Thursday, November 08, 2012

— My Alphabe-Thursday, Yellow Cars I Have Known — "Y" — Two Questions —

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Posted in respect for Aphabe- Thursday's Letter "Y"

 

"Y" is for the Yellow Cars I have known.  Posted here are a few.  You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger size view.

Above left, is a toy car belonging to KP's friend who is three years old.  It is one of his favorites.  On the right, with Mrs. Jim 'driving', is a toy car at the Peppa Pigland Park near Southampton, U.K. where we visited while on a British holiday the last three weeks.  Did you note that the other two passengers, KP and me (JIM), are hanging on tightly?

 

Now we see the railroad Yellow car, again transporting KP and Mrs. Jim.  Then there is the Peppa Pig Yellow Bus showing off at Peppa Pigland.

 

I know, this car is not a Yellow Car.  It is brown.  What makes interesting is that the car is the M&M car at the super interesting M&M Store in London, U.K.  We could only wish that one of these M&M characters would have been Yellow.  The bike, it is sort of Yellow but definitely not a car.

 

Again, a not so Yellow Car.  But it is a car.  And for those of you who like reflections, 'eat your heart out.'  The next picture you may have seen.  This one was in a London newspaper lamenting the flooding of all these Yellow Cars in Hurricane Sandy flooded New York.

 

Just thought you'd like to see a Volkswagen Sharan car.  I had never seen one before here but this one is running around on the London streets.  Also it does have a Yellow license plate.  The spotted Yellow animal here is probably a giant Yellow Car Cat.  At any rate KP liked to ride in it even if nobody donated a coin to make it gyrate.

This vehicle is another Yellow Bus (Car) that shuttles people to and from the parking lot and airport terminals. This company has coupons to lower their rates to below the competitors. It also might be the one that has covered parking.

The vehicle below is a Yellow service Car for the railroad.  They used to be hand cars but this one is too large for that and has an engine. 

I found it at one of the the Cinque Terre, a region composed of five villages on the Italian Riviera.   It appears to have been 'out of service' for quite a while.



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Now for my Thursday Two Questions.

I really enjoyed your responses to my  Xenogamy and Guy Fawkes Day post of last week

My Two Questions for this week (you can answer just one if you wish):
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1. Do you have or have your ever had a Yellow Car?  If so, have your found an advantage to having it Yellow versus another color?
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2. Do you think there is a stigma concerning having or driving or riding in a Yellow Car?.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite "Y" word?. 

—My Thursday Two Questions post is for Amanda.

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— I posted the above for Alphabe-Thursday 'Y' assignments with Miss Jenny at the head of the class. You can find her by clicking right here.
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# posted by Jim : 11/08/2012 12:03:00 AM  21 comments

Friday, August 26, 2016

~~ Friday’s Hunt v.2.09 -- "I" is for ...

Friday's Hunt for the week of August 26th:
1. Starts with "I"
2. Week's Favorite
3. Pink

1. Ice Cream Starts with "I" :  In my world of eating, and blogging (link to past SOME of my past posts), "I" definitely is for Ice Cream.  I Scream for Ice Cream!!!

I'll do favorites here.

At the right is the neighborhood Gelato Mio store in St. John's Wood, London, U.K. (link) The store is on High Street, like the U.S. "Main Street", for St. John's Wood, this town in Westminster, is home for Paul McCartney not and the old London Stomping ground for the Beatles. 

Their first recording school was on Abbey Road there, and only a block from our Daughter, KP, and SIL, who lived in London for five years, all but the last two months in St. John's Wood.

While we were in London, staying with the kids, we would make a visit to Gelato Mia more often than once a week, i.e., we were 'regulars'.  The ice cream, European Gelato, was to die for.  My favorite was Raspberry Amaretto in a Waffle cone. 

Now for the ice creams that we eat here at home:


In order of our likes:

1.  Blue Bell Light -- for a long time Blue Bell was shut down due to a bacteria run loose in their plants.  Finally this was all scrubbed out and disinfected and things were back to normal.  Almost.  Our favorite flavor, this Light variety, was the last to start production, months behind the regular flavors.  It was also Adi's favorite. (link)
 
2.  This should have been "Dryer's French Silk" but I got the wrong kind and so we eat chocolate again.  KP will help us with that, she has several kinds of chocolate that she likes.

Not very obvious on the package, but 'Slow Churned' flavors are also their Lite ice cream, of which classification French Silk belongs.
3.  Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate is KP's favorite.  It is regular ice cream, not 'light'.  For chocolates, this is also our favorite. 

We always keep chocolate on hand for KP.
4.  Blue Bell Butter Crunch is sort of like having Butter Finger bars ground up and mixed into the ice cream.  Not being light, we eat this one sparingly but it is really good.

Often with our Blue Bell Light we cut up a Butter Finger or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bar and sprinkle that on the top of the ice cream.

4.  Kroger Chocolate is very dark and chocolatey, KP likes this one next to Blue Bell.   Kroger's 'Private Selection' ice cream is very fine, almost as good as Blue Bell.



2. Week's Favorite:  Not too much going on, lots of TV news: (I did get the car inspected get the license plates updated)

Floods in neighboring Louisiana were still bad. 
Alligators had escaped from their habitat. 


Our weather is cooling now.  Mid 90's for highs, sometimes high 80's.  We haven't been to Galveston for quite a while. It's about a 45 minute drive.
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3. Pink:  I like to take pictures of pink cars, I don't really know why.

Both these are 1955 Fords, the one on the left was on a NAPA calendar, part of my collection.  It might be red but I think it is a dark pink.  Ford made more pink ones that red in 1955.

The one on the right is my car, a 1:18 scale cast iron model of the 1955 Ford Crestline hardtop.  I bought it way back from the farm store in Tekamah, Nebraska, from their after Christmas sale for half price. 

Here are a few more that I appreciated at least enough to take their pictures:


At left a toy plastic car in conjunction with the Big Breakfast celebration at our church, it was a place marker for its owner's lemon bars.  I got the last one.  On the right is a nondescript pink car parked in Friendswood (Texas) at a shopping center.  Kind of pretty.

On the right here is a pink toy car for kids to ride in after the parents have loaded it with a few quarters.  It was by the Merry Go Round at the Woodlands (Texas) Shopping Mall.
I am not KP's parent, just a grandparent, and I didn't have quarters for this car.  We may have fed another earlier, I can't remember.  We did feed the Carousal.
KP was about three here, home from London to visit her four grandparents..

This is a training vehicle belonging to the U.S. Navy at Christchurch, New Zealand.  The Navy has a training facility there for Antarctic Exploration.  One like this one took us for a bumpy ride through the snow at the training field.  We were riding in a trailer-like vehicle being pulled by an Arctic Crawler like this one.  I don't know why it was pink, not a regular Navy color for vehicles.


At left is a pink car on track in Peppa Pig Land, Southampton, U.K.  We rode the train down from London.  Our main purpose was to introduce the play-land to KP.  She was three and loved Peppa Pig (Google search).  Mrs. Jim was driving, Billy (KP's Daddy) was her passenger.  Front seat passenger was KP.  The car on the right was a Ukraine find.

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The Fine Print:
 - Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt.  Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter.


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# posted by Jim : 8/26/2016 10:20:00 AM  14 comments

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Have you had your car read lately? #020 — Six Word Saturday — Three Youthful Finds

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Do you remember your youthful driving?

[Click on any picture for larger viewing.]

I am thinking that the drivers of these three cars are progressively older as shown here. They probably didn't have the bad experiences totalled together of six accidents as I did by myself. Three of them were not my fault.

That doesn't count knocking down a road barrier before school. My sister wouldn't count knocking down the neighbor's mailbox either. I feel a little bad about that as I taught her how to drive. Plus, I think Dad was with her when she did it.

This first car goes nowhere fast. Very fast. Just one look at this driver and you will know that she is related to me, Jim. In fact, she is my grand-daughter, KP, out for a spin.

Her race care is in the Incredible Pizza restaurant in Conroe, Texas. The car tipped from side to side as it made it's journey around the track. KP did not like that. I asked Mrs. Jim if the car had a seat belt as that would help stabilize her. Mrs. Jim said yes, but that KP did not like it.

Since she does not like foolishness and the out of ordinary for her involvement in car riding I predict that she will become a very safe driver. She watches out for people approaching her on either side. This car did not have a rear view mirror but she did turn around often to see if other racers were catching up with her. KP definitely gets an AAA+++.

This car arrived downstairs from Karen's and Billy's London flat in the middle of the night. I have it in my mind that it was about two in the morning. Bars close there at 11 PM so they didn't just come from a bar.

The occupants were very noisy and seemed to care less about waking the neighbors up. After some more loud giggling, more discrete chatting and whispering, one jumped out and ran into the building. Eventually the car drove off.

These people were teens out having fun for the night. The car surely was not stolen or they would be more discrete. Probably a concert had been in order and then a light breakfast type meal afterwards. For their sake I do hope no one was in trouble for being out that late. My rating here is ABB+
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The driver of this car is obviously on an errand. I believe he or she is delivering a family meal to a flat upstairs above these stores.

There is no Cafe Lidos here on St. Johns Wood High Street (Westminister, London, U.K.). The closest one is down by the Paddington Station, a little over two miles to the South. It is too far to pick up supplies so I am saying a delivery.

Our delivery person then is probably a young male in his early 20's. He dresses well or could be in a Lido's uniform. Probably he is not married, because of the connections he is in position to make, he has a special friend.

The driver obviously flaunted the parking rules as he/she is not in a regulation parking place. Do notice that cars are parked heading either way on this street. The car, even though now being driven in the rain, has been flawlessly kept. I give an AAA+++ for the driver, the car, and the business.
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Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words.
Six Word Saturday, Click the box --> to visit Cate's blog with Mr. Linky showing all the other blogs participating this week.
Cate is the boss at Six Word Saturday. She would like for you to participate.

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# posted by Jim : 5/07/2011 12:26:00 AM  12 comments

Friday, September 06, 2013

A Random Five post [016] — Home now (includes Feline-Friday picture) and London Things

.ALL of my 2013 London Holiday posts? click HERE
 
My Five for Today:.....

[Click on any picture for large size view] -[Back button gets you back to the blog]
One: (Feline Friday entry) Little Girl, what's your name?
Really, I don't know if this is a girl or boy cat. It liked me and got up when I climbed the stairs. When I left the cat was waiting for me. I did take its water cup in for a refill because she was about out and the water had some trashy stuff that had blown in.
 
Two: A lot of progress has been made on what I think will be our new pole dancing studio on Hwy 1097 since we have been gone.
 
I probably should take some lessons when it is finished.  They had hoped to open by September 15.
 
The picture below on the left is how it looked when we left for London.  On the left side might go the advanced pole for advanced dancing.  Then there can be seven other poles to the right of the tall one so that with using the advanced pole eight poles would be available for group lessons.
 
There might be an advantage in taking flying trapeze lessons instead.  That would be in London again, at Regents Park (see blog below for our boat ride there).  But because of my left knee joint replacement I probably shouldn't be doing the trapeze.  But most of you readers have both options open for you.

 
 
Three:  As much as I have been to Regent's Park I have not used the rest rooms.  If I had then I would have shown you the inside of one.  I imagine they are quite nice.
 
This one is in Regent's Park.  There is another gate for the ladies.
 
Below are a couple of shopping pictures.  On the left is High Street for St. Johns Wood where Karen and family live.  High Street is similar to the Main Street in the U.S. towns and cities.
 
On the right is KP playing with the Channel bags.  They are nice bags but I have no idea what came in them.  I doubt it was cheap.

 
 
   
 
On the left is a small crowd going to church.  This is the All Souls Church (link) in downtown London, at Langham Place and Regents Street, north of Oxford Street.  Karen and family attend there.  KP is liking the children's church a lot.  It has an excellent attendance with the upstairs almost always filled and sometimes there is standing room only. The church is of Anglican Evangelical denominational affiliation.
 
The picture on the right I took from an upstairs window in Karen and Billy's building.  The houses would be leading into Abbey Road.  They look small nestled in amongst the apartments but they are actually very large homes.  And very expensive, in the millions of British Pounds.

Four: This couple, Matt and Claire Abrey, are driving down Piccadilly Street in London.  They may have been returning from the filming in London of an episode for Top Gear.  There were £200million of British cars around for this. (link).

I could not find much about specific car mentioned.  In races the Abreys enter it in the pre-1920 class. (road rally link picture)  I was not sure exactly looking to find more.
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Five: One of these homes belongs to Paul McCartney.  I believe it is the one on the left after being completely remodeled and given a face lift.

This video may help you. One hint is the brick pillars, now painted white, used for  holding the entrance gate.
(The Video)

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This should finish my London visit pictures for a bit.  Next posting should pick up again with our Venice-to-Black Sea-to-Athens cruise pictures.

