Whatever!
WOW! A FREE day! I don't have to post a picture of a dragon, or a bridge, or a door or a reflection! I get to post whatever I wanna post! LOL! Ya know... I love the challenges - they liven up my entire life! Really! Going out and searching for these things truly does spice up my travels with mom - and I can tell her what we're looking for - and she thinks she's helping! (if I remind her every 5 minutes it helps her help!) So, yes, I am doing to the new DOOR challenge -- but Jientje was kind enough to give us Sunday off this week! Doors start tomorrow! So the photo up above was taken AFTER the Blogger Babe convention in Savannah last October... I know this because my hair is freshly dyed in this picture and that was the ONLY time I ever did that! I tend to like to wander of the beaten path when I'm traveling. I like a little "explore" from time to time. Lazy Daisy is a great travel partner for this purpose because she also loves a little explore! And it was on one such little explore that we saw this church sign - and I hadda have it! I mean... I LOVE Jesus... I LOVE swimming... this was a totally me sign! I had forgotten all about it until I was searching and searching and searching my archives for ... bridges this week! So... thanks to bridges, I got to share this picture!
I'm debating whether I will take Mom in to see the doctor tomorrow or not. Yesterday she complained in the morning about her wrist hurting... but as the day went on she didn't mention it anymore. Her face LOOKS bad - but she hasn't complained about it - except that everytime she comes out of the bathroom she asks me about it. "Did you see this bruise on my face? How did I get it? I don't remember getting it... it doesn't hurt. How'd I DO it?" *sigh* ... she's lucky she doesn't remember these things - but then she's NOT - because she is alarmed every time she gets in front of a mirror. I really do think she's okay... but it does LOOK bad! This is one of those times when maybe a little nursing experience would be a GOOD thing!!! Oy!
Wordzzle
Each week Raven challenge's the blogosphere to come up with a story or a poem or some sort of prose involving a list of 10 words she gives us. She also offers a smaller 5 word challenge... and the Mega Combo! I decided to combine them for the Mega Challenge this week. This Week's Ten Word Challenge:
pogo stick, ant farm, psychic, tin box, wall safe, Waterloo, surge protector, pneumonia, ravages of time, turtle
And for the Mini Challenge:
Swollen ankles, opera singer, toothy grin, oil paints, potter’s wheel
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My Imaginary Visit to Belgium
by Melli
Yea... so I was visiting my friend Gattina in Belgium last month when she asked if I had ever been to an ant farm. I can pretty much guarantee that I never have, so she suggested we go to the one in Waterloo. You know me - I'm up for ANYTHING... so I donned my Crocs (to guard against swollen ankles), grabbed my purse out of the wall safe, and my camera and off we went!
As we drove along we passed La Monnaie, and Gattina relayed funny stories about this opera singer or that. One story in particular had me laughing so hard I could hardly breath! Apparently a long time ago there was a girl - Angelina Chalmondelay - who had the most beautiful voice ever heard in all the world! She started singing when she was practically an infant, and by the time she was 6 she had her own spotlight on the local radio show! Little Angelina could sing opera as well as any adult woman performing in the finest opera houses! But! (there is always a but, is there not?) But ... She could only sing while she was hopping on a pogo stick! If she were not on the stick she was paralyzed with fear and shyness! But on the radio, who knew? No one could see her! They just listened to her beautiful voice and marveled at what such a young child could do! But as she grew older, and began receiving offers to perform on stage... well, you can imagine, THIS became quite a problem! They tried everything they could think of, but she was held tight by the ravages of time! Eventually they hit upon the idea of a hypnotist. They called in the famous Beardson Bellina, a giant of a man with a big toothy grin. Bellina was able to hypnotize Angelina, and at last she was able to sing without the pogostick! Angelina and Beardson ended up falling madly in love and married! She became Angelina Bellina! (you didn't have to be psychic to figure that one out, did ya?)
By the time we arrived at the Ant Farm, I had been laughing so hard my lungs felt like I had pneumonia! (okay... honestly... you have to hear the way Gattina tells the story!) At the entrance of the farm was a big stone statue of a turtle. I thought that perhaps being that ants aren't really all THAT fascinating that the farm had branched out... but no! It turns out that turtles don't eat ants, and so ants have adopted the turtle as their "great protector"... they give homage to the turtle, if you will. Hey! I guess every place has to have a gimmick of some sort!
We went into the visitor's center to get a map of the place and see what was on the Ant Agenda for the day. We chose a good day because throughout the farm was an art exhibit. As we strolled the grounds - trying really hard not to step on any of the residents - we enjoyed fabulous works! Of course, they were all of ants or antish things. My favorites were one artists rendition of ANThony & Cleopatra - she had used oil paints in the style of pointillism and it was really quite impressive ... and another was a statue that appeared to have been sculpted - but I couldn't even believe my own eyes as I watched the artist create these fabulous ants - on her potter's wheel!!! You would never believe it if you didn't see it! I had to have one!
