Happy New Year

 In a little over an hour it will be 2024.  A brand new year is starting. For me it will include gaining a new husband and a new name and more than doubling the size of my family.  And it is a really nice family as I discovered this past week.  My FF and I cruised for the past week in the western Caribbean with his son, daughter-in-law, their three children, and her brother and spouse, The nine of us had a really good time getting to know each other. During the days we went our separate ways on shore excursions, or swimming, or whatever other pleasures the ship, the Sky Princess, had to offer.  But each evening the nine of us gathered for dinner together in one of the large dining rooms, and had time to reminisce and laugh; never cruel laughter, just fun, and tell a little of our history.  I really appreciate easy joyful conversation and we had plenty of that.  Hooray for new beginnings. 

bon voyage...

 "So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye." If that doesn't get you singing, I don't know what will.  So, having said good bye and knowing that we are leaving for our cruise early tomorrow morning, I must close for now and go finish packing.  I will be back, with pictures, just about New Year's Day."  I hope you all have a blessed and joy filled holiday season.

packing light

 I started packing today for our Caribbean cruise.  We leave very early Friday morning and didn't want to wait until the last minute to pack.  So far so good.  I have folded a lot of clothes and it appears that most of them will fit into my suitcase, probably.  Side note here, my FF is wonderful in one more way, he packs his own suitcase.  Which is a good thing, packing one suitcase is enough for me, but I am packing light.  Light weight clothes that is, but sadly lots of them.  Evidently this cruise involves two formal evenings, and five smart casual dress evenings.  What is smart casual anyway?  I suspect they're thinking of something a little classier than jeans and a tee-shirt.  I imagine that what I wear to go exploring a Mayan ruin or zip lining or even going down in a submarine won't really qualify as 'smart casual.'  On the other hand, no matter if I end up the best dressed woman in the place (not likely) or the worst dressed (also probably not likely) I will be enjoying undoubtedly delicious food in the company of my new soon-to-be family.  And, I hear, there is also a casino on the ship.  So, one way or another, we will be having a good time.  Excuse me now, I must go finish packing.

and not so serious...

 I realize that this may not seem as important as getting a marriage license or signing a prenup but, you will probably agree that pre-nuptial shoe shopping is a necessity.  Today I went to Roberts Shoes because I needed two new pairs of shoes; black patent for the cruise and beige patent for the wedding.  Knowing full well that eleven narrows are not the easiest size shoes to find, I allowed myself to be led to the area where they had Trotters on display.  While the clerk was finding shoes in my size (she found two pairs, both of which were OK but not perfect, each priced at $100) she happened to mention that all of the shoes on the sale racks were marked down from their sale prices, so I wandered over to the size 11 rack just to have a look, not at all hopeful, and "what to my wondering eyes should appear?" (no not tiny reindeer) but three pairs of shoes, two of the exact styles I wanted and one pair of Easy Spirit summer shoes. I didn't need those but at $12 who could resist?  All in all I spent $67.  For three pairs of shoes!!!  Happy cruise to me, happy wedding to me. Life is good. 

getting serious now...

 This morning my FF and I did some serious, getting ready for marriage, stuff. First we met with my attorney, having already reviewed the document from my FFs attorney, fine tuned a few details and signed our prenup agreement.  This happened at a downtown business building right next to the Court House.  So, when that legal business was finished, we walked over to the Court House (in the super-cold baby blizzard that was blowing thought the streets) and applied for and received our marriage license.  All very official looking with space for witnesses to sign and everything.  That will happen during the wedding ceremony.  Since we had prefilled the form on line it was a quick and easy process.  After that, feeling proud of our accomplishments, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch.  We headed to Al Azteca, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, had delicious lunches with nice warm Fideo soup, and even toasted our successes with midday margaritas.  Believe me that doesn't happen every day.  Which is, no doubt, a very good thing.  

celebrating relatives

My west coast brother informed me that, on this date in 1903, the Wright brothers got off the ground.  This is special to me because without airplanes I would have traveled a lot less in my lifetime, or taken much longer to get where I wanted to go.  I'm also interested because, according to family lore we are distantly related to the Wright brothers.  My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Wright and they were third cousins or something like that.  

The other relative (or almost relative) I want to celebrate today is my FF because it's "National Maple Syrup Day."  Back at Thanksgiving I baked a carrot cake following my sister-in-law's excellent recipe (another relative to be celebrated).  Carrot cake is traditionally topped with cream cheese frosting and I bought some. I admit I don't make frosting.  Unfortunately the frosting I bought was made with corn syrup to which my FF is allergic.  So, ingenious person that he is, he found a recipe for cream cheese frosting made with pure maple syrup which is absolutely delicious.  In fact it's so good that I am feeling compelled to bake another carrot cake sometime soon.  Or maybe he could make it again and we could just spread it on graham crackers or ginger snaps or eat it with a spoon. I'm not proud.

Tis the season...

 It's the season for something.  I'm sure about that, but today I'm getting mixed messages about just what season I'm actually in.  This morning I spent a delightful hour and a half trying on wedding dresses, and, yes, I found THE DRESS!  David's has a fun little ritual where, when you're sure you've found your dress, you close your eyes, make a wish and ring a pretty bell loudly.  Then everyone else in the area cheers for you.  It was fun. So it must be wedding season.

But then, this evening, we attended the Philharmonic Pops Christmas Concert.  If that doesn't put you solidly in the middle of the Christmas season, I don't know what ever would.  The Children's Choir alone was worth the price of admission.

When we got home from that experience, the sight of my yet to be packed suitcase reminded me that I need to get ready for the cruise we're leaving for on Friday.  That will be in the Caribbean where the season will definitely feel different.  

Tis the seasons to be jolly.  That I definitely will be. Ho Ho Ho!

while shepherds watched their flocks...

 My west coast brother has told me that today is "National Lemon Cupcake Day" and  "International Tea Day." I am sipping lemon ginger tea as I write this which is as close as I've gotten to anything lemon today.  i really do love tea and one of the pleasures I enjoy when traveling in the British Isles is the abundant availability of good hot tea.  Tea for breakfast, lunch, supper and evening snack is common in the nice hotels.  Thinking of the British Isles reminds me of a really excellent demonstration of sheep herding I saw once in Scotland.  Those super well trained sheep dogs, including one who was blind, followed their master's whistles to gather the sheep and get them moving in the desired directions.  It was an amazing demonstration but I wonder what would have happened if the dogs had been herding cats instead of sheep.  Today also happens to be  "Cat Herders Day" in case you're wondering what brought this question to mind.  I've heard the phrase "like herding cats" used to refer to trying to control kindergartners or a group of tourists let loose in an Italian shopping area, but I've never ever seen a demonstration of herding cats.  I suspect there's a reason for that.

Be brave...

 Well, it had to be done, sooner or later.  After giving cash gifts to several relatives, and ordering gifts on line for others, I realized that the time had come for me to finally brave the mall.  Today was the day. I did fortify myself by enjoying a very good Chinese lunch with a friend first.  She treated me for my birthday, which made it even better.  So off I went.  I did visit some of my favorite stores, especially the games and more shop and Barnes & Noble.  My assignment at B&N was to buy some books for my six-year-old soon to be step-granddaughter.  She's in first grade so I looked for books she could read or enjoy having read to her.  I looked at the Barbie fairy tales book but it just didn't thrill me, then I explored further and discovered three books I think she will like.  One is all about dinosaurs, which she loves, one is an easy to read book of poems called "My Parents Think I'm Sleeping."  And finally, one of my all time favorite books "Blueberries for Sal."  I really hope I get to read that one to her.  On my way out of the mall, having achieved my main missions, and taking a quick detour through Macy's, I spotted a lovely, long swishy dress that appeared by the tag to be a returned item, on sale, although the price wasn't marked.  The size tag was missing, but it looked about right so I tried it on.  It had long tight sleeves, but not uncomfortably so, and the skirt was floor length on me, which is rare. I couldn't zip it all the way up the back because I didn't have anyone to help me, but it felt like it might work, so I carefully took it off and went in search of a sales clerk or cashier.  This is not an easy task in Macy's these days, but I did finally find a cashier and asked her if she could figure out the size and tell me what the sale price was.  I was delighted to learn that it was a size eight (since I usually wear a 12) but when I learned that the marked down price was $299, I quickly told myself that it was really too tight and walked away.  Ah well, it was fun to try on, and my mall shopping is done for this year. 

