Well...I suppose you MIGHT want to know...

I have a friend who reads my blog.

Shocking, I know.

He wanted to know why my blog is running "like a month" late.  Well, because if I don't DO the trip posts right now, while it's sorta fresh, I WON'T do the trip posts.  And I'm better staying focused on the task at hand (posting all the pictures) or it will NEVER get done.

AND...the issues I'm having with posting the pictures ends up frustrating me and making me want to throw the laptop...or at least SLAM it.  And with the soft close thing, that is NEVER satisfying.  So it's taking longer to post the trip posts.

So for those of you wondering what we're up to right NOW...

We are good...we are back, got back 2 weeks ago...kids are good, doing school with great energy, Grandma and Grandpa B are in town for the moment...we are all VERY much enjoying the cooler weather...

Um.

Yep, that's it for now.

Oh and here's the only other picture of me from the trip.  Walking up the stairs in the Old Courthouse Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

See ya around...

EM-Doodle Dot-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-Doodle Dot-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-Doodle Dot-Hump Back-Hump Back-Doodle Dot.

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

These next few posts were written in the last few weeks.

That's how my big brother taught me to spell it way back when.  I prefer it to EM-Eye-Crooked-Letter Crooked-Letter...etc. 

So Mississippi.  The FIRST place I CHOSE to go.  Why?  Well, because, this year in history we are going to be studying the Civil War.  I don't know if you are aware of this...but that was a pretty big deal in this country.  I would go so far as to say foundational in how stuff WORKS or doesn't in our country even today.

And you know what, I live within 2 day's drive of pretty much every major battle site.  Let that sink in for just a moment.  My kids can go there, touch stuff, stand and watch the sunset on the Mississippi river, listen to people whose families date back to that era and have left journals and other artifacts and who are interested in the happenings of history because it affected their families.  They can experience a little, even if only a glancing look into the past, not just through books but through tangible objects.

Vicksburg, Mississippi was the first stop on our route.

 

 

 

There is a TON of history in Vicksburg.  We got to go to the McNutt House and talk to the owner who was one of those loves-history-types and has artifacts from the various families that lived in the area, both his own family (well, his wife's family) and the information and artifacts that came with the house.

 

Like the family cannon ball, which actually turned out to be the family mortar shell.  There is a story of someone looking for a cannon ball which is 8-9 inches across and overlooking this 13 inch beast because it was too big, only to discover this is what Granny had meant by, "Go get the cannon ball out of the shed." 

One of the journals recovered was written by a woman who lived in the area at the time of the Siege of Vicksburg.  In it, she talked about these mortar shells looking like watermelons flying overhead and how to avoid being injured.  See, they usually exploded in the direction they were going...they'd hit the ground and decimate whatever was in front of them.  So if you could see them coming, and they were BIG and slow, you could get behind them and usually avoid injury.  But during the Siege of Vicksburg, Grant was hurling them from the Mississippi (about a block and a half from the McNutt House) and from the land so the citizens and soldiers of Vicksburg were caught in the middle.

 

Then there was the family Confederate Soldier.  Apparently there were several endeavors by the various southern associations to relocate all the Confederate dead to cemeteries.  But when they came to move Lt. D. W. Magill, his descendants said, "We don't bother him and he don't bother us" and so there he lays.  Methinks that's a newer headstone, but that could not be confirmed by our guide.

The family Confederate Soldier lead to talk of various ghosts that have been reported around the place.  I guess 185 years of history is going to include a ghost or two.  The most poignant story being that of a little girl named Margaret, who had come to visit and subsequently died of yellow fever.  In the years that the McNutt house served as a Montessori school the kindergarteners would often come back from recess wondering why that little girl in the blue dress didn't have to come in at the same time.  When questioned the children would answer that, "Her name is Maggie". 

I ended up having to shut down the other ghost stories because Monkey Face just is NOT ready for that kind of thing.  Probably best in the long run for all of us, nightmares being what they are in my house.  But it was creepily fascinating, nonetheless.  This is a picture of the patio on which Maggie has been sited most.  Monkey Face could not keep her eyes off of it.

The grounds of the McNutt house were simply beautiful.  I could have sat there all day except for the fact that it was HOT and muggy...still, I'll bet it's beautiful on a cool fall morning.

We also went to the Old Court House Museum and talked to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Cotton.  At first I thought this was just going to be one of those "stuff" museums.  The downstairs was FULL of stuff.  Many many civil war era artifacts.  Some of them war-ish...and some just mundane and some really beautiful things.

The next few are for my friend, the composer, you'll meet him in a few days...he speaks of Steinway like a long lost love...and I found a REALLY old, rectangular one.  Probably best he wasn't with us...he probably would have wanted to play it or something.  As it was, I had a hard time not asking for a vacuum for some of those strings...

But none of these things were my favorite part of this museum...nope...this was my favorite part...the ACTUAL old Courthouse...(LOOK LOOKIE...there I am...I managed to be in 2 pictures this whole trip...2.  My toes not-withstanding.  But at least I can prove that I was there.)

This was a cool room.  Big high ceilings, wood floors, open French doors on each side to let the light and breeze in...and at the front a sort of dais settled under an acoustic shell.  Very VERY cool room.  All of a sudden the pictures of the early courts came into focus...all the times I'd wondered how they could hear each other without shouting and without modern sound equipment.  One look at this room proved there would be NO problem hearing.  As a matter of fact, I would bet it got pretty loud.

I made the girls sing in it...really quietly so that they could get an idea of how well the room was built for sound. 

 

Later when we went down stairs, as if to drive the lesson on acoustics home, Mr. Cotton said, "I thought I heard you singing up there, it was just beautiful".  He and I talked for awhile about our own backgrounds in acapella music and he said, "I wish I could have been up there to hear you"...so we sang for him again.  He was my favorite kind of audience...glittery eyed and wishing to join in.

As we left he gave us this book...I made him autograph it. I actually think that autograph is my favorite part...it is most certainly my favorite souvenir.

See ya around...


Texas to Mississippi...

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

These next few posts were written in the last few weeks.

 

I love to take pictures.  It really does bring my heart joy to look through the lens and capture what my eyes are seeing.  And I love looking at the pictures later, remembering the moment, and letting my eyes remind my nose of the smells and my body of how it felt to be right there, right then.

And, years later, when I look at the pictures that I took, I'm pulled right back to the smell of the grass, the blue of the sky, the giggles...So I always take TOO many pictures, case in point, I have 10 pictures of our shoes to choose from...10.  Excessive?  Maybe. 

 

Add to the fact that I already take too many pictures that I'm also not a terribly good "photographer".  I subscribe to the scatter shot mentality.  Take a dozen pictures, one of them is bound to be good enough.

Since we all stopped printing pictures oh, so long ago, and because I haven't the patience, even when I do print out pictures, to honestly scrap book, I've found it really REALLY hard to weed through the pictures. 

How do I choose which of the 83 pictures that I took (on this DAY) that will tell the story best in THIS venue? Which will solve the issue of both reminding US and sharing with YOU, all the while not overwhelming either of us?

I mean really...do you NEED to see several pictures of the Welcome to signs in each state?  Probably not...but my kids...OY! They make my eyes so happy that even my inner scrapbooker, the one who actually cries when she sees a tableful of cardstock, says, "But ya GOTTA see this one too... 

I'm also finding, as I write this post, that I have very little control over where the pictures go...they just jump around and re-order themselves at random...sometimes coming in over the top of other pictures...sometimes shoving everything to the bottom.  I've found the only real control that I have is, small-medium-large and if they are on the left-center-or right...that's it.  So it IS a little intriguing to see what is going to happen next...

I'm actually on the third re-write, saving and previewing as I go,
because I discovered that my edit screen and my actual blog are so different in size that I have no real concept of even which paragraph is going to anchor the picture from my edit screen.  I guess it's good that I have too many pictures...more opportunity to learn.


I suppose you'd like to know about the trip.  Well, on day one we traveled from our home near Dallas, Texas to Vicksburg, Mississippi.

It was a beautiful day and as we traveled we noticed the different types of trees as we traveled.  It was hot in Texas and it stayed hot all through Louisiana.  The farther we went, the more humid it got.  It was weird, because compared to California, Arizona and Colorado, Texas is humid.  But compared to Mississippi?  Texas is a lovely dry towel and Mississippi is the sauna.

Not much happened while we were on the road...and I'm talking about the whole trip.   Seriously, except for one very short cloud burst in Georgia, we had virtually no precipitation while I was driving...

And that's just the way I like it.  You may remember how much I dread precipitation, and I really expected some this trip...I mean...end of summer, crosses Labor Day...storms could've happened. 

The only time we had any rain was when I was on a mountain road and as that ALWAYS happens...ALWAYS...I figure it's my own fault being on a mountain road.  I attract rain to mountain roads...it is my cross to bear...I either need to come to grips with mountain roads in the rain, or stay off of them...

The whole trip...every travel day...we listened to Harry Potter.  We fell in the love with the series on the Girly trip this year...and now we are on the final 3 books.  We barely spoke to each other...we found it hard to stop for meals...riveting.

I did make them sing though.  I discovered on this trip that they had forgotten a couple of songs that we used to have nailed.  So in between CDs or just whenever I was feeling snappish...I made them sing.  And in bathrooms.  I have ALWAYS made them sing in bathrooms.  They pretend to hate it.  And then the sound takes over and they (for a moment) understand what all singers have always understood...bathrooms make you sound like a ROCK STAR...and so then they sing, and loudly.

Also, I let them play with the hand dryers...cuz really, what would life be without playing with a few hand dryers...

Things are just better when you sing and play with the hand dryers at every potty break...and listen to some really interesting book in between...at least that's our travel plan...

So there it is, dear reader, a quick over view, too many pictures and a small lesson on placing pictures where you want them in blogger...the take away...devil-may-care attitude, save often, preview much.  My work here is done.

See ya around...

And We're off...

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

These next few posts were written in the last few weeks.

 

 

 

Well, here we go...I have 16 days planned for on paper.  If all goes well, we will...

 

Be in six new-to-the-girls states...

 

Stay in 6 or maybe 7 different beds...

 

Put our feet in two new MAJOR bodies of water...and play by a third which is just as famous as the other two, at least in this country...

 

We are going to witness history, both Civil War and NASA...

 

We are going to learn about sea life and boating...

 

We are going to learn about campers and all it takes to pull them and plug them in and pack them up...and learn to camp with boys...

 

Go to a theme park that I went to in 1981 when it opened...I was probably 10 at the time...maybe 11...I will be taking a child who is 10 with me...which is a very weird feeling.  (14 and 8 also coming, but not as weird for some reason.)

 

See a brand new start up business and a couple of uncles...AND, hopefully eat some chocolate...

 

During the prep phase I have done all the stuff I'm supposed to including but not limited to getting the oil changed, checking the tire pressure, getting gas, packing the cooler, making sure we have clothing and making sure that we are stocked with Altoids, so that we can all "breathe friendly". 

 

Tally ho!

 

See ya around...

 

 



AH, the Gypsy Life...

We just got back from a big ol' trip...I choose not to post until I got back...

I suppose for the safety of it...

These next few posts were written in the last few weeks.

 

Getting ready...getting ready...getting ready!!  Yep, we are going on a trip.  Not just another Girly Trip, but an All-By-Ourselves-1/2-Way-Across-The-Country-The-OTHER-Way Trip.  A Learning Journey (as my brother will call it by the time it is finished). 

 

This trip is SO exciting to me.  I have always loved to travel.  In the last few years, much of our travel has kept me sane, giving me new places to see, different routines to follow, other people to talk to.  In a sense, this trip will provide all of that.

 

I crave being out there, out from under my standard; get up, get ready, drink tea, make breakfast, do dishes, check bedrooms, start school, correct child, random chore, teach somebody, correct paper, fold laundry, make dinner, take out trash, feed dog, make sure kids bathe, pray, put kids in bed, watch random TV, sleep, get up and do it again.  That daily routine that shapes my world and makes all things right when we are at home begins to chafe, to feel like bars on a cage, and my wanderlust kicks in.  I fully expect this trip to provide that gypsy escapism.

But there is another aspect.  This trip, by and large, is mine.

The majority of other trips that I've taken in my life were taken with someone or because of something else.  Except maybe my honeymoon, my honeymoon was completely ours.  Before that most of my trips were my parent's trips or I joined friends on their trips...and after that...well, I can't think of any trips that I planned just because *I* wanted to go.  We went on trips when friends got married, we went to family reunions, we went to visit family and friends, there were holidays and vacations with favorite people.  And I don't want to belittle those amazing experiences in any way.  But before now there has only been ONE trip that I planned just because *I* wanted to go, and that one was only 45 hours long.  This one will be between 15 and 17 DAYS.

This is the trip that I decided to go the long way 'round.  There is not one single "HAVE" to on this trip.  There are a couple of "can't waits" and "We'll probably want to leave early to get there in time fors" and there are several "No Plan todays".  But I think the biggest cage-bar-breaker of it all for me is how well I know this trip because it's all mine...every road choice...every hotel...every sandwich...every CD...MINE.

Except for 3 days.  We have a 3 day camping trip tucked right into the middle, with a very old friend (the composer) and his kids.  He's got that planned.  See that's HIS trip...we just get to intersect.  Those 3 days are MY break.  I get to relax, sit by the camp fire, drink wine, and talk to my friend.  It's a total "can't wait".

My thirst for adventure is beginning to eat into my desire to pack everything just so, which is problematic because on the road, I'll want to know where everything is.  But I love the excitement of the preparing, too.  It gives a different cadence to the daily-ness of the days and makes even the most mundane tasks sparkle a little.

I love to blog trips...you know I do.  But I also hate the pressure of trying to blog and keep up with the fun.  So I have no idea what you can expect now that I've determined to write. 

I expect I'll eventually write...but for now, I've really gotta find my bathing suit...

See ya around...