Follow Me?

When I was at my daughter's home these past few days painting, she said to me in the evening as we sat side by side on her couch, "Mom, I pinned one of your photographs on Pinterest."

Keeping my utter surprise contained, I asked her, "How do you know I am on Pinterest?"

"I searched for you, Mom!" (Still in shock) "Do you want to see my Pinterest?" (There are miracles!)

As I looked at all her lovely categories involving fashion, she said to me, "You have a lot of people following you."  A surprised look came over my face. "Following me? Why are they following me, and where are they following me to?"

 She explained, "The photographs you pin, they are going behind you to look at as well." A sense of worry came over me.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so embarrassed. I easily get sidetracked and completely get lost. I have to open a new window just to find my way Home again!"

I'm in a bit of a panic this evening as I open my e-mail to find 33 new individuals are following me on Pinterest. Does this mean they are as lost as mE?

I have tried and tried to find my own daughter on Pinterest as a stunning underwater photograph she had pinned made me think of Florida, which inspired me to create my "Welcome to Florida by the Lemon Growers Association" character, which reminded me of vintage puzzle pieces I have of all my favorite states, which inspired me to begin working on my Valentines for next year. Soooo..... as I said, I get easily lost! 

Please do not Pin pattern to Pinterest

Snowbirds

It was a revelation to me when I married and moved to northern Michigan that many of the older population traveled south to Florida for the winter. This did not occur in the state I called home where we waited for the summer months to travel to the ocean's shore.

I was soon to find out that my husband's own Uncle Roy and Aunt Dorothy traveled to Florida every single winter. Uncle Roy considered himself an aficionado of Traveling South in the newest mode of trailer park transportation available.

We were invited to their home for a walk-thru of their brand new fifth-wheel camper. I had never in my life seen anything quite so large that was legally allowed to be driven by non-professionals. Uncle Roy assured me his many years as the owner of Denoyer Bros. Moving & Storage did in fact make him overly qualified to drive this "rig" safely south. My new mother and father-in-law would be accompanying them. A pleasant time was expected by all.

I absolutely giggle to think of the many times my father-in-law would regale me about this transport to Florida alongside his sister's irascible husband. It seems Roy became possessed once behind the wheel of this overlong camper.

He was insistent upon "making good time" and would rarely stop for "necessary" reasons. His over-the-road days had given him the ability to "wait" for ten hour stretches at a time. If the tank didn't need fill'n, his didn't need empty'n! At this point in the story, my father-in-law would lean in close to whisper in my ear, "That Roy was a sun of a gun!"

My mother-in-law Ruth always chimed in at this point to finish the tale. "Do you know we never did get to sleep in their new camper. Roy unhitched that monstrosity, got back in the truck's cab, and drove us all the way back to Michigan. And he nearly never stopped for necessary reasons!

For the Love of Fla.

Oh My Goodness! Doesn't every craft room need a little bit of Florida? The answer is "yes" if you love this peninsula shaped state as much as I do.

I have loved the State of Florida since I was old enough to hang over the backseat of my family's car and play "Name that State" with my father as we drove to and from church each Sunday morning.

"What state has alligators?", "FLORIDA", "Which state grows oranges?", "FLORIDA"! On would go the game until my father could not stand another moment of my brother and I arguing over who had yelled, "I know!" first.

My brother and I were obsessed with eating oranges in our childhood, I know, because of this game and our fascination with such a place where our favorite fruit could possibly grow in your own back yard and be picked anytime you were so moved to do so.

When I was dating my soon to be husband, I was thrilled to pieces that my parents let me vacation with him to the Sunshine State. Although our destination was to the newly opened Disney World, I cared more about glimpsing my first orange tree.

Upon crossing the official state line, we stopped at a Visitor's Welcoming Center. It was love at first sight to be greeted by the most adorable orange bird offering us a taste of Florida's orange juice in tiny little paper cups.

Relatives and friends who know that my husband has traveled the world, will ask me where it is that I would like to visit. I always smile and answer just as enthusiastically as I have all of my life, "FLORIDA"!

"Wish You Were Here"

 

If it is said that a woman will marry a man who is like her Father, Then this could not be more true than in my marriage. In the sixteen years under my Father's care, only a single vacation was ever taken. In the 32 years of my marriage, I have only taken one vacation 32 times!

I have traveled the exact same roads to Northern Michigan, to the exact same destination nearly all of my life. There isn't a Welcome Center along the way that we do not stop at to collect brochures to use in planning the next year's exact vacation. In all these years they have never changed.

When I ask my husband why it is that he can't use the previous year's brochures, his reply is always the same, "There might be something new!" May I tell you if there is something new, I haven't seen it in the last 32 years! Everything is exactly as I found it the year before.

Each year as the spring sun draws closer to the earth and vacation days near, I will say to my husband, "But I just want to go to the beach. I want to go to Florida!" My husband's reply is exactly the same year after year, "But I do take you to the beach. Lake Michigan!"

Before you should jump on my "Florida or Bust" bandwagon and think unkind things of my husband who takes me on exactly the same vacation for 32 years, please know that at each destination we rest our travel weary bodies, we find the love of a family member who I would not know so well had I not visited them every year for 32 years.