Steaminess Noted

(email from the ALS association)

Walk to Defeat ALS Heat Advisory

The Walk to Defeat ALS will be held tomorrow June 27th in Forest Park across from the Education and Visitor Center. The forecast is predicting extremely hot weather. We are asking our walkers, patients and families to use precautions in planning for this event. Our activities will take place in the morning and should be over before the hottest part of the day. However, if you feel the heat will be too difficult for you to manage safely, please know you do not have to physically walk to participate. We will have staff accepting registrations and donations Saturday morning as well as in the office on Monday.

Steamy

We didn't walk.

The temperature and humidity conspired and gave us some weather to rival New Orleans. It's steamy and steamy with all the steaminess. For a short time, we considered just participating in the 1-mile walk (as opposed to the 3-mile walk)...but then we'd be driving an hour to walk for a half and hour...and it just didn't make sense. And it's hot and steamy. Did I mention the steaminess? Why must the walk be in June? June is steamy.

Our off-line donations were brought over by my brother and his wife, and if we get t-shirts anyway I'll still give it away. If not, I've got last year's - washed, but never worn (I prefer v-neck to crew neck) that I'll give away instead.

Starting Something

Tonight, while sitting at E2's play practice, I overheard a teen-age girl speaking to a group of teen-age girls:

Good news! Michael Jackson is dead! Young boys everywhere are safer!

Um....yeah. Talk about the difference in perspective a generation makes.

R.I.P. M.J.

Walking In The Lou

We're walking in the St. Louis ALS Walk this Saturday.

And you want to donate, right?

Great! Go here!

I will send my ALS Walk participant t-shirt to one random donor.

This should totally be one of the pictures from last year's walk, but I can't find them. Where did they go? Instead, it's a picture from St. Louis Zoo, which is in Forest Park where the walk will be.

Critters

Among the many critters we saw on Captiva Island was this bird.

I never did look on the bird identification card in our house to see what type of bird he/she was.

It was not shy around humans, spending most of it's time waiting for all of us to clear out after sunset.

Sometimes he grew impatient and went in the water anyway.



Every night there was someone taking his picture.

He should probably have an agent so he can have help collecting modeling fees...

... but he's just a cool, laid-back beach bird.

Not Geckos

They're brown anoles, members of the chameleon family.

Learning that they were not geckos did not stop us from calling them geckos, of course.

Hello, gecko-man...or woman, I can't tell.

There were critters all over the place, including in the trees.

Some even posed for me.

Pool Photos As Abstract Art

Tropical Paradise Out In The Yard

Behold! More scenes from our tropical oasis - this installment features the yard. All of the homes on our lane - heck, most of the homes on the island, were beautifully landscaped. The foliage afforded an abundance of privacy for the closely-spaced properties; once we entered the yard we were in our own little world...

...where even the birds have a nice vacation home, with signs directing them to local eating establishments.

Limes! A few more weeks and we could have made margaritas for the whole lane.

CO CO NUTS!

Tranquility.

Tropical flowers.

Shells in the landscaping...

We left our own collection, similar to this in size.

Crushed shell path around one side of the house and patio...

...and a crushed shell path around the other side.

And at the end of our lane was the best path of all...

...the one to the beach!

Manly Builder In St. Louis

Lookie at this...Carter Oosterhouse will be in the Lou! It's an awesome cause.

Gypsies In The Palace

We're gypsies in the palace, he's left us here alone The Order of the Sleepless Knights Will now assume the throne We ain't got no money, we ain't got no right But we're gypsies in the palace, we got it all tonight! ~Jimmy Buffett

Remember your first time using a camera alone? Maybe it was a new 110-film beauty, or perhaps you just got to borrow your parents' camera for a special occasion...like a field trip, or a slumber party. Or, if you're a parent, have you handed your camera over to one of your young kids while you've been traveling lately? Resulting in a lot of 'what the...? why did you take a picture of this?" shots? Nothing says fun like giving the kids a disposable camera and letting them go...

I just read that over and realized how much I just dated myself...pretty much all of that has been solved by the digital camera, hasn't it? Even I am guilty of handing over my point and shoot camera when the kids are looking for something to do, knowing I can erase whatever I want.

The point I was trying to make was that at some time in their life (usually when they're young) almost everyone has traveled and taken photos of their lodgings...hotel room, condo, whatever. Right? That's not just me, is it? It is? Oh, hmmm...

Well, like the 9-year-old I remember being, I couldn't help myself when we got to our vacation rental. It was even more beautiful than the photos I'd seen online! There would be eight of us living there, and I figured time was of the essence if I wanted pictures before our belongings began to sprawl...even in some of these you can see our stuff, or some of the food we'd picked up at the grocery store...so I didn't even worry about 'the right light', I just started snapping away.

When I win the lottery, after I hire a personal chef, I might buy this. At the very least, I want to use the decor and the mood it evokes, as inspiration in my own home. Just be glad I spared you the photos of the bedrooms - I liked those too.

I boiled shrimp - fresh from the Gulf, legs still intact - for the first time on that stove...and they were good!

The desk in the background was computer central - or, where Rob set up his laptop and we all used it too.

This table comfortably seated eight, for the family dinners we had, and it was also a good spot to play Wiki Sticks .

Would you care to step outside on the patio, a nearly bug-free zone? Yes, so would I.

Read-aloud: The Tale of Despereaux

Photos Held Hostage

When we travel, I upload my photos to Rob's laptop every night as back-up...and that's where our vacation pictures are right now.

I still have all the originals on my camera, so I guess I could just upload them all in one batch...

Or, I could work on making a Flikr group of our California pictures so I could add a Pictobrowser here...I don't think I've done that yet...have I?

But, no, I'll just feel sorry for myself having none of the vacation photos to post...

Maybe tomorrow I'll post form his computer.

Home Again

The views in our hometown sure don't look like Florida. It was 90 degrees here the day before we came home. The day we returned? Sixty-two.

Relaxing On The Island

Compliments of bartender Rob.

Mollusk Egg Casing

We learned a lot at the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.