a sweet look back....

 New Year's Eve seems like the perfect time to take a long look back.  Having celebrated the impending new year with a friend at lunch (we're such party animals) I have had time to think back this evening and I have the visual aids to help.  My daughter and her husband were married in 2008 and beginning that Christmas, he has gifted me with a calendar every year; a wonderful personalized calendar filled with pictures of children, grandchildren, other relatives, pets and more.  It was fun to page back through and see how the grands have grown from cute little four, six, seven and eight year olds through grade school pageants, middle school band and baton, high school marching bands, graduation pictures, and so much more.  I love the progression of Halloween costumes and Christmas morning pictures.  Not quite so much fun to see how the adults have aged during the same 13 years but still interesting.  Changing careers reflected in many pictures.  But I noticed that my most recent calendar (2022) contained many grand-dog pictures, a reflection I think of the fact that my daughter and son-in-law are now empty nesters.  It's bitter sweet that children will grow up and move on, and their parents can't follow them to college campuses and job sites to take pictures.  So I wasn't too surprised that this year, instead of a calendar of pictures, I received  framed pictures of their son and daughter, each with their significant other.  Grandchildren grow, new relationships blossom, and, who knows, no rush here, but maybe one of these years I'll get a Christmas calendar full of great grandbaby pictures.  Happy New Year everyone. Enjoy the anticipation of new things to come.  

Procrastination again?

 

And speaking of putting things off, I certainly understand why much mail didn't get delivered before Christmas.  I'm happy to blame it on deep snow and subzero temperatures.  I must also admit that when letters are mailed on the 23rd the likelihood of them not being delivered before the 25th is not all the fault of the post office.  So here, for those who haven't received this year's Christmas greeting from me (or have fallen behind in opening your mail) is my holiday greeting by blog.

Still Acting Out

By Luci Foltz

 I’ve had fun playing in 2022,

first as the gender non-specific marriage counselor Leslie in “Sylvia”

(“I may be a man pretending to be a woman,

or I may be a woman pretending to be a man.  I let my patients decide.”)

and then as the over-the-hill drunken actress Gay Wellington in

“You Can’t Take It with You.” (“When I see snakes, I know it’s time to lie down.”) 

I spent half of that show ‘passed out’ on the couch,

Such an easy role.

Now I am playing a ‘church lady’ (talk about type casting)

in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”

When I wasn’t playing make believe,

I finally, finally got to travel, a glorious Rhine River cruise.

Beautiful scenery, cathedrals and castles, and fabulous food.

Later in the year a lovely driving trip to Michigan,

and a gathering with long-time friends in Woodburn

to celebrate our (gasp) 60^th high school reunion.

And here’s a shocker.  My much-too-young children and their spouses

are now empty nesters,

(well, except for the dogs and the cat)

while my grands experience college, careers, travel, and new loves.

Was there sadness this year? Yes.

A dear friend died, and another is living in the cloud land of dementia.

Grief indeed.

 

            May God hold you close during this busy time and always,

            comfort and console you when such support is needed,

            and cheer you on as you live your life to the fullest. 

                               

                        Happy New Year, 2023.

 

pass the pepper please...

 Here I am, stuck between Christmas and New Year's Day and wondering what I can write about.  My west coast brother hasn't been much help recently.  Between blizzards, slide offs (no injuries), family home for the holidays, and taking care of their grands, he and has wife have been kept quite busy lately.  So I was left to check out anything special about December 29 besides the fact that it puts us firmly on the slippery slope into 2023.  To my amazement I discovered that today is National Pepper Pot Day, a day that celebrates the 'soup that won the war,' the Revolutionary War that is.  Pepper Pot soup, made of tripe, beef and whatever vegetables you can find, seasoned with liberal amounts of pepper, is presumed to have come originally from the Caribbean, and was sold on the streets of Philadelphia. A side note here, we tend to think of fast food as a modern invention but, according to historical sources, lots of sandwiches, pasties, chestnuts, etc. were sold on the streets of large cities.  George Ludwig, who lived in Philadelphia, was George Washington's Baker General, charged with providing bread to the troops.  Sadly there wasn't much grain available.  The farmers were evidently selling their crops to the British, who probably paid with real money.  So George W told George L to feed the troops whatever he could to keep them alive during the cold winter of 1777-78. Pepper Pot soup is what he made.  I think it probably worked really well.  Soup is warm, can always be watered down to feed more, and plenty of pepper can disguise the taste of not quite fresh ingredients.  Maybe next year I'll have a Pepper Pot party, but I will use fresh ingredients and probably leave out the tripe.

PS If this doesn't appeal to you at all, tomorrow is Bacon Day!

simple pleasures

 Today was a day of simple pleasures.  It started with doing laundry this morning and realizing, as I took clean clothes out of the washers, that our wonderful new Maytags have lighter colored tubs than the old ones (silver instead of black), making it much easier to find the errant black socks that stick to the side.  Next, as I was getting ready to meet a friend for lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, I realized that I would need my sunglasses.  Hooray for sunshine!! I was so inspired that, after a delicious meal, I filled my car with gas and went grocery shopping. Alas, no fruitcake, but we must all bear up under some disappointments.  Finally I went to my appointment with my hair stylist and was able to use my daughter's very generous gift card to pay for the haircut.  Merry Christmas to me.  Now I am relaxing at home, watching a show about kindness, remembering what a good day it has been and celebrating with a yummy piece of fair trade chocolate, which allows me to feel virtuous while celebrating "National Chocolate Candy Day."  

Well I like it.

 Today is National Fruitcake Day, and, to further complicate things, December is Learn a Foreign Language Month.  Sadly, I just learned about the foreign language thing today which leaves me with three days to learn a foreign language.  I don't think that's going to happen.  About fruitcake, I know I'm in the minority but I actually like fruitcake.  I'll admit some are better than others, but in general, I like them. I usually buy a small fruitcake for myself (I try not to inflict my biases on others) but this year I didn't see any on the grocery shelves.  Perhaps on Thursday, when I plan to shop for groceries, I'll see some on sale.  Hope springs eternal.  I have, at times, considered baking my own fruit cake, but when I study the recipes they all seem to require being baked way ahead of the holidays so they can be soaked with rum (or whatever) several times.  While I'm thinking about doing this, the time runs out, unless I want to have fruitcake to serve for Easter.  (See my earlier blog on procrastination.)  Ah well, maybe next year.  

The day after...

 It's Boxing Day, celebrated in many British related areas of the world.  What you may ask is Boxing Day?  Or you may not care, but I tend to look it up every year because I've heard various explanations.  First, just to clear up any misconceptions, it has nothing to do with boxing kangaroos or the sport of boxing.  According to Google, what else, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas (we knew that).  In days of old, the servants of the wealthy aristocrats had to work on Christmas day to keep their masters happy and well fed.  Then, on the day after Christmas, when no one wants to do much of anything anyway, the servants were given boxes of gifts (like used clothes), monetary bonuses, and left over food, and allowed to go home and spend the day with their families.  It occurs to me that if those servants were thinking ahead, they made sure there would be plenty of good leftovers to take home.  Evidently, according to a BBC news cast I was just watching, these days Boxing Day is celebrated in England by shopping for all those things you wanted and didn't get the day before.  We actually have a similar tradition here in the USA.  Perhaps we should call it Return & Exchange Day.  

Merry Christmas...

 It has been a very good Christmas.

Being a family of solid German origins we celebrated with a Mexican cheese and chicken casserole and a Mexican chocolate cake for dinner, yummy, and a fun gift exchange.

I also was able to say bon voyage to my oldest granddaughter who is heading to France for her spring semester, still studying business, but in Rouen, and "good job" to her sister who finished her first college semester with straight As.  

My other grands were with their serious? significant others this Christmas, which is a different, but I think inevitable, family dynamic. What fun.  

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Ho ho ho...

