Pears

But not quite ripe yet.

This tree is on the grounds of The Hermitage-- Andrew Jackson's farm/plantation just east of Nashville. It was a very informative and tranquil visit. Amazing how different things were in the pre-Civil War days.

21st Century adventurers

Dianne and Allan Roden are shown here roughly one-fourth of the way through their journey from their home in Noblesville, Indiana.

Terri and I stayed at the River Rose Inn Bed & Breakfast in Elizabethtown, Illinois on the same night Dianne and Allan did. We were driving to Nashville. They were canoeing to New Orleans.

They had already been out three weeks (much of it camping) and had gone (by my estimate) about 300 of the 1,200 miles of their planned route. The gear you see in their 20 year old homemade cedar-strip canoe is everything they brought along. Well, the gear and their fantastically positive attitude. Good luck you two!

Follow their adventure at:
www.mississippiriver3.blogspot.com

Middleton

The infamous second glass of Middleton. I did not know each was $35 until after it was poured.

Yes, it was good. Plus, I got this great picture...

Nashville's Broadway

Besides honky-tonks and BBQ, there are also plenty of places you can get some pretty fancy cowboy boots on Broadway.

You can't take pictures inside Betty's, but we did steal some wonderful smells of new leather!

What does Nashville have in common with Greece?

They both have a Parthenon. In preparation for Tennessee's statehood centennial in 1896, this full scale model of the ancient Parthenon was built in Nashville's Centennial Park.

Because educators stressed classical education, including philosophy and Latin, Nashville was called The Athens of the South. That nickname was eventually replaced by Music City when the Grand Ole Opry started in the 1930s.

Who knew?

Kind of like Mt. Rushmore

When Terri and I went to the planet Herod, we visited a mountain that had carvings of four of their past Supreme Oversayers. From left: Klon, Zurkil, Ebsend, and Weldon.

The sky there was particularly blue that day and our hosts apologized for the bad weather. They said the sky would return to its normal mauve color as soon as the sun-storms passed.



Garden of the Gods in Shawnee National Forest, Herod, Illinois

A visiting finch

See the little yellow guy there on the Russian sage?

The grandson

He's nine and he's pretty cool.

Delicate

I saw a bunch of these in the western part of Zion National Park in southern Utah. Very delicate.

Green

One of nature's clever water collection systems.

TIN ROOF! ...rusted!

Friday we kicked off the new season on a cool night with some hot dancing tunes from the good ole 80s!

Lemonade

Winstrom "wake"

Back row: Rich Ross, Dick Vandenberg, Dave Arcand, Mike Muckian,
John Muckian, John Andretich, Kathy Mandarino
Center: Joy Rone, Juan Echeveste
Front row: Pete Hesse, Ronnie Foss, Mike Mandarino

The company I worked for from 1980 until 2004 closed its doors on June 9th. It was sad-- kind of like losing an old friend. So, I mentioned the idea of a "wake" to a few of my former co-workers and many were interested and many came. Here is a group of 12 who did come. Several more showed up later, but this was the only picture we managed to remember to take.

Foxglove

They almost look like little ceramic bells, don't they?

22 bottles of wine on the wall...

Honestly, did you count them?

3 lizards

Two metallic and stationary. One real and mobile. (Yes, we staged this.)

June

Fly the flag.

Summer begins a week from today.

Can't believe 2011 is 45% gone.

Al fresco dining

Saturday night was a bit cool to eat outdoors, but the restaurant's big pit fire smelled so good and the kerosene heaters kept us warm.

Apple store delight

Yes, that is the happy face of an owner of a new MacBook Pro notebook computer as she leaves the Apple store last Saturday.

April and May showers...

...bring June flowers.

Mrs. Muckian has been busy planting flowers and spreading mulch since school let out last Monday.

The end of the line

I started working for Winstrom Manufacturing in Park Forest, Illinois in 1980. Stephen Fodor owned the company which was run by his son, Les. After Les's untimely death in 1988, Mr. Fodor sold the company to Mike Lowenthal and Ron Feldman. Mike and Ron's exit strategy involved a merger/acquisition with another window company in Toluca, Illinois. I stayed on until I was let go in 2004. The "new" Winstrom was sold again to two brothers-in-law from Wisconsin. They were unable to keep the company going and shut the doors for the last time yesterday.

I feel like an old friend died.

Wicked storms

Thunder, and lightning, and rain. Oh my.

The next thing

Said good-bye to MySpace a long time ago. Will Facebook be next as I begin tweeting on Twitter?

I'm @MuckianAround of course.







This image was found on the web.

Almost that time

Another season of outdoor concerts at Ravinia begins this week. Our first show is the following Friday when we will see the Go-Go's and the B-52s. We'll kick off the Fourth of July weekend with Maroon 5, and end the summer with Lyle Lovett & His Large Band.

Plus, we received four vouchers with our membership. So, who else to see?... The Judds, The Moody Blues, The BoDeans, or Yo-Yo Ma?

Summertime, here we come!

Why not?

Alex got some designs cut into his hair Saturday. Why not? He's out of school and having some fun. And if he doesn't like it, it's hair, it will grow back!

The Birthday Princess

Sweet Saralyn on her 21st birthday. She is the last one in her group of friends to turn 21 and they all came together to take her out to celebrate. The beat up "Birthday Princess" sash looks old because they all wore it on their respective days. And last night was Sara's turn.

It was a nice evening. Teresa and Chris cooked great burgers and hot dogs for the whole family-- step-parents and step-siblings included. Then all the girls (and Dan) and the rest of the family went to a local bar where even more friends showed up. Chuck's Place is a old bar in Crete with two pool tables and lots of songs on the jukebox. Sara's party filled the place.

What a great group of friends she has! You could tell they all really like Saralyn and were going to take care of her that night. They made sure she paced her drinking and gave her plenty of water. I was just a bit surprised when she tossed back a shot of Jameson and didn't make a screwed-up "ewww" kind of face afterwards. I'm guessing this was not her first shot.

I think I'll wear shorts today

This just ain't right for this early in the morning. Factor in the Florida-like humidity and we have a mid-morning heat index of 92 degrees.

Even the dog won't go outside!

Teenage summer

Also known as the "Vampire Years" when they are up until 4 AM and awake at the crack of noon-- or 3 or 4 PM. Then there is the pre-dinner nap too. (Shown here.)

New home

The little cement girl lawn ornament has a new home under the magnolia bush and next to the salvia.

Get well SOON!

Aside from the illness itself, probably the worst thing about being home and sick is having nothing to do but watch TV. Even with TiVo, Netflix, and cable I am still reminded of the line from Pink Floyd's Nobody Home: "I got thirteen channels of shit on the TV to choose from..."