I cannot believe next week is Thanksgiving! Can you?!
It seems like school just started and now here we are rushing toward the end of the year.
I’ve been super busy lately with writing blog posts, editing books (past and future ones), and managing social media.
Last week a reel I posted on Instagram to promote the blog posts Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumb) and I were doing for autumn (Comfy, Cozy Cinema) went viral.
The reel was simply a clip of the documentary Tea With The Dames that Erin and I wrote about on our blogs but for some reason, it started to be shared and watched and commented on to the point it has 6 million views, 331,704 likes, 148,939 shares and 2027 comments.
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what goes viral on social media, but I am guessing the reason this clip went wild is that people, one, love the dames (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins) and, two, people simply need something happy and joyful to see these days with all the horrors and negativity going on in the world.
If you want to see the Instagram post you can find it here:
I enjoyed the documentary but I don’t know if I thought the clip was worth 6 million views. Ha! Ha! I am really glad it made people happy, though. A couple of people even messaged or left me comments to tell me how much it uplifted their spirits during dark times. I suggested they watch the full documentary to further improve their mood.
If you would like to see the documentary, you can find it streaming for free on Tubi or you can buy or rent it here: https://amzn.to/3SKEL7d
We will be taking a break for Thanksgiving next week so please return with us on November 30th to link up your posts.
Also, don’t forget that we are looking for a couple more hosts for this feature. Contact one of us and we will put you in touch with Marsha. And please take the time to hop around to other blog posts that link up here.
(Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. I only recommend items that I love, actually use, have used in the past, know someone else has used, or want to use in the future. Clicking the link does not mean that you will pay more for the item, only that I make a tiny commission if you make a purchase. Thank you for helping my family bring in a little extra, much-needed money.)
For October and November, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be watching cozy or comfy movies, and some of them will have a little mystery, creepiness, or adventure added in. You can find out about the other movies we watched by searching Comfy, Cozy Cinema in my search bar at the right.
(This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them I get a small commission but there is no increase in cost to you.)
This week our movie was Fisherman’s Friends, a heartwarming story about a group of fishermen who sing sea shanty songs and are discovered by an agent for record labels.
I watched it on Amazon, but it is available other places as well.
The movie is loosely based on the true story of a real band and takes place in Port Isaac, Cornwall in 2010.
The movie starts with a group of fishermen singing on a boat in the ocean.
We meet the characters a little bit on their boat and in their favorite pub and inn. We also see them getting ready to sing and one of them (Jago, a bawdy older man) with his wife.
Then we switch to a stag party for a man and one of the friends who is supposed to be going to it with him waking up late.
That friend is Danny and as we watch he seems to be a bit of a mess.
The four men decide to stay near a fishing village where the one friend is supposed to rent a yacht for them all to go on. That trip gets canceled.
Fortunately for the story, the men end up staying in town and renting boogie boards to go out in the water together instead. It’s while out on the boards that they get stranded and the fishermen we met in the beginning have to rescue them.
The fishermen are a rough and tumble group of men’s men. They’re fishermen and also the local rescue squad – rescuing people who are stranded in the water. All the men are just trying to make ends meet but on the weekends they gather along the beach and sing Sea Shanty songs for the local residents.
It turns out Danny and his friends pitch new artists to record labels. Danny and his friends see the men singing along the edge of the ocean and while standing there Danny’s friend, who is also his boss, thinks it will be funny if he tells him he wants him to sign the group to a record deal.
Danny is very doubtful, but he launches in to trying to sign the group, but they say ‘no’ and think the whole thing is ridiculous.
But, two of the members tell him, if he can convince the lead singer Jim to do it then maybe they’ll consider letting him pitch their music to a producer
Danny thinks that this is a serious challenge so he decides to do anything he can to sign the band, including joining them on their fishing boat where he promptly shows what a city slicker he is and gets seasick.
Jim doesn’t want to agree to sign a contract to have the music pitched because he doesn’t trust Danny
Rowan, though, points out that they could use any shot at this point because most of them are hurting for money.
Jim agrees with him to take the risk, but is still very leery.