Happy birthday indeed...

 I'm happy to report that it has been a very good birthday.  My west coast brother started the day by informing me that my age this year is the 22nd prime number.  I'll leave it to you math wizzes to figure out how old that makes me, but he assured me that it means I am in my prime.  Hooray!  I also took time to put together the Lego birthday train I received, all by myself.  It measures about five inches long.  And those 58 pieces were all quite tiny.  It's so cute!

We ended the day with dinner at Casa's with my FF, kids and kids-in-law.  Delicious food and congenial conversation.  Then my FF and I finished off the evening with a game of Scrabble, which I won (for the first time in a while) by over 100 points.  Getting those extra 50 points for using all your tiles really helps.  Altogether a fine day, and, to make it even better, I'm only one day older than I was yesterday.  

a perfect gift...

 I opened my second Christmas gift of 2023 this evening.  Actually it was in the same box I received from my west coast brother and sister-in-law and which I mentioned in my blog yesterday.  You may remember that I mentioned the Christmas package was pretty and squishy.  My sister-in-law had said I should be sure to open the present before we go on our cruise and now I know why.  The contents were in a very nice mesh-sided cosmetic bag which will work very well for the trip.  Inside the bag were two pairs of fuzzy socks and a sweatshirt.  Friends who know me well know that I love sweatshirts, especially in chilly weather.  This is one of my favorites.  It's a lovely soft beige color with neatly printed words in brown that say "Drink Tea. Read Books. Be Happy."  All things I prize.  If there can be such a thing as a sophisticated sweatshirt, this is it.  

happy pre-birthday to me...

 Every year about this time my west coast brother and sister-in-law send me a gift box with a birthday gift and a Christmas gift.  I got the box today, and found, as expected, inside an extremely securely taped box, a gift for each occasion.  I'm waiting a while to open the Christmas package which is soft and squishy and quite mysterious.  But, since my birthday is only two days away and the birthday gift was small, hard, irregular and lumpy inside its pretty paper, I decided it needed to be opened now.  So I opened it and guess what?  It is a Lego set, and not just any Lego set.  It's a 58 piece Creator series Birthday Train.  But what made me smile and makes it very special is that this is my very first Lego set.  That may not seem surprising to you, but my son has been a Lego lover and collector for 45 years or so and my daughter and late husband accumulated their fair share over the years.  But somehow, I have never received one before.  I am going to wait until my birthday to put it together and I will do it all by myself.  I will post a picture when it's finished.  

Seasonal trivia....

 I know that you probably have many pre-holiday questions bubbling in your brain these days.  I know I do.  Happily, I have discovered answers for some of the most pressing, so here we go.  First of all, what's the difference between a caribou and a reindeer?  Surprise, there's no difference.  A caribou and a reindeer are the same animal.  So why not Santa and his eight tiny caribou?  It turns out that, in North America, the animal is called a reindeer if it's domesticated and a caribou if it's wild.  I took a ride in a sleigh pulled by a reindeer when I was in Lapland.  It was the absolutely coldest experience of my life.  Santa must have a really well insulated red suit.  

Here's another question I'm sure you're pondering: how did the cranberry get its name.  I do realize that cranberry relish is a thanksgiving dish, but it also works for Christmas.  History has it that Dutch and German settlers in North America came up with the name 'crane berry' because the plant's blossoms resembled the neck and head of a crane.  This was eventually shortened to cranberry. I'm not sure why.  That's only one letter less.  

Question number three - how fast does a snowflake fall from the sky on average?  You probably wonder that every time it starts snowing.  On average they fall between one and four miles per hour. Which, I guess, is why it looks like they are just innocently floating down.  However, don't get too complacent.  If they pick up water as they fall they can speed up to nine miles an hour.

And finally, why is it good to eat fried sweets during the holiday season?  It turns out that latkes, doughnuts, and other fried treats are popular during Hanukkah because they recall the old testament story of the miracle of the oil that, even when there was only enough oil for one day, burned in its lamp for seven days. Now I'm not Jewish and you may not be either, but I think it's fine to honor the traditions of other cultures.  So go ahead and eat those doughnuts.  On the other hand, I recommend that you skip the reindeer drawn sleigh ride.  

time to share

Our Christmas poem is finished and mailed so I have decided that it's ok to share the poem in this blog now.  Many years ago I gave up trying to compete with my friends who sent long Christmas news letters about everything fabulous their children were doing.  I decided that if I didn't have time to read a three page single spaced letter, maybe my friends didn't either.  I assumed that people who wanted more details would call, and they do.  So here is this year's effort, for your quick enjoyment.

An Unexpected Development

We thought things were set,

Not too many changes in our future,

Children succeeding,

Grandchildren adulting.

All very nice.

Then suddenly,

Or so it seemed,

Old friendship since college

Has become a new love,

And wedding bells will be ringing,

For us, not the grands,

In 2024.

Now don’t be alarmed or upset,

If you haven’t received

An invite yet.

We love you all,

But we’re keeping it small,

Relatives only.

January 14 is the date.

Isn’t it great?

 

Have a blessed Christmas,

And a surprisingly good New Year!

 

One step closer...

One of my friends was complaining today about how many things she still needs to do before Christmas, which reminded me, Christmas is coming.  Between preparing for a cruise (we leave in two weeks) and a wedding (a little over five weeks away) and committee meetings and a birthday celebration (for me) and of course Christmas, I do understand having a long list of things to do.  I am happy to report that our Christmas poems have been mailed out, this morning, and today we decided on the restaurant we will go to for the wedding supper.  We're doing supper instead of a formal reception since this is a family only affair.  My soon to be daughter-in-law asked me if we should have place cards at the tables.  I actually think that's a pretty good idea.  I would like the grandchildren from both sides to sit together so they can get to know each other.  There are 12 of them including two significant others.  Twelve grands sounds like two tables of six; easy right? except the grandchildren range in age from six to twenty-four. Ah well, I'm sure things will all work out. 

travelling phoneless....

 Today I was the one 'who let the dogs out.'  Both my son-in-law and daughter were working long hours, so they asked me to let the grand-dogs out about noon.  I'm happy to do this because I hate to think of those three sad-eyed canines sitting around all afternoon with their little legs crossed.  There was no problem with getting there or letting the dogs out, but while there I realized that, gasp!, I had left my phone at my FFs house.  A side note here, I think it's a little unsettling (or maybe a lot) to see how dependent we've become on having our phones always with us.  I'm just as guilty as anyone else. As soon as I realized it was missing, I tried to figure out how to get my phone.  I didn't have time to go back and get it before my lunch date with a girlfriend, and I couldn't call my FF because my daughter doesn't have a land line, so I decided I could get along without it for one afternoon, and I did. I had one slightly frustrating moment when I wanted to check the time while waiting in the restaurant.  There was no clock on the wall, I wasn't wearing a watch, and, of course, no phone.  

What I didn't know was that, while I was getting through the afternoon phoneless, my considerate FF had discovered my phone at his house, driven with it to my daughter's house, and missed me by about five minutes.  Meanwhile, my son-in-law saw my FF lurking around the front of their house on the camera, thought the skulker looked a little familiar and called my phone to check it out.  They then had a delightful little text chat about how silly I was to forget my phone.  Right! Like it never happened to them.   

Christmas gifting....

