Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop

Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
No Body's Sweeter,
Than R**** M****!

"Dad, we're JUST friends!"..... Eyeroll.

R and I met at church when I was about 15.  He was cute, had a Texas accent, 16, and was taller and skinnier than me.  I will admit to a crush on him, at the first of our friendship. I will also share that he gave me my first hickey, an experiment that did not involve any kissing, but caused no end of giggling and much speculation by my dad and mom.

We would talk on the phone for hours almost every night, he made me laugh, as he was funny and ironic but some times sad and angry. We shared lots of secrets but this was 1964 an innocent time for me. I got my drivers licence and I got a car when I was 16.5, we would go to the movies, church, youth meetings, etc. His parents loved me, they may have thought we were an item too. However, it was clear to me when I graduated High School, that he was one of my best friends.

My parents finally accepted, probably with relief,  we were just friends, as I started dating others, met Mr BC and got engaged. R and I drifted as we got older and I got wiser.  I actually never saw him again after my wedding. Which saddens me.

Mama Kat's prompt is: Think about your closest male friend in high school…if you had married him (or her) how would your life be different right now? Since this was a relationship, that would not have ended in marriage, it is not hard to speculate that we would be miserable. I do know that R was not always the happy individual, he seemed to be and as I would later discover.

At my 20 year High School Reunion, L, a guy that I had known since 4th grade, was proudly announcing to everyone he spoke to, that he was gay.  This did not come as a surprise to anyone, but in 1985, it was becoming the thing to do. Later in the evening, he sidled up to me, and shared conspiratorially, did I know that he and R had been Lovers for several years before, but were no longer a couple?  He seemed to be expecting shock value from his little announcement; from me. He also indicated , oddly, during the conversation that R was always, talking about me. I was surprised at this, a little, but, I certainly did not give him the reaction for which he seemed to be hoping.

I asked him what R was doing now and told him that if he spoke to him, would he give him my phone number and gave L my business card.,  With the information  L gave me, I did try to find him, but to no avail.  I never heard from either of them again.  This was the 80's and I certainly hope the reason I was unable to locate him was not because of HIV.  I tried looking for him again as I contemplated this prompt, but came up blind alleys again. I certainly hope he has found happiness and contentment in his life. I am greatful for the fun and games he brought to our misspent youth!

The Best of the Silent Monks Chorus

 I found this on Valerie's blog and Laughed till I cried,  Hallelujah and Merry Christmas!

How Christmas has Changed for Us

2009

One thing that changed this Christmas, Лука has become aware of Santa Claus! His first Christmas he was only 10 months old, and enjoyed the lights, and ripping opening packages, but wasn't aware of the reason for the season.

2010

Last year was a blast, he enjoyed everything about Christmas, as you can see from the pictures.

This year the big difference is that he is no longer a baby, he knows that he is going to get presents and that he has to be good. We are going to Skype on Christmas Eve and watch him open our presents, then he is going to fly on Christmas Day to Serbia and see his Baba and Deda for their Christmas on January 7. This is his third trip to Belgrade, he is a well traveled young gentleman. They will fly back to California and await the birth of his new brother in February.


I am going to stay with his mother while they are gone. So this year, the real celebration will be around his and his brother birthdays in February. Grandpa will be there for that occasion. Big Celebrations in 2012!

Don't you feel like this Sometimes?

I heard this on the radio the other night and since I was coming from Christmas Shopping I was nodding my head at the sentiment

Peg o' My Heart

Peg of Square Peg in a Round Hole gave me an award and I thank her. I met her blog through MamaKat's writing meme, another worthy Blog. Peg  is one of of the folks I read almost everyday. I love her 'down home" style and especially her trips she takes with her husband.  If you are not reading Peg, you may want to look her up.

I love award shows and I love it when folks take the time to write comments or Follow me and I like having the opportunity to recognize the blogs I try to read every week. I have several on my side bars and they are my old faithfuls and worthy of a read as well.

“Liebster is German and translates to the English word dearest. I really touched to be awarded this as it’s meant for up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers so thank ladies for passing it on to me! I hope we all get over 200 soon and can play with the big guns “

Here are the Rules:

Thank the donor and link back to their blog
Publicize your top five picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Post the award on your blog.
Encourage the people who receive it to list their five favorites.

There may be some in my list of favorites today, who do not appreciate awards as much as I might:  (I have so few) just know that I love and appreciate your blogs and hope others who come by me today might visit your blog. You don't have to follow the Rules: I think of them as suggestions.

1. Akelamalu: She is from England and we have been reading each other for a few years now.  If I ever get to Great Britain, I would love to meet her.  I would really love to go with her on one of her trips. She does a great guide with pictures.
2. Pumpkin Delight: She is a Delight.  A Southern California gal like me, who teaches 2nd Grade.  I met here through MamaKat's writing meme. She reminds me of CA now that I have left, and has great recipes too!
3. Maddie: She writes from her Enchanted Village in England's Rural Underbelly. I wish her village was my village, she writes of her friends, the village happenings and she goes to the Greek Isles.Another BloggerI would like to travel with too.
4. Comtesse Olympe de la Tour D'Auvergne:  Truely.an accomplished Costumer in Washington D.C. and historian, who also writes a diary of her life in 18th Century France, she has met the King. I love this blog and can't wait for her posts, especially the diary entries. I went all the way back to the beginning on this blog.
5. In Whispers and Shouts: I have just started following this blogger.  I found her through Write on Edge. I  started by reading her writing prompts and gradually started reading her other posts. She is what you might call a Mommy Blogger with more.  She has a lovely family which you see on Funny Face Fridays. 

Now I will spend some time this morning reading some of my 'winners'.

His Office Party

Ok, in 3, 2, 1.”   “ Oh hell, wait, wait!” 

“Ok I’m waiting,"said Suzanne. “Again" she added under her breath.  Checking her watch, “We’ll be late!”

His employees gifts were packed in a Santa sack found at Big Lots, where she also found the matching sweaters, he insisted upon. “It’s an Ugly Christmas Sweater party,” he explained “There will be prizes."

“How Bridget Jones,” she thought. “Forget the dress at Macys!” Last year she underdressed, thanks to Jack. This year she wanted to get it right.

The door opened and he stepped out. “How do I look?" He was wearing a gray cashmere sweater and a Santa hat. 

“What’s that?  You’re not wearing the sweater, the ugly one?” she snapped.

All I Wanted for Christmas....MamaKat's Writers Workshop.

This week’s prompt is: 10 things I Wanted for Christmas as a Kid but Didn’t Get and Still Want.

Every year I could hardly wait for the Sears Christmas catalogue to come.  Then for 2 lovely  months my brother, my cousins and I would go through the toy section hoping and dreaming Santa would bring us our hearts desire. There were lots of things I wanted as a child for Christmas and didn’t get, and I can probably come up with ten, however I am not sure I would still want them as most of them were circa 1950 and 1960 and toys are a whole lot cooler now.. So here goes the list.

1.  A Pony:  What child did not want a pony?  When asked where he would put it in our back yard, My brother went out and started digging a hole for it!




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House Cleaning- Metaphorically Speaking

I have been literally cleaning house for the last several months, while getting ready for our move from California to Missouri. I have been metaphorically cleaning house as well. Mr. BC and I have been married for MANY years and have moved many times, usually every two or three years.  Those moves were relatively easy, as happens, when one is moving every few years.  Our moves were fast and compact.  This move differs, in that we have lived in this house for 27 years and moving to his late mother’s home in Missouri.  We went through many of her things with his sister last year; however the house is still furnished with his memories and much of her stuff.

With so many years in the same house, this move and attendant house cleaning, is more difficult.  We have grown from a house and garage, to a house, garage, attic, and storage unit and many junk drawers.  With the detritus of our life, we have outgrown our surroundings.  We have been brutal. When it comes to the garage, Mr. BC is clearly a hoarder. However, in the house, unless it was his belongings, I sorted through things without much consultation with him.  It is still slow going, what with those pesky memories intruding. We truly pared down and only kept the most important and most used of our possessions.  Salvation Army, recycling, yard sales and the dump  gets the rest of the stuff.

All of this sorting and moving has been stressful, tempers have flared, muscles have been pulled and feelings have been hurt. We have had a lot of togetherness since retirement and I am now looking towards cleaning my metaphorical house with some alone time after Christmas.  I am flying back to California to spend time with DD1 before the new baby arrives; and to pack the rest of our belongings. We need the time away, both of us need to remember that we are Fun People!  Mr. BC will join me the first of February to await the birth of our grandson and for the last of the literal house cleaning. We got a house to sell and Fun to Have.

RemembeRed

Think of a time that you “cleaned house.” Consider the subtext—we’re not writing about Windex here. We’re writing about relationships. Or feelings. Or a captured moment in time.

Favorite Christmas Ornament

I did not post to Mama Kat's site on Thursday but will today, since I did not have a computer for most of the week, However I loved this prompt:  1.) Have you decorated your Christmas tree? Share a favorite Christmas ornament.

Yes, I have decorated my tree, since I was unable to do anything for Thanksgiving, I was determined to decorate for Christmas.  So my Christmas decorations were well marked for the move and I put them right by the door in the garage so I could get to them when I was ready.  We have a small four foot tree now but when the kids were little we always had a big tree and have collected the decorations for a large tree.  I have to select my favorites.

When the girls were small and we lived in Michigan, I had a regular Avon lady.  I saw these decorations in the catalogue and really liked them as I did not decorate with glass balls, everything on my tree had to be unbreakable. I think these are satin and cardboard. They had Santa and Mrs Claus,  Snowman and Mrs. Snowman and Angels one on each side.  When they arrived I put them all on the tree and when I got to the Angels, I was startled to see they looked just like my daughters, not just that one was a blond and one was a brunette, but they looked just like the girls. I showed everyone including the DD1 and DD2 the amazing likenesses.  Now every time I put them on the tree they remind me of the family we were then. small angels and Mr and Mrs Santa Claus.  I smile every time.

The second favorite decoration was a child's coat hanger that appeared on the tree when I mentioned to Mr BC that I needed hangers for some Christmas ornaments.  2yr old DD1 proudly brought one from her room shouting here's one mama! It went into the decoration box for years until it finally broke.  I was going to glitter it up but never got the chance.  Years later I found a small doll coat hanger decorated, that I eventually gave to DD1.

A Tasty Mistake

Since I retired and moved to Missouri we have sat down to more meals together than we have in a long time. I am beginning to cook again.  I must admit I still go for easy and other than the main course, I don't  usually cook from scratch. Hungry for sweet, I decided to  bake a cake.   I had a Betty Crocker sugar free chocolate cake mix. so being the spontaneous person I am, I opened the box and dumped it in a bowl.  When I use cake mixes I usually substitute apple sauce or tofu instead of the oil which works well for me and I usually have on hand..  Applesauce this time.

When I got to eggs, I went to get the eggbeaters out of the fridge and measured it out.  I looked at the result in the measuring cup and noticed red and green spots. I checked the carton and sure enough it was Southwestern style.  Mr BC had helped with the shopping and put it in the basket. I panicked when I saw it,  and checked the fridge for regular eggbeaters.  I only use real eggs for company cooking or holiday cooking. None to be found.  

It was late afternoon and I was already dressed in my comfy jammie pants so I was not going to go out to get some eggs and everything was already in the bowl, I just dumped the eggs in the bowl and mixed it in.  I am not one for admitting my errors so throwing caution to the wind, I just baked it and hoped for the best. If it was awful, then I would throw it out.

I sliced into it to taste.  It clearly was spicy but not awful, I liked it, it reminded me of a pfferneuse cookie.  I left it on the counter and only told how I made it after they had eaten it.  There were interesting comments after it was discovered, however, it must have been tasty, because look how much was left this morning!