On the way home we stopped at the Midi Market! I've always wanted to go there. I got some lovely jewelry and a great deal on jeans! I bought some fresh spices to bring home with me, and some fresh fruits and veggies for supper that night! I also got an adorable little hand painted tin box - perfect to keep my jewelry safe! Silly Gattina! All she bought was a new surge protector!
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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: invincible, falling leaves, lap top, two-year-old, fusion, grizzly bear, Jamaica, delivery, popsicle stick, caviar
And for the Mini Challenge: toad stool, liquid lunch, counting sheep, manacles, Jurassic Park
Labels: Wordzzle
Bridging The Gap - Day 7... Photo Hunt - Beautiful ... and stuff...
I soooooo did not find a bridge yesterday. Life got complicated... but I did find some other things I'll share later! So I've been scouring my archives and I came up with THIS! I had forgotten all about it!
This is a bridge I found by accident. It is up in the woods near Keuka Lake, in New York. I had seen a little stream that I wanted to photograph, but I didn't have time at that moment... so on the way back, I was pretty much stopping at each and every one looking to see if it was THE one - cuz of course I couldn't remember a landmark to help me find it! I never did find the one I was looking for... but I stumbled across this little bridge - waaay hidden away! When I found it I really FELT like I was tresspassing... but at the same time I was sO intrigued by it! It was sort of like finding the "Secret Garden". If you look close (and you can big it) you'll notice that there is wire fencing to keep people like me out! I did honor that! But I got a picture! Again... never knew I might need it! Just wanted it.
And I've been holding this one back until the end - as an extra!
Little Luz doin' the Bridge in her gymnastics class!
YAY!
Thank you SO much Alice!
Bridging the Gap has been great fun!
********************Today's Theme: Beautiful
I'm sure we're going to see a g'zillion of these today...but you can't deny it's beautiful!I love this peach beauty with the pink blush on the edges!I found it at the Brookside Garden's (same place I find my butterflies)
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For those of you who were still working on sending me rain yesterday - THANK YOU!!! We did get a good ground drenching! Of course, I didn't get to stay home and read a book and enjoy it ... but I got to be out IN it and enjoyed it just the same! As a matter of fact, the rain was the highlight of my day!
No papers were picked up at the old lawyers office. The new lawyer is HOPPIN' mad! We all knew the papers wouldn't be there... but technicalities and formalities are the things Law is made of... So, I did my part. Now the battle begins! I'm just a cheer leader in all this... except when Dennis needs to write a letter. Then he sweet-talks me! But from here on out, it should be Julie writing the letters, I believe.
We had an "incident" with Mom last night. We don't really know what happened, but she either got up and fell, or she fell out of her bed. We're really not sure. Dennis had already gone to bed, and I was working on photos when I heard a THUNK! I went flyin' up the stairs, and into Mom's room and she was kneeling on the floor by her bed, and her little table was cockeyed. I asked her what happened -- but ... oy! Once she's had that blue sleeping pill... communication gets ROUGH! Her explanation was that she was talking to that couple over there - and she pointed to her lamp! Dennis came runnin' in, and we got her up and sitting on the bed. She had her pajama top unbuttoned. I have a feeling she had been UP. She had some blood in the corner of her mouth, and she's got a new abrasion on her arm. Other than that she seems okay. 99% of the time that sleeping pill knocks her so far out she couldn't get up if her life depended on it. But every now and then... something goes haywire! Last night was one of those nights!
Dennis left this morning for a week in Pennsylvania. Mom & I will have left for the beach before he gets home next weekend -- this means we aren't going to see him for 4 whole weeks! WOW! We've never been away from each other for THAT long before!
Wordzzle will be up a little later today. I was too tired to finish it last night... so I gotta do it this morning! Y'all have a great day!
Labels: Bridges, Photo Hunt
Bridging the Gap - Day 6 ... and Friday Fill-Ins... and stuff....
Alice at Born2cree8 is hosting this one!It runs this week 8/24 - 8/30.If you want to play, sign her linky!
I'm not really sure if I call this a bridge or not! Maybe it's just a path across the water... but then... isn't that a bridge? I guess it is! Sooooo this one was found last Spring - not this past Spring - but Spring 2007 when I went "to tea" with a couple of friends from Curves. We went to Hillwood House in Washington, DC and it was FABULOUS! We had our "tea", toured the museum, and then the gardens -- and this little lovely was in the oriental garden. T'was fun!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1. When I'm sick I'm cranky... in a quiet sort of way.2. When I take a walk, I think about anything that pops into my head.3. Money can't buy happiness but it can buy memories.4. Cotton makes me cozy and leather makes me SWEAT.5. The strangest person/character I've had lewd thoughts about was - I can't even THINK of anyone. I don't think I've had what I would call a "lewd" thought since I was a teenager! Okay... when I was a teenager... I had lewd thoughts about... awww... but none of them were WEIRD! EVERY little teeny bopper girl was feelin' what I was feeling! I dunno... maybe a cowboy in a book ... or something like that! I guess that would be weird!6. My favorite color these days is orange because I'M Orange!7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to perhaps some sleep, tomorrow my plans include not cooking and Sunday, I want to do Church and relax!
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Yesterday was NOT a fun day! NOT FUN days make me cranky. Okay... yes... I'm spoiled. I had to tote Derek all over kingdom come to try to get that which I knew we could not obtain! Derek has made some big mistakes, and some very poor choices in his youth and the consequences that I kept expecting to catch up with him full force, never quite did. And they still aren't. Not full force! But he IS between a rock and hard place right now... and while I am willing to work with him and help him to get things straightened out... I'm also going away for 3 weeks -- very soon. Derek's troubles can not be fixed over night, and there is NO WAY they are going to be fixed before I leave. He is in the process of now coming to terms with THAT idea. Now... to give you an IDEA of how frustrating OUR day was... the government organization that we are dealing with is... The Department of Motor Vehicles.... *nods*.
Today I get to have another fun day. I get to drive about 90 miles to TRY to get back from the lawyers who were originally handling Dennis' brother's estate the papers that Dennis had given them. We've come to find out that in NINE MONTHS TIME, these lawyers have not made one phone call or filed one paper on Dennis' behalf in an attempt to get the estate settled. They have done NOTHING! So 3 weeks ago we hired another lawyer... the same one that helped us get stuff done for Mom... a gal we trust! Two weeks ago we sent the first lawyer a letter letting him know that he is FIRED and that I would be coming in two weeks, on which day and at what time, to pick up said papers! So, today is the day. Yippee. Actually ... it's not REALLY all that big of a deal... if they DON'T have the papers for me, then I will simply leave their office and turn the entire thing over to the new lawyer. I will have made the attempt... that's all that matters! At any rate... I will be away from home and the computer. Perhaps I'll have time on my way home to stop and catch a bridge! Tomorrow is the last day for bridges... I'd like a good one! And I don't think I have anything left in my archives...
Oh yea... by the way... all those of you who THOUGHT you were sending rain my way yesterday? Well... try again please! Just a little less to the north and a little more to the east! Thanks! ... i swear i live in a bubble ...
Labels: Bridges
Thursday 13 - Y not? ... Bridgin' the Gap - Day 5...
Thursday 13
In which we learn Y Melli is like she is...
or something like that!
1. Young! - Yes, Melli is YOUNG! 51 years young next week! Y? Because I said so! You can be old... or you can be young! I am YOUNG! Thank you! When I am eighty-nine I will still be young! (I HOPE I will be eighty-nine!)
2. Yam! - I yam what I yam! I love yams! If I were a vegetable I would certainly BE a yam... Y? Because they are orange -- and when I was a kid they always called me "carrot-top" -- but that was because they didn't KNOW I'm a yam!!!
3. Yesterday - I LIKE yesterday! Y? Let me tell ya something... yesterday gets a bad rap! They always say "forget about yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow, LIVE for today" ... well... that is ALMOST good advice! But I think we need to REMEMBER yesterday. Jot it down on paper - or in your blog. Go back and look at it from time to time... compare it to another yesterday ... learn a little something from it. But mostly REMEMBER it. Cuz I'm livin' with somebody who doesn't remember it... and I'm casting MY vote - forgetting sucks! I'm just sayin...
4. Yoyo - Melli is a LOT like a yoyo! Y? Up 'n down, uP 'n DoWn, ... emotionally... physically... my weight... LOTS of yoyoin' goin' on here! YUP!
5. Yogurt - I love yogurt! I wish they made YAM yogurt - but have ya ever tried mixin' pumpkin with vanilla yogurt? Add a touch of cinnamon? YUM! It's almost as good as I'm sUre Yam Yogurt WOULD be - if they ever thought of it!
6. Yacht - *Deep Sigh* ... Y? ohhhhhh ever since I was a wee little girl (yes I was wee little once upon a time!) I have dreeeamed of owning a yacht. And I don't dream little... Ya know? MY idea of a yacht is one step shy of Carnival Cruise Lines! But that's just my dreeeeeeam! I would settle for a pedal boat or a jet ski! Actually... I have recently made some discoveries about myself and boats and the yachter's and the boat people... I'm going to "blog this" one day... soon.
7. Yankee Doodle Dandy - Nope ... not the song. Believe it or not... the MOVIE! Y? This is one of my favorite movies OF ALL TIME! Yankee Doodle Dandy - The George M. Cohen Story... Waaaay back when (when we only had 4 channels) they used to play this movie EVERY 4th of July. And it was MY 4th of July ritual to watch it! I waited for this one the way most people waited for The Wizard of Oz. They usually played it in the morning, and I would watch it, and then get my butt out to a parade somewhere, and then of course, the fireworks!
8. Yolk - It's my favorite part of the egg! It is amazing that my cholesterol isn't SKY HIGH - Y? When I was kid at Easter and all the other kids would GAG on their yolks I had my hand out! Gimme! I loved 'em! And when MY kids started gaggin' on 'em, I was right there then too! That's a weird thing too... cuz my kids grew UP on yolks - I mean they were raised in the days when we added a raw egg yolk to their baby cereal and mixed it up with hot water... (back then they told us that was ALL the cookin' it needed!) And they lived too! But they LOVED their yolky cereal -- which moved on to smooshed up hard boiled egg yolks... so it was really surprising when they suddenly didn't like them! An acquired distaste?
9. Yogi Bear - *smile*... I do love that pic-a-nic basket snatchin' bear! I think I was in 2nd grade - maybe 3rd ... when the teacher started teaching us about Yellowstone Park. I kept correcting her! Y? You mean JELLYstone Park! It took me a long time to remember that it was REALLY Yellowstone!!!
10. Yoga - I am missing Yoga sooooooo much in my life! This is one thing I am SO going to get back into. As soon as I get back from the beach I'm going to find a class! Y? It's bad enough that I'm not getting regular exercise - but I'm not stretching like I should either - and THAT is really wreaking havoc! And how many times, when I was working at Curves, did I TELL people, If you don't do ANYTHING else - STRETCH! NOTHING is more important! ... whew! BOY do I need to listen to myself! Y? Stretching is ALL about the mobility. No stretchy... NO mobility! Period!
11. Yarn - Y? Well... I think I used to like yarn BETTER before I started learning to knit... but I do like yarny projects... and... I've been known to spin a yarn or two! (no... not on a wheel... Mercy!)
12. Yak - Yakkity Yak! Don't talk back! (yea right!) Okay... Yaks are pretty cool animals. But I suppose you wanna know Y I am LIKE one! Right? Well... partly because even though they are called YAKs, they really aren't terribly vocal... they're rather quiet animals... which I AM unless I'm partying with family or friends! But the other reason I'm like a Yak is... well... did you know that both male AND female yaks have HORNS? Well they do! So... when you see my horns - remember... I'm NOT a devil! I YAM A YAK!!!
13. YAY!!! - Oh c'mon! Don't even ask! Is YAY not one of my favorite words? YAY! I'm only ONE letter away from finishing this alphabet!!!+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I did go out Bridge Hunting again yesterday... but to no avail...
thus, another bridge from the archives!
Alice at Born2cree8 is hosting this one!It runs this week 8/24 - 8/30.If you want to play, sign her linky!
This is a shot of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
as seen from the Chesapeake Bay, entering
into the Baltimore Harbor!
This was taken last September when Dennis & I went out
on his friend, Bob's boat. We were actually 4 couples from
his office, and we all had a great time! We docked in
Baltimore and had dinner and then roamed around in the
Inner Harbor - it was just a beautiful day!
This was just another shot of it right
as we were getting ready to go under.
You know... *snap, snap*... what am I
EVER gonna need THAT shot for???
*shrug*
Now we know!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
TODAY we are supposed to get some rain! 70% chance of it! We sure need it! If we do indeed get some, I am staying home, medicating mom, and I'm READING A BOOK!!! (please don't look at me like that... sometimes ya just gotta!) If it doesn't rain, we'll go bridge hunting! :-)
Labels: Bridges, TT
Bridging the Gap, Day 4 ... and some other stuff...
Alice at Born2cree8 is hosting this one!It runs this week 8/24 - 8/30.If you want to play, sign her linky!
Soooooooo... yesterday I was bridging the gap between
dirty and clean!
(beginning with bathtubs...)
Thus... today's bridge is brought to you from deep within my archives.... which don't run too deep because I never back anything up. Life has become disposable. When the computer crashes I buy a new one and wave goodbye to anything and everything that was stored on the old one ... including cherished photos that I later kick myself in the butt for never having backed up! FILM was not ALL bad! (do posts sometimes just HAPPEN without you even thinking or having any idea where they are going??? I didn't even know I had that little self-rant in me today!) *shakes head* Anyway... HERE is the real bridge you get today...
I have NO idea what this bridge is called! Probably the Something Street Bridge! I do know it was taken out of my hotel room window when I was staying in Rochester, NY - the time Krysti & I went up for her to take her entrance tests to Keuka, and I got to
meet Barbara from
Trying To Catch Up. If you weren't around back then I'm sorry - cuz Barb was a LOT of fun - but she just never touches her blog anymore. It's soooo sad! Anyway... in MY mind this has now become known as The Rochester Bridge! And it holds very sweet memories! (as do all of my pictures from that trip!)
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So, you may have noticed I don't really DO Wordless Wednesday anymore... I mean LATELY I just always seem to have an abundance of words! (not sure where they all come from, but for some reason, I speak ... and you read... I guess it's working for both of us!) Anyway... it just seems kinda silly to paste a picture up, call it Wordless, and then rattle on about what the picture is! LOL! Ya know... when Uisce started that meme it was because he just didn't have ANYthing to say that day, and so just being the wise-guy that he is, he took a picture of his shoe, put it up, titled it Wordless Wednesday -- and TADA - a meme was born! (and one of the FIRST ones too!) Amazing how this stuff has grown... ANYway - I'm prattling again - had no intention to do a WW lecture! The REASON I mentioned it was because these next few photo's I'm going to share don't REALLY require words... But I'm gonna use some anyway!
Sheeeeesh what a roundabout way of gettin' somewhere, huh? Proceed!
This is Bentley! So named for the book Bentley & Egg - which happens to be one of my favoritest (i know!) children's books EVER EVER written! Bentley Hopperton is a grasshopper of GREAT heart... and I think this little grasshopper looks like he has great heart too! He started out on my front window (on the inside) the other night. It was night and I couldn't get a good picture because he WAS on the window - and being night I would need a flash and trying to macro in the dark -- well it just wasn't a good combo! So anyway... I simply named him and let him be. I am fond of grasshoppers.
But the next morning I came down stairs and as I walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, there was ol' Bentley just hanging out over the door way! I said
Good Morning Bentley and forgot about coffee for awhile as I went to get my camera. Bentley was feeling very friendly too and just sat and watched me watch him! Every now and then he would cock his head one way or the other in a
Lady, WHAT are you doing kind of way but he never tried to hop or even crawl away. He just sat there and posed.
I haven't seen Bentley for a few days now. I hope he got
safely back outside... and didn't become cat food!
Labels: Bridges
Another Day, Another Bridge... & Ruby Tuesday...
I, Melli, do hereby solemnly swear that this post
DOES indeed include a bridge, AND a Ruby Tuesday!
Read on...
Alice at Born2cree8 is hosting this one!It runs this week 8/24 - 8/30.
If you want to play, sign her linky!
RUBY Tuesday is hosted by Mary, The Teach
It plays every Tuesday! (duh!)
If you want to play along, sign her linky!
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Soooooooo we went back to the Butterfly Garden yesterday! Took Amanda & Luz with us! Luz was soooooooo excited to go see a Blue Morpho Butterfly! She had learned about them from Dora & Diego! I'll tell ya... they teach her a LOT!!! So does Little Einstein!
Anyway... FIRST I gotta show ya this!
Remember the Golden Chrysalis?
Well these guys are the Asian caterpillars that came out of them!
Weeeeeird lookin', huh?
Stuff changes SO fast there! I think I need to go once a week!
This is my two girls studying real hard!
Well... okay... Luz was a little grumpy...
but Amanda really was just lookin' hard!
(I looooooove this chair!!!)
Here is little Luz with a magnifying glass!
She is studyin' that butterfly big time!
And here she got to pick up a dead Blue Morpho! I was sO
surprised she did it! Sometimes she is ewwwy about things
and other times, she digs in with both hands! You never
know - but I just thought she wouldn't touch "dead". She
was really impressed by the velvety feel of the wings!
And here she is just intently listening to whatever
the worker there was telling her. She was still
hanging on the Blue Morpho...
This time I was the lucky one who got a butterfly on me!
Several actually tried to land on Luz - but she moves so quickly that they would change their mind at the last minute! One landed on Amanda's head too - but she didn't like it! Amanda I think had a love/hate relationship going on in there! She was fascinated by their beauty - but had a definite ewww factor happening! So we didn't stay in there too long this time. Amanda's ewwishness, and Luz's very short attention span coupled with the MUCH higher heat index than last week, dictated that we move on outside!
Around the corner, in the Rose Gardens we found this pretty water feature. It was sort of in the shade and had a nice bench in front of it should you want to do some water gazing! We did stop for a few minutes... Luz tossed in some coins and made a few wishes. And then I caught this picture of her with the water inbetween us...
I love this!
We walked through a few of the gardens today. We didn't cover the whole thing, but I think we hit enough of the highlights. I was VERY disappointed to find that the memorial that I showed you last week - to the victims of the sniper attacks -- had been marked up with graffiti this week. It just hurts my heart that people feel a need to do that. The people that work there were pretty sure it had just happened over this weekend. We ran into a woman who was walking around inspecting for "vulgar graffiti"... we told her about the memorial and she had not known. When we left there were police there taking pictures - for all the good that will do.
There were a couple of flowers there today that I want to share... first these silly things! They hang UPSIDE DOWN! I guess cuz they grow on a tree and God wanted us to SEE them!
They are BIG gorgeous flowers
(when fully open I would imagine they
are spectacular!)
... But they hang UPSIDE DOWN!
And then there were these...
I call them Christmas Light Flowers!
(AND we will call them Ruby Tuesday too!)I don't know if they are actually going to open
up and BLOOM... or if this is IT!?
They are gorgeous as is! But weird!
(big them!)
And then finally... oh
finally...
I found a bridge!
(did you think I forgot???)This bridge crosses over the pond that the turtles are in.
You remember the turtles?
