food, crochet, merriment
This Moment.
A Saturday joy. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from our world.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to savor and remember.
If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for us.
Happy Saturday my dears!
Long ago and far away when the kids were little–well, little-er, we went on a trip to Martin’s Cove, Wyoming. We hiked around and kids even got to see what it was like to pull a real, live handcart. I took off my shoes and walked the whole way barefoot just to get a feel for it.
On the way up to the Cove, as we were making the long, dreary drive through the Wyoming plains we did everything we could think of to make the trip fun, but I have to say, this part of the drive was incredibly boring. Really, there was just nothing to see…nothing. In fact the view outside the car windows was even gray/brown and dull–like nothing. There were no other cars and no animals and no houses or farms or birds–I’m telling you that it was a slow day in this part of the country. After about 30 miles of this, from out of nowhere, up pops what appears to be a small, abandoned grocery store. We pulled in out of shear boredom and crawled out of the car to stretch. One of the kids went up to the door and peeked through the tinted windows and hollered, “It’s a real store! There’s a person in there!”
Well, she was right. It was a real store and it was open. We were so happy to see the the planet did indeed, still have people on it that we all went in. In our excitement, the kids were given permission to each choose a full-size package of cookies or chips for the rest of the drive. This was big stuff, something that they never really got to do. But seriously, in this dry, dusty, gray, hot, and really really dead looking part of Wyoming, we were ready to do anything to help the kids remember that life was still good and that the end of our long drive was coming soon.
Little bald kid–the one in the front of the picture, was so excited with his very own package of Nutter Butter cookies that when we got out of the store he kept jumping up and down and giggling–squealing really. He was so happy that he almost couldn’t contain himself. With one mighty leap, he threw his fist in the air and shouted, “I just LOVE Hawaii!”
Someday, maybe we’ll take him to lovely, lush, green Hawaii so he can see how funny that really was.
Alo-ha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
That One Chick #8
Before the day of the digital camera–you had to point and shoot and cross your fingers hoping that when you got your film back your children wouldn’t look…like…this. It was always a crap shoot with no do overs.
Check out the little monkey on the left.
Speaking of monkeys…
When I was about this age–6 or 7ish we had a neighbor in Los Angeles that kept all kinds of monkeys. No lie. She had chimpanzees and spider monkeys and kept them in a huge playroom-pen at the front of the yard that she called the Monkey House. We could see them swinging on rings and jumping around from our kitchen window. Pretty sure there would be something illegal about that these days. Anyway, one day we came home to find the biggest and baddest grandaddy monkey of all time sitting on top of our fridge. His name was Beatnick and he apparently came in through our open kitchen window. When we came in the kitchen, he stood up and started screeching and throwing fruit down on us. My brother had a potato growing in a jar with toothpicks and water–the little dope threw that too.
My dad yelled, “Everybody stand still,” so we stood still. Too bad the chimp didn’t listen.
That creepy guy jumped right down and landed…
on my head.
So, try to picture it–two big old monkey feet clutching the top of my head–his toes were poking me in the eyes. Not to mention the fact that a monkey the size of a toddler weighs about as much as a 10 year old child. Before I could yell or bawl or help myself in any way, he sprung from my head to the kitchen table–knocking me to the floor. My dad picked me up and tossed me out of the kitchen. Pretty scary–I must say.
I have no idea how my dad got the monkey out of our house, but for years–any time he’d see a chimpanzee on T.V. he’d say, “Those little devils are as strong as a grown man.”
All I know is that they are as heavy as a sack of bricks…
when they land on your head.
There is the teeniest,
tiniest…
chance…
that while anticipating…
and preparing…
for the “New Moon” opening night…
we could…
possibly…
have gone…
just a tad…
berserk.
You decide.
Either way…
We sure did have a dang…
good…
time!
But since 4am is really an interesting time to crawl into bed–when you read this, I’ll probably still be snuggled up somewhere…sleeping.
Carry on without me.
ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz………
Einstein Laughing
Mr. Einstein is laughing because, as far as we can tell he didn’t have any children…so grandchildren would be “optimism to the point of foolishness.”
One lazy day a few summers ago, my daughter sent me a Brain Teaser called “Einstein’s Riddle” to mess around with. If I remember correctly—she hated it. Now, in her defense, I’ll tell you–she is one smart cookie, so it isn’t that she couldn’t do it. I think for some people this is an uncomfortable exercise–because it asks your brain to solve a problem in a way that many aren’t use to.
The story behind Einstein’s riddle is that Albert Einstein created it about a hundred years ago and claimed that 98% of the world population couldn’t solve it. I, personally have no idea if Albert Einstein had anything to do with this puzzle in real life, but I know this…more and more people are able to solve it these days.
Maybe our brains are evolving.
Maybe we play with numbers more than the average Joe did in 1909.
Maybe it’s the Wii.
Who knows?
The bald kid read an article in Popular Science (I know, I know) that said, “There is a relatively untapped area of the brain that is activated by two known exercises— Sodoku and the Rubix Cube.” Sodoku actually keeps your brain young! Who’d of thought? I—in my infinite wisdom—believe that this riddle is along the same lines—though, luckily, not as complicated at a the cube.
Now the fun part.
At the risk of being blasphemous to Mr. Einstein, we’ve taken the liberty of “modernizing” his puzzle just a bit to keep it interesting. Fear not–the integrity of the original riddle is still intact. Take a minute and play with us—it’s the weekend…come on…
When you think you have the answer–post a comment saying, something like, “I’ve got it!” Now listen carefully to this part…I mean it…
That would spoil it for everyone–wouldn’t it?
Are you ready? Here goes—
– In a street there are five houses, painted five different colors.
– In each house lives a man with a different name. (William, Steven, Daniel, Tyler and Greg)
– These five homeowners each have a favorite beverage, eat a different treat and keep a different pet.
Einstein’s riddle is: Who owns the Clown Fish?
Necessary clues:
1. William lives in a red house.
2. Steven has a poodle.
3. Daniel drinks Powerade.
4. The Green house is on the left of the White house.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks orange juice.
6. The person who eats M&M’s has a parakeet.
7. The owner of the Yellow house eats Skittles.
8. The man living in the center house drinks chocolate milk.
9. Tyler lives in the first house.
10. The man who eats Twix lives next to the one who has a tabby cat.
11. The man who keeps a Buckskin Horse lives next to the man who eats Skittles.
12. The man who eats Lemonheads drinks Kool-Aid.
13. Greg eats Gummi Bears.
14. Tyler lives next to the blue house.
15. The Twix eater lives next to the one who drinks Vitamin Water.
Good luck!
