Going to Riverbanks Zoo.

Warning, animals are not necessarily as close as they appear (thank goodness!)

Alligator

Fishing Cat,

Flamingos

Giraffe, Close Up!

(This one really was that close, and he slobbers)

My Sweet Husband posed for me with this silly thing.

Mike the Gorilla

Kangaroo

Lion,

Lady Lion

Lizard

Monkees

Owl

Pretty Yellow Bird,

My Sweet Husband has the best ideas.

We went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia SC.

The weather was sunny but a little chilly and the animals were out and about.

It was an excellent way to spend the day.

Hope your day has some sunshine.

Kat

Spilling the "Boston Baked" beans.

Well folks, Brian from Way station one guessed our destination correctly. The lion lives in Boston Mass.

This old Antebellum house is still pretty warm and summer just doesn't seem to want to let go.

Since autumn is so slow coming to Kat's Corner, we decided to go looking for it, Boston is a great place to start.

The building that was featured in the last few posts is not a museum! It is the Boston Public Library. It is one of the oldest public libraries in this country. The history page on their website, BPL history states that this current building was completed in 1895. The architect, Charles Follen McKim, referred to it as a "Palace for the People", and it really is. When I walked into this reading room, it felt like hallowed ground. What great minds studied here? (It even has wi-fi.)  This is one glimpse of the season, seeing all these people hard at their studies makes me think of fall and "back to school".

This medallion is inlaid into the floor of the entrance hall. Patrons have been walking over it with their arms full of books for over 100 years now, it still looks pretty good. The building is full of touches like this. Marble everywhere. We did not know how fantastic this library would be. Initially we planned on popping in, having a look at the lions (the lions on our front steps are supposed to look like them, not quite), and see the Sargent murals. In and out under10 minutes. Nope, we spent hours, it was one of the highlights of the trip.

This gentleman is brother to the fine fellow featured in the last two posts. They are not exactly alike or even mirror images, they are in slightly different poses. The base is taller than me. These guys are larger than life. They are surrounded by marble and are placed at the base of a double staircase. I did not get a photo of them together, couldn't figure out how to fit it all in. There are murals painted on the walls above them.

These are by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. You can follow the links from the BPL history page to see more of his work. This stairway and hall alone are worth a visit to Boston, but wait, there's more...

In the Abbey Room there are murals depicting the "Quest for the Holy Grail". I am still in awe of this painter! My little camera did a great job capturing these, especially since they are up quite high in a dim room. They were an unexpected bonus.



Another view. I took a lot of pictures, these are some of the best.

I know it is hard to look away from the murals, but if you visit, you have to look down. This cute little fellow is holding up the base of a lamp. The place is full of details. But wait, there is more......

This is a scene from the John Singer Sargent murals. I thought I was familiar with his work, I have seen several portraits by him. He is better than just good, but portraits are portraits, nice but I'm not going to chase all over town looking for them, or at least that's how I felt before this trip. We saw several examples of his work in Boston and Salem. I have a new appreciation of his work.

Here is another portion of the murals. My camera is great, but if you really want to appreciate these murals, go to Sargent murals The Boston Museum of Fine Arts also has some works by Sargent, but I will save that for another post.

On a completely different note,

as of today, I am back in school. I am going for a Masters in Nursing Education. So, I have homework to do. Wish me luck.

Kat

A couple more hints.

OK, I know it is a little mean,

but I am enjoying this.

I will give a few more hints tonight,

Then I will post the answer with more pictures tomorrow.

Any body know where it is yet?

I promise, I will tell tomorrow.

Have a great evening.

Kat

Carousel at Myrtle Beach, A New Obsession,

This is another one of those times where my obsession for photography really paid off.

My Sweet Hubby and I went down to Myrtle Beach. It was a lovely evening, so we decided to go for a walk after dinner. I as usual, had my camera with me.

This was our first visit to Myrtle Beach and we did not know anything about the area. We expected just a bunch of tourist shops on "Broadway at the Beach".

We found camels and dragons!

This is by far the most interesting carousel I have ever seen.

It was made by Herschell - Spillman back in 1912.

It even has cats! I have seen lions and tigers before,

here we have not just one, but two kitties.

According to the sign posted outside the carousels pavilion, the carousel has been at Myrtle Beach since 1950. (So yes, Zuzana, it is the same one). It has a giraffe.

A very well dressed goat.

These pictures were hard to get as the carousel was moving more often than not. Can you see the details?

I don't know if pigs fly, but I will never hear the saying again without thinking of this guy.

The stork. Ready for the next delivery.

My favorite, another cat of course. Do you see the long haired beauty on the side?

This carousel is certainly inspirational. I have so many ideas in my head. A series of prints for a child's room, or maybe a children's story to explain how they all came to be so peacefully together on the ride.

I spent nearly an hour in front of this thing and my Sweet and Patient Hubby just smiled.

I am a lucky girl!

Cheers,

Kat

More Cats of Rome

This was the first cat to greet us in Rome. This poster is at the airport. I am not sure what it is telling us, (anyone read Italian?) but I like the style.
This little Kitty met us just inside the Capitoline Museum. He seems as if he is ready to move.

This Regal fellow lives on one of the fountains at Quattro Fontane. There is a fountain on each corner of the intersection.

Look at all these cats. I especially like the little black and white who is looking right at us.

These can be found in the Al Sogna Toy Shop in Piazza Navona.

This is a wonderful toy store.

If you ask, they will take you upstairs to show you the posh collectors dolls. Way out of my price range but well worth the climb. My guide book compares this shop to Santa's Workshop fifty years ago. I want to go back already.

This is another resident of Piazza Navona. Who knew lions liked water so much? He adorns one of many Roman fountains by Bernini.

My Sweet hubby is grinning from behind an old Egyptian statue on the Vatican grounds.

Detail from a Sarcophagi in the Vatican collection. This guy is carved from marble yet the detail is like the finest of porcelain.

One thing that amazes me is that, as old as my house is, art like this has been sitting right where it is since before my house was even a dream. Some of these things are at least a thousand years old. This guy was carved without the aid of electricity.

No, this isn't an escapee from the last post. Jaguars are cats too. This is one of my Sweet Hubby's favorites.

A big cat in an ancient mosaic that is on display at the Colosseum.

One of the sweetest kitties of all. This little lady was taking a nap in the sun at the Colosseum.

That's it for Roman cats but I have lots more to share from the trip.

Cheers,

Kat

Home Sweet

I call my blog Kat's Corner, because it is about my little corner of the world. Our house plays a big role in my life, this particular episode is all about the house. Back in 1983, we lived in a little apartment in Ogden UT. I remember one afternoon we were daydreaming with a "United Farm Catalog" there was a place for sale with an old house that needed work and a couple of acres. It bordered on a National Forest, can you imagine how nice that sounded. There was no way we could afford it at the time and we were getting ready to spend a couple of years moving around with the AF anyway, but it stuck in my head as an ideal. Move the clock forward to 2002. Our couple of years in the AF turned into a career and it was almost time to get out. No more moving every few years.
We must have looked at over a hundred houses, none were quite what we wanted. Then my Sweet one found a house on the Internet. It boarders on Sumter National Forest (no, it wasn't the exact property we looked at all those years ago, this house is much prettier). We hopped into the van and drove up to look at it. The house had been on the market for quite a while and had not been lived in for over a year. The front porch was buckling, the roof was dreadful, and most of the fireplaces were boarded up. The well wasn't even working. We fell in love, good thing too, as this house needed to be Loved!
Between the time we signed the contract and the time we were ready to move in, we went to the bookstore. My Honey was looking at a "Country Living Magazine". He called out, excited, across the store, our house is in here! What! Our house was one of the four houses chosen to appear on their for sale page. (Yes, I still have a copy, two as a matter of fact).
Our house was either built around 1830 by the Reverend James Chiles, according to "Greenwood County A History" by Ann Heard Bowen.

We have replaced the roof, fixed the porch and

repaired the chimneys. As well as a lot of other things. There is always something that needs to be done. It is a big house and it is full of love.
The first photo is of course the house from the front, next "tea on the balcony". Third is a view of the side of the house and fourth is a view from the side. Five is a photo of our bees. see the piece that isn't painted? That is the entrance to their home. If you look close to that you can see some of the bees going in and out.
Six is the summer kitchen and smoke house. Seven is the view from my kitchen window. Eight is part of the back yard. Nine is one of the newest members of the family, this lion is part of a pair that recently moved

onto the front porch. Ten is a fresh batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies just waiting to be cut and enjoyed. They were very good. I am afraid they are gone now. Eleven, last but not least is an old canning jar that appears to have something in it. Could be almost anything. It isn't a firefly, they are not that bright in the daylight. (I might have had a little help from photoshop to put it in their.)

Now it is time to motivate. My day is rapidly escaping. See you soon.