Wait for it...

here it comes, baby New Year is bouncing in and the big ball is about to drop. After a lovely and delicious early evening meal with friends, I'm at home, warm and comfy in my pajamas, waiting for the magic moment.  Somehow 2016 sounds rather ordinary.  Do you remember the excitement, not to mention nervous anticipation when we reached the year 2000?  Now, 16 years later, lots of things have changed in my life including four grandchildren who weren't around in the 20th century. So fun to think what's coming next.  Here we go, 3, 2, 1 Happy New Year everyone!!!

looking back, looking forward

Here we are on the eve of the eve of a brand new year and I'm wondering what might be in store for me next.  In 2015 I retired, down sized, got involved in some satisfying volunteer work and generally settled in to my new little nest.  But recently I enjoyed conversation with two different ladies whom I know from church. Each of these ladies is 95 years old, in great spirits and very intelligent and well spoken.  It occurred to me that I could also, conceivably, live to be 95 (another 24 years) which gives me time for a whole new career or at least avocation.  Now I just need to decide what it will be. I don't think I'm quite ready to write the great American novel, or become another Grandma Moses with my paintings, and for sure it won't be a musical career, but I think something will come along. 2016 looms full of hope.

A wonderful blend of old and new.

I saw the new Star Wars movie this afternoon.  My son took me as a birthday treat and it was a wonderful experience. I think they did an excellent and very smart job of pulling in many, many references to the past series of movies (not to mention a quick nod to "Indiana Jones") while introducing some new and very likable characters who are young enough to do the running around and adventurous stuff.  Although I will say Han Solo, aka Harrison Ford, ended up in quite a few action scenes and seemed to hold his own very well.  I remember watching the very first Star Wars movie (number 4 in the series) as a family when my son was about five and a half.  He literally sat on the edge of his seat and was entranced through the whole movie.  This new addition to the series, 30 years later, was every bit as spell binding and just as fun to see with my son.

a technological breakthrough

Those who know me know that I am a very surface computer user.  Technology is a tool I appreciate but I don't necessarily excel in setting up programs. But tonight I can declare success, at least in one area.  I was given a "fitbit" for Christmas,  This is a nifty little wristband that, as I wear it, will record how many steps I take in a day, how many calories I burn, sleep patterns and, probably, how much change I have in my pocket, although I haven't verified that one yet.  But, the success came tonight, when finally, after messing about with this off and on for three days, I finally have synced my fitbit with my computer so I can see all the wonderful information it's recording.  Syncing it involved using the wireless sync dongle ( I swear that's the real name) that was in the package with my fitbit and its charging cord.  I had no idea what the dongle was, it's a little 3/4 inch square piece of metal and plastic, until I got to the place in the setup instructions where it said "Plug in the wireless sync dongle." and, happily, included a picture.  I'm so glad I didn't throw it away. Tomorrow I will work on downloading information.

The river is rising, head for the hills.

Ok, it's true, I'm on the 10th floor so I'm probably safe but it has been interesting to watch the river that runs by my place over the last few days.  For several weeks I've noticed that the water level is down and mud banks have been visible on both sides of the river.  Yesterday I looked and the water was back up on both banks to the grass level and today it's up swirling around the roots of the trees along the bank, covering at least 4 or 5 feet more of the bank than I've seen all summer.  There's also a lot of branches and other debris floating down the river.  I know they were predicting possible flash floods and lots of rain over the last few and coming days but I didn't expect such a drastic change. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

love those leftovers

I'm not talking about the left over meat, potatoes and gravy, although that did make a good supper.  The leftovers I love are of the candy and cookie variety. A friend of mine baked some cookies from his mom's old family recipe and I dutifully put them out to share with my Christmas day guests, but there was so much else to eat that there were quite a few left over.  I discovered today that a piece of the strawberry cake my daughter baked got left behind in my refrigerator and another guest left some yummy mint bark. I also got two small boxes of candy as gifts. i probably should get rid of it all before new years so I can make my usual "cut back on sugar" resolution.  I think I can manage that.  How does candy for breakfast sound?