Fine print stuff:
==> I'm linked with Steve's Burnt Food for this today, go see his cat.
He and others have a Mr. Linky going there so you can see other cats too.

==> I am also linked up today with Nancy at A Rural Journal. She conducts her "A Random Five" blog hop there. Click that link to read other "A Random Five" posts or to join in with your own.

==> Click on any picture for a larger size and a better view.

ALL of my 2013 London Holiday posts? click HERE

Plus three others with KP linked to the Science Museum
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# posted by Jim : 9/06/2013 12:14:00 AM  13 comments

Thursday, February 05, 2015

My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "L" — Some places I've been starting with "L"

"L" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "L" where I have traveled:

 - Countries:
Liechtenstein
 
 - States: (I've been to all 50) 
Louisiana

 - Large Cities over 100,000 population I've liked:
London, U.K. (Check here for some of my past London blog posts)
Los Angles, California
Lincoln, Nebraska 

So, here goes: 
Liechtenstein is one of the ten small countries of the world, Grenada*, Malta, Maldives, Saint Kitts and Nevis*, Liechtenstein*, San Marino, Tuvalu, Nauru, Monaco*, and the Vatican* (Link -- I've been to the four asterisked ones). 

We drove through Liechtenstein two times and took a bus once.  What struck me each time was a row of large homes and castles lined up just before range of mountains start.

Where did we eat?  McDonald's all three times.  European hamburgers aren't as good as they are in the U.S.  I prefer fish sandwiches in the McDonalds overseas.

And don't expect to get your passport stamped.  Crossing between countries in the E.U. is like crossing state border in the U.S.  Liechtenstein does require a special automobile tax stamp be displayed in the windshield.  Our rental agency had provided for this for our car.
 
 
[click on picture for larger view size]
 
Before eating fried seafood (catfish, oysters, shrimp, crawfish, alligator) my two SILs and BIL decide on whether to use the restroom or not before eating.  As shown in the left of the left picture is a sign giving directions with arrow for the restroom out back of the restaurant. 
I give the restroom a One out of a possible Five.  My ratings depend on cleanliness and on how much of the equipment needs to be touched with clean hands.  Here, I wash my hands someplace else after leaving. 
The food was delicious, using the toilet was an adventure.  There are lots of water and bridges in Louisiana.  Watch out for alligators.

Louisiana is our neighbor state where Mrs. Jim was born at Alexandria, a small city in the middle of the state.  Once a year we have a family reunion there.

Lincoln, Nebraska is where I lived for five years after I graduated from high school.  I attended the University of Nebraska for three semesters with a possible Geology major.  My grades were not good so I withdrew before it became possible for me not to return.  The thing I learned there best was to play a really good game of chess.

I don't go back there anymore but do have a lot of memories.  My first girlfriend and I dated there but that didn't last forever.  I had a job in the Elgin watch factory and worked there for three years until the draft caught up with me and I went into the Army. 

The plant closed while I was in the service and there was a bad recession when it was time to leave so I re-enlisted for an electronics school at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas.  That gave me a carrier in Aerospace Engineering which would serve me well for the next 20 years.

 This is a 1934 Ford Three Window Coupe. 
In the mid 50's we raced one of these on
an oval dirt track in Lincoln Nebraska.
Ours had no headlights and the fenders had
their outside surfaces, showing here, cut off

While at Lincoln besides working I learned how to fix cars (Ford specialty) by working on a 1934 Ford Coupe which we raced as a Modified Stock Car at the Lincoln race track.  It was a pretty car, painted 'baby blue' with the number 88 painted on the sides and back in big white letters. 

It ran very well, fast too because it was bored and stroked and ran a special racing cam.  For fuel we used a mixture of alcohol and nitromethane (link), which BTW, causes flames to shoot out of the exhausts when the car slows for cornering.   Occasionally I would drive but we had a steady driver who was very good.

My personal car was a nice 1952 Ford Tudor for which I had rebuilt the motor.  It would out run any 1955 or 1956 Chevys (fastest street cars then) I could find, even the ones with the 'Power Packs'.
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 - Jenny is now on her tenth series of Alphabe Thursday.  With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year.  I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.

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# posted by Jim : 2/05/2015 12:03:00 AM  11 comments

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