5 things . . .

5 things I like about winter:

1. a little bit of snow -- especially when I don't have to go anywhere!
2. Christmas.
3. frost designs on my window panes.
4. seeing all the kids bundled up in all their winter clothing -- with rosy cheeks and noses!
5. cuddling up with hot cocoa (or tea when the occasion calls), a book, and Cleo for a nice evening in!
   

Snowfall silence

I got off of work this evening and as I was getting into my car I thought I saw a snowflake. I slammed my door shut and held very, very still.

It was a snowflake!

After, our "measurable" snowfall last week, all the snow melted and we were back to dreary winter brown. All the leaves have fallen, the grass is no longer green, and everything is, well, brown.

The snow continued to sprinkle down. I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home and stock up. When I walked out of the store the snow was coming down harder and my car had a lovely white dusting.

This is my favorite kind of snowfall -- gently falling. And there is a snowfall silence about me.

Bad kitty

This was Cleo's first act after I had finished putting up my nativity scene:

She makes me smile!

And there it is . . .

Back in the swing of things

So I had a great Thanksgiving holiday. The sister was here from NY -- she is back in NY, left this morning. We had a good time. And it is only three weeks until she will be home again--and the brother too!

I am getting back into the Christmas season--after the Thanksgiving break. (In fact, I am listening to Christmas music as I post this!) I put away my fall decorations, sad as they were:


And started putting up my Christmas decorations. All of my nativity scenes (one from my Gramma, one from my Grammy and one I got for Christmas one year from my mom!)

And, I got my Christmas tree and put it up with lights.

BEFORE: It's even beautiful without any decorations!

AFTER: ::Sigh:: Pretty.

Tomorrow, I will be putting up my outdoor lights (hopefully) and decorating my tree. In the mean time I will have to walk around the boxes of decorations! Such trials! :-)

5 things I'm thankful for pt. 4

1. salvation through Jesus Christ
2. music
3. the ability to learn
4. simple pleasures, like clean sheets or hot cocoa
5. creativity
   

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Now consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.

Psalm 50:22-23

Snow!

Ah, the first measurable snow the the year! Yeah! (From today on I will probably be complaining about the snow, but I will try to keep it to a minimum.)


I can't claim my poor camera skills for the poor quality of these photos. It's dark! Blame the darkness, I do!

Isn't it pretty!

Christmas shopping

Tomorrow I am going shopping with my mom and the sister (who is visiting from NY). That will be fun in and of itself -- being with my mom and sis.

But . . .

I'm going to finish my Christmas shopping! Shh . . . don't tell anyone. I just have a couple things left to get and then I'm done! Yeah!

Course, then comes the wrapping, and shipping, and transporting, and organizing. ::Sigh:: It kinda tires me out just talking about it.

But . . . I'M GONNA BE DONE WITH MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! :-D

Tis the season

I'm so excited. It is the season for decorating, hot cocoa, candles, and Christmas. I'm starting to decorate a little bit at a time.

I like to change my desktop and screensavers. Later this week my blog will have a new look. And I am planning my Christmas decorations.

The plan is in my head -- I just have to execute it. That's the tricky part!

I am only going to decorate my front door outside this year. Last year I had this big plan to do both my front and side doors and the front of the house. It seems there is a direct correlation between the largess of my plan and what I actually accomplish.

Last year, I got the garland up around the side door of my house. That's it.

So my plan this year is simple. Front door decorations and a tree.

I can't wait!

Don't worry, I'll take photos!

5 things I'm thankful for pt. 3

1. Sunshine!
2. My family -- I could never be thankful enough for them
3. My cat -- Cleo
4. Books
5. Blessings -- too many to count!
   

Reprieve

Last night was the last night of Awana before Thanksgiving break. Don't get me wrong, I love the kids I am working with -- they challenge me and make me smile -- but everyone needs a break once in a while.

Really, it surprises me how enjoyable these kids are. And smart. I don't remember being half as smart when I was their age.

Kids are by no means perfect. Just like us adults.

And that's the challenge, isn't it? Loving despite the flaws?

Is it windy or are my hands shaking?

So, I decided to play with my camera again today. If you choose to watch the video below you will note that it is windy and my hands are shaking. NOTE: Do not watch if you get motion sickness easily! :-)

I need a little more practice. Well actually, I need a lot more practice as this was my third or fourth attempt.

Today, is a chilling day. One of those days where the cold seeps into your bones. I can't really complain though. I has been a mild fall and it is almost Thanksgiving. Normally, we have had a good sleet and some snow flurries by now.

Still, I wouldn't mind a little sunshine tomorrow!

Short and sweet

It's kind odd how our perception of time can change from day to day. Today is a long day for me.

Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened, neither bad nor good. Just a long day.

Right now I'm looking forward to crawling into my warm, cozy bed and going to sleep!

Friendship shattering?

One of the t.v. shows I like to watch is about a group of twenty something friends. Tonight the episode revolved around annoying habits. Each of the friends did something that annoyed at least one of the other friends.

For example, one of them chewed food loudly. Very loudly, no matter what kind of food it was, it was chewed loudly.

Until, the habit was pointed out, the rest of the group hadn't really noticed it. Well, then everyone started pointing out everyone else's annoying habits and by the end of the show they were arguing with each other.

But in the end, like all good sitcom's do, they reached a happy conclusion. They realized friends overlook those foibles.

They just do.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

1 Corinthians 13

5 things I'm thankful for pt. 2

1. a clean house :-)
2. flowers
3. pumpkin pie & home-cooked meals
4. miracles
5. memories
   

Dinner party

I am having a one or three friends over for supper on Saturday. Which means dinner party! Yeah!

And . . . inevitably . . . time to clean . . . again.

It's seems as if I just cleaned last year!

(Just kidding, more like last month. Wouldn't it be nice if it could be yearly?) I can't wait till the invent an affordable house that cleans itself!

I think I may have been born with a cleaning disorder. (I can blame an illness, can't I?)

I really dislike cleaning. The ultimate is dishes. Which is why I heart my dishwasher. I do, I really do.

I dislike cleaning so much I plot ways to avoid as much as possible. Like, say, making a list of what I can clean ten minutes each day (cause ten minutes --- tsk--- no problem!) for the next two weeks. Good plan, right? Not only does it give me a good and easy plan to follow but the first day's ten minutes is taken up by making the schedule! Unfortunately, I find ways to put off the rest of the ten minutes but I always have a good excuse. :-)

Yeah.

So if I procrastinate 10 minutes for one week that equals 1 hour of 10 minutes of cleaning I have to catch up on!

And I seem to be procrastinating right now so . . . back to cleaning!

Shuttle Launch

The brother worked the day of the launch so I was planning on driving out to the coast to watch the lift-off from one of the beaches south of Cape Canaveral.

I had my route all planned and knew the area I wanted to stop. Because the brother had never driven out to watch a launch I watched the news the night before to see if they had and idea on what the traffic situation would be.

They did.

They predicted all routes to the coast would be bumper to bumper traffic the morning before the launch. Now, despite my planning, I was not confident enough nor ambitious enough to spend 4 hours in bumper to bumper traffic driving what would normally take 1 1/2.

So I opted to watch on television and hope the sky was clear enough for me to see the launch from the brother's balcony.

The television coverage was great. But I was really glad that I had gone to the Kennedy Space Center two days before. It made the launch so much more interesting.

This launch happened to be historic in that it was the 2nd mission to be commanded by a woman, Pam Melroy. The main purpose of the mission was to transport and install the Harmony module. This would allow docking to International Space Station by Japanese and European labs.

This is my first glimpse of the shuttle after lift-off.































The shuttle is leaving the atmosphere.


And it's gone . . . all that is left is the exhaust plume.


The visible part of the launch only took minutes. The television coverage showed the camera view from a camera attached to the outside of the shuttle. Very cool.

After the launch, I watch the news interviews of people watching the launch from the some of the beaches. One of the beaches had people from six hundred cars.

Yeah, I was glad I had stayed home.

Maybe someday, I will have a chance to experience as well as see it.

KSC

Here's the shuttle (before it blasted into outer space.) :-)

You can't see the the whole shuttle because of the rotating service structure which protects the shuttle from dust and other contaminants from entering it before the launch.

Below is a model of the shuttle and service structures. Before the launch the rotating shuttle structure swings away from the shuttle .

The photo below is of the equipment they used during the launch of a the Saturn V during the Apollo 8 mission. This was a very cool presentation. They basically recreated the launch and we experienced it from inside the control room.


This is the Saturn V rocket. It is huge!

This photo illustrates, how huge . . .

As tall as 40 tour buses, two shuttles, or two Statues of Liberty.


This was back at the KSC visitor center. It is a rocket garden. If I remember correctly, only one of these rockets was manned.

Tomorrow the last of my Florida trip: the shuttle launch!

Kennedy Space Center

Sunday the brother and I went to Kennedy Space Center. It was about an hour drive from Kissimmee.

I have to say, Kennedy was MUCH more than I expected. In fact, I want to go back again because we really didn't have time to see everything. We opted for the basic tour which includes all the exhibits at the visitor complex and a bus tour (about 2 hours) with three stops at the Gantry Observation Area, The Apollo Saturn 5 Center, and the International Space Station Center. The Space Station Center was an optional stop on the tour -- we opted out due to time.


We took the bus tour first -- to make sure we had time before closing. On the way to the Gantry Observation Area we passed the Vehicle Assembly Building.


This building is one of the largest in the world. It sits on 8 acres and contains 129,428,000 cubic feet of space.

The VAB is used to rebuild the shuttle after each launch/landing.


We visited Kennedy at a good time. They had transported the shuttle assembly from the VAB to the launch pad only days before so we got to "see" it.


This is the road to the launch pad. The shuttle is transported on this road very very slowly.





The shuttle is sitting right above the arrow sign in the photo below.


This is what they transport the shuttle assembly on the crawler.


The crawler itself is 6 million pounds. The total weight of the shuttle and crawler is 18 million pounds. Another fun fact: you can't speed on the crawler as it's maximum speed is 1 mile per hour!

More KSC tomorrow . . .

5 things I'm thankful for pt. 1

Ah, November, the month of Thanksgiving. In honor of that and of all the things I have to be thankful for 5 things Fridays this month will all be Thanksgiving themed!

I am thankful for:

1. the freedom to think for myself and believe what I believe.
2. my place and purpose in this world.
3. the love of family and friends.
4. earning a living doing something I love.
   
5. God's providence.
   

Wreckers and the beach

The last attraction we went to in Key West was the Shipwreck Historeum Museum. Which, coincidently, was across the street from the aquarium. We waited about ten minutes for the tour to start. During this time we watched the chickens wandering around.

[Side note: We encountered chickens throughout our day in Key West. They were even wandering around under the table as we ate! I had to look the reasoning for this up: It seems that the city of Key West has declared itself a "sanctuary and preserve for all birds" including chickens! For more info on this, click here.]

Okay, so the tour started out with two of Asa Tift's crew discussing the jobs that a wrecker's crew performs. Lookouts - who stood (or sat, as many of the men who filled this position were crew members who had lost legs or were otherwise disabled) at the top of the tower to watch for shipwrecks off the coast. Divers - who had one of the most dangerous jobs as their only oxygen tank was their lungs. There were many other jobs but I can't seem to recall them all.

Anyway, the tour continues with Asa Tift (the guy with the ship) himself explaining the museum and its artifacts from one of the shipwrecks -- the Isaac Allerton. Actually it was an actor/guide with very corny, but funny, jokes. The Isaac Allerton wrecked in 1856 but because the ship had sunk so deep -- the divers couldn't hold their breaths that long! -- the wreck was not completely salvaged. 130 years later, with modern diving equipment, the Isaac Allerton was re-salvaged and many of the artifacts put into the Historeum Museum.

We climbed the tower which is about 50 feet shorter than it was in 1856! It was plenty tall enough for me!

Here are some photos from the top of the tower:

I think this one is kind of looking to the south west -- way in the back of the photo is a little sliver of ocean. If you go to left of the photo, that is where we went to the beach. (See below!)

Oh, and I think (I think) that the red building used to be the treasury building or customs building -- something to do with money -- during Key West's wrecking heyday.

This one is looking toward a little farther north of west. Not exactly west, a little farther north. (Aren't you glad I'm not leading you on a bear hunt!)


That big building in the back is just a large commercial but expensive hotel. :-) There are shops, restaurants, and bars in this area.

This is a photo towards the north. Again the Red Fish Blue Fish is in the center -- the restaurant we ate at. If you look toward the top of the photo that is the Seaport. We walked past that on the way to Mallory Square from the parking garage. There were a couple cruise ships docked. And from my extraordinary eavesdropping skills I determined that one of them was leaving the next day for the Caribbean and the other had docked for the day at Key West.


The last stop on our Shipwreck Historeum tour was the basement to watch a video on the Isaac Allerton. This was on one of the beams:


Of course this was three feet above the floor!

The head in the middle of the photo is the brother . . .


Swimming . . .


Hiding from the camera :-) . . .


The beach & jetty . . .

Kind of soothing, isn't it?

Next week, Kennedy Space Center & the shuttle launch!