Postcrossing

I received my first postcard using postcrossing!! If you have never heard of postcrossing then check it out here. If you like to travel, snail mail or connecting with people all over the world then it is for you. I personally love all three so this is great. You set up a profile for yourself and which does not cost anything and then you request address' to send postcards to. You can request up to 5 address' at a time and then when someone recieves a postcasrd the you have sent they registar it which releases one of your 5 spots allowing you to request another address. This goes on and on, I have sent out 9 so far and just recieved my first one the other day from Germany. The only cost is purchasing postcards (or supplies to make your own, I am going to start doing that) and the mailing costs. It costs 94 cents to send a post card anywhere in the world except Canada and Mexico which are less expensive and anywhere in the USA is just 27 cents.

Being sick

Chance has been sick the last couple days. He did not feel well Wednesday night and then he was running a fever and not happy all day Thursday. On Friday he was better but still had a little fever and today he is much better no fever but really whiny. We think the whining is due more to laying around all day Thursday watching TV then it does to him still feeling bad but it could be a little of that too. On Thursday I didn't think he was feeling that bad in the morning he was not running a fever so we set off to take some clothes and things to Bridge House (a local thrift store and treatment center). Chance got sick in the car on the way there so I had to dig the clothes that he is wearing in this photo out of the bag going to charity which is why there are stains on the pants. He definitely did not feel good but he could not be without his cars so this is him pulling them into the living room to keep the cars next to the couch which is where we spent the day laying down and watching way too much TV. He is much better now.

They Speak for Themselves

Behind the Chair

A few days ago I was looking for Chance. He had gone missing. He was out of my sight for just a minute and then he was gone. I walked through the house calling his name and then he popped up from behind the chair. He had crawled up and over and was hiding then he stood up on some decorative pillows that have been "decorating" the space between the chair and the wall for a while now and there he was with a big smile on his face.

Playdate

Sorry I haven't posted in a while it's been close to a week I think anyway I guess that isn't a long time but it seems so when I usually post every other day. We haven't been doing much really just hanging out, going to playdates and doing the usual everyday stuff. Scott has been working at a TV station here in town WWL so that has been great he has been doing sort of an 8am to 5:30p thing, it's as if he has a normal job. He will be in ATL next week but then he will be back to work at WWL for another two weeks. It is great having him around so much. Yesterday we had a storytime playdate at the Library. I had the honor of reading the books this time. Our playgroup has been reading our own books since the ones that they pick to read for official storytime at the library always seem to be too old for our little guys. Today we read "I'll Teach my Dog a Lot of Words" which we had checked out of the library before and I know Chance really likes and "The Train They Call the City of New Orleans" which is just the words to the song by the same name with pictures added. We own this one so I know all the words I figured that would make them easier to read in front of a group. After storytime we went across the street to play in the park. It was very warm here today and I was a little upset I had dressed us in long sleeves. It rained overnight and today it is cooler so we are back to long sleeves again today. We had a Zoo playdate but it was postponed due to the rain till Friday so today so far we have stayed inside painting pictures and playing with cars.

I don't usually Write About...

I don't usually write about the crime here mostly for the sake of our families. No one can deny that crime happens no matter where you are but on the same token we can not deny that crime happens in New Orleans more than it happens in most of the other cities in the country and in some years the world. Yes, we are aware of the crime but for the most part we just go about our daily lives here.
On Saturday night someone we know was murdered. Every time someone dies there is usually a make shift memorial that just springs up at the site of the crime or in front of the persons home. Much like the crosses and wreaths you see on the side of the highway designating the location of a car crash the only difference is these are on sidewalks where you walk by and can actually smell the scent from the candles and flowers and read the sentiments left by the people who are saying goodbye. It is much more powerful than catching a glimpse of a dusty wreath while racing past it on the interstate. Yesterday I took out the crayons and Chance drew a picture for Miss Wendy then we took it to her memorial. He was very interested in the whole process and was very good as we looked at all the flowers, cards and candles people had left. I wrote more about it on Metroblogging which you can find here.

Happy Inauguration Day

Since our Television does not receive any channels Chance and I began watching the inauguration coverage early this morning on my computer, Special thanks to MSNBC to their live streaming coverage. We had a playdate which I planned a while ago when I totally forgot that it would be right when the Inauguration was happening but it turned out to be ok because we went a little early and left just in time to hear most of Obama's speach on NPR. Then we got home and have been watching it still on the computer. It is great because Obama or anyone else this transfer of power is one of the things that makes our country great. Lots of other countries do it too but as a worldwide society we have all come a long way and that deserves recognition. I hope everyone who wanted to watch it was able to and if you didn't lots of it will be up on MSNBC for a while so you can check it out there.

The first picture here is from yesterday when we left the house for the post office and after finding out it was closed due to MLK Day we were redirected aroudn the parade route but jsut two blocks away we came to a parking spot so I pulled in and we got out to watch the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade. I did not have my camera with me then but I took this picture after we returned with Chance's first beads of the season. The second picture is from our playdate today. We went to the mall onthe Westbank which is this great new mall that has been totally redone since Katrina and is always quiet. They have strollers shaped like cars with little steering wheels and everything. They cost $4.00 to rent so that was our playdate today. We rented those strollers and drove around the mall. Chance really liked it, this picture is when we were taking a break from 'driving' and were looking at the fountain.

In the doghouse

While in Florida Deedle lived outside. He had a pretty nice place out between the house and the garage, it is covered from the elements, He had a doghouse you can see in the background with his own big bowl of water (which he usually does not have just witting out because Chance likes to play in it) and another wire cage where he slept at night with a cover over it to keep him warm. Well as you can see Chance liked to climb in the cage during the day while Deedle was out and about. Pretty cute.

Pictures from Florida

These are a few pictures that my Mom took while Chance was staying in Florida with her last week. From everything I am told he had a very good time playing and going to parks and having Grandma and Grammy and Aunt Kristy to play with him. These first two pictures came with a funny story because after he had such a good time playing in this box he was stuck in it and had to have help gettting out. I can imagine him wondering around with the box stuck to his bottom. In the third picture Chance is sitting in the booster seat that my mom has had for him since he was really little. He does not use it any more at least it is not attached to a chair anymore it was just sitting on the floor behind Grandma's table. Chance usually sits in one of the regular chairs that has arms so he does not fall out. On this day however he wanted to relive his babyhood and sat in his old booster seat, he also wanted the tray put on it and so he ate his lunch from there.

Happy Belated Birthday

I want to send out a big Happy Birthday to Scott's Mom. Her birthday was on Wednesday and while I was driving home from Fort Myers I thought about making a post wishing her Happy Birthday but when I got home I got caught up in getting Chance to bed and things that I completely forgot. I made this avatar for her and want to wish her a very happy birthday even though it is a little belated. We love you and hope your day was the best it could be.

Congratulations to Peter and Chellee they just had a little boy, Javan Dee Taylor. We love you guys and are glad you are all doing well.

we made it home Chance is in bed and I am here and Scott's plane should be touching down anytime. His flight getting in is late and with us driving all the way from Fort Myers today he has to take a taxi to get home but he shoul dbe here by 11pm. I will post more detail soon, after I get some sleep. I know I was just on vacation but after driving 12 hours on Sat/Sun and then driving 12 hours today I need some more sleep again.

photo used in story

One of the photos I took while on vacation in Montreal is being used in a news story by NowPublic.com. They requested to use it after I posted it on my flickr account. You can see the story here. Here is the picture too, it is really not one of my best pictures but whatever.

Going Home

I am on my way back to New Orleans today. Scott is staying on until Wednesday so he drove me to Burlington, VT today and now I am at JFK where I have a three hour layover. Since my plane does not begin boarding for another 2 hours and they have free wi-fi I thought I would make an update. Friday I spent most of the day touring the city on the Metro to get back to places I had seen through the week that would be good for shopping. I did not have the money or the want to do much shopping but I wanted to get a few special things for people back home so I went all over exploring the quirky areas of town to get a few good things. Also, on Friday I went back to the library and took their self-guided audio tour. It was free and if you love books or libraries it was well worth the time. The Quebec National Archives has the largest collection of French books in the french speaking world and in the 1970's a law was passed that every time published in Quebec had to be giving in douplicate for free to this library so they could have one copy to circulate and one to archive. It has 6 floors with one dedicated entirly to children. If we lived here I would definately have a card to this library. The stairs down to the Children's floor are shorter for shorter legs with a lower handrail and they have viewing areas where children and watch educational children's movies (picture # 1). It was pretty cool. Picture # 2 is of a display that as far as I could tell is for the French Incredible Hulk or something similer.

Wondering around today

Today I got a day pass to the Metro and went all over. This first picture is some art in a Metro station. The Metro here is much easy to understand than the Subway in New York. It is very simple by comparison, the hard part is knowing which direction to walk once you get up on the street level again. Plus there are lots of under ground tunnels with shops in them that go on for blocks which is nice but it took me a while to learn I could use them to get out of the cold. First I went to the library which doesn't sound that interesting to many people but it is the Quebec National Archives it is huge and wonderful and they have their own tour of the library which I might take tomorrow. Then I walked up and down one of the little streets even though it was freezing outside, It was so pretty outside I couldn't bear to hide indoors. The second picture is of some staircases that I took while walking around. These type of staircases are unique to the Montreal area. I am not sure of their history but I have heard that they were made illegal for a while because people thought they were ugly but now they are legal again. I think they are pretty cool looking myself and the black metal reminds me of New Orleans. Then after walking around for a while I made my way over to the Redpath Museum which is a free museum associated with McGill University. It was very nice. Actually after seeing it they could easily charge for visitors to see their collection. It was three stories each one filled with fossils and other items. the third picture is 'Sara' a Triceratops skull. I love dinosaurs so I had a wonderful time looking through the collection at this museum. It was nice having the time to look through everything. I saw lots of "do not touch" items Chance would love to grab, a museum like this is a few years away for him yet but hopefully he will enjoy them then. The snow was off and on all day, it was not nice when I had to walk into the wind but it was well worth it, getting to see all of these cool things today. I have never been out in snow like this before. I have played in it when I was little but never actually walking to get somewhere. It is a whole new experience for me but I am having a good time. The last picture is a bus stop on the same block as our hotel.

Snow

There is snow falling it is supposed to fall all day and into tomorrow. Leaving the Montreal area with 20 centimeters of snow which is about 7.8 inches. Scott went off to work today, he says where the company is located is sort of out of the way in an industrial area that is an up and coming artsy area but that it does not look like a place where snow plows go through regularly so hopefully he can get out to make it back to the hotel tonight. It is supposed to be 22 degrees today and tomorrow then drop off to 9 degrees on Friday, that's Fahrenheit by the way. As I look out the window the snow is really starting to come down now much more determined than the fluffy flakes that were falling when I was down stairs eating breakfast. I still haven't decided if I am going to brave the elements or not. I am not sure if there is anywhere that I wanted to go that is worth getting out in this weather. There is a Metro station just next door so I could go a lot of places. If I wanted I could just ride the Metro around town. There are many choices, I just have to make one. For now I am hanging out in the hotel drinking my coffee.

Santas

check out the Santas


Right Here.

Notre- Dame Basilica

I can't even begin to bring this location justice. I doubt I can put into words the way you feel when you walk into the Notre-Dame Basilica. Or at least the way I felt. I gave my recommended 5.00$ donation, I chatted for a minute with the people tending the door. They were very nice and very interested in New Orleans and what I thought about Montreal both places having a French History seemed to give us a common ground and I was a bit sad I do not know more about the French history in New Orleans.
The basilica is beautiful beyond words. It was built in 1829 on a site that had held mass since 1642. They now hold mass twice every day and four times on Sunday. Since I did not have anywhere to go or any pressing time limits I sat down in a pew for a while. Reading the pamphlet they gave me at the door, listening to the sounds of the old building and watching the people. Not a single one of my pictures represent the place accurately in any way. My eyes had tears in them as I walked around looking at all the painting and carvings. If a church is supposed to be a temple to honor God he could not be disappointed with this one. It seems as though each inch of wall space that is not holding a piece of art is covered in ornately carved wood. Windows of stained glass fill the the space with a soft light adding all the more to the ambiance. Buildings like this hold something wonderful that I can not explain. I am very glad I had the opportunity to spend time here. Picture #1 - the Altar and front of the basilica from the pew where I sat, #2 - confessionals and altar in the background, #3 - organ in the Chapel of Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur (a second chapel behind the first) and #4 - a wood carved statue of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, founder of the Congregation of Notre-Dame.
I will be posting all the pictures I took on Flickr but I suggest you go to the Basilica's website for a better look and more information.

In Montreal

I arrived in Burlington, VT yesterday without any problems. Scott was there to pick me up about an hour later since he had to work Monday. I had a good time wondering around the airport (it is very small) and calling my Mom to check on Chance (who is doing wonderful) for want may be the last time this week. Since I won't be using my cell phone in Canada as it will cost many many dollars (America or Canadian either way) to make calls on it from here. We drove through the countryside. It was very pretty. then we crossed the boarder and drove through the countryside some more. It is about two hours from Burlington to Montreal. Everything is so stark because of the season. Usually I think of stark as a bad thing but this is beautiful full. There is a light snow over everything, the leaves have fallen off of the trees long ago leaving just the tree itself nothing more or extra to get in the way. I am sure if you live here this is one of those things that you don't notice after a while but to me it really is pretty. Our hotel is in a perfect location right between downtown and Old Montreal which is a lot like the French Quarter. So, it is easy for Scott to get the car out and drive to work which isn't too far away and it is easy for me to walk all through town. Also we are right on one of the Metro lines so I can get to a lot of places that way too. It isn't a really long complicated line like the subways in New York either so I am not too scared about getting lost. Also all the walking around in New Orleans has really helped me walking here because I look for landmarks more than I used to, also everything doesn't look the same the way it did to me when I first moved to New Orleans. I am also posting on the Montreal metroblogging site while I am here so you can check that out too. Picture # 1 - Barn in Vermont, #2 - Canadian boarder, # 3 - Barn in Canada, # 4 - Montreal skyline.

Montreal here we come....oh wait.

On Friday we got up bright and early. Packed everyone into the car and took off toward Fort Myers. We made only a couple stops to let Chance and Deedle run around and let us all stretch our legs. Then it was back in the car. Since we left so early we were at my Mom's house with time left to play and get ready for bed on time. It was like Christmas all over again fro Chance. One of Mom's friends who has a 4 year old and a 3 year old had visited that day and brought with her a whole SUV full of toys that her little ones don't play with any more. When we arrived the living room was full of cars big and small, riding toys and a parking garage. He took right to the parking garage and didn't need any help figuring out that the cars driving in it. I didn't take any pictures of that but I am sure Mom will get plenty of pictures over the week that we are gone. Saturday morning Scott and I got up had a bite to eat and then headed out back toward New Orleans. Chance was a very good boy and did not cry at all when we left.

Now we will get the the store that goes with the pictures. About 30 minutes after we left the temperature light came on in the Mini first yellow then turning red we immediately pulled over. The coolant reservoir was almost empty so we added water and called the closest Mini dealer which is in Orlando they told us we can try to get it home just stop and add water when the light comes on. So off we went, the first time we made it 200 miles before the light came on, the next time 100 miles and the next time we called the tow truck. Fortunately Mini Coopers come with a great AAA roadside assistance program so they towed if for free, unfortunately they will only tow it to the closest Mini dealership which by that time was in Jacksonville, Florida but fortunately again because that is over 100 miles from our house they will tow it all the way back to New Orleans for free after the repairs are done. So it all works out in the end. They will also reimburse us for any food, lodging, gas and car rental incurred by the breakdown which is awesome. We were able to get a rental car using Scott's free rental days that he has racked up by renting cars for work. The rental car we got was a Toyota FJ Cruiser. I always thought those things looked 'cute' from the outside but let me tell you going from driving a Mini to one of those was crazy. It is HUGE!! I mean it is large just for the sake of being large my feet didn't even touch the floor under the dash and I am 5'8''. I am glad we got to drive one it was fun but I wouldn't want one for my own.

Scott flew out this morning and arrived in Montreal safe and sound. Here is a picture he just sent to me from his Iphone. It looks nice. I can't wait to meet up with him tomorrow. I fly out early in the morning so I have to get to bed and up early at 3am. I will write more to you all as soon as I can.