Odds and Ends

I saw some odd things last weekend on my jaunt down south.


At The Shed in Ocean Springs, we saw these wind chimes...made from pork ribs. Weird. But cool.


At Flounders in Pensacola Beach, this sign was hanging over the entrance. I guess they wanted to make sure no customers left that couldn't find a spot right in front!

And this one, also in Pensacola Beach:

Yes, it's a house. Yes, it looks like a UFO. and yes, if you look closely at the upper windows, you will see an alien looking out at you.

Weird. But fun! Gotta love the beach!

Beach Life

I can't believe it's been a week since I left the beach in Pensacola. So much craziness of real life...and it was so relaxing to just stare at the Gulf of Mexico and listen to the waves.

Looking at this beach, it's hard to believe it's a roasting hot Saturday in August...there's not that many people here. This is why CNN was doing a story here...the sharp decine in tourism thanks to the oil spill.

Here's our intrepid reporter, Reynolds Wolf, reporting on his story of the hour...I was laying on the beach when I took this picture.

It was a nice day...very hot.

We ate supper across the street from our hotel at Flounders...pretty good.

We had to make a run for it after supper because this rolled in...

There was some serious lightning and wind with this one! Thankfully nothing serious.

OK...one more for the road!

Ah.............

Second Chances

Yesterday Nicky and I, along with members of our Boy Scout troop, helped out with our American Legion's Operation Second Chance, dedicated to those servicemen and women who have been injured in service to their country. They got to go fishing on the Chesapeake Bay, then came to the Legion for a barbeque, and finished the night at a local spa/hotel.

Our troop helped out with the barbeque, shuttling water and helping set the tables. There were so many other volunteers for this event there wasn't a whole lot for the boys to do. They had games they let the boys "test out" such as Corn Hole and horseshoes. There was also a dunk tank. The boys had a great time attempting to dunk the obnoxioud boy inside. That guy did a great job getting them riled up! Called them Girl Scouts. :) Then a Girl Scout (former) got up there and showed them how it was done. Yep--I actually dunked the guy--I didn't know I could throw a baseball like that! Somewhere there is a video of me actually accomplishing this feat...but I haven't seen it yet.

Here is one of the boys trying his best:

The Scouts waiting for the vets to arrive:

Here they come with police escort:

The vets arrived in style on one of our local school buses...

Some of our boys welcoming them with waving flags (Nicky is in the middle):

They're ready for some food and games...and lots of good music courtesy of an excellent DJ...

After everyone was settled Nicky and I challenged each other in a game of Corn Hole:

Neither of us won...we didn't come anywhere close!

I think this banner said it all:

Thank you all...I hope you enjoyed your well-deserved day.

Barbeque and the Blues

One week ago Eric and I were eating some of the best barbeque. On our drive from New Orleans to Pensacola we stopped in Ocean Springs, Mississippi to eat at The Shed.

It's on the grounds of a campground. Interesting. It's not much to look at...just an old tin...well, shed.

This is the outdoor eating area...and bar.

I was hungry and forgot to take a picture of the entire pate, which consisted of potato salad, baked beans, a roll, and beef brisket (they were out of pork, darn it all). But this is the beef...man, it was good!

While we ate outside at the picnic tables, we were entertained bya blues singer named Walter, Jr.


He was very good...he had 6 CDs for sale, so he's been at this for a good while. We enjoyed his singer and guitar playing for several songs before we hot the road again.

Eric ate here again a few days ago with his crew...no fair eating there without me! It was good eatin'!

French Quarter Sights

There were many very...interesting sights in New Orleans' French Quarter. Here are a few:

I bought a couple of cute Christmas ornaments in a very nice Christmas store in the Quarter. Lots of Christmas items!!!!!!! This tree was in the front window:

It's a Very Mardi Gras Christmas!

I loved this gold statue of Joan of Arc...

And of course, the infamous Bourbon Street:

There are many strip clubs on this street, open even in the daytime, with the employees in the doorway enticing one to enter. I'm glad my boys weren't with me...they would have gotten an eyeful!

This is one of the clubs...no girls seen here, though.

I'm sure it is MUCH livelier at night! But Friday evening we were on our way to Pensacola. Beach, here I come!

Jackson Square

While tooling around New Orleans Eric and I walked through Jackson Square, a very peaceful little park in the heart of the French Quarter, near the Mississippi River.

Here is the namesake of the park, President Andrew Jackson.

I thought this fountain was so pretty.

