We’ve had a couple of days with lovely spring weather. Somehow it managed to escape my notice that the azaleas are blooming. Maybe because there are no bushes in our neighborhood. The “tulip” trees, or Japanese Magnolias are about finished. Every year I am determined to get some pictures of them but then I forget until it’s too late. There aren’t very many trees around so I guess I’ll have to bang on someone’s door and see if they’ll let me in their yard.

One of the types of trees here have red seeds that show up in early spring. The look real pretty in the evening sun. And yesterday we had beautiful fluffy white clouds in a blue, blue sky. So I took my camera on a walk over lunch break.

In the early evening sun:

   

We also have a few things planted in our garden now … some things that require cool weather, which will be a thing of the past before long.

The broccoli plants several weeks ago:

We also have cauliflower, spring onions and potatoes planted. Can’t wait to have some yummy goodness from the garden.  

 

And for very random addition, here is a scene looking out my office door at work, a scene I see fairly frequently:

That depot is in desperate need of repair. They gutted it several months ago. The city officials have been in it again this past week. According to the paper, it will soon be remodeled for the chamber of commerce. It had beautiful blue doors on it that I used for pictures a time or two. Hopefully it will have some character again when it’s finished. Just maybe we’ll get to do the remodel. We could supervise it from our desks.

Hope you have a great weekend! When I have a chance to edit the photos, I tell what I was doing last weekend.

 

Sunday we had a baby shower for Gina, who is expecting her first girl after 4 active boys. They’re the kind of boys that people say are “all boy.” Come to think of it, have you every heard a parent (or anyone else) say a boy is “part boy”? I think not. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion to that. You probably would anyway.

No, I’m not grouchy. Just feeling catty. Whatever that means.

So as I was saying, we threw a shower for Gina. Wait, how do you throw a shower, anyway?? Okay, okay. On with the details.

There was lots of pink around: in the decor, in the food, in the gifts. We are all happy Stan and Gina are having a girl. Tickled pink, actually. Ha Ha

[Somebody slap me!]

We played several games, one included some name suggestions for their baby girl. Each person was supposed to write 2 names on small pieces of paper – one they liked, one they didn’t. We mixed the names up and everyone pulled two back out of the basket to create a first and last name. It was interesting hearing the combinations. We should have written them down. There were some real doozies! Including Elizabeth Elizabeth. One person pulled two slips with the same name. There were other mentionables and unmentionables: Mia, Matilda, Bertha, Agatha, Hannah and the list goes on. It’s probably good we didn’t know which names were the liked and which were the disliked. Wouldn’t want any feelings getting hurt.

It got me to thinking about names and how a parent should probably make sure their child is not given a cruel name, one that will incur much teasing and harassment. There are a few such names around. I found a website that lists names and meanings. It also lists the top 10, top 100, top whatever names of US-born babies from the late 1800s to 2007.

Since old names have become more popular in the last number of years, I decided to see if they’re was a trend. Here is what I found for the last 120 years, picking every ten years.

 

2007

Emily Isabella Emma Ava Madison Sophia Olivia Abigail Hannah Elizabeth

Jacob Michael Ethan Joshua Daniel Christopher Anthony William Matthew Andrew

 

1997

Emily Jessica Ashley Sarah Hannah Samantha Taylor Alexis Elizabeth Madison

Michael Jacob Matthew Christopher Joshua Nicholas Brandon Andrew Austin Tyler

 

1987

Jessica Ashley Amanda Jennifer Sarah Stephanie Brittany Nicole Heather Elizabeth

Michael Christopher Matthew Joshua David Andrew Daniel James Justin Robert

 

1977

Jennifer Melissa Amy Jessica Heather Angela Michelle Kimberly Amanda Kelly

Michael Jason Christopher David James Robert John Brian Matthew Joseph

 

1967

Lisa Kimberly Michelle Mary Susan Karen Angela Tammy Melissa Jennifer

Michael David James John Robert William Mark Richard Christopher Brian

 

1957

Lisa Kimberly Michelle Mary Susan Karen Angela Tammy Melissa Jennifer

Michael James David Robert John William Mark Richard Thomas Steven

 

1947

Linda Mary Patricia Barbara Sandra Carol Nancy Susan Sharon Donna

James Robert John William Richard David Michael Thomas Charles Larry

 

1937

Mary Barbara Patricia Shirley Betty Carol Nancy Dorothy Joan Margaret

Robert James John William Richard Charles Donald David Thomas George

 

1927

Mary Dorothy Betty Helen Margaret Ruth Doris Virginia Shirley Barbara

Robert John James William Charles Richard George Donald Joseph Edward

 

