where were you?

1. Alan Shepard became the first American in space? I remember vaugely seeing the black & white tv pictures.I was little.
2. John Kennedy was killed? I was in second grade. We had gone out for recess & the teacher called us in. We all sat in a circle on the floor around her & she said they werent going to tell the first graders because they might cry ,but we had to be brave.She told us the news & I was so upset , not because he was the President , but because someone had killed Caroline's daddy. She is the same age as me & I have always been interested in her life. Somehow I think as a little girl, I had the best take on it. I felt it on a personal level.He was a little girl's daddy.
3. Robert Kennedy was killed? I was 14. my mom woke me up & said, "they've shot Bobby"
4. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed? The "Special Report" sign came up on tv & I remember thinking, "who is dead now?"
5. Neil Armstrong took that first step on the moon? This was the night before my 13th birthday. We sat up all night watching it. Back then , tv usually went off at midnight so this was a big deal. I had a space ship on my cake that year.
6. Ronald Reagan was shot? My neighbor ran over & said "come look" I was pregnant with Mariah at the time.
7. John Lennon was killed? Oh, my god. My husband , my roommate & I all stayed home from work, we were so upset.It poured down rain & we lay on the floor & listened to his music all day. I flet like the sun would never shine again.
8. The Berlin Wall came down? I was watchng it with a friend & we thought , "wow,the best party ever!"We were deep,right?
9. The US invaded Iraq the first time? I was nursing Caitlin, she was 3 months old. REM came on the radio singing"It's the end of the World as We Know It" The next day we went to a protest & I held her in my arms & thought, "what kind of world have I brought this babe into?"
10. The US was attacked on 9/11/01? Caitlin was home sick with Mariah. Mariah called me on my cell phone (a big no-no in my school) I was afraid Caitlin was worse & Mariah said we had been attacked by Paris. Apparantly she misheard the work terrorist. Later a teacher came by and said that terrorists were attacking cities all over the US. We didnt' see any news till the end of the work day & rumors were flying.That night we all sat on the couch & held each other & cried.

I got this from Olddog.Let's all play!

I want to add one...Where were you when the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan? I was 7 and in the bathtub. My mom ran in  with a robe & said , "Hurry, the Beatles are on tv!" I would carry around a transistor radio & pretend to faint when their songs came on. 

conflict & conflagration

Due to some strange Irish combination of potatoes & alchohol, my dear husband managed to start a fire in the stove.

He burnt the hood up (stove, not neighbor)

We had to call the fire department!

They were handsome & heroic.

We took pictures.

He's asleep now so he doesn't even know I'm not speaking to him!

 

weekend assignment #65

Weekend Assignment #65 -- Summer Song Dedications


Weekend Assignment #65: Dedicate a "summer song" to someone in your life. Could be a happy song for someone you like, a "kiss-off" song for someone you don't, or a romantic song for someone you want to know better. Point is, it has to be summery, and you have to intend it for someone.

 

Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard

Dedicated to the Lagoonatics (the teens I went on vacation with)

Ian, 14, football player, kind, wants to be tough but has a mom who yells out, "hi sweetie" when he strolls out to the beach looking manly. His delimma is being surrounded by "hot-looking girls that are like my sisters"

Cas, also 14 (the one I caught "snuggling" in the bed) "they're not my sisters!" He is tall & lanky & a moody poetic skater-boy type (if I was 14, he'd be in trouble)

Katherine,15 who pretends to be a cynic but has a strong idea of how the world should be.

Erin,almost 16, a bundle of sheer sensation,running wide open to jump off the next cliff of experience.

Molly, 17, a shameless romantic with her heart on her sleeve

Caitlin, 14, who still clings to her childhood with both hands while peering into her future,pondering the next step

the song goes...

There's a place on Ocean Avenue

where I used to sit and talk to you

we were just 16 and it felt so right

Sleeping all day , staying up all night

If I could find you now j

It would get better

we could leave this town

and run forever

let your waves crash down

and take me away

Yeah, I try to talk about the value of experience and the joy of being settled...I am lying through my teeth! I want to be them for just one summer!

one word wonder game

Please leave a one word comment that you think best describes me.

It can only be one word.  No more.

Then copy and paste this into your journal so that I may leave a word about you...

Stolen from Secret Garden.

I survived vacation (but just barely)

I am home!

I have this superstition...if I ever say I won't do something or mention that I never want an event to occur ,it will...but somehow I never learn.

Before we left to go on vacation, I spoke with an aquaintance who said,"I bet you wish you could leave all those teenagers at home. "

I smiled in a superior manner, Oh no", I replied, "The best part of the whole trip is being with our children. They are great kids, so sweet & we are all so close."

So,here we are: 4 adults & 6 children from the ages of 14-17 in a condo for a week.The kids have been raised as cousins & love each other. We are enjoying catching up on the news. All is peaches & cream or should I say beer & sunscreen.

Here is a list of what the kids did this week:

1.Stole liquor form the cabinet.

2.got a scary drunk man to buy them cigarettes

3.drove 2 hours to a club while they were supposed to be down the street.

4.climbed on the roof of a neighboring store.

5.started a fire

6.two of the girls were caught in bed with one of the guys at 5 am in the dark with the door locked

7.took signs off the stairwell

8. attended a beach party with strangers

9. broke a lamp, two glasses and a spice rack

All the moms spent the time drinking copiously & looking wistfully at pictures of them when they were little.

I am so glad to be home!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Lagoonatics

It's vacation time!

Every year ,my four best friends and I go to the Lagoon for a week.

This will be the 10th year!

A decade of decadence,if you will!

Here are some pictures from years past...

 

The Cat Lady

Before we lived here, we had a house in the contry.

We also had about 30 cats.

I truly did not know how this happened at the time.

Most of them were wild.

The ones that we could catch , we had nuetered or spayed. (we really are not terrible irresponsible pet owners.)

But there were always more.

One day ,I was at the store buying my usual 20 pound bag of cat food. I was chatting with the cashier, lamenting that I had so many cats

The cashier wanted to be helpful, as small town clerks will be.

"I tell you what to do , Honey", she  confided in hushed tones, "There's this woman that lives on Park Road. Everyone calls her the Cat Lady. You can see her on the porch reading all the time. You just drop those cats off there & she will take good care of them!"

I froze. "That's me, you fool!!!!"

After this, the funny part was watching Mariah chase every car that slowed down in front of our house, yelling, "You @#$%%^!!!!!!!!!!!!Dont you leave any cats here!"

I shudder to think what they called her.

Hair horrors

Weekend Assignment #62: We've all experienced regrettable hairstyles and haircuts. Relive a regrettable hair incident in your past for the amusement and edification of all.
Have I got a story for this one!

Terry, my son-out -law & my dear husband, both wear their hair long. My ever-confident daughter Mariah bought a set of clippers.we were all relaxing with a libation on the porch. Are you seeing a possible problem here?

Well, she decided to cut Terry's hair. Being the obedient boyfriend he is (everyone always does what Mariah says)they are soon shearing away. Something happens (accounts vary here & I was hiding my eyes)Anyway, Terry is cueball bald. After watching this, Tom agrees to let her cut his. Soon he looks as though he has undergone a round of chemo. I am afraid the neighbors will think we have started some kind of cult.

I emailed Tom's brother, who is a military dude & has always teased Tom about his hair.Okay,people in the family have died, divorces have happend & Tom's bro has never called me. 5 minutes after I sent that email , I got a long distance phone call from Mitch!

"Why did you let Mariah cut Tom's hair?" he demanded. "Was he drinking?"

"Of course he was drinking!"I replied"He was drinking, she was drinking & after I saw Tom's hair, I intend to start drinking!"
Well, it gets better.

Mariah was blonde as a tot & is determined to stay that way forever. We have no clue as to what her real hair color is. Tom is still naturally a light ash blonde at his age.

His hair had grown out a bit & he was leaning in the doorway of the bathroom talking to Mariah as she  was dyeing her hair.I saw that look in her eyes and headed to the sanctuary of the porch. When Tom came out to join me, his hair was surfer boy blonde! On a man of 52, it looks like a walking midlife crisis!

Wait ,it gets better still...We had gone off for a bit &left Tom unsupervised. When we returned, I noticed Tom's hair, which had again grown out a bit, looked odd. "Did you cut your hair?""Yeah, but I couldnt' find a comb or scissors,so I used a fork & a utitily knife".

I went back out to the porch!

porch pictures

It strikes me as how the best moments of my life have been spent on porches.

Porches surrounded by the aggressive greenery that will snake around the legs of the lawn furniture if ignored for a day.

Porches with bees humming lazily around the screens on days when the heat makes the kids lsit still long enough to hear your stories of your misspent youth.

Porches filled with guests because I have too many friends for the house to hold.

Porches that let the music float out into the soft spring air.

Porches that shake under feet pounding out a rythm to Aretha singing RESPECT late at night.(ours had to be jacked up & braced after that )

Porches worn smooth by the feet of years & years of girls skipping toward womanhood.

Porches that have no walls to hold secrets .

Porches where girls stop to have their pictures made before they head into the night .Parents sit there and wait for them to come home so they can hear the adventures, a replay of our own young years.

Porches need a rocking chair or two to spend moments between journeys,to sit & think,maybe dream, maybe just stare.

Porches are for kissing,for welcome home & hurry back, for ,"how was your day?" and watching the sun come up.