Kathy with a K

I have a fairly simple name. I used to say I have a common name until I found out I actually have an old lady name. When I thought about it, I realized I don't know anyone named Kathy who is under the age of around 45. I know a Kathleen and two Catherines, but they never, ever go by Cathy. Still, it was a common name when I was growing up, and it is a simple name.

And yet, simple as it is, I've spent my life answering the question, "Is that with a C or a K?" When I thought about it, I realized there are a number of supposedly simple names like that. I imagine people named Ann, Lynn, and maybe even Carol have always had to tell people whether or not there's an E on the end. Sara and Sarah of course have to tell you if you should add on that H.

Men aren't immune either. Is it Jon or John? And if you have a certain variant of John/Jon is it Sean or Shawn?

Kathy-with-a-K is what automatically comes out of my mouth as one word whenever I give my name to someone who is going to write it down. I'm sure Cathy-with-a-C, wherever she is, always has to do the same thing.

People often give their children unusual names or give unusual spellings to common names yet those us with a simple or common name still have to end up telling people how to spell it.

Name your child whatever name you like. Chances are he or she is going to have to always spell it for others anyway.

Oh, and in answer to that other question: "Are you a Katherine or a Kathleen?"

Kathleen

Thank you JK Rowling

I don't care much for the fantasy genre either in books or movies or tv shows, so when the first Harry Potter book came out it wasn't even on my radar. I didn't even know it existed it until a few years later when the movies started. Even then I wasn't interested, and since my son was still very young my disinterest didn't matter.

When Dennis was nine, his older brother and then-girlfriend (now our wonderful daughter-in-law) gave him the first book for Christmas. My husband was still reading aloud to Dennis every night and just because I wasn't interested that didn't mean they shouldn't enjoy the books. They were hooked from the first page.

Two years later they were still working their way through the books and loving them (okay, they didn't read every night). They even convinced me to watch some of the movies, and I reluctantly admitted I liked them. That year, I broke my ankle and was not allowed to put weight on the repaired ankle for six weeks. When I started to run out of reading material, I picked up the first book. Then I picked up the second one. And I was just as hooked as they were. We became a family of Harry Potter fans and even began listening to the audio book versions as we were spending a lot of time driving to and from activities in those days.

Our family fandom extends outward too - My stepson and his wife are big fans and we look forward to the day when we can start our grandsons on the books.

Thank you, JK Rowling.

Thank you JK, for the closeness my son and husband had while reading/being read all seven books over a period of two years.

Thank you JK, for holding the movie makers to a certain standard. Of course there were things that could have been done better, but without you there would have been even more of those.

Thank you JK, for letting Jim Dale read the U.S. versions of the audio books. We have listened at least 10 times over the years, and often come up with a new question or notice something we didn't in the past.

Thank you JK, for allowing Universal Studios Harry Potter World. We live less than an hour away, and often buy season passes to Universal just so we can go to Hogwarts (and now Diagon Alley).

Thank you JK, for all the Harry Potter parties we had with fellow fans, and even the Christmas at Hogwarts float our homeschool group entered in the Christmas parade one year.

Thank you JK, for Halloween Costumes and even plain old dress-up play.


The morning of Dennis' 17 birthday, after our usual good morning greetings, the following exchange took place:

Me: Happy Birthday!

Dennis: Thanks. I can use magic now.

Me: Huh?

Dennis: I'm 17. I can use magic outside of school now.

Thank you JK Rowling, for giving him the magical childhood and children's story he'll never outgrow.

I is for - I haven't a clue, I have no good ideas, I don't know what to post

Well, it looks like I hit my first wall in the 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge. I've been racking* my brain since I decided to join the challenge, trying to think of topics for the difficult letters. Oh sure, there are plenty of great words that begin with I, but I don't have enough to say about any of them. Internet? Old news. Identity, Inner self, Inspiration, Introspection? I have absolutely no spiritual or philosophical bones in my body. Icebergs? Ice cream? My Irish and Italian heritage? That heritage by the way seems to have been lost on the next generation - the generation to which my son and my niece belong. I suppose that means our family has fully melted into the melting pot.

Nothing that starts with I interests me today.Which leaves me with no ideas. I don't know. I can't think of anything. I, I, I...I guess this post is all about me then. Or more accurately, it's all about I.


I expect to have pulled myself out of this when I get to other difficult (for me) letters. This A to Z Challenge is stretching me in good ways, but I'm giving myself the day off today with my I'm-stumped post.

*Yes, it's rack, not wrack.

H is for Happiness

If this post is published it means that so far I've made it through eight days of the 2016 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Yay me!

Happiness. How do you define it? Is it an overall feeling? A day to day feeling? Is it about the big things or the little things? I believe the answer is all of the above, but I'm going to stick with the little things for this post.

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." ~ Robert Brault

So H is for Happiness, and 

• Happiness is the sound of pure joy in a child's laugh.
• Happiness is kissing the soft bottom of a baby's foot.
• Happiness is puppy breath.
• Happiness is a having a purring cat knead on you.
• Happiness is being with the people you love and the people who love you.
• Happiness is feeling the warm sun on your face.
• Happiness is the sound of ocean waves.
• Happiness is a cool drink of water on a hot day.
• Happiness is a hot drink on a cold day.
• Happiness is being curled up indoors with a good book while a thunderstorm rages outside.

There are so many things to complain about in today's world that complaining is much easier to do than finding things to be happy about. If you look for the good things you will find them. Big or little things; it doesn't matter. If you've been stressed out by negativity lately, why not take today to make your own Happiness is list?

Gardening, Green Thumbs, and the Green-Eyed Monster

G is for gardening, an activity with which I have a love-hate relationship.
Some years ago I decided to try my hand at growing vegetables. That's not easy for the backyard Florida gardener to do, since our soil is really just sand. Soil improvements and amendments are absolutely a requirement. My husband was excited about my new hobby and even rigged up a way to keep the critters out of my little garden area. Later he/we built an even bigger screened in area with raised beds.

I did everything by the book. Really. I had books on gardening in Florida, in Central Florida, vegetable gardening in my area, and so on. I read every web site I could find and garden blogs written by gardeners in my area. I read about the perfect soil and made the appropriate amendments. I faithfully pulled bugs off of my precious plants, watered regularly (but not too much), and got rid of weeds so they wouldn't steal the nutrients from the soil. What did I get for my efforts? In a span of 4 years I managed to grow a handful of cherry tomatoes, a few hot peppers, enough lettuce for one small salad, about half a dozen very small sweet potatoes, and a tiny bit of broccoli. One year I did manage to grow enough Seminole pumpkins to make our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, but there was really very little for all of my efforts. I gave up, and my abandoned garden taunted me every time I looked out my kitchen window.

Fast forward to last fall (fall is our best growing season) when my husband decided to restart the garden. He did everything I did but somehow managed to produce a bumper crop. We had tomatoes all season, delicious crisp cucumbers. enough lettuce for weeks and weeks of salad...you get the picture.

Maybe there really is truth in the idea that some people have a green thumb. I really want to be jealous of him but I managed to tame the green-eyed monster due the fact that I benefit from his delicious backyard crops. He didn't have any better luck with bell peppers than I did; they're notoriously difficult to grow here. Other than that, everything he planted did well.

I do just fine with herbs, so he leaves me some room for my basil, parsley, cilantro, and green onions. All the rest has been turned over to him. I'll stick to planting and caring for native plants that attract birds and butterflies. He'll stick to planting what the humans eat.

Do you have a garden? Does it include edibles? Are you a natural with a green thumb or do you have to work hard at keeping your plants alive and getting them to thrive?

This post is part of the 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge.