Lucky 13

Growing up in our house was very interesting. My mother, it turned out, was very superstitious. No shoes on the bed for any reason, no black cats (or cats of any color) could cross our path, no walking under ladders and squeezing your thumbs could bring you luck.

At school, we learned more folklore superstitions. Don’t step on a crack, knocking on wood, throwing salt over your shoulder if you spilled any. It was much later that I learned that 13 was an unlucky number and Friday the 13^th was to be spent under the covers hiding from bad things happening that day. Breaking a mirror brought 7 years of bad luck, winning the big side of a wishbone brought good luck and the list went on.

Scary statue

I have since worked my way through those superstitions one by one until none really apply anymore. The biggest being the bad luck of Friday the 13^th. A number of years ago, on a Friday the 13^th, I had a daughter. The last child I planned to have and of course in those days, we didn’t know what we were getting until we go it.

Moss grows on everything.

That Friday the 13^th was my lucky day. My daughter was healthy and perfect. Since then, every time I pull the number 13 in a raffle, I win. Everything related to the number 13 brings something extra special.

Daisy umbrella dispels the gloom

Once again, my daughter’s birthday fell on Friday the 13th. This year we covered a lot of ground. First a trip on the MAX to the quilt/sewing show then getting off the MAX   (Metropolitan Area Express or light rail) for a little lunch and a big dessert with shopping in a couple of our favorite places. We had tea at the Japanese Gardens even though it was cold with on and off rain. It rained when we were inside somewhere and stopped while we were outside most of the time. My daughter is teaching herself Japanese for the challenge.

Flowing water at the Japanese Gardens

Reflection pool . Perfect for the day.

Not quite what we expected but a new experience anyway.

Capturing memories

We always have a great time together now that she has grown up into an incredible human. She was an independent thinker (and still is) and a challenging child. She often tells me how grateful she is that I let her live through some of the stuff she pulled. It was her aunt that prepared me for her.

Tea t-shirt always a favorite. “I could say I love you more than tea but that would be silly talk.”

So, when I see a Friday the 13^th coming or anything with the number 13, I realize how lucky I am. My perception has changed about so many things in life. I have two wonderful adult children, a sister I’m very close to and many good friends. I am the luckiest person in the world.

Presentation is everything

Making a wish

Just a mist most of the time.

Mine looked pretty too

Did you know that Friday the 13th comes only once in some years, twice in several others and rarely three times in a year? Our next one is in July of 2018 and the next year that we get three of them is 2026.

How was your Friday the 13^th? Are you superstitious?

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

Suzy Q at School

My little  sister wanted very much to go to school with me every day. At three, four and five, there was no school for her on our Army base in Aschaffenburg, Germany.  Our mother would have liked nothing better than to send this curious and very active child to school.

The school building was just a block away from our apartment building. There was no enticing playground equipment. It was a basic building in an L shape with no frills. Our days were spent inside trying to learn hard things like arithmetic. I loved school with all the pencils, paper and notebooks. I could bring mine home to do my homework. My sister loved them too. We started playing school where I was the teacher about that time.

One afternoon in the middle of class, an office worker summoned me to the principal’s office immediately. I had never been to the principal’s office and was very surprised to see my little sister out their window with her arms full of paper, pencils and crayons. She had a smile on her face and seemed so pleased with herself.

I was told to take her home and then come and clean up the mess she made by turning over the big trash barrels outside to get all this wonderful stuff that had been tossed out. Wow, I thought to myself! How did she know all that good stuff was in those trash cans and how did she manage to dump them over? When I asked her about it on our way home, she said she had seen them tossing stuff out and wanted some of it to play with.

My little sister caught up with me in size quickly. This was taken a couple of years later by the grandparents with a camera our parents didn’t have. I was 9, she was 4 here

Well, I couldn’t fault that or the ingenuity to get it done but when I looked down at her feet I realized she was wearing my slippers, not her own. I asked her why she was wearing my slippers outside and all she had to say was she didn’t want to get hers dirty. Mom would be mad at her if she did. There was that devious mind I knew and finally grew to love.

Remember the slippers? Our Oma gave them to us and we loved them. Mine were never the same.

Always the wise, resourceful little dickens but it was one more fun thing she was not allowed to repeat. I was really sorry about that.

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

MEAN PEOPLE

Just a very quick note here. Someone or many someones have apparently tried hacking my account and e-mail where I get notifications. This has happened to other bloggers so if you see a like on your site that doesn’t feel quite right, ignore it. I’m making some changes and have informed WP. They are already working on this due to others having the same issues. I can’t figure out the point of this hacking. Most of us here have little to nothing so what’s the point of this other than just to prove they can and be mean. They sure wouldn’t like us doing it to them.

Just another word of caution. I had a warning blaring on my computer that I had been infected and to call the Windows number written below. Do not call that number. I called my personal tech support that had to deal with the same thing earlier. Many of you know these things. I’m no spring chicken here nor very techy but at least I didn’t panic. Took a photo of my screen and messaged it on my phone to my son. (tech support) I had hoped all was well but will be changing e-mail accounts as well as passwords.

Darn those mean people. Lets hope you don’t run into them.

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself