Summer pass times and being a kid.

When we were kids, one of our favorite things to do in the summer was to go tubing. Tubing involves floating on the inner tube from an old tire. I have fond memories of slow glides down the river with occasional splashes and little rapids. When I was eleven, we moved into a place on the edge of town that was irrigated. We had the "little ditch" bordering our property on one side and the "big ditch" just a hop or two away. The little ditch was never more than about eighteen inches deep and I could jump across it in most places. The big ditch was another story, It could get quite deep and in places was ten to twelve feet (a little more than four meters) across. We had a shortcut from school that involved using a rope swing to go across the big ditch. you could not use it if you had very much to carry, but it felt like grand adventure when you did. It was fairly easy to talk Mom into letting me go tubing alone in the little ditch. The big ditch required at least one other person and a parent at home.

One summer I got to go to Camp Atoka. It was a church sponsored camp for girls. My friend Shannon and I both got to go. We did the usual camp type crafts and woodsy skills. We sang a lot of silly songs including a slightly warped version of "Camp Atoka Girls" sung to the tune of "California Girls" that I wish I could remember all the words for. We also got to go tubing in the river. Oh, my it was wonderful. Once we all got to talking and floated clear down to where the river flows into the reservoir. We had a long walk back but we did not mind a bit.

Yesterday, my Sweet Hubby took me TUBING!! We went to a spot up in North Carolina where you can rent tubes cheaply and into the river we went. There are long smooth stretches, mini rapids, some places where the rocks will bump your bottom and a few spots that are fairly scary. All together, we walked up and floated back down six times. I laughed more yesterday afternoon than I have in years. We both fell off a time or two and we have a few bangs and bumps, but I am smiling just thinking about it. Yesterday afternoon, I dropped, at least temporarily, thirty-three years and I got to share it with my Wonderful Husband.

Guess what, I forgot about taking pictures, not even the planned ones of us next to our big red modern tubes.

Sometimes, you just have to live life and worry about recording it later.

Hope you have a day as wonderful as mine was very soon.

Cheers,

Kat

Some squirrels have a lot of nerve.

The squirrels in Savannah are more than happy to pose for me.

The squirrels everywhere else are too.

This little guy could not wait to have his picture taken.

This one was busy, but still took time to pose nicely for my camera.

We have squirrels at home too. They will scamper and play in an adorable fashion for hours.

They leap from tree to tree or bounce across the ground like little balls of fluff.

When the camera comes out, they disappear.

Now, to add insult to injury, while we were off taking photos of Savannah squirrels,

ours were having a pecan party on the front steps, and they left their mess for us to clean up.

That is a lot of nerve.

Smiles, they are still cute.

Cheers,

Kat

Column Envy

My new blog heading reminded me there was still one more Blog from Rome I wanted to write.

It seems as if every building in Rome is either marble or has columns on it.

The Pope has some great columns.

The war memorial and museum has lots of columns.

You can climb stairs to the top and look out over the city from here.

All these columns!

This ancient front porch is rather spectacular.

I wanted to take this lovely column home, but didn't think it would go in the carry on (My Sweet Hubby loves me enough to pose for silly photos, just because I asked him too).

When it comes right down to it, I think I like my columns better. I love to travel but their is no place like home.

Cheers,

Kat

Dad and Tipsy

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Dad.

It is from an old slide that was probably taken by my Mom.

The fine feline is Tipsy, she was my first cat.

This photo was taken at some point in the late 60's or early 70's.

Kat

More Flower sculptures and flowers

As promised, here are the rest of the critters from our flower festival. They are an art form all there own.

Our first picture here is an early morning ape. He has his cup of coffee and is holding his newspaper high. The ape is a much improved repeat performer from last year.

This odd fellow is a Bearcat from Lander U (where I earned my BSN). I have never seen one wandering around, except on campus and I suspect that one is a guy in a suit. Oh well, go Bearcats!

This, in case you are not from The South, is a University of South Carolina, USC, Gamecock. There is a lot of rivalry over who supports what football team and this is a Southern favorites. He is about 15 feet tall.

I think this one  is just plain sweet. A flower pony. He is slightly larger than life size.

Once again, this year, the Mama and Baby Elephants are my favorites. The baby is a fountain!

This exotic looking beauty was growing over a fence in Savannah yesterday.

Lilly

I don't know what this is, I stuck my camera through a fence to take the photo. The ball of flowers is about 8 inches across and grows on the end of a two or three foot long stalk.

Pretty colors,

See the Katydid?

Have a great Monday and enjoy the sunshine!

Kat

Mini post, another flower festival

Our little town is having it's annual flower festival, these are a few of the stars.

A sea horse down town.

Hydrangea, I do love walking in other people's gardens (with their permission of course).

More Flower Festival photos to come.

Cheers,

Kat