Mostly Wordless Wednesday

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Sara over at http://www.ordinaryandawesome.com/ hosts a party every Wednesday where everyone posts a photo. Check out her cool photo and all the other great photos.


Because it is raining (AGAIN!) here in Maine and it is below average for temperature, I just have to post a photo from a vacation we took in Bermuda a couple of years ago. This is of a sunny day and a beautiful beach. May Mr. Sunshine take pity on us Mainers and come to vist us soon!

Happy Birthday, my friend!

Psssssttt. Want to know a secret? Today is someone's birthday! Someone very special. Can you guess who it is?

This person is one of the funniest people I know. She is also a talented writer. You may be familiar with her blog. The way she tells a story is even better than the way she writes. She can make me literally want to roll on the floor laughing.

We have been friends for a few years..... ok, ok... it only seems like a few years but, in reality, it has been almost 30 years!

In all those years, we have never once, not even for a nano-second, run out of things to talk about. It doesn't matter if I have seen her the day before or two months before. Sometimes we don't even need words to communicate. A look can speak volumes!

She is an amazing mother. When I had my son, I didn't need a "how-to" book. I just watched her!

She is a "shirt-off-of-her-back" sort of person. As a newlywed, she opened her heart and her home to her husband's younger brother. That is just one example of how she puts others before herself.

She is a great person to go on an adventure with. Our trip to New Jersey, Washington DC and Richmond VA is a great memory. Can you imagine three young naive girls on the road? We were in our early twenties and I don't think any of us had been out of the State of Maine without our parents before. We got lost but navigated our way back to where we were supposed to be without panicking, we broke the rules about not eating in the car and, most of all, we had a blast!

She will break the law with you if the situation warrents it. We broke my car out of a parking garage one evening. Who knew that the parking garage closed at 10:00 pm?

I don't remember ever being angry with this person. How could I be? She is perfect!

So, have you figured out who it is? I will put the answer in comments so you can guess.

My friend, may this be your best birthday yet. I know that things have been hard for you these past several months but I believe that the best is yet to come for you as you start a new chapter in your life. If anyone deserves good things, it is you.

Boys may come and go but a great girlfriend is forever! Love you!

Ponderings

As I watched the beautiful fireworks last night (yes, they were on July 5th), it made me wonder once again why such a spectacular sight is marred (in my opinion) with the loud booms. Is it really necessary? The most enjoyable fireworks I ever saw was 15 years ago when I was in the hospital after having our son. We were able to watch them from the nursery window and we couldn't hear the noise. It was perfect! Anyway, when I got home from the majestic show last evening, I did what I always do when I am pondering such a question - I got online.

This is what I found:

Fireworks were invented in China more than a thousand years ago, when the explosive substance called black powder-a mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur-was developed. For centuries, fireworks were little more than small rockets that exploded with a loud bang. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the chemistry and physics of fireworks were studied in earnest, giving rise to the kind of spectacular, colorful displays we now enjoy on the Fourth of July and other occasions.

I thought the history of fireworks was interesting and I found my answer regarding the noise also:

When the last stage of the rocket explodes, atoms of aluminum, magnesium, or titanium are heated to extremely high temperatures, causing the metal to become incandescent. The incandescent metal gives off radiation across a wide portion of the visible spectrum, producing a bright flash of white light. The high temperature causes the nearby air to expand rapidly, producing a loud bang.

It definitely is a case of not being able to have the good without the bad. I will try to remember this in the future and not complain about the noise.

Yesterday was apparently a "pondering" day for me because the other question I asked myself was why the Japanese baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, who plays for the Seattle Mariners, has his first or given name on his jersey instead of his last or family name. The three Japanese players who play for the Boston Red Sox all have their last names on their shirts. Once again, I headed for the internet and found the answer. Apparently in Japan, the custom is to put the first name on the jersey and Ichiro wanted to continue that. Major League Baseball granted his request.

Isn't the internet an amazing thing? The information you can find is mind-boggling. I can get answers to most of my ponderings. Want to know when to use affect or effect? There is a paper online that explains that. Want to know what song that lyrics came from that you can't get out of your head? You can find that online too.

What are you pondering about today?

Here's to the internet and answers!

Happy Birthday, America!

