Morning

 

Morning glow and shadows

Darkness and light

Morning sun in meadows

Blackness and white

Facts

It snowed today.

Cold makes me kind of achy and my throat hurt. 

I'm not sick.

Hot tea is good, especially with milk.

Driving and talking on the phone is sometimes tedious. Not exactly recommended.

I have a lot of good friends.

Glasses are nice things to have when your eyes are bad. 

I like Kate, the dog. She is nice and very beautiful.

I don't care for Kate's dog friend, Rosie. She is scared of me and kind of annoying.

I like when the sun comes out.

Bratty kids aren't very fun.

Kids that hug me make me happy.

Cold weather is refreshing.

I like talking on the phone with you. 

Colorful, handmade shawls can be very nice and warm in the winter.

I start a new job this week, and I'm pretty happy about it.

The picture below is from about a year ago, but it pretty much shows what I'm doing and where I am write now.

I noticed I spelled "right" wrong above, but decided to keep it like that. Hah!

And, finally, you're right: that was a boring post.

✌

The Sunset is Gray (A Poem)

 

The sunset is gray

The clouds hide the sun

The close of a day

All work is over and done.

The colors slowly fade

Covering the glory You made

Night comes in so slow

Covering the woods and mow.

Here come the crickets

Soft in the thickets

But the sunset is gray

With no color display.

The sunset of my soul

Dips down in that black hole

No colors splashing through

Because I'm missing you.

Knives and Big Boys

*I was kind of a dumb 16 year-old. Dumb on a number of levels, but one was that I had no fear of people. No fear whatsoever, not even the healthy fear of a couple of gang members out at dusk while I was alone. I just didn't care. I saw them as people, as potential friends. I suppose that kind of courage did get me new friends, but it also put me in rather dangerous situations. 

That particular evening, I was out for a ride on my bike down Henry Street. It was the usual honking horns, old men joking with each other on door-steps, and families out for a stroll. Nothing unordinary. Things felt safe (not that I had a category for unsafe). Life was good. 

By the old, run-down park, I noticed these young dudes sitting on the curb, laughing and smoking. I rode up to them, jumped off my bike, and smiled.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked.

"Mind? Haha!" They laughed. "Who'd mind a pretty little girl like you joinin' them for a smoke?"

I plopped myself down and started talking and asking all the life questions. 

One of them, the bigger one that I sat right next to, finally stated, "I'm surprised a little white girl like you ain't scared of us big boys."

"I ain't scared o' nothin'." I smiled. 

"Nothing?" The "big boy" asked with a smirk. "Ever seen a knife before?"

Suddenly, it dawned on me that the sky was growing darker, the other happy noises were dying down,  and we happened to be in a more secluded part of the park. I decided for some reason that I didn't want to die that night. 

"Oh, yeah! I know all about knives. Dude, I should show you mine. I gotta bunch right over here in my back-pack. I use different ones for different occasions," I explained as I stood up and looked at them with fire in my eyes but a sparkle in my smile. "Wanna see?"

It was strange how quickly those "big boys" changed. The biggest of them stood up. 

"I keep my switchblade right here in my pocket," I said as I stuffed my hand in. "It's my pride and joy."

But instead of coming closer, the big boy was backing up. "Yeah, so we gonna be on our way, lady. Maybe see your knives another time?"

The whole kitten-caboodle of them got up and cautiously made their exit. 

I pulled my hand out of my pocket and smiled at my little Swiss Army pocket knife.

From that day on, there were at least two things I realized: Sometimes life isn't too safe, and, apparently, men are scared of women with lots of knives. Eventually I did keep a few real knives with me. Just in case. 

*This story is purely fictional, just in case you hadn't noticed.

Shore was Fun!

 We went to the shore in NJ where Grandma has a house on an island. We had a good time. I hadn't been to the shore since 3 years ago when I was a freshman in college, so it was kind of a big deal for me.

One of Great-grandma Clearwater's paintings. 

Lydia being boring.

Bethany being cool. Lydia actually looked cool, too.

Another of Great-grandma's paintings.

The gray ocean

My feet were happy about this situation.

You know that old blessing or saying that says, "May the wind be at your back" or something? Well, I for one, kind of like when the wind is in my face; otherwise, my hair gets all in my face, and that's bad. 

This is a very calm picture.

My favorite houses on the island are the old cute ones. I do not like the new, monstrous ugly ones. 

That's our uncle's house.

I missed the sunrise, but it was still pretty. 

Boats and birds

I really liked those two pictures 

The path of the sun

I think it's cool how you can see that spot of light out there in the ocean.

A common sight on the beach.

A less common sight. Haha! Most people don't get their vehicles stuck in the sand, but these guys were among the unlucky number. 

The road back home.

👀

✌

Card Business

 I really wanted to say "monkey business," but maybe that's because I have watched too much of "Little House" in the last several months. Anyhow, I had to make a bunch of cards in about 2 days. Fun stuff. It was fun.

Lydia's famous messy desk.

These are decent...

But then I began to lose my creativity. Oh, well. 

Also, a super random picture of my doing one of my very weird things. 

And some cookies. Did I tell you about these? They were pretty good, but they kind of reminded me of horse feed. 

I only made enough cards to sell 4 packs, but I feel proud of myself. 

✌

Boys

 Ethan side-glanced at Nathan, and Nathan side-glanced at Ethan. They were in small group, and one of the members was from New Jersey. He had been saying something to the group when the word "water" popped out. Both of the 10 year-old boys had noticed. 

As soon as their eyes met, the corners of Ethan's mouth went up. Then Nathan knew all was lost. Hold it together, he said to himself. He couldn't lose it in the middle of the meeting. But, for Ethan, all was already lost.

His scrawny little body began to shake. His belly pumped vigorously. He was already thinking about quietly leaving the room when the laughter burst from his lips. He fled from the group toward the kitchen. Mrs. Slater rolled her eyes. "Oh, to be ten again, and a boy." The group chuckled.

Nathan also began to shake. He also knew his mother would not be as lenient with him as Ethan's mom was with her own son. So, he quietly and quickly left the room in the opposite direction toward the bathroom. Once safely inside the closed room, he let it all out and calmly returned some minutes later.

After the meeting ended, the two boys nibbled on cookies on their way to the back porch. 

"Oh, boy! That was bad," Ethan laughed. 

"Yeah, so glad it's over. We should know better by now that we do NOT look at each other in funny situations," Nathan added. 

"Haha! But, how did he say it again?" Ethan asked through his ongoing chuckles. 

"Woiter or woter, I don't know. It was too funny." Obviously, these two young men didn't know too many northerners. 

The rest of the night was spent in laughing at all sorts of silly, nonsensical jokes.

~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward 20 years. 

The two dads stood in Nathan's yard while their kids played a vicious game of something. Suddenly, Ethan thought of some stupid joke and obviously had to share it with his friend. Soon the two men were laughing and joking and completely unaware of their wives, the children, or the burning burgers on the grill. 

Amy looked at Christy and said, "Oh, to be a man."

"And to be ten," Christy added. 

~~~~~~~~~

I'm not personally sure boys ever grow up.