"DO NOT BUY THIS FOR A MOTHER'S DAY GIFT!"

As an only child, I always bought my mom something that she really liked every single Mother’s Day—that is till I decided to buy her something live, like a hamster! You would have to have known my mom: She had a beautiful apartment, didn’t like clutter and never had a pet for she couldn’t as by the rules. I was eight months pregnant with my first son and was downtown: Not sure how I got around but I did. And all of a sudden I had an epiphany—I would buy my mom a hamster for Mother’s Day! In retrospect, it had to be the “mothering instinct” that drove me to buy this animal.

I went into a dime store [those are way gone] and walked downstairs huffing and puffing and spied the hamsters. Found one that was tan and white, quite like the photo and paid for it. Then, I had to buy a cage for it as well as food. Carrying the cage with the hamster inside of it must have looked ridiculous since I was eight months pregnant.

It was about ten blocks from downtown Charleston to my mom’s apartment and it was March. The day was nice but after one block, I was in terrible pain trying to carry that hamster, cage and all. Heaven only knows how I made it to her apartment, but I did. There were two sets of doors to go through to get to her place and each time, I had to set down the cage and ring the bell. Seemed like an eternity till she finally opened the door.

You should have seen the look on her face! “What is that thing?!” she asked. I couldn’t speak as I was so out of breath; went into her apartment, sat down and placed the hamster, cage and all on her lovely glass-topped Chippendale coffee table. Sitting down was no easy task for me much less for what would ensue. My mom went ballistic on me, telling me that she couldn’t have pets [“How would your landlord know?” I asked her] and besides, she’d never pick one of those things! She didn’t even know what it was till I told her.

I thought I’d give her some time with the hamster and called my then-husband to come and get me and take me home. By this time, it was about six in the evening and I was not feeling well.

The thought of calling my mom entered my mind but so did the thought of hearing her scream at me and so, I didn’t call her till the next day. “How’s the hamster doing?” I asked in a not so strong voice. “The thing bit me and I took it back! It was up all night long going round and round and made a mess.”

My heart sunk for I thought I had given her something that she would learn to love and it would be company for her. Wrong!

That was a long time ago and my mom died ten years ago. It hit me after she died, that I no longer had a mom or could give her a gift for Mother’s Day. If that has happened to you, you know the feeling. Of all the gifts I ever gave her for that specific day, I always think back to the hamster episode and realize how dumb it was on my part to buy her something like that.

Let me forewarn you: Always ask first if your mom wants something living for a gift for Mother’s Day or you will be in big trouble like I was. And if she says no, abide by her wishes. Trust me, I know what happens if you don’t!



Sherry Hill

Grow Violets - wikiHow

Grow Violets - wikiHow

VIOLETS

Violets are my favorite flower: They’re free, have a faint smell and are easy to find—except in my yard. My yard has never had a single violet, ever. Other yards in my neighborhood have them and hardly any of the people who have violets could care less and yet, here I am the one who loves them and has none.

That’s more than strange. Or maybe that’s what happens to people who love them—they aren’t near for some odd reason.

Picking a bunch of them is no easy task if you happen to stumble upon those with short stems: You wind up bent over and have a hard time straightening up! Picking a bunch of them with long stems is no easy task either but it’s not quite as hard. Personally, I’d rather have someone pick them for me—preferably a young kid who would probably delight in doing it [probably not!]

Violets have that beautiful color [some are almost white,] shape and are dainty. Yes, they are abundant this time of year but like the things we want the most, they are fleeting. “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may?” I don’t think so! It should be “Gather ye violets while you can.” I’ve got mine right now in a little glass bowl and in a matter of days they will be gone. And I didn't pick them either-- my granddaughter did. Best of all, they were free!

Sherry Hill

OLD MOVIES

OLD MOVIES

I love old movies—you know, the ones that are mostly black and white. If you would have asked me a long while back if I did, I would have said, “No!” Of course I had seen a lot of them as a teenager and onward but it wasn’t till several years ago that I developed a great interest in them and my reasons are tenfold.

Love looking at the set designs in these movies: They are actually “time capsules” for each period. One of my most favorite set designs is the big room in the movie, “The Picture of Dorian Gray:” It is simply breathtaking, in black and white and has perfect symmetry. And it’s art deco as well which is a period I love to see in sets, clothing or objects.

