Blount Park Outing

We have a very beautiful park here called Blount Park. Above is just one area of the park with the red bridge. A lot of photographers bring their subjects here to photograph engagement photos, children's photos, etc. because it is such a beautiful location.

Today I took Paige to the park just to have a picnic and play ball and enjoy the day. The day before Halloween, we had a beautiful, sunny 80 degree day!

We took a big blanket, got our "picnic" lunch at Chick Fil A (ha!), took a big ball plus a bat, ball and glove, about four stuffed animals, books, some bread to feed the ducks and, of course, my camera. :) We gave Mommy a day "off" to sew in peace and quiet.

Hammin' it up for the camera while we were feeding the fish, turtles and ducks. I think Paige ate more of the bread than she fed the creatures!

I wanted to include this photo because I thought it turned out so unusual. Paige is always noticing the flowers, especially wildflowers (aren't children wonderful?) and she's constantly picking flowers for me. Here's a wildflower she found and I snapped just as she was handing it to me which distorted the hand giving the flower which I think emphasizes the gift. :)

As Paige would say, it was a beautiful day!

Life's A Beach!

I haven't posted in a few days because we went to the beach. Left on Thursday, the 22nd and got home last night, the 25th. We had a good time. For me, it was relaxing and just getting away for a few days.

The guys played golf every day and one of the women played with them. We "girls" just relaxed and did go out to eat a lot which was good. We went to some consignment places the first day and the shopping I loved the most was traveling to Panama City to a very nice quilt shop. That was the highlight of my trip!

The photo above was taken at a little secluded area that I'd never seen or visited. I really enjoyed this, too, with my camera. I have a lot of photos from this little hike we took thru a trail on an island. It was very swampy but well kept.

Looks like a great place to spend the day reading a book or doing some needlework with an iPod, doesn't it?

Fair Day!

The sky was NOT this blue today at the fair! I played around with color because we had such a good time, I just couldn't stand to post a photo with the grey skies. It never rained on us for the 7 to 8 hrs. we were there, but the threat of a storm brought us wonderful breezes and cooled things off very nicely.

I think we covered everything pretty much that we could that was age appropriate. We looked at the exhibits, had cotton candy, fudge, ice cream, hamburger and fries, rode just about every ride that Paige was "qualified" to ride, watched the sea lion show, went to the petting zoo, visited with some old friends we saw, and saw a puppet show at the end. I'm sure I left out something but we had a great time and everyone should sleep well tonight:)

It just wouldn't seem like Fall without going to the fair.

Today was a golf day and I have many too many photos but I decided to post one from yesterday to show the scenery in the background. My daughter texted me this morning and asked if we had seen the newspaper. Paige and I were in the newspaper today and the little article below said that I was taking pictures of my granddaughter feeding the ducks and we were just enjoying the weather.

So here's a picture of her feeding the ducks although there are no ducks in the background! ha!

It was another wonderful day. After golf, we ate out and then came home and did things here.

Movie night tonight!

Nice Day For a Picnic!

We started out this morning after breakfast with planting seeds in a little clay pot with Paige and put them on the porch to grow and keep watered. Then I painted her toenails blue and massaged her feet with lotion which she loved. Then she was so sweet. She wanted to put lotion on my feet and massage them. :)

Then I packed us a picnic lunch and we headed out for Shakespeare Park for a picnic. We spread a blanket under a shade tree by the water and were in the middle of our picnic when I spotted across the other side of the water a young lady with a nice-looking camera taking photos and pointing our way. I really didn't think very much about it, just thinking it was someone like me enjoying the beautiful weather and taking photos at this beautiful park. In fact, it even crossed my mind that I hated that we were in her way and she might be trying to get a good landscape photo. In just a few minutes, she walked over to us ( a pretty good little walk ) and asked if she could have our names explaining that she was with the local paper and just taking photos of people enjoying the beautiful weather in different locations around the city. So I told her our names and she asked where we were from and I told her. Then we had a wonderful conversation about mother/daughter relationships, photography, Photoshop, and a lot of different subjects.

Paige was just in the paper a few weeks ago and now I wonder if this one will be in the paper one day this week or maybe even tomorrow. I checked the website when I got home and nothing had been posted for the day. I'll check again tonight and tomorrow.

After the park, we went to Books A Million and enjoyed reading a few books and Paige played with the big train set and looked at a few toys. Then we went next door to the pet store and looked around.

It was a wonderful day. We enjoyed the weather and our activities. Paige took a nap on the way home and on the couch after we got home which gave me time to finish our dinner and we ate with her daddy and sent her mother a plate. Paw Paw is eating now. It was a full day and, again, I am so tired but it is a good tired feeling like I helped people who appreciated it.

