Then and now

 Last year my hydrangea didn't have nearly as many blooms as they have in past years. This was taken July 15, 2025

This year not one single bloom. Sorry about the blurry picture. It makes me sad that there aren't any flowers on them. The plants themselves are very healthy looking.

Tuesday July 21

 I got to work just before the rain started. My manager got there just as it was beginning to come down. We were sitting there and it kept getting louder. She asked what it was and I said I thought it was hail.

You can't tell from the pictures but sure enough, the hail was coming down. It had also gotten so dark that it looked like it was night time.

That day I had to leave early for an eye appointment. I snapped a quick picture while I was sitting there.

They actually have a sign up that says no photos or videos. I made sure to point the camera down but I see I did get part of that one lady's face. OOPS. 

Surprisingly, I was in and out of there pretty quick.

Drawings year 3 week 5

 

Do you blame your mother?

 

Messages like the one in this image talk about mothers as best friends, protectors, and quiet heroes. That wasn’t my reality. My mother wasn’t someone I could rely on. She wasn’t the person I confided in, and she wasn’t the steady presence people imagine when they talk about “what mothers do.”

She was the one who called me a brat. She was the one who made me feel like I was the problem instead of the child who needed guidance. And the truth is simple: I will never see the sacrifices she made because I don’t believe she ever sacrificed once for her children.

The parent who actually showed up was my dad. He’s the one who kept things stable, who paid attention, who made sure I didn’t get lost in the chaos. If I turned out grounded, it’s because he stepped in where she didn’t. He didn’t need credit or praise — he just did the job.

So when I see messages reminding people to appreciate their mothers, I understand why they resonate with some. But they don’t fit every story. Not every mother was quietly carrying the weight of the world. Some were simply absent in ways that mattered. Some of us grew up learning independence because the person who was supposed to guide us wasn’t interested or wasn’t capable.

This isn’t bitterness. It’s clarity. My childhood didn’t match the quote, and that’s okay. What it does remind me of is this: sometimes the parent who truly shaped you isn’t the one the world assumes. Sometimes it’s the one who quietly held everything together while someone else took the spotlight.

Not the scribble I was hoping for.

 A while back Sandra from MadSnapper N Beau had posted a picture that she did in AI that was referred to as scribble and it reminded me of a comic strip. I like the look so I thought I would try it with a selfie

This was her picture.

And when I asked the AI I was using to do this to my picture I got an entirely different result

I tried several times, changed the wording and kept getting similar looks. I finally gave up. This was not what I was looking for

Drawings year 3 week 4

 

17 years ago.

 Because I'm low on material I thought I would post two things that came up in my google photos labeled 17 years ago.

First up is a digital scrapbook page I made

The second was a dog we spotted at one of the free concerts we went to. There was a park close to where my husband used to live in Conneaut Lake Pa and they did a free concert on the lawn every weekend. 

Can you guess

 Now it's getting really pitiful as far as what I have to post. I'm definitely scraping bottom of the barrel with this one.

Can you guess what this is?

To some this may be very obvious and I think there is just enough in this picture to give it away. However just in case you can't figure it out I do have a larger picture to show.

Here you go.

It's my shoe.

Weeds.

 I've got plenty of weeds around me. Just because it's a weed doesn't mean it isn't pretty though.

Then there are things that aren't weeds but they aren't looking so good.

This Hosta plant is looking kind of sad with lots of brown on the leaves and tons of weeds growing in and around them. I just haven't had the strength or the energy to get out there and do any weeding this year. It's looking pretty sad in my yard.

Fire

Last week seemed like everything decided to burn at once. (the first two pictures in this post are taken from Facebook as I wasn't able to get pictures of my own)

I was on my way home from work one day and close to home there was a road blocked off by fire trucks. Turns out there was a house fire. 

I drove by here the other day and it was reduced to a pile of rubble. So incredibly sad and devastating for the family that lived there. Thankfully, no one was hurt in this fire though.

Another day on my way to work, as I approached the overpass at one of the exits on the highway I saw a car on fire. I couldn't get a picture of that but did find this one after the fire had been put out

Lastly of course are the fires in Canada and Minnesota. The smoke had made it's way into Pennsylvania and last Thursday and Friday it was really bad. This was how hazy it was. You could even smell the smoke in the air.

The sun was an orange color but you can't really tell from the picture. It's much pales in the picture than what I was actually seeing.

As bad as it was here, I can't imagine what it must have been like for those much closer to these fires. I just pray that everyone who was affected by the fires is safe

Side note for Chatty Crone. I am getting your comments but as I was replying to one this morning I noticed that your comments are now coming in as no reply so you aren't getting them. I wasn't sure what your email was either so couldn't change it over. If you want to contact me directly at iannieam@gmail.com I can make sure I note your email address and start replying to you again. Sorry for the confusion.

Walmart.

 I do a weekly Walmart run whether I want to or not. If I can I will skip it but most weeks I need something. 

I don't like the self check outs and prefer to go to a real cashier. I do have a favorite cashier too and she's always working on Saturday morning.

On this particular trip, my favorite cashier wasn't at the registers that were open. I chose the shortest instead. I got behind this woman who was chatting away with the young guy who was cashing her out. When she was done she wished him a good day and told him what a good job he did.

I must say he was very friendly and he didn't act the least bit bothered by her rambling on. He was also quite friendly when it was my turn. That's something that you don't always get these days.

While I waited for my turn I took a picture of my watermelon with the bananas sitting on top of it.

I have been craving watermelon for a couple weeks but they've only had really big ones. I stopped at Mason Farms stand but they wanted either $9 or $10 for a small seedless watermelon. No way was I paying that much. On this particular trip they had them and they were only $4.97.

Drawings year 3 week 4

 

In the drive thru

 One day after work I was in the mood for a perfectly unhealthy meal that I didn't have to cook. I drove through the drive thru at McDonalds. 

While I was waiting for the car in front of me I snapped a couple pictures of the lilies that were growing there.