Twofer Tuesday

My days have been filled with work, work, work.  I recently came back from a trip to Conneticut for business.  Luckily, I have had some time to spend time with the dogs and do some activities.  This past weekend, we had a USDAA agility trial.

I cannot take credit for the following photos.  They were taken by our friend Mary and they turned out great.  She took these great photos of Zorra during some of her runs this weekend.  We hadn't trialed for a while and hadn't had an outside trial for a couple of months.  We had a few good runs and actually had 2 qualifying runs.

Katie also attended, but no photos.  Just as well, she was out for a good time and really didn't care if she ran well or not.  As I say, Katie is Katie is Katie.  She decides right before the run whether or not she wants to play.  Sam, maybe next time.  USDAA has more difficult runs that some of the other venues we participate in.  Maybe next time for Sam.  I am not up to his caliber yet. LOL

Zorra takes everything VERY seriously.  She rarely knocks over a bar when she runs, as she is concentrating as hard as she can to do everything perfectly.

 

I love Zorra's ears when she is running agility or flyball.  They are always flapping around and they bring comic relief to her "game face."  That is one determined look on her face, there.

 

She isn't a big fan of the A-Frame or teeter totter.  Some dogs (including Katie) actually jump completely over the apex of the A frame.  Not Zorra, in this photo, it looks  she probably had all 4 paws on the apex.  You just can't be too careful, I guess.

 

And, she normally is very, very careful to get completely down the frame.  You must have at least a toenail in the yellow to score on the A frame.  You can see that she is concentrating very hard to ensure she will score.

Zorra is a funny girl when she is competing.  LOL.

Twofer Tuesday

Oops. I forgot to post for a while, bad me. I have been busy with work, and things for the flyball team and dogs. My apologies. :(

The Flagg Coal Company Steam Engine came into Metamora for 3 weekends recently, and I always enjoy their visit.  I found over teh last few years, that I enjoy riding these old trains.  Sure, it is slow and dirty, but it is still a lot of fun.

This steam engine ride offered a variety of entertainment over the 3 weekends. There was a special Cowboy ride where the train was robbed and hoodlums and cowboys fought it out on the train.  Unfortunately, there were a few of the younger riders who had a hard time with the reality vs. fantasy that this scenario brought.  In my strolls through town, I heard many mother and father explain to their 5 or 6 year old that it was just make believe, and didn't they see the cowboy later walking around? 

Metamora was never a true "railroad town." But, the railroad did lay tracks down next to the canal after the canal business died.  Now, part of the rails are used as a tourist ride from nearby Connersville, IN.

It is quite exciting when the engineer lets out the steam right before the train starts its few mile journey through the Indiana countryside.

 

After I took this photo, I thought this was what it must have looked like when the train did come into Metamora so many years ago.

I cannot vouche for the accuracies of my post, as I did no research.  But, I like to imagine things as they might have been. 

September 11, 2001

I remember exactly where I was when one of my co-workers came into the office and told me the first plane hit the World Trade Centers.  I remember being shocked at that.  I had just been at the top of that building a few months before.  I couldn't imagine what could have happened.  I actually thought a plane might have tipped the cell/tv towers that were on the top of the building.

I was wrong........  No words can describe the rest of the day.

 

I had this photo hanging on my wall in my old office, at the last place I worked until I left.  I still can't look at it without flashing back to that day and getting swept over with emotion.

True Colours Thursday

Today's color is lilac or mauve.....

 

Although I love to take photos of flowers, I am very bad with their names. :(  But, these are my contribution to the colors' theme today.  

 

This is one I took in Maui, which has both lilac and mauve.  Double shot on this one!

For additional thoughts on this, please go to the original home of True Colours Thursday here.

To join True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs & text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week.
If you simply want to use the idea as a 'prompt' for a post, as I do now, with many memes, that's fine.
But, if, you'd like others including me, to visit you, please leave a comment below, so we know you are 'IN'!

My new musical instrument

Everyone knows that I love music.  It doesn't really matter what kind, I can almost listen to all.  This past weekend, there was a Music Festival in Metamora, IN.  I wrote the first installment here.  I'm trying to keep a blog of activities for Metamora to gain interest, etc.  And, I genuinely enjoy writing about my experiences in that little village.

The Metamora Music Festival wasn't just limited to listening to good music.  There were also music workshops to take.  I purchased a ukulele last year when I was in Hawaii.  I play the guitar, dulcimer, violin (learning), and of course the piano.  But, that little, bitty 4 stringed instrument intimidated me.  Lucky me, though... there was going to be a workshop in Metamora.  Coolio.

It was on Sunday and it was raining.  I was just hoping the workshop was going to be under a tent to keep the rain off my uke.  I arrived right on time, and there was the instructor, John Anderson and Kelly Ann (his girlfriend).  He thought it was sort of funny that my name is Jonna.  Anyway, I was the only student for a while and I learned quite a few things.

Another guy came in late, and my sister was walking by so she joined the workshop, too.  John gave us some good tips and a cheatsheet (thumbs up on that for me).  And, I felt a bit more comfortable with my smallest stringed toy.

One of the high points of meeting John and Kelly Ann was they  told us about the Ukelele World Congress which meets in June in.....

BROWN COUNTY.   Who woulda thunk it.  These are ukulele aficionados from all over the world, and they descend on Needmore in Brown County.  I used to live only 4 miles or so from Needmore.  Next year, I may have to attend.

Here's a video of John Anderson, ukulele player at this year's Ukulele World Congress gathering:

Twofer Tuesday

Ahh, yes... she looks sweet, doesn't she?  Meet Honeycomb, my sister's youngest dog. 

As near as we can tell, she is a beagle/lab mix.  My sister found her when she was about 5 weeks old.  Her mother was no where to be found, and she was in a barn.  My sister had been alerted to her existence by another dog, Sweetie, who would escape the yard, catch a rabbit and take it to the puppy.

My dog, Katie, took over puppy-rearing and, unfortunately for us, seems to have taught Honeycomb most of her bad habits.  She has one heck of a hound dog howl, and thank goodness I don't have any close neighbors, else we would be in a lot of trouble for the noise.

 

Honeycomb is the youngest of our dogs and has recently started flyball and goes along with Katie, Zorra, and Sam to lessons weekly.  

True Colours Thursday

My sky blue images are all from the Pacific Ocean.  Almost every day we were in Maui, the weather was beautiful and the skies and ocean were a beautiful shade of blue.  In the photo above, it was getting along later in the afternoon and the bright blue was starting to change.

However, the morning had a much lighter hue, as shown in this photo.

The photo below was taken on the plane, out the window.  The various colors are merely clouds.  Funny how sometimes you can't tell the sky from the sea.

From Poopsie Blue, who originated True Colours Thursday here:

To join True Colours Thursday, all you need, is to post a photo/photographs & text, or better still both, on the specified colour of the week. If you simply want to use the idea as a 'prompt' for a post, as I do now, with many memes, that's fine.
But, if, you'd like others including me, to visit you, please leave a comment below, so we know you are 'IN'!
For this meme only, I lift my 'Comment Moderation' to help players connect with each other.
Everyone, who to my knowledge has participated recently, is named in the TCT Roll Call in my side bar.
And, I will try to up-date throughout the day.