Have I ever mentioned how great my #1 daughter is?

I know that is has been well over a year since I last blogged, but I just had to break the ice to publicly rave about my eldest daughter. If it were not for her (literally) I would not be blogging right now. And can you believe how cool my page looks!!?? It is almost as if Colette came along and used her wonderful creative skills just to try and inspire me to blog again. Who would not be inspired to blog about wonderful stories when they can post them on such a beautiful page?!

Well I am off to thank my wonderful, beautiful, brilliant, and loving daughter. I will be back soon with stories that I am longing to pass on:)

"Do You Tweet?" Nope, can't even do a decent chirp....

Things are absolutely changing too fast! I say this because...well, I've gotten old for one thing...but mostly because technology is zipping along and leaving me in the realm of 'non-zippers.' My extra smart 1st husband (see sidebar) is a "Zipper" as are my two daughters and grandchildren. My guy has always been intrigued by the cutting edge of technology. He's even mentally cut into technology on things like solar energy and home computers long before they were around...or at least known by the general public. Yeah, he's one of those smart kind of guys. I've never been on the cutting edge of anything....I tend to tip-toe around anything new or suggested, give it a weary eye and take the leap when I get shoved. Here's where I'm going; and you knew it was somewhere:

I've been asked on a fairly regular basis by even perfect strangers if I Twitter. Okay, first of all, it's hard to give a straight answer to a question that just makes you giggle. "Twitter"? Really? Why is it Twitter? Why not "Purr"? Or "Fart"? Maybe "Neigggghhhh"? But, Twitter....like a bird? Why? Secondly, why would you care what relatives, friends and mostly strangers are doing any given moment of the day? I find myself boring on a fairly consistent basis, so why would I possibly believe anyone.....including my loved ones...would care about me announcing to the public at large (again....strangers) that I was doing the laundry, or going to the store. Come on world! Isn't this giving people license to be even more boring than the majority of us are to start with? Do I care that actor Ashton Kutcher is on Letterman, leaning into the camera, looking me straight in the eye and encouraging me to become one of his millions of Twitter followers? He's cute and seems like a nice guy. Even an entertaining one....but, really I don't care to know what he's doing every day of his life. If he's hanging with George Clooney or Tom Selleck, than yeah....maybe....but, what are the chances?

Well, even though I don't get the whole Twitter revolution thing I have now officially been dragged to the Twitter world. My house chum and oldest daughter took me through the steps and I'm now one of the zillions of brain dead Twitters who "tweet." Sort of. So far I've only tweeted in response to my daughters Twitter observation about her three year old daughter. I came back with "I'd love to make a tent out of pillows." It's there if you or any strangers you know would like to log on to "Twitter", follow me and get THAT scoop.

In the meantime, I thing I'll head back to Facebook and join some of my new, sight unseen friends and see what those strangers are up to.

Visting isn't what it used to be. This is with our friends Snow and Diann this summer. Were we "Twittering?" I dare say we weren't!

P.S. Oh, if anyone reading this "Tweets", feel free to follow me!

And a Grand Time Was Had.....

While our daughter Colette and grandkids were here visiting, we had many fun things on our "fun things to do" list and some not so fun things on our "gotta do it or die" list. One of the 'gotta do's' involved more walking than I like, but hey....I'm a good sport so I'll put myself out every now and then.

Our nearby grand-daughter, Hali, will be a senior in high school this fall, so she asked her aunt Colette to take her senior pictures since Colette is a photographer of some note within our family unit......and even with others that are not related at all. I've often been confused as the family photographer but, I'm not. I take pictures frequently and of everything. She however takes GOOD photo's. Not as often, but with a better eye and good equipment. So, there's a huge difference.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Hali requested senior photo's. So, of course as a 17 year old with a discriminating point of view, she didn't want her picture taken just anywhere or somewhere that was going to be a popular, outdoor spot for photo's that her peers would have. We had to go to an out-of-the-way area. She requested a photo sitting at a beautiful lake in the hills. Well, we say....good choice! We could combine her photo sitting with a family day in the hills playing tourist, which we kind of were. So, we all piled into Colette's suburban ....a very large car. She lives in Chicago where the drivers are very aggressive, so no small or compact car for her. Since she couldn't buy an army tank to give her an advantage over the other nincompoop drivers in the area, she wanted one that would at least make other vehicles bounce off of her in case of an angry driver competition. Side note: If anyone hears me complain about South Dakota drivers in the future; just slap me. We've drove in almost every state in the contiguous US and Chicago and the surrounding area has the most aggressively, rude, 'every-man-woman-and child', take-no prisoners attitude in drivers we've witnessed. Seriously, I think they run over each other in the name of sport. Even my otherwise sweet, considerate, non-combative daughter changes personality as soon as she hops into her vehicle. It's frightening to see. (Yes you do Colette, so don't try to deny it. The veins in your neck pop out while you're strapping on your seat belt and by the time you're out of your driveway, the whites of your eyes are flaming and you're looking for the first driver to shout obscenities at.)

Obviously the mentions of Colette's vehicle side-tracked me. Back to the photo trip in the hills. Soooooo....we're heading to the lake and along the way Colette, who moved away from the area over 20 years ago, remembers an area that has large groves of aspen trees. She's driving past one grove after another and mumbling, "Nope, not that one. Uh uh, not that one either," while the rest of us are commenting they all pretty much looked alike to us. Finally Hali inquires, "Aunt Colette, are we looking for a particular aspen tree?" We laughed, but she was serious. Finally after about a dozen different sites, we arrived at one Colette deemed acceptable. We all throw ourselves out of the vehicle......remember, it's large so you don't just step out of it...and breathed a sigh of relief to finally have found a couple of trees that met with Colette's approval.

I should mention, only because the reader will probably notice, I was busy taking pictures of Colette taking pictures because, that's what I do. Remember the whole not"good picture taking, but frequent picture taking thing? OK, just wanted to be sure everyone remembered that. So, after the particular Aspen tree sitting, Colette spied an old rail fence from a distance of about 7 miles away. If you recall, I said she was good at this. So, once again we all piled out and went about our assigned duties; Hali being posed by Colette, Colette taking pictures, grandson Marc or Bob holding the reflector. Whoever didn't hold the reflector was the baby wrangler and had to corral 3 year old, energetic, "glad to be out of her car-seat", Cassie. I of course was busy taking pictures of all the gang and/or scenery.

By now the day is getting on, the troops are getting hungry as well as antsy and we still haven't made it to the designated photo spot. The lake. We finally arrive and the lake is indeed beautiful, the shoreline a short distance from the parking lot. But, did anyone say this was going to be an easy task? Indeed not! We are lead not to the nearby lake with a beautiful backdrop of blue sky, trees, and hills, but on a path that wound halfway around the lake, into a large outcropping of rocks, timbers and tourist looking for the historic site of Custer's Last Stand. OK, I'm lying about Custer. But, all things considered, the lake was sadly the last place of focus. Some of the best pictures of Hali were in front of large boulders (see above), tree's (also see above) and paths (possibly above) that would've looked like any other place in the Black Hills in about a zillion places that didn't require walking a few miles. Oh wait, we could've done this in our back yard! Teenagers! Did the lake show up in any pictures? A couple out of the hundreds taken.

The end result was a fun day in the hills, lots of laughs, great pictures....which I won't post the best of because Hali will want to send out her choice later and I might accidentally put her preference on this page and you know.....teenagers!

Taking Grandma Down a Peg (or more.)

I take my role as a grandmother very seriously and am quite proud of being in a very favorable position with my grandchildren. Let's face it.....I'm good at it. Being a grandmother that is. It's been a natural talent since my oldest grandchild, Ashli, was born almost 26 years ago. I nurtured that talent through the next three grandchildren, Brendan, Hali and Marc. The last (yeah, heard THAT word before) grandchild, Cassie; age three, doesn't like me. I know! I can't believe it either, but it's true! Maybe dislike is a strong word....but, she does show a lot of disinterest in me. Me! Even strange wildlife and insects have been drawn to me, but this cute, adorable little tow-head? Not so much. Here's the story:

Our oldest daughter Colette and her two youngest offspring recently came for a visit. They live in Chicago, so it's not like we see them often. When they arrived there were lots of hugs and kisses. Marc hugged me, Cassie hugged her grandfather, her grandfather hugged her mother, her mother hugged Marc. Nope, sorry...they were together. Her mother hugged me, Marc hugged his grandfather, his grandfather hugged his grandmother (we're like that...we hug a lot) but when it came to grandma attempting to hug Cassie; grandma was regarded with an arched, 3 year old eyebrow and a "don't even think about it" attitude. What (?) said I....but, I figured she was tired from the long drive and overwhelmed by seeing everyone hugging and carrying on. So, I thought I'd bide my time. They left yesterday after about a week and a half and I'm still biding. She enjoyed her grandpa, her aunt...her uncle, her cousin...the rocks in the driveway, but not me. She did have a moment or two. Like when she discovered the bottom of my feet were ticklish....that was fun for her. I'm not crazy about being tickled, but hey! I was willing to endure so she could enjoy me. However, there's only so long you can enjoy yourself by tickling someone and she tired of that after about 10 minutes. (Thank goodness!)

Well, I'm sure someday she'll look back on pictures from that visit and say, " Grandma wasn't so bad. Little wacky, but in this family that's to be expected. Kinda fluffy, but that looks rather cuddly. Looks sad, but that's probably because I wasn't paying any attention to her. Over all, not bad for an older kid!" Yeah, that's what she'll say.

More to blog about regarding the visit, but I'll do that later. Can't say enough about grandson Marc. He likes me, he really likes me! A bit of brainwashing at a young age didn't hurt him any.

"American Idol".....Family Style

We recently finished viewing the latest season of the TV show, “American Idol.”  Of course, almost all the contestants were good…some much better than others.  OK, there were a few serious clunkers in the group, but that’s just my opinion.  As anyone knows that watches the show; everyone has one.  An opinion, that is.   The judges aren’t admired by a few in our family, and some may say a couple are pretty well ridiculed by certain men that yell at them while ensconced in their recliners.  I’m not mentioning names.   Anyway, I started thinking about how that showz premises may fare if it was performed and judged by our immediate family.   

In selecting judges for this Family Idol setting, I picked four seasoned, non-judgmental (?) personalities.  Myself, since I’m extremely fair, smiley, quirky and have been known to stand up and applaud wildly and dance in place when I’m listening to very good singing.  Or even bad singing.  I’d be the positive, talk in circles kind of judge.  Think Paula Abdul.  Next would be my beloved spouse, Bob.  The grump.  However, a grump with a sound knowledge of music, as long it didn’t come out after the year 1961.  Anything south of ’61 he knows inside and out.  Afterwards till present?  Not so much.  But, that doesn’t stop him from having opinions.  Loud opinions.  Think: Simon Cowell.  Next we would seat Colette, our oldest daughter, as a participate on this panel.  She would be fair, articulate, and knowledgeable and would also tend to soothe any possible injured egos with a few positive words.  Well, perhaps more than a few because she has enough of her mother in her to not stop at 10 words if 100 would get her point across even more.  Finally, our 4^th and last judge on this panel would be Rhonda, our youngest daughter.  Rhonda walks somewhere on the edge of her dad’s personality and has one foot into mine.  In other words, she can be extremely nice one second and turn on you the next.  (Colette can to, but that’s not personality; that's menopause.)  They're both very cool and

   musically savvy.   Both girls were raised on early rock and roll from their parent’s era, disco and heavy metal from their teen’s right through the music of their children’s years.  Whatever kind of music that is.  So, both are very knowledgeable and used to dishing out unwanted advice to younger versions of themselves.

Our contestants are:  Our oldest grand-daughter, Ashli, age 25.  She’s gorgeous, smart, talented…but, does she have what it takes to be a “Family Idol?” As the oldest, she may be able to manipulate and use her charm to get votes.  Grandson Brendan at 20 is great looking.  He can get the young adult vote.  He’s proven he’s got rhythm because he practically flung himself out

of the hatch a dancing.  But, does he have what it takes to be a singer? We’ll have to see.  Grand-daughter Hali, at 16 has done great at school in choir and even tried out for select choir and made it.  But, singing alone she’s a bit reticent to show the full range of her pipes.  She can get the teen boy vote and possibly even some girls, but can she over come her shyness to release the power of her voice in front of the judges?  Next is Marc, our 15 year old heart-throb.  He’ll pull in the votes with his charm and humor…but, his singing is an unknown…at least in the family, where the votes really count.  Last is the youngest contestant and 3 year old grandchild, Cassie.  Her singing is very well known because she has sang constantly and loudly since she was aware of the TV set and/or her mother, who sings to her a lot (and thank goodness we don’t have to judge Colette!).  She will jockey for position with her peers, but will her age be a factor in not getting serious consideration?  We shall see.

“Family Idol” begins with our first contestant Ashli singing, “It’s Raining Men.”  She sings with great authority, as she should because her life has been full of the opposite sex. The judges critique her performance when she’s done.

Kay:  Beautiful!  Wonderful!  You’re a star… your dress is gorgeous and I love your hair!

Bob:  Come on!  Obviously you’re a beautiful girl, but that last note…it was like watching a horror show!

Colette:  Oh my gosh!  That was so powerful, so masterful.  The way your voice took huge leaps out of the musical spectrum and swelled out as huge as the ocean than did a gigantic spin in the middle and soared to…….

Rhonda:  Co, put a lid on it!  Ashli….dude!  That was bitchin’!You really rocked  out and I think you did make the skies rain men.  All men here will vote for you ‘cause,   Dude…that was hot!

Next Brendan steps out,  breaks out into one of his famous smiles, shoves his jeans down a bit lower  and performs “Beautiful.”  After his last note fades away and the applause dies the judges step up:

Kay:  Sweetie, you’re so handsome!  I love your shirt and can’t believe how talented you are.

Bob:  Seriously?  I mean seriously…you call that howling singing?  It was boring, it was self- indulgent, and it was monotonous. It’s time for you to go home.

Colette:  Oh my gosh!  That was so powerful, so masterful.  The way your voice took huge leaps out of the musical spectrum and swelled out as huge as the ocean than did a gigantic spin in the middle and soared to…..

Rhonda:  Co, seriously, you just said all that to Ashli, now Brendan?  Seriously, dude?

Colette:  Well  Ron, you know I believe in being fair because I don’t want any of them to feel I’m playing favorites and besides…..

Rhonda:  Thank you Co, for enlightening us.  Now, can we please get on with the judging?  Brendan, dude….what can I say?  I mean really…WHAT can I SAY?  If you’re going to do an Eminem song, you can’t stand there and smile.  Dude, you have to wipe the grin off and slam it!

 

As Brendan leaves the stage, Hali bounces on to it and smiles at the judges.  After several tugs on her hair, she  begins to  quietly sing,   “Waking Up In Vegas”.

 

Kay:  Baby Doll!  That was wonderful!  And oh my gosh, you look so cute tonight.  Well done!

Colette:  Oh my gosh!  That was so powerful…..

Rhonda:  COLETTE!  Is your teleprompter stuck on one page? What is your problem?  Try some new adjectives, will ya dude?

Colette:  As I  was about to say Hali, before I was rudely interrupted,  your interpretation of that Katie Perry song was spot on!  Fantastic.  (Colette slumps into a pout.)

Rhonda:  Dude!  Katie Perry?  Really?  That was righteous!  You take my breathe away, dawg. (Rhonda beams.  This is, of course, her only child.) 

Hali exits and Marc enters, squinting at the lights, winking at the females and snapping his long fingers.  After taking a deep breath he starts belting out, “Boom, Boom, Pow!” When he finishes he winks again at the female judges and awaits their comments.

Kay:  Sweetie…look at you!  You’re so tall and handsome.  I’m so proud of your for taking a chance on that song.

Bob:  You call that a song?  It was so bad I fell asleep waiting for it to end.  I think you can call it a day.

Colette:  I haven’t heard anyone sing that song so amazingly good.  Your pitch was great, your undertones were absolutely the best thing I’ve heard in ages.  You’re truly a singer of songs in the tradition of Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davis, Jr.

Rhonda:  Co, how can you compare a song originally done by the Black Eyed Pea’s to Sinatra or Sammy?  You’re killing me here!  Marc, dude…you’re waxin’ that’s for sure.  That was smokin’!

The last contestant takes the spotlight.  Literally.  She picks it up and starts to carry it out of the room.  Cassie, the little 3 year old minx has a mind of her own about when and how to do things.  With a bit of coaxing,  she puts the spotlight back, sits on the floor under it, opens her mouth and the words thunder out of her mouth as she puts her own spin to “Hang on Snoopy.”  The crowd is on its feet and they loudly chant, “Cassie, Cassie, Cassie.”  That crowd is mostly other three year olds, but still…..it’s easy to pick her mother out of that mob.

 

Kay:  You darling baby, that was so precious.  You’re such a cutie-pie and I love your singing and dancing.

Bob:  I hope you don’t try to get by on your big blue eyes or the cute factor, because that performance was painful to watch. I think it’s over for you, kid.

Colette:  Oh my gosh!  That was amaz……(She stops and glances at her sister Rhonda.)  That was good, but maybe just a tad pitchy in places.  The start was a bit wobbly, but I could see when you started to feel more confident in your ability and decided to just bring us the full impact and tenor of your wonderful voice.  That was great.  I loved it.

Rhonda:  (Stares at Colette.)  Dude, since my fellow judge indicated your might have had some pitch problems, let me just say.  I DISAGREE!  That was the bomb, dude!  I was diggin’ it and I think you’re going  all the way with that one.  Better than the original!

Can we take a vote on the first and best “Family Idol?” Well sure....and our vote goes to...wait!  Rhonda's husband Marty just strolled into the room with his guitar.  Good try kids, but you know who gets our vote.  Yay Marty!

How to Grandma - Proof a House

When our daughter Colette announced she's coming for a visit in June, my first reaction was a very enthusiastic "Hippy Ki Ho!"  Or "Yippy Ki Yo!"  One of those two.  Very excited because she hasn't been home since her youngest child was born.  Besides 3 year old Cassie she's also bring our youngest grandson, Marc...a tall, handsome 15 year old with an excruciating droll sense of humor.  Promises to be a fine time.  

Then I started eyeballing our home by keeping in mind what a busy, busy, BUSY three year old  might see and determine was fascinating to explore, bounce, roll, mix with food or waste products and possible, even break.  That's when I realized I might want to remove a couple hundred small pieces of special items in my "collections."  It was very easy when the other grandkids came visiting as youngsters because they were in that inquisitive stage before I bumped into the golden years, when for some ambiguous reason women my age feel they must start a collection.  Many, many collections!  

I don't know when this desire to fill my home to overflowing with cute and clever pieces of ceramic do-dads, plastic curly-q's, tiny tea cups nobody in their right minds would attempt to drink from, bells that nobody is allowed to ring, clang or clatter, dolls that just hang about in their designated spots....without interaction with humans.  Of course, throw in the special gifts from loved ones that are crystal (Waterford baby!),  Belleek (Yay Ireland!), wildlife sculptures (thank you loved ones that venture into tourist shops) and the list  goes on and on and on.  I get one thing, fall in love with it and proclaim a new collection in the making.  Than I announce it to one and all via cyperland, telephone,  special courier and homing pigeon, "Hey, wait till you see what I just looooooove!", and a new collection is born.  Oh, not everything is age appropriate.........but,  can't help myself.  Anything to do with Tweety Bird finds its way into a collection.   I think perhaps because Tweety is a symbol.  Sweet and a rather cuddly looking with major attitude.  Don't want to mess with that bird even if you're bigger, scary-looking, and appear to be more powerful, 'cause she can take you down.  Love it!

So, maybe instead of instructing our feisty, inquisitive little three year old to not touch anything,  or put everything out of reach,  I'll just leave them out and teach her about collecting.   Maybe she'll make a couple of mental notes about what she thinks her grandma might like to have to start a new collection or two.  

One of my favorite pictures from my grandma stash of photo's.....and believe me, when it comes to the grand kids, that stash runs into the thousands.   While youngest grandson, Marc, feigns sleep....his baby sister,  Cassie,  has been yelling in the vicinity of his left nostril, to WAKE UP!  He's funning around, she's serious!

Upswept hairstyles? Must mean Prom!

I have to admit, the genes on my husbands side of the family tend to produce what I consider to be very pretty females.  Good thing, because that seems to be what turns up a lot in our brood.  Our 16 year old grand-daughter, Hali, went to her prom this past weekend which made me hunt up some prom pictures from the girls before her.  The first to dance away in a upswept "do", a smile and a promise to be home by curfew was Colette in the first of her prom gowns. Gotta love those 80's styles!  Next came Rhonda in the first of her gowns appearing mellow after an hour or so of submitting to her mother styling her hair and sticking roses in her locks.  Poor dear.  Next, our oldest grand-daughter in her first formal...red and sparkly....and wearing her hair up.  Hali, before her date arrived in her blue, bubble dress and...yes, the hair worn back & up.  Last is ...Ohhhhh!  Ashli in her first formal!  Couldn't resist.  However, please note her hair is not upswept.   

Recipe For Winter Beauty

I've been known to complain about winter, but occasionally we have had moments when the right conditions prevail and we have a delicious scene.  All Mother Nature does is mix the following:  Early morning fog or mist, mixed liberally with cold air and snow.  Sit aside a few hours than  fold in sunshine and blue skies and a bit of warmth.  Have a seat at a nearby window and enjoy the view.  Can't serve this scene near enough for family and friends to enjoy.

The Birds Applauded

   

First I  have to say,  I wish I could take credit for coming up with the title of this blog.   After all, it is MY birds I'm going to be paying homage to,   and since I'm doing the typing....I could easily just lead everyone on.  I have to confess, my  friend Diann came up with it....in passing.....she worked it into the conversation.  Which can only tell you the conversations I have with friends and/or family aren't necessarily normal bits of verbal exchanges.  How do you work facts like birds applauding  into anything, verbal or otherwise?  Kinda like this:

My personal household buddy and I have a few zillion flocks of birds we feed on a regular basis.   Please allow me to state we have only named two of them, so we aren't nearly as deranged as our daughters would lead people to think we are.   These birds have become somewhat lazy we think, and depend on us to provide them with food so they don't have to do  the aviary thing of foraging and carrying their groceries.  They like the luxury of hanging out on or in the bird feeders we have thoughtfully provided them with, filled with the finest of bird foods,   imported all the way to  our backyard from..... some  bird food carrying store.  It's the caviar  of grains,  the lobster of sunflower seeds.  OK, it's the cheapest we can buy in bulk.  But, we  can tell they enjoy it as though they were eating the most gourmand worms nestled on gold plated dishes. Whoa!  Starting to scare myself,   I'll stop.

So, having cold weather in our part of the country for weeks on end this winter,  we have neglected to keep our feathery friends supplied with seed.   By "we" I mean Bob.  Our feeders all requited a ladder in  order to reach them.  I personally do not do ladders, but that's another story.

Most of the time they'll  light  on  the feeders, take in  the fact they're empty.....look toward  the window,  give us a rude wing gesture and fly away.   However, apparently the recent spring blizzard caused them feel  to feel a bit panicky because they stirred up quite a racket on all the feeders hanging near our kitchen window.   As we watched, they had the equivalent of a street fight going on.  They shoved each other off pegs of some of the feeders and threw snowballs at each other on the larger ones.  They dive bombed  new arrivals,  had midair collisions as they jockied for position and scratched and clawed to find a stray seed.  It was pathetic!  In all the confusion and fuss some would occasionally stop and peer at us through the window 

with tears in their eyes.   A few pounded their little wings against their heaving chests in frustration,  their heads drooping from the weight of their despair. Been reading a lot of books....can you tell?Anyhooooo.....Mr. Softy couldn't take it anymore, so he dressed to do battle with the elements, and hastened out the door, wrapped head to toe in his warmest armor to skirmish with the 80 mph wind driving the snow sideways.   He fought the door of the shed to retrieve his trusty ladder, grabbed the heavy pail of bird food and filled those feeders to the brim.  I stood at the window encouraging him with shouts of "bravo" (and the occasional,  "you are stupid, stupid, stupid for doing that!") and tossing confetti in the air.  Well, it wasn't confetti...it was rice because I happen to be preparing dinner at the time....what a mess!  I tend to get very enthusiastic about things.

He wasn't even back in the house before the birds returned,  texting to their friends that the feeders were full.   We were very happy for them and I was delighted with my hero that he took it up on himself to care enough to confront Mother Nature, who having a PMS day, just to make our little friends happy.  As Diann, my friend said;  the birds applauded him as well.