Things get complicated when Danny gets all ten men to agree to sign and record a demo because that is when his boss tells him it was all a prank. His boss has no interest in a group that sings Sea Shanty he says, so come back home and forget it all.
Danny has a problem, though, because he’s already promised Jim he won’t betray the group after Jim gives him a speech about how their word is their word in port Isaac and they don’t go back on it.
Danny promises he won’t go back on it and worries he will have to now that his bosses isn’t really interested.
Now Danny has to record a demo and sell it to a company on his own. It’s not only for the men who he is developing a deep affection for, but because he’s starting to fall for Jim’s daughter Allwyn.
Danny is determined to finish the demo and send it out to record companies, ignoring his boss who says the joke is over and to get back to work.
I should add that I think the boss is an American. You know us Americans – always the bad guys until someone needs help in a war. (*wink*)
While Danny is working on all of this some of the men are dealing with their own issues, including the pub owner, Rowan, who is about to lose his business. Rowan is hoping that if the band is successful then maybe the pub won’t have to be sold. Danny warns him that the band won’t take off as quick as he needs so he should sell the pub and help his family.
Danny sets up a deal to sell the pub to someone he knows and – that doesn’t end so well and the men feel betrayed.
In the meantime, he lands a photography job for Allwyn at a wedding where the group can also perform.
Unfortunately, they miss the performance, which would have been in front of some big movers and shakers in the business, because they are rescuing someone who is stranded in the ocean. A few of the men do show up at the reception and, well, they bomb the performance. The boss tells Danny to get rid of them. Danny refuses. The boss starts calling record companies and telling them to ignore Danny.
“My former boss has been trying to sabotage you,” Danny tells the men when he catches them at the pub.
“What do you mean your former boss?” Jago asks.
“I quit,” Danny tells them.
“What did you go doing that for?” Jago asks, clearly angy.
“Because I believe in you and I believe in the music.”
And so Danny takes the men to the city to try to get them a deal. That all falls apart but – well, that’s where I will leave off my recap because I think I’ve given you enough to make you want to watch the film.
The music in this movie is beautiful.
The characters are charming.
The scenery is beautiful.
The story is touching and emotional in all the right ways (though some hard ways too).
It is the whole cozy package for a movie night.
Just be warned you will need tissues for at least one scene and that there are a couple of bawdy jokes from the men, so I will warn you of that, but it is still free of strong swearing, sex, or violence.
The real group’s music is a bit rowdy with some off-color themes at times as well.
The real Fisherman’s Friends.
Incidentally, the movie was filmed in Port Isaac where the men were and are from.
The real Fisherman’s Friends are still performing, though one of the men and their stage manager were killed in 2013 in a tragic backstage accident.
A follow-up to the first movie has been released as well. Fisherman’s Friends: One and All is available on streaming services. I watched the trailer and it looks like one I’ll watch in the future.
The man who was killed, Trevor Gillis is featured in the video I am sharing below. He had a beautiful voice as I discovered as I listened to their songs last night.
You can read about Erin’s impressions of the movie on her blog.
Next week and the following week, Erin and are taking a break from Comfy, Cozy Cinema and will start a Cozy Christmas feature December 1. We will share a bit about that and how you can get involved in a future post.
If you watched Fishermen’s Friends and want to share your post please link below. This link is for those who have watched the movies with us and written about them only. The Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot link will be up on my blog tomorrow.
This is a post that I wrote two years ago after I was released from the hospital for Covid. Recovery was not pleasant but somehow I managed to push out some blog posts like this one.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Affiliate disclosure: Today’s post may contain an affiliate link, which could provide a small commission to me as a blogger.
What’s Been Occurring
I wrote about what I’ve been doing in my Saturday Afternoon Chat post yesterday. You can read that HERE.
When I wrote my post yesterday, I said I hadn’t left the house all week. That wasn’t exactly true. I left it on Monday when my son said he needed a ride from his bus stop and I remember this because I had to drive my husband’s gigantic Chevy Avalanche down the hill to the convenience store downtown where the bus dropped my son off.
