Les Jones

Circus peanuts are the worst

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 | Holidays | Permalink | No Comments |

9 grossest Halloween candies.

Any kind of chocolate is a big winner. And when you’re a kid the tart and sour stuff is pretty good, too.

Dylan sings Christmas

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 | Holidays | Permalink | No Comments |

His Christmas album could be under your tree this year.

One of my guilty pleasures is Christmas albums by pop stars - Aaron Neville, The Beach Boys, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Liberace, Elvis, Frank Sinatra…

Frank Sinatra’s Christmas album is extremely well done and not at all campy. So is Aaron Neville’s. Those guys can sing, with Sinatra more formal and Neville more soulful. I like both as low-key background music on Christmas Eve.

Elvis has a few camp moments, but the guy really could sing and he has great production. He’s also the only performer here with original Christmas songs that became standards.

Liberace defines camp, but after buying his Christmas album in the bargain bin I’m amazed at how much I like his piano and string arrangements.

Tags: bob dylan

Ripley’s Aquarium in the Smokies

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Holidays, Photos | Permalink | 1 Comment |

On our last day in Gatlinburg we visited Ripley’s Aquarium in the Smokies. I prefer the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, but the glass tunnel underneath the Ripley’s aquarium is really cool.

In the next picture we’re on an upper level shooting down through the water and into the tunnel. You know how there are catfish and dogfish? Katie said these were peoplefish.

I didn’t get many good photos due to the lighting challenges. It was pretty dark in most areas, and the flash tended to bounce off the glass. I like this out of focus shot with the ceiling lights dancing off the ripples in the water.

Happy July 4th

Sunday, July 5th, 2009 | East Tennessee, Holidays | Permalink | 1 Comment |

We caught the Gatlinburg fireworks show. Good stuff. After watching it for a little while we went back to our room and realized we had a good view from the porch.

This time we stayed at the Best Western Twin Islands hotel. The river wraps around and weaves through the hotel grounds, so most of the rooms are on the water. We see ducks wandering the grounds all the time. There’s a central courtyard with a pool and kids playground that’s nicely removed from the road. This is our new favorite place to stay. The price was reasonable - $150/night for a suite with a fireplace and jacuzzi on a holiday weekend. We took a look at some of other rooms and some are nicer than others, so it pays to scout a room ahead of time if you can. Note to self: we were in 402 and a maid told us that 417 was a nice room.

I usually like Gatlinburg in the fall when the leaves are changing, the temperatures are just right, and there are apples to be had in Cosby. Now I like it for July 4th, too, even if it’s a little warm today. There’s the parade at midnight, July 3rd and fireworks on the 4th. We’ll be doing this again.

P.S. Both of those pictures were taken with the new Nikon 35mm F1.8 AF-S lens.

Tags: nikon

Katie won the Food City Easter coloring contest

Sunday, April 12th, 2009 | Holidays, Home Life, Photos | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Katie won first place in an Easter coloring contest at Food City, a local grocery store. Those are the Easter baskets she won.

We’re proud of her for winning, but more proud that she told her sister she could have one of the Easter baskets. Way to go, kiddo. That’s a very big thing to do.

We love you, girls.

LATER: Pictures from our family Easter egg hunt…

Continue reading the rest of this post right here ›››

First Time Using an Internet Photo Printing Service

Sunday, May 11th, 2008 | Holidays, Photos | Permalink | No Comments |

For Mother’s Day (hi, moms!) I wanted to make my wife and our moms a print of a picture from the day Natalie was born. I knew you could send pictures over the Internet to a photo lab, but I had never tried it. With Mother’s Day approaching I gave it a shot.

In Picasa I chose “Order Prints and Products” from the Create menu. Up came lots of options, from local print centers to remote printing companies that required shipping. The local options were CVS, Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart. I chose Walgreen’s for the quick in-and-out factor. (After sending in the order I realized I should have sent the prints to Wal-Mart so I could have bought a frame at the same time. D’oh!)

I had to install a Firefox plug-in to upload the pictures, but that was easy. The Walgreen’s interface was slightly confusing. I uploaded one picture and wanted to upload others, but couldn’t figure out how - the “Add More Pictures” link was for adding additional prints of the same picture, not actually adding more photos. I eventually erased the album, created a new one, and uploaded all of the pictures I wanted in one pass.

Walgreen’s promises printing within an hour, and the prints were ready when I arrived. When I got home I discovered Walgreen’s had sent me an email when printing was complete. The actual print time was less than 30 minutes.

