Monday, June 30, 2008

The Backside Of The Year

Today is the last day of June. The year is half over. Solstice is past and the days begin to grow shorter. Imperceptibly at first. Then one day you look out the window and realize that it is dark at a time when a month ago, the sun would still be shining.


Though there are still two long, miserably hot months to endure, the backside of the year brings with it a hope. Hope that is the promise of Autumn.

It is the hope of cooler weather. Crisp, clear days and chilly nights. The first frost.


It is over the river and through the woods. A cheery fire crackling upon the hearth. It's hot chocolate with marshmallows. It's that smell in the air that only Autumn can bring.

My birthday. Celebrating the joy of being alive in this magical world. Thankful for the gift of another year.

Football. Harvest. Thanksgiving.


Autumn.

The trees exult in one final dance before the evening shadows fade into the night that is winter.


The leaves, one by one, let go and swirl in eddies of wind before settling to the earth, where they crunch and crackle underfoot. And nature drifts off to sleep.

It's a wondrous and wonderful time, this backside of the year.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Lessons Learned

1. Sleeping until 6:30 seems like luxury after getting up at 3:45.

2. Getting up at 3:45 for several mornings in a row leads to the accumulated effects of not getting enough sleep.

3. Lack of sleep stifles creativity.

4. Stifled creativity leads to lists.

5. Lack of sleep also lowers inhibitions which can lead to purchasing $60 worth of lace weight yarn from Knitpicks.

6. $60 yarn purchases can lead to feelings of buyer's remorse. Brief ones. Very brief.

7. $60 worth of lace weight yarn also reminds one of the need to finish the shawl already on the needles.

8. The need to finish the lace weight shawl makes one feel the need to find more podcasts to listen to.

9. The need to find more podcasts reminds the blog author that she intended to do a post reviewing knitting podcasts.

10. Lack of sleep makes the blog author want to go to bed instead of writing podcast reviews.

11. Wanting to go to bed reminds the blog author of the pile of clothes on said bed that need to be folded

12. The pile of unfolded clothes on the bed means that this post is now over because the blog author is going to go fold said clothes and get into the aforementioned bed.

13. Goodnight.

14. Though the blog author is not superstitious, she is writing one more list item so as not to leave the post with 13.

15. Goodnight again.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Saturday Sky



The same flower as the other day, but I re-photographed it with a more pleasing crop.

And we have sock progress to show off as well:

I am past the heel turn and working on the gusset decreases. I did modify the pattern by substituting an eye of partridge heel instead of the short row heel.

Summer Photo Project Topic: Face

The list never specified whose face it had to be, so I chose Monty.

I tried to get Onyx's face, but he wouldn't be still. You know, Dr. Phil says that the only reason we give children middle names is to that they'll know when they're really in trouble. The only snake I have with a middle name is Onyx.

He's the only one who needs one.

.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Seven Things About Me

1. I have a piece of the Berlin Wall. A cousin of mine had a friend who was in Germany when the wall was torn down. She collected several pieces of the wall and gave some of them to my cousin, who passed one on to me.

2. I watched on live TV as Ken Griffey, Jr. hit his 599th home run. He has since hit three more, bringing his current total to 602. He becomes only the sixth man to hit more than 600 home runs.

3. When I was in Italy, Gerald McRaney came over to hour base and gave us a talk encouraging us to consider serving in the military. I wondered at this--preaching to the choir. He was giving out autographs, but the only thing I had that he could sign was Cody's diaper. I passed.

4. I saw Mary Lou Retton frying chicken in a mall in Memphis. A couple of years later, that entire mall was torn down. No testament to Miss Retton's cooking, I hope.

5. I have a white stripe down my belly. It's been there for as long as I can remember. It's just a lack of melanin in that particular area. It starts in the middle of my chest and ends at my navel. A friend once said that it looked like someone poked a hole in my belly button and all the color drained out.

6. I have rough spots on the tops of both of my ears. I tell people that it's where they cut the points off when I was a baby.

7. I dream in color. Always. In fact, the idea that some people seldom, if ever, dream in color came as quite a shock to me.

So there you have it. Seven things about me you probably wish you didn't know.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Finally!

