In 1997 Linda and I traveled to Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales. We were with a group of people, college kids, old folks, young folks and a group from Louisiana, some middle schoolers in the Louisiana group and a few teachers and a professor. So we had women, both young and old, men, again, both young and old and kids aged 14 and older. A very mixed group and it was so much fun and very enlightening.
As we traveled through the various countries we were impressed with the difference in the cultures of the people. The Irish were super friendly and so, so funny! They were anxious to please us and went out of their way to be accommodating, We loved them and the scenery, the pubs the churches and of course the sheep. There are five sheep for every citizen in Ireland! Sheeps rule! The people of Wales were quite friendly also, but not quite as colorful as the Irish. The Scotish people were delightful, we visited famous battle fields, the Queen's summer home, beautiful cathedrals, a minute wedding chapel called St. Margaret's that would only seat about 50 guests, and beautiful fields of gorse, heather and poppys. England was so wonderful but the people are rather staid and serious. Shakespear's home, the beautiful cathedrals, the avant garde of Soho, the ambiance of Chester, (my favorite place) with Bobbies and the Hadrian Wall and the pomp and circumstance of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace all so enthralling.
BUT the countries all had one thing in common that we found to be rather daunting! Each country had a good supply of public restrooms, that they call toilets, and they all had coin operated doors to enter these necessary rest stops! Our very diverse group resented this abomination! Particularly the young among us, and I must admit, I found it to be a little over the top too. Now, you all know that a group of Americans are not going to take this 'sitting down'. They simply put their coin in and then held the door open for their companions to have access to the facility! However, they spent a lot of time looking for relief stops that did not require a coin. They dubbed the coin operated 'toilets' Pay to Pee stops. Europe was not yet using Euros and it cost one to five pence to pee. So aliteration prevailed. In loud voices the teenagers would anounce, " Five pence to Pay to Pee here!" Outrageous!
Well, all of this is leading up to the news last Friday or Saturday that the Irish and British have decided to install coin operated 'toilets' on their airplanes!! I was so upset about the fact that our airlines were no longer serving peanuts and then lately have decided to charge for luggage, pillows, blankets and soft drinks that I expected great protests from the frequent flier but now, will out airlines have the nerve to ask us to Pay to Pee on airplanes?
May I suggest a couple of things? One , emmulating the astronaut that traveled cross country in her car to persue another woman's husband and wore diapers to cut down on the time spent traveling, or fly Southwest! No diapers needed! Yet. Ciao
Monday, March 2, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Food
It is really hard to keep up with what is good for you and what is not. It changes every day or two. Green tea is high in antioxidents! Bravo! Do antioxidants keep you from rusting? Or just what do they do? Lycopene, how about that, I've eaten barrels of lycopene in my life time,eaten or drank tomato juice.
I do not know why but I think I should be glad when I find that things are gluten free. And what are free radicals? I know one of the math symbols that is called a radical and it is telling you the square root or asking for the square root of a number but I'm sure that does not apply. Did you know that bananas and orange juice and peanut butter have lots of potassium? That is if the peanut butter is not from Georgia! And wine! Let's discuss that! A glass of red wine a day helps your heart, everyone said so but now today they added a kicker. A glass of red wine or any alcohol a day can cause breast cancer, liver cancer, rectal cancer etc. but just for women! Boo. Hiss. I don't even want to get into FAT. Trans fat, saturated fat, unsaturated fat, fat fat. I give up!
I think I'll go have a glass of fat free, antioxident, lycopene! Do Bloody Marys have lycopene in them?
I do not know why but I think I should be glad when I find that things are gluten free. And what are free radicals? I know one of the math symbols that is called a radical and it is telling you the square root or asking for the square root of a number but I'm sure that does not apply. Did you know that bananas and orange juice and peanut butter have lots of potassium? That is if the peanut butter is not from Georgia! And wine! Let's discuss that! A glass of red wine a day helps your heart, everyone said so but now today they added a kicker. A glass of red wine or any alcohol a day can cause breast cancer, liver cancer, rectal cancer etc. but just for women! Boo. Hiss. I don't even want to get into FAT. Trans fat, saturated fat, unsaturated fat, fat fat. I give up!
