a movie. This is the second time we've spent Sunday afternoon doing our toes and visiting. It's very relaxing and we might keep it up even after sandal season is over. Maybe we'll move to funkier colors then.
And now it's 9:35 and I need to go to bed. As a T likes to say, "Last night I slept as well as bacon cooking in a frypan...flip...flip...flip."
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Backyard Butterfly
It's late. And the end of a very busy weekend. To be honest I'd blog a lot more if I could do it at work. It doesn't take but a minute to write an entry but the school filters to do not allow access to either Flickr or blogspot.
I shot this with my 55-200 zoom on a tripod this afternoon. Shutter priority, of course. Butterflies move pretty fast.
We visited Erskine College all day yesterday. We left very early and got home about mid-evening. I'll write about that later.
I shot this with my 55-200 zoom on a tripod this afternoon. Shutter priority, of course. Butterflies move pretty fast.
We visited Erskine College all day yesterday. We left very early and got home about mid-evening. I'll write about that later.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Late Bloomers
I'm a late bloomer myself, so I don't hold anything against my Crape Myrtle tree for choosing to bloom almost a month later than the neighbor's. Sometimes I wish it were a more exciting color than white, but we should strive to accept some things and people for the way they are, shouldn't we?
I've been shooting this tree for a couple of days, hoping to get a photo for a special project I'm working on. I like this one, but am not convinced that it's the one I want. We'll see.
It's been a bit hectic here, as you can imagine. Nate leaves for Erskine on August 23, so we are busy getting him to doctor appointments and shopping for dorm supplies. It's tax-free weekend here, but I'm not really mustering up the courage to go out and battle the crowds in the 90+ heat to save 7.5%. I might go to Wal-Mart today. Yup. Wal-Mart. On a Sunday afternoon. But I need his bedding and there is a pretty nice store here in Tega Cay. We'll see.
Taylor and I spent a few hours cooking yesterday for a story I wrote this morning on tailgating food. We did a cranberry walnut coleslaw recipe that I got from buddy Rena and a marinated shrimp recipe I got from buddy Sarah. We also made another batch of peach lemonade because Mensa Boy didn't get any of it last time. This was the second food story I've done in a week. The other was my annual treatise to the South Carolina peach. That one should be in next week's paper, so I'll post some photos and recipes next week.
It's been great having Taylor with me in the kitchen. Periodically I have to tell him I don't want help, though. Cooking is, after all, my hobby. So sometimes I like to just put on some tunes (typically Norah Jones), pour a glass of wine and just cook. But he does have a knack for it. Especially grilling. He pulled off some wonderful butterfly chops last week that absolutely were fantastic. They were done perfectly, very moist and yet cooked through. It took me a long time to perfect pork chops on the grill without drying them out. He's also become a bit of a grilled corn aficianado, although our attempt to cook cobs on the cast iron grill pan on top of the stove was not so great. We had copious amounts of smoke alternating with very slow cooking as we turned the heat up and down to find the right method. He finally decided he'd rather do that outside from now on, too.
I started back to work on Thursday. I was surprised to roll up to the building only to find everyone else already there. Apparently we were still on the 4-day workweek, so I had to work 10 hours that day! Since I didn't show up until 7, I was stuck there until 5:30 or 6. More like 6:15, since I kind of dithered around at lunch. But, it did mean I had Friday off, so that was cool. And this next week will be the last 4-day work week. So one more Friday off!
That's it. It's Sunday afternoon, which means NAPTIME!
I've been shooting this tree for a couple of days, hoping to get a photo for a special project I'm working on. I like this one, but am not convinced that it's the one I want. We'll see.
It's been a bit hectic here, as you can imagine. Nate leaves for Erskine on August 23, so we are busy getting him to doctor appointments and shopping for dorm supplies. It's tax-free weekend here, but I'm not really mustering up the courage to go out and battle the crowds in the 90+ heat to save 7.5%. I might go to Wal-Mart today. Yup. Wal-Mart. On a Sunday afternoon. But I need his bedding and there is a pretty nice store here in Tega Cay. We'll see.
Taylor and I spent a few hours cooking yesterday for a story I wrote this morning on tailgating food. We did a cranberry walnut coleslaw recipe that I got from buddy Rena and a marinated shrimp recipe I got from buddy Sarah. We also made another batch of peach lemonade because Mensa Boy didn't get any of it last time. This was the second food story I've done in a week. The other was my annual treatise to the South Carolina peach. That one should be in next week's paper, so I'll post some photos and recipes next week.
It's been great having Taylor with me in the kitchen. Periodically I have to tell him I don't want help, though. Cooking is, after all, my hobby. So sometimes I like to just put on some tunes (typically Norah Jones), pour a glass of wine and just cook. But he does have a knack for it. Especially grilling. He pulled off some wonderful butterfly chops last week that absolutely were fantastic. They were done perfectly, very moist and yet cooked through. It took me a long time to perfect pork chops on the grill without drying them out. He's also become a bit of a grilled corn aficianado, although our attempt to cook cobs on the cast iron grill pan on top of the stove was not so great. We had copious amounts of smoke alternating with very slow cooking as we turned the heat up and down to find the right method. He finally decided he'd rather do that outside from now on, too.
I started back to work on Thursday. I was surprised to roll up to the building only to find everyone else already there. Apparently we were still on the 4-day workweek, so I had to work 10 hours that day! Since I didn't show up until 7, I was stuck there until 5:30 or 6. More like 6:15, since I kind of dithered around at lunch. But, it did mean I had Friday off, so that was cool. And this next week will be the last 4-day work week. So one more Friday off!
That's it. It's Sunday afternoon, which means NAPTIME!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Bat Tower
This is the AT&T building in downtown Nashville. Buddy Chris says they refer to it as the bat tower. I can see why.
And many thanks to the anonymous reader that identified the red sculpture. It is called "Ghost Ballet," and was done by artist Alice Aycock. Anonymous put a link to a Nashville photo blog that tells about it and has a photo from an entirely different perspective. Take a look.
Here is Aycock's official website. Definitely worth a look.
Yesterday's quest for a new comforter for our bedroom was fruitless, but I may go back today and pick up one I saw in Macy's. I kept getting stymied by the browns because I keep thinking the walls in our bedroom have a sort of rosie-ness to the brown color. But really I won't know how it works out until I bite the bullet and buy one. The thing is, I DESPISE doing returns so I'm trying very hard to get as close to what I want as possible.
Today will be doctor appointments all around and a lot of extra errands. Yuck. But then they will be out of the way!
And many thanks to the anonymous reader that identified the red sculpture. It is called "Ghost Ballet," and was done by artist Alice Aycock. Anonymous put a link to a Nashville photo blog that tells about it and has a photo from an entirely different perspective. Take a look.
Here is Aycock's official website. Definitely worth a look.
Yesterday's quest for a new comforter for our bedroom was fruitless, but I may go back today and pick up one I saw in Macy's. I kept getting stymied by the browns because I keep thinking the walls in our bedroom have a sort of rosie-ness to the brown color. But really I won't know how it works out until I bite the bullet and buy one. The thing is, I DESPISE doing returns so I'm trying very hard to get as close to what I want as possible.
Today will be doctor appointments all around and a lot of extra errands. Yuck. But then they will be out of the way!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Broccoli Pesto Lunch
One of my favorite tomato-season lunches is pasta tossed with pesto and tomatoes. You may recall that in this post I mentioned Broccoli Pesto & Fusilli Pasta, a recipe I found on one of my favorite food sites, 101 Cookbooks. At the time I said I didn't even shoot that supper because their photos are so much better than mine anyway.
But when I took the leftover pesto, tossed it with the leftover fusilli, threw in the rest of the chard and tossed in a yellow heirloom tomato, I pretty much couldn't resist shooting my lunch.
I've done a bit more food photography these last couple of days as I've worked on my annual peach story for the paper. I made a peach lemonade and then some peach pasta, which we put on top of some excellent butterflied pork chops that Taylor grilled up for us. I will post those after the story is written. Which I really should do today.
