Framed for Christmas, No. 4

For my birthday on December 12, 2008, Mama and I had tickets for the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation's Holiday Express. Turned out that Mama had a head cold, it was raining and cold for Portland, so Leland went with me on a ride in a vintage railcar pulled by this magnificent steam locomotive, SP 4449. He took this photo for me because I was too short to get the entire locomotive in the shot, given the distance we were allowed to walk beyond the SP 4449.

If you're familiar with my blog, you realize that I adore this gigantic piece of machinery, so it should come as no surprise to you that one more image follows this one.

 



Massive strength and beauty, decorated for Christmas. I took this photo on December 1, 2012, at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center.

 If it fits your beliefs, join me in prayer for those impacted by the horrific tragedy in Connecticut.

Framed for Christmas, No. 3

Here we've got the lower part of mine and Mama's Christmas tree in a photo that I took on December 11, 2007. After the multitude of needles which fell all over the apartment from our cut fir tree in 2006, we opted for this aluminum one and enjoyed it very much. Hope you like the photo. Do you see the ornament outline of Mississippi? I am especially happy that it's in the photo because that's where I was born, 65 years ago yesterday. Yes, my birthday was 12/12/12. Cool.

Hollywood Theatre, No. 1

Hollywood Theatre marquee the evening of September 6, 2012. In honor of probably my last time to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" in a theater. To tell you the truth, it was the third time I saw that fantabulous movie in a theater.

As I left the upstairs theater that night--the movie's last at the Hollywood--I wondered whether or not anyone had already begged to take home its poster hanging in the display window beside the front door. So, I quickly made my way down the curving, banked ramp and the few steps at the bottom, spied the poster still in the window, made a B-line for the cash register, and asked the guy there, "Whom should I beg for 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' poster in the window out front?"

He looked at me, looked out the front door, and replied, "See that man in the plaid shirt? He's the one." Within mere moments, that nice young man had listened to me beg, pulled the key from behind the register, unlocked the window, removed the poster, rolled it up, put a rubber band around it, handed it to me, and said, "I like knowing this is going to someone who really loves it!"

Not too many days later, my sons hung in on my closet door so that I can see it any ol' time I want. Hey, Lamont and Leland, I'll take a DVD of "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" for my birthday!

Happy Birthday, Leland! Happy Halloween!

I entered a pumpkin carving contest that Zipcar held. Here's one photo of the finished product, treated to the neon effect at Picnik. Mama's on the left of the photo, holding the pumpkin at a tilt for me to take the photo. She's a trooper!


Here's the photo that I submitted to the contest. Although there were no specifics about whether or not the photo had to be unaltered, I decided to err on the side of caution and merely crop my submission. My idea was to have the big pumpkin be the Zipcar and the two little ones be the wheels. So that the entire Jack-o-lantern grin could be seen, I sat the pumpkin on an upside down bowl. On Friday, 10/29, I got an e-mail stating that while I didn't win the big prize, they so liked my pumpkin that I would get $15 driving credit! Hooray!


Leland is 32 today. Happy Birthday, honey! Here he is with his darling girlfriend Kailey. I took this photo on Super Bowl Sunday, 2010. Click on my Sept. 24th post for lots and lots of photos of both sons, mostly from when they were little boys. You'll be glad you looked at them because, like any proud Mama would say, they're mighty cute!

My son Lamont is 35 today. My son Leland will be 32 on Halloween. I am blessed.

At first I thought I'd make a post about Lamont's birthday today, then later on make one about Leland's birthday. However, they're together, as brothers should be, in lots of photos, so I'm combining their birthday posts today.


In this photo, Lamont is between four and five and Leland is between one and two.


Lamont was three years, one month, and one week old when Leland as born.


When Leland was six weeks old in December, 1978, the four of us moved from Kansas City, Kansas, to Jackson, Mississippi. My parents came in their Winnebago so the kids and I could ride with them. My husband LeRoy drove the Ryder truck. My brother came, too, in his own vehicle to help out with any and everything. Here we are, early spring 1979, at the John Bell Williams airport out from Raymond, Mississippi. Our friends had flown down from KC to visit us, in that airplane right there beside us. I'm holding our older son Lamont. LeRoy is holding our younger son Leland. LeRoy and I loved our prescription glasses that got darker out in the sunshine. We look pretty doggone cool, I think.