Since a restaurant in our neighborhood shoots off a very loud cannon every hour on the hour on the 4th of July, the hubby, son and I decided to take a road trip today. Where better to go to on July 4th then a town named Liberty? How appropriate! I happened to grow up in Liberty, Maine and have been hankering for a visit back for quite some time. Unfortunately, both of my parents are deceased and I no longer have a reason to return so it has been several years since I have been to my hometown. My Dad always called it "sweet land of Liberty" and it truly was a great small town to grow up in. It was the type of community where you knew that if you did something wrong, a neighbor would give you heck for it and your parents would hear about it before you got home. It was also the type of town where people helped each other regardless of age, etc. It was just what you did.

It was an interesting and somewhat sad trip for me. The village where I grew up had a relatively small number of homes but there was a lot of pride of ownership. The people of Liberty didn't have a lot of money but most of the houses were well-maintained and neat. I didn't find that today. Only one of the houses on the "main drag" was as I remembered it. That house is still owned by the same man who owned it when I was growing up. The rest of the houses were mostly run down, needed repairs and some had debris and junk in the yard. We actually owned two houses next door to each other when I was growing up. We owned one house that we outgrew and "traded" with the next door neighbors as their house was too large for two people. It was an interesting move, I tell you. Both of those houses were fairly run down. I know my parents would be heartbroken. I am not so naive that I expected the properties to look like they did when I lived there. It was just sad to see much of the town in a state of decline and disrepair.

There were some positive signs, however. The elementary school that I went to has been updated and athletic fields have been added and the only church in town looked to be in even better shape then when I lived there. We also drove by a Chicken BBQ lunch that was being sponsored by the fire department and it was packed. We thought about stopping in but having our dog and a vegetarian son with us nixed that idea. Also, Liberty now has its own library. When I was growing up, we had a bookmobile come to our small town three or four times a year. That was it. I would have been in heaven with an actual library!

There was one house that looked newly painted that is right next to the church. It is painted pink panther pink and has an attached red barn. It was colorful to say the least.

All in all, I am very glad that I went home again. It was fun to show my son where his old mom had grown up.

We did manage some fun as part of our day. For us, no car ride "up Maine" is complete without a stop at the world famous L.L. Bean. It is always a great place to look around and today I managed to find a pair of dress shorts and a new backpack purse and both were on sale. The
purse was about 70% off the original price! How sweet is that? In addition, we took the long way home and traveled down Route 1 along the Maine coast. We got caught in not one, but two, severe thunderstorms but enjoyed the coastal scenery. In a "it's a small world moment", I did drive by the home where Mary Ellen grew up. We didn't meet until college and were thrilled to discover that we grew up about 45 minutes from each other.

I hope everyone in blogdom had a happy and safe 4th of July.

Here's to going home.

I am Friday Fragmenter....

I am always on the outlook for great ideas and one that I am following along with is Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments. Make sure you check her out at http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/. There are links to all the fun people who participate in this event.

What is Friday Fragments? It is the home for all those random thoughts that seem to pop up at the oddest times.

I think I need to write up a parents' "How to" manual for the baseball team next year. The coach just emailed everyone to thank them for the season and one of the parents (who had been at one or two games and barely paid attention) hit reply to all and slammed the coach. Not sure what he thinks he is going to accomplish by that. Chapter one in my manual will be "How to ask the coach questions in a polite and respectful manner." Chapter two will be "Keep your mouth shut until you have all of the information." Chapter three will be "Coaches are volunteers and deserve your appreciation," Chapter four will be "I hate to break it to you but your son might not be the best player this town has ever seen."

We have had so much rain here in Maine that people are actually forgetting that there have been a few (very few) nice days sprinkled in. Last Sunday, my Mother-in-Law told my husband that the weather all weekend had been bad. I reminded her that the day before had been nice. She denied it. Hello, we live next door to each other. If it was nice at my house, it was nice at theirs!

I tried a new vegetarian recipe this week for "Cowboy Beans" in my crockpot. They were basically BBQ Baked Beans. I am not a huge Baked Bean fan but these were yummy and so very easy. We took them to a boy scout cookout to share. People were actually scraping the botton of the crockpot and my son, who is a very picky eater, had two large servings. Definitely a recipe I will use again.

