Back Home From String Camp

My son spent last week at Orchestra String Camp.  He had a great time!  We got to hear him play in both a chamber concert and an orchestra concert last weekend before we brought him home.  I didn't take these pictures. They were shared with me by a friend.  This is a group shot of the campers.  My son is in the next to last row, second from the right side.  His girlfriend is next to him on the left.

I thought this was a pretty picture of the musicians on the stage.  My son is at the far right side in the back, second from the end, playing an upright bass.

I really like this last photo.  My son is in the middle here.

He is keeping busy this summer.  He is tutoring three younger orchestra students on the bass.  He has also been asked to play his bass in the orchestra pit of the community theater group's summer production of Oklahoma.  He played with the high school pit orchestra for their performance of South Pacific earlier this year, but this will be his first time playing for the community theater group.  He is excited about it and looking forward to it.


He has also been taking driver's education classes this summer.  He has one more class to go.  Then he has to finish getting all his practice driving hours in (Ohio requires 50 hours in order to get a license.)  After that he will have to pass the driver's test.  For being on summer vacation from school, he is keeping a pretty full schedule.

Meeting a Blogging Friend!

My friend and fellow blogger, Diana, sent me a message that she was going to be passing by my little town.  She wanted to know if I would be free to join her and her husband for lunch.  I was delighted at this opportunity to meet her and gladly accepted her invitation.  She very generously prepared and brought a picnic lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, and her homemade Cowboy Cookies for the three of us.  Everything was delicious!


I borrowed a camera so that I could take pictures of our get-together.  Diana's husband, Larry, took this picture of Diana and me in the shelter where we had our picnic in the park.

Diana and her husband are celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary today!  Isn't that remarkable!  In honor of their anniversary, they are taking a vacation trip which happened to bring them to my part of Ohio.  It was so much fun to sit and chat with Diana and her husband while we ate our lunch.  This is a picture of Diana and Larry.

We met at the park where I like to walk.  She thought it was fun to see in person the place she has seen so frequently on my blog.  The weather was perfect today with sunny blue skies and mild temperatures.  I wish I would have had time to take a walk with Diana and show her the entire park, but unfortunately, I was on my lunch hour from work and had limited time to spend.  


With our red hair and freckles, it almost seemed to me that Diana and I looked like sisters.

In addition to bringing lunch, Diana also brought me a gift.  She brought me chocolate and a lovely, quilted yellow bookmark that she had made for me.  Obviously, she knows what I like!

The time went all too quickly, and then it was time for me to say goodbye and get back to work.  It was so much fun to meet Diana and her husband after having met through blogging.  Although she also lives in Ohio, she lives on the east side of the state while I live on the west side.  I am so pleased that she invited me to join them for lunch today.  Thank you, Diana!  Happy 30th Anniversary to you and Larry!  

A Broken Camera, Jim, and a Dancing Armadillo

Hmm...I don't seem to be doing very well with keeping this blog going lately.  It's been one of those weeks.  The kind that is best gotten over and done with and put in the past.  The sooner it is forgotten about the better.  Let's just say I've had my fill of dealing with certain professionals this week.  Professionals, like lawyers and bankers and doctors and real estate agents and insurance agents and overcharging car repairmen and college financial aid officers, have all been a part of this past week for me.  I'm tired of filling out forms and signing things.  It's just part of life, of course, but I find it quite tedious. I think I need to do some dancing.  Well, I'll get to that in a minute.


First, as if all of the above were not enough, I accidentally dropped our camera on a hard floor and have apparently done irreparable damage to it.  When I push the button to turn it on, it makes a sad little grinding noise and then gives me the message "Lens error."  After giving this message of despair, it repeats the little grinding noise in reverse and shuts itself off.  I tried fiddling with it, to see if I could get it to do something other than the above, but to no avail.  My husband made an attempt.  He also had no luck.  So unless I borrow a camera or win the lottery, I will have no new pictures here for you for a while because a new camera is certainly not in the budget at the moment (see previous paragraph).  I may dig up some old photos for you, though.  


Speaking of old photos, here is one I don't think you've seen.

You may be wondering, "Who is that guy?  And why is he holding an armadillo?"  Very good questions, I must say.  Because of his shirt, I believe his name is Jim, although I really don't know.  Perhaps it's not his shirt.  Maybe he just borrowed it from someone named Jim.  "Why is he holding an armadillo?"  I'm not sure about that either, but I'll answer it as best I can.


When I was young, my Dad owned two antique cars that he bought as old junkers and then restored them to like-new condition, part by part.  He got those parts by going to car shows and flea markets on the weekends in the summer.  Most of the time, he took us with him to these shows.  By us, I mean my Mom, my brother, my sister and me.