This is my last week of summer. And not even a full week. I start back Thursday. I'm sad to see the summer end, as I've really enjoyed just relaxing and not working...either physically or mentally. There is a lot to be said for having a job that stays at the job and doesn't follow you around in your head like writing does.
I will spend the next three days doing those summer things that should be done before school lets out. A couple of doctor appointments and then I need to get eye exams done for the guys too. But I will also start the "dorm shopping" this week. This will probably take up quite a bit of time in the next few weeks. That list is rather long. Nate received his roommate info and room assignment in the mail Saturday, so we should contact his new roommate to see what he has so we can coordinate stuff like televisions and microwaves and refrigerators. Also lofts. Erskine has loft kits we can buy for $50 and Nate wants to do that. If Matthew does too, then it will be easier to figure out the dorm room. We'll see the room a week from Saturday during orientation and we can map it out and plan it then. But tax-free weekend is this weekend, so we should do some buying now.
And that's it for today. I'll need to start figuring out how to balance the blogging with work and jazzercise and home care. Blogging kind of went by the wayside there for a while.
But when I took the leftover pesto, tossed it with the leftover fusilli, threw in the rest of the chard and tossed in a yellow heirloom tomato, I pretty much couldn't resist shooting my lunch.
I've done a bit more food photography these last couple of days as I've worked on my annual peach story for the paper. I made a peach lemonade and then some peach pasta, which we put on top of some excellent butterflied pork chops that Taylor grilled up for us. I will post those after the story is written. Which I really should do today.
This is my last week of summer. And not even a full week. I start back Thursday. I'm sad to see the summer end, as I've really enjoyed just relaxing and not working...either physically or mentally. There is a lot to be said for having a job that stays at the job and doesn't follow you around in your head like writing does.
I will spend the next three days doing those summer things that should be done before school lets out. A couple of doctor appointments and then I need to get eye exams done for the guys too. But I will also start the "dorm shopping" this week. This will probably take up quite a bit of time in the next few weeks. That list is rather long. Nate received his roommate info and room assignment in the mail Saturday, so we should contact his new roommate to see what he has so we can coordinate stuff like televisions and microwaves and refrigerators. Also lofts. Erskine has loft kits we can buy for $50 and Nate wants to do that. If Matthew does too, then it will be easier to figure out the dorm room. We'll see the room a week from Saturday during orientation and we can map it out and plan it then. But tax-free weekend is this weekend, so we should do some buying now.
And that's it for today. I'll need to start figuring out how to balance the blogging with work and jazzercise and home care. Blogging kind of went by the wayside there for a while.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Just Like His Father
"Here Taylor," I said as I handed him my old cell phone.
"Sweet! Is it broken?" he asked enthusiastically.
"Uh. No. It's your own cell phone," I told him.
Well of course that made him even happier. I asked him if he minded getting my old one. "I don't care," he said.
Cool kid, huh?
"Sweet! Is it broken?" he asked enthusiastically.
"Uh. No. It's your own cell phone," I told him.
Well of course that made him even happier. I asked him if he minded getting my old one. "I don't care," he said.
Cool kid, huh?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Red Sculpture in Nashville
I have no idea what this sculpture is. It's in downtown Nashville and I've googled around quite a bit trying to find out the name, artist, etc, all to no avail. We had a good time speculating on it.
It's going to be 100 degrees here today. But right now it's very pleasant on my patio with my smoothie and coffee. I need to leave for Jazzercise in a few minutes and I'm experiencing quite a pull to just stay here and enjoy the outside as long as I can.
Yesterday I took Taylor and Fred to my friend's pool and we hung out there for a couple of hours. It's so incredibly relaxing to just float around listening to them play and talk and catching a bit of NPR. We'll probably do that again today. After the run to the farm, of course. And I need to get on the ball with a couple of food stories. One with peaches, the other with "cheap eats."
It's going to be 100 degrees here today. But right now it's very pleasant on my patio with my smoothie and coffee. I need to leave for Jazzercise in a few minutes and I'm experiencing quite a pull to just stay here and enjoy the outside as long as I can.
