Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you'd put on your list of  quintessential summer activities? Will you try to manage all ten this summer?

This question would have been much easier to answer 25 years ago when we had little kids about the house and we were in reasonably decent health. The kids are all grown and, for the most part, gone on living their lives elsewhere. And, we are no longer young and reasonably healthy.

I cannot come up with ten things. The only ones that I can come up with are watching to see which birds are brave enough to come out of hiding on the really hot days and then escaping back inside to the cool of our air conditioned room. And, yes, I will most definitely manage to get these two things done.

Oh, and, although I am not a sports fan generally, I will be waiting to see who wins the College World Series.

2. Do you collect seashells when you're at the beach? What do you do with them once you get them home? What's your favorite place to comb for seashells? How many of these 'best beaches for hunting seashells' have you visited? Which one would you most like to visit?

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Maryland), Jeffrey's Bay (South Africa), Sanibel Island (Florida), Shipwreck Beach (Lanai Hawaii), Ocracoke Island (North Carolina), Galveston Island (Texas) and The Bahamas

When we go to the beach, I do collect seashells. I love them and have been searching for a really big one like my parents had when I was a little girl. It was the kind that you could hold up to your ear and hear the ocean...at least, that is what they told us we were hearing. :)

So far, I haven't really done anything with them. They are in boxes and baskets around the house. I don't really know what to do with them other than photograph them, which I have done. 

Our backyard is full of seashells. I have no clue how they got back there and it is a bit scary to consider the possibilities.

I have never been to any of the beaches listed. I would like to some day go to Galveston Island, but not so much the actual beach part of it.

I have been to Virginia Beach and it was there that one of my favorite memories with my daddy was made.  I have also been to Matagorda Beach, TX, and the beach in Sargent, TX. I have also been to Clemson Y Beach, which is just outside of the lovely college town of Clemson, South Carolina. Go, Tigers!

3. At a snail's pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which 'shell' phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life? Explain.

“Go back into your shell” works for me most of the time right now. I find myself becoming more and more reclusive. When things are troubling me, I tend to withdraw. I am “happy as a clam” to stay here at home and watch all of the life going on in our backyard.

4. What summer activity do you dislike? Why?

I do not like to go swimming. I cannot swim properly, for one thing. I can swim under water, but not on it, like regular swimming.  For another, I almost drowned in my aunt’s swimming pool as a young teenager. While I am not so afraid of the water that I can’t take a bath or shower, I do not like being out in uncontrolled water or water over my head.

5. What's something you see as quickly becoming obsolete? Does that bother you?

Me! And, yes, it bothers me very much.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

If you still have your daddy, let him know how much you love him. Give him a hug and, while you’re at it, give him one for me. I can’t hug my daddy anymore. I lost him 9 December 2012.  

If you are estranged from your daddy or otherwise have problems with him, go to him and work it out, however you can. Don’t put it off. Neither of you are guaranteed tomorrow. Whatever his faults, he is still your father. Put on your big girl/boy panties and work it out!

If you can't safely be around him, then forgive him anyway. Forgiving is something you need to do for YOU. Forgiving him doesn't mean that you condone whatever has made it unsafe to be around him, nor does it mean that you have to put yourself in danger. It just means that you have let it go so that you can be the YOU you were meant to be and live in peace.

I sure do miss you, Daddy. 

Jimmy Ray Gunter, Madeline, and little Suz at the fair, 1966.

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