Southern Fun Carnival

Every Independence Day, Jefferson City has a big festival downtown - arts, crafts, old cars, music, carnival rides, corn dogs and funnel cakes - culminating in a riverfront fireworks show. It's always hot. There's always LOTS of people.

While out walking yesterday (in the heat - crazy - I know) I found the carnival's pre-fest hiding place - three blocks from my house in a parking lot for the old prison. I went out this morning and took some photos. There's lots more, but I just thought the elephant butts were cute!

Jammin'

I made Blackberry Jam this afternoon.

Directions:
1. Get Dad and Terri to pick 10 gallons of blackberries on Sunday morning at 7am before it's hot out.
2. Wash blackberries.
3. Crush blackberries with potato masher to make a puree. 1 gallon of berries makes 8 cups.
4. Put berries into large saucepan and add 14 cups of sugar. (Yes, that FOURTEEN cups of sugar. I did not skimp. It's full of sugary power. Just for you, Jess!)
5. Bring to rolling boil. Skim off foam.
6. Put in pectin and stir constantly for exactly one minute.
7. Make a big mess ladeling the hot jam into jars.
8. Invert jars and hope they seal!
9. Enjoy.

Missouri with Mark

Mark is back in San Francisco. He flew out yesterday afternoon, escaping another day of 100+ temperatures. He happened to have visited during the hottest week in two years. He coped admireably, complaining less than the natives, but wilting just as much.

So, here's what we did. (So Mark can remember.)

Saturday - June 18 - St. Louis
- South Grand for a walk-a-about and Thai lunch
- Cherroke Street - pictures of cool old stuff and a walk down to the old Lemp Brewery
- Layfayette Square - for our afternoon coffee and sugar rush
- The Arch
- Dinner on the Landing
- City Museum!!!!

Sunday - June 19 - Drive to Jefferson City
- via Scenic Route 94
- Photo shoot at a cool abandoned House and Barn, circa 1850
- Picnic lunch at Treloar
- BBQ at Dad's house with family for Father's Day

Monday - June 20 - Jefferson City
- Coffee at the ONE coffee shop in JC
- Capital
- Visit with Friend John Lowrance
- Central Dairy
- Dad's Yarn Shop
- Arris's Pizza for dinner

Tuesday - June 21 - Columbia
- Lunch at Subshop, with the Lord of the Rings mural
- more coffee
- Walk around downtown Columbia some
- Visit with my friend Sarah and her two boys (impromptu body painting session)
- dinner in downtown Columbia and more walking around
- Stopping off of Hwy 63 to watch the Orange Moon rise

Wednesday - June 22 - Sandy Hook
- Picking Blackberries
- Boat ride with Grandpa on Moniteau Creek to see the Jumping Fish. Three jump in the boat.
- Swim in pond with cousins
- Drive by tour of where my extended family (alive and not) live
- Fish and Turkey fry with Family

Thursday - June 23 - Mark's Birthday
- I let him sleep in.
- Spend most of day at Dad's house drinking coffee
- Central Dairy
- Madison's for dinner (a great pasta place)

Friday - June 24 - Back to St. Louis
- Via beautiful Hwy 100
- Wine tasting at Stone Hill Winery in Hermann
- Pictures of old train cars in Washington
- Visit with Margo in Webster Groves

Saturday - June 25 - St. Louis
- Coffee at Kaldi's, my favorite coffee shop, with gooey butter cake
- Walk around Washington University, my alma mater
- Walk around the Loop, including Fitz's Root Beer, a cool comic book store and Vintage Vinyl
- City Museum in the day light and drive around St. Louis Downtown
- Waffle House
- Historic Riverfront in St. Charles

If you want photos, you'll have to check Mark's Blog. He had my camera all week.

Play Dates!

The City Museum in St. Louis is by far the best place for a Play Date ever! This picture is of the ball pit for adults. Those are soccer size balls with Thomas the Train on them! (S, this picture is for D and S!)

Mark and I finished our Saturday evening there. On summer weekends, it's open til 1am. There are indoor caves and outdoor climbing structures made of old metal stuff, including a crane, two air planes, and a fire engine.

The other best place for a play date is Sarah's back yard with her two boys. We visited them today in Columbia. Pictures of painted feet forthcoming (as soon as I can get my camera back from Mark!)

Grandma's View

This is the view from Grandma's House. (Note: It's Grandma's House and Garden. It's Grandpa's Farm, Tractor, Truck, Tools, etc.) They live on top of a river bluff. That's the Missouri River and the River Bottom below. When it floods, all you can see from bluff to bluff is water. The green down below is probably soybeans.

