Do you use OneDrive Memories? Well… do you use OneDrive, or Microsoft 365? Is that a better question? Either way, not sure if you use it, but as you can tell… I do.
One of the things that I enjoy is when it pops up on my laptop, lower right corner, and I click on it, I never know what I’m going to get. Ooh, I just thought of something! I could do a post a day of what’s in my OneDrive Memories, that would be cool. Thinking…thinking…
Well…while I decide on that one, and by the way, I had a whole different topic I was going to talk about tonight and got waylaid by my memories, ha ha, that was just funny to me. I have to file the lottery thoughts to another day. Back to OneDrive.
Two years ago today, I was flying back from a three week trip to England. I spent a week with my dad, then Paul arrived and it was the three of us for 2 days, then my sister’s family arrived and we spent a few days together, then PSM and I went off and spent a week in London/Wales/Bristol, then I was on my own, went to Liverpool for a few days, back to London to attend RuPaul’s DragCon UK and on Sunday/Monday I was flying back to the US from a whirlwind trip!
Three years ago, I was with my friend CGS, and have a pic of her four kids, wow! I just texted her with the pic, I apologized for the late text, but I couldn’t help but share the love! That’s one of the things I love to do, when some memories pop up, I take a pic with my phone and text it to the people who are in it and I get to share something special with them, makes me so very happy.
Four years ago, KFN sent a pic ‘How to spot a biker chick’ and it’s a pick of the top of a pair of Chuck Taylor ‘Converse All Stars’ with black clutch marks on the left toe…and I sent him a pic of my chucks that look exactly like that! There’s also a few pics of PSM with Bee and Ruby, awe.
2019… pics of an overcast sky with a rainbow coming through, from our lanai off the back of our house. And lastly…2016, pics of us with my sister’s family at PSM’s family’s celebrating my b-i-l, ACS’, birthday, which is tomorrow. Our nephew, JM, and nieces, EJS, and MGS were soooo little! That was just before PSM left for Hawai’i, he was starting work a week later, and I officially moved towards the end of that year, wow…
I’m sitting here, just smiling, thinking of all the random memories that pop up, taking me back, making me smile, marveling at how time flies and how good my life truly is, and it is. Who knows… maybe a memory with you will come up and I’ll text it to you, be on the lookout!
You know I used to travel for work, I would share some of my exploits with you, 12 years of being a road warrior, 12 years on the road 100%, then covid hit and that changed and I rolled with the punches. I didn’t go exactly willingly, but I went, because that was the way it was going to be.
I knew I had the travel bug when PSM and I met, I was traveling, then I got on a project in Boston, I wouldn’t be too far from where he lived, and we thought, this will be great, we’ll see each other during the week, yeah…right…well that didn’t happen, traffic in Boston was against that! But…we saw each other every weekend and that was great…we went to the mountains, we did things, we explored, but I wasn’t getting on a plane, and I discovered…I needed to get on a plane every week or every other week at least. Ok, discovery…
Then…we moved to Hawai’i and I was only coming home once a month for the weekend, sometimes a week, but mostly just a weekend, that was hard, but we managed. One advantage, I was able to travel to other places, since I couldn’t fly home, they would still pay for me to fly places for the weekend. I remember landing in Chicago, after being on a 7/8 hour flight from Amsterdam, going through customs wondering where I was going next, and that spoke volumes!
Then covid hit, grounded, everyone on my team thought this would be great! I won’t have to dress for work, I can do meetings in my jammies, well… that wasn’t for me, but the plus side… PSM and I got to find out what it was like to really live together, full time, 100% and it was great! I wanted to travel, of course, but this was quality time. Then… I got back on the road, 2022, I spent in Boston on another project, coming home every other weekend, not great, but we made it work.
I got on another project after that, it lasted a minute, not as long as it should have, I was back on the road, then not…but…it allowed me to be there for the contractors when we moved to PA and take a 3-week motorcycle trip across country, all wonderful. I’ve been on my current contract for over a year now and it’s been great. You know I love training, I really enjoy the people I am working with, but I’m remote on this contract…if I had all the money in the world, wait, I wouldn’t be working if I had all the money in the world, or at least not working for someone else, ha ha, but if I had the money, I might travel to different locations to work, because working remotely…home is where the wifi is!
But… I have digressed a lot… the point of this post…I realized I have the travel bug because while we were flying back to the mainland, a 5+ hour flight, then a second 5 hour flight, all I kept thinking was…where are we going next? When I was flying back from London in November, where am I flying next? No, I don’t want to be a flight attendant, lord love ’em, not for me, but I definitely need/want to be on the road again.
As for personal trips, that involve flying…I have one planned with SDL in April and one with PSM planned for July…it’s January, April is just around the corner and will be here before we know it, who knows what’s going to happen between now and then, but whatever is in the cards for me… I’m ready!
That was a mouthful, yes indeed! Today, it was supposed to rain all day, and it rained in the morning, then let up in the afternoon and after talking to PSM, I decided to head to the Mt Gretna Arts Festival, turns out they were celebrating their 50th year of the festival, perfect!
I thought about taking the bike, but I wasn’t sure if the rain would hold off, so I dropped the top on Annie and headed out. I went to where the parking and shuttle buses were and decided to keep going to the festival itself. I got there, Mt Gretna is not a very big place and I didn’t have $10 for parking, nor did I wish to pay the $10 for parking, so…I turned around and went back to where the shuttle buses were, parked for free and hopped on the big yellow school bus with the rest of the folks, and back to Mt Gretna we went!
It felt like a very long ride, it was nice, through the woods, but seemed to take forever, especially when compared to coming back to the car, it was about a 5 or 7 minute drive back… they dropped us off and I was trying to find the crafter vendors, but I wasn’t sure where they were, those are the less expensive artists and creators, those that probably weren’t up for paying the more expensive booth fees to be in the festival, so I paid the $15 and went in.
Last year, we stayed outside and just walked around the crafter vendor section, this time I was on the inside and it was lovely. There were food tents, alcohol tastings and sales, the local shops were open, and the artists had their creations on display. The nice thing was, since it had rained all night and some of the morning, the temperature was very comfortable, as opposed to last year! It’s mid August, after all!
I strolled up and down the aisles, it wasn’t a huge arts festival, so I think I made it around in about an hour, maybe hour and a half, and that’s not stopping at every booth, I looked, but not everything is my jam, so I moved on from those. I was a bit peckish and happy to find the Oasis food truck with their terrific acai bowls! I remember them from last year and acai bowls make PSM and I homesick for Hawai’i, PSM even said when we go back, that’s all he’s having for breakfast every day!
If you don’t know what an acai bowl is, it’s like heaven in a dish. It’s healthy and you feel like you’re getting something bad, let me ‘splain! An acai bowl has frozen acai berries on the bottom, it’s more like in sorbet form. Then it’s topped with some goodness, traditionally it’s fruit like, well, what I had, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, granola, and honey. I also added some peanut butter. Let’s just say Y U M! The hard part is getting to the acai at first, and it’s frozen, so not easy to get into, but…once you get to it, after eating some of the fruit out of the way, you can start scooping the acai with the fruit… yeah, just yum. And filling!
Ok, back to the festival. I was eating my acai bowl, listening to Broadway musicals, walking in and out of some booths, being careful to not spill or bump into anything or anyone while I was eating! I really enjoyed myself, Mt Gretna is so pretty, I think I told you about it last year, but if not… it’s this cute area, in the woods, or at least a wooded area, the streets are narrow, the population is about 200, if that, and some of the houses are residences and a lot of them are rentals. It is so charming to just walk the area, the houses are decorated just so, there are statuary and installations in peoples yards, it definitely lends to the atmosphere for the arts festival.
There was also a band playing here and there, the No Last Call Street Band! They were so much fun! Have a listen!
I didn’t buy much, just a few things, can’t tell you all of them! I did buy a t-shirt from the festival, but what I did buy… we’re adding to the flower box! I bought a metal sunflower, sorry PSM, from one of the shops, and then from the artists, I bought a dragonfly made from steel with glad beaded eyes, a flower made from spoons, and a beautiful glass flower. What I love is that I’m making my garden bloom and there is no chance I’m going to kill any of these flowers… unless Mother Nature has her way and blows them down, but…I think I got them in the flower box pretty well. I hope you like what I’ve grown, I walked by in the evening and the way the sun was hitting the flowerbox, everything really…well… it makes me smile, I hope it does the same for you!
And with that…I bid you farewell, gotta pretend to go to sleep, work in the AM! The dogs are waiting to snuggle, sigh. G’night!
Do you buy lottery tickets? Do you check them right away?
For me: yes and no. That was yes, I buy lottery tickets and no, I do not check them right away.Whenever I buy one, PSM asks “did you check the ticket yet?” “have you checked your numbers yet?” Um, not yet, I will.
I know it sounds crazy, but…the longer I wait to check the ticket, the longer the dream stays alive that we might have won! That sounds perfectly reasonable to me! It lets me think about what would I do if we won $1 million dollars? What would we do if we won $10 million dollars? At this point, I’d take $5! ha ha
So, the longer I don’t check the numbers, the longer I can fantasize and dream about who I would help, what I might buy, where I would invest, where we would travel. Now there are different fantasies based on the amount of money, if it’s say, $1 million dollars, we’d take care of the immediate needs, like pay off credit cards, pay off any vehicle payments we might have, put back in what we used to pay for the renovations, do a few more things we want to this house, stuff like that, then put the rest away for retirement, ok, maybe not the entire rest, but most of it, we need to have some fun with it!
If we won what I like to call the ‘stupid’ money, oh my word. Yes, after taking care of the immediate needs we just talked about, then call our financial guy, our lawyer, and our accountant, that just reminded me I need to add them to our holiday card list, how thoughtless of me! We would call those guys to get things in order, and truthfully, now that I think about it, call them first, so we can things in order, then…take care of the immediate needs, then wee hoo, let’s have some fun! See…we have those guys to keep us in line, giving us enought to play with but not enough to get us in trouble!
Where are we buying houses/apartments/flats/condos? Oh yeah! Let me see…dreamy look in my eyes, looking off into the distance, here we go…ha ha. I’m just throwing a few things out there, like Paris, France, that is, Ireland, Guam, Hawai’i, Philippines, remote and far off places, why not?! I always said if I won the stupid money, you would know because I would have a fleet of VW Beetles, all different styles, there would be a Herbie, the Love Bug, of course! Then there would be a General Lee, horn and all [Here’s a General Lee VW Beetle!!!], although, I am not getting in and out through the windows! A Transformers Bumble Bee, so many options!
We’d have to build an underground garage like Iron Man, Batman, or Jay Leno for the fleet of classic cars and motorcyles we’re going to own. Oh yeah! And… And…And…
I have to stop or I’ll go on forever! See how this works? I have three tickets sitting on my desk right now, just waiting for me to check the numbers. I bought them on January 8th, they’re for Mega Millions, PowerBall, and Match 6, the last one I’ve never bought before, but I thought…why not.
If we win, will I let you know? Stick around to find out!
To quote Robin Leach, here’s to “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”. Night! And…sweet dreamin’!
Admittedly, I don’t often make declarative statements about where or what I want to eat. I know, you’re thinking, what? But JJ, you have so much to say, how is that possible?! Well friends, it is. I don’t always know where or what I want and I don’t want to take all the focus, but today, I had an answer!
I was thinking about it earlier and I am sure that’s not what you’re supposed to be thinking about while you’re in yoga and contemplating, but there it was, I made a decision. We got in the truck and I asked PSM if he had an idea, nope, great! I wanted Indian and/or vegan food! Indian was a no, the reason, which is fair, we haven’t found any Indian food here that isn’t crazy spicy, not a problem for PSM, but as you know, no good for me, or that wasn’t super salty. Fair point. There is a vegan place near us that I’ve told you about that serves only vegan Indian food, Bombay Food Junkies, but…still mostly spicy, but I do like it.
Ok, then vegan it is! BBQ at Smokee Mo’s St Louis BBQ or maybe DD Mau. I have a feeling you can guess where we went! HA HA. DD Mau it is! I have been craving Bánh mì for a lllooonnnggg time, especially since we went there the first time. I fell in love with Bánh mì when I first had it in Ann Arbor, MI, when I was on a project there, and it was vegan, otherwise, I would not have tried it and I fell in love! I’ve only found vegan Bánh mì twice since then, once in Hawai’i, and now, and it was soooo worth it! For a vegan Bánh mì, I had the choice of tofu, veggies, shrimp, or beef. I asked for a recommendation and they were out of shrimp, so that made it easy! I got a beef Bánh mì, no jalapenos or cilantro, if you ever get it, you might like it fully loaded, who knows!
I ordered the sandwich and an order of vegan cheese rolls, they weren’t bad! Like Krab Rangoon, but without the crab, it was like a spring roll with creamy cheese, vegan of course! PSM had Thai Chili Pepper Wings, they were hot and tasty, but not his favorite wings, he’s having a tough time finding wings that knock his socks off here! He also got Pho and a Hitachino Nest Beer.
Let’s just say…I was not disappointed and there was nothing left to take home for me! Shocker, I know! It really was a good sandwich! There are so many more options to try, can you tell I’m a little excited!?
One of the things I told PSM tonight…I was glad we found a place that has options for both of us. I love that he is accommodating and will try things and go to vegan places with me, but I like the fact that he has more options and there are actually a lot of options for me!
Having a moment…can’t remeber if I told you…semi surprise for PSM. And it worked! Wah to the hoo! I’m hoping you know that PSM reads this so I can’t tell you stuff like this!
It ‘s Friday, so a regular work day, to start…one big thing that happened…we got a doggie door! Soooo excited! More about that another time. About 430p, just after the installer left, the Uber arrived and we were off to the airport!
We got there just in time to get on the flight, there was traffic on the highway, so our 20 minute drive turned into closer to 40. Don’t get me started on our driver! If he didn’t drive the way he did… we may have actually missed our flight! I do miss flying… and first class no less, gotta love it! Settled in, headphones in, movie on, let’s go!
Less than an hour flying time, we’re there! It reminded me of inter-island travel when we lived in Hawai’i, there were never any flights longer than 45 minutes, can’t beat it! We headed for CTA, the train into the city, it was a heck of a lot cheaper than $72 for an Uber! Then a 10 minute walk to the hotel. If we had driven from St Louis, we would still be on the road!
We checked in, dropped our stuff and headed back downstairs, there was a Thai restaurant, Thai Spoon, I remember ordering from there when I was here on my project a few years ago, you may remember some of our conversations about my time on a project in Illinois, maybe! The food was good. We had tofu satay with peanut sauce and cucumber salad, fried tofu with sweet and sour sauce with peanuts. I had vegetable soup, then Cashew Nut with tofu and PSM had Tom Kha soup, then Massaman Curry. I haven’t had Cashew Nut anything from a Thai restaurant before and I love Cashews and I didn’t want my typical go-to Pad See Ew, when I don’t know what I want. The cashews were tasty and I liked the tofu and veggies, all cooked well, but the sauce was waaaay too salty for me. Thank goodness for rice! Everything else was fabulous, I would go there again!
While we’re at dinner, we’re talking about everything and nothing, per our norm, ha ha, just the way we like it! Up until tonight, I asked PSM if he wanted to know what we were doing in Chicago, he kept saying no. He sort of knew what we were doing because the original plan was to do it in July, when I could get tickets! The Immersive Van Gogh Experience, which I will tell you all about it tomorrow, because that’s when we’re doing it, and there’s so much more! So that was the only surprise for this weekend. He took care of booking the flights and hotel…points baby! I got us to the airport and took care of getting the surprise set up.
So…while we’re eating, and we’re enjoying it, he looks at me and says…”I’m not doing yoga tomorrow” “What?” and he looks at me and I say “you are” and he gives me another look and I say…do you want to know? “ok, tell me…” We are doing yoga IN the Immersive Van Gogh Experience! Yes, I said IN!!! Again, I’ll tell you all about it after we do it, but…we are going to be doing yoga while immersed in the exhibit! And then we get to check out the exhibit.
