Birthday Girl

All dressed up for her party

Nothing like getting close to your cake Satin, lace and quadrunner

Happy 1st Birthday, Laney Bug

Keep good thoughts

little d is in the hospital tonight, having test. he has had 2 seizures in the past 35 days and there is no rhyme or reason for them. he's waiting for the electrodes to be put on his head. He had a CAT scan and a MRI earlier in the day

here he is all hooked up with a cheesy smile

his turban, d probably has 25-30 wires on his scalp, the wrap is to keep the wires in place as well as make him a little more mobil

mom and dad told him the wires and the bracelet (safety alarm) are for his spiderman/batman super powers. just received a call the CAT and MRI are normal. YAAAAAA. You don't want any of the test to find anything, but at the same time if the test do show something, then you can act accordingly. if nothing shows up on the EEG, he will have to take medicine for the next 6 months, keeping my fingers crossed

63rd anniversary

Today would have been their 63 wedding anniversary

butterfly house (or pictures for a gray day)

my aunt and i visited the butterfly house on a cool grey day.

below is a scuplture by artist Bob Cassilly. It is 28 feet tall one of the blue morpho butterfly; there are 3000 of them in the butterfly house and they don't ever seem to land anywhere. I just got lucky with this shot. I was taking so many pictures my camera was hot to the touch

the picture below was taken right after we entered the conservatory; my lens was foggy with the difference in temperture between a cool outside and a tropical forest humidity inside

the butterfly below wings' look like owls eyes when the wings are closed

a waterfall inside the conservatory

orchids

more info at butterflyhouse.org

downtown st charles

this is where i was to be this morning. I got called for jury duty last month; the first time in 36 years. i did my civic duty, showed up at the courthouse bright and early and found out that my session was cancelled! nothing, nada, zip. since i wasn't expected at work i took a little time on this beautiful day and did a small photowalk

the first state capitol of Missouri was in St Charles. the capitol building still on a bluff high above the Missouri river.

St Charles Borromeo looking over the city and the river. St. Charles was named after him. Standing at the crest of the hill overlooking the city, you can almost imagine how the place looked in the past

Obama

President Obama was in St Charles yesterday at a local high school in the middle of town where the roads are only one lane each way at rush hour. I drive by the school to go to the littles house so i knew that the roads would be block, soooo i took another route around the area and lo and behold i still ran into a road block. Sat in traffic for about 1/2 hour and saw some of the motorcade. Highway 70 (main east/west highway was shut down for about 3 hours. It was an honor to have the President in the area, but why do they always have to come at rush hour!

art deco

I went to a pancake breakfast Saturday in my old stomping grounds. As I was driving home I decided to stop and take some pictures. These are of the Airway Drive In. The airway was one of 2 drive ins in our city; the other one being the 4 screen, (because of course there was 4 screens). The airway has a great place as a kid. They had a playground and a little gas train. the drum majorette baton twirls when its lit. The Airway had capacity of 1000 cars, it opened in the 1950's and closed in the 1980's My grade school backed up to the screen and one of my classmates lived in a little house behind the screen. we all thought that was a great place to live and see all the movies for free. we couldn't wait until summer to pile in the car with lawn chairs, a cooler, popcorn, pillows and blankets in case we fell asleep. As teenagers, we hid one or two people in the trunk to get in without paying for them (we never got caught) or at least no one ever charged us at the gate. As a parent I took my own kids there. The last movie we saw there was "star wars". The drive in was torn down years ago and a gas station and grocery store was built on the site, but they did keep the neon sign, and all of the art deco towers. the towers and sign were at the entrance, i seem to remember 8 different admission gates, most were not open unless there was a blockbuster scheduled. I'm glad the kept the entrace, brings back many great memories

mom

as a little girl

as a young woman

Mom passed away March 7

2002. I still find myself reaching

for the phone to call her.

Miss you, Mommy

retreat

for years my best friend has been asking me to go on a retreat with her and the women of her church. for years i've said no, but this year, with everything that has been going on in the past couple of years, and things that are going on this year, i decided that it couldn't hurt to go. had a wonderful time, good fellowship, great food and a lot of it; kind of felt like a cruise ship, we ate all the time, if not breakfast, lunch and dinner, there was all kinds of snack food and soda. lots of different emotions were felt. i've been away from church for at least 25 years; things have changed; heartfelt support from women i just met and a real feeling of being welcomed and time to re charge the internal batteries

the convent leases their 85 acres to board horses; there are several ponds, a barn, swimming pool (inside) and a huge gym.

this labyrinth was build recently by some eagle scouts, but the day this was taken it was really cold and i didn't wear my coat, so i was in too much of a hurry to do the meditation

also on the property is a civil war cemetery. some of the stones pre date the civil war and you can't read some of the inscriptions because of the age. i only had a short time to take photos, so i will be going back when the weather is warmer. the cemetery sits on a hill about a mile from the retreat and the path is really good exercise