I think I'll go have a glass of fat free, antioxident, lycopene! Do Bloody Marys have lycopene in them?
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Dance
I am not the most graceful person in the world. I've been known to fall down when all I was doing was just standing still. I've fallen off of buses, up steps, down steps, into the house in D.C. where Lincoln died, off the front porch, out of the car, off a merry-go round, you name it I've fallen off of it or out of it. About the only place I've never fallen down is on the golf course
Doc and I were taking Fergus around the block a couple of years ago in the fall of the year and Fergus gave a sudden pull and I slipped on some wet leaves and fell flat on my belly on the sidewalk still hanging on to Fergus' leash. Doc had been a little behind me but he soon passed me up as I lay there and kept on walking. He had long since lost patience with me spending so much of my time on the floor or ground. When some one asked him why he didn't stop he said, "Hell, she is always falling down!"
When my mother realized how clumsy I was she allowed me to join the dance class at school thinking maybe I would become more graceful. I was in the first grade at the time and it was an acrobatic tap dance class. I loved to dance. I used to have my own personal recitals in the pantry and I was the only spectator. For the rest of my years I took every opportunity to join dance classes. I had Modern Dance with Miss Blocavah, ball room dancing with Miss Sheer and in high school we had dance in PE which we called gym class.
Back in the 70's one of my friends asked me to join an exercise class with her that took place at Norma Hellmuller's School of Dance. I promptly signed up.If it was a Dance School it had to be something I wanted to do. We did our warm-up drills at the ballet barr doing plei's and other ballet moves and then began our exercise routines. We did our routines to music. My friend was so crippled up the next day she promptly dropped out but I stayed. There were about ten of us that first night but after that the number varied. New people would come and go. A newly married girl, Toni, stayed and so also did I.
Through the years the instructors changed a few times we had Margo to begin with and Cece in the summer. We went two nights a week and were in great shape in no time! Margo was a tough task master. The routines were arduous. We made a rule that we did not try to memorize names until the new people stayed at least three weeks. They fell like flies. After about eight or ten years Margo left and then we had either Cece, Norma or Natalie. We had also finally acquired a steady group of people that were as dedicated as Toni and I, people that showed up every week (we cut it down to once a week) and we grew to be a very close knit group.
We never lacked for subjects to talk about, music, food, work, food, shocking behavior, recipes, our travels, food, on rare occasions there was a little man bashing, we talked about our pets, mostly Margaret, Norma and Natalie's cats, more food, but remarkably we never discussed politics or religion. That could well be the reason for our compatibility.
We all came from different walks of life, there is probably 35 years age difference between the youngest and oldest. Lesa is a third grade teacher, Toni is an engineer, Toni Lynn is a docent at the zoo, Sherril is a professor , Margaret is a retired banker, I am a retired teacher, Natalie is a dance instructor.
Toni and I were class members for 27 years and the rest have been there long enough to have earned senior status. We would all be in classes still if Norma hadn't decided to retire and not renew her lease on the studio. She and Natalie taught a few thousand children and young teens to dance.
While we worked so hard all those years while speaking frequently of food we make up for it now by meeting frequently and having dinner together and talking about exercises. We meet and start talking immediately, still not at a loss for words. We are still interested in each other's well being and still care for each other. We do a lot of laughing! As the teens would say , we are BFF's. I hate to tell this but I am still clumsy. Just yesterday I fell down in the kitchen. However, I know how to get up gracefully!
Doc and I were taking Fergus around the block a couple of years ago in the fall of the year and Fergus gave a sudden pull and I slipped on some wet leaves and fell flat on my belly on the sidewalk still hanging on to Fergus' leash. Doc had been a little behind me but he soon passed me up as I lay there and kept on walking. He had long since lost patience with me spending so much of my time on the floor or ground. When some one asked him why he didn't stop he said, "Hell, she is always falling down!"
When my mother realized how clumsy I was she allowed me to join the dance class at school thinking maybe I would become more graceful. I was in the first grade at the time and it was an acrobatic tap dance class. I loved to dance. I used to have my own personal recitals in the pantry and I was the only spectator. For the rest of my years I took every opportunity to join dance classes. I had Modern Dance with Miss Blocavah, ball room dancing with Miss Sheer and in high school we had dance in PE which we called gym class.
