school memories

Do you ever look at something and wonder why you've held on to it for so long?

"What? Was that rhetorical or aimed at me?"

Oh, that was simply cast out into the ether.

"Okay, just wanted to be sure. Hey, are those old school ID cards?"

Yes, they are. They've been in the safe deposit box all these years.

"I knew they were more than a decade old. Your hair has been all down your back for at least that long."

Heck, more than that! I'd started growing my hair long again when Harry and I broke up, and that was summer of 2011. These three photos are all from the 20th century.

"Hahahaha! That makes them sound ancient!"

Well, the first two are student ID cards from Florida State University. In fact, the lower of the two ran from summer of 1986, with my first Summer Undergraduate Research Program stint with Dr. Leo Mandelkern, all the way through spring of 1993. That big gold one in the middle picks up from June of 1993 onward to 1996, when I graduated from FSU with my PhD. I don't recall why I had to get a new ID then. Maybe because my status had changed from student to research assistant while I wrote my dissertation? I really have no idea.

"Neither do I, that's for sure."

The third ID card dates from the name and status change of the Armstrong campus. We went from quarters at Armstrong State College to the semester system at Armstrong Atlantic State University. What a mouthful! That word "Atlantic" was added as a geographic locator, since "Armstrong" in and of itself wasn't satisfactory to the Georgia Board of Regents. That's okay, everyone still called it simply "Armstrong", which is actually appropriate, right?

"Absolutely! No one ever called Florida State anything except "F-S-U". It would have actually seemed silly to call it anything else. At least "Armstrong" is an actual name."

That's right.

"And is that the mortar and pestle that your student made for you in her ceramics class?"

Yes, it is! The years have not been kind to LaNesa's creation. The clay may not have been totally cured, as it is quite cracked. She had tried to make it in my favorite colors - hot pink and purple! - but the kiln had changed the colors. Still, I applauded the effort. She was such a sweet person!

"And what are you going to do with that art project?"

I'm "releasing it into the wild", as I like to say. (smile!)

"Heard. One less item for someone else to look at and wonder what to do with it."

Exactly.

"And does that photo mean you're at the laundry?"

I was, but I'm home now, and fixing to have slunch and watch a few more episodes of "The Closer" on Peacock. Oddly, I find myself remembering a few, but not most of them.

"Well, I'll leave you to that. Looks like you've had a productive day!"

I have. I even watched sheets! And because it was Wednesday and the washer I used was discounted from $6 to $4.50, I only spent $7.50 for the one large load. Productive, and frugal... and now I'll have clean clothes for the next 4 to 5 weeks. (smile!) Time to eat!

flashbacks with ronnie, from fb

This was from 17 September of 2011.

I look a bit like a startled bird there, don't I?

He and I had gone to see the Savannah Sand Gnats.

He was 49 years old, I was 53, and my car had 100,001 miles on it.

Amazing times those were!

Here's one from Christmas Eve of 1984.

How can I say that with such conviction?

That was where all of the family spent that day every year, after my mother and my stepdad were wed on September 28, 1984.

This was taken at Mama and Frank's house, and that's Christina Ann with her papa.

Ronnie was a 22-year-old father of my first niece, who was 21 months old.

Here's another from that same holiday gathering.

This one shows two of my three brothers, hamming it up as they always did then.

Smitty was 24, two years older than Ronnie.

So much has changed since then.

I'm blessed to have these photos of good times in the past.

usher and the a*list

What a fabulous time that was last Friday morning: dancing with Usher in France!

Such good fortune on that Friday the 13th!

I was the only person in the screening room for "Rendezvous In Paris", so I took full advantage of that to dance with him to the music!

Imagine that: a private concert for only $15 - wow!!!

Not that it was a concert so much as a story told in five chapters, with music.

Chapter 1: "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love", set in a club with lots of sexy dancing!

Chapter 2: Straying to another, a lone skater on a foggy bridge, with the concert section featuring him on skates, plus burlesque pole dances!

Chapter 3: Seduction, dancers with cane and hat and chair!

Chapter 4: Break up, solitude, death!

Chapter 5: Redemption with his first love!

Very nice to have gone on that ride with the 46-year-old Usher!

 

Very nice to have seen Paris again, too.

The last time was during the opening ceremony for the 17th Summer Paralympics there.

That was just over two weeks ago, on August 30th.

Because there were fewer participants for that part of the Summer Olympics, the athletes and their contingents were allowed to march down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in downtown Paris to the site of the opening ceremony at the Place de la Concorde.

