A New Christmas Tree

I saw a white prelit Christmas tree in the store. It had a pretty shade of colored lights throughout. The whole thing struck me as unusually beautiful.

I've always had green Christmas trees. They just don't seem like trees if they are anything else, except when I walked past this strikingly pretty white tree, it called out to me (much like chocolate chip cookies do).

I could not resist. We now have a white Christmas tree in our home. I can sit and stare at it all day -- it is truly lovely and shines through a window for anyone driving by to see.

A BIG HAPPY 75th Birthday to my Dad!!! Yay Dad!!!!!

Chicken Little Review

We saw this movie in one of the rare 3D formats while in Atlanta -- much fun! We all got Chicken Little glasses to keep and I accidentally lost mine at my sister's house -- argh!

This was a good movie. While I still like regular animation (its an art form all of its own), the computer-animated stuff is amazingly good. There were plenty of song references for adults and fun action for everyone. I was never bored. I think this will be a hit. (P.S. "The sky is falling" will have new meaning now.)

Locations of the Past Week's Earthquakes

Wow - here's a map of where all the earthquakes in the United States occured in the past week - truly amazing. I can see places where I don't want to live - scroll down to see the link to the maps.

Other interesting uses for Google maps is listed here. I was able to go to all of the links the first time, but when I tried to return, I got strange error messages. Perhaps the site is too busy, but if you can take a peek, this is very interesting (also note, that earthquakes only show where they are reported. They may be happening in central Russia, but are not reported).

BJ's Angels and Dolls

BJ sells her art for a nice easy price. I bought this one and plan to use it in a photograph. There are more at http://www.bjshaven.com. I think placing these in some of my scenic pictures might liven the photo up. I love a touch of fantasy.

Ironically, there's a wonderful crafter here who makes fabulous stuffed bears, Her name is BJ as in BJ's Bears and Hares. Maybe BJ stands for Beautiful Job.

The Georgia Aquarium

We just got back from Atlanta where we had a chance to go through the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world. It was an incredible place. I was able to pet a shark. Visitors could also pet manta, starfish, sea urchins (very carefully), shrimp, horseshoe crabs and more. Here's  a movie I took of our experience.

The aquarium had only been opened three days. When we called, they told us the place has been sold out for a week (even their website was hard to reach, but my sister and I are made of stern stuff. We took two of her children and braved waiting out in the cold before the place opened hoping for standby tickets -- and we got in!!!!

The Genealogy Guys Podcast

I've been listening to "The Genealogy Guys" podcast and enjoying it very much. It's listed on iTunes (just do a search for "genealogy") -- so nice to get good information while taking my daily walk or driving out of town to my daughter's house.

I also enjoy Ebert's movie reviews, TWIT, Diggnation (although I wish they weren't so hung up on beer), several Photoshop podcasts (I just can't get enough Photoshop -- my favorite hobby), Mike Tech, the Geekcast, Leo's KFI Shows -- and I keep adding them.

As I said before, I don't even listen to local radio anymore. I turned it on the other day and it ran 10 minutes of ads before I turned it off (and this was a supposed "music" station). I guess that's what XM Radio is for. Someday I want a video iPod -- hmm, I wonder if I could watch it while walking?

Happy Thanksgiving

I will be busy for the next few days ahd have blogged in advance because I have so much to say - as anyone who knows me will agree. I wish all of you a --

or at least a chance to reflect on the good things in life and to be with someone you care about.

Keep safe and be careful if you travel. I will be posting cell phone pics in my photo blog, whatever happens.