Wednesday, April 29, 2009

2 Days to 19! Hooray!




























Somebody missed the bus this morning.
The reservoir was aglow with the light of the sun, as we drove over the hill that brings it into full view. Em and I, not in sullen silence, as at other times; but in the maternal banter that comes with the season of the predawn of womanhood. "71 on a paper? Are you going to take that Em? Are you going to...?" She didn't say shut up; but I know my days of this banter is very limited and I am pushing it, with her. But, what a challenge she has been through childhood.
Like the waves of the ocean, where we came from on Long Island and not at all, like the placid reservior, where we are now, is the spirit of my freshly budding Emily. Womanhood has so much promise for her, if she can see it.
It hurts to let go of the reigns; although, I can't say that I have held them, ever so tightly. Still, it hurts. They don't need my advice. If I could do it again, I would have held her tighter, I would have sung more sweetly into her ears, at nap time, I would have gone fishing and I would never have yelled, just spanked more. Oh well, hind sight, as they say...
They really don't want me to tell them anything at all. I could get offended and run away, in my mind. I have to ride the waves of emotions and not get discouraged, when I fall off.
Morning guilds the skies and I am grateful that she missed the bus this morning, so I can be introduced to this precious child who jumped on the beds everywhere, decorated the walls of everywhere we lived and spinned and flipped all over the world with us and now is a stallwart, strong, ambitious woman. Birthday is coming and I am grateful that God spared my life this long, to see her grown.

Monday, April 27, 2009

It is too hot!

Thank God for central air conditioning. I am going from my central air house to the car and then to work. I can choose to get sweaty on my breaks for 15 minutes and then enjoy the a/c.
Southerners really know how to live! :) Probably, not like Europe. We do have a lot of people from other states, but the laid back lifestyle and the taking of time to enjoy the beauty around you is life giving. Pretty houses, pretty lawns, pretty people in a pretty state. You work out and sweat and leave the outside rat race to the rats. This is not a race. This is a stroll or a saunter. Life is to be lived and more slowly can elongate life, perhaps...
No body is sick and the children are even taking their times going to school. We are enjoying the last week of April.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

It is a balmy 77 degrees and my neighbors,


some have beautiful tulips and begonias and trees and I am shamefully, still trying to figure out what kind of dirt this is. It is going up to 91 today, this is like summer to us. The children say, the people are going to deport us, back to NY for being always out of place ie. driving too fast, not saying hello and not keeping up our lawn. We are so slow in our outside gardening. This place is fully in bloom and we are just thawing out of hibernation. It takes such time to get used to the yearlong planting cycles down here. It is beautiful and the blooms are phenomenal in some of my neighbor's gardens I enjoyed this morning's walk with my Emma (the dog). We should be at the beach, but there are too many chores to do. We will get there.
Where are the April showers, this year I am saying? What happened to the launching pad into Spring? We don't have that here. It is, just great weather. The decision to not go out to the tennis courts and just hit and hit is always the decision. Spring cleaning is Winter cleaning, because nobody wants to be cooped up in the house when the sun is out and the community is blooming like this. The children can play and play and play outside; their complaint, it's too hot. This is not hot! Get off the Wii and get outside, I say! After chores...
What a beautiful place to raise children and go to school. Evelyn is spending the night at a friend's and Elyse and Emily are out there, working on the Senior project together; which is jewelry design, for Emily. We'll see what wonderful creations they come up with. The boys are plugged in, as usual and I am trying to pry them away from the Wii, to do something else today. I really do love it here, even though I miss you guys.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The beauty of the African noses.

My daddy used to exalt the African noses and I was thinking about that last night when I watched the oldies on youtube. The beauty of the noses that God gave us changing into the beauty of the noses that we bought from the plastic surgeon. They are both beautiful. My daddy was appalled the first time he saw those beautiful African American singers wearing other people's noses.
He talked and talked about it and I didn't see any difference at that time, but now we can watch the before and after. Television has made us change alot about people, for conformity sake. What is beautiful, is the talent and the beauty that God gave them. When we press them into the mold, they are still beautiful, but they lose something.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I'm thinking about Jackie being a Grandmother...




She is still baby Jackie to me. I remember her and her strength and her great reflexes. I remember that she is the one that we all wish we could beat in a race. I bet her granddaughters don't even think of her as having been a little girl like them. I can't wait to meet them.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

After all of that preparation and rest,

I was late for work yesterday. Couldn't find my badge and couldn't find my stuff in my pocketbook. But, when I finally got there 4 minutes late, it was so nice to be back to work. I forgot my password and it took me a couple of minutes to get back into the swing of things.
Ezra had forgotten :) to do his homework all last week too. We just had too much fun! Ethan is the Wii Tennis champion of the family. Evelyn produced a beautiful Walker family tree powerpoint presentation. Do you know how much work that takes, just to put the cousins and aunts and uncles names down on paper can give you a cramp in your hand. She is so productive. Her Hebrew alephbet book was her Summer project and this was her Spring project. I love her enthusiasm. We also worked a whole day on a violin and flute duet. I didn't tape it but I did tape her fluting. She is getting very good. Emily and Elyse and Enoch have their artistic whims and made stuff for others and they don't even show me before they give them away, because I will take it. They make jewelry and dolls and give them as gifts to others, I see the finished products from the garage, as they are going out of the door wrapped up. We really did have a nice vacation, even though we were at home.
Ben is enjoying the job hunting season and getting to know the children much better.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Ezra's special day came and went!



Of Course they delayed the Easter pageant one week and we nearly missed it. That is what all that thinking about Auntie and Grandma was supposed to remind me...:) Heaven comes right down to earth for the 6th child of the 13th child twice forgotten by his momma. Shame on me, I nearly kept him home. I was kicking myself, when I finally got to church. I am usually front and center, with the camera. What to do, what to do? I taped it with my trusty dusty mp3 player, Halleluia!

He loved that! He listened to it on the way home and he was delighted. No one would ever know that he was the baby in the family. He is not forgotten. He is not an after thought and Grandma and Auntie would have been proud of me. They helped remind me that dish doing and bathtaking are the practice for the important things like the Easter pageant. I forgot the camera but I didn't forget him! He is so special. He was sick for Dr. Seuss' birthday party in school but we took the picture anyhow.






Do you recall...Somebody went to a graduation without unmentionables on and Auntie took her home to get them. We forgot to put them on her and we have had those kinds of occasions all too often around our house and we don't have an "Aunt Jackie" around to feel under the dress before the show. That is where we live, so Grandma and Auntie come to me when I am doing the dishes to make up for the lack and whisper. You are going to need the camera on Sunday. Uncle Charles smacks him on the bottom when the need is great and Heaven is working with a worn out mommy to keep the unmentionables from getting on the camera. Thank God for the "mystic sweet communion".

Now, If I can just get set for 3 graduations, this year. The house is spinning!



I am trying to put some homespun widgets on my blog page to come into the new millenium. How do you like my motion sickness widget? I made it myself. I am working on the audio stuff and visuals. Love you!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

More about Auntie...




Jo reminded me that Auntie would not have let Enoch get away with not doing the dishes. I realize that she was the tough one of the 2 elder ladies. I probably told the story of the recorder so many times, but I will tell it again because I love it.
Dad said that he was 4 or 5 years old and had gotten a recorder as a gift from someone and was walking around with it in his mouth, blowing the ears off of everybody. Auntie told him (as was her way) Tony, if you blow that thing(ting) one more time you will get it back after I am dead. I was in the room when Dad got it back and the tears were amazing to watch a grown man turn into a 4 year old. Maybe Dad was in his 40's and Uncle came in with a little recorder with a piece of paper that said Tony on it. Dad couldn't handle it. He cried and he held it and he had a little piece of Auntie with him in that drawer and I think it reminded him to "love mercy" sometimes. A little late, but a good lesson for us all. That is why I do the dishes for them. That is what they will remember when I am gone. Mom remembered mercy, I hope!

Friday, April 17, 2009

I am remembering Auntie, doing dishes.