Sometimes at these events, there were other things going on along with the flea market and car parts sales.  Jim was one of those "other things" that was going on at one particular market we went to.  


This sale was held at Lima, Ohio.  Jim was there inside a fenced off area with several armadillos running around in the grass inside the fence with him.  He picked up one of the armadillos as if it were a pet of his and then walked around the edge of the fence.  Those walking by or standing there watching him and his little funny-snouted, armored tribe could pet the creatures or at least view one up close.   Seeing I had a camera with me, he brought the armadillo over so that they could pose for a picture for me.  


I still to this day am not quite sure why Jim was there with his pen full of armadillos, other than that they were on display there like a sort of bizarre mini one-pen petting zoo.   So since my camera is broken, you have been given the opportunity to meet Jim, the cigar chomping, armadillo caretaker who traveled around visiting flea markets back in the seventies so that kids like me could take his picture.  


See, something good has come out of the fact that I broke the camera.  I bet you're feeling pretty lucky about now, aren't you?  In fact, I'd be almost willing to bet that my blog is the only place today that you're going to see a guy that looks like Jim holding an armadillo.


You probably know what's coming now.  I bet this blog is the only place where you're going to see a dancing armadillo today too.  Who else do you know besides me can find their way to a dancing armadillo by breaking a camera?  I think he wants to dance to the Y-M-C-A song.

Odds and Ends of the week

I have some random pictures this week to share with you---just a few glimpses into my world from the last few days.

My nephew graduated from college.  He is my brother's oldest son. That is his sister, the youngest member of my brother's family standing next to him.  I'm not sure what the official name of his degree is, but he has been studying a form of biology that deals with the genetics of plants.  He is going on to attend a branch of Ohio State University at the Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, Ohio to get a Master's Degree and wants to work eventually in developing different hybrids of plants.

I had to work, but my husband had some time off.  He took a trip out to Marblehead, Ohio on Lake Erie to visit his mother.  He took this picture of the sunset over the lake.  I thought it was quite pretty and peaceful looking.

One of the flower beds in the park right now is doing particularly well and is full of color.

Unfortunately, a neighborhood dog or some other creature raided the bunny nest in my yard and carried off the baby bunnies.  I found the dug out hole left behind. The mother bunny is still around though. This is an early evening shot of her.  It was starting to get dark outside, but the flash caught and reflected in her eye.  She doesn't seem to stray too far from our yard.  Perhaps she'll have more babies later this summer.  The bunny population is thriving in this area in spite of the dogs.  I drove six houses down the street the other day and saw three bunnies in yards in that short distance.

My son and his girlfriend are heading off to Bowling Green State University to attend a week of orchestra string camp tomorrow.  Here they are comparing schedules for the camp on laptops.

Our town square was transformed into a noisy, colorful, brightly lit place full of people the past week.  The Jubilee, a yearly street festival, has been going on downtown.  Of course, we had to walk down and check it out one evening after work.

Batman has gotten himself into some kind of a fix.  He has apparently been turned into a stuffed prize at a carnival booth.  We will have to tune in tomorrow at the same bat time and on the same bat channel to see if Robin can save him from the clutches of the Joker!

Are you in the mood for something deep fried?  At just this one stand, you can get deep fried cookie dough,

cheesecake,

or candy bars!!  This festival is not exactly known for its selection of healthy foods.

Nope, I didn't ride on that!  I didn't ride on any of the other rides either.  We didn't eat any of the food there either.  Mostly we just walked around to see what was there.  It looks pretty much the same every year.  There was one new addition we noticed this year, though.  There was a wild animal show set up at one corner of the festival.

Here is the trainer giving a bottle to a baby kangaroo.

This giant tortoise behind some fencing in front of the stage caught the eye of quite a few young children.

This is the trainer back on stage again, this time with a monkey.

This shows the stage a little better.  He still has the monkey with him.  Do you see that black box to the back of the stage on the right side of the picture?  Inside of there is a huge python snake. (The trainer said it was a young male and that it would grow to a much larger size, but it looked pretty big to me already!)  I didn't get a good picture of the snake, but I was glad when they put him back in that box.

A baby white tiger won over the kids in the audience because it was so cute.

The last animal they brought out was this leopard (sorry the pictures are so fuzzy).

We walked back through the game and food booths area on our way home.

The street we walked on the way back home was all but deserted.

Wearing Nothing But a Smile...

Today I'm wearing nothing but a smile and my birthday suit because it just seems like a good day for that.

Oh, Hoppy Day!

How many people do you know get to spend part of their work day taking photos of a giant dancing frog?

Well, you know at least one---me!  A costumed mascot from an area radio station was on hand at the library today as part of the summer reading program, and it is part of my job to take pictures of such events.  It was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and a gentle breeze.  I don't think it could have been much nicer.

Froggy busted a move just for me and my camera (Not an easy feat considering the size of the feet he was wearing!).  There were several games and activities going on in the grass around the giant frog.

This little boy decided to join in with the dance while his mother watched.

These boys were watching from a short distance away.  I love their expressions. 

I am reminded of the title to a Gershwin tune, "Nice Work If You Can Get It. "   Have I mentioned that I love my job?

Look At Me...I'm the Disco Duck!

Have you ever been so happy that you felt like dancing?  Well, here's a fellow who definitely has happy feet.

And watching that video reminded me of the song below, of course.  Oh my, the songs that are fixed permanently in my brain.  It is quite frightening to think about sometimes.  HA!

You're There When I Need You, You're There When I Need

It's time for some dancing music.  I heard this playing in the grocery store tonight.  It took me back 30 years in a blink of an eye.  I still love it after all this time.  I'm there on the dance floor....

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Basements, Boys, Business, and Blooms (Truly Grateful Series)

I haven't written a "grateful" post for a while.  I think I'm overdue.  


First of all, last weekend, the tornado siren went off in my town.  My husband was out of town, but the rest of us that were here (me, my two sons, two of their friends, and Max the dog) all made the dash for the basement. 

When the siren goes off, that means a tornado has been sighted.  It is not something to ignore or make light of.  Fortunately for us, the tornado didn't touch down in our area, skirting around us to the east.  Unfortunately for others, it did touch down elsewhere.  As a matter of fact, according to the news the next day, five tornadoes touched down in our little corner of the state of Ohio and in Michigan that night, and five people lost their lives.  Much damage was left behind as well.

One of the tornadoes tore a path through a high school.  Graduation ceremonies for seniors were to have been held there the next day.  My younger son has been in wrestling tournaments at that high school.  

Two horses were picked up by the storm, carried over the treetops, and dropped in a neighbor's pool.  School buses and police cars were picked up and tossed around as if they were toys. This happened in an area where I used to deliver books in the bookmobile at a previous library job that I had. 

Roofs were lifted off of houses and dropped onto roads.  Telephone poles and trees were snapped off like twigs.  Across the street from where my older son has been working this summer, twenty full-grown trees were blown down during the storm.

While listening to the news reports the last few days, as the reporters interviewed the people who lost their homes, I noticed something.  Over and over again, the people told how they made it out alive because they had gone to their basements.  Their homes were leveled, flattened, but they remained safe in their basements, emerging after the winds had moved to the next county.

*   *   *   *   *

Some days I have a difficult time believing how lucky I am to have my two sons.  Knowing that I was feeling rather emotional over the weekend, they were both trying their best to make things easier for me.  The older one, without being asked or told, noticed that the door handle on our back screen door was broken.  He went to the hardware store, got the necessary parts, returned home, and fixed the door while I was away at the auction.  My younger son mowed the grass, also without being asked or told to do so.  Two days earlier, he had mowed the grass at my mom's house too.  It is just so nice having these two young men around pitching in, sharing the load, and making it lighter.

*   *   *  *   *

My younger son will be attending Strings Camp for orchestra at the end of his month.  We were recently notified that he had been awarded a scholarship from the area arts council to use toward the cost of the camp.  What made this news even better was that his girlfriend was also awarded scholarship money to use for the same camp.  The arts council formally presented the awards to the students at one of the area libraries.  

My son after receiving his award.

His girlfriend receiving hers.

A group shot of some of the students that night.

*   *   *   *   *

I absolutely, positively love my job!  I am still learning and figuring things out, but I'm loving it.  I feel very fortunate being employed, and even more so being employed doing something I enjoy.  I love my office too!  Would you like to see it?  You would?  Of course you would!  I knew you'd say yes.  

This is my desk in one side of my office.

This shows the other side of my office.  It's big enough to dance in, don't you think?

I have to tell you, I was wearing the biggest grin while taking these pictures.  I am so thankful for this job.

*   *   *   *   *

Lord, for basements and sirens and the protection they afford us during the fury of tornadoes, for sons who contribute and care, for the generosity of others who make it possible for young people to follow their dreams, for a job that is fulfilling and fun, and for the beauty of flowers that provide distraction during difficult times and are a daily source of joy to me, please let me be truly grateful.

O-o-h, Child, Things Are Gonna Get Easier

When I am struggling with something, the lines from a song that came out in 1970 go through my head in a sort of subconscious mantra that helps to soothe my nerves and calm me down and give me reassurance.  The song is titled, "O-o-h, Child" and was sung by the Five Stairsteps.  The lyrics go, "O-o-h, Child, things are gonna get easier.  O-o-h, Child, things are gonna get brighter."  In 1970, I was eleven years old.  I am considerably older than that now.  That's a long time for song lyrics to be stuck in my head and for them to continue to resurface on a regular basis, but they do.

Pretty much for as long as I can remember, I have carried around with me the thought that "things are gonna get easier."  If I just do this or that or accomplish some goal or solve some puzzle, then things will suddenly, magically be easier, brighter, better.  When I was in high school, it was---  if I can just pass this Algebra test, or if I can just learn to parallel park, or if only some cute guy will ask me to the prom, then things will get better.

In college, I was sure that once I got my diploma, things would change.  I'd have no more problems, and it would be smooth sailing. Wrong again.  New difficulties appeared.  

As a young mother, when my sons were babies, I thought if I can just get them past the colicky stage, but that was followed by getting them out of diapers, and then getting them enrolled in school.  Since my sons are four and a half years apart, I'd just get one of them through a certain stage and then the other one would enter it.  While one was learning to drive, the other one was having to have braces put on his teeth and so forth.  It was always something.  

As they got older, their problems got bigger, as it happens for most of us.  One of my sons had to cope with the knowledge that the mother of one of his best friends committed suicide.  My son's friend was the one who found her after she had decided that life was no longer worth the effort it took to live it. 

My other son had to deal with speech problems that came from severe ear infections that he had as an infant which affected his hearing and speech development.  His speech improved and his hearing came back.  In fact, he is the one who plays the upright bass in the orchestra these days, so obviously those are problems that he has conquered.

Both boys had to deal with the kinds of problems that all kids face, bullies and broken hearts and disappointing losses.  As their mom, of course, I was always the one who was there to help them pick up the pieces and go on.  In a sense, their problems were my problems too, in that, it was up to me to teach them how to cope with whatever life dealt them.

With each problem that was solved, another would come along to take its place.  Every new challenge that was met and conquered was followed by another, and yet another.  Each new day brought with it and continues to bring with it, its own unique set of troubles to contend with.

I went to visit my mom at the nursing home tonight.  She had had a bad day.  As sometimes happens when she has a bad day and I come to visit her, she wanted to know if I had come to take her home.  I explained to her once again why that wasn't possible, why she needed to remain where she is, and why she needs to have 24 hour care.  She was clearly not happy with my response.

I sat with her while she had her dinner.  Mostly she focused on eating and didn't try to make conversation.  When she did try to talk, I had difficulty understanding her.  Although, if anyone is able to understand what it is she is trying to say, it is me.  As I listened to her struggle to talk, a thought occurred to me.  I remembered back to when my sons were babies and were first learning to talk. They could sit and babble away, and I'd understand everything they had to say while others were completely puzzled and had no clue what they were saying.  Now roles have changed, and now it is my mother that I am listening to intently in an effort to understand her words just as I did with my sons long ago.  Problems continue.  Each day brings some new ones to deal with or perhaps old ones reappearing in a new form.

my mom and my sons

I was mulling over all of these thoughts while walking through the park tonight.  By the time I got home from work, fixed supper, washed dishes, did laundry, and visited my mom, it was pretty late before I headed out to walk.  It was already dark when I left the house.  Because of my visit to my mom, the lyrics I mentioned above were playing in my head, my inner self making an attempt to comfort me.

Just as the words, "things are gonna get brighter," went through my head, I noticed a lone bright star in the sky.   I tried to take a picture of it, but it didn't turn out well.  Perhaps it wasn't even a star--perhaps it was a planet.  I don't know, and it doesn't really matter.  The point is, here was this star providing me with light, making things brighter, just at the moment I needed it.

That is how it has always been in my life too.  Yes, problems never go away completely.  They are always replaced with new ones as the old ones are solved or taken care of.  However, there has always been light to brighten the way for me, to guide me, to show me the way to go.  Either someone else or some thing provides the light I need to get through a crisis or figure out a solution to a problem, or I discover a way to make things brighter on my own.  Always, though, there has been hope and help available to me even if it meant I had to find a way to help myself. Sometimes it seemed slow in arriving, but help always arrived.

As I finished my walk, and returned home, this is the sight that greeted me.  Someone in my family had turned the porch light on for me in anticipation of my return home.  The light was on guiding my steps back home, making it easier, making it brighter. 

So this day is ending and a new one is beginning.  Actually it is already Saturday, and I started writing this when it was Friday.  This new day will bring trials of its own.  My mom's house and her remaining household goods are being sold at auction in a few short hours from now.  It's probably going to be a rough day.  I'd appreciate it if you all would leave the light on for me.

*   *   *   *   *

Here's the song that's been playing in my head.  I hope you like it.  If nothing else, you will enjoy the clothes.  Wow!  1970 was quite the year for fashion, wasn't it!  I think I need a hat like that.