Pictures From North Carolina

This is Joseph greeting the audience after his performance in A Mighty Day presented by his preschool on 11 December 2008.

As the crowd moves on, so does Joseph. The play started at 7:00 pm and by the time the play was over it was obvious that more than Joseph's sister was ready for bed. Some of the kids fell asleep in position during the play. All in all, it was fun and a pleasure to watch.

Baby Dee, wants everyone to know that boys are not the only people who can be pirates.

Some Memories Of S'Mores In August 08

Nana is the senior Girl Scout in this family and Nana loves S'Mores.


You don't even have to be a Girl Scout to know you need a campfire to make S'Mores. Since our area of Florida has had its share of forest fires, Nana got her own firepit for the making S'Mores.


Making S'Mores is more fun when you have a crew to roast the marshmellows. Here are a Ise and Gus at work toasting their marshmellows.


Not everyone likes their marshmellow on fire. To some crewmembers it was upsetting when their marshmellow caught fire.


Then again, sometimes you have to get close enough to the firepit to at least warm the marshmellow.



Properly prepared S'Mores have a short lifespan. Well I guess improperly prepared ones also have short lifespans. While Baby D looks like she wants a S'More, this picture was taken just shortly before she decided she was going to eat real food. Perhaps that was the "last straw" that got her to eating real, not baby, food. If you tried to eat a S'More that close to her now there would be a problem.


Gus ensures their is no fire on his marshmellow.


This could be an Irish jig or like my cat, Gus could have realized he should be somewhere else.


Will does not like to wait for the marshmellow to cook. He is the youngest boy and rather than wait, he eats his marshmellows straight up. He has a couple in his left hand.


A shot of Ise and Will goofing around. You have to start traing kids about S'Mores when they are young. However, when they are young they quickly lose interest.


Ise assemblying a work of art, a S'More good enough to give to Nana.

Silver Springs Festival Of Lights

The Blushing Bride and


The Old Salt decided to go see the festival Of Lights at Silver Springs Amusement Park. About 30 minutes into the drive the radio station announced a parade on Silver Springs Blvd in Ocala which is the same street that runs past the entrance to Silver Springs amusement Park where we were headed. We decided to continue, it would workout or we would be on a different adventure.


This is one of the lighted displays in the park which I thought, as a transplanted Yankee, Christmas in Florida.


These white birds are some type of Egrets roosting in the tree across the Silver River headwaters in the park. Also in the tree are some Cormorants. By the time it was fully dark the tree was really full of birds.


This is the parks male Giraffe. Giraffes can give of an odor that make a pole-cat smell like a newborn baby. You have to smell it to believe it.


This weekend the Vietnam Moving Wall was also on display in the park.


As dusk fell the lighted displays got brighter.


A shrub trimmed, spray painted and lighted to look like a peacock.


A cute horse drawn buggy all lit up.


When it got dark, my ability to take a picture became determined by my ability to hold the camera still. Pictures in the dark require a tripod and more effort. I believe this is a photo of Pegasus.


Another shot of Pegasus with a lot more lights in the background.


This group of carolers, minus the kids, sang Christmas Carols for at least an hour with minimal breaks. The kids were invited up to sing "Jingle Bells."


I thought this would make a good last picture, I liked the way the picture turned out. We both had a great time and fully recommend the festival of Lights to everyone.

Today Was Christmas Cookie Day

This is the "Cookie Crew." I think the first and second cookies completed are being consumed in this picture.


Here we have some of the cookies before adding the topping.


These have a topping of some kind of melted chocolate and crushed peppermint candy cane. I know these were not meant for me.


I'm not sure what these are, I heard they have cherry something or other in them. Sorry, but they are not for me either.


Nana and Baby Newbie on the backyard swing. He shines when a camera is pointed at him.


Baby Newbie is playing with the Little people house but I cropped everything out because I liked his expression.


The name of the game is fun. You take an exercise ball and run full speed while rolling over the top. This is Gus in mid-air.


This is Will in mid-air doing the same thing. The ball is only partially inflated at this point. It suffered a thorn when it was thrown into a rosebush the last time the kids were out here.

The good thing is when the cookies were finished most of them left with my daughter and her kids. I love that part.

The Texas Gun

Yesterday my grandsons, Gus, Will and the Newbie stopped by with their mother for an Afternoon of Fun in the Sun. Later in the afternoon, Gus, the older one told me after his nap he went in the "Man Room" looking for me and he saw my "Texas Gun."

I asked him what that was and he said, "You know, like they use in Texas."

He was describing a 45 Colt Replica made by Daisy. A BB gun that was issued in 1971 to celebrate the NRA Centennial. The replica hangs alongside the "Man Room" television set in a old western style holster with belt. The Daisy replica Winchester Model 94 also hangs alongside the replica pistol in a leather scabbard I used deer hunting years ago in California. The scabbard is Western and normally used with a saddle; I used it to strap my rifle to my dirt bike to get around logging trails.

So both Gus (5) and Will (3) went into the "Man Room" where I allowed them to look them over, answer questions and generally chat Texas Guns.

Life is good!

Another Day Of Fun And Sun

Today Old Salt, aka Cheez and Blushing Bride, aka Nana, hosted three Grandboys along with their Mom.

At lunchtime their was the mandatory McDonald's Cheeseburger Happy Meal run down the road. The two older Grandboys and I had Happy Meals and their Mom ate a healthy fish sandwich; a Number 11 meal in Ronald speak.

The Blushing Bride stayed home with the youngest Grandboy. She is not much of a Happy Meal aficionado and it was time for the little guy to get a snooze. Lemme tell you, Nana knows about babies and snoozes.

After lunch the Grandboys Mom enforced the mandatory after lunch rest period.

Gus coming in long on the big ball.

Somebody tickled Mom's fancy. Baby Newbie likes to keep his eyes on me and the camera.


Nana gets some leg on the ball. Notice the ball is no longer round from that well placed foot. I think it was out-of-round for at least an hour.

Will has just awoke from his rest period and is in that stage of coming around. He is tearing that blueberry muffin up. Will never wants to take a rest but he usually falls asleep first.

Another shot of baby foot. The way he was sitting I could not get both in the same frame so I aimed for one.

Gus has just launched the ball with a hefty kick.