I love the fact that Carnival Cruise Line has a count-down feature for cruises that you have booked. If I am having a bad day at work, I just log onto their website and see how many days I have left before vacation. It only takes a few seconds but it puts a smile on my face. (49 days to go!)

What is it about movies that puts me to sleep? I can be wide awake and as soon as a movie starts, I get sleepy. I even fall asleep in movie theaters on a regular basis! My hubby and son are planning on going to the movies this afternoon but I am thinking I must might skip it and stay home and take a nap. Might as well save the price of a ticket!

Have you noticed that on websites where you have to put in the "validation" code (that squished phrase or numbers string) in order to proceed, they often have a button to click on to get an audio version for the "sight-impaired"? How do the "sight-impaired" people know to click there if they can't see the button and instructions? The instruction font is usually smaller than the font in the validation code.

I really enjoy Facebook and the fact that I have been able to reconnect with many old friends. I don't understand, however, the virtual gifts, food fights or hugs etc. that people insist on sending me . At any point in time, I could have 50 or more of those requests and then I have to go in and delete them. Two days later, I will have 50 more. Enough is enough, people!

Thought for the day - whining never makes things improve. It just annoys the people around you.

I hope that everyone has an enjoyable 4th of July!

Here's to holiday weekends!

Another Thankful Thursday

Do we really take the time we should to reflect on the things that we are thankful for? I know I don't, so on Thursdays, I am going to reflect on the things in my life that I should appreciate more.

I am thankful that I have a 15 year old son that is willing to go out for brunch with his Mom.

I am thankful for Hallie who is passionate about making the world a better place. She is raising money and awareness about organ donation in honor of her Dad who received a donor heart. Consider donating to this amazing woman's cause as she attempts to raise $5,000! You could win a nifty prize too. You can donate here.

I am thankful that I had a good night's sleep last night. That doesn't always happen.

I am thankful that I have tomorrow off because our office is closed. I love 3 day weekends.

I am thankful that the forecast for tomorrow includes "partly sunny". I have missed my friend, Mr. Sun, greatly over these past several weeks and I hope we can persuade him to stay around for a little while.

I am thankful that my son's work permit came in this week. Now he just has to get on the schedule!!

I am thankful that I was able to attend my karate class this week. I really do enjoy it which is as big a surprise to me as it is to everyone else!

I am thankful that I have found someone to go to the outdoor performance of "Grease" with. "Grease" is one of my all-time favorite shows. You can't go wrong with an outdoor show in a beautiful park on the bank of the Piscataqua River.

I am thankful for the warm welcome I have received from Blogdom!

Last, but not least, I am very thankful that I live in the wonderful United States of America.
Happy Birthday, America.

What are you thankful for today?


Here's to gratitude.

Happy Birthday to my son.....

Fifteen years ago, my life changed forever. After a very difficult delivery and 10 days early, you showed up. I always said that the delivery from he** gave me “Evan from Heaven” and that has been so true.

I am so proud that you have always been a loving son. Hardly a day goes by that you don’t say “I love you” one or more times. As you said on-line, how many teens have ‘I love my parents’ on their facebook page? In addition, you are very caring towards your other relatives and your friends. Your empathy towards others is a wonderful quality.

I am so proud that you have always kept us on our toes. It has been an education trying to keep up with you. With your razor-sharp mind, you often process information twice as fast as me and often come up with a conclusion that had never occurred to me. I love the way you try to see both sides and come up with a win-win situation for everyone.

I am so proud that you strive for excellence in things that matter to you. You are a wonderful student and I can't believe I have never had to bug you to do your homework. I know your grades are important to you and the result has certainly been worth it.

I am so proud that you honor all of your commitments. Never once have you quit a sport or activity or given up. That will serve you well in the coming years.

I am so proud that you think ahead and plan for your future. I think it was in first grade when you first started talking about going to college! I know your plans will come to fruition and your future is bright.

I am so proud that you stand up for yourself and the things that you believe in. From when you insisted that we "ask the little guy what he wanted to do" at about age three to the high school freshman who advocates with the high school principal on what he needs for classes, you have never been afraid to speak up.

I am so proud that you are a leader and not a follower. While I may not always agree in the ways that you show your individuality (IE skinny jeans), I always admired you for not following along with the crowd.

I am so proud that you are my son and I know that the next 15 years will bring you many great things. Happy Birthday with love from your mother. I love you as much as you love me!