Lots of Laughs at the Kennedy Schriver Funeral...

Not the best photo, eh? Sometimes I forget that the rest of the world doesn't know who the Kennedy Family is as well as people in Massachusetts do. Whether we like it or not, they are like our Royal Family. Anything at all that happens within this family is reported in the news at a moments notice. We tend to treat their weddings like one of our distant relatives weddings, and the same goes for a death in their family. So I know I'm a little late on this, but a week ago, Eunice Kennedy Schriver passed away. I'm sure there are many of the Kennedy clan that have normal, regular jobs and lead normal, regular lives...but it almost seems that they all tend to do something fantastic in the lives. Eunice was no different as she founded the Special Olympics and did it way back when parents were made to feel ashamed about they special needs children. So not only did she do something great, she bucked the trend to do it. I had never even heard anything about her husband before last week...there was so much on the news leading up, and then after her death. her husband, Sargeant Schriver, was "the driving force behind the founding of the Peace Corps"! Can you imagine helping to found an organization as big as the Peace Corps and still getting trumped by your spouse!
So I hadn't posted anything on the passing of Eunice because I just didn't have an angle. I usually come across my own way of seeing a situation. Then last night my Dad gave me the gift of a story about the funeral. My Dad definitely has the gift of the gab and I love it. I may have mentioned in the past how my parents are well known in my church (and I use the word "my" loosely), and when I say well known, my Dad and his friend are like the comedic caretakers of the church and pal around with the pastor on a daily basis. Over the past year, there was a young priest wannabe staying at our church. I guess it's the Catholic equivalent of an internship in the business world. Nice guy, good sense of humor. So in June he was ordained and was given his own church to, to...work in? Guide? Find comic relief in? Which church? The church that was just host to countless famous people coming for the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Schriver. Can you imagine? What luck! Most of us would be thinking, "Is it ok to ask for autographs at a funeral?"...no, not this newly ordained priest. At Communion time he was standing halfway down the aisle with the wine in the goblet and noticed a man coming back from Communion still fiddling with the host (bread) in his hand (blasphemy!)...so he scolded him and told him not to play with it, that he should have consumed it right away! Who was the man? Jon Bon Jovi! This coming from the same priest that also said Stevie Wonder really annoyed him that day because he kept waving at him and Stevie wouldn't wave back....

Diapergate...

Don't worry, I haven't posted a picture of diapers because I'm pregnant...I have to tell you about something bizarre that happened last night.
Last night as I was driving home from work and I was coming up to our house, there was a Chevy Blazer-type vehicle parked on the side of the street right before our driveway. Actually it was in between the house before ours and our house. Now this might not seem odd to anyone so let me tell you about our street. It's a relatively short, dead-end street and our house is almost at the end. There is a piece of land between our house and the house before ours which is all woods except for a strip of grass along the road, which Mike mows. I also need to tell you that we pretty much know every car that comes down our road, even if it belongs to a relative of someone that lives on the street. Now this vehicle was parked next to that woodsy area, up on the strip of grass which Mike mows. I didn't recognize the car so I slowed down to see who was inside - I could only see someone in the driver's seat who looked like they were kneeling on the seat, leaning into the back seat. As I turned into my driveway I could see the passenger back door was open and someone was standing there, leaning into the backseat. Since I am pretty much the reincarnation of Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched (if you are too young to know who that is, Google or Bing it), this was killing me not knowing who they were and what the hell they were doing on my street, next to my house. So when I got in the house, I stood at the front door, staring at them to see what was going on...this was enough for Mike to go out there and yell to them "What are you doing?". I guess this startled one of the people, a guy, and he said "sorry" then ran into the woods to retrieve a dirty diaper he had thrown there! I assume the other person was the mother and they were there for quite some time. I was flabbergasted by this...who drives down a strange street and parks to change a diaper? And had they never changed a diaper before because it took an awfully long time to get the job done? There is a big BJ's plaza right down the street, with trash bins and everything. What kind of an example are they setting for their child, throwing trash wherever they feel like it...Mike didn't seem to think this was odd behavior at all, he said maybe they were on their way to a friend's house...I looked at him like he just changed into an alien. If you were on your way to a friend's house, wouldn't you just get the job done once you were there? And then, to throw the dirty diaper into the woods? Maybe this is the way they both grew up, with their own parents throwing trash all over residential neighborhoods. Mike said the guy probably threw it back into the woods after he came back in the house. I went for a bike ride later and I noticed they did leave some trash, right out on the grass in the open....now I'll have to go pick it up. I should have just gone over there last night, given them a plastic grocery bag and told them to put all their trash in there and leave on my front steps...would have saved myself the trouble.

Books and Coffee....Coffee and Books

I have seen a world without coffee, and it's a very scary place. I go through phases when I'm trying to eat healthier and I will give up coffee in the process...I know, I know...what the hell am I thinking?! For those of you who are sitting there saying, "Silly woman, coffee is not bad for you, in fact there are studies which have shown coffee, in moderation, can be very good for you." To you, I say, have you ever seen the way I have my coffee? I cannot drink it black, which I believe is the only way it is healthy. I scoff at black coffee...no, somewhere along the way I found that a touch of chocolate in my coffee was quite delectable, even a little addictive. Yes, I have to drink coffee with all kinds of sugary-bad-for-you-goodness in it. And ALWAYS some kind of chocolate in it.

When I try to give it up, my body thinks I'm punishing it and gets very depressed. As I said this happened recently so I decided to cheer myself up. What is better than a cup of coffee with a good book? Almost nothing...minds out of the gutter people...I said ALMOST! Anyway, to cheer myself up I took the girls to the local Borders bookstore. This is one of the mega Borders, with the nice little cafe in the back and comfy lounging chairs all over the store. We all picked out books, then I got a nice mocha coffee and we sat for three wonderful hours reading away. Well, Bethany did more people watching than reading, but I read a whole book and Jamie read several smaller books. What a blissful way to spend an afternoon...

I've always loved reading, but in the last five or ten years, I've really loved having books. I love seeing them stacked haphazardly on a table or shelf and knowing that I have read them all or intend to. I love having books so much that one day when we "hit it big" and move into a big house, we'll have a room that will be called the library. The walls will be filled with books and it will have one of those ladders on wheels and when friends come to visit I can have the butler answer the door and say, in one of those snooty butler-voices, "Ah, yes, she's expecting you. She's waiting in the library".

What? It could happen...

Lazy Daze...And My Neighbors, The Hummingbird Whisperers...

My apologies, I've gone and done it again. I haven't posted anything all week! You gotta cut me a break! It's summer! My computer crashed...uh, we lost electricity....I was locked out of the house...please forgive me! That was my rendition of John Belushi's famous "excuse scene" in the Blues Brothers....anyway, it is summer and the days do tend to get away from me. Especially since we have FINALLY had some nice weather in New England...so usually right after dinner, it's outside to check on the garden and then in the pool. This is usually when I notice the throngs of hummingbirds practically waiting in line to get at my neighbors hummingbird feeder.

We also have a hummingbird feeder hanging off our back deck, just like they do. We almost never had hummingbirds as we always used that red "food" you buy in the store. This must be the hummingbird equivalent of stale saltines. We finally asked our neighbors what they used and he said he makes is with water and sugar. So Mike dutifully made up a batch and like magic we have had hummingbirds daily. They are so amazing I could watch them all day. Now, even though we get them now and then, it's still nothing like my neighbors house...so I call them the hummingbird whisperers...but don't tell them, they don't know that yet....uh, I guess they probably know now if they are reading this!

So just as my neighbors are the hummingbird whisperers, my daughter is the dragon fly whisperer. (warning: close up photo of a dragonfly coming up-skip if you don't like them!) We love dragonflies....they do not bite, as many people think. Many times they will land gently on your hand if you let them, and look up at you curiously with their over sized eyes. With the pool, however, many of them end up in the water. The dragonflies view the pool as a huge bird bath I guess because we watch them swoop in for a drink of water and fly away. Sometimes they swoop too close and if their wings get stuck in the surface tension of the water, they're stuck there. Bethany feels it is her mission to save all of these dragonflies before they end up in the dreaded pool filter. Last week, it seemed that almost all of the dragonflies we came in contact with, were carrying eggs! We never noticed eggs before so I grabbed a photo of one on Beth's finger...she literally has it upside down so I can get a photo of all the little black eggs stuck to it's under side...it's like she lulled it to sleep and can make it do whatever she wants....

I guess it's touch to see the eggs in this photo, but you can see what I mean about her effect on it.

Along with the garden we planted this year, we also planted morning glory seeds. I grew up with morning glories around our garage door. If you are not familiar with them, their vines grow far and their flowers can only be seen in the morning. They literally close up in the afternoon and evening. My favorite part of the flowers are the new flowers that haven't opened yet. The bud is twisted up like this one...
and they have a nice, spiral look to them. I almost stepped in dog poop walking over to take this photo...the hardships I endure for you people! Here it is from a different view...

Moving on to the garden. Before we picked our first squash last week, I had been out checking on said squash, admiring how they were coming along and all the plants were nice and green and leafy. Then I went walking up my deck stairs only to see my neighbor walking up his deck stairs with an armful of nice, big squash and zucchini. My ego instantly deflated.

Since then, however, we have picked a few squash and cherry tomatoes.

Here is a photo of our Barbie peppers, as my friend, Julie, would say....ok not really, but they are still really small...

A few cherry tomatoes, almost ready for the picking....

And is that a cucumber I see hiding in there?

Now this character has been hanging around with his mate and we can't get enough of them. Cardinals are just so red and striking and fantastic. It's usually not that often that we see them, until now. He seems to come around every night after dinner...but he never lets me get close enough to get a good picture of him...

And this is what happens when hubby takes photos. I wasn't there, otherwise this would have been a great photo of my daughter and two of the Patriots cheerleaders at Gillette Stadium. Instead we have shadows in the clubhouse. Brilliant!

Squash That Thought....

I know I haven't posted any garden updates lately, but the garden has been coming along nicely...very slowly...but nicely. I heard from someone that due to the copious amounts of rain we have had in the last two months, it's taking longer for the veggies to grow. So we have nice, big, green, healthy plants....but the veggies are taking their time....except for the squash! We picked our very first home-grown vegetable today! I was so proud...I mean we planted these tiny seeds and now I was holding an actual, edible squash in my hands...

Isn't it a beauty! It's huge! Not really...but we were afraid it would rot if we left it any longer...no idea why...we're new at this, remember? Here it is next to a pencil so you can see how small it actually is....

I decided to cut it up and saute it in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) as Rachel Ray says and some salt and pepper....look at all the juicy goodness of the earth that flowed from it when I started to cut it up....

This is my home grown sauteed squash...yum!

We have tons of cherry tomatoes, but they just won't turn red....anyone out there know why? They are starting to get too big to be called cherry tomatoes - they already broke a couple of the sticks the plants are tied to! But they are all still green. Now the peppers and cucumbers have to catch up...don't worry, I'll be posting as soon as I pick the first of each!