shaping up...

 My wonder spouse (sometimes I wonder about him) has decided that, since we will be doing a fair amount of walking and hiking on our upcoming trip, we should add a one-mile walk through the neighborhood to our daily routine.  We already do a regular twenty-five minutes of stretching and exercise in the pool each morning, but that's evidently not enough.  Deep down, I agree with him. So for the last couple of mornings we have walked a long loop through our neighborhood, starting at about 8:15am.  Today we walked a mile in 21 minutes which is not bad.  It has actually been very nice.  We've said hello to neighbors walking like us, others walking their dogs or leaving for work, and passed children waiting for the school bus.  Yes, it its that time of year again.  I do enjoy walking in the cool of the morning.  My mother used to have us up weeding the garden "in the cool of the morning."  Walking is more fun.  So I will keep walking until we leave for our trip in three weeks, and probably for a while when we return.  But I must tell you right now, I am a fair weather walker.  I will not be out walking in freezing cold and blowing snow.  If my husband wants to keep walking, I'll use the treadmill in the basement.  

 Today is "Left Hander's Day" and also "Filet Mignon Day."  As it happens, my spouse is left handed, so we celebrated by going out to dinner this evening.  We really don't need much of an excuse to eat out.  We did not, however, have filet mignon. Instead we went to our favorite pizza place, B. Antonio's, and indulged in our favorite pizzas.  His is Hawaiian with ham and pineapple, while I like a more traditional supreme, with all the good stuff.  We each get a small pizza, eat half of it there and bring half of it home, so tomorrow's dinner is already planned. We both agree that pizza is an excellent food to be eaten either right or left handed.  In case you're wondering, and I'm sure you are, there have been many famous left handed people including Barach Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Leonardo da Vinci, Prince William, Napoleon, Lady Gaga, and Tom Cruise to name just a few.  So you can see that my left handed wonder spouse is in very good company.  

sew on and sew forth...

 Today, once again thanks to my west coast brother, I learned that it is "National Sewing Machine Day."  I've been involved with sewing machines since I was a child.  We had a Singer "portable" contained in a heavy wooden case.  It was about as portable as our first "portable" TV.  But it worked well and I learned to sew on it.  Not from my mother.  She could sew enough to mend a seam but it certainly wasn't a love of hers.  My sewing education came from 4H, starting when I was 10 years old with an apron, then a skirt, a blouse and eventually a dress.  I never got anything but red ribbons at the county fair.  Ah, well, I never aspired to be a seamstress.  One summer, a girlfriend and I decided to make matching outfits.  I think we were about 13.  We cut out the pattern pieces for Bermuda shorts (no Daisy Dukes for us, her dad was the preacher) and sleeveless blouses.  The shorts came out fine but we must have mixed up some pieces for the blouses (she was 5'3" to my 5'10") because they did not fit either one of us.  But we had a lot of fun trying.  After I was married, the first time, my husband gifted me with a Kenmore sewing machine that was really top of the line for it's time.  Not only could It sew straight seams, zig zags and button holes, but, with the insertion of various cams (little plastic disks) I could sew rows of all kinds of designs.  My favorite was the little ducks.  I used them to sew new satin binding on blankies that were terribly worn but much too precious to be thrown away.  I believe my daughter still had her blankie when she went off to college.  The same friend of the matching outfits experiment, when our children were young, talked me into taking some Stretch & Sew classes.  Do you remember Stretch & Sew?  We learned to use stretchy knit fabric to make all kinds of clothing.  I got to the point where I could whip off a T-shirt for my toddler in less than an hour.  I even, ultimately, made a full suit for my husband - jacket, slacks and vest.  He wore the suit, at least a few times.  He was a good man.  The last big project I sewed was slip covers for the cushions and seat of a couch I was giving to my daughter to help her furnish her first home.  That couch and my handiwork made it all the way to Germany when she and her first husband were stationed there.  But that was about it.  When I downsized, my faithful but elderly Kenmore was sold, and I haven't sewn on a machine since.  But that's ok.  If I get desperate, there's a nearby tailor who does alterations.  I should ask her sometime if she started in 4H.

play time...

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "Go Play in the Sand Day."  I do like to play in sand.  I like to feel it run between my fingers, or walk along a shore and feel the wet sand squish between my toes.  I was thinking of those things after i read my brother's text, but this evening at dinner with my spouse and his brother, the conversation turned to kindergarten and a teacher they remembered.  That unleashed a flood of memories for me.  I remember my kindergarten year for two special things.  The first is about sand.  In our kindergarten classroom we had a sand table, standing waist high to little people, and full of wonderful white sand.  I loved to just stand there and draw patterns in the sand and run my fingers through it.  It felt so good.  The other memory involves my teacher, Miss Wendolyn.  During that year she got married, and invited all of her students to the wedding.  My mother took me, and I was in awe, as my beautiful teacher walked down the aisle in her gorgeous white dress.  After the wedding, on the way home, as I remember it, we stopped at a toy store and my mother bought me a bride doll.  You may remember this type of doll.  I think they were the forerunners of Barbie dolls.  They came in an eight or nine inch square box, about two inches deep with a clear plastic cover.  The doll would be displayed with her full skirt flared out around her.  They weren't all bride dolls, they came with different dresses, like Barbies.  But I got the best one, every little girl's dream, the bride doll, and it was marvelous.  No wonder I think I had the best kindergarten teacher ever.  

Are you looking for a bargain?

 Today is "National Garage Sale Day."  Can you imagine if we actually had a national garage sale?  Some subdivisions have neighborhood sales and those can be fun to go to because you don't have to worry about where to park.  Years and years ago my next door neighbor and I had a garage sale together each spring.  Always in her garage because she kept it so clean.  These were very successful sales because we each had lots of children's clothes and some toys for sale.  More recently, I've been involved with the semi-annual Giant Garage Sale at my church.  This was a big help when I was just beginning to think about downsizing after my first husband died.  I sold mostly tools and electronics and my table was usually busy.  One year I traded a bunch (not sure if that's the technical term) of electronics for a very nice 12 place setting of China.  It had everything, including serving bowls, a gravy boat and a meat platter.  All the goodies. My family had grown with children-in-law and grands and I had always wanted to be able to set a pretty table for special dinners like Christmas and Easter.  This set has worked out really well.  Since I don't have any sentimental attachment, I use it and callously run it through the dishwasher.  So far I haven't broken any dishes and all of the gold rims are still in tact.  So that's my best garage sale story.  I'm sure you have had equal successes.  However, if you're not in the mood to hold, or go to, a garage sale, it's also "National Lazy Day."  Enjoy.

read on....

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "Book Lovers Day" and there is no one who loves a good book more than I do.  Lately I've been enjoying 'checking out' books from the library using Libby and reading them on my tablet.  This afternoon I spent more time than I should have reading my current book, but I was celebrating the day.  One thing that made the afternoon even more pleasurable than usual was that this morning I was able to get the frames of my new glasses adjusted slightly so they sit much more comfortably on my ears.  You who are glasses wearers will understand.  And here I want to say kudos to JC Penney.  My spouse and I had some errands to run this morning including getting my glasses adjusted, picking up more maps for our trip and returning a catalog order to Penney's.  Sadly, after driving out to Dupont Road, we discovered that my optometrist's office was closed (they evidently close over the noon hour) so we headed south to Glenbrook so I could return the slacks that didn't fit.  The lady at the returns counter was very nice, no problems with the return.  She even gave me a tip.  Order two different sizes, keep the one that fits and return the other.  As I was walking out I realized that I was right beside the glasses department (Penney's does sell everything).  I walked in and asked the very nice clerk, who wasn't busy at the time, if she could make the adjustment I needed, even though I hadn't bought the glasses there.  No questions asked (except where had I gotten my frames, which she liked) she made the necessary adjustment in less that five minutes.  Thank you JC Penny.  

beware...

 According to my west coast brother, today is "Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day."  It's also "International Cat Day." that one doesn't surprise me.  Every cat I've ever known seemed to assume that they were internationally famous and wildly important in any language on any given day.  It may have something to do with living nine lives.  Perhaps each life is in a different country?  But enough about cats and back to Zucchinis.  I have never had zucchinis left on my porch, although I haven't checked yet this evening.  I have however had amazingly generous co-workers share copious amounts of the abundantly profligate vegetable with me, and anyone else who came within easy reach.  There was a certain time of year, right now actually, when it was wise to just stay in your office with the door shut if you didn't want to be heading home after work with a bag full of zucchinis.  I did however have one wonderful neighbor who would present me with a loaf, sometimes two, of delicious zucchini bread.  Now that's the way to be neighborly.