A Starr Is Born

A Blog No More

2009-10-20T09:25:00.002-04:00

A Starr Is Born has been discontinued as of 10/09. Please visit I Am The Pearl (www.iamthepearl.blogspot.com) for your reading pleasure.

William Bartram

2009-09-09T15:01:00.004-04:00

William Bartram (1739-1823) drew this picture of the Alachua Savannah (Payne's Prairie, just south of Gainesville) in 1765.

"David Duchovny"

2009-08-26T09:58:00.002-04:00

It's Sunday night, I am curled up in my room
The TV light fills my heart like a balloon
I hold it in best I can, I know I'm just another fan
But I can't help feeling I could love this secret agent man

And I can't wait anymore for him to discover me
I got it bad for David Duchovny
David Duchovny, why won't you love me?
Why won't you love me?

My friends all tell me "Girl you know it's just a show,"
But deep within his eyes I see me wrapped up like a bow
Watching the sky for a sign, the FBI is on my mind
I'm waiting for the day when my lucky stars align

In the form of David Duchovny floating above me
In the alien light of the spaceship of love
David Duchovny, hovering above me
American Heathcliff, brooding and comely
David Duchovny, why won't you love me
Why won't you love me, why won't you love me?

So smooth and so smart, he's abducted my heart
And I'm falling apart from the looks I've received from those eyes
I can't believe, well you can say I'm naive
But he tells me to believe

My bags are packed, I am ready for my flight
Gonna put an end to my daydream days and sleepless nights
Sitting like a mindless clone, wishing he would tap my phone
Just to hear the breath of the man, the myth, the monotone

And I would say David Duchovny, why won't you love me
Why won't you love me, why won't you love me?
David Duchovny, why won't you love me
Why won't you love me, why won't you love me?

David Duchovny, I want you to love me
To kiss and to hug me, debrief and debug me
David Duchovny, I know you could love me
I'm sweet and I'm cuddly
I'm gonna kill Scully
David Duchovny, why won't you love me
Why won't you love me, why won't you love me?

-Bree Sharp

David Duchovny, why won't you love me? - Revised

2009-08-26T09:50:00.001-04:00

Great song, great man!

How Florida-Friendly Is That!

2009-08-21T15:32:00.005-04:00

My boyfriend John is mentioned in the article here. It's from Hernando Today and describes a recent Florida Yards & Neighborhoods certification conducted by my b.f. at the Brooksville office of Florida's Southwest Water Management District (SWFWMD). FYN recognizes yards that are especially Florida-Friendly, meaning that they make efforts to reduce stormwater runoff (like the rain barrel shown here), use mulch (again, shown), and are fertilized and irrigated appropriately. Fortunately, SWFWMD passed their certification.

I Want This!

2009-08-20T14:40:00.000-04:00

Great Coffee Table Book

2009-08-20T14:39:00.000-04:00

Florida Fauna

2009-08-20T12:44:00.009-04:00

John's house is next door to an empty sandy lot where many gopher tortoises make their homes. These large, speedy turtles dig 2-foot-diameter holes that connect to each other by tunnels up to 30 feet long. This baby gopher tortoise evidently moved away from the lot and made himself a tiny burrow under an Indian hawthorn shrub in John's front yard. He was chillin' on the doorstep a couple weeks ago, when I went out to go to the library. He wasn't interested in hanging out with me. The last photo shows him hurrying towards his hole.

Dance Off USF vs Uconn 2009 Big East Baseball Tournament as seen on PTI.

2009-08-14T13:44:00.001-04:00

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2009-08-13T16:40:00.002-04:00

It is poor and lonely but undeniably lovely country; yet in spite of its loveliness, there is an overabundance of madness and despair in those settlements and towns. So much deprivation and so much natural beauty...
-Russell Banks, Affliction

2009-08-13T16:38:00.001-04:00

Mutant Cherries

2009-08-13T16:37:00.000-04:00

Christian Bale takes David to the Dentist (Mash-Up)

2009-08-13T16:36:00.001-04:00

Drunk History vol. 2.5 - Featuring Jack Black

2009-08-13T11:34:00.001-04:00

Drunk History vol. 2 - Featuring Jack Black

2009-08-13T11:33:00.001-04:00

David After Dentist

2009-08-10T16:02:00.001-04:00

JK Wedding Entrance Dance

2009-08-04T19:57:00.001-04:00

Daddy, Would You Like Some Sausages?

