Tap..tap.. tap... Hello? Is this thing on?

I've been a bit... lax. Some might even say lazy. A totally irresponsible blogger. Ok. Fine. You're right. I have been downright irresponsible. I will try to make amends.

Granted, it's not all my fault...well, it is... because it's my blog, but we've had a big change in lifestyle. We're no longer expats. We're repats. Repatriotates. Is that a word? It should be. It is now, and it's appropriate. It's based on real language, but does not quite fit, which is often how I feel even though we've been back in the US for nearly three years now. Maryland is truly beginning to feel like home to me, but at times, I still feel like an alien, and that is very distracting.

Oh well... it just needs more time, and time is something I've got. 

So, let me catch you up! 

Ha! Yeah... right... Not happening... 

Sorry. I'm about two years out of date and catching up isn't going to happen. Instead, I think I shall just blog about random stuff and if flashbacks and stories happen, then good. If not, then there will be new stuff and new photos. I will, at least, try to post new and old photos with each blog, but I'm not promising that there will be any pattern or logic to it.  

What's up with me? Well, today is better than yesterday. Yesterday, my back hurt a lot, it was hot, I could not get much done (because of the stupid back) and there was a dead raccoon in the yard. By afternoon, though I started to feel a bit better, it cooled down, and I was finally able to let go of the frustration of not being very mobile. A good attitude goes a long way and that's really all that changed from morning to afternoon... my perky positivity was simply a little slow to get started yesterday. I recall exactly when it kicked in too. Honor had had a friend stay over last night and the friend's mom had just come to pick her up. I was outside trying to reach the hose to clean the chickens' watering can. (My back is being stupid, but I can still do some small things) As our friend was driving down the driveway, she stopped due to problems with her emergency brake. About this time, another friend, a neighbor, showed up with her hayfork to collect the dead raccoon (for an autopsy) which just happened to be only a few feet away from where the car was stuck. I hobbled down the hill to go check in with both of them, and they were both concerned about me and seeing me on a cane.  That three-way conversation, about the cane, the car, and the dead raccoon was so perfectly absurd! How could I stay in a grouchy mood? It was a reminder that even when life gets a bit... weird... it is what it is. It is what we make of it. My neighbor was cool and helped with the dead animal, my friend got her car fixed, and my back will get better. Life is good. 

One nice thing about being forced to be careful with my back, ie. stay out of trouble in the yard and/or workshop, is that I didn't have to feel guilty about staying inside and working on the computer. I spent hours digging through Ancestry.com and working on my family tree yesterday. I was fine-tuning some work on one branch on my father's side of the family connected to settlers who came to the US in 1634 and settled in Massachusetts.

This guy is my 9th Great Grandfather - Rowland Stebbins:

"Rowland Stebbins - Sarah Whiting

· 23 March 2014 ·

Rowland Stebbins was born in 1592 at Stebbing (English parish-Bocking), Essex County, England, of a "family of great antiquity." He was baptized on November 5, 1592 at St. Mary’s Church in Bocking. He was the son of Thomas Stebbins. He married Sarah Whiting in Bocking on November 30, 1618. In 1634, with his wife and four children (Thomas-14, Sarah-11, Elizabeth-6, and John-8) and a Mary Winch (possibly a niece), Rowland Stebbins sailed in the ship "Francis" from Ipswich, England to the Colonies.

Because of his parentage. Rowland was considered a "person of quality." He is included in "Tile Original Lists of Persons of Quality" (Hotten's List of Emigrants) . The Stebbinses sailed from Ipswich as the nearest major seaport. Coming to the New World would have been an adventurous but not unusual undertaking in 1634. Although the Pilgrims had landed at at Plymouth Rock only 14 years earlier, emigration to Massachusetts was already booming. From 1629 to 1640 nearly 10,000 people were transplanted into the colony.

Because of his parentage. Rowland was considered a "person of quality." He is included in "Tile Original Lists of Persons of Quality" (Hotten's List of Emigrants) . The Stebbinses sailed from Ipswich as the nearest major seaport. Coming to the New World would have been an adventurous but not unusual undertaking in 1634. Although the Pilgrims had landed at at Plymouth Rock only 14 years earlier, emigration to Massachusetts was already booming. From 1629 to 1640 nearly 10,000 people were transplanted into the colony. Rowland Stebbins and his family first settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In 1635, he moved to Agawam, Massachusetts (afterward named Springfield), which was a colony founded by William Pyncheon. His wife, Sarah, died Oct. 4, 1649 at Springfield, Hamdon County, Massachusetts, aged 58 years.

Rowland is reported to have been assigned a sitting in the first seat of the church along with four other men. He was a freeman in 1664. Between 1664 and 1669, Rowland moved to Northampton, Massachusetts and was one of the first settlers there.

Rowland is reported to have been assigned a sitting in the first seat of the church along with four other men. He was a freeman in 1664. Between 1664 and 1669, Rowland moved to Northampton, Massachusetts and was one of the first settlers there.

Rowland was a surveyor. His skills would have been very much in demand during this period when dozens of towns and thousands of farms were being carved out of the wilderness. Indeed, he and his immediate children were involved in at least six new settlements ("developments," as we might call them): Roxbury, Springfield, Brimfield,

Longmeadow, Northhampton, and Deerfield. Twenty-four male petitioners founded Northampton in 1653. A 1661 church covenant shows seventy-five men and women in town. By 1674, Northampton held 108 men and the total town population stood at close to 500 persons.

Rowland Stebbins died Dec. 14, 1671 at Northampton. His burial place was found at Northampton in 1850 and marked. His will is recorded in the Will Book of Springfield, dated the first day of the first month of 1669-70."

Possible photo of an old portrait of Rowland...

 His gravestone...

I can't credit the author, for the story above, as s/he is not listed, but here is the original link. (I've copied this here as I don't want to lose the story in case the original poster removes it.)  https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/6010964

I was able to find Rowland Stebbin's name and family listed in Volume 1 of "The Great Migration begins - Immigrants to New England 1620-1633", information that was confirmed in other documentation, including FindaGrave.com and Ancestry. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20048398

Rowland Stebbin's descendents, children and grand-children, were present in Deerfield during the historic "massacre" that took place in 1704. Some were killed in the village. Others died or were killed along the route to Canada. My 6th Great-Grandmother, Thankful Stebbins, was 13yo at the time of the raid and was one of the 80+ captives to have survived the march to Canada. She was adopted (god-daughter) by the commander of the forces that attacked Deerfield, and she assimilated into society there and was eventually baptised as Therese Louise. At age 19, she married Adrien Charles LeGrain dit Lavelle. She was apparently well liked and respected by her community, and she and her husband had eleven surviving children.

"Thankful STEBBINS at age 13 was brought to Chambly after her capture, probably by one of the HERTEL brothers, and according to Coleman, Thankful lived at the Hertel manor at Chambly. Fournier says that shs was ransomed in 1706 by Hertel. Thankful was baptized 23 April 1707 at Chambly as Louise Therese STEBENE, the godparents were Zacharie-Francois HERTEL, Seigneur of Chambly and Madame de PERIGNY, wife of the commandant of Fort Chambly, Her baptismal record says erroneously that she was from "England". Thankful/Louise Therese was the godmother of Jean Baptiste DENOYON, son of her sister Abigail, In 1708 at Boucherville.
Thankful STEBBENS and Adrien LEGRAIN had a contract of marriage drawn up on 1 Feb 1711 at Notary Tailhandier. Thankful/Theresa Louise STEBENS and Adrien Charles GRAIN dit LAVALLEE were married 4 Feb 1711 at Ste Famille de Boucherville. Jacques DeNOYON was present at the wedding and quite likely Abigail STEBBENS. From her marriage with Adrien LEGRAIN, Thankful/Therese Louise STEBBENS had 13 children. The family lived in the parish of St Joseph de Chambly. Her death on 11 July 1729 at Chambly followed the birth of the least child about one week. The children of Thankful/Therese Louise STEBBINS and Adrien/Charles LEGRAIN were:Francoise-Therese, born 2 & bapt 3 Mar 1713 Chambly; Guillaume, born 28 & bapt 30 Dec 1714 Chambly; Marie-Jeanne, bapt 30 Aug 1716 Chambly; Marie, bapt 5 Feb 1718 Chambly; marr 7 Jan 1738 St Joseph de Chambly Jean-Francols BESSETTE; Marguerite, marr 27 Nov 1738 St Joseph de Chambly Joseph PEPIN dit LAFORCE.; marr 2nd on 8 Oct 1742 St Joseph de Chambly Michel LAGEU dit SANSCARTIER; Charlotte, bapt 6 Jan 1720 Chambly: marr Mar 1742 La Conception de la Pointe Olivier BAPTISTE VIEN: Isabelle/ELISABETH, born 17 Dec 1721 Chambly (mother called Louise THESMEN): as Elisabeth she marr 22 June 1741 La Conception de la Pointe Olivier JEAN BERTRAND; Judith, bapt 3 Jan 1722 Chambly: Antoine. bapt 1 Nov 1723 Chambly; Marie Therese, born & bapt 2 Feb 1725 Chambly (mother called Marie Therese LEBEAU); marr 23 Jan 1736 St Joseph de Chambly Jean Baptiste LARIVIERE; bur 21 July 1753 St Joseph de Chambly. Anonymous, born, bapt at home by "bonne femme" Bessette; died & bur 6 March 1726 Chambly. Charles-Antoine, born & bapt 2 June 1727 Chambly; marr Ist 31 Aug 1751 La Conception de la Pointe Olivier FRANCOISE BESSET; marr 2nd on 3 Nov 1756 Chambly Suzanne VALLIERE; Veronique. born & bapt 4 July 1729 Chambly; Some of the above children likely died in Chambly at a young age. Only 27 burials were listed in Chambly from 1701 to 1730."

I believe that most of the above came from "Baker, C. Alice True Stories of New England Captives 1897". I do not know if there are any other existing photos of Thankful Stebbins/Therese LaGrain, but in the 1880's, the author, Ms Baker, traveled to a burial ground at Fort Pontchartrain in Chambly and one of the few grave markers, slabs of oak, was for Therese.  

Bored yet? Hey, I find this stuff fascinating! One of Thankful's daughters, my 6th Great-Grandmother, married a man with the Pepin dit LaForce surname. He was only the second generation to use this name (my maiden name is LaForce) as his father was the one who adopted it. It's a French Canadian habit. Weird, I know. Anyway, before that, the family name was Pepin. I'd had some difficulty tracing this line of the family until I learned the secret of the 'dit's. 

Have I been up to anything else? Well yes, of course. I'm nearly finished writing a novel. I'm about 47 chapters in and it's looking pretty solid. I have other books outlined to follow it. To be honest, I really have no idea how to be an author, but I've been working on this concept and this world (it is fantasy/scifi) for years now. I've written short stories about it and have tried outlining a book about it before, but I never found the right story to tell with it. Just having this wonderful concept of a world, and a fairly well developed idea about characters, was not enough. I needed a story idea, one story idea(!), and I had to choose what perspective to tell it from. I think that I've finally figured that out. So far so good at any rate. Anyway, do I know what I'm doing? Will it be good enough to publish? Will I be able to figure all of that out in order to even try to get it published? I have no idea. I like it, what I have so far. It's working. I'm having fun with it. For now, that's plenty good enough for me. 

What else? It's summer break. The kids are out of school and we're staying busy. Brian has signed up for an art class through the county summer school program in order to fulfill a graduation requirement (one credit of fine arts). Taking the class in the summer will free up an hour during his schedule next year so that he can fit in another math or technology credit. Honor signed up for a volleyball class.  I don't have any pictures of Honor at volleyball. She's only had one meet so far. Brian seems to be enjoying his art class though. 

We had a friend of Honor's come down from Canada to visit for about ten days, and then Brad's brother Matt and his family came out and had a mini-vacation in the DC area. We did a bit of sightseeing with them, including a short tour of Gettysburg. 

