That's Jupiter up there....

If you go outside right now and find the crescent moon in the sky, that bright light below it is Jupiter. I remember many years ago being at my brother Kent's house and we had out the telescope when this happened and we could see the red spot on Jupiter, it look about as big as a dime in the lens (the whole planet, not just the red spot)...I'll never forget it, just beautiful!

Swallowtails in my garden

I have seen lots of swallowtails this summer. both yellow tiger and black, got a good shot of this one this morning. Hope you all are having a great day!

Dancing with the Dancers who danced with the stars...

I would like to thank my dear friend, Linda Miselbrook for sharing her birthday present with me by taking me to see Dancing with the Stars in St. Louis last night! It was a really fun evening and always a good time with this crazy lady who has been my friend most of my life. Surprisingly, they encouraged us to take photos, so here are a few from my phone...now her two daughters, who gave her the tickets for her birthday, warned us to stay out of trouble, we didn't, but we can't discuss it until our case comes up in court.   Regarding, Dancing with the Stars...there actually was only one star that was dancing with the dancers, and that was a star from the tv show Glee..all of the other dancers were the trainers for the stars that appear on the show, so that's why I named this post "Dancing with the dancers who danced with the stars...was almost false advertising, except for the one star,so I guess I will give them a pass, it was still a great show though, such talent...

 

Happy 23rd

Happy 23rd wedding anniversary to my awesome, wonderful, kind, silly and entertaining husband today. Who,, when I went over to give him a hug just now said "Do you have to stand so close to me? There's plenty of room over there" (pointing to the other side of the room)..I bopped him on the head and said...AND Happy Anniversary to you too!" Of course, he was just kidding, because he's SO FUNNY...( She said sarcastically) wink wink...have a great day all!

Hot , Hot, HOTTER!

I had an appointment in Salem this morning at 8:00, left about 7:15. Came home at 11:00 and Bill said the power had been off since 7:30...it did not come back on until 12:30..We just drove around in the truck to stay cool, hotter today than yesterday, it reached 100, with heat index of 112..apparently, a tranformer 5 miles from us caught fire, and melted, which was the cause of yesterday's outage...they fixed it temporarily and then put in a new transformer this morning...I don't know who these guys are that work for Amaren, but really appreciate them. We drove by the transformer area and they were all standing there drinking lots of water, poor guys.. Hope you all were cool!

Hot hot hot!

We were coming home from getting groceries and it was 96 degrees, according to the radio, 106 degrees heat index. We walked in the house and the power was out! OMG, hottest day of the year and the hottest part of the day... and no power! Thankfully it came back on in a little over 2 hours. It was 82 degrees in here by then. Hope you are all staying cool wherever you are! Wish I was here...well for a few minutes anyway..

Red Hat lunch

Had lunch with my Red Hat ladies today at the Americanlegion Salem Il. Always a good time, with lots of interesting conversations. Have a good one all!

Remembering mom

A year ago today my sweet mama earned her wings to heaven. I miss her so much. Everyday I think of her and wish she was in her little apartment, surfing the internet and watching her favorite tv shows..Tuesday is especially difficult, since that was our movie day...prayers are appreciated for me and my brothers today.. A treasure I fouond while cleaning out her apartment were these amazing professional portraits of my beautiful mom as a young woman. So in her honor today, I am sharing them with you, my facebook friends. Also, a very grainy photo of my Grandma, grandpa Westman, my mom, and her two brothers, Bob Westman, and John Westman...have a great day everyone....

Forever indebted to these two inventors

On this 105 heat index day,(that's what they are predicting anyway) I would like to give my yearly kudos to Michael Faraday, who did the first experiments on cooling the air, back in the 1800's and to Willis Carrier who ultimately invented the first actual air conditioner in 1902! Truly so thankful for this wonderful luxury that we all take for granted...hope you all have a cool day!

kitchen sparkles

I love my afternoon kitchen, don't think I need anymore crystals in the window though..well, maybe a few...  :)

Early morning walk at the nature center

We got up early on this foggy morning and decided to take our morning walk at Ballard's Nature Center in Altamont, IL . Such a pleasant morning (for a while), we hiked through the woods and onto the prairie, just loved it! We stopped by a wild blackberry patch and ate a few, so good! It was nice to be out in nature. Bill was my spider-web man..you know, I had him go first, so if there was a spider web (and there were many) he would knock it down...I know, I'm such a primadonna, right? Before long the mosquitoes realized we were there and the heat was closing in, so time to go. Have a great day everyone!

New Hair..Bill says, No hair..lol..

mmmmm...blueberries!

Got these off of one bush in our yard, so good!

Some of the grand kids and Preston.