when life gives you apples

I ordered my groceries on line, which I find very convenient, and picked them up yesterday.  There are a few flaws though.  This time I didn't double check my order very carefully before I hit send, and when I started unloading my groceries realized that I now had four large bunches of celery and more potatoes than I will eat in two months.  So, since I hate to waste food, I cooked up a big pot of potato celery soup.  I'll probably never be able to duplicate the recipe.  I just kept dropping in what I thought might taste good and it did.  Then I had some for supper and froze the rest in individual size servings (six to be exact), but that led to another problem.  To make space in my little freezer something else had to go.  I had a couple of pie crusts that had lingered in there much too long so I moved those to the fridge.  Today, since I also had a bountiful supply of apples, I used the crusts and made apple pie.  It's quite good but wouldn't do well in the freezer.  Not really a problem. It seems that apple pie disappears much more quickly than potato celery soup.  Go figure.

10-9-8-7....

Well, they did it. SpaceX's Falcon 9 space shuttle blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 3:22pm today.  Carrying two astronauts to the space station.  It was very exciting to watch but I do miss Walter Cronkite.  Watching tne event did bring back lots of memories from the 60s.  A 30 something friend of mine said this is the first rocket launch she has ever seen, which surprised me til I stopped and did the math.  One of the commentators today was an austronaut who has been on the space station and had some good explanations of the research that goes on there.  The comment I remember most clearly was about the process of getting there.  This was right after they had made it into the beginning of their orbit, and she was talking about getting into the proper orbit to dock with the space station.  She said "It takes eight minutes to get into space and a day and a half to parallel park."  I can so relate.

Even here

It started as a peaceful protest.  This evenng I saw on the 5pm news that there was a protest being held by the courthouse in downtown Fort Wayne because of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  Protesters are not an unuual occurance at the courthouse. You can often drive by and see people waving signs for one cause or another.  From all reports this one started very peacefully and steadily grew until there were over 500 people downtown.  Later I heard it grew to a thousand. by 9pm there was live coverage from at least one of our local stations reporting that police were firing tear gas into the crowd, some windows had been broken at a nearby law office and at least one of the heavy concrete planters that line the downtown sidewalks  had been tipped over.  Not much compared to what is going on in other citie but still so sad. From what I heard, just a few people started throwing things and getting in the way of traffic.  I feel bad for the original organizers of the protest. who. I think. truly did want a peaceful protest.  

pandemic mileage

Six months ago I bought a new piece of furniture.  It is a love-seat size recliner.  I knew I would get some use out of it, I needed a little more seating in my living room, and I thought, since it can seat two, my grandkids would find it comfy when they visited.  All of those things turned out to be true but little did I know how much mileage it would get during this pandemic.  It is a very comfortable recliner with an extra invisible feature that brings on naps at the most unexpected times.  So it's no surprise that it's the seat I aim for when I'm ready to read or watch TV.  Those things I anticipated when I bought the chair.  For the last two months though no one has sat in my recliner except me and yet it is getting quite a bit of mileage on it.  Today, for example, I shopped for groceries, checked out paint sample colors, put some library books on hold, communicated with several friends and refilled a prescription, all from my recliner.  That's a lot of miles.  Tomorrow I have an appointment to have my teeth cleaned.  Too bad I haven't figured out how to do that from my recliner.  Some things just can't be done on line.  

10-9-8......

I turned on the TV this afternoon to watch the SpaceX launch.  Two astronauts were going to blast off for the space station from US soil for the first time in many, many years.  I remember when such launches were a really big deal with day long media coverage.  Such excitement, and admittedly, an element of fear.  Sadly, or wisely, today's launch was postponed due to weather conditions.  They didn't want to launch into lightening,  Good decision.  I will tune in on Saturnday afternoon.  3:22pm on Saturday is the next possible launch window.  I'm not sure the thrill will be the same but I'm certainly looking forward to finding out.  