I remembered the turtles!
But I just had NO idea about the turtles...
This is a potted plant island that floats in the middle of the pond...
(I sO wish I had had this for reflections!)
Apparently turtles crawl up onto this thing at will and for
the most part all 4 sides of it were Turtle Central. Or at
least that was what we thought...
Until we looked ... really LOOKED around the edge of the pond and realized that every single possible little nook or stone that a turtle could get ON to, had at least one turtle on it! And then we looked DOWN... into the water... and I kid you not there was hundreds of turtles! We were so utterly amazed by the turtles I just can't tell you! And of course, Quilly knows... turtles are HARD to photograph! They come up for a minute... and then they dive! And they stay DOWN for about 10-15 minutes... and then they come up, grab a gulp of air ... and disappear again! OY! But we did see many many turtles... and we saw a couple that were quite large! Look at this...
Look at that BIG guys HEAD compared to the
other ones!
Here... Look closer!
It was an amazing Turtle Day!
All I could think was how much my boys would have
LOVED this back in their Ninja Turtle days!!!
LOL!
Labels: Bridges, Ruby Tuesday
Bridging the Gap - Day 2 ... and Birds...
Mom & I actually drove out to LOOK for bridges yesterday! Well... I thought we were just going to take a bit of a drive down to
Sandy Point, snap a few shots of the
Bay Bridge, and then maybe a couple of smaller bridges on the way home. However... there was an accident on the Bay Bridge AGAIN this weekend (Sunday) and by the time I got to Annapolis traffic on 50 E was backed up all the way into the city! (LAST weekend's accident was
fatal) I don't know how many miles that is - but it's SEVERAL! Sooo I gave up that idea immediately. I almost gave up the idea of getting near ANY bridge - because having traffic DEAD stopped on "the bridge" meant that every Tom, Dick & Harry was trying to use ANY other bridge possible to get across the big water! Not that ANY other bridge actually goes across the big water ... but desperate times call for desperate measures, and having one's vacation held up by an accident leaves NO ROOM for being reasonable! Besides that, the search for another way gives a body something "to do" while waiting for the accident to clear so that you can actually get to the bridge that WILL take you across the big water! I totally understand this reasoning... Especially if you have small children OR senile parents in the car. Because as long as you are driving neither one realizes that you are either lost or that any thing else is wrong at all! (it's TRUE!) Sooooooo... we did a LOT of driving around and being stuck in traffic on many roads trying to even find an "interesting" bridge. See? Cuz I know where plenty of BRIDGES are in Annapolis -- It IS a town on the water - with the Chesapeake Bay AND the Severn River AND the South River! Thus lots of bridges! Boring bridges! As luck would have it ... or it might have been God, though I really didn't call Him into service on this one - we did get stopped at this light! (you can big all pics)
If you look carefully (or big it) you can see the cross bars down which indicate (not a train) that the draw bridge is going to move! Now, this was kind of interesting to me, and I ended up having to hop out of the car to take a picture - BECAUSE - I am used to draw bridges that go up and down - which is pretty neat in itself - but I had never seen a bridge that did THIS!
THIS bridge slid out. And from where I was standing, it LOOKED like that boat could go through on THIS side of the sliding out part OR on the other side -- it chose the far side - but it may be that there were mechanical things happening in that middle that I couldn't see because a 2nd boat came along just a second later and it too chose to go through on the far side. Now the really FUN part about this story is that I had been STANDING on this bridge about half an hour - maybe 45 minutes sooner than this, taking THIS picture...
... which was an okay picture - but nothing that I found really fabulous! I never even noticed that the bridge I was standing on was a draw bridge!!! This bridge however is one that I was STUCK in the traffic on -- if you big it, you can see that there is indeed much traffic pretty much sitting still on it... and would be for quite some time! Soooo... I'm thinking this whole bridge thing IS going to be as hard as I originally thought it was going to be... and I'm probably going to have to resort to quite a few archive shots! But we'll see. We never know where our days might take us!
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Around the House...
The lastest "trial" around the house is that we now have a family of birds living in our chimney! This happened last year about this time too. The babies were so LOUD that Dennis threatened to "smoke them out" -- but of course, I wouldn't LET him -- they're BABIES! Wellllll... apparently Mama has remembered my generosity and blessed our chimney with her brood again this year! And I believe her brood is bigger this year! So yesterday I get this bright idea - a real lightbulb moment - that I'm going to get a PICTURE of the birds in my chimney! So I open the door on the fireplace, and I open the screen on the fireplace, and I try to LOOK up in the fireplace - but it's DARK in there... and noisy! Sooooo I just stick my hand in there with the camera and I click! HOLY TOLEDO! Mama Bird went BALLISTIC!!! No! She did not attack me! She just YELLED at me! And if Dennis and I thought her brood was loud, we knew NOTHING until we heard from the Mama! Once she settled down I thought... "well... that didn't go so badly... except that I didn't get anything that even vaguely resembled a bird in my camera!"... so I tried it again! I still didn't get anything that resembles a bird, but I got a good clear shot of the cobwebs and our half open damper! We BELEIVE the nest is actually on top of the damper. They are definitely closer to the fireplace than they are to the roof! And this evening I looked in and asked Dennis WHY there is insulation in our fireplace? He said "No honey... there's NO insulation in the fireplace." ... I didn't ask IF there was ... I asked WHY! I said "Honey... I beg to differ with you!" I think the nest is falling apart! I'm sure soon they will be big enough to fly away! I think we need to get a screen on our chimney before NEXT hatching season!
