Happy 4th!

Oh, say can you see
by the dawn's early light


Canton City 4th of July Fireworks display has become a huge gathering of rednecks...er, I mean Southerners for a night of classic Independence Day festivities.

This year, I believe there were more people than I have seen in the past. I think it was partly due to the fact that several of the other towns cancelled their celebrations due to the ongoing drought conditions that have left us Georgians mighty dry. The water restrictions are getting so tight that we can only water once a week now on a thursday between midnight and 10 am... well, I may be exagerating a bit, but it is pretty tight.... lol

These pics were taken WITHOUT a tripod as you can tell by the shakyness, but I think they turned out kinda neat. It is very difficult to get really good pics at night!

This one was during the finale.... the shutter was open nearly 40 seconds for this one!

.................and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air..........

God Bless America

Land that I love !!!

Happy Independence Day !

Baby John * deere !

Little John is finally here! Born on June 27th, he weighed 6lbs. 1oz. and was 19" long. He has made his Mommy and Daddy very proud and very happy!

As you can see, he has little skinny legs and is quite cute! I think his Grandparents are are totally enamoured too! I know I am! And I get to see this beautiful bundle of joy in just three short weeks! yay!

Cute little toes!
Grandpa holding his grandson ^

His Daddy got to give him his first bath, and changed diapers for Mommy because her blood pressure was too high for her to get up out of bed for the first couple of days.

Say CHEESE! ( sweet little baby ^ )

Zoo Atlanta

Zoo Atlanta trip: HOT, HUMID, and a Heck of a fun time!
Kookabura sits in the ol' gum tree....As hot as it was there, this kangaroo seems to be "chillin' "

Normally, African Elephants are a deep gray color, but this is Atlanta..... therefore everything that lives here comes in red clay color!

Orangutans are some of the most fun animals to watch here at the zoo. An information plaque says that orangutan babies have the longest childhood next to human babies... after watching this little guy, I can see why. He was swinging on these ropes for quite a while, sometimes just hangin' around. He eventually made it to the other end where he climbed up on a platform and just laid down and crashed.

This is a silverback gorilla. He was playing with his toes!

This is a lemur. They are also fun to watch. This little guy was watching the humans as much as the humans were watching him. I think kids were calling him "Zoombumafoo".... which my friend told me was a children's program on t.v. Nevertheless, he was a cutie!

This is Ivan. He is Zoo Atlanta's oldest male gorilla. He took Willie B. 's place as dominate male when Willie died. He is 37 and just found his first girlfriend.... (you know how these city career guys can be!) Gorillas are fun to watch, too. He was eating some oranges.... just like humans, he doesn't eat the rinds!

I don't know what kind of bird this is, but it is really pretty!

Zebras are one of the few animals that actually still seem to keep the white stripes fairly clean and not have a tinge of red clay color! I like this picture best because of the stripes against the circles of the rocks....makes for a good composition!

This is Jules.... she is my friend Rachel's daughter. She was fun to watch at the zoo, too! She is posing with the baby elephant. We had to convince her the statue wouldn't get her... once she found out you could knock on it, she was totally enamoured with it!

This is Lun Lun. She is one of Zoo Atlanta's most famous attractions... she is the mother of the star of the Zoo... little Mei Lan! She was born last year no bigger than a stick of butter! You can watch her online daily from 9 to 5 at http://www.zooatlanta.com/ Lun Lun pretty much eats and sleeps as does her little one as you can see in the pic below...

Of course, she had to have her back turned to us as we visited! But trust me... she is adorable! Her name, Mei Lan, means Atlanta Beauty!

That concludes our tour for today!

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe

The Whistle- Stop Cafe

Juliette, Georgia...

This is the town that the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" was filmed in. We stopped by here for a look-see on Monday after a long weekend in Tallahasee taking photos at a wedding for my friend's friend's daughter. I am embarrassed to say I hadn't seen the movie until Sunday, which I watched on the way North. Debbie (my friend) brought the movie along to get me familiar with the story before we went to the town so that I would "get it". ......and I did! If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you do- it is a good one! The town is cute... looks just like the movie!

This is a pic taken in back of the Whistle Stop Cafe.... if you can't read the cement marker, it says.." Here lies Frank Bennett of Valdosta..... The secret was in the sauce. " The brick fireplace is where the BBQ was made!

" It's hog-boilin' time! "

This is the waterfall that they walked across in the movie.

...............and this is Idgie Threadgoode's mailbox!

The town seems to be stuck in the timeframe of the movie.... and the people do, too! But it was a nice visit, although, we got there too late to eat some fried green tomatoes.... but I have tried them before, and they are good, despite what you think they would taste like. I think I need to get around some more of these places before time runs out for me.... I fully intend on getting out to Utah before I die! ............................... ( really ! I do !)

Sunny.....er, cloudy beaches!

Off to the beach we go.... We took a trip south to Roger's old stomping ground to check on the house that belonged to hubby's parents. After Dad passed, we worked on getting the house ready to rent to recover the money put into getting it back into shape. Rayme and Cheryl flew out from Las Vegas to spend a few days together as well. (kind of a second-honeymoon). This pic is the two of them chillin' on the beach, lookin' for dolphins. The weather was warm, but the skies were overcast and "popcorn thunderstorms" were occuring in the afternoons... doesn't make for the best photo ops, but I always find things to take pics of.

