TOO MUCH FOR TOO LITTLE

Aren't these flowers pretty? They should be. They practically cost an arm and a leg!! (I just noticed that the flowers are sideways, but they are still pretty in a cockeyed way.)

I don't care how much gasoline has gone up. (Well, that's not at all true!) But that has become a standard answer to why everything is so expensive. Of course, corn--and lack of corn crops--will be a huge reason for price gouging this fall.

This week our academic teams will be grilling out as a money-maker. I had to go buy all of the food--I should be refunded, but it would be the first time!! We are doing hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken; potato chips; pop and water. I must buy expensive food because in order to make much money, I guess I'll need to be doing a bit of price gouging also. It's for a good cause. It always seems like people will pay huge prices at a theater or a professional game, but when it comes to schools, they want cheap prices.

Before I forget it: One of the best sayings I've heard was told in church last week. The speaker said, "Do you know the ten most important two letter word? 'If it is to be, it is up to me.'" That saying is credited to someone I've never heard of and nothing is about him on Google. Isn't it great that common people can say profound words? Now if I can just get those common people to spend $2 for a hamburger!!

Get togethers the old-fashioned way: A FUNERAL

I was going to write about how it takes a funeral to get people together, but it took me about an hour to mess this picture up. Now I think I'll gripe about the different picture programs.

Why is it that they all can't just do the same work, using the same terms? This picture never did look just quite right, but I wanted to crop it in order to leave part of the background out. Well, on the one program there is a crop, but it must think I was talking about field crops because no matter what I did, nothing showed up in the picture. I decided to hit the cut button. Sure enough I was able to cut away some of the excess.

Next step, I saved the picture. When it saved, everyone had turned orange. Once again I went to a program. I got it to look fairly decent, saved it, voila--pure garbage. I don't think anyone would have known anybody. I went to another program. And then another one. I saved, saved, and saved some more. Now I wish I could have the original picture back, but it is long gone.

I'm tired of progress. My mind doesn't want to have to relearn different programs every few months.

Anyway, this picture is one taken at the last uncle's funeral. We, the first cousins, are all the elders now. Unfortunately, we are missing one of the surviving cousins, Peg, because she lives out West. Three of the first cousins are deceased.

My sister probably would like to shoot me. She wanted a picture of the flowers her family sent--very beautiful--but she didn't want her picture taken. I don't have many pictures of her. If she knew I was taking this one, I probably wouldn't have this one either.

The day of the funeral was beautiful, nice weather. The funeral itself was quite entertaining. The minister didn't know Uncle Chuck at all, but he knew the rest of the family, including my Aunt Marilyn who had been married to Uncle Chuck. The minister told the only story he knew about Uncle Chuck. Aunt M.S. didn't want a divorce. She just wanted Uncle C. to always take care of her. They did get a divorce, but he always paid alimony. Any time she'd go to the country club, her bill would be added to his. Several times--and this is what the minister said--Aunt M.S. would call Larry (the minister) and his wife to see what they were doing. She would tell them that Chuck wanted to treat them to dinner. All three of them would go to the country club and eat. Larry never knew if Chuck ever caught on, but Larry said the meals were good!!

The funeral was a private one, family only. And of course, someone's cell phone went off during the service. Doesn't that always seem to happen? When it went off, Larry apologized. The minister of all people!! He made some joke about it, but he didn't answer even though Marcie and Anne told him to go ahead.

It was nice to see everyone. I don't know when we'll see all of them again. Even brother Wayne showed up. Thankfully, we all know each other because we did know each other growing up. It's a shame we lived so far apart. I wish I had been a part of a big family. It gets lonely sometimes.

Remember These Little Kids?

I read blogs and see pictures, but these are the kids that I know. They look different from those other pictures.

Remember the tear-jerking Kodak commercial that played that song "Turn Around" by Malvina Reynolds? "...Turn around and you're two, Turn around and you're four..." I think it was that song. I know whichever song it was made me tearful every time.

Didn't know I was so song literate, did you? The amazing internet can make anyone look knowledgable. Of course, the internet can be a wolf in sheep's clothing. I often find papers that have been plagarized by googling a phrase or so. It was so much easier when I was a kid--not that I would plagarize! I did summarize quite a bit without documenting--I guess I'd have to say that was summarizing. The teachers should have been happy that I turned in a paper. That is the mindset of today's students. "You oughta be glad I showed up."

Well, all that I have to say is--Ya oughta be glad that I wrote something today so that checking in on my blog didn't waste your time!!

Things Are Heating Up!!

A heat advisory is in effect until Friday evening. As summer is coming to a close, a high of 98 degrees will be bearing down on us.

This is a picture of Elway in front of something else heating up!!!

For those who don't know about Elway and for those who seem to forget, Elway got his name from my dad, L. Wayne. You can probably figure out the name now. In the picture, you can't really see that Elway is on a frog, whose name is Bronco. For those who are not football fans, the Denver Bronco quarterback used to be John Elway. I'm not usually clever at naming things, but I thought this was a stroke of genius. But after that Dande Lion Manor fiasco, I thought I might need to explain myself.

