a joyful day

 I started today feeling very happy because I won a game of Gin Rummy yesterday.  I can be a gracious looser, but I readily admit to being an obnoxious, but gleeful, winner.  Then this morning our Wired Word Sunday school class discussed, instead of some of the usual gloom and doom of contemporary life, the topic of joy, happiness and personal peace.  Everyone in the class shared ideas of what makes them happy.  Ideas ranged from happiness in personal relationships to the joy some of us feel in our children and grandchildren to faith and conversion experiences.  The leaders started the class by passing out cartoons (all different) for us to share and enjoy.  All in all a delightful morning.  Then I joined some friends for an early carry-in supper and they surprised me with a cake with "Congratulations Luci" written on it, to celebrate an award I received some weeks ago.  It was totally unexpected but much appreciated.  For these and other reasons, this has been an excellent day and I feel like I've been walking around in a happy bubble all day.  Yay!

another play review

 I saw an interesting play this evening.  As my friend said. it wasn't ready for Broadway but pretty good for Fort Wayne.  It was an 'all for One' production, performed at the Arts United Center across Main Street from Civic Theater.  This play "A Peculiar People" set in the first century a.d. tells the story of a Christian woman and a man mistakenly thought to be a Christian, who are thrown into the same dungeon to await their fate in the arena.  It doesn't sound like a comedy, does it?  But, amazingly, there were a lot of laughs in this production, thanks to some excellent acting, especially by the two chief actors.  If you're looking for something to do inside on this rainy weekend, there are two more performances tomorrow and Sunday. And here's a fun fact, the two prisoners are husband and wife in real life.  No wonder they acted so well together.  

Well, I've done it again...

 I don't make a habit of falling down.  In fact I really try to avoid it.  Falling down is not good for you.  Nine years ago, after spending a day roaming all over London, I was really tired, and took a fall, a face-plant actually, smacking my face into a hard London sidewalk.  That fall left me with a bruised left cheek and I went through the rest of the ten day trip with a half purple face.  There were people around who rushed to help me up and made sure I was ok.  Today, nine years later (I obviously don't make a habit of this) I did it again.  It was a beautiful, almost warm day and a friend and I took a walk around downtown Fort Wayne.  We had brunch at a coffee shop on The Landing, walked through Promenade Park, with time out to swing on one of the big grown up size swings, and then walked back to my apartment along the River Greenway.  It was a lovely walk until about three blocks from my place when a bit of uneven sidewalk tripped me up and I fell down hard.  Happily I didn't land on my face this time and I didn't break my glasses, which is good since they are new.  But the happy part of this, and another reassurance that chivalry is not dead, is that my friend immediately started to help me up and at the same time a car stopped beside us and a gentleman I had never seen before jumped out and rushed over to help.  Between these two strong men they managed to get me on my feet, with very little fuss.  Needless to say I was shaken but their obvious concern was so reassuring that I felt good. Strange as that sounds.  After it was all over my friend came back to my place with me, half holding me up all the way, settled me on the couch and put an icepack on my left knee, the one I had come down hard on.  So all's well that ends well, chivalry lives and life is good.  

Did you hear that?

 I heard a very interesting presentation by an audiologist this evening.  She was very interesting and certainly seemed to know what she was talking about.  She answered several questions and I learned all about cochlear implants, which aren't just for children.  I took her little yes/no test and evidently I'm hearing alright for now.  But I was really interested in the long list of physical problems that can be exacerbated by poor hearing.  I had read recently about the connection between hearing loss and dementia, but I also learned that hearing loss is connected to depression, falling, kidney disease, and diabetes.  People with diabetes are two times as likely to have hearing loss.  Hospitalization is 32% more likely for older adults with hearing loss.  But this next statistic raises a question in my mind.  One page she handed out said in one of its bullet points "Mortality - hearing loss tied to greater risk of dying for older men."  Really??? Don't we all have a 100% risk of dying.  

more about Crayola...

 A week or so ago I blogged about Crayola crayons, based on information published in my trivia calendar.  Today, I am informed by my west coast brother, is National Crayola Day.  This time I'm not reminded of the crayons themselves but of the colors, and one specific incident.  Several years ago, an old empty power plant here in Fort Wayne was transformed into Science Central, an excellent hands-on children's science museum.  That was brilliant I think, and in another bold move, the five big black smokestacks on top of the old building were painted in bright colors that have always seemed like crayon colors to me. Red, orange, yellow, green and blue, those chimneys march across the sky, and I have a perfect view of them from my balcony.  By a wonderful coincidence, I was listening to the evening news the day after I moved into my apartment when the newsperson announced that starting that evening the chimneys on Science Central would be illuminated at night.  I walked out on my balcony just in time to see them lit up for the first time.  It was the perfect welcome to my new home, and I still admire them every night. 

a tutoring update...

I haven't written about the little first grader who I have been tutoring all year for a while.  I am happy to report that he has come a long way this year.  My one hour a week has contributed a little, but I give lots of credit to his full time teachers.  He's not quite where he needs to be yet but he knows his numbers, understands adding and subtracting and the sounds of letters and can read short words.  And he always writes his name left to right. He is left handed and I was reminded of that while we worked on his book today.  I had stapled together some pages to create a book, and over the last several weeks he has been drawing and coloring pictures in it.  He loves to draw, so that's his reward at the end of each tutoring session.  As a former art teacher, this pleases me so much.  Today he decided that the eight-page book was finished, except for the words.  So we added words.  He dictated and I printed.  It turned out to be a book of advice.  These were all his words.  Each page contained one or two messages such as "Always be kind." "Always be nice." "Always swim." (that last was on the page with the shark picture).  But here's what I found most interesting.  When I suggested we should write The End on the last page, he agreed and flipped the book to what I considered the first page.  But this is his book, so it will be read from right to left, with the pages open on the left edge.  

Another funny thing happened today that didn't involve my student, but reassured me that chivalry is not dead.  Having just come from an exercise class I guess I was climbing the steps to the media center where we meet with our students a little slowly.  I promise I wasn't huffing or puffing, but a nice young man climbing the stairs ahead of me, turned back and offered me his hand to help me up the stairs.  Of course I accepted.  Such a gallant gesture should not be rebuffed.  Since he looked to be about nine, he wasn't much help physically, but he certainly gave my spirit a boost. 

post script

 PS The answers to yesterday's riddles are pilgrims and fingers.

odds and ends...

 A few things caught my attention today. First, and this one made me laugh, there was a flyer in my mail box, and evidently everyone else's in the building, offering free window inspections and window replacement estimates.  Now I may be wrong but I can't imagine our apartment management being thrilled if everyone started ordering replacement windows for their apartments.  Don't get me wrong.  These buildings are sixty years old and could use some replacement windows, but still I don't think we can order them for individual apartments.  On another topic, my west coast brother informed me that today is Talk Like Shakespeare Day and also Cherry Cheesecake Day. Forsooth and, alas and alack, while I did dine out this evening, cherry cheesecake was not on the menu.  So we had to make do with churros (delicious).  And finally, because we celebrated Earth Day at church today (I know it's one day late) people on the Green Team kept trying to give me packets of flower seeds.  I explained to at least four people that I live in a 10th floor apartment and don't have a garden.  Of course I do have a garden but it's outside the ground floor front door and will be really quite lovely in a few weeks (as soon as Mother Nature stops her mood swings) and all I need to do is praise the gardeners when I happen to see them working outside.  Someone asked me recently if I miss gardening. The short answer is no.  Sorry if that disappoints anyone.  

rain, rain...

 Today is April Showers Day according to my west coast brother.  This surprised me a little since I thought this entire month is all about April Showers, and, recently, snow flurries and 80 degrees with sunshine.  Not all on the same day of course but within a few days of each other.  Mother Nature is having some weird mood swings lately.  But I am reminded of a good old riddle.  If April Showers bring May Flowers, what do May Flowers bring?  My children, and later my grandchildren all thought that one was hilarious when they were in about third grade.  And that reminds me of a totally unrelated riddle that made me laugh this week.  Even when things get tough, what can you always count on?  As I've admitted before, I'm easily entertained.  

get organized???

