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OMG! IDK WTH these stickers mean!

9 Feb

Have you noticed the recent proliferation of those oval bumper stickers with the initials on them?

I’m sure you’ve seen them. They’re usually white with thick black borders and say things like “ADK,” “SLX,” “QKA” or “BHV.”  Most of the time you’ll see just one stuck to a bumper or window, but sometimes they travel in packs.  Like yesterday, as I was driving down Ridge Road, I was following a car that had stickers that said SOBX, WEB, NC, EI, SLX and LAX. (He must have been a collector.)

They’re all very confusing. I mean, with your regular rectangular bumper sticker, there’s no doubt where you stand. You’re proud of your honor student. You’ve conquered some mountain. You heart your shih tzu.  But I can only guess what “SOBX” means.  So what’s the purpose of putting a sticker on your car when YOU’RE the only one who knows what it means?

But these folks are obviously proud of SOMETHING, so I do my best to try to figure them out.  Mr. Collector, I have decided, is a very unhappily divorced computer programmer who lives in North Carolina, sells employment insurance and trousers on the side, and has recently flown to Los Angeles.

Now I have to admit that I, too, have one of these oval stickers on my car. It reads WOF, and fewer than fifty people in the world know its significance. And I’m OK with that, because it’s important to me and that’s all that matters. So I guess I can’t judge anyone else who has a fixation with these cryptic message stickers.

But I won’t be joining the Association for Silly Stickers anytime soon. And if I do, I will certainly NOT put their oval sticker on my car.

 

Is it prom season ALREADY?

9 Feb

These are prom dresses?

Obviously it must be, because we got a glossy flier in the mail yesterday plastered with seductive photos of models wearing this season’s latest prom fashions and striking various “come-hither” poses. It was from The Jacqueline Shoppe, “Your Prom Specialty Store,” in Williamsville. (I guess being a “specialty store” is why it’s a “shoppe” and not a “shop.”)

When I saw the flier, several questions immediately came to mind.  Like, how did a dress shop in Buffalo get my daughter’s address?  How old ARE those “high school girls” in that catalog, really? I’m guessing several of them failed senior year at least a dozen times if they’re still in high school.  And why are you still sending us these things when my daughter graduated last year?

But mostly, as I look at it, I wonder what high school proms have come to.  I swear, some of the dresses in that are little more than bustiers.  The ones that do have some fabric to them are see-through, feathered, and almost exclusively strapless (I wonder how they’re even staying up on some of these “girls.”)  They have names like “Night Moves,” “Flirt,” and “LaFemme.” So much for just going to a prom to dance.

I posted a blog about this subject exactly one year ago, the first time I got a flier from this “shoppe.”  I pretty much had the same reaction back then. I wrote,

We got a flier in the mail the other day advertising prom dresses. Like a good mother, I looked it over, thoughtfully examining this year’s styles and colors. Then I said, “Sure, maybe I could buy one of these for Erin. That is, if I really want her to go to the prom looking like a hooker.”

I mean, really. Have you SEEN some of these dresses? It’s like they’ve taken inspiration from Madonna during her Disturbing Wardrobe Period.  Or Elton John. Honestly, a few of the dresses reminded me of  John’s feather costume when he played “Crocodile Rock” on The Muppet Show. And then there’s the one that looks like a cross between a cocktail waitress and a French maid. Sheesh.

I know that prom season is a fun and exciting time in every girl’s life. But I have never understood the need to drop a month’s salary on a designer dress you’ll wear once, shoes which are impossible to walk in and will be off your feet in 15 minutes, limousines, pre-dinners, post-dinners…all on top of prom tickets which can cost $50 or more each.

When did a nice, romantic school dance with your best guy turn into such a overblown production? Just go out there, kids, have fun, make good decisions and be safe. And as for each one of you young ladies, remember that you are a beautiful person already; you don’t need to sell yourself.

 

You can keep Florida. I like my Webster.

25 Jan

A family sledding trip to Webster Park. Photo by Kim Runnells.

Winter in Webster is kind of a boring time of year. Around December first, we all retreat into our homes for three straight months, venturing out again only when we hear birds chirping and see blue sky.

With some notable exceptions, all of the festivals and outdoor music and special events in the village also go on hiatus for winter. Business owners put away their patio furniture. It’s easy to find a parking spot on Main Street  (when they’ve been sufficiently plowed, that is).

Yup, winter in Webster is cold and miserable.  But only if you look at it that way.

Webster winters are also incredibly beautiful.  The lake shore at this time of year is spectacular.  A walk in any of our parks when there’s snow on the ground is like strolling through an enchanted forest, so peaceful and so quiet that you can actually think.  For that matter, you just have to look out your window into your front yard to enjoy the simple beauty of snow-covered trees and bushes.

