Aunt Kate!

Arianisa August Deming

I'm SOOOO excited!!! I'm now an Auntie to little Ari who was born early Saturday December 8, 2007. This was a picture sent to me, but I'll be flying home this week and can guarantee there will soon be more!

Fall Fun

Thanksgiving in Texas

Michael came down and joined me and my family in Granbury for a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was 75 degrees when I landed Wed. evening and snowed Thanksgiving Thursday...go figure. It was beautiful though and Friday I was able to show Michael around my little hometown square all decorated with lights.

October Pumpkin Carving

I love pumpkin and what better way to celebrate than a pumpkin carving extravaganza! Doreen and I hosted a night of pumpkin treats and carving at Bryan and Sue's house with close to 30 people showing up. The results were pretty amazing!

Just one of the "carving stations.

And the final result...stars, swirls, owls, cannibal pumpkins, haunted houses, pirate skulls...Amazing!

Ireland

Ireland:

After the choir headed back to Dallas, I headed on to Ireland and met up my friend Kateen from Seattle. We rented a cute little red car and embarked on an incredible journey down Ireland's winding roads. It was above and beyond what either of us had expected.

Our Irish welcome heading into Dingle Ireland...a much needed change of luck after having had our rental car backed into by a bizarre little Irish man only 2 hours into our road trip. Dingle was a wonderful quaint little Irish fishing town filled with friendly people, amazing food, and wonderful live Irish music.

Just one of 100's of pictures I took of Ireland's beautiful coastline.

This little sheep thought he was king of the hill. He just stood there and watched as we laughed and laughed at him.

The Long and Winding Road

This picture was taken along the coastline of the Dingle Peninsula...sometimes there was barely room for us to squeeze by, which made for numerous "hold your breath moments"!

Stained glass in a little pub we stopped at for lunch. I believe it was in Levenworth. We of course had the soup of the day, which in Ireland is always vegetable.

A very common occurance when traveling in Ireland...herding sheep down the road.

The little port of Roundstone. It was cloudy when we arrived and then the sun finally managed to peek through.

Somewhere near Clifden I believe. What a gorgeous day...I guess the more accurate way to say it, is "what a gorgeous moment." The weather in Ireland is constantly changing throughout the day and can be rainy and cloudy, then sunny, then foggy, then rainy and cloudy again.

This time instead of the usual sheep herding we got to herd cows.

Kylemore Castle (1868) We lucked out and got there just in time to take a few pictures before it started pouring down rain.

Sigh...this reminds me of New Zealand. Absolutely beautiful.

Seriously...the best salad I have ever tasted...hands down. Yes I realized that there's really not too much in way of "salad" per say, but maybe that's why it was the best I've ever had:) It was quite un-expected seeing as we were in the tiny little surfing town of Strandhill...yes I know, surfing in Ireland? In the morning we went for a refreshing jog on the beach.

Strandhill Beach: The beginning of a spectacular sunset...get ready, I tried to condense the 100+ I took to just a few. Not easy!

Me on the beach just before the sky cleared up a bit and everyone in town came out to watch the sunset.

One of the local kiddos, enjoying the evening.

Yeah...it was an amazing evening:)

On our way to the cliffs of Slieve League...we just had to stop and explore one of the many little dirt roads.

Ok...talk about holding your breath...this was the little road winding up to the the cliffs of Slieve League...supposedly the highest sea cliffs in Europe. The only thing between us and the drop-off was the make-shift fence you see.

Sheep, sheep, everywhere...the top of the cliffs were no exception. They seemed to be oblivious to the fact that were teetering on the edge of certain doom if they slipped.

Behind every picture is a story and this one is certainly no exception. After coming down from the cliffs we passed through the little village and I happened to see 3 older Irishmen sitting on the bench, fully engrossed in their ice cream. Being an extreme ice cream fan I couldn't resist having Kateen pull over the car. I'm sure they thought I was a complete nut as I ran over and asked to take their picture, but they agreed and it's probably my favorite of the entire trip.

England, Wales, & Scotland Continued

Bath, England

One of the beautiful sandstone buildings in the city of Bath. All of the town's buildings are made of this special sandstone. We were told though, that the quarry is almost finished and they're not sure what they're going to use for future buildings. The town is best known for it's Roman baths. Great if you like the smell of sulphur!

