NARFE Convention In Louisville

Jack and I went to the 2008 National Active and Retired Federal Employees association (NARFE) Convention in Louisville this past week. We went as delegates to support our NARFE chapter and to support two former Army Auditors running for national office with NARFE.

This is the historic Galt House Hotel which is located next to the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky. This is where the NARFE 2008 Convention was held last week.

Below is a photo of the grand ballroom where delegates from all fifty states and several territories gathered for the 2008 NARFE Convention.



This is the entrance to the Galt House. Note the Kentucky Derby motif.

Now What Is NARFE?

NARFE -- one of Amerca's oldest and largest associations -- was founded in 1921 with the mission of protecting the earned right and benefits of America's active and retired federal workers. In other words, this is the "AARP" for feds and as a retired federal employee, it's a mission is dear to our hearts. NARFE is also the largest employee/retiree organization. It represents the interests of nearly five million federal employees, retirees, spouses and survivors. The 2010 Convention will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the 2012 Convention will be held in Reno, Nevada.

Leon and Helen

Jack with his old army buddy, Leon, and Leon's lovely wife, Helen.
Leon and Helen love to cook and their kitchen shows it. Leon is the main chef and Helen is the family baker. Leon grilled tuna steaks with Greek green beans and Mediterranean style eggplant. He also made a mean frittata for us for breakfast one morning. Helen made a mean cherry and peach pie. Yum, yum!
I just fell in love with these Spanish flower pots on their outdoor wall. Those are petunias growing in the pots. Helen is the gardener in the family. As you can see she has a green thumb.
Here a frog, there a frog, everywhere a little frog. Too cute!
I love this flower. I should have asked Helen for a start of it. She says it is a prolific plant that never stops blooming. Name I don't know.

As you can tell from the photos here Leon and Helen have a wonderful home for entertaining. The great room has a neat wine bar that we visited each afternoon and the kitchen has a huge L-shaped island where Chef Leon holds court. But my very favorite part of the home was the lovely backyard complete with deck, hot tub and koi pond backing to a very private wooded area. Helen collects frogs so I had fun discovering all the little frogs scattered about the house and yard.

Jack and Leon kibitzing about the good old days in the army in Germany.
Joann really enjoyed all the flowers on the deck that Helen cares for daily. Joann also enjoyed looking for all the little frogs. Did I already mention the frogs? Helen still works three days a week as a nurse so Monday, Wednesday and Friday she was on the road by 5:00 A.M. to be at work at the Jewish Hospital at 5:30 A.M.
Here is the view of the koi pond with about a dozen fish. The pond has a lovely waterfall that we could enjoy from the guest bedroom window. Did you spot two of Helen's frog statues in this photo? Did I mention already that Helen has an extensive frog collection? Ribbit! Ribbit!

Kentucky Roadtrip Part II

When we arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park we began with a horse-drawn tour around the park where we saw the third largest barn in North America. This park has stables to accommodate hundreds and hundreds of horses for horse events throughout the year. But sometimes they need to set up tents because they sometimes have 15,000 horses at this park for some event. Amazing! Have you ever wondered why sometimes the horse pastures have double fences in close proximity? Those double fences are to keep the love minded stallions from running off on a love chase. It is also why stallion pastures don't have right angle corners but round corners. The stallions can hurt themselves running into a tight right corner.
Clip-clop, clip-clop, here we go. Some nice views I'm giving you bloggers today.
This was a sweet statue of three horses leaping over a tree branch.
There were many activities going on at the same time at the horse park.
This was a lady in her carriage getting ready for the carriage parade that we were able to watch later. This was a miniature horse.

When we started our roadtrip on Friday, September 5'th we drove thru wet and wild West Virginia on interstate #64 which has very little traffic in comparison to other major interstates. We spent the night in Morehead, Kentucky east of Lexington. We got an early start Saturday morning because we wanted to be at the Kentucky Horse Park for the 11:00 A.M. Parade of Breeds. From March 15 - October 31, the Parade of Breeds Show is held twice daily at 11:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. In this photo is a breed from Whales called I believe a cob horse and the rider is in Welsh dress.
Here is a famous Spanish Andalusian horse sporting lots of silver horse gear while the rider has a Spanish flamenco outfit. Behind them is an American quarter horse with the rider in American western wear.
Here is an American Paint breed with rider in Native American attire. Notice the Native American saddle blanket. Beautiful.
In addition the Parade of Breeds Show features each day other participants. The day Jack and I were in attendance there was a parade of horse carriages and riders.
And guess what? Right in the middle of the Parade of Breeds Show I got up close and personal with a little hummingbird that I found at my feet in the bleacher stands. It couldn't fly. It was ill. I don't know if it hurt its wings or it was dehydrated from lack of nectar. Anyway, I almost stepped on it! So I picked it up and moved it out of the traffic flow and told the horse park authorities to get a horse vet quick for a hummingbird! Everyone near us started taking pictures of the poor thing so we did too. I hope the vet helped save the poor thing. It was the very first time I had ever touched a hummingbird.

I knew when we went to the Kentucky Horse Park that we would see info on the most famous and greatest race horse, Man o' War. The first time I saw this statue was in 1972 and it was on a road outside Lexington on a horse farm. The Kentucky Horse Park was created in 1978 from the old Walnut Hill Thoroughbred Breeding Farm which is where I think I saw the statue of Man o' War. Anyway everyone in the state of Kentucky knows about Man o' War.
Here is the statue of Man o' War in the early Saturday morning mist. He is standing tall and proud.
This is another view of the Man o' War statue area. The white chairs were being set up for a wedding ceremony. Horse lovers like to come here to get married by the Man o' War statue. Interesting, huh?
This was a place to measure your stride against some famous horse's strides. It took my Jack 12 steps to match Man o' War's famous 28 foot stride. Next is John Henry at 25 feet and Secretariat at 23 feet.
This was a memorial to Isaac Burns Murphy who lived in Lexington from 1860 to 1896. I believe he was the first black jockey in Kentucky and he had 628 winning races.

The Kentucky Horse Park, the only place in America where you can experience all the horse breeds of the world in one place. The Kentucky Horse Park is at 4089 Irons Works Parkway in Lexington, Kentucky. All you folks in Ohio need to drive down #75 and visit this very interesting horse place.
Around the entrance gates to the park are many beautiful horse statues. Here you can see statues of some foals romping. Jack told me that when he was romping around on his Missouri farm that he had a five-gaited horse named Pet. Jack could make Pet do a walk, trot, rack, cantor and gallop. Jack said he always liked the rack the best because it was the smoothest ride. Jack said his folks had bought the horse at an auction and were unaware that it was a former show horse until their neighbor one day exclaimed "Oh, there is that show horse, Cherie'!"
At the cross way of the entrance path are statues of two very famous horses, Man o' War and Secretariat. In this photo you see Secretariat, the last triple crown winner.
Here is another view of the same statue: Secretariat, jockey and stableman.

These statues are life size so are really realistic and powerful. Look how the artist has portrayed the horses muscles and look how the stableman is trying to control the horse. Very lifelike.
The thoroughbred strides. This plaque explains that winning horses have gigantic strides or a large heart. Secretariat's stride was substantial but Man of War's was the longest at 28 feet. And John Henry had a very, very large heart. Now take a long stride down to the next photo.

This statue of the horse and rider jumping a hurdle near the creek was so realistic that I had to look twice to see if it was a statue or a real horse and rider.
There are two large museums at the Kentucky Horse Park. Here is the entrance lobby to the American Saddlebred Museum. The other large museum is the International Museum of the Horse.
This is the show ring next door to the Hall of Champions Barn where you can get up and personal with former winning racing horses and see many breeds of horses from around the world.

Whew, I'm finally finished writing this blog post. I think this is the longest blog post with the most photos that I have ever done. Hope I didn't bore you but hope you enjoyed your virtual tour of the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. It definitely is worth a drive to go visit this horse park.

Now I need to go grab a cup of coffee. See ya tomorrow for more info on Kentucky and the NARFE Convention that we attended at the Galt House in Louisville.

Kentucky Roadtrip Part I

Jack and I have just returned from an eight day roadtrip to Kentucky, the land of impeccable horse farms, southern hospitality, French influence, bourbon whiskey, beautiful women and fast horses. (The adjectives for the last two nouns are frequently transposed from beautiful women and fast horses to fast women and beautiful horses!) Without a doubt every American should make a trip or two to Kentucky, The Bluegrass State. There is lots to see, do and experience in Kentucky.
And probably the most famous export of Kentucky is anything to do with the Kentucky Derby and horses although this coming week Louisville, Kentucky will be in the midst of Ryder Cup mania. But just take a look at the beautiful horse and rider and barn in this picture. I snapped this photo at the famous Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. I will share with you many more photos of this park in coming days.
Here is my hubby with his old Army buddy, Leon. We spent the week with Leon and his beautiful and charming wife, Helen. They live next door to the golf community that is hosting the Ryder Cup. Leon is a wonderful cook and Helen is a wonderful gardener so I have lots in common with them. Leon who speaks seven languages is the most debonair man I have ever met! (Sorry Jack.) When we were not busy attending the NARFE convention in downtown Louisville, we were enjoying time with Leon and Helen. Jack and Leon spent a lot of time reminiscing about their old Army days in Ludwigsburg: running Army payroll, traveling in Germany and Austria and of course, drinking beer at Rosies. More about all of that later this week, I promise.
This is Leon and Helen's lovely home situated in a cathedral of green trees and Kentucky bluegrass. I have more photos of their backyard and koi pond that I will share later. But look below at this last photo. See that Louisville Cardinal flag. It sits proudly at the entrance of Leon and Helen's house.
Leon graduated from the University of Louisville before he met my husband in Germany in the Army pay roll office. They were both fortunate to spend their days in Germany versus dodging bullets in Vietnam. Germany is the land of good food and beer and it sure beat a year in Vietnam. Leon is still a very active Cardinal at the University of Louisville, particularly with his old fraternity and the Jewish organizations on campus. I had fun teasing Leon because Louisville's arch rival college is the University of Kentucky in Lexington where I earned my certification in school library science. Leon extolled the virtues of the U of L Cardinals while I extolled the virtues of the U of K Wildcats. Both schools are basketball powerhouses in the tri-state area of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio which is known for greaaaaaaat basketball! And all three states have boundary lines formed by the great Ohio River. Tomorrow I have lots of photos of the Kentucky Horse Park to show you all and on Monday I will explain what NARFE is and why we attended the NARFE bi-annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

I hope you all are having a great weekend and staying out of the path of Hurricane Ike.

Two By Two By Two

I've just discovered that another lady from my bookclub is now blogging. Welcome to the blog world Cindy. Folks, Cindy has just begun but what she will write will be fun. This lady has three sets of twins under the age of 10. Her blog will be about her twins thus the title "Two By Two By Two".

Cindy is totally amazing. She finished her dissertation for her doctorate degree from George Mason University while expecting the arrival of her third set of twins. What more can I say. Go Cindy!
Go twins! I'll be looking forward to learning more about all of you this fall.

What Is It?

What is it? Here is some background info to help you figure it out. We found something in eastern Arizona on a ranch that was homesteaded by a man who claimed ownership of over 660 sections of land. Just one section of land is 660 acres.
So that is a lot of land! We got to meet and know the daughter of this Arizona rancher when we were searching for cactus to landscape our home in Sierra Vista, Arizona. This woman who was then in her lat 60's told us that she would ride a horse around the ranch and find these Native American artifacts. She had over 150 of these lining the fence around her ranch house. These were probably used by the Apache Indians. Women would have used these artifacts for cooking. Now can you guess what it is?

Correct Answer: Abraham Lincoln's wife, Patty, guessed correctly. It is Native American grinding stone for grinding corn into corn meal.

The reason we had to go to this homestead for cactus is that Arizona has very stringent laws on moving cactus. No native Arizona cactus can by moved without applying to the state for permission slips that states that someone who has cactus is allowing you to transport them to your home. If you are found moving cactus without these permits you get fined big time for each and every cactus, so we followed the rules and got the permits. The day we got this grinding stone we had an encounter with a rattlesnake on the homesteaded ranch. Let me rephrase that. Jack had an encounter with a rattlesnake. Joann was down the hill tying on the permit slips to the cactus. Anyway Jack was climbing up this cliff where he had parked a couple of barrel cactus when a rattlesnake came slithering to the edge of this very same cliff. Jack and the rattlesnake met eyeball to eyeball. At that point Jack left out a bloodcurdling scream and started falling backwards down the cliff. Joann looked up and watched him fall and wondered what had happened. Did he have a heart attack? When Jack explained the situation they decided to wait a bit to go back for the remaining cactus to allow the rattlesnake time to retreat from that area. Later they very very carefully approached the barrel cactus and claimed the barrel cactus. End of story.

Later this week I will share another snake story.

Flying Saucers?

What Is This? It's Not A Flying Saucer.

Flying Saucers?

Remember when UFO's were called flying saucers? That was a fifties term.

I have two saucer magnolia trees and each has been producing these beautiful magenta colored blossoms since March. In March the two trees just had blossoms and no leaves. They kept producing blossoms while the leaves came, grew and now look like this. They will keep producing blossoms I think until the leaves drop this fall. I recommend planting one of these saucer magnolia trees because of the long bloom period. Now back to that term flying saucers. I'm wondering if the hurricanes that are stacking up in the Atlantic might turn my Virginia skies grey again and turn these saucer magnolia trees into flying saucers. Time will tell. If it happens, I think it will be because of Hurricane Hannah's weather track although someone last night said that Hurricane Ike is the one we need to worry about here in Virginia. Again time will tell. In the meantime, while we are waiting for the hurricanes to make landfall somewhere on the east coast take a look at the top photo and make a guess as to what that thing is in my yard. It is white and currently has a green succulent growing in it. Here's a hint: it has nothing to do with flying saucers but does have a connection to succulent gardening in the southwest. I will tell you the answer Saturday.

Fishing Guy Is The Best!

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.Fishing Guy's remarks are sweet.

Jack and Joann thank you!

Fishing Guy on his blog gave me a nice compliment yesterday by publishing my poem that I wrote about Buckeyes that I left for him in his comment box the other day. I was so thrilled to see my little poem on his blog. Thank you, thank you, Fishing Guy. You are the best in my book! You can read the poem too by going to Fishing Guy's blog.

http://thefishingguy.blogspot.com/

I'm attaching the label Celebrities plus Ohio and Great Blogs to this thank you blog post. Blog friendships are changing the world in the 21'st century.

Remembering Some Yogi Berra Quotes

On Summer Passing Us By

Yogi: "It ain't over till it's over".

Joann: "We still have three weeks of summer left."

On Political Conventions This Year

Yogi: "It's like deja vu, all over again."

Joann: "Same talk, same analysis, same protests."

On Media Coverage of Conventions

Yogi: "It was impossible to get a conversation going,

everybody was talking too much."

Joann: "How long can you listen to them?"

November 4, 2008 Election Day

Yogi: "It's pretty far, but it doesn't seem like it."

Joann: "Michaels has Halloween decor, so the election must be near."

Political Persuasions

Yogi: "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.

In practice there is."

Joann: "Emotions trump reasoning."

Who Will You Vote For?

Yogi: "I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.

Joann: "My answer is don't ask, don't tell."

On Political Speeches

Yogi: " Half the lies they tell me aren't true."

Joann: "Half the statements said are twisted."

Each Party's Presidential Candidate

Yogi: "He hits from both sides of the plate. He is amphibious."

Joann: "He really expresses himself. What did he just say? "

Politics and the Economy

Yogi: "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."

Joann: "A ten dollar bill ain't worth a dime anymore."

Exercising Your Right to Vote

Yogi: "If people don't want to come out to the ballpark,

nobody's gonna stop 'em."

Joann: "If people don't want to come out to the polling booth,

nobody's gonna stop 'em."

Ralph Nader and Ron Paul and Other Also Rans

Yogi: "Slump? I ain't in no slump....I just ain't hitting."

Joann: "Slump? I ain't in no slump...I just ain't winning."

Winning in 2008

Yogi: "You wouldn't have won, if we had beaten you."

