Friday, November 25, 2005

Still stuffed.....

Hello to all my favorite people :)  

Hope everyone got super stuffed on their Thanksgiving feasts.  I know I did!  With both oven roasted and deep fried turkey on our table, among all the glorious side dishes consisting of yams, asparagus, mashed potatoes, 3 types of cranberry sauce, rolls, and corn souffle (corn puddin, for my southern friends ;) we had ourselves a feast!  Of course, no feast would be complete without dessert.  Offered were both pumpkin and pecan pie :)  

I had my piece of pecan pie today... there was no room left yesterday.  It was all so yummy, but I'm pretty much over it tonight.  All turkied out...  

Grace had a cold yesterday, so she couldn't go with me to help serve at the food kitchen.  This is the second year she missed it, but my Dad thinks she shouldn't go anymore, anyway.  He's thinking of her safety, and I understand his point, but its not like I have to stay there.  If something should ever happen that I'm uncomfortable with, we'd leave!  

Ah well, maybe I'll just take her with me to the children's hospital for Christmas.  She has always enjoyed going there and handing out presents and candy to the little sick ones.  She liked to tell them stories last year :)  

This evening we went downtown to watch 'The Circle of Lights'.  They transform our Soldiers and Sailors monument downtown into a Christmas tree.  It is a big deal and this was the 43rd year :)  Be sure to watch Monday night football so you can see it live!  I love the way our downtown is decorated for the holidays :)  Everything is lit up....                                    

I love the monument by itself!  The architecture is fascinating.  For the history lesson: 

It was designed by Bruno Schmitz (1858-1916), Germany's foremost architect of national monuments. Completed in 1901, the Monument appears to be Schmitz's only commission outside of Germany and Switzerland. Most of the bronze and stone sculptures on the Monument were designed, executed and manufactured by Germans.                                             Soldiers and Sailors monument photo 

                  Photograph of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, ca. 1895  

The limestone sculptures are the work of Vienna-born sculptor Rudolf Schwarz (1866-1912). The bronze Army Astragal sculptural band above the monument base was designed by Nicolaus Geiger (1849-1897) of Berlin. The Astragal and the eight candelabra were manufactured in Berlin.   

Bronze Astragals  designed by Nicolaus Geiger and 
George W. Brewster.  (Photo by Ruth Reichmann)

North side of Monument: 
Limestone sculptures by Rodolf Schwarz, representing 
Artillery and Navy and plaque honoring soldiers of other
wars.  Above it the bronze Army Astragal sculpture band 
designed be Nicolaus Geiger.  (Photo By Ruth Reichmann

South side of Monument:
Limestone sculptures by Rudolf Schwarz, representing 
Infantry and Cavalry and Civil War plaque.  Above it the 
bronze Army Astragal sculptured band designed by 
Nicolaus Geiger of Berlin. (Photo by Ruth Reichmann)

The State Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was dedicated in 1902 to Indiana's heroes who died in wars before World War I. Erected as a memorial to the soldiers and sailors of the War for the Union (1861-65), it also commemorates the War with Mexico (1846-48), Indian and British Wars (1811-12), War of the Revolution and the capture of Vincennes from the British on February 25, 1779.  

South side of Monument:
Limestone sculptures by Rudolf Schwarz, representing 
Infantry and Cavalry and Civil War plaque.  Above it the 
bronze Army Astragal sculptured band designed by 
Nicolaus Geiger of Berlin. (Photo by Ruth Reichmann)

East side of monument: Statuary group "War" 
with "The Dying Soldier" below it by Rudolf Schwarz 
(Photo by Ruth Reichmann)

The Monument rises from a circular plaza, 342 feet in diameter, where once stood the governor's house--but where no governor ever lived. At the lower level of the Monument is a Civil War exhibit.                             

Anyway, it is something else to see in person... and anyone tuning into the Colts vs. the Steelers game on Monday night will see it, I'm sure!  Just wish we had some snow to make it extra sparkly ;)  

Onward, I now have a cold, too.  Knew I would as all the daycare kids have something going on, too.  I don't care how many vitamins a person takes, kids' germs permeate through anything.  I knew I shoud've kept taking Airborne :)  Now, I'm sucking diligently on Cold-Eeze lozenges.... Hopefully, I can kick it by Monday!  

Yes, two of my three favorite NFL teams, meet up for that game... and I'll be sitting quietly cheering both sides.  I don't want the Colts to lose a game, but the Steelers need a win.  Of course, if Tommy Maddox starts instead of Ben Roethlisberger (spelled without looking it up, too ;) I'll root for the Colts~ loudly.  Anyone who knows Tommy, knows how the game will end up for the Steelers.  

Okay, as you can tell by my font colors (hopefully), I'm decorating for Christmas.  Feel free to bombard me with your creativity ;)  I want to spruce up my sidebar.  Anyone think I can hang Christmas lights on my No Ads signs?  I know, its a cool idea ;)  

That about wraps things up in my neck of the woods.  Glad you stopped by :)  Nae~Nae better hurry, though, I'm having serious DTs without her around.  

Hang in there peeps....  

Cat

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yum I love corn souffle!  And what a wonderfully interesting entry.  That is a beautiful tree... a total work of art!  Fascinating history.  I do love history, and we're big Steeler's fans in this house so we'll probably see that game on tv.  Hugs,
Lisa

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you had a great Thanksgiving!  I am with your dad on Grace and the food kitchen to a point BUT I am with you also.  It is something wonderful to teach your children.  Some day their generation will take our place and it MUST continue as long as it is needed!  The childrens hospital sounds like a fantastic idea though, and safe for this year.  
The monument is very interesting and looks great all lit up!
I am trying to get into the Christmas spirit!  I sent Bernadette an e-mail asking for Christmas decorations for here!!  I'm waiting on Nae to get back up and running too!  
Colleen

Anonymous said...

I am glad you and your family had a good Thanksgiving.  We all pigged out too!  ;)
That monument is gorgeous!!!
Happy Holidays Cat!!!  

*hugs*

Anonymous said...

Dinner was good, even with my family here :)~

What a great job you did, on the circle of lights.  I never heard of it!  I'll be tuning in for sure, Monday, even though I hate football...but I will say GO STEELERS!  My dad's favorite team :)

I'll be back, don't you worry bout that.  My UPS tracking order said it will be here Monday...damn them!!!  This has been brutal, the anticipation of a new desktop to slowly destroy.  Thank goodness one of my customers let me borrow their laptop.  I even installed my art program cuz there's no way I'm sitting here all weekend unable to create something!

~Nae

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a super-duper feast. I am glad you had a good day.

You don't know how much I miss going to see the lights go on at the momument. We did that every year. That may be why I love Thanksgiving so much. They don't have store windows in Nashville to decoroate like Indy does, and I really, really miss that also.

I think it is a wonderful that you and Grace go and help others at the holidays.

I hope your colds ease up soon!

~Heather

Anonymous said...

Glad you had a great Thanksgiving :)  I don' tknow if I've ever had pecan pie...I think I want some :)
I got full really quickly!  Had to taste it all again yesterday.  But those 2 bottles of champagne tasted freaking great!

The monument is awesome!  I've never seen it..or maybe never noticed it..will definitely be looking for it on game day :)  GO COLTS!!! :)~  I'd love to see my boys go undefeated!  You know I was looking for a jersey the other day and the only shirts I could find for chicks in Colts were PINK!  pink!  football shirts in pink..WTF?!  guess I gotta get a kids jersey, lol.

Get to feeling better soon...try garlic, heard again the other day on some nutrition show how great garlic is for fighting off colds and infections.  I've used the tablespoon of garlic and honey to get rid of a sore throat and it helps a lot!  Ginger however, made me feel a LOT worse.

I'm gonna snag your sign now and go put some lights on it!!  I've got a few files of strings of Christmas lights :)  will send it over later on today :)

Have a great weekend doll ~
~*xoxoxo*~
 ~Bernie

Anonymous said...

kitty kitty, my dear friend. thank you for always being such a loyal reader of my crappy journal. my last entry was aimed at ONE person, not you or anyone else who is pissy about the ads. i hate them too. i just wanted to be a jerk to this one person. you are always in my cool book and i just love ya.....

read ya soon, have a great weekend....smile.

dave

Anonymous said...

Wow.  Now that's just too cool.   ~Sie  http://persnicketypfft.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Glad your Thanksgiving was good, send some of the yummy pies this way please!
Nice pics in there, and yea.. Tonight is going to be a good game, although I think Dallas puts on a good Monday night game, hehe.. Ok.. so anyway.. iteresting entry, the pics are great!
i think next year, we should all meet somewhere and have a huge Thanksgiving feast of our own, that'd be cool

Love,
Theresa

Anonymous said...

I seen your comment today on numbers. Maybe this will help. Please check out the "Exodus Report" I posted today on AOL's numbers.

http://gabreaelsbodymindandspirit.blogspot.com/

Gabreael