So Lauren had an amazing first day of 5th grade. She really likes her teacher, thinks that her class will be okay, and is excited about the things that they will be learning. It's such a weight off of my shoulders to get her past the hurdle of apprehension that she's been struggling with. It's one thing to intellectually know that she'll bounce right back and lose the apprehension once she's experienced it a bit. But in the midst of her worrying, it has a tendency to make me worry as well. Today was very reassuring. :)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Ruminations
Okay, if I do say so myself, I have been a running rock star lately, getting in around 3 miles most days. I set a new personal record for myself tonight, running a mile in 11:18. Which I know is not earth-shattering, but feels like a big deal to me. And I ran the whole darn thing, which is also a big deal to me, since I'm working hard to move from interval running to include some longer distance running.
Tomorrow is the first day of school. Even though the kids will be walking through the doors in 7 1/2 hours, it still doesn't quite feel real to me.
Lauren is having a really hard time with it this year - lots of tears and mulling it over. She's struggling with the concept of being older than my students for the first time. For some reason, being a 5th grader seems very significant to her, and makes her think about moving on to middle school, which makes her think about high school, which makes her think about college and moving away and turning into a grown-up. Which makes her cry. At bedtime. And sometimes other times as well. My poor cognizant, internalizing analyzer.
Tomorrow is the first day of school. Even though the kids will be walking through the doors in 7 1/2 hours, it still doesn't quite feel real to me.
Lauren is having a really hard time with it this year - lots of tears and mulling it over. She's struggling with the concept of being older than my students for the first time. For some reason, being a 5th grader seems very significant to her, and makes her think about moving on to middle school, which makes her think about high school, which makes her think about college and moving away and turning into a grown-up. Which makes her cry. At bedtime. And sometimes other times as well. My poor cognizant, internalizing analyzer.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Running, part 2
Okay, so I sucked it up and ran last night - got my 3.4 miles in! On Mom's treadmill, since it was 98 degrees when we walked home from her house at 10:30 last night. I guess late-night indoor running might be the plan for a while...
Monday, August 1, 2011
Running
Saturday night, I ran 3.5 miles on Mom's treadmill, testing out my new running shoes inside, so that I didn't mark up the soles in case I wanted to return them.
On Sunday (yesterday) morning, I got up and ran 3 miles at the track, as well as doing 2 sets of the bleacher steps.
This morning, I got up and it was already 85 degrees. It is just too darn hot to go outside and run right now. The forecast is for 109 today and 111 tomorrow.
Not doing much for my "I'm going to run 3 miles every day this week" plan.
This summer's temperatures are rapidly diminishing any affection I hold for Kansas.
On Sunday (yesterday) morning, I got up and ran 3 miles at the track, as well as doing 2 sets of the bleacher steps.
This morning, I got up and it was already 85 degrees. It is just too darn hot to go outside and run right now. The forecast is for 109 today and 111 tomorrow.
Not doing much for my "I'm going to run 3 miles every day this week" plan.
This summer's temperatures are rapidly diminishing any affection I hold for Kansas.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Books
Reading is the delight of my summer. If I was utilizing more common sense, I would devise and gain a job where I got paid to read books of my choosing - don't they always say you should find a job you truly love, and then you'll always be happy to go to work? So my most peaceful moments of the summer are spent on my front porch, sprawled in a porch chair, reading. Or at the pool, taking occasional dips in the water to cool off and keeping on eye on where exactly Lauren is in the pool. I subscribe to the "I feel no pressure to read quality literature in the summer" theory. I've read Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovitch, and the latest book in the Charlaine Harris series (the one the True Blood show is based on). I've reread some of the Harry Potter books, and the latest James Pattersons. I've read a bunch of light reading "girly" books that honestly all kind of blur together - Kristin Hannah and Jennifer Crusie, etc. But I've read 3 that stick out for me: Moon Over Manifest, Handle With Care, and A Reliable Wife.
Moon Over Manifest is by Clare Vanderpool. She is a Wichita, KS author, and she just won the Newberry award for this book. It is actually a YA book, set in KS, with details that appealed to me because they were so authentic. I was hoping to be able to read this book aloud to my class, but I think it will be over their heads. However, for Kansans in particular, this was a worthwhile read. Set during the Depression, the main character, a young girl, is shipped by her drifter father to his hometown, to be taken care of by an old friend, while her father travels and looks for work. The story tells about her searching into the past of the town, looking for clues about her father.
Handle With Care is about a young girl born with brittle bone disease. It's told from her mother, father, and older sister's points of view, all directed to her. Her mom ends up suing her obstetrician, on the grounds that she would have aborted her daughter had the disease been diagnosed earlier. The mom is doing this expressly for the purpose of gaining money to be able to care for her daughter. The father fights on the other side of the lawsuit. It was kind of heart-wrenching for me to read as a mom - how far you'd go to provide for your children, and how your choices ripple out to affect others.
A Reliable Wife is the best-written book I've read in ages. It is set in the early 1800s in rural Wisconsin. A man who basically owns a town - his company employs 95% of the population there - puts an ad in an East-coast newspaper advertising for a wife. A woman answers his ad, they get to know each other through letters, she comes to visit to see if they are compatible. However, this book slowly unfolds and becomes a rich and detailed and unforgettable story. It is fairly risque, but has incredible writing - I had to stop reading it at the pool, because I would forget to check to see if Lauren was all right.
Moon Over Manifest is by Clare Vanderpool. She is a Wichita, KS author, and she just won the Newberry award for this book. It is actually a YA book, set in KS, with details that appealed to me because they were so authentic. I was hoping to be able to read this book aloud to my class, but I think it will be over their heads. However, for Kansans in particular, this was a worthwhile read. Set during the Depression, the main character, a young girl, is shipped by her drifter father to his hometown, to be taken care of by an old friend, while her father travels and looks for work. The story tells about her searching into the past of the town, looking for clues about her father.
Handle With Care is about a young girl born with brittle bone disease. It's told from her mother, father, and older sister's points of view, all directed to her. Her mom ends up suing her obstetrician, on the grounds that she would have aborted her daughter had the disease been diagnosed earlier. The mom is doing this expressly for the purpose of gaining money to be able to care for her daughter. The father fights on the other side of the lawsuit. It was kind of heart-wrenching for me to read as a mom - how far you'd go to provide for your children, and how your choices ripple out to affect others.
A Reliable Wife is the best-written book I've read in ages. It is set in the early 1800s in rural Wisconsin. A man who basically owns a town - his company employs 95% of the population there - puts an ad in an East-coast newspaper advertising for a wife. A woman answers his ad, they get to know each other through letters, she comes to visit to see if they are compatible. However, this book slowly unfolds and becomes a rich and detailed and unforgettable story. It is fairly risque, but has incredible writing - I had to stop reading it at the pool, because I would forget to check to see if Lauren was all right.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Kansas City, Day 2
We are back at home-sweet-home...by 10:00 p.m. This morning we slept late, then headed out for Fritz's for breakfast (the restaurant with the train that runs along the ceiling and delivers your food). But then we realized that they didn't open until 10:30, and that they were in an area where we'd have to pay to park, etc. - so we headed for McDonald's instead. :) Then we went to the WWI Museum - Liberty Memorial Museum, which was amazing. It was really informative, but the best part for me was the small personal belongings of soldiers that made me feel like I kind of knew some of them - it was very emotional in some parts. I think that every high school student should go through that museum. I'm sure that I learned some of that information before...
We went to the top of Liberty Tower, which is an elevator ride up 214 feet, and then a climb of 45 steps. The viewing tower had a tall wall, about as tall as Lauren. Lauren was really nervous about going up, but was okay once we were up there. The view was AMAZING - we could see way beyond the city limits, and I got some amazing pictures. The downtown skyline was beautiful.
After the museum, we went to an Italian diner called Bella Napoli's for lunch. I'd read online that it was a great authentic neighborhood deli. What I didn't realize was that everything was going to be in Italian. So it was kind of an experience... They have three doors, but you can only walk in the middle one, which opens into a deli/meat & cheese counter, with a big board behind it with Italian writing. It opened into one side that had booths and another side that was a coffee bar. We had wonderful, wonderful food - Lauren had an Americano sandwich (fresh deli meat and homemade rolls), and Stuart and I had pasta. I had a meatball panini and it was YUM! However, I couldn't even finish half of it, and Stuart and I both had rigatoni, too. We'll be going back the next time we're in KC - there were about 15 more things that I want to try.
After we ate, we went to the Miniatures Museum, but the docent told us that they closed in 30 minutes. So we drove by the Nelson Adkins Museum, and then headed out to Cabella's. We could spend an unreasonable amount of time browsing around in Cabella's. The best part, for me, was watching Lauren play a target shooting game upstairs and SHE ROCKED! I had no idea she was so good at that - it was amazing to watch her really excel at something unexpected!
Stuart just turned the television on, and the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" is on. I'd forgotten how much I love this show! It used to be my favorite television show!
We went to the top of Liberty Tower, which is an elevator ride up 214 feet, and then a climb of 45 steps. The viewing tower had a tall wall, about as tall as Lauren. Lauren was really nervous about going up, but was okay once we were up there. The view was AMAZING - we could see way beyond the city limits, and I got some amazing pictures. The downtown skyline was beautiful.
After the museum, we went to an Italian diner called Bella Napoli's for lunch. I'd read online that it was a great authentic neighborhood deli. What I didn't realize was that everything was going to be in Italian. So it was kind of an experience... They have three doors, but you can only walk in the middle one, which opens into a deli/meat & cheese counter, with a big board behind it with Italian writing. It opened into one side that had booths and another side that was a coffee bar. We had wonderful, wonderful food - Lauren had an Americano sandwich (fresh deli meat and homemade rolls), and Stuart and I had pasta. I had a meatball panini and it was YUM! However, I couldn't even finish half of it, and Stuart and I both had rigatoni, too. We'll be going back the next time we're in KC - there were about 15 more things that I want to try.
After we ate, we went to the Miniatures Museum, but the docent told us that they closed in 30 minutes. So we drove by the Nelson Adkins Museum, and then headed out to Cabella's. We could spend an unreasonable amount of time browsing around in Cabella's. The best part, for me, was watching Lauren play a target shooting game upstairs and SHE ROCKED! I had no idea she was so good at that - it was amazing to watch her really excel at something unexpected!
Stuart just turned the television on, and the show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" is on. I'd forgotten how much I love this show! It used to be my favorite television show!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Royals Game, KC, July 7, 2011
We are in our hotel room, having just returned from a Royals game. We have stolen Stuart away for the weekend as our Fathers' Day gift - a Royals game, the WWI museum, eating at Fritz's, etc. Lauren and I have never been to any big baseball game before, and we had a blast. Even though the weather has been 100 degrees or hotter every day for the last two weeks, today was suddenly much cooler - it was only around 80 degrees and overcast, so it was pleasant to be outside. The Royals lost 3-1, but the game was way more fun to watch than I would have guessed. The most memorable thing is that we almost got hit by a foul ball - it hit the lady sitting behind me, and I heard it whizz in between my head and Lauren's head. It was truly one of those slow-motion-reaction moments - I could see it coming, couldn't decide if it was going to hit us or not, I could see Stuart putting his hands up to grab for it. I thought he had caught it, because it didn't hit us, and then I realized that it hit the lady behind us. Scary...I can't imagine what would have happened if it had hit Lauren, with a 95-mile-an-hour pitch, and I don't even know what it's going once it's been hit. We saw 2 players break their bats when they hit, we saw a home run, and one that was *almost* a home run (I thought it was, but I was wrong!), and watched the Detroit pitcher playing mind games. We got ice cream while we walked around during the 5th inning, Lauren got a light blue Royals shirt, we got to watch Sluggerrr (the lion mascot) dance around on top of the dugout, the Royals cheerleader girls dance and swing towels around, and listen to the girls behind us cheer their heads off. As well as a man in the top balcony who kept yelling "Let's go, Royals..." to try to get the crowd to start that chant about 200 times. With very poor results. It was interesting to see the vendors - Lauren got blue cotton candy first thing.
I had so much fun, and I'd really like to go again.
Tomorrow we are going to go to Fritz's for breakfast, I think, and then the WWI museum, and then somewhere else. Lauren and I made a list of about 6 or 8 things in the area that we think Stuart might like, and so we'll pick something fun - the Truman Museum, the Miniatures Museum, the Money Museum, Spring Cave park, the fountains at some big mall, etc.
I had so much fun, and I'd really like to go again.