Back in the 70's one of my friends asked me to join an exercise class with her that took place at Norma Hellmuller's School of Dance. I promptly signed up.If it was a Dance School it had to be something I wanted to do. We did our warm-up drills at the ballet barr doing plei's and other ballet moves and then began our exercise routines. We did our routines to music. My friend was so crippled up the next day she promptly dropped out but I stayed. There were about ten of us that first night but after that the number varied. New people would come and go. A newly married girl, Toni, stayed and so also did I.
Through the years the instructors changed a few times we had Margo to begin with and Cece in the summer. We went two nights a week and were in great shape in no time! Margo was a tough task master. The routines were arduous. We made a rule that we did not try to memorize names until the new people stayed at least three weeks. They fell like flies. After about eight or ten years Margo left and then we had either Cece, Norma or Natalie. We had also finally acquired a steady group of people that were as dedicated as Toni and I, people that showed up every week (we cut it down to once a week) and we grew to be a very close knit group.
We never lacked for subjects to talk about, music, food, work, food, shocking behavior, recipes, our travels, food, on rare occasions there was a little man bashing, we talked about our pets, mostly Margaret, Norma and Natalie's cats, more food, but remarkably we never discussed politics or religion. That could well be the reason for our compatibility.
We all came from different walks of life, there is probably 35 years age difference between the youngest and oldest. Lesa is a third grade teacher, Toni is an engineer, Toni Lynn is a docent at the zoo, Sherril is a professor , Margaret is a retired banker, I am a retired teacher, Natalie is a dance instructor.
Toni and I were class members for 27 years and the rest have been there long enough to have earned senior status. We would all be in classes still if Norma hadn't decided to retire and not renew her lease on the studio. She and Natalie taught a few thousand children and young teens to dance.
While we worked so hard all those years while speaking frequently of food we make up for it now by meeting frequently and having dinner together and talking about exercises. We meet and start talking immediately, still not at a loss for words. We are still interested in each other's well being and still care for each other. We do a lot of laughing! As the teens would say , we are BFF's. I hate to tell this but I am still clumsy. Just yesterday I fell down in the kitchen. However, I know how to get up gracefully!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
All is Bleak
Nature turned on us on a late January day and pelted us with snow and then icy rain and then more snow coupled with temperatures in the teens and low twenties. We were in a sparkling wonderland for about eleven days. The crystal coated trees, shrubs, lawns, cars, roofs, and the most unsightly items took on a facade of ice and therefor became beautiful. Big problem! The trees and tree limbs could not bear up under the weight of the ice so they snapped, crackled and popped off onto our roofs, cars and streets, and unfortunately onto our power lines. Thousands of houses and places of business went black. People resorted to candles, generators, flash lights and making temporary moves in with relatives and friends. Some of those mergers were almost fun and brought friends and families closer but in some cases, I understand, the familiarty bred contempt. Jangled nerves and aggravations were intolerable. I think there will be some new members in "Anger Management" classes in the coming months.
Finally, nature took pity on us and cranked up the temperature to a balmy 40 or 50 degrees and melted all of the ice. We will be a long time cleaning up the mess left behind. The insurance companies will be quite busy assessing the damage followed by repairmen repairing the damage.
Driving around town and seeing all of the piles of limbs and debris and seeing the shocking condition of the trees left with scars that will never heal is devestating. Back in 1963 we had the tornado that ripped through the park and destroyed so many trees and it took about twenty years for those replacement trees to grow and become thriving again.
Yesterday, I drove through the park and there was not as much damage as I expected. The terrain looked mighty grim. There were still snow patches and snow piles that were dirty and grimey with winter dirt. The sand traps on the golf course were covered with dirty snow and one lonely man was walking across one of the greens pondering its condition. There were only about three runners, no bikers, no dogs or babies on wheels. As I said above "All is Bleak!"
Hard times always bring out the best in people. Neighbor helping neighbor, family helping family and total strangers helping others. It truely is an ill wind... Men in trucks drove around and gathered up the sawed limbs placed on the curbs for debris pick-up. Some of them were getting fuel for their own fire places and some were getting it to sell to people or perhaps give to someone to help them keep warm in the brutal cold. So many people without power and lucky enough to have a fire place were more than glad to get the wood.
On a positive note-my holly tree was filled with robins yesterday! Could they be the harbingers?
Finally, nature took pity on us and cranked up the temperature to a balmy 40 or 50 degrees and melted all of the ice. We will be a long time cleaning up the mess left behind. The insurance companies will be quite busy assessing the damage followed by repairmen repairing the damage.
Driving around town and seeing all of the piles of limbs and debris and seeing the shocking condition of the trees left with scars that will never heal is devestating. Back in 1963 we had the tornado that ripped through the park and destroyed so many trees and it took about twenty years for those replacement trees to grow and become thriving again.
Yesterday, I drove through the park and there was not as much damage as I expected. The terrain looked mighty grim. There were still snow patches and snow piles that were dirty and grimey with winter dirt. The sand traps on the golf course were covered with dirty snow and one lonely man was walking across one of the greens pondering its condition. There were only about three runners, no bikers, no dogs or babies on wheels. As I said above "All is Bleak!"
Hard times always bring out the best in people. Neighbor helping neighbor, family helping family and total strangers helping others. It truely is an ill wind... Men in trucks drove around and gathered up the sawed limbs placed on the curbs for debris pick-up. Some of them were getting fuel for their own fire places and some were getting it to sell to people or perhaps give to someone to help them keep warm in the brutal cold. So many people without power and lucky enough to have a fire place were more than glad to get the wood.
On a positive note-my holly tree was filled with robins yesterday! Could they be the harbingers?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Location: Ice Station
I have been remiss about writing my blogs lately, not that they will be missed but I do like to reflect every now and then about the happenings in day to day living. There have been many happenings, I've been to Florida twice in the last five weeks. The first trip down, I welcomed in the New Year! It was not as warm as I expected it to be but about 40 degrees warmer than Louisville. You automatically feel warmer when everything is green and flowers are climbing over walls and the sky is so brilliantly blue and the sun is warm. Nevertheless ,it was cool enough that my jeans jacket felt good and the fire in the fireplace in the evening felt good. I came back home to plenty of cold weather, crisp days and freezing nights. Very invigorating! After ten days of cringing every time the furnace turned on, I turned the thermostat down to 50 degrees again ( I did that the first time I left, also) I went off to Sarasota again. Keith and Angela went to the Inauguration and I held down the home front.
It was very interesting to be back in the role of fixing lunches, making sure there were clean sox, finished homework assignments, papers signed and binders signed, and clock watching, crabs fed and watered, beds made, rooms picked up, bathes taken, and answers ready for the questions: Where is my back pack? Have you seen my shoes?Is it my time on the computer yet? What are we having for dinner? Can we watch Sponge Bob? Can we watch "Gilligan"? I enjoyed all of it. It took me back a few years.
Once again the weather was below average. However, I watched the Inauguration on TV and saw the two million people on the Mall shivering and huddled together trying to keep warm. It was a thing of beauty to see so many uncomfortable people smiling and jovial and happily attending a gathering so filled with hope. When Angela called later, she referred to herself, Keith and the rest of the crowd as "popsicles." The crowds were described as resembling ants. The faces of America that were in attendance and were introduced as they walked onto the Capital portico were impressive. Former Presidents, vice presidents, celebrities, judges, families, all smiling and proud to be Americans. People of both parties, people of color, people of all ages, it was an awe inspiring event to see the peaceful transition of leadership from one party to another. I was lucky enough to have wittnessed this transition back in 1993 and it is so dramatic that you are filled with pride and gratitude that you are an American!
I came home to the frigid conditions in Louisville and anxiously awaited my gas and electric bill to see how much my bill was after having two full weeks of no heat or any other activity in the house. Well, my bill came and what a shock to find out that it had encreased from $277.00 for December to $289.00 for January! Seems that L G and E were permitted to have a 50% rate encrease. In the great game of Life Monopoly I'm am definitely a loser! I've exhausted my bank roll. Where to now? Spring, where art thou?
Much more to come in tomorrow's blog. Ciao
It was very interesting to be back in the role of fixing lunches, making sure there were clean sox, finished homework assignments, papers signed and binders signed, and clock watching, crabs fed and watered, beds made, rooms picked up, bathes taken, and answers ready for the questions: Where is my back pack? Have you seen my shoes?Is it my time on the computer yet? What are we having for dinner? Can we watch Sponge Bob? Can we watch "Gilligan"? I enjoyed all of it. It took me back a few years.