The Supreme Court finally gets one right. It's refreshing--not to mention surprising--to see them actually UPHOLD our Consititutional rights for once.

Dissenting justice Stephen Breyer said, "The decision threatens to throw into doubt the constitutionality of gun laws throughout the United States." Let us hope so.

It's always been pretty clear to me:

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

What part of "shall not" do they not understand?


Summer Photo Project: Flower



I can't seem to grow them on purpose, but when the birds kick the seeds out of the feeder, they sprout and do very well.

**Remember, everyone is welcome to participate in the Summer Photo Project. You don't have to be a member of the blog. Just post on your own site if you'd like.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Strange Dream, Take---uh-- Whatever

I was at a wedding shower, or reception or something and there was a pink cake there. I thought, "Oooh, that cake looks good," and promptly took a bite. As soon as the cake was in my mouth, I though, "Dang! Why did I do that? That cake is sure to have eggs in it!" For those of you new to my blog, I am allergic to eggs.

So I was walking around with this bit of cake in my mouth trying to get alone somewhere so I could discreetly spit it out. At the same time, I was trying to lick all of the icing off, without swallowing any of the cake.

I finally got over into a corner and was about to spit the cake into my napkin, when up walks the bride! I woke up about then, but I don't remember if I was able to spit out the cake.

And I wonder why I always wake up so tired!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I Don't Know

Ok, so I'm not sure what happened. I did write a post yesterday. I thought it odd that I didn't get a single comment on it, until I checked my blog. The post wasn't there. I thought I published it, but I must have closed the window instead. Hmmm. I blame it on getting up at 3:45.

It wasn't very long. Not much more than a place holder, so you didn't miss much.

I had a Duh! moment over the weekend. Back when I'd first gotten my Walkman, I'd downloaded Pride and Prejudice from Librivox.com. I'd clicked the link to download the entire book in a zip file, which was cool. Anyway, I was listening to it one evening when I realized several parts had been left out. I wondered if it was an abridged version, but it wasn't. Then I got to checking and realized that several chapters had not downloaded. I was a bit irritated at that, and at having to download them all one by one.

After doing all that, I decided to go back to chapter one and start over, only I never had. I'd been too busy listening to knitting podcasts. Well, Sunday afternoon, I was copying music from my CDs to put onto my walkman when I found the Brilliance Audio version of--yes--Pride and Prejudice that I'd paid some $40 something for at the book store. Months ago. And I'd never listened to it. Duh! Onto the walkman it went, well disc 1 at least. I haven't gotten the others on there yet.

That's the most exciting thing that has happened to me in weeks. Man, do I need to get a life!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sunday Socks

They're coming along right nicely.

I really don't have much to talk about, because, I just didn't do anything today. I folded a couple of loads of clothes that I'd washed yesterday. That's a good thing.

I listened to podcasts and knit.

I watched a bit of the Olympic diving trials and knit.

I put flea stuff on the cat. I managed to do it by myself, though it left me bleeding in more than one spot.

I stared at the dishes in the sink and thought to myself that I really need to unload the dishwasher so I can get the dishes out of the sink, but I didn't do it.

And--well--that's about it.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Summer Has Begun

Summer has begun, and so has Summer Of Socks. I cast on my Nutkin and finished one pattern repeat. So far, everything I've heard about this pattern has been found to be true. The cast on is very fiddly, but looks nice once it's done. The pattern is really easy to memorize. In fact, after the first few rows, I no longer even needed to look at the chart.

The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Sugar Maple colorway.

The Rona shawl is coming along, though slowly.
It'll be hard to take good pictures of it until it's done, because it'll be bunched up on the needles.

I've also gotten a bit of work done on the latest scarf. I like the way the yarn is striping.

I'll be sending this one off to Scarves From The Heart when it is done.

A funny thing happened when I got home from work. As soon as I got into the house, the bottom dropped out and it poured rain.

But only for about 10 minutes. Then the clouds broke up and my Saturday Sky looked much more cheerful.

So I got out and took a picture of a day lily.


This picture was harder to get than I though it would be. Reason being--I am short, and these lilies are tall. Most of them were taller than I am. I did find this one squatty one. Now that the sun is down, the flower is dead, but it is immortalized forever in film--or .jpg as the case may be.

