Wordless Wednesday

Thursday Thirteen # 75

Thirteen Things about our trip to Pyramid Hill On Monday, we took a field trip to an outdoor sculpture garden, Pyramid Hill. Since it was supposed to be sunny and warm (50ºF for a high), I thought it was high time we got out there. Even though it was supposed to be warm, it wasn't so much, but we had a lovely time getting all cultured and everything. Of course, I took many many pictures. I am not going to share them all today but I will share many. You have been warned. 1. Ok, the idea of going to a "sculpture park" was not high on my children's list of happy things to do. There was much puling and griping on the way over there. Once we finally found it and disembarked, they had more fun. In fact, we got a little giddy with all the highbrow entertainment. Of course, you can't take the goof out of my group, so we got some weird and funny pictures and had a good time. This one was in front of a frozen pond, before we really started to let our hair down, as it were. Can you see the deer tracks on the snow atop the ice behind the children? 2. One of our very favorite sculptures (and yes, we did have favorites), was Dragonfly Dome. It was also one of the few for which we could actually find a name. Their map leaves a lot to be desired. 3. From there, we examined this blue sculpture. Of course, Abby climbed right into it. She's a great lover of art, is our Abby. She likes to get right in the midst of it. (The twins liked it too.) 4. In fact, she loves art so much that she decided to kiss one of the sculptures. Right on the lips. I also like this photo because it shows all 5 children in an atypical way from how they're usually posed. 5. And she just wanted to be a part of art permanently, so she allowed one of the sculptures to nibble on her. What a patroness of the arts! All gave some but she gave all. She was also quite willing to sacrifice her sister Rachel. Anything for art, you know. 6. After the giant lips, we really got into the spirit of the art. This one was of the girls "shocked" because their brother "destroyed" an art installation. And the picture from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday was from me "yelling" at him because he tore down the pillars. 7. There were a lot of pieces where we just went . (I won't even tell you what the girls decided this one was representing. Suffice it to say that the hair was way down by then.) 8. I love this picture of the biggest girls. 9. We saw many things that I think weren't meant to be artistic. But when you're an artistic philistine, you just make your way as best you can. Here was the first of many piles of artistic deer scat. We even saw a herd of artistic deer down by one of the frozen-over ponds...now they were poetry in motion ( and that's certainly artistic). 10. After we left, I asked the Big Girls what their favorite sculptures were. Abby's favorite was "nature". (They actually "skated" on the sort-of frozen pond. Yes, my heart was in my throat much of the time.) 11. There was one sculpture that I was particularly fascinated by and hence, I took many many pictures. Which I will now share with you. Aren't you the lucky one? 12. I also liked this one a lot, although it didn't show up well in photos. The way it catches the light is great fun. 13. Pyramid Hill is 256 acres of wooded property with pieces interspersed throughout. Did I mention that we were the only people in the park on Monday? We certainly were. Although we did not walk to each and every installation, we walked to at least half of them. Midway through, David lay down for a rest. Although he was not saying this, I chose to caption this, "Enough sculptures already!" Oh my! Thirteen comments and only halfway through the pictures. Or maybe a third. I sense a sequel coming on, don't you? Happy Thursday!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!




The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday below is a foretaste of tomorrow's Thursday Thirteen, Lord willing.    And will you look at that weather sticker?  That does not tell the whole story.  Yesterday the high was around 50ºF.  This ginormous storm blew through and today the high is what, 20º?  I've heard the wind chill quoted at -20ºF.  It is indeed cold outside!  The doors of the vehicles were frozen shut this morning.  Not fun.

Happy Wednesday!  Stay warm!

Sort of Wordless Wednesday

Ok, the photos follow of our gift-giving extravaganza. I must say that it was very fun. I acquired much lovely chocolate (which will help me, as if I needed help in this event, to gain even more lovely weight), an Alison Krauss CD, and some time with Friend Husband (thanks, Sarah!). I think that the pictures might speak for themselves but today I will speak for them. Rachel got a dollhouse kit and earrings, which are what she's looking at in her pictures. Abby got a Webkinz horse and that photo actually captures her in midair as she's jumping for joy. BTW, I spent about 30 minutes trying to do red-eye removal on her demon eyes but I only succeed in making her look cross-eyed and/or inbred, so sorry for the demon eyes. We gave Sarah scrolls entitling her to dinner and a night out with each 'rent. She was thrilled. David and Keziah got many toys, including some loud ones (what were we thinking?!) and some sunglasses. Now that I've taken all of the mystery out of the photos, here they are!

Thursday Thirteen # 66

Thirteen new things/experiences that my children saw/had in Texas   1.  A family reunion with random "kissing cousins".  They're vastly confused about how all of these people fit in the constellation. 2.  The wide Texas skies 3.  Grass burrs, aka "stickers" which are a very good reason to wear shoes when you're outside in Texas.  Poor David was running around barefoot in the playground near the venue where the reunion was held, despite my telling him over and over to put his shoes on.  He got one embedded in his heel and when I went to take it out, I unthinkingly said, "That's a sticker, son.  They hurt and that's why I wanted you to wear your shoes."  He looked at me like I was nuts.  I could almost hear him thinking, "That's not a sticker!  Stickers are cool things you put on paper, not bad things that stick in your feet!" 4.  A town square.  I don't know why we've never been in a town square (at least I don't recall having been) but we "did the square" in Brady. 5.  Oil wells.  There were oil wells galore all over Oklahoma and the parts of Texas where we were.  They were disbelieving that that was what those things actually were. 6.  Cotton fields.  Again, they were very disbelieving about the fact that those white tufts were actual cotton.  I really wanted to photograph them next to or in a field of cotton but time did not permit.  Maybe next time. 7.  Walking around town, in the middle of the street, without bothering to look for traffic.  This was in Melvin which is, as I have mentioned before, pretty much of a ghost town.  It took the girls a while to adjust but David was in his element. 8.  Fire ants.  (By the way, you have to pronounce them "far ants" when you're in Texas.)  We saw them all over.  I accidentally set David down in a bed of them when I went back to get a shoe that he'd kicked off his foot.  Fortunately, I plucked him out pretty quickly when I returned with the shoe and realized what I had done.  Those buggers are nasty critters. 9.  "Calling the Hogs", ala the Arkansas Razorbacks.  You'll do a lot of funny things in a 4 day car trip. 10.  Rivalry between The University of Texas and Texas A&M University.  One of the cousins from Pennsylvania was wearing a Longhorns shirt and was accosted by other cousins who hail from TAMU.  He said, in utter confusion, "I'm in Texas, I thought this was what I was supposed to wear."  The Aggie cousin said, "Not around here."  I reassured him that he was safe and even welcome in some circles, just not in that particular one (and that Cousin Lisa had said her piece and wasn't going to annihilate him). 11.  Picking up pecans.  While this is not exactly a quintessential Texas activity, it was one that absorbed many hours of my life when I was growing up.  Every Thanksgiving that we spent in Brady, Mamaw sent us outside to clear her yard (and the street) of the fallen pecans.  Mother took them to a man in town who would crack them for us and we'd spend a few nights in the winter shelling and bagging pecans.  We happened to be in Brady when the pecans were falling and I showed them how to crack them without a nut cracker (that would be "under your shoe and carefully") and pick out the nut meats.  They were astounded that you could just walk around picking up nuts from the street even, and have the nuts.  They don't even particularly like pecans and they got a kick out of that.  Too bad we don't have any pecans around here. 12.  And speaking of trees, I pointed out not only the pecan trees, but they got to see their first cottonwoods and live oaks.  This does not sound significant, I know, but they listened to Hank the Cowdog all the way down there and Hank mentions cottonwoods quite frequently.  So now the chlidren know what they look like.  And live oaks are just cool trees.  My grandmother had a multitude of them in her side yard and we'd always climb them, ride them, and take pictures in them. 13.  Swimming in a "tank".  I had forgotten that they were called "tanks" until Friend Brian reminded me last week.  Friends Tony and Norma have a couple of small ponds on their property that they encouraged the children to wade and splash in.  Of course, it didn't take them long to start swimming in them as well.  I will point out here that Sarah did not participate in this activity, as she did not want to squish mud between her feet.  Come to think about it, this is one of the few times they've ever been in water that wasn't chlorinated and encased in concrete.  What a waste of a good childhood! There were other cool (and probably not so cool) things that they experienced when we were there.  It was the first time that they'd been in a town where a significant number of the buildings were abandoned and falling apart.  They also (very kindly, I might add), put up with not one but two trips to cemeteries in one day and dealt with my history obsession there and at the old homeplace very well.  It was a grand trip.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)



Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday