More on Trains (from Christmas still)

I still have a backlog of great things Paul and I did over Christmas. And since we just went to a train show this past weekend I thought I'd continue along the same lines. Plant City, FL has a model train club with some really impressive layouts, and I really need to stress - impressive! For one thing they have 3 rooms - one that shares a train museum and two large scale layouts of G and O, one that holds a modular N scale (so that club members can build a four foot section and add it anywhere - the tracks are all in the same place), and the last rooms holds an up-to-date digitrax HO model that's fantastic! (Here's a good link if you want to learn more about model RR scales.) We ended up visiting it twice so Paul could talk with the guys in the club some more, and I could take more photos....

One of the RR Modelers showing me the G-Scale (Garden scale) layout with various RR museum paraphernalia hanging on the wall behind him

Part of the N-scale layout

An N-scale detail

My Dad and Mom in front of the HO trestle

My Dad taking a closer look at the Plant City model circa early 1900's -HO-scale

An orange grove
The orange grove is one of my favorite details in the HO-scale model! We're planning on having a small grove and a citrus packing plant in our model.

Paul and Mom talk with one of the club members that helped build this HO model

Here's a view of the entire length of the model. The hills with the fall foliage are in the middle of the model - Mom and Paul are actually behind them.


Another set of nice details

Paul talking with one of the fellows about the digitrax control panel.

The Ghost of Christmas Past #6 (But wait - there's more!)

Ah yes - I know what you're thinking. Its February, right? But I've got a lot more fun pics from Christmas to post!

Christmas day wouldn't be complete without a visit with Nana (my Dad's Mom).

And then we ate lunch at the only place that was open on Christmas day - Peking Palace - and some silliness ensued when the fried noodles came out.

What's Christmas without being able to juggle oranges picked right off the tree in your own back yard - right?





Ah yes - and goofy parent pictures. Very important indeed. These photos make me laugh and feel every mile between Huntsville and Lakeland. They are the most wonderful parents ever.


Paul and I got to go to several Christmas parties. It was cool to catch up with friends after a year....

I got to see Elizabeth and her (as of New Year) sweet fiance Stephen (sp? Steven?). Hadn't seen her in years! That was way cool. And Kristen came too - hadn't seen her in years too. Again - very cool. She's liking it out in California.

We visited and ate and visited some more, Joys brother, and her mom and pop stopped in, some folks left, then we moved on to play Apples to Apples and finally spit up into teams to play Cranium.

Lea and Kristen were the Twilight fans...

Joy, Jennie and I were Team "Rope Jet" That would be a joke from a couple years ago....

Then we have the brother and sister combo - Chris and Kelli

And yes that does say "Team Sexy Mahatma Ghandi" - that would be from the Apples to Apples game when someone had a synonym of sexy - and the Ghandi card was slapped down.

Deep in discussion over one of the answers....

So Paul and I had our first taste of American Idol Karaoke Revolution on the Wii at Nick and Rebecca's house. The whole thing was pretty hysterical. I busted out a pretty good version of "Imagine" which happens to be one of my favs. But then bombed out on a Coldplay song. I now know never to ask Adam or Nick to sing. Ever. EVER. All the gals held their own pretty well. And then Paul - ha! - well he totally cleaned up on "Pinball Wizard" by The Who and won the game!


Rebecca has of a recording of this on her new camera. I was testing out the movie mode for her. Believe me - its a beaut!

For New Years we did dinner at Jennie's and then went to Adam and Roxy's to watch the count down. We played with fire for a while and toasted marshmallows.


I tried my hand at poker (with everyone's help)- on Adam's snazzy table with the nice speed cloth and cushy seats - and Nick's brand new poker chips. Ended up coming in third.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Still not done. There's more to come!!

The Ghost of Christmas Past #2 (Ode to Chopsticks)

So my Mom can actually play the piano by ear - she can just feel the notes out. Its really amazing. I, on the other hand, took lessons when I was young - but only retained very limited skills - and don't really remember how to read music anymore. We tried our hands at a chopstick duet one evening and fits of silliness ensued.

Round 1:

MC & HNY!

Merry Christmas and Happiest of New Years to you all!!

Paul and I are enjoying our time in Florida. We're having an awesome time and I have tons of great photos to post, but have to wait till I get them on my computer. So for now I'll paint a lovely Lakeland picture: short sleeve shirts - oranges straight off the tree in the back yard - spanish moss - massive oaks full of bright green leaves - lizards - AOE art supply - Cuban Sandwiches - a Webster flea Market romp - walks around the neighborhood - Hancock Printing equipment - long drives on back roads - clay-covered hands - piles of tissue, wrapping paper and bows - turkey and dressing - purple and yellow orchids - Strawberries - Aunt and Uncles - cousins - Guava empanadas - and laughing with old friends.