These last three pictures will also be posted on the Summer Photo Project blog.

Summer Photo Project Challenge #1

Photographer's Choice

Since we started the project a bit early, we are going to mark the official start of summer with our first photo challenge. To kind of get us into the swing of things without too much stress, our first challenge will be Photographer's Choice. Go out and take a picture of whatever catches your eye, whether it is on your list or not.

Ah, but there is a catch. You knew there had to be one, didn't you? I couldn't let you off that easy now, could I?

So what is the catch? Just this: instead of running out into the yard and snapping a picture of the dog or the garden gnome and saying you're done, I want you to think about your picture. Really think. How can I make this a better shot? How can I make this picture more pleasing to the eye? Use your rules of composition, your depth of field, and your exposure triangle to take, not just a shapshot of Uncle Fred, but a portrait.

Now I know that many of you have the rules of composition down, but for those of you unfamiliar with them, I will summarize them. For further review, an in depth article can be found here.

The first rule of composition is: Get Closer. When I was in the Navy, i went to one of my schools in Orlando, Fl. While there, I briefly dated a guy I'll call Randy. One weekend, Randy and I went to Disneyworld. While walking through the Magic Kingdom, Randy said, "Sit down on that bench and I'll take your picture."

I sat down and Randy promptly turned and walked to the other side of the park. Ok, I exaggerate, but he did walk at least 50 yards away. That's yards, not feet.

"What are you going to take a picture of?" I yelled. I had to yell because he was so far away, he wouldn't have heard me otherwise. "You won't even be able to see me from that far away. Come closer."

Randy took a couple of steps closer.

"Come closer than that!" I yelled, and Randy took a few more steps towards me.

"Closer!!!" I called again.

"What do you want me to do?" Randy yelled back. "Stand on top of you to take the #@*& picture?"

I gave in and let him take the picture he wanted to take. This is the result:

It's an --eh--picture, but not really a great one. I don't know why people think they need to take a picture from 1/2 mile away, but it is one of the most common mistakes beginning photographers make. How much better this photo would have been had Randy gotten close enough. (I employed a little creative cropping to get this image--thus the poor quality.)

To get even closer to your subject, don't be afraid to turn your camera sideways:

While you are getting closer, don't forget to check your background. Is it cluttered? Is there a light pole growing out of Aunt Rosemary's head? Are there Spongebob eyes peering over the Miller Lite monster's shoulder? That actually looks kind of cool, but in a nice portrait, the only eyes you want to see are that of your subject(s).

Rule #2: The Rule Of Thirds. Divide your photo area in to thirds, both horizontally and vertically. If you have a horizontal plane in your photo, place it along one of the horizontal lines. If you have a vertical object, place it along one of the vertical lines. For a single object, place it at the intersection of two of the lines. For some reason, the lower left intersection seems to be my favorite, as in this picture of blueberries:

Now, I'm not saying you should measure and divide your photo. Just eyeball it and you'll be close enough.

Rule # 3: Diagonals. Positioning your subject diagonally across the photo is also a pleasing composition. Notice in this picture of the polar bear and the picture taker:

the diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right. (Not to blow my own horn, but this has got to be my very favorite picture I ever took.)

Rule #4: Depth of Field. If your camera has a setting in which you can change the aperture, just remember, the smaller the aperture number, the smaller the depth of field. I can get into a long, boring explanation of focal lengths and whatnot, but really that's all you need to know. Why is depth of field important. The picture of the moth I posted yesterday, how cluttered would it have looked had all the details of my front yard been in sharp focus?

Now in some cases, you may want a greater depth of field. In that case, set your aperture to a bigger number.

These are enough to get you started. If you want to read about this subject in greater detail, there are many online photography sites to help you. The Morguefile site that I linked above has some great articles. Do go and check them out.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Of Moths And MeMes

I'll just let you wonder how I took this picture.

I first saw this meme over at Buck's place. It has since made the rounds, and I am, as usual, a day late and a dollar short. Here it is, my blogging space. You can see my chair is old. It was old when it was given to me, and has since gotten older still. I swiped the throw pillows from the love seat because all the padding in the seat is basically gone.

On top of the desk, from left to right: Polar bear bought at the Memphis Zoo, and a carved lava bear bought on Mt. Vesuvius. My Dallas Cowboys Nerf football, with my DeMarcus Ware action figure (laying down) in front of it. A small ceramic bowl that Cody made me for Mother's Day and behind it is my Dallas Cowboys sideline cap--still with the slips of names from my last contest in it. We also have an empty diet vanilla coke can, a 365 Knitting Stitches A Year perpetual calendar, a picture of Cody when he was in first grade little league baseball, my wireless modem and my second place karate trophy.

I won't even get into the piles of paper on the bottom part of the desk. I will say, though, that until I took this picture, I didn't notice I had two cans of the keyboard duster stuff. On the far right, you can see my spindolyn with some of my fuzzy lettuce roving mostly spun up. I really need to finish that. I'm finding that my spindolyn is not as fast or as enjoyable as using a regular drop spindle. Maybe I just don't have the knack, but it doesn't spin as long as a drop spindle does.

Does anyone know what tomorrow is? Yep, the first day of Summer! And with that comes the first day of Summer of Socks '08! Woo Hoo! I have my yarn wound, my needles found and my pattern printed out. But I'm not staying up until midnight to cast on like some folks are. I'll have to cast on when I get home from work.

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! I'm going to bed now, so tomorrow will get here faster!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Pierced Ears

It is more and more of a trend these days to get girls' ears pierced when they are babies. They say it's easier on them. I don't know about that, but I disagree with doing it that way.

You see, when I was growing up, getting your ears pierced was something special for girls to look forward to. I can remember how excited my classmates were when their mothers decided they were old enough to get their ears pierced. It was a sign that they were growing up. A rite of passage. It was a source of pride.

Piercing a baby's ears robs her of all of that. The anticipation. The pride. The symbol that you are becoming a young woman.

I always said that if I had a little girl, I wouldn't get her ears pierced until she began asking for it. Then it would be for a special occasion--like her birthday. I would not rob her of that experience.

Now, me--I was always a tomboy. I never cared about getting my ears pierced. I was 19 before I did. My mother talked me into it. See, she wanted her ears pierced, but had convinced herself that my dad was opposed to piercings. She told me once that he thought that if God had wanted holes in our ears, He would have put them there himself.

When I was 19, she talked me into going to get my ears pierced. She even offered to pay for it. Well, she would re-pay me, but only after we had seen how my dad reacted. That was the whole reason she wanted me to get my ears pierced: to see how my dad would react. If he exploded, then she could say she didn't have anything to do with it. And of course, I would bear the brunt of my dad's anger. I was to be the sacrificial lamb, so to speak.

The appointed day arrived, and I got my ears pierced right on schedule. I wasn't afraid of Dad. I knew he wouldn't care. In fact, he didn't even notice until the next day. That evening--the next day--we were sitting on the couch watching TV, and my dad turned to me and said, "You have a bug on your ear."

"That's an earring," I replied.

"Oh, you got your ears pierced," Dad said. Calmly. Approvingly. And that was the last he ever said about it. He was not opposed to it. He never had been. My mother's persecution complex had dreamed the whole thing up.

The very next week, she went and got her ears pierced. She and my sister.

After they'd seen that my dad would let me live.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Basketball Movies

I know I said previously that I would review baseball movies next, but I changed my mind. I decided to do basketball movies, because I've seen fewer of them. Really, I've only seen three. All of them are based on true stories.

Hoosiers: It's been many years since I've seen this one. It is a pretty predictable movie about a new coach coming in to lead an underdog high school basketball to the state championship. I don't really remember much about it, but I remember that it was a fairly good movie.

Believe in Me: The story of a man hired to coach a boys basketball team in a small Oklahoma town in the 1960s. However, when he reports to his job, he discovers that the man who hired him has had a heart attack, and the man who replaced the guy has given that job to his nephew. The coach is told that he can either be an assistant coach (with the appropriate cut in pay), or he can coach the girls team. He reluctantly takes the job of coaching the girls, only to discover that it's a whole different ball game. Not only does he have to learn how to coach girls, but he has to battle a school board which believes that girls athletic programs are a waste of time and money. "Girls don't get scholarships. Girls don't draw crowds, " he is told, but he doesn't let that stop him. This is a good, clean family movie, with very little profanity and a good message.

