Water - Carmi's Theme

Carmi posted his new theme last Wednesday, but I've yet to post. As you might be able to tell, water is this week's theme. He has some unusual photos on his blog of water. I live about ten minutes away from beautiful beaches here on the west coast of Florida. In my opinion, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the beaches are much nicer than the ocean side.

I don't go to the beach very much because of my freckled, sun-damaged skin, but whenever I do go, I wonder why I don't go more often. Although the barrier islands are terribly overbuilt, in the summer, it is not quite as busy as it is during tourist season, and if one goes early, the beaches aren't crowded at all. When my son came in June, with his wife and my beautiful granddaughter, we did spend one morning there.

We were only going to stay a little while, but everyone was having such a good time, we ended up staying much longer. Thanks to sunscreen, no one got burned. I'm sure that if it had not been for having access to a pool at my house, more time would have been spent there.

I'm sure that the waters might be churning a bit this afternoon as Gustav makes his way across the gulf. While we are grateful we're not getting hit, thoughts and prayers are going out to those on the gulf coast to the north.

Colorful -3

In the fall last year I made a visit to the vet's office with my daughter. Sitting on the counter at the office was this pumpkin with the Penn State Nittany Lion painted on it. In looking through some photos today, I came across this and it was a gentle (well, not so gentle) reminder to me that college football is getting ready to start. Yippee!

When my cat was still alive, at a visit to the vet, I mentioned to her that David was a student at Penn State. She stopped examining the cat, looked at me, and told me that she had done her undergraduate work there. The cat's exam was over. She told me about her experiences on campus. She happens to be a native of Florida as David is, and she, like David, wanted to go out of state for university.
Upon visiting campuses elsewhere, she commented that Penn State was the friendliest campus outside of the South that she visited.

Carmi, at Written, Inc., is hosting a colorful theme through today. If you visit his blog, you'll find many others who have taken part.

Let's Go, State!

Colorful - Take 2

Carmi is doing a "colorful" theme this week over at his blog. In looking through my files, I came across this photo. My cousin, who lives in north Florida, have a log cabin that was moved to their property several years ago. Her husband's employer was going to tear it down, so he asked if he moved it, could he have it.

This has been a labor of love that they have worked on together. After moving it, they added on a couple of rooms, built a chimney, and have made it fully functional. In the back is a pond. I'm not sure if they have it stocked with fish or not. They even built an outhouse...although it is not functional...which is probably a good thing.

Inside, you will find quilts that my cousin has either made or bought. In this particular room, as you can see, there are many Raggedy Anns and Andys. I asked her once what she was going to do with them all. Her comment? "After I'm gone, the kids can figure out what to do with them. If I see it, want it, and can afford it, I'll have it." (O.K., tell me, English teachers, is the plural of Ann and Andy the way I wrote it, or what is correct? Thanks in advance for your answer.)

She and her two sisters and a cousin in Leesburg are all that are left of my mother's side of the family. Although I don't see them often, I love the times that we are able to be together.

Colorful

Carmi's photo theme this week is "colorful." If yhou visit his blog, he has the perfect photo - a bowl of m&m's. My offering is my granddaughter's beach blanket along with one of the W*nder Pets. Before Ella came in June, I had lots of fun buying a few things for her to use while she was here. This towel caught my eye at T*rget. What fun to buy for this little girl!

PostScript

When I woke up this morning, there was no rain. Tropical Storm Fay went inland further south, as did Charlie in 2004. It's 2 in the afternoon right now, and the sun is shining. She's on her way across the state and may come back in further north.

Debra, over at Manx Mnews, is in the path of the storm should it follow its projected path. If you read her comment in the post down below, you will see why she is a bit anxious.

Thanks for you concern.

When all else fails...

I bought this sign for one of my teacher friends a few years ago. We both got a laugh out of it. The other day when I was at my old school, I entered a teacher's room who had all sorts of neat "teacher" stuff on her wall. I smiled again as I thought of Dot.

School started today, and there is a day off tomorrow. Why, you say? Tropical Storm Fay is on its way to our area, so schools will be closed tomorrow. Thankfully, at this point, it isn't expected to turn into a hurricane. We will have lots of rain and wind. I'm just now listening to the governor who said, "Stay calm, be smart, and use common sense." That does make sense.

I remember when I was still teaching we postponed school's opening on the first day because Andrew was to come across the state and hit us. Instead, you might recall that it did major, major damage in south Florida, particularly Homestead. We didn't have a drop of rain, not did a leaf blow.

