Upside Ann

  I didn't even know it was a thing.  It wasn't until I was on the table that I learned that should I pass this test, I could be free from pap smears for THE REST OF MY LIFE! *  Had I that knowledge ahead of time, I might have studied for this test.  But no - they sprang that challenge on me as I was strapping in, stirrups on, for the examination.  That was Tuesday.  I got the result on Friday...   I'm not sure why this isn't a recognized Hallmark moment, but at least my gynecologist was thoughtful enough to send me a hand-made congratulations card.  Woohoo!! I am so thankful as with age the pap smear has become even more painful than the mammogram.   * I am free unless I decide to become sexually promiscuous.  That, at this time, is not on my bingo card.

 Kevin and I celebrate our anniversary on Halloween.  It was on (near) Halloween 45 years ago that we went on our first "date" - off to find white cotton gloves for, I'm guessing - you'd think I'd know - but I don't- a costume.  This "date" occurred after weeks of me telling him "no".  I was too broken-hearted from the loss of my previous.  He was persistent enough - and so was I, I guess - that when he eventually made me a mix-tape (that was a thing, young one - see the movie "High Fidelity") it included "our song" - "Love the One You're With".  We would have (eventually) gotten married on Halloween to make that date "official" (OMG - wayyyyy too many quotation marks in this post), but my dad was having chemotherapy and couldn't make it.  Given that our guest list was only immediate family - and the importance of the bride's father - we rescheduled to December. We celebrate our anniversar...

  Zupe's Halloween costume - much like the last few years - went through SEVERAL iterations.  No one will be surprised that his original idea was to be Thor.  He needed a new - and not Ann-made- Mjolnir.  So, we went to the Spirit Halloween store early in October to find they didn't have that particular hammer.  (*Please note: he wanted a hammer that, if thrown, would wing its way back into his hand.  Readers may be surprised that we found none like that.)  At Spirit Halloween, however, he found a very cool trident and so the costume hero changed from Thor to Poseidon.  I bought green sweat pants.  He had a Poseidon t-shirt and a gold crown. We were set.  He wore that to school for their party - sans the trident - which was deemed a "weapon".  (I considered making an 8-inch cardboard trident, but decided not to push the weapon issue and instead made him a fish bracelet.)  As the BIG DAY approached, Poseidon was dropped in favor...

 Sorry.  I am treat free - except for that 1/4 of a Killer Brownie in the frig.  It can be yours.  Just stop by!

 Badlands National Park. Thor mask.  Last known photograph of Mjolnir. Zupe's interest in getting out of the car to see cool scenic stuff went downhill after loss of his hammer.  Sigh.  Teenagers.

To review: day 2:  Sioux Falls, The Corn Palace, Dignity of Earth and Sky, (sadly not FireHenge), Badlands National Park, Wall Drug.  I am not posting anything from Wall Drug.  I wasn't interested in seeing a giant tourist shop...and then it ate Mjolnir.  Pretty unforgivable.  We ended up spending the night in Sturgis,Wyoming - and thereby eliminated Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills from our itinerary. There was a quick stop at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site which is really convenient to Badlands - but I got creeped out by the nuclear war/atomic bomb atmosphere and begged out of staying.  Kevin and Zupe looked around while I tried to avoid getting stung by some sort of flying insect while sitting on a bench outside.  Nuclear weapons, world-wide destruction have been a horror of mine since I was a kid.  I'm not sure but it may have started after reading " On The Beach " by Nevil Shute.  Why would THAT novel be on a scholastic book ...

 Not this Monday, mind you.  But it was A Monday and it is in keeping with the South Dakota Badlands theme. Last week I watched about 1/2 of a webinar hosted by two insufferably cheerful people talking about taking better photographs.  Here's an example of one of their "light taboos".... asking your subjects to look directly into the sunlight.  I have SEVERAL of these photos of myself throughout the year - not all taken by me.  But me with my wimpy blue eyes cannot tolerate any direct light - note intense squint and look of pain.  In addition, as my teachers wanted me to learn, there are unattractive shadows.   The one good thing I can say about this image- you can easily see those badlands behind us. And - I don't have my finger in the screen. Happy end of October.