Botany dos.

I was also debating titling this post "Flora and Fauna."  Did you know that fauna is actually "animals of a given region."  This might not be smart to admit, but I was thinking fauna was along the same lines as flora...here's to a college education, eh!?

But this really is a post about flora AND fauna.  There were some really awesome creatures hanging out at Duke Gardens the other day.  We have an AMAZING God.  I love admiring his handiwork.

It almost looks like he has on a suit.

Cardinals have to be the prettiest birds out there.

So in the process of taking pictures at Duke Gardens I not only learned more about photography, I also picked up some handy knowledge on correct science terms...go figure ;)

a bit of botany.

Yesterday Tera and I got to experiment some with our cameras.  We headed out to Duke Gardens to catch up on our botany photography (that just sounds smart, right?)

I have been trying to figure out the manual setting on my camera for some time now, and have decided I am just going to spend the summer trying to teach myself about digital photography.  I did get a few shots that I was particularly fond of.

I fell in love with this unique flower.

Love the color.

Duke Chapel.

Flowers make for nice subjects, huh? :)

Just one.

I have been wanting to post this photo for a while, simply because it makes me smile.

This is in Haiti.  We were all riding on the back of a tap tap and Emmanuel drove up on his motorcycle.  Jason decided to jump off the tap tap and join him for a ride back to the compound.  I love how excited Jas is and how Che Gevara decided to tag along for the ride...ha!

Just one for the day :)

Weekend Visit

This weekend Jas and I went to Hickory (or Hky as it's known to the locals...cool, yes, I know) to visit with my family.  While there we celebrated my mom's birthday.

Mom and I at Red Lobster.

This was a DELICIOUS Boston Cream cake. Soooo good.  (lighting is a little off in this photo...ya know, still working on manual ;)

Up close and personal shot of the cake and candles. 

And a caramel torte my mom made.  She's a very good dessert-maker (did I just make up a word?)

I just noticed there was a lot of dessert pictures in this post.  Hope you aren't too hungry now because if you have a sweet tooth like mine, you should be! 

Happy Birthday to a great mom!  (on Wednesday) Love you and I'm thankful for you!

Tie-Dye Stars!

Have you ever seen stars that are tie-dyed?  Well, because I love color, and I love cookies, and I love the youth in our youth group...I decided to make tie-dyed/swirly star cookies for youth last week.

I just took regular ole sugar cookie dough and added some food coloring (not enough to saturate the dough, just to streak it).  I then took my trusty star cookie cutter and cut out the shapes.  They turned out colorful and yummy--just the way I like food!

I know, I know, it's a complicated recipe.  And I really SHOULD open a bakery with my mad baking skills ;)

twenty-seven.

There is a special person out there who is turning twenty-seven today.  That person is Mrs. Marianne Neufang (my sis-in-law).  Last night the family got together to celebrate her birthday.

She chose a restaurant most of us hadn't been to--Fishmongers.

Bet you can't guess what kind of restaurant it is?

Warning:  The following picture is a little scary ;)

Jason ate 2 whole pounds of crab legs ALL BY HIMSELF (ok, other than the piece or two I had).  He's a beast.

Marianne and her "candles."  Notice the 7 is not a candle, but a hand. Nate made Marianne a cake and somehow the 7 candle never showed up to the party...just the 2.  So she made her own 7 candle :)

Marianne, hope you have a GREAT birthday!  Love you!

100.

Here at Palmer Ponderings we have reached 100 blog posts!  That seems pretty nifty!  Traditionally, people post a list of 100 various things about themselves.  I decided I would just post 10 interesting facts about both Jason and I (so I guess that's 20 interesting facts)...  20 x 5 = 100.  That works somehow, right? ;)  Just go with us here, 100 is a lot, so 20 will have to do!

So here are 10 interesting facts about my hubby, JAS!
1)  He has a really cool birthdate 9-9-81.  9 X 9 =81.  Cool, huh?
2)  He has been a model for both Northern High School and Southeastern Seminary.  Studly!
3)  He has a preciously cute bald spot on the right of his head, affectionately named "Ralph."
4)  He likes to sing and make up random songs.  They are all (mostly) hilarious.
5)  He has recently developed a liking for Chai lattes.
6)  He was known as "Superman" in college (ask him to tell you the story, be assured, it's quite entertaining)
7)  He only wears new tennis shoes once his old ones are COMPLETELY worn out.
8)  His favorite number is 27 ;)
9)  He really loves Birthday Cake ice cream (the Blue Bunny kind ONLY)
10)  Years back he was mistaken as Enrique Iglesias in Haiti...love it!

And here are 10 interesting facts about myself.
1)  I particularly hate green peas.
2)  I have been on the shows MTV and Live with Regis and Kelly (ok, ok, only in the audiences ;)
3)  I like reading. a lot. and wish I had more time to do so!
4)  I lived for (nearly) half a year in Spain and LOVED it.
5)  I secretly (not a secret now, I guess) want to get my hair cut short, short, but am not currently brave enough to do so.  One day...
6)  My college roommates used to make fun of me for having long toes (how mean ;)
7)  I have traveled to 15 countries and hope to travel to many more!
8)  I could eat chocolate chip cookies and pancakes for any meal and be happy (and fat...)
9)  I took ballet for 13 years (and some in college) and miss it A LOT!
10)  Jason and I "talked" for 6 long months on facebook (haha) before we finally started dating.  Oh to think back on those days...

Whew, it was hard to think of just 20 things.  Imagine 100!

And just because I wanted to bust out my sharpies...(art minor, remember), I doodled a little and created this:

Yay for 100 posts :) ha.

Bella's Playdate

Bella had her first non-Bruno playdate.  Bruno (Packy and Steph's dog) and Bella are good "friends."  Friends, if ya know what I'm saying ;) This past Friday, Bella got to hang out with Bailey for the first time ever.  I think they hit it off.  Bailey is Ben and Tera's golden retriever.

Here's a cute picture of the pair (compliments of Jason, I was at school during this time).

Bella's always lovin' it up.

She may be a little jealous of Bailey playing with her toy.  Selfish Bella...

Cute, huh? :)

Farmer's Market Fun

Today probably marks the fourth (or so...) trip to the Farmer's Market with Mr. Elton Earp.  Each time we go it's a must that we eat at the Farmer's Market restaurant (they have the world's best and LARGEST pancakes...ok, maybe second to Elmo's Diner).

After a delicious meal (Elton always gets eggs, links, and grits and Jas gets some sort of omelete), we go shop for some produce.  Today's list:  strawberries and candy.  Candy, of course, is not produce, but Elton likes to treat some people by buying them things.  Candy was his gift choice today.

I snapped a few pictures while there.  Jas and I also picked up some tulips for the kitchen table.  That's the one place in the house I like flowers and they always brighten the room up, which makes me smile :)

Aren't they cute?

Me and my best friend!

Yum.  It just screams freshness.

When we got back from the market, I made Elton model for me in front of his old truck.  Isn't that the coolest old truck you've ever seen?

Part of the bundle of flowers happily placed on our kitchen table.

It was a good Saturday.  If only pollen would go away...

HAITI--fellowship

There were 30 or so of us on our team.  That's a big group!  But...we were able to get a lot accomplished in only one week.  We also had plenty of time (after dark, which in Haiti is about 6:30 pm) to hang out and fellowship.  We had group bonding time with a bible study after dinner.  Not only did we hang out with our group, of course we hung out with Haitians.

Lots of fellowshippin' happenin' below ;)

Big Bob (as the Haitians call him) and some sweet girls.

Morgan and George.  George is Wanderson's father.  Do you see where Wanderson gets his smile?!

Group of us girls throwing up the "J" (thanks to Karen for that joke).  And yes, I do look like a hippie.

Me, Mel, and Mel.

Celebrating a lunch break with some COLD cokes.  Refreshing on a hot Haitian day.

Jas and Leslie.  They became buddies.

Lots of fellowship took place here at this cinder block pile!  Tons and tons of block were moved throughout the week.

And I thought it would be appropriate to sum up this fellowship post and the Haiti posts with this group photo.  This was taken the day we left (or we thought we were leaving) for the US.  We're on the roof at Blanchard where we ate all of our meals.

It was a great trip.  Thanks for reading along and enduring all the many pictures as I documented our trip.

Haiti, you're still in our prayers!

HAITI--haitians

This is going to be my favorite Haiti post.  I got to take lots of pictures of Haitians.  They are such a good-lookin' group of people.  They all have amazing skin and wonderful teeth.

Take a look!

Denny, Pastor Leon, and some cute kids throwing up the Bull City sign...haha.

Look at that smile, and those eyes!

Leocardis and I.  She wrote me two letters and gave me two pictures of herself!  I will cherish them :)

Sweet girls.  They put baby powder on their necks to keep away any smell and take care of sweat.  All the girls wear those white ribbons in their hair to school every day...love it!

Haha...I took several pictures of this kid and all he wanted to do was pose like a warrior.

I really like this picture.

Look at that little toothless smile in the middle...

No trip to Haiti would be complete without a visit with my Wanderson.  I miss him already! Oh man, that smile just melts me...

Aren't Haitians beautiful?

Tomorrow= FELLOWSHIP.

HAITI--work

Today's focus on Haiti is about the work we did while down there.  It was a tough, but super rewarding work week.  Work usually began around 6:30-7 am and we didn't typically stop until 4 pm or so.

These manly men moved Wanderson and George's house to the other side of Repatriote (they are standing in front of their house).

We moved lots and lots of heavy rocks to be used in rebuilding part of the foundation in Cite Soleil.

And...there was plenty of painting at Cite Soleil.  Look at Jaaannn (haha) up on that ladder.

One of the neatest things we did was build/set up a 120' x 80' tent at Repatriote.  Later on in the week we got to attend the first service held under the tent with lots of Haitians!

Take a look at Mel busting up some block that had fallen from the earthquake.  Doesn't she look like a studette!? Rock on, Mel!

Towards the end of the week we started helping rebuild the surrounding wall at Cite Soleil.

And there's an overview of the work we did!  Lots of muscles were refined last week ;)

Stay tuned for tomorrow's focus, my favorite, HAITIANS!