You should read this piece by nonsmokingladybug.wordpress.com, and listen to the link featuring Noam Chomsky.
I have always been a selective listener, not to be confused with having selective hearing -what so many of us practice when we grow up. I am now at an age where I have figured out a thing or two, and I am still determined to solve the rest of lives puzzle as well.
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Studly Doright is playing in a two day golf tournament at his course this weekend. It’s his first tournament since undergoing minor back surgery several months ago. He’s only played a couple of rounds in the past few weeks, so this tournament will be a test of his fortitude as well as his golfing skills.
Rather than sit at home doing nothing, I drove into Tallahassee and bummed around, finally stumbling onto a neighborhood garage sale. It was 10:30 a.m. before I found the sale, and most of the homes were running low on merchandise. In garage sale shopping the early bird truly does get the worm.
I wasn’t searching for anything specific, though, so I parked at one home and walked from sale to sale enjoying the mild weather and visiting with folks along the way.
Then I saw this piece:
It’s a wicker vanity chair with a built-in hamper. I’d never seen such a thing, so even though I have no idea where I’m going to put it I bought the silly thing for $5.00. The chair needs a new cushion and perhaps a coat of paint to cover up the marks on the front of the hamper.
I’m calling the first photo, Studly Doright Will Just See an Ugly Old Chair, and the second one, Surprise! It’s also an Ugly Old Hamper.
Peace, people!
I came upon this graphic online and shared it on my Facebook page. So far, it’s generated a good many responses. My answer was easy: jeans, books, and wine.
However, I don’t drink much wine, or any alcohol, since my stomach decided to revolt back in May, so I’ve need to make a different choice for the third spot.
Since I’m losing something consumable let’s examine similar choices. I don’t drink coffee anymore, and I can live without chocolate. Tea is lovely, but not a must have. Tacos are the part of my Mexican meal that I leave for last in case I become too full to eat everything on my plate, so they can be dispensed with.
We don’t do Netflix at Doright Manor, so that’s something I can easily do without. The same goes for dry shampoo. As short as my hair is I can’t see any advantage to dry shampooing over wet shampooing. And along the same lines, there’s no way I can form a messy bun. I have a messy strand or two, but nothing “bunnable.”
By my reckoning that leaves jewelry, pajamas, lipstick, and leggings. I own a few pairs of leggings, but apparently they’re only in my closet for decorative and dust-catching purposes. They are super comfy on rainy, stay at home days, but then so are pajamas. Out with leggings, then.
Lipstick, they say, is critical for aging women. However, since I don’t know who “they” are, I’m going to ignore their advice. My lipstick never stays for more than an hour at a time, anyway, so buh-bye. I can always use crushed berries gathered from the forest if I need to color my lips.
Down to two choices now, jewelry and pajamas.
I love my pajamas. They’re soft and they keep my thighs from touching each other at night. I own three nearly identical pairs of pajamas, and they give me comfort.
As for the jewelry, I don’t own many expensive pieces. My wedding set isn’t worth much, but it has significant emotional and sentimental value. Studly Doright has bought me a couple of lovely items these past few years that in a pinch I suppose I could sell. Then there are the Celtic earrings I picked up in Scotland and the necklace I purchased from a craftsman at the Poulnabrone Dolmen in Ireland. I wear those pieces nearly every day.
Pajamas or jewelry? Oh man. I’m going with jewelry. No, pajamas. No. It’s jewelry. Final answer. My thighs are going to have to find a way to get along. I’ll just invest in anti-chafing cream and hope the stock market makes us rich.
Give it a go–which three items would you choose to keep and why? I’m curious.
Peace, people.
I surrender! I have all these photos of the grandkids’ visit, but not the oomph needed to write about them. My oomph evaporated on Monday afternoon when I left the kids at the airport in Panama City Beach, and I’m not sure when it’s coming back.
Life continues, though, as does this blog, so I’m going to take the easy, less oomph reliant path and just post photos. If the spirit moves me, I might even comment on them. If not, well, make up your own captions. Oh, I started at the end of their visit and went backwards for some reason.
Here are a few from our morning in Panama City Beach before we headed to the airport:
Dominique and friend, Sophia, pose outside Dick’s Last Resort.
Enjoying a pineapple drink on the promenade.
Dominique pushing Jackson in a beach wheelchair so he wouldn’t get sand in his cast. I pushed him out to the beach and she pushed him back to the pavement. Hey, I think I know the moment my oomph disappeared!
