from the porches

our own personal field trip

 
For about a year now Lieutenant Bickel with the Fort White Fire Department has encouraged us to bring the grandchildren to the fire station for their own personal tour.  "I'll even let them sit in the truck and push the bells and whistles," he said.

 
So yesterday we took Maddie and Oliver to the fire station. 

 
Both children tried on the heavy helmets.

 
My only question about the helmets was, "Where are the red ones like they sell in Wal*Mart?  Do you mean to tell me you don't wear red ones?"  Lieutenant Bickel told me they have helmets with different colored stripes on them, depending on the type of job they go to.

 
Maddie volunteered to sit in the fire truck and push the horn.  But that scared the daylights out of Oliver and he chose not to.  Because we were inside the fire station, the horn's sound reverberated off the walls and it scared the daylights out of me too.

 
Lieutenant Bickel was thorough in explaining what each tool was used for.  His lecture was a bit over the children's heads, but I found it quite informative.

 
Maddie tried on the fireman's coat . . .

 
and the oxygen tank.  Meanwhile, Oliver clung next to me, still trying to get over the loud sound of the fire truck horn.

 
As we were leaving, both children climbed into Lieutenant Bickel's boat.  Oliver really liked the boat.

 

Then finally, the grandchildren sat at long tables in the CPR portable as Lieutenant Bickel explained about the successful classes the firemen had taught to the community.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Bickel for a lovely personal field trip."

nana said a bad word

 
We had the grandchildren last night for a sleepover, and this morning I flubbed up a wee bit.  It all staarted like this.

 
I was opening a package of snack crackers for Maddie.  As I ripped the bag, Cheetos flew out of the bag landing on the counter and on the floor.

"Damn!" I said. 

I want you to know right now that that word slipped out of my mouth before my brain had time to engage.

 
Maddie looked at me and asked,  "Nana, did you just say a bad word?"

"Yes, I did, Maddie.  I apologize," I answered.  "I shouldn't have said that."

"Did you say the st word?"  Maddie asked.

"No, Maddie.  I didn't."  I said.

Then Maddie was off to the livingroom to finish watching Sponge Bob.

And this is what I heard:

 
"Oliver!  Oliver!  Nana said a bad word, but it wasn't the st word.

(Oh, my word!  Now they'll tell their parents!)

Then four year old Oliver exclaimed, "Well, butt is a bad word!" and the giggling began.

 
Shortly afterward, I peeked into the livingroom and saw my two innocent grandchildren marching in a circle chanting, "One..two..three BUTT! One..two..three..BUTT!"

Do you think it's time for Nana to go back to church?

 

there is a god

 
Recently we took a vacation to Virginia to drive the Skyline Parkway and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  The view was spectacular.  I would hang my head out the window, breathe in fresh air, and scream, "I can't get enough!" 

All in all, Truett and I drove 2220 miles in seven days, and we learned a few lessons along the way.  First, allow two weeks of moderate driving.  Second, stay in the valleys and take day tours to the parkway. As one girl said, "You can drive this highway or the parkway, but all you'll see up there is trees." 

"Well, yeah," I thought.

 
Yes, for seven days we averaged seven hours a day in our car, and that was way too much sitting in one seat, especially in the back seat watching reds, oranges, and yellows whizzing by the car.  But I had always wanted to drive the Skyline and the Blue Ridge Parkway so I didn't complain too much until one morning when we couldn't see the front of the car because of the fog.

"This is ridiculous!" I told Truett.  "We don't have to drive the parkway just because it's on our itinerary!"  Now, Truett is a smart man, so he headed to the Shenandoah Valley.

There is a God.

 
We wound our way through small towns and came upon The Pink Cadillac Diner.  Sherry and I were thrilled.  It was our kind of place.

 

 
The Pink Cadillac Diner was your typical greasy spoon diner, but the atmosphere was worth the price.  When we walked inside, every inch of wall space was covered with posters of Elvis and framed guitars, and being a 50's child, it was right up my alley.

 

While in the valley we saw pumpkin patches . . .

 
and row after row of fir trees.

 
We came across old country stores with chewing-tobacco locals watching me take photographs.  I bought a snack because I knew I was imposing and figured they were sick of tourists coming in with their cameras.