 Since my west coast brother didn't supply me with any special day ideas today, I decided to do my own search.  As you all know, it's easy to get lost in the wilds of the internet.  In my case, I discovered that not only does April have several special days it also has special weeks.  This week (the third full week in April) is Organize Your Files Week.  Yikes, I only have one day left.  I actually did organize my files a little, after I paid my taxes, by getting rid of paperwork I no longer need (I hope).  Actually, I'm pretty proud of myself for just having a filing cabinet, one of the nice low two drawer types that looks like furniture, and also one file drawer in my desk.  Sadly, with all that nifty space for files, which should be more than enough for someone who is retired,  I still find myself with stacks of papers waiting patiently to be filed or shredded.  It's really not so bad though.  I remember at one point in my real estate career when I was the relocation director / office manager / training manager for my office and still working with my own buyers and sellers, that I realized I could not see the surface of my desk.  I took a picture of the turmoil my desk had become, which back then involved using a camera, and swore to myself that I would never let it get this bad again. I'm not sure if it was the third week in April but I certainly organized my files, in my spare time, hah.  Fortunately for my organizational challenge and my sanity, our real estate company merged with another, larger company and I was offered one, not three, just one, position, either office manager or training manager, either with more pay than I was currently earning.  I opted for training manager and served happily in that position for almost 20 years.  Ironically, I became know for my organizational skills and helping new agents become organized. Ha ha ha...  Isn't life fun?  

By the way, next week is National Karaoke Week, so warm up those vocal cords.

and here's the answer...

 A big thank you to my west coast brother who let me know that today is National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day. I wish I had some. But even more importantly, he answered my question from yesterday about the time delay between two TV sets.  Since he has worked all his adult life in the electronics side of the television industry, I trust that he knows what he's talking about. Here is his explanation - "I would guess that you are watching using an antenna (true) and your friend is using cable or a streaming service (also true).  All the digital processing can add up to 30 seconds.  Even in the same house with two different cable boxes or cable and streaming there can be quite a difference."  So now I know, and this actually makes sense to me.  It also makes me feel slightly smug, knowing that, since I do use an antenna to watch TV, I get my news first as well as free.  

a curious thing...

 A curious thing happened this evening, curious to me at least.  Maybe everyone else is aware of this phenomenon.  I was talking by phone with a friend who lives about ten miles from me, and had a nature program about Niagara Falls on a local PBS station.  I had it muted while we talked but was enjoying the pictures.  At one point they were showing fireworks over the falls.  As it happened, this friend and I were at Niagara Falls on the 4th, some years ago.  So I told her about the fireworks on TV.  She turned on her TV while we talked.  On my TV the fireworks were over and they had moved on to a winter scene.  But when her picture came on it was the fireworks.  I was surprised because I didn't know there could be that delay between two televisions only ten miles apart.  When I commented on it, she told me of another time when she and her son were watching the same football game on different TVs in different parts of the house when she started cheering about the winning goal before he had even seen it on his TV in the same house.  I'm sure there must be some perfectly reasonable explanation for this but I don't know what it is.  Maybe some kindly EE can explain it to me.

another crayon memory...

 Yesterday's blog about Crayola crayons reminded me of another crayon memory, this one from early in my teaching career.  My last full time teaching position was at St. Henry's Catholic School here in Fort Wayne.  I taught art to all eight grades and really enjoyed the job very much.  One day, as I was walking between the rows of desks in a sixth grade class room, I noticed an interesting interaction between two students two rows over.  One boy leaned across the aisle and asked his friend to loan him his red crayon.  The boy being asked handed his friend a brown crayon, it was handed back, a green crayon, still not right, two other not red crayons, and finally the requested red crayon.  It dawned on me that the boy handing out the wrong crayons might just be color blind.  I was a little bit disappointed because I had been admiring this young artist's creative use of colors but decided I probably should speak to his parents.  Coincidentally, parent's night was coming up the next week.  As a wandering teacher, without a classroom of my own, I waited in the school office to speak with any parents who might be interested in their children's artistic abilities.  Before the evening began I had asked his homeroom teacher to please send the crayon challenged student's parents to see me when they finished meeting with her.  They walked in to my meeting room looking grim and the father immediately said "What's he done now?"  I was shocked.  This student had never given me any trouble in class.  I quickly explained that there was no behavior problem but I thought he might be colorblind and they might want to have his eyes tested.  After visibly relaxing, you could almost say deflating, the father replied "Well, I'm not surprised.  His older brother is colorblind."  Their older son was already in high school so I had never had him in class.  I had been concerned about how they might take the news, but they were so relieved that their son hadn't been causing trouble in my class that they actually seemed pleased that colorblindness was the only problem.  We all parted as friends.  

time to color...

