Color Us FRIED!!!.....

This is what summer should look like. A great pool, a super raft, and floating around in the sunshine. It is what I look forward to every May when school ends. This is what the summer of 2011 does look like...fried grass and excessive heat. We are a close second right now behind the longest streak of 100 degree days ever. We thought the summer of 1980 was brutal. I remember it clearly. We had just moved into a new house and had planted an acre of grass seed. We watered 24 hours a day. Record heat and no rain at all. We survived and the grass did grow but it was a summer I will not forget.
So here we are again...ridiculous heat and not enough water to keep anything alive. We are parched...dried up and miserable. I water...continually. Morning and evening I am drenching my plants in moisture...to no avail. The heat is just too much. There is no end in sight. The next week is worse that last week. Another 6 days of ridiculous temperatures and absolutely NO rain anywhere on the horizon. This will come to an end. It will be winter someday..soon I hope. Six months ago we were trapped by snowfall like we had never seen before. School was cancelled for a record number of days while we all shivered praying for an end to the ice and freezing temperatures. So, now we are on the other side of the temperature curve and looking for the end. In the meantime...bring on the ice tea and don't set your glass in the sun!

Too many Ends......

2011 has been the year of "endings". I do not remember any other year recently when so many things have written the final chapter. I am sad. Well, not sad about all of them but slightly affected by the fact that such a variety of things will be no more.

At Bunko last week there was discussion about who attended the showing of the last of the "Harry Potter" movies. I do want to note here that not all of our conversations center around arthritis and weight gain. We do have deep meaningful debates. So talk shifted to the fact that one of my Bunko mates daughters was sad that they would have no more family outings to the midnight showing of the latest Potter release. It was a tradition...now what???

Last week was also the end of the Space Shuttle Program. Now that is going to be missed. Why did we work so hard years ago to develop technology to get to the moon and when we mastered it just quit? Guess we will just let the Russians do it. Is it that boring to see the planet Earth from outer space?

And our favorite celebrities are calling it quits...Oprah, Meredith Viera, Mary Hart, and now Shaquille O'Neal. Time to pass the torch to a new crew of young people hoping for the same success.

Oh...but the one that really makes me sad...the demise of All My Children. I have watched since it's creation in January, 1970. It was my last year of college. I arranged classes so I would not miss an episode. I tracked Phillip and Tara, Erika and whomever her beau might be at the moment. I was totally tied to Pine Valley and it's residents. Forty one years later and they will be turning off the cameras. It leaves a void. I had a connection. Weird I know, but it was my comfort TV. It was lasting.... but no more. So, I am sad. I am clinging to the last 35 or so episodes. It is like loosing a friend. I guess it is not up there with the loss of the Space Shuttle Program...to anyone except me!

2 Years.....

We have reached two years today...my blog and I that is. I have no idea why I remember this date, and honestly I really am not quite sure what led me to decide on hot afternoon two years ago that "blogging" was a good idea. As NON technically savvy as I am, it still surprises me that I figured this whole thing out.

So, 282 posts later I am sitting here singing "Happy Birthday, Dear Blog" and wondering what drives me to continue doing this. I actually think it is because it is therapeutic for me. It is a way for me to record things, relevant or irrelevant and look back on my year each December. I have two books now. They hold all of the pictures and musings on each particular day and I am glad I have those thoughts to reread. Somethings have value, like birthdays and anniversaries. Somethings are totally random, like a horse in the parking lot of Auto Zone. But all of them put me back in that moment...a moment that might otherwise be forgotten.

I may have less to say now that I am jobless...by choice. I may not have quite as many adventures, but on the days that I have an overload of information, I still have a place to journal it, be it useless or not. Here is to the beginning of year number three...and lots more recorded memories!

Leap Frog.....

And other fun games on a sunny afternoon!!!

Water sports are just what we needed to cure the too hot to do anything blues!

Thanks little "swim buddy" for perking up the end of our week.

Never To Young......

To be exposed to the thrill of cotton fabric and enjoy a great sale!!!
With Mandy and Brooklynn in tow I headed to SUZY'S to spend some $$ at the Annual Birthday sale. I look forward to this every summer just about as much as I look forward to going to the lake!!! The touch, the feel of cotton...nothing like it!!This was what I hope will be the first of many trips to the quilt store for Brooklynn and I. You are never too young to learn the value of a fat quarter.
And every young lady should know that a quilting safety pin is much different that a regular safety pin so off to that section of the store we went for lessons on the notions.

Hmmmm....a Jelly Roll??? Really? This does not look anything like jelly to me!
Oh, but a Jelly Roll is Gramma's favorite so hands on experience with the actual thing is the best teacher!!

Sewing is therapy for me. Putting together tiny scraps of material that turn into a work of art makes me smile. It is permanent. It is something that lasts. So many things are used and discarded easily but not a quilt.

Maybe someday when life is hectic Brooklynn will find pleasure in escaping with some fabric and a sewing machine....and if she doesn't she will still remember that we shopped together!

Out of the Funk....

I have been in the state of a "suspended funk" lately. No reason except that retirement is weird. It is summer like I normally experience but a summer with no end. I have not had the usual enthusiasm to hurriedly complete each of the projects on my list. There is no urgency. I am going nowhere...next week, or next month for that matter. It is too easy to "put off" until tomorrow. Therefore, I have done nothing. That is not boding well with my Type A, ADD personality. I normally have a half a dozen projects going at once and I am immersed in happiness as I wake up and decide what to attack on a particular day.
I am not an "in a funk" person but boy I have been there lately...so, it was time to pull up my socks and get to work on something. Project #1...paint a table. 107 degree heat and I pick an outside project. I was really working on satisfying my need for proving I could still do whatever I wanted.
I finished it! I did not even stop to start on something else in the middle of painting. 100% complete!
I feel better now. This is going to take some getting used to. I have to get a routine going....and start doing today what can be put off until tomorrow.

This is just a whole new experience, but I am sure I can get used to it!

Saturday Heros.....

Sara's softball team was lucky enough to be chosen from teams across the metroplex to play an exhibition game prior to the Heros Celebrities Baseball Game at the Dr. Pepper Ball Park in Frisco. What an incredibly fun day for all of us. I am pretty sure that I had as much fun as she did despite the 101 degree heat!!!

The teams of kids were treated like true HEROS...given game jerseys, hats, and a chance to play on a real minor league field. And there to cheer them on were the CELEBRITIES!!!

I am totally convinced that I was more star struck than Sara or any of her teammates. I mean, she was sharing a dugout with the likes of Martellus Bennet, Everson Walls, Matt from "Seventh Heaven" (that was the only one that impressed her) and Bradie James. I had paparazzi fever!

How often do you get a chance to get up close and personal with people who earn millions of dollars on Sunday afternoon in a Cowboy uniform. They were real, they were personable,(yes, they are currently unemployed) but they signed autographs and high fived the kids like they were celebrities too!

Right there with Dez Bryant

Bradie James (my personal favorite)!!!!

And legend Everson Walls.

How about a high five from Mav's owner Mark Cuban....wow, what a great experience!

And Bradie James and DeMarcus Ware.

Cash Cuban toting his priceless trophy....he is a proud owner no doubt and wants to make sure we all remember it!!!!

What an absolutely great Saturday...one we will remember for a long time!

No Fear!.....

We have passed July 4th. That has always kind of been the mid point of the summer to me. On the down hill run toward school, fall, and football. I never dreaded it. I am the weird soul that loved seeing all of the new school supplies displayed at Walmart. When I was little I loved shopping for new pencils, and a backpack. It was a big outing for me and mom. We picked out a new dress for the first day of school and I set my new supplies out and looked at them for a month ahead of time.
Then I had my own children and the shopping experience was still the same...even with four kids. I loved that new box of CRAYOLAS with 64 colors more than they did. I wanted to be the first one to bust them out and color with them on a new coloring book page. That is just the ultimate fun!!
A lunchbox was a real ordeal. It took more time than the backpack. I never quite understood why adults dreaded this shopping trip. I LOVED IT! I loved watching my kids carefully pack things up to start a new school year, with fresh markers and lots of enthusiasm.
Then suddenly I was buying my own back to school supplies....for my classroom. I was a teacher. I wanted college ruled paper,#2 pencils, colored folders, and new BIC pens. They were not just for me. They were for the students who I knew would not come with anything new and fresh. I wanted them to fill in paperwork with a new black, medium point pen. It always made me feel good.
The supplies are out...everywhere! I am not buying them. I am retired. It is a sense of relief really. I realize now that I have been home for 5 weeks that I want to be here. I LOVE to be here. It was time. I do not "fear" seeing all of the yellow "Back To School" displays. It does not mean my summer is almost over. I will have summer for the rest of my life. WOW! That feels good. I still love all of the new things they put out so maybe I will still buy new crayons!

Just Because It's Friday.....

And this made me smile!!!!

Happy July 4, 2011

It was another great Fourth of July...a little quieter than most but fun just the same. We have spent the last 13 years celebrating the 4th Cedar Creek Lake style. It is always a party. It is always what I look forward to.

Our lake property, however, has become a beachfront. The lake is about 5 feet low. No launching the jet skis from the lift. Our neighbors had to trailer theirs down on the back of a utility cart and hope they could get it out into water. The other neighbors just parked their boat about three hundred yards out and the crew hiked to shore.

I missed the water time. I have not been able to get out on the ski this summer. It is my attempt at regaining my youth. I love flying through the water with the wind in my face. I think I can relate to a grown man's need to fly down the highway on a Harley. It is the ultimate sense of "WOW"!!!!

So maybe next year the lake will rise...I am sure the passion for the water will still be there!!! No, these are not my peaches. They are my neighbors and oh my how I wanted to bring home a bagful!!!! They have two trees worth...I know they could afford to part with a few.

It is the end of another great summer weekend. We have had nothing but great weekends this year...and summer is only half over!!!!

All Things Red, White, and Blue.....

I love the 4th of July!!!!
I love that America goes red, white, and blue. I love that once a year we really remember how fortunate we are to enjoy the freedoms we have. We all get complacent the 360 other days but this weekend brings out the patriotic spirit in everyone.
Freedom allows us to complain about our government, say prayers if we choose, relax when we can, and celebrate what is good about America. We can BBQ, watch fireworks, and sing patriotic songs. But....someone a world away is fighting so we can continue to do these things all year long. Life is good because brave men and women sacrifice everyday...and so do their families. Remember those troops this weekend.

"This nation will remain the land of the free as long as it is the home of the brave."