My Toes Are Curling

On this adventure Dad got to come along. We needed him to drive since we were geocaching and Me and the Kyd alone (well, without the Dad) geocaching can either be harrowing, expensive or worse.

Most of the caches we've found in the area are not typical of what we were spoiled with in St. Louis We are appreciative of the opportunity to add to our numbers, and we are very appreciative of the time and effort cachers have in putting out caches in this area (since we've done nothing to reciprocate) but, there's not always a lot to see once we get to the cache site.

This cache could have been one of those, but, it was not. True, the cache itself fell into the the Typical guardrail cache category, but we took advantage of the location and turned it into a bit more: a perfect late afternoon.

We walked along the roadway and looked over the guardrail to watch the turtles on their afternoon outing to the underwater logs.

Always with a camera, I managed to get a few pictures of the Kyd. I liked the shots where she is safe and sound, feet firmly planted on solid ground. SHE liked the idea of sitting on the guard rail, thousands of feet above momma and baby turtles, making my toes curl.

And That Wraps THAT Up

Well, it wasn't exactly the summer of my blog-hopes. The twice-a-week outings to the beach on the lake never quite materialized. Days at the Farm with Mawaw and Papaw never came along. The shopping day at the Outlet Mall -- thwarted by a stomach thing and then later by a friend thing. Yet, there were very few Do Nothing Days. How is that?

Pizza: It's All in the Family

DadintheFam spent his time in Alabama being wined and dined to tune of his first ever bout of gout. While he was living the rich life, we were looking for cheap and easy. Turns out that friend that Kyd brought along is not the most experimental eater. Pizza. Chicken Strips. And, eventually, I found out she'll eat the occasional lasagna. Naturally, I discovered this on our third pizza joint that had, ironically, the most expensive lasagna and the best pizza. This was a little place in Mobile, AL (next to the scrapbook store!) called "Brother's Pizza". Our two places prior to this were "Mama's" and "Father's" . I guess to find the "Sistas" we just had to look at ourselves.

In Which Some of Us Have a Vacay and One of Us Does Not

The deep south in August.

Replete with Oil Spill. NOW, we're talking F-U-N.

The Dad of the Fam was presented with an opportunity to head to the deep south in July.

Without us.

Natural, spoiled-grapes attitude was to chide and ridicule and ask, "Sheesh .. who would REALLY WANT to go to Mobile, Alabama in July when the beaches are awash with fresh oil?" But then, I looked at the hotel's website. Turns out, DadoftheFam wasn't just going to a little hotel, but a history-rich-five-star-resort in a boutique-rich town on Mobile Bay. Sounds good to US.

Being an only child, and an almost teenage only, sometimes time away with just mom and dad can leave a bit to be desired. So, Kyd brought along a friend and off we all went.

While the DadoftheFam was in meetings all day and most of the night, the three of us braved horrible heat, ill timed thunderstorms, more heat and more ill timed thunderstorms to get in A LOT of shopping, even more pizza eating, a bit of sight seeing and not nearly enough beach time.

The beach at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope, AL where we first stayed, was small, and protected by three booms to catch the oil. It seemed to work as it was nice and clean. The same could not be said for the beach on Gulf Shores behind the little Holiday Inn. That beach had the distinctive smell of petroleum, very few seashells and left behind a glycerin like residue on our skin that took an hour to scrub.

Regardless of the beach, the girls and I had a few little adventures.

Hey Sister Sister

Leaving our "Big City" we left behind a lot of at-our-finger-tips opportunities. One of those, which the Kyd really enjoyed was musical theater. Our little town is fortunate enough to have a very nice, seemingly modern performance venue. (I'll avoid going into great detail on the controversy surrounding this theater, as it's recently changed hands and been purchased by the city, since, as a private enterprise it was not breaking even).

During the last week of July they offered workshops, performance and friend making opportunities through a two-man (ok, man and woman) traveling workshop from Missoula Children's Theater.

The production was "Treasure Island" and the Kyd had the part of one of Jim's sisters. She saw a lot of small ensemble stage time and got to wear at least one, if rather hot, rather cool costume (uhhh not shown here). They rehearsed for a week and had two performances on Saturday afternoon. It was not bad for a week of work with instructors they've never met and working with other kids they have never seen. Most importantly, she increased her friends on her Facebook page -- meeting a few girls from her district that she'll meet up with again next year at the senior high.

Reliving the Past

Our Neighbors. After a year and a half, we were able to get The Anzalones (minus one) to brave the straight-as-arrow drive and visit US. Man, have we missed them! Although, I believe the first words from Liz weren't "Hi, how you doing?" or "MY GOD WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH", I believe they were not far from, "When you said BIG CROSS, you REALLY MEANT .. BIG CROSS."

We played tour guide-- or rather *I* played tour guide, Liz played mostly interested tourist and the kids played the part of kids being drug around small towns being made to look at things they really did not care about. Tropical Sno was even closed.

Effingham weather didn't disappoint either. About the same time Liz lowered the lid on the grill, a typical storm blew up. Touch and go, not quite sure if it was going to make it here or go around. This time there was no going around and we got to show off Mother Nature -- Effingham Style. Some of the highest winds recorded all summer. We watched the lake rise and fall 9-10" and discussed "Seeking cover". Instead, the kids played Wii and Liz and I had a chance to catch up on gossip.

Traditions -- with a Twist

Swimming and Tie Dye had become a summer tradition for us and this was something that I wanted to continue. I thought it might help the kids stay in touch with what they had. The Tie Dye was toned down a bit and they used squeeze bottles to draw colorful designs on their shirts. But now .... swimming. That took on a brand new dimension. Gone was the safe, clean, clear chlorinated pool. Replacing it was the brown, cat-fish laden lake. With a paddle boat. With a dock.With a slide. The A-Kids were used to lake swimming at their Grandma and Grandpa's house, but here was a new adventure, new lake and a slide with water.

Just not enough time. Already looking forward to next year.

LOVE These Things

Our (MY) not-so-guilty pleasure of the summer: Tropical Sno. Love these snow-cones-from-a-shed. A dollar buys a plastic cup of heaping goodness. Over the top of the cup heaping. Goodness. N's favorite is a blackcherry grape mix. Sometimes, just an old school simple grape, which is normally the Dad in the Fam's go-to flave. Kyd usually looks forward for the strawberry lemonade. If there's a complaint about these, it's that they are hard to eat and drive at the same time. The car. We're driving the car. Not the snocone.

I Went to Amish Country and All I Got Was this Shopping Cart

This is my Kyd. We head to Illinois Amish Country full of simple goodness and cultural heritage and what does SHE chose as a bit of remembrance. A shopping cart of course. Who wouldn't?

We started with a lunch in germanish restaurant. We won't have to do that again. So much for friendly, small town customer service. When the Kyd ordered pancakes at 10:45 with a breakfast menu available until 11, the waitress had to run and ask if it was still "OK" to order pancakes. Her return answer, "She (the cook) says she guesses it's OK to still do them if you really want them." At that point I resisted the urge to encourage everyone in the place (all 6 of us) to order pancakes upon pancakes upon pancakes.

We toured the gift/antique stores and had more than a few head shakes at the imports mixed with what we're told are the real antiques. While I can appreciate the need for a business to STAY in business, it's still disappointing to see the Amish dolls with a "Made in China" sticker on their butts. Times like this I really need a phone with a camera so I'm not so conspicuous with my big camera. Although, I managed to fight my embarrassment AND fear to whip out the camera and get a few shots of a an entire cubicle book case full of brightly colored sock monkeys. WHY, I ask, WHY?

My favorite little antique store in the town didn't disappoint this time either. There were a few things I would have liked to have left with, including an old bathroom door with frosted glass and a "Ladies" stencil, we resisted the urge (eeesh) and gave in to the call of the shopping cart. Not a great big cart and not a small preschool-run-over-your-ankles- cart, but a medium sized, old cart.

After loading it into the truck, the goal was to get it home and up the stairs before Dad came home and noticed there was a shopping cart in the house. Almost succeeded. That Dad has the eyes of an eagle. First trip up the stairs to the "office" brought about a "What's with the SHOPPING CART?" inquiry down the steps.

We pretended we didn't hear.

It Has a Tendency to Linger

I'm going to guess that I shouldn't be touching that other plant. OOPS!


I think it makes perfectly good sense that there should be an anomaly of nature lovingly referred to as a "Corpse Flower" within driving distance of our every day life. This flower and all of it's Walt Whitmanesque parts is rather large and a bit slow. This is only the second time in 8 years that it has flowered. The first time was in 2008 after 6 1/2 years of waiting and now on June 9, 2010.

Eastern Illinois University's greenhouse has loved and nurtured a "Titan Arum" (there's even a more technical name than that, but it borders on inappropriateness). This is also known as the Corpse Flower, not because of it's shape and look (as the longer, "real" name does) but because of it's smell. In order to attract flies to pollinate in it's wild, natural habitat of Sumatra, it smells like rotting flesh. While I didn't think the smell was all THAT bad, it does kind of stick with you. Hours later I think I have Corpse Flower essence in my sinuses. It will forever change the way I think when I pass ripe road kill or an overflowing dumpster on a warm, muggy day.

Part of the "adventure" of seeing this in person was in the online Adventure. An URL with a live view of the bloom and a chat room! Woo-hooo LOL. While Kyd slept off her St. Louis adventures, I watched TV, avoided cleaning the kitchen, napped and watched an embarrassingly large and stinky flower sloooooooooooowly bloom online. Ahhhh what a life.

