Sisterly love?

So...

Our Grandlittles had an early out from school on Wednesday and I picked them up and brought them to the house.

For some reason the littlest Grandlittle and the biggest Grandlittle were in a bickery mood with each other. They pretty much just played separately and didn't interact much at all.

When Mr. Jenny and I were driving them to meet their Mom, I suggested that we all take turns telling what we admired about each other.

We started with Grandpa.

Oh my. We all thought Grandpa was smart, and good at basketball, and a good-dog-taker-care-of-person, etc.

They all thought I was nice and kind to everyone and patient and a good hugger.

When we got to the biggest Grandlittle, Grandpa went first. "Oh," he said, "You are good at basketball and you are very smart."

I went next. "You are sooo patient with animals and are so loving when anyone is hurt."

The middle Grandlittle said something like, "You help me with my homework."

And finally, it was the littlest Grandlittle, Miss Mo's, turn.

"Hmmmm..." she said, thoughtfully with her finger on her lip in deep concentration.

"Hmmm...give me a minute here...hmmm..."

The oldest Grandlittle got a little annoyed, 'Well, gee, Momo, that's really nice of you...you can't think of anything?"

Mo continued to contemplate the difficult task.

I said, "Mo, can't you think of anything nice that you like about Julia?"

"Wellll..." she finally said, "Okay! I have it! You gave me a quarter. Once."


Then she hesitated.

"But I think that was about a year ago."

We were all silent.

Mr. Jenny and I were trying not to laugh out loud.

More silence.

I cleared my throat, "Well, Miss Mo, that was a nice thing for her to do then, right?"

Mo thought a minute more and then reiterated, "Yeah, she gave me a quarter once."

And we moved on.

Sisterly love.

Priceless.

A Memory of a Farmhouse

Busy with unpacking and trying to organize a family of five into a home with no closets, I had very little time to explore the ragged hedgerow of neglected, gangly tall bushes and high grass surrounding two sides of the property.

Fall and winter passed and it was not until the following spring that I realized there were treasures hidden in the grass beneath the overgrown pen and ink rendering of criss-crossed branches.

The gift of a slightly crumpled bouquet of tiny violet and yellow flowers from a slightly grubby child's hand, elicited my question, "Where, oh where, did you find these?"

My daughter chattered in excitement as we walked across the yard, her warm little hand cradled in mine.

Nestled in the grass were hundreds of the minute jewel-toned blossoms. Their slight, sweet fragrance surrounded them with gentle, perfumed scent.


I crouched down and touched them reverently. "Oh look, look," I told my daughter. "My grandmother called these little wild violets 'Johny-jump-ups'! Isn't that a funny name?" I tickled the tender underside of her chin with a little velvetty blossom as she giggled in delight.

I told her stories of my Grandmother who had adored gardens and all growing things. I told her how my Grandmother had also called these little flowers by the name 'Hearts Ease'. I told her that it DID ease my heart to know my Grandmother was still with me in the memory of the flowers...even though she had been gone for a long time.


My daughter was more delighted with the name than hearing the stories. "Johny-jump-up? Johny-jump-up! What a funny name!"

As the spring progressed the hedgerow continued to surprise and delight us with daffodils, forsythia and white and purple lilacs.

But none of their beautiful blooms touched my heart as much as that first little gift of Johny-jump-ups.

This little memory is written in honor of the letter “J” for Alphabe-Thursday. J is for Johny Jump Ups!


To read other 'J' offerings, just click here.

Alphabe-Thursday Letter J

Good morning class. Welcome to round four of Alphabe-Thursday!

Today we will be juggling the letter:


Please link directly to your Alphabe-Thursday URL (if you don't know how to do this let me know!) and please continue to visit the five links before and after your link and leave a comment. Minimum of 10 links visited please. You can visit more if you like, of course.

I also want to let you know that each week I visit every blog. If it appears I haven't visited your blog by the following Thursday evening, please let me know!

If you have any difficulties with your link, please make sure to include the number of the link when you e-mail me. It is really difficult for me to find you easily otherwise.

If you have any questions about Alphabe-Thursday or problems doing your link just post it in a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll do my best to help you as quickly as I can.

The McLinkey will be live from 1:00 pm MST time Wednesday afternoon in an effort to assist our lovely "friends across the pond" and continue through 10:00 am MST time Friday morning!

And remember.... link back to this post, you need to be registered as a follower of my blog, PG posts only, and visit at least 10 other students (perhaps the 5 students before and after your post). The links will stay live after the final post deadline has passed so you can even wait and visit over the weekend or whenever you have more time.

Please jump up and post your letter "J" now!

I give you proof...

...that I am NOT an over-protective Mom!

If you missed my little revelation of insanity yesterday, click here before you look at the two pictures.

Since I had quite a few e-mails yesterday asking if I could take a picture of the creepy statue, I decided to try this morning.

Oh sure, you didn't come right out and say it, but I'm thinking you might think that I think like a crazy person...

Huh?

And since I totally wanted to dispel any possibility that could be even remotely true...

I woke up this morning and grabbed my daughter before she could leave on her bike.

"I'm driving you this morning!"

She thought I was being nice. She didn't know I was going to take a picture of Mr. Perv lying in wait by the doorway.

I dropped her off and then circled the parking lot.

I didn't want to get actually get out of the car considering I was wearing a 'rush-out-of-the-house-in-three-seconds' outfit, including my coral pink crocs.

So I put the window down and snapped these two shots.

I don't know why that top one keeps going sideways but I surrender to the eccentricities of blogger and you'll just have to turn your head slightly.






See?

See what I mean?

He's creepy, right?

In a stalking, I'm going to kill your daughter and cut her into tiny pieces kind of way.

And YOU, silly reader, thought I was just being dramatic!

Geez.

As if I ever would be.

Dramatic.

And now my shadow/over-protective story is complete.

Now I'm thinking you might think that Jenny does NOT!!! think like a person verging on insanity...

And I am so relieved.

Sigh...

Overprotective Mom?

So...

This morning I had to go to Dunkin' Donuts.

Yes, I said 'HAD'!

It was important.

Because I needed to get boxes.

Oh, quit rolling your eyes.

I did. Have to get boxes. To pack for moving and all.

AND...

I didn't even get a donut or a bagel or go anywhere near the store or the drive through line...

Although I will admit there was a slightly smashed jelly donut on the concrete by the box bin that looked almost as good as new ... and...


Oh, close your mouth.

I didn't.

And I didn't even want to.

Just seeing if you're paying attention.

Okay...

But...that's not what I wanted to write about.

I wanted to tell you that BEFORE I went to DD to get the boxes, I dropped a daughter off downtown for work. She was going to ride her bike and it was cold and since I had to go to Dunkin' Donuts to get the boxes I told her I'd give her a ride.

It was dark when I dropped her. It's always dark and there's always this creepy looking guy in the corner by the recessed door waiting to go in. I'm always freaked out by the way he stands right by the door...watching...waiting...


He was there again this morning.

My daughter hopped out of the car and started to walk away.

I called her back.

"Look, just sit in the car here until they open, and then I'll leave."

She looked surprised. "Why would you want to do that? It's fine, it's only six minutes."

I insisted. "Look, sweetie, I'll just wait here with you."

"Mom? It's fine. Really. What are you doing?"

I glanced fearfully at the creepy looking guy by the door. "I dunno, I just have a bad feeling about that guy. He really, really creeps me out."

She got a weird look on her face.

"Mom? You know that's a statue, right?"

Huh?

Huh, what?

"What did you say?" I said.

"It's a statue Mom. A STATUE!"

I cleared my throat.

I laughed dismissively.

"Of course I knew that was a statue. I was only kidding!" I said and waved gaily as I drove away.

A statue?

A freakin' statue has been creeping me out for months now?

Seriously?

And that, my friends is why I resisted the only slightly smashed jelly donut. I suspect my judgement might be slightly impaired.

With all the fumes from the kitchen destruction repair and all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's it.

It's the fumes.

I'm certain of that.

Sigh.

Insanity.

Always just a tiny step away.

Sigh...

Hello Dolly!

Well Hello, Dolly,
It's so nice to have you back where you belong

You're looking swell, Dolly,
We can tell, Dolly,
You're still glowin', you're still crowin'
You're still goin' strong!

Who needs toys when you have a dolly to play with at your Grandparents house?!?

An epilogue with a cliffhanger from a cliffhanger

Huh? Did you understand that title? If you did, you are obviously a Centusian. And, here TADA! is my cliffhanger epilogue. I thought this was a fun little exercise! There was a part one and a part two to this story as well.

“Mrs. Matlock? Why are you … … here?”

I cleared my throat. “Ummm…because I was ordered to undergo a psychiatric review.”

“Because...?”

“Apparently the rescue team thought I was trying to commit suicide. I told them I was only hanging off that cliff hiding from my son.”

He wrote on his little pad. Scritch-scritch-scritch

“Hmmm…I see.” The smug little shrink tented his fingers together. “And… Mrs. Matlock? Don’t you feel that might have been … … extreme … trying to ... … … ‘hide’ in that fashion?”

Scritch-scritch-scritch

I sighed.

“Extreme? Are you serious? Do you have teenagers, Doctor?

“Mrs. Matlock, we are here today to discuss your life…NOT my life. Can you please just answer my question?”

“Well, Doctor, if you don’t have teenaged children I really don’t think talking to you is going to help.”

Scritch-scritch-scritch

“Mrs. Matlock. Sit back down! You need to finish this evaluation or…”

Ha! See! It was an epiologue WITH a cliffhanger from a cliffhanger and a conclusion. What happens next? I'm not sure. I just ran out of words!