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The End of an Era High School .  If you follow me, you know I graduated from George D. Chamberlain High School in Tampa, Florida in 1971. (If you are one of my younger readers and find yourself in awe or laughing at the idea of someone  that old  once in high school, STOP NOW. Your day will come.) I moved to Florida the summer before my ninth-grade year. One of the places my classmates and I frequented was a  Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant on Florida Avenue. It wasn’t far from the high school and a great place eat. The fact you could drive into a space, push a button, and order a hamburger with fries... all over a speaker was a treat.  A few minutes later your food was carried to your car on a tray that hooked nicely to your rolled down window.  But the best part of  Frisch’s  for most of us wasn’t the food or the convenience. It was the place to meet up with your friends.  Frisch’s was a touchpoint of our youth. Like me, Frisch’s was birth...

  Fierce Resolve for the New Year As we turn the pages of time, 2024 will soon end and we will embark on the new year. For many, flipping the calendar to January signifies a new beginning.  When I was a little girl, I would make a list of all I wanted to do in the coming year. Not particularly “Resolutions.” More along the line of “Goals,” if you will. Sometimes they were mere dreams. I can’t even remember what any of those were, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t keep them beyond…well January. Even my “Dear Diary” efforts didn’t extend long into the new year. Not that I didn’t try. Maybe I thought my daily activities were boring. Too dull to record. I don’t know.  I’ve always had ideas of what I wanted to accomplish. It was the  lack of follow through  that killed the best intentions.  Over time, I’ve discovered the vast difference between goals and objectives. Goals are what we hope to accomplish. Objectives are the steps to get there. As a teacher, I learned t...

Don Garlits, Car Guy Approachable. That is the word I would use to describe Don Garlits. The man is known throughout the world of racing. He has rubbed elbows with celebrities both in and beyond the world of cars. His museum of drag racing in Ocala, Florida is visited by hundreds, if not thousands, of people every year.  Don Garlits has enjoyed dinners and conversations with famous actors and such, but to help raise money for underprivileged children in our area, the man showed up at our local restaurant known simply as “The Diner”, interacted with all present, and helped the restaurant in their fundraising efforts.  We’ve been to The Diner before. Both their food and service is great. You may remember how we met folks who had a connection to our house a few weeks ago at another car show there. I called that post “It’s a Small World.”  Patrick and Jill were there again last night. We had a good time. This time, though, all folks attending brought toys and clothes as ...

    “A Scattered Christmas”  December 2024 I am sitting here listening to Christmas music. The song playing currently via Alexa is “The Most Wonderful time of the Year.” One verse says “…when loved ones are near, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” When your family is scattered as ours is, we can’t always be together for Christmas. Between us, Mike and I have four children. Four adult children, that is. Three are married and have between them eight grandchildren. The oldest and youngest live in Ohio. The middle daughter lives in Wisconsin and the only manchild lives in Florida near us. We also are blessed to have my mama around for Christmas as well. She, too, lives in Ohio.  The youngest daughter and her family are carrying on the Waters family tradition and going snow skiing out west for Christmas. They won’t be around for the holiday when Mike and I are there to celebrate.  So-o-o, we celebrated Christmas with them while we were in the Buckeye State fo...

  Self-Care Through the Holidays December. Thanksgiving is over and the end of the year is near. Christmas is around the corner. No wonder December is ranked high as one of the most stressful months of the year. I decided for this week’s post I’d share a few tips on self-care during the holiday season. #1 Don’t beat yourself up Don’t compare yourself to what other people do or buy or say. So what if Jill makes intricately decorated cookies for Christmas from scratch? Everyone devours your slice and bake peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kiss plopped in the middle. They even ask you to make “those kiss cookies” again.  Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies With a Wreath of Cornflakes  (think marshmallow treats) and Little Red Candies #2   Stop searching for the perfect gift You already have it…Any gift you give from the heart with someone’s best in mind? That is the perfect gift… be it a pair of socks they love or a gift card to spend as they like. You can buy or make gif...

  Finding Thanksgiving Mike and I are hosting Thanksgiving for Mike’s family. To make sure we have room for everyone, I found a folding table with chairs to set up in the living room. We bought the turkey. The menu is planned and Mike’s family invited.  Last week, I measured all of the table surfaces and set out to buy some Thanksgiving table linens. Okay, they didn’t have to be linen. Paper tablecloths with matching napkins and paper plates would have been fine.  But they were nowhere to be found. Even Walmart offered no Thanksgiving ware or even plain, suitable tablecloths. I went to Bealls and found nothing “Thanksgiving-y”.  Finally, I found a few things at Big Lots. I had to rummage through the bin to find enough placemats, two decorative pillows for the couch, some paper napkins, and three round green placemats to use like hotplates for each table. They have “Grateful” embroidered on them.  We have some plastic disposable plates we can use and enough ...

  Of Cars, Corvettes, and Kids When I married Mike, I entered the world of Cars. Not the animated movie. The world of going to car shows and learning to appreciate the wonder of metal and motors. The world of fiberglass and chrome.  I already had an appreciation for cars. To a degree. I knew what I liked and didn’t like. I hold dear the memories of my first car, a ’66 Mustang. A “first car”  is  a memorable experience. So much so, that when Mike retired from his work at the electric company, he treated himself to a car identical to the first car he owned. The one he drove in high school. A ’69 Chevelle Super Sport.  I don’t want or need my old Mustang back, but the memory of driving to high school, taking friends to the beach at a place called Lake Ellen, and to Frisch’s restaurant and such…those memories are strong. Good. And sufficient. I remember the day I wrecked it, too.  This past week, I was able to be a part of a different car experience. One that t...

  Six Degrees of Separation or…Kevin Bacon, Are You Out There? “What a small world!” You’ve heard the phrase. A 1929 short story by Frigyes Karthinthy and a 1990 play by John Guare came out purporting that everyone is connected by six degrees or less. Sort of a small world ideology, if you will. For a while, people would suggest that everyone in show business was somehow connected to the actor Kevin Bacon by a mere six steps of separation. The first time I heard of this “theory” was when I was teaching overseas. One of the teachers invited a few of us newbies on the scene to gather and get to know each other. Living In Europe Has Perks As we talked, two of the new teachers noted an immediate connection to me.  One coming from Pepperdine University in Malibu, had as her professor the woman who started the program I inherited at the University where I taught for over a dozen years. Her professor and I had met and talked on occasion. Another was the daughter of a woman I knew in...

  Lemonade I’ve long embraced the saying, “When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.” It’s a perspective. A way of taking something difficult or unexpected and turning it into something good.  There are many examples in the Bible. For instance, jealousy drove Joseph’s brothers to beat him up, steal his coat, throw him in a pit, then sell him into slavery, but God later used Joseph to save his family from famine. Long story, but if you want the details, read Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Bible is full of such examples, the ultimate being the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus had to die so we can live.  There are modern day examples of “if that hadn’t happened…I wouldn’t be here.”  But this blog post isn’t really about those types of events. It’s actually about…well…lemonade. This is the Pure Lemon Juice, Lemons, and Nifty Juicer. Cool, Huh? When Mike and I moved to our home in Citrus County, we inherited a couple of fruit trees. We’ve enjoyed fresh picked...

  October is A Mixed Bag of Tricks No. This is not a Halloween Post. I’m not a big fan of Halloween. So the bag I’m opening this October isn’t filled with candy. First in the bag is  JOY : My second daughter, Danielle, was born in the month of October. October 26 th  to be exact. We lived in Florida. The weather was perfect. Our daughter, Allison, was 4 ½ at the time. We were excited to welcome a new member to the family.  This one was due in November but arrived a bit early. We called her “our yellow rose.” The moniker came from the fact we had a rose ready to bloom any day. I told Tom, “The day that rose blooms is the day I’m going to have the baby.” It opened in full bloom the morning of October 26 th . A few hours later, we held Danielle in our arms. I was blessed with three beautiful little girls who have turned into three beautiful women. All wives and mothers now. That is, for me, pure JOY. This Yellow Rose Bloomed  This October in Ohio Happy Birthday, D!...

  “I’ll Pray For You” Ever say those words? When someone shares something about a decision to be made, a problem, an illness, or a worry over a family member, I often utter those words, “I’ll pray for you.”  We say the words, but do we follow through?  I think sometimes we use the words as a message of comfort. We may have every intention of praying for the person or the situation, but we walk away and forget until something else happens.  Through the years I’ve learned enough about myself to make sure “I’ll pray for you” is not an empty promise. Here are five strategies I've found helpful. 1)       Pray then and there . If it is appropriate, take the person’s hand or put your hand on his or her shoulder and pray immediately. If it is not someone you do not know well or it might appear inappropriate to touch, you can still pray for that request immediately. Audible or inaudible…it doesn’t matter. God hears it all.   2)    ...