The River City

Wedding Weekend: Part II

When we arrived at Ann and Dan's on Friday night,

Jason and Lisa and the kids were already there.

Karen and Robb and their kids Garret and Malea were there too.

The kids were having a great old time playing in the sprinkling worm.

and lounging in lawn chairs.

Is this not the ultimate picture of summer???

It was the perfect thing.

All wet and cold

and summery.

Annalie decided that she did not

like the feel of the wet grass

on her feet.

Plus it was sticking to her feet.

Plus it was wet.

So she decided to chill

in the big lawn chair.

All that is missing in this picture

is the sunglasses.

One of her favorite discoveries

was the fun 

of dipping her pacifier

into Grandpa's lemonade.

She would dip it in,

take a big long slurp

and make this 

purring,

hmmmmmmmming sound

as she got every last drop

of lemonade

before dipping again.

We were all very captivated by this.

Then on Saturday morning,

we went with Ann and Dan

on a little tour of Alton.

I am embarrased to say that I got lost

at least three times

in my own hometown.

Dan drove us downtown and then

through some of the older neighborhoods

shady brick streets, beautiful old homes

built up on the bluffs 

overlooking the Mississippi River.

Ann had discovered that her either her 

dad's parents or grandparents  ( I can't remember now)

 had lived on the street

overlooking the river 

near the park we were visiting.

Here is the view looking down

a long stairway that leads to the next street over.

Here is a view of the River from the park.

It is just so big, the pictures dont give you the 

feeling of how vast it is.

Then we took a drive up the River Road.

We saw the Piasa Bird, a legendary bird painted  on the bluffs

overlooking the river.

Then we drove on to Elsah,

my favorite little river town.

My grandmother was a schoolmate

of Alice Conditt...she was the post mistress years ago.

She had a wonderful house up in Elsah

and we both had great memories

of visiting Alice at her home.

Next stop: Pierre Marquette State Park

Here are Ann and Dan in front of the lodge.

The lodge reminded me of the one at the Grand Canyon ,

huge, old and beautiful.

They had commissioned an artist

to create these fabric panels and they hang from the ceiling beams.

They are constructed of thousands of individual,

hand dyed and stitched pieces of cloth shaped like leaves, bugs, fish, birds...all of the nature of the river.

Beautiful!

 

After the park, we drove north to Grafton in search of some antique stores.  I think we must have missed some main street shops, because along the river road it was pretty much eateries and bars and just a handful of shops.  I have heard that Grafton is an antiquer's paradise, but we did not find what we were looking for.  We did find a wonderful place to eat lunch, and then decided it was too hot to look for antiques anyway.  

We headed for home, ice cream and a nap before evening activities beckoned us out again.

It's good to go home, even after a long time away.

Lots of things have changed.  I have changed.

But there is something grounding about going back to the place where you were born,

where you grew up, where your loved ones are buried.

I'm glad I got to go.

Tomorrow, a beautiful wedding.

A very busy weekend!

This weekend we travelled

to St. Louis

for my niece's wedding.

Were we content to limit ourselves

to wedding festivities?

Heck no.

There were many side trips

and activities.

I tried to document 

as many as I could 

so that Kellie and Matt

could get in on the fun.

I am sorry to say that

these pictures

are not in chronological order.

This took place on Sunday morning

as we were leaving Alton

 to get to St. Louis in time

to help with the decorating

for the wedding.

Kevin had heard me tell about

Robert Wadlow,

the tallest man in history.

Robert was a schoolmate of my mom's 

and there is a life-size statue of him in Alton,

where they lived.

Of course we needed to stop in

and say hello to Robert.

As we were walking over to the statue

I noticed something dark in the grass....

Do you see it?

look closer.

Yes, I almost stepped on this thing.

Never a dull moment!

Here is Kevin standing beside the Robert Wadlow statue.

He enjoys standing besides people who are taller than him!

He also enjoys finding people whose

feet are bigger than his.

Here is a replica of Robert's chair.

Here is Kevin experiencing a chair

where his feet don't reach the ground.

This phenomenon

will never happen again

in his lifetime...

so it was important

that he 

made sure to experience it.

Here he is bonding with

short people of the world.

One last picture with the big guy before we 

hit the road.

I'm not sure but I think 

Robert Wadlow was 8'11" tall.

Kevin was also amazed to learn

that Miles Davis 

was also born in Alton.

I, his mother was also born there.

Somehow that factoid 

does not carry the same

fascination.

But I love being in the company of

celebrities

whenever I can.

Vegetarians need not read this post!

Who are these people 

and what are they doing standing in line

in the rain????

At a gas station

in Kansas City?

What do you think this girl is thinking about?

(multiple choice question here)

a. hair spray

b. umbrellas 

c. meat.

If you answered

 c. meat, 

you 

were correct.

Even though she was also thinking

about hair spray and umbrellas,

she was mostly thinking about

meat.

Brisket.

Pork.

Ribs.

Chicken.

Sweet Daughter-in-love and 

sweet daughter waiting in  line

the rain at a gas station.

here.

Yes folks,

it IS at a gas station

Legend has it

that Anthony Bourdain

famous Travel Channel

host and chef of renoun

has eaten here

and declared it

One of the 13 places you should eat before you die.

Really.

Here's the magazine article that confirms it.

I personally really like Anthony Bourdain.

and his travel show called

No Reservations.

He tells it like it is.

and after eating here, I have to agree with him.

This place knows how to cook meat.

Pork.

Brisket.

French Fries.

Baked Beans.

Potato Salad.

These people dont know me 

and they dont pay me to advertise

on this blog.

But if they did want to pay me

I would ask for my pay 

in gallons and gallons

of

meat.

Here are some of the prizes they have won 

at BBQ competitions

When they compete

they are known as

The Slaughterhouse Five.

