Should I be worried?

Since I have moved to Florida there have been many new encounters. Especially in experiences with nature.







From the large bugs, to Lenny the Lizard, to those white and wandering birds..."Cattle Egrets".



After moving down here, I remember seeing white birds in fields, often around livestock. I found out that they are commonly known as "cowbirds". They are actually kind of pretty, and to see many in flight is a beautiful sight. Ocala is "The Horse Capital of the World". We live on the outskirts of town, and, well, I think this is causing some confusion to the "Cattle Egret" [aka "cowbird"]. More and more, as we drive down the road, I have to yell out the window, "Hey, you silly cowbirds, that is a horse, not a cow!" The confusion they seem to be experiencing is starting to worry me......

From Bugzilla to Lenny....

Many years ago I went on a camping trip with my friends, Nancy and Karen. An old friend of Karen's, Bernadette, came along with us-- thankfully! We were going to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to go to a concert. We took Nancy's van because, well, you know women, we over pack, and when you camp you need some stuff.

We were headed north when the muffler on her van got louder. As I recall, we left a rest area and it dropped down and was dragging. We pulled over, and Bernadette, being mechanically inclined and the only one who would fit under the van, crawled under and rigged it up with a wire hanger, if I recall correctly. So, muffler back up, still a little loud, we got underway again. Just as Nancy was about to pull into traffic, the biggest bug I have ever seen in my life landed in my lap.

I screamed, of course, opened the door, and got out. I don't think I even waited for her to stop. They did not realize what I was screaming at, and I do not think we ever saw it in the van, but from that point on it was know as "Bugzilla". We have had many laughs over it since then-- it was a fun trip.

Now, here I am living in Florida, where bugs are bigger than "Bugzilla" was, and I find myself saying, "Hi, Lenny," to the lizard that lives outside our bathroom window. Now, this does not mean I have come to like bugs, and fireants are still evil! But, who would have thought, that I would ever say, "Hi!" to a lizard....

Learning Curves....

I am starting to think that as we grow in life we travel down learning curves. Sometimes we get settled in our ways, and just go through the motions of life. Sometimes we go out and explore new things, try new recipes, or go to new places. Life can be one big “learning curve”, and we are in control of how sharp the curves are, even to some extent, how frequent the curves come at us. You know that saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Well, I do not agree with that, I consider myself an old dog, that can learn a new trick or two. I may not motivate myself to do so as often as I should but, as I tell my husband I am “educable”. It is not part of the definition of “learning”, but I think the word growth can also describe learning. As humans we may stop growing in height, we may grow in girth, thankfully though we never stop growing when it comes to learning. We may not try to learn new things, we may even avoid learning new things, but we never lose the ability to learn.

Who would have thought...

I still find myself shocked sometimes, and I know that family and friends would be even more shocked to hear me say "do you think we could make this at home". Tonight my husband met a friend of his at Harry's Seafood Bar and Grille on the square here in Ocala, http://www.hookedonharrys.com/page/28-4188.htm. He had met her after work, and I thought, it is such a beautiful day, sitting outside at Harry's sounds heavenly and decided to join them after I got out of work. I had yet to meet her, and am glad I finally got the chance. It was nice to sit and visit. After she left we stayed and had dinner, I ordered:

Louisiana Pork Tenderloin SteakCenter cut pork tenderloin topped with baby Portobello mushrooms and our house made French Quarter sauce, a full flavored Worcestershire butter sauce.

It looked great, and tasted great, had a bit of a kick to it, I thought it was delicious, and believe I will try to make it, or something similar.

Sam's usual is "Crabmeat and Eggplant Napoleon", tonight he strayed and got something from their "Be as Crabby as you like" special menu:

Crab Bisque
A combination of Jumbo lump crabmeat, cream and our special seasonings make this soup unforgettable.

Crab Louie Napoleon
Conquer your taste buds with this spectacular dish featuring cured tomatoes, avocado, lump blue crab meat with chili mayo and roasted peppers, stacked Napoleon style with a drizzling of avocado vinaigrette.

You know, now that I think about it I think it is more surprising to me, than it is to family and friends that I am trying new things. Life is just too short, I wasted too many years. Thankfully, I now have a wonderful future ahead, sharing life with someone who has opened my heart, and mind. I'm growing....finally....

and...so you know...

I am the one who banned myself from microwave use, not my family. The air is finally starting to clear in the house. My husband is sleeping with a fire extinguisher tonight. It's good to know the fire has not gone out of our marriage. He thinks that I am one hot chick!

A somewhat explosive evening...

You know the little packets that come with Pyrex dishes, the travel sets, that you can either freeze, or warm up to keep the dish warm. Okay, well, I seem to be experiencing some cramping tonight. I thought heat can help it, and in lieu of a heating pad I grabbed the packet from our Pyrex dish and put it in the microwave, wrapped it in a towel and it was helping to ease the pain. Well, I was rather surprised. I likely had put the schneid on myself as I had even just mentioned to my husband that I had previously blew one up in a microwave. It cooled down rather quickly, so a couple of times I popped it back in and warmed it up some more. The third time certainly was not the charm in this case.....suddenly, you might have guessed it...."boom"...I did it again.

Okay, so, now I have blown up the "little packet", still have cramps, I think, well, I will warm up the towel and use that. Who would have thought the towel would burn, not me. I have warmed up towels before and they never burned, but, okay, I just realized that those other times I had dampened the towel prior to nuking it. You know, burning dishtowels smell like roasted marshmallows.

I am now banned from the microwave for the night....there will be no more victims tonight...

Big Poppy...or Pop-Gun Poppy....

Hm, after watching ESPN tonight after work, and hearing this, and that I am left wondering a couple of things. One, I will not mention, because, well, it just would be best left unsaid, I will just keep wondering on that one. But, I also wonder if...Big Poppy is now a Pop-Gun Poppy. My husband mentioned that maybe he should by the jersey that the construction worker buried in the new Yankees Stadium. He is certainly not off to a good start this season, heck, he is not even on the interstate yet.

Ah, but, the season is young....hopefully he will return his pop-gun... and be the "Big Poppy" that the fans love.

Now, don't get me wrong...

You may think by my last blog that I do not like where I live, I do, especially as I am about to go out and water plants in the sunshine, and it is likely nearing 70, when most of my family and friends are in Michigan likely still facing dirty piles of snow is shopping center parking lots. In this sense South-, does beat North.

North vs. South…

I am a born and raised northern girl (Lansing, Michigan), and I have been transplanted to the south, for two years now. There are some differences that you notice, from the pronunciation of words, such as roof, that is one that I get picked on about. I know there are others, but they escape me at present. People say I have an accent, I don't believe them! They are the ones with accents, not me.

So, if you turn a light off in a room, what do you say? "I turned the light off", or if you just plain turn something off you are…"turning it off". Someone I work with uses the term "cut the lights off", or she "cuts her computer off"….cut it off…what is up with that? That makes no sense to me. That is one southern phrase will not become a habit for me, I will confess that I have from time to time used the word "soda" vs. "pop", and okay, I also confess, I have caught myself saying "y'all"….but…I will never "cut the lights off"…sounds like I could get electrocuted when I used the scissors to cut the cord.

Or, if you give someone a phone number I say the numbers…"867-5309", down here they say "867-fifty three oh nine". Since when is the word "oh" a number? How hard is it to say "zero", it is only two more letters.

There are so many differences, especially in the field of education, those differences are numerous, as my husband can attest to. I just really touched upon a few of the general differences. Some do make you stop and go "huh". I know that I did not get the best of educations in Michigan, so, in a lot of ways I have no room to talk, but I do know that "oh" is a word and not a number! My poor husband has helped me so much to improve my grammar and math, I am still a work in progress. Sadly, at 44 am not "smarter than a 5th grader".

I couldn't believe it...

I was reading the comics in Sunday's paper and it was amazing what a strong resemblance there was between the characters in the comic and my mother and my niece Julie's dog, Lester! It was so strong, I could almost hear them in the room with me...

Evil exists...

Okay, I confess...I hate fire ants...they are evil little creatures. I have scars on my foot to remind me daily, and a fresh wound that likely will turn into a scar as well. How can something so tiny pack such a wallup?

Old dogs...new tricks...

It's funny, you learn more about yourself as you grow older. At least I feel as if I am, and you do not often recognize traits you have that, well, you have often disliked in others. Perhaps it is the atmosphere you were raised in, or it is just your nature. I love my mother very much, although she tends to be a negative person. Or, maybe it is just me that picks up a negative vibe that I think is there. I realize more and more that I need to change myself. As I near 45, more than middle aged, it is proving a challenge. I sure hope my loving husband does not give up on me before I am able to purge myself of the negativity that seems to course through my veins. Don't get me wrong, I'm not negative 24/7, at least I don't think I am, or I would not have such a loving husband, he would have cut bait and ran like he stole something a long time ago.

So, how do you re-invent yourself? How do you stop seeing the glass as 1/2 empty? How do you not let the little things bug you? Inside I realize that they are not worth focusing on, yet, I still tend to let little things under my skin. How, do you change habits you have had for so long? I guess it shows me how very lucky I truly am, I have someone who loves me, and will help me to become a better person.

I have always prayed for God to bring me someone who would love me for me, and help me to become a better person. As I settled into the life of an "old-maid", living with my mother, I had given up. Then, God said, you big dummy I have already sent you the man you have asked for, you have been exchanging emails with him for years, open your eyes stupid, take a chance, you won't regret it. Okay, so maybe God would not have put it that way, but, thankfully, the light came on, and I am now sharing life with the blessing that God sent me, the man who loves me for me, and is more than willing to help me become a better person. I don't think he realized what a chore he had in store for himself, but I am pretty sure he is up to the challenge, and has the patience to persevere. He is a teacher, what person is up for a challenge and has more patience than a teacher?

Thank you, God.....and thank you, "man that I love" for blessing me....

Okay, I confess...

Contrasts continue....the other night we went to to dinner in honor of my stepdaughter Emlyn's great report card. She wanted to go to a local Greek/Italian restaurant called "Laki's" that she and her father had gone to on a night I met a friend from Michigan for dinner. Last weekend, "Mexican/Italian" and this week, "Greek/Italian". Everything was delicious, great hummus, even the salad that came with our dinners was great. Emlyn and I both got platters that had about 4 different Greek items. My husband got two appetizers; Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and Feta cheese that was covered with olive oil. It was all so filling, guess what I had for lunch the next day!

Oh, and let's not forget the Baklava! All warm and delicious. I almost said no to it because I was so full. Boy, would that have been a terrible thing to have missed out on! Not that my "Tour of Greece" platter was not good. I told my husband, "Next time Baklava for dinner ;o)!" Or, well, the guy at a nearby table had gotten a Stromboli. That looked pretty darned good. Hm, Baklava for dinner, or Stromboli. Contrasts...they certainly open up many possibilities!