Here in the upper Midwest, “Spring” is that time of year when Winter and Summer battle to the death. Summer always wins by attrition but some years, Winter manages to hang on with cold and snow until the Summer Solstice finally makes the Old Man say “Fine. But don't get too comfy; I’ll be back.” Some years, Summer shows up so early in April, that Winter just dies of surprise. That’s very rare. Most of the time when Summer tries to sneak in early, Winter beats the snot out of it (and us) by dumping a blizzard on us, just to remind everyone who’s King.
Not this year. This year, we’re actually having a slow warm up, with the leaves on the trees making a timid appearance and tulips waking up as if coming off a bender of epic proportions. I mean, it’s mid-May and we’re just seeing them! We’re nearly two months past the equinox and tulips have just popped up? That’s so weird.
Spring is sunscreen time. Yes, we should all wear it through the winter as well but it’s hard to remember when you don’t see the sun for weeks on end and you’re never outdoors longer than it takes you to hustle from the warmth of your house to the warmth of your car.
I think sunscreen is a microcosm for the stupidity of the American Consumer.
For years, I’ve been using Jergen’s Healthy Glow Protect. It’s a self tanner with SPF 15. Sounds like the perfect product, doesn’t it? It is!!
Last year, I couldn’t find it anywhere in town. Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, grocery stores; no one carried it. OH, they all carried Jergen’s Healthy Glow products, but nobody carried the line with sunscreen. Apparently, their customers all went for the lotions that claim to firm up your old skin or make you look young again. So, I had to buy the Protect version online.
Now I can’t even get it online. I fear Jergen’s has stopped making Healthy Glow Protect. The few sellers who have it on Amazon are charging over $20.00 a tube.
I take that to mean that the demand for a self-tanner with sunscreen wasn’t high enough to make the product economically sustainable.
You’d think a tanner that protects your skin from burn and cancer would be a no brainer!! Lotion can actually do that. You know what lotion can’t actually do? Make old skin firm. Make old skin young. But consumers are morons.
And now I have to go back to putting on two kinds of lotion every single day.
I know this is a very fancy problem. I’m just saying: this is not progress.
Some day, when my grandkids are old enough to understand, I'll regal them of the good ol' days, when one could actually get self tanner with spf. They'll think Nana has finally gone around the bed, have me committed and find out years later that I was right. Then they'll be sorry.
Last week, I went to the Minneosta Zoo with Babalouie’s preschool class. Every one of the kids brought along a ‘chaperon’, so the kids were well watched. We took a bus from school, then were herded into Discovery Bay, where there were shelves for us to leave the lunches we’d brought. After that, the teachers gave us our instructions and told us we were all free to explore the zoo!
Discovery Bay is the Sea exhibit; huge aquariums full of sharks and stuff! We hadn’t been there ten minutes when some kid fell in the shark pond. Oh, he’s fine. He wasn’t with our group, anyway.
Babalouie hooked up with two of his buddies so their Moms and I spent the next four hours trying to keep up with them as they ran all over the zoo. It was a cold, blustery day (Spring!) but the boys didn’t mind. I had dressed for the weather, including a hat but one of the Moms only had a big sweater on. One of the best pieces of advice my Mom ever gave me was 35 years ago, when she told me that no matter how nice the day was when my kids’ baseball game started, always have a winter coat in the car. Bottom line: always be prepared for the cold.
They all really enjoyed the Family Farm. The first thing we saw were the horses, about eight of them in a corral. Babalouie immediately said “those two black ones are wagon train horses.”
I asked him what he meant and he said “Look at their feet.” Both of them had long fluffy hair on their feet, like Clydesdales. There were goats, calves, cows, pigs and rabbits. We watched one cow get milked, which was pretty cool.
Outside of the farm, we saw grizzly bears, a black bear, two kinds of tigers, a puma, lynx, badger, otters and lots of exotic birds. We didn’t get to spend as much time in the rainforest because by the time we got there it was almost time to leave.
Everyone met back at Discovery Bay for a class picture. After that, Babalouie grabbed my hand and said “come on, Nana.”
“Come where, do you need to go potty?” I asked.
“No, let’s go look at more animals!”
I had to explain to him that the bus would leave without us if we disappeared and it was our only ride home. He was not delighted but he didn’t argue. As we climbed back aboard the school bus, he was already making plans for next year’s trip to the zoo.
I fell asleep on the bus ride back to school.
Mother’s Day was delightful! Josie invited everyone to brunch at our house and they all came! With the addition of Kitten, we now number 13, all of whom we managed to squeeze in around our oval shaped dining room table. We put all four of the kids on a bench from the kitchen table. When Kitten is big enough to sit at the table, we’re going to have to institute a kid’s table. Or, I could find another oval table with another leaf…
Again: fancy problems.
The kids all had a terrific time together; they get along like gangbusters, which makes me very happy. Boopityboop got here before the southern contingent and the first words out of Boopity’s mouth were asking if her new baby cousin was coming. I think the twins are going to have a lot of fun with a new, tiny cousin.
Later in the afternoon, after Katie took the twins home for their nap, Megan and I took her kids over to see my Mom and Dad. The day was lovely, so Mom and I took Xena and Babalouie to the park across the street while Megan and Kitten hung out with Dad, who was watching golf.
All in all, I think everyone had a good mother’s day.