The Tarot Card Story

Watching the Tarot cards being flipped and a story told about each was all just entertainment. Surely a future can't be told by the chance turning of cards. Completing the reading, the reader turned to me asking my birthday. I told her and of course, she told me several things that were according to Libra...then she said
"You have been very tired for a few weeks." (True) "It's as if your energy is pouring out of every pore, draining you of energy. Go sit in the sun for a while, ~ the sun will block this loss of energy"

I thanked her but didn't care to have the cards flipped for me. Walking away my friend and I talked about all she had been told.

The following morning, I thought of the Tarot Lady. It was Springtime and that spring fever had really gotten to me. I took a chair out to greet the warm sunshine and bask before the heat of the day.

Sunshine flooded over me and embraced bare arms and legs. Ahhh...how wonderful. My laziness was bathed and soothed by little warm breezes that seem to float in on kind sun rays. I welcomed the blanket of springtime warmness. There was the feeling of being lightly touched as my body absorbed the magic in the air.

I must have sat there for almost an hour. Now, lulled and calm, my thoughts drifted to things I wanted to complete. Flowers to plant, a letter or two to answer, invite the girls for bridge, a party to give...

Energized, I sent a thought of thanks to the tarot lady.
iJune

The End of Yet Another Day in Paradise

Ah! Each day on the island ends with more than a sunset.

The crowd gathers on Mallary Square,
Key West.

Entertainers arrive to set up along with venders, artists, muscians, fortune tellers, tee shirts, it goes on and on. My favorite is the little portable stand where one can get the BEST CONCH FRITTERS on the island.

All bring uniqueness to the harbor for a the 2 hour celebration of the end of yet another day in paradise.

Have always said, there is where you can see the best and the worst entertainment...but today, I have to say everything looks more upscale. Some of the older entertainers are being squeezed out by younger and more daring. The crowd gathers here and there to see stunts and toss a dollar into the collection hat.
A fun way to end the day and then drift off for dinner.
Many sail boats coast by~

The water is always beautiful.







Activity galore surrounds you. Happy and fun crowd.

The ageless CAT MAN is there with his trained cats. He has been there since I have been going...forever, it seems.

The "Red Baron" flies over...a red bi-plane.
Have always wanted to fly with him.. I notice he is less of a dare-devil these days.



We settle down for some fabulous island drink that someone has just come up with...

In the photo is the drink discovered this trip...don't know what it is, but it most certainly was good. The bartender topped it off with a little island rum as he told us of the hurricane of 2005 which put 75% of the island underwater.

The surge of water came, he said, right as the tide was incoming. After the winds, he and friends climbled up to the rooftop of their 2 story house. After a while, he said a love seat came floating down the street along with anything else not tied down.

He said a few hours went by and still sitting up there, they see the love seat floating back down the street ...so they knew the tide was going back out. (Taking the floodwaters with it.)

Ah...the sun sets on yet another day in paradise.

I LOVE KEY WEST!

iJune

Happily Uninhibited

It' a beautiful day~ A busy day going around in my happily uninhibited life-stlye.

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Early this morning...
At the hospital for a routine procedure, I noticed people arriving in pairs. No doubt husband and wife. There we all were sitting, man, women...space, man, woman, space..etc.
Got the picture? Then a couple of giggling teenagers came in...one very pregnant. They had overnight bags and an empty baby carrier. Ah, I thought, a scheduled c-section. They giggled walking by us. I whispered to my husband. "They are in the wrong place."
A minute later, they came back swinging the car seat and giggle-giggle.
No husband there.
A sign of the times which isn't really funny.

Then, a very handsome guy came in alone. Ah ha, I thought..me, the eternal match-maker, he would be a good one to match up with Eva, my single friend I thought.
He checked in and came back by...and LOOKED at my HUSBAND.
Ok, that explained why no wife.
My imagination is way too vivid.

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After my husbands procedure, they called me back to the recovery area.