The church behind President Jackson is St. Louis Church: may be St. Louis Cathedral. It didn't say...just the name. I thought this shot was so cool.

A small oasis in the chaos of the French Quarter.

My Camera's Stylin'

We interrupt vacation photos for a very important update...

Today I got a lovely gift in the mail. Angela from Country Scrap Quilts, one of my favorite blogs, sent me a beautiful camera case that she sewed.

Isn't it pretty?

The striped lining provides a nice contrast to the print...

The straps can go on your belt to keep the camera safe and easily accessible. PLus there's a pocket on the back, too!

Thanks, Angela!!!!! Be sure and check out her blog for great ideas and to see her wonderful work! She's very talented!

A Star is Born...

...Not!

While Eric and I were walking down Bourbon Street last Friday, we popped into a bar called Treasure Isle. There was a live band playing that sounded good, so we stopped in for a drink and some music. We were the only ones there.

One of the musicians put on a tin washboard and scraped spoons down it and walked to the doors to try and entice customers in. After walking over to us at the bar, he pulled me along with him and took me to the stage area where he put the washboard on me and handed me the spoons. I played with the band through their 4 song medley of Johnny Cash hits...which I know all of so I sang along, too!

Here's a blurry pic taken by Eric on his cell phone...

He took video, too, but unfortunately the phone wouldn't let him send that large a file. Once he edits it down, he'll send it to me and I'll maybe post it.

Yes...I'm with the band. :) They're pretty good, too!

New Orleans...Briefly

Eric has been in New Orleans for the last 2 weeks...8 weeks out of the last 3 months. He invited me down to spend the weekend in the Big Easy...just me. I left the kids at home all weekend. It was weird, but I knew they were old enough to stay alone, and responsible enough. I was still worried and nervous, but VERY frequent calls home helped.

I got off the plane early Friday morning and found out that after all this time in New Orleans, CNN was sending Eric to Pensacola, Florida. Of course they were. With me having a return ticket from New Orleans home. Of course. So we took advantage of the few hours there and crammed as much in as we could.

First we ate lunch at Mother's.


It was pretty yummy. Lots of others thought so, too. They were really busy, even at 11 in the morning.

I decided to have the red beans and rice, with their "world's best ham". I don't know if it was the best, but it was really good.

We then started walking, getting as much in as we could. I'll post on some of the sites in more detail later. For now...here's the mighty Mississip.

Should be the muddy Mississip. Wow, this river's dirty!

A walk down Bourbon street proved eventful.

But more on that later...

Summer Rain...Summer Storms

Wow, what an evening! We had some ugly storms blow through earlier. We were under a tornado warning for a while, but I think we dodged that bullet.


Here she comes...



60 mile per hour winds and all...

Lots of trees down around DC...this was one of my neighbors up the street. We lost a huge tree at our neighborhood entrance, blocking the way in. Thankfully someone went up and removed most of it.

Yikes. Hope we don't see the likes of that again anytime soon.

Aw, Baby Stuff!

I finally finished a baby afghan tonight that I began Spring 2009. Several people who could have received the afghan have had their babies and they are all now walking. So now I'll give this to my new next-door neighbor, who is expecting her first child in mid-September.

The year's work:

Shades of sherbet!!!

I'm glad that's done. I have another afghan I've been working on since last summer...let's see how long it takes me to finsh THAT one!

Pet Love

The furry members of our household have been particularly cute lately.


Muffin just wants to be loved!

Bingo is sitting on a barstool at the kitchen island, perhaps waiting for a bite? He's going to be waiting a while!

One of Kiki's favorite resting places is on a bed pillow...doesn't matter whose bed. In this case, she's resting on Nicky's pillow. (You can tell by the red sheets, and the unmade bed.)

Just a cute group!

A Working Desk...Yet Again

I don't know why I find it so difficult to keep my desk and filing cabinet cleaned off. Maybe I don't have a routine for keeping the office up, maybe I'm just lazy. Who knows? In any event, every 6 months or so I get disgusted with the state of affairs in the office area and do a big purge. That came this last week. I cleaned the computer area, the armoire where we keep our paper and disks, the game shelves, and the desk. I left the worst for last...the desk hadn't seen a good cleaning in a while, and had papers needing to be filed from March and forward. Disgraceful.

Yeah, like I said...disgraceful.

So after 3 days of sorting, filing, reorganizing, trashing, etc. here is the finished result:

Now...how long will it stay like this?