Thanks to Melanie for this idea. Here is a digital version of my Christmas card for 2008. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too.
(Those of you who know me will say, "Which camera?" The Nikon D60 that I HAD TO HAVE when two friends at church turned me on to the series. Yes I know, I should go to a support group. "Hello, my name is Joyce and I'm addicted to new technology...")
Today is an anniversary that we MUST take time to remember.
My mom and I have traveled to New York City together twice. We made a trip with friends in April of 2001 to celebrate my 30th birthday. We also celebrated Mom's 76th birthday with a trip in July of 2004.
We visited Ground Zero on our trip in 2004 - below are some of the pictures I took that day. (I wish I had digital pictures from the trip in 2001 - it would make these pictures all the more poignant.)
I have a new friend living with me at the moment. I think he's cute. I've decide he can stay... as long as he understands he can't infringe on my space. Currently he lives in the garage. I believe he used to live near the front porch in these weird plants that used to be there before Dad and I dug them out. Not sure where he's been since we did that a year or two ago. (And I can't find my original pictures from the plant area to see how he's grown!)
Close up shot of little Leonard the Lizzard.*
Here's some perspective - he's not that big.*Several days ago a great friend got back in touch with me and she called me out on my serious lack of blogging. I wasn't going to include the text of her message here, but I think you'd enjoy it. And maybe she will too. I'm not naming names. Just responding.
"Really blogging once a year seems a little goofy for someone who travels as much as you! You thought I wasn't paying attention!"
I'm pretty sure that I haven't been on a trip since last June or July when I went to Chicago. I'm not counting the numerous trips to San Antonio since last August when I started helping my uncle. I should have taken some pictures of San Antonio, but all I have are pictures from his old (interesting and dusty) apartment and a few from his new place. I can't think that you would be interested in those, but I'll include a couple because I ALWAYS have pictures in my posts. His new place is rearranged a bit now and there is a nice bed spread too. (Please note that if cell phone cameras were any good at all, I'd have some VERY interesting things to show you from the cabinet cleaning in the kitchen.)
Desk area before... (the key here was to reproduce it exactly at the new place. I took about 8 pictures of the stuff on top and then used them for reference.)
The sitting area before.
The new place.
Another view of the new place. This part is rearranged now and there are two new recliners instead of the small couch and green chair (which broke).1. Lyle Lovett in concert - if you're paying attention then you already know this about me. I recently saw him at the new venue in Austin - The Long Center. What a nice venue! Great location, great views from the courtyard and outdoor balconies, easy parking and super acoustics. Pictures are below. Should I mention that I also have a crush on the cello player, John Hagen, and the acoustic guitar player, Keith Sewell (who also plays mandolin and sings).
From the terrace at The Long Center
Ray Herndon, SweetPea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens (hidden),
Ray Herndon on electric guitar, Willie Green, Jr., Sir Harry Bowens,
Lyle Lovett and John Hagen
Lyle Lovett
Viktor Krauss on stand-up bass, Keith Sewell on acoustic guitar,Is anyone still checking my blog? I know that I have been a slacker. A huge slacker. It's really sad. Along the way I've thought of things about which I should blog. Now, of course, I have no idea what those thoughts were.
Because I have been AWOL - the only people who might see this are those that use a blog reader like Google Reader.
And for those people - I present the view from my office window... Where you can see my pet deer, her fawn, a squirrel and a cute little bird.
My pet doe from afar.
Here she is up close.
The fawn was down in the creek bed.
My squirrel neighbor - one of many.
A cute little bird - not a woodpecker though.
Cloud Gate is big enough to provide me shelter in a rain shower. (Hence the grey sky.)
One can tour Lake Michigan on a sail boat. Sadly, the departure time didn't work for me.Last week I did something I don't recall ever doing. I had three milkshakes. Yes, three. I didn't have three in one day, I promise. I had one on Monday, I think, then one on Thursday, and one on Friday.
Only two of them were remarkable. There is a hamburger joint near my office called Wally's. It's a family owned place. In fact I think my next door neighbor's father owns it. He promised me one time he'd get me some coupons, but nothing! Anyway, I had a burger there once and it was nothing spectacular. But Monday night I just wanted a shake, so I went through drive through and low and behold I saw the choices! Butterscotch? Cherry? Vanilla? Chocolate? Sounds super. I chose a small butterscotch shake. OH MY GOODNESS! It was great! So great! Gone in about ten minutes, maybe five. I thought of it all week and had another one on Friday. And that was after I had a boring chocolate shake from Whataburger in a fit of madness on the way back from San Antonio Thursday night.
Just so you know, I have passed Wally's several times a day since then and have not succumbed to temptation. This week I am shake free. But I have had Halloween candy.
Tomorrow I'll do better. I promise.
I will get in trouble with my friend Teresa if I don't mention that she and I saw Jack Ingram at the River Road Ice House in New Braunfels, Texas, earlier this summer.
It was fun but rather warm and very crowded! As you can see Jack closes his eyes a lot when he sings and sweats just the like you and me.
BTW that means I saw Jack Ingram and Lyle Lovett twice each this year. Funny!
Jack Ingram at the River Road Ice House in New Braunfels, TX.
Jack up close.
I just think this is funny, he turned just as I snapped the pic. Very nice layers, Jack.
I know this looks funny - some fan held up her beer while yelling wildly...And now for the pictures of Keith Urban and The Wreckers. It's not hard to narrow it down to just a few of Keith in this case because many were dark and or blurry. The Wreckers pictures all turned out very dark, so you'll get just one.
Keith did a really great show and I'd recommend him to anyone. You know more music of his than you think! I'll go next time he's in Austin if you anyone wants to go.
The Wreckers - Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp.
Thank goodness for the big screen!
I couldn't decide on this one or the one above. So, both.
They did this weird thing that made it seem like a fun iPod commercial version of the song.
My only clear "close up" shot.
I love that you can see him playing on stage and his facial expression on the big screen.I promised pictures from the other two concerts that I attended over the summer. The first was The Wreckers opening for Keith Urban and the other was Little Big Town opening for Martina McBride. Keep in mind that I'm taking care of you by posting only a few of the hundreds and hundreds of pictures that I took. For whatever reason, I only took my small digital camera to these two events... So no 10x zoom! You'll easily be able to tell at which concert I had 3rd row seats and at which I did not!
I think I'll limit this entry to LBT and Martina.
As a bonus, I saw Taylor Kitsch who stars as Tim Riggins in the NBC TV show Friday Night Lights. Scroll to the bottom for that picture.
Martina pictures must be first.
As you can see I couldn't decide which photos to include.
So I picked four.
Yes, that's right, I picked four out of about one hundred.
Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town.
Kimberly Roads and Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town.
Little Big Town, all together but a bit blurry.
We happened to be sitting on the best side of the stage, in my opinion!
Actor Taylor Kitsch (in white) enjoying LBT and Martina.I know - I've been away. I've not been blogging. I have good reasons. Up until a few weeks ago I was busy with not so fun things. The last week or so I've had a time for a bit run and relaxation.
I generally see a concert or two a year, maybe. Well apparently I've stepped into new territory this year. I've been to see at least 3 concerts and one music festival. I decided you'd like to see my pictures. In fact I have hundreds of pictures from all the concerts. It's lucky for you that one or two of them turned out to be in focus and centered. I'll go in reverse order and split this up into two posts. Also it should be noted that my 10x optical zoom camera (a Canon S1 IS) died during the festival, so a few pics are with my 3x optical zoom camera (a Canon SD650). For those interested, Canon is fixing the problem for free because it turns out it's a known issue with the CCD imager. Yea!
These pics are from the most recent events - the music festival and the Lyle Lovett concert.
Lyle Lovett at Stubbs in Austin, TX.
Lyle Lovett with John Hagan on cello, what a team.
Los Lonely Boys at the Big State Festival in College Station, TX.
Dierks Bentley at the Big State Festival.
Another of Dierks Bentley at the Big State Festival.
Craig Morgan at the Big State Festival.
Jack Ingram at the Big State Festival.
Kelly Willis watching husband Bruce Robison sing (only 3x zoom).
Charlie and Bruce Robison at the Big State Festival (only 3x zoom).
Willie Nelson at the Big State Festival (only 3x zoom).
Tim McGraw closing out the Big State Festival (only 3x zoom).I know what you are thinking. I do.
You're thinking, "Does she mean mail or male?" Clearly both versions of the word apply, especially with the word "no" preceeding them. But I've chosen to discuss the USPS version today. Mail.
Our post office isn't so great. Everyone knows it. Still, most times I get my mail in a relatively timely manner. (I know there is some delay based on surveys and information I get from Netflix.) Thank goodness I have BillPay with my bank, otherwise I would be more nervous.
Yesterday I stopped at the little community mailbox in my neighborhood. I open my box, number 03/14 in a large bank of boxes. I had mail... yay! Upon inspection I discover it is a bundle of mail for my neighbor down the street. Not one of the pieces is for me. Not one! No Netflix movie that I had expected. No bills, no checks, no credit card applications. I delivered my neighbors mail and kindly asked if they night have mine. Apparently they did not as I have not heard from them.
I called the local post office (I refuse to capitalize those words) today to discuss the problem. I spoke to a supervisor who claimed he would check into it now that the regular carrier was back from vacation. Apparently he often gets complaints when the regular carrier is out. (Must be when I see the kids in shorts and t-shirts out there putting the mail in the boxes.) So today I expected to receive two days worth of mail. No such luck, I got the regular Wednesday grocery store flyers and one credit card application (in my name). This means that whoever got my mail either dumped it or hasn't checked their box yet... If they have checked then they haven't put my mail into the proper box... the one that is for mis-delivered mail. Hmm, happens enough that there is a system. ARGH!