I have not tried to drive his truck yet because it is very tall and very big and I am not a tall person. I am always afraid to drive it because I can’t see over the front very well and I feel like I will run over something or, worse yet, someone.
But my son needed me so I took off, after figuring out how to adjust the seat, and headed down the hill. When I got to where he was supposed to be, though, he wasn’t there. I called him and he said he’d texted me that he was going to walk up the hill so I didn’t have to drive the truck and he was on our street. I found out later that he’d never actually sent that text so I’d had no idea.
Since I was already down the hill in town, I decided to go to the little supermarket we have and pick up the flour I needed for dinner, but I was terrified the whole time I might hit a car or person while I was driving.
When I got back to the house, I texted my husband and told him about my journey and how nervous I was. His only response? “Is my truck okay?”
I said, “Thanks for worrying if I was okay.”
He texted back, “Oh, right. Are you okay?”
I said, “I was worried I was going to hit something or someone the entire time.”
Him: “Don’t worry about it. You’re in a truck. It’s like a bug on a windshield.”
I said, “Not if I hit an older lady!”
Him: “She’ll bounce back.”
Anyhow, I won’t be driving that truck again unless absolutely necessary.
This week I will finish Walls Crumblingby Alicia Gilliam. It’s so good. I love her writing.
I also started Little Women for my cozy winter read and I’m really enjoying it so far.
The Husband is choosing a new book because he just finished a Joe Pickett novel.
Little Miss and I are reading The Black Stallion on some nights and Paddington others and also listening to Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman because she really loves that book.
The Boy isn’t reading anything right now but we will be reading something historically related soon for school.
What We watched/are Watching
This past week we watched Tea With The Dames for Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and my Comfy, Cozy Cinema. We really enjoyed it. I shared a short clip and talked about it on Instagram and that clip went viral – why? No idea but I think everyone just needs a dose of happiness right now. The documentary about Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins, is available on Tubi for free or on other streaming devices for a rental fee. You can find it on Amazon HERE.
I also watched Forgotten Way Farms videos as a way to relax. Here is her latest:
I am looking forward to when All Creatures Great and Small’s fourth season starts airing in the U.S. I read online that that will be January 7, so not too much longer. Until then I will catch up on Miss Scarlet and the Duke this week.
What I’m Writing
I am editing Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage so I can release it on December 4. If you want to pre-order it, you can find it HERE.
A description? Why, yes, I can provide you with that:
More mystery, intrigue, and loveable characters in Brookstone, Pa.
Gladwynn Grant hasn’t been living in Brookstone, Pa. very long but already she’s been mixed up in two attempted murders and the aftermath of a jewel theft.
Just when she thinks life has settled down and her new job as a small-town reporter will begin to be routine again, the recreational director at the local retirement community is found dead.
Was Samantha Mors death an accident, or was it murder?
Since she was the second person to discover her body, Gladwynn wants to find out what really happened.
Local State Police Detective Tanner Kinney lets her know that her job is reporting the news, not investigating a possibly suspicious death. The father she barely speaks to stops for a visit and also urges her to not get involved.
When warnings to stay away from the case come from handsome pastor Luke Callahan Gladwynn wonders if he knew the victim better than he is letting on.
Quieting her inner sleuth will prove difficult for Gladwynn, though, especially when her eccentric grandmother Lucinda tags along to help her solve the case.
I am also writing Cassie, which will release in August of 2024. I will share more about that as it gets closer to the release date but I have shared a little bit about it here already. It is part of a multi-author project, which you can learn more about in our Facebook group HERE.
The first book in that project, Polly, comes out January 15 and it is available for pre-order now. You can pre-order Polly HERE.
This week I will be listening to the end of an audio book: Death Beside the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey and the new Needtobreathe album.
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
The flames are curling around the pieces of wood in our woodstove as I write this. My daughter made me a cup of hot cocoa sweetened with maple syrup and it was so good.
Earlier this week we lit the stove one day and didn’t the next, pretty alternating like that all week, because the temperatures were warm, then cold, then warm. Today they are back to cold and I think they are going to stay that way through tomorrow.
My sinuses (and those of my family) are not a fan of the up and down temps of autumn and spring in our area.