2009-07-21T17:17:00.006-04:00

Holy smokes! What is Ms. Wacahoota holding in this picture? By golly, it's a SAUSAGE, the seed pod of the South African "sausage tree." On a recent visit to Leu Gardens in Orlando, shooting the TV show "Your Southern Garden," my co-workers returned bearing sausages for us all to marvel at.

And yes, Kim put googly eyes on them...

For more information:
Harry P. Leu Gardens: www.leugardens.org
Kigelia (sausage tree): www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigelia
Kim (Googly Eye Master): www.cannasandbananas.blogspot.com
Emily (Ms. Wacahoota): www.gardenliving.blogspot.com
Your Southern Garden: www.yoursoutherngarden.com
Tom Green, "Daddy, Would You Like Some Sausages?": www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLh8MnKeoAo

My Lilies Bloomed!

2009-07-21T17:14:00.004-04:00

Thank you, John!! I don't know what kind these are, but they're gorgeous, and they smell really good.

I Lied Again...

2009-07-21T14:49:00.003-04:00

...But for a worthy cause: To promote my fellow displaced Northeasterner's new blog, The Other Side of the Ocean. This is Jenna: We both ended up here in North Central Florida, her from Cape Cod and me from New York. As it did for me, her transference across the Mason-Dixon line has resulted, willingly or not, in a new life. Like me, she's still trying to make sense of that.

2009-07-21T13:30:00.003-04:00

Okay, I lied. But we had to get our pictures of our weekly guest stars in...

Muscadines

Scuppernongs

It Took Me Four Days to Hitchhike From Saginaw...

2009-07-21T13:22:00.002-04:00

The Michiganders (by descent) are off to the ancestral homeland for a two-week vacation...next post will probably be from the road.

My Wonderful Flowers from a Wonderful Man

2009-07-20T11:12:00.004-04:00

You'll forgive the self-indulgence, I hope...it's been a while since a man routinely showed up at my door with bouquets.

Gnome Reich

2009-07-17T11:39:00.002-04:00

It's true...even Nazis are down with the gnomes these days.

Cones in My Car

2009-07-16T13:41:00.003-04:00

Some friends, who shall remain nameless, decided yesterday would be a good day to break into my car, which was parked in our office parking lot, and seat some cones with googly eyes in the driver and passenger seats. This is what I discovered when I unlocked my car at lunchtime:

I had had no inkling that this was in the works. Our building has been pretty empty this week, including most of the usual suspects for such a prank. The prime suspect was at lunch. My driver's side window was barely cracked open, making me wonder whose snakelike arm could have slid down to the door lock. No one was there to witness my jumping around, hand flailing, and baffled shouting: "Who did this? Who did this?"

These are the cones comfortably snuggled up in the passenger seat, where I moved them so I could drive...and where they surprised me again this morning.

It's A Baby!

2009-07-15T16:24:00.000-04:00

Brian and Susan's baby is pretty dang cute...

Diver Down

2009-07-15T11:17:00.012-04:00

Extreme Scalloping Adventures in the Gulf of Mexico: July 12, 2009

Homosassa Springs

The Scalloping Grounds

Dixie Starr in Her New Bikini

Diver Down Flag

John

Nikki & John

Our Sweet Haul

Beer & Bands

Florida Pic of the Day

2009-07-15T10:41:00.002-04:00

Scallop Season

2009-07-13T11:41:00.001-04:00

It's scallop season in Florida, and yesterday we went scalloping out of Homosassa Springs. More scalloping adventure info to follow, after I upload my pictures.

Get With It

2009-07-11T10:51:00.003-04:00

Here's a little difference I've noticed about Floridians and Northerners: Up North, when we want to indicate that we'll return somebody's call, we say, "I'll get back to you" or "I told him I'd get back to him later." Down here, it's almost invariably, "I'll get back WITH you." Or, if your boss is instructing you to liaise with someone in another office, she'll say: "I told Jill you'd get WITH her this afternoon."

Where I come from, that would mean you were going to make sexy time with Jill this afternoon. Not so in the South! It still sounds weird to me. Even John says, "If she doesn't get back with you..." ...and I have to take a moment to remember what it means.

I Totally Heart John Moran...

2009-07-10T13:52:00.001-04:00

...Florida nature photographer extraordinaire. And here's why: http://www.johnmoranphoto.com.

Taking Out the Grass

2009-07-10T11:20:00.001-04:00

Jen discovered this while researching for work. We call it our turfgrass professor friend Jason's "worst acid-trip nightmare."

Welcome Back, Erin!

2009-07-10T10:40:00.005-04:00

After an eight-month hiatus studying gnomes in the German forest, gnomologist Erin has returned to the Blogosphere. Check out her blog, Conspicuously Bright. (Erin is the slightly skeptical one in this picture.) But be warned: if you're a scrapbooker, this is not the blog for you!

Lady of the Day

2009-07-09T12:32:00.002-04:00

Lady Gaga

Man & Machine

2009-07-09T11:57:00.007-04:00

On Tuesday, John delivered his beloved tractor to its new owners. It was an important moment for him--the close of a chapter, as he called it. I decided to document the event. I thought he'd like to have some "farewell tractor" pictures...and I like seeing him in Wranglers.

Tea Partay

2009-07-08T15:24:00.001-04:00

In honor of my friends back home.

Will Allen & Growing Power

2009-07-08T10:15:00.001-04:00

Here's a NY Times article everyone should read. This story about composting and local food growing in an urban environment is amazing. Thanks to Sarah for passing along the good info.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2009-07-08T09:13:00.001-04:00

And how swiftly life would descend on the boys, as well. First the panic that maybe they’d have to go through it alone, then the quick marriage to prevent that grim fate, followed by relentless house and car payments and doctors’ bills and all the rest...They’d gravitate to bars like her mother’s to get away from these same girls and then the children neither they nor their wives would be clever and independent enough to prevent...Their jobs, their marriages, their kids, their lives--all of it a grind.

~Richard Russo, Empire Falls

It's All Gravy

2009-07-07T14:55:00.004-04:00

What does "gravy" mean to you? We were having this conversation at lunch today. Evidently Southerners think of "gravy" as something far different than your average Northerner expects to eat at Thanksgiving, or on any plate of pot roast and mashed potatoes.

In the South, "gravy" is white, made of flour and milk, and often served with sausage and biscuits. "Brown gravy" is what we Yankees think of as "normal gravy." That's the gravy made from meat drippings--fat and juice mixed with flour and seasonings.

Emily says you can eat white gravy on anything--she and her family eat it three or four times a week!

White Gravy

Brown Gravy

Say It Ain't So

2009-07-07T10:37:00.003-04:00

Regional accents are one of America's most fascinating characteristics to language appreciators. For example, down here we say "bowled" instead of "boiled." Hence: "After that two o'clock meeting, I'll be ready for some bowled peanuts." And: "Kaity can eat her weight in bowled peanuts, can't she?" And, when you're annoyed with someone: "She was just makin' my blood bowl."

Snack of Dreams

2009-07-06T14:08:00.004-04:00

Here's a common Southernism that, prior to living here, I only ever saw from car windows at roadside stands as I flew through Dixie. The boiled peanut is roughly the Southern equivalent of Northerners' deviled eggs. They are easy to make, well loved, and leave only a little, biodegradable refuse: a portable treat with character that can be carried to picnics, barbecues, and parades, and lends its bearer a dash of pizzazz. It's a food that tells a story, lets people know where they are, and, depending on their presentation and taste, can make or break a social reputation. Down here, they're as common as cornbread or watermelon. Everyone makes them for the Fourth. They're salty enough to burn your mouth and soft enough to melt on your tongue--tres Southern!

Independence Day

2009-07-06T12:40:00.015-04:00

This Fourth, I went to a small town called Micanopy, about ten minutes south of Gainesville, for the annual parade and fish fry.

The parade commenced at 10:30 a.m. We sat under a blooming crapemyrtle in folding chairs, drank lemonade, and watched...

Wildlife Artist Float

One of many antique tractors in the parade...four of many blonde, red-white-and-blue-clad kids running around waving flags.

The 4-H float, with my friend Emily and her kids Will (blond boy at far left) and Kaity (on the other side, red bow) aboard. Emily is the proud descendant of Florida Crackers and grew up in an orange grove.

Antique John Deere.

Horseriders dressed as olde-timey Crackers. They made quite a loud popping sound with their whips.

All hail the All-American.

Outside the Micanopy Museum, a "homemade tractor" and some other ancient, lichened machine parts have sat so long, the trees have grown over and around them.