My dishes have been piled for me, by my beloved children. One, of them, namely Enoch, has been remiss in his nightly chore of doing them. I often bail them out, when I am getting ready for work, part of my job is to clean the dishes. I feel it, a consultation with Auntie. When I do my dishes, I think about her. I remember being smaller than the sink and watching her line up the dirty dishes. Silverware first, cups and then plates, lastly, pots; if they had any pots to wash. It was one of the most beautiful memories of my life. There was rarely a word spoken by Auntie when she did the dishes.(I wonder if she had consultation with Ma, when she did the dishes) She never said, to me "what are you looking at?". She never asked me any questions. She just washed and continued until they were done. The lesson is learned by the imitation, not by the words.
Auntie seems to stand with me, like I remember standing with her. She represents the silence of wisdom. Not the talking about wisdom, but the doing of wisdom, without a word. I did love her, but I don't remember telling her so. I think she knew. I did imitate her, even though I am married with children like my Grandma. Auntie was a powerful influence and the relationship between Grandma and Auntie was a powerful influence upon us. Blessed and protected women, effective and amazingly gracious women.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Today was Miss Piggy Day at our house...

We didn't know that Miss Piggy had sung with so many people. We went to Youtube, after some of the clothes were folded (key word, some) and while folding we enjoyed Miss Piggy and Kermy and the Jonas Brothers and before you know it...
Well we or I am still folding...:} Go figure!



Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Yesterday's indoor art project was...

Coloring eggs,(a little late:) and planting figs. We bought spinach seeds and cantaloupe seeds and our figs needed a new pot. So, we took the hazy day and the indoor art project to do those things. It is sunny today, so I have to pry them off of the Wii, or whatever that contraption is that they are plugged into, and get them outside. Lunch will be egg salad of course! We are always days and days behind or ahead in our Easter celebration and this year is no different. We celebrate the resurrection every day but the bunnies and we are very careful to meet eachother on any other day of the year but Easter. It is our expressed agreement as a family. Hopefully the sun will get us to the tennis courts, once the ground is fully dry. It is slick out here after the rain. The ground is not used to this saturation and Elyse has already had a tumble from not being used to the slick ground. Her ankle is twisted, but she headed to work semi-incapacitated. What a trooper!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Middle of the week vacation! WEEEE!

I never won at Wii before. Last night was a first. We got this thing for Christmas and every Friday the children look forward and do their work all week for the distinct pleasure of playing it. I stay away from the thing. I played it once. It has Tennis on it. I will not let a machine beat me at tennis everytime. Ethan beats it. Ezra beats it. I won yesterday! Yeah for mommy!

I also won the Walker family golf championships last night with a +5(Whatever that means:) We are enjoying the rainy vacation week. After chores are accomplished. My pain is palatable. I played and did the machine and there is some other muscle under my shoulder which is now in a charlie horse, keeping me from doing much else today. Michael Jackson usually fixes everything with his 25 year Thriller site. I will put him on and my kitchen floor will be mopped in the non-virtual reality world where I live.
When it gets sunny, we can head out to the courts. The children are in the homemade tent and the grown women are doing their things. My kitchen calls to me!!!

By the way, you guys probably watch "Today" all of the time. Kathy Lee Gifford is on today "Today" or visa versa. She is adorable with her new book. I laughed and laughed!Today show Kathie Lee...

Monday, April 13, 2009

Vacationing in NC.



I just love the beauty of the surroundings here. The city which is always being built and never completed. There is always a construction site around the corner and there are farms for sale and cows looking forlorn, as though their fates are tenuous. I am on vacation and this is the time that I get to truly enjoy the sights and sounds that are our home.





We live in a community of houses that are all alike. The first year was scary for me, because when you walk around all of the houses look the same. I got lost walking around the neighborhood, in the frost of the first year and I was afraid that I would think one of the other houses was mine. Not really, but it is somewhat disorienting, to look around and think that you are at home, when you are not. I think, I have grown past my NY homesickness and now can take on some hiking project with the children. Always keeping my blood pressure in my mind, not to exert myself too much...




Sometimes, the reservoir looks like the angels are riding on an iron to keep it perfectly tranquil, nothing like the constant motion of the ocean, where we came from. Some mornings, I see the reservoir just come out of the closet and it is so wrinkled that I don't think it will ever straighten out again. I do love to catch the morning dew on the small lakes and ponds where we live. I see one little cloud and a number of cloud columns leading to the water. The boys and I used to call that the angel's coffee clotch, where they sit around and plan out their day. They sip the ponds through the straws of the clouds. We love looking and thinking of it that way.
Now they are all too big to imagine such things anymore. So on Spring break I have to spend some time, just with the Lord, to sit and be His child and think little thoughts as I am wont to do.



The children and I have a plan to catch the day on the "first bounce", as we call it, when we are up and do something, to see the sunrise. Today was a bust, because of the rain and haze. We will catch up. Hopefully we will catch it on the rise tomorrow.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

IT FIT!!! Surprise for me?







I could wear last year's Easter dress. Not comfortably, but, after I held my tummy in, I could still Praise the Lord, when God's praises were sung. Halleluia!

They sang all of the most precious praise hymns and songs. "We shall behold him!" etc. Dad used to say, "This is you guy's high holy day, Did you pitch, Jayne?" You better believe I did, I would say back. Jesus is worthy! We would laugh at the thought, but it was true. I was crazy for Jesus and the worship of God is wonderful. He knew that. and it was our private, not so private joke.

This year, I was slow getting up. I couldn't motivate myself. Still a little sore from the week's earlier workouts, I guess.
The food, A leg of lamb, potatoes alfredo, macaroni and cheese, brocolli and chocolate pound cake for desert. I am tired of food now! This is our family feast, remembering that Jesus is risen indeed. Pastor Loran preached heaven into view, after a week of battling the principalities and powers; It is essential to remember that God is good.

We giggled alot, before church, imagining Miss Piggy coming to our church on Easter Sunday today. Since we were dressed like her, we were laughing at ourselves. We imagined that she danced so hard that she fell out of the balcony and swung on the microphone cords and landed on top of Kermy, who was singing in the choir this Sunday. It was a hilarious Easter imagination. We had sobered by the time we got to church, but it was nice to laugh about the fun that we do have, in joy and in sobriety. Christ is risen. I did look alot like Miss Piggy in that dress. I'd better go on a diet.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Day one of Vacation!






I slept late, 7 am. Halleluia! We have plans to clean the house top to bottom and then the week will be full of the fun we've planned. We are planning to picnic and look at the cows and the raptors and the other animals in our vicinity.

The children are off from school. The tennis courts, down here are adorable and prevalent. Our Spring theme is "Spring is fun". I have to fight the temptation to stay indoors and shampoo my carpets everyday.
I have fallen in love with renting the Rug Doctor and the smell of a freshly shampooed carpet is addictive. It sure beats the "accidents" that our beloved, EMMA occasionally has and our most precious littlest fellow is not past an occasional accident as well. I am enjoying the Rug Doctor rentals and my solitude when I am able to clear out the whole house and be alone with my carpets, is better than a good old movie to me.
There are sights outside, but my preference is to talk to my carpets and attempt to rejuvenate them from the trampling of the masses. They are crushed and squished and when the rug doctor hits them, they perk up and smell adorable.
I bought a floor "Shark" for the hard surfaces and I like it, but that still doesn't beat a good old fashioned mopping with Spic and Span. When the floors are cleaned, my vacation begins. I don't mind, if it takes me all week. :)

Friday, April 10, 2009

There is absolutely nothing in the world like...







the look on the old people's faces, in the Nursing home when they see the Easter Bunny. I was the Easter Bunny. I was in the suit and sweating like a pig. I don't know how I got over my claustrophobia for that. But I prayed and put that thing on my head and when I looked out at the faces and they turned and looked at me, the expressions were priceless. Nobody looked at me like that when I took the suit off and came back in as myself.
Next time I am putting the camera in the face of the suit. There were elderly who had tubes and whatnots and their faces were drawn and sick and then, in came the Easter Bunny. What an amazing change of expression, he drew out of them. They went immediately to the delighted face.
Drinking in the comforts of God in the elderly era is our job to create for them. The Easter Bunny is one way. Comforting voices and messages is another way. I am on the Helping Hands committee at work, so it was part of my job to do this as an arm of Allstate, the helping hands people. I was grateful for the privilege. I will have pictures later on today, I hope.


