Random Easter Memories

I suppose any annual event makes you think about past ones but today I'm reminiscing about past Easters. When I was a kid the chocolate was there but the emphasis was, as with every Sunday, always on church. Doing an Easter egg hunt was always a bit awkward because it was either completed in a hurry before church (like the picture) or we had to wait until after which was just painful :P

Because we moved a fair bit, Easter is very much associated with the house we were living in at the time. For example I know, from our ages and the angle that this was the house on Harwood. I very clearly remember the excitement of finding our chocolates in Mom and Dad's closet too. And our "baskets" that were actually empty Becel margarine tubs :)

The year we were on Astoria we had our hunt in the back yard. That summer we found a stray chocolate egg in the dryer vent. Somehow we had missed it and by then it was very melted. Ooops!

One year on Perth we had to do the hunt in the living room because it was POURING rain outside.

When I got older it was less about the chocolate and more about the fact that I had a long weekend and it was a great time to travel. In 2000 I visited Ontario for the first time and in 2007 I was in Texas. It is crazy to think that I now LIVE in Ontario (I joked about moving back then but I never, ever would have done it) and it floors me that Texas was five years ago already.

Easter is obviously about much more than chocolate or travel. After this weekend my heart is full of thanksgiving, love and new memories as I look back five years, twelve, twenty some and two thousand to where it all began.

JFK

Today marks 45 since John F. Kennedy was assasinated. I got burned out with my recaps about my Texas trip and I never got around to posting about the day that Sherilyn and I spent in Dallas learning about JFK, his life and the day he died. Something hiccuped when I was backing up my pictures and I don't seem to have them on a cd. I do have them uploaded to Shutterfly (thankfully) and I saved these shots from there to share with you.

Being at the site where Kennedy was shot was very odd for me. I wasn't born when all this happened yet I would like to think I'm fairly familiar with the timeline and events. I learned more that day then I could ever take in though. Sherilyn was a great tour guide and made sure to point out the important spots like the "Grassy knoll" and the markings on the street where the car was when each of the shots hit him.

The JFK Memorial (seen left) was very underwhelming. Like many people, I just don't get it.

On the other hand, the Sixth Floor Museum was incredible. Sherilyn and I took the audio tour and when I think about it, my mind still reels from the incredible amount of detail they share...and even after all that, no one really has the answers. The museum does a good job, in my opinion, of being objective and covering the conspiracy theories but it definitely leaves you with a lot of questions.

Today people are remembering JFK.

I am remembering what I learned about him and his life. It's all I have.

Texas Landmarks

When you think of Texas landmarks, what comes to mind? The Alamo? NASA? The Stockyards? All of those are popular and well known but there's another lesser known landmark that dozesns of individuals have made the trek to see. It was one that was near the top of my list for my trip. What is this mecca?

Stacy's Porch Swing




This weekend many women are making the trek to Texas. I don't know how many are actually going to stop by at this infamous spot but I had my chance in April 2007 and I treasure every minute I spent there :)

Intelligent Blogging

I feel like I haven't blogged anything intelligent in forever. Well, maybe intelligent isn't the right word. Important maybe? Lately I've been reading a lot of older entries because I'm scrapbooking early 2006. It's nice to have blog posts that relate to the pictures I am working on but I admit, I get frustrated if I DON'T have anything recorded. So, with that in mind, what's been up with me?

Last weekend I was at Stillwood Camp & Conference Centre for a retreat with Deb. I attended my first one with her in 2006 and missed last year because I was in Texas. This year we had 13 people total. It was fun. I didn't stay up super late at night and I was up in time for breakfast. I got a fair bit accomplished but of course, this week I haven't been able to get back to it which is annoying.

I got my tax return over the weekend too. A portion of it will buy my ticket to Diane's wedding. The rest is in savings. My car gave me a scare last week. On Wednesday the "check engine" light came on. I couldn't get it in to the shop until Friday but they looked at it, ran the computer to clear the codes and came up with "the gas cap is loose". It was actually more technical than that. Something about "Evaporation" but that's what it came down to. There was another code about the actual gas line. The stupid thing is AFTER my light came on on Wednesday, I put gas in. I guess once the sensor is tripped, only a mechanic an clear the code.

Anyways, the point is, I now have a healthy, accesible savings in case my car DOES do something stupid. It's something I've been trying to build up for awhile but now it's there.

The other thing I did with a portion of my return was invest in Sizzix. I'm kind of late to the party because everyone is getting rid of their's, including Deb. I debated long and hard about taking it and even posted on one of my message boards. In the end, I decided I just needed to do it. The thing is, even though the Sizzix belonged to Deb, I've always been the one that's used it. I've gotten a ton of use out of it over the years and truthfully, I've gotten used to having access to it. When it came time for her to part with it, it was just logical, and right, that I would take it. So, I am now the proud owner of a Sizzix Sidekick and six fonts (Fruit Smoothie, Funky Brush, Girls are Weird, Nouveau, Script and Rat-a-Tat) Girls are Weird, Nouveau and Funky Brush have been living at my house since, gosh, September? Maybe even before that. Anyways, I'm happy to welcome the other three to my house as well LOL

Okay, back to the retreat. I left early on Sunday to fill in for my co-worker at the store. I worked there from noon to three and then ran home and changed for church. I stopped by Mom and Dad's on the way for a quick dinner and then we went to church. Afterwards I went out with my friend Christa who is out visiting from Ontario. I haven't seen her since Texas last year so it was nice to catch up.

Monday was my last night of dance for the season. Can you believe that it's over already?! Crazy.

Tuesday I ran errands. First I stopped at Meredith's parents and picked up her Grandma's old microwave. See? I knew it would work out! I haven't even had a chance to use it yet but it looks good on my counter. I also had a nice chat with her mom and got to go "shopping". Mrs. K has always been good about sending her kids home with food when they visit. Since both of them are living abroad she hasn't hand anyone to give stuff to so she unloaded a bit on me. It was great :) Next stop was the library, my parents house briefly and then to Walmart.

Wednesday night I worked, tonight (Thursday) I work, tomorrow is the Kristal Barrett/Deric Ruttan concert and then the weekend is here again.

There, it's a bit of a brain dump but at least it's here and I don't have to keep reminding myself to blog stuff!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the changing seasons :)

Billy Bob's Texas Two

Going back to Billy Bob's was really neat. I already had the "insider's" view of it, now I got to see more of the "public" view. We learned all of the history of Billy Bob's. How it was orignially used as a barn, how during the Second World War it was used as an airplane factory and how in the fifties it was used as a department store that was so big, the stock boys wore roller skates to get around.
Inside we were shown memrobilia that I had missed the night before. Like Reba's dress from one of the awards shows and the saddle from...I forget. A movie? Possibly Urban Cowboy but I don't remember.

I'm sure the girls got tired of me saying "And Marty said this, and Marty said that" but I had fun sharing all my new triva knowledge :D



Blake Shelton's hands are bigger than mine. Surprise! LOL
In front of the bull riding ring. The point of this picture was to capture the chewing tobacco sign behind me. It currently doesn't have a warning from the Surgeon General because it was put up before that. It's also WAY bigger than regulation. The cool thing is that it's grandfathered and as long as the sign isn't altered, it can still be displayed. It can be touched up but only with original colours. Gotta love loopholes :)

After we finished at Billy Bob's we went back around to the front of the Live Stock Exchange building where I got to hold a real live armadillo! The little bugger had sharp, strong claws so the big industrial orange gloves came in handy.

Fort Worth Stock Yards

Wow. It's been a whole YEAR since my trip to Texas. That is hard to believe. You know what is sad? I haven't even finished BLOGGING the trip, never mind scrapbooking it. Oi.

Okay, I started this entry (and a few others) many, many months ago. What say we finish it up?

It was kind of funny to be BACK at the Stockyards so soon after leaving the night before but this was a very different experience. We started off outside watching the cattle drive. Stacy prepared me by telling about the time she brought Debbie (PPD) there. Apparently Debbie had her camera set on "fast action" and when the cattle came down the street she was very disappointed. Instead of the "cattle stampede" she expected, it turned out more like "cattle mosey". We got a good laugh out of that. It was still neat to see them coming down the streets though and it helped me picture what it might have been like back in the heydays of the Stock Yards.

We did the touristy thing and took a guided walking tour of the Stock Yards. Our tour started with a video in the visitors center called "The Spirt of the West" which gave us the background of how and why Fort Worth was settled.

Fort Worth was a stop on the Chisholm Trail and the last major point for food and supplies. With the arrival of the railroad it also became a major shipping point and necessitated the construction of the stock yards.

It was a bit of a production to get me up on "Pecos Bill" but I made it. In front of me are Stacy and Tonya.

