Relief from political distress, day 46…

Busy day with little free time to spare, so you get a very little blog today.  Hope you’ve enjoyed this fabulously beautiful (when your willing to see) day! 

Nice…

On the drive home from school today, I enjoyed listening to the boy and doll’s banter about their respective day. “You’re out early,” I noticed. “Oh we had a pep rally and are allowed to leave when it’s over,” the doll explained as she climbed into the car. A moment later, her brother opened the opposite side door and said, “Good afternoon…” as he slid into his seat. “How was school today,” asked their mother, rather routinely. “Eh, on my Latin test I’m pretty sure I wrote the name for “book” in Spanish,” the doll replied which caused us all to laugh. “What is that, libre?”  I asked. “LIBRE” the boy replied as the doll concurred both our answers. “What is the correct answer?” Her brother inquired, “I don’t remember,” she replied and again we all laughed.

“Hey, I didn’t see you at the pep rally,” She said to the boy. “Nope, I didn’t want to go, so I didn’t,” He said, in a smug tone. “Where do you hide out?” She wondered. “Eh, sometimes the library is a good place, but today, I hung out in the guidance office…” He explained. “Bay, did you talk with the college counselor while there?” I wondered. “No, I hung out with my regular guidance counselor,” He replied. “Did you tell her about your ACT score?” I said, still excited by his latest results. “No, she already knew,” He replied. “Did she say anything to you about them?” I wondered. “Yes, she said they were very good…” He said with a sheepish grin making its way across his face. “I heard there was a girl who got a 32,” The doll interjected. “Wow, who was that?” I asked impressed. “Oh I don’t know, I just overheard some kids talking about their results,” she replied.

“Oh, okay,” I said. “You know when it’s my turn to take the exam, don’t even think about me getting as high a grade as Mr. Test Taker here,” She said jabbing her brother with her elbow. “Why would you say that?” Her brother replied. “I’m not a test taker like you,” She said hoping we’d buy that excuse. “Why are you selling yourself short, girl?  You’re plenty smart. I expect you to score higher than I did. In fact, I know you will…” He encouraged. “Doll your school is geared to help students improve overall test scores, so by the time you take the ACT, you’ll be much better prepared than your brother…so who knows what you’ll score,” I offered. “Yeah, maybe…” she said, paused then added, “but don’t hold your breath,”

“Time will tell, doll, time will tell,” I said, shortly before dropping them off.

****

 

Relief from political distress, day 47

male Downy Woodpeckers aka the usual suspects

On Monday afternoon after watching several hours of Gunsmoke reruns, Mr. L. usually asks, “Do you think we can get the hell out of here?” Knowing this question will arrive shortly after lunch, I make plans to take him on an “adventure”, scouting places that will be entertaining for the both of us. Yesterday we drove to an area MetroPark to enjoy their “Window on Wildlife” which offers a glimpse of animal (aka designated area with bird feeders) wildlife inside the park. On occasion, the birds who come to visit are rarities in the area, but most often times than not, they are what we refer to as “The Usual Suspects”; birds native to our area and thus, deemed boring.

Yesterday was more of the same, but I did capture a nice photo of a Black Capped Chickadee, who gave me a “What you looking at?” brief stare, before going back to feeding. Recently I learned, this particular species is a year round bird whose numbers dwindle in the winter, due to lack of food stores. As such, I think this winter, I’ll leave my feeder up… in hopes of helping out these little cuties.

 

Shut up and don’t interject nothing…

Yesterday, my kids had a scheduled two hour delay, but together, agreed the night before, to get up early enough to arrive at school a full half an hour before the bell rang. Yet, when her alarm rang out, the doll elected to stay in bed and catch up on some much needed sleep. In the meantime, her brother woke up (miraculously on his own without his sisters help) on time, took a shower, ate breakfast and then sat impatiently waiting for his sister to do the same. Yet, since her desire for sleep overruled her desire to get to school early, they both arrived to school much later than he liked.

Pulling up to the front of the school about ten minutes before the first bell, the boy, frustrated by our “later than desired” arrival time said, his voice filled with a heavy condescending tone, “And here we are arriving to school with the same time to spare as usual. Thank you doll.”

***

An aside: The moment he finished his thought, I came to two very important conclusions: I should just sit by and be quiet while they worked this out and for the love of God, I shouldn’t interject any opinion whatsoever on the matter at hand. Following my own advice, I sat there gleefully quiet and enjoyed their loud banter with one another.

***

As you might imagine, my daughter did not take kindly to not only her brother’s inference, but also the tone of voice he employed. “Big deal!! So what if I chose to sleep in today. Sorry I fell short of your expectations and you had to be responsible for a change and get yourself up, showered, dressed and fed,” She loudly returned.  “It’s just we both agreed to get to school earlier than usual, ” He replied just as loud to his sister, adding, “Maybe you should have gone to bed earlier…” “Who’s fault is that? Not mine!! I usually only get 4 hours of sleep a night, especially when I have to wake you up too!” “Doll, you just made my point… Go to bed earlier,” he replied. “It doesn’t work that way, but regardless, after this stunt, you’ll be lucky if I ever wake you up again!!” She yelled to him, then unbuckled her seat belt, opened the car door and  quickly extracted herself from the car. “Have a good day baby,” I shouted out toward her and as she dismissed us. “Well, that went really well…” He mumbled as he began to get out of the car. “Bay, haven’t you learned anything about your sister yet?” I asked trying not to laugh.  “Yes, she’s a…” “Don’t talk about my baby that way…” I interrupted. “Fine, I  should have kept my mouth shut…” He acknowledged. “Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!” I said, adding “Oh and have a good day baby!”

“Yep,” he replied and exited the car.

Relief from political distress, day 48…

Yesterday, following my photo of the trail head to Falls Branch Waterfall, I had a few people wondering if I would post the Falls Branch Waterfall today. Unfortunately, that photo does not exist. Well, that’s not true, I do have one picture that does not do justice to the falls. You see, the hike down to the falls included us meandering slowly down hill for over an hour. By the time we reached the base of the falls, we came to the conclusion that in order to get a great photograph, we’d have to climb up a rather steep, but doable path along side the falls. While discussing our options, the boy made the decision for us when he yelled, “I don’t want to climb that thing! I’m ready to go back to the car,” then turned and began to run back up the trail we had just hiked down.

For a brief moment, my husband and I entertained the thought of climbing up the side of the waterfall anyway, because the trail back to the car would take a while and surely our deliberate child really wouldn’t travel too far ahead, right?  But then, the responsibility (that comes from being a parent) gene kicked in the dream for a great photograph of the Falls Branch Waterfall came to a close.

For the record, we climbed up the trail in record time since the boy ran the entire way.

*****

On that same trip, we hiked down to the Conasauga Falls in Coker Creek, Tennessee. Hope you enjoy this as a nice substitute…

Relief from politIical distress, day (78) (49.1) whatever…

Who knew counting down would be this laborious? I’m not talking about the difficulty in finding appropriate photos, but rather the seemingly simple task of counting down the days. Apparently I missed day 78, hence then parenthesis and since yesterday was day  49,  I added a point-one to get us into the same ballpark–maybe.

Oh and speaking of ballparks… Go Tribe!!

*****

A few years back, my family and I, on a trip to Tennessee, undertook a long hike through the deep dark woods to visit a magnificent waterfall. This ominous path marks the trail head, before the foliage swallows you up. 

Experience trumps “expertise”…

Over the weekend, both my children, teenagers; incorrectly assumed they were smarter than their mother. 

First the doll challenged me to a word scramble game on the Internet. After beating her the first game she asked, “I don’t understand where you’re coming up with these odd words…” I laughed and then gave her some “pointers” on how to find some similar words within the puzzle. When I beat her the third time, she said, “I don’t understand how you beat me”. Her father piped in sarcastically “Are you beating my daughter?”  “Yes I am,” I replied to him, then turned my attention back to my doll, “Why would you think that?” “I don’t know, maybe because I read more books than you,” she replied. “Ah, yes you do. But I read newspapers  online everyday, in addition to playing Scrabble with Mrs K and Words with Friends and Word Scramble with my friends. Oh but let’s forget all that for a moment and let me remind you, I am thirty-seven years older than you–plenty of time to learn all sorts of things before you arrived.” 

She looked back at me and said, “That’s true..” Paused then added,  “Your turn,” signifying the start of another game.