When I used to write stories in junior high, I had the most difficult time thinking up names for characters. I'm always impressed with the names students come up with nowadays. With so many invented ways to spell a name anymore, it doesn't matter what the character is called.

I have four Makayla's in class this year: Michaela, Mikayla, Makayla (2). Last year the name was also spelled Micheala.

I think parents want their children to be unique. To try to insure every ounce of uniqueness possible, they use creative spelling. It doesn't do much for me. The kids get nasty if their names are spelled incorrectly by others. Parents: Make your children's lives easier. Choose the normal way to spell a name!!

I've had Jesse, Jessi, Jessie, Jessy...ugh!

I've had Tristan and Tristen.

I've had Megan, Meagan, Meghan.

I've had Amy, Aime, Aimee, Amiee.

And then my name: The male form has an E and mine doesn't. People can't figure that out. At least it's a female/male thing. It wasn't creative spelling.

Here's a last name for you to figure out the pronunciation: Leighty.

It's pronounced Leestee. Go figure.

I have said often recently that retirement is scarier than anything I've ever done. I don't have anything to fall back on, nor do I have anyone to fall back on like I did when I graduated from high school.

This sculpture is in Lila's funeral home. She said that it is me and her (I know, it should be "it is she and I") when we get old. I think we're there. If not, we're on the threshold. If I could be this happy in my retirement, it would be grand.

Whenever I look at these flashy women, I always think of Aunt Marilyn. Her daughter said that her mother was into flash trash. It's what made her a character. I wish I had the self-confidence to be a character. Life would be more fun, and I would hope that I would put more smiles on people's faces.

I look back on meals at Grandma Jones's house when some of the older people came and told funny--I mean hilarious stories. Thinking about it, I might believe there was some exaggeration, but I loved those stories!! One particular Thanksgiving, Aunt Sis, Grandma, and one of Grandma's friends Goldey Cassidy had everyone laughing so much we cried. I wish I could remember the sayings Grandma would use. I can't even remember a too many of the stories. Why didn't I write those precious stories down? Grandma had a mischievous side to her. I know she led a hard life, but she made some great memories.

Life would be great if from now on I could just hear funny stories. Unfortunately, I know I have many obstacles to conquer before I get to those days. I know if I could find a sugar daddy, retirement wouldn't be such a nightmare.

Well, it's beginning to feel like the first day of school. Fall feels like it is just around the corner, the green is fading from the trees and ground cover, and it is getting cooler in the evening. There is a smell that is difficult to explain, but each year around this time, it appears. When the wind blows, the leaves rattle. I am ready to give up the carefree days of summer. The swimming pool doesn't seem as inviting. I want to wear those new fall clothes that I bought a few weeks ago. And most of all, I'm ready to see the friends at school that I haven't talked to all summer.

But to be real, I've been in school for over two weeks. Those hot days of summer don't matter any more because air-conditioned schools have become the norm. I don't feel like I'm ready to go back to school early in August, and by the looks of it, I'll probably be starting even earlier next year. A balanced school year has become the new way of education. Parents are loving it. I just wonder how many times I'll have to plan lessons for kids who will be going on vacation with their families. Heavens forbid if the family has to change.

Back in the day, Labor Day was the focus point. We were ready to go back to school. Vacation time was done. Many of the vacation destinations were closing up. Theme parks would only have weekend hours. State parks stopped charging at the gate, and few people went camping. No more lifeguards were on duty at the lake. Oh, how the times have changed.

How will the kids of this time remember summer and school? Many of them will not even look forward to the summer because they will be in school. Gosh, many of them have been going to school since before they could remember. No wonder school is not exciting to the kindergartners. Pre-school--which they would call school--began for some at age two.

I'm glad when I grew up; however, if I were growing up today, I'd look back on this time as being the best. But then again, maybe not. I liked those long months of summer!!

Does anyone recognize this? It is the House of the Seven Gables, the inspiration for the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

When I think of Nathaniel Hawthorne, I actually think of a vacation back in 1999 when my mom, dad, sister, and I went east. We were in Concord where there is a little cemetery called Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with an area called "Authors Ridge." In that area Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson and their families are buried there.

Mom, Suzi, and I took a walk up the path to see where all of these were buried. I was in the lead, and I met a couple of ladies taking pictures of the Louisa May Alcott plot. They had recently discovered that they were directly related to the family. We talked for a while, but soon we were joined by Mom and Suzi.

One of the Alcott ladies asked, "Are you related?" Of course, they meant related to the Alcotts, but Mom said, "Why, yes, we are." The other two ladies looked excited because they thought they had just been reunited with three living relatives. Mom said, "These are my two daughters." As the Alcott ladies lost their excitement, I explained what they had actually meant. We quickly went on to Hawthorne's gravesite.

This past July, Suzi and I went to another Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, but it was in Sleepy Hollow, NY, just north of Tarrytown, where Washington Irving spent his last years.

It may sound like I'm obsessed with famous dead people. I am in a way. There is something about being where a famous person lived, walked, and/or worked. I especially enjoy visiting authors' places. As an English teacher, I've read about many of them. Even though I don't have the talent any of them had, it just makes me inspired.

Coming soon--could it be Mark Twain? Edgar Allen Poe? Who knows?