visiting family

I got to see my granddogs today for the first time in two months.  I'm pretty sure they aren't carriers of the coronavirus, so I did not keep my mask on while I visited with the dogs.  I don't think I infected them either since I do not allow them to lick my face.  They were very excited to see me.  After two months of having someone at home every day, today was the first day they needed to be in their crates while my daughter and son-in-law were at work,  They both work long hours so I agreed to let the dogs out for a potty break mid-day since it had been so long since they had been confined.  The dogs were very happy to see me.  I'd like to think it was because they really like me but I'm pretty sure there were more pressing issues.  They didn't waste any time getting outside.  I spent an easy hour with them, letting them get some exercise, and then went home.  I'm always impressed with how easily they go back into their crates when it's time for me to go.  They walk right in, I latch their little doors and then they bark for a little bit. They always stop barking before I'm even out the door.  It reminds me a little of leaving a child at day care.  Some children cry until their mom is out the door, then settle down and are jsut fine.  I did such a good job that I've been invited back tomorrow.  

Summertime

I hope you all had a nice, quiet, safe, socially distanced Memorial Day weekend.  I honor all of those who served and died in the military, in the meantime being so greatful that all of the soldiers, sailors and airmen (and airwomen) in my family as far back as I can trace served and survived.  
On a totally different subject, yesterday I wrote about old practices including wearing gloves to church.  I realized, after watching most of the Downton Abbey marathon on PBS this weekend, that seeing all the lovely ladies constantly taking off and pulling on their long elegant gloves is probably what made me think of gloves although ours, at least in summer, were only wrist length.  My father used to tease my mother and me for wearing gloves in the summertime, but I suspect, looking back on it, the gloves were a way, at least for the adult women to cover up work worn and wrinkled hands.  Hmmm, I wonder where my gloves are.  

it's that time of year

Well, here we are at Memorial Day weekend,  There's no Indy 500 this year, and picnics and other gatherings are limited to small groups, supposedly.  However some traditions remain the same, or maybe they don't.  Once upon a time we didn't wear white until after memorial day.  We (talking about women and girls here) wore hats, straw in summer, and gloves, sheer in summer, to church every Sunday,  As I say, it was all long ago, but, I must admit I still feel funny about wearing my white jeans until Memorial Day, although I've had no problem giving up hats and dressy little gloves for church,  I don;t really miss dressing up but I do, sometimes, miss shopping for hats.  Every spring my mother and I would drive from our small town home to the big city of Fort Wayne and we would shop for Easter hats, downtown of course.  There were lots to choose from and, usually, lots of laughs as we tried them on.  Every year had a particular color that was in fashion.  I did enjoy wearing hats but now the fashion is masks - not nearly so much fun.

still waatching

I'm still binge watching Downton Abbey and have been all day.  I managed to finish a weaving project and get it off the loom while I watched so it wasn't a totally wasted day.  Pretty much but not totally.  I did find it interesting that one of the episodes dealt with the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1917-18.  Nothing about social distancing but a heavy emphasis on how fast it spread and how deadly it was.  Very interesting.  Of course the whole day has been an emotional roller coaster.  I've been through the sinking of the Titanic, births, deaths, World War I, innocent imprisonment and so much more.  I'm beginning to understand why binge watching is so appealing to so many people.  These episodes will continue overnight (I will not stay awake all night) and on through tomorrow.  I will have to find a new project that I can do in front of the TV.  Not ironing, I'm not that desperate.  

another world

Well, I'm hooked.  I'm watching the second episode of Downton Abbey as I'm writing this and I will be watching more.  It seems that PBS is running the whole series during this long weekend which may seriously interfere with anything else I had planned to accomplish.  Fortunately, I have examined my to do list and realized that there is nothing on it that can't be postponed, or done while I'm watching.  I can multi-task as long as the tasks are relatively simple and don't require coordination or much thinking.  Why am I hooked you may ask?  Or maybe you don't care at all, but I will explain anyway.  It's partly because of the gorgeous costumes and the idea of living in such a glorious house.  Of course I imagine myself as one of the nobility not as a servant.  My real joy with the series is the witty, often snarky conversations between the women of the household.  Such fun.  