Tomorrow we are going to go to Fritz's for breakfast, I think, and then the WWI museum, and then somewhere else. Lauren and I made a list of about 6 or 8 things in the area that we think Stuart might like, and so we'll pick something fun - the Truman Museum, the Miniatures Museum, the Money Museum, Spring Cave park, the fountains at some big mall, etc.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
June 25, 2011
I'm not sure about why this is, but for some reason in the summer, when I say "going to the pool", my head decides that it counts as exercise. Like, when I am totally my exercise for the week in my head, I'm thinking, "Well, I went to the pool on Wednesday and Friday." Which would be fabulous if I actually DID any exercise whatsoever when I was at the pool. I do not. I dip in the water a few times, pull my kiddo on a few laps to practice her swimming strokes, and then lay on my lounge chair and read and talk. Seriously, the most strenuous thing I do is raise my arms over my head to hold my book there so that it blocks the sun.
However, I've still been running some, and going to Zumba two or three times a week, so I'm not being a total slacker.
I'm working on cleaning my house, and I set a goal for myself yesterday. I had really been thinking that at some point we would move, that we wouldn't live in this little house forever. But the longer that we live here, the more I think that we're stuck here. So, I decided that if I get the house REALLY clean (which is always my summer goal, but often gets shoved aside in favor of swimming and getting sno-cones and reading books), like lemon-oil-polish the wood sort of clean, then I am going to reward myself by painting the laundry room. Which seems not-so-rewarding in print, but which I am actually really motivated by. My laundry room is currently less than inspiring to me, and I want to paint it a lovely rich teal color, with chocolate accents. That would require tearing off old wallpaper first, but I'm really fairly motivated to do this. And while I'm at it, I think I'm going to also paint the UGLY stairs leading from the laundry room to the basement. I saw a photo of stairs painted to look as if they had a runner down the middle of them - I'm thinking that I could do that in the teal, as well. If I'm going to stay in this house, I might as well do some of the renovations that I've been delaying, thinking that we'd just move away...
Okay, off to Zumba it is. This morning is the weekly "Mom & Me" class, so L gets to dance, too! :)
Then I think that we'll go do the once-a-week run into Hutchinson - buy groceries, run errands, etc. And I think that we might get to watch Ella for the afternoon today. She's the sweetest little punkin'...and I get to give her back at the end of the day, so I don't lose any sleep over her!
However, I've still been running some, and going to Zumba two or three times a week, so I'm not being a total slacker.
I'm working on cleaning my house, and I set a goal for myself yesterday. I had really been thinking that at some point we would move, that we wouldn't live in this little house forever. But the longer that we live here, the more I think that we're stuck here. So, I decided that if I get the house REALLY clean (which is always my summer goal, but often gets shoved aside in favor of swimming and getting sno-cones and reading books), like lemon-oil-polish the wood sort of clean, then I am going to reward myself by painting the laundry room. Which seems not-so-rewarding in print, but which I am actually really motivated by. My laundry room is currently less than inspiring to me, and I want to paint it a lovely rich teal color, with chocolate accents. That would require tearing off old wallpaper first, but I'm really fairly motivated to do this. And while I'm at it, I think I'm going to also paint the UGLY stairs leading from the laundry room to the basement. I saw a photo of stairs painted to look as if they had a runner down the middle of them - I'm thinking that I could do that in the teal, as well. If I'm going to stay in this house, I might as well do some of the renovations that I've been delaying, thinking that we'd just move away...
Okay, off to Zumba it is. This morning is the weekly "Mom & Me" class, so L gets to dance, too! :)
Then I think that we'll go do the once-a-week run into Hutchinson - buy groceries, run errands, etc. And I think that we might get to watch Ella for the afternoon today. She's the sweetest little punkin'...and I get to give her back at the end of the day, so I don't lose any sleep over her!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Road Trip to See Great-Grandma 6/20/11
We just got home from a 2-day trip to visit Great-grandma Fast in Beatrice. Jill and I and our kids all drove together in her van. It has been 48 hours filled with:
*"Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete jumped out. Who was left?" asked over and over and over...in a moving vehicle, with no escape hatch.
*M and G singing their versions of Taylor Swift songs, loudly, sometimes with dance motions.
*C saying:"Don't say the woood disgusting. It makes Aunt Ca-wa have da sad face."
*"It's my turn to push the elevator button! No, you did it last time! Well, you got to do it twice one time! No, it's not your turn!" Repeat same scenario with "use the room key card" inserted rather than "the elevator button".
*C singing, "I love you so much. I love you so much!" over and over. I wish I could have gotten it on video. It was ADORABLE!
*Taking the kids geocaching at Homestead National Monument - the first time that M and G have gone geocaching.
*Touring the farm house. This was a super sad experience for me, to see how degraded the farm is. Ceilings fallen in, dead animals inside, all windows broken out, etc.
*Getting to see my uncle Vern. Isn't it nice when you LIKE your relatives? It always makes me sad that we don't live closer to him.
*Trying to coerce 4 children into falling asleep at remotely the same time.
*Keeping L calm in the face of the approaching storm on Monday night. The park ranger told us that we were in a tornado watch and that we'd be getting rain and hail. Jill & I really wanted to stop and see Grandpa's headstone before heading back to town. The kids were interested, but spooked by the ominous black clouds. My kid was beyond spooked. Like "I'm not getting out of the van" spooked.
*"Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete jumped out. Who was left?" asked over and over and over...in a moving vehicle, with no escape hatch.
*M and G singing their versions of Taylor Swift songs, loudly, sometimes with dance motions.
*C saying:"Don't say the woood disgusting. It makes Aunt Ca-wa have da sad face."
*"It's my turn to push the elevator button! No, you did it last time! Well, you got to do it twice one time! No, it's not your turn!" Repeat same scenario with "use the room key card" inserted rather than "the elevator button".
*C singing, "I love you so much. I love you so much!" over and over. I wish I could have gotten it on video. It was ADORABLE!
*Taking the kids geocaching at Homestead National Monument - the first time that M and G have gone geocaching.
*Touring the farm house. This was a super sad experience for me, to see how degraded the farm is. Ceilings fallen in, dead animals inside, all windows broken out, etc.
*Getting to see my uncle Vern. Isn't it nice when you LIKE your relatives? It always makes me sad that we don't live closer to him.
*Trying to coerce 4 children into falling asleep at remotely the same time.
*Keeping L calm in the face of the approaching storm on Monday night. The park ranger told us that we were in a tornado watch and that we'd be getting rain and hail. Jill & I really wanted to stop and see Grandpa's headstone before heading back to town. The kids were interested, but spooked by the ominous black clouds. My kid was beyond spooked. Like "I'm not getting out of the van" spooked.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Summer Lessons
So, that expression about how experience is the best teacher? True indeed.
Summer lesson #1: Buy new sunscreen every summer. And while you're at it, check the expiration date (not all brands have one, though). If you use last summer's sunscreen, it might not be very effective any more. And if you go to the pool for the first time, and take a group of other people's children with you, you'll ALL get sunburned.
Summer lesson #2: If you go to Grandpa & Grandma's pond and walk around in the grass by the pond, you should take a shower when you get home, NO MATTER HOW LATE IT IS. Really. If you don't, you'll have about 100 chigger bites covering your bra and underwear areas by the next morning. And if you are a kid, and spent HOURS by the pond transferring tadpoles and catfish from one rapidly shrinking puddle to another, you should be particularly vigilant about the showering thing. Because you'll have about 200 chigger bites, and be all swollen and red and everything will itch and hurt. We should buy stock in Benadryl and After-Bite.
Summer lesson #1: Buy new sunscreen every summer. And while you're at it, check the expiration date (not all brands have one, though). If you use last summer's sunscreen, it might not be very effective any more. And if you go to the pool for the first time, and take a group of other people's children with you, you'll ALL get sunburned.
Summer lesson #2: If you go to Grandpa & Grandma's pond and walk around in the grass by the pond, you should take a shower when you get home, NO MATTER HOW LATE IT IS. Really. If you don't, you'll have about 100 chigger bites covering your bra and underwear areas by the next morning. And if you are a kid, and spent HOURS by the pond transferring tadpoles and catfish from one rapidly shrinking puddle to another, you should be particularly vigilant about the showering thing. Because you'll have about 200 chigger bites, and be all swollen and red and everything will itch and hurt. We should buy stock in Benadryl and After-Bite.
Friday, March 25, 2011
More Unconnected Details about Louisiana Trip
*In Louisiana, they don't divide up the state into counties - they are divided into parishes.
*Louisiana has a few "sections", at least as they are touted to tourists. We spent time in the plantation area and in the swamp area.
*When we visited the San Fransisco Plantation, Lauren's favorite thing was the slave quarters. But her second favorite thing was the boudoir in the "big house". The guide explained to us that the literal translation of "boudoir" is "pouting room" and that it was used for a woman to go into when she was mad at her husband, and he couldn't come in. Also, it was used for kids in time-out. And for women when they were pregnant, if unexpected company came over, and for her to give birth in, and then stay in (with the baby) for two months after. At that time, not much was known about diseases/medicines, so seclusion was used for protection.
*In New Orleans, we visited the Blue Dog gallery. The artist who created Blue Dog is from New Orleans, so there's a big interesting gallery, which was an unexpected perk for us. We also saw an enormous Blue Dog statue in a traffic median in Metairie later.
*On Wednesday, our last morning in New Orleans, we went to a place called Morning Call and had beignets and cafe au lait for breakfast. Well, Stuart had cafe au lait, and Lauren & I had hot chocolate. Beignet are like fried dough squares, and you shake powdered sugar over them and eat them while they're hot. Yummm.
*Lauren got to climb a 300-year-old oak tree at the Audubon Zoo. I've never seen any tree that big and sprawling before, and some of its limbs were so gnarled and twisted that they touched the ground.
*Driving home was like driving backward through the seasons - we left summer behind in Louisiana, and arrived back in winter - it was 30 degrees when we got home last night! Louisiana was so lush and green and pleasant to be outdoors all day. As we drove, the greenery changed over into evergreens for part of Texas, then thick trees, then eventually in Oklahoma, into landscape that looked like Kansas (except with red soil, of course!)
Lauren at the Blue Dog art gallery
Lauren with an alligator at the airboat tour building
One of the balconies (called galleries) on Bourbon Street, still decorated for Mardi Gras. We walked down Bourbon Street for several blocks, until the advertisements and shop owners became a little too risque for little-girl-eyes.
Lauren watching the little alligators, which Stevie had just let her feed with big marshmallows.
*Louisiana has a few "sections", at least as they are touted to tourists. We spent time in the plantation area and in the swamp area.
*When we visited the San Fransisco Plantation, Lauren's favorite thing was the slave quarters. But her second favorite thing was the boudoir in the "big house". The guide explained to us that the literal translation of "boudoir" is "pouting room" and that it was used for a woman to go into when she was mad at her husband, and he couldn't come in. Also, it was used for kids in time-out. And for women when they were pregnant, if unexpected company came over, and for her to give birth in, and then stay in (with the baby) for two months after. At that time, not much was known about diseases/medicines, so seclusion was used for protection.
*In New Orleans, we visited the Blue Dog gallery. The artist who created Blue Dog is from New Orleans, so there's a big interesting gallery, which was an unexpected perk for us. We also saw an enormous Blue Dog statue in a traffic median in Metairie later.
*On Wednesday, our last morning in New Orleans, we went to a place called Morning Call and had beignets and cafe au lait for breakfast. Well, Stuart had cafe au lait, and Lauren & I had hot chocolate. Beignet are like fried dough squares, and you shake powdered sugar over them and eat them while they're hot. Yummm.
*Lauren got to climb a 300-year-old oak tree at the Audubon Zoo. I've never seen any tree that big and sprawling before, and some of its limbs were so gnarled and twisted that they touched the ground.
*Driving home was like driving backward through the seasons - we left summer behind in Louisiana, and arrived back in winter - it was 30 degrees when we got home last night! Louisiana was so lush and green and pleasant to be outdoors all day. As we drove, the greenery changed over into evergreens for part of Texas, then thick trees, then eventually in Oklahoma, into landscape that looked like Kansas (except with red soil, of course!)
Lauren at the Blue Dog art gallery
Lauren with an alligator at the airboat tour building
One of the balconies (called galleries) on Bourbon Street, still decorated for Mardi Gras. We walked down Bourbon Street for several blocks, until the advertisements and shop owners became a little too risque for little-girl-eyes.