Another view in Bath. I had visited the town in 1998 and toured the Baths then, so this time I decided to walk around and see the other sites the town had to offer. I found out that Jane Austen supposedly lived here.

One more picture taken in Bath. What a beautiful evening! There were hot air balloons everywhere adding to the already picturesque view.

Tintern Abbey, Southeastern Wales

Two pictures taken at Tintern Abbey in Southeastern Wales. The fog and misty rain gave it a wonderful enchanted feeling. The area was surrounded by mountains and I loved the cows grazing on the little farm that butted right up against the abbey's ruins.

Chester, England

Hurray for finding my own personal store in the little town of Chester! Unfortunately it was closed since it was Sunday. I guess I'll just have to take a trip back someday to check it out!

Hadrian's Wall, England

An unplanned diversion led us to Hadrian's Wall out in the middle of no where. I was much more captivated by the countryside than the little museum or the wall. It was blissful to walk barefoot up the hill, skipping through the sheep fields. I highly recommend it!

Edinburgh, Scotland

A picture of Edinburgh Castle and then a view of the city from atop the castle. Edinburgh is hands down one of my most favorite cities in the world. It's hard to even begin to comprehend the history this city has witnessed! When we arrived to sing, there was a Scottish wedding taking place and bagpipers were playing from the castle walls. Quite an entrance!

Sterling Castle

A much smaller castle than Edinburgh, but still amazing. We had a wonderful last concert here! It was an amazing trip!

Michael

So one of the biggest surprises of the whole trip was meeting and falling head over heels for an amazing fella. Michael, an incredible countertenor, and I happened to stand by each other during the concerts. It was half-way through the trip that we really started talking and quickly hit it off. He is originally from St. Croix, part of the Virgin Islands, but currently lives in Dallas. Since the trip I've been to Dallas, he's been to Seattle and now I'm back to Dallas at the end of the month to introduce him to the family. Who knows what the future holds!

England, Wales, & Scotland: July 2007

This summer I was invited by my best friend and old college roommate, Kara, to join her church choir from Dallas on their tour of the UK. It was great to be back in the country that spurred my love of travel almost 10 years ago when I'd toured there with my high school choir. We went to a few places I'd visited, but saw many sights I hadn't seen before. It was a blast!

Night time in London: an amazing evening spent catching up with old friends, eating great Thai, and exploring the sights of the city.

Old Choir Buddies: Kara, Me, & Greg

Kara and I got to meet up with our college buddy Greg who has been living and working in London for two years. It was great to see him and exciting to watch him on TV the week we got back to the US. He's a theater/film major and recently was on the Discovery Channel during shark week in a documentary titled "Ocean of Fear: The Worst Shark Attack Ever," which re-enacted the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Check it out: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/sharkweek/slide-shows/ocean-of-fear.html

Two pictures of Trafalgar Square on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The square is known for it's massive lion sculptures which are usually swarming with kids and tourists. A great place to just sit and people watch!

Inside the British Museum, located only a few blocks from our hotel. Like many of the museums in the UK, it's free to visit! Unfortunately, we got there just as the exhibits closed for the evening. Still just the building itself was something to behold!

Who can resist a uniformed man on a horse? One of the many guards we saw throughout the city. The week before our arrival in London was the terrorist bombing scare, so security was extremely tight.

A view of the famous London Eye from one of the many, beautiful parks in the city. For $30 bucks you can take a ride and see the city from above...we decided to explore the city on foot instead...much cheaper!

Outside Buckingham Palace: When the Queen is at home, which she was this day, you can see her royal flag flying from the flag pole on top of the palace. This flag is called the Royal Standard.

The famous Stonehenge: A very intriguing and windy place to visit! Quite busy as well...everyone walking around asking the same questions..How? and Why?

Gloucester Cathedral Cloisters: Cloisters are my favorite part of a cathedral. They usually consist of four window corridors that surround a courtyard. Sometimes they are open arches, but in this case they were arched stained glass windows. Beautiful when the light streams through...which it was when we arrived!

The Choir singing in the Gloucester Cathedral...an AMAZING and unforgettable choral experience. The week after we left the town of Gloucester flooded. It supposedly was one of the worst floods in its history. Glad we passed through on a dry, sunny day! The week after we would have had to have used a boat to get around the town!