Antique Archaeology

 

Does it get any better than this?

 

I could watch Frank and Mike and Danielle all day. Really! The way they banter back and forth just makes me want to take the middle seat in their van and help them keep an eye out for treasures on the side of the road. Ok, so there isn't a middle seat, but I think between the three of us we could come up with a plan. If Frank and Mike can't come up with a solution then you bet your bottom dollar Danielle can. She's a smart cookie and she can put a phone to work.

 

But let me come on a day that isn't 95 degrees outside or 110 in an old building or in the shade.  I'm over it. That doesn't cut it with me. But I'll do it on a colder day where I can wear a sweater or a jacket. I'm a girl, but I can get my hands dirty climbing over stuff to get to the goods. I don't like snakes and spiders so I may have to be a girl and ask Frank or Mike to watch out for them for me. Maybe bring two sticks to bang together to scare them off before walking into high grass or tangled car pieces.

 

These Iowa boys have come on over to my neck of the United States, only a little higher. But hallelujah they are over this way and I know we are all glad about their new store!

 

Hey, Frank and Mike, if ya'll get near the state capital of North Carolina swing by and pick me up.

 

Have a good day pickin' guys and keep us wanting to ride into the sunset with you.

(c)nancy  3.26.2014

 





American Hustle

 

American Hustle

 



It's unbelievable that you can rent this movie at Redbox for only $1.28. That's almost a crime.

Am I right?

This Sunday morning the forecast for the afternoon was rain. So I thought . . . why not rent a movie from Redbox? Can't work in the yard. Well, I could if I wanted to get wet and cold. But the idea of being warm and cozy inside with a good movie to watch sounded much better. Fortunately, American Hustle was in one of the boxes at my nearby Walgreens.

Do I think Christian Bale is the best?

Yes. Ever since I saw him in "Newsies". I told my girls and anyone who would listen that I thought the young boy would go somewhere in film. Does that make me famous? Psychic? No. It did make me aware of what I said when I began to see him in so many character roles later that he pulled off with panache. Not every actor or actress can be a great character actor. I won't name the ones that never seem to be able to pull that off and just don't have the ability to do so, but Christian is a genius.

How about all that hair?

After watching the movie I wanted to go back to Walgreens and buy some mega hairspray, come back home, wash and roll my hair in big purple rollers or try to find some hot curlers somewhere. Then tease the life out of my hair in an up doo, go up in the attic and find an old dress that would announce my hair's arrival as I walked into any room. Afraid I don't smoke or drink but I could fake it. I began to think of a party I could give, what the invitation would look like and the last line  . . .

"Don't come unless you have a comb over or teased hair. Red fingernails mandatory. Go big hair or stay home."

Everything edible at the party would be microwaved. The music would set the tone and it would have to be vinyl, scratches and all. Lots of ice for glasses. Clink!

Anyway, it's about time I saw this fabulous movie and can I say that Christian is sexy no matter how he fills out his clothes?

Like my mother said of Sean Connery when she said she thought he was sexy . . .  "He can't help it."

(c)nancy  3.23.2014



 

Winter

 

 

This winter has been a true winter here in my hometown. It made me think of all the winters when I was a child. It seemed that the snows were deeper. I thought that it was guaranteed to snow every single winter and I could look forward to putting my sodden, snow-encrusted socks and frozen gloves on top of a radiator at home to dry out and get warm so I could put them back on and go outside for some more sledding down a small hill on a cookie sheet before the sun set.

 

I grew up near two creeks. Looking back I feel so lucky to have been a kid when you could go outside all day long on your bicycle, riding to your friend's houses where no doors were locked, and if you were hungry, the mom would fix you a PB&J or give you hot cocoa. I could play all day and never once would my mother come and find me in the car and holler, "Where have you been all day? I was worried." No, she knew I was just around the corner at the creek playing with my sister. We had our imaginations and that could keep us going until we were hungry for dinner or until it started getting dark. We didn't have watches but we had the sun. It let us know when it was time to walk back home on a sidewalk, up hill all the way until we got to our driveway and the dirt back yard, then through a screen door.

 

It was cooler outside under some huge oak trees than it was inside where there was no air conditioning, but an occasional fan stuck in the window to circulate the hot, humid air giving slight relief. But then the thunder was heard in the far distance and the approaching rain could be smelled on the breeze. You knew that it would change the air into something cool that was worth breathing deeply into your hot little lungs. I would go to the window and sit there smelling it and would wait to see if the thunder  would follow the loud clap in the sky. I was never afraid. My grandmother had taught me to enjoy it. I thank her for that all the time.

 

If it wasn't lightning, then outside I'd run. It felt so good on my sun-warmed skin.  My wet clothes would cool me off and my face, lifted up to the drops, felt refreshed. Almost better than running around under a sprinkler!

 

But the snow.

 

It came quietly during the night sometimes and made everything stop. No Doppler Radar back then to forecast its coming to let us know we needed to go out and stock up on milk and bread. No advance warning that schools would be closed. But you knew something was different when because your mom didn't wake you up and tell you to get ready for breakfast, then school. Bliss! 

 

I could wake up gracefully and realize that it was really quiet because all I heard was the radiator clicking up telling me it was warming my room. In my pajamas, I would go to the window where it was so bright it almost hurt to keep my eyes open. There it was like magic. Snow. All was a wonderland of blinding white and if it had also been sleeting, then the trees and lawn were suddenly transformed into crunchy ice sculptures. Stepping on the surface gingerly was a treat to see if I could take more steps than someone else before my foot went through the crust. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Over to a naturally made icicle that was clear as glass. Pick it off the bush and try to lick it without it sticking to my tongue. It tasted clean.

 

All those feelings come back to me when I see the snow falling now. I'm older but the child in me remembers the fascination, the mystery, the magic. It was when time was suspended in a chilly embrace and Dad got to stay home. 

I still love to sit at the window and watch the flakes come down like tiny, fluffy angels.

Family. Together. Warm. Cold. Hot chocolate. Hot baths before putting on warmed-up pj's off the radiator.

 

Good memories.



(c)nancy  2.24.2014

 



 

 

It's Been a Long Time . . . 

 

since I wrote.

 

As I just read the previous blogs, I noted that all I could write about was my times and musings of my mother and father for the past year. Well, why not? They have been filling my mind. They have been my Universe. My life has been revolving around and with their orbits.

 

I don't regret it.

 

As one gets older, one should cherish all the thoughts and moments one can get because life gets shorter and shorter, seemingly getter smaller and smaller. I have already lived 2/3rds of my life according to my own parents' life spans. I only have 1/3 left. That's 30 years but 30 years doesn't seem like a lot anymore. Better pack life into what's left. Before you know it, you can't half see or hear and you might be taking baby steps once again just to get to the car that you aren't supposed to be driving anymore.

 

Thirty years is a blink in time. Maybe not even that much.

 

Maybe it's time to expand one's Universe. Continue to expand one's mind. Extend one's geographic pull of effective and affectiveness on loved ones, people in general and the cosmos.

 

One seismic ripple in the waters of life can be far-reaching. Make sure it's a good ripple. Be a positive force in your galaxy.

 

Remember, we don't just live on a certain street but rather within a huge thing floating in space. Are we really grounded or just a speck orbiting on and with a breathing, blue planet around a hot star that shines on us during the day and lets the moon take over at night? We are floating, suspended, yet moving in the Heavens according to plan. 

 

When you look up at the stars at night, know that within is a fascinating Universe too that is constantly playing out individual functions that create a whole being. Someone that was just a twinkle in someone else's eyes.

 

Do you like what you see?

(photo courtesy of NASA)

(c)nancy  12.3.2013

 

 



Oh, Deer !

 

This really happened. Let me say that right off the bat.

 

(Plus, the picture above is of a deer I took in my backyard. Yes, I take all the pictures that I post in this blog-o-mine. When not, I say so.)

 

All that said, here is the story . . .

 

A few days ago it was a beautiful day. I decided to take a break and go outside to enjoy a walk around my yard. Stretch my legs. Smell the fresh air. Absorb some vitamin D. It had drizzled earlier and had wet the dry leaves that had begun to fall, making them silent when I walked on them in my worn, black flip flops. I flopped quietly around the side of my house heading toward the garden there to check on the weeds growing.

 

And what to my wondering eyes should appear but three reindeer! No, not exactly. But there was a doe and two teenage fawns. I immediately stood still and they looked up from eating my weeds in the lawn. We all played possum standing up straight and no one moved an eyelash. Chewing ceased.

 

After a moment a tail flicked and an ear twitched and they all turned to face me. I stood still. The mother took a step toward me and I stood still. She walked slowly closer and I backed up very slowly. She stopped. I stopped. We stared at each other.

 

She bent her head to the ground and brought it back up, and I saw one of her deerlings do the same motion afterward. Were they communicating? The mother was still turned toward me and I was still still.

 

She bowed her head and I bowed at the waist while keeping my eyes locked with hers. She bowed her head and I bowed back. One more time, she bowed her head toward me and I returned the movement. Then we stared at each other, she flicked her tail and moved on followed by her offspring.

 

I waited until they were out of sight in the brush and then said out loud, "Thank you, God".

 

What a great memory. A deer "spoke" to me and I "spoke" back. It was a namaste moment, greeting one another and acknowledging each other's presence.

 

I'd say it was a good day.



(c)nancy  10.8.2013

 

 

 



Full Moon for Mom/August 20, 2013

Tonight will be a Full Moon. I think it only appropriate since my mother, today a year ago, died peacefully in the early morning hours. A full year will pass under the light of a Full Moon.

My mother was very spiritual. She loved Celtic stuff and I think she would have loved that the Moon would be in full mode for her tonight. I hope the sky will be clear so I can walk outside and see it and think of her.

I wish I could be standing beside her at Oakwood Cemetery at midnight tonight because "the full moon reaches its highest elevation" at that time.

Mom also loved Stonehenge. She said that when she went there and was able to stand within the stones (before the time that the fence was built around it) that she had a spiritual experience. I wish I had been with her to feel it too. We could have held hands and then looked at each other and said, "Did you feel that?" and maybe a shiver would run down our spines.

Maybe at that moment she would have squeezed my hand three times ( I Love You) and I would have smiled and squeezed her hand back two times (How Much?) and then she would squeeze long and hard and I would know how much she loved me.

I am squeezing your hand all day today mom.

Squeeze, squeeze squeeze
Squeeze squeeze
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze.
Forever.

 

 

(c)nancy  8.20.2013

July 27, 2013

Mom's Birthday

 

My mother was smart, thoughtful, curious, historically minded, spiritual, beautiful inside and out and genuinely kind. Her friends and her husband described her as "a lady". That she was through and through and to her core.

 

My family celebrated her today by going out to Johnson Lake which was a place she liked to go to in order to look at the water. We would go any time of the year. If we brought a lunch, then we would take it to one of the picnic benches at the water's edge. So that's what we did today. On the way, we stopped at Burger King on Hillsborough Street because that's the Burger King that Mom liked. While the food was being prepared for take-out, Dad and my sister sat in "their booth". Tears.

It could not have been a prettier day in July. The weather had cooled and we sat in the shade with a lovely breeze blowing as we talked of mom and other things going on in our lives. She would have loved being there personally and enjoyed dropping a french fry to the ducks that would come to the table. I can picture her doing it, the way she'd drop it from above the duck's head and let it fall to the dirt where the duck would then compete with others to gobble it up. Sometimes she'd throw the fry in an arc to the water and watch the instant fight for food.

At one point I stood up from the table and walked to an area where I could look out over the water and think of mom quietly. Of how she loved this small view and I could picture her here the many times I was with her. It can only take a millisecond for hours of memory to cross your mind. It was a good feeling but also sad, because I miss her every day. It makes me glad I have good memories to cherish that have been saved in my heart, soul and memory cells. They are worth more than money. I hope I got my mother's DNA and keep my mind, never losing it to Alzheimer's or senility. I want to be able to come here with my children and grandchildren and tell them of their grandmother or great grandmother. To describe her to them so they feel her too. Thinking of you, Mom.

 

Daddy held up well but there were moments. It is very hard. Sad. He misses her so much.

We packed up our trash after we had eaten and drove to Oakwood Cemetery next. I had gone to Harris Teeter earlier in the day and got flowers for mom. When we pulled up to the curb my sister commented on the big bird that had just flown over mom's spot and into a nearby tree. We thought it very significant as she loved seeing big birds. I said out the window, "Hey, Mom!". I got out of the car and went straight to the vase where I have been putting flowers for the past year, doing my best to go once a week, so Mom has fresh flowers. It's a little harder for the flowers to last a week during the summer heat. When the old flowers were discarded and the fresh ones were in their place we all stood in a curve at the base of her plaque and held hands. My sister said some words. Tears.

Quiet thoughts. I broke the sadness by telling Mom of our day we had so far with her in mind and trying to be cheerful and up beat. I told her about the bird that we saw and said, "Was that you, Mom?"

Suddenly a strong breeze blew through the tree over mom's place and us surrounding it, rustling the many leaves. I looked over at my other sister and we said to one another with our eyes, "Whoa."

As I said, mom was very spiritual. It would have been just like her to be a bird or a breeze letting us know she knows we know.



 

On our way back to Dad's condo we drove by houses Mom liked and one in particular that my sister remembered that Mom "coveted". Mom's word for the house every time we would drive by it. It's for sale now and Dad had said many times this past year when he and I would drive by thinking of mom, "I would buy that for her if she were here".

I know you would, Dad.

We all agreed since it was "For Sale" and looked "Not Lived In" that we would be brave and drive down the long, ivy bordered driveway and "take a look". Mom would have LOVED this adventure. I would have helped her out of the car and held her hand as we would walk around the property,  trading off at some point so someone else could hold her hand too. Can you ever not want to hold your mother's hand no matter how old you are?

Here's one image of the house. It is surrounded by ivy and trees.

 

I took a lot of pictures but this captures how private and quaint it is, almost like an English country house. We all agreed that coming to investigate this unique home that momma coveted was like one of our "day trips" we had with her when we were in The Cotswolds together.  

 

All in all it was a wonderful afternoon in remembrance of mom on her birthday. She would have been 95.

 

Happy Birthday, momma. We miss you.

I miss you.

 

             

 









 



(c) nancy  7.30.2013