First, I would like to convey my heartfelt prayers and deepest sympathy to the Brost family. They lost a remarkable family member this past week. She was one of those people who lit up the lives around her, laughed infectiously, and cherished those who laughed with her.
I’m posting a rerun of the Mesa, AZ gathering that was held in February of last year. It has been cancelled for this year and I was recalling how much fun it was to see all of the retirees from Jones County (SD) that were there the two times I have been able to attend. A great time was had by all.
They don’t have a parade at the AZ reunion. I was going to wear this wonderful cape this year. Do you think that could be why they aren’t going to have it?
Have you heard? Today marks the day! Seventy years ago, Queen Elizabeth was coronated. I was thirty-seven days old. I’m seventy, now, which means I’m platinum, right? It sort of snuck up on me. I sure hope the Queen isn’t too upset that I forgot. We have gotten pretty close over the years.
Considering the Queen has twenty-five years on me, it doesn’t seem so silly, now that Lav and I rode on the back of a red convertible in the 2016 All School Reunion. She was dressed as HRH and I was dressed as my eight-year-old self, which signified my first experience as a Queen. (See picture #9.) At the time Lav and I were only in our sixties. If we’re invited back, we’ll be Platinum’s. I like the sound of that. We’ll continue to prepare and wait for the phone to ring. If Queen E decides to hitch a ride across the pond with Airy and Windy, she can squeeze in-between us. Or maybe she can drive the parade car. (See picture #6.)
The Queen is truly the most amazing woman. She is modest, yet elegant. She takes her job seriously and she loves dogs… well corgis, anyway. She is smart and hard working and had a long, and successful marriage to Prince Philip. She has had to put up with the likes of Prince Charles and Cam. She has even lobbied for Cam to be named Queen Cohort, or Concert, or something like that when Charles becomes King.
The sovereign line of Succession
1. The Prince of Wales
2. The Duke of Cambridge
3. Prince George of Cambridge
4. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
5. Prince Louis of Cambridge
6. The Duke of Sussex
7. Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
8. Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor
9. The Duke of York
10. Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
11. Miss Sienna Mapelli Mozzi
12. Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Jack Brooksbank
13. Master August Brooksbank
14. The Earl of Wessex
15. Viscount Severn
16. The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor
17. The Princess Royal
18. Mr. Peter Phillips
19. Miss Savannah Phillips
20. Miss Isla Phillips
21. Mrs. Michael Tindall
22. Miss Mia Tindall
23. Miss Lena Tindall
24. Master Lucas Tindall
You can stop looking. My name is not among them.
A few oldies but goodies…
Filler up Mr. Phillips 66. I’m going Coach RVing in MurdoI’d rather fist bumpLook, I’m wearing orange and black! What do you mean I need Blue?Put on your Easter Basket
I have lost touch with more than one friend over the years, but I can’t believe I didn’t stay in touch with Barb. She was a fellow employee of what was then The Wyoming National Bank of Gillette. We were a two person real estate department and we had it down. I took the applications, Barb processed them, and I closed them. We both packaged them up and sent them off to the investor. It was an intense job, but we managed to infuse some fun into it. The only rule handed down by the underwriter at the corporate office and the bank president was to make sure an investor would buy them. “We don’t want any of these in our own portfolio. Sell them ALL,” they said.
Barb and I worked hard, so we felt we deserved a long lunch. We took our sweet time every day when we went off to a restaurant that had the best salad bar you could ever imagine. We piled our plates high with all kinds of yummy pasta and other types of high calorie fare referred to as salad because it’s cold and doesn’t contain bread like a sandwich does. After we cleaned our plates, we went on to another small café across from the bank and had a piece of the best cheesecake you ever put into your mouth. Someone once suggested that the only two people in the real estate department shouldn’t take an hour and a half lunch at the same time. We ignored the comment and nothing more was said. Our jobs were foreign to everyone else and they weren’t interested in finding out exactly what we did.
Barb at our wedding
Barbara was my maid of honor when Kip and I got married. As you all know, when we said our I do’s more than 40 years ago, we combined our families and ended up with 4 kids and 3 dogs. When Barb made her toast, all she said was, “Well my friend, your life is going to be one crisis after another.” Little did she know how right her remarks were. I thrive on crisis… Excuse me I just sneezed which made me recall that anytime Barb sneezed she said, “GOD BLESS ME,” before anyone else could.
When I got married, I moved to Casper and Barb and her family eventually moved back to Arizona where they had lived prior to coming to Wyoming for Jerry’s job. Anyway, Barbara and I were soulmates and I really regret letting so much time pass between getting in touch. I found out through Facebook that she died of cancer about a year and a half ago. What happened was, when Kip and I were driving back home from California, Barbs name came up. She was one of those who was on Facebook but very rarely looked at what others posted and hardly ever posted herself. I decided to look at her page that day and her friend had written about letting balloons go in honor of Barb’s birthday. (Her birthday was the same day as Kip’s.)
It’s hard to know what to do with your feelings when you get news of a long ago friend’s passing. I looked to the sky where those balloons must have floated upward and said a little prayer and then I told Barbara about all of the current crisis in my life.
A miss is a miss in the scheme of things
I feel the loss and the sadness it brings
Even though so many years have passed
Since I saw your smile and heard your laugh.
You are in my heart, so when I’ve shed some tears
I’ll thank you for staying there all of these years.
A miss is a miss in the scheme of things
But with you in my heart, joy springs.
Barbara’s friends put the words below on her Facebook page
Dear Barb, Today we celebrate your birthday. I know you’ll be hanging out with us in spirit. We will release balloons over the lake, play games and do all the things we used to do with you. We love you and miss you so much but we all feel you being in such a peaceful place.
I put a blog post on yesterday that was also supposed to be on the podcast. It didn’t go on either correctly. I’m also using a different computer. I have revamped the post and learned a lot in the process. I apologize for the confusion. I will put “I’m Drinking from my Saucer” on tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s have tea with the Queen.
Just for fun…..
To live a little longer you must drink a lot of tea.
That’s why Queen Elizabeth enjoys longevity.
There was a study done, of the clinical kind of course
They said its accurate, but we can’t confirm the source.
So fire up the kettle and let your steeper steep.
Drink tea when you’re awake and also while you sleep.
The study says if twice a day you drink a whole carafe,
Your time of living will increase by one year and a half.
So flex your little pinky and pass the sugar bowl,
And add a little cream if a long life is your goal.
You must nibble on a biscuit and use a silver tray.
Remember English High Tea is more than a cliche.
(Ordering in? We’ll have burgers and fries.)
It’s of critical importance that you use the finest tea.
I’ve got so much to learn and it’s really stressing me.
This all sounds quite expensive. I’ll keep that in mind.
I’m pretty old already, so I must be way behind.
I now know all I need, to make a good decision.
I’ll do what is suggested with just one slight revision.
If you see me with the Queen and really look close up,
You’ll see a happy short-timer with coffee in her cup. Continue reading →
Narrator: The story takes place in a small fictitious town which is home to around 444 people. The town sits in a small, fictitious state with a population of around 895,376, which doesn’t include dogs, cats, or those pesky goldfish the little kids beg their mothers to buy. Little do the local yokels know they are about to have a visit from a few fictitious ladies who come from a small, fake lake town that sits in the great state of Texas.
Today’s story takes place in a small café, in small fictitious uptown, where several people have gathered in anticipation of the upcoming all school reunion. I see a table near the back where two striking women and a handsome man are sitting. Let’s listen in on their conversation.
This was picture was taken before several people got bored and left the table. One came all the way from Mexico…
Striking woman 1: Listen! They’re playing the school song. I always thought Auld Lang Syne was a strange pick by the student body. Let old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind. It has a jaded ring to it. I voted for, Tie an orange ribbon around our only tree.
Handsome man: That’s not the school song. It’s the theme for the reunion. I don’t think they like us to come during tourist season, but there is no alternative. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. I wasn’t able to attend the last reunion. Were you both here?
Striking woman 2: I never miss one. The reunions are what I live for. What year did you graduate?
Handsome man: The same year as you did. Don’t you recognize me? Say…did you ever get married, have kids, get a job?
Just then, the band members began to enter the café. The music came to a crescendo and Striking woman 2 was able to give her allusive answer and make for a hasty retreat. She said, “If you see me getting smaller it means I’m leaving.” (Not exactly original as it’s an old Waylon Jennings song. He sang it with Willie years ago.) She did look smaller as she ran off into the distance, though.
Striking woman 1: What got into her?
Handsome man: That lady is not who she wants everyone to think she is. Think hypocrisy and duplicity. By the end of the weekend, everyone is going to know her little secret.
Striking woman 1: Wow…that’s harsh. Do you mean she’s not really Striking woman 2?
Handsome man: These aren’t our real names. I mean skit names. The fool writing this just hasn’t named us yet. Say…Would you mind paying for my coffee and giving Waitress 1 a nice tip? I’m supposed to run into someone in a dark alley and I’m running late.
Narrator:I’ll give everyone a name as soon as they all get here. Handsome man might not like his too much. I’ll have the gals from Texas and the drifters from other parts of the fictitious small state to identify. By the time this epic skit has ended, I might even have a sign outside of town with my name on it…
I’ve given a lot of thought these past few months about what I want to do with my Murdo Girl blog and my MG podcast in 2022. So far, nothing profound has come to mind. I can’t do video on the podcast, but I can on the blog. I was thinking of doing some joint posts with friends. …maybe some interviews or time spent just chatting. How about a skit? That sounds like fun to me. Whatever we do, it has to be light and fun. There is too much heaviness in the world, so I want to stay clear of heavy subjects. There are plenty of other places you can to go for that.
I felt bad when I heard the singer, Meat Loaf, died last week. I have a memory of listening to his music. When my youngest son was seven months old, and my oldest was 5 yrs, circumstances intervened and I had to go back to work. I found a job working in an optometrist’s office. They had the radio on all of the time. Meat Loaf was really popular, so the radio station played him many times during the day. (I’ll put my favorite Meat Loaf song at the end of the blog.)
I hated my job which consisted of scheduling appointments and completing forms, but mostly, I hated leaving my kids. I cried every time a mom came in with her little ones. I wanted to be like that mom. I wanted to stay at home. Erma Bombeck wrote about what she called, the strange phenomenon. She thought it hard to understand that people would go through all they do to bring children into the world and then pay someone else a couple of bucks an hour to take care of them. Of course, that’s an oversimplification of most people’s situation, but it was always difficult for me, and I worked the whole time the kids were growing up. Many moms can do it and handle both very well. I still feel guilty and my boys are 44 and 49. All four of our kids work full time and have raised or are raising great kids. It was me who missed out on a lot of those little things.
That’s my Meat Loaf memory…
I’m going to have to go to bed soon because we’re going to church tomorrow and it would be rude to fall asleep. I always stay up pretty late and get up early, anyway, but tonight I’m staying up extra late to eat. Kip and I are going on one of those diet plans where they provide the food… for a price, of course. We’ll have everything we need by Monday. At this moment, I’m eating one or two of the four bear claws that Gus sent to us from the Ontario Bakery, He stood in line for 45 minutes and it cost $9.45, but it was worth it. The one I’m eating right now is delicious. Thank God they got here before Monday…
This delightful scene was photographed by Nancy Authier while taking a walk along the river near Pierre, South Dakota. She thought it needed a story to go with it. Thank you Nancy. It was fun…
We finished up our great visit and eating frenzy with our friends in Rockport on Wednesday and headed for Lake Livingston. It was a 259-mile trip which is a big driving day for us.
Cute pic of Molly and Cary…the BBQ/Coffee House proved to be a winner!
Lake Livingston is a favorite place of ours, and we can easily make the 150-mile trip from there to here. We planned to stay through the weekend, and Friday was a gorgeous day. We woke up to freezing temperatures and high winds on Saturday, so we decided to head for home. I think Kip wanted to watch the Cowboys lose while enjoying the comforts of home.
We have lots of unpacking to do and all kinds of catching up, but we’ll have plenty of time for that. After 2 1/2 months on the road, SeeYa could use a break. She didn’t give us a minute’s trouble, and she just turned 20. The old girl has enabled us to see friends and family and oh so many new places. Not to mention all that good food.
Thanks for sharing the trip with us….it was quite an adventure.
Those 70ish Girls 