Bridges @ Iowa and Illinois, A Photo a Week

Living on one side of the river and working on the others can cause a transportation problem if we did have bridges. There are some places around the world that have ferry boats that take people and sometimes cars from one side of the river to the other.

Where I live on the Mississippi we have numerous bridges, some for cars and some for trains. Most have identifying names so in conversation you can tell what side of the quad cities you are referring to. There are 4 cities linked together, 2 cities on each side of the river that the only way you can tell what city you are in is by the street name. For instance if you were on 49th street and all of a sudden you were on 1st street, you went from Davenport to Bettendorf in Iowa or from Rock Island to Moline in Illinois. On the far west side of town you have the first bridge, the Blue Bridge(that used to be the yellow bridge) which is actually the 280 bypass. The next bridge east is a railroad bridge and coming further east you have the newer bridge, the Centennial Bridge, which connects the downtown areas of Davenport and Rock Island. This is the bridge where all the 4th of July festivities are surrounded. A barge is put in the middle of the river and is where they shoot off fireworks. The next bridge over is the Arsenal Bridge and Lock Dam that goes from Davenport’s east side the the Rock Island Base. Coming further east is the I-74 Corridor bridge which is in the process of its 3rd and massive rebuild. The the last bridge for the area is the I-80 bridge which will probably be the next rebuild project one the I-74 bridge is complete in 2020.

In following Nancy Merrill’s prompt of Bridges I am featuring the center most bridges of the area. There is also a smaller river in this area, the Rock river that flows into the Mississippi that has several bridges as well but they are not as photographic as these. So enjoy. I do apologize for the gray day but its that kind of day.

IMG_20181102_112343 — The Centennial Bridge with the Railroad bridge in the distance.

IMG_20180713_131048 — Paddle boat ride up the river showing construction on I-74 Corridor Bridge earlier this summer

These two pictures below show construction barges and cranes. In October you could main frames for the structure footings and some of the first sections of the bridge are complete. I will send update maybe in the spring.

The area I live in is really not that big in comparison of the larger metro cities but is big enough to need several bridges to carry people from side to the other.

In closing today I close with a wonderful smile as a reminder to always be kind. your kindness may be the only nice thing that person may get on a given day.

smiling — This smile can turn any frown upside down.

Mosaic Snail, Escapist Coloring Club

I forgot to take a picture before I started coloring. This one was pretty intense but fun at the same time. It is a great way to relax, I color for about 10 minutes before bed. It takes my brain off of the hamster wheel of life.

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Join in on Linda G Hill’s prompt for Escapist Coloring Club. It is a great way to relax and enjoy each other expression of their or their children’s expressions of fun.

In closing I remind myself and others to always be kind, it may brighten someones day.

kind8

Red Doors, Thursday’s Doors

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During the middle ages church doors were painted red to signify the blood of Christ and as a sign of the cross. The red doors of churches also symbolize a place of sanctuary, refuge and safety from physical or spiritual evil/danger.

When I saw these wonderful doors, I wondered how many other doors of churches in my area are red and there were quite a few. Even a few residences had red doors. Enjoy these door, while some may be rather plain, I lean back on the wonder of showing the love of Christ on a door.

I thought this next door was interesting which at one time was possibly a home or apartment complex but now serves as one of the residences for St. Ambrose College.

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There can be some much wonder when you take the time to study the details our world. The beauty and the complexities of why we are where we are today.

And as you reflect on this beauty, remember to be kind. A kind smile can break the tight hold of fear or despair that may be chocking someone.

kind8 — Your kindness may be that person’s only light for the day.

The Yard is Done, #1Liner Wednesday

Fall brings about a flurry of cleaning projects to get ready for winter and I am on a time schedule. So the last 2 days I have not touched my computer much other than to read some of your wonderful stories. But alas, it is all done….outside. Thanks to Alternative Design Landscapes Specialist out of Bettendorf Iowa I have new steps and a new wall that were rotting railroad timbers and a new mailbox to keep the mailman happy and Mimi less stressed.

And while that was going on, the plumber came out to fix a leaky outside faucet before it got cold and I got all the flower bed cleaning done. All in all a busy but productive two days. Now I can sit on the sofa and play on the computer while watching the birds eat and fight over the new bird feeders. They are so fun to watch. The feeder is close to the evergreens where they zoom to hid when spooked only to peek out to make sure all is clear before heading back to the feeders.

Mostly what I have are chickadees but this big fella enjoys the sunflower seeds as well.

IMG_20181031_085148 — Dirty windows too…work never ends

I clean the windows about every two weeks as Mimi loves looking out as well and leaves her nose and slobber marks. And of course we have to warn about the dreaded mailman. The ice box was added as an incentive to save the window seal.

She is so funny as she looks around at me while she is barking like “Do you not see this?” In reality she is just a silly old lapdog baby.

And in closing I remind myself and everyone else to be kind. It is a inexpensive gift from God that reflects His love.

Come follow along with Linda G. Hill’s One Liner Wednesdays and enjoy the fun.

A Sunday Prayer

I thank you Lord for the wonderful people who share your love and gives us peace and assurance of your presence. Help us to take this love and reflect it on others as we go our way on this earth as we always remember to be kind.

kind8

Time is Getting Short. Get ready! #6WS

Time is getting short, I only have 2 weeks left to get ready for Christmas. What? Its not even Halloween yet. True. But I have to have the yard fully ready for winter, the front door cleaned and painted from Mimi’s scratching this summer(it’s how she knocks), get the house fully cleaned inside and everything in its place so that I can decorate for Christmas and be completely ready by end of day November 8th. November the 9th is RF day. RF day is surgery on the right foot, like the surgery in August on the left foot which means no walking at all for 3 weeks and very limited walking after that for another month. I am not missing out on Christmas so we decorate early. I have no problem with that.

Accomplished so far is the yard is clean. Landscape people are coming on Tuesday to rebuild the back steps and to replace the rotting railroad timbers with large boulders. I have also finished painting the front door. It looks better gray than white and maybe it will hide Mimi’s “knocking” better.

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But I still have the 7′ tree for the living room, the 7′ tree for the front bedroom, the 4′ tree and village(20+ pieces) for the dining room table, the two foot tree for the kitchen and master bath and then there are the 5 different nativity sets that need to go up, one set having candles along with countless “stuff” that sits everywhere. Yes, I have a fanatic love for Christmas, what it means and decorating for it. Oh, and I forgot the 4′ stuffed Santa that I won when I was 12. Here is a picture of him last year trying to hang lights on the tree. He is so clumsy and gets tangled every year in lights. But he loves to look at the tree.

Debbie Smyth’s Six Word Saturday reminded me just how short a time I have left to get it all done. But when it all gets done I will post pictures….lots and lots of pictures. Oh and I didn’t mention downstairs. My daughter lives down stairs and she is just as bad as I am. We set aside one day a year, the off day for Ga. football, to do ornament shopping. We like to buy 1 new and interesting ornament every year….1…what am I saying? But its our fun tradition each year and we have a blast.

And in closing, I remind myself and others, it’s beginning to be that joyful time of year. We need to make it last longer than just this time of year. Spread joy and kindness wherever you go.

kind8

Colloquialism, A $5 word – #SoCS

Colloquialism is described in Webster’s as a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is typically used in ordinary or familiar conversations. That even sounds complicated.

dictionary

I am from the south, the true south of the United States of America. And by true south, as explained only by someone from the true south, that means east of the Mississippi River and below the Mason-Dixon Line. While some people feel that part of the country can be more gentile, they can also be more scrappy than most.

As I have lived in other parts of the country, my southernisms have been known to turn a head or two. Most people just look at you like a deer in headlights. All southernisms are local terms or phrases we use in the south that we all understand what they mean. Proper name for them is colloquialism, a $5 word. A $5 word is big word, a hard to pronounce word, a dictionary looking up word or a very proper word nobody really uses. One of the most famous southernism we get teased about is a phrase we use that means we are getting ready to do something. That phrase is “fixin to” ex. I am fixin to get dressed. I am fixin to cook up a mess of beans. That means I am going to cook a large pot of beans. There is even a certified dictionary for southernisms but I have read some of those and some of those are ridiculousness that somebody just made of to make us look even more silly.

south1 — The word sugar ends with an “h” in the south.

Linda G Hill with Streams of Consciousness gave us the prompt for this week of “bone”. My first thought was fighting words – huh? When someone ticked you off but yet they were not present, the next time you saw them you would yell across the room “Hey, I gotta bone to pick with you“. Then they knew they were in trouble with a capital T. That phrase may be used lots of places but I know the south does use it frequently. In doing research on the phrase, they linked it to bone of contention going back as far as the 1500 with the idea of two dogs fighting over the same tasty bone.

I gave Mimi and knuckle bone I got from a local butcher and she turned her nose up at it. Guess she is too sophisticated for the real thing and prefers her “chicken bone”.

IMG_20181026_232540 — Chicken Flavor? Really?

Who am I to judge? She is happy, I am happy. Its all good.

And in closing, I remind myself and others to always be kind. You never know when that stranger may be an angel in disguise.

kind8

Walmart – Word Prompt Humor

You know it is a sad thing when a website is dedicated to the way people dress while shopping in their store and that store is Walmart. I shop at Walmart and I don’t dress crazy or am disrespectful to other people eyes. If I don’t want to see it, surly I don’t want you to either. But that is not what this is about.

A weekly prompt from qc of http://weeklyprompts.com/2018/10/24/word-prompt-humor asked to share a funny story where someone pushed you to that point but you refrained because you knew it would have been bad if you reacted to the situation – you just smile and go on.

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This goes along with the saying that God doesn’t give you situations you cant handle, you made need His help but you still can stand.

Those of you who have been following me for a bit (only been around for 4 months) know that I just recently had foot surgery. A couple of weeks ago I just needed to get out from being cooped up for 7 weeks so I went with my daughter to Walmart for the weekly grocery shopping. I got one of the electric buggies as there was no way I could manage the distance of the floor space of that store.