not my favorite

My west coast brother informed me that today is Strawberries and Cream Day.  And that reminded me of a childhood incident that may explain why I'm not too fond of strawberries.  Or maybe I just don't like them.  My mother would have been great during this pandemic.  She was a teacher and during the summer months, kept us on a schedule, much as parents are being told to do with their children at home these days.  It wasn't a hard schedule.  Typical days involved some kind of chore in the morning, a little TV time (my little brother loved Captain Kangaroo), a rest after lunch and time to play outside in the afternoons.  One of those chores, not my favorite, was to get up in the cool of the morning and weed the strawberry patch.  My middle brother, two years younger than me, was not too fond of chores, especially ones that involved damp, dewy plants, muddy soil and sometimes spiders.  My mom would work along with us and he would take frequent trips into the house for dirnks of water and to check how much time was left til we could quit this job.  Finally, on this particular morning, he ran back to tell Mom that it was 8:00 and time to quit and have breakfast.  I was certainly willing to quit.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful until after supper when Dad turned on the evening news at 7:00 and it wasn't on yet.  The news didn't come on until 7:20 and strangely the next couple of TV shows were also running late.  I don't remember if it was Mom or Dad who finally figured out that the kitchen clock was twenty minutes fast.  It didn't take them any time at all to figure out who had set the clock ahead.  I seem to remember more laughter than yelling and extra time in the strawberry patch for my brother.  I don't know why no one noticed all day that the clock had been set ahead but it was a different time.  We didn't have clocks on our computers (what's a computer?) or our phone (singular, on the wall), didn't wear fitbits or ever wrist watches, and generally just enjoyed our long summer days without worrying about what time it was.  A lot like my life these last couple of months.

such excitement

I am taking my excitement where I can find it these days.  Today, for example, I sucessfully picked up some library books that I had put on hold using the downtown library's new curbside service.  This was my first attempt to get library books this way, and the first chance I've had to get library books at all for weeks and weeks.  Friends of mine are anxious to get back to shopping at the mall or in the super stores.  For me it's the library.  But now I'm faced with a decision.  How long do I let these books sit before I decide that they are virus free and safe to read?  I've seen estimates on how long the virus can live on paper and hard surfaces that range from 10 minutes to four days.  They've been sitting on the floor since I brought them home this afternoon and I've decided that's long enough.  I promise I won't lick my fingers when I turn the pages.  I've always thought that was a disgusting habit anyway.  Read on America!

doing my civic duty

I plan to do my part.  The govenor says I'm in an at risk age group, which helps my decision making,  Our church has decided to srart live, on site Sunday serices in June.  They will hold them at 9:30am in our large dining hall where they can set out chairs six feet apart and surfaces are easy to keep sanitized.  There will be no singing, no communion, and everyone will be required to wear a mask, They are taking lots of precautions and it all sounds well thought out and probably pretty safe.  But there are some downsides.  It starts at 9:30, and would mean actually getting dressed and getting there.  The alternative option is the on line service which will still be live streamed at 11:00am from the basically empty sanctuary.  I have been 'attending' this service for the last six weeks or so from the comfort of my couch.  Don't you think it would be very selfish of me to take someone elses space at the 9:30 service?  Not very thoughtful at all.  I shall try to be a good citizen,  

Supporting local businesses

I keep hearing that it's good to support local businesses by buying local whenever possible.  I do think it's a good idea and am willing to do my part.  Take today, for instance.  I ordered my groceries on line and was scheduled to pick them up this morning, which I was happy to do.  However, Kroger's was not able to provide me with one item, Vitamin C.  So, since it was handy and I had my mask on, I decided to stop at Walgreens.  I was pretty sure they would have what I needed.  While I was there, after a friendly masked salesperson helped me find the Vitamin C, I walked down another aisle, just working my way toward the front of the store, and suddenly, there I was in the wine department.  And there on the shelf, exactly at my eye level, was a bottle of Moscato, my very favorite wine.  I know, not very sophisticated, but it's what I like.  Not only was it the wine I wanted, for my one glass a week habit, but it was from the Oliver winery and everyone knows that's an Indiana (therefore local) winery.  So there you go.  I bought the wine to do my civic duty.

kaboom!