1917

Mary Helen Dorothy Margaret Ruth Mildred Anna Elizabeth Frances Virginia

John William James Robert Joseph George Charles Edward Frank Thomas

 

1907

Mary Helen Margaret Anna Ruth Dorothy Elizabeth Mildred Alice Marie

John William James George Robert Charles Joseph Frank Edward Henry

 

1897

Mary Anna Helen Margaret Ruth Elizabeth Florence Ethel Marie Emma

John William James George Robert Charles Joseph Frank Edward Henry

 

1887

Mary Anna Elizabeth Emma Margaret Minnie Bertha Clara Florence Ida

John William James George Charles Frank Joseph Henry Thomas Edward

 

From 1947 on, Michael was in the top 10, with five times in first place. So, if your name is Michael, you should feel very special. Or not. I can’t tell for sure. If you ask me, the girl names are way trendier than the boys. I wonder why? When we were young, we thought names like Patricia and Priscilla were THE BOMB.

Mary made it in the top 10 nine times and was first place 6 out of those 9 times. Then in the 70s we Marys fell out of grace and the names moved on to totally different names. Looking at that list, don’t you feel the subtle shift in names after the 70s? Must’ve been some decade.

Just a few pictures so you aren’t completely bored with this whole name thing.

the mother-to-be

a little lamb stealthily creeping up on the veggies and dip – sheep are vegetarians, you know.

interested guests watching the MTB ….

blindfolded, pulling baby items out of a bag and identifying them

Awwww….

the beautiful cake Andrea  made and decorated

something tells me there is more cake decorating in her future

strawberry lemonade made by yours truly served in Charity’s lovely crystal urn

last but not least the gifts

 

Of course, if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know by now that “a few pictures on Marylou’s site” is an oxymoron.

Adios mi amigos y amigas!

or are they nightmares?

I’ve always had strange and funny and scary dreams, several recent ones being no exception. Most do not make sense at all and there are times I wished my imagination was not quite so vivid.

I really don’t know what sparked the “oil in my land” dream. Maybe the roses came from all the Valentine decor seen everywhere. Who knows?

Last week one night I had a bad dream about a lot of people being on this platform built onto the side of a very very high cliff (I have a mild case of acrophobia, although it’s worse in dreams than real life). Everyone is okay until this little blimp (dirigible) comes around with several people hanging out the side talking to us. Suddenly the one man on the blimp falls out and drops to his death. Several people who are also on the platform with me, including the brother-in-law of one of my friends, rush to help and accidently go over the side as well. Two babies fall to their death as well. [What in the world are we doing up there in the first place if it’s that dangerous???] We are sobbing in horror and disbelief. Some men bring the bodies up from the bottom and walk across this platform. The bodies are on stretchers. My friend’s husband walks across to look at them and I freak out, knowing he has no idea his brother is one who had lost his life.

About that time I jerk awake, my heart beating wildly. After laying there a bit I drifted off to sleep only to continue the dream. This time I made myself wake up all the way ’cause I had had enough of that dream.

A few nights later I had a dream about a dictator suddenly taking over the country where I lived (don’t know if it was the USA or not). It was not a pleasant experience and had very strange happenings. I really can’t even put them into words because it would make no sense whatsoever.

Last night I had dream where I got very mad. It is really very funny, actually.  I was trying to take a picture of a choir who had come though here to give a program. The problems were: 1. there were 300 people in the choir. 2. they were on a hill, I was down in at the bottom of the hill. 3. i couldn’t seem to get my camera settings/tripod position right.

They were mostly arranged, but then there were several guys in the front who were blocking everyone from my disadvantage point of being downhill from them. I got them to move. Worked on getting my tripod as high as it would go and realized I needed a chair to stand on to get high enough. By this time the lighting had really changed and when I looked up, the whole group was moving to a different spot on the hill so they wouldn’t have to look in the sun. I have no idea how much time had passed. Dreams are timeless, you know. But that frustrated me because I had to start all over with my setup. So I ordered (!) them to get back into the original spot. I played around with my camera and tripod some more and when I looked up, all 300 were gone. They had probably assumed that I had managed to get some shots somewhere along the line. I was ticked off! I had been working on it for what felt like hours, now they had walked off and I didn’t have a single photo to work with [can’t you just feel the frustration?]. I woke up with a start and almost laughed with relief that it was just a dream. Instead of 300 people thinking I was an total idiot, I got off scot-free.

Any suggestions for reducing ridiculous dreams?

M

Your grass is brown
your trees are bare
your days are short
and it’s not fair –
We have no snow
we have no ice
I guess that last part
is kind of nice.

Some days you’re cold
some days you’re hot
and every day
we know not
how to dress
and what to wear
I guess that’s all
up in the air.