The clothing that the actors and actresses wear in these old movies fascinate me: Always perfect and of the specific period. And nothing like today at all as these performers were impeccably dressed and their hair was perfect for that time. Men wore handkerchiefs in their coat pockets and were suave. Women were dressed to the nines and always perfectly coiffed. You don’t see that today in movies unless you watched “The King’s Speech:” It was a period movie and yes, the actors and actresses of course were dressed for that time.

It’s fun to look at the type of cars in these movies and wonder how they made it in chase scenes or the like. But if you’ve ever watched “Topper,” you saw that jazzed-up sports car and it did make it even after a colossal wreck. After watching this movie many times as well as the sequels, I had to go online to see what type of car that was: It was specially altered to look as it did. And definitely not on the market.

Harold Lloyd movies are some of my favorites as he was a master of comedy as well as his own stuntman. From his silent movies to the “talkies” he was more than an actor: He was a genius.

I could go on and on about black and white movies—I love “The Thin Man” and the series that followed. In reality, watching these old movies is an escape into a past that I didn’t know but have come to recognize. Isn’t that what movies are supposed to do in the first place? Transport us to another place? Old movies definitely do that. If you haven’t watched any, give it a try. You might get hooked just like I did and you will watch far more than the movie.



Sherry Hill

THE EAGLE CAM ON WINDOWS INTERNET EXPLORER NOW

If you haven't seen this live cam of a mom eagle on her nest, take a look! The live video is from Decourah, Iowa. Amazing times we live in when we can watch the birth of baby eagles right on our computer screen! I saw one baby eagle attempt to get out from underneath the mom but she nudged it back under. Not sure how many she has had but supposedly there is one more egg left to be hatched.

Once I raised three newborn robins and trust me, that was no easy task on my part or my husband's part: Birds know instinctively what to do. Humans do not. Those baby robins required more care than my cat or dog. Wore me out but at least they were saved, raised and released.

Not busy? Take a look at the mom eagle: I am! Want to see if she's hatched the remaining egg.

Catch you later!

Sherry Hill



TECHNICAL FRUSTRATION!

Everything was going just fine computer-wise until my camera wasn’t recognized by my computer. That fact led me to contact the tech support part of the company who made my camera and after an hour of uninstalling their software and reinstalling it, I was ready to explode.

Having done this before, after forty minutes with the tech rep on the phone, I told her that I could finish the rest on my own as it showed that there were only six more minutes left to finish the download. Hung up and that six minutes changed to twenty-nine minutes in a flash and I waited and waited and then the installation locked up: It just froze on my screen.

Everything I tried didn’t work and I gave up—for a while; then, I got mad and deleted the download and reinstalled the program with my disc. Guess what? That didn’t work either. And on top of that problem, I couldn’t get online.

This is now day three and counting. I have done the necessary clean ups, deleted temporary files and cleared up unnecessary files. I have called my internet provider [I use broadband but also a different server] a while ago and the tech support woman and I chatted back and forth for a long time [she was patient!] but to no avail. Even uninstalled and reinstalled a different version of their software which I wanted and again, it is not working.

You know how I feel if you have been in one of these frenzies and attempt to fix it no matter what—you try this and then you try that. Well, the “that” is not working and neither am I at this point. Today is Wednesday and I am taking a day off from technical frustration: I am worn out from it all. Scarlett said, “Tomorrow is another day!” I’m taking her words literally and not thinking about any of this today at all.

But on tomorrow I am calling in the troops. Some things you just can’t do by yourself or with expertise advice over the phone. My camera will work with my computer and I will be able to access my internet server by hook or crook! Meanwhile, send some good karma my way—I need it!

Sherry Hill

WAS THERE A "BREAD" CONSPIRACY?

On Thursday I went to a Walgreen's just to buy bread:  They had none. Friday I went without it, thinking that I could get some the next day. The next day came all right and so did my thirteen year old granddaughter. We went out to eat and stopped at Walgreen's only to find out that there had been a run on bread. They had none! It was getting late and we both decided that we'd get it on Sunday.

You can live without  bread only so long and yes, I did have crackers. But I kept spying my jar of Jif peanut butter and wishing that there were bread in the house and there wasn't.

