from the porches

bring on the company

Thank goodness for company!

I'm so excited because my twin and her family are coming to visit this Saturday for a week; so for the past two days, my cleaning woman, has mopped, dusted, and swiped every available space she could see.  

Even though I have these wide, beautiful porches, the wind stirs up the sand or the lawnmower stirs the sand up and the sand sails to the porches as if the porches were magnets. 

Meanwhile, I continue to bounce from one thing to another throwing away useless scraps of paper, but   pretty much staying out of Deanna's way.

Thank goodness for company! 

Did you know I have thirty-seven plastic containers in three seperate places and very few have tops that match.  I found that out this morning as I was trying to find a concealed spot for Purina Puppy Chow.

Anyway, the house looks good.  The floors shine.  The puppies have a clean pen area and I say, "Bring on the company!"
 

happy birthday, merry

Yes, today is my birthday (as well as Sherry's),  and I have been blessed with birthday greetings from many of my Facebook friends.  Thank you!  I am overwhelmed!

This morning I heard the printer spitting out paper; and once again I saw a sweet Happy Birthday greeting from Truett.  Thanks, Truett.  You mean the world to me.

But one of the sweetest notes came from Mom.

Her handwriting has really taken a beating since January;  but I can read it.

This morning I heard Mom in her room singing.  She does that a lot.  Or she talks to herself. 

But, today she was singing a little ditty.

Then she came out to the dining room and handed me this birthday card.

Thanks, Mom. 

Do I correct her and remind her that I weighed a whopping 3 pounds and that it was Sherry that weighed 3 1/2? 

 Nah!

On my birthday I've been kissed on the cheek and neck and hair by Lily and Maggie.

Silly dogs. 

Why are your ears flipped backwards?

And as I write this, Roger is sitting practically on the keyboard waiting for me to let him touch my nose with his. 

That's how Roger kisses.

Punky let me rub him while he was on the back of the chair this morning. 

Now that's real special!

Anyway, thanks to all of you for making my birthday special.

(Oh, and by the way, I guess I didn't vote for John F. Kennedy.  I WAS at the polling booth.  Perhaps I went with husband number one; but that was so long ago, I just don't remember.  Could be the age, huh?)

Thank you again for the special birthday greetings!

Merry

 
 
 
 

and the rest is history

The other day I found an old photograph of me holding Merry Jennifer.  As I looked at the photograph a story came to mind. . . a story about my curly hair. 

It all began like this:

Truett and I were living in Savannah, Georgia.  At the time, my hair was long.  So long it came to the middle of my back.  It had been growing for years and years and years.

Well, we were walking in the Oglethorpe Mall one evening, listening to Bob Dylan over the mall intercom.  Then I saw a young woman pass me with short, curly hair.  Just like Bob Dylan's.

I told Truett, "That's how I want my hair.  I'm going to ask her where she got it cut."

"Fine," Truett answered.

So I sprinted to the girl, tapped her on the back and said, "May I ask you where you got your hair done?" 

The girl said, "I did it myself."

I told her I wanted my hair to look just like hers. . .and Bob Dylan's, and asked,  "Will you do mine like that?  I'll pay you."

"Sure," she answered; and with that I took her back to meet Truett and Merry Jennifer, our only child at the time.

Evidentally, the young woman needed money so she asked if I wanted my hair done now.

"YES!"  I exclaimed.

And the rest is history.  We hopped in our car and followed the woman to her apartment; and two hours later I had the perfect hair cut.

Boy, times have changed.  Not only with hair styles, but with trust in strangers.
 

got you

The other day Truett and I took a little drive by  Waccassa Plantation on SR 138, not too far from us.

In fact, many of our short drives, our head-clearing, get away from everything drives, are to Waccassa Plantation. 

We know they have exotic animals there; but most times we don't see any. In fact, we thought maybe they had no more exotic animals since the owner, Mr. Hurle,y passed away.

 

But not so two days ago. 

At first we thought we were seeing musk ox; but after I leapt out of the car with my camera in hand, I discovered it was plain old bison.

Molting old bison.

They wouldn't look up, so as I teetered on the edge of a ditch, I let out a Whoop!  and that worked.

"Got you!", I muttered and I headed back to the car.

 
 
 

  
 

gymnastics

Today Truett and I attended Madeline's gymnastics finale at Sun Country in Gainesville. 

Truett and I arrived fifteen minutes early, thus enabling us to find front row seats. 

We watched Maddie as she walked across the balance beam with trepidation.

I held my breath for fear she would fall and burst into tears.  But she didn't fall and I let out a big sigh of relief.