 I realized today that my Christmas gift giving practices have really changed over the years.  In olden days, when my grandchildren were much younger, I would take each of them individually on a "shopping spree" after Christmas, and after they had seen what the other grandparents had given them and knew what they still wanted.  The rules were that we would shop wherever they chose. I would treat them to lunch sometime during the day, they had a set amount of money to spend, and I would never rush a decision or tell them to hurry up. I regretted that policy once when one of my granddaughters opted to spend five long hours in an antiques mall, but a deal is a deal. I have three granddaughters and one grandson.  Over the years the grandson led me to places like Chucky Cheese to eat pizza and play games and Home Depot to buy a soldering iron or other similar equipment, while the granddaughters loved the mall where shopping evolved over the years from Build a Bear to Claire's Boutique to Victoria's Secret, and sometimes beyond to the Good Will store. But almost always, I'm happy to say, one of our stops would be a book store. Fun times indeed.  Then, just as the grands seemed to be aging out of the shopping sprees, the pandemic struck and suddenly all of the shopping was on line.  Now, they are off to college or busy with their jobs and on line shopping has become the norm.  They send me lists, with links so I know just how to order things, I buy the gifts and, depending on what the holiday schedule looks like, either have them shipped to my apartment so I can wrap and present them (which is still the most fun) or simply have the gifts shipped directly to them.  We still have fun when we all get together but it's not the same as those shopping sprees.  And shopping has gotten too easy.  I found myself thinking today that I will just buy gifts for everyone on line, have them shipped, and avoid the mall and post office or UPS store altogether.  And then a happy memory flashed through my mind, as memories sometimes do.  What I'm doing now is not so very different than when I was a child and my brothers and I would pour over the wonderful big fat Sears Christmas catalog, mark the gifts we wanted and hand over the catalog to our parents who ordered gifts from our list.  Different technology but the same basic idea, so now I'm not feeling guilty at all.  

some fun facts...

 My FF and I spent some time this evening looking over the requirements for getting a marriage license in Allen County.  You can start the process on line, which is handy.  Since we're both in our 70s, we were interested to learn that we can get married even if we're first cousins (which we're not) if we're both over 65 (which we are.)  We were also interested to learn that we will be asked the birth places and current addresses of our parents.  They want to know about previous marriages, with 20 spaces provided.  Some people have obviously led more exciting lives than I have.  It seems that a blood test is no longer required.  That's fine with me.  They also want to know what our level of education is, our ethnic and racial origin, and how many dependent children we have.  And, of course, what my name will be?  Ah, there's the question. Stay tuned.  

taking a risk...

 Today, once again according to my west coast brother, is "National Dice Day" and that reminds me of gambling.  I like to gamble.  I like to play games in general. What I don't like is loosing.  I don't mean loosing games like Gin Rummy and Scrabble (although I do prefer to win), but I really don't like to loose money.  I enjoy Las Vegas, although I haven't been there for several years, and I will probably do a little gambling if the cruise ship I'm going on later this month has a casino.  What I don't like, as I mentioned before, is loosing. So I tend to bet very conservatively.  I typically set a limit like $50 (the cost of a meal and a show) and when it's gone it's gone.  Sometimes I get lucky and win, but you will never hear of me winning fabulous amounts of money.  I just don't bet enough.  A friend of mine swears that if you double your bet every time you loose, you will eventually win back all your money, but I can't bring myself to do that. I do like Black Jack and I will play the slots a little bit, but the slots are not as much fun as they used to be.  There are sound effects of course, but instead of copious coins pouring out of the machine it spits out a slip of paper that tells you how much you've won.  Yawn. Some years ago, when the coins were real, my husband and I were strolling through a Las Vegas casino (no idea which one, although the Golden Nugget was always one of my favorites) when we decided to drop some nickels in a machine.  For some reason the machine wouldn't take our nickels.  They kept dropping through the machine and into the tray.  We kept trying and laughing (we may have had a drink or two) until the lady at the next slot machine informed us scathingly that we had been putting our nickels in a five dollar machine.  We slunk away sheepishl, but we didn't loose any money.

Hooray for potlucks....

 Potluck Dinner or Carry-in Dinner or Covered Dish Supper, they all mean the same thing, and it is a marvelous invention.  My west coast brother informed me that today is "National Green Bean Casserole Day" and also "National Apple Pie Day." He then went on to inform me that they were having a potluck after church.  I'm guessing he may have gotten lucky and enjoyed both beans and pie, but I'm not jealous.  I hosted my own little carry-in lunch for some friends this afternoon and our spread was quite delicious - pulled pork sandwiches, two lavish relish trays, a fruit salad, cake, and possibly the world's best homemade caramels.  Not bad for seven people. But when I think about who in my lifetime has produced the best potluck dinners, the clear winner is the little church (about 60 members) in rural southeastern Ohio that we attended when we lived there.  I can bake a decent pie, so I could contribute, but the other ladies of that church really outdid themselves. Excellent fried chicken, ham, salads, soups, and an infinite variety of casseroles made those suppers not to be missed events.  They were so popular that on election days, they offered up all their specialities to sold out crowds at lunch and dinner.  It was the church's big moneymaker and also got out the vote.  I was a little disappointed to learn, when we moved back to Fort Wayne, that the large church we joined didn't do carry-in dinners very often.  They had a cook on staff to prepare dinners.  Recently, we have done some carrying in there, but it usually only involves desserts (not all bad).  Coincidentally, I brought an apple pie to the last such event.  I must stop writing now, I'm starting to drool on my keyboard.  

Unique combinations....

 My west coast brother informed me that today is "Earmuff Day," Popcorn Day," and "Rhubarb Vodka Day."  My first reaction was "What a weird combination."  I can see popcorn and earmuffs together if I was at an outside cold weather event like ice skating and wanted some refreshment that might warm me up like popcorn with, maybe, hot chocolate, not vodka!  I am not a fan of vodka in any weather, in case you hadn't guessed, but rhubarb vodka sounds particularly disgusting, even though I do like rhubarb (but in pies, not drinks).  On the other hand, but somewhat related, theme wise, I just received a text from my son describing his day with his family at a festival called Kristkindlemarkt in Carmel, Indiana during which they sampled "hot mulled wine, hot cherry beer, big soft pretzels and warm candied almonds."  Now I don't know about you but that list sounds way, way better to me than rhubarb vodka.  It's just a shame I don't have any of the above handy.  I guess I'll make do with my usual cup of tea.  

the great flood...

 On Tuesday, the water in our entire apartment building was turned off all day so a new hot water system could be installed. All seemed to have gone well since then.  Any time I have turned on a hot tap hot water has come out.  But today an email was sent to everyone telling us to turn on all of our hot water taps for 30 minutes to help get the air out of the lines.  So, being a conscientious tenant, I turned on all five faucets in my apartment, two in each bathroom and one in the kitchen, and let them run for a half hour while I ate supper.  Then I went around and turned everything off.  You would be amazed at how hot and steamy a bathroom can become in 30 minutes.  I was. I went to my bathroom last and it was just as hot and steamy as the guest bathroom.  It also held another surprise.  I had forgotten, when I turned on the faucets full blast (as Instructed) how slowly my bathroom sink drains. Surprise!  When I opened the door. the sink was doing a Niagara Falls imitation.  So I baled water out of the sink, sopped up all the water on the floor, tossed the floating box of Kleenex, dried everything else on the counter, and finally got things back in order.  It was an unexpected mess but on the upside, I have company coming on Sunday and my bathroom counter and floor are shiny clean now.

another step forward...

