Pictures of class
The short kindergarten grouped in front. The fidgety first graders waving their yellow hands on the sides. Dignified middle graders dressed in showy red. Smug older students mounded in back pretending not to be there. And placed awkwardly center front, a couple of taller than the average girls sporting purple bouffant hair styles on their embarrassingly long giraffe-like necks. Adults stoic across the back. ©
Remember lining up for those group school pictures?
There was always some poor kid who stuck out like a towering pine tree among clover.
That awkward day captured forever.
For good or bad, nothing stays the same.
Outfits look different, but the faces are so similar to those in your class: a perky happy child, the sullen, the one clown who has dares to turn profile. Think he got in trouble for that? (USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Ever been around a housewife in the frenzy of spring cleaning?
Choking on dust and cleaner fumes, you run a real risk of crashing over stuff pulled out from the depths of closets, piled, and marked for rehoming.
Like any establishment owner, Mother Nature gets antsy to freshen up the premises. Some changes done seasonally like most homeowners do, but once she gets started, watch out.
Her tools a bit on the larger scale: floods, earthquakes, rock slides, sink holes, volcanoes, river washouts.
She can also be bit forgetful about turning off the oven on time or leaving the freezer door open too long. (And who hasn’t done that?)
Naturally so clever and skilled.
Funnel clouds must be easiest way to rearrange large objects.
Hail for that distressed surface look.
Dust mite relocation program.(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
And who doesn’t wish to improve a living space by encouraging problematic neighbors to relocate?
Mother Nature seems really good at that. Sometimes, gets them clean outta here permanently.
Like earthworms in a spring garden, humans better take care to avoid that sharp shovel as the earth turns.
Now the ants? Such disagreeable neighbors. Hopefully Mother Nature can relocate those pests.
Careful if you cry “uncle”
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge.
An interesting tidbit. On Monday, President Trump handed the National Parks Service a check for his entire first quarter salary: $78,333.32.
How classy it would be for all those wealthy individuals who claim to want to pay more taxes to follow his lead. Nothing stopping those 40 millionaires from writing a check to anyone they think needs help rather than just talking about it….. Money where mouth is…Actions speak louder than words…
Beware of the primrose path Ophelia warns.. ©
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
I remember the school photos. Taken in the school cafeteria/gym room. Hot and uncomfortable standing on risers under the bright lights. Waiting for the fidgety ones to calm down. And then *snap* and a flash that blurred my sensitive little eyes for hours afterwards. Good times, not. 😉
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And those risers used to shake and creak. Scared me to death. Being the shortest in the class, I always trudged to the front. Me and that read haired freckled face Billy kid. School pictures are some sort of psychological torture. Thanks for the snappy comment
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I suppose Mother Nature has been cleaning and rearranging lately. Worse than school group photos are adult group photos. For once I can appreciate something that Trump has done…I hope it is not fake news!
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She seems to be getting an early start this spring. Apparently not pleased I’m taking so long to trim the brown palm fronds and leaving hints ripped off. But I was only waiting to make sure we were down with cold weather and the palms could take off their warm bundles!
It’s real. I heard about the possibility last week and saw the check and the hand off to the the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, and superintendent for Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Tyrone Brandyburg during the White House press conference on Monday. (Here’s one article about it from Forbes – there are lots of others. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2017/04/04/president-trump-donates-first-quarter-presidential-salary-to-national-parks-service/#a4d01f2645d8 )
I locate original sources of information for this blog. (“Fake news” as silly term which lessens the damage when what is said is actually lies or slander. Might be better if we went back to plain speech and brutally honest speech. Big people respect the truth, right?)
Pretty unusual to find an individual who will work for free. So many millionaire “public servants” …maybe others will take the hint. Demonstration of class would be a delightful trend.
Thanks for leaving a snappy comment
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I was always the tall girl in back with the boys. Good times, good times. Now, with both sons and husband over 6 feet tall, they call me “Shorty.” At a healthy 5’8″. 🙂
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Isn’t that how it goes? So many of the tall 4-6th grader girls ended up being the short ones in high school. Not average height – either end- does add something into personality development? (Exercise and keep that calcium intake up – so far not shortening here…knock on wood)
Nice to see you around the neighborhood – I read your blog post, but for some reason WP won’t take my “likes”. Hope the writing is going well (and any promotional speeches – you got that down now.)