For the boy’s attempt at being smarter than his mother, I found him seated at my kitchen table eating a bag of crackers. This is of course after he had already eaten two bags of Gold Fish crackers and two Fiber One granola bars. “Bay! What are you eating now?” I asked. “Mom, I missed lunch…” He replied. “But you ate dinner…” I countered. “I’m still hungry…” He came back. “No more junk food dude, try an apple or banana not these single complex carbs…” I returned and then added, “Or instead, next time do yourself a favor and drink a bottle of water. This way, the water will fill you up and keep you from eating all the junk!” Looking back at me he said, “That’s not true…” 

Before I continue, let me tell you, my son underestimates me all the time. If I had a nickel for every time I said something he deemed false because it didn’t agree with his thinking, his college bill would be paid in full. As such, I let him in on some wise wisdom for the next time he chose to challenge his mother.

“You know, you and your sister are under the assumption that I’m an idiot who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Let me inform you to the contrary. Just because you don’t see me reading books, does not mean I don’t read. In addition, in the thirty-four years I lived in this earth before you arrived, I learned quite a few things. One is that you don’t question your Mother’s experience over your own “knowledge” or lack thereof, and Two, regardless whether I happen to be right or wrong, I will  always be right for the simple fact that I’m your mother. Do you understand?” 

He nodded. “Now get out of my kitchen–it’s closed for the night. Oh and bay,  if you happen to find yourself hungry a little later on…” He held out his hand to stop me as he reached down and grabbed a bottle of water, then replied, “yeah, yeah, I got it mom…” And then exited the room.

Relief from political distress, day 49*…

Ever have a day that just got away from you? Mr L and I have been all over the area, celebrating this beautiful late summer day and only now have gotten to a place where I can write safely… So short but oh so sweet..

Now you know what I meant by beautiful late summer day. I’m telling you, it would have been criminal to have missed out enjoying this beauty, today

Wamplers Lake , Brooklyn, Mi

****

Apparently I miscounted again and missed day 75 or so, tho I’m not sure how. Regardless, tomorrow will also be day 49, to correct my errors. Thank goodness there wasn’t common core around when I was going or we might never reach day 1… 😳

Relief from political distress, day 50…

Mr L and I are hanging out this afternoon and we took in a nice little stroll at one of our areas MetroParks. On our way back to the car, we took a moment to sit down to rest, and simply enjoyed this beautiful, sunny day.

While seated there, I noticed various butterflies and bumble bees frantically working over the last remaining flowers of summer. It’s hard to believe that just a week earlier, my hubby and I were walking around Brook Green Garden, in South Carolina; also enjoying a beautiful sunny day. The only difference being about 20 degrees on the Fahrenheit and barometric/dew point scales.

While South Carolina has many beautiful recreational activities and sights, I can say, I’m happy to be back in my hometown with their gorgeous cooler temps, yet equally sunny days. I guess it’s true what they say, your own happiness can be found simply by looking in your own back yard. I know mine sure is.

Relief from political distress, day 51…

This afternoon, while I was peacefully enjoying my day off, doing nothing in particular, while the rain fell most of the day, once the rain cleared out, someone rang my doorbell. “Oh lord,” I said, as I stood to answer the door. You see, when you enjoy a do nothing type day, that also includes not getting changing out of your pajamas. I mean seriously, how often do I get this opportunity, right? In any case, when I opened the door, there stood, a nice, good looking young man-which made me feel kind of gross for answering the door in my pj’s.

“Hello…?” I said as I opened my screen door to see him. “Hi, I was wondering if you would be interesting in…” He began. I’ve heard these type of requests before. They’re usually selling candy or asking for donations to keep alcoholics in church and out of bars, so I simply waited for the moment when I would reply, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any cash…” (which is the truth), before closing the door.

Instead, as the nice, good looking young man began his spiel, I noticed what he held in his hands and knew immediately, this was a different sales pitch. “Hello,” He began,  “I was wondering if you would be interested in putting any signs in your yard in support of Donald Trump,” He finished. “No thank you,” I said, very nicely and closed the door as he moved on to the next house on the block.

I’m not a type of person who needs to show their political leanings to the world, via their front yard, that’s what Facebook is for; I really don’t think someone driving by would see a sign and say, “Oh, Marsha’s voting for so and so, I must vote for them too…” On the contrary, they’d probably say, “Dear God, she’s voting for them, what the hell is wrong with her?” So, regardless which team presented me with a sign today, the answer would still have been no.

******

As mentioned today, I’ve been busy doing nothing and as such, the day has flown by… When the rain clouds finally cleared off, I stepped outside and captured this photo. No matter how many times I tried to enhance the shot via photo shop, I found the original to be the best. Hope you like…