Cave In Rock

I love to travel, but if you look, most of us can find a lot neat places to learn about and visit in our own back yards. With the economy the way it is, now is a perfect time to take advantage of what you've already got.

We recently traveled through Cave-In-Rock, Illinois to cross the ferry to get to Kentucky and stopped in to see the cave again. The town is named for the 55-foot-wide cave that was carved out of the limestone rock by water thousands of years ago. It is steeped in bloody history. It was a great hideout. There is a rocky cliff with the entrance to the cave under it. It was perfect to perch up there and wait for you victims... if you were a villain that is. As people were floating down the river henchmen would disable their boats or force them toward the yawning hollow, where the hapless pilgrims would be robbed, or worse. Few victims lived to tell their story according to the history.

There is a book by historian Otto A. Rothert

"The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock"

that tells the story of the gang, The Notorious Harpe Brothers, a pair of killers fleeing execution in Kentucky. If you can find it, it's a quick read and I found it interesting I guess because it (the cave) is something that I can see and touch and visit. The cave has names carved in it everywhere. There are some really old ones too. We saw one that was 1859 I believe. I'm not quite sure how they got to the ceiling of the cave unless the floor of the cave has changed since then.

The cave also served as a backdrop for the movie “How The West Was Won.” If places can be haunted, I'd be willing to bet this place would be.

If you have time and are interested in this sort of thing click on the above link for the Harpe Brothers, it is interesting.

It's Friday the 13th!

Friday the 13th is usually always been a lucky day for me, as has the number 13. Not sure why, just have had some good things happen to me on those days. Once I won 2 rings, one carat diamonds each, on the 13th. The 13th was the first full day I had with my son, so I'll count that one too. Did you know that we have had 3 Friday the 13ths this year?

Here's a little interesting info on the superstition of Friday the 13th from about.com:

LEGEND HAS IT: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, one will die within the year. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894). Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names). There are 13 witches in a coven.

Now I need to check the amount of letters in my name! phew... I'm safe!

I went to Michaels yesterday and went crazy. I bought some Martha Stewart glitter and it is so deliciously glittery I can't wait to play with it! It's a little pricey, but it looks so much better than the cheap looking regular craft glitter that I was used to. Her stuff is 30% off til Saturday.

Have a Happy and Lucky Friday the 13th!

Happy Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day and I wish to thank each and every service person, retired or active, for your service to our great country. In fact I want to thank you each and everyday. If it wasn't for all of you, we would not enjoy the liberty that we have today.

My dad was drafted in 1972 to the Army. He served at the Pentagon and said that made a man out of him. We lived in Washington for 5 years and I have vague memories of life back then. My dad has always been proud of the fact that he served his country, and I've always been proud of my dad.

Please everyone, thank a Veteran today.

another day, another kit kat

Today was just beautiful. It was almost like late summer here besides those pesky lady beetles buzzing around everywhere. Temperatures are so nice that the hubs rode his motorcycle into work today. Sounds of birds chirping, Asher laughing, tractors and combines in the distance working hard. Still, sadness has a way of creeping in and casting a shadow on everything even as the sun shines brightly and a gentle wind kisses my neck.

I cannot seem to make myself do much of anything besides mundane everyday tasks like cook and clean up. And I'm not doing a great job of those. I have a bunch of new ideas for some new creations to create but don't feel much like making the effort. Sleeping sounds like the best idea that I can come up with. Do you ever feel like if you could just go back in time and change a few things that life might be a little bit better right now? It seems like I should be able to control what's going on and make changes, but I can't. Like waking up from a nightmare.

I have tried to update the way my blog looks. I took down the Halloween stuff and tried to add a little Fall stuff. I'm not really happy with my blog, but I'm not smart enough to make it the way I want it to look. I haven't found any templates that I'm just crazy about either. Has anybody found some great looking templates?

Mean Green Halloween

Asher was a "Green Monster" for Halloween this year. He's been telling everyone for 2 months that's what he was going to be, since green is his favorite color after all. As I was trying to apply his green makeup to his squirming furry self (the day of) he told me "I don't want to be green today" wah! Through gritted teeth I growled at him "too bad, mommy spent all this time making this green costume and you're wearing it whether you want to or not!" so some of the pictures are of him pouting. The child cannot bear for me to be mad at him, so he chased me down soon after wanting to make up and needing a hug and kiss and of course getting green and black makeup all over my newly washed jeans.

I have to admit he, he tore the costume before Daddy even got to see him. Which was like 5 minutes after he had it on and I got out a stapler to fix it. By the end of the trick or treating night, it was in sad shape.

We are those people that you hate that drive to your neighborhood and get out to trick or treat :) As we live in the boondocks, there are just not enough houses to justify walking half a mile to each one. Good thing too, cause even though Asher understood the whole trick or treating thing this year, and didn't walk in people's houses, he still pooped out way too early and made Daddy carry him back to the starting point. When I was a kid, I literally walked for hours and hours. My mom sold Avon back in the 1970's and I would go with her on her route and hit paydirt. Then I would do our neighborhood and beyond! I got so much candy I had it for months it seemed. I remember my mom and dad "checking the candy" and bringing it back to me short of all the good candy bars. I caught on to that pretty quick.

Well, I hate it that Halloween is over and I didn't even dress up this year. But next year will be different. I'm already counting down.

Happy Halloween!!

This video is from 2 years ago when Asher was one and a half. Happy Halloween everyone and make it a fun and safe one. Give out good treats so you won't get any tricks...

Garden of the Gods Sunday

Sunday in our area was just spectacular. If it weren't for those annoying little lady beetles that flock to you, I'd say it was perfect. My husband thought it would be a good day to drive around and see the fall leaves which are about peak here. I agreed it would be nice to escape for little while from all the sadness I've been feeling. So we went about 2 hours southwest of us to Southern Illinois to Garden of the Gods in The Shawnee National Forest. It's really kinda strange the way the land goes from being pretty flat to hilly to these cliffs. If you didn't know the park was there, you would pass it by because there is nothing from the highway to indicate what is beyond the small hills. We took Hwy 1 to get there. Passed the Old Slave House (which is now closed to the public). Then turned on Pounds Hollow Rd to get there.

It was not our first trip to the rocks, but the first time to see the leaves like this. The first time Daryl took me there, we took a picnic (we were romantic way back then) and ate on the many large boulders that abound. After we had been hiking around a bit I finally asked him "who painted all these rocks?" Well, he got a real hoot out of that. Turns out these rocks had moss growing on them. Not any kind of moss this then city girl had ever seen. He later told me he thought to himself that day "well she's not real smart, but she's pretty to look at". Hmmpf.

Anyway, a whole lot of other people thought it would be a great day to see it, too. It was as crowded as I had ever seen it. They used to let you propel off the rocks, but so many people have died or got hurt there that now it is not allowed. I just read in the paper maybe a month ago a woman fell to her death there.

After the short visit to Garden of the Gods, we got back on Hwy 1 and headed to the ferry. We were actually on a trip to Daryl's mom's house in Paducah, KY and took a couple bypasses on the way. We stopped at the Cave-in-Rock State Park before we took the ferry to Kentucky. I'll post about that tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures.