A "GRANDS" Day

Pancakes! Pancakes!, from the childhood library of Buddy Liles, according to the bookplate, had been read to 4 or the 6 "grands" last night to prepare them for their "squiggle pancake" morning---a fun way to start a day with kids---at least our kids liked it when they were young.

Andrew finishes flipping his "A" pancake!

Breakfast was followed by John Parker's baseball game, followed by a quick lunch and a drive into Dallas.
Fourth grader Caleb,  joined his football team, the "Texans" to play in the SMU "mustangs" stadium. What a "big league" setting for those youngsters.

3 hits for John Parker!

Caleb---#13 on the 50yrd. line bottom right

Traffic slowed the return trip home.....but we made it for the 6-8 pm "Neighborhood Night Out" with food trucks, games and a fishing rodeo. Whe-e-e-e!!

 YUM Sliders! Worth waiting in line for---so were the beignets at a different truck.

No winners from our family but that didn't dampen the spirit.

A beautiful ending to a tiring, glorious day.

Proverbs 17:6  “Children’s children are a crown to the aged,..." is a true proverb, but how grateful we were for our "adult children" who drove us around today.

Locali-TEA : neighborhood

Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.
(Proverbs 27:10b)

How much fun we had last night as new neighbors, a soccer coach from Brazil and his precious family, came trick or treating at our front door. With his 2 daughters, we now have 5 little girls on our street and 1 little boy "on the way." They, too saw the big "Pumpkin Speak" announcement and were thrilled to be a part of our "hood."

Young families are a breath of fresh air, and life, for us----the resident grandparents!
May we share "life" with them as well!

A NEIGHBORHOOD ANNOUNCEMENT......

AS ONLY THE YOUNG AND CREATIVE COULD DO!!!

A cuppa locali-TEA is usually best served in one's own neighborhood and often served right at the threshold of one's doorway.

Porch Perspectives

9/2/11 Porches. What are they good for? Absolutely everything!!

Growing up, it seemed that all the houses on my block had porches. 2211 had two. The front porch was perfect for whiling away the hours in the 1950 era summertime as you kept cool and kept up with the goings on of the neighbors.

We also had an L–shaped back porch that was latticed. It was a shelter from the elements. On rainy days Mother hung her “delicates” on the old wooden drying rack ad I played with my Terry Lee doll. It also had some rickety open shelves, one of which, housed our “exposed” house key which IF we ever locked our house (which I have no memory of every doing) we and our neighbors and everyone else could readily access. The steps of said porch were where I sat with Daddy as he taught me the intricacies of opening and eating sardines---those tins with the key on the side that took some ingenuity to get to roll open the can in order to partake of those oily little stinky fish inside. I don’t know how much I liked the sardines but I d remember liking the time with Daddy. He loved them.

It seems that I equate porches with relationships. Growing up they were gathering places for family and friends. Folks would often stop just to sit a spell if we were sitting on the front porch after dinner. Some of my favorite old pix are with my own family sitting in the metal porch furniture at Mother and Daddy’s for a quick Kodak moment. Probably because they take me back to simpler, slower, quieter times----times of relationships.

It seems to me that we could all use some porch sittin’ in our lives. Since our porch is nothing more than a small "one-step up" entry and the heat has me retreating to the coolness of the AC, I’ve decided to put two chairs out front under my birch tree. It seems like the neighborly thing to do.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

LIFE EVENTS

10/10/10 Many events, that can be designated “life events,” have been shared by the Kaplans and the Liles. Moving to Longreen in 1977 was the beginning. From then on, the Kaplans have been our constant neighbors and we’ve shared block parties, lots of patio suppers, little family events, AND BIG life events.

Life Events: Teenagers in the home, bat mitzvas, college years, business startups, funerals and weddings.

We survived the teen years after the bat mitzvas. Brenda and Michelle both “earned” an A in my college class. We’ve been there through the thick and thin of business transitions---from helping out at a kiosk outside their first mall store to applauding the launching of JIM Promotions. We danced at the girls’ weddings and rejoiced in births of grandchildren. We joined in the slow walk to bury Sherry on a cold February day and today we beamed as her granddaughter, Jessica carried her grandmother’s picture nestled in her wedding bouquet.

It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding at Savannah Woods and Jessica was indeed beautiful. (though Larry still thinks she can’t be over 13.) The groom was handsome in his cowboy hat and couldn’t keep his eyes off of his bride.

After the ceremony and the champagne toasts, the Longreen gang seemed to congregate around one table----just as if we were in our back yards. Larry and Jerome were still cracking their same old jokes while Irv and Aunt Sherry rolled their eyes. Michelle and her DC crew were all there and Emily and Stacey joined us just like they did as teenagers. Brenda brought people over to introduce them to us and we all laughed at our “insider” info of the wedding day blunders. One of these days maybe Brenda will laugh too---after all Judge Robilio did finally show-up.

Just yesterday, our daughter, Molly, was the flower girl in Brenda’s wedding---but that can’t be possible because today Brenda was the radiant mother of the bride.*

*And I left my camera at home so you only get to see this cute picture of the “Bride’s Mom” at my house days prior to the wedding---Sorry insider info needed to fully appreciate the picture but that’s only available to those of us on Longreen who have shared Life Events.

Congratulations Jessica & Chris!