The presentation went well for my little T square. He and the rest of those hooligans are such a pain, when they have to present anything in front of the class. They get so uptight and cross and I am the one to catch it every time trying to help them. I said, son, how did it go? Good, he said. That was all. He is a man of few words.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Today, A Designer marries a Linotype machine and delivers a bunch of T squares.

The night was silent and cross. The 3rd of the Walker children is jumping the broom into Language Arts production. Wrestling with their minds to try to introduce the written word and vocabulary into them is always a challenge. I thought I was up to it! I thought I was prayed up! I thought I was ready. I have given up to them everytime. This time...
What is a complete thought? Not 12 complete thoughts in one sentence not 1/2 of a complete thought. A COMPLETE THOUGHT... The school is going to think that we are from another country. Everytime a Walker child has an art project it is college level output. A paper and they have to miss school. It takes a month and a half for them to write 2 paragraphs.
I have to sit on the side and watch the thinking process happen with them. I don't know what language they speak but it is all the same one. I was up and down till 4 and then awakened to help in the morning only to be told that my input was unacceptible to the patient and that it had to be done by the artists in the house...:{
I chose the wrong colors and put the wrong words. They are doing it again. I refuse to do it for him or them, but this is the initiation process for all of my younguns into the language of the real world. It is harder for Enoch, though because he was plugged into the gameboy for a while and language delayed as a result. I pray that they will survive.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I remember when Dad won his first trophy!

Dad played, almost every tournament that we played. He lost in the first or second round, most of the time and it gave him time to watch my matches. He played Jimmy Fonsville and lost in the finals, in a very long match and that was the first trophy.


He watched and watched and always had a word to tell me about what I did or didn't do, win or lose. After I lost to Joann Jacobs, in the finals of one the woman's tournament at Rochdale, he and I had an unwritten law. He would never again watch me in my sight, if it was a tourney. He couldn't control himself and his mouth and I couldn't win, if he was watching.

I know that my father admired my strokes and my youth; his pressure on me meant that I had potential. I didn't know that, then.
He screamed and yelled in front of everybody, because we had practiced hundreds and hundreds of crosscourt, put away shots and when the drop shot came to me at game point, I sliced it and tried to dropshot her back. You never dropshot Jo Jacobs, she ran like a deer and put it away on me. I was too young to let my father's words run like water off of a duck's back. He watched me from the mountains at Rochdale and from the clefts in the rocks at Crotona, etc. and if he saw me see him, he would move. I knew what he would say and the pressure was working, just working inwardly and not always outwardly.


It is interesting that when he won his trophy, we were there to cheer him and I am so grateful that he won great parent award at Forest Hills. He took on parenting with all that he had. He had no father and he gave fatherhood all of the strength that was in him. The impact was powerful.


Tuesday, April 7, 2009

It is a sunny and beautiful chilly day in North Carolina.

There is a clear difference between warm and cold, here. Even the cows are getting close to one another, it was so cold this morning.


It was in the 30's and we southerners and transplants pull out the winter coats when it goes down into the twenty's and 30s. We joke about it, but we've gotten sick too many times down here to take this fickle weather for granted. It was in the 70's earlier in the week and now we are back in the chilly weather. My plants are crying. I have 2 fig plants that haven't bloomed one leaf yet. I have to put them into pots. My pear trees have gone from white to green and I am waiting to put some spring flowers in the front yard. The rain caused the slowness of plantings in the yard. I am not a green thumb person, but we got some gifts from friends and I hope to maximize them and when I get figs, I will let you know.
My back is hurting, so my workout is on hiatis. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. :)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Brotherly Love!

