Babysitting

Is there anything more precious than a newborn babe? I am today sat as the babysitter to my precious new great niece. How did I get so lucky? My sister, the Nana, is off doing charity work, and my niece is off to work. Since I have not yet gone back to driving the bus, I was available to take on this beautiful charge and am loving every moment with the babe. She is a lovely little thing with dark curling hair and a round cherub's face. It is so easy to forget just how small they are newly arrived in the world. Holding her in my arms, I see so much of her mother in her. She has wrapped herself around my heart and occupies her own little space there. I have fed her, changed her, and rocked her to sleep with a lullaby. That innate urge we have to mother all comes rushing back when an infant is placed in our arms. She has been sleeping peacefully for an hour and a half now. I have checked to see that she is indeed sleeping and just fine, fighting back the urge to wake her so that I can hold her again. I have been mislead in the fact that I heard her parents have to hold her all the time. I am sure it was just a ruse to make sure I would say yes to caring for her. If my nieces and nephews affect me so strongly, I wonder what I will be like with grandchildren of my own. I will probably one of those grandmothers that we all avoid so as not to suffer through another boatload of pictures. I can't wait.

Surrender

As I state in my profile, I am under tall and overweight. So, it always with much trepidation that I set out to find an outfit or a dress for a special occasion. My last forays have been for a dress for my son's upcoming nuptials. I promised myself that I would just go and look with no special idea in mind. Every woman knows that, if you have the idea of the perfect thing in your mind,it will be nowhere to be found. With bright promise I set forth to shop for this most special moment in my life and my son's life. That bright promise was soon dashed and strewn smoldering at my feet. Is there some universal law that at a certain weight and age you must be thrust into something that makes you look matronly? There must be. It is either that or designers and buyers are spawns of the devil whose job it is to drive us to the brink of insanity. This statements comes from one who looks at shopping as a well honed hobby. I am resigned to the fact that I can buy few things from the rack that don't need altering. No, don't point out that they make petites; even they sometimes have to meet with the seamstress. Fair enough! I can live with that. What I can't live with are these boxy,no-fashion fashions that seem to be the next step from youthful prom dresses. Yep, that has always been my hope that designers would step in and make something that makes me resemble something like a short, stout, fencepost swathed in chiffon. Oh, yes, pick me. I know that my size is part of the problem and am working on that. But come on; I have a waistline and not a bad looking bust line. Why would I want to hide my few assets in a box made of chiffon? I must have tried on fifty dresses only to be left with nothing to show for it. I did finally find a dress. Is it right for the wedding? Is it all I hoped it would be? It is lovely, and I hope it is the right dress. But, all you moms of brides and grooms, we need to unite and demand that we be more respected. I, for one, admit that my hands are raised and a white flag is being waved. I didn't so much choose the dress as I did surrender to what I could find.

Time

My summer break is quickly coming to a close, and my son's wedding is looming on the horizon. How does time seem to slip unnoticed through my fingers? I know that just before I turned around there was still a year until this wedding and unmeasured amounts of time to get everything done. Now here I am hoping that the seamstress can get my dress altered in the two weeks we have left, and I still have to take care of renting a vehicle. Once again I am at the deadline and in panic mode. I could claim that my summer has been overflowing with activity. It has: national bowling tournament, the family reunion we hosted, and a visit from my English family. Still I should have had more than enough time were I a more organized person. As much as I want to be that person who knows where everything is, has her bags packed a week before the flight takes off, and Christmas cards sent the day after Thanksgiving; after 57 years of being me, I think there ain't a chance. If there is a bigger procrastinator in the world, I would like to meet them. It might make me feel a little better about the amount of time that I waste. So, my motto remains: "What gets done, gets done."

Snowfall

It looks like it is going to be an unusual winter in the Hoosier State. We have just gotten our second major snow fall in just two weeks. It has been a beautiful winter landscape, but I'm going to hate it when I have to get behind the wheel of the school bus tomorrow. I'll be back on the road with the same people who were running 10 miles over the speed limit on snow covered roads yesterday. Yes, I was out in it. It is Christmas, and you have to shop sometime. Just to top off the day, I went to the grocery store for "bread and milk". That is an interesting phenomenon that has been occurring ever since the blizzard of 1978. At the first mention of snow (it matters not how little) the grocery shelves are cleared of both bread and milk. Since I have lived over half a century and given global warming, I don't expect to ever be snowed in for a week again; but evidently many people do. I truly just needed to pick up a few things for the pitch-in dishes I have to fix this week. Add snow panic to the panic that sets in 10 days before Christmas and you have the insanity that was the supermarket yesterday. After listening to the worst case scenario of the weather forecasters the storm for which we were all bracing,in anticipation or dread depending on your perspective, sort of fizzled. Our 8-12 inches is more like 4-6 inches, but there is an added layer of ice that we weren't expecting. It was bad enough for church to be cancelled today and they are asking us to stay off the roads. The winds have picked up and there is drifting. I am still thinking that clear in the morning or not I will be driving the little ones to school. So, say a little prayer for all us drivers in the morning; we will need all the help we can get. Is it Winter Break yet?

Winter Wonders

It has been a tough week for bus drivers here in the Hoosier State. We have had snow, below freezing temperatures, and freezing fog. Today we are getting some freezing drizzle, but today I can just sip my tea and look out the window. I would much rather view winter from the comfort of my living room. My job, however, requires me to be out in it. I am still surprised at how long it takes people to get the hang of driving in bad weather. In the space of a quarter of a mile I counted no less than five cars that had slid off the road. Now, you would think that after the first car hit the ditch everyone would have eased off the gas pedal. Nope!! They just decided to give the first car some company as he waited for the tow truck. That must have been a lucrative run for the two tow trucks that came to pull them out. I know there were two; because I had made it through, safely delivered my students, and got the treat of watching for twenty minutes while the rescue blocked the road. I am evidently a little slow on the learning curve too, or I would have thought of a way to go around that mess. On the up side, the morning of the freezing fog was a visual treat. While it was still dark, the fog banks floated above the ground illuminated by the lights of cars, traffic lights and street lamps. When the sun came up, it showed us trees, shrubs and grasses dressed all in white, covered in rime ice, and sparkling in the light like it was jeweled. It was lovely. It would have been lovelier from the comfort of my easy chair with a hot cup of tea in hand. I wonder what next week holds for us.

Say a Prayer

Please say a prayer for all the drivers in this area. The local Department of Transportation has given them a puzzle they may not be able to solve. What is this confusing bit of newness they have had thrown at them, you ask? It is a traffic circle or round-about. Actually two such intersections, and they are different in their traffic patterns. I know you are sitting there in utter disbelief, but it is true. Though these bits of traffic efficiency are commonplace in Europe and even on the East Coast here in the States, they are all but unknown here in the middle of Indiana's corn fields. We are quite civilized in many respects. I don't want you to think that we are all red-necked illiterates walking around in overalls with a blade of hay sticking out of our gap-toothed mouths. We are most of us intelligent, educated, well read, and somewhat well traveled. But this is new to a huge number of our citizens. I admire the way these circles can handle the increased traffic in our area, and I am lucky enough to be familiar with them in my travels to England. I don't know what possessed the powers that be. After all, many of these drivers have yet to get a handle on the concept of turn signals and merging onto highways. This could lead to a huge increase in traffic fatalities. I get to manuever a 36 foot long school bus through these intersection. If you don't know, most people will do anything to stay out from behind any bus. This includes looking straight at me only 4 feet away and pulling out anyway. Then just to balance things out, there are the confused older people who get to where I am waiting to enter the circle and come to a complete stop, threatening imminent collision. They really should have had a required class. On second thought, maybe classes on the use of something simpler like the use of turn signals; and then we can tackle traffic circles.

First Attempt

Here I am with a soapbox of my own. There are not a few of my family and friends who would shudder at that piece of news. Not that I am opinionated, but they would tell you that I have one on any topic and will share with or without invitation. Why this sterling quality doesn't endear me to everyone is beyond me. I am no woman of mystery. What I think is usually streaming out of my mouth. I will admit that I was nervous of giving this blogging thing a try. I was convinced that I would arrive at a blank screen with a blank mind and that is how it would remain. We will see. Stinking Billy, it is all your fault.