Category: Places

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A Month of Me – Day 29

Mr. Guy is home again tomorrow! Yay! He tells me that it is a holiday called Memorial Day. It is the day we remember all the people who have died in wars fighting to protect our country and our freedom. 
I don’t like the idea of fighting and dying. But Mr Guy says sometimes bad people attack people and the people attacked have to fight to defend themselves. And sometimes people die fighting. I think it would be better if we all just lived peacefully. But I understand what Mr Guy means. I know I would fight if someone attacked The Lady, Mr Guy, Offspring 1 or Offspring 2. 
The Lady and Mr Guy took me to Liberty Plaza today. Liberty Plaza is a big park that is near where we live. 
It is a place to created especially to remember all those people who died, or who fought and did not die, protecting our country’s freedom. Mr Guy told me there are people still serving and fighting in places all over the world. We should always remember them too and keep them in our prayers. 
Liberty Plaza is a pretty  place. There is a big American flag… 


…and a couple of special statues. 
One of the statues made me a little sad.  My eyes got blurry because of the rain on the outside and maybe a little because of rain that was coming from my eyes.
The statue was of a little boy holding and American flag perfectly folded in a triangle with the stars on the outside.  I recognized that flag.  When The Captain died, The Lady got a flag just like that so I knew that it meant that that little boy’s father or mother was killed in a war.  
We have two folded flags at our house – The Captain’s and Mr. Guy’s father’s.  I’m glad that we have them.  They remind me every day to say a special prayer for all of our armed services men and women.
The other statue is of a veteran from World War I.
He has poppies in his hand.   These help him to remember all of his comrades with whom he served, but did not come home.  When we got home, The Lady and Mr. Guy read this poem to me; it tells the story of the poppies.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

– Colonel John McCrae

That is a lot for a little blue and orange furry monster to think about.

Mostly Liberty Plaza is a quiet place where we can go to think about and say “thank you” to all those people who have given  their lives in the service of our country. 

It was raining today, so we did not get to spend much time just sitting, but I’m glad that we went.


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A Month of Me – Day 27

Mr. Guy did not have school today because it was a bad weather day.  It sure was!  It was pouring rain this morning.  It was raining so hard that it stayed dark until almost lunchtime. With no sun, we didn’t know what time it was so we all slept late.  Oh, that is not the right kind of bad weather day.  Well, it did rain all morning!  Today was an extra school day in case Mr. Guy missed school for snow back in the winter.  Since he didn’t, today was a free day.  Yay!

The Lady and Mr. Guy wanted to take me to the Dallas Arboretum, but we had to use a bad weather day and stay home because of the rain.  I didn’t know what the arboretum was, but I always have fun when The Lady and Mr. Guy take me places so it was OK that I didn’t know what it was.  I was disappointed that we didn’t get to go.  The Lady told me that I shouldn’t be too upset because we would have chances to go,  And, she also told me that next weekend we are going on a trip, and airplane trip to meet some of her picture taking friends and we are going to a place that is like the arboretum here.  I am excited!  I need to think about packing my shirts!  An airplane, new friends, and new places!  This trip will also help us celebrate Mr. Guy’s retirement!  We are leaving on his last day of school forever.

This afternoon all of the rain went away at our house.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening.  Since we didn’t get to have our whole day adventure, Mr. Guy and The Lady decided we could have a mini adventure tonight.  We went to the rose garden that our city has.  The Lady explained that this is like a little tiny arboretum, a place where there are pretty plants and flowers in lots of different colors.  I like colors!  This sounded like fun to me.

I wore my new peace sign t-shirt that came yesterday.  On our way to the garden, I decided that I was going to look for a flower to match every color of peace sign on my shirt.  That would make our adventure even more fun!

The weather was perfect to be outside – not too hot and not too cold for this blue and orange furry monster.




I decided that I would search for the colors in the order of the colors in the rainbow.

Red was first.




Then pink…


There were some flowers that were sort of pink and sort of orange, but not really either.  The Lady called them a salmon color.  Salmon?  That is a strange name for a color.  I thought salmon was a fish.   The Lady said that it is the name of a fish too, a fish whose insides are this color.  It is a pretty color, but I don’t want to think about fish insides every time a see a salmon colored flower!


The Lady said that if I don’t want to call this color “salmon, ” I can call it coral.  I think I like that better.

Then ORANGE! I love ORANGE! The orange flower looked and smelled pretty!


Even though orange is a color and a fruit, Id’ rather think about fruit when I see a color than the insides of that fish!

Next was yellow, the color of sunshine…and lots of flowers.


I wasn’t so sure about yellow a few weeks ago, but I have decided that yellow is a happy color.  It makes me smile.  I would have been very happy to have had a yellow hat and raincoat this morning!!!

There was green everywhere!


I pretended that I was a blue and orange flower.

The next color that I looked for was violet.


Then indigo.  The Lady said that indigo is kind of like salmon coral because it is in between two colors.  It is between the violet and blue.


This in between color didn’t bother me like the other one did.  In fact, I hardly noticed the color because there was bumblebee on the flower.  It wasn’t scared of me and I didn’t know until after we left those flowers that maybe I should have been scared of it because it could sting me and that might hurt.  I thought it was a kind of cute tiny little black and yellow furry monster.

The last, but certainly not least, color that I had to find was blue!


There was a big patch of blue flowers right behind the fountain.  And, Mr. Guy and I both had on blue shirts.  I can always find lots of blue.  I think my monster eyes see blue best!

I did it!  I found all of the colors in my shirt.  When you put them all together, they sure are beautiful!  It is like looking at my big box of crayons!


I had a happy day after all!  And, I am looking forward to my trip next week when I get to see more beautiful flowers!

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A Month of Me – Day 14

Saturdays are usually chore day at our house because its the only day that Mr. Guy and The Lady have to clean and do laundry and buy groceries.  Today was different.  Since The Lady is all done with school, she can do all of those things on Monday.  So, today wasn’t chore day; it was adventure day!  That made me happy so I decided to wear my “happy” shirt.  And it is yellow!!!  In all of my wondering this week about how my blue and orange fur would look with the color yellow, I forgot that I already had something yellow!  I don’t think it crashes clashes.  Yellow is a happy color just like my shirt says.  It makes me happy and going on adventures with The Lady and Mr. Guy makes me happy!  Today I am a happy little monster!


Lots of times when we go on adventures that require flying on an airplane, we have to get up very early.  No airplanes today.  We weren’t going too far from our house so we went in the car and we didn’t have to get up until eight o’clock!  This little monster got lots of sleep last night!  We were going to a place called Heritage Homestead to meet some special friends of The Lady and Mr. Guy.  It took us about an hour and a half to drive there.  

The first thing we did was eat lunch.  The restaurant was super busy so we had to eat sort of quickly.  The Lady did not take time to take any pictures at lunch, but Mr. Guy and I did share a piece of orange cake.  I think it was made of carrots.  After lunch, we went to see all of the fun stuff.  Heritage Homestead is a craft village where people make all kinds of things.  
The first thing we saw was a blacksmith.

It was kind of scary watching the blacksmith.  He put pieces of metal into a big fire.  The metal got so hot that it turned bright orange.  That may be one kind of orange that I don’t like!  The blacksmith guy liked it though.  While the metal was orange, the blacksmith guy used his tools to twist and turn and fold the hot metal into hooks and all kinds of neat things.  I liked watching him, but I don’t think I would want to work with the metal and the fire.  I would be scared that my fur would catch on fire, and I don’t think it would turn more orange if it did.
Next we went to the gristmill.  I didn’t know anything about gristmills, but there were people working there who explained what a gristmill is.  They take grains and grind them to make flour.  
I liked this place because it was about making food.  I like food!  I like to make it and I like to eat it.
We bought some oats for our breakfasts.
The next place we went was to the fiber building.  That was a place where they had lots of sticks and string.  The people there twisted the sticks and string just like the blacksmith did except they did not use any fire.  The Lady knows how to twist string with sticks.  This place had string in lots of colors.  
Hey look!  They have string that has blue and orange and yellow all at the same time!  It matches me!
I have an idea!  The Lady can get some of this string and use her sticks to make me a hat!  I bet she can make a hat with some air holes for my horns!  I bet our friend Ms. Joni would like this place.  She is one of The Lady’s friends who likes to play with sticks and string.  I think you should come visit us in Texas, Ms. Joni.  Or, maybe we can find a string store when we see you this summer in Pittsburgh. If The Lady won’t make me a hat with air holes for my horns, will you?
I learned that some of the string comes from plants and some of it comes from animals like these.
I think that they should be called string monsters, but they are called sheep.  That doesn’t make any sense.  They were fuzzy, but they didn’t have any colorful sheep like make the string at the string shop.  I want to see a fuzzy rainbow sheep!
This place did have lots of flowers in all the colors of the rainbow.
Look!  More yellow with lots of orange!  I think that I am beginning to like yellow too!  Not as much as blue and orange, though.
And they had great big shade trees.
Since I don’t have a hat, I sat in the shade of the tree so that my head didn’t get baked.  Mr. Guy was wearing his hat so his head didn’t get baked.  That was OK because I don’t think that hat is the right hat for me. 
The last place we went was to a house where people take mud and make dishes with it.  They put it on a merry-go-round and instead of getting dizzy it becomes a bowl, or a vase, or a cup.  A cup!  They had made lots of cups.  Maybe the Dallas Stars should come here where they could each get their own cup since they didn’t win the big cup.  If they really, really, really, just want one great big cup, they can get one of those here too.
After we saw all of this neat stuff, it was time to say goodbye to our friends and head home.
I had a super fun adventure day!  I saw lots of things that I have never seen before.  I am looking forward to more adventures and more new people on our summer adventures!

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A Quick Trip to Philadelphia

Hi, everyone!  Life has been quite busy around our house.  Mr. Guy and The Lady are both back at work and the animals and I have been at home during the day.  I thought things were going to be calm and quiet for us, but we have been having lots of landscaping done at our house.  The dogs have spent the days watching intently and barking a little, the cat has slept through it all, and I have been trying to stay out of the way.  despite all of this busy-ness, we got to take a short weekend trip to Philadelphia last weekend.

The Lady is part of a group called NOAH, National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation.  Every other year the adults of NOAH get together for a weekend of fun.  NOAH is for people with albinism.  One of the things that that means is most of them have white fur.  Even though I have blue fur and Mr. Guy has no gray fur, they let us go too.  People with albinism also have difficulty seeing so Mr. Guy and I were able to help them find things in this unfamiliar city.

We got to the airport early, but not as early as when we were flying to Salisbury all those times, on Friday morning, September 11.  We sat down to eat a quick breakfast in the airport.


As we were finishing our meal, there was an announcement about a service of remembrance in the airport chapel.  Mr. Guy and The Lady explained to me that fourteen years ago at exactly that time, a terrible thing happened in our country and  lots of people lost their lives.  As I was listening to what had happened, I got very sad.  Mr. Guy held me tightly and we all said a prayer for all the lives lost and changed forever on September 11, 2001.

So that I wouldn’t be quite so sad, Mr. Guy took me to the candy store and bought me a treat to have on the airplane.  I got grapefruit, watermelon, and peach gummy chews.  Yum!


I must have fallen asleep as soon as we got on the airplane, because I don’t remember the flight at all.  I didn’t even eat any of my candy!  When we got to Philadelphia, we met some of The Lady’s NOAH friends in the airport and then we all rode to the hotel together.  While we were in the car, I realized that it has been quite a long time since I have added any new photos to my 100 People Project.  I hoped that while I was in Philadelphia that maybe I would meet a few people who would be willing to support my project.

As usually, Mr. Guy was carrying me when we walked into the hotel.  Several people called out, “Look!  It’s Blueper B!”  I wasn’t sure who any of these people were or how they knew me.  Mr. Guy said that he bet that they read my blog and that’s how they knew who I was.  I felt kind of like a monster star.  I got to talk to people, shake hands with them, and have my picture taken with them!  The first one is with Joni.  She and The Lady are good friends.  They have lots of things in common like this thing they do where they tie string together with two sticks.  Somehow they make the string turn into objects like hats and socks. They call it knitting.  I think it’s some kind of magic trick.  Maybe they could knit me a magic T-shirt.


The NOAH people said that people are fascinated with their white hair and that sometimes people ask if they can touch it…and sometimes they don’t even ask; they just do it.  I don’t think that that is very polite.  Another friend of Mr. Guy and The lady asked if she could give my fur a new style.  Ms. Cindy worked hard to give me a Mohawk.



What do you think of my new fur-do???


I think Mr. Guy might be a little jealous that he can’t have a cool Mohawk like mine.  

Since I let Ms. Cindy practice her hairstyling skills on my fur, she agreed to have her picture taken with me.


Ms Cindy and I had some interesting conversations.  She lives in Canada and invited us to come visit her some time.  That would be fun; I have never been to another country before.  

On Saturday, we went on a walking tour to see some of the historic buildings in Philadelphia.  Well, I went on a carrying tour; everyone else walked.  We had to take a short ride on a train to get to the starting point of the tour.

We saw lots of old buildings that are important to the history of our country.  Since I don’t go to school, I don’t know very much about history, American or an other kind.  We had an entertaining tour guide whose name was Mr. Jim.  He knew lots of things about all of the historical places in Philadelphia.  Though there is much more that I need to learn, he gave me a good start on learning a few things about my country.

We saw Carpenters’ Hall where the First Continental Congress met.


Independence Hall where the U. S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated.

The U. S. Mint.


We saw the Liberty Bell, but only through a window.  The lines to get into all of these buildings were long.  Mr. Guy and The Lady said that we will go back sometime when we can spend longer looking around.

We saw this interesting sculpture.  The Lady was taking pictures of it when Mr. Guy said that she should take a picture of the reflection so that all of us would be in the picture.  I don’t have many pictures with The Lady because she is always behind the camera.  


I am grateful that Mr. Jim was willing to show us his city.  And, that he was willing to be photographed with me!

Even though it was a quick weekend trip, I had lots of fun in Philadelphia.  Mr. Guy and The Lady have some great friends in NOAH.  One of them in particular made me laugh all the time.  Her name is Becca.  She is very silly and lots of fun!  Becca and I ate donuts together and we had our very first Slurpees together.   I think that will make us friends for life! And her blue eyes make my blue fur really stand out! We also had a Philly Cheesesteak together in the airport.  She said that she might come visit us in Texas sometime.  I hope so! 

Thank you everyone for letting me share in the NOAH weekend even though I have blue and orange fur instead of white fur!  You all are lots of fun!!  The Lady just told me that I will get to see you all again next summer in Pittsburgh.  Yay!


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Blueper B and The Paint Bug

Most days in the life of my family are about me seeing or learning something new, but today, it was about Mr. Guy trying something new.  It was fun for me to watch him try something he had never done before.  He has done lots of lots of things in his life, but he has never painted a picture before.

The Lady likes to do all kinds of creative things.  She plays and writes music; she knits; she writes; and of course, she takes pictures.  The Mr. Guy hasn’t ever found anything creative that he likes to do.  He says that he is not a creative person.  The Lady and I have tried to tell him that everybody is a creative person; he just has to find his means of expression.  I was surprised when Mr. Guy and The Lady said that we were going to go paint today.  Of all the creative things that Mr. Guy might have chosen to explore, painting is not the one that I thought that he would have chosen.  What do I know?  I’m just a little blue and orange furry monster.

After lunch, off we went to a place called the Bier Garden.  Mixing beer and painting didn’t sound like a good thing to me, but again, what do I know?  Mr. Guy said that the beer might help to get his creative juices flowing.

A nice girl named Abbi was the teacher for the class.  I don’t think she knew what she was getting into having Mr. Guy in her class.  She gave Mr. Guy and The Lady some paint and an empty piece of white board.

She said it was called a canvas and was made especially for artists to paint on.  Mr. Guy kind of stared at it like he was really scared.

I told him it would be OK.  He was a grown up and he could paint a pretty picture if he tried and if he didn’t drink too much beer.  (I have never had beer because I am too little, but The Lady says that if you have too much that it can make you feel funny and maybe say or do silly things.)

Before they started, Mr. Guy kept looking at his phone.

 I think maybe he was going to call 911 to come rescue him.  I did not get to paint a picture.  That was OK.  I didn’t want to get paint in my fur.  But, I did get to do something new today too.  The Lady let me use her camera to take pictures of them painting.  Unfortunately, I only took pictures of Mr. Guy because without photos, no one would ever believe that he painted.

Finally they got started working on their paintings.  Mr. Guy seemed to relax a little.  He did a great job painting the background of his picture.  Then it came time to paint a background layer of trees.  Mr. Guy didn’t like that part too much.  He kept saying that what he was painting did not look like trees.  The Lady told him that they were not really supposed to look like trees; they were just kind of texture in the background.  They would give his painting depth.  That was the wrong thing to say because Mr. Guy says that he can’t see depth in pictures.  He still had 911 ready to push on his phone, but he didn’t.  He kept painting…and drinking his beer.

He finished both.  The Lady and I were proud of him for finishing his painting.  He didn’t cry or say any bad words.  This was thanks to his teacher, Abbi.  She did a great job of talking everyone through how to paint a pretty picture.  Abbi was kind, cheerful, and patient.  She is very good at her job!  She is The Paint Bug. 

She does classes like the one we went to today at different places, but not in Texas so if Mr. Guy wants to keep painting, he will have to find a new teacher. Abi also paints custom “critter portraits,” paintings of people’s furry monsters pets.  Maybe Mr. Guy would like her to paint a picture of me; I am not a pet, but I am a critter. 🙂  You can see all the cool stuff that Abbi does by visiting her website: www.paint-bug.com.

The coolest thing that Abbi did, though, was to have her picture taken with me!  I am posting it here, but her friend also took one of us and posted it on her website!  That is exciting!  Abbi is 9 of 100 in my project

I am happy that we all got to try something new today.  I think that I may have played with too many of the buttons on The Lady’s camera.   I hope that she will teach me how to take some pretty photos rather than blurry ones.  Oh well…

Oh, and one more thing…

My friend Stobbsie from Scotland asked to see a picture of my new T-shirt from the Biltmore; you know, the pink one.  Here I am proudly wearing pink!

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The Biltmore Part 2 and People #6-#8 of My 100 People Project

Today was a very interesting day. The Lady and Mr. Guy helped me put on my special fancy clothes, at least that’s what they called them. Mr. Guy helped with a funny shirt that had these pointy things that he called a collar.    I thought collars were something that you used to decorate a dog.And then came the vest. The Lady tied a blue and orange bow tie and put that around my neck too. I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to breathe, but Mr. Guy said that he used to wear a bow tie to work and he was still here and breathing so he thought that I would be just fine.  We were going somewhere special. I thought it might have to do with The Lady and Mr. Guy’s  anniversary. I knew it was today. But I was a little surprised because we were supposed to be going to get my new shirt, too. Why did I need my fancy clothes when I knew that I was going to get a new comfortable shirt?

We went to McDonald’s for breakfast. This was the big surprise. Mr. Guy had read that this MacDonald’s was special. It was made to look like the Biltmore. All of the people who work there were supposed to be all dressed up, just like they were at the Biltmore.  Mr. Guy thought that if I went in all dressed up too, we could get some fun pictures.  But, no one was dressed up! All of the workers had on comfy shirts, like I wished that I did.  The MacDonald’s was really nice. There was even a piano that played itself. 

We have a piano at home that The Lady plays. This piano did not seem to be much fun since it did not need a person to play it.  Music is for people and blue and orange furry monsters to enjoy making and hearing.

I think Mr. Guy was disappointed.  We just ate breakfast and left.  

The Lady said that I looked dapper in my fancy clothes.  I think that means something nice.

We went back to the Biltmore. I didn’t think there could be more to see there. We spent all day yesterday looking. and there was more!  A lot more!  There are big gardens full of flowers, and shrubs, and bees, and butterflies. The Lady wanted to take pictures of the flowers. While she did that, Mr. Guy and I watched people. We just relaxed.  I think a lot of people watched us, too.


I did like looking at a few of the blue and orange flowers.

When The Lady had all her pictures taken, we went into a shop they have at the Conservatory.  (There is another one of those big words!). I thought this would be when I got my shirt!  As we were going in two people asked about me. They had never seen  a blue and orange furry monster! We found out they are from Texas, just like us, but they live in Houston, not Dallas. Their names are Marcus and Tami. They agreed to take a picture with me.  

My 100 People Project is moving right along because of all the nice people that I am meeting.

But, I still did not have my new shirt.  I was trying not to be a grouchy monster.  It was Mr. Guy and the Lady’s anniversary and I was fairly sure that they did not want to spend it with a grouchy monster.  We then went up to another part of Biltmore. I just cannot believe how big this place is. Here we saw some stuff about farming. Mr. Guy told me farming is how people grow their food. We sat on a thing called a tractor. Mr. Guy said it is used to help prepare the land to grow food. 

Then we went into a shop there.  It was called the Mercantile.  It was in there that I finally got my new shirt. I was a little surprised though; it is not blue or orange, it is pink. I was not sure about the pink. I was not sure I would match my fur; and I was not sure that it fit my personality.  I thought pink was a color for girls, not blue and orange boy monsters.  I had to think hard, because this was the only shirt in my size anywhere in this great big place.  I either got a pink shirt, or no shirt.. I tried it on and decided that it was ok.  I don’t want all of my shirts to be pink, but this one will work.

What made it even more OK was that the lady who sold us my shirt was from Dallas! Her name is Norma. She and her husband moved to North Carolina to be near their son. But she knew all the places we go in Texas! It was fun to meet another person from Texas.  The Lady asked Norma  if she wanted to have her picture taken! Norma was excited and said “yes!”  She even got her friend into the picture too. His name is Doc and he is the blacksmith at the Biltmore. I learned a blacksmith makes things with metal.  

We took our picture. I gave them my cards thanking them for being people #7 and #8. Doc gave me his card, too!

After all of that, I was a hot and tired monster.  We stopped and Cedric’s Tavern for lunch.  Cedric is the name of a great big dog called a Saint Bernard that George Vanderbilt had.  There is a statue of the dog in front of the tavern.  I did notice that Cedric was not wearing a pointy collar thing.  Dog collars look more comfortable than fancy monster collars!

After lunch, we stopped for more quick picture in the sunflowers.  They were great big, like everything else here.  

We didn’t stay there long because it was so hot.  We then went back to our cabin and this monster had a long cool nap in my comfy new shirt.

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Blueper B at the Biltmore Estate and 3-5 of My 100 People Project

Today was our first whole day in Asheville.  We all slept a little late.  I guess we were tired from traveling yesterday.  Mr. Guy and The Lady planned for us all to go to the Biltmore Estate.  It is a great big place and we had to park and walk a little way!  



As we walked from the parking lot, well I didn’t walk, Mr. Guy told me all about this place. A long time ago, a man named Vanderbilt made a lot of money. He wanted a big house, like a palace. So he had this house built. He took the last part of his name and attached the word “more”. Maybe because he “built more house” than anyone. Mr. Guy said Biltmore is the largest house in the whole country. 


When I saw the house for the first time, it looked like a whole city to me!  I have never seen a house that big.  A little blue and orange furry monster could get lost in the place.  It was pretty, but also a little scary.


The reason it looks like a whole city is because there are lots of rooms and shops and restaurants in that building.  When Mr. Guy told me that there were shops, I got excited because I might get a new shirt.  The Lady and Mr. Guy said that we could go look for a shirt before we did anything else.  Yay!  We went into a shop that had lots of shirts for big monsters and people, but the worker said that they didn’t have any small enough for me.  That made me sad.  The Lady said that we could go look in another shop, a toy shop.  Surely a toy shop will have a little shirt for me because toys are for little people.  Nope.  They didn’t have one either.  I was now one really sad little monster.  But, I did have to smile when I saw some of my “family” at the toy shop.


When I saw them, I decided that it was silly for me to be sad.  True, I did not find a new shirt, but I have Mr. Guy and The Lady to take me places and love me, these guys just hung out in the toy shop all day.  I remember what that felt like.  Not good.  So, I became a happy monster again.

It was then time for us to go inside this great big house.  I was still not so sure about it, especially with things like this on the outside!


We talked and became friends.

The Lady had to put her camera away because they do not allow people to take pictures in this place. Oh well..we walked all around, up and down stairs from the basement to the third floor.  I’m glad Mr. Guy was carrying me, because now I know I would have gotten lost.  The rooms were big.  The ceilings were tall, the windows were huge, and the furniture was big.  I felt as tiny as ant in there.  This house was obviously not meant as a home for little blue and orange furry monsters, but it was kind of fun to look around.

Because the people didn’t let us take our own pictures inside, they had a picture taking person of their own who took our picture.  I thought that was very nice of them.  The Lady told me that we would have to buy their picture.  That didn’t seem right.  Th Lady always takes my picture and most of the time she makes me look handsome.  Why couldn’t she take my picture?  Mr. Guy tried to explain something to me about captive audience and consumerism.  I didn’t understand.  All I know is that they gave us a card and told us we could look at our picture at the end.

I liked the picture that they took because The Lady was in it with Mr. Guy and Me.  She is never in the pictures because she always takes them.  I told Mr. Guy that I wanted this picture of the three of us, so he bought it.  Tomorrow we will get it into my blog. 

There were two girls who took his money.  They were very friendly and asked all about me.  Because they were so nice, I asked if they wanted to be part of my Hundred People Project.  They said yes!  I guess because Mr. Guy bought their picture they thought it would be fun to be in our picture.


I am happy that people are helping me with my Hundred People Project.  I just want to show the world that there are nice people everywhere!

We ate lunch at a restaurant here.  It was yummy!  Ribs, pulled pork, chicken, collard greens, polenta, cole slaw, and pickles.  We were all too full to have dessert, so after lunch we went to the confectionery.  The Lady told me that “confectionery” is just a fancy name for candy shop.  The houses and the words are big here!  I have never seen so much candy!


We each got a little treat to have when we got home.  The lady who worked at the confectionery (I like saying that word!) was friendly too.  We talked to her for a long time and found out that she had lived in Texas!  She told us that she bought her wedding dress in Dallas, where we live.  The world is not such a big place after all.  I’m not sure that I can say the same thing about this house, though.  Her name was Amy and she was more than happy to have a picture taken with me!


Look at her smile!  She made me laugh really hard.  I sure like meeting all of these nice people!

Oh, and I finally got to see the mountains.  I like them because they are blue like me.


Mr. Guy said that if we see that at sunrise or sunset they might look blue and orange, even more like me!

I had a good day.  I hope that you did too!  Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses…or in a pinch, the petunias!  Speaking of stops we made another stop on the way back. There was one more shop, (there are lots of shops here). A nice lady in there helped find a shirt for me at another shop! They are keeping it for us until tomorrow.


Tomorrow we are going back to the Biltmore to see the gardens, where they have roses, petunias, and lots more flowers.  And, we will get my new shirt! So watch for Part 2 of my trip to the Biltmore tomorrow!

Until then…

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2/100 My 100 People Project


This morning Mr. Guy and The Lady went to see where one of their friends works.  It is a shop that does powder coating.  I did not go out into the work area because it was not the best place for a blue and orange furry monster; I stayed in the office where there was a comfy chair and a computer.  The office belonged to Mr. Jim.  I hope that I did not mess up too many of his papers while he was showing my people around.
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Saturday In The Park

Today Mister Guy and the Lady took me to the park. They said it is officially the last day of summer, but that it will not turn cold here for a long time. They wanted to go to the park today because they have been very busy at school and have not been outside much.  I am too little to go outside by myself, so I haven’t been outside very much either.

By the time we headed out, it already was starting to get dark. The Lady said that it would get dark earlier and earlier now. So, we will have to get out to take pictures sooner each day. Mister Guy said that the change from summer to fall comes between today and tomorrow. He called it the Equinox. I had to ask him how to spell that big word. He told me it means ‘equal night’ because the day and the night are exactly the same length today. Mister Guys says this happens again when winter turns to spring. 

While we were at the park I saw some ducks. I had seen birds before, but they were always flying or standing. But these ducks were on the water. They floated!! It was very cool. 

The ducks started to come closer to us, but when they realized that we did not have any food, they moved in the opposite direction. The Lady told me that the water in the park is called a lake. That is where the ducks swim. 

I had seen water before; that was a big ocean in Delaware. The Lady said lakes are not as big as oceans. She said that not only do lakes have ducks, but they can have lots of fish and turtles in them. I have never seen a fish or a turtle. Maybe someday.


We went up to the playground. There were lots of fun things to do. 

I like that there is a playground close to our home. There were not too many people in the park tonight. The  library nearby was showing a movie outside on a big screen so people seemed to be there instead of in the park. That’s ok. I like to meet new people, but I also like being able to do things with just Mister Guy and The Lady.


I tried to ride a thing that looked like a great big grasshopper; I was too little and my arms would not reach. 


The grasshopper was too small for The Lady or Mister Guy to get on so they could not ride with me, but there was a smaller thing that I could ride all by myself!. It looked like a horse. I could stay on it if I hugged it’s neck! 

I had fun riding the horse. It really did not go anywhere. It just rocked back and forth, but it was fun to pretend that I was riding off into the sunset!  It really was sunset, at least.


I also got to go on two different slides. One was just a straight line and the other was all curvy. They were fun, but the curvy one made me a little bit dizzy. These slides were just the right size for a furry blue and orange monster. Mr Guy took me to the top and The Lady caught me at the bottom. 

I was glad she did!  I didn’t want to fly off onto the ground and get sand all in my fur.

I went inside a thing that Mister Guy said is called a teepee. I was confused because I thought he meant TP like toilet paper and I didn’t think I wanted to go inside that.  Mister Guy laughed and said that it was spelled t-e-e-p-e-e.  A teepee is a place wear Indians lived.  He said it was not a real teepee, but one made so little folks like me could play cowboys and Indians. 

He said long ago, the Native Americans, who many people call Indians lived right here in teepees. He said they had to fight for their homes because some people wanted to take their land. The people who wanted the Native Peoples’ lands would sometimes kill them for it. So there was fighting.  Why is there so much fighting?


I don’t understand things sometimes. It looks to me that everywhere I go there is lots of room for everyone. People should be able to get along. They should not try to take other people’s things. Blue and orange furry monsters are always happy to share. If I can be a friend and help someone by giving them something that I have, I will gladly share. But I would never just take something that did not belong to me.

There was also a make believe train in the park. It didn’t look much like the real train that I rode on before. That’s OK. 

 It was fun to pretend that I was the engineer who gets drive the train. 



I like trains. I hope I get to ride the real one again sometime soon.  The Lady said that we would probably go to the Texas State Fair in a few weeks.  When we do, I will get to ride the DART train again!

So that was my day in the park! I had fun. I like going places with The Lady and Mister Guy. They seem to like being with me too. 
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Green Line Train to Dallas

Mister Guy and The Lady have been really busy that last two weeks getting ready to go back to school. They are teachers and have to be prepared to share what they know with all of their students, so they have not been able to help me work on my blog post.

Mister Guy started back to school two weeks ago and The Lady started this past week.  I have never gone to school, but when I listen to them talk about it, I think school might be fun. They told me I would be the only blue and orange furry monster at school if I went. Maybe someday they will take me.  While they have been gone, I’ve been at home thinking about all I have seen since they adopted me.

In July I wrote about trains, planes and automobiles. Well, I hadn’t really seen any trains back then. But, now I have! Just before school started, we all went to downtown Dallas on the train.

Mister Guy needed to go to take some papers to the County offices. The Lady wanted to go to a place called Thanksgiving Square. They said it is a really pretty chapel. I wanted to go because I am always full of thanksgiving because they adopted me. They told me that having me makes them always thankful too. 

To get downtown we rode something called the DART train!  We went to a special place called the Farmers Branch Station, bought tickets and got on the long yellow and white train. It is called the “green line” so I don’t know why the train is yellow.  Mister Guy and The Lady said blue and orange furry monsters get to ride free. So away we went! 

The train was fun. And very interesting. We passed a lot of places and saw a lot of different people.  


I had never seen so many buildings, not in Delaware or anywhere else that I have been. At one point while we still riding on the train, two people came by and Mister Guy had to show them the tickets he had for himself and The Lady. The two people looked at me, but the Lady told them that she thought that blue and orange furry monsters did not have to have a ticket. They said that was true and moved on.


When we go to the stop closest to the county offices, we got off. The Lady, who likes to take pictures, wanted a picture of me at the station. 


In the background is a DART guy smiling at all of us, or maybe he is surprised to see a furry blue and orange monster riding on the train. He must not see very many blue and orange furry monsters. 


We went into the records building, The Lady and Mister Guy told me this was where lots of papers were kept to show who owns things. Mister Guy needed to give them some papers. We could not take pictures inside.  The Lady and Mister Guy showed me a water fountain that had a sign that said “Whites Only”. They told me that once upon a time people who did not have light colored skin were not allowed to use that water fountain. They said that anyone could use it now. The sign was still there too remind people of that awful time. I just cannot imagine why people would be like that to other people, That is wrong.  Everyone should be allowed to get a drink when they are thirsty, especially here in Texas where it is SO hot. I don’t understand what drinking water has to do with your color.  I wonder if I would have been allowed to use that water fountain. Does blue and orange fur count as light skin?

After Mister Guy finished the business part of our trip, we all went outside to look around. 


Mister Guy had not been to downtown Dallas in a long time and The Lady had not ever looked around in this area. In the background was a great big tower called Reunion Tower. 


Mister Guy said when he was a boy that was where all the trains came into Dallas. But that train depot and a lot of the tracks are now gone. I would have liked to have seen all those trains. Oh well, I got a good look at the tower. The Lady said that at night is is all covered in lights that turn on and off like they are dancing. I want to see that some day too!


We also saw a monument to John F. Kennedy. Mister Guy said that JFK was once President of the United States but that he was killed here in Dallas, very close to where we were standing. 


This monument was built in Dallas to help us remember JFK. Mister Guy said JFK was young and well loved by people in this country. Mister Guy could not explain why someone would kill JFK. The Lady and Mister Guy both said they did not understand how anyone could kill another person. I do not understand that either. 


We then walked a few blocks to Thanksgiving. Square. 


When we got there we discovered that the chapel was closed! The sign said there were problems with the water inside. Water seems to cause a lot of problems for people in many different ways. The Lady was especially disappointed because it is supposed to be very beautiful inside the chapel and she loves to take pictures of beautiful things like me and Mister Guy… 


I was disappointed too that we could not go inside the chapel at Thanksgiving Square. The Lady said we could come back on another day. That made me happy because it would mean another train ride! The Lady did get this picture of me outside the chapel.   

Don’t tell her that I said this, but from the outside it looks like a great big cupcake.

The Lady and Mister Guy were hungry. They decided to go to a small restaurant that had Mexican food. It is called Miguel’s Cantina. The Lady and Mister Guy said the food was very good. Blue and orange furry monsters don’t eat Mexican food, though it smelled good to me. The folks that worked there smiled when The Lady took this picture of me inside. 


I like the colors that they used to decorate!

Here I am on the outside. 


 I think The Lady wanted this picture so they could remember the name of the restaurant in case they want to come back again.


Mister Guy remembered another chapel that he used to visit when he was in high school. Mister Guy had a friend back then by the name of Bill Joseph.  His parents owned a cleaners downtown. Mister Guy told me that he used to go downtown in the summer and meet his friend and they would visit this chapel. 


Mr Guy seemed sad and the Lady told me his friend had died a year ago and Mister Guy had not spoken to him in a long time. We went inside the chapel, called St. Jude’s Chapel. It was a really great place, quiet and peaceful. 


Outside in downtown Dallas it was hot and loud with all the cars and people. Inside the Chapel, it was almost cold. Blue and orange furry monsters like the cold.

So that was our day in Dallas!  It was fun to see a big city! I hope we get to go again sometime soon so the Lady can take pictures of the chapel at Thanksgiving Square. Maybe we can get all the way over to Reunion Tower, too. The Lady said there is also a very nice place with lots of art in downtown Dallas that we should visit sometime. All of these things sound like fun to me.

I think I am going to have lots of grand adventures with my family here is Dallas!  I am looking forward to sharing them with you.