Santa Barbara

Last September we headed out to Santa Barbara to film for one of Paul's clients. There are so many sweet memories associated with that beautiful place. Paul called me for the first time when he was living there and we spent many hours on the phone. He described this wonderful place that was half mountain half beach and I wanted to see it for a long time. It was certainly breathtaking. I loved it.

Picture of the Day: Empty

We often test how far our car can go past empty.
Happy Friday people!

Self-Assignment: Mirrors

Yesterday I gave myself a little homework. As you know I spent the day in town while Paul worked. I didn't want to be a couch potato and spend the whole day in the library so I grabbed my camera and hit the town. I headed to the older part of Trenton where the houses and stores look antique and inviting.

It wasn't until I saw that mirror in the shop window that I knew what I wanted to do. Mirrors! That was it! I would find a mirror everywhere I went and take a picture in it.

I went all over....including the court house.

Wordy Wednesday: Random Facts

So today I am at the library. Yes, I made it over the wall and escaped the lonely little house for the day. Paul works today from 11-8 so I thought I would come to town with him and busy myself with things until he got off. Truth is I don't like being home alone when its dark. Call me scared but if you lived as far out as we do you would be frightened too.

Anyway, so here I am....blogging for Wednesday. I couldn't think of a subject to look up so I just typed in "Random Facts". It came up with quite a list. I waded through the long list and came up with a dozen or so completely random facts.




President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute



In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.


The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.


When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months.


The first person selected as the Time Magazine Man of the Year - Charles Lindbergh in 1927.


The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.


The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.


1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.

The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache.


The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.

There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.


The earliest recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679, when Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku, Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco." He died one month later.

Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to wear tail lights.

Carpet at Last

Our first little house together.

Its wasn't much to look at. Quite shabby actually. A typical little farmhouse. But it was our first home and we poured our hearts into it. Now almost a year and a half later we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Every little bit makes our cozy little house more and more of a reality. Last week we got wall to wall carpet in our upstairs bedroom, stairs and guest room.

Let me just say....its so nice to wake up and put your bare feet on soft carpet rather then cold plywood. The Lord provided just as He said He would. And we are so thankful.

Before

After

Garlic Olives

Last week I found an interesting recipe while perusing one of my Italian cookbooks. It was entitled "Garlic Olives". It was a very simple recipe and looked delicious. I've included the recipe at the end of this post for those of you who would like to try it!

Garlic Olives
1 can(7 ounces) large pitted ripe olives, undrained
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper (I did not add this to mine)
1-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

Turn olives and their liquid into a quart jar with tight-fitting lid. Add vinegar and rest of ingredients; cover tightly and shake well. Refrigerate several days, shaking jar occasionally. Drain just before serving. Makes about 36.

Picture of the Day: Us

ITS FRIDAY!! :) Have a great weekend!!

Snow and a Blue Dress

My sister in law Mary is visiting me for the week. Today I convinced her that despite the snow and cold it would be fun to go out and take a few pictures. We dressed her up and I "did her hair". I got my antique trunks and we headed outside.

I was not a fan of most of the pictures we took. Here are a couple that I did like:

Wordy Wednesday: Who is John Wayne?

I could write a couple pages on the actor John Wayne and all that he did but here is a quick overview:

John Wayne is one of the genuine icons of 20th-century American film. Famed as a star of westerns, especially the westerns of director John Ford, "The Duke" also played cops and soldiers with regularity. No matter what the role, Wayne nearly always played the same character: a big, tough, but sentimental hero who talked straight and met the bad guys head on. Offscreen Wayne was considered a superpatriot and was closely associated with conservative political causes. His many films include classics such as Stagecoach (1939, with Wayne as the Ringo Kid), the Irish fable The Quiet Man (1952), and The Searchers (1956, with a young Natalie Wood). Wayne won an Oscar late in his career for his portrayal of hard-drinking marshal Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 film True Grit.

Wayne was honored with a United States postage stamp released in April of 2004... Wayne was married three times, all to Latinas... Wayne was the uncle of heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison, who also starred in the movie Rocky V... Wayne did not serve in World War II; though he was within draft age (34) at the time of Pearl Harbor, he was eventually classified 3-A (deferred for family dependency -- Wayne had four children) and later 2-A (deferred in the national interest). The issue is a touchy one, and many of Wayne's fans insist that he was actually classified 4-F due to an old football knee injury, a bad ear, or a chronic back injury... A heavy smoker, Wayne recorded a famous anti-smoking TV ad after being diagnosed with lung cancer... After surving lung cancer and heart surgery, Wayne developed gastric cancer, his final illness.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/john-wayne#ixzz1BXbkCbdU

Mr & Mrs Rogers

Around the holiday time my in-laws got all dressed up for a Christmas party. Before going out they requested a picture by the Christmas tree. Here are a couple photos. What a wonderful couple!

Westport

A couple weeks ago Paul and I headed to Westport, Missouri. We strolled around the little town for a couple hours just shooting random pictures. It was actually pretty fun looking for unique things to take pictures of.

Here are some of my favorites:

Picture of the Day: Sunset

A beautiful Missouri sunset.
Happy Friday Everyone! The weekend is here!

Rogers Christmas '10

Christmas was in Kansas City this past year. Paul and I rotate between my house and his during the holidays. One of these years we need to get all of us together. That would almost 40 people just immediate family members! My brother John was visiting us during Christmas. It was nice to have him.

Christmas morning was fun. The Rogers open presents starting at the oldest and working down to the youngest. It took a good while to get all the gifts opened. Then Aunt Jill gave each of us a stocking stuffed with all kinds of goodies.

Here are a couple pictures of the morning:

(click to enlarge)

Wordy Wednesday: Can you melt a diamond?

So I am introducing a new special each Wednesday.....

I will look up and post a random fact on various subjects. Hopefully they will be interesting facts...feel free to comment and add your own research.

This weeks post is "Can you melt a diamond?"


Yes it is possible. However it is impossible to do at standard temperatures and pressures like that at SATP. It has been done by the Z-Machine at the Sandia National Laboratories by using a pressure of 10 million times normal Atmospheric pressure. To create the pressure, the machine's magnetic fields hurled small plates at the diamond at 34 kilometers per second (21 miles per second), or faster than the Earth orbits the Sun.
Unfortunately in open air, the fact that is it large network of covalently bonded carbons make it extremely hard to melt in the first place. Secondly, diamond at high temperatures will not melt, rather it will prefer to burn, as characteristic of all carbon allotropes. A diamond will burn or oxidize when exposed to a hot flame in the presence of oxygen, for example an oxygen torch with a temperature of 800 degrees C (1,472 degrees F), according to The Merck Index, a standard chemistry reference work.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_melt_a_diamond#ixzz1ArphYzaB

-From Answers.com

Downtown Lee Summit

On Christmas Eve we headed to the downtown area of Lee Summit. I love the little shops and streets. I blogged previously about a shoot with Rachel at the same place last year in February.

This time I was there to take some picture of Caleb. Outfitted in jeans and suspenders we got some fun shots. Here are my favorites: