Another river town...

On our little getaway last week, we stopped in at Cape Girardeau which is about 115 miles south of St Louis on I-55 next to the Mississippi River.   It is an interesting town that we have seen before, but it is always worth a stop anytime.  The city has numerous murals with the largest being the Mississippi River Tales Mural on the flood-wall which spans the length of the downtown shopping district.  The mural has about 24 panels and each one tells a bit of the history of Cape Girardeau. 

The Great Flood of 1993, which I won't go into detail about since it's easily found on the internet, was held back from the city by the flood-wall and the photos above show how just how high the flood water was.  The photo below from the internet shows the water right up to the wall.  I wish I had taken a better shot of just how far down it is to the water from where you see the girl sitting.  And then look at the 1993 mark on the monument...it is quite mind-boggling.  

(Internet photo)

Here is my photo of the new bridge that replaced the one in the photo above this one.  This photo doesn't do it justice as it was evening when I was shooting and the lighting wasn't good.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  :D  However, here is a spectacular photo (that I was unsure about copying) of this beautiful bridge if you care to see it.  I must say that it is also a very pretty bridge at night with the lights on it.  

Can you believe that today is the last day of August?  I really can't believe that summer is almost over and even though I love Autumn in all it's glory, I'm thinking that this summer (hot as it was) was way too short!  Maybe with cooler temperatures ahead, I'll finally get some of those projects I've put off done.   

Until next time...

We're back...

Have you ever driven into a town/city and felt like you were coming home?  On our trip, we stopped in at Ste. Genevieve, Mo, a historic French Colonial village about an hour south of St. Louis.  This charming little town is known as one of America's oldest European settlements west of the Mississippi River.  I just fell in love with this old town and I could easily live here.  I love old things and always have.  The old buildings and just the quietness and slower pace of living here greatly appeal to me.

 

  This house was constructed by Louis Bolduc in 1792 and is the first authentically restored historic structure in Ste. Genevieve.

 

The Felix Valle house was constructed in 1818 in the Federal style.  

The beautiful Crepe Myrtle is frequently seen around town and the photo above really belongs to the house pictured below. 

This quaint, quiet, laid-back little village is just chock full of interesting old homes, a mix of early nineteenth-century architecture.   There are

also unique little gift and antique shops galore to explore. 

I wish I could say that I have many more photos to share, but I really didn't take many photos on this trip.  There are times when lugging around a camera and holding it up to your face and getting the right settings for the best shot, etc., are just not that important to me.  And this vacation was one of those times.  We had a relaxing, fun trip and we will be heading down to Branson soon for the second leg of our vacation.  For now, I'm off to do some blog reading and catch up on what you have been doing!

Until next time... 

Nearly ready to go...

I'll be away from the land of blog for several days.  We're heading out soon on our first leg of vacation.  We're both looking forward to seeing some different scenery and just relaxing.   We always see something interesting just on the highways when traveling.   This semi below was seen on our last trip to KC.  

And I always like to take note of the different license plates such as the one below. 

We always find things to laugh about when traveling, too.  I'm ready for a week of fun and a change of scenery.  Okay, back to packing.  See you in a week!  

Those that say you can't take it with you never saw

a car packed for a vacation trip.

  ~Author Unknown

The Missouri River and a sunset

Yesterday, my daughter and I took an evening drive to the nearest town that has a WalMart.  For us that is a river town called Boonville.  We decided to walk on the walkway by the side of the bridge that crosses the Missouri River.  I, of course, took my camera along to get a shot of the sun going down in a pretty orange sky. 

After a short walk, we turned around and went back to the car and drove to the Lookout Point at the City Park.  It was about time to say goodbye to the sun.  The sky had changed from the fiery orange into a soft pink and blue. 
  
The river is still very high.  You can see water standing in the fields on the other side of the tree-lined bank of the river.   We had a good rain in this area yesterday.  I just hope the river doesn't get any higher. 

We enjoyed the quiet setting for a few minutes until a motorcycle zoomed in and we decided it was time to leave and get our shopping done.  We just wanted to stop and enjoy a Missouri river sunset.   
  

"If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God."     

~ Gilbert K. Chesterton 

Until next time...

A nice summer weekend

 

"In summer, the song sings itself."

~William Carlos Williams

Just a few remaining weeks of summer are left.  I always think of fall as beginning after Labor Day.   My flowers are surviving the heat in the flower beds, but the pots are beginning to struggle except for the Knockout Roses I planted in pots this year.  They are doing well.  

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."

~Sam Keen

 

Hubby is doing great following his heart attack last month.  He has returned to regular work following 2 weeks rest at home and 2 weeks light duty.  Lazy is not in his vocabulary, so it's been a relief for him to return to his normal working routine this weekend.  He was called to work over the weekend when two utility poles were broken by a bad driver and had to be replaced.   Then the weekend was also busy with yard work.   We enjoyed a nice, late supper on the patio yesterday where it was shady and not too warm.  I can feel a subtle change in the air already.  Fall is just around the corner!  I do wish to enjoy many more nice evenings on the patio.  I love the evening hours just before dark, although nighttime has it's nice moments, too.  Such as watching the full moon rising above the trees while listening to the sounds of night.

 

"Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light
And she sits on a sapphire throne."
~Barry Cornwall

 

Until next time... 

 

 

Puppy Love

 

I have a sad story today with a happy ending.  This precious

little bundle of fur was found abandoned by the side 

of a country road yesterday.  

He was found by one of my daughter's employees on her way

to work.  He was all alone on the road and she stopped her car

and picked him up and brought him to work with her.

Puppy now has a new home with the girl who found him

and will be loved and given the care he deserves.

It is beyond my comprehension how anyone can so 

callously abuse animals

or just dump these little ones out to fend 

for themselves.  How do they think

they will survive?  They don't care.  

You've all probably seen the ASPCA commercials

with the Sarah McLachlan song. 

  They break my heart to watch them. 

This little guy is lucky and was rescued by someone 

who will love him.   Good for her and good luck

to the little puppy.  I wish all the animals abused or 

abandoned were so fortunate.

~All the photos were taken on my daughter's cellphone.

Until next time...

A fishy story

This weed is taking over our pond in the back 40 6.  I'm not quite sure what it is so if any of you pond owners out there know, please tell me...thanks!  A friend said it was duckweed, but I don't think it is.  Whatever it is, I am opposed to chemicals in the pond and so we ordered a few grass carp, which are used for aquatic vegetation control, to put in our pond. 

Here is a grass carp just released into the pond.  The water looks cloudy having been stirred up by the newly deposited fish.   I hope they will eat this stuff!  Eat, baby, eat!!

We have noticed numerous ponds in our area have moss or some kind of vegetation on them.  Some are worse than others.  Ours has gotten to the "worse" stage.  It is very unattractive to say the least, but more than that, there isn't a place to throw a line out should we want to go fishing.   And we do like to fish now and then.  And eat our catch!

I remember the ponds/lakes on my dad's farm.  He never had the moss or vegetation that is seen today.  He did have grass carp in all his lakes, though.  So I have high hopes for these little guys.  We got 6 and they were only 6-8 inches in length.  It's said that they can grow up to 30 lbs.  That's a big fish!

Well, the fish are in place.  It remains to be seen if they will like our variety of aquatic vegetation.  It they don't work out, the only thing left to do besides removing this stuff with nets or seines, is to use chemicals.  And I just don't like to think about putting chemicals in our pond where we have lots of fish and often geese and ducks.  I've never thought chemicals are as safe as they (whoever they are) say.

And that's my fishy story for today.  Until next time...

Tuesday this and that...

I can't believe school is starting next week here in our area!  The summer is flying by quickly, as they seem to do  every year.  The photo above is one I took a few weeks ago and is the school house at Shelter Gardens in COMO.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been blogging or visiting as much as usual.  I hope to get around to visit everyone soon!  

Hubby's doctor (heart) visit went fine and his sleep study went well also.  They didn't find enough to indicate that he needed a cpap machine at night.  That was surprising to me as I've observed him so often just gasping for air after he quits breathing for a bit.  And the snoring!!  Anyway, they should know what they're doing with the testing.  I hope.  
 
We've had a change of plans as far as vacation goes.  After talking with the doctor who said a trip would be okay as long as we are near medical centers, we've decided to postpone our trip out west until spring.  We will, however, be taking a couple of weeks off to go somewhere not so far away.  We're just going to get in the car and see where it takes us in a couple of weeks.  Wonder where we will end up?  And then in September, we're going to our favorite place in Branson for 7 nights.  Our kids will meet us there for a weekend visit, but we'll have the condo all to ourselves after that.  We're really looking forward to this trip in particular.  Just to have a change of scenery and relax sounds wonderful!  We'll, of course, take in a show or two and go to a few of our favorite places.

It's a bit cooler this week and we've had a few little rains.  Most of the flowers are still hanging on but not looking as good as they could.  I'm surprised I haven't lost most of them in the extreme heat we've had.  It's been a job watering because I have so many pots plus the flower beds, but I tried to do that job very early in the morning before it got too hot.   We won't talk about the veggie garden.  :D

Until next time...

How far would you drive for dinner?

I would drive over an hour to eat a 

 Chicken Quesadilla Fajita 

at this Mexican restaurant in Odessa

which is sort of a halfway point 

between our house and our son's home

in north Kansas City

to eat with our son who wanted to

see how his dad was doing.

He had just gotten through with a

job in Kansas and drove down I-70 to

meet us.  

  We had a wonderful visit over a delicious

meal and when we walked outside to our

cars, we noticed the beautiful clouds.

Of course, I had my camera along for such

occasions and quickly snapped these shots.

I managed to get the above shot of our son as

he was backing out to leave.  You can probably

see that he's thinking "put that camera away!"

This little restaurant has really good food.  I 

love to eat out and love Mexican food.  The 

older I get, the less I like to cook.  So, I'll

drive many miles for dinner!  How 'bout you?

Until next time...

Summer time, and the living is easy...

.

Hello August!  I hope you won't be as hot and humid as July!! 

It's back to work today for hubby after his 2 week hiatus.

He'll be on light duty for the next 2.  A doctor visit this 

week will tell us how he's doing and if it's okay to go ahead

with plans for our 2 week vacation this fall.

As for me, I hope to get some much needed cleaning started

this week.  I have been lax in the housekeeping department

lately.  This hot and humid weather and having hubby 

home has been a good excuse to be lazy, but it's time to

get to work.  My housekeeper must have lost my address 

and phone number because she hasn't shown up yet.  Ha!!

What is your least favorite housekeeping chore?  Do you

have someone to help you with housework or do it alone?  

I'd have to say my least favorite is scrubbing floors.

Probably.  I can think of a few more that I'm not particularly

crazy about doing either, but it all has to be done!  

Here's to a productive and good week for us all!! 

And a good month with some cooling temperatures

and rain for those who need it. 

Until next time...