Dixie: The Episcopal Church of the Mediator.

Veranda of the Herlong Mansion, a historic inn.

And Independence Night...

Kim's basket o' wonders...

Our twenty-one-gun salute!

Goodness, How Delicious!

2009-07-06T10:43:00.010-04:00

My Midwestern mama used to sing me this Civil War ditty when I was growing up in the frozen northland. Where she learned it, I never knew, but I can't recall a time when I didn't know what goober peas were. In fact, I've gotten to educate at least one Southerner about "goobers" since I've been down here.

Evidently the first printed version of this song was published in 1866. Notice the names on the music sheet: "A. Pindar" (also a peanut nickname) and "P. Nutt."

Sitting by the roadside on a summer's day
Chatting with my mess-mates, passing time away
Lying in the shadows underneath the trees
Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas.

Chorus:
Peas, peas, peas, peas
Eating goober peas
Goodness, how delicious,
Eating goober peas.

When a horse-man passes, the soldiers have a rule
To cry out their loudest, "Mister, here's your mule!"
But another custom, enchanting-er than these
Is wearing out your grinders, eating goober peas.

Chorus

Just before the battle, the General hears a row
He says "The Yanks are coming, I hear their rifles now."
He turns around in wonder, and what d'ya think he sees?
The Georgia Militia, eating goober peas.

Chorus

I think my song has lasted almost long enough.
The subject's interesting, but the rhymes are rough.
I wish the war was over, so free from rags and fleas
We'd kiss our wives and sweethearts, and gobble goober peas.

Happy Birthday, Americans!

2009-07-05T11:27:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to my beloved country, The United States of America!

Deer vs man

2009-06-30T14:23:00.001-04:00

DUCK VS DOG

2009-06-30T14:22:00.001-04:00

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2009-06-29T14:07:00.003-04:00

"She didn't make a plant that was not beautiful: roses without thorns are not roses." I didn't know if he was quoting, but I understood that everything had a right to defend itself.

~J.T. Glisson, The Creek

The Man I Left Daniel Craig For

2009-06-25T17:40:00.003-04:00

Resin Pendants

2009-06-25T17:39:00.004-04:00

Materials: Bottlecaps, magazine/book cutouts, beads, sequins, thread, resin.

Family Guy - The Brain Damaged Horse!

2009-06-23T13:58:00.003-04:00

Family guy: Horse sucks on stewies head eww

2009-06-23T13:58:00.001-04:00

My favorite horse in the world.

2009-06-23T11:46:00.001-04:00

Waiting

2009-06-22T20:26:00.001-04:00

Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it hath sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own and draw
The brook that springs in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delight.

The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.

~John Burroughs
1837-1921

Pineapple Express

2009-06-22T15:58:00.001-04:00

"He's a protest servant."
"No...no I'm not."

Singapore Slings with Mescal on the Side...

2009-06-22T15:04:00.001-04:00

Father's Day

2009-06-22T13:26:00.001-04:00

My dad (and mom?) used to sing this to me when I was little. So, in honor of Father's Day (which was yesterday), I'd like to dedicate this song to my dad (and mom!).

MY GIRL

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl).
I've got so much honey the bees envy me.
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl).
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooooh.
I don't need no money, fortune, or fame.
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim.
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl).
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
with my girl.
I've even got the month of May
with my girl (fade)

~The Temptations
December, 1964

Exploring Modern Ruins

2009-06-19T14:29:00.005-04:00

Someone recently introduced me to this Web site, Modern Ruins: Portraits of Place, by a spectacular photographer named Shaun O'Boyle. His main site, oboylephoto.com, has great travel pictures and other work. But it's the abandoned towns, mines, and boatyards of the industrial Northeast that really snagged my attention.

And if you're into that kind of thing, this site is pretty cool as well -- more modern ruins from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

It Just Depends

2009-06-18T11:41:00.001-04:00

Jizz In My Pants

2009-06-17T10:38:00.001-04:00

Redneckiana

2009-06-17T10:20:00.006-04:00

Beauty Pageant Winner

Kid's Timeout

Barbie

Jacuzzi

Mansion

Limo

Like A Boss (ft. Seth Rogen) - Uncensored Version

2009-06-16T11:24:00.001-04:00

Anna Begins

2009-06-12T14:27:00.004-04:00

My friend assures me it's all or nothing
I am not worried- I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me for one time only,
Make an exception. I am not not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies
Send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried- I am not overly concerned
With the status of my emotions
Oh, she says, we're changing.
But we're always changing
It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live that
But, I'm sure there's something in a shade of gray
Or something in between
And I can always change my name if that's what you mean
My friend assures me it's all or nothing
But I am not really worried
I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try tell yourself to make
Yourself forget
To make yourself forget
I am not worried
If its love she said, then we're gonna have to think about the
Consequences
She cant stop shaking and I can't stop touching her and...
This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering
For days she says.
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing
But I'm not gonna break
And I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not gonna bend and I'm not gonna break and
I'm not gonna worry about it anymore
It seems like I should say as long as this is love...
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should just
Snap her up in a butterfly net-
Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried
I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...
The time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins change my mind
And every time she sneezes I believe it's love
And oh lord.... I'm not ready for this sort of thing
She's talking in her sleep- it's keeping me awake
And Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand it and
Oh lord I'm not ready for this sort of thing
Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears, and oh lord I'm not ready for this sort of thing

~Counting Crows
1993

2009-06-12T12:09:00.002-04:00

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2009-06-12T12:09:00.001-04:00

"I didn't know redneck men were so much like women."
~J. McIntyre

Lady of the Day

2009-06-11T12:34:00.000-04:00

Gulf Fishing

2009-06-11T10:53:00.014-04:00

Last Sunday we took the boat out on the Gulf near Crystal River. It couldn't have been a more gorgeous day...

Road to Crystal River.

By the boat ramp.

John getting the Shallow Minded ready.

We made a stop on Shell Island...

...where the beach is made of oyster shells.

Fishing...

Baby gag grouper.

I made a decent fisherwoman...I certainly had fun.

Uh oh! He let me drive the boat for a while.

A ginormous sea cooter swamp up near the boat...

Me kissing the speckled trout I caught before tossing him back.

The nuclear power plant, that keeps the manatees warm in winter.

Coming back to shore...

Ha Ha

2009-06-10T08:16:00.007-04:00

Recently a dumbass drove his car into the Gowanus Canal in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Evidently it was dark, he was drunk, and he thought he was on one of the streets that have bridges (he wasn't).

The following morning, these photos were taken of his car being hauled out of the canal. The man himself had already been extracted (alive) and taken to the hospital. We can only hope it was one of the really bad Brooklyn hospitals that are filled with people like himself.

Bring Me A Shrubbery!

2009-06-09T15:50:00.003-04:00

It seems that A Starr Is Born has attracted at least one lost soul to Gardening in a Minute, the Web site for the University of Florida Extension radio program. The program is exactly a minute long and airs daily on NPR stations in Florida. Gardeners can listen to shows they've missed and get other useful tips and information about every aspect of gardening in Florida on the Web site. So, if you aren't that one guy or gal who's already linked to it through Dixie's page, check out Gardening in a Minute today!

2009-06-09T10:29:00.001-04:00

Lady of the Day

2009-06-09T10:28:00.000-04:00

St. Joan of Arc

Weekly Guest

2009-06-08T17:03:00.000-04:00

A huge alligator gar. Olde-timey picture.

Find the Gnome Hat

2009-06-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

...in the dishsoap.

BUM BUM SONG - TOM GREEN

2009-06-08T16:27:00.001-04:00

Awkward Families

2009-06-03T11:53:00.002-04:00

Is your family this awful?
Mine isn't. This site makes me feel awesome about my family and our photos.

Yowee!

2009-05-29T15:13:00.001-04:00

Douches Galore

2009-05-29T13:15:00.002-04:00

Click here for LATFH: Look At This Fucking Hipster.

2009-05-23T10:54:00.002-04:00

Heavy Metal Gnomes

2009-05-23T10:53:00.000-04:00

It's a whole gnome section at Borders!

Chinatown

2009-05-21T18:34:00.002-04:00

Nur with Statue (Brooklyn Museum)

2009-05-21T18:33:00.002-04:00

New York So Far

2009-05-20T09:54:00.012-04:00

The Joeys

2009-05-13T10:52:00.002-04:00

I always liked this picture: My father shaking hands with my brother-in-law on the church steps, right after the wedding. In the background is my mom talking to the bride's mother. It had thundered during the ceremony, and then the sun came out right as we left the church.

