M & D

Today I went to my Mom & Dad's. They live in the country, about 1 1/2 hrs. from my house. I drove an hour to Leesburg for ballet class because I have a punch card there with 6 more classes on it that I should use before I leave the area. Although now I much prefer The Washington Ballet not only because of it's proximity, but the teacher is amazing and they have a live pianist. Anyway.

I went to ballet, which was great, and then continued on to see my parents. We had a nice visit; it was good just to hang out and talk. They have an adorable Labradoodle (Lab/poodle), Wyeth, who is so sweet and fun. And BIG, white and fluffy.

I helped my Dad make lunch. He is an excellent cook. I just helped him "throw something together" that ended up being delicious: sauteed polska kielbasa, onion, yellow pepper with potato salad and cheddar cornbread. Yum! He apologized that it was a very yellow meal. While we were eating we watched out the window as hummingbirds went crazy over the feeder on the deck. Such beautiful, interesting creatures. They had shiny, iridescent green backs.

My Dad has been really sick for a couple months, but we think we finally know what the problem is: Lyme disease. I feel so bad for him, because it has completely changed his life. It's at least good to know his symptoms are not a complete medical mystery.

On a lighter note, I saw my Dad's new license plate. My parents change license plates as frequently as some people change ... I don't know, fill in the blank. Basically with a lot of frequency.

They started this long before it was the vogue and then the irritatingly prevalent thing to do in Virginia.

Some of the plates I can recall my parents having:

WDWBT (on a red Volkswagen Rabbit (get it, "Red Rabbit"?))
YOMAMAS ("Hey, isn't that yo' mama's van?")
NACHOS ("This car is mine, nachos ("not yours") . Yeah, my parents like ebonics)
SYSTAR (name of my Dad's company)
DRUM-MOM ("drum line mom" (when my bro was in the drum line))
SHN&OA ("Shenadoah" -- geographic region)
XBGEN1 (Scion XB Generation I)

This prompted me at one point to get my own personalized plate: S4LVRS. ("Is For Lovers," part of the state tourism motto.) The plate of course says VIRGINIA across the top. I'm so clever! I still have those plates as a memento.

And now, my Dad has rolled out his latest plates: