A Gate, A Fence and 5 Random Tidbits

I'm running a bit late (do you realize all you guys on the east coast are THREE hours later in your day than I am...we don't observe Daily Savings Time!)  So, I try to post my Friday stuff on Thursday afternoons or evenings, but I didn't feel well last night. MUCH better today, and have a few things to share!

It of course is time for Friday's Fences, which I haven't been participating in much lately.  I may be an occasional visitor from now on...it's an awesome meme, though, so go by and check them out!

I thought this was really pretty.

This fence is around the outside eating area of Flafel King (great gyros!) and it's just so pretty too!

And I am also joining in Random 5 Friday...check it out as well.

1.  The "kids" got moved in this past week into their new house.  By kids I mean our daughter, SIL and grandson.  They are now only 8 minutes from us instead of 25 minutes!  YAY!  The house is much nicer, and I am so happy for them (and for hubby and me!)

2.  When Russell and I were dating, Nixon came to Norfolk during his campaign for President.  Russell was told he could get a Press pass to cover it for his school paper and he asked if I could come as well.  So the two of us got to see the rally for Nixon, and we got horrible pictures which was so disappointing, but at least we were there for part of history.

A Nixon rally in 1968

3.  The cuties in their mini-skirts who traveled with the Nixon group thought it was funny to "press" the Press badges on the reporters' chests, and when they did so to Russell my green-eyed monster emerged.  I was NOT having it! :-) (Hey I was 16)

"Hey...BACK OFF!!!!"

[The dresses I think were red, white and blue, but you get the idea! :-)]

4.  Later Tricia Nixon was the Azalea Festival Queen in Norfolk.  Only Nato country leaders families were eligible, and as first-daughter, Tricia made a gorgeous Azalea Queen.  We went to the ball that was held in her honor.  I remember looking at her in her gorgeous white Cinderella-style gown and wondering what on earth she could wear for her wedding that would top THAT.  And yet years later when she did get married to Edward Cox, her wedding dress was amazing!  And, those of you who were adults then, do you remember the song that was played for the wedding couple when they came back down the aisle after they tied the knot?  This is worth knowing, so I'd love to hear if any of you remember, and I will tell the answer in my next post!

Tricia as Azalea Queen

Tricia's wedding

5.  I no longer consider myself a Republican, but this Random 5 is going in that direction, so I will just tell you that as a young married couple (we married when Russell was 19 and I was 17) we joined the Young Republicans.  My next tidbit concerns our work for the Young Republicans in Alabama where Russell was going to college.  It's my home state, of which I am enormously proud.  But back then a lot of Alabamians would vote Democrat just because their Grandaddy had, so he and I went door to door trying to help sweet  old guys in overalls and kind ladies in house dresses understand that politics had changed a lot and they should vote for the person not the party.  Years later the first Republican Governor of Alabama since Reconstruction was elected and I am proud to say Guy Hunt and his wife Helen were friends of our family and co-pastor with my Dad in their church.  I'm beginning to think I've been around a LONG time! :-)

This Week's Fun Fences and My Random 5!

Fridays Fences is always one of the highlights of my week!  I didn't have any current photos so my grandson and I did a little drive through a neighborhood yesterday and came up with these....(Click on the link to visit others and see lots more fences!) My Random 5 Friday list is below the fences....

Lots of charm here!

Very southwestern themed gate!

This is like a fairytale...great gate but also that HOUSE! :-)

This was a combination of interesting things ON the fence, and the style of the fence itself.

More great blue!

This fence was such an unusual style....

Here it is with blooming cactus beside it, near the gate.

I've been stalking this one for quite a while...it's right on Campbell near the hospital and I was always out of position to get a photo from the car.  So, I just went around the corner, parked and walked back to it.  Notice the fountain inside the courtyard!

A lovely pink wall with cross and interesting wooden gate.

Another meme I greatly enjoy every Friday is Nancy's Random 5 Fridays.  It's lots of fun to learn so much about each other.  Click on the link and check it out!

Here are my five:

1.  Someone else mentioned a town's origins on their blog and it reminded me that when we lived in Texas, we lived near a town whose name was pronounced exactly like our last name but spelled "Carmine".  We learned that it had originally been spelled like our name (ending in "mean"), but had been changed when mail kept getting mixed up with Cameron, TX.  The man they had named it after had our last name of Carmean, and the whole time we lived near there I kept wishing I could get someone to change it back!

2.  Another town very close to there was Dime Box, Texas.  I learned it was named that because during the polio epidemic, children collected dimes to help children out who had been striken with the disease, placing their dimes in their mailboxes to be picked up by the mail man.  It was likely the origins of the "March of Dimes" and gave Dime Box its unusual name!

3.  Once we wanted to go canoeing, and weren't actually dressed for such an excursion, but rented the canoe on a lovely little lake.  My hubby got in first, then our three year old daughter.  We were boarding off a pier, which is not the best way to do so, and as I was last, I managed to step in and gently push the canoe away from the dock in the process....you guessed it!  It was one of those AFV moments, and I started to do the splits, slapped the water with my arms and flipped the canoe, dumping my hubby and quite terrified toddler with me into the drink!

4.  We once lived in an old log cabin in the winter, with the chinking all crumbled away, and the cold air permeating every square inch of the place.  The only heat we had was the fireplace, and since we did have electricity, we used an electric blanket, and would actually dress under the covers before getting out of bed!  We had a  doxie and her puppies and we would leave a small fire for them in the fireplace when we left the house.  When we arrived home, the fire would be out and all the puppies would be inside the fireplace, covered in soot.

5.  I used to do cake decorating years ago, and sold not only birthday cakes, but also wedding and anniversary cakes for a while.  I even taught a cake decorating class for Adult Education through Texas Tech University.  When my husband graduated from Pilot Training in the Air Force, I made the four tiered graduation cake, covered in the color flow state flags of all the graduates, and with the class patch on the top tier.  My hubby hand painted the eagle that was the cake topper.  It was served as dessert after the graduation dinner.  Here's a photo:

Gates and Fences and 5 Randoms Again

There are always interesting fences and gates when I get out and wander, looking for them.  Here are just a few more for one of my favorite memes hosted by Jan and Jer, Fridays Fences.  Click on the link to see some more, and to make some lovely new friends!

This the wooden fence at the Education Center our grandson went to on the school field trip last year.

A small fenced porch area, but more charm than should be legal!

I am also participating in Random 5 Friday  with Nancy at A Rural Journal.  Here are my 5 this week:

1.  My husband and I have been married almost 44 years now.  We were husband and wife while he was in Viet Nam as a helicopter door gunner.  That was the longest year of my life!

2. He and I have both hiked the Grand Canyon...Russell seven times, and me only twice.  My brother was with us on my first trip.  A later hike was made with several friends.  It was an incredible experience for me, both times!

3. When my brother went with us to hike the Canyon we arrived at the North Rim campground after dark.  We hadn't brought actual tents, only Army poncho liners to use as lean-to's.  It was  difficult erecting any shelter in the dark...and did I mention it was also raining?  Michael was in his sleeping bag, wrapped in his poncho liner like a mummy, and had a hat over his face.  Russell and I tried to stay dry under our lean-to liner but my sleeping bag started getting very wet.  I finally gave up and got into the Jeep to stay dry.  It was a dubious beginning to our trip.  The next morning my brother was so sound asleep we had trouble waking him.

4.  Another camping excursion took us to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM.  Our daughter was pretty young, and we took our puppy with us, an English Springer Spaniel named Taffy, and rented a tent from the base, which we did not realize until we erected it, had a big hole in it!  The night was frosty cold, but we attempted to snuggle into our sleeping bags to stay warm.  Finally I was just too cold, and was worried about our little one being too cold as well....so taking our sleeping daughter with me I bailed from the tent and got into the Jeep where I cranked it up and turned on the heater.  Only, the exhaust pipe for the Jeep just happened to be pointed into the hole in the tent, and I almost exfixiated my poor husband and the puppy!  (The Fiesta was incredible, by the way--highly recommend it to everyone.  Just make sure your tent doesn't have a hole in it before you leave home!)