Another kind of Christmas peace

Much is made of peace and quiet of the Christian kind at Christmas and I treasure that peace as much as anyone but I realized today that there is another peace or quiet time that I also really appreciate. I had eleven people around my dining room table for dinner today.  I warned them they would be crowded and advised everyone to sit beside someone they like. After the prayer the usual bustle ensued - the passing of all the trays and bowls of food and piling plates full while talking of this and that.  Then suddenly it all gets very quiet.  People are too busy eating, and evidently enjoying the food, to talk. I love that moment of quiet because it means my meal is a success.

Merry Christmas

My home is ready for Christmas guests, gifts wrapped, beef in the crock pot, beautiful church service this evening.  Peace, make it your prayer. "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Will Gorilla Glue do the trick?

I have a large round oak dining room table with a matching corner cupboard and eight chairs, two of which are arm chairs.  Over the years I've been very satisfied with the looks and functionality of this set, with one exception. One of the chairs has a leg that keeps coming detached from its cross brace. The end of the brace pops out of the leg. Since we bought this furniture from a furniture outlet in South Carolina, sending the chair back never seemed like an option.  Over the years I've tried many approaches to dealing with this chair - various kinds of glues, braces - I even took it to a furniture repair specialist who said he couldn't fix it.  I've had the best success tucking it away in the corner of my bedroom and using it as a clothes rack. But on  Christmas day I will be entertaining 10 people in my apartment and I need seating.  So yesterday I bought myself a bottle of Gorilla Glue (the commercial looked convincing) and today I carefully followed the directions and glued my chair. I wet one area, spread the glue smoothly over the other part and shoved them together. The last part of the instructions had me puzzled for a while.  It said to put a heavy weight on or clamp together the two parts and keep the pressure on for at least two hours.  Well I knew I didn't have a clamp so I went looking for a heavy weight that I could balance over the chair legs while the chair is lying face down on the floor.  Finally I decided on my vacuum cleaner which is pretty heavy.  It is now lying over the back legs of the chair and appears to be exerting the necessary pressure. I'm not going to touch anything until morning.  A couple of the men who will be here on Christmas day are pretty hefty so it may get a real test.  The tension mounts - but will it hold? Hey, I take my drama where I can find it.

When is it right and when is it wrong?

I heard in a commercial for Thursday Night Football that this Thursday the Washington REDSKINS will be playing the Philadelphia Eagles.  Because of the recent name change at North Side High School and the subsequent raising of my awareness of things that are politically correct I immediately assumed that they must be redskin potatoes. But no, I googled them and there was their logo - a fierce looking native American warrior with headdress (sound familiar?). I'm so confused.  Why is it ok for a national team and not for a high school? I wonder what the Washington Redskins' new logo will be? I wonder when they'll be after my Woodlan Warriors?

Now I've seen everything...

well maybe not everything but something so bizarre that I won't soon forget it,  On TV entertainment "news" this evening they showed a young woman who is so determined to have a small waist that she was getting ready for her 15th surgery - not all of them for her waist - but this one was to remove six ribs so her now 18 inch waist could be squeezed even smaller with the help of a corset she wears.  Now I am aware that in Victorian times women wore tight corsets and aimed for tiny waists, but I thought that fad, like hoop skirts, bustles and mile high wigs had long since passed. It wouldn't be so bad (well it would) but she is pairing this tiny waist with the biggest set of boobs I have ever seen on anyone.  Pretty sure those are surgically "enhanced" too.  She looks like he has two watermelons bulging out of her chest. Picture a Barbie doll with a couple of marshmallows glued on, and I don't mean mini marshmallows.  I have to wonder who is paying for all this  and also how she walks without falling on her face.  I guess I'll never know. I'll just have to add her to my list of things I never need to see again, like road kill or Trump's hair.

