Yesterday.

I sang a a down town eatery called Vincenzo's. It is an Italian place that is nice and quaint. I had some food which was quite good. Anyway, I was singing because Asheville Lyric Opera asked me to. It was a two hour gig where a soprano and myself took turns singing in Italian while lunch was served. The event was in conjunction with a Chamber of Commerce type thing called A Taste of Asheville. It was a little fun. Next Thursday I am singing outside in Pack Square. Around this time of year they have something called Mid-day Musicals going on. And one of the mid-day events will be me singing along with a couple other people. That should be fun but I do not sing outside very well. ALO has also hired me to sing with the Victorian carolers. Four of us dress up and go caroling at various locations. I am really looking forward to that. We have several gigs at Biltmore during the Christmas holidays. I'll keep you posted.

Turkeys and a ball of yarn

Another walk for Ruby and another turkey gang. What are turkey packs called anyway? A flock seems too glorified for a bird with a wattle. Gaggle sounds right but those are geese. Also, a ball of yarn. Somewhere a cat is very sad.

My bookcase

I, also, built a book case. I painted it cream and gave it a paste wax finish. Now it is ready for books and what not.

Another turkey sighting.

This time I saw 6 large birds about two blocks from our house. Ruby was pretty interested but I wouldn't let her bark at them. I wasn't looking for any trouble with this gang.

Wall shelves

I recently built these wall shelves and attached them to the wall. I've been enjoying learning how to use my new miter saw. I've, also, done two rooms worth of moulding. Thanks mom for helping me set up the basement as a workshop.

Two new chairs

We purchased these a few weeks ago. Perfect for lake watching.

Year of marriage.

Well, it is hard to believe that Starla and I have been married for a year. We celebrated with a weekend in Atlanta. Here is an inept picture of us at a Moroccan restaurant. We sat on the floor and ate 5 courses at a little round table. It took us 2 hours and we had double full stomachs. The food was rather tasty. Still, I prefer Indian. While in Atlanta we drove around a lot. I guess that's what you do in Atlanta. The High Museum was quite nice. It had a nice assortment of folk art among other things. Of course, the martini I had at lunch before we visited the museum might have something to do with that opinion. I bet Henry Darger always seems more thought provoking and less plain crazy after a cocktail.

Turkeys in the hood

I walked up the street a few houses yesterday and guess what we saw. A bunch of wild (I assume.) turkeys on the prowl. Ruby was interested but a little shy. There were a dozen or so in this gang of hoodlums. Only a year ago we moved in to such a nice neighborhood and now it is just going to pot. I can only imagine what the graffiti will look like. Probably chicken scrawl over someone's new fence.

Old post.

Here are some pictures I wanted to post many days ago but computer ills stopped me. Ruby, Starla and I are on our way to Keith and Angie's rehearsal dinner.

My funny

Here is something that I just said to Starla that she thought was funny. Ruby was hacking and gagging around the living room until she finally barfed up a small amount of white saliva. Starla asked what was wrong with her. I told her that nothing was wrong with her except being a dog. They just throw-up from time to time. That's why they call them dogs. Because they are dog-awful. Starla laughed.

Sorry for the break

I have been trying to blog for the past several days but I haven't been able to upload pictures without my browser crashing. So here is a post without picture. Keith (Starla's brother) and Angie were recently married, congratulations. We've been busy going back and forth to TN for that.

More anniversary

After we all ate more than we ought our very nice waiter, David, brought out a special cake. There was a slight mishap during it's displaying for pictures but that's ok.

Hank and Lana's 40th.

Stay married for forty years and what do you get? You get a buffet with more food than you can shake a stick at. I mean more food than even experienced stick shakers can handle. We got a tour of the buffet as we were being seated and I am still positive I didn't see all the food. Anyway it was very good. And the view was tremendous. The scene of the event was the Grove Park Inn's Dining Room. You can see the view behind us in these two pictures.

Exorcising...I mean exercising the dog

Ruby loves to run and jump in the front yard. If she doesn't get a little running and jumping every day she turns into quite the terror. I enjoy running around the neighborhood with her frequently but if I am too lazy to do that Ruby is content to run around in circles chasing a stick in the front yard. She can jump higher than she can land and often ends up on her rump. She must not care though cause she gets right up and jumps again. Unfortunately for her, she hasn't mastered opening her mouth at the peak of her jump to grab the stick. Mostly she just bumps the stick with her nose. ...Don't miss the supercool socks with sandals look. I guess I really am German.

Espresso break

After eating Indian food at Mela last night Starla was nice enough to stop with me for a bit of dessert. Oh, that is an interesting map.

Remember when

Does anyone remember this dog? She's just as playful now but 10x as strong. Sometimes she thinks she's still that dog.

Color choice

I forgot to mention that the color of the latest room is Driftwood. I chose it myself. By "chose" I mean that Starla looked at 40 colors and narrowed it down to 3, then she gave me those 3 and said I could "choose" any color I wanted. Marriage is great.

Heat doesn't slow me down.

Boy, it has been warm here. Not as bad as other places, though. NYC was in the 100s today. That would have been a miserable train ride home. I think we have been a little under and a little over 90 this afternoon. But I was a worker bee anyway. I finished painting the last bedroom. I walked Ruby. I put up the last of the guest room blinds that we ordered. I hit a bucket of golf balls. I went for a run with Ruby. I treated the yard for bugs. (Sorry, environment.) I went grocery shopping. (That was in the A/C at least.) Attached are pictures of the blinds in the freshly painted guest room. The walls are darkish grey with a hint of purple. That's full spectrum paints for you. Tonight Starla and I are going to the movies. I don't even care what we see as long as the seats are comfortable and the A/C is set to around 65. (I just spell checked this post and my program wanted to replace "darkish" with "Turkish". I wonder what Turkish grey would look like?)

Free picture of Ruby

Ruby is bored and has had enough of laying in bed.

Hotel room

This is us in our hotel room and our view.