Coach Carter: This is by far the best of the basketball movies I've seen. Coach Ken Carter is hired to turn around the boys basketball team in Richmond, California. When he gets there, he makes the boys sign a contract stating that they will maintain a certain GPA, attend all classes, sit in the front row, and wear a suit and tie to school on game days. Well, he gets the team to winning, only to discover that the boys are still failing, still cutting classes, and still getting into trouble. In a highly controversial move, Coach Carter padlocks the gym doors and forfeits the next game. He is finally ordered to remove the padlock, which he does, but what happens next may surprise you.

Now I'm not normally a huge basketball fan, but I did enjoy these three movies.

For Easy Reference

I got tired of searching for some of my favorite NFL clips, so I'm linking them all here for easy reference. It's just for my own personal use, but you're always free to watch them yourself.

Sounds Of The Game: Best Of 2007

Captain Comeback: Roger Staubach

Top Ten Mobile QBS

Best Of Tony Romo

Best of Marion Barber

Best of Terrell Owens

He Leads The League in Yards Without A Helmet

For Sainthood

Pro Bowl Practice

NFL Super Ad

Monday, June 16, 2008

Summer Photo Project

Fruits and Vegetables (still growing)

Fruits and Vegetables

Blueberries

Fruits and Vegetables

Blueberries

Fruits and Vegetables

Fig--not ripe yet

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day

to Buck, my only reader who actually happens to be a father.

Secondly, if you haven't visited our Summer Photo Project blog, do go. Carol has posted quite a few pictures, and they are very beautiful! She has the most adorable grandbaby, too!

Well, Cody is off to his grandma's for a few weeks, and the first thing I did was totally clean his bathroom. Ewwww! It definitely needed it, though. Next up is his bedroom. I started by washing his sheets and comforter. While they were in the laundry, I took his mattress off the bed and scraped all the gunk up from underneath it. Ick. I also took out the empty drink cans and dirty dishes. Well, it's a start!

I've spent the rest of the day knitting and listening to podcasts. I worked a few rounds on my Rona Lace shawl, and cast on a new scarf. Shelly has made an appeal for more manly scarves, so I started another One Row scarf, in some variegated yarn that is gray, red, and gold. I'm hoping it'll be manly enough.


I watched golf today. It wasn't an entire game, just highlights. My kind of golf show. I'm not normally into watching golf. While I'm sure it's a fun game to play, it's not that exciting to watch. But a show just featuring the highlights I can deal with. Plus, I watched it for who was playing. And who won...

Who was it? Need you even ask?

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Stormy Saturday

I was able to get this picture just after the storms moved off, which happily coincided with the exact hour I got off of work. How much better does it get?

I finally managed to finish the Baudelaires. It is surprisingly difficult to take good pictures of your own feet. Here are some of my better attempts:




It is a wonderful feeling to wake up in the middle of the night, glance at the clock and see that it is 3:30 AM, then roll over and snuggle back down under the covers, knowing you don't have to get up for another 4 hours.

On the other hand, it is the worst feeling to wake up in the middle of the night, glance at the clock and see that it is 3:30 AM, and fall back groaning because you know that you have to get up in 15 minutes.

I've fallen into the second category far too much here lately.

That's probably why all my pictures are sideways.

Heh.

..

Dear Mr. O

An Addendum

If I am gazing after Bobby as he walks down the aisle and you happen to pass into my field of vision, there is no need to get so excited. That look was not directed at you. Furthermore, there is certainly no need to drive back and forth past my work area an additional 17 times in hopes that the look will be repeated. It won't. Unless you put Bobby on your forklift.

Friday, June 13, 2008

The Station Wagon

The day my parents bought The Station Wagon, they had taken us kids to stay at Mammaw's--at least us older kids. I think they took Scott and Deana with them. Scott was just a baby, which would have made me 6-ish. A while later, Dad came to pick Russell and me up. What struck me as odd was that he had our mother with him when he left, but not when he came back. He had taken her and the little ones home before coming to get us.

"Hey kids, I've got a surprise for you," Dad called as he walked into Mammaw's house.

