Mums for Mom

 

End of Fall break - and start of a different sort of breaking here, as you'll see in the picture below.  Maddie had another testing with martial arts tonight, and all went very well.  You can see her doing a bit of sparring both with combat weapons and without.  When it came time to do her board breaking, she told me she was praying that she could get the boards broken on the first try.  

That just happened.  She had no problem whatsoever.  All the students had some difficulties last week in practice, but tonight she just went up there and got the job done quickly, to great applause.  I was there to take pictures for all the kids, which I posted on the social media site afterwards.

Here's the whole group that was there tonight, not as many.  Maddie has about five more of these midterm tests until she gets her third degree belt.  She's in no hurry - it's all about the journey.  

Afterwards, we celebrated in the traditional style, dropping by the boba tea place for a few drinks, and then heading home.  She had some calculus to review, so Mom and I were watching one of our seasonal favorites, "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken."  Attaboy, Luther!

Earlier today we were picking up a few things from the hardware store.  We got some paint and we picked up mums, another seasonal tradition.  I love seeing Mom get some mums.  For one thing, it's fun to say:  "Mom's mums."  Or "Mums for Mom."  However you say it, they look nice with the fall decorations.

We'll have the flowers on the front and back decks - the back deck we have to get to painting here soon enough.  Oh, and I picked up another pumpkin!  This one is white, and I hope to make it look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.  We'll see...!

We also went over to Party City super briefly, as I was looking for a few things for Maddie costume.

Maddie started out "Spirit Week" in her western outfit, or at least something that looked a little "country."  It looked fantastic, of course.  Each day this week has a different theme as we lead up to Homecoming.  It's the last Homecoming of the year.

Mom and I went to Red Lobster this afternoon, just because we haven't been there in a while.  I really wanted crab legs, and yummy!  The order was so huge that we took half of them home and I'll be eating crab legs again soon enough.  

Tonight we read a bigger portion from "Equal Rites," and now Eskarina is with a caravan of travelers and we're meeting Simon for the first time.  We'll learn more about him in a bit, but it's been an engaging read. Maddie and Mom are both enjoying the reading.  And after that... prayers, and a good night's rest!

Pleasant Sunday

We wrapped up our series "Toy Box" this morning with a fun skit that had everyone laughing, it seems especially the actors on stage!  It was a great morning about facing off against fear, one where we showed a few clips from "Toy Story of Terror" that helped illustrate the infusion of self confidence we need when facing the unknown.  Maddie took these pictures below, along with many others that were loaded up on the church's gallery.  The band came by to compliment her on the pictures that she takes, thanking her for the nice images.  It was a good morning, as you'll see here below:

Ah, here's Maddie I the elevator, a picture I took for no apparent reason.  You can see she's wearing her Buc-ee's jacket that she just got Thursday.  She'll have that again soon for school, as this week is Homecoming and every day is a different theme for the clothing.  

We were tired and Mom wasn't up for preparing a big lunch, so we decided to spontaneously drop by the Mellow Mushroom again, as that has been a hit for us lately.  Lots of people there, so we had a small wait outside, which was fine because it was such a nice day outside.  Plus, out there, Mom rescued this praying mantis from the traffic flow, delivering him to a nearby bush.

For those of you keeping score, yes, we just helped a praying mantis elsewhere only yesterday.  Anyway, we got inside and sat at a booth this time, and pretty much ordered the same thing we ordered only five days before in Chattanooga.

Maddie enjoyed the meal, as did we.  It was a nice, relaxing experience, and I'm glad we found a new outlet for us.  Mom and I share a gluten free pizza, our favorite currently being the Pacific Rim, a sort of Hawaiian pizza that tastes really good.  Maddie gets a traditional pizza with pepperoni and banana peppers.  The small pizza is enough for Mom and I, while Maddie takes half her pizza home to eat later as well.  

