Girl Scouts of America

(This photo was taken about 1957-58 in the basement of Norton School in Trenton, Mo. That first Scout on the left is me and the lady standing in the back without the uniform is my mom. She was our leader. Click photo to enlarge.)


About all I remember from Brownies was the uniform, making what they called a "sit upon" and learning how to fold a flag at summer day camp. Girl Scouts, now that's another story.

I went to the weekly meetings and sold those damn cookies just for the privilege of going to overnight camp every summer. ( I sold the most cookies in town two years in a row!) Camp Woodland was in Albany, MO. The first year I stayed a week. Each year there after it was two. I loved it. Sleeping in a tent, outhouses, outdoor showers, campfires.... we really roughed it. (Funny, now I consider a Holiday Inn camping, but I digress.) Horse back riding, crafts, swimming, singing, sports. To a kid growing up in America's heartland, it was wonderful. Those weeks always flew by every year and the memories carried me until it was summer again and time to go back.

When we moved to Ohio I looked forward to Scouting and what the camps there had to offer.... but it wasn't the same. Urban Girl Scouting was very different from the rural version. The meetings were catty and boring. Nothing like what I had come to know and enjoy. The girls were cliquish and snotty. The leader bossy and uncaring. The only productive craft we had done was the Yule Log we made in 8th grade.

I went to over night camp only one time there. First of all the atmosphere wasn't the same. Yes we slept in tents and used outhouses and outdoor showers but it wasn't really "out in the country." It rained most of the week which kept us in our tents and though my tent mates were friendly enough they weren't what I was used to. I "talked funny" and wasn't as cool as they thought they were. To make matters worse, that's where mother nature decided I would begin my very first period and I didn't pack for that event. It was awful and I could hardly wait for the week to end.

After that going to local meetings was a chore I hated more and more. Gawd how I wanted to quit but my mother wouldn't let me. By ninth grade I was determined to escape. The leader lived a block or so away but across the highway. They had a big house and a lot of land including a barn. She planned an overnight camp out in tents in her yard. This was never mentioned to my mother but I did ask to have a friend sleep over that night. When the Friday of the event rolled around I called the Scout Leader and told her I was sick and couldn't sleep outside. I was excused.

That evening my friend and I decided to take a walk, what I did not know was that the Scout Leader saw us. At the next meeting I was informed that if I couldn't participate in all the scouting activities maybe I shouldn't be in Girl Scouts after all. I gleefully went home from the scout meeting that day and told my mother I had been kicked out because I didn't go to the camp out. I never attended another meeting.

This is Hershel...

He's our neighborhood egret. The fellow who lives across the street has a LOT of stuff growing in his yard which creates super hiding places for all sorts of critters creating a super buffet for Hershel! He wonders into our yard almost every day for a few lizards and always peeks in my kitchen window to see if I'm home. When I see him, I offer something out of the frig. His favorite is lunchmeat. Last time he was by, the cupboard was bare so I offered a can of vienna sausages from the hurricane pantry. It wasn't as good as bologna or smoked turkey but he enjoyed them nonetheless then went on with his neighborhood rounds.

White House Visit

That's me in this faded vintage photo, standing in front of the Kennedy White House. No security guards, no road blocks, just me in a Kodak moment.

It was 1961 and my dear grandparents had taken the train from Missouri to Ohio to visit us in our new home. I missed them terribly after we moved and they were no longer just across town. Grandmother had always wanted to visit our nation's capital so Mother loaded up her parents and two young daughters into her Ford station wagon and drove to Washington D.C.

She parked right in front of the Lincoln Memorial so her crippled father didn't have to walk too far. Ditto at the Washington Monument. We did all the tourist things including a tour or the White House. Mother insisted we wear dresses
in case Jackie invited us up for tea. LOL Who am I kidding? We wore dresses all the time. We were spared the gloves this day because it was about 100 degrees.

Neighborhood Favorite

1 8 oz. block of cream cheese, slightly softened
1 5 oz. jar Kraft Old English cheese (Bacon Cheddar may also be used.)
3 Tbsps. finely chopped onion (About 1/2 a small onion.)
Chopped pecans

With a fork, combine the cream cheese, Old English and onion until it is blended together.
(note: A food processor will make this too soft to form into a ball. I recommend the fork method.)
Dampen hands and form mixture into a ball, roll in chopped pecans.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate in a cup or bowl to keep it round until firm.

Serve with assorted crackers or veggies.

I will be making one of these today for our annual block party tonight.

WANTED!!!

If you spot these two delightful, darling men on line ...
PLEASE tell them they are greatly missed in blogland!

Easters past

This photo of Kim and me was taken in the dining room of my then in-laws home. I think Kim was about 2 1/2 so that makes it 1972. My dress was made of some kind of double knit bulletproof polyester, very short and omg those shoes!

A few years later, there were two beautiful little girls to enjoy. According to the back of the picture, this is Easter 1977. I had great fun looking through the old trunk for past Easters to share.

For the record...

(click on image to enlarge)

All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise

This afternoon I watched All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise. I hope everyone with access to HBO will watch while it's available.

It was a beautiful tribute to gay families and the mountains they must climb. A very moving and wonderful documentary. I laughed, cried and learned. The hardships so many go through just to have a family. As a straight woman, I don't need any special criteria to have a family... just get pregnant and all is fine with the mainstream. Doesn't matter if I'm not qualified to raise children, if I can afford them, want them, able to support them, or mentally capable to take care of them... nothing really matters if I'm straight. If I'm gay... oh dear, now that's a horse of a different color!

If you get a chance it's worth the 90 minutes to get to know the special people featured in this great perspective on family.

Wedding Day

July 9, 1983. Bobby and I had both been married once before so we decided on a very small wedding at home with about 20 friends and family. We ordered a plain cake and I decorated it with fruit and flowers, I made small bouquets, bouts and a centerpiece. The kids were our attendants. My parents provided a table full of hors d'oeuvers and the champagne. Geez we were young...... and thin!

It was a lovely celebration.

work ~ Work ~ WORK!

Seems lately I am in great demand. Somehow I have talked my way into four (yes, that's 4) part time jobs. Now backpedaling to try and get out of at least one... hopefully two.

It all started last fall when I accepted a part time office job working for a friend who is in real estate management and sales. He needed someone to "help" organize the files, answer the phone, pay bills.... all very laid back busy work. Only 16 hours a week come and go as I please, sounded great. A couple of days a week works for me, still enough time for chores and myself.

Next, another friend who is a paralegal needed some "help" coping files for real estate closings. Just a "few" hours a week... every time I go there she wants to know, "When can you come back???" Add 4 to 6 hours.

Bobby has been doing some handyman work.... word of mouth has given him lots of things to choose from. Another friend gave his number to her neighbor. He did a few things for her and found out he has a wife that's "good with computers and organizing." She calls and wonders if I have time to work for her daughter who has just moved and needs help organizing her home office.... "part time" only about 8 hours a week. After explaining how busy I already am she begs me to " fit her daughter in when I can."

Last week there was an occasion for the real estate office to send funeral flowers. My boss was out of town so I promised the florist he would deliver payment the next day. "Want to ride down there with me?", he asks. I make the wrong decision. When we arrive the owner greets my boss, who she knows from Rotary, then we are introduced. My boss then had to add... "Connie was a florist a hundred years ago." The words, "What are you are doing Mother's Day???" popped out of her mouth before she'd even realized it. I laughed.... she then said firmly, "Really! What are you doing?" I left promising I'd think about it.

You can see where this is going can't you?

Right now I am scheduled for two full days for Easter and the entire week before Mother's Day. (I will NOT be doing the other things that week.) I am afraid to do the math!!!

So, I work PART TIME.

PINK

Go to Rosie's blog, link over there ------------>
And hear her fabulous words.

Very moving, very true.