Mr Bankerchick to the Rescue

Yahoo Images
Mr BC was taking the pups out the other night, for their nightly duties and standing on our 'veranda' watching them, I was sitting in my comfy chair watching TV when I noticed him waving his hat around.  The dogs and I joined him and he was trying to swoosh a small, young bird, away from the light and the eaves of the roof out into yard. The bird, (we later decided was a Purple Finch, that might have smacked onto the window earlier in the evening) was flying from pillar to post just inside the porch. He wouldn't cooperate and was becoming more and more afraid as Mr BC waved and the dogs barked.  Totes was in hunting mode and Gwennie was very curious. Mr BC was worried about the bird and I thought everyone should just leave the poor thing alone. So I took the pups inside and left Mr BC and the bird alone. Finally Mr BC caught the small thing in his hat and went over to a young Sweet Gum Maple planted in the front and gently took the bird out of his hat.  It sat quietly on his hand as he reached up to a branch.  The finch jumped from his hand to the branch and just sat there a little stunned. He was still there when he turned out the porch light. We like to think he was simply stunned and eventually flew away. The next morning there were several purple finches at the bird feeder, among the woodpeckers, cardinals, catbirds and chickadees who regularly frequent our feeders and bird bath. I like to think the smallest one we saw, was the little one Mr BC rescued the night before.

Thanksgiving in Missouri

Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving

I can't say this trip to Missouri was uneventful, but thankfully, we are here at last, a week late.  We planned to leave a week ago. DD2 VW has been having a cooling problem and we had to keep taking it back to the dealership because it was not fixed properly.  The third time, Mr Bankerchick, had to get stern with them when they finally decided it was the head gasket all along.  We got some $$ consideration from them for the first two, so called repairs, but it took them 4 more days to fix it. So we left (late) on Sunday and had to stay out an extra night on the road.  With two cars, two dogs and an injured Mr Bankerchick, (That is a whole different story.)  He had a fall, chasing a loose Gwennie the morning we left.  I took a look at him tumbling and just knew the trip was off.  Luckily and miraculously, he was only scraped and bruised, and deflected the dog into my arms. So off we go, praying the car was really fixed. (it was)

We arrived on Wednesday and Mr BC's sister had us for Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday.  What a blessing as the cupboards were bare and we were bone tired. It was delicious and she was a lifesaver. We had a lovely time. DD2 became reacquainted with her aunt and her cousin after several years.
Today is another day of rest with a quick trip to the grocery store. Some time in the yard with 2 puppies who are thankful for a huge yard to run in after being cooped up in cars for 3 days.

Yesterday I was thankful for Skype allowing me to share some time with Лука, DD1 looks for me online many mornings, and we have breakfast and playtime together.  As Лука would say, "I'm liking Skype."  We watched his dad, pull Лука's shirt over his head "where's Лука, where's Лука?" and he smiled "I'm back" when he popped up again.  I love that kid!

Leaving Santa Barbara until January

We are enjoying our visit to Santa Barbara with Лука and his folks.  I can't believe it is our last visit for a while. However,  thank the stars for Skype. This is a bittersweet visit as the only down side to Missouri is leaving some of our Kids behind. The upside to this, at least until we sell our house is that we still will be making the trip every couple of months .

I am flying back right after Christmas as Лука and his dad are going to Belgrade for Serbian Christmas with his Baba and Deda.  He will be gone til Jan 11, so I will stay with DD1 since she is "Heavy with Child." I will visit back and forth working on the CA house and Santa Barbara, with Лука, until she delivers in Feb.

FAQ: Updated

Age: 64 July 24th. Since I have retired I have to admit to it, at least to Social Security and the WHOLE WORLD.

Bed Size: We just downsized to a Queen, a lovely memory foam.  I could do a commercial for Serta. It is perfect.  I haven't slept so good in years.


Chore you hate: Floors, my feet have to stick to them or company is coming before I do anything. Currently I am stuck on the kitchen floor, send in the Merry Maids

Dogs: Two, Gwennie is a Welsh Corgi, Sweet, stubborn and startled by breezes.  Totem is a Jack Russel and Chihuahua mix, he is a strutting sweetheart.

Essential start of your day: Sitting down after getting the coffee started and getting kisses from Totem and butt wiggles from Gwennie, then Mr. Bankerchick telling me that I make the best coffee in the world!


