Music...

 I am not musically inclined.  I've always said that, when I die, I'll know I've gone to heaven if I can carry a tune.  

My maternal grandfather could play several instruments 'by ear' never having taking any music lessons.  I remember him playing his harmonica, which was a nice easy instrument to bring along when he came to visit.  My mother had a good singing voice and played the piano. My father, on the other hand, sang in a monotone.  When he was in elementary school he was actually told by one of his teachers to just mouth the words. Guess which side of the family I take after? 

I blame some of my problems with singing with the seating arrangement in church.  I always sat between my mom and dad.  One ear was hearing good singing and one ear was hearing a monotone.  

Happily, the familial music genes (although they skipped right over me) attached themselves to my children and grandchildren.  When my west coast brother told me that today is "National Saxophone Day" I immediately thought of all the time I have spent watching my children and grandchildren perform in parades and competitions.  

My children and my daughter's children went to Carroll High School, a local school with an excellent music program which has developed over the years.  When my son and daughter were in band the band still marched in parades, and had just started going to band competitions. My first husband and I were 'pit parents' during those years, helping to get the non-marching instruments and equipment (xylophones, etc.) in position.  All the necessary equipment was hauled to the football games, where they did half time shows, and to competitions, in a trailer pulled by a pickup truck.  

By the time my grandson and granddaughter were marching, the equipment was hauled in a semi with the school name professionally painted on the sides. During their marching years I was very happy to just sit and watch the show.

By the way, none of my offspring ever played the saxophone.  The family instruments, passed down through the years, were clarinets, a base clarinet and trombones. 

enjoy the sweet

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Guy Fawkes Day" and "National Doughnut Appreciation Day."  While I guess it's interesting to know that political dissent is nothing new (especially two days after the election) I would much rather focus on the appreciation of doughnuts (or donuts if you prefer).  

I think that I've mentioned before in this blog my great fondness for sugar-glazed yeast donuts.  It started in my childhood when the bakery truck would stop by our country house once a week.  During the summer, in addition to bread, Mom would buy a box of a dozen sugar-glazed donuts, which we would then enjoy for our mid-morning snack.  Four of us eating donuts equaled three donuts each.  Yummy.  

When I think back on it, I realize that snacks were a regular part of our lives.  In the summer a mid-morning snack and a mid-afternoon snack were just a regular part of the day.  During the school year, of course, we always had an after school snack (cookies and milk usually). 

What I find interesting is that, with all that snacking, we were not fat children.  While we had chores to do, we were certainly not overworked.  I think we burned a lot of calories because we played outside, whenever the weather permitted, when we weren't in school.  Climbing trees was a favorite activity. Riding our bikes, hiking down to the creek or into the woods, just generally moving our bodies a lot. 

In case you're wondering how this affected us in our adult life, both of my brothers grew up to be six feet, six inches tall.  I stopped at five feet, ten inches, tall for a woman of my generation. All of us were long and lean.  

I do still like a good snack, but since I'm not climbing trees much anymore, I don't indulge in donuts as much as I used to. Celery anyone?

Oh what fun....

 This evening my grandson, my granddaughter-in-law, and my great-grandson all came for dinner.  My spouse and I had invited them over to tell them about our recent trip, and of course for a chance to cuddle my great-grandson.  He's getting to be a 'big boy' now, eight months old, crawling and almost ready to walk.  

He was so attentive the whole time they were here.  Watching everyone and everything.  Very interested to see a new slice of the world around him.  He has been to our house before, but not for several weeks, which, at his age, is a long time.  

I think it is fascinating to watch babies learning about the spaces they live in.  You can practically see their brains absorbing it all, like sponges, and trying to figure it all out.  I understand, from what his parents say, that our great-grandson can really let go and howl when he's upset, but he was 'good as gold' the whole time he was here.  My wonder spouse had fun holding him, and helping him take a few steps. Little MJ is starting to verbalize and, so I'm told, has said Mama and Dada.  I'm trying to teach him Nanana.  I am his father's Nana, so I think that makes me his Nanana. 

Of course I took pictures.  Did you think I wouldn't?

Yes, I did.

 Vote, that is.  My spouse and I ventured out about 10:30am to head to our local voting place (right across the street from the entrance to our subdivision).  When we arrived we were astonished to find a long line of people ahead of us, outside the building, waiting to vote.  Happily, it was a lovely sunny morning with a temperature in the mid 60s.  Unhappily, we discovered that the line, when we finally got inside the building, extended a long way into the building, then down a long hallway and back up the same hallway. It was not a short line. 

