Back Yard Thoughts

I love my deck and backyard. It is not really very well landscaped, it is a hodge-podge of over growth and deer food flowers, but I like it. I love all the birds that live in the various over-grown trees, but these squirrels are still getting on my nerves. I really enjoy sitting on the deck, drinking coffee and reading in the morning. The birds sing, the air is usually nice and fragrant and the squirrels walk right up on the deck by me to the bird feed. Seriously! Since Annie the dog is living somewhere else, I am combating the squirrels all by myself and losing. I have started taking a spoon out with me and banging it on the railings. Usually that causes them to sail away, but not always. I think my neighbors are convinced I have lost my mind. I came to a conclusion yesterday. I am going to stop fighting this battle and just buy more birdseed. The birds and I just need some peace.

Also yesterday, as I was listening to the news for really the first time in a few days, I heard an interview with Pat Buchannan-----He is definitely an idiot and a bigot. I just needed to say that.

Washington DC

We are back from Washington DC with 500 pictures taken, lots of dirty clothes, tired feet, and a mind full of impressions. It was a wonderful trip, everything went perfectly and the weather cooperated. The only disappointment was Obama's absence from DC . I am reasonably sure he wanted to meet me, but his Presidential obligations got in the way.

Two observations of things that surprised me in the City proper. The first is how amazingly long the mall is from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. It must be 30 blocks. With that ,the Mall needs a serious grass enhancement program. To be fair, there obviously are a lot of events on the lawns. They were just cleaning up from the Fourth of July and getting ready for a Folk Festival. So I imagine growing grass is a nightmare. We walked all 20 miles at least three times during the week, well at least it felt like it was that far.

The second surprise was how far the National Cathedral is from everything else. I always thought it was right down town, but it is high on a hill two or three miles from the rest of the impressive buildings. Everything else was as I had imagined. It does not take a lot of imagination as we see the Capitol every day on television, but seeing it in 3 dimension is such a thrill. And, OH my heavens, the history there!

The metro is interesting. We saw the longest escalator ever, and people run up and down all of the escalators. Those of us who use the escalators as a resting time have to stand to the right, or be flattened by the physically fit crowd. The most difficult part of the metro is buying tickets. After 20 minutes, three DC natives' advice, the metro helper's patience, and lots of money, we all bought our week passes. Every time we went on the metro, we saw groups of tourists starring quizzically at the ticket machines until some local came to help. As you enter the actual turn style, you place your hard won ticket in a slot and it is immediately sucked up. This startled and worried me as I thought I had lost my chance to ride before we ever started. The ticket does pop up in another place. (This became my favorite part of the subway ride.) I do not like being underground. I want to see the sun.

We loved seeing the White House. Being in those rooms is weird and surreal. I wish I could think of better adjectives. All of the rooms are a little smaller than I believed, but so wonderful to see.

The guides and security people were very nice and amusing. I am thinking they say so much of the same things, nothing is really new, but to us it was fun. One of the official men downstairs was asking another why the screen was up, as the Obamas were not "at home", so it is usually down then. To which another asked, "So, has anyone walked the first dog today?" Patty was relating this story to another fellow visitor upstairs when a security guard-guide heard her and said, "Don't you believe it. We do not take that dog out. We leave him upstairs with a big bowl of water, food and a wee pad," Sure they do. I wish we could have taken pictures. Just seeing all the portraits was worth the visit.

Two observations about the Archives. The Declaration of Independence is nearly faded to nothing. One of the people there said it is because it was taken around a lot in the old days, and no one thought to keep it out of sun light. The Constitution, really only written a few years later, is totally legible. The second surprise, I evidently did not listen closely in history classes, is that our First Amendment was actually the third one of the originally proposed. There were a lot of other interesting exhibits in the Archives. I got to listen to an actual recorded conversation between John Kennedy and the Governor of Alabama about an upcoming desegregation confrontation and whether Kennedy could count on the Alabama's local police, or whether he should call in the National Guard for protection. It was almost creepy and yet intriguing.

The Capitol is huge, of course, and impressive inside and out. Every state gets to have two statues on display in the Capitol building. States can replace one if they choose, but only two at a time will be kept on display. Missouri's are Thomas Hart Benton and one of the Blairs. Evidently, there has long been talk of sending Truman's statue to replace Blair. I would think. The Presidents get to be in the Rotunda, while every other State Statue may be any place in the building.

Mt Vernon needs a whole day to visit, we had three hours. It is not just the amazing house with 10 bedrooms, but the views, and the massive grounds. George Washington had 635 over night guests the year after he left the Presidency. It is no wonder he needed 10 bedrooms. I would have wanted to spend all my time just looking out at the Potomac.

We saw in the five days------ The Capitol and White House (inside and around),2500 statues, the Smithsonian's Castle, a number of the other Smithsonian's including the Zoo, and the Archives. We also saw the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, WW II, Korean , and Vietnam Monuments and Memorials. We saw the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the National Cathedral, and the Old Post Office with bell tower. Then we saw the Potomac, Mt Vernon, Alexandria, George Town, Embassy Row and the Arlington National Cemetery. I think we did all we could possibly do in just five days. We walked somewhere between 25 and 275 miles and heard 3000 sirens (all the sirens seemed to be going nowhere for no reason.) I could not have imagined the whole week to have been any better then it was.

The Barbies

These are a few Barbie Pictures----Seriously. Some of the pictures of the people are not great. I hated to ask them to stop so I could get a good picture. It would have been as if I were saying, "No one will believe this, please stop and let me take a picture!"

We were entertained nightly by "the Barbie's". I never gave a possibility of a Barbie conventiona a thought, ever. Evidently the Barbies meet once a year to have a gala, and the attendance has to be LIMITED to 1000. (Most years 800, but this is the 50th anniversary, so they upped the limit.)

I am not making this up---in fact I am pretty sure I do not write well enough to convey the intensity these people have for the shapley doll we call Barbie. They came from all over the world---Australia, France, Japan, England, Italy--just to honor this doll. They had a Barbie van, Barbie Beetle complete with a trunk that opened to become a make-up kit, a Barbie surf board, a Barbie bike, and a life-size Barbie dressed in a pink formal. They sold Barbie accessories, traded dolls, displayed treasures, and were awarded new Barbies every night. They had t-shirts, jackets, dresses, purses, hats, tote bags, shoes, flip-flops, sunglasses, and more with the Barbie logo on them.

They were not all women---there were a lot of men attending also. (Some were husbands--others were collectors?) At night they always had a "gala" and many would dress up. We saw a bride, a witch, a Supreme Court justice, men dressed like preppy Ken, women in Barbie suits, Hawaiian Barbie, Japanese Barbie, and 3 adults dressed in polk-a-dotted garb complete with Mickey Mouse ears. I will say again --- I am not making this up.

We saw women sitting at the bar with their Barbies standing (with aide of a stand) on the bar beside them. We met a young man from France who said he works for a TV station and has a Barbie sitting on his desk, so everyone knows he is a collector. He claimed that "Barbie has taken him to interesting spots for conventions, that he would not have otherwise seen." We agreed, although we did not tell him, that unless Barbie was paying for the trips, he could have gone to all these places without lugging a doll along. He seemed to be having a wonderful time with his six other French friends. So maybe it is a way to travel with companions instead of by himself?

They evidently gave prizes and awards because we saw people showing others what appeared to special stuff. Also, there was this one woman people kept saying "Congratulations" to. She would always reply, " Oh, thank-you, I am so happy." After observing her a few times, we are not quite sure whether she was heavily bo-toxed woman or a former man. Whichever, she was very happy.