Yesterday I took Taylor and Fred to my friend's pool and we hung out there for a couple of hours. It's so incredibly relaxing to just float around listening to them play and talk and catching a bit of NPR. We'll probably do that again today. After the run to the farm, of course. And I need to get on the ball with a couple of food stories. One with peaches, the other with "cheap eats."
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Guitar Shop
I'm in a black & white mood today. Probably because we watched a b&w foreign film last night, "Angel-A." I enjoyed the movie, but wouldn't give it my highest rating. It was a bit risque but I thought worth it for the story. An angel comes to help straighten out a loser in Paris. The movie was in French with English subtitles, which I always enjoy.
I shot this in a guitar shop in downtown Nashville last week. I never did take note of the name of the shop.
Oh by the way! Had a wonderful supper last night! Broccoli Pesto & Fusilli Pasta from the website 101 Cookbooks. It was superb. The photo on the website is delicious. I didn't even bother shooting my own.
I shot this in a guitar shop in downtown Nashville last week. I never did take note of the name of the shop.
Oh by the way! Had a wonderful supper last night! Broccoli Pesto & Fusilli Pasta from the website 101 Cookbooks. It was superb. The photo on the website is delicious. I didn't even bother shooting my own.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Payback
I am a stalker. I stalk my friend Rena when I get a chance. Usually I leave something on her car for her when I'm out shopping near her work. It might be a stick of gum, an orange with a smiley face drawn on it, a jar of wild capers...whatever jumps into my hand and says "I need to be on Rena's car.
The other day, with Lis' assistance, I wrote a message on several pieces of post-it note paper and stuck it all over her car. The post-its were perfect for Rena because they said "blah blah blah" on the top, which is something she always says. Most of the pad of 100 notes was left so I stuck the pad on her back window so she could use them later.
The prank was good. The execution was good. But the notes did not stand up to the light breezes we had that day. Rena and her boss had to pick them up from the parking lot ground, grass and bushes when they got off work. The next morning she stuck them on my mailbox. Her timing was impeccable. She managed to stop by minutes after I'd come in from walking the dog, and just before Mensa Boy left for work.
She did not leave me the blank ones.
These are the days winding down to when I go back to work on July 31. Days that are quite hot in the middle, but pleasantly cool and breezy at the beginning and end. I'm spending a lot of time on the patio reading during those times. I like this schedule.
The other day, with Lis' assistance, I wrote a message on several pieces of post-it note paper and stuck it all over her car. The post-its were perfect for Rena because they said "blah blah blah" on the top, which is something she always says. Most of the pad of 100 notes was left so I stuck the pad on her back window so she could use them later.
The prank was good. The execution was good. But the notes did not stand up to the light breezes we had that day. Rena and her boss had to pick them up from the parking lot ground, grass and bushes when they got off work. The next morning she stuck them on my mailbox. Her timing was impeccable. She managed to stop by minutes after I'd come in from walking the dog, and just before Mensa Boy left for work.
She did not leave me the blank ones.
These are the days winding down to when I go back to work on July 31. Days that are quite hot in the middle, but pleasantly cool and breezy at the beginning and end. I'm spending a lot of time on the patio reading during those times. I like this schedule.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Car Finders
I saw this little sheep painted on the side of this used-car business while we were sitting at a traffic light in Ridgetop, Tennessee. We made a point of stopping there on the way out of town the next day and I'm glad we did, because then I saw the sign on the front door of the business. I wish I'd shot that, but for some reason I didn't think to. The sign had their business hours posted on it and then on the bottom it said, "In case of emergency call xxxxx." A phone number. I remarked to Lis that it's cool that they are thinking of people that might have an emergency need for a used car.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Get Lost
Anyone who knows me a little bit knows that I love signs. I've always been a sign reader. And package reader, too. Maybe it's because when I was growing up our television watching was limited? And of course we didn't have gameboys and movies to watch when we traveled in the car...which was how we always traveled. And we traveled a good bit. I always had a book with me and did copious amounts of reading in the car. But every trip was heavily punctuated with Mom and Dad saying, "Hey, look at that!" and pointing out the windows. When I do that with our guys they generally don't. (Look, that is.)
The sign above was on a business in downtown Nashville. I didn't even notice the name of the store.
This one is not so terribly interesting, but it caught my attention nonetheless. This high school in a suburb of Nashville (is it Hillsboro?) has a burro for its' mascot:
But I think I like this one best. It is on a closed feed store in downtown Nashville(you may have to click the photo to read the entire postscript on the bottom):
The sign above was on a business in downtown Nashville. I didn't even notice the name of the store.
This one is not so terribly interesting, but it caught my attention nonetheless. This high school in a suburb of Nashville (is it Hillsboro?) has a burro for its' mascot:
But I think I like this one best. It is on a closed feed store in downtown Nashville(you may have to click the photo to read the entire postscript on the bottom):
Monday, July 14, 2008
Truckin' Tigger
On our way to lunch at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville (an event that didn't happen because they don't open until 5 p.m.), we were sitting in traffic and noticed this truck driver had Tigger wired to his grill. Tig doesn't seem to mind too much.
We also saw this cool fish statue in front of the Boy Scout headquarters:
We also saw this cool fish statue in front of the Boy Scout headquarters:
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Writer Lis
Lis has been with Taylor and me as we've traveled to and from Minnesota. Here she is writing a letter in our hotel room the other night.
We arrived home last night around 7:30 or so and after about 90 minutes of unpacking and settling in, we chilled out (as well as you can when it's still in the 80s after dark) on the patio with some crunchy bread, rotisserie chicken and hoop cheese. A very pleasant wind-down to the journey.
Today will be church and then probably I'll have to look at this enormous stack of mail we have here, as well as assess the damage to our checkbooks. As I write this Bear is settling in too. He has a bone that was left in the garden, RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE IT!, and is walking around with it trying to find a new hiding place. He's wearing a new harness I bought for him. It's a Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness with the leash ring on the front of his chest. I'd like to use that when walking him to keep him from pulling so much.
That's it for now. Here's a photo of the dying butterfly we saw in the grass at a gas station in Illinois:
We arrived home last night around 7:30 or so and after about 90 minutes of unpacking and settling in, we chilled out (as well as you can when it's still in the 80s after dark) on the patio with some crunchy bread, rotisserie chicken and hoop cheese. A very pleasant wind-down to the journey.
Today will be church and then probably I'll have to look at this enormous stack of mail we have here, as well as assess the damage to our checkbooks. As I write this Bear is settling in too. He has a bone that was left in the garden, RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE IT!, and is walking around with it trying to find a new hiding place. He's wearing a new harness I bought for him. It's a Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness with the leash ring on the front of his chest. I'd like to use that when walking him to keep him from pulling so much.
That's it for now. Here's a photo of the dying butterfly we saw in the grass at a gas station in Illinois:
Friday, July 11, 2008
William Jennings Bryan: A Recurring Theme
I took this photo at Bryan Memorial Park in Selma, IL. As in William Jennings Bryan Memorial Park. Yesterday.
I took a photo of old William too. I'll probably just upload that one to flickr. (In case you are forgetting, Bryan was the prosecutor in the Scopes Trial, arguing that evolution was both "irrational and immoral." And no, he never became president, but many of us think of him as one. I suspect because he RAN for president 3 times. And is such a prominent name in American history.)
Today Chris, Lis and I went to downtown Nashville and walked around. I shot many photos and I'll post them when I get home. We had a great time just wandering around and poking in shops and taking in the architecture of the place. We stopped in at the Ryman Auditorium, but did not take the tour since it was $16 a pop. The auditorium has been called the "Mother Church of Country Music" which, I'm sure is in part due to the fact that riverboat captain Thomas Green Ryman originally built the building to be the Union Gospel Tabernacle. Interestingly, William Jennings Bryan once lectured from the stage there.
I got a great shot of a the bronze statues of Minnie Pearl and long-time love interest Roy Acuff. I'll post that later too.
And now this evening it's wine, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and fried zucchini for supper. Tomorrow morning we'll head for home.
Oh! I nearly forgot! Tambri sent me a text that there's been a BIG FIRE at Erskine College. Yikes!
I took a photo of old William too. I'll probably just upload that one to flickr. (In case you are forgetting, Bryan was the prosecutor in the Scopes Trial, arguing that evolution was both "irrational and immoral." And no, he never became president, but many of us think of him as one. I suspect because he RAN for president 3 times. And is such a prominent name in American history.)
Today Chris, Lis and I went to downtown Nashville and walked around. I shot many photos and I'll post them when I get home. We had a great time just wandering around and poking in shops and taking in the architecture of the place. We stopped in at the Ryman Auditorium, but did not take the tour since it was $16 a pop. The auditorium has been called the "Mother Church of Country Music" which, I'm sure is in part due to the fact that riverboat captain Thomas Green Ryman originally built the building to be the Union Gospel Tabernacle. Interestingly, William Jennings Bryan once lectured from the stage there.
I got a great shot of a the bronze statues of Minnie Pearl and long-time love interest Roy Acuff. I'll post that later too.
And now this evening it's wine, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and fried zucchini for supper. Tomorrow morning we'll head for home.
Oh! I nearly forgot! Tambri sent me a text that there's been a BIG FIRE at Erskine College. Yikes!
The End of a Long Day
We saw these guys catching a catnap in the back of a pickup yesterday. We were all hurling down the freeway at 80+mph. It was nearly 90 yesterday, so I can certainly understand how workers could be so tired that they could sleep even in an open pickup truck.
I forgot to run this through the noise reducing software, so it's a bit grainy. And in the interest of full disclosure I should admit my stupidity in taking this photo:
I was driving. Lis took photos out the front windshield, but we weren't totally happy with the angle. So naturally I pulled up to where I was nearly tailgating the truck, (did I mention 80 mph?) and took the camera, one hand on the wheel, Lis' hand also on the wheel, and I got off two shots. And yeah, we had a minor child in the car.
We got to Chris' house outside Nashville right around 6 p.m. We had to let ourselves in because Chris and Kevin had to take 5-year-old Sammy to Urgent Care to have a pebble removed from her ear.
"I fell down and the rock got in there," she told the doctor.
In actuality she was in time-out for a dust-up she had with her friend Ryan when she stuck the pebble in her ear.
After a nice supper of spaghetti, which Lis made, we sat and drank wine and chatted. Today we will wander downtown Nashville for a bit, taking in the sites.
I forgot to run this through the noise reducing software, so it's a bit grainy. And in the interest of full disclosure I should admit my stupidity in taking this photo:
I was driving. Lis took photos out the front windshield, but we weren't totally happy with the angle. So naturally I pulled up to where I was nearly tailgating the truck, (did I mention 80 mph?) and took the camera, one hand on the wheel, Lis' hand also on the wheel, and I got off two shots. And yeah, we had a minor child in the car.
We got to Chris' house outside Nashville right around 6 p.m. We had to let ourselves in because Chris and Kevin had to take 5-year-old Sammy to Urgent Care to have a pebble removed from her ear.
"I fell down and the rock got in there," she told the doctor.
In actuality she was in time-out for a dust-up she had with her friend Ryan when she stuck the pebble in her ear.
After a nice supper of spaghetti, which Lis made, we sat and drank wine and chatted. Today we will wander downtown Nashville for a bit, taking in the sites.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Bear the Traveler
Here's Bear in the hotel in Bloomington, IL. We are staying at the Baymont Inn, a pet-friendly hotel. We stayed here on the way to Minneapolis (see the Beep Beep Flash Flash entry).
Bear seems to be quite the natural traveler. He sleeps well in the car and doesn't make a sound when we start or stop. He drinks when we give him water, and pretty much makes no demands on us. Last time, on the way up, he basically held his appetite and bowel habits most of the trip...except for that deposit he made behind the couch at Chris' (sorry!)...