Anyway, we got home after that, and there was time for reading outside on the porch with Mom.  The two of us sat there for a little while, relaxing as we did devotional time, as well as some other reading too - I'm working on two collections of short stories at the same time now:  there's one collection of Goosebumps stories - today's story involved a deranged teddy bear.  Each story has a beginning, a middle, and the twist!  The other collection of short stories I'm reading is from Terry Pratchett, a collection I've never read before of early works.  The first story is called "The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner," and that's in fact the title of the entire book, largely.  But these short stories are fun and quick reads.  The more involved visit with Mr. Pratchett happens each night, as Maddie and I are following Granny Weatherwax and the girl she's hoping to get to the right place, Eskarina Smith.  Both appear in the Tiffany Aching books that we've already read, but this is the appearance of both in the Discworld canon.  I remember reading "Equal Rites" a long time ago, I think back in high school, by which point a few of us were already hooked on Terry Pratchett's work.  The shift from Rincewind stories was surprising, and so it may have seemed like a risky sort of shift away from a popular character.  But we enjoyed it just the same, and suddenly the Discworld began to open up with more and more new characters.  We revisited with Rincewind after that from time to time, but other characters like Granny became favorites too.  I suspect we'll be reading Granny's stories for the next few books now, along with Nanny Ogg and Magrat and Perdita and all the others.  Maddie's met them all with cameos in the Tiffany Aching books, but these novels are more focused on them rather than Tiffany.  And it's early stuff.  The actual book I have for this story is from the 80's itself, not an older reprint.  It's also moving along - we read a good bit of that tonight.  Esk is heading down the river, and Granny is hoping to keep up with her to keep her safe.  We'll see how this all works out!

Anyway, it was a fun day.  We were at the arena earlier, battling multiple Hulks in a LEGO Marvel game, and just having a pleasant Sunday afternoon.  We got to rest early tonight, because school starts again tomorrow.  It's also the last day of September!  The Plush Entourage got tucked in - no scary teddy bears with glowing eyes - and we were quickly off to sleep.

Pumpkins and Praying Mantis

Great day today!  We started out at Team Edge, of course, because it's Saturday.  Maddie is still working with that sword, and the whole team is prepping for their upcoming performance in a few months.

After Team Edge practice this morning, we got home and had lunch.  Someone else did too!  Mom and I spotted this praying mantis outside.  I was going out there to clear an area of juro spiders, and this praying mantis was looking up at them, considering how to get some free food.  Mom came out there and hilariously lifted a juro on a stock and lowered the snack for the praying mantis...

Lunch time!  Mom actually gave the praying mantis two of these spiders.  The insect was quite happy with this free meal!

We then decided to go for a little ride out west some, back to Bradley's Farms.  It was a very pleasant visit, and the selection of pumpkins was fantastic.  Maddie and I walked amidst the larger ones and found three pretty nice ones to take home with us!  They're currently sitting at the fireplace now.  Of course, any visit there is more than just about picking up pumpkins.  We got some muscadine slushies, three of them, and then went inside to look around a bit.  There's one other tradition inside the shop there, a little marble roller coaster that Maddie has rolled around with for several years now.  I used the camera this time around.

We sat together with the family there at the front porch swing, just seated and relaxing together for a bit.  We bought a few items there along with the pumpkins, including a bar of soap with a pumpkin face on it - currently in the bathroom right now with a nice fragrance.

Maddie was taking a lot of pictures along the way too.  Here are some of the pictures she took from Bradley's Farms.  Maybe I took a few too...

Here are a few that I snapped with my phone...

After a while, we went home and it was a bit rainy again.  Elsewhere, the rain from the hurricane and a huge deluge of water before that has been so devastating to some places just north of here.  We finally heard from one of our friends who is trapped in Asheville.  The city has seen catastrophic flooding.

Here at the house, we played some LEGO Marvel on the Nintendo Switch again, this time as the Inhumans, a pretty cool reference within the Marvel universe.  After that, we watched another seasonal movie tonight, "The Corpse Bride."  We've been enjoying these seasonal movies, and actually have run through a good bit of them already.  This one is one of Maddie's favorites of course.  "Victor's Piano Solo" is an amazing bit of music.

Tonight before bed, we read from "Equal Rites" for a little while, and then got in our prayers before tucking in the Plush Entourage for a good night's rest.

Catching a Break

Hurricane Helene visited us this morning, although a tropical storm by the point it reached North Georgia, it wasn't as ferocious as Hurricane Irma was to us earlier.  At least not to us in the area we live.  I think the reason for this was a sudden unexpected shift eastward by the hurricane, resulting in us getting some strong winds, but not the scary violent howling winds that keep you on edge for hours on end.  The rain never let up, and that's the primary trouble of this particular storm.  The flooding in certain areas was severe, particularly south of us in the Atlanta area.  We saw images of flooding in Sandy Springs that startled us.  The rain kept coming until early afternoon, the wind blowing but not the severe sort of wind at all.  So we were spared.  My parents were nervous, of course, given what happened last time with this sort of threat.  But we spoke with them this morning, and we were blessed and all was well.  The only thing this entire region has to deal with is the outpouring of water - the rainfall totals are staggering.  The water table is saturated, and there's just nowhere for it all to go.  Up north in Tennessee, the storm traveled through, and as expected, the rainfall in the Smoky Mountains was immense as well, the rivers and streams raging, water levels high as town residents nervously look down at the rising, crashing water filled with debris rushing by.

