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i've never been off the north american continent...Never been somewhere we the spoken language wasn't english...and to say i'm a bit intimidated is saying the least...

this spring i'm going to be in paris.  for two weeks!!! finally i get to take care of bucket list #1. go to the Louvre!!! my stomach does somersaults when i think that! i majored in art and to finally get to lay eyes on the mona lisa....holey rusted metal batman!

but anyway...the whole power adapter/voltage changer thing has me bumfiggled....maybe since i'm married to an electrician, i should ask him, huh? i'm worried about my hair dryer...and all the chargers..

is there anything that i need to know before i get there? i've been surfing travel sites and reading every book at the book store about paris....i even found a nice little pocketbook of common french phrases with it spelled phonetically, so i think that will help...should we stay at a hotel or find a nice vacation property...

davis is cajun, so it'll be nice to be somewhere and not have our last name butchered and mispronounced....it's nice to have a 'complicated' last name sometimes- makes it super easy to weed out the telemarketers on the phone....i've only have one get it right and it turns out she was from Shreveport...

and i'll be the bestest blogger and take LOTS of pictures (as if)!! i'm hoping we'll have wifi and i'll be able to blog from there....

how i spent my weekend

i was sick of looking at my four walls, so i took off south to the FIL's...it was needed, i was stale and needed some fresh country air.

i packed up the featherweight, the dogs, and off we went.

i set my sewing station in the big bay window. let me tell you, it was N.I.C.E. i sew in a 'basement' and i have a tiny window that doesn't let in much light. look at all that natural sunshine! i could barely tell if my featherweight's light was on or not. it did get hot sitting in the sun, but it was a perfect trade. plus it was an excuse to use my christmas present!

here's the view from the window.

the goats have had their kids, so watching them play was nice....watching a baby goat figure out it can hop and run will put a smile on my face in a heartbeat

check out that one's hairdo...pygmy goats have huge personalities...

i got my blocks for the swap done. (there's still time to play)

just wait- all those blocks are going to be different! 30s repro goodness!

this is going to be one super duper quilt! i have a feeling some will wished they had joined...i already know how i'm going to quilt it!

i helped turn a tree in the front yard into a nice pile of firewood. i didn't swing the axe or wield the chainsaw, but i did my part and my back is still sore from chucking all that wood :)

during a break, lucky hung out with me and this picture has become my favorite cherished picture. i have tones of pictures of the dogs, but i'm never in them.

here's a picture of the stump. i really like the ring's wavy lines...such an odd growth pattern.

i only wish i knew someone who could of turned me a wooden bowl from it.

as soon as we got home, the dogs crashed. i guess running around like two banshees sniffing and peeing on everything is tiresome :)

i love it when lucky's ear sticks out like that...

funny story from the weekend:
FIL started a fire in the fireplace and went out to get more wood and came back in and wanted me to go see if i heard the weird sound in the garage. i went out and i did indead hear a noise but i knew instantly what it was. lucky was snoring. i had put the dogs in their crates and zipped up the covers and they were snoozing hard...

so that's how i spent my much needed weekend va-stay...

making new friends

this past weekend was spent south at the FIL's and i popped over to visit my livestock friends.

hanna was very affectionate and i learned that she is low donkey on the totem pole- everyone picks on her (but me)

the ram was in with the nannies and he was feeling a bit territorial and was posturing to everything...i wish i could of got a video of it- he makes this 'thhppbt' sound and rolls his tongue around outside his mouth.  not very scarey if you ask me....but i'm not a goat

i learned that her name is not hannah, but racheal *shrug* oh well....she comes when i call her hannah....as far as i'm concerned- her name is hannah. she sits her head on my stomach and i scratch behind those big ole ears...i want a donkey one day- they are cool!

wasn't hannah and racheal sisters in the old testament??

mack is getting fat....fat mack-a-doodle. he was happy to see me and keep snickering everytime i walked off to pet hanna

bubba was in a bit of a frisy mood- he wanted to play head butt games (i think the ram was helping that situation) and well, i'd be out weighted by, ohhhh, couple hundred pounds....so he got left alone.

i did make new friends- meet polly porkchop...i'm not kidding- that's her name

i do not recommend hand feeding a pig....they think anything put in their mouth is food and will gladly devour it. i almost lost my thumb. i'm so not kidding...

everything tastes better with bacon....

sunday sunday, da da da dadada

i had to get out of the house...

i popped over to Joann's to use my 60% off coupon. i bought some extra wide backing to put on my curvy rails fence...i found some nice bright pink that was perfect!

while i was out and about, i decided to stop in at Tiny Stitches (i needed to get binding) and bumped into some friends and had a visit....

