Mom, Thanks for the Advice

On Mother’s Day I thought it would be appropriate to pass on some of the advice my mom has given me over the years.     She’s given me lots of good advice and I’ve written about what a wonderful mom she’s been to me and my brothers and sisters.   This year however, I’m going to pass on some of the dubious advice she’s given me.    

1.  You don’t want a big diamond ring, someone might cut off  your finger off to steal it.      Oh, really mom?     If someone wants to give me a humungous diamond,  I’ll take my chances.    

2. Keep Working,  Life isn’t supposed to be fun.  I heard this often when I was growing up.  These words of wisdom were usually doled out on the hottest days of summer when I wanted to be at the lake rather than helping make breads, washing dishes, folding clothes or weeding the garden.    Along with this advice usually came:  You should be thankful  you have  hands so you can pull weeds, wash dishes, etc…     I took this as a warning that some tragic accident was likely if I wasn’t thankful I was pulling weeds in 90 degree weather  rather than swimming in cool Cedar Lake.

4. Sing before morning, cry before night.    An old superstitious saying that she passed on.   I never understood it but  I think it might have something to do with keeping a little peace in the morning;  I do understand that.    I prefer to wake up happy now days, a little singing in the morning isn’t a bad way to start a day.

5   Nothing good happens after midnight.   Not true but it was a good way to make me want to stay out after midnight.

6. You’ll understand when you’re older.    This was my mom’s way to avoid answering questions.  She used it often.   Now that I’m older, I still don’t understand.

Happy Mother’s Day

Frisbee

PD loves to play Frisbee.

He runs to retrieve it after it has been thrown but he hasn’t figured out how to catch it in the air.

I wish he could figure it out but I’m not sure how to train him to do it.

Mushroom Hunting

Early on a Saturday morning at a super secret location in the upper midwest, a crew of rubber-booted family members, led by an experienced guide, set on on a mission to find the elusive morel mushroom.

The guide, who happens to be my camera-shy brother, can no longer eat this particular fungus because of a reaction that sent him to the emergency room last week.

He pointed the morels out to us new mushroom hunters when he found a  morel.   He’s good at spotting them but he doesn’t even touch them now;  he doesn’t like emergency rooms or shots. 

                It took a while for us to learn how to spot them.    Those morels are hard to find.   They camouflage themselves amongst the leaves and pinecones.  Some grow under fallen wood.

I was nervous about snakes, but I kept looking down for the mushrooms.  It’s good to face your fears, right?

The littlest mushroom hunter was one of the best at spotting the morels.     She told me that her hands smelled like mushrooms at the end of the outing.   And they did.  I smelled them.

After an hour or two of traipsing around in the cold and drizzly morning, our pails were not full, but they were no longer empty either.

 

My sister and I soaked the mushrooms in a sink to remove anything yucky.   There wasn’t much.   I was relieved about that.

 

We’ve got plans to find more next weekend.

Florida

I recently spent a few days in Florida.  It was one of the best get-aways in recent history.

It was sunny and warm. There were blooming flowers everywhere so I decided to get outside my hotel room with my camera.

I heard some noises coming from inside a thick planting of flower bushes.  There was  a tree stump in the middle of the flower bushes.   On top of the tree stump a small lizard was sunning himself.

 

I quickly realized what was making the noise from below his perch.   And lucky for this lizard, so did he.

Someone looking for dinner.

Each time the bird would come after the lizard, the lizard would scurry down the tree trunk.   The bird looked around from the perch and then went back to the plants on the ground.   While the bird searched through the plants, the lizard climbed up the tree trunk and sat on top.  When the bird came up, he ran, fast.

This happened over and over.

 

I wondered why the lizard kept coming up to the top of the tree stump.

I guess it must have been safer for him on the stump than on the ground in the bushes.   He sure could run fast.  I didn’t think the bird had a chance.    

This was a really close call.

It was all happening so fast, I couldn’t tell if the bird even got close until I saw the pictures.  

Eventually neither the lizard or the bird came back to the top of the tree stump.   I don’t know if they both got tired or the bird finally got a meal.

It was really a great day for taking pictures in Florida.

Birthday Card and Cake

My sister Tonja learned to decorate cakes in the last few years.   She’s made some really creative cakes.   She makes the cakes from scratch and they always taste great.   We tease Tonja that she should just go into business running weddings because she also sings and does photography. 

She made a cake for Cindy’s birthday.  It had  a spinner on top so you could see  what Cindy was older than.  We spun it around a lot.     Someone accidently hit the side of it getting it out of the container.  It was a tasty chocolate cake with something really yummy between the layers.   I was most shocked that she actually put the word “shit” on a birthday cake.

 

When my sister Lynn came over on Friday she mentioned that she had to sign Cindy’s birthday card.   I said that I’d gotten a gift but forgot to pick up a card.   She said I could sign her card with her.  I did.

She owed me.

 

Last Mother’s Day I got my mom a beautiful card and sent it to her in the mail.   Apparently not everyone sent a card and mom had mine displayed on a table.   My sister Lynn has a great husband, Jeff, he’s quiet and very nice.   He was at my mom’s house helping her with something when he saw the Mother’s Day card I’d sent.   He covertly changed the front cover which read “for a wonderful mother” to “for a wonderful mother-in-law”  and then signed his name after mine so the card which had read "Love Mary” now read “Love Mary and Jeff”    He put the card back and didn’t say a word to anyone.  No one noticed.  He finally mentioned to my sister about a month later. 

That’s why Lynn had to let me sign Cindy’s birthday card with her.