THE LAUNDRY

Yesterday I was retrieving the clean, dry shirts and shorts and socks from the dryer after a rewarding day of washing them. That was the highlight of my day yesterday, so please, give me the poetic license here.

I have a stacked washer and dryer, and I have had those for about six months now, I guess. It sure beats having to lean over that big old extra-capacity washing machine I used to use all the time. My ribs would be sore. Being vertically challenged, there were times I made sure the cell phone was in my pocket so in case I fell in, I could call for help.

But I've made an observation about laundry in general, socks and panties in particular. They try to run for their lives by diving out of the dryer when I open the door. If I stoop down once to retrieve a runaway sock, I stoop down ten times. When I do open the door and nothing dives for the floor, I smile, satisfied, then I pull out a shirt or a pair of jeans and realize that socks and panties were hiding in the folds of those, escaping at the last second before I can put my hand out to catch them. Why is it they always take me by surprise? It's like the laundry is getting smarter than me...no comments on that fact, please. :-)

To accentuate how boring my day can be, I find myself devising ways to trick the laundry.

I bet everyone wishes they could participate in one of MY days, huh?

Two weeks ago I invested in The Bright Orange Inflatable Three-Ring Pool for $10.00. We have gotten about $100.00 worth of use out of it so far.

David is visiting from Pittsburgh, my youngest grandson, and his cousin, Abigail, has spent the last two days here with him, too. They were in and out of the pool probably a total of 8 hours in the past two days...and yes, they used sunscreen. :-)

Abby, alone, has used this pool everyday for the past week. Do they look like they're having a good time?

After a dinner of grilled burgers and fries and cantaloupe and watermelon and strawberries, with Neapolitan ice cream for dessert, these two were right back in the pool for more. Makes me remember what it was about being a kid that I loved!
"Don't splash the baby, David." "Don't splash the baby, David." "Don't splash the baby, David." That was the mantra. Finally he said, "But I'm in the POOL!" We all sort of looked at each other and you could see the conversation bubbles over our heads: "Duh."










And there was love...

KAYLEE'S DANCE RECITAL 2009

Last night, Don and I had the pleasure of attending the Dance Central Academy's year-end recital. The music was delightful, a lot of it being from Madagascar and The Lion King, and the choreography by Carolyn Randolph was exceptional.

There are about 200 kids in her school, and she must have the patience of Job because even the tiniest walk out there and wow the audience with their timing and their stage presence.

Of course, my granddaughter, Kaylee, is one of the best (said without any prejudice whatsoever). Or, let me put it this way: One day she is going to be a standout performer, already engaging the audience by blowing a kiss and winking at the end of her performance. And show business is not easy. She had some gruesome workouts. Her costume changes alone were enough to make me cringe, not to mention makeup and hair, and how tired her legs were. Kaylee excels in ballet, but she also does tap and jazz. And this summer she is doing a class everyday in hip-hop cheerleading and gymnastics.

Anyway, without further ado, here are a few photos of Kaylee during her LONG show last night (almost three full hours - and at the end she was still smiling but crashed when we got away from her adoring "fans." LOL). We went out for ice cream and she said, "I'm really ready to just take this and go home." And my Kaylee, who everyone knows is so special to me, accepted the flowers we brought her and said, as we were walking up the driveway, "Gramma, thank you for everything you did for me tonight." Sniff. Okay, THERE'S NO CRYING IN BALLET!

The pictures aren't very good. The auditorium holds 1000 people and we were crammed in the middle section, in the middle of a row. And the stage was lit with a forest-like lighting scheme...and okay, besides, I was about halfway crying while I watched her, I was so proud.

CLOUD PHOTOS FOR AUNT ALICE

This past Saturday I took some cloud photos and I just received an e-mail from Aunt Alice saying she wished I had them on my blog.

So, these clouds are for you, Aunt Alice! Cheers!

EVANSVILLE ZOO

Birds do it, bees do it, even the tortoises at the zoo do it! And this is something you just really hate to try to explain to your grandchildren. They stood by the fence yelling, "Gramma, hurry, hurry!!" It was kind of difficult for me to explain that probably, there was no rush.























"WHAT?"














"Hi, my name is Otter, and this is my brother, the Other Otter."

















Spider girls.
















Bat Girls.

















Polly wanna a...? Oh, never mind. I bet they get so sick of hearing that?
















"Hello, Giraffe! It's me, your biggest fan...swoon...Abigail!"

CLOUDS

Much to everyone's dismay, the end of the Saturday at the Zoo ended with a Mother Nature Cloud Phenomenon, so the entire way home, I was having to stop and shoot. The little girls in my back seat were saying things like, "It's CLOUDS, Gramma!!! Let's go home!" And, "She's staring at me again!" And "Make her stop breathing so loud!!" But still, I had to have these pictures to remember the day with.

Sometimes clouds and their formations trigger more emotions in me than even the whining grandkids do! :-)

"The Peaflock is approaching! The Peaflock is approaching!" A princess at the zoo.















This is a giraffe...duh.
















Caleb, Mercedes and Kaylee waiting for the python to eat a rabbit...sigh. It was the happeist they looked all day.












A mama goose and her goslings out for a late afternoon swim.















Giraffe showing off his profile.
















