Three Things To Say That Haven't A Thing In Common

(1) One day recently my brother surprised me by dropping by. He had been in the area on business all day. I made him allow me to take a picture because I don't have a picture of him in uniform.

S. C. Highway Patrol Captain J. D. Moore

(Put a baseball cap on him and he looks just like Joe Torrey)

(2) Jerry surprised Tom with a huge plaque.

It's an old plaque but in perfect condition.

This is the original Yellow Jacket (smaller head than the current mascot)

Jerry's friend had this in the back corner of his shop in Gamecock country. No wonder no one bought it over the years. But Jerry scooped it up for next to nothing. Don't know where yet, but it'll have a prominent place in our home or Tom's office.

(3) I had lunch this week at my friend Billie's house with some friends. We were fortunate to eat with a celebrity . . . Mary Whyte. She's a very gifted painter. She will have a show at the Greenville Art Museum in Feb. 2011. She spent a month in Simpsonville next door to Billie working on her craft. This week a news crew from CBS Morning News spent about 12 hours with Mary. She'll be on a 10-minute segment during the Sunday morning show probably the second Sunday in September. Billie and some of her family and friends may be on this special. You never know what will be edited out. But Billie had a blast that day. She fed the whole crew lunch and supper. She treated them like she treats everyone she meets - like family.

Mary is the lady in green. Her husband is next to her. They reside in Charleston.



Billie & daughter Jane is standing in front of Mary's painting called "The Beekeeper's Daughter". Billie's husband is a bee keeper and Jane, his daughter, was the subject of this painting.

Mary signed this for me. It's a copy of her painting called "Wednesday Chores". Lots of her painting are about the Gulla Culture. She does water-color painting and all of her work is just phenomenal!!

Billie has practically adopted Mary into her family. They have such a sweet, dear and very deep friendship that began last summer. Mary asked to lease their rental house for 2 months while she worked. Last summer she worked on "The Beekeeper's Daughter". She's continuing to focus on painting occupations that are beginning to disappear from society. Soon she will be working on a painting about a Funeral Procession Band in Miami. If you want an interesting book to read and to see her work, check out "Alfreda's World" by Mary Whyte. She wrote and illustrated this book.

Funny News Item

Tom told me about a news item that made me laugh. I'm not sure if he read it in the newspaper or if he saw in on TV. Anyway, it's one for the books. Seems a lady was charged with D.U.I. And what was her mode of transportation during this drunk driving???? A horse! I only wish I had seen this or read this for myself.





Brings to mind a similar offense. I may have blogged this earlier, but it is worth mentioning again. In my hometown newspaper a while back, I read about two separate drunk driving incidents. One arrest was made by the city police and the other arrest was made by the county sheriff deputy. Both arrests were made during the same weekend. Both arrests were for drunk driving. And both arrests (two different individuals, mind you) were for driving drunk on a lawn mower! I still lose it when I think about that. Small town America, for sure.

Beware of lawn mowers and horses that are weaving in and out of traffic!

"Butt"-Scootin' Boogie

Yesterday Cady was 9 mon. old. She decided to begin scooting on her rear. It's hilarious. Like the backstroke in swimming except she only uses her legs. Look for yourself.

A Morning At Falls Park

Abby and Cady picked me up this morning at 9:30. We left Tom here while he pressured-washed whatever needed washing. We were going to Falls Park in downtown. Today Cady is 9 mon. old. Shannon, who was Abby's wedding coordinator, is also a gifted photographer. She and her 3-yr-old (who we think would be a great candidate for a future husband to Cady) met us along with Matt's mom Brenda. It was an absolutely beautiful day at Falls Park.


It was rather humid so Abby & I (who have the Moore curse) sweated like two over-heated hogs. But we had a blast. Cady was so sweet and patient - even while undergoing a wardrobe change in mid-air. Shannon took tons and tons of pictures and there wasn't a bad one in the bunch. Here is just a sampling of today's picture taking.

My sweet girls


Cady and her mommy have a fun time anywhere they go.

Sitting with the falls behind them.

Love that face.

See Abby's elbow behind Cady?

We tried to use extreme caution on that rock wall.

Love the colors of green in this picture.