I do have to say that these vitamins I'm taking are doing wonders for me. I have so much more energy and a better and more positive outlook on life. I am so thankful I found out about them.

Oh, and by the way, the photo above is of Paige at the Shakespeare Park, a beautiful, beautiful place.

Our New Groupie!

This is our new little "groupie" in the family. Her Paw Paw plays in a rock 'n roll band and she adores him and the band. She loves to go and listen to the music and dance.

I took another outing tonight and went with them to a street dance where the band played and enjoyed watching my little sweetie pie have herself a grand old time. Plus I enjoyed watching the faces of her mommy and daddy. It brought back so many memories of enjoying my children when they were two years old!

Here's a photo of part of the band - the drummer on the far left, then Paw Paw playing bass guitar and singing, a friend in the middle, and my brother on the far right playing guitar and singing. There are also two keyboard players. Some of these guys have been doing this together for over 40 years - which is amazing!!

When you ask Paige what she wants to be when she grows up, she says a ROCK STAR!!!

An Outing For Me

Yesterday I took an outing. I was invited to go to a little town where there was a craft store with art and crafts from local artists. Our church group called 50+ was the group that invited me to go. There were around 30 people that went on the trip and since I was keeping Paige that day, I took her with me and told them that this trip would be a 2+ trip!

She loves being around adults and did just fine. It was about a 2 hr. drive, I guess, over there. We first went to the store and looked around. We also got a nice surprise, a talk and presentation from a young man who grew up in Gee's Bend where the famous Gee's Bend quilts originated. He was very interesting. I think that was my favorite part of the trip (besides just being with people I love and just getting out of the house and away from the things I've been doing lately).

Next we went to an antebellum mansion and had lunch which was very good all except for the dessert. I didn't like it (which is unusual because I usually love dessert). While we were eating, one of the workers there came into our dining area and told ghost stories about the old house. Then the 2 hr. drive back with lots of conversation with friends and Paige took a nap.

The only thing I'm concerned about as far as myself goes is that I still am not as motivated as I would like to be to get back into my creative things, not even photography. I contemplated taking my camera yesterday and decided against it because I thought it would be difficult to keep up with Paige, a camera and taking pics and trying to look around in the store, etc. So I did not take her photo above. A friend did and I appreciate it so much.

Today I am going to go through my mother's things again, sort and organize. It's just a "loose end" that bothers me and I think my creative urges will come back after I take care of my "loose ends". That's just me. Can't work with clutter in the way. Or at least that's the way my mind handles it.

Shopping Therapy

I did some shopping therapy today. My husband gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday. I thought that I remembered either reading or hearing about the store going out of business or closing down so I decided to go ahead and shop there today before I went to visit my mother in the hospital. I was right. This particular store is closing June 3 so I'm glad that I went. At least half the store merchandise was 40% off so I had quite a haul! I probably spent about 3 or 4 hours in there looking around and enjoyed it very much.

My mother did not get to leave the hospital today as we were told yesterday. We really don't know when she'll return to the rehab facility yet. So I went to visit her after my shopping trip, came home, ate, rode my bike and now I'm ready to enjoy my new books - one of my favorite things to do!

A Trip to the Lake

Took a little early trip to the lake today to check on hail damage. Here's a little expanse of water. . .

A little trip down the slide. . .

A . . .

little . . .

swinging . . .


A little driving. . .

and. . . a little ART!! Fun Day!

Auburn vs. LSU - We Won!!!

Na, na, na, na, boo, boo, - We Won! By at least 10 points, too (an inside joke).

Paw Paw won two tickets to the Auburn/LSU basketball game today and Paige, her mommy and I went along and shopped while her daddy and her Paw Paw went to the game. We shopped in downtown Auburn and had a great time. Had a lemonade and ice cream at Toomer's and everything!

And, of course, I had my camera with me and took lots of pics. We HAD to get one in front of this sign at Samford Hall which is such a tradition at Auburn.

Thought you might like a little history I found on Samford Hall. **Originally, Samford Hall WAS the university, housing classes until 1969, when it became solely the university admin headquarters. It was named for Ala. Gov. William James Samford, who attended Auburn in 1860-61.

The first campus building, Old Main, burned in 1887, leaving nothing but brick and ashes - some of the brick was used in the foundation of Samford Hall. The legend that a number of students led a cow through the attic and into the bell tower in the 1920s remains unsubstantiated, but it IS true that, in the dead of night, a group of enterprising 1977 students, armed with paint, cardboard and tape, turned the stately clock into a Mickey Mouse watch face! **

**Taken from the Auburn Magazine, Winter 2008