"CAN'T REPLY TO YOUR COMMENTS!"

To all of you readers who have left comments, I have to apologize. Thanks for your comments! Trust me I read yours and am working on  how to fix it so I can reply. If anyone else who has a blog knows how to fix this, it would be appreciated! Thanks. Meanwhile, know that I appreciate your comments!

Sherry Hill

"HYDRANGEAS"

"HYDRANGEAS"

I can't remember a time when I didn't love hydrangeas.  There was an elderly woman who lived near a relative of mine and she had the most glorious hydrangea bush right in front of her house:  It was breathtaking. I loved looking at the different colors--blue, purple and pink all swirled up into one huge cluster. Although young, I would always want to see that when I was at my relative's house. And I did. When I got really close to it, I could see that each blossom contained many little flowers all bundled up into one blossom--that made it even more special to me.

Somehow between then and becoming an adult, it never dawned on me to plant a hydrangea bush at all. Don't know why for I still had the love for it: I would drive by houses that had them in the front and be taken back to my first meeting with one and just stare to the point of almost wrecking! No newer houses ever had hydrangea bushes ever. Seemed to me that only old houses had them for they were in vogue a long time ago--maybe in the early 1900's.

A couple of years ago, I purchased four hydrangea bushes and planted them in my front yard. Was so excited. Put wire fencing around each one so that they would not be cut down by the man who mowed my lawn. Even went so far as to point each one out to him one day when he was here to mow my lawn, came inside and when he knocked on my door, I went outside to see what he had done. Lo and behold, he had mowed all four of those bushes down flatter than a fritter! I was livid. The conversation between him and me was not one for writing here but honestly I said to him "But I showed you where they were and they had fencing around them!" He just looked at me like I was from Mars.

Never had him mow my lawn again ever.

Last year I purchased four more hydrangea bushes and had a neighbor [who had a green thumb] to plant them for me. This time I didn't put fencing around each one but big rocks--really big rocks. Boulder type almost.

I have a wonderful woman who takes care of my yard --she mows, trims and is oh so careful with those hydrangea bushes. They have leaves on them now and I check them daily [should I? I do] and am crossing my fingers that each will grow big and be the colors of the very first one I ever saw--blue, purple and pink. I know they will at least be blue for that is the color of the blooms when my neighbor planted them last year.

Can't wait for them to get big: Not sure how long it takes for I didn't look online. Sort of afraid to find out that I am doing something wrong and by now I really don't want to know. Just hoping for I never forgot the first time I ever saw a hydrangea bush ever. And I want at least one out of the four to get huge.

Maybe I'll be lucky and have four of them.

Here's hoping!

Sherry Hill

"WHEN YOU HEARD YOUR FIRST AND MIDDLE NAME IT MEANT TROUBLE!"

WHEN YOU HEARD YOUR FIRST AND MIDDLE NAME IT MEANT TROUBLE!”

When your mother called you by your first and middle name together, you knew instantly that you were in trouble. Big trouble. Might have been the tone of her voice but more was using those two names together! My real first name is Sharon and my middle name is Lynn. When I heard my mother scream “Sharon Lynn!” I knew that trouble was looming as sure as the sun would come up!

From the age of three, I had the nickname “Sherry” but by age five and in the first grade, I had to go by Sharon. Did all the way through school and even to this day for technical reasons go by Sharon when I fill out a form or write an article—but not on my blog. To this very day, I don’t like my real first name for that very reason of being called “Sharon Lynn!” Must have heard my mother scream that hundreds of times together and I was not a bad kid—really I wasn’t. But the hangup is on my part for not liking my first name and that’s the reason why—trauma big time.

If your mother got mad at you and screamed your first and middle name at you, you know exactly what I am talking about—it makes you shudder. My two sons were never called by their first and middle name by me ever for that very reason. Maybe I should have for sometimes I forget their middle names and I chose them—that’s not good to forget that at all. Their names are Brian David and Kevin Michael—maybe they forget their middle names as well. Never asked them and definitely not going to ask. They would think I had gone over the edge.

If you have suffered the trauma of being called by your first and middle name by your mother when you were young and into your teenage years, welcome to the club. To this day, I still don’t like my first name. Do you?

Sherry Hill

"ANKLE BRACELETS"

"ANKLE BRACELETS"

When I was a teenager, ankle bracelets were frowned upon--nice girls just didn't wear them at all. Never. Ever. I remember seeing some women with them on while walking on Capitol Street [the main street here in our town] and it made me wince. After all, I had been told the above and so I just knew that these women were not of the nice type at all. And an ankle bracelet was considered taboo.

The only type of ankle bracelets available then were either silver or gold. And women who wore them, wore them over their hose--the bracelet sort of hung down onto their feet. Men stared at these women and I am pretty sure that women did too:  So did I.

When the seventies hit with the hippie-type clothing and accessories, ankle bracelets appeared in all types of fabrics and metals. Did I wear one then? No. I was teaching school and again, it was frowned upon if you were a professional woman. But women from all walks of life started wearing ankle bracelets and the "taboo" sort of got lost in translation.

