What's your favorite Season

Week 4 - Favorite Season

Growing up in Phoenix there are basically 2 seasons, warm and hot.  On a rare occasion we might have had frost, but we never had to worry about ice or snow.  The ranch (located on the back side of South Mountain) was only a mile away from our house, but it was at a slightly higher elevation.  Occasionally they would have snowflakes, but never enough snow to stick.  Once when I was in grade school we woke up one morning and didn't have water - the pipes had frozen. Dad went out to the well and built a fire to get the water flowing again.  

Mom and Dad would talk about the year it snowed in Phoenix - it was about 1937. When I got interested in Family history, I started collecting old family photos.  And sure enough, there were a bunch of photos of Dad's family playing in the snow.

So until I was stationed at Ft. Meade, Maryland, I had never experienced 4 seasons.  I arrived in Ft. Meade in September 1974. Within a few months Maryland had the most spectacular fall color that I have ever experienced.  The colors were spectacular - lots of gorgeous red and orange leaves. One weekend Bruce and I went out and took a bunch of pictures - unfortunately I don't have any of them.  

Then came winter; the first snow fell in the early morning hours of December 19th.  Bruce and I had made arrangements to get married at the court house in Annapolis and I was worried that the dusting of snow might prevent the "big" event.  The snow didn't stick and neither did the marriage.

One Saturday later that same winter, I went down to get the mail and got locked out of our apartment. I was in bare feet and Bruce was at work. It was in the days before cell phones which probably wouldn't matter since I hardly ever carry my cell phone.  So I knocked on one of my neighbor's doors who I hadn't previously met.  He let me in to wait in the warmth for Bruce's return.  Needless to say, I'm not fond of winter.

The two winters I spent in Maryland were warm. Although we had a few days of snow, we never needed snow tires or chains.  The winter after my discharge was quite cold; Washington DC had several feet of snow.  I heard they were ice skating on the mall. I'm not sorry to have missed it.

Finally Spring made her appearance. The trees budded out and the tulips and daffodils bloomed.  In Arizona, it is too hot for tulips - if you are lucky you might get daffodils or Dutch iris to bloom. But I love tulips with their bright colored petals. This is the only place I lived that the tulips would grow. Then the snowball bush bloomed. I had never seen a bush so covered with huge blossoms.  They made quite an impression on me.  If I didn't have to deal with the cold, I could love a brisk spring day.

Ft. Meade summers are not worth remembering. Coming from the West, I was used to blue, blue skies. In Maryland, it seemed like the sky was always gray. The only good thing about the summer in Fort Meade was the Fourth of July fireworks celebration.  We went to the fireworks on base during the summer of 75.  When the summer of 76 came, it was the bi-centennial so we decided to go to the fireworks down on the mall in DC.  At four pm the line for the bathrooms was about 30 minutes.  The line for food and drinks were ridiculous.  We finally decided to go home and watch the celebration on the TV.  We heard later that many of the attendees were stuck in the DC traffic until the wee hours of the morning.  I'm not sure whether I'm sorry to have missed the celebration or glad I wasn't stuck in the traffic for hours.

Now that I live in Ocala, spring is my favorite season.  When I walk Foxy about the neighborhood, I look forward to seeing the signs of spring.  The first sign is the Saucer Magnolia tree with its pink tulip-like blooms.  Other early bloomers are the dogwood trees with their white blossoms, and the red bud trees. One of my neighbors has a peach tree in her yard that sports pale pink blossoms.  Soon honeysuckle and jasmine blossoms perfume the air. And let's not forget the fragrant orange blossoms (although in Ocala they are mostly grapefruit trees).  

In my yard the earliest bloomers are the Camellia bushes - we several varieties with white, red and pink flowers. Next come the azalea - we have a ton of azaleas which bloom in shades of white, red, coral, and fuchsias. The red ruffles are rebloomers - although their main bloom is in the spring, they will begin blooming in the fall and continue until spring unless we get a hard freeze. 

Since I can't grow tulips, I have planted amaryllis bulbs - the Amaryllis are to Ocala what the Tulips are to Maryland - bright spots of color that signal the end of winter.   Not long after I moved to Ocala, one of my coworkers brought in some amaryllis bulbs.  I took some home and planted them in my yard they bloom early in the season.  A few years later, my sister-in-law Patricia Ryan gave me a showy red amaryllis bulb for Christmas.  After it finished blooming, I planted it in my garden. That one bulb has reproduced nicely and produce a much larger showier flower. 

I also have planted daylilies - Black Eyed Stellas with their gold petals and darker throat, Pardon Me's with the ruby red petals and yellow throat. I also have some wild daylilies that are tall and yellow. I really like the daylilies, they are low maintenance and produce a much longer bloom than the amaryllis bulbs.

My very favorite flowers are irises.  I have tried to grow them here in Florida without much success.  I tried Dutch iris, bearded iris, Japanese iris, Louisiana Iris and I finally gave up.  Then last year I went to one of the plant sales put on by the local master gardeners that was selling native plants.  I bought two plants in the Iris family a blue flag iris and an orange crocosmia.  Both have bloomed and are growing like weeds in my garden.  I dug up all the crocosmia from my front yard and moved them to the back.  Imagine my surprise when I had a large bloom of orange flowers coming up where I thought I had dug them all up.  I later read they tend to be a bit invasive.  

Finally about May, the Crape Myrtles begin to bloom signaling that spring has sprung and summer with its sweltering heat has arrived. 

Describe your physical self

Week 3 - Describe your physical self

When I look in the mirror I see a dark haired, dark eyed, chubby, middle aged lady. How did I get here? I don't feel like a senior citizen, but I sometimes qualify for senior discounts.  If I live to be 90 years old, I will have already lived over 2/3's of my life.

I am around 5'5" tall.  That's not real short, but it's not real tall either.  I have short legs on my normal torso.  When buying clothes, I buy regular length dresses and petite length pants.  I used to be a smoker, when I was smoking I wore a size 14-16; when I quit smoking the weight piled on.  Now I'm a size 18 and trying my darndest not to get any bigger.  

Except for when I was a young child, I have always been chubby. Being the third daughter, I wore lots of hand-me-downs.  That stopped as I approached my teenage years.   I am taller than my 2 sisters - they were both petite in height and in width. When I was junior high, I was wearing chubby girls size 13.  When I was in high school I wore a size 10-12;  my older sisters were wearing size 6 and size 8's. The same size difference existed in our bust line.  My sisters were wearing trainers and I was in C cups (if and when I wore a bra).

I am built differently as well. My sisters had a normal hour glass shape.  I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian syndrome) an endocrine metabolic disorder that causes infertility. Women with PCOS usually have a thick waist and a large body Mass Index (BMI). Slacks that are designed to fit a "normal" body are too tight in the waist for me.  I usually wear elastic waist pants - if it fits over the hips, it will fit in the waist.

I have always looked younger than my chronological age...perhaps it is my round face and fat cheeks.  When I was a 19 year old WAC, a group of us went to a restaurant and ordered drinks.  I was the oldest and the only one carded. When I was about 35, I was at a night club with some girl friends where I was asked if I was in college.  I no longer look like I'm in college, but I don't have wrinkles on my face or much grey in my hair (although the hair dresser touches up my hair line every 2-3 months).

I've never been a girly-girl.  When I was in college, I had a 7:40 morning class as ASU. I could be up and out of the house in less than 30 minutes.  When I was about 40, I developed an allergy to makeup.  When I would wear eye makeup, my eye lids would get all crusty; the resulting fluid back up would result in swollen lids.  I finally gave up wearing makeup except for special occasions - I gave up mascara and eye liner all together.  I have also given up wearing perfume.  

With the ups and downs with my weight, my rings sometimes fit and sometimes don't.  They were bothering me so I finally just took them off and quit wearing them.  I don't change my jewelry, so I wear a small emerald necklace and some gold earrings.  I have one set a ear piercings.  When I was 16, I wanted to get my ears pierced, but my mom said I couldn't get it done until I was 18.  My dad was gone on a trip to Mexico.  He came home with pierced ear rings for my two older sisters and a pair for me as well.  So it wasn't long before I was down getting my ears pierced as well.  Later my mom got her ears pierced as well.

My hands and feet are on the small size.  I wear size 7.5 medium shoes - comfortable shoes.  I'm not into pointy toes and stiletto’s and I'm sure my feet thank me for it.  My favorite shoes are Nike Mary Janes which Nike has quit making.  I have tried several replacements and all were a disappointment.  I don't know what I'm going to do when these Nikes are so worn out that I have to throw them away.

I have been a casual dresser for quite some time.  When I first moved to Orlando in 1985, I would wear a suit to work sometimes with a hat.  That always got a reaction. As time went one, my work clothes got more casual. About 1994 I transferred to the Ocala plant as their MIS coordinator. One day while wearing a dress, I ended up on my hands and knees under a work bench looking for a computer ID tag.  That was the last time I wore a dress to work.  Around the turn of the century, Lockheed Martin adopted a casual dress code.  Now that I'm retired, you can usually find me in a t-shirt and denim shorts or sweats in the dead of winter.  I seldom wear a dress and have to hunt the closet for something appropriate on the few occasions where a dress is required.

When I was in 7th grade, I ended getting my first pair of eye glasses to correct my near sightedness and astigmatism.  When I was in high school, my dad traded favors with a friend.  He got contacts for my sister Shirley and I.  These were the old hard contact lenses.  I wore them until they finally came out with soft lenses.  I got soft lenses for comfort before they had the toric lenses that would correct the astigmatism.  I could see things even if they were a bit fuzzy on the edges.  

