A.B.Q.

What a treat we had tonight. We went to an Alison Brown Quartet concert. We've loved her music for years, but have never had the chance to hear her "live". So we jumped at the opportunity when we found out she was coming to Chattanooga. And it lived up to expectations. You wouldn't think you could blend bluegrass and jazz and Celtic with a quartet of banjo, piano, bass, and drums - but she does it SO well.

One slight criticism of live concerts in general - you just don't get the same mix that you do on recorded music. The banjo was overpowered by the piano occasionally, and that doesn't happen on the recordings.

Getting to the concert was a challenge - at least for John (who was driving). It was on Lookout Mountain, and the drive up there is difficult at best. And tonight wasn't the best - we drove into a pea-soup fog. It was a 5-mile-per-hour drive in places, straining to see the yellow lines. It was a great relief after the concert when we got down below the fog on the way home.

But, if you ever get the chance, listen to some A.B.Q.

 

Do the math

It's getting weird around here. The weatherguy, on Monday, said that it was looking like rain for Friday night, and several of the high schools changed their football games from the regular Friday night to Thursday night. What's with this??? What happened to playing football in all kinds of weather? And, LOL, besides that, it rained tonight, and probably won't tomorrow night. (Sorry - just my ironic streak coming out.)

I'm feeling some better today, after getting a really good night's sleep last night. I woke up fairly early, and got in my overdue trip to Walmart; plus I went out with the Thursday lunch group. That about did me in for the day, though.

Under the heading of "dumb stuff that people let happen"---
I don't normally pay too much attention to specific prices on small things that I buy regularly, but this morning, I happened to notice the price of eggs at Walmart. Are you ready for this?

1 dozen large eggs - $0.97
1 dozen medium eggs - $1.18
1 1/2 dozen large eggs - $1.84

I wonder why people put up with this stuff. Actually, I wonder whyI haven't complained.

Today's photo is of flowers on the grounds of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.

 

Kentuck Knob sculpture

I'm going to pass on writing for a couple of days until I get over this cold. But I'll post more pictures. These is one of a group of outdoor sculptures at Kentuck Knob.

 

 

 

 

A drippy day

Everything was drippy today - the clouds, the trees, the sky, and mostly my nose. What a nasty cold this is - and I guess I'll have two weeks of it, the usual course of a cold.

I did get out to get the battery and the electrical connection checked out on the laptop. The battery is fine, and there is a loose electrical connection. But, of course, every time somebody else looks at it, it works just fine. And, I have to admit, most of today it was working fine. And then it started acting up again tonight. The girls are starting to nag that I should just get a new one. I'm thinking about it... and looking.

Today's photo is of southwest Pennsylvania from Kentuck Knob. Note the wind farm along the distant ridgeline.

 

Home all day!

This is turning out to be a really nasty cold. I did go in to see the PA at our doctor's office early this morning, just in case it might be early flu. I've heard the Tamiflu only works if you get it very early, so I didn't want to pass up the chance. So far, all the symptoms are throat and upper respiratory, with no fever, and I hope that's all it is.

I'm going to try to at least get my laptop battery checked out tomorrow and maybe take it to see if there are electrical problems with it.

We got a lovely early Christmas present today - a Garmin GPS unit. It'll be fun to play with and see how bad lost we can get with that. 8^) Thanks!

These are two more of the sculptures from the Riverwalk (John's pictures today). The two arms on the first one move in the wind - just the kind of thing I love.

 

 

From the desktop

The laptop has blocked me out completely for now. Tomorrow, it's off to get the battery checked, and then possibly to the Geek Squad again to check for hardware/electrical problems. And then maybe to the Dell catalog. We shall see.

What a lovely day it was today! There is an outdoor sculpture exhibit along a quarter-mile stretch of the Riverwalk. John has been wanting me to see it and to take photographs. The pieces are great, and fun to photograph. And then my camera battery decided to quickly run out (I had just checked it, too). But it was a nice walk in any case, and we both took lots of pictures.

This afternoon, the Chattanooga Symphony was giving the first of its Chamber Concert series - a smaller orchestra with a smaller schedule in a smaller venue. Anyhow, it was an all-Mozart program, and just wonderful! We really enjoyed the hall, the music, and the informality. There will be two more concerts this season, and we'll look forward to them.

Just late today, I've started getting a raspy throat. I hope that just means a sore throat, and nothing more. I haven't been "sick" in a long time, and really don't want to start now (or any time, for that matter).

