Friday, April 30, 2010

Last day of April, woohoo! Not only that, but the Ludlow Bromley Yacht Club opened yesterday....so with the weather being absolutely perfect, we put the top down and took off down the river road to LBYC! It was packed. Lots of young people, some older people and a bunch of oldies like us! There were even some boats out on the river. It was a perfect way to end the work week....Kentucky Derby tomorrow!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Sorry guys....got nothing for you. Had to go to a friend's visitation. He died after being very sick for a long time and although we know he is in a happy place now, we are sad.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Can you guess what this is? Well I had to read about to figure it out. I've been doing a lot of research for our trip to Italy in June and this popped up in one of the websites I like to visit. My first guess was dog water, but nope....it's a drinking fountain called a Nasoni (cause of it's nose looking thing). The water is from a reservoir under Rome and runs miles and miles. There are 2,500 of these in Rome. Now about how it works....easy to fill your water bottle, but when you want a drink, there's a little hole on top of the "nose" so when you plug up the hole where the water is coming out with your finger, the water spurts out of the little hole on top just like a water fountain! cool huh!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I'm sure Abby and Andrew will recognize this sign...they have one in their house. This one sits behind the stove in our house and reminds us to enjoy our dinner. We like eating in the kitchen at the island.....while we're eating we talk about what we did that day and what we might do the next day, and about the five of you....we like news of you!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Exciting, very exciting news....The Constitution Team from Arcadia High School won the National Constitutional Law Competition tonight. They competed against teams from all the states. Your Dad/Uncle David has been in Washington DC with the team this past weekend and said they were brilliant...give a big shout out to the new National Champs....it's good to be #1! Of local interest, he ran into Chris Collinsworth at the competition...Chris' son Austin was part of the Highland Heights team that represented Kentucky! What fun is that.....

Sunday, April 25, 2010

This is one of those Mite Boxes we used to collect money for the Heifer Project ARK....and guess what gang....today we counted $5,000. Trinity Church gathered $5,000 during the 6 weeks of Lent and now we will be able to buy our 9th ARK for Heifer Project. If you want to know more about Heifer and the ark, www.heiferintl.org will give you the info you want. We are very excited and what a generous church we attend.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

We saw Date Night tonight...and boy did we laugh a lot...I'm sure glad when we lived in New York and had a date night, we didn't take anyone elses reservation. It was a very funny movie, but really not appropriate for children. We actually liked the car chase scenes best...

Friday, April 23, 2010

Look familiar? That's your Dad/Uncle David and he's standing in front of the US Capital Building in Washington, DC. I heard from him yesterday that he met Chief Justice Roberts at the Supreme Court...and saw the "basketball court"! I think he's having a pretty good time seeing all those buildings and places we learned about in school....Good Luck Arcadia Constitutional Law Team!!!!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Earth Day! The picture was taken on Fountain Square today...it's part of the "found objects" sculpture exhibit. This one was done by some high school students and is covered with old maps. In honor of Earth Day we decreased our carbon footprint by walking over to Newport on the Levee. Hope you were able to decrease your carbon footprint today!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

So the question tonight is "why does a cat sit ON the tv? We think it may be because it's warm up there, but then again there's that whole osmosis thing....Lucy loves sitting on top of the little tv in the bedroom....and that tail waves back and forth in front of the tv, especially when there's something really good on the screen. Anyone want a cat while we're in Italy? oh and a fish too!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Scrappy and Gillian Vannasdog....your furry cousins in Oklahoma City. Aren't they adorable? They've been very good grand-dogs in their apartment in OK City, but soon, very soon we hope, they will be moving to their very brand new house in Edmond. They will have a fenced yard so they can run and roll in the grass and chase Gracie around!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Remember the Cincinnati Flower Show on Saturday? This is one of the table exhibits called "Cat in the Hat" It was really cool and looked alot like a Dr. Seuss creation. I think Lucy would like to have this in the courtyard.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday afternoon, sunny, 68 degrees, no wind and good friends. It must be Keeneland. Actually, there were so many people there today that we had to sit wayyyyyy in the back so far from the horses, we ended up watching most of the races on the jumbo tv! We got there after the third race (after church) but we won in the 4th then decided to let Keeneland have the rest of our money! Keeneland (in Lexington) is beautiful, but not as easy to see the races as Santa Anita in Arcadia...

Saturday, April 17, 2010

It's Cincinnati Flower Show time in the hood. This is a picture of one of the exhibits...it's a chair with a stuffed cat on it and all these little flowers sticking out of everywhere...even the teapot. On the ground in front of the chair there's a pair of slippers....all stuffed with flowers...it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the show. Here's what we know about you.....Abby won anothe Blue Ribbon at her gymnastics competition last night, Andrew won two baseball games today and made the final outfield catch to win the first game, and Chandler scored two goals at his soccer game...we don't know if he won or not, but 2 goals is a winner in our minds.

Friday, April 16, 2010

The name of this picture is "Big Bridge Machine". We've told you in earlier blogs that the Roebling Bridge that I walk over to work is going to be painted this summer. The machine you see here is on the road right before the bridge on the Kentucky side. It makes a lot of noise and works all night long - and daytime. Papa/gump thinks its the machine that sucks up the old paint as they blast it off the metal on the bridge. They put up covered walkways on the sidewalk where we walk but it makes the bridge a little dark and scary to walk in the evening. We'll be glad when it's finished....very noisey and stinky and inconvenient....

