The Mother of Invention

The girls are playing one of their favorite games.  We've had it a long time.  Can you tell what game it is?

 Here's a close-up of the board:

 That's right!  It's Clue.  We've had it so long that we've lost several of the playing pieces.

So they have scrounged around the house to find substitutes.  I believe this sword (that is standing in for the knife) once belonged to an action figure of Aragorn, son of Arathorn.  Looks like it's being wielded by Mrs. White in the dining room.

Standing in for Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum in the Lounge are yellow and purple erasers.  Mr. Green is also represented by an eraser somewhere else on the board.

When you don't have what you need, sometimes you use what you have...

Spanish Art

Today we spent much of the day at Castillo de St. Marcos in St. Augustine.  It was built by the Spanish from 1672 to 1695.

The Spanish turn everything into a work of art.

This sword hilt is beautiful.

 The towers in the corners of the bastions are so graceful to look at.  (Mr. H isn't bad, either, but he's not Spanish.)

 Look at the detail on this mortar.

 You wonder about putting this much creativity on something built for destruction.

They even have names engraved on them.

 In an otherwise uniform curtain wall, the entrance to the Chapel of St. Mark is very distinctive.

What a beautiful piece of history.

Just imagine if we put the same attention to detail into everything we did.  What if we tried to make everything we created a thing of beauty?  Something to strive for, isn't it?

Gear Is Good

Mr. H and I started off on our anniversary (31 years ago, we went on our first date) trip yesterday morning after we dropped the girls off at school.  After the, at times, torrential rains of Monday and Tuesday, the weather was gorgeous, but cold. If you know me at all, you know that I really do not like being cold.  There is a heater under my desk, a spare shawl in my office, and I'm the only one comfortable if the A/C goes out.

Nevertheless, I was game for the trip.  Last winter Mr. H got me a HiVis yellow riding jacket that has a thermal liner.  My riding pants have 2 liners: one is quilted, the other is water/wind proof.  So I layered-up:  an undershirt, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a turtleneck sweater, and a microfleece jacket under the riding jacket, then leggings and fleece pajama pants under the riding pants.  

Yes, I looked and felt like Ralphie's little brother.  Mr. H made a comment while I was getting dressed about how much he loved me because "a lot of women wouldn't wear all that stuff because they would be afraid it would make them look fat."  I smiled.  That's why I have him and they don't!

The temperature was in the 40's as we started off. (Mr. H's bike has a thermometer on the dash). It stayed around 47 for QUITE some time.  I had started off wearing a pair of Harley Davidson thermal liner gloves (my only Harley appearal) under my winter riding gloves.  They are rather like sweaters for your fingers.  When we made our first stop, I couldn't get my helmet off because my fingers were so cold.  They did seem to warm up as soon as I took my gloves off.  For the next leg of the trip, I left off the liners.  The winter gloves are really too big for me so I was able, occasionally to pull my fingers out of the fingers and make a fist in the palm part of the glove to warm them up, then slip them back into the finger spots.  I can't wear these gloves when I ride my own bike.  Loose gloves can be dangerous when operating the controls.  But they were fine with me riding pillion.

The highlight of my day came late in the day, about a half hour west of Jacksonville.  We pulled into a rest area so Mr. H could un-cramp his wrist before we got into rush hour traffic.  We nodded to a policeman walking back to his car and pulled into a parking place about 4 spaces from the police car.  I waited for Mr. H to shut off the engine, then unplugged the com cord.  I stood up on the pegs and swung my leg over....well, that was my intention anyway.  My foot caught on the back rest and I knew I was going down.

Two thoughts passed through my head almost at the same time.  1.  Catching that curb with the middle of my back is going to HURT! and 2.  I hope I don't drag Mr. H AND the bike down on top of me, because that would hurt even more.


Then I hit the pavement.