These are a couple of the sculptures from the Riverwalk.

 

 

 

Day off

I'm taking a day off today. Hope your day was a good one.

Throw a pie at the computer?

We just had a little rain off and on today - and the temperature was up to at least 72 this afternoon - warmer than in the house. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow. We shall see....

The laptop spent the night at the "hospital". The guru started checking it out this afternoon. Again, of course, it worked just fine for him. He did say that he thought the power plug was loose and that laptops were notoriously picky about having a full power source.

When I got it home, I started it up on battery power, and it came right up. And I used it until it went to automatic hibernate, then carefully plugged it in. Again, it started right up. So the doc may have made a good diagnosis. We shall see.

Later on it was slow starting again. John think it's probably a hardware problem, and might be caused by a bad battery. I'm going to take the battery out tonight, and see if it happens then. The problem didn't start until I put the battery back in.

But, drat!, we had gotten a Dell flyer in the mail today, and I had already picked out a new laptop - lighter and with Windows 7. Oh, well...

Soupy Sales died today. He was 83. Nobody else did the pie-in-the-face schtick like he did!

 

Still ailing

I'm posting early today. I may be leaving my laptop at the "hospital" for diagnosis. Once it boots up, it seems to work fine. But it's taking longer and longer to get to that point. The Guru says "it might be a hardware problem, and I don't do hardware." John (who was a hardware guy) says, "that's what they all say". So we shall see...

This baby is nearly 5 years old, and it may just be time for a new laptop with Windows 7 (just issued today). John says I just want a new toy. Not true (at least I don't think it is). LOL

Tomorrow looks like an all-day-rain event, so we enjoyed having an extra day of sunshine today.

The photo today is another FLWright detail from Kentuck Knob.

 

Decisions

John got depressing news about his hand yesterday. The doc doesn't think it is growing new bone as it should. He (the doc) wants to wait another three weeks, and then, if it's not much better, go back in, rebreak the bone, and put in a plate for fixation. Personally, I wouldn't want to wait that long, and suggested that John just call him and tell him to schedule the surgery. His rowing is already over for the season, and that would give him just that much more time to recuperate before spring. He's thinking about it.

Allan got back from New York today. He's still so enthusiastic about his music - this tirp was partly to get some lessons and see some of his music friends. He also did some lawyer work, and that helps pay the bills.

Today's picture shows one of the FLWright details at Kentuck Knob.

 

Fall weather

I spent the morning getting caught up with Vicki about the wedding weekend. The newlyweds are on their honeymoon - to be back in a few more days.

The laptop is still acting up. I keep finding other ways to get into the computer, but it's never a sure thing. I am going to take to our local computer guru to check out, and hope that he can diagnose and fix it.

These few days have really showcased the lovely fall weather around here. And the trees are even starting to change. The color is coming a bit later this year, but I hope it'll be a good year.

Jean's been really sick for about a week or so. She saw the doc this morning and got some antibiotics. She doesn't have pneumonia, but they did take a culture. That'll take a while to get results. Flu wasn't mentioned.

This the front entrance to Kentuck Knob - definitely a Frank Lloyd Wright design.

 

Sunshine!

We had some frost this morning, but the sunshine was gorgeous all day. It does make life smile.

After Walmart this morning, I took my laptop to the "Urgent Care Facility". Naturally, when the 12-year-old-looking guy at the Geek Squad turned on my laptop, it jumped right up for him. Don't you hate it when that happens. He turned it on and off several times, and it worked every time. But at least it didn't cost anything, and I can wait a while before buying a new one. Of course, it was slow starting up again for me once I got it home, but the sweet baby did finally let me in. It's still working, but I'm handling it with kid gloves (and writing the blog early today - just to be sure).

One more photo of this Kentuck Knob sculpture - this time with John for scale.

 

Not a happy evening!

Today started out beautifully. We slept late, and the sun is shining. We managed to do almost nothing all day long. John took two naps, and I got the laundry done. We even finished up the leftovers for dinner.

But after supper, I tried to get on my laptop, and it didn't want to talk to me. Oh, dear!!! As best as we can tell, everything is connected. But after the main light comes on, nothing else happens...it just sits there with a dark screen.

I'm on John's computer tonight, and will take the laptop to the Geek Squad tomorrow. Oh, dear, this does not make me a happy camper.

But I am able to share one of John's photos of a sculpture at Kentuck Knob. He got much better pictures than I did, so I am glad to show it to you.

 

Busy Saturday

We headed down toward Atlanta this afternoon to visit with Matt & Amanda and see their new house. They're so excited about it and having fun getting things put together. Still lots of boxes sitting around and empty space, while they get walls painted and make all those decisions. Glad it's them and not me!

Then we went on into the city for Vicki's son's wedding reception. Things got complicated, as always, but the happy couple is well and truly married. We finally found the reception site, which had been changed at the last minute. I don't know the whole story, but I guess I'll get it next week. We did have a nice buffet dinner. We were really glad we had gone - it was a very small event (25-30 people), and very few from Chattanooga and the groom's "side".

Of course, we got lost getting back to I-75, and got into the end-of-the-game traffic (GA Tech vs VA Tech), but we managed to blunder our way onto the interstate going the right direction. We got home about 11, and are really tired. Looking forward to sleeping late in the morning with nothing special to do (I hope - haven't checked the calendar yet).

Today's photo is another sculpture from Kentuck Knob.

 

Chilly Friday

The weather guys are talking about a possible frost in the next ocuple of nights. But at least there's going to be some sunshine. And I'd still rather have temps in the 50s than in the 90s.

I kept the gallery open today. Vicki's son is getting married tomorrow in Atlanta, and she had the rehearsal to deal with today. At least there's something good going on in her life right now.

John and I went to the symphony tonight. It was a really good concert - all Tchaikowsky. A great pianist played the 1st Piano Concerto, and then the orchestra played his 5th Symphony. Both were quite good. At least we finally had a good evening out this week.

Neither of us has to get up early in the morning. YEA!!! We will be heading to Atlanta in the afternoon. We're going to visit a bit with Matt & Amanda and see their new house. And then we're going to go to Vicki's son's wedding reception. We'll come back home when that's over.

Today's photo is one of the many pieces of sculpture at Kentuck Knob - a Frank Lloyd Wright house near Ohiopyle State Park, PA.

 

What was he thinking?

We have had four evening events planned for this week. So far, we're 0 for 2. The disappointing organ/flute concert was the first.

Tonight, we went to our photography club meeting/program. The scheduled speaker is a local professional photographer. He is one of the really good ones - built his own plane to use as a photography platform, and has published a couple of superb books of his photographs. We have an autographed copy of one. We were really looking forward to seeing another program of his work.

His program tonight was a film about two recent trips he had taken. What he showed amounted to not-very-good home movies - the kind you used to suffer through after Aunt Hortense and Uncle Oscar had been to the Grand Canyon. The only thing better was that everything was in focus - the editing and choice of shots was probably comparable. Another disappointment was that this excellent photographer didn't seem to use his considerable skills in this project - background control, depth of field, editing - especially editing. Too bad - way too bad - and also a shame.

We felt like he had a new toy (a HiDef videocamera) and wanted to show off what it could do. Also he wants to market himself as a videographer for trips and travel/tour companies and wanted to try out his new product. His efforts were definitely lost on us.

I guess we're getting to be a pretty tough audience.

And MY photograph for the day is an abstract of some ornamental grasses.

 

Dark & dreary

I forgot to mention, the appliance repair guy came yesterday afternoon - and I don't have to get a new dishwasher - at least not yet.

I'd been using the "temp booster" to get hotter water, and he said that that was something that would tend to stick and malfunction. So I'm going to quit using that and see if that works. He said to be sure to run the hot water to the faucet in the sink, so the water would already be hot when it reached the DW. Also, he cleaned and adjusted other parts as part of the service call. He did say that if something else failed on it, I would have to get a new DW, because it wasn't worth spending a lot of money on to fix. Sounds like a plan to me!

What a gloomy, yucky day - it literally has rained all day. Even the weather guy tonight said it was the "heaviest drizzle" he'd ever seen. We can hear it coming down from inside the house, but nothing shows up on the weather radar. Oh, well.....

I just have to post these lovely yellow flowers from Ohiopyle on this dreary day.

 

Friends of the Library

It was a lovely day today, but I spent it all inside.

I was at the studio/gallery all day, talking and schmoozing (as usual). But I did also get some "working" painting done - getting some color on my business cards. Nothing exciting, but necessary.