Oh, boy! A surprise! I ran outside, opened the door of the car and there in the back seat was...

nothing. There was nothing there.

Confused, I asked Dad where the surprise was. "It's the car!" he replied. "We bought a new car. That's the surprise."

This is not actually our car, but it looked very much like this, right down to the color--Sea Foam Green.

Oh. That wasn't a surprise. I had known that my parents were going to buy a new car. I'm not sure how I knew. Maybe it was when they said, "You're going to go stay with Mammaw while we go buy a new car."

Yeah, that was a pretty big hint.

So I was a bit disappointed. I had been expecting a real surprise. But then...Daddy opened up the back hatch of The Station Wagon and lo and behold, there were seats back there! Two of them. They weren't like regular car seats either. They were sideways, facing each other. Not only that, but the window in the back hatch had a handle and it rolled down! Oh we had so much fun riding home in those seats with the back window rolled down.

When not in use, the seats folded down and made a regular floor in what came to be known in the family vernacular as The Back Back. We loved riding in The Back Back, but it didn't happen often, as our mother couldn't be bothered to raise the seats. Once we learned how to raise them ourselves, yeah, we rode back there more, but mother still wouldn't open the back hatch for us, and she certainly wouldn't let us crawl in and out of the back window! No, we had to get into the back seat and climb over. But that was OK with us. We still loved riding in The Back Back.

My mother is the younger of two children. Her brother, my Uncle Jack, and his family live in Alabama. Every year at Christmas, they would all come see us. Every year at Easter, we would all go see them. We didn't have spring break in my school. We got a week off for Easter and we always went to Alabama that week.

When I was very small, we would drive about half way--it was a 10 hour drive from Orange, TX to Grove Hill, AL--and spend the night somewhere in Louisiana. About the time we got The Station Wagon, all that changed. My parents decided they would make the drive all in one whack and save themselves a hotel bill. So they put the seats down in The Back Back, spread some blankets on the floor, and threw all us kids back there. You could do that back then and not get arrested.

That had to be the funnest car trip I ever took. We talked, we laughed, we cut up. When Scott and Deana needed naps, we all laid down and they napped. Russell and I had stopped taking naps long ago, but we had to lay down to get the two little ones to lay down. Once they were asleep, we could get back up.

At one point, Dad told us we were talking too much. We'd fogged up the windows! We were under an order of silence until the windows un-fogged. To this day, I suspect my Dad had somehow fogged the windows on purpose, just to get us to be quiet for a few moments. Another time, he called out, "Listen! Everybody listen!" We got real quiet, and listened hard. I couldn't hear anything and said so.

"I don't hear anything"

"That's the point!" replied my Dad.

Suddenly Dad started singing, to the tune of Dixie:

A way down South where the cotton grows
There was an old man picking his nose!

Now, to a little kid, there are two things that are always uproariously funny--nose picking is one of them. Passing gas is the other, but we won't go there. Not this time. We shrieked with laughter and sang that song over and over and over and over until

"All right! That's enough!"

My mother yelled at us, then she spent the rest of the trip fussing at Dad for teaching us that song in the first place. I'm sure beneath the "yes, Dear" and "You're right, Dear" Dad was laughing under his breath. He was like that, my dad was.

A year or so later, when Scott was maybe 2, and I was about 8, we were going to a family dinner at my Aunt Martha's. That is Dad's oldest sister. Russell and I were loading food in to The Back Back of The Station Wagon. Scott and Deana were playing inside the car. Russell and I had just set a couple of casserole dishes down when suddenly The Station Wagon began moving towards us! It was rolling! Out of the driveway! I jumped to the side--the passenger side--and grabbed the door handle, thinking I could somehow stop it from rolling. But, no. I was being pulled along by the car. I let go, and as I turned to run, I saw Russell had jumped into the driver's seat and was frantically jiggling and hitting the gear shift, trying unsuccessfully to get the car back into park.

I ran into the house. My parents were just inside the door, and I could tell they'd been arguing. Normally, I wouldn't get anywhere near my mother under such circumstances, for fear she would turn her fury on me. But this time, I didn't even think about that. I burst in on them and yelled,

"Scott's backing the car out of the driveway!"

I swear I have never seen my dad move so fast. He ran out of the house and mother and I followed him. By that time, The Station Wagon had rolled all the way out of the driveway, across the street, though the ditch into the empty field across the street from my house. It was stopped just a few feet from the gully in the field. Russell had finally thought to put his foot on the brake, and was able to stop the car.

He was just sitting there, pushing on the brake pedal, waiting for someone to rescue him. Dad reached in through the open door and put The Station Wagon into park. He made it look so easy. Russell got out, Dad got in, started the car and drove it back across the field, through the ditch, across the road and back into the driveway.

And no one was the worse for wear. Thankfully.

Not long after that, car companies started making it so that the keys must be in the ignition before anyone can shift gears.

For good reason.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Countdown To College Football

Summer Photo Project

Enough people have shown interest that I will set up a group blog for this. If you want to join, please send me your e-mail address so I can send you an invite. I'll try to get it set up this weekend. If you don't want to fool with the group blog thing, you are still welcome to participate and post to your own blog.

As of today, there is a link to The List in my left sidebar. It'll be there until the completion of the project.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Summer Photo Project

A question has been asked of me in a private correspondence. When I suggested the summer photo project, I had in mind that we would all just post our photos on our own blogs. However, I was asked if I were going to start a blog just for the project. I said I'd ask and see what everyone wanted to do.

If there is enough interest, I will start a group blog just for the project. However, be aware that you will not be required to post on that blog if you don't want to. It would be a nice, convenient way to see everyone's photos, though, having them all in one place like that.

So tell me, do you want to? If so, send me an e-mail. I will need your e-mail addys to send you invitations. If not, we'll just post them on our regular blogs.

By the way, this is not an all or nothing thing. If some people want the group blog, then those people can post to it, while those who don't can still post to their regular blogs. Or you can do both. Whatever. I'm flexible.

I'm rambling, now. It's late.

I'm going to bed.

The Phoenix Rises

Let me start by apologizing for a lack of post yesterday. When I got home from Karate, I sat down to post, only to discover that I had no internet connection. It didn't come back up until sometime today while I was at work. Funny, I didn't miss it as much as you might think. I just listened to some Miss Marple stories on my Walkman, and knitted.

So what is new these last couple of days? This, for starters:

Four skeins of Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud lace weight yarn in Iris Heather. It looks gray in the photo, but it is actually a light purple. Someone on Ravelry was offering it up for $20 for all four. How could I resist? Now to find just the right pattern for it.

The second Baudelaire is done, but I don't have pictures yet. Soon. I knit the second one per pattern, and decided to rip the first one back to the same length. You know that too much of a good thing is not a good thing. This was one of those cases. I was trying to wear the first Baudelaire, and it was just not comfortable.

Sensei has changed the class times again. Adult class is now 6:30-7:30 instead of 7:30-8:30. This is much better for me, especially since we are working 9 hour shifts right now. That means I have to be at work at 6:00 AM. He has also added an adult class on Wednesday nights. I went tonight and it was just me and a green belt named Tim. Sensei taught Tim a new kata, and I worked on all of mine, including weapons. Sensei hinted that if I can make it to the seminar in Shreveport in November, I can test for my second degree then. If not, I will have to wait until next spring. I'm busy trying to save my pennies for that.

I apologize that my posts have seemed so disjointed lately. The writing muse has been quiet lately. I hope she whispers something soon. I'm even bored by my own blog.

And a lovely parting shot for you to enjoy:


P.S. Note to Buck: Last year, the first college football games were played the last weekend of August. I'm going on the assumption that it will be the same this year. I'll make a college countdown as soon as I get some sleep.

