I’ve just had the unhappy experience of losing several days out of my life. (I don’t recommend it.)
I’ve spent about 20 hours a day in bed for the past four days, wiped out by a miserable medical medley of sore throat, chills, diarrhea, muscle weakness, shortness of breath and incredibly awful fatigue.
Either I had a really huge reaction to my weekly dose of arthritis medicine (Methotrexate) or I picked up some sort of bug along the way. Either way, I was too sick even to go to church yesterday which is how you know how bad things were. As the pastor’s wife and pianist, I hardly EVER miss church! Happily, I’m feeling slightly better today and am going to try to make it into work for a little while.
With all that’s been going on physically, and also in light of the fact that we were without internet access for much of our vacation, I have managed to get way behind on replying to comments. (As you know, I try my hardest to respond to every comment I receive.)
This morning the realization hit me that I would have the time (and energy) to do only one of two things: get caught up on all my comments OR write a new post. And since a new post is overdue, I’ve opted for that. (I will, however, reply to a few comments that asked particular questions or needed a specific reply.)
And now onto today’s (strangely titled) post.
Last Tuesday, we got to spend the day with my sister, Debbie, and her husband and son. The six of us went to the Bok Tower Gardens which was a lovely, low-stress, non-crowded outing option for a bunch of folks who truly appreciate lovely, low- stress, non-crowded outing options.
As soon as we arrived, we hopped aboard a tram and were whisked away by our funny and personable driver named Mitch. (Here is a picture of the aforementioned family members. And Mitch.
Since I am a huge fan of architecture and old, interesting buildings, I was especially excited that the outing included a chance to tour a 13,000 square foot mansion. It was built on the grounds in the early 1930’s for a Bethlehem Steel vice president. I was truly amazed when the tour guide told us that he and his family only stayed there six weeks out of the year!
(The first two photos are from the Bok Gardens website.)
After we had happily meandered through the estate, we made our way to the Bok Tower which comes complete with carillon concerts twice a day. (The next two photos are from their website.)
Steve and Sarah immediately applied themselves to reading all the informational stuff on the wall since our family is all about informational stuff and the reading thereof.
The tower is surrounded by acre upon acre of walking paths, benches, trees, foliage, and all manner of plants, flowers and birds. When you’re there, it feels like interstates, stop lights, and fast food restaurants are light years away. A wonderful, wonderful feeling.
At the end of our little tour, Steve decided to take a picture of Randy who was trying to take a picture of a squirrel. He then posted said photo to Facebook with the following caption:
“My brother-in-law, taking a picture of the rare variegated, triple-snouted kumquat. Also known as a squirrel.”
Now of course Steve realizes that a kumquat is actually a fruit and he also realizes that squirrels do not generally sport triple snouts. But he figured that using a whole bunch of weird words in the wrong way would make a fun picture all the more fun. Which is why he ended up with the title he did.
And that is also why this blog ended up with the title it did–because we Smiths are all about weird words and weird titles.
So. As you go about your day today, be sure to be on the lookout for any triple-snouted, squirrel-like kumquats you might see.
Because you just never know . . .
Many, many years ago there were black swans in the lake/pond. Many, many, many!
What a delight it was to go to a beautiful place with some of our most favorite people, kumquats notwithstanding! 🙂
Sure hope you keep on feeling better–so sorry you got hit with so much miserable-ness. 🙁
Love deb
Deb,
And what a delight it is to get a comment from you, O Wife of the Triple-Snouted, Kumquat Picture Taker! 🙂
Glad you got to see me!!
Glad you are feeling better.
Thanks, Ann. I’m making a little more progress every day!
Glad you’re feeling better. Bok Tower is just up the road from me, I go all the time! The squirrels there are used to being fed, and sometimes if you stand still long enough they’ll run up your leg, look at you to make sure you don’t have food, then run back down again. They also used to have two swans in the pool around the tower, but they got really aggressive and had to be removed. One of them snatched a stuffed animal away from my son when he was a toddler there a few years ago! It’s a beautiful place.
Melissa,
Oh my. That would be rather alarming to have a stuffed animal snatched away by a swan! It’s a shame they had to be taken away since they are such graceful, lovely creatures but I can certainly understand why it had to be done. And your squirrel story was funny about them running up your leg. 🙂
I love weird and fun word descriptions too and I really enjoyed the photos of your tour. Looks like a really beautiful place. I’m so sorry to hear you have been ill. Take time to recover, don’t push too hard, and take time to nourish your body and spirit. I hope you feel better soon.
Jenna,
Thanks for your sweet words.
And yes, Bok Gardens really was gorgeous. I loved that it wasn’t real crowded and “glitzy.” Just God’s creation, everywhere we looked.
You know Randy doesn’t get out much!!!
Steve,
No, I guess he doesn’t! 🙂
So sorry you have been so ill. Hopefully, you are on the mend. As far as the kumquats go, I have several varietes in my back yard, on my deck and front porch. I feed these little demanding snouted beings (peanuts, sunflower seeds and stale bread) and they expect it and chatter at me if I am not prompt with the provisions they expect on a regular basis and they make me laugh and are really cute as they sit and hold their precious morsels of food in their paws and happily nibble away or scamper about to bury them for a late night snack. It is hysterical to watch them dig, pat the dirt, dig some more and pat harder to make sure their delicacy is safely tucked away, only to be found by them at a later time.
Take time to recover properly, Becky. Sounds like you have had a rough time.
Mary,
I can tell by your great description of the squirrels in your life that you are a true nature/animal lover. That truly made me smile. 🙂
I didn’t even discuss the birds! Oh, and the bunnies……