 My FF thinks I should blog about our Scrabble game this evening because he won, but I feel compelled to point out that he only beat me by three points.  We were tied when we each had one tile left.  He was able to use his to make seven points, I only achieved four, hence the three point win.  Ah well, it's only a game.  On another brighter note, we met with the pastor and organist who will be handling our wedding in January.  So now we know how the whole service will go, and have heard our choice of music played.  It was a fun morning and I'm looking forward to the event more than ever.  Now there are just a few tiny details to think about like my dress, the restaurant, flowers, cupcakes, the pre-nup, condensing two households and moving, selling, tossing a lot of my stuff, and, oh yes, getting the license.  There's probably more, but at least the service is set.  Now I can relax. Ha ha ha ha!

tough choices

 My west coast brother informs me that today is "National Chocolates Day," "National Lemon Cream Pie Day," and, are you ready for this? "National Rice Cakes Day."  Now, I don't know about you, but when I decide to celebrate a special food day I naturally choose the healthiest option.  Looking at these three choices, I immediately eliminated the rice cakes, I mean, face it, there's nothing there.  And I should know. I ate my share of rice cakes in my dieting days.  But those days are behind me.  The last time I went to my GP for a check up, he told me that my weight was just fine.  He didn't say it out loud but I could sense the rest of the sentence "for your age."  But never mind, now I just concentrate on eating healthy food, so I thought hard.  Lemon cream pie, obviously full of fruit and dairy, or chocolate, which everyone knows, is one of the basic food groups.  Especially dark chocolate, which happens to be my favorite.  Decisions, decisions.  Fortunately for me, today's choice was easy.  I have no lemons but, as it happens, my FF makes excellent dark chocolate fudge.  He made some for Thanksgiving and there were still a few pieces left today.  The operative word here is 'were.'  They are a sweet memory now, but we can rest assured that we did eat healthy today.

it's really official now...

 I've taken two giant steps toward marital bliss today.  It turns out there are lots of things to think about before a wedding, even a very small, family only wedding.  First, it turns out if you want to shop for a wedding dress, even one for a 70 something bride, you should make an appointment at a bridal shop, or maybe several.  So I went on line, it's easier than trying to get a live person on the phone, and set an appointment to look at dresses.  And here's the fun part.  I was able to set a time when my daughter, my FF's daughter-in-law and, hopefully, my daughter-in-law will all be able to join me for the event and let me know their opinions and advice (which I may or may not listen to).

The second giant step was to announce to a meeting of my church's Elders that I'm getting married, and get their approval to use the little chapel in our church for my wedding.  Approval was unanimous, which is good since we had already reserved the chapel.

So, two items down, about seventy-eleven to go.   

Christmas is upon us...

 In case you haven't heard, Christmas is on its way, 29 days if you're counting.  I'm awed by the homeowners in my FF's neighborhood who switched from lavish Halloween decor to equally lavish Christmas displays in a day.  They were wise to do that, as it turns out, because it's considerably colder outside now than it was even a week ago, though yesterday's snow did add a nice festive touch.  The winner in this neighborhood so far, for sheer size if nothing else, is the family who put up an inflatable Santa that stands taller than their two story house.  He will not be making it down any chimneys. As for me, my tree is up, lights strung and about half of the ornaments on.  This year I have put it up at my FF's house where it fits quite nicely in the living room and where I have many more ornaments to choose from.  So now all I have to do is buy several gifts, and wrap them of course, mail out my Christmas poems (yes I still do that the old fashioned way), And, while I'm at it, buy a wedding dress, find a restaurant, pick out flowers and cake (thankfully I have help with those things) finalize music, ceremony details and our pre-nup. and pack a suitcase with two dressy and several smart casual outfits.  Why pack a suitcase? Because this Christmas, in a major break with tradition for me, my FF and I are going with some of his family on a Caribbean cruise over the Christmas holiday.  A blissful week of sightseeing and over-eating before we have to finish up all of the last minute details of our mid-January wedding.  Presuming of course that I survive the zip line.

let them eat cake...

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "National Cake Day" and also, in a bizarre twist, "Anti Obesity Day."  Wow! Talk about a mixed message.  Happily, I did not struggle with the conundrum for too long.  My FF and I have now finished off the last pieces of carrot cake.  Obviously carrot cake is good for you, having vegetables and dairy and eggs in it.  The maple cream cheese (more dairy) frosting just helped it slide down a little more easily,  So it's practically health food, right?  We will contemplate being against obesity tomorrow, if we have time. I may need to bake another cake.

chuga chuga chuga, toot toot!!

 I enjoyed a flashback to childhood today, and what better time for that than during the Holiday season?  When I was four years old my six year old boyfriend, who lived down the block, had a wonderful model train set up in the basement of his family home.  Looking back, I'm pretty sure his dad had a hand in the layout and design of the display, but all I knew was that when Tommy (yes that name does run through my life story) pressed certain levers and buttons, miniature very realistic looking trains ran around and around tracks, over and under bridges, and through cunning little villages.  Lights flashed, whistles blew, and it was all quite marvelous.  Perhaps I've mentioned before that I am easily entertained.  But fast forward to today.  My FF and I went to the model train exhibit at Science Central.  It was fun. I enjoyed watching the dozen or so kids on the floor arranging and rearranging yards of track and running their trains all around.  It was even more fun watching the "big boys" running their electric trains around two large tables of tracks.  In the center of one set up was a little Christmas tree with a train running around the base.  You may have had a set up like that around your tree once upon a time.  I did enjoy watching the trains running on their tracks, but I do think it was more exciting watching from eye level, all those years ago.  

PS In case you're wondering, Tommy and I drifted apart.  He grew up to be 5'2" to my 5'10" so it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway, but when I was five I received my first proposal, with a real ring (a blue plastic one from a Cracker Jack box) from the boy who lived across the street.  It's hard to fight a proposal like that.  Alas, the following year my family moved away from Fort Wayne, so that romance was also cut short.  

and yet more food..

 The time has come that I must admit I am just about finished with feasting.  After a traditional Thanksgiving feast at my son's house yesterday we had another gathering involving food with my FF's family this evening.  Side note here, after deciding that GPF wasn't appropriate, I've decided to go with FF as a new acronym for my fiancé.  In the world of texting FF stands for Friends Forever, which is appropriate, but in my mind it will stand for Fine Fiancé.  But I digress.  I am happy to report that the carrot cake I baked, based on my sister-in-law's secret recipe, was delicious and very well received.  Thanks to the new mixer I gave to my FF as an early Christmas present, when his died a few days ago, the prep was much easier than I expected.  Instead of needing to beat the batter by hand when it got very thick, I was able to use the dough hook attachments that did a great job of mixing the dough.  Also, the cake was deliciously enhanced by cream cheese frosting.  My FF, who is allergic to corn in all forms including corn syrup, discovered an amazing cream cheese frosting recipe using maple syrup.  It was the perfect finish for that perfect cake and a perfectly filling two days,  Now it's back to eating healthy, at least for a month.  But, on the other hand, carrots are good for you.  Perhaps I should have one more piece before I waddle off to bed.

it's time for a change

 First of all I hope that everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving celebration.  We certainly did.  Everything was delicious but the pecan pie (made with maple syrup instead of corn syrup) was outstanding. And everyone liked my sweet potatoes, so that was good.  However, it came up during the mealtime conversation that the acronym GPF that I've been using for my Game Playing Fiancé has other meanings.  It seems that my son and granddaughter did a search while reading a recent blog and discovered two alternate possibilities.  It appears that I should have also done some research.  It turns out that GPF stands for a Gasoline Particulate Filter, not too bad, but doesn't really make sense in my blogs.  The other meaning that showed up is Gallons Per Flush and that just won't do at all.  I may just have to refer to him as him, but I'll work on this problem and get back to you.  

food on my mind...

 It shouldn't surprise anyone that, on the day before Thanksgiving, my mind is still on food.  First, I'm happy to report that the second batch of fudge came out just fine and quite a bit of it will be going to my son's house for our feast tomorrow, along with my family famous sweet potato casserole which is prepped and waiting in the refrigerator to be baked tomorrow morning.  I love food that can be prepared ahead of time. But I'm not the only one thinking about food.  During a text conversation among myself and four of my friends (we usually share Wordle results) someone posed the question "What's your favorite Thanksgiving food."  Answers involved a lot of pies - chocolate, pumpkin, peanut butter and lemon meringue.  But it wasn't only pies.  Someone mentioned creamed onions which I have never had, and another listed traditional onion/celery dressing.  I mentioned my sweet potatoes, which are good if I do say so myself, basically a sweet potato custard topped with nuts and brown sugar.  A friend of mine used to say that it's like eating candy but it's ok because it's a vegetable so it must be good for you.  I also mentioned my mother-in-law's gravy which was always excellent.  Interestingly, she was not a great cook and always said she would rather do dishes, which made her a very uncritical MIL.  But she did make excellent gravy, so on holidays I would hold back the giblets for her to use and she would stir up a rich creamy gravy with no lumps ever except for the bits of meat.  I was always delighted to let her make the gravy but never learned from her example.  Happily, it's not my problem any more.  Two years ago my children and their spouses decided that I shouldn't have to host Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners anymore (maybe they think I'm too old and I'm fine with that) so all I do is show up with my sweet potatoes  (and fudge and a fiance this year) and relax and enjoy the day.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Oh fudge...

