Took a little day trip since it was Grandaddy's last day here...we went to Sewanee and then did the JD Distillery tour.  A little disappointed in the lack of fall foliage yet in Sewanee.   Guess we were just a tad early!   You know how I am about the fall foliage.  Still, we had fun...we visited the All Saints Chapel, had lunch at the University of the South cafeteria and drove around the grounds.   Then, we went home via Lynchburg and  took the Jack Daniels Distillery tour, which is always interesting.

Here are few snaps from the trip:

Statue of Jack

Our tour guide right next to the statue....thought this was a funny capture!

Abby walking the Perimeter Trail in Sewanee

Abby + Daddy

Abby + Grandaddy

She begged me to take this one...

Day Trippin' is tiring!

Relaxing on the grounds of the distillery

My favorite of the day....Abby on the steps of the Cross, getting slightly spun out at me for all the pictures. "Mom....really?  I can only smile so much!"

This past weekend we took a trip to Cheekwood and spent some time roaming around.   I couldn't stop taking pictures of the Chihuly sculptures - they were absolutely amazing!   I did manage to shoot just a few pictures of flowers...but my favorite flower of all goes by the name of Abby.   I could name so many great attributes about her, but this particular day the one that stood out most was "self-posing".    No longer do I have to prompt Abby to pose, she just says, "Mom.  Take one of me like this"  

Yeah....she rocks it.






Please check out the Cheekwood posts at AFH - there's lotsa, lotsa pics to see!!  

tap tap..........this thing on?

Don't hurt yourself. I'm blogging. I won't waste time apologizing - only to say that blogging falls low on my priority list at this moment in time.   I've realized that......brace yourself......I can't do it all. I know - it was a shocking revelation to me as well. But really - the feeling of having your priorities in check totally rocks.

Enough of that.

Thought I'd give you the readers digest of what has been going on here at Club Amaro over the last 2 months. I'll start with today and work my way backwards....somehow that feels right.


Today was career day at school. Abby wanted to be an "Equine Exhibitor".  And yes, that is a genuine riding habit that she's wearing (about 3 sizes too big, thank goodness for safety pins) and her pink stick horse named Jewel. Some good friends of ours breed, train and show Tennessee Walking Horses and the exposure to them has made Abby a huge fan. She's all about it. Wonder what next career day will bring?


Next we have the first official "school play"....entitled "EI-EI-Oops!"   It takes place on Old Mac Donald's farm.   There were ALOT of kids in the production....BIG HUGE KUDOS to the drama teacher.   How he got that many Kindergarten and 1st graders to be quiet and follow directions that well, I will never know.   Abby was one of the "ducks"...her lines (all 15 words) were very well spoken and expressive.   And her waddle was quite the sight.   It was a cute production and Abby loved it.   I would like to say there may be a future for this child in the performing arts.


Most of you are hopefully aware of the horrible flooding that has occurred here in the last week.   Nashville was hit very hard it.   We were very fortunate to not have any flooding in our neighborhood, but as you can see from the picture above, there was ALOT of water.   Normally, there is a ditch right in front of where the mailbox is.  This ditch was completely covered with water and it began to encroach on the first tree there in the yard.   In the backyard, there was so much water that the little kids slide we have was floating!  Please pray for Nashville - although the devastating aftermath has hardly been covered by national media, it is VERY bad.


Yes.   My husband rode a horse.   That's all I have to say about that.


Yes.  My daughter rode a horse.   And now she wants to be an equine exhibitor.   That's all I have to say about that.


My sweet Nana passed away at the end of March.  We had a whirlwind tour to see her just before she passed and was able to attend the funeral before coming home.   I cherish the last few days that I got to spend with her in the nursing home.


Abby and I took a little trip to the Nashville Zoo over spring break.   She has been there a handful of times, but this was my first visit.     Uh......yeah.    I am from San Diego.    Were you aware that San Diego has a world-famous zoo?   There's a reason that the Nashville Zoo is not world famous.   I'm just sayin'.


I love this picture of my man that I took when we were in Louisiana.  I've been trying to spend some time with my long lost friend "The Reb".   The photographic activity has been low over the last month, but I hope get a little shutter finger exercise soon.  Most of my photo shots and favorite shots are available for viewing over at AFH Online.  Please go there and look around.    Sign up for the email updates.   Grab the feed and stay up to date.   Become a Facebook Fan or follow me on Twitter.   I appreciate any support I can get!  

Here's a few recent shots:





Phew....that took alot out of me.   I think I may need a nap.   I hope that you feel a bit more up to speed and that it won't be 2 months before you see me here again.

Lotsa love.
k

I LOVE surprises (unless of course it's on my doorstep, in a bag, on fire...not good).

I especially love surprises from my garden.

Like this:



or this:



and even this:



And, while we're on the subject...this too:



This being the first spring in our house, I was delighted to find all kinds of flowers popping up for me to look at and photograph. The Reb + surprise flowers = pure bliss.

What kinds of flowers are popping up in your dirt??

Iris-sistable!

k

We had the privilege of watching "the boys" tonight while their mom, dad and 2 sisters had an evening out.


Boys. I didn't get the handbook on those. Come to think of it, I didn't get the handbook for the girl either. My Mom, on the other hand always referred to the 'Mother's Handbook' - she even referenced pages ("Well it says on page 732 of the Mother's Handbook..."). I guess I missed that day at the hospital when they handed them out.

As a Mom to one girl, I always feel inadequate to handle more than one child...or...boys. But, I'm easy going and flexible. How hard could it be? I'll pull out the box of Lincoln Logs and they'll play that for 4 hours, then clean it up and go to bed, right? Yeah, right.

Your honor, I submit Exhibits A - H for the jury.










It started off innocently enough with the Lincoln Logs...but once I pulled The Reb out, it was all over. It must have been some boy switch that I didn't know about - whatever it was, it got flipped AND it was contagious. The 3 of them started running and screaming all over the house, trying to get away from the camera. This went on for a very...long...time.

By the way...if you're wondering why Beth Moore is hanging on a shelf next to Rotel and Progresso soup it's because....well, it's a really long story. Maybe for next time.

Regardless of the running and the screaming, I'm a fan of these 2 boys...they are precious in all their boy-ness. I can't help but pondering the future...10, 15 years down the road. What young men they will be. Will they be trying to win the affections of a girl we know? Time will tell, but for now...we enjoy.



Boys - you gotta love 'em...even with a trail of boogies under their nose.

Snips and snails,
Puppy dog tails...

k

What's up y'all...

I know today's post title has got you absolutely breathless in anticipation...but you're just going to have to wait for a minute while I tell you something that I saw yesterday.

I was driving down the road by my house (on the way to some fabulous errand, I'm sure). In order to get the visual, you need to understand the road. If my neighborhood were a song, it would be Donny & Marie's "I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock-n-roll". It's a little bit rural and a little bit urban. It's rurban. Anyway, I digress. So the roads in this rurban area can sometimes have very steep ditches on one side or another (that would be the rural side). I'm very anti-steep ditches, by the way, in case you needed to know where I stand on the ditch dilemma. As if the steep ditch weren't bad enough....you also got 'yer narrow road. When you pair the narrow road with the steep ditch, you got 'yer self a little recipe for disaster.

I know. I'm getting to the point.

Anyway, I'm driving down one of these steep ditch/narrow road streets and up ahead I see a police car parked in the middle of the road. I slow down....because, that's just the kind of driver I am. As I approach, I see a red car precariously situated....half on the road and half in the ditch. The odd thing is that it didn't even look like the person drove off into the ditch (you know, with the front end in the ditch and the back end sticking up) Instead, it looks like someone just pushed it sideways into the ditch so the right side was in the ditch and the left side tires were still on the road. As I get closer, I see what I assume to be the driver & passenger over on the side. Everything looks ok with them....good to see. As I pass the car, I look over to it. Plastered on the drivers side of this red car is a big HUGE sticker. It's bright yellow with black letters. And it reads:



Of course, I didn't have The Reb with me, dang it. It would have been the classic shot. One that would have circulated the internet 10 times over. I could have been famous....forget the I heart faces contest.

I hope I haven't lost you....

Now onto more egg-citing things.

Here is Abby with the latest school project...the Eggcelent Eggciting Eggsperiment. Her teacher asked each student to construct a box that would house a raw egg. The box will be dropped from the top of the ladder of the local fire department truck (maybe we'll see Mr. Ron??). The big question.....WILL THE EGG BREAK. (Did you like my Howard Cosell impersonation?)

Because I know you won't be able to sleep tonight without knowing all the details, I've put together yet another Club Amaro Photo Montage to document the eggsperience.












I know you couldn't tell, but that last picture was totally staged.

Party Time, Eggcelent.

k

Hey y'all...just been out exploring today with The Reb (ok, I changed it's name again...I'm so fickle). It's been off an on raining today - a perfect opportunity to get some water droplet shots. I can't believe I took my boy out in the sprinkle, but I was very protective. Can I just tell you, I'm in love with The Reb.

Before I get too wound up, I want to take a moment to eulogize the old Power Shot S45...a camera I like to now refer to as "Old Faithful". OF's fate is yet to be determined at the moment. But after 16,224 pictures in almost 6 years I would say it's earned it's place in the Club Amaro photography hall of fame. It's been a good friend...and he deserves every bit of the retirement that's coming. Oh, I imagine I'll pull him out for a time of reminiscing...perhaps take him a place or two for old time sake. But make no mistake, The Reb is top dog now.

These shots are straight out of The Reb...no doctoring of any kind other than a crop. The resolution on this boy is so stinkin big that I can crop it down and still have it be higher resolution than OF. I had to take these shots quick as I didn't want to stay out in the sprinkle...for this, I'm loving the "AUTO" setting.






Shhh...close your eyes. Can you hear Gus Portokalos? So there you go.

Stay tuned for my next post where I show you how to make a leprechaun trap for Saint Paddy's day (or as Abby would mistakenly pronounce it even though I correct her every single time, Satan Patrick's Day).

Oh yeah - one last thing...a little message for my brother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!!!
For those of you who don't know Steve, go meet him and listen to him sing here.