Free For All Friday: On Location

T.G.I.F. to all our new and returning Highlowaha readers!

If you are visiting us, because you purchased (or received) a baked good from Children's Courtyard, in Grapevine, Texas, then click the video below to see if have a winning number. Instructions are included as to how to claim your prize. And, welcome to our fun community. We hope it will be your first of many visits.

If you are valued returner to Highlowaha then T.G.I.F. We made it through another fun week. Thanks for all the participation and for joining us in our celebration of National Ice Cream Week (...or as Ray would say, "Ice Cream Weak!" Curious to check out the winning sundae from Tuesday? Click below.

Chime in on something we talked about or share a Free For All topic of your own.

Signing off until tomorrow...

Piece Meal

Yeah, StrawberRay made the obligatory mention in Monday's post about National Puzzle Day and he even threw in a word search puzzle to appease me. Still, the whole thing felt kind of tongue in cheek - a mockery of sorts.

So, I'm back.

I'm back today revisiting puzzles... puzzles with ice cream and a cherry on top.

Matthew and I agreed it would be criminal to let National Ice Cream Month pass without hosting at least one neighborhood ice cream party. Immediately we set to work arranging the day, the time, and the invitation list. While it is true ice cream is fun in and of itself, we both agreed the party would we be made that much more fun with an invitation worthy of such an occasion.

Then it was outside to the garage where, together, Matthew, Jack, (Katie), and I painted large ice cream cones on white butcher paper. Once dry, we used markers to include all the necessary information.

Flip over the ice cream cone and draw puzzle shapes on the back. Cut out.

Load puzzle pieces into a mailing tube; a handmade, over sized envelope; an empty plastic container; or any other fun mailing "vessel" you can think of. Address, mail, and sit back, knowing you'll make someone smile AND that ice cream is in your future.

Yes to ice cream, but you have an even better invitation idea? Share. OR, like the invitation idea, but don't love ice cream? For what other event could you make a puzzle invitation and what shape would it be?

One more thought. The recipient of the invitation pictured above is a reader and sometimes-poster on highlowaha. Let's live the Spirit of 218 and treat her to some extra mail this week. Use the address listed above to send a fun note her way.

Signing off until tomorrow...

Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday: Trend Conductor

First time reading? Dive in, stick with us, and soon enough you'll be a pro.

Today's whack comes in two parts. Patient while I set it up.

Part I. As a kid Edison was hard working. At the age of twelve he impressed a train station manager so much he was offered a job as factotum (servant with many responsibilities). An opportunist, Edison quickly took on an additional job as news butch (paper boy). Traveling by train was relatively new and reading the local newspaper while on board was desirable by most. But, a rolling stone gathers no moss. It didn't take long before Edison recognized people's interest in gathering local news and he began innovating. He introduced the novelty of printing the newspaper on board a moving train and was a hit among passengers!

Part II. History of an the ice cream cone. In the year 1904, St. Louis hosted the World's Fair. Hamwi, a Syrian concessionaire, was selling a crispy waffle-like pastry. The booth next to his was selling ice cream. Ice cream in the early 1900's was very popular, so it didn't take long for the vendor to run out of serving dishes. Hamwi saw an easy solution. He rolled one of his waffle-like pastries into the shape of a cone. The pastry cooled quickly and was soon filled with ice cream. Customers were happy and the ice cream cone was officially born.

Edison's Creative Principle: Innovation may begin by tracking a trend, but it succeeds by coming - in some significant way - to lead the very trend it originally tracks.

Edison did it by starting as a newspaper butch and quickly figuring out how to print his newspaper on board a moving train. Hamwi did it by noticing the growing trend towards ice cream consumption and innovating a new way for consumers to eat the popular dessert.

Now your turn. And, I'm really anxious to hear what you have to say.

Going green? The i-Phone? Chunky earrings? Trouser pants? Reality t.v.? What trend are you noticing and how can Highlowaha use it to lead the way?

Signing off until tomorrow...

Calling All Torchbearers

The Director of Student Activities when I was working at Southern Methodist University was an amazing and inspiring woman. Think I'm exaggerating? I'm not.

So amazing and so inspiring is this woman that, of nearly 1.3 million people living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2002, she was one of very few people selected to be an Olympic torch bearer. Enough said.

When you walked in her expansive Student Activity Center, buzzing with motivated and empowered student leaders there was a beautifully made sign, the length of the wall, reading "We care most about that which we help to create."

It's true.

I, for instance, am not losing sleep over how big the turnout for Mean Green Field Day is at the University where I work. I'll attend, but that's it.

Do I care if American Airlines reaches their third quarter goals? Not really. I couldn't have any less to do with American's business planning activity.

Conversely, I'm hosting a bake sale at Matthew and Jack's preschool on Friday morning to support the organization Bake For America. I've recruited fourteen bakers, pre-sold baked goods to at least three families, and yesterday morning, launched a five day advertising campaign in the lobby where parents must pass each morning and afternoon.

The relationship between effort and investment is pretty indisputable.

Why do I mention this?

Today at 7:15 p.m., approximately 15 short hours from now, Heather, Cheryl, Katie, and I will meet at Baskin Robbins to tape Friday's Free For All video. We're going to splurge and share a decadent, over-the-top-sundae, in honor of National Ice Cream Month. The kind of sundae that would make Ray proud... or at least make him spew with sarcasm.

I want you to care about our sundae.

So, in the spirit of Arlene Manthey, torch bearer extraordinaire, I am going to have YOU create OUR sundae. Below is a five-question survey for you to answer. The first three questions allow you to select from Baskin-Robbins' 30+1 flavors of ice cream (minus a few because of my peanut allergy) and the other two questions are about toppings (dry and wet). Place one vote per question.

Whichever flavor from each question receives the most votes will serve as the base of our sundae. Then, the two wet toppings and three dry toppings receiving the most votes will top off our decadent dessert.

Got it? Show you care. Help create a sundae for Heather, Katie, Cheryl, and me. Vote now then tune in on Friday to find out the results.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

P.S. Kat and Ray sitting in a tree K-I-SS-I-N-G. Kat is so in tune with Ray, she guessed that his favorite flavor of ice cream is CHOCOLATE. Congrats on winning the one and only printed edition of the Van-Choc-StrawberRay shirt. What do you think, does that make him boring or a lover of classics?

Signing off until tomorrow...

Psst...

Psst. It's me again. Check me out. No I don't have the measles that's real fruit - quality stuff. If you're going to do something, go all the way. Be the ice cream. No artificial flavors or coloring. Just old fashioned goodness.

I'm supposed to be telling you today is National Puzzle Day. Instead of telling you about it, I'm going to let you solve one. See below. And, I'm not cheap so you won't be disappointed.

Now that I've satisfied my obligations to Claudia, let's talk about something sweet and cold and yummy. Ice cream. It's National Ice Cream Month. This seems fitting here in Texas where it has been and will continue to be above 100 degrees for far too long. I'm going to take it easy on all of you Goal-fishers and we're just going to celebrate ice cream for a week.

Anyway, National Ice Cream Month.....I mean weak. Get it weak? As in... you're all too weak to handle a month. You'd all be gigantic and then we'd have to listen to StingRay gloat. Stay focused people. Of course, we may well melt before we're done here but let's try to make it through the week. I can't wait to see what kind of madness awaits us. In the mean time Van, Choc, and I need to go chill out somewhere.

W A J R S L G I G W
A I D X O I Y T C T
P S N X N V B H N R
E T I R O V A F R I
O D D U S Q U L U H
E U U S T N E R F S
I R E O G Q Q I K T
D U Q Z R A Y S P A
G S V G Z I P X F L
Z T T O S S X H G F

StrawberRay Out.

So there we were, standing in a cemetary...

If you're just tuning in, you may want to go back to yesterday's post to catch up. If you were here yesterday and came back for the conclusion, I thank you!

So after we got our directions from Heather, here's who we found:

Claudia found Sarah J. McCawley. She was 59 at the time of her death. Katie found Callie E. Cox. She was only 39 at the time of her death. That's my age. And I found Flora D. Cook. She was only 2 when she died. They all lived and died in the 1800's.

Is it serendipitous that we all landed where the tombstone in reach was marking the lives of women? Is it serendipitous that their ages at the time of death add up to 100 years? Who were these girls? Were they smart and beautiful, short or tall? Were they loved? Did they live a hard life? Were they happy? Were they creative?

Even though we have no idea who the Cox's were or who these ladies were, it felt magical to be there. It felt good to be there to honor those who came before us. Look ahead 200 years. Will our great, great, great grandchildren be walking around our tombstones wondering who we were and will they feel good to be there? Will they wonder if we lived our dash?

That's where Chaotic's Highlowaha suggestion of stopping 2 hours and 18 minutes into our trip led us and we're here to say live your dash. We're sure Sarah, Callie and even young little Flora lived there's.

All of that and we still haven't met Chaotic!

We made it to Austin with no problems. Delilah - Claudia's rusty trusty GPS- showed us the way. We met Chaotic and Karen for lunch at Guerrero's. We spotted Chaotic because she was wearing her Hemingray shirt and of course she was the only one taking a picture of us taking a picture of her!
We learned a lot of stuff about the ladies over our lunch. We learned a lot about snakes and their love of animals. Claudia and Chaotic shared war stories over teenagers. I took notes. Claudia wrote down lots of creative ideas that we hope to share with you in the future. We were even serenaded with the song Nicolado by the local mariachi.

After lunch we walked down Congress Ave to a place Claudia has taken us before. Virtually that is. Last year she wrote about Hey Cupcake and we found ourselves in line for the dreamy little bit of sugar goodness. It was SO good! Yum.

Then we walked back and the three of us started our journey home. Our very long, traffic filled journey home. There were a lot of deep breathes taken and a lot of searching for happy thoughts as Katie inched our way back up I-35. But hey- Life is a journey NOT a destination. And overall, our day was one full cup of fun!

Thank you for sharing your journey with us and for letting us share our journey with you! Happy Sunday to all. And those Hey Cupcakes were so dreamy and light, I was about to take off just like Mary Poppins!

Signing off until tomorrow...

Life is a Journey...

...and we were 4 bloggers with Austin as our destination! Cheryl here with the adventures of our visit to Austin. It's a long story so get your coffee, or beverage of choice, and get comfortable.

At the beginning of the summer Claudia, Katie, Heather and I decided that since all four of us were in the same place we should take a day trip down to Austin to meet loyal reader Chaotic. Chaotic found her way to us through loyal reader, BKRoot from another site they are both members of- nervousness.org. Here is the power of the Internet- BKRoot posts a note about Highlowaha at Nervousness; Chaotic checks out BKRoots posted note and comes on over to Highlowaha. And the best part, she keeps coming back. And another best part- she lives in Texas.

We all checked our calendars which were full to the brim- overflowing actually. The business of summer vacations and family visitors in town eventually left Heather at home in DFW visiting with her mom. We missed you, Heather.

Our adventure began at 8:00 am on Sunday, July 5, 2009. And of course our first stop was Starbucks. In preparation for our trip, we had readers suggest times for us to perform magic. At the chosen suggested time, we the travellers would stop what we were doing and- and what? Well, we didn't know where we would be so we didn't know what we would be doing. We had several times to choose from but Chaotic completed some famous Highlowaha math suggesting we stopped 2 hours and 18 minutes into our trip. Since we left at 8:00 that gave us 10:18am. It seemed fitting.

So we settled into our drive with Katie in the Captain seat chatting about blog business discussing what we could come up to dazzle you. I, of course, got out my pen and paper and started counting Volkswagen Beetles. But that wasn't exciting enough so then I tried to get truckers to honk their horns for me. Let's continue...

I don't know if you know this about us but we are a serendipitous group. Let it happen. The integrity of the blog. Serendipity. So, as time was approaching we see a sign for an exit that has antique stores and shops at exit 323 but we decided we couldn't exit until 10:15am.

Exit 323 came and went.

Exit 322 came and went.

We're a little bit panicked now because what if there isn't another exit. What if we're just standing on the side of I-35 trying to count Volkswagen Beetles or begging 18 wheelers to honk their horns?

And then it happened.

Exit 319 straight ahead and it's 10:15am. Our designated time. We approach a road that has a sign that says "Cox Cemetery". That's it! We all are excited but there are no more signs to point us in the right direction. We hit a dead end! Time is ticking! We have to be there at 10:18. We drive the other direction and come to a road that looks like a back road to trouble. I'm pretty sure that's where crazed axe murders take their victims to neatly (or not so neatly) hide their limp dead bodies! There was a guy hanging out the door of his home- future axe murder? Gulp! I yell at him to ask for directions to the cemetery. He comes bounding up to the car with his axe and with an oily smile points us back down the road to trouble. [Insert scary scream hear.] (Okay, he didn't really have an axe and he looked like some normal Joe but you never know.)

We turn around AGAIN, and we're off-roading to no where. And then serendipity smacked us right in the face. There sits tucked away hiding from all the world the most wonderful, unkept, old cemetery with the most beautiful weather worn tombstones that I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot. I love old cemeteries. I'll let the pictures do the talking for a minute.

We wanted to use some Highlowaha random guidance so we called Heather to give us directions. We spread out and waited for how many steps we were supposed to take. We were climbing over tall, poky weeds and old, rusty iron fences and wildflowers trying to find our tombstone. We finally all land in a spot where we can all touch one.

But... You'll have to tune in tomorrow to see what we found and to hear the rest of the adventure when we finally get to Austin...

signing off until tomorrow... Yes, on Sunday!!