Bloomin' into the Wednesday Hodgepodge

Joyce has more questions for us on this first day of June! Join the fun by clicking on the button above, copying & pasting the questions, answering, linking up, and then checking out a few of the blogs that have already linked. Don't forget to leave comments! :)

1. Tell us about one fun thing on your June calendar. 

I’ve got a whole lot of nothin’ planned for June. July…that’s a different story!

2. How careful are you in the sun? Do you tan or burn? Do you make it a point to see the dermatologist every year? 

I’m a lot more careful now than I used to be. I usually burn, then it turns into a tan. For some reason, putting on sunscreen gives me sun poisoning. The dermatologist suggested using sunscreen that has titanium dioxide in it. He gave me a sample but I haven’t tried it yet. I made a visit to the dermatologist last summer after we got back from the Outer Banks; he said it wasn’t necessary to come back unless I had a concern.

3. Describe a time when you wanted to 'throw in the towel'? 

This is an easy one! The day before our last day of school was really rough. I found out a staff member at one of my schools is being reassigned, and I’m not thrilled with the replacement. I voiced my concerns, so we’ll see if they’ll be addressed. Also on that day, 1 of my principals announced that he’s transferring to a different school. Before that, we were given choices of sessions to attend for professional development at the beginning of next school year. There is 1 session that has no sessions that we as Speech Pathologists would have any interest in, but there is one that has a session we have to attend, along with a very interesting one…one that I think all Special Ed Teachers should attend. As much as I love what I do, if someone had walked up to me at the end of the year, and told me he would pay me what I’m making now to do whatever, I would have done it. (When I told someone about this, she mentioned something about a street corner, but I’ve got some morals!)

4. What's a song you love that has a day of the week in the title or lyrics? 

It’s summer (or almost, anyway!), so of course Jimmy Buffet has to be in the house!

5. Are you a fan of berries? Which one's your favorite? What's the most recent berry dish you've eaten? Which blueberry breakfast food appeals to you most-blueberry pancakes, blueberry yogurt, or a blueberry muffin? 

I love, love, love berries! Especially strawberries! I usually eat them by themselves. I don't remember the last time I had them in a dish.
I'm not a big blueberry fan, though, unless it's in a muffin or yogurt.

6. What's something you want to do before your next birthday? 

I have no idea. I just want to survive next school year. I’m already dreading it.

7. June 1st is National Say Something Nice Day, so let's all say something nice here. 

As odd as this is, this is the question I had the hardest time with! 
I'm very thankful to this online community. I consider many of you friends, even though we haven't met "IRL". Even though I'm not posting as often as I used to, some of you continue to stick by me and comment to let me know you haven't forgotten me. I appreciate you!

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

I like to keep my camera close by the back door during the summer to see if I can catch hummingbirds or other birds/animals in the yard. Yesterday's shots:

Milestone Weekend

I am so proud of myself! I went camping with no electricity or running water! And I wasn’t scared or uncomfortable one bit! It's not the kind of primitive camping that Confessions of a Catholic Mutt does (so I'm sure she's getting a good laugh out of this!), but for me, it's a milestone! I guess I really should preface that with it was only for 1 night, and it wasn't like it was out in the wilderness. There were no bears, and we didn't even see any raccoons. The only sign of wildlife were the bullfrogs that serenaded us all night long. And I mean...ALL.NIGHT.LONG.

I've never heard frogs sound like that; I really thought they were ducks the first time I heard them. (City-girl)

We went to this place because: 1) once again, we waited too long to try to get a reservation at a campground, and 2)  there were some offroad people riding the trails where we were. (That's the talking/music you hear in the video.) They stayed across the pond from us; the "campground" was just a field that had been roped off, so we couldn't stay there with our trailer.

We thought it was going to get really dark after the sun went down, but the moon must have been fairly bright. CH put the solar panels out and we were able to charge our phones and my tablet. AND, we did have service, so I was able to chat with some friends on FB. So...not exactly roughing it, and I did have my "luggable loo" to save the day.

As I said, we were right next to a pond, which supplied an opportunity for some "reflection" pictures.

Monday, we just hung around the house and made a trip to Lowe's. I loved that they were playing patriotic music pretty loudly. While I'm on this...does anyone else think it's inappropriate to say, "Happy Memorial Day"? It's kind of like saying, "Happy 9/11", isn't it? It's a tragedy that so many young men and women sacrificed their lives so we can have our freedom; it just seems odd to hear/see "Happy Memorial Day".

We invited Daddy up for burgers last night; YS had the idea to have brownies and ice cream, topped off with caramel sauce spiked with Jack Daniels. He was spot on! It was fantastic!

Reminiscing

I don’t know about you, but I get very reminiscent during the summer. Life in the Small Town was good all year round, but in the summer, it was heaven.

The past couple of days I was able to have the air conditioning off and the windows open…even during the day. I didn’t like having the windows open when I was growing up, but, not having air conditioning, it was a necessity. My current house has traffic noise, but it’s not the horn-blowing, annoying traffic noise. It’s just "the cars going by the front of the house" kind of noise. The house where I grew up is on a side street, so not much traffic goes by, meaning it was a bit quieter.

I love being able to feel a breeze blow through the house as it comes through the windows. And to smell that fresh air that accompanies it.  The night air is especially wonderful to feel. Hearing the crickets chirping at night and the birds singing during the day truly is music to my ears. Even hearing people talking down the street as dusk falls is extremely comforting.

Summer days were filled with walking to the pool to spend the day. Cinnamon suckers (you know, the big thick kind that were rectangular) were "pool treats". Spreading out your towel among what seemed like a million other towels on the grassy area, and having to run on the concrete to the pool since it was so hot, only to be stopped by a lifeguard's whistle and a quick shout to "Don't run!" once we crossed the bridge over the little creek were daily occurrences.  Having your brother(s) getting kicked out of the pool for the rest of the season for doing something stupid, but then having one of them turn out to be  one of the best lifeguards the pool has ever seen (because he knew all the tricks) is part of my best memories. Walking home at the end of the day, through the park, with my sister; towel and shoes in hand are right up at the top, too. 

Evenings were filled with playing kick the can, hide & seek, and roly bats in our yard with the other kids on the street. I don't know why we didn't go to anyone else's yard...probably because the majority of the kids playing were my siblings. There were arguments, but there was also a great deal of laughter and competition. Once it got dark, it was time for the other kids to leave and for us to go into the house for baths, or at least to wash off our feet after being barefoot most, if not all, of the day. 

Getting stung after stepping on a bee...do kids today even know what that feels like?  Bike rides around the neighborhood, looking for change on the sides of the road so we could go to the neighborhood store and get some candy...I know kids can't do that anymore. Even if they found change, they wouldn't have enough to buy anything.

Other memories of childhood summer:

Going to sleep with the fans on and waking up cold in the middle of the night if they didn't get turned off.

Hearing the rain (since the windows were open) and having mama or daddy quickly closing the windows. 

Hearing music that takes me back to the pool, especially Brandy by Looking Glass (for some strange reason I remember that song being played while at the pool.). Or Dancing in the Moonlight  by King Harvest.

Yep, having the windows open the past couple of days brought back all of those wonderful memories. The only thing that's missing is the slam of the screen door.