Her Majesty

We Are Easily Entertained

The new Heer's parking garage doesn't look all that tall from the ground, but the view from the top is pretty impressive. Here is the view looking north.

And south...

What are they trying to do?

Oh...I think they were trying to hold up the building. Or squish it?

Christina, David, Me, Todd

Shrinking Sun

Shoe Sightings for June

Tech Support

Mysterious Owl

I wonder if this owl art could be related to the mysterious lemon we saw downtown a few weeks ago. He seems to be made using a marker on a brown paper bag. He's decoupaged to the brick wall. Strange?

Nap Time at the Zoo

Not Yet!

Today is the first day of summer. Summer means that I will not wear socks until September. Sweet sun tea runs through my veins. Every evening, I spend at least 30 minutes sweating while watering flowers. We grill out. Make homemade ice cream. Marvel at how late it stays light. I go to the Farmer's Market. Decorate for the 4th of July. We slap at mosquitoes while visiting with friends outside. I love summer. Love it love it love it. The thing I do not do in the summer is SHOP FOR CHRISTMAS! On Saturday, I went to Hobby Lobby. And the aisles? Filled with Christmas! I like Christmas, I do, but I have no intentions of celebrating it for 6 months out of every year! No, no, no.

Family Reunion

This past Saturday, we went to a family reunion for my mom's dad's side of the family. It would have been the first time my grandad and his brother and two sisters had all been together in many years, but one of his sister's passed away the week before. Despite that sadness, the reunion went on and everyone had a great time.

Nason (my grandad), Naomi, and Norman

Me (eyes either squinty or possibly closed as usual), Mom, and Grandad

David, Me, Mom, Grandad, and Dad

I took this picture to show the film running in the background. Someone had converted the old home movies to DVD, so we got to watch those while we ate lunch. It was especially GREAT fun to watch my mom and aunt's antics, but to spare them, I won't say any more than that. ;) If I could just get a copy of that DVD though, I could probably sneak some clips onto the blog.

My Grandad is a pretty great person. I've always thought he looked like he'd just walked off a Norman Rockwell painting. It's always great to see him.

Mysterious Lemon

When we parked for Art Walk, we saw this lemon with it's little sign. I'm not sure yet what it's all about, but here's the website. Guess we'll find out in the fall! I put my e-mail in the little box that says "here's my e-mail, let me know more." Very curious!

Art Walk - June

On the first Friday of every month, Art Walk takes place in downtown Springfield. For the summer, they've added free concerts and a small Farmer's Market, so we went to check it out this past Friday. You may remember how enamored I was with the fire dancers when we went in April.

It was packed. The band that we saw played a mix of rockabilly and blue grass and was fabulous. As was the people watching. I'd take Art Walk over an overpriced movie any day. It's free and the entertainment is abundant - on and off stage. See the girls at the right in the picture above? They appear to be wearing dresses made out of newspaper. They were handing out information on MSU's Tent Theater, but I'm not sure what the paper dresses had to do with that. There were lots of sites to see: guys in suits roller blading through the square, a cocker spaniel with a mohawk, a group campaigning to legalize marijuana, a recycling task force, and a boy riding a motorized skateboard. And that wasn't even the organized entertainment!

And of course...FIRE! The hula hoop girls weren't dancing with fire while we were there, but these guys were. I kept wondering how they could be spinning those things so close to each other without catching someone on fire, but it appears that they manage. It's really something to see!

The Leaning Tower of Treeza - Epilogue

Remember the leaning tree that was supposed to have been gone a few weeks ago? On Saturday, two men and one small boy arrived to cut it down. Don't worry, the little boy stayed in what he called the "safe zone" and supervised while sipping his root beer. Tuley stayed in his own safe zone - upstairs asleep. David had moved Tuley's house to the patio so it would also be out of harm's way. The smaller of the two men shimmied right up to the top of that tree and began to slice it up with his chainsaw from the top down. The other man directed from the ground, and within two hours it was done.

The woodpile is all that remains of that big ol' pine tree. Sniff! But it had to be done. As you can see, Tuley's house hasn't been moved back just yet, but he's improvised by sleeping near where it goes. We talked a little with the two men when they finished. They have some interesting stories about being places that I've only seen on the news - such as devastating ice storms and hurricanes. It sure doesn't sound like a glamorous job, but I am glad they do what they do. As soon as they finished, the neighbors who had been watching from windows emerged to check out the carnage. I'm pretty sure that we provide endless entertainment for the neighborhood. :) I'm amazed that not one hosta leave or fence post was harmed in the removal of the tree. Those guys really know what they're doing.

Emma Swims

A few weeks ago, Christina and I went shopping in Branson at the outlet mall, then met up with Todd and Kevin at the lake, where Emma demonstrated her new found swimming abilities. She was amazing! She had just started swimming the day before and looked like quite the expert by the time I saw her.
She hopped in after the ball, retrieved it, and brought it back to shore - waiting impatiently for it to be thrown again. I'm pretty sure she would have kept going, no matter how tired she got.The vet told us that swimming would be good exercise for Tuley. I wonder if Emma gives swimming lessons...

Peachy

A few weeks ago, my friend Kevin called to see if I could use any peaches. He was in South Carolina for work, and the peaches were being harvested. Heck yeah I wanted peaches! So he arrived with a paper bag full of these beauties. I wish that I could capture their smell for the blog, because it was just heavenly. I would have left them just like this in the bowl forever, stopping occasionally to inhale their scent, but they were ripe and needed to be used. So David and I got busy pealing and slicing. I made a Peach Blueberry Cobbler, and froze a couple more bags for future use. The only thing that might smell better than the bag of ripe peaches is that cobbler.

All Caught Up!

Whew! I think I am finally caught up. I've been through all the pictures on my camera, written 7 or so posts based on those pictures, and now it is time to join the 3-D world. What's that? This is only the second post for today that you see? That's because I cleverly scheduled them to arrive one per day for the next WEEK! That's right! A witty charming (or not) post just for you, my friends, each day of the week! I know! Exciting, right?

There are a couple of new posts scheduled to arrive on the garden blog this week as well. Just keep in mind that that blog is more of a record for me and the writing is going to be dry at best. Can't say I didn't warn you!

Painting Project

I thought I would spend a little while updating the blog this morning, so I hauled the laptop, power supply, and camera to the patio and plugged it all in. Before I really had the chance to begin, I saw a flash of light as if someone had just taken my picture. Soon after, I heard an ominous rumble. Hmmm...cameras don't make that sound. I decided it was best not to sit outside with one's laptop plugged in while it was storming, so I've moved in. As a compromise, I've opened the backdoor as wide as it will go. It's kind of like being outside, right?

On to the painting project...When we moved in, we needed something for the all-important TV to sit on. I found the perfect old handmade cabinet at a flea market. Just loved it. Paid for it and called David to please come pick it up for me. As soon as it was loaded in the truck, I began to have doubts. It was white. And kind of shiny. And a little falling a part on the inside. But I was committed, so home it went. We bought a swivel thing to put on the top so we could watch TV while we ate - we're classy like that. The world's heaviest TV sat on top and I got used to the bright white piece. It stayed right in that spot for a couple of years until we were shopping for new chairs for the living room. While chair shopping, we discovered a TV cabinet with doors to hide the TV and it came in red. When the new TV cabinet arrived, David asked what I thought of using the old one outside as a BBQ table for him to work and hold all his supplies. In short, what I thought of that idea was YUCK. Outside? Where people can see it? **Sigh**. Fine. Whatever.

It lost its swivel top, and gained a metal top. It got new handles and hooks. I still didn't like it out there. In the year and a half it's been outside, the weather really took a toll on the white paint. I like things that are distressed and worn and have chipped paint, but this was a little much.
One evening while Dave was away, I drug the shop vac around to the back of the house and scrapped off all the loose paint that I could. Another one of those times when the neighbors probably questioned my sanity. With the loose paint gone, there was no turning back. It was sanded and painted a lovely premixed color called Heirloom White.
And you know what? With it's new paint job, I kind of like the old thing.

Lazy Blogger

Do you know what happens when it's light until 8:30?  When there are flowers to plant?  Books to read?  Laundry to be done?  I become a very bad blogger!  It's not that I don't have things to tell you, I do!  I have a scrumptious peach picture, a blueberry peach cobbler recipe, a painting project and whatever else might happen to be on my camera.  So hang in there...I'll get back to it sometime.