Labels: Bridges
The RULES of Ella Phlint
I have been wanting to introduce you to a friend of mine. She's a very special friend! She's a lot like ME in many
weighs ways... but she gets away with things I often don't! (and sOme people think
I get away with a lot!!!) Now mind you, she's not BAD... she's just adventuresome... like me! And she LOVES to TRAVEL! Ohhhhh boy does she love to travel! She is somewhat of a freeloader though... I will admit that. But... oh, don't we ALL have a little bit of that in us? Just a little? Mostly... she's just a girl who wants to have FUN! Here she is!
My friend... Ella!
Ella Phlint!
Her MOTTO is ...
"Have Trunk... Will Travel!"
One really gOOd thing about Ella?
She is NOT picky about her mode of transportation!
She will pedal from here to California...
And she loves to drive!
(gotta watch her though - got a heavy foot on the pedal!)
She says she doesn't mind flying, and she loves boats! (I would imagine the faster the better!) Rumor has it that scooters and skateboards suffice as well! I overheard her say that she wouldn't CARE if she was stuffed in a box and MAILED somewhere -- as long as she gets to TRAVEL!
Well... Ella is here - and she's going to the beach with me for 3 weeks. But it's soooooooo sad... come October, poor little Ella has NO travel plans. This makes her very nervous! So... If YOU would like to host Ella for say a week at your house... please
email Ella with an invitation and let her know what dates you might be interested in having her. Please keep in mind that Ella is looking for FUN and ADVENTURE... so if you have an upcoming occasion that you would like to share with her let her know that and she will try to work with you!
Now... there ARE a few rules about having Ella as a house guest.
1.) Obviously, if you want her to visit you will have to give me your home address. If you are not comfortable to have your address given to someone else to have her shipped from their home, please let me know! I will be happy to have her shipped back to me and then ship her to you myself -- but that will slow down her travel and it may be longer before you get her.
(or maybe no one will want her and this whole project will FLOP!)2.)
HER SAFETY (in travel) is our top priority! I am willing to pay her travel expenses to ANYWHERE, but
you must be willing to pay her expenses back to me, or to the next person waiting for her. I know (from having sent other packages) that it is quite costly for her to go overseas... so keep that in mind! She would LOVE to see foreign lands... but she doesn't come without cost.
3.) I would like her shipped by some method that can be tracked! Do not just stick her in a box and send her U.S. Mail... I would like her to travel in either the big BROWN truck or the Federal Express truck! (or plane)
4.) Other than that? All is fair! If her attire is not appropriate for what you have in mind, feel free to change her clothes. (please just tuck her others in the box when you send her on - or if you wish to keep items you bought for her, please re-dress her in her current travel outfit!) She IS a Build-A-Bear Elephant, and any of the Build-A-Bear animal clothes will fit her -- but you may know of cheaper clothes that fit -- or you might be handy with a needle and want her in something tailored to your needs!
5.) YOU MUST BLOG HER!!! LOL! I should hope this would go without saying! But I'll say it, just so it's out there! If she comes to visit you, I want to know how she spent her time! I (for one) WILL be living vicariously through my friend!!!
I HOPE that you guys are as excited about Ella as I am! I find myself already wondering where she will spend Thanksgiving and Christmas and NEW YEARS!!! Which of my friends will SHE be partying with? WHO's wedding will she get to attend? Who will take her hiking and who will take her skiing? Will ANYone take her bungee jumping? Will she meet any celebrities? Oh! I just can't WAIT to find out! And neither can she!
An Introduction! ... and a Bridge...
I have been wanting to introduce you to a friend of mine. She's a very special friend! She's a lot like ME in many
weighs ways... but she gets away with things I often don't! (and sOme people think
I get away with a lot!!!) Now mind you, she's not BAD... she's just adventuresome... like me! And she LOVES to TRAVEL! Ohhhhh boy does she love to travel! She is somewhat of a freeloader though... I will admit that. But... oh, don't we ALL have a little bit of that in us? Just a little? Mostly... she's just a girl who wants to have FUN! Here she is!
My friend... Ella!
Ella Phlint!
Her MOTTO is ...
"Have Trunk... Will Travel!"
One really gOOd thing about Ella?
She is NOT picky about her mode of transportation!
She will pedal from here to California...
And she loves to drive!
(gotta watch her though - got a heavy foot on the pedal!)