During the time that I was in Haiti, I never experienced a hurricane, but the missionary kids that I taught loved to get off subject in class and talk about all their remembrances of the storms. I was advised when I went to Haiti to pack some of my belongings in a steel drum so that it could be used to store valuables in case of storm. Fortunately, I never had to use it for that.

I grew up here in Florida, and except for the summer of 2004 (I think) when hurricane Charlie and three others devastated the state, I don't remember a major storm. Hurricane Donna did come through in 1962, but I was away in college. I live in a somewhat protected area, or so it seems. The summer of Charlie and the others was horrific for people in the state. However, the storms skirted our area, and we had no major damage. I read and heard that the Indians knew something that we didn't know. It is reported that when they knew that a storm was coming, they would come to this area of west Florida.

So...a storm is on its way. Shelters will be open for those who need a safe place. In many counties, people who live in mobile homes, and there are many, are required to evacuate. Many folks who live on the barrier islands are encouraged to leave as well, and there is a large population who lives there.

One thing about hurricanes...we have all kinds of warnings. Anyone who doesn't take precaution is indeed foolish.

Not the best way to get a school holiday...especially right when school is starting.

Back to School

During the past year or so, I've become a fan of CaliforniaTeacher Guy's blog. He takes great photos and then writes haiku which so aptly fits his picture. Last year he shared his experiences at the Jewel School in Dirty Little Desert Town. Because of cutbacks, his position was not filled this year, and he is on his way to northern California for a new experience. Another teacher, Bellezza, wrote of soon having to go back to her unair-conditioned classroom to get ready for the new year. She teaches third grade, and I am sure that the children who come to her class develop a love of reading if they did not already have that love.

Visiting their blogs brings back memories of my own experiences in the classroom. I started teaching in the fall of 1963...wow, forty-five years ago. To look at me you'd never think I'm that old...just kidding. I went to a small private school in Ohio where I taught a combination second/third grade classroom. The children were lovely, as well as the parents. Many of these parents were in their early thirties, and when I would say "yes ma'am" to them, they would look at me sort of funny. It wasn't their practice. I still say "yes ma'am."

While I was in Ohio, I got my master's degree from Miami University, and then I went to Haiti and taught children of missionaries for three and a half years. I arrived in January, so I finished that school year and continued for three more. There I taught a group of sixth through ninth graders. Now that they are in their fifties, those that I've seen frequently call me Bev, rather than Miss Wright.

Then I came back to Florida, met the gentleman whom I would soon marry and taught for twenty-six years in the same school until I took the early retirement package that was offered in 1999. Times surely changed from 1973 until 1999. When I first started teaching at my local school, air-conditioning was unheard of; we had no carpet anywhere. Copies of work papers for the children were done on the old duplicators that produced a purple product while the fumes from the fluid made you a little funny. If you've taught for any time, you know what I mean.

When we put up bulletin boards, we used stencils to trace the letters that we needed for captions. The day that we got the Ell*son press that would stamp out letters and shapes for us, we were ecstatic. We used to have to make all our visuals, and then when we began getting money to use in our classes, companies sprang up who made lovely visuals that we could buy instead of creating ourselves. Then the laminating machine was a favorite tool to use to preserve those products.

That last two days I've spent at my old school in the classroom of a friend, helping her get ready for the new year. We put up background paper for the bulletin boards; I used letters that had been stamped from the Ell*son press to put up the captions. While I did that she was working on her home page for the school website. Every child has a laptop computer for his personal use at school. There is air-conditioning and carpet, white boards instead of black boards...no more chalk dust.

I stopped and looked in my classroom that I was last in. A first-grade teacher is in there now, and I would love to see the children as they walk in Monday morning for the first day of school. Her walls were adorned with all the things that one would expect...color words, number words, alphabet, classroom duty chart, and on and on. I wanted to take some pictures, but because I didn't know her at all, I didn't ask.

There is something about the beginning of a new school year. You get to get a fresh start with a new group of children. People have asked me if I miss teaching. I miss my comrades, and I miss the children...some of them. I'm glad I was able to go and help and then come home and take a nap. More on another day.

Doesn't this look good!

Last week Sarah and I drove to Virginia to be with Ella for her second birthday. Her mother and daddy invited friends over from work, their church, and their neighborhood for a later afternoon of dessert and activities inside and out. Behold the lovely table that was set. If you couldn't find something that would satisfy your sweet tooth, there was just something wrong with you. From left to right you see a carrot cake, phyllo cups filled with chocolate mousse topped with whipped topping, a lime cheesecake, and a black forest trifle.