 Happy Christmas Eve everyone.  Like many of you, I still had a to-do list to accomplish today to be ready for Christmas Day, but by 3:00pm things were pretty well under control and I was ready to assemble my sweet potato casserole, to be baked at my daughter's house tomorrow morning.  Contrary to what yesterday's blog might make you think, I don't procrastinate on everything.  Two weeks ago, after checking for ingredients in my cupboard (it's not big enough to qualify as a pantry) I bought everything I needed for the casserole during a regular grocery run.  Imagine my dismay this afternoon when I was putting the ingredients out on the counter, to discover that the soft bag that I had thought was brown sugar, by feel, was actually flour in a brown bag.  After digging deeper I found one bag of rock hard brown sugar and one more carefully wrapped bag of brown sugar that I had layered first in a zip lock bag and then put inside a square glass cannister with a tight sealing lid. It too was rock hard, but had also assumed the shape of the container and could not be removed.  The amount in the simple bag looked like it might be enough for the recipe except for the rock hard condition.  So naturally I turned to Google for help.  The first suggestion to soften brown sugar (there was a long list) had something to do with an apple and a four day wait.  Well, that was no help, so I dug a little deeper and struck gold (metaphorically speaking).  The instructions said to put the brown sugar in a microwave proof bowl, cover it with a moist paper towel and heat it it for 10 seconds, then repeat as necessary.  In 20 seconds total my brown sugar was soft and usable. I was so excited to have nice soft brown sugar that I dumped the whole bowl full in my mixing bowl without measuring, so the casserole may be a little too sweet tomorrow, but I doubt if I'll hear any complaints.  Merry Christmas everyone. 

Procrastination

 I must admit, I am a world class procrastinator.  In high school and college I was the one finishing term papers at midnight and working all night on due-the-next-day art projects.  I remember one particular hand woven carpet that ended up a foot shorter than originally planned, but I did pass the course.  I've been told that people who procrastinate are perfectionists, putting off things that they are afraid they can't do well, but I'm not sure that's true.  I think procrastination has something to do with just finding more interesting fun things to occupy one's time.  Over the years I have, out of necessity, become less of a procrastinator.  There are a lot of deadlines in adult life.  Yet here I am, on Christmas Eve Eve, with one project still to finish.  So enough blog writing.  Back to work....

seems reasonable to me

 The weather guru is saying "If you don't have to go out, don't.  Stay off the roads."  I am perfectly happy to follow that advice.  It's easy for me because I already have everything I need to be ready for Christmas, and staying at home is giving me the time I need to finish a few last minute projects.  I will admit that I am considering live streaming the Christmas Eve service, especially if it's super cold.  I do not like wind chills in the double digit negatives, and driving on ice has never been one of my favorite activities.  Even though I'm a cautious driver I once did a 180 degree spin on Coldwater.  Happily there was no one coming in either direction.  They were obviously smarter than me and had stayed home.  I took the hint and headed home.  No appointments that day were worth the risk.  I just happened to glance at the TV as I write this and saw, on the weather map the number 29 on our area of the map.  I thought "Well, 29 degrees isn't too bad."  But then the friendly weather lady explained that that is the current wind speed.  Burrrrrr.  Use your common sense everyone and stay safe.

Woops, I forgot...

 PS. One of my readers answered yesterday's question correctly.  The song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was originally sung by Gene Autry, one of my favorite singing cowboys. 

a faint light...

 I think I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  With play performances and weekend company I've been busy enough not to notice how quickly Christmas was coming.  But today, heeding the weather predictions, I got out and finished all of my last minute gift shopping and mailed three gift packages.  One of them might actually arrive by Christmas Eve. I also have all of my Christmas letters ready to mail in the morning.  Of course they all say Happy New Year instead of Merry Christmas, but I figure people will have more time to read them next week anyway.  I'm still working on a craft project that I must finish but I still have three days, right?  Yes, indeed, I'm seeing that light.  Let's just hope it's not a train.  

a history lesson...

 I knew this started with Montgomery Ward, a long gone department store that holds happy memories for me.  My brothers and I spent long hours pouring over the Montgomery Ward and Sears Christmas catalogs, pages and pages of dreams.  But this is another bit of history, from my trivia calendar.  In 1939, Robert May, a copywriter who worked for Montgomery Ward was instructed to write an original Christmas story that could be printed as a small booklet and handed out to customers.  He created the red nosed reindeer.  My husband, who was born in 1935, actually had one of those little booklets.  Later of course, Rudolph became the hero of a song.  Do you remember who first sang it?  I think I know and will tell you tomorrow.  A side note here - the Santa and reindeer that are displayed every winter in downtown Fort Wayne did not originally have a red nosed leader.  That was added after the song became popular.  

restaurant review

Sometimes, when I'm in a restaurant, I order some dish (usually a main course), thinking that I know what it will taste like.  When it arrives, it may taste very good but still be not quite what I was hoping for.  You've probably had a similar experience, good but just not quite right.  Well I'm happy to report that this evening I was not disappointed.  Some of my family took me out for a delayed birthday supper.  If you're keeping track, this was my third birthday meal.  Lucky me. This evening we ate at the Hoppy Gnome, and instead of my usual tacos I ordered Chicken and Dumplings, one of several new things on the menu since the last time I was there.  It was a chilly evening and that sounded like the ultimate comfort food to me.  My dear Aunt Dora was a master maker of chicken and dumplings, so I have fond memories of the dish.  I am so happy to report that this dish did not disappoint.  It was delicious, and very filling and tasted just right.  Half of it is waiting in my refrigerator for tomorrow evening's supper.  Oh, yum.

The final show...

 This afternoon we put on the final performance of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."  It was the same script, almost, that we've followed for the last five performances and all the many rehearsals, but today felt like we were in the middle of "The Play that Goes Wrong."  Yesterday one of our little actors, with a fairly major part got sick and another young actor had to step in to the part with a few hours notice.  He read the part of course, but did a good job carrying it off.  Today, when we arrived the usual hour before the  performance, this time a matinee, our director gathered us together to tell us that another young actor was sick, and explain how roles would be rearranged so another young person could cover the absence (she went from being an angel to being a little hellion, and did it very well).  In the meantime her role, as the charming little 'angel' who narrated the Christmas story, was covered by our 30 something chubby stage manager, swiftly stuffed into an angel costume.   All proceeded pretty smoothly until the second act.  At the beginning of the act five musical groups performed, nicely spotlighted until, about 3:30pm, when all the lights went out. I mean all the lights went out.  It was not a sunny day and the shutters had all been closed so it could be darker, to make the spotlighting more effective.  We were performing in the sanctuary to give the feeling of a true church Christmas pageant, and also to let the youth theater perform Frozen Jr. on our real stage, which was very, very dark when the lights went out.  Turns out it was a several block wide outage with no sign of lights coming back on soon.  Nothing, to her huge relief, that our lighting and sound director had done wrong.  But the show must go on, so our final singer performed on a gray dusky stage and then our pageant players finished up the show in the semi-dark.  We even took our bows in the glooming.  Live theater is such fun.  

I don't think so????

 Today is "National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day" and what I want to know is who decides what is an ugly Christmas sweater?  I mean, just because most of them are brightly colored (usually red and green) instead of tastefully knit in muted colors, does that make them ugly? Would you rather have everyone dressed in mauve and taupe at your next holiday party?  And all the bells and bangles and sparkles that are sometimes tied on?  I think they're festive.  But speaking of holidays, are we being fair?  Where are the ugly Hanukkah sweaters, or ugly Kwanza sweaters?  If not, why not.  What ever happened to equal opportunity?  

more special days...

 Today is "National Lemon Cupcake Day" and "International Tea Day." Doesn't that sound like a delicious combination.  Sadly I don't have any cupcakes, lemon or otherwise, but I do regularly drink British blend tea so that should count.  But, in addition to deliciousness, this day also contains drama.  It's "Cat Herders Day."  Now I'm not sure if this is a day celebrating people who herd cats (good luck with that) or cats who herd something.  There are wonderful dogs who herd sheep, cattle, goats and who knows what else, but I've never actually heard of cats herding anything.  What would they herd?  Other cats? Tiny little dogs? Mice? Turtles? That last seems about their speed.  Cats I have know (I'm talking domestic cats here) generally don't seem to want to expend much energy at all, although hearing the sound of a can opener can be a motivator.  But I must say watching our director work with the 14 very lively kids in our cast, does give me a very good idea of what herding cats would look like.

Such a thrill..

 One of my husband's favorite jokes, from back in our dating days, was "laundromat dates are loads of fun." I know, another groaner, but today it proved true.  Last week our laundry room was closed all week for improvements.  These were way overdue, since, on any given day, half of the old machines would be out of commission. Wisely, the laundry room in the other building was open in case anyone was desperate for clean clothes.  I was happy to wait.  Yesterday I followed the directions on the new money kiosk, which is in the other building for now, was able to buy and load my brand new money card, and felt ready.  Early this morning I trundled my cart full of dirty clothes down to the laundry room and saw the new equipment for the first time.  Picture it; a row of ten brand new, gleaming white Maytag washers, with their lids open in a cheerful salute, ready and waiting, and across the room an equal number of brand new dryers.  They were so pretty.  I just stood and admired for a while. Then I followed the directions printed on the washer lids, loaded everything, noted that the new washers hold larger loads, and used my money card to start the machines.  I was doing two loads of laundry.  Forty minutes later I was back to load everything into a dryer (except the stuff I hang to dry) and that worked well too.  Compared to the old dryers, this one was so quiet, I had to listen closely to make sure it was running.  No squeaks, no groans, no wild vibrations, just drying. What a pleasure.  It makes me look forward to my weekly laundry day (well, almost).

Happy birthday to me

 Riddle answer: neither, candles burn shorter.  I know, groan. 

I've had a busy birthday. First a dental appointment (just cleaning, all is well), then grocery shopping for company coming this weekend.  Then I took time to learn the new laundry system in my building and load my money card.  More about that tomorrow.  And finally I topped everything off with an evening church meeting.  Then home to doze off in my recliner.  How do I take the excitement?  But don't waste any sympathy on me.  By this time next week I will have enjoyed three celebrations of my birthday.  In the meantime I must admit, when asked my age, that I am closer to seventy than sixty.  

riddle and more

 A holiday riddle, thanks to my west coast brother: Does a red Christmas candle or a green Christmas candle burn longer?  Guesses appreciated, answer tomorrow.

On another subject, today is my birthday eve.  Just coincidentally, a couple of friends and I went to Takaoka for dinner.  Just as fun as ever with the flaming onion volcano, the bouncing egg trick, the rapid fire knife wielding, the shrimp flipping and the lazy pleasure of watching someone else do the cooking.  Since someone, not me, mentioned to the waitress that tomorrow is my birthday I also got to end the meal with sherbet with a sparkler and tiny umbrella and the song of course.  A delicious and fun evening.  

mountains

 Today is "International Mountain Day" according to my west coast brother.  He lives where he can see mountains whereas I live in northern Indiana which is quite level.  Some years ago I was showing properties near Woodburn to a client from California.  Some of you will know that that area was originally part of the Great Black Swamp which stretched from east of Fort Wayne well into Ohio, so it is very flat.  As we were driving around, the client said "You don't have many mountains around here do you?" to which I replied "No, but we do flat very well."  I'm happy to say that he has adjusted well to living on flat land.  I do love mountains, but I will admit, when I've come home from driving trips out west I have found it very relaxing to be back to driving on level ground.  But thinking about international mountains, one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen was during a trip to Italy.  Don't get me wrong, we have glorious mountains here in the USA, but on that trip we flew from Chicago to Amsterdam and then south to Venice.  That meant we were flying over the Alps.  It was a clear day and I had a window seat.  The view of miles and miles of snow covered peaks absolutely dazzled me.  I had a view of the Alps in the distance when I was in Switzerland this fall; they were beautiful but not nearly as impressive as the overhead view.  

Well, that was fun.

 This evening was the second performance of our play "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and everything seemed to go right (except that the baby Jesus doll's head almost came off).  After the show, I passed people coming out who all said what a good show it was.  Everyone was smiling and that's a good sign.  One gentleman even stopped me and asked me if I had ever been in a play at Arena.  I said "Yes, I had been in "You Can't Take It With You" and I played the drunk over-the-hill actress.  He turned to his wife and said "I knew it, I told you."  Needless to say, I was flattered that he remembered me, although, when I thought about it, I realized that in the Arena play, I spent most of the time 'passed out' on the couch so I'm not sure what part of me he recognized.  He thought it was pretty funny that I had gone from playing a drunk to a church lady.  I left him wondering which role was closer to the real me.

Opening night

 Our opening night performance went pretty well, all things considered.  The kids remembered their lines and so did I, although the person playing opposite me in one scene dropped a line and I had to come in at the wrong time.  The speaker that we can listen to off stage to know when we go on wasn't working, which caused a minor panic, and there were some jitters among the children.  Some had never been in a play before, although several have been involved with FW Youth Theater for years.  Parking was a problem, since our play (in the sanctuary) and Frozen II (on our stage) are on at the same time, but just for this weekend.  On the positive side, and there were lots of positives, part of our musical interlude was the Amistad choir singing "Feliz Navidad" (beautiful) and one of their singers is a friend of mine so we got to catch up a bit.  Our head pastor was shown a back stairway she didn't know existed (not too surprising in our building).  All in all, quite an interesting experience, although I think the next time I audition for a play I might try for one with fewer children.  Ouch!  That makes me sound like the Grinch, doesn't it?  There are only 14 of them but they are a busy bunch,  I do think it's amazing how well our director works with these kids.  He is a very patient man.  

Time travel??

 Once again, credit to my west coast brother for this goodie - today is "Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day."  He says I get to be a time traveler whenever I'm in a play.  I'm not so sure about time, but I certainly get to be a personality traveler, at least sometimes.  Several years ago "Back to the Future" and its sequels were very popular, and I think a big part of the appeal was the time travel that occurred in each episode.  It's fun to imagine what life was like in ages past or what might be coming in the future.  "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" certainly kept our interest.  But what about you?  If you had a time machine, to where and when would you travel?  Don't say the day after the Power Ball numbers are announced.  That's just cheating.  Would you like to experience life in a colony on Mars, or walk the Palestinian countryside with Jesus and his followers?  Or maybe you would like to live for a while in Elizabethan England or with the ancients at Mesa Verde?  It might be nice to have a taste of those experiences but only if I was sure I could get back.  I must admit I find right now quite comfortable, with computers and cell phones and TV and cars, and recliners.  Never forget the recliners.  For that matter with  a comfy recliner and pile of library books, it's easy to pretend to be a time traveler.  Bon voyage.  

tick-tock

 A recent entry in my page-a-day trivia calendar tells me that there is a clock museum in Vienna, Austria that houses clocks dating back as far as 1699.  Every hour on the hour the museum resounds with the ringing of many clocks displayed on the three floors of the building.  I have visited Vienna but did not see the clock museum (Uhrenmuseum).  However I have had a similar experience on a smaller scale.  On the rare weekends when my college roommate and I were heading home from Ball State, we would get a ride as far as her home in Fort Wayne, then I would call my father and he would make the half hour drive from Woodburn to take me the rest of the way home.  My roommate's parents were both from Germany and had quite a fine collection of cuckoo clocks.  Almost all of them were displayed in the living room, and, since it is hard to exactly coordinate 20 clocks, we would be treated to an amazing cacophony of sound for a minute or so at the top of each hour.  I didn't mind at all because, in addition to being a clock collector, my roommate's mother always had an assortment of home made cookies and other pastries waiting for us and she made sure I ate plenty.  She thought I was too skinny (those were the days).  

How much???

 Today I took a friend to her final class in a series of four she has taken  over the last six months.  These classes, sponsored by Parkview are called VeggieRX and when people who qualify successfully complete the classes they get credits to use at farmer's markets and other sites to buy fruit and vegetables.  This is a great program for people on a limited income.  Since I was there as my friend's guest today, I got to help fix some of the food for a healthy lunch I wasn't expecting.  A free lunch is always good.  My friend and I opted to make an artichoke dip, and I got to play with a food processor/pulser for the first time ever.  The only appliance like that that I own is a blender, and it is avocado green which will give you some idea of it's age.  Along with the lunch (everything was very tasty) there was a brief educational talk and one thing that was stressed over and over was that a healthy diet should include three cups of vegetables and two cups of fruit every day.  Now I do make it a point to eat fruits and vegetables every day but five cups?? I don't think so.  After I dropped my friend off, I came home and pondered all this while I had a cookie.  It was an apple cinnamon cookie.  Does that count?

a scary situation...

 Tonight is Krampusnacht.  In case you're wondering, the Krampus, which means claw, is, according to German tradition, a monster/devil who roams around checking to see if little children are being good at Christmas time and all year long.  There's a really scary picture on Google.  