"BeBe" is inches away from the edge of this picture in case Cady tried to scoot forward.

My sweet little baby cakes

I love the root system of this huge tree on the side of a hill.

Cady & I in front of the roots. (She loves my necklace)

There are so many more great shots, but it takes too long to upload them so this is all you get. I'm putting more on my facebook so go there for the longer version of the picture taking.

When we returned home, Tom had gone to help Mark put finishing touches on his new tile flooring. I was curious to see what progress Tom had made on the pressure washing. I found a surprise when I opened the door to our patio.

Apparently, he didn't get very far on the patio!

A Houseful Of Company This Weekend

Before I get into my weekend, I just had to let you hear the latest on our Roller Derby gals. Today in the Greenville News (and again I use the term "news" loosely), there on page 2A was the picture below. (When I scanned it, I cut off their heads on purpose.)

The article read, "The 'Hatriots' and the 'Bloodcoats' battled Saturday . . . in the Red, White and Bruised Invitational. . ."

That still makes me laugh.

Okay, for my weekend. My house was filled with baby babbles and dog hair! Wednesday through Sunday we kept Darby dog while Chad & Michelle were in Minneapolis for a wedding. Darby is very sweet. But she is completely psycho when she hears a storm brewing. She's on meds for that. Let's just say I popped her with a pill on two consecutive days the end of the week.

Then Friday through Sunday we kept Brie & Brady dog while Mark & Andrea celebrated her 30th birthday and their second anniversary. Brady dog is precious, too. He is a little bit more high-strung than Darby. We played ball with the dogs for a long time several times throughout the weekend. When they were inside, they took up most of the floor space!

You should have seen me getting up from the love seat with my swollen leg and two huge dogs underfoot!

Tom & I thoroughly enjoyed Brie. She's such a great child. She plays well, eats well, sleeps well and smiles alot. While she was here, I began the process of familiarizing myself with the latest tot shows. Some of them stink, to be quite frank. But I saw "Sid, The Science Kid" for the first time. Cool show. As they used to say on American Band Stand, "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it." I was bouncing around and slapping my hand on my leg the entire show. Never heard of Sid, but I'll be back. (If you parents of toddlers know any more good shows, email me.)

Sid and friends

Here's Brie watching Sesame Street. I never tire of Elmo.

Papa and Brie are having a good ole laugh together.

I wish I had gotten out my video camera. Try to envision this: Brie loves to be chased down the hall. So, Brie went crawling down the hall - going very fast. She looked behind her to be sure Papa was coming. Then Papa goes crawling down the hall after her. . . . . he's followed by Brady who's followed by Darby. They all end up in the nursery and Brie goes around the rocking chair. . .

You can barely see Brie, but she laughing at Papa who's on the chase.

Then Brie crawled around and played with the exer-saucer. Then she crawled back into the den. . . followed by Tom crawling, Brady and Darby.

It ends up with Tom grabbing Brie in front of the fireplace.

This ritual of this play was done over and over this weekend. About the time Tom would sit down to read the paper, there Brie went crawling and looking back to see if Papa followed. They were so cute.

Mimi and her bum knees/leg were unable to crawl this weekend. But I had plenty of great fun with her. Andrea mentioned that Brie loves fresh fruit, such as watermelon and strawberries. Yesterday, I gave her some strawberries cut up finely and she fed herself. Before the feeding, she had on the most lovely white shirt and blue/white striped capris. After the feeding, however, the colors of her outfit had changed just a bit.

Oops!

Spray 'n Wash did the job. No more stains. Good as new. (whew!)

Here is Brie one morning at breakfast:

Silly, silly smile!

Brie has a fascination . . . well, really an obsession . . . with telephones/remote controls. I've mentioned this before. This weekend was no exception. She really enjoyed using our remote control. She completely understands that if she holds the remote toward the TV that something will happen. Brie changed channels often; she caused partial hearing loss in our ears when she brought up the volume to its highest; and she almost changed all my settings!

Brie usually had two cell phones and/or our cordless phone in a hand at all times. Yesterday, I looked and Brie had dialed Abby's phone. Abby answered and I told her that Brie had literally called her! I really had to watch to be sure Brie didn't accidentally delete my call list or dial North Korea.

