An Adult All-Girl Slumber Party

No, now get your mind out of the gutters. There was nothing kinky or X-rated going on but we did substitute wine tasting for the pillow fights and beds for sleeping bags. Once a year our YaYa group gets together and spends the weekend at Margie’s River House. It is down a really long dirt road that is really exciting to drive on when it rains (no rain this weekend so I didn’t get to play around in the mud with my new car) It has all the amenities needed (such as bathrooms, bedrooms, dishwasher, washer, dryer, but none of the distractions of TV or the ever present job-involving Internet. We spend our time eating and talking, sitting on the dock and talking, and walking on the dirt road and talking. You get the theme… The only semi-productive thing we did was make 5 podcasts of some of my experiences in China. You can find them in iTunes under Podcasts - search the iTunes Store for “What we did on our summer vacation”. Click on the title and you will see all the podcasts we have done.

Low Tide at Margie's Dock

Sittin' on The Dock of The ......

No not Bay but “River”. We spent an afternoon lying in the sun looking at the peaceful river flow by. We did do a little stretching too, but not much.

Margie Owns a Chainsaw!

This is a lady that wears nice suits and really cute shoes to work, but on the weekend …….

Plant City Strawberry Festival & The Big Name Performers

One of the reasons we thought that this was such a big deal was because of the nightly performers that are scheduled and such a variety too. If you want to see the whole list make sure you check out the schedule on the web site
http://www.flstrawberryfestival.com/

Here are some of the 2007 impressive names: George Jones, Clint Black, Randy Travis, Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson, Kenny Rogers, Oak Ridge Boys, and to throw a curve into the country theme they also had Little Richard and Hootie and the Blowfish performing. Sorry, we missed the nighttime shows, so no pictures of famous country people.- - just more strawberries.

What Did We Buy Besides Food?

Not much, most of the merchandise was very crafty rather than artistic. Sparkly strawberry emblazoned t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and hats were very popular. We did buy 2 strawberry refrigerator magnets to prove we had been there and done that. The other items available were quilting, leatherwork, handmade wood toys, toaster covers, blender covers – you get the idea…..

Gail and I are still arguing about how many waterless- cookwear demonstrations we saw. I counted 3 and she claims there were many more. We did agree that it was about 40 years ago when we had last seen one of those demonstrations. It appeared that most of the older people used the demonstrations as a chance to rest in the provided chairs. We also noticed lots of Jazzy scooters for the elderly and of course a lot of strollers for the many kids present.

County Fair Carnival Food

County Fair Carnival Food

We passed up the Maryland Crab cakes, Funnel cakes, sausage dogs, corn dogs, turkey legs, pizza, gyros, subs, pork BBQ, BBQ catfish, corn on a stick, popcorn, kettle corn, ice cream, caramel apples, apple pie, cinnamon buns, lemonade, soda, strawberry shakes, strawberry pie, and strawberry cake. We DIDN’T pass up on the Strawberry Shortcake, chocolate covered Strawberries and a blooming onion. There were many large rooms that housed the strawberry shortcake item – some you could make yourself (which meant that your whipped cream was only limited to how high you could balance the cream in the bowl you were given) We opted for one that some ladies from a local church made. It was delicious!

We had noticed lots of portable hand washing stations around the grounds. As we were eating our delicious blooming onion we heard the nice loud public announcement about washing your hands so that we wouldn’t spread salmonella, and e-coli. Yum.

The Queen of the Plant City Strawberry Festival

We had heard that the Plant City Strawberry Festival was ‘something to see’, so last Friday afternoon Gail and I drove to Floral City Florida and spent the night at Martha’s Motel (my mother-in-laws home) so we could finish our Plant City Trek the next morning. In Plant City we found a parking spot at their local middle school. With both of us being former & current middle school teachers we really didn’t mind giving our 5 dollar parking fee to this Middle school’s yearbook club. We talked to one of the teachers in the school and she said that the previous week and next week they were having their FCAT tests during this excitement. The FCAT is Florida’s version of Georgia’s CRCT. These are tests that can make or break a school. These tests are BIG Deals - Principals get or moved when the schools don’t make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). For my non-teacher friends I will explain a little about the current high-pressure testing and schools. Bush’s Law called “No Child Left Behind” states that if a school does not make AYP on these standardized tests for 5 years straight, the federal government can come in and assume control of the school in terms of curriculum, faculty, and administration (ie. you might lose your job). So we felt much empathy for this MS teacher who had to get her kids calmed down and focused on the FCATs during probably the biggest yearly event in their town – the Strawberry Festival.

Strawberries were the theme but junk food what the staple. It wasn’t quite what we had imagined. We had assumed that it would be similar to the Fernandina Shrimp Festival where there are lots of talented artists, with a few token craft booths, restaurant sponsored food tents, along with a few token junk food stands and antiques. We shouldn’t have assumed. Imagine a County Fair with carnival rides, livestock, skateboard and bike shows, puppet shows, singing and carnival food trailers you have the idea. Now just add lots of strawberries and a high ticket price of 9 dollars along with lots of crafty kind merchandise and you will get the picture.

Cell Phones And Marco Polo

Do you remember when you played the game Marco-Polo in the swimming pool? One kid with his eyes shut bouncing around the pool bottom yelling ‘MARCO!’ while the other kid is avoiding him and whispering the required ‘polo!’ response. Well with so many cell phones prevalent, I have noticed that rounding up family and friends in the malls, or schools, or any large area is like a game of Marco-Polo. You call them, give them your location, they answer and give you their location. Marco! Polo!

Interesting Sign

This photo was taken in Inverness Florida. Not sure of the rest of the women that read this– but I definitely took it the wrong way and balked a little bit. Guess that is why I am still single –huh? There is a Chinese joke that is appropriate at this time.
The definition of the happiest Chinese man is:
Chinese Food, American money, English house and a Japanese wife
The definition of the saddest Chinese man is:
Chinese Money, English food, Japanese house and an American wife

I Miss the Challenge and the Sense of Accomplishment

What do I miss from China? Their great food tops the list but I have to add that I really miss the challenge. Challenge is not to be confused with stress. I miss the sense of accomplishment of making it thru a day in China. Mental, physical and emotional. Driving, walking, shopping, cooking, eating, and accessing information are all so easy here. Banking in China is a challenge. Banking in the US takes 5- 10 minutes, either write a check, get cash from a ATM or hand them a credit or bank card. In China I never saw a check, or saw anyone write a check. I was paid in cash. If I needed cash from my US account I generally waited in line for 20-30 minutes at an ATM machine that might or might not work. I saw some Chinese use bank cards and credit cards in some of the bigger stores but generally China is a cash only society. In a couple of smaller cities there were hotels that could not take a credit card. Credit cards are just starting in China. This fall there were tables set up outside at ZUFE where they were peddling them to the students (I wanted to yell at all the kids getting them – don’t do it). I guess it will make things easier but will the new generation of Chinese end up in debt as many people in the US do?

Back to the sense of accomplishment remember when your favorite elementary school teacher gushed over how great you were reading your first word or adding your first set of numbers. Well when I finally figured out how to do some of the normal survival things in China I got that same feeling. When I finally found the Bank of China location where my ATM card always worked even though it was about a 2-3 mile walk, I got that same “great job Katie” rush. The first time I carried my bowl downstairs to the restaurant and ordered my fried rice in Chinese and have the cook actually understand me – I got it. Crossing the street without having a panic attack gave it to me. Catching taxicabs and being able to communicate where I wanted to go – major rush! Every time I memorized a new bus route (cause I can not read any of the locationswritten with Chinese characters) I got it again. That feeling is what I miss.

Maybe things are too easy in America and we expect everything to be easy. (Case in point – the easy button ad on TV). We as Americans complain a lot especially when compared to the Chinese. Chinese don’t appear to complain – even when things don’t go as planned – they just do it another way. When Americans get frustrated we seem to automatically react with blaming someone or something. Maybe we should direct that blaming energy into something more positive. Granted China could easily make a lot of things way more efficient and still not limit that feeling of accomplishment. They are headed that way right now with all the new foreign companies starting to work in their country. If I go back I am sure even with China becoming more efficient I will still feel that major sense of accomplishment just because of the language barrier.

Side Note- Picture above is the source of MY GREATEST sense of accomplishment - Zac

Sad News

After a great week long visit, Zac, Nicole and Mack Truck (a Treeing Walker Coon Dog) left Georgia and headed home to Vermont with his dog and lots of stuff tightly packed into the back of their truck . When they finally arrived in Vermont Zac let Mack out of his confinement and unfortunately in Mack's excitement on being home he ran in front of a school bus and was killed. We are all very sad about losing Zac's very sweet, always wanting to cuddle, best skateboard pulling, dog. Sadie will also miss her rough and tumble play pal too.

Big News - Engaged

Yep finally! Zac gave Nicole a ring. It is now official - at least by my "mom standards". Before you ask - There is no wedding date set. Zac used some family diamonds and designed the ring himself. I couldn't be happier with his choice. Nicole is great.