Seven Quickish

We're less than a fifteen minute drive from three little towns that nestle in the Uncompahgre River valley on the western slope of Colorado.  Each of these towns is a total treat -- like corner grocery Mary Janes and blowpops to me after years of big city vending machine living.  I gotta tell ya, I am just plain silly-in-love with my little towns. They're still fairly slow and simple, still somewhat Norman Rockwellesque. I can very often go through life  pretending I'm living on the edge of the 1950s here -- until I pass the local high schools when school is getting out, or stumble upon a crowd at a festival or street fair...  See, I've found out, much to my annoyance, that the sepia-toned glasses I like to wear when I'm out and about in our picturesque valley can't really modify or hide the neon that occasionally shows up around here.

Didn't actually see this
particular girl...

 We went to the big community gathering in one of the towns  this evening, what amounts to a weekly street fair.  The good folks that run the place close off Main Street every Thursday and open it to street performers, muscians, and vendors.  If you are so inclined, you can have your face painted, or have feathers braided into your hair; if you want to stand in line forever, you can get  free hotdogs and the kids can bounce for free in a couple of those big balloon bouncy things that the children love. There's tons to do, tons to see.  I'm glad we went.  It was a great time!  But I couldn't get over all the neon hair.  Green, blue, pink.  Mostly on teenage girls --  and I have to give them credit, the hair color did usually coordinate with their outfits, but, oh, for goodness sakes...  Silly kids. Such a teenage thing to do...


Teenage. A kid thing to do.  Right?
 


Didn't actually see this one, either...

 So, what's with the ladies my age dying their hair these same bright colors?  I mean, seriously?  On a teenager it's a passing fad, something you might expect, something us old folks brush over remembering our grunge or punk or preppy days.  But, come on now....  Tie-dye pink and purple hair on a forty-something woman wearing bi-focals?  That just hits me square in the face every time. Really, ladies.  Y'all look ridiculous. 

 

 But, while I'm on subject of teenage vs. middle-age mom fads...  Why is it that my teenage daughter can throw her hair up in a half pony-tail, half bun thing, with hair sticking up haphazardly askew -- and it looks cool.  But when I inadvertently do the same thing, it looks messy?  Same reason pink neon hair would look stupid on me?

Soooo....  Now that I've let slip a peek at my latent and only somewhat hidden curmudgeonly side, I guess I can segway into how much I hate Harry Potter, right?

  Dan and I decided after reading the first H.P. book that there are libraries full of good reading material that have no chance of making confused connections in our children's brains regarding witchcraft, sorcery, and the occult -- and just didn't introduce the series to our children. 

When the subject has come up over the years, we've explained our objections, and the children have liked the logic and moved onto other books.  No biggie. I love that they read Jane Austen, James Herriot, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Owen Francis Dudley, instead. It hasn't been an issue for us, personally.  Still, it concerns me to see what an obsession the JK Rowling books have become for so many people. Frankly, I'm just really tired of all the press, all the hype, all the raves.  I'm glad this is the last movie. My hope is that the vibrations of the series will finally fade out like Where's Waldo? finally did.  The lead character of which, by the way, bears an eerie resemblence to Master Potter, I think.  Check it out:  All he needs is the hat and striped shirt...  No offence meant, lovers of H.P.  Please don't be mad at me.  Or put a hex on me or anything.  This is just my own personal opinion.










I love this song I just heard on Pandora.  Sounds a lot like Ingrid Michaelson, whose musical stylings I greatly admire....  But, I digress...   I like the lyrics to this song, as well,and I would like to dedicate it to Dan -- whose been gone all week at Boys' Camp. I kinda like that guy I married.  I miss his face!  (And Gabey's, too!  We'll all be glad to have them both home tonight!)

Indiana Jones meets James Bond.  Does it work?  Anyone seen Cowboys vs. Aliens yet?  What do you think?

Would you wear these?  They're supposed to be the next best thing to being barefoot:

They're called "Five Finger" shoes, and are made by Vibram.  They retail for around $45.  Remember the Croc craze?   Don't get me wrong: I do not mean to disparage crocs; a lot of people still love their crocs.  Unlovely as they are. (The crocs, not the people who love them...)  I wonder if  these crazy Five Fingers shoeless shoes would catch on like crocs if they weren't so pricey.  Do you suppose they'd allow these in classrooms?  Would you get funny stares everywhere you went in them? 

I'm thinking I'll stick with the original facsimile of these, myself, regardless.  Much cheaper. 



"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves
that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."
- Henry Wadsworth Longellow

We'll only be just getting this little guy back from his first trip with the Knights of the Altar to Boys' Camp before we'll lose him next week to another week long outing.  Because it's the summer of Gabriel's seventh birthday, he gets to follow in the footsteps of all his older siblings in the much-honored and fondly-remembered tradition of going to California to be spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa for a few days.  It's so important for each of the children to be singled out occasionally in ways like this -- especially when you are one of ten or eleven blessings -- and we're so grateful to Dan's parents for making these trips so special for each of the children.  Even though Gabriel just went to California with everyone else, and aready got to go to Disneyland and the beach -- it was important to his grandparents to make sure he had his seven-year old vacation.  Michelle will be accompanying Gabe as a kind of 16th birthday soiree, but also so she'll be able to guide Gabe through his first airplane ride -- which is part of the seventh summer ritual. Grandma and Grandpa are just the best!

But, get this. By the time Michelle and Gabe get home, it'll be only a week or so until Michelle heads back to school in Omaha -- and another week or so before all the rest of the children go back to school here, too.  Can you believe it's already August??  What has happened to the summer?? 

For lots more little snippets from lots more bloggers, run over to Conversion Diary!