beautiful show, lovely surprise

I attended the 2:00pm production of the Philharmonic Pops concert with some friends yesterday.  I've seen a few of these Christmas concerts over the years but I really think this was the best ever.  The orchestra, Philharmonic Choir, Fort Wayne Children's Choir and fine soloists performed an excellent traditional collection of secular and holy Christmas music.  CHRISTMAS, not holiday, not all secular but unabashedly CHRISTMAS.  From Ave Maria to Hark the Herald Angels Sing to The First Nowell it was a celebration of Christmas.
The Fort Wayne Children's Choir performed several pieces and my only frustration was that they, with the adult choir were at the back of the stage behind all the orchestra instruments so I couldn't see my youngest granddaughter who I knew was up there somewhere singing with the children's choir.  Toward the end of the second half the children's choir was ushered off stage and I caught a quick glimpse of her walking with the group.  Then ten of their group came back on stage to participate in one of the songs but I realized quickly that these were the older children so I didn't see her there. But at the very end my own little Christmas miracle happened.
\All of the children filed in from the back of the theater, carrying candles and stood in the aisles while singing Silent Night. I looked at child standing at the end of my row (I was three seats in from the end) and there stood my granddaughter.  She glanced over, we exchanged smiles; what more could I ask for?  What a great show.

How much is too much?

I saw a report on TV today about a woman who was posting pictures of the 300 gifts under her tree, all purchased for her children because she loves them so much. Seems a little excessive to me but I never heard how many children she has.  If she has say 30 kids that's only 10 each.  I'm pretty sure two of my grandchildren, because of divorced parents and multiple sets of grandparents, end up with about that many gifts each year.
Then I heard an update on the brat who got off with a very minimum sentence for driving drunk and killing four people. His defense was "affluenza" - having way too much money and overindulgent parents who never taught him right from wrong. Poor, poor thing.  He has recently violated terms of his parole and he and his loving mommy have disappeared, presumably to Mexico, to avoid having him hauled back into court.
I'm thinking that mommy number one should take a hard look at the mess mommy number two and her son are in and perhaps rethink the overindulgence.
I'm also wondering, as I work on gift wrapping tonight, how she possibly found time to wrap 300 gifts and whose going to clean up the mess on Christmas morning. Perhaps they'll just leave the muddle and move into a new house.

How time and technology have changed

Do you remember slide projectors? Do you remember taking endless pictures on vacations and then having them transformed into slides which you shared with anyone who would sit still and watch. Friends and relatives would watch each others' slide shows because that's what you did.  If you were considerate you kept your shows to an hour and of course you served snacks and, if you wanted people to really appreciate the experience, drinks.
One of the things I had to deal with as I was working through the downsizing process this summer was our slide collection - seven projector trays containing about 700 slides, none of them more recent than the 1970's. I sorted and sorted and sorted with the help of a little hand held viewer that my son unearthed in the basement. Heaven knows how it survived. After careful consideration, and the realization that I didn't have any idea where many of the scenic views had been taken, I narrowed it down to 32 slides of family and friends, which a friend of mine gave to his daughter who scanned and copied them on to a memory stick. This is so cool. I can watch them any time I want on my computer or, if I want to see them on the big screen, I can watch them on TV through my DVD player.
I plan to show the pictures to my children, probably over Christmas vacation, and then, who knows, probably just tuck them away. But believe me this little three inch gizmo takes a lot less space than seven slide trays, a projector and a screen. Let's hear it for technological evolution.

A party in the penthouse

I didn't know that this apartment complex even had a penthouse.  The building I live in has 14 floors but I discovered this evening that the East building has a 15th floor and it only houses the penthouse.  Only one elevator goes all the way to the penthouse. Early in December signs were posted on each floor inviting everyone to a Christmas cocktail party this evening in the penthouse. Free but everyone was asked to bring a non-perishable food item for the food bank. I went with some trepidation, realizing that I wouldn't know anyone there. I figured I could go, get a snack, stay a little while and then leave.  Happily, within the first fifteen minutes I had struck up a conversation with an artist named Santa (her mother was Italian) who then introduced me to an insurance salesman named Jeff who kept refilling my glass of white wine (such a nice young man). He introduced me to a CPA named Ted and before I knew it two and a half hours had passed in very pleasant conversation. And, oh yes, the shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, puff pastries, etc. were all very tasty. I think they have about four big parties a year.  I will be attending the next one.

Still thinking about the future

A few days ago I mentioned realizing, after conversations with two women aged 95, that I may have twenty years or so left on  this earth and I should find something productive to do. Mind you I am keeping busy with a variety of volunteer activities.  This morning, for example, I took my monthly turn babysitting for a gaggle of toddlers so their moms can attend MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  I was not alone.  There were four of us grandma aged women vs (I mean taking care of) eight toddlers ranging in age from 1 to 5.  Pretty good odds actually except we had three criers and I got to change a very poopy diaper which brought back some long surpressed memories. But I digress.  What to do for the next 20 years?  I did hear one idea on the news this morning.  NASA is looking for volunteers for a Mission to Mars. Hmmm... weightlessness, a space suit to cover up wrinkles and gray hair, amazing views, I wonder where I can get an application form?

meeting a childhood hero

Yesterday I went to a reception at the First Pres Gallery and had a chance to meet and talk with one of the exhibiting artists, a painter named Carol M. Popp Bennett.  You, if you're old enough, may remember her as Carol from a locally produced TV show on WKJG-TV called "Carol and Corkie". When I was about 12 it was one of my favorite afternoon shows.  I loved to watch her draw pictures, sometimes creating something from a random squiggle, sometimes using alphabet letters as the basis for a picture, sometimes simply drawing.  Her paintings on exhibit now are considerably more sophisticated and cover a wide range of subject matter from still lifes to western themes.  When we met I told her how much I had enjoyed her show and that, later, when I was an art teacher, I actually used some of her ideas in my classes.  She seemed quite pleased with that.  My son, who really is an excellent artist, had quite an involved conversation with her explaining some of the internet sources he uses for some of his productions. She seemed very interested in learning more about ideas she hasn't tried yet. All in all a fun half hour with a childhood hero. I also found out, from her print material, that in 1951 she was Miss Indiana and first runner-up to Miss America. I wonder what her talent was.

a fresh perspective

Today is my birthday and it's been a lovely day.  I'm now 71 and I'm ok with that but I admit I was feeling a little "old" when I went off to church this morning. During the course of the morning I had the opportunity to speak with two different women, one of whom I know better than the other.  It came up in the conversations that each of them is 95 (one shares my birthday and just turned 95 today). Each of these women is a bright,.articulate individual and very interesting to talk with. I was amazed they are both 95 and still going strong.  Then I realized that I too could, conceivably, live to be 95.  Wow, what if I did? That's 24 more years. That's time to start a whole new career.  I have no inclination to go back to teaching, banking or real estate, or anything else that would require me to get up early in the morning or leave my home when I don't want to. What to do, what to do?  I shall have to give this some thought, later. There's no rush.

such a sad sight

I was zipping through the Walmart on Lima Road today.  I happened to be in that area and thought I would brave the "13 shopping days left" crowd to pick up a few things I needed.  As I was working my way across the store from housewares to groceries, I saw the most sadly amazing sight.  Santa Claus was sitting on a decorative chair in an open space in the middle of the store (near the electronics department) and he was all alone.  I looked twice to be sure it was a real, live Santa and he was and quite a presentable Santa with a plushy costume and long white beard. But there were no children lined up to talk to him, no elves to keep him company, no signs that I saw directing people to Santa. Just Santa, all alone. Perhaps it was just a lull and he got really busy later.  I was tempted to make a quick run to the mall, approach people in line to see Santa there and tell them there was no waiting at Walmart.

It's beginning to look a lot like ....

April?  I find I'm having a love/hate relationship with current weather around here.  Mind you, I appreciate that we're not having some of the really wicked weather conditions that are happening in other parts of the country but I really would like some snow for Christmas.  I am enjoying driving out to shop etc on dry pavements and having it warm enough to walk comfortably outside in December, but I really would like some snow for Christmas.  But only for Christmas  If this mild weather wants to pick up again on December 26 that would be fine with me.  A considerate snow like the one we had a few weeks ago that only stuck on the grass and lasted about 48 hours would be ideal. Are you listening Santa?

It's finally home again.