But thinking of scary things, my husband, who was very handy around the house and always ready to fix electrical and appliance problems, really loathed plumbing issues.  He said no matter what the problem seemed to be on the surface, it would always turn out to be ten times worse.  That seems to be proving true in my apartment.  For some time now I have reported that the faucet in my shower is dripping.  Two weeks ago our maintenance guy stopped buy to fix two plumbing problems.  One, a leaky water line to the toilet was quickly fixed but he said he would have to go get some parts to fix the drip in the shower, which probably just needs a new washer.  I wasn't too upset when he never returned.  It's an old building, with lots of necessary upkeep, and a little drip isn't an emergency.  Finally though I got impatient and called the office, twice.  The same maintenance man showed up today.  After working on the faucet for quite some time (three hours) he decided there's more of a problem than he first thought. He's going to bring another maintenance man back with him tomorrow and together they will cut a hole in the hallway wall to access the pipes and then replace everything that needs replacing.  Meanwhile there is a hole in my shower wall and the water to that shower is turned off.  Lucky for me I do have a second bathroom.  But, my husband's wisdom seems to have proved true again.  Plumbing, bah, humbug!

given the choice...

Once again my west coast brother has dazzled me with a choice of special day celebrations.  Today you could have celebrated National Sock Day, Wear Brown Shoes Day, and National Cookie Day.  At first glance at the list, I thought I should choose one, and naturally (at least for me) National Cookie Day was my first choice.  Although I think I prefer cookies, plural.  But then I thought, why limit myself?  I have many comfy pairs of socks and brown shoes, actually brown warm wooly slippers (but that should count), so when I got home from rehearsal this evening I slipped into those comfy socks and slippers and heated a cup of tea to enjoy with, I must admit, three cookies (but they were small). Merry Sock Brown Shoe Cookie Day everyone.   

a special day???

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is National Green Bean Casserole Day.  I'm not sure why we should be celebrating this more than a week after Thanksgiving, (are people still eating leftover green bean casserole?) or anytime for that matter.  In our family green bean casserole is a part of Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving dinner, and that's all.  For years, until his death in 2019, my other brother was the undisputed master of and provider of the green bean casserole for our family festive occasions.  His was very good because he added lots of melted cheese to the mix.  But I must admit, this is not something I crave.  Unlike apple pie, which I will happily eat any time of the year (today is also National Apple Pie Day) I never say to myself "I think I'll make green bean casserole today."  Do you?  I really prefer nicely cooked (not soggy) green beans with butter and salt and pepper, maybe with slivered almonds for special occasions.  But don't tell my family.  Traditions are good and someone else (not me) has taken over the role of green bean casserole provider.  I shall continue to eat one helping when it's served.  But now that I think about it, I do have an apple pie in the freezer waiting to be baked.  Yummy.

the great debate..

 I went to lunch with a friend today at a nice little restaurant called the Bluebird.  It has evidently been around for a long time, but I had never been there before.  I recommend it.  During our lunch, my friend, who will be hosting his family for Christmas this year, said that after lunch he would be shopping for his Christmas tree, only the real thing will do for him.  I told him my artificial tree was already up and that we were not allowed to have real trees in my apartment complex because of the  potential fire hazard. He agreed that that was a possibility, and also admitted that he was expecting sticker shock, and anticipated only being able to afford a tree so small that he would need to lean down to put the angel on top.  I have not yet heard what size tree he decided to buy but heard an interesting discussion on the evening news about the ecological virtues of real versus artificial trees.  The person being interviewed, a Christmas tree farmer, contended that natural trees are much better because all parts of them can be recycled or naturally disposed of and they are easily replenished, while an artificial tree would need to be kept for at least seven or eight years to have an equally small impact on our environment.  Well, I feel better now.  Since my artificial tree is 40 years old, I'm pretty sure I'm doing ok, especially since I'm not planning to toss it for some time to come.  In case you're wondering, I come by my comfort with artificial trees quite naturally.  My father had a great fear of Christmas trees catching fire.  I think that when he was a small child he actually saw this happen.  That was back in the days of real candles on the trees.  He was ecstatic when the aluminum trees with revolving light wheels came out.  We had one for several years.  Later we had green artificial trees with bubble lights, but as long as I can remember, artificial.  Lucky for me, when I married, my husband was perfectly ok with an artificial tree, and, while they got progressively larger, we always had artificial trees.  I guess that's a legitimate family tradition.

say it louder...

 Opening night is next Friday for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and it's really shaping up.  All the kids are doing great, and we adults are pretty good too.  Except for one thing.  Every time I have been in a play I have had to relearn to project.  Every director, at one time or another, has told me to speak up, speak louder.  But this time I thought things would be different.  Rae, our amazing tech person, has hung lights and mics around the front of the church and I thought, finally, I won't need to worry about volume.  Wrong.  This evening's rehearsal was only for the adults in the play.  I have a small but fun part and it was good to really work on my lines and delivery, but, wouldn't you know it?  One of the first directions I heard was "You won't have a mic so you will need to speak louder.  Since we are performing this play in the sanctuary it's a big space to fill with sound.  Happily, I was able to rise to the occasion.  Now if I can just keep this big sound going for my small part, for six performances, all will be well.  Fingers crossed.  

a slow news day???

 This news headline caught my attention this evening.  The newsperson said that earlier today there was a collision between a school bus and a large county truck on a country road in DeKalb County.  Well, naturally that caught my attention.  No one wants to hear about an accident involving a school bus.  Are the kids ok? They went on to say that there were no students on the bus and no one was hurt.  Then they explained that the two vehicles were passing on a narrow road and knocked each others' driver's side outside mirrors off.  I'm sorry, but how is this news?  Of course if you like good news, and I do, then this qualifies.  Two large vehicles passed too closely on a narrow road but, happily, no one was hurt.  Still not quite as news-worthy as the volcano that is erupting in Hawaii.

your word for the day...

 My page-a-day trivia calendar informs me that porphyrophobia means a fear of the color purple.  I am surprised to learn this.  I can understand the fear of white, which is leukophobia, especially if you happen to be driving in a blizzard on snow covered roads.  But purple? I honestly didn't know that people can be afraid of a color.  Brown maybe, if you've been attacked by a bear, or gray if attacked by a shark, but just a color?  I can almost understand a fear of orange, the color of fire, but it's also the color of oranges and tangerines so that won't work.  There are some colors I like better than others. Turquoise is my favorite.  It would be really hard to be afraid of turquoise.  I can kind of see how a stay-at-home parent might start to loathe purple if their toddlers were addicted to "Barney" but that's the character, not the color.  So here's my question of the day. Are you, or do you know someone who is afraid of a color?  If so, which color, and why?  If you scroll down to the bottom of this entry, you should find a 'reply' button to click.  

progress...

 Today I tutored my first grader again.  We meet every Monday and every Monday I am seeing some progress.  Of course a great deal of that is due to his 'everyday teacher' who, I'm happy to say, he really likes. Today felt like a real breakthrough to me.  I have been using a numbers chart with him every week to help him count and do simple math problems and he had never gotten beyond the teens.  But today it was like he saw the pattern.  The chart, as you would expect, is arranged ten numbers across and ten rows,  so 13 is below 3, 23 below 13, and so on, and today he saw it.  He started counting, and kept right on reading those numbers all the way to 100.  This may not sound like much to you, but for him it was a huge step forward.  Don't you love it when you see that light turn on?

before and after...

I've had a busy couple of days (you know, cleaning, cooking, digging out the ornaments, etc,) but it was all worth it.  Yesterday evening three of my grandchildren, two of their friends and my unexpectedly visiting niece and her husband all gathered at my apartment to decorate my Christmas tree.  Since my grands are scattered and almost grown I don't get them all together very often.  

I unashamedly bribed them with a bean soup supper and sent the leftovers home with them.  

The top picture shows the tree assembled and waiting.  That's what  took a lot of my time.  This is not a pre-lit, flip it open tree, but the old style, insert one branch at a time, obviously artificial, but I've had this tree so long that it has a real sentimental attachment.  We bought this tree when we moved back to Fort Wayne from Ohio in 1982.  It actually has held up pretty well, of course it's only out of the box for one month of the year.

 And here it is, decorated.  They hung all of my ornaments on it, and it is beautiful to me.  The best part of the evening was hearing the cousins and friends talking and laughing and spending time with each other, which was my plan all along.  Ho, ho, ho.

The game is on...

 We all had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's house today.  The Ham and turkey breast and all the accompaniments were delicious, as usual.  My daughter is so lucky to have married a man who can cook.  But what made the day particularly fun for me was that, after we ate, we took time to play a game.  So often it seems that everyone has to rush off or we just sit around and talk for awhile.  Nothing wrong with that but I do like to play games.  So this year, when my son-in-law invited anyone who wanted to to bring a game along I decided to take him up on it.  The game I chose was Quiddler, a word game that goes much faster than Scrabble.  After eight rounds, my youngest granddaughter, age 18, was the big winner.  She's the one who competed in several spelling bees in her youth so probably not too surprising.  The really nice thing about this game is that there is generally plenty of time to talk while different players are contemplating their cards.  We talked and we laughed and a good time was had by all.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Holiday memories..

 I watched as they lit up the Santa and sleigh display on the side of the PNC bank building this evening, always a fun occasion.  If I'm being honest, I was not out there in the mob of people standing in line for hot dogs from Coney Island while they waited for the lighting.  I enjoyed the festivities from the comfort of my recliner, but it still brought back fun memories.  When I was very young, probably five years old, my father drove us down town to see Santa and his reindeer on the side of Wolf & Dessauer's Department Store.  If you Google Wolf & Dessauer's Christmas windows you can see what it looked like.  We also walked around outside to see the beautifully decorated windows with all the moving figures, and, and this is most important, W&D's had the real Santa Claus.  Years later I worked in the same real estate company with the real Santa in his every day disguise.  He was a delightfully jolly soul even then.  

a groaner...

 Here's the bad dad joke of the day, thanks to my west coast brother: What did the cranberry say to the turkey?  Nothing, cranberries can't talk.  

This wasn't quite as educational as yesterday's riddle from the same source:  How do you make pumpkin pie?  Take the circumference of the pumpkin divided by its diameter.  

Actually, I think the question should have been how do you make pumpkin pi? But that would have made the answer obvious.  Thinking about mathematical formulas reminds me of my high school math teacher, Mrs. Davis.  She was a very good teacher and taught me enough to get through several math classes in college.  But the things that stand out in my memories of Mrs. Davis don't have much to do with math.  I remember that when she wrote things on the black board (yes it was still black back then) I would get distracted by the loose skin on the underside of her arms wobbling as she wrote.  That's when I vowed to myself that when I was a teacher I would never wear short sleeve blouses.  When she drove another student and me to a math competition at IU one year she insisted on making a side trip to visit the home of James Whitcomb Riley, her favorite poet.  She also, I noticed, drove with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes all the time.  I was just a beginning driver, but that didn't seem right to me.  She lived on Euclid Avenue, which always seemed very appropriate.  In my senior year my other brother started his freshman year.  While I had always been a quiet, studious, serious student, (in other words too shy to make trouble) he was not.  He pretty much saw school as a place to socialize.  When I walked into my calculus class on the afternoon of that first day of my senior year, she looked at me sadly and said "That Cohrs boy who is a freshman, he's not related to you, is he?"  When I admitted that he was my brother, she just shook her head.  

RIP

 A long time dear friend of mine died last night after a prolonged illness.  It was a blessed release for her but she will be missed.  We were college roommates for three years, were in each other's weddings, and with our husbands, made a friendly foursome for many years.  From a camping trip in Maine to a flight over the Grand Canyon we had some good adventures.  When my husband died sixteen years ago other friends warned me that my married friends would forget me.  They never did. Needless to say, I have been in a somber mood all day, but, happily, Mondays are the days I tutor a first grader.  Let me tell you, nothing lightens your mood like the gap toothed smile of a little first grader. After working really hard on math work sheets and reading for the hour, with a little time for drawing and coloring, he looked at me, as he was getting his coat on, and said "I have fun with you." Obviously, I told him that I have fun with him too, and realized that it's true.  What a blessing that hour was today.

Too much...

 We all know the saying "too much of a good thing."  You might have heard it first as a child, while eyeing your Easter basket.  "Be careful, don't eat all your candy at once.  You might get a tummy ache from too much of a good thing."  Or something like that.  Well, today I forgot that lesson, but it wasn't my fault.  After church the entire congregation plus guests were treated to a Thanksgiving feast mostly prepared by members of our Korean language congregation.  They host this event every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving as a thank you to the US veterans of the Korean War.  Local veterans are always invited.  Sadly, but not surprisingly, there are fewer of them each year, but the food is still amazing.  Spread out on long buffet tables are ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, green bean casserole and all the usual American fare plus rice, rice noodles, kimchee, bulgogi, dumplings and more, plus dessert of course.  Have you ever noticed how, when you're walking along a buffet line, a little bit (or maybe more than a little bit) of everything jumps on you plate? It's similar to the  phenomenon that occurs as you push your grocery cart down the cookies aisle, and a package you weren't even planning to buy hops into your cart.  So I ate very well at lunch.  Then, later in the afternoon, I attended a monthly meeting of a women's group I belong to, which always involves a carry in supper.  Well, naturally, I couldn't hurt anyone's feelings by not eating a helping of what they brought.  I mean, that would be very impolite.  I'm happy to report that the roast beef sandwiches, the tomato salad, the shrimp dip and crackers, and the two kinds of cake were all quite delicious. I really don't think I need a bedtime snack tonight.  Well, maybe just one cookie (from that package from the grocery store).

a heartwarming play...

I went to the theater with a friend this evening.  This time it was an All for One production, presented at the theater in the Auer Center on Main Street.  This is a much smaller, more intimate theater than either the Civic Center or even the First Pres theater, which makes for a more personal involvement, especially if you sit in the first few rows.  Since I knew three of the actors, I felt I could have been part of the cast.  The play was called "The Christmas Express" not to be confused with "The Polar Express" which is a very different play.  This one had a nice Christmas message but was not a children's play.  It was an enjoyable play but not destined to become a Christmas Classic, in my opinion.  

goofing off...

 I've had a busy week, with tutoring and meetings and writing minutes, and generally trying to be productive.  I've gone to every scheduled appointment and meeting and basically been a responsible adult all week, but today I hit the wall, metaphorically speaking, of course.  Generally, on Friday nights, if I'm at home, I watch a series of news shows beginning with Washington Week.  This evening, however, I discovered that one of my favorite old movies, "Legally Blonde" was on TV and I decided that it would do me good to skip the news.  Now the sequel is starting.  Excuse me while I continue to goof off.

Nooo, not that.....

 I enjoy acting in plays.  While roles for 77 year old gray haired women are few and far between, I've been lucky enough to be in four plays this season (including the one in rehearsal now). I'm fine with wearing vintage costumes, even the one that started falling apart while I was on stage, and I'm ok with being the oldest person on the stage more and more often.  What I'm not ok with is having my picture taken, especially unexpectedly.  This evening for instance, I was surprised when, before the rehearsal began, our director announced that we would be having some pictures taken for promos.  Even then I was not too alarmed. It's generally the main characters who get their pictures taken, and this play is full of young adults and many good looking children.  I'm only in three quick scenes so what are the odds they'll want me in a picture?  Evidently very high.  I was surprised then, when the director called me up on stage with the younger lady who plays opposite me in two scenes.  We posed and recited lines, and worked on facial expressions (we were supposed to look stern and disapproving) until the photographer said she was satisfied.  She gave us a quick glimpse at what she said was a good shot of the two of us.  It was such a little picture on the screen of the camera that I really couldn't tell if it was any good or not.  At one point the other photographee said something to me about it being a long time since our ingenue days.  I didn't tell her that I have never been an ingenue.  Even in my first ever acting role, in our high school epic "A Feudin' Over Yonder" I played the mom.  They even sprayed some gray in my hair.  At our recent high school reunion, someone had a picture of us on stage in a scene from that play.  All you could see of me was my back.  Now that's my kind of picture.

a little history lesson

 

After my September trip, I shared this picture of a really  phenomenal  clock in a cathedral in Strasburg, France.  You may remember that the large gold framed circle in the upper middle depicted the solar system.  I know construction of the church started in the 1400s and that, at some point, they changed the depiction of the solar system to show the sun as the center rather than the earth.  Now, thanks to my page-a-day trivia calendar, I know a little more about when that happened.  In 1543 Polish astronomer Nicolas Copernicus published his groundbreaking (and probably back-breaking) astronomical work "Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of Heavenly Orbs" which correctly theorized that Earth and the other planets of our solar system revolve around the sun.  Now, I'm not suggesting that the clock was changed right away in 1543.  I have to figure that churches then, even cathedrals, functioned much like churches today, which means that the big change to the clock was no doubt preceded by lots of committee meetings.  Wouldn't it be interesting to read the minutes of those meetings?  I'm willing to bet they are preserved somewhere. 

