I think I might have brought home the Halloween candy a bit too early…
Home.
Touchdown ABIA.
It’s good to be home. I’m very tired. And, I’m on call this weekend for work, so I won’t be able to venture very far. So while it’s nice to be home to recharge, there’s still lots of things to keep me busy. Monte has dart night at the house tonight, so I’ve slipped away to putter around til i fall asleep.
Sometimes I create playlists on iTunes just based on a word search in the title or the lyrics of the songs in my library. Tonight, I searched for songs with “home” in the title and found many hits. Here’s a sampling, in order of when i first remembered hearing them (sorry ’bout the goofy ads before many of each of these…hopefully you can click through). I have a story to go with each of these, but for now I’ll just share the links. Maybe you’ll enjoy and/or remember them, too. As for me, i love how music is woven into my memories….
– Carole King’s Home Again
– Alice Cooper’s I’m Going Home
– Tim Curry’s I’m Going Home from Rocky Horror Picture Show
– Cecilio & Capono’s Home (and I’m staying this time)
– Bonnie Raitt’s Home
– Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes’ Home
– Phillip Phillips Home
Red foliage.
Westchester county in the fall is pretty. This tree is in the courtyard outside my room. Gorgeous.
I ♥ LGA.
I’m in NY for a few days for work. I’m headed upstate but I prefer to fly into LGA and drive, as opposed to flying into one of the smaller airports up north.
I was on the wrong side of the plane to get a great cityscape shot from the air. So this one from the runway will have to serve.
I’ve always liked this ironwork/fence outside of baggage claim – get it? the big apple…
American Airlines has been a fixture at LaGuardia forever. The first airline VIP lounge debuted here in 1939 now known as the Admirals Club. What a great idea, AA! I don’t travel as much for work as I used to a few years back. It used to be that the bartender in the lounge would greet me with my “usual” when I walked in. 🙂 I’ll have to try it again on this trip home.
One more pic. This one from the gate area as we were pulling in. One of the original vintage but still in use American Airlines hangars, with one of the new logo jet paint jobs parked beside it.
A (more specific) prayer for rain.
I’m very happy to see all the rain that has been sent our way. It’s an answer to countless prayers over the last few years of severe drought in Central Texas. I’m sure the Austin City Limits music festival-goers are bummed about yesterday’s cancellation, but they did have an extra weekend of music to enjoy this year.
My trees and lawn are drinking in this much needed water. It’s truly a gift.
However, the rain this week and in the year past seems to fall where it flows into the creeks and river below the lakes. Onion Creek is raging right now, having received 6-10 inches in the last few days. Barton Creek and Williamson Creek were flooding for the same reason, but all of them dump into the Lower Colorado river below the Highland Lakes. E.g,:
I see that there is more rain in the forecast for this week. So, more thanks in advance for that. But I’m sending a humble prayer for that rain to drop in the Lake Travis watershed. Right over Marble Falls and Burnet would be simply awesome. Or even a bit southwest of that, in Fredericksburg, Johnson City or thereabouts would be fantastic, as all that rain would end up in the Pedernales River, which feeds into Lake Travis.
After all the rain in the past week, Lake Travis is up only 2′. And I do sincerely appreciate every drop that ends up in the lake. But we need to come up more like 50-60′. So, I’m praying for it to dump buckets of rain in the shaded are below. That would be divine. Seriously divine.
I have another prayer for better management of our lakes and water reserves than what the LCRA has provided over the last decade or so, but I’ll leave that for another day. Just please keep the rain coming.
Amen,
Sheila
Vroom vroom.
This weekend Lori & Dave are out of town, and Jake is staying with us. He’s a great kid. I don’t know who is keeping an eye on who. 🙂 We had a fun pizza / game night last night with Doray, Tom, Sue & Marty. It is so nice to spend time with friends.
Jake and I have been racing Mario Karts on the wii quite a bit this weekend, but today we headed to K1 Speed for the real thing. It’s a pretty awesome indoor venue for kart racing. This is not bumper cars, folks, these karts can go over 40 mph. It was pretty fun! That’s Jake in #25 in the shot above. And I couldn’t resist taking a selfie in my cool racing hat…
Ghost in the machine.
Ok, more like, ghost “on” the machine, not “in” the machine. But I was trying to be clever. 🙂
This is a halloweenie treat that made it home with me from a visit at Laura’s house tonight.
It’s almost time for all those little ghosts and goblins to show up in the neighborhood. Note to self: must put candy on my shopping list.
A fitting treatment.
My father-in-law served in the U.S. Army infantry in Europe in WWII. So, when he died 10 years ago, his funeral included military honors. At the family reunion this summer, Monte received from his sister the burial flag, which was still in the plastic zippered display pouch from the funeral home. We’ve been displaying it on the shelf in the living room, but it deserves a much nicer treatment. So, this week Monte set out to the shop to make a fine custom frame. He used some beautiful black walnut that actually used to belong to his dad. A day or two later, and it is done. Complete with beautiful inset splines to join the corners, and a strip of cedar inside.
After placing the flag in its new display case, we acknowledged the upgrade with a toast of sparkling apple cider. I’m sure Ross would approve of both 🙂
Red sky at night.
We tried a new restaurant tonight. After arriving back at the house, the sky was lovely and pink. Good omen?
A little later the crescent moon popped into view. 
And my fortune tonight:
We shall see…
No pain, no gain.
In preparation for our next trip to the islands, monte has started practicing making Painkillers.
I’m happy to be a guinea pig. Especially on a Monday night.
Keep ’em comin’, big guy.
Mmmm. I love the pineapple-y, nutmeg-y aroma.
My Sunday.
The Good:
- The weather today was glorious.
- We went to the lake for a sail in North breezes that arrived behind the cold front last night.
- We came home and cooked a delicious meal to enjoy together.
- Keeto can now say “Go Seahawks!”
- Only 5 more days til Friday!
- Long sleeves and jeans on the boat means that Fall is here!
The Bad:
- I didn’t take a photo to post (!)
- The Seahawks lost to the referees, and are now 4-1.
- The wind wasn’t as strong as it was predicted to be.
- Tomorrow is Monday.
- Long sleeves and jeans on the boat means Summer is over.
Have a great week.
Yumm. Brrrr.
We treated ourselves to Amy’s ice cream for dessert tonight. As we strolled through the arboretum, we could feel the chilly wind from today’s cold front.
And just like that, summer is gone.
It’s been a year?
One year ago today, my cousin Steve died unexpectedly from a complication of a routine back surgery that he had undergone a week prior. We were two months apart in age. In addition to the shock of his loss, it was a stark reminder that you can be here one moment and gone the next. Seize the day, folks. Love to his family and friends on this day.
Multi-tasking.
My Sunday wannado list was longer than the day would allow. I made it to the gym early, then caught up on laundry and paperwork. Then the dilemma: park in front of the tv for 4 hours to watch my Seahawks in action? Or go to the Pecan Street Festival and run a few other errands?
So, I decided, BOTH!
I streamed the game on my iPhone via the NFL mobile app as I walked around the festival with an earbud in my ear. The rain held up and it was a nice afternoon. And, oh my, what a game! The Hawks came back from being down 20-3 to Houston at halftime, winning in overtime. I was the most animated festival attendee on the scene. I got a few dark looks from folks wearing Texans jerseys, as I walked around in my Seahawks shirt. 🙂
The festival was lively, as usual. Music, food and a couple hundred vendors selling art, jewelry, candles, tye-dye, and such. It’s held twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall. If you missed it this time around, mark your calendar for May 4 & 5 next year.
This is a shot of one of the 3 music stages. Son de Rey was playing.
Sheila365 