The Storyteller | Mary Vee

This Thursday is Flag Day in the United States. Photo by Mary Vee Tennessee Overlook near Johnson City No matter the good, the bad, and the ugly, living in the United States isn't so bad. I'm sure I think this because I grew up here, which makes it home.  Many of you have visited another country or two, maybe more. You saw the great sights, ate the food, and made great memories. Me too.  And for a moment I might have thought  I'd like to move to that country.  I'd probably have to learn another language. The culture would be completely different. I'd have to work around my savings, give up having the transportation I'm used too. Find a job. A place to live. Probably wouldn't be able to see my family as often. I don't know. Maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea. After a while, I'd find issu es with similar governmental decisions, etc. in the new country. I'd hear and read the complaints from those living there and even...

It's rare to have post day fall on my birthday. This year it did. Having a summer birthday had some interesting advantages. All my siblings, and there were several, had fall or winter birthdays. Since my parents didn't have much money, anything expensive for the family was given as a birthday present. Made sense, right? Yep. So, when summer came and the brood needed an inflatable pool out in the backyard, it appeared as my gift. Too awesome. Well, we all couldn't fit in the smaller pool at one time, but we managed to have a ton of fun. There was also a few other perks given to the birthday person in our family. The honored one could choose one place to celebrate, pick what was served for the family dinner, and they got out of chores.  I usually chose to either go miniature golfing with Dad, he always beat me, or have the whole family visit Aunt Betty. She is a funny, make you feel-good-to-be-around-her person. Her personality is one I still aspire to ...

Photo Courtesy Yeah! It's my birthday. So for the rest of this week, I am my guest. And since I am the guest, I will be doing the book giveaways. Someday I will feature my own book, but, for now, I will be giving away some awesome author books to as many commenters as I can. Those of you who have stopped in to read previous posts probably know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to travel. This year's theme is: Out West.  Of course I said--YES! Let's go.  The winning photo.  Wow it was a really difficult choice!! We began our trip in Tucson, Arizona. Ghost towns. Spicy, hot foods. Cacti. Desert.  Surprisingly there was a mountain in this flat terrain. Driving up the winding mountain road we saw the base littered with scrub plants. The middle level had great rock formations. The top, oddly enough, looked like a beautiful pine forest with rippling creeks...in the desert! Driving north through the red rock  formations  in Utah to the northe...