One day we roast
the next we freeze
one week we’re barefoot
the next we sneeze.
And when you’re cold
would you please kill off
the gnats that bug us
and make life rough.

God’s plan for you
in being this way
was probably to make
spring a better day.
When grass is green
and life springs new –
try not get jealous
and be blue.

 

 

May I guest write on my own blog?  This is a blast from the past. A blog post I had written prior to my xanga days although a few of you might recognize it. Written sometime around August 2005.

 

Old Friends are Sweeter

than peaches and cream pie.

My childhood pals, SY and CO, and I were asked to sing at church by our former school teacher. We got together at my house this past Saturday to do some practicing. But first there was some reminiscing to be done.

We three have been through a bit together. Growing up in a small church we were the only girls in a 5 year range, although we are all within 9 months of each other. We had another friend, SO, who is only 1.5 years older than us and had no girlfriends quite her age, the nearest being a year older. She was subjected to our friendship and dealt with us graciously. Because she was older and more mature, she had somewhat of a celebrity status among us (all subconsciously, I’m sure!)

Since this is a family-friendly blog, I will refrain from revealing all of our secrets. After all, our children may get ahold of this someday!

When we 3 were around 13 years of age, we had this brilliant idea to do a bike trip to Sarasota. We even had asked CO’s bro-in-law to go with us. We brought Sears catalogs along to school to pick out all the right equipment. To help raise money, we decided to put on a Br’er Rabbit show at school and tried to figure out how much to charge. Fifty-cents per person? Twenty-five cents? Anyway, the powers that be decided that we could not charge anything, but the fellow-students could make donations. We practiced many long hours and finally the big production day came. I was Br’er Rabbit, SY was Br’er Fox and CO was Br’er Bear, all complete with homemade costumes. Our celebrity friend SO agreed to collect donations for us. Well, we raised a grand total of $1.10 and we ended given some of that to SO for her faithful labors on our behalf. I think that fund-raiser was the beginning of the end of the dream for our bike trip. Especially considering that none of us had good bikes. And $1.10 was not much money, even in the mid-80s.

We had another brilliant idea. That was to see if we could stay up all night (SO joined us for this venture). We congregated in the camper in CO’s back yard. I can’t remember what all we did to stay awake. I’m pretty sure there were some card games going on and I know we did away with a Cool Whip container of candy. Well, about 5 am we decided it was time to eat the pancakes with the batter that CO had so lovingly prepared the night before. I’m not sure exactly what the problem was but I think batter thickens overnight and the skillet was too hot. The resulting 1″ thick cakes were crisp and black on the outside and running in the middle. Some of us got to sleep the next day after we got home. The other 2 had to go help at a church bakesale.

We had yet another brilliant idea. How many sticks of gum can you chew at a time? A whole 17 pack? We had another slumber party to find out. Yup. It is possible. Who can blow the biggest bubble with that amount of gum? And yup, we only had 1 pack with which to find out. Let’s just say that germs were not as bad for you in those days.

We had yet even another brilliant idea. We were (nearly) obsessed with Pringles Chees’ums in those days. Snacks being more rare in the 80s than they are now. We had yet another slumber party to see if we couldn’t satisfy this craving. We each brought a can, and we poured them into one big bowl. Yup, we didn’t even get 1 can eaten. And yup, to this day, none of us particularly cares for them anymore. Chees’ums at 2 in the morning just don’t cut it!

We had other contests and brilliant ideas but like I said, this is family-friendly; plus I sure would hate to bore you.

So we eventually got to practicing and remembered the fact that we had actually sung at 2 weddings together. We had to wonder if we were even any good and what had possessed them to ask us to sing? The fact that we sang a lot in school didn’t necessarily qualify us for that big of an audience!!

We got finished with our practice I cut the peaches and cream pie that I had made to celebrate the fact that we were together, even for a few hours. Argghhh! My pie wasn’t quite done although I had baked it as long is it called for. But they bravely ate it anyway.

The next day CO was able to come to church because of a headache and upset stomach. I can’t help but wonder if the pie was the culprit. I need to call and find out. Maybe send her some flowers. Maybe send her recipe back to her and tell her it needed an addendum: “If baking in a aluminum pan, place on bottom rack, back longer than you think it should and check it thoroughly to make sure it’s done!” Yeah, I know. I knew that already. Just forgot. Not your fault, CO!

All I can say is, I’m glad that my childhood friendships have withstood the test of “flops.” Between the three of us we have 22 years of marriage, 6 kids and 3.5 years of VS. Okay, so the marriage and kids are theirs, but most of the VS is mine! I’m also thankful for all of you whom I call “friend.” I truly am blessed. Indeed ALL friendships are sweeter than peaches and cream pie. Even if the pie turns out okay.

Marylou