 

We got some things done today once the weather cleared.  Mom is putting out fall decor, and I was getting the skit done for this weekend, one last skit for the "Toy Box" series.  It's going to be a fun weekend there. This skit features a "magic 8 ball," which is a goofy little toy that makes an appearance in the first Toy Story movie, and also has a part in this weekend's service.  It's a reminder for the audience of who's voice we should listen to, which of course is not a magic 8-ball.  To do this skit, we needed to get a magic 8-ball, so I picked one of those up on the way to getting to taekwondo with Maddie.

Maddie's testing again this Monday, so tonight's classes were focused on getting things perfected there.  Maddie was breaking boards, and doing her form, getting herself ready for testing.  She's doing well.  I was watching her break boards and work hard as I was sitting here in the observation area doing some work on a few lingering issues.  For one, we've got a senior ad coming up.  Another bit of $$$ for the senior year.  They know how to get that $$$ for sure!

The rest of the day was quiet, at least for us.  We were breathing a sigh of relief here, but the unexpected shift to North Carolina was devastating for them, particularly in the Ashville area.  We said our prayers tonight after reading.  Tonight's movie was "The Addams Family," which I love dearly.  Maddie selected that one, and we all sat down to rest the remaining part of the day before going to bed tonight.  We're grateful here, and praying for others elsewhere.

Back to Buc-ee's

Well, it was a somewhat challenging night - and suddenly too.  Maddie had a constant cough that developed and sure enough, it was through the night.  At 2am, I actually drove back to the St. Elmo area, found a gas station, and got some NyQuil for her.  It helped space out the coughing somewhat, meaning, she wasn't coughing as much.  But we didn't sleep very well.  Fortunately, we got to sleep in this morning, as check-out was later than 10am, and in fact at noon.  We woke up and got ourselves packed.  We ate chicken biscuits from the Cracker Barrel leftovers, and we got things all packed and ready to go.  There's a big hurricane coming this way, and we wanted to get home because it makes landfall by tonight.

Of course, on the way we had to stop at Buc-ee's.  The great thing about this stop was that it was our only stop, which basically means we could spend all the time in the world there.  We were walking around and doing a bit of shopping, picking up some snacks and drinks.  

Maddie got herself a letter jacket, and she also got a brisket sandwich.  Mom and I shared some caramel coated beaver nuggets, which is a really fun thing to say.  Oh, and we filled up with gas there too.

Anyway, we got on the road and went home.  It rained the entire distance, no doubt a part of this storm system.  We listened to a few Perry Stone messages on the way, and got back early in the afternoon.  It's not too far of a drive, actually, and it was fairly straightforward, except one accident that blocked route 20.  The blessing of having a navigation system in the car is that we could see a map and make our own detour.  It was a little off-road adventure with a several other cars, but we all made the detour work and were on our way.

So we were resting today, and not doing too much other than unpacking.  We watched the latest "Rings of Power" episode - only one more left next week.  And after that Maddie selected "Tower of Terror" for our nightly movie.  We like this one.  

We're keeping an eye on the approaching storm, of course.  I took down the canopy, and we took in all the bird feeders, plus the grill, the umbrella, and the gnome scarecrow and seat cushions.  It's rained all day long.  The ground is saturated, and the flooding is dangerous for many out there.  

Tonight before bed, we prayed.  We also read from our latest book, which both Mom and Maddie have been enjoying.  The Discworld is a great place.  But now?  It's time for some sleep.  Got some z's to catch up on!

River to the Ocean

 

We went to the Tennessee Aquarium today, and this one's my favorite.  Gosh, I remember going to this one the first year it was open.  We'd make that three-hour drive from Cleveland, visit the aquarium, and then head back home all in one day.  Obviously we didn't do that today - we were already in Chattanooga. We got up early and visited the continental breakfast downstairs, and then got out the door to go less than ten miles to the aquarium.  There was hardly anyone in the parking lot, and we had no problems getting in there!

We were on the escalator all by ourselves here, riding up to the top floor.  That's where this picture below was taken, the beginning of the river journey.

So this aquarium is divided into two buildings, one is the river and the other the sea.  One is fresh water and the other salt water.  There's a small bit of overlap, of course.  At the very beginning, we saw our otter friends, and they were quite active!

We sent that video to Camille right away.  In the picture above, you can see Maddie had the camera again, and she was off and ready to take some photos today.  We'll start with her picks from her pics below here, just of the fresh water river journey first.

You can see the place was very quiet this morning, and that was great because we could see all kinds of fish and animals.  Plus, they seemed more active earlier.  The large fish were a lot more mobile than I've ever remembered seeing them, which was pretty cool.  Here at the top, we were under the glass roofing, watching the streams of water flow, and seeing the fish and otters in the streams.

Oh my, this one's big.  He's inside as we made our way down and into the building following the ramps down from floor to floor.  There were some amazingly big fresh water fish in there, "monsters of the deep!"  Here are some other pictures Maddie took:

We saw lots of turtles today!  Lots of baby turtles too.

This is a pretty awesome picture of an alligator.  Maddie caught the reflection just right!

We made our way down, down, down.  We spotted Miguel the electric eel, as well as many reptiles and fish.  These pictures below were taken by me, so you'll see Maddie and Mom making their way downriver through the aquarium once more.

A fish made from recycled pieces of plastic found along beaches, courtesy of the group Washed Ashore.  We've seen this organization's artwork before at SeaWorld.

Ah, it's customary to touch sturgeons here at the aquarium.  I don't know why this is, but we all were irresistibly drawn to dip our hands in the chilly water so that we could feel these sturgeon as they glided by!

The coin spiral!  Another irresistible attraction, sucking us in - and our money - like a black hole!

Maddie and Mom in the bayou!

Look at these monsters!  Seriously, they are as wide as you are.  Maybe wider!

Not only wider, but this beastie is actually longer than you too.  These things are huge!

Very colorful tree frogs!  We've got the primary colors here:  red, blue and yellow!

Neons.  It's like a pet store fish tank, but more official.

Maddie and I hatching out of our eggs!

Mom looks at the world's largest turtle shell.

Okay, we got to the end of the river, and we were pretty hungry.  It was after noon, so we decided to take a break from the aquarium and walk a block to get to the nearest Mellow Mushroom!

It was nice!  Maddie got a pepperoni and banana pepper pizza, while Mom and I shared a Pacific Rim, gluten free crust.  We enjoyed our food very much, and got to see a pretty awesome mural in the back by the bathrooms.

There was a lot more to this mural, including nearly all the characters from "Alice in Wonderland," even Bill the Lizard!

Once we got done, we decided it was time to head back to see the rest of the Tennessee Aquarium.  We were off to the ocean!  Let's see Maddie's pictures first!

This is the view from the top, where we started out.  There are a few rocking chairs up there, some pretty prime real estate where you can sit and watch the river go by.  We got to see all kinds of salt water fish today.

Pitcher plants dangling from branches... creepy!

Ah, the butterfly atrium.  This place is fantastic.  We spent a long time in there!

It's Absolem!  These are large blue butterflies, gracefully flying all over the area - beautiful!

Next was the penguin room!  These friends were right up against the glass, staring all of us down!

Now it was time to head to the shark tank!

Such graceful creatures.

We had serious thrill issues.

Gorgeous photo of the jellyfish.

Love tis shot of a ray.  

You're a clown fish.  Tell me a joke!

Let's close up with the pictures that I took from my cell phone.  Here's Maddie and Mom on those rocking chairs up top.

It wasn't too long ago we were here rocking in these same chairs.  It goes by quickly.

Butterflies float all around you.  Wonderful room!

Ah, the penguins!  We hung out here for a while, playing around with our new friends.

Maddie poses with her new friend.

Interesting shot from below a penguin.  

Maddie's in the shark cage, and hopefully it'll hold up!

And then it was off to the big salt water tanks below, where all kinds of sea life could be spotted drifting by.

The last area is as if you're going through a cave, with openings all around including above!  It's a wonderful part of the aquarium, a great place to end the visit with.

Mom was taking this picture of me over there, but we had a few fish decide to photobomb, including a ray that got ion on the fun!

One last look at the aquarium from the bottom level.  This is the fresh water building again - we went back into that one to go say hi to Miguel the electric eel.  We spoke with some employees there for a good bit about electric eels, and learned a few new things.

Oh, and here's some other pictures from today... pictures with Joey!

So all in all it was a good trip today.  We left a little later and you can see the sun shining bright there.  Back home, the rain has been torrential.  The hurricane is coming this way soon, so tomorrow we'll be heading home to batten down the hatches.  

But tonight has been fun.  We played our boardgame a few times, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."  We barely won the first time we played it, but the second time we tried the game, the Headless Horseman caught up with us.  After playing a few rounds of that game, we watched the Disney movie, of course.  Sort of a themed night here.  

After that, it was time for reading, then prayers, and then some sleep!  Time to travel back tomorrow.