It Was About Time!

There we are: The Three Stooges! Just kidding! That gorgeous young lady is one of my nieces and the handsome old dude on my left is the older of my two younger brothers. A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of a rare and surprise visit of said brother.

This is the retired brother who, along with his soul mate and their canine furkids change homes and climates so often it makes my head spin! They enjoy it; it exhausts me to THINK about it! So, the time lapse between this visit and the last has been some 6 + years. One of the last was with a son when they were in the area for a Pinball tournament.

Anyway, he called a couple of weeks ago and said he was visiting my niece and her new hubby and thought a visit with his OLDER sister was long overdue. I agreed and was delighted at the prospect of a visit from the prodigal bro!

INCIDENTALLY, I have a younger brother who I haven't seen in awhile, either. He lives a bit closer... ( cough! Cough! Hint! ).

It was a fun visit. Lots of stories and laughter. You'd have to know how quirky this brother is to appreciate how much we can laugh when either on the phone or in person! He has the memory of an elephant and can dredge up long forgotten incidents from our childhood that send us into hysterics! Speaking of the younger brother...he was often the 'victim' in our childhood...er..pranks?!? Poor Kelly either wasn't born yet or was too little to torture! :) My little boys were in the room for much of the rehashing of 'family history' and were doubled up with laughter. They paid this brother the ultimate compliment: They said he was "cool".

Like I said, it was a great visit but too short. We promised to do it again before the next time is when one of us is horizontal!!

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"Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk." ~Susan Scarf Merrell

"To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time." ~Clara Ortega

Of Frogs And Fairy Houses

What's this got to do with anything? Nothing really. Love my frogs and I love the various fairy houses that nestle in my container gardens scattered around the patio and yard. The wee creatures are welcome to come, visit, or move right in. What can I say? My favorite childhood book and flights of my imagination surrounded Peter Pan.

Yesterday was a long, hot, ultimately crispy, but fun day. Trish was off, so we took the boys to Hawaiian Falls, a local water park. We went early, best time to beat the crowds and find a shady spot to park ourselves. As a rule, we leave around 2 when the crowds swell and the sun is unbearable. Yesterday, was an exception.

All Spring Connor, who has anxiety issues and fear of amusement park rides, slides, scary movies, etc., has been saying he's ready to ride the big rides at Six Flags and the giant slides at the water parks. On the way to Hawaiian Falls yesterday Connor was talking about going down the big slides. Trish tried to discourage him from going because he wouldn't be able to turn back mid-slide. I told her I thought we should just let him try if he wanted to.

We hit the park and he was off to the slides! I followed to see how he fared. He not only did it, he LOVED it!! There are 3 or 4 different slides to ride with and without tubes ( single or double). He rode them all! A small victory to some; a HUGE victory for Connor! I was thrilled and proud of his mastery over what had been a huge fear/anxiety for him.

Both boys are part fish. They love the water. I think it's genetic. They swam, rode the slides and ran around the park for hours. We slathered them liberally with sunscreen/block before and during the day. Connor is olive-skinned, but Sam is lily white. Both looked like crispy critters by the time we got home. This DESPITE the many latherings with 50 + sunblock!

Lesson learned. Next time they keep shirts on except when sliding (prohibited). My sunblock was 85; I didn't get burned at all. Trish wanted sun and she got it.

Liberal lathering off and an all evening with chilled Aloe Gel and some ibuprofen eased the discomfort. Watching The Spiderwick Chronicles on DVD capped off the day.

Maybe my fairy houses are occupied after all....
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"Fairies are invisible and inaudible like angels. But their magic sparkles in nature." ~Lynn Holland

OK, So In The Music Polling, I'm...Er.. Eclectec!

In the on-going music poll, I'm a music slut, or, to put it nicely, eclectec in my taste. What follows is a miniscule sampling with a poll somewhere to the right. (I have NO clue why I'm doing this!?!).

I have way too much time on my hands today!



I like classical....



I like the heavy stuff...




I love Queen!




And, I love the new stuff... (Coldplay rocks!)

First, let me introduce the lovely lady in the above photo! It's my daughter Trish and her new boss, Jim Hunt, at a soiree her new store ( his company ) took part in last month. EQ3 is a Canadian company that just recently dipped its toe into the American Market ( Dallas & Las Vegas ). More sites are in the works.

Back to the dog day or lack thereof... My son and his family, including his little female dog Dach, stopped by for a few hours on their way back from Louisiana to San Antonio. Frankly, I was dreading the visit based on the dog fiasco last year in a similar drive-by visit.

My dogs are not socialized to other dogs not in their pack. I didn't know Jim had Dach with him on the trip last year, and when he stepped into the house with that female dog ( my dogs are neutered males ) all four male dogs went ballistic! My Shelties settled down quickly, but Trish's Beagle barked and tried to bite poor little Dach. The scene between my son and Smokey (Beagle), between my son and me, was not pretty. That's putting it mildly. He went off on our dog and I went off on him. Like I said....not pretty at all!

So, I was dreading today. I just knew the weather would either be stormy or too hot to allow my dogs to stay out back. Also, today is lawn service day, and they were due about the same time as my son and family.

When a clap of thunder bounced me out of bed I really wanted to just crawl under the covers and hope the day would go away. Fortunately, we only got a few drops of rain in my area and the clouds gave way to steamy sunshine. Weather wise, things were looking up. The next hurdle was the lawn service.

My grandson, Bryan, called a little before 1 pm to say they were about 10 minutes out. I panicked. The lawn guys were running late! I sent the boys out front to scout for both the service and Jim's arrival. I was sure they would hit at the same time.

As it turned out, the mowers came and left just before Jim and family drove up. After some initial barking and circling amid getting-to-know-you sniffs, etc. the dogs enacted some kind of tentative truce. The visit went off without incident and was really fun. A great time was had by all.

As a bonus Bryan has free time in August to come for a week, after all, so I made flight arrangements! I thought he had too many irons in the fire for a visit this summer. Not so! YAY!

It could have been a "dog eat dog" day, literally, but it wasn't. The pack decided to be friendly, or at least, tolerate the visiting canine this time. The two alpha dogs ( my son ) ( me ) didn't have to tangle. This is a good thing!

Fit Nation! OK, Well...Fit Family!

We're on a new kick around here this summer. To be honest, *I'm* on a new kick, a fitness kick. Sam's not much of a challenge: mention 'bike' and 'park' and he's pretty compliant. Connor, on the other hand, is normally a tough nut to crack in the get-up-and-move-it arena. He would happily spend the majority of his days parked in front of a computer screen or hopping around playing video games on one of his consoles.

Soooooooooo I've been surprised at the relative ease in moving him up and out the door in the early morning for biking or hiking down to a park that's about a mile away. We're into our third week and so far, so good.

In addition to the bike/hike I take them swimming several days during the week. AND, I've implemented a new, healthier eating routine at Casa Pammy. THIS is where the major grumbling, mumbling and out-right balking comes into play. You'd think I'd asked them to eliminate anything worth eating from their choices.

I'm hoping all this good healthy living will slowly become routine before the summer's over. I'm optimistic, not overly rigid ( not easy for the anal one to say), and there's time off for a lazy day and ice cream. After all, too much of a good thing is as detrimental as too much of a bad thing. I twisted that quote to fit.

My son and his family, including my oldest grandson, are stopping through Thursday on their way home from a visit to Louisiana. They're visiting my ex-husband who lives on a lake. Arrival time is around noon and Pizza Hut delivery is the name of the game.

Like I said, the new routine has room for Pizza and Ice cream!

Getting to know you...

I've spent much of today playing with my new blog, figuring out this and that.

I also had to hit the bank and grocery to deposit a check and pick us some essentials. School's out, the boys are with me 24/7.... you get the picture.

Taking them out in public is never pretty.

Speaking of not so pretty...

I'm reading a good book at the moment: Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer Mcmahon.

Haunting, riveting, not-to-mention disturbing!