Around 1994, I had an eye infection.  I was still living in Orlando, but working in Ocala.  I had a hard time getting to the doctor because the Ocala doctors weren't on my health care plan.  I ended up going to a walk-in clinic.  Then end result was I stopped wearing my contacts and never put them back in after that.  Around 2010 I had Lasik surgery. It fixed my astigmatism and my near sightedness.  Now I only need correct lenses for reading and computer work. In order words, I almost always need my reading glasses. So I got a cord for the glasses and they hang around my neck from morning to night unless they're on my face.

On the farm where I grew up we drank well water - there was no fluoride in the water. Before I was 16 years old, I had fillings in all my molars.  My mouth was small, so my teeth were crowded and overlapping.  When I was a kid, I would go to the dentist and he would pull my baby teeth early to make room for the next set of permanent teeth. It didn't help.  My mouth was a mess.  

I received some help from a young Army dentist who was approaching the end of his enlistment.  He said if I had "crossed eye teeth" the military would pay for the treatment - the treatment was identical to what was needed to fix my teeth. The paperwork he submitted allowed him to performed the necessary work without any costs to me.  He pulled a tooth on my lower left side. He then ordered an appliance which was similar to a retainer.  It had wires to apply pressure to move the teeth around.  It make a large improvement in my lower teeth.  

When I was at Fort Meade, I have my wisdom teeth removed (only 3 came in).  This military dentist was a lifer and that is NOT a compliment.  They started an sodium pentothal IV and my arm started burning.  It wasn't in the needle wasn't in the vein and all the solution was going into the tissue.  For months my arm bothered me.  Then they started work and it went on forever.  It went on so long, I started coming to.  It was so painful, I was crying and they didn't even realize I was coming to even though they remarked about my tears.  During my recovery, I ended up with a dry socket.  Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant experience. After I left the service I found several wonderful dentists who helped improve my oral health. 

I don't have a lot of scars or birthmarks.  I have one strawberry mark on one of my shoulders.  My sister Shirley used to tease me and call it a hickie.  I ended up with skin cancer on nose.  The dermatologist had to cut 4 layers of tissue to get it all, she replaced it was a skin graft taken in front of my ear.  It healed very nicely, and unless you know I had the surgery, you probably wouldn't be able tell that it was done.  I don't spend a lot of time out in the sun.  I don't like getting hot.  Now it appears it is a good thing because besides the cancer on my nose, I have had a second spot removed from my shoulder.  

I suppose if I could choose one thing to change, it would be my weight. But I tend to be an optimist, a glass half full.  I am health.  I am happy.  I have a great life.  So if my biggest problem is a few extra pounds, I'm in great shape.

Tell me about your birth

Week 2 - Tell me about your birth

It was late May in Phoenix and the hot dry desert summer was quickly approaching.  Although the daytime high temperature in late May averages 99°, records of over 110 have been recorded. In 1954 the weather was temperate. On Saturday May 29^th the high was only 95° and the night time temperature dropped to 64° which was significantly cooler than expected.

Mom was in labor with her fourth and final child. She was a patient at Good Samaritan hospital in Phoenix (now Banner hospital), which was just down the street from her parents house. The hospital was not very close to her home in the farm community of Kyrene, just south of Tempe. She and Dad left my three older siblings with family, I think my Gates grandparents, but I'm not sure.

At 10:37 p.m. their daughter finally made an appearance.  I was a healthy, full term baby, weighing 7 lbs. 8 oz. and 20 ½” long.  I had dark hair, dark eyes, and was instantly loved by both of my parents.

Although Dad wanted to name me Maude after my grandmother, Mom wanted a more modern name. She settled on Margaret June, and when Mom made up her mind, it was a done deal.  I am much like her in that regard.

Mom and I spent a few days recovering at my Reppel grandparent’s home on McDowell Road before returning to the farm. Mom noted in my baby book that my first outing was the trip home.

Being the mother of four children, Mom was too busy to make many notes in my baby book.  When I was a kid, I decided it needed more entries. I drew a small hand in the blank spot where the baby’s handprint was to be placed.

Being the youngest, I was spoiled; my parents used to say that whenever I would cry, one of my siblings would try to give me a bottle so shut me up.  My sister Shirley was only 21 months older than me; she didn’t want to give up being the baby. She said she was the big baby and I was the little baby.

According to the family story, “Grandma Gates,” (my great grandma who lived just down the street) was babysitting the two of us.  Shirley was an early talker with a full vocabulary. She told Grandma “Give her a bottle and put her to bed and rock me."

As a young woman, I hadn’t given a lot of thought about family planning in the 1950’s.  One day my mom made a comment about the best thing that happened to her was the diaphragm. She had gotten pregnant on her honeymoon with her first; and there was less than 2 years between each successive baby.  After 4 children, she had had enough. I'm glad she didn't discover the diaphragm any earlier or I might not be here to tell this story.