Giraffe Carafe

Giggles in the air.  Toddlers chasing.  Adults telling silly stories.  Diners diving for desserts saving fried chicken for later.  

We were sitting at the long white dinner table, relatives and visitors on all sides.  I told the incident to brother, sister-in-law, their granddaughter, my friend, and whoever else was sitting nearby.

Granddaughter was laughingly involved with her young aunt, being silly with sparkling eyes and not really paying too much attention to me.

"I broke my carafe!"

Ahs of sympathies and surprise.

"All because the bell sleeve of this red blouse caught the handle!"  I raised my arm to show the sleeve off, "It fell to the floor before I could catch it."

"It was awful, glass went everywhere, it shattered into a million pieces!"

Their granddaughter said, "Giraffe?  You broke a giraffe?"  

I laughed, "No, I broke a carafe."

She looked blank.  She'd never heard the word.  Her grandmother had to explain it was a clear pot to a drip coffee maker.  Then granddaughter turned to her playmate, whispering, laughing.

"Yah," I said, "I broke a giraffe.  The horns went that way.  The legs shot off across the floor in the opposite direction.  Who knows where the head went but the spots just exploded and filled the air like stars from a sparkler!"  and I did the wiggling fingers in the air mime.

She laughed, her eyes got big with an idea, "It's purple tongue reached up and slapped itself in the eyes!"  

Yes!  Way to embellish!  A joke I could look up to!

Dear Hubby Passed Away A Week Ago Saturday

 Turn on the lights!

And shut that door!

There are no words, only screams.  

Get out of bed, get out of my head.  

Shut that door, HIS closet door of reminders.  

"Turn on lights," years earlier HIS mother had said.

Baby steps.  

Morning routine.  New.

I haven't changed the sheets in weeks.  For today....I make the bed.

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow I change the sheets.  Baby steps.

I have no reason to live, but I do.

So I brush the teeth and brush the hair

and put on clothes though no-one'll care.  Baby steps.

All are gone - back to their own homes

                     - back to work

                     - back to their families

                    - back to full lives and others smiles

I ponder what to wear all the while

Though no-one's here to care.

A maid is what I need.

A maid to do my work,

Cause something's heavy in my chest that I need to address.

Something's heavy in my head.  A stone is my heart.

The thoughts and cries of disbelief want a voice, want heard, want gutterly uttered.

Sensible me, self-preserving me, wants no part!

If I had a maid 

to do my work

I could sit and fight and wrestle -- those demons address.

Baby steps.

Morning routine.  New.

So, I swish and swipe and wonder at the necessity of it all.

As I dress another door is shut.  Not HIS, mine.  

Block the reminders, shut the door.

Save the sanity, 

Swallow the screams

Dress in your go-to-town no-one-cares blue jeans.

Check the laundry and fold the clothes. the blue bath towel is HIS, so threadbare.

Threadbare.

I'm threadbare.

HE was threadbare.

The towel can be replaced.

That's all.

Noelle Notes Sequel

NOELLE

Unusually, Rusty, my oldest, stopped by with only one of his kids, Noelle.  Usually all of the grandkids vie to ride to GrammyPam's.  Noelle's 4 years old and quite articulate.  She be-bopped into the open garage door and proceeded to indulge in play with the red basket of rubber duckies.  

She's learned from Miss Lilly, her cousin, to pretend they are Halloween ducks because two of them wear jack o-lantern cut-out pumpkins, one is a doctor, one's a pilot, one's a pirate, one's a red striped sailor, and another is a baby wearing a diaper, never-mind the green, and pink ducks.

Today she pulled out a larger one that was purple with wings and announced, "Fairy Duck!"

Paying more attention to my task at hand than listening to her, I asked, "Fairy Duck?"

Noelle raised it high in the sky and squealed, "SEE?"

I looked over while she continued talking, using such big words for a toddler, "It's fake, yah, it's a costume."  

***

Like I said,Rusty came over with Noelle.  While he helped John on his truck, Noelle and I played rubber duckies, then we gathered firewood.  She?  ONE PIECE!  Then, it was chase the cat!  

Both...gone!

Isn't that the way?

***

Noelle, 4 years old, had been playing with a Barbie doll.  She'd asked me earlier, "Could you brush her hair softly?"  

Such cute phrasing.

So, the one extra was Barbie.  I had to take her out of Noelle's hands to buckle Noelle in, but she was totally upset, so I buckled Barbie in, too, in the empty spot.  Noelle had to make sure.

"Did you buckle her?"  She twisted in her booster seat to make sure. She made a decree.

"Her good to go."

***

Then, it was time for Noelle to go.  Before hugs and kisses goodbye, she quizzed me.

"Remember that night, GrammyPam, when we had  a sweep over?"

"And we did a puzzle on your phone -- the puppy?  Can we do a puzzle?"

In order to get her to go to sleep during that particular sleepover, I had claimed my phone was dying.  She evidently remembered because she continued asking questions.

"Did, is, your phone charged?"

And, I kid you not, she clasped her hands under her chin, tilted her head, and blinked her eyes, could Shirley Temple have looked so cute.

"Can we have a sweep over?"

MISS Lilly and Master Jacob at Play

You wouldn't believe the things they played on Friday.  For one thing, Lilly buried the rubber snakes in the dirt, then filled the tub with water and gave them a bath.  For another she took some of the scrap wood and pretended to build a fire complete with chairs and wagons circling.  Jacob left in the family truck with two suckers, one in each cheek, crossing in front of his lips!

FRIDAY

Jacob addressed me after I unpinned the ramps of his daddy's red trailer so I could back the New Holland skid steer off.  He's short, he's 4 y.o., and he's very articulate.

"You can't do that.  Daddy will be very mad."

Surprised, I was, to see him there, 'cause I'd made sure there was no kid around to get hurt.  Those ramps are steel and heavy and go "thud" when let down.  Anyone, including my toes, could come away seriously hurting, but in this case junior is afraid of daddy, ROFL.

What's funny was his stance.  And, it's difficult to describe.  He was slightly bent at the waist, looking a bit askance and away (not eye to eye) with his hand up, palm up.  He looks like a little preacher!

"You can't do that.  Daddy will be very mad."  And he emphasizes with shakes of that hand.

"See, daddy will be mad."

"Then you will be mad at him!"

THEN ON SUNDAY

There had been an excruciating outcry from down the hall, it was a girl's.  John went down the hall, then he came back.  He'd checked, resolved, and reported.

"The situation is under control.  Lilly had found a spider and pandemonium ensued!"

***

Jacob is the same little corker that was turning the pages of a pop-up book.  And when the orange and brown spotted snake popped out towards his belly, for all the churchhouse to hear, he pretended to be scared and loudly exclaimed, "Ahhh, a 'nake!  He bite me!"

***

THEN YESTERDAY

10 of us at McAlisters Deli spread over 3 tables, food arriving intermittently.  John, my dear hubby, with his back to us, bowed to say grace.  I wasn't sure who was, or if they were done, since I can't hear all that well in all that noise, so I sneaked a peak.  

Little 4 year old Jacob had his right hand in the air at his ear like holy hands raised to heaven, one eye closed, the other peeking.  With head leaning forward, lips pursed in an o shape, he dipped his head to his red straw and surreptitiously slurped a sip! 

Noelle Notes

NOELLE

Noelle was 3, this was a while back, when I had put a hair clip in her hair.  She'd been bent over the table trying to use water colors on her paper.  But she didn't appreciate my attempts to help her by pulling her hair back so she could see unhampered.

"Get it out!" 

Ew, that hurt!  Quick as a wink, she reached up and ripped the hair clip loose! 

***

Noelle, here on another Sunday, was drawing and coloring and cutting with all the other grandkids.  She was 3 y.o. and so proud of herself, showing me this 8 x 10 blank piece of paper with 1 inch unequal snips all around the other edges.  Full of grins, she raised it to me like an award winning piece of art!

"I mā_ _ spider for you with own scissors."  

***

And now Noelle spent the night.  She's 4, she's potty trained, she's getting her wish answered, spend the night at GrammyPam's.  This is her first time ever.  It went well at first, but as the minutes ticked by she grew increasingly anxious.  So, I laid next to her, me on top the blanket, her tucked under the covers.  She knew that Alayna, her sister, was sleeping in the twin bed next to her, she knew the master bedroom was upstairs; the house is a story and a half.

"I feel like wike upstairs is up on the woof on top of us."

"Can I go wup dare?"

I told her, "No, you can go to sleep here, with Alayna."

She stated facts she didn't like, "The light's on but it's pretty much dark."

Here I should tell you we (me and grandkids) play a hide and seek game they call Mean Grandma because if they don't find me, I reach out to gently touch them.  Oh, the startled squeals!   It's been a favorite ever since.

After a reassuring phone call to her daddy she fell asleep.  But first she had to bare her heart to him,  "I want my fam-ly but I want to play mean grandma in the morning."  Then she rolled her face into the pillow and cried.  

Of course, the next morning I hid in a pile of covers and when they walked by, I reached out a sneaky hand to grab a sweet treat!

The Giants of Fall Break

                

Dear hubby is off work since he's a bus driver, so during his fall break we took some photos of giant figures or statues.  Here's just a few in neighboring cities and any information I could glean online concerning them.  Some are very interesting.  Enjoy!

   

No. 1

Anderson, Indiana

The Walking Man Project

at Allred's Collision Center where we spied this collection off to the right.  We had hit the road looking for 15 in. tires and possibly a new mattress.  

The human sculptures, part of the Walking Man Project making its way through Anderson, Indiana, is an art initiative by artists Rinker and Blazer.  The design of a person on-the-go was chosen as "a symbol of a progressive, forward-moving city".   27 have been built so far and all have sponsors.  

The giraffe and dinosaur are there, too, where you can find dummies inside buried cars.

No. 2 

Anderson, Indiana

Landess Farmer's Market

at Alex Pike Park beside Killbuck Creek 

is a roadside vegetable stand; we stopped on our way home.  So many apples from which to choose!  And all were delicious.  

We'd been to Arby's and were ready for NON-fast food.  That afternoon we had a nice meal with sis who stopped in to give us some of her garden-fresh tomatoes, and a large container of cherry tomatoes.  Dear hubby fixed us all spaghetti for supper and we topped it off with crispy sweet apples and hot tea.

No. 3

South Indianapolis

Superhero Window Man

at Window Man, Inc. we passed on the way to spend some time with my 88 year old cousin on the south side of Indianapolis.  Amazingly, she lives alone and is able to still care for herself and her home.  Her living room walls are intriguingly covered with ornate and delicate mirrors.  We went from there to Pendleton to check out Ian's roof leak; a long day.

Window Man wears blue full body tights emblazoned with a window, and sits with his black boots dangling off the roof of a window installation company.  Window Man, Inc. was founded in 1995 by Rance Klieber Sr., as a family business. Over 25 years ago, the family started providing window replacement services.

No. 4

Fortville, In

The Pink Elephant

at Elite Beverage was difficult to get to because of all the road construction, barricades and detour signs!  Finally, we parked at a No Outlet, walked past DQ which looks like the construction is putting it out of business, and around some cars to finally get to this pink giant protecting his eyes while drinking a martini.  

We'd been to Clint & Jessica's to let out their 12 chickens while they were camping, then we went to Kent Machine to see Rusty.

This elephant has a wardrobe of four hats – one each for Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day and the Fourth of July.  In 1973, Ray Cox said the Pink Elephant was stolen as a senior prank by a Mt. Vernon High School senior. 

“It was found at I-69 and State Road 13, because where can you hide a pink elephant? You can’t hide it. What are you going to do with it after you steal it?” Cox said.

No. 5

Orestes, Indiana 

Sun Rising 

at World's Largest Ball of Paint Roadside Attraction is where you can buy one of these yard decorations  At the home of the world's largest ball of paint, the creator makes holiday wooden signs for sale, too. For the past several years he's made smiling suns.

The local artist, Michael Carmichael, started making them during the pandemic to try to spread some joy. They’re purely a brighten your day lawn art.  One online comment was "The guy is selling them from his yard. I know it's just kitschy lawn art."

They are also sold at Sweet Water Pump Flea Market in Alexandria, Indiana.

Included could've been some other giant figurines - -humongous skeletons, zombies and dragons, too!  People love to use their yards to sport gigantic fun!  And we sure enjoyed catching sight of them on our fall break's daily run.

Elevator Humor

It was a blog by Andrew Saladino that caught my eye while scrounging around the internet looking for jokes.  One needs levity after listing the day's chores.

                            The blog was titled  Hilarious To Do List.

                      #4 read “Go into a crowded elevator and say, 

                      “I bet you’re all wondering why I gathered you 

                      here,” with a straight face.”

So funny.  And then I remembered the time we spent in Black Bear Inn in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on the third floor, when I was trying out some humor.  Darling Hubby was spending hours in bed feeling sick with headaches, so frequently I was on my own.  

There were two elevators, one was “out of order”.  It wasn’t an overly busy hotel but the inoperable elevator caused just a bit of congestion.  

One time, alone on the inside of the elevator, the doors shuffled open wide, I looked at the little group of men and women soberly waiting there, then watched their faces crack into smiles and chuckles.  In a paradox I faked reaching for the red shut door button and raised my volume to announce, “Sorry, this elevator is full."

Another time hubby and son were with me.  The doors opened.  There stood workers; big tall muscular construction male workers.  They carried tools, wore grubby clothes, and their faces said they were there to do a job.   One man held a battery operated drill, another wore a tool belt, and the closest one to me had a hammer tucked in his armpit.

When the doors slid apart, I held up my hands in front of me, palms out, and let loose with, “It’s all right!  We’re getting off.  Honestly, you don’t need that hammer!”

Forget elevator music, let's have some elevator humor, tell a joke, get a laugh, lighten a dreary mood, after all, that's why I gathered you here, LOL.  BTW,  "I hope you're up lifting, because I'm coming down with something."