Wanda

I’ve Got It All Right Here

Published on April 24, 2017April 24, 2017 by WandaLeave a comment

When I think back to how it was when I went to school, even high school and college computers were not a required part of our school supplies. How did we do it? Imagine having to write long papers by hand using a pen. Then later using a typewriter with a ribbon that needed to be changed and no memory back up if the dog ate your assignment. How did we make it through?

Well, it seems to me that long before computers and the verbiage it brought to the English language we were using zip files. We would learn lessons and file the info in our installed computers, our brains. We would input so much that there was a worry we would run out of room causing a melt down of the installed hard drive. So, the invention of the zip file actually happened long before computers.

Within our brains are many, many zip files with names attached to them. When we need to recall one thing or another, we simply push the key in our brains to open that particular zip file. And voila, information right at our fingertips.

Today our children have access to computers not only at home but in school. I can remember my two younger children using a computer daily in elementary school and my grandchildren began using them in pre-school. No wonder most of them are teaching us how to use computers and how to fix the problems that we have with them.

Computers are a great advantage for study I won’t deny it, but there is a disadvantage to computers too. I see that the wonderful experience of spending time in a library is in decline. You can access just about any information on just about any subject through the use of computers. What you can’t get is the feel of paper that has helped hundreds of people look up that same interesting fact, or the smell of old books, or the beautiful art that is etched onto the pages. The silent sharing of a table in the stacks as you comb through volumes of written words. The joy of being around so much knowledge.

Truth be told I would rather be without my dishwasher than my computer. I find it makes my life easier in many ways. It connects me to people I may never have had the opportunity to connect with and it gives me an outlet to stretch my abilities.

Salmon

Published on April 24, 2017 by WandaLeave a comment

Color your world challenge: Salmon

pansearedsalmon

One of my favorite meals is pan seared salmon. I fry it up in coconut oil and the skin gets so crispy and the flavor is wonderful. My husband had many seafood allergies and just didn’t like fish too much so I never had much at home. I had to wait until we went out to eat to have my fish or seafood. Now I am enjoying cooking it up right here at home and I have salmon at least twice a week. YUM!

Earth

Published on April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 by Wanda5 Comments

Photo Challenge: Earth

DSCF2966

Family of Canada Geese living on the grounds of the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Harmony

Published on April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 by WandaLeave a comment

Daily Prompt: Harmony
I am at my granddaughter’s dance competition this weekend. There are 17 schools of dance competing here. For the first time in my eight year old granddaugher’s dancing career, she did not take first place for her dance solos. She competed in two.

Firstly she had to be at the Convention Center by 6:30 AM this morning and take the stage at 7:35 AM for her first performance. She did not wake up happy and her allergies are bothering her. Everything is blooming down here. So, she begins her dance and proceeds to do a costume adjustment. Now I have been watching this child dance since she was three and her compete since she was 5 and I have never seen her do this. From the get go she has had an amazing stage presence.

Secondly at 8:00 AM she took the stage for her second solo. The music started and she not only readjusted her costume, but she just stopped and stared at the judges…she had forgotten her moves. She did, however, regain control and completed her dance. The fact that she didn’t run off the stage crying says a lot about how much she loves dancing and how responsible she feels to not only her parents, but to her school and fellow students. I was/am very proud of her.

We had a break at that point so we took Alannah for some breakfast where she proceeded to have a minor meltdown over our meal. In all fairness I may have been the cause of the meltdown. I made the mistake of correcting her during breakfast. Any other day or time she would have listened, then moved on. But today was not that day. Clearly, something is not right with her today. She finally revealed she feels awful with her allergies and she is so tired and she just had a bad, bad morning. She is so disappointed with her performance. How do you get an 8 year old to understand that this happens. Professional dancers who are world famous have bad days. Maybe they don’t attempt to adjust their costumes, but they do forget where they are in dances and what comes next. Alannah seemed to accept those words of wisdom finally. She actually didn’t have much choice as her mom has a strict no whining policy.

Next, we are back at the competition. Alannah is in two group dances. Hip hop and clogging. The girls dance onto the stage and my Alannah is back. She is clogging with great abandon and they are looking good. These girls are dancing as one unit, all together and their moves are sharp. After that performance she has her Hip hop group dance. She’s still got it together, but not like the clogging number. Again off the stage, long face again. Next up- award ceremony.

Alannah earned Gold for her two solos which were tap and jazz. So, although she didn’t win those dances, she took second. That should give you an idea of her talent. She earned second while messing up. She was relieved about the outcome.

Next up lunch. Off we go to Fudruckers.

We get back just in time for the group awards. Her clogging group dance earned Platinum and took 4th over all; and won a special judges award for technique. She was beaming. Unfortunately her hip hop earned her a top 20 overall.

I now sit here in the front of the convention center writing this blog waiting for Alannah’s sixth and final dance of the weekend. It’s her tap group dance. Followed by two more numbers from her studio and then awards. Our next trip out of here will be to the hotel where I will not waste any time getting into my bed.

So, what has this to do with harmony you ask? Well it occurs to me that without harmony with your environment it is difficult to perform your best. To maintain this harmony, you must get adequate sleep, eat well and keep illnesses and allergies in check.

It also occurs to me that harmony with your dance partners is important for success. In music, without a complimentary blend of harmony you are left with just noise. In dance you are left with a collection of ungraceful missteps. With that harmony, you soar with the music and glide across the floor producing a beautiful display of talent and ability.

Dancing Competition Weekend

Published on April 21, 2017 by WandaLeave a comment

Daily Prompt: Spike

I am sitting here in my room at the Breakers Hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after an exhausting day at my granddaughters dance competition. She’s 8 going on 35, but sound asleep on the other side of our suite. We left Wilmington, NC this morning and arrived at the Convention Center in time to watch one of her friends perform her very first solo. Alannah has made it her mission to be at the competition even when she is not performing to support her friends. Alannah explained to me while we were headed down here today that she completely understands Marlie’s need for support because when she (Alannah) competed in her first solo she was also the very first one to dance in that competition too. See what I mean?

Alannah has to be onstage at 7:30 in the morning which she has to be at the Convention Center at 6:30 when the doors open. Have I ever mentioned I am not a morning person? I spent my entire career in nursing working night shift. Needless to say I am not looking forward to this little spike in my circadian rhythm.

I do enjoy watching Alannah compete in dance. She has two solos she is competing in tomorrow and then four group dances she is competing in. She loves dancing and she is at the studio every day during the week but Thursdays. She takes ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, clogging, hip hop and acro. When I was a kid you had three choices, ballet, tap and jazz. I will say that with the addition of more types of dance it has opened the door for more children to participate.

Alannah’s older brother who is 13 takes hip hop too. He doesn’t compete, but he does participate in the recitals through out the year. Andrew has Asperger’s and the dance has done wonders for his motor skills and his social skills.

During one of the breaks late this afternoon, I went outside with my camera to see if I could find some good shots. Alannah was with me and I showed her the way that light can change how a picture looks without changing anything else. I had her move around so that the sun would hit her target at different angles. She was really interested in taking the pictures and told me she didn’t realize how much you can affect the picture by just moving light around. I can see an SLR camera in her future.

That is my dream. To someday have an Nikon SLR camera. I really started getting into photography when in 2000. I have slowly gotten better cameras and believe it or not I have some really beautiful shots from a Kodak point and shoot camera. I love it because it was not too big and I could take it with me anywhere. When it died I was so disappointed. I so wanted to get a good SLR camera then, bu I just couldn’t afford it. After doing a lot of research and finding out that most cameras today only have the digital screen on the back of the camera to see your object I decided to get a Fujifilm. It is a bridge camera. Point and shoot but with lots of options for your own settings. Several good filters pre installed. Wireless transfer of pics to phone, tablet, and a 50x zoom. I have gotten some great shots. I was at a Phillies/Marlins baseball game two seasons ago and I was getting shots of the players swinging and missing the ball at home plate. Got the ball in mid air and the bat moving past it. I couldn’t be more pleased with this camera.

Well it’s after 11PM here on the East Coast and 5:30 will be here before I know it. Goodnight one and all.

Whirling Azaleas

Published on April 20, 2017April 24, 2017 by Wanda1 Comment

Jennifer Nichole Wells’ One Word Photo Challenge

Fry

Published on April 20, 2017 by WandaLeave a comment

Daily Prompt: Fry

I have to say that since I started a blog here at word press I am enjoying the daily prompts and I am actually blogging daily. Now, it’s only been a few days so I wouldn’t get too excited about these results just yet. I think a wait and see approach works best here.

I find today’s word a bit of a bugger. What I know about fry, frying, fried and to fry is all about how it applies to food and temperature. I have read a few submissions on the prompt page for today and am impressed with some of the more abstract applications used but noting seems to stimulate my poor brain.

So my meager offering for today is simply to pull a couple old phrases out of my childhood memory. For instance this one about the temperature of the macadam that the roads in Levittown were made of. “The road is so hot you can fry an egg on it.” That was usually said right before some nice man turned the bolt on the fire hydrant and let the water flood the street so we kids could play and cool off in it. That was so much fun. Gee I haven’t thought about that in years.

Then there were the special dinners run by the firehouses and churches on Friday nights. “Fish Fry all you can eat.” YUM! Now the fish fry’s only happen during Lent. You just can’t beat a piece of fried fish with fries. I can remember my daddy stopping on the way home from work to get that wonderful treat. We had a picnic on the living room floor and ate on paper plates. That was really a treat for us kids.

And who can forget about Fried Green Tomatoes. Not the movie, the food. What a delicacy. We would all crowd around the picnic table out back and just stuff ourselves with them. There were no fences separating back yards in my neighborhood and it was not unusual for an additional little person to appear at your picnic table, or a big person either. It was all for one and one for all back then. And everyone pitched in to clean up.

I guess I know more about fry than I thought…Good memories.

A Little Bit Of Karma

Published on April 19, 2017 by Wanda1 Comment

Daily Prompt: Chuckle

Have you ever had the experience with a teenage daughter who just thinks she knows it all? My oldest daughter, Kelly, who is forty five years old now, could send me right up the wall with her know it all last word attitude. I would completely lose it with her. And then I finally got to the point that I would say to her, I hope you get one just like you.

Now, I want you to understand that Kelly had some wonderful qualities. She was kind, considerate, and thoughtful to all of her friends, but apparently when she turned twelve she declared war on me. It didn’t matter what I said, she had to disagree. We were driving home from Orlando Florida one time. Kelly and her brother and sister were in the back seat of the car. All that child did was complain. “The car is too small, she’s touching me, etc.” We finally stopped for gas and I opened the back door and told her to get out and that she could stay in Virginia. Her poor father was running around the car trying to make peace between us and saying “No one is staying in Virginia.” And the gas station attendant didn’t know if he should call the police to let them know some crazy person was trying to abandon her daughter. Needless to say it got really old really quick. Finally when she turned twenty two I got the wonderful daughter I had had for eleven years back. We have been wonderful friends ever since. So, anyone going through this I want you to know there is hope.

Any way, I had an ace in the hole. I just had to wait until she became a mother. She is now the mother of three beautiful children. Two boys and one girl. Uh huh, you guess it. My granddaughter is just like her mother. Oh sweet revenge. 🙂 When we are all together and I hear Alannah giving her mom some attitude, I just sit back and chuckle to myself. I can see steam coming from Kelly’s ears and I can feel the frustration. And then she realizes I am watching her. She says to me, “I know ma, I got one just like me!” I look at her and smile slowly as I tell her that it is my reward for not killing her. That is when she turns to her daughter and says “Thank you Alannah for turning me into Grami!”

Ya gotta love Karma.