And there’s even still plenty of things to do around town during the winter months, both indoor and outdoor. There’s free ice skating at the Rec Center, for example.  A snowmobiling event for children with special needs. The White Christmas in the Village Holiday Parade of Lights. Sledding at Webster Park.  Library events. Church concerts.  If you’re looking for something to do, just ask anyone who had kids home from school over Christmas Break.

I was thinking about all this this morning as I wrote an email to a friend who’s lounging on a beach in southern Florida. Naturally, I was pointing out the differences in temperature we were experiencing. But I stopped short of whining about it.

Right then, I realized that I don’t mind the cold so much. I COULD do without the snow, thank you, at least on the roads. (People drive so stupid.) And I don’t even mind shoveling. I look at it as a good workout, and I much prefer it over raking leaves.

No, I think we’re fortunate to have four distinct seasons. Springs that come back to life with flowering trees and baby birds; warm and sunny summers that invite outdoor concerts and romantic evening walks along the lake; autumns that explode with color; and yes, winters that aren’t afraid to be winters, with just enough snow to go sledding and snowshoeing, and every once in a while a bonus day off of school.  And funny thing about our seasons: they’re just long enough so that one comes to a close, we’re ready for the next one.

No, I’ve pretty much decided that going to Florida occasionally might be nice, but I wouldn’t give up living here in Webster for anything.

 

How the world responded to a simple request for snowflakes

14 Jan

If you “like” my Webster Blog Facebook page, you’ve already seen this story.  I posted a link to it yesterday pretty much as soon as I heard about it, because I knew it was something that everyone had to see.  So today’s blog is especially for those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook.

You may remember in the week before Christmas I posted a letter from the Sandy Hook Elementary School PTA in Newtown, CT. It introduced what they called the “Snowflake Project,” an idea which came about in the wake of the tragic shooting that occurred there on December 14.  The letter read, in part,

We are asking your students to make and decorate a snowflake. We will hang them in the hallways of the stark, new building where the Sandy Hook students will be returning.

It was a way for people to help bring some happiness into a very sad situation. I know that many individuals and schools in Webster answered the call.  As well as individuals and schools all around the state. And the country. And the world.

But you can see for yourself. Click here to see a story that CBS News did about the incredible response the Snowflake Project received.

 

More fun with words

7 Jan

So, did you have a little fun on Sunday trying to guess those idiom sculptures?  How did you do?

Yesterday morning at school, Webster Thomas art teacher Sue Toomey showed me a handful of other sculptures which weren’t part of the original collection because they were on display at District Office.  So to be fair, I figured I’d better post a second blog with the additional sculptures.

Once again, each sculpture is a physical representation of a a common idiom. Your challenge is to figure out what that idiom is. Each artist’s name is shown in the caption. Once you make your guess, scroll your mouse over it to check your answer.

If you didn’t see the original 16 photos I posted on Sunday, click here to go directly to that blog. Have fun!

 

by Jessie James

 

by Natalie Montoya

 

by Dan Brown
by Megan Ziegler
by Jamie Menaldino

 

Fun with words!

5 Jan

OK, I thought we all deserved to have a little fun today. So I present you with this mind-teaser.

You will find below a series of photographs of sculptures created by students in Sue Toomey’s Sculpture class at Webster Thomas High School.  Most of them were crafted this year (and so I know the artists’ names), but a few are from last year’s class.  Each one of them is a manifestation of a common idiom or phrase.  For example, the first one below, by Jaycob Sanchez, depicts the phrase “Mind on my Money.”  There are 16 different sculptures; your challenge is to see how many of them you can figure out.

Each artist’s name (if known) is shown in the caption.  After you’ve made your guess, scroll your mouse over the photo to see the sculpture’s title and check your answer.  Be forewarned: some are harder than others.  Good luck!

Jaycob Sanchez
Artist unknown
Veronica Speer
Madison Goodwine

 

Katelyn F-Thompson
Ally Bilow
Austin Deuschle
Artist unknown
Hailey Frank
Artist unknown
Nicole Meynadasy
Artist unknown
Marley Morrill
Kelsey Chippero
Alexa Cunningham (the word surrounding the knight is “SOMEONE”)
Aubrie Isaac

Good things DO happen

30 Dec

Today’s blog, which I’ve had in the works for several days now, takes on special significance given the tragic events of yesterday morning in Webster. It’s a reminder that good things really do happen in this world, and good people still inhabit it.

For starters, I want to bring you back to a blog I wrote earlier about how the Sandy Hook, Connecticut PTA has requested that people make snowflakes to decorate the school the students will be returning to after Christmas break.  Several days ago I posted a photo of the letter the PTA wrote requesting the snowflakes.

The response to that photo was overwhelming.  To date, that photo has been shared 145 times, which is very cool. But even cooler than that was hearing about some actual snowflake-making efforts.

Jen Sander, who works with 10- and 11-year-olds at Mary Cariola Children’s Center in Rochester, sent some photos of the snowflakes her kids made.

Some of the snowflakes made by the children at Mary Cariola Children’s Center.

I also heard from my daughter Sara, who teaches second graders at Buffalo Public School #76, Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy. Her kids knew about what had happened, so Sara explained to them that the snowflakes would be used to decorate the new school the kids would go to so it wouldn’t be scary.  The kids really got into the project, and didn’t want to stop. “It’s probably a big school so we need to make more,” they told her.

Students at the Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy in Buffalo show off their snowflakes.

Next, remember last week, after the horrible events in Newtown, CT, when Ann Curry proposed that everyone do a random act of kindness in memory of everyone who lost their lives?  I actually learned about the challenge from my friend Jane Laskey, who noted in her email that “I know two people that had their coffee paid for, someone who received flowers on their car while in Wegmans’ parking lot, my kids are making more and more Christmas goodies and plan to hand them out, and a meal paid for.”

I encouraged others to let me know if they had received or gave a random act. I heard back from a few people. My friend Lyndsay Maier wrote,

I heard this morning from a co-worker that she went to Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru this morning and the person before her in line paid for her order… Apparently one person about 15 cars before started this chain reaction and they had about 20 cars that kept on the chain… Every car paying for the person after them… the people at Dunkin’ were impressed that it kept on for so long.

Others told me that they regularly try to do random acts, and encourage their children to do so as well. Kurt Johnson has even set up a Facebook page on which he encourages people to report their random acts of kindness. You can see it here.

Merry Christmas, my friends. Hug the ones who are close to you.

D&C contributors gather for some holiday cheer

20 Dec

A few days ago I had the pleasure of attending a social gathering hosted by the Democrat and Chronicle for their bloggers and contributors.   D&C editors held the party as a thank you to the 100 or so community members who write blogs, articles, columns, editorial pieces, and more for their website and print editions.

I dragged my husband downtown with me, partly because he is my journalistic inspiration, but mostly because he himself worked at the D&C  for 16 years, and I knew he’d enjoy seeing some old friends.  That was indeed the case, and while he chatted with his former D&C colleagues, I chatted with my community blogger colleagues including Gary Gocek (Fairport), Donna DePalma (Pittsford), Lou Singer (Penfield), Terryn Maybeck (Victor), Ruth Thaler-Carter (Brighton) and fellow Webster blogger Rod Spratling. I also reacquainted with an old friend, Terry Schumacher, whom I haven’t seen since our kids were toddlers, and we were in the Fairport Moms Club together 20 years ago.

Plus, I met lots of new people and had lots of pleasant conversations, something that’s very easy to do when you’re with a bunch of writers. (If you’ve never noticed before, people who like to write also like to talk.)  So the evening flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for a group photo, one last cup of punch and a friendly wave goodbye.

Thank you to the D&C editors for hosting the event. But mostly, thank you to all my readers who keep coming back every day to see what I have to say…even though it’s not always very interesting. It’s your support that keeps me going, and lets me be a part of this great bunch of crazy writers.

 

D&C writers, bloggers and editors gathered for a group photo before the party broke up.

 

Send a snowflake to Newtown

20 Dec

I received this email this morning from a teacher at Willink Middle School. I think it is such a wonderful idea, and I know that so many in our community would want to participate, so I wanted to pass it along to everyone immediately.

Hello everyone:

I learned of something simple anyone can do for the grieving community we all have on our minds.

The state PTA, teachers, parents and local folks are collecting snowflakes to decorate the new school for the Newtown staff and children. They can be any color and made of anything you want. I think the idea started as paper cut outs like we all made when we were little. The school they will inhabit is bare and someone thought it might be a nice showing snowflakes from all over the country, world, as a show of support….

The snowflakes can be mailed to the address below. The community plans to decorate over the break, so be sure to send them soon.

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connolly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514

It just gives me chills to think of that school covered head to toe with snowflakes from around the country, and around the world. Please pass the word and lets get everyone we know involved in this effort. It’s such a simple way to show our support.

 

 

A rose is a rose…even in winter

16 Dec

OK, this unusually un-winter-like weather has officially begun to creep me out.

When I was at the Eastway Wegmans on Saturday, I saw rose bushes — in full bloom — growing next to the parking lot. Now, I am no gardener, so I know nothing about rose bushes. Perhaps there are a few varieties that thrive in the cold.

But it was just weird.

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