5.  Taffy by the way once knocked me off a bicycle.  Being a Springer, she loved the lake behind our house in Mary Esther, Florida where if she was ever out of the fence, she would chase the ducks.  I hadn't ridden a bicycle in many years, and wasn't used to the hand brake (the last one I had owned had a pedal brake!) so was somewhat unsure of myself as we took off through the neighborhood for a ride.  Taffy, like a streak, headed for the lake and Russell hollered for her to come back.  I remember seeing her zooming straight for me, and thought, "Of course she'll stop!"-- Only she didn't.  And neither did I.  She plowed into my front wheel, jerking it to the side, and I went sailing forward and sideways, reaching out with my right hand to try to stop my fall on the pavement....breaking my right thumb!  And as I lay on the pavement, stunned (I also had trauma to my right hip) all Russell could think was that I had hit my head and was unconscious!  And all the while Taffy ran back and forth and around and around, just happy to be out of the yard...and completely oblivious to the disaster she had caused!  (She was a great dog, though--stronger than you can imagine for a dog her size, but we all were crazy about her.)

Amazing Gate!..and Random 5!

I'm not sure why I took so long to post this.  It's the gate at the entrance to St. Phillip's Plaza next to Union where my SIL is the chef and my daughter the pastry chef.  It's a gorgeous gate, and deserves to be admired!  Of course, I am linking into Fridays Fences so everyone can enjoy it...as well as a fence that is around the corner on River Rd. at a business complex.

And today I am also joining Random Five Friday because I have been enjoying doing these little snippets of info, and reading those of others' as well.  I recently learned it is an actual meme, hosted by Nancy at A Rural Journal!   Click on the link and see what other five facts are being revealed about your fellow bloggers!

1.  I would love to learn to rappel and rock climb.  I would even like to do a zipline!  I'm not interested in skydiving and definitely not in bungee jumping.  But, ever since my hiking days, I thought rock climbing and rappelling would be amazing!

2.  The first time I read Gone With the Wind I was a young teen...my Mom started out reading it to me, and I quickly took it over.  I read the book EIGHT times from then until my mind-thirties, and I haven't read it since.  I guess I finally felt I had saturated my spirit and senses with it as much as needed!  It's hard to get too much Gone With the Wind!

3.  My favorite colors are deep wine red and cobalt blue.  But, on any given day almost every other color in the rainbow comes in a close second.

4.  My hubby and I had just started dating and I went over to his house where he had been asked to clean out the gutters.  He was 17 and I was 15.  I'd never been on a house roof before, and don't handle heights well (I know, I know, the rappelling thing!  But, if I am attached to a rope I know I'll feel safe! :-) )  Anyway, he climbed up the ladder to their roof and I followed, but was very nervous and refused to stand up.  So, as he moved around the edge of the roof cleaning the gutters, I scooted along on my behind, following him.  When I stood up to go back down the ladder I had a shock...the seat of my shorts had been torn through and my underwear was showing!  Horrified, and just sure his entire neighborhood would see my underwear, I went down the ladder face-front.  All the while, Russell was pretty amused.  I tied one of his shirts around my waist for the rest of the visit.  VERY embarrassing! :-)

5.  The first time Russell and I ever ate jalapenos was at a Mexican restaurant in Houston, Texas in the early 70s.  Russell said he's take a bite if I would.  I took a bite and was ON FIRE!  Teasingly (can you tell he loves to tease? :-) ) he said he wasn't going to eat it after all if it was so hot.  Then, seeing my crestfallen face, he popped a whole one in his mouth to prove to me that I could still trust him!

Fences From the Past

OK, I will admit it...I'm a little low on local fence pictures for Fridays Fences. (Click on the link and enjoy the meme hosted by Jan and Jer!) Not that they aren't out there.  I just have to get out and photograph them!  But, I thought, I wonder if I have any in my archives that would be interesting.  Sometimes in the course of photographing our lives, our world, a fence will sometimes be present.  You didn't intend for it to be there (you weren't photographing the fence) but it was a great backdrop for what you WERE photographing.  These pictures were all taken from 2004 to 2006 when we were in Virginia/ North Carolina.

My Dad, who is gone now, on a visit to us in Elizabeth City, NC.  Behind him is the Elizabeth River.  Dad was  always  pensively posing for the camera.  A natural!

Dad at a hotel at Nags Head, NC on a weekend trip I made with my parents. That's the Atlantic Ocean, of course.

