Blogging for a year

It's easy for me to remember when I started blogging, since my first post was on my birthday. I've been slacking at it lately and I blame March, which totally kicked my butt. There's nothing like a good birthday to turn things around! Yesterday was very low key, but a birthday I enjoyed very much. I really felt all of the well wishes I got - (ALL of them, Hesira - you're the best! :) ).

Husband gave me a new camera, which will in time improve the quality of my photos. We took it to dinner last night and we still need to learn a few things about using it. Dinner at Latitude 41 was awesome. I'm going to post a few of the pics, even though they are too dark.

This was the view from our corner table.


My dinner entree - scallops. It was beautifully presented.


Dessert - chocolate cake, fruit and Jeni's Forest Berry Merlot Sorbet. This is technically Susy's dessert, but I had the same thing :)



I would highly recommend the restaurant - the food, service, ambience - everything was great.

Lucy makes us laugh.

A Very Bad Day

Yesterday I had to put my beloved Katy down. I was not ready. I thought I knew the signs, but Katy didn't experience those signs. She was still eating, she was still agile, and she could still be happy, but she was in pain. The tumor was shutting off her bladder.

Today we are snowed in, wandering around the house that feels so empty. Lucy doesn't realize it yet and keeps looking for her as I keep making a conscious effort not to.

I voted. I hate local news. I don't like rain.

I went to vote in the primary today. There was no line and I was back home in about 20 minutes. I thought I'd check the local news to see what they were saying about voter turnout. I was reminded why I hate local news and why I never watch it. First there was the "HORRIBLE WEATHER!!" part of the story. HORRIBLE WEATHER = it was raining. Then I kept hearing about the "LONG LINES" and in a much more subtle tone "this morning". Then it was the "RECORD TURNOUT", followed by a quiet "for a primary." Yes, I'm aware that some polling places may have had more people, but I bet if that were the case, the news team would have been there to film it. It will be a very long time before I choose to see any local news again.

You know what I prefer over all of this rain?

Hanging in there.

I have to admit the winter weather was getting to me. Last week it seemed like I had to be out driving every day when conditions were at their worst, and the areas that were the worst. I started getting grouchy. What to do, what to do....go walk in a Metro Park!

This time it was Highbanks.




Winter doesn't seem so bad now. I was also cheered up by seeing that Barry Douglas (AKA The Hunky Pianist) is scheduled to perform with the Columbus Symphony in October. To keep myself cheered about that I have to avoid thinking about the odds of a symphony strike.

I also changed my desktop to this.

It was taken April 20 - that's less than two months away. Which is about the length of time I agreed to keep working my job. My boss says to hang in there. I think I can.

Blogging etiquette - using someone else's photos

There are always newbies to blogging that may not be aware of the standards for using other people's pictures in their blogs. I found this link which sums it up better than I could.

Blogging photos from Flickr

The easiest way to follow protocol is to link back to the photo, and don't download it and then blog it as if it were your own.

Respect

Lately it seems like most of the things annoying me about other people all boils down to a lack of respect and it seems to be rampant these days. Occasionally karma kicks in immediately, like last night.

Husband and I went out to dinner. The place we went is very popular on holidays so we always make a reservation those times. As we were walking toward the door to the restaurant, another couple and their child were also walking toward it. We had a head start and were walking at a normal pace. They were walking very fast and it was obvious they were doing so just to beat us to the door, which they did.
We walked in behind them and heard them say they did not have reservations. The guy then asked us if we did and started to lead us to our table. He looked at the fast walker and said "No. Not you, them. They had reservations."

It made my day.

Beagles Rule!

Numero Uno

Thanks to Helen for the link.

Also, you can see his personality more here, from the CBS early show.

Hiking, Florida Style

These were taken at The Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center at the Alligator Creek site in Punta Gorda, FL.











I didn't see any alligators, but I heard one growl at me on the other side of some brush. I didn't stop to try to get a pic.

Banana Leaf, Beagles and a Bunny

Husband and I tried a new (to us) place for dinner last week. Banana Leaf on Bethel Rd in the strip center across from Microcenter. It was a nifty experience. It's pretty casual, but the owner goes all out for you. He asked if it was our first time and then he wanted us to try everything. He brought 7 different chaats to us, each one spicier than the previous. He wanted us to try both the mango lassi and the rose lassi and then had us choose which we wanted more of.
After all of those chaats, he told us everything that was in the buffet and we had huge thali plates to fill with as much as we wanted. After dinner, I had some chai, which he assured us was included in the price. We had some of the bread leftover so asked for a container saying we wanted to take it to our daughter. He then filled a to go container with lots of things from the buffet for her. We had no idea what to expect with the bill. Grand total before tip - $21 for both of us. We will definitely go back.

Before going on my trip, I stressed about leaving my dogs - Katy mostly, who has heart issues and bladder cancer. A trip to the vet reassured me and Husband worked from home and they did pretty well until I came home and then had to go to trainings the next 2 days. Katy acted confused and crazy Lucy became lethargic. Daughter started commenting about wanting her Crazy Lucy back.