Our friend, Ronnie, the pilot. Our friend Lyndall, holding Lamont. My sweet, dearly departed husband LeRoy, holding a dozing Leland.


Baby Leland with me, his Mama.


About 1990, Lamont and Leland with their great-grandmother Vivian, my Daddy's Mama. If it really is 1990, then she's celebrating her 92nd birthday!


Mama and Daddy's backyard. We've got seated, left to right my Aunt Baker and JL's grandson Patrick, my son Leland, Patrick's fraternal twin brother Michael. Standing, left to right, my son Lamont, and the twins' older brother Steven. Lamont is in 6th grade.


Lamont and Leland horsing around on Leland's 21st birthday.


Leland's kindergarten graduation.


I think this is kindergarten, too.


I think Lamont's about 18 months old here. We're still living in Kansas City; he's wearing a sailor hat that he loved to wear.


Our cutie's a bit tired here.


Precious son Lamont.


Precious son Leland.


Lamont with Papaw, my Daddy. Lamont's got a Tupperware lettuce storage bowl on his head. He loved to wear it!


Leland's a few months old here--it's 1979.


Lamont's standing on a chair in our house in Kansas City, at the kitchen sink.


The guys are six and three here.


Here they're four and one. Love that jacket on Lamont and that bow tie on Leland.


LeRoy with Lamont who is probably close to one year old.


LeRoy with Leland who is probably five or six months old.


My two precious sons. I love them very much.


Lamont and Papaw.


Grandma and Leland.


The guys, taken on July 9, 2004. They got up early to see us off back to Mississippi before they had to go to work at their respective restaurants.


And here they are, the photo that I started the week with--I took it on 9/11/2010.

Leland enjoying his birthday present from his brother Lamont--bodacious!

Scroll down for today's dahlia, Bodacious, from Swan Island Dahlias.

Last Tuesday Lamont called and said that if I wanted to ride the bus to Colonel Summers Park at SE 20th and Belmont after work, they'd have Leland's slack line set up. I could watch. I could take photos! Awwright!

Today I've posted several photos of Leland jumping up onto the slack line. Later, I'll have more photos of him and some of Lamont as well.

The sun shone brightly as I walked the seven blocks to SE 7th and Belmont where I boarded the 15. When I got off, I saw the two of them across the park to the south, the slack line set up between two trees, about three feet off the ground.

I got off the bus at the stop beside the bus shelter, there in the distance behind Leland in this photo.


See the slack line, on the left, that green blur. Leland's right foot has landed on it, making it vibrate. He bought that carpet sample you see beneath the red cord, cutting it in half so that he would protect each tree--gotta love that son of mine!


The guys saw another guy on a slackline, sitting on it, balancing on one foot, holding his other one up behind him. So, naturally, Leland had to give sitting on it a try. Later on Lamont went over to ask him a few questions and came back to tell us that he said he's been doing this balancing act since 2004. Lamont and Leland have been at it for five to six weeks, starting out at The Circuit, a Southwest Portland bouldering gym.


A bit about slacklining, from Wikiepedia: Slacklining is a balance sport which uses nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline. The line's tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker's footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope. The dynamic nature of the line allows for impressive tricks and stunts.

Today's dahlia, Bodacious. Facts from Swan Island Dahlias--Bloom: 11" Bright Orange, Bush: 4 1/2'

Nosegay

My fabulous brother Howard and his sweet and beautiful wife Vanessa sent Mama a delicious pound cake and this lovely nosegay for her birthday. I didn't take a photo of the cake--we shared it and Mama finished it off last night, complete with our favorite lactose-free vanilla ice cream. The cake and nosegay come from Nonnie Waller’s Traditional Southern. I think this is the third cake they've sent to her, so when we saw the return address, we got excited! This was the second one with a nosegay--the other one arrived inside a gorgeous padded hatbox. I think it looks nice in that vase we already had, so I set it on the kitchen window sill and took these photos Sunday morning.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Mama is 83 years old today, January 23, 2009. Isn't she lovely?