When I think about brotherly love, the only picture in my mind is the 2 little brothers that I had and their precocious little ways. What one didn't think of, the other one did. We would never have even thought about some of the antics that they got away with, or didn't get away with, as the case often was.
Dad had nothing to compare their brotherly love to.
There was a way that we were all brothers, and there was something most sacred about the love that those fellows shared. They were cherished by us all and we loved having them, but they were not impressed with eachother like we were with them.
Everything that they did awed us, because we hadn't seen boys in our family before.
I love you Ton' and I know that this is a very hard season for you. God can fill every deep grief. Learn to pray when you think about the pain that you feel for not having him here.

We are all missing Dad today and we are all missing Ab today, but there is a special way that, only Ton' is missing them both. Man to man.

I am so proud of the beauty of the time that Ton' and Mom and Jo spent in Dad's last days. I was pregnant and couldn't enter into the beauty of the sacred sitting by the river Jordan with Dad. They will always have that memory. God comforted me with the beauty of his face, when I went into the room upon his departure. I imagine that Grandma and Ma and his mother, under God, had planned a special surprise party for him and he had the face that said, "Is this for me? Is this the heavenly welcoming party for me, who had mustard seed faith?"

I am so comforted, when I remember the expression on his face and the fact that there are no wheel chairs in heaven. I will see my daddy run, like he did on the tennis courts and to chase a hoodlum off of the corner. Or the time I saw him chase our stolen car down the block when a hoodlum stole it. It will definitely be worth it all, when we see Jesus. His face seemed to say that to me. I am grateful to have gotten to see it.

Froggies, warts and ABBY-JO. I am remembering the hiking that began with Abby and Jo through Baisley Park. They would traverse, high and low. Places that I wouldn't dare go. I guess, that once they had lived through the St. Bernard incident there was no fear of any dog eating them up. They came home with pet frogs and other Baisley Park wildlife seemed to follow them. We called Ab the nature boy, because he felt more comfortable at Baisley Park in the weeds and the shrubs than in the house. Toady warts and yucky icky stuff was always in their hands and all over them. They seemed to have a relationship with the wildlife out there at the park. Only now that I have free time at work to make friends with the wild life can I have some understanding for this kind of relationship with wildlife. Back then we only teased them about the warts and the frogs and the relationships with the birds.

My other blog is fiction about my relationships with the wildlife around my job.Robins don't lean
Like AA Milne, I am trying to share with my own little ones my fictional thoughts at work.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The News from Lake HERE AND NOW!

She had a good time and enjoyed herself alot.




The Little Princess is back from prom and she didn't turn into a pumpkin!









Momma and Papa can sleep easier now!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

The Prom has a French Theme...








We had our Pre-prom pizza party last night, to mark the buying of the dress by the ladies. They had a motto and motivation for the dress they chose. I hadn't the patience to sit and listen to the entirety of the story. Suffice it to say, there was a complete story behind the French style of the dress chosen by Emily. Next is the hair, I didn't hear the story behind the hair. They are not going to have it done, they are working on it in symphony with eachother. I think even Enoch has something to say about the hair.
I am afraid of Enoch getting involved in the hair. He has a vendetta against Emily for a bad haircut she gave him when she was feeling artistic with the clippers, one day. I don't know how he will repay her kindness.

She is going to the prom. I am going to work, today. I will miss the festivities of the prep work. I am glad to know that my assistants have the rest of the story under control and that my Emily keeps me posted on the details.
Emily has a group of cherished friends, some artists and some not, I suppose. Artists have their own vocabulary and sometimes I don't get it. Not that I am not an artist, but my art is intensely verbal and their art is intensely visual. Some things can't be translated between the two languages.
I contributed a luscious breakfast of Applesauce Buckle, for the crew. A far cry from the usual grits and eggs or left over pizza for Saturday morning breakfast. They understand that I have to go to work at 11:30 and that I will be here in spirit. When I see Emily tomorrow, after the prom, she will be a new woman and have been through something that I will never understand, because I didn't go to mine...



