One hundred percent of adults guess this woman’s emotion correctly, but only 50% of teenagers get it right.
We found this in a magazine, and, as we have a total of four teenagers and four adults (including Csilla and Jozsef who came for a visit), decided to test it. It was true! Try it out on your families. I’ll post the “correct answer” tomorrow.
I know that all my faithful readers have been diligently and hopefully checking this blog daily for a new post about our trip down to Gulf Shores Alabama. Well, on this rainy and cold Black Friday, I have decided to take a respite from my vacationing to allow you poor Illinioians in on a taste of the fun!
We arrived early, at six o’clock on Wednesday morning. The night of traveling was long and hard, but our van was big enough to allow mostly all of us to lie flat to catch some sleep. Our first sight of the beach was beautifully painted with the sunrise. Not ready quite yet to take a rest, we quickly unpacked and by 8:00 were down on the beach to fish, play, and lay out in the warming sun. Amazingly bright, it was the sun that instantly brought up our spirits and we couldn’t help but laugh and be joyful knowing we have an entire week of beautiful warmth while our home is attacked by a barrage of terribly cold weather.
After having tired of just enjoying the general splendor, Ryan, Steven, and I stepped into the water. We were pleasantly surprised to feel that it was cool enough to be refreshing, and warm enough to be enjoyable. It didn’t take long for us to start tackling the roaring waves to submit and allow us to ride upon them at great speeds toward the beach. We faced the growling giants with ferocity and courage.
We quit for lunch and then stopped for a much needed nap. Lieing in the sun, we were asleep before our heads touched our beach towels.
Once rested, it was time to hit the waves again, and we were glad to be given the opportunity of playing in the water once again.
We ate a delicious meal of ribeye steak for supper and, after playing some fun card games in the condo, retired early, pleased with such a beautiful day.
November 25, 2010. Thanksgiving Day. I arose early after a lovely, if not a little to hot, night’s sleep and went out to check for any seashells that may have washed up during the night. Instead of seashells, the beach was littered with something quite different. Blue Portuguese Man-o-War (jelly fish) and Yellowish brown seaweed as far as the eye could see. There was not a seashell in sight. At first we didn’t know what these funny blue bubbles were and, in all our cleverness, discovered that it was fun to pop them with our feet. We came back to the condo and did a bit of research and found that they are, in fact, the Man-O-War, the most dangerous “jellyfish” in the Gulf Coast. They still sting even after they are dried up on the beach. The websites advised that, if stung, 911 should be called immediately as the venom can go to the lungs and heart and put the victim in shock. “And, I was telling my kids to pop them with their bare feet!” mom exclaimed, quite distressed at the thought.
79 degree weather and there was no way we were getting into that water this day! Instead Dad and Karin went to the Pier to do a little fishing. We joined them shortly. This Pier is the longest one in the Gulf of Mexico. After a long hike over the water, one comes to the end, which is crowded with fishermen. The circular dock area is a hub of activity as hopeful fisher’s cast out, and excited ones tug their poles at every bite. Every once and a while someone’s pole will bend dramatically and the fisher would engage into the repetitive motions of letting the line go slack and then reeling it up. A crowd always gathered, tense with anticipation to get the first glimpse of what might be struggling at the end of the line in the dark sea. Most were big, iridescent, smelly catfish. These were always thrown back. The occasional special ones were giant Red fish, which put smiles on the tired fishermen’s faces. These were a tasty and gratifying prize. Now for the exotic fish. Karin pulled up a sting ray. I still shudder at the picture in my head of their weird mouths. It bother’s me for some reason. One man accidently hooked a poor seagull. Several small sharks were caught, however, they were not pulled all the way up. It is illegal to bring a shark onto the deck as they tend to get nasty and bite. A shark on deck is a 500 dollar fine. When the men were not pulling up all these interesting marine life, there was always something else to look at. Gulls and Pelicans soared at eye level of the pier. Upon their powerful and wide wingspans they seemed to float on the air above the water. You could always tell they saw a prize underneath for they would immediately ascend into the sky. Once reaching an adequate height, the birds would take just a moment to check the fish was still there before plunging themselves like missiles toward the greenish sea. (I love birds) We even saw some Dolphins, no doubt hunting for the same fish we were trying to hook.
That took half the day, the other half was spent traditionally: with the three generations of girls in the kitchen, cooking and laughing and enjoying each other while preparing Thanksgiving dinner. It was lovely in deed, and well worth the work:
I don’t think I even need to tell you what I am thankful for. It has to be quite obvious. I am so blessed!
And how could I not feel blessed, after dinner we ventured outside to see the sun as a great red orb slowly making it’s descent to rest, first upon, then below the glistening sea.
I have many more videos that will soon be a movie and up on this blog. Until then, check back often for more about today and tomorrow’s adventures!
