What is that?

What?

That light.

What light?!

That one.  There.  That yellow glowing light.

What are you talking about?  What do you see?

There!  That little yellow light!  What IS it?

That was the conversation that Mark and I had his first summer here.  Fire flies.  Aka: lightning bugs.  He’d never before seen them.  Had no idea.  They don’t have them in England.    

I went into the pantry and fetched a canning jar.  We spent the night barefoot in the new summer grass gingerly catching them.  Just like many years ago.  We spent the night watching them fly around the bedroom.  I was once more a boy. 

Tonight, I caught one and put it in a jar.  Mark will watch it light.  The first one of summer.  He promises that he’ll let it go in the morning. 

I remember and go to bed thinking of those warm summer nights when the fire flies glowed and we caught them in my Gran’s canning jars.  I remember and I am so thankful for those memories.  

Wow!  What a summer in Missourah so far.  We’ve had mild temperatures and lots and lots of rain.  The trees shimmer in lush green tones and the flowers are breathtaking.  I’ve been enjoying my garden so very, very much that I haven’t had much time for blogging.

We’ve been very busy at the hospital too.  The renovations are complete.  The decorating is nearly complete and we are getting ready for a re-dedication day on the 14^th.  I’ve been busy at the hospital garden too.  Everything has to look just perfect.

Once my camera is back in good working order, I’ll share some pictures.

Promise.

Internet access and control has been very lax at our hospital for years now.  Back in the day, it wasn't much of a problem because only the department directors had access.  As the years have progressed, however, more and more staff need access for various reasons.  As is prone to happen, this opens up the door to online abuse of privilege.

Our IT committee has discussed various options over the past couple of months.  We decided to install filters to keep folks off of sites like eBay, MySpace, Twitter, and the like.

Imagine the frustration, shock, anger, and bewilderment when without warning (no memo, no announcement, nothing) we find that the filtering software has been installed.  But here's the kicker:

Our IT guy turned on ALL of the filters.  This includes "health", "science", "news", "weather", and the like.  Health and Science are particularly troublesome becuase I am a clinical scientist!  90% of the sites I use every week are blocked.  

To gain access to sites we think we need, we have to formally petition the IT guy with the URL, what the site is about, and why we need it to perform our work related duties.

I am not a happy scientist.  The IT Nazi is a numskull.   

It had been planned for weeks.  My folks are driving from their berg in Ohio to Las Vegas, Nevada.  This time, taking a more northern route to see some sites along the way.  Contrary to what one of my siblings thinks, I'm glad they are spending our inheritance to give their golden years a bit more shine.  On the way, they planned to stop by for a visit.   

But like the true procrastinator that I am, do I spend those weeks cleaning up my house and garden?  What do you think?

Only two days prior to their expected arrival do I break out the vacuum, mop, and various a sundry of chemicals that could peel the skin off your hands.  How in the world did my house get so dirty?  Lack of cleaning, I suppose. 

So on the day, I knew I had a few hours to give the house a good scrub, weed the flower beds, fit in a quick nap, shower, and exchange kisses and hugs with the folks for their three day stay.

Of course.  They were early.  DRAT!!

It was alright, though.  

On Sunday, Mom and I spent the day together with short visits from Mark and Dad here and there.  Dad wanted to watch the race, so Momma and I palled around.  I gave them the deluxe tour of the hospital thanks to my Aladdin's key, we ate WAY too much, and pretty much laughed and joked all day long.  The only awkward part was that they insisted on going to the Methodist Church for morning services.  That was, for me, in a word, excruciating.  Never mind.  They enjoyed it. 

Since we no longer have a guest room, we put them up in a somewhat shabby but quaint and very clean inn.  

Here are 10 pictures I took waiting for Sunday breakfast.

Mean Carlene

Mark and Mom

Historic Fire House

Historic Inn

Dad on the porch

Inn

Mark's ride in front of the Inn

One of my favorite houses in town

This variety of rose is planted all over town and really looks beautiful

My terrific parents, Dick and Carlene in their room

So, how did you all spend your holiday weekend?

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.  

Thinking about home.  About family.  Good thoughts.  

I am very blessed to have had many very good influences in my life.  My great granddad and great gran.  My gran and grandpa.  My momma.  Good, hard working, honest people.  Poor in finance, but rich in integrity.  I often feel like I let them down.  I learned so very much from them but still feel as if I dropped the ball.  Well educated, yes, yet so lacking in their particular sense of hard and honest work am I.  

I only strive to be half the man my great granddad was.  

I wrote about him here.  I miss his kind and steadfast guidance.  I hope to someday live up to his memory and make him proud.     

This in from Joe.My.God:  (you all do know about Joe, right?  Great blog.  Very informative.)

click to embiggen

I would like to emphatically state for the record: No.FREAKIN'.Way.  I would simply pass out.