The take-away from Gettysburg was, from Brian, that we needed to go back and do more as there was a lot to see and we'd barely scratched the surface. Honor was reminded of the open fields of green grass and stones from photos she's seen of Scotland. Now, she wants to go to Scotland.

Has this blog post been random enough for you yet? I hope so. I'm trying. And I will continue to try and write more often. No rules or promises! I'll wrap up by saying that my stupid back is less stupid today than yesterday, it's not as hot out today, and our yard is free of dead animals. Hopefully I will be able to go out and do some easy work this weekend. One day at a time. For the rest of today, I plan on taking it easy. Some indoor chores and laundry will be plenty, and maybe some more writing this evening. We've got a storm building up outside now, and I'm looking forward to the rain.

Love and hugs! - Connie

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 !!BONUS!!

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As I've been such a wayward and undependable blogger and have not posted in a very long time, I'll try to do a bit of random flashbacking on a regular basis to atone for my misdeeds (missed deeds?). 

Today is 14 July, 2017, so I'm bouncing back to share some of July 2004 when Brian was about 3yo and Honor was about 1.5yo.

Beanbags ... one of the best toys ever invented! You can sit in them too, or so I've heard. 

Brian taught his baby sister to take flying leaps off of a chair, landing in the beanbags. It was hilarious. A little nerve-wracking, but we survived. 

 

Fourth of July!

 Amazingly enough, I still have this laundry basket. Despite years of play and abuse and work, it's still alive. 

Brian went to a Montessori school and Honor loved to visit!

Playing in the wading pool, or, you know, not playing in the pool and choosing to sit on mom and dad and get us all wet too. 

Brian's first room. He helped choose the decoration. 

Honor with one of her favorite toys. 

 Brian in his favorite tree at our old Columbia house. 

Honor, NOT allowed in Brian's favorite tree... 

Remember the 2004 cicada invasion? We do!

Looking for cicadas. 

Pie, Pirates, and Food Related Culture Shock

Our silly kids came home asking for brownies today. I have no idea why. I hardly ever have surprise after-school brownies made. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had surprise after-school brownies made?! And usually, even if we have leftover dessert items, I make them wait for it until after dinner. Usually. Today though, I think they were talking about potential brownies on the bus, because as I stared past their eager begging faces, at the front door.. not even across the threshold… I looked across the patio and saw two school friends peeking in the gate, just in case surprise after-school brownies were to be had by all! Nope. No brownies. Sorry kiddos.

But.

Dessert had been requested and as dinner was already done, I gave it some thought. I didn’t want super sweet or too chocolately. I didn’t have bananas or other fruit for a sweet bread. I didn’t feel like making ice cream. I walked into the pantry and stared at stuff. There was a can of pumpkin. Perfect. We could have pie, and I could validate it as a need for beta-carotene. Something like that.

I needed a pie crust though, and looked in my stash for a cookbook that I thought might have a simple crust recipe. I laid my hands on this: 

The Gasparilla Cookbook is a product of the Junior League of Tampa and was originally published in 1961. My copy is from 1987 and was given to my mom by some friends when my parents moved away from Florida. Their website describes it as: “This is a traditional cook's book, featuring gourmet regional cuisine and prized heirloom recipes spotlighting the area's blend of Spanish, Greek, Cuban, Italian and Southern heritages.” It’s also for sale at Amazon.com where they note that “The Gasparilla Cookbook is a winner of the Southern Living Hall of Fame Award and the Walter S. McIlhenny Hall of Fame Award given to community cookbooks with sales over 100,000 copies.”

btw… I hear you asking, what the heck IS Gasparilla anyway?? For that I suggest you visit the Wiki page on the Gasparilla Pirate Festival or Google “Gasparilla 2013” for images. Yes, my cookbook may be ancient, and this festival is older still, but Jose Gaspar and his Krewe have been invading Tampa annually since (approximately) 1904 and are still at it to this day. Imagine Mardi Gras… with an invasion fleet, and pirates, in Florida.


I don’t have my own photos. I borrowed these off of the ‘net. It’s been so long since I’ve been in Tampa for the holiday! I was very envious of friends who were there and participated this year, and I very much enjoyed their fun photos shared on Facebook! It was their sharing that led me to grab this cookbook today instead of my usual ‘go-to’ binder of recipes, and I’m glad that I did. It brought back excellent food memories of my home city!

One favorite recipe is deviled crabs. Not crab cakes…. I’m talking authentic Tampa street food - blue crab stuffing, rolled into a bread crumb jacket (which you know had real cuban bread crumbs in it), and then deep fried in hot oil. Yum! Here’s a great article about them, and photos of how they are made, from a restaurant my dad really liked. Seabreeze (which is now closed). http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2010/03/09/tampa-foodways-the-conquistador-complex-and-the-lost-art-of-the-devil-crab#.URFR2x2sffc

“I can't think of a more appropriate place to start, than the devil crab, one of Tampa's original culinary creations. The snack first appeared around 1920 as street food in Tampa, concocted when blue crab was plentiful. Heat from red pepper flakes gave the rolls their infernal name.”

This cookbook has a recipe for deviled crabs! Of course, without the cuban bread or blue crab, I doubt I could recreate this treat, but it’s nice to reminisce about them!

Next, I’ll direct your attention back to the photo, above, of the cookbook. See that impossible and outrageous salad on the pirate’s platter? Lettuce, tomato cucumber, kalamata olives feta cheese, avacado, beets, shrimp (sometimes anchovies), bell pepper, onions, etc. and believe it or not, underneath the whole concoction is a base of simple potato salad. I am not kidding. This is what I grew up calling a “Greek Salad”.  Now, I’ll pause for a moment for those who are not familiar with Tampa and who only know of Greek salad from, say, Greece, to giggle for awhile. See, Tampa has a huge Greek-American population. Probably the largest in the nation. Tarpon Springs was settled by Greek sponge divers long, long ago, and they are a thriving community to this day. Among other things, the area is famous for their annual dive for a cross for Greek Orthodox Epiphany.

This year was the 107th celebration, therefore, one can assume that the Greek culture has been an integral part of Tampa for, literally, decades, so, can I please be forgiven for assuming that I should know just what the heck a Greek salad is? Imagine my surprise when I actually went to Greece and the Greek salad they gave me there, was a mere tiny bowl of tomato, onions, cucumber, olives and a few chunks of feta. Don’t get me wrong. I like this sort of salad too, but I was expecting this:

and was given this:

Not a single shrimp or carved radish?!? What the…?? I was so sad. Fortunately, this cookbook has the recipe to make Greek salad the Tampa way.  

Speaking about the Tampa way. Not so long ago, NPR had a contest. A debate about which city, Tampa (where the sandwich orignated) or Miami, could claim they had the best Cuban Sandwiches. Read about it here for a fun bit of food related history: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/04/21/151050107/the-cuban-sandwich-crisis-tampa-v-miami-for-the-win

Of course, Tampa won! http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/04/25/151357876/the-cuban-sandwich-crisis-has-a-winner-tampa  And yes, The Gasparilla Cookbook has the correct recipe for this delicious sandwich… include the Italian salami. Yes. It is an authentic part of the meal. Ybor city of Tampa, famous for cigars, was settled by thousands of Cuban, Spanish and Italian immigrants in the late 1800’s and that was the birthplace of the sandwich. So obviously, Tampa has the best sandwich!

O yea… and The Gasparilla Cookbook also has a pie crust recipe. Our pumpkin pie was delicious.

The Altar of Kibble

I have posted before, about the little things I find from my kids that totally make my day. They either decorate the house and/or leave their toys posed in ways that make me giggle – They Decorate my Life – or they leave me little notes or toys as presents. I used to always find toys on my bedstand or on my pillow. I still do, but not as often. They express their affection in other ways as they’ve grown older, but I will never forget the ‘offerings’ or love notes! – Look Under Pellow.

Apparently though, human kids aren’t the only ones to submit offerings to the mom who provides love and food.

Not just one, but TWO, of their favorite toys in the whole world. Yes, desperate fur creatures who ask so sweetly, I will keep your kibble bowl stocked.

And your belly …. which you also offer up whenever you want love … I’ll rub that too!

Why?

Because you are the baby… it may sound silly… but we both know it. (Pumpkin.. totally busted being a baby….)

and here are a few more cute photos, just in case you aren’t feeling warm and fuzzy enough yet…

Pixie – always so pretty. 

Ninja showing off her pink toes.

Sisters – can be so sweet… when they aren’t picking on each other.

Do I Annoy My Younger Self?

My friend Lydia over at Here, There and Everywhere shared her insightful comments on this article "25 Reasons Your Childhood Self Hates You". She disagreed on a number of things stated in the article, and I often found myself agreeing with her … I’m thinking it’s because we’re both mothers. So, if myself as a child could have a heart to heart with me of today… would she think I turned out ok? Or would she be disappointed?

1} You like going to bed early.

Sometimes, but sometimes ‘early’ means 2am ‘early’ morning. I like having the choice to sleep when I want or need.

2} You could buy the best Nerf Gun on the market right now and you don't

O really? Sure, technically the toys are for the kids, but they share...

 

3} You enjoy a day at the museum

I do! Especially when we get to go as a family. I think younger me would have loved to see some of the things we have seen. 

4} You have made no effort to go to Disney World

Fail. We did all sorts of Disney this summer and had a blast!

5}You can't remember the last time you played any version of tag

Not only do I remember clearly, I also recently invented running off with the power of being ‘it’… making the kid who tagged me, have to chase me, in order to get tagged and return the ‘it’ power to the game. I never thought of that twist in the rules as a kid.

6} You are getting out of shape

Getting?! My younger self never even imagined being over 40.. hopefully she’ll forgive me.

7} You have spent money on a tie and dress shoes

I’ve had to. Darn social expectations… 

8} You go through the check out line and don't buy candy

That’s because the candy that I like is not usually found in the check out line, you have to go over to the candy aisle or a specialty shop. duh. 

9} You eat your vegetables and you like it

I’ve always loved fresh fruit and veg and my dad’s garden was our ‘snack food’ cabinet. Myself as a kid would likely be very disappointed in the quality of some modern, mass produced fruits and veggies.

10} You listen to NPR

Only if Brad makes me. I can’t stand it when the radio talks to me. I don’t care if what is being talked about is interesting… radio is for music and I’d rather have if off than on a talk show.  

11} You haven't talked to your grade school BFF in years

I have no idea where I’d even FIND any of my grade school classmates, much less BFFs.

12} You don't have a hit single and you aren't touring the world in luxury

I never wanted to have a hit single, and I am touring the world, which is what I wanted… so nothing to be hating about there. 

13} You spend most of your free time with a boyfriend/girlfriend

Yep! My best friend as a little kid was a boy anyway, so my young self wouldn’t be surprised at how easy I get along with my hubby.

14} You smoke everyday

I’m old enough to know better!

15} You lie

Of course.

16} You know how to buy Popsicles and that they are extremely cheap and yet you don't

I didn’t like them then, I don’t like them now. Young me would be impressed with my Cuisinart ice cream freezer though. Tonight’s selection is creamy butter pecan… cake made with fresh figs too. 

17} You can stay out all night every night but choose not to

Like staying up late, I’m now old enough to have the choice to go out or stay in, and my choice is to stay in most nights with the kids and my husband because it’s more fun. Being able to do what I want to do, is what I always wanted.  

18} You didn't make sure there was a basketball court and a video game room when choosing a place to live

We have a garden, a place for the wii, a place for 4 computers and all associated games, a craft area, and so much more. We even let our kids inhabit and invade every single room in the house! Yes, their toys, books and games are often in plain sight! My dad was old school Navy and that would have never been allowed. Former me, and current me, are disappointed with the lack of a BBQ grill though.

19} You haven't played video games long into the night for quite some time

What? Since last night is ‘quite some time’?

20} You like coffee and drink it every day

Yes, I do, and I actually have no memory of when I started drinking coffee… it seems I always liked the stuff.