Joann: "Can't top this, so I will say it too. You wouldn't have won, if we had beaten you."

Labor Day Warning

Warning: don't wear white shoes after Labor Day.

Did your Momma teach you that rule?

A Thank You Note For Aunt Gigi

Dear Aunt Gigi,

Aunt Gigi you are the best! I want to thank you for bringing me all those Disney character toys from DisneyWorld in Orlando. Someday when I'm a little bit bigger I'm going to go down to Orlando and check out those Disney characters in person. I really like Buzz and Woody.

In the meantime I'm going to keep working on my walking so that when I get to DisneyWorld I can really do some high stepping around the parks.

Love and hugs from your little nephew,
Jack Aidan

P.S. Grandma Jojo helped me write this thank you note

Our Grandson's First Steps

Click on the two links below to see Jack Aidan taking his first steps. These are not his actual first steps, but he hasn't been walking long and needs to build up some confidence to let go of your hands. The first clip was filmed with the camera sideways, so you'll have to lean over to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R94C5PjMSaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-lxwpQdONA

Sarah Palin's Home/Alaska Governor's Mansion

When we took our Holland American Cruise to Alaska in May of 2007 we toured Juneau, the state capitol, and walked around the Governor's mansion. At the time we didn't know who was the current governor of Alaska but what sticks in my mind is what we saw standing in the backyard: a small metal children's swing set. That's when it dawned on us that the Alaska governor must be rather young to have a swing set in the backyard. I guess we were right. She is a young mother with five children. I'm sure we will learn a lot more about her in days to come. If I remember correctly, the swing set was behind that side portico and tall tree. Below is another photo of the mansion that shows a tall totem pole by the side of the house. I thought the totem pole was a neat touch.

Today's A Big Day In Ohio

Yesterday, August 28, was my second brother's 78'th birthday. Happy Birthday, Carl Gariety! Here is an Air Force photo of my brother as a young military man. From 1951 to 1955 Carl was in the Air Force and spent his time as a plane navigator in air force tanker planes that refueled B-25s in the air much to my poor mother's consternation. I think he also was a gunner. Carl loved planes and loved flying and I think even considered making a career in the Air Force. However, his love of Ohio and farming won out so Carl returned to Ohio to farm and to work a factory job in Dayton, Ohio. Today Carl can watch his three sons and many grandsons farm Ohio farmland near Russia, Ohio. My fondest memory of Carl occured one day while Carl was still in the Air Force. The crew pilot somehow arranged that a flight schedule could be planned so that each crew member over a period of time could have a flyover over their hometown. Our family received the news of when this would occur and we were ready and waiting. My parents and neighbors were outside with bathtowels to wave at the plane as it made several very low passes over Russia. My sister Mary Ellen and I were in school so we had to get permission from our classroom teachers to go outside to wave. My sister's entire class went outside to wave but my teacher only allowed me to go out and wave. I can remember that that Air Force plane flew so very low that I thought it might hit the church steeple at St. Remy's Catholic Church or a silo on a farm. Carl is turning 78 this weekend. Happy, happy birthday Carl!

Another fellow will also celebrate his birthday in Ohio this weekend. John McCain is now in Dayton, Ohio to announce the name of his running mate and he will celebrate his 72'nd birthday today. So happy birthday to John McCain too.

McCain has picked Governor Palin of Alaska as his running mate. I was expecting him to choose either Tom Ridge or Mitt Romney or Colin Powell. This is a big surprise I think.

Very Last "Baby Jack" Blogpost

I think I told you that I have decided that when Jack learns to walk by himself that I would call him a boy and not a baby so no more Baby Jack blog label posts. Well, today Jack came for a visit and we made a little video of Jack taking some steps all by himself. He has been doing this for sometime. So after today I will label future Jack posts Jack Aidan. I like his middle name Aidan and it will keep down confusion with my Jack. I don't want to refer to them at Big Jack or Little Jack. Tune in tomorrow to see my video of Jack Aidan stepping out on his own. In the bottom photo Jack is learning that Grandpa's computer chair is big and goes round and round like a merry go round. Get ready Little Dude. Grandpa is ready to give you a spin.