Summer Fun

Yes, it's been a while. In fact, it's been so long since I've made an entry that I was just tickled to find AOL has added a lot of new 'moods' to choose from. Most of the time in the past, I would just skip that part because you were either just happy as a clam or pissed off at the world. Most of the time, I generally fall in the middle of those two, somewhere between 'just happy to be here' and 'madder'n hell'. 

I have had a gentle hint by a couple of people that I've not made an entry lately. In fact, over a month??  How could that be? Well, I gotta tell ya.... I've been on the road again!  Actually, not just once.... not just twice, but three times!

The first trip was to GA to see my friend Susan and her pit bull (who, thank goodness, just loves me to death!), Winder. As I mentioned, Winder is a pit bull who thinks I'm just great. I'll take that. Hey, after all, she is lovable. Did I mention, pit bull?? We had a great time. I almost bought a great rocking chair, but being Memorial Day Weekend, the store was tightly locked. Except for the chairs sitting out in front of the store. But, I gotta tell you, no rocking chair is worth the consequences.

The second trip was to NYC. One of the local schools had a surprise opening for the trip just prior to school being out. I jumped on it, because I will never get another deal like this one. The deposits had been paid, etc. We left out on Monday morning around 5:30 AM (ugh... not a morning person here...) and got there about 16 hours later. Yep, you got it. We didn't fly. Did you know the 'Big Apple' was that far from the foothills of the Appalachians? It doesn't look that far on the map! BTW, Virginia is a huge state to drive through!  OK, enough geography. Back to the story. I like NY better than I thought I would. After all, where I live the biggest store is the Piggly Wiggly and it's not even one of the largest.  We did the usual tourist route and went to see The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. And there's a little side-story to that.  I like to call it: "Bubba Goes to the Big City". Well, all of us pile upon our bus (no, not a school bus!) and arrive at the ferry dock. When you enter, you have to take off your belt, put your purse and pocket 'stuff' in a tub just like at the airports. As many of you might (or might not) know, all 'Bubbas' carry a pocket-knife with them. It's a tradition. My dad always did and so do most of the men around here. Well, Bubba kinda freaks out. The rule in these places is you don't get it back. Period. No debate. Most of the 'bubba's' I know are sentimental about their pocket-knives. You just never know when you need to cut something. Bubba and wife are saying stuff like they didn't know about that, etc. Well, Bubba finally found someone to take his knife and he passed inspection. All was well. 

In addition to SoL and Ellis Island, we saw Ground Zero, the sphere found during clean-up after 9-11. I couldn't help but think about Jimmy, from Stupid Too when we saw all those things. He actually experienced 9-11. I just can't imagine. I did get to see Donald Trump in person, the MET Museum  of Art, Central Park, Top of the Rock, a Yankees game at Yankee Stadium, and Times Square. There was a whole lot of walking and I enjoyed every step.  In fact, I ate all week and lost a couple of pounds. Go figure. We got back home on Saturday morning  around 10:00 AM. Whew! What a whirl-wind trip! It was a great trip!

The next week, I worked at school some. They are adding a new class to ours and I'm getting a much larger room! YIPPEE!! It will be great when it's ready.

Then, last week, I went to Birmingham (AL) for a week-long workshop on Autism. I learned some new stuff and reviewed some old stuff. What can I say?  I was sure glad to get myself home!!  I don't see many more trips this summer, except maybe up to see Cousin and her family. That is always fun, especially when the kids are down from Indiana.

*I was going to load some pictures of my NYC trip, but alas, I am having loading issues. I guess that means a trip up to TN to see my computer specialist, Bobby from high school. Stupid computer.

Tags: NYC, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Donald Trump, 9-11, Ground Zero, Museum of Art, Central Park, Top of the Rock, GA, TN, Indiana, computer speicalist, Bobby.