I need the weather to pick one temperature and stay there.
I did, however, appreciate the sun and warmth we received this week, even if there was a bit of a chill to it.
This morning I realized that I had not left the house all week. I had no reason to because the Husband took Little Miss to her events and I stayed home and worked on my books, blog posts, social media posts, and washed dishes. I washed dishes all week. That’s how I felt at least. I would finish dishes right before dinner and then everyone would use dishes for dinner and then it would start over. The day our dishwasher died was a very sad day for us, but that’s life.
Usually, The Husband does the dishes and folds the laundry more than I do because he gets to it quicker. I seem to be interrupted every five minutes when I am trying to do something but no one interrupts him, I have no idea why. He’s also just very organized and I am not, which I think I’ve mentioned on here before. I am trying to do a bit better at the housework but if the pile of unfolded laundry in our laundry room is any indication of how I am doing – well, you know how that is going.
On Tuesday I thought we had lost our cat for good when she didn’t show up after being out all night. I woke up early to the sound of Zooma the Wonder Dog barking and when I went downstairs to find out what was going on, our other cat ran in, but not the youngest.
The Husband and The Boy (my now 17-year-old teenager) went to work and when I came downstairs later, I thought I would find Scout, the youngest cat, back inside or on the back porch. She wasn’t there and a quick text to The Husband confirmed that she had not returned that morning. I had to wait a couple of hours for The Boy to come home from trade school to ask him if he had seen her and in that three-hour wait, I had this horrible feeling that she had been hit by a car or eaten by an animal the night before.
Usually, when she comes in in the morning she heads straight to my daughter’s room and curls up with her but she wasn’t there. She is also usually around my feet at some point in the morning.
We do our best to make sure the cats are inside at night because we do have foxes, bears, and occasionally coyotes in the area. A text to my neighbor to see if she had seen Scout made me even more nervous because my neighbor said there had been a huge catfight that morning in her backyard but she didn’t see which cat it was.
A friend of ours down the street has a male cat that likes to come up and try to act like he lives here and can tell my girl cats to get lost, so I worried he might have attacked Scout, but another neighbor also has a cat that fights with my cats (or vice versa).
When The Boy came home, I decided not to mention the cat’s disappearance to him because it was his birthday and I didn’t want him to be worried about her on his birthday. Finally, though, I asked him if he’d happened to see her when he walked to the bus for school.
“Yeah, I let her in this morning,” he said.
So, at some point, she’d been in the house.
That’s when I asked my daughter if she had been in her makeshift fort that morning (she has turned one of our couches to face our large window and has her stuffed animals and toys in there for her own little safe haven). She ran to the fort and – yes, there was the cat. She’d been there the whole morning and completely ignored me while I called for her. I felt stupid for not checking in the fort since she loves to curl up there.
This is the second time in two weeks Scout has done something like this, which should be a sign to me that I need to stop worrying about her and accept that she’ll show up eventually.
Now that the weather is colder, I want to make more soups for dinners and lunches. Earlier this week I made chicken noodle soup. I cooked a whole chicken in the Instapot and later added some carrots and farfalle pasta. The one thing I forgot about cooking a whole chicken down in the Instapot is that the bones crumble so you have to strain the broth and catch them in a strainer.
The only problem is that I don’t have a strainer right now so I tried to pick them out. That didn’t work great since we still found some bones in the soup. Hopefully I’ll get better at the soup making as winter sets in. Also, I’ll hopefully get a strainer.
My plan this week is to make butternut squash/sweet potato soup and maybe vegetable beef (we had some beef left over from the week before last and I froze that) and potato and ham soup. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes.
On Thursday I created a reel on Instagram to promote the blog post feature that Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I do together. It was simply a clip of the documentary we watched about dames Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins with a quote from the clip above it. I tossed it up and moved on with my day because usually Erin and I don’t get a lot of views on those reels or on our blogs (which is fine – we do this stuff mainly for fun and distraction for us and our blog readers).
By the end of Thursday I had a lot of people commenting on the reels or liking it. By Friday morning I had some 250,000 views and even more comments and shares.
By Friday night the number was 450,000 or so and the comments kept coming from people who just loved the clip and said how happy it made them.
This morning the number was 1.2 million. As of the time I am writing this, it is at 2 million plus views, 56.2 thousand shares, and 809 comments. I have reached 1.3 million accounts
What does all this mean? Will it help me sell books or make money or … do anything exciting with my life?
Nope. None of that really at this point. I don’t get paid on Instagram for my posts and people are liking this video but they aren’t really there for my books. I did gain more followers but, again, they are following me for my posts that aren’t related to my books.
And, honestly? That’s okay because the clip is bringing people joy and one thing I realize as the number of views increase on this is how hungry the world is for joy right now.
There is so much sadness, hatred, depression, darkness, and hopelessness. Escaping for even three minutes as we watch four legendary actresses laugh and tease each other is a blessing. Then finding out we can escape for 90 full minutes? Whew! That’s a Godsend for many people right now. I’m glad that people were able to enjoy that clip.
So often lately I am trying to figure out how I can use any kind of social media success to help my family financially as we struggle, but most of the time it is enough that something I put out there gives people joy.
Sometimes we look for a bigger meaning in the things we do in life and I think it is okay if there isn’t a bigger meaning beyond what we did, saw, heard, read, or participated in that brought us joy.
If you want to read the blog posts where Erin and I talked about the documentary, you can find my post HERE and Erin’s post HERE.
How was your week last week? Did you do anything exciting?
Do you like to cook soups when the weather is colder? What kind of soups are your favorite to make or eat?
Hello everyone! Welcome to a new Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, the post where you can share your posts from the previous week, or even before, and get some new eyes on them. You can also connect with other bloggers so I really encourage you to click on and comment on the other blog posts.
I am a co-host for this feature with Marsha in the Middle and Melynda from Scratch Made Food For Hungry People but we are looking for a couple more hosts, so please let me know in the comments if you are interested and I’ll put you in touch with Marsha.
How was your week this week?
Mine has been mostly filled with housework, homeschooling, writing blog posts, and editing the second book in my cozy mystery series. I am so excited for those who read the first book to read book two in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries! It comes out December 5 and is called Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage. The first book is Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing.
One blog post I worked on this week was about our trip last week to a reptile zoo. I know there are soooo many people who love snakes and lizards (ha!) so here are a few photos from our visit:
Let’s get on to what post was our most clicked last week. It was:
Now it is your turn to leave a link to one of your blog posts from this week! Have fun and keep it family-friendly! Then visit some other bloggers and find new friends.
For October and November, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be watching cozy or comfy movies, and some of them will have a little mystery, creepiness, or adventure added in. You can find out about the other movies we watched by searching Comfy, Cozy Cinema in my search bar at the right.
This one was a different one this week because it was a documentary about four British actresses who are legends in theater, movies, and television. All four of them have been named “dames” by the British monarchy. This is the female equivalent of being dubbed a knight.
The documentary is a series of sit-down interviews with Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Joan Plowright, and Dame Eileen Atkins.
The documentary was made in 2018 and all the women were in their 80s. They are now in or nearing their 90s but all four are still alive.
All four women have been friends for probably 40 years or more.
If you haven’t heard of one or the other of these women, I’ll detail below some examples of what they’ve been in. Most would be familiar with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith at least.
I watched this documentary a few years ago and found it enchanting, hilarious, touching, and inspiring. I made my husband watch it with me and now I’ve made Erin watch it with me too.
The entire documentary consists of the women at Joan’s cottage where she used to live with actor Laurence Olivier, simply telling stories about their careers and families and the time they spent together as friends.
All four actresses have worked in theater, the small screen and big screen.
They all started in theater and hearing their early stories about those days was very interesting to me, even though I’ve never been interested in participating in it myself.
Judi Dench is well known for her work on British sitcoms (As Time Goes By and A Fine Romance. She stared in A Fine Romance with her future husband Michael Williams) but more prominently an entire line of movies from the Bond movies where she played M, to Shakespeare in Love where she played a queen. She also played queen in Mrs. Brown.
