80

Lydia turned 80 on 17 April. She can still kick my ass. Someday I want to grow up like my mom and my Aunts.....tough ole' broads! That, of course, is meant in the bestest way.

Aunt Betty and Mom, in front of Uncle Firmans race car-sometime in the 50's

At the wedding

I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry...
oh, hell I am.
Just give a thumbs up, Lyd.



Dammit, you better not take that picture.

You damn kids!

80!

All I can say, is I have the best Mom anyone could have. She gave me her "won't do anything hair", her grace and co-ordination, her butt (okay, I'm outdoing her on that one) and her mom's love. She was at the hospital every day while I was in traction, carried my sorry butt around when I was in a body cast, and carried my really sorry can't walk body to PT, so I could learn to walk. She has bailed me out, bitched me out, and took me out. She's grounded me, hounded me, and drove me. I once watched my mom, (who could water ski like crazy, but could not swim) try to drown in 2.5 feet of water. (I did save her) In my defense, I was not the idiot that pushed her in. She drove back and forth to Delaware, with children in the back telling her if she could merge into the left lane of I-95. And you know the angels we were, we would always have to give her the all clear and then scream. You'd have thought she would have left us somewhere. I'm not saying she might not have tried, but we always managed to beat her back to the car. She can whip a station wagon down a sidewalk and then be indignant that a tree had the audacity to be in the middle of the road, which was of course, the sidewalk.

I really don't know why she puts up with us.

I'm just glad she does.

PS-Lyd, sorry about the pictures. LYK1

Easter Sunday

We took our Sunday drive after dinner. The sun had really good light to it, and I wanted to try to get some images of the covered bridge down below us. The problem is, that it sits down in a hollow, and the light there is always tricky. It's usually too dark. Today was pretty good.
Believe it or not the last of the snow up on the mountain (Whitetail) is still hanging on. Hard to imagine with the rain we've had and the temps have been pretty warm some days. But with all the rain the last couple of weekends, everything is suddenly green. I actually mowed the grass on Thursday. (I am definitely not looking forward to that all summer.

Part III

By now, if you know us, you know what happened on the ride home from the wedding. Yes, horrifically, and hysterically, Butch and Jack parted company. This also involved R and myself washing the rental at 1am in the morning. There were several who were not moving too fast the next day. Butch, of course, was just wonderful. The fact that he kept most of us up with the earthquake snoring, was besides the point. Knowing how he is, I chose to sleep in another room...with the door closed....and I could still hear him. People just don't know how I can sleep with him when he snores so bad. I don't know. Once I do fall asleep, I'm usually dead to the world. If I could only get him to actually wear the CPAP machine at night, he might actually feel better-but that's another story.

The Pencil Whipper

Damn Brat with 2 3's and a handful of wild cards

We took the B&G's new boat out on Monday and had a beautiful day. We went north up the Intercoastal and had the good fortune to see a pod of dolphins fishing. There were about 7 or 8 of them and 4 or 5 of them were driving fish over a sand bar into the waiting mouths of their friends. A couple of them swam along with the boat for a while. One came up right next to the side of the boat, R probably could have touched them. We went to Pecks lake and dropped anchor and went up over the sand dune to the ocean where we picked up shells for a while. The ocean water was so calm and glass like, G decided that with time running short, we'd make a run down the ocean from St Lucie inlet to the Jupiter inlet. It was really nice out there with the boat making a full run. A shame though, that the water was just too cold to jump in. As we came through the inlet we looked over and there was a big old sea turtle swimming along. He had barnacles all over him. We got back in time for Butch and myself to jump through the shower, snarf up some of B's good chicken and get dropped off at the airport.

We didn't get in the door until after midnight, but that was okay. In the morning, I had to put shoes on, a down coat, and go to work. But I had a sunburn. And a really big smile.


Oh, and I forgot my damn camera out on the boat, so there are no incriminating pictures from monday.