"...and sweet's the air with curly smoke / from all my burning bridges.” ~Dorothy Parker

So...

How cool is this cloud formation?  I was on my way home the other day - driving down the AA Hwy - and I happened to see this glob of clouds off in the distance which happened to look like a tornado.

I knew better....

By the time I arrived home, it was closer and at a little bit of a different angle.  It's still cool looking...

**Disclaimer - I MAY have used a filter or two on this photo...just sayin'.


“Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lies in sweetest bud.
All men make faults.”

~William Shakespeare

“If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.” ~L. Frank Baum

So...

I have some cool architectural photos I made whilst jaunting in Covington with Pappy.  How can you NOT ab-so-lutley revere the Cathedral of the Basilica?  One of my favorite landmarks I have ever had the luck to visit.

And Sixth District Elementary...

And...The Carnegie...

With a special surprise!!

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They say it's your birthday....

So...

Last week was Mara's 21st Happy Birthday.  Geez...they're both catching up with me!  Since my work schedule is a smidge wonky, we didn't get to go out to eat until that Saturday.  That's cool...we made a day of it.  Cheesecake Factory, H&M and...the Lego store!!  Yay!! 

Here's the Birthday Girl!!  Choosing her first alcoholic beverage (gettin' all liquored up).  It was a Strawberry Creamcicle...and it was tasty!

I had the predictable chicken club sandwich...minus the nasty "club"...

And a giant hunk of Salted Caramel Cheesecake!!!

And you know I just like looking at random patterns...

We cleaned up at H&M...thanks to Emily's coupon...and...I got a new Lego set.  :)  Everybody was happy.

There's no accounting for some people's tastes...

Ok...

If this is your house...please, please, please tell me why you hate your neighbors?  And if you are a neighbor being forced to live in this 'hood?  Mea culpa.  Not all humans have this much "style".

Egads...this hurts my heart...

Short and sweet...

So...

I have a bunch of photos I wanted to post, but I am so exhausted I don't think I would do my post justice.  So, I am just going to post some random "riding around" observances.

Enjoy...

Yeah...okay...

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"I never believed in things that I couldn't see ..." ~Russ Ballard

And...

Here are the rest of the photos of the tree out in front of work from the foggy nights.

It was almost as if the fog was a living, breathing entity.  It felt like a mass of Tinkerbells brushing up against your skin.  You can see the twinkling in the flagpole light.

These last two photos are of the Crepe Myrtle growing next to the front entrance.  It was magical.

"In restless dreams I walked alone..." ~Paul Simon

Finally!!!

It has been WEEKS...oh how I missed my smelly soap...

 It's worth the special trip.

"When you were young and your heart was an open book, You used to say live and let live..." ~Paul McCartney

So...

It's been freaky crazy foggy the past couple of days.  Of course, Chuck and I had to go out to investigate.  I have 5 different photos of the same tree outside of the front door here that I used 5 different filters in post-processing.  I'm only posting 2 tonight.  My 2 favorites...taken 4 days apart. 

Holy crap...fog is cool.

_

" Don't wannna discuss it, Think it's time for a change, You may get disgusted, Start thinkin' that I'm strange" ~Van Morrison

So...

I'll be working 1st shift for 8 weeks beginning December 3rd, so I don't know if I can get away with posting stuff while I am here during the day.  Maybe I will just switch it up and post in the evenings from home.  Hopefully, since I should also have my own car back, I can take more photos on my way home everyday.  We'll see...it looks good on paper though, right?

Well...tonight I am going to post all of the other photos I have from our recent adventures.  They are a little random - but if you know me, that's par for the course.

Here ya go...

Apparently, I have a "thing" for electrical towers.

Pappy and I commented on how shabby and damaged all of the flags were that hand along US27 in Cold Spring.  Hey!!  They must have heard us!  (Or been ashamed of themselves for letting them get in that shape in the first place.)

A little humor from outside of Goodwill...

Randomness...(I think I was just trying to see if I could get a clear shot while the car was moving - fyi - I wasn't the one driving.)

Mustaches at the Art Museum...

Thanksgiving feast...

Shadows at Bob's...

And a moist windshield...

This last one reminds me of the Song "Domino" by Van Morrison...follow my train of thought here....when I was a little girl, I had these really weird puzzles of the "big-eyes" cats and little girls by Margaret Keane.  Several of the little girls were in Harlequin outfits and I think one was named "Domino" which is one of my favorite Morrison tunes...Tada!

Sadly, I had to give up one of my cat puzzles. 

When I was in second grade, my mom's mom - Mimi - and I flew to Tampa for a visit with her niece (Betty Ann) and we all drove back so we could stop at another niece's (Jane) to visit.  Well, Jane had about 12 kids and they lived on a farm out in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee.  Holy crap...talk about culture shock!  I saw and experienced all kinds of things in those weeks - some I have never repeated since. 

They raised pigs in their back yard so that was my first time up close and personal (yeah), I got yelled at for touching the electric fence (which wasn't even on), their water was nasty, the wild rabbit they kept in a hutch died one night in an electrical storm, the boys were shooting cardinals out of the trees in the back yard, we picked cotton, it was the first time I swam in a lake (I'm sure my dad would have had a cow), Jane - who had a double mastectomy - was chasing Mimi around the house without a shirt on trying to show her the scars (which scarred ME for life!) and Mimi MADE me give the youngest daughter - Cindy I think - one of my beloved puzzles.  Keep in mind that, as the only daughter and the next sibling behind me was only 2 or 3, I had never had to - god forbid - SHARE my stuff, I was completely devastated.  Obviously, I never got over the ordeal. 

My mom's side of the family was so weird.  The stories I could tell.  Like when Betty Ann's and Jane's brother Tommy's monkey bit my knee or the time when we were living next to the funeral home and my cousins decided to have a seance and Betty Ann banged on the window to scare us - while there was a funeral happening. 

Pappy...your family is right up there, too.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." ~Helen Keller

So...

Since it's all wet and gushy out, I am going to post some pretty photos to cheer up the place.  One of the benefits of working 3rd shift is that I get to see the sun come up every morning...well mornings that aren't all gushy.

(There are several benefits to working overnights....no chiefs and only one Indian - so un-PC)

This is the Lucas Administration Building at NKU...the concrete exterior reflects the gorgeous morning light.

“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” 

― Ralph Waldo Emerson