He looks at me and you can see the lightbulb going off over his head! But I don’t have any of my yoga stuff with me. And then he looks at my Cheshire Cat grin…why do you think my bag is so heavy…for a 3 day weekend? If we weren’t doing this, I would have brought a much smaller bag! ha ha. “Oh, that’s why you insisted on getting our yoga stuff washed last night!” Yupper! I am so sneaky like that! ha ha. Then I fessed up why I needed to go to Walmart after yoga on Thursday! I bought a travel yoga mat! It’s hysterical! I’ll show you tomorrow! It has the primary poses on it! So…I got a travel yoga mat, it folds up nicely, I snuck into the closet in his office, after he went to bed, of course, and grabbed his travel yoga mat and yoga towel. I also grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt so he wouldn’t have to wear what he brought to do yoga! I then packed all that, my yoga mat, my yoga towel, and my yoga clothes! ha ha! Surprise! The look on his face…absolutely the best! so worth it! He said it was a good surprise!
That’s about it folks, it’s been a long day, up early to take care of the pups, work, flight to Chicago, dinner, surprise! and now, talking to you! I’m beat, how about you?! I cannot wait for our experience tomorrow and to tell you all about it!
The storm is here and it is raging! Wow! We were predicted to have rain, but this is one of those ka-razy storms! We were watching the news and the weather report said possible hail. Hail? In April? I’ve heard about April showers and all, but c’mon!
PSM had to go somewhere earlier today and it was one of those raining sideways, can’t see the car in front of you, wipers at full tilt and it still isn’t enough storms. He didn’t mention thunder or lightning, that’s ok, we had that tonight!
He had taken his bike into the shop yesterday to have something checked and we went today to pick it up and we were moving fast because the rain was coming, it sprinkled on me, but that’s about it. Dropped him off, got home, took the pups for the evening walk sooner than later because it was coming and about 630p, the sky was dark and the weather was messing with the antennae on the tv. I know, I know, we decided to watch a tv show in real time, crazy town! The signal was all messed up, going in and out, skewing the picture, you name it, it was happening!
Then…our sweet scaredy cat of a dog, Ruby, was looking for her parents, big time. She didn’t leave PSM’s side wherever he went, there she went. Mollie, my step-doggie I used to tell you about when I met PSM, and was with us in Hawai’i, she was the same, loud noises, thunder, lightning, fireworks, you name it…I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures, PSM took one of the beds we call a burrito, because sometimes when she gets in it, it folds around her. He brought that back by the chair, she got in it and he covered her with a towel, like a blanket, and she was safe, oh, she also made sure to be touching him any time he was in the chair! Eventually Bee crawled in there, it was a family affair!
At one point, Ruby came out of the burrito bed and laid down right in front of where I was on the sofa and gave me that look. She definitely knows who mom & dad are! SO stinkin’ cute! I was telling PSM, I might have to start a YouTube channel with some of the videos I take of the dogs!
That’s the storm…now…you can’t have rainbows without a good storm and I looked outside and the rain seemed to have let up, the sky was bright, brightest before the storm, right? The next one anyway, and I was compelled to look outside and there it was, right above our street, a rainbow, big, bright, beautiful. It truly was on par with some of the fabulous rainbows we used to have in Hawai’i. I have to say, I’m glad I never lost my wonder at looking at rainbows, they truly are magical and all I could do was smile.
We took advantage of a lull in the storm, it was about 930p, puppy bed time, even though Bee tried earlier! and put them in the crate, good thing, because the storm started up again and it’s going good and steady out there, some lightning and a thunder clap or roll every so often, but the pups are safe in their space, curled around each other, I just checked, they’re snuggling, music and light are on, they are fine.
I sure hope the rain lets up tomorrow, we have something planned and I’m hoping to not have to change plans completely! Fingers crossed!
After all of this…we better have some fab-u-lous flowers in May!!!
We moved into our neighborhood in November 2019, that was just long enough to meet our next door neighbors, and one couple down the street, and that was really it, and then…Covid shut everything down. Since we’ve lived here, we started meeting a few more people, or at least waving to them, then…April of last year, we adopted Bee and Ruby, and it’s amazing how many more people you meet when you have dogs.
I remember one of my first apartments when I lived in Atlanta, I moved in with someone who had a dog, Casey, a too smart for her own good Australian Shepard. My roommate started dating someone shortly after I moved in, so it was just me and the dog. We would go out every day for doggie happy hour, everyone would bring their dogs out to the big field out back, near the vollyball court, or what we sometimes referred to as the cat box…Everyone would let their dogs off leash and we would watch them have a great time. The funny thing is…we didn’t really know each other’s names, we knew the dogs names, and isn’t that what really matters? ha ha
Well, that’s what’s happening here, we’ve met so many more of our neighbors because they are out walking with their dogs and they know our dogs. I know I remember almost everyone’s name because I remember their dog’s name. And the same thing for them to me. Funny thing happened the other day…I was in the grocery store and I saw a neighbor without her dog and had to do a squinted look to think about who she was for a moment, kind of like when you’re a kid and see your teacher out of school!
It really is a nice feeling, seeing someone, saying hello, catching up, in your own neighborhood. I had that in my last house in Georgia, I didn’t have a dog, but I lived there for about 11 years, it was bound to happen. We had that a little in Hawai’i, people knew Molly, the four legged one, they liked saying hello to her. But here, I realized it this morning as we were walking the girls, and then tonight as I was getting the mail and one of my neighbors said hello and my name, but I didn’t see her in the dark!
I would like you to meet the stuffed and furry family that I have had, well, most of them, since I was a baby, some were even my mom’s, and mean the world to me.
Some of you who know me, know that I have quite the collection of stuff. Stuffed this and stuffed that. My stuffed animal collection is quite something! When I lived at home, it was all on my bed and people who sometimes spent the night in my bed marveled at how I could sleep with all those things on the bed with me. They also went into overload looking at all the stuff I had on my walls. Those of you who have known me forever, I know you’re not surprised! Well, now I would like to introduce you to some friends who are incredibly important to me.
Last night, I mentioned Winnie the Pooh, I’ve had him since I was a baby. One thing you might notice is that he has two red discs on his chest, those were buttons for the blue felt vest he wore, long since gone. His mouth is a meer scrap of very hard red fet, and his nose, not much different. If you look closely, you can see that his armpits have stitches in them, and oh my, but he is not the vibrant, bright yellow he started off as! He has been loved, hugged, cried on, slept on, dragged everywhere, very much loved bear, just like his namesake. I am a HUGE Winnie the Pooh fan! My first tattoo…guess who. He has gotten me through so very much!
The Winnie love fest continues, meet Gund Winnie the Pooh. He was a treasured gift from someone. He sits up, he’s not a soft bear, on the firm side, but…his joints move, so you can move his legs and arms around, love! One more teeny Winnie, I don’t remember who made him or where I got him, but he’s a love.
I am also a lover of Raggedy Ann. Do you see that pillow? My mom made that for me when she was pregnant with me, it’s something and I absolutely love it. It’s been on every bed I have ever had! You may remember it from my studio apartment when I lived in Bahston, before I moved to Hawai’i with PSM. To continue with the Raggedy Ann fest…meet my Raggedy Ann doll. He dress is very worn, her hair, still there, her face hasn’t changed, but her poor feet and legs! See the stuffing coming out of the tops of her shoes? And poor Raggedy, she broke her leg, so I put an ace bandage on it, I think I was either in high school or college and it’s been there ever since! I didn’t know how to fix it, I don’t think I could have sewn it, so…there it sits. She’s another incredibly loved friend, might be almost as many tears as Winnie!
Now, this little brown bear was one that my sister had as a child and at some point, she gae it to me and it’s stayed with me ever since, how could I let it go? That’s all, sister love.
Now, Snoopy is from childhood, he is well loved, still white, but not quite as white as he started. His eyebrows, might still be there, I think, but man oh man do I love this dog. Maybe that’s why I love our beagle Bee so much! I have to tell you…my first tattoo was a toss up between Winnie the Pooh, Kermit the Frog, and Snoopy. Winnie won out, but that’s not to say the other might not be joining him sometime in the future. What I loved about my Snoopy is that he has a wardrobe! I had so many outfits for him! My favorites…Beefeater, hat and all! Then there was the red nightshirt with the red nightcap, which inspired my own winter hat with Snoopy all over it in the shape of a stocking or night cap! Which also inspired me to ask a few people to make some for me! Camper Snoopy, Yellow Rain Slicka and Hat, again, maybe that’s why I just had to have the yellow rain booties and slicka for Bee! I know I had more, I just can’t think of them right now!