thanks to everyone who commented with suggested names for the quilt...i liked kathyrn's suggestion and simplified it to "Wiggles". i can't say the word 'wiggles' without smiling....can you?

on the way home i stopped by one of the high school's craft fair. i've seen the signs in previous years, but never stopped and i wasn't in any hurry to get home. HOLEY MOLEY!! every hall, the cafeteria, and the gym was packed with artists selling wares.

i bought some dog treats that came in this cute pair of elf pants...honestly, the dogs lucked out- i only bought the dog cookies to get those pants....too cute!

then it was off to home- so i dug out my serger and made some pillowcases (like all i bought was backing and binding)...i made two sets of christmas themed ones and a cute set with apples and trees. it's hard to see, but the cuff of the apple set has names of all the apple varieties in between the zig zag....perfect!

so that's what i did yesterday....someone alert the media *grin*

redneck games



Uncle John babysitting The Pig.

 this past weekend my FIL treated family and friends to a cajun pig roast!! this was a treat for me cause i've heard so many stories about family pig roasts. (they do huge shrimp boils which i've had the treat to attend also)

The Pig has to be babysat. it has to be rotated every 5 minutes or so. then every couple of hours they roated the whole cage to ensure even cooking. all the work was worth it, it was deleicious...and the crackling was hands-down the best...

it was nice to meet all the extended family...and it made me smile everytime i was introduced as "davis's wife" *grin* see....

i was a very bad blogger cause this is the only picture i took....once all the cousins showed up with all their 4wheelers (we had 5 running), well, picture taking feel to the bottom of the pile...it's just too much fun racing around the fields.

it was fun to take the 'city' family to pet Mack, Bubba, and Hannah. one lady said that she never knew that horses were so big and she was amazed that i wasn't scared of him. "but he could kill you"  she also had the opinion that bubba "smelt funny" i forget everybody wasn't raised on a farm....

we came home sunday afternoon and lucky crashed before i could get my shoes off. *giggle* and i wasn't fair behind him. i can't remember ever being asleep before midnight...

GA aquarium the end

the topic reef exhibit is fun.

the reef aquarium actually has waves that come in every couple of minutes...there are numerous touch screen monitors that will give you info on all the different fish and corals

you can swim with jellies

isn't this pic awesome? very proud of that one.....

there are luna jelly fish too. the color inside the aquarium changes, other wise you wouldn't be able to see them.

(you can click on any picture to get a bigger view. then just click the back button on your browser to come back to my blog)

dory will give you free whale speaking lessons

marlin and nemo will show you the awesome view of the desirable drop off

(there are three clown fish in this tank and one really did have a messed up left fin)

the new dolphin exhibit.

which was so HARD to see because there is a large opaque window wall behind the glass.....not the best. most of the exhibits are in the dark with little 'nightlights' along the floor so you can see to walk....why, oh why, did they not do that for the dolphins???

 local tip- the general admission ticket does not include admission into the dolphin show, but you can go up and 'observe' them....if you can see them through the glare from the windows...

there is also a south american exhibit. i didn't get pictures of the piranhas....they feed them on saturday, i think?

these are ochirds (?)... they are like our oscars, so many colors

by the time we got to this section of the aquarium, i was kinda tired and my picture taking enthusiasm was waning and my batteries were dying (i took almost 200 pictures)

then this turtle swam by

and back again. he's got a cute nose...

and there were these pretty fish. they almost glowed...

check out the orange one in the top right corner.

pretty pretty

but i liked the blue one

well, that's about it....our trip to the GA aquarium.

there's lots of animals that i didn't get pictures of: the otters, the piranha, the sea dragons (gorgeous sea horses)...

you'll just have to come see them for yourself- let me know. i can always use the excuse to go back *smile*

from the comments, yall have enjoyed the pictures. i'll get back to quilting content soon!

GA Aquarium part 3

i think it's good that the aquarium has an exhibit featuring the native Georgian wildlife.

my favorite is the touch tanks!!!

this one is star fish and urchins. there's another one with horseshoe crab and shrimp...i didn't get pictures- it was crowded.

local's tip- to avoid the crowd, schedule your visit during the week AFTER school starts. but also bare in mind, that there is more available on the weekends...like feeding times

i got to touch the back of a cownose ray (they feel like the surface of half-set jello...really cool.) and i got to touch the back of a bonnet shark as it swam by. the sharks are not as easily reached as the rays and i had to be very very very patient waiting for one to swim by. they feel like very very fine knobby sandpaper...that's the best way i know to describe it

there were trout. we don't do alot of trout fishing, but i know these are huge...

catfish...this is in a walk under bubble window.

albino alligator...providing the perfect picture taking opportunity

i got a laugh when i asked when it would be available in the touch tanks *grin* always the jokester


(i just think the alligator was jealous of the attention the belugas get and was all like, " i'll show them- they aren't the only animals that can be white")

and the otters!!! they are stinking cute. no really, they stink- like wet fishy ferrets...they have a strong musk.

the lightening in the exhibit make it impossible (with my 6 year old camera) to get good pictures. plus they are constantly moving.

this one had a itch behind it's ear. they have cute little button faces....there was also a California seas otter exhibit, but that's another crowded, hard to get photo area...

davis said that way back when he first started hunting the swamp on our hunting club, there were otters in it. his favorite non-deer story is how he sat one morning and watch some baby otters (kittens??) play in the water...all i've seen in the swamp are beavers
they had a small (small for them, big compared to a home aquarium) of Lion fish (like 40) and how introducing non-species 'exotic pet' fish into and environment can destroy the local ecosystem. most people just walked on by....*sigh*  ask the Florida Fish and Wildlife Resources about how people releasing pythons into the florida swamps (cause they get so big) is pushing native species to the brink of extinction...can you tell i watch ALOT of NatGeo???

lion fish are pretty....deadly, put pretty. they have poisonous spines along all those fins....they won't make it to the touch tanks anytime soon :)

i had a friend in college who had one and i asked him if he'd ever got 'stung' he said yes, one time while cleaning the tank he bumped his lion fish with the back of his hand. he said it hurt like hell and swelled up like a bee sting, a 40 pound bee. he said it took almost three weeks for the swelling to go down.

tomorrow- the final post: the tropical fish (including a nemo tribute) and the dolphins!

GA Aquarium part 2

the Ocean voyager exhibit is the largest salt water aquarium in the US.. that's what the guides keep saying...i believe them! this is one huge aquarium. if you're certified, you can scuba inside it!!!

(the glowing dots are the can lights behind us in the ballroom ceiling...davis didn't like that, said the electrician should of pointed them away from the glass- he would know)

four whale sharks.....FOUR!!


the 'little' fish is a yellow tail jack

one 20ft wide manta ray named billie

if i remember correctly, she's a new addition to the exhibit. 

here's the link to the Georgia Aquarium's website....they have all the nitty gritty detail of all the animals...and webcams!!! you can watch the belugas, ocean voyager (the whale sharks), the penguins and the otters. sometimes they are not working, sometimes they are...

there are also sharks- four different species...on the way home i asked davis if he remembered seeing any hammer head sharks in the big tank and he said no....the last time we went their were a couple of hammer head sharks *shrug*


there's a walk thru tunnel under the water- very cool.

another local's tip- DO NOT wear open toe shoes...ask me how i know. i wore my tevas and i can't tell you how many people stepped on my toes....not to mention the korean gentleman who thought my right foot was the perfect spot to park his kid's stroller.

a school of grouper...lots of grouper (i like the belugas- davis likes the grouper)






this is feeding time for one of the whale sharks.

they are trained to follow their special color cup (this one's was red) and someone rides a raft scooping food into their mouths.

*oh look krill*

*swim away swim away!*

see the big black round shape- that's the raft.

just some pictures for scale....



grouper

i didn't ask, but they probably weigh around 300 lbs.

that's a shark up at the top

(this is also the two story tall main viewing window into the exhibit.)

whale shark

that's a grouper under the shark towards the tail....

davis reminded me to take the pictures to show the scale for yall...you see pictures in books and on documentaries, but until only 2feet of acrylic separate you from them do you get a true feeling how big these guys are.

this was taken looking up while in the walk through tunnel.

when the whale shark swam by it made me feel tiny.....that's the manta, Billie, underneath.
 
just think- there are animals (whales) in the ocean that would make that whale shark look like a minnow...
 
we, as humans, should really think about taking care of our oceans...we know more about space than we know of our own oceans.  there was a nice (over looked) presentation about trash in the oceans...the sad thing is most didn't even glance at it on their way by. just think of the belugas next time you go to throw a bottle in the trash- think about tossing into the recyclable bin...recycling is cool!
sorry, i got all public-service-announcement-y there for a minute...
it's hard to see, but there is a little skinny blue fish at the top of this grouper's gill. he's about the size of a man's finger.

we watched him 'clean' the groupers skin....up over his head....

then along his dorsal spines towards the tail.....

i asked if the bigger fish ate the smaller fish and the guide said that they feed everyone enough to not be hungry, but there are "accidental cases of predation"

"hey, hank, where'd all the yellow jacks go?"

 tomorrow: the goergia coast exhibit and i got to touch a shark!!!!!