Paw waves from the realm and thanks for the standup comment
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Thanks, am doing well! WordPress can be wonky. 😬
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I was always at the back, being tall! And my bestie was even taller.
Can’t be happy about that $78K check when he’s cut billions from the park service budget, is costing NYC $128-$300K per day to protect Trump Tower, and has made multiple trips to FL that cost about €3M each.
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Every little bit helps – difficult to find a person willing to work for free – and get beat up (along with his family as targets, too) everyday.
Did you ever have a teacher in school you hated and she/he hated you too and after weeks of hearing complaints, your parents said something like “Well in life you are going to have no choice about being around a boss or co-worker that id difficult/had a personality conflict. Just think of this year as practice for adult life and find a way to make it work. I’m about to that point. There were 2 millionaires with baggage that were poor choices and this is what we got, so now we have to deal.
Hopefully there are enough problems and issues in common to all sides so Congress can quit the tantrum and accomplish productive work on those. (But not holding thy breath – the politicians seem to be all the same no matter the parties – trying to enrich themselves first)Then get out the spears and knives during the next election. I’m tired of the posturing, ranting and ugliness. We deserve better and can do better – hopefully next time.
(and if you research it, it’s pretty obvious where/when the real budget cuts started some 7 years ago – some as retaliation and some as blackmail-type attempts – Many people are still angry about those cuts and ugly bullying tactics…written in posts back there somewhere…)
Presidents have costs…like the Obama’s trips to Hawaii – there was the Christmas when wife and kids were angry Dad had to delay and work a bit longer so they took one of the presidential planes and secret service/entourage and left early while Dad came later with an equal plane, security force, entourage….talk about money…not to mention all the costs to island paradise stays in Hawaii – not your basic vacation.(Trump owns his recreation – so no cost to taxpayers. Bush owned his ranch. Both used/are using those environments with foreign leaders to do business…the Chinese requested the Florida house instead of DC recently for trade talks )
Obama disliked Camp David and didn’t use it, but did spend air travel to many golf courses…when there are so many near DC as I recall… I have an actual list of all the extra costs of the last 4 years – and as a taxpayer, it is disgusting. All the foreign trips with family/relatives and huge entourage in tow (some of that was paid by the family…but his mother-in-law got a huge salary as nanny and “retired” with a bigger sum in pension than most taxpayers will…and she didn’t pay rent or food or…).
Presidents are given a house, chef, recreational facilities and all of DC/Camp David available. Presidents and their families should utilize those – vacations, large fancy celebrity parties – non state dinners, holiday travel expenses should not require additional taxpayer money. Trump can afford security in NYC until his son’s school year is over – his guys might be better trained even?
You are right. First families should have to live on a strict budget just like the average families they be suppose to be representing.
Guess it’s just gut it up and hope for the best right now. Someday, picture perfect – the dream. Appreciate the snap shot comment!
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What a wonderful post! 🙂 Every bit of it! I’ve missed reading these: will be wandering through, catching up, over the next couple of days. And PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE let me know if you’ve found a way to persuade those ants to travel elsewhere. They are NOT welcome here unless they’re outside. And even the I’m not too sure about their motives. ::shifty eyes::
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Ants will make a monkey’s uncle out of you. I do know they leave pheromone trails to show others the way, so when you wipe them off the counter, be sure to really clean where they were – if you can eliminate the invisible trail, sometimes, they have to reroute…preferable is to another house.
Now with fire ants, they lodge in the driest spot they can find, so we water the yard if they seem to be house hunting.
(The weather’s nice and I’m behind blog reading. Between the heat and zika, it looks like an indoor summer and I’ll be around more…but right now – one last cold front! Woo-doggie
Thanks for marching by to chat
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Oh! The school photo! I looked just like everybody else except the beanpoles.
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I remember we all looked like bean poles of assorted heights. Much less fun things to do inside and we didn’t have air conditioning everywhere…and were allowed to get dirty.
I hated school pictures: sensitive eyes and we were always looking directly at the sun or bright lights and I always squinted and blinked at the wrong time.
Thanks for adding a picture perfect comment
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I was in the midst of a housewife doing spring cleaning today but was invited to assist in one scenario. I removed the kitchen rugs so its floor could be mopped. Of course I was also tasked with making sure said rugs were clean upon return but my superior performance was rewarded…by not being involved in pantry reorganization and relocating some fridge and freezer items. Then again, I doubt offering an opinion in those areas would have been well received. Sometimes space arranging …requires giving a little space.
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