Ahhh! The sun and the sand and the water.
Dining at Dick’s Last Resort, where the waiters are rude on purpose and the giggles are non-stop.
From our trip to Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia on Sunday:
Poppa (aka Studly Doright) and Jackson built a motorcycle during the kids’ visit. For some reason I didn’t take any “before” photos, but this bike was in pieces at the beginning of last week:
Tallahassee Museum and Zoo is one of the grandkids’ (and grandparents’) favorite places to visit.
While the two 15-year-olds embarked on the tree-to-tree adventure,
Jackson, Studly, and I explored the zoo area:
At Jackson’s request we went “thrifting.”
And I took the girls sightseeing and swimming at Wakulla Springs:
And that’s about it. The kids and I stayed up late to watch a scary movie one night, but I didn’t document that. I had crafts for us to do, but those ideas were met with little enthusiasm. That’s just fine. I’m not sure my limited supply of oomph would’ve allowed for much creativity.
It’s awfully quiet around Doright Manor since they’ve been gone. The only one happy with the kids’ absence is our cat, Patches. Maybe she’ll help with the oomph issue.
Or not.
I own a couple of pairs of Spanx. They’re great for containing, smoothing, and camouflaging parts of my body that aren’t all that firm anymore, like my waistline and my abdomen. I don’t wear them often, reserving them for special occasions. It’s not that I don’t want to look svelte all the time, it’s just that I live in the Sunshine State where more layers equal more discomfort.
So when I saw these new offerings from Spanx in a Tallahassee department store I did a double take:
Am I supposed to wear these with my tank tops?
I think I’ll call this, I Know I Need Them, but No Thanks, Spanx.
Peace, people (and seriously, I should cease wearing tank tops!)
The story of the Good Samaritan is timeless. The message is clear. Our job isn’t to ask where someone is from or if they are deserving of our help. Our job is to love our fellow humans. Perhaps now would be a good time for that story to be shared.
Luke 10:25-37 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise
Peace, people.
I promise I’m not being lazy. Okay, maybe I am, but after hosting two teens and a tween for over a week, I believe I deserve a couple of days of laziness. Honestly, they were well-behaved and a ton of fun, but I’m having difficulty putting together a cohesive post because there’s just too much to process right now.
Yesterday I had to bid them goodbye, and I might’ve cried a little watching them file through the boarding gate at the Panama City airport. Seems like only yesterday two of them were running around my house in diapers. I know the summer visits won’t last forever, so I’m savoring them while I can.
We spent the morning exploring Panama City, and I thought I’d share one of our silly photos.
I call this one, Toes: Both Sandy and Broken.
Yesterday (Sunday) was nuts. Studly Doright and I took the Texas grandkids and their friend, Sophia, to Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Georgia. I was too worn out from all the fun and heat last night to write a blog post, and this morning I have to get the crew up to catch their flight out of Panama City. A single snapshot is all I have time to post today.
I call this one, “The Trouble with Butterflies.” Darn thing wouldn’t stand still.
Peace, people.
I have two phobias that are somewhat related. The first is a fear of descending escalators. The second is a fear of heights, or to be more precise, falling from said escalators and heights. So when my fifteen year old granddaughter, Dominique, and her friend Sophia, asked me to join them on a tree-to-tree adventure at the Tallahassee Museum and Zoo I politely declined. Instead I offered to document parts of their adventure through photographs. Thankfully, they accepted my counter offer.
Here are Dominique (left) and Sophia being fitted with their harnesses:
Ready to go:
The rest are self explanatory. I couldn’t cover the complete two hour course which went across swamps and over animal enclosures, but I did get a few pictures and videos of their adventure.
The tree-to-tree course looks fun. There’s a part of me that would love to try it for myself. But it’s an incredibly small part and I’ve shoved it way down deep inside where it will never see the light of day.
The girls, however, came through with flying colors. I’ll just live vicariously through them. It’s safer that way.
Peace, people.
Studly Doright and I took the visiting grandkids and their friend, Sophia, to visit the Tallahassee Museum and Zoo on Friday. I’m still sorting through photos of our adventure to post another day, but I thought I’d share some of my favorite nature photos from the trip in the meantime.
Cypress trees are beautifully spooky even in the middle of a sunshiny summer day:
This dragonfly followed me for awhile:
Squirrel!!!
Swamp scenes:
I’ll share photos of the kids and Studly tomorrow, but for now, I’m pooped.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 