When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, Sabrina said to me, "I need your help." She had made the cheesecake the day before, and it had cracked. She wanted to know if I had ever made a ganache. I hadn't, but I had watched Ina make it many times on the Barefoot Cont*ssa. So with a recipe in hand we made a white chocolate ganache and filled in the cracks. I don't believe anyone knew any better. The cheesecake was one of the first desserts that was eaten up.

Ella's parents hadn't wanted this to be a time when everyone brought presents for Ella, so she invited her babysitter over the next day, and that was when we had cake. A slice of the carrot cake served as Ella's cake. You can see that in the post further down.

Everyone loved the party on Saturday. One gentleman said, "Sabrina, is this going to become an annual event?" The neighbors have already planned the next evening when they'll get together and play games outdoors. The party was indeed a great success. A good time was had by all.

Carmi's Photo Theme - Signs

When I first started teaching first grade in Florida, I had a little boy in my class, who, one morning during "show and tell," talked about going to South of the Border. "What on earth is that?" I thought to myself. Well, I had never taken a ride up I-95.

Several years later, our family drove to New York for the wedding of my husband's brother. So our route took us up I-95, and, lo and behold, after all those years, I knew what Steven had been talking about. Many miles before you reach the South Carolina-North Carolina border, you begin to see billboards for South of the Border. The closer that you get, the more frequent they become. Since Carmi was doing a "sign" theme this week, as we were driving north, I got my camera out and began taking photos of these billboards.

Some of them are informational; all are amusing. Sarah reminded me that there is one that says "Kids, keep screaming for mom and dad to stop." That one was on the way coming south, and I didn't see it in time to get a photo. There is a little bit of everything there...a gas station, motel, clean bathrooms, rides, a place to walk your dog, and so on....

As much as I don't care for billboards littering the landscape, I do find these amusing, and they help to pass the time a bit along the way.
For other sign photos, check out Carmi's blog.

And now I am 2!

I mentioned last week that I'd be going to help celebrate Ella's second birthday. And celebrate we did. Sarah and I left Friday morning and drove as far as Selma, North Carolina, and then finished driving to David's on Saturday. When we got there, David's grandpa was there. He had been visiting his son over in eastern Virginia and came to David's before coming back to Florida, so it was nice that his visit coincided with Ella's birthday. She calls him Great Pa-pa. He really liked that.

On Saturday Sabrina and David invited friends over for an evening of Midsummer Sweets. She set a lovely table and had lots of goodies. I'll post a photo of that another day. Instead of having a separate birthday cake, she used the carrot cake that was left. Since the soiree wasn't expressly a birthday party, she asked Ella's caregivers to come over on Sunday evening for cake, and they brought their gift for Ella then. These photos were taken then. After the candle was lit, she and her daddy blew it out, and then she didn't want to let go of it.

A proud mama and papa and Ella. Happy birthday to my precious little granddaughter. She has enjoyed a healthy year, and we pray that she continues to be well in this year to come.

A Day at the Park

Ella went to visit her grandparents in Ohio a couple of weekends ago. Her two little cousins were there, as well. My daughter-in-law (I'm assuming) took these photos. She has such a great eye and captures great shots. In fact, she has been asked to shoot some birthday parties.
It is so neat to watch this little girl and her love for life. She is quite the adventurer. From early on, David had her flying through the air as he twirled her around. She still likes to go for a "plane ride."
The monochrome shot of her further down was such a serious shot, I thought I'd let you see her beautiful smile. Just six days until I see her again.
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Steve Goodier shared this story on his website the other day. You've probably read it before, but it is a good one.

"Two little children, a boy and a girl, walked hand-in-hand to their neighbor's house. Standing on her tiptoes, the little girl was just able to reach the doorbell. A woman greeted them and asked what they wanted.

"We're playing house," the little girl answered. "This is my hus­band and I am his wife. May we come in?" Thoroughly enchanted by the scene con­fronting her, the lady said, "By all means, do come in."

Once inside, she offered the children lem­on­ade and cookies, which they graciously ac­cepted. When a second tall glass of lemonade was offered, the little girl refused by saying: "No, thank you. We have to go now. My husband just wet his pants."

I don't want to forget what it is like to be a child. To believe the world is full of magic, wonder and awe. I want to remember to take time for play and, just as important, to feed my imagination. The older I grow, the more it seems that ordinary events are now all too common­place and the extraordi­nary cannot hold my attention for long.

I never want to be too old to be "awe-struck!"! Today, I want to rekindle that touch of won­der. It's part of being fully alive!"

The touch of wonder...fully alive!

Monochrome Theme

Carmi has a new theme this week - monochrome. I haven't ever played with photos much, so I went through a lot of the ones that we took while Ella was here with her parents in June. Ella loved the swimming pool, and this is one of the photos taken during the time in the water. I think she makes a good subject for monochrome, don't you. By the way, she will be 2 in another week. So guess where I'm going! To a party.

