Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 91

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1)

Downtown

Ooops, sorry Willy Nilly is late...forgot which day it was! The boys started 2-a-days for foootball practice yesterday. Have to have them at school by 6:45 in the morning and they practice till 2 with a break in the middle. School doesn't start till the 9th but it looks like summer is over for them :(

2)

Roanoke City Market at the end of the day...

3)

Looks like someone wore these shoes till they fell right off their feet. Could at least put them in the trash. Can't stand litter bugs!

4)

Hmmmm, now where have I seen this before? ;)

5)

Another from the artwalk because I love that old clock and the street lights downtown.

That's my 5 for the week! I hope you will play along, even if I am running late! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend!!



I am linking up with Amy & Weekend Reflections & SkyWatch

Roanoke Art Walk 2015...yeah so?

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I told ya I was going through my archives! I forgot to show you these and sadly I missed Artwalk 2016 so here we go!I am showing you some of my favorite artists:

This is Chris Bruno from Lexington, VA...I love his work, so folksy! You can see his Facebook page HERE

This is a piece done by local Botetourt County artist Ed Bordett. I showed you this painting back when it was a work in progress Right Here ...fun to come back and see it finished!

This is a Roanoke artist "Toobz"...His stuff is different and I like it! I have shown you a couple of his murals HERE

This is the beginning portion of the mural I linked above for you...adding this here so I can join in with Tex's Good Fences ;) If you want more info on Toobz CLICK HERE

This is Gerry Hubert, an artist from Roanoke. He was also one of my favorites, especially his stuff from around Roanoke. You can learn more about him HERE

Have a great day :)

The Man & The 611

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We met this nice man one day last year while eating lunch at Texas Tavern downtown. He and his wife came up from Louisiana to see the 611 that had just been restored and making a trip back home to Roanoke...since it has been over a year now, I can't remember his name or his connection to the train..he was a huge train buff and I think he had ridden this way back when...or worked on it...I think he said worked on the railroad...shoot, I can't remember now! I just remember how sweet he was and how many neat stories he told us while we ate lunch together!

(cleaning out my archives!)

For more info on the 611 Click Here & HERE

Searchin' For My Lost Shaker Of Salt

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Las Gatas . Zihuatanejo . Mexico

Or searchin' for lost treasures...

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Painted Trash Cans

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Hollins University . Roanoke

Don't these just add a little fun to taking out the trash?!

Linking up with Monday Murals

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 90

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1)

See the hiding alligator? Playa Linda . Ixtapa

Linking this with Weekend Reflections

2)

Lots more gators, same place as #1 just up a little further...lots of white birds in the trees too...Herons? Egrets? I don't know!

3)

The beach from our resort . Las Brisas . Ixtapa

Linking this with SkyWatch Friday

4)

This is a police vehicle. I know you can't tell from the picture but the officer standing in the back is carrying an assault rifle. In front of this police vehicle is a military vehicle with a bunch of military personnel also carrying assault rifles. This was a familiar scene. We'd see them just driving around or stopped on the side of the road, standing next to their vehicle holding assault rifles. Now mind you, this is Ixtapa, a major tourist area. One day while at the beach, the one I showed you with the hammocks?...anyways, on that day a police vehicle pulled up to the next restaurant down and about 4 or 5 officers jumped out carrying their rifles...it was a bit intimidating...they stood talking to some people for a while then got back in and drove away...I honestly didn't know if there was going to be a shoot out or what! Can you imagine if our police were that armed? It is very unsettling...I wanted to get a better picture of the police/military but I also didn't want to get shot so this is the only one I got...

5)

What in God's creation is this thing? I found this on a ledge at our hotel. Is it from the sea? Did a bird drop it? Is it a ginormous bug? So happy this was the only one I saw and it was dead! I think I'd freak out if I saw this thing moving!

There's my 5 this week! I hope you will play along! Post 5 randoms and link back up! Visit others! Have a great weekend :)



I'm also linking up with Amy's 5 On Friday this week!

I'm On A Boat

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Scenes while on a boat...mostly:

We took a lot of little boats/water taxis to Las Gatas & Ixtapa Island...here we are getting ready to jump on a boat to whisk us away to Las Gatas...

Not on a boat...but there's a few boats!

On a boat...

That's the view of our resort The Las Brisas, taken while on a boat...

We took a sunset cruise on The Picante...same one we took about 20 years ago...although this time around it was more mellow...the first one was more of a party cruise but then I guess we have all "matured" since then ;)

I love the rugged rock formations!

There's a coconut boat!

El Capitan of our boat (that was also the name of a high school where I grew up!)

Yep that's me on a boat!

Toodles Las Gatas...

This has absolutely nothing to do with a boat but I wanted to be included in Tex's Good Fences soooo...plus it has an intersting tale! Some of you might remember me telling you how Nick lived down here for a few winter months when he first got out of the Marine Corps...he was selling time shares here...well this place, beyond the big gates was being developed by a drug lord and Nick couldn't remember how the story went, if the drug lord went broke or ended up in jail but it's pretty deserted. All that had been done was this gate, roads made and power ran...I think the sign says it is for sale, but Nick was not interested in the least to get up close to it to find out and hurried me to take my picture. This is situated on a less travelled road so probably not a good area to hang out! Speaking of drugs, one of our taxi drivers was telling us how the drug cartel had moved into Zihuatanejo about 6 months ago and there are wars going on between a couple of different groups, trying to secure locations...kind of scary!

Sorry to be overloading on my pictures since our return...trying to hurry and finish!

Linking with Good Fences

Let's Go To The Pool

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Get your bathing suit on and grab a towel, we're heading to the pool!

The view from our balcony to the right...

The view to the left...that's the way to the pool...

Heading towards the elevator...just another pretty view to ogle!

This way...I hope you wore your flip flops, the ground is hot!

Ok, now up all these stairs...just kidding, we don't have to climb the stairs :)

Like a jungle!

The shady part of the walk...we are almost there!

Trippy sideways growing trees...

Look up!

We made it...take a dip and cool off...I will have the pool boy bring us a margarita!

Those views though!

Las Brisas Ixtapa . Mexico

Lunch Downstairs

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Old diner on the American Tobacco Campus . Durham, NC

Isn't this great?! I have told you before how much I love the Tobacco District in Durham, and it's because of gems like this! I didn't find much about this little place but here's a teency bit of what I did find:

"This is the front of a diner in the Historic Tobacco District of downtown Durham, NC. Tobacco and cigarettes played a large roles in North Carolina's history. From 1874-1987, this National Historic Landmark was the headquarters of American Tobacco Company, the worlds largest cigarette manufacturer where the raw leaves were made into the finished product. It was dirty, hard work for the employees at these large facilities. One can imagine this little lunch counter being an 'oasis' of sorts, providing a hot, cheap meal for these workers." Which I found HERE

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

A Few Murals & The Streets Of Zihua

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One afternoon we took a taxi from our hotel in Ixtapa to Zihuatanejo:

Actually we rented a car and Nick did a lot of driving around Ixapa/Zihua but sometimes we just didn't want to deal with finding a parking spot in Zihua so we'd take a taxi. Very easy to get one from our hotel and very cheap. Plus driving in Mexico is very daunting...there aren't any actual marked lanes and people just cut in and out of traffic like crazy people! Needless to say I did NOT drive!

Linking up with Monday Murals & Through My Lens