Behind the Scene at the Art Festival

279 miles to Beckley, WV

Beckley is my father's old stomping ground... My grandfather worked in the coal mines repairing equipment in Minden, WV. There is a coal mine here in Beckley that we toured a couple of summers ago. The Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine was operational and really portrays the hard work that went on in the mines. The tour takes you underground into the mine. The facility includes a coal camp and a gift shop.

So what is it like to stand in a booth all day? Honestly, I love it! The compliments were flowing this weekend. One of my favorites was a woman who told me she had just taken 16,000 photographs for a film. Clearly this was a true professional, and she told me I had a "good eye!" Thank you to everyone for the two days of compliments! A realestate professional asked me to shoot his properties... But I don't live there. This is an idea though!

I especially enjoyed talking to Julio (send me your links) and also Pete (I'll look for his card when I unpack) who are both photographers. One woman invited me to join in dancing next time I was in Pittsburg because of talk about the "Waltz" image. (If she only knew how tired my legs were at the end of the day...) And another neat lady told me about a purple bridge about an hour from the show. I can't wait to track that down!

Yes, I took many bridge shots in Pittsburgh. Here's the first from the Rachel Carson Bridge.

Pittsburgh Bridges

Okay, so today I learned 11 minus 4 is way more than 7. (Four hours to Knoxville actually made the trip longer instead of breaking it up. )

But I made it to the city of bridges in plenty of time for the Shadyside art show tomorrow morning. I had no idea there were so many bridges. The structures are all different colors: yellow, blue, green and black. There are 455 bridges. The city actually holds the world's record beating out Venice, Italy. There are so many bridges because three rivers connect here. The Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers weave around Pittsburgh. Here is a shot from tonight.

And, a driving tip in Pittsburgh. The Liberty Bridge is not on Liberty Street. I got it! Hope to see you at the show tomorrow...

Crazier's 3/4 time is a Little Crazy

Very few popular songs are written in 3/4 time or waltz tempo. George Michael penned Cowboys and Angels in 3/4 many years ago, but currently as part of the Hanna Montana Movie soundtrack... Taylor Swift sings Crazier in 3/4 time. I bring this up here because it's a great opportunity to teach your children about waltzing, and I found a flower doing the waltz. The song is a love song. She says, "You lift my feet off the ground. You spin me around. You make me crazier crazier."

What Will the Kids Remember? The Music...

Loving music, certain songs remind me of particular days. I clearly remember there was a day when my son was in 3rd grade, and he was so mad on the way to school. I played Terri Clark's "I Just Wanna Be Mad" say 6 times in a row. She says in the song, "Please don't make me smile. I just want to be mad for awhile" We've all had these days! And, this morning we were all sick of the song by the time we made it to school, but it made it's point, and I turned a little anger into a very good laugh because I couldn't help laughing... and he did too!

And, most recently, I can't remember what show we saw, but my daughter and I cranked up Toby Keith's I wanna talk about me all the way home from downtown. We had a blast being together singing. Toby says, "Wanna talk about I. Wanna talk about number one. Oh my me my. What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see I like talking about you you you you, usually, but occasionally I wanna talk about meeeeee." We love this song for belting because we try to hold some of the chorus notes out for forever!

Share the music!

Solid as a ROCK! Stone Mountain Park, Georgia

Wow! What a nice surprise... and everyone wanted to return for a longer day.

We visited Stone Mountain park today for the bike ride and laser show. The laser show has been playing most of the summer. The bike ride is good. It is a perfect introduction to climbing hills. There are 2 loops around the base of the mountain. We rode the smaller, and it is about 6 miles.

The laser show was a cool mix of light and music. The music included Georgia songs, Georgia singer' songs and an American section. The lights included neat cartoons and images drawn on the mountain, photographs projected, fireworks, strobe lights and a little fire. Altogether the show was about 45 minutes. We paid only $10 to park and the show was included. We brought a nice picnic to eat before hand and had memorable evening. I even created a couple cool photographs.

The show is playing

Aug. 15, 22, 29 at 9:30
Sept. 5-7, 12, 19 26 at dusk 8:30ish.
Saturdays in October at 8 PM

Don't miss it.

Making a cake? Need frosting?

Today's question is how do you make frosting. My first response (ugh!) was "Use the can." Ah, but they wanted to decorate on top of the chocolate frosting.

For this I suggested checking the side of the Confectioner's Sugar box. I'll half the recipe here for decorating only (double for a whole cake) and add my own directions.

8 oz confectioner's sugar
1/4 C country crock
2 T milk
1/2 t Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
food coloring

Sift sugar and combine all ingredients and mix with electric mixer on low speed. Divide the frosting into several bowls and add food coloring one drop at a time until happy with the color.

I am convinced that the vanilla in my cupboard is delicious and causes foods like ice cream and frosting to be amazing.