Her list of movies also includes Chocolat, Philomenia, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and … well, there are tons of them. (A link to her work: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001132/)
Maggie Smith is most well known recently for Downton Abbey and Harry Potter. She played the Dowager Countess Violet Crowly in Downton Abbey and Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter. (a link to her work: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001749/)
Eileen has been in a ton of films and television as well, Paddington 2, Wicked Little Letters, The Crown, The Archers, Beautiful Creatures, etc., etc. (A link to her work: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040586/)
Joan’s film list includes The Spiderwick Chronicles, Mrs. Palfrey at the Clairmont, Dennis the Menace, and 101 Dalmatians among so many others. (Here is a link to her work: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0687506/)
The documentary is pretty laid-back and easygoing. There are some great quotes from all four women about acting and life in general. They bounce off each other in hilarious exchanges between the women and the interviewer and the crew helping with filming. There is footage from their past films and plays woven throughout.
This is not a rated G film with Judi dropping a couple of f-bombs during the filming, especially in regard to a question about growing older.
Maggie is so funny because she seems unable to use the word “child” throughout. She refers to the son of Joan and Laurence (they call him Larry)’as “a small person.” Like when she tells a story about him she says, “When Richard was a small person…”
The story she tells is hilarious too. She once overhead Laurence Olivier begging his young son to tell him if he had thrown the key to his liquor cabinet down the dumb waiter.
“Richard, tell Daddy where the key is. Daddy needs his num-nums.”
Maggie laughs and says, “The idea that a great actor was reduced to using the word num-nums.”
I also really giggled at the conversation about how they each became dames.
Judi became one first and called Maggie when she became one and said, “Don’t worry…you can still swear.
“You can swear more actually,” Judi says with a laugh.
“You just do it privately,” Maggie snickers and speaks with a very posh accent.
Joan was a lady before she was a dame because she married Sir Laurence Olivier, Maggie points out.
“Well, darling, it is quite difficult to have two titles,” Joan replies. “People don’t know which one to use.”
“You’ll have to grapple with it, Joan,” Maggie smith says while the other women laugh.
There are also some very profound quotes from the women mixed in with the laughs.
At one point Judi is asked how people face the fear associated with acting.
“Fear is petrol,” she states in a matter-of-fact tone. “Fear is the petrol. It generates such an energy. Fear. Being frightened. If you can somehow channel it, it can be a help.”
I really love this documentary because it is a wonderful reminder of what women can do when they cast aside societal expectations and just go for their dreams.
These women had a passion for acting. They wanted success and went for it and didn’t let anything stop them. In a day and age where women had to fight for every crumb, they won the whole loaf and then showed other women how to do the same thing.
As I told Erin, I just love watching these women talk about their past but also teared up when they showed all the roles they have played. I mean these women were pioneers for women who were told they couldn’t play certain roles and couldn’t be mothers and wives AND successful in their careers at the same time.
Not only did they defy expectations but they completely exceeded them. I mean Judi Dench was literally in Shakespeare in Love for eight minutes and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She is 88 years old and two weeks ago she recited a Shakespeare soliloquy from memory on the Graham Norton Show:
I found the documentary for free (with commercials) on Tubi but you can also rent it off various streaming services.
We are taking a break from the Comfy, Cozy Cinema for Thanksgiving but will be back next week for The Fishermen’s Friends and then on November 30 with a bit of Jane –Sense and Sensibility.
I’m not sure what we have on tap for December but stay tuned. If Erin and I don’t do a joint Cozy Christmas cinema together, I’m sure she and I with both be watching our favorites and sharing about them on our blogs.
Last week I was able to pull off a surprise for Little Miss who is a huge fan of reptiles, especially snakes.
She watches a show called Snake Discovery on YouTube a lot and learns all about snakes, their habits, the different ones, etc.
Two years ago she was bit by a non-venomous snake and fainted from the excitement of it all. As she fainted she fell into the kitchen table at my parents and we had to take her to the hospital by ambulance. I thought that after that she wouldn’t like snakes anymore but, on the contrary, she was even more fascinated.
