prepping for the walk

About six months ago a friend and I signed up to do the Fort for Fitness four mile walk (walk not run, we're not being crazy here). It seemed like a good idea at the time. We promise ourselves that we would walk regularly and really be ready to go. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.  You know the old saying about best laid plans. Life got in the way. So the walk is tomorrow morning. We picked up our spiffy tee-shirts, timers and number bibs this afternoon and we are ready to go.  I have no doubt, well little doubt, that we will actually finish the walk.  After all, four miles isn't really that far.  However, timing may be another matter.  I'm told that if you're the last one in a police car is coming right behind you, lights flashing. Hummm, I guess that's one way to get noticed. Stay tuned.

a surprising twist

Some of my friends know that I've been back at work for the last two months after almost two years of blissful retirement. I only agreed to go back to help out while the woman who had taken over my job, and was doing it very well, recuperated from a concussion after a nasty car accident. I thought she would be back at work by the end of September. So did she. However I was told this week that she has decided to quit the job. No one has suggested that I come back full time, they know that's not going to happen, but I was asked to continue part time as I'm doing now until they can hire someone else.  So it looks like I'll be working for another month at least.  My granddaughter asked me if the church staff would give me another retirement party. I explained that no,.you don't get re-retirement parties. The upside is this little bit of work is making me really appreciate retirement.

a memorable proposal

There's been a story on TV for the last couple of days about a young man who planned to propose to his girlfriend at a baseball game. Unhappily he dropped the ring. After some searching by the couple and many people around them, the ring was discovered caught in the cuff of her jeans. Talk about a lucky catch.  This made me think about the many extreme proposals you hear about these days.  It seems to be the goal of romantic young men to make the proposal as public as possible which sounds nice but what if she says no?  What if she says "I'll think about it." or "This ring is too small." Then I got to thinking about my own proposal (yes I can remember that long ago). As I remember it was very private.  We were sitting on the sofa in a friend's house in Teaneck, New Jersey, after everyone else had gone to bed. He definitely did not get down on one knee.  What he did was pull out his billfold and show me that he had $500 tucked away to buy an engagement ring for me. That was a lot of money back then, at least to us. Then he pulled out a brochure from a jeweler and showed me the design he liked. I liked it too. That was during Thanksgiving weekend in 1967. On December 23 he gave me the finished ring. He gave it to me on the 23rd because he didn't want it to be considered a Christmas gift. I'm pretty sure it was that evening that we set our wedding date.  The funny thing is I don't really remember him ever saying "Will you..." or me saying "Yes." I think, as in so many situations in our marriage we just sort of comfortably settled into the situation. Not too romantic maybe (although it seemed so to me) but he never lost the ring.

truly alarming

Amber alerts are serious business and I'm not making light of them here, especially because of what happened yesterday.  However I got a real scare of my own today from an Amber alert.  I was walking down the hall from my apartment to the elevator this afternoon when all of a sudden my cell phone gave off the loudest, shrillest most alarming noise I have ever heard from it.  I checked to see what was wrong and saw that an Amber alert had been sent to my phone. I don't know why or how.  I know I'm signed up to get school closing alerts so maybe it comes though the same system.  Anyway, the same message came through twice more, once while I was driving, once while I was parked waiting to pick up a granddaughter from school.  I'm really glad I wasn't driving when the alarm went off the first time. I probably would have driven off the road.  Probably not the intended result of those alerts.

the great debate

I'm watching the presidential debate, and I think I knew before it started that whatever either candidate said I probably wouldn't change my mind on who I plan to vote for. So far that's holding true but it has been rather entertaining (like this whole campaign) with zingers flying back and forth. I did think it started out on a high note, talking about ideas and policies but in the last five minutes they have started slinging mud. Promises, promises.
It's over but they just mentioned that there will be a vice-presidential debate next month. That may be interesting.

National Comic Book Day

Today is National Comic Book Day.  When I heard that I gave a quiet little cheer.  What a great thing to celebrate.  My son enjoys National Talk Like a Pirate Day, arrrgg, but I think this is better. First because I don't have to walk around ,making weird noises and second because I have very fond memories of comic books. When I was a child my brothers and I were given a quarter a week as allowance. The best place to spend this bounty was at our small town drugstore.  The biggest decision I usually faced was did I spend the whole 25 cents on one super size comic or buy a 10 cent comic and spend the rest on bubble gum that came in a package with trading cards. Decisions, decisions.  Happily, the big comics only came out once a month so I got my share of bubble gum too. What bliss, blowing bubbles and reading the latest exploits of Archie, Betty and Veronica.

Will I make it to 200?

I just saw a news piece on TV congratulating St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Hessen Cassel on their 175th anniversary.  They were founded in 1841.  That got me thinking, our church celebrated its 175th 10 years ago; it was founded in 1831.  We had a really big celebration, actually several events over the months of that year. Now I'm wondering - will I still be here for our 200th anniversary? That's 15 years from now.  Assuming I'm still here, I'll be 86.  I should be able to hang around that long.  A lot may have happen in those 15 years.  In the usual order of things all four of my grandchildren will have graduated from college, married and I might even have some great-grandchildren. Wouldn't that be fun? When my son was four years old he asked me if there were dinosaurs when I was little. Maybe in 15 years a little great grand will ask if I was here when the church was founded. This time I'll probably look the part.

truth in advertising

I'm always amused by TV commercials that try to make the truth they are required to reveal sound like a good thing.  I've already mentioned in one of these blogs the law firm that advertises that their charges will never exceed what you receive after a settlement. I guess that's decent of them. Of course any commercial for anything medical will reel off all of the possible negative side effects, up to and including death, in a rapid fire off hand sort of way. Tonight I heard another one.  This was an ad from Firekeeper's Casino. I've been there once and it's an ok place - not Las Vegas but ok. The ad was promoting some big deal prizes to be given our tomorrow. What caught my attention was the phrase "top prize is $50,000 in cash and credits."  That credits part got me wondering - what kind of credits? free stays in their hotel? free meals at the buffet?  some credits on the slots?  how much cash really??

beans and bingo

Once a month some of us ladies of the church gather to cook lunch for anyone in the neighborhood who wants to stop in for a good meal.  Today was the day for this month. We cooked up ten big flat pans of Calico Casserole which is made with ground beef and onions and bacon mixed with baked beans and other beans.  It's really good and seems popular with our guests, many of whom are homeless.  Generally people take generous helpings and often come back for seconds, even thirds.
So I was a little surprised when one person in line said "Oh, I don't like that." and walked on by. I do realize that everyone has the right to pass on some food.  Happily everyone else liked it and ate up every bit.
After lunch we clear the tables and play BINGO.  Prizes are $! for each win, we start with $40 so 40 wins, and everyone really seems to enjoy it. Today I got to help with BINGO. Another lady was the caller and I kept track of what numbers had been called and checked the cards of the winners.  Before the game started one man came up to get his cards and markers (beans) and said he had never played bingo before.  I quickly explained the rules and was happy to see that he won a dollar later on.
It's all very pleasant and an easy service to give once a month but at the end of the day the lady who started this project and has run it for several years told us that next month is her last month (her husband is quite ill) and someone else will have to take over. Noooo!!  I'm happy to help but this is one committee that I'm not competent to take over.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

false asumptions

I'm serving on a committee at church to try to find a new children, youth and family minister. One of the other people on the committee is a young Korean American man.  Yesterday our head pastor sent the two of us an email asking if we would give an update on our search to the congregation on World Wide Communion Sunday when our Korean and English congregations worship together. He said I could give the update in English and Dan could give it in Korean.  Sounded like a plan until Dan e-mailed back that he doesn't speak Korean. Pop! One more stereotype shot down.

hooray for Eleanor

Once a month I volunteer with four other ladies to baby sit with a gaggle of toddlers so their moms can attend a meeting of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). They don't meet during the summer so this was the first time I had seen these little ones since last spring.  Eleanor was one of the littles I remembered very well because she would generally cry for the whole two hours and I spent a lot of time rocking and soothing her. So imagine my pleasure when she walked in today, at the wise old age of three, waved bye to her mom and immediately started playing with some toys - not a tear in sight. You go girl! My pleasure was short lived however because it soon became apparent that we had at least three criers in our group of 12 and some occasional sympathy criers. So there I was rocking and soothing again. This all made me very happy that my grandchildren are teenagers (well one is almost) and I realized that I am not in any hurry for great grandchildren.

a really great idea

I had a really great idea for my blog this morning. I thought it was amusing and would make readers smile, maybe even laugh out loud. Unfortunately, right now, after a busy day, I have absolutely no memory of what my great idea was. Can you have a 'senior moment' that lasts all day?

