Friday, July 27, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NUMBER TWO


You came into the world ready to party!




And you did!
(Taken in your college years)




As a small child you wanted to be "a horseback rider 
and a rock 'n roll singer."




And you were!




You were athletic...




And glamorous...




And glamorous...




And glamorous...




And glamorous while being a terrific aunt!




And married!  And glamorous...



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A RARE PRECIOUS GEM
PART OF MY PRIZED WEALTH 
IN THIS WORLD.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

VACATION REWIND

101 degrees Fahrenheit was the reading on the thermometer as we traveled South to Avon Beach.  At journey's end our upstairs enclave felt heavenly.  A half-story compromise, the bedroom had its high points, where you could walk upright, and its low points, where you voluntarily crushed your own skull against beams tapering down to allow the addition.


Sea Oats Fringe The Dunes In An Evening Sky


Too fagged out to do the beach that first afternoon, we rested hoping to see a little TV.  Thankfully, we both lived through the hard times when TV's had no hand-held changers; because this little TV had no changer, requiring one hand always be on the set.
Given that out of 500 channels, there may be 2 worth watching, the hand on the set did some heavy duty.  I decided on the "Mentalist" marathon on A&E to the disappointment of Husband, an "American Pickers" and "Weather Channel" man.  In an effort to keep me happy, he went to sleep.  He knows the way to my heart is him asleep.  Win, win because he loves sleeping.

We recovered our spirits and took ourselves across the road to dinner for the "Early Bird Senior" Special.  It was fried shrimp, fried french fries, and coleslaw in a paper cup.  Everything was evidently fried the day before and left in the grease.  The coleslaw was all white and limp.  To the early bird goes the worm, and a worm would have tasted better.  They must be thinking:  old people.  What can we do to make your happiness complete?  How about a shove downstairs?  Help, you've fallen and can't get up?
You're welcome.

After that dinner, we wrapped ourselves around a tree trunk (python style) to crush the fried food and aide indigestion.  More "Mentalist" and sleep for Husband.

That first night, Husband got up 3 times, bumped his head 3 times, and cursed vehemently 3 times on his way to the bathroom.  The next night we switched beds, and I didn't (get up, bump, and curse).


Our Path to Avon Beach


Day 2 we walk the beach to Avon Pier, collapse under the boardwalk and converse with a dog tied there.  The dog panted and complained about being tied in the heat with no fresh water anywhere.  We told him things would get better and at least he didn't have to walk the beach back home.  Back in front of our house, we sit in beach chairs and let the surf wet our bottoms, the sand soothe our feet.  This day we did not venture into the surf, which was wild with energy.


From This Perspective, It Looks Calm...It Isn't.


On Day 3, number one daughter was in the water, so I ventured in, was smacked down at ankle depth, and remained rolling laterally in nature's violent agitator until a hand pulled me up by my suit, which I made sure was still covering all my lady parts after such a  furious discharge of energy.  Struggling to my feet was all the exercise I needed for the day as I remarked, "Boy, that was scintillating!"  

Our last evening, we took the family to dinner for seafood.  On the way out there was a torrential downpour of rain.  Back in our half-story boudoir, we dried out, watched the lightening in the night sky, and went to sleep to the pulsing sound of the surf, dreaming of the good old days when the surf didn't knock us down at ankle depth. 

Saturday, July 14, 2012

PICTURES FROM THE OUTER BANKS

Recently we spent three nights in Avon, NC, and below are pictures of our outing.


The Comfy Little House We Stayed In




The View From Our Bedroom Window




The Still Life On The Path To The Beach




The Beach




The Mockingbird Who Serenaded Us Every Evening




Lush Beach Greenery


Our thanks to number one daughter for allowing us to intrude on her vacation, and to number two daughter for caring for the critters at home.  We enjoyed the time away.

Friday, June 29, 2012

FLEETING THOUGHTS

Blessings are reality interpreted as kind advantage.  Our need to express thanks for our fortunes and existence gave birth to religion.  To use that conduit to infinity as a cruel weapon is the antithesis of praise; it defames religion, but is so like humans at their basest.



Growing on Waverly Lane
My Iris


Shame, disgrace, financial ruin, ill health and death should never be considered as deserved; neither should the smugly righteous be congratulating themselves that they avoided such fate.  The Germans have a term for this, "schadenfreude," which means "your misfortune is my enjoyment."  That is the root of gossip, the passing on of damning tales of others' misbehavior or misfortune.  The teller feels somehow comforted in his moral superiority.



