Born to Ride

Several weeks ago hubby and I were driving along on the expressway when we came along side two bikers decked out in full biker regalia. We were in the left lane, bikers in the right. When we passed them the lead biker turned his head very slowly and looked at me...

and this is what he was wearing under his helmet. I have to tell you it was very cool. I smiled, he nodded. I told my son about it and he said he had to show me something.

This.

Who needs a skull face mask when you can tattoo your face with a skull. I don't really shock very easy but when I saw this looking at me I was speechless. He looks so young under all that ink and has beautiful eyes. What would posses someone to do this to themselves?

Here he is again after even more tattoo work done. There's someone out there for everyone so I don't doubt he'll find a woman that will find him attractive but how will he ever get a job except in a freak show? I tried to find some information about this young man and all I found out is that he's from Montreal.

But back to motorcycles. When I was a teenager I thought I'd like a motorcycle but then I was on the back of my former brother-in-law's Harley and that cured me. It was the scariest ride ever because of course he had to show off. I think I almost peed my pants. But that ride didn't stop me from admiring a good Harley. Forget those foreign ones and racing bikes. As for riding a motorcycle now, well in Florida I fell off of my mother's bicycle and my knee still is giving trouble. I'll stick to riding in a car.



Not only did it hurt, it was down right embarrassing!

Size Matters

Yesterday as I was returning home from a girlie doctor appointment I was travelling through the park right near my house where this incident occurred. There was a car pulled over to the side of the road with two kids looking at something. As I got closer I saw that it was a massive, gargantuan, humongous, leviathan of a snapping turtle. Dang, I didn't have my camera with me so I sped up the hill to my house, ran in, peed, grabbed my camera and went back down. Before I continue my story enjoy some pics from my garden...

Coral bells, one of my earliest bloomers.

A rhododendron we just put in this spring. I honestly don't know how people can not have flowers in their yard. Well, I do actually. They're a lot of work but so worth it. Now back to the turtle story....

I jumped into my car and headed back down to the park, total elapsed time, less than five minutes. I got down there and the freaking turtle was GONE! How fast can a gigantic turtle move??

Wearing my heart on my sleeve

Sadness. Some people hate it and stay as far away from it as they can get and yet some don't mind it. Of course I don't think anyone likes to feel sad but there's something about reading a sad book or seeing a sad movie that makes me feel something. Certainly not happiness. I just can't explain it. I'm a very empathetic, intuitive and compassionate person. I feel my emotions and the emotions of others deeply. Sometimes to a fault.

The other night "Driving Miss Daisy" was on TV, it's one of my favorites and I always cry at the end. There is something so touching when Hoke visits Daisy in the nursing home at the end and is feeding her. To me it's just so intimate and not in a sexual way but in a loving way. He understood that in her own way she loved him and he loves her.

Isn't this most beautiful picture? She's 84 years old here. Click the photo to read what her husband says about her. I'm a sucker for little kids, old people and dogs.

Sometimes my husband asks me "why do you watch things that you know will make you cry?" I don't really have a reason for him, it's not like I want to be sad. He's asked me that question several times lately because I've found a new blog a few months ago that I read. I don't recall how I stumbled upon it. It's like I find a lot of things on the Internet, I follow links and end up new places. The blog I'm writing about is called The Sporh's Are Multiplying. It's a blog about a family, a mom, dad and little girl named Maddie. I've read back into her archives and have learned about the birth of Maddie. She was premature and had to fight for her life.

Isn't she a ray of sunshine? By reading Heather's words you could see how happy she was to be a mother and how proud she was of Maddie. The joy shined through in her blog. But their precious little daughter passed away suddenly in April. Her blog entries have changed dramatically as you would expect. Her writing is now so poignant and painful. Instead of joy the pain of their loss radiates through my computer and into my heart. I'm sad when I read it yet I can't stop reading it every day. As a mother I feel I need to experience this horrible event with her. I don't know her and can't imagine what her and her husband are going through. Yet by reading it and being touched by it I like to think that maybe I'm helping her. That I feel I'm getting to know Maddie and that's what her mother wants. For her child to be known and have an impact on people even though her life was cut short. Heather did a post this week about how she was at her parents house and was walking around outside. She looked at the sun shining on one of the windows and there was one of Maddie's hand prints. It was like Maddie was saying hello.

I would never wash this window.

Ever.

Both pictures were taken by Heather Spohr.

All Creatures Great and Small

My newest resident...

he's been hanging around in the front garden but he's now taken up new residence in my tomato garden next to my back sliding door. It's southern exposure so he likes to sun himself. I'm okay with that unless I see him peeking in. Then he's history.

Thank You

My father was in the Army when he was a lad. He served his country during peacetime between the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War. As a child my parents taught us the meaning of Memorial Day. We actually took a moment out our day to reflect on the lives that were given for our country. A deep appreciation of our country was instilled in us. When hubby and I bought our house 26 years ago the first thing I did have a big fiberglass flagpole installed. Today we fly the American flag as well as the POW flag which are light at night.

Please play the video

Hooray for the chubby girl

It must be the month of May because all over the country parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are going to dance recitals. I've been going to my 13 year old niece's for the last nine years. She does tap and hip hop and gets better every year. We call her long tall Sally as she's 5' 9" with long legs. Her dance school teaches students ages 4 - 18. The little ones are always the most popular and the older girls are always the best dancers. It's that awkward ages of 8 - 12 where watching can sometimes be painful. There's not a lot of grace and movements are often herky jerky. You can see the concentration on their faces.

Tonight was recital night and it was a grueling 2 1/2 hours long with 36 dance numbers (all group dances) and lest I forget, the packed auditorium was about 90 degrees. I don't know about you but when watching a group of dancers my eyes seem to automatically pick out one girl and focus on her. There was one girl tonight that stood out in the 5 dances she danced in. She's about 11 years old and each time was the best dancer on stage. She was graceful, her steps were sharp, she knew the routine well and it looked effortless. She was just glowing with joy and confidence. The best part; she was the chubby girl. I wish I could have told her how wonderful she did.

What do you see?

Start with some smooth flat stones.

These came from the shores of Lake Ontario.
Paint them black on all sides...

then paint 3/4 of the tops...

add spots, eyes and antennae, spray with sealer and voila you have little bugs.

We learned about insects in kindergarten last week so I painted each student one.

I sometimes think I have rocks in my head.

The last word about Adam

I'm very disappointed that Adam didn't win American Idol.

I couldn't have said it better than this blogger.

I'm flyin my freak flag.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

And the winner is...

I'm not really sure who it will be.

Last week there were just a million votes separating the two.

Why it could be Adam

1. He's got a voice and knows how to use it. His range is better than Kris's and let's face it, he's got the bigger vocals.

2. He's got the look and knows how to use it. This guy can pull off the reserved ballad singer in a suit and slicked back hair but when he sashays out on stage wearing the leather, bling and guy liner he knows how to rock it "hair band" style. Kris is cute in a very safe way and we didn't see many differences in his style.

3. He's got the rock fans behind him including the older ones like myself who grew up listening to his type of music.

Why it could be Kris

1. He does have a nice voice that many people like. His vocals can be played on more radio stations than Adam's. You won't find Adam belting it out in grocery stores, restaurants or elevators.

2. He has the look that many like; clean cut, cute and all American. What you see is what you get. He's not a chameleon like Adam.

3. He's got the power of the tween votes. Did you see his video clip when he visited his home town? It was mostly young girls. Adam's also had young girls but I saw plenty of older fans too. Plus I think that Dan Gokey's fans will vote for Kris. They were alike in a lot of ways.

Kris seems very vanilla to me while Adam is definitely rocky road.

I honestly don't know who will win.

My heart says Adam but I don't think it's a given.

It's only...

My youngest son returned home after his freshman year at college last week. When he left many months ago I was concerned that I wouldn't know what to do in an empty nest. Well I needn't have worried. After a few weeks to adjust it was great. While I'm always happy to have him home, while he was gone we could eat when we wanted, walk from the bathroom to the bedroom after a shower naked and adopt the "what I don't know won't hurt me" method of parenting.

But now he's home. It's funny because he still asks "can I go over to so and so's house tonight?" or "can I go to the movies tonight?". He doesn't really have a curfew but if he starts staying out every night til the wee hours of the morning then we'll have to talk about it. The biggest rule I have is that I want to know if he'll be home for dinner.

As any mother knows, she can tell when her child has something on their mind. I can tell as soon as he says the word mom. He has a certain inflection in his voice when he starts out. So we're having dinner and here it comes...

Cam: Mom, I need a haircut.

Me: Yes, it is getting a little scraggly.

Cam: Well, um, I was thinking of shaving my head.

Me: WHAT??!!

(I already have a kid that does that but only because he's lost most of his hair already. My youngest has a full thick head of curly hair. I love it and always have my hands in it.)

He's 19 years old and I suppose I can't tell him what to do. After all this is small potatoes. It's not like he wants to visit the Philippines like his brother.

It's just hair.

Only hair but I love it. As a baby he had curls but when we cut it at about age 2 that was the end of them for 14 years when he grew it long and they returned. He had his hair cut over the weekend and here it is...

A mohawk!

Since his hair is so thick and curly he can't get it to stand up straight. The plan is when his brother comes up from NYC this weekend he's going to finish the job with his clippers.
Then I'll have two kids as well as their grandpa with no hair.

Showing my age

I can tell that I'm starting to feel old. My favorite songs are now called "classic rock" or "oldies". My parents and I can complain to each other about our various aches and pains.

And I am trying to relive my youth. How? you ask.

I. Want. This. Car.

Muscle cars bring back many memories and I love to see them on the road. Every year you see less and less of them. What a thrill if you see a 1969 Camero Z28 or a GTO. They became very popular in the mid 60's through the 70's when I was an impressionable young girl.

I watch Mecum muscle car autions on TV and can't believe the prices that some of them go for. The buyers of these cars have it worse than I do not to mention they've got much more disposable income. A muscle car was never in my future but that's okay, I like a little more luxury than what an original offers.

Then I see this car...


I will have this car.

Maybe not this year but I will have it.

Honey, start planning for it.

I'm exhausted

It was a busy day at school this week but when you work in kindergarten every week is busy. Our school has four half day kindergarten classes, two in the morning, two in the afternoon. I work in all four of them on a rotating basis. Every year in May we go to the zoo and that event took place this week. I went to the zoo twice. With a total of 66 kids. On Wednesday the morning kindergartners had school all day with zoo in the morning, lunch in the cafeteria with the big kids and class work in the afternoon. The afternoon kindergarten class had the day off. The next day it's reversed. It makes for a long day for them, esp. the afternoon kids since they aren't used to coming in early.

The elephants were a hit the first day.

We saw them have a bath.

Snakes, don't like 'em.

We have garter snakes in our yard.

Thank goodness we've got no pythons or boas.

A bald eagle nest, they're huge.

The next day the elephants weren't interested in us. All we saw was their back end but the boys were impressed when "nature called". They begged for me to take a picture. The girls were grossed out. I didn't take it.

This guy was happy to see us.

I'm not a big fan of our type of zoo. Most of the animals are in cages. In the Toronto zoo they have so much space to roam that we didn't see many of them. My favorite part are the sea lions.

The children loved them and I think the sea lions liked them too.

A beaded lizard.

I once worked in a classroom that had a bearded dragon for a pet. He was very friendly and we would take it out of it's aquarium. I only did it a few times because every time I took it out it would crap. Hubby said I just scared the shit out of it. Gee thanks. I speak from experience, lizard crap stinks, it must have been the live crickets it ate.

I told you it was a long day for some.

Dear Adam,

I didn't just jump on the Adam Lambert band wagon.

I've been your fan since Hollywood week.

I predicted then that you'd be the winner.

I've defended you to others who say you just scream.

Disagreed with some that say you sound like people we've heard before. Yes, you can belt it out, hit and hold the notes like Freddie Mercury, Axel Rose, Steven Tyler, Michael Hutchence etc. but you don't sound like them. Whether you sing an in your face rock song or a quiet ballad you do it well, mix it up and put your own spin on it.

That being said, last night the moon wasn't in the seventh house and Jupiter didn't align with Mars because I didn't care for you. And that's okay. I don't love every Queen or Guns 'n Roses tune. I'm still calling you the winner.

Now if you don't win; I've said it before and I'll say it again...

"As God as my witness, I will never be hungry again."

No wait, that was Scarlett O'Hara

but for real, I will never watch American Idol again.

Love,

Summer

My boys 17 years ago.

Happy Mother's Day
to all the mothers out there.

Talking Flowers

I had a special delivery at school on Friday...

Flowers in a box...

Mine said nothing but beautiful things.

And they smelled soooo good.

Have you ever noticed that grocery store roses don't smell?

This book will tell you why.

An interesting read; Flower Confidential

They were from my son in NYC

I hear many people say,

"oh, I'd rather have a plant than flowers, they last longer".

Not me, I think flowers say so much more even if they don't really talk.

Thank a Nurse

Happy Nurse's Week to my son and all the nurses out there.

You all have a place in heaven.

OMG

He didn't disappoint!!!!

I don't usually get this hyped up about artists but I love this guy!

Adam Lambert

Love him or hate him, is there any in between?

Some don't like him because they say he screams. Me, well I love it. I don't call it screaming because he can do it on pitch. He reminds me of one of my all time favorite Freddie Mercury. Both of them can hit those high notes and hold it.

Last weeks performance I thought was a little over the top coming down the stairs and all but I still liked the music. His look I'm not so sure of. I'm a fan of long hair on guys, think Ace Young but I don't like long hair on guys when it looks like it takes too much work to style and I don't like the guy liner.
I was very surprised when Lambert landed in the bottom three last week. That could have been for several reasons.
1.His fans think other fans are voting for him so they don't. I've never voted for anyone on American Idol but did vote for Emmit Smith on DWTS.

2. The other contestants are catching up to him by improving every week. I think the dark horse is Chris, the girls in the audience scream for him.

3. There are rumors about Lambert's sexuality out there so he has lost some of the female vote now that their fantasy has been crushed and maybe some of the male votes also. Yes, in searching for pictures of Adam I did come across some same sex kissing pics (if you want to see 'em you'll have to search for yourself) but for me, I couldn't care less, I love his voice and if he doesn't win well I'll.... I'll...

I'll never watch American Idol again.

Tonight I'd be in heaven if he'd sing Queen's Someone to Love.

My second choice would be Guns and Roses Welcome to the Jungle.

Click on the links to listen and see if you agree.

The best stuff on earth and I don't mean Snapple

For me some of the most beautiful things on Earth are flowers. I love their delicate yet strong blooms. I'm a stop and smell the roses kind of person. Going to the garden store is my retail therapy and it can be dangerous, to my wallet. Yesterday it left $101. lighter. When you're feeling blue or grumpy just go to the garden store and you'll feel so much better. At least I do.

Sit back, relax and enjoy my view.

This daffodil wasn't at the store but in my back yard. We planted about 100 of them out in the fern garden. You can see the ferns are just starting to unfurl.

The colors and textures in nature are wonderful. Stop and and take a look next time you're out and about. Tornwordo has some lovely spring pictures up today also. A man after my own heart. Well sort of :)