When it was time to go home, I reached for the curtain which was between him and another man. When I pulled it, whoops...the other man was sitting on the side of his bed undressing. I had a flash of him...swirls of black hair against white muscular chest..."OOPS," I exclaimed and turned around to see his young wife standing there...she laughed and said, "got a peek?" Unabashed, I said "Handsome husband," I told her. She smiled from ear to ear.
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Still before noon, and out buying shoes. The cashier at the shoe store lamented, " Yes, a beautiful day, but I have to work."
"Be happy you have a job, honey," I reminded her. "We all need to work, but now am retired."
"But," she said, "there is so much to do when you are young and nothing to to when you are older."

Did she sting me or what?

"When you are young you want to do it all, when you are older, you have done it all and finally have time to get on with your life. Getting on with your life depends on how well you prepare. Preparing means to work as late into life as you can make good money. Afterwardwards you can afford doing the unimaginable before you die. Remember the old saying, 'Make hay while the sun shines.' Life is always good for those who work. "

Did I give her a little sermon or what? I smiled sweetly...she looked thoughtful as we said bye...happily uninhibited.

iJune

Survival of the Fittest

This morning I met my youngest daughter at the Babies R Us store. (She is the one pushing the stroller when she was only a baby herself)

Her baby is due in a few months and the thing to do is register for gift suggestions for the upcoming Baby Shower.

We spent what seemed like all day in there marveling over all the equipment available for one tiny baby. I go through this with all ...and each year it seems we have new and improved this and that.

It is interesting to imagine how much money one could easily spend for one tiny baby who would actually outgrow everything in only a few months. Amazing as everything there has a very handsome pricetag.

Thinking back, another amazing fact is how we struggled through babies without all this stuff. HOW did they survive?

Notice the stroller in the above photo. It was as good as it could be in the 70's. Just a little padding on a seat on wheels. No protection from the sun, and for sure, no napping...not in that thing. Would have given anything for a double stroller. They were not on the radar screen at the time.

All these other things, we really didn't miss. They grew fast and soon didn't need much equipment.

We really had a good time with the girls as they grew. Back then safety regulations for automobiles were not established. Cars didn't even have seat belts. We had no idea their lives were at risk each time they were in the car.

We also didn't have car seats for babies.

For baby sleeping, I had a portable baby bed that was placed between the back of the front seat to the back of the back seat. The baby slept or stayed there. The older children could be where-ever they wanted.

By the time they were age 2, they could stand in the front seat and hold on to my right shoulder as I drove. Stopping, or braking, I would simply hold my arm out to brace them from falling forward. It worked. It wasn't safe, but that was the way it was. We didn't worry or even think of having anything else. Thank God, we all survived.

At Easter time one year, we 'adopted' four baby ducks to raise and return back to the National Park Ranger Program. We lived in the Tide Water area of Virginia along the Cheasapeake Bay where the Mallard duck population was dwindling over a few years. This was attributed to predators raiding the nests and taking baby ducks. The Park Randgers went around the lakes looking for nests and gathering eggs, which they hatched.

We saw their story in the newspaper and thought we would add this little adventure to our girls lives.

We were surprised by how many people came to adopt those newly hatched ducks. They were so tiny ducks and only a week old. $5 per adoption was the cost, plus enough food for one day. Hundreds of little ducks were adopted that day. We adopted one for each daughter or raise.

What a great project.

The girls made a pond for them with a little swimming pool and fed them twice a day. They were ours to keep for 6 weeks with an assigned date to return them to the Park Rangers. After their growth and return, they were placed into a survivor adaptation for week or two before released back to the wild.

Look at this photo~ My 2 year old feeding her baby duck the day we returned them to the park. Amazing fact~ all survived.

iJune

Going Bananas

Did you know to put bananas in the refrigerator stops the

ripening process?

Yes, on the day the bunch reached your personal ripeness, refrigerate them to preserve that degree of ripeness. The peeling will turn dark and maybe even black but the fruit should be perfect. Of course, this is within limits.

Should you go bananas and refrigerate an entire

stalk, let me know the outcome.

iJune