Saturday, April 30, 2011

Twinkle's advice

I have been crocheting a granny square throw.  Because you make it in individual pieces, I didn't have any idea how big it had gotten or how many more squares I needed to make.


So I laid all of them out on the dining room floor to take a look.  I wasn't looking at color placement ( or camera focus), just number of squares.  Apparently, Twinkle was thinking about the actual arrangement  because...


she rearranged...and likes a more scattered look.

Thanks for your advice, Twinkle.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Stormy Day

The wind blew really hard today.  It wasn't rainy or even very cloudy here.  But, boy, did the wind blow.



And now I hear the news that across Alabama and the Southeast many people have died in tornadoes.

I'm praying for everyone hurting today.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

An oregano takeover

When spring came this year my little spot of oregano went wild!  It grew so fast that before I knew it, I was walking around it just to get out of my house.  I have a gerber daisy that grows right at the point of this little garden area and the oregano drove it so crazy that it couldn't find the sun.


When I noticed the daisy's predicament I got out my shears and did some trimming.


Then I took the trimmings, washed off all of the little spiders and ants with the hose...


and hung it all up to dry in the kitchen.


A pot full of spaghetti sauce can't be far away.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

First bloom

Mom sent a plant home with me after a visit last year.  This hibiscus needed to stay inside during the winter and so I was able to nurse it along in the dining room for the past few months.  I put it outside "when all danger of frost was past."

I was so excited  about the first flower!  Who knew I could keep the plant alive long enough to bloom again!



Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter egg hunt

My Araunaca chickens are also called Easter egg chickens because they lay colorful eggs.  Mine lay blue, green, light brown, and pink eggs.

But, this year they are taking their nickname a little too far.  For the past couple of weeks they have been laying their eggs on the ground instead of in their nesting boxes.  Just giving me a little pre-Easter practice for finding eggs.

Easter is over, though, girls.  Put your eggs back where I can find them.


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

Ha Ha Ha

Don't know how I got on this mailing list...


It must be a late April Fool's joke!

At least that is the way I am going to take it.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Thankful Thursday

I found an old camera a few weeks ago and today I got the card out of it and loaded it on my computer.  On that card were some pictures of our trip to Rome that we took last year.

While there we went to St. Peter's Basilica and saw, what is now, my favorite piece of art, Michelangelo's Pieta.  The Pieta depicts Mary holding the body of Jesus after the crucifixion.




A little trivia about his Pieta:

It is the only sculpture that Michelangelo signed.  He had gone to view it, along with many others, and overhead people saying that it was the work of another sculptor.   So he went in at night and carved "Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made this" across a sash on Mary's chest.

I am amazed at how someone can carve stone to look like draping fabric and muscle.  But I'm in awe at how an artist can convey such intense emotion as a mother's love and grief.

I'm thankful to have been there to experience this.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

My bright idea

I had a bright idea in the middle of the night - why don't I see about taking the Amtrak train the next time I go to Oklahoma City.  I thought to myself, "It might take about the same amount of time as driving, but should be cheaper than flying, and I wouldn't be doing all the driving."

This idea came to me when I was thinking about a conversation I had with Dad.  We were saying that the technology must be available to have automatic express lanes on the interstate.  You could tell your GPS screen computer where you are going and set the car on something like a cruise setting.  Get in the express lane, and let the track take me to Oklahoma City.  I probably couldn't take a nap, but could maybe eat my snacks without paying the closest of attention.

Maybe I should call President Obama and make this suggestion.

Back to the train idea, though.

I found out why Amtrak is on the brink of not existing.  The price to go from Birmingham to OKC was about $354.  A little higher than I thought, BUT....

It would take 78 hours and 58 minutes to get there!!!!  WHAT??  That's more than 3 days!  I don't know what kind of tracks they have, but this would be my route:

1.  Birmingham, AL to Washington, DC.  Because that is totally the way to get to Oklahoma.
2.  Washington, DC to Chicago.  Now we're thinking.... go back west.  Northwest.
3.  Chicago to Fort Worth.  That's right, drive right past Oklahoma and go to Texas
4.  Fort Worth to OKC.

Just for fun, I checked the route from New Orleans to OKC.  You know, Daryl could drive me 10 hours to NO to catch the train.  Definitely a smarter route because we don't go to Washington DC at all.  Just straight to Chicago, back to Fort Worth, and then on to OKC.

YIKES!!!  If you find all of this a little hard to believe, here is the actual schedule from the website.  I think I totally misunderstand what train travel is all about.  They must only have one way tracks.  I think I will look into this and make another call to President Obama.


$354.00
20 Crescent
Departs: 2:41 PM
Sat Apr 30 2011
Birmingham, AL  (BHM)
Arrives: 10:10 AM
Sun May 01 2011
Washington, DC - Union Station  (WAS)
Station News
Duration: 18 hr, 29 min
Amenities


29 Capitol Limited
Departs: 4:05 PM
Sun May 01 2011
Washington, DC - Union Station  (WAS)
Station News
Arrives: 8:45 AM
Mon May 02 2011
Chicago, IL - Union Station  (CHI)
Station News
Duration: 17 hr, 40 min
Amenities


21 Texas Eagle

Service Alert
Departs: 1:45 PM
Mon May 02 2011
Chicago, IL - Union Station  (CHI)
Station News
Arrives: 1:25 PM
Tue May 03 2011
Fort Worth, TX  (FTW
Duration: 23 hr, 40 min
Amenities


822 Heartland Flyer
Departs: 5:25 PM
Tue May 03 2011
Fort Worth, TX  (FTW
Arrives: 9:39 PM
Tue May 03 2011
Oklahoma City, OK  (OKC
Duration: 4 hr, 14 min
Amenities