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Hi kids!!! Hope everyone took several moments to remember our history this weekend: lost sons and daughters and survivor veterans. Blessings for my Uncle Skeets who died in the Battle of the Bulge and is buried in Ardennes National Cemetery in Belgium. Blessings for my Dad and Uncle Pat who served in WWII (in and out of the Brig).
I had a great weekend with my Mom and sister and extended family on both sides of the parent thingy.
Memorial Day Weekend is our family reunion time. Normally, I dread it because I'm a bit of a mole. This year was terrific overall -- considering one is with one's family in a stressful, OMG, get the party set up before the hordes arrive kind of way. I love my Mom and don't see her nearly as much as I would like. She's 3,000 miles away on that coast of with warm weather and no thunder storms. I love my sister and she is 400 miles away in the land of "Hon" and good scrapple. This year was brilliant.
Ok, no details of the reunion other than the fact that my Mother and sister both have a lawn goose with outfits fetish. Yoiks!!! I admit to enjoying the utter hilarity and now am wondering where to put one of my own. Who knew there is an outfit wearing lawn goose culture out there??
Soooo, when I returned yesterday, I wanted to find something to thank my sister -- something that wasn't useless. What better than a lawn goose outfit? Google is our friend (except when it isn't and is evil). For all you lawn goose fanatics out there -- and I know there's at least one -- here's the ultimate website: Lawn Goose Designs. I didn't have to look long since my Mother, sister and I were guffawing about the movie Best in Show and the brilliant scene about the "busy bee" toy for the neurotic dog.
There are other sources -- cheaper -- but there was something special about this goose outfit site. Maybe it was the fact that the first picture in the slide show was of a bumble bee. Also, the quality is superior to anything else I've seen.
Awwwwww!!! Come on -- even the most cynical among you find that outfit adorable (or you are cynical beyond repair).
Sooooooooo, I ordered it, asked for it to be shipped to my sister, left a comment about the fact that I had $237,560 of merchandise in my shopping cart and how do I sort it all out --- aaaand 1/2 hour later, I get a phone call (on Memorial Day) from the owner of the business, Nancy Gardner. She wanted to address my concern (which was easily addressed if I spent a few seconds thinking about my dilemma). We chatted and it was a great conversation.
Lawn Goose Designs has been in business for a number of years -- I will ask how long, next conversation. Nancy was offered an opportunity to save huge expenses by offshoring -- we are talking about a small business here. She said, "no." She employs five designers including a seventy year old women (the bumble bee designer) and a young mother to create these hilariously adorable outfits.
I told Nancy that I was using her story as an inspiration for my stop smoking piece. I told her it would be on a political blog but this whole story and ours have nothing to do with politics. It has to do with family, support and geese outfits.
Come on -- who can resist Elvis???
Finally, my sister took my Mom (the sports fanatic) and me to a Frederick (MD) Keys baseball game. Utterly marvelous. Thank you, Keys, for providing a truly perfect family venue. Glad you won, 2-1, and the game was called in the 8th because of serious thunderstorms. Oh, and your chili cheese fries should be banned -- after my death.
Hey there little buddy...
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