It's Raining Pictures!

Question: where is one place in your house that you don't want to be when you hear a loud crash?

Answer: The shower. With conditioner on your hair.

So began my morning today. There I am, happily conditioning away, when out of nowhere comes a loud, prolonged crash. Loud enough and close enough that I thought my wall cabinet in the bathroom had taken a header. I cautiously opened the shower curtain and peered around my teeny, tiny bathroom. Nothing on the floor, and the cabinet was still in it's rightful place on the wall. Hmm....

I stepped out of the shower and opened the bathroom door. There, in the hallway, are two pictures that were hanging on the hallway wall. They are surrounded by seashells. The picture that had been hung the highest is a photo of The Weather Girls, formerly known as Two Tons of Fun. This photo is addressed to me and is autographed by Martha and Azora, the sisters who make up the singing duo who had a hit back in the day called "It's Raining Men." That is why I framed and hung it. Below that hung a photo of my father in the trombone section of a dance band back in the 50s. Peering up to the spots where they used to hang, I surmised what must have happened: Two Tons of Fun suddenly became too heavy for the hook. The hook let go, sending Martha and Azora sliding down to my dad. With my dad in tow, they made a detour to check out my basket of seashells that had been perched on a table directly below them, took the shells along for a ride, and then managed to come to some sort of gentle landing on the hardwood floor. Yeah, I said "gentle" because BOTH pieces of glass from the pictures were completely IN TACT. How weird (and cool) is that? I mean, usually falling glass meeting hardwood floor equals many shards of perile for bare feet! But it didn't happen in this case. Perhaps it was the benefit of the cushiony flesh provided by the singing sisters? Who knows.

Geese as Pedestrians

The other day, I was about 6th in a line of cars waiting out a red light to make a right turn onto a very busy thoroughfare. As I neared the intersection, I noticed a pair of Canadian geese standing SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of this intersection. I observed their behavior and couldn't help making a comparison to that of human pedestrians, impatiently waiting to cross a street. The geese shuffled from side to side, occasionally turned and took a few steps in the opposite direction, and turned and stepped again in the direction they wanted to go. Then it hit me: WHY??? What would possess a creature with the ability to fly to decide to put it's little avian life on the line by attempting to traverse such a busy channel of traffic on it's little webbed feet when all it needed to do is lift its wings and FLY THE HELL OVER IT?! Could this kind of behavior have been the inspiration behind the phrase "bird brain?"

Another Loss

On May 5, my uncle Bob passed away. He was my last remaining uncle. He was also my favorite. I remember him as upbeat, personable and funny. Oh--and musical, too! He used to play drums. My mom (his sister) and my grandmother (Nana -- his mother) told me stories of his compulsion to "drum" on any surface, any time when he was growing up. Nana used to admonish him for occasionally breaking her dishes with this drumming habit! He was also a whistler. Residents of the small town of Bedford, PA (where he lived his entire life) always knew when Bob was in the vicinity: they'd hear him cheerfully whistling as he walked. When Bob was a little boy, he met a cute little girl named Kay. They were sweet on eachother, and Kay used to make Bob mud pies. They stayed sweet on eachother all through school. They got married after graduating. They were together until Bob's passing. I think that's wonderful, don't you? I know that Kay is struggling with this huge loss of her one and only true love. I and the rest of the family intend to do whatever we can to see her through all of this.

My mom always referred to Bob as her "baby brother." But Bob wasn't technically the youngest sibling. There was Johnny, who died as a toddler. Now, all the siblings have passed on. I take pleasure and comfort in knowing that my mom is reuinted with Bob and that he is reunited with all his brothers, sisters, and his mother whom he loved so much.