Once again the weather was below average. However, I watched the Inauguration on TV and saw the two million people on the Mall shivering and huddled together trying to keep warm. It was a thing of beauty to see so many uncomfortable people smiling and jovial and happily attending a gathering so filled with hope. When Angela called later, she referred to herself, Keith and the rest of the crowd as "popsicles." The crowds were described as resembling ants. The faces of America that were in attendance and were introduced as they walked onto the Capital portico were impressive. Former Presidents, vice presidents, celebrities, judges, families, all smiling and proud to be Americans. People of both parties, people of color, people of all ages, it was an awe inspiring event to see the peaceful transition of leadership from one party to another. I was lucky enough to have wittnessed this transition back in 1993 and it is so dramatic that you are filled with pride and gratitude that you are an American!
I came home to the frigid conditions in Louisville and anxiously awaited my gas and electric bill to see how much my bill was after having two full weeks of no heat or any other activity in the house. Well, my bill came and what a shock to find out that it had encreased from $277.00 for December to $289.00 for January! Seems that L G and E were permitted to have a 50% rate encrease. In the great game of Life Monopoly I'm am definitely a loser! I've exhausted my bank roll. Where to now? Spring, where art thou?
Much more to come in tomorrow's blog. Ciao
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Moo Hoo
This is a story about a fugitive cow named Cincinnati Freedom. If there was a Brave Cow Award, she would definitely qualify. In February, 2002 just moments before she was going to be slaughtered, she took matters into her own hooves and scaled a 6 foot tall fence and made a run for it. She managed to elude police and officials from the SPCA for eleven days. The media got wind of the famous escape and news spread around the whole world. News outlets from Canada, England, France, Germany and Australia touted her bravary , her courage and her determination to live. She was offered the key to the city by ,then Mayor Luken.
As a result of her notoriety , an internationally renowned artist , Peter Max "adopted" her. The 2000 pound Charolais was housed in an animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y. She made many bovine friends at the farm and lived a relatively contented life until a short time ago when she became unable to use her legs and was diagnosed with spinal cancer. There was no hope of recovery so the decision was made to euthanize her.
During her last hours, her closest pals, other slaughterhouse escapees, Queenie from Queens,N.Y. Maxine from New York and Annie Dodge from Vermont, along with the rest of the herd stayed with her and surrounded her during the night. One of the oldest steers, Kevin, licked her face and Iris, an older female, licked her back in her final minutes. They remained with her until she was buried.
She found life to be so easy at the sanctuary that she had gained about 500 pounds during her stay there. Nevertheless,up until her sudden illness she could clear a 5-foot fence from a stand still. "It was an amazing thing to see," her keeper said. She was considered quite a celebrity and had many visitors. Coston said she understands why people wanted to visit "Cinci".
"She symbolized the will to live, to enjoy life and not be messed with. We can relate to that."
R.I.P. Cinci !
As a result of her notoriety , an internationally renowned artist , Peter Max "adopted" her. The 2000 pound Charolais was housed in an animal sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y. She made many bovine friends at the farm and lived a relatively contented life until a short time ago when she became unable to use her legs and was diagnosed with spinal cancer. There was no hope of recovery so the decision was made to euthanize her.
During her last hours, her closest pals, other slaughterhouse escapees, Queenie from Queens,N.Y. Maxine from New York and Annie Dodge from Vermont, along with the rest of the herd stayed with her and surrounded her during the night. One of the oldest steers, Kevin, licked her face and Iris, an older female, licked her back in her final minutes. They remained with her until she was buried.
She found life to be so easy at the sanctuary that she had gained about 500 pounds during her stay there. Nevertheless,up until her sudden illness she could clear a 5-foot fence from a stand still. "It was an amazing thing to see," her keeper said. She was considered quite a celebrity and had many visitors. Coston said she understands why people wanted to visit "Cinci".
"She symbolized the will to live, to enjoy life and not be messed with. We can relate to that."
R.I.P. Cinci !
Monday, January 12, 2009
January Thaw
I was lucky enough to get to go to Sarasota for a week of temperatures that did not chill my bones. I went down there on the day before New Years so I got to see the New Year in once again in Florida. I think this is about the 4th or 5th time I've done that. Doc and I both went down for three years in a row. He loved the beach and especially loved to be there on the beach when he knew how cold it was up north. He maintained a tan year around. He would sit on the front porch or the back deck here at home clad in his winter jacket and heavy gloves no matter what the temperature was because he loved the sun, but to go to Florida when it was warm and sunny was heavenly. Last year I went down alone because Doc was at Klondike and unable to travel. It was just as well because we had one warm day and then it turned so cold that it was so invigorating that I could hardly stand it.
The kids were not used to having cold weather and they do not have the clothing for it, I had the clothing for it but it was left in Louisville. Who knew? How could I come back to Louisville and admit that it had been freezing in Sarasota?
One day we decided to brave the elements and go to the beach weather or not! The kids piled on extra sweaters and searched drawers and closets for gloves and scarves and Ang and I did our best to bundle up also. I had my Jeans jacket, a sweater and my ever present gloves and my
jeans Ang also had a jacket, hat and jeans. We took the camera and headed out to Lido Beach. The car was nice and warm on the short trip out there.
Did I mention that the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour and the sky looked very ominous and angry. A buttermilk sky?
We got out of the car and walked out onto the beach, not surprisingly, the beach was totally abandoned. There was not one single human being in sight. The sand was blowing furiously and the biting sting when it hit our unprotected faces was a thing to remember. Angela took pictures as the kids and I huddled tightly seeking any warmth we could generate. We laughed and shivered and shook and had lots of fun. I finally decided that I would pose for one picture that I could show my friends when I got home. It's January and I am in Florida , sunny beaches, sunshine and all that, right? I sat on an empty bench and relaxed back with my arm thrown over the back of the bench and smiled and did my best to look warm! Once the camera clicked I was up and stomping around and hanging on to the kids and went back to hearing my teeth chatter and hoping my toes and fingers would survive. I loved it! We spent about 10 minutes at the beach.
Whole different story this year. The night before we planned to go to the beach, we watched a video about how to build a sand castle. It was very detailed and entertaining. There were lots of items used in the film that were needed to make an elaborate castle. Angela and Conor knew exactly what was needed and got busy the next day and gathered up the utensils needed. Ang had to saw the bottom out of a five gallon bucket (plastic) and raided the kitchen drawers for utensils such as a melon ball er, various sized spatulas, and other tools that were featured on the video. We loaded them up in the back of the car along with beach towels, snacks, a sand chair and umbrella and off we went.
The weather was perfect. It was about 78 degrees, sunny, warm and the cerulean sky with white puffy clouds hanging over the ocean blue waters made it a picture perfect day. We set up our "camp" and I lounged under the umbrella and watched. Bridget was anxious to get into the water, Ang and Conor were chomping at the bit to get going on their project. They used their shovel to dig a site on which to build. Conor supplied the containers of water to firm up the sand in the open-ended bucket. Sand, water, pack, more sand, more water , more packing and tamping. Finally they were ready to dislodge the cylinder of sand and begin their sculpting. It began to take shape in a very short time. They pretty much followed the demo video instructions and put all of the sculpting tools to good use. The basic castle had a tower on top of it with gun sights, turrets, and steps leading up from the ground to the parapet, it had an arched bridge over the moat that surrounded the castle and the castle had windows, balconies and doors with elaborate lintels. It was truly a thing of beauty. People stopped to look and remark about the sand castle. I'm sure there will be many kids trying to achieve the same design but without the proper tools and instructions they will fall short.
As I sat there on the sand chair, under the umbrella I had so much to entertain me , it was like a three ring circus. Bridgetswimming and cavorting in the ocean waves, Conor and Ang constructing their castle and a boat on the horizon towing a para-sailor, actually it was a parachute with two people in chairs, being pulled by a fairly large boat. And as if that weren't enough, the pelicans, seagulls and terns were gathered about ten feet above the water and would dive into the water with big splashes and a lot of flapping and screeching and then they would fly back up and do it all over again. They were about ten or fifteen feet away from shore. They must have spotted food fish or something that interested them. They would fight with each other and make quite a racket. All together there were about 20 or 30 of them. They put on quite a show. Our time at the beach was fabulous!
