Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

My parents, Doris and Phares Reichard, were married fifty years ago today. Fifty years!

That’s a long time.

And they’re still together today. Amazing, eh? How many people do you know who stayed together that long? Heck, a lot of couples can’t even make it to 10 years these days.

It’s hard for me to grasp what it would feel like to be married for that long ’cause I haven’t even lived that long yet. Of course, if I were older than 50, reporting their marriage would seem a bit scandalous.


As you can see in this picture, they still seem pretty happy. Of course, like all of us, they have their moments. But for the most part, they’ve been happily married for FIFTY years.

Wow.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Um, Just Some Stuff

It’s Friday, around 7:30 a.m. I’ve been up (as in out of bed) for 5 hours. I’m not sure I ever went to sleep. I have no idea why I’ve had such a hard time sleeping this week.

What I do know, however, is that my thoughts are a bit muddled and random at this point. Not knowing what else to post today, I decided to share some miscellaneous, unrelated images and musings to make sure you get your ToadMama fix for the day.

As I was playing Scrabble this morning (an addiction), I thought back to the moment when, at about age 13, I realized the guy I’d had a crush on for a while was really an idiot. We were playing Scrabble with some other folks. He spelled out “vakum” and argued for at least 5 minutes that it was a word.

I wish I’d known as a kid, or at least an adolescent, just how much I prefer being outdoors over being indoors. I would have studied Forestry in college and become a Forest Ranger. Wouldn’t that be cool? Although, with my luck, I’d probably end up somewhere boring like Fort McHenry instead of someplace fabulous like Glacier Bay National Park (Alaska). Or maybe Zion National Park (Utah, first picture shown above).

The uniforms they have to wear are not very flattering. Especially if you’re overweight like me (I am very close to being normal). Although, if I were a forest ranger, I’d be way more active than I am now. I’d probably be enjoying my work more, too.

Tomorrow is August 15. It’s a very special day this year. It marks my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. They were married 8 whole years before I was born. And, at 42, I feel like I’ve had a pretty long life. Can you imagine 50 years of marriage? Wow. Hubby, Eric and I are taking them out for a nice lunch tomorrow to celebrate.

Speaking of my parents… I was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We moved to Maryland when I was about 18 months old. As much as I am sick of Maryland, I am really, really glad we left Lancaster. If I still lived there, I might be a Philadelphia Eagles fan. And they just hired a new knucklehead. How embarrassing for the team and its followers.

Any idea what state I was in when I shot the pic at left? Wanna guess? I’ll narrow it down for you… it’s either Maryland, West Virginia, Washington (state), Idaho, Alaska. You have a 20% chance of guessing correctly.

Hubby was very excited to see a Bald Eagle last week. We were somewhere near the Potomac River in Maryland or Virginia. We’ve seen our share of eagles, just not many in that area. I am not, by the way, suggesting that the bird in that picture is an eagle. It is a Great Blue Heron.

There are lots of them in Maryland, but there are also lots of them in MANY other places.

This is an interesting picture, wouldn’t you agree? I found the scene interesting when I came upon it while on a trip out West. All those pretty, vivid butterflies. Then I looked closer and discovered they were dining heartily on scat. That’s how people with Forest Ranger tendencies refer to poo when in the wild.

And speaking of being in the wild…

Here’s another wilderness shot for you. Wanna guess the state where this glacier-topped mountain can be found?

That’s about all the randomness I can take for now.

I hope you at least enjoyed the pics.

Today’s Number Appears to Be Seven

Summer finally arrived in Maryland, and pretty much all of the East Coast, with a vengeance.

Sunday was the first day of oppressiveness. I can’t take the heat. I know this. I am a cool weather girl. It must be my Irish roots.

I did run on Sunday morning. I lasted about 15 minutes.

Monday, I didn’t even think about running. Tuesday either.

Today, when I woke up after a mere three hours of sleep, I wasn’t thinking about it either. I was tired. But after a good dose of my favorite Seattle’s Best Hazelnut Coffee, I decided to give it a whirl.

I knew it would be uncomfortably warm — 77 degrees with 77% humidity — but it was cloudy. I assumed it wouldn’t be as bad without the sun glaring down on me.

I was right. It wasn’t as bad, but it was still bad. I lasted just under 27 minutes, and I only ran about 2/3 of that.

Now, I know I can run for longer than that. I did 29.5 minutes on Friday for goodness sake. But Friday it was only in the upper 60s and humidity was relatively low.

So, am I being a real wuss? Should I just keep pushing through the feeling that my body is burning from the inside out?

I have just over seven weeks to go from being able to run 2.5 miles to running 10 miles. If it doesn’t cool down, soon, I’ll never make it.

You Know It’s Gonna Be a Bad Day When…

…this is the song stuck in your head.

Though, seriously, I’ve always liked that song. I’m not a huge Barry Manilow fan, but there’s just something fun about Copacabana.

Although this isn’t a video per se, and it’s rather long, I was happy to stumble across it on YouTube ’cause I think it’s quite creative. I wish I would’ve thought of that.

Anyway… on to other things.

I just have to share this post from the passaggressivenotes.com blog. You have to scroll down to Exhibit D. That’s the one I like best. I so would like to be that boss. That’s a story he’ll be telling for years, even if he is a pervy wanker.

When Hubby is Away…

Hubby is in Chicago as I write this. He left on Sunday morning and is coming home on Monday. It’s some work thing. There’s a factory tour involved, but I forget what factory. He went to a baseball game on Sunday, too.

As everyone knows… when Hubby is away, ToadMama will PLAY. I have to whoop it up every now and then, right?

I didn’t really whoop it up, but I did have fun. Shannon, the oldest kid (and my most-frequent blog commenter), came over for dinner.

We started off with modified Insalata Caprese, which is tomatoes, provolone cheese and balsamic vinegar. Typically, you use mozzarella cheese. Fresh basil, too. But provolone is all I had. And it was way too hot to run out for different cheese.

I have to say, the tomatoes were AWESOME. They were grown by my Dad. But they were just the appetizer. We topped those off with…

… steamed shrimp. The only thing missing was corn on the cob. But we ate enough Insalata Caprese to make up for it.

And we washed it all down with our new favorite summertime beverage (thanks to Kathy and Barry Spice for this one). Fresh blueberries (slightly smashed) topped with crushed ice, Stoli Blueberry vodka and Simply Lemonade. I suppose any lemonade will do, but Simply Lemonade tastes just like fresh-squeezed. And you can use a less-expensive blueberry vodka, but Stoli gives it a much better flavor.

Enough about the food and beverages, let’s talk about Shannon. Have I mentioned here that she’s planning a trip? It’s not just any trip, it is an around-the-world voyage. Literally. You can read all about it on her blog, Where’s Shan Now?. She’ll be backpacking (traveling on the cheap, staying in hostels, etc.) around places like Barcelona, Prague, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, etc.

She got her hair cut for ease of care during her trip. Not like THIS though, much to Hubby’s relief. I made a comment on her blog that, if she came over on Sunday, I’d take some pics so she could show the world her new hairdo.

So (drum roll, please), here’s Shannon and her very cute new do.

Doesn’t she look fabulous? And worldy? And cool? (Did I mention it was oppressively hot yesterday?)

She’s very photogenic. Unlike someone else we know and love.

I was making her laugh. This is probably not one of her favorite pictures, but I love her smile.

Belle wanted in on some modeling action, too. We had to cut the shoot short anyway, the mosquitoes were eating us alive.

This is my favorite picture from the shoot. Gorgeous, ain’t she? And brave! She’ll be gone for a whole year (at least). She’s going by herself, too. Around the world!

I’ll miss her terribly, but am very excited for her to be taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She’s leaving on October 1. Be sure to visit her blog to see how she’s doing, where she is, etc.

Where in the World?

Which of these four things do you think Hubby and I did yesterday?

a) Visit Paris
b) See the War Correspondents’ Arch
c) Walk the Appalachian Trail
d) Ride an automobile ferry
e) all of the above

Come on, give it some thought. We couldn’t go to WV because Hubby flew off to Chi-town this morning for a work thing.

Give up? You’ll never guess.

We did all of the above!

Our trip to Paris, Virginia was brief. So brief, in fact, that I didn’t take any pictures. But here’s a good one that someone else shot.

We were exploring Northern Virginia, between Leesburg and Winchester, for a possible relocation destination. Any move would be quite a ways down the road.

Since we love back roads, and I love cool, quirky stuff, Hubby plotted a route that took us across the Potomac River at White’s Ferry.

This is near Poolesville, Maryland, at mile 35.5 along the C&O Canal. There used to be around 100 ferries facilitating river crossings on the Potomac, but this is the last.

It is used by a variety of vehicles. We’ve been across it before, twice I think, on our motorcycles.

We passed a gazillion bicyclists yesterday (not one was chubby!). That’s our green car in the foreground. Hubby is behind the wheel, but you can’t see him because of the glare.

I think the ferry can hold about 21 cars.

It is actually quite efficient. I had just enough time to hit the potty and snap some quick pics before we boarded.

Notice the horse trailer? I told you it carries a variety of stuff.

Here come some bikers. It was a gorgeous, summer day. Too bad my bike is at the WV place.

This is the Virginia side of the river. It’s just outside of Leesburg.

This is a view of the river, from the ferry, looking northwest.

The area around Paris was gorgeous. East of there, towards Leesburg, is horse country. Lots of very large horse farms. West of there is the Shenandoah River. It’s sort of mountainous there, too.

On the way home, after crossing back over the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry (no longer a ferry), I saw a sign for Gathland State Park. It’s a Maryland state park I have never seen, and have always wanted to, so I said to Hubby, “Turn there!”

Of course he listened. He’s pretty good about humoring me.

This is the War Correspondents’ Arch. This is why there’s a Gathland State Park. If you really want to know more, follow the link. I don’t feel like recounting the history here.

I was sort of excited to see that the Appalachian Trail goes right through the park.

Since I’m sort of fascinated by the trail and anxious to hike on it (not the entire 2,000+ mile length!), I just had to walk on the trail.

We didn’t go far. It was sort of hot and VERY gnatty (as in bugs). But I did get Hubby to agree to return later in the year for a 12-mile hike! (Remember what I said about him humoring me.)

The arch is sort of cool, I guess. Again, one of those odd, quirky things. I suppose if we were Civil War buffs, which we aren’t, it would’ve been more interesting.

There were some picturesque buildings there (the remains of the summer home of the guy that built the arch). I like stone buildings.

Since I didn’t get to take any pictures in Paris, at least there was something interesting to capture images of to share with my blog audience.