Friday Fragments 214

Welcome to another week of Friday Fragments. 

Our society is doomed. 

I spent a good part of my working life in big box stores. The last being the Wal-Mart in my town.  I have  co-workers and friends who have been transferred around the country who keep me informed about the craziness that goes on in this company.  One sent me this photo yesterday.  It was supposedly taken in a Wal-Mart store in Wiggins, Mississippi.  Not wanting to share something that could be a joke I called the Wal-mart in Wiggins and was assured by the lady answering the phone that this sign is real.  The lady I spoke with said this sign was not in her store because it was closing soon but was in the new store that just opened outside of town. She also told me that she had personally seen these signs in other Wal-marts in Mississippi and some of the states along the gulf coast. 
   
Are we really this illiterate in this country?  Maybe  the non-english reading people on the gulf coast have become a big enough demographic to warrant a helpful sign. Of the two choices, I sincerely hope the latter is correct.

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The Old Salt and I each spent the biggest part of the last years of our working life working graveyard shifts.  As a result we tend to still be nocturnal, usually crawling into bed in the wee hours of the morning.  It is rare to find us out and about before noon.  Yesterday, we were not only up, dressed and out of the house, we had already been to breakfast and were on the hiking trail that circles Lion's lake when the sun began to rise.  The above shot was taken just before seven AM. 

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For the last decade or so I have not been a big fan of celebrating my own birthday.  I am also starting to dislike celebrating the birthdays of other family members.  I am the oldest of thirteen children.  Last month we celebrated the fiftieth birthday of the eleventh child.  Tomorrow we will be attending the (Shh! It's a surprise) sixtieth birthday party of the fifth child and his wife who were both born a few weeks apart and met in high school.  Watching my siblings celebrate those milestone birthdays just brings home how old I really am and how much of what I expected to accomplish in my life has not and probably will not happen.  The phrase "Bucket List" was coined not that many years ago, but, it feels as if it has been with me (chronic list maker) forever. I am constantly being slapped upside the head by the length of it.  

Mom, last month, with her second
youngest great-grandchild

While on the subject of age, my 87 year old mother still bowls twice a week.  I went to pick her up at the bowling alley yesterday and was a bit early so I was hanging out watching the action.  I always figured she was the oldest woman on the senior leagues and discovered I was wrong.  I met another lady who told told me she will be ninety in January and she has already been the high scorer twice this season.   I so hope that longevity passes down my way.     

                                                 

I recently received two very great honors from two of my blogging buddies.  The first was from Laura of Forest Walk Art  who gave me permission to post this photo of her and her husband on my "Braid Parade" slideshow. The other was from Beth of E. Lizard Breath Speaks who has agreed to share this lovely photo of her in this great hat on my "Hat Parade."  Thank you both.  They are great photos and I am proud to have them in my collection.  If any of you would like to be included in one of my "Parades" you will find my e-mail on the sidebar, just e-mail me a photo.  If you have missed my Parades, perhaps now is the time to take a peek.  When your finished there hop over to "Half Past Kissing Time" and check out what Mrs. 4444's and her friends have to share on this weeks Friday Fragments.