Last Sunday we ate brunch at the Crescent Cafe in McMinnville, Oregon. In trying to get a good photo of her while we waited for our breakfast, as she sat across the table from me, I missed what I thought was the best one. So I asked her to look up again, at the huge mirror hanging on the wall. I'm happy with this photo, very happy indeed.

Looking back at my birthday fun--a ride on the Holiday Express.

The SP 4449, as seen right after our 40-minute round trip train ride. Leland took this photo for me. I found this neat article about the engine and the hope for its future housing in Portland, along with more retired engines.

Mama and I had tickets for the 4 p.m., Dec. 12, 2008, train ride. Rain for days, as well as cold temperatures, convinced her to decide not to go, so we offered her ticket to Leland. He graciously agreed to go with me, and he decided to cook dinner for me afterwards! We found a parking space in a lot at Oaks Park, close to where the train waited on the track which was on a raised levy-type bed. We walked across the street in a light rain. Once we boarded, we made our way north towards what turned out to be a dining car. We took our seats at a table on the west side of the car, knowing we'd eventually be looking out over the Willamette River.
While we waited for the train to start moving, I took this photo. It's east of the track. Can you see the bird murals? I was so glad that it had quit raining. It didn't last for very long, though.

Leland, seated in the darkened rail car, across the table from me. The man in the darkness on the right of the photo told us interesting facts about the train car, for example, that we heat we felt came from the water heated in the engine, cycled throughout the train to provide warmth.

Looking from the area between two rail cars, south towards the train's engine, as we back northward along the Willamette River.

Santa entered our car, ho-ho-ho-ing and wringing his jingle bells. See the jingle bells tucked underneath his arm? He handed out candy canes to everyone and posed for photos with children.


On the way north, we went underneath the Ross Island Bridge.

When we neared that curve again on our return to Oaks Park, I stepped back to the area between the cars so that I could try again to get a good photo. I noticed a man and his two small children on the path and tried to get a shot of their joy. This is how that turned out. I think it's because the train was moving to the left and I was looking to the right, trying to get them in the photo before we moved too far. I like the result.

It was even harder to get a clear photo as we headed back to Oaks Park. Too much movement from the train. This one is the clearest of the lot.

My darling second-born son, Leland. They had turned on the lights as we pulled to a stop.

Here's a look at the dining car.

And here's another car, one with padded seats. Some of them faced each other, some lined up behind each other.

As we neared the exit, I noticed this plaque that contains information about our engine.

A close up of the engine

These two men in the engine said that I could take their picture for the blog. It's not tilting one bit; it's just so tall that when I had to look up to take their photo, the tilt-thing happened, like it does with buildings.

Leland beside the fence and the engine. It is 110'2.25" long, 10'0" wide, 16'4" tall. The wheels are 36" in diameter. It weights 475,000 pounds.

The front of the engine, just a part of it. Taken with the flash.

We quickly walked to the front of the train so that I could get some photos of the engine. It had started raining harder, so we had to be quick.

Leland took these next one for me, too. He's much taller and could get a much better perspective. I really like this one with the steam coming out both sides of the engine.

Leland drove us to his place where he cooked some mighty fine risotto with chicken, Brussels sprouts, onion, butternut squash, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.




Dinner is served! Don't they look cute? Leland and Kailey. The risotto was so doggone good, very memorable. Thanks, Leland, honey!

Look what they gave me for my birthday! I love it!

Mama and I played the new game on Saturday, Dec. 13. I stood on the kitchen step-stool to get this photo of it when we stopped to go to bed. The next day it started to snow.


A statement about this year's Holiday Express that I found at the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation Web site:

Holiday Express 2008
We thank everybody who came out to ride!

Event Canceled

On Sunday December 14th, the Holiday Express will NOT operate as scheduled.

While the train is still able to operate, we recognize that most of our riders are traveling from areas severely impacted by winter weather and don't want to encourage a risky drive to our event. The roads in SE Portland, especially the downhill one leading to Oaks Park have become icy and starting to see a fair share of cars out of control.

Tickets marked for Sunday the 14th are eligible for a full refund. Return your ticket to where you purchased them from, and request a full refund. Any tickets that are not returned for refunds will be considered as a donation to the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation. Thank you for supporting ORHF, and we hope you'll ride on our trains in the future!