A to Z MONDAY

This week's letter is V as in Victory



I want to congratulate the Killeen Daily Herald for finally publishing an article about the hometown baseball team's Victory winning the State Championship. Congratulations to The Pirates, the team A-Ron played on, and you can click on the photo to read the article.






How about a Victory song for Zach-a-doodle! He conquered the oceans, seas, and the swimming pool at The Spa! He can now swim unattended, which means all by himself.....across and back! Yeah, Zachy!!







And how Victorious is it when you can swim, play ball and still find time to relax ala King Farouk? That would be Mr. Tyler, relaxing in the hot tub at The Spa!
Sa.weet. Vic.tor.ee



and just for a good laugh.......






I hope she edits this before she puts it on her facebook page.
this girl is not at the spa.....just a random photo grandma J found on the internet.


Now how about checking out some other A to Z Mondays entries! Maybe even consider joining in.

It's Time For A - Z MONDAY

This week's letter is W, and boy does Grandma J hate it when she has to think too hard on Monday morning because it seems like we just did the letter W the other day she slept right through the whole morning.

My W word is WAGON.....

Didn't everyone have a red wagon growing up? If not, it's because your older brother got one, and never shared.

Our family bought a brand spanking new 1955 Ford Stationwagon to forge ahead to Southern CA, where Grandma J's father had no job, relatives or friends. All he had was a wife, four kids, and a burning desire to never spend another winter in New England. Oh and yes, we had the two door model because it made it so much easier to kick Rita's pressure cooker to the pavement as you climbed out of the back seat.

Of course farmers had Wagons like this powered by real horses!

This is how New Englanders traveled out west before Ford came up with the stationWagon.

Here is the promo ad that ran on all the network channels for the deluxe covered Wagon, fit for a family of six, traveling across country.

Can you say "cute"? Grandma J can just imagine Jen having a Wagon like this, because birds love her and they do all kinds of stuff to make her blog special.....very special.

And you knew Grandma J wouldn't let Phillip Johnny Bob go without a Wagon!

Be sure and visit A to Z Mondays, and read all the other W posts. Hey, and it's not too late to join in.

Letter S Monday

We are already at Letter S, and Grandma J is so tired of rusty animals and overcooked vegetables that she decided to go with an honored profession. Not that she knows anything about the profession itself, but she knows a whole lot about the professionals.

Do you now what profession Grandma J is talking about?

All four of these great men were Presidents of the United States. Three of them were Surveyors. You guessed it, didn't you? I knew you would.

I worked with surveyors for several years. They climbed mountains, swam oceans and flew into the heavens. Then they woke up and went to work. Actually, they did all of that...well I'm not sure they considered it work, maybe more like a passion.

Any pictures I might have of surveyors, would be more fun and less work, except for one hard worker.......

This is a picture of a picture emailed to me. The original is framed behind glass...too bad it's not clearer...never the less, you can see the dedication in his eye. Here is another view......

Unfortunately, no one could find this one to take a picture for me. I found this picture of a picture that I took in 2001 of the same hard working surveyor .

I do know a surveyor clear across the country in the state of Virginia.

Here is Cool Breeze Musings with his crew, Big Hair Envy.

I can't wait to meet them at the Virginia Blogfest in July. Will you be there?

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The letter P


.....is for pizza because Grandma J spent the night in her safe place.... under tornado warnings, and ended up sleeping in. Really, that's not too important except for the fact that her BBF in Florida took every single P word she could get her hands on except ......














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Letter N Monday





N is For Nickel



Yes, the infamous nickel coke! Here's a little gem from my past.

I used to split a nickel coke with my girlfriend on the way to confession at St. Anne's in Cranston RI, every Saturday morning. One Saturday we decided to go to confession at St. Mary's, which was next door to St. Anne's. They were both Catholic churches, but St. Mary's was so much more ornate.... so what could be the harm? How about the fact that the priests at St. Mary's spoke Italian only. Yeah, that was a fun experience for two seven year old kids. St. Mary's was a beautiful church, but it served the predominantly Italian community.



Of course there was cup of coffee for a nickel. I remember my Aunt from MA visiting us in CA. She was amazed that you got free refills on your coffee. I guess in the '50s you didn't get free refills in MA.

I remember these Sambo's wooden nickels! Each location had their cities name on them. The original Sambo's open in 1957 in Santa Barbara CA.

An ice cream cone for a nickel. Thrifty Drugs Stores sold their own brand for a nickel a scoop until the early 80's. The ice cream is the only thing left from Thrifty's, and it's available at Rite Aid stores in CA.

In 1964 the USPS honored JFK with a stamp for a nickel.

Looks like you could get a nice cold brewski for a nickel at Camp's Place!

I couldn't find a picture of the typical Mounds bar but I do remember them costing a nickel.


This deal isn't a nickel, but come on, you get a hot dog thrown in for the extra dime!

Not for a nickel, but by gosh, in 1961 a couple could spend an evening at Disneyland for $5. That's right, two admissions and two ticket books. If I recall correctly, you only got two E tickets in that book. But still, today an adult admission to Disneyland is $69. A one day Hopper Ticket (good for both parks) is $94.

The best deal is for Southern CA residents.....an annual pass for $134. It is only good on 170 days a year, but I can tell you......the best days to use it is on a random winter day when you really rather not go to work. I used to take the afternoon off to spend a few hours at Disneyland....the local park. There are other annual passes but they cost upwards to $389.

What did you get for a nickel? Is there anything you can buy today for a nickel?

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*If you haven't entered my drawing for the book....The Middle Place, check out the link on the right.

A - Z MONDAY...The Letter



Yes, the letter M is this week's A - Z letter. But Martin, who supplies me with most of my letters uses a beautiful bird for the letter M. Martin is so silly!


But silly or not, Grandma J will use another one of Martin's educational tools to pose this question about the letter M. Because Grandma J searched high and low for the M bird, but to *no avail. *And by no avail, Grandma J is disregarding birds like mocking, mallard, magpie and macaw.

And so, like Martin, Grandma J will post about M(b)irds for letter M Monday. Here in Texas we have plenty of these....and Grandma J put herself and her precious grandchildren in harms way by pulling off the highway in Dog Ridge TX to take these photos.

Can you believe what she found out about these fowl birds? Unlike Turkey Vultures, these Black Vultures in Central Texas are killers. Not only do they do carnivorous stuff on dead animals, they kill small mammals too....like baby cows.

So maybe Martin's M is for Murder Birds.....maybe not.

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Unrelated important update!
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So many of you were all worried and concerned about Grandma J's swollen feet from her ultra spa pedicure Saturday.

You were right, the photo does raise the question, does grandma J's feet always blow up like a balloon? Is she drinking and all the gin settles in her big toe? Could it be those feet have been subjected to botox?

The answer to all of the above is NO. Here's what happened. You see, Grandma J's granddaughter had a driver's ed. class at four in the afternoon on Saturday. So we rushed back sixty miles from the baseball tournament, and since we had an hour to spare, we stepped next door to our favorite nail salon. That's right, the driving school is in the same strip mall with our nail salon. SAAAAA.WEEEEET!! Now, it's 3 p.m. on a Saturday! Michelle #4 is very popular and Grandma J had to wait over an hour! No problem because she had two hours to kill...and, Tony, who happens to be Michelle's boss, and who happens to have a huge crush on Grandma J's wallet feet, and the feet of all her relatives, let Grandma J sit in a spa chair to soak her calloused feet for an hour while she waited. I just won for having the longest run on sentence in blog history! That, and the hot towel, and hot stone treatment added to the visual.

Well rest easy....here is a picture taken the next day. Not the prettiest feet, with all the different sandal and flip flop tan lines......but not swollen and red like the day before. I know you all are breathing a big sigh of relief!

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The Letter F

That's right, it's A to Z Monday, and this is a Flamingo...native to anywhere but Texas lawns all over Florida. Lovely pink birds, that chirp and sing...chasing away all your worries.

But let's get back to reality, or a place called Texas, shall we?

I'd like to introduce you to Grandma J's fortune cookies..

that's right, for Letter F Monday, I want to bake you some homemade Fortune Cookies!

Here are all the ingredients....and some of the mixture still in the bowl...because some of it's already in the oven.

We have some fortunes that will go in the cookies. All official Chinese fortunes.

When you take the finished cookies out of the oven you have to put the fortune in the center fast...

....then fold the cookie over even faster...like this. Don't they look like crap uh, hmmmm...professional-ish?

Now I will deliver them to my lovely grandchildren who have today off school because it's Presidents' Day.

I'll be back later with pictures and their testimonials. I'm so excited!!