Daily Bird #29

I saw where LSU arrived in whatever city they are scheduled to play in whatever bowl game they won.  

You can tell I am not a big sports fan, but it does allow me to spend unadulterated time in the Quilt Studio. 

But LSU does sport purple and gold uniform colors.  Which in turn makes a nice pallet for a bird, don't you think?

The patterns on his chest sort of look like those drawings they do that show the  various players where to move on the field.

He is really good at statistics.  Oh, oh.


I tried to write statistician, but it spell checked to transvestite!

Which would be this guy...........

LSU LSU LSU!

We all know I an not a sports fan and even less when I consider that the most important thing at a lot of universities is not that they turn out graduates but how the football games go that weekend.

But a good friend of mine and her mom LOVE LOVE LOVE the girl's basketball games at LSU.  Ann and her mom, Miss Elizabeth, have traveled with the team for years now.  On Miss Elizabeth's 90th birthday, the entire team came to the party!  Now that is a big fan!  Doesn't she look incredible for, oh, let's just say.....OVER 90??

Yesterday Ann and her momma were invited to be Honorary Coaches at the game.  They sat at the Coach's Table on the sidelines and were at the Pre-Game and Half Time talk and update.  They were presented with a play book from the game as well.

Ann called me so excited, I know this is a big honor for them.  I am sure they both were the happiest fans in the stadium! 

Ann made the LSU purse for her mom in one of the groups I did for the ladies.  It looks great sitting there on the LSU Coach's Table next to the Honorary LSU Coach!  LOL.

So, with the help of Ann and Miss Elizabeth, LSU Girl's  Women's Basketball, beat Arkansas Pine Bluff 80-28 last night.  LSU is ranked 20th right now, we will see if they jump in the ratings now they have excellent help on the sidelines!

Go Go Go LSU!

Biking and brining

Sunday we rode our bikes 11.6 miles through LSU and the Golf Courses again.  Me and the trees were ready for Halloween.  This time we hit several places we don't normally ride through.  The Dairy Center was supposed to be open but we were early, so I guess we missed the ice cream.  And we rode through Tiger Town to eat at the Chimes.  Frank and I ate there 40 years ago every once in a blue moon when he was in school  and we could scrape together enough money for a hamburger. 

Check out my SEXY pose.  Yeah, they laughed at me too!  As sexy as I can get in riding togs, sweat and helmet hair!

At one of the fountains you can see the wheels in Frank's brain turning.  He still is six years old in mind.  It took precious little cajoling for Frank to go for it.

                                                      Did he make it?

Yep!

And here is Dan expounding on the wonders of the world as we know it.  See the look on Amber's face? 

I had gotten the brining stuff together for the turkey on Saturday.  I was not able to find a turkey and ended up with a large chicken.  I brined overnight, which was actually too long for a mere chicken.  The overnight time made it a bit too salty for my tastes at the end but it was incredibly juicy and delicious.  The cornbread dressing was a flop but the rice dressing was excellent.  Check it out, I thought the veggies made a pretty display and might make a nice art piece.

I placed the chicken in the brining pot, this chicken looks lost in that huge pot, doesn't it?  Then I put some goodies into the brine solution.  That is when the bird soaked overnight.

I had to make space in the fridge for the huge pot.  And this isn't even the largest stock pot I have!  Here is poor Mr. DiNozzo just dreaming about me leaving the chicken  on the counter top so he can grab it and run!

And don't think he wouldn't do it in a heartbeat!

glen

 

New Idea and a Bike Ride

I have a new (well, new to the blog) idea that I am sure you will like.  I am going to publish a Zen of Quilting post once a week, not sure what day.  Or if I am going to do a particular day even.  I hate to promise a day and not deliver.



I nearly fell off the bike trying to snap a picture and ride



It is almost a meditation piece.  I started it years ago when I needed some peace in my life and it was so incredibly successful with me and the CyberGuild ladies.  I even sold a few of the pieces to some local rags.  Zen of Quilting.  This week I will polish one up and post it for you to decide.

The ride today was spectacular.  If the weather was this wonderful all the time I could be totally happy all the time!  The sky did not have a cloud floating in it anywhere. 

I would have thought that the lakes paths would be crowded, but that early there were hardly any people about.  You can see Amber and the boys up ahead of me. 

There is a series of maybe 7 lakes that interconnect in LSU Lakes System.  They all have names but I didn't see them posted anywhere to decide which is which.  Over the last few years there has been a great and wonderful effort to make the lakes accessible to the public through decking, trails, a beach renovation and lake dredging project.  It is really wonderful. 

Here is Frank and Frank and Dan on one of the decks over the lakes.

 The lake is a haven for cormorants.  They are fairly good sized birds and like to sit in the dying cypress trees.  The lakes used to be filled with these huge cypress trees but as the pollutants came into the lake from the various industrial systems they die along with everything else.

And something must be connected somewhere because I have seen small alligators in the lakes as well.  Not often, mind you.  There are really people who think we have alligators walking down every street here in Louisiana!  And I didn't see one today even.

The teals and mallards are out and about as well.  The female was surrounded by a group of females so she must be auditioning prospective suitors for the spring mating season.  Look at how clear the water is right now since we have had the rains and the cooler weather.  In the summer heat we often have fish kills due to lack of oxygen in the lakes.  But today they were beautiful and crystal clear.

 

We rode all the way down the lake system to the golf course.  It was designed by some guy from Ireland and opened in 1928 at the heyday of golf in the US.  I picture tall slim handsome men in their bright short knee length pants with argyle sweaters playing a gentlemanly round of golf.  Although in the heat here I wonder what they wore.  The short legged pants would have been good but all those sweaters and socks would have been stifling hot!  Here are some trees along the golf course path that are old old old oaks. 

We rode through the place where Carrie got married at the golf club house and Contemporary Art Museum.  She got married at the museum not the Pro Shop!  LOL.  this is Dan watching the bikes while everyone else used the facilities at the Pro Shop.

There was quite a bit of hilly paths, something we are not used to here.  About half way we sat on the benches under the majestic old oaks and just soaked in the beauty of it all. 

 We finished the ride with lunch at VooDoo BBQ and a plate of steaming hot pulled pork in cane syrup and vinegar BBQ sauce!  The lakes held one last gem for us.  This snowy egret flew within inches over our heads to land on the grassy knoll in the lake making the picture perfect shot for me!

glen

Thanking the Firefighters

When I think of 9-11-01 I always think of the firefighters.  So it was fitting this morning when we rode through the deserted downtown streets of Baton Rouge toward the levee that would take us to LSU, that we had the opportunity to see the ceremony being held for the 5 Louisiana people killed in the 9-11 attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers.  The firefighters were there in their truck and I got to thank them.

There were lots of flags in view.....and that is the way it should be.  I meant to bring flags for our bikes but put them down to take the sweet potato from the Farmer's Market out of DiNozzo's mouth and forgot to pick them back up.

Our total for today's ride was 16.5 miles.  We rode to the levee after the ceremony and headed to LSU to see the new statue of Shaquille O'Neill.  Everyone knows who he is, right?  He was the 7 foot 1 basketball player from LSU who just retired from the NBA.  I guess that deserved a statue.  Here is Frank trying to make that dunk ball and Dan just out of the picture admiring The Shaq.

We found one of the old old oak trees on campus called the Bicentennial Oak.  It was 200 years old in 1976 or so.  The branches of the old oaks are so thick and heavy they often touch the ground.  Here students just walk underneath them to hurry to their classes. 

This was cool.  When we hit the outside of the Field and Track Stadium there was a boneyard of old equipment and we saw these wonderfully rusted cranes.  Heading back to the Louisiana State Capitol Building were butterflies collecting nectar from the purple and gold lantana flowers. 

Even though Frank and I were meeting Carrie and Andrew and the In-laws Bobby and Fayne or a late lunch, all of us wanted to make the ride last longer.  So we headed out past the old Our Lady of the Lake Hospital building that is now government buildings.  My Uncle Buddy was Chief of Ob-Gyn there many years ago.  The lake is beautiful and there were nutria, ducks, geese, mallards, grebes and plenty plenty turtles.  Those three geese reminded me of the Three Stooges for some reason.  I thought the capitol building was beautiful in the cloudless day.  And Huey P. Long gets to watch it all!

LSU! LSU! LSU!

Spent a great day at Ann's yesterday putting together the LSU Tote Bags.  It was a true workday for us.  I had the fabrics and the fusible batting cut and ready to go when they arrived.  The girls worked hard  putting together their bags and with some help from me, they all got it to a stage where the finishing can be done next time we meet.I brought two sewing machines and helped everyone progress from setting out their squares and sewing them together to fusing the batting on the back of the bag pieces.

I don't really like LSU stuff but this bag is wonderful.  It is really big too! 

All my sewing stuff is still in the car.  I will have to show you my completed bag later.  I left Ann's and rushed to a meeting then on to the Londoner for CAAWS night and two meetings there.  The Parade Committee is gearing up for the CAAWS Mystic Krewe of Mutts parade in late January and the Santa CAAWS people are gearing up for their November 13, 2011 date with Santa. 

Some major decisions got made.  I am always impressed with the people who do these things for CAAWS.  They love what they do and it shows.  Jenny had to be out of town for work and she conference called in to be at the meeting!  Imagine that!

The theme for the parade this year is "The Good, The Bad and the Furry".  I love it.  I can see DiNozzo as Clint Dogwood!  LOL.  He needs guns and a cowboy hat!  Chloe the Smelly Basset can be the Saloon Girl!  Yep, that is what she would have been too!  It certainly wouldn't have been that nun in Two Mules for Sister Sarah!

Santa CAAWS will have a new backdrop again this year.  Santa will sit in front of a real fireplace and ask the good little doggies what they want for Christmas.  Gene will be Santa again I think.  When he is not, we get complaints that he is not the Santa.  He just is SANTA!

This is one of the best photos from any of the Christmas Photos.  This is my friend Dan who was Santa at Petsmart last year.  He did a fabulous job of holding dogs all day........and he doesn't even own a dog!

Today my other sewing group got canceled due to a family death causing one to be out of town.  I was sorry to hear of the passing, but know that the relief is welcome when our family members are in pain. 

I have made some major changes in my life, for the better I believe.  Some I have implemented and some I am practicing.  I think that every once in a while we need to take stock in our lives, sift the chaff from the wheat and move on.  I am sifting.

glen:  moving on to Parades, Santa and Sewing.......not a bad combination of things .......  oh, yeah, and cleaning up my sewing room........No....I have not done it yet.........yes it needs to be done........I am in here today........I know, get 'er done!.............Alright, I am going.........