Wanna take a field trip? How about an Ethnic Festival

I loved these Balinese ladies...

with a touch of Drew Carey on the side

A chinese dog--missing one eye

Hawaiian chicken feathers African beads

Israeli Hand of Protection

A mexican dancer

Look who we found:
A Bob the Builder Award Winner:
Midori Harbison
See blog: Feb 6th

An origami paper Kimono

Indonesian tapestry

Mexican Hat Dancer

Finally, nothing says

World Peace like

"Love--Peace--Go Chiefs"

"Snack Snack Eat a Snack"

Word is out that the Anderson
Snack Bar is now open for business. We usually take a break over the winter months, but with global warming effecting migration patterns, the birds are returning earlier each season.



I felt bad for this little friend considering she was facing the sun for a quick few minutes of tanning time, but her feet almost froze to the limb. If you look close, you can see the limbs are sheathed in ice...ice/snow storm yesterday.


Breaking my own "no editing" picture rule, it was necessary so you could our little wildlife friends more clearly.

That is one reason I don't like to photograph the living...meaning the animals and the people. They move around and get too touchy about how close you get to them.

You never see a bush run away when you stick a camera in it's bushy face.


Speaking of touchy, this bird looked ticked off the whole time he was by the table trying to mooch some snacks. He actually looks like someone I grew up with, but to protect the innocent, they shall remain nameless....





Maybe he cranky because it was about 30 mile a hour winds AND he missed the Happy Hour Pizza rolls. So the late bird misses the worms and the italian.

This friend, however, made it on time

for Stale Bread Saturday.

This is how I look when I eat chinese. :)

Bob the Builder Award: Operation School Bell

We used to order our clothes from the catalog every June for the following school year because there were no clothing stores in town. I would sit quietly and imagine myself in the shirt on page 253. If I wanted it, I would circle my choice and dog ear the page.

We were weren't fancy enough to make the coveted trip to Anchorage to shop for those real clothes some kids (ie Mr. Fun) could afford.

When the clothes arrived, often times they didnt' fit right. But it had taken sooooo long to get them, it would seem the school year would be over by the time you sent them back and get the right ones. I was never one to worry about fashion, and I guess it comes from that. When you don't have a lot of choices, you take what you get.

Now you know the real story of why I am such a bad dresser. It is JC Penny's fault.

The Assistance League of Kansas City must understand kids who want clothes that are fashionable and fit.

This year alone, the organization has provided 1,548 children with brand new outfits, including shoes. The kids are selected by their local school counselor (privately of course). They get to come the "store" which the clothes are house and pick out what they want. They also get a health kit and a book with their outfit, plus a $5 coupon for a local thrift store.

Over 300 volunteers serve and the "store" is funded by the local community donations and funds raised from the thrift store: ReSale Shop....located at 6289 N. Oak Trafficway.

Nothing like a volcano in the neighborhood

This is your basic primer for the Kenai Peninsula...selected as

one of THE 1,000 places to see before you die. For you land-locked

state lovers, a peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded

by water on three sides of its mass.

We are from Soldotna, the King Salmon Capital of the World.

It is less than 50 miles as the crow flies flies from the

currently erupting Mt. Redoubt.

I grew up with Redoubt. The new elementary school
(still referred in my mind as the "new" school, which

was finished in the 6th grade) is named for it.

Many streets in "Slowtown" which run east/west

have Redoubt at the end of the west street.

You can it see all over town.

I love that mountain.

It is strangely home to me.

I bet that all the people reading this

right now who are from the Peninsula

know what I mean.

Imagine my surprise when last summer at an art festival

here in KC, I found this photograph above of it.

(the end of the North Road for you locals). I cried. I was so happy

because sometimes a girl gets homesick for home.

Here is Redoubt this week.

Is the Devil the only one who thinks that? :)

Be the kind of woman
that when your feet hit the ground each morning
the Devil says, "OH CRAP, SHE'S UP"! ..

Habitat 114,380--Anderson Hostel (animal style)

See the pink plastic pig. Pig is sooooo happy. His habitat is official!

Now he can invite his little plastic friends over for playdates

and they will feel safe and warm. It is good to be a plastic pig.

The Anderson family yard is now officially a wildlife habitat.
What that means is they accepted my $15 check

and I can spend oodles of money on bird seed....

with a return of bird droppings., which of course

are impossible to clean off the porch.

Come visit little wild animals! :)

Wanna take a field trip? How about the ER...again

Just to prove that what you are about to see is TOTALLY true, I have snapped a photo of ONE of my medical visits just today. I have been to the Emergency Room THREE times since Friday so I know a thing or two about ERs. There are common threads you will find:

coughing kids with runny noses

old women who aren't wearing bras

some sort of bleeding

bed head hair

sweatpants

Having spent as many hours in the ERs of the world
(Hong Kong,Portugal, America...) I have see a lot of....

shall we say, "unexpected" things. There was the

doctor in Portugal that looked like she just stepped out

of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. There is the doctor

in Hong Kong who felt me up when I was treated for

my heart attack, just for fun.

But this...this magazine was the tops.

Backyard Poultry...featured story: The Naked Neck Chickens.

Say it out loud: Naked Neck Chickens.

However, not to be outdone....the Missouri magazine
added their own Poultry centerfold, but sadly, had
feathered necks. Just no comparison.


I couldn't believe my luck. I thought you should know the

secret to happiness: healthy chickens.

Perhaps I should be channeling my volunteer hours

towards something that really matters....