I'm going back down to Sarasota next week to be with the twins while K. and A. go to D.C. to attend the inauguration. I don't know whether we'll get to the beach this time or not. Maybe Siesta Key if we do find time to go.
The kids were not used to having cold weather and they do not have the clothing for it, I had the clothing for it but it was left in Louisville. Who knew? How could I come back to Louisville and admit that it had been freezing in Sarasota?
One day we decided to brave the elements and go to the beach weather or not! The kids piled on extra sweaters and searched drawers and closets for gloves and scarves and Ang and I did our best to bundle up also. I had my Jeans jacket, a sweater and my ever present gloves and my
jeans Ang also had a jacket, hat and jeans. We took the camera and headed out to Lido Beach. The car was nice and warm on the short trip out there.
Did I mention that the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour and the sky looked very ominous and angry. A buttermilk sky?
We got out of the car and walked out onto the beach, not surprisingly, the beach was totally abandoned. There was not one single human being in sight. The sand was blowing furiously and the biting sting when it hit our unprotected faces was a thing to remember. Angela took pictures as the kids and I huddled tightly seeking any warmth we could generate. We laughed and shivered and shook and had lots of fun. I finally decided that I would pose for one picture that I could show my friends when I got home. It's January and I am in Florida , sunny beaches, sunshine and all that, right? I sat on an empty bench and relaxed back with my arm thrown over the back of the bench and smiled and did my best to look warm! Once the camera clicked I was up and stomping around and hanging on to the kids and went back to hearing my teeth chatter and hoping my toes and fingers would survive. I loved it! We spent about 10 minutes at the beach.
Whole different story this year. The night before we planned to go to the beach, we watched a video about how to build a sand castle. It was very detailed and entertaining. There were lots of items used in the film that were needed to make an elaborate castle. Angela and Conor knew exactly what was needed and got busy the next day and gathered up the utensils needed. Ang had to saw the bottom out of a five gallon bucket (plastic) and raided the kitchen drawers for utensils such as a melon ball er, various sized spatulas, and other tools that were featured on the video. We loaded them up in the back of the car along with beach towels, snacks, a sand chair and umbrella and off we went.
The weather was perfect. It was about 78 degrees, sunny, warm and the cerulean sky with white puffy clouds hanging over the ocean blue waters made it a picture perfect day. We set up our "camp" and I lounged under the umbrella and watched. Bridget was anxious to get into the water, Ang and Conor were chomping at the bit to get going on their project. They used their shovel to dig a site on which to build. Conor supplied the containers of water to firm up the sand in the open-ended bucket. Sand, water, pack, more sand, more water , more packing and tamping. Finally they were ready to dislodge the cylinder of sand and begin their sculpting. It began to take shape in a very short time. They pretty much followed the demo video instructions and put all of the sculpting tools to good use. The basic castle had a tower on top of it with gun sights, turrets, and steps leading up from the ground to the parapet, it had an arched bridge over the moat that surrounded the castle and the castle had windows, balconies and doors with elaborate lintels. It was truly a thing of beauty. People stopped to look and remark about the sand castle. I'm sure there will be many kids trying to achieve the same design but without the proper tools and instructions they will fall short.
As I sat there on the sand chair, under the umbrella I had so much to entertain me , it was like a three ring circus. Bridgetswimming and cavorting in the ocean waves, Conor and Ang constructing their castle and a boat on the horizon towing a para-sailor, actually it was a parachute with two people in chairs, being pulled by a fairly large boat. And as if that weren't enough, the pelicans, seagulls and terns were gathered about ten feet above the water and would dive into the water with big splashes and a lot of flapping and screeching and then they would fly back up and do it all over again. They were about ten or fifteen feet away from shore. They must have spotted food fish or something that interested them. They would fight with each other and make quite a racket. All together there were about 20 or 30 of them. They put on quite a show. Our time at the beach was fabulous!
I'm going back down to Sarasota next week to be with the twins while K. and A. go to D.C. to attend the inauguration. I don't know whether we'll get to the beach this time or not. Maybe Siesta Key if we do find time to go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)