A not so close call...

 Friends who know me well know that I really, really don't like to drive after dark.  I especially really don't like to drive in the dark when it's snow-raining, like tonight for instance.  Add to that, someone driving toward me on the one way street I can usually depend on for a safe non-glare drive home.  This evening I was coming home from a meeting at church when I realized that headlights were coming straight at me on what is supposed to be a one way street going my way.  Happily, that driver realized the error of his/her way and drove into a parking lot before I got too close.  In case you're wondering, I wasn't worried about surviving a crash; all I could think of was that I had just gotten my car back from the body shop, and really didn't want to send it back.  

A little excitement.

 About 9:00 this evening I was heating a cup of tea in my microwave when it started to make a strange loud noise.  When the microwave stopped, I realized that the really loud obnoxious noise was the fire alarm.  So I put on my coat over my pajamas, grabbed my keys, locked my apartment, and headed down those ten long flights of stairs.  I realized when I was half way down, that I had left my phone behind, but decided I could survive without it.  I spent about an hour with lots of my neighbors in the lobby, while firemen milled around, and more dogs than I ever knew lived in our building sniffed each other and generally looked confused.  I did get to hold a friend's fluffy puppy for a while, which was very soothing.  It turned out that someone on the 4th floor had set their kitchen on fire.  This is only the second time in the seven years that I've lived here that I have had to go through this, and both times it was a kitchen fire, proving once again that people should eat out more.  

restaurant woes..

 Lately, I've had lunch at the Bradley several times, partly because it's an easy after church walk from our church parking lot, and partly because it has really good food.  Today I took my daughter there for a belated birthday lunch.  She had never been before, and I was anxious to go to make up for an earlier goof (mine not theirs).  Alas, I was destined to be disappointed.  A couple of weeks ago I had lunch there and ordered a pasta and mushroom dish that I had never tried before.  It was delicious, and because it was a large plate of pasta I requested a box to take some home.  I received the box, boxed my food, paid my bill, and, you guessed it, walked off without my food.  By the way, this wasn't a senior moment.  I've walked off without boxed food before, and I bet you have too.  Anyway, I didn't realize my goof until it was much too late to go back and retrieve my leftovers.  So today I planed to order the same dish, to see if it was as good as I remembered, and hopefully take some home.  I ordered the dish, it was on the menu, only to be told by our pleasant waitperson, that they were no longer serving that dish. Someone in their kitchen had decided that it wasn't popular enough, so they had substituted another dish.  My daughter said that this happened because I left my carry-out behind and they assumed that was because it wasn't good enough to take home.  I don't think so.  Our waitperson assured me that the new dish with gnocchi (little potato puffs instead of pasta) was delicious and they could add mushrooms, so I ordered it.  It was good, but it was so different from what I had been looking forward to that I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. The good side of this is that I have a habit of ordering a favorite food at any given restaurant, and ordering the same thing every time I go to that restaurant.  That pasta dish might have become my go to favorite but now I'll have to try something else.  Unless I go back to their breakfast menu.  Their cornmeal waffles are delicious.  

another review

 A friend and I just saw a very funny and also moving play at Arena Dinner Theater.  "Into the Breeches" is the story of a group of women actresses during WWII who take on the male roles in a Shakespeare production, because all of the men in their lives and theater are off fighting in the war.  In addition to the fun of the play itself, there was the dinner.  This year Arena's caterer, Walnut Hill Catering, has been serving dinners that go with the theme of the show.  Tonight it was a British meal (even though the play supposedly took place on Long Island) maybe because of the Shakespeare theme.  The meal was Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes and gravy), actually pretty good.  The dessert was a strawberry Jello concoction which was light and tasty.  It reminded me of a story my mother used to tell.  When she and my father were first married, during WWII, rations were tight and a restaurant they like to go to served only three desserts, the same three things every evening, plums, pudding or Jello.  Maybe that's why they all stayed so slim and trim.  

a Veterans Day story, looking forward..

 First a bit of history - Veterans' Day used to be called Armistice Day and celebrated the end of World War I on November 11, 1918 on the 'eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.'  In 1954 President Eisenhower renamed it Veterans Day.  So if you. like me, remembers vaguely hearing it called Armistice Day a long time ago, you are remembering correctly.  

Yesterday evening, at rehearsal for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" I noticed that one of the young actors was wearing a Carroll High School sweatshirt, so I told her that my children and two of my grandchildren had gone to Carroll, and asked her about her involvement.  She was a soccer player, but this year, as a senior, is focusing on her classwork.  When I asked her about her plans after high school, she told me she is joining the Air Force right after she graduates.  I applauded her decision and told her that my brother has built his entire career on the training he got in the Air Force.  Based on our conversation, I'm pleased to report that it looks like our country will be in good hands for some time to come.  

One more note, BBC News America just showed footage of some very impressive Armistice Day remembrances in cities around the UK.

book review

 I very seldom use this blog to do a book review but this time I really want to. I have just finished reading "Lessons from the Edge, A Memoir" by Marie Yovanovitch.  If the name sounds familiar, she was the US Ambassador to Ukraine who was ousted from that position when President Trump came into power.  It's a true memoir in that it traces of her life from childhood on.  I found it interesting that her parents immigrated from Russia to Canada, and eventually to the United States.  That interested me because I have a close friend whose father made that same life journey from Russia to Canada to the US.  I will tell you right up front that if you are an avid Trump supporter you won't like the last half of this book, but it is a fascinating look at the State Department and the work that US ambassadors do around the world.  It also helped me understand a great deal more about the history of fighting between Ukraine and Russia.  Really, a well written, fascinating book.  

Side note:  I didn't go looking for this book.  It was on the shelf of new, non-fiction, large print books in our wonderful downtown library, and looked interesting.  

What's a scrum?

 I'm watching The Amazing Race.  I like this show because of all the sites they visit and some amazing scenery.  And, if I'm being honest, I really need a break from election returns.  My west coast brother tells me that today is "National Chaos Never Dies Day" which seems appropriated for the day after country-wide elections.  But The Amazing Race is reminding me of another kind of chaos.  The competitors are taking part in a whole series of Rugby exercises and that reminds me of my daughter's college years.  My daughter attended Earlham college where she played on the co-ed Rugby team.  I didn't know anything about the game before my husband and I drove down to watch her first game.  Turns out it's a pretty rough game, with no time-outs, frequent scrums (where all the players pile up on top of each other) and lots of running, pushing and shoving, while carrying a strangely misshapen ball.  My daughter, who is six feet tall with red hair, was easy to spot and seemed to be having a great time.  As I watched, obviously focusing on my daughter, I thought something looked strange about her hair.  When I got close to her, after the game, I saw that she had shaved her hair on the sides and back, and pulled what was left into a high pony tail.  She explained to me that she had to shave her head so she could tape her ears back, to keep them from getting torn off.  I was getting less and less fond of this game.  Happily, when she let her hair down after the game it was thick enough to completely cover the shaved areas.  She played Rugby for two years, and, after she graduated, married the student coach.  That led, quite naturally, to two grandchildren, the very best result of all that Rugby.  

musings..

 Well, I guess I missed my big chance. There was a billion dollar winner and five million-dollar winners in the lottery.  The big winning ticket was sold in California and I have two cousins who live there.  What are the chances one of them was the winner?  And wants to share?  

I've been watching the election returns, not only on the US stations but also on BBC America and DW News (from Germany).  It's interesting to get international points of view, but everyone seems to agree on the ultimate outcome, especially in the House of Representatives.  I noticed that all of the British reporters were wearing red poppies in their lapels. It's evidently in honor of Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day on November 11th, (aka Veterans Day in the US) and the poppies can be worn from the beginning of November through the 11th.  When I was a child I remember wearing a paper poppy on November 11th, but I haven't seen it in this area for a long time.  Does any local group still hand out poppies?