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Yikes, the dreaded Income Tax filing deadline. This is the day all taxpayers have to have their Federal Income Tax forms filed....papa/gump and I already filed ours and have a refund in the bank....It's hard to believe we've been paying taxes every year since we were 16...that's a whole lot of years.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

NOT LUCY....but we couldn't resist taking a picture of this cat in the window on our walk this evening. Lucy gets to look out but we don't think she sees much unless birds come to visit while we're at work. This little cat got to see us walk by and wave at her and wiggle our fingers at her and just like Lucy....she just sat there and gave us that "are you talking to me?" look! Another beautiful night for a walk.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Happy birthday Andrew!!!! Double digit 10...wow! Hope you had a wonderful day and a great baseball game. It was fun to sing to you this morning, wish we could have enjoyed some of those cinnamon rolls your mom made for you! I know 10 is going to be your best every age....

Monday, April 12, 2010

You know the story of Hansel and Gretel? When papa/gump and I were out for our walk in the hood tonight....we came across this house sitting up on a little hill on Greenup Street. The grass was overgrown and the house has all these vines growing on it and on the left side you can see this little bitty door....I think it's the witch's house in the Hansel and Gretel story. I actually checked around the sidewalk for breadcrumbs!

Watch this space tomorrow for a birthday boy pic!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

This is a picture of the Heifer International ARK. During the 6 weeks before Easter, everyone at church has a Mite Box (from the story in the bible about the widow's mite). We put money in during the six weeks and then today we had an "ingathering". The goal is to purchase an Ark for Heifer....that's two of each kind of animal that Heifer provides to families in need. The deal is, they raise the animal and pass on an offspring to another family and that family passes along an offspring...it works really well and provides a means of support for families all over the world...even Kentucky! We need $5,000 and we're just a little short...but we are not giving up yet!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

It was a beautiful day in KY...we really wanted to be in Lexington at the Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland, but since work came first, well it will wait for another day. After work, we walked over the Roebling Bridge to Fountain Square. There is a sculpture exhibition on the Square using all "found" items...like soda cans and bottle tops. This one is a bird cage with a cardboard bird inside. The best one (I couldn't get a picture of it) was a large sculpture using only wire hangers....most of the sculptures were made by high school students....really fun!

Friday, April 9, 2010

It's been a really long and hard week. Opening Day for the Reds was really fun, but on Tuesday we had to return to work...and work...and work. Finally Friday and here we are enjoying a quiet evening at Barnes & Noble. It's a wonderful thing to be able to come over and sit outside and enjoy the river with a cup of coffee! Happy weekend!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ah, what a beautiful little snail. We really don't care if you call it a snail or escargo....we don't eat them! The reason we're writing about this snail tonight, is because it is the symbol of the "slow food movement". The slow food movement started in Italy and it's goal is to encourage people to eat foods prepared in the slow way using locally grown products. A large number of the restaurants we will eat at in Italy will be members of the movement. That means we will get really fresh food that was grown locally and we will be able to take all the time we want to enjoy our dinner...or lunch. We can't wait! Bless the snail...

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Spring in the "hood" has a most wonderful smell. When papa/gump and I go for walks this time of year, the thing we notice most (besides the beautiful blooms) is the smell. There are small flowers that smell and large trees (like this one) that have an incredible scent. Sometimes the blossoms fall off the tree and I can take them home and put them in a glass of water...then our whole house smells like spring!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I went to the Cincinnati Art Museum with three friends on Friday. We really went for lunch, but as you walk through the hall toward the restaurant, you have to pass two motorcycles on display. I didn't notice them going in, but coming out I realized this one was an "Indian". That is an old, very old, name in motorcycles. There was a great movie starring Anthony Hopkins called "The Last Indian" about a man from Australia who raced "Indians". It's a fun movie and this "Indian" was absolutely beautiful. They wouldn't let me sit on it.....bummer!

Monday, April 5, 2010

What an exciting day....pancakes, parade, opening game of the 2010 season....

And Uncle Mark, too! Of course, Uncle Mark was here to cheer for the Cardinals, he and Andrew went a few rounds....but the Cards won 11-6. It was a beautiful day, warm with a breeze and all the hotdogs and popcorn you could eat. This was Andrew's 8th opening day, but papa/gump has been to 15....when Christian was the only grandson to take to the game!

Sunday, April 4, 2010 EASTER

Alleluia He is Risen...Happy Easter kids and God Bless the five of you. It's been an interesting day starting with church this morning and ending with trying to find skyline and ice cream...fail on the skyline...UDF on the ice cream. There was so much happening today and we took so many pictures that I couldn't decide which one to put on the blog, but since this one had me in it, I chose it! I hope ya'll had an absolutely fabulous Easter Day....I know we did.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

It was a great morning. Uncle Mark is here for opening day, so we went shopping. Uncle Mark likes Sur la Table as much as I do....we both bought something. It was the first time he rode in the convertible...and he liked that too since it was warm enough to put the top down. This evening we walked over to Fountain Square for the opening of the Square...with fireworks and

they started the water flowing in the Fountain. There she is "The Lady of the Fountain". Happy Easter kids...hope you have a wonderful day.

Friday, April 2, 2010

There's an old cowboy (not country) COWBOY song that said "drifting along like tumbling tumble weed". That's what you see in this picture...a tumble weed being blown across the road in Southern California by one of those Santa Ana winds. Pretty cool don'tcha think?

Thursday, April 1, 2010

It's Maundy Thursday....the day Jesus celebrated the first Eucharist before Good Friday. I don't think this is a celebration in a lot of churches, and we haven't done it at Trinity for a long time. We have a new priest, Nicolette and this is a picture of her washing one of the kids feet as part of the service.

I was going to try to do an April Fool's Day prank on you, but couldn't think of a good one!