This was taken in western North Carolina in the mountains in October, 1994. Those sumacs were such a brilliant red!
To see more Scenic Sunday photos, click here.
I Had A Little Visitor On The Job Today
I was working out at the entrance station today. I didn’t hear this little guy come in, but I did hear him bonk his little head on the window. He was stunned a little bit, I think.
He sat there on top of the sign that says “Sorry, Our Campground Is Full”, looking out at the meadow in the distance, probably wondering where the heck he was.
The little poser sat there quite still and let me get very close to get a nice picture. Then, I picked him in my hands, and took him outside, where he quickly flew away into the trees. It was amazing how soft and fluffy he was, and how he seemed to not weigh anything at all. I was afraid I might crush his little self if I held him too tightly.
Bye, bye, little friend! Come to visit again some time!
Remember Wednesday
Sally from the MisAdventures of Karl & Sally has started a new Meme, called Remember Wednesday. The idea behind this is to post an old photo, and write your memories of it. I have lots of old photos, so I am in!
This is a photo of me in 1962 or 1963. I was 10 or 11 years old. Notice the tightly curled hair. Every school year I could remember, my mother sat me down the night before picture day, and rolled my hair with rags. Yes. Rags. She would tear strips of cloth, tie them around sections of my wet hair, roll them up, then tie again. I looked really silly with them all tied on my head. And being the only girl (well, I did have a sister, but she was 8 years younger than me) with four brothers, I had to survive a LOT of teasing.
Those rags with their knots were hard to sleep on. The torture continued in the morning, when Mama took all the rags out and brushed out my hair into the “DO” you see above. She sprayed it liberally with White Rain aerosol hairspray until I thought my lungs would bust, then sent me off to school. There was a lot of giggling and finger pointing going on from my classmates, because picture day was the only day I came to school with my hair “fixed”.
Guess Who Is In Town?
The bull bison I saw last week was scoping out the territory for his family. This morning when I went out to the entrance station, there they all were. And I had my camera this time:
When I drove up, they started running. What an amazing sight to see them all turn in unison and stampede across the meadow!
The whole herd stayed out there most of the day. They caused a “Buffalo Jam”, with tourists stopping to take pictures, parking all over the place, even leaving their cars in the road to get out and get closer.
The buffalo wandered around the meadow, sometimes going all the way over to the trees, sometimes coming back close to the road. Here they are all bunched up by the entrance sign:
When I had no cars coming, I watched them with binoculars. They really are amazing animals. I got lots of questions from visitors:
Are they wild? yes. Do they stay up here all winter? no. Where do they go when it gets cold? I have no idea, but probably down in the canyon. Have they birthed their young yet? I think so, because when I was out there this morning I saw some calves. How many are there? About 80 of them. Are they dangerous? yes, if you make them mad, they can charge you.
I hope I get to see them again soon.
What Goes Around…
When my daughters were young, I was their Girl Scout leader for more than eight years. We did lots of things in Girl Scout Troop 147–we camped, we went on lots of out of town trips, we sold cookies, we sang songs. But one of the most important things we did was community service projects.
Girl Scout Troop 147 in Savannah, maybe 1988? 89?(Jimell is back row, far right)
We visited the local nursing home to play bingo with the residents once a month. We made tray decorations for Meals On Wheels. We collected food for the needy and helped deliver the boxes when the girls were older. For the girls in our troop, the community service projects were a very important part of being Girl Scouts.
Last year, I joined Facebook, and have connected with many people I have known over the years through there. Many of my former Girl Scouts have “friended” me on Facebook, and I have been very proud to see how they have grown and matured. One of them, Jimell, is a stay at home mom to four beautiful children. Her son, Coby, thought up a neat community service project of his own.
Coby is making bookmarks to sell in his mom’s Etsy store. The money he makes on them is going to be spent buying books for his school library. I think it is a very good thing for him to do on his own. What a good kid!
Jimell says:
….”Coby just turned 8 in May and is going into the 3rd grade. He loves making crafts with me and has made bookmarks for his classmates and other friends and has always had fun creating new designs. He was brainstorming last week and asked if he could make some to sell on my Etsy shop. He thought of the idea of selling them to buy new books for his school library since they were doing a ‘bookraiser’ this last school year. I told him I thought it was a great idea and I would help him get the word out if he made the ‘Marks’ as he calls them. He made me agree on one condition…he got to read the books first before he took them to Mrs. Rachel (the librarian)”….
and here is what Coby says:
…”Hi, my name is Coby and I am 8 years old. I am in the 3rd grade. I love to make crafts like my mom. I love to read. I want to get my school some new books for the library. I came up with the idea to make book marks and sell them on my mom’s shop to raise money to buy new books. I make all my book marks myself but my mom lets me use her stuff.
Please buy a book mark from me. They are good for your Bible or a gift. Buy a bunch! I can make any color you want, just tell me. Thank you…”
(Coby with the first book he bought for his school.)
If you would like to purchase one of Coby’s bookmarks, to help buy books for his school, click here. New books for kids are always a good idea.
Dang It!
Last year, FabGrandpa and went to town one day and I left my camera at home. I missed one of the best photo opportunities ever, when we came home and there was a bull bison standing in the road. I vowed, that day, to NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT MY CAMERA AGAIN!
Yesterday, I worked the late shift at the entrance station. As I was coming home near sunset, there he was again! The largest, most forbiding looking animal I have ever seen (and I am not talking about FabGrandpa here), was standing alone in the meadow to my right. I stopped the truck and opened my backpack, and you guessed it! I DIDN’T HAVE MY CAMERA WITH ME!!!!! I could just cry! That guy has now given me two good chances to take his picture and I missed them both!
The Man Helps Around The House, How Could I Not Love Him?
What a week—work work work. But thank the Lord, I have a job. And a job I love, at that. I worked the late shift every day last week, so I was not doing the cleaning and cooking for the most part. Yesterday FabGrandpa was off and I had to work, so he cleaned house from one end to the other. It was soooo nice to come home and not have to worry about doing all that.
He has been doing the cooking all week–I leave all the ingredients out on the counter, with detailed instructions, and he puts them together and gets dinner ready. He has been doing a pretty good job of it, too.
He has made chili, goulash, and beef stew, all according to directions from me, and all I have had to do was come home and eat. I am liking this set up—I am liking it A LOT. One night he even baked some chicken thighs and made some rice. Since he follows my directions to the letter, and there are no wheat products in the house at all, everything is gluten free, too.
The beef stew he made was especially good. Of course, I cut everything up and got it all ready for him, and all he had to do was put it all in the crock-pot at a certain time, but HE did do that so he gets the credit for making it. Here is the recipe:
1 lb cubed steak, cut up into bite sized pieces
1 large onion, chopped
olive oil
4 potatoes, unpeeled, cut up in bite sized pieces
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 portabella mushrooms, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Aunt Cora’s seasoning
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 16 oz can crushed tomatoes
enough water to cover all in the crock-pot
Sprinkle the cubed steak pieces with Aunt Cora’s seasoning. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Add the steak pieces and onion; cook until the onions are clear and the steak is browned. Pour into crock-pot. Add all the rest of the ingredients, and cook on high in crock-pot for 4 hours. Simple to make, yum to eat, gluten free for your safe eating.
Scenic Sunday
Along the Rio Grande, the border between the United States and Mexico, near McAllen, Texas, in March 2004. It was a gorgeous day. A friend of ours took us fishing in has speedy boat. This looking across the river to Mexico.
To see more photos from Scenic Sunday, click here.
