Monday, November 30, 2009

My World Tuesday = Reston Town Center Christmas Parade

My World Tuesday = The Reston Town Center Parade

Friday November 27, 2009

11:00 A.M.


A colorful animal character stopped along the parade route to say hello to us.
Children followed him passing out jingle bell necklaces for us to wear and jingle.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells!

Next came Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer


Then came the pretty kitties!

Aka: The Jaguars!


There were big red vehicles like this shiny red firetruck.


There were tiny black vehicles like this Fairfax police car.

There was a Mighty Mouse balloon flying by.


Another balloon rode by with handlers holding the strings.


There went the Scottish bagpipers.

Here came the Mexican bell dancers.


The Irish folk dancers danced a jig on a flatbed truck.


The Bolivian Folk Dancers were dressed for the cold breezy winds coming down the parade route.



There was my little friend again.

He was so sweet.

So I'll end my Reston Town Center Parade by showing him once more.
Click here to see more My World Tuesday memes around the world: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/
Wednesday and Thursday I will show photos of past Christmas parades in Middleburg, Virginia and Old Town Alexandria, Virginia so come back tomorrow for another Christmas parade. Both of these cities will have this year's Christmas parade this coming Saturday, December 5, 2009.

Lipizzaner Stallions at Patriot Center

The Famous Lipizzaner Stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria
Performed Sunday at the Patriot Center at George Mason University
Jack and I watched the horses do specialized walks, trots and canters to classical ballet music. This show brought back memories for Jack who when he was an army G.I. stationed in Ludvigsburg, Germany he was able to take leave and go with his army buddy Leon Wahba to Vienna, Austria to see the horses perform at the Spanish Riding School. Jack always loves to tell the story of how he and Leon got to see the horses perform for free thanks to Leon's ingenuity. Now that's a story for another day. LOL!

The Lipizzaner Horses that were moved from the Austrian breeding farm near Vienna to a farm near St. Martins in northern Austria were rescued by General George Patton and the Second Cavalry of the U.S. Army at the end of World War II. You can learn more about these horses long history by clicking here: http://lipizzaner.com/lipizzaner_frameset.asp

Be sure to look at the videoes of the horses performing their leaps in the air. Go to the left side of the homepage of The World Famous Lipizzaners and click on "Airs Above the Ground" to view these amazing ballet leaps. But first shut off my music on this page so that you can enjoy the music of Mozart and Strauss that these trained horses use to perform their routines.


Sunday, November 29, 2009

Today's Flowers = Pink Camellias

Today's Flowers = Pink Camellias
Jack and I saw these pink camellias in bloom in Gainesville the other day. Aren't they pretty. A nice sighting on a very grey November day. Hope your last day of the Thanksgiving holiday is memorable. Click here to see more Today's Flowers: http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/



Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Iron Bridge Wine Company

The Iron Bridge Wine Company
A neat place to eat and have a wine flight.There is one in Columbia, Maryland and there is another in Warrenton, VA. Jack and I went the other week to the one in Warrenton which is the capitol of Fauquier County. Fauquier County is where the rich and famous have country estates to escape to from their D.C. or McLean, VA homes. It is the county that claims as residents Cooks, Mellons, and yes, the Salahis. You surely have heard of the Salahis. This past week they crashed the state dinner at the White House and had photos taken with both Obama and Biden!

What a wild and reckless event. In my humble opinion some heads connected to the President's security need to roll right out the door and the Salahis need to be found and put in jail for a month for that silly caper. What's with people today? Every ordinary Joe wants to seek fame and hang out with the powerful folks in D.C. and Hollywood. First, we had Balloon Boy's family stunt that scared everyone witless. Now we have this couple that loves getting attention by crashing a party at the White House. Luckily both events ended with not a tragedy. But the third time may not be so. I'm sure Al Quida watched the news this week and picked up on how easy it is to enter the White House. Don't scale the fence. Just scale the front door dressed to the nines. And as someone reported in the paper yesterday even though they passed thru the metal detectors indicating no guns on their persons, they still could have wrecked havoc at the White House by picking up a dinner knife from a table or by pulling an envelope of anthrax out of their clothing. And as my father would say "They like to live high on the hog." But according to news reports of exfriends and exhired help they don't always pay their bills because they are spending it all on creating their "image".

Now where was I? Oh, yes, The Iron Bridge Wine Company. It is located on Main Street in Warrenton, just down from the county courthouse building where Jack Kent Cook, the former owner of the Redskins, dissolved a couple of marriages. Now look below.

This place used to be a store so there are tables in the store windows and that's where Jack and I were seated. We had a good view of both the locals and the tourists walking down Main Street on this particular fall day. We even had a mini crystal chandelier to light the table.

This place serves both good food for lunch and good wine. You can do a wine flight that allows you to sample 1 ounce of three different wines. That's what Jack and I did. We did the wine flight that was Everything But Cabernet. So we had a red from Chile plus a California pinot noir and a shiraz from Australia. If you like the wine flight, you can purchase here the same wine in bottles to take home to enjoy. But we didn't do that. Instead we got this. Look below.

We shared a scrumptious bread pudding with two steaming cups of coffee. How decadent!


Isn't that pretty! It tasted very good too.

Hope your Thanksgiving Weekend is going well.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Skywatch Friday = Grey Skies Outside

Skywatch Friday = Grey Skies Outside
Grey Skies For Thanksgiving in Virginia

But Colorful Memories Inside of Grandpa Carving The Turkey

And Daughter Jennifer Pouring The White Wine.
Thanksgiving Blessings To All Of You!
Now go visit some other Skywatch Friday Memes by clicking here: http://skyley.blogspot.com

Faith Lutheran Church

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
This is a beautiful old church in Arlington, Virginia: Faith Luthern Church. Our daughter Jeanine voluntarily keeps up the webpage for this church. Jack and I attended church here the other week in order to see this lovely church. These photos were taken as the congregation was leaving after the service. Take a look below.
The church design looks like one you would find in an alpine village in Germany. Notice the huge cross and the beautiful organ.
This is the front entrance to the church. Autumn leaves were decorating the steps.

Here's a sideview of the church and attached "old school" that is no longer used as a school. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all make it safely to the place you want to be for that turkey dinner and then safely back home to your favorite spot for a well deserved nap. LOL!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Jennifer and Terry's Christmas Tree Is Up Too!


Jennifer and Terry's Christmas Tree Is Up Too!

Jennifer and Terry have their tree up in the library of their new townhouse. When the tree is lighted you can see it outside twinkling from the front windows. And yes, they got a new tree that had the prelit lights too.
Little Jack Aidan says "I like looking at the tree from upstairs.
How many days till Santa Claus comes down the chimney, Grandma?"

Jeanine's Christmas Tree Is Up Too!

Jeanine's Christmas Tree Is Up Too!
Her tree is no longer Mom and Dad's 1982 tree that took three hours to put together all the branches in the right order.This year Jeanine went to Loews and bought a prelit and put together tree. She just then added some strings of while golf ball size lights to the tree before she decorated it in red and white. At the very top is a Christmas angel with huge wings.

Monday, November 23, 2009

My World Tuesday = I'm Ready For The Christmas Season

My World Tuesday = I'm Ready For The Christmas Season
The Trees Are Up.
The Nativity Set Is Set Up.

The Stocking Are Hung Everywhere.

There's Even A Tree in the Kitchen.

There Are Trees, Greenery and Lights By The Family Room Fireplace.
And A Special Stocking Is Waiting For Santa.

So Bring On Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
That Will Kick Off The Christmas Season.
Now travel over the river and thru the woods to some other great My World Tuesday memes by clicking here: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Leo Gariety Born 106 Years Ago Today

My father, Leo A. Gariety was born on November 23, 1903. If he were alive today he would be 106 years old. Here's my father in his "baby dress" for his first professional photo. This was probably taken at English Studios in Sidney, Ohio around his first birthday.
This is a photo I took of my father five years before he died. He was visiting Jack and I in Sierra Vista, Arizona in December of 1974. That's my niece Tracy Thobe (now Share) sitting in his lap.

Now take a look at this container. This was my father's lunch pail when he started first grade not speaking a work of English at the old Willodale One Room School in Darke County Ohio in 1909. My grandparents were French and spoke only French at home. So when my father went off to first grade he had to not only learn how to read and write English but speak it too. Much like today's recent immigrants to the United States. Only thing back then there was not an English as Second Language Teacher. There was just one teacher for around 50 students in grades one thru eight. What a task for both the teacher and the students!
I have always been fascinated by this little lunch pail that is now at least 100 years old. For one thing it is so small. It used to bother me to think that my father must not have had much of a lunch each day he went to school. Today I measured the size of this lunch pail. It has a circumference of five inches. Imagine that.
It has a height of just four inches. This lunch pail could barely hold a thin sandwich plus an apple. No room for a drink. I imagine the students all ran to the school well and used the same tin cup to get a drink of water to wash down their lunch.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Piedmont Readers

This a new book and it is a great read. I give it five stars.
This is an old book published during the Nixon years.
It is also a great read and I give it five stars.

To learn more please run on over to my other blog: Piedmont Readers. http://piedmontreaders.blogspot.com/

And my book club needs to celebrate. We have now read 100 books since starting in 2001.

Wow!


Donald Arthur Doliber

Donald Arthur Doliber
Retired High School Principal
Active Genealogist in Essex County Massachusetts
Last Wednesday Jack and I attended the November meeting of the Manassas chapter of NARFE (National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees) and were delighted to hear Donald Arthur Doliber speak to our group about genealogy research in a speech he entitled "Airing the Family Laundry". By the way Donald is the twin brother of David Doliber who is the secretary for our local chapter of NARFE. And here they both are in the photo above. They look like twins except that David now sports a beard while Donald is clean shaven.
Donald kept all of us very entertained while speaking of some of the interesting characters he had found in the Doliber family tree: pirates, prostitutes and someone with an inherited psychiatric disorder. Donald told us that doing family genealogy is fun but be prepared for some shocking discoveries. But whatever you do don't try to hide the facts whatever they may be. Your descendants will appreciate it if you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Donald's talk made me think of a blog I sometimes visit: Brush Strokes From The Heart.
Well wouldn't you know it that this past Thursday I discovered something on Brush Strokes From the Heart that fit right in with what Donald Doliber was saying to us on Wednesday. He said there are three main documents for family records: birth records, marriage records and death records. Of these three the most accurate record is the marriage record. The most inaccurate record is usually the birth record for many times it is created and filed long after the person is born.
If you now go to Brush Strokes From the Heart you will learn that the blog writer's husband, Don, has just recently learned that he has been celebrating the wrong birthday. For 71 years he celebrated his birthday on December 14. Just recently he learned that his birthday is actually November 14.
I don't know what I would think if I discovered my birthday was not really my birthday. Strange. And that would throw you astrology buffs a curve ball too!
Click here to go to Brush Strokes From the Heart: http://brushstrokesfromtheheart/. blogspot.com
Then look for the blogpost for Thursday November 19. Enjoy. Wanda is quite a good writer and painter. Most of all she has wonderful Christian outlook on life that see her thru good times and bad.

Got Boo Boos- ----Get A Haircut

Happy Sunday Before Thanksgiving Week



(Let's face it. From now till next Sunday night we may be at school or we may be at work but our minds are on Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Vacation.)


Hope you all have a Happy Happy Thanksgiving!



Now out of the mouth of babes comes some adult wisdom. Find out why I wrote as my header today: Got Boo Boos----Get A Haircut. Click here for the rest of the story which my daughter Jenn posted on her blog: http://jennandterry.blogspot.com/