Rodeo, round 2

On Saturday, the husband and I took our senior and niece to the rodeo for the matinee. I gotta admit I like going during the day. Easy for my old lady eyes to see everything. No drunks. Getting home with plenty of time to do other things.

It wouldn't be the rodeo without a whirl through the midway and exhibits. As expected, it was a mecca of carnie food options. And yet the husband chose the old tried and true corn dog. 

I loved the big armadillo sandcastle we spied in one of the exhibit halls.

My favorite part of the rodeo is the little kinder-aged kids doing the mutton bustin'.

My least favorite thing at rodeo is the bull riding. As luck would have it, this matinee was just about ALL bull riding. With some bullfighting mixed in to send my blood pressure up a bit more. For those of you unfamiliar with rodeo bullfighting, it's basically these guys with a death wish in the arena with an aggressive bull, letting it chase him, try to gore him, attempt to trample him. You get the drift.

Here comes Peter Cottontail

For the longest time, while I was a teacher, I only did serious decorating for Christmas. The past couple years, I've become a fan of fall decor. Bring on the blue and green pumpkins. Now it seems I've been bitten by the Easter bug, with rabbits being my main focus. As luck would have it, this year there is a big gap between valentines and Easter Sunday, which gives me the opportunity to get more mileage out of my decorating efforts.

I've been slowly gathering rabbit items over the past few weeks as they've become available in stores. I already had a few rabbits here and there. The vintage molds are some of my favorites, and you can see a few of them in the pic below where I'm staging items for decorating in a couple weeks.

Glass rabbits. Painted rabbits. Porcelain rabbits. Metal rabbits. I like 'em all. Mother and I hit a local craft store this week to buy the mesh and ribbon for an Easter/spring wreath. Now we just need to get motivated to put it together to display on the front gate.

And, finally, here's a golden oldie I grew up watching on one of the three channels we had on our B&W TV (with its own rabbit ears) back in the day.

Fish are friends in ATL

I took quite a few pics at the Atlanta aquarium and thought I had downloaded them to my desktop. Then deleted them from my phone. That's when I figured out the download stalled out and so I lost the majority of my aquarium pics. These are the few that were saved.

The Atlanta aquarium was quite popular on a rainy Sunday of a three day weekend. We tried to beat the crowds with an early start right after it opened, but there was this danged road race taking place that was staged there in Centennial Park where the aquarium is located. So we went for brunch and returned to find that most other folks had the same plan. 

I had read this is the largest aquarium in the US and they weren't kidding. 

Check it out below - only whale shark in captivity in the US. And some of the rays in the tank were outrageously large. You can see the scale of the viewing area in the pic below... impressive!

If I could, I'd buy a couple otters to live in my backyard swimming pool patio area. Y'all, they are seriously some of the cutest animals on the planet. They had on exhibit both river and well as ocean otters. I could have pulled up a chair and sat there all day, totally entertained by their funny faces and antics.

The ATL

Our high school senior convinced me we should stay in an Airbnb in midtown Atlanta for the three day president's weekend. We traveled up there so she could hang out with her boyfriend (a student at Auburn) while the husband and I chaperoned. What can I say... I'm a sucker for young love. When we arrived at the bungalow on Friday afternoon around 4 pm, the inside temp was 60 since the downstairs heat wasn't working. Cue the layering. We ended up sitting around for 3 hrs waiting for the repair dude to show up and get it going again. After contemplating all sorts of dining options for Friday night in the ATL in advance of our arrival, we ended up ordering delivery pizza. I was so hungry, I'd swear it was the tastiest meal I've eaten in a month of Sundays. 

Thanks to our one clear day on Saturday, I dragged the husband along for a tour of historic Oakland Cemetery. I didn't realize until I started downloading my pics that I got a shot of the same mausoleum I posted in advance of our trip - just from the opposite side, and taken in the sunlight. Cool coincidence!

We kicked off our first full day in Atlanta with a walk over to Mary Mac's for some good ol' southern cooking. It was waaaaaay too much food, but it was oh so good. 

I was tempted by the coconut cake even though I was so full I was about to pop. Unfortunately, I ended up disappointed. The cake was dense and a bit dry, when my preference is for light and moist. The icing was tasty, as you can tell, since it appears a large critter decided to munch on it.

Our tour guide at the cemetery treated us to an almost 2 hr tour that hit the high points of notable burials, interesting statuary and special sections like the Civil War, Jewish, African American and potters field. We chatted with our guide a bit before the tour started and he's a cemetery nut like me, having toured through cemeteries around the world in his own travels. 

When you're so wealthy and important that your mausoleum 

has GARGOYLES on the corners (see below)!

The pic above is a lion monument commemorating the fall of the Confederacy. Below, my better half is strolling up to one of the many beautiful magnolia trees dotted across the 48 acre cemetery. This one was located in the section for soldiers who died during the Civil War.

The statuary both above and two below are three of the four recognized by the Smithsonian. The top one is a monument to a mother and daughter who died within a few years of each other. The one below is of a local businessman that was placed atop his mausoleum. It was considered a bit scandalous back in the day when it was created because the man isn't wearing a necktie. He didn't like wearing them while alive, and stipulated his shouldn't be depicted in one on his grave, either.

Every good southerner of a certain age will recognize the final resting place of Gone with the Wind's author, Margaret Mitchell. I was surprised to learn she was killed on the streets of Atlanta by a taxi when she was about two years younger than my current age. 

The monument above is equal parts creepy due to the weathering, and sad because someone lost a beloved baby. It reads "Fell asleep Aug't 10th 1869, Aged 9 months & 1 day". 

Last but not least, and on a lighter note... get a load of the appropriately named bar across the street from the cemetery!

So predictable

Tomorrow our threesome flies to Atlanta for president's day weekend to eat some great food and enjoy a bit of family time. Plus the senior's boyfriend is driving up from Auburn to visit her. Folks who have traveled with me KNOW I'm gonna do my level best to visit/tour a local cemetery when I'm in a new location. The older, the better. And yes, I know it sounds macabre. But I've always been terribly interested in cemeteries because it's a link to the past, and thus my love of history. I'm intrigued by it all... statuary, mausoleum design, family plot layouts, epitaphs with biographical information, scripture quotes. Every little piece helps tell a story of our past and how generations have honored their dearly departed.

Lucky me that Atlanta is home to historic Oakland Cemetery, which offers tours to the public every weekend. My husband may not agree. The senior and her college freshman boyfriend would probably prefer watching paint dry or grass grow before traipsing past graves and tombstones for a 1.5 hr tour Saturday afternoon. Whatever. With or without my peeps, I plan to soak in the funerary art and Victorian garden design cemetery that pre-dates the Civil War. Let's hope the Georgia weather cooperates!

A Special Rodeo

Last night I went with some gal pals to our annual stock show and rodeo. Every year I enjoy the mutton bustin'. Then I have to look at my boots while the bull riding event takes place. This year we rocked it back to the 80s with the concert, enjoying 38 Special. I've put up the original video of my favorite sing-along I enjoyed at rodeo. The guys in the band may be getting old like me, but their music never does!

Lending a hand

In the month of December, I was watching one of my morning programs and a segment on holiday giving for a cause was my introduction to World Vision. For the unfamiliar out there, World Vision is a "global Christian humanitarian organization that partners with children, families and their communities to help underserved/at risk populations reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice." I've historically given to similar organizations such as Heifer International and Samaritan's Purse, but was unfamiliar with World Vision.

After my interest was piqued during the TV segment, I decided to explore World Vision online. Liking what I saw, I decided to sponsor two elementary age girls. Ambesiwe lives in South Africa and shares the same birthday as my older daughter. Sokney lives in Cambodia and shares the same birthday as my younger daughter. I've enjoyed learning about the girls, their communities and how the money I give every month goes towards helping to improve their lives from way over here in Texas. 

I've traveled to both Cambodia and South Africa and can recall areas of abject poverty. Places where there was no running water, let alone electricity. The word rudimentary would be a step up from some of the living conditions we witnessed.

I hope that my money, letters of encouragement and prayers for Sokney and Ambesiwe help both of them to earn an education in a safe community that will allow them to grow physically, emotionally and spiritually. Praise God that there's no price tag on hope and a positive outlook.