Word for the Day..Bittersweet

Welcome to Marvelous Monday!!!

As the title of this post mentions, the word or theme of this post in bittersweet.

Historically, in Julie Land, bittersweet makes me think of the Good Humor Man and his little white truck. He would come through the neighborhood ringing his bells and stop where there were the most kids. I personally had two favorites. First choice was always the Chocolate Candy Crunch. (A vanilla ice cream bar with a solid massive chocolate center and chocolate chips mixed in the ice cream. This was coated with a chocolate crunch outside). My second choice was the bittersweet chocolate sundae. (A cup of vanilla ice cream with a chocolate layer on top which was of course...bittersweet). So from the age of like 8 to high school, the word bittersweet always triggered in my mind the extra ice cream treat! When reality hit that there was actually an extra meaning other than food, I still could totally relate , because thinking back to the sundae, the chocolate by it self was unpleasant but add the vanilla ice cream and ahhhhh!

There was dance competition this weekend. Jacki is still unable to fully weight bear on her foot and is still on crutches. Joey was great in his dances, best ever, the team rocked overall but it was so sad that my darling daughter had to sit out all her dances..especially her solo. I personally got a little choked up when her usual dances were performed without her. And when I thought I finally got over it all, in the final awards ceremony they were going through the numbers of the dances and you hear "#99..that's a scratch." Well we all know what #99 was! :(

So now I am waiting for the ortho guy to call me back for an appointment and we are trying to work through this to get her ankle stronger!

On that note, wanna see a picture of Jacki's foot?

Fun right!  What a wonderful foot!

Since Jacki is out of commission, I was doing her part of garbage duty today.  At the end on the driveway, I was able to behold the first blooming of my peonies!

We have lived here going on 11 years this year and I had the peonies transplanted 10 years ago.  They were well established plants that I bought from a friend's family.  Finally right now they are beginning to look like what I expect them to.

Though I really did expect them to fill the whole space all the way on the drive way.  I have like 75 plants put in and a bunch do not come up anymore. 

What else is sort of sun is they are all different varieties!  I am going to transplant some to the flower box in front of the house! 

So that is the bittersweet in our house...Julie Land...sadness for dances not performed..happiness for a great competition overall and my blooming peonies! 

I am off to do the mid day running..pick up Jon from school, drop off Joey's lunch, drop off Jacki's lunch and pain meds and pick up our lunch..I hope the hubby is buying!!  :)

Enjoy your day.. all the parts of it!

Terrfic Tuesday!?

Hello to Everyone and good morning!

What an exciting day here in Julie Land!

Yesterday, six days before competition darling Jacki twisted her ankle while carrying out her garbage duties. It is a nasty sprain and the likelihood of her competing this weekend is slim. Poor girl, I had to go out and acquire crutches and everything!

I wanted to share a picture of the kids from Jonathan's fifth birthday this past Saturday. I still cannot quite grasp that he is five. I know that I have mentioned it before, but it is still mind blowing!

So I leave you now with this..

I have lived life in the Highs
I have lived life in the Lows
Somehow, I sort of like it in the middle!

Have a great day!

Martha Graham

Happy Monday Everyone!

Today we will get right to our birthday shout out and that is the late Martha Graham. Today she would have celebrated her 115th birthday.

While many might know her, Martha Graham was a important person in my family's make up; being that we have a hardcore dancer in the family. You see Martha Graham was the one of the dancers that broke away from the traditions and techniques of classic ballet to perform "Contemporary" dance. Dancing that contained emotion and free movement. Dancing that allowed the dancers to make good use on gravity instead of the lightness of ballet.

Martha Graham did not herself develop Modern Dance, she surely had a hand in it's development. She danced well into her later years, was the first dancer to perform at the White house and traveled as an ambassador of goodwill. She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Here is a clip that I found on You Tube. The lead dancer in the long dress with the cape is Martha Graham performing!



As you watch that clip you can even see where hip-hop dancing has grown out of due to dancers like Martha Graham!

So Thank You Ms. Graham for all your contribution to Modern Dance. I know that my daughter sure appreciates the work that you have done!

Have a great day everyone and I will talk with you soon!

So I Have Been...

Lazy about my blog!

My poor blog is like the fish you loved the first week and in spite of all the promises you mentally made to feed it, it is a real struggle to do just that. What happened to my creed?

It has been an interesting week, trying to recover from all the hoopla of the weekend. My DD's competition rocked!!! She is in 6 dances and they took 2 gold ribbons and 4 silver ribbons and the large dance "production" which has all 27 dancers took third place in points overall. We are so proud of her and her hard work!

Nothing else exciting, not working as much as I should be, but this evening I seem to be more inspired so let's see what I can create!

Have a great night!

How Do I Love Thee?

Good Afternoon to All!

I seem to be catching an early case of spring fever. It is 60 outside and the last thing I want to be doing is anything in my house! Such as it is!

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Poet Elizabeth Barett Browning. She wrote many great works including Sonnet 43:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

What beautiful sentiment! Thank you for your contributions Mrs. Barett Browning!

This weekend is a little mixed up, but for good reasons. My daughter is competing at dance. This is a big competition year for her, she is in 6 numbers, that is a ton of costume changes! She seems to thrive on it all!

So I wish to you all a great weekend!