Food

 Oh my.  I got to have lunch with a work colleague.  YUM,  delicious, and yum again.  It was very uncomplicated for me.  I had their vegetable combo.  And chose just two as they are all so large I knew I couldn't finish four and... they are very very full of fat and sugars and calories.  

I got the baked potato...butter on the side- and steamed broccoli.  Its a deviation from my adding the kid's size chicken fingers.  LOVE those, but so FATTY.  Whenever we, anyone and me, go to Applebees I quit ordering the luscious chicken fingers because the serving is well over a thousand calories.  I about passed out when I saw that the first time.  That my calorie count for the DAY for pete sake.  I am usually at 1200 c. a day, but I do enough aerobics and so on to make up for the extra 200.c's. Had a great time.  

Just got another mystery call from who knows who it was on the landline.   I rarely answer the landline.  And because I have the other VoIP phone service...Magic Jack...the provided voice mail's voice with it and what it says keeps even friends from leaving a message as they have no idea what a Magic Jack is.  Scam, spam and other annoying callers rarely leave a message.  

Got the gunk outta the shower head..CLR soak,.  DIL reached it for me.  Got the shower curtain changed.  DIL stood in the tub edge for me this time. Gonna get the area rug out from under my dining table IF the just-bought furniture sliders will fit under the Lion Paw-looking dining table legs. I have very small ones for under the chairs that stick to the chair legs so they don't get lost in the shuffle. 

I'm fuller than a tick about to bust wide open and fall off the dog.  Not used to all that to eat at noon.  I usually may have a homemade strawberry smoothie here at home that only I like..(you all wouldn't).  And, usually a sandwich..a fake BLT.  Toasted bread, lettuce tomato slice,  lite mayo and a well known brand of bacon pieces.  Salt and pepper of course.  The large pieces of the real thing bacon make a decent enough substitute for bacon strips at more calories and fat. 

I want to do aerobics but will I indeed bust wide open if I start 40 min of that?  Yes. 

Two of my boys are taking the first trip, just the two of them, in 13 at least years,  and they decided on  DC.  They were in the Air and Space Museum yesterday.  HERE is the reason to go in there!  (kidding. ALL of it is the best reason) THIS is the original USS Enterprise.  I am so GLAD it's where it belongs.  The original one from 1966, The Original series one.  

A Perfect Day

 It's a stunning day out there.  The Sun is shining since it rose this morning.  The sky is a peerless blue and the clouds could not have done a better job placing themselves than they did.  The temperature is very mild and the humidity is 70%. 

Those cone flowers in the header above...oh how I love them.   Some of those shown above in my header have their  skirts lifted at their edges as though a good breeze had just gone by.   Go back up there and look.  They draw bees like magic.  Bees and I get along great.  I have been over to their homes (not invited, no, but I am always welcome when I get there) so many many many times.  I like to show off their gathering skills by taking a picture of their full -to- the- brim cargo britches when they are loaded with pollen.  

I need to go on out to the arboretum tomorrow and see what's blooming.  I have been a little disappointed in the choices the past several years.  It's volunteer gardeners who plant them and maintain them.  And I am grateful to them for that.  I just wish for a few different plantings the way it used to be.  However..if they have something to attract butterflies then I won't really complain. 

Today is the ideal, perfect, nothing like it, day to get out there and take a hike.  Or, just go to where there is a place to sit down alone, and not pull out the phone, nor make noise.  Just sit and let the sun warm you, the fragrance of the air delight you, the bees inspect you, the birds sing to you, the clouds draw pictures for you, and the blueness behind the clouds enchant you with its deepest color in the dome of the sky, its next deepest a third of the way farther downward and the palest blue nearer the horizon.  Rather like the three colors of blue topaz now I think of it.  London Blue the deepest, Swiss blue father down, and the lightest, sky blue.  Enjoy your gem show while you sit.  I do when I am out of doors.  All the colors. What earthly riches.  All yours. Scents there are like a kaleidoscope of smells, fragrances. 

Your day will have become one of the best you ever have experienced by the time you choose to leave.  You will have thought of so many things, good and sad.  You will have made some resolutions...most of which you will remember, and those you will keep.  You will have stored this day's generous gifts to you, as you have come out to enjoy its... the days...offering.  You will store and always carry within your thoughts and the stillness at that place you chose to experience.  I promise that in later quiet, still times, you will bring those memories out to enjoy again. 

Maybe you will offer others that stillness and peace both in the telling of those times to them, and in their companionship with you the next time you go.

I, your friend here always, truly wish you each peace.  And all the joy there is for you, just waiting.   

Two of the many cloud and sky pictures I have taken and loved in the doing. 

 

Good Grief

 Good Grief.  Minding our own business and a Tornado warning came in last night at about 8pm...over the phone, landline and cell. 

When things got going pretty well right here, there was thunder and lightning. High winds, hail, and driving torrential rain.  The rotation didn't make it to where I am, but the rest of it did.  Grateful that we escaped the rotation..in other words, the tornado itself.  The drama kept up till about 9:15. 

Visits tomorrow, and the dentist again on Wednesday..gonna get my hair done Thursday and in between, I'll be gone thither and yon.  

The new microwave which is stainless steel stands out in the kitchen.  I am not used to it.  I didn't choose that but said white.  He must have hit the wrong button and I got stainless.  Pretty,  but each time it catches my eye while I walk through I keep thinking the door is standing ajar.  A dark look as I hurry past makes that split-second thought come to me.  And, it does not "match the white and oak kitchen. BUT I decided to get used to it,  It was hard for them to install it as the salesperson did not ask for the dimensions of the current one at that time.  The installer got this one in but boy, it was like stuffing something large into a too small space.  Just made it.  I am not going through that again.   I got my money's worth having that installed. 

Holding feet for comfort last night.

The squirrels are giving the hummingbirds a terrible time.  They are getting into the nectar and spilling it all over the deck.  The hummers are having families now.  The same thing happened two years ago.   There is nothing I can do.  I may have to do as I did two years ago.  Take down the feeder.  I wish I could just really fetch those squirrels a rap!  

Life's Highly Embarrassing Moments

I was hurtling down the highway on the way back from the city a while ago and my mind turned to sifting through memories apparently.  All of the memories presented for my inspection seemed to be embarrassing ones or those that would best be forgotten.  One came up as I noticed the clouds in the sky reminding me of THE most embarrassing moment ever that I can remember, bar none. 

As Sophia would have said "Picture it.  Montgomerville Pennsylvania" back when I was fourteen years old. (We were up North for Daddy's job).  Anyway, Daddy had a pilot's license, and he took me for lessons.  Before very long, I soloed.  That is going up all by yourself, maps and so on firmly clutched and anchored down through all the wind seeping through the door and flimsy windows.  The solo meant going to an agreed upon point the instructor told me to attain and then coming back to the airport.  It was a large grassy field with two runways..one was for crosswind landings, the usual hangars and tie-downs as well, lining the field's borders.

So, after the mandatory pre-flight check and inspection my instructor saw me off to my very first alone time in the air.  Part of gaining the license.  I had a Student Pilot's License then.  

There I went, down the runway to lift off.  Up to 400 feet and while still climbing, a gentle turn and rising to 600 feet.  Along straight and level for a while and then, still climbing- I got to 1000 feet.  I turned again and while reciting my instructor's instructions through the months aloud for myself!! I began a slow gentle descent throttling back.  This went along until I was lined up with the runway and began my actual landing.  The aircraft's nose was in the right position, the RPM's exactly right...down...down...down floating in the air until I made a perfect three point landing.  Prouder than punch! Oh, look at ME! 

Then, I taxied down to where I had begun and revved the engine slightly to turn it around (rudder applied) for parking it on the field at its tie-down place.  Then, the embarrassing disaster.  After all of that exactly correct work on my part, I ran the belly of the plane (a fabric covered two-seater single engine Piper craft) over one of the field markers, and tore a large swath out of the belly of the plane. 

The owner came out and tried to comfort me.  Said he had insurance.  Me..I had to go home and tell Daddy when he got home from work.  He could not be with me for this momentous time of solo.)

I feared he would be mad but instead, I don't think I have ever before or since heard him laugh like that! Anyway, it was a while before I could get over the embarrassment enough to go back out there.   Luckily it was not recorded in my log book which I saved and still have. I'll look later and see if I can find a pic of me out there.  Very few..no one to take them. 

P.S. I  went overseas several times. The second time, I had my oldest while there and came home after 8 months of lugging ourselves and him and all his gear around in those 3 month assignments.  Whereas all the times before it was just us moving every 3 months or so, and only our own things to worry about.  An infant changes things. Then, soon after getting back to the States, I was blessed with another child quickly. Then another after that.  I didn't want to take chances flying because of them..and…it got exceeding expensive to rent a plane and fly. So…I haven't flown for quite some time. 

June. Made of Memories Yet to be...

June days.  If you are a young teen, school is almost out and final exams are in your day right now.  

Walking home from school, a goodly distance to walk in the warmth and sun usually, gives ample time to anticipate.  Never reflect----only just anticipate.  Life is so brimming with things never done, never tasted, never thought of. Experiences yet to be, both good and bad.   Your imagination is on fire with thoughts and wonderment. Anticipation is first though.  Each morning when waking, the day is an unopened gift waiting to be yours forever in your mind and likely your heart.  A gift that will keep on giving as the saying goes, though you so young have no idea about that nor what it really means if you heard it.  But later, in what seems to you to be the vast never reachable chasm of time yet to come, are feeling every molecule of soft air and every ray of the hot sun as you walk quickly along home in the shortened school day prior to closing for the Summer.   Where will you go with your friends...walking, of course, no other way to move about yet.  Who will you meet?  Will it be a boy you've not met yet or one from school?   Hurry home.  Thirsty, hot from the long walk and needing a change of clothes..and go out again and meet with girlfriends and talk of exams and other things.

But count the flowers along the way...sniff the fun smell of cooking here and there from houses along the way too, floating on the soft air.  And maybe there will be violets still there.  Maybe.  And you can pick them for your Dad as you always do.  

Happy Day to All

 

Grandiflora Magnolia 

Size of a salad plate. when opened up fully 

Smooshing

  I decided to tell a story about an experience with another Officer who was well over 6 feet tall. I asked and found he was 6’6”.  We all wore/wear gun belts. He decided to scoop me up in an enveloping hug! I was crushed into his gun belt with all the accouterments suspended from and on it.  I am only 5’1 and that was perfect to smash my “Katie -only roost” at night in one painful fell swoop. Man,  I hurt for over a week.  My Katie Only area came into hard pressed contact with all the leather and metal. 

When the same person came at me again a few weeks later I said “Let’s not. You liked to have killed me last time.”

I thought to have fun with the blog based on many hugs by many folks always taller than me. Everyone is. ☺️

Tub...or Bust! & Man stuffs...

 Well, I have the stuff out of the closet waiting for me to use it.  I need to clean the tub out and the tub surround.  I sure wish I had a spray attachment to rinse all this stuff off the surround and tub.  But, Nooooooo.  I have to fill a large bowl over and over stretching my short arms over trying to rinse the surround..etc etc.  I have come close to falling teacup over honeysuckle as I stretch over just  about beyond my capacity.

Hey..factoid.  In my own experience only--- and one neighbor some time ago who has since passed away found this true in her experience as well. ...(a nurse..very interesting person).  The factoid is~ and I have found it true every time in my own experience that tall men generally ( I did not say always) like to squire little short ladies about.  Short ladies (me...me..) generally like to have tall men squiring them about.  S'strewth. Thing is, short lady persons will get their chests caved in by belt buckles in an embrace.  OW. Seriously. Tall men---- well, you tell me.  Dunno.  They don't mind holding a little foot either...so I hear tell. 

Moving on.  My much cried about lamented and spoken of Camellia and Gardenia, who I loved and cherished a LOT-- and who died in that arctic freeze for days in January, have decided to come back to me.  Both have finally only just at the end of May..or the last week or so of it, come BACK.  There are t-tiny leaves on both.  I ran out there and fed them their acidic food again.  Been since late February.  Supposed to rain this afternoon as they and the rose who also came back to me... and got fed today again, WILL have some water to go with their food. 

My microwave died a tragic death several days ago.  I have bought a new one but must wait till June 6 for delivery. It is awful heating things in pans, cooking in them too...can't heat cold Katie food...etc etc. Going into the bathroom to start slaving. See ya.

Meanwhile...