In our previous experiences, mid-term elections did not draw that much interest and we were typically in and out in 10 to 15 minutes max.  Not today however.  

In their infinite wisdom (also possibly because of a lack of volunteer help) the powers that be in Allen County did away with small local precint voting places, cutting the number of voting sites way down, and then allowed residents to vote at any one of the sites.  Evidently ours was a very popular place, or, as in our case, the place we had always voted. 

There were several volunteers working at our site and at least 10 voting machines but it still took us almost two hours to get through the process.  It didn't help that the ballot itself was nine pages long.

 I'm wondering if the large turnout was, at least in part, due to the fact that one question on the ballot was should we allow a casino to be built in Allen County. 

It should not surprise anyone to learn that my wonder spouse and I did not vote for all the same people.  It will be fun to see, as the returns come in, which of us had the most winners.  I doubt that the results will affect our everyday life very much at all.  

a new concern

 I have done my research, made my decisions and am ready to vote tomorrrow. But now I have a new concern.  As we were driving through town earlier today I saw a sign that said "52 Days 'til Christmas." Yikes! How can that be?  I double checked and the sign was right.  28 days left in November and 24 days in December equals 52.  Christmas day doesn't count unless you plan to do some last minute shopping at a gas station.  I don't recommend it. 

The days of big fat catalogs from Sears and Montgomery Ward's are long gone (although I have many happy memories) but Christmas catalogs do still arrive in the mail.  They are just much thinner and more specialized. 

One that was in the huge stack of mail waiting for us when we got home from our vacation may actually prove useful.  Most of the people to whom I give Christmas gifts are adults.  The young adults, aka grandchildren, like money. The older adults (our 50 something children) say they don't need anything. 

But there are two people on my list who need fun toys, at least I think so.  They are my spouse's youngest granddaughter, age 9, and my great grandson, age 8 months. Happily, I now have in my posession a "Fat Brain Toys" catalog full of fascinating toys. I haven't made any decisions yet (I really do need to get my wonder spouse's thoughts on this) but I think the Air Toobs system would be great fun for the 9 year old.  I know that my EE spouse would enjoy helping her set it up. For the little one there are several colorful squishy toys.  I'm leaning toward the Klickity or the Inny Bin or both.  We probably should consult with their parents, but I am looking forward to having something fun to wrap. Ho Ho Ho everybody. 

For your information...

 Please consider this a public service announcement.  Did you know that you can go to ballotpedia.org and access ballots and candidates' information for upcoming elections?  I didn't until my wonder spouse made this discovery.

I have just spent almost two hours reading through detailed candidate information for our local election, which will take place two days from now.  I learned a lot about who I do and do not want to vote for, and feel more prepared for this election than I ever have before, and I have voted in many, many elections (almost always a split ballot, in case you're interested).  I will be voting in Allen County, Indiana so, if you don't live near me, this next bit won't apply to you.

So far my very favorite candidate for any office is a gentleman named Phillip Beachy who is running, as an independent, for our representative to the US House of Representatives from Indiana District 3.  In his bio he lists his religion as Mennonite and his profession as "semi-retired carpenter and refrigerator technician."  My wonder spouse's response, when I told him about Mr. Beachy, was "Well, at least he does something real."  I agree on two counts.  My father was a carpenter and we recently had our refrigerator repaired by a refrigerator rechnician for a very reasonable price, saving us the cost of buying a new one. 

So before you vote on Tuesday check out ballotpedia.org. You may not find Mr. Beachy on your ballot, but you'll be glad you did, anyway. 

Boooo!!!

 It's Halloween, that evening when strange creatures of every size and shape show up at your door shouting, or whispering (depending on the age) "Trick or Treat!"  

We had many, many young ones come to our door this evening, dressed in a great variety of costumes, from princesses to dragons to super heroes and one lady bug.  One little girl, dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt with a painted on mustache and beard, told me that she was dressed up as her father.  Since a similarly dressed man was standing out by the curb, I could believe her.  

It was a great night for going door to door, chilly but not cold, no precipitation, just a light breeze. We were comfortable standing out on our porch to hand out candy.

This was my favorite costume of the evening. Very scary! In addition to being Halloween, my west coast brother informed me that today is "National Knock Knock Joke Day" and here's the sample he provided:

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Owls. 

Owls who?

Yes they do. 

That's it for this evening.  I hope you all got plenty of candy.