Finally, we decided we needed to see this thing in person and about 9:30 pm headed out to Charleston. The Dad of the house was STILL at work, so he met us there and we went as a family. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Overall, this is much more impressive in real life. The colors are so much more rich and vibrant than the web cam shows.

It took 6 1/2 years of nurture and patience for this flower to bloom the first time and 2 years later, we're here to see it for the second time.

Everyone has asked about the odor. I posted this to the pictures on my facebook page:

The greenhouse .. guru.. said it was nowhere near as stinky as it was when it bloomed the first time in 2008. Keeping in mind that I have smelled an apartment that's actually had a rotting corpse in it for a week, this was nowhere near as bad as that. It was like hot roadkill a few days later; or an over flowing dumpster on a warm, muggy day. Like throwing meat in the can the day after the trash is picked up and then sniffing it again right before the next pick-up. In July.

It's the morning "After" and it's sticking with us. Every once in a while one of us will say, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Corpse Flower".

We Need a Bigger Swatter

Friday, June Something

Being in a small town, we have to find fun where ever we can. Sometimes it involves bugs. Lots and lots of Bugs. A local company sponsors several VW and Corvette events throughout the year. This weekend was one for VWs. As part of the festivities, participants can take a little road cruise through the countryside. While Kyd was inside (the library watching a movie) hubby and I went out to find the swarm amid the fields. Not far from the house we found a hundred or so bugs of several makes, models, and "splices." Wow, everyone looked like they were having a good time. We caught up with them on a corner and every one offered a honk and a wave.

Afterwards, the little parade wound up downtown at the courthouse square. We retrieved the kids from the library and walked around a bit checking out the cars. Lots of Vintage! We LOVE that.

With a couple of willing kids and a downtown area that also promotes sculpture .. well .. PLENTY of photo ops here. I think this may have to be a day excursion: photos around the square. I'm surethe Kyd and her friends will be MORE THAN THRILLED to participate.

June 1st, 2010

N

Day One June 1

June First. June Day? Probably not. While not overly eventful, the day was full: swim team; Dollar Tree; scrapbook store. And, now, typing this while I wait for every one of my daughter’s civil and privacy rights to be violated. In other words: School Sports’ Physicals. For $15 and a mere 2 ½ hours of our time (that would be 5 hours collectively) my child will be declared physically fit to participate in sports in our school district. This “service” is offered as a courtesy from the town’s doctor’s clinic.

Starting at 4:30 (or earlier if you happen to know someone and are on a team with a game starting soon) girls 6th- 12^th grade are invited to bring their completed paperwork and be slowly herded through “the process”. I think my favorite part of this is that the scale is on the clinic’s porch and is manned by the junior high secretary. Not that I think the secretary isn’t capable of using a scale, the question is – should she? Last year I was told by a rather impertinent worker (once we got inside the building) that *I* have a problem with this because I’m from .. The Big City. Yeah .. I’m sure that nothing unbecoming ever happens in this small town.

Of course, once inside, the eye chart is in the waiting room and the blood pressure screening is in the hallway. No. No .. really, *I* have a problem with this because for $15.00 and two hours of my time I’m consenting to everyone freely disregarding all those HIPPA forms I’ve signed in triplicate each and every time I’ve walked through a doctor’s door. I have a problem with this because it goes against every mom instinct I’ve developed in The Big City and in some way, part of my soul dies every time I give in. OK. OK. Perhaps not my SOUL exactly .. just my sense of “Where in the heck do we live again?” Then again, it’s another chance for the Kyd to hang with friends while mom does .. what .. sit in the car. Not always are things all THAT different than in The Big City.

Kyd

Nothing REALLY exciting happened today, we went up to the scrap-book store, where I helped model for various pictures that are to be put on the web-site. We then picked up one of my friend's and headed over to my Sport's Physical which took FOREVER! Every kid got a number and mine was 50! Like I said FOREVER! Well, that's all that happened today!

My People

All the reality TV shows always start with a cheery voice over of the family involved. They introduce themselves, talk about their fascinating lives and wind up with a wistful ending.. "Welcome to Our Life".. "... but it's OUR life" (ok WAS for that one). Well, these are MY people, behaving just exactly as my people do.

We were out for a drive looking for the mysterious "beach" at the local lake. We found it alright. Just about the size of our living room. Officially it was "CLOSED" and well .. we were hungry. Instead of making our way to the beach, we took goofy pictures where the magnificent waterslide USED to be. Figures.

Hi everyone, no summer excursions yet. But stay tuned, summer has just begun!

You Just Never Know

While we may hear the occasional gunshot here, it's most likely someone shooting at a muskrat. Otherwise, life here is a bit different than St. Louis, but, still, you never know what you may find. It's possible that your phone will ring and a voice on the other end says something like, "If you want to see something cool head outside, the Good Year Blimp is about to land on your house." Hey .. it could Happen!