the day at the zoo

This is the crowd that went to the zoo yesterday.  Beautiful partly cloudy, warm fall day - perfect for going to the zoo.  And the week of a holiday meant that school groups were not in attendance either so it was not crowded and very easy to see what we wanted to see.

We saw giraffes, moving around their pasture which they shared with zebras and ostriches.

we saw lowland gorillas up very close as they were having their mid afternoon dinner.

Sea lions will flat out startle you as they come rapidly swimming out of the corner of their pool.

and in the bird house, the girls posed for their mom, as another couple, modeling Kate's gifts for her parents went by.   Yes, spoiler alert, Kate shared that she is getting her parents Amish clothing for Christmas.  She had seen these outfits before while traveling her in the US and thought her parents would love them, especially the "hat for Charles" said Kate.

Meanwhile, Lydia and I enjoyed the zebras - now that will give you something to talk about too.

or something to show your Dad, and GrandDad who happens to be taking your picture.

Lydia, looking at the birds in the Aviary, and the parrots were talking and screeching too.

a rather rough bunch to have to meet on the trail

especially when these two find a bronze lioness to climb on and practice our roars on.

and speaking or roaring, you should have heard me when I learned that Kate had actually been cutting classes.  Like she cut one to come to the zoo. She just blew off class like it was nothing.  Who ever heard of such a thing- is what I want to know.  Can you believe it?  Cut a class, just did it.  and it was in international relations too.  Like the world does not need students learning about how to solve our problems.

like the problem of tired people at the zoo.  try carrying children all over the place, you will get tired too.

but we sure would do it again. -- it was absolutely wonderful.

Granddaughters were made to help Granddads

A project needs to start with posed picture to document the event.

As you can see on this project I had good help.  We had on our work hats, and dutifully posed for pictures midway through what the happy Granddad (that would be me) realized was a moment he needed to record.

So he got the kids to pose. which they obviously did, then they returned to the serious work of planting pansies.  The degree of interest, energy and earnestness with which this task was undertaken was impressive.

We transfer the pansy from one to the other

to the more accomplished older child, while the younger adjusts hat.

Soil is placed back around the pansy just so.

which of course requires help and lots of talking amongst the kids.

and I did interrupt for a moment to try to get  picture but could not break total concentration, and then even what I got was just a seond. 

and this task is done.

Pansies planted Monday, the week of Thanksgiving 2010 with Granddaddy.  On Tuesday we go to the Zoo.  I am guessing there will be another photo opportunity there too.  

(yeah I got a day behind on my keeping up to date)

and if you get tired of looking at photos of my Grandchildren, you are at the wrong blog.

old fashioned day

My goodness, but this day has been full, Lydia, played with my old panda, yes my old panda,  this bear is 25+ years older than this little girls Mom which makes the bear a little short of 60.  I found it in our old attic when we cleaned out the house I grew up in 11 years ago.  My Mom saved a lot of stuff.  Anyway the Grandkids are having a wonderful time playing with it now.

Today after church, Patt and I took the girls for a ride to the grocery store, the weather is nice and we do enjoy the country music or the 50's music station  (we are trying to get the grandkids to sing along).  On the way back from grocery store, Patt drove and "dropped the hammer:"  much to the delight of our passengers.  got up to about 20 mph too.

Carrying around a grandson is special.  Playing ball with him is very special.  and playing hide and seek with him and his sisters is a hoot.

Patt and Laura in the kitchen.  We are eating well.  I thought I remembered Patt could cook.

 and part of the reason is that Patt now has had some really good help.

as I was in the back yard in the evening darkness still hunting down acorns.

 which make for a good collection to review on the kitchen floor --( where else ? )

 and the routine bedtime ritual of book reading.  Tomorrow will be my turn- or someone around here will be a little fussy.

Bunk Beds are special

Top bunk, long day of travel, two air planes, three airports, 15 degrees to nearly 70 and one set of grandparents for another.  And Julianna has a bear and grin and --- you should see the grin that Patt and I have.  

Grandmama made favorite blanket tucked in, Lydia's eyes dancing, and she has, as Laura said two speeds "on and off"  and there is no mistaking the "on".   And " I get the bottom bed "

Little brother is in the next room, and the day is about to wind down.  Tomorrow is another day.  This one was a long time in coming and has been so very nice.  As soon as someone starts selling Christmas trees around here, I am buying.

a pretty day for an airplane ride

last Friday, Mark and I headed north out of Raleigh to Baltimore to pick up Graham and Susan.  The sun was bright and shadows strong, and North Carolina farm and forest sure looked good.

We followed  I-85 that connector of Atlanta to Petersburg and the infamous I-95 seen here in Vance County.  We stayed close to it all the way to Richmond, crossing the big lakes on the North Carolina Virginia border Kerr and Gaston.   

Flying over the Chesapeake Bay is always nice and here on the Maryland Eastern shore are some "summer" homes and none to shabby as can be seen, (check out the big one, reminds me of the Wheel House at the beach)  

and here on the western shore, as we approached the airfield, it is obvious that some of these Marylanders have rather nice places to call home.

City streets as we get closer to the airport and make that turn that Stephen likes so much when he flies.

and landing soon.  Mark had turned off the "voice" that warns of 500 feet or whatever, there are some other folks I understand that are not fond of that voice. 

Mark gasses up the trusty plane-- takes on fuel -- 

passengers board- security checks passed, luggage stowed in overhead bins and " no there is no beverage service on this flight"

Cool looking Paul calls wife Patt.  - note casual stance - no nonsense, business like posture

and Mark rejoiced over the cheap ? gas.

and sunset was indeed beautiful over the Chesapeake .  --- looking west you all heading south.

A quiet Saturday - one of the last for a while

Yep, last Saturday in Charlotte was very quiet.  I went by one of those cute-se shopping centers with a pond, ducks, geese, and one old geezer (that would be me) .  I sat on a bench, just like an old geezer, passed some gas, took a photo with my iPhone, and enjoyed a pretty day in November.

 However, future Saturdays promise to be much more fun, and not because I will be at a ball game or car race or something of that nature, but because Saturday we have visitors arriving.

It will not be quiet, I hope and I expect to be getting up early, and not because I want to get to work early (that by the way does  not happen), but because, Patt and I will have little kids in the house. We will be reading stories about geese and probably ducks too. 

and my goodness I hope the weather is this nice and that the trees are still showing off like this one -- I will be putting the top down and taking some little grandchildren for a ride in the convertible.

I need some new football teams

Oh what a pretty day in the parking lot outside the pending Wake Forest V  Boston College football game, with crowd of Deacon fans loading up on chicken, BBQ, dogs and brats, beans and beverages of choice.

Game start time of 3:30 makes for nice tailgate, but knowledge of pending cold as the sun set just added excitement.

At the start of the game, the throngs that poured into beautiful, new, Groves stadium, which was jammed were hopping, and the crowd roaring, involved in a high stakes, high profile game between Boston and Wake -- who had a combined 4 or 5 wins, and losses in huge numbers and in style and form like you would not believe.

This is what is left of the crowd sometime in the second half -- the excitement was over despite the fact that Weak Forest still had a chance -- (Boston is that bad) -- Wake threw only 4 interceptions -- and about that many actual completions to the right team.

Sitting behind us was this little girl, her sister and Dad -(they were so cute !) ( a larger contingent of the family with other children had already left ) .  You can observe how tightly packed we were-- I mean it was almost hard to breathe.  I stood only upon desire to take a break for halftime.

 Kelly and James and another couple holding out hope late in the fourth quarter - note fickle fans heading towards the exit.

My college football teams - in order are Weak Forest, Appalachian, NC State, East Carolina (always have liked underdog over-acheivers), anybody playing Carolina, anybody playing dook --- and also have passing interest in U of North Dakota, -- Matt's team -- and North Dakota State (Mom went there), and within the ACC I prefer Miami to Maryland when they play one another. Of those nine teams Only ONE WON --- all the others lost.-- NDSU did beat Sou Illinois  --- yes I mean I do not know if I have ever had such a "not very good day" for my teams.  ( I may like underdogs, but I also like achievers ) yet I really did have a wonderful day - it was just a lot of fun being with friends, a brother, a nephew and outside on a pretty November day in NC at a football game.  I reckon I was not ready to leave.

Oh and the FedEx racing hat will not be worn to another game.  I need a new hat. I was trying one out, and obviously I need one, but this one is not it.

Oh and as I write this, the Panthers are being pounded, as in really beaten badly in Charlotte. --=  I need a new NFL team too.