I’ve missed you, my friends

I’m back from my sojourn and boy, do I have some stories for you. I’m saving some of them for future posts, but . . .

In a nutshell, I will tell you that my husband and I took a Road Trip to see lifelong friends who are currently living in Biloxi, MS. I went to school with W, and he’s been in the casino business for years and is an executive vp in the best one down there. I am not that into these kind of places. At all. But it was fun! And so very different for my husband and I.

This week, I did a lot of things. I visited New Orleans for the first time in my life!

That road trip pic up there was actually a shop sign from one of the boutiques along the French Quarter.

I had a chat with a beautiful mermaid. She told me that she didn’t mind the heat. It was 97 with an extra dose of humidity. Oh. My. God.

I ate fried pickles. I had no idea such a thing existed but what surprised me even more is that I actually liked ‘em!

I drove through the city of Atlanta on a foggy early-Sunday morning. Hi, Debra Rector and Deb!

I stood humbly under the majestic canopy of one of my favorite trees: the Live Oak.

I attended something huge called Club Tiki at the casino and saw Vanilla Ice perform. His real name is Robbie and he has pet goats.

I was surprised that he was actually pretty good.

I was in the VIP section, but I braved the crowds and the water that Mr. Ice was spraying at the audience to get you this photo. The girls were still clothed at this point and we left well before the orgy began. This is the part where I usually say “not really”.

Won’t be sayin’ it, however. (Oh, my).

I ate the most incredible food. This was a sampler at a wonderful Asian restaurant at W’s casino. The chef sent it to our table as a compliment when he heard that my friend and his wife were dining at the restaurant with friends they’ve known since high school.

I’ll tell you more later. I’m tired and am taking it easy today. I’ve got a recipe for a new drink for you and a cooling salad later in the week. I’m glad to be home but even more glad that I got to see my friends. The long drive was worth it.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering as to why we didn’t fly, there were several reasons. My husband’s chemo and germs were one and George was the other.

(And George was a perfect angel and the perfect doggie houseguest). It made me very happy.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

The way we were

I’m away from my desk at this time and thought it would be fun to do an auto-post featuring puppy photos of George.

And I’m lying about the desk. I write all my posts from my couch.

I took all the photos you see here with my old camera, a little Sony Cybershot I used for years. It was my first digital camera and I think it did a pretty good job, considering. However, some of my digital memories are a little misty and water-colored.

I just can't believe how cute he was as a puppy. George was born in July of 2007 in Ellsworth, Maine and these photos were all taken in October when he was about 2 1/2 months old.

Please don’t look at my coffee table. Ok, well. I guess now it’s too late. Also don’t look at the covers we have on the couch. It was a valiant attempt on my part to keep the furniture free of dirty puppy paws and a husband who worked with horses.

The one thing that I demanded when we were discussing getting another dog was that the puppy not be permitted on the furniture. None of our other border collies had ever been allowed to do this and it was important to me at the time. Unfortunately, my single demand fell on deaf ears. And I eventually got over it.

He enjoyed this elephant for quite some time. I think it had something to do with the trunk. I seem to remember that it squeaked.

I always liked this photo. It was taken in our backyard at Northview Stallion Station, outside of Chesapeake City, Maryland. In the background, you’ll see an attempt by my husband to fashion a piece of equipment in the hopes that George would someday compete in Border Collie Trials.

It stayed like that for a week or two when we realized that the puppy just wanted to have his way with a piece of driftwood in the yard that was about twice his size. It provided much chewing and dragging satisfaction.

You’ve come a long way, baby.

Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane with me. Until later, my friends . . .

PS ~ I’m sorry to say this, but I’m going to be taking a small break from blogging. Could be a couple of days, could be a week. I just need to relax and want to see if I can actually stay away from technology for a little bit.

I appreciate the wonderful and encouraging comments from a couple of posts down when I mentioned the school year closing out and just being so busy. I’m glad for the busy, I honestly am. There are so many who don’t have jobs (my husband included). I’ll miss all of you. But I promise, I shall return.