This adorable cat was made by my very talented MGS. She took a sewing class and this was one of the things she made, incredibly impressive. What I loved was why she gave it to me. When I moved to Hawai’i, I couldn’t take my cats with me and I was sad. Her first thought, to her mom, my sister, “Let’s get Aunt J a cat!” “Um, no, I don’t think that would be a good idea” A sweet idea, but not a great idea! Then…she had a great idea…this cat and I simply love it! I traveled with it, it stayed in my bag and I actually took it on the road with me when I traveled for work, love…it!
The bright orange bear with the green shirt isn’t very old, but it is from the school that my mom taught at in Brooklyn: Edward R Murrow High School. She bought it to support the theatre department, which was fantastic! I remember going to many shows at her school, they inspired me to want to do something with theatre when I went to college.
Now…let’s talk about my last two. The first one is the turtle, it’s actually a musical turtle. It plays Frere Jacques, which some kids also know as Where is Thumbkin, if the melody sounded familiar. But now when I play it, it’s a little slower, sounds like it’s winding down. This is a much loved turtle, the fur isn’t as soft as it once was, but his felt feet are all still there and he is so very much loved. I remember playing with him and sleeping with him when I stayed at my grandmother’s house when I was a kid.
The next is this terry cloth dog with a vest and bow tie on. Notice…he is painted exactly the same on both sides! LOVE! I have to be equally careful with him, you can start to see the seams fraying, but he’s still a very dapper dog. He’s another one I used to play with and sleep with at my grandmother’s house, and now he’s with me.
Want to know what’s so very special about these two? They were my mom’s own stuffed lovies, I played with them as a kid and now, I get to love on them for as long as I can. Those two I only look at, talk to once in a while and leave lovingly on the shelf, they’re old and delicate and it just means so much that they are with me. For now, they’ll sit on the shelf and be loved above my head!
I still have more stuffed loves, but these are the ones that I keep with me always, they have a long, much loved, and happy history. I don’t know where our next adventure will take us, but one thing I know…they are all going with me.
I know, it’s not actually the first day of Spring, that would be March 20th of this year, which is only a few weeks away, but…my allergies have kicked in and they are already kickin’ my arse!
I have been scratching my eyes like crazy today, my nose won’t stop running, if you see it, please catch it! When my eyes get like this, I can’t focus, it makes me incredibly sleepy and groggy. I actually had to close my eyes for 30 minutes earlier today! Oh brother!
I didn’t have allergies growing up, just smoke. Then…I moved to Georgia…someone told me that if you don’t have allergies, after you move to Georgia, you will! It didn’t happen to me for at least 10+ years, then all of a sudden, I’m allergic to everything and every spring…I had a mantra…I hate Spring. I know, hate is a strong word, I have said it a million times, but oh brother, I mean it! I even use Flonase every day, when it gets like this, it doesn’t matter! I used to user bioAllers Outdoor Allergy, it was dissolvable and I took it every four hours. It was crazy, it literally was like clockwork, if I went over four hours, I was sneezing. Eventually, it didn’t work very well, so I stopped. I’ve taken Zyrtec, that tends to make me sleepy, so does Claritin, even though they are both supposed to be non-drowsy.
When I moved to Colorado, wow! No allergic reactions to anything, except smoke, wow! It was crazy…I’d visit the Northeast and as soon as the plane doors would open…sniffle, achoo. Oh well, when I moved to Boston, hello, then Hawai’i, no different, now Missouri, it is what it is. Usually it only lasts this bad a few weeks, then it tapers off to manageable annoyance, then…in no time, it will be Autumn! Ha ha!
I remember last year, when the mask mandates came down, it was Spring and I was walking through the grocery store sneezing, and I would say loud enough for the people around me to hear “I loathe Spring!” That was all I could think to do to let folks know it was allergies and not anything else! Geesh…
I’m glad you can’t see me right now, my eyes are red and puffy, itchy and I can’t stop sniffling! I was so happy the snow melted…until now!
Peaches Prattlings 