September morn

My brother sent me this picture today to brag about the beautiful September mornings they have in Kansas. I have to admit that I missed Kansas when I saw this picture. I love Eastern Kansas. The rollings hills and the tall beautiful trees make my sould feel at ease. Every time that I go back and visit I am taken aback with the beauty of this part of the world. It still feels like home to me.

Do you have a place that you visit where you feel as comfortable as you do in your own home? Please share with us. What makes you love it so much?

Thursday Quiz

This has been a wonderful week. We had three days of Dancing With The Stars and I loved every moment of it. I was pleasantly surprised by a few of the Stars first night dance. Donny, you did a good job. Kelly Osborne, you made me tear up, especially when you ran over to hug your dad.

Anyway, I started to think about who I would like to have be my dance partner. So I pose the question to you, my friend. Who do you want to be your dancing pro? Just in case you needed a reminder I have the professional dancers below.

Edyta Sliwinska

Louis Van Amstel

Alec Mazo

Anna Demidova

Mark Ballas

Lacey Schwimmer

Kym Johnson

Karina Smirnoff

Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Anna Trebunksaya

Derek Hough
Jonathan Roberts

Tony Dovolani

Dmitry Chaplin
Chelsie Hightower
Cheryl Burke

Real Estate Friday

Yes, I love you Mr. Darcy. I truly do love you. I love your estate. We will spend afternoons walking to the fountain and enjoying the blooms in the garden. We will even venture to the outermost borders of our land all the while walking hand in hand enjoying the vastness of the estate. I love you Mr. Darcy.
All of this could be yours for just $6,941,695.00 (or 4.25 million British pounds). Here are some additional facts about this lovely home.

The estate on which Kinross House stands was originally owned by the Earls of Morton but in 1675 it was bought by Sir William Bruce, regarded as one of Scotland's most important architects. Kinross House is a classically elegant Palladian mansion, built by Sir William Bruce as his own house and is generally considered to be the most elegant and refined examples of his work. Kinross House represents one of the earliest of Scotland's country houses.

The formal gardens at Kinross House are a superb and most attractive feature of the property. They rank as one of the finest formal gardens in Scotland.

Between the gardens and loch is a useful field of pasture which extends to about 22 acres. It is suited for grazings by horses or other livestock. Either side of the drive are a variety of mature trees providing amenity, privacy and shelter and to the North of the house is a further wood through which there is a lovely walk down to the loch known as the 'Dark Walk'.

The buyer will be given the right to put two boats with outboard motors up to 6 horsepower on Loch Leven, to enable them to fish for Loch Leven's world renowned brown trout. Included is the site of the former boathouse (now demolished) beside Loch Leven.

Sore Saturday

Why is it Sore Saturday? I'll tell you why. It was my first bike ride that went over 30 miles in one day. We rode 59.26 miles. Ouch!
And here is the evidence on my trusty Garmin. Check out the calories burned, 3171. Oh, yeah! It is steak & potatoes time at Carabbas. Then, a John Cole for dessert. No guilt!

Now My Vacation Begins

The kids are back in school. Hallelujah! Nothing could be better than enjoying the pool all by myself!

Time Flies

Where has the time gone? It is good to be busy and this summer has definitely been a busy one. Did you happen to catch the Dane Cook Tour? There have been garden parties that have had more of a purpose than your basic party. Margurite demostrated various meals and the food was amazing. The pictures are beautiful but the taste was even better.

Some family have visited for a week while others have decided to dedicate the next two years to helping others. One of us has moved homes and the other has dealt with all kinds of activities that have kept her children busy. And please don't forget the wonderful meals that have been created on the grill.

During the month of July we were enthralled with watching the Tour de France. We had hopes that Lance was going to win but "Pistolero" Contador took things into his own hands and stopped playing as a team member of Astana. I will admit that I was impressed with Armstrong's patience that he showed by not expressing his dissapointment in a teammate who played by different rules. I will stop talking about that because I could get on my soap box about that for a while.

This last week we went to Salt Lake City to watch the Prologue Stage of the Tour of Utah. The Rock Racing team is participating again this year and we had to go and visit the team area where the riders where cooling down after their time trial. The athletes were very friendly and signed autographs for the kids that were with us. Paco Mancebo, shown below, won the overall race, Congrats, Paco. And the Rock Racing team won the overall team competition. Michael Ball, team owner and owner of the Rock & Republic clothing line, spent some time with Monica and her family at Snowbird Ski Resort after the race.

With all of the activities going on we have definitely lacked in keeping up with our blogging. We hope that everyone has had a lovely summer and may the remainder of the year be refreshing to your soul.

Be sure to take the time to look out of your window and enjoy the beauty that is outside and if possible take your shoes off and walk barefoot in the grass. It will do you good.

Michael Jackson by Diane

Two weeks ago we lost Michael Jackson and it is time for you to see our tribute to the King of Pop. Monica asked Kim's sister to create a picture of Michael Jackson that would remind us of our love and respect for Michael. Monica's one request was that Michael be dressed in a military uniform that we saw him in for a time. Diane agreed to the challenge but decided to use artistic license in her representation.

Those of you who know of Diane or have met Diane know that she is a very special person and one of the sweetest persons on the earth. Money has no value to her so Monica is paying Diane with a pop and candy bar for her time and effort to create the Michael tribute. Diane has accepted this payment and showed her approval with widely opened eyes and the unique sound of "yuuummm" that only Diane can make.

Now back to the picture, Tuesday night Diane called Kim to say that the drawing is completed but that she has taken some artistic license with the picture. She explains that Michael is in the military suit as requested but the face represents the "Beat It" years. She also added that she preferred the more brown skinned Michael to the lighter skinned Michael so there is more color to his skin as well.

We hope that you like the picture. I know that there is no way that I could have created a picture this good if I had tried. I LOVE the finished product!