Favorite Color: Right now it is coral.  


Gold or silver: Diamonds are a girl's best friend!


Height: 5’ 3” Width 5' 3"


Instruments I play or have played: Violin in fourth grade, thank goodness mom knew me well and only rented the violin for 3 months.


Job Title:  Domestic Goddess, Number One Grandma,


Kids: Two grown daughters and one lively grandson and another one due in February.

Live: Right now I commute between California and Missouri as we slowly move to the Homestead in Missouri.


Mom’s Name: Norma Jean, Hated Norma, preferred Jeannie.


Nickname: Katydid, by my dad who got it from my initials KD. 


Overnight hospital stays: With both of my daughters. 


Pet Peeve: WHINING! 


Quote from a movie: “Have fun stormin’ the castle, boys!” The Princess Bride.


Right or left handed: Right.


Siblings: One brother, seven years younger and balder than me.


Time you wake up: 6:00 am ever since I had children, I have not been able to sleep late. Even after they were grown. It has not changed in retirement, much to my disappointment!


Underwear: Always!


Vegetables you dislike: Okra! No, there is no possible way it can be cooked that would be edible, so shut-up!


What makes you run late? Blogging or playing games on the computer. 


X-rays you’ve had done: Mammograms, broken ankle and foot, a pesky pothole, chest, to rule out broken rib. Dental, I have more crowns than anybody, put the dentist’s kids through college.


Yummy food you make: Mexican Food.  Since retirement I have been easing back into the kitchen and cooking. See Chores.  Now I'm stuck.


Zoo animal: Koala Bears and Red Pandas. Any baby animal!

The Prompts:

1.) Did you create a list of 22 things you’ve done in your life last week? This week, choose one item from your list and elaborate! We want the story.

2.) Create an FAQ page for yourself that answers frequently asked questions if people were to frequently ask you questions. People make those up all the time. YOUR TURN!

3.) Write a post in just eight lines. (inspired by Mommy Nani Boo Boo)

4.) Pour me a drink. Share a favorite drink recipe! (inspired by The Spohrs Are Multiplying)

5.) A day in the life of your pet…how bad do they have it?

I am sitting in the quiet of my new home. The sun is rising, the leaves are turning and the birds are coming alive. We have discovered a woodchuck under our shed and he is readying his day. My internet is working and I am reflecting on this trip to the homestead!

On this trip we brought many of my own personal things and as, I look around I can see my stamp being put upon this home.  This indeed was Mr Bankerchick's mother's home for so many years but with her passing it has become our home.

I have rearranged things in the kitchen so that it reflects my taste and and my way of working. The dining room has her wonderful round oak table and vintage buffet and it also contains a writing desk that I refinished and a glass front cabinet  of my own. The upper floor is a loft space that we have been cleaning out for DD2 when she joins us in November,  You would have been amused to see us trying to get a box spring up the stairs,(pivot, PIVOT) and have decided that we will have to enlist some help before we try to move anything else up those stairs, just to save our backs, and our tempers.

We leave on Wednesday, back to California to bring DD2 and the dogs and the rest of her and our things to the homestead. And we will stay in Missouri until after the new year. Our new grandson will arrive in February and I actually will be going back after Christmas to be with DD1 and prepare the California house for sale and Mr BC will come in Feb for Birthdays and delivery. We are excited to start a new chapter in our life.

On the Road Again!

I won't be posting much this week as we are making another move to Missouri, We are packing the trailer today and leaving early tomorrow for a fast trip. We will be making the last trip for the year about Nov 12 when we move DD2 and then in the New Year we will be back to wait for our second grandson and put the house on the market. It is exciting and busy times.  We are setting up our WiFi this trip, so we will be linked to the interwebs soon.

The Stars are Against Me

Aargh,,,, I got up this morning feeling bad,,,I have popped some Claritin and some Aleve and I am hoping for best. I have so much work to do and since Mr Bankerchick was laid up last week with a wonky ankle and could not walk.We are so behind. We want to take a load of furniture to Missouri and be back by the end of the month, If this turns into the real thing I am sunk.
Лука was the picture of health this week so it is not something I picked up from him.  I just hope I have not left behind a bug for him. Mommy and Ta Ta beware, start the vitamin C!