 Today's entry on my page-a-day trivia calendar involves Crayola crayons.  Did you know that they were invented in 1902?  They were the creation of Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, cousins and founders of Binney & Smith Co.  Edwin's wife Alice came up with the name Crayola.  Just thinking about Crayola crayons brings back blissful memories - that wonderful feeling of getting a brand new yellow and green box of crayons at the beginning of the school year.  Every point perfect, and, if it was a really good year, 48 amazing colors.  I remember my third and fourth grade teacher, Mr. Sherman, who read a chapter from a book to us during a quiet time after lunch each day.  We could just listen or we could color while we listened.  Between the story, the coloring and watching Mr. Sherman's Adams apple bob up and down (it was quite pronounced - picture a very skinny Ichabod Crane) it was hands down my favorite time of day.

April showers and more...

 Today is "Go Fly a Kite Day" which seems very appropriated for the middle of April.  I have never been a great kite flyer myself although I've had a few successful flights, but my best kite flying memories are watching my grandchildren.  We had a large, fairly flat back yard with few trees, an excellent space for flying kites.  The grandkids weren't always wildly successful with their kites either, but they certainly had a lot of fun, and burned off a lot of energy, running back and forth across the yard, getting and keeping their kites in the air.  Of course it's impossible to think of flying kites without remembering the closing scene of 'Mary Poppins' and that immortal song "Let's Go Fly a Kite." I know you remember it.  "Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height.  Oh, let's go fly a kite." Now that I've planted that tune in your mind, my job is done here.  Good Night. 

s

 According to my west coast brother today is "National Glazed Spiral Ham Day."  This information didn't actually inspire me to blog about ham.  I did serve Honey Baked spiral glazed ham for Easter dinner but that was almost a week ago, and, sadly, the last of the ham is all gone.  It was delicious, of course, but as I said, it's gone.  Feeling less than inspired, I googled my own list of special days and was surprised to learn that today is actually "International Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day."  I don't know how my west coast brother missed this.  He and my sister-in-law raise goats after all, and I have enjoyed delicious goat cheese at their place and I'm guessing they make it with raw milk and I really do appreciate it.  That's it, that's all I've got.  If you are feeling celebratory go eat some ham and cheese and drink some milk.  

outrage???

 You may be just as shocked at this as I am.  I learned from my Trivia page-a-day calendar that Double Stuf Oreos don't actually contain double the yummy cream filling that's in regular Oreos.  According to calculations made by a mathematician (I'll call him Bob to protect him from harassment) Double Stuf Oreos only have 1.86 times the cream filling in regular Oreos.  Now be honest, are you reading this and thinking "That's outrageous. I shall never eat Oreos again."  Or are you, like me, thinking "Hummm, I haven't had Oreos for a long time, and they are good. Perhaps a trip to the grocery store is in order." Only you can decide what's right for you. 

that's my game

 Today is National Scrabble Day, and my west coast brother knew I would want to know about that.  It has been a favorite game in my family for years.  My mother-in-law, who was a cross word puzzle fan loved Scrabble.  To her it wasn't the score, but the fun of putting the words together that counted.  The only frustration I ever had with the game was the aggravation if someone bumped the board and tiles got scattered.  But that problem was solved when my husband gave me a deluxe scrabble set for Christmas one year.  It came with a board that revolved and had little ridges between all the letter spaces.  Genius. There is one particular family game that deserves mention.  During this most memorable game played on January 12, 1995, our son was able to use all seven tiles three times and ended up with a score of 464.  I know this because we took that score sheet and taped it inside the cover of our Official Scrabble Players Handbook. Such a sweet memory, for him, not so much for me.  He beat me by over 200 points.  

more cheers for libraries...

 Once again thanks to my west coast brother who informs me that today is "National Bookmobile Day."  There was a time in my life when the bookmobile driver was my best friend.  When my children were one and three years old and I was still living the life of a stay-at-home mom, I needed mental stimulation to keep my brain from turning to Pablum.  And the bookmobile, that parked a block down the street from our house, came regularly, once every two weeks, to save me.  After my first child was born, my sister-in-law gifted me with a British perambulator which she had received when my niece (then five) was born.  It was a wonderful baby buggy, over sized and perfect for bookmobile trips.  Every other Thursday I would load two kids and all the books, theirs and mine, into the baby buggy with room to spare, and roll it down the street to the bookmobile.  The driver would see us coming and have the door open and the little step in place, so we could enter that magical space, leaving the perambulator parked outside where no one ever bothered it.  As I think about it, I realize that the bookmobile was the perfect size for my children's first library experience.  On the lower shelves there were plenty of children's books for them to explore while I looked over the latest choice of mysteries and romance novels.  I said I needed mental stimulation, not that I read sophisticated non-fiction.  But all good things must come to an end.  We moved from that neighborhood, the children moved up to school and pre-school, I went back to work, and our library visits were limited to weekend visits to the local 'real' library.  But we did keep reading.  Hooray for libraries and bookmobiles.

love those books

 Today is "National Library Workers Day" and a great chance to salute library workers everywhere.  I have a long history with libraries, starting with the books on our shelves at home, continuing to the shelves in our classrooms and on to the real libraries.  It was in our elementary school library (a set of shelves in our classroom) that I discovered the existence and joy of multiple books about the same people with the "Little House" series.  I still love to read a series of books about the same characters, but I've only ever visited the graves of Laura's family.  Our small town library was still reigned over by Miss Tremp during my youth.  Talk about type casting.  With the gray hair pulled into a bun and pencil behind the ear, and glasses of course, she was a character from central casting, but very nice and patient with a shy girl who just wanted to browse all the shelves.  She remembered my father as a child coming into the library and 'reading every book in the place.'  In high school we were allowed to volunteer in the library during our study hall period.  I managed to spend at least four or five periods a week in the library.  I did all the usual like shelving books, but I also had plenty of time to browse the shelves.  I'm sure I never would have read "Kristen Lavransdatter" if I hadn't found it on a bottom shelf.  It was something like 800 pages but I like a book that lasts a while.  It was also in the high school library that I discovered "A Town Like Alice" printed under its American title "The Legacy."  It is my all time favorite book.  When I think about it, it's a wonder that I didn't become a librarian.  I suspect it was a deep down knowledge that I loved to read, not shelve books, although I did think it was cool when Miss Tremp would use her little stamp, first rubbed on an ink pad, to stamp the due date on a card that she would slide into the little envelope inside the cover of the book.  Woe be to you if you lost the card or brought the book back late.   

Oh happy day...

 

Today is Siblings Day.  It's also National Farm Animals Day, but since I don't have any farm animals I'll focus on Siblings Day.  Although now that I think of it, my west coast brother (the one who told me this is Siblings Day) has many farm animals, geese, goats, sheep and chickens to name a few, so maybe he celebrated both days.  The really wonderful thing about siblings is that because of, or maybe in spite of, a long shared history, they will always love each other.  At least it works that way in my family.  Hooray for siblings and siblings-in-law with whom I have been greatly blessed.  

Happy Easter

 I hope you all had a good Easter.  I certainly did.  The traditional church service (I did not make it to the sunrise service) with magnificent music and an excellent sermon. Then the family came to my place for a casual Easter lunch.  At least that's what I had planned.  Someone was going to bring a relish tray, someone else the chips and dip, and another couple would bring the dessert.  I had ham  with bread in case anyone wanted to make sandwiches, which they did, and baked beans and deviled eggs of course.  A not lavish, but adequate holiday lunch.  But everyone surprised me with extras.  The relish tray became a relish tray, a cheese and crackers tray, and a shrimp platter.  The chips and dip were augmented with potato salad, three kinds of dip, including really yummy avocado dip and a second bag of chips.  My grandson had told me he would bring a cake (a rum chocolate chip cake, yummy) which he did and his girlfriend surprised us with a huge bowl of excellent pasta salad. There were only seven of us around the table but we ate extremely well.  All in all, it was a great afternoon with excellent food, most of which I didn't have to cook, lots of laughs and silly games. Jumping Monkeys anyone?  

weaving a story

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is Slow Art Day.  This is my day.  When I moved into this apartment seven years ago there was a yarn shop on the first floor, full of beautiful hand spun wool yarn and other goodies.  Many years ago, many, many years ago, when I was in college, as an art major, my favorite area of art was weaving.  Having access to large looms, I wove sheer curtain fabric, wool plaid for a dress, a 4x8 foot tapestry, and more.  Weaving is a slow but very satisfying art for me.  Unhappily, once I was married and a parent, I didn't have room or time for weaving.  But, hooray, on visiting the little yarn shop down stairs, I was introduced to lap looms, handy little portable looms that fit into my current space.  So I ordered a lap loom from New Zealand, assembled it all by myself, and started weaving again.  Which brings me back to Slow Art Day. There may be slower arts that weaving, like waiting for oil paint to dry or painting a huge mural on a chapel ceiling, but weaving has to be among the slowest.  Recently, I've added another layer to my weaving by stitching images on a woven background. Slow on top of slow.  Happily, this is an art that waits until I have time to work on it, and nothing changes, drys, etc. between sessions.  I love slow art.  

restaurant review...

 After attending a moving Good Friday service at noon today, two friends invited me to go to lunch with them.  Since my choices were go to lunch or go home and get started on some serious apartment cleaning before my family comes on Sunday, I chose lunch.  Since the church I attend (First Pres, in case you're interested) is downtown, it's within easy walking distance of several good restaurants, and today was a great day for a walk. One of my friends suggested J.K. O'Donnell's and we went there.  It wasn't too busy or too noisy so we had a chance for a good conversation with our lunch.  I ordered one of my favorite JK dishes, fish and chips.  The fish was delicious, lightly breaded, very flaky; the coleslaw was good and so were the 'chips' (aka French fries).  Only one tiny problem.  I had made a commitment for a phone meeting at about 2:00pm.  After our food came, I glanced at a clock strategically placed on the wall behind our booth where I had an excellent view of it and it said 1:20.  So I figured I had time to eat.  Unfortunately, it took me three more looks at that clock to realize that it wasn't moving.  By that time, it was well past 2:00.  Lucky for me, my much delayed phone talk was with a very understanding friend so all was well there.  So now you're probably thinking that after lunch and that phone conversation, I dug right in and got some cleaning done.  And I would have.  But before I got started on that, I took time to read my west coast brother's daily text in which he informed me that today is "National No Housework Day." Well, who can ignore a special day like that?  Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

cloud magic

 

I'm really not sure how this cloud thing works.  I don't mean the clouds that gave me this sunset picture this evening.  There have always been clouds in my sky views and sometimes I get lucky and can get a picture like this.  The "cloud" I wonder about is the one that magically sends my photos, and presumably other things, 'into the cloud' to float around there until I need access to them.  As an example, I took this picture at about 8:20 this evening with my phone, then sat down to write this blog on my laptop, clicked on photos, and hey presto there was my sunset picture.  I must assume that it floated across the living room from phone to computer on that mystical, invisible cloud.  I'm not really bothered by this, in fact I really appreciate it.  I will simply add it to the long list of things I sort of understand but not really, like how airplanes stay up and how a microwave works.

something to celebrate..

 First of all, referring back to yesterday's blog, my west coast brother assures me that Jeep drivers do have a 'wave.'  I am not surprised.  Something to note today is that the possible nasty weather predicted for this afternoon passed us to the north and south.  That old local natives' observation that tornados never touch down at the confluence of the three rivers seems to hold true over and over.  One more good thing about living at the river's edge. 

And one more thing must be mentioned.  Today is "Global Day of the Engineer."  Global, mind you, not just National or International.  Something I am very happy to celebrate.  Some of my best friends are engineers, of the electrical and other persuasions. My husband was a software engineer, although he preferred to be thought of as a mathematician.  And then there are the engineers who drive the trains that pass near my apartment several times each day and night.  I actually like the sound of their whistles and shrieking brakes, muffled a little by closed windows. There's one that comes through about 11:30 each night that I particularly listen for.  I've just remembered that, when I was a child, we lived in New Haven for a few years, about three blocks from the railroad tracks.  I always loved the sound of the trains then also.  Hooray for engineers of all types.  

It's that kind of family..