This is part of the view they had from the condo they were renting at the beach. It is hard to see the Gulf from the condo because they are trying to rebuild the dunes that were destroyed during hurricaine Ivan back in 2005. At the condo, there was a photo album of the devastation that resulted along the coast due to Ivan. In the album, there is a pic of the condo after the storm. The sand from the beach was pushed into the whole bottom floor of the building and the sand was easily 4 feet deep! Unless you have seen that kind of damage with your own eyes, you cannot imagine what destruction can be caused by a storm of that kind. I personally have seen very large boats that were in the bay before the storm that ended up across a highway and in a parking lot of a mall.... and I don't mean just one boat.... lots of them littering the streets and empty lots!

While at the beach, there were groups of manta-rays that were schooling small fish for a meal! Roger said he had not seen this in all the years they lived in Florida, so that was exciting for him, too! There were also small flounder that were hiding in the shallow waters waiting for little "guppie" fish to swim by so they, too, could have a fishy snack.... they were most fun for me to watch, because you cannot see them because of their coloring.... they really blend in with the white sand! And talk about quick little buggars!

I took this pic of a blue heron near the docks at a restaurant where we had dinner... it was getting to be just about sunset at this time, although it is a little dark due to the fact that it was pretty cloudy all weekend. This is inland a bit along the intercoastal waterway that runs from Destin, Fl. to Pensacola.


Peek-a-boo, Cheryl! She caught me trying to sneak a pic of her at the beach.

Roger, you have some sort of shell growing on your nose...
( he is still as silly as the day we met! )

..........and this, my friends, is the Vaughn family yacht.

Impressive, huh! That is about all we could afford along the coast! LOL

good times... good times.

The dogs are taking over!

We recently had a movie day... a LOTR day, to be exact. That meant pj's and quilts, hanging out in the family room and watching all three of the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings. By "family"... of course, that means all 4 of us. Me, Roger and the two furry kids. They are both dogs.... fairly large ones at that, but the youngest thinks he is a small cat sometimes as you can see here in the following pics..... Tinker is always faithfully seated right next to mommy's feet.
Bandit truly believes he can fit anywhere a cat can.... including laying up on the back of the couch. Of course, getting up and into a comfy position can be a bit of a hassle.... first, he had to try sitting his hind-end on my shoulder....

( that isn't so comfy for mommy )

So, after mommy kicked him off the couch, he went into mommy and daddy's bedroom... and found a very comfortable spot on the bed! Bandit always lays on the pillow like he is human...and kinda perturbed that I would follow him into the room to take more pictures... of course, Tink had to find a spot, too!

this is supposed to be OUR bed!!!! Where do we sleep now?

Finally! a great spot for everyone.... except daddy of course!

A week or so prior, we puppy-sat my boss's dog, Buddy. What a sweetheart! He is about 13, and calm as can be.... but on occasion, he showed the young'uns that he still had some puppy in him! Roger and I found ourselves trying to keep Tink and Bandit from growling and trying to tell Buddy that this wasn't his house and that he should just go home.... but by the end of the weekend, everyone was moving about freely without any major upsets.

Well, not everyone .... Roger has trouble sharing, too!

( I think buddy wants a taste of that sammy! )

This IS a dog's life !!!!!!!

Days are running short for me...

Okay, so I have been delinquent in keeping this blog in the last few weeks. It's not because I didn't try... in fact, I had a really good one ready to go when I lost it... just like that. Made me mad because I really put alot of thought into it... I previewed it, then wanted to change something, and poof! It was gone! AAAARRRGGH! So I pouted for a week or two and now I am ready to try again.

No pics today, though, as I haven't the time. I really wanted to tell a story of sorts. One about a lady who thought she looked pretty good for being 40. She had worked all day and looked forward to spending some money for some new shoes that evening at the Kohl's located down the road from work.
She spent a little time looking at other things to purchase, but decided the shoes were a splurge enough, so she went to the cash register to pay for them. The total was given, and the debit card was ready to swipe, when the cashier, ( a young female around, oh, say 22 or so) asked this lady if she qualified for a senior discount...

" I sure hope not..." replied the lady, looking to the cashier to see if she was smiling at her clever joke ( but wasn't). The lady returned her focus to the card reader when the young whipper-snapper said, " well, they lowered the age".... "Oh, really? To what? " replied the lady, almost excited at the prospect of getting a discount on top of a discount.

" To 55."

"Ummmm........ no, I don't believe I qualify." .... this time looking at the cashier with a look that told the young girl she'd better stop while she still has teeth. After the transaction was completed and the OLD lady got to her car, she immediately pulled down the visor, opened the lighted mirror and stared into the face of a grey-haired, wrinkly, saggy and old woman with a turkey neck and crows feet, baggy, tired eyes and worry lines that belonged to someone she didn't recognize as herself.

That's when I called the hairdresser to get an appointment for a highlight and cut, the dermatologist for a chemical peel and facial, and my plastic surgeon for botox and a face lift!


..........now, where did I put the Geritol? And where the hell is my cane?