a walk in the woods

i had a meeting today in nashville....a short meeting.  afterwards,  i  planned on going to work.  now...nashville is 1.5 hours from home, and the clinic is about that from nashville...so i doubled my driving time today.  however....the past couple of times when i've taken this route back to the clinic, i've passed a sign for a state park and nature trail.  i decided today i was stopping to check it out.  it was a rough hewn path and very wooded....looked like it would be teeming with wildlife, but all i saw was a few birds...and i was quiet!!  really!!  but it was a beautiful walk on a narrow and steep lil path to a small creek and waterfall.  my 30 minute detour was well worth it.  :) 

    

      

monday photo shoot

John Scalzi's Monday Photo Shoot: What's Pretty?  You know what you think is pretty. Show us. It can be a person, a place, or thing, just as long as the primary reaction you (and hopefully others) get from seeing it is, my, that's pretty. It's so simple that your major difficulty, I expect, will be narrowing down the field to one thing.

ok...i'm a day late....seems like that happens a lot.  John was right...the difficult part was picking one photo.  ;)  i finally decided on a great smoky mountain sunrise....

 

vestige of fall

it has been a great thanksgiving weekend...and as the old adage says - all good things must come to an end.  oman...these past 4 days have sped by!!!  today was absolutely beautiful....warm, sunny with bright blue skies...just perfect for a nice long walk.  :)  here are a few shots from today's trek.

         

       

hope everyone has a great week!

a few that got away...

ok...a few corny thanksgiving jokes.....

what did the turkey say to the farmer on thanksgiving morning?  cock-a-doodle-do!!!

why did the policeman arrest the turkey?  he was suspected of fowl play

what do you get when you mix thanksgiving dinner and an office message?  turkey with all the faxings!

knock, knock. who's sthere?  gladys.  gladys who?  gladys thanksgiving.  aren't you?

lol...ok, ok...i know...these are bad, very bad....but... they were fun.  :)

and yes...i'm baking....it's almost time for my cakes to come out and pies to go in the oven.  ;)

thanksgiving eve

i'm such a procrastinator!  i left work early yesterday to start my baking.  after that hour drive home though, i sat down and never got started.  again, today i left a little early with the intentions of  baking.  here it is late afternoon, and i've yet to crack that first egg.  aaaccckkk....procrastination!!  i blame my dad...actually, his whole clan - as many of them seem to have this nasty habit...the coleman curse....alas...sigh....i really have no one to blame but me.  lol

thanksgiving....a time to give thanks...i am so blessed....so much to be thankful for...i'm happy, have a wonderful hubby, great kids and grandkids, and a wonderful family...good health, good job, the list goes on and on...i realize how blessed...how fortunate i am and i realize that there are many who are sad and or hurting this thanksgiving.  my heart goes out to them.

tomorrow most of my siblings and their families will meet at mom's and dad's.  mom makes her famous (all the colemans,smiths, thomas', browns, etc know it's true)  cornbread dressing and a few sides. the rest of us bring in side dishes and desserts.  there is generally way too much food and we are all stuffed before it's over.  the main thing is that most of the family comes together to celebrate this wonderful day.  the house is getting smaller and smaller as each year the grandkids are now bringing in the great grands....almost bursting at the seams!!  :)

and still...i procrastinate....i've got to get started if i want to finish tonight.  i just wanted to wish everyone a very happy and blessed thanksgiving!!!

meet marina

one of four beluga whales on exhibit at the atlanta aquarium....i loved watching them!  they would swim up to the window, and it really looked as if they were smiling...especially marina.  there was a little girl near the glass and marina would swim right down in front of her on several passes...she even pressed her face up to the glass a few times.  the caretaker said that marina liked children and often came in for closer looks.  i know she made that little girl's day!  :)

                                     

                                            they reminded me of gentle giants..... :)

photo scavenger hunt #96

from krissy:  This week's subject is art.  Interpret this any way you would like.  It can be something inside or out of your house.  It can be a painting, a statue, architecture, or anything you would like. 

i've actually created a few things over the years, but i'm not real creative.  i consider a lot of my photography art...even have some of it framed and hanging in my home....but after much thought, i am displaying some true art from the best Artist i know...

          

                                              

                                   these were taken at the georgia aquarium in atlanta friday. 

john's monday photo shoot

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Floaty Things: Snap a photo of something that floats. If it's buoyant, it's in!

after going through my files to find things that float, i came back to link my entry only to discover what john's really after is something around the house that is nearly unsinkable....hmmm....well...guess i'll go with my first thoughts and pics to match.  :)

    

have you ever watched jellyfish??  they are buoyancy in motion!!!  this was taken at the chattanooga aquarium.  i love watching them!

how about a butterfly using a lily pad for a raft??  :)

              

                a turtle and goldfish among the water lilies....ok...the fish is not really floating

                    

      

weekend assignment - nature

sis, meg, sent this site to me....thought it would be wonderful to participate in.  be sure to check out the other wonderful entries of:  Weekend Assignment:  Nature entry at AOL Photo Talk: All Things Photographic.     

   

     

             

                               

more of the smokies

thought i'd write a little more about my trip....man it sure seems like a long time ago!  as you know, the trip happened due to business, and i talked hubby into meeting me up there for a long weekend get-away.  team building exercises are one of the all time favorites of the company...many of them i am glancing at the side door hoping for a chance to escape.  this trip's activity was really fun, though.  laser tag!!!  yep...this middle aged, overweight, nana donned vest and manned a laser gun and snuck around a dark room, hiding behind walls, jumping out and firing at the 'enemy'.  my roommate was on the opposite team, and we had made this deal....we wouldn't shoot one another.  lol  yeah...right!  i'm not sure who shot the other first....but once we had that gear on and weapon in hand, we became very competitive.  i'm not really sure that anything is actually accomplished by these activities....i mean at this point in our lives and careers..... you are either a team player or  not, right??  anyway....my team won....and i was actually awarded the title 'cosmic sergeant'.   that was 3rd ranking from the bottom.  lol 

so here are a few more pics....

the colors were so amazing!!! 

 

an old grist mill...pretty interesting.  you can actually enter and go up to 2nd floor...3rd floor closed.

    

there were many beautiful chapels.  2 years ago, i looked at getting married in a chapel like this in the smokies....but we chose the cruise instead.

a visitor's center

coming in for a landing on little pigeon river....

       

can you believe these colors???  it was so beautiful. this was sunrise at clingman's dome...definitely the highlight of the trip!

stem cell research

this is in response to:   This may push readers away, but... by Nancyluvspix regarding fetal stem cell research....

I think that one reason fetal stem cell research is opposed by so many is that the very idea and act of abortion is so oppositional.  It's a bridge we would have to cross to say, "well if the baby is going to be discarded anyway"....it's just too hard to do this.  Not that I will ever sit in judgement of a woman who has had an abortion.  Only God knows her heart, her circumstance...and while He would never condone the act, He does love that woman very much.  I also want to be clear that while I oppose abortion, I would never, ever condone the actions of many anti abortionists who have harmed others in their protests.  And in the case of in vitro fertilization,  I believe that life begins at conception, and to deliberately bring a life into being to destroy it in the name of research....I just can't condone.

I think the better alternative is using umbilical cord blood, placentas and adult stem cells.  This has been proven to be effective and has already been used to treat many diseases.  Embryonic stem cells have yet been used to treat the first disease....yes....it might be said that its because of the opposition to the research...but there has been research for both, and it is documented that its the adult stem cells where there has been success.  I know that depending on the prevailing beliefs of the one doing the research, data can be found to support either side.

 

I am a nurse and have experience in Labor and Delivery.  That's where I worked during both of my pregnancies. I worked the night shift...one night we had no patients...I was 12 weeks pregnant, and we got the bright idea to hook me up on the sonogram machine we had just gotten in the department.  I was amazed.  At 12 weeks we were looking at a little baby....she was moving all around, and at one point, she startled...throwing out all limbs....you could actually see all fingers and toes!  Never again did we see all of her, but I think at that particular time, she was small enough that we got her whole image on the screen.  I'm telling you this because it's at 12 weeks that a lot of abortions are performed.  I believe that if mom's could see what that little fetus really looked like at that stage, there would be fewer abortions.

 

photo scavenger hunt #94

Photo Scavenger Hunt #94 subject...  This week go into your files and select a photo to post of sentimental value or special meaning.  Don't forget to tell us why it holds value for you. 

 

well....if you've learned anything about me by now....it's generally that i can't just post one photo...and this time is no different.  :)  so let me tell you about these few pics i've selected. 

just over 2 years ago, we got married in new orleans.  the motel was pet friendly, and if you didn't have a pet with you...they loaned you a pet goldfish!  we named him oscar.  lol  and yes....he takes a guitar everywhere we go.

                                            

this was a first trip to new orleans for both of us, so we had fun exploring jackson square and the french quarter for 3 fun filled days......

      

 

                             

and then we took a 5 day western caribbean cruise....leaving new orleans port....

docked at cozumel....the holiday is carnival's smallest liner....i thought it was huge!!

                

we had a wonderful time....and many wonderful memories.

i'm back......

ok....i was gone a week, and it has taken me nearly a week just to get caught up at home, with email, and at work!!  i'm telling ya...i wasn't gone long enough to pay like this!!  the first 3 days were a business meeting...but they provided us with a wonderful cabin in the beautiful smokies.

            

and as part of a commitment exercise, we got to hike to the top of clingmans dome at sunrise!!  i'll hafta say, that was the highlight of the business trip.  :)

and then hubby came up after the meeting had adjounred and we spent two wonderful days soaking in the beauty. 

          

         

our lil cabin in the woods wasn't as fancy as the one the company had put my teammates and i in, but i wasn't complaining!!

        

it was a wonderful trip....the scenery was gorgeous!!  more pics to come!  :)