Wellies

Last winter, in preparation for sprinter, and then eventually spring, I decided to buy a pair of really good water boots.  I knew the yard would be muck for awhile, so I thought I would get a jump on it.  "Wellingtons" are quite expensive, but I was able to snag a pair on Amazon.com for thirty bucks!

Brand spankin' new!

Here are my "Wellies".  I love them!  They are possibly the single best purchase I have ever made.  I had no idea how rough sprinter was going to turn out to be, (we are currently in the middle of a week long snow/ice/rain mess)  and I have worn them every day for the last month or so.  They are holding up well, but don't look so purdy right now!

I have it on the best authority that all the cool girls wear red boots.

Goovers bird watching and helping me feed the birds.

When I was younger, well, now that I stop and think about it, up until last fall when I moved out to Miller Creek, I was not really a boot fan.  I was also not really keen on hats either.  I have happily lived in boots for the last six months, and I have willingly put on a hat on more than one occasion.  The Brown Eyed Man bought me one as kind of a joke for Christmas.  It's the kind with the braids down the sides, and it has a panda head.  I wore it all the time outside with Jake on frigid days.

Our snow is mostly gone now, but there is a HUGE pond taking up part of the front yard.  Then there's a swampy area that you can actually walk through to get to the car, and the area around the garage is mushy mud.  I am so thankful for my red Wellies!  Although I do look forward to tennis shoes, sandals, and for yuckier days my fabulous red duck boots.  ;)

Angel Pie

In past Easter blogs I have mentioned the lemon tortes that are a Meys family tradition at Easter, but there is another similar dessert that is called Angel Pie.  It's kind of a big lemon torte in a cake pan if you will.  There is more whipped cream, and in my opinion, it's not nearly as good.

When I was growing up we had an elderly neighbor couple, across the street and down a few houses, by the name of Plachta, Mike and Leona to be exact.  Now, I have absolutely no idea how or why this tradition started, but a year or two before Mike passed away my siblings and I started going over to their house on Easter morning after breakfast.  I think David was quite small. 

I remember it being a pain in the neck.  I wasn't hungry, we had just eaten.  They weren't close family friends, we didn't (in the beginning) know them well, and hey,  it was biting in to our egg hunting, kite flying, and candy eating time. 

I only have snippets of memories from those times, the tiny kitchen, the beautiful sugar eggs that Leona made, the dog "YoYo", and the angel pie.  I clearly remember the Easter after Mike died.  I get the feeling that he passed close to Easter, because there was some discussion between my parents about us not going, but Leona still received us, with Angel pie and teary eyes.

As years went by I, and my sister in turn, actually worked for Leona.  I did mostly cleaning, but Kate did that and errands too.  It was kind of like a PCA or Home Health Aide job these days, but we were both only in our teens.  During that time I learned that Leona and Mike were pretty estranged from their family.  They had two kids in town, and grandchildren, but rarely saw any of them.

I never really thought about it, or them, until many years later.  Our neighborhood was teeming with kids.  How lonely for an elderly lady who clearly loved kids.  She would watch them playing outside while I was cleaning, as she must have watched us when we were little and knockin' round the hood.

At the time I wasn't too thrilled with my Mother for making me go over there.  Now that I'm older, and understand a few more things, I am glad that she did.  It gave Leona something to look forward to, and plan for, and I'm glad that over Angel Pie we were able to make one old woman smile. 

Twelve

It's hard to believe that The Artist Formerly Known As Pablo turned twelve today!

Pablo and the Goovers, just yesterday......

I saved this little convo for his birthday blog, because it really represents just about every conversation Paul and I have.

Last summer I stopped over at Jerry and Jenny's to drop off some AVON.  Paul had just finished painting his room, so I went up to check out the finished product.  He got to spatter paint lots of different colors on the wall, which I couldn't really wrap my head around, but looks pretty neat!

I walk into the room and he is sitting on the floor, headset on, playing a video game of some sort.  I didn't know what, the monitor was behind me, and I was more interested in the art on the wall. (and tormenting him)

Me: What the heck did you do to MY bedroom?
TAFKAP: (evil grin) You mean MY bedroom.

Then I complimented him on the nice work, and took a moment to get all nostalgic, because it was, in fact, MY room for fourteen years.  I think it looked better with Duran Duran, John Stamos, and MENUDO posted all over the walls, but I digress.....

I realized that Paul was talking to me so I snapped out of it.

Me:  What?
TAFKAP: Not you, I'm talking to my friend, on the headset.  We're playing this game together.
Me: Huh? 

His Mom explains that he is playing the game with a friend who lives down the street. 

Me: What the heck?  Get off that dang thing, go outside and play with your friend. It's a beautiful day!  Geez.
TAFKAP:  (into the headset) Nothing, it's just my Aunt.......  (eye roll at me)  As he starts shooting something on the screen, and then gives some instructions to his pal.

That's when I turned to look at the game.  I was stunned.  The television he was playing on was literally the biggest tv I have ever seen.

I turned back to look at him with my mouth hanging open.

Me:  Where in the heck did you get that t.v??
TAFKAP:  (lil smirk and twinkling eyes)

His Mom tells me that her parents weren't using it and gave it to him.

Me:  You aren't spoiled or anything are you?
TAFKAP: (big grin)  I refuse to answer that question.
Me: (eye roll at him)

Then I watched him kill some zombies for a bit.  The concept of being able to play a game like that with a friend who is down the street kind of blew my mind.  While I sat there watching, I recalled days gone by when his father, uncle, and I sat in that very room, sweating bullets in the August heat, trying to master Super Mario Brothers on the new Nintendo. 

Times have changed, and Auntie has a hard time keeping up.  Especially with this one.  This nephew of mine makes me feel my age, on a regular basis. :)

This past winter Paul was honored at St. Anthony's for serving his 200th mass. My Dad would have been so proud.  He and my Uncle Bill probably served 1000 masses in that church, and my brothers took their turns too. 

Happy Birthday my twelve year old Pablo.  Yes, I said it. 

Love you to the moon and back, but I haven't forgotten that I owe you one.  Oh yeah.  It's coming......♥

Beeeaaauuutttiiiful!

Oh my goodness.  The sun is out, the birds are singing, the creek is running (up and over it's banks) and it is such a beautiful morning!  There's still three feet of snow on the ground, but.....

♫Oh what a beautiful morning!  Oh what a beautiful day.  I've got a beautiful feeeeeeelin', every thing's goin' my way!♫

Don't you think I didn't sing that.

We have survived the long winter!  I'm not fool enough to think that Sprinter has left us, but with the warmer temps, and the arrival of ROBIN, red winged black bird, white breasted nuthatch, cowbird, and a lil goldfinch to the menagerie I do believe that Spring has Sprung in The North!

It's also a huge attitude shift.  You can just feel that people are "lighter". No matter how hard you try the long days drag most people under at some point.  You just give up, huddle in, and wait.  Even the promise of red "Wellies" for the mud puddles on the horizon isn't enough to make you smile.  Trying to focus on planting flowers, and a veggie garden worked for awhile, but it is very disheartening to watch foot after foot of snow cover the areas you are trying to plan. (in late March and April)

I have only lived through two real, honest to goodness, Springs in my life.  One was here, two years ago, and the other was Once Upon A Time when I was a nanny living in Madison.  If I got to see more of it, perhaps I would like the season more.  As it is, it's probably my least favorite, just because it's usually so gloomy.  Today, however, I will embrace the Spring!  *cue robin's singing

For the record, I'm not a snow hater.  I like snow, in the Wintertime, where it belongs. :) 


                HAPPY SPRING!