Wordless Wednesday - Who, What, Where, When

Fun Monday - "What Do We Have To Eat?"

Hi Fun Monday friends,

One of our regular participants, Gawilli of Back in the Day, decided not to enter this week's survey of refrigerators. However, she did write a hilarious post about not participating. Go on over to Back in the Day, and read the post Refrigerator Rights. This is worth your time.

Is a question frequently heard by the parents of teenage boys. This is also what Amy W. of A Family Story is asking this week's Fun Monday participants. Amy wants to see the inside of our refrigerators. Easy enough , right? Not so quick, sweet Amy has instructed us not to clean before taking the pictures. I thought of a way to cheat and not cheat at the same time. Since the fridge needs cleaned, I figured that I could take a before picture and then take pictures as I cleaned the refrigerator. That cleaning impulse passed quickly. So here is my NOT so clean icebox.

Refrigerator magnets adorn both the front and side of the appliance. Most of the magnets hold postcards. We do have one piece of artwork by our lovely granddaughter, who is two.

Inside the freezer, you will see a big box of frozen soft pretzels, frozen chicken breasts, frozen fudge, ice, and a few more items. If you look closely, there are black styrofoam cups that are decorated with pumpkins. I use those cups to hold hot grease. After the grease is frozen, it is easier to dispose of as a solid than as liquid.

On the bottom shelf inside the fridge, you will find some of our beverages, yogurt, and applesauce. The middle shelf holds bread and eggs. Behind the bread, there are some things that need to be thrown out. There is cheese in the meat keeper. Strangely, I hardly ever place any meat in the meat keeper. The top shelf has several things including a bowl of nectarines, some condiments, and some more things to toss out including part of a very large zucchini.
Finally, inside the door, you will find more beverages including wine and several cans of some immunity drink among those plastic bags at the bottom.While writing this, I realize that the fridge really does need cleaned so off I go to clean the refrigerator. Yours is probably already clean so you might like to check out how the other participants keep their food cold. After you are finished, stop by for some pie. We will have coffee and some frozen ready-to-serve (Just Thaw) Banana Creme Pie

As a historical note: Two of the first home refrigerators both appeared in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where, in 1911, General Electric company unveiled a unit invented by a French monk. In 1915 the first "Guardian" refrigerator - a predecessor of the Frigidaire - was assembled in a wash house in a Fort Wayne backyard. Fort Wayne is my home town.

MeMe Rant

I have been tagged by Gawilli of Back in the Day to complete a rant meme. At first, I was not sure what to rant about; then, I thought of way too many things. So here goes. By the way, although I could tell from context clues that Room 101 is not a good place, I did need to consult Wikipedia for a more extensive interpretation. I had forgotten this important detail of George Orwell's novel.

5 people who will be annoyed you tagged them.

• Jen at Snowball's Chance in...
• Jenn in Hollland at Something to Say about Life in the Netherlands
• Margaret at Stargazer
• Theotherbear at Uncaringbear
• Lynne at A New Jersey Girl

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth.

• war
• hate
• violence
• unforgiving people

3 things people do that make you want to shake them violently.

• abusing children
• disregarding the rights of others
• playing music so loud that you can feel the bass vibrations but cannot distinguish a tune

2 things you find yourself moaning about.

• when things break down
• those old e-mail forwards that use guilt to imply that you are either unpatriotic or that you do not love Jesus if you do not send the forward.

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself.
• Hmmm, maybe I am too serious at times, and my answers should have been funny


RULES• Link to the original meme at freelancecynic.com!
• Be as honest as possible so people get to know the real you!
• Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
• Post these rules at the end of every meme.

Wordless Wednesday - My Mycology

Advertisement - Sunshine on My Shoulders

Hello, I am guest posting today at Sunshine's And the Pursuit of Happiness blog. Come over for a visit, and leave a comment. You know the delightful Sunshine. Sunshine makes beautiful shirts at Sunshine Designs. If you have not met Sunshine, you should pop over to her blog and get acquainted. While you are visiting, read today's post, "There is More Than Corn in Indiana" , which is part of a series of travelogue entries.

Fun Monday - July 23

Willowtree of A Dingo's Got My Barbie is the venerable host of this week's Fun Monday challenge. WT is asking the participants, "Tell us about your best friend. Particularly things like: where you first met, how long you've been friends and why you think you are best friends." Or "Who is the TV character that most makes you want to put your foot through the screen (it must be a character, not a person in reality TV). And why."

This may be a difficult task as many people have several friends. I like to think that I have many friends and several of these friends are close. So for my best friend story, I will tell you about my friend for the longest time. I met Becky when she was 4 and 1/2, and I was 5 years old. Remember when those half-years made such a difference. I remember meeting Becky when we playing and riding tricycles at another little friend's house. When Becky did reach her fifth birthday, her mom invited me to Becky's birthday party. As Becky and I grew to adulthood, we attended the same elementary school, Frances Slocum, the same junior high, Lakeside, and the same high school, North Side, and our families worshipped at the same church, Trinity Episcopal. In the picture, Becky is the cute smiling child seated on the chair. I am the child directly to her left, the one with the straight bangs.

As a friend, Becky has always been all those things that you could ask for in a friend. Becky is smart, kind, loyal, and funny. Like all children we had our adventures. In Fort Wayne during the fifties, children as young as eight or nine frequently rode the city buses downtown to see a movie, to go shopping , or to attend church. Onetime, Becky and I decided to walk home from confirmation class instead of riding the bus. Walking apparently was viewed as not safe as our parents were unhappy with our decision to walk through some areas that were not deemed as safe. On this walk as we crossed a rickety old bridge over Spy Run Creek, silly me, I became frightened as the bridge shook and shimmied as vehicles crossed the bridge. Becky encouraged me to keep on going and maybe even held my hand as we crossed. Isn't that what friends do encourage one another. As the years past, Becky was there to encourage me through many other bridge crossings in my life.

Not only has Becky been my dear friend for many years, but her parents seemed to adopt me as another daughter, or maybe I adopted them. Becky's mom like her daughter is kind, conscientious, and supportive. Becky's father was one of the funniest men that I have known. I have fond memories of staying overnight at Becky's house. Her father would regale the two of us with play-acting either as a monster or a as famous movie star of his creation, Barf Beagle. Another important characteristic of a good friend is being able to share good times as well as bad. Becky and I have shared many good times and fortunately only a few moments of sorrow.

Two of those cherished moments of good times were our respective weddings. We even wore the same wedding veil or mantilla, which belonged to a mutual friend. When I married Daddy D in 1966, Becky was a part of our wedding. Becky married in 1970, and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding. Even though Becky has lived in different parts of the country first in Texas and now lives in the state of Washington, we are still in contact with each other after 50 some years of friendship. The black white picture is my wedding. Becky is the lovely bridesamid in the middle on the right. The color picture is a snapshot of Becky' s wedding. The matron of honor is me in pink.

To learn about some other grand friends or hated television characters, visit Willowtree for a list of this week's participants.

Happy Birthday Gwenie - Wherever You Are

Recently, I found a small cache of pictures from various time periods in my life including some photos when I was very young. This photograph is one of my all-time favorites. The photograph itself is a nice composition showing four small girls diligently blowing polyvinyl acetate bubbles. In the picture, each little girl is in a different stage of the process. Marcia, the girl on the far right, is just beginning the bubble blowing. Next, towed-headed Susan has produced a medium sized bubble. Plus, Susan is visible right through the her bubble, which is a nice artistic touch. Little Linda's bubble is smaller. Finally, there I am the dark-haired child on the left with a ginormous bubble.

In addition to being a nice photographic composition, this picture depicts a happy and memorable event. This bubble blowing event took place at a summer birthday party of a neighborhood friend, Gwenie, whose real name is Gwendolyn. The birthday girl is a few years older than me, and her birth date was on July 18th. Every year, Gwenie would have a party and invite a few neighborhood friends. I am happy to have this snapshot glance of such fun and joyful time in my life.

As the years past, Gwenie and I attended different schools. My family moved away from that neighborhood so I lost track of Gwenie, her sister Susan, and their little brother Kim. But every year on July 18th, I remember that this is Gwenie's birthday. Happy Birthday Gwenie wherever you are.