When you're hot you're hot....When you're not you're not...

So....

Randomness of the random-y.

What IS it with these things....?

Somebody needs a coat of paint...just sayin'

Servatti's cannoli...yumminess.

This reminds me of Toy Story.  Why?

(In my best Valley Girl voice)  That day....when Debra, Bobby and Whitney were hanging out at the Goodwill.... 

Asiatic Lily.

This crazy chick....no relation to Debra, Bobby and Whitney....That I know of.

For some reason, when I look at sunrise photos, the Jerry Reed song "Pretty Mary Sunlight" pops in my head.  The sad part of that statement is my frame of reference for the song is Scooby Doo.

Morning treats...

Lunch with Pappy and Mara at Red Lobster.

I love living in Kentucky...

Isn't this a naughty gesture in Europe?

And again...

I'm just gonna leave this here....

I miss being a kid.

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"Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations." ~Jane Austen

Ok...

So, tonight I'm going to post the photos from my recent Lego-ing. 

(I just made up that word.)

One of my guilty pleasures...

I obviously have way, way, WAY too much time on my hands.

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“It is not for me to judge another man's life. I must judge, I must choose, I must spurn, purely for myself. For myself, alone.” ~Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

So...

I once had a professor tell me that my photography was "trite and cliché".  (Thank god it wasn't a photography professor or my collegiate career would have ended right then and there - 3 semesters in.)  We weren't supposed to use:  animals, kids, babies, puppies, kittens, balloons, clowns or flowers in our art - according to her.  Well...bite me.  I happen to LIKE flowers and photographing them.  AND I feel like I do an adequate job taking their "portraits". 

So there.

(I hate being told what I can and cannot do - based on someone else's preferences.)

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

~Theodore Roosevelt

"A day without laughter is wasted." ~Charlie Chaplin

Well...

I had approximately 60 photos I was going to post from our trip to Churchill Downs last weekend, but after I started processing the second batch, I realized they were all basically the same photo...just a different color horse.  So...I only chose my favorite ones out of the remaining group.

Here ya go...

Eadweard Muybridge - look it up...

UPS has a main hub at Louisville International Airport and I am obsessed with these ginormous planes taking off.  I also Googled why Louisville's airport call sign is SDF.  Turns out, the airport's former name is Standiford Field.  That's why you ask "why?".

And these two...Emily and Chauncey...

We had so much fun.  Altogether, we won $195.00 betting on 8 races and we chose the winners in three of them.  We went out for dinner afterwards at a nice restaurant and our "winnings" treated us to nice meals.  AND we split what was left of the pot after dinner and each took away a little more than our seed money.

Fun times!!

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“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes. ” ~William Shakespeare, Henry V

So...

Because of my monumental laziness, my photos from Churchill Downs Family Adventure Day are going to be posted over several days.  (I'm working LOTS of hours this week, and I'm already tired.)

Here is the first lot. 

One of the Twin Spires (built in 1895).

 
The horses are absolutely magnificent.  Truly gorgeous.  All of that muscle prancing past to the paddock - or thundering towards the finish line.  Amazing.

We placed our bets on the second race - and won!!  How cool!

So exciting!

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“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

So...

Life hasn't been quite as boring as usual.  I have 697 photos to edit, but I am still so exhausted from this weekend that I am going to wait another night to edit and process.  I don't want to mess anything up by accident. 

Mara and her friend, Dylan, went to the Symphony at Music Hall a couple of weeks ago.  In my laziness, I just downloaded them tonight - I promised to email them to Dylan so maybe I should have gotten my buns in gear sooner.

I have more than a few random photos, but I wanted to post a teaser from our trip this past weekend.

I think he's smiling.

More to come...promise.

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” ~Dr. Seuss

Well...

I found a couple of photos of Emily and Mara on my other hard drive that I want to post. 

Not too shabby.

And the kids aren't too shabby, either.  ;)

Here's the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX.  It's worth visiting if you're ever in the area.

 

The following is blatantly swiped from legendsofamerica.com.... 

Several myths have been perpetuated about the origin of the Cadillac Ranch, the most popular of which is the one I heard growing up in the Texas Panhandle. As the story went, an eccentric Amarillo, Texas millionaire would buy one Cadillac after another and when it was time to buy a new one, he would have the old one buried nose first on his land. However, the truth is, the Cadillac Ranch was a planned artistic endeavor.

Yes, Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh, 3 was an eccentric. He was also said to be very down to earth, quickly disregarding the "III” as too pretentious and using "3" instead. In 1973, Marsh invited a San Francisco artists’ collective called the Ant Farm to help him in the creation of a unique work of art for his sprawling ranch just west of Amarillo.

The group set about acquiring ten used Cadillac's, ranging in model years from 1948 to 1963. Built along the tattered remains of historic Route 66, the cars were meant to represent the "Golden Age” of American automobiles. Most of the cars were purchased from junk yards, and averaged about $200. The cars were then buried nose-down, facing west along the old highway. Those that could run, were driven into the half-burial holes, the rest were hoisted in. In 1974 the project was completed and in no time at all, visitors began to come from all over the world, leaving their mark on the ever-thickening graffiti covered cars.

At first, the cars displayed their original paint jobs – turquoise, banana yellow, gold, and sky blue, but barely was the monument complete, when people were scratching or painting their names in the cars. Over time, vandals and souvenir hounds smashed the windows, made off with all the chrome, radios, speakers and even some of the doors. The wheels have since been welded to the axles to prevent more theft. However, Marsh still says "We think it looks better every year.”

In 1997, the Cadillac Ranch was exhumed and replanted about two miles to the west, in order to escape the encroaching city of Amarillo. Under Marsh’s orders, even the old site’s trash and clutter was gathered from the old location and spread around the new location. Otherwise the monument remains the same (and, ever changing) since it was erected.

Marsh encouraged visitors to visit the Cadillac Ranch and seemingly didn't mind the constant graffiti added to the cars.

However, Marsh had many other "artistic endeavors" in the Amarillo, one of which is the placement of eccentric and odd "road signs" all over the city. As to these colorful signs, he did mind if they are mutilated or stolen.

True Texan in form, Marsh had more than a few run-ins with the law over his brand of enforcement. At one point, it was said that he penned an 18-year old boy with a hammer inside his chicken coop, when the boy was caught red-handed with one of his signs.

Throughout the years, the Cadillac Ranch has been repainted many times. In May, 2002, the cars were restored to their original colors. In June, 2003 the cars were again painted, this time in flat black, in response to the passing of the founding member of the Ant Farm.

Some people today may think the burial of these now much sought after collector’s items is a sacrilege. But in 1974, these cars were not popular and most of them were bought from junk yards at an average price of just $200.00. Had they not been used for the ranch "sculpture,” they would have wound up in the metal crusher.

This monument was built as a public sculpture and visitors are encouraged to participate in it. So, it’s ok if you take your can of Krylon with you, leaving your name or an inspiring message, which will, no doubt, be erased by another message soon. Photographs may be taken at the site, however, any commercial exploitation in advertising or product promotion is expressly prohibited without written permission from the artists. The Cadillac Ranch has appeared on numerous TV shows, magazines, and newspaper accounts.

Stanley March, 3 died in June, 2014 at the age of 76.

The Cadillac Ranch is located west of Amarillo on old Route 66, south of I-40 between exits 60 and 62.