Friday Smiles 313: More Civil War (war between the states) at the World History Museum

I'm sure you can tell, I'm here for Annie's Friday Smiles.   I apologize for missing last Friday, but I had no way of linking, or even creating a post, due to the fact I was once again without internet.  I am not very happy with the photos I took at the Museum of World Treasures.  Most are not all that good.   There were so many people there, and it was so disheartening to try to work around them, while trying to keep out of reflections from glass or plexiglass.  I'll once again begin with a few funnies I found when cleaning out my office last year.

These are actual stories from travel agents:

I had someone ask for an aisle seat on the airplane so that their hair wouldn’t get messed up by being near the window. 

A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost information, she quipped, “Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?”

I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information when she interrupted me with “I’m not trying to make you look stupid, but Cape Town is in Massachusetts.” Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, “Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa.” Her response was “click”.

A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state.”

I got a call from a man who asked, “Is it possible to see England from Canada?” I said, “No.” He said, “But they look so close on the map.”

Another man called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had a 1-hour lay over in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, “I heard Dallas was a big airport, and I need a car to drive between the gates to save time.”

A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that!

A woman called and asked, “Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to who?” I said, “No, why do you ask?” She replied, “Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said FAT, and I’m overweight, is there any connection?” After putting her on hold for a minute while “I looked into it,” (I was actually laughing) I came back and explained that the city code for Fresno is FAT, and that the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

I just got off the phone with a man who asked, “How do I know which plane to get on?” I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, “I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these darn planes have numbers on them.

A woman called and said, “I need to fly to Pepsi-cola on one of those computer planes.” I asked if she meant to fly to Pensacola on a commuter plane. She said, “Yeah, whatever.”

A businessman called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. “Oh no I don’t, I’ve been to China many times and never had to have one of those.” I double-checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, “Look, I’ve been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express.”

A woman called to make reservations. “I want to go from Chicago to Hippopotamus, New York.” The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the agent asked, “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?” “Yes, what flights do you have?” replied the customer. After some searching, the agent came back with, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ve looked up every airport code in the country and can’t find a Hippopotamus anywhere.” The customer retorted, “Oh don’t be silly. everyone knows where it is. Check your map!” The agent scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo, do you?” “That’s it! I knew it was a big animal!”

Now for a few photos, still in the Civil War area.  Too bad everything is behind glass and lighting interferes with the images.  You will also be able to see how many people were there that day, too.  To say it was a zoo was like calling the Queen Mary a rowboat.

I will let you peruse these photos at your own discretion.  I believe Annie may be interested in the uniforms and some of your husbands may like the guns.

Sea faring paraphernalia from the Civil War.

I hope you found something of interest in the Civil War area.  Next time we will visit a different area of the museum's second floor.

As always, I am grateful for your continued visits.  Now let's visit Annie's Friday Smiles, where it never hurts to begin the weekend with a big smile, just like Annie's. Feel free to join in with a post of your own, too.

Meet me in St. Louie, Louie

Today I'm again joining Jo from Let's Art Journal who is our host this month at Art Journal Journey with her Hello Springtime theme.  I'm also joining Moo-Mania and More with their Colo(u)rful theme.  In addition to that, I'm joining Try it on Tuesday with their Say it with Flowers theme.

It's definitely springtime at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO (Missouri, the state just east of Kansas in the U.S.).

According to Moo-Mania and More, they want to see colo(u)r in our entries with hardly any or no white areas.  I assure you, the arch is silver, made of brushed steel, and the clouds are the only white in this entry.

I may be stretching Try it on Tuesday's theme, but these are definitely flowering trees.  They even make a statement! 

The paper doll stands on washi tape (both the tape and the doll are by Tim Holtz).

I took a bit of license on this song.  The second line is actually "meet me at the fair."  This sentiment reads:

Meet me in St. Louie, Louie.
Meet me at the Arch.

The arch grounds look NOTHING like the last time I was there.  That doesn't surprise me, though, since I haven't been to the arch since the mid-1990s.

I began to wonder when all these flowering trees were planted.

Nothing like the internet to help fill in the blanks.

For this page, I began by printing a music score I found in my stash.  I'm not sure if it came from the Graphics Fairy or the New York Public Library.  I added it to my Challenges altered book using very strong double sided tape.  I did the same with the image I found in a magazine.  I used the same tape to adhere the image. When I laid the book completely flat, the pink paper broke at the center of the book.  I used the flower I created from punches to hide the page number and reinforce the flower theme.

Now I digress.  Years ago, I traveled to New York to see the reopening of the Statue of Liberty.  I was there on day four of the reopening.  I was young and dumb, and got sucked into Lee Iaccoca's promises, since I thought it was a good cause to repair the Statue.  When I got home, people asked what I thought of the Statue of Liberty.  I told them how disappointed I was.  It was NOTHING like the Arch, which I had already visited several times.

First, when you visit the Arch, you may take as much time as you like to take photos, appreciate the beauty of both the river and the city of St. Louis from high above.  Even though I'm frightened of heights, this didn't frighten me, and it was exhilarating.  For the Arch, you take a tram to the top and stay as long as you like.  There are viewing areas/windows that allow you to see from both sides.

When I visited the Statue of Liberty, I climbed the 354 steps, many of them tight.  I was in excellent physical health, but many people would not have made it.  My friend Sally wouldn't have even fit in the tight 19 inch staircase which winds to the top of the crown.  Back then, they allowed people who wanted to climb to the top to do so.  Now they only allow a limited number per day to climb to the crown.  Once up top, we were forced to keep moving.  I only had a brief time to take a few photos from the viewing windows and had to move on.  Such a disappointment.  It also wasn't as high (tall) as I anticipated it would be, either.  Certainly not like the Arch, which spoiled me for views and beauty.

While at the arch, you learn how it was created.  Much of the final work had to be done at night or early morning, since once the sun heated the arch, it distorted the two legs (until they were assembled, that is).

Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, as seen from the top of the Gateway arch. Compliments of Wikipedia.

The Arch grounds were completely revamped beginning in 2015.  This and all following photos are from the St. Louis Dispatch, the city's main newspaper.

Back in the 80s, the City had concerts on the lawn in front of the Arch every July 4th.  I saw famous people like Elton John, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Willie Nelson, and others.  There were up to 850,000 people in attendance at some of the concerts.  It was summer and humid, but if it rained, the ground, which was basically fill dirt, turned to mud.  Believe me, I know.

Apparently that isn't the case anymore.  Now the project has brought in tons and tons of topsoil and planted nearly 4200 London Plane trees.  This is no longer a St. Louis National Expansion Memorial, because in 2018, according to Wikipedia:

The United States Congress approved the Gateway Arch National Park Designation Act in early 2018 to re-designate Jefferson National Expansion Memorial as Gateway Arch National Park. U.S. President Donald Trump signed the act into law on February 22, 2018.

This is a concept drawing, so I have no idea what the Arch looks like today.  However, you can see the trees that line both sides of the Arch.  Perhaps you will meet me under the Arch, too!

I'm so glad you decided to visit today.  Please also join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey, Try it on Tuesday, and Moo-Mania and More, too.

Spring has arrived

The spring or vernal equinox will arrived at 5:58 p.m. EDT.  It will be at 4:58 p.m. CDT (see my right sidebar for Wichita, KS time.  Theoretically spring has arrived in the northern hemisphere and autumn has arrived in the southern hemisphere.

Today I'm once again joining Jo from Let's Art Journal who is our host this month at Art Journal Journey with her Hello Springtime theme.  I'm also joining Moo-Mania and More with their Close to Nature theme.

It's time to greet spring, even if it hasn't yet arrived where you live.

It's definitely time to turn the page on winter.

It's time to get rid of snow and ice.

We definitely want our cardinals to stay,

but we want to see them nesting in the warmth of a spring wreath,

not a frozen snow encased wreath.

Yes!  It's time to welcome springtime!

Spring has truly arrived, if only in my altered book.

For this two page spread I created in my Challenges altered book, I began with two cards, one that signified winter and one that signified springtime.  For the winter page, I added ice crystal Stickles.  I did nothing for the springtime page, except add the sentiment I colored using water soluble crayons.

I'm truly delighted you decided to visit today and hope you celebrate the vernal equinox with me.  Please also join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey and Moo-Mania and More, too.   I believe I've missed the nature theme at Moo Mania, so I will not be entering that today.

The reason I was offline so long began when my friend Kathy came to visit on Friday.  I explained I had to wait for the service repair person from AT&T.  Around 3 p.m., I got a "courtesy call" telling me the repair person couldn't make it until sometime between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.  I got a bit frustrated and said I had already waited and had company who was hungry and we were NOT going to wait till 8 p.m. to eat.  We would have to reschedule.  

Yes, that's a rocking horse gift

She said she would have to talk to the repairman.  She called me back and said the earliest she could get the repairman to visit would be Monday between 1 and 5 p.m.  I was frustrated even further, but wasn't about to let them dictate my life any further.   At the time, I didn't realize I couldn't link my AJJ and MM&M art, but dear Susi came to the rescue and linked for me.

You'll have to wait till next Tuesday to see the rest of the goodies I received.

T STands For Pancakes For a Good Cause

After nearly a week of being offline, I believe I am back.  I'll be by as time allows.  I've already started visiting a few so far and will continue to do so as I can and time allows.

Last Tuesday when I couldn't get on the internet, I got very frustrated.  I called my foodie friend Sally and I asked her to take me to Sam's (the wholesale members-only equivalent of WalMart.  She has a membership there.

Right after we walked in, I found the refrigerator/freezer of my dreams.  Everything I wanted: a double door top refrigerator with moveable shelves, and two freezers on the bottom also with re-positional shelving.

Sally was quick to point out this was more than likely top of the line.  Those are U.S. dollars!

As I was shopping, I turned the corner and found this.  I immediately thought of my internet friend Divers and Sundry.

She is ALWAYS finding the number 42.  I was so surprised, I had to take a close-up!  I finally found a 42, also!

For those of you who don't get the significance, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.   The phrase is from "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy."

Then I talked Sally into going to Free Pancake Day at IHOP.

We both ordered a breakfast and got three free pancakes, too.

We both had water with our meals.

At the end of the meal, we both gave three dollars each to Children's Miracle Network.  It was definitely free pancakes for a good cause.  I told Bleubeard he contributed, but all he (and Squiggles) got was kibble I bought at Sam's!

It's now time for you to share your own drink related post.  It can be gifts you received, photos, a place you visited, movies, postcards, books, sketches, mixed media, drawings, paintings, tags, scrapbooking, or other art that is digital, hybrid, or traditional, as long as it in some way relates back to a drink, any drink.  Regardless, please share below and Bleubeard and I, along with the rest of the T gang will be by to visit.   Please link only your T post and not your blog in general.  Old photos are acceptable because they may be taken any time, not just on Tuesday and not just this year.




Today (Tuesday, March 19), is double kibble day.  Please click on the free kibble shown on my right sidebar and whether you guess right or wrong, you have still donated 20 pieces of kibble to needy dogs and 20 pieces of kibble to cats.  You can also donate a scoop of litter just by clicking on the kitty in the litter box.