How very exciting that must have been for them!!!

It was certainly exciting, and quite beautiful, to watch!

 

So, back to the here and now and the A*List, shall we?

Yes, that's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" in the line-up once more.

Yes, it was a fun movie, one that I had planned to see again, though maybe not so soon.

So, why had I?

Points, my dear, great lovely bonus points, 1000 of them specifically.

(smile!)

Then, today, for Tina Tuesday, I had a double header of dances to complete the trio.

I totally enjoyed "The Killer's Game", with Drax of "The Guardians Of The Galaxy" as an assassin who finds love just before being diagnosed with a deadly disease.

Yes, I realize Dave Bautista is known more for his wrestling  career, but not by me.

This movie, which had languished for two decades before getting made, was a lot of fun and had the flavor of "Kill Bill".

Oh, but what was really cool was that he'd gotten another GOTG star, Pom Klementieff, cast as the diabolical Marianna Antoinette, his arch nemesis!!!

Yes, much fun was had by all I'm sure!

Not so much, though, for the second film, "Am I Racist?", which I'd gone into not expecting much and was delighted to find myself laughing out loud several times.

Truly!

I don't think the scenes were meant to be humorous, but they sure tickled me!

He was trying to poke fun at diversity training and groups that promote such, but I found his very dominating white-male actions to be the source of inside jokes for me.

The final scene in the diner is the most hilarious!

I started laughing and couldn't stop!

That definitely rattled the two other viewers - both older white men - into leaving quickly.

Will I check out the podcasts of the "star" of that mockumentary?

Not hardly.

This one dose of his finger-pointing antics was quite enough.

But I do recommend watching it once for laughs!

Even better: find the segments on youTube.

No need to sit through the pandering in the rest of his piece.

back yard all neat and tidy!

Well, the grass is.

 

The bushes and scrub oak 

still need to be tamed, 

but the yard looks great!

 

This is how it looked

before I started on it

yesterday.

 

I got 35 minutes' worth

out of the Ryobi

that day.

 

Today, I headed out

into that growth

once more, determined

to be done with it.

And I am!

My battery-powered

push mower was good for

another 35 minutes of

tackling the thick growth,

but we won out!

Whew!

Time for an Outshine popsicle!

I want to celebrate getting that task done before the rains come.

Plus, I've been able to work during the mid-afternoon part of the day!

 

The temperatures have been in the low 80's, with no heat index... 

most def a change.

 

Not autumn yet, but it's coming.

grammy's pearls

That's what she said the moment she saw what I'd brought in one of the silk jewelry bags that had traveled with me from Okinawa.

She even knew rules about the wearing of pearls.

Pearls are the last thing on, and the first thing off.

Perfume is sprayed on or applied before the pearls.

As soon as she'd said those rules, I remembered Mama telling them to me, too.

That would have been back in 1996, when she and Frank gave me the pearl bracelet before my doctoral graduation ceremony.

I have no idea when she had spoken to her first granddaughter about pearls...

but it was gratifying that Christina had instantly recalled those pearls of wisdom.

(smile)

Now Mama's pearls, and mine, too, belong to my beautiful first niece.

How fortuitous that she was still wearing her Sunday best when I met her for dinner!

Right time, right place.

And just where were we?

Olive Garden.

She and I both had gift certificates to use, too.

She and the girls were in town to watch the soccer coach play in a game, so she'd contacted me about dinner plans.

I'd closed out the safe deposit box, no longer feeling a need to keep it, and had found the forgotten jewelry within.

Timing...

not just "a coincidence"...

a perfect opportunity for both of us.

i thank You, God.

flashback: 14 september 2014

Once upon a time... 

 

This tale is from a decade ago, but it began a few years earlier.

That was 2011, after my stepdad died and I inherited a share of what was left of Mama's estate, eleven years after her death.

I became Fliss of Kickstarter, helping dreams come true!

One of those I helped was a musician, David Lareau.

His dream was to get his CD, "Hugs From Distant Neighbors", produced, and that became reality in 2012.

As he was a Tallahassee native, I had a dream of my own: to go hear him and his band, The Copperpots, play.

 

The stars aligned in 2014!

 

The 319 Wine & Cheese Shoppe was hosting him for their Friday 'happy hour', so south I went!

I even had company for the drive: Jeff Secrest came along to meet my cousin and hear some music!

 

Here's the caption on fb for this photo: "Just David, no Copperpots this time - very nice acoustic set and then he came over and had a beer and talked with us for a while. Woohoo!!!"

I even had him sign the CD.

(smile!)

We spent the night with my blue-sky Penny and her hubby, Steve, there in Tall'ee.

The next day, we ate cold-cut sandwiches and had lemon cake for dessert.

We visited with Aunt Linda, too, who came over to coach Jacob and Alex in math.

Then, at some point, we returned to Savannah.

Those are all the details I have from that fb post.

Glad I took photos!

(smile!)

melanie and sam and dave

"Hey, hey! You met some new folks? Or had visitors?"

Well, I did meet some new people tonight! Barri Marshall played veejay at the "Sing & Swing Family Fling" at Asbury Memorial Church, in Holliday Hall, and guess what? I got to do some karaoke!!!

"Holy cow! You haven't done any of that since before the pandemic!"

That's right, and I could tell I was a bit rusty. But you know what? It's just like riding a bike!

"It came right back to you?"

Nope, more like when I fell off tempo, I just got right back on again!

"Hahahaha! Glad to hear it!"

Me, too. That crazy Danny Beam even shouted out to me, "Choir practice at 6:30 on Wednesday nights!" - lol! For everybody to hear! Then he told me again later, before he and Barbara left.

"He's really a good guy! Is that him up there singing?"

Sure 'nough! He enlisted his oldest grandson, Caleb, to hold the microphone. After all, he needed his hands free for Joe Cocker's "You Can Leave Your Hat On"! Very cool! Then, later, he and his lovely wife did "I Got You, Babe", with Danny down on his knees as Sonny.

"He certainly is an entertainer! So, what song made him notice your voice?"

My very first one. You know I usually start with "Brand New Key", right? This time, I made sure to mention that Melanie, the singer, had recently died. That may be what prompted Danny to pay homage to "the late, great, Joe Cocker" in his opening. The other song I performed was "Hold On, I'm Coming" by Sam & Dave. I hadn't realized that was meant to be sung as a duet, so that's the one I kept "falling off".

"Oh, you haven't done that for a while. The last time would have been at a karaoke night at Post 36 some few years ago."

Yeah. That was when one of the women there asked me why I was doing a song meant for men to sing. Really. That just blew my mind.

"I remember. Hey, why didn't you do more songs tonight?"

Well, I missed the first hour of karaoke. Tonight was the first new S&K configuration at Jalapenos and, as I felt partly responsible, I just had to be there. Then, I was having such fun that I stayed until we were all done with our Friday Fiesta!

"I see that Betsy was at your end of the table."

So was Becca, right beside her. In fact, somehow it had worked out that all the women had one table and all the men had the other!

"Well, that's certainly a change!"

Yes, it was! I think it just may carry on like this next time, too. I know Tony really liked being down there with the guys and being part of the conversation! I liked our conversation, too. Ronnie and Robin got mentioned by either Laura or Mary or both. They were surprised at what I hadn't known, but I'd reminded them that I was in San Diego until 1984, then I'd started college and was gone again. That would have been down to Tallahassee for summer of 86' and '87, then for grad school from 1988 onward.

"Right, I know that's how you missed stuff in that decade."

Right? And yet I knew some things they didn't about that situation. It's always a surprise to me when I find that to be the case.

"Well, you know Mama would tell you things that she wouldn't tell your brothers or anyone else. I'm glad y'all had that close friendship."

Me, too. I think a visit to her is overdue.

flashback: toffee

No, this video is not of my dear dog...

but it certainly could have been.

 

The coloration of the dog is what first caught my attention.

 

This one lacked the mascara'ed eyes of Toffee, 

but had a similar build and size.

That joyful enthusiasm exhibited by the animal, though - 

I certainly remembered my girl acting that way!

 

I'd brought her back to the States with me when 

Keith and I transferred from Panama to Pensacola 

for more 'C' school with the Navy.

 

Toffee had never been anywhere that had temperatures 

below 70 F and she was delighted to discover the 

60's and 50's that fall of 1980.

 

"Look at me!," her happy face and wagging tail would say

on our evening walks, "I'm not even panting!"

 

Ah, such glorious times those were!

 

Then, one morning, I woke to find she'd died of heart failure.

 

At least I knew she'd enjoyed herself on that last stroll.

 

Still, it broke my heart that my three-year-old was gone.

 

How fortunate that her spirit lives in this joyful dog!

where i needed to be

Absolutely.

Off fb and at the movies, 

munching pepperoni pizza, 

watching two larger-than-life heroes 

save the world.

Right place, right time.

Perfect.

i thank You, God.