They grow so fast

I’ve Changed My Style

It was a miserably hot day at the Art & Wine Festival this afternoon. After meandering through the booths we searched for shade and a place to sit. The choice seemed to be a chiropractic assessment or a toe ring. Which way would you go?  I only discovered the pedicure experience a few years ago. Now I got rings on my toe. OK I’m a late bloomer. What’s next… a tattoo???

 

Who Killed the Ivy?

 

Many times I have admitted it. I cannot grow anything. Nothing. My thumbs are anything but green. Both of them. But I have owned this persistent little ivy plant for years. I know… it should trailing all over the kitchen, living room and at least two bedrooms by now. But this plant has been abused. It has never ever been fed and has received only smidgets of water, mostly whenever someone left behind a half full water bottle that all humans in the household were afraid to consume due to insufficient knowledge as to whose lips may have touched that bottle.  It survived a change of environment at least twice, but always in the same pot. And then all of a sudden, a few days ago, the leaves were withered up and dropping to the floor. Once I got tired of scrunching on dead leaves on my nightly jaunt to the potty, I transported it to the outdoors, thinking perhaps a bit of fresh air and a good shower might revive the poor thing. I questioned all members of the household and frequent visitors about it’s demise. No one wanted to fess up. Of course my suspicions turned the direction of the cats but I determined not one of our cats would be agile enough to perform that kind of litter box maneuver and, I’ll admit, I did give it the sniff test. Finally the culprit, only out of concern that I might take drastic measures (like cooking) to extract the inevitable truth, came forward. Meekly he said, “I read somewhere that fish oil might help sickly plants, so the other night when I fried that fish… well hmmmm, I thought just maybe, if  I poured the grease in the flower pot...”   Hubby ran for cover as I reached for the cast iron fish frying pan and I haven’t seen him since.  OK OK that’s a lie, I wouldn’t do that. I might not take care of my plants but I don’t want to be the cook either.

Slide

Sliding on cardboard
Hillside of massive concrete
Not one broken bone

Dinner?

Near our home the turkeys and deer roam, perfectly content, together.

First Grade First Day

Grandma is a few days behind. Here is Little J showing off his cubby on the first day of 1st grade last Wednesday. At this age he is still happy to be back in school.

 

He is a few inches taller than last year and has a bit more confidence.

Legos On Display

It was a wonderful adventure today to see what can be done with Legos. My only regret is that I didn’t think to bring my camera so we have to settle for a cell phone photo. All of us were astounded at structures bigger than Grandpa in this room full of projects. This guy has invested a lifetime into building with these tiny little bricks. One of our favorites of course was the train station. Trains ran circles around all the villages and exhibits full of everything from from farms to graveyards, space and beyond. The kids got plenty of time to express their own creativity too. Now if we can just keep Little J out of the Lego aisle.

 

Bunya Bunya

On the way to daycare a couple of days ago I warned Little J that there was some sort of “egg” in my trunk. I told him it might hatch soon and he might want to be very careful while riding in the back seat. He of course thought I was kidding, especially when I told him the bunya bunya watches over little boys behaviors much like Santa and the Tooth Fairy.

Later that evening as he was sitting in front of the TV I asked him if he had done all the things he must do before turning on the set… getting ready for bed, brushing teeth, putting clothes in hamper, picking up the days toys (obviously he had not). I reminded him that the bunya bunya was still lurking in my car and could hatch at any moment. He just kind of sat there with that know it all grin. So, I did what any other grandma might do in this situation. I retrieved the bunya bunya from the trunk, brought the “wiggling” paper bag into the living room and dumped it onto the sofa. Didn’t have to say a word. Amazing how fast Little J finished his chores.

Sniff Test

Little J and I hiked a two mile train around Spooner Lake on the 4th of July. Six year olds are always curious and love to discover new things so it was no surprise when Little J skipped up to the “Sniff Test” box with boisterous ambition. “What do I do with this?” he asked. I suggested he try to read the directions but in his usual stubbornness he insisted he already knew how to do this experiment without instructions. So I let him. And he learned a lesson… Bark Beetles leave behind a most odiferous substance. Somehow I think he might now be ready to but a little more effort into reading.

 

I Am NOT Addicted to Gadgets

Well, I can’t seem to find my desktop. But that’s OK, I didn’t want to do any work today anyway. Instead, I need to make my weekly trip to Trader Joe’s. I have to go today, Friday, for sure.

You see last week I went to TJ’s on Saturday when the parking lot was at it’s usual full capacity. As I got into my car to leave I noticed a couple cars backed up behind me waiting for my space. I also noticed that there were a few messages on my cell phone. So I did what all good friends do… I returned all the calls I missed while I was in TJ’s. As I hung up on the last call I ignored the the little beep beep behind me.

Little J was in the back seat getting a bit restless so I retrieved the DVD player that had fallen below his feet and helped him search for a good movie. He had left the player on while we were shopping so the battery was drained. We finally found the car charger mixed in his pile of clothes we had retrieved from the school lost and found a couple of days before. Beep beep.

Just about then I realized that Little J had a play date and I had no idea where his friend lived. So, I called the Mom for the address. It only took a couple more minutes to figure out the route on the GPS. Was that another little beep I heard? I turned around to see three cars now waiting for parking spaces.

I never drive around without listening to a few tunes so I took a moment to plug in the IPOD and find something to meet my current mood which was slightly rushed having a few frozen foods in the trunk and with Little J getting a bit impatient about getting to his buddies house. Another beep... 4 cars in line now.

Little J complained that my music was too loud so I looked around and found his headphones buried in the seat pocket next to him.
Was that another beep? Hmmmm 5 cars now and the guy behind me had more forehead furrows than a GPS has streets.

As I reached under my front seat to retrieve my Kindle, I think I heard some morse code kind of beeps coming from behind. If I remember correctly a few longs... a few shorts... and that special mixture of longs and shorts signifies something like F*** U. Ah well, soon I'd be lost into the robotic but humorous words of the latest Janet Evanovich novel I'm reading/listening to.

I started to pull out of the space when the cell phone rang. Dang, I forgot to turn on the blue tooth so I pulled back into the space to answer the phone.

There was a tap on my window. I didn't want to look. Little J looked. He told me, "drive away quick gramma because some mean guy is trying to kidnap me and he has a ransom note." I looked out to see a hand pinning a note to my windows... "Gadget-aholic Meeting - Tuesday 8pm - in front of Fry's – plenty of parking”