She has no qualms telling an adult, by the way, that a snake is not poisonous or non-poisonous, they are venomous or non-venomous.
When I found out the county library – the only library in the county was sponsoring a trip to a reptile zoo I used to hear wasn’t a very good one but had improved, I signed up immediately. I managed to keep it a surprise despite talking about the logistics of getting there with The Husband in front of her more than once. She thought I had a doctor’s appointment and that’s why we were driving so far but when we pulled up and she read the sign she yelled out, “Yes!”
The Husband was working that day so I took The Boy with us. I thought he would have fun too and it meant a day off from his trade school so he was all for it (even though he doesn’t hate school).
Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland is named after a Clyde Peeling, a native of Muncy, Pa. As far as I can tell online he is still alive. The zoo was first opened in the 1960s but has grown over the years.
Little Miss was overwhelmed when we walked into the zoo. There were so many exhibits with snakes, geckos, lizards, turtles, and alligators she could barely contain her excitement. She ran from exhibit to exhibit, her eyes wide while she told me about them without even reading the signs on their exhibit. She probably could have told a few of the staff members some things about their charges that they didn’t even know.
When you first walk in there is an open exhibit with alligators. They don’t look real. They don’t even move. They seem to be completely bored with life. I was convinced the place was a scam and their alligators were real wax figures. The next time we came by, though, one of them had moved and his eyes were a little more closed and The Boy insisted he had seen it move. They also had an albino alligator who he said he saw move even more.
From there you enter a gallery of turtles, snakes, tree frogs, toads, lizards, and geckos. They are behind glass, of course. We briefly viewed the gallery on the way in and then headed for the small amphitheater where a young man with a very Irish accent talked to the children about the various reptiles he held up. He held up a small crocodile, a lizard, and a python. Little Miss was very disappointed that she couldn’t hold them. She thought it was interesting that she could touch the crocodile on the head on her way out but she really wanted to hold it or the snake.
After the presentation finished, the group moved on to the parakeet tent which is a type of greenhouse completely full of parakeets and a few cockatiels. The zoo sells seed sticks for $3 and visitors can hold the sticks out and the birds will land and eat the seeds. The birds will also sometimes land on the visitors as well, but mainly they like to stay in the trees, along the edges of the tent structure or they like to drop the ground and chew at shoelaces.
I was completely in panic mode in the parakeet tent, not because I don’t like parakeets (I owned two when I was a child), but because I was petrified that I might step on one, killing it and traumatizing a bunch of preschoolers (since most of those who attended with the library group were of that age group). They even have a sign as you walk into the facility, warning you to watch for the birds on the ground.
I ended up backed up against the wall by the staff member while The Boy and Little Miss walked through the greenhouse – or at least part of it. The Boy was wearing steel-toed boots and I think he was also petrified he might kill one.
Two of the birds really looked like the birds I had growing up and I felt nostalgic for Perky, the one who lived longer. He used to sit in a cage in our kitchen and Mom would talk to him while I was at school. We said “Perky bird” to him so often that he actually started to call out “Perky bird! Perky bird.”
Unfortunately, he passed away when we left him with a friend of mine when we went to North Carolina for Christmas one year. My friend had birds herself and we don’t know if Perky was overwhelmed with all the bigger and louder birds around him or what happened. I felt so guilty for leaving him and my friend felt guilty that he died on her watch. We’d had him for several years so I guess it was only a matter of time. We didn’t try another bird after that. I don’t think my heart could have handled it.
Once we left the parakeet area, we headed back to the exhibits so Little Miss could get a closer look at the various snakes and lizards.
In one exhibit there were four turtles and an iguana and at one point the iguana really took an interest in Little Miss and kept watching her intently through the glass. I don’t know what it was about her that fascinated him but I think he would have gone right home with her.
She and the boy were fascinated with the Komodo Dragon and we were all fascinated with the Aldabra tortoises housed in the same building as the dragon. The building was empty of other people when we got there so we just sat and watched the tortoises for several minutes and it was the most relaxed I had felt all day. If we ever go back there I think I’ll just go there first and watch them while everyone else explores the rest of the zoo.