Who let the dogs out?

I did.  When my son-in-law and daughter know they are going to have unusually long days away form home and their kids are also gone they ask me to come and let their dogs out sometime during the day.  I do it whenever my schedule permits because I wouldn't want to be shut up in a cage all day without a chance to use the facilities.  Today was one of those days.  I imagine them anxiously waiting for my visit but today they didn't even wake up until I was in the house and had opened the back door.  I like to offer them quick egress.  I will say this has been a learning experience.  I used to think keeping dogs in cages all day sounded cruel but these two seem to appreciate the security.  After an hour of free time, in and out of the house, I tell them it;s time to go back in their "houses" and they just walk right in and wait for me to latch the doors.  All very nice but, take it from me, cats are still easier.

This made me laugh.

I saw a great sign today - it may be old to some of you but it was the first time I had seen it.  It was posted on the notice board in front of a church: "JESUS IS COMING (let's hope it's before the election)."

just when I thought the festival were over

This has been a summer of festivals in Fort Wayne, with music and food just about every weekend. This weekend one of the oldest festivals, The Johnny Appleseed Festival is going on but that happens several miles from my apartment so no noise to contend with here.  However, the powers that be decided that we needed at least one more new festival downtown so this weekend, starting this evening, is the Middle Wave music festival featuring several national and even more local bands, mostly rock, performing on three different stages all within walking distance of my apartment. It's a little expensive, tickets for all of the concerts cost $75 but the bands do sound better that any others I've heard this summer. This evening a girlfriend and I passed a pleasant few hours - being too cheap to buy tickets - sitting on my balcony and listening to the concert for free.  This worked really well for me because I think most of these bands are better heard from a distance.  That's my old foggieism showing again.

To chip or not to chip?

I was pleased when US companies started putting chips in their credit cards.  I go to Canada once a year, a lovely weekend in Stratford, Ontario, to see the plays, and merchants there have been wanting cards with chips since before I knew what they were.  Now about half of my credit cards have chips while the older ones don't. I embarrassed myself the other day (in front of a critical grandchild of course) by slipping a chipless card into the chip slot and then wondering why it wasn't working. What I've found most interesting lately though is the number of stores with chip readers that are out of order. It's something I wonder about. Is someone going around breaking chip machines? How would you do that? Then I've heard that chip readers can be hacked and people can get your credit card information.  I'm thinking cash is easier.  Or maybe I'll stand in the checkout lane slowly writing a check while the line builds up behind me. But that's a pet peeve for another blog.

This could get exciting

I'm serving on an Associate Pastor search committee at our church. We've been meeting regularly on Wednesday evenings, and, after following all the guidelines from our presbytery, I was happy to be able to announce to the other committee members this evening that all the hoops had been jumped through, our information form is approved and our search criteria is now on line through the Presbyterian site that matches churches to applicants. After I got home this evening I discovered, when I checked my email, that we have our first application. That didn't take long.  He actually sounds pretty good. I think our hard work is just beginning.

revenge of the elevators

Last night I made some rather scathing comments about one of the elevators in my building and today, when I came back to the building after a morning out I discovered a sign by the elevators saying that all of the elevators were out of order and directing people to the stairs. Coincidence? I don't think so. Since I had to go out again in an hour and didn't relish taking the stairs up 10 flights, then down again, I decided to go to the mall to pass the time. $70 later I left to pick up my granddaughter from school. Happily, one of the elevators was working by the time I got home this evening.  I have learned my lesson and will not make fun of the elevators again.

a disabled elevator

I'm pretty sure one of the elevators in my apartment has Attention Deficit Disorder. I've discussed this with other elevator riders and they all agree with me. Two of the three elevators in this building do what is required of them. They go up or down according to the buttons that are pushed, stop on the floors requested and generally behave like an elevator should. The other elevator seems to sometimes have a mind of its own. It may start going where you want to go - down to the garage for example, but them suddenly decide to go up again. It stops on random floors even if no one is waiting there, sometimes opens the door automatically, sometimes not. and generally seems to have trouble remembering where it's going. I have always, eventually, gotten where I want to go but it's often an adventure. I guess I should be grateful it hasn't figured out how to go sideways yet.

and the bands played on...