Country Critters

Grandma has a lily pond. She feeds the gold fish in it every day. Grandma said she didn't want a lily pond. But Grandpa and Dad didn't listen to her. So, one day when she went into town, Dad and Grandpa took the tractor and dug a hole off the back deck.

This lily pond is now a favorite, especially for frogs and snakes.

The Weekend

five days, 1600 miles, four states, 20 hours in the car, 1 waffle house stop, 27 scoops of Jeni's Ice Cream, three new friends, 1083 skeins ordered, 35 new shops, 310 pictures, 4 shuffle refills, 3 rain storms...



This is the storm we ran into on the way home. I had to get off the highway because I couldn't see. This photo is under the awning at a gas station.

We made it home safely and enjoyed the beautiful post-storm sunset and lightning show.

birthday ice cream surprise

Ok. So, of course, if you know me, you know I love food, especially ice cream. One block away from the convention center was the North Market, which is a lot like Pike's Place in Seattle. It had delicious foods, groceries and eateries. I had pasta, sushi, vietnamese, and ice cream. Lots of ice cream. Jeni's Homemade Ice Cream is more like gelato than ice cream in texture and flavors. They use a gelato machine to make the flavors right there. They seem to specialize in fruity flavors like pear, lemon, mango, grapefruit, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry to name only a few. They also had spicy ice creams like Thai Chili and Chocolate Cayanne, which sounds wierd and tastes wierd at first, but definitely grows on you. I'm proud to say that I've had ice cream that was hot!

I figured if a had a trio (three small scoops of heaven) each day I would get to try at least half of the flavors. I easily reached that goal.

My birthday was Monday, the last day of the show. All the booths around me, knew I loved Jeni's. So, Terri planned a little surprise, despite my protestations. (The surprise birthday is an art in Terri's family.) She had Michelle from Pussy Cats 2 go to Jeni's and bring back a tray with 14 delightful scoops of ice cream. I had just gotten back from wandering around the show, when Michelle walks in with the ice cream and a dozen people I'd just met two days before sing me Happy Birthday, led by Terri and Dad, of course. Now, I'm not much for surprises, but this was nice. And I was definitely surprised. They say the look on my face was priceless. I believe them, because I was nearly tearing.



Thankfully, there were extra spoons and cups so everyone could had a little of the sweetness, because even I couldn't eat 14 scoops of ice cream on my own!

Self-Portraits

This is me on Sunday evening. Ever since high school, I've been taking self-portraits, generally one at the end of every roll of film. So, I have a fair amount of these. It's pretty interesting (to me at least) to go back and see all of the different faces/hair styles/moods/phases I've had.

Mark took a few of them and posted a collection of my self-portraits for my birthday. (Thank you, Mark!)

Ozark Handspun

Some of you will be so proud of me! I procrastinated again. That's twice in one month!

We're leaving for Columbus, OH tomorrow morning for the National NeedleArts Association Market Show. This trade show has over 800 vendors and over 1000 attendees, mostly yarn shop owners. I'm really glad I'm here to help Dad and Terri with this event, because attention to detail hasn't been their strongest suit lately. I think I've got them all straightened out now. I designed and set up the booth and figured out everything we need to take. It's packed, in the car and ready to go.

So, about the procrastination... I didn't get the display scrapbook finished til 8 this evening and I have not yet packed for myself. It's 11pm. Packing may have to wait til tomorrow... =)

If you haven't checked out OzarkHandspun.com yet, please do. It's lovely.

We get back on Tuesday. Wish us luck!

Time Travel

Tuesday evening we went out to see my Great Aunt Pauline and Uncle Harold. Aunt Pauline is my Grandma's oldest sister. She's 91. Uncle Harold is 92. They're pretty spunky. Up until a decade or so ago, they'd still travel around the US and square dance. Aunt Pauline makes great cherry pie (from the tree in their back yard). Uncle Harold has the most organized garage/work shop I've ever seen.

They live out Highway 179 in Jamestown, a booming metropolis of maybe 250 people, most of whom I'm probably distantly related to. Jamestown is about a 25 minute drive from Jeff City. I used to think it was at the ends of the earth. When I was 9, it took ages and ages to get there! Hwy 179 is a two-lane windy, hilly road through pastures, woods and farmlands next to the Missouri River.

Within five miles of Jamestown, on 179 we pass most of my family's history. The lands that five generations of the Gentzsch's have farmed. The log cabin where my grandfather was born. The first Gentzsch Family homestead. My Great Grandma Velma's house. The house where my dad was born. The house my parents first lived in (when I was less than one), which didn't have plumbing. The house that I grew up in - where I fished off the front porch during floods. The creek where I found fossils and discovered that I wanted to be an paleontologist. And the houses of all of my immediate relatives.