And that's not all.
It just so happens that the internet ate at least two email messages of mine yesterday. I spoke to a friend today who said she did replied to my message yesterday and so had another of our friends. I did not get these replies. I checked junk mail, I checked my folders that use rules to sort incoming mail, I checked deleted items and I checked sent items. NOTHING. I even went online to my providers webmail site. Nothing.
I couldn't be more frustrated with mail, or the lack of it.
The same could be said for the other spelling of the word, but that is for another post.
An ode to cooler days at my house.I am a huge Astros fan! Ask anyone I know. I'm no fair weather fan.... I watch when they win and when they lose. They're losing a lot lately. Tonight they gave up 9 runs in one inning. Doh!
The most interesting thing going on with the Astros is Craig Biggio's race to 3000 career hits. He's only 3 hits away now. His career stats are pretty impressive.
My dad recently bought some very nice seats at a charity silent auction. We were three rows behind home plate at the game on June 2, against the Cardinals. Great, great fun. I'll highlight Mr. Biggio with my pictures below.
Chocolate is educational. Really. Inside the wrappers of Dove chocolates are "messages." I'm not sure how many messages there are in a bag, but I'll take an informal count at the end. You must know that I've been building on this post for a while... Really. I promise.
There's no excuse not to dream.
Count the stars.
Be mischievous. It feels good.
Do what feels right.
Flirting is mandatory.
Age is nothing but a number.
Decorate your life.
Sing along with the elevator music.
No, the title does not refer to the problem with the rodent.
I had almost finished a whole post when my computer, router, and modem combination freaked out. So I rebooted... The post was gone as I had not saved it yet. Nice!
I've messed with my blogger template. What do you think? Is it too wide for your browser? Do you see two columns under the header? How do you like the picture in the header? Yes I took it myself (see old post) and then cropped it.
The airplane picture reminds me of the trip to Washington State. I wonder when I can return.
I was thinking that the next time I go to Las Vegas I might just take pictures of the people. One of my favorite things to do is "people watch." Seriously, Las Vegas does NOT disappoint. So. Much. Craziness.
I love chocolate. I heard that there was a huge chocolate fountain in the Bellagio. Clearly I had to check it out. It turns out it's the "world's tallest and largest volume chocolate fountain." And it's BEHIND GLASS. Remember that old Mervyn's sale commercial with the woman standing at the glass door chanting, "Open! Open! Open! Open!"? I thought about doing that but thought better of it. But just barely.
The fountain...
The details of the fountain. Click on it if you feel the need to read it!
Who doesn't love a whole store based on candy?
This is about 1/3 the wall of M&Ms. Yum.
The Bellagio.
Me and a Blue Man.
From the room.
From the street.My good friends have a new baby, just 6 weeks old. He is very sweet and cute and handsome. His mom and I have lunch sometimes, but usually he is out for the count (see below). Last week we had another of our friends in town and we all went to lunch . To be fair, there is a picture of the boy with each of us "aunts" holding him.**
Lunch out with the girls...
He woke up!
Frosty on his first trip to my house.Read Part 1.
Have you ever had an unwanted house guest? I have!
(This does NOT refer to all the friends who visit and whom I love to host!)
Truth be told, I had noticed some signs.
About three weeks ago a warning light came on in my Acura. I read the manual and determined the light was related to the fuel line/emissions. It suggested re-seating the gas cap. I had run into this before with my Honda and the gas cap trick always worked. Not this time! So I called Effrim, my handy dealer service guy. I took it in on a Friday afternoon and got a sweet loaner vehicle, a 2007 Acura MDX. The shop was busy, so it was Monday morning when I got the call about the cause of the light... The conversation started with Effrim asking if I had small animals. No. Do you park outside or live near open land or fields? No. Weeeeelllllllll, the problem is that the wiring harness for you knock sensor has been... well, chewed through. What?!?! There was a long story about how rodents (mice, rats) like to crawl into warm engines to sleep, especially in the winter. While in the warm engine compartment, the mouse apparently cannot just sleep. There must be gnawing... on wiring harnesses. It turns out that the casing for the wiring harness is made of soy. Nice, just give the mouse something good to eat. Smart. (Here, mousey, mousey, mousey! Please.) Anyway, that stinkin' mouse cost me $800. That's $100 for the wiring harness (old one shown below) and $700 in labor. The joy! Luckily the dealer didn't charge me for the loaner car, which technically became a rental as it wasn't a warranty issue.
I've since made my garage a less desirable place to live. I've put the bags of bird seed into a container with a lid. I've cleaned up the bag of mulch with the mouse hole in it. I've set traps and put out sticky mouse trays and mouse poison. I have not caught any mice. But I also haven't seen any evidence that the sorry rodent is still living rent free in the garage. I hope he's gone. But I'd rather have had evidence of his death! I know, call PETA, I'll turn myself in.
The dealer took this picture for me. I have the actually part in an envelope.
