Heed This Message: Don't Talk to Strangers!

(This message is for my friends and relations who are "nicely seasoned/aka OLD" like I am.)

Don't talk to strangers!

Don't take anything from anyone you do not know! ( Nothing in life is FREE!)

Don't get into the car with just anyone who offers you a lift!

Don't tell someone on the phone (or elsewhere) anything personal ( full name, age, address, social security number, bank account number, credit card number, mobile phone number, passwords) about you or any of your family members!

Don't dial back missed phone calls if you do not recognize the phone number!

Be wary of scams on the phone, on your e-mail, and even face to face!

Because the life's fortune you save, may be the one you will need❣

Climbing Up Mt. Everest is Dangerous? Not for Me!

I am within 400 meters of the summit of Mt. Everest❣

Who cares that it has taken me over 1 1/2 years to get to this elevation? 🚶🏼🚶🏼🚶🏼🚶🏼

The only time that I have difficulty breathing while climbing is when our Louisiana humidity is over 90% with temps in the 90's (30 Celsius)❣

Congrats to all of those fine people who have successfully made it to the real summit of the genuine Mt. Everest and then made it back down to tell about it.

My deepest condolences to those who gave their lives trying.

As for now, I will continue to use my safe method for climbing every mountain.

Blame It on the Three Snakes

Last evening our electricity was out for almost three hours! 

Now that is not so unusual for this state during inclement weather, but we were high and dry. And luckily the moon kept us from being pitch dark.

Here is what the electricity company put on their Facebook:

 "Crews are working to restore power to (Your) Substation due to damage as a result of 3 snakes. An estimated time of restoration will be given as it becomes available."

3rd World Louisiana❣ 

Can't help but ❤️it here❣

How Did You Spend Mother's Day?

Conquering these weeds? (At least for today.)

Admiring too much lettuce? (Wish I had planted all of my beds with this back in early March. Not to eat, but to control weeds❣)

Or making sure that the veggie beds are ready, set, to grow? (Haven't even planted a tomato plant yet!)

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and all the others❣

You Didn't Know My Mother

like I knew my mother❣(Be sure you read my title before my text😜)

I wish I could say that my mother and I had a special bond, but that wasn't the case. 

We loved each other. We respected each other. We were proud of each other. We were sometimes annoyed with each other. 

We always had a different relationship than with other family members, since I often "slept over" and spent long vacations under her roof.

Mother rarely told me what she really thought about me or what I had done with my life. But she shared with me what she thought about most of the other members of the family and what she thought they were doing with their lives.

Happy Birthday tomorrow, Mother❣Don't worry. Your opinions will always be safe with me.

On to Mt. Everest❣

My latest climbing badge:

Now on to Mt. Everest (8848 meters) and to reaching the 1600 kilometer mark. 

Keep moving, Linda❣

Lights Out

Saturday was the big day I had been waiting for. 

NOT!

My high school graduating class of 1966 held a reunion this last weekend. Hub and I signed up for the dinner/dancing on Saturday evening at the community center and joined the other old gray (and mostly out-of-shape) retired baby boomers. 

Thank goodness for name tags so that I knew who I was speaking to from those forgotten friends and acquaintances that I left behind 50 years ago. Although I can vaguely remember our 10th reunion (where I was seated with newly divorced female classmates that I had never (ever!) conversed with in high school), most of these folks have been as distant as the farthest star. I never was much at keeping up friendships when the school doors were closed for holidays. And having spent almost 30 years of my life after high school living in Europe, I had really distanced myself from my "homies."

There were hugs from formerly close (and even not so close) buddies from school, debate club, chorus, and church. There were even a few shouts across the room from gals and guys that I had known over one half of a century (oh, gads!) ago. I actually had made a mental list of the folks I wanted to make sure to see for perhaps the last time in my life, but before the dinner was even served the lights were dimmed and the music got louder.

Then old, shy Linda pulled back into her former self, and we left the other old folks behind and drove 1 1/2 hours back to our peaceful Wetcreek. A place where we have few dark days and music when we desire it.

Time to Purge My Teaching Papers

I have promised myself that after spending the last eight years of retirement stepping over and moving aside shelves and boxes of English books, handouts, and folders, I would get rid of most of that junk this summer. Well, it is summer already down here in southwest Louisiana, and I have begun the "purge."

After about 1 1/2 hours of sorting up in my craft room, I now have a good start. Four portable stacks of workbooks to go to our local thrift shop and a huge wash basket full of xerox copies of assignments and handouts to be burned in our new metal burn barrel.

I am not any way near finished, but I figured that was enough time to spend on the first effort. And still the loads have to somehow make it downstairs. Maybe later today.

While I was sorting, I ran across this following piece of writing. I am not sure where or when or even if I wrote this. I found it handwritten (by me) on the back of a Bingo game sheet.

Please enjoy and feel free to comment.

"Last week was the worst week of my entire life. It all began when the electricity man stopped by and turned off all of our electricity. Then the water man came by and 'pulled out the plug.' 

After the temperature dropped to -10 degrees, we had popsicle turkey for Thanksgiving dinner with rice dressing slush for dessert. We ran out of candles by Thursday lunch, so we rubbed two sticks together and made a bonfire in the garage. Oops! Our 500 boxes of belongings made good kindling. 

Finally, on the weekend it rained so hard that we put out the fire and finally got some deserved rest. 

Next year I plan to spend Thanksgiving in the Bahamas with my grandmother and grandfather. They live in a cool grass hut on the beach. 

But that is another story."

I Really Like Blogging❣Wetcreek is Back❣

Sometimes you just need a break to realize what you are missing. And I have been missing my daily blogging. So here we go after a weak Spring and no blogpost in April.

Wetcreek is back❣

And wet we are. This morning Flip and I tried our usual 30 minute/2500 steps morning walk around the pond and ended up doubling back when I realized that our walkpath on the other side of the pond was actually part of the pond. As probably the only "non-swimmer" in this family, I didn't want to try to ford through above ankle deep water ( and maybe snakes), so we retraced our steps and came back home to dry ( well, almost) ground. 

Mother Nature is doing her best, but with this kind of weather I can see how ancient temples became overgrown and disappeared in vines and vegetation. 

Tomorrow it is back to the garden/yard and attacking the green monsters that could envelope us while we are drinking coffee out on the front veranda.

This photo taken at the end of April 2015 is inspiration before the perspiration❤️