It was about 10 when we left to go home, nearly past my bedtime! I sat in the backseat and pressed my face to the glass. The stars were amazing. When I was little I would always watch the stars on our way home. (That's how I got to see Haley's Comet!) I felt like I was 9 again.

Then I noticed the fire flies and fell in love. In all the pastures and trees along the road for the entire drive to JC, fire flies sprinkled the night like tinkerbells or blinky christmas lights. Definitely magic! Sometimes it reminded me of BRC from the perimeter. I'll try and take pictures later this summer, but a photo won't be able to communicate the feel and smell of the warm, fresh night air, which is critical to the fire fly experience.

Dad's Garden

Dad loves to garden. Five years ago this was all grass. Now it's full of hostas, jap maples, whimsical little bird houses, shiney balls and sprinklers disguised as decoration.

Mud Dauber Escape

This looks curiously like the profile of a wasp in mud because it is the profile of a wasp in mud. It also happened to be on the top of a chair in my room.

Dad likes strange creature things. (He gets that from Grandpa.) My house was known by my friends in high school as the one "with the corn squirrel feeder by the front door." That's 10 years ago, and Seth mentioned last Friday. (Me: "You remember where my house is, don't you?" Seth: "It's the one with the corn by the front door right?" Me: "Well, not anymore. The squirrel feeder's in the back now.")

So, I come home and my old room is nicely funished, including a cool old chair with about a fistful of dry mud sticking off the top. After being reassured by Dad that it's empty, I allow it to stay in the room and even admit that it's pretty neat. Still, I wasn't heartbroken when I knocked the chair over and the nest broke.

This morning, I'm mostly awake and hear this light scratching noise, somewhat like a mouse in the wall. But we can't have mice in the walls because the walls are solid brick. I slide down out of bed (slide because the bed is three feet high and I have to hop to get into it), crouch down, creep across the room and identify the source of the noise at about ear level or the top of the chair. A wasp is struggling for freedom from the mud cocoon that has held it for months. The momentary panic fades as I remember that mud dauber wasps are not agressive wasps and not likely to sting. Still, it's not something I want thinking that my room is home.

Grabbing a plastic grocery bag, I carefully cover the nest and remove the chair to the great outdoors. About a minute later, the wasp flies free. It drifted to the ground and was learning its wings. I tried getting a portrait, but it seemed to be camera shy.

Thelma, Louise and Miss Daisy Make it Home

This is Lois, Jess, and I outside the house just before we left. Even though it was suburbia, I still had a good time. In fact, that we were in BFE made filling my annual cheesy movie quota a little less grevious! (We only averaged about 1.5 movies a day, including Hitch, Ice Princess, Bride and Prejudice, The Life Aquatic, Jem and the Holograms*, Sideways**, and Dodgeball. ;-)

That said, I feel rested and refreshed. We basically spent the entire week (with the exception of our jaunt into the city) "vegging out," doing nothing more than talking, walking, reading, cooking, eating, movie-watching, and sleeping. Exactly like the week after exams during college, but without as much junk food.

We made it to Missouri safely this afternoon. The drive was long (about 11 hours total over two days), but I learned a lot about my camera, having taken about 80 pictures of the back seat! Exciting, no? Yes, the cowgirl hat is mine. It goes great with my new haircut!


*Remember them? Totally outrageous!

**We watched this when Grandma Lois and Pat were out of the house shopping. While enjoying a bottle of wine, Jolene, Jess and I savored our See's Candies ritual, where we each take a small bite of a chocolate and pass it around for the others to try. (Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.)

Atlanta

Contrary to popular belief, Atlanta does have public transit. Jolene, Dan, Jess and I took MARTA downtown on Tuesday. None of us had been there yet, and Jesser wanted to say that she'd been to Atlanta after saying she was going to Atlanta. We drove 40 minutes or so to get to MARTA, while Jess entertained us with another session of Name that Tune. It was about a fifteen minute ride before we got off at the arts center. I had decided that we would walk down Peachtree Street for a couple of miles, hop on MARTA at another stop and head back. Since this was our first time to Atlanta, we had no idea what to do and wanted to just get a feel for part of it.

The first major attraction was lunch. I forget the name of the restaurant, but the food was excellent and our waiter was entertaining. He did a little song and dance to the 80s pop coming in over the speakers. The decor was warm and modern and I loved the chain/beads on the way to the restrooms. The only other major spot was Margaret Mitchell's house.

I'm glad we didn't drive, because we left at about rush hour and traffic was horrible, of course. And it still took us over 1.5 hours to get the dollar movie theatre only 15 miles or so away. So, I feel I've had a true Atlanta experience now. (At least I thoroughly enjoyed Hitch!)

We're leaving at 11 this morning, to drive to Paducah, KY, hopefully avoiding traffic on the way out of town.