Weekend Reflections - Denver Architecture

This weekend's edition of Weekend Reflections comes from the city of Denver. This was taken out of our truck's window as we were traveling on the highway. We were stuck in rush hour traffic, and the reflection off the buildings and the fact that there were three of them caught my eye.

Click here for more Weekend Reflections.

A Fun Day at the Park with Grandpa

One sunny day last week, my daughter, Jessica, and granddaughter, Lily, came over to the campground to spend the day.

I love playing with Lily, but Grandpa REALLY enjoys playing with her.

Here they go, off to the playground!

Lily just loved the ride!

What's funny is that Jim put in many hours at his job and didn't spend a lot of time playing with his own children. But he sure is making up for lost time with his grandchildren!

It's funny to see him sit on the floor and drink pretend tea when Lily serves him a cup or make things out of Play-doh. He'll lie on the floor and play trains or blocks, take Lily for a walk or read her a book.

Here he is showing her how to climb up the "bumpy" slide.

Success!

The smooth slide was another favorite of hers. Grandma would help her up the stairs and Mommy would be there to catch her at the bottom of the slide. Then we switched places so Grandma could get some pictures!

Whee!

She did this over and over again! It didn't get old!

It was time for the swing. Lily wanted to swing on her own, but there were no baby swings available, so Grandpa did the next best thing.

What safer place than Grandpa's arms?

Next they moved on to this thing. I don't know what it is called, but it has four holes in it and you don't know where the ball is going to come out.

The shadow from the ball-thingy caught my attention. It looked like a smiley face!

My daughter said, "No, Mom, look at it from this direction."

So I walked to the other side and looked at it "right-side up" so to speak. I thought it looked even sadder!

I know EXACTLY what it needed! A SMILE!

So Jessica and I got busy pulling dandelions and made a smile!

We decided it was time to leave the park and walk to the little creek that runs through the woods. Grandpa took Lily to the bridge.

Grandma gathered pieces of mulch and handed them to Lily so she could throw them in the fast moving creek and watch them float away. We even had races with the pieces!

It was a fun day for all of us, but especially Lily and Grandpa!

Smells like Home to Me

This is the time of the year when the lilacs are in bloom and that heady, floral fragrance permeates the air. I cannot resist cutting a handful of these delicate flowers and putting them in a vase of water. Soon the rooms fill with the lovely scent. It’s even better if the windows are open and there is a soft breeze, for it spreads the aroma into every corner.

The smell of lilacs instantly brings me back to my childhood home.

We had a huge lilac bush next to our back porch. The branches hung heavy with the blossoms, even extending over the fence into our neighbor’s yard for them to enjoy. We’d have vases of lilacs spread throughout the house.

When we kids grew up, we still enjoyed the lilac bush. Mom would telephone and say, “The lilacs are in bloom!” and I’d be sure to come over so I could cut some and take not only a beautiful bouquet to enjoy, but also a little bit of “home”.

These lilacs are from my daughter’s yard. She was lucky enough to have huge lilac bushes in her back yard when she bought her home a few years ago. She and I, along with my granddaughter, Lily, went out to the yard to cut some lilacs.

Jessica leaned over and took a big sniff from the lilacs and said, “You know, Mom, I can’t help but think of Grandma’s house when I smell these.”

My eyes flooded, my throat got thick and I replied, “I know.” I looked down at Lily, parading around with one branch of lilacs in her hand and thought, “Let the tradition continue.”

A Walk in the Park

We have been back in Illinois for a month, and for three weeks the weather has been awful; cold, rainy, overcast. Finally things are looking up and that big yellow ball in the sky decided to show up again. I was oh so happy.

Jim and I took advantage of the sunny day and went to the nearby Starved Rock State Park. I had read in the newspaper a few days prior to our visit that the waterfalls were abundant due to all the recent rains so we decided to take a look.

This is the path to the first waterfall, located in St. Louis Canyon. We had to traverse down stairs, walk across the bridge (crossing a creek), then walk UP stairs.

Then we were on this sandy path.

I like these natural stair steps!

Look at these tree roots hanging tenaciously to the edge!

 We continued on the path and came across these two bridges.

We finally made it to our destination. The waterfall wasn't that big, but pretty just the same.

 Part of the canyon to the right of the waterfall.

Looking back over the creek.

Did I mention that I had to walk on one of those fallen trees to cross the creek? No? Uh, yeah. And believe me, I'm not too coordinated and almost lost it.

But I made it and we headed off to the second waterfall, located in French Canyon.

This is typical - Jim hiking in front of me......then waiting for me to catch up. I'm usually lagging behind because a) the old gray mare - she ain't what she used to be and b) I'm busy snapping photos.

 A sun ray happened to be shining exactly on the waterfall

A look back at the path we had just traversed.