Pony Rides

2009-05-13T10:28:00.002-04:00

This is me and Kaity getting feed out of the bubblegum machines for the pony.

Alarmed Pea

2009-05-13T10:26:00.001-04:00

Kidsittin'

2009-05-12T11:30:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty excited, 'cause tonight I get to play on the farm with the munchkins. I brought my cutoffs and flip-flops, so I can run amok with the goats.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2009-05-12T10:59:00.002-04:00

"If I were buying a coffin, I would buy one with thicker walls, so you couldn't hear the other dead people."
~Dwight K. Schrute, The Office (Season 2, Episode 3)

2009-05-12T10:13:00.004-04:00

These are similar to the zukes we saw on Saturday at the Windsor Zucchini Festival. These were no ordinary slim jim Publix zucchinis. No, no, no. These were mighty master zucchinis. Imagine witnessing a truckload of them. The mind reels.

The Daniel Craig Show

2009-05-12T10:10:00.002-04:00

Let's take a moment to admire this suave Brit who looks like a hot, crazy Polack with an uzi strapped to his back.

2009-05-12T09:51:00.001-04:00

Anonymous Comments: Cowboy Music Video

2009-05-12T09:45:00.001-04:00

This just in from a reader of Dixie Starr's, who felt strongly about the Gael Garcia Bernal (is that his name?) music video posted below.

Dat's veerd. Everything about it. The fake backgrounds. The mix up of soccer and cowboy stuff. The two women. The colors. His movements, like pointing to his eyes. the horses.

Quiero Que Me Quieras - Tatto(Gael Garcia Bernal) - Rudo Y Cursi (2008)

2009-05-11T14:02:00.001-04:00

I want...you to want me?

Zuke It Up!

2009-05-11T11:49:00.009-04:00

Saturday, May 9th, Dixie and girlfriends attended the Windsor Zucchini Festival just across the lake from Gainesville.

Kaity got a pink cowgirl hat.

Dixie got a new Rebel flag purse!

Kim and Kaity shook a leg.

Ever'body got a zuke ice cream from the fire truck.

Folks listened to the amazing band.

Kaity played with the windchimes (note the gnome chime at right).

We admired the zucchini art collection, including the fantastic Zuke Island, on which lived a zuke gator, duck, toitull, and fish. We're plannin' our entry for next year!

Me & The Cypress Tree

2009-05-11T10:37:00.006-04:00

I loved this tree when it was standing; if anything, I love it more now it's fallen.

Largest Woodpecker on Record

2009-05-11T10:34:00.000-04:00

Me & My J

2009-05-10T14:26:00.001-04:00

Welcome, Anna Grace!

2009-05-10T13:39:00.002-04:00

Yesterday at 5:53 p.m., my friends Brian's and Susan's daughter Anna Grace was born at home, delivered by a midwife, at a healthy 8 lbs. 5 oz. We hear that infant and mother are doing well. We can't wait to meet baby A.G. in person, and we wish Susan the very happiest possible Mother's Day!!!

Happy Birthday, Mama!

2009-05-09T18:59:00.001-04:00

Today is my mother's birthday. Hooray!!

This Just In

2009-05-09T10:25:00.001-04:00

Brian's baby is being born as I write this!! I just got a text from him. I will try to pop over to his and Susan's house later today and see if they'll let me view tiny Anna Grace Neimann!!

Jen's Gittin' Hitched!

2009-05-09T10:15:00.002-04:00

Today is the wedding day of our friend Jen, a Palatka native with an interest in literature and Pre-Raphaelite art. We don't have on hand a picture of her with her hubby-to-be (or maybe already hubby!), but we do have these pictures from her bridal luncheon last Friday.

Jen with her "Happy Wedding" card and honeymoon cash.

Dixie, Jen, and Kim after lunch.

Fortunately Jen did not fall out of Erin's Jeep this time around, so she will not have to hobble down the aisle. We're thinking of her as we head to the Zucchini Festival and wishing her all the best!!

You've Been Googl'd!!

2009-05-08T15:11:00.011-04:00

What I didn't know was that while Brian and I were pranking Tom, another prank was being planned by Kim and Emily and Erin--on ME. I returned from an overnight work trip to Tampa late Tuesday afternoon, only to walk into my office and find that all the office plants had been moved into my office. Their leaves had 204 googly eyes stuck on them. Kudos, Kim!