Thoughts -- both sad & proud

You are loved, both near & far. Then & always...

Bits from The Tribune Democrat article, July 3:

Philip Buchan of Southmont said other military personnel described his brother as, “The best of the best.” . . . “He loved his family tremendously,” Philip Buchan said, adding that his brother was a good father, husband, brother and son. . . . He said his sibling exemplified humility and had a genuine concern for the safety of everyone under his command.

More from The Washington Post article, August 19:

In the end, the battle of Donkey Island left 11 U.S. troops wounded and two dead, while an estimated 32 insurgents were killed. The heavy fighting between the Americans and the al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgents had deep repercussions across Ramadi.

Iraqi police officers close to Buchan "lost it" when they heard of his death, Rosa said. "I love Sergeant Buchan. When he died, all of the police cried," Col. Jabbar Hamid Ajaj said in his Ramadi office, plastered with posters he had made featuring Buchan.

It's comforting to know how the people he helped felt about him...

Serenity 2

Ok people, do your part...

The collector's edition of Serenity comes out tomorrow (8/21/07). According to Joss Whedon, (paraphrasing here) the hope of a second movie lies on the sales of this DVD.

According to another location: The Serenity actors signed on for the option to do a trilogy of movies, and those contracts expire in September, 2007. Universal will likely be making a final decision about doing a sequel before those contracts expire, probably based in part on the sales of the new Serenity Collectors Edition DVD.

I can't explain how wonderful the Firefly series & Serenity DVD are. If you've never seen the show, borrow someone's (mine if you're local). Or go out & purchase the DVDs (I looked recently on Overstock & they're cheap now, WAY cheaper than when I bought them). The series got canceled before it's time & Joss couldn't let the story end like that. The movie is based upon a season's worth of character development & storyline -- how awesome is he. But he's up for more, how about you?





Check out all the fun Browncoat goodies I found...

Watch the DVDs & find out what they mean!

In case you need more persuasion... 25 reasons why you should buy it.

From the first release:

Video Warehouse

Does anybody have a Video Warehouse rental store near them?

? ?? ??? ?? ? ?? ??? ?? ?

This is not a trick question. I have a gift card with $4.59 on it. Our store closed down a little while ago (don't exactly know when...) & I don't want to just trash the card.

If anybody out there has one near them, I'll mail you the gift card.

It would be at least one free rental for you. (Possibly two depending on what you get...)

Thanks Suzer!

Through one of my Blogger friends, I've come across a really (REALLY) cool add on. Music!!! Even better, she gave us directions: DIY Thanks so much. I have a feeling I'll be searching often. With that, I figure I should limit myself now. (I don't want to overwhelm you or anything.) I happen to come across the Dandy Warhols during my searching & had to add it. It's not quite as fast paced as the theme song I'm used to, but... I put it on anyway.

Summing up my trip

Ok, so my posts have been rather scattered. Not exactly in the order things occurred. Partly the way my mind is going, & trying to catch up now that the computer is running properly. So to help straighten things out, I'll use links for my trip, in the proper order. :)

Monday, August 6th: Traveling There
-I posted that evening, so you can just go to that blurb (why repeat myself?).

Tuesday, August 7th: Day 1
-IHOP... Botanical Gardens... Ansel Adams exhibit (talked about in the blurb above). Here are pictures from the Gardens, both indoors & outside.
-After our adventures we returned to the house (when I posted) for a bit. For dinner we were going to go to the County Fair, but it was closed due to the rain. We ended up at Panera Bread instead. Good food, but it started out disorganized & stressful.

Wednesday, August 8th: Day 2
-We went to the Lake House Cafe for a wonderful breakfast -- a spinach & feta omelet, with a tomato salad, fruit & toast! YUMMY! Plus it had a lovely view looking out at the water. I'd definitely go back & recommend you to go if you're in the area of the Lake House Condominiums (where it's at).
-Then we were off to the Holden Arboretum. I didn't walk around with the map, so I really don't know what areas were which (the Botanical Gardens were a bit more obvious) but the pictures are lovely nonetheless. When we took breaks inside to cool off we visited the gift shop & enjoyed the Whiskey Painters of America display. Their history is really quite interesting & amusing. But if you'd rather not check out the site, here are some of the rules: The watercolor must not exceed 4x5 inches in size & the brush must be dipped into some form of liquor & subsequently sipped. Um, yum?
-That evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Olive Garden. A little after arriving home my mom & I decided to go to a local garden center. All I can say is WOW! & that I needed more time there. Petitti's is really big & has some wonderful things. I walked away with one thing -- a stepable plant, Mother of Thyme.

Thursday, August 9th: Traveling Here
After my mom went to work, I got ready, said goodbye to Michael, & headed home. Glad to get some cheaper gas there. (Not the cheapest that I saw during our travels, $2.58, but that was back at Petitti's & entirely out of the way... I'll take $2.69 though, way better than $2.85 I paid here last week!) So just one stop & 210 miles later I found myself safely at home.

Holden Arboretum

Our lovely, but hot, day at the Arboretum...

...some time to reflect...
I found a bat house!
(I still need to post my bat house findings, later...)
Train Heaven
Can anyone identify the purple bean like plant on the right?
The little engine that could... runaway backward.
Goodbye happy froggie friends!

Pollination in Progress...

Botanical Gardens Pt. 2

When the rain took a rest we made our way outside. Still taking the provided umbrellas, just in case. It's good we did, because it did rain upon us a few times. But that didn't stop me from taking pictures! (You'll see it falling in at least one picture.) It really was quite lovely, rain & all.

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Waterlilies (you can manipulate them with your mouse)

Medusa
Part of the "Japanese" Garden

Part of the "Children's" Garden
Part of the "Herb" Garden

Part of the "Theme" Garden

My environmentally conscious find...