GPS

So, be careful in New Mexico when you're following GPS directions. You may end up off-road on dirt paths they call roads in middle of a forest in Cloudcroft after dark surrounded by elk! Thank goodness we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle - a RAV 4 - that did pretty well. The other thing to be careful of is driving on tribal land without permission. We had a nice friendly chat with a Warchief about that when trying to go to the Taos Peublo yesterday. But he let us continue on the road only to find out that the peublo was closed - think he would have known that. But nevertheless we went there today. No pictures of that though.

The Pioneer Woman and Me

Last Tuesday I did something very unusual for myself. I took off work early and went somewhere where I knew there would be a crowd and general pan-delirium....a book signing! The Pioneer Woman (she's the one who is not me in the photo) is a wildly popular blogger - http://thepioneerwoman.com/ - that I've been following for quite some time. She's the only blogger I follow with any regularity besides my wonderful brother-in-law, David, of course. I apologize for the blurriness of the photo but I clearly did not take it and I thought I had it set correctly for the lady that did but apparently not. I intentionally made the background black & white because otherwise it was a riot of color that I found difficult on the eyes. Anyway, back to the signing, it was indeed pan-delirium but luckily I got there early enough to get a ticket in the third group of 50 (turned out to have 9 groups by the time they were done) to get my book signed. I sat for a couple of hours waiting for it to start and stood in line for a couple more...very not like me. But she is just infectiously adorable and a fun and fabulous writer so I couldn't pass up the opportunity that she'd be in Virginia for a signing (she lives in Oklahoma on a cattle ranch normally). I met some very nice ladies in line and that made it much more fun to stand for hours. So that's my brush with fame.

Salvaged CDs - UPDATE

Thought y'all would like to know an update on the salvaged CDs. The following titles were salvaged:











+ Rufus Wainwright - Want One
+ Rufus Wainwright - Want Two
+ Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
+ Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live - Disc 1
+ Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live - Disc 2
+ k. d. Lang - Watershed
+ Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
+ Les Paul & Friends - American Made World Played
+ Moby - Last Night
+ Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
+ Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
+ Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
+ Keane - Perfect Symmetry
+ Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion
+ Seal - Soul
+ Scissor Sisters - Tah Dah!
+ Neon Neon - Stainless Style
+ John Digweed - Transitions - Volume 2
+ A homemade CD from a "Show" on 01/03/08. The first track says it's DJ Jazzy Jesse from Nashville, Tennessee. --- The mystery continues. Are these DJ Jazzy Jesse's CDs? How did they get in the Potomac River?
+ An unlabeled CD of folk and rock that sounds like something I should probably know, but am drawing a blank.

So there you have it. More stuff to add to my music library. I have really enjoyed listening to Madeleine Peyroux. Really nice voice.

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

I just wanted to share with y'all a couple of shots that I took at the tidal basin last weekend. It was generally a gray day, but it was fun to see the cherry blossoms nonetheless.

Driftwood --- Trash --- CDs (???)

Pam, Lynda and I stopped by the tidal basin in DC today to see the cherry blossoms. The festival opened yesterday. The city event planners, in their ultimate wisdom decided to direct traffic for parking away from the event and down Ohio Ave SW, toward Hains Point, which is where we parked.

It was a short walk up to the tidal basin and Pam and I decided to walk down near the water (the Potomac River, for those of you who are asking). A couple of weeks ago this section of the waterfront was underwater due to the massive amounts of rain we got coupled with all the melting snow up north.

Anyway ... there was a lot of debris left from the flooding, much of which was driftwood and trash. Then Pam spotted this thing that looked like a day planner and, me being a scavenger, I thought I would take a look. To my surprise it was not a day planner at all, but a case of CDs. So I thought to myself: These should be salvageable ... All I would have to do is wash them off and then they should play just fine. I have yet to try it but it's worth a try. Right?

Then I started thinking some more:
+ How did these CDs come to be in a flood?
+ Did the flood rip them out of someone's hand?
+ Maybe someone threw them in to the flood, maybe to see if they would float.
+ Maybe they came from a house that was flooded up river.

Kinda weird really.

I love Chick-Fil-A!

In case there wasn't enough to love about Chick-Fil-A, I tried their breakfast today. I got the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and it was amazing! First of all, it was gigantic - think three times the size of the same item at Mickey D's. And so tasty - the eggs were *real* and substantial, the biscuit itself was so soft and buttery that that alone probably would have been enough for me to eat. So anyway, big plug for Chick-Fil-A if you have one near you. If I had had my camera with me I would have taken a photo but alas, it was not the case.

My niece - Anna

Can you see that little face in the window? It's saying, stop taking pictures of the men on the porch (Van on the left and David on the right) and come inside and play with me! How adorable! And I did quickly stop taking pictures and went inside to play.