Lauren watching the little alligators, which Stevie had just let her feed with big marshmallows.
All the rest
I have approximately a million other details that I want to share - I think I'm going to try to do this in a few shorter posts, rather than one gargantuan one.
I forgot to share about the City Diner, the diner that was in the parking lot of our hotel in New Orleans (well, technically, in a "suburb" of New Orleans called Metairie). The City Diner has the best food, and every single thing we ate there was bigger than my head. Sandwiches, hash browns, pancakes, everything. On Tuesday, we ate breakfast there, and Lauren got a chocolate chip pancake. She was trying to decide whether to have 1 or 2 pancakes, the waitress said, "They're pretty big - maybe you should just get one first, and then see."
That's the biggest pancake I've ever seen in my entire life. We think that we should nominate their diner for the show "Man Vs. Food", because you can order the pancakes in stacks of 1,3, or 5. We all ate Lauren's pancake, and we didn't even eat half of it. And it was delicious, probably the best pancake I've ever eaten.
We were sitting in a booth near the door, and people would walk in, and then do a full-body double-take when they saw her pancake.
Tuesday was the day we went to the cemeteries. One of my very favorite tombs had a beautiful blue stained glass window in the back of it, and a statue of a forlorn angel who has flung herself over a table/stone, with the blue light falling on her. It was heartbreaking. The tombs are like small houses, with ornate wrought-iron gates and urns full of flowers/plants, and statues and wreaths and ribbons. They were beautifully well-kept, obviously a priority to many families. Some of them had ornate designs of multi-colored marble and stone in front of them, made to look like carpets. And in some of the areas, the oldest areas, the facades were crumbling and we could see the old bricks underneath. On one of the tombs in Lafayette Cemetery, the bricks were broken, too, and we could look inside. Not that I could see anything but dirt and more crumbling bricks, but it took me a while to gather up the courage to look in at all.
Tuesday was also the day that we drove around through the Garden District and looked at all of the magnificent homes. One of the things that I was really struck by is how lush and extravagant the flowers and plants are. Everything is covered with azaleas and rhododendron. There are beds of pansies and violets everywhere, and palm trees (date palms, I think). It reminded me so much of going to Florida, where we were surrounded by lush greenery everywhere.
Tuesday was also the airboat tour day - my very favorite thing. Aside from the sheer pleasure of riding on the airboat, which would have been enough for me, we got to see interesting scenery and alligators and learn about the area.
Stevie, our guide, explained about the places where freshwater and salt water mix - he took us to different areas and showed us how the trees/plants change. Most of the swamp has cypress trees, with their spread-out roots in the water, but that's only in fresh water. In the area where the salt water joins in, the trees change and thin out, and there aren't alligators or as many fish - they don't like the brackish water. He also told us that the Disney Channel sent actors from "The Princess and the Frog" on an airboat tour from his company, and he showed us where they stopped to take promotional photos.
He also showed us orange trees with oranges growing, and he took us out onto Lake Salvator. He showed us how people set up cane poles in the water to catch catfish and come back to check them once a day.
One of Lauren's favorite vacation things is that we got to swim or at least put our feet in the pool at our hotels every night - outside pools. None of the hotels in Louisiana had indoor pools, but it was warm enough to swim outside.
I forgot to share about the City Diner, the diner that was in the parking lot of our hotel in New Orleans (well, technically, in a "suburb" of New Orleans called Metairie). The City Diner has the best food, and every single thing we ate there was bigger than my head. Sandwiches, hash browns, pancakes, everything. On Tuesday, we ate breakfast there, and Lauren got a chocolate chip pancake. She was trying to decide whether to have 1 or 2 pancakes, the waitress said, "They're pretty big - maybe you should just get one first, and then see."
We were sitting in a booth near the door, and people would walk in, and then do a full-body double-take when they saw her pancake.
Tuesday was the day we went to the cemeteries. One of my very favorite tombs had a beautiful blue stained glass window in the back of it, and a statue of a forlorn angel who has flung herself over a table/stone, with the blue light falling on her. It was heartbreaking. The tombs are like small houses, with ornate wrought-iron gates and urns full of flowers/plants, and statues and wreaths and ribbons. They were beautifully well-kept, obviously a priority to many families. Some of them had ornate designs of multi-colored marble and stone in front of them, made to look like carpets. And in some of the areas, the oldest areas, the facades were crumbling and we could see the old bricks underneath. On one of the tombs in Lafayette Cemetery, the bricks were broken, too, and we could look inside. Not that I could see anything but dirt and more crumbling bricks, but it took me a while to gather up the courage to look in at all.
Tuesday was also the day that we drove around through the Garden District and looked at all of the magnificent homes. One of the things that I was really struck by is how lush and extravagant the flowers and plants are. Everything is covered with azaleas and rhododendron. There are beds of pansies and violets everywhere, and palm trees (date palms, I think). It reminded me so much of going to Florida, where we were surrounded by lush greenery everywhere.
Tuesday was also the airboat tour day - my very favorite thing. Aside from the sheer pleasure of riding on the airboat, which would have been enough for me, we got to see interesting scenery and alligators and learn about the area.
One of Lauren's favorite vacation things is that we got to swim or at least put our feet in the pool at our hotels every night - outside pools. None of the hotels in Louisiana had indoor pools, but it was warm enough to swim outside.
Wednesday and Thursday - Zoo, Shreveport, the horse races and home
I'm typing this from the cozy spot in my front room, sitting beside the heater vent. 'Cause it's cold in here, baby. About halfway home from Shreveport I started shivering, and I haven't really stopped. I'd forgotten how the climate can differ within the U.S. - my body had happily adjusted to Louisiana, with the shorts and the sunscreen and the swimming outside. Kansas is a rude awakening - 39 degrees?? Blech!
Yesterday morning, we got up and headed for the New Orleans Audubon Zoo. I had hoped to go to the Insectarium, but it's located in the heart of the French Quarter, and I just couldn't mentally work myself up to going back - I'm completely not cut out for frantic city driving and stressful parking and jam-packed, hold-onto-your-wallet-so-no-one-steals-it environments. So we went to the Zoo and had a marvelous time. It's located on its original property from 1832 (I think that's the right year), and like pretty much every single other thing in New Orleans, it's gorgeous. Like artistic, graceful, architecturally astounding type of gorgeous. Buildings that you'd never expect to see at a zoo, lovely sculptures, design details, fountains, pavilions, etc. And the animals were good, too. :) They had sea lions, which are almost always my favorites, and an ornate carousel, where Lauren rode the albino alligator.
There are a million more things, but it's midnight, and I'm exhausted, so I'll have to add to this tomorrow.
Carla
Yesterday morning, we got up and headed for the New Orleans Audubon Zoo. I had hoped to go to the Insectarium, but it's located in the heart of the French Quarter, and I just couldn't mentally work myself up to going back - I'm completely not cut out for frantic city driving and stressful parking and jam-packed, hold-onto-your-wallet-so-no-one-steals-it environments. So we went to the Zoo and had a marvelous time. It's located on its original property from 1832 (I think that's the right year), and like pretty much every single other thing in New Orleans, it's gorgeous. Like artistic, graceful, architecturally astounding type of gorgeous. Buildings that you'd never expect to see at a zoo, lovely sculptures, design details, fountains, pavilions, etc. And the animals were good, too. :) They had sea lions, which are almost always my favorites, and an ornate carousel, where Lauren rode the albino alligator.
There are a million more things, but it's midnight, and I'm exhausted, so I'll have to add to this tomorrow.
Carla
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday - Airboat Swamp Tour and cemeteries
Airboats are my new favorite thing. If ever I decide to have a mid-life job change, my first choice in new vocation is to drive an airboat, and maybe give tours so that I can make some extra money.
Our tour was AMAZING. Our guide was named Stevie - a big ol' Cajun man, with a great sense of humor, who sat behind us and chain-smoked while showing us the best of the bayou. Lauren's favorite thing is that she got to hold a baby alligator, named Bud. She also got to feed big alligators - they come when you throw out big marshmallows (which Stevie calls "swamp crack"). Stevie said that they also come over for donuts! He brought chicken along, in case we got one of the big ones to come over, but that didn't work out. We saw 2 of the big ones - one of them was 12 feet long, and the other one was too scared of the airboat to let us get very close, so we're not sure how long it is. The ones that Lauren got to throw marshmallows to were 6-8 feet.
We spent the morning touring old cemetaries. All of the cemetaries here are above ground, since the water table is so close to the surface. I am fascinated by them - many of them are marble and ornate, with carvings and statues and stained glass and wrought iron gates. We went to the Metairie Cemetary, where about half of the tombs date from the early 1800s, and it is still being used today. There's a beautiful one shaped like a pyramid with a Sphinx guarding it. Lauren's excited because she bought a book at the book fair about a girl who lived in New Orleans during the yellow fever epidemic, and is buried in the Lafayette Cemetary. We drove to that cemetery, too, and Lauren and I walked through looking for the book character. All cemeteries in New Orleans close promptly at 3:00, though, and their gates are locked, so we got shooed out before we found it. However, it's kind of magical to see the actual location of a book you've been immersed in, and Lauren was thrilled with the whole experience - she kept touching things and saying "This is just how I imagined it!"
Today we are heading to the New Orleans Audubon Zoo and City Park, and then picking up our trailer from the race track and heading for Shreveport. I'm hoping that we can find something fun to do in Shreveport tomorrow before we head home, but we'll see...
Carla
Our tour was AMAZING. Our guide was named Stevie - a big ol' Cajun man, with a great sense of humor, who sat behind us and chain-smoked while showing us the best of the bayou. Lauren's favorite thing is that she got to hold a baby alligator, named Bud. She also got to feed big alligators - they come when you throw out big marshmallows (which Stevie calls "swamp crack"). Stevie said that they also come over for donuts! He brought chicken along, in case we got one of the big ones to come over, but that didn't work out. We saw 2 of the big ones - one of them was 12 feet long, and the other one was too scared of the airboat to let us get very close, so we're not sure how long it is. The ones that Lauren got to throw marshmallows to were 6-8 feet.
We spent the morning touring old cemetaries. All of the cemetaries here are above ground, since the water table is so close to the surface. I am fascinated by them - many of them are marble and ornate, with carvings and statues and stained glass and wrought iron gates. We went to the Metairie Cemetary, where about half of the tombs date from the early 1800s, and it is still being used today. There's a beautiful one shaped like a pyramid with a Sphinx guarding it. Lauren's excited because she bought a book at the book fair about a girl who lived in New Orleans during the yellow fever epidemic, and is buried in the Lafayette Cemetary. We drove to that cemetery, too, and Lauren and I walked through looking for the book character. All cemeteries in New Orleans close promptly at 3:00, though, and their gates are locked, so we got shooed out before we found it. However, it's kind of magical to see the actual location of a book you've been immersed in, and Lauren was thrilled with the whole experience - she kept touching things and saying "This is just how I imagined it!"
Today we are heading to the New Orleans Audubon Zoo and City Park, and then picking up our trailer from the race track and heading for Shreveport. I'm hoping that we can find something fun to do in Shreveport tomorrow before we head home, but we'll see...
Carla
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday in Metairie, aka "New Orleans is not where I want to live"
We had a nice relaxing start to our day - didn't have to be anywhere at any certain time. We got packed back up and left Donaldsonville this morning, heading for New Orleans. On the way, we stopped at the San Fransisco Plantation in Garyville, LA. They said that it's the most opulent plantation house in North America. It's right on the east bank of the Mississippi River - in fact, the former front yard is now a levee that holds back the river. It's a really unusual looking plantation - very different than the others we've seen - the woman who lived there was German, and through a series of events, wound up living in Louisiana when she desperately wanted to live in Germany. To make it up to her, her husband let her decorate it however she wanted. It is a Creole style house, accented with turquoise, surrounded by huge live oaks and amazing flower beds everywhere. We took a tour from a costumed guide, but L's favorite thing was the slave quarters. One thing I thought was really interesting was the lists of the slaves (on an inventory of the masters' property) - it listed each slave by name, their race, their specialty (like potter or house slave or field hand) and any health concerns (like asthmatic). Very interesting.
Next we headed into New Orleans. We stopped at our hotel, then went to eat at the diner that is in our parking lot. It's called City Diner and it has wonderful food - I'd seen really great reviews about it on TripAdvisor. We all had sandwiches, and they were literally BIGGER THAN MY HEAD! I had a chicken cordon bleu sandwich, with spinach sprinkled into the swiss sauce that was over it - yummmm! The only down side is that we all had leftovers, of course, and our room doesn't have a fridge.
We headed into the French Quarter for the afternoon. That was quite an experience. I think I'm still processing...definitely one of those things that are part of the "American experience". It was a scary place to walk around with a kid - I was so tense the whole time. One of the things that I want Lauren to know is that there's a big wide world out there, full of people and things she doesn't see in our little sheltered world - but we might have had a little overload of that today. Between the people handing out free condoms, the people accosting us (trying to sell shoe-shines, but yelling the f-word at Stuart when we walked away), really smelly street bands of people that might fall into the category of street people or gypsies, etc, she saw all kinds of unusual types today. On the plus side, we saw amazing architecture, fascinating homes packed into structures that I'd never seen before, street artists, beautiful decorations left from Mardi Gras, and took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the French Quarter. We got to walk beside the French Market to see the Mississippi, and there was a steamboat docking, playing calliope music. (I wanted to stay and watch, but this was when the shoe-shine man episode happened). L hated the smell on the streets - I don't know if it always smells like that, or if it is just because Mardi Gras ended not so long ago. Her favorite part was the carriage ride - we were pulled by a mule named Andy, and the driver let her pet Andy. Our carriage was white with red plush seats, and in a funny coincidence, the people who sat in front of us were from Arkansas, and the people behind us were from Indiana. The man who provided our tour, Max, grew up in the French Quarter, and told us stories about what things were like when he was a kid, as well as telling us about the history of the buildings.
Our pizza just arrived, and I'm starving, so I'm going to go eat!
Carla
Next we headed into New Orleans. We stopped at our hotel, then went to eat at the diner that is in our parking lot. It's called City Diner and it has wonderful food - I'd seen really great reviews about it on TripAdvisor. We all had sandwiches, and they were literally BIGGER THAN MY HEAD! I had a chicken cordon bleu sandwich, with spinach sprinkled into the swiss sauce that was over it - yummmm! The only down side is that we all had leftovers, of course, and our room doesn't have a fridge.
We headed into the French Quarter for the afternoon. That was quite an experience. I think I'm still processing...definitely one of those things that are part of the "American experience". It was a scary place to walk around with a kid - I was so tense the whole time. One of the things that I want Lauren to know is that there's a big wide world out there, full of people and things she doesn't see in our little sheltered world - but we might have had a little overload of that today. Between the people handing out free condoms, the people accosting us (trying to sell shoe-shines, but yelling the f-word at Stuart when we walked away), really smelly street bands of people that might fall into the category of street people or gypsies, etc, she saw all kinds of unusual types today. On the plus side, we saw amazing architecture, fascinating homes packed into structures that I'd never seen before, street artists, beautiful decorations left from Mardi Gras, and took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the French Quarter. We got to walk beside the French Market to see the Mississippi, and there was a steamboat docking, playing calliope music. (I wanted to stay and watch, but this was when the shoe-shine man episode happened). L hated the smell on the streets - I don't know if it always smells like that, or if it is just because Mardi Gras ended not so long ago. Her favorite part was the carriage ride - we were pulled by a mule named Andy, and the driver let her pet Andy. Our carriage was white with red plush seats, and in a funny coincidence, the people who sat in front of us were from Arkansas, and the people behind us were from Indiana. The man who provided our tour, Max, grew up in the French Quarter, and told us stories about what things were like when he was a kid, as well as telling us about the history of the buildings.
Our pizza just arrived, and I'm starving, so I'm going to go eat!
Carla
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday, a day of relaxation
Today was elimination racing day. Stuart's class was the 2nd class to run, and Stuart was the first race in his class. He lost by ONE-ONE HUNDREDTH OF A SECOND. Actually, L and I thought he won - we were jumping up and down like fools in the stands, because he ran his dial-in time exactly, which is really unusual, and typically means that you've won. But the other guy beat him by this teeny-tiny margin. So it was a great run, and he fixed a problem that the car has been having, and it's a good sign that he's able to predict what the car can do in certain weather/temperature/wind situations, but... as Stuart says, "if you have to lose, this is the way to do it - with a good run."
So we hung out at the track until early evening, since the track owner is letting us leave the trailer there for the days that we toodle around Louisiana, so that we don't have to drag the trailer with us. It was actually a really good day - we'd kind of settled in, knew where everything was, etc. L and I made cards and watched a movie and checked on the alligator. We had more wonderful food for lunch - fried balls of crab and of crawdads, fried fresh fish, and tiny spicy rolls with beef in them. Everything was wonderful - I could eat this every day. I ate a truly impressive amount of that fish. :)
I've also discovered Snowballs. I think maybe I mentioned them yesterday. They are like snowcones, in a cup, with really really finely shaved ice. I am now officially addicted to "Strawberry Wedding Cake" flavored snowballs - the lady at the concession stand knew what to make when she saw us in line this afternoon! They have evaporated milk in them and are just about the best things ever!
This morning it was so humid that we could actually SEE the moisture in the air - I've never experienced that before. We could see the water particles floating down - like mist, but different.
This evening, after we left the track, we came back to the hotel so that L could go swimming. They only have an outside pool, but it was really warm, so L got to swim outdoors in the third week in March - that just seems so crazy, but she was deliriously happy.
We went into Donaldsonville to try a restaurant tonight - it had great reviews for authentic local food - Cajun and Creole. However, it turns out that pretty much all of the small local restaurants are closed on Sunday evenings. So we ate at Wendy's. Not quite the same category - but we did have the NICEST man help us, and he was so sweet to L, so everything worked out.
We are heading for New Orleans tomorrow. One nice thing about meeting other racers at the track is that many of them are local, and they gave Stuart the scoop about where to stay in N.O. and where to park, and what attractions are must-sees. So we got a swamp tour scheduled for Tuesday (on an AIRBOAT - I am really excited!), and we're going to the Audubon Insectarium and L wants to tour the famous above-ground cemeteries. I think we're just going to head for the French Quarter and walk around. And we're going to try to toss in a visit to the Gulf of Mexico, too, while we're down here. You know, everything Louisiana offers in three days! Oh, yeah, and another plantation visit, to one that has costumed guides and lots of hands-on demonstrations for kids to try. We're going to be exhausted but happy!
Carla
Sunshine Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi about a mile from our hotel
A tree beside the place from which our swamp tour was supposed to depart - I love the moss dangling from all of the trees!
An enormous boat on the Mississippi
So we hung out at the track until early evening, since the track owner is letting us leave the trailer there for the days that we toodle around Louisiana, so that we don't have to drag the trailer with us. It was actually a really good day - we'd kind of settled in, knew where everything was, etc. L and I made cards and watched a movie and checked on the alligator. We had more wonderful food for lunch - fried balls of crab and of crawdads, fried fresh fish, and tiny spicy rolls with beef in them. Everything was wonderful - I could eat this every day. I ate a truly impressive amount of that fish. :)
I've also discovered Snowballs. I think maybe I mentioned them yesterday. They are like snowcones, in a cup, with really really finely shaved ice. I am now officially addicted to "Strawberry Wedding Cake" flavored snowballs - the lady at the concession stand knew what to make when she saw us in line this afternoon! They have evaporated milk in them and are just about the best things ever!
This morning it was so humid that we could actually SEE the moisture in the air - I've never experienced that before. We could see the water particles floating down - like mist, but different.
This evening, after we left the track, we came back to the hotel so that L could go swimming. They only have an outside pool, but it was really warm, so L got to swim outdoors in the third week in March - that just seems so crazy, but she was deliriously happy.
We went into Donaldsonville to try a restaurant tonight - it had great reviews for authentic local food - Cajun and Creole. However, it turns out that pretty much all of the small local restaurants are closed on Sunday evenings. So we ate at Wendy's. Not quite the same category - but we did have the NICEST man help us, and he was so sweet to L, so everything worked out.
We are heading for New Orleans tomorrow. One nice thing about meeting other racers at the track is that many of them are local, and they gave Stuart the scoop about where to stay in N.O. and where to park, and what attractions are must-sees. So we got a swamp tour scheduled for Tuesday (on an AIRBOAT - I am really excited!), and we're going to the Audubon Insectarium and L wants to tour the famous above-ground cemeteries. I think we're just going to head for the French Quarter and walk around. And we're going to try to toss in a visit to the Gulf of Mexico, too, while we're down here. You know, everything Louisiana offers in three days! Oh, yeah, and another plantation visit, to one that has costumed guides and lots of hands-on demonstrations for kids to try. We're going to be exhausted but happy!
Carla
Sunshine Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi about a mile from our hotel
A tree beside the place from which our swamp tour was supposed to depart - I love the moss dangling from all of the trees!
An enormous boat on the Mississippi
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Photos of Louisiana - Saturday
Until now, my posts have been filled with exclamation points - we did this! We saw this! We ate this! Today was a great day, but not filled with quite so many exclamation points...
Stuart's class wasn't listed on the schedule as having any runs today, so we slept in late and lazed around - a really nice change, and it made it feel more like a vacation to me. We got downstairs too late to eat breakfast here in the hotel, so we drove to a small nearby town to McDonald's for breakfast, and then to see a couple of plantations in that town. We went to Houmas House plantation, which was ENORMOUS, with the most beautiful gardens and old sculptures. Then we drove down the road a bit to another plantation whose name I can't remember - it was closed to tours, but we drove beside it. It's amazing how treasured these old plantations are here - I know that's undoubtedly due to the money tourists bring in, but they are so beautifully restored, in such detail.
The plantations that we saw (and there were 2 more in the same area) are all along the levee - the Mississippi River is 100 feet from them. And we can see the unloading docks/equipment rising above the levee, for unloading barges, all right across from the plantations. I'm so interested in the details about how different life is here.
We headed for the track then. Everywhere we drive, we are surrounded by two things: sugarcane fields and refineries. There are refineries here that are larger than Buhler. And not just a few - they are EVERYWHERE and they are HUGE. It's like being in a different country. The farmers have planted sugarcane in every single tiny available bit of land - little snippets beside ditches, little corners of fields, every single bit. And they have a whole different tractor for harvesting - something I've never seen before and can't figure out how it works - I'm going to have to look for a video of it on youtube.
We spent the afternoon & evening at the track, so that Stuart could watch the other racers. The people in his section who won their class competitions yesterday had a special race against each other today. The only way to win it is by going all out and giving it everything you've got, so it's good to watch if you are going to be racing against any of them, since you'll know what their cars can really do. It's very typical for racers to "sandbag it" - not ever run their car as fast as it can actually go until the last day of racing, so that no one knows what they can really do. The whole drag racing thing is way more complicated than it seems. Anyhow, we went to the track - L and I read books and sewed and played with toys, etc for the afternoon, in our shorts and sunglasses and hats, because it is really warm here. In the 80s in the afternoon - which I'm loving. A little glimpse of summer!
This evening, there was a jet car race. We wanted to stay to watch that, so we ate dinner at the track. This was my food adventure #2 - jambalaya. And it was delicious!
Pork, cajun sausage, noodles, onions - it was so spicy it made my lips zing, but it was great! And after that, L and I got a snowball - like a snowcone in a cup, only with sophisticated flavors, and they are amazing. Yesterday, L had a peach flavored one, and today she got strawberry wedding cake. It was so good that I ate almost half of hers - I'm getting my own tomorrow! :)
Then the jet car, which L has never seen before. That's such a cool experience because it's so loud you can feel it inside of you - it actually rattles you. They spray water behind it, so it makes enormous clouds of steam, and it roars, and blows jets of fire. It's one of my favorite things at the track - I've only seen them one other time; they are kind of rare.
Tomorrow is eliminations day, so I'm going to head to bed - we'll have an early day. Stuart's category races 2nd, and he's been slotted to be one of the first 3 racers, so we'll be there super early to get ready!
Carla
Stuart's class wasn't listed on the schedule as having any runs today, so we slept in late and lazed around - a really nice change, and it made it feel more like a vacation to me. We got downstairs too late to eat breakfast here in the hotel, so we drove to a small nearby town to McDonald's for breakfast, and then to see a couple of plantations in that town. We went to Houmas House plantation, which was ENORMOUS, with the most beautiful gardens and old sculptures. Then we drove down the road a bit to another plantation whose name I can't remember - it was closed to tours, but we drove beside it. It's amazing how treasured these old plantations are here - I know that's undoubtedly due to the money tourists bring in, but they are so beautifully restored, in such detail.
The plantations that we saw (and there were 2 more in the same area) are all along the levee - the Mississippi River is 100 feet from them. And we can see the unloading docks/equipment rising above the levee, for unloading barges, all right across from the plantations. I'm so interested in the details about how different life is here.
We headed for the track then. Everywhere we drive, we are surrounded by two things: sugarcane fields and refineries. There are refineries here that are larger than Buhler. And not just a few - they are EVERYWHERE and they are HUGE. It's like being in a different country. The farmers have planted sugarcane in every single tiny available bit of land - little snippets beside ditches, little corners of fields, every single bit. And they have a whole different tractor for harvesting - something I've never seen before and can't figure out how it works - I'm going to have to look for a video of it on youtube.
We spent the afternoon & evening at the track, so that Stuart could watch the other racers. The people in his section who won their class competitions yesterday had a special race against each other today. The only way to win it is by going all out and giving it everything you've got, so it's good to watch if you are going to be racing against any of them, since you'll know what their cars can really do. It's very typical for racers to "sandbag it" - not ever run their car as fast as it can actually go until the last day of racing, so that no one knows what they can really do. The whole drag racing thing is way more complicated than it seems. Anyhow, we went to the track - L and I read books and sewed and played with toys, etc for the afternoon, in our shorts and sunglasses and hats, because it is really warm here. In the 80s in the afternoon - which I'm loving. A little glimpse of summer!
This evening, there was a jet car race. We wanted to stay to watch that, so we ate dinner at the track. This was my food adventure #2 - jambalaya. And it was delicious!
Then the jet car, which L has never seen before. That's such a cool experience because it's so loud you can feel it inside of you - it actually rattles you. They spray water behind it, so it makes enormous clouds of steam, and it roars, and blows jets of fire. It's one of my favorite things at the track - I've only seen them one other time; they are kind of rare.
Tomorrow is eliminations day, so I'm going to head to bed - we'll have an early day. Stuart's category races 2nd, and he's been slotted to be one of the first 3 racers, so we'll be there super early to get ready!
Carla
Friday, March 18, 2011
All Bug-Sprayed Up, and No Where to Go (aka Friday evening)
As I have mentioned a time or two, I adore traveling. If I had unlimited money, I'd spend vast amounts of it on extravagant, frivolous traveling. So today was my cup of tea.
We got up early, which is pretty much the only thing I don't like about traveling. At least, on trips to the track, when getting up early is part of the plan. I stayed up too late last night, determined to get a run in - we didn't get back here until 9:30, and so I didn't finish running until almost 11, and so morning felt just too darn early to me. At any rate, we got up and at 'em and headed to the track. It was overcast and foggy and so humid, and really looked like it might be a miserable sort of day. I'm learning that maybe it's just like that here in Louisiana, because it turned into the absolutely most gorgeous day. One of those days that makes you celebrate sunshine - not too hot, just perfectly sunny, blue skies, puffy white clouds - just a "happy to be alive and outside" day. I was so glad that I had a reason to be out in it!
We spent the morning running qualifying rounds, and then running for class around lunchtime. We got lunch at the concession stand at the track, and I had a crawfish sandwich - that's practically mandatory in Louisiana, right? Eating a little adventurously was one of my goals for vacation, and so I'm giving it a go. L and I both want to try alligator, and I want to have gumbo and jambalaya, too. Anyhow, we ran class after lunch and Stuart didn't win. However, he ran a good time and nothing is broken on the car, so that's always a good run. And he has some ideas about something new to try that might improve his time, so there's something to occupy his time between getting-to-race times.
After Stuart was done racing for the day, L and I did some exploring around the track. We took the golf cart down to the drainage ditch area where we saw the alligator yesterday and HE WAS THERE AGAIN! Again, someone saw us there and asked what we were taking photos of, and saw it, too, so we have proof that we didn't make it up. Which I felt like I needed, since Stuart pulled up on the mo-ped a moment later, and it was gone. Again. Although it did scare the bejeebers out of me this time, since it thrashed in the water - I think I shrieked like a little girl and jumped about three feet into the air.
After that, L and I went further down to the end of the track, since I'd seen on Google Earth that there was a bigger lake down at the end. We had to drive the poor golf cart through a field to get to it, but there was a pretty little mowed path that ran along beside it, and it was so tranquil - frogs chirping, birds, enormous dragonflies everywhere. If it wasn't for my tense phobia that an alligator was going to fling itself out of the water at us, it would have been very lovely, I think. I stopped about every 2 feet to check out the water's edge.
We spent about 45 minutes or so exploring down there, and then headed back to our pit area. On the way, since we were going past the alligator's area anyhow, we decided to stop and peek, just in case. And yup, sure enough, he was out again. And so was a nutria, which I had never seen before. Essentially a beaver-sized rat with the most disgusting teeth I've ever seen. Day-glow yellowy-red. The stuff of nightmares. I have awesome pictures, which I'll add if I ever find my downloading cord. It's packed somewhere practical, I'm sure.
After all of that excitement, we headed back to the pits, and spent the rest of the afternoon eating Chex Mix and scotcharoos, playing card games, and sewing. (Well, okay, that's what L and I did. Stuart watched other men race.) :)
This evening, we had signed up for a swamp tour, and I was SO EXCITED. A pontoon, in the real swamp - alligators and Creoles and crawdad catching and swamp people, etc, etc - I was really ready to go. So we joined some other racers who had also signed up, a nice group, and headed to the meeting place, along with the woman from the track who had arranged the tour. And the tour guide never showed up. We waited about 45 minutes; L and the woman's son ran around and petted stray dogs and tried to catch lizards, etc. Such a disappointment. I'm hoping that maybe somehow it will get rescheduled for tomorrow night - I'm taking along jeans, sneakers, sweatshirts,bug spray etc, just in case (that's all the stuff they told us to wear tonight for the boat ride).
So we decided to, instead, go see the Mississippi during daylight. There is the scariest bridge EVER at the edge of this town, possibly called Sunshine Bridge, that spans the Mississippi. (I sure hope it's called something more dignified than that, but I suspect that I'm out of luck). I have an absolute phobia of bridges - irrational, but true, so I was nervous about this. We drove over it last night, in the dark, on the way to dinner. Today, however, being able to see the barges and everything made it so fascinating that I wasn't even too scared. And that's good, since we wound up driving over it about 6 times - thanks, GPS. We got a little mislead about how to get to our dinner destination.
We stopped on the far side of the Mississippi, parked beside one of the pylons, hiked through a grassy partition, and put our hands in the Mississippi. I don't know why that was so moving for me, but it made me kind of emotional. L and I collected shells - kinds that I've never seen before, and L found a fish stringer (which she, of course, kept).
All in all, quite a day.
I can't wait to see what we'll discover tomorrow!
Carla
We got up early, which is pretty much the only thing I don't like about traveling. At least, on trips to the track, when getting up early is part of the plan. I stayed up too late last night, determined to get a run in - we didn't get back here until 9:30, and so I didn't finish running until almost 11, and so morning felt just too darn early to me. At any rate, we got up and at 'em and headed to the track. It was overcast and foggy and so humid, and really looked like it might be a miserable sort of day. I'm learning that maybe it's just like that here in Louisiana, because it turned into the absolutely most gorgeous day. One of those days that makes you celebrate sunshine - not too hot, just perfectly sunny, blue skies, puffy white clouds - just a "happy to be alive and outside" day. I was so glad that I had a reason to be out in it!
We spent the morning running qualifying rounds, and then running for class around lunchtime. We got lunch at the concession stand at the track, and I had a crawfish sandwich - that's practically mandatory in Louisiana, right? Eating a little adventurously was one of my goals for vacation, and so I'm giving it a go. L and I both want to try alligator, and I want to have gumbo and jambalaya, too. Anyhow, we ran class after lunch and Stuart didn't win. However, he ran a good time and nothing is broken on the car, so that's always a good run. And he has some ideas about something new to try that might improve his time, so there's something to occupy his time between getting-to-race times.
After Stuart was done racing for the day, L and I did some exploring around the track. We took the golf cart down to the drainage ditch area where we saw the alligator yesterday and HE WAS THERE AGAIN! Again, someone saw us there and asked what we were taking photos of, and saw it, too, so we have proof that we didn't make it up. Which I felt like I needed, since Stuart pulled up on the mo-ped a moment later, and it was gone. Again. Although it did scare the bejeebers out of me this time, since it thrashed in the water - I think I shrieked like a little girl and jumped about three feet into the air.
After that, L and I went further down to the end of the track, since I'd seen on Google Earth that there was a bigger lake down at the end. We had to drive the poor golf cart through a field to get to it, but there was a pretty little mowed path that ran along beside it, and it was so tranquil - frogs chirping, birds, enormous dragonflies everywhere. If it wasn't for my tense phobia that an alligator was going to fling itself out of the water at us, it would have been very lovely, I think. I stopped about every 2 feet to check out the water's edge.
We spent about 45 minutes or so exploring down there, and then headed back to our pit area. On the way, since we were going past the alligator's area anyhow, we decided to stop and peek, just in case. And yup, sure enough, he was out again. And so was a nutria, which I had never seen before. Essentially a beaver-sized rat with the most disgusting teeth I've ever seen. Day-glow yellowy-red. The stuff of nightmares. I have awesome pictures, which I'll add if I ever find my downloading cord. It's packed somewhere practical, I'm sure.
After all of that excitement, we headed back to the pits, and spent the rest of the afternoon eating Chex Mix and scotcharoos, playing card games, and sewing. (Well, okay, that's what L and I did. Stuart watched other men race.) :)
This evening, we had signed up for a swamp tour, and I was SO EXCITED. A pontoon, in the real swamp - alligators and Creoles and crawdad catching and swamp people, etc, etc - I was really ready to go. So we joined some other racers who had also signed up, a nice group, and headed to the meeting place, along with the woman from the track who had arranged the tour. And the tour guide never showed up. We waited about 45 minutes; L and the woman's son ran around and petted stray dogs and tried to catch lizards, etc. Such a disappointment. I'm hoping that maybe somehow it will get rescheduled for tomorrow night - I'm taking along jeans, sneakers, sweatshirts,bug spray etc, just in case (that's all the stuff they told us to wear tonight for the boat ride).
So we decided to, instead, go see the Mississippi during daylight. There is the scariest bridge EVER at the edge of this town, possibly called Sunshine Bridge, that spans the Mississippi. (I sure hope it's called something more dignified than that, but I suspect that I'm out of luck). I have an absolute phobia of bridges - irrational, but true, so I was nervous about this. We drove over it last night, in the dark, on the way to dinner. Today, however, being able to see the barges and everything made it so fascinating that I wasn't even too scared. And that's good, since we wound up driving over it about 6 times - thanks, GPS. We got a little mislead about how to get to our dinner destination.
We stopped on the far side of the Mississippi, parked beside one of the pylons, hiked through a grassy partition, and put our hands in the Mississippi. I don't know why that was so moving for me, but it made me kind of emotional. L and I collected shells - kinds that I've never seen before, and L found a fish stringer (which she, of course, kept).
All in all, quite a day.
I can't wait to see what we'll discover tomorrow!
Carla
Friday highlights - before I forget
*seeing the alligator again, TWICE, and a nutria
*exploring the pond at the track
*putting our hands in the Mississippi, and gathering shells
*almost going on a swamp tour
*going over a really big bridge multiple times
*having crawfish for lunch
I'm going to add photos and more details later, but I had to mentally unload some of my list, or I'm going to start forgetting things!
*exploring the pond at the track
*putting our hands in the Mississippi, and gathering shells
*almost going on a swamp tour
*going over a really big bridge multiple times
*having crawfish for lunch
I'm going to add photos and more details later, but I had to mentally unload some of my list, or I'm going to start forgetting things!
Friday morning - how drag racing works
So here’s the thing… I can’t understand a darn thing anyone in Louisiana says.I consider myself to be fairly good at interpreting accents and mumbling – I do teach elementary kids, after all. However, I feel like a foreigner here, which I suppose I am, in some regards. It makes me feel language handicapped – I have to concentrate so hard to understand anything, and I still only get about every 5th word. And I’m trying to figure out what the announcer is saying over the loudspeaker, which distorts words anyhow. The only thing I can get is “nice day” – “naaah-ss dayuh”. Lots of “we gun run dis class now…” To be a biased idiot, I kind of thought that only happened in books. And we are experiencing being a racial minority, which is also an unusual experience for us, and particularly for L. Everyone around us is either African-American or Cajun or Creole – wonderful to listen to, but a little atypical for those of us from small-town Kansas.
Anyhow, it’s Friday. We are at the track, Stuart has had two qualifying runs. That means that they use the racers’ times from those runs to rank the racers. Those rankings are used to pair the racers up for the actual racing tomorrow. Every car has an “index” – the time that the car SHOULD run, based on it’s make/model/engine size. And then racers work on their cars to try to make them go faster than the index.The racers are ranked by how much faster than their index their car goes.There were 85 racers here in Stuart’s category this morning, but more are arriving all day, so I’m not sure what to expect for actual racing (called eliminations) tomorrow. This afternoon they are running class, which is optional. It means that they line you up in your categories (classes), and you race anyone else who is in your category, to set the fastest speed for your class. Stuart is a stock car racer (as opposed to super stock or super gas or super comp). In the stock category, the racers are placed into classes based on their indexes. A is the fastest class, Z is the slowest. Stuart is in D class, so he’ll race all of the other D racers to try to set the class record. He also would have the option to try to set the national record here this weekend. There are only certain races where that is an option – the track has to provide officials to tear apart the car if you do set a record, to make sure that you aren’t cheating in any way. Stuart set the record in 2008 and 2009, but I don’t think that he’s going to try to set it again here (although I could be wrong). It’s too humid and warm, neither of which are good conditions for speed.
This morning, it was overcast and foggy – I was worried about how the day was going to turn out, weather-wise. But I’m guessing that might be a local normal weather thing, so close to the ocean . . .it all burned off after a bit, and now it is absolutely amazingly gorgeous outside. We stopped and bought sunscreen this morning, since I’d brought bug spray, but not sunscreen. And we’re stopping tonight to buy some shorts - I packed for Kansas weather, not LA weather. The announcer said it is 15 degrees warmer than normal here right now.
Anyhow, it’s Friday. We are at the track, Stuart has had two qualifying runs. That means that they use the racers’ times from those runs to rank the racers. Those rankings are used to pair the racers up for the actual racing tomorrow. Every car has an “index” – the time that the car SHOULD run, based on it’s make/model/engine size. And then racers work on their cars to try to make them go faster than the index.The racers are ranked by how much faster than their index their car goes.There were 85 racers here in Stuart’s category this morning, but more are arriving all day, so I’m not sure what to expect for actual racing (called eliminations) tomorrow. This afternoon they are running class, which is optional. It means that they line you up in your categories (classes), and you race anyone else who is in your category, to set the fastest speed for your class. Stuart is a stock car racer (as opposed to super stock or super gas or super comp). In the stock category, the racers are placed into classes based on their indexes. A is the fastest class, Z is the slowest. Stuart is in D class, so he’ll race all of the other D racers to try to set the class record. He also would have the option to try to set the national record here this weekend. There are only certain races where that is an option – the track has to provide officials to tear apart the car if you do set a record, to make sure that you aren’t cheating in any way. Stuart set the record in 2008 and 2009, but I don’t think that he’s going to try to set it again here (although I could be wrong). It’s too humid and warm, neither of which are good conditions for speed.
This morning, it was overcast and foggy – I was worried about how the day was going to turn out, weather-wise. But I’m guessing that might be a local normal weather thing, so close to the ocean . . .it all burned off after a bit, and now it is absolutely amazingly gorgeous outside. We stopped and bought sunscreen this morning, since I’d brought bug spray, but not sunscreen. And we’re stopping tonight to buy some shorts - I packed for Kansas weather, not LA weather. The announcer said it is 15 degrees warmer than normal here right now.
Tourists in the South
I am completely smitten with traveling to new places. I know that I've said that before, but days like yesterday (Thursday) just solidify it for me. We got up early in our yucky hotel, where we didn't set anything on the floor and worried about bedbugs all night long. We headed southeast from Shreveport, going through Lafayette, and then on to the outskirts of Baton Rouge. From there, we headed southwest a bit to Belle Rose, a tiny little town that has the track on its outskirts. So, while that is interesting, here are the real highlights:
*We saw a camel farm. A big field, filled with big camels, baby camels, middle-sized camels... I'd never even thought about one of those existing.
*We saw swamps, marshes, bayous - you know, just like what I keep in my mental image of the south - cypress trees, white cranes, moss hanging from the trees, etc. We drove over the most enormous swamp on an interesting raised road. I have a couple of pictures, but I left my camera's cord in the truck, so I'll have to attach photos tonight.
*We saw people crawdad fishing in ponds created for that purpose with orange markers creating a grid, each attached to a basket.
*We saw a boat, which I'm sure has a specific name, but I don't know it - the one with the big fan on the back that you see in movies used to navigate swamps - we saw people...well, navigating through a swamp, on it.
*And most importantly to L, at the track, we saw an ALLIGATOR! In a totally fluky-weird twist of events...L and I walked down to the eastern edge of the track in the late afternoon, because I was bored. And I'd seen on Google Earth that there are little swamp marsh areas at each end of the track property. So we walked down that way, but I couldn't see it. It's not very big, and one end of it has a barrier wall made of stacked tires, about waist high. So we walked through the field toward it, and I figured that it was going to be nothing. But as we got close, L said, "MOM! That's an alligator!" And right in the end of the swampy part, near the wall, was an alligator. I thought it was fake, since it wasn't moving (in retrospect, I'm so glad it wasn't moving). I thought the track owner had put it there for fun. So another man who was pitted nearby came over and asked if we saw anything in there (since I was taking pictures of it) - he freaked out when he saw it, and said it was about 6 feet - its head and most of its tail were out. So L and I ran back to get Stuart. He was in the middle of a chore, but it only took us about 10 minutes total, and when we got back - it was gone! I'm so glad I have photos to prove it! :)
We have to leave for the track now - Stuart gets two runs this morning, and then has the opportunity to try to set the class record after lunch. It's beautiful here - sunny, about 80-something yesterday. My face and arms and sunburned!
Carla
*We saw a camel farm. A big field, filled with big camels, baby camels, middle-sized camels... I'd never even thought about one of those existing.
*We saw swamps, marshes, bayous - you know, just like what I keep in my mental image of the south - cypress trees, white cranes, moss hanging from the trees, etc. We drove over the most enormous swamp on an interesting raised road. I have a couple of pictures, but I left my camera's cord in the truck, so I'll have to attach photos tonight.
*We saw people crawdad fishing in ponds created for that purpose with orange markers creating a grid, each attached to a basket.
*We saw a boat, which I'm sure has a specific name, but I don't know it - the one with the big fan on the back that you see in movies used to navigate swamps - we saw people...well, navigating through a swamp, on it.
*And most importantly to L, at the track, we saw an ALLIGATOR! In a totally fluky-weird twist of events...L and I walked down to the eastern edge of the track in the late afternoon, because I was bored. And I'd seen on Google Earth that there are little swamp marsh areas at each end of the track property. So we walked down that way, but I couldn't see it. It's not very big, and one end of it has a barrier wall made of stacked tires, about waist high. So we walked through the field toward it, and I figured that it was going to be nothing. But as we got close, L said, "MOM! That's an alligator!" And right in the end of the swampy part, near the wall, was an alligator. I thought it was fake, since it wasn't moving (in retrospect, I'm so glad it wasn't moving). I thought the track owner had put it there for fun. So another man who was pitted nearby came over and asked if we saw anything in there (since I was taking pictures of it) - he freaked out when he saw it, and said it was about 6 feet - its head and most of its tail were out. So L and I ran back to get Stuart. He was in the middle of a chore, but it only took us about 10 minutes total, and when we got back - it was gone! I'm so glad I have photos to prove it! :)
We have to leave for the track now - Stuart gets two runs this morning, and then has the opportunity to try to set the class record after lunch. It's beautiful here - sunny, about 80-something yesterday. My face and arms and sunburned!
Carla
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Merrily We Go Along...
So this morning at the crack of dawn (or 7:45, which FELT like the crack of dawn to me today) we piled into the truck along with approximately 1/4th of our worldly possessions and started driving. Eleven and a half hours later, we plonked ourselves down in a hotel room in Shreveport, Louisiana. Tomorrow morning we are heading to Belle Rose, which is about 30-ish minutes further than Baton Rouge, to the race track.
I love to travel - adore it, absolutely one of my very favorite things. And in particular, I love to go to NEW places, to explore new things with my family. So this is just about as good as life gets for me. However, I have a fairly strong type-A streak, and I usually have a packing list and a food list and a plan of what we are going to do on what day, and what it costs, and what it's hours are, etc, etc. (And, yes, I drive my family a little nuts). But things have been super-crazy at work and in pretty much every other area of my life, so all of that organization stuff that makes me feel comfortable got tossed out the window. I finished packing at 1:30 this morning. You know how sometimes you do things that you suspect might be completely irrational, but you just feel compelled to do it? (Or at least, I hope you can commiserate with that...) I made Chex mix in the middle of my packing frenzy last night. I just really felt like I couldn't go on this trip without homemade Chex mix. This morning, I realized that my sleep-deprived brain was making irrational decisions...
So we've had a lovely-ish day in the truck - in a "I love to be with you and I love our enforced proximity to each other and our conversations, but I'm kind of wishing that it wasn't all taking place in a moving vehicle without many movement options in rush-hour traffic in downtown Dallas" sort of way. I'm so excited to continue traveling tomorrow and get to the track - I've heard it's in the heart of swamp country and that there are alligators in the pond/swamp at the end of the track. L is desperately hoping that the alligator business is NOT just a rumor - her goal is to eat alligator on this trip. :)
I typically indulge my teacher tendencies and research the area to which we are traveling, and then force my family to learn about the history, native tribes, agricultural products, etc, etc. I didn't get to that this time, so I don't feel like I know what I'm getting into - I'm not so great at "winging it". However, hanging out with my family is just what I need right now, so I can't wait to get started.
Carla
I love to travel - adore it, absolutely one of my very favorite things. And in particular, I love to go to NEW places, to explore new things with my family. So this is just about as good as life gets for me. However, I have a fairly strong type-A streak, and I usually have a packing list and a food list and a plan of what we are going to do on what day, and what it costs, and what it's hours are, etc, etc. (And, yes, I drive my family a little nuts). But things have been super-crazy at work and in pretty much every other area of my life, so all of that organization stuff that makes me feel comfortable got tossed out the window. I finished packing at 1:30 this morning. You know how sometimes you do things that you suspect might be completely irrational, but you just feel compelled to do it? (Or at least, I hope you can commiserate with that...) I made Chex mix in the middle of my packing frenzy last night. I just really felt like I couldn't go on this trip without homemade Chex mix. This morning, I realized that my sleep-deprived brain was making irrational decisions...
So we've had a lovely-ish day in the truck - in a "I love to be with you and I love our enforced proximity to each other and our conversations, but I'm kind of wishing that it wasn't all taking place in a moving vehicle without many movement options in rush-hour traffic in downtown Dallas" sort of way. I'm so excited to continue traveling tomorrow and get to the track - I've heard it's in the heart of swamp country and that there are alligators in the pond/swamp at the end of the track. L is desperately hoping that the alligator business is NOT just a rumor - her goal is to eat alligator on this trip. :)
I typically indulge my teacher tendencies and research the area to which we are traveling, and then force my family to learn about the history, native tribes, agricultural products, etc, etc. I didn't get to that this time, so I don't feel like I know what I'm getting into - I'm not so great at "winging it". However, hanging out with my family is just what I need right now, so I can't wait to get started.
Carla
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Quirky
My kiddo is currently in the throes of a bedtime quirk. She sometimes does this; she has a tendency to overthink and then cause herself hours of distress and inability to sleep. So she's lying in bed, as I type, unable to sleep because she's worried that she MIGHT end up being the last person awake, and she doesn't like to be the last person awake. But her concern about being the last person awake is making her unable to sleep, which is making me CRAZY. Because I love sleep, and I've had a really long day, and all I want to do is go to bed. But, of course, I don't feel like I can. Because then L would be the last person awake. She told me that it's easier for her to fall asleep when she can either see the flickering lights from Stuart watching TV in the living room or hear me typing. Stuart has fallen asleep on the couch in the living room - but the TV is still on - and I'm typing, so she should be golden.
Yesterday L and I drove to Maize to do a little shopping, and planned to meet up somewhere with my sister and her gorgeous little monkeys so that I could get in some sister time and we could give the kids their Valentines Day presents. L and I made them each a scarf and a stuffed animal owl, so I really wanted to see their faces when they opened their packages. Her older kiddos were in school and the little one was napping, so L and I did some shopping while we waited. We decided to grab some lunch after shopping at Old Navy, and went to the car to find somewhere nearby. But the darn thing wouldn't start. Not even try. And it was 18 degrees, with a wind chill of 4 degrees. And I hadn't brought a coat, because, you know, what are the chances that I'll really NEED it??
Thank goodness for hero husbands, the kind who drop everything and attach a trailer to the back of their pick-ups and drive almost an hour to pick you up from the mall parking lot, without even grumbling in front of you. The kind who insist that you sit in the warm truck while they hook your car up onto the trailer in the freezing cold. The kind who, after all that, STILL refuse your offer of half of the cinnamon scone you got at Panera for lunch. Now THAT'S a good husband.
(And he spent all day today fixing it, even though he really wanted to be working on his race car. I'm married to such a great guy!)
So L and I spent the day today in Hutch with my mom. She said that she was going in to Hutch go buy groceries and that we could come along and get our groceries for the week, too, if we wanted. We got home 7 hours later. I kid you not. I love my mother, and I love spending time with her, but it was a really long day. I am sure that she feels the same way. Never underestimate the privilege of completing your own errands, and ONLY your OWN errands.
L made a felt stuffed cheetah today. Yesterday she dreamed it up, chose the fabric, sketched a pattern, and cut it out. Today she and I stitched it (she had a rather horrible needle/finger poking incident, so I did some of the stitching) and stuffed it. Her, I guess, not "it" - L named her Chichi. Which, she informed me, is kind of like a pun - "you know, since chi-chi means kind of rich and snotty and it is also a nickname for cheetah". :)
I love that kid.
Yesterday L and I drove to Maize to do a little shopping, and planned to meet up somewhere with my sister and her gorgeous little monkeys so that I could get in some sister time and we could give the kids their Valentines Day presents. L and I made them each a scarf and a stuffed animal owl, so I really wanted to see their faces when they opened their packages. Her older kiddos were in school and the little one was napping, so L and I did some shopping while we waited. We decided to grab some lunch after shopping at Old Navy, and went to the car to find somewhere nearby. But the darn thing wouldn't start. Not even try. And it was 18 degrees, with a wind chill of 4 degrees. And I hadn't brought a coat, because, you know, what are the chances that I'll really NEED it??
Thank goodness for hero husbands, the kind who drop everything and attach a trailer to the back of their pick-ups and drive almost an hour to pick you up from the mall parking lot, without even grumbling in front of you. The kind who insist that you sit in the warm truck while they hook your car up onto the trailer in the freezing cold. The kind who, after all that, STILL refuse your offer of half of the cinnamon scone you got at Panera for lunch. Now THAT'S a good husband.
(And he spent all day today fixing it, even though he really wanted to be working on his race car. I'm married to such a great guy!)
So L and I spent the day today in Hutch with my mom. She said that she was going in to Hutch go buy groceries and that we could come along and get our groceries for the week, too, if we wanted. We got home 7 hours later. I kid you not. I love my mother, and I love spending time with her, but it was a really long day. I am sure that she feels the same way. Never underestimate the privilege of completing your own errands, and ONLY your OWN errands.
L made a felt stuffed cheetah today. Yesterday she dreamed it up, chose the fabric, sketched a pattern, and cut it out. Today she and I stitched it (she had a rather horrible needle/finger poking incident, so I did some of the stitching) and stuffed it. Her, I guess, not "it" - L named her Chichi. Which, she informed me, is kind of like a pun - "you know, since chi-chi means kind of rich and snotty and it is also a nickname for cheetah". :)
I love that kid.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Snow Day, take 2
Lauren and I are at home today, luxuriating in the unusual extravagance of two snow days in a row. I can't remember if we've ever had a snow day since Lauren started school, until this year... And to be quite precise, it isn't exactly a "snow" day, it's more of a "cold" day. The current temperature, at noon, is 9 degrees, with a wind chill of -7. This morning, the wind chill was around -20. And it is supposed to be 22 degrees tomorrow, but with a wind chill during the day of around -17 degrees. We're out of school because of the prevalence of children who have to wait outside for buses - I can't imagine how horrible it would be to wait in -20 degree winds. We ventured out a couple of times for errands yesterday, all bundled up in snowboots and thick gloves and hats and scarves over our mouths & noses - all I could see of Lauren was her eyeballs. It was COLD, but I didn't want to cancel my haircut appointment! :)
We spent most of yesterday cuddled up near the heat vent - one of the pros of living in an old house. It's rather shockingly drafty, but we do have this ancient forced-air heater, with just one vent, located in the middle of the middle room in the house. The poor man's version of a fireplace...
When I was tucking Lauren into bed last night, she said, "This is the best day I've had in a long time!" It was so nice to take things at a slow pace - we read books and baked cookies and made chili and watched "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" and did part of a dance video together. I got all caught up on my grading and started the book "Alice I Have Been". (However, I'm trying not to read it during the day, because I know I'll get sucked into it, and I won't enjoy the time hanging out with Lauren).
We had a lazy morning this morning; the only thing we've really accomplished it that we went to Nana's so I could run. I figure that running 2.7 miles is enough of an accomplishment for a snow day morning, right?
My goal is to clean off the dining room table today, roast a chicken for dinner, and do a little sewing. I really SHOULD be making some flipcharts for class, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen. Tonight is American Idol night, and I think that vegging on the couch might be in order for that hour.
I just finished re-reading two really good books by the same author: Nefertiti and then The Heretic Queen, both by Michelle Moran. I am finding out that I love historical fiction, and these were a great blend of that genre and my fascination with ancient cultures. I saw a review for Alice I Have Been, about the girl who inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice In Wonderland. I'm only about 30 pages in, but it's already got me in its grips...yesterday, I had to tell myself "When you finish grading these spelling papers, you can read 10 pages." I also have the Kingdom Keepers book, which a friend recommended to me about a year ago, and I'd let slip through my filter. It's about a boy and girl who are in charge of guarding the Disney Parks, which sounds a little iffy, but I trust this friend's judgement, so I'm going to give it a try.
We spent most of yesterday cuddled up near the heat vent - one of the pros of living in an old house. It's rather shockingly drafty, but we do have this ancient forced-air heater, with just one vent, located in the middle of the middle room in the house. The poor man's version of a fireplace...
When I was tucking Lauren into bed last night, she said, "This is the best day I've had in a long time!" It was so nice to take things at a slow pace - we read books and baked cookies and made chili and watched "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" and did part of a dance video together. I got all caught up on my grading and started the book "Alice I Have Been". (However, I'm trying not to read it during the day, because I know I'll get sucked into it, and I won't enjoy the time hanging out with Lauren).
We had a lazy morning this morning; the only thing we've really accomplished it that we went to Nana's so I could run. I figure that running 2.7 miles is enough of an accomplishment for a snow day morning, right?
My goal is to clean off the dining room table today, roast a chicken for dinner, and do a little sewing. I really SHOULD be making some flipcharts for class, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen. Tonight is American Idol night, and I think that vegging on the couch might be in order for that hour.
I just finished re-reading two really good books by the same author: Nefertiti and then The Heretic Queen, both by Michelle Moran. I am finding out that I love historical fiction, and these were a great blend of that genre and my fascination with ancient cultures. I saw a review for Alice I Have Been, about the girl who inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice In Wonderland. I'm only about 30 pages in, but it's already got me in its grips...yesterday, I had to tell myself "When you finish grading these spelling papers, you can read 10 pages." I also have the Kingdom Keepers book, which a friend recommended to me about a year ago, and I'd let slip through my filter. It's about a boy and girl who are in charge of guarding the Disney Parks, which sounds a little iffy, but I trust this friend's judgement, so I'm going to give it a try.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Zumba
One of the things about parenting is that you are so in the thick of it that I think it's sometimes hard to see the growth you are making - I suppose this is probably true of almost anything, but for some reason I'm really feeling it right now about parenting. And I know how cliche' this sounds, but I want better for my kid than I had. Not that I was destitute, or missing anything critical. But I want my child to have every advantage I can give her, and I'm thinking more about experiences and character than about money. One of those experiences is seeing a model for intentionally healthy living. I never saw my parents exercise or pursue a sport; however, they both worked hard - gardening, cleaning, etc - and were healthy people. But I never was encouraged to try any sports, and that was never a path that I chose to travel, not even in college or as an adult. However, lately, I have discovered that I enjoy running. The solitude, the rhythm, the time to think. And Lauren has been asking to join me. We had to set some boundaries, because one of the reasons I so prize my running time is because it is equivalent to solitude for me. So she alternates days with me when the weather is nice, and she plays with Nana while I run on the treadmill when the weather in inclement. Lately, though, she's been asking to run on the treadmill after me, and usually walks/jogs about .75 of a mile. Pretty impressive to me.
And I started taking some Zumba classes this week, for variety. Last time was scary and made me feel very incompetent, but I got back on the horse and tried again tonight and it was MUCH better. And Lauren joined us - hopped up on the mat floor and gave it her all.
I'm feeling proud to be providing her with something I didn't have. She sees me work hard, but she also sees me value my health and my time with my friends doing this. I'm feeling good about filling in a hole for her that I wasn't sure I was going to have the capability of patching.
And I started taking some Zumba classes this week, for variety. Last time was scary and made me feel very incompetent, but I got back on the horse and tried again tonight and it was MUCH better. And Lauren joined us - hopped up on the mat floor and gave it her all.
I'm feeling proud to be providing her with something I didn't have. She sees me work hard, but she also sees me value my health and my time with my friends doing this. I'm feeling good about filling in a hole for her that I wasn't sure I was going to have the capability of patching.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
More Zoo
So that previous post was turning into a short novel; I had to break it up into more than one day!
After visiting the jungle, we went to see the giraffes. Lauren just finished reading the book "The White Elephant" about a mystical giraffe and a young girl with the power to heal it and other animals. Of course, she is obsessed with it now, and was really looking forward to going to see the giraffes. There were 3 calves playing outside, frolicking around in the snow, obviously a little flustered when they put their muzzles into the cold snow. We watched the zookeepers exercise the elephants, then went into the Africa building. They were hosing out the rhino, elephant and hippo enclosures, moving the animals around to vacate the different spaces for cleaning. It was great timing - interesting to watch. However, here's our interesting fact for the day: Rhinos mark their territory, much like dogs. Every single time their space is hosed down, they re-mark it. With their urine. Which is white, like milk. And is forcefully sprayed, much like a small fire hose, and will spray the people standing near the exhibit. Ick.
I much preferred the giraffes.
This is my favorite giraffe picture from our visit!
So after the rhino experience, we went to see the chimp and orangutan exhibit. This wound up being, by far, Lauren's favorite part of the day. There was an orangutan sitting beside the glass in the indoor area. It was hunched over and appeared terribly bored. No one else was around, so there was room for Lauren to go sit in front of the glass, right beside it. She spent about 30 minutes looking at him, sitting so that she mirrored him, showing him her stuffed owl, putting her hands up beside his, etc. It was moving to watch her try to communicate with him, and it was fascinating to see how similar they were - they were almost exactly the same size. When I stood near her, her reflection in the glass exactly fell over him - it was almost eerie. She was teary by the time we left; really moved by how human he seemed, his eyelashes when he studied her, the way he did things with his hands that we do, too.
I always wonder how much the experiences she has now will shape her life later. I remember things that happened to me when I was her age. I wonder if she'll remember this, or other things she is exposed to - art, different cultures, choices she sees others make, music, different cities and states and landscapes... I know that pretty much every girl her age says that they want to be a veterinarian, and that is her current belief, as well. I wonder how much her experiences with animals in the past year will influence her - puppies, helping the vet with surgery, the orangutan, the fox, etc. One of the things I feel strongly about as a parent is giving her some exposure to cultures/choices/artwork/hobbies/quirks that are atypical in our area, so that she knows there is a big wide diverse world out there for her to explore, and so that she doesn't feel like she has to conform to what is typical here in our little farming community in Kansas.
After visiting the jungle, we went to see the giraffes. Lauren just finished reading the book "The White Elephant" about a mystical giraffe and a young girl with the power to heal it and other animals. Of course, she is obsessed with it now, and was really looking forward to going to see the giraffes. There were 3 calves playing outside, frolicking around in the snow, obviously a little flustered when they put their muzzles into the cold snow. We watched the zookeepers exercise the elephants, then went into the Africa building. They were hosing out the rhino, elephant and hippo enclosures, moving the animals around to vacate the different spaces for cleaning. It was great timing - interesting to watch. However, here's our interesting fact for the day: Rhinos mark their territory, much like dogs. Every single time their space is hosed down, they re-mark it. With their urine. Which is white, like milk. And is forcefully sprayed, much like a small fire hose, and will spray the people standing near the exhibit. Ick.
I much preferred the giraffes.
So after the rhino experience, we went to see the chimp and orangutan exhibit. This wound up being, by far, Lauren's favorite part of the day. There was an orangutan sitting beside the glass in the indoor area. It was hunched over and appeared terribly bored. No one else was around, so there was room for Lauren to go sit in front of the glass, right beside it. She spent about 30 minutes looking at him, sitting so that she mirrored him, showing him her stuffed owl, putting her hands up beside his, etc. It was moving to watch her try to communicate with him, and it was fascinating to see how similar they were - they were almost exactly the same size. When I stood near her, her reflection in the glass exactly fell over him - it was almost eerie. She was teary by the time we left; really moved by how human he seemed, his eyelashes when he studied her, the way he did things with his hands that we do, too.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The zoo on my "surprise" day off
Yesterday (MLK, Jr Day) was an unexpected day off for me. When our district set our calendar for the year, it was a Professional Development day of meetings. However, due to all of the budget craziness, teachers in my district did not get a raise or get to move on the pay scale again this year. So, as a compensation, the union negotiated for us to get MLK, Jr Day off. I am sure that they communicated this with us at some point, however, I totally missed the memo until last week, when we got a reminder email - an extra day off! Since I had planned to already accomplish my necessary weekend nuttiness in the normal 2 days, I hadn't planned tasks for Monday, so it was an entire UNSCHEDULED day! L and I decided to take advantage of it and go to the zoo in Wichita - the weather was supposed to hit 47 degrees, so we figured it would be fairly comfortable. The day before had a high of 32 and today's high of 32 was already hit early this morning, with the temperature falling now. There were only about 20 cars at the whole zoo, and it was an amazing experience to roam the zoo with hardly any other people there. We spent 3 1/2 hours there and Lauren says it's the best zoo visit she's ever had.
We got to feed the ducks, something Lauren doesn't usually do, since she's frightened of them. When she was tiny a duck bit her while she was feeding bread to them, although I'm not sure that "bit" is actually the technical term... :) Anyhow, she typically avoids them, but they were very calm and no one else was around, so she got brave and knelt down and let them pick the little pellets out of her palm. Very empowering for her.
We got to linger in the American Farms barn, looking at horses and donkeys and mules and longhorns, etc, etc. They were all scratching themselves yesterday, much to Lauren's amusement. It's funny how the little things can bring such big giggles.
Then we went to the jungle, Lauren's favorite place at the zoo. Lauren has long been fascinated by bats, and the jungle has a large group of bats. When Lauren was little, she used to stand under them and try to squeak to them at levels that they could sense with their echolocation (or some such explanation), but she's outgrown that stage. However, we now stand under them and try to communicate with them through significant eye contact, apparently. They are really cute little things - fruit bats -with sweet faces and inquisitive eyes, and the cutest twitchy ears. The jungle was so empty of people that we got to see things we've never seen on any of our prior visits - birds, fish, acouchi skittering around all over. Lauren was most mesmerized by the fish, though. There is a tunnel you walk through, where the water is on both sides of and above you. Often, it is packed with people and we don't spend much time in it. However, we meandered through this time, and got to see quite a show. Lauren had stopped by a particular window pane, and an enormous catfish seemed to take it upon himself to provide a show for her. He swam in gigantic circles in front of her, over and over, for nearly the entire time she stood there. For some reason, all of the big fish were on one side of the tunnel, and it was interesting to see them follow swimming patterns and run into each other and hit against the glass occasionally.
We got to feed the ducks, something Lauren doesn't usually do, since she's frightened of them. When she was tiny a duck bit her while she was feeding bread to them, although I'm not sure that "bit" is actually the technical term... :) Anyhow, she typically avoids them, but they were very calm and no one else was around, so she got brave and knelt down and let them pick the little pellets out of her palm. Very empowering for her.
We got to linger in the American Farms barn, looking at horses and donkeys and mules and longhorns, etc, etc. They were all scratching themselves yesterday, much to Lauren's amusement. It's funny how the little things can bring such big giggles.
Then we went to the jungle, Lauren's favorite place at the zoo. Lauren has long been fascinated by bats, and the jungle has a large group of bats. When Lauren was little, she used to stand under them and try to squeak to them at levels that they could sense with their echolocation (or some such explanation), but she's outgrown that stage. However, we now stand under them and try to communicate with them through significant eye contact, apparently. They are really cute little things - fruit bats -with sweet faces and inquisitive eyes, and the cutest twitchy ears. The jungle was so empty of people that we got to see things we've never seen on any of our prior visits - birds, fish, acouchi skittering around all over. Lauren was most mesmerized by the fish, though. There is a tunnel you walk through, where the water is on both sides of and above you. Often, it is packed with people and we don't spend much time in it. However, we meandered through this time, and got to see quite a show. Lauren had stopped by a particular window pane, and an enormous catfish seemed to take it upon himself to provide a show for her. He swam in gigantic circles in front of her, over and over, for nearly the entire time she stood there. For some reason, all of the big fish were on one side of the tunnel, and it was interesting to see them follow swimming patterns and run into each other and hit against the glass occasionally.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tonight as I was tucking L into bed, I was struck anew by what a daunting, precious responsibility it is to have a child love you. She trusts me implicitly, and unwaveringly places her heart and her faith in me. What a blessing to have been given - and also what a responsibility to make sure I do my utmost to guide her and provide for her and be worthy of that trust. Nothing is more precious than having her ask for one more cuddle before she goes to sleep and hearing her whisper, "I love you so, so much Mommy."
Monday, January 3, 2011
Great laugh quote
As I was just tucking Lauren into bed, we were laughing about something and she said, "My laugh is too big for my ribcage!" :)
I love that - these moments of laughing so hard our faces hurt, loving being together!
I love that - these moments of laughing so hard our faces hurt, loving being together!
2010 in Review
When I started this blog, I had wonderful intentions of posting every day, so my far-flung family could keep up with the minutiae of our days, if they wanted. However, that quickly landed by the wayside as the reality of our minutiae keeps my busy until midnight most days.
At any rate, I wanted to record some of what 2010 has held for us:
*I started running in June (or July, I can't remember), and have grown to love it. It is my "escape" time, when I get to blast my music on my iPod and no one talks to me. And I've lost 35 pounds, which is also pretty nice.
*Our dog, Muddy, had 11 puppies at the end of the summer, much to our surprise - and Lauren's delight. We didn't realize she was pregnant until she was quite a way along the process. She turned into a snarly protective mama for a while there, and we were very concerned about the possibility of not being able to keep her, in our child-busy neighborhood. But once the pups were gone, she reverted back to her normal self, thankfully!
*We went to South Dakota, Wyoming, Estes Park, etc during the summer - one of my favorite vacations. (Although, honestly, I think I say that about every vacation). I love exploring new places, and this was excellent. Mount Rushmore, caves, hiking in Estes Park, making it to the Continental Divide, etc. We are trying to decide what to do this next year - the Grand Canyon, Louisiana, or Oregon. I want to go everywhere, and I want to do it all now, while Lauren still loves traveling with us!
*I learned to make egg salad, which I had never eaten before, but now love. On english muffins, with canadian bacon and cheese. Yum.
*We got a new grill last year for a combo Christmas-birthday -anniversary gift, and I'm a huge fan of it. I am now the Grilling Queen for dinner. If it's above freezing, I grill at least a couple of nights a week.
*Lauren got a new gifted teacher, who she adores. I love that she is getting to explore and challenge herself outside of the classroom - while I work hard to challenge her in the room, I know that sometimes she's doing things that are below her ability level. And I hate to make her work all evening, too, just to challenge her brain. So I'm really digging her new teacher!
*Lauren is clay-obsessed. My dining room table is currently covered with packets of Sculpey clay, and little tiny sculptures, and that's the norm. Horses, unicorns, tiny cupcakes, custom-made-to-order themed cakes that are two inches tall, little people, dogs, the list goes on and on...
*Our vacuum bit the dust (it was already nearly dead) when I vacuumed up a CFL lightbulb that I'd broken. Note to anyone reading this: whatever you do, DON'T vacuum up CFL debris!
*Lauren is growing her hair out, to donate to Locks of Love. It had been chin-length to start with, and it now about 4 inches below her shoulders.
*My baby turned 10. That seems so surreal - 10...more than halfway to 18. Two digits. How is that possible?
*We hardly raced at all this past year - just a couple of times at the end of the season. However, Stuart bought an enclosed trailer during the fall, so he is very excited about racing next year - he's already planning which races he'll start with in the spring! And I love that - I love any excuse to travel. There are some good things about going to tracks that we are familiar with - places that feel like home to Lauren and me (Kansas City, Topeka, OKC) - and I adore going new places and getting to explore while we're not at the track - I'm hoping to race in Louisiana or in Arizona this year. Not that I relish the concept of 14 hours driving there - or the 14 hours driving home that feels like 20 hours, but the middle usually makes it worth it. We found out this summer on the SD trip that Lauren and I both get carsick, so now we know to address that issue, too!
Okay, my sister and her munchkins are coming over today, so I'm going to go clean my table and start dinner. I'll add more to this later, when I'm not mentally making to-do lists in my head and distracting myself.
Carla
At any rate, I wanted to record some of what 2010 has held for us:
*I started running in June (or July, I can't remember), and have grown to love it. It is my "escape" time, when I get to blast my music on my iPod and no one talks to me. And I've lost 35 pounds, which is also pretty nice.
*Our dog, Muddy, had 11 puppies at the end of the summer, much to our surprise - and Lauren's delight. We didn't realize she was pregnant until she was quite a way along the process. She turned into a snarly protective mama for a while there, and we were very concerned about the possibility of not being able to keep her, in our child-busy neighborhood. But once the pups were gone, she reverted back to her normal self, thankfully!
*We went to South Dakota, Wyoming, Estes Park, etc during the summer - one of my favorite vacations. (Although, honestly, I think I say that about every vacation). I love exploring new places, and this was excellent. Mount Rushmore, caves, hiking in Estes Park, making it to the Continental Divide, etc. We are trying to decide what to do this next year - the Grand Canyon, Louisiana, or Oregon. I want to go everywhere, and I want to do it all now, while Lauren still loves traveling with us!
*I learned to make egg salad, which I had never eaten before, but now love. On english muffins, with canadian bacon and cheese. Yum.
*We got a new grill last year for a combo Christmas-birthday -anniversary gift, and I'm a huge fan of it. I am now the Grilling Queen for dinner. If it's above freezing, I grill at least a couple of nights a week.
*Lauren got a new gifted teacher, who she adores. I love that she is getting to explore and challenge herself outside of the classroom - while I work hard to challenge her in the room, I know that sometimes she's doing things that are below her ability level. And I hate to make her work all evening, too, just to challenge her brain. So I'm really digging her new teacher!
*Lauren is clay-obsessed. My dining room table is currently covered with packets of Sculpey clay, and little tiny sculptures, and that's the norm. Horses, unicorns, tiny cupcakes, custom-made-to-order themed cakes that are two inches tall, little people, dogs, the list goes on and on...
*Our vacuum bit the dust (it was already nearly dead) when I vacuumed up a CFL lightbulb that I'd broken. Note to anyone reading this: whatever you do, DON'T vacuum up CFL debris!
*Lauren is growing her hair out, to donate to Locks of Love. It had been chin-length to start with, and it now about 4 inches below her shoulders.
*My baby turned 10. That seems so surreal - 10...more than halfway to 18. Two digits. How is that possible?
*We hardly raced at all this past year - just a couple of times at the end of the season. However, Stuart bought an enclosed trailer during the fall, so he is very excited about racing next year - he's already planning which races he'll start with in the spring! And I love that - I love any excuse to travel. There are some good things about going to tracks that we are familiar with - places that feel like home to Lauren and me (Kansas City, Topeka, OKC) - and I adore going new places and getting to explore while we're not at the track - I'm hoping to race in Louisiana or in Arizona this year. Not that I relish the concept of 14 hours driving there - or the 14 hours driving home that feels like 20 hours, but the middle usually makes it worth it. We found out this summer on the SD trip that Lauren and I both get carsick, so now we know to address that issue, too!
Okay, my sister and her munchkins are coming over today, so I'm going to go clean my table and start dinner. I'll add more to this later, when I'm not mentally making to-do lists in my head and distracting myself.
Carla
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)