Growing Wild on Waverly Lane
Queen Anne's Lace


I always feel somewhat sad upon having to hear these tales.  As John Donne wrote, "...each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind..."  I include grief or misfortune along with "death."  I guess, as the TV talk righties would say, I'm just a pinhead.  So may it ever be (amen).



Our Front Field of Wild Flowers on Waverly Lane


Friday, June 15, 2012

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY


You were hands-down the cutest little fellow



Who grew into the hunkiest teen with a bewitching black Ford



In high school the girls did swoon



In college they fell as well



You were my dreamboat



Fatherhood was strange territory



Your loving children:  See No Evil, Hear No Evil, & Boy That's Evil



You always knew how to fix things



You gave us a lot of loving



You showed us a great time
We love you!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR HUSBAND IS CHEATING (AND A LIST OF POISONS THAT DISSIPATE ON AUTOPSY)

Lately it seems infidelity is epidemic, effecting mostly young and middle-aged people, for whom the prospect of love with one person becomes an unbearable deprivation in what we believe to be our one and only chance for happiness.  It is an old familiar theme which has played upon the human stage for all its history.


The First Couple Working on Their Relationship

Discovery of such betrayal begets sorrow, rage, more rage, the heaving of fireplace logs, marathon happy hours, and flat-out, wild-eyed insanity.  There seems to be no prevention for this sad eventuality; no amount of properly pleasing your mate will deter its delicious compulsion.  It is what it is:  a covert, magnetic slam-a-thon of fatal attraction, one which can only change everything and everyone in its wake.



The Heaving of Something Heavy Brings Temporary Relief


The Symptoms

1.  Noticeable in the routine of a cheater is the sudden attention to self-improvement:  wardrobe upgrades, weight loss, buff-up workout sessions, and careful grooming.  The extra toothbrush and mouthwash in the car glove compartment are little red flags.  Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes.

2,  Looking you in the eye becomes a constant avoidance.

3.  Suddenly your mate finds fault with your every word and deed, also known as justification for any marital straying.

4.  Your spouse becomes an Olympic prevaricator, lying about inconsequential matters, presumably for the practice.

I was kidding about the poison list, we all die soon enough.  I am reminded of the woman who tried to kill her cheating husband with cholesterol.  Can't you just imagine her:  "Here Honey, here's a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich and I didn't hold the mayo either.  Obviously they stayed together because they wrote a book about their ordeal.  Some folks last the trip through the wandering-eye years.  I only know I'm glad not to be young anymore.

   
Love Endures All Things (But if I were him, I wouldn't eat her cooking) 

Monday, June 4, 2012

AUNT NELLIE

Nellie Pearl Strigle Berger Braxton was born in 1925 in Gloucester County, Virginia, and was the cutest little baby ever.  Her sisters played with and competed over her, famously fitting her into the family teapot - at the height of their sibling affection - to prove her pixie adorableness.


The Earliest Photo of Little Nell

She recalled how her brother Gene would put her atop their dog "Airedale" and scare him into running with little Nellie hanging on by hair.  It never ended well.  She said she thought she would never learn to love that brother, but she did.

As she grew, little Nellie Pearl began impromptu performances singing and dancing for any occasion that presented itself.  One account had her dancing on a piano, unless I heard her fellow schoolmate incorrectly.  She skated very well at the Old Mill Rink, the only social outlet of its day.


Newspaper Photo of Nellie in a Talent Contest at New Point High School in Late 30's
(Waiting onstage to perform)



Eventually Nellie met and married her first husband, Al.  They were a beautiful couple and had four beautiful children, spending their lives together in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.


Nellie and Al

She and her first love, Bill, did not marry.  They led separate lives until losing their spouses; reuniting, they married in the late 90's.  He is 95 and still drives.  He takes good care of our Nellie Pearl and writes books about his long exciting life in his spare time.  She remains the cutest octogenarian, ever, married to the cutest 90-something wheeling around Tampa, Florida.  Life is best lived happy.  (For pictures of Nellie and Bill, go to Friday, November 4, 2011, post of Life in Mathews.)  lifeinmathews.blogspot.com/2011/11/nellie-and-bill.html