She is Fall....

Every now and again, I get a little creative with words.  :)  Last year, we took a Fall vacation and the beauty I saw inspired this poem...

She bathes herself in shades of scarlet, ruby and crimson.

She stands tall, wearing them as if she were royalty.

Though she is strong, there is also a sweet gentleness and comfort in her countenance.

She is grand, commanding attention ~ she gets it.

She dances; swirling scarves of rich burnt orange, rust and kumquat.

They twist and turn as she sways to the music that is her own.

She offers them as a gift to the passing breezes,

Then quickly pulls them back again.

She is charming and flirtatious ~ she dances with the wind.

Laughing with the sun as it dances across her,

She shows off her jewels of golden pineapple, lemon and melon.

One by one she drops them.

They spiral and sparkle as they float to the ground.

They are out of her grasp.

Oblivious of her loss ~ she continues to laugh and flirt.

Shades of green are her undergarments.

Cool moss, bright lime and deep forest.

She shows them off, but will hold on to them for a time.

She is secretive ~ full of life and beautiful ~ she is Fall.

 Written by ~ Kathy Charest

I may not be a published poet...but please remember that this poem is my creation, so if you share it, be sure to give me credit!  :)   Thank you.

Home Early...Return of the Cookie Sheet...AND Barbara Manatee....

We are back.... a day early, but it was a nice 2 day getaway.  Our minds are basically overcome with all that is "Mary" at this time and we got a phone call while we were away that just added to the mixing pot.


Dementia is an ugly thing, and Mary's mental state is deteriorating steadily day by day.


Although we still can't see the whole puzzle, we are trying to figure out what piece we play, what our role is in Mary's life.  If it wasn't to bring her here (as originally intended) and care for her during her last years of life, what is it???




Perhaps our job is to protect her from those who are more than willing to take what she will give them, (even when she doesn't realize she needs that protection).  We didn't get into this to fight a battle, just to love someone in need.  But perhaps that's exactly what we are supposed to do.  It's really hard to tell at this point.  Doors open, doors close, paths look clear, then cloudy...




I'll admit that we are both overwhelmed, we aren't sure who to trust, what family members, what "old friends", what employees at the nursing home, who is honest, who is out to get for themselves?  We'll keep on keeping on, and see how it goes.  God knows what He's doing...that I am certain of.




On to something a bit brighter, because I canNOT let my entire day be absorbed by these thoughts or I'll go nutty.  :)


Have you ever been to a natural spring in Florida?  There are over 700 natural springs in Florida.  Did you know this means Florida has one of the largest concentration of springs on the earth??  Of these springs, 18 are Florida State parks, and a few days ago we visited one of them...Blue Spring State Park.

There wasn't a LOT to do at the park itself, but since it was a short getaway for us, it worked out nicely.  We got there on Sunday afternoon and decided to park the RV near the spring and take a dip in the water.  We changed into our suits and headed down the boardwalk. 


Right off, I knew the place was TOO crowded for our tastes.  There were a lot of people, loud music, etc...  We continued down the boardwalk to the last "entrance" before the spring head, walked down the steps and stuck our toes in the water.


Then we stopped.  It was COLD!!!!  I got in to my waist and it was COLDDDDDDD!!!!  Mike toe dipped, lol.  We then decided that we would come back the next day at high noon when the sun would help out, lol...late afternoon in 72 degree water was not workin' for this girl.


We found our campsite and set up camp.  That evening we took a bike ride around the campground, most of the "day visitors" had gone home by now and it was serene and calm....just our style. 

Have you ever seen a Luv Bug?  yuck.  We have one Luv Bug season...apparently Blue Spring's area has TWO...cause they were EVERYWHERE!

Hmmm, a BBQ sounds appetizing... ?

There were a lot of large old Oaks...they were beautiful with the moss hanging down.  This is Mikey looking out over the St. Johns river....we didn't see any, but that place is known to be teaming with gators...ewwwww

Canoes...

Pretty...

Cool reflection on calm waters...just so you know, this is NOT the part where you swim...unless you want to get eaten...

If you want to take a boat ride, you can pay $22 bucks and go for a tour...we didn't.

We just relaxed for the rest of the evening and had a nice dinner of chicken Ceaser Lasagne and Spring Green Salad... yum.

Monday we slept in,...nice. :)  Then we suited up and rode our bikes to the spring area. 


Guess who we saw there?  Barbara!

You know...

Barbara Manatee, manatee, manatee...

You are the one for me, one for me, one for me...

Sent from up above, up above, up above...

You are the one I love, one I love, one I love...

(Yes, I watched WAY too many Veggie Tales at one time)

No Moleste! 

You are not to touch or feed manatees, but there is nothing you can do if they swim right up to you and sit there...neat.

That's my honey!  Look how beautifully clear the water is.

This is the spring head...tons of water pours out from the earth every day through this hole in the ground...how cool.  If you are a scuba diver, you can go down there (with a buddy).  Sounds scary to me...

Mikey posing above the "cave"...

Awe!  :)  That's me and my honey bunches... :)

There I am...gator bait!  :)  Kidding...I don't think gators come near the cold spring head...at least not often...yikes.

There were a lot of fish in the shallower waters...

The "jumping" platform...

...and for your viewing pleasure...this is what I look like to a fish while I'm snorkelling... :)

Here is Barbara from above the water..isn't she cute?

She was a little overly friendly, just joining in the fun...

What a lovely view...

The trees are majestic and the water so clear...

Monday afternoon we recieved the phone call (mentioned above) and decided that we would leave the next day instead of staying 3 nights. 


So we decided to have a picnic lunch...

This is the original house of the Thursby family who lived right next to the spring...that would have been so fun...

The spring way back when...

The house way back when...

Mrs. Thursby's kitchen...looks big and pretty, but it looks like a lot of work ahead of her just to make dinner!

Not sure what these were, maybe boysenberries???  They were really pretty though.

We just hung out at the campsite and enjoyed homemade pizza for dinner (yeah, we don't eat like campers, lol).


Hey, do you remember my "lost" cookie sheet????  Well, guess what?????  I found it!!! Yea!

As I was preparing to make pizza, I stood in my little RV kitchen...

Opened the cabinet below the stove to get my pizza pan...

And what did I find??? 

I guess I must have put it in there to take on our camping trip to the Keys a couple months ago...you remember that "attempt" at a vacation, right?  :)  Well, there it was, I can rest knowing it is safe, lol.


Today I am going to my best girlfriend Kim's house and we are gonna do girly stuff...'cause that's what we do.  We are going to do a sewing project together...I love that!  Can't wait! :)
We shall show you soon what we made! :)

D.C. Trip ~ Day 6

Day 6:


Cris started his pre-deployment training this day, so Mike and I spent the day alone.  We decided to head back into D.C. to see more places that we didn't see the other day.

We managed to get through the Library of Congress, the Capital Building, the Changing of the Guards at Arlington Cemetary, plus a trolley tour of the city itself. 

I love the detailed architecture of this building...it's really such a work of art...

I just thought this was such a cute photo!  I couldn't resist. :)

Um, is it lunch time yet?  These guys look SO bored!

This is the underground tunnel from the Capital to the Library of Congress, it saves having to go through security twice, and is full of all sorts of photographic history.

Library of Congress, another fantastic work of Architectural art!

To be inside this building, you would think you were in Italy...it was ALL marble...absolutely gorgeous!

Still some truth in D.C......

Breathtaking, solid marble all around us...

I liked this overcast view as we crossed the Potomac...

 If you ever go to D.C. and want to take a trolley type tour, I highly recommend going early, parking at Arlington Cemetary and taking the TourMobile through town.  They pick up and drop off every 20 minutes and the guides are FULL of information that you can't get on a pamphlet.  However, if your guide suggest the "fantastic" food court in the Lincoln Building for lunch as the "best" place to eat downtown...pretend you didn't hear him and go somewhere else!  We went there and it was full of very busy and rushed business people, strange food choices, and we ended up eating at Subway...not a place I'm fond of, but I was hungry.

I HIGHLY recommend The Corner Bakery Cafe (which we ate at with Cris the other day.  Fantastic food choices, great atmosphere and excellent prices!  We couldn't remember where it was so we didn't eat there that day. :(

 We also went to the White House Visitors Center and went on a free walking tour with a park ranger.  Our tour guide was funny, entertaining and full of lot's of info that we didn't know about the White House, the grounds, security, etc...

Our White House walking tour...did you know the White House belongs to the National Parks?  Interesting huh?

This is a sad waste of a life in my opinion.  This woman has been protesting here...LIVING here...since 1981!!!  It is no longer legal to protest at the White House, however she was there when they passed the law, which grandfathered her in...as long as she NEVER leaves, or has someone cover her post at all times.  She has given up living a life in order to sit here for 29 years.

Think of all the good she could have done in the world elsewhere, LIVING!

A photo of her on her board from when she began protesting...

This peaceful park is across the street from the White House visitors center.  Several business people were enjoying their lunch among the trickle of the fountains and shade of the trees.

Not sure what this was supposed to be, but there were 4 drinking fountains in the middle of it????

Our patriotism toward the military runs pretty deep, both from ourselves and for me several relatives have served in both the military, to include wartime.  Now our own son will be taking a tour in Iraq.  So, needless to say, we felt honored to attend the Changing of the Guard ceremony.  It always brings tears to my eyes to hear Taps played, and it definitely brought tears to my eyes to see these older War time Veterans getting up out of their wheelchairs to stand and salute during Taps (I didn't take photos at that time for respect reasons), most of them stood during the entire Changing of the Guard ceremony.  They were probably the only ones there who TRULY understood the deep meaning of this ceremony, they have lived through things that most of us have no clue about, memories fill their minds that we cannot fathom unless we have lived it.

With help, they all stood at the appropriate moment...

We spent a full day downtown, but no matter if we were tired, we were meeting Cris for dinner.  This is the last time we would see him in a LONG time.  

We met at Don Pablos.  We'd never been there before, so with a big name like that we expected it to be fantastic.  Let me say the fajitas were good.  That's about all I can say.  The service was extremely poor.  We looked at the menu and they had Sopapillas listed, so we ordered a plate to share.  After quite some time, our dessert showed up.  Now, I'm not hispanic or latin by any means, but I did grow up on a border town, and I know good mexican food when I see/taste it.  I KNOW what a sopapilla is, I've made them myself, and I know what they are supposed to look/taste like.  What they brought out to us looked like a large plate full of soggy, greasy, flat triangular pieces of flour tortilla, covered in some sort of goopy thick syrup.  I pinched off the corner of one, they tasted like grease.  They were NOT sopapillas, and I was sad.  :(

I was mostly sad because the evening was ending.  It was late, we couldn't mingle over dessert.  There was no place nearby that we could hang out and have coffee and chat.  This was it.  It was time to say goodbye.  My heart began to ache.

I can't explain the feeling I get in my heart when I hold my son in my arms, it is sometimes so hard to be a Mom. The feelings are almost impossible to describe. Everytime I look in his eyes, I can see so many years of our lives together in my memory; the very first moment I looked into his eyes and held him in my arms after giving birth, him gazing up at me so sweetly, hearing my voice and knowing me…his belly laughs as a chubby toddler, his wild personality jumping off of the couch with a plastic sword stuck through the side of his undies “Peterman”, or “Robin Tood”…his days of winning ribbons at school for being the fastest runner, his scissors getting loose, his beautiful toothless smile as a 2nd grader, playing cards together, making funny faces and talking in character voices, reading books on the swing out back, him not being ashamed to kiss his Mom in front of his friends or hold my hand in public, him bowing his chest when he felt someone was “checking out his Mom” in the grocery store (you haven't seen the "tough guy eye" until you've seen that), the first time I saw him in a military uniform *sigh*…ALL these things, and more, flash through my mind like a snapshot everytime I just look in his eyes.

Then I step back and he goes on to live the rest of his life. Me, knowing that so much will take place in the next 8 months…knowing that he will suffer heart aches, disappointment, fear, struggles, laughter, trials, and I can do nothing to change any of it.  I can only comfort him and pray for him. I love him forever, as long as I’m living my baby he’ll be…

Happy 21st Birthday (June 7th) to my son...I love you so very much...

The next day we drove half way home, taking a scenic route, and the long way home...