On Wednesday Steven invited some friends over to ride horses and I, figuring I wouldn’t hesitate if it was Karin asking, agreed to help him. We were all a little surprised when these “friends” were both two pretty girls. He got his fair share of teasing after that! Neither of them had really ridden a horse before, so I had to be pretty thorough with teaching them how to ride, but after one hour they were both able to walk, trot, and canter Larry with an adequate amount of control. After they went home, I dressed up, picked up Grandma and Jessica, and left for church. The sermon was nice, though, by now I hardly remember what it was about. The ministers left the pulpit and we began chatting amongst ourselves happily and I see Tom Rieker coming toward me. He asks me if I drove my white Kia to church and I replied with a nod and an exasperated, “Did I leave my lights on AGAIN?” He assured me I hadn’t, but gave me the news that my back right tire is extremely flat. Luckily my uncle, Jozsef came to the rescue to change it and we were able to come home at a decent hour. Oh bother, just one more thing to worry about.
For school on Thursday we took a quick quiz and then learned that the rest of the day would be devoted to this “Barriers” experience thing. We all got scenarios that read something along the lines of this: “You are a 43 year old who has fractured her left leg due to a fall on ice. You have been given axillary crutches and orders for none weight bearing on that leg. You have left your phone in you car and need to go fetch it. On your way back you need to use the restroom. Don’t forget to wash your hands!” So, we fitted ourselves with our crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, and canes and headed out into the community to struggle with doors, stairs, and sidewalk curbs and to get funny looks. It was really an eye opener to see how people with disabilities are treated.
Friday I had the day off, and though I woke up that morning with very little planned, by the time we came home from the walk, I was up to my eyeballs in business. I needed to clean my own home for money to spend in Gulf Shores, so I started that promptly at 8. Then at 1 I started working on my art project which took 2 hours. I was supposed to depict a perfect day in three parts: afternoon, morning, and evening.
While I painted, my wonderful dad offered to take my car to get the tire fixed as he had a dentist appointment anyway. I was rather dissappointed when he came home with a bill for 180.00 and told me the tire couldn’t be fixed and the other needed to be replaced. EEK! That will put a strain on my finances for sure. At least I will have all new tires for the winter. Well, I didn’t have much time to worry about money because following Dad were Anni and Ryan which meant that in thirty minutes I needed to be leaving to meet at the church at 7:30 for Operation Christmas Child. This is a lovely service in which people from all around buy gifts to fill a shoe box with and send them out to poor kids in other countries. We had a great turnout as most of the Young group came.
From there I left a little early to go to Morton. Their young group was doing a similar project and I was invited to join them. We met at the Funk’s house after shopping at wal-mart to wrap gifts, eat some really good food, and play Dutch Blitz.
Saturday, (Don’t worry, this is the last day I’m going to write about) I slept in till 7:30 (Shocking, I know). When I woke up I had some coffee and read the Bible and got to work putting together my costume for the parade. Judy and her Friesians were invited to ride in the Chilicothe Christmas Parade. As much as I love getting on a horse in a pretty outfit and riding in front of a great crowd, the day turned out to be long, cold, and quite exhausting. I think it was worth it though. After all, I had the best behaved horse of them all, though maybe not the prettiest: Ribbon is an old pro at these things and was such a sweetheart through it all. I really like that big mare.
I came home after the parade with only about an hour of downtime before I was to go back to the church for our young group’s “Mystery Night”. These are always very fun and well attended. This mystery night was focused on the body of Christ. We arrived and were separated into groups of the mouth, hands, feet, heart, and nose and were sent off to do service projects such as writing letters to the sick, wrapping Bibles, etc. After wards we played games till all hours of the night and came home for a brief nights sleep. I must say, I think we all came away from that evening feeling as if it was the best mystery night yet!
If you are wondering, I haven’t updated this for a while simply because nothing of importance has happened lately. We are counting down the days until when Thanksgiving break begins and we start our mini vacation down to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Besides that the view from where I sit is rather dull.
I would like to express my thanks for all the sweet compliments on that video posted of Larry. Never did I think it would become so popular so I didn’t worry when I saw the video quality was very poor. Perhaps I will do another in the daylight and with a better camera, but I would hate to appear full of myself or my horse. We shall see.
Oh, there is some news, I went undercover as a paparazzi journalist and was able to capture these exclusive photos of the star himself. These cannot be found any place else!
Who doesn’t enjoy a good roll?
A couple days ago….Monday, I think, there was a gorgeous sunrise and I just had to get a picture. It sat on my memory card for days, neglected and forgotten. Here it is: Isn’t God and artist?
And, I took some photos of our Davidovics Thanksgiving party and forgot about them, so here they are:
This is Evie playing with one of my brothers toys
Zolie had a lot of fun playing with all our oddball decorations.
Mom and Aunette, our neighbor took care of dishes.
We had Kinga take family pictures of everyone.