 This has not been my GPF's best day.  I won't even mention how much I beat him by in Gin Rummy.  His speciality in the kitchen is making fudge.  He uses his mother's recipe and it is delicious.  But today, half way through the preparation, his trusty old hand held mixer died.  I stirred while he went next door to borrow a neighbor's mixer.  We're not sure what went wrong but this time the fudge didn't harden and we were left with two pans full of soft gooey semi-liquid fudge.  However things have turned out ok.  Being of the lemonade out of lemons mindset, we decided to try the fudge sauce on vanilla ice cream.  Delicious!! It may be my new favorite way to eat fudge.  Now, of course, he will be making another batch of fudge tomorrow because he has promised to bring it to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.  I hope this batch turns out ok, but, you know, if it's the kind of fudge you eat with a spoon (with ice cream) we'll just have to adjust.

What's in a name?

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "National Absurdity Day" and "Name Your PC Day."  My first thought when I read that was that naming your PC is an absurdity.  But then, I started to wonder "Why not?"  i, and I suspect others, name other inanimate objects.  Ships and boats are always named.  People frequently have pet names for their cars, mine is named Blue.  In fact, when I bought my Fiat, my attention was drawn to a large wall display in the showroom of pictures people had submitted of themselves with their car and telling the name of the car.  So now I have started to think of names for my PC.  After all, I probably spend more time with it than any other inanimate object except my car.  Personal Computer is correct of course, but seems a little formal.  Laptop is really more of a descriptor than a name.  How about Pearl?  The cover is pearly gray after all.  Or Topper or Sonny or Apple (no wait, that one's taken).  That's it, I can't think of any more.  Come on Pearl, it's almost time for bed.

feast and famine...

 At lunch time today my GPF and I enjoyed the annual Thanksgiving dinner prepared by the members of the Korean congregation of our church.  It was delicious as usual.  It is hosted by the Korean congregation in honor of the American soldiers who served in the Korean war.  Not too many of them left these days, but there were a few in attendance today.  The meal consisted of all the typical Thanksgiving fare including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and salad plus bulgogi, kimchi, sticky rice, noodle salad (my favorite) and a grand assortment of desserts provided by the English speaking congregation.  Needless to say we did not go away hungry.  That was the feast part of the day.  This evening, after a very light supper, my GPF and I decided to play a game of scrabble.  He has learned to play from me so I wish I could take a little credit for his win tonight, but alas he has learned much too well.  He started the game by using all of his tiles for his first word, earning him fifty extra points then went on to score over fifty points with each of his  next two words.  At the end of three turns he had 160 points to my 58.  I knew I was in trouble when all I seemed to be able to draw were tiles worth one point each.  That's the famine in my title.  The final score was 356 to 289.  we ran out of tiles before I could complete my comeback.  My only teeny bit of satisfaction is that he was stuck with his 'Q' at the end of the game.  

A side note here, if you are scrabble players, there is a nifty program you can download on your phone called 'Scrabble Word Checker.'  It makes looking up words very quick and easy.  

Christmas tree plans

 

I have some plans for my Christmas tree this year.  As you can see, my GPF and I actually got it put together today, and in place in his living room.  A new location for a good old tree.  It may seem to you that I'm rushing things but here is phase one of my plan.  We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with Paul's family on Friday, the day I traditionally put up my tree.  Sometime this week I will put the lights on it, and here's the fun part, on Friday I will have all of our boxes of ornaments on display and invite everyone to help decorate the tree.  I really hope to get quite a bit of it done this way, giving us the chance to enjoy it for most of December.  Then, on New Years Day, we'll be having an open house party for everyone who can come from both of our families. At that party I will invite everyone to take the ornaments from the tree that they would like to add to their own collections, hopefully things that have great sentimental value for them, like my grandson's tiny little superman figures, for example.    I will even have boxes available to make it easy for them to carry away their treasures.   That's my plan.  I will report on progress from time to time.  

it's joke time

My west coast brother has come through again.  Today is "National Farm Joke Day" and he has even provided some jokes:  What do you call a cow with three legs? Lean beef.  What do you call a cow with one leg? Steak.  You notice these jokes are both about cows.  My west coast brother actually is a farmer.  Granted it's a small farm but he does have goats and sheep and chickens and two cats, so I wondered why only cow jokes?  Maybe his animals just don't seem that funny to him, but I decided to help him out with a couple of goat jokes:  Why are goats from France more musical than American goats?   Because they have French horns.  What do you call a goat swimming really fast in a lake?  A motor goat.  So ok, maybe goat jokes aren't the best, but I bet you smiled just a little.  

wedding bells..

 The word is out among my friends that my GPP and I are getting married.  I may need to refer to him as my GPF now (game playing fiance) We are discovering that, at our age, (we are both closer to 70 than 60) getting married is not a simple process.  It seemed simple the first time around, when I was 23, but that was a long time ago and I may have forgotten a few details.  I'm pretty sure, though, that it didn't involve revising wills and powers of attorney, and living wills, and of course a prenuptial agreement.  And we certainly didn't have to consider our grandchildren's college schedules when setting the date.  On the other hand we didn't have an adorable little granddaughter to act as flower girl and he does now.  We are facing some decisions such as do we live in his five bedroom house or my two bedroom apartment??  Tough choice.  I promise not to regale you with wedding info from here to January but it will sneak into this blog from time to time.  Today, for instance, we ordered our wedding bands - simple but elegant.  Now that was fun!

Read a book...

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "National Young Readers' Day."  I cannot begin to express how important it is for children to read.  If you can read, really read, you can accomplish just about anything.  I'm happy to say that I have spent a lot of time reading to children; first my brothers, then my children, then my grandchildren.  With every generation I have happy memories.  I remember, for example, reading "Lassie Come Home" to my west coast brother, when he was six and I was sixteen.  When we got to the end we both burst out crying (happy tears of relief of course).  My son would listen contentedly to any story I would read to him, "The Saggy Baggy Elephant" was an early favorite although he pronounced it "Ag Bag Efnant."  My daughter, on the other hand, would only sit still for books that involved counting or little flaps that opened.  She liked action books.  When it came to the grands, I remembers starting to read "Little House in the Big Woods" (first of my all time favorite series) and being shocked by the graphic descriptions of killing animals and butchering them.  I don't remember being bothered by it at all when I first read it.  But better by far than reading to any child is the moment when they are excited to read something to you.  Right now the second grader I'm tutoring is just beginning to be able to sound out words and understand what he's reading.  It's a giant step forward. 

a congenial group...

Once a month, usually on the second Monday, groups of diners who are members of our church, gather in small groups at various restaurants around town to enjoy good food and lively conversation.  Presbyterians can eat and talk with the best of them. Most of the groups go to the same restaurant every month but our downtown group is more adventurous.  We go to a different place each time.  There are a lot of choices in and near downtown.  This evening, for example, we went to Shigs in Pit on Fairfield and next month we will go to the Viet Nam restaurant across the street.  There are usually six to eight of us which makes for easy round table conversation.  The food is always good.  Mediocre restaurants tend not to survive in Fort Wayne.  The conversation is even better.  This evening, for example our topics ranged from some tricky real estate ownership laws to recently attended weddings to how pre-nups should be written to social security issues to unusual burial choices that people have made.  It sounds like a strange mix when I write it down but it involved lots of laughs and some expressions of concern.  We are a caring group.  Our pastor's sermon this morning focused on building community, and we certainly did our best.  

antiques and comfort food....

 This afternoon I took my GPP and his brother, who is very interested in antique cars, to visit a friend of mine who has an amazing, museum quality collection of antique steam engines, farm machinery and so much more.  The items in his collection date back as far as the 1860s.  I had estimated about two hours for the visit, because how long can it take to look at two large barns full of gigantic, and smaller antiques.  Three and a half hours later, our host was still pulling out items for us to look at.  Some of these were smaller items like wrenches, corn huskers (evidently people will pay big bucks for these) and other little hand held cast iron tools.  One piece that I really enjoyed was an antique electric toaster, circa 1920, made in France and sporting the niftiest little upright rotating racks to hold the toast.  It was a lovely little gadget.  But thinking of toast brings me to the second half of the afternoon's adventure.  We finally left the museum which one of the guys said reminded him of the Henry Ford Museum, at about 5:45pm.  It was getting dark of course, so it felt later, and we were all hungry, so we headed for a nearby Cracker Barrell Restaurant.  You will probably agree that Cracker Barrell offers the ultimate in comfort food.  I had batter fried fish with green beans, corn muffins (yes, plural) and baked apples. So good.  Remember I said comfort food, not health food.  You can go other places for that.  I did manage to get all through their charming shop without buying candy or anything else. Healthy for my wallet at least.

an excellent performance...

 Orion Rapp performed exquisitely on the oboe this evening at the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.  His solos in a Concerto in A minor for Oboe & Strings were wonderful. But the high point of the evening for me was his encore.  He played (on piano this time) and sang an original song, dedicated to his girlfriend actor/director Shelby Lewis.  He then called her up on stage, got down on one knee and proposed.  Our seats were too far away to hear what was said but, judging by the body language, she accepted.  I have known this couple for several years (they used to live down the hall from me), they are super nice people, and I am so happy for them.  And, let's face it, much as I enjoy the Philharmonic, this was the most fun I've had there in years.  

an oldie but a goodie..

 Arena Dinner Theater put on an excellent performance of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" this evening.  It's a classic and of course I knew the ending, but it was such fun to watch; lots of humor, quick action, excellent dialog. It was a really good show.  And the food was good too.  All of the actors did a fine job but Scott Rumage, as Hercules Poirot, or Her-ku-lees Pie-rot as one of the other characters called him, really gave an outstanding performance.  I would say you should see this show, and there are two more performances, but alas they are sold out.  

this made me laugh

My west coast brother has informed me that today is ".Geriatric Tooth Fairy Day." I'm intrigued by this but not quite sure how it works.  Does the GTF find your dentures if you misplace them?  When I popped a crown off while eating a Tootsie Roll, should I have put it under my pillow with the hopes that the GTF would leave a check (or cash) sufficient to pay the bill for having it reattached? A friend of mine has told me the story of an unfortunate denture related incident.  In the years between her first and second marriage, she had a first date with a guy who brought her home after their dinner date and passed out on the couch.  I suspect a little too much to drink.  Before he totally passed out he took his dentures out and laid them on the end table.   She went into the kitchen for some water and heard a crunching, slobbery kind of noise, and ran back to the living room just in time to rescue the dentures from her curious dog. (Where was the GTF then?)   They didn't look too bad (her description) so she laid them back on the table, and settled down with a good book.  Eventually, he woke up, popped the teeth in his mouth, and left.  Evidently they felt ok, or he was too numb to notice.  There was no second date.  

Now that's punny...

My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Abet and Aid Punsters Day."  I've been told that 'a pun is the lowest form of humor.' But I think they're funny.  For example "I made a paper airplane but it wouldn't fly...Turns our you can't make them out of stationary." 

By definition, a pun is a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of words.  Here's another one..."I'm going to stand outside.  If anyone asks where I am, tell them I'm outstanding." and one more..."What did the grape say when it got crushed? Nothing, it just let out a little wine."  Here's another one. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." and my all time favorite  "I want to be cremated when I die.  It's my last chance for a smoking hot body."  These may not have made you laugh out loud, but if they made you smile a little, my work here is done.

on line shopping...

 First I think all of us will agree that online shopping is dangerous, not so much to your health as to your credit card.  It's so easy to sit in your pajamas and fluffy bathrobe (yes, I'm speaking from personal experience here) and scroll through pages and pages of available items.  It actually reminds me (and here I am really telling my age) of spending hours paging through the big fat original Sears catalogs.  The Christmas catalog was the best.  And speaking of Christmas, and shopping, that's why I'm currently indulging in online shopping. This year I am going on a Caribbean cruise at Christmas time, and part of the information provided tells me that there will be two dressy evening events and five smart casual suppers.  Smart casual I think I can handle; capris, nice tops and some flashy jewelry or scarves.  Dressy is a little tougher.  I do actually own a few very dressy outfits, but only because I haven't thrown them away since I retired from the working world and occasional very nice parties.  They will not do, having aged out of their usefulness. So I'm looking at dressy dresses.  There are many to choose from, happily, and even some in styles that will suit me.  I do have some limitations - no short skirts or short sleeves and a-line skirts are good.  And here's a fun fact.  You can find a nice selection of dressy dresses under the categories of 'mother of the groom' or 'mother of the bride.'  Now I must get back to  shopping.  Such a chore, but it must be done.  

How many years ago?

 I tutored my big-boy second grader again today. The same person as my little first grader last year, but he grew a few inches over the summer and has his two front teeth so he does look older.  Today as he came in he announced that he's interested in dinosaurs now.  Last year it was sharks.  He then went on to tell me that he thinks dinosaurs went extinct at least five years ago.  I told him that I thought it was quite a bit longer, so he guessed fifty years.  The concept of millions went right over his head, but I must admit I have a hard time with millions of years myself.  We then had quite a discussion about asteroids and how they might have killed all the dinosaurs.  I need to find a good book about dinosaurs.  After our reading and math work I allowed him to draw a picture (he much prefers this to playing games) and his picture showed a large dinosaur trying to snatch an airplane out of the sky while the airplane was trying to rescue two people hanging from it.  High adventure indeed.  After class, I texted my son, who deals in things scientific, and told him what my student had said and he replied that technically the child was right.  The dinosaurs did become extinct at least five years ago.  

Guy Fawkes Day

Today, November 5, is celebrated throughout the British Isles and other countries with a British link in history, as Guy Fawkes Day.  You can Google the entire history of the attempt, in the early 1600s, to blow up Parliament and kill the king.  My west coast brother made me aware of this celebration/commemoration while speculating as to why a bunch of dissatisfied citizens wanted to blow up the House of Commons.  My brother thought that it might have been because they were irritated with their representatives for not being able to agree on whether or not to adopt daylight savings time.  That sounded reasonable to me, but I discovered with a little reading that it was the Catholics revolting against King James (the one of Bible fame) for some restrictions placed on them. The event is actually a celebration of the defeat of the rebellion.  Guy Fawkes was one of many rebels caught and executed.  Not sure why he got the dubious honor of having the event named after him.  You will have to read the history more thoroughly to find that answer.  But evidently the whole thing involves lots of bonfires and burnings in effigy of poor Guy.  What a way to be remembered.

tock tick...

 Tonight's the night.  It's time to turn our clocks back one hour.  I will do it, obviously, because I don't want to be an hour early for church tomorrow morning, and so will you I'm sure, but I do think we're the victims of a little bit of false advertising.  I keep hearing the news and weather people say we will get an extra hour of sleep. Really?  An extra hour yes, but of sleep?  It doesn't seem to work that way for me.  By the time I turn my clocks back (I do still have four that need to be done manually) and, once I'm in bed, realize that I can read or watch TV a little bit longer, I seldom gain more than fifteen minute of extra sleep.  But I will enjoy a little bit more daylight in the morning.  Of course, once morning comes, I have one more hurdle to clear, resetting my car clock.  It's really fairly simple, but since I only do it twice a year, I need to relearn the process each time.  I do have one friend who resolutely refuses to reset her car clock.  She figures it's correct for half the year and that's good enough.  I'm not much better though.  I do reset all of my clocks but my accuracy isn't always the best.  My car clock and bedside table clock have both been five  minutes fast for the last six months.  I will try to do better this time.  Of course that will mean taking more time so maybe only ten minutes extra sleep.  I'd better start now.  Enjoy your extra hour, however you spend it.  

a recipe for you...

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is 'National Sandwich Day' and 'World Jellyfish Day.'  Now, I do not recommend a peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich, although I do really like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches (sweet or dill or sandwich pickles, they all work).  But seriously, I would like to share with you one of my favorite sandwiches - toasted cheese ala GPP.  He makes his toasted cheese sandwiches with cheese, of course, and other goodies like bacon bits or ham or chopped onions (or all of these) but what makes his sandwiches really good is that instead of spreading the outside of the bread with butter he uses mayonnaise, then fries them.  If you already do this, good for you; if not, I highly recommend it.  And here's another bit of personal information.  As a child I thought I really didn't like toasted cheese sandwiches.  It wasn't until I grew up and discovered that they don't have to be served with tomato soup (my least favorite soup in the world) or even better, stewed tomatoes (you don't want that recipe), as was done almost every Friday in our elementary school cafeteria that I found that I actually liked the sandwiches. Happy sandwich day everyone.

SMILE!!!

 I'm happy to report that my coronation this morning went well.  I'm pretty sure that's what it's called when a crown is reattached to a tooth,  This was the crown that I popped off while eating a Tootsie Roll on Halloween afternoon. Interestingly, the dentist told me that mine was the fourth Tootsie Roll related repair he had done since Halloween.  Those things should come with a warning.  He also said that the week after Halloween is generally a booming week for dentists.  No real surprise there.  His parting word of advice was "Avoid the sticky candy and eat only DeBrand's chocolates.  They melt in your mouth and won't stick to your teeth."  Well, if the same professional who tells me to brush and floss tells me to eat fine chocolate, who am I to argue?

Love Languages

We had an interesting presentation and discussion this evening at a meeting of a service group I belong to.  It was primarily about caring for someone with dementia but one question that came up can, I think, apply to anyone.  We were presented with a list of five "Love Languages" and asked to think about which two are most important to us.  It was pointed out that just because something is high on our love language list, it might not be for someone else.  Here's the list:

1. Words of affection  2. Quality Time  3. Gifts (receiving)                  4. Acts of Service  5. Physical Touch 

When I looked at the list, I realized that #5 physical touch is very important to me.  I love to be hugged.  But not everyone does.  A young person I know never wants to be hugged, but she does like gifts. My second pick is #2 quality time (and yes I do include game playing, even when I loose, in that category).  

So now I'm wondering.  What about the people I love.  Can I assume that they love what I love or should I try to discover their love language favorites?  Or do you love people because they love what you love?  This could get complicated.

So here's my challenge to you and myself.  Choose your own two favorite love languages, then try to guess what someone you love would choose.  After you have your guesses in mind, ask them what their choices might be.  You may be surprised.  

Happy Halloween!!

I have had a fun day, mostly.  A little bit of trick and a whole lot of treat.  This is the first time in years that I've been at a place where I could hand out candy to little costumed cuties. There isn't any trick or treating in my apartment complex and for years we lived on a busy road in the country where cars didn't stop to let their kids out and it certainly wasn't a good idea to let littles walk along the road.  But tonight was my night.  My GPP lives in a subdivision, and agreed that we should hand out candy this year.  I bought the candy and, when he saw how much I had bought, he said it should last us ten years.  But despite the cold and snow flurries (burrrr) we ended up almost out of candy.  Yay!!! My very favorite costume was a traffic cone, very appropriate if you live anywhere near State Street.  

About that little trick though.  Along with other candy I bought a couple of bags of Tootsie Rolls because I really like Tootsie Rolls, and, you know, there might be some left over. While doing some computer work earlier in the afternoon, I decided to treat myself to one Tootsie Roll, just for a boost of energy.  I bit off a chunk, savored the flavor, started to chew on it and suddenly felt something hard rolling around in my mouth.  It really didn't feeling like candy.  I will be seeing my dentist Thursday morning to get a crown reattached. 

progress report

 Last year I blogged a few times about the little first grader I was tutoring once a week through the FWCS Study Connections program.  I'm delighted to report that I will be tutoring him again this year, only now he is a big second grader and both of his front teeth have grown in.  His speech isn't perfect yet but the teeth have helped a lot.  He informed me, very proudly, that these are his grown up teeth. He must take good care of them so they will last a while.  I told him how long mine have lasted but I'm not sure if numbers that large mean much to him.  He told me that he thought his (which are nice and straight and  white by the way) need to last at least 12 years.  As he explained it to me, he needs that long to get through college.  "First you go to high school, then you go to college and then you're a grown up."  It's good to have goals.

Here Kitty, Kitty...

 My west coast brother once again has time to alert me about special days, now that his youngest daughter is married and pretty much moved out, at least as far as I know.  Today, he has informed me, is "National Cat Day" (I'm pretty sure there are at least 360 of those each year) and also "National Hermit Day."  I thought I knew what a hermit is (I've sometimes thought I might like to be one, especially when my GPP beats me at Gin Rummy and Scrabble in the same day).  But that's a story for another time, or maybe never.  I did beat him at Wordle.  Anyway, I checked out the definition for hermit.  Google says it's "a person living in solitude as a religious discipline." Substitute 'being' for 'person' and that could describe a cat, which seems appropriate on National Cat Day.  Even the religious aspect.  As the old saying goes, dogs think they're human while cats think they're god.  You know it's true by the way they greet you.  When I would return from any trip, even only to the grocery store, my dogs would practically do cartwheels, in their eager anticipation of sharing my life and space again.  My cats, on the other hand, if they deigned to show up at all when I returned from a trip, would stroll into the entry way, look me over as if to say "Oh, it's you." then turn and stroll away to resume their interrupted nap.  It is true that cats sleep about 22 hours a day.  Sounds like a hermit to me.

Blue cat blues...

 A recent question in my page-a-day trivia calendar was 'In the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, what is the name of the cat that Tweety Bird is always outsmarting?' I'm sure you remembered the answer as quickly as I did.  What made me chuckle, as I read the question, was the memory of the little old 'grandma' who owned Tweety Bird, and the car she drove.  It was a black box on wheels (a little like a model T) and I am reminded of the image as I drive around downtown in my little car.  It's blue, not black, and a Fiat, but still the comparison seems appropriate.  My car is on my mind right now because yesterday, as I started to back out of the garage, the CHECK ENGINE light came on.  I was on my way to my manicure appointment, which, you know, is important, but just as soon as that was finished, I headed for the dealership where I ger all my work done.  When I got there I told them about the light and asked about getting my 30,000 mile service done since I had been getting frequent reminders that it was due.  Actually I only have 29,445 miles on the car, not bad for a nine year old car.  Again, the little old lady image.  I decided it would be good to get the work done before real winter sets in, and they had time so I had it done yesterday.  Now my tires have been rotated, all systems checked, nice fresh oil put in, filter changed and bunches of other stuff done, for an only mildly exorbitant price.  In addition, they did discover why my check engine light came on.  It was a leak in the ESIM (Evaporative System, Integrity Model).  And I'm guessing that tells you just as much as it told me.  Evidently it's fixed now, for a slightly less exorbitant price.  As I was leaving, after putting my still smoking credit card back in my purse, I was assured that "You shouldn't need anything done to that car for a good long time."  I certainly hope not.  However, I will be heading back to the dealership on Monday to return a strange little box they left plugged into the car, under the dashboard, by the drivers door.  The box has a bright yellow tag hanging from it stating in three languages 'must be removed before car is returned to owner.'  Woops.  I will be good and return it to them.  Maybe they'll be so pleased that they will give me a refund.  Ha ha ha ha ha! 

over head projector

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is World Audiovisual Heritage Day.  Just hearing that brought back memories.  Any of you who are retired teachers, or still active teachers or presenters of any kind can relate.  In my various careers I have used overhead projectors, movie projectors, slide projectors, split screen Zoom applications, and regular Zoom.  I have projected on the big screen from my computer, worked math problems on a white board (the electronic type), and never forget green and black chalk boards and white boards with erasable markers.  I've even created Power Point presentations.  In other words, I am a survivor of audiovisual experiences through the years.  It did not always go smoothly. 

one more blog about the wedding...

 Today my west coast brother informed me that it's National Chicken Fried Steak Day and Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night.  This message assured me that things are somewhat back to normal, and helped me realize that I'm not quite ready to stop thinking about wedding memories.  First the moon. As I sat at the rehearsal evening cookout, watching the crescent moon rise over the mountain (see yesterday's picture) I said to one of my youngest great nephews, "Isn't the moon beautiful?" He replied "Yes, it reminds me of the one at the start of movies, with the boy sitting on it with his fishing pole."  I haven't been to a movie for a while but I knew exactly what he meant.  It was a nice bonding moment.  The chicken fried steak reminded me of the Thursday before the wedding when my brother, sister-in-law and two of their grandchildren and I ate supper at a Denny's.  I had country fried steak (close enough) and a lovely conversation with my great niece who I held when she was one day old.  I have seen her since then, but not for five years, so it was a pleasure to get reacquainted with her 12 year old self.  She was so excited about the role she would play as greeter at the wedding, her newly pierced ears, and the earrings the bride have given her.  My  whole visit was a wonderful chance to re-bond with so many relatives.  

A picture of me with one of my very favorite nieces, the mother of the two mentioned above, and the artist who created the wedding cake and most of the floral arrangements. 

I'm back...

 I really enjoyed, as I always do, my week long visit with my west coast brother, sister-in-law and assorted family members.  The main event of the week was the wedding of my youngest niece.  She's 25 so don't worry, she's not a child bride.  I helped where I could with chores like cutting carrot cake into individual servings and helping put to-die-for lemon bars into individual cupcake papers.  Tough jobs but someone had to do them. I thoroughly enjoyed being the matriarch of the family.  

A sliver of moon at sunset. Perfect weather for the rehearsal picnic dinner.

The bride and her bridesmaids.  I'm hoping to get copies of some of the professional pictures, but these will have to do in the meantime.

 
Some of you will remember my memoir about the well traveled bouncing horse that has been back and forth across the continent four times.  I was thrilled to see it still in use, but didn't get a picture of the cute little flower girl as she rode it. Such fun.

off I go again...

 I've been home from Italy and Greece for a week and a half, and have managed to do all my laundry, with the help of my GPP and his oversize washer and dryer. Now I'm heading out again. My flight tomorrow leaves at 6:05am and arrives in Spokane at 11:20am, with a quick detour to Atlanta.  Don't you love flying west?  Happily, it's not an international flight this time so no customs to get through. My visit will involve. even more happily, the wedding of my youngest niece.  I love my family and I love weddings so I'm very excited to be going on this trip.  I will try to behave myself and not embarrass my niece and soon to be nephew-in-law.  But, you know, sooner or later, he will figure out that he has married into a really wonderful, totally functional family with a few quirks to keep things interesting. I hope he's prepared to meet the matriarch. 

the end of the journey

 This is my final blog about our Italy/Greece trip but before I get into that I must say KUDOS the Philharmonic and Heather Headley for an amazing opening show for the POPS series.  Ms. Headley, a Tony and Grammy award winning Broadway star, and Fort Wayne native, was also a great stand-up comic.  Her comments between songs were very funny. Of course her voice was amazing too. Great Show!!!

Now, about leaving Athens and heading home.  As promised, our pre-paid cab driver was at the hotel by 9:45am to take us to the airport for our noon flight.  He seemed pleasant enough, although he didn't speak much English, but I must admit I was a little concerned when he seemed to be plugging the address of the airport into his GPS system.  He got us through all of the thick downtown traffic and really made up time when we hit the open highway.  We arrived at the AA terminal a little breathless but otherwise ok.  Obviously we made it on to our flight to Chicago, managed the customs hassle, and, with a four hour layover, had plenty of time to make our connecting flight to Fort Wayne.  After driving about half way to FW, the plane finally took off and we were up and down in 31 minutes, arriving on schedule at 11:05pm.  My GPP was there waiting to take us home.  What a welcome sight.  Finding that our suitcases had arrived with us was another plus.  

This was supposed to be sent last night but my laptop was doing weird things and I couldn't complete it until this evening.

I'm heading out on another flight in two days so stay tuned for further adventures.

Beautiful Athens

 My travel buddy and I had added two days in Greece to our vacation and so we made our way from Rome to Athens.  Navigating the Rome airport was an experience but we made our flight to Athens with time to spare.  I was surprised that we didn't have to go through Customs when we arrived in Athens, then realized that Italy and Greece are both EU countries, so it's like going from state to state in the US.  As part of our package, we were met at the Athens airport by a driver who whisked us away to the Stanley Hotel, not a very Greek sounding hotel name but far and away the nicest hotel we stayed in on the whole trip. It was in Athens that we both tested positive for COVID.  We didn't announce the fact to anyone but wore masks and did our best to keep our distance from people.  We discovered to our delight that the ninth floor restaurant (Cloud 9) had excellent food, a lunch menu available until 6:30pm, and a view of the Parthenon.  It was an indoor/outdoor restaurant with sliding glass panels to open the whole area when the weather was good.  We ate all three of our suppers in that restaurant, always seated at the same small table with that amazing view of the Parthenon. We ate at 6:00pm when it was never crowded.  We weren't sophisticated enough to eat with the evening crowd.  On the first afternoon we took a bus ride around the city on a double decker bus.  We sat in the very front seats on the top level and it was a lot like an amusement park ride.  Athens drivers, like those in Rome, are fearless. Driving a bus, truck, car (of any size) or motorcycle, it makes no difference.  Constantly switching lanes and passing with scant inches to spare is expected.  I have now added Rome and Athens to my list of cities I will never drive in; ride yes, drive no.  In case you're curious, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco are also on my list.

We did walk around some on the second day. in search of gelato, among other things, and discovered this lovely old building across from our hotel, in the early stages of restoration.  I especially like the railings.

A view of the traffic circle that we saw from the balcony of our hotel room. There were six streets feeding into this round-about, no traffic signs at all, and no apparent system.  Vehicles just merged in whenever they saw the slightest gap.  We heard lots of sirens but never actually saw an accident.

The view of the Parthenon, high on its hill, as seen from our restaurant table.  Like Rome, Athens is a city of layers, from the ancient to the ultra modern. Very exciting.

A view I liked from our bus ride.  I would like to go back to Greece sometime when I am feeling well and have lots more time to spend there.  

The end of the Italian adventure

 On day 8 of our Trafalgar tour we headed back to Rome and were taken to see the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Michelangelo's masterpiece.  Not surprisingly we weren't allowed to take pictures in the chapel.  We had about 15 minutes to try to absorb the whole scene, walls and ceiling.  While I would have liked to spend the time lying flat on the floor and gazing up, it was so crowed we could barely move, let alone stretch out.  Still, I did accomplish that other item on my bucket list for this trip.  After viewing the ceiling we ate dinner in the Vatican, which not everyone can say.  We ate in a large open hall surrounded by glass cases full of antiquities and gifts to former Popes. 

The next day was a free day for my travel buddy and me before we headed to Greece on Sunday.  Because we still weren't feeling great, although not yet aware that we had COVID, we hired a cab, with a very nice driver, to take us on a tour of the ancient sites of Rome. We had agreed on a fixed price for a two hour tour but we actually took over three hours.  Still he only charged us for the two.  He stopped at many sites, arranging for us to see and photograph the best scenes.  We really enjoyed our day in Rome.  I am intrigued by the layers of Rome from 2000 year old ruins to buildings of the middle ages and Renaissance to ultra modern Rome.

Some of the scenes from our drive around Rome.