Skywatch Friday

Last week was my first entry into Skywatch Friday. I chose photos of storm clouds which I had seen during the week. This time there are clear skies. This photo was taken when my son and his family were down in Florida for a week in June. We went to the beach on Monday morning, and a nearly cloudless sky was our backdrop for the day.

See other entries here.

He came too

Continuing with Carmi's theme, behold the python. When I was at Snooty's party on Saturday, this fellow was too. I actually found him beautiful and would have like to have touched him. I didn't hear his name, but in looking at photos on the internet, I think he is an albino ball python. Please correct me if I'm wrong. There was a little boy there who asked if he could please touch him, and the gentleman who had the snake there said that he used to be able to let people touch and hold his snakes, but insurance doesn't permit it any more.

This python is in stark contrast to my little pygmy rattler that I met the other night under my garbage can. After that meeting, I dreamed I had rattlesnakes in my house. I remember when I was young, I used to dream I was at my grandpa's house, and the dirt road would be full of rattlesnakes...probably some deep-seated psychological problem there, but I survived.

I'm looking at you

Saturday at Snooty's birthday party, several animals were there for the festivities. These wise guys were there from one of the local wildlife shelters. The top one is a screech owl, just about seven inches tall. I'm reminded of the time that we were having our driveway widened. The friend who came over to give us a price said, "I hear a screech owl."

Along the front of our yard are several royal palms. One of them got hit by lightning a few years ago and died. The fronds were no longer there, but up in the top was a screech owl's home. Charlie made their sound and up they popped to let us know they had heard him. That tree also became the home to some woodpeckers.

I didn't pay attention to learn the name of this owl. In looking at photos of owls, he appears to be a great-horned owl. They are such interesting birds, aren't they. Join the photographic theme of animals over at Carmi's place.

Happy Birthday, Snooty

Today was Snooty's 60th birthday. Snooty, our resident manatee resides at the Parker Aquarium in the South Florida Museum in Bradenton. As I mentioned the other day in my Project Black post, the county I reside in is Manatee County. Snooty came to live here in 1949 when he was brought to Bradenton to be part of our yearly DeSoto Celebration. For a while he was called Baby Snoots, and then when he was a baby no longer, Snooty became his moniker.

For many years he lived in a small tank with not a lot of room for movement; it was more like a big swimming pool. Now he has a lovely tank. I don't remember how many gallons it is, but it is well-suited for him. From time to time he has companions in the tank. Lowry Park Zoo has a rehab facilities for manatees that have been injured by boat propellers, and sometimes they have more than they can handle, so the aquarium here houses some until they can be released back into the wild.

When I arrived at noon, this docent was telling the large crowd that had gathered a lot of facts and figures about Snooty. He was being fed while she was talking, and as you can see, the paparazzi was there. Snooty eats around 70 pounds of lettuce a day. Today since it was his birthday, he was going to given some strawberries for a treat. The other manatees are not hand-fed. Their food is tossed into the tank. The lady said that they must think that their food falls from the sky.

Our local newspaper had an article about Snooty yesterday. If you go here, you can see a photo of Snooty's face. He really is a cute guy. There is also a video of him and his birthday.

For more animal photos, visit Carmi's blog. He is sponsoring a photo theme of animals this week.

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A couple of people have commented that they didn't realize that manatees lived so long. I don't actually know if they do in the wild. Perhaps now they tag manatees as they release them to follow up. They are interesting creatures. There are places in Florida, one place I know for sure, where you can swim with them. SeaWorld houses quite a few, and we have our Snooty here in Bradenton.

Skywatch Friday

When I was growing up here in Florida, you could almost set your watch every afternoon at 3 o'clock by the showers that came our way. Over the years, the weather has changed. We go through periods of drought, but generally in the summer we get our rains, and sometimes, hurricanes.

I love looking at the sky and the cloud formations and I'm glad to have found this project. I saw several of the SkyWatch Friday posts when I was looking at some of the projects on Anna's blog

Thematic Photographic - Animals

Carmi has posted a new phot0graphic theme for this week - animals. If you go to his site, You can see his entry - cows - and look in the comment section for others who are participating. The day the we took Ella to the beach we saw this little guy as we were leaving. He sat on the picnic table munching away and paid us no mind at all.

Project black - 4

While photographing the manatee sculpture pictured in the post below, I walked over and looked down into the marina. And lo and behold, there were some black rocks, so I got two photos for Project Black in one day. I know this isn't project green, but I do like the little plant who is sticking its head up in the middle of the black rocks.