But I was wearing so much gear that I didn't even feel it!  I started laughing and Mr. H just looked at me wondering what was wrong.  I managed to open the visor so he could see my face and know I was okay.  However, remember I looked like Ralphie's little brother?  Do you remember the line from the movie?  "Randy lay there like a slug!"  I know exactly how Randy felt.  He couldn't move because he couldn't bend any limbs.  Mr. H had to give me a hand up.  And remember the policeman we saw on the way in?  He came over to see if all was well.  I know he must have thought I was intoxicated!  He inquired as to my wellbeing and then asked where we were headed.  Mr. H was quick to give him an answer and then asked the best way to get there, road conditions, traffic, that kind of stuff.  The officer was very helpful, telling us which lanes tend to back up and what to watch for.  Pretty soon we were back on the road and shortly arrived at our destination.

Today is a walking day, so I won't need any riding gear, but boy! am I glad I have it.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year, Thanksgiving was very low stress for me.  We went to eat at Mr. H's Mom's house and she did most of the cooking.  In fact, if we had brought absolutely nothing, there would have still been too much food.  Our 2 oldest girls each made a pie to take:  the eldest made apple and Em made pecan, even though she doesn't LIKE pecan pie, she didn't want her older sister to get all the pie-making glory.

It was a beautiful warm day.  The camellia bushes were loaded with buds, but only 2 had opened.

 We sat out on the back porch after lunch.

 This little guy came over to see what we were doing.

We watched football and ate snacks later.  Can you tell what color skittles no one likes in our family?

New Toy

I got a new toy!!

Actually, I should say "we" got a new toy, because it's a joint, early Christmas present for Mr. H and I.
It's a Canon Rebel T1i.
And I've been experimenting...

Mrs. Jones

Grisabella

I know, I know... I have lots of pictures of cats, but they are always available models.

 

 Mr. H is always a good model, too.

 

I love this view from my backyard.  I probably have quite a few pictures very similar to this.

 For some reason, I find this very appealing.

 My mom gave me this for my birthday a few years ago.  It's hanging on my front porch.

 I was experimenting with motion settings here.  

 These 2 sit on top of my monitor at work.

 I like the effect of the sun through the tree.

 I know, more cats:  real and wooden.

 One of my favorite spots on the planet.

 Up close and personal with moss on the tree.

 Yes, another cat picture.

Yes, I like taking pictures of trees, too.

Well, that's a small (very small!) sample of our experiments so far.  Stay tuned....

End of Day . . . Homeward Bound

Behind me, the full moon has risen.  There is a high, thin layer of clouds that has captured her reflected light and transformed itself into a pale, bright veil around her.

Ahead of me, the sky still bears the afterglow of sunset:  crimson fading up through gold and lavender into deep indigo.  Trees on the distant horizon are like black lace stretched at the bottom of the sky. 

Closer to the dark road, light glows from the windows of otherwise invisible homes. 

Soon ...
        very soon ...
                       there will be light shining from my own windows.

Warm Memory

This morning I was taking a pan of muffins out of the oven.  I set them on top of the stove and started to close the oven door.  I changed my mind and just left it open for a bit, letting the oven pour its heat out into the kitchen.  I backed up to the open door and let the heat rise up my back.  I would be hard pressed to find anything else that feels that good!

It reminded me of winters when I was growing up.  We had a floor furnace in our house.  Don't feel bad if you have no idea what that is.  I just explained it to El.  In the hallway of the bedroom end of the house, there was a metal grate in the floor.  Below that grate was a big heater.  And the grate got hot when the furnace was going.  I remember winter nights (and mornings) standing above the furnace (careful not to stand ON the furnace) in a long night gown.  The warm air would billow up the gown, ballooning it out, surrounding me with warmth.  On cold nights, it gave me a head start on warming up the bed.

When our eldest was young, we lived in a mobile home with floor vents.  I taught her the joy of standing over the vent in a long gown, too.
I can understand why floor furnaces were replaced with other heat sources.  The little boy who lived across the street from me all those years ago had a grid-pattern scar on this chest and stomach from a fall onto the hot metal.  I never thought about how dangerous my position above the furnace was until I saw what could happen if one got careless.