Winter Morning, Rural Missouri Farm and Vineyard

I took these pictures this morning when I got to work.  I'm a sucker for picturesque winter scenes.  Posted all these on the Winery FB page too, click here if you're inclined.

Summer Morning

Same Tree, Different Angle

My Days Are All Filled With An Easy Country Charm

It's moments like this that I think it might not be so bad to live in Ste. Gen.

This photograph sums up the bulk of my childhood. And who wouldn't want to spend their childhood gallivanting around a Midwest farm with a kitten in each pocket?

Haggard No More

I am happy to tell you I'm getting a schedule change. I'm going to be working from home one day a week and hanging out with the girls one day a week. I'm so excited I can't hardly see straight. The past 8 months have been the busiest 8 months of my life, and I kept thinking that I could survive if I had a little bit of time in the winter to catch my breath, and now I do. I'll only have this extra time until John finishes the school year, but still, that's months! I'll still be going to the winery 3 days a week, and I have a feeling the working from home part is going to be much harder than I anticipate, but I'm ready to find out. And, in all my new free time (feeling a little delusional) I should be able to blog more. Yay for me and yay for you.

On that note I leave you with this picture from our trip to the Christmas tree farm over a month ago. Only in 2010 (I guess officially it was 2009) do you see lumberjacks on their phones. What I wouldn't do for that kids' amount of free time. ;)

Me...On the Tv...Crazy

Click here for a link to my segment yesterday on Great Day St. Louis. It was exhilarating. Carol, one of the hosts, quoted my blog back to me off air. I don't think that's ever happened before. This Chevy promotion sure has been fun. Can.not.believe.the.Equinox.goes.back.tomorrow. The sadness. You still have time to test drive one of these amazing cars. Go now until November 22nd. Get a free massage just for test driving it. Maybe I can go next week and test drive a Traverse and get another free massage. =) Think they'd know? We were supposed to mention the test drives on the show, but somehow the conversation never took that path. I also had good intentions of mentioning the winery, but alas, that didn't happen either.

Just the 4 of us

Joe and Amanda and their family always like to see the Hot Air Balloon Race from on top of St. Mary's Hospital parking lot, and this year we went with them. We were so happy we did, because balloons went directly over us, it was really neat. Here's our attempt at a family photo, with a few hot air balloons in the background.

MIZ-ZOU!

The game was very close yesterday, but a Win is a Win. On to the Sweet 16 we go!

Anticipation

John woke up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready to go vote. Cecilia woke me up at 5 a.m. John went to vote and at 5:05 a.m. there were already 25 people in front of him. I hung out with C, got her ready, John came back at 6:30 a.m. and picked her up and headed south. I took a shower, and headed to the polls at 7:25 a.m. At 8:40 a.m. I left the polls without voting because I had a doctor's appointment. =( Sat in traffic on Hwy 270, went to the doctor, heard the heartbeat, everything's fine, head to work. Bottle Christmas Plum, pick up Cecilia from day care, and stress the whole way home about standing in line again, only this time with Cecilia with me. How am I going to feed her dinner? How am I going to entertain her for hours in the stroller? Do I really need to vote? Yes, I do need to vote, it is important to me and Cecilia. We are fortunate to live in a country where we can choose our elected officials, and I want to pass that respect and gratitude on to Cecilia. When she's older I can tell her how she and I stood in line for hours in one of the most important days in our country's history. 4:20 p.m. arrive home, put the stroller in the trunk, run inside, grab as many toys and snacks as I can carry in my purse, make a bottle, run back out to the car, and drive us to the polls. At 4:40 p.m. I get her out of the car and into the stroller weighted down with a years supply of food and non annoying toys, walk quickly to the polls to get in line where I see that there is no line. Take the stroller up the stairs, sign the notebook thing, Cecilia and I get stickers, I vote, cast my ballot, and we are back home by 5 p.m. I almost cried because I had worked myself into a frenzy about waiting that long with her.

For me, this evening, "voting" spells relief.

Creative Thinking

John and Cecilia at the Laumeier Sculpture Park.

Entertainment for Mommy

It snowed another 52 inches yesterday, and so I decided to take Cecilia out in the snow. I bundled her all up, and laid her down in the snow in the shade, and had to laugh. She looked so ridiculous. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what was going on. She's such a good baby, she just laid there and looked at me while I took pictures and giggled.

She's so fun.

Killing Thyme

What! There's no baby in this picture! Craziness!

