Ben Franklin, Bysitters, BBQ, and Birthday Cake (And a Serious Prayer Request)

PRAYER ALERT! Our daughter-in-love's mother had a heart attack last night. Surgery is scheduled for Saturday. I don't know any other details right now. Plus, I know that her maternal grandfather is also dealing with a life-threatening illness. Keep her and the whole family in your prayers. Thanks.

I may or may not have had a cinnamon roll for breakfast this morning. It may or may not have come from a local grocery store. If I did, and I am not saying that I did, it would have been the usual 3"-4" around shape. However, my web search for content came across a Yahoo story suggesting ways that you can have that delicious, gooey, creamy, sweet flavor a cinnamon roll in new, fun shapes such as pretzel, or pull-apart, or as a bake with bacon on it. Check this out and get inspired.

I also came across this funny photo of a creative way to update a statue.

I downloaded a photo manipulation app on my phone earlier this week and played with a shot I took of our Ouray cabin. I shared the original photo of the cabin earlier this week, but I will display it again for your reference.

Now this app, Prisma, transforms the photo using famous painter as the inspiration. I seem to remember this one is based on Mondrian.

I just looked back through the app, but I cannot remember which filters I applied. So, I will share another cool look that I liked, but I cannot tell you which artist it was based on.

I liked the wavy lines throughout the last Prisma'd photo (that can be a verb, right?). This next one has kind of a watercolor feel to it.

The simple lines but bright colors made this next one resonate for me.

So, which do you like the most? I like the first two, but I've got to go with #2, wavy line version.

Do you like Pulled BBQ Pork? I do. Do you like root beer? I do. What if you could have them together. No, not as meat and drink, but using root beer as an ingredient. People, your prayers have been answered, assuming that you have been praying for a recipe for pulled pork that includes pork, root beer, and BBQ sauce.

Did I mention that both Architect Brother and his wife celebrated birthdays during our trip? Of course, I know that I didn't. That was just a clever way to share the news with you and show the cake that we all shared. The gouge in the lower center was from it getting scrunched during transport and not because any of us, and especially not me, started nibbling on it early. Happy belated birthday to both.

This next photo hides an ugly, ugly truth. When you look at the photo, you see a nice uncle helping his nieces and nephews play with little PVC toys. My nephew crafted these pieces before he left home and arrived with enough parts to build 9 toys. What 'toys', you may ask?

This innocent exercise led to this next photo. A generation armed with marshmallow guns. Guns firing off mini-marshmallows launched using human breath. Mini-marshmallows that could have put someone's eye out. It was like A Christmas Story except with marshmallows instead of BBs.

And here is evidence that these toys were used to inflict mayhem and slobber on innocent bystanders (and sometimes, bysitters). We will see this story unfold on another day.

Folks, my eyes are reeling from a 'find the animal' puzzle I found. You are asked to find a badger in the drawing of zebras. See what you think.

I will leave you to ponder that over the weekend. I will share the answer next week.Oh, and don't forget the prayers.