Our grandson on an overlook of the Elizabeth River in N.C.

I have always loved this picture.  Our daughter is looking at the sheep in a pasture at Williamsburg, Va while our grandson is contemplating the very gnarled and wonderful tree growing there by the fence.

Horses on Knotts Island, NC

My Mom at the hotel in Nags Head on that same trip with she and Dad.  Check out her two blogs  Living Life on Main Street and It's a New Day, A New Life. Mom got me started blogging about six years ago!

A fence surrounding property on Roane Point in Mathews Co Virginia.  My husband's great grandfather used to own this point.  Needless to say,  we sure wish it had been handed down!

The end of the fence and the beginning of the drive.  Those are crepe myrtle trees.  The house is huge, but  this post is about fences. :-)

The oxen at Williamsburg and a wonderful split rail fence.

Leaning on the fence and checking out the oxen.

A SPECIAL FOOTNOTE FOR PARENTS and GRANDPARENTS:  I would like to add a link for anyone who is concerned about the innocence of our children being preserved, and about our rights as parents also being preserved.  Check this out: http://parentalrights.org/index.asp?SEC={42DF157D-6008-4A2B-BEAA-EBD67B482931}&Type=B_BASIC&persistdesign=none

Gates, Mailboxes and Yard Art

This is one of the most charming gates I have found!  Look at the heart!

It goes with this charming mailbox!

Another beautifully crafted gate!

See the turtles on each gate post?

And horned lizards (horny toads) on the entryway and on the house itself?

A closeup of that wonderful entryway....

And a closeup of one of the turtles (this photo was taken by my 11 year old grandson for me)

A speedy jackrabbit mailbox flag.

And a Native American themed mailbox.

This one is very cool!  Not too AZ but who cares!?

A little cart for yard art.

And lovely motifs on the front of a house...also taken by my grandson.

A companion motif to the one above.

Join us for Fridays Fences each week and enjoy fences, gates and views beyond them from all over!  Click on the link to check them out!

Two Gate Gems and Five Facts Friday

More Fridays Fences finds...click the link to see more at the meme hosted by Janice and Jer.

I thought this one was stunning!

Beyond this handsome gate you can see the large attractive house that it goes to....

and this is a closeup of the ironwork.

I also thought it might be fun to participate this time in Five Facts Friday!  I was inspired by Candy over at Lazy C Bar J Farm by her last Friday's post and also Nancy at A Rural Journal.  Here are five facts about me:

1.  I have churned butter in my grandmother's crock butter churn (and it is now one of my treasures in my livingroom)
2.  My hubby and ten year old daughter and I were in New York for the 1986 Bicentennial Celebration and reopening of the Statue of Liberty.  We were on Governor's Island watching the incredible fireworks display in the harbor, and when it was over, we had to travel back to Manhattan on a ferry, but there were delays for up to an hour while the ferry tried to navigate around all the tall ships and other boats in the harbor.  All the while, the man in charge kept coming out and saying it would just be five more minutes.  After about five or six times of him doing that instead of him being honest (and for some reason he was acting very nervous!) people started making little comments.  My hubby, with his sick sense of humor said "get a rope" and was heard by very few people just around us who all laughed, but the man also heard it, and went inside.  As we boarded the ferry about twenty or thirty minutes later  we saw a commotion  back by the building as police arrived.  Later that night we heard on the news that there had been a riot on Governor's Island.  Since we never saw anything at all but anxious but very orderly people who wanted to board the ferry, but who were waiting pretty patiently, we figured the man in charge had over-reacted to my husband's little quip and well, as they say, the rest is history! Ooops!
3.  Five days after our daughter was born we were standing on frozen Bear Lake in Colorado, with her stuffed down inside a fleece bunting with just her nose sticking out.  My hubby and I also had a snowball fight at Estes Park.  You could say I bounced right back from childbirth! :-)
4.  Once in my 40s I tried to inline skate in my sister's hallway while her boys were outside skating and the front door was open.  I'd get to the end of the hall, slam against the wall and turn myself around and then go back down the hall.  I was getting pretty confident and as I got to the open door I hollered "Look!" and fell flat on my fanny.
5.  My only water skiiing venture ended in a huge nosedive too.  I'm not very athletic!