She says she doesn't mind flying, and she loves boats! (I would imagine the faster the better!) Rumor has it that scooters and skateboards suffice as well! I overheard her say that she wouldn't CARE if she was stuffed in a box and MAILED somewhere -- as long as she gets to TRAVEL!
Well... Ella is here - and she's going to the beach with me for 3 weeks. But it's soooooooo sad... come October, poor little Ella has NO travel plans. This makes her very nervous! So... If YOU would like to host Ella for say a week at your house... please
email Ella with an invitation and let her know what dates you might be interested in having her. Please keep in mind that Ella is looking for FUN and ADVENTURE... so if you have an upcoming occasion that you would like to share with her let her know that and she will try to work with you!
Now... there ARE a few rules about having Ella as a house guest.
1.) Obviously, if you want her to visit you will have to give me your home address. If you are not comfortable to have your address given to someone else to have her shipped from their home, please let me know! I will be happy to have her shipped back to me and then ship her to you myself -- but that will slow down her travel and it may be longer before you get her.
(or maybe no one will want her and this whole project will FLOP!)2.)
HER SAFETY (in travel) is our top priority! I am willing to pay her travel expenses to ANYWHERE, but
you must be willing to pay her expenses back to me, or to the next person waiting for her. I know (from having sent other packages) that it is quite costly for her to go overseas... so keep that in mind! She would LOVE to see foreign lands... but she doesn't come without cost.
3.) I would like her shipped by some method that can be tracked! Do not just stick her in a box and send her U.S. Mail... I would like her to travel in either the big BROWN truck or the Federal Express truck! (or plane)
4.) Other than that? All is fair! If her attire is not appropriate for what you have in mind, feel free to change her clothes. (please just tuck her others in the box when you send her on - or if you wish to keep items you bought for her, please re-dress her in her current travel outfit!) She IS a Build-A-Bear Elephant, and any of the Build-A-Bear animal clothes will fit her -- but you may know of cheaper clothes that fit -- or you might be handy with a needle and want her in something tailored to your needs!
5.) YOU MUST BLOG HER!!! LOL! I should hope this would go without saying! But I'll say it, just so it's out there! If she comes to visit you, I want to know how she spent her time! I (for one) WILL be living vicariously through my friend!!!
I HOPE that you guys are as excited about Ella as I am! I find myself already wondering where she will spend Thanksgiving and Christmas and NEW YEARS!!! Which of my friends will SHE be partying with? WHO's wedding will she get to attend? Who will take her hiking and who will take her skiing? Will ANYone take her bungee jumping? Will she meet any celebrities? Oh! I just can't WAIT to find out! And neither can she!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okie doke... so Alice at Born2cree8 is hosting the NEXT photo challenge...it runs for a week, from today (Sunday) through Saturday, 8/24 - 8/30. This one is all about bridges! Come on and play!
So... this came out of my archives and I only know that it
was taken on one of my trips to New Hope, Va... God's Country!
I believe this was when Daisy & Knee were recuperating
from surgery and we were on an adventure. I don't remember
details - but I do know I COULD make something up and
Daisy would never tell! But I won't! I just LIKED this bridge
and took the photo!
And even BETTER than the bridge was the view from
the bridge! No matter which side you looked over!
Labels: Bridges, Ella
ByeBye Reflections.... and Wordzzle...
REFLECT THIS...
Day 7
A glance at Luzi Loo in my rear-view!
*yes! we were stopped at a light!*
Many THANKS to Quilly for hosting this great challenge
this week! I've never noticed sooooo many reflections in
all my life!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10 word challenge -- tiramisu, transfixed, evacuation, Queen of the Nile, pillowcase, grammatical, voice inflection, pacified, microclimate, swami
When he entered the apartment, I was seated like a swami on my huge overstuffed pillow. The one with the gold satin pillowcase. Queen of the Nile was playing on the big screen in front of me, and a plate of half eaten tiramisu was by my side. His gaze was transfixed on my lacy black teddy, but romance was far from his mind. "Are you INSANE?!", he bellowed. "Do you NOT know that the island is under mandatory evacuation!?" Glancing his way, and with completely stable voice inflection, I assured him that I had no intention of leaving until my movie was over. I invited him to take off his jacket, as I was sure it was the heat of our microclimate that was causing him to perspire, and then I offered him a piece of my tiramisu. But the boy would not be pacified and ran, muttering grammatical atrocities, from the apartment. Poor thing... he's always so melodramatic.
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Since I am actually UP posting at 3:40 in the morning... you can be assured that Luz is safely tucked in her bed and I am trying to catch up! She is going home late this afternoon - when I take her there... so I'll be around to MOST of you this evening! I may find a minute or two to visit a few of you during the day! Depends... It's amazing to me (everytime) how time consuming ONE little girl can be! But I'd never trade her for ... ANYthing! 2 more hours til coffee... I'm goin' back to bed now!!!
Labels: Reflections, Wordzzle
