Drink, Read, Walk

 

PJ's of New Orleans has the best coffee☕ in town. I don't buy coffee every morning and I have never tried a granita before. They have a 32 oz size, but mine is not that😋 My granita was a pumpkin one with a Caramel drizzle. I am currently reading A Rosie Life in Italy 3 by Rosie Meleady. Rosie is an Irish Expat living in Italy during the COVID-19 epidemic and her honesty and wit has me laughing and crying in the same paragraph sometimes. 

 I sat down next to the lower lake at Bonita lakes to watch a big turtle and look who flew over me! These Canadian geese were so noisy and relaxed, as if it was a glorious road trip to see Hurricane Idalia🇨🇦🌀🎉

There was another big turtle eating this dead fish and it eventually pulled it under water.

I walked around the lake with a light breeze and a mild temperature today. While it's not officially Autumn until September 23, you can tell it is right around the corner.

 Don't forget to get outside to look at the second full moon of August at 8:36 central time. Tonight and Tomorrow night, you can see the biggest blue moon of 2023. A blue moon happens one every 12 years. You should also be able to see Saturn to the right and up 12 degrees from it. 

https://www.space.com/16149-night-sky.html

I am popping out to share the weather and stuff !

    The rain 💧woke me up this morning! I was so relieved, since it has been so dangerously hot and dry lately. In the last 96 hours, we have had less than .1 of an inch of rain and I think most, if not all of that fell this morning.I received extreme heat advisories every day last week, so I am so relieved this week even has a few 60 degree mornings predicted. We have had record highs lately, with heat indexes in the 100's. 

One day, the heat index was 113!

 💦 This rainfall map is so fun! Try it

🌞Here are cool statistics about Central Mississippi

Sorry that I have been quiet for so long, but I hope to change that and so here I am sharing some pics with you!

Here is a Swallowtail Butterfly that was enjoying my Zinnias this afternoon

I learned about the Butterflies I saw today at A to Z Animals

I saw three Sulphur Butterflies and An American Lady too.

The tree behind the Sulphur Butterfly is Persimmon and the warm patch we had in February, right before the freeze in March or so, killed off the Persimmon crop this year 😞

I

There are lots of honey bees 

pollinating the garden today too.

 

Figs are a native fruit of Mississippi, but not everyone likes them.

Their interior squishy texture takes some getting used to, but they are so easy to grow and are really very good.

Well, I am going back in the house to work on my Sophie's Universe blanket 

while watching Grey's Anatomy again.

Stay cool and hydrate!

When you Catch those Zzzzz's

You want more sleep?

Deep, Blissful, Refreshing Rest

I know you would even pay a price that is steep!

Yes, sometimes, you will catch those zzzzz's

and

you will wish you could throw them back, please!

Watch out! 

Zzzzz's can cost a dream each.

💲💰💲

You know the ones

Those are the dreams that

jump up and scare you silly

You are so deep 

In 

Smooth, quiet sleep

☁️☁️☁️

And all at once

There is a big Terraruim

full up leaves and branches

and you think to yourself

Hmmm, why is this in my house?

And you begin to clean it up 

Throw out the leaves

Throw out the Branches

Then a little girl says,

NO! Stop! My spider, Fred, lives in there!

EEeks! A Spider! This a spider in here somewhere?!

Wait, girl! Tell me quick! How big is Fred?

Too late! Fred is found! 

He is a mix between a Scottish Terrier 

and a Tarantula! He is the size of a dog!

He stands up on his black, furry legs

and 

He barks, his scary, spider-dog bark!

Ewwweeeee! What a relief!

This is that point where you wake up!

It's a beautiful, warm 

sunny,  spring morning!

There are no spider-dogs in sight.

Just you

 and the little Scottish Terrier picture 

that hangs on your bedroom wall....

Yes, Dreams are sweet 

and

Catching those zzzz's 

can be a hairy affair, 

so Sleep tight 

and Don't let the spider-dogs bite!

Mysteries

     Why did I my tension ease a bit when I heard the first child that emerged from my children's school proclaim," It's spring break,"? Why can't clothes in Walmart, especially swimsuits, cover the body normally? Why does shopping for swimsuits take so long?
    Why does Ceasar salad and pizza taste so good? Why do I finish my meal and always wonder what I should do next? Why is scrolling on Facebook so satisfying and boring at the same time? Why does falling asleep wherever I am,  instead of in my bed, feel so relaxing?
  Why do cats think they can catch a bird through the window? Why do little kids love baths so much? Why are geese so curious and silly? Why can't I just think of something to write?

#Her Story #Our Story

         All my life, I have felt the pull to be quiet and compliant. Don't be this and don't be that. Don't be so vain, so self-conscious. Be confident. Help others. Mind your own business. Don't be so bossy. Don't be so harsh. Dress like a girl. Be a good, sweet girl. Now mind you, I enjoy being a girl, even a good, sweet woman, but I feel a little robbed of who I might have been, if I spent more time being me.
      Some of these things or all of them are just part of growing up, but why? Why couldn't people let me be my own person? As a girl growing up with no mom at home, everyone had a turn to fill my head with their ideas of how I needed to be a lady and not an awkward tomboy. I enjoyed being a tomboy and becoming a woman did not come naturally to me.
      Maybe, I needed advice, but I venture that boys are not treated this way. A boy is allowed to simply wear pants all day and play. A boy is allowed to be a boy. A boy is not scolded down into submissiveness. A boy can be noisy. A boy can be bold. Yes, a boy must learn to be respectful and responsible and courteous, but that doesn't really change how he dresses or how he thinks.
     I think that girls in the United states are traditionally molded into submissive, sweet ladies. I think that is wrong. I am not sure if I have carried on this tradition with my girls, but I hope not. I have two daughters and today, International Women's Day, has brought me to the conclusion that I am a feminist.  I really like this Google video.

Celebrate International Women's Day!

    From now on, I join the fight to see women be the best, most confident versions of themselves, beginning with my own daughters. Girls are fierce and brave and I desire to prove that. 

Click Here for another amazing view of women.

Ladies, be bold. Be yourselves and know that who you are is already gorgeous, with no makeup or any special behavior needed! Girls are amazing.

Minnie Mouse's Birthday Treat, Part 2

        The tantalizing smells of the giants' food lured the young mice to the edge of the forest daily. Most giants climbed into the bellies of their monsters to eat and nap, but one giant did not.. This giant had a curly circle of fur on his head. The giants did not have fur, except on their heads. They didn't even have tails. Edgar, Badger and Bobby loved to laugh and make fun of the giants.....when they were safely home in the burrow, that is.
        The curly-furred giant did not have a monster. Silver, the messenger mouse, told the tale of how the curly giant's monster stopped roaring and racing on the day that the great white blanket covered the ground everywhere. The cold was so fierce that the monster died. That's why Curly giant ate his feast outside as the days warmed up.
        Minnie, her brothers and her sisters shared the same birthday. Turning twenty-one days old meant that a mouse is of age, no longer a little little. The morning of the mouse birthday was very warm. Minnie creeped to the straw jungle nearest to Curley Giant. He threw a big yellow cheese-like peeling near the straw jungle and sat motionless. He was so still Minnie thought he must be asleep. She darted out quickly and took a big mouse bite of the yellow treat. She was sure that birthday cake tasted like this. It was her best birthday ever.

The End

     

Minnie Mouse's Birthday Treat: part 1

      In the shadow of a Vast grey hall, Minnie Mouse lived in a cozy burrow that her parents dug deep. It was especially cozy, not just because it was warm, but it was stuffed full of the love that her mama and papa lavished on their six mouse children. Minnie's Familly burrow was so warm, but not quiet. ]Minnie had two mischevious sisters, Ella and Mella. Her brothers Edgar, Badger and Bobby wrestled with each other and the only time they were quiet is when they would sneak up behind a sister and pull her tail or lay in wait to scare her with an alligator grin.
      The world outside the burrow was cold and the first time that the young mice ventured out was the day that it was completely blanketed with with wet, white stuff. More of the white stuff fell silently from the sky. The mice children opened their mouths and tasted the white stuff as it fell and were pleased to realize that it turned to water in their mouths.
      Ella, Mella and Minnie made petite, mouse tracks and looked behind them to see a beautiful trail of cute tracks everywhere they went. Edgar, Badger and Bobby rolled and chased each other and pelted their sisters with the white stuff so much that soon all were soaking wet and freezing cold and had to return home to the burrow to dry off and warm up before a delicious lunch.
     More fiercely cold adventures in the world above their burrow followed, but the mice never saw the mysterious white blanket again. Instead they found huge grey and brown boats that crunched and broke if they went to the edges. Mama said they were leaves.
    The most mysterious part of the world above was the great hall that never slept. Giants played with fire sticks and thunder boxes in it's vast hollow space. Another smaller hall carried heavenly smells of sinfully gluttonous feasts all day long.  Wild Monsters with Eyes of Fire raced each other back and forth to and from the great hall three times a day. Minnie always scurried home, but Badger was so brave that he waited and watched in astonishment as the giants descended from the bellies of the wild monsters with big plates of wonderful-smelling food. 🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