One last memory (If it seems to you that I'm trying to ignore the election results and my lost billions, you could be right.)  My daughter's birthday is on November 10th which was great when she was in elementary and middle school.  Since school was always closed for Veterans Day, it didn't matter on which day of the week her birthday fell, she could always invite her friends for a 'sleep over' (and I do use the term lightly).  It was a lot of fun.

You're welcome.

 I decided not to buy a lottery ticket today, thus giving all of my friends one less competitor for the big win.  If you  win, I will graciously accept a monetary thank you.  If there is not a big winner tonight, I may buy a ticket when I go to the grocery store later this week.  It does seem. based on responses to last night's blog, that, if I win, several people will volunteer to move to Fiji with me.  

On a totally unrelated subject, I had a tutoring session with my first grader this afternoon.  He worked hard, and we had a good time.  One thing I found interesting - when he printed his name on a worksheet where there was a line to print on he printed it correctly, in left to right order, with all letters written correctly, but when he printed his name on a picture that he colored for me, he printed it in reverse order, right to left, with all but one of the letters reversed, an almost perfect mirror image.  I seem to remember studying, years ago, about Leonardo da Vinci's pages and pages of notes written backwards.  Maybe I'm tutoring a future artistic genius??? or maybe Leonardo didn't have any lines to follow???  

Should I or shouldn't I???

 The Powerball top prize is over a billion dollars now.  Of course you can take the lump sum cash amount which I think is about $800,000,000 or so.  Still not chump change, even though you will need to pay taxes.  Even if the taxes amounted to 50% I'm pretty sure I could struggle along on $400,000,000.  So I'm debating, should I or shouldn't I go out and buy a lottery ticket?  I think I can afford $2 for a day long day dream.  Earlier, on the local news people buying lottery tickets were being interviewed, asked what they would do with the money if they won.  Most answered in the usual way - 'pay off my bills,' 'buy a new house,' 'take care of my family.'  All very admirable, but I really appreciated one man's answer.  He said 'I think I'd go looking for an island, and buy it.'  Hummm, depending on how Tuesday's election comes out, I might like to move to a far away island myself.  I wonder if Fiji has any little islands for sale?  I really liked Fiji.  

car repair woes

 Some of you will remember that I had a minor accident back in July.  A young driver who dropped his cigarette opened his car door in moving traffic and side swiped my car.  My car could still be driven so the body shop didn't schedule me for repairs until October 12.  October 12 came, I took my car in for the estimated $4,000 worth of body work and it's still there.  It was supposed to have been finished last Wednesday, then last Friday, then this past Wednesday, then yesterday.  Nope, not yet.  Each delay involved me going to the young man's insurance company (they have been very good to work with) and asking for a extension on the use of my rental car.  This time, the agent I work with there came back with what I thought was a reasonable request - he wanted to know what was causing the delay.  I emailed the request and asked to be copied on the response.  Here's what I got:  

      The reason the vehicle still isn't done is because of the moldings. Chrysler no longer sells those in the textured gray appearance. We ordered them and they came in raw-flat black plastic. I tried to get some procedures from Chrysler on how to recreate it, but they couldn't get me anything. We reached out to PPG and are trying to get them painted with their help on the process. Its the moldings on the bumper and on the quarter. We're trying everything we can, in the event we can't get this done we may have to replace every molding on the car to make it match. I'm trying to avoid having to do that and to be able to make everything match, but its costing me a lot in material. 

       I'm hoping to have them painted and ready by the end of Monday (11/7) and to have the vehicle back to our customer by mid next week. If either of you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out, I just figured this would be a good way to update you both. 

So now we all know why the delay.  If they do end up having to replace all the trim I think I should get to choose the color.  Turquoise might be nice, or maybe hot pink?

very tasty...

 Today is "National Easy Bake Oven Day."  I never had an Easy Bake Oven, neither did my daughter who is, in my opinion, very fortunate to be married to a man who does most of the cooking. Although she does have one cake recipe that is very good, and pretty.  It looks like a checkerboard when it is cut.  

I did have one memorable encounter with a cake when I was young.  When I was ten years old, I joined 4H.  At that time, unless you were a farm girl,(I wasn't, unless you count chickens) girls 4H courses were limited to variations on cooking, baking and sewing.  My first sewing project was an apron which came in handy when I started baking.  One of the first things I baked was a layer cake.  My mother was standing by in the kitchen but I had to follow the recipe and do everything myself.  It all went well.  The batter was mixed, the oven preheated, the pans greased and floured.  I poured the batter in the pans, put the pans in the oven and set the timer.  When the timer buzzed, I reread the next direction "Tap the cake lightly in the center.  If it springs back it's done." I was so nervous about reaching into the hot oven to tap the cake, that I tapped too hard and drove my finger into the cake 'til it hit the bottom of the pan.  The cake was done, and tasted good and no one but Mom ever knew about my overzealous tapping.  You can cover a lot of errors with thick frosting, and my brothers were at an age to eat anything.  It will come as no surprise that I have ever since used the toothpick test.  

Good Bye St. Joe....

I watched with interest, and a little sadness, as the big St. Joe hospital building finally came down today. I have some very happy memories of that hospital.  In 1971 I decided that my first child would be born there.  It was somewhat convenient, only about 25 minutes from where we lived at that time on the south side of Fort Wayne.  But the real reason I chose it was because at that time St. Joe was the only hospital in Fort Wayne that had Rooming In, a really novel idea at the time,  I had a private room which baby Tommy shared with me 24/7.  My husband was the only visitor allowed during that time.  It was such a great experience.  I knew very little about caring for babies but I learned a lot during those five days (yes, they kept us longer back then).  One particularly memorable lesson, that a young nurse and I learned together, is that when you're changing a baby boy's diaper, it's a good idea to have a spare diaper handy to cover anything unexpected.  That little guy sent up a spray that reached the ceiling.  Needless to say, when my daughter was due in 1973, it was back to St. Joe, again for the Rooming In.  Sweet memories indeed.

You go girl!

 I'm watching an interesting program on PBS right now.  It's a segment on NHK Newsline.  NHK is a Japanese news program which I just discovered a few months ago.  I think it's interesting to hear news from a different perspective.  This evening's program is about single women in South Korea,  Most of the interviews are taking place in Seoul.  A statistic they just quoted said that only 20 percent of South Korean women want to get married.  I was a little surprised.  The South Korean women I know, all living in the US of course, seem happy in their married life.  The reason that the commentator gave for this lack of desire for marriage in South Korea is that married women are expected to basically wait on their husbands, children and their husband's family, even if they have a career outside the family.  Many young women, it seems, have found it easier just not to get married.  I'm wondering if perhaps the married Korean women I know are happy to be living far far away from their in-laws.  I've been married but I've also lived the single life, before marriage and after my husband died, and I find it a very comfortable (aka selfish) life style.  The first experience I ever had with a single woman living alone was in college.  One of my professors had a house warming party to show off her new house and I remember being a little shocked and excited by the idea of a single woman living alone in her own home.  It was a whole new concept to this small town girl who grew up with the understanding that a single woman was an unfortunate who hadn't been able to find a husband for some reason.  In fact my dear Aunt Dora told me, when I got married at the ripe old age of 23 that she hadn't really been worried because I wouldn't have been considered an old maid until I turned 25. 

Why???

The question in my page-a-day trivia calendar today is "Where in the world can you find giant hot pink slugs?"  My immediate reaction was "Why in the world would I want to find giant hot pink (or any other color) slugs?"  But just in case you do want to find some, perhaps to get an idea for next year's Halloween costume, they can be found in the alpine forest of Mt. Kaputar in New South Wales, Australia.  That's it.  That is the only place they live.  Now I am a little perplexed.  When I was in Australia in 2018, we were shown dingbats, kangaroos and wallabies. We saw the beauties of the Great Barrier Reef. We even got to pat a koala (so soft).  But no one, not one single guide, suggested that we should go have a look at hot pink slugs. Imagine that.

PS In case you're wondering. giant hot pink slugs are about eight inches long.  

Halloween costumes...