Summer Photo Project

Here is the list for the summer photo project. If anyone wants to add anything, you can do so until June 30th. Just leave me a comment or e-mail, and I will add the item to this post. Also, I know it's not officially summer, but we can go ahead and start taking photos. Remember, there are no wrong answers. Everything is up to your interpretation. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

Airplane
Architecture
Blue
Brightness
Child
Circles
Cooling Off
Decay/Decrepitude
Emotion
Face
Farm or Zoo animal
Festival or Fair
Flip-Flops (on someone)
Flower
Food and Drink
Fruits/Veg
Furry
Historical landmark/item/place
Light
Lines
Local landmark
Local Playground
Nighttime Event
Peace
Rain (Summer Rain)
Red Button
Simplicity
Small Town Square
Something defining your region
Sport
Summer
Sunset
Texture
Tourist
Transport
Tree branches against blue sky
Water
Weather
Wig (someone wearing)

Monday, June 09, 2008

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Countdown




Countdown To Football Season

Calendar Contest

Lynn is having a contest to celebrate her second bloggiversary. All you gotta do is post a picture of your June calendar to your blog, then leave a link in the comments of her contest post. Here is my June calendar:

And here is Cody's:

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Saturday Sky

We'll Have To Wait

Winning horse racing's Triple Crown is probably the most difficult thing to do in sports. It is so difficult that in 133 years, only 11 horses have done so. Not even the Greatest of Them All won the Triple Crown.

Sir Barton was the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 1919. The last was Affirmed, in 1978.

That's right. Nineteen seventy eight.

Today, Big Brown was looking to become only the 12th winner of the Triple Crown and the first horse to do so in 30 years. He had a chance. A good chance. He was big. He was strong. He was confident. He was undefeated. He had white on his face. All the great ones have white on their faces, or so it is said.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

But it was not to be. Something went wrong, though nobody is quite sure what yet, and the big colt was pulled up by his jockey with 3 furlongs left in the race. He lost.

And we'll have to wait a little longer...




So let's keep ourselves busy by watching a few videos.

Affirmed winning the Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown in 1978:



Seattle Slew won in 1977:



And the Legendary Secretariat in 1973:



I remember watching all three of these horses race. After Secretariat won, I remember asking my daddy if he thought they'd sell that horse, because I wanted to buy him. He said no, that horse is too valuable. I was only 8, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

A complete listing of all the Triple Crown winners. Short, isn't it?

1978 Affirmed
1977 Seattle Slew
1973 Secretariat
1948 Citation
1946 Assault
1943 Count Fleet
1941 Whirlaway
1937 War Admiral
1935 Omaha
1930 Gallant Fox
1919 Sir Barton

Friday, June 06, 2008

Rumors, Rumors

If the latest rumors are to be believed, Tony has dumped the bubblehead, again. Of course, her people are denying that it has happened, again.

Now, many of us have wondered why she was with him to begin with. After all, didn't she hate sports? Isn't that one of the reasons she divorced her first hubby--because he was a sports fanatic? Isn't that one of the things she hated about him? So why would she be hooking up with a professional athlete if she hates sports so much?

Some of us suspect that it had a lot to do with an attempt to bolster her own flagging image. He is one of the most popular young up and coming athletes in the NFL, so why not ride his coat tails back into the spotlight? As Mickey Spagnola once said, "You can't pay for this much cheap publicity."

Well, it seems that now her daddy wants to dip his fingers into that pot as well.

A source tells Us Weekly, Joe asked Romo, 28, to drop his agent so he could take over his NFL career and $67.5 million contract.

Which, of course, would net Joe a hefty percentage of that contract as well. Not only that, he's offered to "sell" their engagement--provided they should become engaged, that is. (On the other hand, her mother has stated that they are already married, so who knows what the truth is.)

Apparently this was the last straw, and drove the final coffin nail into their already shaky relationship.

If rumors are to be believed, that is.

One can only hope...

Re-Runs

Since that's all that's on TV, shouldn't blogland follow suit? What we have here are reruns of some of my favorite pictures from last summer.





Thursday, June 05, 2008

Clothes

I hate shopping for clothes.

I think it's the fashions these days. We don't have much of a choice. I'm a bit old for the teenage hooker look. Yet I'm not quite ready for the cotton housedress either.

Why do I bring this up? I'm down to two wearable pairs of shorts. I need some more, but face it, no one wants to see this body in skin tight lowriders. But that's all I can find nowadays.

Unless I head over to the plus sizes, which will fall off of me.

Sigh, it may be time to break out the ol' sewing machine again.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

After The Storm

Sunday night, it was. We had a hellacious storm blow through, but once it was gone, it left behind a sky of breathtaking beauty. If only photos could capture what the eye can see.





This just in: The Red Guys have won the hockey championship thingy. Contratulations, Buck!