The prints look great, and the price was reasonable. 4×6 prints are $0.19, 5×7 prints are $1.59 or $1.00 each for two or more, and 8×10 prints are $2.99 or $2.50 for two or more. At prices like that I don’t think we’ll ever get around to using our HP photo printer.

Katie and Natalie Easter Pictures 2008

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | 3 Comments |

We had the pictures done at Portrait Innovations. Cost was $15 per sheet, or three sheets of the same pose for $16.95. They’re very good at dealing with small children and were amazingly cheerful. You preview the photos on big screen Pioneer HDTVs and choose the ones you want.

It’s always bugged me that other portrait studios never provided a CD of the pictures. I was impressed that Portrait Innovations does and at no charge. The 606 x 404 pixel resolution is too low for printing, but fine for Web pages and email.

2008 Easter Earliest Since 1913

Friday, March 21st, 2008 | Holidays | Permalink | 1 Comment |

From Timeanddate.com:

For the first time in nearly 100 years Easter is coming at its earliest on Sunday, March 23, 2008. The last time Easter Sunday fell on March 23 was in 1913. However, Easter can occur earlier than March 23. The earliest Easter ever recorded in the Gregorian calendar from 1753 onwards was on March 22, both in 1761 and 1818.

The next time Easter occurs on March 23 will not be until 2160, and a March 22 Easter will not happen until the year 2285.

Follow the link for an explanation of how the Easter date is determined. The variable date of Easter and subsequent events like Palm Sunday is the reason for the moveable feast.

Happy Birthday to St. Patrick’s Day Babies

Monday, March 17th, 2008 | Holidays | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Happy birthday to Michael Silence’s daughter, McKinley.

Happy birthday to my father-in-law, Charlie.

And happy birthday to my grandmother-in-law, Geneva.

A John Hartford Tune for Valentine’s Day

Thursday, February 14th, 2008 | Holidays | Permalink | 1 Comment |

First Girl I Ever Loved

I was in love with you, well-before I knew,
it meant more than just wanting to be with you
I used to look for other girls that looked like you

But the laws of nature said, ‘forget it, son’
‘least that’s what somebody told me
I worried about it a little bit, but that’s all

I dreamt that you were Joan-of Arc
And I was Don Quixote
And everywhere we went the world was tin-foil

But I gave up dreaming, and became a priest
It put it right out of my system
I worried about it a little bit, but that’s all

Now you used to play the guitar
We worked in a country band
I hung out down on the river bank, on Sunday
Your brother was my closest friend,
he drove a pickup truck
he used to bring me home sometimes, from high school

Now I was fifteen, oh the very first time
Love broke completely inside me
We were young, and we were learning about it together

And we had enough of what we thought we’d need
Of those well-known secret fables
We worried about it a little bit, but that’s all

I regret my life won’t be long enough
To make love to all the women that I’d like to
Or least of all, to live with the ones I’ve loved

And I’ve never regretted a love affair,
except one and that’s all over
I worried about it a little bit, but that’s all

Now I heard you lived a-way up north
Your kids are fat and plenty
And I haven’t seen your brother since a-way last Easter

And if every other girl in the whole wide world
Was just a little bit more like you
I’d worry about it a little bit, but that’s all

Now you used to play the guitar
We worked in a country band
We hung out down on the river bank, on Sunday
Your brother was my closest friend,
he drove a pickup truck
he used to bring me home sometimes, from high school

Valentine’s Day Countdown

Thursday, January 24th, 2008 | Holidays | Permalink | 2 Comments |

It’s three weeks away. More of those pics from Hwy. 129 here.

Word of the Day: Boxing Day

Thursday, December 27th, 2007 | Holidays, Word of the Day | Permalink | 3 Comments |

I’m posting this a day late, but it’s still topical, right? From Phrase of the Week:

Meaning

The 26th of December, also called St. Stephen’s Day.

Boxing Day is a public holiday that forms part of the Christmas festivities in most of the countries that were once part of the British Empire. It was originally the first working day after Christmas Day, but is now always celebrated on December 26th, regardless of which day of the week it falls.

Origin

Christmas boxes were originally literally earthenware boxes. In mediaeval England, these boxes were used by the poor (servants, apprentices etc.) to save money throughout the year. At Christmas, the boxes were broken open and the savings shared to fund Christmas festivities. This meaning of Christmas box dates back to at least the early 17th century. The boxes were known in France as tirelire and are referred to in Randle Cotgrave’s A Dictionarie of the French and English tongues, 1611:

“Tirelire, a Christmas box; a box having a cleft on the lid, or in the side, for money to enter it; used in France by begging Fryers, and here by Butlers, and Prentices, etc.”

Lots more on the origins of the name at that link.

Previous WOTD - Christmas Adam

Surprise Christmas Gift Hit of 2007

Thursday, December 27th, 2007 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | 3 Comments |

My mom bought a beanbag chair to keep in her mother-in-law apartment for the girls to sit on. The girls love it.

When it was over on our side of the house on Christmas morning Melissa and I realized it made a great foot rest. I see us buying one for the den and maybe the living room. It’s the non-toy Christmas hit of 2007.

Merry Christmas 2007

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Notice the lack of Christmas tree ornaments down in The Natalie Zone. We did the same thing two years ago for Katie. It’ll be nice to be able to cover the tree in ornaments without them getting broken, but I love little Natalie at this age. And I love little Katie at her age, too.

This is the first year we haven’t traveled on Christmas Day. We visited the Kingsport side of the family last weekend, so we got to stay at home and the kids got to play with their presents.

This Thanksgiving and Christmas have been the best we’ve had since we started dating. Some of the family issues of who eats where on what day have been ironed out, people have gotten used to us as husband and wife who shoulder big parts of the holidays, and we’ve gotten better at shouldering those parts. Melissa was an absolute kitchen goddess this year, making Christmas Eve dinner for 15 people followed by a Christmas Day brunch.

Word of the Day: Christmas Adam

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 | Holidays, Word of the Day | Permalink | 3 Comments |

From Urban Dictionary:

December 23, 2007: Christmas Adam

The day before Christmas Eve. Since Adam was created before Eve, and the need to be equitable in the holiday season, Christmas Adam creates further anticipation of Christmas Day.

More Christmas Gift Ideas for the Vision-Impaired

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 | Holidays, Macular Degeneration | Permalink | 5 Comments |

Three Christmases ago I made a list of gifts for people with poor vision. The other day someone posted in comments asking for more ideas, so here are some thoughts on what we’ve found helpful.

Living Solutions oversized TV remote controls are extremely helpful. Walgreen’s sells them around Christmas and Mother’s Day. The remote itself is so big it’s hard to lose, and the big buttons are easy to see.

My mom’s vision is so far gone due to macular degeneration she can’t even read the oversized numbers, but she likes hers for another reason. Mom locates buttons on the remote by memorizing their location - she starts in one corner of the remote and counts down and over so many buttons. Her TV’s original remote (shown in the picture) has small buttons of differing sizes arranged in an artistic fashion that she found difficult to navigate. The buttons on the Living Solutions remote are large, consistent in size, and are laid out in a checkerboard grid of rows and columns that she finds easy to follow.

Here’s an inexpensive and useful gift - stick-on, raised dots. Mom can’t read the dials on appliances, so we mark them for her with raised dots. We’ve placed dots on the timer dial of her microwave for the five minute mark, and on her oven dials for the medium heat setting. The washing machine has dots for the water level, temperature, and duration settings she uses. Melissa puts one, two, or three dots on the caps of mom’s prescription bottles so she’ll know how many times to take the medicine each day. You can see an orange dot on the smaller remote control in the picture.

You can find stick-on dots in the hardware section of your department store. They’re sold alongside the felt pads you put inside kitchen cabinet doors and the sliders that go under furniture legs.

Melissa has started buying mom books on tape (or actually CD) and mom’s enjoyed those.

The talking watch from a few years ago was a big hit and is almost indispensable. The first one quit working so mom now has another one. If you know someone with poor vision a talking watch is a surefire hit.

Back from Black Friday

Friday, November 23rd, 2007 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | No Comments |

We did the Black Friday thing again. Nice way to get in the holiday spirit, save some money, and get a jump on Christmas shopping.

Toys R Us - We started here at 6:00 am. Incredibly long line - at least 100 feet if not more. Aisles so clogged you could barely get a cart through. No deals in sight. The Fisher Price Learning Cycle we want for Katie was $89 last week at Wal-Mart. On Black Friday Toys R Us had it for the incredible low price of … $99. Never again.

Old Navy - Short lines, 50% off sales. Totally worth it.

Kohl’s - Fairly long lines but not too bad. Lots of 50% off sales, including most of their toys. Worth it.

Belk’s - Short lines, lots of sales and early bird specials. $25 off coupons in the newspaper. Melissa bought a $143 coat and a top for $53. Totally worth it.

Presents bought: Natalie, Katie, Connie, Eric, Geneva, Hazel, Larissa. A couple of clothes for each of us, and a new comforter. Not bad for a morning’s haul.

LATER: Melissa went to Target and found some great deals and picked up more kids presents and kids and grownup DVDs (she bought The Departed and 300 for less than $5 each).

Friendsville, TN Christmas Parade 2006 (AKA Katie Day 802 - First Parade)

Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 | East Tennessee, Holidays | Permalink | No Comments |

Katie and I set up at the beginning of the parade route. Her charisma and Christmas outfit got her all kinds of candy.

Friendsville now has a Wikipedia entry, though it doesn’t explain the town’s name. It was named for the Quakers who once lived there, the Religious Society of Friends being the proper name for Quakers.

The Friends established the Friendsville Academy, which building still stands in downtown Friendsville. Less well-known was their 1854 Newberry Female School and the Freedman’s Institute for educating free blacks. That school was open from 1872 to 1901, and was on the land now occupied by Maryville High School. A little more trivia: the current site of the McAmmon-Ammons-Click funeral home in downtown Maryville was originally the East Tennessee Masonic Institute for Women. The current municipal building was once the site of Pride Mansion, which was converted to a teacher’s academy with funding from Philadelphia and Baltimore Friends.

Blount County bonus! - Joe McCord now has his own Wikipedia entry.

See also:
- G.M. Miser Grocery Store on Miser Station Road

Why Star Wars Geeks are Cranky at the Holidays

Sunday, November 19th, 2006 | Holidays, Star Wars | Permalink | No Comments |

1. They don’t show the Star Wars Holiday Special anymore.
2. Stores start putting up Christmas decorations before Life Day is even over.

Happy belated Life Day, all.

Merry Christmas (Observed)

Monday, December 26th, 2005 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | No Comments |

Merry Christmas from the Joneses

Sunday, December 25th, 2005 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | No Comments |

How time flies. Here’s Katie’s Santa picture from last year.

Laurel and Hardy Wish You a Merry Christmas Eve

Saturday, December 24th, 2005 | Dancing Baloney, Holidays | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Christmas Update

Saturday, December 18th, 2004 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | No Comments |

Melissa and I braved West Knoxville today and finished our Christmas shopping. After lunch at Cozymels’ we came home. Melissa took a nap. I wanted to, but wasn’t quite tired enough. I stayed up with the baby and made a few phone calls.

Once Melissa woke up we started wrapping presents to the sound of Christmas music. Harry Connick, Jr., Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Frank Sinatra are taking turns in the CD changer. (Note to self: buy a Dolly Parton Christmas CD. And find the Aaron Neville CD.)

We’ve got about a dozen presents wrapped. Melissa finished off her part of the Christmast letter this morning, and formatted the whole thing to fit on the Christmas stationary she bought. Christmas is getting closer and closer.

Katie Day 65 - It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Friday, November 26th, 2004 | Holidays, Home Life | Permalink | No Comments |

Holiday Wrap-up, and a Question About Gift-Giving

Tuesday, December 30th, 2003 | Holidays | Permalink | No Comments |

According to the estimable Snopes, the day after Thanksgiving isn’t the biggest shopping day of the year. I resolve to stop repeating this lie next year. The biggest day in dollars is variously one of the four weekend days leading up to Christmas.

FoxNews has advice on caring for Christmas plants. My sister gave us an amarillus last year. The idea is to store it away in the dark in late summer after it dies back, then bring it out mid-November and it will bloom again. Didn’t work for us, but now I think I know why. I brought it out of the dark closet into the nearly-as-dark bedroom. Next time I’ll bring it out into full sunlight.

Christmas Gift Etiquette
And here’s the question about gift-giving. How does everyone else deal with presents when children are involved? This isn’t so much of an issue now as it will be when we have kids of our own.

Melissa’s friend Tammy - a sensible gal - gave us this advice. If she (who has a kid) saw us (who don’t have kids) at Christmas, we would give presents to her kid, but not to her and her husband, and they would give us a couple’s gift. If both couples had kids, they would buy for each other’s kids, and buy a couple’s gift for each other (or mutually agree to only buy gifts for the kids).

That sounds like a sensible plan. It ensures that the kids get plenty of gifts, minimizes the number of gifts that have to be purchased, and provides for an exchange in both directions.

How do you handle that situation?