Layman Ladies Night Out

Big turnout tonight, with 15 of us!  We packed into Grace's Place for pizza, calzones, and sandwiches with the best waitress ever (no one we knew).

Great fun.  I love these ladies.

It took two of us to take this picture. Judy held the camera, and I pushed the button. 

'Cause that's what happens when you get old.

Taubman Art Museum

Holly and I went down to the Taubman Art Museum this week.  It's a pretty new museum in Roanoke, somewhat famous for it's exterior design.  People seem to love it or hate it.  I kind of like it.

We haven't been in several years.  As part of a financial restructuring, entrance is now free every day.  How cool is that?  Plus, I found two hour free parking, which I'd never known existed downtown before.  I like free stuff.

One of the most interesting exhibits was Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. He is known for recreating famous works of art with torn pieces of paper.  We saw his rendition of Caillebotte's Floor Scrapers. 

(Gosh, I loved studying the artists we did when the kids were little, because we were already familiar with this artist and his original work!)

A close up of the torn paper.

We had time to walk for a few blocks to look at downtown.

We stopped at DQ on the way home.

And we checked out a gorgeous view just off the main road, looking back at downtown.

Nice day out with my girl.

Last week

Movies.  Trevor went to see Avengers with Jason.  Holly and I decided to go along too, except that we saw San Andreas.  I liked the movie, and I liked that the movie theater was cheap. It wasn't fancy, but I liked that too, because the theater was pretty empty!  Fantastic special effects.

Conversation after the movie:

Trevor: I hate The Rock.
Holly and I in unison: We love The Rock!
Trevor: I suppose he had his cliche white daughter?
Holly and I: YES!!!  How did you know?  LOLOLOL!!!
Trevor: And he had a stupid one liner at the end of the movie?
Holly and I:  YES!!!!!  "We will rebuild!"

We still liked the movie!

We stopped by the mall afterwards and checked out books.  Holly and Trevor had Chik Fil A for dinner.

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It was a week of beautiful sunsets--due to the smoke drift from Canadian fires.

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Friends for dinner. The boys finished up a puzzle.

1000 pieces, a funky world map. I think it took me and Trevor all of three days--well, and these guys too.

Robert fixed Italian nachos and eggplant parmesan, and we ate on the deck.  We met both of these ladies within a few months after moving here in 2007.  Trevor met Kurt at chess club, so I met Judy.  The first time Robert visited Calvary Chapel in Roanoke, Peggy and Jim were the first people to talk to him.  It makes me so happy to know that all of us are going to church together again and that Peggy and Judy now know each other and are friends!

Holly and I hike Read Mountain

This was our first hike last year, and I was eager to do it first again this year.  At just under 4 miles round trip, it's not a long hike, but the elevation increases by 850 feet.  I was just thrilled to DO it, gives me confidence in myself again.

Holly usually makes me take the lead to set the pace, but I much prefer her to be in front.

Buzzard's Rock is the top, with a gorgeous view over the Roanoke Valley.  It's been more humid this week and hazy.

We ate lunch at the top, right on the rock.

Pretty quiet out here today, we just saw two other lone hikers.

Not my favorite trail to hike, but I love this mountain!

We had to much fun doing this last year and can't wait to do more this summer.  When Holly went back to school, it was so sweet for me to see the different mountains we'd climbed as I drove around town, remembering the times we shared.  Precious memories.

And in weird news of the day (week, month) . . .

I found that Trevor has a twin walking around in Roanoke.  I stumbled upon this photo and had to look twice, three times, four.  In fact, I am fascinated by this guy who looks EXACTLY like my son.  And this is not a joke!

I've looked at him in other pics and don't see quite the same resemblance.  Every time I see this pic, I can't help but stop and stare. SO weird!!!!

Last week

Trevor hiked Read Mountain with a friend. It was a gorgeous morning.  Surprisingly, although it was Saturday morning, it was not any busier than when Holly and I hiked it mid-week last year.  I sat in the shade for an hour, catching up with Trev's friend's mom before heading back home and later coming back to pick them up.  Such a nice, relaxing morning (for me anyway!).

Guys had a great time, didn't even stop to eat lunch on the trail.  They came home and hung out for the rest of the day.

Holly and I went downtown to the annual Taubman Art Show on Sunday.  We dashed in between raindrops, spent a bit of time wandering through 140 exhibitors, and drank giant smoothies at Mill Mountain Coffee.  I am so happy with this pic I got over the MLK bridge. That's the Wells Fargo building, the tallest building in western Virginia.

Stormy week, torrential rains

. . . followed by rainbows.

 We made our own Bun Thit Nuong -- Vietnamese Noodle Bowls.  Delicious!

Trevor came along to Crochet & Coffee--because Kurt was there and Erich showed up. The guys enjoyed guy time and their electronic devices.

Robert pulled out his mom's wedding gown.  That's quite a picture!

Fun to see Holly trying it on, and Robert enjoyed it too.

We had the Schroeders over for dinner on Wednesday, and Judy brought Emily. Emily was quite happy to have Vader snuggle up by her.

 
 And Robert is one of her favorites too.

On Thursday, we FINALLY got our long awaited tax return, after having someone file fraudulently using our SSNs, names and address.  We celebrated with take out Pizza Hut.

Seems like a kind of busy week.

My dog eats weird stuff

Before we got her, she ran wild and often foraged for her own food.  One of our great memories pre-ownership was when she ran up our driveway carrying a deer leg in her mouth.  Trevor went up to greet her, and when he realized what she had, he turned to run away from her.  Thinking he was playing, she ran to try to catch him, and it was a race to the front door. 

Needless to say, when we got her, she was full of worms.  ::blech::shudder::

So she likes variety.

We don't feed her much table food. I hate begging dogs.  But she knows me enough to stick around when I'm cutting food up in the kitchen. She knows I'll usually toss her some treats, sometimes meat, but more often vegetable scraps.  She really likes those.

I think her favorite is the crunchy rib part of romaine lettuce.  She'll eat the whole leaf, but she doesn't care for the softer lettuces.

She just eats weird things.  Green pepper strips.  Cucumber.  Carrot peelings.  Raspberries.  Strawberries.  She likes all of those.  When she doesn't like something, she will leave on the floor.

She's not too interested in her regular dog food, resigned to eating it unenthusiastically.

Last month, Robert and Trevor bought a "young coconut" during their Asian food store shopping spree.  A young coconut just means that the coconut is immature and has a softer, cream colored husk instead of the brown, hairy husk we're used to.  I let it sit, not knowing what to do with it, and I finally opened it tonight.  Unfortunately, the water inside had turned a bit rancid.  I couldn't tell; I don't care for the taste of coconut water, but Trevor confirmed.  Young coconuts also have soft coconut meat inside.  I didn't care for the taste of it, but Kota did.  I gave her a couple of small chunks.

I don't think Robert likes when I give her healthy food like that.  He picks up after her in the yard, so he has a different view than I do.  But she likes it so much, and the vegetables are good for her too!  I know I'd prefer variety.

And I told Trevor that next time we go to the Asian market, we need to pick up another coconut and cut into it much sooner.