Tag: recreation

Dega Baby!

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One of the things I didn’t tell you about, and should have… Was going to Talladega for the race on October 23rd.

Although my husband and our friends, Pam and Tim are big NASCAR fans, I could never see any purpose to sitting in front of the TV for hours watching little cars go round and round while some good old boys talked about it non-stop.  To my way of thinking it is tantamount to watching hamsters running in their exercise wheels, and what’s up with that little rat relative Digger?

I digress.

So almost a year ago we began talking about the October Race at Talladega.  And before we knew it the plans were made, the tickets bought, plane reservations made,  and they were here!

Personally I was more excited at the aspect of our friends coming to visit!  We hadn’t seen them since we left California three years ago, and I was looking forward to spending time with them.  Even if it meant having to sit in bleachers for a day…

Well, we drove over two hours, parked, walked over a mile, found our seats, sat down, and realized…

We were right in front of the start/finish line!  

Now some folks would prefer to be way up high so they can see the whole track clearly, and some would prefer to be down in the center of the track where all the partying and crazy stuff is going on, but me, I was kinda liking to be where it all begins and ends.    Although I am not a NASCAR fan, and I don’t have a driver I’m following, it was fun to be there live and in the middle of the action, to see up close what went on in the pit.  Oh, and the really big bonus???  No Digger!  The annoying little rodent was MIA!  😀

Before I get to the pictures I want to take a moment to thank Tim and Pam for buying the tickets.  It was very generous and we all had a great day!  Yes, even me. 

Now, let me tell you, taking pictures of FAST cars is hard.  Add a fence and it is next to impossible!  I found that to get a good shot I had to set the camera for action and face into the oncoming cars.  Doing this allowed the camera to find a focus range and get in a few clear shots.  Like these…

OK, so these aren’t fast-moving cars, but trust me, the fellas in the photo were hustling!

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No, your eyes do not deceive you.   That really is 12 inch wide tape holding on the fender of number 20!

TAPE!

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You have to look at this one close up!  Imagine driving way over 200 mph, and you are kissing bumpers with the guy in front of you… on a curve…  INSANE.

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I took so many photos that day and almost all were trash. The action is simply too fast for this amateur,  and so were the heads of the fans!

I have various blurred shots of the back of several NASCAR fan’s caps.  I thought this red one was attractive…    😉

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So for me, even though not a racing fan, it was a great race!  There were four crashes in which no one was killed or seriously maimed (that’s always a plus) and  best of all, I was there with my Sweety and best  friends!

Hmm…  whatever happened to Digger?  Maybe he got run over by one of the fellas on the track?

(Curiosity got the better of ya, huh?)    😉

The Journey Continues

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Where am I going?  Nowhere really, but I am enjoying the experience and getting nearer stitch by stitch!

Let me explain…

I had wanted to get an Etsy store up and running featuring my handwork at my sewing machine and using my hand stitching skills.  Well, what you used to know, and had skill doing, can and will be lost over the years.  How does the saying go?  “Use it or lose it!”  So, OK I haven’t completely lost it, but it was definitely rusty.

To regain, sharpen, and incorporate new skills, I have been practicing on myself and a new friend.  I’m pretty certain she won’t mind being my guinea pig for this project.  Pretty certain…

So day by day, week by week I sewed, ripped, sewed again.   Now I am down to the hand stitching part.  I have done many a project that utilized embroidery, but never hand quilting.  Um, don’t let the looks of it fool you!

IT’S HARD.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say I am not enjoying it.  I am!  I find that stitch by stitch they get smaller, tighter, straighter… or not… and then it’s pick-pick-pick it out and try again.  I poke my fingers with the little needle.  I watch the ladies on Youtube as they stitch away in perfect stitches.  Heck, I watched one lady at least a dozen times to try to figure out how to just tie a proper knot and hide it into the quilt.  GOT IT!  But I’ll by hanged if I can figure out how she tied it at the end and hid the last finishing stitch.  Till then, I make my sewn finishing stitch as I would for a tailored item and hide the end of the thread beneath the fabric so it at least looks tidy.

I will not win a quilting ribbon for my first item, but I am pleased that this old lady can still learn a trick or two!  The refining will still take a bit, but I feel like I am on my way!

So, my stitches aren’t perfect, but hey, they are vastly improved! 🙂

Note:  The stitches on the right were the first rows done, and the two boxes in the center are just finished.  Better?  (Red running stitches are basting.  The quilting pins were making me feel like a human pincushion!)

There, with the grace of God, went I: part III of III

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Wherein I explore a very big lake and discover I am ready to go home…

Having spent Saturday at the Bantam show, and on the road, I was glad for a lazy morning on Sunday.  But in no time at all we were back on the road with Jayme’s sister escorting us, and we had her nephew in tow.

Poor guy thought he was going to be home doing the normal boy in charge, teenager home alone shenanigans, and suddenly there was a carload of old ladies down in the parking lot demanding his presence!  (As seen through the 14 yr. old’s perspective.)

He has that effect on you.  You just want him around because he is so spontaneous and fun!

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Deja Vu?  No, you’ve seen this before… Jayme borrowed my cake picture, and I borrowed one of hers.. Turnabout is fair play they say!

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And then we were off to the Dunes, with a side trip to a very ancient barn complete with …

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Barn cats

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A carload of other old ladies showed up with a trunk load of cat food to feed them all.  I wondered at the time if this wasn’t the place where everyone came to dump unwanted kitties… lots of kitties…

I have this love of old barns.  I discovered them when I was eighteen and traveling from Southern California to my first duty station in Pensacola Florida.  As I entered the southern states they started popping up in the fields here and there and I wanted to draw every one of them.  Sadly, they are slowly being torn down and the wood repurposed for other projects like tables and shelving…

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I liked how the light came in through the window and lit up the angles on these beams.

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Old Barns Have Character

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It makes me sad to think of them no longer existing in their proper form as… barns.

Interesting observation here, the barns in Kentucky were for the most part painted a very dark charcoal black, and the barns in Indiana are mostly painted white.  Why is that? (A rhetorical question, but if you know the answer do tell!)

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Milking Room Deep Down Below

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Underneath it all there was a milking room.  I would have dearly loved to get inside to take pictures, but could not figure out how to get in there.  So we will all have to be content with pictures through a broken window… for which I gingerly got down on all fours in broken glass and balanced my camera on the ledge to get.  Be satisfied with the results, as they were the best to be had under these conditions.

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On the way to the dunes I saw this one and made poor Jayme’s sister pull over so I could get a picture of it…  I’m hating the blue tarp covered something on the side, but the sky and the whole effect are really beautiful.  It was just such a day!

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The Dunes, as they are called, is a beach on Lake Michigan.  Honey if you are from anywhere else in the country and you see the Great Lakes on a map, well you think “Yeah, wow, big lakes alright.”  But then you  get there and it’s like looking at the ocean… with the sun setting all wrong…

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Massive…

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It is a surrealistic sensation, causing introspection and a feeling of aloneness, yet comforting in a strange way…

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And then suddenly, all too soon,  our day was drawing to a close.  The sun was setting …

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And we were on the way back to The Coop Keeper’s  home.

My visit was almost over and I felt sad to think it.  Jayme had cared enough to open her home to me, a stranger.   She took me to see chickens in Ohio, and a Great Lake.  We went antique and thrift shopping (which my husband just will not do).  We talked, laughed, shared and did all the things that best friends do, and it was like we had known each other for years.

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I’d had a wonderful stay, and in the morning it would be time to go home.

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End Part III

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The Epilogue posts  tomorrow…