I have to tell you I think I grow herbs indoors pretty well. Last year I started a windowsill basil that lived over a year. Last summer I grew from seed more basil, chives, and thyme. I had so much basil that I planted some in my back yard and also gave some to Amanda. That basil is still alive in a pot in my kitchen. The chives died last week. I bought a parsley last summer at the farmer's market, and I am still pulling leaves off it. My biggest success, though, is my three Meyer lemon trees that I started from seeds. My uncle brought back some Meyer lemons from his house in Georgia last winter, and I did some research about growing Meyer lemons in Missouri. Turns out you can do it, and keep them in doors. I asked for a Meyer lemon tree for Christmas, and when I didn't get one last year, I stuck a few seeds in the same pot the windowsill basil was in last January. I kept looking for sprouts and saw nothing for weeks or maybe months. Then I forgot about them. When the warmer weather came in the spring, I found three little sprouts with shiny leaves. A year later, they are about 8 inches tall. I think it will be quite some time before I have lemons, maybe even a decade? That's o.k. I can wait. I'm just pretty proud that they actually grew.

Hopefully I can keep them alive; unlike this thyme that is dying. How much thyme can one (or two) (or three now) people really use?

Tannenbaum

She Is Not A Fair Weather Fan.

At this point she really doesn't have a choice in the matter, but that's o.k.

Go Mizzou!

Foliage

It's amazing what I can find when I look at other's blogs. Not only did I find that cool survey thing that I posted yesterday, I also found this photo album maker. I feel like a little thief, and I love it. Since I know nothing about writing html, I'll take some help making my blog more interesting anywhere I can.

This is a collage of pictures I took last week while deer hunting. It wasn't a particularly successful deer hunting session, given that I didn't see any deer whatsoever. I took a nap, had a miserably hard time sitting still, and took some nice pictures. Plus, I was using my cell phone as my clock, and what do you know, at 9:30 a.m. John's dad called. Guess I should have set it on vibrate. No wonder I didn't see any deer. Plus, I felt like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in my overalls, (Becky did say I looked 'puffy')and my legs were so sad to be carrying around my baby, my back pack and John's gun. Needless to say, I'm not deer hunting this weekend. I would say "there's always next year" but I guess not, since we'll have a 10 month old by then.

There were all these saplings in the woods, and each one looked so similar, but so unique at the same time. Some of the pictures are more blurry than I would have liked, but the idea is good, I think. I saw the headline from the St. Louis Post Dispatch this morning saying they thought this was one of the more vibrant years for fall colors, and I would have to agree with them.

Happy Halloween

Photo courtesy of my long lost friend, Leah, and the pumpkin was actually carved by her hubby, Brian, whom I've never met. (Just to give you an idea how long and lost she is.)

One Week and Two Days Ago

For those of you that don't know, Ste. Genevieve has a Municipal Band, paid by city taxes. John is the director, and I play bassoon. It is made up of old people, like us, and high school kids. We practice every Tuesday and perform every Thursday all summer; 10 concerts a year. All of them are very entertaining, great music, some of them are very hot; me and my instrument baking in the heat coming off the Valle desert blacktop. This past Thursday was our last concert of the season, so my blogging just might become a lot more frequent. I have a ton of stuff to show you and talk about. Anyway, back to the picture, one week and two days ago, 19 month old Char was the guest conductor of the band. Every week this summer he has been the star of the show, running around, greeting all the locals, laughing at John in front, or Sara in back. Chuck, on the other hand, gets two workouts on Thursdays, one with John at the gym, and one at the concert chasing his baby around. So, the band decided to give Char the proper attention he deserved and put him center stage. He was the youngest guest conductor ever for the Muny Band. He did an excellent job, even clapping for himself at the end. This picture at the bottom was my vantage point; right behind the oboes.
If you think Char looks familiar, he's been featured here on the blog quite a bit, but I guess not in awhile. Click here for the last time you saw Char.

In My Opinion

John was a little too excited about the tractor display at the Lawrenceton Picnic last weekend.

Confluence of Two Hearts

John and I are celebrating 6 years together this weekend. Yesterday we headed over to the Confluence Point State Park. I've always wondered what the Mississippi River and the Missouri River looked like together, and now we know. From there we headed to Alton, Ill, and I will have to say I was sorely disappointed with Fast Eddie's Bon Air. It was smokey and dirty and dark, and just plain tasteless. We ended yesterday with sushi, and I do believe unagi might be my favorite thing to eat ever.

This is the dock next to the dock where my sister's boat is stored.