We also had fun watching a trio of garter snakes who were curious enough to come up to the exhibit glass and check us out while we watched them. I’m not sure why we paused by their exhibit in the first place since we see so many of them in our yard in the spring or summer, but I’m glad we did because they were so entertaining.
In the courtyard outside in the back of the facility, there was a dinosaur display with animatronic dinosaurs, which we enjoyed seeing and interacting with. In that same area, they had an enclosure with three Australian Emu.
The library paid for the tickets for everyone who signed up for the event, which was really amazing of them because the tickets are $20 a person for anyone 12 and up and $16 for those 2 to 12.
The prices are steep but the place allows you to stay as long as you want, see all the educational KU live programs they have going on during the day, and bring and eat your lunch in the pavilions they have there or inside their gift shop. It isn’t a huge zoo, but there are 40 exhibits of various reptiles, the parakeet area, and the dinosaurs out back.
I am sure we will be visiting there again in the spring. Most of the exhibits are inside but running between buildings was a little chilly that day and it will be nice to go on a warmer day as well. I know Little Miss is already looking forward to another visit and I told her we would even pay extra so she can hold some of those snakes she loves so much.
Today on my son’s 17th birthday I found myself thinking about him through the years.
Here are a couple of letters I wrote to him and posted on my blog.
The first one was a day before he went into third grade in 2015.
I wrote the second in 2016.
2015: I’m not going to lie. I’m having a very hard time with you going back to school in a day. When I say hard, I mean my chest gets tight, my face scrunches funny and my eyes feel hot with tears and I feel weak in my knees.
I’m not ready for you not to be home with me every day. I’m not ready to not be able to rub your little back or kiss your cute head whenever I want. I’m not ready to not hear you building your Legos and creating stories with them, or listening as you tell me what you’ve made on Minecraft that day.
Someday I won’t be able to reach the top of your head to kiss it, I know that. Someday I won’t hear you ask me to come see your latest creation on Minecraft or your latest drawing. Someday you won’t even care if I watch you jump off the side of the pool or ride your new bike, or build your latest Lego robot.
You are so bright and creative and witty and fun. You make every day better, more fun, more interesting, and definitely more worthy to live. I never know what new adventure awaits me when your feet hit the floor each morning and that’s a pretty awesome (yet sometimes scary) feeling.
You’re such an amazing big brother. I hope you know that. You care for your sister, keep her out of trouble, help me care for her, and, as Grandma once said, you show her how to love by being loving to her. Each hug, each kiss, each cuddle shows Gracie what love really is and the fact you know this at only 8-years of age makes me realize we must be doing something right as your parents.
Here we are with only a few days left of summer. I can’t put the brakes on time; I can’t make it stand still, no matter how much I want to. Instead, I’m trying to enjoy each time you put your arms around me. I’m trying to focus on each moment we have together, each story you tell me, each kiss you give me and each laugh we share. I’m letting my cheek linger against the top of your buzzed head when I hold you.
You’re going to have an amazing school year. I know that. Third grade is going to be challenging. There will be tears. You and I will both get frustrated. We may even yell at each other a bit. But we’re going to survive it – together.
Love you, kid
Mom
2016
When I look at this photo of you I see a little boy who has my heart completely and has since the day I first learned you were growing inside me. I see your brilliance, your wit, your charm, your amazing ability to look at almost any situation in a positive light. How hard it must be for you to have been given parents who sometimes lean too much toward the negative yet God gave you the gift of compassion and encouragement because he knew we would need to be reminded.
You wanted to cross the entire bridge that day but daddy and I were tired and said “no.” I wish I had said yes. I don’t ever want to limit you in your dreams or your goals. I don’t ever want to slow you down.
Your future is so wide open and though I often want to keep you close to my side, tucked under my arm, I know I’ll someday have to let you walk the path there on your own.
Before we know it, it will be spring and I hope we go back to that bridge because we are going to walk all the way across it together.
Happy 17th birthday, kid. You mean the world to me and your dad and sister and the rest of the family.
You’re bright, compassionate, sweet, funny, silly, crazy, and an absolute blessing.
