Saturday, March 19, 2016

It's Spring Brrrrrrreak

Spring Break has broken. We're not doing anything terribly exciting to celebrate it, but a break is a break, and I'm thankful for that times ten!

1. My dad also got broken this week, but suffice it to say that it could have been so, so much worse, as in a hip or arm or even both arms. You can read about it here, if you haven't already.

2. We headed to the lake house for the first weekend of our break and brought all three cats with us. I'm thankful that two out of the three went willingly into their carriers to come with us. The third one eluded us, as the last time she went into her carrier, she got taken to the vet, but my husband nabbed her after Emma and I left (he had to attend a meeting before he could leave town) and brought her with him.


Pete spent the entire day right here.


Ruby never misses an opportunity
to admire herself in a mirror.

3. I'm pretty sure I speak for Ruby when I say that this thankful is for her: had she not thought she was home-free from getting in her carrier and sauntered into our bedroom right after Emma and I left, she would have been left home alone for three days. She has NEVER been home completely alone before; even when we have been gone, the other two cats are there with her. She would have been one sad, lonely kitty!

4. We did absolutely nothing all day today except eat, nap, and watch intellectual tv shows. We did lazy right.

5. I annoyed my husband and daughter during a Keeping Up With The Kardashians marathon by not knowing who anyone was. Every scene, I had to ask them to identify each member of the family. I really am thankful that I don't care enough to know which one is which.

6. Naturally, now that it's Spring Break, the weather has turned cold and nasty. In spite of the brisk northerly wind and temps in the 40s, I found a teeny, tiny violet growing in the yard. We used to have violets at the house I lived in until I was 11, but they didn't bloom until late May. Finding this shivering violet in the yard brought back sweet memories of taking a bouquet of violets to school for my teacher, the stems wrapped in a wet paper towel and covered with a piece of aluminum foil.


This violet bloom was about the size of a dime.

7. Another blast from the past were these grape hyacinths that were growing outside the screened-in porch. They used to come up every spring at my great aunts' house when I was a little girl.


Grape hyacinths.

8. Thanks, Fletcher, for insisting on going out on the screened-in porch in spite of the weather; otherwise, I wouldn't have seen the grape hyacinths or the violets.


Fletcher enjoying the fresh air on the
screened-in porch.

My husband refers to them as "prison gay."

9. Emma and I went to Dick's 5&10. It's a real dime store and lots of fun to putter around in. It's always full of tourists, so we don't go very often. You can buy hair nets and toys and underpants and Christmas decorations and souvenirs and candy and a gazillion things in between.




10. Dick's had candy cigarettes.




In all things, give thanks.




Ten Things of Thankful


 Your hosts


16 comments:

  1. Candy cigs - hahaha - do you remember the ones that were bubble gum - we grew up with penny candy - Nick and I always reminisce - my favorite were a bag of Swedish Fish,Smarties and Bazooka bubble gum oh i see so many in your picture that I liked/loved- I was also a bit of a frugal when i bought the candy I always had to have an extra quarter to play the pinball game or some kind of driving game too. oh fun times....

    Kudos on getting the cats to come too - and well if I looked as good as Ruby I too would sit in front of the mirror and admired myself! :)

    Lazy days are always welcomed and so needed....

    Oh by the way am I Frist !!!!! Yay

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Frisk, Marisa!
      We used to get penny candy at the dime store when I was a kid, and each piece really was a penny! BB Bats, Sixlets and licorice were my favorites.
      The cats love coming to the lake house, but only Pete is okay with the actual trip. Fletcher complains a lot. Ruby sulks.
      I only got out of my chair to pee and to get more Diet Coke and Oreos :)

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  2. Your description of how you wrapped the flowers to take to your teacher brought back memories-- I would take daffodils to my teacher using the same method.

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    1. We also had some magnificent irises that I would take to the teacher. Such an end-of-the-school-year feeling to do that!

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  3. hey! it looks like the lake house is back to normal (the dock in the background of the 4th from the last photo). (another cool, albeit weird thing about this here blogosphere… knowing and remembering stuff that's happened to people's parent's lake house that I've never met.)
    Candy cigarettes! damn, takes me back (I remember they even had name brand boxes and every thing!

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    1. Good eye! Yes, the water is mostly back where it belongs, and the basement is mostly back to what it was before, which isn't necessarily a good thing, since my dad is a packrat down there.
      The candy cigarettes tasted just the same. My box had the brand name "Kings" on it. I chain smoked every one of them and it was divine.

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  4. Flowers and kitties and spring break! I love it! And now...Ima gonna haveta go find one of those candy cigarettes. ;)

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    1. I smoked many a candy cigarette in my day and they did not turn me into a smoker. The kitties are enjoying spring break more than me, because they don't care that it's cold.

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  5. Wow, it is true that cigarettes really do make you look cool!
    Love the grape hyacinths that have been with the family for years. Sigh...I am a sucker for those kinds of connections.

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    1. Don't I look TOTES COOL?!
      And me, too, May. If I could, I would bring you some of these, the stems wrapped in wet paper towels and aluminum foil....

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  6. Yeah, I used to watch that show. Not sure why.
    :-)
    It can get addictive in some strange way.
    Love all those spring flowers you mention in your post. Were always some of my favourites.

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    1. It is addictive, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because you just can't believe how shallow they are!
      Spring flowers are just spots of sunshine, aren't they?

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  7. Hehehe I loved the candy cigarettes, but there were always two kinds - the chocolate kind with the thin paper wrapper which wouldn't tear off properly so I used to just eat the paper as well, and the candy candy white candy tastes like sweet-and-nothing kind. I preferred them, by a margin.

    SO SO GLAD your Dad's okay! EEEEK! I'm so behind on everything (I have an excuse - I broke). And...glad for your laziness and the lake house not being flooded any more and all being well with you guys.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Ooo, we didn't have chocolate ones. These were the white candy that doesn't taste like anything except a candy cigarette and the tip is pink, like a lit cigarette. Some of them were gum with a paper wrapper, but they were gross.
      My dad, one week later, hardly looks like anything happened to him, except for the black eye.

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  8. My kids take iris from our yard to school every year the first week of May. wet paper towels are important, but we put them in sandwich baggies instead of tin foil.
    I just read about your dad's injury. Holy cow! Glad it wasn't worse and that he has managed to keep his sense of humor about it all. But yeah, you're doomed. You already have a hard time staying on your own two feet. ;)
    Ah, to have a lake house to retreat to where I feel no obligation to do anything but watch tv and eat...

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    1. Irises make me think of the end of the school year. I wish I had some now. I wish in the fall, when it's time to plant bulbs, that I would want them enough to plant them.
      I have had a little trouble staying on my feet lately. But I didn't BREAK MY FACE.
      You can come to the lake house any time you want.

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