THE SOUND OF SILENCE

My girls are gone for the weekend...

Peace

Tranquility

I can hear myself think

it's TOO quiet

Lonely

Can't wait 'til Sunday evening!

Cutest little man in front of me at the checkout in Wal-Mart was such a happy guy!  Indeed he was a gentleman, and I think he was flirting with me.

Sad, isn't it that I really wasn't sure!

Well, never fear,  'cause

 TOO!

If the cashier hadn't been so talkative and  S  L  O  W , I would have caught up with him in the parking lot.

But, alas, I couldn't find him. 

O, well.  He must not have been worth it, or he would have waited for me!



A long time friend had this pic on face book today - I love it - I stole it!

It conjures up so many memories ~ of youth and the knowledge that your freedom to play all day (without your mom really knowing exactly where you were), still came with the assurance that you were safe & secure and all was well with the world!

Why is it so hard to just let yourself run with that sweet abandon now?

Remember those warm wonderful feelings of childhood when you felt so free and filled with enough energy to power a nation - well, at least the neighborhood?!

So many trees to climb.

So many fields to run in.

So much sunshine to soak up.

So many clouds to watch while laying on your back in the cool grass.

So many night games to play;

hide & seek

red rover

ghost stories

star gazing.

Playing dolls, jacks, marbles.

Cops & robbers.

Cowboys & Indians.

Climbing haystacks.

Riding horses.

Eating citrus and dates and blackberries 'til you were sick.

Drinking from the hose so you didn't have to go inside when you got thirsty?

Mud pies.

Swimming.

Eating watermelon warm off the vine in the field.

aah---

Didn't that feel GREAT?!



The Pecan Tree

My next door neighbor has a pecan tree in their front yard.  It is beautiful, BIG, produces fabulous shade and plenty of nuts.  I've made pecan pies with those lovely morsels.

  It also produces sticky sap all over my drive way, or when that isn't happening it drops nuts all over my drive way that get run over and squished into messy wasteful splotches.  It provides a roost for the largest black birds I have ever seen that love to leave HUGE globs of waste on my drive way. My daughter used to park in the driveway, but after all the above mentioned pelted her car she no longer does.  In the fall most of the leaves drop on my drive way, roof, and blow with every breeze into my side and back patios!  A few weeks ago, I got on the ladder and got the leaves off my roof and out of the rain gutter.  The neighbors still had tons of them on their roof, however.  Well, we had a really big wind storm that transported all the leaves from their roof to - yep, you guessed it - the side and back patio of my house!  Well, thank goodness for the yard maintenance guys that show up every Tuesday with their handy-dandy leaf blowers in our little neighborhood!

 
My patios are leaf free! 

[And, today I also washed my daughter's car, and the windshield of mine and got the last of the bird stuff off!  So, we're now all sparkly! ]

 I'd say that is a pretty good Tuesday!

A GOOD PERSPECTIVE

...and that's the way I need to always see it!

~  (no matter how tough it may seem some days)  ~

It's been a MONDAY!

My Mom Said...

You know those things that you do automatically that make life a little sweeter ~

Those little things that set you apart from the rude and common ~

Those things your Mom's friends complimented you on when you were little ~

Those things that you taught your own children and hope that your grandchildren will also do and pass on ~

Those things that make us civilized ~

Things that you notice when others don't do them~

?

I think some of them are simply good manners and my mom said they were

RULES to live by.

Well, when I saw this  ~

I just had to share ~ 'cause my mom SAID!

MOVIE NIGHT

I haven't been out to a movie in -------------AGES!  Thanks to our sweet home teacher and his awesome wife (a gift of 3 movie tickets for Christmas), my girls and I went to

see this tonight ~ 

and LOVED it!

Man in the Moon

This is the image I saw last night.  Glowing ~ Beautiful ~ Peaceful ~
Shedding benevolent light on all.

But, I do believe at least one little girl and possibly two must have been influenced by

this guy!  What an afternoon!  Talk about moody!

I TOTALLY prefer the first one!

GRAMMA'S TAXI

This is my role on school days.  I make the rounds in our little area and pick up two little boys along with my Haylee and deliver them to the bus stop.

You see, they all used to walk to the bus stop.  Haylee was the only girl with 8 little boys!  So, I still accompanied her.  Then ~ lo and behold the district changed the bus routes to make them safer.  Two buses ~ one for either side of the busy thoroughfare.  Now there are only 3 boys and Haylee.  One little boy lives at the other end of the bus stop.  The new stop is quite a bit further away and doesn't seem to be so safe.  There were three cars trying to find places to park each morning and there was really only one place available.   It just seemed so silly to me, plus one little boy's mom had to drag out a baby and she usually was in her robe.  One day I just got out of my car and walked up to her and the dad  of the other little boy and asked if I could just pick them up each morning.  They were happy to let me do that, and it works for the most part.  We sometimes have to wait for one little boy what seems like forever.  We listen to music, keep warm in the car, talk about all sorts of fun things, sometimes have some minor disagreements or pouting, a few unexpected rude noises, but most generally a happy few minutes wait for the school bus.  I find it very rewarding to not only spend time each morning with Haylee, but to get to know the two little boys as well!

ANGELS

Oh, I believe in angels!

They are real.

They have faces.

They have names.

They call us on the phone.

They sometimes hold our hand.

They walk among us.

They know when we need comfort or help.

Some are HERE

and some are THERE

Angels, angels everywhere!

I LOVE ANGELS!