I think I mentioned in an earlier blog that I found Tom's & my old cell phones and I charged them for my little girls. I keep both on speaker phone so any time Brie touched a button, it made a noise. Many, many times she pushed some button that tried to get the cell on the internet and an automated lady's voice would come on and say we had no service. Brie loved that.

She's got one phone in her hands and one between her legs. It was like that most of the weekend. I should have just put her other toys away.

It's Sunday night now. The baby girl is gone; the dogs are gone; but I still have fur balls dancing around the kitchen floor to remind me of my fun weekend.

This Was One Whirlwind Afternoon!

I've been complaining so much about my right knee (1 year 7 months to be exact) that I decided to keep the details about my "good" left knee to myself. Yes, I've mentioned a pain in that knee and Tom just held his breath hoping it wouldn't be another 19 months of whining. Honestly, I'm so tired of hobbling around. It's rather embarrassing to get up from a chair and have to slowly start moving forward.

Today, Tom went fishing all day and I kept Brie until around 2 p.m. I had noticed during the last few days that my left calf muscle was very tender. Yesterday and today it felt as if I had run a marathon with just my left leg. Last night I knew that my left leg was swollen. When Brie left today, I noticed that my left foot and ankle were swollen. Not good, I thought. I did a google search and I knew before I read that I had the classic symptoms of DVT - Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clot). I definitely had Deep Pain Throbbin' but prayed I didn't have DVT. Since the weekend was at hand, I called my doctor and got an appointment at 3:30. When he walked in the room and looked at my leg, he said, "Why in the world did you wait until almost 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon to come see me?" You have to understand that my doctor is also the husband of my very good friend. We kid each other constantly. He wanted to rule out DVT. (I kept my self-diagnosis to myself.) After making several calls, he finally found a place that would take me for an ultrasound (our local hospital). Thankfully, it was just down the street. Happy to report that I do not have a blood clot. I asked the ultrasound lady if she would tell me if I had a blood clot. She said, "Mrs. Rucker, if you have a blood clot, you won't be leaving this hospital." Hmmmm. Didn't like hearing that . . . I have a grandbaby and 2 dogs to take care of tonight.

From the hospital I went back to the doctor's office. He said I have a Baker's cyst behind the knee. Upon reading about this, it seems that some of the fluid from the cyst has leaked out and caused inflammation and swelling in my leg.

My orders are to take anti-inflammatory twice a day for 10 days, pain meds as needed, and to elevate and ice my leg as often as I can.

The only thing I like is that it's a "Baker's" cyst. I love to cook. I'm glad it wasn't a "Vacuumer's" cyst or a "Mopper's" cyst or an "Ironer's" cyst or heaven forbid a "Toilet Scrubber's" cyst. I don't care for those jobs. I'll take my Baker's cyst and elevate/ice it to my little cooking-heart's content.

Bunco And The Thing That Went Bump In The Night

I'm in a Bunco group. It's a very laid-back game that we play. None of that cut-throat attitudes in this bunch. We get together for some good food and great laughter. We get very loud - even the quiet ones let out a hoot & a holler occasionally. It's such a wonderful evening once a month. Last night was Bunco at my house. That required me to prepare a light supper and dessert.

Remember that great turkey breast deal I got at Publix? Well, I made Aunt Nell's wonderful turkey salad. Everyone loved it, Aunt Nell. After the ladies left, I was straightening up and decided to move the big, glass bowl of leftover turkey salad to a lower shelf in the refrigerator.

Well . . . .

Here's where turkey salad in glass bowl meets the hard floor.

So much for the turkey breast bargain!

What a huge mess to clean up! The glass bowl broke into more pieces that I could ever imagined. I was not happy. It was a real dilly to clean up. And, Tom would have so enjoyed turkey salad sandwiches this weekend. Oh well, that's the way the bowl shatters.

This afternoon while I was cleaning and perspiring like the sole laborer in a sweat shop, I had surprise company. Aunt Jane had taken the day off and had gone to Abby's. After eating out for lunch, Jane, Abby & Cady dropped by. Here are a couple of pictures.

Loved the outfit.


Cady completed her ensemble with matching toenail polish!