We stood in the line for about 45 minutes

and it really was worth it.

You called it, Anthony!

I feel glad that I got to eat here before I die.

This is BBQ Heaven.

Really.

Monday construction quiz!

Good Monday Morning, students!

This morning we shall have a quiz.

The winner of this quiz

will not be selected randomly

by the random winner selector.

I will hand pick the winner myself.

I myself will determine

whether you deserve to win or not.

Because this is my blog 

and I can do what I want.

The first two questions are to be answered in as many words as you would like to use, but 

dont be verbose.

Just get to it.

What it the "construction world" name for these tubes?

What are they used for?

Question #3

What unique and useful craft project do you think I could use them for?

These can be sliced into sections, are made of waxed cardboard and 

are about 14 inches in circumference and about 4 feet tall.

If you fail the first two questions, 

but have a good answer for 

question #3, I will put your name at the top of the list of 

potential winners.

Good Luck to all!

Playing in the Dirt - My story

Do you ever wonder what I am up to 

while the guys are slaving

sweating

digging

measuring

pouring and

hammering?

This my friends

is what I have been up to.

see this?

and this

Look here

And over here...

are those thorns?

and poison ivy???

and ticks and chiggers and mosquitoes?

Yes my dainties,

all of the above.

In between each pile

of debris

hand dug

and tossed out from under

the lovely 

cedar trees,

I stagger over to my recliner

and snarf down a

granola bar

and a quart of water.

And scratch my poison ivy some more.

And thank the Good Lord

for life

 and good hard work...

and shade.

Playing in the Dirt

Here's the latest view of the back of the house.

On the upper level you can see the holes where the

three big windows and transoms will go.

The part sticking out a little farther

will be our bedroom.

Under that is the door and two windows

that will be the walkout from the basement.

We will put a  patio just outside that door.

There will be giant rocks on either side 

on either side of this patio

and hopefully lots of pretty plants 

all around.

This however is some real hard dirt

and some real strong brave men

spent the biggest part of yesterday

digging 

several really deep holes

so they can fill them with concrete

to form support platforms to

hold up the big

Covered Porch.

Here is one of the strong brave men.

Even though he is smiling in this

picture,

do not be fooled.

This is very hard work

and they got very tired.

My husband is agitated at me

for waiting until they took a break

to take this picture.

He wouldn't look at the camera.

Today there will be more pouring of concrete

There will be several new vocabulary words for you to learn.

There will be a quiz.

When this is finished, it will undoubtably

be my favorite

room in the house.

Covered Porch.

No other words are necessary.

Front Porch

Well followers, 

the front porch is poured.

All is well with the world.

Isn't it lovely?

Just big enough for 

two people

to sit out in the morning

and drink coffee.

To gaze into the woods and

listen to the whiporwils

in the evening.

A porch is a wonderful thing.

Yes,  I have been gone

 a wandering.

Blogging and blithering.

Two years ago, 

I didn't even know the word

blog.

I am through wandering

around blogworld

entering giveaways

and commenting

to total strangers

about their blogs

so I could win some

of their fabulous stuff.

I quit.

I have entered a twelve-step program

to cure me of this ill.

I am back to work

updating you on the house

and the marvelous progress that is

being made.

Here is today's installation:

Front Porch Ready to Be Poured.

Much bracing and boarding up

because

there is nothing under the hole where the concrete will go.

My husband calls it "The Chicken Room".

It will be a tornado shelter under the front porch.

Concrete on all four sides...top...bottom.

Take that, Kansas.

Anyway, the concrete is drying and

I will have pictures of the drying concrete later today.

Try to control yourselves.

Farmhouse Wares

oops!  sorry about that people, 

It's Farmhouse Wares.

drat.  now my chances of winning the giveaway have dropped to nil.

nil I tell you.

Go over and look around anyway, knowing that I will not win.

It's Monday ok?  I'm just killing time here until I have to get dressed and

go get a cavity filled.

Can you believe that?

Everybody in my family comes home from the dentist gloating,

"great home care"  ______! (insert family member's name here)

Not me.

Cavity.

crap.

Enjoy Home Wares and think of me in the dentist's chair, because that's what I'm gonna be thinking of .

One of my favorite links (see right)

is A Soft Place To Land

and she pointed me to a fun site

called Farmhouse Goods

FG is having a fun giveaway

and I am telling you

about it on my blog.

Now I am going to go over there

and report 

that I told you about it

so that my chances of winning

this giveaway

has increased from

one in a million

to one in 3/4 of a million.

I do what I can.

I liked the looks of their goodies

and what the heck,

I won a magazine subscription

once.

Good luck out there.

A Day of Rest

I'm tellin' you something that is true.

The Good Lord knew

what He was doing

when he set up

The Sabbath.

It felt good to do nothing yesterday.

We went to church.

We went to the deli.

We took a nap.

We watched a Lonesome Dove marathon.

We took a break to go look at these.

These are yuccas.

Yuccas up close

and personal.

I've never looked at one up close.

This is a different setting.

Doesn't the sky look dreamy?

I feel like a real photographer now

that I've found this setting.

Then we went home to watch the rest of

Lonesome Dove.

While we were gone

the gambler apparently

got himself hung.

Who knows what else we missed...

It was good to get home and watch

the conclusion.

I was a little disappointed at the ending.

I was expecting something a little more

than Tommy Lee Jones walking

over a bridge

looking very sad.

Oops, sorry to all of you who didn't see that.

I guess I wanted him to go back to Nebraska 

and live with the women folk.

I think I need to get Jim that DVD 

for Father's Day

so I/he can watch it

without ten million commercials.

And we can pause it if we need to go look at yuccas.

or Whatever.

Hope you had a restful nothing doing weekend.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming.