The Madison In.-Milton Ky. Bridge over the Ohio River and taken from the Madison riverfront (Jefferson County, IN). When my grandma was 10 years old, her mother brought her, and her siblings to Madison to see the bridge opened and cross it the first time.
In this picture from 1929, the same year the bridge opened, in front of their Vevay, IN (Switzerland County, IN) home, is from left to right, My grandma, Mary Alice age 10, Her mother, Martha, and my Aunt Lucille, age 7. It's not apparent in the picture, but my grandma and her mother have dark brown hair, and Aunt Lucille has bright red curls.)
There was only a ferry at her small town near Madison and they'd never been over such a bridge before. It has two ten-feet lanes and no shoulder or walkway but at the time it was big enough. They crossed the bridge to Milton (Trimble County, KY) and then drove east on the Kentucky side and took the ferry back to their home in downtown Vevay, IN.
My grandma just celebrated her 90th birthday and now the bridge needs to be replaced. It is old enough to be considered a historic landmark and is in danger of being condemned and closed for use in the next few years. People want a new one, in a different location, but the most economical plan appears to be building a new superstructure on the old piers. Despite the certainty of Kentucky officials and the pretty website, this is not a plan without opposition. Since the bridge is primarily owned by Kentucky, and with the current economy and their state budget difficulties the cheapest option, replacing the superstructure only with federal stimulus grant money, seems to be a foregone conclusion.
(My mom and grandma on Mother's Day 07. I don't have any pictures of her 90th birthday fete on my computer, because I got to use my parents expensive camera for that )
I do wonder how 80 year old piers will be safe to build on and then drive on for another 80 years. At 26 I should see the new bridge opened, but I doubt I'll be here to see it close as my Grandma is with the current one. ~muse
I have 2.5 tattoos and this post is about the .5th tattoo I recently got. I got my first tattoo at 19 on a bit of a whim with one of my best friends at the time. We each got 3 stars on on the top of one of our feet. My parents weren't thrilled and everyone was shocked, because all my life I have been 'the good one,' in our family. I don't think tattoos are good or bad, but they do still carry a certain connotation with some people and I understand that.
I wasn't living at home and was doing well in school so there was very little backlash. My sisters at 16 and 11 thought I was the coolest thing ever after that. When they got older of course they wanted tattoos also. It became part of a tradition to get them together. My father still holds me responsible for the tattoos 3 of my sisters have gotten since then (8) and especially the ones we got together (7 including mine) and those that I paid for as gifts for them (4). I won't even mention the piercings that are apparently also my responsibility by default as well. Did I mention my Dad is a Pastor? Yeah. Fun.
That first tattoo is the one I had redone and added onto recently. It is also the one that my youngest one of my sisters got a spiced up version of. This tattoo event occurred in mid-August, just before she moved to college and a few months after she turned 18 and was for all of us to honor her 18th birthday.
Lyd/batgirl is the closest to my girl I'll have without having any of my own. She's 8 years younger than I am and I've spent a lot of time over the years taking care of her, comforting her, protecting her, spoiling her, taking her anywhere I went or anywhere she needed to go and so on and so forth. Lydia knew what she wanted to get before she was 18 and able to do so.
Despite their current popularity, I got stars because I'm a poet and a dreamer and to me they represent that search for words of the higher, the beautiful, the transcendent. Not to flatter myself but my guess is my sisters get them because of me. I'm used to being emulated by now and I try to be worth emulating because I love them so much. At least I didn't get something spelled wrong or ugly that they would follow in
The four of us got our tattoos together one evening in a nearby town:
Rachel got an old tattoo we had gotten together redone and added to. When she was a freshman at IU for her 19th birthday we got tattoos around our heel bones on our lower ankles. She got stars like on the top of my foot and I got some twinkly type stars.
Lydia got the aforementioned stars tattoo.
I got the previously stated star tattoo redone.
Andi who is always very much her own individual self, got a symbol from Ghana which means 'learn from the past.' At least that's what I hope it actually means because that's what it means to her and she's got it forever now
I have uploaded an album that goes through most of the process of getting the tattoos. If you're interested in seeing more look here.
I am interested in the opinions of all you good people in operaland. This is an easy one. Nothing political or controversial today. Just pictures.
I put this picture on my 365 album the other day because my younger sister Lydia, (also affectionately known as batgirl) liked it best. She said she liked it best because she thought it was softer and prettier.
I kind of like this one better. I like the way the colors look together. I also like the way the color shows the age of my grandma's jewelry box. It is somewhere around 60 years old.
I'm just wondering which one all you opera people will like better. Do you have an opinion on the matter? If so, I'd love to hear it. Err, well actually I'll be reading it, but you know.
Allan's post, reminded me of a funny video Marcus showed me that's a little bit similar. The similarity is that both videos involve music, dancing and manly nakedness. Just to warn you, this video has a split second of actual manly neked-ness, but you can't really see it. There is no protection of tightie-whities here, only Crisp Bread; But it is silly and not pron, I promise. It's from the show Sweden's Got Talent. Know yourself and only click play if you want to. Don't be offended if you don't want to be.
muse
ETA-I just watched again and I totally forgot there is some bootick manly nekedness at the end. Just so you know. Informed consent and all that.
For some time I wanted to join 365 Photos, but I never did it. I didn't think I would be able to keep up with taking pictures and posting them for every day. I didn't think I could do it, so I didn't try. Well, I decided to try. I'm really glad I am because I really enjoy it. It helps me to look around and not be so trapped in my head. It helps me to focus outward and not so much on myself. It helps me to look for the beautiful things around me instead of only seeing darkness everywhere. It's only been 5 days, so I still don't know that I'm not going to punk out yet. I am full of intent to carry through, with this but with my life, school, and moving forward. I supppose it's one of Henry Ford's, "Whether You Think You Can or Can't, You're Right," type of things. I think that I can. This is a picture that didn't get posted in the album form my very first day of trying. I didn't even know that I could direct the focus of the camera myself and poor Lily lost focus to the flowers. I'm such a point and clicker My heartfelt reccomendation is that anyone interested make a go at it, You never know until you try. I like looking for photos as I go through the days. I like seeing beauty. You might too.
muse
PS my album is here, supposing you want to peruse my 5 whole days of pictures
A site about an alternative for Louisville's waterfront other than a major highway careening through and prohibiting growth. Restoration of the Riverfront!
)
~muse
Just so you know. Informed consent and all that.
WIDGETIZE