When I got home yesterday, the dogs had missed me. I was showered in kisses and wiggling butts. Totes has not left my side since, and I have two permanent shadows.

Passages-Red Writing Hood

This week we were asked to take you somewhere. Where, was up to us -fiction or creative nonfiction- but we were asked  to use our words to paint the setting as vividly as possible, in 200 words. I love the opportunity to work on fiction.

She opens her eyes, and a blinding white light causes her to flinch. The light seems to intensify and she blinks again.  What appears to be a bright light is the metallic incandescence of the walls that surround her. It is a small enclosure that seems not to have a door or windows, yet she smells a crisp whiff of ozone. perfuming the air. She raises her head and sees that she is lying on a cold metal bench in the middle of the room.  Not restrained, she sits up looking and listening for clues to where she is. Planting her feet on the floor, she could feel a humming vibration coming from outside the room. She crosses the room to the luminous wall and puts her hand out to touch it and is knocked to the floor from a charge running through her body. The walls begin to shimmer. then disappear. The crisp air she breathed in the chamber is replaced by a damp foul odor. Dark passages lead off in three directions and from the middle passage she hears heavy footsteps moving in her direction. Perspiring she wonders aloud, "What is this madness?"

My sound track

Think Geek- Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt

I am visiting in Santa Barbara and enjoying myself immensely.  I am here with my 2 Darling Daughters and my grandson Лука.  An amazing thing about  Лука is, that when he goes about his life, he has a sound track that is quite audible, Of course there are the usual "boy sounds" air planes flying, trains running and tooting, and moist raspberries slurping off his tongue. However he is very musical as well. Sometimes its the Wheels on the Bus, or You are my Sunshine, even the theme song from Jaws, other times it is a Serbian Ditty, or it is just sounds of humming, words not necessary. His life right now is a continuous narrative with music and singing and dancing, he is only quiet when he sleeps.

 

Лука's pleasure in music and song reminds me that we all have soundtracks that run in the background of our lives that include music and song that we love. Muzak of a different kind. My music is not just one song, it includes Classical, Rock and Roll and even Country.  Favorite singers are Pavoratti, Chuck Berry, or the Dixie Chicks. Mr Bankerchick's song is Devil with the Blue Dress On, mine is my grandson singing You are My Sunshine.

The Prompts this week:
1.) Share a disagreement you’re having with someone and let your readers be the judge!
2.) Tell us about your song.
3.) Share a Halloween craft.
4.) Slow dancing with boys…talk about one of your first school dance experiences.
5.) I have no idea where the following message originated from, but it’s been floating around Facebook for the past week…who does it make you think about?

Conjuring Up Memories

A suffusion of light warms the sanctuary,

Azure blue mosaics rain down from the dome.

Incense permeates the air, 

As the saints overlook the couple, hands raised in blessing.

I smile through my tears, my heart seems about to burst.

The chanting of the choir has stopped and the priest begins.

I do not recognize the language being spoken, but understand the meaning.

Two becoming one, my child no more, a new life together begins.

My memoir prompt this week comes from Assistant Editor Galit.

This week I want you to conjure something. An object, a person, a feeling, a color, a season- whatever you like. But don’t tell me what it is, conjure it

         
                                         

This is what I was conjuring.

Misty Morning-Red Writing Hood

I am trying something a little different this week...Fiction!

Write on Edge/Red Writing Hood's prompt this week is to be inspired by pictures. Of the two, I chose this one and my attempt is below. Feel free to critique.

Jessica had been sitting on the cold iron bench for hours.  The thick fog had turned to a mist as the darkness merged into gray. She had remained unseen by the voices and lights that had passed her in the early hours of the morning. The noises had startled her but she remained steadfast on the bench, waiting. She would not be afraid.  She was not sure what she would have said or done if those voices or lights had found her in the dark.  However, now as the mist lifted she knew that anyone walking by would think she was just waiting for the doors of the church to open for the first mass.

As the early light of day revealed the corners of the square, she wondered how she had been able to sit here waiting, alone. She had counted as the bells in the tower had chimed out the time on each hour and half hour. He was suppose to meet her at one o'clock and she had arrived as the clock was tolling the half hour before. She could make out the numbers on the clock face now and it was almost five am. He was not coming! She would have to leave soon if she wanted to slip back into the house, unseen by the prying eyes of her disapproving roommates. Maybe they were right.

She was profoundly disappointed that he had not come. She had been excited by their relationship, he was older and seemed glamorous, romantic and slightly dangerous. She was going to go away with him if he asked her. All night long she thought she saw him out of the corner of her eye but it was always a shadow. She had worried several times during her vigil that something might have happened to him on his way to meet her.  Perhaps he had met with an accident, maybe he was delayed by traffic from Baton Rouge. Traffic at this time of the morning, nonsense! But an accident, she thought, or a mugging, was that possible?  She had her cell phone with her and she had called his number but it rang through to voice mail.  Where was he? He would never do this to her, something terrible had happened! He wasn't coming. Oh why was she still here waiting for him? Now she was angry!

Jessica was cold and wet as she arose from the bench and looked around the square. The lights were flickering off. There was a dog across the square turning the corner of the building sniffing, searching for some scrap of something left behind by the patrons of the cafe next door. She flinched at the sound of two pigeons arguing about the contents of a plastic bag that was left behind by a careless tourist. She heard the far away sound of trash cans being emptied.  The square was coming alive but she was dying a little inside, he had not come for her. She used her silk scarf to wipe away her tears, touching her throat with her fingers, she whispered,

"Damn Vampires!"

If I were a tussy-mussy

The Victorian language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, or the Japanese Hanakotoba was a means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send secret messages, allowing individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken. This would be delivered in a bouquet called a tussy-mussy. In my list below the first meaning is traditional Victorian and the second meaning is Hanakotoba. 


I decided that I would find the meanings of the flowers that I am fond of and see what that says about me. These are also the flowers I would put in a bouquet, as the words that really best describe might not make the prettiest bouquet. The flowers I love and often have around me are these:


Impatiens - (balsamine) impatience

I can be very impatient when I am ready, and when I had two teenage daughters I was always ready and impatient.  Now that Mr BC has slowed down because he is retired and he doesn't have to hurry, so I often am impatient again.




Azalea - Patient/Modest

Now this would seem a contradiction, however, with Лука I have a lot of patience.  The Japanese meaning is probably more true, as I am modest to the point that it is hard to accept a compliment and I have worked for years to respond with thank you.


Peony - Shame,Bashfulness/Bravery

Again I prefer the Japanese version.  I would like to think I 
am brave.  I would hate to have some Victorian send me a bouquet of peonies because I should be ashamed of something I have done.  But the truth is when I have done something wrong, I sometimes have trouble saying I am sorry. 


Camellia - Waiting,Longing/Unpretending Excellence

I don't like either of theses meanings, waiting=impatience
Unpretending was not even a spell check word.  But I think it means not  being ashamed of being excellent. Thinking back to peonies and false modesty, this one is a contradiction.  However in CA there is sometimes a camellia bush in every yard, there were several in mine as a child and they are lovely flowers.
 


 Blue Violet - Faithfulness /Honest

I would be proud to find violets in my bouquet, I remember tiny Johnnie jump-ups that use to pop up in the grass around the front porch of my childhood home.  I would pick them for my dollies.




Iris Good News/Glad Tidings

I am always in the market for good news and glad tidings. I would like to report that the best good news came on Wednesday, when my first SS check was FINALLY directly deposited into my checking account.  I would love to give the
glad tidings that I was going to splurge on something for myself, however, like my paychecks before I retired, it is spent already!


This post was inspired by: 

The Prompts:
1.) What type of flowers would be in a bouquet that best describes you?
2.) A memorable fishing trip.
3.) Yuck. Food Poisoning
4.) 10 things you would do if you didn’t have to work.
5.) What’s your stance on ‘labeling’? Were you labeled as a child? Have you labeled your own children? How do you feel about this?