Some time ago I wrote about my old rocking chair that got damaged in my move.  I moved into this apartment on September 16 and that was the day one of the rockers got snapped off.  It's been a long three months with several phone calls, misunderstandings about who had the rocker, who was working on it, and the last I heard, about a week ago, the furniture repairman was having a hard time finding wood to match the chair.  It's maple which I never thought was a particularly rare wood. Anyway, three days after I was told that he couldn't match the wood I got a call that the rocker was finished and we scheduled a time for it to be brought back to me. Today was the day!  And here it sits, finally, in my living room where it belongs, and it looks just fine and the new rocker matches the old one and it rocks evenly. Not exactly a Christmas miracle, but, since I wondered if I would ever see it again, I am truly delighted to have it back.

This made me laugh

and brought back memories.  I was watching a sitcom this evening, the Christmas program of "Modern Family".  In one scene of this episode the father who sells real estate congratulates his son on passing his real estate test and in honor passes on his old gold blazer from when he worked for Century 21. It looked like one of the original gold blazers, the 70's gold color that also showed up on houses, appliances and so much more. My C-21 boss referred to it as baby shit gold. After I had been with that franchise for a few years they modernized the color and we all had to turn in our old gold blazers and buy the new ones in, admittedly, a much better shade.  At a large national convention we all dumped our old blazers in large cardboard bins and bought the new. The company was very concerned that we  not donate our blazers to a charity like Good Will for fear someone would get their hands on one and impersonate a real estate agent. The rumor going around the convention was that all of the blazers were being bundled up and shipped to a poor village in Russia. I've had visions (nightmares?) ever since of an entire village clothed in those jackets.  Scary, right?

a delicious surprise

On Sunday I spent most of the day with my mentee (the young man for whom I am mentor through our church program.  We had time for a quick lunch downtown and I suggested McDonalds or Wemdys, neither wildly exciting but convenient.  However my mentee, when asked to choose said "We could go to Double Dragon."  I had walked past this restaurant once on one of my down town walks but since forgotten about it.  The Double Dragon is a very casual eat in or carry out Chinese restaurant with a wide variety of offerings at a very reasonable price.  The two of us ate for $13 and the meals included soup, double scoops of fried rice and, on this visit, Sesame Chicken.  Best of all the food was really, really good.  I think that the next time I stroll by there I will have to pick up some carry out.  Talk about motivation to take a walk.

not on my bucket list

I've discovered one more thing to add to my "I never want to do that." list. While not as life threateningly scary as sky diving (definitely the top of my "never" list) taking part in a baking competition would scare me.  I've been watching The Great Holiday Baking Show and, while I truly love to bake in my own kitchen with plenty of time to get things right, the idea of a time keeper shouting "Two hours" "One hour" "ten minutes" etc would take all of the fun out of the experience for me. I will continue to watch the show however. I don't mind vicariously experiencing the competitors' successes and failures. The only real down side to this show is that I want to start eating every sweet thing in my kitchen. Wait, did I say that was a down side?

Freezing Fog

I often listen to a little bit of local news and weather before I get out of bed in the morning. Perhaps to decide if I want to get up or not. Anyway, Saturday morning the weatherman said that we were experiencing freezing fog, therefore slippery roads, and visibility was 1/4 mile. Sounded like a day to roll over and go back to sleep if ever there was one. But curiosity got the better of me and I went to my balcony to see what 1/4 mile visibility looked like.  It was very white - I could barely see the trees across the river, and the bit about freezing on the roads must have also been correct. It seemed like I heard sirens all morning long and later in the morning when I tried to drive out of the apartment complex my usual exit was blocked by two police cars diverting traffic because of an accident in the next block.  My reaction to the whole weather episode was "I'm so glad I'm retired."  while my daughter-in-laws was "Why couldn't it have happened on a school day?"  She loves school delays caused by fog which absolutely never happened when she taught in Phoenix.

a fascinating tour

I went with my daughter-in-law, her mom and  my granddaughters to tour the Bass mansion (actually, we were told - the Bass summer home) and enjoy the lavish Christmas decorations. I think it has been 44 years since I had been in that building.  All those years ago it was the library for St. Francis College while I was working on my Masters Degree. Now the University of St. Francis uses it as an administrative/office building.  While I truly enjoyed the scrumptious trees and other awesome decorations provided by several decorators around Fort Wayne what really held my interest were the architectural details.  We were told that the size of the house is 24,000 square feet.  By my count there were four servant bedrooms, at least seven guest and family bedrooms, each with its own private bathroom (quite a feature in 1903) and of course the parlor, solarium, library, dining room, kitchen (in three rooms), den, men's game room, pool (billiards) room, ball room (my granddaughters loved this one) and I'm sure I've missed a few. We didn't get to see the servants' quarters but every other room we saw had beautiful ceiling details, unique fireplaces - some marble, some ceramic, some tiled - foot deep door and window recesses with extravagant carving, inlaid floors and more. My particular favorites were the carved, curved doors leading from the formal dining room to the solarium.  All in all a delightful experience.  I've been in castles in Europe that were larger but not more lavish. I salute USF for the wonderful restoration job they've done on this fine old building.

What's going on here?

Here it is December 4th (not 24th) and my Christmas notes have been mailed and I've finished my Angel Tree shopping. I've also finished shopping for my Spokane relatives and will have their package ready to mail on Monday, a full week or more before the UPS deadline for guaranteed delivery. What's wrong with this picture?  There have been years when I've paid big bucks to get packages to Washington on time and my friends expect that my Christmas poem will arrive sometime in the new year.  Now admittedly I do still need to do some shopping for local friends and family and I need to buy groceries for Christmas dinner but I do have 20 days for that and there I think is the key.  This year I'm retired which means I can shop any time, not only on weekends and evenings.  Yet another reason why I love being retired.

my first Christmas present

I received my first Christmas present today.  It was delivered by UPS and let me tell you those Omaha Steak people know what they're doing when it comes to packing perishables.  This gift was not without a little drama.  I was out at a church event until 9pm yesterday and didn't get to pick up my mail until then.  The first thing I noticed was a sticky note hanging on my mail box informing me that a perishable item was being held for me in the office.  Well the office was closed by then, of course, so I went to my apartment, checked my email and discovered two more messages, one from the steak company, one from an office manager informing me that I had a perishable item in the office.  I decided that it wasn't enough of an emergency to call out a maintenance man so I waited.  First thing this morning I retrieved my package (a thick styrofoam cooler with fitted lid) opened it with some trepidation, and discovered, to my relief that the four delicious looking little cheesecakes contained inside were still frozen solid, nesting on a bed of dry ice.  I quickly tucked them in the freezer but I doubt that they will survive until Christmas. Yummm!!!

more exciting than the presidential election??

I heard on the news this evening that a local, venerable old high school will be giving up its politically incorrect mascot.  I'm not sure how many years they've been the Redskins but it seems the time has come for a change.  Of course maybe they could just change the picture from a native American warrior to a potato, then they wouldn't need to change the name, but the fighting red skin potatoes is probably not the image they're after.  The students have been given a list of eight possible new names to vote on: Mustangs (car or horse?), Night Hawks, Falcons, Legends, Raptors, Rockets, Thunder and Nations. If I had a vote I would probably choose Falcons.  North Side Falcons has a nice ring to it. Definitely not Nations or Raptors.  But that's just my non-involved opinion.  What I'm wondering now is how soon Woodlan High School, my high school, will be compelled to change it's mascot.  We've been the Warriors at least since 1959 and the symbol - the head of a native American warrior wearing a full feather headdress - is quite similar to North Side's except for the color.  Personally I never thought that referring to someone as a warrior was demeaning or insulting but I guess I'll just have to see how this all plays out.

Lost and found

Ever since I moved into this apartment I've been losing and finding things.  Or, more likely, some things got sold or given away that I now wish I had kept.  On the other hand, every once in a while I open a box and wonder why I kept that?  Getting out Christmas decorations has been a bit like that.  All of my Christmas tree ornaments made the move but I can't find three little angels that sat on a shelf at my house. I did find all of the artificial greenery that used to decorate a dining room chandelier. Don't need that any more.  But today I found something I really do need. Last week I put my electric blanket on my bed but discovered when I unfolded it that the electric cord and control weren't with the blanket where they should have been. I finally fount them today, hidden behind some stuff in my linen closet of all places.  Ah well at least this lost is found and I will have warmth when needed.