We are staying here tonight (obviously) and then going on to Nashville tomorrow to sponge off Chris and her family for two nights. We'll pal around town with her on Friday and then head out for home Saturday.
It was a great visit, a good chance to see the family and hang out with buddy Julie (even though she about wore me out yesterday ripping wallpaper off the walls in the parsonage kitchen!). But I will be glad to have a couple of free-and-easy weeks at home before going back to work on July 31.
My friend Debbie Burgess, she of the Hungry Fox, has taken it upon herself to try to blog for 21 days straight to try to establish the good habit of blogging every day. I think I may try to do this with photography. I kind of gave up the 365 day flickr group because of the stress of coming up with self-portraits every day. Maybe just to take a photo every day will be a good step toward working on my photo taking and editing skills.
Bear seems to be quite the natural traveler. He sleeps well in the car and doesn't make a sound when we start or stop. He drinks when we give him water, and pretty much makes no demands on us. Last time, on the way up, he basically held his appetite and bowel habits most of the trip...except for that deposit he made behind the couch at Chris' (sorry!)...
We are staying here tonight (obviously) and then going on to Nashville tomorrow to sponge off Chris and her family for two nights. We'll pal around town with her on Friday and then head out for home Saturday.
It was a great visit, a good chance to see the family and hang out with buddy Julie (even though she about wore me out yesterday ripping wallpaper off the walls in the parsonage kitchen!). But I will be glad to have a couple of free-and-easy weeks at home before going back to work on July 31.
My friend Debbie Burgess, she of the Hungry Fox, has taken it upon herself to try to blog for 21 days straight to try to establish the good habit of blogging every day. I think I may try to do this with photography. I kind of gave up the 365 day flickr group because of the stress of coming up with self-portraits every day. Maybe just to take a photo every day will be a good step toward working on my photo taking and editing skills.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Mom's House of Whimsy
Yesterday I fooled around a bit with my camera...something I haven't done much of this summer. I decided to challenge myself by setting it on one focal length and then shooting with just manual focus. I'm pretty pleased with my results. I do have one shot, though, that I will do again with autofocus. I didn't bring a tripod and I need the vibration reduction to help with it.
But this is not that shot. These are some items my Mom has on the coffee table in her porch. The little green guy is made of a gourd. And the bowl is too. The statue is one of many she has that are made by Isabelle Bloom. (Just looked for a website and can't find one)
But this is not that shot. These are some items my Mom has on the coffee table in her porch. The little green guy is made of a gourd. And the bowl is too. The statue is one of many she has that are made by Isabelle Bloom. (Just looked for a website and can't find one)
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
"Though the streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin'
Rawhide"
And roll we did. 19 miles from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, 19 miles back. All along the swollen Cannon River we kept our doggies pumping the pedals of our bikes.
My brother Ted and I met at Cannon Falls at 7 a.m. and took off about 15 minutes later. We stopped in Welch for a potty break and then went on to Red Wing. A guy at Welch told Ted there was "nothing at the other end but a McDonalds!" Dork. There's a whole freakin' town at the other end, loaded with gastronomic possibilities!
Farther into town. Away from the trail.
Right on the edge of town, where the trail dumps out, there're a couple of shopping areas with some restaurants that were not open. We rolled up to a gas station that said it had a restaurant attached and found it locked.
As we sat there on the bench outside the gas station, chuckling at our stupidity (we had spent several minutes lining up our bikes and meticulously locking them together before checking the door), a pickup rolled up.
"Are they closed?" the fellow asked. He looked about Dad's age.
Ted walked up to the open window of his truck and told him they were closed.
"I'm hungry!" I shouted from the bench.
The guy said that sometimes Econo Foods has a pretty decent breakfast. He told Ted to stay put. He'd drive over there and look and come back to tell us.
A few minutes later he came back and said, "Well, how about Perkins?" By this time I'd checked my Magellan and saw there was one 1.2 miles up the road. Ted asked if it was that far. "Probably." was the answer.
"Throw your bikes in the back and I'll run you up there," he offered.