The hall was full of children from all ages.  Some were very flexible.  Others struggled.

Now this event looked like a barrel of fun.  The girls bounced along a trampoline almost the length of the gym.

And every child can tumble, can't they.  Yes, but not all tumble without wobbling to the side and almost falling off.  Maddie didn't wobble, but a few girls did.

Madeline earned a medal for her two week stint at gymnastics and she was very proud of herself, just as we were proud of her. 

Following the gymnastics event, we picked up Oliver, treated the grandchildren to lunch at Burger King, and headed to the movies to see Toy Story 3. 

I don't know where the saying, "Big girls don't cry" came from, but I choked back tears at the end of the movie.  The grandchildren were excellent in every way today. 

It was FUN!

 
 
 
 

mexican dominoes

I'm giving myself a rose today.  At noon I played Mexican Dominoes with a group of friends who live along the Santa Fe River.  I've only played twice before and I always feel like such a novice as I count the little colored dots.  One day I'll be able to recognize the colors without counting.

That's beside the point.  When I left the domino game today, I was in the lead!  I'm not as ignorant as I thought I was.
 

unexpected things

Sometimes when Truett and I take our little rides we come upon unexpected things.

 Even though the ambulance was at this accident, it appears no one was seriously hurt.  What you cannot see is the back of that little silver car smushed all the way up to the driver's seat. 

Also, I thought it interesting that a couple of pick-up trucks made quick U-turns. Hmmm!  Made me wonder why.

As we continued our drive, we got behind this semi carrying what I thought was green beans.  You can see stuff flying off the top of the load toward our car. 

Truett didn't think it was green beans, but maybe peanuts.  So we pulled off the road and gathered up some of that stuff.

Ground up corn stalk mulch and  it was headed to the dairy farm.

 
 

too young

I told her she was too young. 

 I said, "Molly, Don't ever get pregnant!  You're too young!"

But did she listen?

Oh, no!  She waited a couple of months and hung out with that scum of the earth boyfriend of hers, then POP! 

Molly got pregnant.

I knew Molly was too young to be a mother.  

Over the weekend I found Molly's kittens.  Six of them curled up in the garage. 

At least Molly had enough sense to carry them in an enclosed structure, what with the rains and storms we've been having.

But today I only find two kittens in the garage; and the odd part is, this little gray kitty isn't one of them. 

I knew Molly was too young.

 She has moved all but two kittens somewhere else to nurse, and obviously, left two to survive on their own.

See there! 

Molly was just TOO YOUNG to have babies. 

Now we have two tiny kittens meowing and wobbling out of the garage toward the studio and human voices, wobbling right in the path of where Truett parks his Suburban.

I'm feeding these two little kittens for now, but not forever. 

Soon there will come a day when all my yard kittens AND Molly will take a ride to Lake City.

Oh, no.  I just had a different thought.   Maybe there's a predator getting the kittens at night!  Maybe it's the fox!

 
 
 
 

perpetual summer

I need a lesson plan on how to manage my retirement life. 

It seems like all I do is dart from one thing to another, and while I'm doing the other, something else of equal importance pops into my mind and off I go toward that.

 I had been told that retired folks were as busy as they were when they were working. . .and it is the truth.  In fact, I may be busier. 

The good thing about retirement is I can continue the weeding out of old magazines, chucking unnecessary papers and files from the studio, rooting around in drawers and retrieving somewhat good junk to give to the Community Thrift Store. 

But  the best part is  knowing I don't have to put everything on hold until after a week at work. Nope, I have weeks and weeks and weeks to get us organized again.  Months and months.  Even years and years.

I do think Truett and I could have planned a little better for my retirement.  We could have possibly downsized into a small apartment in the woods, and then I wouldn't be complaining.  But then I wouldn't have these lovely porches to collapse on to either.

Right now my life feels like a perpetual summer. . .  and that feels good. 

get rich quick

Today is Father's Day and would have been my father's birthday.

Today is  my parent's anniversary as well; therefore, my thoughts are about my dad this morning.

The other day I was rummaging in the file cabinet when I ran across my dad's patent for the Hanki-tie.  This is probably a little known fact to our family members, and one I had forgotten to share with my own family.

My dad was a dreamer and was in that generation where get rich quick schemes were posted in newspapers, magazines, tabloids and shown on black and white TV commercials.

My dad (pictured in the first photo) never got rich with this patent. 

Ultimately, my dad got rich by watching his children become kind, independant, and loving adults.

Thinking about you, Dad.