Throw Back Thursday

Throw Back Thursday


Ok.

Here's one of the best things about this blog.

It has gotten me out of my comfort zone and made me more determined to see friends old and new. My Fortieth HS reunion was great fun and I loved reconnecting with people I hadn't seen or talked to in ages.  After being overwhelmed at the Thirtieth, I really had not planned to go to the Fortieth, but I'm so glad I did.

One of the people I chatted with was Caren, a friend from elementary school. Somehow we grew apart in Junior High (that's what it was called back in the day, none of this "middle school" nonsense).  She was cooler than I.
And I'm crushed because there is a wonderful photo of the two of us on her horses at her farm from elementary days...except it is safely tucked away on my desk in Texas.

Anyhoo......

Liddy, Susan, Me

When I posted last week about my going to breakfast with Liddy and Susan, Caren sent me some pics of us from elementary school.

Yay for Girl Scouts.
Sadly I still have basically the same haircut now as I did in Girl Scouts. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Don't have all the names but I know that's 

Caren, Maria,  ?, Me, Liddy, and Sandy

(And O! The smirk on Liddy's face. I know it well. Love.)

And then this one is not quite so clear...but here I am with Susan and friends.

Caren, Lida, Kathy,?, Susan in the red, Ann, ?, Me in the hat, Sandy,?, and ?

I am absolutely so fortunate that fifty plus years later I am still friends with, in touch with, connected to these fun people. 

And my how we have grown!!

So here's the take-away.

Relationships have seasons and sometimes they wax and wane. Some will end.
But I think that the connections you make with people that you grow up with are strong.  It's a great backbone. There's a shared history. Doesn't mean you have to chat daily or even yearly. And time smooths over a lot of things. Differences that may have seemed huge when you were younger seem less as time goes on.

That's a good thing.

So, if you  have ever thought of getting in touch with an old friend, do it. The internet is wonderful for that.
Ok, you may realize there's a reason you don't speak.
But maybe, just maybe, you'll expand your circles.

And that also is a good thing.

(Thanks a billion Caren for these photos!)

No. 31: A Winter Solstice Party

No. 31: Have a Solstice Party 

When I realized that we would be arriving back in Texas the same weekend as the winter solstice, I knew this was my chance to knock out No. 31:Have a winter solstice party.

With just a week before the solstice I frantically created an evite and sent it out, truthfully not knowing if ANYONE would be able to come.

My plan was to light up the house with candles to brighten up the one day of the year with the tiniest amount of daylight. O! And I also wanted to see my bunko group friends and others from the neighborhood. A very tiny little party that started out with 6 yeses, 6 maybes, and 6 nos with a few non responders.

 Candles...

and more candles.

We flew into Texas on Friday night late, stuffed ourselves with Tex Mex and called it a day.
Saturday was spent doing last minute kid Christmas shopping, decorating a tree and eating more Tex Mex.

Our pitiful little tree. 

Lights not working, only about a third of the ornaments on it.

But definitely better than last year's non-tree.

So Sunday I realized maybe I needed to get some wine and cheese for this wine and cheese solstice  party. A quick trip to the store got me fixed up.

Happily I had about 14 friends show along with a good group of Bunny's pals. 

There were candles and wine and champagne and candles and it was lovely. Just enough people to visit briefly with everyone. 

We did not dance around a solstice bush (is there even such a thing?), celebrate the longer days to come, mourn the short days just passed or anything of that nature.

Ok, possibly a little bowing to the Sun Gods. 

Or maybe the Wine gods...

Still. It was a party on the solstice and I'm counting it!!

An up close pic of the tree-

looks a little more festive. 

I'm big on icicles, snowflakes and not much else.

Christmas in Texas was great. Got to visit with tons of people, see the nieces and the grand nieces and grand nephews along with my brother and SIL and nephew Andrew. Breakfast on Christmas morning with my MIL, a day spent visiting with my parents. Had a great dinner with some high school girlfriends

Many thanks to Ellen for hosting all these 

beautiful women for dinner. 

Forty years after High School!

I'll be back in Texas next week when my mom has a bit of surgery. 

But now Bunny and I are back in Colorado where winter has decided to arrive with a purpose.
There's snow and cold! 

This Week

This week...

Didja miss me? 

Sorry, I just couldn't get it together last week. 

Not doing much better this week. 

But... It is fall. 

We had the second annual pumpkin carving at the cabin over the weekend. 

Friend's on the left, Bunny's on the right. 

Love those pumpkin carving kits. 

Bunny and her friend boy each carved pumpkins. Her friend once again did a better job. He is very meticulous. In a coup for the downtrodden,  she had them outside on the deck last night and something came along and knocked his over and cracked it. Hers is still intact. 

The leaves are turning. It's crispy in the morning. The weather is lovely. Yay! 

There was snow on the Twin Sisters and now it is mostly gone. Another yay! I am not ready for snow on the ground.

A dusting of snow on the Twin Sisters last week.

All gone now. 

The bucks are starting to face off. 

Love the game camera!

Looks like these two mean business. 

There is High School football. With fireworks at half time!

We don't normally have fireworks at half time, 

but when we do, they are spectacular!

Thursday evening will be No. 53: Go to a Lecture of Someone Interesting. So you won't get the update until next week. I'm going to hear a lecture on the history of the area. I'm actually pretty excited about this. It surprises me that in Colorado the schools do not require a year of state history. Texas makes the kids take Texas history in 4th AND 7th grade. They KNOW about the Alamo in Texas by the time they get out of High School. Certainly Colorado has history that is as interesting, if not more so, than Texas history. Mining! Gold rushes! Cannibals! 

Alferd Packer. 

He had some friends for dinner.

Literally.

Neighbor across the street came over and showed me a lovely video of a large mountain lion strolling through his yard and peering into his windows. Amazingly he walked over with his video camera not 10 minutes after the lion wandered back into the woods. In answer to my shrieked "You walked over here?",  he showed me his pistol. 
Ok. 
He offered to show me how to shoot but I think I will wait for a professional to complete No. 28: Learn to shoot a gun. 

And in a spontaneous and possibly ill advised move, I banished all my high lights. Now I'm a redhead. A fairly unnaturally red redhead. Bunny says I need to try again. We'll see. 

Sadly this is the second iteration of red.

The first was REALLY brassy. This is only very brassy.

Maybe the third time will be right? 

And if not, at least I have Halloween hair.

(And not sure why I am on soft focus here....but probably a good thing.)

Stay tuned. 

No. 35: Part Two: That 40th High School Reunion + a Birthday

No. 35: Part Two: The 40th High School Reunion Pics 

I went to my 40th High School Reunion. But first I reminisced and posted lovely high school photos of some of my friends from 40 years ago. While I was at the party Saturday night, I did my best to get pics of those same people.

Some comparisons....

Curtis in 1974

Curtis

(With Lisa Laird Married Name that I Don't Know) 

and Brown

 And here's Brown in 1974 

with Carol that is no longer with us.

Brown and I talked about how much we wish she were still here. 

So both of these guys are looking pretty good. The hair isn't as long but at least they still have some!!

Right? 

Me with Mary in 1974

Me with Mary now.

I think Mary looks almost exactly the same, just shorter hair. And both of our faces are thinner. 

What's up with that? 

Me with Emily.  

Wish I had gotten a better pic of her. 

I swear she looks better now than then.

Half of Brown, Me, Emily and Kevin, back in the day.

Here's Bobby/Bob and Kevin now. 

They are just as adorable as ever except with, again, shorter hair. 

And Bobby then. We need to know his secret. 

You know, the "never age secret". 

 Sally, Me, Liddy- 1974

Me, Sally, Liddy- 2014

Sorry we are a little blurry- cell phone pics.

I believe we have all gotten blonder. 

Imagine that!

 Tricia then.

Me and Tricia now.

This was about the 7th selfie we tried taking...I had to break out the reading glasses just to see what we were doing. Both of us were pretty close to hysterical.  For some reason we just 

couldn't get it right. Some alcoholic beverages may have been consumed at this point.

Anyway, same smile, same fun person.

Tricia with Martha/Ann

Lynn, Peggy, Martha now Ann, Allison, Anne, Liddy, Me

And in the back middle we have Martha/Ann again, looking not one day older.

Did Robert E. Lee have something really magical in the water fountains? 

And just because- me and Liddy enjoying the night. 

We were good at that then, 

still good at that now.

The guys haven't aged. The girls haven't aged. The years have been good to all of us.

Thank goodness. 

Love them all. So happy I got to visit.

Thanks for indulging my stroll down memory lane.

No. 35 is officially complete.

AND.....

Today is 9/11.   For most that day is a day of remembrance, a sad day when many lives were lost senselessly.
For me it is my middle child's birthday along with my handsome soon-to-be-wed nephew's birthday.
A reminder that while there is evil in the world, there are also reasons to rejoice.
Happy happy birthday Belle and Brian.

Hard to believe that this baby...

 Born with a full head of black hair...

became this baby...

and turned into a natural blonde. 

Life is full of surprises.

Throw back Thursday: In Honor of No. 35, Go to My 40th High School Reunion

Throw Back Thursday: Whereby I Post Embarrassing Photos of Friends from High School


It's going to be a high school reunion. No. 35 on the list.
Forty years.  That's a long time.

So of course I had to find me some old photos...you know, to jog my memory of how darling and cute we all used to be.   As opposed to how mature and dignified we all look now.

I remember pulling up to the building at my 30th reunion. There was a valet parker. As we waited in line to get to the valet, we watched people exit their cars. I turned to the hubs and asked "Are you sure this is the right place? There are only old people here."  Yep, it was the right place.

This time I know what to expect.

But first- a stroll down memory lane.

The dances:

 A Cotillion dance with Dale.

He didn't go to our school but friend Liddy and I both dated him at different times.

And the same dress (quelle horreur) but a different date- 

this time with Curtis.

How come I can't convince my girls to wear the same dress twice? 

Mom's wonderful photography skills.

Half of Brown, Me, Emily and Kevin.
I loved that outfit but how ...homespun... these dresses look.

And Senior Prom:

This picture has been removed because 
I got tired of the "cast fetish" attention. 
But it was me, with my date, and my leg in a cast. 
My date looked like Napoleon Dynamite.
Use your imagination.

My how Prom dresses have changed. 

See here and here for Belle's prom dresses.

Makes mine look pretty tame.

(Also Bunny looked at this picture and said "Looks like Napoleon Dynamite". Yep.)

A Senior Spring Break trip to San Miguel de Allende  on the train:

 Mary and Emily

Me and Mary

The highlight of this trip might have been the flasher who stood outside our 

train compartment window while we were stopped in Monterrey.

He exposed himself while one of us (not naming names) stayed glued to the window, blocking everyone else and squealing 

"O My! Don't look! O my! O! Don't look what he's doing now!"
For about an hour.

Bobby, now Bob, sitting in my room.

Why, O Why did I have a poster of Raggedy Ann and Andy in there? 

Although I do love how Bobby/Bob color coordinates with the room. 

 Sally, Me, Liddy and that black spot on the right is our French Poodle, Eaugarte.

Studying, I think.

 Tricia, learning to macrame´ .

 Me, Charlie, Liddy

We basically all three have the same hair cut.

A particularly beautiful picture of Liddy taken in San Miguel.

And from Tricia's birthday party:

Tricia and Martha

Brown and Carol.
Sadly she is no longer with us.

Billy, Mark and Gwen 

Kevin, DeeDee, now Dee, and John

Ok. So now I'm ready to go the reunion. 

I'll recognize everyone as long as the guys still have shoulder length hair and the girls are barely wearing any make-up. 

Follow Up Friday

Follow Up Friday:  odds and ends

Well, goodness.
Thursday just slipped my mind. Obviously there was no post yesterday.

No excuses beyond my allergies have been horrendous and too many antihistamines will make anyone loopy.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Soooo.

It's been lovely and cool here in Colorado.

Lots of rain.

My Twin Sisters after the rain-

hiding their heads in the clouds.

My garden is happy with volunteer sunflowers. Only two plants survived out of all of the ones I planted last October. Lesson learned. One week of scorching weather with no one here to water and it doesn't matter what you plant.  And inches of rain after a week of dry makes no difference. Those dead plants will not come back to life.

Lots of sunflowers that I didn't plant. 

And not much else.

So hopefully my head will clear and I will be back to my regular schedule next week.

This weekend is the Wine Festival. (If I can't clear my head I might as well enjoy it being fuzzy, no?)

Next weekend is my FORTIETH (how can that be?) High School reunion.
I confess. I graduated when I was only 8 years old.
Again. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Forty years ago.

What you can't see is the white plaster cast running from my toes to the top of my thigh-

well hidden under that gold gown.