And so was my second hitchhiking experience of the trip.
I missed the guy's name. I made Ted sit in the middle in the guy's pickup cab (that was a humorous sight...260 lb, 6'1" Ted hunched in the middle of this mini-pickup cab and me by the window.)
The fellow, I'll call him Roy because Ted said he couldn't remember his name but it was an "old guy's name like Roy," was a semi-retired building inspector and part time project manager for commercial properties.
Nice fella. I was glad I sat next to the window. At the end of the ride he said, "Watch your arm, sweetheart," when he rolled up the window as we got out. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. But it would have creeped me out if he'd called me that and I was in the middle.
So we had an enormous breakfast around 8:30 or 9 and then hit the trail to come back. Believe me, it was a LOT harder on the way back. Poor Ted had a racing saddle on his bike, which is not terribly friendly to the bottom. And of course we were getting slightly tired. And there was a breeze against us on the way back, as well as a lot of bike traffic on the trail. Everyone was out to enjoy a nice ride on the 4th.
We got back to Cannon Falls around 12, which kind of astounded us. Could we really have taken 5 hours to cover 40 miles? So we were standing there saying to each other "Well we stopped here, we stopped there, we had breakfast." Finally I said "You know, we prolly actually covered it all in about 45 minutes if we take out all the stops."
And then we were pleased.
Keep them doggies rollin'
Rawhide"
And roll we did. 19 miles from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, 19 miles back. All along the swollen Cannon River we kept our doggies pumping the pedals of our bikes.
My brother Ted and I met at Cannon Falls at 7 a.m. and took off about 15 minutes later. We stopped in Welch for a potty break and then went on to Red Wing. A guy at Welch told Ted there was "nothing at the other end but a McDonalds!" Dork. There's a whole freakin' town at the other end, loaded with gastronomic possibilities!
Farther into town. Away from the trail.
Right on the edge of town, where the trail dumps out, there're a couple of shopping areas with some restaurants that were not open. We rolled up to a gas station that said it had a restaurant attached and found it locked.
As we sat there on the bench outside the gas station, chuckling at our stupidity (we had spent several minutes lining up our bikes and meticulously locking them together before checking the door), a pickup rolled up.
"Are they closed?" the fellow asked. He looked about Dad's age.
Ted walked up to the open window of his truck and told him they were closed.
"I'm hungry!" I shouted from the bench.
The guy said that sometimes Econo Foods has a pretty decent breakfast. He told Ted to stay put. He'd drive over there and look and come back to tell us.
A few minutes later he came back and said, "Well, how about Perkins?" By this time I'd checked my Magellan and saw there was one 1.2 miles up the road. Ted asked if it was that far. "Probably." was the answer.
"Throw your bikes in the back and I'll run you up there," he offered.
And so was my second hitchhiking experience of the trip.
I missed the guy's name. I made Ted sit in the middle in the guy's pickup cab (that was a humorous sight...260 lb, 6'1" Ted hunched in the middle of this mini-pickup cab and me by the window.)
The fellow, I'll call him Roy because Ted said he couldn't remember his name but it was an "old guy's name like Roy," was a semi-retired building inspector and part time project manager for commercial properties.
Nice fella. I was glad I sat next to the window. At the end of the ride he said, "Watch your arm, sweetheart," when he rolled up the window as we got out. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. But it would have creeped me out if he'd called me that and I was in the middle.
So we had an enormous breakfast around 8:30 or 9 and then hit the trail to come back. Believe me, it was a LOT harder on the way back. Poor Ted had a racing saddle on his bike, which is not terribly friendly to the bottom. And of course we were getting slightly tired. And there was a breeze against us on the way back, as well as a lot of bike traffic on the trail. Everyone was out to enjoy a nice ride on the 4th.
We got back to Cannon Falls around 12, which kind of astounded us. Could we really have taken 5 hours to cover 40 miles? So we were standing there saying to each other "Well we stopped here, we stopped there, we had breakfast." Finally I said "You know, we prolly actually covered it all in about 45 minutes if we take out all the stops."
And then we were pleased.
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