A family at the zoo. Abigail, Ian, Caleb, Ashley, Merceds and Kaylee. (And a zebra trying to get in his 15 minutes of fame).














This is the way the three older kids acted when a wasp flew around our tablet while we were having a snack. They could watch a python eat a rabbit, but presented with a wasp...well...chaos ensued.











Gramma and her babies.
















We had a great time and couldn't believe it when someone actually had to track us down and tell us it was time for the zoo to close. As you can see, it was a fantastic first birthday celebration the entire week for Abigail, and her cousins benefitted, too!

FIRST BIRTHDAY - FIRST STEPS

"This is the new bench I got for my birthday! I LOVE it!"
















"Oh, did I mention I also decided to walk today??"

"Cool, more gifts! I LOVE this!"















"This is the last one?? Oh, man, I hope I have another birthday tomorrow!!"

Of course the highlights to Abigail's first birthday was the fact that she decided she would walk. Note, I'm not saying that she noted she COULD walk, but that she WOULD walk. I guess she was just saving it for the big day so when everyone got bored with the gifts, cake, ooohs, ahhhs, park, new wagon, etc., etc., she'd have something to keep the party going.

The fact that she ate so much cake she threw up at the end of the evening was also a highlight, for her, not us. She seemed to delight in it, I cleaned it up and didn't find it really all that cool.

But our Abigail is 1 now and well on her way to her teenage years when I have a feeling she will still be delighting in throwing up and keeping us all on our toes.

When I walk out my front door, this is what I see. Well, this is what I see if I look to my left. If I look to my right I see another house. And if I look straight ahead, I see the remnants of a block-long, four-story building that is in the process of being demolished.

It used to be a middle school, and there were kids and cars and parents and problems...but not too many problems. Both of my kids graduated right across the street. They never missed any school because, well, come on now. What excuse could they have ever come up with? "I overslept?" Literally it took them five seconds to walk to school.

Anyway, I missed it after all the kids left and expected it to become something else, but instead, it just sat over there and fell apart, and finally I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper and that started a series of events that have culminated in the wrecking ball being just moments away.

Sentimental? Not exactly. ADIOS YOU AWFUL LOOKING BUILDING!

But then I just glance to my left and see the beautiful Court House right down the street and can almost forget the scene of destruction right in front of me and my agitation abates. If you look closely, there's even a blackbird sitting on the wire admiring the view.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND - ALL ABOUT GRANDKIDS

Abigail and Kaylee enjoying the outside. Abigail 1 year old,
Kaylee age 8.


Kaylee.



Kaylee and Tori, age 3 months.

Missy and Don could hardly wait for me to come back in
the house. Missy wanted to be fed and...well...Don wanted
to be fed, too. "Hurry, Mom, hurry! We're starved!" Now
Missy has a reason for this staring out the door and begging
thing, Don knows where the fridge is and can reach it just fine.
The begging part is just unbecoming, let's face it.


Annie won't lower herself to the begging thing. Here she is
sporting her "Speedy Ears." Usually when her speedy ears are
on like this, she's either done something she shouldn't have or
one of the neighborhood cats has gotten a good chasing. She's
proud of that. She chases them to the other side of the fence
in their own yard, quite satisfied she has corralled a ferocious
three-pound feline.


This is Missy enjoying rolling in the grass, and if she's lucky,
there just might be a nice pile of aromatic poop in it, too!





I just really don't have to say anything about these three photos.
"Ahhhh..." comes to mind. Or, "God is Great" comes to mind.
Or, "Mother Nature rocks!" comes to mind. These are just some
sunset photos I took from my own yard tonight, Memorial Day
Saturday, 2009.

I hope yours is this peaceful.

IN MEMORY

If life could be a little
Different for you and me
We'd be standing in Venice
Laughing at the sea.

If we had a do-over
We'd make more time to sit
Fish a little, look at the stars
Or travel a little bit.

But instead we've been dealt
Sort of an unsavory hand
And we're dealing with it,
you and me, the best way that we can.

We fought together, struggling,
Holding hands, one day at a time
With hope and love and knowing
Tomorrow the sun will shine.

My father, my mother, my friends, my heroes
You meant the world to me.
I'll love you now and forever and ever, amen
And thank you so much for all you let me be.

K. McWhirt
2009

I LEFT ON A JET PLANE

This scene was standing on the Ohio River (well, the banks
of the Ohio River, anyway) at Station Square about 9:30
PM on a Friday night. Pittsburgh surprised me with its
beauty. I see why my kids love living there!


Caption: "You can't MAKE me look at you!" And he wouldn't.
That banana was all he cared about. I think he was a little
ticked off with his wife over something.


And this was his wife, glaring him down. I'd say she had just
about had it with having to take care of the kids all day while
he sat around doing nothing!


This polar bear was having a real blast playing in the water,
which was really fine, because we were having a real blast
watching her!


Suspended animation? Or under water? I'll stop the suspense...
Under water. We were walking in a huge tube and the polars
were showing off.


Here, kitty, kitty!


I think this lion and lioness were making up after a fight.
Eventually, though, like most men, Mr. L. got a little tired
of the affection and walked away from Mrs. L. She didn't
seem to care...one less person to cook for that night!


I think he was getting really tired of me standing there with
a camera in his face!

And tomorrow, I'll show you some giraffes and bears and
elephants, oh, my!