When going down the spice aisle, I got out of the buggy momentarily to review the spices as they were at a higher level than cart sitting position. While studying the shelf I was all of a sudden run totally over by a 4 year old running loose on the store. Fortunately I was knocked into the shelf that caught my fall. I reached down to pick up my cane just as his mom rounded the corner yell at me for knocking down her son with a lot of language I will not share here. During the woman’s tirade I felt my daughter hand close tightly over my hand that had a death grip on the cane. Still lost for words at the situation, I looked at my daughter and she said very calmly one word- “Breathe”. And I did as my brain wanted to hit this woman with the cane. As much as I try to always sign off with being kind, this was one of those times I thought…umm NO. My daughter knew my boiling point had been reached and she also knew I was good at swinging a baseball bat and a cane would be easy-peasy. Sometimes it takes others to help us get back in focus, so I just stared at the woman as she and her out of control child cleared the end of the aisle.

The humor came about 15 minutes later and 3 aisles further down when a loud crash was heard throughout the store. As we neared the area guess who we saw? The little boy was in a buggy being watched by a store clerk while mom and store manager cleaned up multiple packages of dried soup mixes scattered on the floor from a display that now lay destroyed on the end of an aisle.

As I rode by the scene, I made eye contact with the mom. I raised only one eyebrow and nodded as I scooted slowly by in my electric cart. Oh how I wish I had a horn to go beep beep as I passed by.

Sometimes when someone sprays you with lemon juice, your the one that gets the refreshing glass of lemonade.

Even though life slaps you in the face, try to remember to be kind, even when it is not deserved. You may get blessed with a chuckle before it is all over.

kind8

Its Yellow’s Turn, #1 Liner Wednesday

Last week I showed pictures of the leaves during the first show of change and the colors were red. Now yellow is making it’s appearance and this area has lots of yellow to enjoy.

Yellow1 — The brightness of the yellow or the blueness of the sky is really not reflected in the photo

I was finally able to go walking through the local state park and the yellows were exquisite. There were a few reds still trying to hang on of which I was surprised with the winds that came through here last Saturday. With the sudden cold air on Sunday and Monday, the yellows are really showing off. This is a response for Linda G Hill’s #1Liner Weds.

Enjoy the colors.

The Black Hawk State Park is a small park inside the city limits of Rock Island Illinois, one of the cities of the Quad Cities metro area between Illinois and Iowa with the Mississippi running through them. It a beautiful park with walking trails. When we first moved into this metro area I was shocked to see deer just walking through the yard but its because of the preserve and they are protected here.

So as the season is changing again, enjoy this time as nature prepares to rest for the coming winter of cold and white. According to Farmers Almanac, the mid-west is in for a rough one. https://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather-outlook/2019-winter-forecast

If we could just have summer for about 1 month, and one month of winter and the rest divided between spring and fall I would be a happy camper. But alas, they each have their purpose. Ok, fine.

And as reminder to me and everyone else, please be kind. There are times when it is really hard but those times can sometimes bring the highest rewards.

deer — Even animals depend on the kindness of strangers

Beauty of the Ocean…in Iowa

I currently live in Iowa on the Mississippi River. When I was a kid, when trying to learn the state locations, the center of the country was always easy because of the man in the middle. For those not familiar with that teaching, I will explain. The foot or boot(purple) of the man is Louisiana, his pants(green) is Arkansas, his shirt(blue) is Missouri, his head(green) is Iowa and his hat(tan) is Minnesota. Now the face of the man is carved by the Mississippi River and where I live, the river comes across sideways forming the nose. I tease my grandchildren saying I live in the nose of the man in the center, so you know what that makes me. The point I am trying to make is the location of this state. Iowa is one state down from Canada, 4 states from the Pacific ocean, 5 states from the Atlantic Ocean and 3 states from the Gulf of Mexico, so basically we are land locked with the river being our main water attraction, several lakes scatter about. We are one state away from Lake Michigan which acts like and ocean but what ocean freezes over hard enough to drive a truck on in the winter. Oh, and just to throw this out there, I am 4 states away from my home state of Georgia which borders on the Atlantic. I do miss the ocean.

But this area seems to be fascinated with the ocean life, I guess because they don’t get to see it unless they go on vacation.(there are even Christmas tree ornaments) I posted some pictures in an earlier blog about the ocean street art on the railroad bridge in the center if the city. If you missed it, it is here. But last week when coming back through a section of town I don’t go in often I found several buildings of street art, one dedicated to ocean life, real and imaginary. So I though I would share those with you today. I find street art very fascinating due to the image painted and the enormous size.

IMG_20181018_131046 — The building and the artist, 2010

IMG_20181018_131120 — Turtle, shark and giant squid

Then you have the whale, porpoises and the mermaids. Architecturally speaking, I find it interesting how the windows are at angles and protected from the weather.

Below are wonderful pictures, thank you internet, that give a glimpse of true ocean life, an area of life on this planet we have only begun to understand. Enjoy.

And as a daily reminder to myself and anyone else, always try to be kind. You would be amazed how it makes you feel as well as those you are kind to. And staying with the ocean theme, I show you that even ocean animals understand the process of being kind.

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