 
About mid-day we headed back to the Parkway and drove through tunnels.  Shall we?

 
 
Wheee!  That was fun!  I could just as well have been on Space Mountain.  The thrill was the same.

Most of my photographs are posted on my Facebook album, but here are a few pictures from our trip.

 

 

 
Finally, at our last night on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at Mount Pisgah, we were granted with a rainbow.

 
There is a God!

 

 

a good mother

 
Today I was a good mother. 

Yes, I was.

Clay had his driver's license revoked last month because he sent the payment for another infraction two days late.  Consequently, when he was stopped again for passing a deputy five miles over the limit, he was not only charged with speeding...but with driving without a driver's license.

UGH!

Anyway, I took Clay to the DMV today in Lake City, only to find out that that cute little birth certificate hospitals give all mothers after their child is born...after all that agonizing pain of delivering a child...well that cute certificate is  NOT a birth certificate.

No. 

We had to find Vital Statistics to prove that my child, Clay, was born on 4/7/77.  They told me, "No mam, it doesn't matter if his footprints are on this token that hospitals give the parents.  Here I was thinking I had all his documents straight to reinstate his driver's license. 

But, alas, I was wrong.

So, you might say that today I learned a thing or two.

 
Anyway, Clay complained the whole way to Lake City that his tooth was hurting.  BAD HURTING!  So, being the good mother, I said, "Okay.  I'll call Sam!  ( Sam, my son-in-law is an endodonics dentist.)  Now, for those of you who don't quite know what kind of dentist that is, just think:  root canal.

Anyway, being a good mother today, I took Clay to Dr. Markham, with a happy attitude, I might add.  But while I was there, I looked out in the woods and saw these robins.  "There is a God after all!" I thought.

 

To end this post, I have to pat myself on the back for taking my son to the dentist for a root canal job.

Do you want to know Clay's comments about his experience.

"Mom, Sam sure works with a lot of pretty women!"

And, my friend, that sums up Clay's day.

the birds

 
How many of you saw Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".  

This week while playing golf, the sky darkened and a swarm of crows flew above the trees.  It was hard for me to concentrate on golf, so I took a picture instead. This 1963 thriller scared me to death,as well as Hitchcocks's "Psycho".

always a teacher

 
Yesterday afternoon Truett and I took Maddie and Oliver to swimming lessons.  In order to keep the grandchildren from picking at each other, I suggested we play a game.  Oliver shouted, "Let's play I Spy.  I quickly vetoed that game because it's pretty hard to spy the same thing in a moving car, so I said, "Let's write out loud."  Everyone agreed and this is how it went.

Me:  Halloween was fun.  Now each of you have to add a sentence about Halloween being fun.  Got it?"

Everyone:  "Yes!"

Me:  "Halloween was fun."

Granddaddy:  "Because I got candy."

 
Me:  "What, Granddaddy?  That's not right.  That's a phrase and you can't start a sentence with because. You have to make a sentence."

Truett hung his head like a little boy who had just been reprimanded. Meanwhile Maddie and Oliver are listening to my instructions.

Me: "Okay.  Let's do it again...only this time right.  Halloween was fun".  Then I pointed to Truett.

 
Truett:  "I got lots of candy."

Me:  "Great, grandaddy!  You did it.  Maddie, it's your turn."

Maddie:  "I was a princess."

 

Me:  "Wonderful, Maddie.  You've got it!  Oliver, it's your turn."

Oliver:  "I was the Cookie Monster."

 
Me:  "Perfect, Oliver! Now I end it. Halloween was fun!"

Maddie:  "That was fun!  Let's do it again!"

Oliver:  "Again!  Again!"

So we did it again.

 Me: "I got lots of Halloween candy."

 
Granddaddy:  "M&M's, lollipops. . ."

Once again I had to intervene.

Me:  "NO! NO! NO! Granddaddy, that's not right!  Maddie, tell Granddaddy what he's suppose to say!"

Maddie:  "Granddaddy, you're supposed to make a sentence.  You have to say, 'I got M&M's and lollipops!' "

 
Poor Truett.  He looked at me and sighed,  "Why do you always have to be a teacher?"