from the porches

bubbletown

I never in my whole entire life thought I'd be writing about such a stupid, insane, inane computer game called Bubbletown.  But I am.

There will be NO photographs with this post. . . so don't expect any!!  But if you are interested, here is the website:  Bubbletown

Okay.  This realization all started when I came home from school today.  I didn't want to do laundry or cook supper.  I didn't even want to think. 

All I wanted to do was zone out.  I had had it.  It's the weekend, by golly.

So I get home at 2:30 (Yipee!).  I go to the office and think about doing something constructive; but that bored me.

Then I come into the house and head right to the front porch, where I watch rain bands come through.

After an hour I get bored, so I decide to play Bubbletown,a computer game.

Objects come on the screen.. . green football helmets, red-headed girl faces, and grey computerized heads.

So I aim my thing , whatever that is, and blast 3 of a kind.

Oh, yeah!  I'm now at Level 2, where blue bubble heads pop up, along with green fuzzy balls and yellow blowfish.  I really like blowfish.

So I blast them into smithereens.

Anyway, I spend a good twenty minutes playing this stupid, addictive game and then I realize I am addicted!

Are there organizations out there for us who are addicted to computer games?  I know I'm not the only one who needs therapy,. . . so at least think about it and let's form our own organization SNTG:  Say No To Games.

It's pretty pathetic when friends ask you out and you feign a headache.  You don't have a headache.  You want to play your addictive COMPUTER GAME.

Am I alone in this thing?  Give me your input, PLEASE!

what's going on?

As I sat down at the computer tonight I asked myself,  "What's going on?  What's new I can share?"

Then I thought I could tell you about the little preschooler that literally fell out of her daddy's truck onto the gravel while I stood there with the truck door ajar and how I lifted her up and told the dad,  "She's okay" as I hurried her in the gate.

Or I could tell you about the disrespectful class I had the last hour of my working day today and how this one girl gave me a wrong telephone number to call in order to reach her dad.  I fumed over that one for a short while.  But, not to worry.  I'll deal with it in the morning.  Gotcha' kid!

Hey, I could tell you how wonderful Maddie and Oliver were when I took them to swim lessons today and how they fell apart once they reached the safety of their parents.  They were just too darn exhausted. But I had no good pictures to show, so I kept thinking.

Then I wondered why fall takes on such a hurried, harried pace.  It is my favorite season; but I am so busy, it seems I don't relax and enjoy it.  Then I remembered an essay a fourth grader wrote today about relaxing on her porch in a hammock with a glass of tea in one hand and a book in the other and a cat purring on her lap.I thought it sounded much like me during the summer.  She ended with,  "Ah, the relaxing days of fall."  And I envied this nine year old.

So what's going on?

The Gator Nation is gearing up for the Florida vs. Arkansas homecoming game on Saturday.  The big parade is tomorrow, but our schools are not out because we're in Columbia County...not Alachua.  Too bad.  One year I may take that Friday off and go to the Homecoming Parade.

But wait!  After this year I'll be able to go to EVERY parade because I WON'T BE WORKING!!  At school, that is.  Heaven forbid I may have to supplement our retirement dollars.  But that was only a fleeting thought that I will not allow to formulate.  So there!

Okay.  Here's something new. 

The other day I had the opportunity to watch ducks at the lake at North Florida Regional Hospital.

Yep!

I watched them mate and I took photographs of the whole thing.  Many of the photographs were blurry.  Too much action going on.  But the strange part was . . . three maintenance men relaxing in their truck watched ME TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF DUCKS MATING!.

I can only imagine what they thought of that pervert with the camera.

wqtching ibis

Yesterday at the lake at North Florida Regional Hospital I was entranced by the ibis.

Walking along with their eyes and beaks to the ground, they searched for food.

  
They scooped up tiny organisms in the lake.

 
This ibis stood on one leg and preened its feathers.

They gathered in clusters of threes.

 
Or stood alone.  This ibis reflection seemed almost zen-like.

 
They seemed quite willing to pose for me and were not at all threatened by my presence. 

Watching the ibis made my day.

  

ducks in a row

Today I took my mother to Gainesville.  We both had doctor appointments so it was the perfect time to take a full day off from work and kill two birds at one time. . . with lunch sandwiched in between. . . Mom's birthday lunch.  Today she turned 86 years old.

Needless to say, it was a very, very, very long day for me; and just about when I couldn't take all the chattering anymore, I decided to walk down to the lake at North Florida Regional Hospital to take photographs of ducks.  If you've read my blog in the past, you may remember that ducks do not excite me photographically.

However, these ducks did.

Aren't they the cutest things you ever saw?  I wanted to gather them all up and kiss them on their itty bitty heads.

Cars around the hospital and doctor's offices know to watch for ducks, thank goodness, even though I appointed myself school patrol and held my right hand out signifying,  "Stop."

Keep your eye on the little yellow duck pulling up the rear.

Across the grass they go.  It so reminded me of teachers at my school with all the little children following in a straight line.

Down into a depression they waddle.

And back up the hill they go. 

And just like little preschoolers. . .little yellow duckling tumbles over backwards and slips back down the hill.

I wanted to follow them all around the hospital grounds, but I had my mother duck waiting for me in her doctor's office.  

cloud

Yesterday afternoon Truett and I drove to Gainesville to see Merry Jennifer and the children.  Sam was on his way back from the LSU/Florida game, so we thought we would give Merry Jennifer a break. 

As it turned out, Merry Jennifer didn't necessarily need a break, so we just visited there at her house, followed by dinner at Blue Highway Pizza.  Delicious, to say the least.

On our way home, I looked to the east and this is what I saw. 

 

A huge, monster of a cloud seemed like it was within our reach. 

It kept billowing and billowing and rising higher in the sky as we drove at a snail's pace so I could photograph it.

Finally, we had to leave Gainesville. . .and the cloud.  It was truly awesome.

spring into actiion

This past week seemed like a blur. I hardly remember going to Micanopy last Sunday. 

Of course, I was on a quest for scarecrows; but I was also on the lookout for anything else that caused me to pause.

Along the way to Micanopy, we stopped at a fruit stand that had these beautiful firm tomatoes displayed.  We bought about six, but because of our busy week, they are still bundled up in the plastic bag just sitting on the shelf calling out to us,  "Eat me!"

 Micanopy has many old, old trees draped in spanish moss.  They're pretty creepy looking if you have an imagination as active as mine.

As we were leaving Micanopy we spotted this Eagle perched high on a dead tree.  Thank you, God.

Tonight Florida plays LSU.  We have friends from Orlando coming up to watch the game and spend the night, so in a short while Truett and I will spring into action to begin knocking things off our To Do list.

Have a great weekend everyone.  Halloween is almost upon us. 

nostalgic

I have to thank Tina, Truett's daughter (and my stepdaughter) for this old photograph.  Tina downloaded it onto Facebook and I look at it from time to time and reflect.

I am on the far left as you look at the photograph and the year is 1979 or 1980. Truett is next to me.  Then comes our friend, Bryan, and last, Tina.

I suppose the reason I chose nostalgic as my title, is because I've had a couple of things happen today that cause me to pause. . .and reflect.

 
Truett holding Clay.  Clay kind of looks like Oliver from the side.  Hummmm. 

First, this morning a parent dropped her children off at car-rider duty, and as the two young children got out of the car, one says,  "My daddy said you're mean."

Well, saying that to me is usually like water rolling off a duck's back.  Something like this  usually doesn't cause me to bat an eyelash.  

Then I looked at the shirtless, bearded daddy in the passenger seat, who was too chicken to look at me. . .and I felt sad. 

Not for me, mind you.  Sad that this daddy didn't finish his education; but instead chose to blame the system for failing him.  Heck, he even blamed me because I was mean. 

And this niggled at my mind all day long. 

Merry Jennifer 

Then later on after Truett and I got home from taking Maddie and Oliver swimming, we checked the telephone mailbox that was blinking. 

That call happened to be a recording from the University of Florida Internal Medicine and Geriatric Clinic, reminding me of my appointment next Tuesday.

Of course, only one word stuck in my mind as I went about my business. 

Do you know which one?

 

are we sick?

Are we sick of scarecrows yet?

Here's one for you.

But this one doesn't have straw, so maybe it's not a scarecrow after all.

 Howdy pardner!  Can I be in your book?

So long, now.  

to be or not to be

I've been wondering if scarecrows have to have straw or hay sticking out of their bodies in order to qualify to be a scarecrow.

I've seen some pretty interesting stuffed bodies that I classify as scarecrows, but are they really scarecrows?  Take a look.

Okay, fella.  Turn around.

Did you get a good look at the face?  Did you recognize who this is?

 
That's right.  It's old Bill himself.

Giddyup!  

the search

My search for scarecrows continues.

One of the best places to find scarecrows is at "The Pumpkin Patch" near Alachua, Florida. 

But I must admit I got distracted by the unusual variety of pumpkins from New Mexico.

However, I did find a couple of sweet looking scarecrows that would probably be just right for the book.

 
  But then we moved on to downtown Alachua where I saw a disturbing scarecrow, almost as disturbing as scarecrow #1.

I think we need to take a closer look at this fellow.

Interesting, I'd say.  But take a closer look.  It's down right creepy.

Yikes!  That's sick!

What is it with these people?