I stayed all day because I had a Friends of the Library Council meeting at 4:30. No point in going home - just to come back later. I've agreed to be the Vice-Chairman of the Council for the upcoming year. I'm not sure what all is involved, but I guess I will be more active in policy decisions. I did make it clear that I would not, under any circumstances, take over the Chairmanship for the following year.

The rain started up again this evening, and looks to continue all day tomorrow.

Today's photo is an early sign of fall in Ohiopyle State Park.

 

Rainy October

It's rainy and gloomy here. John went to the Y with me instead of walking on the Riverwalk. The cards were pretty average. Interesting in that I had maybe 8-10 hands with a void. That's pretty unusual.

Tomorrow will be a long day - but at least I get to sleep "late" (at least for me).

Today's photo is a closeup of the Ohiopyle Falls in PA.

 

Not even with Bach

I did the usual Sunday thing most of the day - breakfast, paper, laundry.

We went to an organ/flute duo recital at a local church tonight - met up with Allan, John & Sylvia. This is an old downtown Episcopal church, and the nave/sanctuary is incredibly beautiful - all done in patterned brick and wood and stained-glass windows. I'm going to have to back sometime to talk to somebody about the building and its history.

However, we hated the music. They did do one Bach piece, but the other four pieces played in the first half of the program were atonal and dissonant and ear-grating (to my ears, anyway). John, Allan, and I left at intermission - couldn't face another hour of that. Fortunately it was a free concert. We went out to eat at Sticky Fingers BBQ, and then came home.

John's now watching his two Tennessee pro football teams - the Titans and the Colts (with Peyton Manning).

Today's photo is of John taking his pictures at Ohiopyle State Park, PA

 

Nice and cool!

It certainly did cool off today. I doubt it ever got above the predicted high of 66.

John was out early. He was part of the timing crew at the Chattanooga Head Race. Despite the gloomy weather and the fast-running Tennessee River, they had the biggest field ever - so it was definitely a success in that regard. He didn't get home until nearly 6 p.m.

All I did today was go to the funeral service for Vicki's mother. It was a very small group - only family - and was a lovely tribute to Geet. I think she would have liked it.

Today's photo is another pothole near the river at Ohiopyle State Park, PA.

 

A Long Friday

We were up in the 80s today - out ahead of the weather front. We've had a couple of waves of severe thunderstorms going through this afternoon and evening, with more rain due later on tonight and in the morning. And the high tomorrow is predicted for only 66.

I hope the rain finishes early. The graveside service for Vicki's mother is to start at 11. The rowing club is hosting the Chattanooga Head Race tomorrow (a rowing regatta - competition between mostly college teams). There will be timed races all day long. John had worked in the timer's boat for the last several years - and he'll be doing that again. At least it's a nice big boat - out of the weather, and with real bathrooms on board. The last weather report tonight guesses that there will be just a few showers in the morning, and then no more rain.

One of our artists, a sculptor, had the opening reception for her show this month. It's been quite traumatic. Not only because of Vicki's mother's death, but this woman (though quite talented) is a self-centered, scatter-brained, drama queen. Every day this week, she has said she was going to be at the gallery by 9:30; Vicki or I would be there; and she's show up about 3 or later. She's wanted to do things like paint the walls and refinish the floor or buy new carpet, etc., etc. It's been quite an experience. She had a good crowd, and we finally ran them all out about 8:15 (it was due to be over at 8). And I was home before 9. Anyhow, it's now over - and we don't have to do this particular event again any time soon.

Today's photo is of a pothole in the stones along the river in Ohiopyle State Park, PA.

 

Congratulations, President Obama

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Barack Obama this morning. This is the statement that Pres. Obama sent to his e-mail subscribers. I wanted to share this.

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Friends of the Library

I got some work done for the Friends of the Library today. The annual meeting is next month, and we had some fliers printed up to distribute. I got that job. I couldn't believe I didn't know how many branch libraries there are and where they are located.

Fortunately, the internet takes care of such things. The library web site provided not only names, locations, days and hours open, but maps. And so I furthered my education, located and visited the branches, and got the fliers handed out.

I do feel better about serving on the Council of the Friends - at least doing something concrete and seeing the branches.
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Remember to get up early in the morning so you can see the plume from the impact of our rocket hitting the moon. Impact is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. ET.

Blank

I'm drawing a blank tonight - so only a photograph today.

Youghiogheny River, Ohiopyle State Park, PA.