Rock City

We started our day at Rock City on Tuesday. Let me tell you, Rock City is absolutely amazing!!!! We didn't know what to expect, maybe some cool views atop the mountian and a lot of walking. It was a lot of walking but very easy.

You take a self guided tour through Rock City on limestone pathways through walkways carved out of the mountain. It's too hard to describe and so beautiful. I'd go back to Chattanooga just to go there again. We loved it!

After a considerable drive up the side of Lookout Mountain, we're finally here! I didn't think about it but I should have taken a picture of .... you guessed it ...... STARBUCKS right across the street from Rock City. Is nothing sacred for Starbucks????


This is the ticket gate at Rock City, isn't it cute!

At the ticket counter, they give you a map but you don't really need it. There are signs throughout Rock City that keep you headed in the right direction. Below, we just entered through the gates and we're about to enter the "Grand Corridor". It was pretty grand, I must admit. Unfortunately pictures don't do this justice.

About to enter Goblin's Underpass...weeeeuuuuuuuuu I'm scared!

Some of the walkways were really narrow, even had to walk sideways at times.

Another cool walkway at Rock City

Me in Fat Man Squeeze, Rock City

Here Rich is walking across the swing bridge. Boy did it move as you walked across it, so of course, I had to swing it back and forth and make it bounce up and down.

These lunatics were installing a beautiful eagle statue on the side of the mountain at Rock City. Notice how close they are to the edge and have NO safety ropes on whatsoever. Hello mountian men, we come from the flatlands of Indiana, we call that dangerous!

As we exited a dark tunnel, we were greeted by this beautiful entrance to Observation Point . I loved the colors of the rock contrasting with the darkness of the tunnel.

Lover's Leap, this is where you can see 7 States all at once.

Rich on Lover's Leap. BTW, he refused to jump so I'm
questioning his love for me...wouldn't you?

Seven States Map at Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain

The waterfall at Lover's Leap

Another angle of the falls at Lover's Leap

They've got these Gnomes sitting everywhere and have little displays of them doing different things. I thought this moonshinin' gnome was especially creepy!

The Infamous See Rock City Birdhouse (we got a small, Christmas ornament sized one and it's hanging on our rear view mirror.

Have any of you been downtown recently? Did you take time to check out the new Lucas Oil Stadium? It's HUGE and dwarfs the RCA dome!!

Construction is really coming along, I thought you might like taking a sneak peek inside. Check out this video: http://our2012sb.com:80/

GO COLTS!

New footage of Ellie Grace Smiley Face

Took these pics around the yard today.

I love spring!!

Mr Busy Bee at work on a Redbud Tree

(see him on the lower branch?)

Blossoms on the tree in my backyard

(no idea what kind of tree this is but it blooms like crazy every spring)

Anyone know what kind of tree this?

Red Bud blossoms are pretty from a distance

and even prettier close up

SPRING HAS OFFICIALLY SPRUNG!

Ellie Grace, Smiley Face

6 Months Old

EARTHQUAKE THIS MORNING?

First I miss the meteor shower/National Guard sonic boom and now I sleep through an earthquake? We didn't feel a thing! What the heck is happening to my "Got to be in the Middle of the Action" radar?

HAPPY 69TH BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!

Wonder where they were in this picture? Looks mountainous!

BIG BANG THEORY

So, how many of you heard the big explosion in Kokomo last night? Of course, all the way down in Westfield we didn't hear a thing. I'm ticked! I would have liked to see a meteor or whatever it was. You can bet I'll be outside tonight!

PRAYING FOR TIME

These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars
And the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand
With ignorance
And legitimate excuses

The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
Because God stopped keeping score

I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all God's children
Crept out the back door

And it's hard to love
There's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say it's much too late
Well maybe we should all be
Praying for time

This is the year of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity
Is a coat you wear
Twice a year

These are the days of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find
That what was over there
Is over here

So you scream from behind your door
Say what's mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much
But I'll take my chances
Because God stopped keeping score

And you cling to the things
They sold you
Did you cover your eyes when
They told you
That He can't come back
Because He has no children
To come back for

And it's hard to love
When there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say it's much, much too late
Well maybe we should all be
Praying for time

In The New York Times September 16, 1990, George Michael is quoted regarding this song: "No event inspired the song. It's my way of trying to figure out why it's so hard for people to be good to each other. I believe the problem is conditional as opposed to being something inherent in mankind. The media has affected everybody's consciousness much more than most people will admit. Because of the media, the way the world is perceived is as a place where resources and time are running out. We're taught that you have to grab what you can before it's gone. It's almost as if there isn't time for compassion."

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY OLIVE 12!!!!

I've been challenged by Boneman to write my memoir in 6 short words (and include a photo)!

It's NOT easy. Six words? Come on. (Now you all know I want "I told you I was sick" on my tombstone. That's 6 words but not exactly my memoir, right?)

Ok, so, I was thinking about it. Not including work but just me, who I am, what I like to do. What might people remember about me? Hopefully that I loved to laugh. And that I took sarcasm very seriously. But also that I loved taking pictures and recording little moments in time, even if it was a pretty sunset at the end of the day - those are the things that really made me smile in my life.

So, here it is. My 6 word memoir:

Happily photographing all of life's treasures

So now I must challenge you - as Bo's rules state. I must pick 6 of you and have you do the same.

Sorry, you've been selected :

1. Rosie


2. Allison


3. Sarah


4. Jenny


5. John


6. Olivia

Good luck, I know it's not easy but I look forward to seeing yours!

Don't you hate it when you stand in the fruit section, carefully inspecting every apple for bruises, picking only the apples you know are not marred in anyway only to have the cashier pick them up, slam them on the scale and carelessly toss them down the conveyor brusing not one, but all of them!

Eeeeeuuuuu that makes me mad!

This is a professor from Carnegie Mellon who has pancreatic cancer and inevitably will die soon. He is giving his last lecture here and offers some great advice.

There's a more condensed version, only 11 minutes long, from the Oprah show that you can watch here: http://video.stumbleupon.com/?s=ithct48cqw&i=ufcchmyxqsuj9vwsemax

Or check out the whole thing which is almost 80 minutes long. It's worth watching!

Hey music lovin' cousins....have any of you attended the Jazz Fest in Indy?

It's in June every year and coincides with the big, mid-summer Sky Concert fireworks display. Believe it or not, June is just around the corner!!

Every year, Rich and I take our bikes, park just a few blocks north of the circle and ride our bikes down to Military Park to take in some of the tunes and watch the sky concert. It's worth the trip if you've got the weekend free.

This year they've got Buddy Guy headlining on Friday night and John Legend on Saturday. Legend will start his show just after the fireworks.

Here's a list of the artist lineup :
http://www.indyjazzfest.net/Line-Up/Artist-Lineup.aspx

P.S. You can sit along the canal behind the Eiteljorg and the Imax theater - listen to the music and watch the fireworks without paying for tickets - get there early for a decent seat! Oops, did I say that?

Herb Peterson, the man responsible for the perfectly round, english muffin sized egg has passed away. Thank you McMuffin Man! We have dined on many a McMuffin in our day!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Are corn products making us fat?

It's surprising how corn is broken down and used in so many different products. Even APPLES have corn products on them (the wax that makes them shine in the store is a corn based product.)

Check this out:

Well I guess I've crossed the age threshold for direct mailers who send out catalogs for products like incontinence and sensible shoes. I got a catalog yesterday for "comfort shoes." Here are some of the lovely shoes they were trying to sell me.

At least these are lace up and not totally velcro. These come in RASPBERRY!!!!


I love these, they look like they'd be really comfortable after bunion surgery!


These you can wear to your bowling league on Thrusday mornings with the girls.


These are my personal favorites. They're padded, have velcro for easy on and off access and a non-skid rubber sole!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAN AND JILL!!!!!

Rich and I babysat Ellie Grace this weekend. Brian and Kellie celebrated their 2nd anniversary with a short weekend trip to Universal Studios in Orlando.

We got the first shift with little Ellie Grace. I took Friday off and we stayed with the little button face overnight until about 4pm on Saturday.

She's so pleasant and easy to take care of. It's easy to see she has a good home and calm parents because she is just as content as she can possibly be. She only cries when she's hungry otherwise she's smiling and laughing all the time.

She's drooling like crazy so teeth may not be too far off. And she's coo-ing and forming her lips in the cutest shapes when she tries to talk to us. We were so glad we got to stay with her for a long time. Kellie's mom took the 2nd shift on Saturday from 4pm to Sunday afternoon, then Brian's mom came over and took the 3rd shift from Sunday afternoon to early today when mommy and daddy came back.

Obviously she demanded a lot of time, so I didn't get to take as many pictures of her as I would have liked but I did snap a few. .

Pop took a bunch of video and loaded it to YouTube, it's 5 minutes long if you want to watch it

I took these pictures after work in my front yard. We ended up getting about a 1/2 inch of ice. There's nothing like a good ol ice storm to make things a little more interesting!!

Below, exercising my love for everything macro!

Don't know about you, but I had to drive home in this mess, I wanted to see exactly what it looked like close up. And so here we go.....aren't the little crystals cute!

Here are my footprints on the front sidewalk

Some people think you should have cake on your birthday.

I usually want PIE! This year I went with COCONUT CREAM PIE!
Yummmmmooooooooooooo!

Aren't these cute pictures! Kellie sent me these yesterday.
Ellie is growing up so fast!

Check out Little Miss Porky Poo!