21} You are not the President, a professional athlete, or the King of the World

King of the world? President? Pfft! Who needs that headache?? 

22} You don't watch cartoons anymore

I don’t purposely watch any TV unless someone else turns it on and puts a dvd in (no cable). As our TV always belonged to my dad when I was young, we watched what he wanted to watch… or went outside to play. Except in the evenings, then mom was in charge and watched her game shows… so, back outside for me. As for cartoons, there are so many nowadays that are worth watching, much improved compared to the junk we had when I was a kid. I’ve enjoyed Samurai Jack, Avatar the Last Air Bender, and those Penguins of Madagascar… my heroes! ;D  

23} You can find enjoyment from classical music

I did as a kid as well, as I can from most music types… except country. I hated that when I was young too. 

24} You are an atheist

I’ve come full circle. Walked away from the fundamentalist stuff my mom wanted me to believe in, and the other variety of my dad’s that he didn’t want to impose on us, I grew past not wanting to believe in anything… boring and unsatisfying…  to being a very happy spiritual pagan humanist non-religious sort of true believer as an adult. I hated church. I love believing and attending ‘life as church’… I wish I could have started out on this path.  

25} You have ordered salad off a menu for dinner.

Salad is awesome stuff. I probably ordered it for dinner more as a child than I have as an adult simply because I haven’t always lived in places where eating random greens is a healthy choice.

Conclusion: I don’t think younger me would hate older me, or be disappointed. I think she’d be jealous!

Memorial Day Weekend

This week’s Round-up is being hosted by Sadie over at Sadie Abroad and she’s curious about our Memorial Day memories, traditions, and other thoughts.

Growing up in Florida, we didn’t have a long harsh winter, and spring and summer came quick and sort of flowed all together. Memorial Day weekend was simply another long weekend that happened before school let out. My dad was a Navy veteran, and very proud of his service, but we didn’t go to any parades or other actual memorial service. That gained importance to me as I grew, joined the service myself, and better understood the reason behind the holiday.

I think I feel like sharing some memories, for Memorial Day.

Military Service goes back in our family. Mostly Navy. My grandfather from WWI.

And my dad…

O wait, that was just a silly self portrait that he sculpted ;) 

This is better… from WWII time period.

Still silly here, but real. That’s my dad!

 

 

And here’s a photo I sent to my parents when I was in Basic Training.  I think I may still have been 17yo when this photo was taken. Yes, that is a polaroid! A few years have passed since this was taken!

As for other memorial day summer memories, I don’t have any photos labeled specifically by date, but with a long weekend, it was highly likely that fishing was involved. Mom and dad’s first date was fishing, I caught my first fish when I was three years old, fishing was a big part of our summer. Oddly enough, to this day, I really do not like much seafood!

We also spent a lot of time camping. We had a tent, but where ever we went had to have full electrical hook-ups and facilities for mom, and a boat ramp for dad. I don’t think us kids really cared as long as we had a place to get into the water, which is where we would be, pretty much every minute of the day. Unfortunately, I don’t have many photos from that time with me. Most of that is in storage.

We’re starting our long weekend early as today (Wednesday) we are off of school and work because Jordan is celebrating their Independence Day. (And as I type, we’re listening to military jets and helicopters flying over our house really low… bet they’re doing a flyover for a celebration downtown) I totally filched this from their Facebook page, but here are some awesome Jordanian flag cupcakes to celebrate the day. They’re from Sugar Daddy’s bakery in Amman … Mmm!

So good, the bakery was written up in the NY Times :)

We stopped in last night (before the flag cakes came out) and each of us got one treat. Brad had a strawberry, the kids had KitKat cupcakes, and I tried their Hummingbird cupcake … and it was AMAZING!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend, whether you spend it working in the yard…

snuggling someone you love… being lazy…

or getting out to enjoy the warm (finally!) weather.

Have a good one, and don’t forget the reason behind your day off, remember to pause a moment and think of our troops and veterans, and even though it is ‘our’ holiday, think of those who serve, and have served, their countries all over the world, because serving one’s nation is a duty that should be honored, no matter what uniform is worn.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.