Playing catch-up, part one

First of all, why does the phrase which provides the title for this entry use the word "playing"? Doesn't that imply the pursuit of fun? When generally the act of "catching up" when one is behind in one's duties is anything but?

The dude who wrote the book I am currently reading, aka affectionally by me as the Grammar Nazi, would probably make a federal case about that, as well as the fact that I am using the term "federal case" to describe a relatively minor matter. As for me, I just think it's weird.

Stop blogging for 10 days or so and the material really starts to pile up! Since it's getting late and I need to be up and at 'em in the morning, tonight I will focus on random info from the past two weeks, and then tomorrow night I will catch you up on the big event of this past weekend: UGLY PROM '08!!! All of this in an attempt to go into my vacation, starting Wednesday, with a tabla rendered relatively rasa. Or perhaps that should be blogla rasa? But I digress.

Here are some pictures from the past two weeks, described briefly.

Our last NFG meeting was on Liz's birthday! And Heather H. arranged for this awesome cake to be made for her. In case you are befuddled, Liz really likes 19th century novels. And I really like words like "befuddled."


I saw this growing on the tree in my front yard when I was mowing--is it mistletoe? If so, no smoochers on my lawn! I'm going to be like that old dude in "Attack of the the Eye Creatures"!

But seriously--if this is mistletoe, could I cut it down and sell it at Christmas time? And is my not cutting it down dangerous for the tree? Isn't it a kind of botanical vermin or something?


This is the first of the pictures I took during our girls' weekend in Birmingham (May 2-4), visiting our friend Tracy. If you are a regular reader of this blog, it should be pretty self-explanatory.

Around the corner from the PW, in front of the (what else) public library. That is a little "party" fire helmet that was sitting on the ground until I put it on the chess piece.

It rained really hard early Saturday morning, and the sky remained gray and gloomy even after the rain stopped. While we were out walking around in Tracy's 'hood, there was a single patch of blue sky. I took a picture to commemorate it, my logic being that if I did so, it would actually clear up and render my photo moot.

And guess what? My reverse psychology actually worked on the weather! Go, me. The rest of the weekend was sunny and gorgeous!


We passed many lovely houses and a number of doggies on our stomp through Tracy's grounds. I liked these three dachshunds. They were trying hard to be ferocious, which I found hilarious.


Tracy also showed us her graduate school alma mater, Birmingham's Samford University. We only saw one fraternity house while we were there, and it happened to be my bro's bros, Lambda Chi Alpha. So I took a picture.

Back at Tracy's for a late lunch! Julie, Trace and YT.


Tracy and her roommates encouraged (cautioned?) us to look out for this sign on our trip back northward. For some reason as-yet-undiscovered to us, exit 6 (in Tennessee, alas) from I-65 seems to have some real sketchy stuff.


A wild strawberry in the lawn! I didn't eat it, although if it's still there tomorrow, I might.


I finally seeded and mulched the garden on Tuesday this past week! It was extremely windy here today, necessitating all the weighting down of the mulch. I admit that it's kind of a mess, but I'm still hoping something will come up.

Come back tomorrow for UGLY PROM '08 awesomeness!