 In bygone years my husband and I liked to host Halloween parties.  They were always fun and some guests showed up in costumes.  My favorites were the Gorilla costume my 6'6" brother wore one year, his gorilla smoked a cigar.  His wife was the scantily clad (not too scantily) big game hunter.  What added to the fun was the fact that he drove across town in costume - head and all - and got some good reactions from other drivers.  Fast forward to 2022.  I exchanged text Halloween greetings with my grandson today and he informed me that he and his girlfriend had gone to a Halloween party on Saturday in costume and volunteered to send me some pictures.  I said oh yes, please do, hoping for some cute pictures I could show my friends.  His girlfriend really is very attractive.  But no, it turns out he went as Freddy Kruger and his girlfriend went as a victim.  She did the  makeup, she's really good at special effects.  I told him I thought he had found his soul mate. He said definitely! Awe....

Happy Halloween everyone.

a follow up and more...

 My west coast brother, who is, I'm happy to say, a regular reader of this blog, has informed me that they actually hug their sheep two or three times a year, to give them shots and trim their hooves.  And I was right, the sheep don't like it.  So much for sheep hugging.

On to a more entertaining subject.  This afternoon I listened as the group Chanticleer entertained a very full house at First Presbyterian Church.  I'm told that singing groups like to perform in our sanctuary because of the good acoustics.  Chanticleer certainly made the most of it.  By the way, the name of this all male acapella singing group who are based in San Francisco, comes from Chaucer's name for the 'clear singing' rooster in his Canterbury Tales.  I must admit I'm in awe of anyone who can sing acapella.  A group of twelve singing acapella perfectly, beautifully together is simply amazing.  I enjoyed their entire performance, including the pieces sung in Latin like 'Tu pauperum refugium' with much appreciated translations.  However, I must admit I really enjoyed the somewhat less high brow music more.  My favorites were the spiritual "Follow the Drinking Gourd," and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."  Sheer bliss!

proceed with caution...

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "Hug a Sheep Day." Really?  I've seen sheep grazing at a distance in their fields, in the USA, Scotland and in New Zealand; even some very interesting demonstrations of sheep herding. Everywhere, when seen from a distance, they look fuzzy and cuddly, positively huggable but they can move right along when the amazingly well trained sheep dogs are nipping at their heels.  Up close it's not quite the same.  I don't think sheep want to be hugged.  They certainly don't look like they're enjoying it when the shepherds (or sheep wranglers) hug them very close to sheer them.  Also, before that sheering, their wool is often full of burrs and stickers and also loaded with lanolin which makes for lovely warm pretty much water proof sweaters for people who live in the far north, but really doesn't make for a very huggable creature.  For that matter, they aren't very huggable sweaters.  While we he were dating, I bought my soon to be husband a lovely natural wool sweater.  That's when I learned that he was allergic to wool.  Happily, I had kept the receipt. By the way, my west coast brother actually owns some sheep and I've never seen him hugging them.  

one theory...

 Yesterday I asked if it's really easier for young people to memorize their lines in a play than some of us who are more mature (to put it kindly).  My west coast brother says that yes, it's absolutely easier for young people to memorize anything.  He bases this statement on his theory that young people, in his words "haven't got all that stuff already packed in."  I think this makes a lot of sense.  When you have the stock market, the mid-term election, Medicare options (aren't you sick of those commercials?) healthy diets and taxes on your mind, (or make your own list), it's harder to focus on memorizing make-believe conversations.  Actually, I do have my few little lines memorized, but I'm just explaining so, if I goof during a performance, you'll understand.  

After presenting me with his theory, my brother gave me one more bit of information to stuff into my busy brain, so of course I'll share it with you.  On this date, October 28, in 1886 the Statue of Liberty was dedicated.  You're welcome.

brain power

I have only half jokingly said that I think memorizing is good for my brain and that's why I like being in plays.  I pretty much have my few lines memorized for the play I'm in now and I've been feeling smug about it.  That is until this evening's rehearsal.  This was the first time we've run through the whole first half of the play and I've gotten to see the 15 children with lines in the play in action.  The kids range in age from eight to sixteen and I am amazed at how many of them have all or most of their lines already memorized.  Do you think it really is easier for young brains?  

it's puzzling....

 I really like a good jigsaw puzzle with a fun picture and well cut pieces.  500 to 1000 pieces suits me very well.  I even have a puzzle board made for me by a friend years ago.  Right now I have three puzzles on my shelf that I received last Christmas and haven't had time to put together yet.  Maybe I'll get snowed in sometime this winter with nothing else to do?  As I said, I really like a good jigsaw puzzle, but I heard of a puzzle today that 'blows my mind.'  My west coast brother tells me that Costco has for sale a 60,000 piece puzzle, which, when finished would measure 8' by 29', for a mere $600.00.  Further investigation revealed that it is actually sixty 1,000 piece puzzles that can be assembled individually and then joined together at the edges.  

So now I'm wondering, who would buy such a puzzle?  A school maybe or a retirement home or someone planning a really big family reunion?  And assuming you have a large enough group to assemble these sixty individual puzzles in a reasonable amount of time, where and how would you lay them out to connect them? A gym floor maybe or somebody's driveway?  And what if, when you have the whole big puzzle finished, there's a piece missing?  

walking and reading

 You know the old joke about someone not being able to walk and chew gum?  It might have been first said about me.  One of my more embarrassing moments regarding walking occurred during the first rehearsal for our high school graduation.  We were to process in, two people at a time, side by side, doing the hesitation step. I was the first to go in, with my partner, not because either of us had received any special awards but because he was the tallest boy and I was the tallest girl in the class, so we would be in the back row on stage.  We were told very clearly to step out on our left foot.  So of course, as the music started, I stepped forward on my right foot, only to hear my principal bellow "Left foot, Cohrs!"  Cohrs being my maiden name.  I was so embarrassed, being a very shy person anyway, back then.

Side note, six years later when I got married, my father and I were in complete agreement that we would NOT be doing the hesitation step up the aisle.

Well, it wasn't quite that bad at rehearsal for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" this evening, but I did realize that I really can't walk and read my script at the same time.  It took me several walks across the front of the sanctuary to end up in the right place at the right time in my little speech, and to exit promptly.  Now I don't mind repeating a scene over and over until I get it right, but I felt sorry for, and self conscious about, everyone else standing around waiting for their turn.  But I know tomorrow will be better.  That's why we practice.

I'm in love...

 This year the student I'm tutoring as part of FWCS Study Connections is a first grader.  I've always had third to fifth graders before.  I met him for the first time this afternoon.  He's so cute and so tiny.  Today he walked into the library (I mean resource center) where we meet, carrying a back pack almost as big as he is, and gave me a big smile revealing two missing front teeth.  I knew I was a goner.  This charmer could wrap me around his little finger.   As we worked through several introductory projects today I learned that he can't count past 17, has some sense of the sounds of letters but is a long way from being a reader and that he does like to draw.  As a former art teacher, that last bit cheered me.  I will try in every way I can to help him this year, and, if I'm lucky, for years to come.  Did somebody say challenge?

a good problem

Today I had lunch with some friends at the Bradley, always delicious.  However, the parking on Main Street, around the construction areas is not great, so I encouraged the one friend who was meeting us after church, to park in the church lot, where the other three of us were already parked, because we attended the 11:00am service.  It's only a two block walk from First Pres to the Bradley.  We came out of church at noon to find the friend who was meeting us waiting in her car, in a no-parking area, because there were no parking spaces available.  She was understandably frustrated, but her problem was solved pretty quickly as congregation members started driving away. While I sympathized with my friend's temporary frustration, inside I was quietly cheering for the fact that we had enough attendees in church this morning for their cars to fill both parking lots and all the meter spaces around the block.  It hasn't been so long ago, during and immediately after the pandemic, that the parking lots were empty and then less than half full.  A great deal of credit for the happy current situation goes to our excellent pastors.  It's truly joyous to see the old timers coming back, and to hear the sounds of babies, thanks to young new families.  Hooray for crowded parking lots!

the last hurrah???

 I went to a movie with friends this afternoon, "Ticket to Paradise" starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney.  Gorgeous scenery and a fun story.  A chick flick for the not so young.  I recommend it.  After the movie we had supper at El Azteca, always yummy. What made this a last hurrah, as in my title, is that we decided to eat outside on their deck.  It was lovely and warm, but not too hot, with a gentle breeze, and I couldn't help feeling that today might be the last time I'll be eating on a restaurant's outdoor deck for many months.  But it will be fun to look forward to in the spring.  In the meantime, buckle your seat belts; Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up fast.