All of these people were very nice and definitely enjoying themselves. The Fed-Ex and UPS people were kept busy coming to get loot that the conventioneers were already sending home, and we missed the last big hoop-la, where they were bound to get more. We were sad to miss the Saturday night entertainment. They were to have a musical extravaganza, complete with a few broadway performers. The songs were, of course, to feature Barbie in the 50's. This is all true, I promise!

The Art and Curse of Worrying

I tend to be a worrier. And although I have worked on this rather negative aspect of my personality, I still worry. I over think, I fabricate, I am absolutely irrational and I evidently tighten up my whole body with this anxiety.
The Whiteman PTO again treated each of the staff to a neck and hand massage this year. When the young man was massaging my neck he said, "You definitely have the tightest trap of the day. Some others have been tight, but yours is really in a knot." After he attempted to relax me, I asked him what I could do. He showed me a few ways to try to rub the tenseness out of my own neck and shoulders. The he said, "And when you have stress---you just have to let it slide right off your shoulders." Good Advice and I have been repeating it to myself a lot these last few days. For we are going to Washington DC and I can imagine all sorts of bad things preventing a successful vacation.
I am driving out with Leslie's family, while my two sisters will fly to DC and meet us there. Washington is a place I have long wanted to see so of course, I believe it will never come to be.
The number one rule of a worrier is --- always expect the worst. The number two rule is ---what you do not think of will get you. So number three rule is --- think of everything that could possibly go wrong. Here is a partial list of my concerns.
We will have an accident.
Patty and Kathy's plane will crash.
We will get food poisoning.
Patty will choke on a peanut on the plane.
Someone will get sick with strep, appendicitis, the flu, a cold, etc---
We will have our luggage stolen.
We will make a wrong turn and drive into a river. (That is a nightmare of mine.)
Patty and Kathy will get on the wrong plane and fly to Alaska, never making it back to the east.
Some major catastrophe will occur in Washington. (That is also a nightmare I have.)
Some member of my family who is not going, will get sick, break a leg, or fall off a mountain.
My house will burn.
Annie the dog will drive Sherry and Marlin crazy.
I will get sick and make everyone else miserable.
I will never find enough bathrooms. (Another nightmare of mine.)
Anyone can see I have a problem I have reminded myself, as I rub my neck, to let the worries slide right on off my shoulder. Then I also often recite what that wise fish Dory said, "But if you never do anything---you never do anything."
With luck we are off to DC on the Fourth of July to have a perfect time. Unless-------

Summer fun and imagination

Kellen and his magic glasses.

Seth and Kellen's "Woo"

Drive way 3D art


I am sure there are many people who wonder what in the world people do in small towns. Aside from squirrel chasing, we also have police who are called upon to remove deer from the women's bathroom at City Park. (That was a big crowd pleaser.) Also every night in the summer we have baseball and softball games. With those come the most important attraction---open concession stands.
Also, my grandsons have "woo". For those of you who are older than 12 and not around young boys, the term "woo" comes from some cartoon called (what I understood to be) Challenge Showdown. It is actually Shalon's Showdown------only wait, it is spelled with an X, more like Xailon's Showdown. Four days ago Seth and Kellen were in my basement gathering stuff, of which there is plenty down there. They found to use a comb, old gloves, plastic golf clubs, a blanket, parts of games, balls, an incredible hulk hand, a scarf and on and on. They drew pictures of a star, a tree and something that resembled a fish with a space helmet. When I asked what this collection represented, they told me "Woo". I asked for further information, to which they assured me there was a web-detangler, a shadow cape, a glove of justice, a sword of defense, and they continued. If it sounds as if I am making up these names----I probably am.
I commended them for using their imagination, to which Seth replied, "Jamie told us we had to." They played for three days with their "woo", dragging it from house to house. The "woo" has now returned to its' origin in my basement to await another mandatory imagination day.
Yesterday we all tried out the threeD chalk. Actually the chalk is just sidewalk chalk, it is the glasses which are magic. The grandchildren and Gavin had a great time decorating my driveway. It really is strangely 3D like.
So what is obivious is that small towns are exciting, do not ever question that.