This statue is of Quanah Parker, the last cheif of the Comanche nation. It turns out Sherilyn is distanly related to him!

The cowboy church is located in the Stockyards Station, along with a bunch of shops and restaurants. This area was the former hog and sheep pens.

I won't bore my readers with the history of the Stock Yards but I will say that I found it fascinating. It will be hard to scrapbook because I'm going to want to include so many details!

This was our guide. Here he is showing us the Fort Worth brand.

This is the parking lot where Sherilyn, Corey and I parked the night before :D

Looking across the street to the Cowtown Coliseum. Inside the Coliseum was dark and quiet. I can imagine that it must be a pretty exciting place when there is an event going on. One thing I did notice was that the seats were TINY. You can tell they're old! The Coliseum holds the distinction of being the home of the world's first indoor rodeo.

Okay, now we're getting to why I'm inspired to pos this today (other than the fact that I'm reminiscing and it's woefully over due). Karin blogged about attending a bull sale for her anniversary. After our stop in the Coliseum we went next door to the Historic Livestock Exchange Building. We got to step inside and hear a live broadcast of an auction. There were cattle being shown on the tv and the people were bidding. It was very fast paced.

We walked through the Exchange building to the back where we got to walk along "Cattlemen’s Catwalk" which provides a "panoramic view of the cattle pens" We actually hooked up with ShariT from Oregon at this point as well. Somehow she avoided my camera though.
I should note as well that it was COLD that day. Very overcast and the wind was blowing. Our tour took us inside and out and in again which was good because we were able to warm up between stops. Going across the catwalk was windy and cold because we were totally exposed.
I believe this picture shows the abandon packing plants that are featured prominently in the history of the Stockyards. A few weeks before I was there they were used for filming an episode of Prison Break!

We walked along the catwalk to Billy Bob's. On the way our guide gave us the history of it. I'll put those pictures in a separate post.

Cattlemans and Billy Bob's Texas

I admit that I've kind of been procrastinating on posting this entry. This night was definitely the highlight of my trip and trying to capture it all in words is hard.

Our first stop in Fort Worth was at Cattleman's for dinner. I believe that Sherilyn and I both had the "Rose O' Texas" Tenderloin Steak with salad and a baked potato. No matter what cut of beef it was, it was delicious. Corey picked a wonderful red wine to go with it too.
From there we headed straight over to Billy Bob's. Brilliant me left my wallet in my rental car in Dallas. The scary bouncer dude didn't want to let me in but because I didn't hesitate when he asked my age and because Sherilyn and Corey are both "legal" ;) he just gave me a strong warning "If I catch you drinking I'll throw your @$$ in jail" "Yes Sir!" (Of course I realized a few days later that I did have my passport with me but I don't normally carry it with me so I didn't think about it).

Once we got inside, we located Marty (at the bar, of course) and after he loaded us up with beers (I took one just to spite the bouncer LOL) he gave us the official tour. Now, you may remember that getting a tour of Billy Bob's was one of the reasons I took my whole Texas Road Trip. Sherilyn and Corey had taken the tour in November when they were at Billy Bob's with Corey's sister. The had been there for awhile before Sherilyn remembered hearing that a guy she had gone to school with was working there. They enquired after him and found out that he is the General Manager. She blogged about the whole thing afterwards and I was probably more excited then she had been LOL When I decided that Texas was definitely in the cards, one of the first things I did was confirm that she'd take me to Billy Bob's to meet Marty and she didn't disappoint.

Walking around Billy Bob's with Marty was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Sherilyn and Corey aren't "current country music fans" (her words) but I am. Marty sort of took me under his wing and we bonded over our opinions of artists, their music and their live shows. Sherilyn and Corey tagged along and Sherilyn was my official photographer for the night. It was really a mecca for me. Finally someone who knows and loves country music as much as I do :D Marty took us back stage and I was just in awe. Billy Bob's has a staff person who draws the logo of each artist that performs on the wall and then the band signs the wall. It was so incredibly cool. In the picture Marty is pointing at a cut out of Garth Brooks from when he first started his career.

Craig Morgan was on stage by the time we got there. I never got really close and the only picture we have is of the screen but I can at least technically say that I've seen him in concert. He put on a good show from what I got to see. We could have stopped and watched the show and looking back I wish we had but I was having too much fun with Marty!