Something unusual, something strange

Last week, I received an e-mail from a representative who works in marketing for a publishing firm in New York. I was informed that they had seen my blog and wanted to offer me an advance copy of a book on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Son’s. They needed my address to send me the book.

I was surprised, to say the least. I wondered, “why my blog?” when there were so many others out there. And then, immediately I was concerned because of the address thing. So once I had determined that they were in fact, real and not an axe murderer posing as someone from a publishing firm, I decided to go ahead and do it.

Basically, I would read the book and publish my thoughts about it. And, if you recall, I had asked for suggestions for summer reads in a recent post. I just never imagined I’d get an answer from someone at a publishing house. However, looking at it from a marketing point of view, I’d be cruising the blogosphere too, using key words and zoning in on blogs that might meet my requirements. I mean, if I worked in marketing.

Well, the book came immediately and when I arrived home from work the other day and saw a package from the Penguin Group of Publishing, I was really relieved to find that it wasn’t some stalker nut on the internet.

The marketing rep writes: “The Marriage Bureau for Rich People is a delightful read that’s perfect for Summer, about an Indian man named Ali struggling to come to terms with his own retirement in Southern India. He decides to open his own "Marriage Bureau for Rich People" in the front room of his home and start a second career as professional matchmaker. The bureau becomes the dwelling of a whole spectrum of colorful stories and encounters: here, you will meet a father who wants a tall son-in-law because his daughter is short; a divorced woman who ends up reuniting with her ex-husband; a salesman who can't seem to sell himself without Ali's help; and a wealthy, young doctor for whom no match is ever perfect. The novel has been described as an alluring cross between Alexander McCall Smith and Jane Austen--McCall for style, and Jane Austen for the subject matter. And it's not a book lacking in depth either, as Zama's portrait of the trials of love and marriage also conveys the state of India as a country still grappling with the politics of caste, religion and civil unrest.”

You know, it sounds good to me. And I already love the fun cover. So I’ll keep you posted.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

I took the post title from one of my favorite songs, “Amie” from Damien Rice.

Something unusual, something strange Comes from nothing at all But I'm not a miracle And you're not a saint Just another soldier On the road to nowhere

Looking up

I’ve been terribly busy and haven’t been able to post. The academic office at school, where I work, is closing for a week after tomorrow and there’s so much to be done.

So forgive me for being remiss in daily posting, please. Things are looking up, though. And on that note, I’d like to leave you with a photograph to that effect.

This was taken in NYC about a month ago, on the Upper West Side. I loved the beautiful architectural details on this building.

Until later, my friends . . .

Super Fun Happy, the real thing

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was going to do something fun on Monday. But at the risk of spoiling the surprise plan for a friend’s 50th birthday party, I couldn’t mention what I was so looking forward to. I mean, who knows who reads this blog.

I had so much fun!

My friend’s husband rented a 26-passenger party bus which loaded all of the guests on first and then proceeded to the pickup point for the birthday girl who was with her husband and the couple she thought she was having dinner alone with that night.

We were heading to Philadelphia, about an hour away, for dinner. And that bus was a blast!

Unfortunately, with the bus moving and the light constantly switching, I turned on the flash and pretty much left it on all night. I don’t enjoy what flash does to a photograph but the light wasn’t the greatest. And I’m lazy sometimes.

I also discovered a new drink just in time for summer.

This is Sweet Carolina, one of the new “sweet tea vodkas” to hit the market and it’s a fun summer beverage.

We had it on the rocks and paired with fresh lemonade. The combination was perfect. While music played and hors d’ouvres were passed around, friends and family enjoyed each other’s company while the guest of honor opened some of her presents.

She had no idea where we were going, nor did she seem to care. She’s a fun person and always up for adventure.

We caused quite a stir during our arrival at the restaurant. And the scent wafting out of these doors was heavenly.

We entered the long, narrow building made of brick and stone and the owner led us to our reserved section. Business was light, making it perfect.

Down the stairs and to the right is where we’re headed.

The flash brought out the stone walls, the fixtures and that gorgeous tapestry on the back wall. Where you see that little archway on the left lies a tiny secluded room with a table for two. I was intrigued and went to investigate.