It would take me to the nineties to wear one and did I ever! The choices were even more than in the seventies--you name it and it was made out of it as far as fabric, metal or whatever and embellished to the hilt. Still have some made out of twisted rope, embellished ones and some are metal--one is sterling silver. When I think about wearing one, I get it out and put it on and feel no shame whatsoever! None. Ever.

For those of you who are younger than me, thought you might be interested in knowing how such a small thing as an ankle bracelet went from taboo to acceptable. If you live in another country, maybe things were different in perspective than here. All I can say is that what happened earlier here was really ridiculous if you were to stop and think about it. 

Long live ankle bracelets! If you still have yours, get them out and wear one--dare you. Make that a double dare.

Sherry Hill

'WORLD WAR ONE SOLDIERS FORMING STATUE OF LIBERTY"

Someone sent this to me in an email; I found it more than astounding for if you look closely, you can see hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers from WWI forming the Statue of Liberty.

Would make a nice keepsake for that is what I did: I printed it out and saved it. Rare to see a copy of a postcard this old and even more rare to see soldiers forming this specific shape! Enjoy!

Sherry Hill

"ALL IS VANITY"

“ALL IS VANITY”

Charles Allen Gilbert painted this and as you can see, it is a play on words as well as an optical illusion. I used to have this painting [a copy] and it scared my then-young sons—no wonder! If you look at it one way, you see a skull.

If you look at it another way, you see a woman sitting down at a vanity perhaps reaching for some makeup. I always thought that the artist was trying to say that too much vanity can lead to one’s death. Say you were walking down the street and you saw your reflection in the glass front of a store:  Of course, you’d stop and stare for that’s natural. But what if that store were on a corner and then you started walking—you might end up in traffic.

I knew the word “vanity” from the time I was little for my grandmother would catch me looking at myself in the mirror and she’d say, “Woman, thy name is vanity.” Really didn’t know what she meant but knew that word! Later on, she told me that her mother had said that to her; by then, I knew what the word meant. And then my mother said it to me and so I have passed that saying onto my own granddaughter.  The saying lives on! But as for Gilbert’s painting, if you have never seen it before, take time to take in his message and the wonderful optical illusion—scary one way and lovely the other just as vanity can be for "all is vanity!"

Sherry Hill


*Check out Wikipedia: Def Leppard has an album cover with this painting on it--Vanity.

"I HAVE CROWS EVERYWHERE!"

“I HAVE CROWS EVERYWHERE!”

Having lived in my house a long time, I hadn’t seen any crows around until the last couple of years and now I am bombarded with them. They like to stay in an oak tree that is across the street from me—it’s a wooded area. The minute I put out birdseed or bread for birds and squirrels and come inside, they swarm into my yard. They are huge and beautiful but also skittish for if they see me watching them from my kitchen window and make a move, they fly off in unison.

Sometimes I will have as many as twenty in my yard—that’s a lot of crows! And they will eat anything in sight leaving the yard barren of anything I put out. At other times, I will see only three or four mingling with other birds such as cardinals, chickadees and the like and the smaller birds pay no attention to the crows at all. [Could be that such a small number of crows is not as threatening to the smaller birds as a large number.] I do know that they are on constant watch to see if I put anything out—how could they not be for they swoop down as soon as I shut my front door.

Curious me decided to google crow information and I was astounded to learn that they have a good memory; not only that but if someone is mean to one of them, they will carry a grudge forever. And a group of flying crows is called a “murder:” Doesn’t mean that they are on a murdering rampage—it’s just what the group is called.

I have seen hundreds of crows gathering across the street at times and then they all take off in a huge group flying across the river which is way down below my house. If you’ve ever heard a crow, imagine that sound magnified by a hundred: It’s so loud that it blasts your ear drum! These gatherings are no doubt a reason to congregate and fly off for food somewhere else.

It’s fun to watch a crow grab something out of my yard such as an ear of corn [I put those out in the fall] and take it out to the street. The crow will put its feet on the ear of corn and eat away right there in the street but also protecting that corn from other crows. One specific day, I had three crows on my split rail fence and two were in the yard. All of a sudden, a red-tailed hawk flew down and sat perched beside the three crows:  I could see the hawk’s yellow eyes as it peered to the left and the right to see the crows. But the hawk decided to fly away for it was outnumbered. A red-tailed hawk will attack a crow in a heartbeat but not when it’s outnumbered.

Another fact about crows [maybe you the reader knew this] is that they will swoop down and peck at a small dog or cat. I actually saw this happen a long time ago and was so surprised—my neighbors had a small dog that they let out in their backyard and one day a crow came down and pounced on that little dog. The dog was all right with a few scratches.

So many sayings about crows are prevalent in our English language:  “As straight as a crow flies” is one as is “dark as a crow’s wing.” There are so many more but I’m sure you’ve heard them. And as for a “scarecrow” I don’t think they do much good at all in keeping crows away from crops. Crows catch on real fast that the “scarecrow” is a fake!

If you’re out and about glance up and see if you see any crows: They are awesome to watch. Just don’t be mean to one for they have that long-term memory!

Sherry Hill