Caricatures

Well, here we are at the end of the virtual walk in Dublin.  It's been fun!  It just so happened that I finished this one up on the last day of March.  I'm looking forward to getting that medallion soon enough.   It's been a quiet day.  Here's a few caricatures until I come up with something clever to say:

We have this caricature artist coming for Easter, and so I was curious to see what AI would do, and if it could create caricatures of people - and of course, it can.  Pretty neat stuff, huh?

Pretty quiet day today.  No events tonight, and that's all good.  The A's beat the Braves tonight in part two of the "Battle of the A's."  I say that because Atlanta also has a capital "A" on their ball cap.  Tomorrow night is the rubber match, and though this is disappointing, it's also a good thing to remember that this is not the inferior A's team of old, and that they are improving rapidly.  Anyway, BravesVision is such a great streaming service, with all kinds of extra things thrown in to make it something we'll be probably watching all summer long, and into fall.  Hopefully we can get to a game to see in person too!

Tonight we read from our DiscWorld novel, the first pages of the book "Thud!"  I remember when this one was published, and I remember finding it at a book store down on the Georgia-Florida border.  That was back in 2005, and yes, that was the last time I read this book.  But here we are again, and the memory of it all is coming back to me now.  I'm actually eyeing the board game of the same name, although that's a special order.  

We used to stop by that bookstore on every trip to Florida.  We'd spend over an hour there, the automatic break on the way home.  We picked up so much material for KidPak there, getting ideas from all these books that we still have in our collection here.  And of course there were the other novels too.  It was a nice stop in a discount book store, with lots of treasures found along the way.  I remember even getting supplemental things like an inflatable surfboard for our surfing series, or little giveaways for kids who did their memory verses or things like that.  We used to stop there all the time, although nowadays there's Buc-ee's, and that sort of serves the same function.  The quality of the books sort of went down, not necessarily the feel or condition of the books, but the topics and authors themselves.  Of course, Terry Pratchett passed away, and really there hasn't been as much of a reason to stop by there - although we just might do that anyway in a couple weeks, just to check in on things.

Anyway, here we go with yet another Terry Pratchett book.  No worries - we've got so many more of these still yet to read.

Okay, so tonight we said our prayers of course afterwards.  The Plush Entourage got all tucked in, and it was time for some rest.  

Eggs and Soldiers

 

Almost done with my virtual walk!  Today I was virtually strolling by a pretty impressive library that would be pretty cool to visit some day.  I even got the post card for it!  

Maddie was at taekwondo tonight, of course, about two hours of training and let's face it, fun.  She enjoys the class very much, and with Nate being there it's been great.  This week we'll be doing the Easter egg dye thing again, and Nate should be there, marking a one-year anniversary of sorts.  He was with us last year when we were doing this, such a random first-time over sort of thing, but fun nevertheless.

Ah, and here's another anniversary.  Mom had an appointment today with the oncologist, and things are normal here, so no worries.  There's a follow-up routine testing, but this building here is historic to us at least, a place we went to a few times a week for chemotherapy.  That was twenty years ago now, and Mom's been in remission ever since.  Today's appointment was super brief, but each time we wander into this building the memories flood back in.

Ah, look here!  British soldiers for breakfast!  In honor of the late Sgt. John Keel, I had the perfect egg breakfast with some slices of toast for dipping.  I mention Sgt. John Keel, as he's the figure in Discworld history that did the right thing.  All he ever wanted was hard-boiled egg and soldiers, and to commemorate the battle that took place, members of the City Watch wear lilacs, and respectfully put an egg on John Keel's grave.  We finished "Night Watch" tonight, another book down in the Discworld series.  We've read so many, but there are so many to go really.  "Thud!" is next, along with "Where's My Cow?" of course.  

Maddie was dancing today, and fortunately there were other novices with her trying to learn in her electives class.  It was fun, but it's a lot of work and certainly a challenge.  She's getting a good work out in the morning - and then one later on tonight.

Speaking of tonight, our viewing tonight was more BravesVision, watching the Atlanta Braves defeat the Las Vegas A's by a score of 4-0, another shutout.  It's just a neat thing getting to see these Braves games on television.

My blood pressure is down somewhat, although not enough.  I got those steps in, and I've been taking it easy with what I eat.  Hopefully things will calm down more so.  In the meantime, we said our prayers after reading tonight, and then it was time for some sleep.

Palm Sunday 2026

Happy Palm Sunday!  This was easily the most rewarding service for me in many years, the most fun I had watching kids learn and watching volunteers teach.  I had created this really great game with singing rocks, and we used the illustration about the Luray Caverns Organ and how the rocks play music - we were playing "Amazing Grace," as performed on that organ.  The kids had their palms and the instructions on how to fold them, although by day's end, all of the volunteers became experts at folding a palm cross for many, many children.  The first service was a little quieter, and that's where Maddie was taking pictures, which you can see below.  The second service had many more kids, and I was just so elated to see so many children that into our message of the day.  There were many highlights, like one boy answering the question what Jesus told the disciples to say to anyone when they were taking the donkey.  The boy confidently blurted out, "The Lord needs it!"  It was a tight game going back and forth with who would win, and it had a lot of fun variations throughout, challenges, trivia, and moments where an entire team sang the "Hallelujah" chorus, so the rocks wouldn't need to shout out praise.  It was a really wonderful, unforgettable morning.  One of my favorites ever!  Again, these images are from the first service, which was a little lower with our numbers, but still fun!

 We dropped Maddie off at Nate's place, and then got home for lunch, and the Braves game today.  They lost to the Royals, but at least won the series.  The National League East teams are going to be battling this year, that much is certain.  We even tuned in for a tiny bit of the Stripers game too, just because we can.

I'm almost done with my walking in Dublin, virtually of course.  I got a bit of that done, with a little less than four miles to go there.  The finish line here is opening up all kinds of new videos and places to see, and it's been a fun journey.  Mom and I took a nap today while watching the game, but I still got those steps in.

I had a bad day with the blood pressure.  Hard to say why, but it was pretty high.  My biggest theory is poor eating choices for the last few days. Sorry, but it was opening day for the Braves and I wanted a hot dog from Race Trac.  That and a few other items - I think - did me in.  Blood pressure soared, and it made for a challenging evening tonight.  Mom was taking care of me with therapeutic items that helped me rest and indeed, the pressure started to descend.  I just left the cardiologist, and after tests and so forth, everything was fine - so I'm not 100% sure of the issue.  I do think it's food choices, so I'll be much, much better in the coming weeks.

Moving on, tonight's movie was "August Rush," which we kind of forgot about, and that made seeing it again really enjoyable.  Mom and I saw that before bedtime, and Maddie arrived about that time so that we could read together, say our prayers and then I could get some much-needed rest.  

C.F.A.

Went for a walk this morning, all the while Maddie was doing stuff with Team Edge - lots of flips! 

So I was getting in my walking, and it was a perfect morning for that sort of thing.  Got another few miles in and got a bit closer to the end of this Dublin virtual walk.  

Afterwards, we picked up some Chick-Fil-A (initials C.F.A.) and drove down to see a new play, "Come From Away" (also with the initial C.F.A.).  

This was a very moving production, a musical version of the events that unfolded after 9-11 with stranded airline passengers forced to stay a few days in Gander, Newfoundland.  Some of these folks above are passengers being initiated so they can become official Newfoundlanders.  Or Newfoundlandinians.  Or Newfoundladites?  

Anyway, the production was great.  There were really fun moments like those above, and then of course the subject matter was moving and emotional at times.  

We all enjoyed it very much.  We had our seats at the center of the first row of the balcony there, just perfect for these productions.  By the way, we got our tickets in the mail today, season tickets for all next year's productions too.  Those look fantastic, but in the meantime, here are some images from today's production, from their site of course (you can't take pictures during the play, of course!).

Ah, and here are a few pictures of Maddie in the lobby afterwards.  

We enjoyed it as always.  We have one more play for this season, and that'll come n May, I think.  And a recent tradition is dropping by a shawarma place on the way home.  Maddie's quick to bring that up as we're leaving, and yes, we're up for a visit!

A little tired getting home.  The Braves game was actually a black-out for us, as another network has the rights for this evening's match-up.  But I watched a good bit of another Brave's affiliate team, the Gwinnett Stripers!  Yes, using BravesVision you can watch those games on your television too!  

The day is still ongoing, so we'll have more updates soon - I think Spider-man is on the horizon... 

Go Braves

Tonight the Braves had their Home Opener, and the first game of their season, and it was a big win.  The Atlanta Braves defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-0, thanks to the stellar pitching and amazing defensive plays - and thanks to home runs by Albies, Baldwin, and then a two-run homer by Harris too.  And then piling on, Dubon got a fantastic two RBI double for insurance.  But our pitching was outstanding with Sales, our starter, and some solid relief pitching to close out the final innings.  Along the way there were some incredible catches by White, Acuna, Reilly and Olsen too - every player had an incredible night.  So we've been watching Spring Training games all this time, really getting into the games over the last month.  We watched so many of these, and the Braves actually had the best record of the MLB with Spring Training.  It may not ultimately mean anything or matter, but it's been said repeatedly - better to be winning than losing, right?  Anyway, Mom and I were having a great time watching the game tonight on BravesVision, which is already feeling like one of the best purchases we've made in a while - although the AT&T internet service is beyond sketchy where we live.  The drone footage from the game and the stadium and lighting and all the ceremony... it was a great night to be a Brave.

The day started out for us over at the chiropractor, and that was a pleasant visit as always.  I had my Braves jersey on, and Doc Williams also had his Braves Hawaiian shirt on as well, which was cool.  We got our adjustments, and then it was time for some lunch over at Maddie's choice for lunch, Texas Roadhouse.

This is pretty much all to do with the rolls they have there!  Maddie loves them, and I'm not going to tell you how many she ate this afternoon, but let's just say I ate one from the basket just so she didn't eat all of them!

The rest of the day was quiet.  I did some walking, and caught up on some rest:  last night we were up when a big bang and clatter woke us up at about 4am.  It was a raccoon climbing up on the canopy on the back deck, going after the suet feeder.  I'm not sure if he was leaping or climbing up on those narrow extensions, but it got pretty noisy.  I went out there, turned on the lights, and he scurried off.  From this point on, we'll obviously need to bring in that suet feeder!

Tonight we read from "Night Watch."  The soldiers are bravely facing long odds in our story, and Commander Vimes knows how this will end - not good.  We'll see how things progress, but this time-traveling story is drawing to an end, and it's been another good read. 

We said our prayers after this, and got some much-needed rest.  Tomorrow's another big day!

Daffodils and Covered Bridges

This afternoon we made a trip over to Gibbs Gardens, as Mom had purchased us a season pass to the place.  The weather was pleasant and Mom was feeling much better today.  We may have missed out on the peak weekend for the flowers, but there were still a good bit of daffodils there, as you can see above.  This location is only about 40 minutes away, so it's not too bad, and the weather was really nice today for a peaceful stroll through the gardens.  We didn't go that far really - just through the daffodil fields and then over to another area where we sat for a spell, just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere there.  And yeah, I brought the camera along - here's the pictures:

On the way home I made a slight very small detour to a location that I just discovered on the map recently.  All this time, I had no idea there was a covered bridge over there in the area.  That said, we dropped by to see it!

It was actually somewhat of a sad story associated with this, all having to do with the Trail of Tears and a lot of greed and abuse.  The bridge itself was built many years after the events of a mill located here, so it isn't necessarily a symbol of anything.  But reading some of the signs here reminds you of the tragedies of the past here in this area.

I was at work for a the morning, and Maddie was at chapel today too - so it was a busy day.  In fact, when we got home, we had just enough time to get ready for taekwondo tonight.  Maddie was helping as an assistant instructor, and then of course she had her leadership class.  

Tonight we continued our Spider-thon with a viewing of "The Amazing Spider-man," which we first saw a long time ago, but more recently for a Spider-thon viewing at New Year's Eve.  We've still got at least four Spider-man movies to go, and that doesn't include "Civil War" or the Avengers movies.  Spider-man is everywhere, including a new movie of course, one we'll go see this summer.  

After the movie it was time for some sleep.  We went upstairs, read for a bit, said our prayers, and got some sleep after that.  Busy day today!