Fall School Portraits

Charlotte, age 7 1/2

Lea, age 9

Lea as a Sprite

Fun loving, childish, innocent and pure.


You are a sprite of the Air: Fun loving and childish your naive nature only enhances how truly cute you are! You may come off as too childish but only because your not burdened with all the rules and regulations of adulthood.

You are carefree most of the time spending your days playing tag or naming all the clouds you see in the sky. You are generally kind to everyone because you have lots of love and happiness to share!

Making friends comes easy because they strive for the innocence you possess but be careful, being as nice and kind hearted as you are people will try to manipulate your nature if they have not already.

Don't ever let anyone mold you to their standards although I doubt anyone could.


.::=What type of Mythical Sprite are you?
=::. -With Anime Pictures and detailed answers brought to you by Quizilla

Girls in the Woods

Took a walk with the girls in the woods behind the house.

We had 1 tadpole (frogs had laid eggs in a bin full of rainwater earlier in the summer) still alive and still a tadpole. Figured if it had any chance to live, it would be better off in a more natural surrounding than the baby food jar that had been its home for the last few months.

So with jarred tadpole in hand, we went hiking. When we let it go, it seemed very happy to see leaves under which it could hide.

On the walk, I took a few photos, including this one.

Click on the photo for a better look

Can't Catch Me - I'm the Gingerbread House!

The girls decided today was a great day to create a gingerbread house.

Has it Really Been that Long??

I can't believe it's been this long since I posted to this blog. Spent my time with the funnies. Oh, well.

The birds are still here! I figured they would have been gone by now. At least 4 are still conducting daily aerial battles for 2 feeders containing more nectar than they can collectively consume. Makes for quite a show, though!

Blogging Again

I put many of the silly things that circulated by email in the past years in a new blog. Click here to go there and enjoy.


Got a favorite that isn't there? I'm taking contributions!

Online China Scrapbook completed

I finally got all the images from the 1982 China trip scrapbook uploaded. I only wish I had more information about the woman who compiled the material and the trip itself.

You can check it out at http://chinascrapbook.blogspot.com

A Box of old Photos

I got the bug to look at the photos hidden away in our hall closet last night. Found a few I wanted to preserve for future generations, including those below. Hope you enjoy the time travel...

Click on any that you wish to see as a larger image.

Joyce showing off a brand new "Chet"

Tracy & Joyce in St. Louis at the annual VP fair on the riverfront.

Dick & Charlotte outside at home 1971

Curt & Patty at a Tewell reunion a few years ago.

The Moore family on the deck at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina

Dick and Jody during a family beach vacation

Nettie in front with Tony & Dort, Dick and Charlotte

Patty Jean dancing down at age 6

Hummers' return

The hummingbird did return and so did a 2nd one. Very odd that the migration is so much earlier this year.

Trip to Callaway Gardens

I took the girls to Callaway to bike a bit. Up until now, our biking had been limited to parking lots and the walks and driveway of home.

Callaway has bike trails all over the grounds. I rented 1 big, hunky basic bike and went off toward the Sibley Horticultural Center with them. We had a great time riding the trails. After giving a major safety lecture regarding trail traffic while driving up, we encounted no other riders on the trail we chose.

Check the photos of the Sibley center. It's a wonderful place to explore.

After biking we had lunch with "guests," then drove to the butterfly house. It's been completely remodeled. I was stunned by the changes made.

NOTE: Click on any of the photos below to see a larger version. Use your Back button to return to the other photos.

Sibley Horticultural Center - My artsy contribution, standing behind the waterfall. Prints on sale in the lobby! 

Panorama of the butterfly house from the lowest point farthest from the door. Inside as well, the "jungle" feel is gone, as are nearly all the large butterfly species. The docent said the reason for the remodel was that the popularity of the facility meant that the walkways got very crowded a lot of the time. The areas up front were also updated: The movie theater was replaced by a flat-panel TV on a wall with a lighted viewing area. Also in this area is a full-serve snack bar.  

Lea and Charlotte

Lea & Charlotte inside the butterfly house.

Front of the Day Butterfly Center after being reopened in March 2005. Canopy over door is gone, as it all the large, dense vegetation that covered the front of this building.  

Charlotte having lunch with a new "friend." There was a dozen scavenger ducks and 2 Canadian geese looking for hand-outs. 

Sibley Horticultural Center - Gardens under the roof 

Sibley Horticultural Center - a panorama of the "back" of the building. It can be closed off as the large ladder-like panels are doors.  

Sibley Horticultural Center - It would be a nice backyard! 

Lea and Charlotte

Lea & Charlotte with the 'gater topiary at the Sibley Horticultural Center.

Sibley Horticultural Center - an atrium. Truly a wonderful facility. 

Hummingbird Back Early

We typically see hummingbirds return in July. We have had 4-5 fighting for dominance over our feeder every year for the last 3.

Last week as I was leaving for work, I saw one flying on the edge of the woods. I rushed back in and made up some nectar and hung it in a feeder. Never saw the bird again. Figured it might have been one in transit to its own home range.

This morning, another appeared at our back windows. Once again, I put up a feeder and bingo! The little creature came and fed. Unfortunately, I was working from memory and doubled the amount of sugar in the formula. I went to http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/hummingbirds.htm and found my error. Now that the accurate nectar (4 parts H2O to 1 part sugar) is in the feeder,

I hope the bird will return.

"The man in black fled into the desert and the Gunslinger followed."
- Stephen King, The Dark Tower, vol 1, "The Gunslinger"

Blame Kirby...
He posted some photos of his family at Atlanta's Centennial Park. I wanted to post a lousy comment. Could I just do that?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I had to have my own blog account to do that. Could I just let it go? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Pretty soon, I'm gonna have to have Google tattoo'd on my.... well, you get the picture.

Lea won Best Writer of the 2nd Grade for 2005 + was on Principal's List for earning all A's during that year. Here she is with her 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Daniel