Parental Sillyness

My parents came to visit for a week - that's why I've been a bit post-less recently. We had a blast and celebrated my Dad's birthday (which falls on Halloween) and also an early one for my Mom (her's is Veteran's Day). The whole week was filled with a lot of silliness and laughter, some friends, cake baking, letterpress printing, light hanging, fall leaves, some travel to their favorite spots - like Unclaimed Baggage and Mike's Merchandise in Guntersville and mass quantities of Gibson's Sweet Iced tea. We joke that they are thinking about installing a pipeline for sweet tea to central FL. Here's my Dad performing a "magic trick" at Gibson's:



More photos to come shortly!

Still More from Florida

Just a few more pics from Florida and I'll be all caught up....except for the cave/camping trip.

While I was down there we went to lunch with some cousins - Joe and Rosalie. They are always such a delight - such wonderful fun to be around. Joe is an artist - as in - makes his living as an artist - which is a pretty amazing thing really. I can only hope to dream about one day being THAT successful! I snuck a photo of this great two-paneled painting in his dining room of Robert Redford and Paul Newman (pretty sure its from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Its different colored stripes, and amazing to look at up close and then at a distance.


My folks and our cousins.


My Dad discovered he'd forgotten his watch... so....we improvised.


I kept asking him what time it was till it was correct. (It was after all correct twice.)


I had to helped draw the buckle.


My Dad and I with the crazy banana bread pudding thing that the 5 of us split because it was so huge... ugh - so yummy!

I was able to visit with a few friends - not everyone as I'd hoped to - but I ran into Anne rather randomly at the BAM - which was wonderful - caught up with Jennie at the 24 hour Starbucks, got to visit with Joy for a couple hours - and hung out with Nick and Rebecca, Adam and Roxy for dinner and a "watch out for those trunk-down elephants - they'll do you in poorly toupeed Nicholas Cage movie" (Bangkok Dangerous). Everyone that I missed - I'm sorry - but I'll be back for Christmas!




My next stop before coming home was St. Augustine for an official transcript from Flagler, a jaunt around campus for some pictures, and then a quick stop at the Castillo.


Many an afternoon and evening from 1996-2000 was spent right here, sitting on the rough coquina.

After the afternoon in St. Augustine I was able to spend a couple days in Jacksonville visiting with Laura and Annamaria. And a good time was had by all!

There was a bit of toy organization...


And then there was food...


And last but definitely not least - hot mama's in aprons!

Second Breath

So here's another catch-up post to keep you up to date with more photos this time.

Paul brought home some simple wonderful Gerber Daisies just before his birthday weekend. Some were red and then some were this yellow tinged orange. They were such an amazing color combination I had to document them. Pretty flowers are just way too easy to snap photos of because no matter how you do it - they always end up pretty. Its almost feels like I'm cheating!


And here are a few more pics from the beach too - which also kind of feel like cheating... sand...sunsets... ocean stretching out for miles...way too easy...




We were able to visit twice with my cousin Amy which was great fun both times.

The second time we went out to eat at The Frog Pond. And then after she left another set of cousins (on my Dad's side) coincidentally happened to walk in - so we got to visit with them too.

My Dad and I joined the crowd at the Webster flea market on Labor Day. They are only open on Mondays, so Labor Day and MLK Day are usually really good times to go.


My Dad and I's "Happy Plates" from our breakfast and the local eating establishment.

A view of the covered stalls at Webster.

A possible "impulse buy."


On September 5th we went to IKEA - the mecca of well-designed well-priced furniture and household items. I love the fact that you could literally buy an empty house - walk into IKEA and furnish the whole house - we're talking kitchen cabinets, bathroom fixtures, refrigerators, ovens, flooring, bathroom fixtures, closets, lighting, down to cabinet hardware, silverware, toothbrush holders, rugs, couches, tables, chairs, desks, pots and pans, cups, curtains and textiles. The only thing they don't sell are electronics like TVs and DVD players. So say if you hit up an IKEA and a Best Buy or something - you'd be good to go. We literally spent an entire day ogling at all the awesome furniture and commenting on designs and such - from 10:30 to 4:30. We even ate there! They have a great little lunch counter with the most gorgeous desserts and excellent Swedish meetballs (yum!). I bought a pretty red cabinet to store my letterpress paper stash in and a large-drawered roll-around cabinet for art supplies and paper.

The pretty red cabinet.

Some of the gorgeous desserts (I don't even like chocolate and I think they are pretty!!)

And then the kitchen island I kept drooling over - the back of which is undercut with room for two stools - really really sharp.