A to Z Blogging Challenge: W is for Wee Ball

 W is for Wee Ball

When winter waxes into spring

With warmer days a curious thing

Will take its place in center ring

Wielding a bat, waiting for a turn...

We find a young'un eager to learn:

  What do grownups do when they've time to burn?

When work is done at end of week,

Why grandparents through a fence will peek

While young'un takes a swing not meek

Walking up to stomp home plate,

Where years from now, if allowed by fate,

We'll cheer him on at faster rate

While taking time to contemplate

    

When young'un did play Wee Ball

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for links to other "W's" posted by Challenge hosts and other writers.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: V is for Viticulture in Florida

V is for Viticulture in Florida

When we lived in southern Illinois, one of our favorite weekend activities--besides hiking--was visiting various vineyards and wineries located throughout the region. Viticulture has burgeoned into a vim-and-vinegar enterprise in Illinois over the past few decades. Here's a link to a YouTube video that explains some of the history behind the phenomenon. Quite a lot of the credit for the tremendous growth goes to partnerships established between industry leaders and university researchers. A great deal of public funding in the form of grants and low-interest loans has been made available over the past several decades for entrepreneurs to try their hand at winemaking. You might say it's a vin-vin situation for everyone concerned, including consumers like us.

Once we moved to Florida, I began to miss our weekend visits to the countryside to sample the fruit of the vine. Our first home in Florida, a rental place on Anastasia Island, afforded us a chance to stop by San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine. There we discovered fine wines, yes, but a vineyard with rustic ambiance? No.

Grapes obviously flourish here in Florida. You see wild vines thriving in just about any patch of woods you care to explore. And cultivation is certainly not a problem. There are vast resources available to help someone grow a business. One of the local universities in Tallahassee, FAMU, even has a Center for Viticultural Sciences and Small Fruit, which has been in existence since 1978.

So why is there a veritable vacuum or void of any viable vineyards close to Tallahassee? The consumer base is here, believe me. The student population alone could drain a thousand casks an hour or more if given the chance.

I guess lately the economy has placed public funding in peril or over a barrel. The think tank is in place. It's just missing someone with the vision to make it all happen here like it has in southern Illinois. A certain joie de vin--along with vast amounts of cash--is all that's required. So is anyone out there interested in vineyard investing?

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for links to more "V's" from Challenge hosts and other writers.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: U is for Uxor

A rare uxor recently spotted at Torreya State Park

U is for Uxor

When SAM and I were teenagers, the word "wife," from the Latin uxor, was well on its way to becoming a dirty word. Marriages that lasted more than a few years were considered unusual by most of our peers. And an uxorious man would have been (and probably still is) considered unworthy of the term manly.

What, specifically, is so wrong about a man who--according to Webster's definition--dotes upon or is affectionately submissive towards his wife? Does it make him less of a man to treat her as he would like to be treated? As long as one partner in a marriage doesn't take advantage of that affectionate submission and expect to always be on the receiving end of it, there should be no problem. A marriage that works--most of the time--and lasts may seem mysterious, but it doesn't have to be.

The day these pictures were taken at Torreya back in late February, we celebrated our 31st anniversary. SAM graciously insisted that I should choose how we would spend the day. Even though his foot frequently bothers him (podiatrist says it's a neuroma), he was more than pleased and understanding when I chose a hike through the woods. Many of our first and most memorable dates were spent walking the hills of Southern Illinois. Walking and love go hand in hand for us. He delighted in letting me plan our day together. Guess who delights in giving him foot rubs?



Tupelo honey, the Cadillac of honeys, always stays smooth and never gets grainy

 Maybe love and marriage are supposed to be mysterious. If we knew exactly what makes them tick, then we probably wouldn't be so eager to want them. It's kind of like honey. Just think. It's really not much more than bee spit. But, oh, is it ever sweet and delicious!

I've been thinking a lot about relationships, specifically marriage, in the fiction that I write. Common practice these days has marriage either not making an appearance at all or winding up dead on arrival. Is it wrong to want to portray it in a good light? Maybe a few examples of it actually working despite the odds against it wouldn't be so bad.

What do you think? Does the topic of marriage ever come up in your work, and how is it portrayed?

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for more "U's" posted by Challenge hosts and other writers.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: S is for Springtime and Sale, T is for Trash or Treasure

S is for Springtime and Sale, T is for Trash or Treasure

I know I'm probably breaking the rules for the challenge here, but I'm going to combine S and T because they go together so well for this post. And I've been too darn busy the last couple of days to do one at a time.

Springtime in Florida is ideal for having a garage sale or moving sale or whatever-you-fancy sale. We fancy getting rid of a lot of stuff before we make the final move to Tallahassee. The house we're moving into is about 400 square feet smaller than our home, and there's no garage or barn for extra storage. Besides, what do we need with all of this extraneous stuff? It's not exactly trash to us, but it may well be treasure to someone else.

Microwave, anyone? Don't need it since the new house already has one. Christmas tree stand? Extra one purchased years ago for an extra-large tree when we were younger and even more careless with our money. Cookie tins? They're great for giving away homemade treats! In-line skates? Not mine, Daughter's. My ankles aren't that strong. Orthopedic boot? Now you see why I don't skate. Weak ankles.

SAM thought he could sell some of his surplus rocks, but no one seemed all that interested. Yard sales don't seem to attract serious mineral collectors. There were a few kids, though, who oohed and ahhed over pieces of fluorite, quartz, and pyrite. They got a great deal on some they picked out. SAM is such a sucker for kids who love rocks.

We found a buyer for one of our big-ticket items. The treadmill. Who hasn't had one or wanted one? This one was professional grade and logged several hundred miles for someone with weak ankles. I wish we could take it with us, but there's no room for it at the new place. Not to worry, though. We have plenty of places there to walk outdoors, and no fake hills are necessary.

The only item I wish we could have sold and haven't so far is the roll-top desk. No room for it either. I guess not many people use fancy desks anymore. Laptops and hand-held devices have made them almost obsolete. Today's trash may be tomorrow's treasure. I hope I'm not stealing some popular TV show slogan. If you see this desk netting someone big bucks on Antique Road Show 50 years from now, you can say you saw it here first. Of course by then, TV will probably be obsolete.

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for links to more S's and T's posted by Challenge hosts and other writers.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: R is for Remember (Sign)

R is for Remember (Sign)

Rediscovering remarkable books and remembering the reason for buying them removes some of the pain of moving. I purchased this sign language book some years ago when Daughter and I took a beginners' course in sign language. It was one of those courses offered at a community college. Daughter had just begun her career as a licensed massage therapist, and one of her first clients was a young deaf-mute man. She had learned in school the importance of communicating with a client for determining his comfort level (enough pressure/not enough?) and likes or dislikes ("don't mess up my hair" or "oooh, my feet really need it today"). Intake forms are a good place to start understanding a client's history, but they're just not enough to realize all of his or her preferences, long or short-term. Maybe a client won't include minor details on the form and suddenly thinks of them during the massage session. At any rate, Daughter thought she needed to know sign language, and I wanted to learn right along with her.

I recall wanting to know just as much or more about the history of sign language and the reasons behind the signs as the signs themselves. For instance, what's the purpose of the thumbs in this particular sign for "remember"? As far as I've been able to determine, the thumb (pollex being the Latin word) stands for strength. We would be rendered powerless without our thumbs. The same thing could be said about memories. They help define who we are, where we came from, and why we choose certain paths in life. Remembering should be an integral part of any story. Is it part of yours?

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for links to more "R's" from Challenge hosts and other writers.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Q is for Quadratus Lumborum (the Reading and Writing Muscle)

 Q is for Quadratus Lumborum

If there's anything I've learned from all of the moving we've done over the years, it has to be: Quit expecting the back to do more than its fair share of the work. Lift with the legs. Don't carry more weight than you're capable of lifting without straining those back muscles. If you're like me, those muscles are probably weak anyway.

Take the quadratus lumborum (QL) for example. It connects the pelvis to the spine, adding stability to both regions. Its most important function is to hike the hip or laterally tilt it. I sure gave mine a workout this past weekend. We have steps from the parking area up to the house, and there are more steps leading to the bedrooms upstairs.

Can you guess what most of the heaviest boxes contained? Yes, I'd bet my books could outnumber Imelda Marcos' pairs of shoes. Do you think owning a Kindle would help? Fortunately, for this move, SAM hired a local moving company to do most of the heavy lifting. Now I just have to arrange the contents of the boxes among various bookcases located throughout the new place. That's no small task, I'll have you know. 

The QL has some hefty tasks of its own to accomplish. Besides hiking the hips, when it shortens or contracts it's also helping you bend to one side or the other. It also helps keep that old back straight when you're sitting in front of the computer and typing away or in your easy chair reading a book. And, since part of it is attached to the last rib on each side, it keeps it from going all over the place when you're breathing in or exhaling forcefully, as in huffing and puffing up the stairs.

If I used it more for its primary action, hiking those hips, and did less of those other activities--except maybe breathing--I'd probably have a really buff quadratus lumborum.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting for it to win prizes in one of those bodybuilding contests, I'll keep it nice and supple with some stretching. I found some good ones here (click link).

Please see A to Z Blogging Challenge for links to more "Q's" from Challenge hosts and other writers.