Forty years ago tomorrow, May 18, was my father's 64th birthday.  To celebrate, he and my step-mom flew to Spokane to visit with my west coast brother and his wife and their first baby.  It was all very exciting and it got even more so when Mt. St. Helen's erupted.  It was quite spectacular, although I only heard about it from a distance.  Of course the mountain is some distance from Spokane but my brother thought that, if he spread some newspaper sheets in his yard he might be able to gather enough ash to save some and send me a little bottle of ash.  When he woke up the next morning to find his yard covered in 18 inches of ash, he decided he had collected enough.  On the positive side my dad and step-mom got to stay a few days longer because planes couldn't fly untill the ash cleared out of the air.  It was probably just a coincidence, but my father never flew to Spokane again.  Admitedly, it would be hard to top the reception he got on that birthday. 

master gardener

Recently several of my friends have been sharing, via text messages, all the gardening they have been doing.  It is the time of year for it so I guess it's inevitable.  I've read their posts about weeding, transplanting, clearing up last year's debris around the plants and planting flowers and vegetables.  It's interesting to read about, but if I'm being perfectly honest, I don't miss yard and garden work at all.  However, today, after looking carefully at the long term weather report (several nights with lows in the 50s) I decided to do my own spring gardening.  I trimmed my one and only house plant, put a little fresh dirt in its pot, moved it out on to the balcony, and watered it.  That's it, except for occasional watering, my gardening is done.  I've had this big green plant (sorry I don't know the name) since 2006 and it's still doing very well.  Today as I was reading one of my friend's texts, I had a quick thought that maybe I should add another plant to my household, but I squashed that impulse.  My plant shall remain an only plant.  We both like it that way.  

an anniversary to remember

Nine years ago this evening, about 9:30pm,  I slipped and fell really hard on a spot of water on my garage floor. It was quite a spectacular fall and I smashed my left hip.  It hurt a lot! Happily I was rescued after about 45 minutes of trying to butt-scoot my way into the house to get to a phone.  I had made it the length of the car by then. I knew, if all else failed, the workers who were remodeling my kitchen would find me in the morning, but miracle of miracles. a work friend and her daughter stopped by on their way home from a movie to drop off some paperwork.  When I heard them in the driveway I started hollering as loud as I could and did get their attention.  I thought I was really yelling.  My friend told me later that she thought it was a cat meowing.  They realized pretty quickly that I was in trouble and as soon as they got to me, called the EMS.  One of the EMS guys, after assuring everyone that oh. yes, my hip was really broken, explained to me that the best way to get me on to the stretcher was for me to put my arms around his neck, put my weight on my good leg and he would swing me up and over on to the stretcher.  I put my arms firmly around his neck, he did the heavy lifting and it worked.  After I was safely on the stretcher I remember him saying "Um, Ma'am, you can ler go now."  In my defense, I was a widow, and it had been a long time since a good looking young man had asked me to put my arms around his neck.

another one gone

I heard on the news today that Three Rivers Festival has been cancelled for this year.  Actually they said it had been postponed a year/  This would have been the 52nd annual Three Rivers Festival.  I know this is right because July 13 would also have been my husband and my 52nd anniversary.  Every year our anniversayr was during Three Rivers Festival and we usually found something to do at the festival.  Over the years I walked in the parade a couple of times, watched as our kids marched in the parade as part of their band, ate too much at junk food alley and, since I moved downtown, listended to a lot of festival music from my balcony.  So that's German Fest, Arab Fest, Three Rivers Festival and Middle Wave all cancelled.  Which means a whole lot of quiet when I sit on my balcony on weekend evenings.  I do understand their reasons and don't fault the decision, but it's going to be a different feeling summer.  But quiet isn't necessarily a bad thing. By the way, today is Chicken Dance Day so if you need a little festival feeling, flap your arms around and have some fun. 

