The laughter. The music. The lights! What could be more fun than roller skating at the skating rink? What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
My dad loved roller skating. He met my mom at the roller skating rink in Pomona, CA. She wrote in her diary that she was so flattered that such a handsome fella would pay attention to her. When my sister and I were old enough, he taught us to skate. I was a scaredy cat but my sister would fly around the driveway like a Bay City Bomber!
And remember those great skates with a skate key? They were da bomb! Best shoes were tie-up clunkers, but tennies worked too. A few tightening turns and you could cruse around all afternoon on sidewalks--or in our farmlandish area case, that long driveway.
Today we have much safer skates with shoes attached. And stopping thingies in the front. Guess crashing into the walls or falling on the grass wasn't the safest thing, But hey :)
So what do you say? Jump into a Funday Sunday by taking the kids, the grands, yourselves out to the rink for a bunch of fun!
I used to have an essay question on the take-home final for my Intercultural Communication class that asked students to select an event in time that changed our culture--how it changed culture, how it changed communication between us, how it effected our relationships. I gave them choices like Watergate, Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Women's Movement, as well as events like the California grape fields strike in 1965 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Each choice had a major impact on our lives and how we see the world.
Very few events can be seen as a specific turning point in history. More often the changes take time, rolling along together until TaDa! Change! But there are some events in our history that are the defining moments of change. The Stonewall Riots is one such event. In 1969, it was illegal to be outwardly gay. It was illegal to dress in clothing that isn't appropriate for your gender. It was illegal to gather together, dance together, kiss...it was illegal to be gay. Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, NY was a bar and restaurant...a well known gay club. Gay clubs and bars were places of refuge where people could express themselves openly and
socialize without worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authority
penalized and shut down establishments that served alcohol to known or
suspected LGBT individuals, arguing that the mere gathering of
homosexuals was “disorderly.”
But the Stonewall Inn, as with many other gay clubs in Greenwich Village, was mafia-owned. They tagged their bars as a "bottle bar" where people brought their own liquor; thus, no need to a liquor license. Also, the owners bribed officers to ignore the activities within the club. Without police interference, the crime family could cut costs how they
saw fit: The club lacked a fire exit, running water behind the bar to
wash glasses, clean toilets that didn’t routinely overflow, and
palatable drinks that weren’t watered down beyond recognition. Nonetheless, Stonewall Inn quickly became an important Greenwich Village
institution. It was large and relatively cheap to enter. It welcomed
drag queens, who received a bitter reception at other gay bars and
clubs.
On June 28, 1969, NY City police raided Stonewall Inn. This wasn't anything new. It was raided often, even with corrupt officer payoffs and those officers would tip-off the owners that a raid was coming and the booze and other illegal activities could be hidden.
But this raid was different. There was no tip-off. Armed with a warrant, police officers entered the club, roughed up
patrons, and, finding bootlegged alcohol, arrested 13 people, including
employees and people violating the state’s gender-appropriate clothing
statute.
As people were being hit over the head with billy clubs and dragged off into paddy wagons, the crowd watching were shocked. One woman, bleeding and beaten, yelled out to the crowd, "DO SOMETHING!" The crowd begin throwing pennies, bottles, cobble stones, and other objects at the police. Within minutes a full-blown riot involving hundreds of people began.
It lasted five days. Just as it would start to settle down, another segment would flare up. The Village Voice, first simply reporting the events of the riot, would inflame readers and the anger would bubble-up.
Following the riot, the media began to report events and issues surrounding LGBT people. It changed our views, our way of seeing others. It wasn't a start of the Gay Rights Movement, but it was a great force behind political action.
The first Gay Pride Parade was held in 1970. It wasn't a party like it is today, but a political movement. Without Stonewall Riots, it may have taken many years longer to begin. And so we go peace~~~
Yes, yes I know. "Sunday Funday" isn't about kid-fun but adult fun. I looked it all up and everything. There's drinking and partying and having the blast leftover from Saturday. According to the Urban Dictionary,
By celebrating the "Sunday Funday" you can extend your weekend festivities just a little longer before hanging up your party pants.
This day typically starts out with mimosas or bloody marys aka hair of
the dog. It then typically continues throughout the day until you find
yourself wasted by about 6:30ish. Since the "Funday"
ends early enough, you can rest assured that you will go to bed aka
pass out early enough to be perfectly refreshed for work on Monday
morning.
Wellllll...I don't actually drink and my "party pants" look a lot like my Monday pants, Tuesday pants, Wedn...you get the idea. So I decided that "Sunday Fundays" means kid-fun days! And what's more fun than bubbles?? I remember the fun of going to J.J. Newberry--the best little five-and-dime where I used to walk to with a girlfriend, up at the outdoor mall we called "Sears." And we'd spend a dime or a quarter (I don't remember which that far back. A dime sound so little!) for a Coke at the fountain and a bit of photobooth fun. I could afford to buy Christmas presents for $1 each for my sister, Mom, Dad and my two grammas. One of the fun things we could pick up at the five-and-dime for almost nothing was a bottle of bubbles with a magic wand! I loved them. They are magic.
And who doesn't love bubbles? Think about when you are at the fair and a clown machine starts spitting out bubbles. Doesn't that just make you laugh and try to catch them?Mckenzie Baker's poem Bubbles begins, "I’d like to think there’s/something infinitely mystic about bubbles."
I always wanted to make those really large bubbles, but found you needed much larger wands to do that. So I just happily settled for a bunch of smaller ones that floated around the yard. I didn't know there was a science of how those bubbles were made, I just puffed and puffed and out came the bubbles! They are magic.
Sundays weren't all that fun when I was young. First there's church in nice clothes and then a family meal and then the rest of the day until Disney's Wonderful World of Color came on. It wasn't like Saturdays which were the best. But bubbles could have changed all that. So get out there and have your own Sunday Funday with some bubbles! It's magic.
Today is Summer solstice in my part of the world. Summer is finally officially here. Long days. Picnics. Barbecues. Days at the river. Hide and Seek after dark. Games and playing and idling away the days. Iced tea and lemonade. While any time of the year is time for ice cream, summer it when ice cream is at it's best!My favorite time of the year. Well, except for the brain freeze that follows those iced drinks and ice cream. I think brain freeze is a rite of summer. We are so happy to take a long gulp of that cold drink we forget our heads can suffer. So what causes it?
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center neuroscientist Dwayne Godwin, Ph.D., explains how it works.
"Brain freeze is really a type of headache that is rapid in onset,
but rapidly resolved as well," he said. "Our mouths are highly
vascularized, including the tongue -- that's why we take our
temperatures there. But drinking a cold beverage fast doesn't give the
mouth time to absorb the cold very well."
Okay, so we gulp down an iced drink or we eat our ice cream too fast and the back of our throats where all those feeling things tie together get really cold really fast. Blood is racing to the brain. Warning lights are going off. And then the brain screams, "STOP IT, DAMMIT!" (you know how to brain hates change) and makes us suffer like badly scolded children by giving us a sudden really bad headache. It doesn't last long (the longer ones are hell!) and then it just goes away. In the meantime, we've actually stopped, just like the brain wanted us to do. Temperature in the mouth goes back to normal and we all live happily ever after, but at a slower paced than before. Getting rid of brain freeze is almost as easy as receiving it. Try one of these:
Put your tongue to the roof of your mouth. It will warm it all up and you can live happily ever after.
Sip some warmish water.
Live with it while you make faces and cringe. I mean, it doesn't actually last long. And remember you won't die from it.
Yeppers, Summer's here and our brain freeze is waiting! peace~~~
Hey watch your back! * Over here! Need help over here! * I've got you, Brother! I've got you! * You okay back there? * The shots, the rockets, the hell. And it's all happening inside your body. Your immune system has turned against your muscles or your skin or your joints. No one knows why...no one knows who...trial and error to find how to make it stop. Our immune system is a great thing. It can tell the difference between a foreign invader and its own body. It is is made up of a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect the body, ready to do battle with invading infections and diseases. I always picture it with little suits of armor, sentinels standing ready for battle. As great as this system is for our health, it can sometimes turn against us. It gets confused and starts battling our bodies. This battle is an autoimmune disease. Diabetes. Arthritis. Lyme Disease. Multiple sclerosis. Psoriasis. Celiac disease. Lupus. There are hundreds more. Nearly 25 million Americans suffer from an autoimmune condition, and the numbers are constantly rising. No one truly understands what causes the immune system to turn on itself, but after years and years of studying they have finally recognized that all this it isn't "just in your head." The closest scientists have come is to acknowledge that it is likely a result from interactions between genetic and environmental
factors. Studies show that certain genes can predispose a person to
certain autoimmune diseases, and therefore many autoimmune diseases may
be prevalent in one family. (site) Treatment is also spotty. Some of the infections can be treated with steroids such as prednisone. Most are trials and errors. "Some people get relief using this." And so the search goes on. Some diseases are so common that the pharmaceutical companies have created specific drugs that can help. Like for Crohn's disease or psoriasis.
We had never heard of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) until Doug was diagnosed this week. He woke up one morning and his legs ached and he could hardly walk. Stretching and heat from the shower helped. Then after a few weeks, it started moving up his body until he could barely use his left arm because the pain was so severe. I finally convinced him to see a doctor...polymyalgia rheumatica.
It comes on suddenly
It happens to people mostly over 65--more women than men
It affects the legs, hips, arms, chest, shoulder muscles
Worse in the mornings
Most common among white people whose ancestors were from Scandinavia or northern Europe.
Can become worse: symptoms follow giant cell arteritis (GCA), which results in inflammation in the lining of the
arteries, most often the arteries in the temples. Signs and symptoms
include headaches, jaw pain, vision problems and scalp tenderness. If
left untreated, this condition can lead to stroke or blindness.
Best treatment is a low-level steroid; relapses are common
And thus the battle against the pain and immobility begins. He is already gaining some relief from three days of prednisone. He will need to continue to use this for a long time to prevent relapse. But relief has begun! And so it goes. peace~~~
My dad loved roller skating. He met my mom at the roller skating rink in Pomona, CA. She wrote in her diary that she was so flattered that such a handsome fella would pay attention to her. When my sister and I were old enough, he taught us to skate. I was a scaredy cat but my sister would fly around the driveway like a Bay City Bomber! 
And remember those great skates with a skate key? They were da bomb! Best shoes were tie-up clunkers, but tennies worked too. A few tightening turns and you could cruse around all afternoon on sidewalks--or in our farmlandish area case, that long driveway.
Today we have much safer skates with shoes attached. And stopping thingies in the front. Guess crashing into the walls or falling on the grass wasn't the safest thing, But hey :)
