visit with mom :)
May. 23rd, 2011 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
boogieshoesso, mom was in the house this weekend. she left today, shortly after i let for work, and i am sad to see her go, but glad she's leaving before we graduate to true spats.
thursday evening and friday lunch was venison chili and bread. i had about half a crockpot when mom came in and i think i have maybe a couple bowls of chili left.
i showed off the CHAIR OF DOOM, which she said she was impressed by. i'd planned a couple quiet evenings in, talking to her while i finished up one sewing project and started on another. yeah, that didn't happen, lol. did get some stitching done on 1 of 3 baby bibs i've got on my plate...
mom likes to do things, so we thought on Friday we might see a production of To Kill A Mockingbird - but it was sold out, and a couple hours drive time there and back besides, so we saw 'THOR' instead. actual plotline, good CGI, interesting metaphysical theory. probably, i'll get it on DVD. mom said it was better than she thought it would be. she's still trying to convince me to see chick flick movies... and i'm still highly resistant.
after the matinee, we went to the open-air mall in Fairhope. i'm not really a fan of strip malls, but this thing is set up *as a mall*, just walking between stores is done outside. they have a small stage and a fountain you can play in, which makes it kind of neat. i was looking for bedsheets - mine have a rip in them and need to be replaced - but couldn't find ones i liked. i'll be doing some shopping on teh internetz over the coming days to see if i can find something reasonable.
saturday, I dropped off my car in the morning at Goodyear to get the timing belt fixed, and we went to Bellingrath Gardens and Home. we did a full package, which included a guided tour of the house, a 45minute river cruise, during which we learned some awesome history, and all the garden time we wanted. they have some neat stuff there, although it was a little late for the azaleas to be in full glory.
on the river cruise, we learned that Mobile was named after the Mobilia (sp?) Indians, a tribe that made canoes by burning the shapes out of felled cypress and traded so often and extensively that their language became a trade language for most of the NA tribes. they also kicked Conquistador ASS - twice. when the French came along, the tribe had been decimated by European diseases and the French figured it was only a matter of time before it died out completely - but they had an extensive knowledge of the terrain and waterways that couldn't be wasted. So the French decided on the total immersion route, and several explorers basically became part of the tribe, wearing NA-style clothes, fighting with the Mobilia in wars, even marrying Mobilia women (in addition to their wives back home!). the tribe also realized they were dying out, and wanted to leave their lands and knowledge to someone whom they trusted to take care of things, and they knew it was important to the french to find a place to build that was safe from the tidewaters and the rains. they showed the french the spot Mobile is built on, saying it had never flooded, neglecting to mention that they meant 'in at least 4500 years'. apparently, Mobile still has never flooded, even with all the rains, random hurricanes, and other things. in turn, the french wanted to honor their NA allies, so named their new port/trading city 'Mobile', after the tribe.
not sure how much of that story was altered for tourists, but it's pretty cool. europeans of various flavors made several mistakes in dealing with the NA tribes, but realizing some things aren't going to change, i tend to prefer the French model of exploring and settling than, say, the Conquistador model... those Spaniards, well let's just say i can't really describe them in a manner that's safe for work...
the home was beautiful. and overwrought, and thoroughly awesome. i took notes for decorating my own castle, heh. mr bellingrath was the first coca-cola bottler in the Mobile area. the home was built in the 1930s because his doctor advised him to reduce stress. so he built a fishing shack first, then the house for him and his wife in their retirement. his wife loved to garden, and he wanted to protect the gardens, so he 1) had a bunch of surrounding acreage that he left wild in order to protect the gardens and 2) decided to turn the estate into park after he died. three colleges and a fair number of churches benefit from the park proceeds, and the gardens are a work in progress. not just the maintenance, but they're doing new things, too. the Asian gardens are looking like they need a few years to be complete and completely themed together, but they'll be nice when they're done.
neither mr or mrs bellingrath came from money. they worked hard to attain their fortune (she was his secretary for a while before they married). so they often did things like buying furniture and never picking it up, because they knew the furniture sellers were down on their luck and needed the money. basically, they were good peeps who never forgot their roots.
we were literally 5 min away from home when Goodyear called - car was done and nothing extra needed to be added. so we picked up the car and went to Logan's steakhouse. yum yum.
sunday was a bit on the slow side in the morning. about 10.30 i went out food shopping and after we came back and had lunch, we went off to Dauphin Island, for some beach time. i'm not a beach person, but mom loves it. the walking around saturday had pretty well killed my knee, so i was like 'i'm gonna set up a chair, and you can do whatever you want'. we hung out for a couple hours, and mom was disappointed there weren't any tourist-shop areas. i wasn't surprised. Mobile isn't tourist-oriented in general. just not a whole lot of there, there. it's not bad, but it's very much a large-sized country town, focused on work (port city stuff, and a growing aerospace/ manufacturing industry), and living. there are cool things here - cirque de soleil, a zoo, botanical gardens, but there's no 'old downtown', or 'antique shopping area'. in fact, saturdays and sundays, at the junction of Airport and I-65, there's supposed to be an antique/ junk shop fair, every saturday. i've never actually seen this materialize, and i live right there.
sunday night dinner was buff meat marinaded in a raspberry chipotle sauce and fresh vegetables grilled on my george foreman grill. delicious. we pretty much demolished the meat, since i'd only brought down about a pound of the stuff.
i think Dad is coming in a couple months, and i'm just as excited about having him come see me. maybe this time, i'll actually get the bathrooms done and the weeds pulled. (probably, i should just give in and round-up them to death.)
-bs, happy
thursday evening and friday lunch was venison chili and bread. i had about half a crockpot when mom came in and i think i have maybe a couple bowls of chili left.
i showed off the CHAIR OF DOOM, which she said she was impressed by. i'd planned a couple quiet evenings in, talking to her while i finished up one sewing project and started on another. yeah, that didn't happen, lol. did get some stitching done on 1 of 3 baby bibs i've got on my plate...
mom likes to do things, so we thought on Friday we might see a production of To Kill A Mockingbird - but it was sold out, and a couple hours drive time there and back besides, so we saw 'THOR' instead. actual plotline, good CGI, interesting metaphysical theory. probably, i'll get it on DVD. mom said it was better than she thought it would be. she's still trying to convince me to see chick flick movies... and i'm still highly resistant.
after the matinee, we went to the open-air mall in Fairhope. i'm not really a fan of strip malls, but this thing is set up *as a mall*, just walking between stores is done outside. they have a small stage and a fountain you can play in, which makes it kind of neat. i was looking for bedsheets - mine have a rip in them and need to be replaced - but couldn't find ones i liked. i'll be doing some shopping on teh internetz over the coming days to see if i can find something reasonable.
saturday, I dropped off my car in the morning at Goodyear to get the timing belt fixed, and we went to Bellingrath Gardens and Home. we did a full package, which included a guided tour of the house, a 45minute river cruise, during which we learned some awesome history, and all the garden time we wanted. they have some neat stuff there, although it was a little late for the azaleas to be in full glory.
on the river cruise, we learned that Mobile was named after the Mobilia (sp?) Indians, a tribe that made canoes by burning the shapes out of felled cypress and traded so often and extensively that their language became a trade language for most of the NA tribes. they also kicked Conquistador ASS - twice. when the French came along, the tribe had been decimated by European diseases and the French figured it was only a matter of time before it died out completely - but they had an extensive knowledge of the terrain and waterways that couldn't be wasted. So the French decided on the total immersion route, and several explorers basically became part of the tribe, wearing NA-style clothes, fighting with the Mobilia in wars, even marrying Mobilia women (in addition to their wives back home!). the tribe also realized they were dying out, and wanted to leave their lands and knowledge to someone whom they trusted to take care of things, and they knew it was important to the french to find a place to build that was safe from the tidewaters and the rains. they showed the french the spot Mobile is built on, saying it had never flooded, neglecting to mention that they meant 'in at least 4500 years'. apparently, Mobile still has never flooded, even with all the rains, random hurricanes, and other things. in turn, the french wanted to honor their NA allies, so named their new port/trading city 'Mobile', after the tribe.
not sure how much of that story was altered for tourists, but it's pretty cool. europeans of various flavors made several mistakes in dealing with the NA tribes, but realizing some things aren't going to change, i tend to prefer the French model of exploring and settling than, say, the Conquistador model... those Spaniards, well let's just say i can't really describe them in a manner that's safe for work...
the home was beautiful. and overwrought, and thoroughly awesome. i took notes for decorating my own castle, heh. mr bellingrath was the first coca-cola bottler in the Mobile area. the home was built in the 1930s because his doctor advised him to reduce stress. so he built a fishing shack first, then the house for him and his wife in their retirement. his wife loved to garden, and he wanted to protect the gardens, so he 1) had a bunch of surrounding acreage that he left wild in order to protect the gardens and 2) decided to turn the estate into park after he died. three colleges and a fair number of churches benefit from the park proceeds, and the gardens are a work in progress. not just the maintenance, but they're doing new things, too. the Asian gardens are looking like they need a few years to be complete and completely themed together, but they'll be nice when they're done.
neither mr or mrs bellingrath came from money. they worked hard to attain their fortune (she was his secretary for a while before they married). so they often did things like buying furniture and never picking it up, because they knew the furniture sellers were down on their luck and needed the money. basically, they were good peeps who never forgot their roots.
we were literally 5 min away from home when Goodyear called - car was done and nothing extra needed to be added. so we picked up the car and went to Logan's steakhouse. yum yum.
sunday was a bit on the slow side in the morning. about 10.30 i went out food shopping and after we came back and had lunch, we went off to Dauphin Island, for some beach time. i'm not a beach person, but mom loves it. the walking around saturday had pretty well killed my knee, so i was like 'i'm gonna set up a chair, and you can do whatever you want'. we hung out for a couple hours, and mom was disappointed there weren't any tourist-shop areas. i wasn't surprised. Mobile isn't tourist-oriented in general. just not a whole lot of there, there. it's not bad, but it's very much a large-sized country town, focused on work (port city stuff, and a growing aerospace/ manufacturing industry), and living. there are cool things here - cirque de soleil, a zoo, botanical gardens, but there's no 'old downtown', or 'antique shopping area'. in fact, saturdays and sundays, at the junction of Airport and I-65, there's supposed to be an antique/ junk shop fair, every saturday. i've never actually seen this materialize, and i live right there.
sunday night dinner was buff meat marinaded in a raspberry chipotle sauce and fresh vegetables grilled on my george foreman grill. delicious. we pretty much demolished the meat, since i'd only brought down about a pound of the stuff.
i think Dad is coming in a couple months, and i'm just as excited about having him come see me. maybe this time, i'll actually get the bathrooms done and the weeds pulled. (probably, i should just give in and round-up them to death.)
-bs, happy