different times

I phoned my cousin today and spoke with him and his wife.  They are a little older than me and I was concerned with how they are doing during this time of seclusion.  We had a great talk, all is well with them, and I was able to ask my cousin about a picture I recently found among some paperwork from my deceased brother's home.  The picture, taken I'm guessing, about 1942, showed my father as a dashing young man, the cousin I spoke with as a little boy, his father (my uncle Elson) and two men I didn't recognize at all.  Turns out my cousin didn't know them either but thinks they were cousins from the Ohio branch of the family.  I have a dim distant memory of the Ohio relatives coming to visit and, as my cousin reminded me, they looked like the Ohio mafia when they came to visit.  They would come to my grandfather's house to visit, in a big shiny black car (usually on a Sunday) and all the family would gather for these momentous occasions.  I'm sure there were women also, but I remember the men, big and tall, like my grandfather, (all over 6'2") and always dressed, as in the picture, in dark three piece suits with, in one case, a watch chain across the vest.  Very fancy for a trip to Woodburn, Indiana.  My father used to tell the story that the first time he drove his father's first car, it was to drive the family to visit these Ohio relatives who lived somewhere near Toledo.  He drove all the way there and all the way home,  That was in 1928. He was 12 at the time.  

poetry time

Today is limerick day and national nutty fudge day so, with the help of my west coast brother I have composed a limerick.

There once was a gal from Fort Wayne
who found writing limericks a pain.
She munched fudge by the hour, 
alone in her tower,
attempting to rhyme words in vain.

evening snack time

Today is 'eat what you want day' (I heard this one on the news so it must be true). I'm blogging a little earlier than usual so you have time for a bed time snack if you're so inclined.  I personally am a big fan of a bed time snack or an evening while watching TV snack.  Face it, I'm a big fan of snacks.  In the true spirit of the day, I had leftover pizza and cookies for supper.  There were a few veggies on the pizza so it wasn't all junk food.  Now I need to decided what I want for my evening snack.  Will it be cookies or mixed nuts or crackers and peanut butter?  So many choices.  I could have an apple but it would have to be with something else.  Decisions, decisions.  What's a snackoholic to do?  Graze on friends. 

Pizza time

Happy Mothers Day to all you other mothers out there.  I hope it was a pleasant day for you.  I went out for pizza with family.  Carry out of course.  We went to Blaze Pizza, a new experience for me.  As my son explained it to me, as we were on our way, it's like Subway, but for pizzas.  Each of us ordered our own "build your own" eight inch pizza.  It was wonderful.  I could order exactly the toppings I wanted - light on the tomato sauce, two kinds of cheese, pepperoni and bacon, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers and a drizzle of olive oil.  I got a little giddy with all the choices but that may have been because this is the first time I have eaten any kind of retaurant food for at least seven weeks.  I don't mind my own cooking but it was nice to have a change.  I was a little surprised though by the fact that I was the only person in the place (including four workers and the five family members I was with) who was wearing a mask.  I felt a little like Rip Van Winkle.  Maybe I had slept too long and the whole coronavirus pandemic had just magically gone away.  But no, there were still marks on the floor telling us to stay six feet apart.  This new normal is going to take some getting used to.  By the way, I've decided to keep wearing a mask for a long time to come, not only because I'm in that over 70 high risk broup but also because I've realized that it covers half the wrinkles on my face, conceals my aging chin line and eliminates the need to wear make-up.  Talk about a win-win situation. 

Celebrate!

My west coast brother informed me that today is Butterscotch Brownie Day and also Lost Sock Memorial Day.  Both of these seemed liked days worth celebrating so I immediately Googled butterscotch brownie recipes and found an easy one for which I had all the ingredients.  It's basically a mixture of brown sugar, butter, flour and an egg.  Easy and delicious.  Very chewy, just as a brownie should be, and I'm pretty sure 'special day' calories don't count.  
About those socks; my all time favorite author/philosopher Erma Bombeck once noted that it's a sad fact that, unlike geese, socks don't mate for life.  I know it's true.  I came back from doing laundry Tuesday morning, having very carefully checked the washers and dryer for any left behind items, and still found, as I sorted and folded, that I was one sock short.  Three days later I found it curled into the sleeve of a sweat shirt that I had hung to dry.  So that one didn't get away forever, although many have.  I suspect it's all a plot by the sock industry to assure that we will continue buying more socks. 

an easy test

I took a test this morning.  It was one of the easiest tests I've ever taken.  Earlier this week I had a consultation with a cardiologist who told me I have a rapid heart beat, gave me a prescription, said he would see me in a year and set up this test for today just to make sure there was no hidden damage to my heart.  It was a heart sonogram (although that probably isn't the technical name).  The very nice tech lady smeared gell on my chest, ran probes all around, and let me listen to my heart beat.  It was good to know I had one.  Having never heard my heart beat amplified before, I think it sounded normal.  I assumed I would walk out with good news (all is well) or at least some news this morning.  However, what I got was the news that I will get my results in a week.  A week!!??   Stay tuned.

Beer is good for you

In moderation of course, but beer must be good for you because today is National Beer Day and also World Health Day.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  By the way, yesterday was New Beer's Eve but I missed that.  But think about it.  Over the years I've heard of all kinds of contradictory tests.  Butter, eggs, coffee, tea, red wine and diet soda have all been declared good for you at one time and bad for you at another.  Even cigarettes were considered healthy at one time in history.  Some have gone back and forth several times.  But I've never even heard of a study of the positive or negative results of drinking beer.  I'm not talking about drunk driving here.  That can happen with beer and lots of other alcoholic drinks and is never good for you.  But beer itself, in moderation, is obviously good for you.  Im the middle ages beer was a common drink with breakfast.  (Of course back then, the water would kill you.)   So, have a beer, and see how good it makes you feel.  Since you're not likely to be driving anywhere, you might even have two.  

making lemonade

Well, not really lemonade but the concept is the same.  There is an old saying "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  I didn't get lemons but I did get sour cream.  When I ordered groceries for pick-up earlier this week, I lost track of what I had ordered and ended up with a pint of sour cream but no baking potatoes.  So, thinking it would be s shame to waste all that sour cream, I decided to bake sour cream sugar cookies.  I found a really good recipe on Google and went to work gathering my ingredients.  It was a bit of a treasure hunt.  I just barely had enough sugar after I used everything in the canister and my sugar bowls.  It didn't look like I would have enough flour.  The recipe called for three cups.  I had one and a half, but I dug deeply into the back of my pantry shelves (kind of scary but I was determined) and found an almost full bag of self rising flour.  I deliberately did not look at the expiration date.  I mean really, can flour go bad?  I cut back a little on the baking powder and baking soda and hoped for the best.  They aren't pretty cookies, kind of puffy and lopsided, but they are delicious.  As an added bonus, my apartment smelled wonderful all afternoon.  And one more good surprise.  As I dug deeply, looking for ingredients, I discovered a long forgotten half bag of dark chocolate chips. I did not add them to these cookies but they are a wonderful snack.  Again, I did not check the expiration date. Chocolate chips, like flour, do not go bad. If this tale of surprises inspires you to search through your pantry, happy hunting.  I mean, what else do you have to do?

Follow up

Last week I reported on an unexpected visit to the ER.  Today I had a follow-up appointment with a cardiologist.  All my numbers were normal and the doctor said that the medicine prescribed by the ER doctor was exactly the right thing and the right dosage.  He even said that within a few weeks I should be feeling more energetic.  Maybe just in time to be released from our current old age quarantine??  According to the doctor, my problem is a sometimes very rapid heart beat, which is exactly what I told them at the ER last week.  As he explained it, there are two kinds of rapid heart beats. In one case, your heart beats very fast and then you have a heart attack and die.  In the other case, your heart just beats really hard and fast sometimes but you don't die.  I have the second kind. Uncomfortable, and not good for me, but not fatal.  Goody! I have one more test on Friday to make sure there is no hidden damage, but assuming all is well, the doctor doesn't want to see me for a year.  We spent the rest of the appointment time talking about travel in Europe and cancelled plans.  I'll let you know when the increased energy kicks in.  I might even do some spring house cleaning. Ha ha ha ha ha.  

