I Still Hate You, Winter

I don't think my Trumpet Vine Trellises will ever be the same!

This is a Dogwood Tree.  Looks more like a Weeping Cherry.

Have you ever heard this story?
A man was walking down the street one day.  The wind bet the sun that he could force the man to take off his coat and the sun could not.  The sun agreed to the bet.  The wind began blowing, straight into the man.  The man put his hands in his pockets and pulled his coat a bit tighter around himself.  The wind blew harder, thinking he would blow that coat right off the man.  The man buttoned his coat tightly, all the way up to the neck and shoved his hands deep into his pockets, hugging his secured coat as close to his body as he could.  The wind blew even harder, but to no avail.  The man was not taking off his coat.  Then it was the sun's turn.  The sun shone.  The man unbuttoned his coat.  The sun shone even more brilliantly and the man took off his coat, slinging it over his shoulder.  He even began whistling a tune as he walked.  The sun turned to the wind.  "See.  All it takes a little sunshine to warm a man from the inside out." 

I might be a little off on the ending of the story, but you get the point.  As beautiful a spectacle the snow and ice can be, it does not win me over to winter.  The weight bears down on the branches of the trees and the shrubs and everything else.  It will all sparkle later if the sun comes out, making the woods look like a crystal cathedral.  The trees, however, can only stand so much.  The ground is littered with smaller branches and I sit here listening to the bigger branches falling to the floor of the woods through the icy arms of the trees.  The sound is different this time than when a branch falls in any other season.  The sound can even be musical.  However, it still does not change my attitude.  Our snow adventure this winter season began early in December and has not stopped.  Looks like February is going to be a loooong month.  Oh well.  Might as well make the most of it.  I do not have to go anywhere today and there is plenty of wood for the fireplace.  Maybe I'll roast a weeny. 

Winter, I'm Breaking Up with You!

Dear Winter,

That last bout of arctic weather is the final straw. I have put up with your coldness for way too long. I cannot stand the feel of your icy breath in my face and down the back of my neck. You chill me to the bone!

Must you always precipitate on the roads and sidewalks? Why can't you do that in the yard and landscaping?! I am so sick of cleaning up after you. It is one thing to clean up after a small child, but you too?! You have fooled me time and again, allowing my good friend the sun to come and visit, only to ruin it with your below freezing slap in the face. How cruel! I swear you are laughing at me as your North winds blow through the trees. Your promises of crisp, clean air and unmarred blankets of white snow are no longer enough. Warm, toasty fires while in the midst of you please me no more. You make my back ache shoveling your snow. My joints stiffen at the mere thought of you. I have become an expert at the icy sidewalk shuffle (not an area of expertise I desire). I have had enough!

Winter, I am leaving you for Summer. At least when he rains, I don't risk falling on my backside when I step out the door.

Goodbye, Winter. I am leaving my parka and snow boots behind. I will not need them where I am going.

With a bitter-cold heart,
Mimi "Cold Feet"

Cold Enough for Ya?!

As of last Friday night, all 4 of us are together once again. 10 weeks our daughter was away at college in Savannah, GA. As the temperatures here have steadily dropped, we heard way too many times about the nice weather down there. And how she was wearing shorts the day before she came home. All I can say is: "Paybacks are hell!" This is SAW at home tonight:

Get used to it, babe! It's not even December yet and you are here until January 3!

Blowin' Smoke

Here is a link to a restaurant review I posted on my other blog, A Girl and Her Grill: http://smokinchick.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/blowin-smoke/

My Daughter is a Bee

A SCAD Bee. Savannah College of Art and Design Bee. According to the laws of physics, a bee should not be able to fly. The size of its wings in proportion to its body should deem flight impossible. Yet it flies. SCAD founders were told the same thing. "An art school in the South? It will never fly!" SCAD celebrates 35 years of educating and preparing artists and designers of all disciplines since the school first opened its doors to students in 1978. Enrollment continues to increase along with the accolades and awards. Big names in all industries regularly recruit SCAD graduates. Why? Because SCAD is innovative in the approach to student success. From the moment a student is invited to attend, a team of SCAD professionals surround the student to encourage, guide and mentor in order to convey that student to success. Ultimately, the student is responsible for his or her success; however, with the resources provided, success is not an impossibility. In the time that I, as a parent of a new Bee, have spent on campus, talking with students, alumni and staff (and I mean all staff-even maintenance staff are friendly and engaging!), I find SCAD truly cares about each student and nurtures each one to reach beyond his or her potential. SCAD, thinking outside the hive!

Pickin' Friends and Pickin' Noses

"You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose.  But you can't pick your friends' noses."  An internet search attributes this quote to many different people.  I first heard it on Saturday Night Live.  "Pick Your Friends" first aired in 1986.  Wikipedia says it is a popular saying in English speaking countries.  I find the phrase pretty funny, no matter how many times I hear it or repeat it.  Can you imagine the absurdity of reaching over to pick that hanging booger out of your friend's  nose or vice versa?  Saturday Night Live did.  And  it is just...ewwww!

There are plenty of other things we can't pick...someone else's pants out of his/her crack, spinach out of someone else's teeth, how much tax we pay, our parents and other family.  There is absurdity in all of those things, should we be given the opportunity to choose.  How much tax-who wouldn't choose to pay nothing?  Choosing family-how about that couple with the 7-figure income?  Life just doesn't work that way.  Some things just are, whether we like it or not.  Picking our friends is one thing we can control.  Choose well.

So, we don't get to pick our family.  Pick your haircolor, pick your job, pick out where you live, but  not Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters, etc.  Like them or  not, they are yours (I'm talking the family you are born into, not the one created with a significant other).  As a kid, there were times when I wished my friends' parents were mine.  You know the ones.  The parents that let you drink as much soda as you wanted, eat junk food, let you stay up past bedtime when you spent the night.  Other people's parents were always so much cooler (you know you had those times, too)!    And when a friend would say how cool your own parents were, you gave him/her a look like, "what drug are you on?" 

As adults, we can pick how much time we spend with our "born-into" family.  Some people move out and never see their family again.  Others move away and visit as much as possible.  Still others never move out at all! 

I'm one who moved away.  Our visits to our families are few and far between.  But we are not totally isolated from them.  Facebook, e-mail, cell phones (with texting) keep us in touch.  What we lack in actual time together, we make up for virtually.  We see each other's children grow up through pictures and posts.  We even sometimes still argue over petty differences.  One nice thing about being with my family virtually:  there is time to think things through before posting something that may be regretted later.  Live visits, not so much.  I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers.  When we are all together, the competition to be heard and understood still exists!  Some subjects are avoided completely (religion and politics-know what I'm saying?).

Love them, hate them, your family is all yours.  I didn't pick them, but I'm keeping mine.

I Did

For better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; in good times and in bad.  I do. 

20 years ago, my husband and I looked into each other eyes and proclaimed before God, family and friends that we do.  There have been times in these 20 years when I thought we would never celebrate 20 years of marriage, yet here we are.  We have weathered the worse, the poorer, the sickness and the bad times.  The better, the richer, the health and good times have enabled us to keep our marriage thriving and intact.

Our marriage is richer and healthier than it could have ever been without the worse and bad.  That which does not kill, makes one stronger.  It is because of the tough times and our willingness to keep at it instead of giving up that we are here as a couple to celebrate.  Our bodies and minds become stronger and better through challenges.  Marriage is no less a challenge to one's sanity and well-being than an inquisitve toddler that doesn't like to nap, especially when Mommy needs one.  Living with another human being that is not a parent or sibling and trying to figure out each other's likes/dislikes and getting used to his/her habits is enough to test anyone's mental health!  So, here we are, having survived the storms of marriage.  For our daughters, witnessing Mom and Dad face and survive the turbulence and still love and enjoy each other, we are setting the example for them.  Our relationship will affect all relationships they have, have had and will have. 

20 years used to seem like a long time.  20 years ago, I graduated from college, married the love of my life a month later and bought my first brand new vehicle.  19 years ago, we bought our first house.  18 years ago, our oldest daughter was born followed by a move to another state just 2 years later and the arrival of her little sister the next year.  How could time have passed so quickly and yet so much happened?  One thing I know for sure:  I am supremely happy to have shared these 20 years with my husband.  God set each of us aside from our births just for each other.  Who better to spend the rest of my life with than the one person in the whole world saved just for me?  Ask me again, Handsome; I know exactly what I will say:  I DO!!

RIP Fr. Kendall