Beneath the Wraps

That’s how she described her passion for family history: “like a fly to cowpie”.  She had been raised on a dairy farm – it was a natural analogy – though I could think of better ones: “a duck to water” “a monkey on a cupcake” or Roland’s favorite: “like Godzilla on Tokyo”         I don’t even have a passion for genealogy or family research ( from an earlierpost )  but wouldn’t have compared it to manure.   Family History is a good thing and works for a lot of people.   And there are many aspects of family history that I do enjoy – but research is a far cry from being one of them.           It’s not just family history that gets her fired up.  I believe that it is everything that comes her way.  She greets it with her heart which shines in her smile.  I think she may have an even bigger love for life than my sister-in-law, Sunny, whom I truly admire.  Sunny teach...

          As soon as I hit “publish” on my last post – the very second (I kid you not) I could hear Highness scratching at the door – which made a grand total of 29 minutes and 41 seconds that he had been outside.  Which is 28 minutes and 58 seconds longer than usual.           We haven’t had him for a full year yet.  I think he stayed out longer when the weather was cooler – but not cold.  After the snow melted and the ground softened a bit, Highness started digging.  He escaped too many times.  But he hasn’t managed to sneak past the board that we put up in May.  Too bad we didn’t know about it sooner.           The couple next door has a grandson that visits almost weekly.  He’s a handful.           Truman’s Nana invited my daughter over to play shortly aft...

She came to me the other night. "What is that noise?" "It's the fireworks (all month long)" "I can't sleep." That was in her bed in her room fan going didn't drown out the noise. Tonight she is in a tent in the backyard next door Flashlights going I can hear her friend talking and his Nana asking why don't they all go to sleep. I let Highness outside before I went to bed. He usually returns in less than an entire minute. But he's out there lying down. It's been almost thirty. He must be taking comfort in the voices of Jenna and Trume. Hopefully I will have more details tomorrow about this exciting campout.

          I don’t know if I first noticed the resemblance between Jenna and Tigger (from Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh) or Frances and Eyore – I’m thinking the latter.  Frances would often wear shirts with logos that were either Tinkerbelle or Eyore.  I once thought “Frances could be Eyore” kind of sluggish, not very pleasant, somewhat of a pessimist – which is sad – because she hadn’t always been like that.            The transformation probably took place within the first couple of years after she received her first period.  And perhaps it was during those times I would happen to see her that she was going through PMS or whatever.  She’d become lazy, had always been careless.  She could easily misplace her tail.  Frances was Eyore.           Jenna has been enthusiastically pouncing for almost six or seven yea...

“What do you like for breakfast?” Said Fox to Chick one day. But Chick was silent and frightened.  He didn’t know what to say. “I like eating vegetables.” Fox continued on. “I like raw ones upon my plate And I eat until they’re gone’ “I like all kinds, but my favorite Are the ones that have a root. I’ll eat legumes to get protein. Don’t care much for meat or fruit.” Still quiet and bewildered, Chick didn’t say a thing The nervous fowl just shuttered Beneath each wing. And then they heard the taunting: “Fox and Chick sitting in a tree . . .” “Are they teasing both of us?” Chick asked. “Or are they only teasing me?” “I’m different,” said the fox, “And so All the other animals make fun. They think I ought to be a certain way. And not the way I’ve done’ “I don’t think the same as most fox do I don’t fit the stereotypical mold But it’s okay.  I’m not like them. Being true to myself I uphold.” Chick under...

          In 1963 Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” was released in movie theatres.  My mom didn’t seem like a thrill seeker, but had gone to see “The Birds” and was quite freaked out about it.           For years there was an apple tree in the backyard of the house where I grew up.  I recall several years when birds would fly overhead or gather into our yard as if it was the designated place for the birds to hold their daily or weekly conferences.  And mom would be freaked.            It seems quite hilarious really – by today’s standard’s I mean.  I remember mom checking out the video perhaps just a few years and decade after its release.  She sat Patrick and me down to show us this “very scary” movie so that we might understand her fears.            Well, ...

We purchase workbooks for Jenna on occasion – mostly for fun on her part.  The last book we got has nine sections – including three parts of math, four parts of English, Science and Social Studies. For the most part, the vocabulary and Language Arts seem too easy for her, while the math (for the most part) is spot on.  And she has breezed through writing and social studies. Page 252 in the social study section shows “The Lady in the Harbor” comic illustration with trivial facts and pointing arrows The crown with seven spikes stands for the seven seas and the seven continents The torch is a light that welcomes travelers to the United States The tablet shows the Roman numerals of the date the Declaration of Independence was signed: July 4, 1776 A foots forward position is a symbol of moving forward into the future The Statue of Liberty stands on an island in New York Harbor.  She is a symbol of freedom and hope. Page 253 invites the c...

          If I can’t get interested in a movie in the first twenty minutes or a novel within the first ten pages, I usually don’t continue.  That may not seem like I am giving a fair chance – maybe so.  But it’s something I have decided not to gamble on – usually.  `        There have been too many movies and even more books read where I have sat through its entirety and am quite upset with myself for having wasted my time.  That is why I usually don’t go beyond twenty minutes or ten pages.  But sometimes I do.           “that’s what I am” was actually kind of a slow movie – one I watched in parts because of several interruptions.  I don’t know if I would have continued otherwise – though I was somewhat intrigued by the narration by Greg Kinnear – it reminded me of Jean Shepherd’s “The Christmas Story” or “Ollie Hopnoodle’...

          Phillip Chipping had a great idea of creating a magazine that would include one story for each day of the month.  Children would be encouraged to read and create. Then in September 2009 this wonderful magazine was featured in libraries across the nation.  Free to the public – for three months – and then it disappeared.                     But as with so many other businesses and personal lives, the economy robbed us of the funding that were needed to keep the magazine going.  And then in September of 2011 knowonder seemed to be reborn on the Internet.  A second chance.  Perhaps better access?  Seemed to take another rest from its regular routine after December – oh, the stories continued – ones that we’re familiar with, ones that we grew up on – given in parts.  There used to be something to read...

          My mom said that when she was baptized, she wore a white slip and panties.  She said it was embarrassing. She was almost nine.           I find it odd that mom has no such records of the baptisms of her own children.  I don’t recall having seen a single photograph of any of us.  And yet it seems like it would have been important enough to get at least the two younger of my sibs.             I remember what I was wearing.  How pertinent – huh?  Mom had made a pair of white culottes – they were short, not the standard length they have today.  She might have made them because she didn’t appreciate having only worn a slip and panties herself.           She also made a yellow gingham maxi dress which I wore to Church the next day. That is the sum of all...

          For those of us who are directionally challenged, the GPS is the best device ever!           Roland had won a GPS in a contest through his work.  It was about a week or two before we had gone to another state to see his family over a year ago.           Roland makes jokes that Jenna must have been injected with a phonographic needle when she’d receive her shots.  It took her a while before she started talking, but once she got it, she hasn’t shut up.. Jenna would start talking at the same time the GPS would vocalize directions.  Jenna became annoyed and said, “Gosh, she’s bossy!” This last time we had gone, I was fidgeting for something else but hit the GPS in error.  Roland looked at me rather puzzled and asked what the GPS had said.  “Go 108 miles and turn left”  Oh, thank you for the head...

          On June 3 of this year, my brother, Corey, marched in the Pride parade.  I wanted to show him my support by marching with him – but it was at the same time my granddaughter was being blessed.  And so I did not march in the scorching sun drenching my clothes in sweat or caused pain to my feet or back while walking in improper shoes.           Yesterday I walked with Jenna in the youth parade for Days of ’47.  We walked with a small group of girl scouts.  We’d been told that we would be number 40, but shortly after we arrived, we learned that our group would be second following the police officers on their motorcycles.           I thought the girls who were leading were walking entirely too fast.  We were walking much faster than a parade pace in my opinion – we weren’t spaced out well enough behind the moto...

          When we first moved to our current neighborhood, I wondered if had neighbors.  It was quiet.  The most people I ever saw was in the morning when children would walk to the bus stop.  I hadn’t actually met the people on either side of us – but my social Jenna introduced herself to just about everybody.  We met our across the street neighbor through her.           Next door to him on each side were Spanish speaking neighbors – the adults anyway.  Jenna would occasionally hang with the girl who was 4-5 years older than her.  Jenna said she didn’t know Spanish that well – weird.  If that’s what they spoke in the home.  They had to have spoken Spanish to the grandma as she just didn’t know any English.           They have since moved.  The house was vacant for a couple of months before an ...

          Jenna is always asking if there is any mail for her.  I suppose most children go through the stage of wanting to receive a card or letter that has been sent especially to them.  It doesn’t happen too often.  And the disappointments seem to weigh in even more.           Recently we were at a pool party hosted by my cousin.  Her daughter, Melody and Jenna are five months apart.  We had arrived at the party late and both Jenna and Melody were going through withdrawal for each other’s company.  Before we pulled Jenna away so that we could return to our house, Jenna and Melody promised that they would write to one another – though we only live about 20 minutes away from one another.  Postage is definitely less than the cost of gas.  Not to mention the commute itself (construction and heat account for far more than 20 minutes) and our current ca...

          On Feb 14 I created this post .  My sister-in-law’s visits with my mom were positive and full of conversation.  My visits were not so uplifting.  And then mom became Mr. Hyde for each of us.  But now she’s seemed to take on this happy drunkard personality with a desire to travel – and in her mind she has.  In her mind she has done a number of things that she would have never even considered just five years ago – such as sky diving.           I have actually never experienced a conversation of where she’s been and what she’s been up to – but apparently she has told my niece and nephew-in-law countless stories about having gone to Russia, Hong Kong, China, and South Africa – all within the last ten years (she has been out of the state, but not out of the country – unless it was with a tour group in the early 2000’s)       ...

Once upon a time in the kingdom of     Natalafe , there lived a royal prince and his subjects.    Now the name of the prince was   Emmanuel Bishop   and the king had given him a list with the names of all of his subjects.    The problem was there were some names on the list that he wasn’t familiar with. Now all of these subjects lived far and wide all throughout the kingdom – yet they all lived within a day’s walk of the castle.    Many of the subjects would come to the castle at least once a week to pay their respects to the king.    Prince Bishop knew all of those subjects by name.    He would often meet each subject at the castle gate and would welcome them. But there were many subjects who never even entered the castle though the king strongly desired for each of his subjects to attend.    Prince Bishop knew some of those subjects but not all of them.    And yet the king ...