The handprint wall at Billy Bob's is quite extensive. Marty gave us the inside scoop on a bunch of the prints. Like where the golf ball used to be in Vince Gill's square, that Deana Carter did bare feet prints because she preforms without shoes and that Trace Adkins lost the pinky finger on his left hand in an accident, and asked doctors to re-attach the finger at an angle so that he could continue to play guitar which is why it looks like he only has a half a finger in his handprint.

I love this picture of me. Marty dropped his hat on my head and Sherilyn snapped the picture. He took it back right away saying "I can't leave it there too long or I'll have to take her home with me" LOL

Billy Bob's is huge. Marty showed us most of it but when I went back the next day I realized there were parts we missed. Marty showed us the trophy case of the times that the club has won Club of the Year from the Acadamy of Country Music after I asked about it. He also showed us (in no particular order) the bull riding ring, the Texas Club Room (private meeting space), the liquor lockers (where he threw out mind boggling stats about the amount of alcohol served during certain events), the guitar bar and more.
We finished the evening in his office listening to music, looking at pictures and sharing stories of travelling, different events and what's been going on in his life since he and Sherilyn last saw each other. We also watched a couple of girls get busted by the authorities for under age drinking. Very entertaining and better then reality tv any day ;)

It was a late night after a *very* long day but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. And yes, that is a condom in my hand. Don't ask. I'm sharing this picture simply to show that I still looked pretty good at 1:30 in the morning.

~Heidi

Lunch in Austin and Tornados

I was late getting out of Austin and I had entered Jean's number incorrectly in my phone so I wasn't even able to warn them. I got to Jason's Deli on the boarder of Austin and Round Rock around 3pm. Jean and Jeanne were waiting there for me. We placed our food order right away and then sat and visited. It was wonderful to see them both again. I originally met Jean in June 2006 when her family was on vacation in the Northwest and made a stop in Vancouver. I met up with her there and we went for dinner. Jeanne was at the Retreat in Black Rock, Pennsylvania in November 2006. We had a nice relaxed time and at about five o'clock I got back on the road. The first picture is Jean and I. The second one is Jeanne and I.
(This picture is exactly where I35 splits into I35 East and I35 West
Because I had left San Antonio late, I was late leaving Austin. I wasn't too worried though because I was making a point of avoiding Dallas rush hour. The drive from Austin to Dallas was quite pretty. Traffic was heavyish but that kept it interesting. I didn't get a spectacular sunset but there was some colour in the Western sky. I kept in touch with Sherilyn and she posted the following on HSS at 5:23pm

Well, just got off the phone with Heidi. She is past the fork where I35 splits (I35W goes to Ft. Worth, I35E goes to Dallas). I don't know how far on it she is, but she hadn't hit rain, so I can guess looking at the radar. The storms ahead of her have passed by, but there is one to the southwest I'm watching. I hope she can beat it and slide in right between the two. The one to the southwest has a tornado sighted near Brownwood.

And an update at 5:41pm

Whew! I think she may hit some severe rain, but according to the NWS the tornado warning behind her is gone and it looks like she'll make it through without trouble...hopefully there are no blockages on I35 from debris. We were going to take 183 across to Fort Worth, but since the tornado seems to have gone right down 183, I guess I should see if they have any road trouble there. I'm so glad I don't have to call her and tell her what to do if she is driving and sees a tornado...... I was trying to avoid that.

I was trying to take pictures of the blue bonnets on the side of the highway. Most of my pictures just turned out as blurs like this one.


What I didn't tell Sherilyn was that after I hung up with her the second time, the sky got DARK! That freaked me out a bit. It wasn't green though so I just kept driving. Dallas was eeirly quiet. I was scanning radio stations and one guy was giving all the helpful tips of what to do if the tornado comes close to you. I chose NOT to listen to him because he was just stressing me out.

Ginger also called at one point during my trip to check up on me. I admit that driving through tornados in Texas wasn't my idea of a fun time but I guess it was authentic Texas spring :)

Getting through Dallas was fine. I had one little hiccup where I decided I wanted to pass a semi and ended up in a late that split left. I just took the next exit, headed back East to I35E and got back on though.

I arrived at Sherilyn's at we pretty much headed over to Fort Worth right away. All tornado activity had subsided by that point, or at least headed East. We did see the emergency vehicles in Haltom City where the twister touched down. The next morning I got pictures of the damage. Billboards ripped apart and a few builings that lost their roofs.

I'll put our Fort Worth experience in a seperate post.

~Heidi