Thursday, July 24, 2014

To be a fan of the underdog

This post has been writing itself to me since I was at the beach in June.
The Mayor came to sit with my Mama and me on the porch.
He talked and talked, and all that he had to say was thoroughly entertaining.
He was wiring a house up at Corolla, at least 7,000 square feet!
"How was Mama dog?" my mama asked him...
"Oh, she's alright, you know she has to eat a biscuit every morning.  I take her one each day," he said "before I head out to work"
I just listened.  We sat on the swing drinking cheap beer, enjoying the breeze...
Mama dog, is a stray that no one owns, I learned.
The mayor does not own her either, but each day for eight years he has taken her a biscuit.
We also talked about "Youngblood" his girlfriend.  
I was just listening and listening while my Mama and the mayor caught up.
Yeah...Youngblood is much younger than he, and she is the black sheep of her family..(he, of course, did not say this..I deduced it).
Another underdog in his trail of daily interactions, I thought.
Then my Mama and I sat on the swing and we talked and we talked.
I began to ponder the people around me who are fans of the underdogs.
While other people are worrying about how to {get ahead}, or "keep up appearances", or "maintain the status quo"...the list goes one with cotidiana preoccupations, the fans of underdogs walk through the day spotting people who might be down trodden and who the world has {sh!tt3d on}.
Then, they go about finding simple ways to make the day of the underdog better.

There is probably another group of people who can spot the underdogs and sympathize with them, but they do not make it a priority to change anything.

People who are fans of the underdog might look mousy, like they don't care.
They might drink cheap beer or liquor.
They probably drive old beat up trucks and have jobs that do not pay all that well.
They might have simple, cheap hobbies like fishing off the pier or grilling out in the yard.

The use their money to take biscuits to stray dogs, they take their time to 
mow the grass for old ladies and don't charge a dime,
look out for friends who are down on their luck....
The list goes on.
I do intend to keep studying and looking out for these people.
They are very interesting characters, and one does not come across them frequently.
But if one is lucky enough to come across a fan of the underdog, one is lucky enough!

Thursday, July 17, 2014





{new} rooms

We have been re organizing and cleaning out.
An old porch became an inhabitable {sun} porch. ;).
So here we have pictures of three very happy children, each of whom has his/her own room as of yesterday!
Three cheers for Grandaddy!--Really more cheers than that... really, cheers to infinity and beyond, but I am a traditionalist and the saying goes, "Three cheers"
You will have to see the next post to look at pictures b/c I have not done this the correct way to put the fotos here...
Stay tuned! :)

Glitter and Glue, by Kelly Corrigan

I read this book and as I was reading I kept folding up pages.  This is what I do when I read as I come across stuff that I want to read again, or literary passages that are so profound I hope that I can remember them {forever}. hmm. hmm. ;).

So I read the book Glitter and Glue recently and it was really about mothers and daughters.  If you are a mother or a daughter, you should read it. 
The story itself was not all that {wonderful}.  It was not wonderful in the way that it is just irresistible and it just sucks you in.  The author, Kelly Corrigan, does however, have a way with words.  Usually, I observed, at the ends of the chapters she would stick some wonderful tidbit of life observed and then written down!

So, before I took the book back to the library I took pictures of the pages that included greatness!  The ones that were dog eared from the bottom--I just took fotos of them.
I will share quotes here:

"Martin announces he's done, Finished, my mom corrects.
Are you a slab of meat? "

This one hits home b/c my own Mama hates it when people say they are "done".  It drives her crazy!  I remember my third grade teacher hated it too!  So we are all well trained to say we are, "finished"  --no "I'm done, Grandma" around here...no way! No sir!...

Here is another:
"That's the thing about mothers.  Once the containment ends and the on becomes two
Forget trying to memorize this...here is a picture of the page! LOL
Look at the eighth paragraph down.  Are you able to read it?  It is beautiful!  It begins, "The thing..."
There are so many more quotables in this book, which to me is the talent of Kelly Corrigan.
I kept waiting for her profound tidbits! :)

Read the paragraph that begins, "While he told me about playing golf..."
That one is wonderful! :)
I took six more pictures of pages of this book, but I think that my bloggy friends should just check this book out at this point and read it, it is great! :)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The little girl who grew...




Has anyone ever seen that book?  It is very sweet.  My Mama has it at her house.   It is a treasure.
Here is our {baby}.  She turned five today!
She is gutsy as hell!
A total hambone--she earned that nickname as a baby.
We had a pool party to celebrate with all her friends.
On her wishlist...a microphone, a guitar, purple fingernail polish, and an I pad mini! :)
You go Eva Louise!  We love you!

Friday, July 11, 2014

Eva's quotables

"....so the library used to be a magazine shop when you were little, Mama?"

We have been going to the library this summer.
We all get a book.
Eva has been getting fairy chapter books.
I have tried to convince her to get a picture book, as she cannot read at all.
But no.
When we have reading hour off she goes to her room to read her chapter
book to her baby.
I must say, it melts my heart!
Who cares?  I say to myself, if she has a whole summer of {reading} chapter books...

Yesterday we were leaving the library and Eva asked me, "Mama, how come that lady is over there in the library and she is not even getting any books?"
I told her all about the internet connections and that some people go there to pass the day, or look for jobs, or just to research stuff.
Next, the "when I was a little girl" story came out.
I told her all about how when I was little we went there to do research and we looked at magazines and periodicals. " There was no such thing as the internet," I said.  
Eva's summary:
"So, that means when you were a little girl, the library was just a magazine shop, mama?"
--"yep" I said, "now which chapter book did you choose this time Eva?"

Ahhhh...the joys of being a mother!  and ahhh...the joys of enjoying all that is the {baby} of the familiy!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Dragonfruit

My fun, simple taste of adventure from Whole foods this weekend!
Elena was equally excited.
It tasted okay...was a beautiful color!  
It is so nice to venture west of I 95 from time to time!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Funny Movie Club

People tend to relate to their fellow employees.
If one is lucky one might even find friends at work.
At a school a group of friends needs to find some way to {release} tension.

Funny movies are just about the only ones worth watching.
Romance--predictable
Scary--not acceptable, don't like 'em
Kiddie movies--I actually like 'em when my children want to watch them.

So put school friends who need to laugh and funny movies together and one might form a
{club}.
That has unofficially happened among my work friends.

We go out to eat.
Have a couple drinks, and then go to see a funny movie...the kind that make you laugh
so damn hard!

Tonight we watched "Tammy."
Then we said good-bye to one of our funny movie club friends!
She is moving {home} to Pennsylvania.
Lucky her!--It is good to go home again.

We all did laugh really hard.

Spot on!

Spot is our family's chihuahua.  He is what we call, "an evil dictator/stuffed animal come to life".  Sometimes, after he has ...