Sunday morning came and my granddaughter and I went outside and did splatter painting a al "Jackson Pollack:" This time she was teaching me and it was a blast.  After we finished that, which took about an hour as we both did two artworks, she said, "Now where are we going?" "Let's go to Magic Island." I agreed with her as the day was beautiful and warm. "Magic Island" is a piece of land that over the years grew larger and larger as it is attached to the riverbank. To get there, you have to park your car, walk across a four lane boulevard and then go down a concrete path [or steps] to the flat piece of land that is by the Kanawha River.

In the past, I've always packed a picnic lunch and taken cold Pepsi or Coke. But I had no bread! And there was one Pepsi left and that meant that we would have to go to a convience store to get some hotdogs and something to drink. Off we went to the favorite place that we both liked and guess what? Once inside, we looked over to the counter where the hotdogs and barbecues are fixed and there was a sign: "Food is not served on Sunday!" Had that sign ever been there before on a Sunday? Of course not. And my granddaughter had two loaves of bread in her hand as well as a cube of Pepsi: We didn't get the bread or the Pepsi cube but just some chips and got back in the car. We were really close to Magic Island but had no food as such.

Brilliant idea I thought: "Let's go to 7-11." They always have hotdogs there. After driving out of our way and getting inside the store, we saw a huge crowd of "after church" people. As we inched our way over to where the hotdogs were being cooked, we noticed that there was only one hotdog! And a woman had pulled out the bun drawer underneath to discover that there were no buns at all! Again, I had my granddaughter get two loaves of bread and she started to get a cube of Pepsi when I heard some man in front of the counter say, "You mean you're not accepting credit cards?!" The registers would not take cards. People were livid as was I. "Only taking money" said a girl behind the counter.

Setting my pocketbook down on the counter, I scrambled to find my billfold and in it was seventy-five cents in cash. And so, my granddaughter had to put back the bread and the cube of Pepsi--again.

We left there and by now I was beginning to think that there was some kind of "bread conspiracy" going on: How many places could you either not find bread, change your mind or not be able to use your credit card?

Back into the car again, I told my granddaughter that we would just drive through Arby's: It was back the other way but close to Magic Island.

Thank heavens we got food! Each of us got a roast beef sandwich, curly fries and large Pepsis.

I found a place to park near the boulevard, we got out and took our food with us, walked across the four lane boulevard and descended down the walkway to the island. Finding a bench way across near the river was a blessing! I was near maniac-stage by this time. And it was so good just to sit down, enjoy the view and eat! We devoured our food and stayed a long time either taking pictures or going down to the river. After an hour and a half, we decided to leave.

But the path we had walked down was farther away as we had moved down the island to a bench we both liked; my car was parked almost straight across from a huge flight of concrete steps.

Rock Balboa came into mind as I attempted to climb those fifteen or so steps: I felt like him only I wasn't running up them. I was barely making it up those steps and my granddaughter was way ahead of me. When I got to the top, it was hard for me to catch my breath: High steps and I don't agree with each other.

Both of us made it across the four lane and to my car and when we got inside, I had to rest--those steps had almost done me in and I didn't have on my normal high heels either!

At this point I remembered the bread quest and so we went back to the first place we had gone and got two loaves of bread and that Pepsi cube, put them in the car and headed off for more places to go and see.

By this time, I was running out of gas--figuratively and literally. We were almost home when I told her that I thought we should try the 7-11 again: Maybe their cash registers were taking credit cards by now.

Mad dash back there and lo and behold, the registers were fixed. She pumped my gas and we headed off to three more places. The day was still glorious, we had on the ac and the sun roof was open. My Black Eyed Peas cd "The End" was playing so loud that my back window was shaking but I didn't care! It felt great. And she loved it too.

Once home, she dragged in the bread for me as well as the Pepsi cube and I collapsed into a heap.

I'm not really sure what transpired after that but she did have to leave around six p.m. as she had school the next day.

The two loaves of bread were visible and guess what? I was too tired to even fix a sandwich!

Still I think that from Friday to Sunday that there was a "bread conspiracy" going on but I was so glad it was over despite the fact that we had to go to a gazillion places to get it. Some days are like that you know? But three days in a row was more than strange.

But all ended well and I had spent two glorious days with my granddaughter and that made it all worthwhile--bread or no bread.

Sherry Hill