10 on the 10th: June 2026!

Latest update on Nigel: He’s walking, but it’s a struggle. Those muscles are just so weak right now. The good news is the Nurse Practitioner thought he was walking really well. I guess I was expecting a miracle. He’ll get there, though. But, it’s time for 10 on the 10th! I really do need to make these easier for myself! I’m probably going to really be stretching to come up with 10!

Here’s my list in no particular order. As always, I hope you give us all some context when you write yours!

• The smell of freshly mowed grass – When I was a kid, we had a really big yard, and my parents also owned a lake lot. At some point, Dad had intended to build a cottage there. Anyway, both of these places had to be mowed. And, Dad expected mowing to be done perfectly. To this day, I follow his rule…straight lines only! But, I digress. Luckily, I’m not allergic to grass so mowing is, for the most part, something I enjoy. I associate the smell of freshly mowed grass with that lake lot and, later, a lake cottage. When we lived up north, I loved mowing our big yard…that is until Nigel bought one of those funky zero turn mowers. My brain just couldn’t do it so I gave up mowing our yard except for those places that had to be mowed by the push mower.
• Later sunsets – I have reached the age when driving at night is a bit of a scary thing. On top of that, I have a baby cataract growing in my left eye. That makes oncoming headlights very blurry. With the later sunsets of summer, I don’t worry about being out later. And, there’s nothing better than sitting on the back porch, watching the kids in the neighborhood behind us playing and seeing the sun slowly sinking down.
• Thunderstorms – I do love a good thunderstorm as long as there aren’t any raging winds. The brilliant flash of lightning followed by the crack of loud thunder makes for one of those cozy nights. Thunderstorms during the day are just as nice, especially when the sky darkens appropriately. Again, I don’t want any excessive winds because tornadoes and such scare the bejeebers out of me!
• Rosebuds – You would think, given my maiden name is Rose, I would have had roses at each of our homes. But, you would be wrong. This is the first time I’ve ever had roses, and I love them. Usually, I’m watching each of those beautiful creamy white blossoms emerge from their buds. This year, however, they’re not doing that due to the overspray from weed killers. One of my bushes seems to be rallying, though. So, I’m hoping both come through this OK.

• The possibility of travel – In the past, we only traveled in the summer because I was teaching. When I was a kid, my mom started working when I was in fourth grade. That enabled our family to take family vacations far from home. Mom always waited until the week or two before school started so she had that much longer to anticipate the vacation! I even missed Freshman Orientation when I was going into high school. Before Mom got really sick, my whole family would travel with her. We went all over the eastern side of the Mississippi River. She loved to drive and would do most of the driving. I was always stuck in the back seat, squished between two car seats with unhappy toddlers. After Mom got sick, we only took one or two other family vacations before my kids got busy with their own lives…jobs, college, etc. Then, after they graduated from high school and left the nest, Nigel and I took lots of wonderful trips. I’m still anticipating travel…the reality is it probably will be Nigel-less. I can’t explain how bereft that makes me feel. I’m sure many of you understand that particular pain.
• Picnics – Again, going back to my childhood…my mom’s sisters, their families, Grandpa and Grandma Luderman, and our family had an annual picnic at Franke Park in Fort Wayne. This gem of a park was adjacent to the absolute best zoo in the country…the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo. I remember my Aunt Lou would get to the park extra early and stake a claim on the worn wooden picnic tables. When we all finally got there, the food would come out. There would be fried chicken (sometimes from KFC), all kinds of salads, chips, lots of raw veggies and cheese, and desserts. The only thing I really remember was Aunt Lou’s macaroni salad. That woman could cook and bake! She’s been gone a little over 12 years, and I still miss her. She was the mom I would have chosen when I was a dumb kid. Luckily, the good Lord knew I needed the mom I got!
• Boating – OK, this is a stretch. If I had my druthers, we would have a boat. There’s just something about floating on water, not necessarily going anywhere, either. We had an old row boat when we had the lake lot. When Dad bought the cottage, I’m pretty sure we upgraded the boat and gained a motor! I loved piloting that boat and riding over the wake behind us! I never could master the art of water skiing…not that that boat would have gone fast enough. Dad’s oldest sister, my Aunt June, had a lake cottage, a pontoon boat, and a speed boat. OK, her husband, Uncle Tiny, probably claimed they were his, but I thought of them as hers. I loved going out on that pontoon boat and just puttering around the lake. I did try to water ski once and only once!
• Flowers – I bet y’all were wondering when I was going to say that, weren’t you? Or, did you think the rosebud item covered the point? Nope, no way, not at all! I love flowers of any kind…even dandelions (when they’re in someone else’s yard). I haven’t planted any flowers from seeds for years now, but I may just give it a try next year. A friend of mine uses gallon jugs, cuts them almost all the way through so that there’s an opening, fills them with dirt, plants the seeds, waters them a bit, then seals them up, and puts them out beside her house…yes outside…in March! And, she has an amazing garden. I miss waiting to see the little green sprouts coming out of the ground. Yeah, I really need to do that next year. My back porch has lots of pots of flowers but I have a few more to move back there as soon as I get them planted!
• Motorcycle rides – When Mom died, I inherited a nice amount of money. One of the things we bought was a Harley Davidson from a teacher “friend” at school. Her husband was upgrading though I don’t know how he could possibly have had a better one than the one he sold to us. You can actually see it here. Nigel posted a photo of it there for some reason. After he broke his right arm, he decided he couldn’t really handle it anymore. That thing weighed over 750 pounds! When he bought it, the bike had about 5,000 miles on it. When he sold it eleven years later, it was close to 50,000! We rode so many backroads and highways. I loved riding on the back unless it was cold. Part of me would be warm, but most of me was freezing! We also had a 1976 Kawasaki KZ1000. After the kids came, Nigel sold it because he did ride a little crazily back then. It wasn’t near as comfortable as the Harley, but I was a whole lot younger and could stand to be on the back with just a little metal backrest! After selling the Harley, Nigel bought a Ural which is a sidecar motorcycle. He knew he wouldn’t have to balance as much. But, it was uncomfortable, loud, and just not as much fun as it looked. He sold it in 2022 or 2023. I wish we’d just converted the Harley to a tricycle because I know he’d still be riding it.

• Swinging – See, I told you this was going to be hard! I had to think long and hard, but I finally came up with my tenth one! I love to swing on school swing sets if they even exist anymore. I was spoiled by the big swing set we had when I was a kid. I would swing as high as I wanted because the legs were all cemented into the ground. You know how those aluminum ones will start to tip as you go higher? I never had that problem with our swing set. Before they closed Columbia Township, I would actually go over there and swing. It’s such an exhilarating feeling…sailing into the sky, knowing you were safe, and yet there was this feeling of flying. I hope you’ve all had the opportunity to swing like I used to do. I’m leaving now to look for a swing set!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I honestly never think about how hard these will be when I come up with them. Sometimes, I’m doing them at the last minute though this one wasn’t one of those! And, as I got going, it wasn’t as hard as I thought…until I got to the last one! So, can we talk? How do you feel about thunderstorms? Do you mow your own yard? What’s your favorite picnic memory? Please leave a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as soon as possible.

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