The great escape

I feel like I escaped from prison today.  A very pleasant prison; I have not suffered for lack of food, shelter or things to do, but I have missed actually being with my family.  The govenor said it was ok so today I had supper with my son and his family at their house.  It is my youngest granddaughter's 16th birthday and I really wanted to be with her to celebrate.  And celebrate we did, with presents (she loved the Converse shoes I gave her), delicious food and cake and the birthday seranade.  "Happy Birthday" actually sounded much better than it sometimes  does at our family gtherings because the other grandma has a truly lovely singing voice.  Throughout the whole evening we didn't hug or kiss, kept reasonable distances and, at dinner, sat well spaced at a long dining room table.  Throughout it all there was lots of laughter and, at least for me, a hopeful feeling that things just might be getting back to normal sometime this summer.  In the meantime we traded jigsaw puzzles so I now have two more 1000 piecers just in case things don't open up quite as quickly as I hope.

Mother, how could you?

This morning my west coast brother told me that today is "wear two different color shoes day."  I didn't know there was a special day for it but I do have a memory of a very embarrassing two different shoes day.  Long, long ago when my daughter was in junior high I agreed to ride the bus with her and some of her classmates on a trip to the ISMAA competition.  We left early one Saturday morning and I admit that I dressed in an hurry and half in the dark.  For some reason this was a somewhat dressy day so I wore a skirt, hose and heels. (As I said, this was a long time ago ) We made it to the bus just in time, grabbed our seats, I let her have the window seat, and settled down for the ride to Indy. About ten minutes into the ride (with no way to escape) the young girl sitting across the aisle from me, a friend of my daughter's, leaned over and sweetly said "Mrs. Foltz, why are you wearing two different shoes?"  I glanced down quickly and, sure enough, I was wearing one navy shoe and one brown one. Same heel height, similar style, so they hadn't felt different on my feet.  I spent the rest of the day trying to hide my feet under tables, chairs, bleachers, whatever.  My daughter, bless her, didn't laugh but very kindly assured me that she was sure hardly anyone noticed.  Really?  Well, maybe.  

The rest of the story

I took my car in for some service work today because a mysterious trouble light had come on. A check on Google told me that the problem was something to do with my gear box. I left the car, got a ride home with a nice young shuttle driver and waited. By mid-afternoon I was getting anxious so I called to see if they had found the problem. No, I was told, they hadn't been able to get the light I reported to even turn on. I then texted them a picture I had taken of the light and they got busy. A few minutes later the nice lady in the sservice office called to tell me that my car doesn't have any sensor connected to the gear box and that the mysterious light was actually an indicator that the license plate bulb was burned out.  They checked and the bulb wasn't even burned out. So the nice shuttle driver came back and took me to my car, I was told there was no charge and I went on my merry and very relieved way. I didn't actually hear laughter as I drove away but I suspect they all had a pretty good chuckle at the old lady in the mask. I'm glad I had the picture or they really would have thought I was crazy.

Why didn't I think of that?

Today I asked a friend about a mystery warning light that had shown up on my car's display panel.  It wasn't a symbol I could easily identify but then, I had to consult the manual to figure out what the flat tire symbol was. I mean really, wouldn't you think that the symbol for a flat tire would be, say, a flat tire?  But no, the symbol is a cross section of a tire which looks more like a horse shoe.  But I digress.  The symbol I am currently concerned with looks most like a ship's wheel (a circle with eight spokes sticking out) but that didn't make any sense to me.  I mean the car is steering ok.  By the way, I had thoroughly searched the car's manual but this symbol wasn't in it anywhere.  But today, when I asked my friend about it he said he would do a search on line.  Well, duh, I thought, I can do that, and so I did.  Surprise!  I googled Fiat 500 repairs and the very first picture that showed up was the symbol I had been wondering about.  Turns out it's the automatic gear box warning light, hopefully just indicating that the car is low on some fluid.  I have an appointment to bring Blue (don't laugh, I know you name your cars too) in tomorrow morning.  Positive thoughts for minor surgery, please.  By the way, if you're concerned about social distancing, I was informed when I made the appointment that I can't wait there but their shuttle service will bring me home.  That's fine with me.  I'm assuming that I'll need to sit in the back seat (not on the roof) to keep my distance.  If you hear louc cries of anguish tomorrow you'll know that the repairs are going to cost more that the stimulus check which I never received.