One entire wall was decorated with beautiful bottles of wine, now empty and bearing the dates they were used. Some of the labels were gorgeous, and candles shed a romantic glow.

I took this standing at the archway, looking into the room where our tables were. We had a fantastic meal and afterwards, a cake was brought out with much fanfare, candles were blown out and company was enjoyed. If you’re ever in the Philadelphia area, I highly recommend this establishment.

When we left, full and happy, we entered the limo to find that it was equipped with neon lighting throughout the ceiling. It was groovy, man. We soon found ourselves driving through the streets of Philadelphia, singing to oldies on the local radio station, and gawking at the eclectic shops of South Street and the people who were out and about.

Because it was so dark, I had to set the camera in a way that left the lens open for a long time and with the bus moving, it made for some interesting finds on the memory card.

 

Here’s what some of the neon lights looked like. One of the streets was cobblestone and I think it’s while we were driving on that one that I shot the next picture.

 

I started getting sort of artsy with the lights and the speeds of the camera. I think I’ll entitle this one Riders on the Storm.

Or not.

It isn’t that often that I laugh this hard and have this much fun.

You know, I think of all the presents she received, this one may be the one she gets the most use out of her favorite.

Happy 50th Birthday to my friend, Kathy! May your hot flashes be few and your friends be many.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Mosaic Monday: Food & Drink

I’ve noticed that I seem to have accumulated many picturess of food and drinks in my photo files. So when I was thinking of a theme for this week’s Mosaic Monday, the answer was already there.

Mary at Little Red House hosts a weekly theme featuring mosaics. I made this one on Big Huge Labs and then uploaded it into my flickr account.

I enjoy taking photos of food. It doesn’t give me any backtalk and it’s very obedient.

And then I get to eat it, which is always a plus.

I just began contributing some of my cuisine photography on foodgawker. So if you enjoy this sort of thing, it’s the place to go. There’s usually a link to the recipe as well. See how much you learn coming here?!!

Have a fun Monday, everyone. I’m planning on having one and I’ll tell you all about it later. Oh, and Graduation was beautiful Sunday night. I’ll have to get some pics up.

Until then, my friends . . .

Down time

I accomplished everything I set out to do today, and am rewarding myself with some treats and something good for dinner.

The trick to accomplishing my daily goals, I’ve found, is to not have many.

So this afternoon, I’m having table water crackers smeared with strawberry cream cheese and topped with blueberries. This is just a slight variation from last week’s cracker ensemble.

I think it looks very healthy, don’t you?

And because my favorite bottle stopper is now broken, I’m switching to this one. I’ve had it for years, having purchased it in an eclectic gift shop on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. And since the Belmont horse race was on today, and it’s a Saturday, I’m taking the helm at dinner tonight.

Tonight I’m serving a recipe I found on Pioneer Woman’s site. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the only blog I read in the blogosphere. But she does have some pretty tasty recipes and this one is her Chicken Scallopine.

My husband pronounced it ‘tasty’ which rates fairly high on the taste meter I’ve come to know for the past 50 years. Well not really 50 years, although it does seem like it sometimes.

I don’t post many recipes, but the ones I do are both delicious and are easy to make. This one took a half hour from start to finish.

I cut the recipe into thirds because it’s just the two of us. And still, I could have had just a bit more mushroom sauce. But it was quite nice paired with a chardonnay from Rodney Strong vineyards.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Graduation is always a bittersweet affair

Our school’s commencement exercises are Sunday evening and although I sometimes bemoan the fact that faculty attendance is mandatory, I always, ALWAYS end up being glad that I’m there.

Part of my reluctance to attend is probably because I’m always the photographer and I fret a little because I get anxious as to how the photos will turn out. But I’d much prefer being behind a lens than in front of one. And part of it is because it marks the end of another year that’s passed in my life, and students that I really enjoy will no longer be walking the halls laughing with their friends, or visiting me in the office.

I took this photo last year of my friend and co-worker Margie (she’s on the left) with two of her former students. Mary Ellen (center) and Kate (right) graduated in 2002 and are friends of my eldest son. They all took art classes with Margie. You may remember her and Mary Ellen from my NYC trip last December. Mellon’s aunt has a cool apartment in Greenwich Village and she let us have it for the weekend. I thought it had two bedrooms. But it had two rooms. And the bed was actually in the kitchen, which I thought could be convenient for midnight snacking purposes. Or to get a chilled glass of wine. You could sit at the edge of the bed and open the frig!! It was fun.

I always look forward to the alum who continue to attend graduations at our school. Sometimes it’s because they have a younger sibling who’s graduating, and sometimes it’s to see someone they know. But always, it’s good to see former students and to see that they are doing well.

These are alum from the year my youngest graduated (2005). The young men in this picture spent countless weekends at our home from the time they were in 6th grade and I loved seeing them again.

*** sigh ***

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday.

It’s a rainy day in Maryland

It’s night as I write this and it’s been raining on and off all day. I’m half-watching Forest Gump for about the two hundreth time and because it’s a quiet soft night and I have absolutely nothing in the world to say, I’ll just post my photo and go.

This one’s from last year at Mother’s Day. I had just bought myself a hydrangea bush and I believe it’s still there at the old place. Little did I know then that in just over a month’s time our whole world would change.

I’m guest hosting on a new blog today. Visit Simply Joyful Photos for the rest of the story. Heather is new to the blogging world and when she asked me to participate in her Friendly Friday post, I agreed.

Have a wonderful Friday. At least school will be a little bit quieter as Thursday was our last day of the school year.

So School’s Out For Summer. Name that artist.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

People continue to amaze me

At the risk of losing some of my loyal readers, I am posting even more photos of our dog, George. There’s a reason to my madness, so bear with me here.

I have a friend who is a co-worker at my school. We hired him several years ago to teach the French language to our students. He is the most affable person, and is loved by everyone. He was born and raised on the Ivory Coast and was actually in the Olympics years ago! He also coaches our Cross Country and Girls Varsity Soccer teams.

He is interested in photography and when I showed him my blog earlier this year, he said (in his French accent) something along the lines of “Sacre Bleu! Mon Dieux!” and lots of other things that I couldn’t understand. But he looked happy. And he looked interested.

Sometimes he comes to the office and speaks completely in French to me and for some strange reason, my four years of high school French can comprehend some of what he’s saying. This pleases him no end.

Because he has seen my Flickr account and those of others, he is now REALLY interested in photography and has taken it up with a passion. He recently purchased a Nikon D90 which came with a kit lens that’s really nice. But he wanted a good zoom lens, too. So he just bought the Nikon 70-300mm with VR and offered it to me to ‘borrow’ for a week or so.

I tried to turn him down. I even offered him my macro lens to fool around with. I am not quite sure what he was saying, but the next thing I know was that a Nikon zoom lens was being put into my hands and wow ~ it was heavier than I expected.

All of the photos you see here were taken today by my husband, on full auto mode. I brought the lens home yesterday but I couldn’t get it to focus when it was fully extended to 300mm and I was so nervous to have anything happen to it that I gave up.

But when I came home today and looked on the memory card, I immediately asked my husband which lens he had used today and he told me it was the borrowed one. And I said “wow”. Or maybe I said, “Sacre Bleu” or “Mon Dieux”. I don’t remember.

I just think that these photos are so much crisper and they make me happy! I mean, I’m not going to rush out and buy a new lens this weekend or anything. I just wanted to show you the difference between this and the Quantaray. I didn’t sharpen any of the photos here at all (I tend not to sharpen much anyway) and aside from using a slight boost from Pioneer Woman (slight, mind you) well, that’s about all I did here.

I love the one of the blue jay, and the finch is quite crisp as well. But I absolutely love the nose and tongue photo. I think it’s just such a nice shot.

I’d like to introduce you now to my friend and co-worker, Avognan.

Merci, moni ami!

Je tiens a vous remercier pour l’utilsation de votre appareil photo. Je suis heureux que vous appreciez de prendre des photos!

(And I am sorry but I can’t make the little marks above the letters.)

Thanks to everyone for stopping by, for your encouragement, your support and always your kind and funny comments. You make my day, every day.

Love,