This morning was the story of why I didn't go to my prom and the ensuing near catastrophe that erupted. That is the story every prom, (we've only had one other).
I am not bitter, I just love telling the story. I am still a little sore, I guess. My prom was at the Plaza Hotel and I spent my entire Senior year arguing with mom about what time I was going to come home from prom. 10 oclock was the time that she had set. So I said never mind, I am not going. The real deal was we probably didn't have the money for me to go. I joined the choir at Bethel instead and what would have been my prom night was rehearsal. I came in at 10, as she insisted and went to bed, only to wake to the smell of smoke. I walked through the house looking for the smoke. We couldn't turn on the light in the attic from upstairs so I went through out the whole house looking for the smoke and I didn't find anything burning. I gave up and turned on the light in the attic to go upstairs and there was the smoke. The bulb from their light had fallen onto the mattress between Amy and Jo. Dad and I carried the mattress and Jo and Amy outside and began to douse the mattress with water from the hose in the front yard, also keeping A and Jo outside to breathe. The mattress burst into flames later on. We learned what a hot house a mattress can be and Mom said that was the reason that she kept me from going to the prom, case closed. That is my prom story.Yo-Yo Ma is so super
The dress is adorable, anyway. It has 5 flounces and it is black and one of those dresses that moves when you do the charleston. I told her that if she doesn't do the charleston at the prom, I am not speaking to her. :)

Title- The Studious One!

Title-  The Studious One!
artwork by Elyse

Of biscuits and syrup

Of biscuits and syrup
tasty treats

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday!
a day at the Raptor Center.

Widdle Emmie in outer space school

Emmie jumped on the bus and off it flew out into the atmosphere. There was a set of clouds with turbulence right above the house and it took a few minutes for my Emmie to buckle her seatbelt. They hit the bump hard and it knocked my Emmie out of her seat and she bumped her head. The video camera came on and the monitor looked through and stated, Ms. Emmie, where are you? You are not in your seat. Where are you? I am alright I fell because I hadn’t buckled correctly. Well jump up Emmie we have a long way to go and you have to be buckled there is entirely too much turbulence in the stratosphere for you to unbuckle now. As soon as we are through this weather system there will be straight sailing but right now you must buckle. Emmie scrambled into the seat with intensity and purpose now. She watched every cloud pass her window and her nose was pressed to the window trying to see the top of the house as it drifted slowly out of sight. Soon they were not only out of sight of the house, the sun came out brightly and just as quickly they were putting on the atmospherical breathing apparatus and the outerspherical lights. The ABA and the OL. These precautions were to make them appear to be satellites to the radar as they were out in the ionosphere. Emmie knew all about this now. She had gone to the orientation and had a good breakfast and it took them 20 minutes for her to get out past the atmospherical pull and to feel the zero gravity. It would be 15 minutes before the gravity simulators would take effect, a glitch in the system which was being worked on. Until then, they enjoyed the couple of minutes of floatation, while being connected to the seats by belt. The first thing they saw everyday was the strataflotsam. The items which had been dumped into the atmosphere by earlier generations. What would their generation do about this ecological waste area that remained floating above their heads? This was a question for the generations. For now it was the area that they had to guide through on the way to school.

Midnight at the OASIS

Midnight at the OASIS
Sunset in Huntersville

My little Emmie

ran to the bus on the first day of the last year of school. 2 buns on the side of her head. She kissed me and ran at dawn to the bus. She was starting the adventure of a lifetime. I would never see that little girl again, she was going to woman school!

My Father and I 1989

My Father and I 1989

to the tune of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

A VISIT TO PAPA











Are you going to Mary Immaculate?

Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



Remember me to the one who lived there,



He once was a true love of mine,



Tell him to buy me an acre of land,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



Between the muddy Hudson in Jamaica Bay,



Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,

Tell him to sow in it seeds of pure cream,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



And build Ice cream mountains and buildings of whipped cream,

Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,



Tell him to reap them with sickles of M&M’s,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



And chew bubble gum and eat till we’re done,



Then, He’ll be a true love of mine.



Tell him to run it off down the motor parkway,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



After your done 50 pushups



and jog down the West Side Highway,



Then he’ll be a true love of mine…

(Don’t wait for me today dad, The kids are sick again, My tummy’s bulging again, My heart is aching again, And now there’s no love there…)





He once was, a true love of mine….So, Girls, I do beg you don't miss your Daddy,Apricots, Chocolate cherries and Pie,You have one short chance to see him on this side, Go visit him and let your light shine.