Some of my favorite things...

...are often the simplest of things. Here are just a few:

1. I often get up at 5 AM to meet with one of my reps in Asheville, NC by 8 AM. One of my favorite things is to be somewhere between Greenville, SC and Asheville as the sun is peaking over the misty mountain tops. Love it, especially this time of year.



2. Playing the "Indian Jones" Wii video game with my 11 year old daughter.



3. Costa Rican coffee with Leslie on a cool morning.



4. Wrestling with my puppy.



5. Conversations with my 12 year old daughter on the way to piano or voice lessons.



6. My old pair of American Eagle jeans.



7. Composing music on my 1955 Steinway baby grand.



8. A weekend with no planned activity.



9. Going to the movies with my family.



10. Cupcakes.



11. Homemade peach ice cream.



12. Listening to a book on tape as read by the author.



13. 80s music



14. Quoting movie lines with friends.

What are some of your favorite yet simple things in life?

Dirty Dog

It's a good thing she's so cute, because she sure loves to dig holes. Fortunately, most of her digging exploits remain in the woods behind our house. Somewhere under that mud is our 7 month old puppy, Daisy.

OK, I Quit!

Emily is my new hero. And consequently, I am giving up the piano. Check it out.

Turkey Buzzards...

...have to be one of the ugliest birds I know of while on the ground. However, in the air they appear rather majestic, riding updrafts and thermals with an ease that seems out of sync with their size. Perhaps you'll agree as you see these pictures of one that, with his family in tow, routinely does a fly over of my house. I'm still awaiting the dreaded "Turkey Buzzard Surprise" dropped in my eye from 300 feet. So far, so good.

A few years back (while living in Georgia), Leslie, the kids and I all loaded up the family truckster and went to Reed Bingham State Park, to see a nesting ground for these giant carrion birds. We took a guided boat tour in a south Georgia marsh just before sundown. When we arrived at the nesting zone some 20 minutes later there were quite literally thousands of these giant birds along with their cousins, the Black Vulture. Apparently, the latter hangs with the former to take advantage of keener eyesight and superior intelligence. Talk about a strange feeling, having these giant birds eyeballing you as you pass under them in an open pontoon boat. Crazy.

"It's not my fault"...

...seems to be a recurring theme these days. At least in the Green house. May I be honest with you, just for a moment? My wife and I are glad that school is finally back in session. Frankly, the girls were getting on my last nerve. By the way, the same one left over from last summer vacation. As the seasonal heat reached its climax this year, so did the complaints of sisterly indescretions and abuses. And as the finger pointing and fussing became the norm, of course, no one was ever at fault.

A real-life example:
"She hit me".
"No I didn't. She hit me first"

Now, I'm no Matlock, but doesn't the word "first" actually contradict "No I didn't"? The bottom line is that in the end, both girls lose. Or so I like to think. For when I yell and ban them to their rooms, they actually go in there to read or play games or whatever else little girls enjoy doing in the comfort of their daintily decorated sanctuaries. Whatever the case, for them it's actually better than sitting in a classroom learning about the Pythagorean Theorem.

So, dear children, I find you guilty of making your parents go crazy and banish you to 9 months of breaking mental rocks in the state run educational system. I wish you well... and fully expect you to become recidivists, next summer.

I'd Say Her Husband Deserved It!

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/5815734/

What's Your Caption for this Picture?

Aunt Esther...

...turned 80 today, and celebrated in fine fashion. This Aunt Esther (no, not Lamont's sassy "ont") is Leslie's mother's older sister. My daughters think she is the coolest because she wears lavender Crocks in the summer and deep purple Uggs in the winter. Not a bad hat, either.

Lester the Snake Molester is...

...the bravest animal I know. I think you'll agree after seeing these pictures snapped by Allyson O'steen Scott at the farm in Florence, some weeks back. Lester belongs to Billy Hoke (Leslie and Jane's brother) who you may recall passed away in June of last year. The cat still lives at the farm and, by all evidence, keeps a pretty tight watch on the place. Here, he teases a fair sized Water Moccasin who slithered out of the pond to sun himself.

Randy Scott takes care of business with the only tool lying around, a half-rotten log. It did the trick and Randy and Lester went on to see another day.

What's the name of this park, again?