Tootles for now.

These Ain't Yo Momma's Roller Skates!

I've got a brand new pair of roller skates

You've got a brand new key

Another song from the past. Back in the day, I loved to roller skate. I remember going up and down the sidewalks of Elberton and having the time of my life. The roller skates that I wore were certainly not even remotely akin to today's skates - except that there were rollers. That's about the only likeness. Take a look.

These were identical to my skates.

All metal except for the strap.

I wore regular shoes and stepped into this skate. The skates were adjustable so I was able skate through many shoe sizes. A key was needed to wear these skates.

Can't adjust w/o this key.

The reason I had this moment of reflection on skating is because of an article I read yesterday. In our local newspaper (and I use that term loosely), it seems there is a group of ladies from this area who have formed a Roller Derby group. Another term from the past.

I got so tickled while reading the article. Here's what cracked me up. "Kitty Kutthroat", "Violent Streak", and "Uneta Beatin'" are some of the lovely ladies in this local sport. Here is what the article said:

Roller Derby is an evolution of the sport from its early, violent renegade version popularized in the late 60s and early 70s.

It goes on to say:

Team leader, xxxxxx, says, "You get to have this alter ego and it's almost like a superhero - you get to put on fishnets once or twice a month and come beat up on people.

So much for the evolution from violence. Read on:

"Kat" watched a recent practice because her left arm is in a sling as she nurses a broken collarbone back to health after a servere hit she took. She broke her collarbone on her first day back after having sat out with injured ribs from the roller derby track.

Don't worry it gets worse:

XXXXXXXXX, a former football player, said the bruising aspect of the sport attracted her. She said the sport is much safer than when it first started, though she's recovering from a broken tailbone.

THAT cracked my FUNNYbone!!!!

"Bruiser" continues on:

It's more than just a team. It's like a sorority and they're your sisters.

What in the world would this sorority be called . . . . . Alpha BEATa Nu???

They need more participants in the league. Skating, anyone? Bruises, anyone? E.R. visits, anyone? No thanks.

The Apex And The Pit Of My Life Today

Within 30 seconds today, I went from a real high to the lowest of the low. Let me explain.




I went to Publix today to buy turkey breasts. I'm in a Bunco group and I'm gonna make Aunt Nell's great turkey salad. The turkey breasts were on sale for $10.99 and I decided to buy two. When I checked out, the turkey rang up at $13.99 each. I told the cashier that I thought there was a mistake and she left to see for herself. It took forever. I thought my turkey breasts were gonna thaw out before she came back. But when she finally returned, she gave me good news. Since I found a mistake, one turkey breast was free and the other was $10.99 so I got TWO turkey breasts for $10.99. Hip, hip, hooray. I am trying to pinch pennies these days, so that was great news. I was pumped.

Then the cashier said, "Do you qualify for the Wednesday's Senior Citizen Discount today?" Argh! I still don't like that terminology. Knowing that the age for that discount varies from store to store, I asked, "What is the age for the discount?" She said, "60". Double Argh! So, she thought I looked 60, huh? I politely said, "No, I'm not 60." The cashier completely shot down my elation bubble. It burst right in my face.




I know I'm not the best looking peach in the basket, but I don't think I look 60 yet. Good grief - I don't have hardly any gray hair. And yesterday my hair dresser took care of that. If the cashier had seen me on Monday, she probably wouldn't have asked that question. Are cashiers required to ask everyone who is over 21 if they quality for the Senior Citizen Discount? Me thinks no. From now on when I shop at Publix on Wednesday, I think I'll wear cool clothes, fake braces on my teeth and smack gum. Maybe she'll think I'm under 60.

That's me and Tom, except I'll be the one flying down the hall in a wheelchair!

The Moon Walk And Another Walk Down Memory Lane

(Not Michael Jackson's moon walk)



Where were you 40 years ago? I was in Elberton, GA. My parents allowed me to stay out late that night at Tom's house b/c we and his parents were watching Apollo 11 land on the moon. I remember it like it was yesterday. This was a BIG deal back in the day. We stayed glued to that old TV set. We were so excited. We never thought in our lifetime that we'd see someone actually walking on the moon. But we were about to witness this historic event.