Last but not least,
I was raised sledding. Sledding at home,
sledding at school. I know sledding.
But I have to say, I do not know
sledding your pet chicken.

Greetings from the Garage Roof Gargoyle

If you happen to be driving by our house this spring around

sunrise, you might find me sitting on the garage roof

in my plaid pink housecoat, taking photos of the

wonderful morning glory.

As Seth walked to school today, I was perched up there

shooting these pictures. I yelled down to him that
I was a gargoyle. He replied, "You are alive and

your wearing a dress." Apparently I fell short

in the gargoyl-y world--and they don't wear dresses. :)

This is all from today, the same sunrise.

What a terrific way to begin the day! Yahoo!

Photographers in action

Have a great day!

Meet the Cast of "Photo Field Trips"

With spring coming, there will be many posts of photographs you probably don't care much about. Missouri isn't exactly what one would call the photography dreamers landscape, but I am LOVING it here in the Show Me State.

Me and some "besties" (the new term for best friends) have been taking what we call photo field trips. It is where we pick a day that works for most of us, and we go out to different venues around the city. Junk yards, parks, cemetaries, city... Everyone has their own camera and we just wander around taking shots of things that interest us, individually. It is amazing how many of the shots are similiar or exactly the same, while most others are very very different. Most times we do the shots, get some food, and send each other (and others--aren't you lucky?!)

some our favorites.

None of us are professionals, or have any formal training--unless you count the free library classes some of us have been taking Monday nights 40 minutes away. Well, I guess that isn't true completely because I took 10th grade high school black and white photography classes from non other but the famous (in our hometown anyway) Mr. John Jonas.

I will be posting some of our stuff (and have been already) as we go along so I figure you should meet the main cast members:

Jennifer...age 10. The child is truly gifted.

She is quite shy, and it is neat to see what she

sees without her saying a word.

Cheryl. She is older than 10....

she too is extremely artistically gifted. So much
so that it could make someone sick with jealousy.

A someone like me, for example. :)

Meet Dave Tallant...hot rod car building rock star
North of the Missouri River. It is true. His hearing is shot.

Which isn't such a bad thing since he is building

a car with a 800 horsepower engine.

He, however, is also a talented artist...

no pun intended

(actually that is lie...I did intend it)

check out his web site: www.daveshotrodshop.com

Carol Tallant....the person that keeps

Dave's head on straight (that in itself seems

to be a full time job). Carol just scored herself

a new camera and is off and running. She

grows the most wonderful gardens and

those themselves are their own works of art.

You have already met the Girl (who found out today that

her photography won a honorable mention at the state PTA

finals in Reflections). And there is Tom, who woke

up alive today. "And there was much rejoicing. Yeahhhhhh."

me

Why I am going to Ireland

See these people....they are my great great grandparents--Joseph and Mittie Butler. He was a well-respected community member of the booming metropolis of Lavina, Montana. Population something like 23. My grandmother made a quilt once that I now own. There isn't much more I know of their story, but that genealogy piece is always a work in progress.

See these people....we are their direct decendents. My grandfather Tom, my biological father Tom, me and the baby goats (children). This is on the land that used to belong to Joseph and Mittie, standing by their graves. As my mother would say, "we had to drive to hell and back"to see it. Kids hated it. "Worse family trip ever" is a phrase they use to describe it.

Naturally I paid homage to my additional family history by wearing a Buddah t-shirt.

Until January, we didn't know where "across the pond" (overseas in the British Isles) that the Butlers came from. We know now, thanks to my father, Tom (who we call T-Rex since I now have two fathers with very different roles).

T-Rex had his DNA tested by the National Geographic. The rest, they say, is history. His DNA matched to the 90% DNA matches of the world's population that resides in southern Ireland.

He called to let me know, and mentioned some family rumor of the Butlers being powerful in historical Ireland.

Naturally, I googled and sure enough, it is not some rumor. There is a even a family castle to prove it. This is the castle of Kilkenny, Ireland, built in 1170's. It remained in the Butler family for about 800 years. It belongs to the state now and is a tourist site with huge gardens. The family also began the wooling mills business of the region over 300 years ago. :) Buzy folks.

I have only been acquinainted with T-Rex and his family in the last four years, so the Butler story is still very new to me. But there is something pulling me to Ireland, and has been for months, long BEFORE I knew I was a direct irish decendent.

But I like it. I enjoyed St Patrick's Day just a little differently this year. I listen a little more closely to political problems in Northern Ireland and Ireland. I think a little differently than I used to.

I bet Joseph and Mittie are excited to see it all unfolding from their Celestial seats above. Ireland is a long way from Montana that is for sure. :)

Bob the Builder Award: Debbie V.

This woman is at a residential cancer treatment center. She is taking chemo/radiation for her cancer, all alone in a state far away, smack in the middle of her treatment to save her life. I bet these days can be extra long sometimes. What do you do with all that extra time?



Make lap quilts.



That is what she is doing. Making lap quilts for the cancer center that is treating her. Just to be nice. :)

Wanna take a field trip? Let's go to the woods...

Learned about the color accent button on the camera today in a photo field trip. :) Just a little warning, I have cabin fever as we call it in the Last Frontier, so you might be seeing a lot of pictures and a little less writing for now. Plus, I am drowning in Rotary work. :) Excuses, excuses...

(blue swap) Tree Fungus

unedited waterfall


unedited--This is some freaky tree bark

As Tallant would say, I "wrecked" by this water feature.

Slipped on the rocks

(green swap) Spring is a-comin'! :)