Weblog 338

August 5, 2012~ 12:00 am
August 3rd was PRINCESS KAY'S 7TH BIRTHDAY, and on Saturday..... we celebrated. Kay was glowing and as wound up as a top!



I caught her here in the sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. You can see by her 'gap-toothed smile' she's wearing the look of most seven year olds once they start losing teeth, and it makes me smile. (Kay had quickly whisked me in there to check out her birthday gifts: a modern sort of canvas sling chair, an MP3 player she wanted so badly because it looks like an iPhone..lol) new dolls and new doll clothes, and she was chattering like a chipmunk the whole time, spinning and giggling. In short, Kay is a seven year old girl -to the MAX. LOL!! And here she is with her best friend, who's staying for a birthday sleep-over.



(Note that Kay ALSO received some clear-glass eyeglasses. I'm sure those were on her 'wish list' because both Mom and her best friend wear glasses and Kay wanted some of that 'four-eye chic' as well. lol) Holly has Kay's room decked out in happy pinks and vibrant primary colors. I just love the canopy netting over her bed.....



Yep. ALL GIRL, that decor.. desk, lots of shelves and drawers and bric a brac. It's a place where Kay can dream and imagine and have fun as she grows and grows into a colt-like pre-adolescent. (Though I must say, right now, at THIS point in time.. she's PART MONKEY! That child will CLIMB anything! Here she is using only her hands and bare feet to shimmy up a door jamb.)



It's an amazing thing to watch! Not only that, outside she tackles the regulation height basketball hoop, clutching and climbing like Cheetah!



Makes me nervous, but she's as fast and as confident as a Flying Walenda. Here's a better view so you can see just how high she's shimmied up there.



(And it's hard to reconcile this with her 'fairy princess side'-- everything is as pink as a rosy dawn.)



The day was HOT AND HUMID, so we were either under Holly and Gary's wonderful trees or sitting in the air-conditioned house. (Goodness, this summer has been a pot-boiler so far.) I took a look at Gary's horseshoe pits and- though I love to toss those things around, they were positioned in the sun -and therefore, out of the question. Husband Wayne lounged around, wiffle bat in his hand.... but no desire to slug at a few and knock them into the cheap seats. (LOL!!! The man I married ain't no dummy.)



Shade, cool drinks and oh my yes......... GARY'S SPECIAL GRILLING of hot dogs, zucchini slices, and his mouthwatering hamburgers- (with melted cheese on top AND cheese stuffed inside the patties as well.) DEEEEEEEELICIOUS!! Wayne calls him the 'GRILLMASTER'.



Corn on the cob, Holly's mouth-watering macaroni and cheese.... oh boy, I was in heaven! Here's Holly and Bill caught in a sweet pose, checking out the camera.



I've decided that Bill reminds me of Opie from The Andy Griffith Show. He's just that sweet, and I love him to pieces. The boy doesn't have a devious bone in his body. He never manipulates.... is always truthful... and puzzles over everything he hears. Just a thoughtful, considerate kid; there wasn't even an ounce of jealousy with Friday and Saturday being 'Kay Days'. Kay and her friend Caitlyn (or 'Katelyn'- not sure of the spelling) were treated to a movie with Holly, then dinner at Eat 'n Park, and THEN... a trip to have their NAILS DONE in a real nail parlour! (Kay's are shocking pink and Caitlyn's a lively shriek GREEN. LOL!!!)

Holly sewed matching tops for the girls in those fluorescent lime green and pink colors because there's nothing BEST FRIENDS like more than to dress in matching outfits. (I think my daughter is doing a bang-up job of intuiting what little girls most hanker for in parties and such; to do that well, you have to keep in close touch with the kid still living inside of you, and if you can do that- you'll know what's inherently 'special', and she does it beautifully.)

And finally, the birthday song and cake. A blue mini-cake surrounded by colorful cupcakes. (I'm not sure, but I think Kay's wearing her clear-glass glasses here. lol)



And as I'm posting this just after 12 a.m. Sunday the 5th..... I'm willing to bet that Kay and her little friend are still giggling, still whispering, still trying to make the night last as long as humanly possible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

GIRLIE!

(And many more.)




August 5, 2012~ 8:00 pm
NOTHING makes me feel as good as a heartwarming animal story. I know I'm not alone because these stories dominate news and print media every day of the week, but this past week-- the one that caught my eye



was about two Austrailian orphans: the baby kangaroo Anzac and his pouch-mate Debbie-- a baby wombat. Both are abandoned marsupials that require living in a pouch in order to mature safely, so they were placed in a man-made cloth 'pocket'.... and the two couldn't be happier. (Especially the squinting 'Peggy', who appears always to be smiling. LOL!!!) Click on that picture for more about this endearing couple. (I love these two so much that this picture is now my computer 'wallpaper'. I'm so pleased to have Peggy grinning out at me whenever I fire up my Compaq. One look at her, and a body just feels good. :)




August 7, 2012~ 6:30 pm
I saw the most delightful spectacle today..... a squirrel..... eating a mushroom. NO! TWO times.... two squirrels, chomping away, white bits flying, at two different times, two different places today..... MUSHROOM EATERS.



The first was at work.. (and appropriately, the the lunch hour) ...there sat a gray squirrel, munching sloppily and with GUSTO, what looked to me to be a large piece of bread. It was white, and he loved it. LOL!!

I've seen them gathering and storing and eating the TONS of acorns from our 4 large oaks in the back of work, year after year, but until today I didn't even know they ATE mushrooms. (Apparently they adore them.) Sloppy, VIGOROUS eaters of mushrooms. Then again when I drove over after work to visit mum at the personal care home, which has SCADS of large, mature trees, the one I chose to park beneath had a trunk with a gray squirrel, white mushroom in his mouth like a big pie plate, staring me down. He scampered up the trunk where he perched, belly thrust out on his hindquarters and HAD AT that thing like a cob of corn. LOL!!! What a delightful discovery. MUSHROOM GOURMANDS! Every last one of 'em. :)





***

(Return To Weekly Archives)