I saw some wildflowers on our walk.

Violets #1

Violets #2

any guesses?

bellworts

bluebells

buttercup

 I saw these large umbrella-like plants under some trees. Anybody know what they are?

Pelicans happened to be migrating along the Illinois river at this time.

I wanted to grab a few photos of these great birds, so Jim wandered back to the truck and I attached the longer lens on my camera and set off. The problem was, the river was very high and had recently overflowed its banks. The surrounding land was very, VERY muddy. I slipped and slid my way to the river in thick mud and almost face-planted a few times, but luckily made it in one piece and clean, well, except for my shoes that had about a pound each of mud stuck to them! I was able to grab this shot.

The large "hump" you see on the beak shows up on males and only during mating season. The hump falls off after the birds mate and lay eggs.





Photo by Jacki Just-Pienta




The above photo shows their black-edged feathers, which are not seen when they are floating in the water.


It was a great day in the park!

Old Market Omaha

Many times when Jim and I travel, we have no idea what we will find. We pull into a campground, gather any brochures of the area that look interesting and I surf the net to see if anything else pops up. Sometimes I'll ask the campground managers if they have any recommendations for places to visit. Old Market was one such place. The Old Market is a major historic district in Downtown Omaha listed on the National Register of Historical Places Today, its warehouses and other buildings house shops, restaurants, bars, and art galleries. Wikipedia

After our several hour tour of Boys Town, we headed into downtown towards the Old Market. It is always a challenge to find outside public parking for our truck; we can not fit in underground parking with the size of our vehicle. Luckily we found a spot open right on the street in front of this antique store called "Second Chance".

I fell in love with numerous things right off the bat! The owner tried to convince me that I needed this 10 foot rooster......

Now, I admit, I DO have a strong attraction to roosters, and I told this to her, but I explained that I lived in a trailer and that we traveled all the time. She didn't bat an eye and said, "Well, then you need to buy a trailer to pull this rooster in!" Boy is SHE a sales person!

I loved these pigs.....you know.....when pigs fly

And then, we saw it.

There it was, it all its glory.

The beloved cow.

I can not tell you how long I have been looking for a cow statue.

Well, yes I can. It has to be at LEAST 8 years, maybe 9. Here's the story. When Jim's parents were going to move out of their house and into an assisted living apartment, they had a huge auction to get rid of their things. The auctioneer also brought some things to sell. Among the items was a metal cow that I fell in love with. At the time, the cost was about $35.  Jim felt it was too much money.

Why I ever listened to him I'll never know.

I could kick myself.

Because we have been searching for a small cow that I could put outside of our trailer. It can't be too heavy (due to weight issues with the trailer) or too light that it would blow over.

But now, here was the cow of my dreams. Right here in Omaha. Who knew?

At first I didn't see a price tag on it. I thought I'd offer $50, since the small pig's price was $29.99. Then the wind blew and the white tag fluttered.

$149.99!

What the!

Alas, I went home cowless. Of course I was ready to hand over my credit card for the cow, but a) by the look on Jim's face I knew it wasn't a good idea and b) I could just hear the bells and whistles going off saying that I was over my limit anyway so I resigned myself that I would have no cow.

We moved on, or should I say that Jim dragged me away from that store and we made our way down the block. We came to the intersection and saw the old buildings and cobblestone streets.

We walked down one block and these are the stores we came across. This first one is a fast food restaurant.

Next to Little King's was this cool record store. I just love the name! On top of the building is a lion's head. Click the photo to enlarge.

An awesome name for a Mexican restaurant! (That's Jim in the background scoping out the House of Lee.)

Jim wanted to eat at the House of Lee; I should have pouted some more since I didn't get my cow, but I was hungry too so I gave in and followed him through the door.

This was the kind of restaurant where you pile all the vegetables and meat that you want in a bowl, sprinkle a sauce over it, then hand it to the cook who will spread it over the grill and toss it around till its cooked.

This was my dish, with pork, chicken, shrimp, beef, and fake lobster, along with various vegetables. Yum!

Okay, I admit that Jim's pile looks smaller than mine, but that's because he didn't have many vegetables in there - mostly beef and noodles. So don't be quick to judge!

After our bellies were full, we walked down the street. This street musician was singing his heart out. He was pretty good.

We came across the beautiful flowers outside a florist shop. I softened the photo for a different effect.

How do you like the photo with a frame around it?

More flowers

We saw this odd sculpture in front of a restaurant.

We circled around and made our way back to our truck. Regretfully we had to leave because we had a couple more places to see. But this is definitely a place I would like to come back to. There are many galleries, shops and restaurants to visit. AND, I somehow missed this little gem. It's called the Old Market Passageway. Isn't it gorgeous?

photo courtesy of omahanightlife.com