 My west coast brother has evidently recuperated from his week in the wilds of Des Moines, and informs me that today is National Jeep (4x4) Day.  If you don't know or have never been a Jeep owner, I must tell you they tend to be very, very loyal to their Jeeps.  Personally, I have never owned a Jeep, and as a current owner of a Fiat, am a bit of an automotive outcast in my family.  My west coast brother has owned seven?? Jeeps and still owns parts of several of them.  All of his children have driven Jeeps over the years, and his second son has inherited his interest and has also accumulated several.  In my more immediate family, my daughter has owned at least one Jeep and my son-in-law has owned three but they only keep one at a time.  Years ago when my husband and I owned our VW Bus they were still unique enough that if you passed one while driving the drivers waved at each other.  I wouldn't be surprised if Jeep owners do the same.  

PS A fellow Fiat driver waved at me the other day. It felt good.

no help at all

 Well, my west coast brother has been no help wih special days lately.  He spent the past week in Des Moines on a work assignment (maybe they don't have special days in Iowa) and two days in Minneapolis when his flight home was cancelled half way there because of weather, so I'll give him a pass. Today, in desperation, because i couldn't think of anything to write about, I checked Google and here's what I found - today, April 3, is World Party Day and National Find a Rainbow Day.  Tomorrow, in case you want to plan ahead, is National School Librarian Day and International Carrot Day.  I did not party today, unless going to a seniors exercise class counts.  It is always good for some laughs, also a lot of knee popping which sounds like quiet fireworks.  Alas, no rainbows today but I am not complaining.  It was warmish and sunny and actually felt like an April day should feel.  My best friend was a school librarian so I will drink a toast to her tomorrow.  Now that I think about it, the room where I tutor my first grader each week looks like a library with many shelves full of books, but the sign over the door says Resource Center so should school librarians now be called School Resourcists? or Resourcers? As far as Carrot Day is concerned, while I do eat carrots almost every day and am happy to celebrate them, I suspect the Easter Bunny is behind this celebration.  Perhaps we should leave a plate of carrots out on Easter Eve?

another play review..

 I went with a friend to see "The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, in 90 Minutes" this afternoon. While neither of us are great Shakespeare scholars we did know enough about his plays to enjoy this laugh filled romp very much.  It was a three person show with occasional help from "volunteer" audience members.  Our section 'A Section' of the audience, had the job of waving our arms back and forth in rhythm and shouting "Maybe, maybe not" when called on. The play was performed as theater in the round (or in this case in the square) and the actors did a great job of making sure they faced every side frequently, making it very obvious what they were doing. As an added personal pleasure, it was a joy to me to discover that two of the people in the cast and one pulled from the audience had been in the play "You Can't Take it With You" with me at Arena Dinner Theater last year.  If I tell you that handsome, dark haired, bearded Joe, of the wonderful deep voice, who played the young suitor in YCTWY, was pulled from the audience to briefly play Ophelia and shriek like a girl, you'll get some idea of the nonsense of this play.  That every character in all of the scenes was ridiculously miscast is a gross understatement.  Noel of the gray stubble and chubby body as Juliette may have scarred me for life.  Since this was the last performance of this run, I won't spoil anything for you by describing the finale.  Most of the second act was taken up with Hamlet and when the actors decided at the end that they had a little more time to fill, filled it by a rapid fire recital of the more famous lines from Hamlet spoken backwards while they circled backwards in the middle of the stage,  Believe me this was no easy task.  Imagine "well him knew I Yorick poor alas" at top speed and you'll get an inkling of how it went.  All in all, a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Happy April...

 Here we are at 9:00pm on April first and no one has played an April Fools joke on me yet.  That is of course except Mother Nature.  I know March is ideally supposed to come in like a lion and out like a lamb, but then shouldn't April continue with the lambishness?  Maybe in like a lamb and out like a fluffy little bunny?  Instead April decided to back track and do the lion imitation.  You may have noticed wind, rain and thunder last night and snow flurries today.  My west coast brother has experienced his own April prank.  He has spent the last week in Des Moines, offering technical support to an affiliate TV station and was due to head home yesterday.  Instead, as he informed me this morning, he's stuck in Minneapolis where they closed the airport because of the weather.  He hopes to fly out tomorrow.  Happy April everybody.