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| The balloon hats were lost shortly after this photo :( |
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| Where are we? The Abita Beer Brewery! |
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| My "artsy" self potrait with the sunset |
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| The Cousins |
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| Brass Band |
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| At the track |
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| My little beep beep got a front row seat for the races! |
Monday, January 24, 2011
N'awlins
I had a great weekend in New Orleans visiting with friends and family. Some of the highlights were balloon hats, the Abita Beer brewery, sunset on the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge, betting on horses, and drinking hurricanes. Yum!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Veranda
The Veranda – It’s not quite “living in a van down by the river” but it is the Dutchmen camper down by the creek where my dad is building his retreat. For those of you that haven’t seen it, here’s a link to Chris Farley’s SNL “living in a van down by the river” skit. I remember Chris Farley's Matt Foley character being a popular Halloween costume for a couple of years. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/down-by-the-river/243779/
My dad’s original vision consisted of a three story building so he could see the creek from the top floor. I asked him how he planned on getting up all those stairs with bad knees as he aged. He told me “I’ll get me get me one of those chairs that goes up and around.” I find the image of my sturdy 6’4” father sitting in one of those rickety chairs going around and around the railings up to the third floor pretty comical.
The plans are morphing though, into a compound of cubicles. Right now he’s working on an 8’x9.5’ one story building that may be a bedroom or a living room or a kitchen. He’s going to keep building little squares with reclaimed wood from my grandfather’s barns until he has a whole little group of buildings attached with walkways and maybe a deck over the ravine to see the creek. He’s real proud of his sinkholes too. There are two on the property! Darla thought one would make a great “Serenity Sinkhole,” make it real pretty with a hammock and maybe a little fountain.
Dad’s befriended a couple of little cats at his camp. Lucy, the first arrival ate a whole can of chunk white tuna. She must have told her friends about the gourmet food, because the next day she had two more kitties with her. Dad wants to keep them around in hopes that they’ll eat the mice so that they won’t get in the camper. He seems happy building his little retreat in the woods. You have to do what makes you happy, and be happy doing it.
Today I helped Dad put up the floor joists and started laying boards for the sub floor of the cabin. Tomorrow I’m off to New Orleans for the weekend. Should be a fun time, Melissa and Debbie are driving in from Houston to meet me there. Drew and Darla are going to be there too, and I’ll hopefully catch up with another friend from college.
My dad’s original vision consisted of a three story building so he could see the creek from the top floor. I asked him how he planned on getting up all those stairs with bad knees as he aged. He told me “I’ll get me get me one of those chairs that goes up and around.” I find the image of my sturdy 6’4” father sitting in one of those rickety chairs going around and around the railings up to the third floor pretty comical.
The plans are morphing though, into a compound of cubicles. Right now he’s working on an 8’x9.5’ one story building that may be a bedroom or a living room or a kitchen. He’s going to keep building little squares with reclaimed wood from my grandfather’s barns until he has a whole little group of buildings attached with walkways and maybe a deck over the ravine to see the creek. He’s real proud of his sinkholes too. There are two on the property! Darla thought one would make a great “Serenity Sinkhole,” make it real pretty with a hammock and maybe a little fountain.
Dad’s befriended a couple of little cats at his camp. Lucy, the first arrival ate a whole can of chunk white tuna. She must have told her friends about the gourmet food, because the next day she had two more kitties with her. Dad wants to keep them around in hopes that they’ll eat the mice so that they won’t get in the camper. He seems happy building his little retreat in the woods. You have to do what makes you happy, and be happy doing it.
Today I helped Dad put up the floor joists and started laying boards for the sub floor of the cabin. Tomorrow I’m off to New Orleans for the weekend. Should be a fun time, Melissa and Debbie are driving in from Houston to meet me there. Drew and Darla are going to be there too, and I’ll hopefully catch up with another friend from college.
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| The foundation before we poured cement |
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| Sitting on the floor joists, Lucy the cat tried to help hammer everything together |
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Surveyin'
“Left a fuzz. Right a itty bitty. Ho!”
I’ve always loved southernisms such as “I’m fixin’ to…” But, “left a fuzz” is a new favorite. I think “left a fuzz” might be more of a Guy Walkerism though. The Walker family has been surveying Wayne County Mississippi and the surrounding area for a quite some time. My Paw Paw surveyed until his knees quit working, and then he would go out with the crew just to sit in the truck. I hadn’t actually done any surveying myself until last week.
I went surveying with Aunt Dale, Uncle Craig, and Drew for a few days while I’ve been in Waynesboro. I’m the back sighter, I like it. I stand there holding the “idjit stick” as Uncle Craig called it or as it’s more properly called the prism. I hold it on the nail and keep the bubble in the dot. I practice some yoga while I stand there. I do mountain pose, standing tall, tailbone tucked under, following my breath in and out until they radio me and say “Ok, got it.” Then I walk up to the next spot and do it all over again. Outside all day, fresh air, seeing armadillos, and listening to the birds – surveying is a good place to be.
But, to get the job done right it takes a lot more skill than just standing there with a pretty little prism in your hand. Uncle Craig must have a tape measure built in his head; he always comes really close to the point that needs to be set. Drew works the instrument (that’s all it’s called, just the “instrument” spoken in a long soft drawl). The instrument measures the distances and angles of the points and I’m sure many more things I don’t know. Aunt Dale patiently oversees that everything is done accurately, and after all the points are collected she works her magic on the computer and a map appears! Despite the briars and prickly holly bushes I’ve really enjoyed being out in the field with family and now have a much better understanding of what it means to survey.
I’ve always loved southernisms such as “I’m fixin’ to…” But, “left a fuzz” is a new favorite. I think “left a fuzz” might be more of a Guy Walkerism though. The Walker family has been surveying Wayne County Mississippi and the surrounding area for a quite some time. My Paw Paw surveyed until his knees quit working, and then he would go out with the crew just to sit in the truck. I hadn’t actually done any surveying myself until last week.
I went surveying with Aunt Dale, Uncle Craig, and Drew for a few days while I’ve been in Waynesboro. I’m the back sighter, I like it. I stand there holding the “idjit stick” as Uncle Craig called it or as it’s more properly called the prism. I hold it on the nail and keep the bubble in the dot. I practice some yoga while I stand there. I do mountain pose, standing tall, tailbone tucked under, following my breath in and out until they radio me and say “Ok, got it.” Then I walk up to the next spot and do it all over again. Outside all day, fresh air, seeing armadillos, and listening to the birds – surveying is a good place to be.
But, to get the job done right it takes a lot more skill than just standing there with a pretty little prism in your hand. Uncle Craig must have a tape measure built in his head; he always comes really close to the point that needs to be set. Drew works the instrument (that’s all it’s called, just the “instrument” spoken in a long soft drawl). The instrument measures the distances and angles of the points and I’m sure many more things I don’t know. Aunt Dale patiently oversees that everything is done accurately, and after all the points are collected she works her magic on the computer and a map appears! Despite the briars and prickly holly bushes I’ve really enjoyed being out in the field with family and now have a much better understanding of what it means to survey.
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| Aunt Dale working the instrument |
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| Uncle Craig setting a traverse nail, Drew in the background cutting line |
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| Capturing the road |
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| Me and my prism :) |
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Vistin'
Visit - As in “We gon go visit with Paw Paw today” or “You better go visit wit Ant Sally, she been laid up with a broken leg for a week” or “I’m gon go visit Miss Jane next doa and brang her sum sweet pataters.”
Visit – It’s when your daddy brings you to see relatives you don’t know, but they remember you when you were only this tall. It’s when you sit around bored out of your gourd and strangers ask you how old you are and what’s your favorite subject in school. Or, as in one visit, the senile relative you’re visitin’ thinks you’re your father’s young new wife! You count the minutes which seem like hours until you can get out of the awkward visit.
Well, my cousin Nikki brought her three little girls to visit me yesterday. Somehow I went from the one having to go and visit, to the one being visited! On the other side of the “visit”, I was just grateful to see Nikki who I hadn’t seen in about ten years and to meet her little girls, my second cousins.
Visit – It’s when your daddy brings you to see relatives you don’t know, but they remember you when you were only this tall. It’s when you sit around bored out of your gourd and strangers ask you how old you are and what’s your favorite subject in school. Or, as in one visit, the senile relative you’re visitin’ thinks you’re your father’s young new wife! You count the minutes which seem like hours until you can get out of the awkward visit.
Well, my cousin Nikki brought her three little girls to visit me yesterday. Somehow I went from the one having to go and visit, to the one being visited! On the other side of the “visit”, I was just grateful to see Nikki who I hadn’t seen in about ten years and to meet her little girls, my second cousins.
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| Sierra, Savannah, Santana & Me - I'm showing them my road trip on the map. Sierra was very impressed that I had been to New York because that's where all the famous people like Miley Cyrus go. |
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| Cousins - Nikki, Drew, Justen, Darla. It's a little scary that the three of us ladies will be 30 this year... |
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Good Ole Mississippi
I’ve made it to Waynesboro, MS via Gautier, MS. I’ll be here for about a week. I went surveying with my family for the first time today, more on that later!
In Gautier, MS I visited with my mom’s friends Jan & John and their bichon Eddie. We had some catching up to do since they figured it had been almost 13 years since they had seen me! Jan and I went to Ocean Springs and checked out the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (WAMA – which is pretty fun to say “Waaa Maaa”) and Shearwater Pottery. Apparently Walter was quite the character, riding his bike everywhere, rowing to Hog Island where he communed with nature, and locking himself in a tiny room in his home where he created a mural masterpiece. It made me think of when I was in high school and I told my Mom I was going to live in a shack on the beach in Truro and paint. I’m not there yet, but there’s still a whole lot of life ahead of me J
When I got to Waynesboro I was greeted with a feast of fried okra, corn pudding, corn bread muffins, pear salads, butter beans, and fruit cobbler. Yum. Thanks Aunt Dale. Good thing there’s a wellness center nearby that only costs $5 a visit though! I got my boiled peanut fix on the drive from Orlando to Gautier. Though I’m sure I’ll have some more. I love me some hot boiled peanuts!
In Gautier, MS I visited with my mom’s friends Jan & John and their bichon Eddie. We had some catching up to do since they figured it had been almost 13 years since they had seen me! Jan and I went to Ocean Springs and checked out the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (WAMA – which is pretty fun to say “Waaa Maaa”) and Shearwater Pottery. Apparently Walter was quite the character, riding his bike everywhere, rowing to Hog Island where he communed with nature, and locking himself in a tiny room in his home where he created a mural masterpiece. It made me think of when I was in high school and I told my Mom I was going to live in a shack on the beach in Truro and paint. I’m not there yet, but there’s still a whole lot of life ahead of me J
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| Eddie & I next to Jan's painting of a 9-year old me with Bee Gee on the Canal. |
Birds & Wine
I quickly became fascinated by Blanco the cockatoo while staying with Annie & Kelly. He has quite the vocabulary including: “Hey Buddy” “Hey Dude” “Step Up” and some demonic mumblings. If you listen closely at the end of his video it’s either a “Hey Dude” or a “Hey You.”
In Winter Park Annie and I checked out the Wine Room. They have wine dispensing machines called enomatics from Italy and over 150 wines to taste. The machines which hold eight bottles are about $400,000 each according to one of the employees. We loaded up our little electronic card with some money and started tasting. After the wine is dispensed, the machine injects nitrogen gas into the bottle to prevent it from oxidizing. Pretty clever, maybe we should try a place like this on the Vineyard.
In Winter Park Annie and I checked out the Wine Room. They have wine dispensing machines called enomatics from Italy and over 150 wines to taste. The machines which hold eight bottles are about $400,000 each according to one of the employees. We loaded up our little electronic card with some money and started tasting. After the wine is dispensed, the machine injects nitrogen gas into the bottle to prevent it from oxidizing. Pretty clever, maybe we should try a place like this on the Vineyard.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Florida continued...
I’m still in Orlando, but now on the other side of town visiting Annie and Kelly. This afternoon we went for a nature drive on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We saw Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, armadillos, an alligator and lots of other birds. We visited Annie’s research plots and then we went for a short walk on the beach across from Cape Canaveral. I put my toes in; the water temp was 74 degrees there today! Then we tried mullet fish and rock shrimp at the Dixie Crossroads, delish.
Surf Expo ended yesterday. It was a great experience, but it definitely wore me out. Trish, Rachael and I went to dinner at Emeril’s Tchoup Chop last night. I had an amazing lychee martini and salmon with lobster sauce. Then I was able to catch up with Guarini, from Maritime, for dessert and drinks. He happened to be at the Surf Expo with CWS parasail boats and we hadn’t seen each other in eight years. It feels like yesterday but at the same time forever ago.
It’s supposed to be mid seventies here tomorrow, so I think I’ll stay for another day!
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