What's he praying for?

Hubby was outside having a smoke yesterday, and this little praying mantis was on the ashtray. He's no bigger than your pinkie fingernail - teeny tiny.

I don't know if mantises really pray, but we're praying for rain. And peace.

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. Remember the Easter stuff when we were kids? First, some new shoes that hurt your feet - got 'em!

Little white gloves were always part of the church outfit - got 'em:

No Easter outfit would be complete without a flowered dress and a hat - got' em!

Bite the head off a nice chocolate bunny & enjoy the holiday with family or friends.

Let's see if we can grow a potato

When we see each other, my cousins in Ohio (see previous post) and I always have a meeting of the Daughters of the Potato Famine (DPF). These meetings consist of establishing our legitimacy as Daughters of Daughters of Daughters, and then drinking some adult beverages (c'mon, we're Irish!) and giggling a lot. We know our moms are giggling in heaven. Recently, hubby and I didn't use some red potatoes soon enough, and they began sprouting. I cut them up and poked them here & there in the garden, why not? I'll be darned, they are growing. Despite being a DPF, I don't know the first thing about growing potatoes. Googled it! I'll let them go for a couple of months. If and when the tops die off, the potatoes are supposed to be ready. It's kind of a pretty plant, anyway: I was super proud of myself after getting home from Hong Kong. I planted a bunch of heirloom tomatoes the next day. Unfortunately, it has been dry here, and I used some leftover plant food from last year that must have been a dud, so they haven't grown much. RATS! Here is one called Stump of the World. I'll say.

Hubby likes jalapenos and is having much better luck with his pepper plants, look at them - super chilis! I moved to another floor in our office last week, and my new office faces east, toward Minute Maid Park. Our doomed Astros play there.

Here is a zoom-in shot, they were warming up this afternoon. Those little white specks in right field are players.

Finally, what is UP with Houston not getting a retired shuttle? that's BOGUS.

Lucky enough to be Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I couldn't resist decorating Pookie for the occasion:




A big shout-out to my fellow Daughters of the Potato Famine - Ann, Eileen, Pat, Rita, their daughters Kelly, Katie, Elizabeth, and new members Emma and Lydia. We are daughters of daughters of daughters etc. To all the Irish and Honorary Irish out there in the blaggardsphere, put on your garden gloves, hoist your favorite adult beverage and think of Ireland. Here's a wee limerick:

While gardening or going on walks

Or hiking near a picturesque loch

It's lucky you'll be
To look down and see
An emerald cluster of shamrocks!

'Round the world (almost) in 14 days

For the past two weeks, your humble blogmistress has been on an audit trip to Dubai and Hong Kong. I loaded these pictures in the wrong order, so we have Hong Kong first. Here is Victoria Harbor (Harbour) as seen from the window of my awesome hotel.
Sandy took me out shopping on Sunday, and we noticed this big pile of bamboo poles. They're used as scaffolding! It must be safe, but I'm not climbing up there.

Here's a nice pic of the old and the new, near our HK office:

I climbed up this old street one evening to go to dinner. Look at those ancient steps. If I did that every day, I would probably lose a couple of pounds.

On to Dubai. Victor and his lovely bride took me to dinner one evening so I could see the magnificent Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world. Here is an action shot as we got nearer, I didn't want my camera to flash and freak out Victor as he drove along:

Here I am - finally looking downright petite in front of 122 stories.

They go big, or they go home in Dubai. Here is their giant aquarium.

Here's the Ferrari store, right behind our office in Festival City. I'll take a red one and a yellow one, please:

I left Hong Kong at 12:30 am on Saturday and flew back to Dubai, hung out there for a few hours (picked up some duty free cigs for hubby - $16 cheap), then flew from Dubai to Houston. That day lasted 36 hours. I was stuffed up and couldn't sleep, all the men on the plane had sleep apnea and were snoring like chain saws, I finished my book, watched some movies, listened to music (Eric Clapton's latest is good), prayed for relief, and by then we were over Greenland. WHAT? Yes, I had to measure when I got home, but the shortest way to get from Dubai to Houston is to fly north over Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Greenland, down over Canada's Hudson Bay, slide along the west side of the Great Lakes, and after just 16 1/2 hours, I was home. It was a great trip, and it's great to be home. My thanks to all my colleagues in both cities!

Houston 2011 - The Great Ice Storm

No work for me today - we've had a cold snap the last few days, and during the night it sprinkled. Just LOOK at the ice, OMG!

The yard is a little crunchy underfoot today. The poinsettia we have had by the front door since Thanksgiving took it on the chin, too:
It all seems like much ado about nothing to me, but hey, I'll take that free day off anytime. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Cool ride(s) of the week.28

This week, hubby and I checked out the 2011 Houston Auto Show. First up is the new Fiat 500, it's getting a lot of buzz. Pretty cute!
It has a nice dashboard, too:

Here's the Infiniti G coupe, quite a hot rod:
The Infiniti has a dash that any middle-aged person could love - bright and easy-to-read.

I like the Scion displays, they're kind of edgy and feature cool after-market paint jobs. How would you like to roll to the grocery store in this?

We checked out the Ford display, mostly trucks & drab cars, but here's a cool old Mustang that never needs a tune-up:

On to the dream cars that I wouldn't buy, even if I could afford one. Here's a slammin' Audi R8 Spyder:

How about this Lotus, with room for 4:

Here's a "concept" Chevy Corvette. There used to be more concept cars at the auto show, not so much anymore.

Get out and wash your car this weekend!