Of course, I remember Neil Armstrong's famous words "One small step . . . ." but do you know what I remember as much? I remember when it was very late and Tom was driving me back home. Tom lived in the country and I lived smack-dab in the middle of town. While he drove me home, every single home from his house to mine was lit up. Every home was watching this Apollo mission. I was amazed as we continued down the roads leading to town and then in town. It seemed everyone was of one mind at the same time that night. Very cool.



Changing the subject: Today I was painting a window in our garage when an unfamiliar car drove in our driveway. I saw a young lady get out and immediately said, "You don't recognize my car but it's Joy Graydon." JOY GRAYDON. A precious person from the past. Joy is a year older than Chad. She and her family lived next door to us for years and years. Her mother died of cancer many years ago and her dad moved into Greenville. That's when we lost touch with Joy. Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with her. She is living near Greensboro, N.C. Since her dad lived in Greenville and her brother lives in Easley, she doesn't get to Simpleville very often. But today she had been at Heritage Park with her brother and his children. She drove by to show her two precious children where she once lived. I am so thankful I was home. We hugged til we were almost breathless. She's so very precious! She promised that next time she came to S.C. she'd give me a few days notice. I'm gonna try to have a good old reunion with Chad, Mark & Abby (and spouses, of course) so Joy and my kids can reminisce til they are blue in the face.

Not sure, but I think Chad is 5, Mark 2 1/2 and Joy 6 (& Abby was in the distant future)

Mark's a little Chunky Monkey, huh?

Joy hasn't changed one bit except she doesn't have bangs now.

Chad & Joy . . . . love the socks!!!! (Mark's were up too, but ya can't see them)

Joy, I have thought of you often over the years, but especially on your birthday, April 22. It's the day before mine and I always think of you on that day. You are still so sweet. Love you, girl. Come back soon!!!!!

The Beatles' Song Says It All . . . . .

It's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a dog.

It's been a hard day's night; I should be sleeping like a log.

Poor Tom, Mark and Matt. They have been working like dogs all weekend. Thankfully, today is the Lord's day of rest so these guys could rebuild their personal engines.

Aside from the fact that Tom has been painting the exterior of our house and our garage for the last two solid weeks, this weekend was a new project. Those three guys put in new tile floors in Mark's breakfast room and kitchen. Mark got up the carpet in the breakfast room by himself and also the linoleum in the kitchen. But the glue under the linoleum was another issue. I took these pictures which says it all.

Tom and Matt (mostly Matt) = the brains behind this project

Mark = the brawn (and he wasn't too happy about it either!)

Mark worked so hard in getting up large patches and little bits of dried glue. His hands were so sore the next morning that he could barely shake hands with a client. All three guys took Advil at night for aches and pains. Both Friday and Saturday nights, Tom & Matt left Mark's house at 11 p.m. for the 30 min. drive back to Simpleville. By Sat. night grout had been put in the breakfast room. All that is left to do is to grout the kitchen. Tom & Mark will probably do that on Monday. I believe that Mark is in deep debt . . . and I'm not talking about money.

On the female side of this project, we three ladies had it easy. On Friday, Abby, Cady & I went to their house for the G.G.'s to play and for all of us to eat supper together. On Saturday, Andrea & Brie came over in the late morning for Andrea to sleep (she worked Sat. night) and for me to play with Brie.

Cady and Brie had fun playing together.


Andrea feeding Brie while Brady watches.
Notice that their refrigerator is right next to the fireplace in the den.





When Brie was at my house, she got in between the chair and the ottoman. She was stuck but she figured out how to back up and free herself.


She was in a silly mood.

Looks like Brie is hitting a high soprano note, but it's just her squealing.

Sunday evening we kept Cady while Abby & Matt ate dinner out. Tom & I had such fun with her.

Must be cutting another tooth. She chewed every toy that she picked up.

Chewing the farmer while holding the cell phone.

I found Tom's and my old cell phones. When I turned them on after over 6 months, each still had two bars of power. (Why doesn't my cell phone battery last that long?) I found the old charger. Now both G.G.'s have a cell phone that makes noises when they touch them, especially when I turn on the speaker.

Sweet little baby cakes.