I am weird. I don’t mind admitting this fact. I am comfortable with who I am. Here’s one bit of proof. When I was reading about Sunita Williams yesterday (or pretty much anytime I read about something happening in space), two things simultaneously shouted themselves in my mind, “Pigs In Spaaaace“, with background music of courtesy of Dr. Who.
Monthly Archive for March, 2007
I’m not sure about the dates on these pictures* but I am guessing that the oldest one is around 1968 and the more recent is about ten years later in 1978. These pictures are of my mother and two of her sisters. I really wish that I had a more recent picture (within the past 10 years or so) of the three of them together to go with this set. All three of them are intelligent, beautiful, and compassionate. I’m glad I have had them as role models.
The second picture looks a little worse for the wear. When we were little, my brother was playing with matches and burned down the apartment we lived in. I left the warped edges, it adds some character to the photo.
*Note to anyone with printed pictures; write names, dates, and maybe a description about what was taking place on the back of them so that you or whoever else looking at them will have a reference. Scrapbooks may be nice, but someday the pictures may be taken out of them.
Baseball practices are going well. Nathan seems to be warming up to playing catcher. He doesn’t dread going to practice and is starting to think of his bruises from errant pitches as badges of honor. He checked out a couple of books about being a catcher from the library by his favorite author. Opening day is Saturday, there will be pictures. He has asked that I not talk during his game. Apparently I am a distraction. I told him I would try, but there are no guarantees.
Spring is here and that means planting is underway. Be warned that soon you will see garden pictures and hear all about how high the corn is. Just to get you started, here is a nice blank slate. This spot is roughly 20′ x 40′ and has got to be bigger than our first apartments.
Allison has been yelling a lot lately. When she gets frustrated instead of talking to us she will just start screaming. We’ve pretty much been telling her that we can’t understand her and aren’t going to pay attention until she calms down and uses words. It has helped.
The other day, she was standing by our bedroom window, which is right next to Greg’s desk and just started yelling for no reason. “AAAAAAGHHHHH!”, repeated over and over. After the first few times, Greg realized that every other yell was not Allison, but that she was talking to a bird outside of the window.
It just didn’t seem right to start off a weekly post and then not do something with it two weeks in. I’m just barely making it in time for it to technically be considered a Thursday post, but I always did work better under pressure.
This week I have some old pictures of my Grandfather (Papa). When I was little, I used to believe that he lived with a mouse who left presents for me.
If you want to see more pictures of him, just click here (or on the picture above).
There is a possibility of no new posts this week. Training at work and baseball/softball practices aren’t giving me much time. This happens just when I have cute pictures and stories to share. Hope you have a safe and happy week!
I have no idea when the first picture was taken or where. I’m pretty sure it was before the second picture which was in January of 1960. The lady in both is my Great Aunt Daisy. She is surrounded by my mom and her sisters (from left to right: Aunt Patty, Mom, Aunt Daisy, Aunt B, and Aunt Janice). Her backyard was caddy-corner to my mom’s when she was a little girl. She filled in the grandmother position for me, my brother, and my cousins. When I was very little it seemed as if one of her closets was filled with old hats, neat shoes, and very cool jackets and dresses. I remember asking her why hat pins were used. She told me a story of how she had gone to the movie theater with a girlfriend of hers and a gentleman seated next to her started to get too fresh. He kept placing his hand close to her leg and her polite requests to stop were going unheard. So she used a hat pin and stuck his hand. He left her alone the rest of the movie.
This year Nathan was drafted by his coaches to play a specific position. To me, one of the most important. Sure they are all important, but this position requires that you be thinking each and every second you are on the field. You have to have a good arm, because you are constantly throwing the ball. You influence which pitch is thrown and you have to make quick decisions. You also have to be tough because there is a chance you may have to just stand there and let someone try to run you over.
Nathan played catcher in the years of machine pitch and was totally and completely bored. There isn’t much excitement when all of the pitches have the same speed and target. He felt like the rest of his team was out there practicing fielding and he was stuck tossing the ball up to his coach so that he could hit it to a different guy. He felt a little left out because it seemed like the coaches really didn’t work with him that much. He absolutely hated having to wear all of the gear in the summer months. Really, who can blame him?
Last year he had a little break. He moved up an age division into player pitch and was on a team of mostly 10 year olds in a 9 and 10 year old league. There were already older guys to play the infield positions. There were a few times when the coach would pull the younger guys in to give them some experience, but for the most part Nathan played out in right field.
When he found out that his coaches really wanted him to play catcher this year, he told us he wasn’t looking forward to it at all. He had resigned himself to playing a position he didn’t like because his coaches needed him there. Because I think it’s an important position, what I really wanted to do was try to convince him that really he should like it. It’s a tough situation because I don’t want him to feel like we would be disappointed if he didn’t play catcher. I want to support him and not really put that pressure on him. He’s still just a kid and it’s supposed to be fun for him. It’s his decision to make and why should he be stuck playing a spot that he resents.
He didn’t want to play catcher so much that he had a melt-down before practice last week. We told him all he had to do was speak up to the coach. Maybe there was someone else who really wanted a shot at it. Then something happened. He had a great practice that night, one of the coaches actually worked with him on catching some. We told him we would get him his own catcher’s glove (the team has one with all of the gear) and he seemed to like the idea. At school, one of his friends told him how fast he must be to play the catcher. Which didn’t hurt to boost his morale. I like to think that he is slowly coming around to the idea that playing catcher isn’t the most awful thing in the world.
Allison was laying on the sofa Friday night, kicking something over with her feet. “Hey wow, I didn’t know my feet and legs were that long. I’m growing.” She said this starting out in a contemplative voice and finished in a sort of “aha!” tone.
Then she very excitedly rushed over to where I was sitting and sang/yelled out, “Hey Mom! I’m big, I’m big, I’m really big! I’m all grown up now, just like you!”
Nathan had a project for school due today.
Nathan got into making his model, picked out everything he wanted to build it out of and how he wanted to build it. He really wanted to put some men on it for realism. The trouble was that the only small action figures we could find were green army men.Things might have gone slightly different at the Alamo if the soldiers had used grenades and machine guns instead of rifles and knives.