Went to a marching band competition in Bluffton Indiana yesterday evening.  After a rainy day the skies had cleared and it was a beautiful night to watch high school marching bands compete. Of course I was cheering for my grandson's band from Carroll High School.. They looked really good as they took the field, 190 strong.  Their music was wonderful, their marching and flag work seemed spot on to me but I didn't care too much for their visual props.  It's amazing the things bands come up with these days.  My son-in-law explained to me that since this was only the first competition of the season the props of all the bands would evolve.  Sadly, the only larger band, Homestead (230+ members) took first place while we took second. Still it was a wonderful show. I couldn't help remembering how it all began.  My children were in the Carroll band in the late 80's, early 90's when they first started competing in shows like this. I'm not sure how many were in the band then, 50 maybe?. My husband and I were "pit parents," part of the crew who hustled all of the props, non-moving instruments, etc. on to the field and then off again after their performance.  I do remember that there were strict guidelines about how fast we had to get stuff on and off. They seemed to have relaxed the speed requirement these days but I'm certainly glad we didn't have to deal with all the equipment they (all of the bands) use to put on their shows these days. We hauled all of the necessary equipment in a smallish boxy trailer pulled by a pickup. Now it's all contained in a huge semi. Sweet memories but this is one of those cases where the 'now' is bigger and better than the 'used to be'.

"It's Only a Play"

Saw a fun play this evening at First Presbyterian Theater called "It's Only a Play". The whole play revolves around a group of actors and a producer, author, director and critic waiting for reviews after opening night of their new play. All of the actors did a great job with huge chunks of snappy dialog but Nancy Karthol, playing the part of the washed-up, cocaine snorting, lead actress who is out on parole and wearing a sometimes vibrating ankle tracking bracelet stole the show. The show runs tomorrow night and for two more weekends and it's definitely worth seeing.

I may have solved a mystery'

Some time ago I blogged about the fact that I receive frequent requests from my supplemental insurance provider urging me to schedule a home visit. The last mailing I got about this even offered me a $15 gift card if I would let them come.  Today I had another phone call urging me to have this home visit.  I decided to dig a little deeper.  I usually just say "No thank you." and hang up but I decided to listen to what the young man had to say for a little while and try to get some questions answered.  I was assured that he was very happy that I was healthy and that I do get my annual check ups from my regular doctor. he explained that what they would do would be check me out physically, address any questions and concerns I might have about my health and discuss with me "my plans for long term health care." Ah hah! Now I understand.  They want to sell me more insurance. Why should I be surprised?

Whoops, blame it on the learning curve

One of the reason's I retired when I did was that I didn't want to be responsible for social media promotions for our church. I assumed I could learn to tweet and put up to the minute announcements on Face Book but I really didn't want to. So here I am, in the second month of this temporary return to my old position, faced with the job of posting stuff on Face Book. I followed the process I was shown a couple of days ago (I never rush into anything) and posted a short piece on Face Book about a reception in our gallery this Friday. Everything went fine. It took my entry but then a question popped up asking if I wanted my announcement to be prominent. Sounded like a fine plan to me so I clicked the button. Then, with no way to back out that I could find, a message popped up telling me that $5 had been charged, not to my account, but to the account of the woman who I am (very temporarily) replacing.  I am using her office computer so I guess that was to be expected. Just goes to show that I probably shouldn't be trusted with technology more advanced than texting.

Grace is not my middle name.

I remember running and jumping when I was a child but I was never particularly graceful.  As I was waiting to pick up my granddaughter from school yesterday I watched as several preteen boys came running out of the school on their way to various activities. No one walked except an occasional teacher. Everyone young was running. I was most impressed by one boy who, while running, jumped up and over a park type bench.  One foot touched the seat, the other skimmed the back and he was up and over and on his way. It looked wonderfully graceful. I've been thinking that it looked like a lot of fun to be able to do that. Honesty compels me to admit that I don't think I ever could, even in my youth, and no, I'm not going to try it now.

A miracle of modern technology

I emailed a quick message to my daughter this morning and she responded within five minutes. No big deal except she's deployed right now and half way around the world. It's so good to live in a time when I can know, in real time, that all is well with her. I think about my mom and dad, during WWII, mailing letters back and forth. I'm sure they were thrilled to get each other's letters and I've been mailing letters to my daughter but immediate contact is so reassuring. I do know that there were telephones back then, but cost and complications limited phone calls to real emergencies. I happened to be at my dad's house when he received a collect call (remember those?) from my brother, who, as far as we knew, was in  Vietnam. My dad's first response to the "Will you accept a collect call from your son?" was "From where?" I'm not saying my dad wasn't a loving father, he was, but he never quite got over thinking that long distance calls were really expensive.  Turns out my brother was calling from a hospital in Pennsylvania. He had been sent home from Vietnam with a broken ankle suffered when he, an MP, was trying to break up a bar brawl.  Sorry about the ankle, which still gives him problems, but so glad to have him home from that war. Meanwhile my daughter isn't in a battle situation but I'll be every bit as glad when she gets home.  This is her third and, I devoutly hope, her last deployment.

Will she or won't she

I have a single friend, my age (70+) who claims that she only wants to date younger men. She sometimes checks out men on a couple of dating sites but never follows through on anyone who looks mildly interesting. I just got off the phone after listening to her tell me about a man she met in Auburn  earlier this weekend who seems to meet her basic criteria. He's only 58 (younger is relative) and, she said, he's good looking. They were tentatively supposed to meet for ice cream this afternoon but she mixed up the time and left before he got there. Now she's debating if she ever wants to see him again. It's like a soap opera. Will she or won't she? I can't wait to find out.

Farmers' Market flashback

I went to the Barr Street farmers' market this morning.  I bought some fresh veggies and some apple-ginger jelly (yummy) but mostly I just enjoyed the colors.  It was a lovely crisp, cool morning and everything seemed to glow in the sunshine. I enjoyed the red, green and yellow peppers, the deep green okra, purple egg plants and creamy white goat cheese. But at one booth there were some beautiful bunches of what I think of as old fashioned flowers. Zinnias, mums and I don't know what else. As I admired the flowers I flashed back to my Aunt Ida's flower beds.  Aunt Ida, a farmer's wife, grew masses of flowers along both side of the drive leading up to their house and more across the front of the lot along the road. It was an amazing array of blooms that I looked forward to every year. What makes it more amazing to me, looking back as an adult, is that my aunt grew these beautiful flowers while dealing with a husband crippled with polio, raising ten children and running the farm. Perhaps it was her therapy.

Not a great week for little kids

Two news reports caught my attention this week. First, day before yesterday I think, it was reported that a mother asked a man she had just met to drop her four year old son off a bridge. It was a 27 foot drop to the rock strewn river below where the mom waited to pluck her child out of the water after he splashed down. It seems she thought the four year old would think it was fun. One report said he was wearing a life jacket. The people who watched the drama unfold, and took a video of the event (don't you love how everything in life gets recorded these days?) evidently didn't get the impression that the child was enjoying the event. At last report he and two siblings are now in foster care.

A second event was reported this morning on the national news. A mother (no father was mentioned  in either of these events) put her 5-year old child in the hands of a airline to fly him to New York. She paid $100 over the ticket price for an airline employee to travel with the child. Unfortunately, the child, and presumably his guardian ended up in Boston while another child, also traveling without his parents, ended up in New York. Needless to say the first mother was upset, although considering how often luggage gets delivered to the wrong destination (I have a friend who claims that her luggage has traveled to much more interesting sites that she has) how can they be surprised if the occasional child goes astray? I never heard a report on the reaction of the second child's parents to the mix up, but I assume that by this time the proper children have been delivered to their parents.

All in all, not a great week for little kids. Their parents on the other hand probably got what they deserved.

Oh no, not the directory.

Some of you know that for the last month I've been working part time at the job I used to do for First Presbyterian Church, while the person for whom I'm substituting is recovering from a car accident.  I was fine when they told me they just needed a little help with the bulletins for a few weeks.  I was still ok when they told me the quarterly 20-page news letter needed to be created, organized, proofed and sent to the printer. I remembered how to do that. Yesterday I was informed that they will probably need me to work for another month. I'm thinking "Well, the newsletter is done so this shouldn't be so bad." But today I was hit with the news taht they need me to help with the new picture directory. Noooo!!!! Not that. We did the last picture directory in 2012 and it came out quite well if I do say so, but I distinctly remember when it was all over saying "Never again!" Funny, the tricks life plays on us.