Beagles are born to chase rabbits. A large rabbit found itself under our deck and the dogs went nuts. The rabbit was too big to easily escape through the fence. Lots of running and howling ensued. (No doubt the neighbors were thrilled). They kept going under the deck and running out.
Husband got a few pictures.

Here's Lucy doing her part, and having a blast.


Here's Lucy along with Katy, who I was so worried about. Although we make efforts to keep Katy from exercising much, Katy ran around like she was just a pup, and she was thrilled.


The good news is that Katy did not pass out from the exertion, and as far as we know, the bunny has escaped.

Where I've been

sigh

Venice Beach, FL


Actually, I only got to spend one day at the beach, but I was in very nice weather for a week. Now I am home.

Money etiquette

I meant to post this last week, but I didn't get around to it. Gretta was asked a question on Good Morning America. The guests were the author of Isn't it Their Turn to Pick up the Check?. The first question was asked on the streets of NYC and it was, what do you do when you go out to lunch and you eat light and the other person chows down? How do you go about splitting the check? That was easy and obvious. You pay for what you consume.

The next question was asked to a different audience member and it was, if your 2 year old child breaks something of value in someone else's home, what do you do? I disagreed with the person's answer and so did the "experts". What would you do?

Finally, the example given to Gretta was that you have borrowed someone's car. While you have it, something goes wrong with it and it's a pre-existing condition, say the muffler falls off. Are you responsible for fixing it? I agreed with Gretta, but the authors didn't. What would you do?

The Inertia Buster

An open window!


Those of us who live here had all come down with a big case of Inertia. It takes enough of my energy to fight against my own, but when the others here come down with a case of it too, I can get overwhelmed. I used the nice weather and open windows to cure my case of it.

Sunday evening, Ray's brother Rick called saying he and his wife were at the Hyatt for the night to catch an early Skybus flight to NYC. We met them for dinner and ice cream. They own Aroma's Java and Gelato in Cincy so they were interested in going to Jeni's to compare and contrast.

My selection. Dark cocoa gelato, Torrone, and creme fraiche with amerena cherries. The cherries were amazing.


Gretta and Rick


I am recording Good Morning America tomorrow because they have tickets and were told to dress in bright colors because they may participate in an audience interview. When they wrote for tickets they said they were going to NYC to taste the gelato there for their business. It will be fun to see if that happens.

Gingerbread at the Conservatory

This evening, I dashed into the Franklin Park Conservatory for a short while to see the Gingerbread display and the Poinsettia trees before they are gone. In case you're interested, admission is free after 5pm on the first Wednesday of the month. The tree pics didn't turn out but here are a few of the gingerbread units that I liked for one reason or another. It should be noted that these have been there for about a month and I overheard someone saying they started sagging and stuff when we had a big rain. Since I've never made one, I was still impressed.

Popcorn trees!


I liked the roof on this one.


The Little Mermaid - something I did not expect to see.


I liked the look of this one.


Snoopy!!


The conservatory means the obligatory Chihuly pic. The closeup.

New Year's Day 2008 - Hike at Clear Creek

What may be the start of a new tradition, I went on a New Year's Day hike at Clear Creek Metro Park. It's the park that is farthest away, but I wish it was much closer. This was an organized, off trail hike.

About 30 people showed up. (I'm lousy at estimating)


A gorge that is in a usually off limits area. The off trail hikes are worth it just to go places you can't usually go.


Trees that are likely diseased.


The snow was an added bonus!


Me at the end of the hike.


A neat rock in the road out of the park.


Edited to add -
Husband went on a different trail - his pics are here.

Holidays 2007

Husband, the photographer is noticeably absent from any picture.

Geofftech

Geoff is a guy from the UK who married and moved to the US. His blog is quite entertaining. He does a yearly Year in Review and I'm listening to the 2007. It's UK based songs and news snippets. Songs are uncensored versions, so maybe NSFW. This is much more fun than anything cheesy on commercial radio or tv, and it goes quickly (only bits of songs).

Christmas Lights

I love looking at xmas lights. If you do, you should check out the Picktown Lights located in a subdivision in Pickerington. There are 16 or 17 houses on the street with all of their lights set to music you listen to on your radio. Husband has a few pics at his blog but it's really better in person. If you go, make sure you wait to hear the Trans Siberian Orchestra song (Wizards in Winter). That one puts on the best show.

Walking in a winter wonderland

I'm still trying to build up to hike the Grandma Gatewood Trail. I thought I was getting close until I strolled through the snow. Snow requires more strength and stamina. It sure is pretty though. These pictures were taken at Sharon Woods.

Hikes, hats, boat and toast.

I'm making an effort to spend more time outside this winter. Maybe if I acclimate myself, I will learn to like it. Yesterday I found myself wishing for snow. I've gone on a few of the scheduled night hikes with the Metro Parks, which I found fun. The other day, I talked Ray into walking around the North Bank Park. It was kind of disappointing to see so much litter, but it definitely has potential.

The Santa Maria. Personally, I can't imagine spending money to see this, but it's kind of cool to just walk by.


We also went to see William Wegman: Funney/Strange at the Wexner The video of how to make Log Cabin Cinnamon Toast was well worth the price of admission :) Admission is free, btw, as was parking on Sunday.

The finished Koolhaas hat.


And a beagle hat.